This Thousand Sons VS Space Wolves Annihilation battle report is especially brutal.Having played his Thousand Sons against my Space Wolves for a number of games, James was finally on his way to defeating the sons of Fenris.
This time we rolled an Annihilation mission with the Pitched Battle set up, which is James' favourite combination.
He likes killing stuff in a straightforward way. I'd have preferred a Dawn of War set up, but oh well.
We used the same lists as last time, but I knew that this game could easily go either way. James would be looking for easy Kill Points, which would be my transports. Meanwhile I'd be looking to kill whatever I could. Thousand Sons units are designed to be tough and I knew I'd be struggling to keep up with the kills.
Guess I'd just have to get in their as quick as I can and kill as much as I can, then consolidate my losses if things get a bit too tense.
SET UPI won the roll off and chose the table edge with the best places to deploy my Long Fangs. I had no idea where James would be coming from, so I did a repeat performance of the last game, but with my Long Fangs already in place and my small Grey Hunter pack with their Razorback and one of the Long Fang Razorbacks on the 'starting line'.
I was going hunting this game and I wanted everything mobilised!
I then put a Landspeeder on each flank, ready to speed down the sides, cause a distraction and hopefully blow something up.
James put everything but his Defiler on the board this time. On the back left was the Chaos Lord and his Terminator retinue. Left of the centre was a Thousand Sons squad in Rhino with a pair of Obliterators hiding behind. The same was also right of the centre.
TURN 1I decided that to make the Kill Points easy, I only wanted to fight half of the Thousand Sons army and every vehicle in the Space Wolves army sped across to the right flank, firing smoke launchers as they went.
Meanwhile the Land Speeder zoomed up the right flank. The close proximity of the multimelta to the Thousand Sons Rhino would cause problems for James next turn unless he dealt with it.
The Long Fangs fired at the Thousand Sons Rhinos, but had no effect due to the dense cover.
On the right flank, the Thousand Sons and Obliterators moved to deal with the Land Speeder, exposing themselves to the advancing Space Wolves and one of the Long Fang packs. They opened fire and countless shots ricocheted off or missed the Space Wolves skimmer, until a glancing hit stunned the crew, leaving them unable to move or fire next turn. Ah well, it was worth a try.
On the left flank the Thousand Sons Terminators and Obliterators fired at the Space Wolves convoy and the Long Fang's Razorback exploded. It always does that...
Kill Points:
James 1, Adam 0
TURN 2The Space Wolves mechanised column continued to advance and began to spread out as their direction changed.
Once again, supporting fire from the Long Fangs was totally ineffective.
The Chaos Defiler clanked on to the table, bolstering the Thousand Sons defences on the right flank, before opening fire with its autocannon and immobilising the nearest Rhino. Meanwhile the Obliterators fired at the next closest Rhino, stunning it.
The Thousand Sons took down the Space Wolves Land Speeder which exploded, showering them in burning wreckage and killing two of them.
On the left flank the Chaos Terminators and Obliterators turned their attention to the Long Fangs in the building, killing the squad leader but the battle hardened Space Wolves held their ground.
The Thousand Sons Rhino on the left sped along the top of the board, to the centre.
Kill Points:
James 2, Adam 0
TURN 3With two Rhinos full of Grey Hunters unable to move for the turn, I disembarked both and advanced them. The first moved through the rubble around a ruined building towards the Defiler while the other pack advanced alongside the large ruin on the right flank, before running further along it and into cover.
The Rune Priest's Rhino and the Grey Hunter Razorback took a different route, moving North towards the approaching Thousand Sons Rhino.
The remaining Space Wolves Land Speeder glided over the ruin in the centre and floated alongside the approaching Thousand Sons Rhino before turning it into a burning wreck with a whooping blast of its Multimelta.
Fire from the Grey Hunter Razorback, a lascannon blast from the Long Fang Razorback on the left flank and a salvo of krak missiles killed 4 of the Thousand Sons as the staggered from the burning transport.
The Long Fangs on the right flank detonated the other Thousand Sons Rhino in a gigantic explosion which caught the Grey Hunters, Obliterators and Thousand Sons squad in the blast. The Grey Hunters and Obliterators were unscathed, but the Thousand Sons took another casualty.
The Grey Hunters in front of the Defiler opened fire with melta gun and combi-melta, both missing comically, before charging the Chaos engine. Despite penetrating the Chaos walker with the Wolf Guard's powerfist, the Grey Hunters lost two of their number, but held their ground. The combat raged on.
On the right flank the Chaos Obliterators fell back, firing with the nearby Thousand Sons squad at the Grey Hunters on the edge of the large ruin, but the Space Wolves passed all of their cover saves.
On the left flank the Chaos Terminators continued firing on the Long Fangs, killing 2 of them, but they still refused to flee.
The Chaos Obliterators fired on the Space Wolves Land Speeder, immobilising it. The nearby Thousand Sons squad added their fire, but with no effect. Either way the skimmer was stuck and would be an easy kill point in the next turn.
The Grey Hunters and Chaos Defiler continued their desperate struggle with neither side inflicting any damage.
Kill Points:
James 2, Adam 2
TURN 4On the right flank the Grey Hunters swept away the Thousand Sons squad in a brief, but bloody combat without taking a single casualty.
The battle between the other Grey Hunter pack and the Defiler raged on as the Defiler killed another of the Space Wolves regardless of glancing hits, which had no effect due to the Chaos engine's Daemonic Possession.
In a daring manoeuvre the Rune Priest's Rhino sped forward, parking itself in front of the burning Thousand Sons Rhino wreckage. Meanwhile the Grey Hunter Razorback followed up behind, firing its twin linked heavy bolter and reducing the Thousand Sons squad to 4 men.
The Long Fangs on the right flank fire a salvo of krak missiles at the Obliterators, but the rockets have no effect due to their heavy armour.
On the left flank, the two remaining Long Fangs abseil down the side of the building and embark in their parked up Razorback which fires on the Thousand Sons squad, but does no damage.
The Chaos Lord and Terminators advance towards the Land Speeder while the Thousand Sons squad backs away from the Rune Priest and Grey Hunter pack in the nearby Rhino. Combing their fire with the Obliterators, they blast the storm bolter from the Space Wolves Rhino, but otherwise cannot inflict any real damage.
On the right flan, the Obliterators destroy the immobilised Rhino before they inevitably become overwhelmed as the Space Wolves close in around them.
Another Grey Hunter is torn apart by the Defiler before the Wolf Guard finally brings his powerfist to bare, penetrating the Chaos walker three times and destroying it in a massive explosion. Fortunately none of the Grey Hunters are killed in the blast and they consolidate back towards the ruined building.
Kill Points:
James 3, Adam 4
TURN 5The Rune Priest Rhino sped to the top right corner, spun sideways and the Space Wolves disembarked. The other Grey Hunter packs closed in and opened fire en masse. I cae Jaws Of The World Wolf for the first time and one of the Chaos Obliterators fell down a hole. Just as well really, because my shooting was appauling. But a final melta gun blast was able to kill the remaining Obliterator outright.
The Grey Hunter Razorback moved into position where the Rune Priest Rhino had been before.
The Long Fangs fired another salvo of krak missiles at the Thousand Sons squad, killing 1 of them. The Long Fang razorback on the left flank fired again and missed.
The Thousand Sons, Terminators and Obliterators all advanced firing and one by one did small amounts of damage to the Land Speeder stranded in the open until it was a wreck.
And with that the game ended...
Kill Points:
James 4, Adam 5
CONCLUSION:
Now this was a tough game! I spent a few turns driving diagonally across the board, Long Fang firepower was pretty worthless, my Land Speeders were practically suicidal and the sheer volume of low armour vehicles in my army made it a shooting gallery for Kill Points. To make matters worse, once I'd got past the two easy Kill Points in the Thousand Sons army (the Rhinos), I had to try and whittle down some seriously tough units. But I got there in the end.
Had the game gone on another turn, who knows what would have happened. I think the Thousand Sons would have had a long ranged advantage and with plenty of my Rhinos still left in play, it would only be a matter of time before James equalised and then overtook my Kill Point score.
In hindsight I could have let James go first so I'd know where he was going to deploy. But could the Rhino convoy weather that extra turn of fire? Probably not.
This is my last battle report before Battle Of The Chumps. In the meantime you can read my complete Space Wolves escalation army list and I'll see you on the other side.
Stay tuned for more Space Wolves battle reports soon!
3 comments:
June 18, 2010 at 12:52 PM
There can be no forgiveness.
June 18, 2010 at 5:46 PM
at least he didnt give up
June 19, 2010 at 1:46 AM
Yeah, makes a nice change :P
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