The Southern Invitational Approaches

Things have been very quiet on the gaming front lately. Summer has always been a bit slow, I mean who wants to be stuck inside when it's as sticky as Sticky the stick insect stuck on a sticky bun? But summer is behind us now and here in the UK we're officially into Autumn. With the changing of the seasons comes a change of pace on the gaming front, starting with the Southern Invitational.

The only action the Castigators have seen over the last few months has been as allies to Neil's Khorne Daemonkin army that wreaked havoc at the Ribble Rumble. The Daemonkin's suspicions at this mercurial aid were soon put to rest as the Fire Raptor and Heldrake provided invaluable covering fire for the screaming hordes of Khorne. Their suspicions were soon justified however, as the Castigators made off with a Greater Brass Scorpion whilst their backs were turned!

The Southern Invitational is the brainchild of my brother in sin Slaanesh Steve. It's an 1800pt event that allows pretty much everything except Lords of War and uses the patented Alex West comp of "Don't be a cock."
It didn't take long to design an army list that, I hope, would be capable of giving everyone a good game. Naturally it would be led be my Chaos Lord, Nestor Lustheart, who can't resist another opportunity to humiliate Vorlath and his Emperors Children

The Castigators Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Nestor Lustheart (210pts)
Chaos Lord[65], Mark of Slaanesh[15], Power Fist[25], Lightning Claw[15] Bike[20], Slaughterer’s Horns[15], Sigil of Corruption[25], Daemonheart[30].

TROOPS
Squad Sublime(125pts)
5 Noise Marines[95], Blastmaster[30].
Nephran Lustviper - Aspiring Champion with Bolt Pistol & Close Combat Weapon.

Squad Prurient (125pts)
5 Noise Marines[95], Blastmaster[30].
Ryak Spittletonge - Aspiring Champion with Bolt Pistol & Close Combat Weapon.

FAST ATTACK
Squad Schadenfreude (212pts)
6 Chaos Bikers[130], Mark of Slaanesh[12], 2 Melta Guns[20], Icon of Excess[30]
Korath Vilehorn – Aspiring Champion with Lightning Claw[15] & Melta Bombs[5]

The Sullied (150pts)
5 Chaos Spawn[150]

Tormentum(170pts)
Heldrake, Baleflamer[170]

HEAVY SUPPORT
Divine Flame (210pts)
Chaos Fire Raptor[200], Reaper Autocannons[10]

Allies
Shakti (90pts)
Herald of Slaanesh[45], Steed of Slaanesh[15], Locus of Beguilement[30]

The Soulreavers (162pts)
18 Daemonettes[162]

The Soulraptors (165pts)
20 Furies[125], Mark of Slaanesh[40]

Soulfiend (180pts)
Soul Grinder[135], Mark of Slaanesh[15], Phlegm Bombaedment[30]
Total: 1799pts

Unfortunately not all of this is painted, so the Brass Silken Scorpion has gone on hold while I concentrate on finishing Nestor on his bike, 15 Furies and a Soul Grinder. Fortunately I have almost two weeks to get this finished and there's nothing like a tournament to focus one's efforts ;-).
Of course all this is theory hammer and I really needed to get some games in just to make sure I wasn't too out of touch with 7th edition.
Fortunately my good buddy Michael invited me down to his place for a few games to help brush the cobwebs away.

Michael was trying out the new (to me anyway) Marine Codex that he was intending to take to the invitational. His list was using the Iron Hands Chapter Traits and sported a unit of Preds, a Land Raider Crusader with 5 TH Termies & Chaplain, two units of Scouts, an Iron Priest with Thunderfire Cannon, 2 Iron Clads and an Aegis Defence line.

We played three games, and while I'm not going to write a battle report, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on how my army faired.

The overall synergy of the army worked really well. The army is very fast, surprisingly so when run moves are taken into account. In every game I was hitting the Space Marines' lines on the second turn, better yet, I was fast enough to pick which targets I wanted to engage and avoid those that would cause me problems (such as his Termies). Of course, more assault focussed armies such as Neil's Daemonkin or Alex's Thunderwolves are better in combat than my Castigators, but at least I can use my speed to try to drag them out of position.

The Furies proved incredibly versatile. They're pretty much guaranteed to be assaulting on turn 2 and are a great holding unit while the Daemonettes catch them up. The Herald stays with them to boost their leadership, which I found out the hard way are prone to the psychic power Dominate. Their intimidation factor comes in handy when I set up first, 21 models does make opponents think twice about how they will deal with them and their average move/run of 18" means they can redeploy quite easily. Added to this are 7 Bikers, 5 Spawn and 18 Daemonettes (with an average move/run of 12") and they become very effective. More often than not the battle will take place in mid-field or my opponents table half, which in my experience is the preferred area.

While all this is going on, the two Noise Marine squads can really come into their own. They rarely do enough damage to warrant an opponent making a concerted effort to remove them and this can play to their strength. Their 48" Blastmaster can cover a lot of ground and an opponent can find themselves suffering niggling losses that soon take a toll over the course of the game. If one of my assault elements is wiped out, the victors can easily find themselves nicely bunched up just asking for a Blastmaster to be placed upon them ;-).
The Soul Grinder can also add to this carnage, lobbing shells onto the unwary or charging in should anyone get too close.

Turn 3/4 can really confound the opponent when a Fire Raptor and Heldrake show up. Just when they think they've held against the assault, the army switches to fire power. Everybody knows what the Heldrake can do and it still does it well. The Fire Raptor is a different beast altogether though, the remnants that have managed to come through the bloodshed now have Avenger Bolt shots and Autocannons coming at them which are very effective against smaller units or flyers.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the army plays, it's quick, has a reasonable amount of stabby and is surprisingly shooty as well.
Hopefully it will give my opponents a good game and I'll crush my brother in sin with it as well.......until next time.....may Our Lady grant you her number.