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40k 1850pts: Chaos Marines vs Kingbreakers

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kingbreakers-iconSteve 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!
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.
    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.
    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.
    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!
    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.
    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!
    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.
    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.
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.

40k 1500pts: Eldar vs Kingbreakers

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kingbreakers-iconEric and I got in two games last night out at Redcap’s. It was definitely interesting; two reasonably close games, and he brought out a lot of stuff I haven’t faced before; his Eldar list was fairly different than what has showed up at PAGE, though it’s probably more like popular online builds.

Lists

Eric fielded something like:

  • 6x Seer Council w/ Farseer
  • Squadron of 2 War Walkers
  • Squadron of 2 War Walkers
  • Wave Serpent with 10x Dire Avengers
  • Wave Serpent with 10x Dire Avengers
  • 6x Warp Spiders

I brought my current typical Kingbreakers setup:

  • Captain Angholan (as Vulkan)
  • Sternguard x5 in Drop Pod w/ Combi-Meltas
  • Dreadnought in Drop Pod w/ Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer, CCW
  • Dreadnought in Drop Pod w/ Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, CCW
  • Tactical Squad in Razorback w/ PF, Flamer, Lascannon
  • Tactical Squad in Rhino w/ Meltagun, Missile Launcher
  • Tactical Squad in Rhino w/ Flamer, Lascannon
  • Landspeeder w/ Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer
  • Landspeeder w/ Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer

As you can see, Eric sunk a lot of his points into that one Seer Council unit, I believe something like 600–700 of his 1500 points. Going in I wasn’t too worried, particularly as he just didn’t have that many models with all those points spent on the Council, but wasn’t sure what to expect having never faced an Eldar army like that.

Game 1

We rolled for Seize Ground with 5 objectives and Pitched Battle, while I took first turn.

Kingbreakers and Eldar square off around a hotly contested objective.

Kingbreakers and Eldar square off around a hotly contested objective.

Unsure what exactly it could do but appropriately fearful, I dropped both Dreadnoughts as best I could on top of the Seer Council and flamed away. Without Fortune to protect them, almost the entire squad was vaporized. Eric then assaulted the Dreadnoughts; probably a mistake, but I believe this was his first time using the Council. That combat would proceed to drag on interminably until the end of the match when the Dreads finally eliminated the Farseer and remaining friends.

After that there was a lot of wheeling and dealing trying to pin down the Wave Serpents and their Dire Avengers. The Wave Serpents outfitted with Holos are very resilient! It took a good bit of work to take them down, relatively invulnerable as they are to Melta and Lascannon fire. War Walkers also put out impressive amounts of firepower, trying to knock squads off their objectives. In the end though flamers did their thing on a good number of Eldar and the Kingbreakers had enough troops around to hold onto more objectives than the sneaky Eldar.

Fresh off barbecuing some Dire Avengers in their downed Wave Serpent, a Landspeeder is ambushed by War Walkers.

Fresh off barbecuing some Dire Avengers in their downed Wave Serpent, a Landspeeder is ambushed by War Walkers.

Sgt Scolirus defends a critical objective.

Sgt Scolirus defends a critical objective.

Game 2

This time we rolled for Annihilation and Spearhead. Eric took first turn and deployed the Council and very carefully placed Wave Serpent. I deployed most of my guys and castled up, forming an impromptu Kingbreakers garrison around one of the ruins on the board.

To the walls, man the fort!

To the walls, man the fort!

Going first enabled Eric to start castingFortune on the Seer Council and turn them into a veritable engine of unstoppable death before I could inflict any damage. For those unfamiliar, Fortune makes the Council’s 3+/4+ armor and invulnerable saves re-rollable. I poured fire into them throughout the game, to very limited effect, only managing to cripple the squad by the very end of the game. Meanwhile they flew about on their jetbikes flaming troops and spearing vehicles as the other Eldar skulked about and the War Walkers picked off stragglers. It almost came back together in the last two turns as the War Walkers were dispatched, but by then it was too late. Too many transports and Landspeeders had been lost to make up the Kill Points difference.

The Council prepares one of its many feints.

The Council prepares one of its many feints.

Angholan and Scolirus stare down a War Walker before charging in to destroy it.

Angholan and Scolirus stare down a War Walker before charging in to destroy it.

Results

Game 1: Minor Victory for the Kingbreakers, bonus points for Kill Points and surviving HQs.

Game 2: Minor Victory for the Eldar, bonus point for controlling table quarters.

Notes

I was impressed at these Eldar units. Seer Councils I’d been wary of as Internet wisdom is definitely rightly fearful. Mathematically speaking, they’re about on par or even harder to kill than Terminators with Storm Shields, but they’re much more mobile and arguably more useful weapons. Remember that jetbikes get to move 6″ every assault phase, whether they assault or not. They also have a Str 9 spear attack that’s pretty good at taking down vehicles. I was just lucky in Game 1 that I was able to cripple the Council in the first turn. In the second game I probably shouldn’t have concentrated so much shooting into it, but it was moving too fast to lock down into assault, and I was hoping I’d eventually kill some part of it and whittle it down. No such luck.

War Walkers I thought were also pretty respectable. Fairly fragile, but while they’re alive they put out a ton of shots—8 each, Str 6. Combined with Outflanking and 36″ range, and it seems like a reasonable unit to come on later in the game and try to knock weakened troop squads off objectives, while the enemy’s shooting is already committed elsewhere.

On a related note to both, I’ve been keeping my Marines largely boxed up in their Rhinos. I think I need to again start more frequently considering having them hang out in the open so they can all shoot. Having them inside the Rhinos is protecting them, but it’s also costing them a lot of shooting opportunities.

This game I broke with my recent practice and split the Landspeeders into two distinct flyers rather than a squadron. I don’t think this really did anything very good or bad. It cost me an extra Kill Point in the second game, didn’t really affect their survivability, and gave me just a bit more freedom in the first game to split targets. All in all a wash.

Long story short though, I think this changes the Redcap’s meta-game a fair bit. Up to now I’ve been comfortably not bringing a Librarian as people have not been using many psychic abilities. Fortune has to be stopped though. I think it’d be cheesy at this point and slightly unsporting to bring out an Inquisitor ally for just his Psychic Hood, so a Librarian it is. The only question is: Where to get the 100 points? That’s a lot to knock off my list without giving up something useful. On the other hand, maybe I can play the super strategic card and figure that I don’t have to face Eric again in this round, and hope nobody else whips out some crazy psycher… Sounds risky though.

A few more photos are the Flickr gallery.