1500pt Doubles Tournament

[chaplain belisarius]

id keep the vindi as it scares the living daylights out of the enemy!

 

I reckon taking the plasma heavy, shooty list would be ok-i doubt you will face that much armour in this tournament (althought i could be wrong!)

 

Any idea who you will be facing? got a final list yet? :)

[DarkGuard]

No idea who we're facing, the only armies we know of are from our store and I'm pretty sure we won't be facing them. The Vindicator does scare the living daylights out of people, but the big thing is that my half of the army is clearly long-range support, especially support to bust open tanks and the like, whereas my friend's part of the army is the bit that closes the distance and does trouble. The Vindy just floats in the middle, and I'm not sure if that's better than having a combi-pred which operates at the same range as the rest of my force and can take out tanks a lot more reliably then the couple of lascannons on my Razorbacks. That would also let my Razorbacks get into midfield and use their plasma guns more.

 

And about the final list, we can never have a final list until the actual tournament. Until then we are still playtesting it, and everything is mutable and able to be changed and taken out of it. If you want, I'll post the final list and how we did after the tournament though, so people can see what we did in the end.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

I'd say its better to have the vindi as your own little part of forward fighting, it'll at the least draw fire from his troops and if it gets ignored see if you can go for targets your long range support doesn't care about. Plus if you do choose to move into midfield you have a large tank to cover your troops and help screen, the pred would be forced to sit tight and thats all it can do, the vindi gives you a little flexibility.

[DarkGuard]

Yeah, you both make good points there, still it's good to have options. Definitely I'd prefer to have the Vindy over the quad-plasma squad, for target saturation more than anything. And we're not lacking in anti-AV at all, what with two lascannons, two TL-plasma guns, two Typhoons (effectively 4 missile launchers), three TL-assault cannons, three meltaguns, a demo cannon and a hell of a lot of grenades, plus a power fist. I feel that between us we should have enough anti-armour to get by :).

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Well the vindi gun can open more or less anything and threaten more or less anything, so I guess its probably an efficient investment if you're looking for a filler

[chaplain belisarius]

exactly! whens the tournament? good luck! :P

[DarkGuard]

The tournament is Sunday 27th, but we won't be able to start testing the list until this Saturday at the earliest. That gives us a week to iron out any creases, see what works and what doesn't. It should be a fun experience more than anything. I've played in 2000pts Doubles tournaments at the store before, and as we both have 1000pts there's more room to manoeuvre on the lists and make them at least similar to your 1500pts list. At 750pts that's impossible, but it does help that you only need one Troops choice.

 

And thanks Belisarius, I hope I'll have good news to report in a couple of weeks time :P.

[chaplain belisarius]

its ok..i hope my rudimentary tactical advice has helped a bit! :P

[DarkGuard]

OK then, we tried out the following list yesterday:

 

Blood Angels:

Libby w/ Fear of Darkness and Shield of Sanguinius = 100pts

 

2x Sanguinary Priests = 100pts

 

5 Assault Marines w/ meltagun and power fist in Razorback w/ TL-assault cannon = 190pts

 

5 Assault Marines w/ meltagun and power weapon in Razorback w/ TL-assault cannon = 180pts

 

5 Assault Marines w/ meltagun and power weapon in Razorback w/ TL-assault cannon = 180pts

 

Total = 750pts

 

 

Space Marines:

Libby w/ Null Zone and Avenger = 100pts

 

5 Tactical Marines w/ combi-flamer in Razorback w/ TL-plasma gun and lascannon = 175pts

 

5 Tactical Marines w/ combi-flamer in Razorback w/ TL-plasma gun and lascannon = 175pts

 

2 Typhoons = 180pts

 

Vindicator w/ dozer blade = 120pts

 

Total = 750pts

 

We went up against a combined Space Wolves army with:

Njal in Runic Terminator armour

Rune Priest in Terminator armour

5 Wolf Guard Terminators: 2 pairs of wolf claws, thunder hammer storm shield, assault cannon, Arjak Rockfist thingy

2x5 Grey Hunter packs

 

Ulrik the Slayer

Large amount of Blood Claws

Grey Hunters in Rhino

Lone Wolf in Terminator armour.

 

Yes, our opponents were overpointed. I have a feeling the second list was fine, but the first was over by 200pts! Which, on reflection is a good thing, as we beat them. And considering they weren't fully abiding the force org chart restrictions (2 elites but no fast attack or heavy support plus 3 HQs), our force exceeded themselves.

 

It was a 4 objective game pitched battle. I managed to deploy one of my las plas Razorbacks by one objective, the other took the other table edge on the right. The Vindicator and Typhoons deployed centrally behind terrain with a couple of ass cannon Razorbacks, while the other was next to our right. In stark contrast our opposing double team did what I want all double teams I play to do, they deployed their forces directly infront of them, as two armies pretty much. Throughout the game they pretty gave each other no support, while me and my mate were the exact opposite, with our armies supporting the other, with us talking through moves and tactics before doing anything at the start of each turn.

 

Anyway, first turn they had deployed near to two objectives, so we pushed an ass cannon Razorback up to the mid table objective, while the other waited in support. The Typhoons took out the Rhino first turn, and the Razorbacks on the right pushed up a little while the Vindicator moved around cover a little, blocking view from its left. In retaliation their forces moved forward, the Terminators taking the middle, with a Grey Hunter squad moving down each flank. The Lone Wolf also went down our right flank. Their horrible lightning powers took out the ass cannon on our objective Razorback, and I can't remember much else of that turn.

 

The next turn the Vindicator and Typhoon excelled themselves in thinning down the Lone Wolfs in cover, the assault cannon Razor helping out there. The beleaguered Razorback in the centre popped smoke, while my las plas on the left sprayed fire onto the advancing the Grey Hunters. In their turn my las plas Razorback on the left got destroyed, and my unit inside fell back after the Grey Hunters shot at them (thank you combat tactics you broke my pinned units :D).

 

My memory is now getting fuzzy about the specifics, but I'll say this. At mid game it was even, with Njal and the Terminator squad proving a thorn in our side. The Grey Hunters were easily destroyed by the Vindicator, while the Lone Wolf died to the las plas Razorback left. Two assault cannon Razorbacks got taken out, but the men inside charged the Terminator squads. Furious Charge plus a couple of power weapons and a successful Null Zone proved very effective, and in two turns Njal and the Terminators were dead (I'd softened them up with Typhoons first). My ally led a counter-attack down our left flank with his squad, taking their objective there, while my remaining Razorback squad dropped my Tactical squad at their other objective, where they wiped out the remnants of the squad.

 

At the end of turn 5 we had 2 objectives while they had 1, at the end of turn 6 we had all 4 and they only had one model left, the Rune Priest who was fleeing thanks to Fear of Darkness. All in all a good victory against an army which overpointed us and didn't follow the unique force org chart. It was even in the middle, but with sheer tenacity we pushed through and won it.

 

The things we took out of this are as follows:

1) 5 man Assault squads with Apocs perform really well, surprisingly well even. I suppose when you've got a few I5 S5 attacks, with four of them being power weapons you will put a dent in things. However, we are thinking of replacing the power weapons with a single lightning claw, as lets face it, lightning claws are better. The power fist will probably stay though.

 

2) The mix of Razorbacks worked well. I was surprised with how well las plas works, and when the assault cannons focussed their fire they did damage. Thankfully they have the mobility to move that quickly.

 

3) The single Vindicator exceeded all my expectations. Sure it got immobilized facing a silly way, but beforehand it knocked out a handful of Blood Claws and took out most of the Grey Hunters, not bad IMO. It gives us some valuable crowd control, and a bullet magnet.

 

4) Our army more of less works as planned, with the Blood Angels advancing under the support of my firepower, hopefully this can continue.

 

5) Njal is a nightmare, and we hope we won't run into him again. With his Terminator ret he was hard to take out, and his powers were wrecking havoc among our forces while he stopped our psykers for a bit, which was annoying. We really badly hope that we don't face him in the tournament. On the other hand, we're fine with facing the rest of that list again, footslogging will be fun for out list.

 

 

So we've learnt a bit, and we're sticking with our list except for the lightning claw swap. Hopefully we'll get good results again on Tuesday, I'll keep you guys updated.

[chaplain belisarius]

well done! (especially since you were outnumbered!)

 

vindicators are the swiss army knife of tanks, dont you think? :)

[DarkGuard]

OK then, we got to try the list out again today, and I'm pleased to announce, two games, two wins. This time we were playing Spearhead annihilation against an actual team who are going to the same tournament. We probably won't play them, but it did mean that their list was legal, so a more even battle.

 

Of course, we weren't counting on this combined Blood Angels and Space Wolves list being used:

 

Meph = 250pts

 

Scout squad: 5 men w/ sniper rifles, 1 missile launcher and camo cloaks = 100pts

 

Baal Pred w/ TL-AC heavy bolters = 145pts

 

Storm Raven w/ TL-MM, TL-LC, hurricane bolters and extra armour = 245pts

 

Total = 740pts (not sure about the last 10pts, didn't come into play).

 

Njal w/ Terminator armour = 270pts

 

Wolf Guard Terminator pack: 5 men, 2 TH/SS, 2 dual wolf claws, 1 power fist and ass cannon = 295pts

 

Grey Hunter pack: 10 men, plasma pistol, mark of the wulfen = 180pts

 

Total = 745pts (again, not sure about last 5pts).

 

 

So, about 22 guys in total, with two tanks. We were, however, worried about Meph and Njal. Meph is nigh impossible to kill, and can kill entire armies on his own. On the other hand, Njal can disrupt armies, taking the pressure of Meph. We were also concerned with not being able to get any psychic powers off at all. Fortunately, their lack of mobility and serious long range firepower helped us.

 

We set up in a quarter giving use a position in a ruin for my Vindicator to fire on the advancing Terminators from cover. My las plas Razorbacks took up position on a hill either side of the Typhoon squadron. One assault cannon Razorback sat on the left of this formation, and two on the right. They deployed the Scouts on their hill past some woods, the Terminators (and Njal) on the edge of the woods, and Grey Hunters off to their left (our right). Meph was deployed in the SR which was held in reserve. This last fact, I feel, helped us more than it helped them, as it meant our army didn't have to contend with 4 bloodstrike missiles and a TL-LC first turn. Their Baal set up on the right of their woods, and used its Scout move to move towards the centre, between the woods and a building. They then stole the initiative, moving the Termys into the woods, and the Grey Hunters into the quarter on their left. The Baal opened fire on our Razorback on our left, taking it out. Njal, did nothing to the Vindicator with his lightning attack, and neither did the assault cannon.

 

Our turn we moved the Assault squad forward a bit (from the blown up Razor). The other ass cannon Razorbacks moved centrally towards their Grey Hunters. My Typhoons moved towards the disembarked Command squad, trying to get some decent line of sight to the Terminators and the Baal. The Vindicator moved fully into the building. In the shooting phase the Baal lost it's assault cannon and ability to shoot next turn to the assault cannon on one of my friend's Razorbacks, my las plas Razorbacks and Typhoons didn't do anything. My Vindicator, however, knocked out a couple of Terminators.

 

In their turn the Storm Raven deep striked into the building on our left, Meph stayed inside. The Grey Hunters jostled about a bit towards the ass cannon Razorbacks, while the Terminators moved further into the woods. The Baal stayed put. The SR opened fire, knocking the typhoon missile launcher off one Typhoon, while shaking the other. Njal rolled double 1 for his power, and did nothing to the Vindy, handing us a free wound. The Scout's immoblized an ass cannon Razor with their missile launcher. In our turn I turbo boosted the Typhoons out of LoS, while the las plas razors opened up LoS to the SR. The two mounted assault squads disembarked and moved towards the Grey Hunters (overall there would be 6 normal guys, 2 meltaguns, 1 Priest, 1 lightning claw, 1 power fist and 1 Libby charging). The Vindicator killed another Terminator I think. The first las plas razor immobilized the SR, the second blew it up, with Meph being unharmed. The Assault squad on our left blew up the Baal with their meltagun and grenades in assault. The assault cannons we had left did nothing to the Terminators, while the meltaguns on the two other Assault squads killed a Grey Hunter. Those squads then assaulted, and wiped out the squad before it has a chance to strike, consolidating away from the Terminators. The other squad lost two guys to the Baal's explosion, despite FnP, and ran away.

 

In their turn 3 Meph jumped next to the fleeing assault squad, while their Terminators moved towards the other two assault squads. They shot at the one containing the Priest, and then assaulted. In the end they took no casualties while we had just a Priest, who ran away. Meph assaulted the squad he had lined up, and wiped them all out taking a wound in the process, consolidating towards the Vindy (but still in the open). In our turn the fleeing priest rallied and joined the Libby's squad. The two las plas razors moved around to get a bead on Meph, as did the one assault cannon Razorback. That Razorback opened up the firing phase by shooting at Meph to no effect. The two plasma guns on the las plas Razorbacks then fired, and caused 4 wounds, killing Meph. My Typhoons shot a couple of krak missiles at the Scouts, killing one. The last Assault squad shot and charged the Terminator squad, killing one guy and Njal (I got Null Zone off despite Njal), but with only the Libby and the power fist surviving. We then passed our morale check and stayed in combat.

 

In their turn the Scouts took a shot at the Razorback but did nothing thanks to the woods being in the way. The Terminator (wolf claws), then killed the Libby. The power fist did nothing, and ran away (my mate was awful with morale today). He then consolidated away. In our turn the power fist rallied and ran into terrain to hide. The las plas Razors lined up the Terminator, as did the Vindy. The Typhoons lined up the Scouts after jumping forward. The mobile ass cannon razor moved around the woods to get in range with the Scouts. After a quick count of kill points we realized we were losing 5-4. Fortunately, it didn't look like it'd stay that way. After getting Null Zone off my Vindicator dropped a demo cannon shot onto the Terminator, killing it. The ass cannon Razorback then killed the remaining Scouts in one round of shooting.

 

So at the end of turn 4 our opponent's were tabled, and we had 6 kill points to their 5. However, truth me told these guys were younger than us, and therefore not as experience. All we really learned is to not be sloppy with forgetting things. On the other hand, we were able to give them lots of pointers after the game, so hopefully they should learn and do better next time. One thing the store staff are looking into is the possibility of their Grey Hunters embarking into the SR. If they can (or the Terminators), their army will probably be nastier.

 

Things we learned:

1) Meph isn't that bad.

 

2) Njal isn't that bad.

 

3) Again, the Vindy did well, surviving the game and knocking out half the Terminators, quite impressive. I feel this came from it being in a ruin, and letting them come to us while I got armour saves.

 

4) Las plas is growing on me now, the plasma is nice, and lascannons for long-range is cool. Nice to have some high strength low AP shots.

 

5) 5 man Assault squads can hit hard with Priests. They wiped out 10 Grey Hunters, Njal, and half the Terminators, and put a wound on Meph. Not bad IMO. I was skeptical as to what they could do, not so anymore.

 

6) The way we envisioned our list working, is well, working. I'm providing some valuable support to his advance elements. We can hit hard where we want, and I can fend off threats at a distance. Our army looks solid, and I think we're getting confident everyday.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post. We'll hopefully have another game on Thursday, which could well be the last time we get to test this list out before the tournament.

[Mysticaria]

Sounds good. I think the format you are playing lends itself towards small-point strategies. Large investments into HQ (they had over 1/3rd of their army in characters) and single units (i.e. storm raven) are weaknesses, while maximizing troops and number of threats is a plus. Your army seems well built to be able to take advantage of the format. Now you are getting confidence and building teamwork... sounds like you are on the right path here.

 

-Myst

[DarkGuard]

My thoughts exactly. Speaking on behalf of my partner here, he firmly believes that our biggest advantage is not having too many 'big shoot me' threats, like the Storm Raven or Meph. Because of the multitude of units we field it forces our opponents into making choices in what they want to kill. In the first couple of turns of our game they spent a lot of time shooting the Vindicator, and payed for it when the Assault Marines cut through their army. This army benefits from creating indecision in our opponents, making them think twice about what to shoot. And the more decisions they've got to make, the more likely they'll make an error.

[DarkGuard]

Right, just a quick update to all those who care :D.

 

We played what we reckon will be our last practice game today, and it was another solid win. This time it was Take and Hold Pitched Battle, so one objective each, and a generous deployment zone. We were up against a single player Chaos list, which has a Lash Prince with wings, 10 Noise Marines with sonic blasters and blastmaster, 10 Thousand Sons with Bolt of Change, 5 Tzeentch Terminators with lightning claws and chainfist in Land Raider and 3 Oblits. We were fortunate in that he deployed the Oblits in Reserve for Deep Strike, and two came down Turn 4 and one Turn 5, so we took them out piecemeal.

 

We won the game in possession of two objectives by the end of Turn 5, with our opponent left with only his Land Raider that has been immobilized, meaning he couldn't go after the objectives and wouldn't be able to shoot at them either. The Assault squads performed admirably once more, with one capturing his objective that was on the other side of the board thanks to the fast Razorback, and the other two killing between them the Terminators, the Daemon Prince and an Oblit, taking only 5 men and the Libby as casualties. The las plas Razors kill both of the other Oblits, while the squads inside held the objective. The Typhoons wiped out most of the Noise Marine squad with frag missiles before one was blown up by an Oblit, and then they still immobilized the Land Raider. The Vindicator missed a couple of shots, but when it hit it wiped out the Thousand Sons squad in a couple of shots.

 

I rolled more scatters than I'm used to today, but hopefully that's the worst out of those dice before the tournament, otherwise I'll have to buy a new dice cube.

 

Special notice goes to my Libby, who did very well with Null Zone, but his highlight was actually being able to block a psychic power with his hood! I think that's the first time he's done that in a few months, hopefully it'll continue for a while. We've also changed the psychic powers on the BA Libby. We're keeping Shield, that came in handy today, with I believe only one shot getting through it (and I think that was the MM that killed him). We have, however, swapped out Fear of Darkness for Unleash Rage. A couple of reasons for this. One we weren't using it that much, having only used it once on a Rune Priest when we didn't need to use it. Two, that Libby's unit spends a lot of time in assault, and so Preferred Enemy helps out, especially with the power fist. And three, on further reading we discovered that Fear of Darkness wasn't an area of effect spell that hit everything within 24" (you know, like the old one), but rather it hits one enemy unit within 24". For us that was half its usefulness gone, and UR has served us better so far. I suppose I should be glad that FoD is only one unit, for when I end up having to play against him again rather than alongside him.

 

Overall, this game gave us a lot of confidence. We took on a Land Raider and survived, Land Raiders are the one thing we don't want to go up against. We also took on a single player list, which doesn't have the restrictions of two 750pts segments that are exclusive to one another, no Elites, FA and HS slot regulation, and no having to take 2 HQs, and beat it soundly. Furthermore, this is three wins in three, and we've played every mission type, and every deployment type apart from DoW. We know we have good units to hold back on our objectives and take theirs. We know we have the killing power to take out their units. Before this game I wasn't amazingly confident about our chances, but now I am. Hopefully we can continue picking up results until the end of this tournament, but even if we don't, it's been a laugh.

 

EDIT: not sure if I mentioned it yet, but as this isn't the official Doubles, they're adding another sort of section into it. At last year's singles it was a quiz. This year, they're thinking of having us write a quick background to the army we play. When I learned this I was visibly delighted, all I have to do is press print and hand it in :D.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

An army of like 32, against an army of 10,000 :)

10 Thousand Sons

!!!!

 

And you won! Wow the spartans did 300 vs that and you did it with a mere 1/10th of their strength, good show :)

 

 

Glad the lists are working out well, it sounds like you've got some solid practice in and the list is performing nicely, I reckon you've got a good chance to win a lot of games!

[DarkGuard]

I like that. My tiredness last night and your sharp eyes have just made my day :D.

 

And yeah, the list has performed better than I expected. Apparently there are some nasty lists in the other stores, but I have the feeling that our list will also be one of the nastier lists. We're kind of hoping that we don't run into Raider spam, but to be fair, once the Raiders are gone the infantry should be easy.

[Hellios]

Just a quick check, we will be getting battle reports WITH photos for this event posted up in the Liber Victorum (or whatever it is called)? Also maybe photos of any other cool armies you happen to see!

[DarkGuard]

Just a quick check, we will be getting battle reports WITH photos for this event posted up in the Liber Victorum (or whatever it is called)? Also maybe photos of any other cool armies you happen to see!

 

Haha, if you're lucky I'll see what I can do. Might have to bring my pad as well, if there's time we could sit down with a drink after the game and try to remember it. :)

[DarkGuard]

OK then, yesterday we played in the tournament, and I am afraid that I wasn't able to get pics and full detailed battle reports of the games due to being too busy, but I did get lots of lovely pics of the boards and Hall of Miniatures there :).

 

The overall result of the tournament for us was two wins and one loss, seeing us placed 15th out of 55. However, the loss was for different circumstances than being outplayed, I'll get to that later.

 

Our first game were against a couple of lovely chaps who were running an Eldar and a Dark Eldar list, thereby meaning their leadership checks were at -1 when within 6" of each other. The Eldar had a tooled up Farseer with Doom, Fortune and Guide, equipped with Spirit Stones, Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing and a Singing Spear. His troops were 10 Dire Avengers with Exarch equipped with shimmer shield, power weapon, bladestorm and defend in a Wave Serpent with TL-bright lance. He also had 5 Warp Spiders and 3 Shining Spears with star lance. The Dark Eldar player had Duke Sliscus, 10 Kabalite Trueborn with 2 splinter cannons and shard carbines, 10 Wyches in a tooled up Raider with dark lance, and a tooled up Ravager with 3 disintegrators. I can't remember what he spend the rest of his points on, probably lots of upgrades.

 

We played capture and control with dawn of war deployment. They stole the initiative, but we had deployed nothing anyway, considering we were all mech. They turbo boosted pretty much everything that could towards the middle of the board, with the Ravager covering their objective in the centre, and the Raider behind a hill to our left, while the Wave Serpent attacked out extreme left flank. The Trueborn moved down past a wood in the Ravager's wake. In our first turn we pushed the two las plas Razors onto our objective behind a wood, while the assault cannons went right around it, covering the central objective as well. The Vindicator went left of the las plas, as did the Typhoons. In our shooting phase the Typhoons blew up the Raider, and the assault cannons were out of range of the Ravager due to the night shields.

 

In their turn, the Shining Spears boosted to the centre, and the Wyches ran over the hill towards our objective. The Wave Serpent turbo boosted further forward, and the Trueborn moved forward again. Their shooting phase, to put it lightly, was short, with the Wyches and Trueborn running. Our second turn saw the assault cannons move onto their objective, lining up shots on the Ravager. The Vindy opened fire on the Wyches, killing 7 of them while they fled, the presence of the Shining Spears didn't help. The Typhoons saw the packed up Trueborn clearly, and thought they were gonna have some of that. 22 hits from the frag missiles and 4 hits from the heavy bolters generated enough wounds to leave just the Duke on his own. The Ravager was stunned by our assault cannon Razorbacks, who also fired on the Shining Spears, making them fall back.

 

In their next turn the Wave Serpent moved around the hill, lining up a shot on the Vindy's side armour. The Wyches ran, while the Shining Spears regrouped but hid in the forest. The Duke moved towards the assault cannons. Their one shot saw the bright lance on the Serpent take out the Vindicator's demo cannon. In our next turn, the Typhoons moved to get a good shot at the Wave Serpent while allowing the las plas Razors to do the same. The assault cannons stayed where they were. The Libby moved out of the Razor on his own into the woods. In our shooting phase he got Null Zone off through the Runes of Warding, and my ally took advantage of this, shredding the Ravager and the Duke with his Razors thanks to the re-rolls on invulnerable saves. The Typhoons and las plas Razors opened fire on the Wave Serpent, shaking and immobilizing it. He even got shots from the third one left over, taking out another Shining Spear, leaving just the Exarch.

 

In their turn, the Avengers and Farseer killed the Typhoons, while the Warp Spiders deep striked infront of the las plas. In our next turn one assault cannon moved towards the Avengers, while the other two killed the Shining Spears off. The Libby got back in his Razorback, while the las plas' killed off the Wave Serpents. The assault cannon Razorback killed some Dire Avengers. In their last turn the Dire Avengers moved forward, the Farseer's Singing Spear stunning the assault cannon. In our turn, the unit in the stunned assault cannon got out, while another assault cannon moved over. The las plas killed off the Wave Serpent, while the assault cannon whittled down the Avengers, leaving just the Farseer who got killed in Assault.

 

So the game finished with us in control of both objectives, while they had no models left. Truth be told, we had an easy game, as their list was not as nasty as some of the other lists. The one mistake I think I made was placing the Typhoons near the Wave Serpent when blowing it up, and shooting with them first. If the las plas's could take it out, the Typhoons could have shredded the Dire Avengers, but it doesn't really matter. The guys we played were brilliant, even when we had killed everything else, the Dark Eldar player was happy to have something to do by running his Wyches, while the Eldar player took great pride in taking out the Typhoons. I just wish we were more like that in the next game, but the circumstances were different. I'll continue this with the next game when I can, but suffice to say we were very happy and confident while having lunch.

 

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OK then, due to a glitching browser I'm now writing this bit for the third time, just so you know. This game we lost 9-5 on kill points, and we went up against a combined Ultramarines army. They had a Libby, Chaplain, 3 Tactical squads in Rhinos with (combi-flamer, flamer, MM/ flamer, missile launcher/ meltagun, missile launcher), an Assault Terminator squad (3:2 ratio on TH/SS:LC), Dread with MM/HF, a MM Land Speeder and a Land Raider Redeemer. Deployment was Spearhead, and our deployment zone had on the right and a rocky outcrop on the left. Their DZ had a hill centrally on our left, and the edges of an outcrop on our right. We deployed our assault cannons and Vindy in the gap between terrain in the centre, a las plas behind the outcrop to the left, and a las plas and the Typhoons behind the building on the right. They deployed their Rhinos and Land Raider behind the hill, and the Dread by the outcrop, the Speeder was in reserve.

 

Just so you know, despite our efforts we never got off a Shield or Null Zone, their Libby blocked everything, including about five 6s in a row. Just a quick demonstration of their luck, or rather his luck, he did all the rolling of the dice, whereas we rolled for our units. That's another point, we didn't know who owned what force, an issue brought up by one of the tournament organisers who informed us that they cheated us by deploying the Terminators in the LRR, as they were from separate forces they had to deploy separately, then go on. My partner reckoned we could have got a free turns shooting at the Termys, I reckoned they would have just hid them behind the Land Raider and nothing different would have changed.

 

Anyway, our first turn the assault cannons moved forwards and fanned out to get good shots, the Typhoons moved to the right, lining up the Dread, and the las plas's tried to line up shots for the Raider, only the one on the left ended up with one. In our shooting phase, the Speeders destroyed the Dread with ease. We then shot everything else at the Redeemer. It was the only tank we could see, it didn't get a cover save from the hill, being too big and far up, and if we blew it up we could knock out the Termies inside with the Vindy and any remaining firepower, severely weakening their list in one turn. That was the plan. 3 penetrating hits later (from the assault cannons, las cannon, and demo cannon), we had only taken off the assault cannon and shaken it. I'm pretty sure that 3 pens should turn up one destroyed result. I mean, if we had knocked off the melta and immobilized it I would have been happy. Anyway, their turn the LRR and their lead Rhino moved over the hill, and the two Rhinos moved on top of it. All the Rhinos blew smoke, and the Raider shot and immobilized the Libby's assault cannon Razorback with it's multi-melta. This annoyed us, as we had been planning a rolling retreat from the Raider with the Razors to keep it arms length and keep shooting it.

 

In our turn, we got the squad (but not the Libby), out of the immobile assault cannon, moving the melta into range. The Typhoons continued to flank them, while the two las plas's made sure they had shots at the smokeless Raider. The two mobile assault cannons moved back, but one had to move through the outcrop to keep a good LoS. We reasoned it was a 1 in 6 chance, guess what we rolled. Yup, you guessed it, a 1. This was pretty much the omen of things to come, as the melta rolled a 1 to hit. Everything else shot at it, and we only knocked off the melta and shook it again. The Typhoons were the exception, immobilizing a Rhino on a hill. We then assaulted the Raider, getting the power fist in multi-assault with the Rhino next to it. However, we failed to hit with any of our attacks. The reason we focussed on the Raider for two turns was because we couldn't see the Rhinos first turn, and because they had cover on the next. Plus we wanted to get those Termys out on our own terms, preferably to the sight of a demo cannon shell hitting them. As you can see, things didn't pan out that way, but I'm sure that had we had better dice rolls (like a destroyed result or even immobile result against the LRR), we would have succeeded in our aim and done a good job taking apart the rest of the list. Anyway, the rest of the battle went their way. The Raider moved forwards, with the Termys getting out. The Rhinos that could move moved down off the hill in support. In their shooting phase the LRR wiped out the assault squad, while the MM in the immobile Rhino took a shot at the Speeders, revealing it was out of range, handy. The Termys multi-assaulted our Vindy and two immobile assault cannons, blowing up the one with the Libby, taking the weapon off the other, and stunning and immobilizing the Vindicator.

 

We then tried our gamble to get the game back on our terms, with an double assault from the two remaining assault squads and the Libby on the Terminators. In the past this had worked. But only on people with normal rolls, not these guys. The Typhoons blew up the immobile Rhino, and my las plas failed to blow up the Rhino right infront of it. The other las plas failed at taking the LRR out. In combat, we killed the Chaplain and the LCs, but they killed enough people to even out the casualties. After about 12 armour saves and 5 invulnerable saves, they failed only one. In this turn they also took out the Libby and Sang Priests. In their turn combat ensued, with the Terminators beating us in combat, though our Marines held. In our next turn I got my combat squad out of the blocked off las plas to assault the unit they got out (can't remember why it was out). They took no casualties from shooting, despite being clumped up for my combi-flamer. The Typhoons did nothing for the rest of the game, and neither did the Vindy, which could only shoot the Land Raider and only ever shake it. And the other las plas couldn't do anything else, and my Libby was too far away to do anything constructive. By the end of our turn we had finally killed all the Termys, which was bad for us. But my Tactical squad held their own in combat against the numerically superior Tactical squad. In their turn their two other Tactical squads and LRR killed both our Assault squads, while the other assault cannons Razorback was killed by their deep striking Land Speeder. I won combat, but woe forbid they fail a dice roll, they didn't break.

 

In what was the last turn of the game (due to time constraints), my Speeders lined up a shot on their Speeder, only thing I could do with them. Their volley of krak missiles scored two penetrating hits and a glancing hit, which translated to two weapon destroyed results and one shaken. Brilliant. The remaining combat yielded no more casualties, and it didn't in their turn, where their Tactical squad finished off the last, weaponless, immobile Razorback, my ally was tabled.

 

So there we have it, they won 9-5 (I remember blowing up another Rhino at sometime, forgotten how). I still stand by my opinion that if we had had better luck against that Raider earlier on we could have won, and that if their Terminator armour saves weren't so good we could have scraped a draw. Basically, this had me see the fact that despite what anyone says, luck plays a huge factor in the game. Only the day before we had a game where luck dragged us down and gave us a harder game than we should have had, with us only winning using desperation tactics (8 krak missiles into side armour only shaking a Pred is an example). We played the first game on table 2 (luck of draw), played this one on table 1, being top of the table (us) vs second place. The next match saw us, downfallen and cursing our luck and theirs, on table 12, while watching over people jump over us. I made a major Tactical error in placing the Libby, he was nowhere near the action. If he was combat with the other combat squad, he could have done damage with his force weapon and Avenger, maybe clawed back another objective. Maybe we should have been more daring with our Assault squads and got all of them out to melta the LRR, and relied on FnP to whether incoming firepower later, and our tanks to do the damage is our squads were killed. But the thing is, contrary to results, we weren't outplayed, and it would have been an even game had our luck and their been more even.

 

Anyway, I'll recount the last game later, hope you enjoy reading this one.

 

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So we sat down at table 12, ready for our next game. My memory of this game is hazy as the turns blended into one, so it may be brief. Our opponents were playing an Imperial Guard and Eldar army. Of the top of my head the Imperial Guard player had a Platoon with Command squad with lascannon, two squads in Chimeras and three lascannon teams, supported by a Primaris psyker, 3 armoured Sentinals with plasma cannons and a squad of 6 Ratlings. A pretty solid force with scoring units, mobility, and long ranged firepower that crack open tanks and vaporise the unit inside. His ally had Eldrad, a unit of 6 Pathfinders, 3 War Walkers with scatter lasers and missile launchers and a Wraithlord with missile launcher and bright lance. This list further added fire support, but I was less worried about this one and more worried about the Imperial Guard. The mission was the only one left, hold ground with pitched battle deployment. Once again we won the roll for deployment, but not the one for objectives, meaning that we only started near one, which we placed centrally just 12" shy of the board edge. They placed one forward and to the left, on our side of a hill on the edge of their deployment zone, and the other was in a wood near their deployment zone. We set up all our Razorbacks centrally near our objective, razors to the front, between two buildings. I placed the Vindy and Typhoons behind the building to the left. They deployed their lascannon team on top of the hill with the objective, and the Command squad behind it with the Sentinals. The Wraithlord deployed on the far left of this hill, while Eldrad set up with the War Walkers by the woods with the objective to the far right of the hill. The Chimeras set up in that far right corner, while the Ratlings and Pathfinders infiltrated into some ruins further forward on that flank.

 

We kept first turn, and so we sprang our plan into action. My two Razorbacks would sit on our objective, giving covering fire. The assault cannons would advance around an outcrop towards the hill, hopefully protected by smoke and Shield, to take that objective. We were confident that we could take the heavy weapons team, the Command squad and the Sentinals. My Typhoons would take out the Wraithlord while the Vindy would lay covering fire on the advance, and then cover both objectives. This would leave us with enough time to cripple their War Walkers and transports, leaving only footsloggers to have to contend with two objectives. As much as my ally was concerned with the snipers, I convinced him that we would waste time going after them, we would achieve nothing and be pulled from the objective.

 

So in our first turn we moved the assault cannons forward, the las plas Razors rolling up behind, hoping to keep the building between them and the snipers. The Vindy rolled around the corner of the building, lining up the lascannon team, while the Typhoons peeled off to the right to line up the Wraithlord. In our shooting phase the Vindy opened fire, scattering a bit resulting in two hits on the heavy weapons and one of the unit behind. Two teams were vaporised as was the other guy behind. The las plas Razors finished off the lascannon team, while the Typhoons knocked two wounds off the Wraithlord, despite it getting cover from another hill that was in the way. The assault cannons opened up, killing two War Walkers, with the explosion from one wounding Eldrad who was nearby. The other shot the Command squad, who lost all bar a normal trooper, who passed his morale test.

 

In their first shooting phase the Wraithlord took the demo cannon off the Vindy, while Eldrad span a couple of tanks around, and other firepower that I can't remember stunned the Libby one. The Pathfinders took out one of my las plas's that I carelessly left poking out from behind the building. In our next turn I moved my dismounted unit further behind the building, onto the objective. The stunned assault cannon popped smoke, while the Vindy moved at full throttle towards the hill, also popping smoke. The Typhoons moved closer to the Wraithlord, intent on taking its last wound off. The remaining functional assault cannons moved further forward. In our shooting phase, bad dice rolls saw the Wraithlord stay standing, but the last War Walker was killed. However, we only succeeded in shaking one of the Sentinals. In their turn they moved their Primaris Chimera through the wood onto the objective, while the other flanked it. The Wraithlord, thankfully, failed its Wraithsight check. I remember an assault cannon Razor being blown up by snipers and the troops inside killed by plasma cannons, leaving just the Priest.

 

In our next turn the Typhoons jumped onto the hill infront of the Wraithlord, and killed it off. My Libby's Razorback started to make it's way around the outcrop towards the objective, popping smoke as it did. I remember another assault cannon being dead, while the Libby's assault cannon moved towards the objective. At one point Eldrad was surrounded by an Assault squad and a couple of Sang Priest, loosing a wound to shooting and his last in assault, despite Fortune. In their next turn I believe they immobilized and weapon destroyed any remaining assault cannon Razorbacks, while the Ratlings took shots at the victorious unit. The survivors of that unit hid behind their busted tanks, also on our first objective. My Libby's Razorback sat on the other objective, behind the other Libby's Razorback, while that squad linked up with a Sang Priest and made towards the Sentinals. My Vindy moved around the hill and gunned down the lone Guardsmen, while the Speeders stayed on their hill and poured krak missiles and heavy bolters into the Sentinal's side armour, killing two. The Libby's squad then charged in, but poor dice rolls with the power fist didn't see them kill the Sentinal all game.

 

In one last desperate gamble our opponents took their Pathfinders out of cover to send them towards the objective, but they were still a little way off. The Chimera not on their objective started moving forward, but didn't get far enough by the time the game ended. I don't think they would have made it far, however, as they were advancing into the sights of my Typhoons and las plas, plus the foot troops on our other objective between the buildings. At the end of the game we controlled two objectives to their one, our game planned had worked, and we had a deservedly won in my opinion for keeping our cool and sticking to the objectives, rather than running off to kill everything.

 

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So after totaling up tournament points earned by wins, draws etc, and victory points to break any ties, we ended up in 15th, out of 55. Not bad, but lower down than we had expected to get. It was mainly that lost game IMO, the one with awful luck, but then if I wanted luck to not factor I would play chess. We had a good time, it was a fun and nice way to get to know each other better, and play alongside each other than against each other. We learnt some things as well, like 5 man Assault squads in Razorbacks can be awesome, las plas is a good mix, and Typhoons can kill anything if they put their mind to it. I was especially impressed with their performance, as they killed off a Raider, a unit of Trueborn, a couple of Rhinos, damaged another Speeder, killed a Wraithlord, killed two Sentinals, and could have wiped out the Chimera and their squad if we had the time. Definitely my unit of the tournament, and I'm now trying to fit them into my regular list, I might have to take a Rifleman out. I was also surprised with how well the Vindy did on its own. True it was always shot at, but that was the point. When it hit it did some damage, but we could also fight on without it, so all was not lost when the demo cannon went.

 

I was also surprised throughout playtesting at how durable and ferocious 5 man Assault squads with FnP are, I'll have to steer clear of them in future battles.

 

Well that was a pleasant experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I get the chance, I may do it again, maybe even do the official Doubles. Next up is the singles Triple Crown, and I hear rumours that we'll be using 2000pts, can't wait to go and give that a try as well. Thanks for all your help and attention guys, and if I've done anything I hope I've piqued your interest into Doubles, it's definitely something different and worth doing, if only for a laugh. :)

[DarkGuard]

Final battle report posted, plus end of tournament thoughts, in post above. Thanks again to everyone who has contributed.