Weekly Battle Report #4: Wolfstar vs. Chaos Marines

Hey there folks, it's time for the weekly battle report!  This week brings my wolfstar face to face against an optimized Chaos Space Marine list.  Before this game, I had never actually played against Chaos, despite how much I've played my current list.  As a sidenote, very soon I'll have a different army to play as- the wolfstar as it currently is will be played no more.  Lots of updates to my wolves I want to make.


 Here's the link to my Battle Reports page.

So, lets jump into lists.  Here's my list (2000 points):

Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf mount, Wolftail talisman, Wolftooth necklace, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Saga of the Bear, Runic Armor
Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf mount, Wolf Claw, Saga of Majesty, Storm Shield, Runic Armor
Rune Priest w/ Chooser, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf

3x Wolf Guard w/ 3x Power Fists, 3x Combi-meltas (these go into Grey Hunters)

9x Grey Hunters w/ Melta, Wolf Standard, Rhino
9x Grey Hunters w/ Melta, Wolf Standard, Rhino
9x Grey Hunters w/ Melta, Wolf Standard, Rhino

4x Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ 1x Thunder Hammer, 2x Storm Shields (one has both a TH and SS)

6x Longfangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers
6x Longfangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers
6x Longfangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers

His list:

Demon Prince w/ Mark of Slannesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
Demon Prince w/ Mark of Slannesh, Wings, Lash of Submission

4x Terminators w/ x3 (or 4?) combi meltas, Power Fist

9x Berzerkers w/ Skull Champion w/ Power Fist, Icon, Rhino
5x Plague Marines w/ Champion w/ Power Fist, 2x Melta, Rhino w/ Dozer Blades
5x Plague Marines w/ Champion w/ Power Fist, 2x Melta, Rhino w/ Dozer Blades
9x Summoned Lesser Demons
Summoned Greater Demon

3x Oblits
3x Oblits
2x Oblits

He's got a list that is about as good as it gets for Chaos.  Double Lash has always been a pretty good setup, and oblits are solid.  The combo between the two is pretty excellent as well.  Plague Marines to hold objectives and melta stuff, Berzerkers for a great counter charge, and termies for either the Termicide melta tactic or just another solid combat unit.  It's just about as tough as CSM can field these days.

Going in, my strategy was to basically make sure my wolfstar wasn't charged by his berzerkers.  I needed to neutralize his oblits as quick as possible, though he put them in the right places, and made it hard for me to get rid of them.

We rolled spearhead deployment, and kill points for the mission.  We agreed to play to 6 turns since that's what they do in tournaments.

Protip:  in a friendly practice game, don't try to seize the initiative.  It's not that you're trying to be 'friendly' about it- you need to practice going 2nd in games where you don't want to go second.  You can't count on seizing the initiative, and though going 2nd isn't that awesome, it's great for practice.

IF YOU WANT BIGGER PICTURES, CLICK ON THEM!

 

Here's a picture of deployment.  Wolfstar in front of my rhinos for cover saves, and a few longfangs in the forest area terrain.  His setup isn't that visible in this picture- he basically set up with everything in the middle.  He surprisingly kept his Demon Princes in reserve- he said he didn't think they'd survive a turn of missile launcher shots, which is probably true, assuming I could actually see them.

 Chaos Turn 1:

He shuffled his guys around some, and took some shots at my wolfstar with the oblits.  He used plasma cannons to also hit my tank, and though he rolled some good hits, I also rolled some good cover/invulnerable saves.  Not much (if anything?) got through.

 

His Plague rhinos are the ones most visible.  Of note, his termies shuffled their way forward.  Which meant that I'd potentially be able to charge them with the wolfstar on turn one if I got a good enough fleet roll.

Wolves Turn 1:

I moved up, and broke my Saga of Majesty Wolflord off from the rest of the pack.  The idea was to charge either the termies with him, or get some of the oblits if I got a good enough fleet.  The plan changed almost immediately however, when I rolled a 2 for fleet.  Termies it would be.

Otherwise, I shot and finally destroyed his smoked plague rhino, though the other one remained unscathed by the remainder of my missiles.

In combat, my Majesty Lord charged his termies, only killing one, and taking two wounds in return.  Ouch, figured I'd do more damage than that.  It was alright though, because it would force him to assault me with his berzerkers- so I could get the counter-charge on them with my wolves.

Kill Point Count:
Wolves:  1
Chaos:  0 
 

 

The wolfstar is lying in wait, trying to get the charge off on his berzerkers, should he charge them in.  If not, I'll be able to at least get his oblits/plague marines on the right next turn with them.

Chaos Turn 2:

Most of his reserves came in- only his Greater Demon failed to show up.  The lesser demons decided to hide from my army, running away the entire game to save a kill point.  The Demon Princes showed up on the far left side of the board, ready to lash my poor longfangs out of the forest.  :(  He disembarked his berzerkers, and got ready to charge my wolf lord.  His plague marines decided to get the F*** outta dodge.

In the shooting phase, he was able to lash one of my longfang squads out of cover, though he was out of range on the 2nd one.  Plasma happened, though he overheated with two of his oblit cannons, and though the other one hit, he only killed 5 of the 6 guys.  Heh, lucky for me.  His oblits opened fire on my Wolfstar, and I took a few wounds, though nothing too crazy.

In assault, my Wolflord decided to try and kill his terminators for the kill point.  He ended up killing 2 of them (not quite enough) and died horrifically for his troubles.  Poor Blighter.

Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 1
Chaos: 1 

Wolves Turn 2:

Well, this turn was my turn of action.  I needed to hurt a lot of his units.  I moved the wolfstar up, and then moved two Grey Hunter squads up and disembarked them in front of the 2-man oblit squad.  In the picture, note how I kept the Rhino between them and the other oblit squads- cover is money vs. plasma cannons.

Here's the picture of everyone set up before I shot/assaulted.  Notice the DPs on the left, bracing against the Longfangs.  At this point, I just hope I can make a good enough difficult terrain roll for my Wolfstar to get into his 'zerkers.

So, I shot and assaulted.  When the smoke cleared, I had killed the two-oblit squad, all the Berzerkers, a full demon prince, and put 3 wounds on the other (not quite killing it).

Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 4
Chaos: 1

After the smoke cleared.  My Wolfstar is trying to get some cover saves from all his shooting next turn.

Chaos Turn 3:

He needed to kill my wolfstar this turn, for sure.  His summoned greater demon came in, and possessed a Plague Marine champ.  He'd likely be in charge range of the 'star.  Shooting saw the Wolfstar lose a dude, and lose some wounds on other models.  They were greatly diminished at this point, though I'd carefully saved my Hammer/sheild model's wounds, so he was at full health still.

He also plasma'ed my 'out in the open' longfang squad.  Protip:  never forget that oblits can move and shoot.  I had them covered by my Runepriest's rhino from where they were, but they moved around and had perfect line of sight to them.

In assault, his greater demon barely made it into combat, and his oblits also charged me.  My Bear Lord ended up cutting down 2 oblits, a regular wolf put a wound on an oblit, and I put another 2 on his greater demon.  In return, he killed everything of mine except for the Hammer/shield model.  He took 4 fearless saves on each model remaining, and lost his oblit, and took another on his Summoned Demon.  He also lashed my lone longfang and killed him with the demon prince.

Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 5
Chaos: 4 

Well, the wolfstar is essentially dead by now.  At least his Greater Demon has to strike at I1 next turn, since I wounded him with a hammer.

Wolves Turn 3:

I got one squad of Grey Hunters back in their ride, and zoomed them forward.  The other Grey Hunters decided to try to capitalize on the Greater Demon's I1 dilemma and moved up to charge him.  The Rhino got out of the way

In shooting, the Rune Priest finished off the Demon Prince with Living Lightning, and the Longfangs shot at his Oblits, failing to do anything.

Combat saw the Grey Hunters tear down the greater demon, and scramble back into cover.

Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 7
Chaos: 4

Well, he's still got his plague marines left alive, as well as a fully healthy squad of oblits.  His summoned demons are still trying to stay away from me though, and his lone termie has been running too, to conserve kill points.

Chaos Turn 4:

He moved his plague marines up in their rhinos (at some point, his other plague marines had gotten into the Berzerker Rhino) and shot at me, though he didn't do much, as I recall.  The oblits shot at my long fangs, and killed a couple, despite me going to ground with them.

Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 7
Chaos: 4

Wolves Turn 4:

I needed to get the Plague Marines out of their rhino.  So, the Grey Hunter squad moved up to get one of them, and the Hammer/shield wolf moved up to the other.  The Rune Priest decided to try to Jaws his oblits.  Also, the grey hunters in their rhino on the right moved up, disembarked, and got ready to double-tap his lone termie to death.

Shooting went alright, killing the lone termie.  The Rune Priest took a wound from rolling boxcars on Jaws though.  Ah well, has to happen sometimes, right?

In assault, my wolf killed his rhino, the explosion killing a Grey Hunter.  The Grey Hunters were able to wreck his other rhino in combat.

Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 10
Chaos: 4

Not a lot left at this point...

Chaos Turn 5:

He decided to try to kill my Hammer/sheild dude with his Plague Marines.  Predictably, he killed him easy enough.


Kill Point Count:
Wolves: 10
Chaos: 5

Wolves Turn 5:

I charged in with my Grey Hunters, and didn't really do a whole lot against his plagues, though my fist would eventually wear their depleted numbers down I was confident.  My Rune Priest used jaws, and killed an oblit.  Yay! 

Grey Hunters aren't a great matchup vs. plague marines, but they did have numbers on them.  Notice the lesser demons on the top of the screen.  They covered quite a bit of ground this game.

We decided to call the game here.  It was effectively over- his oblits might be able to kill something, and the plagues might kill both grey hunter squads, but even so I'd still have him by a kill point.

Mick is a great player, and his lists are usually pretty rock-solid.  I feel like for CSM, his list is one of the better ones possible (though I personally don't like the greater demon as much), and he's a fun guy to play against too.  He's a very analytical player, and it's tough to find a big mistake in his playing.

As it was, he just didn't have enough to get rid of my Wolfstar quickly.  Had his princes started on the board and gotten into the wolfstar early with the berzerkers around, the game would have been quite a bit different I think.  I'm not sure who would have won, but I think it would be closer.  Principle of the Countercharge.

So, I think I played it fairly standard.  The wolfstar was there to force my opponent into dealing with it, and the Grey Hunters helped out with support on the fringes, ready to back the big guys up if they needed to.  I've come to rather like Living Lightning on my Priest- he's the guy who finished off both Demon Princes.  My next version of Wolves will have 3 rune priests with Living Lightning.  Exciting times.

Let me know what you think!  Critique on lists presented is fine, as well as anything I could have done better, in your opinion.  Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next battle report!  Soon (maybe not my next one, but still... soon) I'll be playing a whole different army, with totally different dynamics involved.