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link to round 1: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/445188.page

So round 2 saw me up against James' IG big tank boys.

My list in all of its awesomeness:

Libby-nullzone/avenger
5 sternguard-3 combi meltas, 2 combi flamers w/rhino
2 x rifleman dreads
2 x 10 tac marines- combi melta, melta, lascannon, rhinos
5 tac marines in las/plasback
2 x typhoons (2 squads)
2 multi melta attack bikes
2 x dakka preds
5 devs - 4 missile launchers, las/plasback



James IG:
( I don't know IG very well, so this will probably be wrong. Hopefully James can tell me if I mess his list up)

CCS w/3 melta in chimera w/HK (two of these)
some kind of platoon thing with 3 plasma in chimera w/HK (I think three of these)
PBS 9 psykers (no ride) x 2
vendetta w/a squad inside with some upgraded sgt
LRBT w/lascannon x 2
LRBT w/some sort of STR 10 AP 2 cannon at 24" range w/lascannon
that little bastard Marbo
hellhound

James. He's ferocious looking, isn't he?


Scenario: Straight up kill points with a twist. There was this "ultimate weapon" thing that started in the middle of the board and at the beginning of each movement phase went 2d6" in a random direction (or something, I think every table played it differently). It didn't factor into our game so I'm not going to mention it again.

Deployment: spearhead

massacre- win by 6+ KP
major victory - win by 4
minor victory - win by 2 (I think. Really need to start grabbing scenarios when I leave)
draw - tie on KP (duh)

PREGAME: This would be interesting. He had some big guns and the vendetta had me a little worried. Plus I don't know IG that well and he had three AV 14 tanks that would be making me miserable. Marbo was always an asspain when he popped up at the wrong time. Hopefully I could get first turn and slow him down a bit or at least cushion the blow.

We rolled for turn and I won. I employed my "slug style" to not move my fat ass and stay where I was (and take first turn of course). Again, and I can't stress this enough, this is the playstyle that all the top players employ. Anywho, I chose the lower right corner.

Deployment: I put a 10 man squad in a big crater, spreading out to avoid blasts. A las/plasback, behind a speeder, behind a dread, went to my upper right. The devs went in a piece of terrain in the middle. To my lower left went a pred, dread, and speeder. The other pred deployed near the devs withe las/plasback in cover behind it. The libby w/SG, the empty rhino, attack bikes, and other 10 man tac squad all went in to reserve. I was hoping to catch him in the weak side armor if he came toward me. I also wanted some backup in case he outflanked the vendetta or Marbo popped up behind me.

My deployment. Everything in the upper part is getting cover from each other and the rocks.


My lower left deployment.


James put a LRBT up on a rock in his corner with a PBS on each side of the tank. His other tanks went in a line near the center, somewhat in an arc, with the other two LRBTs anchoring the right side of his line (my left). The vendetta went behind the tanks. I was surprised that he deployed it in the open.

Shot of James' deployment. You can barely see the vendetta base in the upper left; remember where it was.


James attempted to seize but failed, so we were off.

My one, my dread and speeder on the left move further left. I had shots on the vendetta, which was my biggest worry, but I wanted to move more left to get side armor shots on his tanks. The dread, speeder, and las/plasback on the upper right all moved toward his side of the table to get side shots from that side. I was hoping to catch him in a large pincer, forcing him to toward the meat of my armor while I snipped at him from the sides.

My stuff moving toward his table edge. The typhoon didn't have cover, but unless he wanted to shoot a battle cannon at it, nothing had range. (sorry for the blur)


Shooting, the left dread whiffed on his vendetta but the typhoon came through for me and exploded it, killing some of the passengers. The dakka preds were both out of range of his PBS and I don't think did any damage. I stunned his right-most chimera, shook a few others, blew the STR 10 cannon off of a LRBT with a las shot, shook the hellhound with the devs, and wrecked his other LRBT that was on the front line. All in all, not too bad. I had taken out his biggest gun, exploded the vendetta, and shut down most of his return fire for at least a turn. Let's see what he had left.

The crater on the left is where the vendetta was. All the dice are shaken or stunned markers.


James' one, everything that could moved forward. The hellhound came right at me and popped smoke while a troop chimera followed it and popped smoke as well. The LRBT moved toward my table edge followed by an HQ chimera. The guys that were in the vendetta came forward.

His shooting, his LRBT w/o a cannon blew up my left dread with it's hull lascannon. His other LRBT shot at my mid pred and shook it. His PBS did some crazy shooty thingy at my other pred but either didn't hit or didn't do anything to it. That wasn't too bad.

My two, all my reserves came in but the empty rhino, which was cool with me. The libby/SG smoked for a shield for the tac squad and bikes. I left the bikes a window through which they could shoot the side armor of the LRBT. The speeder jumped in behind as well for cover saves. My shaken pred popped smoke whilst the upper dread moved more upper (yeah, I said it) and the speeder moved more toward his board edge for side shots on the chimera. I stunned in the first turn.

My reserves come in with the typhoon hiding behing the rhinos. Notice the teeny tiny window for the bikes to shoot through.


My right side turn two. The pred popped smoke and the dread moved further for side armor shots.


Shooting, I had one bike within 12" of the LRBT and one outside of 12". Naturally, the closer one missed and the other failed to do anything . The left typhoon shot at his vendetta squad and killed a few. The devs blasted his hellhound and made a crater out of it, despite smoke. The upper dread got side shots on the chimera that was behind the hellhound and exploded it, taking a few of the squad with it and they broke. I don't think any of the lascannons did anything this turn, can't really remember. The upper typhoon shot his previously stunned chimera and immobilized it and blew off the HKM. That was all I had so I turned it over to James.

His two, his HQ chimera moved within 6" of my libby's rhino ; this was going to hurt. The LRBT moved back a bit while the vendetta squad (what was left of it) moved forward. The last guy from the chimera that I exploded ran retreated towards his table edge.

Shooting, he got through my smoke with his CCS and exploded it, ouch.

They may have been blown up, but damn, they still look good!


His LRBT on the hill tried to drop a pie plate on them but missed and almost hit his CCS chimera. The vendetta squad wasted one of the bikes with a melta and then the PBS scared them away. Such is the price of failure I guess...And that was it.

My three, my empty rhino came in and parked behind the big rock formation on my left, trying to preserve kill points. The 10 man tac squad that was behind the libby's rhino (before James' decided to blow it up) pulled up to within 6" of his CCS chimera...yeah, payback's a bitch The dread and upper typhoon moved for shots while the libby and gang moved across the river, either in position to charge the remains of the vendetta squad or the CCS if I could pop their transport.
Shooting, the tac squad wrecked the CCS chimera. The typhoon finished off the vendetta squad. The upper typhoon exploded the immobilized chimera near his table edge, catching the lone retreating guardman from the other exploded chimera in the blast and killing him. The devs poured frag missiles into that crater only leaving a single survivor. One of the lascannons got the other CCS chimera and with what I had left I finished them off.
In assault (yes, I actually assaulted somebody this game) the libby and SG went for the CCS that exploded their ride. I got all of them but the CC and his morale held, so at least I couldn't be shot at during his turn.

You can barely see the CC, buried in a sea of blue and silver...


His three, he didn't have too much he could move. Marbo came in right next to my lone rhino cowering behind the rocks. The LRBT moved a bit for shots.
Shooting, Marbo popped my rhino cause Marbo's a little sh*t. At that point James conceded because I was up by I think five and it was only going to get worse from there.

Marbo vs my rhino. Damn you Marbo!


I got the massacre and 2 bonus pts (James also got the bonus).

AFTERMATH

James and I talked after the game. He fell victim to a common mistake, underestimating my army. Most people see vanilla marines and kind of blow them off as a second tier army (which they may be), but I use that to my advantage. He said he was worried about my big guns, but not the autocannons or missile launchers. In reality, it's the autocannons and missile launchers that do most of the work. James was a cool guy and was really laid back; I'd gladly play him again.

Next up, Fists of Redemption vs Dark Eldar (and I've never played them since the new codex came out DOH!)

take pictures that are more zoomed out, you take them so close in that its hard to see what is happening on the entire table.

The vanilla codex is tricky so people constantly build 2nd tier lists but their are some 1st tier builds in there and you list is clearly one of them. I love your list because I take a very different approach but we both play on the same thing. Your opponents seem to underestimate your shooting and mess up target priority which allows you to blast themoff the board. My opponents underestimate my list's ability to dictate where and when the battle will be decided, which allows me to force my opponent of his battle plan and onto mine.

I've noticed that most people that I play against have a hard time with target priority. I built the list with a lot of duality and redundancy for that exact reason. You can take out the dreads, but then the devs, typhoons, and landspeeders get you. You can destroy the transports to keep the melta away, but then the long range gets you. Basically it doesn't matter what you destroy or stun, there's enough left to still bring the hurt.
It took my quite a while to fine tune the list to get it to where it worked for me. I know some people don't like it because there is no counter assault and the devs usually get a lot of hate, but hey, to each their own.

I think there are good vanilla marine builds based on counter assault units (I run one for instance). As always it's important to match army with your play style and preferences.