tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66487006175839581032024-03-13T20:43:46.276-07:00The Four Horsemen of WarhammerA blog where you can read articles about Warhammer 40,000 and more. We have Battle Reports, Local Events, Tactica. Modeling and Painting, and occasional news and rumors. Welcome!Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-49906680856948101842014-07-13T06:41:00.000-07:002014-07-13T06:41:06.965-07:00Clan 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.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>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). </li>
<li>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.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<u>SECOND GAME:</u> 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).</div>
Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-42884848168336608952014-07-09T11:35:00.002-07:002014-07-09T11:35:25.995-07:00Feast of BladesSo, 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.<br />
<br />
<h1>
40k Qualifier 2014 7th edition format:</h1>
<ul>
<li>1500 points</li>
<li>Battleforged Rules:<br />- One "Combined arms detachment," and<br />- Up to one of the Following: a) Another combined arms detachment b) An allied detachment c) A single formation</li>
<li>Stronghold assault not allowed</li>
<li>The following list of Fortifications are allowed: Aegis line, Bastion, Skyshield, Fortress of Redemption. </li>
<li>Forgeworld is not allowed.</li>
<li>Lords of War are not allowed.</li>
</ul>
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.<br />
<br />
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). <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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.... Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-63985278253881416992014-06-30T00:21:00.002-07:002014-07-09T11:06:37.479-07:00Blood Angels - 7th editionSo, it has been a while since I have played, but I've gotten 3 games in 7th edition in the last 3 weeks, so I throw out some thoughts on my experience with Blood Angles in 7th. The first game I played in 7th was against IG, or whatever they are called now - Militarium?<br />
<br />
It was a tank line behind an Aegis defense line, with some special forgeworld rules. The IG played had a 30 man platoon bubble wrap between the tanks and the wall, so I could not drop pod my Sterngaurd or either of my 2 Furiouso dreads close enough to get a good melta shot off. I made good use of enemy's ADL, and all my stuff that was not in a pod is in 1 LR or 2 Razor backs, but all the vehicles got popped, and then it was bunch of marines being pounded with AP 3 barrage. Death Company did ok - by that I mean they lasted 2 turns of getting pounded before dying without killing anything.<br />
<br />
- The biggest lesson I re-learned from this game was that I should have drop podded my stuff into the ruins on the flank, instead of landing in front of wall and trying to chew through his infantry to get to the tanks (with the Furiousos did in 2 turns, but not fast enough to open gap for other melta before they were destroyed.<br />
<br />
-The other lesson was that, since we were playing with tactical objectives, and I had the advantage early, I should of stayed out of range. It would have been a fast, not very exciting game, but I let myself get sucked into trying to destroy stuff, and charged into his tanks -instead of using my speed to take the points I could, and then making HIM change HIS game. (instead I lost by 1 point, even though the game ended on turn 5 and all I had left was 2 drop pods and 3 space marines)<br />
<br />
<br />
I used the same army for the next 2 games. It was 4 Assault marine squads (5 men), each with a land raider (2 landraiders and 2 crusaders), 2 Furiouso dreads with claws (for counter charge), and a stormraven with meph.<br />
<br />
The first game I played against chaos space marines allied with demons, and did not get iron arm with Meph, so he stayed in the plane until it was shot out from under him. Besides Typhus, there were 2 demon princes and at least 1 greater demon. He had very little that could punch through my armor (in fact he glanced 1 land raider, 1 time). This was a pretty well matched game, because my opponent, although he couldn't kill the Raiders, almost tied because he played the tactical objective very smartly - for example, when I grounded a demon prince, and locked him into combat with my dread, that demon summoned a squad of horrors to take the objective. all of my stuff did what I expected, and I even used one of the 5 man squads to clear some demons off of an objective - too late to stop him from getting tactical points though.<br />
<br />
-The game was a lot of fun, and really close, but not a lot of lesson to learn, I won, and every unit did what I wanted - the LR kept stuff safe, the Furiouso's locked up demon princes (or kept them from landing). Although I wasn't playing the monsters, it was worth noting that the change to making smash attack only 1 attack (instead of half) took a lot of threat out of demons princes against armor and dreads - they are not really a threat to heavy armor). Also, if Mehpiston is going to sit in the plane all game, I could save a lot of points with a cheaper HQ.<br />
<br />
<br />
The second game, I was caught off guard by an Imperial knight. I wasn't expecting a super heavy (we never really discussed the list, beyond that they would be 2k points), but I was game - (good thing, because I found out that not only did he not have enough IG without the knight, but that he had bought and put together $250 worth of guard the night before, so that would have enough points to play. Once my Land Raiders got popped (all by turn 3 I think), things went down hill fast. In the end, the game ended on turn 5, and I lost 11-1, but the momentum was finally turning in my favor, and had there been a turn 6, I am pretty sure (baring some stupid lucky - or unlucky dice, I would have won 6-5)<br />
<br />
Lessons from this game: -<br />
- mostly about the imperial knight. The armor, the shield, nothing special - I did not realize that they could move 12, and that their chainsword did "D" damage. His cannon didn't do anything, but he killed 2 of the land raiders in melee in 2 turns (I had moved in to get the melta shot bonus)<br />
<br />
-If you are close enough to hit the knight with the melta bonus, you are probably close enough to take a "D" hit from the explosion when the knight dies - I lost a squad of infantry and a furiouso dread to the explosion.<br />
<br />
-Mephiston is pretty tough. With iron arm, las cannons needed 4's to wound, Meph took 4 to the face, and kept trucking, and almost single handedly won me the game (in another turn). The problem was that it took him too long to be useful. He came in on turn 2, but the stormraven had to attack the knight. The next turn, the stormraven zoomed to the drop zone (with the intention of hovering on turn 4 so meph could charge), but the stormraven got stunned, and Meph had to "fall from the skies", which meant to charge until 5. Like I said, he took 4 LC shots, killed a LC squad, and was poised to clear an objective (and probably take out the enemy warlord with a pskyker attack). Again Meph proved how tough he was, but if it takes him 5 turns to charge, he is going to have a hard time leveraging that toughness. Maybe I can put him in one of the Land Raiders (then he would almost be guaranteed a turn 2 assault, which would have made a big difference in that particular game.<br />
<br />
-Also, a rule note that I had not seem mentioned - how damage is allocated to a squadron. It might have always been this way (I don't fight squadrons much). Once you score hits, you assign them, and resolve them one at a time - I always thought it was roll all penetrating and glancing, and then allocated them - it doesn't make a big difference, unless some of the shots are at a different facing, but then it might.<br />
<br />
Edit: It is worth noting that if the Land Raiders had contained full squads, it might have been closer in my favor. Granted that this was IG, but I still was able to break 3-4 units in charges (usually with only 3 marines (that's all that was left before the charge), but then I would get shot down to 0-1 guys; 5 more bodies in each of those charges might have let me keep one of the objectives (as it was, 3 marines almost defended an objective from 3 units of guardsmen, and probably could have if it wasn't for the hotshot lasers)<br />
<br />Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-61681657664068301102013-09-30T19:54:00.003-07:002013-09-30T20:01:02.984-07:00FAQ UpdateJust a heads-up, I was looking for Space Marine FAQ, there is a small one, and noticed that a few other marine codices, and the main rule book also have some updates this month. <br />
<br />
I could not find the change in the BRB FAQ, but the Blood Angel and Grey Knights both changed the stats on servo arm - which probably affects 2 people in the whole world....<br />
<br />
Update - this servo thing also applies to IG and Space Wolves. I may have missed something (these words look sooo small these days), so if you play servo arms, check the most recent FAQ.<br />
<br />Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-84633685743548287902013-09-30T19:29:00.000-07:002013-09-30T19:37:15.596-07:00I see what you did there GW....A month or two ago, I posted that people should give double force organizations a try. I don't really have an agenda (ie, a secret I-win-list just waiting for some sucker to allow me to use it, really I don't)<br />
<br />
I just think the points will balance out most lists anyway, and I think some armies will find better balance - I have had lists where I maxed out heavy, fast, and troops, and had to take elite simply because I had points left over.<br />
<br />
Anyway, most tournament people apparently didn't agree with me, and GW apparently noticed that people were not buying into the double force org idea, so they made the new Space Marine Codex.<br />
<br />
According to this codex, you can take one chapter, and then take a different chapter as allies. Granted, this is not exactly double force org, but it does give you an extra HQ, 2 Troop, Heavy, Fast, and Elite - given a 2000 to 2500 game, you will probably run out of points before running out of slots.<br />
<br />
I wonder if tournament organizers will start letting other armies ally to themselves, as a limited double force org (and I admit the idea of facing 4 Heldrakes is daunting enough, forget about 6... although at that point, are 2 more Heldrakes really going to make a difference?)Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-72981493051045261152013-08-27T21:36:00.001-07:002013-08-27T21:39:52.373-07:00Kill Team<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<img height="400" src="http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/killteam-laatikko.jpg" width="280" /></div>
<br />
<br />
Tonight I tried out the Kill Team rules from <a href="http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.com/p/kill-team-rules.html" target="_blank">Heralds of Ruin</a>. I have to say, if you haven't checked them out, you really should. The rules are simple, easy to follow and all work to keep the game fairly quick-paced.<br />
<br />
The teams are set up as small 250 point squads using adjusted kill team lists (basically codexes) for each army. Each list does an excellent job of maintaining the flavor of the army. I can not speak to overall balance of the lists, but we played a game pitting Dark Angels against Chaos Space Marines and I can say that these two lists seemed balanced. <br />
<br />
The rules definitely keep the game fast-paced and are very easy to follow while making the actions of the models seem heroic. The game we played took just over an hour and that was including set-up, tear down, and having to refer to the rules. I think once you become familiar with the rules, games should be closer to 30-45 minutes.<br />
<br />
So for those of you who want a shorter game, or perhaps just don't have the money to spend on larger armies, this is definitely worth a try. And incidentally, for those that are curious, my Angels won the day!Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-63085385622524190092013-08-22T09:33:00.001-07:002013-08-22T10:11:22.293-07:00New Space Marine Codex "rumors"So far everything I have been hearing about the new SM codex sounds like the playing field has been leveled like in other codices for 6th. There is some cool stuff and there is some crap, but it is the same kinda crap for all armies. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-shwhzCCt2DI/UhY1ADyxDoI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/zv7lfkipgJc/s1600/imperial-fist-centurions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-shwhzCCt2DI/UhY1ADyxDoI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/zv7lfkipgJc/s400/imperial-fist-centurions.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It kind of reminds me of the 80's cartoon "Centurions".</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The new Centurion units sound interesting, but they don't have me in a fervor. The new rules on Chapter Tactics (Every chapter has their own Special Rules, MYO Chapters get to select from a list) has me very interested/hopeful.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SNDiT2y3ttc/UhY2jwx9nfI/AAAAAAAAAMc/cJGP1BmjEOY/s1600/arrow_thru_head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SNDiT2y3ttc/UhY2jwx9nfI/AAAAAAAAAMc/cJGP1BmjEOY/s200/arrow_thru_head.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
However the things that has killed me the most are the new rules for Special Characters and Allied requirement. It seems like it's the only thing inconsistent between previous SM codices and the spirit of the SM as an army)<br />
You will no longer be able to field mixed SM armies without resorting to an allied detachment.<br />
So, no more can you have a Salamander Tactical squad, an Ultramarine Tactical squad and Lysander in your fielded SM army. Unlike previous versions, You can't have a "count as" Vulkan unless your fielding Salamanders for your primary or allied detachment.<br />
<br />
For those of us with Non-traditional/non-popular armies this is horrible news. I'm concerned there won't be something to console the vast majority of SM players that field MYO chapters or, even like myself, that fields a very obscure codex chapter.<br />
<br />
What happened to "So perfect is their understanding of Guilliman's tactics that any grouping of battle brothers can fight side by side each knowing how to finish the job."?<br />
<br />
Actually I'm more upset for players like myself. I field Red Wolves. I like fielding Red Wolves. Mostly because they're not Space Wolves. However, MYO chapters will probably get some concept like "Pick which army yours will be a clone of". Obscure chapters, even the ones that get mentioned in the codex, will probably be forgotten. We'll be forced to make our chapter a clone too, just to get the Characters. And that's what will probably happen. All of these Non-"top 6" armies will be able to field any chapter character(s) by "This game they're Ultras, Next game they'll be Raven Guard".<br />
<br />
Personally I think that GW is trying to sell more of it's chapter specific stuff, but it won't go the way they're planning. Not for the most part anyhow.<br />
<br />
What do you think?Dan Wolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985268036894606894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-70996937924772489632013-08-20T17:49:00.001-07:002013-08-20T17:49:22.904-07:00Another contributor!Hello there everyone!<br />
<br />
Josef here and I'm going to bring some exciting things here. A little about myself first of all. I've been playing Warhammer 40k for several years now, along with Warmachine, Dropzone Commander and some Dreadball from time to time. I'm currently playing Space Wolves (For Russ!) and collecting Dark Eldar for some kicks. I'm currently more into the painting side of the hobby, spending many hours in the week to finish another squad (or two if I'm lucky).<br />
<br />
I will be bringing some battle reports and tournament results from our local game stores around here along with some news of upcoming events. I'm glad I'll be apart of this blog, I hope I can bring exciting news!<br />
<br />
-JosefJosefCainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14646019946039329961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-43434080431737247002013-08-15T16:55:00.002-07:002013-08-22T10:09:36.528-07:00The Lion's Angels embrace Tzeentch!<br />
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<img src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7nbCaLIu9-ltFiDUagFumOPuf3ZuuYaJQBWFGOfoZXHMAlBFPbyI9MMsK" style="height: 192px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 233px;" /> </div>
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
As you have seen a few changes have come to the Lion's Angels. I have
added new contributors and will likely be expanding the list of
contributors even further. Change is good! All hail Tzeentch!<br />
<br />
You can also look forward to an actual gallery page...now with photos! And I will likely begin doing a couple of regular articles on a monthly basis to include more Battle Reports/Stories and maybe a Tactica article as I get more experience running the boys in green.<br />
<br />
Finally, you can expect a name change in the near future to better reflect our more expanded focus on Warhammer 40k in general as opposed to just a focus on Dark Angels and Chaos.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-5499245974766367672013-08-14T09:02:00.003-07:002013-08-14T09:07:04.894-07:00Double Force Org?I was talking to KarateKid about double force org recently, because I heard that the Golden Throne tournament was going to allow it - the first tournament of its size to do so. What struck me as funny is that when 6th edition came out, a lot of people didn't like allies, but allies were allowed - because it was part of the rules. Double-Force org is also explicitly allowed in the rules, like allies, but it was almost universally rejected.<br />
<br />
There was a lot of debate about whether Forgeworld was REALLY official, and it was still more accepted than double-force org.<br />
<br />
I understand that there are some silly combinations that are possible with double force org, but there are some pretty silly combinations available with allies and Forgeworld as well.<br />
<br />
In the Golden Throne Tournament, according to this <a href="http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/08/is-double-force-org-really-something-to.html">BOLS</a> article, only one of the top 8 had a double force org (and each of them played against multiple double force armies to get there).<br />
<br />
Although I cannot speak from experience, because no one plays double force org around here, I suspect, since the books are written with the understanding that allies and double-force org are part of the game, that GW balances the new books around those rules (I know there are cynics who would argue that I am giving GW too much credit, but who knows).<br />
<br />
Anyway, this is my argument to give double force org a try, or at least try to build a list, and see if you can make it as unbalanced as you think (better to play it) - I am betting that the extra HQ and two troops eat enough points that even if you make a killer combo, there will be some weakness that can be exploited by an opponent (assuming an all comer's list).<br />
<br />
It has always been true that some armies only had one competitive list. Allies helped us get away from that a little, but some armies are fairly limited in allies that they can take and, even for the others, there are only so many army combinations (because there are only so many armies to combine with). I think that double force org is the next step in creating an environment without net-lists, because it makes more possible combinations than allies alone.Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-86546286234374287602013-08-13T16:59:00.000-07:002013-08-13T16:59:22.754-07:00Another new contributor...This is Himkano from <a href="http://descentofangel.blogspot.com/">http://descentofangel.blogspot.com/</a>. I am going to be joining KarateKid and Dan Wolf as a contributor to this blog. While I am keeping my old site up, as an archive of old posts about CSM, Blood Angels, Eldar, and Grey Knights, my new posts will be here.<br />
<br />
I have played several different armies over my last 8 years of playing 40k. Currently I am playing Blood Angels, Grey Knights, and Eldar.Himkanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17543887584361076921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-24580713042962944182013-08-10T22:13:00.000-07:002013-08-11T22:29:49.077-07:00New Contributor, Hell freezes over. Abbadon searches for a coat.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V7QYxftmX0g/UgcWZ0dpYEI/AAAAAAAAAKo/mHjq17DMzCk/s1600/Atlanta_Skyline_from_Buckhead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V7QYxftmX0g/UgcWZ0dpYEI/AAAAAAAAAKo/mHjq17DMzCk/s320/Atlanta_Skyline_from_Buckhead.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can see marketers are good at cleaning <br />
the smog out of photos of Atlanta.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So Karatekid and I were talking today and now I'm a contributor. I live in the Atlanta area and have a totally different group of people to play with and different culture to play in. I am originally from Phoenix. <br />
<br />
That's enough of that.<br />
<br />
I am more of a hobbyist than a player. But I do enjoy playing. Also, most of my Warhammer friends have moved to Phoenix or Seattle. With that being the case I started a War-gaming Club at my University. Well, it's not my University, I just attend classes there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBOOZv5p_jg/UgcY4AlQOII/AAAAAAAAAL0/IZjsoALXhYo/s1600/CSM+Army+2013-03-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBOOZv5p_jg/UgcY4AlQOII/AAAAAAAAAL0/IZjsoALXhYo/s320/CSM+Army+2013-03-25.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chaos! RAWR!</td></tr>
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I collect mostly Chaos Space Marines, but also Space Marines (Red Wolves) and Dark angels. Our War-gaming club fields Space Marines painted in school colors. <br />
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I have <strike>The Devil</strike> Facebook pages to use as photo galleries of my armies and how to guides of making terrain, mods, and other things. I am certainly not the best out there, but I have won painting competitions. So, I can't be too bad.<br />
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<br />
Attached are some links to these <strike>SoulCrusher</strike> Facebook pages and our School's War-gaming club page. Please, check them out! You know, cause it would be nice and stuff.<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Wolfs-Black-Legion/492044744215581" target="_blank">Dan Wolf's Black Legion</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/RedWolves40K" target="_blank">Dan Wolf's Red Wolves</a><br />
<a href="http://spsu.orgsync.com/org/wargamingclub67315/home" target="_blank">SPSU War-Gaming Club</a><br />
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I have taken the liberty of linking these sites and the Lion's angels facebook page in our list of links.<br />
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Dan Wolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985268036894606894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-87446857025886005662012-11-16T07:59:00.001-08:002012-11-16T07:59:53.587-08:00Who says Dark angels can not beat Vanilla Marines?I had a hard fought battle against some Salamanders. The Angels performed admirably and eked out a win. The Game was Emperor's Will with Hammer and Anvil deployment. This was a 1000 point battle and the first battle in our Planetary Empires campaign. As such, my opponent got a single USR for his list and chose to make his Terminators Fearless.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>My List was:<br />
Belial w/ TH/SS<br />
<br />
(Power Armor) Command Squad - Apothecary, Power Axe, and Meltagun<br />
<br />
Terminator Squad - Cyclone/Chainfist/SB x1, TH/SS x2, LCx2<br />
Terminator Squad - Cyclone/LC x1, CF/SB x1, TH/SSx2, LCx1<br />
<br />
Land Raider Crusader<br />
<br />
<br />
My Opponent fielded:<br />
Captain -Terminator Armor, Power Sword, SB<br />
Command Squad - Apothecary, Champion <br />
<br />
Terminator Assault Squad - TH/SS x5 (Fearless)<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad - Plasma Cannon, flamer<br />
Tactical Squad - Missile Launcher, flamer<br />
<br />
Predator<br />
Whirlwind<br />
(Looking at it now, I'm not sure if my opponent's list was over points or not, but not too worried about it)<br />
<br />
My opponent won the roll to see who would deploy and go first (thanks to a re-roll from a building he controlled on the Planetary Empires map). He chose for me to deploy first.<br />
<br />
I placed one terminator Squad in the large ruin where I had placed my objective and the other terminator squad in a smaller ruin on my left flank with the Land Raider transporting Belial and the Command Squad right on the middle. My opponent had done a good job of placing terrain to block/hinder my Land Raider's movement, so I had my work cut out for me.<br />
<br />
My opponent placed one tactical squad in a trench where his objective was located, another Tactical squad with Plasma Cannon in a small building next to where his objective was (we determined that all buildings except the Bunker were armor 12). He placed the Command Squad in the Bunker on the left flank with the predator and Whirlwind partially behind the bunker for cover. And finally, his Captain and terminators in the middle of the board behind an imperial statue. My opponent tried to steal the initiative, but failed.<br />
<br />
Turn 1:<br />
The Dark Angels Land Raider and Terminator squad on the Left Flank advanced, with the Land Raider moving at Cruising Speed. I used Power of the Machine Spirit to fire with my Assault Cannon at full ballistic skill at his terminators and hit and wounded 4 times, but my opponent made all his saves. The other weapons on the Land Raider failed to hit thanks to having to shoot snap shots. The Cyclone Missile Launchers also fired but did no damage to their targets.<br />
<br />
My opponent moved his predator slightly forward for a better shot and advanced with his terminators. He opened fire with the Predator and Whirlwind shooting at my advancing terminators, He hit with both shots from his predator, but the terminators made their saves. Meanwhile, the Whirlwind had tried to "snipe" my Cyclone, but he scattered and wounded two other terminators instead. The blast took down a terminator. The rest of my opponent's shooting failed to do anything.<br />
<br />
Score: DA - 3 / Sal - 3<br />
<br />
Turn 2:<br />
The DA Land Raider moved straight for my opponent's terminators and Belial and his squad disembarked. The terminators on my left flank continued their advance. The Land Raider, my command squad and the Cyclone form the terminators on my objective opened fire on my opponent's terminators, but failed to kill any terminators. The Cyclone from the advancing terminators fired at the Whirlwind, but failed to do anything thanks to my opponent's cover. Belial then led a charge into my opponent's squad and issued a challenge. My opponent met the challenge with his captain. Most of the Command squad failed to do anything to the terminators, but the marine with the Power Axe took down a terminator. Meanwhile, Belial took down his captain, giving me both first blood and slay the warlord. His terminators killed 3 marines. My Warlord trait also allowed me to score one additional VP for killing characters in challenges.<br />
<br />
My opponent moved the tactical squad that had been holding his objective forward into a building. He then opened fire at my advancing terminators and managed to take down another one. During the assault, my opponent finished off my command squad and thanks to Instant Death killed Belial as well, but lost one of their terminators. They then consolidated toward my Land Raider.<br />
<br />
Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4<br />
<br />
Turn 3:<br />
The DA Land Raider pulled back from the terminators while the terminators moved closer to my opponent's bunker. The Land Raider fired at the Terminators, but again they made all of their saves. Meanwhile, both Cyclones hit their targets. The Cyclone on the Left flank immobilized and blew the weapon off of the Whirlwind, while the other cyclone collapsed the building where my opponent's objective holders had moved to last turn. Unfortunately, none of my opponent's men were killed in the collapse.<br />
<br />
The Salamanders pulled their predator back some while the terminators advanced toward my Land Raider again. The tactical squad that had survived the collapse, moved so that they were holding the objective while taking up as much cover positions as possible behind the collapsed building and the trench. The predator and command Squad fired at my terminators again and killed another. His terminators then chraged my Land Raider and managed to get a glancing hit.<br />
<br />
Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4<br />
<br />
Turn 4:<br />
The Land Raider again moved back away from my Opponent's terminators, while my remaining 2 terminators on the left flank moved around the bunker. The bunker had no backside, so my opponent and I agreed that the terminators could assault the command squad from the rear of the bunker. The Land Raider manged to kill a terminator, while my cyclone killed one of the command squad. The other Cyclone killed 2 tactical marines behind the collapsed building to include the missile launcher. My terminators then charged his command squad. The lightning claws did well, but my opponent made all but one of his feel no pain rolls. His command squad then killed the terminator with the cyclone.<br />
<br />
My opponent again charged the Land Raider and put another glancing hit on it. Meanwhile the battle with the command squad and the final Deathwing raged on with neither side causing any casualties.<br />
<br />
Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4<br />
<br />
Turn 5:<br />
Not much happened on this turn. My terminator killed another command squad marine, but died and the Land Raider failed to do anything. The Cyclone hit two tactical marines, but thanks to their cover and night fighting giving them Shrouded, failed to kill anyone. My opponent advanced his predator and command squad toward the middle of the board while his terminators charged the Land Raider but he missed or failed to penetrate the land raider. His predator fired at my last terminators, but missed. We rolled for another turn, but the game ended.<br />
<br />
Final Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4<br />
<br />
So, that's another victory for the deathwing at low point games. I always worried about the low model count in the past, but this army has performed admirably thus far. I think ultimately, my opponents just aren't bringing enough stuff that can deal with a land raider at such a low point game. Of course, with these two games under my belt, I think my opponents may remedy this issue in their lists for future games, so I will probably go with a low point ravenwing force next and see how my opponents deal with a fast army full of AP1 and 2 weapons. This game was a slaughterfest and was no easy win by a long shot, but I think that what got me a victory here was my aggressive advance and keeping my opponent on the defensive the entire time.<br />
<br />
Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-43260300796057464612012-11-13T13:15:00.001-08:002012-11-13T13:15:45.951-08:00Small Games - 1000 Point Dark angels vs Chaos space MarinesI played two small 1000 point games this weekend. It has been a loooong time since I've played games at such a low point value, but it was quite fun. For this game I decided to go with a small Deathwing detachment. I was a bit worried about the low model count, but it ended up working rather well.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>My List:<br />
Belial with LC<br />
<br />
Terminator Squad with TH/SSx2, LCx2, CF/SBx1, Cyclone<br />
Terminator Squad with TH/SSx2, LCx2, CF/SBx1, Cyclone<br />
<br />
Venerable Dreadnought with AC/PF<br />
<br />
Land Raider Crusader<br />
<br />
<br />
My opponent brought:<br />
Sorceror of Slaanesh with Terminator Armor, LC, Combi-melta<br />
<br />
CSM 5-man Squad with Combi-melta, melta<br />
CSM 5-man Squad with PF/Plasma Pistol<br />
<br />
Berserkers x15 with Plasma Pistolx1<br />
<br />
Maulerfiend<br />
<br />
Heldrake<br />
<br />
The game was Emperor's Will with Vanguard deployment<br />
<br />
I deployed my army with one Terminator Squad holding my objective and the Dreadnought out in front of the squad, in cover behind an Imperial Statue and The other Terminator Squad and Belial mounted in the Crusader on the other flank ready to assault the enemy's objective. My opponent deployed his Berserkers behind some trees across from my Land Raider, his melta CSM squad near his objective, and the other CSM squad with the Sorceror attached on the other flank along with the Maulerfiend.<br />
<br />
Turn 1:<br />
I deployed second, and failed to seize the initiative, so my opponent started things off. He advanced and ran with his entire army. The berserkers moved into the woods in front of them while the maulerfiend took up position in the middle of the battlefield. The melta squad moved into a building in front of the Chaos objective, and the Sorceror's squad advanced toward the Dark Angel's objective. As the Chaos Forces Advanced, the Land Raider and Dreadnought inched forward and let loose with everything at the Berserkers. 4 berserkers went down, and Belial and his squad came pouring out of the land raider. The rest of the Dark angels shooting managed to kill one marine from the Sorceror's squad, but nothing else. Belial and his squad charged in and the Sergeant in the terminator squad issued a challenge that the skull champion had to meet. Between Belial and the Lightning Claw Terminators, 6 Berserkers died, and no terminators died in return. The Thunderhammer and Chainfist accounted for another 2 berserkers. However, the Skull Champion got a lucky hit in the challenge and killed the Terminator Sergeant. He got Eternal Warrior from the boon table and combat continued.<br />
<br />
Turn 2:<br />
My opponent moved his Maulerfiend to support his Berserkers and the Sorceror's squad continued to advance toward the Dark Angels Objective. The melta Chaos marine squad disembarked from their building and moved into cover with their objective. The Heldrake came on and screeched straight for the Terminator squad holding the objective, and the flamer killed two Terminators. The maulerfiend charged into combat with Belial and his squad. Belial killed 2 more Berserkers, and then the Lightning Claw terminators took out the champion. The Maulerfiend then attacked and killed the Thunderhammer and one of the Lightning claws. The Chainfist closed with the Maulerfiend and got 2 hits, immobilizing and shaking the mauler. Meanwhile the Dreadnought advanced toward the sorceror and killed another marine with it's assault cannon. And thanks to a lucky AC shot from the Land Raider, the Heldrake took a locked velocity hit.<br />
<br />
Turn 3:<br />
My opponent moved toward the Dreadnought, but failed to do any damage to the dread with the plasma. The Heldrake had no choice but to fly off the table. On the other side, The terminators lost the other Lightning Claw to the Maulerfiend, but the Chainfist finally brought the maulerfiend down. Belial and the Chainfist (which also had the Cyclone) consolidated toward the chaos marines on the objective. The Dark angels Dreadnought opened fire again on the sorceror and his squad and killed another marine. Meanwhile, Belial and the Cyclone advanced toward the Chaos Objective, supported by the Land Raider and between all the weapons firing, managed to kill two Chaos marines. The Dreadnought then charged into the Sorceror's squad and killed the Sorceror and another marine, but the Powerfist managed to glance the Dread. The Chaos marine then retreated, but was hacked down as he ran.<br />
<br />
Turn 4:<br />
The Heldrake came back on the table and again headed for the Dark angel Objective. This time, it also did a vector strike on the dreadnought, causing a glancing hit. The flamer hit all 3 of the remaining terminators, but failed to kill any of them thanks to the terminator armor. The melta squad opened fire on Belial and the Cyclone, but were out of melta range and so could not kill anything. The Dreadnought advanced toward the Chaos Objective along with Belial and the Land Raider. Shooting killed all but the combi-melta champion. The Cyclone back at the Dark angel Objective also fired on the Heldrake, but missed.<br />
<br />
At this point we called the game with my opponent conceding defeat. I took a few bruises, but this army performed rather well. I think this may be my army for our Planetary Empires Escalation campaign. Our first set of games in the campaign will also be 1000 points, and I think this army will perform ok for those early games as my opponents won't really be expecting Heavy armor and terminators.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-3682053223155279542012-11-06T09:39:00.001-08:002012-11-06T09:40:46.145-08:002v2 - Dark angels and Salamanders vs Chaos Space Marines and NecronsSo, I managed to get in a game this weekend despite everything I have going on currently. It was more of a learning game than anything, as most everyone was a beginner (except me), but it was still a lot of fun.<br />
<br />
The scenario was 2000 points per side (2x1000 pt lists), playing Purge the Alien with Dawn of War deployment.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>My Army consisted of:<br />
<br />
Company Master with Power Sword, Storm Bolter, Melta bombs <br />
<br />
Command Squad - Champion, Apothecary, Power Axe, Meltagun<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad (10-man) - Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad (10-man) - Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Sergeant with Plasma Pistol, Rhino<br />
<br />
Land Raider Crusader<br />
<br />
My ally playing Salamanders had:<br />
<br />
Captain in Terminator Armor<br />
<br />
Terminator Assault Squad - Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield x5<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad - Plasma Cannon, Flamer<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad - Heavy bolter, Flamer<br />
<br />
Land Raider Redeemer<br />
<br />
<br />
Our opponents had:<br />
Chaos space Marines:<br />
<br />
Sorceror with Mark of Slaanesh and Lightning claws (not sure what the power was as he died before he got to use it)<br />
<br />
Khorne Berserkers (20-man) - 1x Plasma Pistol<br />
<br />
CSM squad (5-man) - All Bolt Pistol, CCW<br />
CSM squad (5-man) - All Bolt Pistol, CCW<br />
<br />
Heldrake <br />
<br />
Maulerfiend<br />
<br />
Necrons:<br />
Obyron<br />
<br />
Necron Warriors (11-man)<br />
Necron Warriors (11-man)<br />
<br />
Doomsday Ark x2<br />
Monolith<br />
<br />
My warlord had the trait that gives me furious charge in the enemy's deployment zone, while my ally had Night Fighter. Our opponents had Increased reserves and Conqueror of Cities.<br />
<br />
The Dark angels arrived on the Battlefield in their transports. Master Duriel of the 4th Company accompanied his Command Squad aboard <i>Lion's Vengeance, </i>One of the Chapter's Land Raider Crusaders. They arrived on the battlefield on the Right Flank behind a small rock outcropping. Tactical Squads <i>Incarius </i>and <i>Gladius </i>both combat squaded. Sergeant Mathieu led 5 marines from <i>Incarius </i>aboard the rhino to include Brother Sergiel and his flamer, while Sergeant Halruan led half his squad aboard the other rhino including Brother Corian and his meltagun. The other half of both squads deployed into the high ruin in the middle of the deployment zone and behind a destroyed Rhino on the left flank. Meanwhile, the Salamanders deployed with their Redeemer carrying their captain and the terminators on the Right flank next to the Dark Angel's Land Raider, and one squad in the high ruins with the Heavy Bolter at the top of the ruin for maximum field of vision. The other Salamander squad deployed behind some craters on the left flank. The scouts moved forward ahead of the landraiders and took up position in a large crater.<br />
<br />
The Enemy arrived with the large group of berserkers with the sorceror attached near the left flank along with one of their 5-man squads and the Maulerfiend and only a single 5-man squad on the right flank. The necrons split their forces fairly evenly, with an ark on each flank, a warrior squad on each flank and the Monolith in the center. Obyron joined the Necron warriors on the left flank. <br />
<br />
Turn 1:<br />
As Dawn approached, the forces of Chaos began their advance, all of their forces ran across the landscape straight toward the imperial lines. Meanwhile, on the righ flank, the warriors advanced and the Ark took up position in a nearby ruin. On the Left flank, the warriors there also advanced along with the monolith. The night air suddenly lit up as the ark on the left flank opened fire with its doomsday cannon on one of the Dark Angel Rhinos, however, thanks to night fighting and the cover of the land raider, the Rhino was able to evade the blast. The other Ark fired at the Salamanders at the top of the high ruin and managed to kill 2, and the necron warriors on the right flank fired on the scouts, killing 2. The scouts shaken by the casualties, withdrew from their position, but quickly recovered.<br />
<br />
The Dark angels advanced in mass with their vehicles. The Salamander Redeemer also tried to keep pace with the Dark Angel advance, but one of it's tracks got caught on the lip of a crater and the vehicle came to a screeching halt. The Terminators inside, left with no other choice, poured out of the vehicle toward the enemy lines. the other Salamanders remained in their positions. Assault Cannon fire spilled out from the Land Raiders killing 2 of the 5-man squad on the right flank. Meanwhile, the combined fire of both DA combat squads and the Salamander squads killed 5 Berserkers and the sorceror thanks mostly to the Salamander Plasma Cannon. The small Chaos 5-man squad on the right flank panicked and retreated.<br />
<br />
Score: Imperium-3 (First Blood, Warlord, 1-KP)/CSM & Necrons -0<br />
<br />
Turn 2:<br />
The forces of chaos continued their movement toward the imperial lines as the small unit on the right flank regrouped. The Maulerfiend had closed with the Salamander squad on the Left flank and the berserkers were right behind. The Monolith also sucked in the Warriors from the Right Flank and they poured out of the portal near the middle of the field. The Heldrake also came screaming onto the battlefield to appear right in front of the Salamanders on the left flank. Necrons opened fire, killing another Salamander in the ruins and one of the arks fired on the Dark Angel Landraider, but failed to do anything to the armored behemoth. However, the blast caught the Rhino behind the Land Raider and glanced the Rhino's armor. The Heldrake's baleflamer scorched 3 Salamanders on the left flank. The Maulerfiend then charged into the Slamanders and killed 4, forcing them to fall back off of the table.<br />
<br />
The Dark Angels' Land Radier moved straight toward the Ark in the ruins on the right flank, while the Rhinos changed direction to support the now embattled Salamanders. As the DA Land Raider closed the distance, Duriel and his command squad came pouring out of the landraider, with the command squad moving toward the Ark, and Duriel moving toward the small 3-man squad of Chaos marines. Meanwhile, The Salamander Terminators also advanced toward the Chaos marines. The DA landraider opened fire on the Ark, immobilizing it and glancing it once. The command squad also threw krak grenades at it and fired their meltagun but failed to hurt the ark. Duriel and the Salamander captain then fired on the Chaos marines killing another one. On the other side, everything fired on the berserkers, killing another 6. Duriel and The salamanders then charged the Chaos marines while The command squad charged the Ark. Thanks to some well placed krak grenades and the power axe, the Ark was destroyed, and Duriel made quick work of the remaining Chaos marines.<br />
<br />
Score: Imperium-5/CSM & Necrons - 1<br />
<br />
Turn 3:<br />
The Berserkers moved into position to charge the Dark Angels Combat squad behind the old destroyed rhino terrain, while the maulerfiend moved toward the salamanders in the high ruin. The Heldrake turned 90 degrees and zoomed over the ruins toward the Right flank. Obyron then teleported himself and his warrior squad into the imperium's deployment zone where the Salamanders on the left flank had once been. The other warrior squad advanced on the Command squad and got into rapid fire range. The necron warriors fired and killed 2 of the Command squad. Meanwhile the ark and monolith fired at the DA land raider and managed to glance it. The Heldrake flamed the scouts and killed them. The berserkers then charged the DA combat squad while the maulerfiend charged the salamanders in the ruins. The Berserkers made quick work of the Dark angels, but lost 2 berserkers thanks to overwatch and a lucky hit by one of the DA marines. The maulerfiend killed two Salamanders, but the Salamanders held.<br />
<br />
The Dark Angel Command Squad advanced toward the Warriors and were joined by Duriel. The Salamander Terminators also advance toward the Necrons. The DA Landraider also attmepted to move closer to the Monolith but it got caught on a ruin and was immobilized. The Dark Angels fired everything they could at the Necron Warriors killing 4, but 2 got back up. Meanwhile the two DA rhinos had closed on the 5-man Chaos marine squad on the left flank and managed to kill 3 of them. The command squad and Duriel charged into the Warriors. Between all of the attacks, 5 Warriors fell, and they failed their morale and were ripped apart in a sweeping advance. Meanwhile, the Maulerfiend ripped apart another two Salamanders, but the Salamanders still held.<br />
<br />
Score: Imperium - 6/CSM & Necrons - 3<br />
<br />
At this point we called the game as it had gotten late (like I said, learning game, so things went a little long). We determined that likely based on the positions on the board, The Chaos forces would have lost their other 5-man squad. We also determined that they would have likely killed the Salamnaders, and at least one rhino. Even though we did not finish the game, I had a good time, and they all said they did as well. They also learned more about 40k and we will be starting a Planetary Empires campaign in a couple of weeks.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-74354531441765868182012-10-21T20:42:00.002-07:002012-10-21T20:42:31.117-07:00Chaos - Lessons LearnedSo, after a couple of weeks of really studying the new Chaos Space Marines Codex and dreaming up units and combos, I finally got a chance to play with the new codex for the first time this weekend. All I can say is wow...<br />
<a name='more'></a>So, first off, let me say, I felt a little bad as I screwed up several things, especially as it pertained to my winged Daemon Prince of Nurgle. I guess that's what happens when you recycle old lists...I left the Prince in an entry that showed FNP, so I did not even bat an eyelash about him having FNP considering he was Nurgle. My mistake and it would have led to a slightly different outcome, but as this was a test game for me anyways, the out come didn't much matter to me. <br />
<br />
Regardless, despite some HORRIBLE rolls and luck in the first three turns, I was incredibly impressed with the performance of this army. I won't give a full battle report, but I will give some assessments.<br />
<br />
First with the HQ. I took a Khorne Lord on a bike with the Axe of Blinding Fury. While he under-performed thanks to some really bad armor saves and then rolling a 1 for the Daemon Weapon, I was still very impressed with his potential. He still got a good number of attacks against a Dread Knight, and wounded 3 times (my opponent made 7 out of 8 5+ invulnerable saves, and said Dread Knight should have died, but instead he lived and proceeded to kill my Lord). The way I see it, this was absolute worst case for this lord and I would highly recommend this lord to anyone contemplating him, regardless of his performance in this game. I invested some points into the lord, but his killing potential was immense. I also took a full unit of chaos spawn to accompany the lord, and I must say, that while they failed to hurt the Dread Knight, they still performed admirably and held the Dread for 3 turns. My other HQ was a Nurgle Prince with wings. Once again luck was against me and he got grounded immediately (and took a wound from limited snap fire), but he then proceeded to tear apart my opponent's Terminator Inquisitor and 2 Grey Knight Squads. He also put 3 wounds on a Dread Knight. It was also at this point where I screwed up with his rules and he should have died in the first round of combat with the Dread Knights, but as it was he stayed and cost my opponent a Dread Knight. However, regardless of this SNAFU, I must say this guy was amazing, although he is definitely not made to take on 2 Dreads at once. He makes for an awesome unit to take on any enemy infantry and honestly any units that do not have the ability to cause Strength 10 attacks will die against him.<br />
<br />
On the troops, I took 2 smaller units of Berserkers, 2 units of CSM with meltas and plasma (one also had a Lascannon), and a group of cultists. The cultists performed incredibly well as bubble wrap and as the distraction unit they were meant to be and I would take them any time. The regular marines were also admirable performers and did what they needed to do. However, my Berserkers were underwhelming at best. I personally think that they need a boost and if they are going against Grey Knights, they are simply not going to cut it in assault...this is especially problematic as they have no shooting ability to speak of. So, I believe in future lists, I will not be fielding these guys...or if I do it will be a larger tarpit unit for dealing with Dreads and such and tying them up for a while. I think in my next game I will see how Chosen do with a mark of Khorne and geared for assault.<br />
<br />
To round out my army, I took a Heldrake and a Hellbrute. Both did fairly well, although the Heldrake takes the MVP title. The Heldrake is simply amazing and killed 3 Grey Knight units. The Hellbrute also took out a squad with the help of a minimal bare bones Plague Marine squad. These plague marines were also decent in helping to soak up attacks and keep the Dread in the fight.<br />
<br />
So, at the end of the day, this list tabled my opponent on turn 6. Now, the Prince was way off, but as I discovered, I also had payed for a second Heldrake and boons of chaos (which I forgot about). So, I think the results would have been very similar regardless (Not to mention even average die rolls early on would have made a world of difference). Going forward, I am already working on a more competitive list and we'll see how it does. But, I am definitely leaning toward 3 Heldrakes (one with cannon instead of flamer) and dual princes along with regular CSM, cultists and maybe a Maulerfiend/Forgefiend and Chosen as support.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-76305269961393907362012-10-16T08:56:00.001-07:002012-10-16T08:57:37.502-07:00Chaos Space Marines - Conceptualizing a ListSo, as this blog is not just about Dark angels, but also covers the Fallen and Chaos Space Marines in General, I have really started going through the codex and getting ideas for a new list. I would like this list to be somewhat fluffy as a Fallen list, but also competitive.<br />
<a name='more'></a>So, when making lists I always like to start with my HQ choice(s). The nice thing with Codex: CSM is that it gives you a ton of options for an HQ without having to buy a special character to have a competitive HQ choice. So, for my Fallen HQ, I am picturing a Fallen Angel that has turned to the Chaos gods completely. I have one of two routes I can take here. First I can build a Chaos Lord...or, we can make a Daemon Prince (I am actually leaning more toward this option).<br />
<br />
For a Lord, I am thinking that to maintain a Fallen Knight theme, I should take a mounted Lord. I can go for a Lord mounted on a bike, or if I choose to give my lord a Mark, I could mount him on a daemonic Steed. As I much prefer the steed idea, let's look at the marks. When I think of a Fallen Lord who has turned to Chaos, I picture either a mark of Slaanesh (which would speak to the pride of the Fallen overtaking them), or a mark of Khorne (if I decide to accent the combat prowess of the Fallen). To a lesser extent, a mark of Nurgle could be stretched to fit my fluff, but as I do not like the Palanquin, I think I am going to stick with either Khorne or Slaanesh. Since, I am going for a competitive list as well as a fluffy list, I am thinking that Khorne is my better choice here (plus I love the Juggernaught model). Khorne gives me Rage, as well as unlocking the Juggernaught and a nice Daemon Weapon. Also, as I am going for Fallen here, I think a plasma pistol is a must. All said and done, I am looking at around 150-180 points for a very mean HQ who will get 7+D6 attacks on a charge (3 base + 2 Rage + 1 two weapons + 1 Jugger + D6 daemon weapon) and will have a nice Toughness value with a little short range firepower. Since this lord will be in Power Armor, I think a Sigil of Corruption is a likely option as well, but I really would like to keep my lord under 200 points, so there won't be many other options.<br />
<br />
For A Daemon Prince, I unfortunately see fewer fluffy options, but I think I could do a Daemon Prince representing a Fallen Angel some justice as a conversion piece. I am picturing a larger than life Angel of Death here and the picture of Mortarion (of the Death Guard) sticks out as inspiration to me. So, I could do a Daemon Prince with Power Armor, Wings and Daemon of Nurgle here. This gives me a nasty Flying Monstrous Creature with a 3+/5++ save and Shrouded (which if used with Evade makes him very hard to hit). Additionally giving him Wings pretty much negates the negatives associated with Slow and Purposeful. To arm the Daemon, I think the obvious choice would be the Black Mace. I do not need a mark for this Daemon Weapon (which circumvents this current argument about whether a Daemon Prince of the right God can take artefacts that require marks of that same god) and the best part is that since the Daemon Prince is a monstrous Creature, his attacks hit at AP2, which negates the obvious drawback of the Mace being AP4. This option for an HQ comes in much more expensive than the Lord option, but obviously gives a bit more punch in hand to hand.<br />
<br />
A final HQ option would be a Dark Apostle...but I am writing this one off as I like the other two options much more.<br />
<br />
For troops, I am thinking Plasma goodness will need to permeate the army to represent the Fallen. So the obvious choice here are Chaos Space Marines unmarked (or marked with Khorne or Nurgle) with dual plasma guns and potentially a plasma pistol or combi plasma on the Champion. Cultists might also find a place in this list, but I am leaning away from them. The last option here is Berserkers (if I choose the Khorne lord). While not nearly as fluffy, from a competitive stand point, these units could give me the added punch I need in Assault...and I can also give them plasma (albeit, less effective plasma in the form of pistols).<br />
<br />
As support Choices, I am seeing Chaos Bikers as a good option for a retinue for my lord, although Chaos Spawn come out cheaper and provide me more wounds per points spent. The only thing here is whether I want to go more toward Fluff, or more toward effectiveness (a unit of Khorne marked spawn would give D6+2 attacks on the charge on top of the obvious multi wounds). Either way, this makes for a nasty accompaniment for my lord. If I choose to go with the prince, I can pretty much mark this unit off of my list...or just go with the bikes. I think a Heldrake with the Baleflamer also will find it's way into my list. For Heavy choices, Havocs look very enticing as do the the Fiends and Obliterators. I think when it is all said and Done, I will likely go with Obliterators marked with nurgle for even more plasma goodness, although if I have the points, I may also take Havocs with missile launchers and Flakk for a little more anti-air capability. Finally, depending on the points I have left, a unit of Chosen could round out the list. Once again, lots of plasma love here...or I feel I need more assault punch I can go with Mark of Khorne and melee weapons/power weapons.<br />
<br />
Anyways, just thoughts right now, but I am really pretty excited to build a Chaos army with the new Codex. I may also drop some of my Support choices and instead bring some allies (likely IG), but I am not fully sure yet.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-70280114818411799512012-09-26T11:00:00.002-07:002012-10-16T08:57:46.428-07:00Dark Angels RumorsI normally do not do the whole rumor thing. I prefer to focus more on army building, tactica, and battle reports. But, with the Dark angels codex release rumored to be right around the corner, I decided to round up all the rumors and see if maybe we get a decent idea of what to expect with the new Dark Angel codex. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The Dark Angels codex is rumored to be released by the end of the year. Some sources say November, while others are saying December. Along with the codex release, we will see at least 3-4 boxed sets of miniatures in this release.<br />
<br />
First, as far as the Army special rules, these are the things that I have compiled from several rumor sources:<br />
Army wide will see stubborn units with "inner circle" units maintaining fearless. ATSKNF will remain in effect for stubborn units. There is also something that represents the chapter's proficiency with plasma - as of now, I'm not sure if this will be in the form of a special rule, or just gear selection options, but we can definitely expect more plasma. A new Warlord traits list will be coming (this table may well encompass all of the special rules that are being rumored). And a new list of at least 4 Psyker powers...I doubt we will see cards for just 4 powers, unless they come out with the codex. There will be some type of special bonus the army will get for hunting the fallen, which will be represented via winning challenges.<br />
<br />
For Army selection, our special characters will be getting some love. All of the characters from the previous codex remain, but we will be seeing the addition of at least 2-3 more characters to include a chaplain type. I found this list on Faeit 212:<br />
<br />
HQ:<br />
Azrael<br />
Belial - not needed for deathwing<br />
Sammael - not needed for ravenwing<br />
Azmodai<br />
Ezekiel<br />
Barakiel - named Techmarine/master of the forge! Note: barakiel is known as Angel of Lightning in references<br />
Sabrael - guardian of the inner circle, gives bonus to inner circle unit<br />
Librarian<br />
Company Master TA option<br />
Interrogator chaplain<br />
Command squad ( option to take TA or bikes with Belial or Sammael respectively, and apothecary, standard bearer, 1 heavy weapon)<br />
<br />
Elite:<br />
Techmarine<br />
Chaplains (x3 can function independently like sanguinary priests in BA,
or form a unit w special rules). Only characters if independent.<br />
Inner circle unit ( name is not known) tasked with hunting down one
enemy unit, special rules for doing so. Can death wing assault, can
assault on deep strike. But glass cannon, great in assault, but standard
PA so will be easily shot up.<br />
Brother-interrogators - this unit wears chaplain style death masks, but
are not chaplains, they are a specialist unit adept at near range
combat, standard armament is dual bolt pistols and power maul. Can
upgrade pistols.<br />
Veterans<br />
Dreadnought<br />
Scouts<br />
<br />
Troops:<br />
Terminators<br />
Tactical squad<br />
Ravenwing Bike squad not sure how it differs from ravenwing assault squad.<br />
<br />
FA:<br />
Ravenwing assault squad<br />
Ravenwing support squad<br />
Assault marines<br />
Ravenclaw air superiority fighter<br />
<br />
Hvy<br />
Predator<br />
Whirlwind w flakk options<br />
Land raider<br />
Devastator w flakk options<br />
Dreadnought<br />
Vindicator<br />
<br />
Fortifications:<br />
Siege cannon ( this is supposedly the Techmarine cannon described earlier)<br />
Battle bunker<br />
<br />
There is also rumors that there will be a new vehicle or variant in the heavy slot. All I have read rumored it to be a new predator plasma variant. I also recently heard a rumor about a possible plasma Land Raider variant, but who knows. Also, the dreadnought in the Heavy slot is rumored to be a Mortis dread with special rules.<br />
<br />
Standard Dedicated Transports are there, Rhino, razorback, and Drop
Pods. I have conflicting rumors the Land Raider is in as a Dedicated
Transport for Terminators.<br />
<br />
New landspeeder (Storm?)<br />
Its bigger than the StormTalon, but the fuselage has a landspeeder style
to it. I took it to mean squarish. The wings are supposedly fanned
forward like an Aquila. I am also going to assume that this will not be a second flyer, so maybe this is the "ravenclaw" in the rumor above.<br />
<br />
Now all of these things are rumors, but considering how accurate these sources were on the Chaos codex, I am getting rather excited. The biggest things I wanted to see out of a new codex was parity with Codex: Space Marines, more special characters, a chapter-specific special rule bringing us back to the glory days of being stubborn, and maybe a new unit or two, especially a flyer. And by the rumors I am seeing, these all appear to be coming.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-38529089604004065462012-09-24T09:09:00.001-07:002012-10-16T08:57:55.517-07:00Another 2000 pt Purge the Alien TournamentSo, this past Saturday, we had yet another 2000 pt Purge the Alien tournament. I came in third overall, but I think the list that I brought had the potential to rank higher. Alas, the dice gods left me in game 2, and I had to settle for third. Still, I had a great time, and was pretty happy with my army's performance.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The list I brought was:<br />
Belial with Twin claws<br />
<br />
Terminator Squad - Apothecary, Banner, Chainfist, Cyclone, TH/SS x2, Claws x1<br />
Terminator Squad - TH/SS x3, Claws x1, Chainfist, Cyclone<br />
Terminator Squad - TH/SS x3, Claws x1, Chainfist, Cyclone<br />
<br />
Landraider with Storm Bolter<br />
<br />
Imperial Guard Company Command Squad - Officer with Plasma pistol, Plasma gun x2, Lascannon<br />
<br />
IG Veteran Squad - Plasma Gun x3, Lascannon, Demolitions<br />
IG Veteran squad - Meltagun x3, Demolitions<br />
<br />
Vendetta squadron - 2 Vendettas with Twin-Linked Lascannons x3<br />
<br />
Lemon Russ Demolisher - Lascannon in hull <br />
<br />
So, for the first game I faced off against the Chaos player from the last tournament. He brought a more frightening list this time, to include two units from Forge World; the Dread Claw (Daemonic Dreadnought), and a Chaos Drop Pod/Flyer. The rest of his army included Abaddon with 4 Terminator Champions in a Land Raider, A Defiler, 5 Chaos Marines, 10 Khorne Berserkers in the Pod, and one unit of 3 Obliterators, and another of 2 Obliterators. My opponent suffered from some pretty bad rolls early on, but he also made some (in my opinion) huge tactical errors. For one he left an Obliterator squad off by itself on his left flank, which allowed my meltagun veterans to hunt them down when they arrived via the vendetta, without having to worry about any reprisal. Also, he moved his other obliterators and 5 man chaos marine squad in such a way that I was able to assault them on turn 2 with my Terminator command squad and Belial coming out of the Land Raider. The terminators easily killed the obliterators, and Belial tore apart the chaos marines. It was an easy 2 VP (+1 more for first blood). He also forgot to move his Daemon Prince on turn 3, which made it lose it's "Hard-to-Hit" rule, and I was able to kill it without much problem. I made one mistake in forgetting to move one of my Terminator squads on turn 3 after it had arrived from Deep Strike, but my opponent did not capitalize on it. By the end of the game, I had tabled my opponent, and had only lost one Terminator squad in return. I had other casualties, but as far as full kill points, my opponent only scored 1.<br />
<br />
Game 2 I was to face off against a speed freaks army that I had just watched dismantle the guy that had taken first in the last tournament. It was a very tough list utilizing double FOC (which was kind of crap in my opinion, as the tournament organizer had originally said no double FOC lists, only Allies). I am not outright opposed to double FOC, and in fact support it as it is part of 6th edition, but it just would have been nice if everyone had gotten the same opportunity. The list included a tough unit of Nob Bikers with a Pain Boy accompanying a Warboss on a bike and Wazdakka (sic). There were also 2 units of boyz in Trukks, and a unit of meganobz in a battlewagon led by Ghazkul. The list was finished off with a Deffdread. This is the game where my dice left me for every offensive action I took. I couldn't hit worth a crap in hand to hand or shooting (11 strength 8-9 shots fired at a Trukk and only managed to glance it twice...and he didn't even have cover). However, my saves were incredible...Belial and his unit took the entire Orc Army's shooting for two turns and only lost one terminator thanks to FNP and Belial taking wounds for the squad (and some good choices of when to take look out sir...every time I chose to take one, was when I rolled a 1, and then would make the save). additionally, Belial's group not only assaulted the Nob Bikers, but made them run and lost no one in the assault...the Bikers lost only one bike, but both Warbosses took wounds (I really should have killed a lot more, but like I said, my dice were just not hitting...Belial's 6 attacks only hit and wounded once for example. We were unable to finish this game and only got 3 turns in which gave my opponent a victory of 4 vs 2 (thanks to first blood and Slay the Warlord...I should have had first blood on a trukk, but just could not get penetrating hits to save my life). However, not to take away too much from my opponent, but he got one more turn than me and had I gotten my half of the turn, I am about 90% positive I would have at least tied it or possibly even pulled ahead (he had one HP left on the Deff Dread, one HP left on a Trukk, and only 4 boyz left in one of his groups, as well as only 2 HP left on his battlewagon with a group of Terminators with a Chainfist in assault range). Mind you, my opponent would have scored at least one more VP as he had just assaulted the Leman Russ, but like I said, I think the outcome would have been either 5-5, 6-5 in my favor had I gotten my turn.<br />
<br />
Game 3, I faced off against a Tau player with Necron allies. I had never faced Necrons in 6th edition, so I was a bit nervous, but my opponent made the mistake of choosing to deploy and go first. His list included 2 Broadside teams, 2 Crisis teams with O'shava (sic) and a bodyguard held in Deep strike reserve. The necron allies were two large groups of warriors and a unit of lychguard led by a suped up Overlord. My opponent's deployment mistake allowed me to strong side him, leaving both of his units of Warriors out of the game for the first two turns. It also helped that I stole the initiative, but the outcome would have been the same even if this hadn't happened. My opponent claimed that he would have scored first blood by destroying my Land Raider, but I'm not convinced this would have been the case as he only had 3 shots on it and I had cover from all three shots. Regardless, stealing the initiative allowed me to get first blood by killing one of his Broadside teams. I didn't really do much more on turn 1, but on turn 2 all of my reserves arrived and I was able to basically surround his lychguard and overlord and torrented them to death. The Vendettas also were able to take out his other Broadside team. On his turn he managed to land his Tau commander and one of the Crisis teams, but the other team mishapped and were destroyed (he gambled with all three teams on the deepstrike location, and just happened to lose his gamble). These killed off my vets, but on my turn 3 I annihilated both groups with my terminators and overwhelming firepower. At this point my opponent conceded.<br />
<br />
The Speed Freaks player lost to another Orc army with Chaos Marine allies, which left first place to the Orc/Chaos player, and a three-way tie for second place between me, Himkano, and the Speed Freaks player. Since the Speed Freaks player had already defeated both Himkano and I, he took second place and Himkano and I had to play a final game to determine third. Himkano fielded Blood Angels with IG allies and his list was a nasty AV13-14 mech list. It included 2 Land Raiders with small 5-man assault marine squads inside with a librarian, a Vindicator, a Leman Russ squadron with 2 Demolishers and an Executioner with plasma sponsons, 2 whirlwinds (kept out of LoS), and a squadron of 2 Vendettas carrying a group of Vets and his IG command squad. We rolled for night fighting turn 1, which was in my benefit...I chose to deploy in a gun line with only my Vendettas carrying the melta vets in reserve. I did not shoot on turn 1, and forced him to move towards me...he got off a couple of shots, but thanks to night fighting, I made my cover saves and no damage was done. On my second turn, I fired everything I had at the left Land raider and blew it up (admittedly I got a lucky 6 to make it explode, but I did shoot at it with 5 Lascannons (3 twin linked) and 4 missiles. most of the shots hit, but only the final shots from the landraider managed to penetrate and blow it up. Had it not blown up, it still would have only had 2 HP - and with my vendettas in the area, I think it would have been toast anyways. as it was, the death of the Land Raider allowed my Vendettas to blow his vindicator apart. His turn he brought his vendettas on and fired at mine. He managed to glance one of mine, but otherwise was fairly unlucky. His land raider fired back at my Land Raider, but thanks to my cover, he did no damage. Nothing else of his was in range, mainly because he hadn't moved (I believe this was a tactical miscalculation personally). On my turn I put my Vendettas in hover mode and deployed my melta vets next to his other land raider. The vets failed to do anything to the Land Raider, despite having 3 melta guns, but a lucky shot from one of the other lascannons took out the land raider (so, it made up for my bad luck with my meltas). The vendettas also managed to damage the Executioner and kept it from shooting. On his turn he immobilised one of my Vendettas and killed my vets, he also finally started moving his Leman Russ squadron. My opponent conceded at the end of turn 5 (we had rolled a turn 6, but I don't think he could have caught up as I had first blood and 5 VP, while he had only scored 2 VP with prospects of only getting maybe two more VP (him not moving for the early turns allowed me to stay mostly out of range, and so he had few targets).<br />
<br />
So, not a bad performance at all for this list. I learned a bit more about the meta for these tournaments, and I have some tweaks to do, but for the most part, I think this list is the list to bring. I still feel that I could have won the tournament, but I'm not too upset with third place as I more than made my money back with the prize.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-5928319306662882802012-09-10T15:18:00.000-07:002012-10-16T08:58:23.079-07:002000 points Dark angels vs Blood AngelsThis weekend I played a 2000 point game against Himkano. We are both going to be attending a 2000 pt Purge the Alien tournament at the end of this month, so we decided to test each others tournament lists. Himkano has posted a Battle Report as well, and you can see it on his page, with pictures <a href="http://descentofangel.blogspot.com/2012/09/2000-dark-angels-v-blood-angels.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Belial paced the officer's quarters aboard the strike cruiser <i>Illuminatus Irati</i>. He had been tasked by the inner circle to head to the remote imperial world of New Europa. Recent comms from the world had reported a strange warp signature coming from a remote area of the badlands outside of the world's largest city. What no one else knew however was that this signature had been linked to the Fallen and thus the Inner Circle had immediately sent one of their fastest ships with a small group of Deathwing Veterans to investigate and keep others from discovering anything against the chapter.<br />
<br />
As the Cruiser approached the planet, Belial received a transmission from the Gigantic Retribution Class Imperial Battleship orbiting the planet. "Master Belial, this Lord Commissar Grealey of the Dorellian 2nd Regiment. We have scanned the planet and strangely, there is no sign of life. We have deployed several battalions to secure the City of Helmswood...or what's left of it. The Blood Angels have also responded and are already on planet and headed to investigate the warp signature."<br />
<br />
Belial had to act fast, he could not allow the Blood Angels to reach the signature before he could, and if they did, he had to ensure that they were unable to gather any information that was of value to the Inner Circle. "Lord Commissar, we will deploy in support of the Blood Angels immediately."<br />
<br />
The Lord Commissar, however, had a different idea in mind than what Belial wanted. "Master Belial, the 3rd Infantry Platoon, 1st company will rendezvous with you on site."<br />
<br />
"That will not be necessary, I am sure the Astartes can handle this on their own." Belial replied.<br />
<br />
"I am sorry Master Belial, but my men are already on their way. I will tell them that they are under your command. Grealey out."<br />
<br />
Belial was not accustomed to being spoken to in this manner, but this was a Lord Commissar. He would deploy his small group down to the planet and deal with the Blood Angels first and then if needed, he could deal with the guardsman as well. A Landing Craft launched and headed for the coordinates of the Warp signature carrying squads <i>Vindictae</i> and <i>Ultionis</i> of the Deathwing along with a devastator squad from the 3rd Battle Company and a Land Raider tank. For now, Belial held his own personal retinue on board the Cruiser in reserve in case they were needed.<br />
<br />
As Veteran Sergeant Uriel of Deathwing Squad <i>Vindictae</i> arrived on site, he was immediately approached by an imperial guardsman. The decoration on the guardsman's uniform quickly identified him as a Captain. "Sergeant, my men are at your disposal. Has Master Belial arrived?" The captain looked diminutive standing before the massive form of Uriel in his Terminator Amor.<br />
<br />
"No, Captain, Master Belial will not be joining us just yet. He has put me in charge of operations here on the ground. But he is keeping a close eye on the situation." Uriel began to look out across the field where the ruins of an imperial outpost was visible. "Is that where the signal is coming from?" Uriel asked pointing to the outpost.<br />
<br />
"Yes, Sergeant. However the Blood Angels have already arrived and are investigating. I have 1st squad and my personal retinue here and ready. 2nd squad is in bound aboard two Vendettas from the 213th Aviation Battalion. What are Master Belial's orders?" The Captain awaited Uriel's response.<br />
<br />
Uriel switched his comms and relayed the Captain's report to Master Belial. Master Belial's orders horrified Uriel. Immediately, Uriel switched off his comms and relayed the orders to the Captain. "Captain, we have been betrayed. The Blood Angels on site have become corrupted by whatever warp power that exists in that outpost. We are to engage immediately. Order you men to prepare for battle!"<br />
<br />
Uriel could hardly believe what he was just told as he led his squad into the lumbering Land Raider. Devastator squad <i>Lion's Claws</i> took off at a light trot toward a tall ruin on the West side of the ruined outpost while Squad <i>Ultionis</i> took position in the ruins of a building immediately to the East of the devastators. Uriel's land raider then headed up behind the tall ruins behind the devastators. On the East flank, The Imperial guard captain and his squad took up position in a small ruined command building while 1st Guard Veteran squad took up positions amongst the debris and rubble around what looked like impact craters. Uriel still had no idea what had happened on this world.<br />
<br />
As Uriel looked out toward the other end of the outpost, he could make out the shapes of not one, but two Standard pattern Land Raiders with Blood Angels insignia. "All forces, enemy sighted. Fire at will!"<br />
<br />
------Turn 1------<br />
Before the Blood Angels could even react, missiles and laser blasts began pelting the Blood Angels tanks and the surrounding terrain. Thanks to the heavy armor on the tanks, the Blood Angels were able to survive the barrage with no significant damage. Meanwhile, The guard captain had relayed Belial's report and orders to the Lord Commissar still in orbit and had managed to secure the use of the Battleship's Orbital Bombardment batteries. The Master of the Ordinance attached to the Captain's squad relayed the Blood Angel coordinates to the battleship, but the blasts failed to score a direct hit on the massive tanks.<br />
<br />
The Blood Angels, now alerted to the fact that the Imperial forces ahead of them were actually a threat withdrew back behind some rock formations for cover. As they withdrew they opened fire on the Imperial guard Command retinue in the command building. Lascannon blasts, melta fire and heavy bolter rounds blasted massive holes in the walls of the building, but the guardsmen managed to take cover as chunks of ceramite and ferracrete flew around the building.<br />
------End Turn 1: DA-0/BA-0------<br />
<br />
------Turn 2------<br />
Belial watched the small skirmish aboard his cruiser. "Uriel, I will hold off on deep striking to your location unless the Blood Angels have reinforcements." Belial was confident that his men could handle the Blood Angels on the ground.<br />
<br />
Back at the outpost, Uriel ordered his Land Raider forward and it zipped out from behind the tall ruins and headed toward the enemy Land Raiders. Squad <i>Ultionis </i>also moved forward in an attempt to get a better vantage point to fire their Cyclone at the Blood Angels. Missiles and Lascannon blasts once again fired, but again they mostly bounced off of the thick Land Raider armor, although one Lascannon blast did manage to tear a hole in one of the Land Raider's track guards.<br />
<br />
Suddenly on the horizon a single Bloodraven came into view and as it flew toward the Dark Angels lines, it dropped off a squad of Death Company and a Death Company Furioso pattern Dreadnought equipped with giant talons. The Bloodraven opened fire on the devastator squad turning one of the marines carrying a missile launcher into a fine red mist. The Land Raiders now with the added support brought by the Bloodraven advanced forward firing as they advanced. The guardsmen, once again took cover and the tanks failed to find their mark.<br />
<br />
"Master Belial, I believe we may need you now. The Blood Angel reinforcements have arrived, and it appears to be a significant force." Uriel relayed the report over comms in a calm and steady voice.<br />
------End Turn 2: DA-0/BA-0------<br />
<br />
------Turn 3------<br />
The air behind the Death Company shimmered and suddenly Belial appeared leading another squad of Deathwing Terminators carrying the renowned Deathwing Standard. With the arrival of Belial, Uriel ordered his men out of the tank, and along with the other Deathwing squad, advanced on the Blood Angel Death Company and Dreadnought. The Devastators and the Land Raider opened fire on the Death Company dreadnought and one of the blasts ignited the prometheum tanks fueling the dreadnought's heavy flamers. The dreadnought went up in an incandescent fireball and as the smoke cleared, all that could be seen of the dreadnought was burning chunks of scrap metal. Belial and the other squads also fired on the Deathwing and managed to kill 2 of the marines as Squad <i>Vindictae</i> charged into their ranks. The combat was fierce as Lightning Claws and Thunder Hammers tore through the Death Company. Several of the Death Company fell in the initial charge, but the remaining 4 fought on and their Power Axes manged to fell two of the Terminators.<br />
<br />
The Blood Angels called in yet another Bloodraven which streaked in firing as it came. The other Bloodraven adjusted it's jets and went into hover mode providing even more firepower to the battle now raging near the Dark Angels section of the battle line. Several blasts tore into the devastators killing another two marines, while on the other flank the Land Raiders continued their advance and manged to kill two of the guardsman making up the imperial guard Command Squad. Despite the losses, the Captain managed to keep his men in the fight. Meanwhile, the close combat raged on between the Death company and the Terminators, but the Death Company fell beneath the weight of weapons of the Terminators and the terminators then began stepping over the bodies of the fallen as they advanced on the Land Raiders.<br />
------End Turn 3: DA-3/BA-0------<br />
<br />
------Turn 4------<br />
Finally, the Guard's Vendetta's arrived on the battlefield and as they zoomed in they opened fire with 6 twin-linked lascannons on the Bloodraven that had just arrived. The blasts tore through the Bloodraven's armor and it went crashing down in flames. As the Blood Raven hit the ground and exploded, a lone Blood Angel managed to bail out in time, but he was not unscathed. The dreadnought on board the Bloodraven unfortunately did not make it out and was lost among the wreckage. Among the flames and smoke, the lone form of Mephiston arose, bloodied, but still ready for battle. 2nd squad also bailed out of the back of the Vendettas with their grav chutes and opened fire on the hovering Bloodraven, but were unable to bring the flyer down. Belial and his squad advanced toward the Bloodraven as squad Vindictae continued moving toward the Blood Angel Land Raiders. Meanwhile, Squad Ultionis moved to intercept Mephiston. Squad <i>Vindictae </i>let out a battlecry as they charged into the Land Raider. The Hammers came down and tore chunks out of the Land Raider's armor, but still the tank continued it's implacable advance. Belial and his squad also charged at the hovering form of the Bloodraven and tore it apart. As the Bloodraven fell, the resulting explosion took down one of the Terminators in Belial's squad.<br />
<br />
The Blood Angels continued to fight. Mephiston headed for the Land Raider as the two Blood Angel Land Raiders moved forward. The Western-most Land Raider opened it's front ramp and a group of screaming assault marines came pouring out charging straight for the Guard squad that had dropped onto the battlefield from the Vendettas. A shot from the Land Raider took down the last Devastator carrying a heavy weapon, leaving only the Sergeant. The Other Land Raider opened fire on the Imperial Guard Command squad killing another trooper and finally, even with the leadership of the Captain this became too much. The command squad went into a panic and fled. Mephiston opened his mind to the warp and a blade made of what appeared to be blood appeared in his hand as he began systematically tearing the Land Raider apart. The Land Raider exploded leaving Mephiston standing among the smoldering debris. The Assault marines finally came to grips with the guardsmen from the Vendettas and made quick work of them, although a lucky shot from the guardsmen managed to down a marine.<br />
------End Turn 4: DA-6/BA-3------<br />
<br />
------Turn 5------<br />
Uriel's group moved toward the assault marines as Belial moved up to support them in their charge. Belial's squad continued to advance on the Land Raider. Squad Ultionis also continued their advance on Mephiston. Missiles flew out from all of the Cyclones, wounding Mephiston twice, and dropping another Assault marine. Squad Ultionis charged Mephiston and finished him, but not before Mephiston managed to kill two Terminators.<br />
<br />
The Blood Angels deployed another assault marine squad from the last Land Raider, which headed straight for the last imperial guard veteran squad. The Blood Angels assault marines opened fire on Belial and his group but failed to do any damage. Meanwhile the Landraiders opened fire on the Vendettas, sending them both plummeting to the ground in flames. As the Assault marines charged the last veterans, all that could be heard was the sound of chain swords carving through armor, flesh and bone and the screams of the dying guardsmen. As Belial looked on, he saw that not one guardsman had survived. <br />
------End Turn 5: DA-8/BA-5------<br />
<br />
------Last Turn------<br />
Belial and his group assaulted the assault marines and killed them all except for the sergeant. The sergeant began to retreat away from Belial and the rest of his squad. Finally, the damaged Land Raider also exploded under the combined chainfist, power fist, and thunder hammers of Belial's retinue squad.<br />
<br />
The Blood Angels were now routed, they attempted to regroup, now in the enemy's deployment zone, but had been reduced to combat ineffectiveness.<br />
------End Turn 6: DA-9/BA-6------<br />
<br />
Overall, I was quite pleased with my army as a whole, but based on his performance in the last two games, I have decided to scrap my Master of the Ordinance. Instead, I am adding a lascannon to the Command squad and will be adding another chain fist to the Terminators as well as adding an autocannon to one of the veteran squads.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-11090409524838478242012-09-06T11:36:00.002-07:002012-10-16T08:58:43.721-07:002000 Point Dark Angels vs EldarWell, this past weekend I played a 2000 point game against a friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a while. I forgot to take pictures, but I will post the Battle Report. I have decided to do the Battle report a little different this time and make it more narrative. This Battle was Big Guns Never Tire (3 objectives) with Dawn of War deployment.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a> The pre-dawn fog roiled over the battlefield as Captain Frost kept his watch on the horizon. Days ago, the 213rd Sentinel Recon Platoon had spotted Xenos in the area and had reported back. Colonel Herndon of the 21st Galbrean Planetary Defense Regiment ordered Frost to deploy 2 infantry platoons to the area a few days after the sighting, but all communications had been lost. A nearby Dark angels Strike Cruiser in the area immediately answered the Colonel's call for help and now Captain Frost personally led 3rd platoon to see if they could find out the fate of his missing men. Captain Frost chose 3rd platoon because these were his best men. Grizzled veterans, the men of 3rd platoon had seen action not just on-planet but had also seen off-world action as well. Captain Frost had great faith in his men, but he was far more reassured by the presence of the Dark Angels on his flanks.<br />
<br />
Suddenly, the pre-dawn quiet was broken by vox chatter. "Grizzly Six Actual, this is Silent Vigilance, over." Captain Frost had sent his best scout, Guardsman Marbo, far forward to keep an eye out for any signs of his men or of the Xenos.<br />
<br />
"Go ahead Silent Vigilance, this is Grizzly Six." Captain Frost awaited the report.<br />
<br />
"Sir, I have a lot of Xenos activity in the ruins North of your position. Looks like Eldar, sir. And they have brought a lot of firepower." Guardsman Marbo sounded both excited and nervous. He was always clamoring for action, and it looked like he was about to have his wish fulfilled.<br />
<br />
"What do you see out there Silent Vigilance." Captain Frost had not expected Eldar, now he wondered what they were doing on his world.<br />
<br />
"Sir, it looks like two Wraithlords, A group of witches, a Falcon Grav Tank, and several guardians...And...sir, you are not going to believe this, I see an Eldar Daemon!" Marbo's voice was a little too loud for Frost's comfort.<br />
<br />
"Got it Marbo, keep out of sight for now and await further orders." Frost, changed the vox frequency to open comms and relayed Marbo's report to the rest of his men and then switched frequencies again to report to the Dark Angels Master still aboard the Strike Cruiser. Frost didn't like relaying battlefield intelligence to the Dark Angels in such a round a bout way, but he had no direct line of communications to the Dark Angels on the ground.<br />
<br />
"We have received your report, Captain. We will deploy to support. Master Belial out." Frost's vox then went silent.<br />
<br />
Frost had deployed 1st squad right next to his own squad behind a low barricade made from some debris that his men had scavenged in the center of the imperial line. He continued to look out across the scrubland to see if he could spot the Eldar. As he did so, he saw a Dark Angels heavy weapons squad take position behind a nearby rock formation on his left flank along with a group of marines in their massive Terminator Dreadnought armor. And on his right flank, he saw another Dark Angels squad carrying a Multi-melta and a plasma gun take position among some other rock formations as well as yet another group of marines in Terminator armor. Frost also had a Vendetta gunship in reserve carrying 2nd squad in case he needed it.<br />
<br />
Finally, Frost spotted the enemy in the darkness. He could make out a group of guardians with a Scatter Laser weapons platform in the ruins at 10 o'clock and the unmistakable fiery form of the Eldar Daemon. Directly behind the guardians was a group of Eldar on jetbikes. In the center of the enemy formation was a group of Aspect Warriors (Frost recognized them as Dire Avengers from his studies of the Xenos at the war academy). Beside the Aspect warriors in the ruin were the massive forms of two Wraithlords and a small group of Eldar witches. Then Frost saw the first sign of what had happened to his men. The wreckage of a Chimera was visible and hiding among the wreckage was another group of Dire Avengers and another group of guardians with a Bright Lance platform. Frost could also make out the form of a Falcon Grav Tank behind the wreckage of the chimera.<br />
<br />
"Contact, 12 o'clock. 1st Squad, Wraithlord in sight, fire on my target!" 1st Squad's missile launcher fired in unison with Frost's autocannon team at the massive Wraithlord. The darkness made it difficult to target even something as large as a Wraithlord, but one of the Autocannon shots found its mark and tore a chunk of Wraithbone out of it's arm. To Frost's left, the Dark Angels opened fire with a torrent of missiles and lascannon beams at the guardians in the ruins. Explosions tore through the ruins and Frost could make out the broken forms of three guardians. On his right flank, the Terminators fired their Cyclone and one of the missiles found it's mark on the Falcon tank. However, the tank's armor deflected the majority of the damage.<br />
<br />
The Eldar now knew the Imperail forces were there and opened fire. Laser beams and Eldar missiles from the Wraithlords flew at the imperial lines. Most of the blasts tore through the rock formations or simply bounced off of Space Marine armor. However, one lucky shot downed one of the tactical marines on the right flank. Frost's men continued to hold the imperative barricade, and the marines on Frost's right flank had reported that they had found a targeting system from an Imperial vehicle that was still functioning. Frost also now noticed that the Eldar had set up some kind of gravity generator in the ruins on the right flank.<br />
<br />
End Turn 1: DA/IG - 2 points (2 objectives); Eldar - 1 point (1 objective)<br />
<br />
The sun was now up and Frost could now clearly see the Eldar. Frost called in the Vendetta. Almost immediately, the Vendetta came screaming over the battle field and opened fire with it's Lascannons on the enemy tank. The enemy tank took all three hits and fell to the ground in a heap of twisted wraithbone. The telltale shimmering near the Eldar ruins announced the arrival of yet another Dark Angels Terminator squad...this one led by Belial himself. Frost also ordered Marbo to engage the Dire Avengers in the center of the battlefield. Belial and his squad opened fire on the giant Eldar Daemon, blasting chunks of magma out of it's body. Supporting fire from the devastators killed 4 more guardians near the daemon. Marbo threw his Demolitions pack at the Dire Avengers, but they took cover and managed to avoid the blast. The blast did however, take out one of the warlocks nearby. Missiles continued to streak across the battlefield from the Dark Angels Cyclone launchers and 2 more guardians on the right flank fell in the resulting blasts. Frost's men continued to hold the barricade and the marines were still safeguarding the targeting system.<br />
<br />
The Eldar moved back away from Belial and his group as the jetbikes flew over the Terminators to pour more fire in from behind. The Wraithlords also advanced into the ruins with the Dire Avengers in order to find cover. The eldar let loose with a torrent of shurikens into Belial's squad. The Terminator armor deflected most of the shots, but a couple manged to find their way into vital systems on the armor, wounding two of the marines. However, the Apothecary jumped into quick action and saved one of the marines. Belial also took a shot that cut into his leg. In the middle, the eldar pathfinders (we had forgotten about them first turn, so we will simply say they were hidden til now) opened fire on Marbo as The Eldar Farseer cast Mindwar. Under this combined storm, Marbo fell. The Wraithlords attempted to blast the Vendetta out of the sky, but were unable to find their mark. Finally, 3 more Tactical marines fell to fire from the Dire Avengers and the guardians on the right flank.<br />
<br />
End Turn 2: DA/IG - 4 points (2 objectives, 1 Heavy support kill/First Blood for the Falcon); Eldar - 1 point<br />
<br />
The Terminators were now almost to the enemy lines in support of Belial. Meanwhile, the Tactical squad now down 4 marines, withdrew to hold the targeting system so that the Terminators could move further forward. The vendetta also offloaded it's passengers and then went into Hover mode as it approached the ruins in the middle of the field. Belial's squad opened fire on the Avatar as they advanced wounding the Avatar yet again. The Avatar then gave a mighty below before Lascannons and missiles from the devastator squad tore it apart. Cyclones also tore into the already damaged Wraithlord blowing another hole in the Wraithbone. 2nd Veteran squad opened fire on the dire avengers in the Chimera wreckage and manged to kill 3.<br />
<br />
The eldar responded by bladestorming Belial as the Farseer doomed them. 2 more Terminators fell as Belial took a blast straight to the face...yet still Belial stood. The rest of the Eldar opened fire on the 2nd Veterans killing all but 3. A lucky shot alos killed one of the advancing terminators on the Right flank.<br />
<br />
End Turn 3: DA/IG -4 points; Eldar -1 point<br />
<br />
Belial and his squad crashed into the guardians tearing through them with ease. In the middle, the terminators that had been advancing from the left flank assaulted the dire avengers and destroyed them. The Vendetta and Devastators also fired on the damaged Wraithlord finally bringing it down. On the right flank, the terminators continued to close as the remaining veterans threw their demolitions charge and fired with melta guns killing another 2 dire avengers.<br />
<br />
The Eldar were now greatly depleted and focused their fire on the Terminators and 2nd veterans. The veterans finally fell, and another terminator from Belial's squad fell leaving only Belial and the Apothecary. The left flank terminators lost 2 terminators to the combined fire of the pathfinders and the remaining wraithlord and seer council. The right flank terminators lost 3 to the bright lance and the sheer volume of shurikens.<br />
<br />
End Turn 4: DA/IG - 6 points (+1 point for killing the Wraithlord and as we called it here, I got linebreaker too); Eldar - 1 point<br />
<br />
We called at turn 4 simply because the Eldar were about to be assaulted by three groups of terminators and had lost too much firepower to stop it. This would have led to the inevitable destruction of the other group of guardians as well as likely the pathfinders. This would have only left the seer council, a Wraithlord, and a depleted group of Avengers in the Eldar backfield with no one on the Eldar objective. The Eldar would have not been able to recover and likely would have taken even more damage from my shooting phase as there were still 3 missile launchers, 5 lascannons, and an autocannon in range to tear up possibly the Wraithlord and likely the Avengers. At the end, my opponent just pulled to much of his army away from his objective to try and deal with Belial. This put him out of position and by the time he realized that the other terminators had closed, it was too late to reposition or to do anything to stop me.<br />
<br />Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-36370726311469170252012-09-05T13:59:00.000-07:002012-10-16T08:58:59.778-07:00Update and new 2000 point Dark Angels listSo, it has been a little while since my last update. But quite a bit has happened since my last post. Perhaps most significantly, I played in a local 2000 point tournament.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>So, overall, the tournament was really small and I ended up really just playing two games, once against a friend that I play regularly anyways. All of the battles were "Purge the Alien" which wasn't great for my Army composition as I had 14 KP available. I ended up placing third, which still gave me a prize, but I was also given a free game because of the odd number of competitors. This free game ended up biting me in the butt and likely cost me second place as second place came down to a die roll.<br />
<br />
As for the games I did play, I used the list I posted on here a few weeks back that included Belial and Imperial guard allies. The first game I played was against a World Eaters Chaos army. The army itself was nicely painted and had some formidable units. The army consisted of Typhus leading a squad of Terminator Champions, a squad of Berserkers in a Rhino, a squad of Noise Marines in a Rhino, a small squad of plague marines, and two squads of Obliterators. This game went very well for me as I was able to completely stop the Chaos advance and then used Belial and my terminators to disrupt his obliterators. Once his terminators and Typhus arrived from deep strike, I was able to bait them away from my main army and kept them mostly out of the rest of the game once they killed my IG platoon (my bait unit). By the end of the battle, I had nearly tabled my opponent, with him having only an almost dead Typhus and the Terminators left. I won this game hands down.<br />
<br />
The second game I played is really where I felt the Army composition disadvantage I had. I gave up a lot of KP, and my opponent had very few KP to take. I ended up losing 9 to 6 against a Blood Angels army that was built specifically for "Purge the Alien". I didn't feel that bad about this loss as I kept things about as close as I could, and I learned a lot about what type of army to bring to the next 2000 point tournament.<br />
<br />
The list I came up with is:<br />
Belial with Twin Lightning Claws<br />
<br />
Deathwing Terminator Squad<br />
-Apothecary with SB/PF<br />
-Banner with SB/PF<br />
-Sergeant with Claws<br />
-2x TH/SS<br />
-1x Cyclone<br />
<br />
Deathwing Terminator Squad<br />
-Sergeant with Claws<br />
-1x Lightning Claws<br />
-3x TH/SS<br />
-1x Cyclone<br />
<br />
Deathwing Terminator Squad<br />
-Sergeant with Claws<br />
-1x Lightning Claws <br />
-2x TH/SS<br />
-1x CF/SB<br />
-1x Cyclone<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad (10 man)<br />
-Sergeant with Plasma Pistol<br />
-Plasma Gun<br />
-Multimelta<br />
<br />
Devastator Squad (10 Man)<br />
-Sergeant with PF<br />
-2x Missile Launcher<br />
-2x Lascannon<br />
<br />
Allies:<br />
IG Company Command Squad<br />
-2x Plasma Guns<br />
-1x Autocannon<br />
-1x Master of the Ordinance<br />
<br />
Guardsman Marbo<br />
<br />
IG Veteran Squad<br />
-3x Plasma gun<br />
-1x Missile Launcher<br />
-Demolitions<br />
<br />
IG Veteran Squad<br />
-3x Melta Gun<br />
-Demolitions<br />
<br />
Vendetta Gunship<br />
<br />
This list only gives up 11 KP which was about the average in the last tournament. Also, most people had issues with Terminators, so having three units should help. Lastly, I switched to IG veteran squads and a Vendetta for the increased accuracy and firepower. Any thoughts?Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-61481295851554726742012-08-08T12:41:00.001-07:002012-09-05T14:00:07.514-07:00Dark Angels/Imperial Guard 2000 point Army ListHaving gone through all the units in context with 6th edition play, I have decided on a new list that I will be trying for the first time in a game (or maybe a few games) this weekend. I am maintaining the philosophy of infantry spam, but am adding a little bit of mobility to the list. I am also going heavier with plasma because I think more and more people will be shying away from vehicles and going toward infantry making my meltaguns less effective (although I will still maintain a few).<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
So, here is the new list:<br />
<br />
Belial: Twin Claws<br />
Terminator Squad <i>Iratus</i> <br />
Terminator Sergeant Gabriel: TH/SS<br />
Apothecary Arandel: PF/SB, Narthecium<br />
Brother Benestor, Banner Bearer: PF/SB. Deathwing Standard<br />
1x Terminator: TH/SS <br />
1x Terminator: Claws, Cyclone<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad <i>Parma</i><br />
Veteran Sergeant Turien: Bolter<br />
1x Marine: Missile Launcher<br />
1x Marine: Plasma gun<br />
7x Marine: Bolter<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad <i>Arcus</i><br />
Veteran Sergeant Arasmis: Plasma Pistol/Chainsword<br />
1x Marine: Multi-melta<br />
1x Marine: Meltagun<br />
7x Marine: Bolter<br />
<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad <i>Spatha</i><br />
Veteran Sergeant Lamian: Power Sword/Bolt Pistol<br />
1x Marine: Missile Launcher<br />
1x Marine: Flamer <br />
7x Marine: Bolter<br />
<br />
Tactical Squad <i>Hasta</i><br />
Veteran Sergeant Daniel: Power Sword/Bolt Pistol<br />
1x Marine: Multi-melta<br />
1x Marine: Flamer<br />
7x Marine: Bolter<br />
<br />
Devastator Squad<i> Onagerus</i><br />
Veteran Sergeant Harard: Bolter<br />
3x Marine: Missile Launcher<br />
1x Marine: Lascannon<br />
<br />
Allies: Imperial Guard<br />
1st Company Command Squad, 1-421 Leonians<br />
Company Commander Captain Garion<i>: </i>Sword(CCW)/Las Pistol<br />
2x Veteran Trooper: Plasma Gun<br />
2x Veteran Trooper: Lasgun<br />
<br />
<i>Deathdealers </i>Veteran Squad<br />
Veteran Sergeant Steffen: Chainsword/Las Pistol<br />
1x Veteran Trooper: Plasma Gun<br />
2x Veteran Trooper: Melta gun<br />
6x Veteran Trooper: Lasgun<br />
<br />
1st Platoon, 1st Compnay, 1-421 Leonians<br />
Platoon Command Squad<br />
Platoon Leader Lieutenant Krippler: Chainsword/Las Pistol<br />
1x Trooper: Melta gun<br />
3x Trooper: Lasgun<br />
<br />
1st Squad<br />
Sergeant Vincent: Chainsword/Las Pistol<br />
1x Heavy Weapons Team: Missile Launcher<br />
1x Trooper: Melta gun<br />
6x Trooper: Lasgun<br />
<br />
2nd Squad<br />
Sergeant Michaels: Chainsword/Las Pistol<br />
1x Heavy Weapons Team: Missile Launcher<br />
1x Trooper: Melta gun<br />
6x Trooper: Lasgun<br />
<br />
Guardsman Marbo<br />
<br />
<i>Lion's Fury </i>Valkyrie Gunship: Lascannon, 2x Multiple Rocket Pods<br />
<br />
The idea here is a strong backfield held by Squad Iratus and the Imperial Guard infantry platoon deployed as a combined squad. Devastator squad Onagerus will also remain in the back field to provide fire support. The Imperial Guard Platoon command will also help with fire support and can also hold objectives for me in the backfield. The Company Command squad can either stay in the backfield to provide a bit of support against line breakers and aid in issuing orders to the combined platoon or can advance to provide midfield support. The Valkyrie will transport the veterans to either grav chute onto far objectives or to help soften targets (I believe that with the load out I have given them, they will be able to soften/destroy either infantry or vehicle targets). Guardsman Marbo can provide a good softening blow as well almost anywhere on the battlefield. The other marine tactical squads will advance to the midfield and provide both objective holding capability as well as being able to hold up units in hand-to-hand so that the terminators can do their job. These same tactical squads should also be able to remain close enough to the backfield to aid the units there in the case of heavy deep strike units or outflankers attempting to score points for line breaker.<br />
<br />
Overall, this list has several things going for it. I have OK chances for line breaking; I can drop off the veterans via the valkyrie and in some games, the terminators might even arrive by deep strike using DW assault for an immediate disruption of enemy lines on turn 1. Because of the lack of vehicles other than the flier, this will truly aid in reducing the effectiveness of enemy heavy weapons fire. My hope is also that the presence of the flier will draw some fire and keep it off of my advancing units. It also comes ready with a ton of scoring units, which I can further combat squad or split the combined guard platoon to allow me a more MSU type of list for some games. The list also provides a decent amount of firepower. The sheer quantity of strength 8 and above weapons should allow me to punch through most vehicles with ease. The list includes 7 missile launchers along with 3 lascannons which should at the very least be able to glance even AV13 and AV14 armor to death. And should I need it, I have mobile tank hunters in the form of the guard veterans as well as 2 multi-meltas for taking out heavy armor once I close with it.<br />
<br />
Since I really can only count on the terminators to chop through units in assault, I may have to play gun lines at times against heavy assault armies, but with the firepower I have, I do not think this will be a huge problem. The only other major drawback I see is just the lack of mobility, but once again, I maintain a couple of mobile units which also have the additional perk of being hard to kill. Some might also bring up the lack of anti-flyer capability, but with a flier of my own, not to mention just sheer volume of fire, I don't think enemy fliers will be a huge threat...but then again I haven't seen many fliers yet in my games.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-82092874635799410782012-07-31T12:21:00.000-07:002012-08-07T15:12:10.766-07:00Dark Angels vs Chaos Space Marines 2000 ptsAfter my fight with the Blood Angels, I made some tweaks to my list and played a game against Chaos Space Marines. The biggest changes were dropping the DA scouts and devastators, but this allowed me to take one less heavy weapon than before, but gave me 3 more meltas, as well as 20 more models. The role of the scouts was also taken over by the special weapons squad, although the loss of infiltrate was a bit painful. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>My list included:<br />
1x Interrogator-Chaplain<br />
1x DA Command Squad: Apothecary, Sacred Standard, Champion, Power Sword, Power fist<br />
1x IG Company Command Squad: Lascannon, melta x2<br />
1x Guardsman Marbo<br />
2x DA Tactical Squads: Missile Launcher/melta<br />
2x DA Tactical Squads: Heavy Bolter/flamer/Sergeant with Power Sword<br />
1x IG Veteran Squad: Lascannon/2x melta<br />
1x IG Infantry Platoon: 2x Infantry squads/Missile Launcher/melta; 1x Special Weapons squad/snipers; 1x Platoon Command/Missile Launcher/melta<br />
1x Valkyrie: Lascannon/Rocket Pods<br />
1x 5-man Devastator Squad: 3x Missile Launcher/Lascannon<br />
<br />
His List:<br />
1x Chaos Lord: Daemon Weapon<br />
1x Chaos Sorceror: Plasma Pistol/Force Sword/Familiar, Psychic Powers: Lash/Terrify<br />
1x Dreadnought: Plasma Cannon/CCW<br />
2x 14-man Chaos Space marine squads: Missile Launcher/flamer/Champion with Power fist/Plasma pistol/Icon<br />
1x 14-man Chaos Space marine squad: 2x melta/Champion with Power Sword/plasma pistol/Icon<br />
1x 8-man Khorne Berserkers: Plasma pistol/Champion with Power fist<br />
1x 8-man Khorne Berserkers: Plasma pistol/Champion with Power Sword<br />
2x Chaos defilers: Autocannon/Havoc<br />
<br />
This game would once again be The Relic, but with a Dawn of War deployment. I actually remembered to take pictures this time.<br />
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Deployment. I deployed with a heavy left flank. I had 2 armor 12 buildings in my deployment zone along with a trench line and a low wall.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-woDEhwJoM6A/UBgfq3WBGvI/AAAAAAAAAAM/GbnE5_6vaPA/s1600/DA+Deployment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-woDEhwJoM6A/UBgfq3WBGvI/AAAAAAAAAAM/GbnE5_6vaPA/s320/DA+Deployment.jpg" title="DA Deployment" width="320" /></a></div>
I deployed the devastators on the battlements of the building on the
left flank and the IG Company command squad inside the building on the
right flank. I then deployed one tactical squad next to the building on
the left and one screening the building on the right. I deployed my IG
infantry squads as a blob and stretched them in a long line behind the
low wall and in the trench line. the Platoon command was directly
behind the blob as well as the DA command squad. I then used my last
two tactical squads to screen the IG squads and placed the snipers to
the right of IG infantry squad in a rock formation piece of area terrain
(I also attached the chaplain to this squad as they were one of the few
units that were not fearless thanks to the sacred standard). I kept
the Valkyrie in reserve with the veterans aboard as well as Marbo.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RWeGh01-Fi0/UBghitvfD7I/AAAAAAAAAAU/p52Yoc5eDJA/s1600/ChaosDep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RWeGh01-Fi0/UBghitvfD7I/AAAAAAAAAAU/p52Yoc5eDJA/s320/ChaosDep.jpg" title="Chaos Deployment" width="320" /></a></div>
That little green blob in the center is the relic. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's basically a small weapon's cache. My opponent, placed one defiler on the corner directly across from my
Right flank with one group of Chaos space marines (with missile
launcher/flamer) in front of the defiler and the other defiler near the
center of the board right next to his dreadnought. next to the center
defiler and dreadnought he had a group of chaos space marines with both
group of Khorne berserkers behind it and then the group of Chaos space
marines with meltas were in front of my left flank. He then attached
his lord with the group of berserkers on his right and the sorcerer with
the other group.<br />
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Turn 1: I had won the roll to go first and my opponent failed to seize the initiative. This turn I basically advanced with all of my tactical squads. I moved the DA Command Squad closer to the middle, but other than that I left the rest of my forces stationary. My devastators opened fire on his center defiler and made it explode first turn giving a VP for first blood. I then focused a ton of heavy fire on the dreadnought, but only managed to cause a shaken result on it. The IG Company command squad and the snipers then accounted for two Chaos marine kills one from the center group and one from the group on my right flank. On his turn he returned fire, but only his Defiler managed to find it's target, the blast tore apart 5 tactical marines.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeksHqNY0G4/UBgk8lUQk0I/AAAAAAAAAAg/jjvVQ-f5l2E/s1600/turn+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeksHqNY0G4/UBgk8lUQk0I/AAAAAAAAAAg/jjvVQ-f5l2E/s320/turn+2.jpg" width="320" /></a>Turn 2: Both my Valkyrie and Marbo arrived this turn. I placed Marbo near his Berserker squad with the sorcerer and zoomed the Valkyrie to sit on top of the Relic. The IG veterans used grav chute deployment, but scattered 10 inches straight back keeping them quite far from the objective. As before, my tacticals continued their advance. and I moved my IG blob out to support the tacticals while keeping the missile launchers stationary by moving in a wedge formation. My shooting this phase caused another hull point of damage on the dreadnought from a glancing hit. Marbo threw his demolition pack and managed to kill both the Chaos sorcerer and a berserker. The rest of my shooting concentrated on the closer chaos marine squad and killed 6 of them. The remaining squad failed their morale (to include on the re-roll from their icon). I also killed two more Chaos marines from the group on my right with some lucky shots from my snipers, but he made his pinning check. On his turn he advanced the dread straight for the Relic. The defiler found its mark again and killed yet another marine from the close squad, 2 veterans , and one of the infantry platoon. His chaos marines then opened fire on the group of marines on my left flank and because of some horrible save rolls and his meltas and plasma manged to kill 7 of them. I failed my morale and fell back 7". On my right flank he managed to kill one tactical with his shooting. Finally his squad that had fallen back had regrouped and poured fire into Marbo, killing him.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zUZ8A_iO75I/UBgqRZQaeJI/AAAAAAAAAA0/-sWxIuLeGbk/s1600/Turn+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zUZ8A_iO75I/UBgqRZQaeJI/AAAAAAAAAA0/-sWxIuLeGbk/s320/Turn+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Turn 3: on turn 3 I decided to fly the Valkyrie off of the board. I then regrouped my remaining 3 marines in the broken squad and pushed forward with my advance of tactical marines. I also pushed the IG veterans forward. My shooting finally managed to take the last hull point off of the dreadnought, wrecking it. I accomplished this with the lascannon from my IG command squad and this freed up my other weapons to lay a torrent of fire on his closest berserkers and I managed to kill all of them except the skull champion. the rest of my fire accounted for a few more Chaos marines on my right flank as well as 2 berserkers from the other group. I then assaulted the chaos marines on the left flank with my tacticals. I lost my sergeant in the challenge against his champion and lost another tactical. He lost one marine, but I managed to make my morale check. On his turn, he continued to advance with his remaining units. His berserker unit with his lord charged my full strength tactical unit and completely annihilated them. On the right flank we both lost two more marines in the assault.<br />
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Turn 4: My Valkyrie returned and put a lascannon shot on his defiler, but didn't do anything. I managed to take the relic with my veterans and then ran back towards my deployment zone. I opened fire on his berserkers and killed several more, to include the lone surviving champion. I also advanced my command squad in preparation of hitting his last group of unengaged marines. On his turn his defiler managed to kill another couple of marines and a few more veterans to include the one with the relic. His lord and remaining berserkers assaulted the group of three tacticals on my left flank, but only managed to kill 2 and my remaining marine got lucky and killed one of his berserkers leaving only 2 berserkers and his lord. the assault on the right flank continued without any resolution.<br />
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Turn 5: I flew my Valkyrie off of the board again. My command squad crashed into his last remaining squad of marines and annihilated them. other than that not much happened as there was nothing left to engage. He finally finished off my tactical squad on the right flank, but only had 5 marines left. I also managed to kill all of the berserkers, but his lord was still alive. I retook the relic with my last surviving group of tacticals. We rolled for a turn 6 and got it. However, after I took out his Lord with meltas, my opponent called it.
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As you can see from the picture, my marines took the brunt of his attack, but I almost tabled him.<br />
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All he had left were the units on the right flank:<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wCOOVpl27ao/UBguLU5VgSI/AAAAAAAAABM/PGEqboMU9rg/s1600/end2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wCOOVpl27ao/UBguLU5VgSI/AAAAAAAAABM/PGEqboMU9rg/s320/end2.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Synopsis: We both took heavy casualties, but in the end my massive numbers of missile launchers and meltas turned the tide. He did exceptionally well when he got the charge with his berserkers, but unfortunately had sustained too many casualties getting to assault to maintain any pressure in the end game. We both made some mistakes, but I think his were worse for him. He forgot to run his berserkers almost the entire game, which might have allowed him to get into Assault a lot faster and could have changed the outcome. Additionally, while his surviving Defiler killed several troops, he might have been better served advancing the defiler every turn to add pressure to the middle of the battlefield. After talking to my opponent, I believe he will be dropping the dread and adding jump troops which I think could really help him. As for me, I think I am going to drop the snipers and go with a unit of flamer specials instead to deal with hordes and may switch out a couple of other meltas in the army for flamers as well, as the amount of meltas I had was really over kill. My only major mistake (which my opponent messed up as well) was forgetting overwatch. Other than that, I forgot to move my command squad early in the game, which meant I was scrambling to get them in position for a counter charge later in the game. I also completely ignored my chaplain until the last couple of turns and got no use out of him; I also completely forgot that since he made the snipers fearless, they would not be able to go to ground...luckily this never came into play. As it stood I received VP for first blood, slay the warlord, and for holding the relic, giving a final score of 5-0 DA victory.Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648700617583958103.post-40891546683606050202012-07-31T10:14:00.002-07:002012-08-07T15:11:52.098-07:00Blood Angels vs Dark Angels 2000 ptsWith my lessons learned and an idea for an army list firmly in my head I invited over one of my friends for a 2000 pt game. This would be my first game using my allied detachment, and I really wanted to see how this would work.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>My list included:<br />
1x DA Company Master with Power Weapon/Storm Bolter (originally I had gone with an Interrogator-Chaplain, but decided I'd rather have Rites of battle and the Captain would come out cheaper).<br />
1x DA Command Squad with Apothecary, Champion, Sacred Standard (This was actually illegal, but I forgot to change it when I switched out the Chaplain for a Master last minute), Power Fist and Power Weapon<br />
1x IG Company Command Squad with Lascannon, Heavy Flamer, Melta<br />
1x 5-man DA Scout Squad with 4 sniper rifles/Heavy Bolter<br />
2x DA Tactical squads with melta/missile launcher<br />
2x DA Tactical squads with Heavy Bolter/flamer and Power Weapon sergeants<br />
1x IG Veteran squad with 3x melta/Lascannon<br />
1x IG Valkyrie with Lascannon/Rocket Pods<br />
2x 5-man DA Devastator Squads with 3x Missile Launchers/1x Lascannon<br />
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His list I do not remember exactly as far as weapons and specials, but it was basically:<br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">1x Reclusiarch</span><br />
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1x IG Company Command Squad</div>
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1x 15-man Death Company</div>
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2x BA Tactical Squads with Multi-meltas/flamers?</div>
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1x 10-man Scout squad with sniper rifles</div>
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1x IG Infantry Platoon - 3 squads with Auto Cannons/flamers and a platoon command</div>
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2 x 10-man Assault squads with mix of meltas and flamers</div>
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Guardsman Marbo</div>
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2x Whirlwind</div>
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1x Vindicator</div>
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We played on a Forest/Jungle themed board with some clustered areas of terrain, so I figured going with a heavy infantry list would help me a lot as vehicles would end up getting bottle necked and would have to make difficult terrain rolls to move pretty often. We rolled for Warlord traits and we both got the Strategic trait of Conqueror of Cities which gave us Stealth (Ruins) and Move Through Cover (Ruins). There were a couple of terrain pieces that were ruins on the table, but basically the traits were a wash. We rolled and determined that we were playing The Relic with a Vanguard deployment. I won the roll for first turn and began my deployment.</div>
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Deployment: My idea for deployment was pretty simple. I decided to keep the Valkyrie off of the board in Reserves with the Veterans embarked on it. My deployment zone had a stone building which we determined would have armor 12, so I deployed one group of devastators on the battlements and placed the IG Company Command Squad inside the building. I also had a trench line in my deployment zone, so I deployed the other devastators there and then screened them with 2 tactical squads in front of them. the other two tactical squad went next to the building and my DA Command squad with the Master attached I deployed behind my building. My opponent deployed with his Death Company (DC) led by the Reclusiarch right out front and directly behind them was the IG infantry Platoon deployed as a blob with the Platoon command and company command directly behind the blob. He then flanked the blob on each side with a BA tactical squad. On the far side of his deployment zone he had the two whirlwinds and the vindicator. He kept the Jump troops in reserve. We then deployed our Scouts. I infiltrated with mine and placed it in a rock formation directly across from his vehicles while he combat squadded his scouts and deployed 5 men behind a wall that was close to the middle of the board and deployed the other group in a ruin directly across from my right flank. He attempted to seize the initiative, but failed.</div>
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Turn 1: Turn 1 went amazing well for me. My devastators opened fire on his whirlwinds and each group of devastators caused a whirlwind to explode. The rest of my shooting accounted for a tactical marine, 3 of his close scouts, and a few guardsmen went down to sniper rifles but made their Pinning check. I moved my tactical squads forward and moved my DA Command squad toward the center of my army. On his turn he advanced his death company with one tactical squad behind them for support. The other tactical squad along with the Vindicator moved towards my scouts. His shooting was mostly ineffective and accounted for 1-2 tactical marines I believe, but his DC was closer to the objective than any of my troops.</div>
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Turn 2: My Valkyrie arrived and roared straight for the objective. The Veterans inside used grav chute insertion to try and get as close to the objective as possible but scattered further back than I would have liked. I continued my advance with three tactical squads and the command squad, while my devastators and one tactical squad stayed back to provide supporting fire. My shooting was not nearly as good this time around as my devastators only managed to bring down 2 DC and the rest of my shooting accounted for one more DC and a couple of marines as well as the last of the close scouts. The only effective shooting I had came from the Valkyrie which opened fire on the blob. Both of my rocket pods were dead on and accounted for several guardsman (I believe 10 died). On his turn, his Assault marines arrived as did Marbo. Marbo he placed right in my back field near my command squad. 2 of the Assault marine squads landed next to my building, another landed near my scouts and the last landed right on my left flank. He continued to advance his vindicator and tacticals towards my scouts while his DC and other tacticals closed on the relic. on his shooting phase he killed a scout, and his vindicator shot my tacticals and scattered, but still managed to kill 3 tacticals. The rest of his shooting caused a Shaken result on the Valkyrie, killed an IG veteran and about 5 tacticals. But, perhaps the most important part was the fact that Marbo's demo charge killed three of the command squad and Autocannon fire damaged the building bringing it down to armor 10.</div>
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Turn 3: Since I could only do snap shots with my Valkyrie, I decided to just fly it off the table. I continued my advance with one group of tacticals towards the relic, but with so many units in my back field I had to redirect my forces. I advanced one group of tacticals towards the Assault squad on the left flank, while another group went towards the two groups on the right near my building. Also, since the building was damaged, I decided to pull my IG command squad out of the building, but I decided that my devastators would probably survive a collapse and left them in place. My DA command squad also advanced towards the relic to provide a counter charge if needed. My shooting killed three of the assault marines from one of the squads near the building, and I also managed to Shake the vindicator. a couple more guardsman died as did a couple more DC. I also charged the Assault marines on the right flank with tacticals. My power weapon was the only thing that managed to do anything and accounted for one assault marine, but his attacks killed two tacticals. I used Rites of battle and stayed in the fight. On his turn he decided to redirect his tacticals closest to the scouts back towards the relic and continued to advance the other group towards the relic. His shooting killed a couple of tacticals, a few IG veterans, and a scout. Meanwhile things went very badly on my right flank. He catastrophically destroyed the building and the resulting collapse killed 3 of my devastators and killed my IG company commander (I completely forgot to try "Look Out Sir!"). The death company charged my tacticals closes to the objective, while his assault marines charged my scouts, my IG company command, charged my tacticals closest to the objective, and the tactical squad in my back field. by this point, this left only my command squad, a badly hurt tactical squad, the IG veterans, and both devastator squads alive and unengaged. The resulting combats led to him annihilating all but my sergeant in the Death company fight, killing another scout, killing another tactical on the left flank, although he lost 2 more assault marines, and tied combat with two casualties each with the tacticals on my right flank against his assault marines. Perhaps most impressively though, my IG command squad held up against his damaged assault marines, sustaining only one wound which I put on the Heavy Weapon team.</div>
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Turn 4: I moved my command squad and the few remaining tacticals towards his DC which were still tied up against my sergeant. the Veterans also advanced towards his tacticals closest to the objective. Also, I brought my Valkyrie back and placed it right next to the relic to keep him from getting to it as he couldn't move within an inch of my base. The Veterans opened fire and killed a couple of his tacticals with their meltaguns. The Valkyrie once again killed a ton of guardsman and the devastators finally took out the vindicator along with a few more tacticals. I then charged my command squad and remaining tacticals into his DC. Assaults went ok, but with my reduced command squad, I did not do the damage I wanted to his DC. I killed several DC and only lost 1 tactical in return, I also issued a challenge on his reclusiarch with my Master and killed him giving me my second VP (the first being first blood). On the right flank, my IG command squad held out yet another round but lost all but the heavy weapons team. I killed all but the sergeant of the other assault squad, but lost another couple of tacticals. On the left flank, the scouts held out with only the sergeant left, but he was down to three assault marines. The other tactical squad on the left flank killed all of the remaining assault marines they were engaged with and consolidated back towards the objective. on his turn he managed to finally kill the remaining scout and the IG command squad in Assault, but not much else happened for him. I managed to bring down another couple of Death Company but lost my Apothecary and another tactical marine.</div>
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Turn 5: I opened fire with my devastators and brought down the last of his unengaged Assault marines. meanwhile my Valkyrie went into hover mode and hid behind a large statue near the middle of the board and killed a ton more guard. I finally finished the DC off, but other than that not much else happened, his remaining Assault marine managed to kill another of my tacticals in assault and I just couldn't seem to kill him. On his turn he moved one tactical squad up and took the objective and used his other tactical squad to screen. his shooting didn't do much, but he did manage to get a wound on my Master. We rolled for turn 6 and luckily rolled enough for another turn.</div>
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Turn 6: I opened fire with everything I had on the squad with the relic and killed them all, I also managed to shoot the screening squad to bits, leaving only 4 of them. The screening squad then failed their Leadership and ran 11". I still could not kill the last remaining assault marine in assault. On his turn, he regrouped and retook the objective. his shooting from his guard managed to kill a tactical marine but nothing else really happened, other than the fact that I STILL couldn't kill the last remaining assault marine. We rolled for another turn, but unfortunately, no turn 7.</div>
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Synopsis: If we had gotten a turn 7, I am nearly positive I would have won and quite possibly would have tabled him. All he had left were 4 tacticals, about 5 guardsman from his blob, his IG commander and one member of his squad and 4 scouts (that we both forgot about for almost the entire game)...and of course that one pesky assault marine that I just could not seem to kill. That one assault marine managed to not only be a thorn in my side, but also gave him a VP for linebreaker, so the final score was 4-2 giving him the victory. Overall, my strategy worked until his assault marines landed. I did not mange to kill enough of them in my shooting phase and they really disrupted my lines in the ensuing assault phases. This disruption reduced my firepower to the point where I was unable to really put enough shots on the tacticals which ultimately won him the game. After seeing how this list worked, I must say that I really liked it, but I think I need more infantry on the board. I also really liked the way his blob absorbed shots and how Marbo paid off for him, as the casualties he caused on my command squad I am almost positive allowed his DC to live an extra turn or two. I would definitely call Marbo and his assault marines his MVP's. On my side, I am just not sold on Scouts. Pinning is still not something that happens often, and they in total accounted for 2 assault marines and maybe 4 guardsmen. The rest of my army worked decently, but I really am sold on Marbo after seeing what my opponent did with him. my major mistake was not putting enough shots on his tacticals and I should have been doing that instead of focusing fire on the DC's. My MVP was definitely my Valkyrie as it kept him off the objective for a round and killed over 20 guardsman and a few marines all on it's own. </div>Karatekidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711590218428889757noreply@blogger.com0