Clan Raukaan vs Orks (Feast of Blade style)

So, I tried out a list for FoB: 1x Knight Errant, 3x Dreadnoughts with assault cannons, 2x Dreadnoughts with Multi Melta, 2x Razorbacks (lascannon) with 5 tac marines, a stormtalon, and Master of forge with Gorgan Chain.  This was not my original concept, but this is the first time I took a master of the forge, and I had NO dreadnoughts in my list, so I decided to go the other extreme and take 5.  My other list would have been stronger, especially against what my opponent was using.  He brought Orks, from the new codex.  He had 2 units of Lootas, 2 units of grots, 2 Forgeworld tanks (even though they won't be allowed in the tournament, but I was bringing a Knight Errant against Orks...), 3 units of mega'nobs, (each unit had 2 guys with double buz saws), 2 trucks (to carry the 2 of the 'nob units), and an aegis defense line.

He ended up going first.  I had positioned my Knight in the back, with my dreadnoughts closer and to the side (so they would keep up with Knight for a turn, but not be in his way).  As there was almost no middle cover (the board was 2 sets of ruins, divided my a street), my dreadnoughts go destroyed by the lootas.  We were playing the first scenario from the feast of blades qualifier pack.  My knight stayed in the middle of the because of of the 'Nobs waiting to charge.  At the end of five turns, I had 3 objectives to his one, but had killed 4 more units than me, giving his a massacre (so the score would have been 13 to 7 - he also had first blood)

What did I learn: By the end of the game, I had lost a flyer, 3 dreadnoughts, and both razorbacks, but I had three objectives, so it didn't seem so bad, even though I lost, until you consider that 3 of my dreadnoughts died and one was immobilized without any of them firing a shot.

• The Knight was not a fire magnet, because my opponent ignored him because of the shield, and it wasn't the charge threat I expected, because of the 3 units of 'Nobs (after the 5th turn, we went into the assault, and the 2 'nobs with buzz saws killed it - 10 str 9 armor bane attacks, needing 3's to hit, because formation gave them +1 WS).  
• My goal was to give my opponent more things to shoot at then the Knight, which is why I loaded on dreads, but the lootas tore them apart before they even got to shoot.  Need more than armor 12, or I need to give them a save.  Really, I think I need to give them drop pods, but I couldn't find the points, and the list was already low model count, even at 1500.

SECOND GAME:  We played another game, so I could try using my Knight as cover for the dreadnoughts.  I started with the Knight in front, and the Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts behind.  The cover worked on the first turn, I only lost 1 Razorback to Lootas.  I took a few other hits, but I saved about half of them (on 5+). On my move, I moved to the middle of the board, and then he charged my with a truck of 'nobs.  He buzz saws killed the Knight again, although this time they barely got the 6 HP they needed, and the death explosion scattered backwards into my  entire army.  While I only lost a dreadnought, and took a few HP on some others, we called the game (since we already knew that 24" ranged dreadnoughts were not going to survive the loota and tank barrage that was coming).

Blood Angels, First 3 Games of 7th edition

I already posted this on The Four Horsemen: http://lionsangels.blogspot.com/ , but I am not sure how active they are right now, and I can't see all the stat stuff, so for now I am going to double post.

So, it has been a while since I have played, but I've gotten 3 games in 7th edition in the last 3 weeks, so I throw out some thoughts on my experience with Blood Angles in 7th.  The first game I played in 7th was against IG, or whatever they are called now - Militarium?

It was a tank line behind an Aegis defense line, with some special forgeworld rules.  The IG played had a 30 man platoon bubble wrap between the tanks and the wall, so I could not drop pod my Sterngaurd or either of my 2 Furiouso dreads close enough to get a good melta shot off.  I made good use of enemy's ADL, and all my stuff that was not in a pod is in 1 LR or 2 Razor backs, but all the vehicles got popped, and then it was bunch of marines being pounded with AP 3 barrage.  Death Company did ok - by that I mean they lasted 2 turns of getting pounded before dying without killing anything.

- The biggest lesson I re-learned from this game was that I should have drop podded my stuff into the ruins on the flank, instead of landing in front of wall and trying to chew through his infantry to get to the tanks (with the Furiousos did in 2 turns, but not fast enough to open gap for other melta before they were destroyed.

-The other lesson was that, since we were playing with tactical objectives, and I had the advantage early, I should of stayed out of range.  It would have been a fast, not very exciting game, but I let myself get sucked into trying to destroy stuff, and charged into his tanks -instead of using my speed to take the points I could, and then making HIM change HIS game. (instead I lost by 1 point, even though the game ended on turn 5 and all I had left was 2 drop pods and 3 space marines)


I used the same army for the next 2 games.  It was 4 Assault marine squads (5 men), each with a land raider (2 landraiders and 2 crusaders), 2 Furiouso dreads with claws (for counter charge), and a stormraven with meph.

The first game I played against chaos space marines allied with demons, and did not get iron arm with Meph, so he stayed in the plane until it was shot out from under him. Besides Typhus, there were 2 demon princes and at least 1 greater demon.  He had very little that could punch through my armor (in fact he glanced 1 land raider, 1 time).  This was a pretty well matched game, because my opponent, although he couldn't kill the Raiders, almost tied because he played the tactical objective very smartly - for example, when I grounded a demon prince, and locked him into combat with my dread, that demon summoned a squad of horrors to take the objective. all of my stuff did what I expected, and I even used one of the 5 man squads to clear some demons off of an objective - too late to stop him from getting tactical points though.

-The game was a lot of fun, and really close, but not a lot of lesson to learn, I won, and every unit did what I wanted - the LR kept stuff safe, the Furiouso's locked up demon princes (or kept them from landing).  Although I wasn't playing the monsters, it was worth noting that the change to making smash attack only 1 attack (instead of half) took a lot of threat out of demons princes against armor and dreads - they are not really a threat to heavy armor).  Also, if Mehpiston is going to sit in the plane all game, I could save a lot of points with a cheaper HQ.


The second game, I was caught off guard by an Imperial knight.  I wasn't expecting a super heavy (we never really discussed the list, beyond that they would be 2k points), but I was game - (good thing, because I found out that not only did he not have enough IG without the knight, but that he had bought and put together $250 worth of guard the night before, so that would have enough points to play.  Once my Land Raiders got popped (all by turn 3 I think), things went down hill fast.  In the end, the game ended on turn 5, and I lost 11-1, but the momentum was finally turning in my favor, and had there been a turn 6, I am pretty sure (baring some stupid lucky - or unlucky dice, I would have won 6-5)

Lessons from this game: -
- mostly about the imperial knight.  The armor, the shield, nothing special - I did not realize that they could move 12, and that their chainsword did "D" damage.  His cannon didn't do anything, but he killed 2 of the land raiders in melee in 2 turns (I had moved in to get the melta shot bonus)

-If you are close enough to hit the knight with the melta bonus, you are probably close enough to take a "D" hit from the explosion when the knight dies - I lost a squad of infantry and a furiouso dread to the explosion.

-Mephiston is pretty tough.  With iron arm, las cannons needed 4's to wound, Meph took 4 to the face, and kept trucking, and almost single handedly won me the game (in another turn).  The problem was that it took him too long to be useful.  He came in on turn 2, but the stormraven had to attack the knight.  The next turn, the stormraven zoomed to the drop zone (with the intention of hovering on turn 4 so meph could charge), but the stormraven got stunned, and Meph had to "fall from the skies", which meant to charge until 5.  Like I said, he took 4 LC shots, killed a LC squad, and was poised to clear an objective (and probably take out the enemy warlord with a pskyker attack).  Again Meph proved how tough he was, but if it takes him 5 turns to charge, he is going to have a hard time leveraging that toughness.  Maybe I can put him in one of the Land Raiders (then he would almost be guaranteed a turn 2 assault, which would have made a big difference in that particular game.

-Also, a rule note that I had not seem mentioned - how damage is allocated to a squadron.  It might have always been this way (I don't fight squadrons much).  Once you score hits, you assign them, and resolve them one at a time - I always thought it was roll all penetrating and glancing, and then allocated them - it doesn't make a big difference, unless some of the shots are at a different facing, but then it might.

Edit: It is worth noting that if the Land Raiders had contained full squads, it might have been closer in my favor.  Granted that this was IG, but I still was able to break 3-4 units in charges (usually with only 3 marines (that's all that was left before the charge), but then I would get shot down to 0-1 guys; 5 more bodies in each of those charges might have let me keep one of the objectives (as it was, 3 marines almost defended an objective from 3 units of guardsmen, and probably could have if it wasn't for the hotshot lasers)

Tuning my GK all shunt list part 4 - Wrapping it up

So, I think I have reached the point where I can no longer be productive in thinking about or talking about my shunt list.  Only by playing it will I be able to add anything new to the discussion.  I have decided on one of the two following lists:

The first one is:
GKGM with psyotroke grenades and incinerator
2x 10 GKSS with 2 Psycannons, 2 hammers, and justifier with halberd
2x 10 GKIS with 2 Psycannons, 2 hammers, and justifier with halberd
3x Dread Knights with heavy incinerator and teleporter

I realize that this list is weak against air, and against 3 dragons I will be forced to throw myself into melee.  What I like about this list is that most of my stuff is fast.  It can either jump, DS, or teleport - so I can be where I need to be.  There is a bonus with the GKIS and the local tournament, because all of the games in the tournament have troops as additional kill points - so normally combat squading to take more objectives means making more potential points for my opponent.  With GKIS, I can combat squad both of them (assuming an average grand strategy roll), and have 6 scoring units, while only presenting my enemy with 2 potential bonus points (like I said, still not sure GKIS worth it normally, but with grand strategy, they might be).



The second list has
GKGM with psycotroke grenades and master crafted psycannon
3x 10 GKSS with 2 psycannons, 2 hammers, and justifier with halberd
1 Stromraven with hurricane bolters, psybolt ammo, Assault cannons and MM
3x Dread Knights with heavy incinerator and teleporter

This list takes a flier against air.  It also have 3 GKSS and no GKIS.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, GKSS can get where they need with deep strike, and I don't need to be much closer than 24" most of the time, so GKIS, while nice, probably aren't critical - Obviously I'll make the NDK scoring if need be.

I think both of these lists are pretty solid.  My favor is leaning toward the top list, hitting hard and dominating the manuever phase, but I think the second one might be a little better against all-comers, because the flyer helps mitigate what might be a hard-counter to the first list.

Tuning my GK all shunt list part 3.2 Tau

I considered doing a guard detachment, but I don't like it for this list either.  It brings me two flyers,and two more troops, both of which are useful, but it doesn't feel like it really synergizes (the HQ and the Troops just sit in the vehicle and hope not to get shot down, if I am going to buy allies, I want to get my points worth) - it just feels thrown in.

The last ally I considered is Tau.  While I think that this is pretty solid, I don't actually own any Tau, so I don't know if I'm going to field this, or be able to test it, but of the allies I considered, I think I like this one - additionally, I can see the GK working with the Tau.  Of all the Xenos races, they seem the most honorable, and they, like Grey Knights (with demon hosts and Jakaeros) use other races when it benefits them.


Commander +2 Bodyguard - The commander has shield generator and Neuroweb system Jammer, and all 3 of them have 2 missile pods (or twin-linked) and velocity tracker.

a 3 man Xv8 Crisis Team, each with velocity tracker and 2 missile pods (or twin linked)

Kroot Squad with 11 Kroot.

Both teams of battle suits have anti-air capability, but are not wasted if the enemy doesn't bring air.  The have jump packs so they can keep up, and fit in with the theme.

The kroot can infiltrate up, and put pressure on the backfield, or act as screening force if need be.

While I like this, it only gives me 3 scoring units, and one of them are the sacrifical kroot - although I will have Grand Strategy to boost my scoring count if need be.

Tuning my GK all shunt list part 3.1 Necron Allies

So, the first allies I am considering for my GK allies are Necrons.  GK/Necron lists seem to do pretty well in tournaments.  On the other hand, even though the fluff might support it, I really have a hard time with accepting that Grey Knights would work with Necrons.

Assuming that my Grey Knights would work with Necrons, the next question to answer is, do Necrons add anything to this specific list?

While there are a lot of possible Necron ally lists, the biggest gap in my Shunt list is anti-air, and Necron is the only army that lets me take 3 discrete aircraft.  I can take 2 units of warriors, each with Night Scythe, and then a Doom Scythe.

This would give me 2 more scoring units, 3 flyers that can act independently, for both AA and Ground support.

Despite my feelings about Necrons working with Grey Knights, this does fill a hole in the list.  On the other hand, I can take a Stormraven for 205 points, with 4 missiles (although 90% they suck, I have sniped HQ with them), a TL assault cannon, and a Multi-Melta.

The Night Scythes are costing me about 195 (65 for the unit + 100 for the Scythe + 30 for 1/3 of the overlord) each, for basically 2 autocannons and 2 scoring units who won't die if the plane blows up.

I already have access to cheap troops, and 10 points is worth a MM, rending, and an extra point of armor (and I save myself the money of buying 3 Necron fliers), so I probably won't go with this incarnation of Necron allies, although I want to note that even though I don't think these Necrons bring anything to my list, they don't take anything away either - I think this would be a pretty competitive list, if I already had some Necrons, and wanted to branch into Grey Knights.

Grey Knight Interceptor Squad - Tuning my GK all Shunt list part 2

So, based on my previous posts, my shunt list is looking something like:

GK Grand Master - Sword, Incinerator, Psychotroke Grenades
3x10 GKSS with Psybolt, 2 psycannons, 1 hammer, and Knight with Halberd
1x10 GKIS with Psybolt, 2 psycannons, 1 hammer, and knight with halberd
3x Dreadknights with 2 Power fists, heavy incinerator, personal teleporter

Hmm, GKIS.... Why am I paying so many points for these?  Because they can teleport with the Dread Knights, and get right in the enemy's face.  The thing is, they have a range of 24",  they are not awesome at assault, so they really don't gain very much by being closer than 24", and most times they can make their normal 6" and be within 24" - and anytime I wouldn't be (because the enemy is playing the range game, I can accomplish the same thing by deep striking the GKSS.

If I used Grand Strategy to make them scoring, I could jump them for last turn objective grabbing or I could use them for last turn objective contesting, which gives them some flexibility, and the difference between the GKSS and an identically outfitted GKIS is 60 points, so with Grand Strategy, it might be worth it, otherwise probably not.

Tuning my GK all Shunt List, Part 1

So, I took my Shunt List to the tournament, and did pretty well with it, but there were some things that could be better.  This is what I had.

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

While the alpha strike worked pretty well, and in several of the games, most of the action took place in my enemy's deployment zone.  While this was intentional, it meant that basically almost half of my army was fighting almost all of the enemy's army.

To get more out of my army, I need to either increase the range of the backfield, or I need to not have a backfield.  

Moving Everything Up

The 2 GKSS I typically leave behind is are an easy fix - hold them in reserve and deep-strike.  This leaves about 195 points (2 inquisitors and an ADL with Icarus Las Cannon) to move up.

195 Points is not enough to add allies, especially since I am going to need a HQ.  Since I need mobility to keep up with the rest of my army, I am going to need Terminator armor (for deep-strike), since none of our HQ can take   personal teleporters (hey GW, each unit type is supposed to be led by a brotherhood champion, what about GKIS....)

Mordrak - almost enough points for him, and he is an interesting choice because he would give me:
+  Grand Strategy, 
+  Another unit of turn 1 punch, along with NDK and GKIS.  
+  Psychic communion to help bring all my deep-strike units 
-   I would have to make big changes to include is retinue though, and without any special weapons, I'm not sure  
       they are worth it anyway (6 more storm bolters and charge threat are good, but I don't think they represent 
       400 points of good, and Mordrak without Ghost knights is practically giving away "Slay the Warlord", and 
       maybe "First Blood" as well.

Brother Captain-Stern is interesting but maybe TOO well-balanced.
+/- Re-roll is nice, giving it enemy is not
+/- Zone of Banishment could be a game changer, or not, but using it is almost certainly a suicide mission
+/- Psychic Communion is still good, won't be able to use it until turn 2, when, hopefully, most things are already 
        coming 

Grey-Knight Grandmaster is probably better then Stern.  No gimmicks, but solid performance, with enough points left over to include some war gear.
+ Grand Strategy - same as Mordak - make my NDK(s) scoring...
+/- Psychic Communion - Again, good, but turn 2 is a little late.
+ Cheap enough to add war gear (since there is only 20 points left after buying him, and there is very little I can 
        add to this list worthwhile for 20 points, may as well spend it on him)

With the sword already giving a 3+ invulnerable save in combat, there is no point upgrading the weapons, so maybe something like:

Grey Knight Grand Master with Psycotroke grenades and Incinerator - 195 Points.

Grey Knight Brother Captain is the same as Grey Knight Grandmaster, but cheaper, and without Grand Strategy.  Since there is really no units for 50 points either, it comes down to is - is 25 more points of war gear worth losing the ability to make NDK scoring?

KG Brother Captain with Psycotroke Grenades, Incinerator, Rad Grenades - with digital weapons and master-crafted sword - 195 points, also not bad.

Librarian
+ Psychic Hood to extra protection
+ Mastery Level 2
+/- Can take a teleport beacon, but if he deep-strikes, it won't do much good.
+ By taking Grey Knight powers, which mimic blessings, but are cast during different phases of the turn, so there 
          is no penalty for deep-striking.

Librarian with Sword, with Might of Titan, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, Vortex of Doom, Warp-Rift. Still 20 points left, lets say master craft the sword, add digital weapons, and 2 Servo Skulls.

Ordo Malleus Inquisitors make the list because they can also wear terminator armor, and can, therefore, deep-
         strike with the GKSS.
+ Cheap enough that I can have 2, with Psycannons.
-  Weak enough that putting them in forward moving units increases chance of giving enemy "slay the warlord"

2x Inquisitor with Terminator armor, Nemesis Force Hammer, Psycannon, Servo Skulls (3 and 2) = 175 Points.  With last 20 points, give all of the Sergeants master crafting on their Halberds.

Of these, I like the Grand-Master, who is a killer, and can make NDK scoring (cool, but I am not sure it is needed, since they can already contest pretty well, but every tool creates options....); the Librarian who kills almost just as well as the Brother-Captain, but adds a different type of utility, and the Inquisitors, who are a little weak, but add 2 psycannons, and 5 servo skulls (since there will be at least 3 deep-striking units) - probably in that order.

This is going to wrap up part 1, which is basically trading in an ADL and slow HQ for a HQ that can keep up with shunting and deep-striking army.  Eventually I am also going to think about buffing the list with allies and/or extending the range of the defense line, but both of these ideas will involve a lot more juggling of points (and extending the range of rear support still divides my army into two smaller chunks, so I will probably be looking at allies who can join the GK in the front for this particular army).

Local Tournament - Game 1

Played in a local tournament yesterday.  Points-wise, I was tied for third, but I had lost a game, and the other  2 third placers hadn't, so one of them got it.  Following my own advice, I tried to take a diverse list, with tools to handle everything, without a auto-win gimmick.

My list was:
Chaos Lord - Mark of Khorne, Melta bombs, Sigil of corruption, Power Armour, Axe of Blind Fury, Bolt  
                      Pistol

Unit of 3 Chaos Terminators - Mark of Nurgle, (Combi-melta, Powerfist), (Chainfist, Combi-melta),
                      Terminator Champion (Combi-Melta, Power Axe)

Helbrute - Multi-melta, Power fist with Heavy flamer

Helbrute - Multi-melta, Power fist with Heavy flamer

30 Chaos Cultists - Mark of Khorn, 3x Flamers

10 Chaos Space Marines - Mark of Nurgle, 1 x Heavy Bolter (I waited so long to make my list and
                      assemble my Heldrakes that I had to go with what I had)


10 Chaos Space Marines - Mark of Nurgle, 1 x Heavy Bolter

10 Chaos Space Marines - Mark of Nurgle,

Heldrake with Baleflamer

Heldrake with Hades Autocannon

2 Obliterators with Mark of Nurgle

2 Obliterators with Mark of Nurgle

Aegis Defense Line with quad-gun

  As usual, I am terrible at knowing what the opponent had, and I am least familiar with 'nids, but he had 7 monstrous creatures, and a total of something like 16 psyker powers (all of which were biomancy, so  there was endurance and iron arm buffed monsters), and some monster that every shooting phase, causes every unit within 6" to roll 3d6 leadership test, and take ap 2 wounds for every point over your leadership (this cost me a unit of oblits on my turn, as I didn't realize that it worked on my turn as well, so I moved oblits closer to charge)

  So turn 1, all he had were the bosses that spawned gaunts, and 2 large units of gaunts, everything else was in reserve.  I had infiltrate,and he had the warlord re-deploy, so my Warlord and a unit of his gaunts were in combat pretty quickly.  My warlord rolled a 1 for his deamon weapon, so it was not the charge on the slaughter it should have been (and in future turns, he buffed his guys with feel-no-pain, and de-buffed me with -1S and -1T.  I still won that fight, just in time for his Warlord (bone saber guy with iron arm, so initiative 8, Str 9, Tough 9) to kill my warlord, break my squad and wipe them.  - This was turn 3 (we only got 4 turns); the game was slay the warlord, and, up to this point, I was winning 7 to 3.  This combat shot him up to 7 to 6.  Then, on turn 4, I shot some stuff, came close to willing 2-3 monsters (all he had left), but with an average of T6 and 4-6 wounds (some of which were then buffed with Iron Arm), I couldn't kill one that turn (I probably could have focused fire, but since he was about to charge all of my units, I was trying to soften them all up for overwatch, or melee kills.
  On his turn 4, he assaulted 2 units of marines, 1 unit of oblits, and killed them all, making it 7-9 nids.

Thoughts on the game -
  The Helbrutes were about as bad as everyone said.  I can see a use for long range Multi-Melta, but I have that with Obliterators.  I didn't realize at the time, that Helbrutes don't even get a 5+ daemon save that every other walker in my army has.  With no pods, no way to make them outflanking, and no invuln save, I was not impressed.  Of all 3 games, this was their chance to shine, because they might have beaten an unbuffed monster in combat, but they couldn't survive the shooting to get there... from 'nids.
 
  Warlord with cultists.   They got him there, and he killed stuff, but not as quickly as I would have liked, although in this game, I was not going to win against his warlord no matter what I brought, so it is hard to make that call.  The advantage to this, over bikes, is that I was able to use my warlord trait to give them infiltrate.

  Everything else did about how I expected, and the heavy-bolter wasn't even a terrible choice, although double plasma guns would have been better (and 50 points more expensive)  In fact, more plasma, or autocannon havocs was probably the only thing I could have about this list to help against so many monsters.  

Tactics-wise, I should have fallen back through cover and made him chase me a little as I shot, although monsters have move through cover, and all his guys were fleet, but still, a few missed charges might have made the difference, as most of his monsters had at least a few wounds (which is also something I could have done different - I should have focused fire better, but my units were so spread out that they couldn't support each other).  This match-up was a tough fight, but I don't think it was un-beatable with what I brought, had I played it better, although it showed a glaring weakness against psyker strong armies (unfortunately not a weakness I can do a lot about).

First Game with CSM

So, I was worried about my list, with 3 Heldrakes, being over the top.  The was not the case today - I lost 2 games today, 1 to Necrons and 1 to Orks.

In the Necron game, even though I was making an All Comers List (ACL), I knew that I would be playing his Necron army, so I at least wanted to make sure that I had enough to cover the threats I knew he would bring.

His list - and I didn't get it from him, was Immotek and another Lord, 2 Courts (each one had a guy that allows rerolls, a guy with the staff that is Str 8, AP 1, targets leadership, and one other guy (with Str 8, AP 3 staff).  There were split into the different units, the guys with the AP1 Flamer staffs each joined a unit of death-marks.  He had 2 Heavy Flyers (with the Str 10, AP 1 beam) {I have the codex, I just don't want to look it up, plus my brother - who I want to help with this blog, wouldn't know the equipment by its name, so I'm putting why it is dangerous instead.}

He also has 2 units of death-marks (in transports)
3 units of Immortals (1 has a flyer, but it is not used as a transport)

I had Aegis Defense Line (ADL) with Comms relay
a unit of cultists on the relay, inside the ADL, along with 3 obliterators with Mark of Nurgle
I had a deamon prince of Nurgle as an hq
3 units of CSM in Rhinos
2 squads of 2 Oblits
3 heldrakes

My thinking was that the Heldrakes would be the anti-personnel (ignoring armor and cover), so I would just need to worry about being able to get people out of their vehicles (deep-striking oblits seemed like a good answer, and might have been against different armies.

Anyway, Immotek managed to keep this game in the dark all the way through turn 5, and his lighting had some good rolls from time to time (finishing off a Heldrake)

I proxied everything, so I have no pictures, so this isn't so much a battle report as it is lessons learned.

1. 3 Heldrakes do not carry an army, despite what the internet says.  If your opponent has anti-air, or flyers of his own, the heldrakes will go down without some anti air support.

2. Vector strike is not reliable anti-air, especially if the enemy has more than one flyer (when I was building my list, I was imagining vector striking, then flaming the back (pretty sure I got this idea from the forums), but once the game started, I realized that flamers can't target flyers, even if coming from another flyer).

3. Oblits with mark of nurgle are pretty good, but but dropping them into enemy deployment zone to assassinate an enemy heavy support is  an expensive suicide mission.  While that was my plan, to drop into rear and kill vehicles or other threats, so that my dragon could do their thing, they generally died the turn they landed - even if they killed a vehicle, it's trading one unit for another, and mine is probably more expensive (although I can see where this could be useful).

4. Having 3 units of nine - 10 guys in a Rhino with no heavy weapon (waiting to strike out on turn 4 to score), means that I am playing with 400-600 less points for 2/3 of the game. (Granted, this strategy would have won me the game had the game not gone to turn 7, or had it been any mission other than the scouring).

5. My demon prince did pretty well, he soaked a lot of shots, and wiped out 1 unit and gave me line breaker. He might have won be the game, but, since it was close, I flew him away on turn 5, not wanting to give enemy slay-the-warlord, which is the problem with having a warlord that is a one man killing machine - if you use him like you are supposed to (which aggressively, since you pumped so many points into making him a melee killing machine), you are practically giving your opponent slay the warlord.  I think I am going to save my killing machine characters for when I have two HQ, so that the support character can be the warlord.

Thoughts on Purge the Alien List - 2000

So, I was thinking about the my most recent game, where I was practicing for the 2k (1999+1) purge the alien list.  I had trouble against who I thought was going to be my biggest competition, and we discussed our lists, and what we expected other people to bring.  I had 3 ideas, that a lot of my strategy was based on:
1.  Since I was taking assault flyers (Storm Ravens), I would get the charge, and my assault unit would be protected until that happened.
2.  My Storm Ravens would take out any big threats (Land Raiders, Las Plas, Etc), and then I would be able to focus those MM and AC on enemy Terminator Types
3. My DC with 3 power axes would cut through any Terminators, and my DC Dreads would take care of any Marine Types.

Well, even though I got to go second, his flyers didn't come in until turn 4, which means I couldn't stay embarked.  I had to Skies of Blood everything, to make sure they didn't die if the enemy air came in and blew my out of the sky.  This means I didn't get the charge, and I got shot up a lot before getting charged.

2 Multi Meltas is not enough to guarantee a Land Raider kill in 1 turn (or 3 turns apparently), which means I need another way to deal with terminators (although in hind site, 2 MM is only going to take out 2 Termies a turn, so I am really depending on my DC)

If my DC does not get the charge, they are not going to crush terminators, especially if those terminators have storm shields. (I would win against 5 termies on the charge, in 3 rounds of combat, but they I would be combat ineffective.)

The two people I am most concerned about in the upcoming tournament (of the 5 who showed up last month) are going to play DA with IG, and Space Wolves (probably with IG).  Since both of these people used to be in my normal play group, I have a pretty good idea what to expect.  The DA is going to bring a list similar to what he did - 3 Terminator squads (2 claws and 3 hammer+shields), at least 2 vendettas, probably a Land Raider.  The rest is up the in the air.  The Space Wolf is probably going to bring a big Wolf Cavalry unit, probably with a lot of Storm Shields.

So, if I can't count on going second, and getting first shots at enemy flyers, then I can't leave my stuff in the Storm Ravens, and if I have to eject from Storm Raven, I can't guarantee first charge, which means my DC won't crush terminators.  I am going to be facing storm shields.  To face Storm Shields, I really need weight of fire, but I don't want an all infantry army, especially since the game is going to be purge the alien.  Against terminators or Cavalry with Storm Shields (which at least 3 of the armies will bring - Chaos has a unit too), Mephiston and DC dreads are not going to pull their weight.

So for fun, I am thinking of the following list.  This is not set in stone, if Storm Ravens can't guarantee me the charge, then I can get 2 Vendettas for the same price as 1 Storm Raven, and actually gain some fire power.  If I am not taking the Storm Ravens, I am not taking the DC Dread (because I don't see them successfully running across the board.):

Unit 1: Land Raider with Librarian (Shield of Sanguinas power - +5 Cover save within 6") and 5 Assault Marines.

Unit 2: Land Raider with TL MM and 5 Assault Marines

Unit 3: Vindicator Tank

Unit 4-5: Whirl Winds 

Unit 6: 2 Vendettas (1 with Company Command Squad, 1 with veterans)

Unit 7: 2 Leman Russ Demolishers and 1 Leman Russ Executioner (with plasma cannon sponsons)

That's 12 kill points that are largely immune to small arms fire, and puts out
1 TL MM shot
10 TL Las Cannon shots
6 Heavy Bolter Shots
3 Str 10 AP 1 Large Templates
2 Str 5, AP 4 Large Templates
7 Str 7, AP 2 Small Templates.

The trick would be maneuvering to keep the front armor 14 facing the the biggest threats, while staying in the 6" cover bubble, without losing any shots.  I think this list is tough, and has fire power that is equally effective against terminators, marines and hordes, with enough big hits that even 3++ will be scared.  The weaknesses are that they will be susceptible to blast weapons (bunched up for mutual cover).  The Land Raiders are the only things that can't move and fire everything at full ballistic skill, but they are probably going to have to move the most, to make sure their armor 14 is protecting the soft sides of everything else.

Just a thought I'm kicking around.  I know vehicles aren't as durable as they used to be, but I don't feel that really applies to Armor 14.  

2000 BA / Purge the Alien

So, I've given some thought to my recent losses.  Since I am again building / updating for the 2000 purge the alien tournament, I had 4 goals when designing this list
1. Low kill points - goal around 10
2. Able to kill, and kill fast
3. Make a list that only BA could make
4. Make a list that would have a chance against either of the armies that recently crushed me (AP 2-3 template shooting tanks and instant death necron flyers.

Since, as I have already said, nothing I bring, even Corbula, would survive the onslaught of STR 8, AP 1-3 weapons I faced, I have to put my troops vehicles.  What can BA do that no one else can?  Take Land Raiders as Dedicated Transports, so I take 2 of these, loaded with naked assault marines.

This gives me two hard, long range units (the terminators in last tourny list were tough, but still fell to lucky small arms fire, ambush plasma units, and AP weapons.  I don't need troops for Purge the alien, but I am going to combat squad each of these units, so if I do want to put them on an objective, they will alive when they get there.  (I realize that Combat squading is not great for Purge, but since dedicated transports and their units count as 1 unit, I needed to split the squads so that I have 4 units on the table, so that the rest of my army can come in on reserve.

My DC and 2 DC dread rocked last time, so I am going to take them again.  The Stormravens did well, so I am keeping them.  The assault terminators did well too, but I needed extra points for the land raiders, so I didn't have enough points left for an assault termie squad and a HQ, if only I had a HQ unit that could cut through marines as easily as a terminator squad...enter Mephiston.  As a side bonus, this knocks off a kill point, which is good, because the combat squads and the transports are actually raising my number of kill points.

Still, if I could find 2 more units that cost a total of 180 points and are more survivable / killable than the 10 extra assault marines, I would take it (although I still won't be able to get my KP below 12 as long as I have dedicated transports)

So that is
Mephisto + DC Dread in a Storm Raven
10 DC with 3 axes and a DC Dread in a Storm Raven
1 Squad of ASM in a Landraider (Combat Squaded)
1 Squad of ASM in a Landrainder (Combat Squaded)

2000 Point Tourney List - Purge the Alien

So my local game store has started having monthly, 2000 point, purge the alien tournaments.  The prize is part of the entry fee in store credit, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Since I know the game will be purge the alien, I am not worried about scoring units, and tried to keep kill points down (I know I could have made a few less kill points, but eh).

Squad 1:
Librarian (probably with re-roll power)
10 Tactical Terminators (with 2 Cyclone Missile Launchers)
Brother Corbulo

I know this unit is a lot of points, but it is very durable (Corbulo will absorb the small arms fire, and LoS the instants death attacks to a Termie).  It has a good amount of fire power (which will be twin-linked because of the librarian) and it can handle itself in melee.  As an added bonus, the terminators will provide cover for my 2 Whirlwinds.

Squad 2:
Not really a "squad" but the 2 whirlwinds I've already mentioned.

Squad 3:
Bloodraven (Assault Cannon and MM)
10 Death Company (7 Bolters, 3 Power Axes with Pistols)
1 Death Company Dread

I liked the Furiouso Dread for the +1 armor, but I still painted my dread black because this meets my troop requirement, and the +1 attack for rage isn't bad, and neither is fleet?  The dread is meant to be a 1 man killing team, to take out small targets, SMU, lootas, etc.  If need be, he can also assist the DC, but their primary function is going to be hunting TeQ (with 15 Str 6, AP 2 attacks on the charge)

Squad 4:
Bloodraven (Assault Cannon and MM)
5 Assault Terminators (3 with claws, 2 with hammer and shield)
Furiouso Dread Librarian

I realize that the Furiouso Dread Librarian is probably my weakest choice, but I happened to have exactly the right amount of points, and an empty spot on the transport.  I have a Dread with 2 power fists that I could paint up, but I bought the librarian because I saw it on consignment, and have never used it (because it is probably not with the points, but it will give me some mobility on the field, once I am unloaded from transport).  This squad is primarily for MeQ hunting, but won't suck against anything.

I decided not to put Corbulo with the assault terminators, even though they could use the FnP, because he is a lot less useful in melee.

2000 point Aggressive BA (may need some refinement)

So, I was reading on the forums about someone defending transports (even though are are the most expensive), he listed some ideas.  The idea that I liked, because it went with my Blood Angel play style, was as follows... 3 units of tactical (or in this case 2 tactical squads, and 1 death company squads), full tilt turn 1, so that about 11" from enemy deployment zone.  On my 2nd turn, unload all the troops and rapid fire into enemy lines with all 3 units, at the same time my assault marines are dropping down with flamers and setting up charge.  I will lead the transports with a unit of bikes.  They either flat out for a better save, or go 12 and shoot.  On turn 2, they will branch out and either assault a soft target or help turret a stronger target.  So the idea is to have almost my whole army in the enemy deployment zone on turn 2.  The part that doesn't fit are the 2 whirlwinds.  I like them because they are fast (so they fit the theme), they can flush out scouts and such (and maybe heavy weapon teams), to soften up the enemy.  The problem is, if all goes to plan, they will be alone on my side of the board on turn 3 (and they will be shooting into the enemy deployment area with scatter - which could hit my troops).  While I like them, I am just not sure the whirlwind fits THIS army.
Maybe if I lose the epistolary upgrade and the 2 whirlwinds, I could add 5 assault terminators, but would that contribute more than 2 whirlwinds?

The whole list is:
Librarian on a bike with force staff
Sanguinary Priest on Bike with powersword

2 Tactical Squads (MM and Flamer) in Rhino
1 Death Company (7 guys with bolters and 3 axes amd pistols) in Rhino
2 Assault Squads (2 Flamers and SGT Power Sword and Mega Bomb and combat shields)

8 Bikes with melta guns and Attack Bike with MM with power sword

2 Whirlwinds

1500 BA

First 6th Edition BA List

I am going to play my first 6th edition battle tomorrow.  I don't know what I will face exactly, so making an all comers list (really the only kind I ever make) but it will probably be orks (lots of shoota boyz, probably 3 units of 15 lootas, and maybe some 'Kans with forcefields) or IG (parking lot with 2 units of 3 vendettas with 3 lasguns each)

Its been a while since I played BA, but 6th edition was good excuse to leave GK and go back to combined arms marine list (GK were fine, but there were such a limited number of units, and the reason I became marine in the first place (from 3rd edition necrons) was to have more flexibility.

Anyway, here is my list, I thought about a Stormraven, but I just didn't see it (or 2 of them) standing up to 45 lootas or 6 vendettas - figure I will just suck up the wounds as they fly by.

1 Chaplain - Bolt Pistol and Crozius Arcanum

19 Death Company with Boltguns. +1 Hammer, +1 Powerfist

2 Full Tac Squads (+1 Plasma gun, +1 Lascannon, SGT armed with meltabombs)

1 Full Assault Squad (+2 Flamers, SGT armed with meltabombs and 2 plasma pistols)

2 Whirlwinds

1 Devastator Team (5 Marines with 4 Missile Launchers, SGT has meltabombs)