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2015/07/29 22:51:56
Subject: [1750] Imperial Guard blob guard - Tournament prep. games
In a little over a month I will be travelling to the southern part of Norway to attend a tournament named Invasion. It's a two-day tournament featuring 40k, WHFB (8th edition), WarmaHordes, Flames of War & Magic. This year will be the 10th time Invasion is arranged, and hopefully it will be bigger and better than ever. I went last year and had a lot of fun, going 3-2 with my IG/Knight army. The missions are very similar to the ITC ones, with a mixture of Eternal War and modified Maelstrom. The point limit is 1750 points, and there is a no ForgeWorld policy, but exceptions can be made for cool/fluffy models, they just don't want people to bring obscure ForgeWorld rules to be powergamers. Of course this is a massive blow to me, being a Renegades&Heretics player ever since IA:13 came out, but oh well. I will still attend and I will still have fun (hopefully). I will still be bringing along my void shield and my horde of chaos-worshipping cultist guardsmen (you didn't expect me to play imperial Imperial Guard?), but because it's been so long since I played guardsmen with loyalist rules, I hope to get a fair share of practice games in, both to refresh my control of Orders and to get used to the mission format.
I decided to make this thread in hopes of getting some feedback on my list, my playstyle, rules I might get wrong, etc. in order to improve as a player, and of course I also hope that you who read this will enjoy it, and leave a comment if you do. I have my first game with this list scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and I hope I will remember taking a decent amount of pictures.
Without further ado, the list I currently have set up is this:
Spoiler:
ASTRA MILITARUM CAD (primary):
HQ:
Company Command Squad
INQUISITORIAL DETACHMENTx1
Coteaz
Inquisitor, 3xServo Skulls, Rad Grenades
INQUISITORIAL DETACHMENTx2
Inquisitor, 3xServo Skulls, Rad Grenades
KNIGHT DETACHMENT
Knight Paladin
LIBRARIUS CONCLAVE (White Scars)
Librarian, lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, lvl 2, Bike, Auspex, Force Axe
Librarian, lvl 2, Force Sword
Some pictures of it:
Spoiler:
The Infantry Sergeants ready to lead their troops into battle (potato quality pic and I'm not a good painter - but you can see that these guys aren't loyalist scum!)
Once they preached the Imperial Creed, now their tongues have started spreading the poisonous whispers of darker gods...
Full army shot, minus Void Shield Generator. Some bits are still WIP (knight base, fixing some models that have fallen off their bases etc.), and the Chimera is a stand-in for a Wyvern, as I forgot my second one at a guy's house after my last gaming session.
Thoughts about the army:
I love horde armies and I love Void Shields. That explains that part. I did consider Yarrick instead of the CCS, to hide him in the blob. But I won't make the Company Commander my WL anyways. That role goes to an infantry sergeant, who will be rolling on either Strategic or the AM traits (hoping for pref.enemy or Relentless). The Librarius Conclave will be in the infantry squad, perhaps one or two in the Conscript blob, a priest and an inquisitor in each blob. The powers I fish for depend on my match-up, but usually it'll be Invisibility, Misfortune & Incursion. I know there is some debate as to how many powers a psyker can cast (as "depends on his mastery level" does not mean "is equal to his mastery level"), but I have already spoken with the T.O and confirmed that my psykers can cast all the powers they know. As this is an important ruling for this army to work, I felt like I should mention it.
In a perfect world I will conga line my blobs out from the void shield, sending forth an invisible Knight that rolls 6's on every stomp, summoning Screamers and Seekers to grab objectives and pump out hundreds of flashlight shots with Rending (Misfortune), Twin-Linked (Prescience), Ignore Cover (Perfect Timing) and something juicy from IG orders, but of course I'll never get that lucky :(
I expect to have my first game up by tomorrow evening, so stay tuned!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/07/31 12:29:56
2015/07/30 22:37:39
Subject: Re:[1750] Imperial Guard and Librarius Conclave - Tournament prep. games. Game #1 up!
INQUISITORIAL DETACHMENTx1
Coteaz
Inquisitor, 3xServo Skulls, Rad Grenades
INQUISITORIAL DETACHMENTx2
Inquisitor, 3xServo Skulls, Rad Grenades
KNIGHT DETACHMENT
Knight Paladin
LIBRARIUS CONCLAVE (White Scars)
Librarian, lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, lvl 2, Force Axe
Librarian, lvl 2, Bike, Auspex, Force Axe
Librarian, lvl 2, Force Sword
My opponent's list (from memory)
Spoiler:
Nemesis Strike Force
Librarian, lvl 3, Liber something
3 units of Terminators with mixed weapons, each running a heavy weapon (psycannon? I should remember GK names after all the games I've had against them, but I keep mixing them up)
Purifiers in a Rhino
2 Dreadknights
Inquisitorial detachment
Inquisitor with rad and psychostroke grenades and power armour. My friend is working on a really cool conversion from the Ordo Explodius (my suggested name); he'll be holding a bunch of bombs and grenades, and he looks really cool so far. Can't wait to see him painted. But yeah, this guy is just here for fun.
Knight Detachment:
Knight Paladin
We rolled up Mission 1 in the tournament's mission pack, which is Crusade primary, Maelstrom secondary and First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker as tertiary points. Deployment was Dawn of War, and I won the roll to pick a side and go first.
For psychic powers I got really lucky, rolling up Invisibility, Misfortune, Forewarning, Hammerhand, Sanctuary and Summoning (as well as other powers that never came into play). My opponent rolled Gate of Infinity, Cleansing Flame and I think Sanctuary on his Librarian.
IG Turn 1
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: Hold Objective 1 & 4
My deployment. You can't see it well in the pic, but my Void Shield Generator is between the ruin and the Knight. I know the VSG model is really tall, so for LOS purposes we just put a large glass on top of the model I use (base of a vengeance battery), but we just leave it off during play for convenience.
My opponent deployed his Rhino with Purifiers and the Inquisitor next to a Dreadknight to my left
To my right he put his other Dreadknight and his Knight Paladin
I just shuffle up, aiming my knight to shoot at his.
My shooting from the Wyverns and the Knight Paladin removed one wound from each Dreadknight. I cast Summoning and summoned a unit of Pink Horrors, who then mishapped and went into Ongoing Reserves. I buffed up my blob with psyhic powers.
I hold both objectives for 2 Maelstrom Points
GK turn 1
Spoiler:
His Maelstrom: Control objective 5 (in my deployment zone) and kill an enemy in close combat.
Due to running the Nemesis Strike Force formation, he got 2 of his deep striking Terminator units in turn 1. He played very risky, placing them right behind my Wyverns, very very close to the board edge.
Aaaand this is where I regretted my decision of pushing forwards instead of turtling
His Psilencer and bolter shots together took out both of my Wyverns, for First Blood. One of them exploded (due to being Open Topped) and took out 7 Conscripts. Other than that he moved his Knight and DK up on my right flank, and his other DK up between some ruins to the left, the Purifiers hiding even further to the extreme left (from my perspective). He got 0 Maelstrom points.
IG Turn 2
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: Kill an enemy unit in close combat, hold objective 5
My Horrors come back in and deep strike in his backfield on top of an objective.
I move my Knight and Conscripts up towards his DK. I cast Invisibility on the Knight (poor choice - should've cast it on the Infanty squad), Misfortune on the DK and Forewarning/Sanctuary on the Infantry Squad for a sweet 3++. I then charge in with the Conscripts and the Knight.
Now you see him...
..Now you don't.
My Infantry squad shuffles towards his Terminators to my right, but failing to see them behind the ruins and thus not being able to charge. My Veterans shoot at the Terminators nearing them, failing to do anything.
I get both my Maelstrom objectives for a total of 4.
GK turn 2
Spoiler:
His Warlord's unit comes down, also attempting a dangerous deep strike right behind my lines, and of course rolling a Hit again.
His knight and Dreadknight move up towards my Infantry Squad preparing to charge them. His shooting fails to get through the Void Shields. His Purifiers turn around in their Rhino and drive back to kill the horrors. Through his flamer and bolter shots he actually kills all of them (I think I lost 2 to dangerous terrain in my turn).
He charges into my Infantry Squad, but fails to do much thanks to my re-rollable 3++, but he does kill my Priest! I do not flee, though. I Hit&Run out of combat.
His other Terminator unit kills my Veterans.
IG Turn 3
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: Kill an enemy in the shooting phase, keep a unit entirely within the enemy deployment zone.
I buff up the blob with Invisibility, Forewarning and Sanctuary on my Blob. I try to cast Misfortune on his Warlord's Unit, but he easily denies it. I charge into his unit, but fail to do much damage, I think I might've killed one Terminator. I do the silly mistake of trying to run my Knight up after his Purifiers. I fail to pop the Rhino with the battle cannon and then fail to charge. Doh. I know my Guard blob will get charged again next turn no matter what I do, so I hit & run out of combat (his shooting can't get through my shields and I want the Zealot effect. I can let him charge me.)
I charge my Conscripts into his Terminators that are in my left-center backfield, but at this point the unit doesn't have a Priest (I threw the Conscript priest into the Infantry blob unit). My Librarian flunks his Force Axe attacks and I lose enough conscripts to break and proceed to run off the board...because for some reason I thought ATSKNF would prevent this
GK Turn 3
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: Kill an enemy unit in close combat, have a unit wholly within the enemy's deployment zone
He drives his Purifiers up towards my lines, speeding around my Knight who is just standing out in the open like an idiot. He throws psych-out grenades at my infantry squads, causing perils and bringing a librarian down to 1 wound. He charges into my infantry blob with his Knight and two Terminator units. He kills some conscripts, I kill some Terminators and we grind it down. I fail to Hit & Run.
He gains 1 Maelstrom point for being in my lines.
IG Turn 4
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: Have a unit wholly within my opponent's deployment, control 3 objectives of my choosing.
Nothing eventful really happens, my Knight finally manages to reach his Rhino and charge it, blowing it up. Blob stands in the grind, still Invisible with a re-rollable 3++. 0 Maelstrom points.
GK Turn 4
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: control 3 objectives kill an enemy unit in the shooting phase.
His disembarked purifiers try hiding up behind some ruins while his lone Inquisitor runs towards one of the objectives in my backfield. His center-back terminator unit runs towards an objective in the center of the board. He Gates his Warlord onto an objective in his own backfield for another Maelstrom point, and the blob-terminator grind is uneventful.
IG Turn 5
Spoiler:
Maelstrom: Control objective 2 (on his side of the table), have a unit wholly within my opponent's deployment zone.
I get off my psychic buffs and we grind more, I bring down his WK to 1 wound, but again my librarians with Force Axes fail to damage it, flunking their attacks. If only one wound would go through... I now do the dumbest thing I've done in 40k in quite a while: I declare a Hit & Run at an angle I believe to be safe, in an attempt to retreat backwards toward a couple of objectives I need to hold or contest to win the game. However, I roll insanely high on my hit & run and manage running off the board.... My opponent and I both break down in laughter over how stupid that move was, as I only needed to angle it slightly different to be safe. I then decide to concede so we get time to try a game of Age of Sigmar Edit: In retrospect I think we played it wrong and that you dont have to move the full Hit & Run distance, but oh well
As I am almost tabled, he takes primary, secondary, linebreaker, first blood and slay the warlord!
Crushing victory to the Grey Knights!
GK Turn 5
Spoiler:
Game ended already!
Post-game thoughts:
Spoiler:
Now I did a LOT of mistakes in this game. I sent my Knight off to chase low-priority targets which effectively put him out of the game. I moved my blobs up and gave his deep striking units space to land behind my lines, when I should have castled up. I charged into a combat I knew I would lose, when I was no longer fearless and right next to my deployment zone. I then didn't double-check the declared angle for Hit & Run and derped my other blob off the board (but I dont know if we played this right? Either way it was hilarious ). I forgot Coteaz' special rule when his Warlord unit deep struck behind my blob, and I also forgot that I had given my Infantry Sergeants Melta Bombs... Yeah, I didn't deserve to win this game at all haha
My opponent played well, baiting my Knight out of focus and putting pressure from every angle. He was lucky with his Deep Strike rolls, not scattering off the board. This list lacks both speed and long-ranged punch. I am fine with lacking speed, as it's something I chose when I decided to play Blob Guard. The punch, however...
I don't feel that Coteaz does enough for this list, and I think I can safely drop one of the Inquisitors. I consider also dropping the Knight. This will free up over 500 points, but where to put it? I am considering two Vendettas, giving the Infantry blob 4 autocannons and I still have points left. I have unlimited Detachments, but I am limited by the models I own. I also can't bring CtA allies, so no Daemonkin Heldrakes or similar.. Any input is appreciated
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/07/31 12:31:36
2015/07/31 04:42:07
Subject: Re:[1750] Imperial Guard and Librarius Conclave - Tournament prep. games
Edit: In retrospect I think we played it wrong and that you dont have to move the full Hit & Run distance, but oh well
). I forgot Coteaz' special rule when his Warlord unit deep struck behind my blob, and I also forgot that I had given my Infantry Sergeants Melta Bombs... 
