2009 'Ard Boyz Prelims Batrep (playing Chaos)

[Xaereth]

I was recently able to play at 'Ard Boyz in Laramie, WY at my LGS. It was a lot of fun, and lots of really nice people there. We had (I think) 20 people there, which just about filled the shop up- we barely had enough room for all the Magic players doing their pre-release thing.

I had wanted to try out a double-lash Chaos list for a while, and since it was 'Ard Boyz, I decided to take it. I had never before in my life used either lash or obliterators, either in a tournament or in a pick-up game (except for one practice game before the tournament) so I was both excited and nervous, wondering how I would be able to do, and hoping I wouldn't make too many of the mistakes I know comes with playing an altogether new list.

Last year I had won the 'Ard Boyz Prelims with Blood Angels, and had even gone on to win Regionals with the same list, though I was unable to attend Nationals because I had drill (I'm in the National Guard). This year if I won the Prelims, I would be unable to continue on to Regionals because of Guard, so the Prelims were mostly for bragging rights, and of course, the (somewhat crappy, yet free) prize support.

Here is the list that I took:

HQ:
Sorceror w/ Lash and Personal Icon
Sorceror w/ Lash and Personal Icon

TROOPS:

9 Berzerkers w/ Power Fist Champ, Rhino w/ Extra Armor
9 Berzerkers w/ Power Fist Champ, Rhino w/ Extra Armor
9 Berzerkers w/ Power Fist Champ, Rhino w/ Extra Armor
6 Berzerkers w/ Power Fist Champ, Rhino w/ Extra Armor
6 Plague Marines w/ Power Fist Champ, 2 Melta Guns, Personal Icon, Rhino w/ Extra Armor
5 Plague Marines w/ Power Fist Champ, 2 Melta Guns, Personal Icon, Rhino w/ Extra Armor

HEAVY SUPPORT:

3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators

It was a pretty small army, for 2500 points, but it packs a reasonable punch, with a lot of versatility. Showing up at my LGS, there were 3 Nidzilla Armies, a couple Ork hoarde armies, 3 Mechanized Imperial Guard lists, 3 chaos lists, and a spattering of others. One was an Iyanden Eldar list, which looked positively nasty. None of the lists were lists I would have picked as an 'easy win' to play against, but I particularly didn't want to play against any of the Imperial Guard lists, or one particular nidzilla list with 56 genestealers and 8 monsterous creatures.

Game 1: Lash Chaos vs. Mike's Heavily Upgraded Nidzilla

I wasn't able to secure ANY of my opponents lists, sadly, but I'll post them as I remember them.

His list:

Hive Tyrant w/ The Horror, Shadow of the Warp (or something, makes you roll 3D6 on psychic powers)

10 Hormagaunts
24 Gaunts
9 Genestealers w/ Scuttlers, Flesh Hooks, +1S, Ability to reroll wounds, 4+ save
9 Genestealers w/ Scuttlers, Flesh Hooks, +1S, Ability to reroll wounds, 4+ save
6 Genestealers w/ Scuttlers, Flesh Hooks, +1S, Ability to reroll wounds, 4+ save, Scything Talons
6 Genestealers w/ Scuttlers, Flesh Hooks, +1S, Ability to reroll wounds, 4+ save, Scything Talons

3 Warriors w/ some sort of shooting, not exactly sure what they were

2 Lichtors

Carnifex w/ 2+ save, 5 wounds, D6+2 Attacks, Barbed Strangler, Regenerate probably other upgrades
Carnifex w/ 2+ save, 5 wounds, D6+2 Attacks, Barbed Strangler, Regenerate probably other upgrades
Carnifex w/ 2+ save, 5 wounds, D6+2 Attacks, Barbed Strangler, Regenerate probably other upgrades

It wasn't really as daunting as playing against a huge hoarde army, but Genestealers sort of trump my berzerkers (1 more Initiative and WS, with rending) and his genestealers were going to be HARD to take down in CC.

The Mission:

5 Objectives placed, one in the center of the table, and two by each of the players. He had the same idea as me, and we placed them all on the right hand side of the table. Whoever controlled the most objectives by the end of the game, won, though you also had to have more kill points than your opponent to acheive a massacre.

Battle point modifiers:
+1 if you control all of the objectives at the game's end
+1 if your opponent has no units in your deployment zone at game's end
+1 if all your HQ choices are alive
+1 if you destroyed all of your opponent's Troop choices

Night Fight was in effect one turn 1.

We roll to see who goes first and I get a 1. He makes me go first.

The table was fairly flat, with a few hills, and a river running through the center of the board, with 2 points we determined were not difficult terrain for purposes of crossing the river.

It was 12" deployment, so I castled all my rhinos on the right, keeping the plague rhinos near the front so as to help shoot down carnifexes. The Oblits I placed spread out, one squad on a hill near the center, one on a hill to the far right, near the board edge, and one 12" up and in the middle of the rhinos. I kept the Sorcerer rhinos (inside w/ 9-man Berzerkers) up the full 12" so they could get ready to lash anything possible.

He chose to keep the genestealers in reserve, which made me happy because there was always the chance that he would outflank on the 'wrong' side of the board and spend the rest of the game trying to get to where the objectives were. He put the tyrant w/ guard on the far left side of the board, (the objectives were on the right hand side) and put one carnifex in the middle. The warriors and gaunts he deployed behind a big hill, where an objective was, and the hormagaunts he deployed on the right hand side as well, behind a smaller hill. Two carnifexes he also put on the right hand side, in clear view of my entire 'formation'.

He tried to steal the initiative and failed. I sort of wanted him to get it, so as to get his army closer to my guns (nightfight the first turn). Ah well.

Turn 1: Chaos

I moved all my rhinos up 6" and parked there.

For shooting, I used multiple searchlights from the rhinos, and finally marked the two things I wanted: the hormagaunts and the 'middle' carnifex on the right. I lashed the hormagaunts into a tight little ball, and used one squad of obliterators to plasma cannon them to oblivion. The other two oblit squads shot 4 wounds off the carnifex. I know I shouldn't be greedy, but it would have been so nice if he had just died! I tried to lash him backwards, but failed the psychic test.

Turn 1: Upgradezilla

He didn't really do a whole lot. He moved and then... ran. And thats it. No shooting to be had. He kept his gaunts/ warriors behind the hill, I'm assuming he just wanted one 'guaranteed' objective to be held. Oh yeah, he used regeneration on his carnifex and 'grew back' 2 of his wounds. Dangit!

Kill point count:
Chaos: 1
Nids: 0

Turn 2: Lashzilla

No more nightfight! So, I shuffled my rhinos around a little bit to get the plague ones up front in case I was able to lash a carnifex into their 12" melta range. I disembarked one squad of zerkers (the big squad without a sorceror) and got them ready to assault one of the fexes if I needed to.

Shooting saw me end the already wounded carnifex, and put a couple of wounds on the leftmost one (in the center). My lashes both failed again (remember, the tyrant has a power that makes me roll 3d6 and take the highest 2d6 result) and my shooting was over. To make it worse, I had forgotten to move a rhino to shield my rightmost oblits from outflanking genestealers. Gonna be a rough turn, it looks like!

Turn 2: Upgradezilla

He rolled for reserves and got his two lichtors, one 6-man genestealer squad, and one 9-man genestealer squad. The 9-man came on the right side of the table right next to the oblits, but the 6-man rolled lousy and had to start on the far side of the board, away from any of the action. Woo hoo! The lichtors both came onto terrain pieces next to my middle and far left oblit squads.

He moved his fexes up again, his left-most one just about in assault range of my disembarked zerker squad. The genestealers fleeted, and it was pretty obvious that he would be able to assault my oblits. Ut oh!

His rightmost fex shot, and missed, and his warriors decided to try to shoot, and killed a couple disembarked zerkers (which was good, since it allowed me to take the closest ones to the fex, making him unable to charge)

In assault, the lichtors and stealers all assaulted, which resulted in the middle squad of oblits shrugging off the lichtors attacks and pulping it, the left oblit squad also shrugging off the attacks, but whiffing their fist attacks back (1 wound caused) and the genestealer combat... wow. He was able to reroll so many things, but when the smoke cleared, he had killed one oblit and I had killed 2 genestealers, in the most unlikely pushed combat I'd ever seen.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 2
Nids: 0

Turn 3: Chaos


I disembarked my small squad of zerkers in order to try and deal with the 6 genestealers. My rhinos all moved up a little bit, in order to draw a bead on the rightmost fex, who would be in range to charge next turn. The disembarked berzerker squad moved up to be able to assault the center fex.

With only one squad of oblits able to shoot, I shot at and was able to put a few wounds on the rightmost fex. My 4 meltaguns hit the right fex and caused zero wounds. The lashes hit the rightmost fex and moved him backwards, but only about 6" after me epic failing to roll high.

The 6-man zerkers charged, and were able to wipe out the stealers to a man, with the loss of one wound to my oblits (so still 2 models left alive). Consolidate for berzerkers: 6". Consolidate for oblits: 1". Looks like it's time for them to get raped by stealers next turn. Dangit! In the lichtor combat on the left, the oblits smushed him with no trouble. They consolidated a little farther right, to stay away from the advancing genestealers on the left. The big squad of berzerkers charge and kill the center fex. Only one more to go!

Turn 3: Upgradezilla

He gets his remaining squads, and they come in on the 'correct' side. Time for my vehicles to pay, for something, apparently. And the oblits.

Everything moves and runs, and then it's time to charge. Note that the tyrant is still about 2 turns from getting into any sort of action.

The 9-man genestealers decide to pop a sorceror rhino, and the 6-man stealers attack my oblits. They pop the rhino, AND the oblit squad. Sad day. His remaining fex charges my plague rhino, and destroys it's storm bolter.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 5
Nids: 2

Turn 4: Chaos

My left oblit squad moves (they get a 6!) closer to his 6-man genestealer unit (they're within 6" now). A sorceror's rhino squad moves close to the warriors in the back who had poked their heads out to shoot, and the plague squad disembarks and closes with the fex. The 6-man zerker squad moves toward the 9-man stealer squad. My sorceror squad that had just lost it's rhino moved close to the 6-man stealer squad.

For shooting, both lashes get off, and I lash the 9-man stealer squad into a little circle and use my middle oblit squad to plasma cannon them all to death. The other lash gets the warriors, and is able to draw them close to the fex (so I can double-charge the two). Plasma rifles on the right oblit squad kill 4 of the 6 stealers, who pass their morale check. The sorceror's zerker squad shoots and kills 3 of the 6 stealers with their bolt pistols. Woo hoo!

I charge everyone into everything, and wipe them all out to a man. The fex falls to my two powerfists, the warriors to normal attacks from the zerkers and sorceror. All he has left when it's all over is the tyrant, and 24 gaunts huddled behind a hill. The plagues consolidate toward the gaunt hill, the zerkers toward their rhino. Oblits who killed the genestealers on the left consolidate away from the tyrant.

Turn 4: Upgradezilla

He takes his leadership for his gaunts (for lurking), and passes! He decides to epicly charge my plaguemarine squad.

The tyrant moves again, and runs 6". Next turn, I get a big old piece of tyrant.

The gaunts charge the plagues, fail to wound anything, and lose combat by 3. They get chased down.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 12
Nids: 2

Turn 5: Chaos

I move everyone onto objectives if at all possible, and move the oblits all closer to the tyrant. I also move a plague squad and zerker squad toward the tyrant to get the charge next turn.

I lash the tyrant a little bit, to get him into range of the oblits plasma rifles, and let it rip. After this, none of the guard remain, and the tyrant has a wound.

Turn 5: Upgradezilla

He charges an oblit squad, whiffs his attacks, and I whiff mine.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 13
Nids: 2

Turn 6: Chaos

Everyone moves in to charge the tyrant.

They succeed on the charge and kill the tyrant, consolidating the remaining squads onto objectives.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 14
Nids: 2

The tyranid threat has been... tabled! woo hoo!

It was a somewhat sad game to play, actually. The guy was really nice the whole time, and to be fair it was a pretty good matchup for me, with all my oblits and lash. How he didn't wipe out my oblits on the right with his stealers on turn 2, is still beyond me. I managed to hold all 5 objectives, and keep almost all of my army alive.

Results: Massacre for Lash Chaos!
Battle points: 24-0


The results of the other games came in: almost everyone in the tournament had either massacred or gotten massacred. I was the only one with 24 points, but another tyrranid player had 23 (achieved by turn 4, he had tabled the guy) and the eldar and plague chaos armies had also done well. Also, a mech imp guard player had completely schooled his ork opponent. Lots of people I didn't want to play, though I WAS relieved that I wouldn't have to play against Black Templars, as they lost by massacre to the eldar player.

[Xaereth]

Game 2: Lash Chaos vs. Richard's Nidzilla

Here's his list:

Flying Hive Tyrant w/ almost every upgrade
Tyrant w/ 3 guard w/ almost every upgrade

10 Genestealers w/ flesh hooks
10 Genestealers w/ flesh hooks
10 Genestealers w/ flesh hooks
10 Genestealers w/ flesh hooks
8 Genestealers w/ flesh hooks and scuttlers
8 Genestealers w/ flesh hooks and scuttlers

Carnifex w/ Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons, +1T, 2+ save, other upgrades
Carnifex w/ Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons, +1T, 2+ save, other upgrades
Carnifex w/ Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons, +1T, 2+ save, other upgrades

Carnifex w/ the S6 Assault-8 gun w/ all the re-rolls to hit and wound for living ammunition
Carnifex w/ the S6 Assault-8 gun w/ all the re-rolls to hit and wound for living ammunition
Carnifex w/ the S6 Assault-8 gun w/ all the re-rolls to hit and wound for living ammunition

Well, this list seemed a lot more intimidating than the last nidzilla list I played. It's always a tough game against the nids, and I was pretty sad I had to play against them again. Ah well, it's 'Ard Boyz. Its not like I wasn't going to play against tough lists.

Scenario:

Modified Kill Points

Thats all it was- kill points, only with a twist. Every type of unit had a kill point value. Here's what they were:

HQ- 5 points
Elites/Fast Attack/Heavy Support- 2 points
Troops- 1 point
Dedicated Transports- 1 point
Retinues- 1 point

Massacre- 8 more kill points than the other guy.
Major Victory- 6 more kill points than the other guy
Minor Victory- 4 more kill points than the other guy

Battle Point Modifiers:
+1 if all your HQ choices are alive and not in reserve at game's end
+1 if you destroy all of your opponent's HQ choices
+1 if you destroyed all your opponent's Troop choices
+1 if you have more scoring units in your opponent's deployment zone than they have in yours

We rolled to go first and I roll... another 1. He wins, and chooses to go first. He doesn't deploy anything, and neither do I, since it's Dawn of War.

Turn 1: Nidzilla

His things all come on, except for his two 8-man scuttler squads of genestealers. He's not sure where I'll be, so he's forced to spread out his army, the big bugs in the front, with the genestealers in the back. It's a pretty even spread all the way across the board, with 2 carnifexes on the left, center, and the right. The flyrant was on the right, and the tyrant w/ guard was on the left. The stealers were all pretty spread out behind them. They all advanced. Not much else to do!

Turn 1: Chaos

My guys all came on. The board was a big city, with plenty of ruins everywhere to put guys, and I decided to castle my entire army on the right hand side, between the ruins on the right, and some ruins in the center. I moved my 6-man berzerker rhino and a plague rhino to the right, to guard against outflanking genestealers, and I move/run one squad of oblits into the central ruin. The other oblits I keep in between my other 4 rhinos in the middle, so next turn I'll be able to do a bit of shooting. The lash rhinos are up front, ready to lash some stuff next turn. No shooting, and it's his turn already!

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 0
Nids: 0

Turn 2: Nidzilla

He rolls for reserves and none of them come on. Sad for me. I'd have preferred to get rid of the stealers before the rest of the army is there to cause chaos. He advances, and runs. He's making sure to keep his flyrant behind one of the 'good' carnifexes. He doesn't have any shooting, and it's my turn.

Turn 2: Chaos:

I shuffle my guys a little bit, keeping my plague rhino and 6-man zerker rhino moving 7" but still on my right flank. I move my other plague squad around the central ruins to the left side, ready to melta some fexes if I need to.

It's time to shoot, so I lash the big fex away from the flyrant on the right, and open up with las cannons from the two oblit squads that can see him. 5 wounds and... 2 of them save. He has one wound left. Blah. Would have been nice to get rid of him right off the bat! My other oblit squad has a perfect bead on the other tyrant, and shoot off 3 wounds from the guards w/ las cannons. With my other lash, I choose to lash a genestealer squad backwards and to the left, almost to where it started. No assault, and it's his turn!

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 0
Nids: 0

Turn 3: Nidzilla

His reserves are at a 3+ now and... they both come in. One comes in on the left hand side, and it'll be a while til they can get into combat with me. The others come in on the right side, ready to try and pop my rhinos there.

The rest of his army advances, but none of the fexes run. Instead, they shoot at my rhinos, and stun/weapon destroy a few of them, but nothing too crazy. His flyrant moves right next to my rightmost lash rhino, ready to charge it. It looks like he won't be able to do anything but assault my rhinos this turn, when he takes one last barbed strangler shot at some oblits. It scatters so much that it lands on my rightmost lash rhino, pens, I fail my cover save, and he rolls a 6 for explodes! It doesn't kill anyone, but makes it real easy for my squad to get charged by the flyrant! Dangit!

He charges in, and his flyrant annihilates my sorceror, and the sorceror in turn kills the last wound off the flyrant. The squad doesn't even get to hit back, it was that sudden. The genestealers who had assaulted my rhinos on the right for the most part whiffed, and were left just standing there, waiting for my counter-assault.

Note that his army is RIGHT on my doorstep, and I've done almost nothing to it thus far. Next turn is gonna get UGLY if I don't do something quick.

Turn 3: Chaos

I move my other lash rhino up to the edge of the building in the center, but disembark the sorceror and put him in the central oblit squad. The 6-man zerker squad disembarks and gets ready to charge the 'stealers on the right, and I move my lash-less squad of berzerkers upward toward a big swarm of genestealers on the right. My 9-man berzerker squad in a rhino is just getting in the way, so I move him to the right flank as well. Otherwise, the oblits in the center building shuffle around a bit, drawing beads on the tyrant advancing.

On the right, I shot everything I could at the genestealers that had outflanked, and killed them down to 3. AP5 is nice! My lash-less squad on the right shot and killed 4 genestealers from the 10-man squad on the right, and prepared to charge in. The oblits in the center building were within 12" of the tyrant and shot plasma rifles at it, killing the remaining 2 guard, and putting a wound on the tyrant. The plague marines in the rhino missed their shots at it. The lash sorceror then lashed it away 9 more inches, making it a close thing if he would be able to charge next turn. The other two oblit squads tore into a 'good' fex on the right, incidentally within dual- charge range of the lash-less zerkers, and caused 4 wounds with their las cannons.

In combat, I was able to wipe out the genestealer scuttlers on the right with only one loss, and was able to charge my lash-less berzerker squad into the fex and genestealer squad on the right as well, killing everything, and only losing 3 zerkers. A good trade-off I would say! I consolidated as far to the right with them as I could. His turn again though, dangit!

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 10
Nids: 6

Turn 4: Nidzilla

As per usual, he moved everything forward. His tyrant would be able to charge too, if it rolled a 5 or 6 for terrain. Dangit!

Shooting saw him destroy my last 'central' rhino for my squad of zerkers (that I had disembarked my sorceror from earlier).

He charged that squad with a 'good' carnifex and another squad of genestealers. He was also able to charge a 'bad' carnifex into a squad of oblits. My zerkers took grevious losses, but I was able to draw combat, killing a few of the genestealers. I was also able to take a wound off the 'good' fex fighting them. The oblits vs. the 'bad' carnifex went alright, with them causing 3 wounds, and the fex causing 0 (made a 5+ invuln! woo hoo!) It lost combat, and failed a save for no retreat. The oblits consolidated backwards. The tyrant and a big squad of genestealers were able to get into the oblits in the central building, killing them all easily. The scuttling genestealers on the left finally got into range of my plague rhino on the left, and charged it (along with the last 'good' fex), and killed it.

Wow, lots of death for chaos that turn.

Turn 4: Chaos

My sorceror shifted again, to the far right oblit squad in the right ruins. My 6-man zerker squad (down to 5 now) re-embarked in it's rhino, and moved up above the rightmost ruins, joined by the plague rhino on the right. The lash-less zerker squad moved toward a 'bad' fex that had been moving right, getting ready to (hopefully) end it's day. The plague squad on the left, surrounded, decided to try and kill genestealers, since there weren't any other REALLY good options. They would die soon one way or another, with a big fex right there next to them.

For shooting, I was able to lash his tyrant out of the central ruins, and right next to an oblit squad, which opened fire with plasma rifles and destroyed it. AWESOME! The other oblit squad shot at the 'bad' fex the zerkers were about to charge, and caused 2 wounds. The plague squad shot pistols into the 8-man scuttler squad and killed 4, which was good rolling on my part, but much needed.

In assault, the zerkers ended the 'bad' fex, losing one more of their number, and the center combat w/ a 'good' fex and the genestealers went as expected, the berzerkers dying to a man. The plaguemarines dual-charged the genestealers and the 'good' fex, and caused 3 wounds to the stealers, and one to the fex. 2 died in return.

Just to give you the overall picture, it looked like I was being overrun. I had killed 3 of his genestealer squads, and 5 of his 8 monsterous creatures, but it looked like I would certainly be overrun this next turn.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 19
Nids: 10

Turn 5: Nids
Well, he moved his genestealers, and 2 of his fexses all toward my 'last line' of rhinos (the 6-man zerker squad, 9 man zerker squad, and plague squad). Shooting destroyed the 6-man zerker squad's rhino, and the big fex as well as a genestealer squad charged in on them. A genestealer squad was able to charge my lash-less zerker squad as well, and the 3rd stealer squad charged my leftmost oblit squad (the one without the sorceror).

My lash-less squad finally fell, as did my 6-man zerker squad. My oblits somehow survived the onslaught, and even ended up winning combat against the genestealer squad, though the stealers held. In the plague combat on the right, they were JUST able to kill the last genestealer before the 'good' fex murdered the rest of them.

Turn 5: Chaos

Time to disembark the reserves. I disembarked the plague marines and berzerkers, and got ready for one massive combat. The lash sorceror detatched himself from the oblit squad and hid behind some rhinos. No need to give them an easy 5 kill points, after all.

The 3 remaining oblits that could shoot, shot at the remaining 'bad' fex and took 3 wounds off it. Everyone shot pistols into the genestealers, and then charged.

It was sheer craziness, but I was able to get EVERY unit but the rear carnifex (who had just killed my plague marines squad) into combat. In the end, I had most of my berzerkers left, 3 plague marines left, and 4 oblits. None of his army survived, all running and getting caught, or getting away, but with no chance of regrouping.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 26
Nids: 14

And after that we decided to call it. He couldn't do a whole lot more to change the results of the game, and neither of us wanted him to get tabled. He was a really nice guy, and this was one of the hardest battles I've have to play.

Results: Massacre for Lash Chaos!
Battle Points: 22-0
(46/48 so far)

I guess you can say I got lucky that game, I didn't really roll amazingly (about average), but I DID get the kill point mission against him. It's tough to kill his stuff, but the HQs being worth 5 each made it a LOT easier.

In other games, the Plague Marine army had tied the eldar, and the mech imp guard had tabled their White Scars opponent by turn 4, earning 24 points. It looked like Chaos and the Imp Guard would fight in the 'championship'

[Xaereth]

Game 3: Lash Chaos vs. C.J.'s Mech Imperial Guard!

Wow, I did NOT want to fight his army. Lots of mech, with a TON of melta. Ah well, 'Ard Boyz, again. Here's his list:

Straken w/ command squad (banner, flamer, Nork Deddog) w/ Chimera w/ extra armor
Primus Psycher

5 Ogryn w/ Chimera
10 Stormtroopers w/ 2 melta guns in Vendetta
Marbo

10 Veterans w/ 3 melta guns, las cannon, power fist, Chimera w/ extra armor
10 Veterans w/ 3 melta guns, las cannon, power fist, Chimera w/ extra armor
10 Veterans w/ 3 melta guns, las cannon, power fist, Chimera w/ extra armor
10 Veterans w/ 3 plasma guns, auto-cannon, power fist

Demolisher-pattern Lemus Russ
Demolisher-pattern Lemus Russ
Colossus

6 Rough Riders

He might have had more, but that's all I really remember. Sorry if my memory is a little botched.

Another tricky list. To top it all off, our table had a HUGE mountain in the middle, making only two small gaps for my rhinos to try to break through at to get to his side.

The scenario:

Capture and Control w/ kill points, Spearhead

Massacre- control more objectives and earn more kill points
Major Victory- control more objectives and earn less kill points
Minor Victory- control equal objectives and earn more kill points

Battle Point Modifiers:
+1 if you control both objectives at game's end
+1 if you have a different scoring unit in at least three table quarters at game's end
+1 point if you destroy all of your opponent's Troops Choices
+1 if you have at least one HQ unit alive and your opponent has no HQ units alive at game's end

We rolled for turns and I got... a 6! I got to choose which side I wanted. Now, this might sound dumb, but on the table next to ours, a guy was playing who had some pretty severe body odor. So I chose a corner away from him. It was slightly inferior for deployment, but it was totally worth not having that distraction the rest of the game. As I stated earlier, the table had a huge impassable mountain in the middle, and only allowed two pretty narrow gaps at the table edge to get transports through.

I placed my guys all behind the mountain, ready to go to the right or left. I left my 6-man zerker squad to sit on my objective in some ruins. My oblits I decided to keep in reserve to see what sort of cool options I would have later, since my oblits couldn't see through the mountain now. I did leave one squad of oblits in a building, ready to shoot the vendetta should it choose to outflank.

He placed his guys pretty similarly, his guys ready to go toward any gap I chose. It was gonna be messy. His Colossus he put in his far back corner where nobody could reach. He DID place his objective in a building somewhat close to the left gap (with his plasma veterans sitting on the objective), and it was there I decided to go for.

He tried to steal the initiative and failed.

Turn 1: Chaos

I move all my guys toward the left gap. Still not in line of sight to anything though.

Turn 1: Imps

He shuffles his guys around, and moves his vendetta so that he can kind of see some oblits. He misses his shots, and leaves himself wide open to my counter-fire.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 0
Imps: 0

Turn 2: Chaos

One squad of oblits come in, and there was nowhere good for them to drop in, so I used an icon and put them on my side of the mountain, with a full view of his vendetta.

The trek continues, and this time I'm actually in the gap, and pop smoke on all my rhinos.

Shooting has my oblits kill his vendetta. haha, awesome.

Turn 2: Imps

Marbo comes in next to my objective, ready to lob his stupid grenade at my rhino.

He shuffles his guys around, and puts one squad of veterans inside their chimaera into the gap, blocking my entrance. His two other veteran chimaeras decide to head toward the gap on the right. Gonna get crazy here quick.

His shooting is amazing, and he kills my rhino on my objective with Marbo, and kills a rhino w/ a sorceror in it. He also kills my other 9-man zerker squad's rhino, and immobilizes a plague rhino. All this when I HAD popped smoke. His Colossus fires at the sorceror's squad, and kills them to a man, besides the fist and sorceror. A leman russ shoots at the other zerker squad, killing 5 (fist was still alive). Another leman russ shoots and kills the fist off the sorceror's squad. VERY painful turn. And he still gets another turn of shooting!

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 1
Imps: 4

Turn 3: Chaos

The last oblit squad comes in, and I just deepstrike them next to my objective. I need to hold it, and those other chimaeras are coming in fast.

I turn one of my plague rhinos back, because I know what will happen when the grypon shoots at the zerkers in cover. I NEED to control that objective. My lone sorceror gets into the remaining plague rhino, and zooms forward 6" toward the chimera blocking the path. The other sorceror's rhino moved forward 6" as well, ready to lash some guys. The zerker squad w/ 5 guys left moves forward, awaiting some lashed imperial guardsmen.

Shooting is alright, with my oblits managing to finally explode the chimera blocking the pass, and both lashes going off, to lash both the chimera squad out of the crater toward the berzerkers, and lashing the plasma vet squad out of their building, and in range of the berzerkers. I was also able to kill marbo with 6 bolt pistol shots from my downed rhino on the objective.

Assault was even better, with the berzerkers killing a lot of guardsmen, and only losing 1 zerker, they caused both veterans to flee and caught them. They consolidated 6" and out of line of sight to most of his army.

Turn 3: Imps

He moved his two chimeras into the gap on the right, fully blocking it, and popping smoke. They'd be really close to my objective next turn. His other guys shuffled around a little bit, and opened fire on my remaining rhinos.

His shooting, compared to last turn, didn't do much at all. He shot and destroyed my plague rhino, and stunned my last rhino multiple times, and destroyed the weapon. He also was able to shoot a multilaser at my 4-man zerker squad and killed one of them. Then the Colossus shot again, and killed all 6 zerkers holding my objective. Great.

No assaults, it's my turn!

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 5
Imps: 6

Turn 4: Chaos

Well, the plagues moved forward and prepared to try to open the ogryn chimera with their meltas. The 3-man zerker squad moved toward a Leman Russ, ready to try and pop it. The last plague squad moved toward my objective, still in their rhino.

The oblits opened fire, and were able to immobilize one chimera in the right pass, and wreck the other one. The plagues in the pass killed the chimera, and prepared to charge the ogryns (and apparently the primaris psycher?) inside.

Charging was great, with my 3-man zerker squad wrecking the Leman Russ, and the plague marines doing what they do best- making combat into a quagmire, not killing any of the ogryn, (they all just ganged up on the Primaris Psycher and killed him instead) but losing none of their own in the process. The objective is only about 6" away from them.

Turn 4: Imps

He decided to disembark from one of his chimeras in the pass, and head back toward his objective. The other squad was pinned, and couldn't do much. His rough riders manouver and get ready to charge my plague marines. Straken's squad disembarks to free up their chimera to get the veteran squad back to their objective asap, but doesn't move it for some reason, though the veterans ARE inside, and close to the objective.

His shooting didn't do a whole lot to me, only killing my remaining rhino with his Colossus at the very end. To be fair though, he didn't have much TO shoot with. In a totally random flurry of shots, though, with his immobilized chimera in the right pass, he shot at my plague rhino holding the objective with his heavy bolter (I'd already destroyed the multi-laser), rolled all hits, 3 6's to glance, and 5,6,6 on results... wrecking the rhino. Holy... what?

Assault saw his rough riders charge into the plague marines, and their attack.. stall. He had apparently forgotten he wouldn't get his bonus attack for charging them, and rolled all misses or no wounds. The quagmire continued there, with nobody dying, yet again.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 9
Imps: 8

Turn 5: Chaos

I decided I'd had enough of his unerring Colossus and spread my plague marines out to their maximum capacity, still touching their objective. My 3-man zerker squad moved toward the veteran chimera, ready to charge it. The last berzerker squad, who had been shot out of their rhino, moved forward, awaiting a successful lash of Straken's unit.

In shooting, the oblits all took potshots at the remaining veteran squad sitting on the chimera, only killing 2, so no pinning check. They also shot at and killed the other chimera. Lash did the job again, lashing Straken's squad toward them so that they could dual charge the ogryn and the command squad.

The charge was fun, with berzerkers and the lash sorceror wiping out the command squad, but not Nork or Straken. They lost a few, but the imperials ended up holding, due to stubborn from Straken. My lash sorceror finally was able to force weapon an ogryn, but they held as well. The 3-man zerker squad charged the chimera, killed it, and killed 5 men inside due to the explosion. They were forced to take a moral check, and fled off the table. haha, awesome.

Turn 5: Imps

He moved his stormtrooper squad toward the 3-man zerker squad, and in a fit of rage, gunned them all down, with ease. His Colossus ended up shooting, and direct hitting my plague squad, and ended up getting 4 under the template. I was able to use Feel No Pain on one of them, but the other 3 vaporized. 2 guys left to hold that objective, and he can't seem to miss with that thing.

In combat, he actually ended up winning somehow, though Nork finally fell. I made my saves, and it was suddenly the last turn of the game.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 12
Imps: 9

Turn 6: Chaos

Not much to do. Combat is the only thing I have left, and I do it well(ish) this time. I kill 3 more ogryn, and take two wounds off of Straken. I also kill ALL of the rough riders. Everyone holds due to stubborn, though.

Turn 6: Imps

Not much to do for him, either, except for move the stormtroopers onto his objective, to contest my hold, should I win the huge combat going on right now.

He shoots the big Colossus shot at the plague marine squad, and gets a direct hit, wounding both. I pass ONE feel no pain, and the other dies. I'm still holding it though!

I do win the combat as well, with flying colors, and consolidate. With one more turn I could have (almost) tabled him. Ah well, I did well enough.

Kill Point Count:
Chaos: 15
Imps: 9

We shake hands and...

Results: Massacre for Lash Chaos!
Battle Points: 21-0
(67/72 possible)

I ended up winning the tournament by (I think) 11 points or so, the Eldar guy getting 2nd, and the Plague Marine Chaos getting 3rd, with my Imperial guard opponent tying for 4th with my first 'Nid opponent, who turned out to be a pretty darn good player, from all accounts.

It was a really fun tournament, with all my opponents playing really well, and more importantly, really nicely. They were all extremely fun to play against, and I was glad to get to play. With my $60 boxed set, I ended up getting a Valkerie, to trade at a later date.

How was the battle report? Sorry it doesn't have pictures, but other than that, can I do anything to make the report(s) better? Thanks for reading it, have a good one, see ya next year!

[Starwolf]

Great stuff! Well written and easy to follow.
Congratulations. looks like you did well for yourself for the second year.
Again, great report. You didn't need pictures with the detail you were able to give.

[Nicha11]

Great Bat reps, I always find 'Ard Boyz interesting and this seemed no exception.

[Unicorn]

great report, hoping for more at a later stage keep em coming and congrats on the win.

[SevenSins]

Nice reps and congrats on the vic.

[lordalchemy]

Well played my friend I had thought that the Dual lash armies were a thing of the past with all of the mech armies nowadays but you ended up playing it perfectly. Great Batrep and good luck on your next leg if your able.

[silencer]

Hey,

that had been really nice reports which were enjoying to read. Playing against you must be a lot of fun and much frustration because you seem to be unstoppable Honestly, I would not have give you a chance against the 2nd Tyranids list and you sucked it off...great!

You ask what do imporove on the writing. Maybe giving the squads names or callsigns (i.e. Berzerker 1 or so) could help because I found it sometimes hard to know which squad is meant. Nevertheless the reports were great and I am looking forward to read more.

Thanks, M.

[Nicha11]

and you sucked it off...great!

For future reference I believe you meant "and you pulled it off... great!"

[Mountain Angel]

Harrr!

In the last mission the objectives were supposed to be placed in the adjacent table quarters.

[Xaereth]

@silencer: Thanks for the tip, I would agree with you that I made it a little rough to tell which squads were which, next time I'll try to make it more clear.

@Mountain Angel: Yeah, someone else pointed that out as well, after the game. Sometimes you just get things wrong, I guess.

@lordalchemy: haha, thanks, it was the first time I'd really ever used lash (played it two other games before) but the power is almost TOO good. I'm glad I don't normally use it with my chaos list in tournaments, it sort of spoils you :P

@everyone else: thanks for reading the report, I'm glad you enjoyed it if you want more battle reports I've written, my signature has a link to all my other battle reports.

[Mountain Angel]

I can't wait to read them as soon as I get home from work.

[aaronaleong]

This looks awesome. I noticed you didnt play any space marines. How would your tactics have changed if you played a 3 landraider army? With terminators, would you have been in trouble?

[Vineas]

As I said in another thread.....

Double lash is so broken that not all the superglue in the world can fix that broken piece of junk.

Yet it is considered the least bad thing about the nex CSM 'dex, the "supposed" worst thing being is no cult terminators.....boo-******-hoo. I'm so glad that the Chaos Daemon version of Lash is nowhere near so OP........ugh.

Nice batreps and I congratulate you on wins but I don't play tournies like this as it doesn't take skill, it takes copy/pasting off the internet.....now I can see why MTG started to bore me after awhile.....whoever had the most money to build the WAAC 'net deck could just sleep through a tournament and still win.

Not saying you lack skill OP but double-lash plays itself.....I think even you see that.

[Xaereth]

@aaronaleong: My tactics would have changed a little bit if I had had to play against a triple land raider army. I would have kept the obliterators in reserve and used my icons to deep strike them to (ideally) within 6" of the land raider. The twin-linked meltas would have hopefully made short work of the land raiders, and with lash and the hard-hitting-ness of the berzerkers who would get to strike first, I would have hopefully been able to isolate and destroy the termies, even if they were able to charge and kill the oblits.

@vineas: I will agree with you to an extent that lash is 'broken'. I think the argument could be made that it isn't nearly as good as it used to be, due to the fact that most competitive armies are mech now, and lash can't affect vehicles. I also think there are a lot better lists, and that there are a LOT of armies with really good psychic defense (i.e. Psychic Hoods).

I will also say that it DOES take skill to win with lash. There was another person with a similar list to mine at this same tournament (most notably, he had double-lash) and he lost all 3 games. It doesn't exactly 'play itself' but it IS a boon to an experienced general, who knows how it would be best used. In a way it sort of spoils you, because it IS a great power, and if you come to be dependant on it, you will probably start losing a lot of your games where you DON'T have it.

I personally usually hate taking 'broken' armies, because people tend to discount your skill if you end up winning, and you end up making a lot of people angry for taking an 'overpowered list'. This was the only tournament I've ever taken double lash to, because you're supposed to take a hard list. Last year I won the prelims AND regionals with blood angels (didn't get to go to nationals) and I wanted a break from them since I've been playing them so much lately.

I'm not just making this up. If you read my other chaos marine tourney batrep, my two HQ choices were a nurgle demon prince w/ warptime and Kharn, w/ ZERO oblits. Thats what I normally field when I play chaos, and normally do well. I just wanted to try something different.

Thanks for reading the reports

[aaronaleong]

That is what ard's boys if for. To bring the cheesiest. "broken" army you can and use battle tactics to win. What do you play Vineas? I am playing in the semi's as well and I think my list is absolutely disgusting. I would hate to play myself. I wouldn't field my list in a normal game or tournament as I would get 0 points for compostition, and probably sportmanship also because it destroys most armies pretty quickly. Good job Xaerth!

[Vineas]

I game with friends on a normal basis and no competitive stuff...right now I play Nids and Daemons....I have 'stealer shock nids and a mixed daemon force....i'm building Eldar and kind of sort of dabbling with orks...

I'm sure in a competitive environment it does take a modicum of skill to win but a list like that against a non-competitive army will play itself. Try it once, I bet you get punched in the nose for it....LOL

[kormas]

while personaly i think lash is horrably broken i do not believe that it would play the game itself, personaly i think that in a friendly enviroment it would soon become the source of hate, but this was 'ard boyz, personaly i think that it was a perfectly viable list to bring.

and those sort of tournies take skill to be in, if you actualy think about it, if both armies are cheese then that in a sense balances out, so that skill has to be used to try and gain the upper hand.

[TheSanityAssassin]

Well done....we had a very similar list (Minus the Plague Marines, Plus some Termies in a Raider, and 3 Vindies instead of Oblits) take 3rd place in our event, thanks largely to my dice.... (seriously...you'd think 8 S8+ weapons a turn could you know...hurt a Rhino at all...). Went to my first 'Ard Boyz this year...finished...badly...but I had the unfortunate problem of both running the event and playing in it, so I missed doing something crucial in my first game while answering a question and ended up losing to the guy who won the event...which also sucks, getting a draw against the best player there in the first game.

My problem came down to the fact that despite out VPing him by like a 4-1 margin, more than half his army was 2 Jetbike Seer councils, which only gave out 4 KP's.

Smashed my next opponent in 3 turns, then my dice fed me in the last, ending my desparate struggle to claim 3rd place.