Imperium vs Chaos 4000 points: Planetstrike!!!

Every now and then you get the urge for a big game of 40k. This time we decided it should be a planetstrike game, as we haven't yet tried the newer rules that came out not so long ago. Its 4000 points a side. We have a chaos held world being assaulted by the Imperium of Man, can my renegades hold the planet or will the defences fall?

The Armies

Forces of Chaos

As I don't quite have 4000 points yet for my chaos, I had to borrow some of my opponents own models, and he was kind enough to let me use one in a not so legal slot (you will see in a sec).

Renegades and Heretics: Planetstrike Defender detachment

Renegade Command Squad – 160 (warlord: +1 stratagem)

Bloody handed reaver, Mark of nurgle, command vox, carapace armour (all), plasma gun, lascannon, +2 disciples

Rogue Psyker – 35

[haywire blast power]

10 Veterans – 140

2x melta gun, carapace armour, grenadiers

40 Zombies – 120

15 mutants – 65

champion, covenant of khorne, pistol and close combat weapons

10 mutants – 30

shotguns

Infantry platoon

Command – 100

Demagogue, 2x flamer, krack grenades, militia training, chaos sigil, 20 men

Infantry squad - 85

20 men, militia training, krack grenades, chaos sigil

Infantry squad - 60

10 men, 2x melta gun, militia training

Chimera - 70

militia training, autocannon, heavy bolter

Infantry squad – 70

10 men, 2 x plasma gun, militia training

Chimera – 70

militia training, autocannon, heavy flamer

3 Ogryn – 240

carapace armour, mark of nurgle

Devil dog – 135

heavy flamer, militia training

Sentinel Squadron – 60

3 men, heavy flamer

Valkyrie – 135

militia training, lascannon, hell-strike missiles

Battle tank Squadron – 280

2x battle tank, militia training

Demolisher – 170

militia training

Heavy Ordinance battery – 170

2x Medusa guns, militia training

Artillery Battery – 70

2x heavy mortar, militia training

Support squad – 80

3x lascannon, militia training

Support squad – 65

3x autocannon

Chaos Daemons: Combined arms Detachment

Herald of Nurgle – 120

level 2, locus of feel no pain

20 plaguebearers – 180

3 nurglings – 45

Soul grinder – 180

nurgle, phlegm

Soul grinder – 180

nurgle, phlegm

Maulerfiend – 135 (not a codex option, but my opponent let me use it)

lasher tendrils

Lord of skulls - 888

Total: 3998

Stratagems: Directional void shields, krack mines, rapid reinforcements

Hordes of chaos

My force is rather infantry heavy, hopefully to hold on to my objectives. I have a few heavy weapons to maybe take out any heavier targets. Lets see what happens.

Forces of the Imperium

Elysia D-99: Planetstrike attacker detachment

D-99 Command Squad - 170 (warlord: re-roll assaults on buildings)

Medi pack, Ground Scanner, 2 Snipers Power Fist, Refractor Field

D-99 Executioner Squad - 135

7 vets, 6x meltaguns

Taros Venerator - 110

Twin-Linked Lascannon, 2x Hunter-Killer Missiles

2 Drop Sentinels – 180

2x Multi-melta

Sky Talon – 85

Rocket Pods

Drop Sentinel Squadron – 90

Multi-melta

Vulture Gunship – 190

Twin-linked Punisher Cannons, Infra-red targeting, Flares

D-99 Sentry Gun Battery – 135

3x Lascannon

D-99 Cyclops Demo Squad -50

Valkyrie - 135

Lacannon

Total: 1280

Elysian: Planetstrike attacker detachment

Lord Commissar - 130

Power Sword, Plasma Pistol, Carapace Armour, Tracking Beacon, Melta Bombs

Veteran Squad - 145

3 x Plasma, Missile Launcher, Vox Caster

Veteran Squad - 115

Plasma, Missile Launcher, Vox Caster

Vendetta - 110

Total: 500

Scion Detachment

Command Squad - 140

Vox Caster, Platoon Standard, Medi-Pack, Hot shot volley gun, Plasma Pistol

Taurox Prime – 95

Gatling Cannon, Storm Bolter

Tempestus Scions - 145

10 Scions, Vox-Caster, 2x Volley Guns

Taurox Prime - 85

Twin linked Autocannon, Storm bolter

Tempestus Scions - 145

10 Scions, Vox-Caster, 2x Meltaguns

Knight Formation - Baronial Court

Knight Lancer - 430

Rampage

Knight Errant - 400

Ironstorm Missile Pod

Knight Gallant - 340

Meltagun

Knight Errant - 370

Total: 4000

Stratagems: Gremlin curse, dawn assault, desperate last push

The forces of Man

Well this force is rather heavy on the flyers and super heavies. My opponent asked me if it was ok before the game as he struggled to make 4k with out using the knights, so I knew it was coming. I was just concerned with how I will take out the knights, as the lord of skulls will probably just take out 1 before getting killed.

The Mission

As it was out first game of planetstrike we decided to just used the basic mission, Planetfall. At our local club they have a large table, 6ft x 10ft, so we used that table to make an interesting game. Before hand we had already agreed I would be the defender and him the attacker, so the fliers made sense in the game, its not like Elysians are much of a defence force.

With my force being the defender, I get to set up the terrain how I want. So I created a stronghold of 3 bastions in one section of the table with defence lines linking them up. I place a road down the length of the board leading to a 4^th bastion on the other side of the table which has a single set of defence lines (this will be the outpost). As I wanted the outpost to be on its own I surrounded it with trees. Around the rest of the table I scatter a few ruins, and place a landing pad. The objectives are placed on top of each bastion, plus one in the centre of the stronghold. The last objective goes in the open at the crossroads in the centre(ish) of the table.

The outpost

My deployment is quite simple. The outpost is held by a unit of nurglings, with the rogue psyker on the quad-autocannon. The plague zombies surround it on the floor. The stronghold has the majority of my force, the ogryns, and heavy weapons start in the bastions (as they need to be full at the start of the game) and the command squad starts on top of one of them. The medusa battery and heavy mortars start in the stronghold, along with the demolisher and unit of battle tanks. The rest of the space is filled with the infantry command, 20 man unit and plaguebeaeres. The sentinels start in a ruin, as do the two mutant units. In reserve I keep the valkyrie with veterans inside, and the 2 chimera units. The devil dog starts in reserve as well ready to support where the enemy armour appears. In a risky move I place the lord of skulls and maulerfiend in reserve, and the two soul grinders back, to deep strike in.

The stronghold

My opponent then gets to pick which side of the table he will have as his deployment zone, and selects a long edge.

Night Fight: Turn 1 (dawn assault)

The table after i deploy

The Battle

Before the game starts the Imperium gets to put down 5 firestorms. The first targets the zombies but it scatters off and kills 2 of them (we still place a crater as it only clips them). The second targets the infantry and kill 8 with ease and wounds a lascannon emplacement. Next shot finishes off the lascannon. Next targets the medusa, scatters and only deals a single wound. The final one misses and places a crater.

Imperium turn 1

The scions observe the outpost

In from reserve he gets most of his units. Both of the scions in transports are dispatched on the left to take out the zombies holding the outpost. The other scion unit deep strikes in next to the commanders bastion and lock on. All of the fliers come on the right via deep strike or reserve. Deep striking in, the sentry guns are dropped on the right hand side. Boosting the strength on the right, the Taros and infantry join the fliers walking on the table. In the centre all of the knights stomp on, ready to attack where ever needs support. Only the single sentinel and executioners are still in reserve.

When he finishes his movement phase I intercept with my guns, but they only manage to take a single hull point off the vulture. Then the mines activate and only 2 scions die.

First shot of the game and the scions level their melta guns at a bastion and it explodes, killing the lascannon teams inside, and crippling the command squad. The knights fire and one immobilises the demolisher, while the others wreck a leman russ battle tank. Fire from the fliers kills scores of infantry, but they all hold thanks to sigils and high leadership. On the left the Taurox shoot at the zombies and bring down only a couple thanks to cover and feel no pain. At the end of the shooting phase my command squad fails its moral test and runs closer to the scions in their ranks.

Assault and the scions charge the fleeing command squad, the commander rallies his squad just in time to get cut down with out dealing any wounds back.

Chaos turn 1

The scions are ambushed

Scrambling to the strongholds defence, the lord of skulls backed up by the maulerfiend come in opposite his deployment zone starting to move towards his knights. On the left a chimera comes in behind the taurox in the woods, hoping to ambush the ambushers. Coming in from the warp, both soul grinder materialise on the right in between the infantry. The Valkyrie comes in from the right flank going straight for the vulture. And finally behind the knights the devil dog appears hoping to blow a hole in one before they can do too much damage. In the stronghold the infantry move around, while the plaguebearers leave the safety of the defences and go after the closest knight. On the right the ogryns leave the bastion and move towards the sentry guns. Being no where near the fighting, the khorne mutants leave their ruin and move towards the fight. The other mutants sneak out of their ruin and face the D-99 command squad, trying to kill them.

Aiming the medusas at the approaching knights the crew pray they can do something, but they bounce off the ion shields. The melta cannon of the devil dog is in point blank range of the rear of a knight but the shot scatters greatly, missing its mark. With the knight shields facing forwards, the soul grinders both phlegm the side armour but fail to penetrate their armour. Leman russ fire is stopped by ion shields as well. In a rather risky manoeuvre, the heavy mortars target the scions in front of them, one shot locks on while the other scatters a little hitting my own infantry. I lose 2 men but the scions lose 5 of the 10. Fire from the infantry shoots the scions as well killing all but 1 model, who has a damn melta gun. A single hell-strike missile from the Valkyrie hits the vulture and penetrates it, shaking the flyer. Mutant fire targets the D-99 command and its kills off a single model. The lord of skulls shoots at a knight but fails to do any damage.

Daemon engines appear

On the left at the outpost, the passengers of the chimera use their melta guns on the rear of a taurox, but only shake it, the tanks autocannon then takes an additional hull point off it, leaving it damaged but still in one piece.

Slowly gaining speed, the plaguebearers charge the closest knight, only taking 3 wounds from its D weapon. All attacking the metal beast, they manage to weaken its armour dealing a single hull point. However the knight then stomps the daemons 3 times, they are lucky enough to doge the first foot but the other 2 crush 10 daemons (6's really are unfortunate). At the end of the combat the rest of the daemons are banished back to the warp as the knight had dealt enough damage in a single turn of combat. The mutants charge the D-99 command and fail to do any damage, they lose 2 of their number and run but get cut down.

Imperium turn 2

Executioners attack a soul grinder

The rest of his force comes in from reserve. With the rear of a soul grinder exposed, the executioners appear behind them and lock on. The drop sentinel attacks the outpost but scatters back 11 inches and takes it out of melta range. On the right the talon releases its cargo of sentinels as they go after the other soul grinder. A single knight turns to deal with the devil dog while the rest push forwards. Not having a real target, the vulture flies off the table while the Valkyrie moves over the base. In a rather interesting move, the Cyclops are dropped out the back, they both scatter and mishap, and we decide on a 6 they would explode. One does and kills a few infantry, while maybe not as the rules say it was funny and made for a more interesting game. On the left the scions get out of their transports.

The knight faces the devil dog

Executioners shoot into the rear of the soul grinder next to them and explode it with ease, but the daemon engine takes 4 of them with it, its final act of spite. The thermal cannon of the knight explodes the devil dog with a single shot, obviously hitting its unstable ammo containers. Fire from the vendetta manages to take 2 hull points off the maulerfiend but it can't but the beast down. On the right two lascannons, 2 multi-meltas and a krack missile are all fired at the second soul grinder but do no damage. On the left the tauroxs deal 2 hull points to the chimera while the scions try to take down the zombies, but none fall, as they feel no pain. The lone scion tries to finish off the demolisher with its melta gun, but misses. End of the shooting phase and the executioners run for it.

Assault and the scion goes after the demolisher still but it fails to do any damage. A knight charges the medusa, it kills off 1 of the guns and all of the crew are crushed underfoot. Infantry lead by the lord commissar charge the autocannon bastion, but two are gunned down by the autocannons. They use a melta bomb to collapse the building, killing all of the men inside.

view from my opponents side

Chaos turn 2

The left flank

The second chimera comes in on the flank, supporting the first. I have little movement apart from the sentinels making a break from their cover to attack the lord commissar and his unit. What little infantry I have left in the centre move to support the sentinels as well. The zombies smell fresh meat and leave cover to chase down the scions. Carrying on its run, the valkyrie moves around to face the side of the vendetta. Berserk, the ogryns go straight for the sentry guns.

The right flank

Small arms fire from the infantry in the stronghold takes down the troublesome lone scion. Flamers from the sentinels targets the lord commissars unit and kills 3 of them, some small arms fire from infantry kills the rest of the squad, leaving just the commissar left. Heavy mortar fire attempts a rather unlikely shot on the red knight. Both shots lock on and manage to both glance the titan! 2 hull points gone. Firing its remaining hell-strike missile and snap shooting its lascannon, the valkyrie takes 2 hull points off the vendetta and vector locks it! Again the demolisher tries to damage a knight but the shot just bounces off its ion shield. In defence of the outpost, the new chimera flames the scion command squad and kill 3 of them. Shooting out its back hatch, the plasma guns wreck the already damaged taurox. The other chimera attempts to kill off the second Taurox but it fails to do anything, as do its passengers.

Assaults and on the right the remaining soul grinder charges into the drop sentinels, they attempt to stop it with over watch but they miss and explode under the pressure of its iron claw. The ogryn charge into the lascannon turrets and destroy one of them but the others are still in one piece. Its a long charge but the zombies attempt it on the scions and fail.

Imperium turn 3

Not wanting to be destroyed, the Tauros moves over to the Talon, gets picked up and flies away from the soul grinder. The lancer backed up by another knight faces the lord of skulls, while the other two move into the stronghold, the vendetta is forces to just move 18 inches forwards. We forget all about the vulture which is off the table. The executioners rally.

The survivors get clear of the flaming wreck.

The taurox wrecks the chimera with the melta squad, they are forced out and get pinned. With the approaching horde of zombies, the scions try to gun them down but only kill a few, not nearly enough. Shooting from the knights deals a single hull point to the lord of skulls. The turrets can't be locked in combat so they shoot at the valkyrie, I decide not to jink and a single shot hits, penetrates, immobilises the flier which then crashes killing 8 of its passengers, only a melta gun and regular veteran survive. Krack missiles from infantry squads shoot at the soul grinder but do nothing.

Now for the big phase, a knight charges into the demolisher and wrecks it with its hammer of wrath attack. In the centre the knight lancer fails its charge on the lord of skulls but a regular knight makes it in. Striking first the knight only hits with 2 attacks, but then manages to roll a 6 on the D chart, causing 8 hull points, the other attack deals 2 more but that's irrelevant at this point. The lord of skull explodes but its obviously knocked back by the force of the blow as it scatters away from the knight. In his deployment the red knight charges the sentinels and wrecks them both with ease. Lord commissar, all alone, charges into the infantry and with a swing of his power sword kill of 2 chaos worshippers, however he does take a wound in return. Regardless his fury is too much for my infantry and they run, only to get cut down. On the left the scion command charges the last chimera and explodes it with a melta bomb, killing 6 of the guys inside. On the right an infantry unit charges the soul grinder trying to hold it up, they do no damage to it, and I only kill 2 back, so they hold.

Chaos turn 3

The only movement I have is the zombies getting closer to the scions and the mutants getting onto a quad gun in my stronghold. The knight which destroyed the demolisher only had 4 hull points left, so the maulerfiend gets close to it and tries its luck. Not wanting to soulgrinder to get bogged down for the rest of the game the ogryns leave the turrets alone and go to aid the daemon engine.

Psychic phase, my rogue psyker casts his power on the sentinel, attempting to haywire it, he passes the power and takes off a single hullpoint!

Again in desperation, the mortars target the closest knight trying to do some damage, but this time the shots just bounce off its hull. Using the quad gun the mutants try to damage the knight next to the maulerfiend but fail to do anything. The rogue psyker tries to finish the sentry with the quad gun on his bastion, but fails to hit. The remaining leman russ tires to take out the executioners and the shot locks on, killing them, despite them going to ground. The infantry next to the scion command shoot at them and kill off the body guard leaving just the scion commander remaining.

Assault and I don't have much, but the ogryn charge into the infantry and kill them all In a single round, freeing up the soul grinder, they both consolidate towards the cover. Again the zombies fail the charge on the scions with a good old roll of 3 inches when they needed 5. the maulerfiend charges into the knight, its lasher tendrils holding back the knight. The knight still manages to get an attack though and wrecks it.

Imperium turn 4

Crushed under a tank

With the attack on the outpost not going well, the knight lancer moves towards it and runs, for a 20 inch move. The vendetta leaves the table and we remember about the vulture which comes back, facing the ogryn. All the knights spread out to mop up my force.

Punisher fire from the vulture targets the ogryn and 2 fall under the hail of bullets. The talon uses its missile pods to take out a lot of the mutants and the knight pretty much kill the rest.

Trying to avenge his bodyguard, the scion commander charges into the infantry but thanks to some very lucky rolls by myself, he dies to over watch fire! The combat knight charges the last leman russ and destroys it with his thunderstrike gauntlet and so gets the throw the carcass of the tank. With pinpoint accuracy the tank lands on the two remaining veterans, killing them both.

Chaos turn 4

The zombies get within 2 inches of the scions, they can't fail this turn! The soul grinder faces the vulture and the lone ogryn goes after the D-99 command.

Again reaching into the warp, my psyker tries to haywire the lancer as its runs towards his bastion, but the power is denied!

Its harvester cannon shouts out and hits the vulture, dealing another hull point of damage to it, wrecking the flier. Again desperate, the witch uses the quad gun on the lancer, and manages to do nothing, thanks to the lancers shield.

Assault, finally the zombies make it into the scions and kill 4 of them while taking no casualties. The ogryn charges the D-99 command and kills off every one but the commander, who deals a single wound back, the hero holds though, determined to take down the chaos beast.

Zombies finally make the charge

Imperium turn 5

The lancer charges the bastion, exploding it, killing the nurglings inside and the witch on top. The zombies win the combat killing the rest of the scions which is a plus. The strong hold falls to the other knights, and the heavy mortars get blown up. The ogryn as well gets killed by the D-99 commander some how.

The lancer takes down the outpost

Chaos turn 5

I have a soul grinder and some zombies. I can't do anything.

The Imperium claim the strong hold

At this point we run out of time so call it there.

Imperium: 18 (5 objectives, all secondary objectives) – Chaos: 0

Victory to the Imperium

Post-Battle

That was a really fun game, I got my ass handed to me but it was stupidly fun all the same. The think that I am really glad I did about this game was set up a outpost objective. For some reason I was more invested in the outcome of that than the main stronghold. It was probably because it felt that it had more of a story than the overwhelming force on the other side of the table. A few units of scions backed up by a drop sentinel are sent to clear out a lightly held force, however it falls apart once they get ambushed by a chimera patrol in the area. Then at the end a knight comes in to save the day and take the objective. Brilliant.

Its not to say that I didn't enjoy the larger side of the table. I did, its just that captured my imagination more. Its funny how the battle turned out, all the knights showing up in the plains, while the fliers and infantry took the flank with more scenery. It all looked very cool to me and I am so glad we did it.

However we felt that the score didn't quite reflect the battle. Granted I did get stomped into the ground, but we talked about it and I held onto the objectives for most of the game, only losing them turn 4 and 5, so maybe next time we play, we will add in another point system. Keep it the same but at the end of each game turn, if you hold and objective, gain 1 point. That way if you hold most of the objectives for most of the game, but lose them at the end, the score would reflect the game a little better. But that's just us.

We are going to try another large planetstike game again in the future, this time I will be the attacker with him defending. Chances are will be try different armies as elysians defending is a little odd. So he might use his marines or chaos. I on the other hand am not sure what I will do. I could use Eldar, I easily have 4k of that, but I do also have a rather large amount of dark eldar which do like attacking planets. Eldar would look better as more models are painted, but what do you guys think I should use?

Hope you enjoyed the battle report.