Throne of skulls batreps

[Gabriel1303]

Hello once again, must apologise for not being an active poster on this forum but I am an avid reader and follower of tactics and ideas and looking at the awesome paint jobs you guys put together. It’s a great inspiration for my own army.

 

I just got back from GW Nottingham after participating in my first tournament with my BA’s so I thought I’d pass on my experiences at the Throne of Skulls.

 

First thing I have to say is congratulations to DaemonPrinceDargor for getting best Blood angels player. Your army looked amazing. It looks great in the photos but in the flesh it looks gob smacking. Loved the death company in particular

 

Have to admit I absolutely love the BA list I took, way more fun than my wolves list. However it took some getting used to as I’ve not had much experience with playing with BA’s so I expect I made a lot of beginner mistakes. Still it’s all a learning experience.

 

Overall I got 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. Got 3 favourite player awards from the 5 games too which is great.

 

First off my 1750 list:

 

Mephiston

Furioso dread with talons and extra armour

Furioso librarian with wings and shield

2 Baals with assault canons and heavy bolters

2 Razorbacks (HB) with 5 basic RAS each

2 Razorbacks (Laz plas) with 5 RAS each

2 Predators with autocanon and laz canons

5 scouts

 

Tactic is rather obvious, a wall of guns which advance and take out all opposing long range firepower. Librarian provides 5+ cover saves to my car park of vehicles and razorbacks cover the side armour of the preds.

 

Over the course of the game move forward to claim objectives. Scouts hold back to claim the defensive objective. If anything comes forward to assault my column then mephy and the dreds step in.

 

One thing that became very obvious at the start of each of my five games was that my opponents were very intimidated by the list. It’s a lot of armour to take down and mephy is just plain scary. It really did impact on the way my opponents played and was instrumental in one of my results.

 

So onto the games (forgive me if the info is lacking as its my first attempt at a bat rep)

 

Game 1:

 

Dawn of war and defend bases.

 

Opponent : Dark Angels

 

Captain with honour guard

2 tactical squads in rhinos, 1 with plas the other with melta

Speeder with multi melta assault canons

Scout squad with ML

Devastator squad

Terminators with powerfists and storm bolters and cyclone missile launcher

Vindicator

Predator with autocanon and HB

Bike squad with lots of meltas

 

Great guy who was extremely friendly. Wasn’t a competitive list but it was played well.

 

The game:

 

He had most of his infantry (tacticals, scouts, and command squad) in a building with the objective, just to the right of centre along with his vindy. His Bikes raced up the right hand side to threaten my flank. One squad of tacticals moved left in a rhino and got out into cover with a fire arc over the centre of the table. His terminators teleported into the centre of the table.

 

Mephy was in range to charge the terminators but I didn’t want him wiping them out then standing in front of a gun line next turn so he moved forward into more cover to pounce next turn with some support.

 

My scouts ran forward onto the building with the objective ready to camp for the game

 

The 2 heavy bolter razorbacks and 1 laz plas razor moved to intercept the bikes on the right hand side. The rest of the armoured column moved on from the left. Librarian moved to back up mephy and still be able to give cover to the vehicles. Taloned Furioso tripped one inch as he ran to keep up.

 

Shot everything I could at the terminators (due to night fighting couldn’t see anything else) and killed one . End of the turn. In return my scouts got shot and all died. A RAS disembarked and ran into the building to take over the objective

 

Over the course of the next few turns I managed to consistently stun / shake the vindicator as it tried to move up the field. His bikers retreated in the face of my HB razorbacks. I killed one and followed them back up the field. His speeder deepstruck in to back up the bikers but was taken out by the laz plas razorback. My right flank was now secure.

 

The baals and predators came on from the left and worked like a dream. One stunned the rhino on the left hand side and the 2 baals ripped the tactical squad in cover to pieces. The other predator managed to destroy his predator. Things were going my way.

 

Mephy then jumped up and assaulted the terminators. Unfortunately the libby dread was not close enough to support so mephy was alone. He ripped 3 terminators to pieces leaving only the sergeant who wounded mephy in return. Luck was on my side though as the sergeant passed his leadership check and his saves and stayed in combat. Mephy didn’t have to face the gun line.

 

Next turn his tacticals charged into mephy to back up the segeant. He didn’t want mephy running loose in my turn. I split attacks between the squad and sergeant but rolled badly. Terminator passed all his saves but I killed a couple of tacticals. In return mephy took 2 more wounds. He really doesn’t like fists.

 

Eventually I took out the terminator and most of the tactical squad but mephy rolled for preferred enemy and got double 1 on his last wound and nuked himself before he could finish off the tacticals. They embarked in their rhino just as the libby dread and furiso were within reach – drat.

 

He moved his command squad and scouts out of the building to block the dreads and their inevitable advance onto his objective.

 

My baals moved forward and killed his scouts. The preds and laz plas razorback diverted to take on the tacticals in the Rhino that had survived mephys assault. I shot everything at it but failed to destroy it. The libby dread would have to do it by hand, which he did.

 

Unfortunately I had nothing to take on the tacticals and they ran forward to melta the furioso in the back just as he as about to charge the command squad. Thankfully he lost only a talon.

 

Meanwhile his vindicator made a last ditch attempt to contest my objective and tank shock the RAS. My 2 preds and 1 laz plas razorback manouvered to shoot the vindicator in the rear. My shots were true and it exploded.

 

The baals fire again into the command squad, the furioso charge them and cut a few more down and with no fist or hammer he was helpless to stop it. The HB razorbacks on the right hand side finished off the bikers and raced to contest his objective.

 

Want to say my opponent was very gracious at this stage. He pointed out my razorback was not close enough to contest. So I asked if he would let me move fast as my movement phase was not finished, He said “sure” so I rolled for difficult terrain and got a 1. thankfully touching the DT was all I needed.

 

The game ended. I had my objective and contested his. More importantly I had only lost mephy and 5 scouts. It was a strong start to the tourney.

 

Post battle thoughts :

 

Mephy is awesome just try not to over extend. The fear he puts into your opponents can be game changing.

 

Concentration of firepower is really important. The 2 baals together can throw out a huge amount of firepower once the preds have cracked open any transports

 

The libby dread with wings is such a great support unit. Giving cover when needed and racing around popping tanks when my firepower went south.

 

Hope it proves interesting and its not too long winded. Will try to sum the other battles up a little more succinctly.

 

Thanks again

 

Will

[JamesI]

Nice report.

 

I've been starting to use my libby dread in a similar way, provide cover saves and can join fights where needed or just beat down tanks. Also allows me to not have my normal librarian need to take shield.