Sep tourney.... Fun list it is! Batreps up

[knife&fork]

Game three

 

Last game for the day was against a beautifully painted and converted Tau gunline. 

Broadside team, a riptide, two crisis teams, one stealth suit team and loads of drones and fire warriors. As far as Tau goes it was actually a rather soft list. At least for me who can ignore the majority of his basic shooting and concentrate on a few problem units.

 

The mission was pure tactical objectives with some normal secondaries. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/rcYh6U3.jpg?1

 

I tried to drive a wedge through his deployment zone and maximize my alpha strike. It worked quite well even if he made a ton of 4+ saves for his warriors. First turn he draws all the right cards and score 3 VPs almost without doing anything which leaves me a bit worried.

 

Second turn however he has some of the worst luck I've seen in his shooting phase, much like what happened to me in game two.

I on the other hand roll above average for everything, meaning I out-shoot a Tau gun line and then make it into combat with every unit able to charge!

 

With this the game is pretty much decided. Luckily for him it ends on turn 5 before I have a chance to table. At this point I have a unit on every objective and he has only managed to kill off a single dread + 2 DC marines. The only Tau left are a single crisis suit and 2 stealth suits cowering behind a building as the other DC dread is bearing down on them. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/KM9Qs9x.jpg?1

 

Thanks to the game ending and the early VPs he still manages to score a few points. 17-3 win for me.

 

 

End of Day One

[Jolemai]

Nice summary so far and on another day, you could have been three from three at the end of the first day. What would you have done differently in these to turn the tide?

[knife&fork]

Nice summary so far and on another day, you could have been three from three at the end of the first day. What would you have done differently in these to turn the tide?

 

As long as a vehicle is still alive it tends to function at almost full capacity. So there's usually this tipping point late game (when you play vehicle or elite heavy lists) where you have taken out so much of the opponent that you can start to dominate the field. 

Reaching this point takes time and happens around turn 3-5 in my experience. 

 

During that first game I really should have paid more attention to the clock. Now I got caught by surprise by the 30 minute warning and couldn't help/push the other guy to play faster. 

 

 

For the second game, man I just don't know. Perhaps I should have asked my opponent to use my 'melta-dice'?  You know those that always ends up as 1s or 2s? :P 

 

I could have played for a tie or a minor loss by castling myself. But that would have been something to do from the start and that list shouldn't have stomped me as hard as it did. Psychic phase in particular was disastrous as he'd 2-3 die every power and not failing any of them. I didn't roll a single 6 on my deny the witch rolls for the entire game and I think he only suffered one perils (single wound on draigo).

[Solrac]

This has been a very enjoyable write up, keep it up! Would love to be able to make a Dread army.

[knife&fork]

Game Four

 

This was a tourney first for me, another BA player! Although with Tau Allies (boo, hiss). Guy had just finished painting his force and this was pretty much the first outing after a long absence from the hobby.

He had some DC and a DC dread in a raven, Mephiston on foot, a pred, a baal pred, 2*2 MM attack bikes and a landraider with hammernators. 2 crisis teams as allies.

 

Mission was pool of 8 tactical objectives. Pick 4 each and draw one random every turn, available for both until completed. I was sneaky and picked 4 he couldn't complete or score against me. 

Killpoints, slay the warlord and first blood as secondaries. 

 

I don't really have anything to handle Mephiston, him and the bikes are the only thing that worries me in his list. I get this sinking feeling when he draws all the 'right' powers from biomancy. Iron arm, warp speed and Endurance is a really nasty combo as we all know! 

If I am to take him out I really need to kill him asap, before he even has a chance to buff himself. Luckily I get first turn.

 

He castles everything and I start the rifle dreads on the table with everything else in reserves. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/CXgGsDu.jpg?1

 

All three frag dreads drop in and together with the 8 TLAC shots from the heavy dreads I manage to take out Mephiston turn 1 for some very important points. 

After that the match is a grind as we trade units back and forth, equally matched in most aspects. I roll horribly on my reserves though which means I'm unable to really capitalize on taking out Mephiston early. 

 

Extremely even match as we end it on turn five for 10-10 tie. Great game!

[knife&fork]

Game Five

Last one.... and it was Eldar

I've never had a tournament victory, ever, against Eldar. They are the perfect counter to almost anything in most BA lists. Just about any unit he has can wipe out one of mine in a single shooting phase and there's nothing I can do about it.

This is made worse by a table with very poor cover and LoS blocks and a rather poorly designed mission. End game scoring and killpoints (again with the kill points!), so very much a 'win more' scenario for anyone who can get the upper hand.

After he has deployed I see two options.

1. I try to play for major loss (1-19 or 2-18) instead of a wipe by screening the rifle dreads with my land raider and hope I can make enough of a dent in him that I still have models left to hold an objective or two at the end of them game.

2. I gamble with a null deploy since he has left several holes in his deployment. Warlord is exposed, as are the rear AV on two serpents and his warp spiders are nicely bunched up. I do have the re-roll reserves warlord trait. So if I can get a good alpha strike I should hit him with full force turn 2... This way I actually have a chance to win!

http://i.imgur.com/Deojwyx.jpg?1

I go with option 2 and null deploy.

Unfortunately my alpha strike is really lack lustre.... I cause a whopping 2 unsaved wounds .

He then proceeds to shoot everything I have off the table and thus wipes me on turn 1.

Beautifully painted and converted army, nice player, but not a fun game for me

Another 0-20 loss makes this the worst tournament result by far. Oh well, those are the breaks when you go with a gimmicky lists like this.

I do get to end the day on a high note! There was some kids hanging around the tournament, checking out the matches. My team mate overheard one of them talking after they had passed my table: "When I start my own army I want to build a blood angel dreadnought list! It's the coolest by far!"

I guess there's hope for the future generations of wargamers

End of day two and the tournament

[Jolemai]

I bet no one rolled for Red Thirst in game four... as for game five, they do say that you don't make friends with salad...

[Gaweda]

The dread list really is awesome. I'm inspired by it, only got 3 so far.

[knife&fork]

I bet no one rolled for Red Thirst in game four...

How did you know?

We both remembered it in turn 3 actually. Didn't really roll for it myself in most games as it very rarely comes into play with this list.

The dread list really is awesome. I'm inspired by it, only got 3 so far.

Thanks. I think it's a lot of fun to play unless you hit something that's a hard counter like most eldar lists or tesla destructor spam.

Final Evaluation

So what did I learn and how did the various units perform?

Overall I had fun playing this, despite the awful result. It was definitely an unusual list that raised some eyebrows and led to quite a few "can you really do that?" in regards to the deep striking land raider and the magna grapple. One time I actually had to take out the codex and show my opponent I wasn't making stuff up!

The frag cannon also continues to be a nasty surprise to those unfamiliar with it. I did always try to explain the rules for it but most people didn't seem to get just how dangerous it could be.

I really hope we still keep the DS option and that our more exotic wargear like the blender claws, grapple and frag cannons doesn't get dumbed down or nerfed too much in the new codex.

I also hope we'll see more people take BA to competitive events! There seem to be quite a lot of BA armies out there in the wild that are currently shelved, awaiting better days.

The Boys

http://i.imgur.com/Dr4FsqN.jpg?1

Storm raven:

This has actually been somewhat of a disappointment lately, specially against flyers. The raven still does a decent job killing MCs, but that extra blip of jink save in 7th often sees it doing nothing when targeting another flyer or FMC. It did help getting a dread into combat, but over all it's far less of a must have now that I don't use it to taxi Mephiston. Not enough guns on it.

Land raider:

I used DS deployment for this in every match, mostly because I could.

It only survived the Tau game though so I probably was a little careless with it. I also never used the option to disembark after a deep strike, something that would have been useful in the first game. The DC pack enough bolter shots to make a dent in units like daemons after all. It did make sure that the DC always got to charge at least one thing, but as a 250 pt ablative shell that's not the best use of a chapter relic.

Rifleman dreads:

I wasn't too sure about these fellas but they did an OK job over all. Excellent range and wounds most things on 2+, can be used to force jink. When the TLLC comes down in price I would probably prefer to swap one TLAC arm for it, that combo worked even better.

Drop pods:

I got some use out of all the upgrades, but the deathwind launchers are overpriced for what they do. With a 5-10 pt reduction they'll be worth taking even if you aren't tailoring against horde armies. It's not that they're awful, they certainly add to the alpha strike, you just get more for your money elsewhere.

Reclusiarch and Death Company:

You guys all know what these guys can do, specially with the rerolls. Suffice to say they killed anything I got to charge and held up quite well when charged. Double powerfist felt like a good pick as they really hit hard both on I4 and I1 without me having to babysit one specific model. I don't think the power axe is an adequate replacement for fists.

Reclusiarch on the other hand underperformed almost spectacularly. He got killed in every combat except one, didn't inflict a single wound or HP and never made an invul save during the entire tournament. Cold dice aside I do think he's a reasonable option in case you don't want to run Mephiston.

Death Company dread with fists:

Definitely my MVP of this tournament. His kills include numerous Tau, a land raider, terminators, a great unclean one and a soul grinder. 6 S10 attacks with WS 5 on a dreadnought chassis with fleet and ignore stunned/shaken is very, very solid. Even in the shooting meta of today.

Death Company dread with talons:

Didn't get to blend all that much as he took a lot of fire and I used to raven to ferry the fist dread most of the times. People are scared of him!

He did chew through Crisis Suits and daemons like nothing else when he got the chance.

Furioso with frag cannon:

These guys did OK I guess. They do bite it early almost every time you field them, but there's a good reason for it! They do a little better if you have another valid unit to deploy as your alpha strike, but I didn't have anything like that in this list. Last tourney I played I missed the third one, as I only had two. This tourney I missed other podded units.

One thing I did notice is that people underestimate how difficult it can be to deal with a AV13 walker that has WS6. Hammer 'nators for instance can really struggle with this. As do any MC with S7 or lower. Charge a riptide (who'll need to use smash and only hits on a 5) and you're home free.

I don't think the dual fist furioso is quite worth it (not enough attacks) but it did make me reconsider librarian dreads, despite the high cost.

[Gaweda]

Concerning Librarian Dreads, I have to say mine has been the surprise star package of my most recent games. MC nightmare with his force weapon, and can chew up vehicles too.

[knife&fork]

What powers did you draw? 

 

I'm leaning towards Telekinesis or telepathy myself. 

[Mortez]

Telepathy is gold if you can roll up invisibility, even the primaris psychic shriek is good. I usually run one in a Lucius drop pod and drop it into cover (ruins hopefully) for a 3+ or 2+ cover save from Burning Retros and use psychic shriek on the highest threat inf unit in range (don't have to disembark and can still use witchfire powers from an open topped veh). If I'm lucky to roll invisibility I'll disembark it onto one of the doors to still get the boosted cover save and use invisibility on him. Had one opponent get pretty peeved off when I did this one game, rolled double 6's on the cast for invisibility then rolled a 6 on the miscast table (snap firing at me on 6's then I had 2+ cover or 3+ inv).

[Gaweda]

I've been rolling on the biomancy table myself. I got warp speed both times, which is gold against faster MC's, to be able to hit simultaneously or even first with a strength 9 AP 2 force weapon...drool. Took out a Necron C'tan in one hit the other day - glorious! I also like the other Biomancy powers, Life Leech being on that was useful.

[Xenith]

Thanks for the reports, and it looks like a fun list.

 

I have been unimpressed with my Stormraven of late, I don't think it really cuts the mustard.

 

Would you replace with more dreads?

[Leonaides]

Fire raptor... much more bang for your buck.

[marine7312000]

The only issue with a fire raptor is its lack of transport capacity. However, it is a dedicated gunship so if that's what you're using the storm raven for, what Leonaides said holds true.