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.