first 6th Bat Rep

[Marshal van Trapp]

so yesterday i had my first bout with the new rules against one of my buds that plays eldar, we ended up only playing 3 turns (because the place we were paying at was getting ready to close) but i figured i'd still share me experience

 

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Mission: Will of the Emperor

1750 Pts

 

my list:

 

Chappy w/ JP, SS, and Adamantine Mantle

EC w/ ACC

Tac Termies w/ CML, AC, CF, and T-H

2x 10-man Crusader Squads(CCW) w/ 10 neophytes and PW(axe)

2x 10-man Crusader Squads(bolter) w/ ML & MG

10-man Assault Squad w/ PW(axe) & MB

 

Opponents list:

 

Farseer w/ 3 warlock bodyguard

5-man Howling Banshee Squad w/ exarch(mirror swords)

2x 12-man guardian squads w/ gun platforms(1 scatterlaser, 1 starcannon)

2x 6-man Dire Avenger squads w/ exarch(diresword & bladestorm)

->Wave Serpent w/ T-L Starcannons (transport for 1 dire avenger squad)

5-man Rangers squad

5-man Swooping Hawks squad w/ exarch(sunrifle)

Falcon w/ Brightlance

Fire Prism

5-man Dark Reaper squad w/ Exarch(tempest Launcher)

 

the Game:

My opponent rolled his warlord trait as Princeps of Deceit, i got Master of Manoeuvre

my opponent won the roll of for first deployment, i failed to seize the initiative, my Chaplain hung back with the terminators to Outflank (was the worst mistake i could have made!)

 

Turn 1:

Eldar: guardians/tanks shot up my CC squads, dark reapers nearly kill one of my shooty squads, rangers get a lucky shot and end up killing my Jump unit's power weapon, all in all the eldar don't bother moving, knowing that i have to bring the fight to them, even the banshees and hawks stay put waiting to counterattack

 

Templars: 2 CC crusader squads run (after getting nearly perfect zeal rolls) putting them in prime charge distance for next turn while still being nice and covered by nearby forests, 1 of my shooty squads hunkers down on my objective and pops a nice frag missile at one of the Dire Avenger Squads (killing 3) while the other takes aim and penetrates the Wave serpent (which promptly makes its Jinx save) the jump squad moves up into cover and unloads some boltpistol rounds at the banshee squad, then attempts to assault (overwatch does nothing) but then fails to connect with a 7 charge roll

 

Turn 2:

Eldar: both dire squads unload their blade storm on my CC squads, banshees forget to do anything, Fire Prism blows up some trees (after it scatters into a forest) both guardian squads unload their fury into my CC squads (by this time i'm down to 1-3 neophytes in each squad) dark reapers and Swooping Hawks unload into one CC squad(joined by EC) reducing the rest of its neophytes to ashes

 

Templars: Chaplain fails to come in... all CC squads ready to assault the enemy, Jump squad shoots up rangers and nearly wipes them from the table (causing them to flee too far to assault) while the 2 CC squads assault, my first squad attacks the Howling Banshees, and although they suffer casualties then wipe the squad through sheer weight of numbers, my other (with EC) attacks the unhurt dire avenger squad, the EC challenges their exarch who accepts, only manages to get one hit and wound which i save and then mercilessly slay him while the rest of the squad kills his squadmates objective holders hold objective, other shooty squad misses the Wave serpent (stupid dice!)

 

Turn 3:

Eldar: combined weight of guardian squad, warlock powers, Falcon, Wave serpent, Dark Reapers, and swooping hawks kills my EC's CC squad (but kept the heat off my other squad) while his fire prism once more missed my men but destroyed a building and his guardian squad made a good decision to assault me to rob me of my charge, tying me up for a turn and killing my remaining neophytes

 

Templars: chaplain again fails to come in, assault squad gets into position to assault his HQ and shoots 2 of his Warlock Bodyguard to death before assaulting, killing the other and giving him 2 wounds (SOOO CLOSE) while my other remaining CC squad tidies up the remains of his guardian squad then consolidates to claim his objective

 

END OF GAME:

My Victory Points:

Both Primary Objectives (6 points)

First Blood (1 point)

Line Breaker (1 point)

Total 8 Points

 

Opponent Victory Points:

Slay the Warlord (1 point) (gave it to him since technically my chaplain never came in)

Total 1 Point

 

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Looking back there were times where i should have done things differently, and my opponents should have done things differently, but all in all it was a fun game

 

the moral of the story? Dark Reapers and Star Cannons are my mortal enemies! i will try and take those out first in the future, also holding my terminators in reserves was probably a bad idea, i could have put them up and destroyed his dark reapers early thus reducing his MEQ killing potential earlier

[Honda]

Very good batrep and well done on stamping down on the xenos scum.

 

From a planning and tactics perspective and as you have surmised, keeping the termies offboard didn't work out for you and thankfully you weren't overly penalized for their no-show. What I am taking from your report is:

 

1. Using terrain to mask your approach to an assault(s) still works

 

2. If you go out and look for people to stomp, take numbers. You're going to need them.

 

3. Funky stuff still happens so be prepared. E.g. Assault squad coming short in front of Banshees, Termies not arriving

 

I think it worth keeping in mind that if you have fewer bludgeons to apply to the opponent, it makes a lot of sense to keep them concentrated so they can support each other. The missing termies "could" have cost you the game against someone who was more mobile and willing to trade shots for territory until your numbers had been reduced more. Also, you should be thankful that there weren't a squad or two of Fire Dragons. They could have really compromised one of your CC units.

 

Thanx for sharing.

 

Cheers,

[Marshal van Trapp]

thanks for the feedback honda, all in all i think my Footslogging list is still viable in this edition, i've tweaked this particular list several times to try and get it to be more formidable, and in the end i'm glad i didn't have to start taking allies to make my Templars more rounded out

 

the one thing i realized that i have to do differently next time is put my shooting squads together to support each other, as it was i had them on opposite sides of the board and they became completely isolated subject to whatever my opponent wanted to throw at them

 

one big thing is that against shooting armies we have to make sure we stay mobile and protected, because with overwatch and the ability to move and shoot with virtually any weapon they can severely reduce our numbers in a matter of turns, had my opponent set up all his units along his board edge instead of at the edge of his deployment zone it would have taken me an additional turn to get within assault range, by which time (had he concentrated his fire) i could have been reduced to mewling scraps of crusader squads, or worse!

[ItchyTasty]

how does one outflank with terminators?

[Marshal_Roujakis]

how does one outflank with terminators?

 

With Warlord trait Master of Manoevere the Warlord and squad he is with can Outflank.

[ItchyTasty]

touche