Brawler Bash: Game 1

I won't be doing in-depth battle reports for Brawler Bash. That's a daunting task for 5 games, and it's hard for me to remember the details from so many games so close together. Instead, I'll be presenting my opponent's list and an overall summary of the battle, along with a series of photos to show off interesting parts of each game.

My army was as follows:

Amra the Lion
Lysander


Amon Yara
Librarian w/ Null Zone, Gate of Infinity


Sgt. Kull
10 Tactical Marines w/ plasma gun, lascannon


Sgt. Cruacht
10 Tactical Marines w/ plasma gun, lascannon

Sgt. Balthus
5 Scouts w/ sniper rifles, missile launcher, camo cloaks


Sgt. Niord
10 Sternguard Veterans w/ 2 plasma guns, 2 combi-meltas

Sgt. Cronnacht
10 Sternguard Veterans w/ 2 plasma guns, 2 combi-meltas

The Four Winds
Stormtalon Gunship w/ twin-linked assault cannon, skyhammer missiles

Proclamation of Crom
Predator w/ autocannon, lascannon sponsons

Bane of Hyperborea
Predator w/ twin-linked lascannon, lascannon sponsons

Thunderfire Cannon

 My opponent was playing Necrons with Chaos Marine allies.

Destroyer Lord w/ warscythe, sempiternal weave, mindshackle scarabs

5 Canoptek Wraiths

8 Warriors
Nightscythe

8 Warriors
Nightscythe

8 Warriors
Nightscythe

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

Daemon Prince w/ wings, burning brand of skalathrax

10 Cultists

Heldrake w/ baleflamer

2 Obliterators


The game was Crusade with 5 objectives, using Dawn of War deployment. I had 2 objectives in my deployment zone, while my opponent had 2 and deployed one centrally. I deployed in my left half of the board to defend the objectives.   



My enemy kept most of his force in reserve, and what was on the table was hidden.




I advanced my Sternguard and Lysander toward the center so their firepower would be in range to cover the central objective and they could intercept an assault by the wraiths. The Annihilation Barges fired on me, killing a few marines and a Predator.


Unfortunately for me, none of the enemy flyers came in on his 2nd turn, so I couldn't counter them with my Stormtalon. It contented itself with finishing off a damaged Annihilation Barge before being shot down by a Nightscythe next turn.

The Daemon Prince prepares to fly over my Tacticals and put the burning brand to nefarious use.

The rest of the game was pretty predictable, as the Heldrake and Daemon Prince torched my marines while Nightscythes ran strafing runs.

The Heldrake sweeps over my left flank...

...leaving few survivors in its wake.

And even fewer as the Necrons open fire.

Lysander, the Librarian, and a few Sternguard teleport away to try and kill the cultists holding his objective, but mishap and go back into reserve twice. They finally land in time to shoot the Destroyer Lord with a combi-melta. I couldn't kill him but at least I bloodied him.

Scout Sergeant Balthus survives a round of challenge against the Daemon Prince. It's a small victory, but I'll take it.

Lessons Learned

1) Baleflamers and the burning brand are terrifying to marines. 12" with the torrent rule goes surprisingly far, and it goes through power armor and cover. Thankfully, I only had to deal with 2, but they still tore my army apart.

2) I was hoping my firepower and the Stormtalon would provide some flyer defense, but that wasn't the case here. It might have worked against one or two enemy flyers, but I was completely overwhelmed here. This will be a continuous lesson for me.

At the end, my opponent acknowledged that his list was a horrible match-up for me, and even went so far as to apologize. Even so, he was very pleasant through the whole game and had no reason to apologize. He did quite well in the tournament overall, and playing him was a good experience for me.