Sunday, July 13, 2014

Clan Raukaan vs Orks (Feast of Blade style)

So, I tried out a list for FoB: 1x Knight Errant, 3x Dreadnoughts with assault cannons, 2x Dreadnoughts with Multi Melta, 2x Razorbacks (lascannon) with 5 tac marines, a stormtalon, and Master of forge with Gorgan Chain.  This was not my original concept, but this is the first time I took a master of the forge, and I had NO dreadnoughts in my list, so I decided to go the other extreme and take 5.  My other list would have been stronger, especially against what my opponent was using.  He brought Orks, from the new codex.  He had 2 units of Lootas, 2 units of grots, 2 Forgeworld tanks (even though they won't be allowed in the tournament, but I was bringing a Knight Errant against Orks...), 3 units of mega'nobs, (each unit had 2 guys with double buz saws), 2 trucks (to carry the 2 of the 'nob units), and an aegis defense line.

He ended up going first.  I had positioned my Knight in the back, with my dreadnoughts closer and to the side (so they would keep up with Knight for a turn, but not be in his way).  As there was almost no middle cover (the board was 2 sets of ruins, divided my a street), my dreadnoughts go destroyed by the lootas.  We were playing the first scenario from the feast of blades qualifier pack.  My knight stayed in the middle of the because of of the 'Nobs waiting to charge.  At the end of five turns, I had 3 objectives to his one, but had killed 4 more units than me, giving his a massacre (so the score would have been 13 to 7 - he also had first blood)

What did I learn: By the end of the game, I had lost a flyer, 3 dreadnoughts, and both razorbacks, but I had three objectives, so it didn't seem so bad, even though I lost, until you consider that 3 of my dreadnoughts died and one was immobilized without any of them firing a shot.


  • The Knight was not a fire magnet, because my opponent ignored him because of the shield, and it wasn't the charge threat I expected, because of the 3 units of 'Nobs (after the 5th turn, we went into the assault, and the 2 'nobs with buzz saws killed it - 10 str 9 armor bane attacks, needing 3's to hit, because formation gave them +1 WS).  
  • My goal was to give my opponent more things to shoot at then the Knight, which is why I loaded on dreads, but the lootas tore them apart before they even got to shoot.  Need more than armor 12, or I need to give them a save.  Really, I think I need to give them drop pods, but I couldn't find the points, and the list was already low model count, even at 1500.



SECOND GAME:  We played another game, so I could try using my Knight as cover for the dreadnoughts.  I started with the Knight in front, and the Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts behind.  The cover worked on the first turn, I only lost 1 Razorback to Lootas.  I took a few other hits, but I saved about half of them (on 5+). On my move, I moved to the middle of the board, and then he charged my with a truck of 'nobs.  He buzz saws killed the Knight again, although this time they barely got the 6 HP they needed, and the death explosion scattered backwards into my  entire army.  While I only lost a dreadnought, and took a few HP on some others, we called the game (since we already knew that 24" ranged dreadnoughts were not going to survive the loota and tank barrage that was coming).

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Feast of Blades

So, I went to one of the local stores (next town over) and one of the people there was talking about how he was the Arizona Feast of Blades representative, and a friend of that store owner, and they said they were going to have a qualifier soon.  I have always wanted to do a big event against people from outside my meta (even though I haven't been playing a lot lately), so I looked into it.

40k Qualifier 2014 7th edition format:

  • 1500 points
  • Battleforged Rules:
    - One "Combined arms detachment," and
    - Up to one of the Following: a) Another combined arms detachment b) An allied detachment c) A single formation
  • Stronghold assault not allowed
  • The following list of Fortifications are allowed: Aegis line, Bastion, Skyshield, Fortress of Redemption. 
  • Forgeworld is not allowed.
  • Lords of War are not allowed.
According to the FAQ, imperial knights will be allowed (presumably as the allied detachment).  Given my recent experience with Imperial Knights, I think that a lot of people are going to take them, and that one of the only ways to counter an Imperial Knight, especially at 1500 points, is another Imperial Knight; I managed to kill one at 2000 points, but it cost me 2 land raiders to do it, so I bought an Imperial Knight.

Given the inclusion of a super heavy, I expect to see a few armies - one is the Imperial Knights (got that covered).  I also expect to see Necrons, probably with a lot of flyers (so I need a way to neutralize that).  I also expect that there will be some Eldar or Dark Eldar with lances and haywire grenades.  (This store is out of town, so I don't really know  the meta, although I know at least one plays Dark Eldar).  An IG tank line could also be a problem, although I calculate that, from the shield side (and most tank / gun lines are not very mobile), it would take 36 LasCannon shots do kill an Imperial Knight (part of the calculation that led me to get one for this tournament).

I have enough IG and Space Marines that I can field either to support the Imperial Knight.   The Imperial Knight worlds have "met-at-arms" which are compared to IG planetary defense forces, and they also mention mounted troops (several groups of bikers with power lances and "knight" heads would look pretty cool too (assuming I convert and paint them all - which I am tempted to do, except that the actual FoB Tournament will allow Stronghold Assault and Lords of War, so I am not sure that I will use the same army, assuming I win the qualifiers).

For the points, I am leaning toward IG, only because I can take 2 flyers, and still have lots of units (but they are IG - I like IG stories and background, but I am more used to player mech and / or power armor... Decisions....