Hello Readers, a couple of weeks ago Lord Halfpenny and I travelled up to WarhammerFest and Warhammer World making a weekend of it. It's our annual pilgrimage to the home of our beloved hobby. Unfortunately, my Laptop went completely blank and everything was lost with the exception of what I could recover using some recovery programmes... I won't mull over not having backed up my photos... but needless to say the blog is now the only place I have photos of my Minis or Batreps. Doh. This battle however survived :)
Here is the Relictors Force defending this key bridge from the hordes of Chaos - backed up with Canis Bellum of the Legio Astorum. 5000 pts of Relictors and 1600 pts of Titan. The objectives were placed along both sides of the River, one in each deployment zone and a 3pt one on the centre of the bridge - the main objective - have a Relictors model at turn 5 to blow the explosives on the bridge!
Arrayed against them were the rampaging hordes of Chaos heading towards the Hive City Majoris. - The only hope, cut off the main route across the bridge by blowing the explosive charges to slow the advance and give the PDF time to mount a proper defence. 6500 pts of Daemons led by a Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne and An'ggrath the Greater Daemon Bloodthirster.
The Daemons lined the opposite bank, ready to jump across the river or pour over the bridge into the Relictor fire. An'ggrath leading the charge - he might be the Warlord but also the toughest Daemon on the field.
Relictors Battle Round 1
Arrayed against the Daemons was the finest humanity could offer, misunderstood by the Imperium, hunted by the Inquisition and being assessed by the attached Grey Knights - sentencing would have to wait until the Great Enemy was pushed back.
Canis Bellum concentrated fire on both the largest and powerful threats, the Vulcan Mega Bolter poured fire at the Bloodthrister An'ggrath trying to find a chink in his Daemon Armour, and the Plasma Blastgun at the Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne stripping 12 wounds.
The Relictors arsenal concentrated most of the Lascannon fire from the Spartan, Land Raider, Xiphon, and the GK Dreadnought at An'ggrath - stripping him of all but the last wound, that glory went to Titan Canis Bellum - killing the Daemon Warlord who exploded in rage wounding Fateweaver and the Scorpion in his death throes.
The Bloodthirster on the flank was wounded by concentrated Thunderfire, killing a Plague Toad.
A Flamer Chariot of Tz was taken down by Thunderfire and Whirlwind indirect fire on the other flank. The sting of the Daemons was certainly blunted, but the Scorpion was now poised to charge over the bridge.
Daemons Battle Round 1
The Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne scuttled over the bridge guns blazing at the nearby Achilles Land Raider destroying the relic vehicle (the first battle it's ever fallen) and slamming into the Tactical Squad holding the bridge end - wiping out 9 of the squad with the Lascannon marine fighting back, but eventually running from the battlefield.
The Screamers of Tz surge forward to take on the Scouts entrenched on the Aquila Fortification but the Flamer Chariot of Tz robbed them of their prize, wiping out the Scouts. Elsewhere, Fateweaver used his mastery of the magjicks Smiting the GK Dreadnought from 36in away taking 3 mortal wounds. The Skullcannon of Khorne and Soulgrinder wiped out the GK Strike Squad holding the bridge, now the bridge was in the Daemon hands.
The Bloodthirster on the flank enraged by the earlier wounding, charged the StormTalon with the intention of tearing the machine from the sky, however the Techmarine pilot Ace quickly manoeuvred the aircraft avoiding the worst of the attack, taking just 3 wounds. The Plague Toads leaped (hopped) at the aircraft but failed to get past the armour.
State of Play after Turn 1, the bridge was in Daemon hands, only the Relictors stood in the way of the Daemon advance towards the Hive City Majoris. The Daemons also had Nurglings popping up in the rear of the Relictor lines...
Relictor Battle Round 2
The central RTB01 Tactical Squad turned to face the Nurglings in the rear, but the disgustingly resilient Nurglings shrugged off most of the firepower, only taking down one base.
In an attempt to regain the advantage, the Grey Knight Terminators and Relictor Terminator Librarian deepstruck onto the bridge in a Gandolf "YOU shall not pass!" style... now they need to thin the advancing hordes, leaving the Scorpion to the rest of the Relictors forces.
The Scouts, StormTalon and Tactical Squad and Smite from the nearby Librarian and Stalker Icarus Stormcannons wounded the Bloodthirster with the Godhammer Land Raider slaying the beast.
The Assault Squad prepares to charge.
The Xiphon Interceptor struck at a Flamer Chariot killing it. The Assault Troops with Chaplain charged the Daemon Prince, a fallen disgrace of the Relictors - wiping out the stain on their honour!
The Screamers were shot up by the massed Grav Cannon Devastators and Whirlwinds decimating their ranks. Only one Flamer Chariot was left on this flank.
The Titan buoyed by the first turn shooting struck out at the Brass Scorpion but this time the shots bounced off. The Lascannons of the Spartan spoke and destroyed the Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne! The daemon machine got the revenge in the explosion taking six wounds off the GK Rifleman Dreadnought and one off the Dreadnought, killed two Tactical Marines, a GK Terminator and two wounds off the Librarian on the bridge.
The GK Rifleman and the Predator Annihilator shot the Lord of Change and Fateweaver, leaving the LoC bruised but Fateweaver on one wound.
The StormHawk targeted the Decimator taking a single wound but was grown back...
As the smoke cleared at the end of Relictors Battle Round 2, the Daemons flow was stemmed for now. Each minute holding them at the bridge meant more time to prepare a proper defence at the Hive City.
Daemons Battle Round 2
The Lord of Change stormed the defences and wiped out the Scouts. The Plague Toads charged the StormTalon again forcing the Pilot to carry out evasive manoeuvres again. All over the board, the Daemons stormed towards the thin grey line...
On the bridge, Fiends of Slannesh, Soulgrinder and Hounds of Khorne all charged the Terminators. The Terminators put up a good defence but their numbers were whittled down, the Librarian fell, along with two more Terminators leaving just two GK Terminators holding the onrushing hordes... they will sell their lives well for the Emperor!
Turn three was near closing time! We'd been battling and enjoying WHW all day so was a little rushed, we wanted to play out the bridge, the majority of the Daemon Hordes were coming to the bridge, the Relictors still held the Imperial bank side, but the bridge looked lost. The Skarabrand, Lord of Change and Fateweaver all fell, the Decimator which was proving a thorn in my side with its long range Conversion Beamer got the full attention of Canis Bellum - and was wiped off the plains with ease. The last of the Chariots was taken down, and more resilient Nurglings died to sustained firepower. All that was left on the Imperial side was one plague toad, a Blight Drone and some Nurglings.
In the centre of the bridge, finally the Grey Knight Terminators fell under the hooves of the Bloodcrushers and Soulgrider, the bridge was secured for the foul Daemons and the Relictors started the inevitable slow fighting retreat back towards the Hive City complex... the field was the Daemons but they had been punished hard, many named Daemons had fallen and Warhound Canis Bellum would add another honour marking to his carapace for felling the mighty Bloodthirster An'ggrath the Greater Daemon of Khorne and will continue to punish the hordes as they surge towards the Hive defences.
It will be a long protracted war...
Well, that was superb fun, rushed at the end, maybe we need to reel in our expectations of timings. We were meant to have a four way which speeds up the play with 2vs2, simultaneous players moving and rolling so big points can be played - but since it was just the two of us we should perhaps have reduced the points values to get more turns - but that said, the Daemons had reached and surged the bridge so taking the bridge back would be a tough ask. Playing at WHW is less about the result, and hugely about the fun and narrative and the atmosphere.
LH - The battle was intense, but very entertaining.. after Siph's first turn, smashing through my big units I thought the game was lost, however the daemons dug in and ground out a smash and grab to claim the bridge objective.. a rematch is needed!
It was a great day, it rounded off a great weekend and we all look forward to next year at WarhammerFest and WHW, next year we'll do WHW on the Saturday to get a full day 10-10pm game (closes at 6pm on Sunday) and Sunday for WarhammerFest for the Golden Daemon awards, finishing at a decent hour to get back down the road to home.
Cheers for reading this far! And if you get the chance, go visit WHW and the exhibition halls are a must. Good times. Cheers, Siph and Lord Halfpenny.
