12/12/09

The Inner Circle Holiday Beatdown.
Here is a quick recap.

Round 1: I faced MARC!

He brought with him a Khan themed Bike army.

Khan
7 bikes, attack bikes, meltas
7 bikes, attack bikes, meltas
7 bikes, attack bikes, meltas
Dreadnought w/Multimelta
Dreadnought w/Multimelta
Dreadnought w/Multimelta
Land Speeder w/Multimelta
Land Speeder w/Multimelta
Predator w/Autocannon, Heavy Bolters
Predator w/Autocannon, Heavy Bolters
Predator w/Autocannon, Heavy Bolters

I, of course, kept everything in reserve.
A good amount of my stuff came in turn 2. I was quickly able to start firing and killing things at my leisure. Marc suffered from some unfortunate rolling (having a skimmer Scatter into me whilst deep striking, failing a few ld tests) I was able to stay out of melta-range for a good part of the game, although I lost a few tanks to melta fire. I combined prism fire to great effect in this game, using it to whittle away units of bikes. In the end, I had destroyed all of Marc's scoring units while having all of mine intact. A solid victory for the Eldar.

Game 2: Mark Ferek
Mark brought with him some Tau!

Shas'el: Plasma Gun, Missile Pod, Poitional relay, multitracker, 2 Shield Drones
2 bodyguards: plasma guns, missile pods, multi-trackers, targeting arrays
3 Crisis Suits: twin linked missile pods, flamers
2 Crisis Suits: missile pods, fusion guns, targeting arrays
2 Crisis Suits: twin linked fusion guns, targeting arrays
12 fire warriors: shas'ui, bonded
12 fire warriors: shas'ui, bonded
4 pathfinders Devilfish: smart missile system, multi tracker, targeting array, disruption pod
4 pathfinders Devilfish: smart missile system, multi tracker, targeting array, disruption pod
Hammerhead: railgun, smart missile system, target lock, multi-tracker, disruption pod
2 Broadsides: targeting arays, leader, HW target lock, 2 shield drones
2 Broadsides: targeting arays, leader, HW target lock, 2 shield drones

As usual, I set up i reserves, and came in on turn 2, where I promply killed 1 pathfinder, on a miffed scatter. Mark fared a little better he destroyed the fire dragons ride and de-gunneanother serpent. During my next turn (bottom of 3) I killed the crisis suits that had deep struck behind my fire dragons serpent, seems like the eldar did not feel like hitting with their "advanced" weaponry. During Mark's turn he exploded the rest of my wave serpents, killing about 1/4 of each avenger squad, he destroyed a fire prism, and took all of the guns off another. So, at the top of turn 4, i had one unharmed fire prism, one with no guns and some infantry that was hugging their craters. (did I mention there was only one piece of area terrain on the board?) At this point, the game was effectively over, I could just try to get a many points as possible (I only managed to kill 1 4 man pathdfinder squad the rest of the game)
A crushing defeat for the eldar. I have not been beaten this bad in a very long time. Good thing is, I know exactly what I did wrong.
Good job Mark!

Game 3: PJ Brady and his "Space Angels" (Space Marines w/Dark Angel iconography)

Master of the Forge
5 scouts: sniper rifles
10 marines: lascannon, melta, power weapon, Rhino
10 marines: lascannon, melta, power weapon, Rhino
10 terminators: Chain fist, 2 Assault Cannons
5 Assault Terminators: 2 lightning claws, 3 thunderhammer, stormshield
Ironclad: heavy flamer, Drop Pod
Ironclad: heavy flamer, Drop Pod
Ironclad: heavy flamer, Drop Pod

I did the same routine, all in reserves, everything but the guardians came in turn 2. I popped a Rhino. PJ was a little unlucky with his assault cannons and did nothing. In my next turn I moved some vehicles around to get into position. PJ managed to shake a wave serpent. I disembarked my dragons and doomed the scouts. My fire dragons killed about 6 terminators. Sadly, I was unable to do anything else. PJ hit my dragons with assault cannon fire, killed 7 and they broke. PJ assaulted them and they were instantly wiped out. His dual-iron clad beatdown saw my guardians break and run, at under half strength. In my turn (bottom of 5), I deperately moved as many serpents as I could onto objectives and to try and contest some. I finally managed to kill 2 scouts and get them to break. Sadly, that and 2 marines were all I was able to kill with my fire. Unfortunately, the game ended at the bottom of turn 5!
At the end, I had one objective, PJ had one and we each had 2 kill points. Seemed to be a draw, but there were special mission rules for a draw, tiebreaker came down to...painting!!

Ironically, (or karma) the time I had spent painting the Iyanden payed off in giving me my 50th win in 5th edition. Had this game gone another turn, I think I might have been badly beaten.

This tournament brings me to 50W 18L, 19D.

Some thoughts. In most of my games I was simply unable to reliably kill anything! In the last 2 games, I wiped out 4 units, combined. The Eldar codex just seems to overpriced and underpowered when it comes to busting tanks and reliably killing power armored infantry...
The fire dragons only seem to kill one thing a game befoe they are rendered useless...

The fire prisms had an awful day, they accounted for one unit in the last two games. (it was a unit of 4 pathfinders with a disperssed shot). Hmm. All in all, I was not pleased wth my performance in this tournament. I think I made a lot of bad decisions, while my opponents made pretty sound tactical decisions. The tournament itself however, was great fun.

Until next time.

-Mike

1850 Mech Eldar for 12/12/09

This is the list I am bringing to the Inner Circle 1850 held in Glen Burnie, MD.
HQ
Autarch w/Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters, Scorpion Chainsword
Farseer w/Doom, Runes of Warding
Troops
10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Bright Lance, Spirit Stones
10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Bright Lance, Spirit Stones
10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Spirit Stones
10 Eldar Guardians w/Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden
Elites
9 Fire Dragons w/Exarch, Dragons Breath Flamer, Crack Shot
Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Spirit Stones
Heavy
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
1847

Enjoy killing the guardians!

-Mike

The Hydra 1500

I promised myself I would not get seriously started on my Alpha Legion army until I sold off all of my Black Legion/Thousand Sons.
This past weekend, at the Battle Bunker, I did just that.

So, without further ado, the first 1500 points of Alpha Legion.

HQ
Chaos Lord w/Terminator Armor, Combi-Melta, Daemon Weapon
TR
10 Chaos Space Marines w/2 Meltaguns, Rhino
10 Chaos Space Marines w/Meltagun, Flamer, Aspiring Champion, Powerfist, Rhino
10 Chaos Space Marines w/Plasmagun, Autocannon
EL
5 Chaos Terminators w/Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist, Chainfist
5 Chaos Terminators w/Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist, Chainfist
5 Chaos Terminators w/Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist, Chainfist
HS
Chaos Predator w/Lascannon Sponsons

-1500 on the nose.

I think this list will be fun to play and embodies the mantra of the Alpha Legion to strike many places at once. The Predator and CSM Squads on foot will lay down firepower, the Rhinos will advance and the Terminators will Deep Strike.
Now all I have to do is buy models and get building and painting!

-Mike

Iyanden Update

I re-primed my Wave Serpents.

Here they are again with the foundations painted on.


-Mike

Wednesday Chimera Building.

Since I took off work Wednesday, I decided to be productive. I made the decision to assemble some of my vast array of models. Today I will be putting together 4 Chimeras with magnetized hull weapons, in 7 easy steps.

Step 1: Obtain and arrange your supplies.

Step 2: Obtain some rare earth magnets, and a magnetic strip (not a strong magnet)


Step 3: Glue the magnetic strip to the hole where you are putting a weapon.


Step 4: Glue a rare earth magnet to the backs of the weapons that you want to be able to change out.

Step 5: After the glue has dried, place the pieces in close proximity to allow the magnets to attract each other!


Step 6: Assemble the rest of your Chimeras.


Step 7: The aftermath!




-Mike

The Iyanden Project

It has been a while since I did an Iyanden update. I have most, if not all, of the models I will ever need for my Eldar. I recently took them to two tournaments and did quite well. (Winning one at 3-0, going 3-0-1 at the other)
I did not place highly in the second tournament (bottom 50%) due to my low painting scores. I tried to put more time aside to actually paint my models, I primed them using an airbrush and vallejo(sp?) Lemon Yellow, a VERY bright yellow. I then hit them with Ogryn Flesh, a GW Wash to tone it down a bit. This ended up looking, well, awful.

I have a few more tournaments coming up in the next 2 months. I decided that I needed to re-do the color scheme completely. I started on my Fire Prisms first.

First I hit them with a black primer (To cover up my past failure)


Then I threw on some aptly named Iyanden Darksun.

After that, I patterned on some Fortress Grey. Both of these colors are GW foundation paints and had plenty of pigment in them to cover my bright, yellow, shame. Next I will work on base-coating the Top Turrets. More to come.

-Mike

The Hydra.

The best 40k novel I have read in a long time is Dan Abnett's Legion.
If you have not read this novel, it is about the Alpha Legion; who, prior to this book, have had very little fluff or story written about them.

If you have read this novel, talk about inspiring!

Long story short, I am creating a fluff based, Alpha Legion army. My objective is not to make another pre-heresy traitor marines army. I want to keep the Alpha Legion closer to the fluff and story outlined in Legion.

SPOILER ALERT.

Alpha Legion that are still 'loyal' to the Emperor but are still seen as 'traitors'. This will have a choice of my unit selection. Ergo, I will be using a modified codex.
My first choice is what Codex do I use to represent a 'loyalist' Alpha Legion in the 41st Millennium?

Space Wolves? - The newest and one of the most popular, but not suited to Alpha Legion.
Dark Angels? - Possibly, but too much emphasis on Termies, Bikes, and Speeders.
Blood Angels? - I already have 12000 points of Angels; So, no.
Space Marines? -Certainly the best choice. A huge array of options. Too easy.
Chaos Space Marines? - Chaos Space Marines Army List? Bingo.

The Alpha Legion are sneaky and subtle. When they attack, they follow the principles of the Hydra; Attacking from multiple directions at once. I want to emulate this on the battlefield as well, but keep with the faux-traitor feel of the fluff. I will augment Codex: Chaos Space Marines as follows.

No marks of Tzeentch, Nurgle, Khorne, or Slaanesh. No Icons of those either. Nothing with a Chaos-y feel.

HQ
Abaddon - NO.
Fabius Bile - Unmarked Chaos Lord? In, but rarely used.
Huron Blackheart - In, but rarely used.
Typhus, Kharn, Ahriman, Lucius - No.
Daemon Prince - By the Emperor, No!
Chaos Lord - In.
Chaos Sorcerer - In, but will never have a Mark, so no Lash, Bolt of Change, etc...

Elites
Chosen - In.
Terminators - In, will play a big part.
Possessed - By the Emperor, No!
Chaos Dreadnought - Crazed War Machine? No.

Troops
Chaos Space Marines - In, I have no other choice!
Berzerkers, Thousand Sons, Plague Marines, Noise Marines - Nope.
Rhino - In.

Fast
Bikes - In.
Raptors - In.
Spawn - Still Undecided.

Heavy
Havocs - In.
Obliterators - No.
Predator, Vindicator, Land Raider - In.
Defiler - Daemon Engine? No Way!

Summoned Lesser Daemons/Greater Daemon - Possibly, but not as 'Daemons'.

There you have it! I will post more about modeling/list building later.

-Mike

500 Point Madness

One of my Gaming Clubs, the Inner Circle, puts on a 500 point 'tournament' every two weeks.
Catch? 500 points, using the 40k in a Flash Rules and a simplified mission.

I played 2 games last Tuesday and I brought my Eldar.
10 Guardians w/Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden
10 Guardians w/Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden
5 Striking Scorpions w/Exarch, Biting Blade, Stalker
3 Dark Reapers w/Exarch, Tempest Launcher, Crack Shot
-499

My First Opponent brought
4x 5 Space Marines in Rhinos...

Well, Game 1 went like this, use guardians or Scorps to pop a tank, Tempest Launcher the passengers. So, I did this 3 times. (once my opponent disembarked on his own accord)
At the end my opponent had an Immobilized, De-gunned Rhino, I had 2 Objectives and 7 Kill points.

My Second Opponent had a much better list.

22 Kroot
12 Fire Warriors
Devilfish
3 Stealth Suits
4 Gun Drones

My first turn saw me open up on the Kroot with the Dark Reapers, pinning them.
My Scatter lasers killed 3 Fire Warriors, but they held firm.

My opponent, Martin, Fired his Stealth suits into my scorps and killed 2. The gun drones killed 3! Guardians, who promptly became Pinned and then fled off of the Table. (even with Embolden!!)

Next turn I assaulted the Stealth Suits (who strayed too close) with my scorpions. The suits were killed to a man. I killed a bunch more Kroot, but they passed their pinning test and their break test. I killed the Gun Drones with my other Guardian Squad.

The kroot Rapid fired and killed a Scorpion, they failed their test and began the long run off of the board. (they were under half) The Devilfish rolled up and killed a Dark Reaper, the Exarch held his squad firm.

Next turn the Dark reapers finally were able to kill enough Kroot to send them packing towards the table edge. My guardians destroyed the Devilfish.

The Gun Drones that came off of the Devilfish fired and killed another Dark Reaper.
The guardians Moved to help out. The fire Warriors hoofed it towards a center objective.

The Reaper Exarch Fired, and killed all but one Fire Dragon, who broke off of the Board.

The gun drones finally killed the exarch.

The guardians shoot and kill both of the gun drones.

That was an incredibly close game, I only had one unit left at the end (spread over 2 objectives)

These short, fun games bring me to 48W 17L 19D in 5th edition.

-Mike

Tournaments and friendly play.

In order to make myself a better player, I faced a friends 29 Terminator Space marine list with my 15 Terminator Blood Angels list. I won the first game, and then we switched armies.
I played a little more aggressively that he did and ended up winning solidly against my own army.

This helped us both as my friend would do the same in a tournament a few weeks later, than I would face him and beat him in the finals, as I knew his playing style with that list...

I played in an 8-man tournament. A summation can be found at the link below.
http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2009/10/tournament-report.html
I then played in a larger tournament, a summation can be found at the link below.
http://frederickareagamers.net/forum/index.php?topic=256.0

Up to this point, in all the games I have played I am 46W 17L 19D

-Mike

Planetary Campaign

I participated in a Planetary Campaign put on by the Inner Circle.
I did not write up specific battle reports for the games I played, but I will go over them.
I played my Blood Angels throughout the campaign.

I faced Dale and his tau first.
He brought with him a skyray! 6 min sized Fire Warriors and 3 max size Drones (to provide cover)
He also had a good amount of Crisis Suits.
The game went well for me as I had a good amount of anti-infantry firepower.
In the end I had three objectives to Dales zero.

I also faced Scooter (and his Witch Hunters) and Brent (and his 80 Space Marines horde)
I solidly beat both of them. My 3-5 man terminator squads helped me out a lot against both opponents.

My last opponent I faced brought some nice Mech orks.
He had 8 Killa kans, 2 battlewagons, and tons of orks.
I was solidly defeated both times by orks with Powerfists. (my 5+ terminator save could not stand up to them.)

All in all the campaign was fun, but it was tough because certain people would refuse games against me. (either flat out refuse or set a date/time and be a no-show).
So, that kind of sucked.
After this campaign I end with 38W 17L 18D

-Mike

Battle Board at Dreamwizards

The Battle Board at Dream Wizards.

I play another man named "Mike".
He brings an Ork army.
-Warboss on Bike
-Mekboy with Custom Force Field
-Battlewagon with 5 Mega Armored Orks.
-3 Battlewagons
-15 Burna Boys
-10 ard boys in a Trukk
-2 Trukks of Shoota Boys
-A big squad of Grotz

We play a Dawn of War Seize Ground (5 Objectives)
Mike deploys a battlewagon, nobs, and mek. He goes first.

Turn 1:
Mike: Mike moves everything onto the table.
Me: I move the rest of my army onto the table. My lascannons blow up the battlewagon carrying the Nobz. Everyone else moves forward and runs.
Turn 2:
Mike: The Warboss boosts forward, the battlewagons kill 1 sniper, 1 autocannon, and 1 lascannon.
Me: The Demolisher smokes the warboss. I immobilize a trukk and Wreck another. The Leman Russes kill most of the passengers. I assault and kill the Mekboy.
Turn 3:
Mike: The Ard boys assault and wound the command squad. The Nobz kill the Demolisher.
Me: My snipers pin the Nobz, I kill 5 ard'boyz.
Turn 4:
Mike: Kills a few form the Autocannon squad.
Me: A Nob dies to a lascannon shot and the squad breaks.
Turn 5:
Mike: Combined fire kills a few from the autocannon squad and does a wound to Kell.
Me: I don't really cause any wounds.

The game ends in a 1-1 DRAW!
This brings me to 35W 15L 18D
-Mike

Counter Offensive 6(Part Three)

Final game of CO6. I Face Bobby Griffin. (A member of The Frederick Area Gamers)
He brings his Lamenters.
From what I recall, there are two tactical squads, 10 Sternguard in a Drop Pod, 10 Terminators (shooty) and Pedro!
I bring a crappy Eldar list as I wanted to use my new Forgeworld Avatar.
We play a Pitched Battle Annihilation.
I set up my Eldar.
Bobby Sets up and Seizes the Initiative!!

Turn 1:
Bobby: The Sternguard deploy by Drop Pod, they combat squad into two separate units.
They unleash some hellfire into my wraithlords, doing 2 wounds to one and 4 to the other (wouch.)
Me: My Dire Avengers move forward and kill 2 Terminators! The wraithlord assaults a Sternguard unit (killing 4) they stay. The Seer Council kills 2 Sternguard from the other squad, they also stay.
Turn 2:
Bobby: The Terminators cause 16 wounds to the Dire avengers, I go to ground, despite that 9 (exarch included) still die. In combat, the Wraithlord misses and the Seer Council kill 2, the last one stays.
Me: My Striking Scorpions outflank on the right side. The Dire Avengers kill another Terminator. The Wraithlord and Seer Council finish their respctive combats.
Turn 3:
Bobby: His Dreadnought still does not arrive. The terminators shoot and cause 2 wounds to the Avatar. The Drop Pod storm bolters the last Dire Avenger to death.
Me: My Falcon arrives, and horribly misses. The Dire Avengers kill a tactical marine. The Avatar meltas a terminator, the Seer Council Assaults and kills the Drop Pod.
Turn 4: Bobby: His Dreadnought arrives and smokes my last Wraithlord. The terminators and tactical marines FAIL horribly and cause no wounds.
Me: The Avatar assaults, wounds Pedro, and dies... The Seer Council assaults the Dreadnought and Drop pod and destroy both.
Turn 5:
Bobby: The tactical marines fire and kill 3 Dire Avengers, the terminators join in and bring their number down to 1 plus the Exarch.
Me: The Council assaults and kills 3 terminators, they lose 3 of their number.
(no pic)
Turns 6-7: There is only close combat, The Farseer ends up dying, the Scorpions end up killing the Tactical squad.
The end result is a DRAW!

So at Counter Offensive I go 1-1-1.
This brings my record to 35W 15L 17D

-Mike

Counter Offensive 6(Part Two)

I then face the mighty Ken Lacy (who, despite having been out of the hobby for a while laid some beatings on a few other folks)
I bring the Pride of Iyanden
Ken brings his Slann-Tau.
He has a lot of Fire Warriors, Crisis Suits, and 2 Pathfinder Squads.

We play a Seize Ground, Pitched Battle (with 5 objectives)
Ken Deploys, I Deploy, I fail to Seize the Initiative.
Turn 1:
Ken: Ken uses his Markerlights to full effect. 4 hits to the Wraithlord, 4 to the Wraithguard.
Using suave firepower he causes 2 wounds to the Wraithlord and 3 Wraithguard die.
Me: I am able to fortune. The Parade moves forward. My "firepower" kills one Pathfinder...
Turn 2:
Ken: Markerlights the wounded Wraithlord, the ensuing firepower kills him. One more Wraithguard dies, despite my fortune.
Me: I FAIL my fortune roll. (crap) One of my Serpents shows up and I manage to kill 2 Pathfinders..
Turn 3:
Ken: Seeing that my fortune expired, ken opens up on the Parade. All in all Yriel is left with 1 wound, the Farseer with 2 and all but one Wraithguard are dead. (Wouch)
Me: My other serpent arrives. The Dire Avengers disembark, fire, and kill 8 Fire Warriors, who break off of the table.
The Parade and Wraithlord combine to destroy 2 more Fire Warrior squads.
Turn 4:
Ken: The devilfish fires and destroys the Wave Serpent. The Dire Avengers suffer 4 casualties and breaks. The farseer dies.
Me: The Wraithlord de-guns the Devilfish. Yriel rolls up and kills another Fire Warrior Squad.
Turn 5:
(At this point Ken has no scoring units left and I have one on my objective and one falling back)
Ken: Kills all of the falling back Dire Avengers. Kills the Wave Serpent sitting on my objective.
Me: I kill the Devilfish, the last unit that has the ability to contest my objective (forcing a draw)

The game ends with me having one objective, Ken has none. I am now 35W 15L 16D.

-Mike

Counter Offensive 6(Part One)

Every year, a gaming forum that I frequent (http://www.milleniumgate.net/) holds a gaming gathering at Dreamwizards, a gaming store in Rockville, MD.
Over the course of the day I played 3 games.

The first is a Spearhead Annihilation against James and his Black Templars.
I brought my AIIG (All Infantry Imperial Guard).
James brought his (Very well painted) Black Templars
Emperors Champion (re-roll to hit vow)
Marshall
3x 10-12 man squads with a mix of Initiates and Acolytes
Big Sword Brethren Squad
Dreadnought
Land Raider Crusader

I deploy and go First.
Turn 1:
Me: I let loose a ton of firepower, unfortunately due to some bad scatter, I manage to hit units I did not want to. As a consequence, James loses 1 Neophyte from the Red Squad, 4 Neophytes form the green squad, and 3 Neophytes and an Initiate from the blue squad. They all pass their leadership tests and rush forward (6, 4, and 4 inches, respectively)
James: Everyone moves forward toward the Guard Gunline at MAXIMUM speed.
Turn 2:
Me: I move my big 3 Infantry squads forward, hoping to regulate on the Land Raider Crusader. For my first "order"was a "bring it down" on the Land Raider, I rolled a 12. Shit.
On a better note, my master of Ordnance kills 5. I unleash 80 lasgun shots from 2 different squads, killing 5 and 1 respectively. In the entire turn I kill 8 from the Blue Squad.
James: Tank Shocks a big squad, luckily I pass. One of his closest squads assaults my 2 speedbump plasma squad, i lose a whole squad and one from another squad. Unfortunately, I roll double ones on my morale test, to keep me from being killed outright (and from shooting the Templars next Turn)
Turn 3:
Me: My lascannons are able to kill the Dreadnought. I shoot and am able to kill the entirety of the Green and Blue Infantry squads.
James: Tank Shock again! My melta fails to penetrate. Crap.
He deploys his sword brethern, emperors champion, and Marshall.
He triple assaults, 30 guardsmen and a lascannon team die.
I inflict no casualties.
Turn 4:
Me: I manage to kill 2 sword brethren. In close combat, I lose 4 from one squad.
The Emperors champion kills 2 guardsmen, I do zero wounds, I break and am run down (30 more die).
James: The LRC kills the 5-man plasma command squad.
The Marshall (in terminator armor) charges the lascannon team and kills all of them.
The Emperors champion kills the Flamer Command.
The Sword Brethern kill a missile squad and a mortar squad.
Ouch, I concede.
I do not know what I could have done in this fight, I was unable to even damage the Land Raider, my 30 man squads are a joke in combat (even against an emperors champion)
Hm. I think I need to re-think how I run my guard.

-Mike
This loss bring me to 34W 15L 16D

Challenge Board, Game 5.

I coax a man named Mike into Challenging me.
He brings Death guard, a throwback list from 4th edition.
He has...
A daemon Prince (mark of Nurgle, Wings, Warptime)
A land Raider
3 Plague Marine squads
2 Rhinos
a Havoc squad with Mark of Nurgle
a 4-man Terminator Squad
10 summoned lesser daemons.

We play a Dawn of War Capture and Control (Capture the Draw)

I did not write a formal battle report for this. So it will be kind of loose.
He advanced everything except a squad of Plague marines that he kept around his objective.
I manage to stop a Rhino early and he got his daemons in turn 2, before they were in my lines.
I had trouble stopping the land raider (as I always do).
I managed to kill the Daemon prince, Land Raider (late in the game), the daemons, and both Rhinos got Immobilized, and I killed 2 Plague Marine squads.

The game ended in a draw because of my inability to be able to effectively assault his Objective with my lasgun toting guardsmen. I had a heavy bolter squad nearby, but they were ineffective against Plague Marine armor.

The game lasted 7 full turns. It ended in a 1-1 draw, as "Capture the Draw usually does"
No challenge token for me.

These games bring me to 34W 14L 16D in fifth edition.

-Mike

Challenge Board, Game 4.

I find a person to challenge me.
It is Thomas! He brings Space Marines.
We play a Capture and Control (Capture the Draw as I call it) Spearhead.
*Again, my apologies for no pictures.
I set up and go first.

I deploy in a defensive formation with my objective a little inwards in my deployment zone.

He deploys 2 Las/Plas Razorbacks with 5 Space Marines each in the far corner of his deployment zone. Everything else he says is in reserves.

Turn 1:
Me: I shake a razorback. Everything else runs forward.
Thomas: nothing.

Turn 2:
Me: I destroy a Razorback, killing 2 Marines in the process. I shake the other Razorback. My other units continue running.
Thomas: I learn that everything else in Thomas List will be outflanking. He gets in 2 10-man assault squads, 2 razorbacks with 5 marines each, Tigurius and Khan in on turn 2, despite me having an officer of the fleet...Everything but one assault squad arrives on my table edge.
The oncoming Razors tank shock one of my plasma squads off of the table. The heavy bolters kill a lascannon team. The assault squad mauls a unit. The other assault squad advances from thomas' table edge towards my guys in the center of the table.

Turn 3:
Me: My meltaguns manage to kill all the Razorbacks. I kill 4 marines from one squad, 2 from another, I also do two wounds to Khan. Through Shooting and Assault I kill the 10-man assault squad. I also manage to gun down 5 members from the far assault squad.
Thomas: The rest of thomas' reserves (10-man assault, razorback with 5 guys) outflanks on my side. The razorback squad disembarks and kills 5 guys from one of my units. The heavy bolter from the razor kills 2 guys from my Melta command squad. Tigurius' psychic powers kill my master of the fleet and cause a wound to kell and a wound to my commander.
The 10-man assault squad bolt pistols the flamer squad, who run off of the board.
In the assault phase kahn, tigurius and the far assault squad kill 2 complete infantry squads.

Turn 4:
Me: Through immense shooting and all my orders tests being passed, I manage to kill everything in my deployment zone, save the razorback and 5-man tactical squad.
The rest of my units run towards thomas' very far objective.
Thomas: The Razorback Heavy bolters 3 guys from my command squad to death. The assault squad charges a 10-man vox squad and kills all of them.

Turn 5:
Me: I destroy the far razorback, there are no casualties to the passengers. I kill the Assault squad. I kill the 5-man tactical squad. I immoblize and shake the Rhino.
Thomas: Thomas moves his 7 remaining tactical marines to the rear of his objective, still within scoring range.
The die of destiny is rolled. The game ends. My closest units to his objective are about 2 inches too far to contest. Thomas has 8 models left on the board. I have well over 70.
A 1-1 Draw. Thomas does not lose his challenge token. I do not gain one.

-Mike

Challenge Board, Game 3.

I am currently on Tier 2 of the Challenge Board.
With my newly acquired "Challenge Token" I challenge Dameon (Who I believe is the past winner) to a game.
*I apologize that there are no pictures.
We play a Seize Ground (5 Objectives) Pitched battle.
I choose to Deploy first. I choose to go First.
Dameon brings...
2 Tzeentch Daemon Princes (Gift, Warptime?, Wings)
2 Squads of 10 Chaos Space Marines w/Missile in a Rhino w/Havoc Launcher
3 Close Combat Dreadnoughts
3 Defilers

I bring the AIIG.
Turn 1:
Me: Through copious firepower, I immobilize both Rhinos and manage to Kill a Dreadnought.
I do one wound to a Daemon Prince and take the Havoc missile off of a rhino.
Everyone else runs forward towards one of 5 objectives.
Dameon: A battle cannon shell kills a Junior Officer, a Standard and a regular joe from a command squad. Battle cannons also kill 5 from a melta squad, 1 conscript, and 6 from a plasma squad.

Turn 2:
Me: I immobilize a defiler, I do one wound to the Blue daemon prince and 2 wounds to the other... Not a great round.
Dameon: Uses gift to turn a meltagun trooper into a chaos spawn. Battle Cannons kill... 2 guard from the command squad, 2 lascannon teams, one guardsman from a flamer squad.
In the ensing assault phase I lose the conscripts and 2 other squads...I cause no wounds in return.

Turn 3:
Me: I manage to kill another Dreadnought and blast the last wound off of a Daemon Prince. I assault the other daemon prince with 17 guys, I cause zero wounds and all 17 die.
Dameon: Turns 2 Missile Launcher teams into Chaos Spawn...
The Battle Cannons kill one missile team and one heavy bolter team.
In assault the Daemon Prince kills a ten man squad, the chaos spawns kill the rest of the missile squad. The dreadnought kills 4 guys, but I pass the break test (to my dismay)

Turn 4:
Me:A lone Plasma Gunner destroys a Defiler! My missile team breaks off the board.
Three lasguns from the mortar squad kill the daemon prince.
Dameon: 20 Chaos Marines dismount and run towards objectives.

At this point in the game, I stopped taking notes as I really needed to pay attention.
Basically, it boiled down to my command squad assaulting a dreadnought and managing to immobilize it with my 2 powerfists before the entire squad died in a few turns of combat.
I did not inflict any more significant casualties in the game. I was really struggling to kill armor in the later turns. The game ended in a draw with me having 2 models capturing 2 different objectives. Dameons scoring units each had one as well.

This game ended in a draw, and resulted in me losing my challenge token. So now I need to wait for someone to challenge me so that I can win one back. I need a token to challenge another player.

-Mike

The rise of Melta Weapons

We are about a year out since the release of 5th edition for 40k.
In the many games that I have played I have noticed the trend; people love Melta Weapons.

I thought to myself, not unusual, it is certainly better than Plasma at killing Vehicles.
Then I began to see the Multi-Melta as the heavy weapon of choice among Tactical Squads and Dreadnoughts.

I thought I would investigate. I computed the chance for a certain strength weapon to Destroy (Wrecked or Exploded) a vehicle it was shot at, based on Armor Value.

This is what I came up with..
I realize that the chart is a bit hard to read.
I will explain the trends that I found. Remember, the values represent a chance to destroy a vehicle, not just damage it.

First we see that the melta (outside of 1/2 range) dominates all other weapons at AV 10.
At AV 11-13 only Str 10 weapons perform better while the Melta performs better or equal to a Str 9 weapon (like a Lascannon). Only at AV 14 do Str 9 and 10 weapons outperform a melta weapon.

Obviously, when a melta weapon gets within 1/2 range, it eclipses other weapons (sometimes outperforming them by integer multiples) *Except in the case of Monoliths. When you add in Twin-linking (Vulkan) it just gets ridiculous. Aside from the Monolith, the chance to destroy a vehicle with a melta weapon within half its range is never less than 25% and rises to almost 50% on the lower end.

The worst part is, the lascannon costs more points then the Multi-Melta. When I play Blood Angels, I run 4 Lascannons in my tactical squads. It think that is about to change.

-Mike

Challenge Board, Game 2.

I am now on the second tier and must defend my position.
My opponent is Justin and his Black Templars.
Captain (Marshall?) in Terminator Armor
Emperors Champion (preferred enemy vow)
Techmarine
7 Assault Terminators
9 Templars + Rhino (Emp champ rolls with)
9 Templars + Rhino (Techmarine rolls with)
Land Speeder w/Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon
Vindicator
Dakka Pred (Auto, 2 HB's)
LRC (Termies and Termie Captain)

The Mission is a Secure and Control Pitched Battle (5 Objectives!)
*I forgot my camera this day, my Apologies.

I deploy first and go first.

Turn 1:
Me: Most of my Infantry Squads move forward to wards the countless objectives.
I destroy a Rhino w/ The Emperors Champion and friends.
I shake the LRC and the other Rhino.
Justin: Everything, save the non-destroyed Rhino moves forward. The LRC smokes.
The Vindicator and Land Speeder kill an entire Lascannon squad. The dakka pred kills a single base from another squad.

Turn 2:
Me: With copious firepower, I kill the Emperors champion and his entire squad. I manage to remove the assault cannon off of the Land Speeder.
Justin: The LRC tank shocks and breaks the conscripts. The LRC fires and kills an entire 10-man plasma squad. The Dakka pred kills another entire squad and teh land speeder takes 2 guys out of another squad.

Turn 3:
Me: I Immobilize and shake the land speeder. The rest of my force moves towards objective or fails at shooting Vehicles...On the bright side, my conscripts rally! (Due to an order)
Justin: The LRC kills an entire Infantry squad armed with one of my 4 meltaguns. The Vindicator kills 5 conscripts.

Turn 4:
Me: I manage to shake the predator, destroy the speeder (via powerfist) and degun the Hidden Rhino (parked near an objective)
Justin: The Rhino disembarks the squad it held and kills an entire nearby flamer squad.
The LRC kills an entire Plasma wielding command squad.

Turn 5:
Me: I shake the predator again and manage to kill 2 Templars (who fail their morale test and fall back from the objective (about 2 inches from the board edge).
Justin: The broken squad rallies and moves back up to the objective.
The Terminators finally disembark from the LRC and kill 2 entire 10 man infantry squads that were sitting on an objective. They take no casualties in return.

Turn 6:
Me: My heavy weapon shots ring true and I manage to Destroy the Vindicator. I also manage to kill about 2 Templars. They run 2 inches forward. I leave the termies alone, I do not want them getting an extra move.
Justin: With various shooting he manages to kill a few guard, but most of them have "gone to ground" in cover near an objective.

The die of destiny ends the game. I have 2 objectives, Justin only has 1. The others are in contention.

A post game review.
This would be a tough game for anyone given my 20+ scoring units. Justin only brought 2.
The LRC was definitely the man of the match, it accounted for at least 35 casualties throughout the game. Justin used his LRC very well. Before he moved each turn, he asked me to point out where the Meltas were in my army, he would either then kill the squad, or go the opposite direction. Good play on his part. The only criticism I have is that he should have deployed his Terminators much earlier than turn 5. Forcing me to deal with 8 Terminators would have limited my ability to spread out on the table to ALL of the objectives. ( At one point I had a scoring unit on each objective, forcing him to dislodge me. With so few units it would prove difficult.)

A great game. With this I am 2-0 on the challenge board.
My overall record improves to 34W 14L 13D.

-Mike

Challenge Board, Game 1.

Dreamwizards, a local gaming store holds a Challenge Board.
You must beat an opponent to move up a level.
Once you win a game at that level (defending your spot) you are issued a token to challenge someone on a higher level.
1750, I bring the AIIG.

This is my first game, at ground level.

Game: Capture and Control (often called "capture the draw"), Pitched battle.
My opponent: Pat Eibel, Sho-T himself. He brings Tau.

Commander Plasma/Missile
3x 12 Warriors, Devilfish
12 warriors w/o Devilfish
a large (28) man Kroot unit
6 Pathfinders
2 Hammerheads with Rail Gun.

I deploy (in standard "across the board" fashion) and go first.
Pat Deploys in the rightmost corner of the Board. He deploys a unit of fire warriors on his objective.

Turn 1:
Me: Most everyone runs forward. I issue an order for my Lascannon team to destroy the Hammerhead in view. They comply.
I shake a Devilfish. I kill 3 Pathfinders and 2 Fire Warriors from the squad on the objective.
Pat: The Devilfish, Commander, and Hammerhead open up. They manage to kill 1 guardsmen from the Plasma Squad, 4 from a regular squad, and 3 from the Plasma Command Squad.


Turn 2:
Me: Through heavy weapons fire, I Immobilize the Front 2 Devilfish of his convoy. I kill one more Pathfinder and 2 Fire Warriors.
Pat: The Kroot arrive and outflank on my right flank. (NOT the side that has my objective)
The Fire Warriors in the Devilfish roll out. The Fire Warriors kill a flamer squad and a command squad. The Hammerhead ordnances 7 guys to death.
The kroot double charge a missile team and a 6-man remnant squad. Easily killing them.
They consolidate away from my gunline behind a hill for cover.


Turn 3:
Me: My heavy weapons Immobilize the last Devilfish and Stun the Hammerhead. The Mortas kill 10 Kroot and Pin them.
I manage to kill 9 Fire Warriors from one squad with awesome Frag Missile Shooting.
Pat: Pats Drones detach and his remaining Fire Warriors run towards his objective.


Turn 4:
Me: My heavy weapons continue their unrelenting fury as they de-gun the hammerhead and kill 8 of the 12 Fire Warriors running to the objective.
Those same fire warriors fail their pinning test.
My spare firepower kills the rest of the Kroot.
Pat: His drones and unpinned Fire Warriors kill2 from a 4-man unit and 3 from a seven man unit.


At this point with objectives firmly in my control, Pat concedes.

Some post game analysis, as I am pretty sure Pat will read this battle report.
Pat made 2 key errors, they were both deployment errors.
Pat deployed the majority of his force as far away from my objective as was physically possible.
I realize that he did this with the intent to shield his transports from my heavy weapons, but all it accomplished was to let my 4 heavy weapon teams (2 las, 2 missile) cause a jam in his mobility.
The second was to out flank the Kroot on the opposite side of the board as my objective. While I have no kind words for Kroot, they do beat guard in close combat.

With this I move up to the next tier. This puts me at 1-0-0 in the Challenge Board.
My overall (5th edition only) record is now 33W 14L 13D


-Mike

Return of the AIIG.

With the arrival of Codex: Imperial Guard, I break out the All-Infantry Imperial Guard (AIIG)
I am playing 1750 point games in order to practice for the Challenge Board.
HQ
Command Platoon
w/Kell, Power Fist, Bodyguard, Officer of the Fleet
Grey Knight Brother Captain
w/Psycannon, Psychic Hood
Troops
Platoon 1
Platoon Command w/2 Plasma Guns, Vox-Caster, Boltgun
Infantry Squad w/Meltagun
Infantry Squad w/Meltagun
Infantry Squad w/Vox Caster
Infantry Squad
Heavy Weapon Squad w/3 Heavy Bolters
Heavy Weapon Squad w/Mortars
Heavy Weapon Squad w/Mortars

Platoon 2
Platoon Command w/2 Meltaguns, Vox, Standard, Powerweapon, Bolt Pistol
Infantry Squad w/Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/Plasma Gun
Conscript Platoon
Heavy Weapon Squad w/3 Missile Launchers
Heavy Weapon Squad w/3 Missile Launchers
Heavy Weapon Squad w/3 Lascannons
Heavy Weapon Squad w/3 Lascannons

Platoon 3
Platoon Command w/Powerfist, 2 Flamers, Vox-Caster
Infantry Squad w/Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Vox Caster
Infantry Squad

Total 1750



Game 1: Spearhead Annihilation.
My opponent: Thomas and his mono-khorne Daemons.
Bloodthirster (upgrades)
Bloodthirster (upgrades)
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
Khornate Daemon Prince

I defer the go first to Thomas. Neither of us deploy anything.
Turn 1:
Thomas: Deep strikes 2 Bloodthirsters and a khornate Daemon prince in or near my board quarter. They run.
Me: I chill.


Turn 2:
Thomas: No reserves arrive... The daemons walk/fly around, confused at lack of opponents.
Me: I get 2 Mortar squads, a lascannon squad, a missile squad, a squad of 40 combined guard, and the plasma command squad.
I use "first Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire" (FRFSRF) on a blooodthirster and send him back to the warp.

Turn 3:
Thomas: 1 Bloodletter squad arrives, everyone RUNS!
Me: I get a bunch more reserves, i forgot to list them. I kill all the bloodletters and the Daemon Prince.
I do 2 wounds to the bloodthirster.

Turn 4:
Thomas: 2 20-man Bloodletter units arrive. They run.
The Bloodthirster charges and kills 4 guardsmen, the 36 man unit remains in the fight,
Me: I fire and kill all but 1 Bloodletter out of 20, the other 20 is unharmed.
In assault, the guard beat down the Bloodthirster. (Yes, You read it right.)


Turn 5:
Thomas: Engages in a huge multi-assault that sees 5 entire units die. (mainly mortar, missile, and las teams)
the Daemons lose 12 from the 20 unit and the lone member perishes.
Me: I am out of range of the last 8 daemons on the board. Everything runs to meet them.

The die of destiny ends the game in a 5-5 draw. For the record there are only 8 Bloodletters left on the board and 8 is the number of Khorne.
I have well over 120 models left. This was an unlucky roll for the guard.


Game 2: Sieze Ground, Pitched battle
My Opponent: Mike and his Space Marines.
Shrike
5 Terminators TH/SS
3 10 man tacticals w/Multi-Melta, Meltagun, melta Bombs
3 Rhinos
2 10 Man assault squads w/Lightning Claws
Land Raider Redeemer

Mike Deploys and goes first.
After I deploy, he infiltrates Shrike and a 10-man Assault squad 18 inches away.

Turn 1:
Mike: Everything runs forward; All Vehicles pop smoke. Shrike and his unit jump 12, run 3 then assault. (they have fleet)
Shrike and his squad kill 2 10 man guard units, they lose zero.
Me: I use my orders to immobilize the Land Raider via Lascannons. I destroy a rhino with Krak Missiles. Various other shooting kills 9 men from shrikes unit.


Turn 2:
Mike: LRR uses its Assault Cannon to kill a lascannon team. Shrike and friend double assault a missile and Heavy bolter team. Some die.
Me: I degun the LRR's assault cannon. I Kill 5 assault marines and 1 Terminator.
The command squad charges and wipes Shrike and friend, they lose 4 however.


Turn 3:
Mike: His lone Rhino from reserves arrives. The Terminatros fleet, assault and kill 3 guard. But lose 2 in the process.
The Assault squad charges and kills 4 guardsmen, but lose 3 in the fighting. Both of my units break.
Me: I blow up a Rhino, kill the remaining Assault squad members.
The Terminators kill 3 guardsmen in close combat.


Turn 4:
Mike: The conscripts get boltgunned and lose 7 of their number. The terminators kill 4 guard, who break.
Me: 3 Frag missiles kill 6 Space Marines.


Turn 5:
Mike: He kills 3 guard, who break and runs a unit to the center objective.
Me: I kill all Marines on the Objective. I Destroy a Rhino.


Mike Concedes as I have 2 objectives. He has 1.


These 2 games bring my record to 32W 14L 13 D.

-Mike

Catching up on June Batreps

In June, I broke out the Blood Angels for a few games. I was only able to complete 2 over a course of 2 weeks because of time issues.
I seem to have lost all of the pictures I took with my Angels...
It is a shame because Dameons army is beautiful.

For the two games I completed, I brought.
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
10 Space Marines
w/Lascannon, Meltagun, Powerweapon
Razorback
10 Space Marines
w/Lascannon, Flamer, Powerfist
Razorback
10 Space Marines
w/Lascannon, Flamer, Powerfist
Rhino w/Storm Bolter
10 Space Marines
w/Lascannon, Meltagun, Powerweapon
Rhino w/Storm Bolter
6 Death Company
w/Jump Packs
2 Attack Bikes w/Heavy Bolter
2 Attack Bikes w/Multi-Melta
2 Attack Bikes w/Multi-Melta
Baal Predator
w/Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Baal Predator
w/Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Predator
w/Heavy Bolter Sponsons
2000

Game 1:
My opponent Dameon and his thousand sons.(A GREAT looking army, by the way)
He brings:
2 Daemon Princes w/MoT, wings, Bolt of Change
18 Thousand sons w/Rhino
9 Thousand sons w/Rhino
a pack of lesser demons
3 Twin CCW Chaos Dreadnoughts
2 Defilers

Dawn of War Capture and Control.
I deploy 2 Lascannon combat squads.
Dameon deploys nothing and opts not to sieze the initiative.

Turn 1:
Me: I move everything on to the board from my board edge.
Dameon: Moves everything on. A daemon prince kills 1 attack bike.
Thousand sons plus a defiler kill 2 from a lascannon squad.

Turn 2:
Me: MM bike pops a Rhino, another MM wounds a Daemon Prince
The Baal predator wounds a daemon prince, a Lascannon finishes it.
The heavy bolter bikes and Baal combine to kill 2 thousand sons.
Dameon: The lesser daemons arrive; The daemon prince immobilizes the predator. A razorback gets stunned by a Defiler.
The daemons assault and kill an attack bike.

Turn 3:
Me: A 5-man tac squad runs forward and flames 2 daemons to death. A Baal de-guns a Chaos Dreadnought.
The Rhino, a lascannon, and a melta combine to do 2 wounds to the daemon prince. In assault with Daemons, it is a 1-1 draw.
Dameon: The thousand sons whiff at firing at the attack bikes. The daemon prince kills a rhino, one passenger dies.
In assault, one casualty is inflicted, teh participants stay and fight.

Turn 4:
Me: Chaplain Lemartes and the Death Company arrive from reserves.
A lascannon destroys a defiler. The dakka pred immobilizes a Rhino.
In assault, the Chaplain and Death Company charge the daemon prince, one Death Company dies, Lemartes kills the Prince.
Dameon: The defiler fires and kills 2 death company marines. The thousand sons again fail to wound the attack bikes.
A dreadnought charges and destroys a Baal predator. Another dreadnought charges, whiffs, and loses an arm.

Turn 5:
Me: I kill 5 thousand sons with various shooting. In close combat, I draw with the lesser daemons (long combat)
In combat, the dreadnought kills 3, but the power fist kills the dreadnought.
Dameon: the thousand sons do a wound to a multi-melta bike. The defiler gets a 2 for difficult terrain and a 1 for fleet to put him out of assault range.
In combat, the marines beat down the lesser daemons.

Turn 6:
Me: Baal de-guns the defiler. The rest of the army kills the rest of the small squad of thousand sons.
In combat, a dread kills 1, the other goes 0-0. I assault the large thousand sons squad at an extreme end of their deployment.
Their 6 inch counter charge moves them off of their objective. Strangely, I kill 2 whilst only losing one.
I move my chaplain and DC within 1 inch of the defiler, but do not charge.
Dameon: His defiler chrages, and kills the death company. The big assault ends in a draw, with the only scoring unit on dameons side being too far to control.

The Die of destiny ends it, bringing about a 1-0 Blood Angels victory


Game 2:
My opponent Dan and his Blood Angels
He brings:
Lemartes
Dante
5 Veteran assault marines with a variety of weapons
10 Death Company
Venerable Death Company Dreadnought
10 Marines Missile, Plasma
10 Marines Lascannon, ?
Razorback with Twin-plas, lascannon (using forge-world rules and cost)
Baal Predator
Vindicator

Spearhead Annihilation
I deploy (combat squad everything) and go first.

Turn 1:
Me: My Baal pred kills 2 marines.
Dan: Moves everything forward. The vindicator stuns a Baal amd kills an attack bike.

Turn 2:
Me: Meltagun stuns the vindicator, Bolterbikes Immobilize the Razorback.
The razorback kills 2 marines. Other bikes and Baal whiff.
Dan: gets a land speeder and veteran assault squad in reserves. The vets get a bad scatter and return to the reserves.
The baal goes fast, the razorback kills an attack bike.
Dante meltas the rhino and assaults the survivors, who also die. I do kill 2 DC though.

Turn 3:
Me: A multi-melta kills the venerable dreadnought. I stun and de-gun the razorback.
Dan: The veterans come back in from reserves, another speeder flies in.
A Baal pred kills 2 from a 5-man squad. The veteran assaulters kill an attack bike and a marine.
A speeder kills a rhino, a passenger dies, DC assaults a bike and kills it.

Turn 4:
Me: Both Baal predators roll a 1 and stall. 2 Attack bikes and 5 marines kill 1 veteran marine.
A razorback shakes a speeder. The Baal predator finally kills the razorback.
The 4 man squad shoots and kills 2. In assault, I kill zero marines and lose 4 marines.
The lighting claw vet dies, I lose a bike and kill a Bp CCW vet.
Dan: His baal kills a marine from one of my las squads.
Dante Immobilizes the Baal Pred. 1-1 draw in combat with vet assault squad.

Turn 5:
Me: My razorback finally kills a speeder. The Dc shoot and kill a DC. The baal kills 2 death company.
In combat, I lose 0 and kill 2.
My DC charge, his dante and lemartes kill 4, I kill all of their death company.
Dan: The vindicator destroys a baal pred. His baal destroys my last baal.
In combat, I finally kill the veteran assault squad.
Dante kills a DC, loses 1. Lemartes takes 1. I lose by stay.

The die of destiny ends this one (Dan has 9, I only have 6) a big loss for the Angels.

I was disappointed across the board in this game. My 4 lascannon firing every turn caused not a single glancing or penetrating hit.
Despite firing at AV 11 and 13 targets, they did nothing for me. Rolling 2 misses at a crucial state with my multimelta bikes was frustrating.
I made an error when moving my melta wielding rhinos in to pop tanks. It was a gamble that I lost. Next time I will know better.

These bring my record to 30W 14L 11D.

-Mike

Battle Report: Guard versus Iyanden

On Thursday 5/28/09, I played a game at Dreamwizards in Rockville

My list, the Pride of Iyanden

Prince Yriel, Autarch of Iyanden, Epic Asskicker
Farseer w/Runes of Warding, Fortune

10 Dire Avengers w/Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin Shuriken Cannons
10 Dire Avengers w/Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend
Wave Serpent w/Twin Shuriken Cannons
10 Wraithguard w/Warlock, Spiritseer, Enhance (The Parade)

8 Fire Dragons w/Exarch, Dragons Breath Flamer
Wave Serpent w/Twin Shuriken Cannons
5 Wraithguard w/Warlock, Enhance
Wave Serpent w/Twin Shuriken Cannons

Wraithlord w/Scatter Laser, Eldar Missile Launcher
Wraithlord w/Scatter Laser, Eldar Missile Launcher

2000

Game 1: Spearhead Secure and Control (4 Counters) against the New Imperial Guard
My Opponent: Patrick Eibel, aka Sho-T Bighed

He brought
A Company Command Squad
2 Platoon Command Squads
2 Infantry squads with Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun
2 Infantry squads with Missile launcher, Grenade Launcher
Heavy Bolter weapons team
Lascannon weapons team
2 Sentinels with Lascannons
A Devildog
A squad of 2 Leman Russess with 3 Heavy Bolters
A squad of 2 Demolishers with hull lascannons



Pat Deploys his entire force.
I deploy the parade and both Wraithlords
I then seize the initiative.

Turn 1:
Me: I fortune myself (and do so every other round so I will omit it in further rounds) I move my force up. A wraithlord fires and kills the Heavy Bolter weapons team (instant death from Str 6...). The other wraithlord bounces off of a Sentinel.

Pat: Things shuffle around a bit. One of the Sentinels wounds a Wraithlord. The Demolisher squadron whiffs. The lascannon heavy weapon team kills the wounded wraithlord. The battle cannons on the Leman Russ squad kill 2 Wraithgurd.


Turn 2:
Me: From reserves, I get everyone except one Dire Avenger squad. Everything begins to get into position to begin the assault. My wraithlord kills 2 from the Platoon Command squad.

Pat: Fires a lot of Heavy Weapons at the Wave Serpents. The Demolisher squad kills the wraithguard serpent on my "right" flank. The devildog, Lascannons, and sentinel fail to penetrate. The other Lascannon Sentinel de-guns the Dire Avengers Wave Serpent.


Turn 3:
Me: My final squad of Dire Avengers arrive from reserves. The Fire Dragons jump out and smoke both Leman Russes, losing 1 of their number to an explosion... The Wraithlord de-guns a Sentinel. The Parade de-guns the other. The wraithguard manage to shake the Demolishers.

Pat: Devil dog misses again. The Lascannon heavy weapon teams stun a Wave Serpent. The Heavy Bolters and Lasguns combine to kill 3 Fire Dragons.
The Sentinels assault the Parade. My independent characters are not in base to base, so they cannot attack. A 0-0 draw ensues.


Turn 4:
Me: The Wraithlord bounces his shots off of the Devildog. The Wraithguard again Shake a Demolisher. The Fire Dragons charge the Lascannon Teams and cause zero wounds...They take a few but stay in combat. Yriel and the farseer end the Sentinels.

Pat: The Devil dog Immobilizes a Wave Serpent. Other heavy weapons bounce off the Serpents. The Demolisher De-guns a Wave Serpent. In close combat, the Fire Dragons kill 2, lose 3 and stay in the fight.


Turn 5:
Me: The Dire Avengers jump out and kill 5 from an Infantry squad. The Wraithguard de-gun a Demolisher. The parade kill the devildog. The Wraithlord kills the officer from the command squad. The Dire Avengers jump out and charge killing a few, they win combat, everyone stays, but the officer is executed by the comissar. The wraithguard charge and de-gun the other demolisher.

Pat: The Infantry squads move towards the objective. They fire on the Dire Avengers and kill 2. In close combat, the Dire Avengers cause a wound, take none, but draw due to the banner. The die of destiny is rolled and the game continues.


Turn 6:
Me: I move most everything on objectives. The Wraithlord moves up and double flamers an Infantry squad to death. The Dire Avengers shoot and kill the lone comissar. In close combat, the Dire Avengers lose 2, but wipe out all other opposition. The Wraithguard and Warlock combine to destroy a Demolisher.

Pat: The Infantry squad kills a Dire Avenger. An Infantry squad assaults the 4 Dire Avengers parked on the objective. The Dire Avengers cause a wound, and lose 3. The lone member of the Dire Avenger squad passes his morale test.

The die of destiny is rolled and the game ends. We examine the objectives. The objective in my board quarter is empty. The one in the left board quarter is controlled by the parade. The objective in the right board quarter is contested by a lone Dire Avenger. The objective in Pat's board quarter has a Wave Serpent parked on it. The game ends 1-0 in favor of the Iyanden.
The difference between a win and a draw was a single Dire Avenger.