Battle Report: SW vs Ravenwing

[OnlyInDeath]

Well, I was finally able to get a game in last night, with a GW redshirt friend coming over last night for a show down of some ravenwing vs space wolves. I actually wasnt really expecting to play, so I had a rather cobbled together list. His was a custom made list that he put together to take some chaos marine playing boasters down a peg or two. Needless to say, I was really hoping just to hold my own. The lists looked like this:

 

Ravenwing:

 

Samiel (sp) on his jetbike

 

Chaplain on a bike

 

Command bike squad x6 bikes

-banner, apothecary, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol/pw on sgt

-Accompanying LS w/ assault cannon, attack bike w/ MM

 

Bike squad x6 bikes

2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol/pw on sgt

-accompanying LS w/ assault cannon, attack bike w/ MM

 

Bike squad x 6 bikes

2 flamers, plasma pistol/pw on sgt

-accompanying LW w/ assault cannon, attack bike w/ MM

 

Land speeder support wing

-5 landspeeders, 1 w/ assault cannon, rest w/ heavy bolters

 

 

 

Space Wolves Mechanized:

 

Vendread w/ ML + TLLC

 

Wolf priest: standard, wolf pelt, WTN, frags, meltabomb

 

WGBL: bolter, PF, wolft pelt, frags, WTN

 

10xGH in Rhino

PG, PF, PW

 

9xGH in Rhino

MG, PF, PW

 

12x BC's

2xPF, 1xPW, flamer

 

OBEL Scouts x6

PWx2, MG, PP, 2x shotguns

 

Shooty Scouts x6

4 sniper rifles, heavy bolter

 

4x BC Bikers:

PW, PF, flamer

 

LRC

 

Whirlwind

 

Vindicator

 

 

I took a 1750 tournament list and added in the bikers and scouts. I really didnt have time to come up with a custom made list to deal with the Ravenwing, and I was actually looking to see just how sturdy my old tourney list would be vs a force like his. Had I been able to make a custom list, I would not have went with things like a WW or the vindi, would have made the rhinos the 35 pt equiv (my list was made before that was more or less the accepted points cost), and would have not taken the bikers, as they were just one big target. But, that being said, I went with what I had available and painted.

 

Deployment was Table quarters, Mission objective was capture and hold (5 objectives)

 

We played on a rather open table. On my board edge, there was a small hill to my left flank, a rock outcrop in the middle, and some forest to my right flank. Across from the hill on his side was a far building (2 stories), and a patch of forest in the middle and to the right. The objectives were 1) in the farm, 2) between the hill and the farm, 3) on the rock outcrop, 4) in the open table directly between the rock and the woods, 5) on the far right middle table between the 2 patches of woods. Raven wing had the tablequarter w/ the farm, mine was opposite w/ the rock outcrop and a patch of woods.

 

He played the game with all forces in reserve. Not wanting to do the same and allowing myself to be isolated and shot apart w/ no support, I decided to deploy and castle up a bit. Vendread deployed w/ his back to the rock, facing my board edge, GH 9 man pack w/ the WGBL deployed on the objective on the rock (it was large and flat, ruled difficult terrain). Whirlwind and the other GH's in a rhino deployed in my woods, facing the board edges, Vindi deployed right along the middle of the board w/ the LRC (w/ WP and BC's), blocking in my bikes and making sure they were protected. OBELs were in reserve, shooty snipers took up position inside the farm 2nd story.

 

 

DA Turn one:

 

"Ok, go. Ok, done"

 

SW Turn one:

 

Not much happened for me, I kept my deployment pretty much the same, only moving the Vindi into the woods across the board from me on the right flank, weary of those damn MM toting bikes. Nothing to shoot, so we moved on.

 

 

DA Turn two:

 

He started rolling for reserves, and of the bucketfull that could have come in, all he got was 1 attack bike and the non-command plasma toting bikers. His outflank rolls found him coming in with the attack bike on my right flank towards the vindi (big surprise) and the normal bikers coming on right towards the farmstead and my shooty scouts.

 

Shooting saw him shoot and miss the vindi with the attack bike, and the normal bikers scoring 4 wounds into the scouts (eek). Deciding i wanted to try and preserve the unit, I had them go to ground and they only failed 1 cover save, the "sgt" going down in a heap.

 

In the assault phase, he managed to get his attack bike into combat against the vindi, and, in a series of great rolls to make up for his dismal reserves, he rolls 6 to hit, 5 to glance, and then managed to knock out the main cannon.

 

SW Turn two:

 

My reserve roll saw the OBEL scouts come in right when they were truly needed, and they deployed right behind the bikers by my shooty scouts, eager to shave a few off the 6 bike squad.

 

A bit irked that the attack bike had managed to mess up my vindi without it even firing a shot, the bikes moved out towards the attack bike, seeking revenge. Other than that, the crusader moved up behind the barn, seeking to secure my left flank a bit better, just in case, and also keeping the BC's near a couple of objectives.

 

Shooting saw the combined fire from the BC bikers and the vindi's storm bolter blast the attack bike down to it's component parts. The OBEL scouts also unloaded into the bike squad by the barn, taking down 3 bikes.

 

In the assault phase, the scouts piled into the remaining bikers and managed to kill two, taking two wounds in return (would have been less if he wasnt hitting me on 3+ due to our animosity, gah!). Since it was a nice, tidy draw, we all just piled in and the turn ended.

 

 

 

DA Turn three:

 

Pretty much the rest of ravenwing force shows up this turn. Sammiel deploys near the barn combat, the 5 speeder squad coming in right in the middle of the board edge, the lone speeders with assault cannons on either flank of that squad. The command squad bikers came on right up next to my BC bikers, and his flamer squad came in along the right flank, strait towards my rhino by the WW. An attack bike also came in, making a bead for my LRC, and another on the far right flank w/ a bad outflank roll. Next came the shooting ::cringe::

 

Firstly, the attack bike took it's shot at the LRC, glancing it, and with a lucky 6 (-2+1), or a 5, wrecked the tank (grr!). the BC's disembarked between the wreck and the farm, protecting themselves from the rest of the ravenwing shooting. Next, all the assault cannons, save one, and heavy bolters took aim at the GH rhino on the rock, but only managed to shake it. Probably some of the worst shooting i've seen in a while, considering it was on rear armor! The lone unshot assault cannon took aim at the right most rhino, and did nothing yet again. The command bikes took aim at the BC bikers and in a flurry of plasma, took the pack out. With nothing else to shoot at, the MM bike on the right flank tried to finish off the vindi, but missed.

 

In assault, Sammiel charged into the remaining OBEL scouts and as expected, finished them off easily.

 

SW Turn three:

 

Now that I knew where the majority of the ravenwing were going to be, I was able to reposition my remaining armor to minimalize shooting vulnerability. I elected to keep all my GH's inside their rhinos, as they could much better weather the shooting to come from inside, and I would lose if I just got into a long ranged shooting match. Of course, I then second guessed myself and disembarked the right flank GH's to try and take down the flamer bike squad. The bloodclaws piled into the bottom floor of the farm to get some much needed cover and also to take the objective. Other than that, there wasnt much reason to move around too much, and I wanted to draw the raven wing into closer range where I could do more damage, now that most of my shooty armor had been rendered useless.

 

Shooting saw the bloodclaws out of range of anything other than Sammiel or the remaining bike sgt, who they gunned down. The sniper scouts took aim at Sammiel and with 4 wounds done, managed to force a single failed save. The whirlwind tried to shave a few bikes off the command squad, hitting 5, but wounding none. The GH's on the right side, tried to unleash hell on the bike squad, but only managed to down a single model due to the plasma. The 5 bolter wounds were all saved...in an act of defiance, the vindi's storm bolter took aim at the AC LS nearest it and managed to glance it! The vendread mades itself known as it lined up on the AB that killed the LRC and vaporized it.

 

With nothing in combat, this was my turn.

 

 

 

DA turn four:

 

Sammiel and the large LS pack took up a firing line outside of the farm, determined to blast the bloodclaws out. The AC LS able to shoot lined itself up yet again on the rhino on the rock, determined to flush out the GH's inside. the AB on the right flank moved forward, determined to help take down the above rhino. The command squad moved up, trying to lend it's firepower to take down the rhino on the rock. The flamer bikes moved up to the now exposed GH's, preparing to unleash firey hell

 

Shooting saw Sammiel and all of the landspeeders near the farm unleashing a torrent of shots, including the plasmacannon on the jetbike. As the dust cleared, only 3 wolves were downed (go coversave!). Most of the rest of the ravenwing army unloaded upon the rhino on the rock, but yet again, a series of misses and awful armor pens just saw the tank immobilized and the storm bolter shot off. The GH's were still able to hold the objective and stay protected inside the rugged little tank. On the right flank, the bikers managed to inflict a total of 13 wounds on the GH's, whose armor shrugged off all but one of the wounds. A tankard of ale to the iron priests! Having endured all the shooting the ravenwing could muster, the flamer bikes decided to charge into the GH's.

 

The combat was short and sweet, with the sgt only managing one wound and the four others from the remaining bikers were saved. In return, the GH's cut down three of the bikers, leaving only the sgt standing. He managed to make both of the fearless armor checks, and so the combat would continue into next turn.

 

SW turn four:

 

At this point, I was holding two objectives to his one (the command squad, yes, with ravenwing it's scoring) holding the middle center objective) and was doing everything possible to hold what I had. Knowing yet again that disembarking the GH's on the rock would only be playing to his advantage of being able to melt the bejesus out of them, I kept them embarked. The BC's also resolutely stood firm. Only the vendread moved, angling itself around the rock to draw a bead on the remaining attack bike.

 

Shooting was much the same as before. The BC's shot at the landspeeders, trying to lighten the punishment they were taking, but despite many hits, none managed to glance. The snipers again blasted into sammiel and again managed to shave off yet another wound. The whirlwind targeted an AC LS, but despite hitting it dead on, couldnt roll higher than a 4 on 2d6. The vindi tried it's same little trick again, but didnt manage to do anything this turn. The vendread yet again targeted an AB and again vaporized it to nothingness.

 

In close combat, the GH's took a couple of casualties due to the remaining the sgt, but finished him off in good fashion and moved back up next to the rhino. They would remain here, ready to spring out should the need arise to try and capture the objective on the right middle of the board.

 

 

DA turn five:

 

At this point, the game proceeded much as before. The command squad moved up right next to the rhino, the AC LS's took a line on it as well, as Sammiel and the LS squad aimed at the BC's. There wasnt much more for the ravenwing to do, so they went right to shooting.

 

The farm shootout took a poor turn for the bloodclaws, as the combined fire from the units facing them managed to land enough wounds to have at least one wound on all of the, some taking multiple. After all was said and done, only the WP (with a wound gone) and 4 BC's were left standing.

 

The combined fire from teh rest of the army finally managed to wreck the rhino on the hill (a 3 upgraded to a kill due to no weaps and immobilized). The GH's piled out, ready to recieve the charge from the command squad.

 

CC saw Sammiel try to fly into the farm to take out the rest of the BC's. In one of the more hilarious moments of the game, all he managed to do was slam into the side of the farm and kill himself. The command squad charged into the waiting GH's and WGBL, but with a banner (+1 attack), the charge, litanies of hate, and hitting on a 3+, they managed to seriously hurt the GH's, killing 6 of the 9. The GH's struck back, and combined with the 5 PF attacks from the WGBL, they tore back into the command squad, leaving the chappy and 1 bike standing. The wolves lost combat, however, and with a glorious 11, they "broke". The bikes caught them, forcing 2 more saves and felling another wolf.

 

 

SW turn five.

 

At this point, seeing that he had all of 1 scoring model and most likely not enough time to whittle down the wolves enough, my opponent rolled to see if we would even go past turn 5, which due to a 1 rolled, we wouldnt.

 

End game: SW: 1 DA: 0 Contested: 1

 

Victory for the wolves!

 

 

 

 

Now, this battle for me was a bit difficult, as I really had to try to play conservative, which is not my style at all. However, running around the board without being defensive would have just seen me shot to pieces. The ravenwing list was made to tear apart the overzealous (ie, the powergamer original opponents), so instead I played patiently and let them come to me before they could shoot me to pieces. In the end it worked, but it was a game that definately made me think outside the box and heavily adapt my tactics. My opponent was also very skillful, and as always a few different dice rolls could have changed the game greatly, both for and against him.

 

 

Now, if you've made it this far, reward yourself with an ale!

[Ant]

A fine victory wolf-brother! Have an Ale!!! ;)

[Grey Mage]

Dang it, I skipped the last paragraph when I saw the word "Ale".

 

*sighs*.

 

Good job man, its nice to see a biker who knew what he was doing, and even nicer to see you whoop him.

[Wena]

Good Bat Rep ... I read the whole thing and enjoyed it...

 

Thanks

 

Wena

[Wolf Guard Hengist]

Good Victory Brother OID!

 

I must say good decision on sitting back for a turn against an all reserve cheap shot, my regular Eldar/Tau opponents love this dirty little move it sometimes pays just to sit back and set up so you can pound them as they turn up next turn. I reckon the new Guard Codex will pee on thier strawberries when they try this little move on them and realise they need to add +1 to the reserve dice roll, hahaha.