NEO Tournament Battle Report: Game 1- White Scars vs T'au

Welcome to the first battle report from my recent visit to the North East Open tournament in Newcastle. This was the second time I had attended the event, and was hoping to improve my performance over the last time. This was a 5-game, 2000 pts ITC tournament using the new ITC mission rules. 

In the first game of the day, my White Scars would be taking on Adam's T'au in ITC mission 1. 

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

A change up from my last tournament list. I dropped the Impulsor and Phobos Librarian from the list, as they didn't really do much for it. Instead I added a unit of Grav Centurions. I had faced a few of these in my last tournament, and was impressed by their firepower and damage ability, so wanted to see how they would perform in my list.

Video Battle Report- Orks vs T'au

Today I have another video battle report. This was actually the first time I've played the Orks since the codex came out all those months ago. In this game, they are taking on Chris' T'au in a maelstrom of war mission. 

Rapid Strike Tournament: Game 5- Deathwatch vs T'au

The final game of the day at the Rapid Strike 40k tournament would see my Deathwatch take on Chris' T'au on the top table. 

This mission was Cloak and Shadows. In this mission, we get three cards per turn, but keep your cards secret from your opponent until you score them. 

My army consisted of:

Patrol Detachment (Deathwatch)

Watch Master- Guardian Spear

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Bolt Pistol, Castellan of the Black Vault, The Beacon Angelis

Kill Team- 7 Veterans with Storm Bolters, Chainswords and 2 Storm Shields, Terminator with Storm Bolter and Power Fist, Vanguard Veteran with Storm Shield and Bolt Pistol, Biker with Twin Boltgun. 

10 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Vanguard Veterans- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, Hand Flamer

6 Bikers- Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Twin Bolters, Chainswords

Razorback- Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter

I get 6 command points for the army thanks to the tournament special rules.

Chris' army consisted of:
Patrol Detachment (T'au, Viorla)
Coldstar Commander- Airbursting Fragmentation Launcher, 2 Fusion Blasters, Shield Generator
Ethereal- Academic Luminary (warlord trait), Equalisers,
Shield Drone
10 Breachers- Pulse Blasters
10 Kroot- Kroot Rifles
3 Crisis Suits- 4 Plasma Rifles, 2 Shield Generators, 2 Cyclic Ion Blasers, Advancing Targeting System
6 Gun Drones
6 Stealth Suits- 6 Burst Cannons, Advanced Targeting Systems
8 Pathfinders- 5 Markerlights, 3 Rail Rifles, Pulse Carbines
Piranha- Burst Cannons, 2 Gun Drones
Devilfish- Burst Cannons, 2 Gun Drones

A mixed T'au army with a lot of firepower. I was going to have to hope my power armour could keep me safe for long enough to hit the T'au lines hard with my own firepower and combat prowess.

40k Video Battle Report- Deathwatch vs Tau

Today I have another video battle report for you. This warhammer 40k battle report sees my Deathwatch army take on Mike's Farsight Enclaves Tau army. This was a blast of a game, very strategic and tactical. Remember to like and subscribe to the channel if you enjoy the games to keep up to date on all the latest reports. 

Battle Report 155- Deathwatch vs T'au

This week's battle report sees my Deathwatch take on Dean's T'au in the Contact Lost maelstrom of war mission. 

I've been quite enjoying having my Deathwatch back on the table in 8th edition, thanks to the recently released codex giving them a new lease of life on the tabletop. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Watch Master- Guardian Spear, Lord of Hidden Knowledge warlord trait (WM)

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Power Sword, Bolt Pistol, Tome of Ectoclades Relic (WC1)

Kill Team 1- 9 Veterans and 1 Terminator, Storm Bolters, Chainswords, Power Fist on Terminator (KT1)

Kill Team 2- 10 Veterans, Storm Bolters, Chainswords, 2 Combi-meltas (KT2)

Kill Team 3- 5 Veterans with 5 Stalker Pattern Bolters (KT3)

Redemptor Dreadnought- Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer, 2 Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, Redemptor Fist (RD)

5 Bikers- Twin Bolters (B)

Battalion Detachment

Watch Captain- Power Sword, MC Bolter (WC2)

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Sword, Bolt Pistol, Might of Heroes, Veil of Time (L)

Kill Team 4- 5 Veterans, 2 Missile Launchers, Bolters, Chainswords (KT4)

Kill Team 5- 5 Veterans, 2 Missile Launchers, Bolters, Chainswords (KT5)

Kill Team 6- 5 Veterans, 5 Shotguns, Storm Shield (KT6)

Kill Team 7- 5 Veterans, 2 Frag Cannons, Bolters, Chainswords (KT7)

Rhino- 2 Storm Bolters (R1)

Rhino- 2 Storm Bolters (R2)

I went for a good mix of Veteran Kill Teams, as well as a borrowed Redemptor Dreadnought from my Dark Angels army. I think two Battalions is the way to go with Deathwatch. They need a good number of command points to use their stratagems, and they have solid troops choices to make going for lots of Troops options more than worthwhile.

Battle Report 141- Dark Angels vs T'au

This week's battle report is a 2000 pts game that sees my Dark Angels take on Mark's T'au.

For this game, we were playing the new Eternal War mission, Scorched Earth. This is the mission where you score a point for each objective you hold at the end of the turn. In addition, you can burn an objective in your opponent's deployment zone for D3 points, where it is then removed. We were using the Search and Destroy deployment zone.

For my force, I was wanting to test out a potential list for the London Grand Tournament in May. I'm still in the process of painting up the models, so apologies for the grey on display!

My army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment
Azrael (Az)
Primaris Lieutenant- Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle (L)
Chapter Ancient- Boltgun, Sacred Standard (An)
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I1)
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I2)
5 Tactical Squad- Heavy Bolter, Bolters (TS1)
5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter (S1)
5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter (S2)
5 Scouts- Bolt Pistols, Combat Knives (S3)
10 Hellbalsters- Plasma Incinerators (H)

Outrider Detachment
Sammael (S)
5 Black Knights- Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammers (BK)
3 Ravenwing Bikers- Flamer, Twin Bolters (RB1)
3 Ravenwing Bikers- Twin Bolters (RB2)
Ravenwing Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D)
Dark Talon- Rift Cannon, two Hurricane Bolters (DT)

8 Command Points.

This army has a very strong firebase core. The 10-man Hellblaster squad is back up by Azrael, an Ancient and the Lieutenant. This gives them a very strong offensive and defensive capability, as they get full re-rolls to hit and re-roll of 1 to wound, as well as a 4+ invulnerable. In addition, the Ancient gives them the option to fire back if slain.
I am trying out the Primaris Intercessors to see how they perform in action, as well as the almost-compulsory three units of Scouts for blocking enemy deep strike movements.

The Outrider detachment provides a nice mobile element for the army. Sammael is a great back up for the Black Knights, combined with the Darkshroud to help keep them safe. The two units of Bikers can grab objectives, while the flyer also provides some potent firepower.

Battle Report 92- 1500 pts Deathwatch vs Tau

This week's battle report sees my Deathwatch army take on a Battlesuit-heavy Tau force in the Cleanse and Control maelstrom mission (3 cards in a turn). 

This game was played against Andrew at the Newcastle Warlords gaming club. Andrew is just getting back into 40k and had a really nice looking Tau army for me to play against (painted by a friend he wanted me to add). 

My army consisted of:
Combined Arms Detachment

Watch Captain Artemis (with V1)

Librarian- Mastery Level 2, Force Sword, Meltabombs (with V1)

5 Veterans- Heavy Thunder Hammer, 2 Deathwatch Shotguns, 2 Storm Shields, Power Maul, Power Sword (V1)

Drop Pod (DP2)

5 Veterans- 4 Frag Cannons, Auspex, Storm Shield (V2)

Drop Pod (DP1)

10 Veterans- 2 Infernus Heavy Bolters (V3 and V4)

Rhino (R)

5 Veterans- Stalker Pattern Boltguns (V5)

4 Bikers- 3 Power Swords, 1 Power Axe (B1)

4 Biker- 3 Power Swords, 1 Power Maul (B2)

Garran Branatar- Terminator Armour, Heavy Flamer, Power Fist with Auxiliary Meltagun (T)

My warlord trait for Artemis was Vigilance Incarnate, allowing me to change the Mission Tactics one more time (so two times in total). My Librarian rolled on Biomancy, getting Smite, Enfeeble and Haemorrhage. 

This is the 1500 points list that I am considering taking to Birthday Bash 2.0 in February. For more in-depth thoughts on my list, see the Initial List Thoughts post. This would be my first outing with this version of the army and first off I would be taking on one of the toughest match ups for Space Marines, the dreaded Tau. 

Battle Report 81- Death in the Skies: Massive Flyer Battle

This week's battle report features a whole host of fabulous flyers! With my recent move down to Newcastle, I was saddened to leave the great guys and girls at Dundee Wargames Club. As a sort of leaving-do/game, I decided to host a massive 40k flyer battle based on the scenario in Death from the Skies.

I had done the same game a few weeks earlier with two of the players from the club to test the rules. It was an absolute blast and we decided to add some additional special rules as the game went on to make it even more fun.

The rules for the scenario followed the Fighter Sweep air war rules, with the following changes:

• Flyers are not allowed to leave the board. There can be nowhere to hide in this game and I wanted a ton of flyers on the board at once.
• At the end of their move, flyers are allowed to make an additional 90 degrees turn. If they choose to do so, roll a D6. On a 1-2, the G forces rip the aircraft apart and it is destroyed. Flyers with Vector Dancer can turn without penalty as normal.
• Flyers that Jink suffer -1BS the following turn for each enemy flyer they jinked for. E.g. if you are fired upon by two enemy flyers and jinked twice, you suffer -2BS the next turn. This was to stop one side from being too powerful and forcing multiple flyers to jink and snap fire next turn while doing little damage.
• Any time a flyer is destroyed, it careens out of control. Roll 2D6 and a scatter dice, the aircraft moves in this direction, stopping if it hits another flyer. If it collides with another flyer(s), both players roll a D6. If the player with the destroyed aircraft beats the roll of the player with the flyer it hit, both flyers are now destroyed!
• "Janked" is the official past tense of "jink" for this game, i.e. "I'm at -1BS as I janked last turn".
• When a flyer is destroyed, it get to come back on in the players next turn. 

This time round, I managed to get a whole host of players to sign up for the game. I split us into 4 teams based on the number and type of flyers that were available. These were:

Players would score 1 point for each destroyed enemy flyer (2 points for the massive Tigershark). If a destroyed flyer crashed into any other and destroyed them, the points would go to the player who shot down the original plane.

We decided that the four teams would roll off for priority each turn, the highest roll going first, the second highest going second, etc. This would create even more chaos as players could potentially get two turns in a row.

The game was fought on a 8x6 feet board. Based on the additional special rules in effect, I expected lots of carnage on all sides!

Hero for a Day: Game 7- 1850 pts White Scars vs Tau

Game 7 of Hero for a Day saw my White Scars taking on Nick's Tau. Tau are always a tough match up for my White Scars. All the high strength firepower with access to Ignores Cover is tricky for Space Marine Bikes. It didn't help that they would be ably commanded by Nick (check out The Burning Eye for Nick's army and battle reports). 

The mission was Cleanse and Control. This is the maelstrom mission where you draw up to 3 cards each turn. The mission was also using Vanguard Strike. Thanks to the mission special rules for Hero for a Day, the Attacker (Nick) got first turn automatically and I could not seize the initiative. There were one or two gentle ribbings about the fact Nick's team got the automatic first turn in the game. I was not concerned, going second with Bikers against a Tau gunline, what could possibly go wrong?

As a reminder, my army consisted of:

Scarblade Strike Force

Stormlance Battle Demi-Company

Khan- Moondrakkan (with BS1)

5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Flamer, Meltabombs (T1)

Rhino (R1)

5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Grav gun, Meltabombs (T2)

Rhino (R2)

5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Meltagun, Meltabombs (T3)

Rhino (R3)

5 Devastators- 4 Grav Cannons, Combi-grav (D)

Razorback- TL Assault Cannon (Rz)

Attack Bike- Multi-melta (AB1)

Hunting Force

Chaplain- Bike, The Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs (with BS2)

6 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, Power Axe, Meltabombs (BS1)

6 Bikers- 2 Grav Guns, Meltabombs (BS2)

6 Scout Bikers- Meltabombs, 2 Grenade Launchers (SB)

Attack Bike- Multi-melta (AB2)

Stormbringer Squadron

Landspeeder- Multi-melta, Typhoon Missile Launcher (L)

5 Scouts- Meltabombs, Combat weapons, Bolt pistols (S1)

Landspeeder Storm (LS1)

5 Scouts- Meltabombs, Bolters (S2)

Landspeeder Storm (LS2)

My warlord was Khan, giving me Scout for my army. This would be great for closing with the Tau as quickly as possible.

Caledonian Revolution 2016: Game 1- White Scars vs Tau/Grey Knights

Welcome to my first battle report from my games at the recent Caledonian Revolution tournament. The tournament was held at the North Western Gaming Centre down in Stockport and featured 75 players. 

I decided to take my White Scars to the tournament and had been practising with my list for a few months with varying degrees of success, so was feeling ok about my chances in my games over the two days of the tournament. Ideally, I wanted to win at least 3 of the 5 games and finish in the top half of the rankings table.

Overall, I had a fantastic time at the tournament. I play 5 very challenging games over the two days against some great opponents. The guys organising the tournament were fantastic, all the games ran on time with plenty of time for each match, and everything was run efficiently and with good humour. A big thanks to all of my opponents and everyone I got chatting to over the weekend for making it such a fun event.

A big bonus for me was how many players over the weekend recognised my army from the blog and how many people said that they read and enjoyed my blog and battle reports. It's great to get that kind of feedback from people I haven't met before and really makes the effort that I put into the blog worth it. I also got a few compliments on my army, which was great given the very high standards of painting you will see in the Armies on Display post. Over the weekend I got several comments along the lines of "it's so unusual to see a White Scars army actually painted up as White Scars", which made me chuckle.

I did not win any raffle prizes, but got a bargain of a sale. One of the winners decided he did not want to take his Betrayal at Calth prize with him on the flight, so I snapped it up for only £50! My resistance to starting that Emperor's Children 30K army is slowly diminishing as I type.

It was a really fun weekend and I got to meet some great new players and hopefully get a few new readers for the blog in my game opponents. 

After a disastrous drive down the motorway on the Friday (more on this in a later post) and a lack of sleep on the Friday night (my hotel decided that 5 am was the perfect time to use the industrial dish washer located directly below my room), I got my army ready to see what table I would be playing on. I was due to play Matt and his Daemons in my first game, but he had to drop out of the tournament. I was informed later that he had actually won the last Caledonian Revolution, so I was not too upset about this. 

My opponent for the first round turned out to be Sid with his Tau, Grey Knights and Assassins army. Things were already looking up, as Sid had only come in second at the last Revolution.........

My army consisted of:

Scarblade Strike Force

Hunting Force

Khan- Moondrakken (with CS)

Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 storm shields, Banner of the Eagle (CS)

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power axe and meltabombs (BS1)

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB)

6 Scout Bikers- 2 Grenades launchers, sergeant with meltabombs and homing beacon (SB)

Stormbringer Squadron

5 Scouts- bolt pistols, combat weapons, sergeant with meltabombs (S1)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher (LS1)

Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile Launcher (L)

Combined Arms Detachment

Chaplain- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs (with CS or C2)

5 Scouts- Bolters, sergeant with meltabombs (S2)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher (LS2)

3 Bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS3)

3 Centurions- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricane bolters (C)

Drop Pod (DP)

Stormhawk Interceptor- TL assault cannon, Skyhammer missile launcher, Las-talon (SI)

Battle Report 47- 1850 pts White Scars vs Tau

This week's battle report is another from the Medusa IV campaign that I am running. This campaign turn, Yans' Tau decided to attack my Guard's Shield Generator tile that had recently repelled an attack from Armel's Eldar.

As I had been playing my Guard the last few weeks, I asked if Yans wouldn't mind me using my White Scars, as I was keen to finally try out the new White Scars formations from the Kauyon supplement. Fortunately, he agreed and I was able to put together a Scarblade Strike Force for the game.

 

My army consisted of:

SCARBLADE STRIKE FORCE

HUNTING FORCE

Captain- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Glaive of Vengeance, Storm Shield (with CS)

5 Command Squad- Banner of the Eagle, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 Storm Shields (CS)

8 Bikers- Sergeant with power axe and meltabombs, 2 Grav guns (B1)

8 Bikers- Sergeant with power axe and meltabombs, 2 Grav guns (B2)

3 Scout Bikers- Astartes grenade launcher, sergeant has meltabombs (SB)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB1)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB2)

 

STORMLANCE BATTLE DEMI-COMPANY

Chaplain- Bike, Auspex, Meltabombs (with CS)

5 Tactical Marines- Meltagun, sergeant has meltabombs (TM1)

Rhino (R1)

10 Tactical Marines- Grav gun, sergeant has meltabombs (TM2)

Rhino (R2)
10 Tactical Marines- Flamer, sergeant has meltabombs (TM3)
Rhino (R3)
5 Devastators- 4 grav cannons (D)
Rhino (R4)
Attack Bike- Heavy Bolter (AB3)

SPEARTIP STRIKE FORCE
5 Scouts- sergeant has meltabombs (S)
Landspeeder storm- Heavy bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)
Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon missile launcher (L)

My warlord trait initially gave me Deadly Ambush (+1 to my reserve rolls or -1 to my opponents), but I re-rolled and got Hammer of Khan, giving my warlord (the Captain) D3 hammer of wrath hits.

My force was led by a Captain wielding the Hunter's Eye and the Glaive of Vengeance for some close combat punch. He would be leading the Hunting Force, featuring two large 8-man bike squads, a scout bike squad and two attack bikes. The large bike squads were to take advantage of the formations rules, giving me double hammer of wrath hits if I had at least 5 models in the unit. The two attack bikes were armed with multimeltas to take on the heavier battle suits of the Tau.

The formation also allows me to choose a primary target (an enemy HQ) and secondary and tertiary targets. I get re-rolls to hit and to wound against the primary target, then the secondary once the primary is dead and so on. This should be very useful for my special weapons and multimeltas at taking on the Tau commander.

Next, I took a Stormlance to try out the formation. This consists of 4 units mounted in Rhinos and an attack bike. The units must start in the Rhinos, but get re-rolls to hit against units holding objectives and get to make a free move after shooting, even allowing them to get back in their transport if they can. This should be great for the Devastators, allowing me to deploy and fire all four grav cannons then get back in the relative safety of the squad's Rhino.

Finally, I took a Speartip strike force, allowing me to take one of my favourite units- the Scouts and Landspeeder storm. I also took an anti-tank Landspeeder for some more firepower. The Scouts are the only objective secured unit in my army, quite a big change as I normally like to take a lot of objective secured units.

On top of that, the Scarblade gives me re-rollable hammer of wrath wounds if I charge over 8" and, more importantly, gives me re-rolls to my Hit and Run tests (anyone who regularly reads my Ravenwing and White Scars battle reports will know that I have a tendency to fluff these at the most inopportune times).

EDIT: It has been pointed out that my army is above points (thanks to Nate for spotting this). My army comes in at around 2070 pts instead of 1850 pts. Apologies to Yans for this error, I must have missed out a squad when I was adding up the total.

Doubles Tournament Game 1- White Scars/Mechanicus vs Dark Eldar/Tau

Welcome to my first battle report from a recent doubles tournament held at 6s2Hit in Edinburgh. Innes and I travelled through on a rather cold and windy Sunday morning with our armies to see how we would fare against the competition.

I had never been to the store before, but really enjoyed the experience. One half of the store has six 6x4 gaming tables, the other half has the café area where you can get hot food and drinks (I had an awesome coronation chicken Panini and chocolate brownie for lunch). They also have display cases with painted armies and the retail area, where you can pick stuff up for a variety of different game systems. They also had an awesome display on one of the walls with a bunch of different boxed sets from various editions of 40k and fantasy, as well as some other games. It was a really nice store, I will be keeping an eye out for any more events and recommend you take a look if you are ever in the Edinburgh area.

On to the tournament itself: Teams were comprised of 2 players, each with 1000 pts to spend on their army. Other than that, there were no restrictions. Armies could be bound, unbound or made up of formations, and Forgeworld units were allowed. The missions would be maelstrom, determined at each round by rolling in the book (the same mission for all games that turn). Each player would have their own warlord with warlord traits, but would need to choose a Supreme warlord for each game (who would give up Slay the Warlord when killed). Each player would also draw from their own maelstrom deck and could only score their own cards (e.g. you would only score Secure Objective 6 if your own units held it, not if your partner's units held the objective only). Impossible cards had to be kept and you could discard one card each turn.

With no restrictions in place other than the points limit, we did not know what to expect in all three games.

 

My army consisted of:

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)

 

Innes' 1000 points army consisted of:
 

Dominus Maniple

Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field (TD)

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)

My army was designed to be very fast for grabbing maelstrom objectives, plus armed to the teeth with grav weaponry for taking on any tough units such as Wraithknights, Riptides, etc. The only change to the Mechanicus army was reducing the Vanguard squad from 10 to 5 (to utilise the drop pod) and the addition of another Dunecrawler. Innes' army had the hard hitters with the Imperial Knight (armed with D weapons) and the Dunecrawlers.

For the first game, our supreme warlord was Khan. My Librarian got Hallucination and Psychic Shriek for his powers. Innes' Dominus got to make one weapon master-crafted as his warlord trait.

Battle Report 40- 2000 pts White Scars/Mechanicus vs Tau

This week's battle report features a combined army of my White Scars and Innes' Mechanicus taking on Shaun's Tau (complete with Stormsurge!). Innes and I were practicing for an upcoming doubles tournament (the reports for which will be coming soon) and wanted to test our army against a tough force. Enter Shaun's Tau, who have been racking up a string of victories in the Medusa IV campaign.

We would be playing a maelstrom mission at 2000 pts, in what promised to be a hyper competitive game. Those with an aversion to cheese should look away now.

 

My 1000 points army consisted of:

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)

 

Innes' 1000 points army consisted of:
 

Dominus Maniple

Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field, Infoslave skull (TD)

10 Skitarri Vanguard- 3 Plasma Calivers, Omnispex, Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Arc Maul, Conversion Field and Radium. (V)

Onager Dunecrawler- Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator (D)

 

Oathsworn Detachment

Mechanicum Cerastus Knight Atropos- Occular Augmetics. (K)

Khan was the warlord to give me Scout and the Librarian rolled on Telepathy, actually managing to get Invisibilty, along with Psychic Shriek.
 

My army was designed to be fast and hard hitting. Khan was there to provide Scout to the army, as well as a leadership buff thanks to his Warlord Trait. The Librarian was there to take the Hunter's Eye to give me some Ignores Cover shooting and the +1 BS should help out with the psychic shriek. He was also fortunate enough to get Invisibility.

Battle Report 37- 1500 pts Dark Angels vs Tau

Welcome to my first battle report of 2016! This week's battle report saw my Dark Angels take on Scott's Tau in an Eternal War mission. I had not played against Scott before, but had played with him in a Doubles Tournament where my White Scars and his Tau took on an Astra Militarum/Adeptus Mechanicus army. I would be interesting to see how the game progressed.

 

My army consisted of:

Interrogator-Chaplain- Bike, Auspex, Mace of Redemption (IC)

Librarian- Mastery level 2, Bike (L)

10 Tactical Marines- Plasma gun, sergeant with meltabombs (TS1)

Rhino (R)

5 Tactical Marines- Plasma Cannon (TS2)

5 Devastators- 3 Missile Launchers, Lascannon (D1)

Dreadnought- Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer (D2)

Drop Pod (DP)

5 Black Knights- Huntsmaster has meltabombs (BK)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (RB1)

4 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant has meltabombs (RB2)
Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D3)

Whirlwind (W)

 

My warlord trait gave me Feel no Pain when in range of an objective. My psychic powers were Mind Worm, Righteous Repugnance and Mind Wipe.

 

A different army from what I have been running with my Dark Angels (a lot fewer bikers than normal!). I chose the Interrogator-Chaplain to lead the force. Armed with a Mace of Redemption, he is a formidable force in combat and a huge boost for the Black Knights I was taking. He was backed up by a Librarian on a bike. With the lack of Tau psykers, I was hopeful that he would be able to achieve something in the game.

I then take a tactical squad in a rhino for some objective grabbing and a unit with a plasma cannon (great for taking on Tau suits). The Devastators were also picked to provide some high strength firepower to deal with any big Tau suits that Scott may bring.

I also wanted to try out a Dreadnought in a drop pod to add some punch to the army. A heavy flamer and assault cannon should make a mess of any fire warriors when it arrives. I added three unit of bikers; the almost-compulsory black knights and two units of bikers with grav guns and meltaguns for dealing with any Riptides. Lastly, I took a Whirlwind to target any Fire Warriors in the army.

 

Battle Report 23- 1500 pts Astra Militraum vs Tau

This week's battle report was my first set game in the Medusa IV map-based campaign that I am running. Shaun's Tau decided to use their newly captured spaceport to launch an assault on my own spaceport in the centre of the map. Having faced Shaun last time, I knew this was going to be a tough game for my Guard.

The Battle begins.

My army consisted of:

Company Commander- Medic, Regimental Standard, Vox caster, Officer of the Fleet, Carapace Armour (CC)

Primaris Psyker- Level 2 (with CC)

Primaris Psyker- Level 2 (with PC3)

Priest (P1)

 

Platoon Command Squad- Vox, 2 plasma guns (PC1)

Infantry squad- Missile Launcher, vox (I1-1)

Infantry squad- Missile Launcher, vox (I1-2)

Infantry squad- Missile Launcher, vox (I1-3)

Heavy Weapons Team- Lascannons (LT)

 

Platoon Command Squad- Vox (PC2)

Infantry Squad- Vox, Autocannon (I2-1)

Infantry Squad- Vox, Autocannon (I2-2)

Platoon Command Squad- vox caster (PC3)

 

Veteran Squad- Demolitions, 3 Meltaguns (V1)

Chimera- Extra Armour, Dozer Blade, Multilaser, Heavy bolter (C)

 

Vendetta- 3 TL Lascannons (V2)

Wyvern (W1)

Wyvern (W2)

Leman Russ Punisher- Punisher cannon, heavy bolter, heavy bolter sponsons (P2)

 

Warlord Trait- Grand Strategist (3 Outflanking Units)

Psyker 1- Prescience, Scrier's Gaze, Perfect Timing

Psyker 2- Prescience, Precognition, Foreboding

 

I started with the ever useful company command squad. I love the orders that this unit can give, which would hopefully help me take down any Riptides or vehicles the enemy may have when used correctly. I took the Officer of the Fleet as I knew I would be taking a Vendetta and wanted to ensure its quick arrival. When I rolled my warlord trait, it worked out even better as I could now use 3 outflanking units, so hopefully he would help with these too.

NOTE: When writing up, I discovered that I had included an extra platoon command in my army when I deployed it that was not on my list, so I had 3 instead of 2. I never noticed this error until later, apologies to Shaun for the mistake.

 

I backed them up with two psykers and a priest. Tau have little in the way of psychic protection, so I thought I should be able to get the powers off relatively easy. They were mostly for casting prescience to get re-rolls to hit, but I might have got lucky with the other powers. Not so much when I rolled. I was hoping to get Forewarning or Misfortune, but I never seem to roll these. I ended up with some pretty useless ones; Overwatch at full BS against Tau! Great! I'm sure that will come in handy. Ignores cover may be useful, but I am more likely to get this from orders and Precognition is pretty useless on a Guard Psyker.

 

I took two platoons, each armed with heavy weapons to deal with the Fire Warriors or anything larger. The veterans were chosen as a Riptide hunting unit, they could hopefully cause some damage with their meltaguns and meltabombs.

 

I took two Wyverns to deal with any troops in the enemy army and the massed firepower of the Punisher is always useful. I finished the list with a Vendetta, hoping that the three lascannons could deal with most of the big threats.

Battle Report 22- 1850 pts Ravenwing vs Tau

This week's battle report is another campaign game, with my Ravenwing taking on the might of the Tau Empire (ably commanded by Shaun).

As many of the regular readers will know, I am planning to take a Ravenwing army to the upcoming Blog Wars tournament. I have previously discussed what I think are the strengths and weaknesses of the army. I think that one of the toughest armies to face will be Tau. They have access to a range of high strength weaponry that will render my biker's increased toughness useless as well as having a lot of access to ignores cover for the whole army through markerlights. I wanted to see how my army would fare against a Tau force and challenged Shaun to a game.

My army consisted of:

RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE:

Sammael on Corvex (S)

Librarian- Bike, master level 2, conversion field, Auspex, Meltabombs (L)

5 Ravenwing Command- Champion, Apothecary, Ravenwing banner, one grenade launcher (CS)

5 Black Knights- grenade launcher (BK)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB1)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Plasma guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB2)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB3)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon missile launcher (RL)

Dark Talon (DT)

 

RAVENWING SUPPORT SQUADRON

Darkshroud- Assault Cannon

3 Ravenwing Landspeeders- Heavy Bolters, Assault Cannons (RSS)

I decided to give the Librarian another go. I am torn about this as I can see the appeal of the Interromancy psychic powers, but just have not had much success with them in battle, whereas the Interrogator-Chaplain provides a reliable bonus to the Black Knights with his Zealot re-rolls. I rolled up my psychic powers and got Mind Worm, Aversion and Seeds of Fear. This was a really nice set of powers to get, Aversion would come in very handy, forcing a unit to snap fire each turn would hopefully make a serious dent on the Tau firepower coming my way.

GW Aberdeen Doubles Tournament- Game 3 and Final Thoughts

Our third and final game of the Clan Clash doubles tournament was against Aberdeen once again.

 

This scenario was called Line of March, a mixture of Maelstrom and objective grabbing. The objectives were set up in set positions around the board (two on each short side and two in the middle). Each turn, players would draw 3 secret maelstrom cards and have to complete them. At the end of the game, additional points would be awarded for controlling the objectives as well as additional points for table control and destroying enemy units in the final turn of the game.

 

I was paired up with Chris (from the Aberdeen store) and his Tau for this mission. As a reminder, my army consisted of:

Captain- Space Marine Bike, Power fist, Storm Shield

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with Meltabombs

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with Meltabombs

5 Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant with Meltabombs

5 Sternguard Veterans- 3 with combi-meltas in drop pod

Chris' Tau army consisted of:
Commander Farsight and two crisis suits with drones
Two units of Fire Warriors
A unit of Sniper Drones
Riptide

We were up against Craig and his Space Marines (who I faced in the first game) and Ricky with his Necrons. The army consisted of:

Librarian
3 Grav centurions in drop pod
10 Tactical marines- meltagun with drop pod
10 Tactical marines- meltagun with drop pod

Necron Lord
Two units of Necron Warriors
6 Wraiths
Night Scythe

A tough army to face. I knew from experience in the first game that the Centurions were going to be deadly and Necrons are always a tough proposition. Unfortunately, my Tau allies had no interceptor  to try and take out the pods before they could cause much damage.

GW Aberdeen Doubles Tournament- Game 2

This is part 2 of my battle reports at Clan Clash, organised by Games Workshop Aberdeen.

 

Our second game of the day was a mission called Cataclysm. This was a really interesting mission, the goal of which was to get units in your opponent's table half. Each unit of Troops or Elites above 5 models in your opponent's deployment zone at the end of your turn after turn 2 scored you a victory point. In addition, any units of Troops or their dedicated transport that is destroyed get to come back into reserve the following turn.

This sounded like a fantastic mission to play and one very suited to my army. I liked the meatgrinder aspect, meaning that you could throw your Troops units into the enemy army without caring for their demise, as long as they scored you victory points.

The battle begins.

The scenario.

Dundee 40k Tournament after action report

On 24th May, Dundee Wargames held a one day 40k tournament that I was fortunate enough to attend. I thought I would write up my thoughts on my games (what worked and what could be improved).

The format was three games of 1500 pts chosen from up to two detachments. There were three different missions using a mixture of eternal war and maelstrom objectives. I decided to run my blog wars army minus the Chapter Master and Scouts to bring it down to size.

My army arrayed for battle.

 

The army was:

Kor’sarro Khan on Moondakken

5 Bikers- 2 x grav gun, sergeant with meltabombs

5 Bikers- 2 x grav gun, sergeant with meltabombs

5 Bikers- 2 x meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs

10 tactical marines- Meltagun, sergeant with combi-melta and meltabombs in drop pod

10 devastator marines- 4 missile launchers, with Rhino

Attack Bike with Multimelta
Attack Bike with Multimelta

3 Centurions- 3 grav cannons and grav amps
Stormtalon

SABRE apocalypse battle report- fourth turn and lessons learnt

The final part of our club's apocalypse game.


The final battlefield.