Chaplain Admetus' Battle Report Thread - Game 32 added

[CitadelArmyGuy]

If you trim your Sternguard down into 5 man unit, then you may consider changing them into an Honor Guard unit in Drop Pod.

 

185pts for 5 Sterns, (2 meltas, 3 combis) ------ 190pts for 4 HG, 1 Priest (4 meltas)

 

There's quite obviously pros and cons to each, just thought I'd mention. One thing I've noticed is that AV14 targets are really the only things 'worth it' to send suicide-melta after. Curiously, you've come up against Land Raiders and Monoliths galore, so they've been requisitioned into that role. I'd lean away from suicide melta mindset, or perhaps doing it cheaper (Combat Squad DoA with 2x MG). Anytime a unit pulls a now you see me, now you don't, it obviously detracts heavily from cost-benefit analysis.

 

By that I mean if a 250pt Unit lives for 5 turns, they are 'worth' 1250pts. If they live for 1 Turn, they are worth 250. But if a 250pt unit kills a 250pt unit (that would have lived for 5 turns) then effectively they were 'worth' 1250pts again (because of Points denied to the opponent for use).

 

One thing you may want to look into is meltabombs on Jumpers to solve your Heavy Armor problems. That frees up the Sternguard to slay high-Toughness, which is really what you should bring them for (well, that and stacking Light Infantry like cordwood).

[Drunken Angel]

The Sternguard I'm seriously considering trimming down - they turn up, slag a tank, then die horribly. If I cut the squad down to 5 (sergeant, melta, and 5 combis) I save almost a hundred points I could use elsewhere, though it does reduce their effectiveness against infantry...

 

Relic's a mission I'm very confident in. All 3 of my troops choices are capable of grabbing the relic on turn 1, and I'm sure I can protect it for the remainder of the game. I'm beginning to notice an unfortunate tendency to just fling my troops into the meat grinder haphazardly though - if I'd retreated on turn 2 I'd have had an easier time for sure, but that's not the Blood Angels way!

 

After my tourney last weekend I noticed the CC orientated armies like mine generally were struggling. During the tourney I became more conservative and that helped a lot but I suffered from lack of ranged shooting, that and overwatch from a large group with my low model count in assault can be punishing.

I have changed my list to more ranged shooting and taken an extra raven but more importantly avoid combat till the ravens have entered play and thinned things down. I am thinking a coms relay is a pretty good investment for the ravens. Pods are good but risk the sternguard getting locked in combat when the ravens arrive. Yesterday my raven and baal blew 10 plague marines off an objective with shooting over 2 turns then used skies of blood for the 5 man squad with jumppacks to hold it next turn. I now think a couple of units like preds devies and bikes to open vehicles and thin units down till the ravens arrive. I have upped my Death Company to 8 models as an expensive counter charge unit and gone softer on RAS squad loadouts. Sit tight weather the fire keep a potent counter charge unit handy and let the airforce pound them seems to work, a 5 man combat squad to drop on open objectives ups the value of the raven significantly in hammer and anvil. That map was made for fliers.

[Chaplain Admetus]

So, after leaving the shop briefly to run some errands, there was a guard player seeking a game upon my return, somewhat of a rarity up here. Much as I would love to activate ostrich mode, shove my head in the sand, and pray I don't face them, I figured I should give them a crack. For those that haven't got it from other threads I've mentioned it in... I hate guard. With a passion. I always struggle against heavy mech, they always seem to blow me off the table, and guard have handed my BA their only tournament loss. So...

Game 18

Mission: Crusade

Deployment: Dawn of War

His list - 2 units of ratlings, vets in a chimera with some stuff, multiple vets squads (one had two heavy bolters), 2 primaris psykers, tank with the flamer template of death to power armour, large unit of rough riders, a Leman Russ Demolisher, and a Leman Russ executioner.

The guard player was still getting used to 6th ed, so we kept it simple - no warlord traits, simple deployment, 3 objectives. For the first time in a long time, I keep my librarian's powers (shield and lance), as they'll both be useful. I won the roll and decided on first turn. I then hatched a master plan revolving around reserving most of my army until the tanks were dealt with, so deployed like so:

Devastators in the rocks, combat squad with ML on the objective, combat squad and rhino off to the left, and the Baal behind the rocks on the right just out of shot. Librarian, Priest, and both assault squads are in reserve, along with the sternies. 4 on, 4 off (Sternguard not counting as they have to start off cos of the pod). Unfortunately, this means I have to deploy the Baal, I'd rather outflank it. I plan to wreck both russes with melta on the first two turns, stopping the templates of doom, as well as getting right in his face with assault marines. Ratlings are hard to spot - central ruins, and left hand hill. There's two units in the ruins on the right, one in and one behind. I reckon with first turn I have a decent chance, so of course, the guard decide that now would be the perfect time to seize the initiative, and its not even night fighting on turn 1 <_< ...

Turn 1 - IG: Both russes advance down the right flank, chimeras and rough riders blast down the left. Other stuff stays put. The executioner removes my combat squad from the objective, and the demolisher picks off the Baal with a direct hit - I fail all my cover saves for both. The ratlings even manage to ping off one of my devastators.

Turn 1 - AS: Ow. I send the rhino far left and take cover behind a building there, trying to guarantee I'll have something left at the end of turn 2 in case my squads fail to arrive. The sternguard land up at the back, pop out, and melta the executioner (and deservedly so....sodding thing...). The devastators squeeze off some shots and manage to immobilise the chimera.

End of turn 1. Much pain. I no longer have a right flank (the demolisher's over there)...

Turn 2 - IG: Unsurprisingly, the flamer tank and the guardsmen up the back prepare to show the sternguard exactly what they think of that sort of behaviour. The rough riders come pelting down towards my devastators. Shooting kills all my sternguard, and all the devastators bar my sergeant (again, spectacular save failure on power armour). I get a sliver of luck as the rough riders fail their charge into my sergeant. At this point, I have 8 models in play... (5 tacs, 1 dev, pod and rhino).

Turn 2 - BA: The dice gods are kind and give me both units. Right, time for a new plan, as if I continue with the original one I'll be tabled by turn 4. I land the melta squad near my home objective and the rough riders (going off near the flamer of death is stupid), and the flamer squad land near the guardsmen in the trees. The rhino backs up and spits out the combat squad. I have enough bullets from my assault squad, combat squad and rhino to take the rough riders down to one man, and the dev sergeant finishes them off. The assault squad flamers all the guardsmen in the trees and removes the unit from the tabletop (not the primaris psyker, apparently he wasn't part of the unit, which I didn't know until afterwards).

End of turn 2. New plan is to completely refuse the right flank. Hug the left board edge, and make a play for the central and near objectives in the late turns. Demolisher is too far away to be a threat for a few goes.

Turn 3 - IG: The demolisher begins an implacable advance. The flamer assault squad takes 11 shots from the primaris psyker's power and the brunt of whatever guard weapons are in range (several heavy bolters, and some flashlights) and are cut down to 3. They fall back, which suits me nicely as it lets me have a wider threat range. The melta squad loses 4 marines to shooting (more awful saves... would have been worse if not for FnP).

Turn 3 - AS: The 3 remaining assault marines rally, and go back up the hill to sit behind the ratlings. The assault squad with librarian moves into the ruins, and the tac squad goes after the chimera. Melta hits, penetrates, and gets another immobilised, meaning its wrecked (an immobilised when its already immobilised now takes off another hull point, instead of weapon destroyed). The guardsmen bail out, away from the assault marines. In combat, the assault squads charge and annihilate a ratling squad apiece, whilst the tactical marines charge the squad that bailed, win combat for the loss of one marine, and run them down.

End of turn 3 - beginning to look a little rosier. I'd practically given up after turn 1, but with a bit of luck I can salvage something.

Turn 4 - IG: Russ continues its advance. One squad leaves the ruins and begins to plod round the long way towards my lines. I get a lot of shooting, but my luck begins to turn as the marines finally find the 'on' switch for their power armour - after 3 turns of shocking dice, I take barely any casualties this turn - 1 or 2 at the most.

Turn 4 - AS: Time to play safe rather than aggressive. The melta squad heads left away from the demolisher. Tacticals re-embark and the rhino carts them down towards the objective nearest my table edge. The 3 man assault squad goes for and kills the primaris psyker.

Trying to play keep-away and make a last ditch objective grab...

Turn 5 - IG: No night-time. Russ advances, as does the primaris psyker on that side (warlord), who took a wound earlier, I've just remembered. Storm bolter on the pod is good for something :D (it got destroyed immediately after for being annoying, but at least it did something :P). The squad on the objective advances as far as it can whilst leaving someone in control, and shoots at the 3-man squad, as does everything else that can reach. With their newfound power armour, however, they only take one casualty. The demolisher fires at the rhino, but scatters wide.

Turn 5 - AS: Unexpected, but I'm going to take full advantage of this; I don't think either of us anticipated my small squad surviving. My big assault squad comes back into objective range, and the rhino moves down and spits my 4 marines onto the objective. The 2 remaining ASM from the flamer squad move out of the trees, and assault the russ, managing to bring it down. No more pie plate of death! If the game ends now I'll win, with 3 objectives vs 1 and first blood, but the game continues.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/1348728081/gallery_27692_7547_354596.jpg' alt='gallery_27692_7547_354596.jpg'>

End of 6. Just need to weather one more turn of shooting. He needs to knock me off both objectives to win, one to draw, unless I can send a character into his back field with a good run roll for linebreaker.

Turn 7 - IG: Everything moves up as best it can, and places shots where they're needed. The flamer-tank can only hit 3 marines, fortunately, and only kills 1 thanks to feel no pain. All the other bullets are ineffective.

Turn 7 - AS: I don't need to do anything... in fact, any move I make is going to do more harm than good, so I stay put, ending the game.

Angels Sanguine victory, 7 VPs to 4.

Ok, anyone know how I managed that? Because I don't... I hate being caught on the hop by IG - its hard enough when they have first turn, but when you build a strategy around a turn 1-2 alpha strike and have the initiative seized, it all goes to hell in a handcart very quickly indeed. I had to completely change my strategy there; sticking to my plan of getting in his face would in all probability only have ended up with a lot of dead assault marines and nothing to show for it. The dice were bizarre... I couldn't make a save for the first half of the game, then in the second half I was barely failing any. Guess it just took them a while to get warmed up. In all honesty, I was probably fortunate to escape with this - I can't think of anything I really did wrong, but I can't think of a whole lot I did right either. If his tanks (especially the Leman Russes) had been more centralised, I wouldn't have been able to keep them at arms length for long enough to pull this one out. It certainly reinforces my fear - if I don't play guard at the Throne of Skulls, I'll be a happy son of Sanguinius. Also definitely keeping lance as a power now, as there will be games like this where I need all the anti-tank I can get my hands on.

That's all for tonight, as always C&C greatly welcomed and appreciated!

[Chaplain Admetus]

If you trim your Sternguard down into 5 man unit, then you may consider changing them into an Honor Guard unit in Drop Pod.

 

185pts for 5 Sterns, (2 meltas, 3 combis) ------ 190pts for 4 HG, 1 Priest (4 meltas)

 

There's quite obviously pros and cons to each, just thought I'd mention. One thing I've noticed is that AV14 targets are really the only things 'worth it' to send suicide-melta after. Curiously, you've come up against Land Raiders and Monoliths galore, so they've been requisitioned into that role. I'd lean away from suicide melta mindset, or perhaps doing it cheaper (Combat Squad DoA with 2x MG). Anytime a unit pulls a now you see me, now you don't, it obviously detracts heavily from cost-benefit analysis.

 

Interesting thoughts. Yes, the HQ in a pod come in marginally more, and are a bit more survivable, but I lose the special issue ammo which is invaluable against other armies. I'm trying to make them a jack-of-all-trades unit, so they can turn up and put a hole in something threatening - they'd be great for daemon princes if they could ever hit the sodding things. I've tried the melta-combat squad ploy - it worked well against the Eldar corsairs (one that I didn't make a proper batrep of), but failed spectacularly in some other games. That and the fact that they won't turn up until turn 2, possibly later if I get unlucky - take a look at the mess the guard made in two turns. I'll certainly bear the advice in mind, and might playtest it if I get the chance.

 

@DrunkenAngel - It certainly seems to be a shooty army's game these days. Sadly I can't afford a raven at present, and even if I could I doubt I'd be able to build, paint and test it in time for ToS (3 weeks from tomorrow - eep). I've put my Tau on the back-burner as they're undeniably shooty, but very one-dimensional and just boring, but perhaps allying them to the Blood Angels could work, just to give me some decent ranged support. That might be worth considering, actually... *dons thinking cap and plots*

[Morticon]

So, what's your list lookin like now matey?

 

And so far how are you finding it? Where are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?

[Chaplain Admetus]

Current list:

 

Jump Librarian with Shield and Lance (though these almost always get swapped because Prescience is so good).

Jump Priest with Power Weapon and Meltabomb

8 Sternguard, plasma, melta, 3 combi-melta, fist, pod

10 man RAS, 2x flamer, fist

10 man RAS, 2x melta, hammer

10 man tac, ML, Melta, Fist, Rhino

5 man dev, 4 ML

Baal pred with t-l Assault Cannons and Heavy Bolters

 

I'm finding it balanced and quite fun to play, but there's a couple of things on the chopping block. The sternguard are being a bit too suicidal for my liking, so I may trim them down and spend some points elsewhere. I'm convinced I can find better use of my 35 points than that plasma sternguard, he never does anything - I might buy two more devastators as ablative wounds for the unit.

 

The biggest strength is mobility - I've not fought against that many armies that can outmanoeuvre this one, simply because its so fast. Second to that, its also fairly resilient - being able to flood the board with 45 power armoured marines, a lot of whom will have feel no pain at any given time, can be tricky for some armies to put down. Add to that that 2/3 of it is scoring in 5 missions, with the devastators and Baal joining that particular party in 1/6th of the missions each.

 

Weaknesses: Fliers are a pain. I can't get a Storm Raven in for several reasons (time and money being prominent), and a defence line with a quad gun won't hold me up against a concerted effort. 1 flier I can probably deal with/ignore, ditto 2, 3+ it starts getting tricky but at that point a solo quad gun won't really cut it. 2+ saves and MCs are also a nuisance, but that's partially what the sternguard are for.

 

There's only about 3 or 4 lists I do not want to face... Necron flyer spam (but lets be honest, this will bin just about anyone else); Cheese-flavoured Daemons (normal Daemons I'm fine with, its the filth list that worries me); Dreadknight heavy grey knight lists (I've had my fill of armies with 2 scoring, 2+/5++ monstrous creatures); and Guard (because Guard). I don't do well against high-toughness enemies or ones I can't catch either - Nurgle can be a bit of an uphill struggle, as can the rare armies that are faster than me.

 

I've just run the above list through Excel to make a copy and apparently my maths is off and I've come in at 1480... I'll double check again later, but if I really do have some spare points to mess with I might try and squeeze out little bits here and there to get another unit in (possibly some scouts).

[Drunken Angel]

Yep I am thinking scouts at 110 points and usually with a 4+ cover save they are a decent shooting unit that scores. 6th has taught me to rethink my battle plan. In the past it was fully reserved DOA. Now I tend to hold back keep a strong DC as a counter charge unit and wait for the ravens to hose down the table and drop basic 5 man troops behind them. The scouts will add a little bit of decent shooting at range and will help whittle down the MCs on their way across the board. I will even consider a aegis defence line and coms relay at 2000 points to give really good scout cover and ensure the ravens get on early. I think scouts are a good idea anyway regardless of the points, my assaulters can no longer charge with impunity in 6th I need shooty. Yesterday at 2000 points I ran 2 ravens, a baal with HB sponsons a pred with TLLC and three bikes. I kept 8 DC with JP's as a counter charge and combat squaded 2 RAS into 4 units nothing dented the line. I was very pleased with it but I think the scouts will be better than the pred.

[Chaplain Admetus]

How are you running your scouts to get them that expensive? I'd be running a unit of 5 sniper scouts, with camo cloaks if I can squeeze the points for them, coming in at 75 or 90.

[Drunken Angel]

Missile launcher, cloaks and Sgt with combi weapon though its a waste of his BS 4 I may keep the squad at 105 and just give him a meltabomb

[Captain Idaho]

Weaknesses: Fliers are a pain. I can't get a Storm Raven in for several reasons (time and money being prominent), and a defence line with a quad gun won't hold me up against a concerted effort. 1 flier I can probably deal with/ignore, ditto 2, 3+ it starts getting tricky but at that point a solo quad gun won't really cut it. 2+ saves and MCs are also a nuisance, but that's partially what the sternguard are for.

 

There's only about 3 or 4 lists I do not want to face... Necron flyer spam (but lets be honest, this will bin just about anyone else); Cheese-flavoured Daemons (normal Daemons I'm fine with, its the filth list that worries me); Dreadknight heavy grey knight lists (I've had my fill of armies with 2 scoring, 2+/5++ monstrous creatures); and Guard (because Guard). I don't do well against high-toughness enemies or ones I can't catch either - Nurgle can be a bit of an uphill struggle, as can the rare armies that are faster than me.

 

Yeah I understand that feeling. You should be able to cope with most opponents with your list though mate. Hopefully you just won't face that many Flier spams though, since players are starting to realise their dominance is a fleeting thing (after all, units often end up overshooting opponents and losing a turn shooting, and future Codex books will give players more and more anti-air capacity).

 

I know you'll do well even against those armies which you might struggle against. My advice is to use your mobility to get into the enemy side of the board and force opponents to lose even more time being able to shoot your army with their fliers. I'd recommend putting objectives as towards your opponent's side of the board in this case. Imagine the look of a Necron player's face when you get into his deployment zone and within a short hop away for last turn objective taking! He'd over shoot every turn!

[Chaplain Admetus]

That was the plan! If I'm honest, my real worries are guard, and anything that can out-shoot and out fight me (not many of these, GK and SW are the only ones that leap to mind). I've also got 50 points to play with if I drop the plasma-armed sternguard, as my current list is 20 points under - thinking MM attack bike, epistolary upgrade, or maybe a defence line, though it loses a lot of punch without the quad gun.

[CitadelArmyGuy]

While its true the defence line loses offensive ability without the quadgun, it gains TONS of flexibility when you don't care about 'manning' it from the very first turn. You can strategically place it anywhere in your table half, with far less concern about having the quad in your deployment zone.

 

A mid-field ADL is just so money; it helps with advancing into the board when facing down firepower lists like IG.

[Bayaz]

Hey Admetus! Long time reader, first time poster. Just wanted to say that your battle report thread has been heaps of fun to read (as nicely put together as your reports are), and also helpful for ideas in tweaking my own lists. If I could email you cupcakes, I would.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Thanks Bayaz! Always nice to know people are enjoying the reports :) (also, digital cupcakes...mmm...).

 

Back on topic - if I ditch the plasma gun armed sternguard marine, that frees up 35 points, on top of the 20 currently spare. I'm probably just going to upgrade the librarian to an Epistolary again and see how that rolls, and give him a meltabomb because why not. That'll be what I'll try out tomorrow, at any rate, after fervently going over the list again to make sure there aren't any maths errors. If I don't find it worth the points, I'll try and rustle up a defence line in time as a last minute replacement and hope for the best.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Game 19

Mission: Crusade

Deployment: Dawn of War

4 objectives, and I'm squaring off against Iron Warriors. He has:

Sorcerer with Warp Time

Lord with Power Fist

10x Chaos Marines, Asp. Champ with plasma pistol and fist, rhino

10x Chaos Marines, Asp Champ with plasma pistol and fist (think both squads may have had some other plasma)

5x Plague marines with plasma gun, fist

Chaos Dread

Hellbrute

3 Oblits

5 havocs with 4 lascannons

Aegis Defence line with Quad Gun

I dropped the plasma sternguard, and used my points on top of the spare 20 to make the librarian an Epistolary and give him a meltabomb.

Warlord traits: I forget his, I got the best one possible; +1 to charge distance. Librarian rolled up Prescience, and the one that gives him re-rolls to hit, wound and save. I lost the roll, and the chaos player elected to take the first turn.

Deployment. The 4th objective is in a ruin on the halfway point just out of shot on the left. I have a combat squad in a rhino hanging back on that side, the others objective camping. Devs are in the right hand ruin, both assault squads are forward, Baal in reserve. The hellbrute is behind the rhino on the left, then 10 dudes with lord beside it. Behind the defence line: havocs, then solo sorcerer on quad gun, then oblits, plagues on objective, then the dread. Flamer squad falls to red thirst, I fail to seize.

Turn 1 - Chaos: Hellbrute fails its test and has to pelt forwards. The rhino and CSM squad both advance, rhino down the side, CSM towards the middle. Shooting is relatively ineffectual, largely due to one Obliterator overheating its plasma cannon, and another missing - some assault marines die, and that's all.

Turn 1 - AS: The pod comes in on the right side of the defence line, and the sternguard pop out to introduce themselves to the dreadnought. Librarian presciences the devastators, and then my assault squads split. Flamer squad goes left for that objective, melta squad (with characters) goes right to advance and get some cover. Rhino moves down the left flank and gets into cover in the ruins. Sternguard melta the dread, and my missiles stun the hellbrute.

End of turn 1

Turn 2 - Chaos: Unsurprisingly, he takes exception to the sternguard and sends the plague marines after them. The CSM advance down towards the objective in the open, using their run to get into cover. The obliterators fail less this time, and take out a few more assault marines from the melta squad, whilst the lascannon shots are saved by cover. The sternguard lose a few models to shooting, and get charged by the plagues, but manage to hold them.

Turn 2 - AS: Librarian casts both his powers. The Baal is lazy and doesn't arrive. My combat squad in the rhino pops out and goes over to the chaos rhino to knock on the door, whilst the assault squad advances in support. My melta ASM squad comes across the table and readies themselves to charge the CSM squad with lord. Devastators manage to take a weapon off the Hellbrute, and the tactical ML finishes the job. My meltagun takes the havoc launcher off of the rhino. My assault marines are 6" away from the CSM squad, I decline shooting in favour of more chance of the charge. I promptly roll a 5, leaving them stranded in the open (and I completely forget my warlord trait. It takes me until turn 5 to remember it. If I'd remembered it here, I'd have had a much easier ride). Tactical squad charges and wrecks the rhino. Combat between plagues and sterns finishes in my favour, but the sergeant on his own is fearless.

End of turn 2. Unfortunately, my hammer unit, complete with priest and warlord, is stranded in the open. This is about to sting.

Turn 3 - Chaos: The squad that bailed from the rhino surrounds my combat squad. CSM squad advances menacingly on my fail assault squad. Ranged shooting absolutely hammers my tactical squad and devastators, cutting them down to just one man in each. Unsurprisingly, my assault squad is butchered in combat, but I do a good job of thinning them down as I go, taking half the squad with me - 5 guys and a lord left. My tactical combat squad surprises everyone by only losing 1 marine to regular attacks, and the sergeant and champion kill each other in the challenge. I'm a bit peeved at not dying, as it means my assault squad can't flamer them before they join the party. The sternguard finish off the plagues, and the last 3 consolidate behind his defence line.

Turn 3 - AS: Baal turns up on the right flank, and speeds forward to where its hidden from the quad gun and gets cover from lascannons. The lone tactical marine shamelessly ducks off the objective and behind a wall, ready to make a dive for it in turn 5. The sternguard fire at the sorcerer, taking off a wound, and then the last devastator KOs him with a krak missile to the face. The Baal squeezes off its assault cannon, scoring 4 hits, and then the 'to wound' dice roll 1, 6, 6, 6, wiping out the entire front rank of the chaos marines. :P I feel pretty bad about this, even more so after I realised my hammer squad dying wasn't bad luck and was, in fact, stupidity. The assault squad charges the chaos marines on the left flank. I win combat handily, and run them down, consolidating my position.

End of turn 3. At this point I'm very, VERY low on models, but if I can take down his last few scoring models, all I have to do is preserve my two remaining tactical marines on the left objective to win.

Turn 4 - Chaos: Obliterators turn round and slag the sternguard. Lascannons shoot at the Baal, but only succeed in immobilising it. The few chaos marines and lord do the only thing they can, and move back for the objective and pray.

Turn 4 - AS: Tactical squad get back into cover at the base of the ruins (objective is one floor up). Assault squad takes cover behind the rock spires in case they're needed to contest the central objective. The Baal takes out one of the last two chaos marines with its heavy bolters, and the devastator drops the last with a krak missile (crucially, a pillar in his ruin blocks LoS to the lord).

Wide shot to show everything at the end of 4.

Chaos have no scoring models left, but we play it out anyway. Turn 5 through 7 are pot shots exchanged from all sides, killing a few things (including my last tactical marine in my home ruin). The devastator takes down the lord with the last shot of the game.

End of the game. All I have left are: Rhino, 1 ML devastator, 5 assault marines, 2 tactical marines; compared to the chaos' 5 havocs, 3 obliterators, and the defence line. Positioning is key, as the two surviving tacticals are on an objective, netting the Angels Sanguine victory.

This was one of those games where the Epistolary upgrade wasn't all that helpful. Despite my colossal cock-up (I still can't believe I forgot my warlord trait.... :P ) this was a really tight, and really good game - its nice having two pretty balanced armies duke it out. Biggest lesson: remember the warlord trait. Other mistakes: maybe shouldn't have split my forces. If I'd sent both assault squads forward at his CSM blob, I'd still have had time to redeploy a unit off to the left to help out over there, and odds are that one would have made it in to combat with the squad I failed to charge.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Game 20

Mission: The Relic

Deployment: Dawn of War

Same table, jumbled the terrain about a bit to make it a different battlefield though. (I'm frequently too lazy to move my models). Its time for everybody's favourite mission, against a Grey Knights force.

Inquisitor in Terminator Armour, Daemon Hammer

3x 5 terminators, psycannon, falchions, 2 daemon hammers (one unit just had one, the inquisitor went here)

2x 5 man strike squads, psycannon

2x Dreadknight, Teleporter, heavy incinerator

Yay, dreadknights. Also yay, lots of 2+ saves. Fortunately, all that matters is having that one little objective when time runs out. Librarian gave me my toughest choice yet - I rolled the 4+ invulnerable, and the 'target unit re-rolls successful saves' power. Agonised over which, if any, I wanted to swap out for prescience, and eventually swapped re-roll saves for it. Not certain this was the correct decision though. Figured that survivability was key because that 4+ is invaluable against an army I get no saves in combat against; just wanted to pick up the relic and tank. I won the roll and unsurprisingly elected to take turn 1.

Deployment. Baal's used its scout move to get into cover in case of seize the initiative. My unorthodox deployment is entirely due to the warlord trait - everything within 12 of the librarian has move through cover and auto-passes Dangerous Terrain. Tacs are all in the rhino, devs up top, assault marines out front. His inquisitor and retinue are in front of those dreadknights, and slightly behind the 12" line (this is important). Sternguard get angry, and its off to turn 1

Turn 1 - AS: Librarian fails to make an assault squad invulnerable. Good start. He then presciences the devastators, and gets it. The flamer squad flies off after the objective anyway. Pod drops right in front of his face and the sternguard hop out, and the Baal moves round the building to open up on the strike squad. Librarian's unit moves up a little in support, and the rhino comes round. The Baal puts 8 wounds on the left-most strike squad but only kills one. The devastators land 4 hits on the strike squad, but my hopes of first blood are denied by one 1 to wound, leaving one left standing who survives the pod's storm bolter. Rhino moves up in position for turn 2. Then, something bizarre. The sternguard melta the inquisitor's squad, killing the front 3. They fail their leadership (double 6), and flee 10 inches, which is enough to take them straight off the table :P . I don't think anyone expected that... first blood, warlord, and a hammer unit gone in one fell swoop.

Turn 1 - GK: Terms advance from both sides. One dreadknight goes after the sternguard, the other leaps forward and tries to take the assault squad. I lose a fair number to shooting, but manage to take a wound off the dreadknight in overwatch. One batters the sternguard easily, but the one in combat with the assault squad completely fluffs its attacks, and I take another wound off with the fist. Lucky.

End of turn 1. There's a building in the way of the interesting stuff, sorry :P

Turn 2 - AS: Here's where it all starts to go downhill for the grey knights. I get the invulnerable save off on the flamer squad, and prescience the tactical marines, who bail out of the rhino (turns out they don't need it) and snag the objective. The Baal and tactical marines manage to down the terminators, whilst the devastators finish off the last member of the strike squad. I also kill two of the strike squad up the back, though I can't remember how. In combat, all the wounds the dreadknight inflicts bounce off the invulnerable saves, whilst the fist knocks it down to its final wound.

Turn 2 - GK: Everything advances some more. The tactical squad bears the brunt of the firepower, and gets charged by the dreadknight, my sergeant ducking out of the challenge. I lose by a decent amount, but hold. The other dreadknight flattens all but the sergeant and the last flamer, but the power fist kicks of the final wound to drop the dread.

End of turn 2. Should we have a nice, tactical battle with lots of cunning play and manoeuvring? Nah, lets just throw everything into the middle of the table and see what comes out.

Turn 3 - AS: The assault squad leaps into the fray, presciencing and invuln'ing itself. The last 2 ASM from the flamer squad head off for the termies, and manage to flame more than they should. Both assault squads charge. Librarian is sent to the back (an error - he's already cast two powers, so the GK player shouldn't be worried about the force weapon). Hack and slash ensues, but its my fist/hammer that do the damage, knocking a wound or two off the dread. In the other combat, I lose my flamer marine, but my sergeant takes down the justicar in a challenge after he rolled many 1s to wound.

Turn 3 - GK: The strike squad comes forward and tries to psycannon the pod, but fails. The terminators continue to duff their attacks against the power fist sergeant, who gleefully smashes another (its now 1 on 1). The dreadknight wins combat; my sergeant is the lone survivor of the tac squad and breaks, but the assault marines hold.

End of turn 3

Turn 4 - The sergeant rallies, and comes back to pick up the relic. Prescience and forewarning are cast again, and the Baal moves out. Bullets from there and the devastators take down the strike squad. I pick a wound off the dreadknight (down to 1), and the terminator finally kills my errant sergeant.

Turn 4 - GK: The terminator advances, but can't kill anything. The dreadknight stamps on a single assault marine, but is eventually taken down by my priest and librarian gluing meltabombs to its face.

End of turn 4.

At this point, its 5 devastators, 9 assault marines, a Baal predator, and a tactical sergeant (jealously clutching a relic) versus a lone grey knight terminator. Unsurprisingly, my opponent's had enough and throws in the towel.

I just don't know what to say, other than that this was a masterclass in how not to roll dice. The number of 1's popping up on the terminator armour saves was unbelievable, the luck just went completely against the Grey Knights and made this game very one sided. The termies were unlikely to run in the first place, and should never have legged it off the table; the dreadknights should have killed more than they did. Just one of those unfortunate games where all the luck went one way.

[CitadelArmyGuy]

I just don't know what to say, other than that this was a masterclass in how not to roll dice. The number of 1's popping up on the terminator armour saves was unbelievable, the luck just went completely against the Grey Knights and made this game very one sided...

 

This is why I believe a few 2+ Sv Units can be a great addition to an army, but if your whole army is 2+ and the dice turn against you then you're done. For every game like this though, there are opposite games where those Terminators never die all game lol.

 

I'm adherent of math-hammer for sure, but variance and failure-cost certainly tempers it. I've had more than my share of mathammer threads and many other community members have helped me see that you can't depend a whole list on it.

 

 

OH and tough call on the Forewarning, Misfortune and Prescience!! Such a tough, tough decision-- for me, I probably would have kept both Forewarning & Misfortune (but only because the amount of 2+ saves you were facing).

 

EDIT: Also, double check there Admetus--- our Librarians cannot take meltabombs, sadly.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Nice catch on the meltas... I'll find something else for my 5 points. Fortunately he never got a chance to use them, as he was sent to the back with challenges all the time just in case the force weapon sneaked through a wound (until it was on its last, which the priest got).

 

In other news, I've caved and bought a storm raven. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get it built and a new list properly tested in two weeks.

[Morticon]

In other news, I've caved and bought a storm raven. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get it built and a new list properly tested in two weeks.

 

:) welcome to the fly-club!

[Captain Idaho]

I hate to do it to you man, you can only swap a power for the Primaris power after you've rolled one but before you can roll another.

 

Aside from that, nice battle against so many Terminators though I think luck was a little against your opponent.

[Chaplain Admetus]

@Idaho - 'a little' doesn't cut it...I just hope he has no plans to take up deathwing in the near future... I'm not sure if that would have gone so well in any other mission, as that just descended into one colossal meat grinder in the middle of the table, so I was able to bring sheer weight of numbers to bear. He's got termy armour, but I have a 2-1 advantage and a bit extra firepower from the Baal.

 

Re: Primaris Powers - that's a good spot. The wording of the rule is "Immediately after rolling for a psychic power, a Psyker can always choose to substitute the power generated for the discipline's primaris power" (p 418). As it happens, I was legit with my choice this time as I rolled forewarning, then misfortune, so really I should have been choosing whether to swap misfortune for prescience. The way I did it was ok (quite inadvertently though), I'll have to keep a closer eye on that next time. 30-odd games of 6th edition and I'm still missing rules...

 

As an aside on Psychic Powers - how are people playing it? If you want to take rulebook ones you have to note as such on the list; or you note the ones from your army book on the list and then choose to swap before deployment?

[Jolemai]

I am thinking a coms relay is a pretty good investment for the ravens.

 

Just noticed this. What is it as it's not in my codex...

[Xenith]

I am thinking a coms relay is a pretty good investment for the ravens.

 

Just noticed this. What is it as it's not in my codex...

 

Battlefield debris that you can purchase as part of your fortifications allowance from the rulebook :(

[Chaplain Admetus]

I am thinking a coms relay is a pretty good investment for the ravens.

 

Just noticed this. What is it as it's not in my codex...

 

Battlefield debris that you can purchase as part of your fortifications allowance from the rulebook :D

 

To expand: it can be taken as an upgrade to either a bastion or an aegis defence line (but it takes the "one of the following" slots that weapons normally occupy, so you can't have it and a quad gun/lascannon). 5+ cover save to those behind it (so pretty useless as the fortifications will give you a better one), and any player with an unengaged model within 2" may re-roll reserve rolls (and since it doesn't specify, that means both failed and successful if you so choose).

[CitadelArmyGuy]

I hate to do it to you man, you can only swap a power for the Primaris power after you've rolled one but before you can roll another.

 

Yes, quite! It caught me off guard the first time a friend explained this to me a few weeks ago, but it IS how it works.

 

When I read Admetus' report the first time, I made the assumption he rolled Foreboding first and kept it, then rolled Misfortune and was deciding to keep or trade it. Re-reading I see he rolled up both at the same time.

 

It is a really important rule to remember! Example-- your first roll can give Foreboding, then you swap for Prescience. Your second roll can give you Foreboding again and then you have to keep it!

 

SO there is a decision cycle all its own when it comes to deciding whether to keep a power at all or not. Doesn't matter on tables where you will never take the Primaris (Biomancy, Telekinesis) but will heavily factor anytime you are going to throw twice on a single table, DOUBLY so when you're rocking an Epistolary.

 

I'm surprised Admetus' that you didn't go for one dice on Divination and one dice on Telepathy-- that would dodge your 'order of operations' problem for power selection. Also, it's a favorite decision of mine. Shooty-support Librarians prefer double-Divination; Melee-support Librarians prefer Div/Telepathy or Div/Bio (Link to older thread explaining).