[40K] Post # 200, Bat Rep #3 and Star Wars Imperial Guard!

I got in another 40K game during League play on Monday. It's an escalation league at 1250 points.

I missed the 1000 point games so I jumped from 750 to 1250. It's a big jump, and I'm not entirely sure I put together the best list to play- but I gave it a shot.

I played a CSM player whose list was roughly like this:

Defiler

4 Oblits

2 Demon princes

10 Man Squad with mark of Khorne

Dedicated Rhino

10 Man Squad

Dedicated Rhino
someone on that list had Lash, but I don't know who (I think it was an Oblit???)

Mine was something like

EC, AAC

7 Initiates, 2 Neophytes (1 power sword, 1 flamer)

frag & krak

Dedicated Rhino

7 Initiates, 1 Neophyte (1 lascannon, 1 flamer)

Frag & krak

2 landspeeders

1 Typhoon Missile launcher

1 Multimelta

Predator Annihilator

Turret TLLC

(side sponson las)

terminator Sword brethren

3 Storm Bolters, CCW

1 Typhoon Missile Launcher

1 Assault cannon

1 venerable Dred,

Extra armor

Multimelta

We used the ROE to determine deployment and neither of us liked the results, so we re-rolled to get pitched battle. My primary win condition was to destroy his objectives and my secondary was to hold any two.

[Important note about this destroying objectives thing: I had to start and stay in base-to-base contact with the objective marker through an assault phase, but I DID NOT HAVE TO ASSAULT it. ANY model was acceptable to accomplish this goal.]

His primary was to hold any two, with secondary to destroy more points than his highest unit cost him.

I deployed roughly in a staggered triangle, holding termies and land speeders in reserve for deep strike. I actually had a plan, hoping to rush the landspeeders to the objective

Notice that it's on the other side of the board behind a wall. This wall is apparently key to my opponent's play style.

with the pred and shooty troops as fire support. I then wanted to cross over with the termies

ALSO behind the wall.

and blow up some rhinos before destroying his marker.

That was the plan. Here's what happened.

Simply put, he blew my stuff up before I had a chance to do anything. First turn, my Pred was destroyed. [Defiler] My Dred got shot so he couldn't move or shoot. [Oblits, I think] My Termies and LS were off the board, and my Rhino only moved 6 due to a colossal overestimation of distance on my part.

My shooty troop squad was blown off the board on second turn, after I had gotten ONE shot off with the Las. [Defiler again.] This made me adjust my plan somewhat, as pretty much all my fire support was gone. I kept going in with my landspeeders and Rhino towards that first objective, figuring I could zip the LS away (bait) and then out-CC his CSM with my troops pretty easily. I shambled my Dred over towards his princes, hoping to get at least ONE shot off at them.

I did not.

I honestly put the Dred in sort of as a throwaway- I didn't know if it was worth having and I wanted to try it, but I wasn't super attached to it. I discovered that while the big guy never got a shot off, he's frickin' AWESOME.

My Dred stayed in CC with at least one Demon Prince (and one round of two) for three rounds without going down. I will give credit where it's due- my opponent could NOT make any sort of pen/damage rolls despite rolling 2D6 to save his life. He consistently rolled 'can't move/can't shoot', and the time he didn't, I made him reroll with the Ven ability and got a way better result. Dred simply smashed the flesh right off the Demon prince, over and over, until he had 1 wound left and ran away like a girl.

With  his one wound, he flies away.

All the rest of the game? Pretty dang boring. I managed to destroy an objective with my Terminators, and shortly after, got zorched by Oblits. More getting shot by Oblits and Defiler, going down in a big heaping pile of flames. Finally disembark my CC troop squad with Brother Darius at the lead, and get Lashed into a big mob for the Oblit's Las (or something. I honestly forget). I'm dead except a Rhino and the Dred before turn 4 is over.

This was not a fun game- and not because I lost.I'll explain why in a moment.

What I learned:

I like my Dreadnaught and want to include him in more lists. Maybe I can find him a couple friends, too. The resiliency and the ability to make my opponent re-roll was really pretty handy.

I keep trying the Mech list thing that everyone says is the way to win with BT. Every time I take more than one vehicle, it fails miserably. [I've played 2 other games I haven't reported here- 1 win, 1 loss; and some of my 'data' comes from those games as well.] I don't think I like Mech unless it's REALLY FRICKIN BIG, and need to figure out what the problem is.

I HATE OBLITS  As my son likes to say, I wish they would die in a hole. I need to find something to use against big nasties that's effective- because right now, I got nothin. 

What I can improve on:

I still need to read the rule book MORE.  I'm still fuzzy on some rules I use a lot, and I need to work on that. 

This league is the worst possible way for me to learn. For the most part, the people are great. They are truly a ton of fun to hang out with and I really enjoy them. Most of them are patient and really enthused about helping a new player learn. However, I tend to need to do the same thing the same way several times to really "get it", and this league- with it's weird deployment, mission and point levels, is NOT helping me. I'm doing my best, and I know I can read up some more to improve myself. But what's wrong with pitched battle? 

Making effective army lists. I'm still not convinced I understand the synergy between units and the army profile, and I spend a lot of time GUESSING.  

About my opponent: 
He's 13 and kicked my teeth in. I don't have a real issue with getting beaten by a younger opponent- it happens a lot with my son, who regularly stomps my face in with his Cryxx or Cygnar against my admittedly pathetic (but pretty!) Khador.

My opponent was very enthusiastic about his army and what it can do. He knew his rules inside and out. He explained a couple things to me that I didn't understand patiently. However, he ran right over me when I had a comment. I wish I could say something nicer than - he was impatient. If this had been my first game, I might honestly quit.

However, I have teenage kids. I understand this is a temporary mental issue and he'll get better.

Now, in celebration of my 200th post, a special feature. I mentioned in a comment on someone else's blog (CounterFett, this means YOU) that a local guy plays Imperial Guard using Star Wars figures. He brought them in and I snapped some shots of these lovely guys.

 

That's right, the Walker is assaulting the HULL of the Vendetta, baby!