Relic Tourney (updated 4/27) Game 2 and 3 added.

[Polythemus]

Hey just wanted to try and catalouge my most recent tourney experience. If you want to see more coverage of other armies of the tournament check out the blog in my signature otherwise...

 

Game one versus Dark eldar.

I had known that there would be a dark eldar army at the tournament but unfortunately I was unable to avoid it in the first round I knew that this would be a serious problem for my army, but hope springs eternal!

 

First the table. similar to a table i had played on before, this setup means no line of site blockers. Even with all of those ruins there is no LOS blocking happening here. The objectives were all the same points value. there were 5, middle and table quarters.

 

However, at first things were looking up, i stole the iniative! i was nearly in big trouble because after deep striking i learned that all his viehicles had night shields! yikes. this reduces the range of your weapons.

 

After turn 1 the board looked like this. i had destroyed three vehicles and caused him to lose 50 poison shots would it be enough?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ezWP-bpPjck/U0nCj3Q7lgI/AAAAAAAABNc/3MLOiPslC6Q/s1600/IMG_1660.JPG

Turn 1 deathwing assault kills one ravager, and two venoms.  Not bad.

 T1 DE - killed most of squad on top of middle building, and most of second squad in the open.

 

T2 DA - LRC moves forward. LR moves into the ruins combined killed another venom. lascanon fire from the second land raider hits but a successful jink by the ravager, and it avoids damage. DWK in LRC multi assault the Trueborn and raider, but fail to pen or glance the raider. I had decided not to activate maces in order to attempt to stay locked in combat.

 

T2 DE - Combined fire kills the second terminator squad in the open and destroys a lascannon on the LR and immobilizes it. Having not played for a while i did not realize you could disembark a squad and embark another squad, otherwise i might have protected the second squad of exposed termies in the LRC, after charging the previous turn.

 

T3 DA - Still 3 venoms 2 raiders and 3 ravagers left. Yikes.  In an attempt to protect the LR i reposition the librarian. No more dark eldar vehicles go down and the combat continues with the true born and deathwing knights.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zfjNzqU04-Q/U0nCj_8OzEI/AAAAAAAABNg/JUcfDjwWG4M/s1600/IMG_1661.JPG

 

Deathwing knights fight a desperate battle. Our hero's fall to the elvish onslaught!

 T3 DE - The lance weapons converge on the LRC and destroy it. the trueborn lose the fight versu the death wing knights. Belial emerges from the wrecked LRC.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJOUJ4RGkkQ/U0nCjUg9OoI/AAAAAAAABNY/c60_UEsozNc/s1600/IMG_1662.JPG

 

things are looking bleak for our heroes.

T4 DA - With only one troop remaining in the LR it is time for desperate measures. The termies in the LR emerge and hope to charge the venom to the left, then use that to spring board onto the objective near the corner.  The LR fires at the at vemon, and so do the termies but it avoids explosions. the termies are forced to charge it. Meanwhile the deathwing knights charge the nearby trueborn, and lose one termie to overwatch. the combat is won by the terminators and the trueborn flee. belial charges  tries to pen the nearby raider but cant wreck it.

 

T4 DE - the eldar clean house and destroy all but one deathwing knight. 

 

T5 DA - the last deathwing knight tries a 9" charge to destroy vects venom but dies to overwatch.

 

T5 DE - NO need i was tabled.

 

Analysis - I was hoping to face anyone but dark eldar but sadly the matchup was random and... SURPRISE dark eldar. 

There were a few things that made this a tough game

3 ravagers, 3 raiders, 5 venoms.

1.) This was a min/maxed D.Eldar list which means opposing AV 14 doesn't matter, tons of highly mobile troops, and withering firepower that defies statistical anomallies (unlike elite lists which rely on them).

2.) In spite of playing on the city board, there was no line of sight blocking terrain. this makes it tough for terminators especially in the conditions and opponent exhibited here. 

3.) It felt like my saves were below average. Granted hes throwing a bucket of dice at me every turn. (25 shot for each venom). I needed to be a little luckier with the 2+ save to have a chance here.

4.) After the tournamant was over there was some investigation and it was determined that the list that was generated for this tournament was actually over by 8 points. i dont really think that matters as it would have meant that one warrior would have been dropped but still... the guy had forgotten his codex and had written out his list prior to the tournament.

 

That said there were some things that went well this game but after a closer analysis, there are a few things i might have done differently. I was set up to attempt to take the second turn. I was very fortunate to steal the initiative.

1.) Should I have deep struck on turn 2? i think i actually made the right decision in going for turn one since there were so many weapons he was packing. I had to try to take a few out to protect my transports. But i probably should have deep struck closer to his units. they were all packed together and this would mean they had a limited number of places they could go after the movement phase. Had i dropped closer i might have been able to get a few more power fists swinging at troops/transports. reducing his chances of fireing at me.

2.) when you have nothing else to prescience, prescience the multimelta vehicles.

3.) even though a unit cant disembark then remark on another transport, a transport can disembark one unit and embark another unit. I could have utilized this to protect my termies on turn 2. 

 

theres not too much else to say about this one. not sure how else to deal with dark eldar. maybe take a differnt psychic power for the libby? I never really had line of sight to any troops due to trying to hide behind the LRC. Just going off of the primaris powers, perhaps the telekenesis one, "assail," would have been better. its a tough matchup to be sure.

[Brother Heinrich]

God nothing sucks more than getting your painted army beaten by a tide a grey plastic. I've also noticed an alarming trend in 40k battle reports where the field is always set up with very few LoS blocking pieces of terrain. With my group we always place a central piece of terrain large enough to block LoS from a Wraith Knight, then set up the rest of the terrain based off that, it has a wonderful way of equalizing play. Makes me wonder about whether or not the complaints most people have against armies like Tau are due to them being OP or just terrible terrain setup. Condolences brother, there will be other wars.

[Interrogator Stobz]

You sure had the odds stacked against you Brother. If I might ask, was there any way to get close enough to charge him on turn 1 or 2? Killing all his fast vehicles with powerfists is really funny but only achievable if you can be aggressive and corner him. I did it against a Tau army a few games ago, look on opponents face was priceless. It's always easier said than done but your list has no chance if used defensively, follow Sammael's advice "Attack, Attack, Attack!" :D

[Hidicul]

I also play DE and lack of LoS blockers also hurt that army. If you had run black or green wing or a combined wing you probably could of destroyed him. DE is really the bane of terminator only lists as we can bring enough fire power that your gona fail that 2+ save enough to hurt your army. Props on putting up a very good fight against an overwhelming opponent.

[Polythemus]

Thanks for the feedback brothers. I am assembling a few more battle reports from this tourney. The others have more pics rest assured. I feel that a raven wing army would have just as much trouble as terminator army, given the low model count for both. In fact i think that a ravenwing army would be at even more of a disadvantage since they rely on the higher toughness to reduce wound tally.

 

@stobz how right you are sir. Its been a while since i faced the villany of Commorough, so it was a bit of relearning.  i think if I had tried to pin him in more it may have worked better, but as you say, "Attack..." One of the other things that happened during this game was that this opponent thought that occupants of open topped transports only suffered str 3 hits if a vehicle exploded, as opposed to str 4 which is the correct ruling. never thought to check it on game day.

 

@heinrich - cheers brother. this opponent certainly didn't score too high in the painting department. However, he was a good fella to play against. It was a stern test and i was humbled by it. this tourney featured a dearth of LOS blockers on all tables, so I was glad I brought the land raiders.

[Isiah]

I'm suprised looking at that board that nothing was a true LOS blocker!

 

Nevertheless it looks great - always nice to play (and even lose) on a set up like that.

 

Cheers

I

[Garath]

DE where my first army and I was quite sucessful with it.

 

  That statement was meant to say that what I'm about to say is solid - from the perspective of a DE player.  What makes them uneasy (among indirect fire weapons) is the almost complete lack if 48" range on their weapons.

 

  How can DW use this?

 

  The plan involves 4 things:

 

1. CML on most DW squads . And Godhammer Land Raiders.  Yes, Godhammer, Those weapons will give you the ability to hit them first regardless if you go first or second.  And furthermore, you should keep at our max range almost all the time.

 

2.Objective placement and a good setup.  Do not place objectives anywhere near one another.  No. "Stretch" the table !   If the OBJ are far from each other , the DE player has to pick a side where to send his troops early on.  And can't change his mind.

  And so that range can come into play.

 

...to be continued

[Garath]

..continuing...

 

  where was I ? - ah yes objectives

 

  The fact is : DE player has to overwhelm you to have a chance!  His troops , even with transports are too weak to deal with any of your units if going one on one.

   He cannot count on a single Venom with trueborn inside to deal with say...5 DW .  He has to gang up on your dudes.  A single venom might in theory kill all of the termies in your one unit - or none.  The former is a catastrophy for you, but unlikely- the latter is eventual too.  A single Venom will kill some termies , and then be downed by the heavy weapon in the DW squad (you are using CML -right?) 

    So the DE has to send 2 Venoms with Trueborn inside to deal with 5 DW. And he will. And they kill 5 termies easly.   And after that they claim objectives.  Not if those objectives are far away !  

  Objectives placed more then 30" away from each other force him to pick a side where he will send his scoring units. And they have to gang up -or you'll eat him alive! 

 

  

  Target priorty

 

  Kill the transports first!  Seriously.  A ravager with 3 dark lances fires and hits 2 on average. Wounds once or twice and if shooting at a terminator - you either have a cover or inv save.  A 120 pt model will kill a single termie on average.  Venoms and Raiders filled with cheap troops are the scary part of the army! 

   Cut his mobility and you will win!  Your army outranges him, you have placed objectives too far for footsloggers to reach - kill his transports.  Those venoms not only force a lot of saves- they carry guys with even more firepower.  And they HAVE to come to you if you have CML.

   Once they are downed - split fire is your friend.  Strom bolters kill dudes - CML pops another transport!  Until all are down.

 

This part is where a Godhammer LR outshines Crusader. 2 lascannons and a H.bolter can easly down 2 Venoms/Raiders with a bit of luck .

 

   I'd say the priority list is:

Ravagers with plasma

Transports

Everything else

 

  4. Cutting his firepower

 

  This is easier  said then done, but actually doing it isn't THAT hard.  The body of the LR is big -and we are going to use it here. Thisis one of the situations for it. DE transports want to fly around you and kill your troops - staying around 24" from you .  Inside most weapons' ranges - but outside your charge range.  The only moment they come nearer is when they are moving in for the kill.

    Our army ouranges them.  LR are big. Here's what we do...

 

  Landraiders next to each other (castle up) , a unit of termies behind them with a PFG Libby inside.  Now the LRaiders have 4++.

  One flank should be protected by the board edge (so you deploy in the corner) .

   Move your army a steady 6" forward every turn.  Move terminators so that they can only see and be seen by a single unit- the one they are shooting at.

    Deploy most of your army on the table.  There's a trick to it - he wants you to DWA. He's thinking if you do DWA - fine the termies will kill one unit maybe- and be open to the rest of his army's firepower.  Using DWA is therefore not a good idea. 

 

    Not using DWA alltogether is also a shame. Why?  We want to keep them guessing, don't we? 

 

  Here's a devious plan

 

  Say our army is 2 LR, 4 squad of DW , Belial and Libby. Pretty standard .  We deploy the LR as discussed earlier. Put down Belial and Libby in a single DW unit behind LRs.

   DWA turn one deepstrike the other 3.  Put them all within 6" of Belial.  Not only are LR going to protect them from small arms firepower,and the opponent has to be careful of his setup(he's thinking you'll deep strike DW on his ...behind).  And DW get a free re-roll to hit.  Sweet.

 

  Asuming that DW list I "wrote" has 2 Godhammers and 4 squads with a CML in them- that's....

4 twn linked lascannon 

2 twin linked h. bolters

3 twin linked CML

1 CML with a re-roll (as we do have a Librarian)

A variable number of storm bolters that are also twin linked

 

  If that cannot down at least 3 Venoms right off the bat...then I'm changing my dice

 

 Cheers

 

G_

 

 

 DE are scary if you play fair.  

[Prot]

I feel for you man. It's difficult to be outnumbered that heavily by a mobile, extremely shooty army. Personally I think DE are an underrated tourney army.

 

Good bat rep though, and enjoyed the pictures!

[[TA]Typher]

A lance has a 66% chance to hit. That is lowered to 33% to cause a HP of damage (glance or pen), and then 16.5% after your PFG.

 

With 4 hull points you can probably survive all game even with multiple lances shooting.

 

Pens are your biggest fear. Hit 66%, this drops to 22% to pen, then down to 11% to get past the PFG. Being AP2 you have a 33% chance to explode, which brings the total possibility down to about 4%.

 

Then you get to make them re-roll for the DWV rule.

 

This is per lance shot. The chance of them wrecking you is fairly good with enough lance shots. Losing protective transports and mobile LOS terrain will really hurt against the volume of shots DE can pump out.

 

For me personally I like to target the ravengers first. Making sure my LR survive is important to keeping my troops safe. With most of my force DWA on turn 2, the biggest threat is those lances.

 

CMLs and bolters can easily take down transports. Making sure you have meltas on your LR can ensure a DE vehicle explosion. Move 12", power of the machine to hit on 3s, and you have a 66% of explosion per hit. 83% if the vehicle went flat out.

 

Killing the ravengers first lets you move and catch anything else in his army with you LR and its guns, with little to no threat from his few remaining anti-vehicle guns.

 

 

 

I havent played a beast pack DE player yet, dunno if i'd do something different there.

 

I did play a DE that uses grotesques. Smiting Knights wrecked them.

[Hidicul]

Beast packs are nasty. You need volume of fire against them. They have an invuln save till you wipe out the 20+ kyms they run and when backed by elder they get even worse. The DE would be a devastating tourny army if the organizers would actually put real LoS terrain on the field. I saw one guy take 3rd or 4th at a big tourny. He would of taken 2nd but when the 5 min warning came they realized they had time for one more player turn. The game went from him winning to them tying.

[[TA]Typher]

Beast packs are nasty. You need volume of fire against them. They have an invuln save till you wipe out the 20+ kyms they run and when backed by elder they get even worse. The DE would be a devastating tourny army if the organizers would actually put real LoS terrain on the field. I saw one guy take 3rd or 4th at a big tourny. He would of taken 2nd but when the 5 min warning came they realized they had time for one more player turn. The game went from him winning to them tying.

 

This is one thing I love about my DW army...

 

At most I only deploy three units.. and moving so little models my turns always go so fast.

[Garath]

A lance has a 66% chance to hit. That is lowered to 33% to cause a HP of damage (glance or pen), and then 16.5% after your PFG.

 

With 4 hull points you can probably survive all game even with multiple lances shooting.

 

Pens are your biggest fear. Hit 66%, this drops to 22% to pen, then down to 11% to get past the PFG. Being AP2 you have a 33% chance to explode, which brings the total possibility down to about 4%.

 

Then you get to make them re-roll for the DWV rule.

 

This is per lance shot. The chance of them wrecking you is fairly good with enough lance shots. Losing protective transports and mobile LOS terrain will really hurt against the volume of shots DE can pump out.

 

For me personally I like to target the ravengers first. Making sure my LR survive is important to keeping my troops safe. With most of my force DWA on turn 2, the biggest threat is those lances.

 

CMLs and bolters can easily take down transports. Making sure you have meltas on your LR can ensure a DE vehicle explosion. Move 12", power of the machine to hit on 3s, and you have a 66% of explosion per hit. 83% if the vehicle went flat out.

 

Killing the ravengers first lets you move and catch anything else in his army with you LR and its guns, with little to no threat from his few remaining anti-vehicle guns.

 

 

    The part about killing ravagers first I do not agree with. I do agree with  you that they are dangerous and have to be delt with - but hear me out here.

 

  Ii'll take a simple example of strenght in numbers the De use to beat us.

 

 A unit of DW in a LR costs us well over 500 pts. Depenting on loadout - it can range up to 550.  For those points a DE player can field a Ravager for around 120 and 2 Venoms with Trueborn inside for 360.  Those Trueborn carry Blasters,which are Lance weapons.

 

  So It's 5 terminators and a LR  vs 10 trueborn with 2 blasters and 2 Venoms with a gazillion anti infantry shots    .  

 

This process is then mulitiplied by multiplying the number of units on each side.

 

   The choice for the DW is the folliwing: Either focus on Ravager or down the Venom(s) .  

 

If he focuses on ravager ,and keeps termies inside LR to protect them - DE will send 2 venoms to spring forward- and trueborn might pop that LR with blasters, while Venoms will kill the guys inside....and DE win

 

 Second option

 

  Dismount Terminators . Focus on Venoms. Fire LR first and kill one. The fire with termies , split fire SB to deal with trueborn-use CML to destroy the other Venom.

   What have we got now?  A single ravager and some trueborn across the board that might not even have LOS to termies (as the LR could shield them) . Can the ravager kill a LR ?-sure it can.  But It doesn't matter anymore - DE have lost. Termies will destroy ravager , and the trueborn are stuck midfield with no hope. 

   Best case scenario - LR will survive. In that case the story for DE takes a sad turn. Termies embark LR and it simply drives off and engages another target. Or everyone gangs up on those trueborn.

 

  Ravagers are a bait in a DE army  -they are not ment to win you the game. They are expandable tank hunters.

 Venoms and Raiders are the bread and butter of a DE army.  If you destroy oe of them - you've just made the unit inside near useless.  DE player will consider them dead. 

[Hidicul]

Very true Garth. Once our troops are stuck at 6" move they become pretty useless. All the big toys the DE bring are to scare you into takingthem out first cuz in other armies its the big things you have to worry about. With DE its our infantry that get you.

[[TA]Typher]

 

 

 

A lance has a 66% chance to hit. That is lowered to 33% to cause a HP of damage (glance or pen), and then 16.5% after your PFG.

 

With 4 hull points you can probably survive all game even with multiple lances shooting.

 

Pens are your biggest fear. Hit 66%, this drops to 22% to pen, then down to 11% to get past the PFG. Being AP2 you have a 33% chance to explode, which brings the total possibility down to about 4%.

 

Then you get to make them re-roll for the DWV rule.

 

This is per lance shot. The chance of them wrecking you is fairly good with enough lance shots. Losing protective transports and mobile LOS terrain will really hurt against the volume of shots DE can pump out.

 

For me personally I like to target the ravengers first. Making sure my LR survive is important to keeping my troops safe. With most of my force DWA on turn 2, the biggest threat is those lances.

 

CMLs and bolters can easily take down transports. Making sure you have meltas on your LR can ensure a DE vehicle explosion. Move 12", power of the machine to hit on 3s, and you have a 66% of explosion per hit. 83% if the vehicle went flat out.

 

Killing the ravengers first lets you move and catch anything else in his army with you LR and its guns, with little to no threat from his few remaining anti-vehicle guns.

 

The part about killing ravagers first I do not agree with. I do agree with you that they are dangerous and have to be delt with - but hear me out here.

 

Ii'll take a simple example of strenght in numbers the De use to beat us.

 

A unit of DW in a LR costs us well over 500 pts. Depenting on loadout - it can range up to 550. For those points a DE player can field a Ravager for around 120 and 2 Venoms with Trueborn inside for 360. Those Trueborn carry Blasters,which are Lance weapons.

 

So It's 5 terminators and a LR vs 10 trueborn with 2 blasters and 2 Venoms with a gazillion anti infantry shots .

 

This process is then mulitiplied by multiplying the number of units on each side.

 

The choice for the DW is the folliwing: Either focus on Ravager or down the Venom(s) .

 

If he focuses on ravager ,and keeps termies inside LR to protect them - DE will send 2 venoms to spring forward- and trueborn might pop that LR with blasters, while Venoms will kill the guys inside....and DE win

 

Second option

 

Dismount Terminators . Focus on Venoms. Fire LR first and kill one. The fire with termies , split fire SB to deal with trueborn-use CML to destroy the other Venom.

What have we got now? A single ravager and some trueborn across the board that might not even have LOS to termies (as the LR could shield them) . Can the ravager kill a LR ?-sure it can. But It doesn't matter anymore - DE have lost. Termies will destroy ravager , and the trueborn are stuck midfield with no hope.

Best case scenario - LR will survive. In that case the story for DE takes a sad turn. Termies embark LR and it simply drives off and engages another target. Or everyone gangs up on those trueborn.

 

Ravagers are a bait in a DE army -they are not ment to win you the game. They are expandable tank hunters.

Venoms and Raiders are the bread and butter of a DE army. If you destroy oe of them - you've just made the unit inside near useless. DE player will consider them dead.

In general ithink you are correct. I was stating how I like to fight them. I've been running dual LRs so the mobile cover and LOS terrain limits most of the DE anti-infantry fire. So, the only real threat to my is usually the ravengera on my LR.

 

However, my focus changes to the troops transports as the game progresses. On turn two, I usually try to split fire CML, while the storm bolters hit exposed troops and AV10 transports.

 

Hopefully at the end of turn two moat of the serious anti-tank weapons are dead.

 

I think if i was playing with less landraiders I'd focus the DE transports first like you said. As it stands now the anti-troop DE have nothing to shoot at until turn three against my list

[MadMek83]

Dark Eldars are one of the few armies I am really affraid of. High speed and the amount of lance weapons (blasters, blast pistols and dark lances ) is usually staggering with amount of heywire grenades. Dark Eldars are one of the few unless the only army that can steam roll over Wall of AV14. Like said, Dark Eldars was the army you did not want to face off and Murphy's law: you faced it off. Its always sad to see painted army lose to unpainted / primed army.

[Polythemus]

Relic Game 2

 

Onward to game 2. Having lost to the Dark Eldar in round 1 there was nothing to do but try to overcome my next opponent. This was an army similar to one that I had faced in the Balance of power batrep, this time the only objective was a central statue which you could score if your troops were within 6" of the statue. what was unclear is if this meant that denial forces could be used to stop scoring. On a personal note this guy was going to re-write his list after disovering that he he only brought two flying stands, so i leant him one, then he plays me... karma can be a b.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hmfI7daQuXI/U1XWa33sLjI/AAAAAAAABXo/kxNpH3YT4kk/s1600/deployment.gif

Ultramarine LRC speeds its payload torward the Relic.

 

 

 

Deploy  - Not Visible in the above picture is that my opponent place a third tactical squad on the table just to the west of the squad currently being moved. Since this mission was capturing the center i knew i would want to draw the terminators in the landraider back. They would be a massive threat so it was important to bait them away from the middle. I felt that it was more important to use belial to deep strike a squad with some precision as I wanted to kill the troop choice close to the the table edge, and bait him to come back to deal with my deathwing. If the hammernators continued to be a problem I would use the Death wing knights to clean them up or at least tie them up.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dYN1LEnW3xs/U1XWeB_lY5I/AAAAAAAABYo/UmMWG66dNg8/s1600/t1a.gif

All terminator squads come in and focus on the elimination of the back squad of ultramarines. One cames dangerously close to mishaping. Shooting from the deathwing land raiders explodes the ultras LRC (my opponent just had not taken it off the table.) netting me first blood.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0j3sUQT_Mpg/U1XWedNDbWI/AAAAAAAABYg/10NGeinLBdg/s1600/t1b.gif

Here is the squad that that is a little too close for comfort to those Hammernators and chaplain. Can you spot the mistake he made with that termie squad? Here's a hint: its all a numbers game...

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GHZROiMUNjk/U1XWe-m4dKI/AAAAAAAABYk/GBK3aFg3_R4/s1600/t1c.gif

The deathwing strare down their prey.

 

SM 1 - With their land raider destroyed it had looked like a tough outing for the hammernators but with my squad scattering so close it was like Christmas for them.

 

DA 1 - I was able to neutralize the land raider but the flyers would still pose a problem. And one of his tactical squads was in the stromraven giving him the abilty to get the drop on the relic whenever it came on.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EL5TnXTLJow/U1XWcfPgnPI/AAAAAAAABYQ/p0QJgLqj18E/s1600/sm2.gif

Hammernators charge the nearby deathwing squad. the chaplian accepts a challenge with the sergent.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TqNaDU8C8rY/U1XWddfXtAI/AAAAAAAABYM/4q80KIMy9tw/s1600/sm2b.gif

The only one still standing is the deathwing sergent, the hammernators pass all their saves!

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P2453ISf0zU/U1XWdfOCTXI/AAAAAAAABYI/0PNddr5uVd0/s1600/sm2a.gif

At the end of the turn the spacemarine flyers have all come on and belial dies while trying to tank wounds for his squad.

 

 

SM 2 - The hammer in the sky falls on the Deathwing. Having taken out belial, and decimated one deathwing squad, it would be tough for the remaining deathwing.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fnARrRI_elc/U1XWajq3PCI/AAAAAAAABXw/NHdloMrW2Dc/s1600/end-2.gif

 Picture taken after Spacemarine flyers had moved. At the end of the second turn the ultramarine tactical squad is charged by the 4 DWT and fails moral and runs, while the chaplain and the deathwing sergent, countinue to dance around each each doing no wounds.

 

DA 2 - after charging the freed up tactical squad it and winning combat the deathwing were in a position to threaten a couple different things and were closer to the center. In combat the hammernator sergent atempts a heroic intervention but fails so the deathwing sergent lives another day.

 

SM 3- tactical squads jump out of the moving storm raven, and instead of choosing to go after the central objective they go for the the 4 man terminator squad. The libby dies as my opponent uses his fliers to perform a targeted fly-by-shooting.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s6F9X-HKL0s/U1XWa_kbvrI/AAAAAAAABXg/cmW1ivYzVaE/s1600/da3.gif

Picture actually taken at the begining of Spacemarine turn 4 after flyers had moved. At the end of DA3 the DWK emerge and assault the hammernators, guess how they did? In the back ground the other DWT emerge and charge 11" making it into contact with tactical squad north of the relic, decimating their numbers.

 

DA3 - Knowing that it was only a matter of time before the hammernator sergent makes a heroic intervention on the DWT sergent, I decide no is the time for bold action. I charge the DWK into the hammernators looking for them to do some wounds and make some invulnerable saves. They just die in droves, while my opponent makes save after 3++ save. Meanwhile luck smiles on the angels by allowing me to make a 9" charge to get in contact with the tacticals north of the relic, they merrily swat the squad with power fists.

 

SM 4 - The hammernators finish off the Deathwing knights, and consolidate toward the objective. meanwhile the last tactical squad huffs and puffs to get close to the objective. (they would take no more part in the game.) My opponent flies his Storm talons off while he tries to put some shots on the DWT north of the objective with the raven.

 

DA 4 - with the raven lurking the LR moves to pickup the DWT, but not before sending a killing shot at the storm raven as a las-cannon blows it out of the sky. The crusader moves up to try to try and block the hammernators but they make most of their saves after being peppered with huribolters.

 

SM 5 - In return the hammernators charge the LRC but cant get through the armor.

 

DA 5 - Since the hammernators are in a position to deny any scoring, their is nothing to do but try to shoot and then charge them. sadly my opponents number of ridiculous saves continues and the deathwing, become a star on the rocks annals of hero's.

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Tying up loose ends.

 

 

SM 6 - all over but the shouting.

 

DA 6 - no scoring, no need, tie game.

 

Analysis

A fun game, playing against that many flyers isnt something I have a lot of experience with. the mission made it tough to win this as the strength of denying the center makes it pretty tough to actually score in this objective. If denying wasn't counted i would have just tried to block off the hammernators with both Landraiders and sat the termies to the other side of them. I had three termies at that point, and would have had to endure two twinlinked assault cannons. Meaning i probably would have had 2 survivors and won the game.

Disappointed with the performance of the DWK in this one but they can't be all stars all the time. The skies of fury rule for storm ravens really makes them incredibly good, as they dont have to ever hover. Why dont storm eagles have that rule? Next up Iron warriors, stay tuned....

[Polythemus]

Game 3

 

After tough matchups versus too opponents that were able to out manuver me in objective games, it was time to purge some tratiors. The legion of the Iron Warriors stood before me and it was time to really bring the heat. This game was kill points and I have been succesful against this army in the past, only time would tell if that trend would hold.

 

 

 

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Deployment - I castled up the deathwing as usual and my opponent planted his troops on a hill with a great LOS to all over the board. His entire deployment was castled and behind an aegis, which to mean screams out come get me... if you can. For this game i decided to say screw it to my typical divination roll and instead I rolled on telepathy and took psychic screech. I also decided that given his extremely defensive set up I needed to pry him out of his rusted chaos rabbit hole. To accomplish this Belial would again be droping with a squad and trying to prise open some of that armor. Chaos took the first turn.

 

 

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A blast from the tri-las predator and my LR is immobilized!

 

C1 - golly gee! I don't even get to move the LR and its stuck in place, (I guess brother librarian Haephestion forgot to turn on his shield gen.) The rhinos in his back filed move and pops smoke awaiting the Deathwing reprisal...

 

D1 - Belial drops on the back table edge, the assault cannon from his squad tearing open the vindicator on the left. A second squad drops and adds it fire power to ensure the vindi dies. Meanwhile the LRC wastes no time rushing forward 12 inches and firing its melta on the vidicator, but it is outside melta range.

 

C2 - both hell drakes fail to come on, the vindicator and predator try to destroy the LRC but this time Haephestion's shield gen comes through and the shots are absorbed. the rhinos scurry forward and those that handn't already popped smoke do so now.

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The libby unleashes a psychic blast on the triators then, Deathwing knights bring the pain, and leap upon the cultists.

 

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Attached to the chaos lord manning the lascannon the cultists are fearless but how long can they hold out?

 

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Its the begining of the end for these cultists!

 

D2- Belial and the deathwing charge the chaos rhino to slingshot into enemy territory but cant reach it. The other deep striking squad fires on the advancing rhino. Leading the Knights across the field the Haephestion jumps the aegis and starts carving through cultisits. LRC tries to multimelta the chaos armor but has no success.

 

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Death breathes a baleflamer... the drakes arrive.

 

C3 - both drakes arrive and vector strike through belial's squad but can't cause any wounds. Knowing that he must take the offensive, the rhino to the left delivers its payload of traitors and they let fly with all weapons, combining with the drakes to leave only the sergent DWT remaining. meanwhile the vindicator continues to pound the LRC, while the predator directs its fire on Belial's squad.

 

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The rear guard emerge from their broken ride...

 

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Belial, Haephestion, and the Knights finishing off some chaos opposition.

 

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The lone DWT survives a hail of overwatch (including shrugging off a meltagun shot!)and makes his charge and challenges the champion, but the champion wounds him and he fails his save. Chaos wins this round!

 

D3 - Belial and his unit assault the static defens of the lascannon, while the combat with Iron Warlord is concluded by Haephestion's force sword cleaving through power armor.

 

C4 - Persistence by the vindicator pays off with the a shot that blows the LRC sky high. Meanwhile the drakes manuver to block the retreating squad from hopping in the immobilized land raider, then flame the squad down to two survivors. The chaos marines attempt to rapid fire at the exposed terminators to whittle them down but belial stands tall and no members of the squad fall. The predator attempts to fire on the squad of termies but the shield gen holds.

 

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Ignore the turn indicator and note the absence of chaos bodies.

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That predator needed to die. Rack up another kill point.

 

D4 - In reply to the vindicator the Land Raider las-cannon finds its mark and immobilizes the vindicator. Haephestion leads the charge over the wreckage of the dead vindicator, with belial in tow charges the Iron Warriors and cuts them down as they run. Meanwhile the DWK attack and finish off the chaos Predator. the rearguard DWTs hide out of line of sight of the drakes.

 

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The drakes hover to stay on the board and try to flame the reamining Terminators but their armor holds.

 

C5 - Their rage boiling at the decimation of their warhost the chaos marines emgere from the rhinos and lay waste to the Deathwing Knights. Meanwhile the drakes drop into hover mode to try to flame the terminators hiding. The vindicator advances and claims a second mighty scalp... another Landraider!

 

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Suffer the wrath of Perturabo! From Iron cometh strength...

 

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"Your judgement shall be swift! The Dark Angels do not suffer the heretic!"

 

D5 - While belial and his unit chase down and destroy the rhino attempting to flee, the terminators who had hid from the Helldrakes emerge, charge their powerfists, and punch one out of the sky! Meanwhile Hephestion dashes back across the field to confront the last resistence of the Iron Warriors.

 

Game Ends

 

Analysis -

Well despite an early setback I gambled with the opening play and it payed off by exploding the vindicator. Had I not wrecked that vindicator the results would have been bad. Most of the rest of the game went my way as well with alot of saves from the powerfield gen. although i forgot to mention its effects on the enemy models too, until the very end. Sorry man! Either way awesome game, the sequence that led to the challenge between the DWT sergent and the Chaos sergent was epic!

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Good job. I'm happy to see the 1st of the First shine!

[Polythemus]

Thanks Lucifer. Its always nice when you gamble and it pays off. Attacking his weaker side was a nice move. Quite frankly even if i lost to his army I'd be OK with it, playing against painted armies on painted terrain really makes a huge difference. I have an upcoming batrep that I'd like to do soon that will feature one of the underdogs' challenge models. I hope you'll tune in for it.