So I had the opportunity to play seven games this weekend. Here is my army list again:
- HQ-
The Sanguinor
Commander Dante
- Elites -
Chaplain/jump pack, infernus pistol
Sanguinary Priest/jump pack, infernus pistol, power sword
Furioso dreadnaught/extra armor, heavy flamer & Blood Talons
- Troops -
10x assault Marine (jump packs)/2x meltagun, thunderhammer & stormshield
5x Sanguinary Guard/Chapter banner, 2x infernus pistol, power fist
- Heavy Support -
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked assault cannon & twin linked multi-melta
- Fast Attack -
6x Vanguard veteran (jump packs)/
* thunderhammer & stormshield (sergeant)
* lightning claw & stormshield
* lightning claw & stormshield
* lightning claw & stormshield
* power sword & infernus pistol
* bolt pistol & chainsword
I always opted to start the game with the Sanguinor and the Furioso embarked in the Stormraven. All units were always held in reserve with the Stormraven flying onto the table & all other units deepstriking. Typically I would join Dante and the Priest with the Sanguinary Guard while the chaplain would join the assault squad. Only once did I break the assault Marines into two combat squads. So basically all my units were fearless except for the Vanguard veterans... You can't use Heroic Intervention if a character is attached to the Vanguard veterans. The main purpose of the Vanguard veterans was to create discord for my opponent by assaulting an enemy unit out in the open. While they didn't always get their points back they did serve very well as a distraction and always destroyed at least one enemy unit except for the one game when they mishapped; there was also one game when they scattered outside of their charge arc. To me they did perform very well in 6 games out of 7 so I think they are an awesome unit and well worth their points. The one game when they scattered outside their charge arc they were able to survive a turn of heavy enemy shooting thanks to their stormshields then the next turn they were able to launch an assault.
Sanguinor's Blessing was always useful as my two sergeants were both armed with a thunderhammer and stormshield - the +1WS, +1W and +1A is a true blessing indeed! Dante's curse was also very helpful as well, dropping one enemy HQ by -1WS, -1W and -1A... This proved quite useful versus enemy Librarians as my opponents had to seriously consider taking a psychic test since one Perils of the Warp would suicide them.
The Sanguinary Guard were great at coming in from reserve, destroying a tank with their infernus pistols. They were also an excellent assault unit lead by Dante. They were also very good at holding an objective towards the endgame due to their 2+ armor save coupled with Feel No Pain due to the Priest. Dante could soak a couple of wounds as well to help keep them in the game.
So I was playing an army that could field a maximum up to three scoring units if I combat squadded by assault Marines:
Here is what I faced off against and the skill level I rank each opponent (1-5, 1 = newb, 3 = intermediate level, 5 = warmaster). Note that each mission had three objectives and the primary always was based upon holding the most objectives.
• 1st game vs. Blood Angels (rating of 1)
So I got lucky and played someone completely new to the game. It's important to rack up the massacres when you have the opportunity so I did. He was running the Sanguinor with six full assault squads. My army has lots and lots of weapons that ignore armor saves in close combat so it was fairly easy to rip through one to two assault squads per turn. I obviously used Dante's curse versus my opponent's Sanguinor which meant my Sanguinor was able to kill him in the first round of assault before my opponent's HQ could swing back. My Stormraven was pretty much untouchable as the only shooty weapons he had were meltaguns and my opponent opted to start with all his squads deployed on the table, so no opportunity to snipe my gunship with a deepstriking melta squad.
• 2nd game versus Blood Angels (rating of 3.5)
My second opponent was a good player with a list that scared me:
Librarian
Sanguinary Priest/power sword
Furioso dreadnaught/extra armor & Blood Talons
5x assault Marine/meltagun - razorback/twin linked assault cannon
5x assault Marine/meltagun - razorback/twin linked assault cannon
5x assault Marine/meltagun - razorback/twin linked assault cannon
10x assault Marine (sans jump packs)/2x meltagun, power fist & infernus pistol
Baal predator/flamestorm cannon
Dreadnaught/2x autocannon
Dreadnaught/2x autocannon
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon & twin linked lascannon
My opponent was using the Blood Angels codex as a counts as Iron Warriors army and it looked really cool! He started off with the Librarian and Priest joined with the ten man assault squad embarked and Furioso in his Stormraven. He went first and opted to start off deployed in a castle with all his unit on the table. There were five objectives with the Spearhead deployment so I made sure to place my objectives outside of his table quarter so he could not spend the entire game sitting back shooting my units, which worked well since his mobile units quickly left his pair of rifleman dreads behind taking them effectively out of the game. My dice were burning hot this game which really helped a lot. My first task at hand was to destroy his Stormraven so I could stop the mobile assault from happening - my gunship came in from reserve moving 6" onto my table edge and I fired everything into his Stormraven, which had moved fast the previous turn. He blocked all of shots with his cover saves except for one from the multi-melta which glancing wrecked it. To top that off the next turn his Furioso charged my Vanguard veterans in cover, the VV sergeant had the Sanguinor's blessing so he was able to strike simultaneously with the raging dreadnaught and destroyed it. The blast radius was 6" and all three of his five man assault squads took several wounds, failed their armor saves then fled. I melta'd all his tanks the next turn while Dante and the Sanguinor along with my Sanguinary Guard ripped through his Librarian and ten man assault squad. My dice were definitely blessed that game and I felt very lucky to have come away with a major win against a very good player.
• 3rd game versus Space Wolves (rating of 3)
This opponent had a very unique list:
Logan Grimnar
Rune Priest
6x Wolfguard squads/meltagun*, 7x stormbolter*, 1 power sword*, 2x cyclone missile launcher & power fist**
* power armor, ** terminator armor
So basically 6 squad of ten Marines with Logan and the Rune Priest. That was a lot of Marines to handle. This game had 3 objectives with one on the middle and one in each neutral table quarter (Spearhead deployment). My opponent opted to go first. I was banking on my superior mobility to win this game but as it turned out we both ended up holding one objective so it was a draw. The turn I charged Logan with Dante and his Sanguinary Guard, Logan survived the initial onslaught with one wound remaining and was just able to kill all my Sanguinary Guard, then he bit it failing an armor save due to No Retreat. I look back on this game thinking I could have played it a little better foolishly losing a few units early in the game such as my Vanguard veterans and my Furioso. I still scored well overall taking points for the secondary and tertiary objectives plus half points for the primary. My opponent scored a couple more points for tactical bonuses so I slipped back a few tables while he remained on table #3 for the fourth game and was massacred by my buddy's IG. So probably it was a blessing in disguise that I dropped back a bit... Those are the breaks. Hee!
4th game versus eldar (rating of 4.5)
This was probably my favorite game of the event. I was playing Mike Watkins from Fort Collins, Colorado with his beautiful mechdar:
Eldrad
Avatar
10x Striking Scorpions/power fist
5x Fire Dragons/wave serpent
5x Fire Dragons/wave serpent
5x Dire Avengers/wave serpent
5x Dire Avengers/wave serpent
5x Dire Avengers/wave serpent
10x Dire Avengers/wave serpent
3x War Walkers
Wow only six wave serpents to deal with this game... Scary. This game the objective was whoever held the most pieces of terrain. There was no way I was going to split my assault Marines into combat squads with all that xenos ranged firepower! I knew the only way to win was to kill all his scoring units so that was my plan. I also wanted to make sure I killed the Avatar for a moral victory. The plan went well but not all the way. I was able to pop all of the Dire Avengers' transports and killed three of the four squads, plus the Scorpions and the Avatar. Unfortunately I wasn't able to reach the 10 man squad and Mike wisely straddled them across two pieces of terrain while my Sanguinary Guard could only claim one. My assault squad lead by my chaplain fought bravely versus the Scorpions and died to the last man. The Sanguinor came in strong though finishing off the last of the Scorpions then assassinated the Avatar before succumbing to torrent from the War Walkers. The last turn my Stormraven swooped in towards the last squad of Dire Avengers then was destroyed by eldar gunfire - the ensuing explosion killed four of the Avengers and they just passed their leadership test by a 9 on 9. It was just that close and a very exciting end to the first day.
More batreps to follow.
G
No comments:
Post a Comment