Hello
everyone, long time no see. I'm back to 40k after a five month
StarCraft 2 binge. The following battle reports are from a local
mini-tournament. It was my first time playing with the new vanilla
codex.
1850
pts armies, rulebook missions. Three battles. My list:
STEEL
SLAYERS STRIKEFORCE (IRON HANDS CHAPTER TRAITS)
Brother
Manfred, Librarian – mastery level 2, telepathy
Tactical
Squad RED – plasmagun, combiplasma, ml with flak, rhino
Tactical
Squad YELLOW – plasmagun, combiplasma, ml with flak, rhino
Tactical
Squad GREEN – plasmagun, combiplasma, ml with flak, rhino
Brother
Hanz, Dreadnought – 2x twinlinked autocannon
Brother
Shultz, Dreadnought – 2x twinlinked autocannon
Brother
Herman, Dreadnought – 2x twinlinked autocannon
Land
Speeder – multimelta & heavy flamer
Land
Speeder – multimelta & heavy flamer
Multimelta
Attack Bikes x2 (squadroned)
Vindicator
– dozer blade
Vindicator
– dozer blade
Predator
– lascannon sponsons
Aegis
Defense Line – quad-gun
A
kitchen-sink list. The idea was to form a gunline and overwhelm
opponents with threat saturation and cheap effective units. I would
have preferred to replace the mm/flamer speeders with typhoon
variants, and vindicators with additional predators, but I do not
have the necessary models and don't want to proxy half my army. I
considered taking a master of the forge, but decided to give the new
librarian the benefit of the doubt. Flak missiles are overpriced, but
seeing as I don't have any flier models they're my current go-to
skyfire option. Sadly, godhammer land raider transport capacity was
lowered in the 6th edition vanilla codex, so it can no
longer carry five terminators plus an HQ (for some reason, its price
remained the same), which effectively invalidates my old playstyle
(fuck you Cruddace).
FIRST
BATTLE – PERA'S NECRONS
Vanguard
strike deployment, four objectives, each worth three points. Useless
warlord traits. Opponent's list consisted of a kitted-out lord, a
destroyer lord, a mini-royal court, two units of immortals, three
spyders, three scarab swarms, a unit of deathmarks in a nightscythe,
a unit of wraiths, a triarch stalker, an annihilation barge, and a
unit of flayed ones. Wardian necrons are at the top of my list of
armies I hate playing against, mostly because everything in their
codex is better and cheaper than what I have. Brother Manfred gets
psychic scream and invisibility powers. My plan was to turtle and
hope for a draw. The land speeders were deep striking, while the
stalker, the barge, and the nightscythe with deathmarks and a cryptek
went into reserve. I got first turn and opponent failed to seize
initiative.
TURN
1:
Night
fighting. Aside from some pivoting and repositioning, I don't move
much. One of the dreadnought aims its searchlight at the flayed ones,
and the rest of my army promptly wipes them off the table, earning me
first blood.
The
destroyer lord and his wraith entourage advance towards my lines, out
into the open. Scarabs are born.
TURN
2:
Both
speeders arrive, deep striking within flamer range of the wraiths and
the destroyer lord. One scatters but doesn't mishap, the other is on
target. My entire army unloads on the wraiths and, thanks to a ton of
failed saves on the opponent's part, vaporizes the entire unit. The
destroyer lord fails his reanimation protocol roll and is removed.
Phew.
The
stalker, the barge, and the nightscythe arrive. The cryptek and his
deathmark buddies disembark within rapid fire range of the combat
squad holding one of my objectives. The nightscythe is shot down by
some rather fortunate quad-gun interceptor fire. So fortunate, in
fact, you could say the nightscythe was blown away by how lucky my
dice were. The stalker destroys one of my speeders, while the
deathmarks wipe out the attack bikes. The scarabs rush across the
goddamn LOS-blocking hill in the middle and charge my predator,
wrecking it.
TURN
3:
My
retaliation is swift and not as terrible as I have hoped. All but two
scarab swarms are destroyed. Brother Manfred casts psychic scream and
misses. Some of the deathmarks are taken out. One of the dreads
shoots at and then attempts to charge the barge, but fails the
distance roll. Even in death, Steel Slayers can't assault for shit.
Deathmarks
advance over the defense line. The spyders, the stalkers, the
remaining scarabs, and the two immortal squads also advance. The
barge wrecks the dreadnought who tried to charge it.
TURN
4:
My
entire army lets loose on the deathmarks and the scarabs,
slaughtering them all. Brother Manfred casts psychic scream and
misses, again. The cryptek reanimates.
Necrons
keep advancing. Their warlord splits from his immortal entourage and
strolls out into the open. The spyders reach the ruined wall close to
my defense line. The barge wrecks a vindicator. The stalker puts an
end to the remaining speeder.
TURN
5:
I
move my empty rhinos and one combat squad out into the open,
boxing-in the spyders to prevent them from reaching my objectives.
The remaining vindicator blows up the stalker. One spyder falls.
Brother Manfred casts psychic scream at the cryptek, hits, and
doesn't inflict a single wound. The cryptek still dies to bolter
fire... And then immediately gets back up again.
Both
rhinos are assaulted and blown up by the spyders and the lord. Some
marines die to shooting. Unfortunately, the game goes into sixth
turn.
TURN
6:
Brother
Manfred casts psychic scream at the cryptek, hits, and fails to
inflict a single wound, again. The cryptek is then killed by
tacticals, only to stand up for the third time. The vindicator lobs a
demolisher shell into the necron lord's face, vaporizing the undead
bastard and earning me slay the warlord.
The
sacrificial combat squad is massacred by shooting and spydery
nastiness. The spyders consolidate towards the aegis defense line.
More marines fall to shooting. At this point, most of my combat
squads are reduced to two or three members. Sadly, the game goes on
for another turn, sealing my fate.
TURN
7:
Brother
Manfred tries to cast psychic scream and fails his psychic test. Fuck
you brother Manfred. I throw everything I have at the two spyders,
but it's not enough and one survives. The cryptek, likewise, passes
his saves. Having no alternative, two of my tacticals gang up on the
cryptek to keep it from contesting the objective. I try to block the
spyder's path to the objective, but don't have enough models to do
so.
The
spyder charges the marines holding the objective, contesting it. Game
ends. Necrons win 7:5.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
A
fun, close-fought battle. I made two mistakes. First, bad deployment
rendered one of my vindicators useless for three or four turns – I
should have placed them both near the center of my army. Second, I
should have assaulted and bogged down the deathmarks with my
dreadnought, rather than going after the barge. Still, I would have
won if this game had ended before turn 7.
SECOND
BATTLE – ZUBOR'S TAU
Kill
points, 12” deployment. Useless warlord traits. My first game
against the new Tau. His army consisted of an ethereal, a commander
(I don't know what their commanders are called), a railgun devilfish,
a riptide, two units of fire warriors, a unit of kroot, a
deep-striking unit of mecha tau with shield drones and plasmaguns
that don't overheat, a deep-striking unit of (I think) stealth suits
with two meltas, a unit of markerlight drones, two units of commandos
with markerlights, and an aegis defense line. Brother Manfred gets
psychic scream and some other worthless power. Needless to say, his
army contained a lot fewer kill points than mine. The good thing was,
he didn't have much long-range shooting, so I thought I might be able
to slowly whittle him down. My plan was to keep my head down until
his deep strikers arrive, kill them, and then, depending on how
things went, maybe leave the dubious safety of my defense line. No
night fighting. I get first turn, and opponent fails to seize the
initiative.
TURN
1:
I
shoot at the fire warriors. They all go to ground behind their own
defense line, so only one of them dies.
He
throws a bunch of markerlights at me, removing my cover saves and
making his riptide BS15 or something ridiculous like that, then blows
up brother Manfred's rhino and strips a hull point from one of my
vindicators. Manfred and co fail their pinning test and go to ground.
TURN
2:
Both
speeders arrive and they both attempt to deepstrike within melta
range of the devilfish. One mishaps, gets placed at the other end of
the table, and is instantly murdered by the riptide's interceptor
fire. The other fires its multimelta and plinks off a hull point. I
spend the rest of the turn shooting ineffectively.
The
plasmagun-wielding mecha arrive from reserve. They deep strike behind
my remaining speeder and wreck it. Tau shooting sees the leftmost
rhino destroyed and another hull point or two stripped from my
vehicles.
TURN
3:
My
strategy doesn't seem to be working out, so I decide to advance with
the vindicators, the attack bikes, and the rightmost tactical squad.
In the ensuing shooting phase, one unit of markerlight commandos is
disintegrated by a demolisher shell, the other is mostly destroyed by
rapid firing tacticals, the devilfish is finally wrecked, and the
mecha squad is reduced to a pair of mecha and one shield drone.
The
meltagun tau arrive, deep striking in front of my attack bikes. They
destroy the rightmost rhino, rendering me officially rhinoless, but
only manage to take a hull point off the vindicator. One of the
attack bikes is killed by the fire warriors, while the other suffers
a wound.
TURN
4:
I
turbo-boost my remaining attack bike, hiding it behind LOS-blocking
cover. I pull my hurt vindicators back behind the defense line before
eradicating the last of the markerlight commandos and inflicting
righteous vengeance on the melta commandos, halving their numbers. At
the leftmost side of the table, a tactical squad destroys the last of
the mecha squad.
The
melta tau retreat into terrain. More shooting ensues but nothing is
destroyed.
TURN
5:
More
useless shooting happens. The rightmost tactical squad assaults the
remaining melta tau, slaughters them, then moves into the opponent's
deployment zone to grab linebreaker.
The
combined shooting from the fire warriors and the kroot wipes out the
entire tactical squad. Game ends. Tau win by like one or two kill
points.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
One
of the most boring battles I have ever played. I knew nothing about
the new tau, so I didn't have any idea what I should be doing. If I
had a rematch, I would probably just rush towards their lines and try
to overwhelm them in close quarters. Also, I would use those speeders
to roast his infantry. This game sure made me miss my assault
terminators and their land raider.
THIRD
BATTLE - No1'S IMPERIAL GUARD
12”
deployment. Four objectives, each worth 3 points. As always, useless
warlord traits. You may remember No1 from older battle reports, where
his guardsmen were accompanied by Blood Angel allies. This time he
brought a pure IG list. His army consisted of a command squad in a
chimera, a veteran squad in a chimera, a pair of leman russes
(squadroned), a plasma and an executioner leman russ driven by Pask
(also squadroned), a basilisk and a colossus (squadroned), a big
platoon of guardsmen led by a commissar, and a vendetta. Brother
Manfred gets psychic scream and hallucination. I intended to rush his
lines with everything I had and take the leftmost of his objectives
(the one in the ruin). His vendetta wasn't carrying any units, so I
was fairly certain my own objectives would be safe as long as I could
get rid of that colossus quickly. He got first turn and I failed to
seize the initiative. Night fighting was in effect.
TURN
1:
His
shooting immobilizes my command rhino, reducing it to a single hull
point.
My
vindicators and two of my rhinos surge forward, popping smoke. The
attack bikes turbo-boost forward, keeping themselves hidden behind
the big train. The command rhino repairs itself and recovers a
hull point thanks to It Will Not Die. Half of my army shoots at the
colossus while the other half fires at the chimera, plinking off some
hull points.
TURN
2:
The
vendetta remains in reserve. One vindicator is wrecked. The veterans
leave their chimera and move into the ruin housing the objective.
A
speeder deep strikes in front of the leman russes, fires its
multimelta point-blank, and misses. Rhinos, attack bikes, and
dreadnoughts keep advancing. The vindicator scores a direct hit
against the two leman russes, but fails to inflict any damage. The
rest of the army unloads on the colossus, wrecking it.
TURN
3:
Vendetta
flies onto the table and is immediately forced to perform evasive
maneuvers, losing one of its lascannons and getting reduced to a
single hull point. The speeder gets wrecked, an outcome that
surprises exactly no one. The remaining vindicator takes a lot of
heat, but endures without lasting damage. The rightmost rhino is torn
to pieces. The disembarking marines fail their pinning test.
The
second speeder arrives. It scatters 12”, too far from its intended
target (the leman russes), so I turbo boost it behind the ruin. The
vindicator shoots at the leman russes for the second time, scores
another direct hit, and once again doesn't do jackshit. The shooting
from my predator and my rightmost dread wrecks the basilisk. My
leftmost combat squad disembarks from their rhino and, together with
the attack bikes, kills some veterans and wrecks their chimera.
TURN
4:
My
forces take a pounding. The vindicator is destroyed and so is the
command rhino. The executioner and the plasma leman russ destroy the
attack bikes. The veterans shoot at the combat squad threatening the
objective, killing two marines and causing the rest to flee. The
guardsmen rapid fire the combat squad right in front of them, felling
another two marines.
Manfred
casts hallucination at the huge guardsman unit, rendering them
useless for a turn. The dreads and the quad-gun shoot at the hovering
vendetta, but fail to hurt it. The tacticals regroup and move in on
the objective. The speeder roasts the veterans, reducing the squad to
four models. The tacticals then charge the remaining veterans,
killing half of them and sweeping the rest.
TURN
5:
These
two marines are immediately murdered by the combined shooting from
the leman russes, while the speeder looses one of its two hull
points. My last rhino is wrecked by the vendetta.
I've
pretty much already won at this point. My opponent can no longer
contest both of his objectives and has no chance of contesting either
of mine. Brother Manfred casts psychic scream at the guardsmen, hits,
and doesn't inflict a single wound, thus ensuring I never take
telepathy again. I give up trying to harm the leman russes and just
shoot at the infantry, killing like ten guys. Game ends. I win with
two objectives to his one.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
My
dice were terrible throughout this game. My main mistakes were not
sending more marines towards the objective in the ruin and not
dedicating more of my firepower to whittling down the big guard
squad.
OVERALL
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
I
had a lot of fun at this tournament. The battles were fast-paced,
close-fought, and entertaining, and I'm looking forward to the next
one. That being said, although playing a gunline list does have its
appeal, I really missed the thrill of seeing a land raider full of
angry dudes rush across the table. I also missed the twin-linked
lascannons of that same land raider and their inherent flexibility.
Flak missiles didn't do anything, but then again I'm not sure having
my trusty plasma cannons would've done much either. Oh and, telepathy
can go sit in a corner, as far as I'm concerned. It may not be
apparent from these battle reports, but Iron Hands chapter tactics
saved my units on more than one occasion, and I'm looking forward to
using them with a killy HQ. Unfortunately, both loyalist marines and
mech armies seem to be going extinct in my local metagame, which is a
shame.
THOUGHTS
ON THE NEW VANILLA CODEX:
Bland
and disappointing. It's hard for me to think of it as a new
codex, since it didn't add anything of note. No relevant new units,
no unusual armory entries, no significant FoC-changing options (for
some reason, vanilla remains the only marine codex that can't field a
pure 1st company list), no fresh predator/dreadnought/land
raider/speeder variants, not even a centurion HQ. Also, why the hell
can't vanilla land raiders take dozer blades?!
At
a glance, it might seem point values have gone down. In reality, this
either comes at a cost (for example, by not taking a veteran sergeant
you save up points, but your marines are ld8) or things that have
gotten cheaper are garbage you would never take anyway (extra armor,
storm bolters, whirlwinds, venerable dreads, assault marines, scout
bikers, deathwind missile launchers, etc.). The good stuff is
actually more expensive (sternguard, hammernators, vindicators,
multimelta attack bikes, lysander, etc.), while some other units have
gotten worse and retained old prices (ironclads, godhammer
land raiders, foot command squads, vulkan, etc.). Librarians are
super-cheap now, but since they lost null zone and the old psychic
hood, and they can't access divination, I can't see them being used
outside of cheap allied detachments. The good news is that vanguard
vets, honor guard, power armor bikers, and legion of the damned are
all much more affordable now.
Warlord
traits are underwhelming. 1 and 5 might come into play once in a blue
moon, 2 and 3 are good, 4 is decent, 6 has an extra chromosome. Oh
well, I guess they are still better than the ones in the rulebook.
Chapter relics suffer from a severe case of internal imbalance. The
plasma sword and the shield are superb. The chainsword is an improved
relic blade and well-priced to boot. The armor and the boltgun might
as well not be there. The banner is cool but it costs as much as a
librarian, is limited to command and honor guard squads, and is
carried by a single wound guy, so thanks but no thanks.
I
don't really have an opinion on centurions, except that they seem
overpriced and that I'm glad the pilot isn't riding inside a baby
carrier. I need to see them in action before I can make a judgment
call. The new Stalker anti-air tank might have been useful if
it could be taken in squadrons, or if it was fast attack. Its
retarded twin brother, the Hunter, is gimmicky and crippled by its
own overspecialization. With stormtalons and stormravens taking care
of the anti-flier department – while also being overall great units
– my guess is that Stalker/Hunter kits won't be the most lucrative
of GW's products. They should've scrapped both tanks and just made
icarus stormcannon array and/or skyspear missile launcher available
to whirlwinds as additional weapon upgrades. Grav-weapons don't make
much sense to me, as they appear to be same as plasma, only without
gets hot! or the ability to harm vehicles. That being said, White
Scars armies with lots of grav-weapons are going to be scary.
Chapter
Tactics are awesome. They're the only fresh thing in this
thinly-veiled moneygrab ploy GW calls a codex. They're not without
flaws, though, and internal imbalance is only one of them. In theory,
taking chapter-specific SCs will now be an option, rather than a
necessity. In practice, everyone who plays Salamanders is still going
to take Vulkan, all White Scars lists will include Khan,
Imperial/Crimson Fists will want Lysander/Pedro etc., because their
special rules complement their chapter tactics so well it would be
foolish not to take them. Still, it's a step in the right direction.
Overall,
this codex is a letdown.
