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This is the 3 part of a 2250 point RTT report on the Goblin Shoppe RTT in Tampa FL on 1/26.

My list:

HQ
Eldrad
Avatar

Elites
4 Harlequins w/1 fusion pistol and Kisses
Shadowseer w/Kiss
Troupe Leader with Power Weapon

5 Striking Scorpions
Exarch w/Scorpion’s claw and Stalker

Troops
10 Guardians w/Brightlance
10 Guardians w/Brightlance
10 Guardians w/Brightlance

16 Storm Guardians
Warlock w/Singing Spear and Enhance

9 Dire Avengers
Exarch w/Power Weapon Shimmershield and Defend

9 Dire Avengers
Exarch w/2 Sh. Cats. and Bladestorm

Fast Attack
Vyper with 2 Sh. Cannons
Vyper with 2 Sh. Cannons

Heavy Support
Falcon w/Star Cannon, Sh. Cannon, Holofields and Spirit Stones
Falcon w/Star Cannon, Sh. Cannon, Holofields and Spirit Stones

4 Dark Reapers
Exarch w/Missile Launcher and Fast Shot


After winning my first 3 games, I get to play Patrick that was playing Guard. I was not looking forward to playing IG because I lack the range and the fire power to do much damage to them before they do a lot of damage to me, but I found out that he was playing Drop Troop Guard, and felt a little better about it.


Imperial Guard: W/Drop Troops, Close Order Drill, Light Infantry and Veterans

HQ
Command Platoon
Junior officer
4 Guardsman w/Melta Guns x2 and Plasma Gun x2

Anti Tank Squad 3x Lascannons
Anti Tank Squad 3x Lascannons

Fire Support Squad 3x Autocannons
Fire Support Squad 3x Heavy Bolters

Sentinel w/Multilaser, Extra Armor, Improved Comms, Smoke Launcher
Sentinel w/Multilaser, Extra Armor, Improved Comms, Smoke Launcher

Elites
9 Ratlings

4 Hardened Veterans w/3 Plasma Guns
Sgt. w/Plasma Pistol

4 Hardened Veterans w/3 Plasma Guns
Sgt. w/Plasma Pistol

Troops
Command Platoon w/Junior officer, 4 Guardsman w/Melta Gun x4
Infantry Squad w/Close Order Drill and Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Close Order Drill and Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Close Order Drill and Flamer

Command Platoon w/Junior officer, 4 Guardsman w/Melta Gun x4
Infantry Squad w/Close Order Drill and Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Close Order Drill and Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Close Order Drill and Flamer

Fast Attack
Hellhound
Hellhound

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Exterminator
Leman Russ Exterminator
Leman Russ Exterminator

So, seeing that I was a heavy infantry army I do not like what I am seeing. He has a lot od firepower that is made to kill a horde army like mine. It looks like he was gearing up to fight orks, and I get caught in the crossfire.

Mission: Scouting Engagement.
VPs with the only units you start on the table are your 2 compulsory troop selections.

Since my opponent would be dropping down, he was not going to set anything up. So I did not know what to place. I ended up deciding on my Dire Avengers. Since they have such short range, I thought them moving across the board sooner would be better. Against Drop Pods I just Turtle up in a corner, but I have not fought IG Drop Troops before and I had no idea what was going to happen.

The Set up:

Deployment zone is only 12” in from the corner.

Turn #1
I win the first turn die roll and defer to my opponent.

IG Turn #1
Nothing happens…

Eldar Turn #1
I fleet my Dire Avengers up to use the forest to screen them from anything that might be coming in on his corner.


Turn #2

IG Turn #2
He tries to drops a Lascannon squad into the forest in the upper left and scatters out into the open to the left of it. He tries to place an autocannon squad in the same woods and it scattered closer to me. He walked his Heavy Bolter squad on the table and they are in the middle next to the Leman Russes. Then he has his 2 Exterminators. On the left he has a Sentinel and his Jr. Officer. He tried to deepstrike a Troop selection about 5” away from my Dire Avengers and ended up scattering right in the middle of them, and ended up with only 2 models being able to fit. The next squad scattered right on top my Dire Avengers and died, and the next squad came down without a problem that you can see in the middle left. Every unit that can fire at the Dire Avengers does, killing all of them. Also he dropped a Hardened Vet squad in the building in the lower left.


Eldar Turn #2
I get everything on except for a Falcon and a Guardian Squad. I get my Storm Guardians and place them in the upper left to assault his Autocannon Fire Support squad. They kill all of them, but I don’t roll well enough to consolidate into the Lascannons behind them, so I just spread out. I move my Striking Scorpions and Dark Reapers to assault the Vets in the building in the lower right. I thought this was a great place for him to land, because my Dark Reapers will get an extra 6” assault move to be just where I want them to be after the scorpions kill them. But it was not to be. On 3 dice my scorpions only assault 3” and have to watch as the Dark Reapers get into assault and lose one while killing 2 Vets but they hold. My Harlequins jump in the Falcon and the rest of my army does not really do much except killing a couple of Vets near the forest in the middle of the table. (I was tired and I forgot to have Eldrad Eldritch Storm his troops)

Turn #3

IG Turn #3
He drops 3 more squads on my back left corner, and none of them scatter…grrr! They unload on my scorpions killing them. Most of his army unloads on my Storm Guardians and kills all of them except the Warlock that does not break. The Lascannons stun my Falcon, and he shoots down my Vyper with the sentinel’s multilaser. His infantry does a lot of damage to my front guardian squad. The Dark Reapers stay in combat when we both do a wound and make our saves.

Left

Right

Middle

Eldar Turn #3
Now things are starting to get serious. I have a lot of squads all around me, and I am running out of guys. I need to get rid of all the infantry around me and fast! I dump the Harlequins out of the Falcon to take out one squad before moving the Falcon to cover. I had Eldrad cast Eldritch Storm twice on one squad behind the building before he charged them and killed them. I had the Avatar charge the other squad behind the building killing 3 and getting locked in combat (which Eldrad consolidated into). I moved my Guardian Squad that came in from reserves to take on the IG infantry squad in the middle left, and they get locked into combat. My Warlock that was left over from the Storm Guardians killed one of the Lascannon crew with his singing spear before assaulting them and doing nothing. My Falcon moved on from the right and takes a side shot at a Leman Russ Exterminator and kills it. My Dark Reapers win combat and the last 2 Vets break.

Middle of the board

Left Side

Turn #4

IG Turn #4
His Lascannon squad on the upper right stuns my Falcon. His infantry in the woods kills 5 of my Harlequins and the Shadowseer breaks. The Anti-tank squad kills my Warlock and Avatar/Eldrad kill the last of the Infantry on my back corner.

Middle

Left Side

Right Side

Eldar Turn #4
Working Falcon unloads on the Lascannon squad in the upper left killing them. Avatar moved to try to get to within 12” of the Shadowseer and makes it. Dark Reapers kill the Heavy Bolter squad.

Middle

Left Side

Turn #5

IG Turn #5
He unloads Ratlings (Behind the Russes) and the Leman Russes on my Fortuned Dark Reapers killing one of them. A Hellhound kills the last of my Guardians.


Eldar Turn #5
I kill the closest hellhound with a Falcon.


Turn #6

IG Turn #6
He moved a Leman Russ over the Hellhound and immobilized it. He shoots everything at my Avatar doing 3 wounds to him.

Eldar Turn #6
I kill a Sentinel with a Falcon and that ended the game.




SO he ended up with something like 400 VP left alive, and with 2 Falcons, Eldrad and the Dark Reapers that was 800+, so a win for me.

At the end he was complaining about how Cheesy the Avatar/Eldrad combo is. I tried to refer him to this website so he can see that it is a waste of points, but he had his mind made up.

So with going 3-0 I ended up winning and getting a battleforce of my choice. I have all the battleforces I need so I was glad to swap it out for some Chaos Terminators and Thousand Sons.

Hmmm. Quite funny really.

His list has alot of bodies, not alot of killy.

BTW, you don't run a horde army, hate to break it to ya.
Hordes start around 120-150.

At least someone brought heavy weapons...and gets the scenario whammy. Or maybe he intends to always drop his whole army whenever possible. Hard to say.

Exterminators were allowed why?

Terrain, horrible--hopefully normal games don't have to be played on that crap.

Ah well, at least the battle reports have pics and are amusing to read.

Another bad list against a bad list though. I wonder how well you'd fare against optimized armies? I can't speak to the experience of the players you face, so I won't try.

5th edition's coming. This list of yours is going to go in the bin, isn't it? Well maybe you'll have a neat Chaos list to look at. lol

Try not to be so positive Stelek... I mean your gushing is embarrassing

It's been an interesting read for all the reports. I grew up in Florida playing at various locations, but have never been to the Goblin Shoppe. 2250 seems large for RTT style games, but cool to see some largish armies.

Your last opponent really looked like he had the tools to really cripple your army, sans the Avatar (a lot of Melta and Flamer weapons that the Avatar is immune to). He even beat your Harlies who were out of the Fearless bubble. The terrain set up even looked to favor him as there are some large open areas. But, it appears he didn't tank your soft scores as you still won overall; maybe his cheese calling was in good fun. Good job.

Thanks for the reports.

Well I wasn't trying to be so damned negative, reading that FAQ for 4 hours drained the life outta me.

I had several people point out how the gaming scene in florida is different from what I'm used to, so I should just expect Blackmoor's army style to do well there and not get so worried over it.

Blackmoor's armies also do fine in Los Angeles. Oh and Las Vegas.

But really those are minor uncompetitive places... ;-)

*shrug*

Any of my armies would roll it.

I haven't felt any competition in 40K in a long time.

Probably why I'm here, talking about how pisspoor these lists I keep facing are. Nah, crazy talk.

Don't worry about Stelek Patrick. He just be hating on my mad skillz.

Hehe. I thought they was Leet?!

It just boosts my ego to think that the person who beat me league playoffs was a good player and not that I was just the suxxor ;-)

Blackmoor is a really good opponent. I wouldn't say, you'd "roll" his armies. Additionally, what have you heard regarding Florida players...since I also live in Florida? I am curious.

Capt K

Well done Blackmoor! It looked to be an uphill battle for you but I believe the special mission rules may have helped you a bit. I think how you deployed your Dire Avengers in the beginning was quite shrewd. You made a lot of smart decisions throughout the game in my opinion. I was very interested to see how this game turned out. I sure am glad I did not have to play the IG drop troop army as it most likely would have torn apart all my treads.

I played a drop troop IG the last round at Vegas last year with my black Ultras. They killed everything in my army except for one attack bike then my two terminator command squads finally arrived and help me walk away with a comeback victory. Funny enough my opponent also complained, saying that terminator command squads are completely broken. Oh well!

- G

Very nice Blackmoor. I had been knocking around the idea of drop troop IG for a little, and seeing how this panned out gave me some ideas for what might work and what might not.
The terrain does look a little weak, but then I play a short range army and like a packed table, so it very well might be 25%. Did you guys set up the terrain, or was it pretty much set in place when you showed up?

Stelek, I think spending time online saying how great a player you are, and how great your lists perform is analogous to stating frequently that you are not, in fact, crazy. It always seems to create the opposite impression on other people. Just saying, sometimes saying less is more.

Your terrain isn't very good. It's just like the battle report you posted a while ago.The trees are great but the unpainted buildings suck. Otherwise good battle report.

I don't know how good a player Stelek is, but he sure knows his tactics. So don't be hatin'. Play nice you two(three?...)

Wehrkind wrote:Very nice Blackmoor. I had been knocking around the idea of drop troop IG for a little, and seeing how this panned out gave me some ideas for what might work and what might not.
The terrain does look a little weak, but then I play a short range army and like a packed table, so it very well might be 25%. Did you guys set up the terrain, or was it pretty much set in place when you showed up?

There was a drop troop IG army that did well at the LVGT last year. They army had potential to do some real damage, but some things can easily neutralize it (mystics). I think Don Mondo plays one, and he wrote some batreps about his experience at the Baltimore GT.

As far as the terrain goes, it was not pre-set, but I think that no one complained about it, and we just left it the way we found it on the table. And yes, the biggest complaint was the lack of terrain. They promised to use more next time.

I played 2 of 3 drop troop IG armies at the LVGT.

Outnumbered..6-1 or so was pretty normal.

I would not, however, classify the two I played as 'good'.

Only the guy with the 165+ guards had any left at game end. I simply couldn't kill them fast enough. lol

Since I also hail from Florida(south) what is it you have heard of us players down hear????

Junior officer
4 Guardsman w/Melta Guns x2 and Plasma Gun x2

I don't mean to be mean (damn that sounds so lame) but your victory was assured with the line above. You don't mix those guns within guard squads, it just doesn't work.

Pretty interesting game. Thanks for putting it up, Blackmoor.

As for the lists - I don't really play against Eldar, so not much to comment on there.

The Guard list seems a bit funky. I don't know if I would ever field that many basic Guardsmen as 10-man Flamethrower squads, but hey, I guess it would work in some situations. Personally, I'm a fan of the Grenadiers doctrine with two 8-man double Plasma Gun squads. 200 points satisfies my Troops requirement.

@Stelek:

What list were you running against those Guard armies? You sound pretty sure of yourself regarding your "competition." The way I see it, Guard armies either win big or go home empty-handed. I field a half drop, half foot list, and I can say from experience that there is quite a bit riding on the deep strike rolls for Drop Guard.

CK

I have heard Florida gamers r0x0r in the b0x0rz.



- G

Blackmoors list looks to be balance even with the two Falcons so I could see this list getting good comp/sports scores. Has flavor and lots of troop units. Nice to not see the carbon copy ubber Eldar list. Props for originalty.

Eldrad Avatar Falcons Harlequins... that is not original, but I do the like the Scorpions and Storm Guardians - they are well worth the points.

- G

Stelek wrote:Exterminators were allowed why?

Exterminators don't have to be 'allowed'. Rules from the IA books do not require opponent's permission.

Stelek wrote:Terrain, horrible--hopefully normal games don't have to be played on that crap.

Have to agree there. I see to many BatReps where the tables are basically a flat plane with a hill and maybe a couple of trees. This was awful.

BYE

Thanks for the detailed batrep, Blackmoor.

I rather fear drop troops with my mech list (4+ plasma shots at rear armor and hatch-blocking make even the Falcon pilots nervous). That guy's list, though... all those flamers don't look like a very good setup.

And what's with the DSing heavies? Not so hot there.