Finally getting around to writing up a game I played Sunday. Was supposed to play 1500 vs Harle, but a chaos player showed up. I didn't have exactly the stuff for my 2k list (Waiting on stuff to come in), but I cobbled together a 3k that closely resembled it with some extra stuff so we could do 2v1.
Took on 2 1500 pt armies with 3k of
BT. Battle for Konor mission. Lists are roughly as follows.
Chaos (6
CP)
Skarbrand
Belakor
Winged Khorne prince with claws
2x Maulerfiends
10 berserkers in a rhino
10 cultists
10 Bloodletters (Summoning)
Harlequins (2 formations for 7
CP)
2x Troupe Master
2x Shadowseer
1x Death Jester
3x Troupes (ALL with fusion pistols)
1x Starweaver
3x shadoweaver artillery
2x5 rangers
BT (Brigade, 12CP)
Chapter Master on Bike with
BT helm,
PF/
SS (Warlord, storm of fire)
Captain with
JP,
TH/
SS (Went in
LRC)
Emperors Champion (went in
LRC)
Chaplain with
PF (Went in
LRC)
10 Crusaders in a rhino, flamer, combi flamer, power sword
2x5 Crusaders in a asscan razorback,
plas, combi
plas,
plas cannon
3x5 scouts
2x5 bolter crusaders (Went in
LRC)
Ven Dread with asscan, heavy flamer
2x5 company vets,
SS, power sword, axe, fist (Went in
LRC)
2x
AC/Las pred
1x Whirlwind with vengeance
2x
LRC
2x Tarantulas with heavy bolters
10 Assault marines with
JP and a power sword
Since I had first turn unless they seized, I deployed right on the center with the
LRC and dread, all my fire support was set up behind/to the side back enough to get shots on the khorne stuff right on the line, but back enough to be safe from charging. I used scouts to box out any good deployment options for the snipers, and 1 squad was just outside 9" of the artillery. Deep struck the
JP marines. The khorne player was right on the line, wide out in the open. For some reason he bunkered the cultists up in a building. The bloodletters were to be summoned later.
First turn the assault marines landed in the back field (Where the cultists should have been used to wrap the artillery, and the 1 scout squad moved right up ontop of the arty. Landraiders rolled back outside of charge range for Skarbrand. Rhinos/razorbacks swept up along the left flank away from the scary khorne assault blob, facing just the berserker rhino. Rerolls from the
CM (Didnt use on tarantulas cause I couldn't remember if they had the chapter marker) were unbelievably useful. I took half of skarbrand's health, killed the rhino and 9 berserkers, wrecked a maulerfiend and damaged another. Did half damage on the starweaver (He had to use a
CP to save it) with the whirlwind. Picked up most of the rangers. The assault marines failed their charge (Even with reroll, bums), and scouts got stuck in on two arty pieces, doing no damage but stopping the shooting.
Their first turn the harlies converge on the assault marines and the scouts. Lone berserker champion summons bloodletters in middle of field instead of trying to charge a razorback. Pick all the marines up with pistols, scouts with assault. Plink a wound onto the
CM with the snipers. Warptime gets shut down by
BT strategem, maulerfiend charges dread, prince charges one of the
LRC, belakor misses his charge. Prince does something like 2-4 wounds to the
LRC, maulerfiend does NOTHING to the dread and gets slapped in the dick for half his health.
Second turn Emp champ and his
LRC full of dicks hop out, their
LRC moves up the field, the 5 bolter crusaders go towards bloodletters while
EC and vets go back to bail out the Chaplain's
LRC from the prince.
JP captain flies over to say hi to Belakor. Another unit of scouts move out to (morally) 'support' the dread vs the maulerfiend. Rhino squad hops out and heads up to charge the troupe that killed the scouts and one of the arty pieces. One plasma razorback squad gets out to shoot whatever needs shooting. Because of the character rules and the prince locked with my
LRC, none of my vehicles can shoot any other character on the board (And there are a lot) besides Skarbrand. Which is fine, except he gets wasted almost immediately so I end up not being able to shoot much. I wipe the berserker and bloodletters, blow up the starweaver (Which kills a few harlies when it explodes), and that's about it for shooting. Crusaders from rhino wipe a troupe squad and lock down an arty piece,
EC slaps the piss out of the
DP and brings him down to 2 wounds, though a bunch of the command squad dies. Captain puts 6W on belakor and dies (and I forget to use the strategem that lets him swing again after he dies, which was my plan). Dread dies to the maulerfiend and he consolidates into the scouts.
Cultists move up to the middle of the board where the bolter marines stand on the remains of the bloodletters. Belakor flies up to my chapter master, I had intended to kill him so misjudged his ability to reach me. Bad news. Harlequins position to finish the crusader squad and their rhino. Cultists charge in and kill a marine. Rhino crusaders and their ride are toast.
CM gets charged and makes it after I have to reroll a 3++ with only 1W left. He pimp slaps belakor for his trouble.
EC loses the rest of the vets but finishes the prince, and 4 scouts die to the maulerfiend.
Chaplain and crew hop out to finish off the maulerfiend, everything else advances. The torrent of fire wipes out everything I can see on the board, the chaplain and his vets kill the maulerfiend.
EC charges into cultists to help finish them off.
We call the game without even tallying the points, because it's a slaughter.
After action report
Guaranteeing me first turn despite me having more drops was a massive game changer. My opponents had almost no long range shooting, which is something I see in a lot of lists this edition. It's simply too easy to pick up 30+ infantry models a turn, and dumpster expensive melee monsters/vehicles in one go. Assault is still very useful, but shooting is king.
MSU and proper use of screening units makes assault armies very easy to deal with. Having strong assault elements and screeners is super important to protect yourself from alpha assaulters, but balanced lists are just more important. Maybe an army like
GSC could get away with having a lot of cheap
IG/Nid screen clearing shooting, but most armies are going to have a very hard time with it. Foot slogging assault lists are going to have to play rock/paper/scissors and just wager they can cross ground faster than they get picked up. It's going to be all about hordes that have mobility and the ability to clear screening units if you want to play assault heavy.
Hordes do counter parking lot/gunlines, so if they don't mix it up and take proper screeners/counter assaults, it only takes one good blob to feth their whole day up.
Scouts are one of the best screening units in the game because of their special deployment option. They just shut down the ability to get first turn positioning, and then the
SM first turn will likely level most of your combat capability. They dont do much as far as killing things. Losing melta bombs for assaulting vehicles is lame, one of the few useful applications of scouts last edition. Probably just run all my scouts as bolter scouts nowadays. Use them to harry weak stuff and be annoying.
The plasma crusaders in asscan razorbacks are one of my favorite units, ever. I've always loved assault cannons, and since 5th edition they've been solid but slightly overpriced. The loss of rending for 2 extra shots, and then doubling that for twin systems is amazing. People hate on 24", but most combat in this game happens in 24", in my experience. I ran hive guard for well over 100 games, and only rare was I unable to make the 24" work. Yeah, it's not going to reach out and touch a fire support piece on the far side of the board, but from the middle of the board is controls space very well. Moving 6-12" pushes it out to 30-36", for when the enemy just wont come to you. Making combis not 1 shot means crusaders can roll with double
plas AND a 4+ to hit D3 shot plasma. It's a bit expensive and probably not optimal, but on average the unit should land 4-5 plasma hits after moving, before rerolls.
Emperor's Champion and
TH/
SS captains are amazing.
EC is only 75 pts, but swings WAY above his price vs characters, while still being solid vs medium/heavy infantry. One of the best chars for the cost in the game
atm.
TH/
SS captain with
JP has been an MVP almost every game. The mobility, inability to be picked out with smart movement and 3 flat damage is nuts. I'm thinking of naming him Marshal Malone, because he takes it to the
hole.
At first I wasn't sold on the
BT relic, but after using it with the
CM I think it's actually one of the best relics in the book. 3" doesn't sound like much, but pushing 6 to 9 for full rerolls and storm of fire is a big deal. It covers a ton of ground with the aura. With a bike
PF (I'd prefer
TH but he's already painted) and
SS, he's a solid counter-assault threat. Kind of a mini-girlyman. For those of us who don't want to play ultrasmurfs, this is a godsend. He's also an
HQ instead of
LoW, and about 200 pts cheaper, so while I lose out on 6
CP (3 for helm, 3 for taking girlyman), I am able to use those points to fit a brigade into 2k. He's not as good, for sure, but, still a very good character.
Predators are amazing. They never cease to wreck shop. Rerolls makes them super reliable. Statistically the
LC and
AC turret are almost the same, with the
LC edging it out on a few heavy infantry and vehicle targets, while the
AC is good against the softer stuff, more consistent output and higher possible damage ceiling. I would never use the
HB sponsons.
Whirlwind was... not bad? It's like a mini pred that doesn't need
LOS. I think it's still a bit too expensive for what it does. I'm considering trying to swap over to the
FW helios version, tho not sure where I'll get points. I need more trials with it.
Tarantulas were great. I didn't give them rerolls, but I rolled amazing anyways so it was about the same. They're dirt cheap with THB, and 36" means their immobile status shouldn't keep them for shooting too often. The
TAC would obviously be better damage, but its considerably more expensive and while 24" is a solid range, when you can't move it can become hindering.
Assault marines are assault marines. I only took them to fill a fast slot and because I think they're cool. Usually I run them as
VV, but needed the fast slot. Failing the charge sucked, but they got the harlie player to turn his whole force around and deal with them. If the cultists had been used as a screen, they would have been considerably less useful, I think. My experience with
JP marines this edition has been that they excel at being on the board, using
LOS blocking and being counter assault units. I don't think they're ever going to be strong, reliable alpha assaulters. Good distractions, though. Blood angels 5 man squads with dual specials could be very dangerous.
LRC are
LRC. Unkillable bricks of withering anti infantry fire. Would rather have 3 razorbacks now that assault vehicles aren't special, though. They do block a ton of
LOS and take up space, and are hard as piss to kill. Totally usable.
