+ New Guard Grind +

Popped out to 40k night for another random game. Though things looked dead at first, I found another dude who had all but given up on getting a game that night ... My boys in black and brown were up against new guard, but a nice guy with a far from optimized list. Still a lot of guns though!

Anarchonquistadores vs Imperial Guard [1500] - I was definitely worried as IG have never been easy for my lads, as they always involve walking into all their guns. And in the new edition they have more of them, as well as loads of AV14 tanks my low-AT army can't handle. His list thankfully did turn out fairly soft:

Command HQ
3x lascannon squad
2x lascannon + missile launcher squad
3x mortar squad
3x autocannon squad
2x heavy bolter + autocannon squad
Platoon HQ - powerfist, boltpistol
10 guard - plasma
10 guard - melta
10 guard - flamer
Platoon HQ - power weapon, laspistol
10 guard - plasma
10 guard - melta
10 guard - flamer
Demolisher - lascannon + heavy bolters
Leman Russ - lascannon + heavy bolters
Basilisk

That sounds about right to me. I took my standard 1500 list (so the previous one but with havoks not the defiler - i.e. no vehicles).

Game turned out to be KP with table quarter deployment. CSM won the roll and took it, choosing a quarter with 2 low buildings + crater in it and giving the guard a two story building and a couple craters. Chaos deployment saw the havoks + oblit in the building farthest from the guard corner, with noise marines bunkered in the other building, shooty CSM in the crater 12" from the board center, 1k sons + lord to their left in the open and fisty CSM poised to push into the adjacent corner and move through the cover of a building to go deliver some demonic love.

Guard responded by blobbing up the platoons into two 30 man squads and pushing them as close to the 12" from-center mark as they could. Russ went west and demolisher north in support of the infantry, and all the AT weapon teams were north behind the demolisher. The anti-infantry fire teams went in the building, the mortars behind the building and the CHQ inside the building. PHQ squads stayed near their big blobbed up friends. Finally, basilisk hunched half behind the building, ready to go direct or indirect as needed.

Chaos 1

Feeling woefully under-gunned, the Anarcho crew took a deep breath and got to it. Fisty CSM move + run (3") west, 1k sons advance towards all those lasguns, and everybody else gets ready to dakka. 1k sons open up with their expensive AP3 guns on the north blob, resulting in a few dead guard - and the deathscreamer rolls a 1, but the wound is saved. The noise marines join in too, with the blastmaster splattering a number but failing to cause a pining check, and the break test is passed as well. The shooty CSM open up on the western blob, and with some solid firepower break the squad and it falls back behind the russ. The havoks and the oblit attempt to dent the russ but bounce off its armor.

KP 0-0

Guard 1

The western blob rallies, then uses the RUN! order to get in front of their tank again. With troublesome movement over, it was time to show those evil marines how shooting really works ... The north blob used LASGUN HELL! to wash the 1k sons with a drunk number of shots, which resulted in 6 wounds and 4 dead robots (yep, my dice-rolling skills in action). Happily the squad absorbed the other, clearly less deadly fire directed at it. The tanks (which scattered perhaps once all game) accounted for a dead fisty marine (4,1,1,1 to wound with the basi), a dead shooty marine or two (russ) and a couple dead noise marines (demo). AT fire was absorbed by cover or missed, AI fire couldn't find purchase against the power armor, though the mortars in fact killed 2 shooty marines! Pining and break tests were batted aside across the board.

KP 0-0

Chaos 2

No reserves wanted to play, which was fortunate as they didn't really have good icons or targets yet. The fisty CSM remedied that by powering 12" west and north into a ruined building, and the 1k son remnants (lord, sorcerer, robot) stumbled towards the north blob pretty certain they were dead meat. Unfortunately when it came to exact bloody revenge, the doombolt failed to wound, the robot killed a guardsman and the deathscreamer rolled a 1 (but no wound through). Blastmaster and shooty CSM smacked that blob all the same, accounting for some dead guard but no failed pining or break tests. Over in the heavy support bunker the oblit missed the russ, and the havoks opted for frag and brutalized the rallied guard blob. It passed its break this time though, which was nice as the fisty icon was just over that ruined wall ...

KP 0-0

Guard 2

An aggressive movement phase this time around, as the northern blob descended upon the 1k sons and the demo ground up onto the crater in front of it. Thanks to the FIRE A LOT! order the sorcerer turned to ash and the lord took 2 wounds, to be finished off by an autocannon in short order. The lone 1k robot battled on, absorbing an inordinate amount of fire and living to the next turn. Other fire knocked the fisty CSM down to 4 members (Mr. Fister, Las Man, Flamer Dude, 2x Chainsword Guy) and put the hurt on the shooty CSM squad in the crater (AC, autocannon, plasma, a grunt or two living on).

KP 0-1

Chaos 3

Friends in orbit leapt into the fight, with the termies hitting behind the russ but scattering up into the guard's building (no dangerous 1's) and the girls summoning off the fister and ready to molest guardsmen (two twisted their ankles on the rubble though). The only other movement involved the robot jerking 3" in a suicide drive for the blob that killed his father(s), rapid-firing two mammals down but with no chance to reach combat (7" away). The autocannon from the shooty CSM popped an autocannon from the triple auto squad (break passed), the blastmaster crunched yet more guard from the north blob (pin passed), and the havoks rained frag all over that squad as well (break passed), reducing it to 3 sargeants, 3 specialists and 2 lasguns. The fisty CSM also blasted the western blob to help the girls out, killing a couple with flamer fire. Finally, the termies rapid fired plasma into the basilisk's side, shaking it and melting the earthshaker.

With close combat arrived at last, the girls ripped into the guardsmen with abandon, their 30 attaks leaving just 3 humans alive. They broke and managed to escape (BALLS!), leaving the girls to stuff themselves up into the russ' face.

KP 1-1

Guard 3

Unable to rally, the western blob fragment (sarge, plasma, melta) fell back a short distance, tagging a chick on the way. The PHQ responded to the termies in their building by running away, and the russ turned to face the demons but in the process clipped a crater and immobilized itself. This didn't stop it from slamming a shell point blanc into the girls, and combined with various other fire reduced them to 6 gals. The fisty CSM were trashed by the AI fire teams, the shooty CSM all died save the autocannon man (who showed how power armor works and saved a LOT), and the robot gave up his KP when tagged by a burning flamer of hotness. The chainfist terminator also died, most likely to a las shot out of the wall of light + lead directed at him.

KP 1-3

Chaos 4

Things looked pretty dire for the spiky boys, but they still had heavy guns at range and terminators up in the enemy junks. Speaking of which, the terminators hopped off the building and prepared to crump the mortar team, shooting a team to death on the stomp in. The autocannon marine tagged another guard autocannon team - yay for instant deathing the new heavy weapon teams - and the blastmaster continued showing his skills by tagging the 2x las + ml squad and killing a launcher. The squad broke and ran off the table, ending the huge string of successful break tests. The havoks dropped the hammer on what was left of the northern blob, bashing it with frag. The oblit, meanwhile, missed the demolisher that had exposed its flank to his lascannon ...

The girls continued their reign of terror and assaulted the russ, 18 auto-hits becoming 2 glances that tore the battlecannon off and shook the tank. The termies were likewise successful, stomping the mortars into goo and moving toward the triple lascannon squad.

KP 4-3

Guard 4

The guard, unimpressed by the chaos troops ransacking their lines, prepared to bring yet more heat. The retreating blob remnant fell back 2", giving it time to pepper the demons yet again, which was dropped to 3 chicks with the help of the PHQ nearby. The autocannon man was finally taken down, and a single termi ate lascannon (his buddy could care less). The noise marines lost a member to the attention of the demolisher, but were hugging cover like pros. The basilisk also drove around a bit and targeted the termies with its heavy bolter, more to not be hit automatically in combat than hurt the beasts.

Still in combat with the russ, the girls tore off the heavy bolter facing them and shook it again.

KP 4-4

Chaos 5

With the store closing shortly, we decided this was going to be the last turn, so chaos would have to make it hurt. The guns were lackluster - oblit missed, blastmaster missed, frag-volley all scattered off the north PHQ - but the combat troops were on it. The last terminator powered into the lascannon teams, smashed one but they held. The three girls pounced the PHQ and killed it to a man with some fierce rolling (9 attaks -> 8 hits -> 7 wounds -> 5 failed 5+ saves), then hid behind the russ again.

KP 5-4

Guard 5

Very few targets were still available for the remaining guard weapons, and so really only the noise marines absorbed the demolisher again, leaving the blastmaster holding his squad's KP. In combat the termi pulped the two lascannon teams and secured the win.

KP 6-4

CHAOS WIN

Solid game, which I was sure I had lost before any dice were rolled - and it only got worse once I started failed armor saves! Those mega-blobs were brutal, but their clumped up nature meant that I shot more frags in this game than I may ever have before. Overall his morale rolls really saved his butt - I made him roll 3+ a turn, but he failed just the 2 all game. Props to those guardsmen, stout little bastards.

While I can't really say I'm enjoying playing 40k again, I'm definitely digging getting my CSM out of the case and onto the table. I really do love this army, for how not great it is in game. And since I'm hungering for 40k after this fantasy league lets up and I get my ogres painted, that might mean I revamp the chaos lads at long last. I'm thinking of working towards this 1500 point list:

Chaos Lord - MoT, deathscreamer
3 Terminators - IoCU, 3 combi-plasma, 2 powerfists, chainfist
10 CSM - IoCU, 2 meltaguns, AC w/ powerfist; rhino w/ extra armor
9 CSM - IoCU, flamer, AC w/ powerfist, combi-flamer; rhino w/ extra armor
10 CSM - IoCU, autocannon, plasma gun, AC w/ power weapon
12 Demons
6 Havoks - IoCU, 3 missile launchers
Oblit
Oblit

Yes yes, the deathscreamer is still there, despite being a jackass in my last ... well, most of my last games. But it's still an awesome thing, and can't be countered if it rolls over 1, and means my lord can do something in the shooting phase too. But mostly, getting some rides in there, and dumping the fire-magnet 1k sons and 160 point blastmaster for some more undivided marines. I look forward to bashing some more renegades together, great fun and I've got lots of old marine armies to dement!