Kabal of the Blackened Sun vs Night Lords (counts as BA)

One of my Ordo brothers has been toying with this idea for awhile now: he loves Chaos Marines, hates the CSM codex, so wants to do Night Lords using the Blood Angels book. I LOVE his army concept...all Assault Marines backed up by some Devastators and some "elite" infantry. We were able to get a test game in, using mostly proxy for him, last Friday!

His list, as best I can recall:
Librarian (Jump Pack, Shield, Fear the Darkness)
2 Priests (Jump Packs)
5 Honor Guard (3 Meltas)
10 Vanguard Veterans (a mix of Meltas, claws, and maybe even a shield or two....not sure)
3x 10 Assault Marines (Fist, 2 Melta)
3x 5 Devastators (Missile Launchers for everybody!)

I think the list is very sound in concept. Lots of 3+/FNP jump infantry in your face, with plenty of missile fire to destroy or at least stun-lock things; melta to kill vehicles dead; assault marines to get in the face and tie things up; vanguard vets to drop in and kill things the Assault Marines can't.

My Baron list, as usual:
Baron Sathonyx Malgant
Haemonculous
7 Incubi; Raider (Flickerfield, Enhanced Aethersails)
3 Wracks; Venom (xtra Cannon)
5 Warriors (Blaster); Venom (xtra Cannon)
5 Warriors (Blaster); Venom (xtra Cannon)
5 Warriors (Blaster); Venom (xtra Cannon)

19 Hellions (Helliarch with Agonizer)
6 Reavers (2 Heat Lances)
6 Reavers (2 Heat Lances)

6 Reavers (2 Heat Lances)
Ravager (Flickerfield)
Ravager (Flickerfield)
Ravager (Flickerfield)


I'm worried about this match-up. FNP Marines can shrug off my paltry four Venoms' worth of splinter shots; Lances will be used on Marines, but once they're in cover they only kill a handful a turn, and there's over 60 of them!! The Hellions can win a fight versus one ASM handily enough, even with FNP, but dealing with the counter-attack will be problematic. The Reavers are reduced not nothing more than extra splinter shots, though they can potentially dogpile on a Devastator squad to good effect. The Incubi should have opportunity to excel here, if I can keep them alive long enough to get in to a fight without getting shot down too badly.

We rolled up Dawn of War (my favorite); Nova-style missions were primary: KP; secondary: objectives; tertiary: quarters.

We both rolled a 5 for who goes first, so with the Barons help, I chose to go first, and chose the side I thought I'd get the most cover in turn 2 in case he seized.

The table was all the standard ruined city-scape, with a tank-farm and pile of pipes providing some BLOS terrain.



Haemonculous starts with the Hellions


Unsurprisingly, the Night Lords chose to not deploy anything. Also unsurprisingly the Vanguard Vets were in Reserve, Deep-striking.

He failed to seize. On my first turn I flew everything up just a bit pass the half-way line. I was very deliberate about not wanting to make a stupid mistake and get charged on turn 1. The Reavers turbo'd on, and lined up so they'd provide cover to the Venoms behind. The Incubi Raider came up somewhat central, hoping to strike either way. At this point, I'm really down on my deployment, as my Hellion-star is off to the right..if he walks on units to my left, my Hellions will be spending time and energy chasing things instead of being the alpha-strike I want. Oh well! The Baron leaves the Wracks, joining the Hellions, but while chiding myself for poor deployment I brought the Wracks on before their Venom, so they just sat behind the tankfarm, no harm since nothing for the Venom to shoot at anyway.

His turn 1, and he lined up his toys right across from mine. I mean no disrespect, but I think this was a grievous error. I already had the initiative, being halfway across the table and ready to pounce, but this 'deployment' played right in to my strengths. I could not have asked for a better alpha-strike opportunity.

Assault Marines left and right of large ruin, Devastators behind,

with one unit of Assault Marines with Librarian and Honor Guard behind.

His Librarian attempted to cast Fear the Darkness on the Hellions, made Night-Fight roll, but then rolled an 11 for the psychic test...phew! With the big tail left for the Baron to catch, they would likely have been off the table!



Don't be afraid of the dark, guys!



I decided to drive the Hellions straight in to the ASM in front of them, while the Incubi would go after the ASM to the left of the ruin. The Venoms and Reavers would kill the left Dev squad, then shift to the back-up ASM (to lesson the counter-charge the Hellions would take).



Note part of the left ASM is in the ruin? I messed that up.

 I had some sloppy movement with the Incubi that turned what would have been a disaster on turn 2 in to a near lose for me...I didn't notice part of that squad was in the ruin. When it came time to assault, I was within 6" of them, so was forced to test to get in BTB. I got the distance I needed (needed 3" or so, got a 4), but having to go at I1 took the wind out of the Incubi's sails. My fault entirely. If I'd disembarked them a bit farther down and left, and run left instead of up, I would have been too far from the guy in the terrain to be able to get to him, so would have not had to do Difficult Terrain. Nothing's wasted if something is learned, right? It all worked out in the end, but the Incubi, who for once had their moment to shine, were barely adequate.

The left Dev squad was blown off the table. I think one unsaved wound was done to the Librarian's squad. The Hellions softened up their target by doing a few wounds with splinter fire. Their assault was impressive, even with the 'tail' not making it in to the fight...all but 1 marine was slain, the Hellions losing nothing...the last marine tried to run, was caught, and died to Fearless wounds. The Incubi lost two before they could swing, and killed 4 back. The ASM stuck in the fight, consolidation brought the Priest (who was not able to make b-t-b) in to the fight.

I then made another minor (but bad habit) error...I assault-moved the bikes forward instead of back. I keep doing that, I don't know why, it's completely inexplicable. I hope it can break that habit!



Bye-bye, Reavers!

 The Vanguard Veterans jumped in, eyeing the two Reaver squads on the left. The middle Devastators charged in to the Reavers in the ruin. The Honor Guard jumped over the ruin ready to join the ASM in wiping out the Hellions.

The unengaged Devastator squad shot at a skimmer, but the Flickerfield save worked. The Honor Guard and ASM shooting killed only a handful of Hellions thanks to the start of a barrage of bad-dice from the Night Lords...he forgot to sacrifice a goat to Tzeentch before the battle.

The Vanguard Vet assault wiped out both squads of bikes...woops. The Devestators killed several Reavers, but they killed one back! The Hellions withstood the charge of the Honor Guard, Assault Squad, Librarian, and Priest and lost...one guy. They went off, killing three Honor Guard and several ASM, even putting a wound on the Librarian I believe. The Honor Guard lost their honor and fled, but the ASM stayed in the fight. The Hellions then Hit & Run out, moving behind the ruin and Honor Guard, hoping to save the last two Reavers next turn.



I don't remember where the Raider went...I guessed...



The Hellions moved to set up a combo-assault, to get the Librarian's unit and to try to save the last Reavers. The Venoms moved to shoot at the last Devastator squad; while the Ravagers moved to shoot at the Vanguard Vets.

The Venoms wiped out the Devastators, who were just a few inches away from FNP. The Ravagers took down a few Vanguard, but cover saved many.

The Priest and last two ASM finished off the Incubi. The Hellions won combat, killing the Librarian and Priest and leaving just a handful of marines alive, who stayed in the fight. The Reavers were down to two bikes now.

I guessed a differnt place for the Raider this slide...sigh...

The Night Lords were finally able to get a little momentum here. The surviving ASM, Priest, and Vanguard went to pick on my Venom farm. I'd moved two of them only 6", with intent to fire more shots at the Vangaurd, but forgot to shoot the passengers! They shot down two of them, and in assault Immobilized and Stunned the third and killed all the warriors from the other two. Ouch! All's well, though, as the Hellions finish off the Devestators and ASM, and move to finish off the Night Lords!



Lots of Hellions still in action!



The Warriors disembark from the Stunned Venom...I don't know why, I just wanted a few extra shots. Everything moved to shoot at the Vanguard. Hellions decided to run, to ensure they'd make it through the Difficult Terrain that used to be my Venoms.

Several Vanguard die to shooting. In Melee, the Hellions get in with most, killing the priest and a few marines, and losing a couple more.

The Marines held, but the final two Vanguard broke on the Marine's next turn. Top of turn 5 I destroy them with shooting.

Well, I must say that did not go at all as I expected. On the turn the Librarian's ASM and Honor Guard attacked the Hellions, I expected things to start to get really dicey really fast. My quick in-the-head math said I should lose 7-8 guys, instead I lost 1. Losing 7-8 would have made wiping out the rest a lot harder, and saving the Reavers probably impossible. Still, a good showing for the Hellions.

I was not very happy with my sloppy movement all over the place. The Reavers were lost enmasse because I was stupid. The Venoms were lost because I was stupid and greedy....there was really no need for them to be closer than 36" at all! I need a lot more discipline in my game!

I did manage to do a little painting last week. Now, I'm no master painter...I have no desire to be, I just want stuff to look spiffy (suspension of disbelief, right?); I want it to not give me horrible soft scores; and I want to be able to finish the painting quickly! So with that in mind, I experimented a bit with something done with my Skorne army...using rust-colored automotive primer. My original Kabal was done in black and 'terracotta' (brick color...reddish-brown). I thought this would be close. While digging around for stuff, I found my old Citadel Inks. I made up a little wash of "Rust Brown", and came up with really interesting color scheme that I think will be unique and look very sharp on the table. Below is a couple shots of my test model.

The trim around the bike is simply Vermin Brown. For the rider's outfit, I wanted him to look like he was wearing leather...that's watered-down Charadon Granite with a Badab Black wash.

From here I might try a Red wash on the bike to de-brown it a bit, but I kind of like the brown...unique. I also want to do a little work to the engine and bladevanes, and some work to the bone-colored shoulder-pads.

More importantly, though, after being primed the Hellions stayed in their bases wonderfully, with no issues like I had with them at first!

I intend to use the same color-scheme with them, though they show a lot more flesh than the Reavers.

I have a 1750 tournament next weekend at Gaming ETC in Stratford. I'm hoping for a few practice games at the store this week...look for more Hellion battles coming soon!