1550 games and first impressions

[Frater Cornelius]

Today I made two 1550 games with the new BA. First game was against an Eldar and second against another BA who took pretty much the opposite of me.

My list:

LoW

Dante

HQ

Captain

- Artificer Armour, Angel's Wings, Valor's Edge, Inferno Pistol, Melta Bomb

Elite

Command Squad

- Jump Packs, 3x Melta

10 Death Company

- Jump Packs, 2x Power Fist

Troops

5 Tacs

- Heavy Flamer, Combi-Flamer

+ Razorback, TLHF, Dozer Blade

5 Tacs

- Heavy Flamer, Combi-Flamer

+ Razorback, TLHF, Dozer Blade

Fast Attack

5 ASM

- 2x Melta, Combi-Melta

5 ASM

- 2x Melta, Combi-Melta

Heavy Support

Sicaran Battle Tank

- Dozer Blade, LoG: Schizm of Mars

First game way against the Eldar. We played Maelstrom Mission 3.

His list was Fuegan, Spirit Seers, Dire Avengers, Snipers, Wraithguards in Serpents, Scorpions, Warp Spiders, Dark Reapers and War Walkers.

I deployed first (ASM and Dante's unit went into reserve), he failed to steal initiative.

BA T1: DC charged the infiltrated Scorpions and wiped them out. Sicaran turned the War Walkers into dust. Rest moved up.

E T1: He disembarked WG and took shorts at DC with most of his units, killing 1 and taking 2 hull-points of the Sicaran. He did not manage to do anything else (I did a decent job with positioning).

BA T2: Everyone arrived rather precisely with DoA. Dante, Captain and CS killed 3/5 Reapers. One ASM finished Reapers off. Another ASM took shots at DA, killing a few. One Razorback killed all the Snipers.

DC killed the WG. Sicaran finished one Serpent.

E T2: A lot of rage. We managed to kill 2 more DC and one ASM unit as well as wrecking the Sicaran with Spiders (they deep striked).

BA T3: Dante went solo and killed Fuegan without much trouble. Captain with CS killed the rest of the DA in melee. Both Tac units and a RB killed the Spiders. DA killed the last Serpent. He was tabled.

Very one sided. Very aggressive approach and the deep striking was absolutely devastating for him.

The BA was tougher. He has what I did not. Mephiston + Chaplain with DC in Land Raider, Fragioso in Pod, full tacs in Rhinos, full ASM unit with Fist and two Meltas.

Again, I deployed first, leaving only Dante's unit in reserve. We played mission 4 and I had 4 markers in my half. I wanted to hang back and let him close in.

He left ASM in reserve.

BA T1: ASM hid, DC waited behind Sicaran, one RB waited hidden, the other moved forward to grab an objective. Sicaran failed to scratch the Land Raider.

Other BA T1: His Land Raider moved 12" and shot the Sicaran but failed to do anything. One tac with ML shot the capping RB, but failed to glance. Fragioso landed next to DC and killed two of them.

BA T2: All ASM jumped out of cover to surround the LR and Dante landed right in front of it. RB moved forward and the Sicaran moved around the Fragioso. DC also moved up.

All Meltas fired but the Raider was glanced to death seeing as no pen made it explode. The DC disembarked behind terrain, out of safe charge range of my DC.

Sicaran killed Fragioso.

Other BA T2: Rhinos moved into position. They killed one ASM unit. Mephiston casted the +1A spell on his DC and tried S10 on himself but I stopped it. He shot one ASM unit, leaving two alive but failed the 10" charge. My ASM fled.

His ASM arrived and managed a pen on the Sicaran, result in a shaken crew.

BA T3: Dante's unit and the DC charged his DC. I lost my CS Champion against Meph in a challenge, two DC and nothing else. On his side, only Meph survived with 2 wounds. Sicaran moved away and shot at the ASM, killed 2 actually. One RB moved back to support the Sicaran and killed two more.

My other RB moved toward an objective and sat there.

Other BA T3: Mephiston charged my objective camping RB and killed it (he got his S10 up again). His one Rhino moved up and took shots at Dante, but I passed my saves. The other Rhino unit disembarked and opened up on the DC, killing two.

His ASM charged my Sicaran and destroyed it.

BA T4: Dante and his unit killed the Rhino by shooting and killed the squad within on the charge. My DC charged and killed Mephiston with the Tacs charging as well and eating his S10 strikes.

RB and disembarked Tacs killed the ASM unit that destroyed the Sicaran. My surviving ASM just went around capping objectives.

Other BA T4: He unloaded everything he had on DC, leaving 3 still standing.

BA T5: Dante charged the Tacs with the DC while the Captain with CS went to kill the Rhino. He was tabled with a final score of 15VP BA and 6VP Other BA.

I loved it. Very aggressive. The Descend of Angels is awesome and gives me the option to either DS or deploy, depending on opposition. The whole list was damn fast and I never had a tactical objective for longer than two turns.

I wanted to name a MVP, but they all did their job admirably. Sicaran took out armour, ASM did too and were annoying as well as good in capping stuff. DC took a million shots and laughed at them and dished out serious hurt. Dante and his unit demolished everything they saw. The Heavy Flamer units with TLHF Razors did a very solid job piling wounds. They went undisturbed for quite a while and did a great job capping. I will definitely keep using those.

On a final note. I5 on the charge with BSFD really made the difference. It allowed me to strike at the same time with Eldar and before the other BA, turning it into a blood bath.

So yeah, good stuff I'd say so far