Video Battle Report- Dark Angels Primaris vs Ultramarines

Today I have another battle report featuring my Dark Angels Primaris army, taking on Mat's Ultramarines Space Marine army. 

This game features the new maelstrom of war rules from White Dwarf, which introduces an element of deck building into the game. 

Battle Report 157- Deathwatch vs Ultramarines

This week's battle report sees my Deathwatch take on Tom's Ultramarines in a 2000 pts game. We were playing the Targets of Opportunity maelstrom of war mission. This is the mission with 3 cards per turn, and you only have a single turn in which to try and score the cards. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

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

Watch Captain- Power Sword, Master Crafted Bolter, Tome of Ectoclades Relic (WC1)

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

10 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols (KT2)

Kill Team 3- 5 Veterans with 5 Stalker Pattern Bolters (KT3)
Kill Team 4- 5 Veterans with Bolters and Chainswords (KT4)

3 Bikers- Twin Bolters (B1)
3 Bikers- Twin Bolters (B2)

Battalion Detachment

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Relic Blade, MC Bolter (WC2)

Watch Captain- Xenophase Blade, Combi-Melta (WC3)

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

Kill Team 6- 5 Veterans, 2 Missile Launchers, Bolters, Chainswords (KT6)

Kill Team 7- 5 Veterans, 5 Shotguns, Storm Shield (KT7)

Kill Team 8- 5 Veterans, 2 Frag Cannons, Bolters, Chainswords, Storm Shield (KT8)

Rhino- 2 Storm Bolters (R1)

Rhino- 2 Storm Bolters (R2)
Razorback- Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter (Rz)

Uxbridge 40k tournament: Game 3- White Scars vs Ultramarines

The third game of the tournament say my White Scars Space Marines taken on the forces of the Ultramarines, led by Guilliman himself (commanded by Nick). 

This game was an ETC-style mission, with Scorched Earth as the Eternal War mission and Tactical Escalation as the Maelstrom of War mission. We would also be using Hammer and Anvil deployment. 

My army consisted of: 

Battalion Detachment

Captain- Bike, Thunder Hammer, Shield Eternal, Imperium's Sword Warlord Trait (C1)

Lieutenant- Jump Pack, Power Axe, Master-crafted Bolter (L1)

5 Scouts- Bolters (S1)

5 Scouts- Bolters (S2)

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistols, Combat Knives (S3)

5 Tactical Marines- Heavy Bolter (TS1)

10 Vanguard Veterans- 5 with Plasma Pistols and Chainswords, 5 with two Chainswords (VV)

10 Sternguard Veterans- Special Issue Bolters (SV)

Stormraven Gunship- Twin Assault Cannons, Twin Heavy Bolters, Two Stormstrike Missiles, two Hurricane Bolters (SG)

Outrider Detachment

Captain- Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Combi-Melta (C2)

3 Bike Squad- Twin Bolters, 2 Meltaguns (B)

3 Scout Bikers- Twin Bolters, Shotguns (SB1)

3 Scout Bikers- Twin Bolters, Shotguns (SB2)

Spearhead Detachment

Lieutenant- Master-crafted Bolter, Chainsword (L2)

5 Devastators- 2 Missile Launchers, Lascannon (D1)

5 Devastators- 2 Heavy Bolters (D2)

Thunderfire Cannon (TC)

Techmarine Gunner- Flamer, Plasma Cutter, two Servo-arms (T)

Bunker War 3: Game 2- Deathwatch vs Ultramarines

The second game of Bunker War 3 would be the No Mercy mission with Hammer and Anvil deployment. This could be a tricky one for me, as very little of my Deathwatch army frequently survives the game in 8th edition. This game would see me facing David and his Ultramarines. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Watch Master (W)

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Pair Lightning Claws (W)

Kill Team 1- 5 Veterans, Vanguard Veteran with Pair Lightning Claws, 3 Frag Cannons, Storm Shield. (KT1)

Kill Team 2- 5 Veterans, 2 Missile Launchers, 2 Stalker Boltguns (KT2)

Kill Team 3- 5 Veterans, 2 Infernus Heavy Bolters, 2 Stalker Boltguns (KT3)

Kill Team 4- 5 Veterans, Meltagun, 3 combi-Meltas (KT4)

Kill Team 5- 5 Veterans, 2 Frag Cannons (KT5)

Rhino (R)

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP)

6 Vanguard Veterans- 2 Pairs Lightning Claws, Power Sword and Bolt Pistol, 3 with Bolt Pistols and Chainswords (VV)

3 Deathwatch Bikers- Power Axe, Power Sword (DB1)

3 Deathwatch Bikers- two Power Swords (DB2)

Corvus Blackstar- Auspex Array, Hurricane Bolter, Twin Assault Cannons, 2 Blackstar Rocket Launchers (CB)

Vindicare Assassin (V)

6 Command Points

My warlord was the Watch Master with the Tenacious Survivor warlord trait.

Rise of the Primarch Review: Part 3- Forces of the Ultramarines

The third part of my Rise of the Primarch review looks at the new rules for Ultramarines in the book; new warlord traits, Relics and formations.

Warlord Traits

The third Gathering Storm book presents a new warlord traits table for Ultramarines army. 

Noble Visage- This provides your warlord with a 12" re-roll bubble for morale, pinning and fear tests. A nice bonus that works on all armies of the imperium faction. 

Warden of Ultramar- Warlord gains Counter-Attack. This could be useful on a combat-centric unit.

Paragon of War- Warlord gains Preferred Enemy. Given the number of re-rolls available to Ultramarines, getting more re-rolls to wound will boost their damage output further. 

Master of Strategy- Add 4 to seize the initiative roll. This is awesome, seizing on a 2+ is a game changer and will be a big boost if you get this. Allowing your opponent to set up first, countering their deployment and having a very good chance of seizing will give you a great boost in your games, 

Master of Tactics- Allows you to discard a Tactical Objective card at the start of your turn and draw another. This is a big boost in maelstrom missions and should help significantly increase your score in these games. 

Adept of the Codex- Warlord and units within 6" get Split Fire. This could be useful in certain situations, but counting on this at the list building stage is not worth it, so it may have limited uses in your game. 

Overall, a decent set of traits. Master of Strategy and Master of Tactics seem solid to me. I think that most of the warlord traits from Codex Space Marines are just as good, if not better.

Rise of the Primarch Review: Part 2- Roboute Guilliman

Part 2 if my Rise of the Primarch review takes a look at the main man himself; Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines.

Roboute Guilliman
The Ultramarines' Primarch is a Lord of war that can be included in any Armies of the Imperium force. At 350 pts, he is pricey, but he comes with a great statline, serious combat potential and a host of special rules that make him a worthy inclusion in an army.

First off, let's look at durability. He is T6, with 6 wounds, a 2+ armour save, 3+ invulnerable save, Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain. That is a pretty impressive list and makes him a pretty durable model. In addition, his relic armour means that when he is slain, he returns to the field with D3 wounds on a 4+.
Most units in the game are going to struggle to take him out in shooting or in combat. However, given the current state of competitive 40k, this will not be too much trouble for many units either. A couple of rounds of serious grav cannon fire will probably take him out no problem. One big disadvantage of Guilliman is that he is a monstrous creature, so no joining units to benefit from Look Out, Sir rolls (though there is a formation in the book that can fix this). So overall, Guilliman is tough, but not impossible to kill.

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