Archive for category Battle Reports

Tournament Report – 1/23/2010

Posted by NockerGeek in Battle Reports on January 24th, 2010

The tournament that I prepared for has come and gone, so it’s time to review today’s events and see if my plans worked out. We had 16 players attending, with an interesting mix of armies. Two Eldar, two Dark Eldar, two Imperial Guard, three standard Space Marines, one Blood Angels, one Space Wolves, one Chaos Daemons, one Ork, one Tau (me), and two others that I didn’t see. This gave me a chance to play against armies (or variants thereof) that I’ve never gotten to face before.

Round 1
Deployment: Spearhead
Mission: Seize Ground (5 Objectives), with Kill Points as a secondary objective
Opponent: Dark Eldar

This was the first time I’ve ever faced a Dark Eldar army, and while I knew roughly what to expect, I didn’t know all the details. This, combined with a bit of first-round nerves, led me to make a few critical tactical mistakes. Spearhead is my least favorite deployment format anyway, and against a fast assault army it leaves me at a distinct disadvantage. I left my Fire Warriors in reserve, which was a mistake in retrospect. Had I deployed them along the back edges of my corner, I would have had a gunline that could have been putting out 30″ shots. My opponent went first, and on turn 1 managed to get one of his two Archons in assault with my HQ unit. Amazingly enough, I managed to lock that Archon in melee for two turns, and actually came out on top. I lost my bodyguards and shield drones (which kept me alive) and took two wounds on my commander in the process, though, which left him weakened against the Wyches which followed. Meanwhile, I was able to thin out two of his Warrior squads with Hammerhead submunitions, but that left two more – one in a Raider, one in ruins near an objective, that I could not destroy. The sheer number of lance weapons I had to face kept my vehicles stunned, and my Fire Warriors coming on piecemeal were wiped out one by one. I managed to wipe out one unit of Warriors, destroy one Ravager, and disarm and disable a Raider, but in the end my army’s setup worked against me. I lost two objectives to none, and fifteen kill points to three.

Round 2
Deployment: Dawn of War
Mission: Cut Off the Head (see below), with Capture and Control as a secondary objective
Opponent: Space Marines (Imperial Fists)

The mission was an Annihilation variation – kill points counted, but only after you had killed one of your opponent’s HQ choices. Anything before that did not count towards the objective (but did provide bonus points for the overall standings). My opponent chose to deploy and go second, and deployed nothing before the game. I mostly concentrated my forces in one corner (near my objective), but kept my Piranhas, one Hammerhead, and one Devilfish in the other corner. His army itself consisted of two Land Raiders containing terminators – one with Lysander and Storm Shield/Thunderhammers, and one with a Chaplain – and two Razorbacks containing five-man tactical squads. He moved them up the middle on his first turn. I responded on turn two by destroying one Razorback and immobilizing the Chaplain’s Land raider with railgun and missile fire. In return, he started moving up Lysander’s Land Raider and destroyed the Devilfish. I eventually lost the Piranhas to lascannon and assault cannon fire, and didn’t manage to do much beyond shaking the mobile Land Raider. I did manage to immobilize the other Razorback about 5 inches from his objective. Unfortunately, without the lighter vehicles as targets, most of my army was left with nothing to target. Lysander and his escort did get out twice; once to kill my Deathrains, and once to kill an immobilized Hammerhead, but beyond that I had few opportunities to kill his HQ. I kept mine on the edge of the board and out of LOS. In the end, no one was claiming either objective uncontested, and no HQs had been destroyed, so no kill points were awarded. With that, the game ended in a draw.

Round 3
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Mission: Once More Into the Breach (see below)
Opponent: Eldar

This was an interesting mission. It was a variation on kill points, but instead of points being awarded for killing units, they were awarded for forcing a morale check by causing 25% casualties during the Shooting phase (even if the check couldn’t fail). Every such check awarded to shooter one point. There was also a secondary objective that awarded points for destroying enemy units in assault. My opponent was running a hybrid Eldar list – one maximum-size Jetbike squad with a Warlock, a Jetbike Farseer with Fortune and Doom that ran with them, two Wave Serpents filled withFire Dragons, two units of Pathfinders, and a Falcon for heavy support. Being mechanized was to my advantage in this game, since my vehicles couldn’t give up points, with one exception: the gun drones. Early on, one of my Piranhas was destroyed by an immobilizing Pulse Laser shot, which caused the squadron’s drones to all disembark together. One was then killed by shuriken cannon fire from the jetbikes, forcing a morale check. The other Piranha ended up getting revenge against the Falcon, however. His Jetbikes spent half the game turbo-boosted, and along with the Farseer’s Fortune, that made landing any wounds on them difficult. The other challenge was not landing too many wounds. On two occasions, both against his Pathfinders, I managed to do so many wounds that the unit was wiped out before a morale check could be taken. Eventually, though, his Jetbikes had to slow down to take shots, and that opened them up to my attacks. I managed to force two morale checks against them in turns 5 and 6. I also forced two checks on his Fire Dragons, but not before he forced checks against my Deathrains and Fireknives. At the end of turn six, we were tied on shooting morale checks with four each. The secondary objective never came into play; we had one assault at the end of the game, with three of his Fire Dragons against my one remaning Fireknife, but neither group could hurt the other. Again, the game ended in a draw.

So, one loss and two draws. Not as good a performance as I’d hoped, but I did hold my own, more or less. Once again, a fast assault army was my undoing; this just shows that I need to practice against such armies more, especially in Spearhead deployment games. Still, I had a great time, and I hope I can attend another event sometime this year (although the schedules rarely work with mine). On a side note, my friend Dennis, who played the other Eldar army at the tournament, came in just shy of getting third place, so congratulations are in order to him!!

batrep, tau, tournament

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1500pt Chaos v. Eldar – First Run

Posted by NockerGeek in Battle Reports on December 29th, 2009

Has it been three weeks since my last update? I blame the amazingly busy holiday season, combined with a bout of upper respiratory crud that ran through everyone in our household. I haven’t gotten much painting done in the interim, although I’m still on target to have both Hammerheads done by year’s end. In the meantime, though, I did get in my first game with my Chaos Space Marines. I ran my 1500-point Khorne list against his Eldar army, which consisted of:

Farseer on a Jetbike w/Fortune and Mind War, along with a Jetbike Seer Council
Harlequin Troupe w/ Death Jester
Howling Banshees w/ Jain Zar and an Exarch w/ Mirrorswords, all packed in a Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lances
2 squads of Jetbike Guardians w/ Warlocks and Shuriken Cannons

Our mission was Seize Ground, with 3 objectives, with a Spearhead deployment. Unfortunately, I don’t have a fully-detailed battle report to give – it’s been a week or so, and some of the specifics are fuzzy, but I can give you the highlights.

Eldar went first, and I was unable to seize initiative.

First turn, the Wave Serpent managed to immobilize my Land Raider, which slowed down my Terminators significantly. Fortunately, this still left my LR with clear lanes of fire for one TL Lascannon and the TL Heavy Bolters, so it wasn’t a total loss. On my first turn, that came into play, as the heavy bolters tore into the Harlequins, who had deployed just a bit far forward for their own good. The combi-flamer on one of my Rhinos did a bit more cleanup, and the Berserkers themselves finished them off on Turn 2.

By the end of Turn 2, I had Berzerkers on two objectives. This didn’t last; Turn 3 saw the Banshees near the objective, so I tried my luck at charging them with one squad of Berzerkers. This was not a bright move, but I learned something very important – Banshees will beat Berzerkers every time thanks to acting at Initiative 10, and it’s doubly bad when Jain Zar is involved. The other squad of Berzerkers left its objective to charge at objective #3, held by a group of Jetbike Guardians. By turn 5, the objective was firmly in the hands of Chaos.

Turn 3 also saw my Raptors enter play from reserve, and I deep struck them right next to one squad of Guardians. They managed to get off a couple of melta shots, but they ended up getting caught between Shuriken Cannon fire and Destructor templates from the Seer Council. In the end, they only managed to be a fire magnet for one turn before being destroyed. However, they kept fire off of the Terminators, which gave them an extra turn to close in with the Eldar.

The Terminators held their own, a tribute to their survivability. The Chaos Lord lost a Mind War with the Farseer, but only took two wounds, leaving him injured but still able to fight. They managed to close ranks with the Seer Council, which tied up both squads for at least two turns. In the end, though, I brought my Berzerkers hooking around a wall and into the Council’s rear, and the pincer attack finished off the Council. I was able to consolidate back onto the objective at the end of turn 5, and the game was mine. The other unit of Guardians had been finished off by Defiler cannon fire.

Unfortunately for me, the game went 7 turns. On turn 6, the Banshees crashed into my 4 remaining Terminators, and they were locked in combat. However, on my half of the turn, my Chaos Lord was betrayed by his Blood Feeder (thanks to rolling a 1), which left him unable to drop any attacks on Jain Zar. Had he been able to swing, he probably would have finished her off. As is, she killed him, and the rest of her unit took care of the remaining Termies. On turn 7, they assaulted the Berzerkers, and I got a repeat of turn 3. At the end of 7, neither of us had any troops to hold objectives, so we fell back to kill points, and the Eldar came out slightly ahead.

I can’t say that I was unhappy with my army’s performance. Had the game only gone 5 or 6 turns, I would have won 1-0. Against anything but Banshees, my assault troops did very well, and my crippled Land Raider was still able to provide fire support. The Defiler wasn’t quite as great as I’d hoped, although the battle cannon was great against Jetbike Guardians – a unit with a large footprint like that means that even with some scatter, I was still landing direct hits, and the STR8 AP3 hits were deadly. Getting the Defiler into assault, though, proved trickier against a highly mobile army (and I got some terrible Run rolls as well, which kept its Fleetness from being a benefit). The Banshees were the bane of my army, though. When I’ve run my Tau against Dennis’s Eldar, I can deal with them at range. With Khorne CSMs, that’s not as much of an option. I’d hoped that I could kill the Wave Serpent early on (which I never managed to do), but once its passengers had disembarked, they just cut a swath of power weapon death across the board.

Would I change anything? Not yet. One battle against one opponent does not provide enough info one way or another. I need to run it against the other armies in our playgroup – Orks, Dark Angels, Salamanders, and even my own Tau (if someone doesn’t mind giving them a spin). I think I have a good start, though; I just need more data, and then I can start tweaking. In the meantime, I’m going to start working on CSM army #2, a Black Legion force with Abaddon at the lead.

batrep, chaos

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Stepping Into a Nest of Salamanders…

Posted by NockerGeek in Battle Reports on October 13th, 2009

This Saturday, I got in a 1500 point game to test my latest Tau list. My opponent this week was my friend Dan, and his Salamander successor chapter army. Dan’s relatively new to the game, and this was his first 1500 point list. It was also the first list where he got to play with the new toys he received for his birthday: Vulkan He’stan, an Ironclad Dreadnought and a Thunderfire Cannon. Considering that Dan’s had his entire army gifted to him, mostly out of Black Reach boxes, he’s not doing too shabbily. Here’s what he brought to the table:

HQ: Forgefather Vulkan He’stan (1#, 190 pts)
1 Forgefather Vulkan He’stan

HQ: Space Marine Chapter Master (1#, 190 pts)
1 Space Marine Chapter Master (Artificer Armour; Bolter x1; Power Sword x1; Auxiliary Grenade Launcher; Digital Weapons; Hellfire Rounds)

Troops: Tactical Squad (10#, 175 pts)
9 Tactical Squad (Bolter x7; Flamer; Missile Launcher)
1 Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Bolt Pistol; Chainsword)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 120 pts)
Dreadnought (Extra Armor; Dreadnought CCW; Storm Bolter; Twin Linked Heavy Flamer)

Elite: Ironclad Dreadnought (1#, 175 pts)
Ironclad Dreadnought (Hunter-Killer Missile(s) x2; Ironclad Assault Launchers; Seismic Hammer; Heavy Flamer; Hurricane Bolter)

Fast Attack: Assault Squad (10#, 255 pts)
9 Assault Squad (Bolt Pistol x7; Flamer x2)
1 Sergeant (Thunder Hammer; Storm Shield)

Heavy Support: Thunderfire Cannon (1#, 100 pts)
1 Thunderfire Cannon
1 Techmarine Gunner

Total Roster Cost: 1500

Note that there are no transports, or really any mechanized capability. That’s mostly because Dan doesn’t own any yet, but something that we may rectify before the end of the year. For now, it’s all foot slogging.

Anyway, the mission was Seize Ground (4 objectives), with a Spearhead deployment. He put almost everything on the table – a tac squad on each of his two objectives, a fan of HQs and elites between them, and the cannon perched on top of a hill. Meanwhile, the assault squad was held in reserve. I paired up my Devilfish with my Railheads, and kept all my suits in reserve. I went first, and he chose not to attempt seizing the initiative.

Tau Turn 1: I move my ‘fish out towards two objectives – one unclaimed, one currently held. I fire submunitions with my Railheads; one shot scatters off-target, while the other ends up taking out 3 marines from a tac squad.

Space Marine Turn 1: His fan of heavy hitters spreads out a bit. He tries landing shots from his Thunderfire on one of my Railheads. All either scatter off or fail to penetrate armor, a trend that continues for most of the game.

Tau Turn 2: 3 of my 4 Crisis Suit units come in from reserves, leaving only the two Deathrains remaining. I want to focus fire as much as possible, but his forces are still clustered in one quarter of the board. I make a gamble and start deep-striking my suits around the far end of the “fan”, near one of the held objectives. The HQ squad scatters near the heart of the fan, next to his Ironclad. The Fireknives scatter near Vulkan. The fusion suits scatter little. I bring up the oncoming fish and disembark my FWs within rapid fire range. The Fire Warriors unload on the Tac Squad, and leave only one survivor – the marine with the flamer. He breaks and starts running for the nearest long table edge. The fusion team fires on the nearest Dreadnought, which explodes – catching 3 of the FWs in the blast. The shooting falls apart after that. The Fireknives are unable to land but one wound on Vulkan, and the HQ team only manages to clear out 3 more marines from the other objective. Meanwhile the Hammerheads fail to do anything useful.

Space Marine Turn 2: Things start to fall apart for me here. The lone flamer marine rallies, and the fan of elites reverses itself, closing in on the HQ team. The Thunderfire cannon takes out two of the three fusion suits with a 4-shot barrage. My FWs are lined up neatly under the Devilfish – all within flamer range, and the marines claim revenge. Only 2 FWs from that team remain. The heavy flamers and hurricane bolters on the remaining dreadnoughts fail to make much of a dent in the HQ team, but they more than make up for it in assault, along with the Chapter Master, who slaughter that squad. Vulkan cuts down one Fireknife and catches the other two in a sweeping advance. The flamer marine charges the remaining FWs, and they lock each other up in combat.

Tau Turn 3: My gamble has backfired, and now most of my firepower is dead or unavailable. Vulkan shrugs off a railgun round thanks to his mantle, but is not so lucky against the gun drones on the Devilfish – a second wound is inflicted. The remaining fusion suit is unable to land a wound on him, though, and tries to jump away. More submunitions from the other Hammerhead, but still 4 marines stubbornly sit on the other objective. All this time, the other ‘fish is sitting on an uncontested objective across the board.

Space Marine Turn 3: The Assault Team comes in from reserve, deep-striking near the rest of the carnage and within assault range of the empty Devilfish. The dreadnoughts flank around the bastion in the middle of the table and each start moving towards a different Hammerhead. Vulkan ducks behind the bastion, hoping to avoid taking any more fire. The Ironclad launches an HK missile at a Railhead, but misses. The fusion suit is finished off by a krak missile shot from the remaining Tac Squad. Assault, on the other hand, does not go as well – a Fire Warrior falls, but his last remaining squadmate takes out the final marine.

Tau Turn 4: The Deathrain team still refuses to come in from reserves. The lone Fire Warrior re-embarks in his ‘fish and tries to move away from the Assault Team. The Hammerheads reposition and fire, but no damage is dealt.

Space Marine Turn 4: The fan closes in on its targets and goes straight into assault (prefixed by a second ineffectual HK shot). The thunder hammer in the assault squad makes short work of the Devilfish, causing it to explode and kill its passenger. The Ironclad drops its Hammerhead with one solid blow. The Chapter Master tries to get into a good position to drop an Orbital Bombardment on the remaining Devilfish. Vulkan remains near the bastion, biding his time.

Tau Turn 5: The Deathrain team drops in within flamer range of the remaining 4 Tac Squad members in hopes of clearing them out. Another railgun round misses, but the Deathrain flamers do not – two marines die, and the squad breaks and moves off of the objective. The Devilfish swings around behind a building, but still within capture range of the objective, denying the Chapter Master line of sight.

Space Marine Turn 5: The last two marines rally and move back onto the objective. Vulkan charges the Deathrains, finishing them off in assault. Meanwhile, the normal Dreadnought and the Assault Squad catch the remaining Hammerhead in a pincer move. The Dreadnought lands a hit, immobilizing the tank, and the assault squad’s thunder hammer finishes the job.

The game ends after Turn 5, with each of us holding an objective. Falling back to kill points to resolve the tie, he clearly came out ahead. So, what important lessons did I learn?

Don’t underestimate Dreadnoughts. I ignored these early on because they were focused on assault, something that I didn’t consider to be a threat to my tanks. In the end, my tanks fell to them in assault. That’s a mistake I won’t be making again.
Deep-striking within assault range is a bad idea. I thought I had enough firepower to seal the deal and clear out what was in my deep strike target zone. I didn’t, and it left me with my pants down. I lost almost all my heavy hitters in one turn because of it. I had firepower, sure, but the targets I couldn’t clear survived because they were just that resilient. I needed more turns of firepower, and that meant that I needed to deep strike further away.
Better control of reserves is necessary. I’m considering modifying the list to fit in a positional relay for the command suit. Having most of my suits come in on turn 2 wasn’t to my advantage, and neither was having the Deathrains coming in on the last turn. It would require me to keep my HQ suit out of reserve, but I think it might just be worthwhile. Alternately, I may just keep a couple of units in reserve (probably the fusion suits and the Deathrains), and keep the rest out and able to harass from turn one.
Vulkan He’stan is a bad-ass. He’s killer in assault, he’s damn near impossible to kill, and his special ability does great things for the army. He is not to be underestimated.

So, I dust myself off, tweak my tactics, and try again… and just remember that next time, Dan might be Drop Podding that army into place.

batrep, space marines, tau

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