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

[Syward]

Another great write up and read Kallas! Thanks so much for doing these! I really enjoy reading these, they're very entertaining and informative, especially me being new to actually playing, it's a huge help.

 

Side note, it's settled, two LRH will be joining my ranks as my next purchases! I've always loved the Land Raider but never seriously considered adding them to my list as I felt they'd be too expensive to utilize and for what they offer (and I still think it's true for the LRC, LRR), but the utility, resilience and flexibility of the LRH from your games has me sold. (Plus, how freaking cool do they look?!)   

Edited May 24, 2019 by Syward

[Kallas]

Another great write up and read Kallas! Thanks so much for doing these! I really enjoy reading these, they're very entertaining and informative, especially me being new to actually playing, it's a huge help.

 

Side note, it's settled, two LRH will be joining my ranks as my next purchases! I've always loved the Land Raider but never seriously considered adding them to my list as I felt they'd be too expensive to utilize and for what they offer (and I still think it's true for the LRC, LRR), but the utility, resilience and flexibility of the LRH from your games has me sold. (Plus, how freaking cool do they look?!)   

 

Really glad you're enjoying them and finding them helpful! 

 

Haha, hopefully the LRH serve you as well as they have served me so far! Just be warned that some games they might do sweet :cuss all, depending on if the opponent can just keep tagging them in melee. If they have an opportunity to, they'll do you proud, just be warned that they will sometimes just get shut down. But yes, they do look freaking cool 

[Kallas]

Another Tuesday, another game, this time another League game.

Eye all fixed from the previous Tuesday, so that’s good! Not going to be distracted for 70% of the game this time around! That said, I did decide (as I got there first, I got the ball rolling by grabbing board/terrain box) to use the same box as the previous week, including those dastardly trees wot hurt my eye.

The Culprit (for those who care):

Anyway, 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.

+++++

Salamanders

Battalion:

Chapter: Salamanders

Specialist Detachment: Indomitus Crusaders

Phobos Librarian (Warlord [Target Priority]; Powers [Hallucination; Shrouding])

Librarian (Jump Pack, Force Sword, Combi-Melta; Powers [Might of Heroes; Null Zone])

5 Tacticals (4 Bolters; 1 Heavy Bolter)

2x 10 Veteran Intercessors (-1CP; Bolt Rifles, 2x Auxiliary Grenade Launchers)

Redemptor Dreadnought (2x Storm Bolters, Heavy Flamer, Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon)

3 Suppressors

Vanguard:

Chapter: Salamanders

Captain (Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Combi-Melta; Relic [Armour Indomnitus])

5 Assault Terminators (5x Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield)

5 Devastators (2x Bolter; 2x Lascannon; 1x Missile Launcher; Armorium Cherub)

3 Eliminators

Land Raider Redeemer

Ok, Mark, if you’re reading this, I can’t say that I’m immensely threatened by this list. I know that he’s built this as a passion project (and that’s great!) but competitively speaking there’s a fair amount of suboptimal stuff (Suppressors, Redeemer, Heavy Flamer on the Redemptor, etc). The Veteran Intercessors are going to be reasonably tough to shift, especially if they get to cover, but they’re still not hugely threatening.

Devastators are his primary anti-tank but are quite flimsy; Eliminators could plink away at my characters, but they’re still not super dangerous if I avoid direct fire from their Executioner rounds. The Librarians could be a significant issue if they start double Smiting (and I regret not choosing Psychic Fortress as a possible counter). Terminators…hm: they could be an issue, but it depends on the situation – if they get stuck in the open, they’re likely to die pointlessly; but if they get delivered close enough unharmed then they could cause significant problems by being resilient and deadly to my Land Raiders/

Mission:

We rolled up Mission #4, What’s Yours Is Mine (five objectives: one central; each player places one anywhere [more than 12” from other objectives/6” from any edges], and one in their opponent’s deployment zone).

I “won” the initial roll off, then I rolled up Deployment #4 Hammer and Anvil; and I chose my deployment to give myself some of the closer initial cover. My opponent decided to deploy first (and likely go first, as this Mission is using the ‘beta’ ITC deployment rules that are close to CA18 missions).

Secondary Objectives:

Salamanders:

Kingslayer [Watch Master]: A reasonable target, as he can give up the full 4VP if killed, and was expecting to get some early shots in with the Eliminators.

Old School: I think this was a…kind of good choice? This can stack with Kingslayer for 5VP total to kill the Warlord, so that’s quite tasty; Last Strike and Linebreaker are reasonably doable; but First Strike, considering the lack of long range shooting is unlikely (especially in Hammer and Anvil).

Marked For Death [both big Veteran units; Stalkers; one unit of Frags]: MFD is commonly picked against me, and I’m finding that it’s actually not all that easy to score! The BVU are tough units and hard to wipe out; the smaller squads are killable, but usually not early enough (Frags are hiding, and the Stalkers aren’t often killed in T1, so can then just hide the survivors to deny points).

Deathwatch:

Butcher’s Bill: I’m not sure this was a great choice, considering that there were some fairly tough units (and plenty of cover). I was hoping that I could focus down a bigger unit with some massed firepower and pick off a weaker unit (like Devastators or the Tacticals) for the second.

Old School: Similar to Butcher’s Bill, I was expecting a reasonably easy kill from things like the Devastators, so First Strike should be doable. Slay The Warlord I figured would be difficult, but Linebreaker and Last Strike should happen.

Recon: Between the Beacon and Land Raiders/Frags I should be able to snag this, depending on when I push forward. Hammer and Anvil does make this more awkward, however.

+++++

Salamanders Deployment

Deathwatch Deployment

+++++

Important Deployment Notes:

Rocky outcroppings give cover (Infantry on the top also get cover).

Salamanders: Terminators, Captain and Suppressors all deep strike. Redeemer is empty, for reference.

Similar to how I deployed vs the Imperial Guard in the last battle report, I felt like I had the edge in short/mid-range shooting, so with my Homers/Beacon I felt like I could hold back and teleport forwards to give my opponent minimal shooting in the first (and possibly second) round – which those of you who examine my (potato quality) pictures might notice the strange, very-far-back positioning of my Veterans.

Red LRH was deployed completely out of LOS of the Devastators (and was carrying the MFD Frags) while the Grey LRH had cover from them. Both BVU were in cover from the minimal shooting that could reach them; same for the Stalkers, who were within Kraken range of the Devastators (assuming they survived round one in reasonable nick) as a slight bait unit.

As a note, I chose not to attempt to Seize the Initiative at all. I felt that it would be better to let the Salamanders march up, get less effective shooting and then hit back.

Mission Tactics: Troops – I figured that I’d need to kill off his Intercessors, so it’d be worth having the extra firepower there to help.

+++++

Salamanders Turn One

Movement:

Left Flank (my POV): Intercessors, Librarian and Redeemer move up around the large ruin, concealing the Redeemer from my Land Raiders.

Right Flank: Intercessors step into the cover of the ice forest, Redemptor moving up to get LOS on the Stalkers with its HOGC.

Psychic: Might of Heroes fails; Shrouding goes up on the Eliminators.

Shooting: Redemptor unload its HOGC, killing one; Eliminators (well, one that’s in range) shoot them too, killing one (after a Command Reroll) – I choose to kill off the Sergeant, as that removes two Intercessors from the upcoming firepower. Intercessors get Rapid Fire and unload too, but none get through. Devastators get Target Priority, Lascannons going for the Grey LRH and the Frag attempting to thin out the Stalkers some more: after the Cherub, no more Stalkers are dead and only three wounds caused to the Grey LRH. Tactical Heavy Bolter uses Hellfire Shell and puts three Mortal Wounds on the Red LRH.

No Charges/Fights.

Morale: Stalkers can’t fail (Ld8, only two casualties).

End of Turn One:

Deathwatch Turn One

Tome: I start off the Tome with Heavy Support, as priority number one for the LRH is the Devastator squad (as that’s the biggest concentration of anti-tank).

Movement: Grey LRH pulls up and around, getting LOS on the Redemptor (a relatively easy target for First Strike), Red LRH pulls forward slightly for the same reason. Watch Master hangs back, out of LOS of the Eliminators.

Left BVU moves forward through the cover to get within “move plus Vengeance” range next round – slight mistake here, as I could have easily just Beacon’d forward to get Vengeance this round and next; as it is, I’ve given my opponent Bolter Discipline range for next turn. Still, they’re in range for Kraken…

Right BVU stays put to Homer forward, up onto the rocky outcropping, ready to Vengeance down on the ice forest Intercessors. Stalkers advance and hide behind the small rocky outcropping that the Grey LRH had abandoned.

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on the Grey LRH (who’s not in cover).

Shooting: Right BVU gets Furor Doctrine (no CP regen’d) and unloads Vengeance: only two Intercessors killed after fourteen saves (pretty good result for my opponent!) Left BVU unloads Kraken, killing one.

Both LRH pump their Lascannons into the Redemptor, annihilating it (first one did eleven wounds, but I wanted to be sure with the second!) – it explodes; rerolled, still explodes(!), but only causes one wound to the ice forest Intercessors. Both Helios Launchers unload on the Devastators, with the second getting the Malleus Doctrine: only two Devastators are slain, unfortunately!

Not the explosive shooting phase I had wanted, but not terrible.

Charge/Fight: Nothing.

Morale: Devastators are fine; Veteran Intercessors can’t fail.

End of Turn One:

+++++

End of Round One Score:

Salamanders: 2

He scored Hold and Hold More – he failed to score First Strike as I survived his minimal early firepower.

Deathwatch: 4

I scored Kill, Kill More, Hold, and First Strike. Thank you Redemptor!

Salamanders Turn Two

Movement: Both Intercessors stay put (left unit lose out on two models’ firepower, but it’s better to not lose their Bolter Discipline). Redeemer also stays put, in Assault Cannon range and out of “move plus Flamestorm” range. Librarian also hangs out. Devastator/Eliminator block stays put.

Captain, Terminators and Suppressors all deep strike in behind my Land Raiders and on the backfield objective. I made a huge positioning mistake here, as my Watch Master was incredibly exposed in this position, hiding out behind the Raiders as he was.

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on the Redeemer; Shrouding on the Eliminators again. Null Zone fails.

Shooting: Captain tries to Melta the Red LRH but fails to wound (even with the Salamander reroll). Devastators get Target Priority again and put everything into the Red LRH too: four wounds get through, thankfully not degraded yet.

Ice forest Intercessors unload on the right BVU, but the Terminator tanks it all like an absolute champion. Left Intercessors get Rapid Fire and unload on the left BVU – their Terminator does the same, tanking the shots without any fails! That’s a big win for me right there.

Suppressors try to kill off the remaining Stalkers, but poor hit rolls cause a measly one casualty.

Charge: Captain charges the Watch Master and Red LRH, attempting to lock them down for the Terminators: two Lascannon hits, Armour Indomnitus is triggered; one failed save gets rerolled…and then his charge fails (double one!) Ouch. Terminators try the same, tanking the hits on their Storm Shields, but also fail. Another lucky break for me.

Morale: None

Deathwatch Turn Two

Tome: I switch to Elites, as the Terminators need to be removed before they kill/tie up my Raiders.

Movement: Captain jumps forward into a piece of cover, ready to Beacon the left BVU forward. Right BVU hold position. Both Frag units disembark and move to engage the new arrivals; Master shuffles a little bit; Grey LRH moves up just a little. Left BVU Beacons forward. Librarian stays put on the objective.

Psychic: Might of Heroes goes up on the Red LRH. Smite is just out of range of the right Intercessors.

Shooting: One unit of Frags unloads on the Terminators, killing four. Watch Master and Stalkers also unload, but fail to bring down the last one. Other Frag unit uses Shells and annihilates the Suppressors. Red LRH pumps Lascannons into the Captain, vapourising him; Helios and Grey LRH go into the Devastators again, finally wiping them out.

Right BVU unloads Vengeance into the right Intercessors again, killing another two (including the wounded one). Left BVU unloads Vengeance into the left Intercessors, killing three.

Charge/Fight: None. The backfield threat was totally removed.

Morale: Intercessors are all fine at Ld9.

+++++

End of Round Two Score:

Salamanders: 4

Only scored Hold and Hold More this round. Not having wiped out any units so far is rough!

Deathwatch: 8

I got Kill, Kill More, Hold and Butcher’s Bill.

Salamanders Turn Three

Movement: Redeemer moves up to flame the left BVU, accompanied by those remaining Intercessors. Right Intercessors stay put. That’s about it.

Psychic: Shrouding on the Eliminators fails; Might of Heroes goes up on the Redeemer.

Shooting: Intercessors, Flamestorms and Assault Cannons…kill one Veteran on the left (Terminator took a break when the Flamestorm fired!). Right Intercessors…cause one wound to the Terminator. Librarian has taken one wound from the Eliminators (may have been from a previous round).

Opponent concedes at this point, as he’s caused so little damage, he’s going to lose more and more, and cause little damage in return.

Deathwatch Turn Three and Remaining Rounds

So, we talked out the remaining turns, and Rounds Three and Four would be big turns for me. Round Five would be the turn my opponent gets their first kill (likely the Captain when he jumps up to engage the Redeemer with a through-the-wall charge; he’d then get Smite’d to death by Librarians/shot up by Eliminators).

We figured that by Round Six, I would likely table my opponent, as I’d have so much firepower, comparatively, that it would just be mopping up units each turn.

+++

End of Round Three Score:

Salamanders: 7

Deathwatch: 12

+++

End of Round Four Score:

Salamanders: 8

Deathwatch: 18

+++

End of Round Five Score:

Salamanders: 10

Deathwatch: 22

+++

End of Round Six Score:

Salamanders: 14

Deathwatch: 31

Ok, so…that was a brutal game. Again, actually.

Post-Game Thoughts:

Land Raiders:

I feel like these fellas didn’t actually do a huge amount this game (well, in the turns that we actually played out). They did tank a decent amount of firepower, however, which was definitely important – they absorbed, between them, a Combi-Melta, five Lascannons, a Missile Launcher and a Hellfire Heavy Bolter (and then pretty much all of the anti-tank firepowers was gone). Their Helios Launchers were a little disappointing, but that was predominantly because they were targeting Marines in cover. Their Lascannons were on point though.

Watch Master:

Very nearly lost him to the Salamanders’ deep strikers, was pretty lucky on that front. Didn’t do anything besides provide rerolls and the Tome, but that is still super important.

Veterans:

Damn these guys are tough. The sheer volume of firepower that the Terminators tanked was insane. Seriously wish that I had more Terminators to slot into the big units. Stalkers, once again, were a decent little bait unit in the early game – they didn’t do much, actively, but they absorbed firepower and then hid to deny points to the opponent (I find that a lot of people choose them for Marked For Death!). Frag Cannons were, again, brutally effective. Two Frag Shells did a whole lot of damage to the Terminators!

Beacon Angelis:

I think I misused this, again. I think if I had pushed up with the Captain and Beacon’d into Vengeance range a turn earlier it would have been much better, although I was trying to save it in case I wanted to radically shift away to the right/centre with the left BVU (which I think also might have been a good idea). Still a very strong, important Relic, but a tricky one to use.

Salamanders:

The Chapter Tactic is great, but unfortunately fell flat quite a lot this game (either due to failed rerolls or just God-Emperor-mode Terminators!). Also…why doesn’t it apply to vehicles?! Poor Redeemer…

Redeemer:

Oh, you poor innocent thing…

+++

Well, that’s it for this report. Sorry it’s so short, but that’s just how the game shook out. Hope you enjoyed the read, and please leave any comments, criticisms or other feedback.

Cheers,

Tom.

[jpwyrm]

Another strong show for this list. Between your games and the one I played two weeks ago, that's five wins, four by total domination. Like I said in my previous posts, I really believe the Helios Land Raiders are the key to making this list works. They fill in three important roles that Deathwatch usually lacks - anti-tank, resiliency and fire magnet. In a way they do the same job as a Knight would, but with more wounds and split into to targets.

 

Can't wait to play again. thank you for the report and good luck for the next League games!

Edited May 29, 2019 by jpwyrm

[BrotherAetherick]

Following this thread kind of makes me want to buy 2 land raiders lol.

[Syward]

Another great report Kallas, thanks for keeping up with these!  :tu: Those LRH are amazing! Even if they were slightly less effective this game as previous games, they're still a great pair of units that has proven to be tough to deal with for your opponents and definitely seems to make up their points cost, not only in kills, but also in soaking fire keeping your other units from being focused down. 

 

I sort of feel bad for your opponent (I did like their list, nice & fluffy for the Sons of Nocturne, and their painted TDA units looked real nice), seems like they had little to no love from the dice gods, especially with their failed charges. What do you think would have happened had they not failed their charges against your WM & LRH? Do you think you would have still ended up winning, just in a later turn or could it have potentially turned the tide for them?

 

Also, with hind sight being 20/20 - you mentioned you feel you had a positioning error with your WM, how would you have changed this if you could go back & do it over again?

[Kallas]

Following this thread kind of makes me want to buy 2 land raiders lol.

 

Hah, well they are cool even if they're not always good! I'm really happy that I've been getting some good use out of them - I'm sure my meta will adapt to them shortly! 

 

Another great report Kallas, thanks for keeping up with these!  Those LRH are amazing! Even if they were slightly less effective this game as previous games, they're still a great pair of units that has proven to be tough to deal with for your opponents and definitely seems to make up their points cost, not only in kills, but also in soaking fire keeping your other units from being focused down. 

 

I sort of feel bad for your opponent (I did like their list, nice & fluffy for the Sons of Nocturne, and their painted TDA units looked real nice), seems like they had little to no love from the dice gods, especially with their failed charges. What do you think would have happened had they not failed their charges against your WM & LRH? Do you think you would have still ended up winning, just in a later turn or could it have potentially turned the tide for them?

 

Also, with hind sight being 20/20 - you mentioned you feel you had a positioning error with your WM, how would you have changed this if you could go back & do it over again?

 

Yeah, the LRH were certainly still great, I think it was just the shocking finality of the game's finish that meant they didn't feel like they'd done much - but they were solid for sure.

 

The Salamanders certainly had some poor luck, and I had some solid luck (eg, the Terminators absorbing horrific amounts of firepower). I wouldn't say the luck was an enormous swing, maybe a 5-10% shift either way, but that's enough to make a big difference. As for the deep strike charges, they're not enormously likely: a 9" charge is, what, 27/28%? If one has four deep strike charges they could reasonably expect one or two to make it - two charges isn't hugely likely, especially when the CP Reroll was used to tank a Lascannon shot on the Captain.

 

If the Captain had made it in alone (we actually rolled this to see what would have happened) - the Watch Master would have survived, as would the Captain, but the Red LRH would've been tagged in melee. If the Terminators had made it in, they probably would've made a mess of the LRH or likely pasted the Watch Master (which would've been a huge VP swing and removed a lot of rerolls!) so would've been painful, but likely wouldn't have altered the ultimate outcome - the Frag Cannons would've still piled out and obliterated the Terminators and Suppressors, and the Grey LRH would've still killed off the Captain. The future turns would've been a bit more difficult, especially if I was actually down a whole LRH too, but I don't think it would've been a major enough swing.

 

The Watch Master mistake was placing him so far back: I had him hidden up in front of the Red LRH's sponson, then he would have still been hidden from the Eliminators but wouldn't have been nearly as vulnerable to the deep strike threat. As it was, it was possible for the Captain and Terminators to get a reasonable chance to get at him, whereas if I'd been more cautious I would have made it incredibly difficult.

 

Another strong show for this list. Between your games and the one I played two weeks ago, that's five wins, four by total domination. Like I said in my previous posts, I really believe the Helios Land Raiders are the key to making this list works. They fill in three important roles that Deathwatch usually lacks - anti-tank, resiliency and fire magnet. In a way they do the same job as a Knight would, but with more wounds and split into to targets.

 

Can't wait to play again. thank you for the report and good luck for the next League games!

 

Yeah, the dominance of the list has surprised me a lot, actually. I knew it had some teeth, but the massive difference in results in some of these games is truly shocking. I do agree that the LRH are very important, as you say they bring some important tools to the Deathwatch that they normally lack.

 

Not sure if I'll be getting a proper League game in next week, but will likely get in a friendly at least. Only have five League games to play for the whole four or so months, and I've already got three under my belt   The two opponents I have left in my Division are Nurgle (Daemons/Death Guard) and Dark Eldar (basically the same list as Game #2 on here, and the only other winner in the Division so far, although to be fair everyone else has only played one game!)

[jpwyrm]

Well I've finally played against my friends GSC. He brought a fully mechanized list so this took me by surprise (he always comes up with lists that are both weird and effective). I can say the Deathwatch list performed very well since we both rolled around the average and played to the mission. I still lost the game, though we had to play to turn 5 to see a clear winner whereas usually I get tabled turn 2 or 3.

 

Best units were :

 

- the Raiders for their durability and anti-tank fire (and boy! Did I need that to get to the soft troops inside)

 

- big vet units because they're so damned versatile and consistent

 

- and the Frag killteams - they erased each target they pointed their guns at, which includes a Patriarch and an Abherrant squad. If I could have stripped one more wounds off a buggy-transport vehicle-thingy in my overwatch on turn 4 and killed it, that team would probably have killed the other three units assaulting it (2 neophyte squads and an Abberation) thanks to the automatic hit shots of the Frag Cannons and Wyrmbreath Shells of the shotguns. I'm warming up more and more to those and I feel like I need to optimise their output from now on.

Edited June 17, 2019 by jpwyrm

[Kallas]

First up, sorry for the delay in posting up my lastest game versus Death Guard/Nurgle - real life has been stressful and so have been feeling pretty drained over the past couple of weeks. In an attempt to change that, I will try and get that game posted up today 

 

Well I've finally played against my friends GSC. He brought a fully mechanized list so this took me by surprise (he always comes up with lists that are both weird and effective). I can say the Deathwatch list performed very well since we both rolled around the average and played to the mission. I still lost the game, though we had to play to turn 5 to see a clear winner whereas usually I get tabled turn 2 or 3.

Best units were :

- the Raiders for their durability and anti-tank fire (and boy! Did I need that to get to the soft troops inside)

- big vet units because they're so damned versatile and consistent

- and the Frag killteams - they erased each target they pointed their guns at, which includes a Patriarch and an Abherrant squad. If I could have stripped one more wounds off a buggy-transport vehicle-thingy in my overwatch on turn 4 and killed it, that team would probably have killed the other three units assaulting it (2 neophyte squads and an Abberation) thanks to the automatic hit shots of the Frag Cannons and Wyrmbreath Shells of the shotguns. I'm warming up more and more to those and I feel like I need to optimise their output from now on.

 

For starters, thank you for adding your experiences, I very much appreciate hearing about how you're getting on!

 

Raiders: They are damn solid, when they're not being ambushed by a thousand blue-skinned cultists  Glad to hear they performed well! A couple of questions, since I have found GSC to be a serious pain in the butt to fight against: did you have to contend with any units popping up and trying to charge the LRH, or were you able to screen them effectively enough? What kind of anti-tank options were they packing in? (Aberrants, Patriarchs? Dozens of Mining Lasers? - please understand that I'm not trying to debunk any of your feedback, just trying to get a better picture, so that I might be able to play against GSC better myself!)

 

Veterans: That they are! When I switched to DW from SW (and previously BA, and regular SM before them) the resilience is just...wow. It's night and day just how much more resilient they are, and it's a huge deal. How did you find the Veterans got on against a lot of armour? Were you running pure Storm Bolters, or did you have any Combis/Frags tucked away in the big units?

 

Frags: Yessss! I love my Frags - I have about twelve from Shapeways but only four built at the moment and I am sorely tempted to get the remainder ready because I do love them dearly. Again, really glad to hear they did well, I think GSC are one of the best targets for Frag Cannons, as they tend to be T3 or otherwise still very vulnerable to them. How were you running them: were they in a big squad, or were you running them inside the LRH?

 

Shotguns: I am very tempted to get some Shotguns to try out alongside the Frags, how did you find them? Were they a worthwhile addition in support of the Frags? My general notion is that Shotguns can probably use a shell to complement the Frag Cannons, regardless of the target, whereas Storm Bolters will often fire at a non-vehicle target if the Frags are going anti-armour.

[jpwyrm]

Hey Kallas!

 

Here's some answers to your questions :

 

- My opponent was fielding 4 squads with mining lasers and two with wave-mining thing. All squads were also geared with grenade launchers witch put out an annoyingly high amount of firepower. Two squad of Abberants with an abomination, 2 patriarchs, two banners, a Jackal, a Kellemorph round out the force I faced.

 

- Land Raiders : the two of them quickly took high ground near the center objective and on my objective and did their thing. And yes, I made sure to keep them 9" from the table edge and surround them with the Vets so my opponent got scared of Auspex Scan. That forced him to deploy in less optimal areas of the map.

 

- Vets : they were full Stormbolter and SS, with a bike, vanguard vet and 2 terminators. Vehicles are a problem which made this game such hard challenge, especially dedicated transport for witch we have 0 bonuses against. Otherwise, they shoot very well, fight well enough and they tend to stick around longer than standard MEQ.

 

- Frags : I had them in two squads of 5 vets with 2 frags, 3 shotguns and shield. Loaded in the raiders, I waited for the ambush units to pop on the board before bringing them in play. The real issue is getting them in optimal range to use the frag rounds, but when they do get in range they are amazing. Plus, they will seriously mess up any assaulting mutants, feel no pain or not!

 

- Shotguns: they keep surprising me. Each time I don't expect them to do much but I find I can always get something done with the special rounds available. Special mention to the Wyrmbreath ones - paired with the frags, one 5-man squad can diah out ab insane amound of hits and often, weight of fire will carry the day. One thing I noticed mid game and swore I would look into exploiting in future game is the fact that both shotguns and frags are assault weapon, meaning you can cover a lot of ground by moving and advancing and still be able to fire. I'll have to keep this in mind so I can use them more aggressively when it would be tactically wise to do so.

 

Here you go. Hope this helps.

[librisrouge]

I'm wondering if you've done anything recently with your Deathwatch. I really enjoyed this thread and it has been unfortunately silent as of late.

[Kallas]

I'm wondering if you've done anything recently with your Deathwatch. I really enjoyed this thread and it has been unfortunately silent as of late.

 

Unfortunately I'm back on the core Codex: Space Marines. I was mostly diving between the different Codexes because the base one was...well, :cuss . Now it has function and flavour, I'm back under the umbrella of the Ultramarines, as a good Howling Griffon should!

[Syward]

 

I'm wondering if you've done anything recently with your Deathwatch. I really enjoyed this thread and it has been unfortunately silent as of late.

 

Unfortunately I'm back on the core Codex: Space Marines. I was mostly diving between the different Codexes because the base one was...well, . Now it has function and flavour, I'm back under the umbrella of the Ultramarines, as a good Howling Griffon should!

 

 

Are you going to start a battle report thread for your UM Rules games? I really enjoyed reading your batreps. :tu:

[Kallas]

Are you going to start a battle report thread for your UM Rules games? I really enjoyed reading your batreps.

 

I will, I think. Need to actually get some games in, been mostly focused on moving house and building stuff!

[Dosjetka]

What's the second power you choose for your Librarian other than Might of Heroes and why did you choose that power? Do you find you use it much?