My First Game of 40K Battle Report 1750 CSM vs. IG

So after a month of painting my guys (all still works in progress), I finally had the 1,748 points worth of Nurgle Chaos Space Marines ready enough to field at Dragon's Lair on a Thursday night. I was supposed to be playing against a Tyranid army, but my original opponent was unable to make it. Luckily, another opponent presented himself bringing a whole hell of a lot of Imperial Guardsmen with Space Marine Allies to hold the line against Typhus and the troops dropped from the Terminus Est. It was a fearsome list to go up against.

Imperial Guard 1750 total Pts.

50 Company Command Squad HQ

90 Veteran Squad Troops Lascannon

155 Veteran Squad with Chimera Troops Meltagun x3

35 Platoon Command Squad Troops 

50 Infantry Squad Troops

50 Infantry Squad Troops

130 Veteran Squad Troops Plasma Gun x2, Carapace Armor

75 Scouts Troops

100 Librarian Troops   

140 Vendetta Fast Attack Heavy Bolters

135 Medusa Heavy

300 Leman Russ Battle Tank Heavy +1 tank

330 Leman Russ Demolisher Heavy +1 tank

110 Bastion Fortification Icarus Lascannon

Just seeing the amount of troops on the field my opponent had, the number of tanks, the flyer, the bastion...was a bit intimidating. I won the roll for deployment, but allowed my IG opponent to deploy first, which also meant he would go first when the game started. My plan was to see where he would fortify and where he planned to mobilize. The IG Warlord rolled for his Warlord Trait, getting Inspiring Presence. Typhus rolled for his psychic abilities and got Plague Wind from the Nurgle list and Iron Arm from the Biomancy list. However, here is where I made my first, of many, mistakes of the game, as my 2 Plague Marine and Biker Champions should have rolled for their Gifts of Mutation. I forgot to make this roll, and those points were sadly wasted. After setting up terrain we rolled on the mission and it ended up being Mission 1: Crusade. Since IG had deployed first, they could lay the first of five objectives down. Wouldn't you know it, 3 objectives ended on the IG side of the map, while only 2 were on the CSM side. We also rolled for Night fighting, and the dawn of this battle would be beneath the gloom of dark. Please excuse the poor-man's panoramic pictures. Had to string each one from 3 separate images at slightly different angles, but it should give a sense of how each turn played out.

Turn 1

The Imperial Guard focused a LOT of firepower on my Vindicator. First, the Demolisher Cannon got blown up. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the tank followed the cannon in a rain of sparks and shrapnel as the tank exploded, giving the Imperial Guard First Blood. Next, a single Plague Zombie was offed, followed by 3 Chaos Bikers. Toughness 6 wasn't standing up too well to the sheer amount of bullets and Las fire coming from the Guard's line. Finally, my Plasma Rhino suffered a Hull Point of damage. On my Turn, my Rhino carrying my Meltagun Plague Marines moved up to a nearby objective, disembarked and popped smoke. Typhus and the Plague Zombies stomped past the wrecked Vindicator towards the objective in the middle of my side of the board. My Rhino carrying Plasma Plague Marines moved up and popped smoke with the Chaos Bikers moving to the Rhino's right. My second mistake of the fight was not shooting the Twin-linked Boltguns on my bikes.

Turn 2

Speaking of, 2 of those bikes died at the beginning of Turn 2. These were good bikes too, 1 of my Meltagun wielding bikes and the bike carrying the Icon of Despair fell hard. Then, 7 Plague Zombies returned to papa Nurgle, their maggot-filled corpses finally stilled. On my turn, my Deep Striking Obliterators came in, and landed just a couple inches from where I wanted to place them. My Chaos Bikers moved up next to the Obliterators and 3 of my opponent's tanks. Typhus activated Iron Arm and he and the Plague Zombies moved up to the objective their Slow and Purposeful butts couldn't reach in Turn 1. My Plasma Gun unit of Plague Marines disembarked from their Rhino and then revenge began. My Plague Marines Rapid Fired 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Combi-Plasma, and a bunch of Bolters into some Space Marine Snipers, killing 5 of them. My Obliterators caused one of the Leman Russ tanks to explode, which sadly also killed my Chaos Biker Champion, Yuri. The last Biker, luckily one of the 2 that had Meltaguns, unloaded into another tank in close range. It too blew up, but didn't hurt anything else.

In retrospect, I realize I made a few errors on this turn. The first was putting my Obliterators and Bikes out in the middle of the field thinking they could weather the amount of fire that would be raining down next turn. My second was forgetting my Rhinos had Combi-Bolters, which didn't fire the entire game. My third, and possibly largest mistake of the game, was keeping Typhus, the Plague Zombies, and the Meltagun unit of Plague Marines at objectives instead of pushing with them.

Turn 3

The Imperial Guard Vendetta came in from Reserves. The unit of Obliterators were the first to die at the start of Turn 3. 5 Plague Marines, including the Champion called Damocles, were the next to fall, though 1 of the PM, behind cover provided by the Rhino, soaked up 3 shots by rolling 3 sixes in a row for Feel No Pain before finally succumbing to the barrage unleashed upon him. 4 IG Infantry were killed by Plague Marines in retribution for slaying their Champion.

Turn 4

Only 3 Plague Zombies joined the pile of rotting corpses. Well, more so than they already were rotting corpses at least. Everything else was movement for both sides in Turn 4, with my opponent's IG Infantry running for their lives after the last salvo of fire from my Plague Marines in Turn 3. My Meltagun Plague Marines abandoned the objective and moved out with the intent to murder some IG but all their potshots failed to wound any. My Plague Zombies and Typhus (who again cast Iron Arm) moved off their objective and attacked the tank/transport, losing nothing to Overwatch, but doing nothing to the tank either (we miscalculated the Strength boost Iron Arm was, so he should have done a Glancing hit to the tank, but oh well). My 2 Rhinos were Tank Shocking all they could, but still not firing their Combi-Bolters.

Turn 5

The IG Infantry which was running in fear moved straight off the board. The IG Vendetta flew by, and from my 2 Units of Plague Marines, I lost 8, wiping out the Plasma Gun unit and leaving only a handful of the Meltagun unit. The last 2 PM from the Meltagun unit withdrew back to the objective they had been holding in previous turns. Fortunately, they are Fearless and didn't have to run away after losing most of their unit. Typhus again cast Iron Arm and left the unit of Plague Zombies (who were returning to the nearby objective) to Assault the Infantry in my deployment zone. I forgot that Typhus has Lord of Terror as his Warlord Trait, so didn't mention the IG Infantry needed to make a Leadership Test when Typhus engaged. He challenged the Sgt, who bravely refused and cowered behind his troops. 4 IG Infantry were then slaughtered and served up to Nurgle. The remaining men of the Infantry unit ran away screaming, but sadly, in Terminator armor Typhus could not follow with a Sweeping Advance.

Turn 6

With Iron Arm still up, nothing shot at Typhus Wounded him. The Plague Zombies and 2 remaining Plague Marines were all behind cover on their objectives, so no other CSM fell. Typhus moved behind the 2 fleeing IG Infantry and let loose a Plague Wind which consumed 1 of the Loyalist scum. The servant of Nurgle then Assaulted the lone Sgt and brutally sent his shattered husk to the ground. My opponent had to leave at this point, so we shook hands and called the game there. The Imperial Guard carried the day with 4 Victory Points (3 from Objectives and 1 from First Blood) with the Chaos Space Marines only getting 2 Victory Points.

Final Thoughts

Well, even with my forces leaving the battlefield in defeat, it was still a fun first match. I've got a sense for how the army plays and a few things I will, hopefully, not forget to do on my second game. Typhus is a beast in close combat, especially when you roll Psychic Powers of Iron Arm and Plague Wind. Until next time, see you on the battlefield!