I had a couple of great games last night at the Tuesday night club games with the IFL. I can only really count 1 of the games as Sean and I did not complete our game. The game that does tally into the army record was against Rush's Daemons of Khorne.
So, here is what I came to the table with:
@1750
HQ
Autarch (Mandiblasters, WJG, Power Weapon, Fusion Gun)
Farseer (Doom, Fortune, Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Spear)
Elite
6x Fire Dragons
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL SCan)
9x Banshees
w/ Banshee Exarch (Executioner, Warshout, Acrobatic)
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL SCan)
Troops
9x Dire Avengers
w/ Dire Avenger Exarch (Bladestorm, 2x Avenger SC)
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL Missile Launcher)
9x Dire Avengers
w/ Dire Avenger Exarch (Bladestorm, 2x Avenger SC)
w/ Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones, SCan, TL Brightlance)
3x Jetbikes
w/ 1x SCan
3x Jetbikes
w/ 1x SCan
Fast
6x Warpspiders
w/ Warp Spider Exarch (Withdraw, Powerblades, 2x Deathspinner)
Rush's Khorne list was along these lines:
2x Blood Thirsters
2x Soul Grinders
1 unit of flesh hounds (~5) plus Karanak
1 unit of flesh hounds (~6)
2 big units of Bloodletters (~16)
1 small unit of Bloodletters (~7?)
Record: 1-3-1
Our mission was Pitched Battle, Capture and Control. I gave him first turn started with the following on the table:
- Farseer + DA Squad in a Wave Serpent
- Banshees in a Wave Serpent
- 1x Bike Squad
I used my first turn to bring up my psychic powers (fortune) and push hard down the table toward Rush's objective. His Daemons were all on the board by turn 2, with the exception of 1 Blood Thirster.
Overall, I killed 1 Soul Grinder and both units of flesh hounds. I put a very small dent (2 guys) in one of the big units of bloodletters, and put 3 wounds on one of the Blood Thirsters. In return, Rush was able to kill my farseer, 1 DA squad, my banshees, both Bike Squads, my Autarch, my Fire Dragons, and my spiders. This was a tie due to my ability to turbo-boost my waveserpent plus DA in the final turn to contest one objective. The other objective was surrounded by 2 wave serpents, a Blood Thirster, and a Soul Grinder.
I find that I am having a very hard time cracking daemonic invuln saves. In addition, I notice that bladestorm and my banshee attack is very effective on a doomed squad, but not so effective otherwise. Now, some of this (at least in this game) may have to do with Rush's amazing ability to roll dice last night. It was almost like his dice were trying to make up with him after a fight based on the amounts of 5's and 6's he was gifted with. However, this can happen in any game and I am not happy with a tie because of strong dice rolling. My dice were not kind to me, but they were not entirely hating me either.
A couple items I realize I need to work on.
- I need to work on my Fire Dragon deployment. I am jumping out of the Serpent and shooting, which leaves me bunched up for a flamer template. They get great shots off then their dead.
- I am still not focusing fire correctly. I need to work on target prioritization and using the correct weapons for the correct job. In last nights game I should have focused the Dragons, BL, and Missiles on the Soul Grinders, and the remaining str 6 shots on the troops. My banshees and DA should have been able to handle the dogs without help from the tanks.
- My Maneuverability does not seem to be working as I expected. I need to figure out if this is incorrect expectations or a change vs Daemons or bad choices in leveraging my maneuverability.
Posts
Ah, daemons...one of the biggest dice-luck armies out there.
ReplyDeleteI think your points about concentrating fire are correct.
On Fire Dragons, though, if you're not just hopping out and shooting, you're running into the same potential problems that Banshees and other non-open-topped assault troops hit: you roll up into position, and the enemy KNOWS what's coming next turn. If they can move and spoil your shots, then you've just wasted a turn. I mean, rolling up on something like a Land Raider with a serpent full of dragons and waiting? First, he'll move the Land Raider away. Then, he'll light up the Serpent, hope to spill the Dragons, and then nuke the dragons. The alternative is just to throw 'em out there and let them do their job. They're more of your 'KILL IT NOW' button, and shouldn't have the sole job of killing tanks.
Regarding daemons and mobility...they've got excellent mobilty UNTIL they hit the table. Then it's just a matter of running away from them. If I were mostly-meched, I'd start out in the middle of my DZ. Let him land, and he's got options. He can spread out, in which case you pick which half you'll focus on, OR, he bunches up. If he bunches up, then you zoom away from him and plink him, prioritizing anything that can shoot.
With the Flesh Hounds and Bloodletters, everything was x8 or x16 (as it turns out, I shorted myself on a Flesh Hound, since that unit was 8 'Hounds + Karanak).
ReplyDeleteI've been very surprised with my games against you and another friend. I really expect to have a next to impossible time handling mechanized lists, *especially* Tau and Eldar.