Thursday, June 16, 2011

Railhead Rumble - The Wolves come out of Retirement Games 1 & 2

So I brought my Space Wolves to the Railhead Rumble. I did make a slight tweak to my “super” list, dropping the dread and upgrading my Lone Wolves which turned out to be an excellent decision over the course of the weekend.

Here is my list:

Logan

2xLone Wolves in TA w/Chainfist & Storm Shield

3x5 Grey Hunters w/Meltagun in a HB Razorback
1x5 Grey Hunters w/Flamer in a HB Razorback
10 Wolfguard:
2xTA w/WC & SS
1xTA w/2 WC
1xTA w/Combi-Plasma
1xTA w/Cyclone
1xTA w/Cyclone & Chainfist
3xPA w/Combi-Melta
1xPA w/Combi-Flamer

3x6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers in Assault Cannon Razorbacks

Missions found here:

So I’ve decided I’m going to combine my first two battle reports. There are a few reasons. One of them is that I only have 2 photos of my games from this weekend and it’s my round 2 opponents army and the table we played on J. Another reason is my first game, while fun, doesn’t offer much in the way of interesting tactical decisions or make for interesting reading.

Game 1: Dark Angels

His List:

Samael in his Speeder
3xTactical Squads in Rhinos w/Lascannon & Plasma Gun
3x3 Speeders w/1 Typhoon, 3 Multi-melta, 1 Assault Cannon
3x3 Predators w/AC and Heavy Bolters

This was a DoW deployment with objectives. My opponent did the only thing he could. He tried to focus on one side of my force using a large piece of terrain in the middle to give him time to eat me up in pieces. I wound up winning this one pretty handily. My opponent was a great dude but this was his first tournament in a long time and only probably his 4th-5th game of 5th Edition. Highlight was a Lone Wolf exploding Sammael’s speeder after leaping a burning wreck J Oh, and we finished in like an hour and 15 mintues….

Game 2: Chris Carlile’s Dark Eldar

His List:

2xSuccubus w/Agoniser
5 Trueborn w/2 Splinter Cannons in a Venom w/2 Splinter Cannons
9 Incubi in Raider
2x9 Wyches w/Agoniser and Haywire Grenades in Raiders
1x10 Wyches w/Agoniser, Hawywire Grendades, 2 Razorflails in Raider
2x5 Warriors w/Blaster in Venom w/2 Splinter Cannons
5 Scourges w/2 Haywire Grenade Launchers
2xRavagers

So this is a spearhead deployment and I won the roll to go first. Chris rolled a 1 for his combat drugs (3d6 pick the highest fleet). I pick the corner with the elevated terrain and deploy 2 of my long fangs appropriately. The other squad goes on a low hill at the edge of my deployment zone. The rest of my forces crowd the line, ready to get their move on. My opponent ops for full reserves.

Turn 1:

I move Logan and friends into the center terrain piece. I also shift the majority of my forces into his deployment zone, circling the center objective. Against an army like Dash’s it’s unlikely I’d try this even with him in reserves but Chris doesn’t have nearly as many blasters so off I go. My opponent turns the dice over to turn 2 J

Turn 2:

I shift slightly forward with Logan and his Lone Wolf buddies. I move my Razorbacks over 6” to prevent bad haywire grenade shenanigans and pop smoke to limit his alpha strike.

Chris rolls up 2 Ravagers, 1 Warrior Unit, His Incubi, his 2 9-man Wych Units w/Succubi attached. He moves on and immobilizes one Ravager in a ruin. He puts one Wych squad all the way up and deploys since he thinks he’s within assault range of Logans unit. His shooting stuns some razorbacks and blows the gun off another. He also shoots down 5/6 Long Fangs for the forward deployed unit. He runs his wyches and makes it to combat with Logans crew. The succubus kills 1 terminator and the squad leader fails to even kill one. The squad then goes on to kill I think a single extra termie. Logan lays into his Succubus and cleaves her in half. The rest of the squad lays into the squad and kills off 5 of them, including the squad leader. They flee combat and it’s my turn.

Turn 3:

I move Logan up a bit and shift my forces forward again. My flamer squad debarks to burn the remaining wyches down below half so they can’t rally. I open fire and down every, single vehicle he has except for the immobilized Ravager and his trueborn venom. I also shoot his other wyche squad down to just the succubus who decides to run off the board rather than stay and fight. At the end of my turn he’s got a debarked unit of Incubi, a venom toting his trueborn, and an immobilized ravager.

On his turn he gets everything but a warrior squad and the big wych squad in. He moves the Incubi up to charge a Lone Wolf. His Scourges haywire grenade a Razorback and kill it, dropping out a 6 man squad he then wipes out with venom fire. I take no other damage and he charges my Lone Wolf, does a wound, and gets locked in when we push.

Turn 4:

On my turn I can’t shoot the Incubi so I start to shoot at him. Most of my heavy weapons can’t range on him and for the first time this game my pen doesn’t explode the vehicle it hit (the trueborn venom) and instead knocks a gun off. My other lone wolf charges into combat with his Incubi. They kill the first Lone Wolf while the second kills a whopping 1 Incubi. Overall an ineffective turn since I could have put the nail in the coffin if I rolled better.

On his turn he goes for the last gamble when his remaining units come in. He debarks and starts shooting all over the place, mostly softening up Logan’s unit and I believe he popped a Razor this turn. His large wych squad charge Logans squad and only Logan and his dual lightning claw friend survive the fighting and I pass my leadership.

Turn 5:

I pretty much blast everything that isn’t in combat to pieces and the only units left at the end of this shooting phase that’s not engaged is his immobile ravager and 2 scourges. His incubi finish off my remaining lone wolf and move over, ready to finish off Logan.

On his turn his shooting does nothing, he charges and finishes off Logan (the only time he dies all weekend L). He then consolidates his 5 remaining incubi and 7 or so wyches around the large scenary piece in the middle.

Turn 6 has me kill everything except for 3 Incubi which and that’s the ball game. I win with only 1 objective but that’s mostly because they don’t count toward the overall in any way so I didn’t bother with it when it because obvious he wouldn’t’ be able to claim 1 more than me. Chris was a good opponent. His dice hurt him but I also think he made a few mistakes over the course of the game that cost him. Either way it was a good, well fought game and again I was done an hour early or so.