Well the picture above is not of the army list I used this week, but it is in fact of the army I took to the Doubles Tournament back in January. You can find the list I used here... and at some point I will dig out the other pictues I took. Camera problems are always fun.
I managed a game this week. First one in a while and it was against Tom's Space Puppies. While the game for them started with a chorus of Puppy Power yells from the assorted Space Wolves hiding in Landraiders it was a very good game for me, fun and exciting with a good share of good and bad luck on both sides.
The game ended up lasting 5 turns, and i was done massive favours by Tom making me setup first, and the thankfully failing to steal the initative. This meant I had a turn of fun with his tanks, Stunning his Razorback and Landraider, and killing his Landraider Redeemer!
The first turn really is what did it for me, but I was also helped on the last turn by him failing 2 out of 3 armour saves on his two Longfangs. They had charged one of my guard squads on an objective, and if they had even 1 pass then I would have either run away or ended up with Objective contested.
All in all a good game. I then saw three different BA players, and while I didnt actually see any of the games the list that scared me the most was the one with the two Whirldwinds and two Baal Predators, but that could be something to do with the 80+ men that my army had.
So... looking back the game highlighted a couple of weaknesses in my army.
None of the Imperial Guardsmen can stand upto even small units of men charging them... and I mean the Rune Priest, and Long Fang squad accounted for around 35(ish) guardsmen.
The Rune Priest charged a 10 man squad (which were in cover) and wiped them out in one round of combat, my guardsmen inflicted 0 wounds on him. He then did the same thing a turn later, and again 0 wounds inflicted. Bad luck on my part...maybe, but given that I know I want some of my squads to get in the enemies face I am thinking that a power weapon may not be a bad investment for this army.
The long fangs also took out a command squad, a partial guard squad and gave a damn good go at wiping out another 10 man squad. A power weapon anywhere along the line could have helped immensely.
The other problem I had was with Two Landraiders and an Vindicator. As much as I love the Lascannon it does (sometimes) struggle to deal with AV14, and the Demolishers had a lot of fun Targeting the Marines. So I am thinking that Dropping the Valkyrie for another Vendetta will help out against Landraiders, and Mech in general. With two of them it is yet more targets for the enemy to focus on, needing to take out as many as possible.
I also really liked how the Demolisher performed, and I want to rejig the list to fit in a second, and still keep the Leman Russ, with 3 tanks capable of inflicting a lot of hurt of the enemy and two Vendettas that should spread the enemies firepower a bit thin, it will however mean Losing some of my Troop choices, and will also up the Kill Points the army has on offer.
So I now offer you (my valued reader) and my opponents a chance to see the two possible lists I intend to take to the store next week, bearing in mind I will more than likely be actually facing some Blood Angels this time.
This doesnt have all of the things mentioned above (mainly no third tank) but does have a few extra bits I want to try out.
HQ:
Company Command Squad: Lord Castellan Creed, Officer of the Fleet, Vox Caster, 3 x Sniper Rifles.
Troops:
1st Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad: Vox Caster, 3 x Flamers
Infantry Squad: Vox Caster, Rocket Launcher
Infantry Squad: Vox Caster, Rocket Launcher
Infantry Squad: Vox Caster, Rocket Launcher
Heavy Weapons Squad: 3 Lascannons
Heavy Weapons Squad: 3 Rocket Launchers
2nd Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad: Vox Caster, 2 x Meltaguns, Flamer, Commissar with Power Fist
Infantry Squad: Sergeant with Power Sword, Vox Caster, Commissar with Power Weapon
Infantry Squad
Fast Attack:
Vendetta
Vendetta
Heavy Support:
Leman Russ: Heavy Bolter
Leman Russ Demolisher: Heavy Bolter
Total: 1500 Points
The list above offers more Anti Mech, and these things wont go amiss against Marines either (of any flavour). The extra orders of Creed are currently too good to give up, add into that the extra range as well, and his own special order he is a good deal.
His extra order, the ability to grant Furious Charge and Fearless to units of Guardsmen should work well with the two Combat units of Guardsmen that I have. Against an army of Deep Striking Drop Pods I will have two passable counter charge units. If the enemy doesnt have enough drop pods for me to feel the need to hold them back, then these units get to ride in the Vendettas for the Scout move, and with Luck a charge on turn 1...depending on how brave I am feeling with my men.
This second list, doesnt have any real potential in close combat (although with Gaurdsmen do you ever?) but does have a bit of better objective grabbing potential.
HQ:
Company Command Squad; Vox Caster, 3 x Sniper Rifle, Officer of the Fleet
Troops:
1st Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad: Vox Caster, 3 Flamers
Infantry Squad: Vox Caster
Infantry Squad: Vox Caster
Infantry Squad: Vox Caster
Heavy Weapons Squad: 3 Lascannons
2nd Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad; 4 Flamers
Infantry Squad
Infantry Squad
Fast Attack
Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta
Heavy Support
Leman Russ Battle Tank: Heavy Bolter Sponsors, Heavy Bolter
Leman Russ Demolisher: Heavy Bolter Sponsors, Heavy Bolter
Leman Russ Demolisher: Heavy Bolter
Total: 1500 Points
This list is more about overwhelming my enemies. I havent really dropped the number of models in my army, just shifted where the firepower is. There will now be 7 targets on the table top that the enemy will need to destroy to stop me from taking out their armour.
The Vendettas should all have their cover save on the first turn, as their scout move is always going to be 24" (we play this to mean they get the Cover save for going fast), and they will then be in prime positions to do damage.
The three Leman Russes are pretty damn hard to kill (unless you're looking down the sight of a Railgun) and should be able to asorb a bit of shooting.
I still have lots of men for objective grabbing, so will need to see what I feel upto and which list I decide to try.
As usual, any comments and suggestions are welcome.
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