As you may well know, the entire TableTopWar crew is participating in an Escalation League at the Inland Empire's Best Gaming Store "
Thou Shalt Game." The League's purpose is two-fold; the first is to bring some new blood into the 40K fold and the second is to provide some motivation for actually slapping some paint on our models. I decided on adding a DoA element to my current Angels Encarmine army and went about coming up with my initial 500pt list for the Leagues first two meetings. Here's what I came up with:
Jump Pack Librarian w/ Plasma Pistol (Blood Lance & Unleash Rage)
Jump Pack Priest w/ Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, & Melta Bombs
10-Man Assault Squad: 1x MeltaGun, 1x Flamer, Sgt w/ Plasma Pistol, Power Fist, & Melta Bombs
500pts
The first thing I notice about the list is, you don't get a lot of Blood Angels at 500pts which means I will probably be out-numbered by all of my opponents. Secondly, I know there are a lot of Xenos coming so I bring the Flamer for anti-horde and all the Plasma for those pesky Scarab & Ripper Swarms and/or Monstrous Creatures I thought I might be facing. I don't expect to see too many vehicles at this point level but bring Blood Lance & some extra Melta just in case. With only one squad of Marines having the Priest was a necessity to make them more survivable and much scarier on the charge with the FnP/FC bubble. I had doubts about bringing the Libby but I didn't want to be surprised by any GK players that may show so I figured with Lance for anti-vehicle and Unleash Rage to make my 12 models extra-extra scary in assault AND the Psychic Hood, bringing him seemed like a good idea.
Our first round of games was this past Saturday. I didn't take a lot of pictures but I have a few of Game One and will recount the highlights from each of the 3 games. As players start showing up to the store prior to kick-off, I take the time to peruse what they brought with them and notice an Ork player with 60+ Boys (He ONLY outnumbers me by about 6 to1), a Deathwing player with 6 models and a Speeder (Yea!!! Someone with less models than me), and a CSM player with ACTUAL Chaos Space Marines... I hadn't seen a CSM list without Plague Marines since... well... EVER.
Game One match-ups are announced and go figure... I get the Orks.
The Green Tide Approaches
Mission: Seize Ground w/ 3 Objectives
(Awesome... Outnumbered 6/1 and an Objective mission)
Deployment: Spearhead
I win the objective roll and spread out my two objectives as far away from each other as possible, my opponent places his roughly in the middle. I also win the roll to go first and concede it to the Orks. He deploys his entire Army in his corner opposite either of my placed objectives.
The Green Tide consists of an Ork Boss with a Power Weapon and some other wargear, two 20-man Shoota Boyz, and one 20-man Choppa Boyz mob. I reserve my Marines in the hope that he will spread out his Boyz so that I hit them piecemeal (No Red Thirst for me this game) Over the course of his first 3 turns (even with the reroll, my guys don't arrive in turn 2) my opponent spreads just enough to claim 2 objectives and sends his 3rd mob towards the last one in my home corner.
In the bottom of 3, my squad arrives and concentrates all its fire on the 3rd mob coming towards my objective. Unfortunately, I only kill nine so no break test is required. In T4, he pushes the lagging 2 mobs closer to me but still within "claim obj" range of his 2 objectives and the 3rd mob concentrates all of its fire on and then assaults the weekend squad with the melta gun. FnP from the nearby Priest helps immensely and when it's all said and done, I have one or two guys left. In my T4, I assault the tied-up mob and finish them off but take a few casualties of my own, then consolidate away from the advancing mob.
In T5, the Boss and Choppa Boyz move forward again but string out so that they still hold the center objective. The second full mob does the same with the objective on my right. I take some more casualties from shooting. In B5 I have 3 Regular Marines, the Priest, & the Libby remaining and am losing the battle 2-0. I take my 3 Marines and claim my home objective while separating off the Libby and Priest to assault the Shootaz holding my right objective. All I'm hoping for is that I can pull the Shootaz off of their objective and then the game ends after 5 so I can get a tie (which would've been a moral victory) for me. Sadly, the Libby kills himself with an over-heated Plasma shot (he was already wounded) and leaves the Priest to do it all on his own. The Priest misses with his shot but charges into assault anyway. 1 vs. 20, sounds like a fair fight to me. The Priest actually wins combat and the Mob takes a few extra Fearlees wounds. I successfully pull the mob off of their objective so now the game is tied.... I just need it to end NOW.... but it doesn't.
There Can Be Only One!
In T6.. and T7... the Choppa Boyz get into my 3-man squad and kill them off. The high point for me is that the Priest survives 5 rounds of close combat killing 9 Orks total. The game is still a loss (1-0) but turns out to be my favorite game of the day.
Game 2 vs. Veteran IG
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Dawn of War
IG List: Commissar w/ Plasma Vets in a Chimera, 2x Veteran Platoons with Lascannons.
The plan here is simple; swoop in, claim an easy KP, and then run away. I hate to play this way but trying to take them all on while getting rapid-fired at between assaults seems like a losing battle. I win the roll for first turn again and concede it to IG. He spreads out across his entire back edge and places the Chimera in terrain behind a ruin. In his first turn movement, the Chimera immobilizes itself in a corner making my strategy that much easier. In T2/T3 my plan is half-way there. I manage to kill off the platoon at the opposite end of the Commissar led squad and fall back. Unfortunately, I can't get out of the way fast enough and my Priest is picked off by Heavy Bolter fire. The game ends in a tie, 1-1.
Game 3 vs. the "other, non-Mags led" Tyranids
Mission: Capture & Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Tyranid List:
Hive Tyrant w/ Venom Cannon, 4x Warriors w/ Death Spitters and alot of Genestealers in a single squad.
I win the roll for the first turn again, again (probably the first time that I've won all 3 rolls to go first in a tourney enviroment) and concede it to my opponent. IMO his deployment loses him the game. Instead of castling up or infiltrating his Stealers near my objective. He places his 4 Warriors on his objective and the HT & Stealers completely on the other side of the board near.. well... nothing. I reserve everything again planning to swoop down, kill off the Warriors, and retreat to my home objective leaving one combat squad behind with the Libby and Priest in case the Stealers manage to make it over to his objective. The plan almost works but I get tied up with the Warriors a little too long and the Stealers manage to make it into combat. This game is a matter of a 1/2 inch or so as that is about the distance the Stealers are short of multi-assaulting both of my squads. The HT is left in the dust and doesn't make it over until much later. I'm able to escape with my weakened combat squad back to my home objective while successfully tying up the Stearlers in combat. In my opponents defense, he rolled REALLY badly and I was making FnP saves LIKE A BAWSS!!. At games end all he has left is the HT in combat with my Libby and my 3 lone dudes are holding my objective by about 1". My Libby manages to put 2 wounds on the HT and tries to Force Weapon him to death but alas... he survives.... but I still win the game 1-0.
All in all it was a very fun day and I actually got home while the sun was still up, a rarity for me. For the day I earned 9 Battle points (5 for the win, 3 for the tie, and 1 for the loss). I'm near the bottom of the pack but there is plenty of time to catch up. The co-leaders are our own Magilla Gurilla and Dawson from the IVC Crew sitting at 13 BP's (2 Wins, 1 Tie). I believe Monster is sitting around 11 BP's but I can't say for sure exactly. Next month will be another round of 500pt battles. I plan on tweaking the list just a tad since there is only one other Marine player so stay tuned...
Until Then, Keep Rolling....
Snake Eyes
