Shh! We're Hunting Xenos: Kallas' DW Battle Reports

[Kallas]

Hello folks and welcome to my battle report thread! I’ll try to keep my reports tidy for ease of reading, so I hope you enjoy them. Hopefully they can help people see some uses of Deathwatch that they might not have considered; and I generally find that doing a post-battle analysis gives me greater insight into my own mistakes.

 

For those who care: I don’t play actual Deathwatch, my Chapter is the Howling Griffons who are technically Ultramarines successors; but the Ultramarines rules don’t really appeal to me as representative of the Howling Griffons (so I use the Deathwatch Codex and before that I used Space Wolves and Blood Angels, as generic Space Marines just…lack any kind of flavour!) who are a pretty flexible Chapter (unlike the Ultramarines, we’ve actually read the Codex and use like camouflage!). Anyway, enough justification, on to the battles!

 

I’ll be linking all of the various posts back to this first post, for easy reference:

 

Game #1 – League Game #1; vs Orks (May 2019)

 

Game #2 - Practice League Game; vs Drukhari (May 2019)

 

Game #3 - League Game #2; vs Imperial Guard (May 2019)

 

Game #4 - League Game #3; vs Salamanders Space Marines (May 2019)

Edited May 29, 2019 by Kallas

[Kallas]

So, my local gaming club runs a League every few months, with players split into a few different Divisions (based on general competitiveness/capabilities). After the last two Leagues, I am now in the First Division (second after the Premier Division of pure filth!) and some of my opponents have already posted their lists: and they are pretty dirty! As a note about this League, there are no restrictions on army composition, but we do post our lists to the group page and we cannot change them until we lose a game. Once the League season is complete (about four months or so), the top two players from each Division go up one, and the bottom two go down one (as an attempt to naturally balance out the better players).

 

We’re playing ITC Champions missions which, in my opinion, are way more balanced than GW missions – particularly when one is locked in to a list for several games (which would be the case for a tournament, for example).

 

Anyway, that’s the League structure and admin-y stuff out of the way! Here is my list as it stands, at the start of the League:

 

Battalion:

Watch Master (Warlord; Relic [Tome of the Ectoclades])

 

Librarian (Jump Pack, Force Stave, Storm Bolter)

 

Watch Captain (Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Power Maul)

 

2x 10 Veterans

• 7x Storm Bolter/Storm Shields inc. Watch Sergeant
• 1 Biker with Teleport Homer and Chainsword
• 1 Vanguard with 2x Bolt Pistol
• 1 Terminator with Storm Bolter and Power Axe

2x 5 Veterans

• 3x Storm Bolter/Storm Shields inc. Watch Sergeant
• 2x Frag Cannons

 

1x 5 Veterans

• 5x Stalker Boltguns/Storm Shields

 

2x Land Raider Helios

 

So, obviously it’s somewhat limited in CP by being just a single Battalion – this is a concern I have, of course, but I’ve played the list a few times now, pre-League, and it’s not been… awful having so few CP, but it does mean I need to be careful to not be frivolous. The list itself has been fairly reliable, if somewhat tricky to get right sometimes.

 

The Watch Master is a naturally great HQ, and the Tome makes his presence incredibly flexible, as he usually hangs around with the Land Raiders. Speaking of, I’ve found the Helios to be particularly solid workhorses. They still have issues, such as people rubbing themselves on the paintwork and causing the crew to panic wildly; but they serve as effective gunboats (and in overwatch they can do good work thanks to the Watch Master’s rerolls), and they provide a pretty tough hidey hole for the Frag Cannon squads.

 

The big Veteran squads are obvious staples, and they’re solid workhorses too. I do have a concern that only the two units makes them a significant and, relatively, easy threat to remove as they’re still pretty vulnerable to mass fire even with the Terminator in there. To be honest, if I had the models I’d like to have two Terminators in each squad but I don’t quite have that yet!

 

 

+++++

 

 

Right, so that’s my list, and it’s going to be that until I lose (and might not change much afterwards anyway!)

 

Additional note about my list:

I chose Lord of Hidden Knowledge for my Warlord Trait (the extra reroll is very useful, and the CP regeneration is almost mandatory for my list given how few CP I have!)

I also chose to pay 1CP for the Beacon Angelis on the Captain.

Psychic Powers, I went with Might of Heroes and Psychic Scourge (the others would all be almost completely irrelevant). MoH could be useful for buffing up a Raider and/or a character who’s going to dive into melee. Psychic Scourge as a possible option to snipe/soften a character, or even help out on the Nobz.

 

My first League game is up against Orks, and it’s a hefty list with some nasty choices:

Battalion:

Clan Kultur: Deathskullz

Specialist Detachment: Dread Waaagh

Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun (Warlord [Deathskullz trait: Opportunist, lets them target Characters within 18” and reroll wounds vs Vehicles]; Relic [Dread Waaagh’s Da Souped Up Shokka, a 2d6 shot SAG])

Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun

 

3x 10 Gretchin

 

2x 1 Dethkopta (Kopta Rokkits and Bigbomms)

 

Battalion:

Clan Kultur: Bad Moons

Warboss (Big Choppa, Shoota)

Weirdboy (Da Jump)

 

3x 10 Gretchin

 

1x 15 Lootas

 

Vanguard:

Clan Kultur: Evil Sunz

Warboss on Warbike (Kustom Shoota, Relic [Da Killa Klaw; super Power Klaw])

 

2x 5 Kommandos (Big Choppa on Nob; 2x Burna)

1x 10 Meganobz (Power Klaws and Kustom Shootas)

1x 9 Nobz on Warbikes (Power Klaw on Boss Nob; Choppas and Kustom Shootas)

 

Ok, so this has a lot of brutal shooting. The two Nob units can kick out a metric load of shots; the Lootas are a well-known unit of bullet hoses; and the two SAGs are of course damn dangerous. Combine that with the Nob units being mobile (the Bikers can move 16”+d6+1” with no penalty to their shots, and then move again; and the Meganobz can get Da Jump’d wherever they need to be), and it’s a pretty nasty list. Grots form shields and chaff, and the Bosses provide some extra hitting power.

 

Depending on the scenario and deployment, this could be very tricky. On that note…

 

Mission:

We rolled up and got Mission #6, Crucible of Champions (5 objectives in a cross; if three separate characters hold three separate objectives, score a bonus VP).

 

Deployment map was rolled up, by my opponent who ‘won’ the roll, and it was Hammer and Anvil (deploy with the short edges at the ‘back’). Ok. That’s…something? The extra range is quite nice, but considering that his units can either cross the gap easily or just shoot across without hindrance means that he probably has the advantage in a long range shooting match; so I’m not certain if the distance is a benefit!

 

Given that this particular mission follows similar to the CA18 style of deployment, I now have the choice to deploy first or second, with the player that does deploy first getting first turn (after an optional seize attempt). I choose to deploy first.

 

Secondary Objectives:

Orks:

Recon (with his speed and bodies, this makes sense; relatively easy to achieve)

Old School (an interesting one; the SAGs can likely do a number on the Land Raiders, and the various shooting can probably rip through my infantry; but the various ones are a bit tricky overall)

Marked For Death (a reasonable choice: he’s going to want to burn down those units anyway, so might as well get points for it!)

• Both Frag Cannon squads
• Both big Veteran squads

 

Deathwatch:

Gang Busters (the Nob units will bleed these points very quickly [i need to kill 8 Nobz to get the full 4VP, and I need to burn them down ASAP anyway] and I don’t need to kill the units outright, making this a very easy pick)

Old School (unlike my opponent’s choice, he has a lot of small/weaker units [Grots, the Dethkoptas] that I can reasonably easily remove turn one for First Strike. If I can go the distance, then Last Strike and/or Linebreaker should be possible; Warlord is trickier, as I’m unlikely to get to him)

Reaper (his army has about 100 odd models, with a lot of them being squishy; and as this can be scored concurrently with Gang Busters, I should be able to get a good few points from this)

 

Important Deployment Notes:

So, I don’t have any pictures for this battle, but I will endeavour to take them in my future games.

 

We had a few LOS blocking pieces, but front and centre of my opponent’s deployment zone was a large ruin where he could perch his Lootas and hide other units behind (which he did). On my side, I didn’t have much in the way of large LOS blocking terrain, but I did have a ruin that I could get cover from, so my Land Raiders would resist the Lootas (if not the SAGs) better. I do deploy both of my big Veteran units (henceforth I will refer to these as BVUs!) on the table with nothing in deep strike; as I was likely to go first, I figured that I would need to do as much damage as quickly as possible, so waiting until turn two for their firepower would be dangerous.

 

One BVU deployed completely out of LOS inside the small/medium ruin that the Raiders were sheltering behind, while the other BVU was at the back in cover and just on an objective; with my Teleport Homers set up right at the front so that they could teleport forward as needed – given my opponent’s deployment, I could use one Homer to get a unit onto the Lootas with Kraken, or burn down some Grots if need be for First Strike/to remove Grot Shields.

 

His SAGs were sat way back, covered by the character rule. Grots were arrayed across his deployment zone: two were positioned in front of the Lootas, with one unit out of LOS completely; one was on his right flank, ready to push up to the central right (from his POV) objective; the other three were covering the SAGs and Meganobz on his left. His Bikers were semi-shielded by the ruins, but three were visible to both Raiders.

 

For my Mission Tactics, I choose Elites (as those Nob units are the big dangers).

 

+++++

 

So, deployment is done, I’m nervous and he rolls to Seize the Initiative.

 

He fails. Phew! I think if he got to go first, it would have hurt greatly.

 

+++++

 

Deathwatch Turn One

Tome of the Ectoclades: Turn One I pick Troops, as I feel like I’m going to need to remove a bunch of Grots so that I can more effectively shoot up his Lootas.

 

Movement: Land Raiders roll around the ruin to get some better shots off (they can still see the Bikers, but the left one can now see the Dethkopta on my right flank, to give me options for First Strike). Captain advances an extra 4” and gets to the central forested hill, ready to teleport a unit to him.

Watch Master moves to get within 6” of my Raiders and one BVU.

Librarian hangs out on my back field objective, but in range to buff the Raiders.

Stalkers stay put, ready to Kraken into the Lootas; one BVU teleports to the Captain, fully on the forested hill in the centre for cover, the other teleports forward towards the left central objective and to get more shots on the Lootas/Grots on the big ruin.

 

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on one Raider.

 

Shooting: Ok, this is going to be tricky; I’m trying to remove the Grots in front of the Lootas so that he can’t just Shield them. My right flank Raider pops three Bikers with his Lascannons (nice!) and then kills off five of the hidden Grots in front of the Lootas with its Helios Launcher! The second Raider then pops the Dethkopta on the right flank, netting me First Strike, before killing off a further four of the hidden Grots with its Helios Launcher. Left BVU unloads and wipes out the visible unit of Grots shielding the Lootas. Second BVU (Hellfire) and Stalkers (Kraken) unload into the Lootas, killing seven of the fifteen; pretty good result, I think!

 

No charges/fighting.

 

Morale: A couple of Grots flee.

 

Orks Turn One

Movement: Meganobz advance forward a mighty 11” (5, because Evil Sunz, +6 from the d6+1 advance!), moving towards the now central BVU and Captain. Bikers also advance towards them, accompanied by both Warbosses. Grots move out, one of each flank towards each of those objectives although only the left flank gets to that objective.

 

Psychic: Smite is cast, causing 3(!) MW, killing the Biker and one Shield. Wish I’d brought Psychic Fortress now!

 

Shooting: Lootas being by unloading on the left flank BVU who are in the open. D3 for shots is a one, rerolled into a one again; after the Bad Moons’ Showin’ Off stratagem, they’ve killed off only a couple of Shields. Bikers (and two Meganobz in range) also unload into the same BVU, killing off a few more after the Terminator dies quite early. Meganobz unload into the right flank BVU, but cover saves a lot them.

 

SAGs open up on the Raider with Might of Heroes (my opponent simply forgot that that one had it!) who thankfully survives fairly intact, suffering eight wounds total.

 

The Bikers use the Drive By Krumpin’ stratagem to advance back behind the big ruin, getting fully out of LOS again.

 

Charge: Meganobz declare against the right flank BVU, losing one of the way in to Vengeance rounds (I didn’t use Stem The Green Tide, as I wasn’t likely to kill enough, or any, to make it worthwhile), which was good for me, but they make a very long charge and get in position to attempt to wrap my guys. On foot Warboss also charges; Bikerboss tries, but due to the Meganobz getting in the way can’t make it, even with a high roll.

 

Fight: Meganobz whiff hard. After using a CP reroll and my LoHK reroll, only a single Shield Veteran falls. Warboss swings, killing only one more. My Veterans pile in to base to base with many Meganobz to prevent them from wrapping with their Fight Twice stratagem. He does fight twice, but whiffs again, killing only one more (a lot of misses and a good amount of saves on my end).

 

Morale: Left BVU lost six, including the Terminator, but lose none to Morale.

 

A pretty rough turn for my opponent.

 

+++++

End of Round One Score:

Deathwatch: 7 (I scored Hold, Kill, Kill More, two on Gang Busters, First Strike, and one on Reaper)

Orks: 2 (he scored Hold and one on Recon)

 

Deathwacth Turn Two

So, I pulled out of Round One like a bandit. Surviving the sheer volume of fire my opponent put out as well as I did was incredibly fortunate!

 

Tome: Stays with Troops. Probably not important yet.

 

Movement: Right BVU falls back (I still have my Vanguard alive), the Vanguard pulling far back to get the unit in range of the Watch Master. Left BVU pushes further left towards the Grots on the objective there and into Rapid Fire range to Hellfire the Lootas.

 

Captain jumps around to charge the footslogging Warboss. Land Raiders roll up a little, with the undamaged right flank Raider unloading the Frags up on to the forested hill to hit the Meganobz.

 

Stalkers hang out to help shoot up the Meganobz. Watch Master stays perched up on the first floor of his ruin; Librarian shuffles to stay within 3” of his objective and to put MoH on the damaged Raider again.

 

Psychic: MoH on the Raider goes off on a double six, causing a single wound to himself. Smite can just sneak LOS through to the Meganobz, causing three MW (vengeance!)

 

Shooting: Left BVU unload Vengeance into the Lootas, killing another seven(!) – another rough patch of luck (failed seven of eight Sv4+ in cover!) Frag Cannons use Frag rounds into the Meganobz, and yet another rough round of luck sees another three Meganobz fall! Their Vengeance rounds, plus the right BVU’s, kill a couple more. Raider Lascannons drop the unit down to one lone Meganob; their Helios Launchers obliterate a Grot unit creeping towards the right central objective around the forested hill. Captain shoots up the Warboss with Hellfire and causes two wounds; Watch Master joins in, causing another two, dropping him to one left!

 

Charge: Left BVU (well, remnants) charge the left objective Grots, losing none and getting comfortably on to the objective. Captain charges the Warboss. MoH, damaged Raider also charge the Boss, just for the additional protection and to put forward pressure up with the Frags inside.

 

Fight: Captain brings the Warboss down; Raider piles in/consolidates a little bit further forward. Left BVU kills off a couple of Grots, but they’re outnumbered, so I burn 3CP to fight again and wipe them out.

 

Morale: The last Meganob and Loota both run away.

 

Orks Turn Two

More rough luck for my opponent, I’m in a dominating position.

 

Movement: Bikers zoom forward again, supported by the Bikerboss. Left Dethkopta bombs the left BVU, killing one.

 

Shooting: SAGs and Kopta kill of the MoH Raider, which thankfully doesn’t explode. Frag unit inside loses none and interpose themselves between the Bikers and right BVU. Bikers unload on the Frags, leaving one; one in the BVU is also killed.

 

Charge: Bikers and Boss charge the Captain and BVU, aiming to wrap the lone Frag Cannon. Two Bikers are killed in overwatch (Hellfire and full rerolls for the win!) but they make a strong charge again.

 

Fight: Boss kills off the Captain easily; Bikers butcher the BVU. They consolidate around the Frag Cannon, who does nothing in return.

 

Morale: Frag Cannon lost four, so on a 4+ he runs (and I don’t have to reroll from ATSKNF!) he rolls….a six! That is huge for me; if he hadn’t run, his Bikers would have been untargetable in my next turn. Hero. I mean, coward, but heroically a coward!

 

+++++

 

End of Round Two Score:

Deathwatch: 13 (I scored Hold, Kill, Kill More, two more to max out Gang Busters, and one more on Reaper)

Orks: 7 (he scored Hold, Kill, Recon, and two Marked For Death [one Frag unit, one BVU])

 

Deathwatch Turn Three

Ok, so again I got some significant luck. I think pushing up the Land Raider was a bit of a mistake, but it worked out ok in the end!

 

Tome: Switch the Tome to HQ to try and remove the Bikerboss.

 

Movement: Frag unit falls back from the Bikers (they’d been tagged by a pile in move) and embark on the Raider behind them, who backs up a little bit. Watch Master stays put (safe from the Bikers in melee!); Librarian jumps forward to try and go after the Bikerboss. Left BVU shuffle to put supporting fire into the Bikers while staying put on the objective. Stalker unit advances across to hold my backfield objective left open by the Librarian.

 

Psychic: Smite the Bikerboss for just one MW. MoH goes up on himself.

 

Shooting: BVU Krak strips three wounds off the Dethkopta, and they put a couple of wounds into the Bikers. Raiders, rip up the Bikers, dropping them down to two left. Bikerboss is shot up by the Watch Master and Librarian, stripping off five wounds(!)

 

Charge: Raider charges the Bikers to stop them shooting next turn. Librarian charges the Boss, but fails. BVU charges the Kopta.

 

Fight: Kopta survives; Bikers survive. Basically no damage caused!

 

Morale: Bikers run, but the Boss causes one MW to keep them there.

 

Orks Turn Three

A lot of Orks have fallen very quickly.

 

Movement: Bikers fall back to try and hold on to the central objective. Boss moves up to try and get to grips with my Stalker squad that shifted position. Kommandos drop in behind me; one unit loses three to an Auspex Scan.

 

Psychic: Da Jump fails to teleport some Grots on to an objective.

 

Shooting: SAGs whiff and fail to do anything to the Raider. Boss does one wound to the Librarian, bringing him down to two left. Kopta also fails to do anything.

 

Charge: Boss doesn’t want to risk the Librarian’s Hellfire overwatch (he’s next to the Watch Master for rerolls) and makes the charge on the Stalkers. The shot up unit of Kommandos loses another one to overwatch from the Stalkers and fail their charge; the other unit charges the Raider, losing two, and also failing their charge!

 

Fight: Boss kills one Stalker and then gets his last wound beaten out of him!

 

A rough turn.

 

+++++

 

End of Round Three Score:

Deathwatch: 17 (I scored Kill, Kill More, Hold, and one more on Reaper [i think, we lost track of Reaper and tallied it at the end of the game])

Orks: 9 (he scored Hold and Recon)

 

Remaining Rounds (Four to Six)

We wrap it up, as the Orks are so far behind with very little chance of getting back in the game.

 

More Grots get killed, and we work out the Raider would get finished too; the remaining Frag squad would jump out and sit on the right central objective, covered by the hill from being shot.

 

To prevent Da Jump shenanigans (he fails to cast it to try and kill off my Watch Master with his Warlord) I jump forward my Librarian, MoH him and kill the Weirdboy in Turn Four.

 

The surviving BVU hangs out behind his big ruin, ready to grab Linebreaker in Round Six and not get shot up!

 

Final Score:

Deathwatch: 28

Orks: 14

 

So, a brutal game, overall!

 

Some thoughts about the game and lists:

• Land Raiders: My Land Raiders were damn effective this game. Because I had turn one, they got to do a lot of work quite early. Without their Helios Launchers I wouldn’t have been able to halve the Lootas which I think was pretty damn key. They also managed to tank a lot of firepower, despite the nastiness that SAGs can put out. Their Lascannons were ripping up the Nobz left and right throughout the game and, supported by the Watch Master, they were damn useful for giving me some much needed threat projection.
• Librarian: I’m always torn on my Librarians, as their powers are just so…mediocre. But this game he was very useful. A couple of Smites went off, and Might of Heroes was useful defensively early on, and he used it personally later to kill off the Weirdboy (suicidally, but worth it to remove possible shenanigans!) Still think Librarius powers are crap, but keeping him back until turn two/three worked fairly well here.
• Veterans: Dear God-Emperor these guys took a lot of punishment! I’m loving having Lord of Hidden Knowledge for a possible two rerolls in a phase; this kept one of my units from getting wrapped by his Meganobz, meaning that I got to destroy them in the following turn. I definitely think I want to squeeze two Terminators into each unit once I have the models, as sometimes the Terminators drop too early and having a backup would be very welcome!
• Frags: Love these guys. Hiding them in the Raiders I very important, otherwise they’re very brittle; but when they get involved things tend to melt.
• Stalkers: Also a very key unit this game, they provided some long range additional firepower and then jumped on an objective out of LOS of the SAGs, which helped me maintain my VP lead. The extra range on the Stalkers, especially with the SIA/Bolter Discipline change, is very welcome and they helped rip out some of the Lootas early on, so well worth the measly 100pts for the unit!
• Teleportarium/Beacon: I think I made the right call with not deep striking anything. If I had to wait until round two to bring on my units, my Raiders would have been pummelled too much and it could have given my opponent time to screen out possible landing zones. I did lose about ten models in my opponent’s first turn, and that was because I pushed up to the centre with one unit in the open, but I think if I hadn’t gone hard on his guns it would have been worse overall.

 

Orks:

• I was very concerned by my opponent’s massed guns. If my opponent had seized on my, I think I would have been very hard pressed to push forward – I would have likely had a Raider down, or at least crippled, and his Bikers could have potentially been bogging them down instantly/been Da Jump’d by the Meganobz.
• I was surprised by how quickly his Nob units went down. He did suffer some horrific luck (I think there was one point were he failed five of eight 2+ saves!) but even without that the Lascannons were ripping up four to six Nobz each turn, plus additional fire from the Veterans. Part of this was possible because he threw them in somewhat piecemeal – the Meganobz came in while the Bikers pulled back, allowing me to focus fire on the Meganobz completely.

 

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the result: I was expecting this game to be very difficult, and the luck I had – and some of the choices I made! – meant that I pulled out ahead very quickly.

 

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this read, and I apologise for the lack of pictures (I intend to rectify this going forward!).

 

All comments and criticisms are very much welcome!

 

Thanks for reading,

Tom.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Kallas

[Dosjetka]

Thank you for taking the time to write this all down in a clear and comprehensive manner. :tu:

 

Looking forward to seeing pictures next time!

[jpwyrm]

Always nice to read your report Kallas, congratulations on your first win of the league.

 

Quick question though : with the latest FAQ, Deathwatch no longer have Bolter Discipline. Do you think this will change the overall effectiveness of your units? I think you may be better off with Intercessors instead of Stalker Vets for your backline squad.

[Kallas]

Always nice to read your report Kallas, congratulations on your first win of the league.

 

Quick question though : with the latest FAQ, Deathwatch no longer have Bolter Discipline. Do you think this will change the overall effectiveness of your units? I think you may be better off with Intercessors instead of Stalker Vets for your backline squad.

 

Thanks 

 

Bolter Discipline: I've now played two games without BD affecting SIA (one was a pre-League game, and this game too) and honestly it's not a huge loss. The pre-League game I was Rapid Firing anyway (lots of fast things in my grill) so that was absolutely fine! League game, I was firing Rapid Fire SIA plenty, and when I wasn't it was still usually very useful to have SIA (several times Kraken was needed to fire effectively, and having Hellfire when units where outside of Captain/Master reroll range was useful to keep my averages up).

 

Honestly, I think not getting BD+SIA is fine. It means that one has to weigh up the options a little bit more and regular Bolt rounds are good when a unit isn't moving, but generally speaking my list (and I would posit that many DW lists/units overall) need to move (either towards objectives or to otherwise put pressure on the enemy/gain a better battlefield position from which to fight) so SIA is still extremely useful.

 

Stalkers vs Intercessors: DW Intercessors are certainly good, but I still think Veterans have the edge. For instance, in this game they would have had the same range and they were stationary often, so Intercessors would have been able to use BD; but I needed Kraken in turn one/two for range (so Intercessors would have gotten only a single shot each vs the Stalkers' two each). Further, they were charged by the Bikerboss with Da Killa Klaw: the Intercessors would've lost four (I made three out of four 3++ saves) instead of the Stalker squad's single loss, which might have lead to that Boss surviving (which would have had a knock on effect later in the game).

 

Stalker Bolters are a solid weapon. For 100pts I get 10 SIA shots at 30" base and 3++ on all of them. While they have less wounds, their resilience matches the rest of my infantry which means that they aren't an easier target, which means that AP fire can't be directed their way with any increase in effectiveness; were they Intercessors, one of the SAGs could have shot them up with just a single round of fire (Da Souped Up Shokka used double fire once, but with some more vulnerable infantry it would have been more worthwhile to just delete an Intercessor unit, especially for First Strike).

 

Basically, no, I don't think Intercessors would be better. I do think DW still use Primaris the best, especially with their Mixed Units giving them more embedded and solid anti-tank firepower, but I think Veterans have the flexibility to bring a variety of tough units that can be built to perform whatever job you need (Stalkers for backfield; Storms for up front; Shotguns/Frag Cannons for an advancing, up close unit; etc).

[jpwyrm]

Thank you! Very good analysis. You've convinced me.

 

I have tried your Space Wolves List in the past with very good results, I guess I'll try that one too. I'm eager to put it to the test against GSC or Deathguards/Chaos Space Marines.

 

Cheers!

[Kallas]

Thank you! Very good analysis. You've convinced me.

 

I have tried your Space Wolves List in the past with very good results, I guess I'll try that one too. I'm eager to put it to the test against GSC or Deathguards/Chaos Space Marines.

 

Cheers!

 

GSC are a big danger for the list, because they have so many bodies! They can really reliably swarm you, which makes the low body count list really work the whole game. I love my Helios, but Land Raiders really suffer versus GSC just because they can pop up and lock them down easily (or Aberrants can just rip them apart super easily  ). Frag Cannons do rip them up, though, and the big squads are definitely good for the amount of work they can do: I said it before, but I do think a second Terminator in each big squad would be valuable for the extra resilience vs AP0 (which GSC have in boatloads!)

 

Death Guard, they can be tricky, with their resilience and possible body volume, but Hellfire can push through hordes of Poxwalkers/Plaguebearers (and Plague Marines, to a degree) but will struggle against Blightlords (which is where the Land Raiders can do work if they're not protected by Cloud of Flies!) CSM, that is very much dependant on how they build: Cultists will get cut down in droves, and Daemon allies should generally go down quickly; their tougher units don't like the Helios, but it's not necessarily an easy game as it very much depends on what they bring 

 

Let me know how you get on - if you do try the Helios especially!

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Excellent report thanks Kallas.

[Syward]

Really nice and detailed battle report Kallas, thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to your next one. I'm also seriously considering changing/adding to my list based on what you've got here and how it performed. Those Land Raider Helios seem really good, and I'm looking at using Stalker Veterans in place of Terminators w/CML for back field support.

 

I do have a quick question on your turn 1 movement though: 

"Stalkers stay put, ready to Kraken into the Lootas; one BVU teleports to the Captain, fully on the forested hill in the centre for cover, the other teleports forward towards the left central objective and to get more shots on the Lootas/Grots on the big ruin."

 

I'm assuming the Captain had Beacon to allow the 1st BVU to teleport to him which makes sense, what I'm curious about is that you said the other (BVU?) teleports forward also? How did they do this? Is there another teleport tool we have via stratagem that works like the beacon? Or is there something else I'm missing? I'm really curious if I'm missing out on a really useful movement tool to use instead of paying the CP for a teleport strike.

 

Thanks.

[Kallas]

Thanks, glad that you liked reading it!

 

The second unit used a Teleport Homer to get forward, although in all honesty I shouldn't have really bothered as they didn't really need to - but it did put them in a position to move left and go for that objective (which wouldn't have happened without the Homer).

 

Land Raider Helios are, in my opinion, the best Land Raider variant. They're basically the same cost as the Phobos (regular) but trade some transport capacity (meh) for good firepower that ignores LOS (yes please!). They're basically just more of a gunboat, and that makes them a lot more efficient than the other variants.

 

 

EDIT:

My next game is tomorrow, it's a practice game with a guy who's not in the same Division. He's running a Drukhari list that is actually very similar to one that is in my Division, so hopefully should yield some insights - and I'll endeavour to take plenty of pictures; although that will delay my posting until Wednesday, or possibly Thursday. Regardless, a post will go up in the next couple of days :)

Edited May 13, 2019 by Kallas

[Syward]

The second unit used a Teleport Homer to get forward, although in all honesty I shouldn't have really bothered as they didn't really need to - but it did put them in a position to move left and go for that objective (which wouldn't have happened without the Homer).

 

Ahhh! I didn't even think about setting up a teleport homer as a means of advancing w/out penalty! That's a clever use of the teleport homer IMHO! Definitely going to remember that. (now to think about adding bikers to my list) I always thought of the teleport homer as an "Oh crap! Fall back! Fall back!" tool but it can function like a mini version of the Beacon too, which is pretty sweet. 

 

Land Raider Helios are, in my opinion, the best Land Raider variant. They're basically the same cost as the Phobos (regular) but trade some transport capacity (meh) for good firepower that ignores LOS (yes please!). They're basically just more of a gunboat, and that makes them a lot more efficient than the other variants.

 

I never really gave any of the FW units much thought, (other than considering the Contemptor Mortis & Chaplin Dreadnought), but after reading your battle report, I started looking into the LRH, and I have to agree, it seems like a solid gunboat unit. I'm strongly considering buying two of them with my summer purchase (also need to decide on adding the extra armor & DW doors or not). Access to that missile launcher would be amazing to help clear out/weaken units before they have a chance to shoot/charge.

 

I had almost decided on buying two Repulsors (my core army is Primaris) to use as gun platforms, but after reading your army list and how you leveraged them, I'm thinking that I'm going to add in two LRH instead (same points cost! and seemingly more effective) along with a couple of Veteran squads w/Stalkers & SS and a couple of SB/SS + Frag Cannon Veteran squads instead of the two TDA squads I had planned to my Primaris list and have a Battalion of Primaris and a Battalion of standard marines. (Two full watch companies!) 

 

Really great read and introduced me to some new ideas/tactics to play with. I can't wait to read your next one! Thanks again for posting this! :tu:

[Kallas]

My game tonight was incredibly brutal and quick, so I may be able to get the pictures edited and sorted out tonight!

[librisrouge]

Sounds like a great game. Can I get some picks of your Helios? They're a cool idea and I'd love to have a peek.

[jpwyrm]

Just dropping by to say I'm going to try this list Friday against a Deathguard opponent. Well we play 2000 pts so I bumped the list to two battalions so I can secure more CPs, but in essence it's the same army. Really looking forward to test it.

 

I'll post my results here in the weekend.

[Kallas]

Ahhh! I didn't even think about setting up a teleport homer as a means of advancing w/out penalty! That's a clever use of the teleport homer IMHO! Definitely going to remember that. (now to think about adding bikers to my list) I always thought of the teleport homer as an "Oh crap! Fall back! Fall back!" tool but it can function like a mini version of the Beacon too, which is pretty sweet.

+++++

I never really gave any of the FW units much thought, (other than considering the Contemptor Mortis & Chaplin Dreadnought), but after reading your battle report, I started looking into the LRH, and I have to agree, it seems like a solid gunboat unit. I'm strongly considering buying two of them with my summer purchase (also need to decide on adding the extra armor & DW doors or not). Access to that missile launcher would be amazing to help clear out/weaken units before they have a chance to shoot/charge.

I had almost decided on buying two Repulsors (my core army is Primaris) to use as gun platforms, but after reading your army list and how you leveraged them, I'm thinking that I'm going to add in two LRH instead (same points cost! and seemingly more effective) along with a couple of Veteran squads w/Stalkers & SS and a couple of SB/SS + Frag Cannon Veteran squads instead of the two TDA squads I had planned to my Primaris list and have a Battalion of Primaris and a Battalion of standard marines. (Two full watch companies!)

Really great read and introduced me to some new ideas/tactics to play with. I can't wait to read your next one! Thanks again for posting this!

Homers are definitely a finesse tool. Often they've been irrelevant to my games: some of my opponents have played way and neutralised them immediately (Kraken Flyrants!); some have ignored them and the positioning made them useless; and some times they've been extremely useful! I think they'll reward good players (not saying that I am; although I hope to be one!)

Yup, the Helios Launchers is extremely useful. DW tends to lack decent anti-tank firepower, and the LRH packs four Lascannons, so that's useful. DW also lacks mobility and ignore LOS weaponry: the LRH also packs that, which makes it a great fit. Further, the Watch Master and Tome of the Ectoclades make it far more synergistic than for other Chapters, so I feel like it definitely has a solid home with the Deathwatch.

Repulsors can certainly work, I'm sure there are several threads/posts scattered about the forum that will attest to that. I'd say that the LRH and Repulsor have some different focuses: the Repulsor can pack a metric load of anti-infantry firepower, and tends to be the main source of anti-tank firepower for Primaris (aside from Hellblasters/Plasma Inceptors). I wouldn't say that LRH are more effective, just differently focused. I do think they work well, but at their points cost their inclusion in a list needs to be a major facet of the list as a whole and your general game plan - they're not really a plug-and-play unit.

I am glad that you've been inspired to try out some stuff

Sounds like a great game. Can I get some picks of your Helios? They're a cool idea and I'd love to have a peek.

Sure! As a note, I bought regular Land Raiders and ordered the Kromlech/Bits of War Legionary Artillery Tank Cyclon Turret. It required some conversion to fit on top, as the Raider doesn't have a hardpoint capable of holding it, but I do really like it. It probably cost about the same as the Forgeworld one, overall, but I prefer the Kromlech turret (plus their stuff is generally great).

I also ordered the Crusader/Redeemer sprue from GW Online so that I could magnetise the Crusader/Phobos; since the Redeemer is a steaming pile of garbage, I cannibalised the Flamestorm Cannon sponsons' targeting bits and a hull hardpoint to create the targeter.

Helios

Targeter Array

(Sorry for potato quality: my phone camera isn't great/my hands are sometimes shaky!)

Just dropping by to say I'm going to try this list Friday against a Deathguard opponent. Well we play 2000 pts so I bumped the list to two battalions so I can secure more CPs, but in essence it's the same army. Really looking forward to test it.

I'll post my results here in the weekend.

Double Battalion is definitely the right call!

Glad to hear you're intrigued by it, and please do post your results, would love to hear some other experiences!

Edited May 16, 2019 by Kallas

[Kallas]

Alrighty, so as promised, here is Game #2 vs the perfidious Drukhari.

Spoiler alert: this game is short.

First up, here’s the reiteration of my list:

Battalion:

Watch Master (Warlord; Relic [Tome of the Ectoclades])

Librarian (Jump Pack, Force Stave, Storm Bolter)

Watch Captain (Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Power Maul)

2x 10 Veterans (Big Veteran Unit: BVU)

- 7x Storm Bolter/Storm Shields inc. Watch Sergeant

- 1 Biker with Teleport Homer and Chainsword

- 1 Vanguard with 2x Bolt Pistol

- 1 Terminator with Storm Bolter and Power Axe

2x 5 Veterans

- 3x Storm Bolter/Storm Shields inc. Watch Sergeant

- 2x Frag Cannons

1x 5 Veterans

- 5x Stalker Boltguns/Storm Shields

2x Land Raider Helios

Notes:

Lord of Hidden Knowledge for my Warlord Trait.

1CP for the Beacon Angelis.

Both of the above are pretty standard, but figured I should note it!

And now for the Drukhari:

Battalion:

Obsession: Obsidian Rose

Archon (Blaster, Huskblade, Phantasm Grenade Launcher)

Archon (Blaster, Huskblade Relic [Djinn Blade])

3x 5 Kabalite Warriors (1x Blaster)

1x 5 Kabalite Trueborn (1x Splinter Rifle; 4x Shredder)

1x Venom (2x Splinter Cannon)

Spearhead:

Obsession: Black Heart

Archon (Splinter Pistol, Huskblade, Warlord [Labyrinthine Cunning], Relic [Writ of the Living Muse])

3x Ravager (3x Disintegrator Cannons)

4x Venom (2x Splinter Cannon)

Spearhead:

Obsession: Prophets of Flesh

Urien Rakarth (Alliance of Agony Warlord [Diabolical Soothsayer])

1x 8 Wracks

1x 5 Wracks

3x 1 Talos (Chain-Flails, Macro-Scalpel, 2x Haywire Blaster)

This list is nearly identical to one that is in my League Division, just a bit of shuffling around of units (Talos are one unit of three, the Prophet Spearhead is a Battalion, no Trueborn), but both are pretty dangerous.

Talos are tough customers, especially with Urien to buff them up. Wracks are pretty tough objective campers. Ravagers are…well, Ravagers! And the Obsidian Rose Kabalites are pretty versatile with their various weapons, and tough to pin down thanks to the Venoms.

My LRH are fairly vulnerable to being pinned down, so the Venoms could be an issue if they just jump on them; and the Talos are going to be gunning straight for me.

Mission:

We rolled up and got Mission #2, Cut To The Heart (One objective in the centre; each player places one in their own deployment zone. If a player controls the central objective and their opponent’s objective, they score 1 bonus VP).

I ‘won’ the deployment roll off and rolled up Dawn of War (#2, basically standard deployment). I chose my side, with a little bit more cover for my units, including a forested hill right next to the central objective – and tall enough to give my LRH cover from the Ravagers if need be.

My opponent decided they would deploy second; so I would have first turn unless he seized.

Secondary Objectives:

Deathwatch:

Old School (With his small unit of Wracks I should be able to grab this, although I hope to kill a Ravager in T1; the others should be doable over the game, hopefully!)

Big Game Hunter (The Talos and Ravagers are all eligible, and are all significant threats that need to be dealt with)

Recon (Given that this mission suits sitting on the central and my own, I should be able to control the centre of the table – meaning I can poke a unit across the board to get all four quarters fairly easily)

Drukhari:

Recon (He’s playing Drukhari, Recon is pretty much a given!)

Headhunter (My opponent was saying that my list is quite hard to score against, so at least this had 3VP available)

Marked For Death (Literally everything in my army is PL7+! The difficulty is in choosing which ones! He went for the Land Raiders and Frag Cannon units)

Important Deployment Notes:

For reference, this is the exact same terrain box that I played Game #1 on! Its layout is a bit different, but yeah, now you can imagine that game a little better!

For my Mission Tactics, I choose Heavy Support, since I can’t choose his damn Dedicated Transports!

+++++

Deathwatch Deployment

Drukhari Deployment

+++++

Deathwatch Turn One

Tome: I choose Troops, so I can hit his Wracks harder, as they can be pretty tough.

Movement: Stalkers and the right BVU stay still, as they can hammer his big unit of Wracks with Kraken. Beacon Captain advances forward 15”, toeing into the far left quarter, ready to Beacon the left BVU up on to the central objective/into the far right quarter. The Helios’ move up on to the hill to get good lines of sight on his Ravagers, Watch Master advancing forward to get in range of them and the left BVU post-teleport.

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on the red Helios.

Shooting: The Helios both open up on the Ravagers, each able to see two; they target each of those with one Twin Lascannon and their Helios Launchers on the non-visible third. The second Helios gets the Malleus Doctrine to wound them on 2+. One Ravager emerges unscathed; one is down to five wounds; and one is down to three wounds. Eep, was hoping to do more than that (quite a few Lascannon shots were saved by their bloody Flickerfields.

Well, I didn’t get First Strike there, so the Stalkers and right BVU open up on the big Wrack unit. Three are slain. My opponent made a mistake with his casualty removal which meant that my left BVU (recently teleported forward) can still open up with quite a bit of Hellfire: they do so and wipe the remainder.

Charges/Morale: Nothing

End of Turn One

Drukhari Turn One

Movement: Talos and Urien move up over their shelter, past the bodies of their Wrack buddies.

Ravagers swing around their cover to get lines and range on the grey Helios. Venoms dart out, in range of the Helios and left/forward BVU.

I do use Intercepting Volley on the first Talos, but he uses Agents of Vect and then rolls a damn six! Argh!

Shooting: Talos unload Haywire onto the red Helios, causing a good few Mortal Wounds but I use Armour of Contempt (and regain a CP from LoHK!) and take only three total. Blasters and Disintegrators rake the grey Helios, who manages to cling to life with a mere two wounds remaining. Splinter fire pours into the forward BVU, bringing down the Biker out of cover (giving the rest cover!) and two Shield Veterans. Stalker unit takes some fire from a Venom that darted around that flank, but their Storm Shields and their cover see them unscathed.

Charges: Forward-most Talos charges the Veterans and Captain, suffering a wound from their combined eleven Hellfire overwatch rounds and connects with both. The other two Talos, however, fail their charges including a CP Reroll! That is a big break for me!

Fight: Talos tries to Macro-Scalpel the Captain, but only gets two successful wounds, one of which gets saved. In return, the Captain and Veterans cause a further three wounds, bringing it down to three.

Morale: Nothing (Veterans lost three total, but they’re Ld9/have a Terminator)

End of Turn One

+++++

End of Round One Score:

Deathwatch: 6. I scored Kill, Kill More, Hold, Hold More, First Strike (Old School), and one on Recon.

Drukhari: 2. He scored Hold and one on Recon. Yikes!

Deathwatch Turn Two

Tome: Switch to HQ, as Urien is potentially vulnerable, depending on how well I do vs the Talos.

Movement: Forward BVU falls back, as the Vanguard is still alive. Captain also falls back. Watch Master and Librarian move up. Grey Helios drops off its payload and pulls back to get cover from the Ravagers and possibly pop smoke; Red Helios moves up a little to aid in LOS blocking but doesn’t drop its Frag unit. Right BVU move up too, ready to try and charge something to get into the far right quarter for Recon.

End of Movement

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on the Red Helios again. Null Zone fails by one (6;1) but I’m down to only 2CP so I hold off on the reroll.

Shooting: I decide against popping smoke and the Grey Helios opens up on the Ravagers; as does the Red Helios (which, as it’s not degraded, gets Malleus Doctrine; I also regain 1CP from LoHK, meaning I’m still on 1!). When the smoke clears, all three are dead!

Watch Master knocks two wounds off of the forward Talos and the Captain and Librarian bring him down. Both BVU and Stalkers open up on the other two Talos with Hellfire and Mission Tactics: they eviscerate them in a brutal display (they had to make 24 and 25 3+ saves each, both perishing). Urien is opened up and the Frag unit…frags him.

Wow.

At this point, my opponent concedes, as this turn has basically sealed it. Fair enough!

End of Shooting

So. Wow.

End of Game Thoughts:

Land Raider Helios: These bad boys rocked this game! While they were subject to a fair amount of fire, they held firm. One was crippled, but with the Watch Master nearby it was still able to pour on the fire; and the other, with the support of Might of Heroes, was barely scratched. While I was a little unfortunate with the Flickerfields saving the Ravagers T1, I still degraded two of them and killed all three in T2.

Special Issue Ammunition: Wow. Hellfire is… Wow. Honestly, I would say that Hellfire could do with being reduced to always wounding on a 3+, but only along with a resilience buff for Marines. Simply put, the loss of Bolter Discipline with SIA was totally reasonable: if I’d had BD and SIA combined, it would have been even more brutal.

Watch Master/Tome of the Ectoclades: This, I feel, should be a staple in every Deathwatch list. It’s simply So. Damn. Good. Full rerolls to hit; a ‘free,’ different Mission Tactic; and granting it to units that aren’t normally benefitting is huge. It’s been a major factor in how effective my Land Raider Helios have been.

Beacon Angelis: I think I may have used this a little frivolously, as the BVU I teleported almost didn’t have much to shoot at, and could have been swarmed by three Talos all at once (which would have been bad. I still feel like this is an extremely important Relic for us, but I think I need to get better at utilising it properly.

Teleport Homers: I didn’t activate them this game, but they were both clustered around my deployment zone objective, so that I could pull back one (or both) of my big Veteran units if the need arose. Again, I don’t think I used these particularly well, but they were ultimately unnecessary as my massed, central force was enough to obliterate my opponent’s primary units.

Luck: Hoo boy, it sure is better to be lucky than good! My rolls weren’t especially great, because with the Watch Master, Hellfire, and Mission Tactics/Tome it’s pretty easy to vomit out tons of forced saves; but my opponent was unfortunate with his charge rolls on his Talos (3 and 4 total for each!) and the one that did make it in failed to even kill the Captain. I think it may have been better to target the BVU to thin out my Storm Bolter fire, but even if he had it wouldn’t have even killed the Terminator (averages out as less than one failed save, statistically, with the Chain-Flails.) With those failed charges and the failure of the Ravagers to kill a LRH, the first round was rough for my opponent. The second round was even worse…

+++++

Well, that was my second battle report for you fine Xenos Hunters! I hope you enjoyed, and comments and criticism are most certainly welcome.

Cheers,

Tom.

[Syward]

Nice write up! Pictures helped a lot with visualizing exactly what you were describing each turn. And man, you're really making the case for those LRH.    I almost feel bad for your opponent with his luck - almost, he is playing filthy xenos. LOL. (Honestly, his luck with rolls seems about how mine usually goes, so I fee for him.) 

 

Looking forward to your next game & report! 

[jpwyrm]

I had a game last night against my buddy who plays Deathguard/CSM. Here's the list I used :

 

+++ Deathwatch Comp_revised (Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition) [136 PL, 10CP, 2,000pts] +++

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Deathwatch) ++

 

+ No Force Org Slot +

 

Armory of the Watch Fortress (1 Relic)

. . Categories: No Force Org Slot

 

Battle-forged CP

. . Categories: No Force Org Slot

 

Detachment CP

. . Categories: No Force Org Slot

 

Operative Requisition Sanctioned

. . Categories: No Force Org Slot

 

+ HQ +

 

Watch Captain: Jump Pack, Storm shield (Index), Thunder hammer

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Captain, Character, HQ, Infantry, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Fly, Jump Pack

. . The Beacon Angelis

 

Watch Master: Lord of Hidden Knowledge, Warlord

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Character, HQ, Infantry, Faction: Deathwatch, Watch Master, Faction: Imperium

. . Tome of the Ectoclades

 

+ Troops +

 

Veterans

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Infantry, Kill Team, Troops

. . Biker w/ Teleport Homer: Chainsword, Twin boltgun

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Vanguard Veteran: 2x Bolt Pistol

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

 

Veterans

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Infantry, Kill Team, Troops

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Watch Sergeant: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

 

Veterans

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Infantry, Kill Team, Troops

. . Biker w/ Teleport Homer: Chainsword, Twin boltgun

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Vanguard Veteran: 2x Bolt Pistol

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Land Raider Helios: 2x Twin lascannon

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Imperium, Land Raider, Land Raider Helios, Vehicle, Transport, Heavy Support,

 

Land Raider Helios: 2x Twin lascannon

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Imperium, Land Raider, Land Raider Helios, Vehicle, Transport, Heavy Support,

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Deathwatch) ++

 

+ No Force Org Slot +

 

Detachment CP

. . Categories: No Force Org Slot

 

+ HQ +

 

Librarian with Jump Pack: 2) Might of Heroes, 3) Psychic Scourge, Force sword, Jump Pack, Storm Bolter

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Character, HQ, Infantry, Faction: Deathwatch, Librarian, Faction: Imperium, Psyker, Fly, Jump Pack

 

Watch Captain: Power axe, Storm Bolter

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Captain, Character, HQ, Infantry, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium

 

+ Troops +

 

Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Infantry, Primaris, Troops

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor Sergeant: Bolt rifle, Chainsword

 

Veterans

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Infantry, Kill Team, Troops

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Watch Sergeant: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

 

Veterans

. . Categories: Faction: Adeptus Astartes, Faction: Deathwatch, Faction: Imperium, Infantry, Kill Team, Troops

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Watch Sergeant: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

 

Created with BattleScribe

 

He had a Nurgle Outrider detachment, a Blacl Legion Spearhead detachment and a Superheavy auxiliary. Here's the list:

 

Abbadon

Sorcerer with wings (Warptime and something else)

 

2 x 5man Havoc squad with 3 Lascannons and one butcher autocannon gattling thing

1 Trilas predator

 

Nurgle Deamon Prince with wings

 

3 x Blight drones with plague spewer (?)

 

Mortarion

 

We played Chapter Approved Eternal War mission Narrow the search.

 

So at first I wanted to post a turn by turn summary but to be honnest, this game was so short and one sided that I don't think it warrants it. At the end of Turn 2, my opponent had 4 models left on the board and I had lost 4 models... so yeah, we called it there.

 

Highlights of the game :

 

- Land Raider Helios are awesome! The missile launchers are great were very effective against the small squads of Havocs.

- I used a vindicare assassin and he did exaxtly what he needed to : kill the sorcerer and hunt down Abaddon. I didn't get to kill the Warmaster, but in the first turn alone, the Vindicare slew the sorcerer and took 3 wounds of Abby.

- It took 8 lascannons shots, the combined fire of my two big vet squads (one of which was slingshoted with a locator beacon - thank you Kallas for the idea!) and a do or die assault by my smash captain but I was able to bring Mortarion down in the first turn before he got to my line.

- Two terminators per vet squad definitely helps with survivability. Of the four models I lost, three were terminators that soaked so much wounds before going down it was crazy!

- Finally, full reroll to hit from the Watchmaster is a godsend, I'm never making a Deathwatch list without him.

 

Here you, looking forward to reading your next batrep Kallas. Thanks for sharing this very competitive list.

[Kallas]

Thank you for letting us know how it went, great to hear you had some success  

I'll have some questions later, but currently mocking the Eurovision Song Contest and getting drunk, so they'll have to wait!

Edited May 19, 2019 by Kallas

[Kallas]

I had a game last night against my buddy who plays Deathguard/CSM. Here's the list I used :

 

+++ Deathwatch Comp_revised (Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition) [136 PL, 10CP, 2,000pts] +++

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Deathwatch) ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Operative Requisition Sanctioned

 

+ HQ +

Watch Captain: Jump Pack, Storm shield (Index), Thunder hammer

. . The Beacon Angelis

 

Watch Master: Lord of Hidden Knowledge, Warlord

. . Tome of the Ectoclades

 

+ Troops +

Veterans

. . Biker w/ Teleport Homer: Chainsword, Twin boltgun

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Vanguard Veteran: 2x Bolt Pistol

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

 

Veterans

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Watch Sergeant: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

 

Veterans

. . Biker w/ Teleport Homer: Chainsword, Twin boltgun

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Terminator

. . . . Power Maul and Stormbolter: Power maul, Storm Bolter

. . Vanguard Veteran: 2x Bolt Pistol

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

. . Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

 

+ Heavy Support +

Land Raider Helios: 2x Twin lascannon

 

Land Raider Helios: 2x Twin lascannon

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Deathwatch) ++

+ HQ +

Librarian with Jump Pack: 2) Might of Heroes, 3) Psychic Scourge, Force sword, Jump Pack, Storm Bolter

 

Watch Captain: Power axe, Storm Bolter

 

+ Troops +

Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor: Bolt rifle

. . Intercessor Sergeant: Bolt rifle, Chainsword

 

Veterans

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

. . Watch Sergeant: Stalker Pattern Boltgun, Storm shield

 

Veterans

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

. . Watch Sergeant: Deathwatch Shotgun, Storm shield

 

He had a Nurgle Outrider detachment, a Blacl Legion Spearhead detachment and a Superheavy auxiliary. Here's the list:

Abbadon

Sorcerer with wings (Warptime and something else)

 

2 x 5man Havoc squad with 3 Lascannons and one butcher autocannon gattling thing

1 Trilas predator

 

Nurgle Deamon Prince with wings

 

3 x Blight drones with plague spewer (?)

 

Mortarion

We played Chapter Approved Eternal War mission Narrow the search.

 

So at first I wanted to post a turn by turn summary but to be honnest, this game was so short and one sided that I don't think it warrants it. At the end of Turn 2, my opponent had 4 models left on the board and I had lost 4 models... so yeah, we called it there.

 

Highlights of the game :

 

- Land Raider Helios are awesome! The missile launchers are great were very effective against the small squads of Havocs.

- I used a vindicare assassin and he did exaxtly what he needed to : kill the sorcerer and hunt down Abaddon. I didn't get to kill the Warmaster, but in the first turn alone, the Vindicare slew the sorcerer and took 3 wounds of Abby.

- It took 8 lascannons shots, the combined fire of my two big vet squads (one of which was slingshoted with a locator beacon - thank you Kallas for the idea!) and a do or die assault by my smash captain but I was able to bring Mortarion down in the first turn before he got to my line.

- Two terminators per vet squad definitely helps with survivability. Of the four models I lost, three were terminators that soaked so much wounds before going down it was crazy!

- Finally, full reroll to hit from the Watchmaster is a godsend, I'm never making a Deathwatch list without him.

 

Here you, looking forward to reading your next batrep Kallas. Thanks for sharing this very competitive list.

 

Seems like a solid iteration of my original list; I like the shotguns added to the Frag squads, how did they fare? I'm interested, because they do seem like they have some good uses, if more niche than the ever ubiquitous Storm Bolter, and of course they can still have the necessary Storm Shields!

 

How did your Stalker Bolters fare? How did the Intercessors do? I'm curious about the possible comparisons, as I have little to no interest in Primaris and thus have no real experience with them other than some games with Inceptors (as BA/SW).

 

That is a very elite Chaos army! Mortarion, Abaddon, Havocs, Blight Drones, not much else! That is pretty ballsy!  Morty going down T1 is pretty brutal, that's a lot of his power and mobility gone; Vindicare popping the Sorcerer is also nasty, as the loss of Warptime will hurt too.

 

What were the Havocs carrying? Were they anti-armour, anti-infantry? Were they running the Reaper Chain Cannons, if so did they get to unload into your infantry?

 

Glad to hear that the Terminators were able to soak so much fire: what kind of things were they soaking? Maybe I missed something, but it doesn't seem like your opponent had much in the way of volume of fire.

 

Land Raider Helios: Really glad to hear that these served you well! I think Narrow The Search is a strong mission for them, as big tough targets like Morty suffer greatly when losing their Invulnerable saves. Did you use any of the Doctrines to pump more damage into Morty, or something else? The Helios Launchers do sound like they'd be good into Havocs, as their improved T5 doesn't help them!

 

Teleport Homers: You mentioned that you slingshotted one of your Veteran units, how did you find deploying the Homers? Did you deploy one unit hidden, out of the way, and have the Homer on the front line?

 

+++

 

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate the additional insight! It's good to know that I'm not clutching at straws with the LRH! 

[jpwyrm]

All right lets do this one at a time :

 

Shotguns : they did relatively well. I disembarked the two frag squads on the second turn to focus fire on one if the Blight Drones. With the reroll ones for Fast Attack and +1 to wound on one of the squads, they did very well. I used the Xenopurge ammo, so 2 dmg because if half range. They did a good job of chipping away wounds on the Drone.

 

Stalker bolters : I was genuinely impressed by them. The longer range, extra shot and AP make them very good campers.

 

Havocs were totting 3 lascannons and one Reaper each, so mainly anti-tank. His to hit/wound rolls were pretty bad, but i have yet to see him roll under 4 for dmg so I don't mind the inaccuracy!

 

The Terminators mainly ate Reaper chaingun fire and the plague flamer thing on the drones. You're right though, there wasn't so much volume of fire to soak in that game.

 

I did not use any of the Doctrines on Morty mainly because I forgot to. Not sure it would have helped me so much though since a lot of the wounds came frim Hellfire round.

 

Teleport Homer : yeah thats exactly what I did. We deployed in Hammer and Anvil so I had a big vet squad on each flank with the homers near the center of my line. I teleported the unit that was on the opposite side of morty so it could support the first squad and focus fire on him. Work out well.

 

Next test will be my ither friend's nasty GSC list.

[Kallas]

Very cool, thank you 

 

EDIT: And I will be getting another League game in on Tuesday, so hopefully have a report up for Tuesday/Wednesday.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Kallas

[Kallas]

So Tuesday I got another League Game in, this time a proper one (ie, one that counts towards the actual League score!)

I will note right now, because it may affect the quality of the report, that I injured my eye on one of the pictured trees during round one! I leant down to check LOS and it stabbed me in my left eye! So my focus was quite a bit less on the game than it should have been, and I did in fact go to A&E afterwards just to be sure – the eye is fine, did get an abrasion but nothing serious, thankfully!

Anyway, that said, here are the lists:

Here’s the reiteration of my list:

Battalion:

Watch Master (Warlord; Relic [Tome of the Ectoclades])

Librarian (Jump Pack, Force Stave, Storm Bolter)

Watch Captain (Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Power Maul)

2x 10 Veterans (Big Veteran Unit: BVU)

- 7x Storm Bolter/Storm Shields inc. Watch Sergeant

- 1 Biker with Teleport Homer and Chainsword

- 1 Vanguard with 2x Bolt Pistol

- 1 Terminator with Storm Bolter and Power Axe

2x 5 Veterans

- 3x Storm Bolter/Storm Shields inc. Watch Sergeant

- 2x Frag Cannons

1x 5 Veterans

- 5x Stalker Boltguns/Storm Shields

2x Land Raider Helios

Notes:

Lord of Hidden Knowledge for my Warlord Trait.

1CP for the Beacon Angelis.

As per usual.

+++++

Imperial Guard

Brigade:

Regiment: Tallarn

Company Commander (Chainsword, Laspistol, Warlord [Grand Strategist])

Company Commander (Chainsword, Laspistol)

Lord Commissar (Bolt Pistol, Power Fist)

6x Infantry Squads (Sergeants with Laspistol/Chainsword; 2 with a Flamer; 2 with a Grenade Launcher; 2 with a Plasma Gun)

Bullgryns (4x Bullgryn Mauls; 2x Slabshields; 2x Brute Shields)

Ogryn Bodyguard (Bullgryn Plate; Bullgryn Maul; Slabshield; Relic [Deathmask of Ollanius])

2x Platoon Commander (Laspistol, Chainsword)

3x 1 Scout Sentinel (Autocannon)

Salamander Scout Tank (Autocannon, Heavy Bolter)

3x Heavy Weapon Squads (3x Mortars)

Spearhead:

Regiment: Tallarn

Emperor’s Wrath Artillery Company

Lord Commissar (Bolt Pistol, Power Fist)

2x 1 Basilisk (Heavy Bolter)

1x Manticore (Heavy Bolter)

1x Hydra (Heavy Bolter)

Vanguard: Execution Force

Culexus

Callidus

Eversor

Vindicare

So some dangerous stuff in here. The Artillery Company could be some serious trouble, as they can reach out and touch whatever they want each turn, and their firepower could pose a serious threat to my Land Raiders, especially if the terrain/deployment keeps them hidden/out of reach.

Thankfully not a huge amount of bodies, so my Veterans should rip through them pretty quickly. Bullgryns/Bodyguard make for a pretty tough nut to crack; and they could pose a threat to my Veterans as their T/Sv combination makes them a tricky target to choose SIA against.

Sentinels and Salamander alongside the infantry means I’m likely going to be hard pressed to leave my deployment zone early on. The Assassins also bring some nasty pressure: Vindicare means I’ll need to hide my characters or risk them getting popped easily; Callidus means I’ll need to be very cautious about my CP expenditure; Eversor should hopefully be not too difficult to deal with as my Veterans are resilient, but he could keep my LRH stuck in melee; Culexus shouldn’t be much of a danger, but could be annoying to deal with.

Mission:

We rolled up Mission #1 Seize Ground (six objectives in two chevrons pointing towards one another). Bonus is to control/contest five objectives. Could be a good mission for the Guard, as they have the sheer volume to reasonably reliably achieve the bonus objective and hold more than me consistently.

For deployment, we rolled Vanguard Strike (aka, the annoying to measure one!) with my opponent getting to choose their deployment zone. As this is using the pre-CA18 style deployment, we’d be rolling off for first turn and I’d be getting the +1 (as I had ten drops at most; with the Guard having twenty nine!!).

Secondary Objectives:

Deathwatch:

Reaper (My opponent has about ninety-odd models total, with plenty of them being GEQ and thus quite killable. I might not max it out, but it should give me a good amount of VP over the game without having to redirect fire away from the targets that I’d normally go for)

Butcher’s Bill (With the mass amount of units, I should be able to get this pretty easily)

Big Game Hunter (The artillery park is a big threat and so my LRH will need to go for them ASAP. Given that, this makes sense as it’ll give me the opportunity to get VP while reducing my opponent’s threats)

Imperial Guard:

Recon (With their mass of units and scout moves they should be able to get this pretty easily, particularly since they’re Tallarn!)

Behind Enemy Lines (Deep striking Assassins, Salamander and Scout Sentinels mean they should have a decent chance of dumping a good amount of units into my deployment zone for this, but not sure if this is a great pick)

Marked For Death [Red LRH; Captain; Stalker squad; and one Frag squad] (A reasonable pick, given that everything in my force is an eligible target, but I feel like these were slightly less optimal targets. The Red LRH would get Might of Heroes ASAP making it harder to drop; the Captain would be as hidden as possible to make him hard to kill; and the Frags would be concealed in the LRH until later in the game. Stalkers are pretty reasonable however, as they’re generally quite exposed early on)

+++++

Important Deployment Notes:

My opponent chose their deployment zone, with mine being slightly open but with some decent LOS blocking and some good cover for my infantry in case I need to weather early firepower.

Given the uncertainty of first turn (with the +1 I have an approximately 59/60% chance of going first) I figure that I should go into the battle cautiously. With Recon and Behind Enemy Lines, and the Tallarn doctrine, I expect my opponent to be quite aggressive in their movement.

For my Mission Tactics, I choose Troops to start with. My units will need to cut down his infantry to give me some breathing room/board space. I’ll probably need to shift it later on, but Troops is ok to start with.

+++++

Deathwatch Deployment

Imperial Guard Deployment

Scout Moves:

+++++

Deathwatch Turn One

Tome: I choose Heavy Support, because I have a good line on his artillery and need them dead.

Movement: I hold my Veterans back and in cover. If I move them forward they’re leaving cover and will be in range of a lot more stuff, so I figure I’m better off holding back and just taking early potshots. Land Raiders move up to get cover from the large rocky outcropping and to ensure LOS on my opponent’s artillery. Stalkers stay put. Captain jumps into the cover of the ruin, out of LOS of the Vindicare and to give me Beacon options later.

End of Movement:

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on the Red LRH.

Shooting: Land Raiders shoot, one getting the Malleus Doctrine (costing 3CP courtesy of the Callidus), first one popping a Basilisk with two Lascannon wounds (double six for damage!) and the Helios does a single wound to a Mortar squad. Second LRH focuses on the artillery with the Lascannons causing nine wounds to the Manticore and two to the other Basilisk. An amazingly lucky start!

Stalkers kill off six Guardsmen across from them; left Veterans cause a couple of wounds to the Salamander; right Veterans do a couple to the Sentinel in front of them.

Imperial Guard Turn One

Movement: Sentinels surge forward, backed up by a wave of Guardsmen. Salamander claims the objective nearby. Bullgryn push up the middle.

End of Movement:

Shooting: All of the Guardsmen bar the Plasma squads get “Move! Move! Move!” and rush forward. Plasma squads get “Take Aim!” and unload on the Stalker squad along with some Sentinels and the Mortars, killing three total. Left Sentinel (from my perspective) Goes Recon and gets into my deployment zone, aiming for Behind Enemy Lines. Basilisk - with Pounding Barrage - Hydra, and the Manticore squeeze through a mighty two damage on the Red LRH. T9 is a huge deal, especially when my opponent rolls terribly!

End of Shooting:

Charge/Fight: Captain Heroically Intervenes into the hidden Guardsmen, suffering no wounds and crushing four.

Morale: The central Guardsmen take their test on d3 and lose none; Captain-crushed Guardsmen at Ld9 with a nearby Lord Commissar and lose none. Stalker squad passes with flying colours.

+++++

End of Round One Score:

Deathwatch: 4

I scored Kill, Kill More, Hold and one for Big Game Hunter.

Imperial Guard: 3

They scored Hold, Hold More and the Bonus.

Deathwatch Turn Two

Opponent does not use the Callidus “Supreme Deception” Stratagem to extend her Reign of Confusion ability. At this point I only have 4CP left (after I spent the first three on one stratagem in turn one!) and my opponent only has about 5CP (I forget exactly how much [again, my eye is very painful right then!] but they’d been spending them freely on morale tests and various other utility bits).

Tome: I keep Heavy Support for now, as I want to score Big Game Hunter and fully remove the threats of the artillery before moving on.

Movement: LRH stay put, with Red shuffling a little to let the Librarian Smite the nearby remnant Guardsmen. Left Veterans move up to charge the ruin-dwelling Guardsmen in support of the Captain; right Veterans stay put. Red LRH Frags disembark and push right down the centre; Grey LRH Frags (Marked For Death) push out towards the ice forest and that objective-holding Guard squad. The remaining two Stalkers dive into the Red LRH to hide from fire (to deny Kill One and Marked For Death). Captain falls back from the Guardsmen to offer rerolls to the Frags as well as the left Veterans (but it does put him in the sights of the Vindicare, whoops!)

Psychic: Red LRH gets Might of Heroes again. Smite kills two Guardsmen.

Shooting: LRH pop the Manticore and Baslisk; Helios Launchers fire into various Guardsmen. Right Frags (MFD) kill off six of the Guardsmen threatening the Grey LRH; Left Frags split fire, annihilating the Plasma Guardsmen in the forest to their right with the Frag Cannons and kill a few from the other Plasma squad in the ruin. Left Veterans unload Vengeance into the Sentinel, killing it; Right Veterans pump Vengeance into the central Sentinel, also killing it with some help from the Captain. Bullgryn lose one and one gets wounded by Lascannon fire from one LRH.

Charge: Left Veterans charge the Guard in the ruin; left Frags charge the Lord Commissar; right Frags charge the ice forest Guard (losing none in Overwatch). A Company Commander intervenes on the left Frags.

Charges:

Fight: Right Frags fight first, killing off only three. Lord Commissar interrupts and kills one Frag Storm Shield. Left Frags cause no damage to the Lord Commissar (four successful Sv4+!); left Veterans wipe out the remaining ruin-dwellers and consolidate up a little bit. Commander does nothing to the Frags after a reroll; ice forest Guardsmen manage to bring down one of the right Frags.

Lord Commissar gets trapped, preventing fall back.

Morale: A couple of Guardsmen run, but the ice forest Guard auto-pass, and the ones menacing the Grey LRH take it on d3 and lose none.

End of Turn:

Imperial Guard Turn Two

Movement: Ice forest Guard fall back with a Platoon Commander moving up to support. Guardsmen and right (remaining) Sentinel move to menace the Grey LRH further. Salamander stays on the objective but pulls back as far as possible. Bullgryn move up around the forest, aiming for a long charge on the Red LRH; Bodyguard and other characters move to engage the trapped in Lord Commissar.

Assassins deep strike (I apologise for no more pictures: at this point my eye is killing me!) – Eversor drops down as close as possible to both LRH in my backfield; Culexus drops down next to my backfield Veterans and in a forest; Callidus drops in 6” away from the Raiders and Veterans, but I pop Auspex Scan. Opponent uses Acrobatics (I think that’s possible; either way, I think it’s allowed so I was fine with it!) so I’m hitting on 5+ with no rerolls; I use Hellfire and the Callidus gets utterly shredded (I hit with something ridiculous like twenty out of thirty eight shots!) Great result for me, pretty unlucky for my opponent.

Shooting: Very few Guardsmen units left for orders! Salamander and the last Sentinel dump shots into the Red LRH, doing nothing. Plasma Guardsmen in the ruins get “Take Aim!” and unload on the left Veterans, causing a single wound to the Biker (with a Lasgun!). Ice forest Guardsmen kill one more of the right Frags; Mortars pound them too, leaving just a single Frag Cannon left. Vindicare goes for the Captain causing three from the initial shot but fails to do any Headshot damage even after a reroll.

Charge: Sentinel charges the Grey LRH, but takes three Lascannon hits in Overwatch(!) and explodes, taking one Guardsmen with it. Those Guardsmen follow suit, but suffer no casualties and make a long charge to pin the Land Raider against the outcropping, Single Guardsman in front of the Red LRH goes for a hero moment to try and shut down my shooting but gets vaporised. Bullgryn attempt a long charge on the Red LRH too, fail, but suffer no damage from Overwatch. Eversor attempts to charge Red too, also getting vaporised! OUCH! Bodyguard and second Lord Commissar do charge the left Frag squad.

Fight: Characters kill off the left Frags for the cost of one wound on the trapped Lord Commissar (who’s now freed up). Grey LRH fails to run over any Guardsmen.

Morale: No losses on either side.

+++++

End of Round Two Score:

Deathwatch: 11

I scored Kill, Kill More, Hold, two more on BGH, and one each on Reaper and Butcher’s Bill.

Imperial Guard: 8

They scored Kill, Hold, Hold More and a second Recon.

Deathwatch Turn Three

Tome: I use my last CP to switch Mission Tactics to HQ, and switch the Tome to Elites.

Movement: Watch Master and Librarian move to relieve the beleaguered Grey LRH; Red LRH stays put. Backfield Veterans stay put, while the ruin-Veterans string out between the Salamander’s objective and the left/centre objective. Captain tucks away behind the ruin again.

Psychic: Might of Heroes fails; Smite on to the Guardsmen also fails!

Shooting: Red LRH pumps more shots into the Bullgryn, killing them off. Ruin Veterans kill off some Guardsmen; backfield Veterans use Dragonfire (yes, I know!) against the Culexus: with the +1 to hit and Watch Master rerolls they strip off three or four wounds. Last Frag Cannon on the right only manages to kill two Guardsmen!

Charge: Librarian charges the Platoon Commander; Watch Master charges the Guardsmen. Ruin Veterans charge the lone Company Commander on the centre/left objective.

Fight: Watch Master and Grey LRH kill off the Guardsmen; Librarian smashes the Platoon Commander. Veterans murder the Company Commander.

Morale: None that I can recall.

Imperial Guard Turn Three

Movement: Not a huge amount. Hydra pushes through the middle a little and some characters shuffle around in the centre with the Bodyguard and Commissars going for the ruin Veterans.

Shooting: Not much here either. Right Frag gets popped and a couple of Veterans die in the ruins.

Charge/Fight: I honestly can’t recall if anything happened, but we had to call time on the actual game here, due to the club closing down – so we ran through our thoughts about how the game would have played out, which I will cover in a minute.

+++++

End of Round Three Score:

Deathwatch: 16

I scored Kill, Kill More, Hold, as well as another Reaper and Butcher’s Bill.

Imperial Guard: 13

They scored Kill, Hold, Hold More, as well as another Recon and their first Behind Enemy Lines (damn Culexus!)

Rounds Four to Six

Due to club time constraints we had to stop playing and pack up, but because the League asks us to work out up until Round Six, we had a discussion.

Final Scores ended up as:

Deathwatch: 27

Imperial Guard: 21

Basically, with the Land Raiders still alive and very well, they’d be basically unopposed throughout the remaining turns, they’d max out Big Game Hunter with either the Hydra (probably) or Salamander. I’d likely get a Kill every round, and most likely more each round too, as my opponent had plenty of relatively easy to kill characters near my Veteran units (and my Helios Launchers could whittle away at their Mortars with impunity). My opponent would Hold an objective through most of the game, but would stop Holding More in Turn Six, and would only get (we think) one more Kill with the Vindicare on the Captain in Turn Six (I figure I’d be able to use the Beacon at some point to gain some benefit but would lose him to the Assassin).

Post Game Thoughts

Land Raiders: Yet again, these were champions. There was a lot of luck that helped them out here, but I think I played them pretty well too. My opponent had little anti-armour beyond their artillery, and by getting first turn I was able to (with some luck) knock out a large proportion of it immediately; consolidating their presence on the battlefield for pretty much the entire game. T8/Sv2+ is great when you’re not facing a Castellan!

Frag Cannons: This game they actually rolled fairly poorly. One unit managed to obliterate a unit of Guardsmen in cover, before getting into combat and getting whittled down by Power Fists; the other rolled fairly poorly and their Frag Cannons only managed about eight to ten kills total over about two rounds of firing. I do still really like them, as they were a significant threat, even though they only actually performed averagely.

Stalkers: These guys were also champions. In cover they weathered a lot of fire from Mortars, Autocannons and mass Lasguns. They didn’t achieve much, all told, but by being a target and soaking up firepower I feel like they pulled their weight even once they were safely embedded in a Land Raider.

Watch Master: Still so damn important. Just babysat the Raiders, but it was worth it.

Veterans: SB/SS is just so damn important. Without it the

Land Raiders: Yet again, these were champions. There was a lot of luck that helped them out here, but I think I played them pretty well too. My opponent had little anti-armour beyond their artillery, and by getting first turn I was able to (with some luck) knock out a large proportion of it immediately; consolidating their presence on the battlefield for pretty much the entire game. T8/Sv2+ is great when you’re not facing a Castellan!

Frag Cannons: This game they actually rolled fairly poorly. One unit managed to obliterate a unit of Guardsmen in cover, before getting into combat and getting whittled down by Power Fists; the other rolled fairly poorly and their Frag Cannons only managed about eight to ten kills total over about two rounds of firing. I do still really like them, as they were a significant threat, even though they only actually performed averagely.

Stalkers: These guys were also champions. In cover they weathered a lot of fire from Mortars, Autocannons and mass Lasguns. They didn’t achieve much, all told, but by being a target and soaking up firepower I feel like they pulled their weight even once they were safely embedded in a Land Raider.

Watch Master: Still so damn important. Just babysat the Raiders, but it was worth it.

Veterans: SB/SS is just so damn important. Without it they would have been cut down so much more quickly by Heavy Bolters, Autocannons and some of the other weapons available.

Imperial Guard: My opponent had some atrocious luck in the first three player turns of the game: there were numerous rolls where they rolled substantially below average (lots of failed Mortar hits and wounds, for example). I do think there were some mistakes made by my opponent:

- Their choice of secondaries, I think, was questionable: Recon was fine; Marked For Death was ok, but I think the choice of units was subpar (personally would have suggested the big Veteran Squads and maybe a second character instead of the LRH); and Behind Enemy Lines is always hard, so I think King of the Hill (as they were going for the centre with Recon already) or Engineers (choosing Sentinels could be good, as they’d either force my hand to target them, or leave them for more important units) could have been a better choice.

- Some stratagems could have been (better) employed, such as the Emperor’s Wrath Suppressive Fire to shut down the Grey LRH’s Overwatch. Some of the stratagems were a little frivolous (such as the various “Morale on d3” uses) where what they saved was of minimal value.

- Their list generally had not a huge amount of anti-armour. Two Basilisks and a Manticore is alright, but they’re pretty flimsy and do go down quickly when targeted. I feel like the list just doesn’t have the punch to deal with anything as hardy as the two Land Raiders, let alone something like a Castellan (even post-FAQ 3) which meant that as soon as the artillery was neutered my LRH were able to pretty much run amuck to their Machine Spirits’ content!

- I think my opponent’s general plan was to rush forward with as much as possible at once to try and overwhelm my target priority, which was probably the right call in general. However, I made a decision in my first turn to hold off my advance until Turn Two so as to keep away from their guns as much as possible. In turn, by rushing forward I effectively got the ‘first’ punch in the infantry fight, meaning that my superior units were able to leverage their capabilities better. If they’d held off some themselves, maybe try to draw my units into the open to mass fire on one unit at a time they would have had more success. It’s difficult to try and go back over the game a little, as my memory is a little fuzzy (thanks Tree!)

Anyway, I think that’s about everything! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and I of course welcome any comments, criticisms and questions!

Cheers,

Tom.

[BrotherAetherick]

Nice report. Just FYI supressive fire only works on infantry, which is why he couldn't turn off overwatch for your LRH.

 

Your list looks pretty good at denying secondaries. Your first couple of opponents basically could not take out your LRH's before your LRH killed their answers. I wonder how the list will fare against a castellan or chaos character party.

[Kallas]

Nice report. Just FYI supressive fire only works on infantry, which is why he couldn't turn off overwatch for your LRH.

 

Your list looks pretty good at denying secondaries. Your first couple of opponents basically could not take out your LRH's before your LRH killed their answers. I wonder how the list will fare against a castellan or chaos character party.

 

Ah, that's a good point, thanks for catching that! Could have still been useful for charging Veterans but would have been less useful.

 

Yeah, I've had most of my opponents say the same thing, that my list is hard to choose secondaries against (which was not why I designed it that way, but it's useful for sure!) I am concerned about other armies with heavy armour like Castellans. Chaos characters could pose a problem, though it depends on exactly how they build those lists.

 

Thanks for the feedback