The Emperor's Will

After too many slanderous remarks about the glorious Space Wolves were overheard in transmissions broadcasted by the Lions of Harlech from their recently annexed daemon world, it was time to act.

And act defiantly.

The liberation of the enslaved and cowed populace of the H'bytwn Hive City was to be at hand. The Lions had placed a cruel and vile Chaplain in charge of rounding up "volunteers" to work in the hellish conditions of the marshmellow factoriums. It was by the Will of The Emperor that this cruel despot and abuser of the Imperial Decree be shown a fitting punishment. And by the grace of the Emperor's mercy, his punishment shall be delivered quick and by way of the Vindicare Temple. It would be the Space Wolves mission to secure vital resources while luring the Lion's Chaplain into the open for the Assassin to do his work.

Hive City H'bytwn, eastern edge.

We agreed to 1500 points. My force was led by Rune Priest Jarl Blacktooth. He was kitted out in Terminator armor, Storm Bolter and a Force Axe. A unit of Wolf Guard all armed with power swords and storms bolter (with exception of the one assault cannon) would also join the fray. Two squads of Grey Hunters each with a Rhino. A Venerable Dreadnought would play support along with a Predator tank and a Vindicator. A squad of missile launcher armed Long Fangs would complete the Heavy Support. A Drop Pod was purchased for the Wolf Guard, or the Dread, to deploy from in the Lion's back field. And finally, a Vindicare Assassin.

Mustered on the edge.

My strategy for the Drop Pod had to be scratched upon arrival to the game due to me totally forgetting to bring the case that it's in. I quickly substituted the points for two Wolf Guard Leader upgrades for the Grey Hunters. The facepalm moment during deployment was that I couldn't put the squads into their Rhinos due to the Termie armor, but I managed to make the best of it.

My Warlord Trait gave the Runepriest "and his unit" Feel No Pain 5+, which I thought was rather bad ass, so he would for sure become attached to the Wolf Guard now.

Space Wolf set up.

We rolled for the game and The Emperor's Will with the diagonal table set up. Kushial got to pick his corner and set up first.

Assassin deployed. 

" I took a chaplain in terminator armor and 5 TH/SS terminators in a Land Raider Redeemer, 2 ten man scout squads with cloaks and bolters, 2 Dreadnoughts with 2 twin linked Autocannons each, 3 five man Devastator Squads with 4 missile launchers each, and that was it.  No tac squads, no Ironclads, no Drop Pods, and no Sternguard." -Kushial

Lions deployment.

Lions deployment alternate angle.

With a bang, the Lions of Harlech start the game. His 2nd squad of Scouts seize the objective in his zone while also maintaining cover. The Land Raider Redeemer full of Terminators and the Chaplain surges forward. A few hull points are picked off of a Rhino and the Predator and the Venerable Dreadnought is also shaken from enemy fire. The Lions Devestator killed 2 Long Fangs. Not quite the start the Lions had hoped for but they were able to use this turn to solidify their positions.

The Space Wolves launched forward, with the Vindicator scoring a hit on the Landraider and with some very high rolls blasted it to pieces! Stepping from the smoking ruin are the Death Star incarnate of the Chaplain Terminator and his goon squad of Thunderhammer and Stormshield wielding Terminators.

Big boom!

The Long Fangs returned fire on the Devestator squad that killed two of their brothers killing at least one guy other there.

The Vindicare, who I selected to deal with the Lion's Dreadnoughts (because usually Kushial runs a lot of Dreads, not just two) took a shot at one of the Rifleman Dreads shooting right through the thing, but sadly he only shook it.

Over on my left flank the Grey Hunters and their Rhino sought to rid themselves of the annoying scouts that were occupying the tall ruins. Those camo cloaks proved to be amazingly effective however and only a few died.

The situation ar the end of Turn One.

Turn 2
Invigorated by the affront of having their revered Land Raider blown up, the Lions clawed back. The Venerable Dreadnought was blown to hell as was the Rhino on my right flank. The predator would lose another hull point as well. The Scouts and the Grey Hunters would continue to clash with both sides taking additional casualties.

Desperate to defend my Vindicator from the revenge seeking Terminators, I moved it back and sent the Wolf Guard in to tackle them. Seeing him in the open the assassin sniped a wound away from the Terminator Chaplain. The Predator removed a Hull Point from one of the other Rifleman Dreads. Other than the continuing fire fight between the Scouts and the Grey Hunters, I don't think much else of note occured in the shooting phase.

The Wolf Guard charged the Terminators, with the Rune Priest issuing a challenge to the Chaplain. With his Runic Force Axe fully charged he struck down his foe, slaying The Subjugator of H'bytwn.

The melee of epicness.

The rest of the fight was brutal and fairly one sided with only one other Lion Terminator falling, while the Wolf Guard lost four of their pack. The Feel No Pain was totally nullified against those hammers, and I botched the invulnerable saves.

"Retreat! Retreat!!!"

Turn 3
More Scout/Grey Hunter shooting with the Scouts whittled down to just three troops, who refused to flee. Unlike my Long Fangs who took another casualty and then promptly fled the field (guess we now know why they have such a long life span). The Lion Terminators charged my surviving Wolf Guard and Runepriest, losing one of their number and killing the last Wolf Guard. The Rune Priest and termies would be locked until my Assault phase when the stormhammers would ultimately prove too overwhelming for the Runepriest.

Vengeance Lion style.

Turn 4.

The Termintors continued their march, targeting the Predator for assault. Their hammers smashed the tank into scrap metal. However the resulting explosion snuffed one of them, leaving a Space Wolf gray colored bit of scrap in place of his two hearts.

The Grey Hunters left to defend the objective (which BTW, is a freaking bomb that I had to test for at the end of all my turns) finally had a target in range, and they opened up on those two remaining Terminators, actually killing one of them!

High from his perch, the Vindicare shoots the other Lion Dread, blowing it up.

Smash and bash!

The Grey Hunters finally was able to reach the Scouts and killed them down to single man. A man that would not break!

"You will never take me filth dogs!"

Turn 5 and the Lion Terminators are now down to one man. Realizing that this lone Termie is giving kushial the Line Breaker VP, Kushial pulled him back into cover, fearful of the bolter storm that the Grey Hunters rained on his squad last round.

Defeating the lone Scout, the grey hunters moved deeper into the ruins to pursue the Devestators. They killed one, but the attention they gained from this action raised the fury of almost all of the reserve Lions...

Turn 6, the battle rages on! Those Grey Hunters making their way through the ruins definitely caught Kushial's attention, and after a few units poured their shots into them they simply ceased to be. The only thing I had left was a Rhino, which was making the futile attempt to kill the remaining Terminator (seriously, that guy swatted away a hunter killer missile like it was a gnat!), the squad of Grey Hunters behind the bunker that was holding an objective, and the Vindicare Assassin. 

The state of things, bottom of Turn 6

I did have a satisfying final shot with the Vindicare who took out the final Dreadnought with an awesome precision shot!  With that the game was over.

A quick VP tally shows that we tied, which made Kushial's slaying of that Grey Hunter unit so important as they would have earned the Wolves a Linebreaker VP which would have eeked out a win for the Wolves. Kushial is Claiming a moral victory due to the body count, and all things considered I think I can live with that. Also he seemed a bit bitter about my use of an assassin, but let's be honest, what is in the Space Wolf Codex that can come close to pasteing Dreadnoughts like that that guy can?

"Ohhhh...yeah,"

Fun game, definitely challenging!

 Had I remembered that Drop Pod it would have been completely different but there was still a good tale to tell. My positioning of the Wolf Guard made it hard to get them to the targets that they would have been more effective against. In the end, those power swords were all but useless against the Lion Terminators. If I could have brought them to bear against his regular Devestators or Scouts it would have been a blood bath.

My Venerable Dreadnought was a total disappointment. That model used to be so amazing back in 3rd edition (actually, this whole army was!) hopefully he will be restored in the upcoming 8th edition (and the wolves too!).

 Also, my Runepriest had only Witchfire powers and never had a viable LOS target in range to make use of them. The only thing he could do was charge up his force weapon.

The Vindicator had a great shot against the Landraider Redeemer, but it was the only great shot it had. Still, it earned it's points.

My one take-away from this game is that I really need to build some Thunderhammer & Stormshield Wolf Guard, they simply rock!

Thanks again Kushial, we shall clash again....