With the Tabletop Tactics League underway, I've gotten my first two games in. A couple of other Dicks have also played, and some are even getting in games against non-Dick players. It's great to see people playing, and interesting to see how the League rankings look this early.
At time of writing, the number one spot in the League belongs to a player who has already played 9 games. There also appears to be quite a diverse selection of armies doing well. It will be interesting to see how things stand in a few months. Will participation have tailed off?
Game One - Dick Burton's Space Wolves
Space Wolves, Champions of Russ 2000 points
Arjac Rockfist
Canis Wolfborn, Warlord
Murderfang
Ragnar Blackmane
Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Thunderwolf, Relic Weapon, Storm Shield, Close Combat Weapon
Wolf Guard Pack Leader, Combi-Weapon, Power Weapon
Wolf Guard Pack Leader with Jump Pack, Combi-Weapon, Power Weapon
Wolf Guard Pack Leader with Jump Pack, Combi-Weapon, Thunder Hammer
10 Blood Claws, Power Fist, 2 Meltaguns
3 Bladeguard Veterans
5 Infiltrators, Helix Gauntlet, Infiltrator Comms Array
5 Skyclaws, Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, 2 Meltaguns
5 Skyclaws, Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, 2 Meltaguns
5 Wolf Guard Terminators, 2 Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Storm Shields, 2 Thunder Hammers, Assault Cannon, Power Fist
3 Thunderwolf Cavalry, Heirloom Weapons, Storm Shields
3 Thunderwolf Cavalry, Heirloom Weapons, Storm Shields
Predator Annihilator, Hunter Killer Missile, Storm Bolter, 2 Lascannons
Repulsor Executioner, Heavy Laser Destroyer, Icarus Rocket Pod, Ironhail Heavy Stubber
Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought, Fenrisian Great Axe, Blizzard Shield, Storm Bolter
Mark wants to stick to the spirit of things and give the Champions of Russ Detachment a whirl. This requires taking plenty of Characters and making certain decisions in order to complete the Sagas as he has done in his list. Often though, that means one saving throw can be the difference between a Character killing a target and the Bodyguard doing the job instead.
However, Mark's list is built well to just play a normal game of 40K and consider the Sagas as gravy. Decent ranged weapons on the armour, fast moving assault elements and Meltas to crack transports. The Infiltrators keep the home objective secure from Deep Strike.It's a solid looking list.
Our Mission was Crucible of Battle, Targets of Opportunity, and Purge the Foe. So, the Primary rewards us for killing units and holding objectives, while we have 3 cards for Secondaries each turn.
It was a hard fight, with some key saves on my part allowing me to run away with the Primary. Also sacrificing the Warp Hunter and the Wratihseer helped hold up a unit of Thunderwolves until late in the game. Mark did max his Secondaries, so he was a Battle Ready bonus away from a score in the mid 80s.
I learnt that 4 Wound models are actually quite annoying for my list to shift, as I have a lot of d6 or 2-3 Damage weapons. I was mostly able to keep away from the combat threats though, and brought the two tanks down in the first battle round.
Game Two - Dick Harris' Necrons
Necrons, Awakened Dynasty 1990 points
Chronomancer
Hexmark Destroyer
Orikan the Diviner
Overlord, Resurrection Orb, Veil of Darkness
Technomancer
Transcendant C'tan
10 Immortals, Tesla Carbines
10 Immortals, Tesla Carbines
10 Immortals, Gauss Blasters
Annihilation Barge, Gauss Cannon, Twin Tesla Destructor
5 Deathmarks
Doomsday Ark
Doomsday Ark
Monolith, Gauss Flux Arcs
George has played a lot of variations of Necrons over the years, and wanted to move away from Wraith blocks. He also wanted to try out a lesser run Detachment in the Awakened Dynasty and give Orikan a run out. The cherry on the list is the Monolith. Is it good?
Our mission was Dawn of War, Sweep and Clear, and Priority Targets. Objectives are sticky, allowing us a lot of freedom of movement and Priority Targets really rewards dominance in the end game. I chose Fixed Secondaries as an experiment for this one. I normally snap decide on Tactical, but with Necrons often being hard to shift I didn't want to risk having to have key units out of the fight to score points.
Five targets for Bring It Down, that all needed to be removed anyway, grants me a potential 16 points. The Six Characters, combined with a Stratagem to bring them back to life, gives me plenty of options for scoring, and again they will be leading units that need to be removed. The C'Tan serves double duty, scoring me both if it falls.
I was mostly able to pin the Necron's into their own half, which kept the Primary high for me. Again, this was aided by the Sweep and Clear rule. The Monolith did grab the Overlord and deposit him in position to score Deploy Teleport Homer. It also took me a couple of turns to destroy it, while suffering it's punishing firepower.
This did show me that I can struggle to shift large-ish units of decent infantry, without putting a tonne of resources into them. Especially with Reanimate. The Wraithblades also struggled against the Annihilation Barge. Their Strength 7 and Damage 2 aren't great for dealing with vehicles.
Going Forward
Two wins places me 53rd, at time of writing. Also, following the spirit of the rules, I am unable to make any changes to my list currently. I'm also happy with how the list performs'
However, the two Forge World units are on notice!
The Wraithseer costs the same as a Wraithlord, but trades the 2 Flamer and/or Shuriken Catapults for Destructor (a Heavy Flamer) and can only take 1 other weapon. The Lord also has better melee weapons. The Battleshock ability is quite niche, espcially compared to potentially gaining a Fate Die. When I get a loss, this is likely to be the first swap I make. Which is a shame, but it feels like the design rules disincentivise Forge World models for most factions.
The Warp Hunter is such a cool model. I love it. But, d3 shots isn't great, and Damage 3 makes it really unclear what the intended target is. I'm not sure what I would want in it's place though. 145 is a really awkward points value for Aeldari. Also, as I'm unclear as to the role this unit fulfills, I'm likewise unclear as to what needs to replace it.
The Scatter Laser Wave Serpent isn't enough shots to really hurt an Infantry unit. This should probably just be replaced with a Bright Lance for more consitancy in bringing down enemy armour.
The Wraithguard and Wraithblades have been illustrating why I was using units of ten. With only five in the unit, if the opponent engages them they do so seriously enough that the Spiritseer can never bring any back. This isn't a "bad" thing, just something I had noted a while ago and doesn't appear to have changed.
Everything else seems fine. Fuegan's flexibilty in Leading or not Leading is really good. Geoff is still Geoff. I'm happy with the majority of the list. It will be interesting to see if I feel the same way after picking up a couple of losses.
I can't wait to get some more games in, and continue to chart my progress. My wins have been really good, so I've got quite a buffer to keep my position strong, within my bracket. Still plenty of Dicks to play as well, before needing to either look for outside opponents or start having rematchs.
Are you playing in the League? How are your games going?
No comments:
Post a Comment