3rd Ed. Crimson Fists vs Black Legion in Meat Grinder

[Just Tony]

Originally posted on 7-23-2019

So the title says it all. We decided to try some things differently as to get some more creative juices flowing, and flipping through the scenarios Sergeant Sheldon decides Meat Grinder with him as the Attacker fit his fancy this time. I'm pretty cool with this as I can't remember the last time I actually played Meat Grinder, and my force isn't really optimized to slaughter Chaos Marines. Even better was finding out that discounting his Daemon Prince his Daemonic forces were staying home for the weekend.

Gist of it was 1,500 points per side.

Sergeant Sheldon set up the table with a LOT of funneling terrain in the center. Very little blocked line of sight but it still counted as difficult terrain. More and more interesting, honestly. I'm starting to genuinely look forward to this.

Table selection is pretty straightforward with Sheldon choosing the side I didn't want, and me going first.

SM vs CSM 0 Deployment by Tony Lucas, on Flickr

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Basic fire base in the center for me, and vehicles on the flanks. For him it was an even spread of speed and firepower in three locations except for my right side of the board, which had his Possessed and his Sorcerer with Aspiring Champion retinue.

TURN 1 CRIMSON FISTS

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Straightforward turn. All three vehicles move forward at top speed and pop smoke. Tactical Squads both try and fail to hit anything with their Missile Launchers.

TURN 1 BLACK LEGION

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Possessed roll 1, 2, and 5 for their powers. 12" move, Auto fall back for the enemy if they win combat, and counts as Power Weapons respectively.

Following my lead, Sheldon moves both Rhinos up and pops smoke. Every foot unit also moves forward at max speed, meaning the Shooting phase is bypassed completely.

TURN 2 CRIMSON FISTS

The Tactical Squad on the hill moves to have a better field of view, the other Tac Squad beside the hill stands its ground to acquire a better shooting stance. The Veterans Rhino moves up and the Veterans with Chaplain deploy within charging distance of the Daemon Prince. The other Rhino moves up the field near the 2 Chaos Rhinos, disgorging the Tactical Squad within. The Vindicator stands its ground, loading the Demolisher Cannon.

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The Terminator Squad passes its reserve roll and Deep Strikes behind the Chaos Rhinos, but a near catastrophic 11 for scatter lands me right up against the board edge.

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The Veterans manage to miss the Daemon Prince completely with their shooting, and inspired by the performance the Tactical Squad beside the hill misses the Chaos Marines next to the Prince with their Missile Launcher.

The Vindicator drops a round on the Chaos Marines coming up the center of the board, killing three of them. They effortlessly pass their Morale check.

The Tactical Squad freshly deployed from the Rhino levels its Meltagun at the Possessed' Rhino, scoring a 6 on the damage chart, destroying it. 3 Possessed die in the ensuing explosion.

The Terminators' Assault Cannon manages to Stun the Retinue's Rhino, which becomes Shaken thanks to Extra Armor.

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The Chaplain spurs the Veterans on, charging the mighty Daemon Prince. The Chaplain wounds the Prince twice with his Crozius, while the Prince fails to hit a single attack. The Veterans do 3 wounds that are saved, and the Veteran Sergeant does 3 with his Power Fist, slaying the beast. My Sweeping Advance roll nets me 5", which is not nearly enough to get to combat with the Chaos Marines in front of them.

SM vs CSM 2A6 by Tony Lucas, on Flickr

TURN 2 BLACK LEGION

The turn starts with the Sorcerer and Retinue disembarking in front of the Terminators, and the Rhino moving 12" up field to block line of sight. The Possessed make their way up to the Tactical Squad that slagged their transport.

The Chaos Marine squad in the middle of the board and the Dreadnought make their way forward towards the Tactical Squad sitting on the hill. The last Chaos Marine Squad stands still to bring as many weapons to bear as possible against the Veterans.

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During the movement phase Sheldon decides rather than hide the Dread that he wants to bring its weapons to bear on the Vindicator. This picture corrects the earlier pic with it hiding behind the building and illustrates what a great guy I am for allowing someone a Mulligan.

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The left flank Chaos Marines gun down 2 Veterans. The Dreadnought, however, fails to penetrate the front armor of the Vindicator. The Retinue cannot wound the Terminators with their shooting, nor can the Possessed do any wounds to the Tactical Marines in front of them. The Chaos Marine squad in the middle manages to drop a Tactical Marine, though.

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The Retinue charges the Terminators, with the Sorcerer dropping 1 while the Retinue slaughters the rest, 1 of their numbers falling to a Power Fist hit at the last second. They then sweep 5" towards the Fists battle line.

The Possessed rip apart 7 Tactical Marines with the lone Marine and Veteran Sergeant unable to wound back. The Tac Squad autobreaks and flees 5", which I am unable to move due to placement of enemy units. CROSSFIRE!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, it's been a while...

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TURN 3 CRIMSON FISTS

I start the turn by Tank Shocking the Chaos Marine squad in the middle of the board. Sheldon decided that his Aspiring Champion would make a Death Or Glory attack with his Plasma Pistol. Not the worst idea, but it definitely had the second worst outcome.

Passing their Tank Shock test, the Aspiring Champion braces himself and blasts the Rhino, the burst of energy catching the angle of the front armor and deflecting with no harm whatsoever. The Aspiring Champion smiled wryly as the treads overtook him, thinking to himself "Figures..."

No other movement happens as I'm counting on some decent shots from my fire base.

Shooting sees the Vindicator landing a Demolisher shell on the Possessed which drifts back slightly catching the Retinue's Rhino in the blast. Yeah, you should have seen me, I never rolled the same die twice while reaching for that vehicle shot. My reward? A Shaken Rhino and 2 dead Possessed. I think it's time to remember to bring my actual Crimson Fists dice from here on out...

The Tactical Squad misses the Dreadnought with its Missile Launcher, damn it all, but hits with the Plasma Gun. I manage a 6 on the Penetrating Hits chart and a 1" explosion, which catches NOTHING in the blast.

My OTHER Tactical Squad drops a Chaos Marine with its Missile Launcher while the Vets manage to miss every single shot. Not fail to wound, the highest I rolled was 2's to hit.

Alright, we'll do it the Rogal Dorn way, then. WITH OUR FISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Chaplain and Vets charge in with the Chaos Marines whiffing everything, while I only manage to kill 5 of them. This would have been a great time for Sheldon to fail a Break test so he could recycle the squad, which is why fate decided it'd be best for him to pass it.

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It's turning out to be that kind of game...

TURN 3 BLACK LEGION

The Possessed advance to be obscured from the Vindicator as the Rhino goes back to pick up the Retinue, who embark as soon as the Rhino arrives to them. The Marines in the center move to the rear of the Tactical Squad Rhino to line up some shots.

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I could go into detail to say exactly how dead that Rhino got, but we'll focus on the DEAD part.

In the Combat phase the Chaos Marines fail to wound any Marines while the Vets kill 4 more of them. This time they Break with no chance of regrouping, so they get scooped so as to reenter the board next turn.

TURN 4 CRIMSON FISTS

My movement consisted of redressing the Tactical Squads to get better shots if the game progresses and the Vets reembarking on their Rhino.

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The Vindicator, my pride and joy, the highlight of my forces, scattered off of the Retinue's Rhino and hit nothing.

Like I said, THAT kind of game...

TURN 4 BLACK LEGION

At this time the Chaos Marine squad recycles onto the board at the closest part of the left table edge that it can get to and moves on at top speed.

The squad in the middle moves closer to my Tactical Squad held hill, as does the Possessed who are moving around the woods away from Vindicator fire.

The Retinue's Rhino moves up 6" to set up a shot with its Havoc Missile launcher, and since we've addressed all the moving that will happen, THAT shot managed to kill 1 Marine.

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I go ahead and let Sheldon roll for the random turn roll, which ends the game here.

We went into it knowing that it was going to be a bit of a tough go to get those Fists completely wiped out, but having the game end on Turn 4 just left us a little bit... unfulfilled? Yeah, that'd be the word.

Before this game, Sheldon made it clear that the Night Fight rules were his least favorite in all of 3rd Edition, and because of that we'd do anything to keep from playing that mission at all. I bet if I ask him now, he'd say this was his least favorite rule in the game currently.

I have a feeling I'll be seeing more Rhinos in his army from here on out, or maybe some Obliterators.