Doublewing at heat 2, UK GT heat 2 battle reports. Options

[Darkangeldentist]

I'd been looking forward to the GT and although my doublewing hadn't faced some armies (notably horde Orks, Eldar, the new marines or chaos space marines) it had done very well at home.

So here's a run down and photo of the army I took.



The list.

HQ:
Sammael (jetbike)
Belial (with lightning claws)

Troops:
Deathwing squad, assault cannon apothecary and power sword sergeant
Deathwing squad, 3 pairs of lightning claws (one with cyclone) and 2 thunder hammers + storm shields
Deathwing squad, heavy flamer, one chain-fist and sergeant with lightning claws
Ravenwing attack squadron, apothecary, 2 plasma guns, sergeant with power sword
Multimelta attack bike
Ravenwing attack squadron, meltagun, flamer, sergeant with power sword
Multimelta attack bike

25 models, 7 scoring units and 9 kill points. A very compact and tiny army that had done well for me in practice games in the lead up to the GT but not an easy army to use, possibly even more difficult than my pure Ravenwing army.

Anyway, on to the battle reports!

Game 1: Kill point mission with dawn of war deployment. Opponent: Chaos space marines. (I think his name may have been Graham Day but I really can’t remember, sorry. However I did get a photo of his army so please let me know if anyone can confirm his identity.) Double lash and two vindicators had me very worried.

Here’s the photo a rough army list is below.



Daemon prince with wings mark and lash of submission.
Daemon prince with wings mark and lash of submission.
5 noise marines with a blast master.
5 noise marines with a blast master.
5 noise marines with a blast master.
5 noise marines with a blast master.
5 noise marines with champion wielding a power sword and doom siren.
Rhino
Vindicator with dozer blade and daemonic possession.
Vindicator with dozer blade and daemonic possession.

This list would have scared me a lot more had I fielded a more regular army. As it was my terminators would only really worry about the vindicators and daemon princes although my bikes could easily fall foul of the AP 3 blastmasters. A very nasty list but with more theme than most lash armies.

Here’s a photo of the table we played on from my side. As you can see there was a decent amount of terrain even if very little would actually block line of sight.



I won the roll for deployment and decided that with the advantage of night fight and limited units he’d have at the very start was too good to pass up. Kill points meant at least lash wouldn’t be used to it’s most frustrating potential.

I deployed Sammael and the attack bike a little left of the centre with the apothecary bikes about the same distance right of the centre. The terminators all went in reserve to deep strike and the other bikes outflanked. He deployed a daemon prince opposite the apothecary and two squads in cover, one in the area of rubble to my left and the other in the forest in the middle of his deployment zone. I then scouted the bikes over to the left but keeping them back about halfway up the table. (This may sound bit a odd but I really wanted to get into away from the daemon prince this first turn. I’d be able to set him up for a fall turn two when the gloom cleared and I knew where the rest of his army was.)

Turn 1:
He stole the initiative! I’d lost first turn to the chaos scions, potential disaster loomed. Everything he had rumbled, strode or flew onto the table. He filled up most of his board edge spreading the army out, a vindicator in the middle of each half of his deployment zone. The rhino close to the short table edge on my right, a squad of noise marines between the two vehicles. The last moved slowly up behind the unit in the forest (bad terrain rolls) and the second prince flew as far forward as he could. The other daemon prince moved out into the open hoping to lash a squad. The darkness thwarted his plans though and I escaped unscathed. With a daemon prince and vindicator to either side I decided to head towards the right flank. The terrain would provide me cover from the left (the banked pond was just high enough to interfere with line of sight for the bikes) and my bikes could get into better range of the daemon prince on my right. I then Deathwing assaulted the apothecary squad and cyclone unit as far forwards as I dared on the right. I scattered backwards with both units but to no harm. (There was no terrain there.) I was closer than he had been, so all my units fired at the Daemon prince on the right. My rolls were ok but I was little too far away with the apothecary bikes. Only one could rapid-fire and I didn’t roll too well. Only a single wound caused. A multimelta wounded him but the krak missile failed to wound. I then shot the apothecary unit at him and despite making him take 5 saves he stood defiant with one wound left. (Drat.) I very nearly forgot to shoot with Sammael but that didn’t matter. I rolled snake eyes for the distance he could see.

Turn 2:
He surprised me by moving his daemon prince back behind a small piece of ruins as the vindicator on that side moved into piece of terrain. The squad in the rhino stayed safe but moved to get a pot shot at my terminators. The other vindicator moved 6” forward as well. The noise marines stayed put except for the squad that had fluffed their terrain roll last time. He lashed my apothecary bikes together and pushed them back a bit then lashed Sammael to bring him forward. He didn’t roll very high for either distance. Then the tanks opened up with dreadful noise. The one on the left proved out of range of my apothecary bikes but the other got a direct hit on the apothecary terminators. Thankfully he was shooting through enough area terrain to obscure sight and give me a 4+ cover save. However even that wasn’t really enough as he failed to wound only once. I then failed the cover save for the apothecary, sergeant and a regular terminator. Very painful but my cover saves for the bikes were better. Despite a fluky scatter onto the attack bike with a blastmaster, which killed the poor thing, I passed a lot of cover saves. Alas I still failed two and only the apothecary was left. Things were looking bad.
I received the last terminator unit and an attack bike to reinforce me. The terminators dropped down to support my right flank, unfortunately the attack bike arrived on the left flank but moved to snipe the vindicator on that side. Sammael moved towards the noise marine squad in the forest and looked like he’d be in charge range. Belial and the remaining terminators in his squad moved towards the rhino and noise marines hiding inside. The cyclone squad spread out and advanced on the daemon prince and vindicator. The apothecary hoped to sell his life in exchange for the daemon princes. Shooting was a mixed bag, the attack bike sent a beam hot enough to vaporise steel through the vindicator and it exploded. Sammael killed two noise marines with his plasma cannon but my bike apothecary failed to finish off the daemon prince, then the cyclone failed as well (dratted cover saves). I ran Belial and the heavy flamer terminators ran to get closer to the enemy. Sammael charged safely between the trees to finish off the noise marines hiding in there. In some ways it was a pity he did kill them all (only thanks to the ‘no retreat’ rule) as it meant he could now be shot and lashed into charge range.

Turn 3:
Exactly what I feared did happen to Sammael and he was dragged out of cover to be assaulted. The other daemonic nasty flew over towards the rhino and lashed the heavy flamer unit into a clump in front of him. The vindicator reversed and threw a shot at the now bunched terminators, thankfully scattering wide, although it still killed a terminator. Belial and his last companions were peppered by some shots that pattered off their armour whilst the cyclone squad were largely ignored this turn. The bike apothecary was killed by a squad of noise marines, whilst on my far left the attack bike weathered a similar attack from another. Sammael took the charge of the daemon prince taking a wound from combat and another from combat resolution. (I failed to hurt him.) The big disaster came when his other daemon prince charged the heavy flamer squad and killed them all.
This was not a good situation for me as my remaining bikes failed to arrive. Belial and his pair of survivors approached a squad of noise marines standing next to the rhino. It looked like I’d just be in range. The cyclone squad advanced on the daemon prince and I settled down to see if I could kill him this turn. The pleasant answer was yes as he died to a krak missile. Belial his squad charged in but my rolls were poor. He killed a terminator and I killed three noise marines the last pair passed the saves due to ‘no retreat’. Sammael and the attack bike did stellar jobs and survived the attacks from their opponents.

Turn 4:
The squad in the rhino disembarked to charge in and the rhino fled to the right flank. The vindicator moved away again letting loose another tremendous blast that killed a single lightning claw terminator. Combat was close as I yet again rolled badly for Belial killing only a couple of marines and the last of his followers died. Sammael and the attack bike also died to their foes. Things were getting painfully close as I was running out of models.
Finally the last bikes arrived on the right flank (again not ideal) and started looking to get rid of the rhino. They failed but at least got rid of the combi-bolter, the cyclone squad charged his noise marines fighting Belial and between them wiped out the squad that had hidden in the rhino. The last two of the other squad survived thanks to me ignoring them (saving me from getting shot at), Belial did take a wound though from the attacks directed at him.
Turn 5:
This could be the last turn but there was little for him to do. His prince moved towards my remaining forces but his rhino blocked line of sight. Those noise marines free to move all repositioned to keep away from the fighting. None of his units could see the bikes. Combat was short and sweet but although the squad consolidated into range of the daemon prince Belial could only manage a couple of inches closer. I might be in range of the vindicator.
This was possibly my last chance to kill some stuff, so I needed to be aggressive. Belial and the cyclone squad moved on the daemon and vindicator whilst the bikes went after the rhino again. (It was worth a kill point after all.) I immobilised the rhino with the meltagun and the cyclone knocked a wound off the daemon prince. I then charged into combat. Belial just made it into the vindicator but failed to scratch it. The bikes clamped a krak grenade to the now immobile rhino causing enough minor damage to wreck it. (Another weapon destroyed result but with no guns and already immobile it now became a pile of scrap.) The big fight though was between the cyclone and daemon prince. I had also charged the vindicator but the daemon attacks threatened to do severe damage to my terminators. My saves finally came good though and only a single thunder hammer died. I then caused three wounds on the daemonic giant and two got through. He’d lost combat by one and had to make just a single armour save from ‘no retreat’, he failed it and died! I then consolidated towards the noise marines that were trying to get away.

He rolled to see if the game continued and it did not. Game over and we now had to work out who’d killed more units. It was looking close and I’d forgotten how many units he’d had to start with. I had Belial on two wounds, a full bike squad and 3 terminators of the cyclone squad left. Meaning my opponent had scored 6 kill points. He had three squads of noise marines left and a vindicator. He’d started with eleven units so I’d managed to earn 7 kill points. I’d won even though, when we’d toted up the victory points, he’d killed more than I had. (About 50pts in his favour.)

A very close game decided on the last turn. I’d gone from 1 kill point down to the reverse in my very last turn. A great first game to the tournament and against one of the toughest list types there. Double lash being in general a reviled and abhorred list whatever else is contained within it. However my opponent had been a great fun to play against and it’d been quite laid back.

Result of game 1 = win.

Below is a close up of one of his converted daemon princes.



This post has been edited by Darkangeldentist: Jan 17 2009, 10:38 PM

[flintlocklaser]

Great batrep, glad to see the Doublewing rise to the occasion! Your double HQ/double Apoth setup is interesting as well, something I had not considered when thinking about combining my DW with my RW further down the road. Keep the reports coming!

[mithrilforge]

Thanks for the batrep...it was like being there ,tourney games are so tiring to play most times so it was good to read that you had a great friendly game. Damn that chaos and their lash
at least you showed chaos the error of their ways

Mithril

[==Me==]

Great report, pictures are always nice!

Well done with the Doublewing, that's an army I am beginning to like a lot.

Congrats on the win, now give us moar!

[taffeh]

Out of interest the EC Army u played (first report) - the Noise Marine squads have Sonic Blasters? Or Bolters / Blastmaster?

[Insane Psychopat...]

Good report so far, can't wait to see the rest

IP

[Gillyfish]

Great read and a tense, closely fought affair (which really comes through in your write up!).

[mughi3]

SWEET!
Great pics and well done. much like my last game, it isn't over till it's over.

keep em' coming!

[BoonKin]

wow a very close game with the double-wing!

But still congrats your win and wish you luck for the remaining battles (and heats).

Oh, the batrep+pic you took are great, it also makes me feel as if I was at the event

[Isiah]

I've not been around much over the last few days – but I want to get in here and offer my congrats to DaD for showing us proud at the GTs. Very well done – and looking forwards to seeing more excellent pics and batreps. By the way, did you or your army get photographed for White Dwarf or GW website?

Cheers
I

[RayJ]

wow a very close game with the double-wing!

But still congrats your win and wish you luck for the remaining battles (and heats).

Oh, the batrep+pic you took are great, it also makes me feel as if I was at the event

From this statements it sounds like you haven't followed DaD's other thread. He placed 2nd at the UK GT Heat 2 with 5 wins and 1 draw. This is a report from game 1. He has 5 more on the way, which I'm very interested in reading. I've had some bad luck with Double Wing myself in 5th edition, so getting more insight into how DaD is using it will help me tremendously.

[Firenze]

GO DA!! We rule!! Hey, you may see nightrunner. Hes doing the GT and you can see his list and army in the SW forum. Say hi to him from me!

[Darkangeldentist]

Game 2: Capture and control mission with pitched battle deployment. Opponent Tau. (I’m giving up on names, as I really can’t remember them. Worse I forgot to take a photo of his army. It was a highly mechanised list painted a rather nice deep blue.) Below is a rough approximation of what he took.

Shas’el with air-bursting fragmentation launcher, missile pod and multi-tracker
2 Crisis suits with twin-linked missile pods and targeting arrays
1 Crisis suit with twin-linked fusion gun and targeting array
15 Kroot with 2 kroot hounds
10 Fire warriors with shas’ui and bonding knife
12 Fire warriors with shas’ui and bonding knife
Devilfish transport with disruption pods, multi-tracker and smart missile system
12 Fire warriors with shas’ui and bonding knife
Devilfish transport with disruption pods, multi-tracker and smart missile system
Piranha with fusion gun and targeting array
1 Broadside with 2 shield drones and advanced stabilisation system
Hammerhead with disruption pods, rail gun, 2 burst cannons and multi-tracker
Hammerhead with disruption pods, ion cannon, 2 burst cannons and multi-tracker

Here’s the table we played on.



Again a nice amount of scenery and although line of sight was easy there was definitely enough cover for anyone. The picture is from my tableside.

He won the roll-off and decided to make me go first. I placed my objective pretty much in the middle of the table and about 12” from my table edge. He initially thought to place his in the large ruins a little to my left but decided to place it in open ground opposite mine. I then placed the bikes as far forward as I could. Sammael and the apothecary bikes were placed next to the huge forest with an attack bike right next to my objective. The other attack bike and bike unit deployed more to the left opposite the large ruins. All the terminators went into reserve. He’d looked at my army and decided the melta weapons would be too dangerous so all the suits and tanks (with their attendant units) went into reserve. The fusion crisis suit would be the only one to deep strike. The fire warriors without transportation deployed in the large area of ruins huddled towards the back whilst the kroot infiltrated around the forest to my right, 18” from the apothecary bikes and very close to the short table edge. I scouted all the bikes forward. First turn combat looked very likely.

Turn 1:
I Deathwing assaulted the heavy flamer and assault cannon units. The former in front of the ruins ahead of my bikes and the latter (with Belial) halfway up the table within range of the kroot and about 12” from his objective. I was rather indecisive with the apothecary bikes who moved only a little towards the kroot hoping to just send some rapid-fire shots at the xenos. Sammael moved forward to see around the forest and the remaining bikes all moved straight for the fire warriors, the attack bike plunging into the ruins getting ready to assault. I ran the heavy flamer terminators towards the ruins whilst a flamer bathed the fire warriors in promethium. Along with the bolters and attack bike I killed 4 but the survivors held firm in the face of such danger. The kroot were not so fortunate or steadfast. After a plasma cannon blast, assault cannon plus a lot of bolter fire I’d killed about 10 kroot and the remainder fled. Too few remained to rally but they’d get some revenge shots on their way home. I then charged the attack bike into combat but left the flamer bike unit where it was as I wasn’t very keen to roll too many dangerous terrain tests. The attack bike kept up a peculiar tradition of mine as it failed to win combat taking a wound from the incensed aliens attacks. (I don’t know why but I always find the Tau that like combat.)
His turn was brief. The kroot continued to flee throwing parting shots at the apothecary bikes as they ran past them. Combat was a stalemate. I even had to take another armour save!

Turn 2:
Everything on a bike turbo-boosted whilst I waited for the cyclone to arrive. Sammael and apothecary unit went to ruins whilst the free attack bike and flamer bikes moved to the right hand side. The assault cannon squad moved towards the objective running a meagre distance whilst the heavy flamer terminators were still too far away to aid the attack bike. (I rolled pathetically for the terrain distance.) The attack bike didn’t need the help as he finally got himself together and after killing a fire warrior to win the combat he then crushed the remainder under his wheels as they turned to flee. (Possibly not the best time to do so but I expect my opponent was thinking things couldn’t get any worse.)
His reserve rolls were fairly kind bringing him everything but the devilfish mounted fire warriors and the deep striking suit. Pretty much everything moved onto my extreme left flank hoping desperately to clear the fast units in and around the ruins. Shooting was therefore a short sharp affair as the attack bike was the centre of attention at first until a rail-gun shot blasted him out of the ruins then they then focused on Sammael taking a wound off him. We removed the kroot as they were now too far away to affect the battle.

Turn 3:
The cyclone squad arrived and I continued to move units around. The bikes all turbo-boosted again except for Sammael who jumped over the ruins closing with the Tau. The attack bike and flamer bikes back towards the middle and the apothecary bikes around the ruins. The heavy flamer unit moved into the ruins and built up speed to a sprint bursting through ruined walls to almost clear the terrain. (They’d gone 11” after the run move!) I failed to scratch the piranha despite sending a krak missile (which missed), the assault cannon and Sammael’s plasma cannon. Sammael obviously had other ideas as his shot scattered onto the broadside, killing a drone and panicking the Tau controller. He fled straight back off the table.
Reinforcements arrived for the Tau in the form of a Devilfish and fusion suit. The suit arrived in the middle of the table, nearly scattered on the attack bike and then failed to wound with his deadly gun. The devilfish moved onto my right flank trying to avoid too much attention. The few shots it sent at the assault cannon terminators bounced or were healed by the apothecary. The rest of the Tau army moved as much as it could but there was hardly any space to do so. The piranha shot and killed a cyclone terminator and then everything else let loose at Sammael. He’d moved the hammerheads only 6” so he could throw out as many shots as possible. Disaster befell the Tau though as everything either missed or bounced off the heavily armoured commander. I made all bar one save (insult to injury, it had been the rail-gun that had wounded) leaving him on 1 wound but alive. (Normally I fail most of my saves with Sammael so this was a stunned piece of good fortune for me.)

Turn 4:
Sammael moved on the battle suits whilst the apothecary bikes came round the side of the ion head. The heavy flamer terminators again rolled well to get out of terrain and would be comfortably in charge range of the tanks. (Perfect for me.) The cyclone moved on the cheeky piranha immobilising it so I’d have to assault it. My assault cannon got a damaging hit on the devilfish, or at least I thought I had (made his cover save from disruption pods) so could only hope for a better shot next time, the attack bike suffered the same frustration. The flamer bikes got rid of the fusion suit and the plasma guns destroyed the ion cannon. Sammael managed to get rid of both crisis suits and my heavy flamer terminators proved just devastating they can be in combat against tanks. The railhead exploded killing a terminator and the ion-head was left an immobile, gun-less (but still alive) metal box. Conversely my lightning claws wrecked the piranha before the thunder hammers could do a proper job. The drones disembarked to attempt salvage something.
His second devilfish arrived, so whilst the first moved towards the middle of the table it merely kept its distance, both sent smart missiles towards the terminators but again I failed only one save which the apothecary allowed me to ignore. The drones valiantly tried to snipe a terminator but it they weren’t even close. The commander salvaged some honour by killing Sammael. Things did not look good for the Tau though.

Turn 5:
Both my opponent’s tanks were too far from either objective this turn but I’d left my own completely unguarded. The remaining bikes all turbo-boosted back towards my own objective claiming it. My terminators surrounded his objective killing the drones, his commander and again failed to damage the devilfish due to passed cover saves.
He kept the second devilfish and it cargo back sending a few smart missiles my way but it was a forlorn hope that they’d do anything. The first burst through the forest to deposit the fire warriors on the edge of the trees to attempt rapid-firing my flamer bikes. Alas he was a little too far away and the apothecary had made it close enough to ignore my only failed save. (Just as well since it would have cost me the sergeant.)

We rolled to see if the game would continue and the dice gave us another turn. (I don’t know if my opponent would have preferred it to have ended or continue.)

Turn 6:
The flamer bikes moved to roast the poor fire warriors whilst the attack bike got a close range shot at the devilfish. With a small explosion the tank crashed to the ground as the superheated shot plunged through the belly of the tank. The bikes killed almost half the Tau with their shooting and then crushed them utterly in brutal combat. The other devilfish also ran out of luck as he finally failed a cover save and I wrecked that as well.
His turn was over before it began. There was nothing he could do and we called it there. No point rolling for another turn his remaining fire warriors couldn’t cover the ground to even get a shot off and nothing else had survived.


Result of game 2 = win

It had been an arduous struggle for the Tau with the turning point when Sammael refused to die despite having to take a lot of armour and invulnerable saves. Had he died to the ion head as my opponent had rightly hoped he might have been able to destroy more of my units, it was always going to be a rough ride for him. The biggest mistake I think he made was not outflanking the kroot. As it was I got rid them turn one and they never got a chance to do anything. I don’t think he expected me to move around the forest so much, thus denying him a cover save.

[Grand Master Bel...]

This is great reading! Keep up the great work!

[Nightrunner]

Hey man - I'm loving the reports, much more well-written than my own! It's really nice to read how a double-wing army works in the hands of someone with lots of practice, as I have never really played them and they seem to require a lot more thinking than the average SM list.

Can't wait for the rest!

NR

[BoonKin]

wow a very close game with the double-wing!

But still congrats your win and wish you luck for the remaining battles (and heats).

Oh, the batrep+pic you took are great, it also makes me feel as if I was at the event

From this statements it sounds like you haven't followed DaD's other thread. He placed 2nd at the UK GT Heat 2 with 5 wins and 1 draw. This is a report from game 1. He has 5 more on the way, which I'm very interested in reading. I've had some bad luck with Double Wing myself in 5th edition, so getting more insight into how DaD is using it will help me tremendously.

Sorry I havent played in GTs before because I dont think I am good enough. Hence the "blurness" of me reading the tourney progress.

Oh then I must add another word of congrats for being 2nd!! Its a very big achievement for us DA

[VAGABOND]

Looking good so far mate and a good read Good luck in the rest of the Tournament and how would you say the Doublewing is doing for you so far ?

[Netfreakk]

quick question, due to me not having my codex around, what's the point value of this DW/RW army?

PS: wow, nice bat reps + pics, makes me motivated to get mine done

[RayJ]

My calculations put this at 1500 points even.

[taffeh]

My calculations put this at 1500 points even.

Aye its UK GT

[Insane Psychopat...]

quick question, due to me not having my codex around, what's the point value of this DW/RW army?

PS: wow, nice bat reps + pics, makes me motivated to get mine done

The UKGT is 1500pts, there are three heats for 150 per one, you may only enter one heat per year & a set amount (top 50 then it was 40, now 45) make it through to the finials. Heat 3 is in a week time, then finial are around March?

IP

[Lorenzen]

hey dentist where abouts did you come in the end? i saw your army during the 2nd day but didnt realise you were a fellow b&c member.

i was representing at heat 2 as well with deathwing, dunno if you saw the army or not.. 4 squads of termies, 2 vindis and a whirlwind, came 15th overall.

can i expect to see you at the finals?

[taffeh]

he came #2nd

[Darkangeldentist]

Hello all. Sorry for the gap between battle reports. Every time I sit down to begin writing them something interupts.

Hi Lorenzen, I think I may have spotted your army but can't be sure. As taffeh mentioned I came second overall. (Pipped by Tau on VPs of all things. )

You'll see me at the finals rest assured.

Now, on to game 3.

Game 3: Kill points with pitched battle deployment. Opponent, Andy Whysall with Space marines, a tournament veteran by the look of things he’d brought enough copies of his army list to give one to each of his opponents. So I can tell you his name and exact army.

Pedro Kantor
5 assault terminators with 3 thunder hammer + storm shield and 2 pairs of lightning claws
10 sternguard with 2 combi-plasma, 1 combi-melta, 1 combi-flamer and meltagun
Drop pod
10 tactical marines with plasma gun, lascannon, powerfist
10 tactical marines with plasma gun, lascannon, powerfist
Vindicator with dozer blade
Land raider with extra armour

Kantor and the terminators looked nasty but the real scare for me was the sternguard. Sammael and the bikes would be hard pressed to absorb that much fire and he’d likely be the one to get the drop on me due to the drop pod. Hmmm… What to do? Hide in reserve seemed the best bet.

Here’s a photo of the table.



A mixed bag for scenery with plenty of cover but also very little way of hiding something completely. The photo is from the start of his turn two.

He won the roll off and made me go first. I promptly settled on my plan on putting everything in reserve. The bikes would all outflank and the terminators deep strike. He deployed pretty much as shown in the photo. The sternguard and their drop pod waited in reserve whilst the terminators and Kantor hid in the land raider right in the middle of the table. The vindicator just to the left of it and the two tactical squads both deployed in two set of ruins in the top left corner to get the cover save. (He’d obviously decided I wasn’t going to get the chance for an easy pot shot on a tank.)

Turn 1:
This was nice and short. I did nothing. In his turn he had to bring the sternguard in due to drop pod assault. (The difference between ‘may choose’ and ‘must choose’.) They deployed in front of a tactical squad making the space between the ruins and Tau dome very crowded. Nothing else moved.

Turn 2:
I started rolling for reserves and only an attack bike and two terminator squads arrived, Belial with the assault cannon unit plus the heavy flamer squad. The terminators teleported in and around the rubble below his tactical squads, comfortably away from the land raider but worryingly in range of the vindicator. The attack bike had obviously had been given poor information and arrived on the wrong flank! Turbo-boosting he hoped to rejoin the Deathwing as soon as possible. Shooting was a little under-whelming I killed only one marine from each tactical squad.
His sternguard crowded to get themselves all into range of Belial and the assault cannon squad. The vindicator moved behind the ruin to line up for a perfect shot on the heavy flamer unit. The land raider decided the attack bike had offended it and moved to get line of sight. The tactical squads stayed put as they were pretty much perfectly placed as they were. What happened next was painful. I was forced to take 14 regular saves and 3 cover-saves just from the sternguard. Belial’s armour had obviously been damaged from the teleportation and he took two wounds. After a tactical squad had added their shots to the barrage I was left with just the apothecary and a very wounded Belial. Conversely the heavy flamer squad seemed blessed. The vindicator scattered onto his men (although no-one died) and the tactical squad charged with whittling them down failed to kill even a single terminator! The land raiders lascannons scorched trails in the air looking for the attack bike but the speed was just to great.

Turn 3:
Sammael, the other attack bike and the apothecary bikes arrived to help and even outflanked from my left. (Much more useful.) Belial stumbled over the rocks moving just 3” parting company from the apothecary who moved to support the heavy flamer unit. (6” radius for his apothecary effect is very nice.) The attack bike drove between the rocks looking for a shot on the drop pod for a kill point. The heavy flamer unit moved to charge the tactical squad next to it. Sammael got possibly the most devastating single shot I’ve ever fired. Thanks to the scrum to get into rapid-fire range the sternguard were packed shoulder to shoulder and 7 died to blast of super heated plasma. Another two died to plasma fire from the apothecary bikes. Only the sergeant survived gawping aghast at the carnage wrought on his fellow marines. The attack bike that was being predated by the land raider hid behind the Tau dome whilst his fellow blew the storm bolter off the drop pod. The assault cannon immobilised the vindicator (could have been worse) and I killed another marine with gouts of promethium. The terminators then charged the marines weathering the attacks from combat blades and fists. Lightning claws and powerfists rose and fell in bloody arcs till 6 marines fell dead. The marine sergeant fought with great skill striking the terminators with his own powerfist. However a malfunction sapped the power from his blows and none of his opponents fell. The stubborn marines held despite the desperate situation.
My opponent knew things had gone badly awry and began by trying to move the land raider towards the fighting. However we discovered the gap between the table edge and the now immobile vindicator was too narrow for the huge tank. Not wanting to risk a terrain roll or move the tactical squad he abandoned sending it or it’s cargo towards my terminators and instead it moved further out to get line of sight on the attack bike again. (He really wanted it dead.) The last member of the sternguard moved behind the drop pod to get some cover behind his now useless transport. The vindicator and tactical squad shot the attack bike. However the huge blast from the vindicator scattered to hit the apothecary who was consumed by destructive shell. Despite the large number of hits the attack bike survived with a single wound. Then the land raider opened up with its lascannons the machine spirit was unable to kill the other attack bike but Belial, obviously regarded as the main target and was unfortunately vaporised by the laser blast. Combat was brutal and last of the tactical squad were crushed by the powerfists of the terminators whilst the sergeant crushed one in a bitter last act of defiance. The terminator consolidated out of the rubble towards the other tactical squad.

Turn 4:
The last bike squad turn up along with the cyclone squad. The bikes appeared to have been given the same data as their attack bike and arrived on the right flank turbo-boosting towards the centre of the table. The cyclone unit deep strike was on target right in the middle of the table to get line of sight on the last sternguard. Sammael turbo-boosted get into range for a turn 5 assault if I needed to. The heavy flamer got into assault range of the second tactical squad and let them roast a bit first. The apothecary bikes moved to hide behind the dome on my left whilst the attack bikes moved onto the tanks. A krak missile sailed through the air to annihilate the last sternguard but failed to wound him, the vindicator lost its main gun to a melta shot but the land raider escaped with only minor damage (the extra armour was worth it) The drop pod died to plasma fire from the apothecary squad and then came the combat. This turned out to be just as brutal as the last one. One terminator died to the attacks of the marine sergeant whilst they crushed 6 marines. Again their stubborn attitude kept them in the fight and it looked like they’d not last long.
My opponent made a slightly odd decision. The land raider in its attempts to keep line of sight to the attack bike had strayed too far to allow him an assault against the terminators. Instead he sent the full attention of Pedro and the terminators onto the attack bike that had shot their transport. (Even he felt sorry for it.) The machine spirit was un-phased by the damage done from the melta blast and attempted to spot the attack bike assaulting the vindicator, alas for him it was not quite visible. Combat was brutal, just brutal. The attack bike was turned into so much shredded ceramite and flesh before a thunder hammer or powerfist could even swing. The terminators and Pedro consolidated back to the land raider. The last of the tactical marines were crushed by powerfists although as minor consolation he killed the lightning claw before they died. The vindicators luck ran out as the krak grenades of the attack bike finally wrecked the tank.

Turn 5:
I sent the attack bike zipping back to my own table edge and the late arriving bikes turbo-boosted as well looking to rejoin the rest of my force. The cyclone squad moved around letting off a shot towards the last sternguard and this time killed him. The rest just hunkered down to wait and see what my opponent would do. Pedro stayed still and called down his orbital bombardment on the apothecary bikes. It scattered missing my bikes. The terminators mounted up and moved towards my remaining units shooting Sammael as he moved, I made my saves and we rolled to see if the game continued.

There would be a turn six.

Turn 6:
I moved for sniper missile shot on Pedro and everything else moved to stay out of assault range of his land raiders cargo. Pedro successfully ducked behind a rock and my opponent was left to decide if he could salvage the situation.
Pedro moved to a better hiding place and the land raider moved cautiously forward to concentrate fire on Sammael. Again my saves were good and he failed to harm the master of the Ravenwing. (I did need the apothecary but that’s what he’s there for.)

Again we rolled to see if it would continue but the dice decreed the end of the game.

I’d remembered the camera more this game so can give a shot from the end of the game.



With only Belial, the assault cannon terminators and an attack bike dead my opponent had accrued only 3 kill points. Two tactical squads, the sternguard, a drop pod and vindicator gave m 5 kill points and victory.

Result of game 3 = win.

This had been my first game against the new marine codex and my opponent had, I think, been a bit unlucky. Kill points had made him overly cautious with his land raider and tempted him to focus too much on killing attack bikes. This and the blocked route past the vindicator had very fortunately dragged his most potent combat units (and Pedro’s inspiring presence effect) away from the fighting. Overall it could have gone very differently. The plasma blast that claimed so many sternguard needn’t have happened for example. It was only Sammael being in reserve and my opponent therefore forgetting about him that gave me that beautiful shot. This game also highlighted the risks of outflanking. Two units of bikes had turned up miles from the fighting and made little direct impact on the game. To be fair though that first attack bike pretty much won me the game by dragging the land raider away from the main battle

Here’s a photo of the Pedro Kantor following the adage that discretion is the better part of valour.

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This game had also highlighted the usefulness of a laser pointer in the game. I’d brought along one and it very simply resolved any disputes we may have had over line of sight. I brought it out several times over the tournament but used it more in this game than any other.

My opponent had again been very friendly and good-natured so that had been 3 great games out of 3 for my first day. I was both excited and a little anxious about what I might face the following day.

[Darkangeldentist]

Game 4: Capture and control mission with dawn of war deployment. Opponent Tau fielded by Rick Lloyd. (Process of elimination, he was the only Tau player with 3 wins after the first day.) A nice guy and a rather beautiful army with light tan and cream colour scheme. It contained roughly the following.

Shas’el with missile pod, plasma rifle, multi-tracker, stimulant injector and black sun filter
4 Stealth suits with 2 marker drones
10 fire warriors with shas’ui, bonding knife and 2 gun drones
Devilfish with disruption pods and smart missile system
10 fire warriors with shas’ui, bonding knife and 2 gun drones
Devilfish with disruption pods and smart missile system
15 Kroot with shaper and 2 kroot hounds
15 Kroot with shaper 2 kroot hounds and 2 Krootox
Hammerhead with rail gun, 2 burst cannons, multi-tracker, disruption pods and black sun filter
Hammerhead with rail gun, 2 burst cannons, multi-tracker, disruption pods and black sun filter
Hammerhead with ion cannon, 2 burst cannons, multi-tracker, disruption pods and black sun filter

A nicely different list from the norm with quite a lot of kroot, the black-sun filters gave me pause for thought though. Those would make it more than likely to shoot my bikes no matter where I put them first turn. The marker drones were nice to see, jet-packs make you relentless so the drones could now move and shoot making them pretty useful.

Here’s the table we played on. The photo was taken after my turn 2.



Quite a bit of forest terrain and that huge ruined building near the middle. It was no surprise my opponent decided to deploy the kroot with krootox in them with his objective. I placed mine in the middle of the table about 6” from my table edge. I wanted to keep it a long way from any of his units to give him a long trek. I’d won the roll-off and made him go first. The other unit of kroot would outflank and the Tau commander went way over to my right flank hiding amongst the domes whilst everything else would arrive turn 1. It took me a while to decide but everything would be held in reserve. The bikes would outflank and the terminators deep strike.

Turn 1:
With the sound of Tau engines roaring into life the fleet of tanks drifted onto the table. A surprisingly cautious advance most of his tanks moved only 6” except for the ion head the needed to move 12” to get a good position around the domes. The kroot in the ruins sat and waited.
I may have surprised my opponent when I decided to Deathwing assault. Belial and the assault cannon teleported into terrain below and left of the large ruins and again minor injury was sustained but quickly healed by the apothecary. (So useful.) The cyclone squad also came down on the left flank looking to get a shot on a hammerhead. Both squads had scattered away from the Tau but not so far to prevent me shooting them. The assault cannon and storm bolters blazed into the ruins striking mostly masonry and only two kroot fell. A krak missile was sent reeling off course as the Tau disruption pods again did their work.

Turn 2:
I was happy to see the other unit of kroot arrive and on my right flank, miles from the terminators and anything else. The commander and ion head moved around to get line of sight to the terminators whilst the devilfish and their cargos kept out of the way. The stealth suits had moved onto the board near the commander meaning they were far from any targets and simply hid in the forest in preparation for the arrival of my reserves. The hammerheads moved quietly around to train all their guns on my terminators. Both unleashed huge perfectly placed blasts on each of my terminator squads. The cyclone squad seemed to have been hit by only a partially fragmented shot as the missile launcher was knocked off his feet his armour punched through. The kroot ion head and commander all tried to damage the assault cannon unit but the apothecary healed the only wound suffered. (I’d been out of the range of the cyclone.)

In my turn I was blessed by the arrival of Sammael, both bike squads, an attack bike and the heavy flamer terminators. The terminators arrived near the kroot in the ruins but scattered away from their target so ran to get back into position. The bikes all turned up where I wanted them, the attack bike on my left flank behind the Tau tanks and the other bikes on my right. Sammael moved up to the kroot that had arrived on my flank as the flamer from the bikes roasted the exposed aliens. After I’d finished he’d lost half the unit but the survivors held. The apothecary bikes planned a sneaky means of catching both the Tau commander and the ion head by shooting the tanks side armour and being charge range of both. My cunning plan was thwarted but the astonishing success of my plasma fire which wrecked the huge xenos craft. Good and bad. The assault cannon squad was stumbling through the rubble and only moved a little. They still shot at the kroot but again failed to see more than a couple of aliens. The cyclone squad ran full pelt for the tanks whilst the attack bike shooting the rear armour of a hammerhead destroyed his main gun. In combat Sammael got bitten by a kroot hound but that was all the aliens could achieve and the Ravenwing ran them down as they turned to flee. They consolidation moves brought them easily back into range of the remaining Tau units on that flank.

Turn 3:
The Tau tanks on the left flank scattered but only moved 6” knowing they needed their guns if they were to keep the emperors warriors at bay. The kroot in the ruins stayed put knowing they were too spread out to afford a bad terrain roll and end up with most of them out of shooting range. They failed killed a single thunder hammer terminator. The Tau commander incensed by the damage wrought by apothecary bikes summoned the stealth suits to aid him in their demise. Alas although his shots were on target the rest of his army had been badly put out and all his other shooting missed! The apothecary stood defiant in the face of all that had been thrown at him. The devilfish near the middle of the table starting to moved on my objective reaching halfway up the table, its rear armour protected by a hab-dome. Even the attack bike stood unscathed despite a devilfish and the attentions of two hammerheads.

My reserves brought the last attack bike on behind the damaged hammerhead and the other moved to get the devilfish and its cargo. The cyclone terminators were now in assault range of the fully functioning hammerhead and looked to smash it out of the sky. The assault cannon squad and Belial were still struggling to escape the rubble and decided to run so they could clear it. The heavy flamer squad were faster and made it into assault range. Sammael moved to catch the Tau commander with the apothecary in tow. The other bike unit brought their flamer over to burn out the stealth suits and my shooting killed all bar two of the camouflaged xenos who were cut down in combat. The attack bikes both did perfect jobs the hammerhead lost its gun and the devilfish was annihilated, the fire warriors struggling to escape their destroyed transport broke and ran. The other hammerhead was swatted out of the sky by the thunder hammer and we looked to the combat between the heavy flamer squad and kroot. The lumbering krootox and kroot managed to claw down a single terminator but the heavy armoured members of the Deathwing smashed 8 of the aliens into paste. The remainder fled through the ruins, the cost in life too high for them to remain. Sammael wounded the commander but failed to kill him this turn.

Turn 4:
It was a desperate situation with little my opponent could do. The devilfish moved to shoot the apothecary as it closed with my objective but couldn’t best the medic’s protective abilities. Sammael then cut down his HQ as the kroot fled the table. The hammerhead moved in the hope, that if it survived the next turn it could contest his objective.
The apothecary zipped over to my objective whilst Sammael and the meltagun of the other bike unit attempted to knock down the devilfish. The hammerhead was blown out of the sky and destroyed by the multimeltas of the attack bikes.

Turn 5:
The devilfish tried to push the apothecary off my objective but was too far away and deposited the fire warriors around him. He’d initially hope to assault me remembered he couldn’t because the transport had moved before he got out. Shooting did exactly as he feared with me failing only a single save that the apothecary ignored. (It had been that kind of game throughout really.)
Sammael hopped over the tank so he could assault the fire warriors. I shot the storm bolters at them in case I scattered onto the apothecary. (In fact I’d fired them 3 times this battle due to proximity to other units.) The meltagun and a multimelta shot the devilfish and it exploded (almost as expected) killing a couple of fire warriors. Sammael then charged in to cut down 3 Tau in combat and ran the remainder down as they turned to flee.

He’d nothing left so we didn’t need to roll for another turn. I killed everything in his army and he’d been tragically unlucky to only kill what he had. 3 dead terminators from different squads and 2 bikers meant he’d only gained half the apothecary bikes value in victory points.

Result of game 4 = win.

My opponent had been a great sport and continued to fight on despite the desperate situation his army had been in for most of the game. He could have pulled it back to a draw if not a win right up until the last hammerhead went boom.