Battle Report

[Chaplain Admetus]

Hey all, finally managed to take my army in today and get a game, having been unable to find the time for a while due to coursework and exams. Had a new list I wanted to try out, and just thought I'd share how the game went and see how I could have played things better/more efficiently.

 

My list:

Librarian with jump pack - Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage for powers

10 man assault squad with power fist

9 man assault squad with power fist, flamer, in a rhino with extra armour

10 man tactical squad with power fist, melta, multi-melta, rhino with extra armour

7 man sternguard squad with 1 meltagun, in a drop pod

2 sanguinary priests, one on foot, one with jump pack and power weapon

6 man devastator squad with 4 missile launchers

Baal predator with assault cannon turret, heavy bolter sponsons, extra armour

 

Guard list as best I can remember (not very good with guard terminology, just as a warning!):

Command squad with Yarrick and ogryn special character in a vendetta

2 heavy weapon teams, each containing heavy bolter, autocannon and lascannon

1 unit of guardsmen in a chimaera

1 unit of guardsmen on foot

1 tank with the poisoned AP3 flamer (banewolf, I think?) that also had a heavy flamer

2 Leman Russes, 1 with battlecannon, 1 with 5-shot plasma cannon thing, both with an array of sponsons

 

The battlefield was relatively open, with most terrain being bastions along the long table edges, craters towards the middle, and a landing pad in the centre left. We rolled Dawn of War and Sieze Ground with 3 objectives, 2 being placed on my opponents side of the table just over 12" on, and about 20" from each side, 1 was on my side of the table, on the right, almost directly opposite another objective. The guard won the roll for deployment and first turn, and deployed one heavy weapon team just behind the objective on my right on his side, and a guardsman unit behind the other one. The vendetta was in reserve, and everything else to come on turn 1. I set up a tactical combat squad containing the multi-melta just behind my objective, and left everything else to come on turn 1, with the exception of an outflanking Baal. None of my units succumbed to the Red Thirst. I chose not to attempt to sieze the intiative, so I could deny him a turn of shooting at my important units, have the last word when it came to striking for objectives, and crucially bring my units on to counter his.

 

Guard turn 1: The other heavy weapon team moved on in the centre of his board edge, the chimaera and banewolf moved on 12" each, also in the centre, the chimaera slightly more towards my right. The two russes both came on and sat on his board edge behind and slightly to the left (from my perspective) of his objective-camping guardsmen. The heavy weapon team that started on the table passed their night fighting check and took down one of my tactical marines.

 

Blood Angels turn 1: The rhino with the other 5 tactical marines came on on the left and moved up to the landing pad for cover. Everything else came on to the very far right, as far away from the russes as I could get. The devastators moved up into a building on the right hand corner (possibly a mistake, as it turns out they didn't quite have range to the guardsmen on the left). The assault squad in a rhino, with the priest attached, moved as far as it could up the right hand edge, and the assault marines led by the librarian and other priest came on and ran, also on the right hand side (but not right at the edge). The drop pod containing the sternguard landed roughly 12" in front of the heavy weapon team on the objective, and their dragonfire bolts handily removed the squad.

 

Guard turn 2: No vendetta arrival this turn; my opponent for some reason decided not to move any of his units (especially bizarre for the banewolf) except for a slight shift with the chimaera and started shooting immediately. My librarian failed his psychic test for Shield on 11, but fortunately the battlecannon scattered away from anything. I'd managed to move out of range of most of his shooting, and don't think I took any casualties this turn, cover protecting the sternguard from the other heavy weapon team. He ran the guardsmen on the left forwards to get them further onto the objective. I think the lack of movement here, coupled with deploying both russes on the left hand side, was probably what gave me the edge.

 

Blood Angels turn 2: The baal turns up. I want it to come on from the left so it can unleash 10 BS4 S5/6 AP4 shots into the objective camping guardsmen or into one of the russes, so predictably I roll a 3 and it appears on the right. Can't have everything :P. The assault rhino proceeded to move further up the right hand edge, the sternguard advanced towards the centre, and the librarian's squad flew up to support them, using the drop pod as a shield. The rhino on the left stayed behind the landing pad, my plan being to use it as a safety net that could be driven forwards in an attempt at contesting/claiming the left objective at the last minute. The devastators stunned the chimaera, and then the multi-melta from the combat squad wrecked it. The sternguard then proceeded to unload dragonfire bolts into THIS squad, and wiped them out entirely. The baal opened fire and took 2 wounds from the other heavy weapon team.

 

Guard turn 3: The vendetta turns up and deep strikes behind my rhino over on the left. Things finally begin to move and the banewolf moves over in preparation to barbecue my sternguard (since my opponent has quite rightly had enough of them given that they've singlehandedly removed half of his troops choices from the tabletop!). Shooting begins in earnest and this time my librarian manages to get shield working. The banewolf hoses the sternguard with its poisoned AP3 flamer, but my priest's made it into range and FNP keeps most of the squad around. The heavy flamer is also relatively powerless against the armour/FNP combination. The two russes and the heavy weapons team start bombarding my assault squad and sternguard with the battlecannon, lascannons, 5-shot plasma cannons etc, but I've learned my lesson and spaced the squad out, and this coupled with the cover save means that most of the unit survives, either 3 or 4 assault marines died, as did a few sternguard. The vendetta opens fire into the back of my rhino and turns it to a molten slagheap, and my combat squad bails out.

 

Blood Angels turn 3: The combat squad from the rhino advances towards the vendetta since it will cause problems if left unchecked. The remaining sternguard advance left towards his lines, as do the assault squad and baal. The assault squad in a rhino bursts across from the edge of the table to sit on the objective. The baal brings down the heavy weapons team and the meltagun in the sternguard squad destroys the banewolf. In the absence of better targets, the devastators fire at the guardsmen on the objective but its now that I realise that they're too far away, and are likely to have very little impact on the battle. The squad near the vendetta manage to take it down with a well placed meltagun blast, dooming themselves but stranding Yarrick and his squad in a useless quarter of the board, unable to impact the rest of the game.

 

Guard turn 4: With very little else to do, the guard player opens fire with the russes on the large assault squad and the sternguard, thinning them down further, leaving me with two suriviving sternguard and two surviving assault marines, the priest and a wounded librarian. Yarricks squad unsurprisingly makes an ungodly mess of the tactical marines on the left hand side.

 

Blood Angels turn 4: Most of my units sit around pointlessly, the assault squad remnants fly towards the guardsmen on the objective, and the baal also advances. Both open fire on the squad, and the subsequent assault finishes them off.

 

We rushed turn 4 because my opponent had to leave, but he conceded graciously given that the result wasn't in any doubt. I was holding all three objectives, and he had no remaining troops choices, and it would have been all but impossible for him to remove my remaining assault marines, the combat squad on my side of the table, and all the assault marines happily bunkered in their rhino on the third objective.

 

Thoughts from the game: perhaps I was too scared of the two russes, even though deploying my force in a refused flank formation to reduce his firepower was almost certainly a good idea. Should have been more aggressive and in his face with the tactical squad to try and melta one on turn 2. Relying on the Baal to outflank wasn't the best idea, and next time I'll either start it on the table or bring it on turn 1 if playing DoW. Deploying the devastators in the corner was also a mistake, as although it was intended as a protective measure and to guard the two objectives on the right side of the table, it turned out that I nullified their own firepower. This was my first game with the sternguard, and they certainly proved their worth - dragonfire bolts are absolutely lethal to guardsmen and that gave me an overwhelming early advantage. Any comments on the list (I'm going to swap the 6th devastator for some combi-meltas in the sternguard squad when I get the bits) or the way I played are greatly welcomed :mellow:

[Demoulius]

some interesting lists :)

 

his leman russ tanks probably dident move because that would mean he would be able to fire less ;) Yarrick is a pretty strong character from the guard list and tbh is made for combat. the loadout he gave it also pretty much summed up combat... why he dident use them for this then is beyond me :D his mixed heavy weapon teams also strike me as odd but oh well, im sure he has his reasons :)

 

how were your devastators out of range though? they got 48 inch range weapons :)

 

at any case, grats on the win m8 :D

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I think you played it very well. Little to no cover versus all the pie plates o doom!! I'm very impressed. :)

 

G :D

[shortysl]

Regardless of outcome, your opponent was cheating from the start; the Imperial Guard codex clearly states that Valkyries and Vendettas CANNOT carry ogryns. That includes Nork Deddog, an ogryn special character.

[Demoulius]

Regardless of outcome, your opponent was cheating from the start; the Imperial Guard codex clearly states that Valkyries and Vendettas CANNOT carry ogryns. That includes Nork Deddog, an ogryn special character.

could be an honost mistake... and not like it mattered in the end :lol:

[shortysl]

Regardless of outcome, your opponent was cheating from the start; the Imperial Guard codex clearly states that Valkyries and Vendettas CANNOT carry ogryns. That includes Nork Deddog, an ogryn special character.

could be an honest mistake... and not like it mattered in the end

 

True enough, you'll have to forgive me, i get fussy about these things for some reason. I'm actually an easy going player believe it or not! :D What i should have said from the start is: well done OP, a victory against Imperial Guard in a minimal-cover game is pretty impressive. As a player of, and regular opponent of, Imperial Guard I know just how deadly their firepower can be when used effectively. Well played.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Thanks guys :). Decided that the best approach was to BMOC (Bring My Own Cover) - a couple of areas were slightly elevated, and I used that, the drop pod, his wrecked vehicles and Shield of Sanguinius to keep my guys safe, the only difficulty being that keeping things close to the librarian made them more vulnerable to templates... the guard player was fairly young but he'd managed to build a solid list and had absolutely destroyed some black templars in a 1k game prior to facing me at 1.5K, so he clearly had some idea of how to use it, just needed to refine his tactics a little more and not go on tilt after the sternguard started erasing units - he seemed quite determined to exact vengeance

 

@ shortysl, I'm pretty sure it was just an honest mistake, it honestly didn't bother me too much

 

@ dem, when I said the devastators were in the corner, I really did mean right in the corner :D.

 

I'm hopefully getting a game in against Dark Eldar on Thursday, so if that comes about I'll post up another bat rep with the same list and see how it goes

[d503]

Nice. Had he dropped yarrick, deddog and the other frills he could have got another tank or horde of men and done much better.

 

But nonetheless, beating guard across an open field is not a task I would undertake with anything other than MY guard army, hah.