Batrep

[Brother Tiberus]

Warning, this is going to be a long post, so apologies in advance.

I have divided my post up into smaller bites, so skip what you want to.

There are a number of ideas and points I want to touch with regards to the RG that I’ve just figured out (hopefully enlightening other players, but more than likely stating the obvious for most generals). I think this would be pertinent with the Let’s Strive to Win a Major Tournament with Raven Guard post (thanks to Inquisitor Eisenhorn and all the contributors to that post).

So, the game was Emperors Will (1 obj each) with Vanguard deployment. No night fighting on turn 1, I got first turn. Army points up to 1850.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My list:

Chapter Master w/ jump pack, artificer armour, shield eternal, burning blade – 270pts

Vanguard Vets w/ jump packs, storm shields, 4x claws, powerfist – 245pts

Scouts x10 – 170pts

Combat squad1: 5x sniper rifles

Combat squad2: combi-melta, speeder storm with heavy flamer

Tactical Marines x10 -215pts

Combat squad1: missile launcher

Combat squad2: meltagun, combi-melta, rhino, dozer blade

Tactical Marines x10 -215pts

Combat squad1: missile launcher

Combat squad2: gravgun, combi-grav, rhino, dozer blade

Assault Marines x10 w/ 2x flamers, power sword, melta bomb -200pts

Stormtalon w/ skyhammer launcher -125pts

Stormraven w/ hurricane bolters, multi-melta -230pts

Thunderfire cannon -100pts

Hunter w/dozer blade -75pts

Opponents List (Chaos + Daemons) [this list is a bit fuzzy, he didn’t have a printed list so I’m going by my holey memory)

Sorcerer

Thousand Sons x10 w/ rhino

Cultists x 15 w/pistols and clubs

Cultists x 15 w/pistols and clubs

Forgefiend x2

Heldrake w/ baleflamer

Heldrake w/ hades cannon

Changer of Ways w/ grimoure

Pink Horrors x10

Screamers x8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I did:

Deployed my thunderfire, sniper scouts and 1 missile combat squad in the back line with the objective in a bolstered ruin. Tucked my Hunter behind that ruin, but to the left side with some line of site. Stuck the other missile squad mid-field in my deployment in some ruins. Had my assault marines, vanguard with master and 2 rhinos deployed as far forward as I could. Had my stormtalon escort the stormraven for reserves.

My opponent deployed his 2 fiends on the flanks of his force, his rhino tucked behind one of them. One set of cultists deployed in the ruins with his objective, with the Lord of Change just behind them (out of site). Had his screamers in front of the other forgefiend. He kept the one squad of cultists and horrors in reserve.

Pre-turn 1:

Opponent did not manage to seize, so I got Turn 1. Scouted forward my rhinos 12” (while my opponent looked on shocked, and I said “Bazinga” as I did it ). Infiltrated my speeder typhoon and scouted that forward as well. Scouted my hunter to the other side of the ruins, giving me better line of sight and denying his one forgefiend any shots to it.

Turn 1:

Moved my frontline forces forward and prepared some shooting. My hunter fired at the farthest (furtherest? Most far away? Eh) fiend and immobilized it! Speeder storm flamed the screamers, not doing much, while the scouts melta’d the other forgefiend, also immobilizing it. Tried to melta the rhino with my marines, no luck. Tried to grav it as well, no luck. Fired my thunderfire into the screamers and managed to kill 2, while my missiles seemed to be made of rubber. Ran my vets and assault marines forward into some cover and got ready for the pain.

He drove his rhino forward, got out his Sons. Flew his Changer over my speeder, causing a single glance. Moved his cultists forward out of the ruins. Had his screamers move over my vets, which laughed at them. Now the hurting starts. He cast misfortune and enfeeble on my assault squad,
and cast prescience on his sons. Shot them dead. Popped my melta rhino and my speeder. Assaulted my scouts which resulted in a drawn combat. He used the grimoire on the screamers.

Turn 2:

Got my vets to charge the thousand sons, killed his warlord and the squad. Scouts still sat in combat. Moved my rhino and melta squad forward closer to his objective, out of line of fire of the fiends. My two flyers came on and poured fire fire into the screamers (along with my cannon, missiles, etc) and only killed 1. Dang.

His 2 flyers came on and he cast misfortune on my vets. The flyers popped my other rhino and proceeded to flame my vets and grav-gun squad
off the board. My chapter master lost 2 wounds (ouch) and hung in there. Killed off the melta squad as well and then proceeded to my objective.

Turn 3:

My Chapter Master finished off the cultists in combat with my remaining scout and they consolidated near his objective. Hunter caused a
pen on the flamer heldrake and my flyers managed to force it to fly off the board. Got a wound on the changer, but no passed his grounded tests.

His pink horrors and other cultists came onto the board. Horrors deep striked right by my objective and his cultists walked onto the
board by his objective. Tried to shoot my scout off his objective, no such luck! The changer and drake flew over and shot off my 2 flyers, while the
screamers proceeded to eat through my marines.

Turn 4:

My chapter master cleaned up the other squad of cultists, and my marines put some more wounds on the screamers and changer.

He continued to eat my marines and fly all over the board. Shot off my thunderfire cannon, and sniper scouts. His flamer dragon came on
and killed my scout on his objective.

Turn 5:

Just out of spite I charged his one forgefiend with my master and nuked it good. Managed to put another wound on the changer, but he still
flew around. Hunter killed the hades heldrake.

He finished off my marines on my objective and consolidated.

The End.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I should have done:

Scouted my army back into my deployment zone and waited for him to come to me. That way I could have got the assault marines into combat where they belong and defended my objective a little better.

I also should have used the Land Speeder Storm’s heavy flamer on the cultists, which would have made my scouts do far better in the combat that ensued.

What I realised:

The new Raven Guard rules mean I need to play some more finesse, rather than just jumping into the thick of things and hoping to win. I also play Dark Eldar with some success, so hopefully this won’t be too hard to do. I need to be sneaky and lure my opponent into my kill zones on my terms.

The sheer stunned look on my opponents face when I scouted and got stealth (which saved my vehicles from quite a bit of firepower) for turn 1 was priceless. I could see that this threw his whole game plan into a spin. Applying pressure to that feeling would have helped me a lot, but I just didn’t capitalise on it.

Hammer of Wrath attacks rock with RG! The re-roll to wound is fantastic and helps take out those extra models before combat gets really messy.

The Hunter performed well, do not under-estimate the armourbane one STR7 as my opponent did.

The Chapter Master is a beast! Expensive, but could take on just about anything and come out a winner.

I believe the RG need some sort of psyker defence/offence. The amount of failed deny the witch rolls I got was crazy and that turned the game into my opponents favour. Maybe a librarian or Space Wolf allies would help that situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, there you have it. C&C are welcome and hopefully this helps (someone) on the road to victory!

Edited October 4, 2013 by Brother Tiberus

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Nice report! I don't blame your for your enthusiasm in scouting those rhinos straight at your opponent (bazinga!) but I think you made the right conclusion that you can't run raven guard like blood angels.

 

Also liked to see some unexpected support choices like the Hunter added to the list, I haven't seen enough bat rep performance for the new units yet so it's good to hear about one in action.

[KGatch113]

Nice report! I don't blame your for your enthusiasm in scouting those rhinos straight at your opponent (bazinga!) but I think you made the right conclusion that you can't run raven guard like blood angels.

 

Also liked to see some unexpected support choices like the Hunter added to the list, I haven't seen enough bat rep performance for the new units yet so it's good to hear about one in action.

 

I've advocated using Grey Hunter squads instead of tactical squads in a drop pod army, and then using the 2 runepriest you get to attach to shooting squads in the backfield, for psychic defense and presicence. You can always drop them as well and Jaws things like riptides. GH squads make better drop pod squads than Tacs.

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Nice report! I don't blame your for your enthusiasm in scouting those rhinos straight at your opponent (bazinga!) but I think you made the right conclusion that you can't run raven guard like blood angels.

Also liked to see some unexpected support choices like the Hunter added to the list, I haven't seen enough bat rep performance for the new units yet so it's good to hear about one in action.

I've advocated using Grey Hunter squads instead of tactical squads in a drop pod army, and then using the 2 runepriest you get to attach to shooting squads in the backfield, for psychic defense and presicence. You can always drop them as well and Jaws things like riptides. GH squads make better drop pod squads than Tacs.

Cold comfort for those of us who don't want to run Wolves.

[KGatch113]

Nice report! I don't blame your for your enthusiasm in scouting those rhinos straight at your opponent (bazinga!) but I think you made the right conclusion that you can't run raven guard like blood angels.

Also liked to see some unexpected support choices like the Hunter added to the list, I haven't seen enough bat rep performance for the new units yet so it's good to hear about one in action.

I've advocated using Grey Hunter squads instead of tactical squads in a drop pod army, and then using the 2 runepriest you get to attach to shooting squads in the backfield, for psychic defense and presicence. You can always drop them as well and Jaws things like riptides. GH squads make better drop pod squads than Tacs.

Cold comfort for those of us who don't want to run Wolves.

If its any consolation, you can justify it 2 ways. 1 is that RG and Wolves have been allies in the past. 2, just paint them up as RG and say they are specially trained drop pod assault squads. Ditto the runepriests (ravenpriests?)

[Bannus]

With the Codex being so new, I would hate to see players so quickly move to "allies is the answer" so soon after the Codex has been released.

 

I'd recommend exploring the full potential of this Codex before scrambling to add another.

[Emperors Immortals]

Do you think dropping the raven for a second talon and thunderfire would help you defend a home objective and define kill zones better? Its basically a list im working on.

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

With the Codex being so new, I would hate to see players so quickly move to "allies is the answer" so soon after the Codex has been released.

 

I'd recommend exploring the full potential of this Codex before scrambling to add another.

My sentiment entirely! Well said.

[Brother_Ead]

Good report! But vehicles don't get stealth.

[Brother Tiberus]

Nice report! I don't blame your for your enthusiasm in scouting those rhinos straight at your opponent (bazinga!) but I think you made the right conclusion that you can't run raven guard like blood angels.

Also liked to see some unexpected support choices like the Hunter added to the list, I haven't seen enough bat rep performance for the new units yet so it's good to hear about one in action.

Thanks, appreciate it.

With the Codex being so new, I would hate to see players so quickly move to "allies is the answer" so soon after the Codex has been released.

I'd recommend exploring the full potential of this Codex before scrambling to add another.

Allies is an option. I just mentioned the Wolf Rune Priest simply because I play them as an army too I did mention that a librarian would be helpful too. Maybe a level 2 with possibly getting Invisibility

Good report! But vehicles don't get stealth.

Thanks! They don't? Oh well, the it was only a 6+ in this rep anyway, which I didn't make

Thanks for all the positive comments, and for other ideas! Keep 'em coming!

[Hellrender]

only units with the Chapter Tactics rule get benefits from the Chapter Traits. So most vehicles (all i think) dont. Most infantry on the other hand, does.

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

How did you give the scouts a Typhoon?

[Lord Doyok]

Nice batrep.

 

Like some mentioned, vehicles don't benefit from the Stealth and Scout in the 1st turn, unless they are dedicated transport whereby they gain the Scout conferred by their passengers. Summore if I'm not wrong, scouts redeployment should be done before Seizing the Initiative.

 

 

My hunter fired at the farthest (furtherest? Most far away? Eh) fiend and immobilized it!

What a lucky shot you have there. I'm still thinking between a Hunter (but already have ADL) and a Whirlwind (for nuking out the Tau Pathfinders). Which one can best benefit my RG.

[Brother Tiberus]

How did you give the scouts a Typhoon?

Whoops, that's meant to be a Land Speeder Storm

Will fix it...

[widied]

Nice list and good batt rep. I've been dreaming up a similar one though I was thinking of three storm talons instead of the one and a raven. And then using more vv but less kitted out so they stay relatively cheap but also dont take up a fast slot

[minigun762]

Do you see value in replacing the Captain with a Chaplain for the reroll?