Hey hey hey Commorrites! Here is a summary of a revised Repugnant Ramblers list battling some Iron Hands. The original Repugnant Ramblers can be found in Mushkilla's recent batreps on here. I've revised the list to try incorporating the Grotesquerie formation, aiming to keep to the original goal of fitting the army in a shoebox. I may have missed some drawn objective cards (new to writing detailed batreps) but I noted down anything which was scored during the game. Scroll to the end for a quick TL,DR. The armies:
Revised RamblersFormationGrotesquerie1 Hameonculus, WWP (warlord)
2 x 8 grots
CAD1 Haemonculus, WWP
2 x 5 Kabalite Warriors, Venoms, upgrade to second splinter cannon
2 Talos, each with twin-linked Haywire Blaster in same unit
Iron Hands (general summary, don't have the exact list)CADSM Captain on bike w/ plasma gun
5 bikers, all with plasma guns
3 x 5 Tac marines, one plasma gun in each squad
10 Vanguard Veterans, two with power fists
1 Ironclad Dreadnought
1 Storm Raven
Board Setup
The map is a rough sketch and is not to scale.
Light grey areas are difficult terrain.
Black areas are LOS blocking terrain. Most had stairs but no one went on top of the pieces.
The circle is a crater.
Objectives are marked by number.
A, B, and C are reference markers for game events.
Pre-gameGame type: Spoils of War (draw up to three every turn, enemy can score your "Secure objective x" cards). Dawn of War deployment.
The Grotesquerie rolled Fleet as its latest experiment. I was hoping for +1 S to deal with the Dread but Fleet wasn't horrible.
The DE warlord rolled 6 on the tactical table (+1 VP if Warlord scores a "Capture objective x" card).
The Iron Hands warlord rolled Move Through Cover.
Iron Hands won roll-off for placing objectives and placed 1, 3, 5 - Dark Eldar placed 2, 4, 6 in the "Mark of Nurgle" formation.
Iron Hands rolled to choose deployment zone and chose the North (top) zone.
DeploymentDark Eldar rolled to choose deployment order and deferred to the Iron Hands.
The Vanguard Vets started in reserves in the Storm Raven with the Dreadnought. Tac squads were deployed on markers 2, 5, and 6; the bike squad (w/ Captain) deployed on marker 2 as well.
The Grot units started in Deep Strike reserve with their Haemonculus caddies. The Venoms started with their troops in regular reserves.
The two Talos were deployed out of sight at point A within range of marker 3.
Turn 1Iron HandsObjectives drawn: Hold the Line (have 3 friendly and no enemy units within 12" of your board edge), Secure Objective 3, and Ascendancy (D3 for 3 Objective Markers)
The bike squad moved south, ending in the open at mid-board. The tac squads largely stayed put on their objectives. The Talos were out of sight so the bikes turbo boosted to get around the building located in the middle south of the board.
Objectives scored: Hold the Line, Ascendancy (scoring 1 point).
Dark EldarObjectives drawn: Assassinate (kill a character), Pain in All its Forms (Destroy unit in shooting and/or assault), Behind Enemy Lines
The Talos hunkered down behind their cover to steal Secure Objective 3 and anticipate the arrival of the Storm Raven. I anticipated that he would go straight for the Talos so I hid directly behind the building to stay away from his guns. Assassinate was thrown away as I figured it would take longest to kill a character and I wanted to keep my hand open.
Objectives scored: Secure Objective 3 (stolen)
ScoreIron Hands: 2
Dark Eldar: 1
Turn 2Iron HandsObjectives drawn: Big Game Hunter (kill a vehicle or MC), Secure Objective 4, and Psychological Warfare (cause a failed Pinning, Morale, or Fear check)
The Storm Raven arrived and flew directly down the east edge of the board, failing to gain LOS on the Talos.
The bike squad moved further south, ending just south of the middle building they were skirting after a Turbo Boost to gain LOS on the Talos.
The tac squads on markers 2 and 6 moved up to point C to secure marker 4 and possibly to move on the Talos as well. My opponent was clearly not playing against my strategy. He threw away Psychological Warfare.
Objectives scored: Secure Objective 4
Dark EldarObjectives drawn: Hold the Line (3 friendlies and no enemies within 12" of board edge)
Only one Venom came in from reserves. I deployed it at point B to keep within Splinter Rifle range of the bike squad to do damage and draw them away from the Talos. The Venom failed to wound the bikes during the shooting phase.
The Talos headed towards the west side of their cover to stay out of LOS of the advancing Tac Marines while staying close enough to force the gunship to hover to fire any guns. I wasn't avoiding the gunship unless he stayed zooming - if he hovered, I could at least hope to get some haywire shots on the plane. I couldn't draw LOS to the ship to snap shoot Haywire Blasters.
I couldn't score objectives so I aimed to split up his forces to make the incoming squads' jobs easier. Hold the Line was discarded as I didn't expect to kill off his bikes quickly and didn't want to force units to stick to my table edge.
Objectives scored: none
ScoreIron Hands: 3
Dark Eldar: 1
Turn 3Iron HandsObjectives drawn: Kingslayer (Kill enemy warlord), Domination (secure all markers at once)
The Storm Raven dropped to hover just east of point A to deposit the Dreadnought in front of my Talos. I was very glad at this development since my Grots wouldn't be able to wound the Walker without furious charge - had he deployed the Dread in the Mark of Nurgle, I would not have been able to do much work there. The Haywire Blasters weren't bad to have, either.
The plane completely missed all its shots at the Talos, including a missile (thankfully) and the Dread missed as well.
The bike squad began chasing after the Venom. A volley of plasma caused a pen and a glance but both were mitigated by a jink (the pen was saved on a 4 so the jink paid off).
The Dread chose to assault the Talos. Somehow, both Talos made Overwatch (thanks to twin-linked) and managed to score two glances. After completely whiffing in combat, the Dread died hard to a final glance caused by the S7 MCs, scoring First Blood for the Talos.
Domination was discarded.
Objectives scored: none
Dark EldarObjectives drawn: Secure marker 1
The remaining Venom and the non-warlord Grot squad arrived from reserves. The Venom deployed just east of the middle south building to further strain the bike squad as well as to contest markers 1 and 5. One Tac marine on marker 5 died to its splinter cannons. The Grot squad deep struck between markers 6 and 2 for Behind Enemy Lines then ran into the difficult terrain for cover.
The Talos took major advantage of their lucky Dread kill to fire haywire at the hovering Storm Raven. The two glances made it past the plane's jink save to assist the Talos in gunship cleanup in the combat phase. I final S7 hit finished off the plane, forcing the Veterans to disembark (passing their pinning check).
The jinking venom moved up the west table edge, staying exactly 24" from the bike squad to avoid their rapid fire (assuming one bike would die). Snap shot splinter cannon fire managed to take out a bike and guarantee safety from rapid fire.
Objectives scored: Pain in All its Forms (1 point), Behind Enemy Lines, First Blood (on Iron Hands turn)
ScoreIron Hands: 3
Dark Eldar: 4
Turn 4Iron HandsObjectives drawn: Supremacy (control at least two markers and twice as many as enemy)
The Vanguard Vets prepared to assault the Talos squad. The two power fists whiffed. The rest of the Marines failed to do damage, leaving the Talos unharmed. Two marines died in return with one power fist surviving on Feel No Pain (6+). The units stayed in combat.
The bike squad continued to bite on the Venom bait, this time only putting one glance on the vehicle. Feeling saucy, I declined to jink earlier and managed to save the glance with the Venom's 5++ invuln. By now both units were in the far west area of the board.
Rapid fire aimed at the deployed Grot squad killed one Grot outright.
Kingslayer was discarded.
Objectives scored: none
Dark EldarObjectives drawn: Secure objective 4, Trophy Hunter (enemy designates one marker and one character as targets, points scored for each target taken)
The Iron Hands player designated marker 4 (he probably thought he could hold it with obj sec) and his warlord for Trophy Hunter.
The remaining Grot squad arrived autmoatically from reserves. They were placed to hold marker 4 in case the other Grots could kill the Tac marines off the objective. The marines were now sandwiched.
The middle Venom moved up to hold marker 1 and shoot at the marines advancing from marker 5. Splinter fire cleaned up all but one marine.
The west venom continued to attempt to kite the bike squad north and out of the game.
The Talos continued to grind down the Vets in combat, taking one wound for their troubles.
The non-warlord grot squad multi charged the two tac squads on marker 4. The squad closest to the marker was wiped completely; the two grots attacking the east-most squad did enough damage to force the survivors to pile off of the marker, leaving the warlord squad to score the point.
Objectives scored: Secure Marker 4 (worth 2 from WL trait), Trophy Hunter (worth 1 for marker 4, doesn't apply to WL trait as far as I know), Secure marker 1
ScoreIron Hands: 3
Dark Eldar: 8
Turn 5Iron HandsObjectives drawn: Secure marker 6
The Vanguard Vets continued to grind down in assault to the Talos.
The bike squad realizes its mistake and hurries back towards mid-board to join the real fight. Plasma fire explodes the venom on marker 1 (killing 2 kabalites in the process) and Gets Hot takes out a bike for me.
The lone survivor of marker 5's Tac squad (the sarge) charges into the warriors with no wounds dealt on either side.
The remaining Tac marines near marker 4 die in combat with the Grots consolidating north to hold markers 2 and 6.
Objectives scored: none
Dark EldarObjectives drawn: Secure marker 2, Secure marker 3, Secure marker 6
The southern most grot squad heads south to help finish off the Vets so marker 3 can be claimed. They make the 9" charge without needing Fleet and rapidly wipe the survivors. The Talos consolidate into range of the marker while the grots head back north to get to marker 4.
The northern most grot squad is left by the Haemonculus to secure two objectives at once.
The warriors continue to fight the tac sarge in midfield. One kabalite dies with no wounds in return.
The remaining venom turbo boosts around the north west terrain to rejoin the fight next turn and contest marker 5.
All three injured grots (from various fights) heal fully with IWND.
Objectives scored: Secure Marker 2 (worth 2 from WL trait), Secure Marker 6, Secure Marker 6 (stolen), Secure marker 3
ScoreIron Hands: 3
Dark Eldar: 13
The game continues but at this point finishing is just a formality. The Iron Hands only have two bikes, their captain, and the lone tac sarge left on the field against a venom full of warriors, two grot bombs w/ haemonculi, two nearly full health Talos, and some spare warriors.
Turn 6 continued much the same with the Iron Hands bikes failing to damage the remaining venom (thanks to another invuln save) and failing to make a charge. The Dark Eldar score Supremacy (for 2 points), Secure marker 5 (with the Venom), and Secure marker 6 (worth 2 for the WL trait). The game ends, granting Linebreaker to the Dark Eldar, as well. Only 1 wound was dealt thanks to a great FNP (6+) roll made by the bike squad as 3 of 4 wounds were saved.
Final ScoreIron Hands: 3
Dark Eldar: 18
TL,DR:The game essentially ended in Turn 3 when the Talos managed to strike gold with their Haywire blasters. Killing the Dreadnought (mostly in overwatch) allowed for a quick volley and charge to knock out the plane and strand his Vets. The grot bombs had no problem wiping two tac squads with the Vets and plane out of their way. Objective draws only went in favor of the Dark Eldar after that.
A venom also managed to keep the opposing bike squad out of the game for several turns. This error was noticed too late to be significantly fixed. Several gambles paid off as the skimmer's invuln save proved adequate for every hit it needed to save (perhaps Daemons' 5++ save has rubbed off on me). Had he not bitten on the bait, I would have kept close enough to put fire on his bikes anyway to pick them off one by one.
My opponent definitely built a more casual list and would have proved a greater challenge with more armor. The reason I equipped haywire on the Talos was to give some way to hurt armor - little did I know it would completely wipe his armor in two rounds! Better placement of the Dreadnought would have largely neutered my grots, as well. I hoped to draw the +1 S bonus to avoid getting tarpitted by his walker but ultimately the bonus I did draw was not needed.
The venoms helped provide some shooting as well as fast moving objective secured. The splinter fire mostly pinged off of armor 3+ but still proved worthwhile. Considering the need to take troops to use the Grotesquerie anyway, I'd say they were worth fielding, especially because they freed up my Talos to take haywire blasters. Some real anti-armor would have been nice, though.
Subject: Revised Ramblers versus Iron Hands (1250) 
Thu May 14 2015, 05:00
