The Warpsmith fled to the north after being defeated twice by the greenskins. He had one chance left to prove himself to Lord Boroth. He would have to stop the retreating Marines Errant.
The Marines Errant had been defending the fortress on False Hope in a protracted siege battle against the Iron Warriors and a massive traitor guard army.
After tearing down the walls of the fortress and stealing the space marine gene seed the Marines Errant were guarding, the Orks attacked from below burrowing up from tunnels they had been making for weeks. The Marines Errant were stuck between a rock and a hard place and had to break out.
The Space Marines broke through the Iron Warriors lines and tried to escape, saving what gene seed they could.
Now they are fleeing through the ruins of the city of False Hope and the Iron Warriors have set up a defensive position to stop them.
Mission -
We played Breakthrough, which is a mission in the Stronghold Assault book. The Iron Warriors would be defending against the Marines Errant. It was a 2250pt game and the Marines Errant had the new codex in hand.
This Breakthough mission was not a Maelstrom mission so no cards were involved. He scored victory points for units of his moving off my board edge and for taking my 3 objectives in my deployment zone. I scored points for holding onto my objectives (3 points each) and killing his units.
Slay the Warlord, First Blood and Line breaker were also in effect, however he could score Linebreaker multiple times.
We played on the planet of False Hope in hexes B3 (Imperial) and B8 (Chaos).
Army Lists -
My army was a straight up CAD from the Chaos Space Marine Codex. I also included a fortification with upgrades found in Stronghold Assault as listed below. I had to include a fortification since I was the defender ad the attacker could include an additional heavy support.
HQ -
Warpsmith with Burning Brand of Skalathrax (Warlord)
Chaos Lord with powerfist and lightning claw meltabombs and sigil of corruption
Elites -
Helbrute with twinlinked Lascannon and missile launcher
Helbrute with missile launcher
Helbrute with Plasma Cannon
Troops -
9 marines missile launcher and flamer
1 champion with powerfist and combi-flamer
in rhino with havoc missile launcher
9 marines missile launcher and flamer
1 champion with powerfist and combi-flamer
in rhino with havoc missile launcher
7 marines flamer
1 champion with powerfist and combi-flamer
in rhino with havoc missile launcher
9 marines meltagun and autocannon
1 champion with powersword and meltabombs
19 cultists with 1 flamer and 15 autoguns
1 champion
Fast Attack -
4 raptors with 2 meltaguns
1 champion with meltabombs
Heavy Support -
Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolter sponsons
vindicator
6 havocs with 4 autocannons
1 champion with meltabombs
Fortifications -
Aegis Defense Line with ammo dump, 3 tangle wires, 4 tank traps, 1 barricade
My opponents army list I do not have so I will simply point out some interesting bits (and because of the new codex there are definitely several).
Most of his army is visible in the picture below of our initial deployment.
His warlord was Chronos, who is in a Predator Annihilator. This is possible because Chronos is now an HQ unit who is a character. He buys a vehicle and then is part of that vehicle, he could even challenge if he wanted (although I am not sure how that would work).
He had a squadron of Dreadnoughts as an elite choice. Pretty great thing to have since then you have 2 more elite slots that you can use for something else. Note how I too had three dreadnoughts (helbrutes, whatever) but mine each took up their own elite slot.
It seemed like he had way more models than I did and I'm not sure if it was because I loaded up my marine squads with upgrades I don't normally do and so it lowered my model count or if the new marine codex truly saves points on units,either way I felt as if this was going to be a tough game.
Deployment -
The whole battlefield.
The Iron Warriors defensive position.
The Marines Errant.
A squad of scouts infiltrates.
There was a Helbrute behind that emplacement.
Almost immediately a Marines Errant twin-linked lascannon blows one of the Iron Warriors' Helbrute's to pieces.
The Iron Warriors Autocannons fire back blowing up a rhino on the road. The Helbrute in the ruins also moves behind cover to avoid the incoming fire.
While the firefight continues the infiltrating scouts move up to the ruins and are joined by a razorback filled with Honour Guard.
Firing down the road , the predator kills several of the space marines who stumbled out of the wreckage.
The Iron Warriors tactical squad deploys out from their rhino and opens up on the covering scouts, killing three of their number.
The Raptors also jump into the ruins are open up with their meltaguns into the razorback only taking off 2 hullpoints.
Behind the Iron Warriors' vindicator a land speeder deepstrikes and fires its multimelta into the rear of the tank. The vindicator is immobilized although I am sure the gunner wished for more.
The Honour Guard disembarks from the razorback and begins maneuvering into position. The Dreadnoughts behind them continue their advance.
Meanwhile on the left flank of the Iron Warriors, a Predator closes the distance in support of a rhino filled with a tactical squad.
The Marines Errant are closing quickly on the Iron Warriors lines. The Iron Warriors hope that they can withstand the next few turns.
The Warpsmith quickly disembarks from his rhino and fixes the vindicator's immobilized result. The marines disembark from their rhino to take out the land speeder.
The Raptors jump behind the Honour Guard's Razorback and blow it up in assault with krak grenades and melta bombs.
The Marines Errant continue to advance and the Iron Warrior's hold their breath.
On the left flank the Iron Warriors strike back against the advancing loyalists. Disembarking for their rhino an Iron Warriors tactical squad opens fire.
In the center the Iron Warriors brace for the inevitable assault from the Honour Guard and the dreadnoughts.
Another IW marine squad enters the ruins and blasts the scouts with bolters and flamers.
The Honour Guard charge the vindicator, destroying it.
The end of turn 5, and a 1 is rolled. The game is over.
Tallying up the points the Iron Warriors win 17 to 7.
Epilogue -
The Iron Warriors' Warpsmith had successfully pushed back and stopped the Marines Errant from escaping the ruins of the fortress of False Hope.
Days or possibly weeks of brutal city fighting would now commence rooting out the loyalist marines.
For another day the Warpsmith could breath easy knowing that Boroth would not execute him....
Until next time.
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