DA Battle Reports and Tourney Shenanigans (20/09/2017)

[Solrac]

Thanks for the battle report

 

Would you consider swapping the Grav in the CS for Melta ?

I guess in a few instances Melta would be a lot better and if you play against a lot of vehicle spam definitely. I think the better all rounder though is the Grav. Sure you won't decimate a Super Heavy or Heavy Tank/Squadron like 5 Meltas will and you lack a Grav Amp re-roll but you have enough shots to plink off a few HP's that the rest of your army should be able to follow up with a kill.

[Solrac]

Hey Guys,

So I've got a 3000pt Tourney coming up in the next couple of weeks. Thats right 3000 pts. DOn't think I've ever played a game this big, ever, so super keen. It's 4 games over 2 days played on 8 x 4 tables.

The event is using Community Comp (communitycomp.org) document for list building as well as the AUS/NZ FAQ. In addition the total comp of your army determines the maximum battle points you can score in a game. Because of this I tried to spend the least amount of comp possible and because of that you will see some weird things in my list e.g I have paid for some transports instead of taking them for free, only taking 2 pods instead of 3 etc.

So here's the list!

Lion's Blade Strike Force 1850 - 7 Comp - 26 Kill Points

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master 175
Jump Pack
Mace of Redemption
Articifer Armour
Storm Shield

Dreadnought 115
Twin-linked Heavy Flamer
Heavy Flamer

Drop Pod 35

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) Tactical Squad 90
Meltagun
Combi-melta

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Assault Cannon

(10) Assault Squad 205
10x Jump Packs
2x Flamer
Vet. Sergeant
Power Axe

(5) Devastator Squad 150
4x Lascannons

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Lascannons

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain 120
Jump Pack
Power Sword

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) Tactical Squad 90
Meltagun
Combi-melta

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Assault Cannon

(5) Assault Squad 90
2x Flamer
Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod 35

(5) Devastator Squad 150
4x Lascannons

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Lascannons

Auxillary - Deathwing Redemption Force

Librarian 165
Mastery Level 2
Terminator Armour
Auspex
Storm Bolter
Force Staff
Eye of the Unseen

(10) Deathwing Terminator Squad 470
2x Cyclone Missile Launcher
2x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

(10) Deathwing Terminator Squad 470
2x Cyclone Missile Launcher
2x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

I made the list this way because
a. I wanted to use my Termies and 3000pts is the best excuse to use them, and
b. I wanted a lot of units to try and maximise taking objectives

All 4 missions are Dawn of War deployment, will use Eternal War, Maelstrom and Killpoints and have 4 secondaries (Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, First Blood Shooting, First Blood Assault). The max battle points is 19 but because of my comp of 7 the most I can score is 12.

To give you an idea how brutal the comp can be, my first list had all the free vehicles, 2 extra pods with Dreads and its was 12 comp which meant I could only score 7 battle points max per game. It was too much of a handicap.

I may get whooped in the KP department but I plan to make up for it in the Eternal War and Maelstrom.

The Battle Company will use its mobility to take objectives, set the Grav Cannons up mid field whilst the Assault Squad with the Master and Chaplain are a counter assault unit or go after soft targets.

The Termies come down turn 2 guaranteed to put the pressure on. I opted for Cyclones to give them a lot more versatility as there will be a few Eldar, Dark Eldar and Ork players. Also with the long range I can deepstrike them into safety and still have range as I have no Homers or Beacons.

This event should have plenty of photos so I'll make sure I do a good write up after.

Wish me luck! Edited August 5, 2016 by Solrac

[Solrac]

Hey guys,

So this is my write up for Caste Assault, 3000pt community comp Tournament in Maitland NSW.

I had a great time playing 3000pts, something I don't normally get to do. All mission were Eternal War, Maelstrom and Kill points on 8 x 4 table, all Dawn of War deployment. Play time was 4 hrs.

I had awesome opponents for every game I played and had loads of fun playing them. Game 1 and 2 on Saturday, Game 3 and 4 Sunday.

Below is the list that I played with:

Lion's Blade Strike Force 1850 - 7 Comp - 26 Kill Points

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master 175
Jump Pack
Mace of Redemption
Articifer Armour
Storm Shield

Dreadnought 115
Twin-linked Heavy Flamer
Heavy Flamer

Drop Pod 35

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) Tactical Squad 90
Meltagun
Combi-melta

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Assault Cannon

(10) Assault Squad 205
10x Jump Packs
2x Flamer
Vet. Sergeant
Power Axe

(5) Devastator Squad 150
4x Lascannons

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Lascannons

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain 120
Jump Pack
Power Sword

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) TacticAL squad 105
Grav Cannon

Rhino 35

(5) Tactical Squad 90
Meltagun
Combi-melta

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Assault Cannon

(5) Assault Squad 90
2x Flamer
Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod 35

(5) Devastator Squad 150
4x Lascannons

Razorback 20
Twin-linked Lascannons

Auxillary - Deathwing Redemption Force

Librarian 165
Mastery Level 2
Terminator Armour
Auspex
Storm Bolter
Force Staff
Eye of the Unseen

(10) Deathwing Terminator Squad 470
2x Cyclone Missile Launcher
2x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

(10) Deathwing Terminator Squad 470
2x Cyclone Missile Launcher
2x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

Game 1 vs Eldar

My opponents list:

Craftworld Warhost Detachment

Pale Courts Battlehost
Autarch
- Banshee Mask
- Jetbike
- Laser Lance
- Reaper Launcher w/ Starswarm Missiles
- Shard of Anaris

(20) Storm Guardians
- Fusion Gun
- Flamer
- 2x Power Swords
- Warlock w/ Singing Spear

(20) Storm Guardians
- Fusion Gun
- Flamer
- 2x Power Swords
- Warlock w/ Singing Spear

(20) Storm Guardians
- Fusion Gun
- Flamer
- 2x Power Swords
- Warlock w/ Singing Spear

Aspect Host
(10) Howling Banshees
- Exarch w/ Execustioner

(7) Swooping Hawks
- Exarch w/ Power Maul, Sun Rifle

Wraith Host
Spiritseer

(5) Wraithblades
- 5x Ghostaxe & Force Shield

(5) Wraithblades
- 5x Ghostaxe & Force Shield

(5) Wraithblades
- 5x Ghostaxe & Force Shield

Wraithlord
- Flamer
- Ghost Glaive
- 2x Starcannon

Wraithknight
- Ghost Glaive & Scattershield
- 2x Scatter Laser

Living Legend
Avatar (warlord)

Avatar

Avatar

This list was really interesting to play against. The Avatars being pivitol proving a 12" Fearless, Furious Charge and Rage bubbles ( I think some other stuff also) then just a massive wave of models closing in on you. The Guardians were no slouches in combat with 4 attacks each on the charge attacking at I5.

I chose Divination on the Librarian as he still had a few warp charges and thought it would be annoying to get powers off with his psychic defense.

I managed to get the Wraithknight down to 1 wound Turn 1 and killed it with overwatch when he charged a Rhino.

My Dreadnought came down and killed all but 3 Banshees before an Avatar split him in 2. I knew if I left the Banshees at full strength they would murder my assault squad then the rest of my army.

My Assault squad failed the charge onto some Wraithblades Turn 1 and then preceeded to get charged by the Wraithlord, Wraithblades and the 3 Banshees. My Master took out the Wrtaithlord in CC before it got to attack and I slowly hacked away at everything else leaving only the Master and Chaplain on 1 wound each. They were charged by another 3 Wraithblades later in the game but managed to fend them off.

My drop assault squad managed to almost wipe out a squad of Guardians on the drop and then managed to park themselves on an objective all game scoring a few cards and eventually line breaker.

The Terminators were a great distraction and managed to wipe out quite a few things and grab me some much needed objectives. Was happy with their performance this game. One of the squad annihilated a squad of guardians and held off an avatar for 4 turns whilst the other mowed through the Eldar back line, killed the hawks, an Avatar and eventually a squad of Guardians.

The rest of the battle company held the line and took objectives where possible.

The Shinning Spears were annoying all game by charging my transports and avoiding overwatch due to the Banshee mask. Took a couple of turns of shooting to clear them out.

I ended up with a win 13 - 7 and tabled the Eldar.

Game 2 vs Astra Militarum

My opponents list:

Cadian Battle Group

Battle Group Command
Company Command Squad
- Lord Castellan Creed
- Lascannon
- Medipack
- Vox

Emperor's Shield Infantry Company

Company Command Squad
- Autocannon
- Vox

Platoon Command Squad
- 3x Flamer
- Vox

Platoon Infantry Squad 1
- Meltagun
- Lascannon
- Vox
- Commissar w/ Power Fist

Platoon Infantry Squad 2
- Meltagun
- Lascannon

Platoon Infantry Squad 3
- Meltagun
- Lascannon

Platoon Infantry Squad 4
- Meltagun
- Lascannon

Platoon Infantry Squad 5
- Meltagun
- Lascannon

Scout Sentinel
- Multilaser

Emperor's Shield Infantry Company

Company Command Squad
- Lascannon
- Vox

Platoon Command Squad
- Meltagun
- Lascannon
- Vox

Platoon Infantry Squad 1
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher
- Vox
- Commissar w/ Power Fist

Platoon Infantry Squad 2
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher

Platoon Infantry Squad 3
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher

Platoon Infantry Squad 4
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher

Platoon Infantry Squad 5
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher

Scout Sentinel
- Multilaser

Emperor's Shield Infantry Company

Company Command Squad
- Lascannon
- Vox

Platoon Command Squad
- Flamer
- Sniper Rifle
- Vox

Platoon Infantry Squad 1
- Flamer
- Vox
- Commissar w/ Power Fist
- Sgt w/ Melta Bombs, Power Weapon

Platoon Infantry Squad 2
- Flamer
- Sgt w/ Melta Bombs, Power Weapon

Platoon Infantry Squad 3
- Flamer
- Sgt w/ Melta Bombs, Power Weapon

Platoon Infantry Squad 4
- Flamer
- Sgt w/ Melta Bombs, Power Weapon

Platoon Infantry Squad 5
- Flamer
- Sgt w/ Melta Bombs, Power Weapon

Scout Sentinel
- Multilaser

Emperor's Spear Aerial Company
(3) Valkyrie Squadron

Combined Arms Detachment

HQ
Company Command Squad
- 4x Meltagun
- Commander w/ Melta Bombs, Power Weapon

TROOPS
(10) Veteran Squad
- Demolitions
- Grenadiers
- 3x Meltaguns

(10) Veteran Squad
- Demolitions
- Grenadiers
- 3x Meltaguns

HEAVY SUPPORT
(3) Heavy Thud Gun

FORTIFICATION
Aegis Defence Line

Officio Assasinorium Detachment
Culexus Assassin

This army was awesome at 200 models with an amazing paint job. Had so much fun playing against it. He put his Infantry platoons in blobs so the each had a Commissar so thought I would ruin his plans by rolling on Interromancy. Just had to keep my Libby away from that Culexus. Managed to roll up Seed of Fear and Trephination...Perfect.

The game started and he made himself a good defensive postion spreading out his 3 blobs over his length of the board with all his support stuff behind and the Culexus in the ruins on the left. I counter deployed but also had my assault squad on the left ready for a big charge at what I thought was the weakest blob squad (it was the one with all the power weapon sergeants in it) in hindsight maybe I should have gone elsewhere lol. I managed to make a big dent in that blob but they were rescued by the Culexus and he and the Guardsman finished the assault squad..

He was killing my transports fairly well with all the orders so I made sure I rushed them up. My goal was to get my Grav Cannons in range of the Thud Guns so that even if they popped the Transports I could put some shots into them and remove them. The plan worked and had them gone by Turn 3.

The dread and the assault squads caused massive chaos. The dread was flaming squad after squad making guardsmen run and with other transports to shoot was being left alone by the heavy weapons. He even plinked a couple of wounds off the Culexus. The assault squad came down, flamed and killed 21 Guardsmen from the Missile Blob behind the defense line. in return they took 3 missiles and 75 Las rounds killing only 2 Assault Marines. He then had to dedicate another few units to wipe them off the table, was pretty fun to watch.

The Termies had a ball. Big distraction and I was rolling a tonne of 2+ saves and it was driving him mad. The Librarian was casting Seed of Fear on a new guard squad every turn and fired at it and ran every time. Even the pesky Commisars couldn't make Ld9 on 3 dice.

The Valks came in and dropped it's cargo and the Meltas managed to kill a few termies. I encirlced all of them with a Termie unit and a Tactical squad. The Tac squad declared the charge first and multi charged two of the units taking a casualty. The Termies followed up and together they wiped them off the board.

The Cluxesus had a bad run charging my Termies and wiffing all his rolls and then was met with a plethora of power fist attacks. Even hitting it on WS1 it was game over for the Culexus.

A hard fought battle to get rid of 200 models.

I ended up with a win 17 - 2 and tabled the Guard after the last Valk I couldn't kill flew off the board.

After the first days games I was coming 3rd overall and pretty stoked with my effort. Then I went out with some of the guys aaaaaand I got blind drunk. If someone tells you Sake is a good idea, don't believe them. Luckily I wasn't the worst, a friend of mine was passed out on the floor and forfeited his games. Was a good night though!

Game 3 vs Chaos Daemons

My opponents list:

Combined Arms Detachment

HQ
Herald of Nurgle (Warlord)
- Locus of Fecundity
- Horn of Nurgles Rot
- Psyker Level 2
- Greater Reward
- Lesser Reward
- Palanquin of Nurgle

Herald of Slaanesh
- Locus of Grace
- Psyker Level 1
- Greater Reward

Herald of Tzeentch
- Psyker Level 2
- Exalted Reward

Lord of Change
- Psyker Level 2
- Paradox
- 2x Greater Reward
- Lesser Reward

TROOPS
(18) Daemonettes
- Alluress
- Rapturous Standard

(17) Daemonettes
- Alluress
- Rapturous Standard

(20) Plaguebearers
- Plagueridden
- Lesser Reward
- Plague Banner

(10) Plaguebearers

FAST ATTACK
(7) Flesh Hounds

HEAVY SUPPORT
Burning Chariot of Tzeetch

Dameon Prince of Tzeetch
- Flight
- Armour
- Psyker Level 1
- Lesser Reward
- Greater Reward

Dameon Prince of Tzeetch
- Flight
- Armour
- Psyker Level 1
- Lesser Reward
- Greater Reward

Combined Arms Detachment

HQ
Herald of Khorne
- Locus of Wrath
- Juggernaut
- Greater Reward
- Lesser Reward

Herald of Tzeetch
- Psyker Level 1

Great Unclean One
- Grotti the Nurgling
- Psyker Level 1
- Exalted Reward
- Greater Reward

TROOPS
(11) Pink Horrors

(11) Pink Horrors

Daemons are the bane of my existence at the best of times. They really require you to have your prioritisation in order at all times as you have to commit to wipe out a unit as they don't run away to shooting attacks. Throw in the fact I was hung over and I was in for a baaaad game.

As always with Daemons, my plan is to deplete the warp charge pool. Daemons have little to no shooting so reducing their warp charges is a must. This one was gonna be hard however with all the Heralds embeded in all the Daemon squads. He then rolled up 4+ feel no pain from rewards for his Lord of Change and two Daemon Princes....great.

The Dread went well coming down on the left flank to roast some Horrors and killed half of them. He was then charged by the Lord of Change but managed to hold him up for a turn before he bit the dirt.

My Assault squad with the Master and Chaplain went well however I wish I had thought it through some more and deployed them somewhere else. I managed to get them up the left flank whilst the Lord of change was distracted with the Dread and roasted the Horrors leaving the Herald whilst I targetted the unit of Daemonettes behind them. They got the charge off on the Daemonettes and managed to kill most of them. They finally went down to the Lord of Change once he finished off the Dread however the Chaplain lasted a few more turns and kept him held up.

My drop assault squad went well. Dropped down on the far right flank to deal with the other Horrors sitting on an objective. They managed to wipe them out byt Turn 3. They scored a few points for me as the objective they were on and behind enemy lines came up during the game.

My devs and Lascannon backs went really well, downing a Daemon Prince and killing a couple of the fleshounds, taking wounds of the Bloodthirster that was summoned and a couple of wounds off the Lord of Change.

The Tacs were grabbing all the objectives and were whittling down a lot of the daemon squads with boltguns and when I needed the Grav Cannons were shooting at the Daemon Princes. THey gave me a good back bone but where whittled down turn by turn getting charged by Daemonettes after the dogs had wrecked their transports.

My termies went awful this game but only because I stuffed everything up with them. I used them badly at every turn (I blame the hangover). The Libbys Termies mishapped and were misplaced so he placed them right in front of his Bloodthirster and Great Unclean One ready for a charge. The other squad landed about 8" away to the right with LOS on his Warlord squad. My Libby held out well but his termies were dying around him with the combined attacks of the Thirster and Unclean one. This attack was amplified by the blind grenades that were thrown into both squads before he charged and rolled 6s on both.

I was then presented with the choice. My other Termie squad to charge his Plague Herald (Warlord) and unit or save my Warlord. I took the even worse option C. Multi Charge both units. Very bad move. I thought If I caused enough damage on the plague bearers I would be able to force instability and wipe out both squads. Looked good in my head but when my opponent was rolling 5++ like a boss I had no hope.

I managed to hold out pretty well even though the end score doesn't reflect it and I was happy with the damage I caused but in the end wasn't enough. I kept up with the Maelstrom but failed everywhere else. In the end I had a couple of scattered marine squads left and he still had a few MC's 2 squads of plague bearers and daemonettes.

I ended up losing 2 - 19.

Game 4 vs Space Wolves, Legion of the Damned & Eldar

My opponent's list:

Company of the Great Wolf Detachment

HQ
Wolfguard Battle Leader (Warlord)
- Thunderwolf
- Runic Armour
- Stormshield
- Power Fist

Wolfguard Battle Leader
- Thunderwolf
- Runic Armour
- Stormshield
- Power Fist

ELITES
Servitor

Servitor

FAST ATTACK
(4) Thunderwolf Cavalry
- Pack Leader w/ 2x Wolf Claw
- Wolf Claw & Stormshield
- 2x Power Fist & Stormshield

(4) Thunderwolf Cavalry
- Pack Leader w/ 2x Wolf Claw
- Wolf Claw & Stormshield
- 2x Power Fist & Stormshield

HEAVY SUPPORT
(6) Long Fangs
- Lascannon
- 4x Missile Launcher w/ Flakk Missiles

Predator
- Twin-linked Lascannon
- Lascannon Sponsons

Wolf Guard Void Claws Formation
(5) Wolf Guard Terminators
- 5x Twin Wolf Claws

Legion of the Damned Detachment
(5) Legion of the Damned Squad
- Combi-plasma
- Plasma Gun
- Plasma Cannon

(5) Legion of the Damned Squad
- Combi-plasma
- Plasma Gun
- Plasma Cannon

(5) Legion of the Damned Squad
- Combi-melta
- Meltagun
- Multi-melta

(5) Legion of the Damned Squad
- Combi-melta
- Meltagun
- Multi-melta

Allied Detachment

HQ
Autarch
- Jetbike
- Scorpion Chainsword
- Fusion Gun

TROOPS
(5) Windriders
- Shuriken Cannon

ELITES
(6) Wraithguard
- 6x D-Scythe

Wave Serpent
- Twin-linked Bright Lance

FAST ATTACK
Crimson Hunter
- Exarch

This list was a very annoying combo. The speed of the Thunderwolf Cav and the death dealing for the D Scythes didn't make for a fun game in my head.

My Dread did some damage, killing half the Long Fangs on the drop of T1 and killing a couple of the crew from the batteries and taking an objective. The Long Fangs managed to immobilise him on their turn though and he was stuck there for 3 turns flaming the same units over and over again until the Long Fangs were dead.

I managed to gun down his HQ with my Grav Cannons early with some unlucky rolling on his part but his cavalry was still getting through my lines and killing my transports to then charge my Grav units. I also immobilised his wave serpent in the first turn of shooting and he kept opting to leave his wraithguard inside so I just stayed away from it.

The drop assault squad came down and I roasted a few bikes. I also used them to grab objectives which was a good bonus.

My Jump Pack assault squad was a mess this game. I deployed them too far away then had to double back to deal with a Legion of the Damned squad and then make their way back to the middle again. My goose was cooked with them late in the game where I opted to multi charge the wraith guard and a unit of Damned. I used my other assault squad to eat the wraithguard overwatch thinking they couldn't fail a 3" charge through terrain but he still opted not to overwath them. double 1s showed up. Then he killed 9 of my assault marines with the D Scythe overwatch and couldnt make the multi-charge but made it to the damned squad as it was my primary target. He was fighting a losing battle though eventually ending up locked with the wraithguard after being charged by them to hold me up so they couldn't jump to get more objectives for the eternal war at the end.

I played my terminators badly, again. I deepstruck one squad too close the the Wraithguard and the other didn't cause enough damage to the cavalry that I wanted. He deleted the other termie unit and the Libby and his squad tied up the rest of the Cav eventually killing them all by T5 but only having the libby surviving on 1 wound.

The game was topped off by my greediness. I picked up the Harness the Warp card. Thinking I wasn't that far in front on Maelstrom I went for it. Periled and rolled a 1. Yay just gave him slay the warlord.

I ended up losing 9 - 10. If I had not killed my libby and killed a servitor earlier in the game I would have had it in the bag even with all my bad tactics.

I came 6th overall out of 14.

Conclusion

My army played well, it was me that didn't use it so well on the second day. New rule for me, no more drinking at Tournaments.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Lion's Blade Double demi and was very happy in this Tourney to be able to get my Termies out of the display cabinet again.

The Obsec the double demi gives you is amazing. I never thought it was that great but when you have 1 or 2 marines that just won't die and are holding an objective for you it feels great or simply driving a razorback next to an objective and taking it just like that. It makes for some easy points in most cases if ou have some good board control.

Full BS overwatch is amazing. I have loads of people telling me that it's a useless bonus to have as the game is mainly shooting and you will likely never get charged by anything but a dedicated assault unit or army. This is not true. I've been charged by so many different squads in all my tournies this year simply because they want to try and take or contest an objective or acheive one of the maelstrom cards. The full BS overwatch really makes your opponent think twice about doing it and has to really weigh up if it's worth it as instead of losing maybe 1 model or 2 with some lucky normal overwatch, but against DA they are likely to lose a lot more.

Before this Tourney I dropped back down to 13th in the NSW ranking but my decent score in this one brought me back up to 9th place.

Hope you all enjoyed my write up and the photos (there weren't as many as I thought, really need to buy myself a good camera to take to these things).

My next tourney is at the end of October. I should be able to have some practice games before then too and I'll try and make sure I do full bat reps for those.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Solrac

[Solrac]

Had an issue uploading the rest of the photos at work, will fix it up when I get home.

[PhilB]

Great write up Solrac, thoroughly enjoyed the read.

Sure sounded like you were killing it on day one then the hang over got to you on day 2.

I've never played a community comp list before, sounds interesting!

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Too bad on the end result, but first two games you were pretty strong. Chalk it up to the sake.

Good to see that triple flamer droppod assault squads still fire it up. ;) I guess it's a hard bullet to dodge.

Interesting that the dreadnought also was pulling his weight. Do you credit to the full Flamer setup? Did you think you could used any other weapon? In any case, many people scoff at the plain dreadnought but he is no slouch if used with skills.

And yet again the confirmation that the overwatch bonus is a big deal, despite many people saying otherwise. Assaults are still a big part of 40K and they will happen. BS4 overwatch ensures the enemy either will pay in blood if he dares to assault or serves as deterrent to assaults. win/win in my book!

 

Thanks for the report Solrac. Keep them coming, they are a breath of fresh air in this forum!

[Interrogator Stobz]

Nice work, and great write up.

 

Cheers Dude :tu:

[Solrac]

Thanks for the comments guys. I managed to get the rest of the photos up.

 

Too bad on the end result, but first two games you were pretty strong. Chalk it up to the sake.

Good to see that triple flamer droppod assault squads still fire it up. ;) I guess it's a hard bullet to dodge.

Interesting that the dreadnought also was pulling his weight. Do you credit to the full Flamer setup? Did you think you could used any other weapon? In any case, many people scoff at the plain dreadnought but he is no slouch if used with skills.

And yet again the confirmation that the overwatch bonus is a big deal, despite many people saying otherwise. Assaults are still a big part of 40K and they will happen. BS4 overwatch ensures the enemy either will pay in blood if he dares to assault or serves as deterrent to assaults. win/win in my book!

 

Thanks for the report Solrac. Keep them coming, they are a breath of fresh air in this forum!

The triple flamer assault squad goes so well for me that I have put 2 of them with the dual flamer dreadnought and a grav command squad all in pods in my standard 1850 list. The only time they really can't do any damage is if your facing full mech that isn't open topped where the flamers can't really hurt anything. In this case I bring the other stuff on first and usually after my first round of shooting I've popped some transports with the 8 Lascannons.

 

I love the double flamer dread. 2 Flamers means I don't have to worry about his BS4. The twin-linked flamer costs the same as the other cheap weapon options and gives me re-roll wounds and armour pen. Even against MEQs mass templates work a treat and the Heavy Flamer gives me that ignore cover AP4 that the normal Flamers don't get. Even if his Flamers can't hurt anything the turn he drops which is rare, I will try and drop him somewhere out of LOS to at least have a chance at surviving to charge a tank or roast guys falling out of transports.

 

I've used Multi-melta and the Twin-linked Autocannon plenty of times in which case I always take a Heavy Flamer over the SB for extra versatility. They've worked well in most situations I just keep coming back to the flamer dread though as my list usually packs enough punch that I want to have the extra anti-horde. THe other reason I take the Flamer dread so much is that there are a lot of Ork players at my local and in the Tourneys I go to and the two heavy flamers make a mess of Ork bikes, especially when you got a Doc, warboss with lucky stick and FW Zadsnark giving them skilled rider. If the bikes charge him after yes the dread will die with a bunch of power claws but he will insta kill some bikers or nobz before he dies and that is well worth it.

[Malcifer]

I really enjoyed reading your batreps.  One of the things I like about this game is the tactics and strategy, and I gain wisdom and better understanding when I am able to see and analyze others tactics.  Enjoyable read.

[JJD]

I always enjoy your write ups thanks for sharing them with us.

[Solrac]

Hey guys!

 

So I've got my final tournament, Overwatch Open 2, coming up this weekend before the NSW Masters Event in November. As usual will be doing a post Tournament report like I have done in the past. Currently I'm still ranked 9th overall in the state. I'm keen to try and go for the one in the Overwatch Open 2 as first prize is the new Burning of Prospero box set. I feel I have the list to have a chance at winning.

 

Yesterday I was invited by a friend of mine Andrew to play an Overwatch Open practice game for his youtube channel Warzone: Central Coast. I won't give any spoilers but had a great game. The video should be up next week sometime after the Tournament and I'll post the link when it's up.

 

Andrew will also be filming a practice game I'm having against another friend of mine and his Necrons this Thursday. I'll post a link to this one also however this one will be up a few weeks later.

 

This will be my first time playing on a youtube channel and was really excited to get an invite, hopefully I can keep you guys entertained!

 

Andrew started up Warzone: Central Coast to try and build more hype for 40k and Tournaments in our local area and his content so far has been pretty good.

 

Wish me luck this weekend!

[Brother Dark]

Good luck m8, remember your double flamer dread ;)

[Solrac]

Oh he's there Dark don't you worry ;)

[Chaplain Raeven]

Oh he's there Dark don't you worry

 

MVP of the game!

[Solrac]

Greetings Brothers!

So as per my previous posts I went to my gaming club's Overwatch Open 2 Tournament over the weekend. It was an 1850 Tournament that uses Community Comp and we were limited to no more than 12 Comp Credits. It used custom missions that incorporate Eternal War, Maelstrom and Kill Points as well as the secondaries Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, First Blood Shooting and First Blood Assault. It also uses the AusNZ FAQ that has already included a lot of the 40k Draft FAQs.

Scoring is quite easy. It's out of 19 points and you receive 5 points for winning each primary mission (Eternal War, Maelstrom, Kill Points) and 1 point for each of the secondaries. 2 points if you draw any of the primaries and you still get to keep your score if you get tabled. One slight change to Maelstrom is that you can only score a maximum of 3 cards per turn.

I used the Lion's Blade Double Demi list that I have previously talked about in my Tactica Thread and having played a couple of tournament practice games with some great results I was really confident for a top 3 finish (these practice games have been recorded for my friend's Warzone: Central Coast youtube channel and I'll post the link once the videos are up).

As a quick reference, below is the list I used:

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master

Mace of Redemption

Bolt Pistol

Articifer Armour

Storm Shield

Auspex

(5) Command Squad

5x Grav Gun

Apothecary

Sacred Standard

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Lascannons

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Combi-Grav

Melta Bombs

Auspex

Warlord

Dreadnought

Twin-linked Heavy Flamer

Heavy Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Lascannons

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

Auxillary - 10th Company Support

(5) Scout Squad

5x Sniper Rifle

Command - Inner Circle

Librarian

Force Sword

Combi-Grav

Auspex

Eye of the Unseen

Comp Breakdown

1 = 21 Relentless Grav Shots (11-22 bracket, Grav Cannons counting as 2 shots, Combi-Grav count as 0 shots)

2 = Non Standard Deployment points (17-32 bracket, as per table added up by how many first turn pods in my army)

3 = Armoured Vehicle points (34-40 bracket, as per table added up by how many tanks in my army, excludes pods)

1 = Credit cost for access double demi for free transports

4 = 12 Free Transports (1 credit for every 3 free transports taken rounding up)

1 = 4 or more Command Squad members with Grav Guns in a pod

My general battle plan with this list is to forget about Kill Points unless I have the opportunity to finish squads and focus on dominating the Eternal War and Maelstrom.

Game 1 vs Chaos Space Marines/Khorne Daemon Kin

My opponents list:

Hellforged Warpack (Chaos Space Marines)

Warpsmith

Warlord

HellBrute

1st War of Armageddon Legacy

Warpack Alpha

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Combined Arms Detachment (Khorne Daemon Kin)

HQ

Herald

TROOPS

(8) Cultists

Auto Pistols

Cultist Champion

(8) Cultists

Auto Pistols

Cultist Champion

HEAVY SUPPORT

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

2x Lasher Tendrils

Maulerfiend

2x Lasher Tendrils

LORD OF WAR

Kytan Daemon Engine of Khorne

This list is fast and hits hard and is centralised around the Hellbrute giving all Daemon units within 6" +1 Invul due to it's legacy.

I was confident that with all my Grav and Anti-tank this list wouldn't be to difficult to bog down and take apart.

Mission was Eternal War: Big Guns Never Tire, Maelstrom: Cleanse and Control with Dawn of War deployment.

My opponent deployed first making sure all his Daemon engines were around the Hellbrute. I deployed second spreading out my Grav and Heavy Weapons along my gun line. I chose to Outflank the Scouts. He chose for me to go first.

I wanted to go second as the only shooting he had was the Kytan and wanted him to move towards me and spread out his Maulers so that I could start picking them off. I didn't get what I wanted so then opted to do something silly, kill the Hellbrute with my Command Squad.

Ended up being the worse decision I made all weekend only inflicting one 6 to immobilise. Thankfully he failed his save and the Hellbrute stayed there the whole game even with the Warpsmith attempting to repair it every turn until my Scouts showed up and glanced it to death with sniper fire in it's rear armour.

The Command Squad was annihilated the following turn mobbed by 3 Maulers and the Cultists sent in to eat the overwatch. All I the Command Squad had to show for it that game was killing all the Cultists and immobilising the brute.

I still did well the rest of the game. The Kytan was shooting things that were too far for it to charge trying to make use of it's rule that it could charge another unit as long as it's S8 AP3 Heavy 8 gatling gun killed the unit it shot at. The gun never killed a full unit and once he was fed up with that he tried to multi charge a melta unit and it's razorback and failed (with fleet!). By this time T3 he was only one 2 HP and I promptly finished it off getting an explode with the Melta shot it tried to charge in the previous turn and the Massive Blast scattered it's D onto a Mauler and remove it from the board.

I did pretty well considering I was on the back foot and the terrain wasn't helping me at all. In the end he only had 1 immobilised Mauler grabbing linebreaker, a summoned Skull Cannon and a Warpsmith on the table but the game ended T5. He outscored me on Kill Points and managed to outscore me on Maelstrom due to the D3 cards being worth a flat 2 points and he managed to grab 2 or 3 whilst I didn't have a chance to get any.

Final Score: 13 - 7 Loss

Game 2 vs Space Wolves

My opponents list:

Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Krom Dragongaze

Warlord

Rune Priest

Psyker Level 2

Plasma Pistol

TROOPS

(6) Grey Hunters

Melta Gun

Drop Pod

(6) Grey Hunters

Melta Gun

Drop Pod

FAST ATTACK

(5) Sky Claws

Melta Gun

(4) Thunderwolf Cavalry

4x Storm Shield

2x Thunder hammer

Wolf Claw

Power Fist

HEAVY SUPPORT

Predator

Twin-linked Lascannons

Lascannon Sponsons

Wulfen Murder Pack

(5) Wulfen

Pack Leader

5x Frost Claws

(5) Wulfen

Pack Leader

5x Frost Claws

(5) Wulfen

Pack Leader

5x Frost Claws

This list would wreck anyone in close combat but unfortunately didn't get a good match up facing me with all the full BS overwatch as well as the Hammer and Anvil deployment.

Mission was Eternal War: The Emperor's Will, Maelstrom: Cloak and Shadows, Hammer and Anvil deployment.

I won the roll and opted to set up second and go second. He got a free 6" move with the Thundercav before moving the 12" and was in range for a first turn charge on my Rhino with melta and scouts on the right flank. Jis Wulfen hugged LOS and moved up grabbing some objective for Maelstrom. He multi charged the Rhino and the Scouts but failed to reach the scouts with his roll and just went into snuff the Rhino taking a couple of wounds from different wolves from Melta and Sniper Overwatch. His pod of Hunters came down but scattered back and failed to do any damage with it's melta. The long fangs fired on my Devs on the left and failed to do damage and the Pred lit up the Devs on the right killing the Sergeant.

My first turn started with a bang. I drew Domination and a couple of numberd objectives. I already controlled 3, Dreadnoughts pod stole the objective from the Long Fangs, The Command Squad took objective 1 in the corner and a Grav Rhino drove forward and flat out onto the last objective. Bam, 7 points ahead. Then the pain came spewing out.

The Dread looked a Wulfen squad in the eye and poured heavy flamer fire all over them killing 2.5. With the Wulfen's only options being to run into the open to get shot at by my Lascannons or try to kill the dread my opponent chose the latter in his next turn. Flamed another 2 models in overwatch and squished the last one with power fists. The Wulfen still got to attack but didn't roll any 6s to glance.

Combined fire from my Devs and Scouts reduced the Long Fangs to 1 model (rolling misses on Lascannons like a boss lol).

The Grav Command annihilated another squad of wulfen leaving the Rune Priest on 1 wound and 2 Wulfen alive. The following turn the Overwatch took care of a Wulfen and the Rune Priest. With no Grenades the Master clobbered the last Wulfen that made it in dead. The Wulfen managed 6 wounds with his claws before he went down killing a Vet but the Master tanked the rest on his shield. The Master then split off the turn after and destoyred the predator.

The melta squads took care of the pod and 3 of the 6 grey hunters.

From there it became a mop up. I mostly ignored the thunder cav as it was just jumping through a squad at a time. I cleaned up the commander and last squad of Wulfen with a tonne of grav fire and flamers from the Assault squad that came down. I removed the second pod of hunters after they came down and Lascannons took care of the long fang. Skyclaws came on turn 4 and failed to kill a rhino with a melta and were removed by a Grav Cannon and some bolters. Turn 5 saw most of my army turn on the Thunder Cav now down to 2 models wiping them for a tabling.

Final Score: 18 - 1 Win

Game 3 vs Adeptus Mechanicus

My opponents list:

Battle Congregation

Tech Priest Dominus

Uncreator Gauntlet

Erradication Ray

Macro Stubber

Stasis Field

Warlord

(3) kataphron Breachers

Heavy Arc Rifles

Arc Claws

(3) kataphron Breachers

Heavy Arc Rifles

Arc Claws

Elimination Maniple

(3) Kataphron Destroyers

3x Heavy Grav Cannon

3x Phosphor Blasters

(3) Kataphron Destroyers

3x Heavy Grav Cannon

3x Phosphor Blasters

(2) Kastellan Robots

2x Dual Power Fist

2x Heavy Phsophor Blasters

Datasmith

Comversion Field

Digital Weapons

(2) Kastellan Robots

2x Twin-linked Heavy Phosphor Blasters

2x Heavy Phsophor Blasters

Datasmith

Comversion Field

Digital Weapons

Oathsworn Detachment

Knight Errant

Thermal Cannon

Reaper Chainsword

Ironstorm Missle Pod

My opponent was my friend that has the Warzone: Central Coast channel that I played against in a practice game a couple of weeks ago. I was a little worried as there wasn't a lot of terrain on the table (just a couple of LOS blocking buildings) which was going to make it challenging.

Mission was Eternal War: The Relic, Maelstrom: Deadlock, Vanguard Strike deployment.

He elected to deploy first and go first. He castled up around the bastion with robots out front to give intervening cover. I hid my boxes the best I could and opted not to seize.

He started off well popping shroud song and killing all but 2 of my lascannon devs. I opted to save the Command Squad this time and Dread came down and killed a Grav Destroyer but passed his Ld and one of the assault squads did the same on the opposite side killing one there also but their Warlord kept them in check. Plinked a HP off the night and manouvered some tanks around but couldn't do much damage. My meltas who all set up on the top right corner started speeding towards his lines making a bee line for the Knight.

After popping shroud song again due to his formation rule, the Knight charged the Dread and smooshed it with a 6 but not before the Dread took a hp off the big guy. His Kastellans retaliated on my Assault squad killing all but 2 which then ran preventing them from charging. My command squad miss dropped but was still in range of the shooty Kastellans. The Master auspexed them and shot my entire loadout of grav and lascannons from everywhere finally wiping the unit. The last Grav Rhino and the left flank killed a Kastellan on the left side. The Razorbacks harrassed the Grav Destroyers behind them killing another whilst the other flamer assault squad came down and rained fire on the Grav Destroyers again killing another and putting a wound on his Lord.

By this stage I only had half of my transports left but he was running out of puff. The knight started defending objectives from my melta teams after combining fire with the rest of his army to annihilate my Command Squad. A melta took a hp in overwatch before they were all squished. I charged more melta squads over to the Knight taking cover in trenches just trying to get it to die with no success. I finally got a remenants of a grav squad onto the relic hunkering down behind some rubble whilst another Grav Rhino covered them. The last Grav Rhino on the left flank moved forward and deploying the squad just in range with the Grav cannon who killed the the little dude with the robots and very lucky bolter fire leaving the last Robot on 1 wound. My assault squad moved up flamed and charged the enemy warlord and last Grav Destroyer whilst the last 2 awssault marines from the other unit started running the same way. I challenged the lord so the rest of the assaults squads attacks would go into the Heavy Destroyer and with great success managed to kill it. The Sergeant managed to wound the warlord before 2 assault marines got killed.

The following turn the Knight finished another assault squad and stomping the other squad close by leaving the only melta with a couple of squad mates whilst the scouts sniped the breachers on the trenches killing one. The last Kastellan assaulted my pod to grab a maelstrom point whilst the breachers moved passed the melee to help the righ flank as 3 razorbacks were pummeling the other breachers. The Lascannons took a Hp off the knight and the last melta finished it off with the blast going off the table. The Snipers and Razors finished off the breachers in the trenches and the 2 assault squad members joined to help the other not doing any damage before the admech warlord finished off a squad. The lone Kastellan was finished off by Grav fire on the left flank.

The warlord mopped up the assault marines and retreated back behind some pillars. I killed a breacher with a Grav cannon and they ran off the table. The game went all the way to turn 7 with my 3 razors that were left putting shot after shot into the admech warlord finally killing him and tabling the Admech at the end of my turn.

Final Score: 12 - 8 Win

Game 4 vs Chaos Space Marines/Chaos Daemons

My opponents list:

Combined Arms Detachment (Chaos Space Marines)

HQ

Chaos Sorcerer

Force Axe

Mastery Level 1

Aura of Dark Glory

Bike

Mark of Nurgle

Warlord

Chaos Lord

Power Fist

Bike

TROOPS

(10) Cultists

Auto Pistols

(10) Cultists

Auto Pistols

FAST ATTACK

Heldrake

Baleflamer

(3) Chaos Spawn

Marok of Nurgle

HEAVY SUPPORT

Maulerfiend

Lashertendrils

Maulerfiend

Lashertendrils

Maulerfiend

Lashertendrils

Allied Detachment (Chaos Daemons)

HQ

Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage

TROOPS

(3) Nurglings

Forgehost Detachment (Chaos Daemons)

Soulgrinder

Mark of Khorne

Phlegm Bombardment

Soulgrinder

Mark of Nurgle

Phlegm Bombardment

Soulgrinder

Mark of Nurgle

Phlegm Bombardment

Another Daemon engine spam list but this time with Soulgrinders which I absolutely hate. Their formation is pretty sneaky that if one of them causes an unsaved wound the rest that haven't shot get re-roll to hit and to wound. I was also worried about the Hell Turkey.

Mission was Eternal War: Crusade, Maelstrom: Contact Lost, Dawn of War deployment

I won the roll but elected to set up and go second. There was plenty of cover on the board to hide my units and all the shooting he had was the Soulgrinders. He set up the maulers out front ready to sprint forward. He placed his cultists in reserve. I counter deployed giving all my vehicles some obscured cover and spread out my devs so a direct hit pie plate could only hit 3 guys. He rolled the Warlord trait that allowed him to infiltrate his lord and up to 3 non-vehicle units so he infiltrated his Bike Sorcerer, Bike Lord and the Nurgle Spawn together 18" away from one of my grav rhinos with the Spawn in front. he infiltrated the Nurglings on the far right ready to jump onto objective 6. My Scouts sat on objective 4 with good LOS from two of the grinders.

He surged his Lord unit forward closer to my rhino but not his full 12". All 3 of his Maulers forward and huddled them around objective 5 in the middle of the board as it gave +1 cover, where the Lord unit had been. His first Soulgrinder targetted the Lascannon Devs on obj 2 but didn't do any damage. The second one went for the devs again but scattered onto my melta Rhino on the left immobilising it. The snap firing gun managed to hit and kill the dev sergeant. THe 3rd Grinder shot at the second Dev team on the right killing the Sergeant and a Lascannon.

I drew overwhelming fire power and decided to bring in the Dread and an assault squad. The assault squad aimed for obj 6 near the nurglings but scattered off but the squad was still in prime flamer range to remove the nurglings. The dread came down to put max heavy flamer coverage on the Lord unit and angled the dread so I would get the spawn first. I figured if I could kill 2 models then majority armour would jump up to 3+ so my grav would become effective.

I shuffled some units around, moved the melta squads up and disembarked the unit out of the immobilised rhino and ran them for cover. The combined fire from the Dread, Scouts, Razorbacks and Grav Cannon managed to get the Lords spawn down to 2 models with the 3rd spawn on 1 wound and the Biker lord to 1 wound. I also immobilised one of the Maulers at the front with a Grav Cannon and the Lascannons didn't do any damage to the Grinders. The assault squad removed the nurglings for first blood shooting and overwhelming firepower whilst the Melta team on the right flank surged forward to get to the closest Grinder as fast as possible.

2nd turn saw the biker and the sorcerer surround the Grav Rhino splitting from the spawn so the spawn could eat the overwatch. The cultists showed up to reinforce his back field and the hell turkey was delayed. The Bloodthirster flew on and vectored and killed an assault marine and ran to my table edge. 1 Mauler charged and killed a Razor whilst the 2nd Mauler took a HP from Lascannon overwatch but then murdered the devs. The Grinder fire proved very inneffective this turn all 3 only chalking up 2 marines and a HP from a Rhino. The Spawn charged the Grav Rhino and was killed by Grav fire then the lords charged in a wrecked it. I disembarked the squad right behind ready to shoot him in the face next turn.

Turn 2 saw the game begin to slide in my favour. I killed the two lords for a warlord kill, immobilised the mauler that killed the Razor with some Grav bu failed to kill the Mauler that finished off the devs. My Command squad was delayed, which I din't mind and the assault squad came down to secure objective 3 and flamed a cultist unit killing all but one before a Razor killed the last cultist with Heavy Bolter fire. My dread charged the immobilised mauler in the centre of the field and causing it to explode.

The turkey failed to show up again, thirster vector striked a transport but did nothing. The grinders shot at some transports but did nothing, shot at the devs and scattered off doing a HP to a Rhino and the 3rd reduced the Dread to 2 HP. The remaining Mauler rather than charging the melta unit, fearing the overwatch charged the dread instead. Even with the dread down to 2 attacks because of the lasher tendrils it still managed to blow the mauler up.

My command unit finally turned up and killed the Khorne Grinder with all the Grav. Heavy bolters from the razors made the rest of the cultists run. My dread moved up and charged a soul grinder only doing 1 HP and being killed in return.

The rest of the game was a relative mob up. hell turkey finally came on but only killed a vet from the command unit and causing a wound on the libby. The chaplain and master charged and killed it whilst the command squad immobilised the nearest grinder. Lascannons finished off the immobilised mauler whilst all the grav I had shot at the thirster (one of the grav cannon teams was on a sky fire objective) and killed it. By the end of the game he had one Grinder left on 1 HP and managed to win all the primaries.

Final Score: 18 - 1 Win

Game 5 vs Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines

My opponents list:

Combined Arms Detachment (Chaos Daemons)

HQ

Lord of Change

Paradox

2x Greater Reward

Lesser Reward

Warlord

TROOPS

(11) Pink Horrors

(12) Pink Horrors

Irridescent Horror

FAST ATTACK

(3) Screamers of Tzeentch

HEAVY SUPPORT

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

Flight

Armour

Psyker Lvl 1

Lesser Reward

2x Greater Rreward

LORD OF WAR

Chaos Knight Errant

Daemon Knight of Tzeentch

Dirge Caster

Allied Detachment (Chaos Space Marines)

HQ

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

Flight

Armour

Psyker Level 2

Burning Brand of Skalanthrax

TROOPS

(10) Cultists

Auto Pistols

FAST ATTACK

Heldrake

Baleflamer

I got matched with a fellow Overwatch Wargaming member who had gone 4 for 4 over the weekend (the only player to do so) and currently in first place. If I could beat him I would definitely be in the top 3 and if I could score enough points there was a possibility I could win the Tourney so the pressure was on! My opponent was my nemisis though I have played him a couple of times and have not been able to beat his list however this is the first time I would face off with a double demi.

Mission was Eternal War: The Scouring, Maelstrom: Tactical Escalation, Vanguard Strike deployment

He won the roll off to deploy. He castled up his Princes, Lord of Change and Screamers in a ruin, Horrors spread out as much as possible behind another ruin, more horrors on the right flank with the Knight just in front of them. He had his Turkey and cultists in reserve. I counter deployed with the Devs with some great LOS to everything, 2 Grav Tacs and Razorbacks on the left and the rest of the army on the right so that my meltas could make a bee line for the Knight. I chose to outflank the Scouts. He decided for me to have first turn.

My priority when facing Daemons is kill the Horrors. The Horrors would be his summoners, obsec units and at 11 models each provide 4 warp charge points total. I chose for both of my assault units to come in first to put the hurt on both horror squads. The first coming down on the right flank killing 5 Horrors. A good start. The second assault squad fluffed hard only killing one. I moved all my tanks up that needed to, the Grav team on the right moved up to get into range of the Knight when it moved and secured an objective whilst everything else that didn't manouvre shot at one of the Princes reducing him down to 2 wounds.

His Princes took to the air, the wounded one heading to wards my left flank to cause some trouble with the devs and the other to my right flank. The Lord of change stayed on the ground to deal with the Assault squad closest whilst the Screamers pushed left to kill their pod. The large Horror squad moved to the ruin where the MCs were to secure the objective whilst the other horror squad retreated to let the Knight through to kill the assault squad. He cast Scriers gaze, knocked off a HP from a transport with 1 power and whiffing his Psychic Shirek on my Dev squad. His shooting phase wasn't that great with the Thermal Cannon from the Knight only taking 1 HP from a Razor and shaking it. The Knight ran over the assault squad and consolidated back whilst the Lord of Change did the same.

Turn 2 saw my Scouts walk on from the left flank, Dread coming down to remove the small squad of Horrors and Command Squad coming down to try and put some hurt on the Knight. The command squad miss dropped though and came down more towards my table edge than I'd liked but all the Grav was still in range. The Dread flamed and removed the Horror squad, the Scouts shot Snipers at the wounded prince causing a wound but he made his grounding test at the end of the phase. The Devs on the left removed a wound from the Lord of Change. All available Heavy Bolters and Bolters from Drop Pods poured into the Horrors in the ruins killing all but one. The combined fire from everything on my right flank including meltas that had popped out of their transports managed only 1 HP on the Knight as he kept making his 4++ saves as all my fire was coming into the front arc.

His Cultist walked on but his turkey failed to come on, even with the re-roll from scryers gaze. The Lion was looking after me this day. The wounded prince flew forward to burning brand the closest devs but only killed one. The second prince vectored a Razor but only shook it. He moved the Knight more Central to charge a Melta Tac squad, Lord of Change moved over to kill the Dread and the Screamers still trying to kill the Pod. Cultists ran up past the dread pod making a bee line to an objective. His Psychic Phase was better getting Scryers Gaze again, Prescience on the Knight, Psychic Shriek failing again and doom bolt removing another HP from a transport. Warp Storm tabled killed 3 scouts. The Knight managed another HP off another transport and then wiped but the melta in the melta tac squad who then ran taking a HP in overwatch.

Turn 3 Pods in range killed 3 cultists but they made their morale check. Razorbacks finished the last Horror. Lascannons and 2 melta teams took the Lord of Change down to 2 wounds. Combined fire from the right flank took the Knight down to 2 HP. From here my game fell apart. Thinking the Knight would be an easy kill for my Master's Mace and the Chaplains Melta Bomb (as the knight was concussed from Grav fire) I charged. Big mistake. Master scored 5 hits but not one 6 in armour pen rolls (didn't have Furious Charge from For the Lion! sadly) and the Melta bomb scored a pen but he saved it with the 5++ Daemon save.

His Turkey failed to come on again, with scryers gaze. It took the Knight a couple of turns in combat but he finally destroyed the command squad. From there it was a lot of back and forth. I wasn't getting any easy cards to get in Maelstrom and was struggling. I ended up winning a very closely fought Eternal War having 1 marine survive combat from the Lord of Change to steal an objective, 2 marines stealing an objective from a Prince, The Hell drake failing to kill the last Grav Cannon on another objective and the Knight charging an removing a Rhino on another Objective but was too far away to claim it himself. I won the Eternal War but lost the Maelstrom by 2 cards and he smashed my in Kill Points. Got the Lord of Change down to 1 wound in the end but was extremely difficult getting to there as he had a 4+ FNP from one of his rewards.

Final Score: 13 - 7 Loss

I did have an amazing weekend, some excellent battles. managed to come 5th overall and secured my 9th position in the NSW state rankings for my invite to NSW Masters at the end of the month.

Thoughts on the Tournament

I love the missions as it accommodates most armies. Community Comp has it's pros and cons but it is always changing to try and make things as balanced as possible. Most of the Draft GW FAQ rules in play were good however one grenade in the assault phase is utter BS and needs to go back to the way it was and no consolidating from killing Walkers is also crapola. If what you're attacking fights back you should be able to consolidate.

I did make a couple of costly mistakes over the weekend which I'll fix for next time.

Thoughts on my List

As usual, the base double demis were an amazing core. Lots of strong firepower, very mobile and obsec on everything except the scouts is pure gold. My melta teams pulled more weight than I thought they would which made me pretty happy. The Flamer assault squads always did a bit of damage, slowed down or distracted the enemy and took a fair few objectives. Lascannons were great when I had some good rolls but having them as a good long range fire base is always great.

The Command Squad and Characters were good but did find them lacking. My match ups were not great for it with a lot of vehicle daemons but I feel it should still be able to be a rock hard immovable object able to take on everything. Not being able to do anything against the Knight in the last game really got me thinking about this.

The Dread is my favourite unit. He had some really good kills in a couple of games and was a good distraction but I he died 4/5 times and pretty early in 3 games. I think I need to redirect his points.

Lastly Sniper Scouts. Had some lucky rolls but as expected were not great peformers. I think I'm going to change them to Bolter Scouts and Outflank them in every game to nab objectives, Linebreaker or harrass weak units.

My Librarian was abysmal in the Psychic phase all weekend. As a Character just having the Eye of the Unseen he was great but a Level 1 Psyker really is crap. I ended up with some useless powers all weekend and really only cast Prescience and most of the time didn't go off.

List Changes

So after talking to my last opponent extensively as we are club mates and going through my list with a fine comb, I've decided for NSW Masters I would drop the Dread and Scouts back to Bolters and re-invest these points into making the Command Squad a lot harder to kill and more of a Death Star. The Command Squad with Characters was already at roughly 600 odd points so another 100 odd wouldn't be so bad and make it hardier. Dropping the Dread also freed up some Armoured Vehicle Points (for comp) so i could give the last Melta squad a Razorback instead of a Rhino.

So after reinvesting those points the core of the list hasn't changed much (Razorback instead of Rhino for the Melta Tac Squad, Bolters on Scouts). This is what my characters and Command Squad look like now after removing the Dread:

Company Master

Eye of the Unseen

Articifer Armour

Storm Shield

Power Fist

Combi Grav

Auspex

Chaplain

Crozius

Power Fist

Auspex

Ezekiel

Command Squad

2 Vets with Grav Gun and Storm Shield

Champion with Grav Gun, Blade of Caliban and Storm Shield

Apothecary with Grav Gun

Vet with Sacred standard and Grav Gun

The AusNZ FAQ used in our Community Comp Tournaments (and in ITC) allow for you to choose the order in which you give weapons to your models which can keep the upgrades so long as they aren't replaced. So above a Vet has traded his Chainsword for a Grav Gun then upgraded to an Apothecary and a Vet has swapped his Bolt Pistol for a Grav Gun and taken a Storm Shield and making him a Champ only swaps his Chainsword for the Blade of Caliban.

So the key to this change is Ezekiel being Mastery level 3. I can now somewhat reliably fish for powers that will make the squad better but also have some extra storm shields to soak up low AP shots and ignores cover low AP shots and have a Champ with a shield to tank challenges. The plan is then to roll on Sanctic with Ezekiel looking for Hammer Hand and Sanctuary. Hammer Hand combined with the Book of Salvation making the squad even more brutal in close combat and Sanctuary giving me 4 Storm Shields at 2++ and the Chaplain having a 3++. I think even with perils happening on every double is still a very slim chance I would roll the 1 and fail a Ld 10 and with the other results I still get a FNP from the Apoth to try and avoid wounds on Zeke from other perils results and if I do manage to get the magic 6 Zeke will be a rocking powerhouse. Zeke's 2+ armour can also help tank for the unit from small arms. Warlord will most likely be the Chaplain as the Master usually dies first with the tanking and Zeke's Warlord Trait isn't that great.

I know putting a Fist on my Master seems to be a waste of I5 but the Eye of the Unseen is a must for the Grav Guns to be effective that there really isn't a better choice for him as he can only take one Relic as per the new draft FAQ. The way I see it Zeke can do the damage at I5 with his lots of attacks and if I get charged or do the charging I have a good chance to concuss any multi wound/super heavy that is charging me which will then get concussed anyway and my Master will me striking at the same time.

Anyways thanks for reading my ramblings, I'll do a NSW Masters review up next and post the video bat reps I've been in once they are posted. Hope you enjoyed this review and the photos.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Solrac

[PhilB]

Great write up again Solrac, very entertaining.

I was wondering why that melta tact squad had a Rhino instead of a Razorback but that makes sense comp. points wouldn't allow it.

I was thinking you needed another pod to get 3 down on turn 1 but if you're going to drop the dread then maybe not.

What about Librarius for Ezekiel? There are some quality powers in that school and 'Zek with might of heroes becomes a bit of a monster. If you're lucky you'll get veil of time too, wouldn't rerolling storm shields be better than +1 to invuls? All with no risk of sanctic perils.

Do you feel that a fist of both the chap and CM is a bit of overkill? 50 points right there.

[Solrac]

Great write up again Solrac, very entertaining.

I was wondering why that melta tact squad had a Rhino instead of a Razorback but that makes sense comp. points wouldn't allow it.

I was thinking you needed another pod to get 3 down on turn 1 but if you're going to drop the dread then maybe not.

What about Librarius for Ezekiel? There are some quality powers in that school and 'Zek with might of heroes becomes a bit of a monster. If you're lucky you'll get veil of time too, wouldn't rerolling storm shields be better than +1 to invuls? All with no risk of sanctic perils.

Do you feel that a fist of both the chap and CM is a bit of overkill? 50 points right there.

Thanks for the questions Phil!

 

As my list was before, changing the Tac melta Rhino to a Razor would have incurred an additional comp point as I was already at the max 12. The same with the 5th Pod which is why I didn't give that Tac squad a Pod instead.

 

Sadly Veil of Time is 8 comp points (as well as the shifting terrain one and teleporting unit one) on it's own so that's not an option. If you haven't paid the comp for it and you roll and get it you have to re-roll. Most of the Librarius powers are good however the 3 really good ones are comp'd and the rest are scattered into all different trees that I'd end up only get 1 power that i'd like. I don't like Powers that just buff the Libby as I need to have the whole unit rock solid. Rolling on Sanctic I think is the best choice for what I'm going for as the only real useless power in that tree is Banishment and I'll end up getting that for free anyway. The Preferred Enemy mitigates me having to rely on Prescience.

 

I agree it is a lot of points to sink into one squad and yes the 2 power fists are overkill but I chose to go this route after thinking about it for quite some time for a couple reasons:

 

- I don't want my Grav Guns locked in combat. I don't care that they are able to be shot at as they will be able to deal with most of the firepower, even D to a certain extent, coming their way and if they are taking the pressure off the rest of my army then that's job done. I've seen this work in the past the Command Squad just didn't have the survivability that it would have now so the distraction didn't last as long.

 

- The Command Squad get's charged by CC D wielding Superheavies/Gargantuans all the time because it's my strongest unit, most dangerous unit and the only character up to snuff in combat to some extent is the Master with the Mace but no one sees him as a big enough threat so they decide to charge by taking the overwatch or sacrificing another unit to the overwatch first. The Power Fists are now also a massive deterrent. If I get charged I have 9 (with Counter Attack from the Standard and Ezekiel's Book) preferred enemy power fist attacks hitting on 3s most of the time as there are few big bads with WS5 or more, re-rolling with Hatred. Not to mention if I get Hammer Hand off, Power Fists become S10, Zeke will also be able to put in 5 S6 Force attacks and the Champion will get 4 S7 attacks.

 

- Even though I've sunk over 700 points into one squad the double demi base with the free vehicles is still a very solid support and still very versatile on it's own. I wouldn't think to sink this many points into a Death Star in a CAD. I've done a couple of DA deathstars before in a CAD and for my play style it just never worked the way I wanted. At least this way it's essentially almost a free Deathstar with all the free vehicles the double demi gives.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Solrac

[PhilB]

8 comp. points for veil of time, wow. Yeah fair enough then.

All good points there, so it's to be a super shooty, super CC, super survivable command squad.

I like it, plonk that on the board turn 1 and say "deal with this one" while your 50 odd marines and their transports run about their business.

[Solrac]

You nailed what I was going for :)

[Chaplain Raeven]

Thanks for the write-up Solrac, it's always a pleasure reading your adventures. And they're very insightfull! You seem to like those Grav-commands, would you recommend a squad of them for a demi?

 

Dropping the dread saddens me. Those boxy buggers deserve some lovin' from time to time. But yeah, they usually die the turn after they dropped. Did you consider giving him an AC and footslogging him along with your command squad? Your opponent won't know what to target and he decimates almost everything in CC. 

 

Sniperrifles on scouts are a bit underwhelming. They never contributed to my games yet, and my opponent usually ignores them completely. My bolterscouts though... They've created legends already. 

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Thank you for the battle-report.

Always great to see a detailed report with pictures and insight. You do the DA community proud!

Looks like it was a hard fought tournament so 5th isn't so bad!

 

Again you confirm some people's worse nightmares that full BS overwatch sucks. ;) It doesn't really help anything against armies that assault you or deterrs units from assaulting. Woe is Dark Angels.. ;) hahah

 

Really sad that you consider Mr Promethium Squirter to take a vacation. It was iconic and a symbol of of the resistance... sort of shut up to those that say dreads suck. :D

But I can see that if you need points, something has to step down.

 

For the scouts have you thought about bolters+missile launcher? sure it's a single missile launcher, but you can infiltrate it and get some side armour and it also helps against infantry.

[oldmanlee]

Excellent battle report Solarc the comp sounds really cool wish we had more like that in the uk

 

Looking forward to the video battle reports

[Solrac]

Thank you for the battle-report.

Always great to see a detailed report with pictures and insight. You do the DA community proud!

Looks like it was a hard fought tournament so 5th isn't so bad!

 

Again you confirm some people's worse nightmares that full BS overwatch sucks. ;) It doesn't really help anything against armies that assault you or deterrs units from assaulting. Woe is Dark Angels.. ;) hahah

 

Really sad that you consider Mr Promethium Squirter to take a vacation. It was iconic and a symbol of of the resistance... sort of shut up to those that say dreads suck. :D

But I can see that if you need points, something has to step down.

 

For the scouts have you thought about bolters+missile launcher? sure it's a single missile launcher, but you can infiltrate it and get some side armour and it also helps against infantry.

Thanks for the kind words Lucifer.

 

As I said I love my flamer dread but it was the only other unit in the list that wasn't a pre-requisite. We'll see how I go in Masters. If the Command Squad is underwhelming in the NSW Masters I might go fully cheap on the Command Squad and put the Dread back in and sprinkle in some Combis.

 

I'm all for Missile Launchers and even Heavy Bolters in Scout Squads just trying to find the spare points for it is a little rough. I've thought about making one of the Dev squads all Missile Launchers instead of Lascannons to have more points to play with and add in some anti-horde now that the Dread is gone but being the lists are due in 11 days and I don't know how quick I can paint up 4 missile Devs I might put that on the back burner for now.

 

I do enjoy the look on my opponents face when I set up 8 Lascannons.

[Pvnisher]

Hey solrac love the read but you got me into thinking about using a drop pod command squad. Do you think the grav is better then meltaguns? Luckily for me I have 4 vet sarges laying around so just need change them up a bit to get them going. Didn't realize the standard gave relentless I can see in your setup the grav being really good. Edited November 4, 2016 by Pvnisher

[Solrac]

Hey solrac love the read but you got me into thinking about using a drop pod command squad. Do you think the grav is better then meltaguns? Luckily for me I have 4 vet sarges laying around so just need change them up a bit to get them going. Didn't realize the standard gave relentless I can see in your setup the grav being really good.

Grav Gun vs Meltagun is something that comes up a few times from what I've seen but in my opinion I don't think it's a question of which is better but more so a question of what you need in your list.

 

In my list I like the Grav Guns versatility. It has a high rate of fire, shred's GMC's and elite units and you can still do damage to vehicles. My list already has anti tank covered. The lascannons can pull their weight and the Melta Tac's are fast enough to hunt vehicles effectively.

 

If your list needs a dedicated anti tank unit then the command squad with 5 melta's is the way to go. It's a lot cheaper as you don't need the Standard and the Meltas are cheaper than Grav. For the price of one fully loaded Grav Command Squad you can almost get 2 Melta Command Squads in pods. They draw a lot of fire simply because unlike a Vet Melta unit all the guns can shoot multiple times.

 

But as I said it's really down to the rest of the list.