I played an 1850 point game with the new IG codex using my traitor guard last night against Big D’s chaos daemons. My list was the following:
1 command squad in chimera, with officer of fleet and master of ordnance.
1 platoon command with 2 meltas
2 vendettas, each deployed with a special squad within, each carrying a demo charge.
1 leman russ w/ lascannon
1 squadron containing an executioner tank w/ plasma sponsons, and a naked leman russ
1 basilisk
1 devil dog
2 IG squads w/ meltaguns, one with commissar
20 conscripts lead by a commissar lord with powerfist
7 psychic choir in a chimera
The daemon player was fielding:
3 units of 3 flamers of tzeentch
a flying daemon prince of slaanesh
a nugle daemon prince
a great unclean one
2 heralds of tzeentch
2 units of plague bearers
1 unit of bloodletters
2 units of 4 screamers of tzeentch.
1 unit horrors of tzeentch
We rolled for mission and selected the adepticon annihilation scenario. This means you are playing for KP, VP, and you are trying to elminate all of the opponents troops. We rolled to pick sides and I lost, meaning he made me go first to make me give up the first turn of shooting. In my deployment zone I had an area of difficult terrain to work with near a corner, and a small wood towards the middle of my long 12” deployment zone.
I deployed my basilisk in a corner of the board, hoping to make deep striking more difficult. I protected my exposed flank with the lone leman russ. The chimeras and vendetta were deployed in a long row between these pieces of armor. I elected to bring the squadron of tanks on from reserve. The plan was to bring these tanks onto the board in the midst of my line and lay waste to the closest troop threat. I deployed the conscripts about 4” deep in front of my line on one side, with half of them in the area terrain. I deployed the 2 melta squads in the same manner along the reverse with the other My goal was to put a buffer zone between my armor and the flamers of tzeentch that would be dropping in.
First Turn:
I sat where I was at, a happy turtle withth my deployment which denied a lot to the daemon player.
On the daemon players turn he rolled and got the correct portion of his force. He deepstruck in a squad of plague bearers toward the center of my mass (a hit). He also put a squad of horrors right next to them, hoping to clear out the troops protecting my armor (A hit on the scatter die). A unit of flamers scatterd just slightly (3”) away from my troops. The herald landed on my exposed flank, staring down the leman russ, and his greater unclean one scattered 9” putting him in cover and behind some large rock outcroppings toward the center of the board, right in front of my basilisk. A unit of screamers also landed partially obscured by a wood in the middle of the board.
He opened up with his horrors on my conscripts in cover, and 30 ish shots only caused 3 wounds. His flamers also performed similarly killing a couple of line troopers, due to their scatter.
Turn 2: My squadron rolled onto the board, and my troops surged forward ready to fire their lasguns for effect. 2 orders were given and the conscripts and foot troop squads received first rank fire, second rank. One of these units killed the flamers of tzeentch, and the other fire their weapons in a futile effort at the screamers of tzeentch. The herald was dealt a pair of wounds by a vendetta. The combined armored might decimated the squad of plague bearers, and left only one model standing at the end of the round – of course this was an icon of chaos. The horrors also were reduced down to about 5 models. It is worth noting at this point, that only one of 5 blasts from the executioner and leman russ landed on target!
Another unit of plague bearers landed front and center daring my to stop them, coupled with another unit of flamers. The officer of the fleet made it difficult to deep strike in reserves this turn. The greater unclean one lumbered towards my lines, and the horrors shot and then charge my conscripts in tandem with the last remaining plague bearer from the first squad. I lost the combat, but the commissar icy stares and threats of death held the conscripts in place. The Herald of Tzeentch fired all it had at troops and the side of my leman russ but only killed one or two IG. The flamers killed 5 models and shook my command chimera.
Turn 3: With the great unclean one drawing near, I turned my vendettas on him, but only caused a pair of wounds. The executioner tank, likewise performed poorly and only wounded him once. On this turn the armor killed the unit of flamers, and only slightly dented the large unit of plague bearers. My devil dog had yet to cause a single wound to its mark – the greater daemon. At the end of the turn, my conscripts and comissaar had carried the day finishing off the plague bearer and horrors of tzeentch
On the daemon turn, Big D all but ignored my officer of the fleet and on a 4+ brought in the following:
A unit of screamers, a unit of bloodletters, the pair of daemon princes, the last unit of flamers, and the last herald of chaos. This was all deployed within 6” of the icon of chaos in the large unit of plague bearers on the board. He ran with his models spreading them out. The flamers landed and fired on my platoon command, a vendetta and the devil dog. The soldiers survived, but the tank and vendetta was shaken. The plaguebearers assaulted my platoon command, the greater unclean one assaulted what was left of the conscripts and the herald on the flank assaulted my line of regular troopers to draw them away from their position and expose my line of tanks. Without surprise the comissaar lord and conscripts were killed to the man, along with the platoon command. However the troops and commissar were holding their own against the herald, wounding him and tieing the combat.
Turn 4:
I have a serious problem. A greater unclean one and a flying slaaneshi daemon prince near my squadron and basilisk. The nugle daemon prince is near the center of my line, by all my light tanks. There is a unit of flamers nearby, and a unit of screamers standing ready to assault my armor. There is a slightly spread out unit of bloodletters in the center of the board, and there plaguebearers about to charge my vendettas and lighter tanks.
My vendetta that is shaken moves 12” and drops its cargo near the blood letters trying to maneuver away from the looming threat. They use their demo charge but it scatters horribly off its mark. The other vendetta moves 12” over the heads of the blood letters and manages to put a wound on the greater daemon, and drops off its spec squad. They land their demo pack and remove 5 of the blood letters. Combined armored fire removes the plague bearers from play, and the tank squadron does its best to remove the greater daemon. Luckily the tanks find their mark and remove him. The screamers are killed by light tanks, and a single horror of tzeentch stands ready to flame my squadron. I move my basilisk forward 6” next to the daemon prince so that he will have to choose what to assault and cannot get my squadron and basilisk in one turn. My light tanks move away from the daemon prince near the center of the line, and my command squad is immobilized as it enters the woods – easy picking for the greater daemon. Again, my boys manage to wound the herald of tzeentch. He is holding on with his last wound. The plague bearers are left with 3 models at the end of the turns shooting.
Daemons: The bloodlletters make short work of a spec squad and try to damage the vendetta in a combined charge, but fail to glance. The herald in the center of the field kills the other spec squad and fails to glance the remaining skimmer. The daemon prince assaults and destroys the basilisk. The flamer flames both of my tanks in the squadron and immobilizes the executioner, immobilizing it which removes it from play. The other tank is stunned. The nurgle prince assaults my immobilized command squad chimera and wrecks it. My remaining 5 guardmen and commissar finally down the herald of tzeentch in close combat.
Turn 5: This could be the last turn. I want the bonus points for removing all the opponents troops and elites from play so I focus fire on them. My russ is going to be sacrificed as it cannot move or fire. The nurlge prince is standing next to my command tank waiting to assault the devil dog and psyker chimera next to it. My firing center on the plague bearers and the bloodletters which I manage to finish off completely, destroying all my opponents troops. I also manage to kill the last horror, killing off all his elites. My command squad that emergency disembarked gives orders to move, move, move the themselves and the remaining 5 man squad to get away from the prince and run for cover. The vendetta move away from remaining herald of tzeentch and out of his range, effectively leaving him high and dry and stranded away from the action. My devil dog moves to run along with my pskyer squad chimera and both are immobilized in the same wood! The most deadly wood ever known! The psykers get out and try to move away but don’t make it very far.
The daemon prince climbs over the wrecked tank and assaults my psykers and the chimera, destroying both. The other daemon prince destroys the remnant russ of the squadron of tanks, but he is now very far from the combat, which has flowed to the opposite side of the board. The herald moves across the table toward my troops in case there is another turn, on a 3+
Turn 6. My alive guardsmen continue to run from the combats. My vendetta fire their lascannons at the herald and wound him once. There is very little left on the board. My last remaining and healthy russ backs up and fires futilely at the prince.
The nurgle prince charges and destroys my remaining devil dog and the herald pop shots at my vendettas.
The results:
Objective 1: Kill Points: A tie! We both kill 12 KP worth of enemy units.
Objective 2: Victory Points: The guard win this objective, having destroyed about 300 vp more.
Objective 3: Kill all troops. The guard gets this objective, and the daemons just miss it due to the brave squad lead by the commissar that felled the herald in CC.
Bonus ponkts:
Kill all elites: Guard and Daemons
Kill all heavies: Neither Army
Kill all fast attack. Guard and Daemons
Results: A 12 to 8 win for guardsmen!
Analysis: I am not sure that my command section is necessary. I was very underwhelmed with the master of ordnance when I was abile to fire him twice, and the officer of fleet made only a slight impact but wasn’t very noticeable. I am closer to a mech army, so I may try playing without a company command squad as its quite a point sink in my list. I really don’t know that I would miss the orders since the commissars hold my units in place. The platoon squad leader can still give first rank fire, second rank so I am just not sure.
I rolled pretty badly on scatter and this is the first game the executioner didn’t perform admirably. The psychic choir didn’t do so hot either, but again the whole list I was playing against was fearless. Against non tyranids and daemons, they are just too sweet to not have in the list.
The vendettas are fun, but I run into the same conundrum I have with land raiders. Do I move them or shoot with them? I want to move as fast as a I can and I still want to fire all its weapons.
I also have a lot of light cleanup weapons in the form of heavy bolters and multilasers on my light tanks, but it didn’t seem like it was enough to mow down squad remnants and deal with the daemonzilla list. Maybe I should squeeze in some more of these?
What do you think?