Scorched Earth Tactics

It was my turn to set things up. So I started the night before, setting up terrain and deciding the primary mission for our next battle.

This battle is being fought on Terrain Layout 8, using the diagonal deployment zones and objectives of Crucible of Battle. And the primary mission is…drum roll please…Scorched Earth!

Infamously, Scorched Earth tactics involve an army burning its own support system (and civilian infrastructure) in order to hopefully inflict lethal damage on an advancing enemy.

In preparation for this battle, Steve watched a video about this exact mission and some of the pitfalls to expect and plan for. One of the biggest is that while you get extra points for "burning" an objective you actually want to wait as long as possible to do your burning as you also get regular points from just controlling those objectives.

And it turns out the burning is pretty hard, since you start on your turn and your opponent has until the end of their turn to stop it.

Steve's Army List:

Dred force (2000 Points)

Space Marines
Blood Angels
Rage-cursed Onslaught
Strike Force (2,000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Blood Angels Captain (105 Points)
• 1x Inferno pistol
• 1x Power fist
• Enhancements: Master of the Red Thirst

Chief Librarian Mephiston (120 Points)
• 1x Fury of the Ancients
• 1x Plasma pistol
• 1x Vitarus

Commander Dante (120 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Perdition Pistol
• 1x The Axe Mortalis

Lemartes (100 Points)
• 1x Absolvor bolt pistol
• 1x The Blood Crozius

Sanguinary Priest (100 Points)
• 1x Absolvor bolt pistol
• 1x Astartes chainsword
• Enhancements: Angel’s Fang

The Sanguinor (130 Points)
• 1x Encarmine broadsword

BATTLELINE

Assault Intercessor Squad (75 Points)
• 1x Assault Intercessor Sergeant
◦ 1x Heavy bolt pistol
◦ 1x Power fist
• 4x Assault Intercessor
◦ 4x Astartes chainsword
◦ 4x Heavy bolt pistol

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Impulsor (80 Points)
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Ironhail heavy stubber
• 1x Ironhail skytalon array
• 2x Storm bolter

OTHER DATASHEETS

Company Heroes (105 Points)
• 1x Ancient
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Bolt rifle
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Company Champion
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon
• 2x Company Veteran
◦ 2x Bolt pistol
◦ 2x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Master-crafted bolt rifle
◦ 1x Master-crafted heavy bolter

Death Company Marines with Jump Packs (120 Points)
• 5x Death Company Marine with Jump Packs
◦ 3x Astartes chainsword
◦ 4x Heavy bolt pistol
◦ 1x Plasma pistol
◦ 1x Power fist
◦ 1x Power weapon

Gladiator Lancer (160 Points)
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Icarus rocket pod
• 1x Ironhail heavy stubber
• 1x Lancer laser destroyer
• 2x Storm bolter

Gladiator Lancer (160 Points)
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Icarus rocket pod
• 1x Ironhail heavy stubber
• 1x Lancer laser destroyer
• 2x Storm bolter

Infiltrator Squad (100 Points)
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Marksman bolt carbine
• 4x Infiltrator
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Marksman bolt carbine

Redemptor Dreadnought (195 Points)
• 1x Heavy flamer
• 1x Icarus rocket pod
• 1x Macro plasma incinerator
• 1x Redemptor fist
• 1x Twin fragstorm grenade launcher

Sanguinary Guard (260 Points)
• 6x Sanguinary Guard
◦ 4x Angelus boltgun
◦ 6x Encarmine spear
◦ 2x Inferno pistol
◦ 1x Sanguinary Banner

Scout Squad (70 Points)
• 1x Scout Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Boltgun
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 4x Scout
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 3x Boltgun
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Missile launcher

Isaac's Army List:

• FACTION KEYWORD: Chaos - Chaos Space Marines
• DETACHMENT: Deceptors (Masters of Misdirection)

1x Chaos Lord (100 pts): Daemon hammer, Plasma pistol
Enhancement: Cursed Fang (+10 pts)

Chaos Lord with Jump Pack (95 pts): Power fist, Plasma pistol
Enhancement: Shroud of Obfuscation (+15 pts)

1x Cypher (90 pts): Cypher's bolt pistol, Cypher's plasma pistol

5x Dark Commune (95 pts)
• 1x Cult Demagogue: Autopistol, Commune stave
Enhancement: Soul Link (+5 pts)
• 2x Blessed Blades: 2 with Commune blade
• 1x Iconarch: Chaos icon, Autopistol, Close combat weapon
• 1x Mindwitch: Close combat weapon, Warp Curse

1x Master of Executions (80 pts): Axe of dismemberment, Bolt pistol

1x Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (80 pts): Warlord, Chaos Familiar, Force weapon, Infernal Gaze, Combi-weapon

20x Cultist Mob (100 pts)
• 1x Cultist Champion: Brutal assault weapon, Autopistol
• 19x Cultist: 19 with Autopistol, Brutal assault weapon

10x Cultist Mob (50 pts)
• 1x Cultist Champion: Brutal assault weapon, Autopistol
• 9x Cultist: 9 with Autopistol, Brutal assault weapon

5x Legionaries (90 pts)
• 4x Legionary
2 with Bolt pistol, Boltgun, Close combat weapon
1 with Bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, Heavy melee weapon
1 with Bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, Plasma gun
• 1x Aspiring Champion: Close combat weapon, Heavy melee weapon, Plasma pistol

5x Legionaries (90 pts)
• 4x Legionary
2 with Bolt pistol, Boltgun, Close combat weapon
1 with Bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, Heavy melee weapon
1 with Bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, Plasma gun
• 1x Aspiring Champion: Close combat weapon, Heavy melee weapon, Plasma pistol

1x Chaos Predator Destructor (140 pts): Armoured tracks, Havoc launcher, Predator autocannon, Combi-bolter, 2x Lascannon

1x Chaos Rhino (75 pts): Armoured tracks, Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Combi-bolter

1x Chaos Rhino (75 pts): Armoured tracks, Combi-bolter, Havoc launcher, Combi-bolter

5x Chaos Terminator Squad (180 pts)
• 1x Terminator Champion: Paired accursed weapons
• 1x Heavy weapon: Chainfist, Reaper autocannon
• 3x Power fist and combi-weapon: 3 with Combi-weapon, Power fist

1x Chaos Vindicator (185 pts): Armoured tracks, Demolisher cannon, Havoc launcher, Combi-bolter

1x Forgefiend (170 pts): 2x Ectoplasma cannon, Armoured limbs, Ectoplasma cannon

6x Noise Marines (145 pts)
• 5x Noise Marine
2 with Blastmaster, Close combat weapon
3 with Close combat weapon, Sonic blaster
• 1x Disharmonist: Close combat weapon, Sonic blaster

6x Noise Marines (145 pts)
• 5x Noise Marine
2 with Blastmaster, Close combat weapon
3 with Close combat weapon, Sonic blaster
• 1x Disharmonist: Close combat weapon, Sonic blaster

My Chaos Culists plus Commune set up on my "natural expansion" objective, the closest no-man's-land objective to my deployment zone. The smaller 10-man squad of cultists spread out on my home objective. Steve's Infiltrator squad formed a screen slightly ahead of his main force. A Gladiator Lancer sat on either side of the board. The Impulsor full of the elite-of-the-elite Company Heroes (plus Mephiston) parked in the middle.

Each of my rhinos carried a 6-man squad of Noise Marines. My plan was to keep the Noise Marines inside the Rhinos, using the firing deck to launch attacks using the Blastmasters, and wait for the rhinos to be destroyed, releasing the noise marines onto the table top like candy from a pinata.

My support tanks were deployed together to better concentrate their fire and hopefully start taking out Blood Angel tanks. My Forgefiend, a fan favorite, I decided to put into strategic reserves and hopefully come in somewhere unexpected to shower blood angels with superheated demon spew.

Steve's First Turn
For Secondary Missions, Steve drew Recover Assets and Extend Battle Lines. The first turn was a great time to draw some good secondaries and so he did.

Steve's squad of Intercessors started a Recover action to harvest those tasty victory points. Meanwhile, his tanks (Gladiators, Impulsor) all rolled toward the center.

His Infiltrators hung back, evidently watching the backfield to ensure I didn't try anything sneaky back there.

The Gladiator Lancer found a tiny line of visibility between it and my rhino (silver). And it fired!

But, sensing approaching doom my rhino quickly deployed its Smokescreen strategem, reducing the Lancer's precision by a full pip.

The Lancer still managed to hit, but only the once, and it dealt 5 wounds of damage to the smoke-shrouded rhino.

At the end of the turn, Steve harvested a whopping 7 points (3VP recovered assets, 4 VP Extend Battle Lines) from secondary missions.

Isaac's First Turn
It was my very first turn, and so far my plan seemed to be holding together. All units moved forward, towards the center of the board.

My silver rhino with noise marines inside parked in the ruins just off the center objective. My chaos lord and his retinue also took up residence in these ruins, as they could sense some serious stuff was going to go down on that center objective.

During the firing phase, my forward-operating noise marines unleashed blaster master fire and totally vaporized the Blood Angels Impulsor. 7 blaster master hits turned into 4 blaster master wounds which then translated into 3 wounds each! Coughing and hacking, their armor covered in radioactive dust, Mephiston plus the Company Heroes stumbled back behind some ruins to reassess the situation for next turn.

My Predator Destructor fired at the back line of Infiltrators, and managed to cause 5 wounds, which killed enough space marines that my Vindicator had to visible targets on which to train its mighty Demolisher Cannon.

Unfortunately (and this was maybe a foretaste of how the rest of the battle was going to go), I only managed to score 2VP on secondary missions with Engage on All Fronts. My other secondary mission was useless (and I didn't write down what it was) but I turned it in for an additional CP at the end of the turn.

Cumulative Point Totals
Steve: 7
Isaac: 2

Steve's Second Turn
The second turn was the first turn primary mission points were awarded, so the first thing that happened was Steve earning 10 easy points (he controlled 2 objectives). For his secondary missions, Steve drew Cleanse and he put both his squad of Intercessors and Mephiston to work on that. He also drew Behind Enemy Lines, and would definitely capitalize on that.

At the end of Steve's movement phase, he deep strikes his squad of Sanguinary Guard (attached to Dante) as well as a squad of Death Company.

During shooting, the top Lancer fired on my Vindicator (which smokescreened!) but still dealt 6 wounds. The bottom Lancer fired on my rhino, causing 6 wounds. The bottom Lancer also used its anti-infantry weapons (stubber, heavy bolters) to take out a few of my cultists (4).

During charging, both the Death Company and the Sanguinary Guard failed to reach engagement range. This seemed really good for me.

Isaac's Second Turn
I earned 10 victory points from my primary mission (2 objectives). For Secondary Missions, I drew Marked for Death and Extend Battle Lines. Extend Battle Lines is basically free points, so yay. Marked for Death, however, I would have to work for it. I didn't write down who all the targets were, the one alpha target Steve assigned I was interested in was the Sanguinary Guard.

Steve dumping hostiles into my backfield every single game was freaking me out. I looked cool and calculated on the outside. But inside…metaphorically my pants were on my head, and the pants were on fire.

This single event (Steve Deep Striking) basically caused me to abandon THE PLAN and just start reacting. I see that now, in hindsight, quite

I deep striked my terminators (with Sorcerer) 9" away from the Sanguinary Guard. My Forgefiend emerged out of strategic reserves in easy shooting range of the Guard. My predator retreated from the front lines to also shoot at the Guard. And finally, my bottom rhino full of noise marines also retreated from the front, with the noise marines disembarking and taking aim at the Guard. That's 4 very powerful shooting units, all taking aim at a single squad (Dante + Sanguinary Guard).

After all the shooting, I managed to do 7 wounds total. Turns out, the Sanguinary Guard are a pretty hardy brick of dudes, with a normal 2+ armor save, plus a 4+ invulnerable save.

During the charging phase, I decided to double down on destroying the Sanguinary Guard. My terminators and predator both charged the Guard, with the predator using the Tank Shock stratagem to cause an additional mortal wound.

Steve used a Heroic Intervention strategem to get into engagement range of my noise marines with his Death Company.

My Chaos Lord's retinue also charged, and in retaliation Steve deep striked his Sanguinor (this guy can enter the game out of normal sequence) and attacked my Lord. The Sanguinor killed all 5 legionnaires, leaving only my Chaos Lord (down to only a single wound) and Master of Execution.

The Chaos Lord used his once-per-battle Chance at Glory to super-charge his attacking and together Lord and MofE chopped the Sanguinor up into tiny pieces. So I did that.

When it came time for my terminators to fight, they managed to murder the Sanguinary Guard in its entirely, but FAILED to kill Dante. Thus I did not get my points for Marked for Death. After all that!

I did get 4 VP (a pittance!) for Extend Battle Lines.

Cumulative Point Totals
Steve: 7 + 18 = 25
Isaac: 2 + 14 = 16

Steve's Third Turn
At the beginning of the turn, Steve receives another 10 easy primary points (2 objectives). He then drew his Secondary missions and ended up with Cull the Horde and Display of Might. Cull the Horde in particular was worrisome, as I had a single tasty 25-man squad of cultists that would fit the bill for this mission nicely.

Dante used the stratagem Angelic Grace to fallback and charge in the same turn. Seeing this attempt to escape, I used the Overwatch stratagem on my Forgefiend and gave Dante 3 full pumps of my ectoplasma cannons.

Dante was fully slimed, but those pesky saving throws!

The Forgefiend ended up doing 3 wounds, which left Dante with 2. He then successfully made his escape.

Steve's whole crew was on the move, taking more control of the center area while I was busy back in my deployment zone getting slap happy with all these jump packers.

The intercessors advanced, and then charged, my large group of cultists on the bottom center objective. Dante, meanwhile, flew up and charged the 5-crew legionnaire squad that had been camped out with the cultists.

Dante slew the legionnaires, while the intercessors slew my cultists, their chainswords causing so many wounds that even my Demagogue's 5+ invulnerable save ability wasn't able to save them.

I should also note that Mephiston plus the Blood Angel Captain plus the Company Heroes had all advanced further in the middle of the board. Close enough to start firing on my Vindicator, which they finally blew up.

Finally, the Death Company had charged my remaining Rhino, and blew it up.

At the end of the turn, Steve had earned 5 points for Cull the Horde and 4 VP for Display of Might.

Isaac's Turn 3
You might have noticed victory was slipping away from me. Well, now it was really slipping. Steve had captured my forward objective, leaving me in control of only a single other objective, the one in my deployment zone.

Because of this, I earned only 5 primary victory points.

For my secondary objectives, I'm not sure what I drew for my first one, but my second secondary objective was Sabotage. This is kind of an unfortunate one because, much like the Burn action in our primary mission, it doesn't complete until the end of your opponent's next turn.

Cypher had been hiding out in the building near the center objective, so I decided to have him work on the Sabotage. At least it was easy points. BUT I had to find some more points quick.

My Chaos Lord with Jump Pack was still in reserves, so I deep striked him right down onto Steve's home objective. He immediately took over the objective and started doing a Burn action for the main Scorched Earth primary mission.

When it came to shooting my Predator blasted two of the Company Heroes, while my Forgefiend whittled Mephiston down to 1 single wound.

Finally, my terminators charged Steve's Death Company and took them out, except for the company's leader Lemartes. Turns out as long as they get to attack, the terminators are actually pretty good.

Cumulative Points
Steve: 25 + 19 = 44
Isaac: 16 + 5 = 21

Steve's Turn Four
Steve earned 10 VP for holding objectives, in addition he successfully burned the objective he previous took by killing my cultists, for 5 more points.

The remaining Company Heroes plus the Captain plus Mephiston had camped out in the center objective, and were getting ready to burn that too.

During the shooting phase, the remaining Lancer shot my Chaos Lord in the back, killing him.

During the fight phase, his intercessors charged and killed my Master of Executions.

My terminators were able to fight back and kill Lemartes, freeing them to hopefully do some more good this game.

Steve had drawn Tempting Target and Secure No Man's Land, both pretty easy missions at this point, which earned him another 10 VP total.

Isaac's Turn Four
The first thing I did this turn was earn (checks notes) 5 victory points for the primary mission. Then I finally earned 3 VP for the sabotage mission from the previous turn. I then drew new secondaries and got Recover Assets and Defend Stronghold.

Here's the thing…Mamma didn't raise no dummy. I knew at this point there was no way for me to come back from the giant VP deficit I was facing.

But even if you're going to lose the whole battle, sometimes you can find little victories to make it feel like the rest of the battle wasn't all for naught. I looked at that center objective, with Steve's company heroes showboating all over it (gross), and I decided to make it my mission to take it back at all costs.

My remaining tank was moving into position. The predator had come around the corner and could bring its barrel to bear on the center objective and its occupants.

The cultists who were originally on my home objective were advancing as fast as possible towards the center objective.

In the shooting phase, my Forgefiend fired at the Dreadnought, doing 4 wounds of damage. My Predator concentrated all its fire on Mephiston and killed him.

In the charging phase, my predator tank shocked the company heroes, causing 5 mortal wonds which took out a significant chunk. Fighting back, the remaining elite warriors managed to take my predator down to a single wound.

Over at the bottom of the board, my terminators had charged and killed the intercessors, and then consolidated towards the center objective.

At the end of the turn I earned 3VP for recover assets (which Cypher and my remaining Noise Marine had worked on) and 3VP for defend stronghold.

Cumulative Points
Steve: 44 + 25 = 69
Isaac: 21 + 14 = 35

Steve's Fifth and Final Turn
First, Steve earned 10 points for the primary mission. His scouts were assigned to burn his remaining objective.

After deciding the action was a little too hot, the Dreadnought backed up a little to get out of the line of sight of the Forgefiend.

Down in the bottom left corner of the board, the Lancer tank finally killed my Chaos Lord with Jump Pack. After multiple rounds of Lascannon fire, the Lancer was finally forced to tank shock him, which did the job.

Isaac's Fifth and Final Turn
I earned 5 VP for the primary mission.

Everything in my army moved to point-blank range of the Blood Angels still standing on the center objective.

The predator and Forgefiend combined their shooting at the company heroes, wiping them out, including the Blood Angel captain.

My cultists and the terminators fired on the remaining models, which I believe were the last few Infiltrators.

Finally everything charged and the infiltrators were wiped out, leaving a completely intact squad of cultists to claim the center objective.

At the end, I earned 6 more points for my secondaries. Steve earned 5 more VP for burning the top objective.

Final Points
Steve: 69 + 20 = 89
Isaac: 35 + 11 = 46

Final Thoughts
Well, I let me plan fall apart again. BUT I kept at it and I think there were some moments where I succeeded.

I can see how spending most of the time fighting in my deployment zone prevented me from focusing my energies on the center of the board. Some of this I have to give credit to Steve for doggedly attacking my back field every game because, boy, it certainly works!

He had doubts himself about deep striking that enormous pile of jump packers, but it actually peeled away almost my entire army and made up for its points in how much it delayed my army from achieving its mission.

Strangely enough, this only makes me want to play again that much more. I can see what I did wrong, certainly I can get it right the next time!

And I found a shinny new blogging interface, which further energizes me to find more ways to create content for it.