The Plains of Nest - Prison for Gods - 2000 pts

They were here, the 5th Company. The fiercest fighters in the legion. Evodius had called them into action, their experience in Yldaeneth Cleansing would be invaluable. The Eldar were coming once again. How many times would they try? How many had to die before they realised we were fighting for the same end. It mattered not today. Today they were but another enemy that must be vanquished. The scouts had reported a wounded eldar leader, stuck in the bog-mire, unable to move. His capture would provide the finest of trophies, or bargaining chip....

Eternal War - The Relic - 2000 points - Space Marines vs Eldar

The eldar had come with a nasty combo force. 3 allied detachments consisting of a venom, 5 warriors and an archon with a webway portal. The main force? a Wraithknight, wraithlord and 3 d-scythe wielding wraith guard ready to deploy with pinpoint accuracy. 10 Striking Scorpions would be lurking around too.

The space marines brought... a full battle company in the form of a Gladius Strike force. Wholly 109 marines along with transports would carry the day!

The Black Horde!

Filth!

 Turn one saw me go first. I deployed my idiotic number of space marines completed willy nilly. I had so much to deploy it made little difference. The goal was simply to outlast the the Eldar.

Mechanised warfare!

Blue heathens!

Wimaro noted an already ruined Eldar craft... a dire omen?

The Relic, Exarch Olae'anath... The prize!

The Assault Squad moves out and challenges the scorpions

Strike from the heavens!

Dangerous terrain tests...

 I struck hard, as per usual. The bare ones squads I had were less kitted out than usual. The odd grav cannon here and there rather than the usual. I stripped some wounds from the Wraithknight.

 The Relic must be mine!

 The Scorpions proved hard as nails, killing 10 marines, and 2 bikes, surviving the game!

 The wraith knight falls to massed shooting! but not before it stomped a tactical squad out of existance!

 The Eldar weathered my shooting well and they were still in the game. Turn 2 came along and Wimaro unleashed 3 scything nasties with pinpoint accuracy! The bad news? All my vital units were in transports, meaning he could pop open plenty of transports but not do any damage to the occupants.

 Would the gamble pay off?.... No. The sheer number of tactical marines that suddenly appeared, and the calculated use of the tactical doctrine meant about 200 bolter shots. The 3 brave squads withered under the fire and were all but wiped from existance.

The field is cleared.

By the beginning of turn 4. We called the game. Wimaro had a 1 wound wraithlord left, facing down a bunch of grav guns and the few stragglers were mince meat surely.

Victory to the Black Scorpions.

Conclusion

 Wimaro was deflated as he thought this list would be the end of my run of victories. I threw him a curveball and tried something completely different. I ditched my shiny expensive backline units like thunderfires and stalkers and artillery. Things usually so hard to shift, but would fall like wheat before the scythe against his template D units. This time, they simply had to specially sexy units to wipe out. Their only targets: Tactical marines etc.

We tallied the losses. I lost wholly 47 Marines! That's usually my whole army. This time it was about 50%. I feel for Wimaro as his efforts have been excellent but as I put it 'It's hard to fight against a cupboard full of options' meaning, I have too many options and it makes it very hard to predict what I might bring to the table.

Commiserations but many thanks for showing up and not burning my house down afterwards.

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The bunker was warm and suprisingly clean. Olae'anath sat tied to the chair, His wounds were bandaged and clean. The mon'keigh surgeons had done surprisingly good work. That these beasts had laid their hands on him made his skin crawl regardless. The door swung open and two towering monstrosities sauntered in and sat in front of him. One stank of death. His black armour and skull-masked face and glowing red eyes were terrifying. The other was an angelic thing, gleaming golden armour with alabaster wings behind him. His face handsome, 'despite being a beast' thought the Exarch. The two were strange. Avatars of Light and Darkness, Life and Death. Strange indeed. To come face to face with these beings was a revelation. Tales had been told amongst his people, of the black ones. Fearful stories of predators in the night. He knew better. They were powerful, there was no doubt... but they were mortal. The dark one spoke. 'I am Cylander Azeron, This is my brother Evodius Azeron. You will answer our questions.... or you will die and your soulstone will be bartered away to some fool.... and she who thirsts will find you!

His heartbeat raced. The words cut like a razor. Terror unlike anything he'd ever felt before. They knew! They knew his deepest, darkest fear. He sagged in the chair, they would not need the razor-knives or electro-scalpels or any of the other torture devices laid out in front of him... He was already broken.

Prison for Gods - Carnage at Hive Geffyl - Black Scorpions vs Guard + Dark Angels

The Black Scorpions readied themselves. Today was the day of days, a vital strike to liberate Hive Geffyl. The facilities there and the population would welcome them as glorious saviours thought brother Volus. The vital target? An intercontinental missile. It's destructive power was a terrible weapon to behold. It's destruction would be paramount. It was time, the rubble, that feeling of free fall as the drop pod was fired out of the battle barge. Searing through the atmosphere like a comet, Volus held tight. They soon be on the ground. He remembered the words of his training sergeant. 'You are angels of death! you are his will made manifest! Strike hard, strike fast and leave nothing alive'

Black Scorpions vs Guard + a smattering of Dark Angels. 2000pts. Maelstrom

The gate of Hive Geffyl

Magnus would be bringing a stormlord with a 30 veterans with demoltion skills along with an HQ squad and two skilled psykers. Guardsmen guarding his back lines would solidify his lines. A deathstrike missile and a wyvern would provide fire power/magnets. Shockingly a drop pod with grav centurions and librarian would join his forces!

The Black Scorpions brought the boom train = Telion, scouts, thunderfires, quad cannons. Two drop pods with tactical marines and one with an ironclad would be dropping in. Two fire raptors would provide air support. A deimios laser destroyer would provide some much needed anti-tank fire power.

Both sides benefitted from a archeotech shield generator. The Black Scorpions benefitted from a Bastion recently stolen from the fickle Eldar.

Ratlings that are actually RATS.... Heresy!!!

Heavy weapons!

The Assault force!

Turn 1

The Black Scorpions won the roll off going first. Destroying the heavy tank and deathstrike would be super important. Magnus had a 35 man squad inside the Stormlord, ready to trundle forward and unleash hell!

Two drop pods, carrying an Ironclad and a tactical squad slammed down. A bad scatter meant the tactical squad was far away from its target, the storm lord. They scarpered into the ruins to seek cover. 5 other marines roasted a 10 man squad scoring first blood. The platoon command squad was reduced to the sergeant, he held his ground. My cannons and thunder fires unleashed hell on the storm lord taking only 2 hull points. The shield generator absorbed a ton of hull points. I scored Obj 2

Magnus stood fast, his drop pod slammed down too, in front of my quad cannons. His Stormlord stayed still. Psykers unleashed heretical powers, one periled but surived. The stormlords vulcan bolter cycled up and 30 shots unleashed on the thunderfire cannons. the 3+ cover and 2+ techmarine save wasn't enough, a thunderfire was ruined!

The grav centurions opened fire, I was finally on the end of my own medicine! They killed 3 marines and wounded a quad gun. Some scouts were killed and drop pod marines killed two. A decent round of shooting from Magnus. No objective scored however

2 - 0 so far.

Turn 2

Black Scorpion reserves came in, a drop pod and a raptor. The tactical squad reinforced the assault on the hive, the raptor strafed the Stormlord but failed to cause any damage. The avenger cannon strafed the wyvern, causing it to explode.

The ironclad and the tactical marines roasted more units and killed some scouts in the back lines. Magnus base had been all but eradicated. I fired my deimios at the scary deathstrike, taking single hull point off it. The Centurions were a massive threat, the rending thunderfire cannons went to work. Two centurions were killed. A blow to Magnus.

The Ironclad wiped out the scouts, the Ratlings were cut down by the lone space marine from the 5 man squad that had been decimated.

Magnus replied with more shooting, His forces were mostly inside the stormlord but some grav shooting and the stormlord did some damage, a hull point here and there but nothing serious. The teeth of his force had been blunted. His librarian assaulted the quad guns, killed 2 more marines and therefore 2 guns and the centurions took a hull point from the deimios. The deathstrike, on 1 hull point attempted to fire, it failed! luckily.

I scored 1 point with overwhelming firepower (kill something in the shooting phase)

3-0

Turn 3

Turn three saw my 2nd raptor come in. It also failed to do much damage, taking only 1 hull point from the stormlord. The thunderfires took another 2. it had 6 left now. A melta shot from the ironclad took another, down to 5. The 2nd raptor took another hull point 4 left! The 1st raptor cycled up its mega bolter and shredded the primaris psyker in the open. Victory point for slay the witch. The librarian remained locked in close combat with no wounds. The Centurion was killed by the combined fire of scouts and heavy bolters. A suicidal charge by the tactical squad failed epically and all were slain by 35 firepower overwatch. The deimos also managed the vital strike. A well placed shot annihilated the deathstrike... PHEW!!

Magnus desperately needed to score some points now. I had 5, he had zero, his cards were all 'take obj ### and his forces were all inside the mighty stormlord which he now evacuated, 30 veterans spilled out. He took the final wound off the quad cannons, neutralising them. A few meltagunners in the stormlord pointed their melta's skyward, two sixes! 1 pen! jink failed, a 5! EXPLODES!!! the fire raptor crashed to the ground in a fiery explosion! Scour the Skies!

5-1

Turn 4 

 The forces of the evil Magnus closed in. With troops in the open the lines opened up. Many a man was killed but the death blow came from two places. 7 hits from the thunderfires.... 3 hulls points. It only had 1 left now! The ironclad that had been chasing is closed in... I needed 9 for get into close combat.

WOOOOOO!

BOOOM!!!

 The ironclad ripped apart the Stormlord. 4 pens! BOOOOOM!! I rolled a 6 for the cataclysmic explosion! All but the company commander died inside. 7 men surrounding the mighty warmachine were vapourised. The Ironclad survived by a small miracle.

Magnus had few forces left but he fought on. His forces tried desperatly to cause some more damage and sell their lives. A techmarine was killed! two scouts died too!

6-1

Turn 5

Magnus graciously said 'lets see if you can wipe me' I got to work. The remaining guardsmen were all slain by snipers and heavy bolters and scout bolt pistols.

All that remained was the evil psyker standing defiantly.

The deimios aimed.... and fired.

 3 hits!

3 wounds! The psyker was vapourised with 3 shots from the deimios. Stg 9 ordnance laser cannon shots. An epic end to the psyker.

In the final move of the game with scouts thrusted and slashed, the brave company commander fell with a multitude of wounds. My 3 cards for the last turn were epically: Decapitating strike & KingSlayer and Supremacy. I scored 3 points for those cards, 1 for slay the warlord and another for linebreaker

11-1

VICTORY BLACK SCORPIONS!

Conclusion

Well well well. Magnus is a formidable 40k player. He knows the rules and knows the game. His first two turns were scary. His drop pod and the stormlord firing twice caused a lot of wounds, both my artillery squads caused damage. It looked grim as the centurions and the librarian had dumped right into my lines (oh the irony, the bitter taste of my own medicine) I HAD to deal with them, meaning the Stormlord would continue unmolested.

Again tho, the thunderfires remained the bullet absorbers they truly are. The stormlord kept trying to take them out. The 2+ armour was just too hard to get through, meaning the stormlord was less effective than otherwise.

All in all a good game. My game plan as always with guard is to send flamer tacticals and clear out the rear, so far, it's always worked. It makes it very hard to score objectives.

This is my 9th campaign victory in a row. The hate is palpable and the group is conspiring to deal with me. My downfall will come... soon... but it was not this day.

Thanks to Magnus for being a great opponent!

The hive is ours! shouted Volus, the great towering spires were pock-marked with craters and wounds. The city had folded under the pressure. Once the hive gate was taken the rest of the city fell quickly. The slaying of the commander disrupted all semblance of order amongst these foolish guard. Volus saluted as the great flag of the Black Scorpions fluttered in the wind on the highest spire. 

Prison for Gods - Strategic Strike! (Cheese fest 2016)

High Chaplain Evodius stood quietly with his commanders. They were gathered in the war-room looking over the surveillance picts. The muttering and hushed chatter ceased quickly as the the most important pict was enlarged and enhanced. On Nest, the Imperial world embroiled in carnage, stood giant xenos constructs. Wraithknights! The fickle Eldar had gathered a fearsome host. Whomever they struck next would fall like wheat before the scythe. Evodius gathered his thoughts. A first strike, a daring dagger into the heart of the host would be the only option. A successful shock drop attack would be a hammerblow to the filthy xenos' forces.  These constructs posed a dire threat indeed. Evodius calmy instructed his team to assemble the finest, most dangerous marines in the legion. Arcane weapons would be unleashed. Hundreds of years of experience would be committed to battle. The final piece of the puzzle was Zaitus Meks... aka Wraithsbane. His experience and calm aim had already claimed two such gargantuan constructs. He would be glad to take down a third. 


This battle would be a cheese fest. We agreed before hand that we'd be taking ridiculous armies. Wimaro's Eldar would consist of an autarch, scatter bikes, illic nightspear and rangers, a falcon cloudstrike formation with dire avengers inside and wholly 3 wraightknights!

 The Black Scorpions would be mustering a fearsome battery of firepower. A skyhammer annnihilation formation would be the first wave: grav cannon devs and assault squads with power fists and eviscerators. 3 grav centurions and grav bikers would be present. In the back lines, Zaitus (telion) and a host of scouts would secure the rear. 2 quad mortar squads and 1 thunderfire squad would form the gun line.

We both knew roughly what the other was bringing. This made the game a fun prospect as it would come down to tactics. Each army is ridiculous in it's own right and not a list you'd bring to a 'friendly' game. These games CAN be great fun if everyone is upfront about the coming douchebaggery. Time would tell!

2000 pts - Maelstrom - Eldar vs Space Marines

A fortified tavern, quad mortars and snipers

Thunderfires in the distance

The trio of death! 3x Wraithknights ready for carnage!

Sneaky Rangers forcefully penetrating my rear.

Bikers ready to pop out and scatter laser me

Reserve bikers ready to strike!

 I won the roll off but decided to deploy second. My static gunline and drop pod deepstrike force was more suited to react to another deployment. Wimaro deployed along his lines, concentrating the three wraithknights down the centre, ready to move forward and rampage through my lines.

I deployed in cover with two concentrated bunkers of fire. 2 quad mortars on one side, 1 thunderfires squad on the other. A smattering of scouts would provide back up against potential deepstrikers.

Turn 1

As expected Wimaro charged forth! His tactic was simple enough, wraithknights forward! Bikes hang back and pot shot.

The wrecked waveserpent looks awesome.

 The bikers took their shots, as did the infiltrated rangers. Cover and good rolling meant a grand total of ZERO casualties. The storm of fire was ineffective. The Techmarines had built secure cover (bolster terrain). A grim start!

Sally forth!

The Black Scorpions unleashed the fire-storm! The skyhammer annihilation formation came crashing down from the heavens along with a drop pod with Grav centurions

Zaitus peered out into the early morning. A low mist hung over the battlefield. His forces had snuck in fearsome firepower into these ruins. The librarians of the chapter had expended a considerable amount of mind-force to conceal his forces as they moved into position. Zaitus heard the screeching, he knew the operation had begun in earnest. The three pods slammed into the ground, 2 squads of assault marines descended from the sky like avenging angels. In an instant the quiet, peaceful valley was transformed into a cacophony of noise and destruction. Deafening booms and ear-ringing explosions rang out like a clarion call. The Angels of Death had arrived!

The three wraithknights were all pummeled. Grav centurions, Grav Devastators and grav bikers all took their toll. Each wraithknight lost 3-4 wounds. The artillery then fired with all the hatred they could muster

Zaitus hefted his rifle and peered down the scope. One of the wraithknights was burst and wrent in many places. It's left hip was breached and leaking fluids. Quickly thumbing his intercom he barked out orders to the nearest artillery squad 'Cannons, target designation alpha-7, 7, 8, 4. Fire on my target' 

The booms rang out and 12 shells slammed into the wraithknight. The torn armour was ripped open and the bottom half of the wraithknight evaporated in cataclysmic explosions!

The three wraithknights were laid low by the awesome fire power. The Eldar side had been pummeled. 

DISCLAIMER: This game was essentially and experiment. We would both take the douchiest army we could conjure and go at it. I'd never take such a shitty list in secret or suprise a friend with it. It's just not cool. The same goes for 3 wraithknights. They're just extremely powerful and if you don't have a hard counter the chances of winning is low.

The smoke clears....

 At the end of the first turn some jet bikes remained. The score was 2-1 to the Black Scorpions but the heaviest weapons of the Eldar were destroyed. Wimaro played on...

Turn 2

Wimaro arrived with the cloudstrike formation and autarch. The dire avengers, aptly named, came in at took out a devastator squad and an assault squad. Partially avenging the cruel deaths of the wraithknights.  The Falcons exploded a drop pod in hopes it might take out more marines but the blast wasn't large enough to do any damage.

 The Black Scorpions, with a large army left, took a fearsome toll. A falcon fell and the others were stripped of hull points. The bikes were ripped to pieces too. The brave rangers fended off scouts and sent them running off the table!

Scouts close in!

Turn 3

With little left on the table, the Eldar tried to sell their lives dearly. The rangers took out some scouts, the autarch took a pot shot and the avengers took yet more assault marines.

The unmolested Black Scorpions gunline was intact. With a final series of blasts the rangers, autarch and falcon were pummeled into dust, erased from existence.

Victory....The Black Scorpions had burned their name into the annals of Iybraesil history...



Conclusion!

A glorious victory, 50% tactical genius, 50% Top notch generalmanship.... NOT. This was a game with open lists. I took a hard counter against the fearsome eldar list. In normal games the completely OP skyhammer formation would not be taken. 3 wraithknights is a 'no more friends' list to take too. While this looks like asshole-city, the list were agreed upon and it was a very good natured game. I won because of a mix of a total douche-list and frankly flawless tactics. The gravs strip wounds from the wraiths, the artillery takes more and if they're still standing, two assault squads with powerfists and eviscerators were ready to assault.... the cool bit? The grav's are concussive, meaning the wraithknights strike at Initiative 1. That means the powerfists and eviscerators get to strike simultaneously. In the end, it wasn't needed.

Thanks to Wimaro for holding out, the game lasted only 1 hour-ish so not a wasted day luckily.

Evodius stood, smiling at the vid-feed from the surface of Nest. His forces had crushed the Eldar. The Emperor was truly looking down on them with favour. His hand, guiding each shell to it's target, each bullet into the eye of a filthy xenos, each grenade exploding with divine providence. The other imperial forces had crumbled against the xenos. Evodius could not help but think they must be tainted... those forces were struck with ill-omens and poor luck. A sure sign that they were under the influence of darker powers and not the guiding purity of the Emperor.