A friend and I did a 1750pt battle for our weekly Tuesday face off. I decided to try out a demon bomb army. I prefer armies with speed, and speed is definitely a requirement for a good demon bomb. I was also keen to test out some mounted Thousand Sons. Here's the list:
HQ
Chaos Lord w/bike, power weapon, meltabombs, mark of tzeentch, personal icon
Greater Demon
Elites
Chosen 9 members, champion with meltabombs & powerfist, icon of Tzeentch, 2 plasma guns
Chaos Terminators 4 champions, icon of Tzeentch, 2 chainfists, reaper autocannon
Troops
Thousand Sons 4 marines, sorcerer with doombolt and personal icon mounted in a rhino
Thousand Sons 4 marines, sorcerer with doombolt and personal icon mounted in a rhino
6 Lesser Demons
6 Lesser Demons
Fast Attack
Bike Squad 5 bikes, champion w/power sword & meltabombs, icon of Tzeentch, plasma gun, meltagun
Raptor Squad 5 members, champion w/meltabombs
My Ultramarine opponent brought a bunch of 5-man tactical squads with heavy weapons, an assault squad led by a jumpy chaplain, a scout squad with sniper rifles and missile launcher, two dreadnoughts (one venerable), a pair of land speeders, a vindicator and two predators with twin-lascannons and heavy bolter sponsons.
All in all it worked really well. The terminators and demons came in half on turn two and half on turn three. The thousand sons held down an entire flank, using the rhinos as mobile pieces of cover, keeping everything but a single target from having line of sight to the thousand sons. And of course that single target was what the thousand sons blew away in the shooting phase. The thousand sons managed to clean up and hold the entire right flank, only taking casualities in the last couple turns of the game when the chaplain and assault marine remnant charged them.
The bomb itself also worked great, bringing extra pressure to bear where it was needed. Lesser demons were more than able to tie up and kill the marines they came up against. The greater demon chewed up a tactical squad and most of the assault squad before being brought down.
By far the most frustrating element of the army for my opponent was the invulnerable save that each and every trooper in my army had. At worst I always had a 5+ save versus anything he could throw at me, and most things had a 4+. Lascannons, assault cannons, power fists and dreadnought weapons mean a lot less when you're still able to roll a 4+ to ignore a hit.
If I had to change anything, it would probably be to fit some lightning claws and a combi-melta on the lord, put some combi-plasma on the terminators, and fill the chosen squad with the maximum number of plasma guns possible.
MVP of the game was the aspiring sorcerer who force-weaponed the jumpy chaplain on my last turn.
3.26.2008
3.21.2008
The Earth Shakes.
I've recently acquired a couple of Basilisks for my Imperial Guard army. I've been rotating them in when playing against a buddy of mine who runs ultramarines. I've used them in a few games and wanted to write up my thoughts separate from other tacticas.
Firstly, the problem I'm trying to alleviate. Running imperial guard you end up with a lot of troops on the field. A lot. In a recent 1750 pt. game I fielded 56 infantry models, 6 tanks and 2 walkers. This is a lot of models, and even spreading out across the entire six foot length of field my squads end up getting in the way of each other. Solution: Basilisks. For at least the first few turns of the game they can be used as artillery. Not having to move a tank-sized piece of terrain through and across my firing lanes for my infantry and tanks gives me a lot more freedom of mobility. Seriously, it can be challenging to move a land raider, three russ variants, and a handful of chimeras such that each vehicle has a target they can fire at while still leaving room for the infantry firing line to take shots.
This is all in addition to the entirely worthwhile cannon the thing carries. Even better than a Leman Russ Battle Cannon, the Earthshaker has that extra point of strength that makes it twice as likely to penetrate something that has armor fourteen. With an armor penetration of three it picks marines up off the table like nobody's business. It's front armor of twelve means that it is immune to almost all opposing artillery. And it clocks in at at least twenty points less than the cheapest russ configuration.
I'm definitely happy with the performance of the Basilisk. It's never any less accurate than the Russes, its cheaper, more survivable, and is better at taking out vehicles. It's what every imperial tank commander could want.
Firstly, the problem I'm trying to alleviate. Running imperial guard you end up with a lot of troops on the field. A lot. In a recent 1750 pt. game I fielded 56 infantry models, 6 tanks and 2 walkers. This is a lot of models, and even spreading out across the entire six foot length of field my squads end up getting in the way of each other. Solution: Basilisks. For at least the first few turns of the game they can be used as artillery. Not having to move a tank-sized piece of terrain through and across my firing lanes for my infantry and tanks gives me a lot more freedom of mobility. Seriously, it can be challenging to move a land raider, three russ variants, and a handful of chimeras such that each vehicle has a target they can fire at while still leaving room for the infantry firing line to take shots.
This is all in addition to the entirely worthwhile cannon the thing carries. Even better than a Leman Russ Battle Cannon, the Earthshaker has that extra point of strength that makes it twice as likely to penetrate something that has armor fourteen. With an armor penetration of three it picks marines up off the table like nobody's business. It's front armor of twelve means that it is immune to almost all opposing artillery. And it clocks in at at least twenty points less than the cheapest russ configuration.
I'm definitely happy with the performance of the Basilisk. It's never any less accurate than the Russes, its cheaper, more survivable, and is better at taking out vehicles. It's what every imperial tank commander could want.
3.20.2008
Wild Cards
A buddy of mine has posted the rules for a role-playing game a few of us worked on a while back. It's a neat little system that puts a lot of narrative power into the hands of the player characters. It's gone through a fair number of revisions, and even one test where it was taught and played to a group of people that had never heard of it.
Frank makes some good points about the flaws of the system, but I think these are surmountable without simply applying patch rules all over the place.
There seems to be a glut of pears right now, so I'm taking advantage. Tonight I made Tofu with Pumpkin Cream Sauce, with a side of salad with warmed pears. Dessert was Pears in Ginger Sauce. All items were delicious.
I do wonder where all the pears are coming from. Its not nearly warm enough or late enough in the season for them to be coming off trees right now. Mexico maybe?
Frank makes some good points about the flaws of the system, but I think these are surmountable without simply applying patch rules all over the place.
There seems to be a glut of pears right now, so I'm taking advantage. Tonight I made Tofu with Pumpkin Cream Sauce, with a side of salad with warmed pears. Dessert was Pears in Ginger Sauce. All items were delicious.
I do wonder where all the pears are coming from. Its not nearly warm enough or late enough in the season for them to be coming off trees right now. Mexico maybe?