First Games with my Tournament Army (Battle Reports)

[Meatcaber]

Hi guys!

 

I attended my local club last night with two Tournament style armies. Tried to make them competitive as possible and, to an extent, I think I succeeded. Managed to squeeze in two games and these were the lists I used:

 

 

Mephiston; 250

 

Furioso Dreadnought; Frag Cannon; Magna Grapple; Meltagun; Drop Pod; 175

 

Furioso Dreadnought; Frag Cannon; Magna Grapple; Meltagun; Drop Pod; 175

 

5 Death Company; Boltguns; Power Axe & Bolt Pistol; Drop Pod; 150

 

10 Assault; 2x Meltagun; 210

 

Baal Predator; Heavy Bolter Sponsons; 145

 

Vindicator; 145

 

[ 1250 ]

 

 

Mephiston; 250

 

Furioso Dreadnought; Frag Cannon; Magna Grapple; Meltagun; Drop Pod; 175

 

Furioso Dreadnought; Frag Cannon; Magna Grapple; Meltagun; Drop Pod; 175

 

6 Death Company; Boltguns; Power Axe & Bolt Pistol; Drop Pod; 170

 

10 Assault; 2x Meltagun; Power Sword; 225

 

10 Assault; 2x Flamer; Power Sword; 215

 

Baal Predator; Heavy Bolter Sponsons; 145

 

Vindicator; 145

 

[ 1500 ]

 

 

I used the first list for this game. The game was really interesting as we were both playing Drop Pod lists, and he used a Vindicator as well. We played length ways with an objective in our deployment zones. I lost the roll off so had to go first!

 

He had:

 

2x 6 Long Fangs with full missile launchers in each (one had a wolf guard with CML)

 

Vindicator

 

7 Wolf Guard with 7 combi-plasmas in a Pod

 

7 Grey Hunters, meltagun, standard, fist + rune priest & wolf guard in TDA with combi-melta in a pod

 

7 Grey Hunters, flamer, standard, fist + rune priest & wolf guard in TDA with heavy flamer in a pod

 

 

First Turn

 

I had to go first… He had deployed both Long Fang units in ruins in his DZ. One Furioso goes for one unit, the second went for the other. The first was whittled down to just two long fangs. In the second only a single missile launcher dude was slain.

The Baal outflanked. The vindicator was deployed beside Mephy at the end on my DZ, with the assault squad hid behind the tank. All move up the maximum distance allowed. 

 

My first turn finished… Wasn’t good!

 

He podded his wolf guard with the insane amount of plasma behind my assault squad and the melta hunters near Mephiston  - he realised that he should have done it the other way round, 14 plasma shots would see Mephy dead, no doubt. His almost full squad of long fangs shoot the dread that shot them, it is glanced to death! His other long fang shoots the other dread and misses. .. The melta squad take 2 wounds off Mephiston. His plasma wolf guard shoot my assault squad, not one Gets Hot! was rolled and he scores 12 wounds… One very dead assault squad and my only scoring unit gone!

 

Turn two

 

My Baal arrives and I place it on my right flank to shoot at the wolf guard. Vindicator moves around a swamp to get a shot at them as well. The Furioso and Mephy switch places. His depleted long fangs were shot by Meph but he makes his cover save. The Baal and Vindi shoot his wolf guard and kill all but one.  My furioso kills a couple of grey hunters… meh. The dread then assaults them and I rolled badly, plus his TDA dude makes his one invulnerable save.  Mephiston kills the long fangs without retaliation.

 

In his turn his Vindicator and other GH squad arrive. It’s all downhill for me from now on. His vindi shoots mine in the rear and kills it dead. His flamer squad and long fangs score 2 wounds on Mephiston – he’s got one left by this point. The last remaining wolf guard moves towards my objective and his other hunter unit remains locked in combat with my dread. 

 

Turn Three

 

A short turn. The DC arrive behind his flamer hunters with the rune priest, my Baal tries to get in position to shoot them as well. Mephistons plasma pistol Gets Hot! but I make his save. The DC and Baal collectively kill 2 grey hunters. Mephiston charges the unit and is challenged by the heavy flamer wolf guard who has an axe. Mephy does four wounds but he makes all his saves. In return he gets two hits and rolls a two sixes for his wounds so he’s now killed my warlord. That gives him linebreaker, first blood, slay the warlord and his objective. I got linebreaker but not for long. We played the next turn just for funsies but I knew that I had already lost this game. 

 

In this partcular game getting the first turn killed me! Usually getting the first turn is great for me! 

 

 

The second game was with my second list against Orks. I was actually scared to fight this guy, everyone I spoke to who had played said he had tabled them and I think his list was quite nasty. 

 

He had:

 

10 Nob Bikers + Warboss

 

10 Lootas with big guns or blastas

 

Battle Wagon ( the one with AV 14 at the front) with a full Mob inside

 

Dakka jet/bomber thing

 

12-15 Stormboys led by a special character (can assault after deepstriking)

 

A cannon thing with random strength

 

We rolled The Relic, but actually decided to do Purge the Alien as well. So, a relic in the centre plus kill points.

 

Turn One

 

I got the first turn. My entire army (bar the Pods, obviously) deployed on the left side of the board – we were only playing on a 4x4 board. Baal and Vindicator near the centre of the half with an assault squad behind each. Mephistin deployed nearer to the centre. 

Before we began my Baal scouted 12” to the far left side of the board. Mephiston rolled a double 6 for his first Psychic test. The vindi moved 12” to the middle of the left hand side, one assault moved up behind it and the second moved to some ruins near my DZ.

He deployed his Nob bikers and Warboss on the far left (opposite my tanks and troops) of thr board, his Lootas and the random cannon thing deplyed behind a wall on the far right of the board with the Trukk nearby – he had several big guns on it, so he had a strong firebase mostly behind the wall.

 

Drop Pod assault. Both Furioso’s podded next to his Bikers – one scattered a 11” towards his gunline. He showed me a trick with the pods, basically by taking the ramps down and using the tips of each ramp as the hull and moving my Dreads from that point. Both Dreads managed to get in range for everything, just. 

 

Shooting, both Dreads, the Baal and the Vindi shot at his bikers. Vindi scattered off the table. Baal did 3 wounds in total. The dreads, if I recall right, did another 3 wounds. 3 bikers dead. Mephiston ran a bit towards his gunline.

 

In his turn the Lootas got 30 shots at my assault squad backing Mephy – 3 dead, failed my morale check and they fled off the table! First Blood to him! His random gun thingy took a hull point off my Vindicator. Everything else either missed or was ineffective. During his assault phase he did a disorganised charge with his Nobz against my dreads, over watch took off a wound. The dread nearest me insta-gibbed two nobz before his Warbass stripped it of 2 hull points and stunning it. The other dread killed a single Nob and he failed to do anything in return. I won combat, he fled and I ran him down!

 

Turn Two

 

Death Company arrive! They deployed right in front of his Lootas, at the opposite side of the wall. Vindi circled round to fire at his Trukk, the second Dread moved six inches towards his Wartrukk. Vindi circled around some ruins to get a clear shot at his Trukk as well. The Baal turbo boosted/flat outted round the other side of the ruins to threaten his Lootas next turn. Mephiston jumped towards his Lootas and the assault squad hid near the Vindi again. 

 

The furioso was just in range for his grapple. I hit the side armour, penetrated and blew his Trukk up! The explosion also killed four or five boys. Vindicator was then free to shoot the unit but again it scattered off the board! All 3 Pods shot the now disembarked unit, killing two, they proceeded to panic and flee the table! The DC shoot his Lootas, killing 3. 

 

In his turn both his Jet and the Stormboyz arrived. I think he also ‘Waaghed’ at this point. His Jet blew up one Furioso and his random gun thingy killed the other. The Lootas  shot the DC, killing one. His stormboys assault my Baal and blew it up!

 

Turn Three

 

Mephiston and the DC moved closer to the Lootas. The vindi circled the ruins again to face his stormboys, the assault squad also moved through the ruins to threaten the unit. Meph, pods and DC shoot the Lootas again, killing six. Just one left. Vindicator scattered towards my assault troops, fortunately for me not far enough to actually hit any. Two stormboyws died from the blast. Assault squad shoot 2 meltas, a frag grenade and a bunch of pistol shots, another two boyz dead. DC charge the remaining Loota – one dead Loota! The assault squad charge his stormboyz, my sergeant challenges and fluffs his rolls. The ork special character dude kills him with ease! I win the assault by 2 or 3 but they are fearless thanks to the character.

 

Not a lot for him to do in his turn. His random gun thing shoots my DC and misses. His Jet shoot the DC, kill one. During the assault phase, he beats my assault dudes and they flee – fortunately they aren’t caught and don’t flee far enough to disappear off the board. 

 

Turn Four

 

Very short turn. My Vindicator kills the rest of his Stormboyz and my opponent concedes the game!

 

 

Two very fun games! We had a good laugh with the first game despite the fact I didn't do very well. The second game was also fun but for different reasons. My local club has just recently finished it's first Tournament, I missed it due to a skin infection, and the Ork guy won using a very similar list to the one he fielded against me (from what I could ascertain) and me beating him was the talk of the club for the rest of evening - I went home a very happy chap!

 

This was my first time using Mephiston and I definitely need more practice with him, I think. Collectively he killed one (or two) long fang(s) and one Loota. Am going to keep playing with him, though, he was fun to use even though I wounded him in both games by failing psychic tests with double sixes.

 

The Dreads were fantastic even though they tended to die fairly quickly after the initial drop pod assault - my opponent got lucky in the first game by glancing one to death, and in the second game they simply got shot - lots! - in the rear! Both tanks were good, but I was quite unlucky with my Vindicator, Baal puts out a decent amount of firepower but it just somehow feels lacking. It's good as it gives you plenty of options for customising your tactics but all my games so far (also played 'Crons and Eldar in the previous weeks) it tended to be more of a nuisance rather than a killing machine. Not sure about the DC, they were all but useless in my first game but they did do well in the second. I don't think 5 or 6 is enough but points are tight, especially at 1250.

 

 

Anyway, these were my first games running, what I thought to be fairly competitive army lists, though I think I could make them more competitive somehow. Am thinking Sternguard with combi-plasmas and a heavy flamer might be better in the third pod in place of the DC, however in the 1250 list I simply wont have room for them because I need two troop choices. 

 

Righto, hope you enjoyed the read. Feedback is both welcome and appreciated :D

 

MC

[Leonaides]

 

He showed me a trick with the pods, basically by taking the ramps down and using the tips of each ramp as the hull and moving my Dreads from that point. Both Dreads managed to get in range for everything, just. 

 

Oh hell no... Thats not right. If he is saying thats legal, and you guys let him get away with that sort of rules shenanigans, then I can see why he has an unbeatable ork army. There is a long and complicated thread in the Official Rules forum, but the argument boils down to if those doors are part of the hull, or if they are doors (doors not being part of the hull for any other transport vehicle).

 

That being said - you might have been better served to send a furioso after his looters - a frag cannon and heavy flamer template will put a lot of wounds on a unit like that and turn them from a credible threat to a fairly irrelevant remnant pretty quick - even better would have been to use both dreanoughts and make sure of first blood by wiping them off the board. You can make sure that he has to engage your dreads afterwards by moving them to the objective in support of your assault  squad (he has to take out the assault squad or you take the relic, but in attacking the assault squad he sets himself up for a charge by both dreads ideally).

[Meatcaber]

It wasn't that unbeatable - I beat it!

 

I always measure from the actual Pod not the tips of the doors, but he mentioned that and was happy to let me do it so I didn't feel the need to argue otherwise. The guys watching us also said it was okay to do that. Though I will always play the other way against other people, unless they tell me otherwise! Does it say in the rules or an FAQ where to measure from? 

 

As with most things, it's a learning curve. I don't know enough about most of the armies to know what's makes a good target or not, I just use my best judgement when actually playing and I tend to pick good targets in my games - I have done so far, at least! All things considered, I'm glad I sent both Dreads after his Nob bikers - if the demolisher shell had actually hit the unit then both Dreads may have been overkill, but the vindicator was useless all game until it killed his Stormboys. 

[Boom Stick]

I would be interested in seeing how one of your lists do vs necrons. Not because I don't think they would do well but because they are the ones giving me trouble.

 

Great post!

[Kem]

Read pls ATSKNF rule. Did you roll for Thirst?

 

Ask for the rules, if you don't know them. Storm boys have to roll for casualties if they DS, even if thay move.   Storm boys are fearless only cause mob rule (i.e. 11+), character will kill a model if test if failed.   If he didn't do that things, I can see why he so "unbetable".

[Leonaides]

Like I said - rules shenanigans... He appears to be gettign some very 'favourable' rules interpretations going his way, which is probably why the Ork list has been doing so well.

[Meatcaber]

I would be interested in seeing how one of your lists do vs necrons. Not because I don't think they would do well but because they are the ones giving me trouble.

Great post!

 

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. I played Necrons last week and got humped, haha. 

 

 

Read pls ATSKNF rule. Did you roll for Thirst?

 

Ask for the rules, if you don't know them. Storm boys have to roll for casualties if they DS, even if thay move.   Storm boys are fearless only cause mob rule (i.e. 11+), character will kill a model if test if failed.   If he didn't do that things, I can see why he so "unbetable".

 

Have read ATSKNF, is there something I've missed that you are trying to tell me? I forgot red Thirst in the first game but remembered in the second. 

 

He had a special character with his Stormboyz that made them not have to take a Morale check for losing the combat - he said they were more afraid of him than they were of my BA. 

 

Like I said - rules shenanigans... He appears to be gettign some very 'favourable' rules interpretations going his way, which is probably why the Ork list has been doing so well.

 

Fair enough. Considering he 'cheated' I did fairly well in beating him, though I got particularly lucky with his Trukk and Bikers. 

 

 

Next time the two of us play I'll ask him to show me the rules for his units if I think he might be interpreting them wrong.

[Leonaides]

I'd suggest just say something like- I'm unfamiliar with that rule/ability, can I have a quick look at yr codex?

[Terrified Templar]

That special character for the stormboyz is called 'Boss Zagstruk'. One of his special rules is called 'Violent Temper'. Basically is his unit fails a morale check he'll execute one of the squad members to restore order allowing his unit to pass the morale check. He may have 'forgotten' the execute bit.

[Morticon]

 

 

He showed me a trick with the pods, basically by taking the ramps down and using the tips of each ramp as the hull and moving my Dreads from that point. Both Dreads managed to get in range for everything, just. 

 

Oh hell no... Thats not right. If he is saying thats legal, and you guys let him get away with that sort of rules shenanigans, then I can see why he has an unbeatable ork army. 

 

Ya! Defs no go there!!  

 

Shenanigans aside, good list, and job well done :tu: 

 

Also, you're right about the baal - they're not mad killy machines, they're a workhouse. They put down great suppressing fire, that youre not likely to get for the cost otherwise! 

[Calnus]

It looks like the lists work pretty well, but it sounds like you need to practice some tactics, mainly target priority.

 

Tips for Mephiston--If you see power armored troops, throw Meph at them.  He will eat them alive and run them down with I7.  Long Fangs (particularly on the other side of the board) and Lootas do not make the best targets.  Especially against pods, I would have hid Meph behind the tanks (AV13 front doesn't care too much about plasmaguns), then jumped him out to munch the grey hunters.  Similar trick with the assault marines.

 

Frag Furiosos--If your opponent puts infantry in cover, you want to drop the Furiosos where they can frag the unit.  I notice you said that your dreadnought died very quickly.  If you want 2 dreads to survive, put them on a flank or in front of an opponent's army.  Anything shy of a meltagun has a hard time putting them down in a single round of shooting.  Keeping them together concentrates your firepower so you can wipe out a unit entirely for first blood, and makes it harder for the opponent to bring enough guns to bear on the area to kill both.

 

Again, I think your lists are good.  At 1250, its hard to cover all the bases (I notice no anti-flyer for instance), and you are light on scoring in the first list.  But I think with good tactics you stand a chance of playing very competitively with these units at 1250.

[Meatcaber]

Thank you for the help and encouragement :)

 

I'll keep an eye on Zag and his 'Boyz in our next game and make sure he does it properly! He wants a rematch using the same army lists.

 

Thank you for the help, Calnus! I tried to keep Mephy away from units with a TDA Wolf Guard attached so my choices were limited, he also failed his Psychic Test when I wished for him to 'jump' over to the Vindicator and smash that in instead of having to face his Grey Hunters with the aforementioned TDAWG attached. His Long Fangs also only had M. Launchers so... He got lucky glancing one dread to death on it's front armour, the other dread remained locked in combat with his other GH for most of the game.

 

Against the Orks lootas were his only target, after two turns I had pretty much killed most of his army. One dread got stunned facing the wrong way and a flier came on behind the other... They are used as a pair but it's still a big learning curve, same with Mephiston, was my first time using him and he was quite fun - when he does what he is supposed to do, that is! 

 

1250 points is just such an awkward point level with what I want to play with - also, I don't think 5 DC are really 'cutting it', 7-8 DC would be better but I simply do not have the points for more. 

[Demoulius]

The drop pod shenigans do sound abit fishy... Other then that nice results on those games :) so long as you laugh about or learn somethjing from a game you win either way if you ask me :tu:

I wouldnt know what to bring at 1250 pts though so you got that edge over me :D indeed abit awkward point level. Any particular reason for it?

[Meatcaber]

Both games were really fun, so of course I had a good laugh as well! I wouldn't play Warhammer if it wasn't fun 8)

 

After taking everything I wanted to include, I only had 360 points to spend on two troops choices, one of which needs a pod so the Dreads can land first turn. My collection is also a hindrance for the moment - I have another planned 1500 list which I may post in the army list forum soon!