Tales from the front line: Dark Angel Firebase in Action

[Louis]

Managed to get a game in at the weekend and decided to try out the Standard of Devastation to support a stationary/defensive Dark Angels gunline. For a 2k game I took:

 

Librarian - no upgrades, keep him cheap

Techmarine - Servo Harness and Power Field

Command squad - Banner of Devastation, Apothecary and 3 bolter armed vets

The above were all mounted in a Crusader with the Deathwing upgrade

 

Tactical Squad 1 - 8 marines with a bolter, 1 with a melta gun, 1 with a multi-melta

Tactical Squad 2 - 8 marines with a bolter, 1 with a plasma gun, 1 with a plasma cannon

Tactical Squad 3 - 4 marines with a bolter, 1 with a missile launcher and Flakk. Plus Rhino

Tactical Squad 4 - 4 marines with a bolter, 1 with a missile launcher and Flakk. Plus Rhino

 

Deathwing Knights - 5 Knights mounted in a dedicated Land Raider with Deathwing upgrade

 

Mortis pattern Contemptor Dread - 2 Kheres Assault Cannons and Cyclone Missile Launcher

Devastator Squad - 3 marines with bolters, 2 with missile launchers and Flakk.

 

Aegis Defense Line with Quad Gun.

 

 

Without the gallery to add pictures I won't do a full report, but to set the scene we played purge the alien with lengthways deployment. My opponent was an IG Air Cav list with Blood Angel allies. Something like:

 

Company Command Squad with Astropath and Master of Ordinance, deployed in a Bunker

BA Librarian in terminator armour with storm shield.

 

BA Assault Squad - 10 marines plus a priest

Vet Squad in Vendetta

Vet Squad in Vendetta

Vet Squad in Valk

 

Ratling Snipers

 

2 Heavy Mortars (Griffons I think. Can fire either large blast S10 AP2, or small blast S10 AP2 and adds 2 dice for armour penetration).

Lightning Strike Fighter

 

 

My opponent set everything up out of line of sight, bar the ratlings who are in 4+ cover and have their cammo cloaks. I went with a very defensive set-up placing the AGL at the edge of my deployment zone, the Crusader behind the centre of the AGL and with the two large tactical squads on either side. On 5 man Tac team (with Flakk ML) operated the Quad Gun whilst the other hid in it's rhino. Both Rhinos went to the extreme edges of the AGL providing a flanking "extension" to the defensive line. The Contemptor went next to the Crusader, inside the 4++ powerfield bubble, whilst the Devs head behind a bolstered wall towards the read of my lines. Finally the Knights and their Raider went to an extreme flank ready to advance on the enemy.

 

My set-up gave the two big tactical units Salvo 2/4, some of them had a 4+ invul, all at had a 4+ cover with the ability to go to ground for a 2+. The Crusader could recover hull points, make my opponent re-roll on the pen table and had a 4+ invul. The Contemptor also had a 4+ invul (improving on it's own shield which normally gives it a 5+). For AA I had 4 Flakk Missiles, as well as the Contemptor and the Quad gune (which are both Interceptor too).

 

A light exchange of fire in the first round does nothing much as night fight limits ranges and adds to cover saves.

 

In the top of the second round the Interceptor units blow up a Vendetta before it can do anything (lucky dice rolls on the quad gun, and a lot of fear from my opponent about coming anywhere near 24" of the Contemptor and its 12 rending assault cannon shots!). I take a bit of a pounding in return as my opponent blows up the Raider carrying the Knights and then drops a couple of pie plates on them to reduce them to only 2).

 

Bottom of two and my Flakk missiles account for the Lightning fighter, whilst my salvo bolters and the Crusader accounts for all bar two of the Blood Angel assault unit (who run and hide for the rest of the game). My Knights spend the rest of the game running towards the IG lines but never make it.

 

Top of three and the IG flyers can either carry on flying and make it into range of the Contemptor (heh heh, not a nice prospect), so instead they drop into hover mode and try to do maximum damage to the Dark Angels. The IG do blow up the Crusader forcing the command squad to deploy, but a combination of their 3+ saves, 4++ power field and the apothecary means they only lose 1 marine to the rest of the IG fire.

 

Bottom of three and the DA bring down the remaining the two fliers. The IG player has the command squad, BA libby and the two mortar tanks left, the rest is either dead or too battered to go anywhere near the DA lines and the firepower that still waits. The DA have lost two Raiders and 4 marines from both of the large tactical squads. We call it at this point with the DA clearly the winners (5-2 at this point to the DA and it is only going to get worse)

 

 

Observations:

 

- The AA fire was very effective, four fliers dead in two rounds (1 before it even fired a shot!) was great return.

 

- The Salvo 4 shots from the Crusader and the Tac Marines created a 24" no-go zone for my opponent, once he saw the BA unit get hammered by sheer volume of fire it was clear that no IG soldier (with no save from bolters) could advance near that line and hope to survive.

 

- The Contemptor once again proved a star. 215 points is a lot but it always impresses me with the gross amount of fire power it can put out. Short ranged and that caused issues with Interceptor but it created a great "no-fly" zone, and once my opponent dropped to hover mode it cut loose and hull pointed a Vendetta to death with ease.

 

- The AGL is great to protect the tac squad, with the option to go to ground it really helped both squads in those rounds when my opponent managed a lot of good hits

 

- Crusader, Deathwing Vehicle and Forcefield is a nice combination. You might fail the first save and get unlucky with a 1 shot 1 kill, but the ability to bounce shots, repair HPs and make your opponent re-roll damage results is very nice

 

- The army lacks AT fire power for engaging hidden/obscured tanks - The mortar tanks were a real issue for me, they accounted for both Raiders and a massive chunk of the Knights too.

 

- The dedicated Raider adds 280 points to the already expensive Knights. I was pretty much down 500 points with these two units and they contributed 0 to the game. I am tempted to keep the Knights (or at least a termie unit) and deep strike them early on for the annoyance factor, but if the Raider goes I get a lot of points back. For example I'm tempted to swap the Techmarine for a second librarian (opening up a second force org as I already have 4 troops), and using the left over points to pick up a pair of AutoCannon/Las preds and a whirlwind.

 

Overall though, the new dex was very enjoyable to play. Lots of firepower, and it was the marines in green that delivered :-)

[Ammonius]

Nice report!

A couple of notes on the "Heavy Mortar" you faced:

The only IG Artillery tank that could fire a S10 AP2 large blast or the 2d6 Pen small blast is a Medusa, which does not fire barrage, only direct fire. Further, if the Bastion Breacher option is purchased, it can no longer fore the large blast (Have your friend look at page 53 in his codex, there is an annoying sentence about if you have the breacher shells, you always use the profile below.).

However, since you still won, it's probably not such a big deal.

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

You don't have to field the DWK INSIDE the LR - it simply provides them the option to do so. You can also park the LR in the back and pillbox it or you can pile some troops in in it T1 and then plan to move them onto an objective.

[Louis]

Nice report!

A couple of notes on the "Heavy Mortar" you faced:

The only IG Artillery tank that could fire a S10 AP2 large blast or the 2d6 Pen small blast is a Medusa, which does not fire barrage, only direct fire. Further, if the Bastion Breacher option is purchased, it can no longer fore the large blast (Have your friend look at page 53 in his codex, there is an annoying sentence about if you have the breacher shells, you always use the profile below.).

However, since you still won, it's probably not such a big deal.

Thanks for the info, just looked up the rules on the Medusa and that was indeed what he was using. He paid for the Bastion Breacher Shell and for three rounds mostly used them on the Land Raiders, it was only once that I think he switched to the large template and that was when the Knights were forced to disembark from their destroyed Raider. It maybe I'd have had more Knights left but if I recall he had a direct hit and I was in "fortress of shields" order, so even the small template would have hit all 5 (I do remember failing 3 of the resulting 5 3++ storm shield saves!)

They did use direct fire, no effect on the first turn due to night fight (to long range). In turns 2 and 3 I was busy destroying fliers... The more I think about it I could probably have dealt with them easily enough, it was just the fliers were too juicy a target to not shoot at :-)

[Louis]

You don't have to field the DWK INSIDE the LR - it simply provides them the option to do so. You can also park the LR in the back and pillbox it or you can pile some troops in in it T1 and then plan to move them onto an objective.

 

Very true, but with the LR available and only 1 unit to deepstrike, it seemed the safer choice. I made the wrong choice not to deepstrike them, my opponent had a very light backfield due to the points going on fliers, a unit of 5 knights in his DZ would have caused a real headache with his target priority. Wrong call from me, I really felt as though I was playing 500 points down once the LR was destroyed and the Knights were stranded. Of course you have games where that happens and what is a star unit one game is isolated and useless the next.

 

But 280 points, combine that with a bit of optimisation here and there, and maybe dropping the techmarine (with the powerfield moving over to the libby) and I can scrape near enough 400 points together. As an example I could look at 2 deep striking speeders (MM/Hvy Flamers maybe), converting the Knights to standard Deathwing (how cheap are Knights!) and adding Belial. Round 1 Belial and a scoring termie unit are DS'd out of LOS (if possible), no drift and I have a teleport homer down for the Speeders to arrive in Turn 2. Probably all 3 units and Belial will die before the game ends, but how much havoc can they cause before hand? Or there is the option for more heavy support in the form of Preds/Whirlwinds. Great position to be in having so many nice choices in the new codex.

 

Overall though, with mistakes from me and against an IG air cav list, I was very impressed with how the DA marines performed.

[Tiger9gamer]

I think the knight's might be out of place in this list to be honost :/ I think it only helps them survive the trip up the board. maybe take a regular DW squad and use it to disrupt enemy lines/ threaten a flank? (can do the same with company veterans)

[notmattlythgoe]

My plan is to take Belial and a 10 man termie squad and drop them at the beginning of turn 2 on their flank. TL shots on that turn with split fire for whatever HW you choose to take. Throw in a couple of TH/SS termies and you have a unit that should scare the crap out of your opponent without an scatter on DS.

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

Can't you also take Belial and 5 man squad drop on T1 where you want, then take another 5 man squad to drop on T2 and homer in on Belial with it, getting reinforcements right where you want? Don't have my 'dex at work, but I think this is possible. If you had a small RW unit, coming up the board, you would have options for that second DW squad.

[notmattlythgoe]

Can't you also take Belial and 5 man squad drop on T1 where you want, then take another 5 man squad to drop on T2 and homer in on Belial with it, getting reinforcements right where you want? Don't have my 'dex at work, but I think this is possible. If you had a small RW unit, coming up the board, you would have options for that second DW squad.

 

All of DWA has to come in on the same turn, otherwise they have to roll for reserves.

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

Can't you also take Belial and 5 man squad drop on T1 where you want, then take another 5 man squad to drop on T2 and homer in on Belial with it, getting reinforcements right where you want? Don't have my 'dex at work, but I think this is possible. If you had a small RW unit, coming up the board, you would have options for that second DW squad.

 

All of DWA has to come in on the same turn, otherwise they have to roll for reserves.

 

Well, there goes that idea. Now I'm wondering if Deathwing Assault is an optional rule or MUST they pick a T1 or T2 deployment? I'll have to check my 'dex when I go home for lunch.

[Isiah]

Must pick T1 or T2.

 

Great report. Glad a Greenwing gunline is once again able to terrorise opponents (with a bit of Contemptor help ;) ).

 

Cheers

I

[notmattlythgoe]

Can't you also take Belial and 5 man squad drop on T1 where you want, then take another 5 man squad to drop on T2 and homer in on Belial with it, getting reinforcements right where you want? Don't have my 'dex at work, but I think this is possible. If you had a small RW unit, coming up the board, you would have options for that second DW squad.

 

All of DWA has to come in on the same turn, otherwise they have to roll for reserves.

 

Well, there goes that idea. Now I'm wondering if Deathwing Assault is an optional rule or MUST they pick a T1 or T2 deployment? I'll have to check my 'dex when I go home for lunch.

 

They do not have to perform a DWA assault. If they do everything performing a DWA comes in the same turn, everything else comes in as normal reserves do.

[Gillyfish]

I read this with considerable interest - it really suggests that a DA gunline army is viable again, which means I may well be dusting off my existing collection and taking to the field with a strongly themed greenwing list.

 

Perhaps.

 

The new toys may be too tempting though!!

[Cypher 102]

Round 1 Belial and a scoring termie unit are DS'd out of LOS (if possible), no drift and I have a teleport homer down for the Speeders to arrive in Turn 2.

The teleport homer only works on teleporting models. You would need a locator beacon (available on drop pods) for the speeders.

[Louis]

Good suggestions on changing the Knights out for a Deathwing unit. The one thing that I think the Knights do is scare the opposition as long as they have their Smite ability intact - they are one heck of a hammer unit with that ability! With only one counter assault element it is nice to have something that powerful to throw back whatever does hit my lines.

Isiah - The return of the boys in green is very welcome indeed, although I also play Orks and having access to Powerfields and throwing a load of dice whilst moving green models is slightly confusing me as to which army I am playing

Gillyfish - As a longterm DA player I love my Ravenwing and Deathwing, the new toys are very very tempting. Greenwing is only winning as it is a nice novelty to have the basic battle-brother be so powerful.

Cypher 102 - Doh! You are correct of course. I had considered a couple of podding Dreads as a nice alternative instead - take a third empty pod for one of the tac squads so I can pod both dreads on turn 1. Again a bit of a sacrafice unit but a couple of AC/PF dreads in your opponents backline is always tempting. But then I lose the points to bring in the speeders... Its wonderful to have so many choices again!

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

Good suggestions on changing the Knights out for a Deathwing unit. The one thing that I think the Knights do is scare the opposition as long as they have their Smite ability intact - they are one heck of a hammer unit with that ability! With only one counter assault element it is nice to have something that powerful to throw back whatever does hit my lines.

 

I think it depends on who you are playing. Against anything but Necrons and non-CSM marines, I think they stay pretty scary. It will take some practice in maneuver to maximize the wall of shields and it makes them more vulnerable to plasma cannons etc. I doubt I'd ever field a LOT of them, but my experience so far is that they can be a pretty serious wrecking ball. If anything, they are too killy. I still wouldn't run them in games under 1500 points.

[Ronin_eX]

I'll concur with others, the Knights in this list are a bit out of place.  Popping Belial with a TH/SS in and dropping them in the backline exactly where you want might be a nice trick though.  But in such a shooty army, a pure assault unit will be hard to run since it will be out ahead of pack without much support.  Switching it up for something like Black Knights (flanking plasma spam!) or even just standard Ravenwing (they have boltguns too!), even a standard Deathwing squad (I like the idea of a 10-strong squad dropping with Belial and just decimating an enemy flank with a percision drop) would all support the list well.  The Black Knights and Deathwing would even be a great hand-to-hand choice without going all in on it.

 

For me, Deathwing Knights work best in a list that will support them well.  Lists like Doublewing where you can have Black Knights spamming Stasis and Rad rounds in to assault targets, where you have a banner dedicated to pushing their toughness to 11 and where they can drop in with another 20 or so of their brethren and flood the enemy's target priority.  In a mostly shooty list they will be an early and simply priority choice, especially in a LRC.

 

Hell, you could go for broke and swap them out for a big anti-tank devastator squad.  Or even a squad of combi-armed veterans in a drop pod (probably a bit pricier in terms of points though).  Lots of potential shooty support to look in to.