This team had been playing Terminators and Thunderwolves, but they made a change to their list, anticipating that they would play a different team. We also made a change- my partner didn't bring Terminators for the first time in 2 leagues!
We brought a TINY list as far as bodies go. Something like:
Brotherhood Champion
Xenos Inquisitor
Purifier Squad (2 Psycannon, 3 Halb)
Vindicaire Assassin
Rhino
Strike Squad (Psycannon)
Razorback (TLLC)
Dreadknight (Teleporter, H Incinirator)
Dreadnaught (Ass Cannon, TLAC, Psy)
and my list was even smaller. Really. Here's what I brought:
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| And 2 Land Raiders. That's it. |
The other guys had 6 drop pods full of Long Fangs- some with melta and some with las. 4 Land Speeders, Missile launchers, all kinds of long range firepower. They had bodies all over the place, probably outnumbering us 2-1 if not more.
We got pitched battle, sieze ground- but if we had gotten Annihilation I probably would have asked for the one allowable re-roll. They just had that many bodies. My partner did not seem worried at all- but I didn't see a way to get through all their guys. [He showed me.]
We deployed in cover, with the Land Raiders lining up along side the objective, and my Terminators elevated in a ruin on the far left corner. The Dreadnaught and DreadKnight escorted our rides on the field. We shot at the Land Speeders and a small fire support squad, destroying 3 Speeders and killing a couple missile launcher guys.
Their turn 2 brought on 4 of the pods. The special psychic ability provided by the DN that kept them 12" away from our forces REALLY helped- but they still came in to assault us. One squad landed right behind my Terminators, and the other just outside our 12" bubble. Another came in more towards the middle of the field, trying to block us a lane to their objective and wanting to kill our Land Raiders. The last came in kind of on the side of our column of mech, hoping to dump fire along the side arcs.
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| Purifiers on the objective, DreadKnight killing guys in front and on the side. Land Raiders distracting. |
Their pod full of melta failed to arrive, and the other scattered to the board edge, which resulted in us being able to place it. We put it so that the guys inside had at least 3 feet to move before they could get to any action, and the DreadKnight continued to destroy the troops set against him.
Turn 4 was a lot of harassing fire on both sides.if I remember right. I know their Melta drop pod failed to arrive. We sent a Rhino to the other side to get rid of the last of the melta.
Turn 5, The Rhino we sent over towards their side of the board got busted open and the guys inside came out to do some damage to the troops hidden in cover at the manufactoium type thing. They break the Wolf Squad right up and begin the slow escort off the board. I continued to provide fire support with my CML Termies and the Land Raiders. Their last drop pod fails to come on AGAIN. At this point, the other guys decide to concede, as they don't see any way to even get a draw.
What I learned: My guys make really good body guards, and maybe a mech heavy list isn't so bad, if it is done right. Cover matters and using my mech to defend something big and important CAN work if there's either enough of it or enough support.
What I need to work on: Thinking long term. My partner knew just by LOOKING at the board that the worst we could do was a draw. I had no concept of how he came to that conclusion.
About my opponents: Man, they were fun! One player is new to SpaceWolves, and the other was trying a non-Terminator list for the first time in a while. They tried something new, which was a challenge- and they were super good sports. They teased me a lot about being the best bodyguard in the league, which is honestly kind of true. I provide distraction so my partner can get things done.
It was a fun game and I am really looking forward to next week when I get to play my buddy who is also just getting back in after many years of being on the sidelines.
It was a fun game. Actually, annihilation would have been even better for you. We were giving up SOOOO many kill points that it could have gotten to the point of tabling you and still not being able to win. If we had played Sieze ground instead of Capture and control it could have been a little different since we had a lot more troops than you and we might have been able to hold more.
ReplyDelete:-) Yes, Seize Ground would have been the worst for us as we'd likely have 2 objectives at best since we only had 2 Troops to start with... Clearing/contesting the rest might have been difficult if they were spread far apart. I think Loq meant you lads would want to re-roll the kill points mission as you had so many KPs out on the table that tabeling us would have been your only real hope of winning... Unsupported Grey Hunters are really not that difficult to move off of objectives given a serious enough force coming at them, and I had that force I think...
ReplyDeleteKnowing that we'd at worst draw came from knowing that we had a Land Raider full of Troops, a Razorback with troops and a boatload of "Heavy Support" (not "HS" like in the codex, but DNs, DKs, etc...) sitting there that they would have to be extraordinarily lucky to dig us out. I had no intention of simply GIVING them their own objective, and assumed correctly that the DK and Purifiers (reinforced with the Inquisitor and BHC) would be able to take and hold their objective... "Contest" actually as they were not "Troops", but they killed everything "Wolf" near the objective to deny it to them. If that element failed, or they kept a significant force back to hold their own objective, I would not have bothered sending a major assault element over there, just sit tight on our own objective for the draw... Note, from the beginning, they had no troops on the objective, and we had 2 on our own... Since they moved all of their troops against us, they never really controlled their own objective. The Strike Squad (normal "line squad" of Grey Knights) had the Warp Quake preventing a drop right onto the objective or eve close really, allowing our superior firepower (locall there at least) to deal with anything that dropped even close... Have to say, the Dreadknight was also quite handy there... The flamer on him might not stay, I'm not sure it has actually killed anything thus far... But his DN CCW fists... :-) Jumping monstrous creature is good as a roving defense/ strong safety for the list...
My list was slightly different, I had to give up the TLLC on the Razorback to fit in what I was wanting, specifically the Vindicare assassin :-)
Well, Joe and I play youse people next week.
ReplyDeleteGot a list built. Checking it twice (at least). Gonna find out who's naughty or...never mind.
Tom
Well, both of our armies are big into the whole "purity seals" things, so we have proof of "nice" status :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was capture & control? Crap. See? I'm still new.
ReplyDeleteNo, what I meant about Annihilation was: it was my opinion that you & T had so many bodies there was no way that we could kill enough to win. I didn't think of it in the reverse, number 1. And number 2, I am still new enough not to understand that a lot of models in Annihilation could be a GOOD thing. I just don't see that far ahead.
Keep at it and you'll eventually be able to evaluate the battlefield at a glance. Doing timed tournaments is great for it, as well as thinking on the fly.
ReplyDeleteArmies with a low model count that are hard to remove are great at annihilation, at least in not giving up many (or typically easy), kill points, like a unit of 10 Terminators. Armies that field a lot of fragile models tend to not do well, like my Speed Freek Orks with all their AV10 open-topped vehicles.