Rogue Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Sons of Medusa vs Eldar | 1000 | Cloak and Shadows For a moment, the ruined sanctum seemed at peace, belying the events of the past few days. The local militia had tried to shore up their failing defences with an aegis line, but the eldar raiders had proved irresistible. The marines had arrived too late to save the militia, but with the xenos still to flee back to their capital ship, the chance for vengeance remained in the grasp of the Sons of Medusa. This is a 1000 point ‘Cloak and Shadows’ maelstrom engagement with six objectives, played down the length of the table. My marines (Sons of Medusa, using Imperial Fist chapter tactics) against Eldar. The ruined imperial compound dominated the centre of the battlefield, with two tall corners connected by lines of aegis shields. To the west, the remains of a manufactorum anchored one end of a line of tank-traps stretching away to the north. The south-eastern approach to the compound was protected by a dense stand of trees, with fallen statues and abandoned gun emplacements littering the south-west. The battlefield from the south (my end). Objectives were located amongst the ruined statues, in the wood, in the manufactorum, in both parts of the sanctum, and in a small ammunition cache north of the compound. Sons of Medusa Codicer Amos: force staff and bolt pistol, flame breath, sunburst Tactical squad Judah: 5 marines, flamer Tactical squad Naphtali: 5 marines, flamer Assault squad Asher: 5 marines, 2 flamers, meltbombs Devastator squad Zebulun: 5 marines, 4 lascannon Devastator squad Issachar: 5 marines, 4 heavy bolters 2 Razorbacks: twin-linked assault cannon Landspeeder: typhoon missile launcher, heavy bolter Stormtalon: skyhammer missiles, twin-linked assault cannon Stalker: icarus stormcannon array The marines deployed first, in the southeast corner. Zebulun’s lascannon squad took cover in the woods with a view across the compound; Issachar’s heavy bolters sheltered behind a fallen aquilla, covering the open ground in front of the marine positions. Asher’s small group of assault marines joined the lascannons, with the razorback-mounted tactical squads (including Amos) and the landspeeder concealed behind the woods. The stormtalon and the stalker remained in reserve. [The eldar always seem to bring a lot of AP2 weaponry, so I was keen to hug cover as much as possible. The devastators were able to take up positions with wide fields of fire, with the armoured elements poised to advance on the compound (and the objectives within) as the battle developed.] Eldar Autarch: jetbike, fusion gun, mantle of the laughing god 5 Windriders: jetbikes 5 Rangers: sniper rifles 5 Warp Spiders: exarch, spinners 5 Wraithguard: distort guns Wraithlord: eldar lascannon Wave Serpent Crimson Hunter The eldar deployed along the northern edge of the compound. The rangers positioned themselves behind the aegis line. To the west, the windriders, autarch and wraithlord sheltered behind the manfactorum, ready to advance on the undefended side of the marine lines. On the east, facing the imperial guns, the wave serpent (with its wraithguard payload) held station behind the sanctum. The warp spiders and the crimson hunter remained in reserve. TURN 1 With little to fire at, the marines ceded the initiative to the eldar. The librarian, in his role as warlord, proved to be a princeps of deceit; despite the high leadership of the eldar, the rangers succumbed and were pinned. The opening moves of the engagement were cagey. The jetbikes sweep forward around the manufactorum, finding further shelter behind the western tower of the sanctum. The wraithlord moved after them, skirting the compound boundary. On the eldar left, even less happened – with the rangers temporarily confused, and the wave serpent unwilling to risk exposing itself to the firepower of the marine line, there was no movement at all. To cap the turn, a desultory shooting phase saw few shots and no casualties. DRAW 0-0 The marines too were happy to hold position. Both squads of devastators drew a bead on the windriders, but as the eldar flitted through the ruins only one was thrown from his jetbike. The response units (razorbacks, landspeeder and assault marines) remained in the shelter of the woods until their targets drew into range. [so the first turn was a bit of a nothing, with neither side wanting to present the other with potential targets. Hopefully, the arrival of reserves would act as a catalyst.] DRAW 0-0 TURN 2 Like clockwork, the eldar reserves swept onto the table – the crimson hunter heading for the wave serpent, and the warp spiders shimmered into real-space in the centre of the compound before jumping into the cover of the sanctum in the centre of the board. The windriders and the autarch burst from cover towards the south-west corner, going flat out to position themselves behind the marine gunline. The wraithlord continued its slow advance across the battlefield, and the wave serpent moved forward under the shadow of the crimson hunter. With the eldar right flank either running or out of range, the only firing came from the wave serpent, which killed sergeant Zebulun, and from the rangers, who nailed two lascannons from the same squad (the two survivors passed their morale check). The crimson hunter tried to fire through the woods at a razorback, but was deflected by the solid trees. DRAW 0-0 Unhelpfully, the marine reserves didn’t appear this turn. Undaunted, the razorbacks and landspeeder moved forward to fire on the wave serpent, but even with the support of the remaining lascannons, they were unable to land a single damaging hit on the jinking transport. On the other flank, the heavy bolters fared better, reducing the last four windriders to a fine mist (scoring first blood, and a maelstrom vp for destroying a unit with firepower). Only the autarch now remained. [i hate wave serpents. That is all.] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 2-0 TURN 3 Having dented the marine gunline in the previous turn, the eldar continued to close. The spiders burst into the open ground ahead of the heavy bolters, and the wave serpent disgorged five wraithguard in front of the razorbacks, before sliding sideways to menace the marines in the wood. The autarch continued his headlong charge, finishing up almost in the centre of the marine lines. The eldar shooting phase was far more effective – the spiders and wraithlord combined to destroy the heavy bolter squad, taking revenge for their jetbiker brethren; the wraithguard smashed one of the razorbacks with four penetrating hits (forcing the embarked tactical squad to dive for cover in the trees, where a snap firing wave serpent was unable to inflict any further damage); and finally, the crimson hunter fired down on the other razorback, but only managed to glance it. SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 2-0 The time had come – the stalker arrived from reserve on the marines’ right flank, escorted by the stormtalon. The stalker opened up at the eldar flyer, scoring a glancing hit as it jinked away. The stormtalon added its firepower, but was unable to land the single glance that would have downed the crimson hunter. The last razorback tried to thin the numbers of the wraithguard, but was unable to pierce their armour, and the landspeeder had a similar lack of success against the heavily shrouded autarch. As the dogfight took place, the tactical squad in the woods sprinted out of cover and hurled themselves at the wave serpent, thrusting krak grenades into air intakes and exhaust ports. The resultant explosions shredded the crew, and dropped the wreck of the transport to the floor. Encouraged by this, the assault marines used their jump-packs to close on the warp spiders, who had retreated to the far side of the aegis line. In a flurry of flamer blasts and small-arms fire, the marines charged into the spiders, but 3+ saves on both sides limited the casualties to one apiece. The spiders chose to hit-and-run over the heads of the marines, landing nearer to the lascannons. The marines consolidated around the perimeter of the compound. [Pants. I’d hoped that the stalker might take the crimson hunter on its own. I’d certainly planned for the stormtalon to finish the job. Still, at least it had jinked. On the plus side, I’d finally found a way to stop a wave serpent.] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 2-0 The right flank gets a little crowded... TURN 4 Its firing compromised, the crimson hunter swooped off the table. The autarch and the spiders closed on the marine lines, the wraithguard charged into the tactical squad that had downed the serpent, and the wraithlord killed one of the two surviving devastators. The autarch continued the ineffective duel with the speeder, failing to even glance its armour. Afflicted with equal inaccuracy, the rangers couldn’t hurt the assault marines. Close combat proved to be a non-event, with no casualties caused by either side in either combat. SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 2-0 The stormtalon considered following the crimson hunter into reserves, but instead elected to pursue the targets that remained on the table, positioning itself to fire on the autarch or the wraithlord. Following its lead, the razorback and the speeder moved to firing positions. Further north, the assault marines sprang across the compound, bringing the rangers into range, killing two, before charging in and breaking the others (gaining a maelstrom point for causing a morale test). The stalker and razorback proved unable to land a shot on the autarch (due to his 2+ cover save, but his luck eventually ran out as a krak missile from the landspeeder found its target, causing instant death (and slaying the warlord). In the close combats, both sides continued to circle each other warily, and no fatal blows were landed. SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 3-0 The autarch's last stand, as his forces engage in close combat TURN 5 The crimson hunter re-entered, throwing itself up the board to target the stormtalon. At ground level, the rangers failed to rally, and the wraithlord positioned itself to fire on the stalker. Everything else was dead or in combat. Shooting was far more productive. The hunter blew the stormtalon out of the sky, and the wraithlord nailed the stalker with a single shot, exploding it. By way of contrast, the close combats continued to prove mostly harmless, with just one tactical marine killed. SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 3-0 Finally, Codicer Amos disembarked with his squad, and prepared to charge into the combat between the last devastator and the warp spiders. The razorback and landspeeder found positions to target the wraithlord, but failed to land a telling blow. On the other side of the compound, the assault marines gunned down the last rangers, securing that side of the battlefield (and gaining linebreaker). In what turned out to be the last act of the battle, Amos attempted to cast Sunburst – the power worked, but forced a warp test, and, moments after stepping out of his transport, Amos was sucked into the warp. His parting blast killed the warp spider exarch, but the consequent warp shock took out two of the tactical marines too. SONS OF MEDUSA WIN 5-3 The final battlefield (with a closer shot of the busy corner) The combatants paused, feeling the shudder in the warp as the librarian was dragged from the real in the blink of an eye. The marines, trained to resist to lure of the empyrean, simply shrugged it off. But for the eldar, the consequences were devastating – the pulse swept through the warp spiders and the wraith-constructs, twisting, crushing, crippling. In a moment, the skirmish was over, the eldar torn apart by Amos’ fatal error. Reflections That felt close. It turned out to be low scoring - we were both getting to grips with the maelstrom cards, and didn’t really pick up many objectives; in the end, I managed first blood, linebreaker and slay the warlord, plus two maelstrom objectives. The eldar also had linebreaker and slay the warlord, and picked up one maelstrom objective, despite covering most of the board at one point or another. I thought that the game would turn on the points when I failed to kill things – the survival of the serpent in turn two, and the crimson hunter in turn three – but in both cases, jink served to render them ineffective in the following turn. In retrospect, the stormtalon should have followed the hunter off the table in turn four, allowing it to get the first shots in when it reappeared in turn five (rather than ineffectively strafing the wraithlord). The drawn out close combats also worked in my favour, tying up the nastily shooty wraithguard and the mobile warp spiders for half the game, at the cost of four tacticals and a lascannon. I’m going to have to try the stalker again, but then again, might switch it out for a hunter, looking for that almost guaranteed hit (eventually). Similarly, the stormtalon underperformed (missing the crimson hunter, missing the wraithlord, then dying to the crimson hunter), but wasn’t used as well as would have liked, so will make another appearance too. More positively, the general tactical drift of the game went well. Castling up seems to leave the eldar reluctant to get near enough to bring their full strength to bear, whilst the units that are thrown forward can be gunned down (as the windriders were). The assault squad made a pleasant debut, damaging the spiders, wiping out the rangers and claiming linebreaker, but the landspeeder was less successful (one fairly fortunate hit on the autarch not withstanding). Interestingly, with almost none of the troops on the table armed for close combat, the assault phase saw almost no casualties (even the assault marines proved more use when shooting than up close and personal). It was enjoyable to have a fast attack element again (I used to run with two full assault squads back in the days of chapter traits), and with the slightly larger points limit, it's something I'll be doing again next time... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Sons of Medusa vs Eldar | 1000 | Spoils of War The Icarus fell, burning, from the sky. Three sharp internal detonations tore it apart before the stricken cargo vessel even reached the ground, hull and cargo tossed about like so much confetti. From atop his rhino, Amos watched the descent, his face impassive. The ship could be replaced, munitions recovered; but the runestones – they could not be allowed to fall back into eldar hands. Signalling to his men, Amos set out for the crash site. This is a 1000 point ‘Spoils of War’ maelstrom engagement with six objectives, played across the table. My marines (Sons of Medusa, using Imperial Fist chapter tactics) against Eldar. The battlefield from the west (with the marines to the south). Objective are located in the ammo dump, top right (1), amidst the ruined sanctum, top left (2), on the fallen aquila (3), in the nearby manufactorum (4), in the small wood, bottom left (5) and in front of the statue (6) Sons of Medusa Codicer Amos: force staff and bolt pistol, flame breath, combustion Tactical squad Judah: 5 marines, flamer, rhino Tactical squad Naphtali: 5 marines, flamer, rhino Assault squad Asher: 5 marines, 2 flamers, drop pod Devastator squad Zebulun: 5 marines, 4 lascannon Devastator squad Issachar: 5 marines, 4 heavy bolters Dreadnought Cain: pair of twin-linked autocannon Stormtalon: skyhammer missiles, twin-linked assault cannon Hunter: skyspear missile launcher Having been allocated the southern edge, the marines deployed first. Zebulun’s lascannons took the top floor of the manufactorum (objective 4), with the hunter half hidden amidst the rubble on the ground floor. To the right, Issachar’s heavy bolters took cover in the supply dump (objective 1). Both tactical squads, the assault squad, the dreadnought and the stormtalon remained in reserve. [This felt like a big gamble – deploying just ten marines and a light tank should give me a lot of flexibility later on, but could also allow the eldar to concentrate their firepower early in the game. Still, both devastator squads were in cover, both held objectives, and both had good sightlines across the field.] The heavy support units take the field - everything else is in reserve Eldar Farseer: mastery 3, sword of armourbane 4 Windriders: jetbikes 5 Rangers: sniper rifles 6 Warp Spiders: exarch, spinners 9 Striking Scorpions: exarch 10 Guardians: brightlance 3 War Walkers: scatter laser, star cannon, force field of 5++ Wave Serpent The eldar chose the ruined sanctum as a make-shift firebase. The war walkers and farseer took position at ground level, with the rangers two floors above. To the west, on the marines’ left flank, the squad of guardians took cover in the woods. The eldar firebase (with the farseer out of sight under a platform) - the guardians are visible in the distance TURN 1 I chose to go first, and the eldar failed to seize the initiative. A single drop pod slammed into the ground just south of the guardians, disgorging a small assault squad, who promptly flamed the tightly packed eldar into so much cinder – the entire squad were wiped out, scoring first blood and linebreaker for the marines. With the war walkers and farseer out of sight, both devastator squads fired on the rangers, killing four. The survivor passed his morale test. [That was an amazing start – drop pod assault gave me the option of dropping assault marines or the dreadnought, and I figured that the marines could do serious damage to the isolated guardians without necessarily taking a ton of fire in return. In the event, the assault squad’s flamers were able to rack up 18 hits between them, denying the guardians both armour and cover saves, and the eldar squad simply vanished from the table. The heavy bolters also scored for objective one] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 3-0 The eldar were immediately on the back foot. The lone ranger was unable to inflict any return casualties on the lascannon squad, but the war walkers fared a little better, moving into the gap between the sanctum buildings before killing Zebulun and one of his lascannons. Battle focus allowed the graceful walkers to gain some cover from the inevitable return fire. [The walkers picked up two points for claiming objective two] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 3-2 TURN 2 The majority of the marine reserves arrived at the first opportunity. Amos and his accompanying tactical squad entered on the left, advancing towards the statue and objective si;, and with an eye to supporting the assault squad, who had moved into the cover of the still smoking wood, seizing objective five. The stormtalon swept in over the lascannon devastators before unleashing a full payload into the war walkers, but their deflector fields limited the damage to a single hull point. Finally, Dreadnought Cain’s drop pod landed behind the walkers, and the veteran warrior’s autocannon felled one of the eldar constructs and stunned a second. Determined not to be left out, the heavy bolters riddled the last ranger, throwing him from the roof of the sanctum. [Going first had certainly paid off – of the initial eldar deployment, only the farseer and two war walkers remained, and one of those walkers was stunned to boot. It meant that my heavy hitters were concentrated on my right flank (with just five tactical marines and their rhino on the left half of the board), but hopefully that would make it harder for the eldar to counter assault in turn. The lascannon squad scored for objective four, and the assault squad for objective five] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 5-2 The eldar reserves were more, well, reserved than the marines, with only the warp spiders making an appearance. The aspect warriors landed next to the assault marines and, by way of revenge for the guardians, wiped out the whole squad before using battle focus to reclaim objective five (although the marines still claimed linebreaker through the dreadnought). On the other side of the table, the war walkers advanced down the flank, killing two heavy bolters. The farseer clearly saw his doom in the form of brother Cain – a psychic attempt to haywire the dreadnought was denied, and so the farseer, seeing no other option, charged into the metal beast. This proved to be less suicidal than everyone expected, with neither combatant able to land a wounding blow. [The farseer’s sword carried the armourbane rule, so he had an almost 1 in 3 chance of landing a damaging hit. Coupled with a 4++ save, he could turn out to be dangerous. The warp spiders claimed a point for the hotly contested objective five] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 5-3 TURN 3 The last of the marine reserves (Naphtali's tactical squad) arrived, heading for the statue on the left flank. The rhino’s storm bolter joined with that of the drop pod, and between them they gunned down one of the warp spiders. Meanwhile, Amos’ rhino changed direction andwent flat out for the centre of the table, claiming the exposed objective three whilst there were few eldar around to contest it. The stormtalon closed on the war walkers, firing from almost point-blank range; it dropped the damaged walker, and took a hull point from the other. The devastators, scenting blood, turned their guns on the last walker and finished it off. In the sanctum, the farseer and the dreadnought continued to duel – the eldar psyker struck first, landing a glancing blow, before Cain returned the favour with a unsaved wound, causing instant death and claiming ‘slay the warlord’. [With so few targets on the table, I was finding myself able to concentrate fire to good effect, as the war walkers found. The devastator squads also picked up easy points for objectives one and four, whilst the tactical squad gained two more for objective three – a potentially decisive turn] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 10-3 Things weren’t looking good for the eldar. One flank had been wiped out (again); the other was held by just five warp spiders (who were still in their own deployment zone); and to make matters worse, neither of the remaining reserve units made an appearance. Already under fire, the aspect warriors leapt forward into the compound around the statue, hoping to gain better cover. This also brought them into range of the rhino, which they ripped apart with their spinners. The resultant explosion killed three of the tactical squad, leaving just the flamer and the sergeant who disembarked towards the enemy. SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 10-3 TURN 4 There was little movement this turn: Brother Cain began the long trek back towards the action of the battle; unwilling to hover with the wave serpent expected to outflank at any moment, the stormtalon disappeared eastward into reserve. Likewise, even though they were out of range, the heavy bolters opted to remain in cover for the time being. In the compound, Naphtali and his flamer marine fired on the warp spiders, killing three, before the lascannon squad killed the other two, leaving Naphtali in control of the objective, and for a moment, the battlefield was clear of eldar. [Clearly, things are looking good at this point, but the eldar still had a big squad of aspect warriors in a nasty transport, and some hyper-mobile objective grabbers in the form of the wind riders. I’d lost half of my infantry, had only one transport still mobile, and the dreadnought was probably out of the battle over in the northeast corner. No time for complacency. The tactical squad gained a point for objective six] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 11-3 In a final throw of the dice, the eldar skimmers arrived on the table – the wind riders from reserve, and the serpent outflanking from the marine left. Both units threw themselves into the marine deployment zone, hoping to engage with part of the marine force whilst the others repositioned. The wind riders left themselves out of range, but the serpent was able to fire on the hunter sheltering at the foot of the manufactorum, and stunned it with a single penetrating hit. SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 11-4 TURN 5 The stormtalon re-entered combat airspace, clinging to the baseline as it lined up a run on the wave serpent. The dreadnought shifted position slightly, just able to bring its autocannon to bear on the eldar transport. This threat was enough to force the serpent into a jink, sending the dreadnought’s shots wide, but with the skimmer’s weapons neutered, the rest of the marine firepower was turned on the wind riders – in a spectacular display of marksmanship, Naphtali’s bolter picked one out of the air before the three lascannon devastators nailed the other three riders. Four shots, four fatalities. [Wave serpents. Experience says that they’re going to shrug off almost everything I throw at them, so once the guns were effectively taken out of action, I figured ‘why bother wasting firepower’, and battered the wind riders instead. It’s a lot more satisfying. The heavy bolters scored another point for sitting still on objective one] SONS OF MEDUSA LEAD 12-4 The wave serpent drifted sideways, finally disgorging its cargo of striking scorpions into the statue compound, where their pistols made short work of the two tactical marines. The serpent, reduced to snap firing anyway, chose to target the stormtalon, landed a single hit with the brightlance, but failed to penetrate (which pretty much summed up the eldar luck throughout the game). With that, darkness fell and the battered eldar survivors withdrew from the field. [The eldar picked up a point for objective six, and another for assassinating sergeant Naphtali] SONS OF MEDUSA WIN 12-6 The eldar last stand, and the final state of the battlefield The eldar melted away, their skimmer shimmering into the shadows. With one rhino destroyed, Amos reluctantly decided to let them go. But no matter; the stones had been secured, recovered from the coppice under the protection of the devastators’ guns. The eldar would return, but the Sons of Medusa would be ready. Reflections Well, that was fun. Drop pods are brilliant. As my opponent is fond of pointing out, I do like to castle up behind the big guns of my devastator squads. So to have units all over the board, claiming linebreaker on both flanks and seizing objectives left, right and centre (literally) was a new and enjoyable experience. I know that conventional wisdom prefers an odd number of pods, but I could only fit two, and felt that the assault squad / dreadnought pairing gave me options against light infanty or heavier targets, depending on how the eldar deployment played out. In the end, the guardians were too good an opportunity to pass up. Even though the assault marines went down almost straight after, they’d made their points back, removed the initial threat on that flank, and then drew the warp spiders a long way out of position – they were never able to bring their guns or mobility to bear against the more expensive devastators. The devastators performed well – the lascannon squad certainly limited the eldar deployment and initial moves, and were able to pick off targets throughout the game. The heavy bolters ran out of targets in turn 3, but I suspect their potential threat helped to push the remaining eldar away from that side of the table. The stormtalon ended up playing a complementary role, attacking the same targets and generally acting as a mobile weapons platform. Tactical squads still feel more dangerous when they’re tucked up in their transports – the threat of their mobility and short-ranged firepower seems more potent than the practice. But still, they raced around, seized a few objectives, and damaged the warp spiders. Had the end of the battle not intervened, the other squad would have had a chance to test themselves against the scorpions. Armour-wise, the hunter did nothing. With no flyer, and no skimmers to target until my last turn, it spent the game waiting, then got shaken and fluffed its one shot. Perhaps next time. The dreadnought did better, putting a lot of pressure on the eldar firebase early on, and had just enough range to contribute to a firefight on the far side of the table. And it even stamped on the farseer. Clearly, the way that the reserve rolls fell out worked in my favour. I had almost everything from turn 2, whereas the eldar forces arrived piecemeal, allowing me to concentrate almost everything at just one or two units at a time. Had the wave serpent put in an appearance in turn 2, when the war walkers were still occupying the devastators and the dreadnought was tied up with the farseer, things might have gone very differently. Overall though, I feel that I’ve found a good balance of firepower and mobility here, able to both pursue objectives and batter the eldar as the situation demanded. Maybe just a couple more drop pods next time… Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3928521 Share on other sites More sharing options...
markham82 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Well done Brother I think the eldar are starting to fear you. He made a big mistake reserving his wave serpent. I had a look at those filthy xenos witch stones and see more wave serpents in your future. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3928841 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks. I think he brings the serpent because he knows I don't like it (because I just can't ever kill the thing), but at the same time, he's worried about my lascannon squad, so has a tendency to hide or, in this case, outflank it. But then, like I said in the report, if it had come in earlier, when he still had other troops on the board, an outflanking serpent could have been nasty... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3928875 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Sons of Medusa vs Sentinels of Terra | Kill Team Kill team. It's the first time I've played this since the original 40k in 40 minutes back in the '90s. Here, it would by my Sons of Medusa (playing as Salamanders for a change), against Imperial Fists in their Sentinels of Terra guise. Sons of Medusa 5 sternguard: one with combi-plasma 5 sniper scouts: one with missile launcher Sentinels of Terra 5 bolter scouts: one with heavy bolter 5 bolt pistol scouts 5 sniper scouts: one with missile launcher We played two games. In the first, the SoT were attempting to break through my defensive line, and in the second, we were both searching for one objective amongst six. In both games, we decided to ignore the infiltrate rules. In this first game, the non-sniper scouts made a steady advance throughout the game, shooting when they could, whilst the snipers hung back to provide covering fire. On my side of the table, I occupied both buildings, hoping to crossfire the scouts as they passed between them. In practice, my shooting was shockingly bad. After five turns, I'd killed a total of seven scouts, despite the sternguard giving me kills on 3+ to hit and 4+ to wound, no save (kraken rounds). The scout snipers proved horribly ineffective, killing only one or two of the enemy despite all surviving almost the whole game. Even the launcher managed to fluff the only krak missile it landed, failing to wound the surprised victim, and when it landed a frag on three others, not one was wounded there either. In the second game, things continued to be patchy. In turn one, despite 10 shots on targets in the open, I scored no kills. In turn two, everything clicked, and i found myself taking out four scouts in a single turn (more than half of my entire kill tally in the previous game). But after that, things returned to normal, taking three more turns to kill four more scouts and reach the break point (at one point, all four of my snipers rolled ones to hit in the same turn!). In the end, having spent four turns failing to clear three guys from the objective, I couldn't compete on victory points. [The picture comes from the mid-point of the game, just after my really shooty turn. The objective is held by a single SoT at this point, in front of the building in the far right corner] Overall, I was out-maneuvered and out-gunned. His ability to reroll rapid firing bolters paid off once he got close, and with my spectacular failure to inflict any serious wounds, I was unable to whittle his forces down fast enough. In retrospect, the sternguard felt like they ticked the boxes (adaptable ammunition, good armour, handy if it came to assault), but their damage output was too low. Next time, I'm inclined to swap them out for 9 or 10 standard tacticals (9 leaves points for a special or heavy weapon). Math-wise, it would give the scouts their 4+ save back, but would also give me twice as many shots, balancing that out, whilst also giving me more bodies on the ground. I'm torn on the scouts. they feel as if they should be useful in this type of engagement, but for whatever reason, the ability to string three 4+ rolls together seemed to elude me all evening, and there's not enough space here to carry passengers. If anyone would care to offer their thoughts, I'd appreciate it. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3933488 Share on other sites More sharing options...
markham82 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I thought sternies would be magic for killteam since here they really have all the tools to deal with anything except armour. Maybe you just had bad luck? He only had 5 more bolt pistols than you. Next time instead of the scouts take three bikers, one with a plasma gun, that should solve your mobility issue. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3934312 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 I think I had a ton of bad luck. To be fair, so did he. The kill count was so low that there were points where entire turns passed without a single casualty, and at least one round of shooting where not a single hit was scored. Bloodbath it was not. Bikes are a good shout, but I don't have any to bring in. One for the future, though. I wonder about dropping the scouts in favour of five tactical marines. If the sternguard go barebones, I can give the tactical squad a heavy bolter (with the relentless specialist). Same body count, better armour, better mobility post-deployment, better guns up to 24". Or pushing that thought even further, what about 13 tactical marines, with enough points left for a relentless heavy bolter, and a storm bolter on a specialist sergeant? Even more bodies, but trading off the sternguard ammunition for three more bolter shots. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3934392 Share on other sites More sharing options...
markham82 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I think the best would be to try both. drop the scouts and get more sternies for one game and the next game use them as normal tacticals. I also think one shot high strength weapons (missile launchers) are wasted vs multiple lower strength weapons (heavy bolter). I might be wrong but templates and blast also seems like a waste in kill team, how many time in the 2 games you had would a blast have gotten multiple hits. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3934471 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 I fired frag missiles three times in total across both games, scoring one kill from 9 targets (as I figured I needed to be covering at least three models to make it worthwhile). But he wised up to that fairly quickly, and kept his guys spread. At least frag missiles have range - I don't think a flamer would have been worth it at all. The missile launcher was partly there for armour, but it's since occurred to me that, as each model is a unit, everyone can be throwing krak grenades in the shooting phase, which isn't too bad against light armour. The heavy bolter looks a good fit here. In a marine's hands, against scouts, it hits on 3s, wounds on 3s, and allows no save. Add in relentless and bolter drill, and it should be scoring one or two kills each turn. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3934655 Share on other sites More sharing options...
markham82 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 The heavy bolter also got my attention since against most xenos it wounds on 2's and it also ignores quite a bit of armour. Do you really need to give the heavy bolter relentless. How about this list 5xtacticals stormbolter (preferred enemy) heavybolter (relentless) rhino extra stormbolter landspeeder (splitfire) heavybolter typhoonmissiles you stick the heavybolter and stormbolter in the rhino and focus on the little bit of antitank first. Most lists shouldn't be able to deal with armour since no one expects more than one vehicle. On top of that as far as I saw vehicle don't do leadership checks so they can't run away. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/300804-sons-of-medusa-battle-reports-kill-team/#findComment-3935291 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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