[DCM]
Tilter at Windmills
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This was another Tuesday league night. I got two games, a league game and a potential BFS practice/testing game.
So the league restarted with a new and flexible format. You have to get a minimum of 6 games to qualify for the finals; you have to play at least two games at each of three point levels- 1250, 1500, and 1850. You can play the same person multiple times, but it has to be at different point levels. You are locked into a codex, but can change your list as much as you want between games, including any allies. Points structure is 8 for a loss, 12 for a draw, 16 for a win, with four bonus points each worth +1- killing the most expensive HQ, killing the most expensive non-HQ unit, linebreaker, and first blood. As usual, top players by average go to a playoff finals tournament.
I decided to field Chaos with Daemon allies, to have a last hurrah with my trust CSM of the last codex, which decision was made easier by the league ruling that CSM players can switch to the new codex mid-league.
So I played my first game last night against my local rival Jon G, fielding a SM biker army. We played 1250 for a quick game before my friend Jamie arrived for a 2000pt.
I fielded:
Lash Prince – 155 (warlord)
Lash Prince - 155
10 CSM w/Missile, Melta, IoCG – 180
8 CSM w/Flamer, IoCG – 135
2 Oblits – 150
2 Oblits - 150
Allies:
Slaanesh Herald w/Pavane, Hit & Run – 85
17 Daemonettes – 238
1248
Jon fielded (IIRC):
Captain on Bike with 2+, Power Fist, Lightning Claw
5 man biker command squad with apothecary, 4x plasma guns
5 Bikes with Power Fist, two melta, attack bike w/MM
3 Bikes w/MM attack bike
3 Bikes w/MM attack bike
2 LS Tornados w/Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter
Vindicator
We got Hammer & Anvil, Emperor’s Will. The table had a ~3” wide river/stream running due North-South slightly East of center. There was only one bridge, about 6” wide, right in the center. Other terrain included two ~4”-wide impassible industrial things in the SW and SE quadrants fairly near table middle, woods scattered in all four quadrants, a long hill running the length of the Eastern edge, and two multi-level Ruins, in the NW and NE quarters.
I got the East end of the table for DZ. Jon placed his objective central, toward the front of his DZ. I placed mine on the second floor of the ruin in the NE. For Warlord traits Jon got +1 VP per character killed by his warlord in challenge, and I got re-roll reserves. Nice. I kept Lash, of course.
Jon had first turn, and it was not Night Fighting. He deployed his Vindicator a little bit North of center, sideways against his DZ edge to gain a little distance, and his bikes pretty much evenly spread, with the command squad front and center of the DZ, and the 5 man squad just South of them. The speeders were North of the Vindi. I deployed Oblits and 10 CSM well back against the East edge, with the ten man squad in a wood. My Princes were gliding in the SE quadrant, out of range of basically everything. My Daemons and 8 man squad in Reserve.
T1: Jon drove up everything basically as fast as possible, with the Vindi popping Smoke instead of going Flat Out. He lost the bigger bike squad’s Sergeant and a melta to dangerous driving through the river. Ouch for him.
My 1: I had several important choices immediately. Three real long-range shots, including the Oblits as lascannons or plasma. Did I want to try to take down the Vindi, the speeders, or Lash and start putting plasma on the bikes? If I shot his vehicles I could also use Lash to move bikes away from me and through dangerous terrain. My Daemonettes & Herald also showed up, and I dropped them in Jon’s back-center, which gave me a nice clear drop zone and forced Jon to think about sending something backwards, or they’d be easily able to walk onto his objective while also taking Linebreaker. My non-warlord Prince Glided West, because that bike squad which had just lost its Sergeant was only ~18” away, within a fairly reliable charge range even without Lash. My Warlord Prince Swooped up to the top of the impassible piece in the SE quadrant, because as a Jump unit he could land there, and that way he couldn’t be assaulted even if Jon managed to Ground him. My Oblits jockeyed for angles, and made sure they were more than 30” away from the vindi. In shooting I finally decided to Lash the command squad North/slightly West into the river, bunching them for Plasma. The Gliding prince Lashed the 5 man bike squad closer. Both worked, hit, and were not Denied. The command squad had no issues with Dangerous. I think the South squad lost another biker in the river, though. My Plasmacannons only killed one biker and put a wound on the Captain, between 4+ cover and Jon making ~3-4 FNP rolls. My Daemonettes Ran 6” to spread out and not be vulnerable to a blast. My Prince charged the bikes and took a wound from Overwatch on the way in, thanks to Jon hitting 7/8 bolter shots on 6s with re-rolls. Twin-linked is awesome in this edition. The Prince killed 2 bikers and they tried to run but were caught.
T2: Jon advanced with command squad and vindicator, moved speeders back West to get some shots on the daemons (though one AC was out of range), and moved both small bike squads back to shoot & assault the daemons. The vindicator got just into range of the lead CSM in the 10 man squad in the woods, and killed a couple. The command squad Turbo’d East up to the edge of the ruin. Next turn they might be able to reach my CSM with a charge, albeit with some Dangerous rolls. The speeders and bikes West killed a good chunk of the daemonettes (close to half?), then both squads made the charge, despite needing 8” or so after casualties. One biker sgt challenged, and my Herald accepted and got the Rend. The Daemons got 2-3 more rends, killing a bikes, leaving one squad just minus their sergeant, and the other with just a wounded attack bike. He killed a few more daemons between Hammer ofWrath and regular attacks. I Hit & Run with them NE, getting away and on top of the objective, but only having a few models left. Jon’s bikes Consolidated South a bit. My SE prince killed another biker and wounded the attack bike. They stuck.
My 2: My Warlord prince Swooped NW, overflying the Vindicator for vector strikes, but only getting a glance. My 8 man CSM squad walked on in the NE corner, positioning for some long bolter shots on the command squad. My other CSM squad shuffled around a bit, moving some guys closer to the ruin to position for a late-game run at the objective. Oblits shuffled again. Oblit lascannons exploded the Vindicator. CSM shots on the bikers killed one guy. Daemonettes charged back into the larger bike squad, losing one and a wound on the Herald. Daemonettes got, IIRC, one rend and lost another girl or two, leaving them with only 2-3 more. SE Prince finished his attack bike and Consolidated NW a bit.
Top of turn 3: Jon considered splitting his warlord off from the bikes so he could assault both of my CSM units, but looked at my Oblits and decided against it. His bikes drove East through the ruin, passing all their Dangerous, and moved up to the edge of the hill, about 5” away from the bigger CSM unit. His Speeders positioned to shoot my Swooping Warlord but didn’t do anything. His wounded attack bike moved up and joined the assault with my daemonettes. His Warlord & co bounced the Overwatch wounds I did (including the melta and krak missile both hitting and wounding), but then FAILED their charge through terrain into my CSM squad. The daemonettes bounced off the bikes, losing another model or two (down to one and the wounded herald), and Hit & Run back into the area of the objective.
My 3: Both of my Princes headed for the bikes. My Herald and last remaining Daemonette positioned to charge the wounded attack bike while staying within 3” of Jon’s objective. My Oblits and CSMs moved toward the command squad, with the closer squad of Oblits getting within 12”. Between the CSM guns and rapid-firing TL Plasma I managed to kill them off, including the Warlord. My Princes lashed and ate the larger bike squad. My Herald and Daemonette managed to get a rend to kill the last attack bike over there by Jon’s objective too. They consolidated back onto the objective.
At this point we called it. All Jon had left were his speeders, which couldn’t hold or contest an objective or secondary objective. They could easily blow my Daemonette and herald off the objective (which we rolled out and he did, for giggles), but he had no scoring units and even if my two squads of CSMs somehow spent the next two turns rolling double 1s for difficult and Runs toward the objective in the ruin, I had the game thanks to Warlord, First Blood, and Linebreaker with both princes already there.
Notes and Observations:
Wow. That was one of the shortest games (in terms of turns) I’ve ever had; but 1250 can be that way, especially when assaults start on turn one.
Dangerous isn’t nearly as scary to most SM units as it used to be, but it does happen on Consolidates now, and can happen multiple times in a single move if you go through two different pieces of terrain, which means you’re generally taking more of those tests. Also, the fact that you get your armor save and FNP (if you have it) against it now makes a lot of SM players more inclined to take the risk, which occasionally bites them. In this game Jon didn’t have a lot of choice unless he wanted to really bunch up at the bridge, and the dice bit him a couple of times. Jon thought it was a bad matchup for him from the start, and wasn’t psyched to lose ~100pts in those two models which died in the river on the top of turn 1.
Overwatch can occasionally be surprisingly nasty, as my other reports have also shown. And Twin-Linked guns are a great way to get more mileage out of it.
Between Hammer of Wrath, Jink, and the aforementioned TL guns, Bikes have definitely gotten better in this edition. Combat Tactics is also awesome with them. Tour 15” Rally + Move outdistances the 10.5” average flee roll the large majority of the time.
I find the Herald of Slaanesh really overpriced as a combat character goes; 4A is nice, but S3/T3/2W/5++ only is pretty terrible for the points. And a lot of the time I’m not even using Pavane (which only works on a 4+ anyway) because I need to Fleet & spread out on the drop. Fleet is also nice as insurance against a bad run roll that turn, too, though. I’m seriously tempted to swap for a Herald of Khorne; who would be hittier and considerably more durable for around the same point cost. Albeit at the cost of losing H&R and Pavane. I can give him a Collar of Khorne, though, for a 2+ vs. Force Weapons, which would make him capable of taking on small units of GK all by himself if needed.
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