Purgation Lords Battle Log 20110119 at Sectorium CM

Following my old pal's recent embrace of service to Imperial guard this Sunday I found myself deploying my fluff Space Marine list again VS his Imperial guards attached with a DH inquisitor on plasma guns / mystic retinue. He is planning to use this list to enter the incoming local league on March.

The lord of league being a member of Ordo Mallues himself has given him the green light to run alliance rule for one last time before the old dex is burn for good for the pending new grey knight codex.

My list has the following:
Captain (Chapter Master profile, Relic blade, articer armor)
Chaplain (Cassius profile, who else?)
Honor guard with chapter banner, thunder hammer on Chapter champion
On a Razorback with TL assault canon and dozer blade

Sternguard squad = 2 melta guns, 1 x combi plasma, 2 x combi melta
On a Drop pod

3x tactical squads with
Squad 2 - 10 men, melta gun, lascanon, Sergeant with PF and combi melta
On a Rhino with hunter killer missile
Squad 3 - 10 men, plasma gun, lascanon, Sergeant with combi plasma
On a Rhino with hunter killer missile
Squad 7 - 10 men, melta gun, multi melta, Sergeant with combi melta and combi flamer on a Drop pod

Thunderfire canon in a drop pod with locator beacon
Assault marines - 1 dude with plasma pistol, Sergeant with TH

Nothing too fancy as you can see in fact i would suspect someone reading this out there will scream about my apparent obtuseness on some choices i made, but bear in mind this list is about being "window display" army like those pretty pictures you see on codex, hence the name "fluff marine list".

On his side he has
DH ][ Lord on hood and psycanon with mystics and plasma dudes
CSS with plasmas and medic, astropath and officer of the fleet on a chimera
PSC with 4 naders in a chimera
2 x Infantry scouts in chimeras, each with an autocanon
1 x veterans with 3 meltaguns and 4 shotguns with a chimera
3 x Stormtroopers, 1 squad 2 plasma guns, 2 squads 2 melta guns each
1 vendetta
1 Medusa
1 manticore
1 Hydra

His list is pretty much shaped by models at his disposal so optimization is out of the question for the moment.

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Game sceario was capture and control on Dawn of war deployment. Winning my roll off on a plain field with one building on each end on middle i placed my objective there and he placed his directly across on third floor while mine was on the second.

Knowing the key to over power an IG army is to put the space marine's highest stats to good use, I committed tactical squad 7 and sternguards to first turn drop pod assault with Kassius leading squad 7 and the empty drop pod from thunderfire canon in reserve. Rest of the army would come in on turn one and running full speed towards his objective, hopefully flooding his line with power armored bodies, atleast that was the theory.

Seeing my deployment and fearing the worst, my old pal instead opt to put nothing on the table, a clear mistake of not utilising his DH lord with mystics and IG's codex strength of being full of canon fodders, but on hindsight this is the third time he ever play an IG army in my knowledge so I planned to take advantage on this, knowing well also a bloody nose is how he would prefer to learn from my pass experience.

So as first turn goes Kassius and friends all pod in well within the ground floor of building Prioritus with the objective on third floor. Hurdling themselves on the wall the chaplain waited for the inevitable engagement that would soon follow. Nearby the sternguard's drop pod landed slightly further from the intended drop zone. Running across the snow field they try to join up with the chaplain's gang. Behind on the space marines' line one razorback and 2 rhinos came in running full speed towards the Guards' line with a thunderfire canon crawling into position on the objective building on marines' fortified base.

Then it was the guard's turn and they came in with a bang, 4 chimeras coming in like hungry hounds looking for prey. The nearest came close to Kassius' squad 7 and spot light shinning, illuminating the chaplain amd his combat squad like a lighthouse in a storm.

And a storm did come in the form of massive amount of multi lazer, heavy bolter, las gun, plasma gun shots with storm eagle rockets to boot. The other combat squad the 5 marines of squad 7 that was armed with a multi melta absorbed half of that storm and by the time the dust started to settle none was left standing. On Kassius' squad only one has perished with the gang taking good use of their cover and armor but the chaplain was wounded after shielding his squad from medusa fire.The sternguard squad meanwhile was caught in the semi open and was brutally cut down to a man who refuse to back down.

The guards learning from their mistake of last engagement has diverted their forces with hydra and vendetta on marines' left flank and medusa with manticore on the right, trying to make the marines divert their precious resource no doubt, On the marine's turn a single drop pod has came in despite intervention from the guard's fleet but since it was an empty drop pod hardly any one make a fuss of it as the red hot transport raced across the sky and landed on an empty field.

Kassius and what was left of squad 7 broke off from their cover and charged the nearest chimera, melta/combi melta guns spitting death ray and destroying the tank, its horrified occupant evacuated from the burning husk. Meanwhile the command razorback and 2 rhinos continued to speed forward with assault marines closely following behind, blasting off their smoke grenades creating a massive cloud of smoke shielding their advances. The thunderfire canon found its mark on the opposing inquisitor and his retinue and fired up, strayed rounds hitting the guardsmen near by who earlier evacuated from a burning chimera, creating a mess. In the same time defensive machine spirit of the drop pods fired up, unleashing bolt rounds into the representatives of Inquisition. The inquisitor realising the mystics uses are spent, pushing them forward to shield himself and his gun wielding thugs. The lone sternguard charged wildly into a wall of chimeras firing his meltagun with vengeance in mind but not doing any damage as the heat ray bounce off the tank hull. Kassius and squad tried to charged the ex-occupant of the now burning chimera but failed to reach them across the burning hull, this would prove deadly in very near future.

The guards retaliated with guns of all sizes, literally, from str 3 to str 10 (str3 lasgun, str4 heavy stubber, str5 heavy bolter, str6 multi lazer, str7 autocanon, str8 meltagun, str9 lascanon, str10 storm eagle rocket) as they unleash their punishment on the marines. Kassius and his men were cut down in a sea of  projectiles to a single marine who was holding a meltagun. Squad of guardsmen disembarked and finished off the last sternguard veteran execution style with first rank fire second rank fire command, the power armor failed to stand againt the abuse. On the marine line 2 squad of storm troopers grac chute down unleashing their deadly salvos on the base-guarding marines and thunderfire canon. Pinning the marines and destroying the canon with the techmarine surviving a miracle 1 to wound on plasma gun.

Stormtroopers saw plenty of action in this engagement

Noticing his own objective is now comprimized the captain order squad 2 return to base to assist with the assault marines flying back to deal with the storm troopers. The combi melta and powerfist fitted sergeant disembarked from his speeding rhino and with the asm head back charging to the elite guardsmen. The ensuing melee will see to the stormies turned into paste and techmarine killed. Hunter killer missiles, assault canon and lascanon would try to bring down the vendetta but only blowing off one lascanon.

The final squad of stormtrooper finally arrived and in an combined cross fire blowing up the command razorback with the nearby squad 3 rhino. Both transports goes up in fire balls leaving the Captain with his honor guard and squad 3 in smoldering craters. Squad 3 would later hit by 2 direct storm eagle missiles landing 8 wounds but by emperor's grace none succumb to the apocalyptic blast. The same squad would later endure another same trial with another 8 wounds this time losing a battle brother in the process.

Despite heavy loses the marines pushes on, assault marines and squad 3 would make a mess of the final squad of stormtroopers. The base guarding combat squad finally downed the vendetta gunship with lascanon fire, its cargo of surviving veterans mauled and fled in the face of massive casualties. The lone marine from squad 7 with meltagun crossed the long plain on the left flank, dodging heavy stubber fire and would eventually destroy the hydra flak tank and denying the squad of retreating guard veterans from regrouping, living up to space marines' classic epic heroic exploits.

The captain and his honor guards eventually made it to building prioritus, smashing through the weaker part of the wall and utterly butchered a squad of guardsmen who failed to take the climb despite 2 turns of marching drill ( Go go go! order rolls of 1, 1, 2 and 1, 1, 2 for two turns plus the movement roll of 1 and 2 for movement phase) before falling back to cover after a hail of plasma gun fire that followed, downing 2 honor guards including the banner bearer.

Their scoring unit demised and the platoon command squad still needing a full turn to reach the objective, the battle ended 1-0 with the Purgation Lords victories, but to the irritation of the Captain in the face of massive number of fallen marines.

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Battle after thoughts:
- This is my old pal's only third deployment on Imperial guard

Quotable Quotes:

"Wolao Wei!"
-Colonel Lexiss, on squad 3 tactical marines surviving 2 direct storm eagle missiles hits.