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Here is my last Batrep on the Broadside Bash. I was going to write all 5 games, but they take for ever to do, and Game #2 was against mostly footslogging Tau and I just blew them off of the table, Game #3 was against Ultramarines and he held his army in reserve until the bottom of turn #2 and just walked up to the objectives. My rolling very bad and the game ending early on turn #5 made is a one-sided affair in his favor, and Game #5 was me just shooting up a Blood Angels army that came on piecemeal.

Broadside Bash Game #4 Blackmoor vs. Russell B.

Russ and I were in the same division in the SCGWL for a couple of years, and we have played against each other at various RTTs. He is a good player with an excellently painted army.

Blackmoor's SoB vs. Russ's Black Templar.

Black Templar Emerald Crusaders

HQ
Marshall w/Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer, Adamantine mantle, Crusader Seals, Terminator Honors

Emperor’s Champion w/Accept any Challenge, No matter the odds.

Elite
6 Sword Brethren Assault Terminators w/2 Lightning Claws, 4 Thunder Hammers+Storm Shield, 2 Furious Charges.

Troops
Crusader Squad
6 Crusaders w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun
2 Neophytes

Crusader Squad
6 Crusaders w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun
2 Neophytes

Crusader Squad
7 Crusaders w/Powerfist, Melta Gun, Frag Grenades
2 Neophytes

Crusader Squad
7 Crusaders w/Powerfist, Melta Gun, Frag Grenades
2 Neophytes
Drop Pod

Crusader Squad
9 Crusaders w/Powerfist, Melta Gun, Frag Grenades
4 Neophytes

Heavy Support
Land Raider Crusader w/Blessed Hull, Extra Armor, Smoke Launchers, PotMS

Land Raider Crusader w/Blessed Hull, Extra Armor, Smoke Launchers, PotMS


Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle

The objectives where in opposite quarters. Mine was in the lower right and his was on the upper left.

Deployment
SoB
I won the roll to go first and I ended up setting up with my Exorcists in the middle, and my Grey Knights on my objective and the Inq. with them. I had the SoB in the middle and most of the Storm troopers on the left.

Black Templars
He set up the 2 Lascannon squads on the right, and the LRC with the large crusader squad in it. The other LRC was on the far right and loaded with Terminators. They had a crusader squad in front of them.


Turn #1

SoB Top of turn #1
I do not move, and my Inq and the Grey knights shoot up the crusader squad on the right because it was the only thing they can see and shoot it down to one marine. I shoot his LRC with my Exorcists and do nothing.


The middle of the board


The one marine moves forward

BT Bottom of turn #1
He moves his LRCs forward and pops smoke. He shoots and kills my Chimera on the left with a Lascannon.


Left side


Right Side

Turn #2

SoB top of turn#2
Well, his LRC are getting close. Since my GK and Inq. has nothing to shoot at, I move them all the way back to the board edge to buy myself some time. I think this is the one of the last times that I will get a chance at his LRC, so I move up my melta gun stormtroopers and disembark hitting the LRC twice, but I roll 2 “5s” for penetration…grrrr. I shoot the exorcists at the LRC and their old school smoke has no effect on me since I can only glance, and I end up getting a 6 on the damage roll, but he makes his obscured roll so it has no effect. I forgot to move my stormtroopers on the far left, (I’m still stuck in 4h edition) and I could have used those plasma guns to kill some BT.


Left Side

BT Bottom of turn #2
The good thing is that my chimera is blocking his LRC. He gets his Marshall out and kills my storm troopers. He kills my stormtroopers on the left with his crusader squad.



Turn #3

SoB Top of turn #3
Well still no assassin.

So here I am with a decision, I can’t stop his LRC and I can’t stand up to his assault forces. So I can either take my SoB and try to hold my objective, or try to take his. I made the call to try to take his objectives. He only has a couple of units on the right, and his drop pod unit.

I shoot my chimera on the right at his last BT marine and I do 4 wounds to him that he all saves. The Exorcists kill his Marshall.


Center view


Close up on the right side.

BT Bottom of turn #3
He gets his drop pod and he does what I thought he would and lands it to support his objective. He moves his LRC up and he dumps out his crusader squad. He shoots up my Inq and I chose to run so he does not get to charge me. His terminators kill my chimera on the right, and a lascannon kills the Chimera with my SoB squad in it.


The right side


The left side

Turn #4

SoB Top of turn #4
Still no assassin. This is why I stopped taking Demons in my Thousand Sons army, and I lost most escalation missions in 4th edition. I always roll awful for reserve rolls. I really needed her to support either one of my attacks. Both sides could have used her.

Right Side
I move up my Grey Knights and my Canoness to get ready to assault the Crusader Squad. I am beginning to think that I might be able to hold my objective. I unload my Exorcists on the Terminators and I only kill 2 of them. I shoot at the Crusader Squad and they run. That is why I hate Black Templars. They run forward when I want them to run away, and they run away when I want them to stay.

Left Side
The SoB squad gets off the wreck and moves forward and shoots the squad in front of it, killing them down to 3 marines. The other squad in the rhino moves up and gets out and unloads on the drop pod squad killing only a few. I used diving guidance for both and rolled badly.


Right side


Left Side

BT Bottom of turn #4
He moves his LRC to screen me from my objective. He hits my Grey Knights with his Terminators and wipes them out. He runs his last BT marine into his LRC.
On the left side he runs away except for his Drop pod squad that assaults my SoB squad and wipes out most of them with his Emperor’s Champion.


Left Side


Right Side

Turn #5
This is going to be the last turn. Again, we had only 2 hours for a 2000 point game.

SoB Top of turn #5
I move my canoness up to keep within 6” of his crusader squad so that it keeps running. I shoot up his LRCs some more. I immobilize both of them (over the game I shot off some weapons, and did minor damage to them). My assassin finally came on (she did not come on until turn 5 of game #5 as well) and tried to kill the squad that is holding his objective, and I totally whiff and she dies. I cast sprit of the martyr and it keeps my SoB squad alive in assault.


Right side


Left side

BT Bottom of turn #5
The end of the game he has the stupid one BT marine that I tried to kill holding my objective and one of his other squads holding his giving him the game. Not only that, but he ends up winning the tournament.

It was a great tactical game and I had a lot of fun.

After the game I tried to think about what I did wrong. I think I should have abandoned trying to hold my objective earlier and try to get his objective. I kept thinking that I might be able to knock out his LRC or kill the units in them, and clearly that was not the case. I shot the Exorcists at his marines on his objectives instead of wasting all those shots trying in vain to kill the units going after mine, I think I could have easily gotten the tie.

Cool report. The only thing I could think of (arm chair quarterback mode) is to have set up the objective behind you Excorcists by forming an upside down 'V' to force your opponent to kill both vehicles to be through to it.

Agreed with 2 hours. Locally, we've typically run 2000 point tourneys and 2 1/2 hours is a necessity.

Looks like his mobility was able to sort your static gunline.

G

Sarigar wrote:Cool report. The only thing I could think of (arm chair quarterback mode) is to have set up the objective behind you Exorcists by forming an upside down 'V' to force your opponent to kill both vehicles to be through to it.

Since I deployed first, I did not know how he was going to set up. In the game before my opponent had a Vindicator that I could not kill because my exorcists were all on one side of the table, so I put them in the middle so I could cover both objectives. I thought that the best place for the objective was the open field where my GK and my Inq squad had the best field of fire to protect it. He just countered by putting all of his infantry on the left so I could not shoot it and the land raiders on the right.

If I could have ever popped one of his LRCs not only would that slow him down and buy me some time, but I could have shot the units inside up before he reached me. That would have severely impacted his assault abilities and I thought that I could hold my objective at that point, but it was not to be.

Also I find that Exorcists do not hold up to assault in 5th edition because they have such weak rear armor. If I tried to castle up over the objective with my Exorcists, I thought that he could take them out with out too much of a problem with his powerfists.

Green Blow Fly wrote:Looks like his mobility was able to sort your static gunline.

G

I think you are wrong on the mobility part. I only have 2 units that are static and almost my whole army is Mech.

My mistake was that I was using my SoB as a reserve, and had them ready to go where they were needed. I should have moved them out earlier in the game to try to take his objective, because one of the reasons why I lost the game was my indecision about trying to hold my objective, or go after his.

the way you play your army comes across primarily as a gun line though... At least that is what I get from reading the batreps. I knew from reading the early part of the report that if you could not stop the crusaders you were going to have some problems. Unfortunately both of his LRC got up into your grill. I don't know what I would have done different... The Exorcists are just not that good anymore in 5e versus AV14.

G

Green Blow Fly wrote:the way you play your army comes across primarily as a gun line though... At least that is what I get from reading the batreps. I knew from reading the early part of the report that if you could not stop the crusaders you were going to have some problems. Unfortunately both of his LRC got up into your grill. I don't know what I would have done different... The Exorcists are just not that good anymore in 5e versus AV14.

G

I can see how you might think that.

Most of my games are against assault armies where I can’t get close to my opponent, or against armies I can out-shoot where I do not have to move much. Obviously my army is most effective as a static gunline but the army has decent movement when it needs to.

I try to take into account all of the possibilities of different armies that I can face, and I thought I could handle Land Raider spam. I had the Exorcists which should be ok against them in emergencies, but I had the stormtroopers with the melta guns, the SoB squads with melta guns and the Canoness with the inferno pistol. I had some chances to take them out, or at least immobilize them early in the game, but I just rolled badly.

The old school smoke launchers are nasty on landraiders. All they need is that one extra move to get off the assault. I thought it was a good ploy to block one with a chimera. It often seems like a game can just come down to one key dice roll.

G

Nice report Blackmoor thanks. Russ is a great guy, I am happy to hear he won the event.