WarriorFish's Sunder CSM

[WarriorFish]

Time to get back on the batrep horse as I have been very lax recently!

The Sunder and Thousand Sons vs Blood Angels - 1500pts

Eternal War - Secure and Control

The Sunder and Thousand Sons

Hidden Content

++ Patrol Detachment (Chaos - Thousand Sons) [328pts] ++

+ HQ +

Exalted Sorcerer [120pts]: Force stave, Glamour of Tzeentch, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Warptime

+ Troops +

Rubric Marines [104pts]
Aspiring Sorcerer: Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol
3x Rubric Marine w/ Inferno Boltgun: 3x Inferno boltgun
Rubric Marine w/ Warpflamer: Warpflamer

Rubric Marines [104pts]
Aspiring Sorcerer: Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol
3x Rubric Marine w/ Inferno Boltgun: 3x Inferno boltgun
Rubric Marine w/ Warpflamer: Warpflamer

++ Battalion Detachment (Chaos - FW Heretic Astartes) [145pts] ++

+ Elites +

Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought [145pts]: Butcher cannon, Combi-bolter, Hellforged deathclaw, Slaanesh

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [8CP, 1,027pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Battle-forged CP [3CP]

Detachment CP [5CP]

Legion: Emperor's Children

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord [86pts]: 2. Flames of Spite, Intoxicating Elixir, 2x Lightning Claw, Mark of Slaanesh, Warlord

Dark Apostle [100pts]: Benediction of Darkness, Blissful Devotion, Mark of Slaanesh

+ Troops +

Chaos Space Marines [153pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Power sword
7x Marine w/ Chainsword
Marine w/ Plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
Marine w/ special weapon: Meltagun

Chaos Space Marines [150pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Power sword
7x Marine w/ Chainsword
Marine w/ Plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Chaos Space Marines [150pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Aspiring Champion: Boltgun, Chainsword
7x Marine w/ Boltgun
Marine w/ heavy weapon: Heavy bolter
Marine w/ heavy weapon: Autocannon

+ Elites +

Chaos Terminators [178pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Chaos Terminator Champion: 2x Lightning Claw
Terminator: Combi-bolter, Lightning Claw
Terminator: Combi-bolter, Power sword
Terminator: Combi-bolter, Lightning Claw
Terminator: Combi-bolter, Lightning Claw

+ Heavy Support +

Maulerfiend [132pts]: Lasher tendrils, Mark of Slaanesh

+ Dedicated Transport +

Chaos Rhino [78pts]: Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Mark of Slaanesh

Blood Angels

Hidden Content

Chaplain

The Sanguinor

Scouts

Jump DC

- power fists/thunder hammer

DC

- power fists

LRC

Sanuinary Priest

Sanguinary Guard

Deployment

Nothing too radical here, my opponent deploys his jump troops on the right - perhaps too cautiously considering my lack of long ranged fire power. I keep my forces in close support as I know they I'll need to react to the advance. I'm hoping that the Maulershrimp can hold a flank and position the Thousand Sons and Zhang ready as a counter attack. Especially as there is very little I can do to stop the Crusader!

(the BA in the top left section aren't deployed - just waiting for their drop/disembark/infiltrate)

My opponent finishes deploying first and rolls a 6 for first turn... I don't roll a 6 to seize

Turn 1

Nothing terrible exciting happens, as neither side wishes to commit too early. The LRC blasts the CSM squad on the ruins and I roll abysmally for saves but they hold on (rolling low comes in handy sometimes). All I can do in return is plink a couple of wounds off the Scouts and LRC, and reposition a little in anticipation.

Turn 2

Things start to happen now, realising that I have no hope of stopping the LRC my opponent makes sure to make the most of it's firepower and set up his charge but this time my saves are on fire and I only lose a single Marine from the ground floor! That was a welcome surprise. In my turn I decide it's now or never and advance up with some elements. With the Daemonforce Stratagem I'm confident the Maulershrimp can cause some serious trouble on the right - enough to buy me some time and if I'm lucky an extra turn of shooting. I nab First Blood with the Scouts thanks to some good heavy weapons fire which is a good start.

On the left the shiny new Rhino creeps up, my plan is to counter charge the LRC's squad with them and then send the Rhino off to capture my opponent's objective in the ruins next to the DC casualties. As you can see, four casualties by the Maulershrimp wasn't great considering, but even with the re-rolls the 4+ to hit can be cruel sometimes especially if your opponent also rolls some decent saves...

I'm not sure how it's going at this stage as I know there's a lot still to come, and I'm stuck waiting for it and I can't block off drop zones effectively without dispersing my forces which would be a terrible idea.

Turn 3

Here's where things get messy. Turns out the DC aren't too pleased and the Maulershrimp gets slapped silly, barely holding on with a single wound The heavy CSM squad hangs on with the Champ and two heavy weapons, and I've lost a CSM and Rubric squad Zhang and my Dark Apostle are then caught by consolidation.

Time to go then! The Rhino squad leaps out to charge the LRC Chaplain who couldn't make the charge, along with my Terminators who unfortunately couldn't find anywhere near the back of my lines to drop in. The Rhino makes it's way to the other side to nab the objective as it may well come down to that. I send all free forces to attack the Sanguinary Guard who was joined by the Sanguinor, and the Maulershrimp holds on finish off the JP DC and consolidate into the Sanguinary Priest.

Turn 4

Things don't go so great against the Sanguinary Guard, and I lose all my Thousand Sons and my Lord. Fortunately the foot DC struggle against Zhang and the Apostle (who is rolling well - shame I can't say so about my other forces currently!). The Maulershrimp gets reduced to a single wound again but with plenty of attacks he has no problems winning combat in my turn.

While the LRC proves all but impervious to my attacks the Chaplain is being whittled down so I can probably be confident they're fine, and with the Maulershrimp now free he can bound over to try and stop the SG charging. The Apostle loads an old favourite in Daemonbolt and kills the Sanguinor after he consolidated into combat. With the Maulershrimp making it to combat and rolling great (thanks, Daemonforge!) reducing the SG the scales have much improved in my favour!

Turn 5

The SG struggle with the Maulershrimp as he holds on (that single wound again!). With the Chaplain gone along with the DC freeing Zhang and the Apostle up for a charge my opponent concedes.

Was a tough game starting out, against a heavily elite army my CSM were a bit outclassed but fortunately my own heavy hitters were up to the task! I had some pretty bad save rolls which cost me a lot of Marines (the Rubrics hurt in particular) but luckily the Dice Gods saw fit to compensate me with good attacking rolls when I needed them Zhang didn't get much chance to shine but he did solid work where it counted.

The Apostle did well, though I'm still not used to the prayers. Special shout out for the Maulershrimp who had his best game by some margin! Not just clinging on to dear life but also holding up and handling a lot of DC. Victory almost certainly came from this sterling effort, if the DC had mustered that extra wound I'd have surely found it very hard to win. Model aside it's why I like him so much, there's a lot of potential once he gets into combat but it can be hard to realise it especially when opponents know what he can do when he is on form.

Rhino did its job, but I need to get round to those Chosen to give it more purpose. Otherwise it'd easy enough for opponents to ignore Thousand Sons did better with an extra squad, and I got lots of psychic powers off to buff them which was great, but they struggled to find opportunity. Against a game with lots of combat that's natural but I am working towards fielding them as an independent force where they should have more room

As for the Sunder, it's time I added something different. On my painting decks are the Cultists and Dreadbrute still who will help and I'm on a grand quest to clear said decks of all projects. Once that's done some more variety would be nice so I'm thinking of some Oblits as a reward!

[Excessus]

Good shrimpy!

[Tallarn Commander]

Thanks for the batrep.

 

Daemonforge is a wonderful buff and really helps our Daemon Engines in clutch situations like the one you were in. It's great seeing your new Rhino in action!

[Kierdale]

A good read, and all the better that it was a win! :D

[Slave to Darkness]

Your armys looking good!! :tu: 

 

Hopefully one day the Hellbound will get to face them on the field of battle, the slaughter will be glorious, the vile acts of degeneracy perpetrated in Slaanesh's name would make Fulgrim himself blush. 

[WarriorFish]

Back to my Chaos again

I missed the brown base coat for the gold though, guess I'm a little rusty as it's been a while... Not a problem as it'll be easy enough to do once I've given the white another coat. Left arm needs the underslung weapon (probably bolter) and priming but won't take long to bring up to speed

I picked the pieces for free space for a few transfers which will be good to spice him up, otherwise I'm mostly looking forward to getting some decent long ranged AT My plan is to focus on the Dreadbrute then move straight on to the Cultists, then my Chaos decks are clear for new projects

Still no sign of the Oblits for sale as a kit yet, but I'm thinking it shouldn't be too long to wait now? Perhaps I might have actually earned them fully before getting them?

[Slave to Darkness]

When are we due an up to date family photo?? 

 

Also, if at all possible, when you do batreps could you get army shots of both forces? It brings back memories of old WD batreps and takes me back to my happy place... Would be good to see the nice armies you face as well.  

Edited July 29, 2019 by Slave to Darkness

[Arkaniss]

When are we due an up to date family photo??

 

I second this! I do like pestering for group shots - a fully painted army gathered together is a wonderful sight. All the more for such a striking colour scheme :D

[WarriorFish]

An updated army shot would be good to do once my current CSM projects are complete - just the Dreadbrute and Cultist squad

 

Things have been a bit slap dash for games and batreps lately so I've been cutting corners. I've got a batrep to write up still! I'm aiming to get back on top of them, both in more pictures and less time between game and write up

[WarriorFish]

Back to the hobby desk with some more progress:

With the brown base coat and white almost finished and the metal done I'm getting there. Once the metallics are washed he'll be about there, though I still need to sort the left arm out but on the positive side it won't take long to paint up :)

[WarriorFish]

Almost there with the Dreadbrute, or the main body at least:

I'm done for the day as the texture paint is setting now, but just a few little details left (including the plasma cannon) Not including the left arm of course, I will need to stop putting that off now (currently attached for counterbalance as the torso will be glued last)

I'll see what transfers that take my fancy also, but it's good to finally be clearing one more project from my desk - special bonus in that it's a Dread I'll get another, not sure if I should go for a normal Dread or another Ven yet but no rush.

[WarriorFish]

The Dreadbrute has made some progress since, the base is almost finished so I expect to have him battle ready this weekend In the meantime I have some batreps to be catching up on, details will be a bit light I'm afraid as we're talking start of the year... Fortunately the pictures provide enough that I remember the gist of it How long ago? Well, this was when the GSC codex was released

Sunder vs GSC (probably 500pts?)

My 500pts list (at least I'm pretty sure it's 500pts) was something different, as I've played a lot of low point games with my CSM I wanted to try something new. Six Termies, a CSM squad and Lord different to be precise. Needless to say I wasn't expecting great things but that's not the point! Against a new GSC codex I was ready for a tough fight especially since I knew them well enough from before.

Accordingly I deployed conservatively - not like there was much to work with anyway - and tried to protect my Lord from the character assassin who probably appears in every GSC list. This makes for a very curious first turn also, as you don't want to commit to anything until you know what tricks your opponent has up his sleeve...

So what's a Chaos Lord to do? Scurry up the table taking what cover you can!

This is when all the crazy goes off, and I'm jumped by all sorts. Things unsurprisingly get messy quick, I lose my Lord and most of the CSM squad Now I can catch them it's time to get stuck in! Fortunately while they hit hard they can't take them back so some good work is done. The hybrid squad gets slapped silly though the assassin can't quite be reached. The Terminators reap a toll with combi-bolter and lightning claw and get in amongst it.

While the CSM can't hold out any longer the Termies more than make up for this as they butcher the cultists squad and the characters trying to hide behind them. This lets their bolters roar once more in my turn, and the squad atop the containers is turned into lots of meaty chunks. I've managed to turn the tables around but it could still go either way with the lascannon Sentinels lurking at the back...

The remaining cultists flee, so the Kindred begin their inexorable advance on the Sentinels - it's going to be dicey as each lascannon shot is likely to kill a Terminator if it hits!

I decide to play it clever, and move to take some cover so I can focus on exchanging fire on a single Sentinel - a fight I have good enough odds on. This forces my opponent to begin moving which is just as well as I fell one of the walkers with the Reaper!

Then it's just a matter of the final show down; I am confident I have the numbers to weather the storm and so it proves as my Termies close the gap into combat where the Sentinel has no chance of coming out on top - a hard fought win for the Sunder!

It was a pretty close game, and as luck would have it the Terminators were actually a good choice! Being durable with their 2+ they could withstand the quantities of basic weapons fire and with combi-bolter and lightning claw they're perfect for clearing the hordes which they did with terrifying efficiency! GSC have some really nasty tricks which I have to say I don't enjoy as they sidestep the established rules a bit too much for me. The first turn is a dull affair as you stand there watching your opponent play all sorts of ploys and rules, and there's nothing you can do but remove models (a lot of them ).

Fortunately for all their tricks and hitting power they're not that durable so if you can weather the storm and fight back you can even the playing field up again I want to get more Termies done too, so I can spice things up with their weapon options as well as one day field an entire TDA army...

Before that another couple of belated batreps to come, likely at some point this weekend

[Tallarn Commander]

Looks like a fun game. It's nice when Chaos Terminators live up to the fluff ans perform well.

 

Those red fuel tanks are impressive. Do you know where they are from?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I'm pretty sure they are the GW mechanicus cylinders (https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Sector-Mechanicum-Ferratonic-Furnace) with the round caps (https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Sector-Mechanicum-Alchomite-Stack) at each end, laid on their side with the platforms on top.  They look great and are an innovative way to use those terrain pieces.

 

The ladder/stairs between the two platforms is either from something else or scratchbuilt, though.

Edited August 24, 2019 by Dr_Ruminahui

[WarriorFish]

The steps were scratch built if I remember right, this was at WHW so they have everything they need to make some great tables :D

[WarriorFish]

As promised one Dreadbrute

Though I expect it won't see that much use, I also did the plasma cannon:

Looking forward to having some decent long ranged fire power, and he'll be handy in a fight too (an important consideration for the Sunder!). A second is on the cards once I've finished catching up on outstanding projects - for my Chaos that means Cultists are next

[Quixus]

Slaanesh symbol and not even a proper fist, I am disappointed ;)

Great paintjob though. Is that a primaris helmet in there?

[WarriorFish]

MkIV, the Sunder mainly use Maximus style (including Tartaros TDA) :tu:

[WarriorFish]

Seems I've had a productive weekend, I've finished up the first four Cultists I had partially done:

Technically only really three, as the far right one was the test model and just needed some arm touch ups. I'm taking advantage of the Necromunda bases to add some spice to the city ruin theme, worked nicely

To round my weekend's work off, one more late batrep!

Sunder vs Blood Angels (1000pts? Who knows)

Some kind of mission but looks like we ignored it anyway

I went for something a little different with multiple 6 Marine squads, see how it goes. Naturally I'll be closing in on the enemy, I decide to put my Termies straight down so I don't lose any turns with them and also to try and prevent them getting stuck or isolated. Otherwise deployment isn't too fancy:

My opponent has some Guard support and his own Termies off the board, so he has some decent shooting. It doesn't change my battle plan as that remains the same: get up close!

Early game isn't exciting as neither side has much long range to speak of. I made movements to the left of the central building for a flanking move/block but I'm careful not to move too much so I get caught out. It works out best anyway as that helps put most of my advance out of LoS.

Shooting from both sides isn't amazing, but manages to drop some models. With my forces staying consolidated my opponent drops his Termies in behind my lines and things look a bit bad. Thanks to some luck my squad holds on with the Champ left which is setting up a counter charge by none other than Yjun himself!

It's crunch time as I throw everything I have into combat. The advancing forces are able to inflict some real damage but unfortunately it's mostly the Guardsmen which doesn't mean a great deal. Things go better back in my deployment as Yjun does what he does best, aided by Flames of Spite (a real favourite!) he does so much damage the Terminators don't have the dice or luck to hit back enough; the Champ survives and Yjun is only slightly wounded.

The melee rages on, but always hitting first lets the Sunder pull ahead with a bit of good luck too and the game increasingly looks mine...

The Blood Angels (and Guardsmen) fight back bravely, but when Yjun barrels into Tycho to take him down there's little left to do so my opponent concedes. A tough battle, but a victorious one!

Using smaller squads was interesting, but for larger games I think having the 10 Marine squads is best to help weather inevitable losses. I may return to explore it later however, when I have some more Marines so I can really go to town on it (e.g. six squads). For now, looking forward to getting my Dreadbrute into a gain maybe something to aim getting the Cultist squad ready for too

[Tallarn Commander]

Thanks for another great batrep!

 

In my experience, I'm OK with my backfield lascannon CSM squads being small, at 5 troopers. But if I want to move CSM squads forward to support other units I prefer squads of 8 (Khorne's number) to 10.

 

Also, since 2003 I've been meaning to try out larger 15- to 20-trooper CSM squads. They look like they would be fun (not good, but fun).

[Arkaniss]

That was a nice catch up for me! Two battle reports and more completed models :D Nice work! The transfer looks great on the Dread arm, particularly how it's done over two surfaces :tu: What's next?

[WarriorFish]

Thanks, I have another batrep left though it is a bit short on pictures might get it done today when I've finished catching up The transfer worked better than I thought it would, or rather was easier to do. It will very likely feature on more models!

 

My immediate hobby plans are unchanged insofar as I'm still on my quest to clear by hobby decks. For my Chaos that means the remaining six cultists from this squad, they're quite a bit of work as they have lots of details and I do want to make them different with colours and such but it's a good excuse to do things new and it should look nice on the table Even if a stiff wind will remove them from the table

 

While the new SM codex has revitalised my loyalists that mostly just means they'll get more game time for the moment, for assembly and painting my plans are the same once I've finished my quest; I want to do some Daemons and Thousand Sons! I won't be leaving the Sunder unloved however as they need some new toys, I'm thinking that to "earn" another Dreadbrute I should add some Havocs or Termies.

 

Termies are cool anyway and I'd like more options for them, and while the changes to Havocs have spoiled my plans it doesn't change the goal to get more heavy weapons done. I still want another Maulershrimp but as that is something I want to try my hand at some conversion on I'm leaving it to be a more "dedicated" project

[Arkaniss]

What changed with Havocs? If you do another Maulershrimp you should definitely see if you can make it shrimp-like :D

[WarriorFish]

Before they were another CSM squad but with four weapon options, now they're a specialist 5 Marine squad who can't increase squad size or take special weapons (only heavy). They have T5 and can move and shoot, I'm not sure how effective they'll be though.

[Tallarn Commander]

Plus they used to have a unit size of 5 to 10. This meant I could take up to 6 ablative wounds before I had to start removing my lascannons. I loved taking large squads and absorbing enemy shots without losing potency.

 

Niw they seem too "glass-cannoney" at 5 models per unit. I could be wrong though. At some point I'll try out some Havocs, but for now my "Bughunters" Havoc Squad is staying on the shelf.