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Greetings all, so I played my first game in 8th edition today. We played a 2k game using the No Mercy mission (the new purge the alien mission.) My opponent played daemons + csm and I played pure deathwatch. Here is a quick army breakdown: DW (Battalion detachment) Watchmaster x 2 5 vets with combi-meltas in a pod 5 vets with combi-plasma in a pod solo biker solo biker corvus w/twin assault cannon, 2xblackstar missile, halo launcher corvus w/twin assault cannon, 2xblackstar missile, halo launcher kill team in corvus w/2xfrag, blackshield w/th/ss, 1 th/ss term, 1 vanguard, 1 biker w/power axe kill team in corvus w/2xfrag, blackshield w/th/ss, 1 th/ss term, 1 vanguard, 1 biker w/power axe (all vets have chainsword as second weapon) Chaos (Battalion detachment) (not sure he had 2 hqs after the fact) GUO 15ish seekers w/champ, musician 15ish plaguebearers 6 bloodcrushers w/champ 4 fiends 8 plague marines w/2xplasma in a rhino 6 plague marines w/2xmelta in a rhino 10 zerkers w/chain axes in a rhino 6 havocs w/4xauto cannon He won the roll off to choose deployment type and side. He chose dawn of war and the side he was on already. This means I deploy the first unit, and looking at all the fast units I determined I needed to split him up. I split my deployment, 1 biker and corvus in each of my corners, as out of LOS as possible. He deployed as centrally as possible. Since I finished deploying first I got the first turn. (He failed to seize.) Turn 1 I chose to wait on my pods, so I moved both corvus' along the board edge and moved the bikers out enough to be at max range to shoot. I was able to cull 3 fiends and 3 seekers (they were on opposite sides.) His turn 1 he advanced with mostly everything, except the rhinos and havocs. His GUO put 3 mortal wounds on a corvus with smite, the havocs put a couple wounds on the same one. His seekers successfully charged the solo biker (advanced 17 inches {3+14} and made the 7 inch charge) and deleted it (first blood.) Turn 2 I chose to bring in the pods this turn (at the end of the movement phase), the damaged corvus with seekers all around it flew over to the other side of the table with the rest of my army. (He had maneuvered the seekers, zerkers, GUO, and plaguebearers all that direction.) I dumped out the other kill team and moved the corvus aggressively past the bloodcrushers. The kill team moved close to the plasma rhino and bloodcrushers. Dropped both pods around 12" away from his army, in support of the kill team. My shooting phase killed 4 of the bloodcrushers, the last fiend, and a bunch of wounds from the plasma rhino. Kill team and solo biker charged the rhino and bloodcrushers, took the rhino down to 1 wound and the bloodcrushers down to just the champ with 1 wound remaining. His champs attacks dealt 3 wounds at -3 and 3 at -1, I chose to take saves on the term, who died from it. Both of us passed morale, my killteam and his bloodcrusher. His turn 2, both squads of plague marines dumped out as close as possible to the kill team, and most of the rest of his army was forced to advance to try and get into the fight from the opposite table side. The GUO did another 3 mortal wounds to a corvus with smite. Most of his shooting was forced to shoot the corvus' as they were the only targets in range and LOS that wern't in combat. He charged with both squads of plague marines into the killteam. At this point, he swings with all the plague marines and managed to kill a few marines. Then he gets to choose one of his squads to fight since it is his turn, he chooses the bloodcrusher champ, who kills the rest of the unit (I literally made zero saves in this combat, and should have re-rolled one of the storm shield saves vs -3.) Turn 3 I dump out the 2nd kill team close to the seekers and out of LOS from the rest of his army. I move one corvus over to the lonely havocs, the other over the plague marines. My solo biker in combat with the rhino falls back (who can still charge!) Both sets of vets with combis moves within 12 of both squads of plague marines. (The watch masters behind them.) My shooting phase kills the rhino with 1 wound, all the plague marines, the kill team takes the seekers down to 2 remaining, and the havocs lose a couple. The kill team finishes off the seekers in assault, the solo biker kamikazes the bloodcrusher who somehow made 8 saves in the shooting phase and dies to the bloodcrusher. I make the mistake of deciding to charge the GUO with my corvus, and it gets destroyed. His turn 3, the plaguebearers and GUO get closer to the combis, the empty melta rhino moves closer as well, the zerkers continue to reposition, the bloodcrusher gets real close to combis. The GUO deals 6 mortal wounds with smite (rolled an 11 on the check, and a 6 for d6 wounds) to the melta combis. A plasma combi dies to bolter fire from the rhino. Both corvus are low on wounds. The solo bloodcrusher assaults the plasma combis and kills 3 more, my solo vet does nothing in combat, and passes morale. Turn 4 The semi out of position kill team moves to get some LOS to shoot, the 2 solo watchmasters position to assault the bloodcrusher, both corvus go to hover, one positions in front of the GUO, the solo vet falls back. The corvus by the havocs kills the rest, the bloodcrusher dies to shooting from the watchmasters, empty melta rhino takes a few wounds from corvus. One watchmaster assaults the rhino and deals another wound. His turn, the plague bearers and GUO move close to the watchmaster and rhino, the zerkers dump out and move close to the corvus that killed the havocs. GUO deals 3 mortal wounds with smite to the solo vet (poor guy.) GUO and plaguebearers assault watchmaster, zerkers assault corvus. The plaguebearers were ineffectual, the GUO destroys the watchmaster (takes like 9 wounds {3d6}.) The zerkers kill the corvus, and consolidate semi behind their rhino. Turn 5 Kill team moves to max range and semi LOS on the zerkers, solo watchmaster moves closer to the plague bearers. A couple pf plague bearers die to shooting, and then a couple more when the watchmaster assaults them (zero zerkers die to shooting.) His turn 5, zerkers advance towards the kill team, rhino moves with them. GUO moves close to the watchmaster. GUO deals 2 mortal wounds with smite to a drop pod. Rhino shoots the kill team to no effect. Rhino charges kill team, GUO charges watchmaster. The rhino takes some wounds, GUO destroys watchmaster (slay warlord.) He rolls a 5 to see if the game goes to 6. Turn 6 Kill team falls back from rhino, positions close to zerkers and rhino. Kill team kills all but 1 zerker in shooting (mostly from frag cannons.) Kill team charges zerker and rhino, kills the zerker, takes the rhino down to 2 wounds. His turn, rhino falls back, GUO and plaguebearers move to pods. The GUO deals 3 mortal wounds to a pod with smite. The plaguebearers charge the wounded pod and fail to hurt it, the GUO smashes the other pod. I roll a 3 to see if the game goes to 7, end of game. Results: Him: 11pts (9 units killed + slay + first blood) Me : 8pts (8 units killed) Lessons learned: Pods - As much as their new cost sucks, tactically they still bring a lot to the table. Being able to choose when they come in was super helpful, it allowed me to put all of my army in one place to hit his weakest side. Not being in range for the meltas to deal extra damage sucked, but it still was pretty effective. Combis - Holy hell combis are stupid good right now, 5 combi-plasmas with re-rolls to hit (10 2+ poision rounds and 10 plasma shots within 12" is crazy.) Not sure how much I like melta vs plasma right now, needs more testing. Frag Cannons - Still good, both kill teams did serious work with the frag cannons. Coming out of a corvus allows them an effective threat range of 17" with the frag shot, it worked crazy well. I don't think they will be as effective coming out of a drop pod at this point though. Kill teams - Being able to fall back and shoot/charge is strong, my opponent tried to lock me down with a rhino, only to watch it backfire. With the current costs of the add on units I am not sure what the best load out is at this point, but I think they will continue to be effective, as long as they have a transport. Transports - It feels like 5th ed all over again, every transport (including rhinos) made it to their destination before death. Granted I didn't focus the rhinos right away, but I dunno, again needs more data. SIA - 2+ poisoned rounds are strong, with most shooting attacks wounding on 3+-5+ it really adds some quantity of wounds dealt that we are lacking in bodies (if only they worked on vehicles.) Melee - I think this edition will have a lot more successful close combat armies, his one bloodcrusher champion killed so many marines (it was maddening.) If you all have any questions let me know.

I actually remembered to take a few pictures of a few of my games this week, and thought I'd put the short notes up for your perusal. To keep this simple, and legible, I will just put the really short notes in compared to my other batreps, hoping you find this a quicker read. My lists were the same in both of these games: Prot's Deathwatch: A little more 'serious' take on the Black Spear: Watchmaster (Angelis) 205 Aquila 1: 140 5 Vets (inc.Srg) 1 Biker (for jink, ignore dangerous, etc) Aquila 2: 190 5 Vets (inc.Srg) Storm Shield/Pwr Maul Vanguard vet: Hvy Hammer Watch Company: WC HQ: Artemis: 145 WC Aquila 1: 280 5 Vets (inc.Srgnt) 2 Frag Cannons Librarian Rhino (This squad gets 'Beaconed' across table T1) WC Aquila 2: 215 5 Vets (inc. Srg) 4 Stalkers, 1 Infernus Hvy Bolter Terminator w/Cyclone (friendly zone objective holder) WC Aquila 3: 330 5 Vets (inc Srg) 2 Frag Cannons , Storm Shield Terminator Librarian ML 2 Tome of Ectoclades Drop Pod (Watch master goes here usually for Beacon time) WC Aquila 4: 205 5 Vets (inc Srg) 1 Frag Cannnon Terminator Assault Cannon, Melta Fist Ancient: 145 Dreadnaught, Assault cannon Drop Pod GAME 1: Maelstrom Vs. The Heinous Tau. Early Game: + I win first turn, set up appropriately, but draw mediocre cards. I do manage to get first blood, as he failed to seize. + His deployment is smart, but his list is certainly not maximized. He has units spread very well along his back lines: Hammerhead tank thing with Longstrike on one edge with Marker light pathfinders. On the opposite edge he had his Warlord HQ with jump pack, and a few squads of jet pack dudes with Plasma, melta. In the middle he had a transport full of fish. A Riptide, some more pathfiinders, and the Commander with jet pack (monstrous Creature).. flying fish dude. Moving more towards the Hammer tank, he had a full Ghost Kheel Stealth Cadre with 2 stealth suit squads, and the Kheel with drones. Backing them up as more Pathfinders. So he had the full Battle Cadre (whatever they call it) so he can share marker lights with multiple squads, and the auxiliary was his Stealth Cadre. +The target priority was difficult and I've learned the alpha strike is essentially what we have. Deathwatch came in hard T1, and although I knew it was risky I put a pod on his back edge between his riptide + Pathfinders, and his HQ Jet pack with Stealth teams. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/063473CC-9E87-4735-A733-7675EE44C0A2.jpg + Here it all came down, heavy and hard, Deathwatch style. Fish were floppin' for cover. + + The tuna are flamed and skewered pretty good here, but I could not get all wounds off of the Riptide. I used the flamers on the one squad to hit his pathfinder squad, netting me First Blood. + Primary Squad w/Watchmaster from Pod stayed focused on the Warlord with suits (off picture) and they are multi flamered, and poisoned and literally the HQ tanked enough shots to make all wound necessary to remove the squad. + He retaliates by retreating the Riptide up higher (surprise), overcharging weapons and his deviation kind of saves a bit of me, as I play Super Friends to keep some remnants alive... oh well. You live hard, you die hard. + As is typical my squads quickly diminish after the alpha. He was not too confident but I warned him the army struggles after the Alpha and we would see that in play here. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/EE439118-2FFF-40F1-9733-F72FFEAAFE53.jpg + Here the Riptide tried to hide, but to my surprise my Stalker Bolter squad would get the kill from a distance.+ + The Riptide goes down after failing his last wound to stalkers. They would see VERY little action this game as mid table terrain and the Tau deployment took them out of most of the action, plus they sat on an objective most of the game. + I go up a few more points and then he has a great turn here and nets a few points. + I get another squad in via deep strike. Here's the funny thing... Really stupid actually. I put a BIKE in the squad JUST to take away the Dangerous Terrain tests and jink into CC if I had to.... so I deep strike the squad intentionally on debris right in front of a Stealth Squad. Then my opponent says, "that's a dangerous test isn't it?" I totally forgot, I fail one test, I randomize the model... and kill the bike. D'oh! Didn't realize what I had done until the game was over. lol + I am WAY out of the game now because he's shifting away with his Tau and I'm slow as heck. I get one remnant squad back into a Rhino, but leave one vanilla squad behind for objectives. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/6CCB53AA-CCE6-4719-A38E-D601E4DF08B6.jpg + After the switcharoo psychic power I am now ready to assault. The Dreadnaught couldn't get a good enough shot on the transport, and I felt the Marker lights would be worse, so I shot up these Pathfinders, got lucky and they all died. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/74D05C21-A006-4D24-9367-4EDB4BD24F1A.jpg + I pull the old 'switch-a-roo' to get an assault off on this Ghost Keel. + + My Drop Pod dread comes in, and I see the Stealth Cadre which means instant death for my Dreadnaught and know I have to tie him up. + My Libby had pulled the power to switch spots with a friendly squad. So a squad which just deep striked here, switched spots with my tiny Librarian squad with Artemis, thus allowing me to assault. + The assault ensues, but I can't kill anything, and he kills one guy. In his turn the assault continued and I tried Artemis' D-Bomb (again) and failed to hit, but my opponent rolled a 1 for the D result. LOL man does my Artemis suck... I think he's literally about 0-15 on that D bomb. + His Flying commander shot up some deep strikers pretty good. His Longstrike effectively wiped out some more of my stuff and i was feeling the very typicaly 'uh oh' here we go.... even with 6 squads the army felt small. + I cannot beat the Ghost Keel in close combat so I do the 'switcharoo' again and he fails to deny it. This time I swap out Art and Libby for a squad with the Fist Termie. It would take the fist termie to beat down the Ghost Keel and Drones... finally. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/7485C315-3C5D-44ED-997B-A2673E52E23B.jpg + Operation Chowder is completed... the Deathwatch run for cover as the Longstrike/Hammerhead is taking aim. Above the Dread managed to blow up the transport fish bowl. The contents are unfortunately not pinned though. + I get sick of the flying commander pelting stuff so I take a long shot of my own. Using my Mission tactics to re-roll 1's, I state the Stalker Bolter squad is going to shoot what they have left (about 3 guys and the Terminator) at his flying commander. The arrogant flying fish refuses to Jink because it's a long shot. The Cyclone hits on a re-rolled 1 !!! I get the wound, and it insta kills his arrogant fish!!! + My Vanguard Aquila comes in with heavy hammer. There isn't a good target for the hammer but I do have 2 shotguns lined up at a stealth team that take out the squad denying their 2+ cover save... very handy. However the Hammerhead wipes the squad in one shot. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/35B3DAEC-2EC2-47B6-BCAA-195688516D81.jpg + Everything I have left that has been walking through a shooty hell catches up to the contents of the fishbowl. The fish die quickly and without doing any damage. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/FEDB0D9A-0BAA-41A4-95EB-8210688852E7.jpg + I pull the switcharoo power one more time to face down his annoying Hammerhead to the right. I can't do anything more than a single hull point to it with my Fragcannons. + + The game ends in turn 6. I have a fairly significant victory on paper but I have very little left on the table. But he's literally down to 3-4 rallied Pathfinders and his one tank. A fairly convincing win, against a non-optimized Tau list. It shows that the Tau put out so much damage that even someone who isn't quite sure what he's doing can give me big problems though. BATREP 2: The Shortest Incursion with Daemons that will never be recorded: + I face off against Daemons. He's using the INFERNAL TETRAD: He gets a lot of good powers in his psychic roll offs, but so many are rolled for, I don't think it's ever an issue for this list. I get to go first, but my deploy as usual is very light. I park some Stalkers on busted Bridge, and hide my Rhino for the Angelis Alpha. + His deployment looks little like this: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/B9F58770-EACE-4699-8D28-94F8F4ABACED.jpg + What do you call 5 DP's with a plethora of powers that steals the initiative? A: A short game. + He steals the initiative. This means the game is over for me. He buffs the army with the longest segment of his turn, the psychic phase. Everything seemingly has Iron Arm, and he's re-rolling a ton of stuff, and summons a squad in. His attacks aren't great though as he can only target my stalker squad right now, and they manage to hold on to about 3 models. He largely advances his army. + In my turn I know I have to have on amazing alpha strike. The problem is his best close combat dude (the green Daemon Prince) is the only 'easy' target. + I come down hard, and Angelis in the Rhino squad: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/3B2E7FFA-CE08-499D-99E8-D0F90AD55B95.jpg + I do the Angelis Alpha, and starting with the Stalkers, I take down the Green Daemon prince. + The Green Daemon Prince was Nurgle based. Most of these are close combat dudes so only the one Tzeentch model with the book thingy is flying (off screen). + After the Nurgle Prince dies it all goes down hill.... I can't do anything to any squads. The Frag Cannons are best as flamers, but here they won't do anything, so I use single shots, but wounding is still hard with Frag because Iron Arm everywhere. + Of course Poison rounds help, but here's the thing.... he's got a 2+ invuln, and re-rolls 1's. and then I think there's Feel No Pain.... So yea, we've seen this before, it's nearly impossible once the powers are up. I think at one point I counted 17 wounds, but I don't think more than 1 stuck. + To my opponent's credit he played ITC rules so his 2+ failed to a re-roll of a 4+ AND then Feel no Pain. Something like that. Regardless my entire remaining army poured into that guy, and couldn't touch him. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/C9FBCDFB-F695-4345-9204-651F68B7D7B9.jpg + In his turn, he moves in for the kill.... + I can't deny any psychic powers with his 17+ dice. His warp storm gets him a free squad, he summons another, which miss haps and I place on the far side of the table. + he gets off Psychic Shriek on my Stalker Bolter squad, I take 6 un saveable wounds on the Squad. The termie fails the first save, squad dies. + He gets to summon a Tzeentch Chariot, I can't block it.... it flames most of a squad killing them without saves. + He comes in for close combat.... http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/8ED9E15D-AB6B-4774-AABC-D3B1A15EF251.jpg + Hmmm... something's missing from this picture... + So I can't wound anything because of toughness. All of his attacks are instant death because of high Strength, and AP2. SO.... I am powerless to defend his psychic stuff, can't wound him, can't save most of this.... + The Watchmaster steps up to take the first of the 1,491 wounds I have to take. He goes to block the first attack: Misses the block. Goes to make his 4+ Iron Halo... misses, instant death. The Librarian fails his 5+ invuln, instant death. The rest of the squad is wiped. It's over kill but I have nothing left. + Second close combat only has one Daemon prince but it's more of the same... I can't wound, he's insta-killing, All die but 3. At the end of his second turn, I start my second turn with 3 small squads in reserves. On the table I have 4 models. He has his full army minus the Nurgle DP, and he has summoned 3 more in total. So there is not chance, I will come in peace meal now, and full deviate, and his army is growing faster than I can die. So I concede. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/Protilious/Prots%20Deathwatch%2040K/Prot-%20DW%20Paint%20Chllg%20Kill%20Team1b.jpg + Back to the Choppa! Back to the Choppa! + Game ends and it's about as bad as a tau game I had earlier this week. Sorry I did not take pictures of any other games I had this week. But normally I batrep one a week so... bonus this week! Hope you enjoyed reading ths.