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Hey all, I have a game of PS scheduled for tonight, 1850 points, my IG (defenders) vs attacking Daemons. While I do have a rough plan, I'd like to hear your experiences, suggestions and advice. What works, what doesn't? What should go into reserve, what pitfalls do I need to avoid, what to watch out for?

I was thinking of some stubborn amoeba platoons to guard the Bastions but I'm a bit tense when I think of Firestorms, some Flamers of Tzeentch followed by assaulting Fiends or Beasts. Isn't that likely to kill 30 men or so without breaking a sweat...not?

Do you have access to the DH Codex? The obvious tactic against a known Deamon assault is to get an allied Inquisitor with Mystics. Get a free shot at anything that comes down too close. Tactic #2 is to get the Psychic power "Sanctuary" for the Inquisitor. NOTE: using these tactics might hurt your "sportmanship score".

If DH allies are not part of the defence plan, then some Stratagems can be helpful. Consider "Laz-maze" or "Minefield". Both are cheap and can help you corral and weaken the enemy assaults. Otherwise I would consider leaving units in Reserve and plan a counterattack ( bolstered by Astropath and maybe Fleet Officer ) against the first wave of Deamons.

EDIT: This might sound obvious but destroy the Icon bearers ASAP. Accurate, non-scattering Deamon reserves are bad news.

Solid advice, A-P, mucho gusto. Las Maze and Minefields I have already considered, they seem quite useful.

The Inq + mystic is indeed so darn obvious that I completely forgot about it. I must confess that I am tempted to use it, even though I usually am a codex purist. Am I right that this only costs a measly 32 points, assuming two mystics? Can the Inq and his retinue or the nominated unit shoot at each and every DSing enemy unit (within range, obviously) or do I have to nominate a single target?

Uh, thanks for reminding me about the Icons. That could be problematic if they hide in CC though.

Lord Solar Plexus wrote:Solid advice, A-P, mucho gusto. Las Maze and Minefields I have already considered, they seem quite useful.

The Inq + mystic is indeed so darn obvious that I completely forgot about it. I must confess that I am tempted to use it, even though I usually am a codex purist. Am I right that this only costs a measly 32 points, assuming two mystics? Can the Inq and his retinue or the nominated unit shoot at each and every DSing enemy unit (within range, obviously) or do I have to nominate a single target?

Uh, thanks for reminding me about the Icons. That could be problematic if they hide in CC though.

Yes, the cheap Elite version of the Inquisitor w Mystics is indeed very cheap. They can shoot or nominate a nearby unit to shoot all incoming enemies. The only restriction is that you can´t utilize a Psychic Shooting attack ( or similar ) multiple times.

Hiding the Icons in CC is indeed possible but you as the defender can plan accordingly. Remember that vehicles ( including Bastions etc. ) can´t be locked in combat. So if a Deamon unit starts hacking your Chimera or a bunker, you can still shoot them.

Every landing unit, if it landed in the detecting range of 4D6.

You can nominate a unit consisted with 3 LRBTs, or something like these...

Well, thanks. I don't plan to have any tanks around when the firestorms hit though, not when they go against side armour. I know they'll likely scatter wildly but while my infantry seems safe enough with the 2+ save form the Aegis line, with vehicles it seems like a gamble.

Lord Solar Plexus wrote:Well, thanks. I don't plan to have any tanks around when the firestorms hit though, not when they go against side armour. I know they'll likely scatter wildly but while my infantry seems safe enough with the 2+ save form the Aegis line, with vehicles it seems like a gamble.

Yes, having tanks on the field when the Firestorm hits is a gamble. But if you use the Inqusitor + Mystic road, you need some hard hitting units to make use of the ability. Generally that means tanks for IG. *Shrug*. If you go with the counterattack route and place the Russes, Hellhounds etc on Reserve, you only have infantry in the trenches. They generally don´t have the strenght to reliably cripple dropping Deamon units. Unfortunately you can´t get the best of both plans.

Hmm, 30 men could drop 6-7 T4, 5++ save things in rapid fire range...I will ponder that some more.

How many men would you guys blob for guard duty around the bastions? I thought 30 each but I'll put that up for critique as well. If they go down, I'll lose all 30, and when I look at the A, T, W stats of Daemons, that seems quite likely, so what about just 20 men and putting the others to a counter-attack role? Is 20 men too few, will they burn through this smaller tarpit too fast? I know everything always depends...

Am I right that many daemons don't have offensive grenades and I strike before them? Not that I expect much from that but every little bit helps, right? 30 men could not possibly defeat Bloodcrushers but they would cripple Fiends, Horrors, Hounds, Seekers...but then again I'm not sure if I should expect anything but Elites, Heavy and HQ...

Hmm, 30 men could drop 6-7 T4, 5++ save things in rapid fire range...I will ponder that some more.

If the enemy drops in Rapid Fire range. Usually when the Deamon player learns that a Mystic trap is waiting for him, he aims conservatively ( at least to my experience ).

How many men would you guys blob for guard duty around the bastions?

Depends on so many things ( terrain, enemy unit choices etc. ) but I would not use large amounts. My preferred anti-deamon strategy is to conserve strength for the counterattack. Plus Flamers of Tzeetch will quickly massacre the infantry ( cover does not help against templates ).

Am I right that many daemons don't have offensive grenades and I strike before them? Not that I expect much from that but every little bit helps, right?

Yes. Most Deamons do not have grenade equivalents. Most Elite and HQ can buy them though. But if I recall correctly there is one exception. One of the Slaaneshi line units ( don´t have access to codex )? Check with your opponent before the game begins.

Apart from fiends, all Slaanesh units have grenades standard. Fiends can't take them as an upgrade either.
No non-Slaanesh unit has grenades, or can take them as an upgrade. Daemon Princes can buy them as an upgrade only if they take the Mark of Slaanesh.

edit:
Isn't it so that in Planet Strike all deep striking units can assault the turn they come into play? If so, Good Luck!!

Yes, that is so but I can set up terrain, and make it very very difficult or risky to get into charge range for non-beast units.

Anyways, I'm just back from my game of Planetstrike, my IG bravely (or with insane courage instilled by a trio of commissars) defending Fortress 24 Epsilon against forces too evil to speak of...

My list looked as follows:

CCS, PP, 4x PG

PCS, 4x Melta
Squad with flamer
Squad with flamer
Commissar w/ PS, Meltabombs

PCS, 4x Melta
Squad with flamer
Squad with flamer
Commissar w/ PS, Meltabombs

PCS, 3 Melta
Squad with flamer
Squad with flamer
Squad with grenade launcher
Commissar w/ PS, Meltabombs
HWT w/ Lascannon

2x Assault Sentinel w/ Multilaser

2x single Executioner w/ LC
2x single Hydra
1x Exterminator, 3 HB

We had four objectives, two towers linked by a wall with a gate, placed centrally on my long table edge, with ditches on the sides running towards my edge, a river to the left (difficult and dangerous), barricades, more ditches, and various abatis to the front and right, a bastion in the right upper corner, and a command post behind the gate, all surrounded by Aegis lines. I had 20 men around each tower and conga-lining backwards towards the command post, my CCS hidden in it, 30 men as a diversion in the bastion, the PCS's in the towers and the lascannon in the wall section. Everything else was in reserve.


On turn 1, my opponent hit me with the full 10 firestorms (4 objectives + 6 on the dice). *Gasp* Thanks to the Aegis lines and liberally going to ground, the equivalent of 10 Basilisks killed a grand total of three men but it ripped the interceptor gun off one tower and shook both others. He then got nearly his whole force except a unit of two Bloodcrushers and a unit of flamers. Nothing scattered too badly but very little was in charge range. A Soulgrinder made it into combat with one of the blobs, killed a few men, but nothing back breaking. The other SG, a skimming Herald of some kind and a Slaneeshi Beast charged my 30 men mob and were beaten back (I attacked first because of cover against some of them). My commissar rolled that lucky 6 for his bomb and destroyed it. Another beast had charged the last blob and was also beaten back to the warp.

On my turn, I got everything except one Hydra. A Sentinel shot and charged a unit of horrors with the Blue Scribes, my CCS killed a unit of Blood Crushers, my melta Vets and the Hydra killed a Daemon prince while another suffered two wounds. The other Sentinel killed two Screamers and one of the Executioners killed a Plaguebearer and wounded the GUO once. Everything else was locked in CC.

On his second turn, he received the rest of his forces and charged the blob to my right with his GUO and something else, don't remember. I predictably lost quite a few men and pulled the commissar. He msihapped with the Flamers and I put them in the upper left corner (de facto out of the action). He also charged my Sentinel in combat with the Horrors with his Blood Crushers but they could only shake and stun it and were now locked for all eternity, havingvented their anger and lost FC.

On my turn, I received the last Hydra. I killed the Herald and the last Screamer (in CC no less!), killed the last Bloodcrusher with the CCS, wounded the DP and the GUo again - and, to my utter disbelief, was out of targets. At this point, having only three active units - a wounded GUO, a wounded DP and a couple of Plaguebearers -, and having myself lost only a commissar (oh, and three dozen riflemen), my opponent conceded the game.

Victory for the Imperial Guard!

Looking back, I never felt I wasn't in control. The stubborn blobs held his units more or less where I wanted them until *I* was ready to pull the commissar and release them. My reserves did a sterling job, especially that sentinel. Everytime I look at the Codex Daemons, and Blood Crushers in particular, I feel a shudder running down my spine but an AV 12 walker is their personal bane. The Executioners are excellent against anything Nurgle; where a standard Russ would take ages to kill even one, they go through them like no tomorrow. Aegis defense lines are also ace. Only my lascannon never got a shot off, as I simply had no targets, and that is a rare occurrence.