And we shall call you 'Lance'

 Get ready for a fun one! 

"Grenades for the Grenades god!"

Once again Da Masta Cheef and I got together for a 28mm scaled tussle. This time on his home tabletop at Villa La Croot. I brought 1500 points of Worldeaters. It's a similar list to the one I ran last time,  but I removed Kbarn and added a Rapier Laser Defender (Legends). I've had this model for ages and decided to give it a shot. Also joining these guys are my newly built and base-coated Exalted Eightbound and my recently battle-ready Cbaos Spawn. I also included a Daemon Prince, Bori the Bloody. Today the Worldeaters were the Attacker and their Secondary Missions were Behind Enemy Lines and Storm Hostile Objective. 

Worldeaters assembled.

And Da Cheef brought 1500 points of Black Dragons Primaris Marines (with a tac squad of Incadescent Coyotes). The Black Dragons were the Defenders and their Secondary Missions were Deploy Teleport Homer and Storm Hostile Objective. 

Imperial scum.

The Primary Mission was Take and Hold. The Mission Ruke was Minefields although I am pretty sure we completely forgot about that rule*. We pulled the Dawn Of War deployment card, and considering Da Cheef's table is a bit smaller than the standard table size, our deployment zones were packed full of models. I neglected to take any pictures of our deployments but the first picture below ought to give a good impression of it. The Worldeaters got the first turn and they surged forward with murderous glee to a cacophony of yells and chainsaws.

Opening moves.

The Blessings of Khorne results for the first turn were Unbridled Bloodlust on the Exalted Eightbound and Wraithful Devotion on the Jakhals.  This was a turn of maneuvering and rushing forward. But the Blooddumpster and a few other units threw a lot of firepower at the opposing Dreadnought, taking a lot of Wounds off of it but not enough to finish it. 

Worldeaters firepower!

Black Dragons retaliated and managed to put a dent in the Worldeater's force. The Blooddumpster was knocked down to 7 Wounds, and one of the Exalted Eightbound was eliminated with another one wounded. The Jakhals took a lot of firepower as well but they remained above half strength. 

Surging forward.

Turn 2. 

This round's Blessings of Khorne were Bloodlust of the Eightbound and Wraithful Devotion on the Jakhals.  

For the first time in this edition, I finally got the opportunity to use the Grenades Stratagem, and I did so with glee. I had a lot of firepower lined up to bring down the Dreadnought, but the grenade thrown  by the Juggerlord was able to finish off the mechanical menace. 

Big bada-boom!

During the Charge and Fight phase the Juggerlord with the Eightbound charge and wiped out a squad of Intercessors that were sitting on an  Objective. However the next closest enemy unit to them was the Hellblasters who were eager to throw some fire on their cool victory.  It was during their charge that we made a joke regarding the Juggerlord's "Lance " rule, and although I don't recall the actual joke, we decided to name this guy Lance going forward.

Target Priority unlocked. 

On the other side of the table the Khorne Berserkers wiped out a squad or Reivers, ending their reign of terror. 

Black Dragons Turn Two, and this is where the manure hits the merry-go-round. It starts off subtlety enough with the Iridescent Coyotes showing their young Primaris compatriots how to shoot. They managed to shoot the hell out of the Berserkers, who had just killed the Reivers,  putting a dent in their number. 

First born and still deadly.

The next achievement in Astartes firepower was the ATV moon-buggy that shot and killed off the Hellbrute. 

The Hellbrute falls! 

The Sternguard finish off the Exalted Eightbound, leaving the Juggerlord without a meatshield. This worked out well for the Hellblasters who were more than happy to fry Lance the Juggerlord with their intense heat weapons. 

It was the Eradicators who made the shot of the game,, who,, with a CP re-roll,  managed to destroy the Blooddumpster. The evil Landraider exploded via Deadly Demise, something that rarely happens in our games, and the explosion was brutal. Two of the Eradicators were killed by the Mortal Wounds. The Daemon Prince, Bori the Bloody, took 6 Mortal Wounds.  One of the Chaos Spawn was eliminated and the other one was wounded also. Oddly, and amusingly, the Khorne Berserkers who were embarked within the Landraider were unharmed by this mighty conflagration. 

Image a lot of fire and smoke.

Freed from the confines of the Blooddumpster the Khorne Berserkers were exposed to the blood lasting Intercessors and the Apothecary Biologis who led them. They ended in a relative draw with both units locked in combat.

 

Battle Royale! 

Hilariously**, the Assault Intercessors failed to charge the Jahkals even though the roll they needed to make was quite low.  

On the other flank, the other squad of Berserkers were actually getting socked pretty hard by the Iridescent Coyotes  in fact only three models remained standing in the unit, with geriatric Marines swarming all over them! 

Holding on for dear life.

At the end of Turn 2, this is what the VPs looked like: 

BLACK DRAGONS 

•5 VPs  (5 for Take and Hold)

WORLDEATERS 

•14 VPs (10 for Take and Hold, 4 for Storm Hostile Objective)

Turn 3

Blessings of Khorne for this turn were Wrathful Devotion on the Jakhals and Warpblades on the Chaos Spawn. 

Just about every unit I had was locked in combat except for the Rapier Laser Destroyer. That fired on the ATV but rolled shockingly low for damage. The Chaos Terminators arrived and shot up the Sternguard before charging over to assist the Khorne Berserkers who were locked in combat with the Incadescent Coyotes. Much to our surprise they didn't wipe the Coyotes out on this charge, but they sure did flip their odds the other way. 

The sprawling melee on the Worldeater's left flank continues however the Daemon Prince was now engaged, and he killed off the Eradicators and the Ancient Biologis. The Chaos Spawn with the Warpblades killed off a few as well but still they remained locked in combat with the surviving Primaris marines. 

Thinning the ranks.

The Chaos Terminators ultimately killed off the last of Incadescent Coyotes and together with the last few Khorne Berserkers they claimed the objective. 

Objective very much secured.

During the Black Dragon's turn the Assault Intercessors finally kill off the Jakhals, who had frustrated them for the last few rounds..  But the highlight of the turn was the ATV which got two hits on the Rapier, this turns Oath of Moment target, that would have  destroyed it had I not rolled the required 6s needed to keep it alive! We were both laughing at the miracle of this moment. The stubborn artillery piece that refused to roll high on damage yet refused to die also. 

The duel of dice.

Black Dragons

•13 VPs

(+8 more for Storm Hostile Objective)

Worldeaters 

•29 VPs 

(+15 more for Take and Hold)

It was getting late now and we agreed to stop here. With the Worldeaters now more than double the VPs of the Black Dragons it was looking  like a challenge for the Black Dragons to catch back up.  And we were getting  tired. It was a good game, full of those crazy random moments that we like talk about with other gamers.  The exploding Landraider was just awesome, and we got such a kick out of how much damage it did. 

I liked how well I got Lance the Juggerlord to perform, especially when he charges. The Exalted Eightbound were exceptional as well, but they weren't as resilient as I had hoped. But then, I guess when being targeted by Hellblasters few things are. 

I think the unexpected MVP on the Black Dragons side, with exception to the suicidal Eradicators, was the ATV. That thing could dish out some pain. So much so that I need to build the one I've been holding on to. 

Ok, so this report was kind of a sad one to write as it may be the last time Da Masta Cheef and I will be able to play against each other for the foreseeable future. He is relocating from the Mountains to the Coast, two states away. So until the time comes when we can arrange a game down the road, thanks Cheef for all the fun and games! 

*Or no one ever rolled a 6 on their Advance roll. 

** We laughed, but Cheef's laugh was at the irony of it all, while mine was at the strange luck of it.