The Mechanicon, Great Tournament!

[littlbitz]

In his turn, he responds by moving most of his army away from mine, with the exception of one Fire Prism, which he positions to take a shot into my lines, using his combined power thingy.

He also pushes forward a bit with his Farseer, and the Warlock bikers.

His shot from the Fire Prism is pretty much ineffective.

I see what he is trying to do, by backing up, he is playing the stay away game in hopes of taking "Pot shots" at my army and then grabbing objectives in the last turns of the game.

I respond by playing my Bikers much more aggresively than I normally would. I turbo-boost them forward and when My Dread arrives, I drop in targeting the Farseer and his retinue.

Some shots from my own Lascannons manage to take out a weapon system here and there, but not much else.

As the dust clears over the next couple of turns, all of my bikers and Dread are down (At the cost of his Farseer and Retinue), but that left the rest of my army unscathed, and able to move onto three of the objectives. He has managed to capture one with his bikers, way back in his deployment zone, there is nothing I can do about that, and he contests the three I control with a variety of skimmers.

In my fifth turn, I attempt to destroy some of the contesting units, but only manage to immobilize two of the pesky Eldar Skimmer tanks. Man those things are tough.

My opponent begins rubbing his head at the end of turn 5, he has one objective and I have none. If the game ends here he will manage to pull off a minor victory against my Wolves. As he picks up the die, I advise him he had better roll a one or a two or else...

A three is rolled! the game goes into turn six. Over the next two turns with the Eldar within my reach I pounce. At the end of turn six I have 2 objectives to his one and by the end of turn seven I have 3.

Victory for the Wolves!

This game is one of those games, where I really wish I had the Cyclone over the Assault cannon. And also really wish I had the Rune Priest. He would have been a big help. Not to mention I really, really missed my scouts this game. Only one game into this tournament, and I'm already wishing I had a different list...

[Warhorse47]

Nice report and congratulations on the win!

[BDS]

congrats on the beating the vile eldar!!

 

BDS

[Iacton Qruze]

I'm curious as to why you would have preferred the CML over the AC? What situations arose that put you at a disadvantage because of that?

[Firedrake28]

I'm curious as to why you would have preferred the CML over the AC? What situations arose that put you at a disadvantage because of that?

 

I can only guess that the cyclone would've been a big help in dealing with all those pesky skimmers.

[Wildfire]

The guy sounds like he's still playing with a 4e list. Well do I know how tough those are, although with only 2 troops I think he'd have a hard time these days.

 

Congrats on the win. When I first read his list, I already knew how the game would turn out. You hunkering down, him trying to roll over your objectives on the last turn and praying for it to end there...

 

Yeah, I've been slacking, but mainly because I had another Tournament yesterday that I was preparing for. It was a 1500 point, 3 game event with about 15 people in attendance. But that is another story.

 

You gonna post up this one, too?

[littlbitz]

Thats pretty much my standard tactic against Eldar, Wildfire, take objectives, wait for him to try to contest or take them, hope the game continues and kill them.

I did take some pics at the Tournament, I think I'll do a report, especially since I actually used my Thunderwolf Cav model to switch things up a bit.

@Iacton, yeah the Cyclone would have given me alot of Range over the Assault cannon. At the end of the day, the Assault cannon was fine, as he was close enough for me to use it in the second half of the game, but had I the Cyclone, I could have been shooting at those Skimmers the entire time.

Game two was a 4th ed. style Victory Points mission with you getting double victory points for wiping a unit out.

My opponent was a very friendly fella named London. He had a Space Marine army in Iron Warriors colors using a "Vulkan" list, oh and he had a couple of Red Drop Pods thrown in for good measure. London wasn't the owner of the army, Rob a Tournament Circuit regular was, who went on to win overall with his IG.

The list: Vulkan

3x Landspeeders with Multi-meltas and Heavy Flamers (Seperate choices)

Land Raider, with Extra armor and Multi-melta

Tac Squad with lascannon and Melta-gun

Tac Squad with lascannon and Melta-gun

Tac Squad with lascannon and Melta-gun, Sgt. has a powerfist, In a Drop Pod

Tac Squad with Multi-melta and Melta-gun, Sgt. has a Powerfist in a Drop Pod

Pred with Auto-cannon and Heavybolter

Vindicator

Librarian with Null zone

Deployment was standard Pitched battle and I won the roll off to go first.

After deploying my forces, he deployed and decided to hold his speeders in reserves as well as the two drop pods.

In my first turn, I decided against my usual tactic of concentrating on one flank with my Bikes and went for a pincer formation, running them up seperate sides in an attempt to overwhelm him with targets. I dropped my pod with Wolfguard in aggressively right in front of the Vindicator but a scatter took me back almost 12 inches into a ruin.

I scooted my Predator to my right six inches, and would be able to get a full side shot on his vindicator and take his cannon out early. Moving my Razorback to my left, I took a pot shot at the Landraider which of course did nothing.

I rush my Rhino forward, popping smoke and attempting to get my BloodClaws into the fray early.

In his first turn he brings in one of his pods, and uses it to support his lines rather than get into mine.

He fires on my Rhino and of course it explodes, I lose half the pack between the explosion and support fire from other parts of his army.

In turn 2 my Dread comes in and I drop him right into the lines of the False Vulkan's army, he fires on a Tactical squad in a crater and causes some casualties, this combined with the fire of the Terminators from the ruin wreaks some havoc.

I hit the flanks hard this turn with my Bikers, turbo-boosting again and hoping for an assault next turn. My large Greyhunter pack advances behind the rest of my force in support, while my Razorback and Predator continue their fire support duties.

While my BloodClaws now committed continue their death march into his lines.

In his turn, My Dread becomes public enemy no. one, well him and my Biker pack with the Wolf Lord. Rolling for his reserves he gets all of his speeders on, but the second pod stays out of the action.

The combined shooting of the Tactical squad, the land raider and the multi-melta on the speeder fail to do any significant damage to my Dread.

On the other side, a huge torrent of fire goes into my WolfLord and his biker pack. The combined fire of 2 speeders, the Dakka Pred and a full 10 tactical marines causes significant losses and 2 wounds on my Lord! (This is a big example of why I should have taken Runic armor, it would have saved me from taking at least on of these wounds on my Lord) I make my leadership check and hope that the 3 models I have left there will be enough to crush that flank.

In my turn my biker pack with the Battle leader on my right fires into and drops the landspeeder, I fire on His predator but the barricade in front of him save it from harm.

My Dreadnought assaults a tactical squad, as my WolfLord and his remaining Bikers pack do likewise on the other side of the board.

As my army hits his lines, his infantry quickly begins to fall to my Wolves, his armor however remains difficult to destroy and the battle swings back and forth furiously over the next couple of turns.

The game ends in a draw with only about 100 vp difference between us.

Again thinking about my list, if I had the Cyclone I could have been firing my GH pack all game. I also didn't need the Battle leader accompanying the 2nd Bike pack, I would have rather had a Rune Priest with Living lightning, this would have been a great boon to my Large GH pack as well, significantly adding to my ranged firepower.

List is doing fine, but there are definately some tweaks that could be made to make it more effective while keeping my lists flavor.

[Ragnars Claw]

Nice report so far and good to see you still in the saddle.

 

Are you coming to the ETC with the USA team?

[BDS]

I am a pretty liberal "counts as" guy. But, I had to laugh when I looked at the pic of his "Vulcan" army. Nice job equaling a list, that on paper, looks like it would cause you an uphill battle for sure.

 

BDS

[Lord Ragnarok]

Looks like some tough fights bitz. You wavering on scouts is making me waver with them in my list.

 

Not to look forward but did you make changes for the tourney you just finished which was after this BR?

[Wolf Guard Nostromo]

Great to read your battle reports as always Littlbitz :P

 

The cyclone/rune priest combo is now a staple favourite support pair for me - I think it would complement your bikes really well.

[littlbitz]

Alot of the changes I have planned for my list came from my experiences at this tournament WG Nos, most importantly the return of the Scouts and the addition of the Runepriest. Especially in the next to games as you will soon find out.

 

Actually Rags, my list for the 1500 point Tournament was quite the opposite of what you would expect me to bring, I obviously had to make some changes as the points limit was much different from what I usually play, but the big change was I just had to field a TWC unit. So, in a what the heck moment, I fielded a unit of 1, with a Frost Axe and Storm shield. and I wasn't sorry. But again, that is another story.

 

I will be posting game 3 in the AM, thanks for reading!

[Autarch-Andrew]

Hey Ted its Andrew From That Mechcanicon First game thanks for posting those pics my camera broke and could/nt get the pictures from our game.I hope you had fun playing my army and i hope to see you next year :) :)

 

 

 

----AutarchAndrew----

[Godhead]

/bump. dying to see the rest of the batreps and I too am curious as to what changes you are making to your list.

[littlbitz]

Hey Andrew, I did enjoy our game very much, and I will definately be there again next year!

 

Sorry Godhead, I've been a bum, real life has kept me away from the computer, I will be getting the rest of the reports up as soon as I get a free hour or so.

[Natanael]

Hope things clear up for you soon! Never a good thing to be away from the computer for too long :huh:

[WG Vrox]

Littlbitz,

 

I noticed in your new list you have dropped the Dread in DP. So far in your reports he seems to be holding his own and doing the job assigned to him, so what was the deciding factor to drop him? Also can you post the final version of the list you took to this tourney?

 

Thanks

Vrox

[littlbitz]

Sorry Vrox, here is the list I ended up taking to the Mechanicon:

HQ: WolfLord on a bike with Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tail Talisman, Saga of the Bear

HQ: Wolfguard Battle Leader on a Bike with a Frost Blade

Elite: Wolfguard #1. with TDA, and a Combi-Plasma #2. with TDA and a Combi-Plasma #3. with TDA, Combi-Plasma and a Powerfist (These will be switched to Combi-Melta if the new Termies can be finished in time). Mounted in a Drop Pod

Troop: GreyHunters x10, with 2x Meltaguns, MoW, Power Weapon, and a Standard (I dropped the Plasma Pistol from this pack) Wolfguard #4 leads this pack in TDA, with an Assault Cannon and Powerfist

Troop: GreyHunters x5 with Plasma gun, and a Powerweapon in a Razorback with twin-linked Lascannons

Wolfguard #5 leads this pack with a Combi-Mg and Powerweapon

Troop: BloodClaws x7 (I dropped one BC from this pack) with Flamer, and Powerweapon, mounted in a Rhino

Wolfguard #6 leads this pack with a Stormbolter (had a few odd points to spend) and a Powerfist

Fast attack: SwiftClaw Bikers 3+1, Attackbike has Heavybolter, Powerfist, Meltabombs. (the Battle leader will probably hang out here)

Fast attack: SwiftClaw Bikers 3+1, Attackbike has Heavybolter, Powerfist, Melta-gun, Meltabombs

Wolfguard #7 leads this pack with a bike and a Powerfist (this is the WolfLords Bodyguard)

Heavy support: Predator Tank with Twin Linked Lascannon turret and Heavybolter sponsons

Elite: Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer Mounted in a Drop Pod

This List comes in at 1849 Points.

In the updated list, so far I have dropped the Dread, mainly because I wanted a pair of Predators, and something had to give. I do like having 2 Pods though. I ran a couple of test games with the Dread in it, dropping one of the biker packs instead, big mistake. I've come to depend on the bikes too much. I could alter the list to run with one pack, but thats a major overhaul and changes how the list works.

Anyways, enough rambling on to game three, (finally)

I really have to thank John who was my 3rd opponent and the event staff. I had to goto Philadelphia for a few hours right in the middle of the Tournament, because my Son's band was playing at a concert at the Trocadero. John, who is an old regular in the GTs allowed me to postpone our game until my return. When the event coordinators explained this to him, he said he wanted revenge for our last game, which was probably 8 or so odd years ago, and so patiently waited and plotted...

Game three was a Capture and Control mission with one objective in each of our own deployment zones and used Spear Head deployment. Under normal circumstances I like this mission, but here is his list;

Librarian with Nullzone

10 Scouts with Shotguns, Vet with Powerweapon

10 Scouts with Shotguns, Vet with Powerweapon

Tac Squad with Meltagun and Lascannon

Tac Squad with Meltagun and Plasma-cannon

Tac Squad with Flamer and Plasma-cannon

Tac Squad with Flamer and Missile Launcher

Sternguard x10

5x Termie squad with Thunderhammer and Stormshield

Dev Squad with Heavybolter x2 and Missile Launcher x2

Thats an 1850 Marine list with 85 models! in a Capture and Control mission, :cuss

The table had some decent terrain all along the edges, but the center was pretty much a Shooting gallery, I won the roll for first turn, and after deploying decided playing for a draw would be boring and un-wolfy. So I surged forward with my entire army leaving my Blood claws in reserve, and keeping back my large Greyhunter pack in the ruins to guard my own objective. He kept his two scout squads in reserve.

I drop in my Wolfguard first on my left side, as the rest of my army moves to support the Terminators. They are hunkered down, so shooting is minimal this turn.

In his turn he surges forward to use his Terminators as a speedbumb while the rest of his army sends salvos of fire into my force, on his other side his Sternguard shift thier position to rain fire upon my Terminators.

The Pod is blown up, my Terminators gunned down, and the Razorback a smithering wreck, I continue my advance. The Greyhunters climb out of the smoking Razor back and gun down 3 of his Terminators, as my bikers continue to turboboost to my right in support of the Bloodclaws (who still havent arrived). Stuck in a shooting gallery and no reserves. This is getting bad.

In his turn one of his Scout Squads arrive and outflank right behind my Large GH pack and attempt to take my objective. Thier Shotguns kill 3 GreyHunters and I lose another 2 when they charge!, I wipe them all out in combat (a big thanks to my standard here)

He concentrates the rest of his firepower on one of my Biker packs who take a few casualties and the Pred who survives to see another turn.

My BloodClaws arrive and I rush them on in support of my Bikers with my Lord. My Dread drops into his lines. I smash into his Sternguard with my Lord and his BloodClaw bikers, I kill about half the squad including his Librarian, and they promptly fail there break check, and yes you guessed it they get away from me!!!! No!!!!

The combined firepower of the Pred and Dread manage to kill a few marines, but nothing fantastic.

In his turn, he turns all of his guns on my Dread, and the Wolflord and the Bloodclaws bikers. They all die horrible deaths. He engages my smaller GH pack with his Terminators, and his 2nd Scout squad comes in via outflank, you guessed it right behind my GH pack. To add insult to injury, I lose the WG Terminator to shotgun fire before he assaults, that roll of a one cost me the game (well aside from a mistake or two) His Scouts win the combat, and he controls both objectives in the end.

A tough loss for the Wolves.

[littlbitz]

I should add some notes here. While I do believe that some of the things in that game just didn't go my way, i.e. the Termie going down to one armor save, and the Sternguard breaking and being able to shoot up my bikers.

 

I did make some mistakes, and I certainly didn't give myself the best chances in this game.

 

After some thought, this is what I probably should have done:

 

I should have started the Bloodclaws on the board, waiting for them in reserves caused my assualt to be piece meal, and the timing was off.

 

That being said, I should have brought in the Dread and his pod first, dropping it more towards the center. Not to cause significant damage to my opponent but to block lanes of fire, then I could have sent forward the Razorback a full 12" EMPTY, leaving the smaller GH pack back in support of the Larger one (leaving a single unit behind was a mistake, I totally underestimated the ability of a pair of Scout Squads). With a wall of cover created with the Pod, Dread and Razorback I could have brought my Rhino up behind this and Turbo-boosted the Bikers.

 

I think this would have allowed me to 1. strike multiple targets in his lines with multiple units of mine and reduced the fire-power I received on the way in. and 2. given me a more powerful firebase on my own objective with the Predator and 2 GreyHunter packs.

 

The Terminators would have then been able to drop in behind his lines like my Dread did in the game, but hopefully with everything else hitting the lines, they would have actually been effective.

 

Those are my thoughts on that game anyways. Sure dice were a factor, but some stupid rookie mistakes certainly didn't help matters any.

 

There is always next time John, now we are 1-1 :P

[Natanael]

Great report, and a good game. It's a shame that you lost, but at least he seemed to be playing well enough.

[Wolf Guard Hengist]

Thanks for the AAR's mate I have enjoyed reading them.

 

Edit:- Forgot to mention its nice to see that the Wolf Standard made a difference, I've had enough of losing important combats due to silly amounts of 1's being rolled so I include them in my lists now.

[BDS]

Great reports. Appreciate the time. Keep them coming.

 

BDS

[The White Wolf]

Best 10pts ever. Never leave home without them.

[Night Runner]

Great batreps. It took me awhile this time to get around reading them. I'm always interested in the way you use your Swiftclaws. From what I read they weren't as effective as in past games, but I guess all unit types have their good days and their bad. Thanks for taking the time to write these reports up and taking the pics. :tu:

[littlbitz]

They really caught a bad break in game 3 on Saturday, those Vets with their Hellfire rounds put a hurtin' on them.

 

I know its been slow posting, but I am going to put game four up tomorrow evening.