Action Report: Imperial Guard vs. Chaos 9-03-07

Toggog's newly reorganized band of marauders conducted a surprise raid today, fighting the Tiefwalder Red Rifles for control of a power substation in the forested wilds of Tiefwald itself. The newest arrivals served their master well and their abilities complemented the force nicely. Toggog himself was downed early by heavy ordnance and ambushing veterans, but Sorcerer Aziz survived nearly the entire battle, seducing several units out of cover and wiping out two infantry squads by himself, normally by overrunning them after they broke and ran from close combat. The havocs killed some infantry but were unable to damage any vehicles; they were destroyed in the end. Two berzerkers survived an initial devastating earthshaker hit to help the obliterators teleport right next to the leman russ. Immediately they opened up with their multimeltas and destroyed it. The berzerkers were finally wiped out after that but the obliterators would survive to destroy a hellhound and contest their sector. On the other side of the battle, the Thousand Sons burst forward early and, for a short time, kept cover behind their rhino, opening up on one squad dragged into range by the dread Sorcerer Aziz. However, the emperor smiled on Tiefwald, and the biggest guns of the Big Green aimed straight and true, quickly reducing the Thousand Sons to ashes. Behind their smoldering remains, a huge Terminator squad hurried over to contest the adjacent sector. At the very climax of the battle, they fell under a mass of fire from infantry and armor and not enough survived fight off the nearby Imperial forces. The buildings and landscape were scorched and pockmarked by ordnance and small arms but the substation and the sector was back under control, at least for the time being. Imperial Guard wins, solid victory!

Overall I liked how the rumored Chaos played out, even if they didn't win their first game. I got first turn and was able to put a couple of early wounds on the demon prince, facilitating his early demise. He was on his way to surely wreak major havoc when I scored hits with both my deep-striking veteran squads, right next to him, mucho BS4 melta and plasma, adios. The big prince is cheaper now, true, but his old demon armor and feel no pain will be sorely missed under heavy fire like that. Gone before their time, the thousand sons were basically knocked out in one turn by the demolisher and basilisk's combined pieplates - I had some great luck with scattering this game. The Terminators were thick and it took my Guard-quantity guns to make a dent in them. They might have been better off deep-striking, maybe not, I can't really decide. It's a big risk to keep their expensive unit in limbo, but their early turns were mostly spent moving up - although to be fair, I did manage to pin them first turn on a freak leadership roll with the ratlings after only killing one! Cheesy. I'm seriously considering dropping their icon of tzeentch for a cheaper chaos glory version. I think the points will be better spent elsewhere, like getting two more havocs or a icon of khorne on the bikes (who honestly deserve it for their berzerker paint scheme and iconography). I really liked how the deep-striking obliterators turned out, coming in relatively late in the game and into a place where I couldn't put much fire into them. That accurate teleport is gold for them. And last but not least: lash! Well, what can I say? It worked just like it was supposed to, rolling 8's for the movement almost every time, really screwing up one end of my gun line by yanking fools out of cover and into shooting and assault range of the thousand sons and terminators. C2 kept him separate from the other assault units, and he definitely dealt his fair share of damage, but I think he might have been more effective working with them in concert. Still, it was the first game with the new configuration and next game I expect the list to be that much more deadly.