Blood for the blood god (and Nurgle)

It’s Queen’s Birthday weekend even here in the Republic of Northcote, so we marked the occasion as fits a monarch by waging some war.  James, Cam, Steef and I got together for some 40K. James and I gave the current Space Marine codex a last outing against a joint chaos incursion by Cam using Nurgle marines and Steef who tried out Khorne Daemonkin.

Chaos mass in their deployment zone, waiting the signal to charge

We used 3,000 points a side, with Dawn of War deployment and the maelstrom of war mission Deadlock, where the maximum number of tactical cards reduces each turn, starting from six cards per side.  We placed the six objectives evenly along the table. Imperial won the toss but let Chaos set up first. Knowing they were most likely to just charge across the table at us we wanted a chance to set up some clear lines of fire.
A plan that went awry right from the start as Khorne bikers arrived in our face on turn one.

Go get’em boys

Chaos hounds and bikers, along with the a Khorne lord on a juggernaught were all in combat in the first two turns, with charge and counter-charge defining this flank for the rest of the game.

The chaplain gets a mention in despatches for successfully taking around 10 invulnerable saves

The Imperials held this flank, at some cost, but beyond a victory point for slay the war lord, there were no points to be won.

Chaos dominated the other flank. With plenty of big toys, including a very nice looking hell chicken, they slapped down, burnt and generally stomped on every loyal marine in the vicinity.

I forget what we played this as – not an imperial knight. It had a battle cannon and looked awesome

The only marine in the village. “One, this is recon alpha, I need a bit of help over here”

The centre was tough. This was the key for the loyalists if they were to achieve their objectives and the Exorcists threw in all they had.

Despite the carnage, Chaos held on and the Space Marine attack bogged down to contest but not seize the objectives in the centre.

It wasn’t a game changer, but this mauler fiend still had a fun day out

Imperial strategists cut their losses, leaving Chaos to win 12 VP to 6.

So it appears that Chaos has returned to the offensive. Faith and Steel recommend that your emergency plans are current and to standby for further orders.