While I have finished writing up the Northern Invasion 4 batreps and reviews, I still have a couple of friendly battle reports to write up, two games I played withthe Eagle Knights after I had finished my tournament games. At the present rate these will probably not appear till after the new year now, as there are a few other posts that have planned and GW keep throwing their spanners in The works! I will be posting up a review of the new BA formations, or rather my view on the ones that will be ofany use to me and also a modified Eagle Knights list, taking in to account the new formations. In addition my club had an open day a last weekend, so a post will be fling up about that. But right now I'm gonna talk about the run of GW releases, especially this;
Now, I know a few people have been a bit down about what this may hold, but I'm really excited! Were looking at Sisters, of both the battle and silent variety, plus inquisition and assassins. This is just great, many of the things I want to field all together in one place! Now, it does mean that I might have to have a rethink. The latest rumours that I have read are suggesting that alongside the Sisters of Battle, there will be Assassins, Inquisition, Grey Knights and Deathwatch. Now, I'm not sure on this, as Deathwatch have just had a codex and Grey Knights have their own, full codex already. So, unless this just contains a few pre-set formation, I cant see how it will contain them. Either way it gives me some problems. GW are really on a roll at the moment in terms of releases, with this book and also the Traitor Legions book, along side the new Thousand Sons stuff, plus bringing back lots of OOP models through Made to Order. Then there is Blood Bowl! This may see me buying some models for that as well, luckily you don't need many!
With all these different releases and the speed at which they are being released is really good but is causing me no end of headaches in terms of my model collection! With every new Imperial release, I have to completely re-evaluate my armies, and with the latest release I will have to have a major rethink!
I love SoB's and have wanted some in my collection for a while, with the release of plastic sisters, I will be getting some, but I cant just keep adding to my collection of grey plastic. With the release of the Angels Blade and the new BA Demi-Company, the Eagle Knights will be getting a reshuffle, as I'll talk about in a future post, and the Dark Guardians are still on hold and probably will be for some time. I really want to start a Deathwatch force to go with my Inquisition, as I like all the rules and the kill team setup and it fits in with my fluff. However, with a Sisters army and a Deathwatch force, it mean somethings got to give. Unfortunately first on the chopping board are the Emperors Disciples. As a vanilla marine army they are probably my least favourite army and lack some of the character of the Knights and Disciples. Also up for the chop are all the extra Guard models I have lying around. I think that selling the models is the best way to go, as it will release funds and also clear space. It will be sad to see them go, but there not needed here and I've only got limited space to store things. Some stuff wont be sold, some of the Disciples marines will be redeployed to the Knights, to fill out the Demi-Company, and some of the Guard will be seconded to the Inquisition, for the possible formation of a second retinue should it be necessary to split the Inquisitors.
So in the end I should end up with my Hjaltland LI, Hrossey MV, Dagr Ormr MT, Eagle Knight, Dark Guardians, Inquisition, SoB and Deathwatch. Its gonna take a while and probably going to change again!
Friday, 25 November 2016
Friday, 18 November 2016
NI4 Game review
Well, after completing 4 games during northern invasion 4, three of which counted and a fourth which didn't, I came away with a nice little trophy. All of my games were great fun and my opponents friendly and good sports. So after all these games, what did I learn?
To be honest and without trying to sound big headed, not a lot. There were some lessons learnt, as there is every time I play a new player or army, or even a different form of an know army. I will go in to these in a second, button the whole I didn't learn much for one simple reason, my army list hasn't changed much in several years. There have been a few additions and subtractions over that time, but the core units have remained the same and I've tried all sorts of different tactics and play styles in that time, so now I know my army and their rules inside and out. Its this knowledge that served me well and why I didn't learn anything ground breaking during the weekend.
So, what did I notice?
Some people still haven't grasped the concept of playing the objectives. I don't mean this as in they completely ignore the objectives, but more in terms that they try and hold objectives from turn 2. Sitting in the open from turn 2 is not a good idea for any unit really, you only need the objective on turn 5. Stay away and stay hidden, move only when you need to, something I learnt the hard way along time ago.
Psykers are still a pain, either to remember to actually use, for those who don't use them much, and to keep track off, for those that do. Buying the psychic power cards was one of the best things I did. I use them in every game, granted only the Divination ones, and place them on top of any unit which has had powers used on them. This can be an issue with prescience, as I run two Psykers but only have one card! A few times, those FNP rolls were forgotton or the extra invun save, sometimes it would have made no difference, sometimes it might. Keeping track of your powers and also knowing exactly what they do has always seemed to be an issue. I always run the same set of powers, divination, so I've have become quite use to their powers and how to play the them.
The AM/IG Orders seem to confuse a few people. I've had some try and dispel them, some argue that I can't use them as the psychic phase was over, even people tell me I can use an order as I used it last turn. I guess that its just something different that not many people use. There is not really anything similar in other armies, so I can understand the confusion. One thing I have to remember is not to waste orders, like issuing ignores cover on a marine squad who are going to be using a 3+ armour save and not a 5+ cover save! It doesn't happen very often but I do it occasionally. Also, sometimes there are no orders worth issuing, so its pointless issuing order for that sake of it, not only does it waste time but it does kinda look silly as well.
One other, related point is know your rules. Whilst I know the majority of my rules, there are some I will have forgotten, and with all the rules in the game its not surprising. However, some people seem not to know many of theirs, they know they have the rule but not what it means or even where to find them. I've got rules wrong in the past (see below!) but I know 90% of my rules and a good portion of the main rules. Some people seem to need to recheck their rules every turn, I don't know if this is lack of confidence or knowledge but it is time consuming.
As for getting rules wrong, I've been playing Overwatch wrong! I've never taken/allowed cover saves from Overwatch. At the tournament I've learnt that you can take saves. I have always played it as the enemy has charged up and as such aren't in cover, so no cover saves but if I had thought about it, I would have realised I was playing it wrong, as you do Overwatch before movement, with the models in their original place and so would take account of cover etc. So not only can this cause you to fail a charge by loosing men but in theory can mean you couldn't charge, as you can't charge what you can't see. Something to remember, probably most useful for the D.Angles.
When I read though this post it makes me sound like a grumpy old man! Believe it or not, its not supposed to be a dig at other players, which even i have to admit it sounds a lot like it! They were the few thoughts that occurred to me over the course of the tournament, and I though I would put it down on paper, so to speak.
The next tournament up this way is the club Xmas tournament, which I shall unfortunately miss as I will south with family. This will be the third Xmas tournament I will have missed, which is slightly annoying as there good fun by all accounts, generally including all sorts of silliness. Hopefully ill join in one year!
Ill leave this here, as when I was sorting out for outer open day (posts to follow at some point!) I came across my score card for Northern Invasion 4.
modified to 13, 12, 18 (missed a kill point on the last game) total 43
To be honest and without trying to sound big headed, not a lot. There were some lessons learnt, as there is every time I play a new player or army, or even a different form of an know army. I will go in to these in a second, button the whole I didn't learn much for one simple reason, my army list hasn't changed much in several years. There have been a few additions and subtractions over that time, but the core units have remained the same and I've tried all sorts of different tactics and play styles in that time, so now I know my army and their rules inside and out. Its this knowledge that served me well and why I didn't learn anything ground breaking during the weekend.
So, what did I notice?
Some people still haven't grasped the concept of playing the objectives. I don't mean this as in they completely ignore the objectives, but more in terms that they try and hold objectives from turn 2. Sitting in the open from turn 2 is not a good idea for any unit really, you only need the objective on turn 5. Stay away and stay hidden, move only when you need to, something I learnt the hard way along time ago.
Psykers are still a pain, either to remember to actually use, for those who don't use them much, and to keep track off, for those that do. Buying the psychic power cards was one of the best things I did. I use them in every game, granted only the Divination ones, and place them on top of any unit which has had powers used on them. This can be an issue with prescience, as I run two Psykers but only have one card! A few times, those FNP rolls were forgotton or the extra invun save, sometimes it would have made no difference, sometimes it might. Keeping track of your powers and also knowing exactly what they do has always seemed to be an issue. I always run the same set of powers, divination, so I've have become quite use to their powers and how to play the them.
The AM/IG Orders seem to confuse a few people. I've had some try and dispel them, some argue that I can't use them as the psychic phase was over, even people tell me I can use an order as I used it last turn. I guess that its just something different that not many people use. There is not really anything similar in other armies, so I can understand the confusion. One thing I have to remember is not to waste orders, like issuing ignores cover on a marine squad who are going to be using a 3+ armour save and not a 5+ cover save! It doesn't happen very often but I do it occasionally. Also, sometimes there are no orders worth issuing, so its pointless issuing order for that sake of it, not only does it waste time but it does kinda look silly as well.
One other, related point is know your rules. Whilst I know the majority of my rules, there are some I will have forgotten, and with all the rules in the game its not surprising. However, some people seem not to know many of theirs, they know they have the rule but not what it means or even where to find them. I've got rules wrong in the past (see below!) but I know 90% of my rules and a good portion of the main rules. Some people seem to need to recheck their rules every turn, I don't know if this is lack of confidence or knowledge but it is time consuming.
As for getting rules wrong, I've been playing Overwatch wrong! I've never taken/allowed cover saves from Overwatch. At the tournament I've learnt that you can take saves. I have always played it as the enemy has charged up and as such aren't in cover, so no cover saves but if I had thought about it, I would have realised I was playing it wrong, as you do Overwatch before movement, with the models in their original place and so would take account of cover etc. So not only can this cause you to fail a charge by loosing men but in theory can mean you couldn't charge, as you can't charge what you can't see. Something to remember, probably most useful for the D.Angles.
When I read though this post it makes me sound like a grumpy old man! Believe it or not, its not supposed to be a dig at other players, which even i have to admit it sounds a lot like it! They were the few thoughts that occurred to me over the course of the tournament, and I though I would put it down on paper, so to speak.
The next tournament up this way is the club Xmas tournament, which I shall unfortunately miss as I will south with family. This will be the third Xmas tournament I will have missed, which is slightly annoying as there good fun by all accounts, generally including all sorts of silliness. Hopefully ill join in one year!
Ill leave this here, as when I was sorting out for outer open day (posts to follow at some point!) I came across my score card for Northern Invasion 4.
modified to 13, 12, 18 (missed a kill point on the last game) total 43
Friday, 11 November 2016
NI4 Game 4
So, I ended up playing a fourth game, but the score would not count towards my total. This was due to the odd number of participants and the issues that occurred at the start of the tournament (I won't go in to them again, I've moaned enough about them!). I'm not sure if this was the best way to make up the games, as I was playing sabotage rather than for points. The game however was really enjoyable.
So, I was wondering how to play this game. Aggressive or defensive? I deployed first and went for a usual set-up, however I decided to push the wyverns up in to one of the ruins for some cover, try and keep them away from the big scary beasts. I had nothing but the flyers and their squads in reserve.
The forces of the imperium.
My opposition flooded his side of the table with models. 2 large broods of Gargoyles and to large groups of Gaunts on opposite sides of the table, 4 flyers, 2 flying Hive Tyrants and 2 Crones started on the table. Rounding everything off were a couple of Tyranid Warrior broods. Oh, and a couple of Zoanthropes and some spore mine things in reserve.
A very scary nids deployment.
If you can't be seen, to can't be hit. Hiding in the ruins
I knew that his flyers were going to be on me in no time at all, but I didn't really have anything for dealing with them apart from the autocannons and they didn't have line of sight. So my main target was either one of the Gaunts or the Gargoyles. I went for the Gargoyles as I thought that they were the greater threat, mainly due to their speed. I fired the Wyverns at the squad and with all the re-rolls managed to eliminate a whole unit, earning first blood in the process. Only 26 points left available! I took a couple of pot shots at some Warriors, but did little.
First blood!
My opponent replied in brutal fashion, with his flyers moving right up and taking on my Wyverns ! After a lot of shooting, including two template haywire shots! But my Wyverns went pop, not a good start. In the rest of the shooting, a number of guardsmen got hit, but the majority of the fire-power went on the Wyverns. Everything else ran to get in range.
Oh crap!
Wyverns about to die.
The hoard approaches, Crone to the front, Gaunts in the centre and Warriors to the rear!
With the flyers right on my doorstep and both my Wyverns down and out, things were looking pretty dire. The only bit of luck was managing to ground one of the crones, which was then dispatched with massed lass fire!
Now you see it (bottom left)
Now you don't! 1 down 3 to go!
The rest of the units did little. The centre held the line but the PCS ran for the ruins at the top of the table. The newly arrived Valkyrie targeted one unit of Gaunts, killing a number, but not wiping them out.
My opposition continued his advance. Pretty much everything but the flyers and the Warriors ran forward. The flyers went to work on the troops, removing a number of the guardsmen, as did the Warriors, even though they only had one shot, a blast, in range.
Moving in for the kill.
End of turn 2. A lack of guardsmen in the centre
Its hard to see, but if you look through the window on the left, you can just see a Gaunts head peaking around the corner of the building in the middle of the table. (Trust me its there!)
For the first time in all the battles, my Promethium Relay Pipe come in to there own. The unit of Gaunts moving towards the centre objective get the full force of thee torrent flamers and a bunch of lasguns, killing all but one Gaunt! On the left side, the flamers and lasgun fire take the other Gaunts down to half strength. I also take a chance this turn, and decide to Grav-Chute insert my vet squad, something I generally don't like doing, and for good reason, when 2 of my squad manage to splat themselves all over a building. The rest run in to the cover of said building, with the intention of going for both line breaker and his objective.
One gaunt, holding the objective.
My opponent continued attacking with the flyers. One moved in to glide to keep firing at the guardsmen, the other swung around going for new targets. The left Gaunts recover and move up, but not in to the building, keeping out of flamer range. The Warriors start there moves forward as well. By this point, I'm starting to run out of units, but I've not given up many points at this point.
The onslaught continues!
End of turn 3, and the grunts on both sides have been feeling the pain!
Turn 4
As there is little I can really do to all the flying beasts, I decide to move. My left squad moves towards the objective, removing some more Gaunts in the process, with the flamers hanging back to keep the torrent rule. On the right hand side, the PCS move up and issue an order to themselves, to fire and move, flaming the Gargoyles on that side. As a result of 4 flamers, the squad is removed, clearing the way for the PCS to take the objective. In another point saving move, the two psykers break form the centre squads and move off with the left squad, running away from the flyers in the centre. The Vendetta went in to hover and dropped of the plasma command squad, with a lot more accuracy than the last drop! I did put the Vendetta in a dangerous position. The squad didn't fire though as they charged in to the two units, the last Gaunt and the Zoanthrope, both of which were on the objective.
Advance!
The table at the top of turn 4.
Moving for the objective.
Combat.
My opposition continued his relentless assault on my squads, killing off the command squad and killing my warlord and more importantly earning himself a number of points. Unfortunately, my gamble didn't pay off and my vendetta was brought down. The combat in the centre continued with nothing happening, which was not good for my part, as I wanted to break out to be able to fire in my turn.
End of turn 4
Turn 5
By the beginning of turn 5 it was pretty clear that I had managed to complete my objective of reducing the points my opposition was getting. I had sacrificed a few units, but that had been necessary.
For my turn I just moved to secure the objective, the PCS on the right, the Blob on the left and the vets ran for my oppositions objective, while the remnants of the centre blob held mine. The centre objective was still contested at this point, but I managed to destroy the Zoanthrope during the assault phase.
My opposition did his bit and went for kill points, taking down the now hovering Valkyrie and also opening up on the plasma command squad in the centre with his Warriors, as a result the command squad was down to the commander on 1 wound. The flyers also eliminated the last of the centre blob squad, which was taken with one of the swooping flyers. There was not much else that happened as it was clear that my opposition was not able to gain the number of points needed to win the tournament.
End game, apart from the squad at the bottom is dead.
At the end of the game, the score were, 10 to me, First Blood, Line breaker, 4 for objectives and 4 kill points, and my opposition had 12, Line breaker, Slay the Warlord, 7 kill points and 3 objectives. While this was a loss, my only one of the tournament, it was in fact a successful game, I gave away only 12 points, short of the 21 my opposition needed to win. In many respects, this game wound have ended differently had we both been playing for points. At the start of the game I was on 25 and my opponent was on 23. This would have put us on 35 a piece, and drawing. What would have happen, I don't know, but it would have gone on to tertiary points (Warlord, first blood and line breaker) and i might have still been able to win. However, if we had of been playing for points, i might have played differently, keeping both flyers in zooming and gone for the last of the Gaunts for more points. We also made a few mistakes at the end, with the plasma command squad commander surviving a strength 6 hit which should have killed him outright, giving a kill point and also enabling him to take the centre objective. This would have put his score to 15 and potentially winning the tournament. Its all academic though, as my points were already decided.
End game - loss - 10 (FB, LB, 4obj, 4 kp) - 12 (LB, StW, 7kp, 3obj)
Tuesday, 8 November 2016
NI4 game 3
Game 3, and my final tournament game. There was some discussion about who was going to play who, as the general consensus was that top two should play, then next two and so on, Al la the Swiss system. However, that meant that my would be opponent was still playing (a long running 5 hour epic of a match!). There was the added complexity that some people were playing in the AoS tournament the next day, so it was not really possible to role the games over until tomorrow. This lead me to play a different player, a fellow from my own club, who id played my one and only practice match against! Although this time he was playing a slightly different list.
I deployed first and yes, I deployed in standard fashion. Wyverns behind the main blob squad, with pcs on the left flank and command squad in the building. The other blob squad and priest outflanked due to my warlord trait again. I also gained draconian discipline, which want great as most units are fearless due to the priests.
The guard lines, pretty much as usual.
My opponent, having faced my Wyverns in the past, spread out. All his armour, something my Wyverns can't harm, was on his left,my right, facing my Wyverns and his bikes went to the opposite corner. They spread out as far forward as possible ready to advance on my troops. His scouts pushed forward,snipers in the tower in front of the bikes and the other squad hid behind the building on the other side, ready to take the objective in the building.
Marine deployment. Vehicles on his left.....
.....Bikes on his right. Oh and snipers in the tower and scouts just visible behind the far building.
The battle field, wayward marines on the left, loyal guardsmen of the emperor on the right
Now, I can't quite figure out what's happening as I've got it down that I deployed first, but my opponent moved first. I don't remember him stealing the initiative but unless my notes are wrong, which is possible, he must have. Anyway, on to turn 1.
Turn 1
My opponent went full advance with his turn, no shooting apart from the scouts, who did little. The Land raider and rhino went full pelt across the board, driving to within inches of my lines. The bikes also moved up, ready to pounce on the left flank of my lines.
For once, I got some good psychic powers and actually got them off! Most of the games I had poor luck with the dice, failing to get off most of my powers or only generating 3 or 4 dice in total, making it hard to generate powers. This game however, I had misfortune, rending is a great power to have, as the bikes found out to there disadvantage. Being able to place rending on a target unit, rather then a shooting unit is very good and they Wyverns took full advantage, with ignores cover removing the jink save and shred maximizing my wounds, the unit suffered. A full squad including attack bike plus captain were reduced to an attack bike on one wound. The captain tanked a couple on his invun, but with 6 rending hits plus twice as many normal hits, the squad was doomed. A number of scouts also fell to autocannon fire, but the vehicles remained unharmed.
The remnants of the bikers
Raider and rhino up close and personal.
Things took a turn for the worse here. The raider got as close as it could before disembarking its cargo, as did the rhino. This meant I had a squad of 10 marines and a 5 man squad with librarian terminator on my doorstep. The Libby and squad tried to assault the command squad in the tower, but had to go around another unit and didn't quite make it. The other squad, raider and rhino opened up on my blob squad in the middle. There want much left by the end of it!
A big hole where some guardsmen use to be
I was quite happy with my reply. The command squad, pcs and blob all replied, along side the newly arrived Valkyrie. As a result, both squads were down to half strength, although this want quite enough as it turned out. The last of the snipers were dispatched by the Wyverns, I thought it was to much of a risk to try for the marines in front of me.
Smaller holes where some marines use to be.
There were some fun end games this time. To start with the land raider tried to move off of its perch, and managed to get itself stuck! The rhino disappeared off somewhere, still got no idea where it was going. The marines on the other hand carried on forward and were joined by the reminding scouts. As a result of all the fire power and some assaults, the centre squad was destroyed along with the majority of the command squad. Only the pcs survived the onslaught. At some point during this a Wyverns disappeared, not quite sure where or when, but it went somewhere. I suspect it might have fallen to the raiders assault cannon or the whirlwind.
During my turn, the vendetta turned up and did have an impact, destroying the rhino. The Valkyrie engaged the whirlwind, destroying the rockets, not that they had much to fire at any more. The pcs ran for there lives, straight in to the central building to take the objective there and the wyvern decided it was time to leave as well and headed for the left objective. There was little point in hanging around to get destroyed by the raider or the marines. The slap fest between the Libby and his squad and the command squad continued, I say marines and command squad, but by this point we were down to just the Libby and my warlord, not quite sure how the rest of the marines were dead by this point, alongside the command squad, as I would have thought at least 1 marine should have survived. The other marine squad also made quick work of the last of the central blob squad.
Vendetta arrives to support the valkyrie
Guardsmen? What guardsmen?
Slap fest, unfortunately people wearing TDA tend to slap harder than those without.
End of turn 3 and there's a slight lack of models!
Turn 4
By this point in the game my opposition had little remaining on the board. With just one scout squad, a 5 man marine squad, an immobilized land raider and a Libby on 1 wound.oh and I think the whirlwind was still alive at this point, hiding at the back after having lost its missiles some point. I think it might have been the Valkyrie that did the damage. There was little damage done from my opponent at this point. The marines mostly manoeuvred to claim objectives.
In turn, my last squad decided to turn up, thankfully came in on a useful side. With this squad turning up and moving claim an objective, at the same time trying to eliminate the last scout squad. They managed to remove 7 models and force a moral test, which was failed! Although they only ran a couple of inches, not quite enough. My Valkyrie also dropped off the to take the objective in my opponents half, and removed the whirlwind for a added bonus. The vendetta moved to drop off the plasma command squad next turn. The pcs ran hid in the centre building and claimed that objective, while the last Wyverns went full pelt for the other objective, not quite making it this turn but within easy reach next turn.
The major talking point was the slap fest between the Libby and my warlord. in my opponents turn, the Libby fluffed all his attacks and I failed wound, in turn the Libby got just one attack through, but it was all that was required. After 3 battles my warlord had finally fallen. His consolidation put him at bottom of the tower, ready to strike at my blob squad.
Better late than never, the second squad arrives.
The battlefield, not much remains.
The Libby triumphant at last!
Turn 5
At this stage in the game two things were very clear, I was winning and there was nothing my opponent could about it, and I couldn't table my opponent. I could possibly take out all his foot troops but with raider parked in the middle, a tabling was out of the question.
My opponent tried as last gamble to keep the objective on the right, moving his scouts back in the building and pushing the Libby before using smite to remove a large portion of the squad. By the time the shooting was done, the squad down to just over half strength. Things went from bad to worse for the squad in my turn, as decided to try and assault to ensure I removed that squad. I lost a man to overwatch but made the charge, loosing a further couple of guys in assault, being reduced to just 7 guardsmen and a priest. To make matters even worse, my attacks, even with zealot, were a disaster. As a result only 2 scouts died, leaving one to contest the objective!
In other news, the command squad jumped out the now hovering vendetta and attempted to plasma the marines to death, something they managed but not before 2 of them fried themselves with gets hot rolls! This resulted in a failed moral test and running off the board! At least they killed the marines.
Elsewhere on the table, the the pcs went firm on the centre objective and the Wyverns parked up on the left one. The vets consolidated on my opponents objective and the two flyers ganged up and killed the Libby for some payback. Thus the game ended.
The flyers removing the libby.
The last stand
Still standing! All that remains of the marines
At the end of a good game there was little on the table. Both sides had taken heavy losses though out the game. My opponent had very little, a scout and an immobilized raider, I had a Wyvern, vet squad, pcs, 7 guardsmen with priest and the two flyers. While it sounds a lot, only the vets and the vendetta could do anything against the raider, and the vets were over a turn away from being able to do anything. The fact is though that I still had only 24 of 76 guardsmen left, and half my ground vehicles were destroyed. A war of attrition, one the guard are quite good at!
Points wise, my opponent scored slay the warlord and line breaker plus 6 kill points for a total of 8 and I scored first blood, slay the warlord and line breaker, 8 kill points and 7 objective points, for a total of 18. If the plasma command hadn't been such rubbish soldiers and looked after their weapons properly and the others had sharpen their knives properly (there Catachans! Their knives should be razor sharp already!) it could have been even higher. But that's just greedy really, as an 18 to 8 win is pretty good really.
End game
end game - win - 18 (FB, StW, LB, 7 obj, 8 KP) - 8 (LB, StW, 6 KP)
So, at this pointy tournament should have been over and I was sitting on 43 points, a good strong position, with my nearest rival (another club mate) sitting on 23, 21 points behind and game to play. There are at least 16 points on every table, 10 objective, 3 for warlord, first blood and line breaker, plus 3 for the CAD (1 HQ and 2 troops). that meant that 21 points was not unachievable depending upon the opposition. As it turnout i was the only available player, the two other players having already played my next opponent. So with 21 points needed, I was offering 27 points, with 14 kill points on offer. It was going to be a very different game for me.
Friday, 4 November 2016
NI4 Game 2
Game two and I was not looking forward to this one, having seen the army I was about to face. There were only 2 armies I was not keen on facing, this one and the tyranids army.
Deployment
I had first turn this time around, and chose to go for my usual deployment. The main issue was that in both deployment zones there were entrenchments, I went for the bigger one in the end but this meant some lateral thinking was requires for the pipe line. In the end I placed it behind to make use of the torrent rule for the flames negating the need to have the flames at the front. The second blob squad was prepared to take the flank. I can't find my notebook at the moment, but from memory I gained preferred enemy and an 18" orders range warlord traits and my opponent gained. Some fancy necron thing, aka zealot.
My deployment
The Necrons also went fairly defensive, but with 2 monoliths, one barge, an ark and a skimmer thing, not to mention the big walker thing as well, all at armour 13, I was slightly worried.
Necron deployment
The monoliths
Stalker sitting on top of a building
Turn 1
With my reserves coming on, well, one of them anyway, I was hopeful I could do some damage. As it stood, only the wyverns and the valkyrie did anything. The wyverns taking out the tomb blades and the valkyrie taking a few potshots at the lychguard, and mostly missing. The squad on my right shuffled around to stay out of sight.
End of turn 1
The tomb blades at the bottom are about to take a beating
No more tomb blades
My opposition continued to advance across the board, firing as he went, slowly taking down my blob squad in the trench. He was slowly chipping away at the squads, at the rate he was going I was worried I would have none left soon. Apart from that he did little damage.
The relentless advance
The field of play at the end of turn 2
I continued to chip away at what I could. By this point I had removed a squad of warriors and no concentrated on the immortals, taking a few more down with the wyverns. I also took a few potshots at the lychguard, with little effect. Again, my opposition kept up the steady advance, taking down more troopers in the trenches and manovering to grab the mid field objectives. His barge moving for the left side and stalker entering the building g for the right one. His lychguard and remaining immortals moved for the center.
There is a lot fewer models in the trenches that there was at the start.
The steady advance
Spider in the building! Or rather stalker....
And the vendetta finally turns up! Better late than never! And it immediately had no effect on the game at all! With all the shots bouncing or not even hitting! The valkyrie on the otherhand was playing the smart game and shifting to the back field. The blob on the right went in to the building to challenge to stalker. I also looked at pushing forward with the remnants of the blob squad in the center and the pcs, in an attempt to take the center objective.
The final push forward begins.
It was also at this stage that we realise that my opponent had been playing some rules wrong. He had been playing the stalker as a vehicle and not a walker, and therefore had been moving a lot further than he should have. On the flip side, he had been snap firing a lot of his monolith shots, when as a heavy vehicle he shouldn't have been. So all in all it balanced out, and my guys took one hell of a beating in the last two rounds of shooting! When there not snap firing, monoliths can put out a lot of shots! As for his movement, the warriors finally disembarked from the ark and claimed an objective and the last of the immortals and lychguard claimed the center. The stalker also moved to claim the right objective. At this point it was going to be a close run game.
Warriors disembark.
The necrons hold the center of the board.
For turn 5 the wyverns went to work again, removing the newly disembarked warriors from the objective on the left. The ghost ark went on to claim it but removing the warriors was satisfying. The blob squad in The center fell back after taking casualties and realizing that it was now impossible to get to the centrw objective, the pcs made the same choice, although that was due to poor movement the previous phase by me! This meant that the plasma command squad dropped out of the hovering vendetta and tried a suicidal run to the center objective, I managed to plasma one squad, the immortals, to death, with only one vet killing himself in the process! However, they were charged by the lychguard and lord and were swiftly annihilated with the lychguard getting a good run and getting back to the objective! Oh well. The right hand blob squad carried on moving in to the building and swamped the objective. Also, almost unnoticed the valkyrie hovered and dropped of a bunch of vets who went full pelt for the objective, claiming it with ease.
The suicidal charge in the center, you can see the vendettas flight stand, the vendetta itself was removed for ease of play.
Piling in to the building to steal the objective. It is in there, somewhere under the stalker.
At the end of my opponents turn we were at the end game and it was time to total up scores. With the ghost ark claiming the leftobjective and the lychguard the center the necrons had 4 objective points, one kill point for the plasma command squad and line breaker by a sneaky monolith for a total of 6 points. Had claimed the right objective, my own and thanks to the vets his objective for 6 objective points, to which I added first blood and line breaker. I also added 4 kill points for the two squads of warriors, the immortals and the tomb blades. Thus giving me a total of 12. So a win at 12 to 6.
End game
End Game - win - 12 (FB, LB, 6 obj, 4KP) to 6 (LB, 4obj, 1KP)
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