Friday, September 27, 2013

40K Battle Report: Daemons vs Spacewolves/Raven Guard


Been a busy week, haven't had time to get last weeks Bat Rep up, hopefully I can get it posted over the weekend or something.

Last night's game was a nice change of pace. We had around 20 people show up again, and almost all of the tables were COVERED in Line of Sight blocking terrain. A few of them were laid out like cites, and one was even designed as a freight yard with around 40 large size crates.

However, there were 2-3 tables that were virtual deserts with minimal terrain at all...

As it got close to game time, we were waiting for a few more people to show up and a few of us started talking about how no one wanted to play on those tables...so we just started pairing ourselves up and grabbing tables that we wanted to play on. (Daemons with no terrain is bad...)

Thought about getting paired up with Squoze, but he and Capnmoe had already paired up and grabbed a table.

On a side note, I highly recommend Reddit:Warhammer for those that don't know about it. Great community and source of tons of information.

Anyways, back to the report.

I paired up with a guy at the store who plays Space Wolves.

I have talked to this guy every week for almost a year, and we have never actually played each other, so game on.

He was playing his Space Wolves as usual with some Raven Guard allies. I brought the Daemons out to play this week, as I prepare for the Titan Tournament at coming up next month.

He picked one of the city boards available, so he could use the cover for his Marines. Little did he know that would be his downfall.

My List:
(Warlord) Fateweaver: Flame Breath/Prescience, Shriek/Enfeeble
Keeper of Secrets: Shriek/Invisibility/Cacophonic Choir - Dark Blessing, Daemonic Resilience
10 Daemonettes
10 Pink Horrors
10 PlagueBearers
20 Flesh Hounds
Slaanesh Daemon Prince (Red) - Life Leech/WarpSpeed/Iron Arm, Wings, Armor, Lash, Portaglyph
Slaanesh Daemon Prince (Grey) - Smite/Endurance/Iron Arm, Wings, Armor, Lash, Grimore
Slaanesh Soul Grinder - Baleful Torrent

His List: (Probably missing some stuff in here)
(Warlord) Rune Priest - Terminator Armor, Axe, Jaws of the World Wolf, Fury of the Wolf Spirit
8 Grey Hunters - Melta, Drop Pod
8 Grey Hunters - Melta, Drop Pod
5 Grey Hunters - Flamer, Razorback with TL Lascannons
8 Grey Hunters - Rhino
5 Scouts with Shotguns
Contemptor Dreadnought - 2 Heavy Flamers, Drop Pod
Landspeeder - Multimelta, Heavy Flamer
Landspeeder - Multimelta, Heavy Flamer
Stormraven - TL Assault Cannon, Multimelta

Shrike
10 Assault Marines - Thunderhammer, Plasma Pistol
5 Tactical Marines, Flamer, Razorback - TL Lascannon

Game: Emperor's Will
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil.
Night Fight was in Effect

He won the roll to deploy and chose to go first.

He placed his objective behind a huge ass tower, and I placed mine in the middle of a ruined building on my side.

He spread all his units out, Placing them in cover, putting the 5 Tactical Marines on his objective, and their razorback over near the Assault Marines. Obviously he had the Storm Raven and 3 drop pods in reserve.

I deployed everything on the board, and everything in cover, except for the hounds and Daemonettes which I spread out to prevent his drop pods from landing on that side of my backfield. The Soul Grinder I placed way to close to the building and left far too much room behind him...which I would later regret.

He scout moves up his Razorback into cover.

I roll to steal Initiative and its a 5, so close...


Marines Turn 1
2 Drop Pods come in, one with the Rune Priest, one with the Dreadnought.

He places the Grey Hunters behind the Soul Grinder and the Dreadnought in front of him.

A Melta shot manages to drop the Soul Grinder before he can do anything, which proves my theory that anytime I bring something new to a game, it dies on the first turn before I even get to use it...Oh well.

Tried to Jaws but failed the test.

The Contemptor Dreadnought shoots both flamers at the Daemonettes and only takes out 1 of them.

Land Speeders move up and shot, as well as everything else, but nothing else dropped on my side.


Daemons Turn 1
Rune Priests are ridiculously good, and he manages to negate all of my powers except for Warp Speed.
Grimore is Successful on the hounds.
I move the Flesh Hounds over and head them straight at his Rune Priest. Have to tie that mother down.
The Daemonettes move toward the Contemptor hoping to rend it to death, forgetting that its AV13...
Both Princes swoop up the table with Fateweaver, away from the Rune Priests 24" bubble.
The Keeper runs his happy ass up the table begging to take shots at him.
Red Prince drops the portaglyph behind a building and it scatters a little bit, but spawns 5 Daemonettes.
Warp Storm is box cars and 8 more Plague Bearers drop in behind his lines to cause some havoc.
I really should be dropping in Horrors, but I didn't have any with me...thanks to lack of communication with Capnmoe...
Lashes take down one of the Land Speeders.
Some running here and there by a few units.

The Hounds assault into the grey hunters and make it, tying them up. He causes one wound, and I manage to take out 1 hunter in the process.

The Daemonettes assault into the Dread, and do absolutely nothing...but at least they will tie him up for a turn or two...

Marines Turn 2
The Storm Raven comes in, but not the 3rd Drop Pod.
He deploys the Grey Hunters out of the Razorback and Rhino, and their shooting manages to take out all but 1 Plague Bearer and most of the Daemonettes.
He moves his Assault Marines up and they join into the assault with his Dreadnought, finishing off the few that were left there.
The Storm Raven cranks off some shots at the Red Slaanesh Prince, and he takes 1 wound, but manages to pass the grounding test.

He takes some shots at the Keeper of Secrets but with him having a Re-rollable 5++ and a 4+ Feel No Pain save, he was just shaking it all off.

The Rune Priest's unit ends up losing combat with the hounds, and then they fail the leadership test and fall back a few inches, thereby freeing up the hounds for another assault!



Daemons Turn 2
All powers are successful, thanks to be out of range of the Rune Priest, Iron Arm is +3 on both princes, and Warp Speed is a +3 as well.

Prescience on FW is successful.
Grimore on Hounds is successful.
Portaglyph spawns 5 more Daemonettes.

WarpStorm does nothing of note.

Keeper moves up into the building and Psychic Shriek takes out 3 Grey Hunters from the unit of 5.

The Red Prince swoops over the Storm Raven to the top of the tower and between Vector Strikes and Lashes he manages to take the Raven down to 1 Hull Point, and forces him to Jink, making it only fire snap shots next turn which is fine by me.

The Grey Prince Swoops up on top of the building above the Razorback and Lashes down a few Grey Hunters in the unit of 8 that got out of the Rhino.

Fateweaver swoops behind the wall on the building to hide behind. He casts Flickering Fire on the same unit of 8 Grey Hunters and takes it down to 1 lone guy.

The Pink Horrors pump out 12 shots at his Landspeer but it only manage to take 1 wound off after jink saves.

The lone Plaguebearer assaults into the lone Grey Hunter so they can hang out and talk about Star Wars, and be tied up for the rest of the game.

The Keeper of Secrets assaults in and finishes off the unit of 5 Grey Hunters, and then consolidates over towards my opponents objective.

The Hounds, form an amazing wall of awesome, and mulit-assault his Raven Guard as well as his Rune Priest's Unit. They Take out 5 Assault Marines and 4 Grey Hunters!!

The Raven Guard pass their test, but the Grey Hunters fail again and fall back! He only manages to kill 1 hound.
Marines Turn 3
His final Drop Pod comes in and he places it next to his objective to help protect it, instead of going after mine. Which I was OK with, as it basically guarantees he cant take or contest my objective unless he can clear my Plaguebearers off their objective somehow.

His Storm Raven drops off its cargo of Scouts and goes into hover mode and moves back towards his board edge to get a better angle for shooting.

He moves the rhino out of the way, and moves the remaining Land Speeder up to join the fun.

He brings the Rune Priest unit up around near his Raven Guard to join the assault for some reason.

He shoots almost everything he has left at the Keeper, but only manages to cause 1 one wound on him.

As a last resort he elects to shoot his Storm Raven at the Red Daemon Prince, even though it would be snap firing, and manages to take him down to 1 wound...he then fails the grounding test, rerolls...fails...fails Invulnerable Save and he's dead...

He assaults in the Rune Priest and his buddies to the unit of hounds and combat is a draw with 2 unsaved wounds a piece.


Daemons Turn 3
Power are successful again, Grey Prince gets a +2 on Iron Arm and Endurance is successful as well.

Prescience on Fateweaver and he swoops over the unit of 8 that deployed from the Drop pod and hides behind some terrain.Vector Strikes all fail.

Grimore is successful again on the Hounds.

Grey Prince Swoops to the top of the tower again, to avenge the death of his buddy.
Vector Strikes take out the Rhino. 
He Lashes down the unit of Tactical Marines on the objective.

Portaglyph spawns 5 more Daemonettes who run straight towards the party.

Keeper moves over in front of the unit of 8 and Psychic Shriek kills 4 of them. He tries to cast Cacophonic Choir, but rolls a 4 with does nothing.

The Horrors remove the last hull point from the last Land Speeder and its wrecked.

Fateweaver tries to finish off the unit of Grey Hunters but goes total fail boat and pretty much does nothing this turn.

The Keeper Assaults into his unit of 4 but I roll a Yahtzee on 1's. 

The single Plaguebearer and Grey Hunter debate as to why when Lando flies the Millennium Falcon he wears Han Solo's clothes, but they make no progress.

The unit of 2 Daemonettes attempt to assault the Drop Pod.
If they can blow it up, then they can consolidate and take his objective. But they fail.

The Hounds manage to take out 2 more Raven Guard, which then pass their leadership test.

Grey Prince regenerates a wound.

As we ended turn 3, it was getting late and we called the game. 

It was apparent that if we kept playing I was going to win as he had no answer for the Keeper of Secrets and on the next turn my Daemon Prince was going to land and start causing destruction as well.

It was a fun game, and we each made some mistakes here and there but overall I had fun.

If it was a league game I would have kept playing, but it was a casual game so no biggie.

Thoughts:
1. The Keeper of Secrets is my new favorite, but Flesh Hounds are an EXTREME close second.
2. Speaking of Flesh Hounds...dear god. 20 of them held 2 HQs and 18 Marines in combat for 3 turns, and only lost 2 models. To make it even better, they were slowly eating through the Marines each turn. I can't stress enough how good these things are. Need to tar pit something? This is your unit. Just make sure to avoid Dreadnoughts.
3. The amount of large terrain helped me move up my MCs safely, and by proper placement, it allowed me to minimize the amount of shots he had at my units.
4. Daemonettes can only take hull points on AV12, stay away from anything higher...also make sure to read how Rending works now...
5. Dark Blessing and Daemonic Resilience, if you get these 2 at the same time, it's like using Cheat Codes.
6. Speaking of Rewards and powers, I want to make a point that the order in which you roll for these is VERY important. On the Keeper of Secrets, make sure to roll for Rewards before you roll for powers. There was no point in me taking Invisibility when I can already reroll my Invulnerable Save plus have a 4+ Feel No Pain. In Contrast, Daemon Princes should roll powers first, because you want to make sure to give that Grimore to the one that gets Iron Arm and Endurance.
7. I'm fully expecting Rune Priests to get "Nerfed" just like Runes for Eldar were, but that could be over a year away.
8. I really need to finish my other unit of Daemonettes that are still in the box.
9. I still have no idea how good the Soul Grinder is yet...maybe I should get a 2nd one.
10. The difference between 15 and 20 Flesh Hounds in 1 unit is staggering.

40k Battle Report: Eldar/Grey Knights Vs. Tyrant Swarm Tyranids



Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Mission: The Scouring

My List (Eldar/Grey Knights):

HQ
Farseer (Warlord. Prescience, Fortune, Terrify)
  • Jetbike
  • Singing Spear
The Avatar of Khaine
  • Fast Shot
Inquisitor Coteaz

Elites
7x Harlequins
  • 7x Harlequins Kisses
  • Troupe Master
  • Shadow Seer (Veil of Tears)
Troops
3x Guardians Jetbikes
  • Shuriken Cannon
3x Guardians Jetbikes
  • Shuriken Cannon
3x Guardians Jetbikes
  • Shuriken Cannon
2x Jokearo, 3x Servitors, 5x Warrior Acolytes
  • 3x Plasma Cannons
  • 5x Bolters
5x Warrior Acolytes
  • 5x Bolters
Fast Attack
Stormraven
  • Twin-Linked Lascannons
  • Twin-Linked Multimelta
  • 4x Mind Strike Missiles
Heavy Support
Wraithlord
  • 2x Flamers
  • Ghost Glaive
  • Scatter Laser
  • Bright Lance
Wraithlord
  • 2x Flamers
  • Ghost Glaive
  • Scatter Laser
  • Bright Lance
2x War Walkers
  • 4x Scatter Lasers
Dreadknight
  • Heavy Incinerator 
  • Personal Teleporter
Fortification
Aegis Defense Line
  • Twin-Linked Quad Gun

Opponents List (Tyranids):

HQ
Swarm Lord (Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Warp Speed, Endurance)
Hive Tyrant (Life Leach, Warp Speed, Endurance, Enfeeble)
  • Twin-Linked Devourers
  • Hive Commander
  • Old Adversary
  • Armored Shell
Hive Tyrant (Unknown)
  • Wings
  • Twin-Linked Devourers
  • Old Adversary
Hive Tyrant (Unknown)
  • Wings 
  • Twin-Linked Devourers
  • Old Adversary
3x Tyrant Guard

Elites
Doom of Malan'tai
  • Mycetic Spore
Troops 
10x Termagants
10x Termagants
Tervigon (Iron Arm, Life Leach)
  • Adrenal Glands
  • Toxin Sacs
  • Regeneration
  • Cluster Spines
  • Psyker Power +1
Tervigon (Endurance, Life Leach)
  • Adrenal Glands
  • Toxin Sacs
  • Regeneration
  • Cluster Spines
  • Psyker Power +1

I won the rolls for deployment and to go first. Night fight was on. Objectives are marked on the picture below.



Deployment: I chose to set up my aegis and Coteaz's Acolyte unit at the edge of my deployment zone in a spot where I thought I'd have good firing lanes on anything advancing forward. Farseer, Harlequins, and the Avatar were placed in the center behind the aegis. The Dreadknight deployed behind a piece of line of sight blocking terrain. I put all of my bikes along the back of my board edge. I didn't want to have to roll for reserves for them and didn't want them to get shot up. I had also planed to use them as an outflank blocker incase he had anything that could come on near my deployment zone. I was outflanking the War Walkers and kept the 5 Warrior Acolytes in the Stormraven.


My opponent deployed 1 Tervigon in the back near the 3 point objective while the Swarm Lord with 1 Tyrant Guard, the foot Tyrant with 2 Tyrant Guard, and 2 units of Termagants deployed in the center behind the number 2 objective. He was outflanking with the other Tervigon and deep striking the Flyrants and the Doom.



Turn 1: Fortune, Prescience, and Veil of Tears go off on the Harlequins. Perfect Timing and Prescience go off on the Acolytes and Coteaz. I cast Terrify on a unit of Termagants next to the foot Tyrant. Jetbikes move forward along the edges of the board. Farseer, Harlequins, the Avatar, and the Dreadknight move up into the mid field hoping to draw out the Swarm Lord. Shooting would see the unit of Termagants on my left wiped out, the Swarm Lord down one wound, and the Swarm Lord's Tyrant Guard dead. The unit of Termagants that were terrified were brought down to only 3 models, failed their leadership test, and fled.



The 3 fleeing Termagants auto rally thanks to Synapse. A multitude of powers go off on his units including Iron Arm and Endurance on the Swarm Lord. He casts Enfeeble on the Dreadknight. The Tervigon in the back spawns 13-14 Termagants and rolls doubles. There will be no more spawning for her. All of his units except for the Tervigon move forward. Shooting puts a wound on the Dreadknight and the Swarm Lord runs a few inches forward into the forest. He rolls for It Will Not Die on the Swarm Lord and regains the wound he lost.



Turn 2: I roll for reserves and the War Walkers make it in while the Stormraven with Acolytes stays out. Prescience and Perfect timing go off on Coteaz and his Acolytes. Even though Shadows in the Warp is affecting my Farseer and Shadow Seer, Fortune, Prescience, and Veil of Tears are all cast successfully as well as Horrify on the Swarm Lord. Bikes move up to assist with the Termagants. War Walkers position themselves so they can either help with the Swarm Lord or Termagants if necessary. Shooting would see the large unit of Termagants wiped out and 2 wounds on the Swarm Lord. At this point I knew my only chance to kill The Swarm Lord was to assault him with everything I had in range, otherwise he would just assault one of my units on his turn. So thats exactly what I did. The Harlequins, Farseer, The Avatar, and he Dreadknight all assaulted him. Hammer of wraths cause no wounds. He immediately challenged which I knew he would do. I declined the challenge with my Farseer. Since he had Iron Arm up he was at toughness 9. So I was going to need rends and smashes to take him down. The Swarm Lord and Harlequins both swung at the same time. He would cause 3 wounds which I took on the Harlequins. Loosing 2. The Harlies did 1 wound in return with rends. The Avatar would do 1 as well. It finally came down to the Dreadknight who caused 2 wounds dropping the Swarm Lord. Hooray!!! My opponent told me it was the first time he had lost the Swarm Lord since he's been playing at our FLGS. Afterwards I consolidate each unit a few inches.



He rolls his reserves and everything comes in. 2x Flyrants deep strike in front of the aegis. The Doom and his pod come in behind the aegis. The Tervigon outflanks mid board near my walkers and bikes. Sadly for him Coteaz was expecting this and as per his special rule his unit got an immediate free round of shooting at everything that came in from reserves within 12" of him. That gave me shots on one Flyrant, the Doom, and the Spore Pod. Coteaz's units shooting would see the spore pod destroyed, the Doom brought to 1 wound, and 1 wound on the Flyrant. Shots from the Tervigon would kill one War Walker and strip a hull point from the 2nd. My dice went super hot against the leadership rolls for the Doom of Malanti's Spirit Leach and both Wraithlords and Coteaz's unit managed to make their test on 3d6 and didn't loose a single wound. Shooting from the 2 Flyrants would reduce Coteaz's unit to him, an Acolyte, and a Jokearo, but they managed to pass their leadership and hold strong. The foot Tyrant took shots at the Dreadknight taking him out.



Turn 3: I fail my reserve roll for the Stormraven. Powers go turbo mode again and are all passed despite Shadows in the Warp. At this point I'm in awe of my dice rolling. One unit of bikes moves up to the objective on the center rock formation. While the unit in the back near the 4 point objective moves back trying to get away from the Flyrant. Everything that was within 6" of the Doom of Malanti moves away so as not to get Spirit Leached in my own shooting phase. Bikes would kill 2 Termagants hiding behind the rocks in the center. The Doom dies and the Flyrant in front of the aegis takes another wound. The Avatar takes 2 wound from the foot Tyrant. The Harlies multicharge 3 Termagants and the foot Tyrant and his guards. The Avatar charges into the foot Tyrant as well. He challenges and the Farseer declines. Termagants all die as well as the Tyrant Guard.



The active Tervigon spawns 10 Termagants and poops out rolling doubles. Both Flyrants attempt to vector strike my bikes off of objectives and fail killing one bike a piece. Shooting from the back Flyrant was poor and left one bike on the objective while the midfield Flyrant shot the rest of the bikes off the objective. Termagants assaulted the Wraithlord on the aegis loosing 3. The foot Tyrant fell to the Avatar.



Turn 4: My flyer finally comes in and unlike my other turns I fail the majority of my powers. I move the Stormraven on in and place it near a 2 point objective. Since we were playing The Scouring he could hold it. Jet bikes move to take the objective in rocks in the center and Coteaz's unit moves to take the 4 point objective near the dino skull. Shooting from the lonely jetbike in the rear knocked the Flyrant to the ground wounding it. The Stormraven would finish him off. The War Walker knocked the midfield Flyrant out of the sky doing 2 wounds and the jetbikes manage to finish him of with a couple of bladestorm rends. At that point my opponent conceded. Final score was 14-4.


That's 2 Tyranid players that have felt the wrath of the brightly colored Eldar in the past few weeks. I'm really looking forward to trying them in the upcoming Titan Tournament and the 2 headed giant league starting next week.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

40K: Theorycrafting with Marines and Tau


I thought about posting another Codex review for the new Space Marines, but damn, that shit is everywhere. I mean, come on, do we really need another "Review" of Tactical Squads? Besides a few minor changes here and there in leadership and point costs, they really haven't changed much.

If you're here reading our blog, then I respect you enough to know that you understand how a Tactical Squad works and I'm not going to waste your and my time by going over them again.

So let's get into some of what everyone is actually interested in...finding combinations that are amazing.

I have been looking into a lot of different combinations lately and so far, my favorite combination is Farsight Enclave with some Space Marines. Since they are Battle Brothers, there is tons of hidden stuff in there!

A quick disclaimer here before I get started:
I build lists for tournaments and league play, not casual games. Sure I'll play a casual game here and there on the fly, but if things like "Spam lists" upset you, then this is not the blog for you. If it's an available option to play, well then, I'm playing it.



Starting off, my lists will always include Farsight as he is needed to unlock the others of "The 8." Most notably, O'Vesa and Ob'Lotai.

One of the first things to look at here, is that if you run Space Marines with Farsight Enclave as an ally, you can technically run 2 Riptides; one normal one and O'Vesa.

Yes O'Vesa is very expensive in terms of points, but being able to run 2 Riptides in an ally can be game changing in and of itself, especially when you look at what O'Vesa has to offer.

The other thing to notice is that in the Supplement, concerning the 8, it clearly states that "the Signature Systems rule, left, does not apply to them," which means that even though O'Vesa already comes equipped with an Earth Caste Pilot Array, you can still give one to that base Riptide as well. Double bonus!

The second thing that caught my eye was Ob'Lotai, who is a single Broadside with all the trimmings, including 2 missile drones and a seeker missile. He shoots 3 times as many shots as a devastator squad full of Missile launchers and costs 2 points less...and since he's a independent character he can join a unit of Devastators. Or anything else for that matter...but more on that later.

I currently only run Farsight and a small unit of Crisis suits to clear and grab an objective here and there, so I am really not to interested in the other special suits at this point, but then again, I am just getting started with this combination, so you never know.

So now we know what we are dealing with, lets add the Space Marines into the mix and make shit work.

First question is which chapter to pick. For me there are really only 2 options here, Ultramarines and Imperial Fists.



With Ultramarines, the major draw here is Tigurius. His Psyker abilities alone are absolutely outstanding, but you already knew that. Now let's put him to better use. We are rolling him on Divination all day long, aiming for Forewarning, Perfect Timing and Prescience, which shouldn't be too hard with his ability to re-roll when choosing his psychic powers. This gives an army like Tau, that already has a lot of options to ignore cover, even more options. Add in that he gets to re-roll when casting his powers, and that he is LD10, and you're virtually guaranteed that his powers will work every turn.

If we add Tigurius to a Riptide we get this.
A Riptide, that because of Earth Caste Pilot Array, can re-roll to Nova Charge if it fails, has all Twin-linked weapons from Prescience, so it can re-roll those pesky "Gets-Hot!" results and re-roll the blast template if it scatters, Ignores cover from Perfect Timing, and has a 4++ save.

Now that's a good combo, but kind of expensive, and if we add Tigurius to a Riptide, it severely limits the Riptide's movement. Not too bad for a 1st turn, but lets look a a different option.

Let's add Tigurius to a unit of Devastators, and put them behind an Aegis Defense Line with a Quad Cannon. Then to make it even more entertaining, lets add Ob'Lotai to that unit. That gives us roughly 20 Twin-Linked shots, that all Ignore cover. Who cares if you don't have Skyfire, that's enough shots to take out almost any flyer. Plus the unit has a 4++ save to piss of those Heldrakes. But wait a second, what this? It looks like a free thing that the Space Marine Sergeant has called an Signum! Oh Glorious, Glorious Signum! Let's review what this does for a second.

The codex states:
"At the start of the Shooting phase, a model with a signum can choose to use it instead of shooting. If he does so, one model in his squad is Ballistic Skill 5 for the remainder of the Shooting phase."

Let's see,  who is in this unit, would benefit the most from being BS5...Ob'Lotai of course! "Hittin on 2's!"

To make things even more ridiculous, if you are running O'Vesa, he can join the unit for 1st turn as well to help take out a nasty Deathstar if needed.

Fear of that unit getting assaulted? Ultramarine's Devastator Doctrine is the way to go then. Move that unit back 6" and fire off a barrage of Missile Templates at full BS to thin the incoming unit. This does 2 things. It forces your opponent to decide which unit to assault, and whether or not to multi-assault.

If your Devastators do get assaulted, you get to re-roll those over-watch shots! Speaking of, don't forget that Devastators no longer have to lose their Boltguns to acquire Missile Launchers. So if you are getting them assaulted by a horde or large unit, you can still overwatch with Boltguns to get more shots off.



Unfortunately Psychic powers don't always work out how we plan, and some people like to rely more on consistency. So instead of Ultramarines, let's switch it up to Imperial Fists. Why? Tankhunter.

Same unit as above.
Devastator unit, Aegis, Quadcannon, Ob'Lotai, O'Vesa.

Since only one model in the unit is needed to give it all Tankhunter, and Marines and Tau are Battle Brothers, everything here gets the Special Rule for as long as they stay grouped up, including the Quadcannon itself, and O'Vesa and Ob'Lotai's drones...which is just sick. Group up first turn or two then spread out to take some objectives and win games.

Run some bikes, or a base Librarian...hell I don't even care anymore, doesn't really matter at that point.

I got my new Riptide in mail last night and managed to get most of it together for tonight's game.
I will finally be able to get my Tau on the table.

Here's the list I'm running tonight.

Ultramarines
Tigurius
5 Man Tactical Squad - Veteran Sgt, Flamer in a Razorback - Twin-linked Lascannon
5 Man Tactical Squad - Veteran Sgt, Flamer in a Razorback - Twin-linked Lascannon
5 Man unit of Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum

Farsight Enclave
Commander Farsight
3 Crisis Suits - Twin-linked Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods, 6 Gun Drones, and Bonding Knives
10 Firewarriors - Shas'ui, Bonding Knives
7 Pathfinders - Shas'ui, Bonding Knives
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Earth Caste Pilot Array
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
Aegis Defense Line + Quad Cannon

I couldn't really find the points to cram in Ob'Lotai for this list but it's still a work in progress.

Hopefully will be able to get a Battle Report posted up tomorrow at some point, but tonight should be interesting to say the least.

Friday, September 13, 2013

40k Battle Report: Eldar/Tau Vs. Tyranids



Deployment: Vanguard Strike
Mission: Big Guns Never Tire

My List (Eldar/Tau):

HQ
Farseer (Warlord. Guide, Fortune, Eldritch Storm)
  • Jetbike
  • Singing Spear
Farseer (Prescience, Dominate, Hallucination)
  • Jetbike
  • Singing Spear
6x Warlock Seer Council (Conceal/Reveal, 2x Embolden/Horrify, 2x Protect/Jinx, Empower/Enervate
  • 6x Jetbikes
Tau Commander
  • Command and Control Node
  • Puretide Engram Neurochip
  • Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite 
  • Twin-Linked Missile Pods
  • Target Lock

Elites
Riptide
  • Twin-Linked Fusion Gun
  • Ion Accelerator
  • Stimulant Injector
  • Early Warning Override

Troops
10x Dire Avengers
  • Exarch with Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults
3x Guardians Jetbikes
  • Shuriken Cannon
10x Fire Warriors
  • Sahs'ui
10x Fire Warriors
  • Sahs'ui
Heavy Support
Wraithknight
  • Scatter Laser
  • Suncannon and Scattershield
3x Broadsides
  • 3x Twin-Linked SMS
  • 3x High-Yield Missile Pods
  • 6x Missile Drones
Fortification
Aegis Defense Line
  • Twin-Linked Quad Gun

Opponents List As I Remember(Tyranids):

HQ
Swarm Lord
Tervigon
  • Adrenal Glands
Elites
Zoanthrope
Zoanthrope
Zoanthrope
Hive Guard
2x Hive Guard
Doom of Malan'tai
  • Mycetic Spore

Troops 
15x Gene Stealers
15x Gene Stealers
15x Gene Stealers
4x Tyranid Warriors
Heavy Support 
Biovore
Carnifex
Tyrannofex
Tyrannofex

Looking back now his list appears to be illegal as his list went well over the 2000 points that we were supposed to be playing at. But whatever, I like a good challenge.




He won the rolls for sides and deployment. He chose to go first. Night Fight was rolled and it was indeed night. 





Turn 1: He marches his 2 Tyrannofex, Carnifex, Zoentrhope, and Genestealers straight for my ageis line. His Tervigon spawns 12 Termagaunts and move towards the corner of the board where I've castled up as best as I could. The Swarm Lord, another Zoenthrope, and 15 more Genestealers would do the same. I deployed so that the Swarm Lord was about as far away from me as I could get hoping the game would end before he ever got to me. The Biovore, Hive guards, and 3rd Zoenthrope reposition in the mid field to get into better position for firing. Torrent fire from the Tyrannofexes killed 9 Fire Warriors and 2 missile drones. The rest of his shooting would prove ineffectual. The one unit of Fire Warriors forced to test passes and holds strong with 3 men. 

I cast all of my powers on my Seer Council as well as Guide on the Riptide and Prescience on the 8 man unit of Fire Warriors. The Riptide Nova Charges his Ion Accelerator. They move up 12" to mid field. But can't make it into shooting or charge distance of any of his units. They would eventually turbo boost into his backfield to try and divert his attention from my main force. The Wraithknight jumped up on top of terrain to get a better line of fire at his Genestealers. The Dire Avengers moved up to get into shooting range. The broadsides unload on the nearest Tyrannofex and turn him into a pile of poodoo for first blood. The Riptide and Dire Avengers took out the Warriors. The Fire Warriors took the Zoenthrope down to 1 wound. The Wraithknight killed all but 1 of the Genestealers.



Turn 2: He rolls for his reserves. Genestealers stay out and the Doom and his pod come in. The pod lands right in the middle of all of my Tau. Sad times. The Tervigon spawns 14 Termagants and rolled a double so no more babies. They both moved towards the Seer Council. The rest of his army pushed forward into my corner. Between the Doom, Tyrannofex, and the Carnifex he managed to kill the unit of 3 Fire Warriors, 1 Broadside and all of the remaining drones, and all but 2 Fire Warriors in the last unit. They fail leadership and break. He assaulted the Seer Council with his Termagants which were promptly squished and destroyed. I then consolidated away from his Tervigon.

I roll for reserves and my unit of Jetbikes comes on. The Fire Warriors rally on snake eyes! I attempted to cast my powers on the Seer Council but Shadows in the Warp only allows me to get Protect and Prescience up. The Riptide Nova Charges his gun. By the end of the turn the Carnifex is shot dead, the bikes wound the Tervigon, the Zoenthrope in the middle dies to the Seer Councils Fire, all but 1 Termagant are killed by the Dire Avengers, and the Doom is smashed into goo by the Wraithknight. 





Turn 3: He forgets to roll for his one unit of Genestealers in reserve. He again pushes everything towards my corner. His shooting from the Tyrannofex is ineffective. He assaults the Tervigon into the Seer Council and the single Genestealer into the Wraithknight. The Seer Council gets a couple of rends on the Tervigon during overwatch and thanks to Prescience and Fleshbane, kill it before it even swings. The brave Genestealer gets squished by the Wraithknight. 

With no more Shadows of the Warp to hinder my Seer Council they get all of their powers up. The Dire Avengers move towards the last Zoenthrope and the Swarmlord. The Broadside, Commander, and Fire Warriors take a couple of wounds from the Tyrannofex. The Riptide kills half of the remaining Genestealers and the dire avengers kill the last Zoenthrope. The bikes multi assault all of the Hive Guard and the Biovore and kill them all. The Wraithknight shoots and assaults the Tyrannofex killing it.




Turn 4: He again forgets he has Genestealers in reserve. He moves his remaining units forwards and attempts to assault the Seer Council but is shot up really bad on overwatch and is cut down in close combat. At this point I had First blood, an Objective, and 4 points from killing heavies. He had 1 Termagant and the Swarm Lord left and decided to concede. 






I'm really loving the Seer Council so far. I'm still waiting for that one game that I don't get Fortune on one of my Farseers and I just get totally punked. Overall though I'm very happy with the performance of this list. I'd like to drop the Sunncannon Scattershield on the Wraithknight and a handful of Fire Warriors so I could get 2 Scatter Laser War Walkers into the list. I may have to try it out next game.





40k Battle Report: Iron Hands vs Iron Hands?!?



Last night I headed up to my LGS to test out some new Space Marines with my Sons of Medusa.
Normally at the store on a Thursday there are around 10-12 players which is nice.
Sometimes someone can't find a partner so we try to make due.
Last night however, there were 26+ people at the store...crazy stuff.

Games are randomized, and I get paired up against a player I have played many times before, who is also playing Space Marines...and is also playing Iron Hands...go figure.
Amazingly enough, his army was Brazen Claws and mine is Sons of Medusa...both of which are Successor Chapters to Iron Hands.

Playing behind us was actually a game a Sisters of Battle vs Sisters of Battle...with no allies!! When's the last time you can say you saw that in person...

We rolled up for the game and it was Relic, but no one likes to play Relic so we re-rolled and got Emperor's Will, which we decided was good enough.

Deployment was Dawn of war.

I of course forgot my Aegis Defense Line and Quad Cannon at home so I borrowed and created a make shift Bastion for this game.

Objectives are in Yellow.

He won the roll, and decided to let me deploy and go first.

My List - Sons of Medusa
Master Of the Forge
Terminator Librarian - Mastery Level 2 (Biomancy)
5 Man Tactical Squad in a Razorback with Twin-linked Lascannon
5 Man Tactical Squad in a Razorback with Twin-linked Lascannon
5 Man Tactical Squad
5 Man Tactical Squad in a Land Raider with Multi-Melta
5 Thunderhammer & Storm Shield Terminators in a Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta
Devastator Squad with 4 Missile Launchers
Vindicator with Siege Shield
Predator with Autocannon and Lascannon sponsons
Predator with Autocannon and Lascannon sponsons
Bastion with Quad Cannon

Master of the Forge is in the Land Raider with the 5 Man Tactical Squad.
Librarian is in the Crusader with the other Terminators.
The single 5 man tactical squad is inside the bastion, manning the Em-placed Heavy Bolters.

His List: Brazen Claws
Captain with Artificer Armor and a Lightning Claw
Chaplain in Terminator Armor
5 Man Tactical Squad
(Reserved) 10 Man Tactical Squad with a Flamer in a Drop Pod
10 Man Tactical Squad with a Melta Gun in a Land Raider Redeemer
(Reserved) 5 Scouts with Shotguns
(Reserved) 5 Sterngurd with a Heavy Flamer, Combi-Grav, Combi-Melta, Melta in a Drop Pod
(Reserved) 5 Terminators with Powerfists and Storm Bolters
6 Assault Bikers with a Melta-Gun, and Combi-Something
5 Devastators - 2 Lascannons, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Boltgun, Sgt.
Vindicator
Stalker

All of his units had Sergeants, and they all had melta bombs.
Some of them had plasma pistols.

I placed my Bastion on my side, in the middle of the board, and put my objective right behind it. His objective is in the far left corner, behind a small ruin.

Librarian rolled Iron Arm, and Smite.

I put the 2 Land Raiders on my left with the Vindicator between them, hoping to just push them up the board in a wall.

On the right side of the bastion, the Master of the Forge Bolstered the forest, making it a 4++ cover save. I placed one razorback inside of it, and then the 2 Predators to the right of him, with the last Razoback behind them to negate possible shots from his drop pod assault. (although, thinking back I should have turned it sideways, but I was too excited since I haven't played my Space Marines in almost a year!)

He deployed everything as far back as he could to try to stay out of range of my shots on the first turn.

We roll for night fighting and it is most definitely day time instead.

He grabbed a dice out of habit, and said "Roll to Seize!" and then rolled a 6...
Then he realized what he just did.



He had just placed all of his stuff out of range of my stuff...and now...HE didn't have range on me.

I offered to let him take it back, because I don't like playing against someone, who on turn one is already going to be upset about a mistake, but he said that he wanted to play it out, and maybe get an Alpha strike or first blood on me. I looked around and realized that he had some prime shots on my vindicator if he could get his Drop Pod to stick behind it, maybe even a transport.

Well, here we go...


Turn 1 - Brazen Claws
His Sternguard Drop Pod comes in, and he places it in front of my Vindicator, hoping to pop it on 1st turn, but it scatters over in front of my Crusader instead. I asked why he didn't go behind my transports, and he said he was afraid of going off the table.

He moves his Land Raider in front of his Vindicator to block it.
His Bikes move up a bit to mid field.

The Lascannons on the devastators manages to cause a hit on one of my predators which immobilizes it.
The Sternguard fire off some crap at my crusader, he gets 2 glances, and of course, one penetration...which immobilizes it as well.

He shoots the Land Raider at it as well, but nothing happens.
That was about it for his turn.



Turn 1 - Sons of Medusa

Iron Arm is fails on boxcars and my Librarian is already down to 1 wound...well shit.
Puke and rally right?

I move the Vindicator up a bit into the forest to get a better shot on his Sternguard.

My Land Raider moves up a bit to light up his Land Raider with some blasty goodness.

The Predator that can, moves up a small amount to get line of sight at his Bikers with both Lascannons.

The Terminators Jump out of the Land Raider Crusader and move to a location where they have charge range of the Bikers or the Sternguard. Basically which ever one doesn't completely die to shooting.

Between the guns on the Land Raider Crusader and the heavy Bolters from the bastion, the Sternguard is wiped out quickly for 1st blood. 

The Vindicator, Devastators and Predators manage to unload on the bikes but only take them down to 3 models, due to him making Jink and Feel no Pain saves like crazy.

The other Razorback manages to take out 1 of his devastators. Of course it's the Bolter guy.

The It Will Not Die roll on the Crusader regens a hull point so its back up to 2.



Brazen Claws Turn 2

His Terminators come in, but not the other Drop Pod, or Scouts.

He deploys them off of the beacon on his 1st drop pod and places them in front of my Terminators.

His Land Raider moves up, so does his Vindicator.
The remaining Bikers move around his drop pod toward my other Land Raider.

His Vindicator shoots at my Vindicator, he rolls and only gets a 2 as his highest, giving him 12, which does nothing.

The Bikers shoot at it out of spite, and do nothing to my Vindicator either.

He then shoots his Terminators at my Terminators, which of course make all their saves.

His Devastator Squad unloads one of my Predators and manages to wreck it. Boo!


Sons of Medusa - Turn 2

Iron Arm is successful on the Librarian again, with a 3+/3+.

I pivot the Vindicator just enough for a better shot at the Bikers, and leave the Land Raider in position to fire at full ballistic in case I need the shots.

The Vindicator shoots and manages to take out the remaining 3 Bikers.

The Land Raider and Devastators then manage to explode his Land Raider Redeemer and spill out the guys, taking out 1 from the ensuing explosion.

My Land Raider Crusader and Razorbacks then focus fire into the unit of his Terminators, and take out 2 of them.

I assault into his Terminator with mine and declare a challenge with my Librarian, since he is currently S7/T7.
He accepts but nothing happens and all saves are made.
My remaining Terminators manage to finish off his squad easily.

No hull points are gained back.

His 10 man unit in the remaining crater fail the test and are pinned.



Brazen Claws Turn 3

His 2nd Drop Pod comes in and so do his Scouts.

The Scouts outflank and the Drop Pod comes in, both of which are on my right flank.

He moves up his Vindicator hoping to cause some kind of damage and swing things back into his favor.
Unfortunately it shot and missed. 

At this point in the game he was making the Feel No Pain saves like a mad man, but shooting was causing him problems. Luckily he's a real nice guy to play with, who knows his rules, and was still enjoying the game.

I hate playing in games where the dice just go cold for someone.

He got a little encouragement back when his Tactical squad from the drop pod managed to wreck my 2nd Predator tank. Small Victories.

The challenge was a stalemate once again.


Sons of Medusa - Turn 3

Iron Arm is successful again with a 3+/3+!

I move the Land Raider over towards his deployment zone, to get an angle with both Lascannons on his Vindicator.

My Vindicator pivots back toward his Tactical Squad and Warlord in the Crater.

I leave the Razorback where it is, thereby blocking his units from getting to me, and forcing him to go over it.
I unload the 5 man Tactical Squad that was inside of it and run into cover towards the objective, hopefully out of range of his flamer in that unit.

The Vindicator and Crusader manage to take his 10 man unit down to only 3, and kill his Warlord in the process.

2 of the Devastators and the Heavy Bolters in the Bastion manage to take the other 10 man squad on my right flank down to 7, but fail to take out the flamer.

One Razorback and the Land Raider manage to take his Vindicator down to 1 hull point, and shake it, so at least it cant shoot.

The other Razorback doesn't have line of sight, so he shoots at the Devastators, but does nothing.

Challenge is a stalemate once again.

Crusader Gains back a hull point.

Brazen Claws - Turn 4
He attempts to ram my Land Raider with his Vindicator, but comes 1" short.
His Tactical Squad and Scouts move up towards my objective.
He rushes in his Tactical squad and manages to wreck my Razorback, now creating a wall he has to go through.
I was really hoping it would explode and take out the unit with it, but oh well.

My Librarian manages to finally kill his Chaplain in the challenge and the unit then consolidates toward my objective to play a little defense and prevent him from getting to it hopefully. 
I have the secondaries right now, but if he can contest my objective, it won't matter.


Sons of Medusa - Turn 4
Iron Arm is successful again, but only a +1/+1 this time.

I turn the Land Raider and move flat out towards his objective.

I move the Tactical Squad out of range of his remaining flamer and the Terminators move up to block his path.

I rotate the Razorback to take a shot at his Stalker and prevent him from blowing it up with Bolt Guns from the Tactical Squad he has left.

The Vindicator manages to take out most of the remaining Tactical Squad in the middle of the board as well as the Drop Pod, leaving 1 guy by himself. 

I shoot everything I have on the Crusader at the single Tactical Marine in the middle of the board and manage to cause 8 wounds. He then, in turn, manages to make his Armor and Feel No Pain saves.

The Land Raider snap fires the Multi-Melta into the side of his Vindicator and immobilizes it.

The Crusader gains back another hull point taking it to full again!

Brazen Claws - Turn 5
He moves the 5 man Tactical Squad he has on his objective toward my Land Raider hoping to blow it up with a Melta Bomb, but fails on a 1.

His Tactical Squad move over my wrecked Razorback, and fire off a flamer into my Terminators who all make their saves.

The Stalker attempts to fire and does nothing, and the Devastators don't have line of sight on anything to shoot at.

The scouts move up, hoping to maybe go around the wrecked Predators.


Sons of Medusa Turn 5
Iron Arm is Successful again, with a 2+/2+.

The Terminators move up closer to him to assault and wipe out the unit if needed, and the other unit of Tactical Marines move up within Double Tap range of their Boltguns.

I deploy the 5 Man Tactical out of the Land Raider with the Master of the Forge.

The Land Raider then attempts to Tank Shock his Tactical Squad. He attempts a "Death or Glory" and fails, killing his Sergeant. 

The Flamer from the Master of the Forge's Servo Harness manages to take out the rest of the unit.

The Vindicator shoots at the lone Marine in the middle by himself and it hits, turning him into a fine paste on the ground.

The Librarian casts Smite which takes out his flamer and that was pretty much the end of it.

He then realized that I still had a 5 Man Tactical squad inside the other Razorback, and one in the Bastion, plus the one right outside of it on foot.

That compounded with the fact that I would have his objective next turn meant there was no point continuing.

Victory for the Sons of Medusa
9 points - 0 points

After Thoughts

1. Always make sure to bring everything you need to a game. Even though I forgot my Aegis Defense line, the Bastion did work out pretty well.
2. Iron Hands are ridiculous. a 6+ may not sound like much, but without it, this game would have been over two turns earlier.
3. While the vehicles are ridiculously strong with the ability to regen hull points, I found myself on turn 3 thinking, "Oh shit, how the hell am I going to get Line Breaker?"
4. Being able to bolster a forest to a 4+ is amazing, especially when you put your objective in it.
5. The Terminator Librarian was a horrible idea, made even worse since he only has 2 wounds. If I was running 2 Masters of the forge instead, he could have fixed the Land Raider Crusader on a 3+ and had it back up and moving after turn 1, which is exactly what I will be switching too next time.
6.  We were talking during the game and he asked why I was running a Master of the Forge, after I explained to him that they have a 3+ on the Blessing roll, plus the It Will Not Die roll on a 5+ at the end of the turn, he just stopped shooting at it.
7. Only one person was playing Raven Guard, and he was using them as an ally. All that was left of them in the end was Shrike by himself. He stated that he was extremely unimpressed. This coming from a Veteran Player.
8. There was only 2 people playing Imperial Fists, both of them did extremely well.
9. The people playing Ultramarines were complaining that they were too difficult with the chapter tactics. Personally I believe that Ultramarines will be extremely popular in tournaments, because if you plan turns ahead they can be amazing. It just takes experience I guess.
10. ALOT of people are playing Space Marines. More than you think. 


Be prepared.