Amra (aka Lysander)
10 Tactical Marines w/ plasma gun, lascannon
10 Tactical Marines w/ plasma gun, lascannon
5 Scouts w/ Telion, 3 sniper rifles, missile launcher, camo cloaks
10 Sternguard w/ 2 combi-meltas
8 Sternguard w/ 2 combi-meltas, 2 plasma guns
Thunderfire Cannon
5 Assault Terminators, all with thunder hammer/storm shield
Stormraven w/ multi-melta, assault cannons
Stormtalon w/ skyhammer missiles
My opponent was playing a solid looking Dark Angels list (from memory, so it might not be totally accurate).
Belial
Librarian w/ Divination
10 Deathwing Terminators w/ 5 th/ss, plasma cannon, cyclone missile launcher
10 Tactical Marines w/ plasma gun, plasma cannon
10 Tactical Marines w/ plasma gun, plasma cannon
5 Scouts w/ sniper rifles, missile launcher w/ flak missiles, camo cloaks
10 Devastators w/ 2 plasma cannons, 2 multi-meltas
Dreadnought w/ 2 twin-linked autocannons
Dreadnought w/ 2 twin-linked autocannons
Land Speeder w/ multi-melta, typhoon missile launcher
Land Speeder w/ multi-melta, typhoon missile launcher
Land Speeder w/ multi-melta
We rolled up the Scouring with Vanguard strike deployment, and both deployed most of our forces on the table, combat squadding so we could get the many objectives. I kept the Assault Terminators on the Stormraven and escorted it with the Stormtalon, while Belial and the Deathwing would deep strike in.
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| Here's my deployment. Unfortunately, I failed to take any pictures of my opponent's. |
I had first turn, but most of my shooting was out of range. I didn't want to advance the Sternguard too far forward. I knew I would need them to deal with the Deathwing. My lascannons failed to hit, but my other long ranged firepower made up for it. The Thunderfire inflicted 2 hits on a Tactical combat squad with 4 direct hits, killing 4 of them and leaving only the plasma cannon (this would prove to be the norm this game. I've never seen my Thunderfire be this accurate). Meanwhile, the Scouts killed a Land Speeder Typhoon with some lucky rends.
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| The Scouts overlooking their Speeder kill (already removed). |
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| You can see the lone survivor of the thunderfire barrage in a crater on the other side of the field. |
My turn 2 started with the arrival of my flyers, who moved onto my right flank. I repositioned my Sternguard a bit, while the Tactical combat squads on either side of the field advanced. My lascannons once again missed horribly, but the thunderfire blasted apart another Tactical combat squad on my right, killing them all. The Scouts tried to finish off the plasma cannon marine in the crater, but didn't manage to. Meanwhile, the flyers tore through that flank; the Stormraven destroyed a Dreadnought with 2 stormstrike missile and a multi-melta shot and another Land Speeder Typhoon with its assault cannon while the Stormtalon annihilated the five Devastators carrying multi-meltas. Finally, my Tactical marines on the left assaulted the enemy Scouts. This impotent combat lasted the entire game.
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| The flyers absolutely destroy the enemy flank. |
As my turn 3 started, I felt pretty good about the battle, but I knew the Deathwing could destroy most of my army. I concentrated my fire on them (including another round of super accurate thunderfire shots), but only managed to kill 4. The Stormraven took out the remaining Dreadnought and a few Tactical Marines, though the diving Stormtalon failed to inflict any kills. Amra charged into the Deathwing and challenged Belial; he didn't kill Belial and suffered a wound, but at least the Deathwing were held up a bit.
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| My firebase, surrounding the newly arrive Deathwing. |
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| A close up of Amra and Belial facing off. |
The Dark Angels were running out of options. One of the central Tactical squads moved toward the center objective, away from the Stormraven and its deadly cargo. There were some shots at the flyers, but no damage was inflicted. The remaining Land Speeder used it's multi-melta to kill the last of Amra's Sternguard squad. Amra killed Belial, but was surrounded by the rest of the Deathwing.
In turn 4, I finally set up to deliver my assault. Before that could happen, I concentrated all the firepower I could onto the 5 Tactical Marines running for the central objective, wiping them out. My Assault Terminators charged out of the Stormraven and slaughtered the Dark Angels Librarian with his retinue of 3 Tacticals. Not much of a glorious assault, but at least they got to kill something. Unfortunately, the Deathwing killed Amra without taking any losses.
Free to move, the Deathwing assaulted my Tactical squad on the objective. The Land Speeder blasted another Sternguard with its multi-melta. Predictably, the Deathwing slaughtered the Tacticals and consolidated towards the Thunderfire.
My Turn 5 was all about close-ranged shooting on the Deathwing. Blasting them with everything I had, I only managed to kill 1. My Assault Terminators jumped back into the Stormraven and started to come back to save their brethren. The Stormtalon shot down the last Land Speeder.
The Deathwing charged in and destroyed the Thunderfire and killed the Techmarine, who was unable to hit anyone with his servo-arms.
In turn 6, I was able to bring my flyers and Sternguard to bear on the Deathwing Terminators, and all but 1 Terminator were gunned down. That Terminator charged the Tactical squad in front of him, but missed with all of his attacks. My Terminators assaulted in to save the Tacticals, but the Tacticals were just fine on their own and killed the Deathwing Terminator before the thunder hammers got to swing. That left one Dark Angel Scout still on the table, slugging it out with one Tactical Marine.
Lessons Learned:
1) Wow, those flyers are brutal! The Stormtalon is underwhelming on its own, but when paired with the firepower of its larger cousin, they were able to demolish three different targets each turn. That meant a lot less threats for each of them, which meant they were able to kill even more. I know I've had trouble with flyers in the past, but seeing it from the other side really accentuated how flexible and hard-hitting they can be. The Dark Angels' firepower would have easily destroyed the Stormtalon alone, but the Stormraven really changed things.
2) Combat squads really helped to win the game too. The key, I think, is to treat them as scoring units and really not expect them to kill anything. It might be worth dropping them back to cheaper weapon options just because I shouldn't be planning on them killing much.
3) The Assault Terminators were brutal but not really needed. The earliest they can assault from the Stormraven is turn 3, and I couldn't until turn 4 because I was concentrating on shooting with the flyers rather than setting up an assault. Once the flyers had finished, there wasn't much left to assault. I'll keep using the Assault Terminators. I really like the look of that squad, and against other armies, their hitting power might be worth more.
4) Amra (or Lysander) can't take on 6 Terminators by himself. I don't know why I thought he might, but he died pretty horribly. He held them up for a turn, but that probably wouldn't have happened if my opponent had been less sporting and just refused my challenge. I should have taken the wounds on him and kept the Sternguard as intact as possible in order to rapid fire the terminators.
