Chaos vs Imperial Fists, 2017.09.24

Lists:

Chaos Daemons: 

• Battalion Detachment +3 CP
• Daemon Prince of Nurgle (CD), wings, double malefic talons
• Be'lakor
• 30-man Plaguebearers, icon, instrument
• 3-man Nurglings
• 10-man Brimstone Horrors
• Supreme Command Detachment: Legion Word Bearers +1 CP
• Chaos Lord: jump pack, combi plasma, warlord: The voice of Lorgar
• Sorcerer: jump pack, force staff, combi plasma, Mark of Tzeentch, relic: Eye of Tzeentch
• Daemon Prince of Nurgle, wings, daemonic axe
• 8-man Chaos Terminators, combi plasmas, power fists, Mark of Slaanesh

Imperial Fists:

• Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment
• Knight Paladin: 2x Heavy stubber, Rapid-fire battle cannon, Reaper chainsword, Twin Icarus autocannon
• Vanguard +1 CP
• Captain on bike, Combi-plasma, The Armour Indomitus, Thunder hammer
• Apothecary 
• 5-man Terminator Assault Squad: Lightning Claws, Thunder Hammer on the sergeant
• 5-man Terminator Squad: 2 Chainfist, Assault Cannon
• Spearhead +1 CP
• Librarian on Bike
• 10-man Scout Squad: Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles
• 10-man Hellblaster Squad
• Thunderfire Cannon
• Whirlwind with Whirlwind castellan launcher

Mission: Cleanse and Capture / Scouring

Vanguard deployment.

Deployment

A nice little block, with the Knight and Terminators in front, and the firebase behind them. Cannon hiding in the ruins. 3 CPs advance the Captain to Chapter Master.

My usual bubblewrap of Plaguebearers around the Princes, with the Horrors and Nurglings on the flanks for objective capturing.

For once I had fewer drops than my opponent, but he seized the initiative.

Imperial Fists, turn 1

The lines advance, with the Librarian on the left and the Chapter Master in the back. Terminators in reserve. Unpainted Bloodletters signify teleport homers.

The Terminators drop down and annihilate the Horrors, scoring first blood.
Plaguebearers roll well and only lose 3, which then come back in the morale phase thanks to the Icon.
Scouts snipe 4 wounds off a Daemon Prince.
Chapter Master scores Mission Critical Objective in the back ruin, taking the Fists to lead with 4-0.

Chaos, turn 1

Nurgle daemons advance while still keeping hold of two objectives. Word Bearers drop front and center. I debated going after the Chapter Master and Cannon, or the Whirlwind, but neither seemed as good of a target as the Knight/Terminators/Helblasters.

In the psychic phase, I healed back the injured Prince to 7 wounds, and did some smiting (taking 1 or 2 wounds off the Knight) and Infernal Gaze on the Librarian, taking off 3 wounds. However, the opponent did not bite and did not expend the Deny the Witch roll. Fortunately I did manage to get off everything needed: Death Hex on the Terminators, Prescience and Warptime. Again with Endless Cacophony (this time augmented with Veterans of the Long War), notice a distinct lack of a Knight in the middle.

The fight phase was notably less successful, with my Terminators stuck in combat.

Imperial Fists, turn 2

Terminators teleport back to the homer on the right, and Chapter Master comes out to provide rerolls. Assault Terminators fall back. Everything unloaded into the Terminators, killing them to the last man. 

The Scouts sniped the Sorcerer.

However, the highlight of the turn was the Chapter Master shooting supercharged plasma and dying. 

Chaos, turn 2

The hammer falls as the Princes get out of their protective cocoon and the Chaos Lord summons in 20 Bloodletters with Dark Pact.

I managed to take out the Librarian and a Helblaster in the smiting phase.

I charged in with everything and chose the Bloodletters first, denying Veil of Time cast on the Terminators in the turn before. The Hellblades chewed them, and I consolidated into the Cannon.
The Princes munched through the Helblasters, leaving only the Sergeant alive.

Imperial Fists, turn 3

Techmarine fell back, abandoning the Cannon.

Scouts snipe the Chaos Lord, leaving him with 2 wounds remaining.

Helblasters and Apothecary fell back, and one Helblaster was revived. However - Heroic Intervention.

Chaos, turn 3

Smite Storm eliminates the Whirlwind. The Princes and the Bloodletters charge in.

Opponent concedes just before I kill the Apothecary.

Aftermath

Again, the Terminator drop with double shooting of plasma and both psychic powers getting off were very powerful, removing the Knight in a turn. However, without all that coming together, I think the Terminators would have easily failed, and the tables would have been turned. 

I learned about better target priority: the Termies still had 5+ against plasma and power fist even with Death Hex, so I think that would have been better on the Knight, denying his 5++. By saving up some shots, I would have been able to lay into the Helblasters, avoiding some of that return plasma fire on turn 2.

Again, I missed my warp bolters for some extra shots.

Removing the power sword from the Chaos Lord again proved an irrelevant choice. In none of the 3 games did he ever got into combat.