The Greatest Battle of All Time: BA/SH vs Nids/Chaos

So good ole Fitz and I teamed up in our last practice game for the GT doubles tournament last night against our two buds who will also be there. We crushed a large Ork Nob/boys army the other night, and last night we wanted to throw ourselves against what we considered to be one of the hardest opponents we will face.

Enemy:
Sorcerer with lash
10 noise marines,
3 olbiterators
2 rhinos
10 berzerkers
Winged Hive Tyrant with Devourers
3 full Genestealer squads
3 warriors with some gun and rending shots

Valiant forces:
Dante
Honor Guard with Banner, PW, PF, Flamer
RAS
DC x2
Furioso, DC, Ven, Dread with HF
Farseer jacked out
Seer Council of 5 or 6 Warlocks with Spears
5 man Jetbike squads x2


I think that was it.


So, deployment was Dawn of War, and 50% of the table. We won the roll and elected to let our opponent deploy first. The mission was loot counters which ended up placed in a diamond in the center of the board.

The game started out VERY badly for us. Fearing a LOT of shots turn one, we only deployed Dante and some bikes behind cover. We forgot about DoW. Enemy deployed with their oblits in one corner and the rest of their force in the middle or on the other side.

Turn One:
Enemy is unable to shoot at our squads. They move and brace. Our guys come on, most of them deploy on the weak side of the enemy, away from Oblit fire. This sadly left Dante and the 10 bikers alone on the right. Dante rallied them and infused them with the Blood of Sanguinius. While they wanted to flee, he convinced them to Charge for the glory of their ancestors. They leapt out of cover and went straight for the nearest squad of Stealers. Dante chose to run to get closer and did not fire his perdition pistol. The Eldar shots from the bikes failed to do any real damage. Dante frowned in dismay as only one Genestealer died in front of him. He was not leading marines it seams after all. On the left flank, the Farseer ordered the Blood Angels to engage the Stealers. She promised her councils support if the marines failed to reduce the stealers with pistol fire. Sadly only 2 stealers died while the marines lined up on the edge of the terrain that the bugs were hiding in. When they looked back to the Farseer for support where was she? Watching out for her own butt by attempting to take out the Hive Tyrant. Her mind war fizzled and their spears bounced off its thick hide. Now the Blood Angels were left to face a Stealer Charge and the Eldar were about to be charged by a pissed off Tyrant. In the assault, on the right side, the bikers manged to use the size of their vehicles to their advantage. They managed to get into assault against the stealers. But the one bike that got in crashed against some rocks in the terrain and died...(rolled a 1) The left flank forces were not in range for assaults so they simply had to brace for impact.


Turn 2:
The battle with the stealers on the right flank would start to turn really ugly. The Sorcerer would lash the bikers into a clump surrounding Dante. The stealers moved around to get out of the way. The oblits would fire all they could at Dante and his clustered and whimpering Xenos allies, they do fear the plasma. After all the shots the only wound was one against Dante himself. He stepped in front of a plasma shot to save an Eldars frail life. The Lord of the Blood Angels was wounded. The cluster would take some more shots from the nids. Dante suffered the indignity of his Artificer armor being pierced by a lowly tyranid weapon. Wounded twice and facing certain death, he let the Black Rage consume him. The tyrant fired at the Council killing one. The Enemy assault left the genestealers charging one of the bike squads on the right. Dante's Death Mask exerted its power over them, if nothing else giving the Eldar some confidence, a placebo effect. The assaulted squad managed to kill some of the nids but was killed. On the left flank, the Tyrant charged the Council and the stealers charged the BA RAS trying to knock out my troops squad. They had to assault through cover and that gave my boys a chance, but the Sgt. and 3 of his men fell leaving 4 stealers. The tyrant killed a couple of Warlocks and they wounded it in return. Our turn 2 shooting was minimal. Dante looked over his shoulder at the wide eyed and terrorized Eldar who remained and said to them "Men, these are the moments that make us great. These are the moments that distinguish us from mere mortals." He looked at one in particular and touched him on the shoulder, infusing him with the warmth of the Sanguinius. Clearly Dante thought he was speaking to his battle brothers 10 thousand years passed. He was caught up in the moment of the defense of Terra. He WAS Sanguinius. The Black Rage had taken him. With a nod to the bugs he ordered his men to finish this, then ignited his Jump Pack. Some rocks dislodged as he left the ground, but he did not faulter. He landed mere feet from the Noisemarines, and burned one with his Perdition Pistol. The remaining jetbikers, now led by the Blood Touched jetbiker basking in the glory of Sanguinius, fired on the Genestealers and prepared for assault. On the left flank, there was no shooting to be had. The Furioso Dread saw that he had to save the Farseer so moved to support and Veteran Ren of the Honor Guard realised that the RAS had the vital equipment needed to secure the objective. They assaulted the Stealers but were not quick enough to save the remaining RAS marine. The stealers died under their blades. The Furioso charged the Tyrant and popped it's with his powerful claws. Spattering green blood in the face of the Farseer who thanked him for her life. "It is my duty to protect the weak my lady." The Marine forces would massacre roll towards the enemy lines and the Eldar would fall back, of course. On the right side, Dante would charge the 10 Noisemarines. 6 died to the Axe of Mortalis, but sadly one of them managed to slip a blade through his armor. Dante lay still as the black rage washed over him and he assumed his well earned spot at the right of his Primarch in the battle of eternity. Spured on by their commanders valiant stand, the lowly jetbike guardians charged the genestealers. The battle would come down to 2 bikers and 2 stealers exchanging blows in an even fight. What a day when two Eldar can stand toe to toe with the mightiest of the Tyranid assault forces and call the fight even! It must have been the power of Sanguinius indeed.

Turn 3:
The 2nd left flank stealer squad that was held in reserve now charged for the Furioso. The warriors, seeing their Tyrant fall, moved in for the kill against the council trying to shoot them down. The remaining noise marines would move for an objective and the oblits would move to get into fireing position. The Berzerkers hiding in their Rhino moved back to attempt to claim an objective and the Sorcerer inside his rhino moved up, but his powers were thwarted by the Farseers runes. The nids killed off the last of the Warlocks with their shots. In the assault, the stealers had just enough reach to get into grips with the Furioso. They suffered 6 deaths but failed to scratch through his armor. The bikers locked with the stealers would all miss each other.

On our shooting the two Death Company moved to stand in front of the Farseer, seeing her as a glorious chaplain on a marine bike fighting for the defense of the Emperor. They would fire their pistols at the Nid Warriors then assault them. The HG moved up to assault the stealers who were on the Furioso. He stealers failed to wound it again, and then they died to the Vets swords. The Farseer found some minerals deep inside and decided to join the DC in the assault on the Warriors, the bugs would not last long.

Turn 4:

The HG and Furioso would advance to get into range for an assault the next turn. The obliterators fired at the Furioso and blasted his arm off. The Berzerks drove their rhino over an objective to claim it while the sorcerer was shut down again by the Eldar Runes. In the Enemy assault, the 2 stealers squared off against 2 bikers, each would claim a kill, leaving 1 vs 1. The warriors fell to the DC and Farseer, leaving her unengaged to move and the DC able to redirect and go for the sorcerer. The BA forces moved up to prep for the final assault against the berzerkers who were hiding in their transport. Sadly though, the Furioso's meltagun was now destroyed, they were not quite sure how they would pop that nutt open.

Turn 5:

The enemy shooting was minimal. The dread took some shots but suffered only a stun. The chaos forces were content to hide and fire their transports guns. The sorcerer was shut down by the Runes yet again and they seemed to think that they had the battle well in hand. They controlled 2 objectives, their last genestealer was about to kill the last of the Eldar troops, and the marines had no way to kill the berzerkers in their transport. In the assault, the last Genestealer fought against the last Eldar Biker, the one graced by the touch of Dante. The stealer hit him but his claws only raked a gash into the chasis of the bike. With his final gasp of strength, the biker managed to head butt the stealer, stunning him. The stealer would stumble and crack his head open on a rock... The victorious biker would take the opportunity to run and hide behind cover.

On our movement phase, the Farseer was inspired by Dante's faith in the Emperor. If only she could have faith in such as cause... any cause... "Why not let it be the Humans?" She ordered the marine forces to take and hold. The veterans moved up and contested the objective held by the cowering berzerkers. The Furioso and DC moved up to try to pry the sorcerer out of his shell. She turbo boosted her bike to contest the objective held by the noise marines, and yes, the valiant biker, glowing with the blood of Sanguinius, moved to take an objective. At the end of turn 5 we held an objective, and the two held by the enemy were contested.

The fate of the battle would fall to the hands of our enemy, and Chaos. With faith in the fact that the will of the Emperor protects, we asked The Warmaster to roll the die. With a snicker of glee, he tossed the cube into the air, letting it fall where it would. The result? a "2". The game would end at the end of turn 5. The combined Saim Hann and Blood Angel forces would snap VICTORY from the maw of Chaos.

This was the best game of 40k I have played yet. It was all around fun and ended with an epic climax! It looked like we were to be driven from the board in 3 turns and almost threw in the towel but decided to keep at it because we had a chance to tie. Well, this just goes to show that you never know. The Emperor Protects.