Bring me the Heart of the Iron Oracle – background and list

The holographic map of Moot Harkan shimmered with a bluish tint, casting a pale light on the two Heretic Astartes standing before it. The Shrine World was all but lost to the Tyranids. Elements from the Astra Militarum still held out close to the Citadel City but their number were dwindling. Chaos Lord Davos Vane, the Tyrant Elect of the Lords of Ascension, studied the map closely before speaking to his lieutenant Lord Piet Haine, the Dread King of Altwon: “Is it done?”

“Yes, it is done. The Dead Children cultists have taken up positions near the site and our Berzerkers have broken the ranks of the Xeno.” The Dread King rotated the map, marking certain points and junctions before he continued: “Our initial pressure have had the expected effect but the Xenos are reforming their ranks faster than we estimated. Time is against us. And the lackeys of the False Emperor didn’t act as we assumed. They are actually pushing to consolidate their front with ours.”

“The fools! Do they actually believe that we come with any hope of salvation or victory for them?” Vane had a scornful smile as he spoke. Haine couldn’t help but smiling too. “This might actually work to our advantage. Have the Dead Children engage the lojalists and relax some of the pressure against the Xenos. Lure them in and draw them away from the prize.”

“Brother,” Vane continued, “the Warmaster has tasked us with the retrieval of the Heart of the Iron Oracle. The 13th Black Crusade is imminent. From the Eye to the Fringe; the Galaxy will burn. And as it succumbs to the flames of the Long War the path to ascension will be revealed to us.” 

The mighty champion of Khorne nodded as his Master spoke. With the 13th Black Crusade approaching they could do nothing but align themselves with Abaddon and his Black Legion. In this all consuming war the gaze of the Dark Gods would intensify and the true prize – ascension and immortality would be within reach. And if capturing the artefact was a step towards that goal then it would be captured. There was no doubt in the Dread King’s mind. 

“I’ll see to it myself. I’ll part the sea chitin and butcher any who dare stand between us and the artefact. Abaddon will receive his prize.” 

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Old school head crackers, Chaos Terminators for the win!

I finally got a game coming up, tomorrow night. It’s been awhile since the last one. So I’m stoked. It will also be the last before Traitor’s Hate hits. Check out the list I’m bringing. 

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Formation: Black Legion Warband

1500 points

All units have Veterans of the Long War

Chaos Lord Piet Haine, the Dread King of Altwon w/ Axe of Blind Fury, Gift of mutation, Mark of Khorne, Sigil of corruption

Sorcerer w/ Mastery Level 3, Force Sword, Gift of mutation, Spell Familiar

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5 Nurgle Marines w/ Plasma Gun, Power Axe and Gift of Mutation on Aspiring Champion

Chaos Rhino w/ Dirge caster, Havoc Launcher

8 Khornate Marines w/ Flamer, Icon of Wrath, Power Axe and Gift of Mutation on Aspiring Champion 

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6 Nugle Terminators w/4 Combi-Plasma, 2 Power Swords, 2 Power Mauls, Heavy Flamer, Power Fist, Combi-melta, Gift of Mutation, Power Maul on Terminator Champion 

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5 Havocs w/ 4 Missile Launchers

Helbrute Mordeci the Damned w/ Power fist, Twin-linked lascannon

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5 Raptors w/ 2x Meltagun, Gift of Mutation, Power Sword on Raptor Champion

3 Khornate Bikers w/ 2 flamers 

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The list is fashionably old school and straightforward – I have Chaos Marines in Power Armour, tooled up Chaos Terminators, Aspiring Champions ready for glory, a very choppy Lord and some psychic support. I still haven’t decided whether I’m going for Biomancy (Enfeeble, Endurance and Iron Arm preferably) or Telepathy (Invisability, Shrouding and Psychic Shriek) or maybe, just maybe, even roll on Pyromancy and hope for Sunburst (why didn’t I take the Last Memory-artefact?).

The formation benefits are simple as well – if I kill a unit the rest of the army get re-roll ones to hit and wound for the rest of the phase and my Champions get more reliable Chaos Boon rolls. It is an aggressive formation, as it is all about killing units. No objective secure is a bummer. 

I’ll be facing Tyranids with a Flyrant, Tervigon, an Endless Swarm and some big bugs and support bugs. Not the hardest list but a great match up (yes, we have been talking about what we’ll be bringing before the game). It’ll be fun wading through that sea of chitin. 

We’ll be playing the Capture the Artefact mission from the Black Legion book. The mission is very cool – the enemy player places a single Objective (the Artefact) in his deployment zone. The Black Legion player must take and hold the Artefact at the end of the game. The Black Legion player get Zealot on all units, which is awesome, as every single model now can fulfill the mission objective without fear of running away. But lets face it, it will be an uphill struggle. There will be 90 gaunts on the table. 60 of them can come back on a 4+ after being destroyed and the Tervigon can pop out even more. My goal will be to destroy the Synapse and hopefully run down his army. 

What can go wrong with that plan?

Oh, if you liked the Chaos Cataphractii Terminators above, check out the quick WIP post. Some mishap when posting made it not appear in the WordPress reader nor on some blog rolls out there. Weird.  Hopefully all incantations have been read correctly this time.