First Game with New Supplement

[SirVulkan]

So I played a vehicle heavy Necron list in an ITC format game (Whats yours is mine, hammer and anvil, NOVA style terrain setup) with the following list:

 

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) ++

 

+ HQ +

 

Librarian: Boltgun, Force stave

 

Vulkan He'stan

 

+ Troops +

 

Tactical Squad

3x Space Marine

Space Marine Sergeant

Boltgun/Bolt pistol

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Lascannon

 

Tactical Squad

3x Space Marine

Space Marine Sergeant

Boltgun/Bolt pistol

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Lascannon

 

Tactical Squad

3x Space Marine

Space Marine Sergeant

Boltgun/Bolt pistol

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Missile launcher

 

+ Elites +

 

Aggressor Squad: 2x Aggressor, Aggressor Sergeant, Flamestorm Gauntlets

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought

Two twin lascannons: 2x Twin lascannon

 

Devastator Squad: Armorium Cherub

Space Marine Sergeant: Boltgun

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta

 

+ Dedicated Transport +

 

Drop Pod: Storm bolter

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) ++

 

+ HQ +

 

Adrax Agatone

 

Primaris Chaplain: 6. Canticle of Hate, Litany of Hate, Warlord

 

+ Troops +

 

Infiltrator Squad: 4x Infilltrator, Infiltrator Sergeant

 

Infiltrator Squad: 4x Infilltrator, Infiltrator Sergeant

 

Intercessor Squad: Auto Bolt Rifle, Veteran Intercessors

4x Intercessor

Intercessor Sergeant: Hand Flamer, Thunder hammer

 

+ Elites +

 

Invictor Tactical Warsuit: Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, Heavy bolter, Incendium cannon, 2x Ironhail Heavy Stubber

Invictor Tactical Warsuit: Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, Heavy bolter, Incendium cannon, 2x Ironhail Heavy Stubber

Invictor Tactical Warsuit: Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, Heavy bolter, Incendium cannon, 2x Ironhail Heavy Stubber

 

+ Dedicated Transport +

 

Impulsor: 2x Storm Bolters, Shield Dome

 

The Necron Players list from memory:

5CP total

faction Sautek (move and shoot heavy with no penalty)

Cryptek

6 Destroyers

1 Pylon

3 Doomsday Arks

3 Necron Shooty Flyers

1 Tesseract

1 Triarch Stalker

 

Deployment:

I let him deploy first go first.  He placed his pylon in the middle of his deployment and then all of his army was within 6 inches to get the 5++ from the Pylon.  I set up my invictors and 1 unit of infiltrators on the middle object.  3 tac squads on 1 objective in ruins and 1 infiltrator squad on the other objective behind the hill.  Vulkan, Librarian, and dev squad in the pod.  Adrax, intercessors close to mid in the Impulsor, next to the aggressors and the chaplain on foot.  Contemptor mortis behind LOS terrain.

 

 

Game summary to follow...

Edited October 26, 2019 by SirVulkan

[SirVulkan]

Game Summary:

 

I took the -1 to hit and +1 to T and targeted smite Salamander powers on the librarian with the Tome.   ( He only failed one cast and peril'd 2 times)

I made Adrax my Warlord

I took the obsidian aquila on the chaplain and the chappy took the +2" charge litanie which was clutch

 

So I really did not expect to win this game.  My list was not specifically designed to take on this much mobility and firepower but I had the advantage of Obsec units and good use of LOS terrain which is critical in 40k 8th edition.  His list was very mobile and very nasty shooting.  When I deployed I wanted to basically hide from everything I could and then just fly towards him grabbing objectives along the way to gather points.

 

Turn 1: 

I use the prepared positions strat because I knew the invictors were going to take some heat.  He moves his army along my flanks to gain LOS on my invictors to unloads on them killing 2 and minor damage on 1.  His pylon could not target anything as all my stuff was hidden.  I advance all of my midfield forces to the center and stay hidden from the pylon and within range of 2 of his flyers.  Drop pod comes down in the middle with vulkan, devs and the librarian.  I made a giant murder ball which stayed in range of the 6+++.  I easily melted the 2 flyers with Adrax's flamer, aggressor flamers and the dev squad.  

 

Turn 2:

Pylon fails to destroy the pod (it was the only target it could see) because I rolled JUST enough 6+++ so he has to waste a doomsday ark on it to finish it off.  He then blows away the dev squad and tries to take out the Impulsor but fails (seriously that 4++ is no joke).  He damages the other invictor down to mid profile.  I use self sacrifice and force him to shoot at my buffed (popped smoke)Infiltrators only killing one.  -2 to hit +1 T 6+++ is nice.  I start to move around one of the LOS blocking terrains with the murder ball, leaving the impulsor and the intercessors inside it to hold the objective in the middle.  The contemptor stood still to shoot a flyer but I screwed up my target priority so it didnt get to shoot. Murder ball almost kills the Triarch Stalker while my backfield units wound his 3rd flyer down to mid profile.

 

Turn 3:

He moves his remaining flyer into the backfield getting lucky and blowing away my contemptor. the rest of his army tries to take out the impulsor again but fails only killing a couple infiltrators and the last invictor.  I move through the LOS terrain and unleash holy hell upon the pylon using fires of battle, relentless determination and crucible of battle with adrax flamer reroll hits and vulkans reroll wounds with the aggressors flamers scoring 9 mortal wounds and roughly 20 damage from the flamers.  I then charge it with "2 inch charge the aggressors and vulkan make it in but Adrax and the chaplain failed their charge ( it was a long shot anyway).  They finish off the pylon and luckily it didnt explode.  I kill about 4 destroyers who of course all get back up the next turn.  I also deployed my intercessors to assault a doomsday ark and got pretty unlucky with rolls doing about 4 damage. I now hold 5 of the 5 objectives for bonus points.

 

Turn 4:

He starts moving the destroyers towards my tac squads and tries to finish off the other infiltrator squad in the back but fails.  He kills the intercessor squad and finally finishes off the impulsor.  Leaving my librarian and 4 infiltrators on the mid objective.  I move up the aggressor squad with chappy + vulkan to the 5th objective to gain the bonus points and leave adrax on an objective.  I flame a doomsday ark and charge it to finish it off.  I kill more destroyers that all get back up the next turn and I wound the flyer a bit to keep it in mid profile.  

 

Turn 5:  

He kills the remaining backfield infiltrators and claims the objective with the tesseract, He charges what is left of the tac squad with the destroyers but they hold strong to keep the objective,  He couldn't shoot them because moved them to the bottom of the ruin.  I flame and kill the last ghost ark, he fails to snipe my chaplain with the flyer.  I still hold the bonus objectives and hold more.  

 

Turn 6:

Game is pretty much over with 32 to 24 points victory to the salamanders.  We each had roughly 700 ish points left on the field so no one was close to being tabled.

 

 

Conclusion:

Obsidian Aquila EVERYTIME  It really is that durability modifier that we really need.  the only draw back is that you gotta stay close.

Tome of Velcona Priceless (its really good)

 

Aggressors backed by Adrax and Vulkan.  You dont need to use flamecraft, its a 2cp trap in most cases.  You can simply get away with Crucible and fires of battle most of the time.  I only got to use relentless 1 time as my aggressors were always advancing.  The Aggressors easily killed about 1k points of his list.  Anything that gets close dies in the fiery death of nocturne.

 

Impulsor with shield dome.  Super durable, great for making adrax mobile and holding objectives, and taking damage.  This thing soaked a lot of necron evilness.  

 

Dev squad - Drop and then die as usual.  They usually make their points back but the pod is necessary for vulkan.  You could play around with this but i feel a dev squad is probably best until we get some primaris melta.  They will do nasty things to repulsor's and basically anything that doesnt have a 4++.  

 

Our ap-1 chapter tactic is very good.  Don't let people say it isn't.  This essentially negated his ghost ark's gauss rifles which was crucial in saving those last 2 wounds on multiple vehicles forcing him to over commit to them .  

 

Invictors - I have done 2 games with these guys now.  They do their job, they push the opponent back first turn giving you that midfield position, they force your opponent to deal with them giving your aggressors time to get into position.  T6 39W 3+ with a cover save is not easy to deal with.  You can play around with this but I feel like 3 is the magic number with these guys.  They are better protectors of aggressors than a Repulsor.  

 

Infiltrators - I probably only needed 1 unit in this game but that 12" deep strike deny is probably more critical in the tournament meta than I know.  You can play with this all you want.  I love veteran intercessors with auto bolt rifles and an thunder hammer inside an impulsor.  The flamer pistol is great too.  Ill have to work on mastering this unit but they have a lot of potential for their point cost.  

 

Tac squads - 5 man with a heavy weapon is what salamanders do.  Don't run them any other way.  Better than scouts with sniper rifles and at 85 points they work.  That lascannon shot with rerolls can really help you.  I simply avoided using them on the pylon because my opponent was burning his cp to keep its 4++ going and I knew the aggressors would melt it.  

 

 

This was a tough match up for Salamanders.  We are not super mobile.  Repulsors are simply too expensive for us to really work.  If somone can make one work id like to see a report on it.  I would def recommend 2 squads of aggressors.  But be sure to build in some mobility like invictors or impulsors in there to keep your opponent honest.  You can't simply walk across the table with an infantry only salamander army.  

Edited October 26, 2019 by SirVulkan

[Umbra Pretium]

I don't think you can take heavy weapons in a five-man squad. You take a Special Weaponat five, and then both at 10. Or just a heavy at 10, with no special.

[Dumah]

I don't think you can take heavy weapons in a five-man squad. You take a Special Weaponat five, and then both at 10. Or just a heavy at 10, with no special.

 

You're mistaken. To quote:  • If this unit contains fewer than 10 models, 1 Space Marine can be equipped with one of the following instead of 1 boltgun: 1 weapon from the Special Weapons list; 1 weapon from the Heavy Weapons list.

[SirVulkan]

I had another game this time against death watch.  It was a maelstrom mission and the terrain was set up Nova/ITC style.  Here is the list:

 

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) ++

**Chapter Selection**: Salamanders

 

+ HQ +

Librarian in Phobos Armour: Camo cloak, Force sword

Primaris Chaplain: 6. Canticle of Hate, Litany of Hate

 

+ Troops +

Tactical Squad

3x Space Marine

Space Marine Sergeant

Boltgun/Bolt pistol

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Lascannon

 

Tactical Squad

3x Space Marine

Space Marine Sergeant

Boltgun/Bolt pistol

Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Lascannon

 

Tactical Squad

4x Space Marine

Space Marine Sergeant

Boltgun/Bolt pistol

 

+ Elites +

Invictor Tactical Warsuit: Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, Heavy bolter, Incendium cannon, 2x Ironhail Heavy Stubber

Invictor Tactical Warsuit: Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, Heavy bolter, Incendium cannon, 2x Ironhail Heavy Stubber

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) ++

**Chapter Selection**: Salamanders

 

+ HQ +

Adrax Agatone

 

Primaris Lieutenants

Primaris Lieutenant: Master-crafted auto bolt rifle

 

+ Troops +

Infiltrator Squad: 3x Infilltrator, Infiltrator Helix Adept, Infiltrator Sergeant

Infiltrator Squad: 4x Infilltrator, Infiltrator Sergeant

Intercessor Squad: Auto Bolt Rifle, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Veteran Intercessors

4x Intercessor

Intercessor Sergeant: Hand Flamer, Thunder hammer

 

+ Elites +

Aggressor Squad: 2x Aggressor, Aggressor Sergeant

Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets/Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

Aggressor Squad: 2x Aggressor, Aggressor Sergeant, Flamestorm Gauntlets

 

+ Heavy Support +

Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought

Two twin lascannons: 2x Twin lascannon

Relic Leviathan Dreadnought: 2x Heavy flamer, Storm cannon array, Storm cannon array

 

+ Dedicated Transport +

Impulsor: 2x Storm Bolters, Shield Dome

[SirVulkan]

My opponent was savvy to the potential of salamanders getting close so he deployed into his corners,  It was deathwatch and admech.  I had fewer drops so I knew I would get to go first based on this mission rule so I deployed my invictors aggressively for that first turn charge.  

 

Turn 1:  Aggressors and the murderball in the middle all advance up the middle.  Leviathan moves close enough to get in range of one of his dune crawlers.  I did not roll too well on the weapons for the Invictors but the leviathan smoked one of his dune crawlers and the contemptor almost smoked one of his admech gunboats.  Invictors charged in killing a character and bringing a dune crawler down to 5 wounds.  The impulsor moves up close to his line, no one gets out.  I put -1 to hit on it.  I fail a lot of psychic tests this game which is frustrating, my litanies only go off half of the time as well.  On his turn 1 he smokes both of the invictors and brings the impulsor down to 9 wounds.  

 

Turn 2:  Adrax and the veterans hop out of the impulsor, murder ball marches forward again.  I kill another gun boat and some of his primaris intercessors.  I move my aggressors too far ahead of my self sacrifice unit so they end up getting melta'd by his leviathan which was me just being over excited about using them.  Adrax and unit charge in.  I get Drake skin on the vet unit which proved to be key to what comes next.   Adrax almost kills the watch master, he got some lucky rolls on his saves and kills 1 primaris.  The vet squad kills about 4 primaris models because of that freakin TH.  He drops his deep strike bomb on the other side of the field to take an objective, they kill a tac squad

 

Turn 3: Adrax dies to a leviathan, I pop the res strat and use a cp reroll and no luck.....frustrating.  My vet squad though still has drakeskin and continues to kill more primaris models.  I get fire shield on the leviathan.  At this point I am a little concerned but my vet squad is holding and ive got more characters that can rush in and kill things.

 

Turn 4: between the tac squads a boltstorm aggressor and an infiltrator squad, I kill A LOT of that deepstriking unit.  TBF, he rolled terrible there.  He probably should have only lost half of what he lost but I don't think it would have mattered in the end.  The vet squad houses another primaris unit now down to just the sergeant and one other vet.  The rest of my characters join him.  My Leviathan is now in CC and I am out of CP but he manages to kill a dunecrawler.  I smite and nuke the watchmaster with the librarian.  

 

Turn 5: The vet squad almost kills a unit of cataphrons and the characters wipe up the rest.  We called it at that point.

 

 

Stars of the match:  

1. Vet intercessors- They killed 2 primaris units, most of a cataphron unit.  they were amazing with that TH and flamer pistol.  

2. Relic Leviathan - 1 cp for relentless and 1 cp for +1 to wound makes this thing deadly.  It killed most of his vehicles.  

3. Tactical Doctrine - that -1 ap is huge.  

4. Salamanders CT - that ignores -1 AP forced him to fire his -2 AP rounds all the time which helped because those poison rounds are nasty.  

5. Librarian - Drakeskin and Fireshield are critical and though I got unlucky on some roles, he is an auto take in every match

 

Busts of the match:

1. Flamer aggressors - this was just me being stupid but they did draw some melta fire away from my leviathan.  If they would have survived 1 more turn it would have been bad for him.  He knew what they were capable of doing.  

2. Boltstorm aggressors - They are good no doubt and they did kill his captain due to bad positioning but they just didnt have a lot of good targets this match due to everything being out of 18" range.  

 

So it was a good game.  The Impuslor did a great job of delivering Adrax and the vet unit as usual.  The Leviathan was shockingly powerful with our strats.  The 6++ FNP relic was still great but less effective this game as it was hard to stay within that 6 inch bubble.  The Chaplain failed litanies at the wrong times but he is still going to be core to my list.  The Lieutenant was pretty good with that gun and reroll 1's to wound helped the Leviathan and other units.   He was my replacement for vulkan.  I wanted to try a list without melta and it plays well.  Our flamers are very strong but we need some long range fire support to help get us there.

Edited November 8, 2019 by SirVulkan

[AnImA8]

Congrats on the win, and thank you for posting your bat-reps! I won’t be able to play with the new supplement for a while, so every time I see a bat-rep go up, I start to salivate a little lmao.

 

I was curious if there were any stratagems that you’ve been surprised by, or fill some niche that you weren’t expecting? We’ve all been on the 4+ mortal wound hype, the +1 to wound hype, and the self-sacrifice hype, but I’m curious if there’s some hidden gem we’ve missed so far.

[SirVulkan]

Well for my last game, I didn't use self sacrifice or the mortal wound strat though I should have used the mortal wound strat with one of the invictors.  The mortal wound strat really shines with Vulkan nearby which I did not bring.

 

The +1 to save against 1 damage weapons would have helped me quite a bit in this case as I was enduring a lot of ap-2 weapons. So I would suggest people keep that one in mind as I think a lot of us forget about it.  I didn't realize until the game was over how useful it would have been.

 

I feel like flamecraft strat is a CP trap and not needed if you have a Lord of Fire nearby.  Transhuman Physiology is also costly so use it wisely.

 

All that said, we burn through CP's like nobody's business.  CP management is a real challenge which I like.  I feel like we have to go 2 Battalions or a Brigade to make things work with salamanders.