Weekend Batrep 3, for the tourney win!

[trefenwyd]

Ok, after an complete 20-3 extermination of the Dark Eldar, and a 14-7 minor victory over CSM, it's on to fight apparently traitorous Wolves for the tourney win.

 

The armies:

 

Mine (I'll list again for ease of reference if you're so inclined)

 

HQ:

Rune Priest, LL, MH, chooser

 

Troops:

8 GH, meltagun, MoTW, Standard, PW, Rhino

5 GH, flamer, MoTW, Standard PW, Razorback w/TLLC

5 GH, flamer, MoTW, Standard, PW, Razorback w/LC, TLPG

 

Elites:

10 Wolf Guard:

3 Combi-melta/powerfist, split off to join GH packs

2 Bolt pistol/ccw, split off to join LFs 1/2

1 TDA w/cyclone missile launcher to join LF 3

4 Combi-melta/bolt pistol in a drop pod

 

Heavy support:

6 LFs, 4 ML, 1 LC

6 LFs, 4 ML, 1 LC

6 LFs, 3 HB, 2 PC

 

His (as best I remember):

HQ:

Rune Priest, LL, SC, chooser

 

Troops:

10 GH, 2x meltagaun, rhino

10 GH, 2 x meltagun, rhino

9 GH, meltagun, rhino (joined by RP)

10 GH, 2 x meltagun, drop pod

 

Elites:

3 Wolf Guard: 1 combi-melta, powerfist (joins scouts), 2 non-upgraded, join LF squads

10 Wolf Scouts, meltagun

 

Heavy support:

6 LFs, 5 ML

6 LFs, 5 ML

 

Right off the bat, you look at army comparison - my drop pod is better at taking out armor; his is more expensive but more capable. I have a little more close combat ooomph with wulfen/standard/more powerfists, but he has 52 combat models whereas I have 21. My only clear advantage lies in the LF squads, where I outnumber him 3-2 and have a mix of weaponry.

 

 

The Game: Annihilation, with a different deployment. We split the field diagonally and choose deployment zones 9" away from the diagonal. I roll first turn and choose the deployment zone with more cover deeper in the deployment zone for my LFs. I've decided to play "defensively", keeping everyone back to deal with his drop pod and scouts and hopefully raining death on his LFs and rhinos from range. So, my LFs deploy in what we'll call my center, with the rhino between them and razors on each flank (it's become my standard deployment now). He deploys his 1st LF squad in a forest on my left, and his 2nd LF squad in his center behind a building . . . the only unit that can see it (and that they can see in return) is my LC/TLPG razor on my left flank. All three of his Rhinos deploy in his rear center corner (the corners are our center with the unique deployment zones) behind a large hill (all three are out of LOS from my entire army). He rolls to steal initiative, and fails. That's three games going first - yippee!

 

My turn 1:

After having only marginal success in games 1/2, my combi-melta drop squad is determined to make up for it and finally kill something. Unfortunately, this opponent has no heavy armor (smart move), so my 127 pts looks like it'll have a hard time making a good impact. With all three of his rhinos being in the corner, it makes scattering off the board a decent possibility, and his LF squad #2 has no cover from 75% of their facing and look like a tempting target. So tempting in fact, that I couldn't ignore it. The drop pod scores a direct hit and comes down 1" away from the cowering Long Fangs. My leftmost razor moves out of LOS from his LF squad #1 (still in LOS from #2) but otherwise my army is immobile, waiting for the opportunity to blast things into little pieces. In the shooting phase, my melta team opts for melta rather than bolter shots (avg 2.2 wounds vs. .87) and is rewarded when 2 Long Fangs drop writhing in agony. My left-flank razor takes aim with its Lascannon and another LF drops, missing 1/2 its torso. My Long fang squads take aim on his LF sqd 1 (the only thing they can see), and only 7 total models are in range. Those Long Fangs do their job, however, as at the end of the round, only 2 of his missile launchers are left standing. It's now time for morale tests, and those 2 pesky missile launchers stand firm. The other LF squad, however, having thought they were safe behind their building, were completely unprepared for a melta dop pod asault and long range lascannon fire and they take off running - so far that they're off the board! What a nice turn. The opponent's long range fire has been reduced to a rune priest and 2missile launchers.

 

His turn 1:

First up is drop pod assault, and he plays it a little risky, bringing it in behind my rhino (about 7" from board edge), but he scores a direct hit and unloads his team with 2 meltaguns behind my rhino and takes careful aim. One rhino unloads its troops and they move 6" to get within firing range of my melta squad while another rhino moves up my left flank to support his LF squad 1 and the other rhino (with the RP) peeks out from behind the hill to get LOS for his LL. In the shooting phase, his rear GH squad that unloaded from the rhino has 2 melta in range of my melta team, but the exertion of disembarking and moving 6" took it's toll and both melta shots missed badly. His drop pod squad took 2 melta-aim at my rhino and there must have been something wrong with his melta ammo, because both shots there missed as well! His massed bolt pistol to rear armor, however, was a bit more effective, scoring a glancing hit and shaking the rhino. His 2 missile launchers on the left flank downed one of my Long Fangs while his Rune Priest blew off the storm bolter of my rhino.

 

At the end of turn 1, he is down 1 3/4 LF squads and I have lost a storm bolter. Not a bad start to a game!

 

Turn 2:

Biggest decision of the turn is what to do with the Grey Hunters in my deployment zone. If I just shoot at them with my LFs, there's a good possibility that his melta will survive, enabling him to destroy my rhino next turn (he can't miss 2 turns in a row, can he?) So, do I disembark from the rhino and charge them to finish them off? I generally do not disembark from my transports, preferring to stay protected, but in this case, I decide that giving up the rhino kill point is a little too much to bear, so I unload the squad and move up next to his Grey Hunters. 2nd decision is what to do with my melta team sitting in the middle of his deployment zone. They're looking around at each other, seing the squad still intact and wondering what to do since that's never happened before. In an objective game, I would have screamed "For Russ!" and charged his 10-man GH squad (my 12 attacks vs, his 30), but since we're playing kill points (never forget the game objective!), I turn tail and run (er, make a strategic re-deployment towards friendly forces), putting my drop pod between the opponent and the squad, and running in the shooting phase so those silly Grey Hunters can't shoot me next turn. In other shooting, I mangage to wreck the rhino advancing on my left flank, and then down 2 more GHs and one missile launcher with one Long Fang squad. The missile launcher passes his morale, but the grey hunters fail their pinning check. My lefmost razorback targets his drop pod, and causes an explosion, killing 1 of his Grey Hunters. My right-most razor hits his RP-housed rhino but the vehicle is saved by cover granted by my drop pod. My other two LF squads target his Grey Huntrers behind my rhino and manage to kill 3 of them (squad down to 6 now). Of note, I finally lose a marine when his plasma cannon explodes in his hands, causing instant death as molten plasma seeps through the cracks in his armor. My grey hunter squad that disembarked now fires bolt pistols/meltagun and Murderous Hurricane, downing 2 more marines, and then they charge into combat. They do the job, losing one marine while wiping the enemy. I consolidate back towads my rhino (now that I think of it, I probably should have re-embarked, but I'm not sure if that's allowed as a consoldiation move - probably not).

 

His turn 2:

Time for reserves roll, and his scouts come in. He rolls a '6' for table edge, and opts for his scouts to come in right next to my now disembarked GH squad. His grey hunters that had disembarked to shoot my melta squad last turn now run back and re-embark in their rhino and move forwards in a effort to catch up to my fleeing (re-deploying) melta squad. His missile launcher and RP-rhino squad stay put. In the shooting phase, his RP blasts off the TLLC from my right-most rhino (he's getting good at targeting weapons) with LL, while his missile launcher kills one more of my LFs (overall, I've lost 3 LFs out of 18 total - still looking good). His scouts take aim at my grey hunters and mangage a melta wound and 5 bolt pistol wounds. I take my saves, and roll 5 1s and 2s. Holy cow - that's a total of 5 dead marines and a wound on my Rune Priest. All of a sudden I'm not looking forwards to combat anymore. With a grin, he charges his 11-man scout squad into my now 4-man Grey Hunter squad (RP, Standard/Wolfen, Pwr wpn, Pwr Fst). I declare use of my standard (actually I declared in the "interim" bewteen the shooting and assault phases), and we get to it. After all is said and done, I lost my standard/wolfen and pwr fist, while he loses 2 marines (it would have been worse, but his power fist missed all attacks vs. my RP) A draw! I'll take it, though I'm still outnumberd 9-2.

 

Turn 3:

my melta squad continues its redeployment, ending up near my rightmost, now TLLC-less razor. My left razor stays put and my LFs dig in for more shooting goodness. In the shooting phase, I manage to pop his rhino carrying the GHs trudling towards my melta squad, and I down 2 more GHs on my left flank (the ones who were pinned). The missile launcher survives to snipe at me one more turn. [it might seem like my LFs are under-performing, but in reality, there is a lot of blocking terrain, so I'm somewhat limited in range and field of fire]. On to combat, and I kill one more marine while he retaliates and this time his fist doesn't miss and my RP goes down in a gory mess. Of note is that I made several saves with my one remaining marine, ensuring that combat would continue on his turn - the last piece of luck I needed to really ensure victory.

 

His turn 3:

His now-disembarked grey hunters advance on my drop pod, detemined to get its kill point. His previously-pinned Grey Hunters (now numbering 6) retreat behind a hill to save themselves and his lone missile launcher stays put and takes a shot at my lefmost razor, only to miss. His RP-rhino stays put, looking for another vehicle weapon to destroy. In the shooting phase, he again misses both melta shots at my drop pod and his Rune Priest suffers perils of the warp with double 6s - all in all a horrible phase for him. In combat, I down one more marine, only be slaughtered in return. He consolidates into the crater left by the drop pod with his 6 remaining scouts. He charges into my drop pod and mangages a glancing hit with his grenades, ripping off the storm bolter.

 

1/2 way point update and I am leading 5-2. I have kill points from his drop pod, 2 rhinos, LF squad 2, and his drop pod GHs. He has kill points from my RP and his GH squad. I'm confident, but not overwhelmingly so - he is going to destroy my drop pod, and my rhinos/razors are only one LL away from giving him 3 more kill points.

 

Turn 4: I decide to focus on cleaning up his LF squad 1 and laying waste to the 6 scouts hiding next to one of my LF squads. My melta squad and right rhino both take cover from any incoming LL and my left razor aims for his RP-rhino and turns it into a smoking wreck. Massed misslie/lascannon/bolter fire eliminate his scouts to a man and his lone missile launcher finally fails a cover save and suddenly I'm up 8-2 and feeling good.

 

Turns 4-6. He mangages to grenade-wreck my drop pod, but after that, he realizes that he has lost and just rushes his troops forwads. I unload both GHs squads from my razors and after some nice flamer/bolt pistol fire, wipe both squads. His Rune Priest, true to form, manages to blow off the lascannon from my leftmost razor. Final kill point tally is 10-3, though had it been close he would have prevented those last 2 points by hiding his troops instead of rushing forwards out of cover into massed LF and GH fire.

 

 

All in all, a few tactical decsions to be made, and another solid victory for the wolves! The big game changer was my GH squad staying alive long enough to prevent him from being able to charge one of my LF squads on his turn. And if his RP had been a little luckier with LL and had actually wrecked my vehicles rather than just blowing off weapons, the kill points would have been a lot closer. I'm still kicking myself for letting my RP get destroyed in combat by scouts, but I still think charging the drop pod squad was the right thing to do - there's just no way I should fail all 5 saves from his bolt pistols (oh well, that's why you actually roll the dice, right?) The highlight of the game was my melta team surviving to the end after forcing his LFs to flee off the board - I still chuckle at it.

 

Thanks for reading,

Trefenwyd

[Hear da Lamentation]

Nice win mate. Interesting army, very shootie and I always hear 1 dp is a bit of a waste of time, but clearly you manage to do well with it.

 

So you won the Tourney ! Well done indeed.

[trefenwyd]

Love, love, love, love, love my drop pod. My only decision is whether to put a 3-5 man combi-melta squad in there or make it a full 10 man. 3-5 is meant to die, a full ten with powerfists and all is meant to ensure absolute destruction of whatever it comes down next to and then fully grab the enemy's attention, possibly make it out alive; but definitely make it so the rest of your army doens't get near the shooting attention it would otherwise have gotten.

[Coverfire]

I consolidate back towads my rhino (now that I think of it, I probably should have re-embarked, but I'm not sure if that's allowed as a consoldiation move - probably not).

 

You can only embark vehicles during the movement phase.

[TiguriusX]

Awesome story...loved reading every single one

 

Regarding the embarkation rule. You can't embark or disembark unless it is your moving phase (p. 66 BRB top right).

 

Wrecked result is an exception forcing you to disembark.

 

I used to wish I had embarked during my consolidation moves as well until I cleared that rule up.

[nurglez]

was following this mini tourny, Nice job :unsure:

 

I would suggest running 2 drop pod squads, one as throw away, but the other one bigger and more of a bite :D

[dswanick]

Congratz on the win.