My first 8th Ed. Battle - IG vs. Death Guard

[morroccomole]

My friend and I wanted to get a game in, so we used the power levels to quickly build our lists. The armies were surprisingly evenly matched, although neither of us abused the free upgrades too much. The lists are as follows:

 

Astra Militarum: (Power Level 49)

HQ:

Company Commander; Bolt Pistol

Lord Commissar

 

Troops:

Infantry Squad; Vox, Flamer; x2

Infantry Squad; Vox, Grenade Launcher; x2

 

Elites:

Command Squad; Regimental Standard, Medic, Heavy Bolter Team

Platoon Commander; Bolt Pistol

Ratlings (5 men)

Special Weapons Squad; 3 Flamers

 

Fast:

Scout Sentinel; Heavy Flamer; x2

Hellhound; Hull Heavy Flamer

 

Heavy:

Leman Russ Battle Tank; Heavy Bolter Sponsons

 

Death Guard: (Power level 50)

HQ:

Typhus

 

Troops:

Plague Marines (7 men heretics); Blightlaunchers x2, Icon of Despair, Power Fist

Plague Marines (7 heretics); Blightlaunchers x2, Icon of Despair, Power Sword, Plasma Pistol

 

Elites:

Chaos Terminators (5 heretics); Heavy Flamer, Dual Lightning Claws

 

Heavy:

Chaos Vindicator

 

Photos from Turn 1:

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah197/Aaron_Joseph_Solley/batrep_zpsp6ukkqch.png

 

 

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah197/Aaron_Joseph_Solley/batrep2_zpswz0bpb3k.png

I built my list around wanting to see how everything worked with 8th. I was hoping to fit a Manticore and Valk, but 50 PL just wasn't enough. While I can't give you a turn-by-turn breakdown, I can share some of the lessons & takeaways I have.

• Ratlings are still iffy, since sniper rifles no longer auto-wound on 4+. You are basically hoping for a 6 to get that mortal wound.
• The Hellhound is now nearly auto-include in any future list. The new & improved inferno cannon is well-suited for dealing with MEQs. Next game I'll try the chem variant out.
• (ex)Template weapons on vehicles seem like the new default. Why suffer -1 to-hit from moving, when you can drive right up & roast 'em without penalty?
• The LRBT and Vindicator basically just traded shots all game, and both ended the mission with only -3 wounds. Destroying vehicles will take serious effort.
• Despite the new survivability, bubble wrapping tanks & keeping them away from charges is still important. My opponent charged the infantry adjacent to the LRBT, and was able to pile-in close enough to tie up the Russ in combat (while also preventing the Russ from firing overwatch.) Thus, it had to fall back next round & forgo other action. Something to keep in mind with the new rules.
• Medics are awesome. He was able to save himself (by rezzing the regimental standard bearer, for an additional body to soak fire) and also gave a wound back to the Platoon Commander who went on to charge Typhus & strip 2 wounds.
• Voxcasters seem less useful. With the new character rules, keeping your officers in the thick of it is less dicey, meaning the range on your orders is less important. RAW, I might just keep one squad with a vox near an officer instead of kitting everyone out with them.

Unfortunately I can't speak to the new utility of Commissars or Regimental Standards, as they were dead or out of range when they were needed most. Thanks for reading!

[Son of Carnelian]

Thanks for the write-up! 

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks for the write-up, some interesting things learned.

 

I'm happy to hear that the Hellhound is now so good ... I've always loved them but they've been rather lacklustre for the entire time I've played Guard (back to 3rd edition) so I'm happy to hear of them starting to shine more.

[NatBrannigan]

I second the hellhound good news. Brigades should be very do-able for Guard, leaving just the Fast Attack slots with some question Marks. I'm looking at a 'hound and 2 units of Rough Riders to fill it up with fairly cheap, but very useful units.

[Gothical]

Good to hear the Hellhound is still good, I was despairing at the D6 hits - did not see it has Damage 2

 

Not sure what you mean about the vox, the unit receiving extended-range Orders needs a Vox too.

 

I second the hellhound good news. Brigades should be very do-able for Guard, leaving just the Fast Attack slots with some question Marks. I'm looking at a 'hound and 2 units of Rough Riders to fill it up with fairly cheap, but very useful units.

 

Scout Sentinels with Heavy Flamers are good, especially combined with Rough Riders - the Sentinels can go 18+D6" by the end of Turn 1, and the RR can arrive any time in the first 3 turns, making sudden outflanking a real thing, and reasonably cheap for opening up Detachments.

[morroccomole]

 

Not sure what you mean about the vox, the unit receiving extended-range Orders needs a Vox too.

 

 

Right you are. I misread that bit of the rules.

[WarriorFish]

Great write up and pictures, love the Banewolf camo too :tu: I am thinking that my 2 old school Hellhounds will get more use, and perhaps as a squadron with a magnetised third ;)

[NatBrannigan]

Scout Sentinals DO look good don't they...

 

I appear to have gone from trying to scrape together some Fast Attack options to considering running everything in Squadrons just to fit them in! What a time to be alive.

[Withershadow]

The template observation is only based on the fact that this was a power level game.  If you are using points, the template weapons are VERY expensive (17 points for heavy flamer, rather than 8 for a heavy bolter, for example).

[Gothical]

Scout Sentinals DO look good don't they...

 

I appear to have gone from trying to scrape together some Fast Attack options to considering running everything in Squadrons just to fit them in! What a time to be alive.

 

With the Heavy Flamer they look brilliant, but I am unconvinced about the other options due to hitting on 5s. At 2 points I am also considering the Sentinel Chainsaw for S5 AP-1 melee, though with only 1 attack and hitting on 4s it might not be worth it (but 2 points!).

 

Given how tough even light vehicles are now, Armoured Sentinels acting as static pill-boxes could also be a viable tactic, and they would make better use of the non-Heavy Flamer weapons. 60 points for a single Lascannon or Missile Launcher (much improved with D6 anti-infantry shots and the new AP system for Kraks) is a lot though.