Against The Dark Master : 1850 pts Battle Report

Last week I had Be'lakor leading my Daemons of Khorne. But last Saturday was the opposite, the Dark Master fought side by side with Ahriman and the Thousand Sons, against my Raven Guard.

This was my list for the day:
Chapter Master - THammer, Shield Eternal, Artificer Armour, Auspex, Jumpack
Shrike
10 Vanguard Veterans - 5 with Storm Shields, 3 with Power Swords + Melta Bombs, 2 PFist
10 Tacticals - Meltagun, Combi Melta
Drop Pod with Deathwind Launcher
2x5 Snipers
10 Assault Marines - Vet. Sargeant with PAxe+Meltabombs
3 Centurion Devastators - Gravcannons + Amps
Storm Raven - TwinLasscannon, TwinMMelta, Hurricane Bolters

The idea for the list was to try out the Vanguard Veterans as they are very synonym with Raven Guard. I know they are points-better-spent-elsewhere especially in our highly competitive meta here, but I've always enjoyed playing games with fluffy list more than anything and wanted to see how they would perform on table.

My opponent was the Thousand Sons player I fought during the Force Recon Tournament. This was the second time my Raven Guard fought his army. The first encounter was a lost to my Raven Guard and now his Thousand Sons were made even stronger with Be'lakor within their rank.

Primary : Thousand Sons
Ahriman
Be'lakor
2x13 Thousand Sons
Baledrake

Ally : Black Legion
Prince with The Last Memory of Yuranthos
6 Chosens with 6 Plasmaguns in Rhino

The Game : Big Guns Never Tire (4), Night Fighting
Deployment : Vanguard Strike Deployment. Raven Guard deployed first.

I deployed the Chapter Master normally with Shrike and the Vanguard Veterans as close as possible towards the enemy deployment zone, inside the forest. 3 Centurion Devastators also deployed in the forest and the 2nd Assault Marines just behind them. Both scouts were put in reserves.

My opponent deployed as can be seen in the picture below. With Master of Deception from Ahriman, he Infiltrated both of the Thousand Sons units and the Chosens. But something I just realize when writing this Battle Report was that he might have Infiltrated both Be'lakor and the Black Legion Daemon Prince, perhaps by mistake. That was a HUGE mistake. Silly me for not realising that.

His attempt to seize the initiative failed.

The flock of ravens moved towards Ahriman

I began with Tactical Squad performed a Drop Pod Assault right in the middle of the enemy line, and break into Combat Squads. 1st Tactical Combat Squad with Meltaguns failed to destroy the Rhino (Chosens inside), causing only Crew Stunned result.

Centurion Devastators moved forward, shot at the Black Legion Prince, causing 10 AP2 and 3 AP5 wounds but he saved it all except 3. The 2nd Tactical Combat Squad tried to bring down the last wound with Bolters, but couldn't break through his Power Armour.

Shrike led the Vanguard Veterans and the Chapter Master towards Ahriman and his Thousand Sons on the left flank. The assault was a success, the Ravens lost 3 man while the Chapter Master lost one wound in a challenge, but they killed 12 Thousand Sons. With only Ahriman and a Rubric Marine left, I thought they might end it all in the next turn.

But I was wrong.

Came the enemy turn, The Vanguard Veterans were targeted with Hallucination spell twice, once each by Ahriman and Be'lakor. Even with Adamantium Will granted by the Shield Eternal, I failed to deny the spells and the whole unit was left standing still, doing nothing, for the whole game turn.

The Black Legion Prince Swooped forward and cast the Sunburst spell with 2 Warp Charges. The spell hits the Vanguard Veterans, Assault Marines (2 casualties) and the Centurion Devastators (1 wound). The spell also Blinded all three units (I failed all 3 Initiative Test hahaha).

The Thousand Sons unit at the centre moved back and killed the 1st Tactical Combat Squad (1st Blood). The Chosen on the other hand, disembarked from the Rhino and Snap Fired at the 2nd Tactical Squad, killing one guy but lost the Chosen Champion from Gets Hot!

Be'lakor glided forward and assaulted the Assault Marines. I sent my Veteran Sargeant to fight him and hold him for a round of combat. Ahriman fought my Chapter Master in a challenge but failed to cause any wound. The lone Rubrics started to slowly kill my Vanguard Veterans.

The reinforcements came

My 2nd Turn, all the reserves came in. I was hoping that the Scouts would came later, after the Storm Raven deal with the Baledrake that would come in the next enemy turn. I can only pray the Baledrake didn't make it in the next turn.

Now with the Centurions Blinded, I used them to take out the Black Legion Prince. The Prince had no chance against 15 Gravcannon shots, even if Snap Firing. The Storm Raven shot at the Chosens and killed 2 guys. Deathwind Launcher also targeted the Chosens, but scattered too far away. The 2nd Tactical Combat Squad on the other hand, failed to harm the Chosen with their Bolters.

Close combat saw Be'lakor killing 4 of my Assault Marines, leaving 3 guys left to fight him. Meanwhile, Ahriman took one wound off my Chapter Master.

On the enemy turn, the Baledrake came in, took 1 Hull Point off the Storm Raven with Vector Strike and incinerated a Scout unit with the Baleflamer. Ahriman and Be'Lakor again casted Hallucinate on the Vanguard Unit. They would stay in that sorry state for another game turn (Duh..). The Chosen squad wipedout my Tactical squad.

I was expecting Be'lakor to easily kill the rest of the Assault Marines (left with only 3 man) in this close combat phase. That would left him stranded in the open, easy prey for my Storm Raven and Centurions. But somehow Be'lakor failed miserably in his attacks, managed only 3 hits (after reroll) and from that, only 2 wounds. With one Assault Marines stuck with him in combat, Be'lakor would be free to do whatever he wanted in the next enemy turn.

Funny thing, Ahriman failed to wound to the statue of my Chapter Master.

3rd Turn. With nothing to do, I sent the Storm Raven and Deathwind Launcher towards the Thousand Sons. They killed some, maybe about 4-5 guys (Don't really remember). The Centurions shot at the Heldrake but failed to cause any damage. Then it was close combat where Ahriman still failed to harm my Chapter Master. Be'lakor killed the last Assault Marines and moved closer to my Centurion Devastators.

Things are getting worst for the Raven

On enemy turn, Be'lakor glided towards the Centurions, killed some with Psychic Shriek and the rest with assault. This time, Ahriman managed to kill my Chapter Master. Shrike killed the lone Rubrics but they stayed in combat. The Baledrake moved towards my 2nd Scout Squad, flamed and killed 3 guys.

This is the end

4th Turn. I sent the Storm Raven to hunt down the Baledrake. The attack damaged the Baleflamer, but failed to destroy it completely. In close combat Ahriman (boosted with Warp Speed) killed Shrike in challenge.

With almost nothing left to help me clear the enemy troops, I conceded the game.

Result : Thousand Sons Won!

Post-game Assessment:
Be'lakor again showed just how he worth every points you spent on him. It is thanks to his Hallucination that my opponent successfully locked my Vanguard Veterans, Shrike and Chapter Master from doing their job.

The Vanguard Veterans were nasty in their charge, killing 12 Rubrics in a single charge is no easy feat. I doubt any normal Assault Marines would be able to do it. But that is all I can say about them. Thanks to Hallucination, the Veterans didn't do anything after the 1st Turn, and were slowly killed by the lone Rubric Marines accompanying Ahriman. In the end, there's only two of them left facing Ahriman. I need more game with them.

The Centurion Devastators are truly dangerous. It was thanks to them that I can easily deal with the Black Legion Prince. I'm liking them already :)

Next:
With that concede, I had enough time for another game. This time was against the Carnival of Flesh.
The battle report for it will follow soon enough. So stay tuned :)

Until then, have a nice day.