And on turn two, everybody charged!

 o/

Yup, it's battle report time again folks. Rather than the usual multi-player menagerie, this time is was a more conventional 1 v 1 game with my buddy Rob who was fielding the Alpha Legion this time (of which only 1 mini is painted as he hasn't settled on a Legion yet). 

Three Objectives, worth 5 VPs apiece for whomever controlled them, plus random secondaries. Not too fond of the latter though this time around they did sorta save my ass. Anyways, 1k each, pretty much standard across the board deployment, and here's how it all went down:

My army, including an allied auxiliary support squad of Smurf Sternguard. 

Clearly the years have not been kind to ol' Alpharius....

Via some shenanigans, the warp talons managed a turn 1 charge into my devastators who were all but sitting on my table edge, wiping them out! Notta good start to the game...

In a repeat of last week, my painted tac squad slagged a pair of Raptors with meltagun fire before charging in for another grueling bout of close combat. 

Also like last week, the Apothecary failed his charge. 

Turn two and the Talons moved towards the Smurfs hidden in the ruins, the cultists took the center objective and the possessed moved to threaten my Rhino which was trundling across the middle of the board. 

Turn two also saw my scouts outflank and assault marines deep strike, though at 12" from the enemy due to more shenanigans. At this point everything but my APCs charged, though due to the distance the scouts and Assault marines failed to reach their target units.

Still whittling the Raptors down on the left flank...

Prior to charging, my razorback thinned out the possessed by two much to Rob's dismay.

Sternguard (equipped like regular tac marines) vs. Warp Talons is an unequal contest though the ragged survivors held their ground. 

My Lt. engaged the Sorcerer in what would be a multi-turn duel to the death!

Nothing to see here, move along...

Chaos chicanery resurrects a possessed and the Havocs dump into the Rhino that is blocking their view of the field. As the Alpha Legionnaires send a squad into support their middle, my tac marines delight in slaughtering the cultists almost to a man!

However, the Possessed prefer to be the ones doing the slaughtering!

Perhaps recalling their abysmal track record in close combat,the Havocs didn't overwatch my assault marines as they charged in...

The Raptors fell back out of combat, though in order to do so in a way that was away from the enemy, they actually retreated onto my side of the board! 

As such the tac squad slags two Legionnaires this time around before charging into the fray once more! The Scouts meanwhile had a good way to go before they could join into the fun. 

Slaughtering complete, the Smurfs and my central tac squad are no more. 

Meanwhile the Havocs were taking a pounding!

Having finally dispatched the sorcerer, my Lt. consolidates into the possessed, denying them the next turn's charge.

Not much left standing in this fight. 

In the backfield, the assault marines finish off the Havocs claiming both the objective and secondaries as well! 

These two snuggled down into terrain and started racking up more VPs for Rob. With cover and armor of contempt, it would take 2 turns of lascannon fire and a command reroll to dig them both out of there!

Disliking the notion of being consolidated into, the possessed tore my Lt. apart.

The scouts join the scrum!

The warp talons charge the assault marines, swiftly ending their brief reign of glory, likewise the possessed finish off the already battered Rhino, but not before it gunned down the last few surviving cultists. 

All outta tac marines, the Apothecary and 'chaff' (according to Rob) finish off the Legionnaires squad. 

At games' end, this was all that was left (that raptor was a casualty that I was passing across the table).

Well, that was both bloody and fun! I didn't keep note on who accrued how many VPs and when, but Rob had taken out an early lead to which I thought I'd never be able to catch up. However, I started clawing my way back and in the end, I pulled a rabbit out of my ass and somehow managed to tie the game up in the bottom of the last turn with 35 VPs each. Huzzah! Good thing the game ended As I'd likely get tabled had we gone another round!

I was pleased with my Razorback not only surviving unscathed, but also the amount of fire support it provided. Likewise this was the first game ever in which my assault squad actually killed something of note, the Havocs (not to mention racking up almost a 1/3 of my total VPs). Saving them from a probable eBay fate and possibly garnering them a layer of primer (they haven't earned any proper paint yet though).

That said my Lieutenant certainly did! Last week he led a charge that took down Fabius Bile in 1 turn and this week he single-handedly killed the chaos Sorcerer who was also Rob's warlord, and in both cases, he hasn't suffered a wound in either of those combats! Not that he survived the game or anything but still...

Another thing of note was the peanut gallery at the shop that accused me of being 'Meta' (with Firstborn Marines?). Not to mention that TWICE somebody walked up and exclaimed: 'Ooh! Chaos vs. Chaos!' Seriously, what the hell people?!?!