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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.

So I had my first game with my army. Been waiting this long to field a fully painted army. In all the excitement, I forgot my camera... Anyhow, my first draft army list includes: Watch Company Captain Artemis Aquila Kill Team 9 members (two assault marines 2 Frag cannon, various minor upgrades Artemis joins here Aquila Kill Team 1 Frag cannon, 2 terminators, 1 librarian, minor upgrades, beacon of angelis, drop pod Aquila Kill Team 2 Frag cannons, 2 plasmas, 1 librarian, tome, minor upgrades, drop pod Aquila Kill Team Stalker unit with a librarian Militarum Hellrain Brigade Commisar Command squad with hot shot volley guns Scions with 2 meltas Taurox with missile launcher ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAOS CAD Belacor 2 psykers on bikes 1 Nurgle character guy with nurglins, giving -1 ld army wide on enemy. Another psyker guy with a torrent AP3 flamer Rhino with basic guys, plasma Bike squad, joined by both biker psykers Chaos Drop pod thing from FW, with chosen marines 3 obliberators It was a really psyker heavy list. And he got "all" the powers he wanted he said. Invisibility two times, summoning power etc etc. There were so many powers I lost count. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setup Terrain. We play on a table with a lot of ruins and some other 5+ cover save terrain pieces. Its pretty much a city fight environment. He went first with deployment. Deployed his obiberators, bikers and rhino on one flank, and Belacor among them. The Nurgle unit was in the centre of his deployment zone. On my side I had my Tempestus command in a ruin holding an objective and out of line of sight from his army. The Artemis unit stayed behind the ruin with the command, and so did the stalker unit and next to it was the Taurox. And bunkering up from the Chaos drop pod with the torrent Ap3 flamer/chosen, and out of sight and out of range of his Obliterators who would get a power casted on them. Allowing them to see through terrain and ignore cover... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn 1 Chaos He deep striked his drop pod next to an objective on my left flank. Putting priority on that one instead of a "death and glory" attack on my units who were all cluster up (there were very few good pots to land and get a decent attack out on them). The bikers went for the centre of the battle field. Rhino move along towards the centre. Obliterators saw nothing, and could reach anything. So the just moved up Belacor flew across the table to my clusters units. Psychic phase... invisibility casted on the bikes. Belacor tried to scare off my stalker unit from the battle field (they were standing next to the edge), and also succeeded on casting dominate on them. But nothing of interest happened really. The Nurgle character guy summoned 10 deamonettes in his deployment zone. Shooting nothing of note, the deamonettes ran towards the Nurgle unit to protect them from drop pods. Chaos completed one objective ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn 1 Deathwatch I came in hot. Putting my self as close as possible to the nurgle unit as possible. The deamon units were the only things pretty much I could take care of in the first turn. The bikers were protected by invisibility, and the rhino was protected by ruins and good placement (a risk for me to go there) I pulled in Artemis and he slingshotted behind the nurgle unit. And of course the second drop pod came in too. My psychic phase I casted prescience on the stalker unit. And that was it. My other power were pretty worthless for this fight... bad draws. Cant even remember now, because I didn't use anything except the primaris powers. The drop pod units and artemis took out all the deamon units. Actually... two units did. And only two frag cannons from each unit handled it by it self! All the rest were just standing there... 24 models looking at 4 frag cannons guys taking care of all the deamons. First blood secured and the -1 ld army wide spread was gone. A note here, he had a small theme going on here. Lots of terrify, and ld based stuff. So I felt happy about getting rid of the -1 ld character The stalker bolter unit opened fire on Belacor. Re-roll to hit really helped vs a the flying monster. Scored an unhealthy amount of hits, and with the watch company rules I had re-roll to wound too. I scored 5 wounds from 18 shots on the flying monster. Luckily for him, he made 4 saves on his 4++ (I used no cover save ammo, so he couldn't jink) Next up was the command squad with hot shot volley guns. Scored one hit, and one wound. Belacor jinked, and failed :D So he took another wound. My first misstake came next. With my Taurox I forgot I had twin-linked hotshot volley gun and a heavy 2 missile launcher. I should have tried to take those shots at Belacor. Because the only thing I could see was the rhino in cover... score one hull point on it though. So turn 1 saw two deamon units dead, and I completed 2 objectives, and really scared the pants off Belacor ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chaos Turn 2 Belacor flies towards my deployment edge next to my stalkers and command squad. Chaos drop pod floats towards the centre ruin where an objective is that he needs. Deploys his torrent flamer character. Rhino moves 6" and deploys its marines. Bikers move in closer towards the action Obliterators moves close towards centre too. Psychic phase... invisibility again on the bikes. Lots of failed powers and minor stuff happened. Belacor casted dominate again. And that was pretty much the only thing that effected me. Shooting, Belacor boosted off the edge. Didn't want to risk another round of shooting from the stalkers. Obliterators got the see through terrain power and made three plasma cannon shots at Artemis unit, who were cramped together for a perfect blast opportunity. Only one went through though :D And my storm shield couldn't even tank one hit... So I lost 5 guys to that one blast. Some random shots were made, and a few marines fell. This turn he claimed 2 objective points ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn 2 Deathwatch The empty pod came in, and the scions. Scion landed next to the Obliterators, and the pod next to an objective. Moved my deep striked (from turn 1) units into a bracing position for the next turns onslaught. Moved the stalkers into the Taurox and repositioned them more centrally. Psychic phase, I used the Fulgurim primaris power with two librarians, and pretty much took out the marins from the rhino. The remaining 2 where shot down by the other marines. The rhino was destroyed by the taurox. Scions scored only one wound on the obliterators, due to lucky saves :) Scored two more points, one hold objective, and destroyed one unit (rhino and marines... needed one more unit to get more points). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn 3 Chaos Sadly we decided this would be the last turn. The local game store was going to close up... Bikers moved in for the kill against my veterans in his deployment zone. Obliterators turn around and targeted the Scions. Drop pod moved towards my command squad and deployed the chosen. Belacor flew in, keeping his distance from the stalker unit. Invisibility was cast again. I cancelled it once on the bikes, but Belacor was there to back them up with a backup invisibility spell... *sigh* A lot of shooting for once. Killed 5 marines from one unit with 2 frag cannons. One frag cannon, 2 plasmas, sergeant with shield (not able to tank any plasma hits...) and the black shield died. Funny part was that the black shield died last of them all. Flamers and boltguns shot down 4 of the command squad. I had gone to ground to survive that attack. The Scions... well they were burnt to crisp by the obliterators Assault... even with re-roll he failed to assault with his bikes. He needed 8, but only scored 7... So I was lucky. In the end, he scored 3 points some how. Cant remember the things he did. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn 3 Deathwatch I re-entered my scions, thanks to the formation rules. They deep striked next to the centrally located objective. It was of big importance as it was worth two points for me (2 mission cards pointing it out for various reasons). My stalkers, riding the Taurox went after the chosen who had killed most of the command squad. Now, given is that I am using the rules as written at the moment, meaning I have boltguns and stalker boltguns on my marines in this unit. So I deploy, and within rapid fire range. Take out all but one chosen. One unit of veterans went for another objective, limping towards it with its 4 members remaining. The other units made some shot versus the bikes, as there was nothing else to shoot at. Killed two or three of them. In the end I took 3 points. Final score 9 - 7 to the Deathwatch After math Now, if it would continue, I would be in deep derp against the remaining bikers. They were not many, but the invisibility that they had going was going to tip in their favour. My stalkers pretty much could walk around my deployment zone undisturbed. He didn't want to go close to them, but I was closing in. We figured if the game went on, he would slowly win the close combats versus my units, but it would take time. And, if he did, he would forgo hunting for objectives. Final thoughts I really underestimated the importance of my Tempestus detachment. The Scions, though small, had their purpose. First they put the pressure on armoured vehicles with their meltas. And they can't be ignored due to this. And if they are, they will charge in and perhaps stall a unit or get them self killed in the process. Either way win win for me. As they come in for free once they are dead, they can re enter over and over again. I saw this really good opportunity in this game, and it was when I got two mission cards indicating I should hold the centre objective. Since they died to the Obliterators, I could now reenter and claim the objective. With this in mind, the deathwatch, with limited units on the board, this is one way of getting to objectives. The command squad, though it didn't perform super well, is fairly cheap and can dish out a lot of damage. The invisibility and tons of ruins made it hard for them today to do anything. The Taurox... the ability to relocate the Stalker unit was really good. Its weapons were decent and I am overall happy with the use of it. Frag cannons... two were enough in this game in each unit. My friend was overwhelmed over its power. He was happy he had invisibility on his bikers, otherwise they would have been toast. Librarian with divination powers in a Stalker unit. While I didn't get a good power, the primaris proved really useful. Against the flying Belacor it really helped a lot. This is really situational of course, but I felt that a terminator with cyclone missile (similar price) doesn't add the same utility as a librarian. Overall, the stalker unit didn't really bring back its points in full in this game, but scared the living hell out of Belacor and kept the enemy at bay. Drop pods, I hate and love them. Of course, facing them is not something I like, but using them my self... well then I love them. First pod I dropped was to get the Beacon of Angelis up. The other tow pods I used more "tactically". The second one to block the direct path to my veterans. This prevented the bikers to reach me in turn 2, and gave him difficulty in turn 3 (as it turned out he failed his charge). The third pod I used to claim an objective. As it was empty I didn't really care much for it at that point. But... in future games it will be used as a blockade for my small force. Either to shield me off, or to close the enemy escape paths.

We agreed upon 1500 points and rolled for an Eternal War mission, ended up with "The Relic". For deployment we rolled "Hammer and Anvil". No "Night Fighting". My List: Shrike Tactical Squad - 5 additional SM, Melta Gun, Combi-melta, Rhino Tactical Squad - 5 additional SM, Plasma Gun, Combi-plasma, Rhino Scout Squad - 5x Camo Cloaks, 5x Sniper Rifles Vanguard Veteran Squad - 5 additional marines, 10x Jump Packs, 3x TH, 3 SS Assault Squad - 2x Flamer, Power Sword + Melta Bomb Assault Squad - 2x Flamer, Power Sword + Melta Bomb Devastator Squad - 4x Lascannons Devastator Squad - 4x Plasma Cannons Opponent's list Chaos Lord - fully-kitted out (Lightning Claw, Power Fist, 2+/3++) Chaos Sorcerer - forgot the powers Chaos Terminators - 5-man grouped up with the Chaos Lord Noise Marines - sonic blasters and blastmasters mixed in Havocs - 4x Auto-cannons Land Raider - carrying the Lord & Terminators Obliterators - a 1-man & 2-man squad, both DS I think that's all he had... The board is a mirror image on both sides so there was no advantage to which side I picked but I was the one going first at least. The relic was placed in the center of the map where there just happened to be a large ruin, 6x12 inches in size. Since I was able to use my scout move and go first I was on top the relic right away. I had my Plasma Cannons cover the left side of the board and the Lascannons covering the right, so once course his Land Raider came at me on my left side. Shrike's VV unit deployed directly behind the ruins in the center of the map, there wasn't too many good place to infiltrate closer to his back lines. The 2 Rhinos moved up the board and ended up behind his main force and the center ruin with the relic. Granted he glanced them both to death but the Tactical Squads were able to disembark into the ruins. The big mistake my opponent made was upload his Chaos Lord & Terminators right in the middle of my 2 destroyed Rhinos. Tons of bolter fire were able to soften them up until Shrike's VV squad came in with HoW blows and massive attacks. The Land Raider was still and annoyance as the one melta gun I had was unable to hit it's mark. The combi-melta I had blew it as well. Not to mention the one attempt I made with a melta bomb whiffed. The Plasma Cannons were able to take out most of one of the Noise Marine squads. The Lascannons were just picking off a unit here and there, nothing too great, a real waste of the high strength shots. The Sniper Scouts were a waste of point this game, since there were objectives to secure they didn't do all too much. A few kills but very much "meh". Once Shrike's VV squad was done with the Terminators they just swept across my opponent's backfield and was able to take out another 2 units before Shrike was killed and 2 VV units were left. The squad performed great, totally worth it. Once his Obliterators came in from reserve into my battlefield both of my Devastator Squads bit the dust. They were left unsupported so not a big surprise. By turn 5 it was just a game of keep away. It was truly and bloodbath on both side. I had a handful of Tactical Squad guys left and a few ASM but I had the Relic. He was left with an immobilzed Land Raider and just 2 Obliterators. So when the game went on to turn 6 I had ran away just enough to be out of sight/range of the Land Raider. I had the Relic, I had the win! (/end rambling)

Battle Rep - RG vs Chaos 1850 pts ++ Space Marines: Raven Guard - Talon Strike Force (SM RG Talon Strike Force) ++ + Core + Battle Demi Company Assault Squad - 2x Flamer, Jump Packs, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Chainsword Chaplain - Bolt Pistol, Crozius Arcanum, Raven's Fury Devastator Squad - 2x Lascannon, 2x Missile Launcher (Frag & Krak), 9x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Signum Dreadnought - Multi-melta, Power Fist w/Storm Bolter, Drop Pod Tactical Squad - Meltagun, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon Tactical Squad - Meltagun, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon Tactical Squad - Meltagun, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Drop Pod + Auxiliary + Shadowstrike Kill Team Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, 4x Scouts, 4x Sniper Rifle, Scout Sgt w/Sniper Rifle Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, 4x Scouts, 4x Boltgun, Scout Sgt w/Boltgun Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, 4x Scouts, 4x Boltgun, Scout Sgt w/Boltgun Vanguard Veteran Squad - Jumppacks, 3x LC/PF, LC/SS, Sgt TH/SS Vanguard Veteran Squad - Jumppacks, 3x LC/PF, LC/SS, Sgt TH/SS Vanguard Veteran Squad - Jumppacks, 3x LC/PF, LC/SS, Sgt TH/SS ++ Inquisition: Codex (2013) (Inq Inquisitorial Detachment) ++ + HQ + Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Carapace Armour, Bolt Pistol & Chainsword, 3x Servo Skulls 1849 pts ++ Chaos Space Marines: Codex (2012) (Combined Arms Detachment) ++ + HQ + Chaos Lord - Mark of Slaanesh, Power Armour, Frag Grenades & Krak Grenades + Elites + Emperors Children Sonic Dreadnought - Blastmaster, Chainfist w/Storm Bolter, Doom Siren, Searchlight, Smoke Launchers, Warp Amp + Troops + Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines, 1x Blastmaster, Noise Champion, Chaos Rhino w/Combi-bolter, Havoc Launcher, Searchlight & Smoke launchers Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines, 1x Blastmaster, Noise Champion, Chaos Rhino w/Combi-bolter, Havoc Launcher, Searchlight & Smoke launchers + Fast Attack + Chaos Bikers - Icon of Excess, Mark of Slaanesh, 7x Chaos Biker, Chaos Biker Champion, 2x Meltagun Heldrake - Hades Autocannon + Heavy Support + Chaos Relic Sicaran - Extra Armour, Heavy Bolter, Lascannons, Searchlight, Smoke Launcher, Twin-Linked Accelerator Autocannon Obliterators - 3x Obliterator, Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War + Lord of War + Chaos Knight Errant - Dirge Caster, Foe-reaper Chainsword, Heavy Stubber, Ion Shield, Slaanesh, Thermal Cannon 1850 pts Mission: Eternal War - The Scouring Deployment: Hammer & Anvil Night Fighting: Turn 1 Setup First: Chaos First Turn: Chaos Seize the Initiative: SUCCESSFUL for Raven Guard Now on the actual Battle Report! So as you may have guessed I’m aiming for a big Alpha Strike with this list. Taking the Talon Strike Force with the Command Benefit "Know When to Strike" paired with Shadowstrike Kill Team special rules "On Time..." & “On Target..” allows me to Deep Strike 3 VV squads near my Scouts Turn 1 AND Assault, oh boy oh boy! The Inquisitor and the Servo Skulls are a bit of a back up plan but with Hammer & Anvil (which I forced a re-roll for thanks to the TSF Command Benefit “Extensive Planning”) I had an ideal setup for what I wanted to do. Instead of doing the Battle Report turn by turn I like to give each unit or groups of units a grade so I’ll be breaking them down one at a time. Assault Squad - I started on the board but kept them out of sight of the enemy. I just wanted them on the board to avoid getting tabled turn 1. Normally I DS them onto a soft target and bathe them in flames but there was no soft targets on this Chaos list. They moved up the board turn by turn but did nearly nothing. I’m looking to replace them in this list as they don't seem to be worth the 95 pts. Grade - D-, would have been an F but they didn’t die so… Chaplain - I made the mistake of starting him solo but luckily he was able to move up the board quickly and join a VV squad after a couple turns. I was able to hide him each turn so he was able to survive but he added very little to this army. Because he can’t join any of the VV squads before they DS (they’d lose all their fun rules if he did) there isn’t much to do with him aside from sticking him with the ASM squad on having him join a VV squad later in the battle. Another unit I’m looking to make a change with. Grade - C, wasn’t a liability to my army, survived the battle but only helped out a very little to the overall battle. Devastator Squad - I combat squadded this unit, putting the Sgt/Signum with the Lascannons. I set them up in the backfield as always but with terrain and smart placement by my opponent I had limited options when it came to shooting each turn. As it always seems to be the Lascannons only hit/wound 50% of the time but that’s what the Dice Gods say so you have to roll with it….Both squads did their best, got in a few pot shots here and there. The ML squad went down to the Heldrake but the Lascannon squad survived thanks to being in ruins the whole time. Grade - C+, not their fault, the terrain, LOS, poor dice hurt them more that anything. They’ll be in the list in one form or another. Just not the battle for them I guess. Dreadnought - Dropped him down in the center on my opponent's deployment zone flanking the Chaos Knight Errant, he took a few HPs off him before he went down (more on that later). After that he when after one of the Noise Marines squad in a Rhino. Popped it open and with the help on a remaining VV or two wiped up that squad. Grade - B+, did what a DP Dreadnought w/MM should should do, pop tanks and PF squish infantry. Has been a stable unit battle to battle no reason to change anything here. Tactical Squads - Now we’re starting to get into the units that did some work. The DP Tactical squad landed in front on the Chaos Knight Errant because of a so-so scatter. The meltagun was able to hit but not able to get through the Chaos Knight Errant defenses. It held it’s own until the Heldrake finally swooped in a flamed then down. Both Razorback Tactical squads moved up the board fast and started picking off the Chaos Bikers until the fell then one moved onto the Noise Marines squad in a Rhino and the other moved onto the Emperors Children Sonic Dreadnought. The TL Assault Cannon is a really nice weapon, the re-roll, volume of shots and rending really let it do work on multiple threats. The Tactical squads stayed in the Razorbacks for most of the battle and only 1 squad got out when they needed to to take on the Emperors Children Sonic Dreadnought. Grade - B+, were able to get up the board without being popped open (smart use of cover and distance), took on multiple units and performed well. The TL Assault Cannon will be in my army for the foreseeable future. Really liking the Razorbacks over the cheaper Tactical squad w/Rhino options. Scout Squads - Now they really did the job of Raven Guard Scouts to a T. Because we deployed using Hammer & Anvil I was able to put all 3 units just outside my opponent's deployment zone. The Sniper Scouts were able to setup in ruins on one side of the board. In one turn they took at 3 Chaos Bikers which really thinned that unit out. Maybe got a few other shots in but nothing to major. With the other 2 Scouts squads the deployed in a straight line across the board with the Sniper Scouts. They were able to just tuck in and hide behind terrain to avoid being wiped out turn 1. They did next to nothing offensively but were the PERFECT Shadowstrike Kill Team scouts, glorified DS beacons for the VV squads. That’s up next. Grade - A, did EXACTLY what they were supposed to do. Infiltrate, Scout, hunker down and wait for the VV squads to arrive. Then Sniper Scouts were the only ones that did much work after turn 1 but if need the other 2 squads would have move/ran to any objective that was close to them. Vanguard Veteran Squads - Well well well, the MVPs right here! All 3 squads were able to DS and not scatter thanks to the Scouts. 2 were aimed directly at the Chaos Knight Errant and the remaining was aimed at the Chaos Bikers. The VV squads that went for the Chaos Knight Errant were able to get it down to 1 HP on turn 1, could have easily killed it if the dice were more in my favor. It went down turn 2 and after all the D weapons, Stomps, and Apoc Explosion there were still VV left standing. Next they moved to the Chaos Relic Sicaran and with the help on the Chaplain made short work of it. After all the work those 2 VV squads did 1 Space Marine was left standing to tell the story of the glorious battle that he had witnessed. The sole VV squad that went after the Chaos Bikers had trouble making charges, failed twice but still was able to put a hurting of them thanks to the LC/PF wargear they had. I can not state enough how great an option that is, the LC/PF combo is king! Grade - A++, they came in on time and on target and went to work. Granted they lost marines along the way but a Chaos Knight Errant, Chaos Relic Sicaran and Chaos Bikers felt their wrath. When the whole army is setup to make these guys shine and the do, damn is that a great feeling. Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Sat in the back, did nothing on note. His servo skulls did nothing as well. 34 wasted points. Maybe in another game against a different army he’ll be useful but not today. Grade - N/A, nothing to grade on. Will have to play more games with him to see if his points are worth what he brings to the battle. Did you really read all of that? WOW! Thanks. I really love writing these up as I love reading others as well. Maybe this was just an entertaining read to some or maybe helped other RG brothers out, either way chime in with your comments as I’d love to hear them. …….. Oh I completely forgot how to tell you the battle ended! We called it turn 3 as all that my opponent had left were a few Noise Marines, the Heldrake and the Obliterators which were still in reserve. We decided I would more than likely to claim more objectives and score more points at the very end because I had more on the table. Great game against a great player.

Eternal war Crusade Hammer & Anvil 1500v1500 Raven Guard & Astra Militarum vs Chaos SM Warband So I wanted to use the following list Captain with Swiftstrike & Murder, and Raven's Fury 5 Sternguard, 5 VV, Sgt with TH/SS, 4 with DLC 1 Land Speeder, With a 10th Co, 5 Sniper scouts, with camo, 10 CCW scouts, split into 2 groups of 5, with their own multimelta LSS However, in my haste to get to my local store, I forgot two speeders at home, so I had to work around and edit the list, so I ended up adding a melta to the Sternguard, adding camo cloaks to the other 10 scouts as well as having 5 more sniper scouts and a heavy Bolter in the main sniper unit, as the Chaos OpFor was cultist heavy. I had a cap of 750, so I also added a vet sgt with nihulis to use up some points and ended up giving the rest of the points to my AM comrade, because I was mostly at a loss with any other things I could tinker with. So we went first and immediately went to work, seizing objectives, and taking shots at the chaos sorcerers that were embedded in cultist meat-shields. Making a long story short, the scouts were incredibly effective infiltrated into terrain, I will see if I am able to upload some photos of the board. The story of the game however, was my AM friend's manticore and Pask making short work of, well, everything chaos had to field. I made several precision shots on his Sorcerers, as well as my captain finishing off his Hellbrute (which enraged and charged me due to my Vet Sgt glancing him twice) and threatening to contest an objective at the bottom of the screen. Man, that Captain was about to go to work on those squishy cultists! I never got to see my main hammer unit, the VV, in action. I was intent on bringing them in, then failed the reserve roll, then the Chaos player graciously conceded at the top of turn 3. The picture is from that moment, after he had lost his psykers and daemon prince, and several dozen cultists and a dozen or so marines I didn't utilize the sternguard as well as I had hoped. The Prince was threatening to swoop right over to them and contest that objective until Pask said hello with 15 wounds, so I was keeping the Sternies back on the Obj. The scouts performed admirably, exactly what I had wanted, especially from the Vet Sgt. I think I might have to make that little combo almost mandatory against light/medium armor armies The captain didn't have much to show for my plan for him, but he did soak up a TON of enemy fire from cultists and marines during turn 1, when he was hidden partially behind some terrain and was sitting pretty with a beautiful cover save. Moving onto the second game we played 1000/1000 RG/AM v CSM Capt 140 SSM RV Libby 65 2. 25 Ex Tenebris 10 100 Scouts Camo Snipers x2 140 Vet Sgt, 10 Nihilis 15 25 305 VV basic 95 500 Game ended 12-9 VP in our favor due to LR forcing cultists off objective So, I never have much dabbled with Psykers, and my opponent was bringing two, so I wanted to try the Libby out with divination, and I added the relic storm Bolter because I was digging the stat line on it. OpFor brought a ton of chaos spawn this time around which ended up being really effective as he stole the initiative and ended up slicing through one unit of snipers during turn 1, although I did manage to land a few wounds with overwatch. I moved my captain down the flank to engage his terminator armored sorc, which, after two turns of combat, ended with the sorc hacking him down, without taking a single wound himself. Poor rolling by me, and great rolling by Lou, the chaos player, led to that. I can chalk that one up to just poor target choice and poor luck. The captain usually performs very well for me The librarian casted some nice beneficial powers for me, until my opponent couldn't see any of the AM tanks and dedicated 6 Lascannon shots to kill my Librarian, which he did in turn 2. So, that was a bummer as I wasn't able to really use the librarian much at all..:/ First unit of scouts were sliced and diced immediately due to a nice charge roll by some chaos spawn, I was over eager and infiltrated them a bit far ahead Second unit of scouts did well, added some wounds on some spawn and eventually his warlord, and ended up holding a critical objective in our backfield after AM had moved up and erred by leaving it behind. The basic VV squad came in turn 3 and surprise took an objective from the enemy (I was hoping for a turn 4 end, which wasn't the case) but were promptly shelled by two chaos predators and hellbrute, and then Lou brought his Terminator Librarian over to slice them into nothing. All in all, it was a close game, I was carried by the AM player through the last turn and a half, and the game ended in 12-9 VP in the Good Guy's favor, due to Pask shooting a cultist unit just off an objective on the bottom of the last turn. Measured, the cultists were just about 1/8" away from controlling the objective, which, needless to say, Lou was simply catatonic about. It was a fun game to (mostly) watch, as bad luck and bad deployments (as well as the expensive librarian experiment) really did me in. Would love to hear some feedback, perhaps a list tweak or advice about the original 750 and the rough draft 750 I had to sling together, and any criticism about the 500 is also welcomed as long as it is constructive! Thanks guys, look forward to hearing back from some of you!