Chaos Wins!

Batreps are starting to show up on Dakka and around the interwebs. Links are below:

Blackmoor's Dark Eldar - Dakka Report / Blog

Shep's IG

Somnicide's Crimson Fists

Reecius' Space Wolves

Nick the Wise's Dark Eldar

Yriel's Eldar

I hope to finally get the army lists up before the weekend. Just working on some formatting. Stay tuned.

Manimal took the Dark Eldar codex for a test drive this weekend and decided to square off against Shep's Imperial Guard. They played a 1500 point test game and I got some of the coverage second hand from Shep.

Note the Dark Eldar codex isn't officially legal for another couple of weeks. But these guys got the inside scoop from a store copy and applied the rules to the list created below.


Dark Eldar 1500

HQ

Haemonculus with liquifier

Elite

4x trueborn with 4x blasters in a venom with extra splinter cannon
4x trueborn with 4x blasters in a venom with extra splinter cannon
4x trueborn with 4x blasters in a venom with extra splinter cannon

Troops

5x wracks with liquifier in raider
5x wracks with liquifier in raider
5x wracks with liquifier in raider
5x wracks with liquifier in raider

Fast Attack

3x reavers with heat lance

Heavy

ravager with flickerfield
ravager with flickerfield
ravager with flickerfield


IG 1500

HQ

CCS 3x melta chimera HHF

Troops

veterans 3x plasma chimera HHF
veterans 3x plasma chimera HHF
veterans 3x melta chimera HHF

Fast Attack

vendetta
vendetta
vendetta

Heavy

manticore HHF
manticore HHF
manticore HHF


The batrep per Shep:

I won the roll and used that advantage to pick the side with the tighter objective spread and deployed everything on the table. Manimal wisely reserved out his army.

A note on Vect. I have said that I like Vect, scratch that. I hate him now. He fights well, but the rule I liked him for was the seize the inititive on a 4+. We faked that roll to see if he would have successfully siezed, and he wouldn't have. Deploying on-table, and not getting frst turn is a pretty bad thing to happen to dark eldar. Lets just say that its very bad. Keeping the chance of that happening at 8% is the wise thing to do. So paying the massive amount of points for Vect does not seem wise to me, unless you went for some kind of resilient dark eldar list. The Baron wouldn't have helped this particular roll either. The barons rule is ok, it slightly helps going first, and his other rules makes one hellion unit 'playable'. You have to really want the hellion unit, and at 1500 points a speedy, survivable yet expensive troops choice isn't worth giving up tank hunting.

Ok, so here is how I deployed, and my first two turns of movement.

Some notes here. Ordinarily, I would have taken advantage of a scout move and two turns of moving to redeploy my vendettas. That move was taken away from me by the FRIGHTENING range from off table by trueborn. A unit of trueborn coming off-table has a 32" threat range. That kept me pinned in my back 16" until some DE arrivals happened and I can use my smoke.

On the bottom of turn 2, Manimal got some favorable reserves to turn up. Here they come....


He got 2 of 3 ravagers, 2 of 3 trueborn/venom packages, the reavers, one wrack/radier package, and the wrack/raider/haemonculous package.

He noticed that I had respected his trueborn, and so he went flat out with the two venoms, the raiders moved on 12" as did the ravagers.

Check out those reavers! That was there on table move, unbelievable! 36" turbo boost might have been difficult to quantify for some of you guys. Its sick. He is threatening all three of my vendettas next turn, and he has severely restricted the multi-lasers I can put on him with both range and LOS with that move.

Manimal matched his excellent reserves rolling with some pretty below average shooting. He went after the vendettas that had flying in very tight circles to confuse their targetting (cheesy 4+ cover) He immobilized one and shook one other along with a weapon destroyed result. He had one look at side armor on the CCS chimera and managed only to shake it.

TOP OF 3

Ok, now I've got my strategy to create. Unfortunately, although a high priority, I don't have the tools I need to take out those reavers. It was far too early for any real movement, I didn't take a picture of my shift. The manticores and their screening chimeras merely rotated to face the lances, and one troop chimera carrying meltagun vets shifted over to take a potentially lucky shot at the reavers.

I did my best with manticore shells and the one vendetta, immobilizing an already scoring raider, and weapon destoying a ravager. I also managed to weapon destroy a venom and crew stun both venoms with stationary plasma guns. And most importantly to me, I killed a reaver with a couple multi-laser shots. Did he fail his morale? No.

BOTTOM OF 3
In came the third trueborn/venom package another wrack/raider and the third ravager. The venom went flat out to join up to the other two stunned venoms, the third ravager came on in the centerish of Manimals long edge, and the wracks were allocated to the extreme objective corner, that isn't heavily pictured until later. In the regular moves, this happened...



Here come the Trueborn. They raised their blasters with lithe grace, took careful aim, and failed to wreck any chimeras! No wrecks means no tokens, and no tokens means, hot burny death awaits. His dark lances took a second consecutive turn off, and he even missed with his heat lance. Its good that his reserves went well, because the door is wide open for me to take a few steps out of the dark eldar trap. I think he managed to wreck a vendetta, and weapon destroy a chimera and stun another one.

TOP OF 4

Ok, the first of two armored thrusts happens right now, the manticores wheel around the stunned chimera and prepare to lay out some souffle, the mobile but flamerless chimera moves up as well, prepping an objective block move next turn. The CCS chimera shifts over to help on the reavers alongside the untouched IG chimera. The shaken vendetta takes evasive maneuvers for its cover save, and the immbolized vendetta just waits its doom.

I laid out the teardrops and killed 3 of 4 trueborn in one unit, and 2 of 4 in the other, embarked plasma was able to wreck the newly arrived venom, and the flamerless chimera killed one of the passengers. I used the CCS to kill the 4th trueborn, and two multi-lasers were able to take out the now, 4+ cover having reavers. The 2 remaining trueborns passed their morale, but the new unit of 4 failed morale and hopped back 10".

BOTTOM OF 4

Manimal was happy to see that he had two trueborns deep in my lines, albeit untokened. He knew that my mobile vendetta was priority number one, but I decided to get stupid hot on cover saves, he could only manage to stun it, which was downgraded to a shaken. He had to throw every lance to get even that, the only other shooting was the two trueborns who comically failed to pen armor 10, were yet again denied feel no pain, and destined to die on the next turn.

TOP OF 5

Go, Go, Go!


My moves were the best combination of contesting denial, ability to fire, and contesting that I could dream up. I had two, he had one, that was a turn from being overrun, but we both had enough firepower to change that score. At this point I was in 40k heaven, a tight game that is going to go down to the last turn. I tank shock past the trueborn, who pass their test and one decided to get brave, glory was not his, which just left death. Someone shot out of a firepoint to finish off his buddy, my CCS did a deadly drive-by on an empty venom that was angling to contest my center (and most important) objective. Various and sundry plasma and multi-laser wrecked another venom and immobilized two raiders. There was a loose Raider on my far right flank, which is TROUBLE. But I'm out of shooting, so we'll just have to look at the dice and see what happens.

BOTTOM OF 5

Manimal and I both knew what the deal was. He MUST kill the vendetta, then he MUST contest one of my objectives, then, well, the game has got to end.

And this time, thats exactly what happened.

I had a great fun game, I took a loss, but I'll take something close like that any day over rolling over someone.

Shep's Analysis:

Manimal and I both knew what the deal was. He MUST kill the vendetta, then he MUST contest one of my objectives, then, well, the game has got to end. And this time, thats exactly what happened. I had a great fun game, I took a loss, but I'll take something close like that any day over rolling over someone.

Since the DE book is new, I'm gonna share my thought on the units.


Haemonculous - Absolutely! Not only does he actually give dark eldar the vital 'resilient troop' that they have needed since 5th ed came out, but he has other flexibility as well. In this particular game, he should have begun joined to one of the trueborn. FNP would have been worth splitting liguifiers.




trueborn - No one should be having any trouble seeing how pro this unit is. The threat of a 12" move, 2" debark and 18" blaster shot, and then having them pick up FNP if that blaster shot hits paydirt. At 1500 I insist that 3x3 would be a starting off point.



wracks - It wasn't mentioned in the batrep, but I laid out a flamer flush over 4 wracks when I did my big turn 5 push. The reason it wasn't mentioned is that it only wounded 2 wracks, and only one failed FNP. Consider this unit to be the "missing link" to tournament success with dark eldar. Giving them access to an excellent flamer solidifies their 'best troop' status IMO.



raider - well, the venom is better, unless you are short anti-tank. You can't count on a mere three ravagers, especially in larger points size games. They don't suck, and you'll end up with a few of these just to shore up anti-tank.



venom - Astute readers might notice that at no point in the short game did I ever deploy a single infantry model, Through some twisted warped probability I lost a game without a single chimera being wrecked. I didn't need to see them in action for me to know that dark eldar need some consistent LONG RANGE anti-infantry firepower. Venoms deliver. As soon as I was comfortable with my anti-tank, I'd take venoms and nothing else.



reavers - This is how good those reavers were. Manimal has already decided to drop one trueborn from each unit in order to add a second reaver unit. And I wholeheartedly agree with him. Even with them whiffing, and even with Manimal being way below odds on the two rounds of cover saves they took, I was truly intimidated by them. They had no opprotunities to use their slave snares n account of me never having an infantry unit in play, yet just as a dirt cheap and insanely speedy meltagun, they are worth it.



ravagers - Well, they didn't get more expensive, they GAINED 12" move and fire all weapons, and gained access to a flickerfield. Res Ipsa Loquitur.



Just because I am raving about all of the units Manimal fielded doesn't mean there isn't plenty of fail in the book. That's ok as far as I'm concerned, their seems to be ample units with which to have a fun and competitive game against. I certainly didn't have any complaints about the fun I was having as their opponent.

This batrep while also posted over at dakkadakka.com

I was anxious to playtest my most recent ork list creation that was featured here. The list was inspired by a list Stelek had created over at Yes the Truth Hurts. I was interested in the list variant so I thought I'd give my version a try against some quality competition. Shep was happy to oblige with his version of Blood Angels:

Shep's Blood Angels - 2000

HQ


librarian with strength 10 power
command squad with 4x plasma guns in assault cannon razorback

Elite

sanguinary priest with hand flamer x2

Troops

5x assault marines flamer power weapon hand flamer in assault cannon razorback
5x assault marines flamer power weapon hand flamer in twin las razorback
5x assault marines flamer power weapon hand flamer in twin las razorback
5x assault marines flamer power weapon hand flamer in twin las razorback

Fast

baal predator with heavy bolter sponsons
baal predator with heavy bolter sponsons
baal predator with heavy bolter sponsons

Heavy

whirlwind
predator annihilator with lascannon sponsons
predator annihilator with lascannon sponsons


We play a pitched battle with 4 objectives to get. Shep wins the roll and chooses to deploy and go first.

Deployment:


Shep lines up most of his army on one side with the whirlwind tucked in the corner and then puts all his baal predators together on another. I place one loota unit in a ruin and the other two on the ground in the center of my deployment for maximum reach. The nobz are in front of everything and then 3 wagons and the buggies behind.

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

I fail to seize the initiative. Shep goes first.

Turn 1:

BA

Baal Preds unload into my far right loota squad killing 4 of them. Whirlwind shoots indirectly at the bunched up units of 10 lootas but they make ALL of their cover saves. Baal preds and razorbacks shoot into nob bikers and put a few wounds on the unit. Razorback fire wrecks a buggy.


Orks

Entire army moves forward aside from the lootas and the dred. Nob bikers go max speed with a turbo boost. Wagons move forward 13" and remain clustered together for the KFF save. Buggies move forward 12" and fire into the predators shaking one and wrecking another. Lootas fire at razorbacks and stun one and wreck another. The lone Loota wrecks the command squad razorback.

From 40k_824

Turn 2:

BA

Whirlwind fire nukes the remaining lootas and almost wipes them out. Both units then fail LD tests and run off the table. Baal predators unload into the nob bikers and put single wounds on the majority of them but kill none. The Warboss eats two wounds from plasma and lascannon fire. The librarian detaches from the command squad and then charges the nob biker unit in a suicide attempt to destroy the Warboss and rubberband the unit away from the razorbacks. The Warboss dies in the assault, the nobs that attack back fail to kill him.

Orks

Grots arrive and move into the ruins aiming for the objective. Wagons finally get into range to do some damage: One deffrolla's a razorback and wrecks it. Marines spill out. The remaining two surge onto forward objectives. Buggies shoot at the whirlwind and destroy the weapon. Another buggy unit blows up a razorback and then another wrecks a predator. The deff dred shoots into the command squad unit on foot and kills one marine. In the assault phase the nobs finish off the librarian and then consolidate towards the marines hiding behind the wrecked razorback.

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

Turn 3:

BA

Razorback moves forward onto a middle objective and the baal preds split up, several move towards the middle objective threatening the nobs. Another moves towards the grots eyeing the rear objective. Shots are dumped into the nobs again: Plasma from the command squad, lascannons, and baal pred shots. The nobs take several more casualties. They fail their LD test but the bosspole saves them. A predator explodes a wagon and the grots fall out and sit on an objective. A baal pred shoots at grots nearby the objective but they go to ground and only take one casualty.

Orks:

Buggies continue to wreck vehicles: They weapon destroy a predator and stun and immobilize another razorback. Another wagon deffrollas a razorback full of marines and wrecks it. The deff dred moves to protect the nearby grots and threaten a razorback close by. The nobs assault the marines that have fallen out of the razorback and wipe them out. They consolidate towards the center of the table.

From 40k_824

Turn 4:


BA

The marines take a swing at the wagon with melta bombs that just deffrolla'd them and immobilize it. Baal preds wreck the deff dred but ignore the nearby grots that have gone to ground. The other preds fire into the nobs and thin the unit significantly, only 5 remain.

Orks

Buggies move onto an objective to block with the grots and finish off the whirlwind. The hobbled nob biker unit moves towards the razorback sitting on an objective and a nearby baal predator and assults both of them but only manages to immobilize the predator.

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

Turn 5:


BA

The last 2 Baal preds and the lone uncrippled razorback finish off the nob bikers. The marines finally successfully assault the wagon standing in their way and blow it up. The grots fall out and stand on the objective. The predator tank shocks them and kills a couple but they hold their line. Plasma spam destroys a buggy unit.

Orks

The Buggies take pot shots at the marine unit sitting next to the objective and kill a couple of them. The last remaining wagon drops it's grot payload into the forest to score the objective and then deffrollas the last predator and wrecks it. The other grots run towards the objective where the baal preds are sitting.

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

Turn 6:

BA

The baal preds turn their attention to the grots camping their objective and fire as best they can but the grots are in cover and go to ground once again and can't be moved. On the opposite side the marines can't deal with all the grots on the objective but do manage to contest the objective. The lone operational razorback sits on an objective scoring it.

Orks

Buggies are able to contest but not scare anyone. Grots do the same for two of the objectives and manage to score another.

The game ends.

Orks tie Blood Angels 1 Objective to 1 Objective.

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

From 40k_824

Analysis:

I don't have a whole lot of experience playing against Blood Angels. But they seem pretty straightforward to play against. Basically marines that move quickly. My list performed like I thought it would and it was interesting to see exactly how much firepower the Nobz were able to soak up. It took Shep a full 5 turns to finally get rid of them and at that point I still had 2 wagons crashing into his vehicles that were largely ignored by most of his anti tank fire for the majority of the game.

The grots are a bit tricky since they are so terrible and do nothing aside from assist with objective taking. That said they are difficult to get rid of when they decide to go to ground and putting them in an AV14 vehicle certainly helps their survivability.

I think this list has a lot of promise. I may make some changes to make my troops a bit less flimsy. Running a minimum nob squad in a wagon is an idea I don't hate and therefore unlocking another heavy slot. The dred was a nice deterrent but ultimately unexciting but I'm not sure what to replace it with. Perhaps a squadron of shooty kanz or maybe I keep the dred but give it skorcha's instead.

This was a really fun game overall and I enjoyed playing the list. Primarily because new looks at old codices always interest me. The quest for the perfect ork list continues.

Shep and I got a 2000 point game in recently as testing for an upcoming GT I may be attending in early September.

This was Shep's golden ticket earning list from the Conquest GT last month.

Imperial Guard Glass Cannon (2000)

HQ

Company Command Squad (Melta x4) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Company Command Squad (Melta x4) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Troop

Veteran Squad x 10 (Plasma x 3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran Squad x 10 (Plasma x 3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran Squad x 10 (Plasma x 3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran Squad x 10 (Plasma x 3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Heavy Support

Manticore (Heavy Flamer)
Manticore (Heavy Flamer)
Manticore (Heavy Flamer)

Fast Attack

Vendetta (Twin Linked Lascannon)
Vendetta (Twin Linked Lascannon)
Vendetta (Twin Linked Lascannon)

Elite

Psyker Battle Squad x 8 w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Pretty impressive glass cannon offering here: Tons of front loaded firepower designed to shock and awe early along with plenty of mobility to grab objective late.

The Ork list I countered with I outlined in this article here: A pretty standard Battlewagon rush list but with a significant amount of fire support.

Mission Type:

Spearhead / Capture Control

We place our objectives in the opposite corners. Shep wins the roll and opts to go first. This single roll already lowers my odds considerably. IG is very difficult to beat, often insurmountable when going second.

Shep deploys like so with his scout move:

From 40k_Batrep

I consider a number of options here and end up just deploying my fire support. I leave all my troops, wagons, HQ's and fast attack in reserve.

From 40k_Batrep

I'm forced to cram most of my army into the forest to get area terrain cover. Without it the Manticores are free to rain fiery death onto my fire support indirectly and I'll get no cover at all.

I attempt to seize initiative as doing so would be a significant benefit. With over 20 lootas and 3 twin linked kannonz I could knock down his shooting significantly or at least stun his fire buying me time for the reserves to show up.

I fail to seize.

Turn 1 - IG

Shep unloads on my lootas and kannonz. Multiple Manticore blasts rip into my infantry blowing the majority to bits. Here is a picture of the aftermath.

From 40k_Batrep

He wiped the 14 man Loota unit with several barrages and then a weaken resolve from his Psyker Battle Squad. The Kannonz were also wiped out with his first round of shooting. I did manage to keep a couple of small loota units alive although one was pinned with a failed leadership test.

Turn 1 - Orks

I am able to retaliate with a single 4 infantry loota unit. I wreck a vendetta.

Turn 2 - IG

Shep moves towards my objective with a troop chimera and prepares for my reserves with the rest of his army. He manages to run off an additional loota unit and the rest of my kannon crew. He doesn't roll too well with this blasts though so I still have a surviving loota unit of 3 remaining.

From 40k_Batrep

Turn 2 - Orks

Ork Reserves:

Wagon with 19 Boyz + KFF
Wagon with 3 Nobz + Ghazghkull Thraka
6 Warbuggies

I get very lucky with my reserve rolls. That is crucial to my split deployment strategy.

I move on with my wagons full speed and position my buggies for rockitt shots on his vehicles. I keep everything within KFF range so when he shoots back I'll benefit from cover saves. Ghazghkull debarks from his wagon and positions himself for a charge.

I am able to wreck a CCS chimera with rockitt fire and stun a second one. My 3 lootas stun one of his vendettas sparing my wagons from some LC fire for one more turn. Ghazghkull assaults and blows up the stunned vehicle along with a number of the CCS inside.

From 40k_Batrep

From 40k_Batrep

From 40k_Batrep

Turn 3 - IG

Shep retaliates with his lone functional Vendetta, some melta guns from the debarked CCS and more manticore spam. He shells my wagons and wrecks one and explodes another. The nobz and boyz are now exposed with the KFF. He also stuns a buggy and weapon destroys another. He attempts to weaken resolve the vulnerable boyz that fell out of the wagon but I pop Ghazghkull's WAAGH ability making my entire army fearless for the turn. This also confers him with a 2+ invulnerable save against the CCS melta fire. He survives an entire round of shooting and only takes 1 wound.

From 40k_Batrep

Turn 3 - Orks

Ork Reserves:

30 Boyz
10 Gretchin

I crash my infantry reserves on top of my objective in the far corner figuring if he's going to take that objective I'm going to make him earn it. He's split his vendettas over near that side and a single Chimera. His forward objective taking offense isn't quite as imposing as his current fire support.

From 40k_Batrep

From 40k_Batrep

On the other side I move the Nobz and battered boy unit into position to assault and aim to take additional shots with my buggies. I wreck another two chimeras and expose guardsmen and his psyker battle squad. I explode a leading manticore with a Ghazgkhull assault. Still under Ghazghkull's WAAAGH! I then run and charge all exposed infantry with my nobz and boyz and finish them off.

From 40k_Batrep

Turn 4 - IG

Shep now takes advantage of garbage time on his side of the table. My infantry are exposed and my WAAGH! now resolved. Ghazghkull reverts from a 2+ invulnerable save to a 5+ and succumbs to plasma spam. The remaining ork infantry are almost wiped out near his objective and really only buggies remain. He attempts to engage my foot orks near my objective but can't make any inroads to the marker.

Turn 4 - Orks

Ork Reserves:

Battlewagon with 19 Boyz.

I move the wagon onto the table in the middle aiming towards the chimera near my own objective. The remaining boyz shoot big shoota fire into his side armor and fail. The last of the lootas immobilizes the vehicle however and I'm able to finish it off with a massive boyz charge. On the other side of the table my buggies pepper rockitt shots into his chimeras and happen to stun one and then wreck his now missile-less manticores.

From 40k_Batrep

Turn 5 - IG

Shep wipes almost all of the remaining buggies with plasma shots and his functional vendettas and secures his objective with a troop. He doesn't have any additional firepower to deal with the massive horde of Orks on mine however.

From 40k_Batrep

Turn 5 - Orks

With the chimera nearby my objective now immobile and functionally a paper weight I consolidate onto my objective with 3 troops. The last battlewagon in from reserve is a non-factor and serves as insurance to any further turns. The game ends.

From 40k_Batrep

Orks tie Imperial Guard, 1 objective to 1.

I somehow manage to turn a severe beating in the early game into a tie. I think my reserve rolls on turn 2 were a bit over the top but still, those threats were enough to win and my army was resilient on defense enough to completely overwhelm his attack on my objective. Over 100 infantry tend to be able to do that.

I still don't like this matchup, but it's nice to see that I can still pull off a draw even if I don't go first. I'm not sure if the reserve strategy is always appropriate but here I basically nerfed his Vendetta's in the early game as they didn't have any viable targets to shoot at, and I made him use his manticore missiles on infantry instead of vehicles. My wagons still didn't last very long but he just had too many orks to kill to focus on offense once the reserves started showing up.

All in all a decent game and against the heat I was facing I'm pleased with my list.

KevinNash and I got to couple of quick games of 40k in last weekend. We both have been playing the same armies for quite a while, KevinNash with his Orks, and I with my Imperial Guard "Renegades" or Chaos Space Marines. We both have been slowly building some Space Marines and wanted to start testing out our potential lists. While mirror matches are often not very exciting, yet Space Marines are so popular it is something that is bound to occur on a somewhat regular basis.

KevinNash was playing the list posted here.

I brought the following, extremely similar list.

The Lists

Ultramarines (1500)

HQ

Librarian (Null Zone, Avenger)

Elite

Terminator Assault Squad (THSS x5) w Land Raider Crusader (Extra Armor, Multi Melta)

Troops

Tactical Squad x10 (Flamer, Missile Launcher) w Rhino
Tactical Squad x10 (Flamer, Missile Launcher) w Rhino
5x Scouts (4x Snipers, 1x Missile Launcher, Camo Cloaks)

Fast Attack

Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)
Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)

Heavy Support

Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)
Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)

So one can tell we have extremely similar lists.

We roll mission and deployment;

The Mission

Seize Ground - Pitched Battle

We roll for "initiative" and I win and choose to go first. This was a rare choice for me, since I usually like the ability to make a mad dash for objectives on the bottom of the turn on seize ground and capture and control, but I felt the ability to lay down some decent fire before KevinNash would gain me the advantage in this match up.

Deployment

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

I also got to place the first objective, before we rolled for who chose and place sides. I put one in the forest on the bottom left. KevinNash place one in the forest on the top right. Finally, I placed one in the "ancient" ruins, in the lower center.

I line up on the left side, putting the scouts and one combat squad of marines with missile launcher in the forest with the objective. Everything else has a fair spread, with intent of keeping my fire lanes open for the predators and the speeders.

KevinNash lines up across from me. Placing a combat squad with a missile launcher in the forest on his side with the objective. The other squads are stacked behind the predators, inside their Razorbacks.

Quick note of the models we used: As we are both slowly growing these lists and don't want to over buy, we are doing some counts as here in the pictures. For me, I am using Chaos Rhinos and Chaos Predators as my Rhinos and Predators, the weapons build out matches for the most part, so easy to recognize. I am also using a Space Marine Captain as a Librarian, since my Librarian is currently out getting painted by Hulksmash. The twin-linked bolters on the Rhinos count as storm bolters in this game. KevinNash decided to use his immolators, from his Withchunter army, to count as his Razorbacks, where the weapons count as Lascannon/TL Plasma Guns. Nothing major, but just something to keep in mind when looking at the pictures.

KevinNash tries to seize but fails. I go first.

Top of Turn 1

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

Note pictures represent state of field after both of our turns. This pattern follows for all turns.


LRC moves up 6", Speeders do some minor repositioning, Rhinos move up slightly, trying to not be too aggressive so they can avoid the charge from the enemy terminators.

After a lot of shooting, I only manage to destroy the autocannon on one of the predators and shake one of the razorbacks.

Bottom of Turn 1

KevinNash just repositions his Razorbacks and Predators slightly. He stands fast with his LRC, keeping cover for his Speeders.

KevinNash unloads and immobilizes one of my speeders, destroys all weapons from the other speeder, stuns one of the rhinos, and destroys one of lascannons on a predator.

Top of Turn 2

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

LRC moves up towards Predators and Terminators disembark, lining up for a multi-assault vs a Predator and a Razorback. The mobile, but weapon destroyed, Speeder moves onto the objective, mostly moving towards far objective to try to contest, but for now just blocking. Other Rhino moves up towards other object and also tries to block movement of enemy LRC, slightly.

Shooting immobilizes one of Nash's Speeders, Destroys a Razorback, and Destroys a Lascannon on a Razorback.

The Terminator assault wrecks a Predator and destroys the weapons on the Razorback and stuns it.

Bottom of Turn 2

Nash moves up his LRC and starts moving towards the center objective with the tactical marines that were in the destroyed razorback.

Nash's shooting face is lackluster, but manages to kill 4 Tac Marines in the Forest, leaving only the Missile Launcher, who makes his morale save. He also destroys the stormbolter on the rhino and immobilizes it.

Top of Turn 3

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

LRC presses into the Razorback line, making a risky move rolling over the wrecked predator, but makes it. The mobile speeder goes flat out towards the far enemy objective. My mobile rhino, moves up to support the other immobilized rhino and scouts.

Shooting proves fruitful as a lucky shot from the Predator Lascannons immobilize the enemy LRC. My immobile speeder gets a shot off at an enemy speeder and immobilizes it. More missiles destroy the weapon off another razorback.

The Terminators assault the Razorback again and destroy it, killing 2 of the marines inside.

Bottom of Turn 3

Nash's terminators disembark and move in to head towards contesting my objective. The other tac units move more towards the middle objective.

Nash's missile launcher on foot immobilizes the other speeder. Lots of other firing, but no results of significance. Bad rolls for Nash and good rolls for me.

The terminators are barely too far away to assault my scouts, so he is forced to assault the mobile rhino. He destroys it and the combat squad inside gives them dirty looks.

Top of Turn 4

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

So I have my terminators heading towards Nash's far objective. I turn and move my LRC into the ancient ruins to contest. Another dangerous roll, but I make it.

I see Nash's terminators about ready to contest my objective, so I go for broke. If I can kill enough terminators I can win. Fate is with me and with everything I have I kill 4 terminators. I think its OK, since he only has the librarian and a single TH/SS terminator that I can kill in Turn 5, after he hurts me a little with them. However, Nash rolls Boxcars on morale and they high tail it. The other Rhino is within 6" and no regroup.

Bottom of Turn 4

Nash is about ready to concede, since it is looking bleak, but he presses on for the sake of the battle report. He moves his far missile squad to avoid the charge from the Terminators next turn. He does some minor movement, but knows he cant crack open the LRC with his troops and all his big guns, except the multi-melta on the LRC is dead.

Nash shoots the LRC MM at my LRC and does nothing. He shoots what he can at my troops on my objective to hopefully force some sort of run, kills a few, but not enough.

Top of Turn 5

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

From Batrep 6_12_2010 SM v SM

I move my terminators to contest the far objective. I do some minor shooting and repositioning to secure the win.

I shoot a little more and thin out his troops.

Bottom of Turn 5

Nash knows he's done unless the game goes long, but even then its uphill. He plays what he can though and makes sure he can score the middle if he manages to kill the LRC. He shoots more at my troops but there are just too many, 3 units nearby and he is unable to contest.

We roll for game end, 2, and it ends.

AbsoluteBlue wins 1-0.

This game was a learning experience for both KevinNash and I. While we have both played against Space Marines several times, we have rarely played with them. We both made some mistakes, but we both had a lot of fun.