Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2015/07/12 05:10:05
Subject: 1850 pt. FLGS Tourney-ATC Primer Missions (sorry no pics)
Well, I got a chance to see what the new Dark Angels codex can really do. My FLGS had an 1850 point tournament today, and as it says in the thread title, we were playing the ATC Primer missions (10 points for main objectives, 1 point for secondary objectives. Our attendance was pretty awesome, with 12 players. There were surprisingly few xenos this time, with the vast majority of us being Imperial loyalists. As best I can recall, we had 2 Dark Angels (including myself), 1 Adepta Sororitas, 1 Space Wolves, 1 Space Wolves w/Sisters allies, 2 Blood Angels, 1 Grey Knights, 1 Tau/Tyranids, 1 Adeptus Mechanicus w/Marine allies, and 2 Daemons/CSM/KhorneKin (not sure) allies. We had a 3 detachment limit, with the composite formations (Decurion, Gladius, etc.) counting as 2. My list was the following:
Spoiler:
Detachment 1: Ravenwing Strike Force
HQ:
Sammael on Sableclaw (warlord)
Elites:
Ravenwing Command Squad w/3 extra men, Apothecary, Champion, Ravenwing Banner, and 1 Ravenwing Grenade Launcher
Fast Attack:
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Ravenwing Land Speeder w/Assault Cannon and Multi-melta
Detachment 2: Ravenwing Attack Squadron Formation
Ravenwing Bike Squad w/3 extra men, 2 Grav Guns, Melta bombs, and an Attack Bike w/Multi-melta
Ravenwing Land Speeder w/Typhoon Missile Launcher
Detachment 3: Deathwing Strike Force
HQ:
Belial w/Storm Bolter and Sword of Silence
Elites:
Deathwing Knights
Deathwing Terminator Squad w/Assault Cannon and Chainfist
Deathwing Terminator Squad w/Cyclone Missile Launcher and Chainfist
In every game, I put Belial in the squad with the Assault Cannon, and I started all the Ravenwing on the board. I also combat squadded the Bike Squad Just saying that now to save time later. Now, on to the games. Sorry if it seems very lacking in detail, but I am doing this from memory.
Game 1 Opponent: Tau/Tyranids
Opponent's List:
Spoiler:
Detachment 1: Tau Empire Combined Arms Detachment
HQ:
Ethereal (warlord)
Elites:
XV104 Riptide w/Heavy Burst Cannon and Early Warning Override (not sure about other upgrades)
XV104 Riptide w/Ion Accelerator and Early Warning Override
XV104 Riptide w/Ion Accelerator and Early Warning Override
Troops:
2 10-man Kroot Carnivore Squads with 1 Kroot Hound each
Heavy Support:
3 Sky Rays (not sure about upgrades
Detachment 2: Tyranid Hive Fleet Detachment
3 Flyrants with TL Devourers w/Brainleech Worms, Electroshock Grubs
3 Mucolid Spores
Mission Objectives: Progressive Objectives, Emperor's Will, Control the Center
Secondary Objectives: First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker
Yikes, what a cheesy list! Actually, this game was pretty fun in spite of it. I went first (my opponent failed to sieze the initiative). The Kroot were held in reserve, as were the Mucolids (they have to be, I think). My Ravenwing scout moved up the board, hoping to catch the Flyrants on the ground. They very nearly did, with one of them taking 3 wounds in turn 1. Very little else happened good for me except for one of the Riptides failing his Nova charge and taking a wound. All 3 Flyrants took to the air, and my opponent gained First Blood by busting one of my Land Speeders and one of the Combat Squads of bikes. I remember little of the middle of the game, but I do know that I actually managed to knock the wounded Flyrant out of the sky (with a lowly attack bike no less, but not sure whether that was on turn 2 or 3), and my Command Squad shot a Riptide down as well. My Termies got beat up some by the Interceptor from the Riptides, but they still managed to take out one of the Sky Rays, and I kept control of a couple of the Progressive Objectives throughout much of the game. One of the highlights I do remember was on turn 4, my Command Squad shot at and butchered most of the Kroot that were with the Ethereal. The Ravenwing Champion managed to chop up said Ethereal into tiny blue chunks, netting me Slay the Warlord. On the final turn, one of my Terminator units managed to ground one of the remaining flyrants and then kill it in CC. I also managed to kill the other Kroot and damage another Sky Ray, but by then my own army was all but destroyed. I won the Progressive Objectives part, but my opponent held the center and both Emperor's Will objectives, and he had managed to kill Sammael, and he had a unit in my backfield, so the final tally was 23-11 in his favor. If the dice had been a little more kind to me, I might have actually pulled that one out, but I feel good considering I was up against all those MCs. Definitely feel it was a moral victory killing 3 of them and the enemy Warlord, and it was a very fun game.
Game 2 Opponent: Dark Angels
Opponent's List:
Spoiler:
Lion's Blade Strike Force Detachment
Battle Demi Company:
HQ: Chaplain
Tactical Squad (10 man): Grav Gun, Grav Cannon w/Grav Amp, Power Sword
Tactical Squad (10 man): Meltagun, Multi-melta, Power Sword
Tactical Squad (10 man): Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon, Power Sword
Assault Squad (5 man): Eviscerator, Power Fist, Veteran Sgt. upgrade
Devastator Squad (5 man): 4x Missile Launcher w/Flakk
Command Squad: I can't remember all the weapon loadouts, but I know there was a Champion, Apothecary, Chapter Banner, and a dedicated Razorback w/TL Lascannon
Deathwing Redemption Force:
Interrogator-Chaplain: Mace of Redemption, Storm Shield (warlord)
2 Deathwing Terminator Squads w/Cyclone Missile Launcher
Mission Objectives: Kill Points, Marked for Death, Escalated Slay the Warlord
Secondary Objectives: First Blood, Linebreaker, Last Blood
Wow, I actually pulled a Dark Angels opponent! Now I would get to see two lists from my favorite codex in action! Anyway, my opponent ran his list very much as a gunline. I marked his Razorback, Assault Squad, and Devastator squad for the mission objective. He marked my two Landspeeders and my Darkshroud. On turn 1, he drove his razorback at me and unloaded his Chaplain and command squad. Its lascannon managed to hit my Typhoon speeder, scoring a Crew Stunned result. IIRC, he also managed to kill one of my grav bikes. My attack bike then blew up his Razorback with its melta on the next turn, netting me first blood and one of my three marked kills I would need. My bikes and speeders started chewing on tactical marines, bagging a few (he passed the morale checks for them). When my Deathwing arrived, they just started lighting him up. The dice were definitely on my side, as I wiped out his Command Squad (including the chaplain), and a bunch more Tacticals. He managed to kill a couple of bikes, but was very discouraged when his own Deathwing came in and basically failed to kill anything. I convinced him not to concede, and we played on. My Deathwing knights actually failed to kill his assault squad in one round of attacks, but they wrapped them up in the following round. Belial's terminator group dispatched one whole Tactical squad (in a couple of turns), then turned and killed the Devastator squad, completing my three Marked objective. Belial, of course, did most of the wet work himself, with the other termies just cleaning up in the CC action. My opponent did manage to kill my Landspeeder Tornado and the Typhoon, but the Darkshroud eluded him (2+ rerollable jink FTW! ). Ultimately, I won the game, 23-1 (neither warlord died so neither of us scored points for that). I had terminators in his backfield for Linebreaker, and Belial's group killed the last tactical squad for Last Blood. At the end, only his Terminators with his Interrogator survived (though they did get him Linebreaker!), but I still had Sammael, the Darkshroud, Belial's terminators, and the Deathwing knights. A good game, but I do feel bad for my opponent, as it couldn't have been fun seeing the dice just flip him the bird for most of the game. I've been there, myself (just read some of my other batreps and you'll see what I mean!)
Game 3 Opponent: Space Wolves
Opponent's List:
Spoiler:
2 Space Wolves specific detachments (not sure what was in which one, so I listed them all together):
HQ:
Wolf Lord w/Armor of Russ, Black Death, Thunderwolf, Storm Shield
Wolf Priest w/Terminator Armor, Storm Shield
Rune Priest w/Level 2 Mastery, Rune Stave
Elites:
Venerable Dreadnought w/Fenrisian Great Axe, Blizzard Shield, dedicated Drop Pod
Wolf Guard Terminators (4 man): 1x TH/SS (pack leader), 2x Combi-melta/Powerfist, 1x Assault Cannon
Troops:
Blood Claws (10 man): Flamer, dedicated Rhino
Grey Hunters (10 man): 10x chainsword, 2x Plasmagun, dedicated Rhino
Grey Hunters (10 man): 10x chainsword, dedicated Drop Pod
Fast Attack:
Thunderwolf Cavalry (3 man): TH/SS (leader), 2x Chainsword/SS Heavy Support:
Long Fangs (4 man): 2x Missile Launcher, Lascannon
Detachment 3: Officio Assassinorum detachment
Vindicare Assassin
I cannot for the life of me remember all the upgrades and stuff, and when I put the list into battlescribe I come up short of the points. Not sure what else was in there, but I think I listed all the units.
Mission Objectives: Modified Relic, Modified Kill Points, Modified Progressive Objectives
Secondary Objectives: First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker
Dark Angels vs. Space Wolves, a classic rivalry. My opponent's warlord trait let him infiltrate three units (he chose the Blood Claws, Thunderwolves, and the Grey Hunters in the rhino). I went first, and moved and turbo-boosted my Command Squad so that they would get the jink benefits and still get full BS shooting next turn. That turned out to be a serious and costly mistake, as the Thunderwolves managed to charge and basically just eat them without taking any damage in return. Before that happened, I did pop the Grey Hunters' Rhino with my attack bike, netting me First Blood and killing two guys in the blast. My Grav bikers managed to whiff their shots at the Thunderwolves, not even causing a single wound (mostly due to the Storm Shields). My Deathwing came in on turn 2, with Belial's group finishing off the Long Fangs (using Split fire on the assault cannon; they had earlier been whittled down by the Land Speeder Tornado). They also killed a couple of Blood Claws with their storm bolters. Sammael managed to wound the Assassin once (darn cover saves!) after said assassin damaged the Darkshroud (crew shaken). My opponent's Drop Pod Grey Hunters had managed to take an objective held by my non-grav combat squad of bikes (I retreated with them, they managed to survive a round of shooting from the Hunters thanks to the rerollable jink saves ). On turn 3 my opponent's Dreadnought drop pod arrived in my backfield, threatening the Land Speeder Typhoon and Sammael. I was trying to hold the objective marker in that area, so I didn't immediately flee (in hindsight, I should have run like the wind, but oh well). I managed to bounce several shots off the Dread's armor, but nothing got through the invuln save from its shield. The Thunderwolves charged Belial's terminator squad after losing the two regular riders to some of my other units (can't remember who killed them, though). Basically, in two rounds of combat they killed the entire squad, losing the Pack Leader (due to Look Out, Sir) and a single wound to the Wolf Lord. The Deathwing Knights held an objective on that side of the board, but I was badly behind on points for that so I didn't bother to continue trying for that. My Land Speeder Tornado managed to kill the Vindicare Assassin (unlucky assassin failed his cover saves). He was avenged by the Wolf Lord, who beat the offending speeder down. The Wolf Guard terminators (with the Rune Priest) killed the other Deathwing terminators, but not before their lone survivor launched a suicidal charge into the unit, killing two Wolf Guard (that guy deserves some kind of posthumous medal or something) as the others killed him. In the closing moments of the game, the Dreadnought did kill Sammael (I was very much cornered near the board edge) and the Deathwing Knights, in spite of everything, managed to fail to kill the Wolf Lord and they, too, fell to his axe. I conceded the game at the end of turn 4 (I had only the Land Speeder Typhoon left at that point). It was a fun game, but I felt like it could have been better if I had played a little smarter. That wolf lord is simply incredibly strong with those upgrades. He gets an amazingly good number of attacks, and reducing opponent's initiative by 5 is really painful (maybe I should have sat out of those challenges, but it probably didn't matter).
Overall, I had a pretty good time. I mainly go to the tournaments to play games and talk 40k with fellow gamers, not to win, so winning one of the games was really just icing on the cake. It was my first tournament game win (that's pretty sad, considering I've been playing for almost a year), so I can finally get that monkey off my back. I definitely like the new Dark Angels codex (indeed, the lack of previous wins is a testament to how bad the previous one was), especially the Ravenwing. They are crazy durable, and I look forward to eventually playing a pure Ravenwing force one day.
Thanks for reading!
My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/7/24, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~16000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Imperial Knights: ~2300 | Leagues of Votann: ~1300 | Tyranids: ~3400 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000 | Kruleboyz: ~3500 | Lumineth Realm-Lords: ~700
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2024: 40 | Total models painted in 2025: 29 | Current main painting project: Tomb Kings
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: You need your bumps felt. With a patented, Grotsnik Corp Bump Feelerer 9,000.
The Grotsnik Corp Bump Feelerer 9,000. It only looks like several bricks crudely gaffer taped to a cricket bat.
Grotsnik Corp. Sorry, No Refunds.