Saturday Gaming

Today I joined Disorderlies Tyrant and crew for some 40k and whatever else ended up on the table. I got in two games of 40k, and a peek at a few other games Ive been curious about.

The first game was 1k, RS against Night Lords... Im not allowed to talk about it. There were lessons learned on my side, though only by forcing myself to be objective. :)

The second game was 2k, Red Scorpions and Angels of Purity against Necrons. RS were the normal list, minus the chaplain, and added a dreadnaught. AoP were a Librarian, tac squad, scout squad, terminators, and LR Crusader.

Mike's (at least thats the name Im remembering now) Necron list was a few squads of warriors, two Lords, a unit of Immortals, and a few units of Heavy Destroyers.

Game was a Sieze Ground Pitched Battle, three counters. Lessons there for me were much more plentiful, though this game ended as a tie. Ill just do it as a list, since I dont remember enough to give an actual battle report... Ill also include what I learned from the first game too.

1. If I rebuild my Captain, I need to give him a decent ranged weapon. I tend to stick him with Tac squads, and they are too slow for him to be an effictive melee beast, and he is still too squishy to go it solo.
2. Im not a fan of Land Raiders, though the Crusader varient is my favored version. They are tough, and can lay down an impressive amount of fire.
3. Necrons can be very annoying with the We'll Be Back, with the proper paint scheme and terrain I could easily see it being a "Night of the Living Dead" type game.
4. Points spent on the Epistolary upgrade might be a waste, not entirely sure on this.
5. The shield psychic power was surprisingly useful... once.
6. Even Necron Destroyer Lords dont like force weapons.
7. Terminators are like assault marines: dont charge them in alone, they will die.
8. Melee scouts should stay in a 10-man group, or at least stay near each other for support.
9. I need to invest in more Vet Sergeants with power weapons, and less with power fists.
10. Stormbolters are awesome.
11. A dreadnaught with its arms blown off makes an amazing tarpit.
12. Plasma cannons and frag missiles can easily rob your assault squad of their intended target.

Im seriously rethinking the drop pods, might make it rhinos, might just go for another tactical squad instead. One thing for sure, instead of adding 500 points, Im going to make it 250, for a 1250 list before I make it 1500. Im gonna mess around with Army Builder and post the updated 1000 point list, and a 1250 test list later on.

Updating the Red Scorpions

So, the wife finally noticed the Forge World charge in our account, and didnt kill me, so life is good once again... or will be when that stuff arrives.

Ive been looking at my Red Scorpions 1000 point list, and between my observations and comments Ive gotten, Ive decided to drop the captain and replace him with 5 assault marines with 2 plasma pistols added to the existing assault squad. I decided on dropping the captain for two reasons:
1: The chaplain provides a lot more punch to the assault squad that Im using the points to bulk up.
2: Ive been considering replacing the model with one of the metal ones.

I dont know if Ill actually get around to actually replacing the model, but in the games played so far, the chaplain has out performed the captain dramatically. Of course, there is a little point difference that the assault marines dont eat entirely, so the chaplain is getting an upgrade as well, in the form of digital lasers.

However, Ill probably be running the Red Scorpions as either a 1k list, or as half of a 2k force with my Angels of Purity this weekend (before I have a chance to get those assault marines), so the captain has one last shot at redemption.

Now that I have the 1k list sorted out, Im looking at expanding to the next goal: 1500 points. So far, Im looking at filling out the devastator squad, a third tactical squad, and drop pods for the three tactical squads and the devastator squad. These will bulk up the existing force, and turn it from an "all on the ground from turn one" force to a full drop pod assault force. A complete change in play style. The list I made earlier today has a ton of extra stuff that could be pruned off, like meltabombs and deathwind launchers, and the weapons for the new tac squad sergeant. I think between those items alone I could shave about 100 points off, and add something else, but Im not sure what would be effective... maybe a scout squad, though that doesnt fit my 5th company theme...

Tables, games, and other random bits.

So, Saturday morning, I was productive. I hit the fabric store, and got a sheet of "potting soil" brown fabric. I hit Target, and got a box of tacks, and some wood glue. Then I went home and waited for a friend to get up and head over, and we hit Lowes, and got a sheet of plywood, then dragged it back to my place... Unfortunately the sheet of fabric I got was about half the size I needed, due to my not understanding how they sold it and not checking before I left, so Ill be heading back some time this week to get more. That didnt stop me and Mikie from playing a game though! Terrain was a bit sparse, though that should have helped him rather then me.

1000 points, Tau vs Red Scorpions. Annihilation, Dawn of War. Same list as previously reported for me, he had a commander with 1 body guard, a unit of Kroot, two units of fire warriors, a unit of gun drones, and a unit of stealthsuits.

Highlights of the game: Chaplain and assault squad beat the stuffing out of the drones, then get shot to bits by the commander and BG, Chaplain survived, then proceeded to solo kill the commander, bodyguard, and a good part of one of the Firewarrior squads.

The Kroot... Im not sure what to think of them. They spent the entire game either hitting dirt cuz of my shooting or dusting themselves off. I think the only time they moved was turn 1 (he went first), then at the end, when they finally broke and ran. They took a good chunk of my shooting, but most of it was incidental fire, in that I didnt have any better targets at the moment. My devastators worked wonderfully, they "reached out and crushed someone" every turn. On the other hand, I didnt concentrate on one target with them, I spread the wealth over the entire army all game. Not sure if that was a good decision or not.

In the end, I lost the assault squad and a handful of tactical marines, he was left with a few Firewarriors. Its always harder to pull a lesson from a win then a loss, but I think the lessons for this game was that assault troops need larger units, they need to be supported better, and that if a "tarpit" target like the kroot show their faces again, I need to maximise shooting on them, so they dont soak fire for the entire game.

Ill also try to get some pictures of the table after I get the other sheet of fabric.

Keith looks to be joining our campaign, so there are Orks inbound! Still not sure what day we are planning on playing, Mikie seems to want Mondays, but havnt heard what works for Keith.

I need to get around to making more terrain too...