Prot's War in the Warp

Here’s an attempt of mine to be better with the battle reports. This is going to be a quicker version in hopes of getting more batreps done!

First off I was bouncing some ideas off of people on the Bolter and Chainsword forums, and I keep getting some advice to give a real shot to some units that I personally have found not to work. But with an open mind I hoped to discover new wealth in old units.

The Lists (approximately):

The Game:

Essentially we play a really good, new Chapter Approved 2019 Maelstrom. But I won’t worry too much about reporting on points because this game is really about experimenting with some Chaos units, and especially Black Legion in a competitive game. I think you can see from my opponent’s list, it is extremely competitive. 5 smasha guns and 3 Shokk attack guns can take down a tremendous amount of high cost super heavies. Give the right RNG, the relic shokk attack gun has caused me major headaches in the past.

The Black Legion on the other hand is trying to leverage the Black Legions’ noted ability to ‘hit’ well, and to ‘hit’ often. Abaddon is the center of this, adding value to the surrounding units. The question is; can the units in question capitalize on this mechanism in a modern era of super killy 40K?

Early Game:

He picks “Pointy Dawn of War” for the map and I deploy first. The Orks fail to seize so this is a massive opportunity. The Orks have set up literally straight across from the Black Legion firebase. The Orks don’t fear that due to Grot shields, and the mass of 90 boys which creates an ocean of bodies between Abaddon and his targets.

• Just off the frame in the top left are 5 Smasha Guns, and off screen to the right are 2 flyers.
• The Oblits disembark, the Havocs disembark and all hell lets loose at the Smasha guns, and the Flyers. It does not go well. The Bikers use the Black Legion strat to re roll all hits. The Oblits reroll thanks the Abaddon and so do both Havoc squads. The results are lethargic. 1 Smasha Gun dies. Two Smasha Guns remain with 1 wound a piece. The Flyers are only missing 2 wounds. The Landraider damages another smasha gun but fails to get passed the 5++ save of the flyers and does nothing else. It takes Cacaphony on the Oblits to get through the 5++ fields that are making true damage difficult. The additional shooting kills 2 of the Smasha Guns.
• For the record, the Dark Apostle had put -1 to hit on the Landraider, and the -1 to hit from Miasma was cast on the Obliterators.

The kill tally is far lower than expected. Three dead Smasha Guns, 5 dead boys (That’s after taking 32 twin linked Chaincannons and 16 biker shots!!!). And a damaged Flyer.

Orks push forward beyond the halfway point of the table, engaging the Black Legion.

• Not surprisingly, with so little damage to their numbers, the Orks lunge forward with 60 Boys. 30 Shoota boys stay a bit back and shoot.
• The Landraider is easily destroyed with a mixture of Flyers, Smasha Guns, and 3 Shok Attack Guns. The ML/Lascannon Havoc squad is severely overkilled with a Dakka Jet and Bomber flyers.
• The Boyz combine to absolutely wreck the Chaincannon Havocs.
• The Rhino is damaged with shooting. And one Obliterator (even at -1) is desrtoyed in Close Combat.
• The bikes would be destroyed in CC, as are the Spawn.

The turn ends terribly. The Ork shooting is far more potent than the Black Legion. The lack of ballistic skill is easily made up by massed firepower, and ‘more dakka’ comes into play with the Shok Attack guns. The ensuing assault has wrecked the front lines. The Orks take a massive lead in points. It’s obvious the rest of this game is about trying to do a lot with very few models from the Black Legion perspective.

Mid to Late Game:

• The Black Legion have to be aggressive to function. It’s the way they’re built. But with so few ‘potent’ assets left, a LOT is left up to the Oblits, and Abaddon and now the Terminators drop in.
• The Terminators use the Stratagem that allows them to receive ALL marks of Chaos….
• This allows the Daemon Prince casts Delightful agonies on the Termies, but he fails.. The Sorc follows suite and gives Miasma to them at least. The Dark Apostle makes the Prince -1 to hit.
• The severely depleted shooting takes down one Dakka Jet for a point. (I think Oblits could not shoot as they had to retreat from CC.). Some pot shots go out to the Gretchin protecting the Shokk attack firebase, as they have to start getting thinned out to allow assault to get in there (one day!).
• Abaddon moves in position to kill boyz.
• The Terminators try to kill the bomber flyer but fail. They try to diminish the secondary Boys squad with all their CombiBolters, but only a few die.
• Shooting is lethargic, with Cacaphony the Termies kill a few more Boys, and Abaddon can assault the rest with the Rhino taking the Overwatch. about 6 Boys live!
• The second assault goes a bit better. The Daemon Prince kills a lot with the Relic Talons.
• The Termies fail an assault into the Mega Armoured character with the Force field.
• The turn tried to squeeze as much out of the Black Legion as possible, but is it enough? Can the Termies turn the tide?

• At the beginning of the Ork turn, the Orks recycle the 30 man squad I had down to ~ 5 guys! (They use the Warboss ability to smash heads in to prevent losing the squad to morale.) This is brutal. Literally this is like facing 120 boyz alone.
• He drops in his 10 Mega Armoured nobs. The -1 to hit (miasma) on the Termies prevents any deaths on my part.
• His flyer is trying a character kill run on the Daemon Prince….

• The shooting is still viscous. The Rhino is destroyed, and so are my last Havocs.
• The Flyer flies over the Daemon Prince and actually gets 2 wounds through! They each do D6 damage, and he rolls snake eyes! This Daemon Prince is living on borrowed time. I knew this was going to happen, but with no real footprint of bodies, I simply could not hide the Daemon Prince from this. He got super lucky.
• The Mega Armoured Nobs make the assault against the Terminators, and it gets ugly.
• Miasma saves a LOT of the Termies or I believe I would have been wiped. The 5++ save is fairly worthless, and after all is said and done, I believe I lose 3 termies. Those Mega Armoured Nobs hit harder than termies with D3 damage to my 1 damage axes. My fist Champ fails to hit. I think combined, with rerolls I do 1 wound to a Nob!

• The last Oblits shoot down the last plane. The rest of a remnant boys squad is killed, and the Daemon Prince moves up to assault characters.
• Black Legion turn 3-4. Abaddon has to free the last termies. He dual assaults and kills a character, with Drachnyen, and kills maybe 1-2 Nobs with the Talon (They each have 3 wounds).
• The Daemon Prince failed his true goal, and rolls to assault a Warboss. The DP further rolls a “1” on his Daemon weapon and takes a mortal wound! (Thanks GW for continuing the random crap for Chaos. I’d love to see a loyalist hit himself in the head with a ‘relic’ hammer one day!) This is bad… but I’m waaaay out numbered and trying to get crazy mileage out of a little clump of characters.
• The Orks in return shoot up Abaddon. He still has 2 wounds though. The Daemon Prince is down to 4 wounds.

In the Orks turn they take down the Termies, and kill most of my Cultists. I have next to nothing left, but somehow Abaddon and the Prince have finally reached the back lines and threaten his HQ Shokk attack guns.

• With that, I use 2 CP to heal D2 wounds on Abaddon back to 6 wounds . The Daemon prince fails his assault to kill the HQ core, and he is killed in assault by the Orks.
• Abaddon at the bottom of the stairs heroically intervenes and kills a bunch of boyz, but is left standing at the bottom of the ladder, unable to attack the HQ.

With the Black Legion having no models left, and the Shokk attack guns still fine, there’s no point continuing. Black Legion conceded.

I got a lot of mileage out of the characters in this one, but the list… moreso the army has some serious issues at this stage of 8th edition. I was severerly out shot, and severerly out assaulted. The Orks still had a blob of boys off screen (recycled). But I tried to make a game of it.

I think perhaps at this point I have to consider that Black Legion as a whole will not work in competitive situations. But every once in a while I seem to need this reminder! Thanks for checking it out.

-Prot