Tourney Format Test! Chaos versus Space Marines

On January 18th, I will be running a tournament hosted at Grimfoe Games in East Greenbush, New York.  It is a Bay Area Open style tournament at 1750 points.  It would be wonderful if folks nearby can make it. We have twenty slots.  Please check out the Player Packet to find out all of the details.

At any rate, James from the shop and I played a timed 1750 point game using the terrain setup I'm considering and the tourney rules.

My list was:

1750 Pts - Codex: Space Marines Roster - Drop it Like it's Lukewarm

1 Cpt. Taigana (Marneus Calgar), 275 pts (Warlord)
   1 Gauntlets of Ultramar
8 Assault Squad, 178 pts (Remove Jump Packs; Flamer x2)
   1 Sgt. Taia (Bolt Pistol; Remove Jump Packs; Power Axe x1)
   1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

9 Tactical Squad 01 VI, 225 pts (Meltagun)
   1 Sgt. Kauminiko (Power Fist)
   1 Drop Pod (Deathwind Missile Launcher; Drop Pod Assault)

9 Tactical Squad 01 III, 210 pts (Meltagun)
   1 Sgt. Chane (Combi-Meltagun)
   1 Drop Pod (Deathwind Missile Launcher; Drop Pod Assault)

9 Tactical Squad 07 VI, 200 pts (Meltagun)
   1 Sgt. Masud (Melta Bombs; Combi-Meltagun)
   1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

9 Tactical Squad 04 III, 200 pts (Plasma gun)
   1 Sgt. Zahur (Combi-Plasmagun)
   1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

9 Tactical Squad 06 III, 180 pts (Flamer)
   1 Sgt. Tembo (Bolt Pistol; Boltgun)
   1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

9 Tactical Squad 05 VII, 200 pts (Grav-gun)
   1 Sgt. Kunguru (Combi-Grav)
   1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

4 Devastator squad 08 IX, 80 pts (Multi-melta x1)
   1 Sgt Imara


James brought:

Ahriman
10x Chaos Space Marines with Plasma
10x Thousand Sons
10x Thousand Sons
2x Tzeench Obliterators
2x Tzeench Obliterators
Herald of Tzeench
20x Pink Horrors
5x Screamers (unsure about how many)
Aegis Defense Line with Quadgun


For our mission, we roll the BAO mission #4 which is 3 Crusade objectives primary (placed outside your Deployment Zone) and Emperor's Will secondary (placed inside your Deployment Zone). The deployment for mission #4 is Dawn of War.  We rolled a positive on Night Fighting for the first turn.  I took "Calgar"'s Warlord Trait which would have given him extra victory points for slaying the enemy warlord in a challenge.

This is the least amount of terrain surface area we would have at the tournament.  There will be twelve pieces at every table with at least some line-of-sight blocking in the deployment zones and in the center.  I wanted to see what the lowest common denominator would be, so I used some of the smaller pieces in this game.  I think one of the smaller pieces needs to be replaced with a GW ruin and one of the gray ruins needs to be replaced with solid LOS-blocking. Note that James has replaced a large hill in the corner with his Aegis Defense Line and chose to move the stone barricades on his side of the table slightly because our format requires that a piece be removed which is completely on your side of the table for each Fortification and you may move a single piece of terrain which is completely on your side of the board.

James chooses to reserve the Pink Horrors and a squad of Obliterators, Outflanking them.  He moves up with his Screamers and takes some pot shots at my Devastator squad, killing a single Marine.

The Star Eagles drop in and begin pouring Bolter rounds into the foul thralls of Tzeench!

The Marines make quick work of the Obliterators and most of a Thousand Sons squad, banishing their spirits back to the Warp.

Both the Obliterators and Pink Horrors arrive in exactly the right flank for maximum effectiveness.  They make mincemeat out of several brave Star Eagles with their Daemonic sorcery!

Ahriman sets his sights on Seargent Masud's doomed men.

The brutality of the Chaos counter-strike is evident.

On pillars of flame, reserves arrive!  Rare for the 7th Company, these Marines are sporting Grav Guns which mow down one of the Obliterators.

Captain Taigana and his unit of Assault Marines begin to whittle down the Pink Horrors with flamers and bolt pistols.
 

Between the Deathwind Missiles, bolter fire, and assaults, the Chaos Space Marines and Thousand Sons slowly show signs of wear.

Marines throw themselves bravely and blindly into the terrifying Screamers.

The Chaos counterstrike is, again, quite deadly, but not as effective as previously.  Thanks to Taigana's tactical acumen, the Astartes are able to fall back only to rally immediately.

The Captain's squad moves forward for the kill.

The stream of power armored warriors seems to never end.  The combat squads continue to throw themselves into combat while others fall back to recover objectives.

In the end, only a few Chaos Space Marines remain.  In a moment of clarity, Ahriman escapes into the warp (perils on his final wound)!

Taigana and his men make quick work of the Horrors and move to aid the bulk of their force.

The remains of both forces struggle to gain the upper hand.

Reinforcements from the collapsed right flank seal the deal for those holding the center.

Star Eagles hold the enemy base, only a sooty mark remaining where Ahriman once stood.

The Marines also procure many battlefield objectives.

Good game, as usual with James.  I cannot stress how great it was to choose to fall back again. I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to run Space Marines without "Calgar".  I'm having fun with this army like I used to.

The format is working great. I do think a little bigger terrain for some of the 12 pieces is going to be necessary.