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That's right, Today I'm 24 and last night I had my last game as a 23year old. Here goes...

I dropped by my old gaming club last night (now they have re-opened), to see how everyone is doing, and was asked to game so I grabbed my Marines and scribbled out a short 1500point list.

RG Successor (my force)

Jump Chappy w/ Digi Weapons
Jump Captain w/ Twin LC's

Dreadnought w/ MM & DCCW and Pod
Dreadnought w/ Twin HF & DCCW
Sternguard w/ CombiMelta

Tactical Squad (10) w/ Flamer, ML, Power Fist and Rhino
Tactical Squad (10) w/ Flamer, ML, Power Fist and Rhino
Scout Squad (10) w/ Snipers and HB

Assault Squad (10) w/ 2xFlamers and Power Fist

There was no real plan initially. I had to grab what I had with me and make do. I hoped and prayed the guy has Orks or something similar, as all those flamers would have really been useful, however it was not to be and he pulled out a box full of Imp. Fists Marines =(

Imperial Fists

Master w/ Arti-Armour, Iron Halo, Storm Bolter and Power Weapon

Terminator Squad
Assault Terminator Squad
Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Las & ML

Tactical Squad (10) w/ Flamer
Tactical Squad (5) w/ Flamer
Tactical Squad (5) w/ Missile Launcher
Tactical Squad (5)
Scout Squad w/ Snipers
Scout Squad w/ BP and CCW's

Land Speeder w/ MM

Predator Annihilator w/ Las sponsons & HK


With a shake of his fist at my Codex, he pulled out the 4th Edition Codex, stating he much preferred the old one and wont be switching to the new one any time soon. So, it was a battle between old and new Marines!

We rolled a Seize Ground mission with Pitched Battle deployment. I won the initiative and elected to go second so I could observe his deployment. Objectives were one per deployment zone, and two in the centre of the board.

He put his snipers in cover at the very back left of his deployment zone with a Predator and Tactical squad nearby, his Terminators and Master in the middle with the ML Tacticals right behind on a hill, just to the right was his Dreadnought, sat in the open looking far too yellow, and the other two tactical squads to the far right, the smaller of the two were left to camp his objective there on the right.

I deployed, putting my Flamer Dread towards the center of my deployment zone in cover. Off to the left, I combat-squadded my two Tactical squads and embarked the Sarge/Flamer half in the rhinos while the two ML combat squads camped in cover, one on the home objective. On the right I deployed my Sternguard with the ASM/Chappy/Captain monster unit right behind them. I noticed he'd kept a Termie squad and scout squad in reserve, so I kept my scouts in reserve - a decision I later regretted, however the plan there was to abuse the law of averages and try and bring my outflanking scouts in behind his outflank if possible, or go for the objective in his deployment zone if not.

Turn 1, he went first, moving his Master and Termines forward and tucked them into cover yet did not attach the Master to them! His 10man Tactical squad moved down the right towards my mass of ASM's, while on the left he moved his other tactical squad forward. His Dreadnought moved forward a little, then fired everything at my Flamer Dread, failing to scratch it, followed by his Pred unleashing its HK and full Las barrage, eventually falling and going pop without harming anything nearby.

My turn 1, my Pod came down with only 2 inch scatter, Assault Marines, Sternguard and Rhinos moved forward. Shooting, one ML combat squad had LoS to his Master but failed to even hit him, while the other put a Frag on the far left Tactical squad and caused a wound. Sternguard fired at the Termies but did nothing at such long range, while the MM Dread fired into the side armour of the Pred, immobilising it but nothing else.

Turn 2, he rolled for his scouts who turned up on my left, while his assault Termie squad didn't arrive. His CC scouts moved to my ML Combat squad, his Termies, Speeder and big Tactical unit moved further towards my ASM advance while the rest of his army worried about my Dread. Shooting, my MM Dread survived 10 rapid firing bolters to the rear, 5 sniper shots to the rear, two Krak Missiles to the front, and two Las to the front, before falling to a Las to the side armour from his Dreadnought, which exploded and landed 3 wounds on those rapid-firing Tacticals right behind it, though their armour saved them all. His Termies fired at my Sternguard, killing two while the Tactical squad unleashed on my ASM's and only managed to write their name in the dirt with bolter shots.

My turn 2, the ASM monster mash moved into CC range of his Tacticals and Speeder, while my Sternguard moved up a little closer too. Rhinos rushed the left hand side and men dived out bolters ready. In shooting my ML combat squad with LoS to his Master tried again, this time hitting him but he saved it (grrr). The other ML combat squad being rushed by the CC scouts fired everything and failed to kill a single scout. The two combat squads in rhinos took turns in roasting the Fists combat squad on the far left, killing three. The Pod killed another with a well placed Stormbolter shot. Back to the right of the board, I unleashed hell with bolt pistols and flamers on that tactical squad, killing two, while the Sternguard again achieved nothing. Assaulting, I moved my ASM's in such that my Captain and Chappy were the first into the Tacticals, with everyone else piling in behind in such a way that the Sarge with Fist was within 1inch of the Speeder. The fist went first (as a seperate combat) and levelled the Speeder in one swing, wrecking it. The Captain then threw his LC's around, combined with re-rolls to hit and wound he scored 5 wounds, while the Chaplain scored 3 and the rest of the men finishing the whole tactical unit off without taking a single wound.

Turn 3 started and it was getting close to kicking-out time, so we had to rush this a bit.
His men pretty much stood their ground and fired. He tried to get his CC Termies in, but they still didn't want to show. The Pred achieved an Immobilised result on the Pod - why he shot that I don't know, but that was that. His Dreadnought turned and fired on my Sternguard and missed, his captain fired at one of my ML combat squads and missed. His snipers hit three times but failed to wound. His remaining Tactical squads on the centre/right unleashed on my ASM's, killing one between them, while his Termies opened fire, killing another two. He fired and then charged his CC scouts in, killing a grand total of 1 Marine. The painful part was I only killed 1 as well, leaving us tied in combat.

My turn 3, and we realised we had to finish after this turn, so I made it quick. I moved the ASM's to assault range of his Termies and ensured my Fist would reach his Dreadnought, while the Sternguard moved forward again. My Scouts arrived on the right hand side of the board, so i brought them in as close to his objective as I could. My Tacticals on the left moved to engage his scouts and contest the objective there from the last remaining Fists Marine while one Rhino pulled a Tank Shock on his Master which achieved nothing. Shooting, my two Tactical combat squads on the left opened up, killing 2 scouts and that last marine leaving my men on that objective, while the un-engaged ML Combat squad again failed to kill his Master. My fresh scouts threw boltpistol rounds at the Tactical unit camping his home objective, killing two, while my ASM's shot everything they had at the Termies, killing two as well! We went to the combat with my ML combat squad first, where both sides lost another model and remained locked just outside of the objective there which was declared open. One of my combat squads charged his sniper scouts, killing another two but failing to break the last man. The ASM monster unit charged the Termies and Dreadnought. The Fist punched a hole in the dreadnought and immobilised it, while the Captain and Chappy landed a total of 7 power weapon wounds that he couldn't save with 5+'s. Consolidating, i pulled my ASM's to just within 3inch of the right hand objective, and that was the game.

At the end of the 3rd turn ->
I had 7 ASM's, Captain and Chaplain unharmed. 12 Tactical Marines, 3 Sternguard and 2 Rhinos.
He had 3 CC scouts, 2 Sniper scouts, 9 Tactical Marines, Master, Immobilised Dread and Pred.

Objectives ->
I held 2
He held 1
1 was left open

Victory to me.

This game was by far the slowest game I've played in a long time. We had two hours to play 1500points, yet it took him an 50 minutes to make his first turn! The guy also made some terrible choices which at times scared me, like shooting his Las Pred at my Pod. It was less of a threat than the dozen ASM's to which it also had LoS to!

Unit Aces - My ASM's. Yes, I admit I had 500points in 12 men, but when they got going they really got going and nothing could stop them. Had we played to turn 6, they'd have killed his last tactical marines, finished his Dread and maybe even his Pred.

Wooden Spoon - My Flamer Dread. I knew it was going to take lots of fire and after seeing the amount of las and ML's in his list, it wasn't going to take long to kill any armour. What I needed was my Rhinos alive long enough to delivery their payload, so the 100point sacrifice was worth it

What I should have done -
Infiltrate those snipers onto the centre-right objective, giving my ASM's some more covering fire, perhaps killing a few of those Termies. Also, I probably should have kept the Flamer Dread with the Rhinos instead of running it out into the open, however it still did its purpose.

Anyways, it was another win to notch on my belt and another great year of my life behind me!

CR

Nice game from your side CR! It seems to me that if you'd played the rest of the rounds you'd still have won. If I got that right, the guy didn't have his commander attached to a unit .

Oh, Happy Birthday ofcourse !

Thanks,

Yea, he didnt attach his commander to a unit all game. I was shocked and stunned by it. He also tried shooting 'just' my chaplain while the chaplain was attached to the assault marines - that was a good use of 10 minutes finding the rules and letting him read them... *Sigh* I was quite shocked by his lack of rules knowledge, considering this chap has apparently been playing for the last decade, owns just under half of the ultramarines chapter in models and plays three times a week. This is possibly why it took 2 hours to do 3 turns =(

I have a friend with a kinda like problem too (perhaps more severe). He never remembers on what roll his marines hit, bolter's strength e.t.c. This is why our average 1750 points games take more than 4,5 hours. oh, and I play vs him today.

Well played !

Your ASM squad is pretty scary with the chaplain too

About this :
"My turn 1, my Pod came down with only 2 inch scatter, Assault Marines, Sternguard and Rhinos moved forward. Shooting, one ML combat squad had LoS to his Master but failed to even hit him, while the other put a Frag on the far left Tactical squad and caused a wound. Sternguard fired at the Termies but did nothing at such long range, while the MM Dread fired into the side armour of the Pred, immobilising it but nothing else."

I think this part show the potential of sternguard vs an AT dread.

Drop podded Stern with 3 combi-meltas and a Heavy Flamer are 185.
A Drop pod Dread with Melta and heavy flamer is 150.

You can even remove the heavy flamer, but it's fun to open those rhino and flame the payload

Sure, the sterns are more fragile, but if you want to be sure to remove a tank, I'd go for them.
One melta shot is just not enough, I think.
You probably would have lost them after, but the opponent is distracted from your main force that assault in this time.

That being said, if you want a more durable solution, and you can handle doing nothing to the tank, go for Dreads.

I find sterns at long range to be inefficient most of time. Nothing like short range meltas shots, or rapid hellfire shots.

Good game anyway, and good birthday !

Yup Happy Birthday *refrains from singing the whole song*

I must admit, not having a go at your opponent, but choosing a fourth edition codex is possibly one of the most perplexing things i've heard, i don't know but to me it doesn't really make sense but like i say that might just be me.

Nice win though, i don't think he could have pulled it back if you did play on.

still think the dread stern argument will continue forever, but they both are big distractions and the dread is cheaper. Hell just go crazy and throw some LotD in :P

Congrats again CR

Happy birthday CR!

sounds like a fun, albiet slow game. good job.



as far as the dread/stern argument, i think alot of it is the cost of the dread, your opponents setup and whether or not you play with vulkan. As a vulkan player, im *much* more temped to let a lone dread do its job. As a non vulkan player, i think mass Melta fire is more important. Ive always preached redundancy for a reason

but that is off topic. back on topic, did you ask the player to read the rules before he played his next game?

too bad you didnt have access to a pod for that flamer dread!

mm... burnt scouts...

Hey guys, thanks for the support there =)

Yea, the limit on what I was carrying really threw me. Had I had another two pods with me, Sterns and Dread would have turned up turn 1 for more impact, at the expense of some scouts (who did almost nothing anyway!).

I did tell him I was shocked he didnt know these rules, but it's not like I play at that club often right now anyway. Never mind...


Honestly, my list was far from decent. Total lack of melta/plasma/las, only 4 heavy weapons in the whole army - hardly ideal! I made do with what I had and had fun, which is the priority =)

Righto, I'd best head off home and grab a shower before the ritual card opening session!

CR

haha enjoy it, your only 6101 days old once

the year in the UK has less days than we have in continental europe?

Would assume hes over 8k days " old ".
So welcome to the old men..

PS: Happy b-day WRCR

knew their was a reason i flunked A-Level maths

Sorry WRCR for accidentally missing out 2300 days of your life i admit that was a pretty big mistake

Happy Birthday CR...enjoy your twenties while you can before you get old...

(Is secretly dreading his 20th birthday...only 1 month 3 days to go...eep!)

Hey CR Happy birthday man!

Haha, hey man its OK! When your 757,468,800+ seconds old, you get used to it! =) I'll still get ID'd to buy alcohol, so you can still laugh at me

Thanks again all.


CR

Happy Birthday

Good Game, i hope you showed him that getting with the times might be good for him.

The old marines codex, just can't compare to the new one. Recently, i tried adapting my 4th Ed RG list to 5th ed and found that i had enough points to add on MORE units!