Battle Report: Learning 6th Event: Game 2: Guard Vs. Nids GAME OVER, MAN!

Finally got out to an event over in Rochester, NY yesterday at Millennium Games.  It was not really a tournament but a set of three games to let people learn to new rules and see how theirs lists would work out under them.  Multiple lists were allowed and prizes were handed out by a raffle at the end.

The format was 1500pts with three 2.5 hour long rounds.  Since this event was really just for fun and learning I wanted to try something that I had not really done before, bring a list with a minimum of vehicles and large number of infantry.  With the reduction in cover saves I really didn't know how this list would work out, last edition 4+ saves were good, but I was a bit worried about the 5+.  I also wasn't sure how this list would react to different armies.  I've used a vehicle heavy Guard army since I started playing in 3rd edition.   I just love tanks.

Here's my list:
HQ
Company Command Squad(Power Fist, Med-Pack, Standard,Vox, Plasma Gun) + Chimera
Fast
Vendetta Gunship
Troops
Vets 1 ( 3Plasma Guns, Grenadiers, Power Fist) + Chimera
Vets 2 ( 3 Meltas, Demolitions, Power Fist) (In Vendetta)
Infantry Platoon
Command Squad (Vox, Power Sword, Commissar, Power Sword, Standard)
5 Infantry Squads (2 Commissars, 7 Power Swords, 2 Vox, 3 Flamers, 2 Grenade Launchers)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Lascannons)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Missile Launchers)
Special Weapons Squad (3 Sniper Rifles)
Special Weapons Squad (3 Grenade Launchers)

Vehicle Count: 3
Infantry Count: 101

I don't think I ever made a list without a Leman Russ before, and with the new Squadron rules taking a pair of them isn't so bad, even with the limitation of having Hull Points.

Game 2

My second battle was against Aaron (hyv3mynd from synaps3) and his Tyranids.  You can check out his version of events here.  Below you can see his list:
Tyranid Prime (warlord) + whip/sword, toxins, regen (bio)
Tyrant + wings, devourers, old adversary, regen
Hive Guard x3
Zoanthropes x3 (all telekenesis this game)
Termagants x30 (warlord here)
Tervigon + claws, toxins, 3 powers (bio), cluster spines
Raveners x6 + rending
Shrikes x3 + whip/sword, toxins

Mission 2 featured the Hammer & Anvil deployment with The Emperor's Will as objectives.  Below you can see our terrain set up,  I have the right side of the board and he had the left.  You can see his objective next to the gray ruin and mine was in the building centered on my side.  We both wanted to set up terrain to our own favor.  He wanted to cover his advance and I wanted to protect my troops so they could shoot more before they got nom'd.  I think that my warlord caused my units within 12 to have move through cover but I do not recall what his was.

Aaron gets 1st turn and deployment so I get to go second.  We both deploy right up on the edge of our zones,  he wants to close with me as soon as possible and I wanted to open fire as soon as possible.  He doesn't have any reserves but I reserve my Vendetta with Melta vets inside to outflank.I put the 20 man blob and platoon command in the far building.  The rocketeers and large blob are in the center.  In the nearest building is a lascannon squad, the grenade launcher squad, and my Company Command in their Chimera.  In the rear building are the snipers with the plasma vets just beyond that in their Chimera.

Turn 1

The nids begin to advance through cover,  the flyrant comes flying at my lines and so forth.  The tervigon spawns 17 gants but rolls doubles so they will be all that come out.  They move to hold his objective and get a skyfire nexus.  How amazingly useful...  The thropes cast some invul bubbles and buff the flyrant.

The flyrant shoots up and shreds my Lascannon teams and the 4+ cover is not nearly enough to save them,  Aaron takes 1st blood.  

I move nothing, and begin to fire upon the bugs. My objective is nothing of note. I order bring it down for the missile teams against the flyrant and then first rank fire, second rank fire on each of the blobs.  The 20 man blob downs a ravener and other shooting kills 1 gant.  No other harm is done.  

Turn 2

The tyranids advance again, gants and tervigon remain in cover the shrikes move up again and the ravenors prepare to assault the blob.  The flyrant flies over the 30 man unit and lands at its rear near all the sergeants and the commissar.  For shooting, the hive guard attempt to de-mech the plasma vets but fail to cause any damage.  Zoanthropes attempt to wipe out the missile teams but all of their crushes only manage to kill 1 team.  Still, it's enough to force a morale check.  The flyrant dishes out some pain to the blob and kills 2 sarges and a commissar as well as some troopers.  Look out sir! wasn't doing to well here.  Don't think the troops liked their leaders much. 

 The raveners assault the 20 man blob, I think overwatch causes 1 wound and striking first does not help me much either.  They end up killing more than half of the unit, though we're stubborn and hold fast.  The missile teams pass morale prepare to unleash some more rockets.

In my turn I roll to see if the Vendetta comes in but it does not.  I move my platoon command squad to cover the side of the 30 man blob, though I probably should have just charged for the extra attacks.  I shoot at the flyrant but fail to do anything.  I cause 1 wound on the terivigon and wipe out the shrikes.  I think one of the zoanthropes died this turn.  In the assault phase the raveners finish off the infantry and consolidate towards the platoon command.

Turn 3

The tervigon begins to come towards my lines, bringing some of the gant blob with it.  The tyrant flies over my command squad's chimera and toward the nearest table corner.  The ravenors continued to move at the PCS.  Both of my Chimeras are blown this turn, the plasma vets get pinned but the company command is not thanks to their Regimental Standard's morale reroll.

The Tervigon assaults the blob but the gants fail to follow.  The raverners engages the PCS and wipe them, they consolidate towards the plasma vets.  The tervigon takes a wound and kills a few guardsmen, they hold, even without their commissar.

The Vendetta arrives and outflanks this turn, I zoom it onto the board and shoot at the zoanthropes, killing those that remained.  The plasma vets shoot at the raveners and cause some wounds, killing 1 I believe.  Shooting from the CCS grounds the tyrant, even though it could not wound it, a lasgun brought it down to the ground. Combat with the tervigon continues to grind on.

The gants all shuffle around again to max out cover.  The tyrant turns and shoots my CCS to death.  The raveners charge my dismounted plasma veterans.  Overwatch manages to cause a few more wounds thanks to some lucky plasma gun hits.

The veterans must have been ready for action because I dish out quite a few regular wounds before he gets his attacks.  Then the powerfist strikes with them and causes some more wounds. In the end only 1 ravener remains alive while I lose 2 guardsmen.   He fails morale due to a lack of synapse but I fail to catch him.  The tervigon combat continues but the blob falls back this time.  They wind up right on top of the objective.

The lone ravener flees, making sure to keep an eye on the guardsmen just insane enough to fight them in close combat.

On my turn the Vendetta hovers forward and the mela vets dismount.

I move the melta vets forward and begin to open fire.  The melta vets shoot melta and some shotguns, but I also toss a demo charge and frag grenade at the gaunts.  All this only manages to kill about 6 of them.
Plasma vets put a wound on the last ravener.  The blob rallies and shoots at the tervigon dropping it to 1 wound. Most everything else fires at the tyrant leaving it with only 1 wound.  The vendetta hits the tervigon as well but rolls only 1s to wound.

Turn 5

The spawned gaunts on his objective shoot and assault the vets, the hive guard do nothing.  The Tervigon and tyrant both assault the blob.  The Vets and the blob are both wiped out.  

On my turn I take out the tyrant with lots of my fire.  The tervigon is able to absorb the rest, but I forget to shoot my grenade launcher special weapons squad.  We have to end the game here due to time.

Summary

In the end Aaron had 5VP to my none, since he took first blood, slayed my warlord, held his objective, and contested my own.  Had I fired my grenade launchers, it could have ended up 5-3, but my only hope of really winning would have been to pull the gants off of his objective somehow.  Overall this was a very fun game and it was great to finally play against Aaron as I have seen him at several events and have been reading his blog for some time now.  In this case I don't think player placed terrain worked out too badly as we both got what we wanted out of it, but it still looked kinda cinematic with my guard trying to hold their line against the encroaching alien menace.  Still, I think for tournaments that TO set terrain would be preferable.

My vendetta rolled a lot of 1s to wound this game but still preformed okay.  It didn't die, so that was nice too.  With this game in the books I was impressed with how this list preformed.  Coming into this set of games I really expected a lot worse.  Warlord traits are hit or miss, but I think they are a cool addition to the game

Game 3 sometime later.  I may just want to spend tomorrow night painting.

Battle Report: Learning 6th Event: Game 1: Guard Vs. Guard Action!

Finally got out to an event over in Rochester, NY yesterday at Millennium Games.  It was not really a tournament but a set of three games to let people learn to new rules and see how theirs lists would work out under them.  Multiple lists were allowed and prizes were handed out by a raffle at the end.  

The format was 1500pts with three 2.5 hour long rounds.  Since this event was really just for fun and learning I wanted to try something that I had not really done before, bring a list with a minimum of vehicles and large number of infantry.  With the reduction in cover saves I really didn't know how this list would work out, last edition 4+ saves were good, but I was a bit worried about the 5+.  I also wasn't sure how this list would react to different armies.  I've used a vehicle heavy Guard army since I started playing in 3rd edition.   I just love tanks. 

Here's my list:

HQ

Company Command Squad(Power Fist, Med-Pack, Standard,Vox, Plasma Gun) + Chimera

Fast

Vendetta Gunship

Troops

Vets 1 ( 3Plasma Guns, Grenadiers, Power Fist) + Chimera

Vets 2 ( 3 Meltas, Demolitions, Power Fist) (In Vendetta)

Infantry Platoon

Command Squad (Vox, Power Sword, Commissar, Power Sword, Standard)

5 Infantry Squads (2 Commissars, 7 Power Swords, 2 Vox, 3 Flamers, 2 Grenade Launchers)

Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Lascannons)

Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Missile Launchers)

Special Weapons Squad (3 Sniper Rifles)

Special Weapons Squad (3 Grenade Launchers)

Vehicle Count: 3

Infantry Count: 101

I don't think I ever made a list without a Leman Russ before, and with the new Squadron rules taking a pair of them isn't so bad, even with the limitation of having Hull Points.

Now, I planned on doing a little more in depth battle reports this time, but the pictures to do so did not really turn out all that well.  I had my camera set to macro all day and so most of the times I tried to take a full table shot it turned out very blurry.  So I will just be posting some summaries and thoughts on what I or my opponent may have wanted to do differently.  

Battle #1

My first battle was against "C4" with a list that was somewhat similar to my own, here's an approx:

HQ

Company Command (Vox, Standard, and I think an Autocannon)

Troops

Vets with Meltas in chimera

Vets with Meltas in chimera

Infantry platoon 

Command Squad with 4 Grenade Launchers

2 Squads; 1 with Lascannon and GL and one with Autocannon and Grenade Launcher

Heavy Weapons Team with Autocannons

Infantry Platoon

Command Squad with 4 Flamers

2 Squads; Both with an Autocannon

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank with 3 Heavy Bolters

Fast Attack

5 Rough Riders

Scout Sentinel

Mission 1 was Dawn of War Deployment with Purge the Alien objectives.  We both set up a nice defensive line with infantry and vehicles in good cover.  He gets first turn and we don't have night fighting so I roll to seize but I fail.  Here's the best picture I have of our deployment.  

Turn 1 he begins by advancing his Chimeras and a couple of the infantry squads.  For shooting he focuses on my snipers and my 2 heavy weapons squads.  With the Leman Russ he shoots the snipers and kills 4 along with a few men from the large blob.  Autocannon and las fire kill 2 of the Lascannon teams, and heavy weapons wipe out all of the missile launchers. Neither of my units fail morale. He gets First blood and ends his turn 1 with 2 VP.

I move up my lest side chimera with the plasma veterans as well as the grenade launcher squad.  Everything else stays put to fire at his units now in the open.   I order bring it down against the Chimera and first rank second rank on the blobs.  The Vet chimera fails to pen on the side of his own chimera but the plasma vets inside manage to rapid fire it to death.   The men disembark and the center blob fires at them and kill a few. The grenade squad fires at an infantry squad and manages to kill 4 or so but they pass morale.

I've got 1 VP for the Chimera.

Turn 2

In this turn C4 tries to finish off the snipers and Lascannon squads.  Battle cannon and las fire kill the sniper and some more men from the center blob and he manages to kill the Lascannon team with plasma and las fire from the infantry and veteran squads on the right hand side.  He also kills off the three riflemen from the grenade launcher squad on the left and strips a hull point from the veteran's chimera. I pass all my morale checks so he gets 2 more VP. His scout sentinel comes in on my right and shoots at my platoon command, killing one man.

I shift more men into firing positions now that losses are taken from the front.  My Vendetta comes in on the right side but fails to pen the side of the Russ,  I rolled 2 1s.  The multi laser from my chimeras fails to do anything to his remaining Chimera.  I return fire again with infantry and force a couple more morale checks on 2 infantry  and one veteran squad.  2 of them fall back but only a few inches.

Turn 3

He shuffles more troops forwards and finally brings the Rough Riders out from behind a rock.  He was hoping to bring down the Vendetta and then assault any survivors.  He begins by firing a lot of heavy weapons at the gunship,  I think in all it was about 10-12 Autocannon shots, with 6 of them rerolling from bring it down.  He rolled a six with the ordered unit but failed to pen.  He then shoots some melta and his chimera at it as well, it continued to zoom on unscathed.  The Leman Russ shifted a bit and shot at the 20 man unit doing a lot of damage, only a few men remained.  Other losses are negligible.  He assaults my platoon command with the sentinel but fails to wound, I win combat due to my standard,

He remains at 4 VP.

I try again to destroy his Russ and remaining Chimera as they should have been the easiest to kill with what I had to fire, however I fail to do anything to either of them.  So, my grenade launcher squad fires on the right and finishes off the infantry squad they had been targeting all day.  I shoot some other units but they all either pass morale or fall back only 3-4 inches.

It was a slow game with all of this infantry and C4 was not the fastest player, so we ran out of time at the end of my turn.

Summary

C4 brought a lot more long range firepower than I did and it really showed.  He was able to bring that fire to bear and take out my vulnerable units early on which led to his victory.  I am not sure why he advanced so much,  he could have held fast and forced me into the open while firing with all of his heavy weapons.  However, once he began moving up I felt as if I should just hold and fire from cover.  Had I moved up I certainly would have gotten more kills, but would have also sustained more losses.  I'm not sure if it would have balance out for me.  

From this game I learned that I definitely did not have enough  long range heavy weapons to face a battle of attrition like this one was.  It was still fun to play.

Next summary should be up tomorrow and is against 'Nids.  It was also a fun game.

Damaged Goods.

So, I finally received my rulebook today.  Still have not gotten a reply as to why it was late, but that's beside everything.  I was really glad when I heard that it arrived, we were late getting home from out of town and only had time to grab our stuff before disc golf but I grabbed it for the ride over.  When I picked it up I noticed a glaring dent on the lowest edge, so I took a picture before I even opened the wrapper.  There are lots of dents around the edges, and the box was undamaged.  I don't know if they were playing catch with it or what...

There were some on the back too...

If it was not for the folded corner and that big dent I probably would not be complaining.  So not only did I get it late, but it's damaged too.  We'll see what GW has to say when I get a reply.

So far the book is great though, they do a good job of explaining everything, much better than in the past, and everything seems very clearly worded.  The full color pages are nice and the new art was great to see.  Cannot wait to play a few games!