Battle of the 69: Part 4

Turn 6
World Eaters
Movement:  The Chaos Rhino in sector one moves towards the home objective to contest.
Firing:  The plasma cannon misses’ with its final shot, Chaos Rhino combi-bolters failing to injure anybody.
Close Combat: Stalemate as The Purge Chaos Dreadnought destroys a second arm on its enemy.

The Purge
Movement:  Havoc squad one jump out of their Chaos Rhino ready for action, as Havoc squad two moves behind the Chaos Dreadnought.  The remainder of the ten man squad moves on the objective.
Firing:  The lone melta Gun Chaos Marine destroys a Chaos Rhino.  Rapid Fire plasma to the rear of the Chaos Dreadnought destroys it.  The Chaos Lord manages to stun his opposing Chaos Rhino.  Havoc squad one stun and immobilise the Chaos Rhino they face.
Close Combat:  The Sorcerer finally charges his foe killing three due his Warptime, the Chaos Dreadnoughts miss each other and the final Berserker dies to overkill.  The Chaos Lord destroys his opposing Chaos Rhino and suffers a wound in the explosion.

Kill count:    World Eaters     21        The Purge    35


Survivors

World Eaters               
Chaos Dreadnought (no arms)
Chaos Rhino (immobilised)

The Purge
Chaos Lord (wounded)
Chaos Sorcerer
Chaos Dreadnought (immobilised)
5 Chaos Space Marines (Inc Aspiring Champion)
1 Chaos Space Marine
6 Havocs
Chaos Rhino
4 Havocs (Inc Aspiring Champion)
Chaos Rhino
Chaos Vindicator (gun destroyed)


Random Conclusions:

I was shocked at the final result; I was honestly expecting a defeat with one Berserker squad holding an objective.  AT best I could have managed a draw by contesting objectives with whatever remnants of my army remained.

I was lucky on the set-up being 24” apart, having won the choice of going first I chose second so I could see where the World Eaters set-up.  By not advancing very far on the table I delayed the close combat until it was either on my terms, or just inevitable. 

Poor dice rolls in close combat could have cost me the game, but I had just enough powerfist or luck to swing the various battles as I required.

Berserkers kill whatever they touch provided they can charge due to furious charge.  For the same points I can take more Chaos Space Marines with more wounds and more attacks than their Berserker equivalent.  If I can negate the charge I can turn defeat into victory.

I did nothing special in this battle to win, but just hung in and picked up on the mistakes of my opponent:

The Chaos Bikers managed nothing except being shot up, for their points they were not going to charge until turn 3 when a squad safely in a Chaos Rhino could have equally charged.  They were chosen with banner so there was a different type of unit in the army, marked with Khorne.  Perhaps Chosen or Havocs would have been more use.

The Chaos Lord was unsupported as the Bikers left him behind.  This in turn meant that moving 6” plus run he was always going to be gunned down.  The one time it charges it rolled nine attacks, plus one for Juggernaut, plus one for Mark of Khorne, plus one for charging - twelve attacks.  As unstoppable in close combat as the Chaos Lord is, it is equally vulnerable to firepower with no soft wounds to support him.

The berserker squads killed whatever they touched except the Chaos Dreadnought, for the want of a powerfist.  A powerfist or two and even a plasma pistol or three would have seen armour and vehicles cracked open. 

The plasma cannons on the two Chaos Dreadnoughts needs to be adjusted to something anti-armour: lascannons or missile launchers.  Even with strength five they can tie up squads in close combat, there was only tree powerfists on the table for The Purge including the Chaos Dreadnoughts.


A surprising victory gives me hope for when the Emperors Children have their rematch.  It is time to start work on a six man Havoc squad and rethink what to arm my Chosen with.