Welcome
to Giga's first 40k battle report and blog post. What follows is
three battles from a 1850 point tourney held at Hobby Store,
Belgrade's finest gaming club, on 1st December 2012. The three
scenarios being played were some that (I think) were used previously
on ETC.
Since
I've been away from 40k for well over a year and had no experience
with 6th whatsoever, I decided to avoid fielding anything overly
complex or tactically demanding. So I opted for a fun straightforward
list, something I could play on autopilot while I got used to the new
rules. This is what I came up with:
STEEL
SLAYERS STRIKEFORCE:
Captain
Dolf Hummerdgern (Lysander counts-as)
Tactical
Squad "Red" - flamer, combiflamer, missile, rhino
Tactical
Squad "Yellow - flamer, plasma cannon, chainsword
Tactical
Squad "Green" - flamer, combiflamer, missile, rhino
6x
Assault Terminators - 1x claws, 4x th/ss, sarge with claws
Brother
Hanz, Dreadnought - 2x tl-autocannon
9x
Sternguard - combimelta x3, melta x2, drop pod
Land
Raider Godhammer - extra armor, multimelta
Predator
- lascannon sponsons
TOTAL:
1850 pts
The
plan was simplicity itself: Lysander & sternies kamikaze into the
enemy's face on first turn, destroy something important, then absorb
all sorts of punishment, enabling the LR with termies and tac squads
red & green to rush forward for some serious turn 2 assault &
rapid fire love. Tac squad yellow takes objectives, while the
rifleman and the predator blow up transports or put wounds in MCs. I
would've prefered to replace the dread & the pred with a pair of
vindicators just to give everyone heart attacks, but sadly I don't
have the models yet. My anti-air was weak, but since nobody in the
local meta owns more than 1-2 flyers I wasn't worried. Either way, I
knew I was in for a jolly ol' time when my army was designed to be in
an opponent's face on turn 1.
FIRST
BATTLE – DORIAN'S NURGLE MARINES & ALLIED DAEMONS
Setup:
Dawn of War
Duration:
6 turns, 7th on 5+
Primary
objective: each player places three markers 6 "from the edge,
12" from each other worth 1, 2 and 3vp (point values noted in
secret by the player deploying them). Then before rolling to
take the initiative you need to give your opponent the value of
individual markers.
Secondary
objective: first blood, slay the warlord, linebreaker (at 1VP), each
unit killed FA is worth 1Vp
Special
rule: fast attack are scoring units
Dorian's whole army had mark of
nurgle. It was something like this:
lord
on bike, 4++ save and some sort of uber flamer thingie, warlord
epidemus
3
units of 7 plague marines with 2x meltagun, fist, & rhino
chaos
marine bikers with 2x plasmagun & fist/lc serge
plaguebearers
6
obliterators (three units of two)
Dorian's lord got the outflank warlord
trait, so he outflanked him together with the bikes and also placed
one oblit unit into deep strike reserve. Lysander got furious charge
in enemy deployment zone. He got first turn. I placed one of my
combat squads in reserve.
TURN 1:
Epidemus & the plaguebearers
deepstrike on first turn and take an objective and stay there for the
entire game. Plague marine rhinos turbo 18” forward. Oblits shoot,
but their lascannons are no match for the land raider's mighty hull.
The drop pod lands behind the rhinos,
disgorging Lysander & sternguardies. Land raider moves 6” and
the assault terminators leave the LR and move into charge range of
the two rhinos. A flamer/combiflamer combat squad leaves their rhino
and moves into rapid fire range. Dreadnought brother Hanz wrecks the
leftmost rhino, getting first blood the first ever time he shoots,
hell of a good start! LR and the missile launcher tac squads shoot
and blow up the black rhino. The terminators multiple-assault the
plague marines and the last rhino, exploding it and stomping some
traitors. Terminator LC serge and the plague serge murder each other
in a challenge.
TURN 2:
Lord, bikers, and oblits fail to
arrive. The plague marines to the left move around their wrecked
rhino and shoot their meltas at the LR, but once more, its armor
endures. Two oblits move out of cover and vaporize 8 out of 9
sternguard with two well-aimed plasma cannon shots. Lysander &
the last remaining sternie decide they aren't being paid enough for
this and run for their lives, only to be shot at again by the plague
marines. The last veteran dies and the plague marines charge
Lysander, which results in a dead plague sergeant and a happy
Lysander. The assault terminators finish off the other plague marine
unit.
At this point I was expecting the lord
& the bikers to come from my right, so I made a tank wall to stop
them from getting good shots off. The combined firepower of Hanz,
three combat squads, and the predator kills all but two of the
leftmost plague marines. The terminators charge in to help Lysander
out. In the ensuing combat, Lysander takes two wounds from those
pesky poisoned daggers and the second plague marine unit is wiped
out.
TURN 3:
Lord, bikers, and oblits arrive at
last. The lord & bikes come in from the left, which I didn't
expect, and catch Hanz with some surprise plasma buttsex, which
immobilizes him and overheat-kills one of the bikers. Predator is
shaken. The oblits plasma cannon one of the combat squads, get all
direct hits all day, and wipe it out.
The Lysander & the termies try to
embark the LR, but fighting all those plague marines must've worn
them out because they roll snake eyes on their difficult terrain move
and then a 2 when they try to run. Here I make the huge mistake of
not moving my predator to block biker movement and force them to stay
cornered (I thought Hanz would do that, but it turned out they had
enough space to slip past him). I claim the two objectives on the
right.
TURN 4:
Bikers ride past Hanz and the lord
unleashes some sort of ranged armor-ignoring flamer that roasts my
combat squad, at which point I get jealous because the only flamer
vanilla captains can get has only one shot and isn't even heavy. The
oblits charge and kill the last tactical there.
At this point we ran out of time and
had to finish. Seeing as this has totally screwed up both of our
strategies, we decided to call it a draw.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
If Dorian had been more conservative
with his plague marines, or if his bikers had arrived on turn 2, I
think he would've been able to overpower me through sheer
cost-effectiveness. Even with his bikers being late and most of his
plague marines dying in first 2 turns, it still would've been a close
battle.
Also, the codex creep is scary. T5 and
even T6 everywhere, with 3+ armor save (or 5+ cover) and FNP, is
extremely hard to deal with when you have to rely on bolters &
flamers for anti-infantry. T5 obliterators are insanely good and I can't
see a reason to put anything else in heavy support slots.
SECOND
BATTLE – IGOR'S DAEMONS
Deployment:
Hammer and anvil
Duration: 6 turns
Primary objective: 2 markers
in the middle of deployment areas (worth 2VP in your area, 4 in the
enemy's), 2 markers 36 "from the short edge and 12" from
the long edge (worth the 3vp)
Secondary objective: slay the
warlord, linebreaker (at 1VP), each HS unit killed is worth
1VP
Special rule: heavy support units are scoring
Sadly,
I have totally forgotten to take photos, so I decided not to make a
detailed report of this one. Igor's army consisted of two units of 6 flamers, two big units of bloodletters, kugath, bloodcrushers, khorne
bloodcrusher herald, two units of screamers, and a unit of
plaguebearers. His entire army arrived in the first two turns and
from then on it was one big messy fight. I managed to take out the
flamers, plaguebearers, and the screamers, while he took out all but
two of my combat squads (I also had another one in reserve, but
totally forgot about it and didn't roll for its arrival, heh). I won
by driving a rhino with a combat squad all the way across the table
and claiming the objective in his deployment zone, while at the same
time contesting the one in my deployment zone with my land raider.
Fun times.
Oh
and, the new flamers of tzeench are a joke and an insult to game
design. Whichever idiot designed that crap should never be allowed to
touch 40k again.
THIRD
BATTLE – NIKOLA'S DAEMONS & ALLIED IG
Deployment:
vanguard strike
Duration: 6 turns, 7th on 5+
Primary objective:
a relic in the middle of the table worth 8vp,
Secondary objective:
slay the warlord, linebreaker (at 1VP), each killed unit is worth 1vp
Nikola's
army was as follows:
flying
bloodthirster
fateweaver
flying
daemon prince
two
units of plaguebearers
two
units of flamers
soulgrinder
lord
comissar
manticore
veterans
with meltaguns
vendetta
Nikola
got outflank on his warlord, an incredibly useful trait on a
deepstriking daemon. I got a trait that made Lysander scoring, which
was awesome as it allowed him to carry the relic. I knew I couldn't
do anything against that amount of fliers, so my plan was to move
into the middle on first turn, grab the relic, then move back into my
deployment zone and turtle until the end. He had first turn. I
forgot this scenario was about kill points as well as the relic, and
ended up combat squadding one of my tactical squads. Oh well.
TURN
1:
The
wrong half of Nikola's army arrives and one of his flamer units
mishaps, but gets safely returned to reserve. Daemon prince, the
bloodthirster, and the plaguebearers arrive normally. Manticore
immobilizes the LR.
Terminators
disembark and make their way towards the relic. Tactical rhinos move
forward and pop smoke. Lysander & the sternguard land at the
other side of the middle building. I pour most of my firepower into
the 9 plaguebearers and kill all but one.
TURN
2:
Vendetta
arrives and so do the soulgrinder and both units of flamers. Both
flamers scatter far into their deployment zone and are unable to
shoot the sternguard. The soulgrinder shoots and kills four
sternguard with its battle cannon. The DP and the bloodthirster do
some vector strikes.
Lysander
splits from the sternguard and goes to get the relic, while
sternguard take out the last plaguebearer. Aside from that, my
shooting doesn't kill anything.
TURN
3:
Vendetta
blows dreadnought brother Hanz up. The flamers jump forward and
destroy the sternguard and the droppod. The manticore wrecks one of
the rhinos, and the soulgrinder kills quite a few of the disembarked
tacticals.
Lysander
gets the relic and joins the terminators. Things look grim indeed.
TURN
4:
Fateweaver
& the plaguebearers arrive. Some terminators die. Veterans
disembark from the vendetta and blow up the land raider with their
meltas.
The
two combat squads try to blast the plaguebearers, but plasma cannon
overheats and the marine fails his armor save. Bolters & flamer
kill only one plaguebearer. The other tacticals try to redeploy, but
it's a doomed cause as both the DP and the soulgrinder are in assault range.
TURN
5:
Fateweaver
& the flamers move in for the kill. Their shooting kills all
terminators and wounds Lysander. Soul grinder and the daemon prince
charge the tacticals and kill all but one, who fights to the end
rather than try to run. The bloodthirster assaults Lysander. The
plaguebearers assault a combat squad, with predictable results.
The
four remaining marines in the other combat squad move to the lower
floor and rapid fire the traitor guardsmen, killing a few and forcing
a leadership test, which they fail. The Lysander vs Bloodthirster
duel ends with Lysander's death. The last tactical squad leaves their
rhino so they could die fighting rather than running. Their bolters
fail to put a single wound on the daemon prince.
TURN
6:
The
rest of my army is destroyed completely.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
I
can't remember the last time I felt my plastic dudesmen were so
inadequate compared to another guy's plastic monstermen. Between all
those flying MCs, str 8-10 pieplates, and armor-ignoring templates,
it was pretty much a hopeless battle. I don't even want to imagine
what it would've been like if fateweaver had arrived on turn 1 or if both units of flamers hadn't scattered out of template range on turn 2.
OVERALL
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
Holy
crap batman daemons! They sure got popular while I was away! I'm
going to really keep them in mind when I make my future lists.
Speaking of which, I knew my list would be outdated (truth to be told, it wouldn't be such a great list in 5th
edition, either) and boy oh boy was that an understatement. It's
going to need a lot of work and a lot of $$$, but I think I got a
pretty good idea where I'm going to go with it.
I'm
very happy to see rhinos are as good as ever, since the online
whinefest about them has had me kinda worried. While they're easier
to wreck, turbo boosting, ability to transport two combat squads, and
the fact they rarely go boom nowadays are all huge buffs. Proper
target saturation still adds a lot to their survivability, and I can
only imagine how nice it's going to be once I can field some
vindicators and allied IG.
These
three battles make me worry about GW design philosophy, namely the
huge amount of high-strength armor-ignoring templates and pieplates
that seem to be everywhere nowadays. With the nerf to cover and
transport survivability, I really can't see how they intend to keep
armor saves useful. If they continue adding stuff like tzeench flamers, baleflamers, etc. into the
game, I think it's only a matter of time before they're forced to
make 4++ and 3++ saves widely available, or effectively render MEQ no more resistant to shooting than your average ork boy. Oh well, it is what it is.
