RTT Report

[007]

Went to another ITC RTT last weekend using this list:

 

Battalion

Azrael
Talonmaster- Heavenfall relic blade

Company Ancient-storm bolter
Scouts- 5
Scouts- 5
Scouts- 5
Hellblaster-10
Dark Talon

Outrider

Sammael- Sableclaw
Inceptor- 3-assault bolter
Inceptor- 6- plasma exterminator
Attack bike- multi melta
Dark Shroud- heavy bolter

 

First round was against an Alaitoc/Saim Hann eldar list.  He got first turn and deep struck a full squad of banshees near my hellblaster castle...and were all immediately removed following an auspex scan.  My turn 1, dropped all inceptors beind his back line, killing a few weapons plaforms as well as a Warp Hunter tank.  Went south quickly for my opponent from there, ending up tabling him in 3 turns.

 

Second game was against a 3 superheavy tank list...on a very open board, ugh.  For some dumb reason I didn't stick the hellblastes/Azrael/ancient behind the one decent sized ruin in my zone.  So they were mostly gone turn one, as was my shroud and talon.  My first turn I killed one of the super heavies with the plasma inceptors.  The rest of the game I got the second down to half or so, and the third down to 3 wounds, with him passing to 6+ saves from Azrael overcharging an Weapons of the Dark Age to keep the tank alive.  To make up for that luck, Sammael survived a round of tank fire, and when at 1 wound left, made 2x armor of contempt saves from his psyker's smite attack.  Fairly close given that it was an open board, I deployed foolishly and went second.

 

Third game was against Necrons, with Imotekh, Orikan, Destroyer Lord, scarabs, two Doomsday Arks, 20 Immortals, 19 Warriors, 4 wraiths, 5 destroyers.  Turn one the plasma inceptors killed both DDAs. Second turn the destroyers and wraiths were gone too. Then I fed him a few units to the advancing silver tide while I controlled more objectives and cruised to a win.

 

Ended 2-1. Not sure on exact spot since the TO had issues with BCP app working correctly.  Probably 5th or 6th out of 17.

 

 

 

Looking forward post Big Faq 1:

-I will be dropping the Dark Talon.  It has been good, but not good enough to justify spending 40 more points to keep it in my list. 

-I'll also drop the attack bike and the ancients storm bolter, giving me enough to add 7 more hellblasters, or 5 black knights, or a few other combinations. 

-I'll keep the scouts for now because they are cheap, but not as mandatory since players will have one turn to push their screens out. 

-Inceptors will stay, plasma squad is consistently doing tons of damage every game, and the bolter version is one of the most efficient dakka sources available to us.  I expect them to be worthwhile even with a second turn drop, and are so damaging that they will influence the opponents decision making for sure.

[007]

I attended another RTT last weekend which was my first games post big FAQ.

 

Here's what I used this time:

Battalion

Azrael
Talonmaster- Heavenfall relic blade
Company Ancient-bolter
Scouts- 5
Scouts- 5
Scouts- 5
Hellblasters-8
Hellblasters-7
Aggressors-3

Outrider

Sammael- Sableclaw
Inceptor- 6- plasma exterminator
Ravenwing Bike squad- 3, with 3 chainswords and 1 flamer
Dark Shroud- heavy bolter

 

My first game was against Tau with 2 riptides, 1 ghostkeel, 1 coldstar fusion commander, stealth suits, pathfinders, 2 crisis suit squads and some firewarriors.  My opponent just wasn't able to put many wounds on my infantry blob due to the -1, 4++, and more importantly, me targeting his markerlights first. Only made it to 3 turns but he only had 1 riptide and some firewarriors left.  Tau suits dislike Sammy and Talonmaster getting into melee.  Victory for DA.

 

Second game was against Grey Knights.  My first time playing GK.  He had two dreadknights, Voldus, a few strike squads and a few terminator squads.  He went first but didn't drop anything down due to no good locations because of my scout screening.  I marched up the board and shot his few guys, so he dropped everything in turn two.  I lost a few guys here and there to smites, and auspexed one unit with hellblasters, only losing most of two scout squads.  Again, screening is critical.  My turn two I killed both of his dreadknights, and another squad or two of his infantry.  By the end of turn three he only had a captain left on the board, and that was end of time.

 

Third game was against tyranids.  He had 2 tyrannofexes, 1 exocrine, 1 squad of hive guard, neurothropes, rippers, 2 hormagaunt squads, 2 genestealer squads, Broodlord, flyrant.  He used a strategem for a lot of spore mines, but I will have to see if I can get a copy of his list after the fact, because post tournament I read a FAQ where you have to pay points for the sporemines and I am not sure if he did.  We'll see.  Anyways, he went first despite my plus one and killed my aggressors turn one.  I gunned down lots of gaunts and some stealers and spores turn one. 

 

Turn two he got a few stealers into my bikes, which survived, shot down my darkshroud, and brought in the flyrant which killed scouts.  I charged the flyrant with both speeders, doing a few wounds in exhange for the talonmaster dying.  Also killed lots of stealers. 

 

His turn 3 he wounded Sammy with the flyrant, and charged the stealers, broodlord and rippers into my hellblaster blob.  Rippers died in overwatch, and then killed a lot of stealers in overwatch.  I knew they would die anyways, so I kept the 6's and the 1's, and rerolled all other dice, therefore overheating a few and activating again from the ancient.  After that only two stealers made it in along with the fresh Broodlord.  The last of that hellblaster squad died, and then Azrael fought against the broodlord, whom he had heroically intervened against.  My opponent was shocked when Azrael struck down his fresh Broodlord in one round of combat!  My turn 3 I moved I finished a few remaining little bugs but that was time.  He won a close battle, 14-12.  However, I should have moved the bikes onto an objective nearby, just forgot to, and we miscalculated Kingslayer points for Sammy since he is a vehicle its 1 point every 4 wounds not every 2, so in retrospect it could have easily been a 13-13 tie.  If the game went on I was in a good place, only his shooty stuff was left and I wasn't far away.  Now just gotta see if his list was legal.

 

 

 

Overal I went 2-1.  The tyranid player I lost* to went 3-0.  The grey knight player I stomped finished second.  Apparently no one else there knew how to counter army.  I like my new post FAQ list.  Super powerful mid range shooting, the bike squad is nice for chasing squishy things down or objective grabbing, or screening for Sammy and Talonmaster if they vault ahead.  I need more time with the aggressors since they didn't get to do much.  The Dark Talon was nice but I don't miss it too much.  Any thoughts or recommendations?

[sneakybamsen]

If I were to run agressors, I think I'd keep them as part of the screen within reach of Azzy, as they can be too easy to shift otherwise.

[Hantheman]

Great reps mate. Glad to see the DA doing some work still.

 

I agree with sneaky. Aggressors as part of the bubble are lovely. 4++ and reroll all misses on double overwatch is absolutely brutal

[007]

Thanks! The aggressors were on range of Azrael and the dark shrouds buffs but were targeted by both tyrannofexes and the exocrine.

[Hantheman]

Ah, such is life.

 

Azrael is an absolute monster though. He’s always my MVP. I played a good Dark Eldar List last night. They’re absolutely brokenly strong. I lost but my opponent was stunned at how strong he is. And only 180 points!

[Naaman10th]

Nice report, I enjoyed reading it.

 

How did the 7 + 8 men hellblaster squads work out for you? Did you feel it was an improvement compared to a single 10 men hellblaster squad? 

Reason I ask is, I'm thinking about going the same route with my hellblasters for my upcoming 1500 pts tourney. 

[007]

Yes, the two squads equaling 15 is vastly superior to a single 10 man, especially now with no deep striking my inceptors outside my deployment zone turn 1. Weapons from the dark age is too good to not use every turn, and one 10 man squad is typically degraded as soon as the enemy can shoot at it. So having a second squad helps make up for that.

[007]

So unfortunately found some errors with the tyranids players list from last weekend. He paid points for a squad of 3 rippers, but had 3x3 on the table. Also, he did not pay points for the 2 spore mine squads that he got via strategem though the tyranid faq states you do in fact have to pay points for the models. Oh well.

[Hantheman]

The moral victory is yours!

[Naaman10th]

Yes, the two squads equaling 15 is vastly superior to a single 10 man, especially now with no deep stroking my inceptors outside my deployment zone turn 1. Weapons from the dark age is too good to not use everyone turn, and one 10 man squad is typically degraded as soon as the enemy can shoot at it. So having a second squad helps make up for that.

 

 

Thanks for the information. Going to be a hard decision between 2 hellblaster squads or 1 full squad + 3 plasma inceptors ^^

 

Finding out about his list being illegal should just motivate you more and give you more confidence. Like Hantheman said, just count it as a moral victory!

[smbarne]

Thanks for the writeups!  A few questions about your tactics since you're doing well post FAQ:

 

 - How are you using the Plasma Inceptors?  Are you trying to get them near fo rerolls?  I like to put a jump captain with mine to keep them from blowing themselves up a little while.

 - How about Sammael?  Sounds like Azrael is your main reroll bubble and invul provider.  Is Sammael an expensive counter charge unit perhaps?

[007]

I usually drop the inceptors within range of Sammael and the Talon Master or within range of Azrael, Dark Shroud and Ancient.  Just depends on what I need destroyed and how far up my elements are.  I always try to get them to reroll hit rolls of 1.  They may die the next turn but I want my opponent to have to dedicate more shots into them.

 

Sammael rocks.  He and the Talon Master are a good bully unit when working in tandem, fast and able to really hurt units in melee.  Depending on the list I'm up against they will sit back and put out lots of shots or move up and get in the enemy's face.  If I'm moving them up the board I like to keep the bike squad in front, usually advancing so that my opponent has to shoot them before he can target the speeders.

[007]

I attended another RTT last weekend and again went 2-1.   This tournament had a bunch of players who were prepping for the Dallas GT, so more competition.  I ended up 5th of 10, as I was edged out by several others (not counting the undefeated winner) who were also 2-1 but had more points.  I used the same list as before (see several posts up).

 

First game was against a player currently ranked in the top 10 of all ITC players in he world.  He took a Ynarri list which I have not faced before, and the result showed.  He had a squad of shining spears, reapers, several warlocks, rangers and grotesque.  He went first and charged my about half my army that I deployed too far forward with his shining spears and killed it all in one turn.  Before the end of the game I was able to scrounge out 4 points...better than nothing.  Its ok though because I learned a lot from it.

 

Second game was against Space Wolves.  He had several wulfen squads, thunderwolf cavalry, hellblasters, intercessors, fenris wolves, Bjorn, a stormwolf and a few other things.  I castled up and he moved his stormwolf aggressively forward, which had a character or two, and wulfen in it.  In my next turn I was able to move up my bikes, and advance two units of scouts and move up my speeder characters to surround his flyer, which my hellblasters easily killed, insta-killing everyone inside save one model.  The rest of the game was mop up with me easily winning.

 

Last game was against Blood Angels.  He had 3 squads of deathcompany, 3 scout squads, sanguinary guard, Lemartes, Mephiston, Sanguinor, maybe something else I'm forgetting.  As expected turn one, he rushed all deathcompany towards me, managing to kill my scouts.  However, that meant they were sitting in the open in line of sight of my castle.  With that, in one turn I wiped out all 3 squads of deathcompany (he had squads of 12, 10, & 10), and again that was effectively the game.  He brought in the sanguinary guard his next turn but didn't want to put them in auspex range, but that meant they also couldn't charge my important stuff.  I also saved my plasma inceptors until he brought his sang guard it, so they went down fast.

 

So with that I'll leave my list alone and be bringing it to the Dallas GT in a few weeks.  Texas, from what I hear and have experienced, has lots of really good players, so it will surely be challenging.  I have another tournament next weekend to give me more reps with this list before the GT.

[Hantheman]

I usually drop the inceptors within range of Sammael and the Talon Master or within range of Azrael, Dark Shroud and Ancient. Just depends on what I need destroyed and how far up my elements are. I always try to get them to reroll hit rolls of 1. They may die the next turn but I want my opponent to have to dedicate more shots into them.

 

Sammael rocks. He and the Talon Master are a good bully unit when working in tandem, fast and able to really hurt units in melee. Depending on the list I'm up against they will sit back and put out lots of shots or move up and get in the enemy's face. If I'm moving them up the board I like to keep the bike squad in front, usually advancing so that my opponent has to shoot them before he can target the speeders.

I’m gonna try a supreme command of Sammy and twin talonmasters. It’s like 600 points but I think it’s enough hard hitting Dakka to be worth it.

[SourCheeks]

 

I usually drop the inceptors within range of Sammael and the Talon Master or within range of Azrael, Dark Shroud and Ancient. Just depends on what I need destroyed and how far up my elements are. I always try to get them to reroll hit rolls of 1. They may die the next turn but I want my opponent to have to dedicate more shots into them.

 

Sammael rocks. He and the Talon Master are a good bully unit when working in tandem, fast and able to really hurt units in melee. Depending on the list I'm up against they will sit back and put out lots of shots or move up and get in the enemy's face. If I'm moving them up the board I like to keep the bike squad in front, usually advancing so that my opponent has to shoot them before he can target the speeders.

I’m gonna try a supreme command of Sammy and twin talonmasters. It’s like 600 points but I think it’s enough hard hitting Dakka to be worth it.

You should consider the 3x Shield Captain Jetbikes against Sableclaw + 2x Talonmasters if you want a fast hard-hitting supreme command. They're slightly worse in shooting (but no heavy weapon penalty) but they hit harder in close combat, have stronger strategems, and end up being cheaper in points.

[Naaman10th]

Great report once again. I have a tournament on saturday and I'm going to run a very similiar list to yours. Only 1500 points though, so I sadly can't fit Sammy in. 

[007]

I played another 3 round RTT last weekend, again using my same list.  This tourney followed ITC rules, but used homemade  missions that were substantially different from ITC; they used a mix of progressive and end of game scoring.  Again I finished 2-1, in 9th of 20th places.

 

First game was against the Tau player that ultimately finished first.  He had two quad fusion suit commanders, two Tigershark flyers, and a mix of infantry.  I got first turn and was able to shoot one Tigershark with a full hellblaster squad and only 3 of another, bringing it down to 4 wounds left.  If I had deployed better I may have been able to get more of the 2nd squad around the wall which could have allowed me to bring it down.  As it was I think that was the swing in the game.  They have 40+ shots each, many doing two damage, and they killed many hellblasters on his first turn.  My second turn I killed both Tigersharks and both fusion commanders.  If I recall correctly we made it through 3 rounds, which Sammael chasing down his smaller characters and infantry.  Because he held more objectives at the end of the game he ended up winning 35-17.  Normal ITC missions I think I would have taken the game as I still had a good amount left over and killed nearly his whole army.

 

Second game was against Orks, with 3x 30 man squads, tank bustas in a trukk, 6 mek guns, warlord and meks on bikes, pain boy, weird boys, 10 stormboys, and two Big Trakks with Supa Skorchas.  I prioritized killing the Supa Skorchas since they are each 4D3 auto hits at 24", str 6, -2, D1, so bypassing my Dark shroud and his Ork ballistic skill.  I went first and killed 3 mek gunz and a bunch of boys; he hid the Trakks around a building.  His first turn hisTrakks flamed my hellblasters, killing a few.  He charged with the boys and killed a few, but I killed many in return, with heroic interventions helping.  His storm boys killed off a squad of scouts in ruins on an objective.  My second turn saw both Trakks killed and cleaned the squad of boys in my face.  He da jumped a squad of boys in front of my line, so I auspexed them with hell blasters and then charged.  Again I had done enough damage through previous shooting to ensure the remaining boys didn't wipe my squad.  Then I destroyed them in my next turn, along with the trukk, a weird boy, the mek, and Sammael and the Talon Master charging and wiping out the storm boys and tank bustas in one turn.  Overall a decisive victory.

 

Last game was another Tau army, with 2 fusion commanders and 1 Yvhara (uber plasma flamer), a few squads of stealth suits and other basic infantry, two devilfish.  He deployed along his whole board edge while I mostly castled in a corner, preventing good areas for his deepstriking Yvhara to drop in and leaving no spots for his coldstars to fly behind me. This game was just us throwing jabs the first few turns, until he deepstriked the Yvhara in front of me.  It took numerous wounds from auspex, and then flamed to death several hellblasters.  Going second, I had kept my inceptors in deepstrike until the Yvhara was on the table, and then in my following turn, without surprise, I finished off the Yvhara.  From there I went on the offensive, moving my forces up a lot, getting my speeders into melee with his infantry, and plasma'ing his suit commanders as they made a last ditch effort to kill my inceptors (hard to do when they are in Azrael and Darkshroud bubble).  Was close at first but my haymakers at the end of the game turned it into another decisive victory.

[Hantheman]

Another great report. Who are the stars of your list do you think?

[007]

Thanks.  I typically find the plasma inceptors and Sammael to be the stand out units of the list with respect to dealing damage.  My opponents frequently comment they didn't know the inceptors were so dangerous.