NEO Tournament Battle Report: Game 2- White Scars vs Iron Hands

My second game at the North East Open would see my White Scars take on Steve's Iron Hands. This tournament was using the new FAQ rules for the Iron Hands, so I would be interested in seeing how tough they would be with the new Doctrine rules. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Captain on Bike- Twin Bolter, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Master of Snares, Wrath of the Heavens

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Stave, Mantle of the Stormseer, Ride the Winds, Storm-wreathed

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

3 Eliminators- Bolt Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks
3 Devastator Centurions- Grav-cannons and grav-amps, Hurricane Bolters

Battalion Detachment

Captain- Jump Pack, Master Crafted Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Chapter Master, Imperium's Sword

Lieutenant- Jump Pack, Power Axe, MC Bolter

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistol, Combat Knives
3 Inceptors- Assault Bolters
3 Inceptors- Assault Bolters

Battalion Detachment
Chaplain- Jump Pack, Crozius Arcanum, Bolt Pistol, Litany of Hate
Khan on Bike- Khan's Spear

5 Infiltrators- Marksman Bolt Carbines, Smoke Grenades
5 Infiltrators- Marksman Bolt Carbines, Smoke Grenades
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters

Thunderfire Cannon- Techmarine Gunner with Flamer, Plasma Cutter, 2 Servo-arms



Steve's army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment (Iron Hands)
Iron Father Feirros
Techmarine- Chainsword, Servo-arm
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
5 Aggressors- Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets, Fragstorm Grenade Launchers
Primaris Apothecary- Warlord, Father of the Future, Chief Apothecary, The Vox Espiritum
Relic Leviathan Dreadnought- 2 Storm Cannon arrays, 3 Hunter-killer missiles, 2 Heavy Flamers
Thunderfire Cannon- Techmarine Gunner with Flamer, Plasma Cutter, 2 Servo-arms
Thunderfire Cannon- Techmarine Gunner with Flamer, Plasma Cutter, 2 Servo-arms

Battalion Detachment (Iron Hands)
Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought- Litany of Faith, Litany of Hate, Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter
Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought- Litany of Faith, Litany of Hate, Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles

Spearhead Detachment (Imperial Fists)
Primaris Lieutenant- Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle
3 Eliminators- Sniper Bolt Rifles
3 Eliminators- Sniper Bolt Rifles
3 Eliminators- Sniper Bolt Rifles

A solid Iron Hands list. The three Dreadoughts would make a mess of my Primaris Marines, while the snipers could make a mess of my characters.

I won the roll off and chose to be the Defender. My plan was to hide out my army in the first turn, so as to essentially waste his Devastator doctrine bonus on all but the Thunderfire Cannons, then move up with my units to deal with his army. This would also allow me to move out to grab the objectives at the end of the battle round.

I rolled for the deployment and chose Search and Destroy. We placed the objectives as shown below:

Steve deployed his army first. He put the Eliminators and Lieutenant on his left flank, with the two Thunderfires holding the back ruins and ruins to the right. The rest of the army deployed at the edge of the deployment zones, ready to move up. The Aggressors and Intercessors went in front, backed up by the Dreadnoughts, characters and other Intercessor squads.

I deployed my Thunderfire Cannon, Tactical Squad, Chapter Master, Khan and Lieutenant in the ruins in my deployment zone, with the Chaplain and Librarian behind them, out of range of the snipers. A unit of Intercessors went to the right flank. I put a unit of Scouts behind the big ruins on each flank and a unit of Infiltrators on the left. In the central ruins, I put the Scouts, Biker Captain, Infiltrators and Eliminators.
I put the two Inceptor squads, Centurions and two units of Intercessors in reserve.

For secondaries, I chose Recon, Butcher's Bill and Headhunter. Steve chose King of the Hill, Butcher's Bill and Headhunter.

Steve took the first turn and there was no seize the initiative.

TURN 1- IRON HANDS
In the first turn, my Chaplain failed his litany roll. The Chaplain Dreadnoughts both passed theirs.

The central Iron Hands units moved up on the central objective, the Aggressors staying out of line of sight. The Eliminators moved up behind the structure to target the enemy forces.

In the shooting phase, two of the Eliminator squads targeted the Techmarine, doing one wound to him each. The third targeted the enemy Eliminators, killing one of them. The two Thunderfire Cannons fired at the pistol Scouts, killing the squad.

The Apothecary used the Orbital Bombardment stratagem on my own Thunderfire Cannon, killing the Techmarine and putting three mortal wounds on the Lieutenant. That was annoying, I hadn't realised that they had changed the stratagem to allow you to move and use the orbital bombardment.

At the end of his turn, Steve scored kill 1, hold 1, Butcher's Bill (1/4) and Headhunter (1/4).

TURN 1- WHITE SCARS

On the left flank, the Infiltrators advanced towards the Thunderfire, getting a 6" advance move. The Biker Captain advanced on the Eliminators, joined by the Infiltrators. The Scouts moved up on the objective in the centre. The Khan and Chaplain advanced on the ruins to the right, while the Librarian moved up to the ruins. The Lieutenant advanced to grab the bottom objective.

In the shooting phase, the Scouts and Infiltrators fired at the Eliminators, doing one wound. The White Scars Eliminators fired at the Lieutenant, wounding him once. There was no other shooting for the White Scars.

In the charge phase, I used the Fierce Rivalries stratagem on the Infiltrators to roll 3D6 for their range (picking 2 dice) against the Thunderfire. The Cannon was able to kill two in overwatch before the squad made it in. The Biker Captain and Infiltrators charged the two Eliminator squads.

The Captain struck and killed one unit of Eliminators, while the Infiltrators beside him failed to do any damage after some terrible rolls. The Infiltrators attacked the Techmarine, doing 6 wounds but failing to get past the armour.

The Eliminators put three wounds on the Captain and I failed 2 saves. They put 7 wounds on the Infiltrators, who took one. I spent 3CP to fight again with the Captain, taking down another squad of Eliminators. I wanted to draw with the number of kills to stop Steve from getting the bonus.

At the end of the turn, I scored hold 1, kill 1, Hold more, Recon (1/4) and Butcher's Bill (1/4).

VICTORY POINTS:
Iron Hands- 4
White Scars- 5

The White Scars took an early lead, but still had a lot of work to do to take down the Iron Hands.

TURN 2- IRON HANDS

In the second turn, we both moved to the Tactical Doctrine. My Chaplain used the Canticle of Hate.

The Biker Captain failed the Master of Snares roll, even with a CP re-roll, allowing the Eliminators to fall back. This was going to hurt! The Aggressors, Dreadnoughts, characters and Intercessors moved up towards the White Scars lines. The Thunderfire Cannon fell back from combat with the Infiltrators, as a unit of Intercessors moved up to engage them.

The Iron Hands Intercessors on the right flank opened fire on the Infiltrators, killing one. The Techmarine fired his Storm Bolter at the squad, causing two wounds. I failed both 3+ saves and one more perished!

The Aggressors fired at the Scouts in the centre, killing the squad. On the left flank, the Iron Hands Intercessors opened fire on the Infiltrators, killing four of the squad. This opened up the Biker Captain to the enemy firepower. The Leviathan Dreadnought opened fire on him, obliterating him in a hail of Storm Cannon fire.

In the charge phase, the Intercessors on either flank charged the White Scars Infiltrators. Both White Scars Primaris Marines were cut down by the Iron Hands' attacks.

At the end of his turn, Steve scored Hold 1, Kill 1, Butcher's Bill (2/4), Headhunter (1/4) and King of the Hill (1/4), taking him up to 9 points.

TURN 2- WHITE SCARS

The Tactical Squad moved out to grab the objective, while the Chapter Master and Librarian advanced down the left flank, the Lieutenant moving up to join them. The Khan and Chaplain advanced down the centre to target the bulk of the enemy army.

At the end of the phase, the reserves came in. I put the Devastator Centurions to the south, near the Chapter Master and Lieutenant. The rest came in behind the Iron Hands back line to target the Techmarines.

In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast Storm-wreathed on the Chapter Master. I rolled a 12 for the power, having to use a CP re-roll to stop him from periling. He then failed to cast Ride the Winds on him.

I spent 1CP on Gravitic Amplification on the Centurions, who fired their Bolters at the Intercessors near the objective and the Grav at the Aggressors. The Bolters hit all 32 times (thanks to the Chapter Master), but only caused thirteen wounds, even with the Lieutenant. Things got worse when Steve failed only two of his 4+ saves!

The Aggressors took 8 wounds from the Grav Cannons, but only two of the squad fell after his invulnerable saves and FNP saves. The Eliminators fired at the Lieutenant, putting two wounds on him.

The rest of the reserves then opened fire. The Intercessors put three wounds on the Techmarine, who made every 4+ save. The Second squad of Intercessors added their firepower, taking two wounds from the Techmarine.

The Inceptors fired at the other Techmarine, doing 10 wounds, but again, some great 4+ saves meant he only took 3 wounds. The last squad of Inceptors split their fire, one going into one Techmarine and two into the other (one one wound each).

The lone Inceptor only wounded twice, which Steve then made an armour save and a 6+ FNP! The other two Inceptors managed 5 wounds, finally killing the other Techmarine.

In the charge phase, the Chapter Master assaulted the Chaplain Dreadnought and the Intercessors. The Chaplain charged the Aggressors and Intercessors, who could not overwatch him, then the Khan followed him in to the Aggressors. One unit of Inceptors made the charge on a Techmarine, while a unit of Intercessors made the charge on the other Techmarine.

The Chapter Master did 5 wounds on the Chaplain Dreadnought. He made no saves and the enemy vehicle perished. Steve spent 2CP to fight in death, doing four wounds on the Chapter Master, but fortunately he made all his invulnerable saves.

He then spent two more command points to interrupt and attack with the Aggressors. One Aggressor put three wounds on the Chaplain, who failed all three invulnerable saves and perished. The others put two wounds on the Captain, who once more failed all his invulnerable saves and took 5 damage, leaving him on one wound remaining!

The Khan struck at the Aggressors, killing one of the squad. The Inceptors attacked the Techmarine on one wound, but failed to cause any harm. The Intercessors managed to put 5 wounds on the Techmarine, but none were able to get past his armour. They were able to wrap him in combat though, to keep them safe from the enemy firepower.

In reply, the Iron Hands Intercessors were able to put one wound on the Chapter Master, who they then surrounded in combat. The two Techmarines were unable to harm the White Scars attacking them.

In the morale phase, one of the Aggressors fled the field (like the cowards they are!).

At the end of my turn, I scored hold 1, kill 1, Recon (for 2 points, 3/4), Headhunter (for two points, 2/4) and Butcher's Bill (2/4). Steve scored Headhunter (2/4), hold more and kill more.

VICTORY POINTS:
Iron Hands- 12
White Scars- 12

At the end of turn 2, the game was a draw, but things were going rough. Steve had some amazing saving throws in his turn, to combat some poor wound rolls for my army, which was preventing me from doing a lot of damage. I needed to take out some more units in my turn if I was going to win this game.

TURN 3- IRON HANDS

At the start of the third turn, I switched to the Assault Doctrine, while Steve stayed in the Tactical Doctrine.

One unit of Intercessors moved up on my unit in combat with the Techmarine, while another unit moved up on the Inceptors. Feirros and the Apothecary moved up on the Khan in the centre. The Aggressor fell back from combat, moving into the cover of the ruins.

The Imperial Fist Eliminators fired at their enemy counterpart, killing one. The Apothecary fired at the Khan on Bike with his Absolver pistol, but failed to do any damage.

The Intercessors fired at the White Scars Intercessors, but failed to do any damage. The other Intercessors fired at the Inceptors, wounding them three times. I made no saves and one perished. Another Intercessor squad managed to kill one more. The Chaplain Dreadnought fired at the Inceptors and Centurions. The Lascannons both missed, while the Storm Bolter put one wound on the Centurions.

The Leviathan fired its missiles at the lone Inceptor, then the Stormcannons at the Centurions. The missiles failed to hit the Inceptors, while the Stormcannons were only able to kill two of the Centurions, leaving the last one on two wounds.

In the charge phase, the Intercessors and Feirros charged the Khan. Two units of Intercessors charged the Inceptors in combat with the Techmarine.

Feirros attacked the Khan on Bike, killing him. One Intercessor squad did 6 wounds on the White Scars Inceptors, one of the squad taking two of the wounds. The other squad did 2 wounds, but failed to get past their armour. The Techmarines attacked the White Scars, but failed to do any damage.

The Intercessors in combat with the Chapter Master put one wound on him, while he was able to kill two of them in reply. The Inceptors were finally able to kill the Techmarine, while the other Intercessor squad was able to wound the other Techmarine.

At the end of his turn, Steve scored hold 1, kill 1 and Headhunter (3/4) to give him 15 points. I also scored Headhunter (3/4).

TURN 3- WHITE SCARS

The Chapter Master fell back from combat towards the Apothecary, while the Centurion, Librarian and Lieutenant moved up on the central objective. The Inceptors and Intercessors fell back from combat, while the other two squads moved up to support them.

In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast Storm-wreathed on the Chapter Master. He then cast Smite, doing 3 mortal wounds on the Intercessors and killing one.

The Lieutenant and Centurion fired on the Intercessors, killing two of the squad with their firepower.

The two Inceptor squads fired on the Intercessors they had been in combat with. However, some horrendous wound rolls saw them take a single wound out of 24 shots. The Intercessors added their firepower, killing one more. The Eliminator fired at the central Intercessor squad, but failed to do any damage.

In the charge phase, the Chapter Master assaulted the Apothecary and Leviathan Dreadnought. The Intercessors charged the Techmarine. The flamer did 5 hits and wounds on the squad, killing one. The two Inceptor squads and the Intercessors charged the Iron Hands Intercessors.

The Librarian, Centurion and Lieutenant charged the two Intercessors on the central objective.

The Chapter Master struck at the Apothecary, doing 25 damage and slaying him. The Centurion killed one of the Intercessors. The Lieutenant did one wound on the Intercessor, but he made a FNP save to keep him alive on a single wound. The Librarian then struck, wounding twice, but he made both 5+ invulnerable saves! The Intercessor had survived on one wound to stop me claiming the central objective.

In the other combats, the Inceptors and Intercessors managed to kill the Iron Hands Intercessors, consolidating into the other squad to shut down their firepower. The Intercessors did five wounds on the Techmarines, but only one damage got through to harm him.

In reply, the Techmarine killed one Intercessor. The Leviathan put two wounds on the Chapter Master. The Intercessors' attacks caused no damage.

At the end of the phase, I spent 3CP to fight with the Lieutenant again, killing the Intercessor to steal the objective.

At the end of my turn, I scored hold 1, kill 1, Recon (4/4), Headhunter (4/4), Butcher's Bill (3/4), kill more and hold more.

VICTORY POINTS:
Iron Hands- 15
White Scars- 19

A good third turn for my forces had seen me pull ahead in points. Killing that last Intercessor in the centre was worth the CP, as it would have been 16-18 points had I not done so, and Steve still had a lot of firepower and combat ability on the table.

TURN 4- IRON HANDS

The Leviathan fell back from combat, as the Aggressor, Chaplain Dreadnought and Feirros moved up on the central objective.

The Intercessors fell back from combat with the White Scars, while another squad moved up on the Techmarine.

In the shooting phase, the Lieutenant fired at the Intercessors, but failed to do any damage. The Intercessors fired at the lone White Scars Inceptor, killing him. The Intercessor and Feirros fired at the Centurion, but failed to do any damage.

The lone Aggressor fired at the Chapter Master, killing him. The Chaplain Dreadnought fired at the lieutenant, killing him. The Eliminators fired at the Librarian, also slaying the enemy psyker.

In the charge phase, the Dreadnought, Feirros, the Aggressor and Intercessors charged the Centurion, the Chaplain Dreadnought killing him in combat.

The Intercessors charged the White Scars Intercessors in combat with the Techmarine, killing one of  the White Scars Primaris marines. The Techmarine failed to kill any more, while the White Scars did no damage to the enemy Techmarine.

At the end of his phase, Steve scored kill 1, hold 1, Headhunter (4/4) and Butcher's Bill (3/4) for 19 points.

TURN 4- WHITE SCARS

The Intercessors and Inceptor squad moved up on the objective held by the Eliminators. They fired at the squad, but failed to do any damage, thanks to their camo cloaks.

The Intercessors and Inceptors charged the Eliminators and Intercessor, but only managed to roll high enough to get to the Intercessors.

They struck at the Iron Hands Intercessors, but only managed to kill 3 of the squad. The Intecessors were able to consolidate to get into range of the objective.

I was still to get a kill this turn, so it was all down to the Intercessors on the Techmarine. They struck and wounded, finally killing him!

I scored hold 1, kill 1 and hold more. Steve scored kill more.

VICTORY POINTS:
Iron Hands- 20
White Scars- 22

With that, we ran out of time and the game ended. A win for the White Scars.

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
Thanks to Steve for a fun and tactical game, it was really close through most of it.

This tournament used the new Space Marine FAQ, which was only released a couple of days before the event. I'm not sure if it had too much impact on this game. Steve was running a mixture of Iron Hands and Imperial Fists, so I'm not sure if the doctrine bonus would have applied to either force in this game.

I think the choice to go second was the right one in this game. It allowed me to counter Steve's deployment, and allow me to go after the middle objective for Hold more at the end of my turns. It also wasted the Devastator Doctrine for the Iron Hands, as I was able to hide much of my army for the first turn, so only the Thunderfire Cannons got to benefit from it.

I was also surprised in the game that Steve left so much space at the back of his deployment zone for my reserves to come in. This allowed me to bring in a big force of Intercessors and Inceptors in to his back line and go after his Thunderfire Cannons and Techmarines, to help me score Headhunter.

Had he put one squad of Intercessors on the back corner, it would have severely limited my options to come in to his deployment zone with my reserves. This may have kept his characters and Cannons safe, as well as possibly denying me some valuable Recon points, as I may have struggled to get units into his table quarter.

I also think the new ITC mission rules helped me out in this game. Steve being force to take a manoeuvre secondary was good for me, as a third kill secondary probably would have been pretty easy for him to achieve. I think King of the Hill was not the best choice for him, as I was playing to shut it down. As it was, he only scored one point for it the whole game. Engineers may have been a better choice, as I probably would have struggled to get to his unit on the objective for much of the game, especially as he took out my Thunderfire Cannon on turn 1.

I hadn't realised that the Orbital Bombardment stratagem now allowed the warlord to move and fire it. I might have spread my characters out a bit more had I known. He may still have gone for it, but it would have been riskier to go after the Techmarine on his own for the cost of 3CP.

During the game, I was wondering if it would have been better to not attack again with my Biker Captain in turn 1. Had I kept the Eliminator squad alive, this would have given me another chance to tie up a unit with Master of Snares, as I failed two rolls on the one Eliminator squad. With the Biker Captain and unit of Infiltrators safe from the enemy firepower, I could have killed them in the Iron Hands turn, then moved off to target more units. This might have allowed the Biker Captain to go after the Leviathan Dreadnought, or even the Thunderfire Cannon in the backfield before getting taken down. However, this would have denied me Butcher's Bill on turn 1, as well as giving Steve kill more, putting him in the lead on turn 1.

Had the game gone on, I probably would have lost. I think he could reliably get kill more and probably hold more for much of the game, especially with a Leviathan and Chaplain Dreadnought still running around. Despite some horrendous rolling, I was still able to play the game and go for the win. It was particularly demoralising in my second turn when everything seemed to bounce off the Iron Hands in the shooting phase.

The game times were as follows:
Deployment- 20 mins
IH Turn 1- 18 mins
WS Turn 1- 24 mins
IH Turn 2- 18 mins
WS Turn 2- 31 mins
IH Turn 3- 31 mins
WS Turn 3- 22 mins
IH Turn 4- 16 mins
WS Turn 4- 4 mins

Iron Hands time- 93 mins
White Scars time- 91 mins

As you can see, a pretty even spread of time for both players during the game. With two wins at the event, I was sure to have a tough third game as well.