Ambush At Nikaea V
With the rebellion in full thrust, Magnus the Red has found his hand to be forced and throws his lot in with Tzeentch, The Grand Manipulator and Fountain of Arcane Knowledge.
The White Scars have followed his trail while he searches nearby star systems for arcane items and tomes of knowledge. With help from the planet's abhuman opulace, the Squats, the marines make a quick ambush hoping to catch the warlocks unaware.
Thousand Sons 4,000 points
Retinue w/ Champion, Icon, Daemonic Pact and dreadnought support
Retinue teleporting
4 Rubric Terminators, Pact, Champion
Disc Riders w/Pact
Armour - 4 predators, 2 land raiders.
6 Silver Towers
Diviner class titan
Doomwing squadron
Deceiver formation
Daemon Pool - 2 Greater, 7 lesser
White Scars 2,000 points (using Planetside force)
Tactical, 2 rhinos, Crusader
2 Assault Marine squads
Devastator, 2 rhinos, 1 predator
2 squads of bikes
2 marauder bombers
Squats (using French Compendium list)
Brotherhood in leviathan
Colossus
Brotherhood w/ rhinos, hearthguard, thunderers and Warlord
Thunderer support formation
Overlord formation
It seems Tzeentch favoured Ahriman today and blessed him with 2 extra lesser daemons. With the inevitable arrival of White scar air support the doomwings went on CAP taking control of the skies and believing my squat opponent when he said he had no AA fire (yeah, right!)
The devastators advanced and opened fire on the garrisoned unit of thousand sons. Being in cover on their objective meant only 1 shot got through and was saved by their rubric armour. The diviner moved forward into the vast city streets that marked the outskirts of the battlefield.
The tactical squad advanced around the hill beside the devastators lending potential support to them. In return the garrisoned rubrics reformed and brought their dreadnoughts to bear on the tactical transports, hitting 2 but doing no damage. The leviathan rumbled forward and disgorged its cargo of stunties, luring the silver towers forwards. The silently floating constructs opened a salvo on the brotherhood but the cover of thewar engine denied many kills and only 1 stand fell.
The brotherhood in rhinos advanced into the outlying areas of the city in the centre of the board and targetted the discs of Tzeentch, felling 2. The large formation of squats now occupied the middle of the table. The marauders launched, intent on hitting the advancing rubric marines. The doomwings attacked on CAP only to come under fire from the overlords! Surviving the AA fire (including 2 invulnerable saves) they attacked the marauders but lost 1 of their number in the process. The marauders continued to lay down fire but the rubrics remained unscathed.
Turn 2 saw the arrival of some Rubric terminators and a formation of Thousand Sons, appearing on the enemy Blitz objective.
What Tzeentch giveth, he taketh away!
The marines gained the initiative and assaulted the terminators on the hill with fire support from the devastators. When the dust settled a single stand of terminators was left as the assault marines were destroyed. In response the rubrics advanced up and engaged the remaining devastators, summoning a Lord of Change and some extra flamers it was enough to destroy the marines. The objective fell to the Thousand Sons.
Calling a heroic charge the assault captain assaulted the rubrics on the blitz objective with support from a bike formation and fire support from the tactical formation. Nothing remained of the Thousand Sons.
In response the rubrics engaged the devastators on the hill. Their unit champion conversed with the dark powers and called up a Lord of Change and 2 flamer units. Binding these to the unit icon ensured their continued assistance. Through a hail of fire the devastators were scoured from the objective, leaving the rubrics and the terminators alone on the hill.
On the far side of the battle the thousand sons armour was suffering from a hail of squat firepower. The collosus leveled its guns at the emerging reaver, stripping its shileds and doing some damage. The circling marauders capitalised and went in for the kill but some bouncing flak from the doomwings saved the large war machine.
The last silver towers glided forwards, advancing on the objective in the basilica
Result: Minor victory to Imperium