Utilizing Careful Highlighting
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Game 4 of 6
Game 4 of 6 vs Iron Hands Space Marines
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
From memory
Librarian with TDS and SS, Null Zone and Might of Ancients
5 assault terminators (3 TH/SS, 2 LC) in Land Raider Redeemer
Three tactical squads, two with powerfists, all with melta/combimelta, one LC and two ML, two rhinos and a las/plas razor
A rifleman dread
Two dakka preds
Two MM bikes
TFC
Mission – Table Quarters (primary), Objectives (secondary) and Kill Points (tertiary)
Primary parameter was worth the most total battle points and determined the winner.
Deployment – Dawn of War
He combat squads his whole army and deploys 2 combat squads with heavy weapons.
I deploy a full melta/combimelta squad.
Turn 1
His whole army rolls on, with one of his attack bike ending about 6` from my deployed squad.
I bring on my whole army.
In shooting I try and brass up his attack bike, but roll snakes eyes for night fighting.
My razorback immobilises itself on terrain.
A rhino rolls 1 on terrain but its dozer blade saves the day.
Turn 2
His attack bikes converge on my forces, one rips off a HK missile from a rhino. Second bike misses.
His lascannon hits my rhino but my smoke covers the shot.
His land raider fires TL assault cannons at my melta squad in cover, killing 4 marines.
A predator fires at the same melta squad and kills the lascannon marine in the squad.
His dread hits my rhino 4 times, 2 penetrate but smoke covers
A krak round is foiled by smoke
The second dakka pred causes wounds but power armour saves the marines
His TFC kills 2 marines in my plasma devastator squad (there are 3 space bolter marines in that squad for exactly that purpose)
Both my tac and devatator squad pass LD.
My rhino moves forward, again I roll 1 on terrain but again dozer blade reroll saves the rhino.
My melta/combimelta squad (what is left) moves through cover and rolls snakes eyes
I fire melta/combimelta at close range into his land raider redeemer. One hits but bounces off. I start to worry a lot more about a land raider redeemer with two intact flamestorm cannons in the centre of my `horde` of tactical marines.
My captain and the combat squad he has joined kill an attack bike.
My razorback puts a wound on his other attack bike.
I fire 4 krak missiles from devestators at the TFC, 2 hit the marine and 1 the cannon. The cannon saves a pen on its 3++ cover but the techmarine rolls a 1 and a krak missile treats his artificer armour like tinfoil.
My plasmacannons tear up the remaining attack bike.
Turn 3
He moves the Land Raider Redeemer forward and disembarks the terminator librarian and his terminator posse.
He also moves his rhinos forward.
His land raider blows away one of my rhinos, killing one of my flamer squad marines in the resulting explosion
His lasplas razor misses
One of his dakka preds puts 6 wounds one a squad, 3 die leaving only the SGT, who passes his LD.
His assault cannons open up on my plasma cannon devs, hitting 3, rending 1 and wounding another, I pass cover and armour saves.
His assault terminators pile into my remaining melta/combimelta squad. I deal 1 wound, he takes it on the librarian, who fails armour! In reply his libby (who did not use any powers) kills 1 and his lightning claws kill another 3. My powerfist kills a storm shield terminator while his thunderhammers pulverise a further 5 marines.
I lose combat but opt to use the marine ability to fall back, failing LD, as the terminators cannot sweep.
Again only the SGT is left in this squad now. His terms consolidate 6.
I position everything to hammer the terminators.
My plasmacannons wipe out 2 of my own marines and put 7 wounds on the Iron Hands terminators leaving only one thunder hammer left.
I shoot the last terminator with a storm bolter and he dies!
Where were these dice against Belial?
I fire 4 krak missiles as this land raider, they bounce off
A lascannon bounces off the raider
The meltagun wielding combat team with the captain fire off a melta shot at the raider at extreme range. I hit, and roll 6 to glance! I roll on the damage table... and roll another 6!!!! The raider is destroyed! Wahoo, I punch the air and think generally acted like a little boy.
The sole powerfist SGT in centrefield, all thats left of the one of my melta/combimelta teams that got hammered in an earlier turn, runs forward and assaults his razorback and destroys it.
Turn 4
His preds hit my tacticals, each killing a marine
His lascannon combat squad misses my rhino.
He frags a squad of mine and kills another.
In response my powerfist SGT, who just killed his razorback, and got ignored in his turn, now runs further forward and powerfists his predator! He stuns it.
My captain and SGT with plasma pistol kills one of his rhinos.
We call it at the end of turn 4. I have 3 table quarters and more objectives, solid win to Aurora.
Concluding remarks
This player again did not employ a high conviction strategy against me, it was sort of assault, sort of hold back. He litterally threw away his attack bikes like fantasy gobbos with ball and chains.
I was lucky to get that raider destroyed result, very lucky. I have very little melta left at that point and those flamerstorm cannons in my lines could have won the battle for him.
The krak rounds getting the TFC was also great. I would have happily used the plasmacannons to remove that piece of artillery, its a glass hammer but I still had to get through that reinforced 3++ cover save.
A good fun game
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