Caledonian Revolution 2017: Game 1- Deathwatch vs Ynnari

Welcome to my first battle report from the recent Caledonian Revolution 2017 tournament. The weekend features five games of 8th edition 40k, with 2000 pts armies. 

The basic rules for the tournament were:

• 2000 pts, battle forged armies
• No more than 3 Detachments
• No duplicate detachments
• No Forgeworld

I decided that I would be taking my Deathwatch army. I had been having fun with the army towards the end of 7th edition and had made a real effort to get them painted to a higher standard than my previous forces. 

Each of the five games were to ETC standards, meaning that each mission would be a mixture of Eternal War objectives, Maelstrom points and Kill Points, as well as bonus points for First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. 

The first mission was Retrieval Mission (4 objectives), with Contact Lost for the maelstrom mission (one card for each objective held). The deployment zone was Spearhead Assault. 

My first opponent of the day was Tess and his Ynnari army. I had previously played Tess at Blog Wars X in a really fun game. I hoped that this would be another fun encounter. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Watch Master- Guardian Spear (W)

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Xenophase Blade, Bolt Pistol (W)
Kill Team 1- Sergeant with Power Sword, Black Shield with Power Sword, 3 Veterans, 2 Frag Cannons, Vanguard Veteran with Pair Lightning Claws, Deathwatch Biker with Teleport Homer (KT1)
Kill Team 2- 5 Veterans with 2 Frag Cannons and 2 Shotguns (KT2)
Kill Team 3- 5 Veterans with Meltagun, 3 Combi-meltas (KT3)
Kill Team 4- 5 Veterans with 5 Stalker Pattern Boltguns (KT4)
Kill Team 5- 5 Veterans, Terminator with Power Fist, Storm Bolter and Cyclone Missile Launcher (KT5)
Rhino- Storm Bolter (R1)
Rhino- Storm Bolter (R2)
5 Vanguard Veterans- 2 pairs Lightning Claws, 2 Heavy Thunder Hammers (VV)
4 Bikers- Teleport Homer, Power Axe, Power Maul, 2 Power Swords (DB1)
4 Bikers- Teleport Homer, Power Maul, 3 Power Swords (DB2)
Corvus Blackstar- Twin Assault Cannon, 2 Stormstrike Missiles, Hurricane Bolter, Auspex Array (CB)

6 Command Points

I figured I had a good mix of units to take on most threats in an opponent's army. I added some potent anti-tank firepower after my first few games had showed a serious problem taking on vehicles. 

Tess' army consisted of:

Spearhead Detachment
Maugan Ra (MR)
5 Dark Reapers- Exarch with Tempest Launcher (DR1)
5 Dark Reapers- Exarch with Tempest Launcher (DR2)
War Walker- Bright Lance, Scatter Laser (WW)

War Walker- Bright Lance, Scatter Laser (WW)

Battalion Detachment
Jain Zar (JZ)
Farseer Skyrunner- Shining Spear (F)
10 Kabalites- Sybarite with Agoniser, Splinter Cannon (K)
10 Storm Guardians- 3 Chainswords, 2 Flamers (SG)
5 Harlequins- 5 Harlequin's Kisses, 5 Fusion Pistols (H)
10 Howling Banshees- Exarch (HB)
Razorwing- 2 Dark Lances, Splinter Cannon (R)
Starweaver (S)
Wave Serpent- Twin Shuriken Cannons, Vectored Engines (WS)

7 Command Points

I had yet to play Ynnari in either 7th or 8th edition, so would be interested to see how they performed. Hi Warlord was the Farseer, who had the +1 Ld bubble trait. He also got Fortune and Doom for his powers.

I won the roll for objectives and we deployed the objectives as shown below:

Tess chose the side that he wanted and I deployed the first unit. The deployment order was as follows:

1. Kill Team 5 (Cyclone Missile)
2. Storm Guardians
3. Vanguard Veterans (reserve) 
4. Kabalite Warriors
5. Watch Captain (reserve)
6. Farseer
7. Kill Team 4 (Stalker Marines)
8. Dark Reapers
9. Deathwatch Bikers (LHS)
10. Maugan Ra
11. Deathwatch Bikers (centre)
12. War Walker
13. Rhino 2 (Meltagun squad)
14. War Walker
15. Rhino 1 (Frag Cannon Squad)
16. Dark Reapers
17. Corvus Blackstar (Kill Team 1 and Watch Master)
18. Razorwing
19. Starweaver (Harlequins)
20. Wave Serpent (Howling Banshees and Jain Zar)

Tess chose to bunker much of his forces in the central ruins. Maugan Ra and two units of Dark Reapers would provide him with some potent firepower. The rest of his forces were spread out over his deployment zone. 

I decided to push most of my units forward as far as possible. The Stalker Marines went behind the central ruins, ready to push up for the objective. The Terminator Kill Team went at the back. They could grab the objective and use their Teleport Homers to move to other objectives. One Bike squad went in the centre, ready to advance, the other going on the left flank. Both Rhinos went on my right flank with the Corvus Blackstar. I put the three Teleport Homers near objectives 1, 3 and 4 in my deployment zone. 

I chose to take the first turn and Tess failed to seize. 

TURN 1- DEATHWATCH

In turn 1, I drew Assassinate (kill an enemy character)

Both Rhinos advanced up the right flank, using their smoke launchers to cover them from the enemy fire. The Kill Team in the centre moved up into the ruins to secure the objective. On the left flank, the Bike squad moved to secure the nearby objective, while the second Bike squad joined the Corvus Blackstar in moving up the centre of the battlefield. 

The central Kill Team fired their Stalker Bolters at the Storm Guardians, killing one of the Eldar warriors. The Bike Squad fired their Dragonfire Bolts at the squad (+1 to hit while enemy unit is in cover), killing another 2 of the warriors. 

The Corvus Blackstar split its fire between the Guardians and Razorwing. The Assault Cannon and Hurricane Bolters struck the Eldar ranks, wiping out the surviving Guardians to give me first blood. The Stormstrike Missiles struck the Razorwing, taking 3 wounds from it. 

The Second unit of Bikers fired at the Kabalite Warriors, killing two. The surviving warriors passed their morale test and my turn ended. 

TURN 1- YNNARI

In his first turn, Tess drew Mission Critical Objective- Objective 5.

The Wave Serpent launched itself after objective 5, while the Razorwing and Starweaver moved up the Eldar right flank. On each flank, the War Walkers moved up on the Deathwatch forces, supported on the right by the Kabalite Warriors. 

The Farseer attempted to cast Fortune on the Wave Serpent, but failed to manifest the power. He then Doomed the Corvus Blackstar. 

The War Walker opened fire on the Deathwatch Flyer, hitting and wounding with its Bright Lance, but only doing 1 wound with the shot. The Scatter Lasers fired at the front Bikers, wounding once, but failing to get past their armour. The second War Walker followed suit, failing to hit with its Bright Lance, and failing to get through the armour of the Bikers with its Scatter Laser. 

The Razorwing fired at the Corvus Blackstar. The two Bright Lances managed to do 3 wounds in total. The flyer then fired 6 missiles at the Corvus, wounding four times, but I made all my 4+ saves. The Splinter Cannons did another 2 wounds, which were also saved. 

The Kabalites opened fire on the nearby Bikers, but failed to do any damage. The Wave Serpent then fired at the Bikers. The Twin Shuriken Cannons did two wounds, killing one of the Bikers. The Shuriken Catapult managed to kill another of the Deathwatch Bikers.

Maugan Ra turned his firepower on the two remaining Bikers, easily wiping them out. The first unit of Dark Reapers fired at the Corvus Blackstar, putting three wounds on it. The second unit fired at the Corvus Blackstar and succeeded in destroying it. 

I rolled for the 8 models inside the flyer and rolled three 1's for the unit. I decided to use a Command Re-roll and passed one of the tests, losing 2 members of the squad as they disembarked. Fortunately, I was able to deploy in range of objective 5 to stop Tess from claiming it this turn.  

Tess scored no maelstrom points at the end of his turn and chose to discard Mission Critical Objective. 

VICTORY POINTS:

Deathwatch- 0 Maelstrom, 1 Kill Point. 

Ynnari- 0 Maelstrom, 2 Kill Points. 

TURN 2- DEATHWATCH

This turn, I drew Objective 4, Defend Objective 5 (hold for 2 turns) and Witchhunter (kill an enemy psyker) to go with Assassinate. 

Kill Team 5 used their Teleport Homer to secure objective 4. The Deathwatch Bikers moved up to support the Kill Team and Watch Master with the Wave Serpent. Another Kill Team disembarked from their Rhino, moving up into the trenches to target the enemy skimmer with their Meltaguns. The two Rhinos moved up towards the War Walker. 

The Kill Team in the trenches fired their Meltaguns at the Wave Serpent, hitting four times and wounding four times (after the use of a Command re-roll). The Meltaguns where sufficient to destroy the enemy skimmer. The Howling Banshees and Jain Zar disembarked from the transport unharmed. 

The Kill Team in front of them turned their Frag Cannons on the newly emerged squad. The Frag Cannons only scored 8 hits on 4D6, but killed 6 of the Howling Banshees. The Squad's bolters fired at the Eldar, wounding them 4 times, but Tess passed all his saves. 

The Watch Master and Stalker Marines added their firepower to the volley, and succeeded in wiping out the unit. Jain Zar used the subsequent Soulburst to assault the Kill Team in front of her. Unfortunately, her banshee mask stopped the Frag Cannons from overwatch-ing and most likely killing her. (At this point, Tess realised he had forgotten to Soulburst with the loss of the Wave Serpent. A mistake that could prove costly in the game). 

The Bikers fired at the Kabalite Warriors in the woods, killing 8 of the squad. The Terminator fired his Cyclone Missile Launcher at the War Walker in the woods, but failed to do any damage. 

In the charge phase, the Watch Master, Meltagun Kill Team and Bikers assaulted Jain Zar in order to help out the beleaguered Kill Team. One of the Rhinos attempted to assault the War Walker on the right flank, but failed to make the charge. 

Jain Zar used her deft combat skills to disarm the Watch Master of his Guardian Spear as he struck. The Bikers attacked the Eldar warrior, wounding her three times and forcing Tess to use a Command re-roll. Jain Zar then struck (thanks to her special rules and charging) at the Watch Master, but only managed to hit once (Tess needed a 2+, but rolled three 1's!). She succeeded in wounding, but could not get past the Master's Iron Halo. The Watch Master returned the blows, but could not get past her armour without his Guardian Spear. Finally, the Kill Team attacked, the Vanguard with the Lightning Claws succeeding in finally killing Jain Zar.  

The Deathwatch squads consolidated onto the objective. In the morale phase, the last of the Kabalite Warriors fled the field. 

At the end of my turn, I scored Objective 4 and Assassinate, as well as 4 kill points. 

TURN 2- YNNARI

This turn, Tess drew Defend Objective 4 (hold the objective for 2 turns). 

The leaping and cavorting Harlequins disembarked from the Starweaver and made their way towards the Deathwatch in the centre of the battlefield. The Razorwing advanced into the Deathwatch deployment zone, while the two War Walkers retreated. 

The Farseer cast Smite on the Bikers, wounding them once. He then cast Doom on Kill Team 1. 

Maugan Ra fired both Kill Teams in the centre of the battlefield (his special rules allow him to fire twice), wounding the Biker in one and killing two in the other squad. One unit of Dark Reapers fired at Kill Team 1, killing the Biker and the squad Sergeant. The second squad of Dark Reapers fired at the same target, wounding them four times. I failed 3 saves and the unit perished. 

The War Walker fired at Kill Team 3, but failed to do any damage. The Starweaver added its firepower, killing one of the squad. 

The Harlequin troupe targeted the Bikers, killing one with their Fusion pistols. The second War Walker managed to kill another with its Bright Lance, taking the squad down to half strength. The Razorwing fired at the nearby Kill Team on objective 4, killing two with its full firepower. 

The Harlequins assaulted the Deathwatch Bikers and Kill Team, two of their number falling to the overwatch fire of the Deathwatch. Tess rolled a double 1 for the charge, but fortunately that put him in range of the Bikers. The Harlequins struck at the Bikers, wounding 3 times, but only one got past my armour save. In reply, the Bikers attacked the Eldar. The Sergeant failed to hit. The Biker with the Power Maul hit twice, but I then rolled a double 1 to wound. The combat was a stalemate. 

At the end of his turn, Tess scored no maelstrom points and one kill point. 

VICTORY POINTS:

Deathwatch- 2 Maelstrom, 5 Kill Points. 

Ynnari- 0 Maelstrom, 3 Kill Points. 

TURN 3- DEATHWATCH

In turn 3, I drew Objective 5, Area Denial (have no enemy units within 6-12" of the centre), No Prisoners (kill an enemy unit), and had Defend Objective 5 and Witchhunter. 

At the start of my turn, I attempted to land the Vanguard Veterans to target the Farseer. However, in moving the War Walker back, Tess had blocked my attempts. Instead, both the Vanguard Veterans and Watch Captain landed to the side of the ruins sheltering the Starweaver. The Bike squad fell back from combat, as the Watch Master and Kill Team moved up to support. Both Rhinos moved up to the ruins sheltering the Dark Reapers, the final Kill Team disembarking and moving up. 

The Kill Team fired their Frag Cannons at the Dark Reapers, scoring 15 hits and 14 wounds, the unit was easily wiped out. Tess used his Soulburst action to fire the second Dark Reaper squad at the Rhino in front of them. The Eldar managed to take 3 wounds off the enemy vehicle. 

Kill Team 3 and the Watch Master fired at the Harlequins and were able to finish off the unit. The Rhino fired at the Dark Reapers, killing one of the squad. 

The backfield Kill Team fired at the Razorwing. The Cyclone Missile Launcher hit once, but failed to wound. I used a Command re-roll to succeed and managed to take 2 wounds off of it. 

The Vanguard Veterans charged the Starweaver, losing one of their number to overwatch fire. The squad managed to make the charge. The Watch Captain also managed to make the assault. In addition, one of the Rhinos charged the War Walker in order to stop it shooting in the next turn.

The Vanguard Veterans struck at the enemy vehicle. The two Veterans armed with Lightning Claws managed to take 2 wounds. The two Thunder Hammers managed two hits and no wounds. I used another re-roll to make one wound, which was then saved by the skimmer's invulnerable save. The Watch Captain struck at the vehicle, doing a single wound. 

The Rhino and War Walker attacked one another, but did not damage. 

At the end of my turn, I scored No Prisoners, Area Denial (for 2 points), Objective 5 and Defend Objective 5 (for 2 points), giving me 6 for the turn, as well as 2 kill points. 

TURN 3- YNNARI

In turn 3, Tess drew Blood and Guts (kill an enemy unit in the assault phase), Psychological Warfare (force a failed morale test) and Supremacy (hold 3 objectives). 

The Razorwing moved back around towards the centre of the battlefield, as the Starweaver fell back from combat. 

The Farseer cast Smite on the Rhino, taking 2 wounds from it, then managed to Doom it as well. 

The War Walker fired at the Doomed Rhino, easily blowing it up and killing three of the Dark Reapers in the process! The surviving Dark Reaper used his Soulburst attack to target the nearby Kill Team, but failed to do any damage. Maugan Ra fired at the Kill Team twice, but some very poor rolling from Tess saw only one Veteran slain. 

The Starweaver fired at the Kill Team in front of it, killing one of the squad. The Razorwing also added its firepower, killing another of the squad. 

In the assault phase, the Rhino and War Walker continued their stalemate, with neither side suffering any damage. 

At the end of his turn, Tess scored one kill point. 

VICTORY POINTS:

Deathwatch- 8 Maelstrom, 7 Kill Points. 

Ynnari- 0 Maelstrom, 4 Kill Points. 

TURN 4- DEATHWATCH

This turn, I drew Defend Objective 1 (hold for 2 turns), Defend Objective 2, Mission Critical Objective (objective 4) and had Witch Hunter. 

The Vanguard Veterans and Watch Captain moved up to engage the War Walker in the woods. The Deathwatch Bikers and Kill Team moved up to the ruins in the Ynnari deployment zone, while in the Deathwatch deployment zone, the Kill Team moved up on the Starweaver. 

The Meltagun Kill Team fired at the War Walker in the woods, but only managed to take a single wound from it. The Captain and Vanguard Veterans both threw a Krak grenade at the Walker, but failed to do any damage. 

The Kill Team fired their Frag Cannons at the Farseer and managed to wound him 4 times and kill him. The Watch Master fired on the final Dark Reaper, killing him with his Bolter. Maugan Ra used the Soulburst to target the nearby Kill Team, slaying one of the squad. 

The Stalker Marines in the ruins fired at the Razorwing, wounding it once. Meanwhile, the other Kill Team fired at the Starweaver. The Cyclone Missile Launcher did one wound, while a Bolter in the squad did another wound. 

In the charge phase, the Kill Team charged the Starweaver, while the Vanguard Veterans and Watch Captain assaulted the War Walker. The overwatch fire did no damage to either squad. 

The Terminator struck at the Starweaver, hitting twice, but failing to wound. I used a Command re-roll, but also failed the re-roll. Tess then used two Command Points to interrupt combat and strike with the Starweaver, but failed to do any damage. 

The Vanguard Veterans attacked the War Walker. The Lightning Claws did two wounds, while the Heavy Thunder Hammers hit once, but failed to wound. The Watch Captain struck at the War Walker, wounding it once and leaving it on two wounds. The War Walker struck back, but did no damage. 

The combat between the Rhino and War Walker once again led to no damage. 

At the end of my turn, I scored Mission Critical Objective and Witch Hunter, and discarded Objective 1. I also scored 2 kill points. 

TURN 4- YNNARI

In turn 4, Tess drew Area Denial and had Blood and Guts (kill an enemy unit in the assault phase), Psychological Warfare (force a failed morale test) and Supremacy (hold 3 objectives). 

The Starweaver fell back from combat as the Razorwing flew up to engage the Watch Master. 

The Starweaver fired at the Kill Team, slaying the last Veteran and leaving only the Terminator. The Razorwing fired at the Watch Master. The Bright Lance struck and wounded the Deathwatch Warlord. I failed my Iron Halo save, using my final Command Point re-roll, but also failed it again. Tess rolled a 3 for the damage. He decided to use a re-roll to try and kill him, but rolled a 2 on the re-roll. 

Maugan Ra fired at the Bikers, wiping out the unit. He used the Soulburst to target the nearby Kill Team and was able to wipe them out as well!

In the assault phase, the War Walker attacked the Vanguard Veterans, but failed to do any damage. In reply, the Vanguard Veterans and Watch Master attacked the Eldar Walker, but could not take its final 2 wounds (or any wounds in fact). Once more, the Rhino and War Walker fought to a stalemate. 

At the end of his turn, Tess scored a point for Area Denial and two kill points. 

VICTORY POINTS:

Deathwatch- 10 Maelstrom, 9 Kill Points. 

Ynnari- 1 Maelstrom, 4 Kill Points. 

TURN 5- DEATHWATCH

In my turn, I drew Objective 1, Objective 2, Objective 2 and Objective 3. 

Time was running out for the round, so this was going to be a very quick turn. I moved the Watch Master and Kill Team up to try and kill Maugan Ra. The Meltaguns fired at Ra, but failed to kill him. We did not have time to fight the combat with the War Walkers, so my turn was over quickly. 

I scofred objective 3 for 1 point. 

TURN 5- YNNARI

In turn 5, Tess drew objective 4 and had Blood and Guts, Psychological Warfare and Supremacy. 

The Razorwing moved towards objective 1 to claim it and score Linebreaker, while Maugan Ra moved up to grab the objective on the ruins. With that, we ran out of time and the game ended. 

We each held 2 of the four objectives at the end of the game. 

VICTORY POINTS:

Deathwatch- 11 Maelstrom, 10 Kill Points, 6 objective points, First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker. (30 points total)

Ynnari- 1 Maelstrom, 6 Kill Points, 6 objective points, Linebreaker. (14 points total)

End of the game.

A win for the Deathwatch. I won by 16 victory points, giving me 18 tournament points to Tess' 2 tournament points. 

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS

Thanks to Tess for a great game of 8th edition, which was a lot closer than I think the final score suggested. 

Overall, I think my plan worked well. I was able to advance with my units and take apart the Ynnari forces that were in my way as they emerged from transports. It was unfortunate that Tess forgot about the Soulburst when the Wave Serpent was destroyed. This would have allowed him to charge the Kill Team in the centre with the Howling Banshees (without suffering overwatch) and may have turned the game around for him. 

I think the other issue was that by bunkering up so much of his forces in the ruins, he struggled to go out and score the maelstrom points, allowing me to build up a big lead in these points as the game went on. 

I was pretty happy with the performance of the army in this game. They hit pretty hard, but were still quite fragile when concentrated on. 

With a big win in game 1, I was sure I would be facing a tough prospect for game 2.