This was a semi-competitive game as my buddy is practicing for the
ATC tournament coming up this summer. This was my first time trying the Sentinels supplement and his second time playing the new
AM codex.
My list:
HEADQUARTERS:
Librarian,
lvl 2,
TDA, force-axe,
SS, teleporter homer, Bones of Ozrack
ELITES:
Ironclad Dread,
CF,
HF,
MG, grenades, pod, beacon
5x Termies,
CML, 1x
CF
TROOPS:
10x Tacticals, vet srgt, combi-melta,
MG,
HB, pod
10x Tacticals, vet srgt, combi-melta,
MG,
HB, pod
5x Tacticals, vet srgt, combi-melta,
MG, pod
HEAVIES:
3x Centurions,
TLLCs,
MLs, omniscope
5x
Devs, 2xLCs, 2x
MLs with Flakks, pod
TFC
ADL/quad-gun
I tried to keep the list fairly
TAC, the general idea behind the list is to use the pods to bring those bolters within 12" right away (which makes them
TL), I normally bring more
PGs to my tacticals but, a) I knew my friend was playing
IG and was bound to have some high
AV vehicles, b) from a
TAC standpoint I think that the new
AM codex brings melta back to the forefront, c) I roll ones like nobody's business
. A fair amount of points were invested in the Librarian, hoping to get Invisibilty or Puppet Master and still have an extra warp-charge to spare for the
CC phase (Bones of Ozrack), not an overall beast but I thought he could be a nice buffer. The termies, while not a super-competitive unit, get the special bolter-drill buff, and I like the models
The tried-and-tested units are my heavies, all of which rock, (tank-hunting
devs and cents are sweet
).
His list (to the best of my knowledge):
CCS with commander with the relic that makes squads within 6" to choose to pass or fail Morale checks, astropath (Psychic Shriek), master of the fleet, master of ordnance, couple of meatshields in a chimera
Pask in a triple-plasma
LR and a battle-cannon
LR
Scions command squad with quad
MG (5 dudes)
Scions (as an elite choice) with more
MGs (5 dudes)
Platoon command squad manning a
ADL-quad-gun, 1x
LC
a fifty-man platoon split in 2, 3
ACs in one group (joined by a priest and a
lvl 2 psyker), 2
ACs in the other (joined by another
lvl 2 psyker)
2 big blobs of conscripts, both joined by a priest
a squadron of 2 Wyverns
THE SCENARIO (based on
ATC setup):
DEPLOYMENT: Hammer & Anvil (short edges deployment), NO NIGHT FIGHT
PRIMARIES:
1) Kill points, Big Guns Never Tire in effect, so heavies are scoring and give and extra point for unit killed
2) 2 Crusader objectives per player, placed 12" away from other objectives
3) Castle objectives, 1 per player, placed in deployment zone
SECONDARIES:
1) Slay The Warlord
2) First Blood
3) Linebreaker
We've set-up the terrain with some nice large ruin pieces; we created a "street" going from 1 corner to the opposite far corner in a diagonal with the ruins laid out on each side of the "street".
We placed the objectives next (per
ATC rules), we essentially both have our Crusade objectives in a ruin in the deployment zones (pretty much in each board corners) with the Castle objective placed in between the two Crusade objectives pretty much in the middle of the deployment zones.
We then roll for sides (I won) and picked the side with a 4-level ruin with a Crusade objective in it, I then placed my
ADL in a box shape around the other Crusade objective which was in the open; the Castle objective in that deployment area is in the open slightly further back from the 4-level ruin.
He places his
ADL in a long line that extends from the center of his deployment zone where his Castle objective is all the way to the long edge of the board.
We roll for Warlord traits and Psyker powers next, critical moment for me as I'm looking forward to some Puppet-Master action or some Invisible Termies, powers:
ROLL #1: 1... womp-womp-womp... Dominate, meh, but fear not! I take Psychic Shriek, and figure better luck next roll.
ROLL #2: 1 again! Yay! Dominate it is... My bubble of hope for this list starts to deflate but I'm thinking I might luck out and get a decent Warlord Trait like the
IWND one or Orbital Bombardment (since my libby is in
TDA): 5! -1 to the damage chart for a building that my libby occupies, awesome! Oh, but wait, I don't have any buildings... F**K. At that point I'm staring at a serious uphill battle...
His Psykers get both Prescience and Foreboding (I think, the one that gives full
BS for overwatch). Great... His Warlord gets the trait that extends his orders range to 18".
At this point we roll for who deploys first (and starts first), and of course, he wins... Uber no bueno...
DEPLOYMENT:
Remember that we're deploying on short edges and there's no night-fight. He deploys his
CCS in the chimera pretty much centrally and behind the
ADL. The
PCS mans the quad-gun. One half of the regular platoon with the 3
ACS, priest and psyker setup in a big ruin and stretches out far enough to bubble-wrap Pask's squadron while the other half with the psyker deploys in another ruin. Pask and the other
LR deploy behind the
ADL but closer to one of the long board edge and directly in front of my
ADL box. The Wyverns deploy behind one of his big ruins that have no windows on the bottom floor. 1 Conscript squad (with Priest) deploys in a very long stretched line as far forward as possible (and in the open) while the other one is spread out in his backfield to block my pods.
My turn. My 2 immediate worries: his Orbital bombardment (which I wrongly assumed was the same as the
SM one) which I thought could insta-gibb my Centurions, and Pask's plasma-blaster-of-doom. So consequently, I abandon the
ADL altogether, I normally would have the Centurions in there (tank-hunting quad-gun is great) but no point losing them all to the combined strength of 5 plasma-blast and an orbital bombardment so I deploy my Centurions in the bottom level of the 4-level ruin which has been bolstered (with their heads covered), the
TFC and one of the devastators is on the floor above them and the last 4 devastators on the floor above (all of them have their heads covered and will avoid the OB). I figure that the devastators' pod is technically scoring and I can drop it on top of the Crusade objective in the
ADL towards the end of the game.
Done. On a side note, I'm grateful to have
SMs as it took me about 5 mins to deploy, as opposed to my buddy's 30 mins... (to his credit, he hadn't put the squads together yet).
TIME TO SEIZE! If there ever was a time to roll that six, it's now, I'm out of range of Pasks guns but there still is a crap-ton of shots lining up on my heavies. I give a little prayer to Dorn for some help for his devoted sons and here goes ------------------
Bam!
I breathe a small sigh of relief for this small mercy.
TURN 1
I select my Ironclad first for poddage. My friend left an opening big enough in front of his
CCS and
PCS who are behind the
ADL and behind the big line of conscripts. Ironclad scatters minimally and is placed so as to face the chimera and uses the pod as cover from Pask. Next comes the 5-man tactical, joined by my Libby. The pod next to the Ironclad, again, minimal scatter,
MGs are lining up on the Chimera. Next is a 10-man tactical squad. I decided to combat-squad both tacticals, it will hurt for
KPs but I decide that splitting the
MGs from the
HBs is more important. 10-man squads pods in next to the half-platoon squad with the psyker (no priest). He does intercept with the quad-gun and kills 2 marines out of the 5-man squad, the
MGs are intact though.
In the shooting phase: the now 3-man tactical squad with libby blows up the chimera thanks to the
MGs (
FIRST BLOOD!). The Ironclad roasts a good chunk of the
CCS, 5-man half-tactical with the
HB decides to unload on the
CCS to try and get rid of the Master of the fleet and Master of Ordnance (by that point they've gone to ground but I know he can issue orders that will get them back up). If I recall the
TFC shoots at the
CCS too. At the end of the shooting phase all that's left is the commander with 1 wound. The Centurions and devastators unleash in Pask's squadron and manage to blow him up! But, he checks his rules and is able to
LOS it. The battle cannon eats it. I'll take it. Pasks is left with 2
HPs.
His turn: I forget the exact details but will say that he did fail a few Psychic tests for Prescience throughout the game. Overall results: he kills the last 3 tacticals in the Libby's squad and reduces the 5-man squad with the sarge in it down to the 1 melta-gunner who breaks and runs a bit towards the long line of conscripts. He's forced to move Pask to put him in a better position to shoot the Ironclad. The triple-plasma fails! But he rolls a 6 on the (Prescienced) front lascannon but thankfully only rolls a 1 for damage. The Ironclad loses a
HP.
TURN 2
Time for some reinforcements! Those termies are gonna come and put the pressure on his backline! Nope. Only the tactical squad comes in. Due to enemy movement I end up podding them by the 3
ACs platoon squad with the 2
MG half lining up on Pask's butt in case my
devs and centurions fail me.
Shooting phase sees Pasks getting wrecked. My libby Dominated the
PCS but decided not to cast Shriek on his commander as I did not want to kill him in the shooting phase and leave him in the open. He ends up burying his force axe in the commander's face anyway and regroups towards the remainder of the
PCS squad. I'm a bit concerned about the Ironclad: he's down to 2
HPs and while the enemy troops currently on the ground have very little weapons that will hurt it I know that he's got Scions full of
MGs DSing from reserve. He has 2 options available, assault the
PCS and most likely finish them off to end up in the open and very vulnerable to the Scions or assault the long line of conscripts which will end up getting tied for the whole game since they're fearless but have no weapons that can hurt him. I decide to go the safe way and tie up the conscripts. It ties up one of his scoring units and denies him a
KP. The remainder of my shooting sees a few more guards killed from the 2 platoon halves but not enough to force break-test (or fearless units thanks to priest) I did not charge with the tacticals who arrived on turn 1 since the platoon had Foreboding. My single
MG marine runs into a ruin.
His turn: no reinforcements! Makes me regret my Ironclad choice a bit but, oh well. His shooting wipes out the 5-man squad that had the 2
MGs left in it (those Wyverns are brutal!) The Priest from the 3
AC squads joins the
PCS and they assault the Libby and put 1 W on him. I kill a couple of guys in return (he refused the challenge so I kept his priest out of the fight to avoid smash attacks). It is worth noting at this point that he essentially ignores all my heavies since they're mainly out of range and focuses on the stuff that's in his face.
TURN 3
Allright! Let's go termies! We need you guys! Nope...
WTF. That's why I generally don't like
DS termies (unless I play
DA), too unpredictable. The empty pod drops in to score on my crusade objective. I'm really starting to sweat at this point as I know I'm starting to run out of scoring units. The single
MG gunner has sorta gone forgotten so I decide to leave him alone as he's hiding behind a wall in contesting position of 1 of his crusade objectives. The now 4-man squad that came along with him put some wounds in the platoon half that has the single psyker in it, which along with more wounds from all my pods trigger a break-test. The other remaining
HB 5-man squad puts some wounds in the other platoon half but even with the long range fire from the
devs and cents fail to trigger a break test (a nice perk of having large blobs). The
TFC tries to barrage-snipe the Priest out of the backfield conscript unit but scatters off-board... The assault phase sees the dread slowly hacking the conscripts and the libby chopping the
PCS down to the
PCS commander and the priest.
His turn: his Scions command squads comes in and deepstrikes in position to pop the scoring pod and take control of my quad-gun. His shooting sees... but wait! We forgot his break test on the one platoon half! Which after some arguing and mild name-calling he rolls and fails to run off the board! After some debate I allow him to reposition his Scions to where that platoon half was (I thought that was fair). The Scions wipe out the single
MG gunner (was hoping he'd miss that
); the Wyverns shred the 5-man
HB squad that was left on that side, and his other platoon half bring the other 5-man
HB squad down to 2 bolter-dudes. His backfield conscripts unit joins the assault on the Libby and he dies before swinging.
TURN 4
We decide that we're gonna end the game at the end of this turn due to time constraints. I have some tough calls to make: my cents and
devs have to move to reach my Castle and one of my Crusade objectives which is gonna limit their use. I have 2 marines left in his deployment zone for potential scoring/contesting, some pods and an Ironclad stuck in combat. I have to use my only remaining reserves to full effect to try and maximize points: my termies. They auto-arrive at this point. I decide that I'll try to
DS behind the Wyverns and try to pop them for an extra
KP (+ bonus for killing heavies) with Kraks and glancing hits from storm-bolters. They scatter off the board and go back in reserve which means it's a
KP for him instead
230pts of absolute worthlessness. My 2 marines advance as close as possible to contest the 1 Crusade objective his platoon squad is controlling. My limited shooting (centurions, pods,
TFC, and 2 marines) manages to kill the 2 priests that were not in combat anymore and enough wounds to force a break test on the backfield conscripts and the last platoon half. The conscripts break! And run off the board!, the platoon holds sadly.
His turn: his other Scions squad
DS near my
devs to try and kill the 1 guy needed to get me off my Crusade objective, they go to ground in a reinforced ruin for a 2+ cover and make all 7 saves! His remaining 1 commander from the
PCS mans the quad-gun and sadly manages to blow up the scoring pod (while still controlling his Castle objective). And his remaining platoon kills only 1 marine out of the 2, which is enough to prevent me from contesting.
FINAL POINT COUNT:
KPs: 8 to 8 for a tie (we initially thought I won
KPs but I remembered my blown-up pod which gives him an extra pt for the tie)
Castle: 1 to 1 for a tie (my cents control mine, his single
PCS commander dude controls his)
Crusade: 1 to 1 for a tie (my
devs hung in there to control my 1, his 1 platoon blob controls his)
Slay The Warlord: Tied
First Blood: Sentinels!
Linebreaker: Sentinels!
SENTINELS WIN!!!
By the skin of their teeth... I'll take it
Final thoughts:
My buddy's list wasn't optimized yet as he's still experimenting with the codex. That said he's a very experienced player and it's always a tough match. His deployment was strong but he definitely should have tighten things to prevent podding in case of a seize. His call was to include Coteaz next time (go figure).
AM definitely has a lot going for them, Priests and Psykers are awesome and the Wyverns plain disgusting, they definitely need to be a top target-priority.
I wanna like the Librarian, I have a nicely painted termie one, I like the "bargain
HQ" idea, but unless you have access to Divination for some no-brainer powers or you can reroll your choices (Tigurius), I'm worried that there's to much randomness to make it a reliable
HQ. I might give it another go to see if I can get my hands on the good Telepathy powers as I know that would have made a big difference. The Sentinels dex does give a nice boost to the Libby thanks to the Bones.
DSing termies...
WTF. I know they haven't been a competitive unit in a long time but I also know that they can pull their own weight too and they'll surprise you every now and then. This was probably their worst performance ever though...
Sentinels of Terra special rules: overall good, a slight improvement on the regular IF trait
IMO, specially if you're gonna use Lysander or a regular Libby. The other characters aren't worth it. The only time I'd stick with regular IF is if I'm trying to build a list around a
CM with the Shield Eternal. The Warlord Traits aren't great, bit 50/50, but so are the regular
SM ones. Still don't see them as a top competitive choice though, just a decent choice for semi-competitive and friendly games.
Overall fun game, hope you guys enjoyed the read.
