Another fresh round of battles

Played a few games at YC's place today, against BA and SWs as a welcoming party to Sam's return to our fold from the underside of the globe.

First game was against Sam's BA list which consisted of 4 Sanguin Guard units, Dante, Sanguinor and 3 Sanguin Priests (yep, total Sanguin fluffs.)

Won the game with the semi-footy list 6KP to 5Kp after Sam spent 3 turns trying to outflank through my refused flank. He suffered some hate from the dice gods, which ultimately cost him the game. First set of poor rolls was 1 Sanguin Squad getting wiped out in the first turn of IG shooting while moving past the building terrain (with windows), after I threw 3 rounds of Fire on My Target! on them (using HWT Lascannons) forcing his cover saves to be rerolled.
Then Sanguinor came in to eat 2 HWTs but got lased by a 3rd HWT. 1 More Sanguin Squad got melted/lased by a 4th HWT and some Melta-Vets.

2nd game was against Defu's Podding Dreadnought list which was quite a handful to handle. He dropped 3 Drop-pods with Dreadnoughts right in front of my lines in the first turn and proceeded to flame/melt the HWTs.
Time spent trying to melt and lase the Dreadnoughts down bought time for his Fleeting Thunderwolves to come in and feast. Once the Thunderwolves hit my lines, it was game over.

3rd game was again against Defu's DreadPod list. I had created a new list on the spot, using the Psyker Battle Squad/Ratling Pinning Combo to try and buy time.

The non-foot Foot List

After numerous calls to play a non-foot list, I have finally changed my basic list to have a bit more tanks in them.

1750 points

Company Command Squad
Commandant Lukas von Steinmetz
Major Winston Fletcher (MoO)
Liasion Officer Captain Fabian Leif (OotF)
Bodyguards x2
Grenade Launcher
Chimera

Lord Commissar Zhenkrov
Powerfist

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Squad with 1 Meltagun x2
Heavy Weapon Team with Lascannons x5

Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns
Demolitions Doctrine
Chimera

Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns
Demolitions Doctrine
Chimera

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon x2

IG vs BA 1.75k Summary

Played a game against Daniel's BA list. His BA is totally different from YC's, involving Dante in an assault squad, and drop-podding assault squads and Dreadnoughts.

His list is :

Dante
Assault Squadx10
Sanguin Priest (this squad reserves)

Mephiston

Assault Squadx10
Drop pod

Dreadnought
Drop pod

Dreadnought
Drop pod

Death Coy
Rhino

Vindicator


Mission was Capture and Control, Deployment was Spearhead and BA went first.

IG used Creed's list again, but drops the infantry squads into 4 squads max, adds a vet squad that outflanks and adds Marbo. Vet Squad, Marbo and the Leman Russ reserves.


The game went basically like this.

Turn 1 :
BA drops dreadnoughts in front of the HWTs and attempt to flame them off. DC and Mephiston goes for broke towards IG positions.
IG destroys both Dreadnoughts, stuns Vindicator and wrecks DC Rhino.

Turn 2 :
BA Dante flies in, and proceeds to flame (3 flamers) Creed's CCS and deals 11 wounds, killing all but Creed. Last Assault Squad also drops in, divides into 2 Squads and shoots some HWTs. Mephiston eats a HWT.
IG fails to bring in any reserve. Creed moves away and the surrounding HWTs wipes out a 5 man Assault Squad.

Turn 3 :
BA Dante destroys more HWTs. Assault Squad is assault-blocked by a 20 man Infantry Squad and assaults in. Mephiston eats 1 more Infantry Squad. Creed dies to shooting.
IG brings in all reserves. Veteran Squad outflanks and goes to capture undefended BA objective.
Marbo pops up near Dante and demo charges his Assault Squad, killing 7 marines. Leman Russ comes in and templates Dante's squad.

Turn 4 :
BA Dante tries to destroy Leman Russ but fails with only 1 Wep Destroyed result. Marbo dies. Assault Squad eats the 20 man Infantry Squad. Vindicator tries to template Vet squad off but fails.
IG continues advance towards BA objective. More shooting fails to stop the BA from moping up the rest of the HWTs.

Turn 5 :
BA Vindicator again fails to template off Veteran Squad. 3 men Assault Squad captures IG objective.
IG Vet Squad melts Vindicator. Tries to contest IG objective with 1 last remaining HWT.

Turn 6 :
BA destroys Leman Russ. Finishes eating all troops on IG side of table.

Game ends in draw as IG claim BA objective and BA claims IG objective.


Outflanking Vets saved the day by claiming the undefended BA objective.
BA went assault mad and swept the IG side with deepstriking Dante and drop pods.
Marbo is crazy.
3 flamers in an deepstriking assault squad that doesn't scatter is very painful for IG foot list as they are AP 5 and ignores my cover saves.

IG vs BA 1.75k

After the massacre by our friendly neighbourhood Space Wolves, I've changed the list a bit.

Gone were 2 Infantry Squads, replaced by 2 Special Weapons Squad, 1 with demo charge and 1 with 2 melta to face YC's BA (Mephiston makes his appearance.)

Mission : Capture and Control
Deployment : Pitched Battle (again!)
All annotations are again from pov of camera.

Deployment : As per the Pics above.

BA has 2 Assault Squads in the 2 Rhinos below.

Assault Termies with Sanguin Priest in Land Raider Redeemer.

Mephiston deploys inside area terrain.

Baal Predator reserves.

IG has multiple Infantry Squads spread over. Creed is on the 2nd floor of the top building.

Special Weapon Squad with demo charge in reserve.

Turn 1 :

BA moves everything forward and pops smoke. Mephiston fails psyker test and takes 1 wound.

IG immobs Dreadnought. Seeing an unprotected Mephiston = 3 rounds of Fire on My Target! (successful cover saves must be rerolled) sees Mephiston taking another 2 wounds from AP2 Lascannons. 1 Infantry Squad and 1 Platoon Command Squad tries to move left towards BA objective.

Turn 2 :

BA Rhino tries to tank shock HWT but they pass their morale. Mephiston assaults and eats 1 infantry squad holding objective in forest. Termies disembark and eats a HWT.

Baal Predator comes in from reserve on top flank, flames 1 Infantry Squad and 1 Platoon Command Squad. Infantry Squad panics off.

IG Fires on My Target on Mephiston and kills him. Bring It Down! immobs Baal Predator and destroys 1 Flamer turret. Shots into LR:R and Termies shrugged off.

Turn 3 :

BA tries to tank shock more troops but failed to panic any off. Dreadnought stormbolters Platoon Command Squad (with 2 men left) into oblivion. Termies multi-charges an Infantry Squad and HWT and eats both. LR:R moves away to attack Creed's side of the flank (top). 1 Assault marine disembarks and eats the HWT at the bottom.

IG wrecks a Rhino with Bring It Down! More firepower kills 2 Termies that lost their Feel No Pain. (mistake on YC's part). Leman Russes tries to template as much marines as possible.

Turn 4 :

BA Assault Marines and Termies eat more Infantry Squads and 1 more HWT. LR:R moves into sight of 1 HWT. It shoots at the Leman Russes and gets a lucky pen, immobs 1 tank which wrecks due to squadron rules.

IG Bring It Down! wrecks LR:R with a lucky pen. Leman Russ continues to template marines.

Synchronised shooting sees Assault marines and Termies taking casualties.

Turn 5 :

BA eats last HWT and 1 more Infantry Squad through assaults by Termies and Assault marines. 2nd Assault marines moves to capture IG objective.

IG fails to template off objective holding Marines. Assault Squad with Priest wiped out through shooting. Termies shot to 1 Termie left.

Game Ends with BA holding 1 objective to IG 0.

IG vs SW 1.75k AAR

Before I add new battle pics into my camera, it's time to download the old ones and update the AAR.

Above are the 2 pics of the IG deployment and SW post-movement.

It's me (IG) vs Krom (SW)

Mission is KP and deployment is Pitched Battle.

Space Wolves has first turn

Pov annotations shall be from the viewpoint of the camera.

Turn 1 :

SW moves up the wolves guarding the Wolf Lord into terrain for cover. The 2 Landspeeders with Melta rushes around the top left building for cover against Lascannon, intending to melt/flame their way down the flank. 2 Dreadnoughts move along the upper firelane to get closer to IG lines. Razorbacks decide to stand and shoot.

First round of shooting sees SW forcing 2 HWTs to take morale (both failed) and 1 HWT totally eaten by 7 unsaved wounds.

IG tries to spread out but fails to deal any significant damage. 1 Landspeeder got its flamer destroyed and 1 Razorback stunned.

Turn 2 :

SW continues its shooting rampage with the Razorbacks. The 2 Landspeeders flies into difficult terrain to try and snipe-melt Leman Russ. 1 failed DT test = 1 wrecked Landspeeder. Snipe-melting failed to pen. Wolf lord gets closer.

IG shooting barrage manages to thin Fenrisian Wolf pack. Last Landspeeder wrecked. Rest of shooting still failed to do anything.

Turn 3 :

SW continues moving Wolf Lord closer. Razorbacks with TLLC managed to explode 1 Leman Russ which caught 11 IG troopers in the subsequent fireball. 1 unit of 19 troopers (left out of 30) promptly failed morale on a 11 and fled.

IG barrages kills off Wolf Pack and Wolf Lord is now alone.

Turn 4 :

SW Wolf Lord assaults into Creed and promptly had dinner. Razorback + Missiles + Murderous Hurricane accounted for 2 more HWTs. IG line broken.

IG tries to deal damage as it comes in but fails to kill off Wolf Lord.

Turn 5 :

SW kills off the Infantry Squads on bottom flank and IG concedes.

As stated in the earlier post, after the first round of shooting, I found myself short on firepower compared against the Space Wolves. I had 8 Lascannons left with the rest being lasguns. Volume fire can kill the wolves but not Dreadnoughts and Razorbacks. The Long Fangs were hurting the infantry with missile pies after missile pies.

This has prompted a major update to my list.

Baptism of Fire

So I tested my list against 2 Space Marine chapters today. I'll post the AAR later, but I'll just write my thoughts here so the AAR won't be so cluttered.

Playing against Defu's Razorbacks exposed a weakness in the list (which is always good to find out.)

There is a decidedly lack of ability for the list to recover against vehicles after the HWTs are spammed to death by missile templates. I lost 3 HWTs in the first turn of SW's shooting. Subsequently, lasguns shots are useless against vehicle armour. Defu's Razorbacks then proceeded to mope up the infantry squads with the HWT threat neutralised.

My deployment against Defu sucked terribly. I need to learn to deploy more efficiently and not waste the potential firepower by picketing here and there.

The list needs to adapt. Creed is useless when there is no one for him to order around. 1round of shooting was all it took for Defu to hammer my army into submission.

I dropped more infantry bodies against the BA in favour of some SWS.

The deployment against YC was improved as I decided to forgo the objective and instead deployed so that I can shoot at his troops trying to claim my objective.

So in the end, IG shot. And BA assaulted. The battle showcased how both armies worked I think.

In shooting, IG performed. My HWTs wrecked 2 Rhinos and 1 Landraider, immobed the Dreadnought and wep destroyed its stormbolter, immob and wep destroyed the Baal Predator that scouted in on my flank. The HWTs also killed Mephiston, dealing 4 out of 5 wounds to him (he suffered 1 wound failing a perils). Massed lasguns shot dead 1 librarian, 3 termies and some assault marines. LRBT templates and Master of Ordnance templates accounted for another 1 termie and some assault marines. BA basically had only the epistolary and sanguin priest, 1 termie and 2 assault marines on table at the end of turn 5. The dreadnought and baal predator was immobed and ignored. And this is after he had the first turn, moving everyone max distance and popping smoke in the first turn.

In assault, BA excelled. The Rhinos and Land Raider did their job, delivering their packages to the desired destinations intact. The 2 assault squads and assault termies ate 1 platoon command squad, 3 infantry squads and 5 of my HWTs in multiple charges/combat. 1 Sanguin priest and 1 assault termie was poised to assault the rest of my infantry squads and company command squad

Descent of Angels

Screams of the dying echoed in the air.

The Blood Angels and Space Wolves had dropped into an undefended cratered plain five klicks away. Establishing a beachhead there, their Rhinos had started to rumble forth towards the city. The Blood Angels led the assault from the front, whilst the Space Wolves hunted from the sides. The 13th Julian had deployed on the outskirts of the city, hoping to blast the Empire's advance to smithereens in the open fields. But Blood Angels are still masters of the assault, shrugging off the numerous blasts and gunshots, and plowed into the huddled ranks of the guardsmen, to do what they do best.

Killing, murdering, massacring.

The array of lascannon squads had melted away in the assault by Blood Angels, their crews firing their cannons to the last moment and died defending their guns. The smoking hulls of the Rhinos in front of them were testaments to their dedication.

Commandant Lukas surveyed the scenes of carnage. Lieutenant Morgan had done well. His well-drilled men had stood their ground and poured volleys after volleys of fire into the enemy ranks. He and his company had died well too, slaughtered to a man while defending their posts. They had taken an entire squad of Space Marines with them into the world beyond, including a vaulted Librarian. Morgan and his men will be missed.

"Commandant, Land Raider to the right." Major Fletcher brought Luka's attention to the present. A Land Raider, massive assault tank of the Blood Angels, had rumbled into view, its assault cannons firing wildly. A screaming whirl echoed in the air as a hidden lascannon squad sighted the Land Raider. Its shots tore its way through the thin air, trying to rend the armour off the Land Raider. The Land Raider's hull darkened as it absorbed the lascannon firepower. Then suddenly, the Land Raider shuddered as the lascannons found a weakened spot in its hull. The engine melted and exploded, throwing the Land Raider into the air as it imploded. A screaming Space Marine stumbled out of an opened seam in the hull as his body melted.

"Commandant, the battle is lost. They have taken the fields to the left." A lone figure strode into the room. Lord Commissar Zhenkrov pointed his gloved hand at the map strewn over the table.

"The Marines are now fast approaching this position from our exposed flank. Lieutenant Pagge's men are still holding their ground but they will not last long. I believe it is time we save what we can and retreat. Space Wolves Razorbacks have also been sighted in the hills beyond the outskirts. Their movement indicates that they are trying to envelop us. Delay, and we will be cut off."

Commandant Lukas considered the map for a moment. "Radio Captain Pierce. Tell him to get his tank company out of here. We may have lost this city, but the war continues. We will rendevous at the town of Mabec."

Lukas turned towards the window. Out there once lies a city glorifying the greatness of the Emperor. But his people had seen the truth. The truth of the corruption and manipulation that claimed the Emperor's legacy and perverted it. Now this corrupted Empire is here, to crush his people.

But not without a fight.

And a new Commandant emerges.

So it's probably time for me to let the fluff flow into my army. A name to that model overseeing the battles which I conduct (even if he kisses not bite the dust ever so often). And to commemorate that momentous(!!) event, I even have a new list drawn up, ready to battle against the misguided miscreants of the Communis- I mean Unholy Emperor. (I am after all, designed to be a traitor guard.)

And thus Commandant Lukas von Steinmetz is unveiled, commanding the 13th Julian Regiment, a small dusty planet (with two moons) on the outer reaches of the Empire.

The 1.75k list is as follows :

Company Command Squad
Lord Castellan Creed (Lukas using his rules)
Master of Ordnance
Officer of the Fleet
Bodyguards x2

Lord Commissar

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Squad with 1 Melta
Infantry Squad with 1 Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad x2

HWT with Lascannon x3

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Squad with 1 Melta
Infantry Squad with 1 Grenande Launcher
Infantry Squad x2

HWT with Lascannon x3

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon x2

I need....

More games. That's a fact.

And against more types of armies too.

There's so many armies that I have not faced yet. Tyranids, Tau, Necrons, various SM chapters. Another IG.

I've been facing off against SM/SW/BA, Eldar and Chaos. And it's been fun. But I think I need to test my lists in different situations against more armies. To have a feel of pain they can dish out and how I can handle them.

Apparently I'm American

After a do-1-or-don't-1 tussle for the past few months, I finally bought a box of Tamiya US GI Infantry 1/48 box. Inside was supposed to be 13 infantry models and 2 tank crewmen.

The bad news is that the 2 tank crewmen are missing their lower half and cannot be used for other purposes.

The good news is that the models at 1/48 scale are just nice to be proxied as troopers. As you can see in the pic above, they are thinner than the normal cadian troopers but stand just as tall. The poses are more varied too.

Other good news is that of the 13 infantry models stated, 9 are actual single models. The other 4 models are actually a machine-gun crew and a bazooka crew. So I actually get 9 troopers and 2 HWTs per box. All I need now are bases and I can draft them into my infantry platoons.

IG vs BA 1.75k AAR

As a follow-up to what YC posted in the batrep. But now with pics.
Terrain :

YC is on the left, I'm on the right. YC goes first.
Annotations will be from pov of this pic.

Deployment :

BA deploys 1 Assault Squad in Rhino behind bottom-most building.
1 Assault Squad in Rhino deploys behind center building.
Sanguinor deploys in center.

IG deploys Company Command Squad in top-right forest, snaking 2 bodyguards out with the Commander.
3 HWTs deploy in forest, hill and side of hill around the Commander.
20 man combined Infantry Squad deploys behind the HWT on hill, wrapping it.
50 man Conscripts deploys in a toga line in front of everyone, snaking around the 18 inch away from BA units.
Platoon Command Squad deploys inbetween HWTs.

(The white templates are Lascannon HWTs)
(The long snaking line in the front is conscripts)

(The long snaking line at the back is a 20 man Infantry Squad)

Turn 1 :



BA comes in 1 Landspeeder Melta on bottom side to land beside the Rhino.
Bottom Rhino pushes up towards centre conscripts line and pops smoke.
Center Rhino pushes up towards topside conscripts line and pops smoke.
Sanguinor walks foward.
Baal Predator comes in on topmost corner.
Scouts comes in towards the bottom forest.
Dreadnought drops in front of Conscripts line.

(those wolves are also proxy HWTs)

IG 2 HWTs with 1 Platoon Command Squad comes in at the bottom.

2 Leman Russ comes in at center behind conscripts (in the space provided)

1 more HWT come in above LRBTs.

1 Lord Commissar comes in towards the middle of the 3 HWTs in the initial deployment.

20m Infantry links up with Lord Commissar to give him wounds.

First round of shooting sees the topside Rhino wrecked and the assault marines coming out.
FRFSRF by the platoon commander to the conscripts sees an insane 100+ shots pouring into the assault marines and 4 deaths.

Turn 2 :

BA topside Assault Squad assaults the conscripts with Sanguinor, drawing them nearer to the line but still failing to move them by much (only shortens it by 12 inch). Conscripts loses combat, runs and dies.
Dreadnought assaults 1 HWT at bottom, killing the HWT.
Bottomside Assault Squad disembarks, assaults bottom Platoon Command Squad and wipes them. Rhino speeds back into its own lines to deny KP.
Landspeeder speeds in around the bottom building to land side armour shots at LRBT with melta but fails to penetrate.
Baal Predator decides to hide behind buildings for the time being.

IG comes in 30 man Infantry Squad at bottom to lay down some Rapid Fire into bottom Assault Squads killing a few.
LRBTs push upwards to land some templates on Scouts in forest who promptly went to ground.
20 man Infantry Squad moves into position to pour FRFSRF into Sanguinor. Even a 2+ Armour Save did not manage to stop the volume of dice rolls that resulted in enough 1s for Sanguinor to eat 2 wounds. Follow-up Rapid Fire by Platoon Command Squad (9 shots) produced 1 unsaved wound for Sanguinor to die.
Bottom 2 HWTs immobs Landspeeder.
Top 2 HWTs wreck Dreadnought and saves LRBT from str 10 bloodfist.

Turn 3 :

BA Bottom Assault Squad shoots the HWT, breaking them and forcing them to run for their lives.
Top side Assault Squad assaults HWT in forest and eats them, consolidates into forest.
3 HWTs left.
Sanguinary Guards deepstrike in, tries to inferno the LRBTs but failed, dealing 2 Weapon Destroyed and 1 Shaken. 1 LRBT is now weaponless.

IG 30 man Infantry Squad continues RF into BA Assault Squad, killing a few.
More Rapid Fire into the top BA Assault Squad, wiping the unit out.

(IG Line secured after turn 4)

Turn 4 :

BA Droppod tries to kill squishies but fails. Baal Predator moves out into sight but fails to dakka dakka. BA Assault Squad assaults into 30 man Infantry Squad but draws. Sanguinary Guards multi-assaults 2 HWTs and eats both. 1 HWT left.

IG 30 man Infantry Squad draws combat with Assault Squad again. Bring It Down! to last HWT brings Baal Predator down (wreck). LRBT and 20 man Infantry Squad wipes out Sanguinary Guard.

Turn 5 :

BA last remaining Assault Squad finally eats 30 man Infantry Squad. (I lost by 1 but rolled 8 for leadership so failed by 1.)

IG LRBTs turn around to template Assault Squad into oblivion.

Turn 6 :

BA Scouts decided to save their lives and embarks into Rhino and flees.

IG earns 2 more KP by Bring It Down! the Droppod. LRBT template + lascannon produces 1 Weapon Destroyed and 1 Immob on Landspeeder, which combined with previous Immob = wreck.

Turn 7 :

Game ends as Rhino scoots to far corner.

PBI 1.75k List

Aaaand the PBI list makes its appearance.

It's not balanced or anything. The original list I made was illegal so I had to make some last minute changes. My original concept was to have 2 Company Command Squads issuing orders fast and furious while 2 Lord Commissars stand around and let the orders get through with their 6 inch leadership bonus.

With multiple HWTs and Infantry Squads standing in line, this means that any vehicles coming into sight becomes targets for Bring It Down! and the not-so-squishies that disembark from them comes under FRFSRF.

Realising that I'm restricted to 2 HQ puts paid to that concept.

So here's the revised list made on the fly (and used against YC's BA):

HQ -

Company Command Squad
Master of Ordnance (he instils fear in others)
Officer of the Fleet (to delay opponent reserves from coming in and give me more time to chew existing units up.)
Bodyguards x2 (to eat wounds)

Lord Commissar

Troops -

Platoon Command Squad Alpha

Infantry Squad x3
Heavy Weapon Team with Lascannons x3

Platoon Command Squad Beta

Infantry Squad x2
Heavy Weapon Team with Lascannons x3
Conscripts Squad with +30. (total 50 Conscripts on table)

Heavy Support -

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon x2

Which comes to a total of 1.68k pts. So I miscalculated (again) and forgot about the points for the dropped Lord Commissar.

The concept for this army is massed HWT and massed troops bubblewrapping.
There's a total of 6 HWT and that's 18 lascannons deployed on the field. At a rate of 2 HWTs dying per turn, it takes 3 turns of shooting/killing to deplete my lascannons. This gives me at least 2 turns of 2 Bring It Down! to stop enemy vehicles.

The Infantry Squads is used to bubble wrap objectives, HWTs and basically make a nuisance of themselves. If it is a KP mission, they combine squads to deny KP. If it is an objective mission, they are 5 scoring units by themselves.

The Lord Commissar is ideally to be placed within 6 inches of 3 HWTs. (4 if the terrain suits me.). He provides a leadership of 10 to any orders being issued to them and a leadership of 10 in case they need to take morale checks from shooting losses.
The Company Commander has a Command Range of 12 inch, so he is also nearby and has enough range to issue orders to 2 of these 3 HWTs.
The 3 HWTs need not be able to see the same target, since only 2 of them get Bring It Down! anyway.

The other 3 HWTs are placed where they are needed to add some Str 9 AP 2 firepower to the local firefight.

The Conscripts is the interesting part of the equation. Their original design is to eat wounds. For the Lord Commissar. This is acheived by them standing in 1 single line at the back, with 1 snaking line leading all the way to the Lord Commissar. Any shots/templates that comes the Lord Commissar's way gets diverted to the guy on the end of the toga line. It's a glorious death I heard.

It'll take time to use this list properly, and definitely time to deploy this list on the board (hehe).

The PBI

Inspired by another post detailing a Foot Slog army list, I have decided to revisit the Poor Bloody Infantry.

I feel that it has not yet been fully utilized and hope to create a list that is fluffy and fun to play, though I sense that ominous boom in the distance that signifies what the dice gods have to say.

A post on some special characters brought my attention to our Lawrence of Arabia-esque Capt Al'Rahem. For an investment of 70 points, I gain outflank for his platoon (but not the whole army as the post suggested). It'll add a new dimenion to the way the battle plays out, especially when some HWTs or SWS enters the field to contest objectives that were considered out of reach by my initial deployment.