First 40K Game For Ages.

I had my first 40K game in over a year on Thursday night. I was playing Paul from the Exiles. I'd decided to go with Chaos Space Marines as they were the first box I found. The list I was using is shown below:

Chaos Sorceror
Chaos Terminators (5)
Possessed Chaos Space Marines (5)
Chaos Havocs (5)
Chaos Space Marines (9)
Chaos Space Marines (8)
Chaos Space Marines (8)
Khorne Beserkers (5)
Chaos Spawn (2)

I knew it wasn't a very good list but the aim of the game was to see if I wanted to get back into 40K and also to see how different things were in 6th edition. Paul was using a variant of Space Marines but I forget which. I do remember he had Vulkan, I think 4 squads, a couple of speeders and a couple of Rhinos, a drop pod and one of the new flyers. I forget the name of the mission but we had six objectives (the bits of paper in the photos) which had numbers on them which did various things like giving re-rolls to the unit holding them.

The initial deployments can be seen below. I had Terminators and Khorne Berserkers on my right.

Havocs, Chaos Spawn and a unit of CSM's in the centre and the remaining two squads, Possessed CSM and the Chaos Sorceror on my left.

I went first and moved the Berserkers on to the rightmost objective while the Terminators moved forward looking to engage the Speeders. The centre squad moved forward to take the middle objective. My Havocs opened up on one of the Rhinos knocking off two hull points.

Paul then dropped in his Drop Pod disembarked and killed three of my CSM. His speeders killed a Terminator and other fire killed both Chaos Spawn and two Possessed CSM.

My right at the end of turn 1.

The centre at the end of turn 1.

My left at the end of turn 1.

Turn 2 saw my Terminators kill one of the speeders. But the rest of my fire was ineffective. I assaulted in the centre but forgot about overwatch and lost two more CSM and then the rest were wiped out in melee.

Paul moved up and fired on my Havocs killing two, he also killed the remaining Possessed CSM. His flyer zoomed in killing another Terminator and his SM's killed two of my Berserkers

My right at the end of turn 2.

The centre at the end of turn 2.

My left at the end of turn 2.

Turn three saw me move my Terminators towards the centre and move up my Sorceror and a squad of CSM my fire again did nothing.

Paul's return fire wiped out my Terminators, the Sorceror and the CSM and two more Havocs. It was at this point I conceded. Twin-linked flamers and multi-meltas proved to much for me.

The right at the end of the game

The left and centre at the end of the game.

A quick and brutal re-introduction to the game! But it served it's purpose. Paul was a great opponent, friendly and helpful throughout the game giving me tips and suggestions. 

So what do I think of the new rules? Well I think the missions are better and more interesting and the rule changes will force some tactical rethinking with things like overwatch. I liked the wound allocation as it seemed more sensible and given my limited experience I think the new rules are an improvement.

What the game did do for me was to crystallise my feelings about 40K. I like the rules and the setting and I think the models are great (except for the price). The downside for me is that you really need to know what you're doing or you'll get crushed like I did in this game (and Paul was going easy on me). Although the rules are relatively simple the army building makes all the difference. It's ridiculously easy to have two supposedly equal 1500pt armies but for one of them to be so outclassed that the game is a forgone conclusion. If I was playing beginners to the game like me this wouldn't be so much of a problem but all my prospective opponents are experienced players with well sorted armies and tactics. I could invest the time in sorting out a competitive list that suited my playing style and I'm sure the Exiles would be more than happy to help, but I just don't have the motivation to do so, particularly as it would mean heavy investment in new models.

So I don't see me playing 40K again and I think most of my armies will be heading to eBay.