First C:SM game: Black Templars vs Ultramarines

[d3m01iti0n]

1850 points.  Friend came over, he's learning still, and I'm learning the new book, but the game went smoothly and was a lot of fun.  I had a lot of beer in me by the end so Ill recount it as best I can :)

 

Black Templars:

 

Helbrecht, Warlord

10 Initiates, 5 Neos, SB w/ LC, Flamer, PAxe

LRC, MM

 

10 Initiates, SB w/ CombiMelt, ML, Melta

Drop Pod

 

5 Initiates, 5 Neos, LasCan, Plasma

 

Centurions x3, 1 Grav, 2 TLLC, Omni

 

Typhoon, MM

 

Typhoon, MM

 

Thunderfire Cannon

 

Stormraven, TLAC, TLMM, Hurricane

 

 

Ultramarines (as best as I can remember):

 

Chaplain, TDA, Warlord

Terminators x6, TH/SS, LC

LR (Redeemer I believe?  Flamer sponsons)

 

FORTRESS!

Tac Squad x5, LasCan, on the AA Lascan

 

Tac Squad x10

Rhino

 

Sternguard x10, MultiMelta

Rhino

 

Thunderfire Cannon

 

Dreadnought, Autocan, Lascan

 

 

Big Guns

 

So first off, the Fortress of Redemption.  Geez.  Thing is impressive.  Krakstorm missles bring the hurt, and the AA Las isnt bad either.  He spent a few turns pounding my Centurions.  One Las guy left and he ran but came back to his cover.  My Thunderfire died early and I never fired it.  More Krakstorms on my backfield Crusader squad.  Ran them to midfield objective and cover.

 

My LRC hung back behind a building.  Having that giant Lascan on the Fortress scared me a bit.  I also wanted to crack open his Raider but the Centurions didnt do a thing while they were alive.  His Dread put one of my Typhoons down for First Blood. 

 

Turn two both my Raven and Pod came in.  Podded Crusade squad was VERY unimpressive, whiffing their Meltas, ML, and even Bolter shots trying to ping the rear armor on the Ironclad.  Got it and the Thunderfire next round before the squad was cleaned out.  The Stormraven dumped all four Stormstrike Missiles on the Land Raider, to no effect.       

 

Things begin to turn around for me by midgame.  The Raven pinged a hull point off the Land Raider, but low and behold the Asscan rended and miraculously exploded it!  We were both stunned.  He lost a Termi w/ LC off the explosion.  Took the Tac squad's Rhino out, and managed to Explode the Sternguard's Rhino as well.  I started to run my LRC up the field to lock up with his Warlord TDA squad.

 

My last Centurion got Krakstormed off the table.  He got his Sternguard into cover and his Tac squad up into the Fortress.  I sent the Raven off the table but it came back in the spray the Tac squad before they hit the Fortress.  My Crusader squad was on the midfield objective under cover, and was just a Bolter and PlasGun.  They ran from my backfield objective, through terrain, pretty quickly with Crusader.  Ill vouch for it being pretty decent.  Them and the last Typhoon set about spraying the building the Sternguard were hiding in.

 

So now things get ugly.  I have maybe a 9-10 inch gap when my Helbrecht/Crusader squad disembarks and moves to his TDA squad.  I pull a hail mary, pop Imperium Sword and Fleet/Hatred and pray to get the charge.  Nope.  Luckily only the Chappy had a ranged weapon and I lost a couple Neos.

 

He took the charge, and challenged.  LC Sarge Bro took it.  That little bastard stuck out two rounds vs a charging TDA Chaplain!  Gave out one wound but got splattered next round.  I believe the melee lasted 3 more rounds.  Helbrecht was kind of embarrasing, barely putting any wounds down.  Luckily the Power Axe went through some TDA, and the rest were failed armor saves.  We won it, but were down to Helbrecht, a chainsword Initiate and the Power Axe.  They started to close on the retreating Sternguard.  I ran my LRC to the backfield objective for the Big Guns capture.

 

 

We called it at this point.  6 to 6, tie game.  Thats the best I remember how the game went down.  It was fun for both sides.  I helped him out with some rules and advice, but he hammered me pretty hard with the Thunderfire and Fortress emplacements.  My Centurions didnt do anything, and I never fired my Thunderfire. 

 

 

From my angle, I cant really see any benefits for BT from the update.  My only units that did any good were things I ran from the 4th book.  The Raven turned the tide and we already had that.  Righteous Zeal would have made a HUGE difference for footslogging, running a full Black Tide, and saving points on that LRC, most likely for two Stormtalons.  Having Sarge Bros was the only thing I really enjoyed.  But alas, this is 6th edition, and theyre going to stay like this.  In a few months I will be playing an Honor Guard, two Vindis, and another Talon.

[Grimdeath]

Still learning. I definitely need to add some drop pods to the force. I was very tentative b/c i was unsure of the Centurions. In retrospect, they really are glass cannons. I was very happy with the performance of the Dreadnaught and Thunderfire cannon. Can't wait to play again!

[Liberame]

the lone drop pod would have come in turn 1, can't fire all 4 missiles in a single turn, but as you said you are still learning. As long as you had fun then mission successful. Only advice I can give is you should have used the shots thrown at the lrc onto something easier to kill like the dreads or infantry

[d3m01iti0n]

Ironically enough, I tried to figure out before the game started the deal with Drop Pod Assault.  As I understand it, you have to halve your Pods and half come in Turn 1.  I only have one, therefore cannot be halved, so thought I couldnt drop on Turn 1.  So I can definitely drop first thing?

 

Also...Stormstrikes cant fire all at once?  They have to go one at a time?  My Raven has broken maybe 4 times so I hardly use the stupid thing.

[Honda]

I thought a flyer flying can fire up to four weapons? So as the missiles are one shot, as long as he doesn't fire anything else, that should still be Ok, shouldn't it?

 

Note: In the description, it does not appear that he fired anything else.

[redmapa]

Ironically enough, I tried to figure out before the game started the deal with Drop Pod Assault.  As I understand it, you have to halve your Pods and half come in Turn 1.  I only have one, therefore cannot be halved, so thought I couldnt drop on Turn 1.  So I can definitely drop first thing?

 

Also...Stormstrikes cant fire all at once?  They have to go one at a time?  My Raven has broken maybe 4 times so I hardly use the stupid thing.

 

Drop pod assault is half of your pods (ROUNDING UP) have to come down on turn 1, thats why its best to always get an uneven number of pods (1,3,5,etc) so if you only have one, half it and then round up, one drop pod automatically arrives

 

As I understand it a SR could just fire all missiles at once and then use PotMS to fire another weapon, so 5 weapons if you move up to a certain distance (18-24'' ??), the missiles themselves are one use only but I dont remember them being one shot per turn only

[d3m01iti0n]

Good to know about the Pods.  As for the missiles, they were the only thing I fired that turn.  Everything else was out of range.

[Zeruvar]

Stormtatrike Missiles (for that matter all one shot missiles) are only 2 max per shooting. And each counts for the 4 (5 with potms).

[Liberame]

Stormtatrike Missiles (for that matter all one shot missiles) are only 2 max per shooting. And each counts for the 4 (5 with potms).

As Zeruvar has stated, you can only fire a maximum of two missiles a turn and they count towards your 4 weapons. The only ruling I am not 100% on is if the potms 5th weapon firing can be an additional missile.

 

And the Drop pod assault rules were stated :)

[Honda]

I'm not trying to challenge what was stated, but do you "only two Storm strike missiles per turn" guys have a reference? The reason I am curious is  that I was just reading the Flyers rules (BRB) and I was pretty sure they said flying flyers (or whatever it's called) can fire four weapons.

 

Did I miss a reference to missiles?

 

I know in my last game I only ended up firing two missiles a turn, but that's because my Storm Ravens are armed with Typhoon ML and TL-LC, so I'd only have two slots left. It also never occurred to me that we might get to fire 5 weapons because of PotMS.

 

Thanx in advance.

[Liberame]

pg81 Special Weapon Systems- Missiles

 

Also, potms can not allow a user to fire a third missile according to the rulebook :/

[Marshal Laeroth]

I'm not trying to challenge what was stated, but do you "only two Storm strike missiles per turn" guys have a reference? The reason I am curious is  that I was just reading the Flyers rules (BRB) and I was pretty sure they said flying flyers (or whatever it's called) can fire four weapons.

 

Did I miss a reference to missiles?

 

I know in my last game I only ended up firing two missiles a turn, but that's because my Storm Ravens are armed with Typhoon ML and TL-LC, so I'd only have two slots left. It also never occurred to me that we might get to fire 5 weapons because of PotMS.

 

Thanx in advance.

 

The rule they are referencing is under the Flyer rules, but under the Missiles heading.  Specifically states only two missiles per turn.

[Honda]

I stand corrected, you guys are right, it was under Special Weapons, which I know I've read before, but it didn't sink in.

 

Thanx for setting me straight.

 

Cheers,

[Gideon999]

Id be curious about the 5th weapon using PotMS myself.   My impression was that PotMS allows the use of "one more weapon to be fired at full BS than is usually allowed" meaning if you are using skyfire that turn to shoot at a flyer, you could use PotMS to fire one other weapon at a ground target at full BS.   Am I even close?

[Marshal_Roujakis]

Id be curious about the 5th weapon using PotMS myself.   My impression was that PotMS allows the use of "one more weapon to be fired at full BS than is usually allowed" meaning if you are using skyfire that turn to shoot at a flyer, you could use PotMS to fire one other weapon at a ground target at full BS.   Am I even close?

 

This is correct as stated, while a flyer is firing all 4 Weapons 1 could still be fired at full BS on a different target regardless of wether it used Skyfire or not... the only difference is if you're shooting at a Flyer, since the PotMS is its own weapon when firing you cannot use the Skyfire special rule on it if you haven't declared you're using it at the start of the shooting phase and you can only hit flyers with Snap Shots.

[tvih]

 

 

Id be curious about the 5th weapon using PotMS myself.   My impression was that PotMS allows the use of "one more weapon to be fired at full BS than is usually allowed" meaning if you are using skyfire that turn to shoot at a flyer, you could use PotMS to fire one other weapon at a ground target at full BS.   Am I even close?

 

This is correct as stated, while a flyer is firing all 4 Weapons 1 could still be fired at full BS on a different target regardless of wether it used Skyfire or not... the only difference is if you're shooting at a Flyer, since the PotMS is its own weapon when firing you cannot use the Skyfire special rule on it if you haven't declared you're using it at the start of the shooting phase and you can only hit flyers with Snap Shots.

 

 

Err. If you're using Skyfire for your other weapons, the PotMS shot uses it too, too. And if not, it doesn't either. As such if the rest of the weapons are firing at air targets, PotMS doesn't allow BS4 against a ground target. And same is true if other weapons are firing at ground targets and the one weapon is firing at a flyer.

[Grimdeath]

I still felt lucky/happy because my LR took 4 missle hits and kept going...until the next turn when it got popped. :P

[d3m01iti0n]

That was definitely a lucky explode roll though.  Will probably never happen again!