I got to play with my Brand new Deathwatch army for the first time last night. I'll try to remember the details as best I can.
We were playing the mission where you need to capture the Relic in the center of the board and you can pick it up and move around with it. Deployment zones on short board edges. I got the first turn.
My list was originally meant to be a 2,000 point list, but I had to do an emergency trim-down to meet his points level. Not the best list, by my own admission.
Watchmaster with Beacon Angelis
Librarian with force Mace, ML2
Veteran unit with Sergent with lightning claw, 4 guys with Frag Cannons, and 2 Terminators with Cyclone Missile launchers
Veteran unit with Sergent with lightning claw, 4 guys with Frag Cannons, and 2 Terminators with Cyclone Missile launchers
Veteran unit with Sergent with lightning claw, 4 guys with Frag Cannons, and 2 Terminators with Cyclone Missile launchers
Veteran unit with Sergent with lightning claw, 4 guys with Frag Cannons, and 2 Terminators with Cyclone Missile launchers
Dreadnought with Assault cannon.
His list was Deathguard (I'm assuming plague colony???)
Lord on bike with a power weapon that adds D6 attacks
Socerer (unknown weapons)
7 Plague marines in Rhino with 4 plasmaguns
7 Plague Marines in a Rhino with 4 melta
7 plague marines in a rhino with 2 plasmaguns and Champion with plasma pistol
7 plage marines on foot with 2 plasmaguns
3 bikers with a meltagun
3 Beasts of nurgle
havoc squad with 4 lascannons
havoc squad with 4 lascannons.
I started by only deploying the single dreadnought in my backfield, hidden behind a large rock. He deployed with havocs on each side of the board, two rhinos on his left side, one rhino(with socerer) and the bikers on the right, and the lord joined to the Beasts up the middle going for the relic.
First turn, I just let it go, no reason for me to do anything. His turn, he raced forward with everything but the Havoks and summoned a unit of Plague Bearers on his right.
Turn 2. All my stuff came in from reserves, deepstriking in. My Watchmaster joined to one squad scattered BADLY and wound up very close to the PlagueBearers. My Librarian , joined to another unit, was supposed to land on my right side, but scattered backwards to the point they were almost out of range of the Frag Cannons. One unit planted itself in front of his Lord, the other by the Plague marines on foot. Watchmaster and unit overkilled the entire plague Bearer unit (thanks fragcannon flames), but a cyclone missile launcher frag round accidentally clipped one of my own guys and killed him. A combination of Frag cannon and Cyclone Missiles took out all the Beasts of Nurgle and put a wound on his Lord.
On his turn, his bikes moved up to intercept my Watchmaster. He disembarked from a Rhino and rushed it towards my board edge in a bid to take Linebreaker. He summoned more Plaguebearers. Every other unit tried to shoot me to death, loosing a handful of guys.
Turn three is where it went downhill fast. I Teleported my Dreadnought up to eventually support my Watchmaster, but wiffed on most of my shooting, then he managed to bolter-fire a good portion of my terminators to death before unloading on me with Lascannons from the havoks and his bikers meltaguned my Dreadnought to death. He then engaged me in close combat. My guys surprisingly held their own, but it was too little too late.
By turn 4 it was just mop-up time for him.
What did I learn from all of this? For starters, Dreadnoughts still suck, LOL. I need more meat-shields, and the units work great as an Alpha strike, but I spread them MUCH too thin. Had I grouped them together and wiped everything out around them, then made the rest of his army come to me, it may have ended differently. As it was, depending on single units to clear an area singlehandedly was silly at best. I think that the deepstrike castle plan may have merit.
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