It Begins... Firesweep vs. Thousand Sons

Well, the Cities of Death league has started (last week). This week, I went into the action and caught up on both my Week 1 and 2 games. Without Further Adue...

Firesweep vs. Thousand Sons (Corey T)

At 1000 points, forces were small. The nutshell version is thus:

MJ Chaos Marines (Nurgle Theme).
Winged Prince (deployed) (why is everyone so surprised that all I do w/ this guy is put wings on him? No mark, No mojo spell action, just some wings to get him into CC fast. Yet somehow, it *SHOCKS* people that he has "nothing")
10 Plague Marines including 2 meltaguns and Champ with fist (sewer rats)
10 Plague Marines including 2 plasmaguns and Champ with Power Sword (deployed)
5 Lesser Summoned Daemons (reserves)
5 Lesser Summoned Daemons (reserves)
2 Obliterators (reserves)

Corey's Thousand Sons.
Winged Prince, MoT, spells (at least warp time, and wind of chaos I think)
Thousand Sons unit w/ Sorcerer (can't recall his spells)
Thousand Sons unit w/ Sorcerer (can't recall his spells either)
Dreadnought - Twin-lascannon, DCCW
Dreadnought - Plasmacannon, DCCW

We actually used the CoD deployment method (alternating deployments), then mid-way through the game, was told that we're supposed to use the v5 deployment method. OK. Will do so next time...

I deployed the Plasma Plague Marines in a structure near the mid-line of the table and the Prince behind a ruin in my deployment zone.

Thousand Sons deployed both 1kS units in cover/ruins, prince near a ruin (and near center of table), and the two dreads on either flank (Plasma one on Corey's right, Lascannon one on Corey's left).

Turn 1, I go first. *BLING*, I deposit one marker in the building my Plague Marines start the game in, and immediately start running towards the next one. Move and run gets one guy on the base of the building, but the "majority of the unit's models" have to be IN the ruin to claim it, so I end my turn with no shooting and one building in my possession. Also, the DP flies up to right behind a huge central building, out of sight of anything.

Bottom of 1: 1 unit of 1kS are in a ruin, so *BLING*, Corey controls a building. The other 1kS unit moves toward another ruin, but much like me, doesn't get the "majority" of the models into it (yet). Corey's Lascannon dread FIRE FRENZYs. SWEET! Two lascannon shots do nothing (fail to wound and/or saved w/ 4+ invuln.), but two heavy flamer shots KILL 3 Thousand Sons. Did I already say SWEET!?! The plasmacannon dread cooks off four of my plague marines. Aside from that, the 1kS Prince flies forward a bit.

Turn 1. Tied. 1 to 1.

From reserves, I get everything but one Daemon unit - Plague Marines, Daemons, and Obliterators. PM come out of a sewer on my right flank; daemons summon off 1st PM unit and run into another ruin; Obliterators land into the ruin the 1st PM unit started in. Movement for Turn 2 starts out with my Prince flying over the huge central building up close to the opposing Prince. Mwhaaahaaaa! The 1st PM unit completes their movement into a second ruin *BLING* and I also *BLING* the Daemon's ruin. The Sewer Marines almost get into another ruin, but just not quite. Shooting... 1st PM unit has nothing to shoot at, so continues to run. Sewer Marines line-up on rear armor of Lascannon dread and stun it and take out its Lascannon. Obliterators take aim on Plasma Dread and blow it up in spectacular fashion (ok, not so spectacular, but its dead). Assaults... Only one. My Prince on His Prince. Rather than return to this, let me just say that we exchange 0-1 wounds each for both halves of turn 2 and turn 3; my DP finally falls in Turn 4 (leaving his DP w/ 2 wounds).

Corey moves 1kS units up, the "back" one towards the large central building (still shy of it, though), the left flank one into another ruin near the Lascannon Dread *BLING*. Maybe a little bit of shooting on his part, takes out a PM or two from the Sewer unit.

Turn 2, I pull ahead: 3 ruins to 2

Turn 3, and the last daemon unit does not come in. 1st daemon pack takes off across the table, moving and running. 1st PM unit does the same and reaches its third ruin of the game *BLING*. Sewer Marines shuffle a bit and get into the ruin they were near *BLING*. The obliterators shuffle a bit in their ruin to line-up with the 1kS unit approaching the large central building. Shooting... Oblits put 2 plasmacannon shots on the 1kS unit, scattering one off and nailing the other (scatter of 4 inches minus BS of 4 = HIT). I think it killed 1 (Or maybe even none w/ that excellent 4+ invulnerable save they get). Sewer Marines lay into the dread again, hoping to pop it with meltaguns and shower the nearby 1kS unit. No dice. BOTH meltas miss, and the bolters vs. rear armor don't get the 6s they need to glance. Assaults - only the Prince on Prince action going on this turn.

The 1kS units continue to move up, as does the dread. The "back" unit is getting closer to the central building, but still not there yet. The flank unit comes out of their ruin towards the ruin my Sewer Marines are in, and the Lascannon-less Dread follows along, lining up with the Sewer Marines. Shooting... 1kS shooting is minimal, maybe a Sewer marine or two dies (maybe?). Assaults... Prince on Prince action is now becoming EPIC, tit for tat and drawn combats each assault phase. Dread charges the Sewer Marines. Krak grenades are great, kind of. Every PM gets at least one attack - the Krak "troopers" needing 6s to hit followed by 6s to glance (and they won't do the latter, but I think I "hit" that dread like 3 times in the first round of combat and several times more over the subsequent phases) and the Fist Champion needing 4s and 4s to glance. Glances and Penetrating hits come a couple per phase, but only ever stun/immobilize the Dread in the end.

Turn 3 - continuing to pull ahead, Me = 5 ruins, Corey = 2.

Turn 4, and still no daemons. But I'm OK with that. Movement sees the Obliterators lining up some more shots and the 1st daemon pack moving-running across the board; the 1st PM unit moves a bit and runs a little bit as well (accomplishing nothing, really). Shooting is limited, I have none. Assaults see the end of my Prince and the EPIC Prince on Prince action. :-( More activity on the Dread, but again, little progress is made on my part.

Corey finally gets his "back" 1kS unit into the central building *BLING* and also moves the flank 1kS unit towards the ruin my Sewer Marines were just in (until they had to counter charge the dread). A bit of a run, and he makes it into the ruin *BLING* (and a *Anti-BLING* on my part). The Prince moves towards the obliterators, wind of chaos's them, and kills one oblit (2 wounds from the WoC). Assaults sees the Prince rolling into the last Oblit and the Dread-Plague Marine combat still bogged down (a dead marine or two, a stunned dread). Prince kills the last Oblit.

Not that productive of a turn for me, Me = 4, Corey = 4.

Turn 5. 2nd Daemon Pack auto-arrives, summoned off the Dread-Sewer Plague Marine's icon into the bottom floor of the ruin the flank 1kS unit just took away from me. 1st daemon pack moves-runs into another ruin *BLING*, and 1st PM unit moves toward the central building. 1st PM unit shoots at 1kS unit in central building - they are up high and I'm not confident I can make it up in the assault phase (would need a 6 on the Diff. Terrain roll). Little to no effect of that shooting. Assaults see the Dread-Sewer unit continue to bog down, but the PMs are dwindling fast. The newly summoned daemon pack makes it upstairs and assaults the 1kS unit up there. 1 daemon dies and all the 1kS troopers die, leaving 4 daemons vs. the Aspiring Sorcerer.

Corey moves the Prince over to the ruin my 1st daemon pack is in and the 1kS unit in the central building shuffles around to Wind of Chaos my original PM unit. I feel bad here. I actually talked Corey into Wind of Chaos-ing me. His Asp. Sorcerer was on the 3rd floor and I was on the ground. I explained that if he moved down to the 2nd level, he could flamer the level below him - i.e., the ground where I was. Why do I feel bad for talking him into it? Cuz he rolled boxcars (Perils of the Warp) and lost his Sorcerer in the process. Sorry, dude. :-( Anyhoo... Shooting... Prince Wind of Chaos vs. 1st daemon pack, killing 2; and as mentioned, the 1kS Asp. Sorcerer attempted the same thing vs. 1st PM squad, but killed himself. Assaults... Prince assaults daemon pack, killing them all. Checking w/ the league organizer to clarify the scoring uint status and whatnot, it came that the daemons had done their job, claiming that ruin, and now that the Prince stood alone in it, he could not 'unclaim' it, so *BLING*. Meanwhile, over on the other side of the table, the 2nd daemon pack takes down the Asp. Sorcerer (last person) in that 1kS unit, so *BLING* for me (and *anti-BLING* for Corey).

Me =6, Corey = 3.

Game continues into Turn 6...

My turn 6 sees the 2nd daemon pack move-run over to another ruin that the 1kS unit had taken earlier - *BLING* for me (and *anti-BLING* for Corey). In Corey's 6th turn, he finishes off both Plage Marine squads. But alas, the game ends.

Final tally... (drum roll, please...)

Me = 7, Corey = 3. We determined that this did not count as a "Massacre" but was better than a "standard win" (forget the term) and counted as a "Major Victory" for me. Moral victory goes to Corey as he ended the game with part of a 1kS unit, a Prince, and a damaged Dread; all I ended the game w/ was 3 Lesser Daemons cowering in the 7th ruin...

17 BPs for me and, hmm, now I forget... 5 (?) for Corey (maybe 7?).


All in all, I was pleased. The Feel No Pain of the Plague Marines really took the wind out of those special bolter rounds the 1kS units have (the ones w/ AP 3 - no armor save, but FNP still applies). BUT, IMO, the MVPs of my force are the Lesser Daemon packs. Between two 5-strong units, they took a total of 4 of my 7 ruins, one of which was taken by Sewer PMs, lost to the 1kS, and regained by the Daemons.