A 2500pt 8th edition Planetstrike game between the Space Wolves and the Night Lords.
A small force had been sent to disable the void shield generator so that the task force could scour the forified heretic astartes installation from orbit. But that mission had failed, and the Night Lords were now on the alert and aware of the presence of the imperial force. More direct means would be required to remove them.
A workable landing site near one of the daemonic terraforming installations has been identified, and heavy assets have landed to commence their attack and establish a foothold on the planet. Teleportarium has been prepped to supply reinforcements.
As the sun rises in the east, the rumble of tanks and the purifying jingle of sleigh-bells heralding Father Shitmas's personal involvement in the impending assault echo throughout the tainted installation, striking fear into the heretic astartes and their daemonic masters.
Deployment (17:00)
The garrison of the heavily defended installation included: a maulerfiend, a forgefiend, a defiler, 2 heldrakes, 2 groups of plaguebearers, a squad of heretic astartes, 2 squads of Night Lord plague marines, a squad of warp talons, a squad of raptors, lead by a a chaos lord, a sorcerer and a warpsmith. They were dug in to two fortifications. The heretic forces were unsure of the direction of the imperial approach, and kept watch in all directions.
The assaulting force (a battalion, a spearhead, and a planetstrike detachment) included grey hunters in razorbacks, two squads of long fangs with lascannons, a dreadnought, a Vindicator the Murderfang, the Wulfen, wolf cavalry and accompanying fenrisian wolves, skyclaws; a wolf priest, rune priest, and wolf guard battle leader equipped with jump packs, Arjac, and Father Shitmas on his sled.
The bulk of the astartes force, concerned about the threat from a void missile bunker, arrived from a close edge on turn 1 with the intent to destroy the threat before it could be used. The cavalry and most of the space wolf characters held back, choosing their moment to strike.
A squad of grey hunters volunteered to flank the heretic force and try to distract the defiler long enough to give the main force time to establish a beachhead. (This ploy didn't work.)
Space Wolves 1 (17:40)
The space wolves force focused on the flank near the void missile launcher, leaving most of the defenders somewhat out of position. The Long Fangs opened up on the daemon engines, crippling the defiler and the forgefiend. A smattering of fire from the razorbacks, skyclaws, and dreadnoughts weakened thinned the chaos marines and plagebearers. The vindicator missed.
Advancing skyclaws, fenrisan wolves, and the dreadnought charged in to finish the chaos marines off and consolidate into the forgefiend to silence its guns.
Father Shitmas and Murderfang charged the Heldrake and slew it (it must have landed to try to intimidate them or something...).
The wulfen charged into the void missile bunker and destroyed it with their thunder hammers. The explosion killed two wulfen and wounded several other nearby units. Plague Marines emerged from the rubble unscathed to face down the attacking force.
Night Lords 1 (18:45)
The baulerfiend and remaining heldrake wheeled around to face the imperial forces. The sorcerer brought one of the Wulfen down with a psychic attack.
The forgefiend backed out of combat in an attempt to clear its weapons. Plague marines disembarked from a bunker on the other side of the installation and closed on the skyclaws, firing into them. The warpsmith crippled the space wolf dreadnought with his meltagun, and attempted to repair the forgefiend.
The maulerfiend, warp talons, and plaguebearers crashed into the skyclaws, dreadnought, and fenrisian wolves, resulting in a chaotic melee on that flank and wiping out that section of the imperial force.
Space Wolves 2 (19:30)
The space wolves' characters descended on their jump packs, while Arjac arrived from the teleportarium. The cavalry delayed their arrival to wheel around to the collapsed flank.
Grey hunters disembarked from the razorbacks to engage the plague marines. The remaining Wulfen headed to engage the defiler. Assault cannon fire and bolters thin the plague marines significantly.
Arjac and the Murderfang moved to engage the maulerfiend and the warp talons. Supporting fire from the Long Fangs finished off the forgefiend and damaged the defiler. Murderfang's flamer and Arjac's hammer softened up the warp talons.
Father Shitmas was laid low by baleflame overwatch while attempting to engage the drake. The grey hunters and characters finished off the plague marines, while the remaining Wulfen's hammer brought the Defiler down.
Arjac finished off the warp talons. The maulerfiend brought down the Murderfang, but he took the beast down with him (using the Only In Death Does Duty End strategem). The remaining heretics closed on Arjac...
Night Lords 2 (20:25)
The Heldrake swung around to target the Long Fangs and tanks. The Sorcerer leapt down to engage the space wolves leadership psychically, and the chaos lord followed to support him.
The plague marines, Warpsmith, and the punisher cannon from a nearby fortification targetted Arjac, wounding him grievously.
Foul warpcraft from the sorceror transformed the Wolf Guard Battle Leader into a horrible Chaos Spawn!
The chaos lord and sorcerer charged the space wolves, slaying the wolf priest as the remaining Wulfen looked on furiously and swore vengeance! Arjac interrupted combat to slay the warpsmith, but was then brought down by plaguebearers. The grey hunters managed to wound the sorcerer and chaos lord in their counterattack, hoping to tie them up until the wulfen pack leader could rescue them.
Space Wolves 3 (20:56)
The cavalry arrived from reserve. The grey hunters pulled back to clear the way for the tanks and Wulfen to engage the heretic HQs. The Long Fangs and Vindicator brought down the heldrake.
Assault cannon fire wounded the chaos lord and thinned the remaining plaguebearers (they were near an objective).
The thunderwolf cavalry, finally in position, charged into the flank Arjac had been holding, to run down the plague marines.
The Wulfen slew the sorcerer in combat, and turned eagerly to the chaos lord...
The distraction squad of grey hunters on the far side, surprisingly still alive, began to clear plaguebearers from that objective.
Night Lords 3 (21:18)
The remaining plaguebearers fell back to secure objectives. The chaos lord leapt away from the wulfen sergeant, back into the ruins.
The remaining plague marines fell back out of combat to let the punisher target the calvalry, bringing one down.
The spawn charged the grey hunters.
Space Wolves 4 (21:30)
The space wolf forces began moving in to secure objectives and root out the remaining heretic troops.
The furious wulfen sergeant leapt up into the ruins in hot pursuit of the chaos lord, and quickly put him to the thunderhammer.
End
Chaos, forces quite thin, conceded.
For the planetstrike campaign... both warlords were brought down. They would be back, but would miss the next battle (so no bonus planetstrike warlord trait / CP). The next stage in the Space Wolves assault is to finish securing their beachead in a Desperate Assault, as heretic forces close in around them.
Edited by: Volkov on 10/21/18