Monday, April 29, 2013

Game 3 2000 GK vs Black Templars.

This was crusade (5 objectives), with hammer and anvil deployment.  There is even less to tell about this game - by the bottom of turn 2, he had given up.
He had
1x Emperor champion with assault squad in a stormraven
1x Super character with assault squad in landraider
2x Assault Squads in Rhinos
2 land speeders
1x vindicator

All the objectives were in the middle (they were placed after terrain, and they were all placed in no mans land - which makes this the only time the my rear guard GKSS saw action, they crossed the wall on turn 4.

He went first, and by the end of turn 2, I had destroyed his vindicator, his land raider, both land speeders, and had velocity locked his stormraven.  The game ended something like 8-0.  There was some melee, which lasted a lot longer than I expected it to, since I had all power weaspons, but at the end of 3 game turns of combat, both of our 10 man squads were down to 1 man.

His commander squad occupied all 3 dread knights for the last 3 game turns, but I won that fight, since he needed the unit to hold an objective, and my NDK had already done everything I needed them to.

Overall, in the tournament, the alpha strike and teleporting to the rear was awesome for me.  I would have struggled against flyers, and 1 person brought 3 heldrakes, but I didn't end up playing them.  I am going to look into allies, to see about making the turn 1 strike even stronger - or maybe increasing the range of the rear base, so that they can support the forward elements.


2000 point GK vs Necrons

This was Dawn of war, the emperor's will.  I had same army, my opponent had necrons.
He had 2 annihilation barges,
The walker (necron marker light)
4x20 necron warriors, with 1 overlord in one squad, and lords with rez orbs in each of the others.

This game was very straight forward.  I deepstriked again with one the GKSS, and they took some heavy causualties turn 2 and 3, but didn't die until turn 4.

Necrons went first, but I was in cover, so no major damage, a few interceptors and 1 SS guy was all I lost.  I jumped everything across the board again, using 1 NDK to hold the necrons on the left flank, while the other 2, a GKSS and GKIS rolled down the right flank.

One of my NDK made crazy saves - even after he was marker lighter, and hit by everything in the enemies army, he took 1 wound.  Luckily, all I had to do was charge him off the objectives, so that he had no units to take the objective with, because I couldn't kill 20 necrons with 4+ FNP to save my life.  I kept winning by 1, and then waiting for them to finally fail a Leadership roll and run off the table.

Thoughts: My alpha strike plan worked perfectly, in that the entire battle took place in the enemy deployment zone.  The only complaint I have is that I had 2 units of GKSS, each with prescient psykers, who never got to shoot (which is close to what happened in first game - until it was too late).  40 re-rolling S5 bolter shots is a pretty scary fire-base, but a waste of points in the enemy can't get within 24" of them.

2000 point GK vs Blood Angels

This was the first game in the tournament from last post.  I had the same GK list from last post/

Blood Angels had:
 3 x Attack Bikes (I think there was 1 Heavy Bolter Bike and 2 MM Bikes)
 1 x 10 Devestators (4x Missile Launchers)
 a ADL with Quad Gun
 1 x 10 Scouts
2x StrormRavens - with sponsons
2x Furioso Dreads (1 with double fists, 1 with double claws)
2 x 10 Assualt Squads (each with a furioso priest)
1 Captain with Claw and Artificer armor

It was Vanguard Deployment, Night Fighting, and I had first Turn.  I held 1 unit of GKSS in reserve, BA had   the assault squads and furiosos on the stormravens, along with the Captain.

There wasn't much to tell on this one.  My Dreadknights jumped up and flamed his scouts into oblivion, giving me first blood, then they went on a rampage, killing all three bikes and was in melee with the devestators when his flyers came on.  He had shot up the Interceptors, and put some wounds on the dreadknights, but at the end of my turn 3 it was 5 to 0.

On his turn 3, he unloaded one of the flyers and wiped out a GKSS squad and 1 NDK.  On turn my turn 4, I killed his last devestator and the stormraven that unloaded.  He unloaded the other Stormraven, and assaulted the other 2 GKSS along with both inquisitors.

By the end, the score was 8 to 8 (we both had 7 kp and I had first blood, he had slay the warlord).

Thoughts, this was a much closer game that I thought it was going to be.  I should have sacrificed 1 unit of SS, so that he couldn't get 4 KP in 1 turn - all I had to do was stay out of range (hard to do against a Stormraven, but doable).  This was a case where I got into the spirit of Purge the Alien - I didn't need anymore KP, so the extra combats could only hurt me, but I kept playing like I was going to annihilation.

I was close to bringing the same army, but decided not to, and it probably worked out well, since his next game, the blood angel character had both flyers shot down with their cargo inside.


2000 point local tournament, with some less local guests..

There was another local tournament on Saturday, although this time we had some guests from some other local stores.  Overall, I got second place - the tournament was based on points,so I never actually got to play the first place guy; I think I could have beat him, based on what I saw (he didn't have the tools to take my list), but he beat some stuff that I probably couldn't have taken (3 Heldrakes).

What was interesting about this tournament is that I got to see some armies I have never seen played before. My last game was against Black Templars (and I see why I probably haven't played them before, they were like ultra marines, but more expensive, and if they had any cool toys, this player didn't take them - other than putting POTMS on a vindicator.

Second place was sisters of battle.  I didn't get to see much that final battle (Sisters went into final in second place, so they played the first place necrons), but what I did see was pretty impressive - although they suffered a massive loss (only 2 troop choices in a 5 objective game).

I was planning on bringing Blood Angels, or Marines, but ended up going with Grey Knights, since I couldn't decide on a list for more traditional marines - especially since the Grey Knights solved the army I lost to last game (all deep-striking monstrous creatures), with warp quake and force weapons.

I brought
ADL with Icaras Las Cannon
2x 1 Inquisitor with Prescience
3x 10 Strike Squads, 1 hammer, 2 psycannons, SGT with Halberd, Psybolt ammo
1x 10 GK Intercept Squad
3x NDK with teleporters and Heavy Incinerators

In all three games, I deployed with 2 squads of GKSS behind the ADL (with one model from each squad touching the gun) with an Inquisitor in each squad, and deep striked the last squad of GKSS.

I'll post more details later but, as usual, I forgot to take pictures.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Chaos...

I know there is a good list or 2 in chaos, there are so many options, but I am starting to think that they just might not fit my play-style.

Heldrakes are awesome, but can't carry an army by themselves.

It looks like, to really be effective, armies need allies, and there aren't any I really like for Chaos (it looks like the ally well with necron air, which is the only army I have none of at all - I had a 3rd edition ground army, but traded it for credit to buy Chaos)

I like armies with maneuverability and firepower, and my chaos list, with the zombies, don't really have either.  This doesn't mean that I can't make a maneuverable or firepower heavy list, and I will try to do it, but I am thinking about going back to blood angels for a while, and then rolling into the new space marines.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

2000 Chaos vs Orks

2000 points, Purge the Alien.
Chaos - Typhus
2x20 Zombies
1x21 Zombies
3x10 CSM (all marks of nurgle, 2 squads with double plasma, 1 squad with a flamer and missile launcher)
3x2 Obliterators with mark of Nurgle
Aegis Defense line with Quad-Gun

Orks - Ghazghkul
Warboss with mega armor
2x29 Shoota Boys
3x15 Lootas
3 Battle Wagons with Supa-Kannons (forgeworld?)
Aegis defense line (no gun)



Chaos went first, no night fighting.  Typhus was with Zombies in middle.  All obliterators were deep-striking (the battle wagons were armor 14, so shooting lascannons at armor 14 with a 4+ cover save seemed like a bad idea, although in hindsight, this bit me in the ass - more later).

Chaos Turn 1 - Killed some lootas, moved up.

Ork Turn 1 - Supa Kannons killed some marines and zombies, but with the 4+ defense works going through the deployment zone, the kannons didn't do much most of the game, other than lure my obliterators into giving up some kill points.

Chaos Turn 2 - 1 Dragon and 2 squads of oblits come in, and stick right were I placed them.  The dragon hits a unit of lootas and breaks them, 6 inches from the edge of the board, and only ran 5".  The obliterator squads each double fire a side shot on the closest battle wagon - the first squad rolls snake eyes, and the other 2 got 1 hit, which was saved.

Orks Turn 2 - One of the units of lootas shoot the dragon down.  Only 1 penetrating hit, and the dragon explodes.  This game was not all about dice, the list had some weaknesses, and I made some tactics mistakes, but there were 3 critical dice rolls that turned what would have been a close game into a massacre - this was the first one, 15 loota shots exploding a dragon.  The rest of ork shooting didn't do much, the obliteratiors made most of their saves.

Chaos Turn 3 - Other Obliterators and Dragon come on.  I flame and attack the lootas, trying to break them, and I do break another unit, which ran 4", but the edge of the board was 5" away.  I do break the first unit of lootas a second this time, and they run 2", still not off the board (but they don't rally the next turn, and finally run off the board).

Ork Turn 3 - Another unit of lootas (that had just rallied) fired 10 shots, and killed my dragon - this was the second critical roll).  Gazgul, the warboss, and the shoota boys charge Typhus and the zombies.  I thought this fight would go better.  He declared Waaah!, so he had a 2+ invuln save, so I used the zombie sgt to fight in Gazgul's challenge, thinking that Thypus would clean up, but in the end, he only killed 2 orks, and then failed 3 of 4 look out sirs against powerclaws, and died (this was the third critical roll that I failed).  One of my obliterators get charged by other units of boys, and die (the powerklaw killed both of them)

Chaos Turn 4 - By not things are looking grim, I only have 1 kill point, both dragons, and my warlord are gone, and none of them accounted for themselves, or even soaked enough fire to have been valuable as a fire magnet.  I can still roll the backfield if my oblits kick in, there are alot of soft targets for oblits, but this wasn't their day.  I charge the unit of boys, and I flame some lootas.  The rest of Typhus's zombies die.

Orks Turn 4 - Gazgul moves up, but his unit doesn't make the charge through cover.  The Oblits kill some orks, but the poweclaw kills one of them.

Chaos Turn 5 - I can't stop throwing good after bad, and throw my other oblit unit in to help against the boys.  I kill some more orks, and then lose the last oblit from the other squad.

Ork 5 - Orks kill the last oblits, gazgul's squad kills a unit of CSM

Chaos 6 - The game is over now, but I try to kill gazgul, I do one wound.

Orks 6 - Gazgul declares a charge against my back CSM, but fails the charge.

Thoughts - While most of the game, I rolled really well, when it really mattered, the dice went against me hard, and I lost my 3 biggest hitters before they had a chance to make a difference.  Dice you can't control though, so what could I have done different?

1. Even though the dice went abysmal in that I failed 3 of 4 LOS, and then failed all 3 invulnerable saves, it was very unlikely that he was going to survive 3 orks with powerclaws, even 1 at a time, since his weapon was unwieldy, and they would have all still gotten their attacks in - so I should have stayed back and shot them some more.

2. I dropped obliterators near the trucks, but then didn't kill them.  They made very little difference in the game, but they would have been 3 kill points - I thought the lootas would be a softer target, but it didn't work out that way - they kept failing leadership rolls, and then stopping 1" from the edge of the board.  I'm not sure that standing back and shooting at the trucks would have done much good, but they could have focused fire on gazgul's group.

3. Maybe there were too many zombies.  They were there for holding objectives, but in a non objective game, they didn't really contribute anything, other than absorbing shots from lootas and the Supa Kannons, which is something I guess.

I was going to use this list at a small tournament, next week, but it got crushed so badly, that I am thinking about doing something much different, but then I won't have a chance to test it.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Chaos v Orks - 2000 points

Well, I played 2000 points against orks last week, I started to take pictures, but then I forgot, so I think that all I have is the initial set up.


Overall Board

Chaos Side


Orks

For 2000 points, I had 2 units of 33 Zombies, 2 units of 2 Obliterators, 1 Unit of 3 terminators with combi-meltas, 2 heldrakes (one with cannon, one with flamer), Aegis Defense Line (quad gun), 3 units of CSM with mark of Nurgle and 2 plasma guns), and Typhus - everything except zombies and dragons have mark of nurgle.

Orks had 3 units of lootas (2 in trucks), a unit of nob bikers with a biker boss and medic, gazgul and 30 boys, and 2 or 3 fighter flyers (I think 3).

The game is Emperors will, and we were playing long table, first turn was night fighting.

Orks T1 - Not knowing what to do with the zombies, the bikers actually moved away from the front line, to support the mob of boys (my oblits and termies were deep-striking).  He moved his trucks up and his lootas shot some zombies.

Chaos T1 - Moved zombies up - they got in the way of the CSM - I meant them to be a screen, but they quickly became an obstacle because of the way I deployed them.

Orks T2 - The bikers were still in the backfield.  His lootas killed some more stuff.  2 of his planes came on, and he made sure that they were out of range of my gun (I put it too far back), and shot some CSM, but nothing serious.

Chaos T2 - I deep striked some oblits and the terminators with lord in front of loota trucks, my dragons came on, and the flamer killed a lot of a unit of lootas, making them run, while my autocannon pinned the nob bikers (until we realized they couldn't be pinned).  Between my termies, 1 unit of oblits, and my autocannon, I killed both trucks containing lootas, giving me first blood.

Orks T3 - The bikes decided to come back to the front, but they have too far to go to charge this turn.  Lootas shoot, his flyer shoots.

Chaos T3 - One of my terminators is dead, so my lord falls back into the zombie squad, and I have the terminators assault a loota squad, I shoot, flame and vector strike the other 2, so two of the loota squads are running away with less than 5 people, and 1 is wiped out.  I try to deepstrike my remaining oblits too close, and they scatter into the bikes, and back into reserve.

Orks T4 - The bikes hit my terminators, and massacre them - as expected.  2 of his flyers go off the board, the other one comes on, and he mis-calculates the range, my quad-gun brings it down.  Both of his units of lootas rally, and he pumps all his loota shots, and boyz shots into my dragons, and brings one of them down.

Chaos T4 - I try to charge the bikes with the zombies, but roll terrible, like 3 inches to assault through cover.  My oblits land near his shoota boys with gazgul.

Ork 5 - His flyers come back on, and kill my other dragon.  He split his biker boss and charges the 2 remaining CSM in the far left squad (the other CSM squad is still trying to get around zombies to shoot at lootas), while the rest of his bikes charge Typhus and about 16 zombies.  The Boss takes a wound in overwatch, from a plasma gun, and then takes a pistol to the face, dying before he gets to attack.  Typhus loses several zombies, and kills several orks, activating his force weapon.  Gazgul declared the charge (he was going to attack with all of the orks, but right before he ended his movement phase I told him I deep-striked my oblits there to lure his orks off the objective, so he seperated Gazgul.  Gazgul took some wounds, but killed both oblits.

Chaos 5 - Typhus kills the rest of the bikers, with 2 zombie wounds to spare.  Gazgul, caught in the open, takes as much fire-power as I can spare, which enough to do the last wound needed to kill him.

Game ended, Chaos 5 (First blood, slay the warlord, objective), and Orks 3 (objective).

The game was slow until turn 4, because the Ork player plays defensively, and zombies take a long time to cross the long board (especially when they can't run through area terrain), but everything did what it needed to.

Thoughts - Zombies did well.  Had the bikes charged right away, I might have lost the zombies before Typhus had a chance to support him.  I will probably start him in zombies from now on, probably the first row and then, once it takes too many losses, shift to the second wave (which will be right behind the first).  The zombies are a great tar pit against a lot of units, but, according to some quick math hammer, they were only going to last 2 combats against the bikers, which means that the bikes would be free on his turn - not ideal.

The terminators are probably out.  3 with combi meltas cost more than 2 oblits, and have less total wounds, and less fire power.

Typhus.is.a.psyker.  I went 4 turns before I remembered this, and started using his powers, which were awesome against the bikers, although I don't know if they made the difference, since the were still obliterating zombies.

I think I am going back to the flamer on the second dragon.  The auto cannon was good, and it would have pinned 2 units (it pinned some lootas too), but with 6 oblits and a quad gun, I think I need more anti-troop firepower than  anti-air / anti-vehicle.

CSM with mark of nurgle did fine.  I have no complaints, except I am probably going to give the rear detachment a longer ranged weapon - like a missile launcher.