Redefining "Pyrrhic Victory".

So that scenario I mentioned yesterday? Well, I won. Just. I achieved my Primary and Tertiary Objectives (12VP) and S achieved his Secondary and Tertiary Objectives (9VP). However, the slaughter was exceptionally great, and I think my losses were so catastrophic as to basically redefine the concept of a Pyrrhic Victory. I shall let the photos tell the story:

My extreme left flank, held by a platoon of renegade militia and home to what I naively thought would be a 'fast strike force' of daemons, a daemon prince, and some Chaos Marine bikers.

My centre-left flank; heavy hitting war machines, a throwaway unit of beastmen, and some angry close combat troops. Plus my Chaos Space Marine reserve.

 The Fortress of Chaos; home to Abbadon, his Terminator Chosen bodyguard, my Chaos Lord and his Terminator Chosen bodyguard, with extra protection from 8 Plague Marines and a fearsome mob of Bezerkers. There was a Strategic Asset that gave every Chaos Space Marine (and Chaos Daemon) unit within 12" of the building a +1 to their INV save, which was quite nice, so I took that. (Chaos Altar).

Centre-right flank; Daemons galore! Note the Rhinos ready to be used as 'gates' to close off the streets after the tide of daemons and cultists pour through.

Extreme right flank; a mix of Slaanesh-identifying Marines, some daemonettes, and a shedload of cultists, plus a Leman Russ. You can see the Rhino-doors better here.

 The Arch-Fiend Himself, S, deploying his reinforced company of Angels Sanguine (Blood Angels). Each squad is named after a ship present at Jutland, and the characters are all named after Royal Navy officers from the battle. So 'Dante' is Jellicoe, etc.

 Angels Sanguine right flank...

 ...and again, with lots of units in Rhinos and Razorbacks.

 The Reserve. Oh good gods these bloody Jump Troops... about 70 figures, not to mention the normal chaps embarked in various APC/AIFVs!

 Start of Turn 2 - The Jump Troops Arrive. All at once. Thanks to a re-rollable 3+ reserve roll (courtesy of the Damocles command rhino).

 So I did have some war engines. They all died. Eventually. The Blood Slaughterers at least managed to destroy a Predator before being blown up, and the walking death robot thing just beyond the destroyed Defiler killed a couple of Marines before dying to Dreadnought and multi-melta fire.

End of my Turn Two I believe. See those cultists and Noise Marines and Plaguebearers?  Most of them will die next turn thanks to orbit-to-surface weaponry.

The Death Company Dreadnought had in the Marine Turn Two Assault Phase spectacularly failed to kill any cultists at all in close combat after charging them, forcing the Terminators of Squad Colossus to get stuck in. My sorceror killed two of them with a sorcerous beam power slightly later (and he survived the game, possibly MVP for me).

Turn two. The Exterminator didn't survive the Sanguine shooting phase...

After the Marine Assault Phase, Turn Two. Turn Two. I did have a left flank. Now I have an endless plain of dead.

The valiant renegade militia command unit, which was the only unit on my left flank to inflict any casualties on the Jump Troop Company after it landed - two to meltas, one to the officer's plasma pistol, and one to a laspistol shot, plus one in close combat. Platoon strength: 50. Casualties caused: 5. Casualties taken: 50. Hey, that's about right! Space Marines are meant to be worth ten ordinary men, after all! 

The Jump Troop Company (which is basically what it is) having consolidated, ready for a drive (too late as it turned out) on Abbadon.

 My right flank at the start of my Turn 3 Assault Phase. The Daemonettes turned out to be useless in close combat (what happened to their rending claws!?) and were all killed for no loss. Note lack of Cultists. They were peasants and worthless anyway! What I mean is, I chose the Turn 3 Shooting Phase to use several Orbital Bombardment Strategic Assets. I dropped three (three!) orbital strikes on the Death Company, killing all bar five (including 'Lemartes' and 'Astorath')... and also my Bloodcrusher Juggernaught cavalry, who died in a scatter. Oh, and then the Marines got an orbital strike which (of course) hit perfectly and obliterated lots and lots of stuff from this bit of my army. Bye bye Noise Marines, for example...

The Final Push during Marine Turn 4...

...and the 'Counter-Attack' - the Chosen were shot to death and butchered before doing anything, the Bezerkers hacked down without being able to respond, and the Chaos Marines on the walkway at least managed to last two rounds of combat and kill a Space Marine.

Pictures pictures pictures words words words. End result, I won, it was a bloody slaughter, I came off much worse than the Angels Sanguine, having at the end about 6 or 7 units and a handful of characters still alive. Other interesting moments included:

The Vindicare Assassin that missed two of four shots and only inflicted one wound,
Both my Defilers and a Blood Slaughterer being immobilised in Turn One before they'd even moved,
Abbadon hiding for the entire game (mwahahahaha),
Chaos Havocs failing to damage anything at all all game (12 shots over the course of the game - they either missed or failed to glance their targets),
the usual healthy interest from children younger than most of S's models,
and my personal favourite;
Chaos Sorceror stands 1" away from a Land Raider and rolls 13 on 8+2d6 for armour penetration.13!! ARRRGH! On the last turn of the game as well! Bah humbug. Oh well.

Sorry about the pics being all wonky, they shouldn't be. Blogspot is weird sometimes.