Epic 4K: Thousand Sons vs Imperial Fist

A rematch of Thousand Sons and Imperial Fist forces, with changed army compositions. 

I took some Firelords and a Warp Palace, plus a couple of Deceivers in my armour formations. Andrew took Tactical Marines and Devastators instead of mass Scouts.



Incompertus, 4000 POINTS
Thousand Sons (6.1.1)
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RUBRIC FELLOWSHIP [275]
Sorcerer, 6 Thousand Sons Marines units.

RUBRIC FELLOWSHIP [275] 

Sorcerer, 6 Thousand Sons Marines units.

RUBRIC FELLOWSHIP [375]
Sorcerer, 6 Thousand Sons Marines units., Daemonic Pact, Icon Bearer, Champion of Tzeentch

THOUSAND SONS DAEMON POOL [125]
Greater daemon (Lord of Change), 5 Lesser Daemons (Horror, Screamer, Flamer and Daemonic Beast units)

AHRIMAN'S CHOSEN [450]
Sorcerer, 9 Thousand Sons Marines units. All have the Teleport ability

SCARAB OCCULT [550] 
5 Thousand Sons Adeptus, Daemonic Pact, Icon Bearer, Champion of Tzeentch, Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

SILVER TOWER COMPANY [325]
4 Silver Tower

THOUSAND SONS ARMOR [300]
3 Predator, Deceiver, Land Raider

THOUSAND SONS ARMOR [300]
3 Predator, Deceiver, Land Raider

FIRELORD BOMBERS [250]
2 Firelord Bombers

DOOMWING FIGHTERS [150] 
3 Doomwing Fighters

WARP PALACE OF TZEENTCH [625] 
Daemonic Pact, Champion of Tzeentch

Imperial Fists, 4000 points

Command Group

6 Tactical Marines, Supreme Commander, 3 Rhinos [375]

4 Devastators, 2 Rapiers, 4 Rhinos [300]

Attached Fire Support, 4 Whirlwinds [300]

Bastion, Techmarine, 2 Thudd Guns [275]

Forward Defensive Group

6 Tactical Marines, 2 Bunkers, 50 cm Trenches [275]

Bastion, Techmarine [225]

Defensive Flank Position

6 Tactical Marines, 2 Bunkers, 50 cm Trenches [275]

Thunderfire Battery, 4 Thunderfire Cannons [250]

Bastion, Techmarine, 2 Thudd Guns [275]

Attached Recon, 5 Landspeeders [200]

Mobile Flank Group

4 Devastators, Librarian, 2 Rapiers, 4 Rhinos [350]

4 Devastators, 2 Rapiers, 4 Rhinos [300]

Attached Recon, 5 Landspeeders [200]

Air Support Group

2 Storm Talons [200]

2 Storm Talons [200]

Turn 1

I win Strategy Roll and deploy on one long side. Here's the setup, scenery was a range of brush, forests and hills. Imperials have heavy entrenchments on their right flank, and I match this with my own deployment.

A better view of Imperial deployment I'm facing.

My left.

My right. Few forces from either side here.

I teleport in the Chosen and win Strategy Roll. They engage but loose the combat with a Devastator Formation on the extreme right of the Marine line. Damn. I lose a casualty, Marines lose none.

I retain and my right flank Armour formation advances and fires, killing all but one Landspeeder which is a much better performance.

Marines then start firing on my Retinues, killing a unit and placing blastmarkers.  However my Retinue with support of another Retinue engages and wipes out a Marine formation in the trench ahead of them, despite the blastmarkers, in a two round engagement.

My formation takes the trench but is broken by further fire.

My Firelords attack, one being shot down by AA from a Bastion, and the other causing no casualties despite the advantage of incendiary 'ignore cover' bombs and guns. The other Firelord is destroyed by fighters.  

Another Retinue is broken. My Warp Palace doubles forward placing some blastmarkers on a Bastion. 

Silver Towers wipe out another Land Speeder formation.

Marines concentrate all fire on my Chosen, making use of crossfire, and only one is remaining at end of the turn.

End of turn.

Turn 2

My Occult arrives in the middle of trouble hoping to summon daemons, but I lose the Strategy Roll. With placement I hoped that forest will help screen out some of the damage that could happen here.

The Marines concentrate in force...

And my Occult is driven back broken but with suprisingly few losses for the amount thrown at it. My Retinue nearby summons Daemons and engages and destroys the Bastion ahead of it.

However the Lord of Change takes a point of damage and critical hit and dies. My Warp Palace fails to do much damage.

On the right my Armour formation moves and brings the bastion there under fire.

Silver Towers are broken by fire.

End of turn and situation for the Thousand Sons isn't great.

Turn 3

Marines win Strategy Roll again, and break my left Armour formation, and cause more casualties.

My Warp Palace obliterates most of a marine formation, but I have very little left. The marines focus fire on breaking the Warp Palace with blastmarkers.

Marines secure their objectives, winning 3-0 with Defend the Flag, They Shall Not Pass, and Take and Hold.

Conclusions

So I failed to break through the Marine defences this time, instead being defeated handily. Firelords were a disappointment as usual, and Warp Palace was unable to generate enough damage for the points. The Armour formations worked surprisingly well even with the slower Deceivers I thought. Andrew's choice of Tactical and Devastator formations also seemed to work better for him. Next time!