Not quite a battle report
Please excuse the lack of editing.
Finally got to play a couple of games with my White Templars. My self-restriction on not playing anything that is not painted limits me, but a local store (Heroic Adventures, Edwardsville, IL) had a game night in a league that starts small and only increases by increments. I can field 900 points of White Templars so I went. (Once we get above 1000 points, I'll have to add in my Disciples of Caliban as allies.) My force was a Terminator librarian with a force staff and a storm shield, 5 shooty terminators with an assault cannon, a 9 man tac squad, a 10 man tac squad with a missile launcher and a flamer (broken into two squads), a Landspeeder typhoon with the multi-melta, and a Thunderfire cannon. I played two games...sort of.
My first game was Big Gun against an Ork force. Orks were mostly infantry with only two trucks. Large mass of Hardboyz, large mass of Boyz, and a large mass of Gretchen. Sever big gun guys and a missile launcher, and two trucks. We each had an objective in our deployment zone on my left flank and one out in the open on my right flank. Two ruins for each of us and a fairly open center with only a woods. The Orks went first. Trucks moved forward and Boyz advanced into center with the Warlord. Gretchen moved forward under cover towards the objective on my right. Hardboys stood still protecting the objective in the ruins on my left and shooting their big guns and missile launcher at me. The Boyz and trucks also shot at me. I made all my saves. No assault.
On my turn, the terminators moved to be able to shoot at the trucks. Land speeder also moved to keep its jink save and to get better firing solutions. I can't recall who all shot at what, but I killed both trucks. The nine man squad shot at the Hardboyz and killed the big gunners who were standing in the front. Everyone else shot at the uncovered Boyz coming up the middle. The 4 Thunderfire blast templates were particularly effective causing 11 wounds. By the end of the round I had killed both trucks and punished the middle pretty severely, pushing it back about six inches by pulling casualties from its front ranks.
Then my opponent had to leave because his ride showed up. After one round we each had 1 objective and I had first blood. Had the game continued, assuming he continued to camp his HardBoyz on the objective in his deployment zone, I would have reigned down on his Boys again - probably killing enough to make them flee because they would have been eating about six blast templates, seven bolters, four storm bolters, and an assault cannon. If he moved poorly, he might have eaten another eight bolters. Turn three would have either landed on the Gretchen or his Hardboyz. I probably would have focused on the Gretchen with the Thunderfire, the Land Speeder, both squads, and the Terminators. The Termies and Librarian would have moved left to be able to intercept the Hardboyz if they came out though. The nine man tac unit could not have hit the Gretchen so it would have waited for the Hardboyz to move and then shot at them all the way across the field unith they got into HtH with the terminators and the Librarian. If the Warboss came in range of the Terminators he would have been assaulted by the Librarian or I planned to shoot the Landspeeder krak and multi-melta at him. I think that plan would have worked well.
My next game was a straight up fight against demons. It did not go well - I could hit fine, but I rolled a huge number of ones and twos to wound. The only piece of bad luck he had was that the wrong part of his army deployed on turn 1, and I got to make him move first. I kept my Terminators and my Landspeeder in reserve. Basically, he dropped in some plague demons in his back field and i shot them with missile launchers and the Thunderfire, hit a bunch of times, and did no wounds.
On turn two he got EVERYTHING else in from his reserves. He dropped a bunch of flamers next to the Thundefire and flamed it to death. He also dropped a large unit of nine things that looked like flying trylobytes but scattered into difficult terrain doing two wounds to them. (They had two wounds each so none died.) Then then flew over one of my combat squads killing two guys. And his winged demon prince dropped in on my left. His plague demons hid in his back field. On my turn 2, I got my Landspeeder which came in on my extreme right to maximize the distance between it and the trylobyte demons who apparently have armorbane. I shot at the trylobytes with missiles and multi-melta and killed nothing. I shot at the flamers with one combat squad and the nine man squad doing one wound. I charged the flamers with the 5 man squad because I had nothing to lose - they would have flamed me next round anyway. I lost all but one guy to the overwatch and nothing died in the assault phase.
Turn three the winged demon flew over the nine man squad, but since they were in a ruin the techmarine had bolstered they all made cover saves. The trylobytes moved towards the landspeeder but did not reach it in assault. The nine flamers finished off the guy in close combat with them and moved to be aimed at the three guys remaining in the other five man squad. On my turn the Terminators arrived but scattered hard to my left, landing in difficult terrain but taking no wounds. Landspeeder shot at the flying trylobytes and did a wound. The three man squad (ML and rapid fire),the nine man squad, the assault cannon, and one storm bolter shot at the flamers, killing about three. I chose not to assault the three man squad into the flamers, because if I survived the flame next round, I was better off rapid firing than assaulting... I think.
In turn four, the trylobytes charged the Land Speeder and killed it, consolidating toward the terminators. The flamers killed all but the missile launcher in the three man squad. The greater demon landed and assaulted the nine man squad. He killed two with no wounds in return, they broke, and fled off the table. On my turn the terminators fired at the greater demon, doing a wound with the assault cannon. The Librarian granted Endurance to the Terminators.
In turn five, the greater demon took to the air again and flew over the terminators, killing one. The trylobytes moved towards the terminators with alacrity. The flamers killed the missile launcher marine. (The plague demons had done nothing but hide in his back field and continued to do so.) Having only the terminators, they fired at the trylobytes after the Librarian separated from that unit and cast endurance on them again. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I was only master level 1 and I knew the terminators were about to charge the trylobytes with the AP close combat weapons. (I didn't want to charge them, but they would have charged me next turn and I wanted the extra attack on me, not them.) To have a chance, the terminators needed endurance, but that meant I could not use the force weapon. It seemed better to hold the force weapon in reserve and cast Endurance. That being the case, I wanted the Librarian out of that fight. I think I killed one, maybe two trylobytes with my shooting. In the assault the terminators with power fists all went last, so the one survivor managed to cause no wounds. He held his ground however.
In turn six, the flamers moved in my direction. The trylobytes killed the last terminator. The greater demon landed and assaulted my Librarian. turns out he is immune to force weapons and had instant death. He hit the Librarian 3 times and I missed one save. Tabled.
I can't help but note some things about my last battle there. I got tabled with only a PART of the demon army. The trylobytes with 2 wounds, AP 2 HtH weapons, a ridiculous amount of movement, and a 5+ invuln save cost 25 points apiece. My terminators with 1 wound, no great speed, and 5+ invuln saves cost 40. Both deep strike. It seems a bit unbalanced. I can see what all the complaining about demons is about.
There are four possibilities for why this happened. Pure luck with dice. No doubt I had awful luck, especially in the first two rounds, but I am reluctant to say this was all of it. Option 2: I chose my force poorly. Maybe taking Terminators in a 900 point army is too expensive, but it was what I had painted. Otherwise, I think my force selection was solid - lots of flexibility, a goodly number of troops, a fast attack and a heavy in case the appropriate missions were generated. Option 3: Poor deployment/movement. Maybe. I could have not kept reserves, but then my terminators would have been flamed. This might have been better because they might have survived to assault the flamers, but I'm not holding my breath. I think my biggest mistake was the way I split the Librarian from the Terminators in turn 5. I should have either kept him there to deal wounds on his initiative in the assault, or, when I split them, HE should have assaulted and the terminators fallen back. I'm not sure the greater demon would have charged 4 terminators with power fists the way it charged my loan librarian, and the terminators could have fired overwatch. The librarian would probably have died, but he would have at least done more wounds (hopefully). And then on my turn 6, the terminators could have shot the trylobytes again. Option 5 is that my army cannot beat a demon army no matter what I do. I am reluctant to go there.
Finally got to play a couple of games with my White Templars. My self-restriction on not playing anything that is not painted limits me, but a local store (Heroic Adventures, Edwardsville, IL) had a game night in a league that starts small and only increases by increments. I can field 900 points of White Templars so I went. (Once we get above 1000 points, I'll have to add in my Disciples of Caliban as allies.) My force was a Terminator librarian with a force staff and a storm shield, 5 shooty terminators with an assault cannon, a 9 man tac squad, a 10 man tac squad with a missile launcher and a flamer (broken into two squads), a Landspeeder typhoon with the multi-melta, and a Thunderfire cannon. I played two games...sort of.
My first game was Big Gun against an Ork force. Orks were mostly infantry with only two trucks. Large mass of Hardboyz, large mass of Boyz, and a large mass of Gretchen. Sever big gun guys and a missile launcher, and two trucks. We each had an objective in our deployment zone on my left flank and one out in the open on my right flank. Two ruins for each of us and a fairly open center with only a woods. The Orks went first. Trucks moved forward and Boyz advanced into center with the Warlord. Gretchen moved forward under cover towards the objective on my right. Hardboys stood still protecting the objective in the ruins on my left and shooting their big guns and missile launcher at me. The Boyz and trucks also shot at me. I made all my saves. No assault.
On my turn, the terminators moved to be able to shoot at the trucks. Land speeder also moved to keep its jink save and to get better firing solutions. I can't recall who all shot at what, but I killed both trucks. The nine man squad shot at the Hardboyz and killed the big gunners who were standing in the front. Everyone else shot at the uncovered Boyz coming up the middle. The 4 Thunderfire blast templates were particularly effective causing 11 wounds. By the end of the round I had killed both trucks and punished the middle pretty severely, pushing it back about six inches by pulling casualties from its front ranks.
Then my opponent had to leave because his ride showed up. After one round we each had 1 objective and I had first blood. Had the game continued, assuming he continued to camp his HardBoyz on the objective in his deployment zone, I would have reigned down on his Boys again - probably killing enough to make them flee because they would have been eating about six blast templates, seven bolters, four storm bolters, and an assault cannon. If he moved poorly, he might have eaten another eight bolters. Turn three would have either landed on the Gretchen or his Hardboyz. I probably would have focused on the Gretchen with the Thunderfire, the Land Speeder, both squads, and the Terminators. The Termies and Librarian would have moved left to be able to intercept the Hardboyz if they came out though. The nine man tac unit could not have hit the Gretchen so it would have waited for the Hardboyz to move and then shot at them all the way across the field unith they got into HtH with the terminators and the Librarian. If the Warboss came in range of the Terminators he would have been assaulted by the Librarian or I planned to shoot the Landspeeder krak and multi-melta at him. I think that plan would have worked well.
My next game was a straight up fight against demons. It did not go well - I could hit fine, but I rolled a huge number of ones and twos to wound. The only piece of bad luck he had was that the wrong part of his army deployed on turn 1, and I got to make him move first. I kept my Terminators and my Landspeeder in reserve. Basically, he dropped in some plague demons in his back field and i shot them with missile launchers and the Thunderfire, hit a bunch of times, and did no wounds.
On turn two he got EVERYTHING else in from his reserves. He dropped a bunch of flamers next to the Thundefire and flamed it to death. He also dropped a large unit of nine things that looked like flying trylobytes but scattered into difficult terrain doing two wounds to them. (They had two wounds each so none died.) Then then flew over one of my combat squads killing two guys. And his winged demon prince dropped in on my left. His plague demons hid in his back field. On my turn 2, I got my Landspeeder which came in on my extreme right to maximize the distance between it and the trylobyte demons who apparently have armorbane. I shot at the trylobytes with missiles and multi-melta and killed nothing. I shot at the flamers with one combat squad and the nine man squad doing one wound. I charged the flamers with the 5 man squad because I had nothing to lose - they would have flamed me next round anyway. I lost all but one guy to the overwatch and nothing died in the assault phase.
Turn three the winged demon flew over the nine man squad, but since they were in a ruin the techmarine had bolstered they all made cover saves. The trylobytes moved towards the landspeeder but did not reach it in assault. The nine flamers finished off the guy in close combat with them and moved to be aimed at the three guys remaining in the other five man squad. On my turn the Terminators arrived but scattered hard to my left, landing in difficult terrain but taking no wounds. Landspeeder shot at the flying trylobytes and did a wound. The three man squad (ML and rapid fire),the nine man squad, the assault cannon, and one storm bolter shot at the flamers, killing about three. I chose not to assault the three man squad into the flamers, because if I survived the flame next round, I was better off rapid firing than assaulting... I think.
In turn four, the trylobytes charged the Land Speeder and killed it, consolidating toward the terminators. The flamers killed all but the missile launcher in the three man squad. The greater demon landed and assaulted the nine man squad. He killed two with no wounds in return, they broke, and fled off the table. On my turn the terminators fired at the greater demon, doing a wound with the assault cannon. The Librarian granted Endurance to the Terminators.
In turn five, the greater demon took to the air again and flew over the terminators, killing one. The trylobytes moved towards the terminators with alacrity. The flamers killed the missile launcher marine. (The plague demons had done nothing but hide in his back field and continued to do so.) Having only the terminators, they fired at the trylobytes after the Librarian separated from that unit and cast endurance on them again. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I was only master level 1 and I knew the terminators were about to charge the trylobytes with the AP close combat weapons. (I didn't want to charge them, but they would have charged me next turn and I wanted the extra attack on me, not them.) To have a chance, the terminators needed endurance, but that meant I could not use the force weapon. It seemed better to hold the force weapon in reserve and cast Endurance. That being the case, I wanted the Librarian out of that fight. I think I killed one, maybe two trylobytes with my shooting. In the assault the terminators with power fists all went last, so the one survivor managed to cause no wounds. He held his ground however.
In turn six, the flamers moved in my direction. The trylobytes killed the last terminator. The greater demon landed and assaulted my Librarian. turns out he is immune to force weapons and had instant death. He hit the Librarian 3 times and I missed one save. Tabled.
I can't help but note some things about my last battle there. I got tabled with only a PART of the demon army. The trylobytes with 2 wounds, AP 2 HtH weapons, a ridiculous amount of movement, and a 5+ invuln save cost 25 points apiece. My terminators with 1 wound, no great speed, and 5+ invuln saves cost 40. Both deep strike. It seems a bit unbalanced. I can see what all the complaining about demons is about.
There are four possibilities for why this happened. Pure luck with dice. No doubt I had awful luck, especially in the first two rounds, but I am reluctant to say this was all of it. Option 2: I chose my force poorly. Maybe taking Terminators in a 900 point army is too expensive, but it was what I had painted. Otherwise, I think my force selection was solid - lots of flexibility, a goodly number of troops, a fast attack and a heavy in case the appropriate missions were generated. Option 3: Poor deployment/movement. Maybe. I could have not kept reserves, but then my terminators would have been flamed. This might have been better because they might have survived to assault the flamers, but I'm not holding my breath. I think my biggest mistake was the way I split the Librarian from the Terminators in turn 5. I should have either kept him there to deal wounds on his initiative in the assault, or, when I split them, HE should have assaulted and the terminators fallen back. I'm not sure the greater demon would have charged 4 terminators with power fists the way it charged my loan librarian, and the terminators could have fired overwatch. The librarian would probably have died, but he would have at least done more wounds (hopefully). And then on my turn 6, the terminators could have shot the trylobytes again. Option 5 is that my army cannot beat a demon army no matter what I do. I am reluctant to go there.
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