Steve and I got in a tight game of 40k atPAGE the other night, pitting his Emperor’s Children against my Kingbreakers.
Lists
I fielded something pretty close to my usual setup, but mixed in some Devastators instead of Predators in expanding from 1750 to 1850 points:
- Capt Angholan (as Vulkan)
- Librarian Rorschach w/ Vortex of Doom, Null Zone
- Sternguard x8 w/ 5xCombi-Meltas, Drop Pod
- Dreadnought w/ Assault Cannon, Close Combat Weapon, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod
- Dreadnought w/ Multi-Melta, Close Combat Weapon, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod
- Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Flamer, Lascannon, Razorback w/ Heavy Bolters
- Tactical Squad w/ Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Rhino
- Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Lascannon
- Landspeeder w/ Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer
- Landspeeder w/ Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer
- Devastator Squad x8 w/ 2xHeavy Bolter, 2xPlasma Cannon
Steve brought something like:
- Sorcerer w/ Lash
- Sorcerer w/ Lash
- Noise Marines x5 w/ Champion, Rhino w/ Havoc Launcher
- Noise Marines x7 w/ Champion, Rhino w/ Combi-Melta
- Noise Marines x7 w/ Champion, Rhino w/ Combi-Melta
- Daemonettes x10
- Obliterators x3
- Obliterators x3
- Terminators x5
- Defiler
I thought Steve did a nice job with a cohesive, effective but thematic Slaneesh themed force, complementing his extremely well modeled and painted army.
- Emperor’s Children spoiling for a fight!
Battle
The game wound up being Capture and Control in a Spearhead deployment, with Steve going first. In a defensive position around his objective Steve put down a set of Oblits, the Defiler, and a Rhino of Noise Marines. The other Noise Marines he placed somewhat farther forward, looking to flank along his long edge toward my objective on the extreme opposite short edge. My forces spread out a bit. A Combat Squad with a Lascannon camped out on my objective, with Angholan and the rest of Tactical 1 in the Razorback nearby, supported by a Rhino with Tactical 2. Both were ready to either move forward and block an advance, or hang back and camp on the home objective. The Devastators and Librarian Rorschach took up a position on rocks in the opposite corner of my deployment zone, offered fire lanes on most of the table. Tactical 3 strung out between those two encampments. My Landspeeders went into Reserve with the Drop Pods, but I elected to have them fly on directly rather than Deep Strike.
Quick notes on the rest of the game:
- Turn 1 featured some heavy losses to marquee units, with Steve shredding my Devastators and my Sternguard dropping onto and eliminating the Defiler.
- Sternguard fight the Emperor’s Children home guard as they work to reclaim an abandoned Kingbreakers’ outpost.
- Worried about the remaining Devastator Plasma Cannons, Steve’s other Oblits came down on top of them, eventually tying both units up in close combat for the bulk of the game.
- Oblits drop on top of the Devastators.
- Steve’s advancing Noise Marines were slowed considerably by my Lascannons and the Multi-Melta Dreadnought, eventually having to get out and advance on foot, significantly diluting their forward thrust.
- The Sternguard held their own, taking on the nearby Noise Marines and Oblits, but were eventually wiped out. The Assault Cannon Dreadnought dropped directly onto Steve’s objective though to mop up his remaining Oblits and Noise Marines, completely clearing him off his base with nothing in position to reclaim it.
- Steve’s Terminators dropped very close to my home objective, but concentrated fire from all my nearby units and an assault from Angholan took care of them pretty quickly.
- Once great warriors of the Emperor descend in all their twisted, mutated horror.
- One of Steve’s Sorcerers managed to decisively Lash my objective camping Combat Squad irretrievably out of position before being taken down by Tactical 3’s Lascannon.
- One of the Emperor’s many sorcerous foes!
- Tactical 2, having jumped out of its Rhino to pour fire onto the Terminators, was lashed into an assault with a group of Noise Marines and was eventually eliminated.
- Kingbreakers and Emperor’s Children brawl in the dead woods.
- Spawning near my home objective, the Daemonettes got tied up by Angholan for several turns, though their numbers eventually overcame him.
- Daemonettes surround Captain Angholan!
- Tactical 3 was able to jump into Rhino emptied by Tactical 2 and move onto my objective, tank shocking the remaining Daemonettes off the objective and then eliminating them with support from the remaining Landspeeder.
- Tactical 3 drives their mobile bunker directly on top of the home objective, resecuring it for the glory of the chapter.
With few options remaining for peeling Tactical 3 out of its Rhino, the game ended with the Kingbreakers safely holding their home objective and the Emperor’s Children cleared off their own.
Result
Kingbreakers win, one objective to none.
Notes
Steve focused a lot on my Devastators, crippling them early on. In part this was fueled by serious damage they did to his home Oblits despite serious losses in the first turn. I had returned to the Devastators because of trouble I had with Jason’s Terminators a few weeks ago, and was more or less pleased at the effect their Plasma Cannons had. Icontinue to stand by the idea that the unit is maybe a little overpriced, but definitely viable and often very effective. In this case they nearly recouped their cost in points directly, and definitely did so in locking up the second set of Oblits for much of the game.
I gained a pretty significant psychological boost, let alone the tactical benefit, when my Sternguard were able to take out the Defiler in Turn 1. This was a predictable result, made in trade for a significant points commitment to throwing the Sternguard in harm’s way. It was probably worth it though as they definitely did their part in clearing Steve’s home objective; wrecking the Defiler alone was probably worth it. It would have been perhaps useful though to have a full squad and a few more Combi-Meltas so that they could split up, one Combat Squad taking the Defiler and the other the nearby bunker Rhino. On the other hand, that would have perhaps made them even more vulnerable to the follow up assault.
In Turn 5 I had a choice: Run Tactical 3 over to my objective and hope the game would end then, or jump them into the empty Rhino and hope it went one more turn. In the former case, I would most likely lose or at best draw if the game went another turn as Steve would be able to Lash them off and bring on his Daemonettes, which I may or may not have been able to clear at that point. In the latter case, the game would be a draw if it ended on Turn 5 but a near definite win otherwise as my Rhino was looking pretty secure. I decided to play for the win rather than the draw, taking in account the odds of going another turn, and it worked out for the best.
Despite being a pretty heavy points cost, Vulkan remains an excellent unit. Beyond leveraging the Meltas I have, I find he makes Flamers much more useful against armored opponents. This increases their value and utility a good bit, as previously I’d felt they were important to have for countering hordes, but were suboptimal against MEQs. With the re-roll, that tradeoff is greatly alleviated.
Really I think the two biggest mistakes were made in deployment. If Steve had placed his Defiler farther away from his home objective, I would have faced a tougher decision about what Drop Pods to bring down and where. As it was, that juicy target, the Sternguard well equipped to take it out, and worthwhile follow up targets immediately nearby made it a no-brainer. Conversely, if it was farther away the Sternguard would have been stranded and vulnerable to much shooting with little effective actions after taking out the Defiler. Similarly, without the Sternguard going after the Defiler, it could have otherwise likely stood on its own for a good while and done a lot of damage—they’ve got solid armor, and pretty fearsome shooting capabilities. Normally I’m all about castling up and having multiple units in nearby support, but in this case I think it backfired. Something to think about in countering similar Deep Striking alpha strikers, setting up targets so that the attacking units are subject to their biggest weakness: Subsequent limited mobility.
On my end, I put my Librarian out of place. In putting him with the Devastators I was hoping to put his Psychic Hood bubble over a good portion of the table and protect the center of the table. What I really needed to protect though was my home objective, particularly as the Combat Squad hanging out there on foot was completely vulnerable to being Lashed out of place. This was a large mistake, and it’s only by bringing about significant other forces around the objective that I was able to cover for it.
- Sgt Jericho keeps the plasma firing until the bitter end.
All in all, another great and close game against a worthy opponent. A few more pics are available in thegallery.
