The Crest of Kortuuz, 1850 batrep

[Polythemus]

Howdy Dark Angel Fans,

 

Come over and have a look at my newest batrep The Crest of Kortuuz. While seeking the warcriminal Insidus, known to the inner circle as one of the Fallen, sources have revealed that  this traitor plans to sell secrets of the Dark Angels technology to the fledgling Tau empire. Such a nefarious plot must be stopped and Belial and the boys have been dormant too long! Will the firepower of the RIptides overwhelm the DW or will the emperoro's finest have their way? Comments appreciated!

[elphilo]

Great report, can't wait for your analysis. You were right about falling for the kroot, though had you not done it and your opponent gotten First Blood it would've been a totally different result!

 

I'm curious to the changes of your list. Perhaps a whirlwind maybe?

[Polythemus]

Thanks for the comment elphio. Heres the full analysis so you dont have to hunt for it. i think a couple good lessons were learned here.

 

Analysis: Well i pulled it out at the end but it was not an easy thing to do. I think i did a few things well. i was better at protecting and utilizing the librarian, i made pretty good use of the LRC and I was able to make enough good decisions to get a draw vs a tough opponent.
in this list the librarian has several roles. he provides the 4++ save bubble, acts to buff units and becomes critical in assault with his ability to run down opposing units fleeing from CC. I was able to keep him alive the whole game and was good at positioning him to best effect.  i think this was pretty effective.
the LRC was pretty beastly and did a good job moving termies around. it provided solid fire support and did a good job surviving. i did make it harder for myself by losing belial and going for the insurance VP. There were a few poor decisions. however...

 

How i should have dealt with kroot... The kroot present an opportunity to charge and to get first blood. they have sniper rifles which means they can rend, this meant that they could do a number on my troops. i needed first blood to have a chance in the game so i charged them but could have proceeded differently. i could have instead dropped all the termies close to me and used belial's homer. this would have allowed me to shoot 18 storm bolter rounds and special weapons at the kroot and kept the DWK safe in the LRC. the other option would have been to charge the kroot with just belial and the librarian. kroot would get the save from PFG but i would likely have been able to still win combat and had a high likely hood of running them down. this strategy could have been limited to just belial, which probably kept them in combat for an extra turn.

 

How i should have used DWK... the DWK were not used to best effect. It would have been better to direct them at the objective, command squad or a high value target (riptide/crisis team). this would have meant delaying their deployment to pressure those objectives later on in the game.

 

Descion making with charges... there were a few poor charge decisions. 1.) charging a 1 wound belial instead of embarking in the LRC. forgetting supporting fire is not a good idea 2.) charging the kroot with the deathwing knights - as above 3.) failing to charge with the other termie squad on turn three - this would have made tactical sense as all overwatch had been expended at Belial so couldnt have been taken again vs another charging squad. the only good charge descision that was made was charging the libby before charging terminators into the firewarriors, this limited the firewarriors ability to take models off the termie squad and made it possible to keep the difficult terrain charge length managable (at the time of rolling the length was 5" and the average distance rolled for difficult terrain is 4". So i had a good shot and used good strategy.

 

Changes to the list...  The idea of the list is to keep termies alive as much as possible by staying compact and reducing opportunity fire. The stormeagle should probably be swapped out for a LRC and carry the deathwing knights instead of tactical termies, but im not sure about this move. since 1.) i dont own a another LRC. 2.) i like the idea of the stormeagle providing good fire support but coming in late game its hard to guarntee it has an impact. so having Deathwing knights makes it a variable source of pain. The list is really fun to play and id like to keep trying to get better with it.

 

i appreciate your reading.

[facmanpob]

Good batrep! Getting a hard fought draw against Tau (especially with a couple of riptides) is a decent result, and what's more, I think you've correctly analysed the reasons why you didn't get the win, which bodes well for future match-ups. Kutgw!

[Polythemus]

thank you. hopefully someday ill get time to make the comic batreps again. but little reports like this can be fun too. i may try doing some video batreps in the future.