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First off I have limited time, but I since I took some pictures I thought I could just run down my last game quickly. Unfortunately I do not have my models entirely painted, and had to proxy some of the Aggressors, but the list looked something like this: -Khan -LT. -Libby -Chappy on Bike - Apothecary - Incursors / - Assault Intercessors - 5 Aggressors - 5 Bladeguard - Warsuit - 3 Outriders - 2 ATV's (MM) - Thunderstrike (?) Speeder - Eliminators with Lasfusil - Repulsor (!) - 3 Eradicators (vanilla) We played Secure missing artifacts. I couldn't tell you the entirety of the Votann list, but I know he 'held back' as he was not using Berzker type units, and had only 2 of their Terminator equivalents. Still the whole army (as usual) felt like an 'anti marine' force. (Tons of AP-2, S5+ , 2 D) I should apologize here because as usual I completely forgot to take a picture of the entire table top from top down. Anyway, we played the angled deployment of Secure Missing Artefacts. The White Scars went first. We play with fairly heavy terrain so in theory about 75-80% of an army can be hidden, if not at least in some protective terrain. My Secondaries were the White Scars one (Have to kill something after charging it... much harder than the Wolves one.) Oath, and Engage on All Fronts. Some of my deployment: Below: My corner hiding the Repulsor/Speeder. Below: My mid table obscurring ruin is packing a lot of models. I didn't want turn 1, since the fire lanes were so tight and armies hidden. I did get a little aggressive with my Warsuit, so at least he would be able to shoot, but other than Litanies, there was little else to do. My T1 I move out to middle with the bikers, and I 'tease' the Incursors (Behind crates at center off picture). The shooting I do with the Warsuit is through a building at his troops. This does put the Warsuit in danger, and the minus 1 damage, and Void armour makes shooting the troops in cover nearly useless, but I wanted to see if it was worth baiting him out. Essentially I advanced the rest of the army. His Turn 1 does see him come in and nearly shoot up the Warsuit, but the 'termie' equivalents take the bait and run up destroy the Warsuit. Bit Turn 1 moment is probably the Incursors at mid that "blew smoke" and hit Transhuman on Turn 1 for 2 CP that definitely saved them. I find against Votann that Transhuman feels virtually useless so I prefer to use it early (before I have 2-3 "Grudge" tokens on units.) I felt lucky to have 4 Incursors still alive. Turn 2 I manage to get full Primary scoring, but I'm pushing it and have to engage the Votann or risk getting blown off the board. Turn 2: Above: I reinforce mid with the ATV's and take melta shots at his heavy tank. Which did very little. My Speeder would also pop some lascannons into it, but at the end I maybe took it down to half wounds. The mid was well reinforced. The Aggressors advance to where the Warsuit had just been destroyed. The Aggressors shot everything at his troops deeper in a ruin, but with cover + Void armour the damage was a joke. The Bladeguard followed the Aggressors into an assault on the 'termie equivalent' to jointly kill ALL but 1 model which did not break to moral and I tri-pointed the model to prevent him from shooting my aggressors/bladeguard. VERY lucky on this move. Above, another huge moment. I advanced the Outriders after bringing one back from the dead, and assaulted his heavy tank, and caused him some real issues here. (This is beside the ruin that all of the Aggressors/Bladeguard are in. This caused him some serious scoring issues. A bigger move I made was in the lower right side of the table: The Assault Intercessors (7 with hammer) got out, advanced for 1, I CP rerolled it for a 6. Moved 12" (Plus the disembark) and my Chaplain got off the aura adding to advance/charges and he was sitting there with the Eradicators waiting for the Assault Intercessors. I made that charge as well deep into his zone tying up 3 of his bikers, and a 10 man squad, stealing his objective. The problem was I couldn't damage his army. No rerolls of damage/to wound allowed. BUT in this Assault Intercessor move I managed to kill enough that I could entirely wrap him with the consolidation move preventing him from falling back. This lead to another crazy situation where he just failed moral but only 2 models were left, preventing him from shooting this squad as well. So although I couldn't score the White Scars secondary, the good news is I robbed him of primaries, and he was a little taken back by how aggressive my army was (I did give him a full break down and he's played my White Scars before. There were no 'gotcha' moments. I think he just didn't see a way that I would make 5 Assaults in turn 2. His scoring was bleak. He took some secondary where his guys could pan for gold or something silly and he scored it. I think he got 1 on the primary, and I would score Oaths, and 4 quarters this turn. His Turn 2 he brought in a special character on the side that my Bladeguard/Aggressors were. He is a brutal character with a 3+D3 hammer! He also brought in his second 'termie' unit on my flank where the Eliminators were exposed. This would be tricky. He failed his character assault, my Bladeguard/Aggressors mopped up the 'termie' unit, but I can't score it because the White Scars secondary is only if I charged that turn. Ugh. On the lower right his bikers and troops were dying to my Eradicators. He shot up my Speeder and that was gone. I also lost an ATV, and a half. (I Know I can't bring one back but I thought of healing the last one to 8 wounds but instead I opted to bring a missing Bladeguard back from the dead.) My Turn 3 above: The Bladeguard (after finishing off a unit ) would charge into this unit with the Khan in tow giving them +1 to wound. These guys just came in from reserves and are notoriously tough to get rid of: T5, 2 wounds, but they hit hard, and are -1 Damage on top of Void armour!. I got lucky, the Bladeguard smoked them to a man, but BARELY. I mean right to the wound they all died. I finally get some points for White Scars secondary! (The turn 3 bladeguard charging ability meant the +1 damage white scars ability made my Bladeguard 3 damage, reduced to 2 damage, just enough to kill a model.) The big one was in the center. I don't have a shot of it, but I advanced the Aggressors towards his hammer character that just arrived and I shot it nearly to death with the boltstorm gauntlets (Kind of funny since he has 2+/4+ and ALL damage is reduced to 1 on him so I didn't think I'd do a thing. ) So aggressors HAD to kill this guy on the charge, because I'm sure on the counter charge that character would outright kill the whole squad. But the Aggressors BARELY got lucky enough to kill him. It was T3, so although my Aggressors should have been 3 damage a fist, it was reduced to 1 and he failed just enough saves, netting me more White Scars points. Then the Chaplain would assist above (not shown... I took the picture too soon) and kill off the last biker to get another White Scars secondary, capping me at 5 for the turn.) This took him off the objective entirely. We scored his turn 3, and then realized he would not be able to catch up. There was just no way. He had only 1 secondary point every turn to my nearly full scoring. My models started disappearing very FAST, but I had maxed most of my secondaries, and his T4 he would get rid of the Aggressors but they had tied up his tank, and HQ's again. So he just couldn't score. So I can't remember the final score but after 4 it was official and it was a good 40 point differential, maybe more. Conclusion: - White Scars are in tough. This was hard, and at first I didn't take pictures because even my Chaos struggles VERY hard against this. I honestly think I made some crazy yolo charges that panned out. Also his units not quite dying (while very annoying) prevented him from destroying my most aggressive units. Still, this army, until turn 3 really can't damage much yet isn't resilient enough to hang around long. - Stuff that worked: Khan ( fun but hate that he's on foot.. please GW, give us a bike model already), Bladeguard, but they work for everyone. -1 to hit power from the Psyker. VERY Big in this game at key moments. Chaplain - the true force that makes this whole thing work. Assault Intercessors. You know I keep wanting to pull them out, but they just are my favourite troop to be honest.... Incursors always do nothing, but usually score. That's their role in life, and I can't pull them either. - Stuff that kind of works: Repulsor. I can't believe it but after the big points reduction I've probably used it in 3 or 4 games now and it still stinks. Lascannons kind of stink, and having this unit I think my opponent smartly ignored it. It did nothing all game (maybe 2-3 wounds off a vehicle.) Aggressors. LOVE the idea of putting these in White Scars and advancing every turn but the shooting is almost a complete waste on anything above a guardsman and most of my opponents play tougher armies. The Thunderstrike speeder. It's fun, it's fast, it's made of paper and doesn't last. It almost always trades down. - Stuff that stinks: ATV's. Still horrid. GW needs to do a LOT here to make this unit not stink. Outriders. Still such a mediocre unit. I've used these things a zillion times, I still think classic bikes are better. They REALLY need unique weaponry and more than chainsword options. I still love the Scars, but every time I win with them it feels like total luck. Nevertheless a win is a win and it was fun to take them out again. Thanks for checking it out.

Kor'sarro Khan runs the Gauntlet Of Glory, facing 5 of the greatest Warhammer 40k characters in a duel to win the ultimate prize. Can the Captain of the 3rd Company of the White Scars do it? Find out by watching this video.

Hey everyone! We ran the Horde of Jaghatai against the dusty boys in this weeks battle report. Feel free to check it out. Cheers https://youtu.be/Sl8XEXWJkuI

I thought we could all share our battle reports and experiences here in one place. Didnt seem to really fit anywhere else. I played a 2k game for tournament prep last night. He brought double avenger knight, big flamer knight, helvirin, 2x30 plague bearers and 3 nurglings, support characters and the tree. I brought a battalion with power fist chapter master, chaplain, 2x librarian(null zone and might of heroes, ride the winds, storm shroud) 3x5 scouts, 3x5 tacs with plasma/combi plasma, 3 dev squads (4 heavy bolter, 4 missile launchers, 4 plasma cannons) 3 drop pods, 2x10 vanguard(5 THSS 5 Double chainsword) I gave him first turn. I deployed and hid 3x5 scouts, 4 characters. Everything else was in pods or deep strike. He managed to get an angle to one of the scout units and killed all 5. That was his turn. Pods came in turn 1. Tacs took up objectives and devs took up firing positions behind the pods, pretty well concealed so that they could only be seen by 1 knight each. Shot at a bunch of plague bearers, did a few wounds to the valiant. Made a bunch of charges and tied up PBS in melee to save myself. Turn 2 he killed some devs and blew up a pod. My turn, vanguard drop in. Powers go off, vanguard charge into valiant with no overwatch and kill it. Pile into pbs and keep safe. Other vanguard fail charge and get killed turn 3 by double gatling. Turn 3 sees my continue to plug away at his pbs, scouts touch the helvirin to shut it down. Continues on for 3 more turns, I kill everything except the double gatling knight(14 wounds left?). I have 2 pods(on objectives, doors up), 5 heavy bolter devs, 1 tac squad. I win 30-20. Marines swinging their fists at ap 1 and 2 damage is nasty. Thunder hammers at ap3 and 4 damage is even worse.

Forward: This was a battle I had over the weekend at a FLGS. Proxying in my cousins smurfs color scheme for my own Iron Hands Succesor Chapter (the wife okay'd me to start buying my own, woot!), we played an 1850 point game of Eternal War: Crusade with a Dawn of War Deployment. The objectives were placed dead center in each 2x2 square. The terrain (excluding little odds and ends) was essentially five pillars set equal distance from all sides and each other (think of the 5 dots on a d6). ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Iron Saints (1850pts) +++ ++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (SM IH Fist of Medusa Strike Force) (1850pts) ++ + Core (925pts) + 'Stormlance Battle Demi-Company * (925pts) ········Captain ············Cataphractii Terminator Armour [storm Bolter, The Gorgon's Chain] ····Devastator Squad [4x Lascannon, 9x Space Marines] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun] ····Land Speeders ········Land Speeder [Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launcher] ····Tactical Squad [Meltagun, 4x Space Marines] ········Razorback [Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasma Gun] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun] ····Tactical Squad [Meltagun, 4x Space Marines] ········Razorback [Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasma Gun] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun] ····Tactical Squad [Meltagun, 4x Space Marines] ········Razorback [Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasma Gun] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun] + Command (195pts) + 'Librarius Conclave * (195pts) ····Librarian [Mastery Level 1] ········Power Armour [bolt Pistol, Force Axe] ····Librarian [Mastery Level 1] ········Power Armour [bolt Pistol, Force Axe] ····Librarian [Mastery Level 1] ········Power Armour [bolt Pistol, Force Axe] + Auxiliary (730pts) + 'Honoured Ancients (135pts) ····Dreadnoughts ········Dreadnought [Multi-melta] ············Drop Pod [storm Bolter] ············Power Fist [storm Bolter] 'Honoured Ancients (135pts) ····Dreadnoughts ········Dreadnought [Multi-melta] ············Drop Pod [storm Bolter] ············Power Fist [storm Bolter] 'Skyhammer Orbital Strike Force * (460pts) ····Land Speeders ········Land Speeder [Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launcher] ····Tactical Squad [Grav-cannon and Grav-amp, 4x Space Marines] ········Drop Pod [storm Bolter] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun] ····Tactical Squad [Flamer, 4x Space Marines] ········Drop Pod [storm Bolter] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun, Melta Bomb] ····Tactical Squad [Grav-cannon and Grav-amp, 4x Space Marines] ········Drop Pod [storm Bolter] ········Space Marine Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Boltgun] Created with BattleScribe ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Her Army +++ white scars (1850pts) +++ ++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (SM WS Scarblade Strike Force) (1850pts) ++ + (No Category) + Chapter Tactics [White Scars] + Core (1345pts) + 'Hunting Force * (1345pts) ····Attack Bike Squad ········Attack Bike [Heavy Bolter, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Attack Bike [Heavy Bolter, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Attack Bike [Multi-melta, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ····Attack Bike Squad ········Attack Bike [Heavy Bolter, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Attack Bike [Heavy Bolter, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Attack Bike [Multi-melta, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ····Attack Bike Squad ········Attack Bike [Heavy Bolter, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Attack Bike [Heavy Bolter, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Attack Bike [Multi-melta, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ····Bike Squad ········Biker Sergeant [Lightning Claw, Melta Bombs] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker with Special Weapon [Grav-gun, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Space Marine Biker with Special Weapon [Grav-gun, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ····Bike Squad ········Biker Sergeant [Lightning Claw, Melta Bombs] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker [Chainsword] ········Space Marine Biker with Special Weapon [Grav-gun, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Space Marine Biker with Special Weapon [Grav-gun, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ····Bike Squad ········Attack Bike [bolt Pistol, Heavy Bolter] ········Biker Sergeant [bolt Pistol] ········Space Marine Biker with Special Weapon [Grav-gun, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ········Space Marine Biker with Special Weapon [Grav-gun, Twin-Linked Boltgun] ····Chaplain ········Power Armour [Crozius Arcanum, Space Marine Bike, The Glaive of Vengeance] ····Kor'sarro Khan [Moondrakkan] ····Scout Bike Squad [Cluster Mines, Scout Biker, Scout Biker, Scout Biker, Scout Biker with Astartes Grenade Launcher, Scout Biker with Astartes Grenade Launcher] ········Scout Biker Sergeant [bolt Pistol] + Auxiliary (505pts) + 'Armoured Task Force (505pts) ····Predators ········Predator [Dozer Blade, Heavy Bolters, Twin-linked Lascannon] ····Predators ········Predator [Dozer Blade, Heavy Bolters, Twin-linked Lascannon] ····Techmarine [bolt Pistol, Conversion Beamer, Power Axe, Space Marine Bike, The Hunter's Eye] ····Vindicators ········Vindicator [siege Shield] Created with BattleScribe [Cont'd]

Our latest batrep feauting the Scars. Enjoy guys, please subscribe

Sorry I don't have a ton of time to write this out and I only have a few pictures, but I wanted to follow up with the game we talked about in another thread. Keep in mind this is probably the first time I haven't had to face Sanquinary guard from a BA player in a long time and he was experimenting with some units he's trying out as well. What a blood bath! Crazy back and forth game. The Reiver Lt ended up doing pretty good for me. I got off one smoke grenade on Mephiston. The only time I was going to use the Obsec shut down, the targetted squad ended up dying. We played a map that was an angled deployment.... Priority Target. I ended up going first which I did not want since I love Oath of Moment. First turn was surprisingly good for me, as I don't have a ton of shooting but I got rid of his flying potato and one Whirlwind. I took a big chance though on possessing that critical middle objective and plopped my 5 man Vanguard squad on it with shields. I knew they couldn't tank his whole army but it might force some bad movements on his part. ^Shortly after my first movement phase. His turn one was just as destructive as mine, perhaps more because Mephiston pretty much single handedly and quite easily wiped the Vanguard.... just way too many saves for me to make. My turn 2 was a very hard hit back to his center board but he now had the lead with getting bottom of turn scoring for seal of Oath. I had to push forward and his large bike squad was actually giving me problems and reinforced that they are far superior to the 'new' shiny Outriders/ATV's. They just get better rules with core all the way around and they are quite a bit cheaper for the same number of Melta shots, plus he had a Fist in the squad which gave me further problems. As the turn ends I successfully push out all the stuff he had at mid, but most of his army is in reserves. He decided to try some different units in this game and drop pods in a squad with two melta's and 2 HQ's to get bonuses to charges with his rerolls as well. This also included 2 squads of assault Terminators. When that all came in, it was good night for my back line. I had left it open because in my opinion I would lose the game if I held back to defend and relinquish mid board, but when I saw all that stuff come in and kill a few Assault Intercessor squads, and my Redemptor, I literally had one Incursor squad left in my zone. I was in quite a quandary at this point. It was looking pretty bleak, and I thought of 2 ways to proceed... either I come back to my zone to stop him from scoring an easy 4 points a turn from Relentless Assault (what a fantastic secondary!) which was just.. incredibly easy for him to score with 6 units in my zone. Or I push forward into his zone, and see how long I can hold on to mid as I slink into his zone by late game. I just did not see any hope for me by going back to my zone. I had one hard hitting CC unit left, my 5 Bladeguard. My other losses were too substantial. I had no Outriders left, no ATV's, and of course the Vanguard were toast as well. Not feeling great about my chances we did what the Khan would do... we kept advancing into his zone. My "Encircled" Eradicators completely fluffed scoring two of 6 shots, wounding on one for a total of 3 Damage. I did my third Scrambler, got that out of the way at least at mid table with Incursors. I advanced everything like I said and here's where I knew I was in trouble IF the BA player so it.... I advanced a "1" on my Apothecary, and he was furthest back in my zone so I had to reroll it. Even with Plume I was still too slow so I rerolled into... you guessed it.. another 1. And now my stupid Apothecary (who was useless this game by the way) was stuck just 2" past the center line. What I was wondering if my BA opponent would figure out or not is if he recognized that he could tag that unit at center and use it to 'climb' back to mid field this meant I was going to be hit again and lose center. To be safe I kept my Reiver staggered a little bit behind the Apothecary with the Khan to make sure I could Heroically intervene and/or count those characters within 6" of mid for Oath. Anyway my turn is far better than I thought. I somehow kill everything else in his zone aside from the last Whirlwind. This includes large bike squad, assault Intercessors, regular intercessors, and Redemptor. I took my speeder in for a few cheeky Terminator kills and had my best turn ever with that stupid speeder... I killed 3 Termies with it! And he fails leader ship leading to a fourth death and one Termie remaining. Lucky, but I'll take it. His ability to come back from that is in serious jeopardy. We both have very little left, and I see now that vacating my zone was the way to go. He forgot to do a scrambler action one turn ago so this puts him in a real quandary. I know he wants to count 4 easy points for "Relentless Assault" so I calculated that if he wants to complete Scramblers, he MUST leave my deployment zone, and go to mid table with one unit. This one unit leaving my zone means he would only have 3 units in my zone, and I calculated this so I made sure I had 3 in his zone. ^ An approximation of my zone on the left, mid table, BA zone on the right. This is past mid game, and behind that center red piping is mid table objective with my (hidden) Apothecary scared as heck standing on it. The Reiver is just to the right of him. Common sense dictates he must leave my zone to deploy the last scrambler getting 10 points instead of the 4 for Relentless. Now he's pushing out Termies as far as he can, and his solo Termie from the other squad is in ruins holding an objective, but is wisely taking cover. At this point it is literally a 4 point game. I am leading 45 to 41. He will score last of course, and has a great chance IF he can get to mid with foolish Apothecary stuck too far back. Luckily for me he fails the charge at mid with his Tactical squad BUT he makes a charge to Mid with Corbulo? (I think) which is desperation, but he also makes a charge towars my Incursors (you can barely see them at the top of the picture (close to middle hiding behind a structure). Somehow my Incursors survive the Chaplain, and I roll super hot to kill him in return! Very ridiculous but I'll take it. Corbulo hits my Apothecary in such a way that I can't heroically intervene so it's just Doctor vs. Doctor. Did you know Primaris Apothecaries don't even have a chainsword? Seriously? I had to look this up since it's been so long since Dr.Nick Riveriera has been in a fist fight. We exchange slaps at mid, but this move does get him 2 Points for mid table Oath of Moment. Incredible. But with no real support I take my Bladeguard and push back hard taking down Corbulo and he has now finally got his 5 Termies up to come at me in Turn 5, but I now have Bladeguard waiting.... he can't push past that. My Speeder finishes the final Termie on the other flank... barely. That marks the end of the game. He can't clear my HQ's and remaining Bladeguard. He can't score Relentless Assault now. The game ends with the final score being a close one... an 11 point differential in favour of the White Scars. I wish they could all be that close and bloody!

So instead of mudding up the 'strategy' thread we have going, I thought I'd plop the results here of that game. Here is my list from the strategy thread: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/368954-white-scars-vs-death-guard-tactics/?p=5665531 The short version is we had to stop early. As mentioned my opponent was new to Death Guard, and typically plays Orks and although I knew the new codex was complicated... it is really complicated. There is so much to remember, and I think all the character rules, combined with army wide rules, combined with strats makes for a deep learning curve on the codex. That said, the basic abilities of the Death Guard are extremely potent and my opponent's list was not even close to optimized. His list was super basic: 3 squads of larger Plaguemarines with some being assault oriented, some being shooty oriented. 3 Squads of Poxwalkers. Only 3 characters, Lord of Contagion (had a grenade that does 3 flat damage I think? and a Scythe.) Plaguecaster, and that Blightlord? with plague spewer thing? -3 AP, flat 2 damage? D6 shots. 2 PBC's, 3 Foetid drones, 1 Helbrute, 3 of the Reaper bodyguard Cataphractii. This is what Mid game looked like: As you can see I am blocked out. We played a 'quarters' mission and Scars went second. Here's the breakdown: - Knowing I'm going second, I decide running straight into him is a bad idea. He actually as a mildly shooty Death Guard army by Death Guard standards, but still aside from the Foetid Spitters, PBC's and Helbrute, the rest was mostly pea shooters. With that in mind, I decided to take my better bolters, ATV's, and Eradicators (put in Encirclement) and try to be cagey. - The ATV's attracted the fire of the PBC's early of course, but I kept them out of LoS, but that strat was annoying do a little 'mortal wound' bomb in an area where I hid most my forces... you really can't avoid it. - I let him take mid table. No choice really if I wanted to stay cagey, use my speed advantage, and shoot him up a bit. He had a LOT of T5 bodies. and Drones coming in hot. - Somehow scoring wise, I keep him to 10 points a turn, and I take 10 points a turn. This was the good news, the bad news is aside from my Multi Melta shooting, I simply felt absolutely useless. - My Chaplain on a bike was fairly useless this game. A bit weird, but I felt my Litany choices were bad ( +1 to wound in CC, + to charge/advances) I was simply in NO rush to charge this behemoth slab of rotten meat. - My Marines were getting widdled and once my ATV's took down one PBC, my Eradicators tried to take the other one out. One of his PBC's ended up charging my ATV's but I overwatched and took 5 damage off of it, then took it down next turn. This cleared his heavy shots, and the Helbrute also went down just on the noze with the reduced damage it took from another ATV. - I still used my Apothecary to bring back an Outrider (I think it's just FAQd that the ATV's can be healed, but not revived? correct?) But otherwise the Outriders really were horrible. Classic bikes with mixed weaponry and especially a Sarge with something for extra strength seems mandatory. - Once he claimed the center, I was running out of time. Bring them Down was giving me a couple of points a turn, but other than that it was a trickle of points. With 5 objectives it was harder for him to get more than me so tying that was huge, but this was more a side effect of the table and deployment more than the ability of my army vs his. - We ended in T4. I tried to push back but his Lord was horribly effective. The Catapharctii were absolute trash in this game. All they did was kill a couple of poxwalkers. The Stormbolters do nothing to Plague marines, and the mixed squad of Chainfists and claws was completely obliterated in one turn by the Lord of Contagion. (flat damage 3 scythe) making me Toughness 3 meaning he's wound on 2's. The contagion would be slowed by the Outriders, but his bomb combined with Flails and scythes took them down easily. - My Bladeguard acted as a body guard, and finally I had to try to take on the cataphractii body guard... it was rough. I buffed my squad as well as I could, but even after charging my swords only got 1 turn of doing 3 Damage and I managed to kill 2 of them so I was sure that was awesome enough but his last guy wiped my squad (in his turn). End Game: I have to confess we didn't add points at the very end. The game point wise was super close, but I wholeheartedly admit I was almost tabled. I have never felt this ineffective with White Scars in close combat against any other army. Outriders were a very poor choice. S4 hits on a T5 army is a bad feeling. - Assault Intercessors: oddly enough it's their Pistols that do work! Again the swords do nothing. The Charge bonus is muted by the inherent rules of the DG so it's like you don't have a super doctrine until you are talking about hammers... which mine just never hit. In my case it made more sense for me to attack foetid drones since I was wounding everything on '5's' for the game. - Bolters, boltrifles, assault bolters... if you can't reach a Poxwalker, forget it. At one point my opponent was even shocked how little damage my army did. Two outrider squads charged 2 Plague marine squads, to kill 2 plague marines in each squad. I had to rethink that... I mean that's... 19 attacks? On the charge.... wounding on 5's, doing one damage (even in T3), causing 4 unsaved wounds. That's crazy. I charged to assault squads with a hammer each, and that would be 8 marines total, only to kill 3 marines (6 unsaved wounds). It was after my 'big' assault turn my opponent actually said he felt uncomfortable playing the DG. lol He felt bad because he'd never seen so many White Scars bounce. After this game I would say I'm negative on a few units going forward, and definitely removing some. - Cataphractii definitely out. - Outriders - negative on - these have a role, but I still think traditional bikes are better - Assault Marines - I truly love these, but this is a good example of needing more firepower. I'm too troop heavy overall so something has to go. Good stuff: - Multimelta's: I suspected these would carry me into 9th. The ATV's may not be as good as just MM attack bikes, however they are good enough if you're like me and don't want to paint old Attack Bikers. - Eradicators: In lack of vehicles and lack of Heavy support overall, these are big with Encirlement. Potential: - I have no White Scars Redemptors, but they would be good (I use them a lot with my UM) - New Speeders? Something fast with more heavy shots. - Gladiators are too expensive, but the one that has about 30 shots of S6 at -1 is actually big in this match up. - Grav weaponry. Also good in this match up.

I finally played a game with WS in 9th edition. My list was... Korsarro Primaris Chaplain, master of sanctity, Catechism of Fire, Canticle of Hate, Warlord: Wise Orator Primiars Librarian, ride the winds, storm wreather, Relic: Plume of the plainsrunner 5 intecessors with ABRs+ thunderhammer 5 intecessors with ABRs+ thunderhammer 5 insursors 3 Bladeguard 3 Bladeguard 1 Judiciar, relic: The Armour Indomitus, Hero of the Chapter: Chiggorin Storm 5 Tartaros Terminators with chainfists 8 Bikers, 2 meltas, 1 thunderhammer 3 Primaris Outriders 3 Primaris Outriders Impulsor with shield dome Impulsor with shield dome Impulsor with shield dome My opponent was Imperial Fists with an all Old Marines list with captain, libby, chaplain... 3 bolter centurions, a Dorrito, 2 lascannon razorbacks, 1 rhino, devs with lascannons, tacticals with a mix of special and heavy, 5 tartaros terminators with chainfists. The mission was four pillars. I chose domination, tank hunter, and raise the banners. My opponent choose tanker hunter, engage on all fronts, Kill more stuff (i forget the name). Quick Recap... we both deployed conservatively. I was able to deploy my incursors out of LOS and right next to one of the objectives on my opponents table edge(objective 2). I won the roll off and elected to take first turn. I quickly busted out advancing my biker blob towards my opponents end of the table and using Skilled Riders on them for a 3++ invuln. One of my impulsors followed and the intercessors within it used the assault transport option to disembark and advance towards objective 2 giving me two full units of obsec bodies on it. I was able to secure both objectives on my side of the table. I used an empty impulsor and my judiciar to hold onto the objective in my deployment zone. I figured my opponent would not want to shoot it since it wasnt threatening and I could easily get lucky with invuln saves. My outriders moved up cautiously to setup turn 2 charges but also to stay out of the main firing lanes. I was hoping to not lose too many and have them be in good position for counter charging, reinforcing objectives and all that shooty/punchy stuff we all love. So by the end of my first turn I was holding 3 of 4 objectives with banners on all 3. My opponent elected to focus most of his firepower on my biker blob since it was approaching quickly and looked fairly threatening. He managed to kill 5 of 8 and murdered 3 of my outriders with lascannon fire. -4 ap is painful So by the start of turn 2 I scored 15 points for hold 1, hold 2, hold more but also 3 points for raise the banners and 3 points for domination. The rest of the game was basically moot since the board state did not change at all with me holding more on turn 2, 3 and 5. I almost maxed primary and scored about 20ish on secondaries. I was able to keep flooding all 3 objectives with bodies and be maximally annoying with impulsors. Falling back+charging, advancing and charging, move blocking, not dying, and of course exploding for a total of 15 mortal wounds dealt. The end score was something like 70ish to 35ish. My opponent won on kill count by quite a bit but did not secure objectives very well. If this was an 8th edition I would have been tabled on turn 6 or 7 or just conceded sooner. Some highlights... Tartaros terminators being good and easily making their 3d6+2 charge out of deepstrike and rerolling all misses with ap -5 chainfist with 3 dmg. Bikers using Strike for the Heart to consolidate 9" into a razorback and dorrito. Incursors being able to scout deploy near an critical objective on turn 1 forcing my opponent to waste firepower on a fairly nonthreatening unit. My opponent giving a centurion sargeant a mastercrafted hurricane bolter. That thing really hurts vs primaris marines and bikers. Very efficient shooting. An impulsor exploding right next to my opponents captain, libby and dorrito doing a total of 15 mortal wounds. Although only the libby died Korsarro Khan carving a Rhino at full wounds in half on turn 5. That felt good and scored 2 points for Bring it Down. Some conclusions... The smaller board size is a really huge deal. I was able to use WS speed to cover/threaten multiple objectives simultaneously. I think close combat will be better off in 9th simply because there are so many more points available from objective grabbing relative to 8th edition. Raise the banners is particularly good for close combat because you can score without committing big expensive units. Just raise them banners and starting racking up the points. If your opponent just sits still shooting you still score because burning the banners requires being close to them. White Scars in particular are very good at domination since it is scored at the end of your turn . Given the speed available this is not difficult and also scores primary. Overall I would say that list design should be made with primary and secondary missions in mind not firepower or close combat. TLDR: Just move fast and grab everything or if someone bad is holding an objective, punch them in the dick and take it.

Sorry for the lack of pics (and time) to do this proper justice... We played Scorched earth from the new rule book which is a good one using 6 objective markers. The Orks were of the assaulty variant. My opponent also wanted to try flyers, but I don't think he liked them in this game. He had that HQ on the dune buggy, and a smattering of bikes, and almost all mechanised force otherwise. Trukks, Copters, the battlewagon with the deth roller.... causing mortal wounds. I won first turn, and to be 100% honest, I deployed so defensively I don't think I should have taken it. I just got SUPER lucky with my Invictor Warsuit as he went YOLO and shot something up pretty good, then charged a truck and blew it up. This also helped me score the secondary for quarters (Battlefield Supremecy?) Other than that piece of luck, I should not have taken first turn. My Repulsor was such a dud too. I think in total it took something like 3 wounds off of a battlewagon after dumping everything into it. I also took the missiles on the 2 impulsors for the first time over the shield domes. I don't think I'll do that again either. The Orks went ahead and charged me full tilt in their turn: - In the Ork turn I end up losing the Repulsor (as I always do) luckily none of the Eradicators died as a result. I would also almost lose an entire Impulsor (down to 3 wounds) and the squad of Incursors. You can see in the upper left corner the Warsuit still plugging away #yolo. - I really thought I was finished here. The damage I took surprised me and really the assaults were from vehicles and a biker squad. The feeling was he did a lot more in his turn as losing a Repulsor and almost an Impulsor told me his list was better at vehicle damage than mine. - The Warsuit managed to live, and took on some Boyz who fell out of the truck. - My turn was hugely lucky I believe. I surrounded the Battlewagon that rolled into my zone. I basically gave up the left flank except for 3 Outriders which basically just held an objective before getting charged. - I killed the Battlewagon and the passengers. It was really a move I don't like doing but he had his Nobs in there, and a Psyker. I surrounded it with Khan, 5 bikers (one with hammer) and a squad of Intercessors. Keep in mind if he blows I up I know it's going to hurt a lot. The vehicle went, and so did the passengers. - The eradicators really didn't do a lot this game. I got a bit unlucky here and minimal damage was rolled on a Dakka Jet, but I plinked the last wounds off with pot shots from various low level crud. - The disappointment continued with the Missile shots from the Impulsors. I really think this was a strong message to stick with the shield domes, as I don't think I caused more than 1-2 damage to any vehicles that game... and vehicles are a big problem for me in most games where they are 'hiding' in the back. - Orks turn is a good retaliation, but I think in my assault I killed his Trike Warlord and it kind of sapped his momentum. My CC Intercessors came in from reserve and hit 5-6 copters, and I just could not do anything to all that T5. I think I lost 3-4 dudes in return. I think the big thing here is he would charge bikes into me on two fronts, and the killer for him is his PowerClaws just could not hit/wound. - We ended the game after T3. I do find these games go a lot quicker especially once you get through your secondary choices. Lessons Learned: I'm really on the fence with White Scars. It's just one of those armies where it's feast or famine. Either my assaults really pay off, or I'm dead. With Ultra's I feel like I have a more balanced threat. However I certainly have more trouble covering the table with bodies with Ultra's... their HQ's feel too expensive. And you want to use more expensive shooty options. This is where White Scars shine... holding the table, threatening multiple zones at once. The big question is if your units can hold up to incoming damage for turns 2-3. So far the Scars are doing well for me... maybe better than 8th edition except most of my games have been against short range and assault armies with the Scars.

I played two games in the past 3 days with the White Scars, and this time the points would be accurate. My first game was against the might Necrons. Again I made a huge mistake in getting too far away from my Warlord which was a Primaris Chaplain on a bike, and I just about lost him in the Necron's turn 1 ! So here's how it looks when you do something really stupid: What actually happened here is I had first turn, and I completely engaged the Necrons on the right side of the board with my Warsuit, and Incursors. This sounded great, so I went all in with my traditional bike squad and the Chaplain was all of the sudden on his own! My Bikes with hammer DID get that charge in on the heavy Necron tank (I always forget the name... the big cannon in it.) And his 6 man squad of Wraiths. I get one Wraith dead... then his turn happens... I do next to nothing, but I have the Necrons very bound up in CC, however in his turn I totally forgot the Wraiths could Phase out of CC, right through me, and re-engage another unit. (I remembered they could phase, I completely forgot about the re-engage part.) So his shooting is minimal, this set the tone for the game and on my far left flank I largely avoided him because he had 2 nasty HQ's and a blob of Lychguard! In his assault phase, he takes his Destroyer lord with Relic CC weapon and wants to go first against my Invictor Warsuit. I actually tell my opponent not to do that because my Chaplain is my warlord, and has a 3 + Invuln. He ignores my advice (those arrogant robots!) and doesn't even kill the Warsuit, then I interrupt with the chaplain and this happens: - I kill one before it strikes. He fails to kill my Chaplain as a result, and actually we rolled out the scenario if he would have went first, and I would have died! - This set the tone for the game. His heavy Destroyers got locked in by my Outriders, and his shooting was never able to compensate for my early rush so I had the table to myself for nearly the whole game. - Of note, I Encircled a squad of 10 Assault Intercessors, which assaulted his 2 HQ's and 10 Lychguard.... while a squad of Hammer-sessors with character re-rolls just butchered them. That's when he called it... I got Anrakyr, his Cyrptek, and about 7 Lychguard before he could swing. Crazy game, White Scars have a big win. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Next game vs GSC: Getting my Indomitus box allowed me to throw in a few new units which included a squad of Blade Guard, and the Judicar... which wasn't bad. So I put those new units in, took out traditional bikes, but in two squads of Outriders instead of 1, and we rolled off with the GSC opting to give me first turn. which I hate, because I always like going second against GSC. - In this game I did something quite different for me: I pulled the Libby for the new Indomitus Lt. I just roll so many 1's to wound this felt like a reasonable trade off. I used even more CP pre game to make my Apothecary a master or whatever it's called.... so he can roll twice. I get sick of my Dr.Nick Apothecary just doing squat all game. In this game he would resurrect one dead Outrider, and heal another for 2 health... that's it. I still don't know if he's worth it. - The game was clearly in his favour for the first while as you can see I'm in a position I hate to be in with White Scars: completely huddled up defensively in my quarter (we played a new Incursion Mission from the Tournament booklet). - He came in all over the place as usual, and I lost a fair chunk. Model wise it didn't look devastating, but he appears out of no where with those nasty Ridgrunners and other vehicles. - My first turn I score a big fat zero, and he starts with 7 points (since primaries can't be scored in T1). - It's time for me to get daring... I pull a huge move all over the board, and spread too thin probably, but I get lucky with my 10 man Assault Intercessors and take out a pile of Mortars, and GSC infantry with lasers. That happened deep in his zone. While on the other quarter in his zone, I come in with my 3 Plasma Ceptors and the Eradicators. They do okay, not great. My Eradicators never seem to really do a ton... I did a total of 3 damage on a vehicle, but the Plasmaceptors probably killed a vehicle themselves. - It looks like I have the upper hand, and he comes in with all his infantry now and really I thought he had this won... I lost too many bikes, and infantry in my zone and here he was dropping in with close combat stuff... crazy. I lost more infantry, and a Warsuit. - My turn is still good, but only deep in his zone and i'm running out of 'chaff' to protect characters as usual..... - He's ready to concede though because he doesn't think he can pull it back..... I convince him to continue and two squads of bikers, one within 3" gets to do that satchel bomb trick on my squads, and he rolls terribly for the amount of bombs.... really I think his rolling cooked his chances. - My turn is just me cobbling together enough shots to get rid of the GSC which are largely T3 at this point, and I get his Patriarch with my Plasmaceptors....we call the game with another WS win.... even though I think this game pretty much hung in the balance on his T3 and he just got very unlucky because if I would have lost half the models he targeted, I would have nothing left but assault Intercessors and characters. Anyway, the new stuff is okay. I'm not sold on the Judicar, he did come in handy once pretty much saving a 2 man squad of Outriders by pointing at the GSC and saying 'you're going last'. That was about it though. The Blade Guard do hit hard, no doubt with Re-rolls it's big. However I don't think they're worth it over just more bodies... obsec bodies. The LT was cool and quite handy with all the 1's I roll, however it's hard to live with pulling out my Libby with those great WS psychic abilities!

Hey guys, super quick battle report here. I know the points will be somewhat wonky, but I tried my best, and the IG guy was using his old points for everything, so I was probably a touch inflated compared to him. We played the 4 pillars from the new mission book. I ended with a list like this: - Khan - Phobos Libby - Chaplain w/jump pack (Warlord - Master of Snares) - 5 Intercessors (1 w/hammer) - 5 Assault Intercessors - 5 Incursors - 3 Eradicators in a Repulsor (Encirclement) - Invictor - Redemptor (tried Macroplasma.. ugh.) - Bike squad 4 inc Hammer, and MM attack bike - Outrider squad - Speeder with Typhoon - Thunderfire Cannon - Repulsor - 2 x Impulsors So the IG are loaded with tanks, flamer tanks, Chimeras, a Command Tank with a 2+ save and dual battle cannons shots is always fun! 2 x Basilisks, 1 Manticore. 30 Conscripts, a large squad of Bullgryn. I get first turn.... or it might have been a fast game! We used plenty of Obscuring Ruins and I deployed super defensive (I've learned my lesson) but still with all the indirect I think I would have been in trouble. Here's a quick rundown of the game: Early Game: - As said I get first turn. I keep the Speeder back, the TFC in my far right corner (planning for taking Quarters in secondary.) I have a decent first turn.... - The Impulsors fly up, and to the left of a central ruin to get at least SOME protection from Line of Sight shooting. - I was aggressive with my Phobos Libby, Incursors, and Invictor. I put the Redemptor, 3 Eradiators (inside) Repulsor in Encirclement. - I get off the power of no overwatch on my Invictor. The Invictor moves up, and starts firing away at a Hellhound, and the rest of the army manages to kill it. - Here's my recently 'repainted' Invictor.... deployed with kill in his heart, he's about to go for a first turn charge... - The right side of my table, I decided to go down the opposite flank and use the Outriders to take down as many of his Conscript screen as possible. I had to advance to make sure of a T1 charge.... I knew I probably wouldn't widdle them all down, but I expected to kill a lot more than I did... Because I had to use a 1 CP strat to shoot normal (stuck with Bolt Rifles on Outriders). So I shoot a fair amount of them, but my hits/wounds are horrible. - I charged the Outriders in... maybe in total between shooting and assault I kill.. .maybe 10? (Maybe less now that I think of it.) In case you're wondering my TFC fired twice, and HAD to target a 3 Lascannon heavy team parked on a building. It had excellent line of sight across the table, I had to kill them. It took a full two rounds of TFC fire to do it! - Here I get a T1 assault off, and kill this 'acid' flamer tank which would have been really rough on me auto wounding infantry on 2's. The Invictor did his job, cleared it out, and this gave me 3 T1 kills. - As a side note I advanced Outriders that turn and gave them a 3++ Invuln save from shooting. I knew he would pull back his Conscripts, and the Outriders would see a TON of firepower as a result. - It turned out that was a good idea, they soaked up a lot. So although the Outriders killed VERY little, they did soak up some good firepower. The bad news is I used a TON of CP in that first turn. - Astra Turn was no surprise. I did fair extremely well. Somehow my Speeder didn't take a wound! My outriders as mentioned took a beating. And finally died. - my Bikes lost 1 dude, and the rest of his firepower had to be poured into my Invictor. It was a lot to take, and I wish I could have saved him but he inevitably died, but at least my opponent would not kill more than me in T1 (and he took the First Strike secondary so that would have been some more points for him.) - Because of my aggressive start, I do score 4 quarters for 3 VP. Turn 2: - This is where things heat up, but I really don't do that well.... - My shooting is okay, not great. The Redemptor comes in from reserves, but I hold on to the Eradicators and the Repulsor, there just isn't a good spot for them. - Redemptor over charges Macroplasma at a Chimera in front of him, causes one wound to himself, and a total of 2 damage to the Chimera! Terrible. - TFC continues to wail away. Netting me a lot of conscripts but I can't afford to double fire it. - Speeder takes 6 wounds off a hellhound. - The Impulsors kind of bleed out another troop squad. But the big multi assault is coming... - First off the Bikes have the Anti-overwatch power on them... they multi charge the Bullgryn, and a flamer Chimera. Then the 5 Assault Intercessors hit the Bullgryn. Then Khan hits the Bullgryn, then finally the Chaplain goes in. (He has his litanies off though.) - You may be thinking... why am I stupid enough to put my chaplain in CC? I decided that with Master of Snares, and the way Bullgryn are, if one lives... well we'll see... - So the big question: Who do I go first with, I know he's going to interrupt. - I decide my most endangered squad is the Assault Intercessors... it's important to note something I forgot, my second Phobos Libby power went off against the Bullgryn, making them -1 leadership, and -1 to hit until my next psychic phase. - The intercessors reroll all to hit, all to wound and wound on 4's thanks to charging along side Khan (+1 to wound) and Chappy (re rolls) - The Bullgryn's interrupt. They go after the bikers, and kill all but 2, leaving the hammer, and the Attack bike down by 2 wounds. That was pretty brutal. And in hind sight, I think he would have killed the Chaplain!!! - Between the bikers, the chaplain, and the Khan (actually including the Assault Intercessors) I kill ALL but 1 Bullgryn. - Guess what... he rolls a 1 for Morale. He doesn't run.... next turn he tries to Fall Back with Bullgryn so he can shoot the bikes, my Assault Intercessors and my HQ's.... I roll a 4, he's stuck in. (I had to point this moment out because I said there was still a lot of validity in Master of Snares in 9th and I think this moment may have saved every model in that little skirmish.) - The Astra hit back hard as usual. HIs command tank is a beast, but the Manticore flubs it, and he has troops pushing in with a Hellhound and 2 Chimeras pushing in on my right flank since that is my weak side now. - He shoots away, and I'll tell you these flame tanks EVEN in close combat are gross. They are killing away at bikes, and intercessors. Somehow my Redemptor only loses 4 wounds total. Wow. If only HE WOULD DO SOMETHING! - He doesn't like where my Hammer/Assault Bolter Intercessors are deep in his zone, so he lines up a few tanks to take care of them, but somehow only 1 dies. - From the Astra perspective: Lower left he has his Manticore, and out of picture to the left of it is his Command Tank that's been wailing away on me. In his T2 you can see my Intercessors are hugging a sheer wall. He can't see them from the other side of the wall. This forces him to move 2 tanks upwards so he can shoot/flame me through the far hole in the wall. - In Turn 3 my repulsor comes in, and I really don't where to put it. There is no good spot, but now that he has moved his flame tanks/Chimera's up towards my still undamaged Speeder, I have range for everything. I realize the Repulsor can't shoot all its Storm Bolters in 9th because it counts as moving now? So I don't shoot half of those shots.... and both lascannon mounts are horrible. I take 1 wound off of his Command tank, and 2 wounds off of a Chimera. That's with 4 lascannons and 4 Stormbolter shots. - I use a Strat to get the Eradicators out of the Repulsor, and fire all 6 shots at the damaged Chimera in front of them, and do a total of 5 damage!!! Blah... the tank has 1 wound left. - My Redemptor continues to do nothing... overcharge, take a wound, cause 2 wounds... but at least he charges a remnant troop squad standing on an Objective and kills him. - Above from the Astra Perspective: My Hammer intercessors are about to try to assault his Manticore, and his Command Tank. - The Phobos Libby gets off the anti-overwatch power. I succeed on a 6! His primaris psyker tries to deny it.... he rolls snake eyes! He CP rerolls both dice, fails again! Big break for me. - I should back up... I think we both agreed he made a mistake in his T2 by charging the Intercessors with a 10 man squad. I cleared all but 2 out and this left me a gap to Charge through the wall into his 2 tanks... - So with the psychic power protecting them, I charge the squad successfully into his two big tanks. I also get my remaining Assault Intercessors into the Manticore, and my Chappy gets in to the Manticore too (setting up for Master of Snares). This is a weird one... - I somehow kill the manticore with rerolls from chappy, and +1 to wound from Khan. I do VERY little damage to the Command tank as it has a 2+ save all game which is super annoying on a T8 tank.... anyway, the command tank is stuck in, but the Manticore dies, and he rolls for an explosion, and thankfully it does not explode (I've lost SO many models from explosions lately). Anyway he re rolls the dice into a 6! I tell him he can't CP re roll an explosion.... I sure hope I was right about that, because for the heck of it he rolled out all results and I would have lost almost everything including the Warlord Chappy. - So assuming I was right, we continue and I have the table well in hand now for quarters and I'm scoring about 15 primary points a turn now from owning 3 Obj's and more than him... - His turn his Basilisks wail away on my Intercessors and they die in droves. Nothing I can do about that. I just can't reach the conrner where he's hidden his Basilisks. - For a side note, if the Manticore had lived, and I kept it stuck in, He would not be able to shoot at any of that..... oh well. - The infantry he has is really thin, but my Incursors were down to 3 models (protecting the Libby from being shot at.) He blows them up , and my libby is left alone. - The Assault intercessors are down to 2 models, so with one of his Basilisks he targets my Warlord Chaplain who is easily killed two times over. - He doesn't shoot Khan, he instead tries to take out my Redemptor Dread which is on an Objective, but he doesn't have much left to shoot, and his Command tank just Fell Back so can't shoot..... With that we call the game. I'm up a lot on points. He had a lot of points though and we realized he forgot to shoot my bikes in CC of a Chimera, they both died! Conclusion: - Lots came out of this. I felt like the failure units in my army were: Repulsor. Potentially I should have started with this on the table instead of Encirclement. - Fail unit number 2: Redemptor. Probably still would have Encircled it, but it just stunk all game. The Macroplasma was incredibly dissapointing. - Fail unit 3: Outriders. Just bad. Not even close to making their points back. They need rerolls and too many CP. - Great unit: Chappy with Master of Snares. Probably won me the game. - Great Unit: Assault Intercessors and Impulsors. Really good performers and even with a points hike, I feel the Impulsors are still mandatory in 9th. - Great Unit: Typhoon. Moves 16" to grab objectives. No one wants to shoot at it as it feels low threat, but it continually did 4-5 wounds on average per turn to tanks. - The Phobos Libby always performs for me. .. so not bad for him. - Incursors were 'meh' but had to do what they had to do. It's an ugly job I give them, but they usually do so-so. - Invictor Warsuit. Mandatory for my playstyle with this army. I was about to paint him and the Impulsors as Ultramarines. Now I don't know. The Warsuit with the autocannon build is my new goto in 9th. He actually ditched out a bunch of minor wounds to tanks/infantry and then died in glory as he punched out a tank. He usually does well like this or is targeted early on. Overall Observations of 9th: - It still feels like a shooty game. Encirclement is of dubious use now on this small table. In all my 9th ed games I have found this to be the case. Either you plan for encirclement and you ignore center table or you have trouble getting anything in. - Tanks shooting in CC is viscous! The amount of damage I took in CC was ridiculous. This made me feel my Ultramarines are probably going to fare a lot better, unless I figure out a list. - I still feel the assault is 'good' but not great. A lot of armies will give us trouble with it, so I feel we have to back it up with a good dose of strong firepower. - That said by the end of T3, I had very little left. Dangerously close to losing ALL characters. So as nice as the armourment is for a Repulsor, I think it MUST go in favour of more bodies moving up to protect characters. - Standard bikes are still superior in my mind to Outriders. Outriders are relegated to 'annoyances' where the Multimelta bike, and hammer bike with 4 ablative wound bikes can shoot very well still, and put serious damage on Tanks just shooting, and then the hammer sarge is still a real threat in CC. That's about it for now. It was a strong win, but my opponent definitely would do some things differently. Those tanks are no joke, I think Astra is a real contender in 9th. Thanks for checking this out.