Lions of Harlech vs. Chaos -8th ed Battle.

Hello.
Neverness here along with Kushial. We played a game of Warhammer 40,000 8th edition this past Sunday. It was my first game and his 4th (?) of the new edition. What follows is a brief overview with comments from us both regarding the game and our thoughts on the new edition. Enjoy!

Kushial- Actually, it was my 3rd game of 8th, but they've been so spread out it almost felt like a first game.  There was plenty of book referral for both of us.  This is also our first time trying to do a dual writer post, so hopefully this turns out well.

The Lions of Harlech, steadfast against the traitors!

Neverness: I was excited to see that Army Builder was finally updated in support of the new edition. However they are behind, which is quite understandable considering the sheer amount of rules GW has flooded the market with since the new edition launched just a few months ago. As a result, just the Index books are currently supported. And I am OK with that. So the army I brought was strictly from the Index, while Kushial's is from the current Codex: Space Marines. It was my idea to try out the Open War cards. In hindsight we probably should have stuck with one of the basic missions in the rulebook, but these looked too fun not to try out.

Kushial: I think the issue was less the Open War Cards and more the ones we drew.  That card limiting shots to 12 inches max on turn one really was a major curve ball.  It would be interesting to try some of the other cards.  Though you also found the flaw in the Army Builder set up currently in that it doesn't have a way to do the degrading effects of being wounded on vehicles.  Not sure how they're going to add that in there without making the unit entries even longer than they are currently.

Neverness: We drew Objective: Invasion, Twist: Dead of Night and the Deployment card was a weird Triangle deployment. We somehow forgot about the Ruse card. Oops!

Open War, a good way to mix it up.

Neverness: The objectives were placed. I brought the street lights I recently painted for the other table, and we decided it would make a fun Narnia vibe if these were our objectives. Lonely lamp posts in a snowy place. Truly something worth dying for!

Chaos left flank.

Space Marines deployment zone.

Chaos right flank.

Kushial:  Here in the deployment is where I think you really threw me an advantage, especially with the range limitation on shooting.  Letting me concentrate my entire army on about half of yours early on made things a bit easier for me in the mid game turns.  I guess you were going to try and do a flank maneuver with the Landraider but you went so wide with it that combined with the Twist Card it didn't come into play until turn five which was the last that we played.

Neverness: This particular set-up was not very forgiving. Placement is crucial in any game but in this set-up, and with this edition, it can literally determine if you are going succeed or fail. Ironically the Twist card probably saved me at this stage as much as it hampered me as it spared my units from the attentions of the Lion's Devestator Squads. But, as Kushial points out, it totally kept the Landraider from being effective until the last turn or this game. Again, deployment is crucial. 

Kushial:  I think that was the fastest I've seen a unit of Khorne Berserkers that size vanish.  Between the Contemptor's Kheres Assault Cannon, the Tactical Squad's shots, and the Sky Talon straffing with Heavy Bolters and Twin Assault Cannon, those Berserkers got a lot of wounds laid into them.  And your dice seemed all too willing to be my accomplices.

Neverness: The lack of cover and LOS blocking features made the Khorne Berserkers sitting ducks. The 2 CP Stratagem that let them auto-save their morale test allowed them to stay in the fight a bit longer. They put some damage on the flyer, which was nice, but not effective enough. They just couldn't cope with that level of firepower. Also, when it came to charge, the dice foiled me hard. By the bottom of Turn 2 they were all dead.

When tank drivers have more bloodlust than a Hellbrute...

Kushial:  Ah, that poor, poor, lost soul driving that Vindicator, such a foul joke was played on him.  You wanted to hit my Dread with everything you could so the Hellbrute declares charge, the Chaos leader on his steed declares a charge, and just to throw in the kitchen sink so does the Vindicator.  And then only the Vindicator makes it into combat with the other two not coming even close on their charge rolls.  I see him spilling the blood of some comrades once they get back home.

Neverness: Like you said Kushial, that was a joke. Being my first 8th ed game I wanted to see how a tank worked in Close Combat, as 'fighting' tanks is a new concept in this game. But my thinking here was that the Vindicator would provide a support role for the Hellbrute and/or the Warlord on Juggernaut. So I charged that Dreadnought with my Vindicator. I think this was my biggest tactical blunder in the whole game and it's not one I am soon to forget. It did survive this encounter but it was beaten all the way down to 2 Wounds and greatly reduced in effectiveness.

Straffing runs are fun!

Kushial:  I liked the Sky Talon in the last edition.  I think I love it in this one.  It puts out so many shots between the two Heavy Bolters and the Twin Assault Cannon.  It killed 6 or so Berserkers on Turn 1, almost turned your commander into a greasy spot until we remembered your Warlord Trait, and then took out your traitor marines holding your objective.  Definitely was my MVP for the game.

Neverness: Oh no doubt. MVP of the whole game! I need one of these for my Ultramarines! 
It is truly a gunship now. The assault cannons are back in a big way and they bring the pain for sure. I had 6 saves to make with Juggernaut riding Warlord and botched all 6 of them. We remembered his Warlord Trait which allowed him to ignore failed saves on a 6+ which kept him in the game for a bit longer. It was the scariest moment in the game for me. But it made a difference as he was able to assist the Hellbrute with taking out that annoying Dreadnought before consolidating into the marines behind it. 

Consolidating is back!

Neverness: In Kushial's turn, the marines focused on bringing down my Warlord and despite his re-rolls, his wounds were too grievous to keep in the battle.

Chaos right flank collapses.

Kushial:  Alright, we've got THIS half the board cleansed, now to work on the OTHER half.  For the Emperor!  For Dorn! and for Harlech!

Chaos Terminators vs. the entire Lions of Harlech force! 

Neverness: I had my Chaos Terminators port in near the Lion's back line. I knew they would be juicy targets but I also knew they could dish out some death. They were able to eliminate one of the Devestator Squads and wound the Venerable Dreadnought before damn near the entire Lions of Harlech army gunned them into oblivion.

Kushial:  Oh look, Terminators out in the open.  Ready, Aim, .....  Yes, while they came in where they could hurt me some, they really were wide open for counter fire to rip into them.  There really was no other option though that seemed any better.

Gunship clearing objectives...

Kushial:  I need to figure out a way to do a stream of brass coming down in the wake of this thing to really show how much firepower it dishes out.


Neverness: An assortment of perforated corpses on the base might convey that too...

Hell to blast. 

Kushial:  While I wish I had this small unit of Void Lions painted for the battle as they were the only unit I fielded that wasn't completely painted and based, it was definitely fun trying them out.  While a bit expensive point wise, they definitely dish out some heavy firepower with those Plasma Incinerators.

Neverness: I was impressed with these guys as well. They can really dish out the death. I found them to be very imposing. My weakened Vindicator took some shots at them but was unable to hit with the Demolisher Cannon due to it's BS baving been reduced to 5+. They contributed greatly to the demise of the Chaos Terminators, who just couldn't roll enough 5+ invulnerable saves to save their lives. 

Also, their bases look awesome on this table!

Hellbrute wants to play!

Neverness: The Hellbrute was probably the MVP of my army for this game. He charged a another Contemptor Dreadnought and destroyed in Close Combat. In the above pic, you can see where he ended up after he consolidated. It was like he busted through a barrier and was now in reach of more meaty targets to pulverize. However, what I like about that pic also is that the Lions are facing the direction that the Chaos Terminators were, and you know they are all going to turn around and offer that Hellbrute the same attention...

So far away.

Neverness: If the Hellbrute is my MVP, than the Landraider was my MWP (Most Wasted Player). The deployment of that machine hurt it's ability to fire as did the Twist card, not that the Lions minded much. It eventually closed in enough to annihilate the Venerable Dreadnought though.

Kushial:  No way I could finish off the Land Raider, but I definitely think I could have taken the Hellbrute and Vindicator off had we played one more turn.  I think Nurgle has been messing with your dice to keep the devotees of Khorne from gaining any favors or blessings.

Objective Secured, the Lions have saved Narnia!

Kushial:  Well, both of us were victims of the new Morale Check rules.  While I like that they definitely keep the game moving, they can be brutal if you put enough wounds into a unit.  Needing to roll a -2 for those Berserkers thus forcing you to burn Command Points to keep the last few on the table definitely helped me later on from you possibly doing something more damaging to me instead.  Being able to use my Command Points offensively while you had to use yours to keep models on the table hampered you some I think.  But back to the Morale Check rules, while I lost a few marines to it, you lost what?  A terminator, several Beserkers, and a couple of the other Chaos marines to them?

Neverness: Morale, is indeed, a very powerful aspect in this edition in determining whether or not you are going to have a unit make it to the next Turn or not. In the past, I tend to not like games that are decided on Morale, but I need a few more games in before I can truly judge this one. Close Combat is definitely different and I think it is harder in this edition to eliminate an opposing unit in this phase than in previous editions. I still think 5th edition was best in regards to Close Combat.

So that was our game. Again, I need a few more games in before I can truly judge 8th edition, but so far I think I like it. It is different though, and the definitely the most radical change in the rule set since 2nd ed transitioned to 4rd ed, so there is definitely going to be some growing pains for awhile I think.

Thanks for reading this, we hope to have another battle report like this one in the near future!

Kushial: This has been an interesting way to write a blog post.  It might be interesting to give it another go some other time in the future.  As for all of you out there, thanks for reading and we'll see you all next time!