2002 Calgary Grand Tournament Diary Entry Three
Another night, another hastily written battle report. Also another victory (we didn't actually total everything up, it was close but I was deemed the winner) for the forces of truth, justice, and, err... I mean disease, decay, and death. We played Battle four: Last Stand, I'm conspiring to have a fair amount, especially for me of support in the hopes of being the defender in this mission, and I defended against the Necrons.
I'm not so sure it is an advantage to be the defender though, you have to set up first and likely go last. However it fits my armies theme better, if someone wants to take my deployment zone they'll have to "bring the pain" as Method Man would say. Though I had less Plague Marines then usual and less then I'll have in Calgary, it still takes some effort to kill them all either through shooting or through H2H.
I am not an expert in Necrons, but I've played Thor twice and his army consisted of 3 big squads of Necrons, a Lord with a big stick, two squads of Immortals, one of Destroyers, one of Scarabs and two Tomb Spiders. The Immortals had pretty much free rain, but the Destroyers, flying and shooting 30" inches are a real pain. They have more range then bolters so I didn't get a shot at them all game. My forces were as follows:
- Slim, Deamon Prince of Nurgle 130pts
- George, Great Unclean One 80pts
- George Jrs 7 * Nurglings 63pts
- Green II, 7 * Plague Marines in Rhino 281pts
- The Beast Rabaan, Dreadnought 122pts
- The Sickly Pig, Predator 150pts
- Green III, 7 * Plague Marines in Rhino 224pts
- Jaundice Squad, 7 * Plague Marine Havocs 189pts
- Diarrhoea Squad, 7 * Plague Marines 150pts
- Neatherworldly Mathematicians, 10 * Plaguebearers 150pts
- The Burning Sores, 7 * Plague Marines 149pts
It was only 1688pts but I didn't care, it wasn't what I planned to take to Calgary, but it had George, plus Nurglings and Plaguebearers which I didn't use the game before. I also kept the Havocs which caused much fear in Thor. I haven't had too much success with that squad but it draws a lot of enemy fire.
My deployment
I hardly took any photos and didn't do much of a job of it, I even forgot how to disable my flash for a minute...
The game went as follows, Thor's shooting was much more effective then mine, especially on the left flank. From the first turn onward the Destroyers poured down fire on the Predator and Havocs. The Predator never got to fire a shot, by the end of the game it was immobile with no guns but it wasn't officially destroyed, no sixes on the glancing hit chart.
The Rhino's did not fare too well, though they did delivered their payloads. I bought those squads Blight Grenades, I don't get enough use of them for the 42 points. I used to buy an aspiring champion Blight Grenades now and then, but that was when I paid for aspiring champions with Marks of Nurgle, now I like my champions cheap so when George engulfs one it isn't that big of loss. The Dreadnought still proved unstable, but it's mobility and ability to paste people in H2H was of use. It bludgeoned a Tomb Spider plus a few Necrons and gunned down a few more, the Heavy Flamer never got in range. This was a good thing as it meant no Necrons got into my deployment zone at least not without being engaged in H2H right quick.
Slim continued to roll like crap. I've vowed to pay five points for spiky bitz, damn I just realized he can't have them as he's a Deamon lord, he'd be twice as effective rerolling misses in H2H. I'm still taking him for looks alone. Also his mobility is going to pay off. I remembered why I paid 25pts for a Plaguesword, while fighting Scarabs I was able to paste them with no saves and instant kills galore, it still took him and Diarrhoea four turns to wipe them all out. I'm looking at the rules more carefully and because he is a monstrous creature he already ignores saves. So few things have multiple wounds I'm thinking about ditching the Plaguesword, thoughts of flying and vomiting are rising up. Nurgle's Rot would have been huge in the last two games as he was always getting surrounded... So little time to make up my mind.
George did nothing, that is the problem with him, he possessed the Havoc champion so had to climb down then crawl forward only to get gunned down by mass guass fire from Immortals and Destroyers. The Nurglings did nothing if I left them both at home I could afford another squad but they add character and George can do damage in the right situation.
The combined charge of two Plague Marine squads, the Plaguebearers, and a little help from the Dread saved the day. They whipped out two squads of Necrons in H2H even managed to kill the lord despite his magic stick. The Necron lord has low iniative so a mass of iniative four guys can defeat him through weight of numbers, but I still bet the Necron lord killed more then enough models to pay for himself, probably twice over at least. Ideally I would like to get some lascannons locked on to him, I hit him once or twice with Autocannons but he got his save against those and it wouldn't have instant killed anyway.
What I learned from this game:
- With my luck, Slim needs help. He does not kill enough to pay for himself, I could swap the Plaguesword for Nurgle's Rot and Stream of corruption for a gain of five points.
- Nurglings are useless, I had hoped to have a hoe down with the Scarabs but Thor was not accomidating in this setting his Scarabs up on the opposite side of the board.
- The Rhinos even if they die are worth it, they are mobile bunkers, I think I can use them better though.
- George is best thought of as a wild card he can not be relied upon to appear at a useful time or in a useful spot. His toughness of five was no match for Gauss Cannons and whatever Immortals have.
- The Dread can hold its own, at least against Gauss weapons, now I just have to remember to take my pre shooting test every turn.
- The predator has one more armor then the Dreadnought which I might miss seeing how much fire it soaked up.
- I need to screen the Havocs as they are not popular, so I'll use another squad of Plague Marines to give them a little protection.
- Shoot the Rhinos Storm bolters. I also have to remember it's a Storm bolter and not a Bolter-Bolter combi weapon. I'll probably buy the "pintle mounted combi bolter" which I mounted all those years ago on the Party Mobile.
- The lone power glove armed champion was the MVP of my side, he killed a bunch of Necrons, a Tomb Spider, and the Necron Lord! I'm now going to treat a Power glove, which I formally thought was too expensive, like I treat a Lascannon. "Don't leave home without it."
- Monstrous creatures ignore saves.
- Slim has to be brave and fight something expensive to earn his points back, cause he can not occupy table quarters which is a big deal in at least two missions.
- Deamons if they get to charge en mass can turn a battle so I'll be bringing a squad or two to Calgary for sure.
Last night I came up with the following army list, now I'm going to tweak it a little bit by the end of the week.