Raven Guard vs White Scars

This one happened a few days before the Wira Cup. We both were using our tournament list, so I agreed to delay my battle report until the tournament was over. 

It was a much needed practice for us both. I actually asked the guy for a WFB match, but my opponent (who like me, also prefer WFB compare to 40k) was in dire need of 40k game to familiarize with the 40k rules before the tourney. Turned out it he did a few mistakes in his army build that would be quite troublesome if were  only found out on the tourney day.

His army was the new Anvil Strike Force from the Angel of Death book.

1 Techmarine with Servitors
3 units of 1 Vindicators
1 Land Speeder with 2 Heavy Flamers
1 Thunderfire Cannon
LR Crusaders (LR Spearhead)
Imperial Knight Errant

Mission : Scouring
Deployment : Hammer and Anvil.

White Scars (WS) deployed everything forward. I reacted by deploying far away from the Vindicators. Centurions would dealt with the Land Raider Crusaders (LRC) while the Devastator Squad took position on the ruin to the left with my Shadow Captain. 2 Sniper Squads infiltrated at the middle of table.

Deployment

First Turn. Vindicators combine shot into one big Apocalypse Megablast at  S10 AP1 Ignores Cover. They targeted the Snipers near the ruins, scattered 4 inches and wipedout both the Snipers and Centurions unit. What a devastating first shot. Thunderfire Cannon and Imperial Knight (IK) targeted the Devastators, killed my Captain (First Blood and Slay The Warlord) and 2 Marines. The LRCs targeted my Snipers at the center, killing one guy.

Raven Guard's (RG) Alpha Strike wasn't so great. Two Tactical Squads dropped near the Vindicators but failed to destroyed any (even with Tactical Doctrine in effect), causing only one immobilized result to the rear most Vindi. Typhoon Speeders swerved to the right and targeted the Vindis, but my armour penetration sucks this round. The rest focused on the IK but it survived.

Turn 2. Techmarines repaired the Imobilised Vindicator. They moved forward and shot the Apocalypse Megablast, this time to the 3 man Devastators. It wipedout the unit and destroyed a Razorback that was parked nearby. The IK came closer and shot the Melta Cannon. It destroyed one Razorback and Weapon destroyed another. Land Speeder went after my Tactical Squad at the rear and burned 3 marines to crisp.

It was now that we realized my friend has been playing the Vindicators wrongly. The Apocalypse Megablast can only be used if the Vindicators formed a squadron. But my opponent took them in three (3) seperate units to fill the requirement of Armoured Task Force formation. Dont want to restart the game, we decided that the only kill that count was the Sniper unit, and returned the 3 Devastators, Razorback and the Centurions back where they were before.

Scouts with shotguns came from the enemy right flank. Together with Sniper team, they took out the Land Speeder. Devastators destroyed one Vindicator and the Typhoon Speeder destroyed the Demolisher Cannon of another. Centurions claimed 3 Hull Points from the closest LRCs, immobilising it.

Turn 3. Techmarine and retinue disembarked to repair the front most Vindicator but the attempt failed. 2 LRCs targeted the Centurions, killed 2 and left the last one with 1 wound. The last Vindicator killed 3 Tactical Marines.

The last Centurion wrecked the Immobilised LRC. Razorbacks focussed on the IK but it survived with 3/4 hull points. My Dreadnought dropped behind one of the LRC, shoot Multimelta at point blank range and ... missed! One Tactical Squad disembarked near the tower in the middle to deal with the Techmarine, which they slain without any trouble.

Thing were looking quite even at this moment. IK getting closer!

Turn 4. The front most LRC killed the last Centurion and took out one Hull Point from one of the Typhoon. The LRC at the rear turned and shoot the Dread with Assault cannon but nothing happened. IK move into combat, killed 3 marines and sent the other two running. TFC wipedout the Tactical Squad that killed their Techmarine.

In my turn, Dreadnought moved closer to the LRC and this time the Multimelta didn't missed. It penetrated the armour and the LR exploded. Tacticals and Razorback surrounded the IK and destroyed it with Plasmaguns and Lasscannons.

By this time I controlled 5 Objectives againts my opponent 0. Seeing that he can't do anything to change the result, my opponent conceded.

Result : Raven Guard won!

It was a fun game. My opponent's army list was tough. Though I think it would be so much better if he used Iron Hands Chapter Tactics instead of the White Scars.

It was a very important game for us both. To relearn the 40k rules and tactics. For me, this was the 1st time I brought out my Gladius Strike Force since right after the Kauyon release (Okt/Nov 2015?). As for my opponent, this was his first attempt at playing the Anvil Strike Force. We both must have gained a lot from this encounter since we ended up placing quite well, 3rd (my opponent) and 4th (me) in the Wira Cup.

That is all for today. I hope you guys enjoyed the batrep. Till next time, have a nice day.

Regards,

-AK-

I'm Back!! And It's Time For a Tourney Report!

A few more days and it would be two years since my last post. So many things happened uncharted in the past two years. I had the fun of my life during End Times until they decided to kill WFB entirely. 8th Ed is the best game system for fantasy battles and we still play it to this day.

The coming of Age of Sigmar was pretty much confusing for us all. The absence of points is the biggest let down. Fail GW.. a huge fail. Still we pushed for it, tried all kinds of format before finally settled down with the South Coast Grand Tournament (SCGT). All the while keeping our hope high for GW to mend their mistakes. Alas, our prayers were answered, and here we are waiting anxiously for the new way to play AoS. Please god let it be good.

Been doing WFB and AoS on most hobby nights, my 40k armies were mostly left to dust and my skills went a bit dull. Still, my World Eaters managed to get 3rd place in the Wira Cup 2015. My one lost in the tournament was in the first game (out of four) because I forgotten how the Relic Mission worked :lol: I did won Best Painted though and it was what I actually aimed for in that tourney. Mission accomplished. 

Last Sunday was Wira Cup 2016 and this time I brought my Raven Guard. My aim was again, the Best Painted. I didn't expect to place high in the ranking because (thanks to the Renegade box) there was so many Imperial Knights this time around. Been doing so minimal 40k, I'm sure lacking the experience to go against GMC or SHV. I didn't took much pictures, but got one of each rounds, enough for a simple report. 

WIRA CUP 2016

My Army..

RG Gladius Strike Force with Company Support

2x Battle Demi Co.
Captain - Armour of Shadows, TH&SS, Jumpack
Chaplain - Raven's Fury
Dreadnought - Multimelta, HeavyFlamer in Drop Pod (Deathwind)
2x 5 Tacticals - Meltagun, CombiMelta in Drop Pods (Deathwind)
4x 5 Tacticals - Plasmagun, CombiPlasma in Razorbacks (2 LasPlas, 2 TwinLas)
2x 1 Typhoon Speeder
3 Centurions - Gravcannons, Hurricane Bolters
5 Devastators - 4 Lascannons in Razorback (LasPlas)

10th Co. Task Force
2x 5 Snipers - Camo, HBolter
5 Scouts - Shotguns

*******************

1st Game : Modified Crusade (5 Objectives)
Opponent : Dark Eldar Venom Spam

It was a bad match up for my opponent. He went first, but there's nothing much he can do against my marines. Splinter weapons couldn't harm my vehicles while Shrouding denied him easy kill. Came my turn I crippled almost his entire army and that sealed everything for him.

Scene from RG first turn 

His formation of 4 Razorwing Jetfighters came in on turn 3, but it was too late. There's nothing they could do to change the situation. Raven Guard won.

*******************

2nd Game : Modified Big Guns Never Tire (3 Objectives)
Opponent : Chaos Space Marines - Triple Chaos Knights and Invisible Bikers

Top Scorer in the first round, I was matched against another top scorer. There was two (2) Secondary Objectives in each round, and the two in this round greatly favored my opponent. For each Troop and Heavy Support he destroyed, my opponent will get 2 VPs. There's just so many easy VPs in my list. How I wished I met the dark Eldar player in this round instead of the first :lol:

Just before the first blow

I made huge mistakes here - forgot to deploy the Centurions and the Devastators. Not that it would change the result because of the VP conditions, but at least I could've taken out a Knight or two. My opponent Seized The Initiative and start collecting points by destroying my troops. Damn I hate Knights. No need for tactics, just move forward, shoot and boom.

To prevent greater loss, i sent my drop troops behind the line to kill his Cultists, gain points myself and captured the enemy objective.  That forced him to pull back his Knights and bikers to guard his own objective. But still huge loss to Raven Guard in VPs.

*******************

3rd Game : Relic
Opponent : Dark Angels - Double Demi with Darkshroud

This is one opponent I looked forward to. I simply love battles between infantries where tactical maneuvers matters. Going first, I sent some units to the centre for the Relic early on. My attack came from the front and both flanks, pinning the Angels in place with the help of those two long walls.

Traffic jam in the 41st millenium

But it was no way an easy fight. Each time I got hold of the Relic, my opponent successfully destroyed that unit. We both lost our leaders and failed to capture the Relic. However the Raven Guard controlled the game and achieved more Secondary Objectives. Raven Guard won.

*******************

4th Game : Emperor's Will
Opponent : Space Wolves - TWC and Rune Council

The last battle was against my good friend the mighty wolflord. His army was a scary one. 2 TWC unit with Veil of Time and the uber Tempest psychic power.

Raven Guard's initial attack was a success, destroyed 2 Rhinos and a Predator. Deathwind missiles rained down on the passengers killing half of a Grey Hunters pack.

The wolves replied with Mighty Tempest spell causing 6D6 S7 shots which took out the Centurions and Chaplain in a single round of shooting. The TWC moved forward, going after my home objective. But heavy casualties on their base forced them to pull back to support their rear and reclaimed the home objective.

Of Wolves And Ravens

Alone, my Captain made a brave attempt towards the enemy. He killed the last 4 remaining Grey Hunters and captured the enemy objective. The game ended halfway in Game Turn 3. I was lucky to get his objective just before the final whistle blew. Raven Guard won.

*******************

Final Result : 
Champion was 3 Imperial Knight (3+ invulnerable) formation with Eldar Wraithknight.
2nd place was my second opponent with his 3 Knights.
3rd placing was a SM Armoured Might Detachment with Imperial Knight.
4th place was my Raven Guard Gladius Strike Force. Not bad lah :)

Sadly, I didn't get what I came here for. The Best Painted army went to this superb looking Tau army (and damn scary too hahaha). No regret, got to try harder next time.

Best Painted army

That's all folks. Two years is a long time. So many things to say but I guess that better be the next time.

Thanks for reading. Cheers

-AK-