Friday 12 February 2016

Doubles Tournament Game 3- White Scars/Mechanicus vs Space Marines/Chaos Space Marines

Welcome to the final battle report of the Doubles Tournament that Innes and I attended at 6s2Hit in Edinburgh. We had won our first game and lost our second game, so went into the final game hoping for a win to have succeeded in over half our games. Our opponents for the third game were Page and Fowler, commanding an army of Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines (what a heretical alliance!).


I've been asked to try and make the pictures larger for my battle reports, so have tried to do so. What do you think of the new ones? Too big or just the right size now?

As a reminder, our armies were:
 
Combined Arms Detachment
Kor'sarro Khan- Moondakken (with CS)
Librarian- Mastery level 1, Bike, Meltabombs, Hunter's Eye (with CS or L)
5 Command Squad- 4 Grav guns, Apothecary, Storm Shield (CS)
5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B1)
5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B2)
5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, combat weapons, Sergeant has Meltabombs (S)
Landspeeder Storm- Cerberus launcher, Heavy bolter (LS)
Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP)
Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)
 
Dominus Maniple
Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field (with V)
5 Skitarri Vanguard- 2 Plasma Calivers, Omnispex, Vanguard Alpha with Red Carbine. (V)
2 Onager Dunecrawlers- Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator (D)
 
Oathsworn Detachment
Mechanicum Cerastus Knight Atropos- Occular Augmetics. (K)

Our supreme warlord was Khan, while in this game Innes' warlord trait gave his warlord haywire. My Librarian got Mental Fortitude and Psychic Shriek.

Page's and Fowler's armies were:
Chapter Master- Storm Bolter, Power fist, Armour Indomitus, Iron Halo (CM)
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Lascannon (TM1)
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Lascannon (TM2)
5 Scouts- 4 Sniper Rifles, Bolter (S)
Techmarine and Thunderfire Cannon (T)
3 Centurions- TL Heavy Bolters, Missile launchers (C1)
3 Centurions- TL Lascannons, Missile launchers (C2)

Chaos Sorcerer- Mark of Nurgle, Mastery level 3, Terminator Armour (CS)
Daemon Prince- Murder Sword (DP)
3 Chaos Terminators (T)
10 Cultists (CS1)
10 Cultists (CS2)
5 Raptors- Plasma pistol and Flamer (R)
3 Bikers- Plasma gun (CB)
Forgefiend- Two Reaper Autocannons (F)
Heldrake- Reaper Cannon (H)

The Space Marine warlord got Iron Resolve (Feel no Pain). The Chaos Sorcerer got the Soul Blaze rule and had all the Nurgle Psychic powers.

The mission for the third game was Contact Lost, where you get one maelstrom card for each objective that you control at the start of your turn. With the mobility in my army, I would hopefully be able to grab multiple objectives per turn and get a chance to score more points.

The objectives were set up as shown below. The mysterious objectives were:
Objective 1- Nothing of note
Objective 2- Sabotaged
Objective 3- Sabotaged
Objective 4- Skyfire Nexus
Objective 5- Grav Wave Generator
Objective 6- Grav Wave Generator

We won the roll for deployment and chose to go first. I deployed one unit of bikers on the left to grab the objective in the ruins. The other unit went in the centre and the Command Squad went to the right, ready to Scout forward and grab the objective. The Landspeeder Storm went next to objective 6, beside the Knight. The Dunecrawlers went to the ruins to the right in the ruins.

The Chaos Space Marine forces deployed on their right flank, while the Space Marines went in the ruins to the left flank.

The Scouts infiltrated, but chose to deploy in the ruins with the rest of the Space Marines. I scouted the bikers in the centre forward, along with the Command Squad.
Grey arrows represent Scout moves.









As we got set to move, our opponents managed to Seize the Initiative.

TURN 1- SPACE MARINES/CHAOS SPACE MARINES
In their first turn, the Space Marines drew Hold the Line and Objective 6. The Chaos Space Marines drew Objective 2, Objective 2 and Objective 6.

The Chaos units on the left flank advanced on the White Scars, while the Space Marines held their positions to fire on the approaching enemy.


The Heavy Bolter Centurions fired on the Command Squad, wounding them 4 times. Despite Jinking, 2 bikers died to the onslaught. The Lascannon Centurions fired at the Dunecrawlers, eliminating one of the enemy vehicles. A tactical squad fired at the last remaining Dunecrawler, penetrating it and destroying the Neutron laser, effectively neutralising the unit.

The rest of the Space Marines targeted the Command Squad. The scouts and tactical marines fired at them, but failed to get past their armour saves. The thunderfire cannon fired at them, but the blast scattered a massive 11" off target and caused no harm.

On the other flank, the Forgefiend, Raptors and Cultists targeted the unit of bikers on the right flank, but were unable to kill any of the bikers.

The Chaos Bikers then assaulted the White Scars bikers, losing one of their number to overwatch fire. One White Scar died to the Hammer of Wrath attacks as the bikers charged in. The Chaos and Scars bikers struck furiously, killing one from each squad. The White Scars lost combat, but passed their morale check and Hit and Ran out of combat towards the enemy lines.

At the end of their turn, the Space Marines scored Hold the Line and they both discarded Objective 6.

TURN 1- WHITE SCARS/MECHANICUS
At the start of our turn, I drew Domination (control all objectives), Objective 4, Objective 5 and Objective 6. Innes drew Hungry for Glory (issue a challenge) and Reclaim Lost Knowledge (score an objective held by the enemy at the start of the turn).

The drop pod arrived, landing on target beside objective 3. The Mechanicus units deployed to the right of the pod. The Command squad on the right flank stayed in position to score the objective, while the bikers moved forward to grab objective 5 in the ruins in front of them, the other unit moving to engage the Demon Prince. The Scouts disembarked from their transport to secure objective 6, allowing the Speeder to advance to take on the cultists. The Knight advanced on the enemy lines.





In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast psychic shriek on the tactical marines, but his efforts were blocked by the enemy troops.

In the shooting phase, the Command Squad targeted the tactical squad, but could not find any hits thanks to jinking last turn.

The Knight fired at the Heavy Bolter Centurions, killing one of the squad. The Vanguard targeted the survivors and succeeded in wiping the unit out.

On the left flank, the bikers fired at their Chaos counterparts, slaying the last two members of the unit. The Landspeeder storm fired its Cerberus launcher at the cultists, killing two of the squad and blinding them. The Heavy bolter was unable to score any hits (thanks to my rolling a triple one to hit!). The nearby drop pod killed another 2 cultists from the squad, but they did not break and flee.

The final unit of bikers killed two if the Raptors in the ruins. The unit failed their morale check and fell back 7" towards the table edge.

The Raptors fall back.

At the end of our turn, I scored First Blood, Objective 4, Objective 5 and Objective 6. I discarded Domination, while Innes discarded Hungry for Glory.

Victory Points:
Space Marines/Chaos Space Marines- 1
White Scars/Mechanicus- 4

TURN 2- SPACE MARINES/CHAOS SPACE MARINES
In turn 2, the Space Marines drew objective 3. The Chaos had no objectives, so drew no cards.

On the right flank, the Raptors rallied as the cultists, Daemon Prince and Forgefiend advanced. On the other flank, the Chapter Master moved through the ruins to support the tactical squad on the ground floor.


The Forgefiend opened fire on the bikers in front of him, causing 7 wounds and killing three of the bikers.

On the other flank, the scouts and Chapter master fired at the command squad, but could not kill any of the warriors. The thunderfire cannon finally found its mark, hitting the command squad and wounding Khan once.

The tactical squad and Lascannon Centurions fired at the last Dunecrawler. The squad's lascannon missed, while the Centurions succeeded in destroying the walker. The other tactical squad opened fired on the Vanguard, killing one of the squad with their Lascannon. The armour of the Dominus stopped the bolters from harming the squad.

In the assault phase, the Daemon Prince charged the Landspeeder storm, easily destroying the skimmer with its massive blows.

At the end of the turn, our opponents scored no points and discarded Objective 3.

TURN 2- WHITE SCARS/MECHANICUS
In our second turn, I drew Objective 2, Objective 3, Ascendency (score at least 2 objectives and twice as many as opponent) and Demolitions (destroy a building). Innes had no objectives and drew no cards.

On the right flank, the Command Squad and Vanguard advanced on the ruins sheltering the Space Marines. The two surviving bikers from one squad moved back towards objective 2, turbo-boosting to get in range. The other bikers stayed put to secure the other objective. The Knight advanced on the Daemon Prince.



In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast psychic shriek at the Centurions, periling in the process. The Centurions were unharmed as the psyker missed with the attack and the Librarian was also wounded by the psychic feedback. He then cast Mental Fortitude on the command squad to make them fearless.

In the shooting phase, the Knight fired its D weapon at the Daemon Prince, annihilating the Daemon and sending it back to the warp. It then fired its cannon at the cultist in front of it, wiping the squad out. The bikers in the nearby ruins fired at the Raptors, killing two of the squad. The bikers in my deployment zone fired their bolters at the other unit of cultists, killing two.

On the other flank, the command squad fired at the tactical squad in front of them, hitting twice with their grav guns, but failing to wound the tactical marines. Khan then led the unit in an assault, his power sword easily cutting down the squad before they could strike. He consolidated forward, further into the enemy lines.

At the end of the turn, I scored Objective 2, Objective 3 and Ascendency for 1 point. I discarded Demolitions.

Victory Points:
Space Marines/Chaos Space Marines- 1
White Scars/Mechanicus- 7

TURN 3- SPACE MARINES/CHAOS SPACE MARINES
The Space Marines drew Assassinate (kill an enemy character).

The Heldrake arrived, the powerful Daemon engine moving to engage the Knight in the centre of the battlefield. The Cultists continued their advance on the White Scars.


The Chapter Master attempted to bring an orbital strike down on the Vanguard, but it scattered off target and caused no harm. The Scouts fired at the Command Squad. The sergeant's bolter killed one of the squad, while the sniper rifles took down the Apothecary. The tactical squad also fired at the unit, but failed to wound any of the remaining warriors. The Centuriuons targeted the Command Squad, their lascannons hitting, but rolling a double 1 to wound and causing no harm. The missile launchers from the squad wounded the Librarian, but the hit was saved by the cover.

The thunderfire cannon targeted the Vanguard, killing two with its blasts.

The Forgefiend fired at the two bikers in the White Scars deployment zone, killing one of the bikers.

At the end of their turn, the Space Marines scored assassinate for killing the Apothecary.

TURN 3- WHITE SCARS/MECHANICUS
In turn 3, I drew Objective 1, Harness the Warp (use a psychic power), Blood and Guts (kill a unit in assault) and Assassinate (kill a character).

The Stormtalon arrived, moving on to engage the Heldrake. The Knight and unit of bikers in the ruins moved to engage the cultists.

In the psychic phase, the Librarian attempted to use Psychic shriek on the Centurions, but the attempt was once again blocked. He then was able to cast Mental Fortitude on the Command Squad.


In the shooting phase, the Knight fired at the cultists, its D weapon obliterating one of the squad. He then fired the cannon at the Forgefiend, but the shot scattered onto the White Scars bikers, killing two of them!
The Stormtalon opened fire on the Heldrake, its skyhammer missiles penetrating the enemy flyer once and forcing it to Jink in the process. The Command Squad did not fire at the Scouts, hoping to kill them in combat and score the points for the maelstrom card.

The Knight attempted to charge the Cultists, but rolled a double 1 for the charge range and failed. Fortunately, the bikers were able to charge, the hammer of wrath attacks killing two and the bikers killing another one for no loss in return. The cultists broke from combat and were easily cut down by the faster bikers.

The bikers wipe out the Cultists, then consolidate onto the objective.

The Command Squad remnants attempted to charge the Scouts, but I then managed to roll a double 1 for the charge move and failed the charge.

At the end of the turn, I scored Blood and Guts, Harness the Warp and Assassinate. I discarded objective 1.
End of the Game.

Victory Points:
Space Marines/Chaos Space Marines- 1
White Scars/Mechanicus- 10

Unfortunately, the game came to an end there, so we had won by a large margin. We watched the other game going on to see how we would fare; if the Tau/Dark Eldar alliance own, we would come third, if the Ultramarines/Mechanicus side won, we would come second. As it was, the Ultramarines/Mechanicus triumphed and we finished the doubles tournament in second place, with two wins and a loss.

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
Thanks to Page and Fowler for a fun game, I really did not think it would be such a decisive victory after they seized the first turn and did a fair amount of damage.

The key units in this game for me were my bike squads. They had the mobility to grab objectives so that I could draw maelstrom cards each turn, as well as giving me the mobility to score those cards each turn (in fact, I was the only one to score for our team in this game thanks to my bikers).

Other than that, there was not too much to say about this game. We were able to grab more maelstrom cards than our opponents and were able to score a lot of those cards.

In the end, we finished second out of the 4 teams with two wins and a loss. I had a fun day with some very entertaining games. My next couple of posts will showcase some photos I took of the store and their display cases and the next will do a review of my army and how it performed in the tournament.


4 comments:

  1. Thanks for bigger pics, personally I find them much better! Regarding the match, not much to say I guess. From reading the report it seemed that your opponents were simply overmatched, their target priority seemed to be off in a few cases I think. Your bikes dominated the match like you said, you used them very well and it showed that you're an experienced bike player.

    What I am interested in is how you'd rate the performance of the Atropos. I think the model looks fantastic but other than wasting the Stormsurge with a lucky 6 it didn't seem to do a lot. Maybe a Crusader (the one with 2 big guns?) would have been better? What do you think?

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    1. Yeah, the list taken was pretty mild compared to the other ones in the tournament. Our opponents in the last game were both quite young (about 12-13 I would guess), so it was maybe a little unfair for them.

      I'm not too sure about the Atropos. It can be devastating at close range, but it did not actually do all that much in most of the games. Weather this was due to poor dice rolling, short games or the toughness of the list, I am not sure. I think taking out the Stormsurge was worth his inclusion all on its own and it was unlucky not to take out the other Knight in game 2 (one hit out of 4 needing 4+). The D weapon in combat is useful and Stomps can be very powerful, but I do not think it got used to its full capacity in our games.
      The other thing to consider is that it was a bullet magnet. It took a lot of firepower that could have potentially reduced many of my units to ruins in several of the games. This alone may have made it worthwhile.

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  2. Honestly, I was pretty sure y'all had this one in the bag as soon as I looked at the Army Lists. They just didn't really have the Mobility or ObSec to hang in this Mission.

    That said, they also had some terrible performances from some of their Units. I don't think I've ever seen a ThunderFire Cannon be so ineffective.

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    1. Yeah, I think it was a milder list than I was expecting. Had the two centurion units been the standard grav cannon armament, I think it would have been a much more devastating first turn. Also, if they Heldrake had the usual flamer, my bikers would have been very scared.

      The marine player did get very unlucky with the scatter on the thunderfire. The only time it hit, most of the wounds were tanked by the Dominus with his 2+ save.

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