Game 5 of 6, vs
CSM
Tournament Game 1 –
SM victory over Space Wolves
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/431321.page
Tournament Game 2 –
SM loss to Dark Angels
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/431582.page
Tournament game 3 –
SM loss to Daemons
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/431611.page
Tournament game 4 –
SM victory over Iron Hands (vanilla) Space Marines
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/431617.page
Setting
Clash of the Titans is a yearly tournament in Sydney Australia. There is no score component for how competitive your list is, so its regarded as the place to max out your codex in a competitive environment. This year points available were 1850 with six games variously table quarters, objective and kill points.
My List
I chose a list that was themed around organic elements to a Space Marine rifle company, in my case second company Aurora chapter. I wanted no ‘chapter’ assets, whether librarian, first company veterans or armoured elements that would come from the chapter pool, such as speeders, vindicators or raiders. As such this list was certainly not optimised and one many would regard with near contempt. Given the nature of this tournament, if this list held its own, then I figured I had a right to say the humble Tactical Marine, even though he constantly forgets his chainsword, is certainly solid and reliable. We will see.
Captain with Relic Blade, Plasma Pistol
10 Tactical Marines with Combiplasma, Powerfist, Plasmagun, Lascannon
10 Tactical Marines with Combimelta, Powerfist, Meltagun, Lascannon in rhino with dozer blade and Hunter Killer missile
10 Tactical Marines with Combimelta, Powerfist, Meltagun, Lascannon in rhino with dozer blade and Hunter Killer missile
10 Tactical Marines with Power Axe and Plasma Pistol, Meltagun, Lascannon in Razorback with Twinlinked Heavy Bolters
10 Tactical Marines with Combiflamer, Powerfist, Flamer, Lascannon in rhino with dozer blade and Hunter Killer missile
8 Devastators with 4 Plasma Cannons
7 Devastators with 4 Missile Launchers
His List – I didnt keep a copy of it but from memory it was something like:
Winged
DP with lash
Winged
DP with lash
10 Zerkers with icon, skull champ with fist in possessed land raider with dozer blade
7 plaguers incl icon, 2 meltaguns, champion with fist in rhino with combimelta
7 plaguers incl icon, 2 meltaguns, champion with fist in rhino with combimelta
5 Havocs with 4 autocannons,
IoCG
3 Oblits
Greater Daemon
8 lesser daemons
Mission – Kill Points (primary), Objectives (secondary) and Table Quarters (tertiary)
Primary parameter was worth the most total battle points and determined the winner.
Deployment – Pitched Battle
My opponent rolls higher and elects to set up. He spreads out across the table edge although mainly concentrates on me left flank. I set up in a concentrated way on the other table quarter hoping to concentrate on bits of his army at a time – tacticals need to chip away, no single broad based heroic charges from this army!
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Turn 1
I roll to seize and I roll 6!
I immediately turn my 4 plasma cannons onto the Obliterators! I roll for gets hot and 2 of the 4 get hot! Fortunately both are fine. They put 4 wounds on the oblits, all make their cover.
My 4 missile launcher devastators put frags into his havocs with autocannons and
IoCG. I cause 8 wounds and 3 of the 4 autocannons die.
He moves most of his army forward.
His first lash prince tries to lash my
ML devastators out of cover but fails.
His oblits put two pens on my left forward rhino, killing its
HK missile and immobilising it.
His zerkers charge out of the land raider and kill the rhino.
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Turn 2
Marines move to surround the zerkers.
I start shooting with 4 krak missiles into one of the
DPs causing a wound.
My plasma cannons put 2 wounds onto his oblits, 1 failed. A plasma cannon blast also scatters onto his second
DP and causes a wound on it.
My lascannon combat squad kills a zerker.
My combiplasma/plasmagun squad fires at the zerker. The SGT with combiplasma and powerfist kills himself from gets hot but the squad takes down 3 zerkers.
My razors heavy bolter puts a wound on the zerkers but their armour save is good.
My Captain with a combat squad shoot the zerkers then assault, wiping out the zerkers with no wounds to Aurora (other than the
PF gets hot casualty)
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His lesser daemons choose to faff around and dont come on.
His greater daemon does come on, however with the skull champ now dead it has to be a plague champ out the back that is his entry point.
Lash prince 1 (my right) moves my Captain and combat squad towards him then assaults, kills 2 marines before the Captain cuts him down with his relic blade. Booya!
His oblits kill 3 marines in the plasma squad (now SGT-less)
His landraider brasses up a melta/combimelta squad to no effect.
His second lash prince (my left) lashes devastators out of cover and assaults them, killing a few but they stick around.
Turn 3
I move a combimelta/meltagun squad next to his land raider.
My second combimelta/meltagun comes down from my right flank near his oblits.
I put a lascannon on one of his rhinos which promptly explodes.
I fire melta into his land raider which also explodes.
I put 6 plasma cannon wounds onto his oblits, 3 unsaved wounds results in 2 dead.
My combimelta squad kills another oblit.
In my assault round the left lash prince finishes off my devastators and consolidates closer to me.
His lesser daemons gate in miles from me near his plague marine icons.
His right hand plague marines melta one of my rhinos.
Turn 4
We were running out of time so this was the last turn.
My tacticals (two squads together) kills his right plague marine squad, mainly through power fist attacks.
My plasma cannons gun down his second Daemon Prince.
Emphatic victory to Space Marines.
Concluding remarks
Stealing the initiative actually gave me a massive advantage in this battle. If his greater daemon, which played no part in the battle, had of gated in onto the zerkers in the landraider, that would have been a significantly more difficult target than just mopping up the zerkers post charge and then dealing with the single prince. Equally the charge itself was a mistake, like other opponents that charged elements into my army in prior battles, I just dont think this opponent understood that my strength was the volume of small arms I could bring to bear.
I was worried about those lash princes. His choice to divert one over to my missile launcher devastators, which yes were a threat, was a mistake. Perhaps a plague rhino could have tied them up, but taking a powerful combat element like a winged
DP out for the most important turns of the game
IMO was a mistake.
Finally in terms of list build, those plaguers really needed a fist in there. How would I have paid for it? Not sure, however given he was so reluctant to treat them like a combat unit, once I had nailed his zerkers, there was no icon and no champion, so I effectively neutralised his whole daemons synergy. If even one plaguer squads had a fist and he charged them with the
DPs and zerkers straight at my concentrated deployment, then I would have been playing to his strengths and my guess is without very lucky dice he would have trounced me.
Good game and again a great opponent.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Can anyone tell me why my images are not working?
I used the image prefix and dakka gallery address then image suffix - where are I going wrong?
Thanks
