Tournament Report, or "How Deployment can win games"

Went to an ITC based tournament this weekend, 1850 points.
I took my "ITC" tournament list, which incorporates Dark Eldar, Eldar and Corsairs. Mostly Corsairs.
My list was:
Dark Eldar:
Lahmean
5 warriors
12 reaver jetbikes, 4 caltrops
Eldar:
Autarch/ bike/ laser Lance/ Banshee Mask
2x 3 scatterbikes
Skathach Wraithknight (Big flamer version)

Corsairs:
Prince/Bike/Mask of secrets
2x 3 Splinter Cannon Bikes
3 Hornets
Lynx
warp hunter

So, pretty much, this list is rather deceptive. The threats that jump out at you are the Knight, Lynx and Warp hunter, but the REAL threat is without a doubt the Reaver Jetbikes. 4 caltrops, Fearless, causes fear and -2 leadership to other units. It is a multi charging, making them run and running them down machine!

So, game 1 was against: White Scars Gladius Formation
A whole bunch of tanks. I mean a WHOLE bunch of razorbacks, rhinos, devastators, Khan and a bike squad, Plasma, melta, GRAV etc... you get the idea. All units had hit and run, and scout. Every last one of them. They are also all Objective Secured. Every last one of them.

Mission 1: Vanguard Deployment. 4 objective markers (numbered), and "Big guns never tire"

Problem:
Ok. Here we go. I know the drill. He will deploy all his grav, melta and plasma right on the line. He will then scout them 12" forward, then move 6", and either deploy or shoot from the hatch, activating his doctrines and wiping the Knight, lynx and warp hunter (and probably the hornets) right off the board. And there really is not a lot I can do about it. So... how do I prevent such a tragedy? Simple. Sacrifice!
So his strategy is predicated on scouting up close, then moving closer. I have to deny him that ability. So, my Hornets ALSO have the scout special rule, so i have only one choice. Sacrifice the Hornets for the greater good. (God I sound like a tau player...)
So i deploy all my heavy hitters in the far back corner. i outrange him, so that is an advantage, i just need to keep him at a distance. I deploy my reavers (with a 3+ jink and grav wounding me on a 5+ I felt they were safe) right across the deployment line, as far up as legaly possible. I deploy the Hornets (spread 4" apart of course) right in front of the units I am trying to protect.
The way I look at it, the worst case scenario is he scouts first, then i counter scout to block the rest of his army moving forward. I am now pretty confident I will protect the meat of my army.

He deploys as predicted, spread across the whole line.
We roll to see who scouts first, and i do. My hornets go up 12", spread 4" apart, and now i have successfully blocked his army from completing its objective. He cannot cripple me first turn. Yes, the hornets, and perhaps the reavers will suffer, but his preferred tactics just went out the window.

I had won the roll to go first, and he was unable to seize.

Corsairs turn 1.
Well, now that I had first turn, maybe my Hornets and reavers would live after all! I drop the hornets back, move the scat and splinter bikes up, move the lynx to activate its kinetic shroud, and pretty much set up for a crippling Alpha Strike. My Knight moves up to be in range to charge some of his units if i crack the tanks open, as do my reavers.
Shooting starts with target priority on any grav in range. The warp hunter cracked open 2 tanks (barage is awesome!), dropping the grav well out of threat range. the lynx took out another, the hornets a fourth, the scat bikes a fifth. The Knight flamered two tanks and two assault squads that lost their rides. The reavers did not shoot. (they wanted to multi charge, not kill units before being able to).
After the shooting, My opponents main threats were either dead, or neutralized. Assault was the Knight into a rhino he flamed, destroying it, and the reavers into two assault squads and two tanks (I was careful to place the reavers on the tanks). Both tanks were destroyed, both squads ran, and got away! (i rolled a 1! really?).

Ouch. That first turn HAD to hurt!

Space marines 1.
Well, it seems the reavers (whom he could not overwatch with his 4 assault flamers, thank you banshee mask!) really caught his attention, so he shot EVERYTHING into it. I mean EVERYTHING. Every squad, every grav, every melta.
he was able to remove the unit, securing him Warlord.

Corsairs 2-
Well, my favorite unit was gone, but i would gladly trade them for what happened on my first turn. Second turn was almost as bad. Khan and his bike squad dropped to the warp hunter, the lynx and hornets kept dropping vehicles, and the scat and splinter bikes (along witth he DE warriors) took out anything on foot. The Wraithknights dual flamers were more than impressive, and everything it charged died.
I was racking up the objectives (you rolled three dice and picked two, like hold obj 1, kill a unit, etc..) and his army was crippled beyond repair. I was a little concerned witth "Big Guns" because of all his Objective secured, but it was only turn 2. I had time to wait.

Marines 2-
Everything he had left (almost) went on the Knight. It took 3 wounds, but lived. He was able to take out the 5 Dark Eldar Warriors though.

Corsairs 3-
It was getting ugly. When this turn was over, he had only a few units left on the board. He conceded the game at this point.

What went right:
Well, my deployment won me the game. If he had been able to stick to his strategy, my knight, warp hunter and probably my lynx would all be off the table, and it would be a much different game. Not hopeless, but close. Many people overlook deployment, and just throw models out on the table, and that is a huge mistake. I would venture to guess 25% of games played are won or lost based solely on deployment.

What went wrong:
Not a thing.

Star of the match:
The Warp hunter.
Being corsairs and not Eldar, it is NOT -1 to the chart, it is "Sixes counts as Fives". This is huge when you roll that "2", which i did. Getting three shots first turn, hitting a vehicle, then getting a "Hit" allowing me to place it touching ANOTHER vehicle, and taking both out in one turn was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.
Disappointment of the match:
No unit did not perform well, so none.

Next, game 2: Versus Blood Angels!

Thanks for the report man! I skimmed it, but had a thought as I did so: Did you think of giving your Corsair Prince a shimmershield? This would give that big, juicy unit of jetbikes an invuln save on every model so that if they're targetted by anything that ignores cover, they have a fallback.

It also gives them a save in combat, since their t-shirts don't normally do them many favors.

Game 2: Blood Angels

He had a lot of drop pods, 4 dreadnoughts all with some assault 2 flamer and heavy flamer, 3-4 units of terminators with claws and hammers/shields, a bike squad and 2-3 tac squads. I think 8 drop pods in all.

His formation rules allowed his dreadnoughts to land, and in the movement phase, shoot his ap 3, str 6-7 flamer TWICE and a heavy flamer once. Each! Then, in the shooting phase, he could do the same thing again! At a different target! THEN, if that wasn't enough, when his termies droped in, they could CHARGE the same turn!

Really? I mean come on!

Well, this was not going to be fun!

Mission was relic and maelstrom. My warlord trait was the strategic infiltrate one, so a good one right off the bat!

He won the right to deploy and go first, and deployed his bikes hidden in a ruin far far away. He then informed me he was giving me first turn. (Of course he was :-P )


Problem:
With drop pods, beacons and 16 str 6 or 7 (cant remember) flamers that take away my jink/cover saves, and 8 at str 5, He had an alpha strike that could put mine to shame! My biggest concern was my vehicles, all of which would be GOLD against his termies and dreadnoughts. With that many flamers all dropping in, I was certain that some of my vehicles would not survive the first round. Conversely, my reavers would go away in a puff of smoke without him breaking a sweat.

Solution:
Bubble wrap. I cornered my Lynx, warp hunter and hornets in the corner. Then, using three of the four bike squads (I outflanked a corsair unit), the warriors, the lahmean and the wraithknight, I wrapped the vehicles, leaving enough space to buffer them, but not enough for a drop pod to sneak in and have him still able to deploy. I felt this was the best i could do in this scenario.
I then infiltrated the prince, autarch and reavers right on top of the relic, and spread out. This did 2 things- He had to choose what to destroy, my big meaty clump in a far off corner, or the bike squad on the relic itself.

So, he lets me go first.

Corsairs 1:
I have to forego any and all maelstrom and stay put in the corner. Not a thing moves over there. My reavers move 6" closer to HIS table edge, and his bike squad. They also jump in the assault phase 6" (so as not to drop the relic)

Blood Angels 1:
Like most opponents, he ignores the reavers and goes for the huge clump in the corner.
All 4 pods land close, and the dreadnoughts get out and shoot. Then, they shoot again! When the smoke cleared, he killed:
2 units of scaterlaser bikes
1 unit of splinter cannon bikes
5 warriors
the Lahmean
And took a hull point off a Hornet I misjudged the distance on.

I'm not gonna lie, that kinda hurt!

Corsairs turn 2-
Again, i forego the maelstrom because the rolls I had were unattainable (no enemy units in my deployment zone? really?) My reavers move BACK towards the scrum. again, 12" total.
My corsair unit comes in and erases 1/2 of his bike squad.
I then move the hornets back to bubble wrap the warp hunter and lynx, making sure there was not enough room for a drop pod to fit between.
the Lynx destroyed a dreadnought
the hornets destroyed a dreadnought
The warp hunter destroyed a Dreadnought and a drop pod.
The Knight destroyed the last dreadnought in hand to hand, and took a hull point off of a drop pod.

Not too shabby of a counter punch, but his HTH units were going to come in.

Blood Angels 2-
And come in they did!
All 4 units came in, and charged. 1 hit my hornets, the others my wraithknight. His tac squads dropped and shot meltas at the lynx and warp hunter, but missed or did not pen due to being too far away.

hand to hand saw his termies destroy 2 hornets and do a hull point to the third, shaking it.
My wraithknight destroyed 1 unit of termies through hth and stomps, but took 4 wounds in return!

Corsairs 3-
Here we go!
The reavers took off for the newly arrived units, while the splintercannon bikes took over the relic, AND wiped his bike squad from the board netting me warlord. My lynx went into flyer mode and got out of dodge. My hornet and warp hunter moved 12", then in the shooting phase turboed far away.
He then saw the trap... he was on foot, no mobility and bunched up in a corner. I was now out of range, and could keep away while i sniped him non stop.
Which is exactly what i did.
My reavers destroyed the two tac squads and fell back out of his charge range. My wraithknight died but not before dishing out some major pain.

Blood Angels 3- He moved and tried to hide/gain ground, but it was futile and he knew it.

Corsairs 4-5
I shot the living hell out of him, and any stragglers I mopped up with the reavers.
He conceded after my turn 5. His 3 termies and 2 drop pods would not last another turn.

What went right:
My deployment. I gave him a choice- protect the relic and get shot to pieces by the rest of my army, or shoot my army and lose the relic. He chose to go for the army and hope his tac squads could handle the bikes, but that was not going to happen. In the end, he fell for the big ball of bait and my maneuverability won me the game from there.

What went wrong:
I deployed 1 hornet to close, and almost lost it. That would have made it so I could not bubble wrap the other two vehicles on his turn 2, and i would have had to leave the corner 1 turn sooner, meaning all his dreadnoughts would still be alive and kicking! It would have made it a much tougher game.

Star of the game:
the reavers! having the relic turn 1, then erasing everything they touched after was great. Even if he did focus on them, I doubt he would have killed them all first turn. The prince had a shimmershield (5++ for the unit) and i spaced them so he could kill the outliers, but not the middle.

So two games down, 1 to go:
Game 3- Versus tau Riptide/Suit spam!

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

Thanks for the report man! I skimmed it, but had a thought as I did so: Did you think of giving your Corsair Prince a shimmershield? This would give that big, juicy unit of jetbikes an invuln save on every model so that if they're targetted by anything that ignores cover, they have a fallback.

It also gives them a save in combat, since their t-shirts don't normally do them many favors.

LOL great minds think alike. He DID have a shimmershield. I forgot to list it game 1 but mentioned it game 2. 15 points? Worth EVERY FREAKING ONE!

Game 3- Versus TAU

His army consisted of-
2 units of 4 stealth suits
A commander with 4-5 marker drones
3 riptides (riptide wing)
3 Ghostkeels in a formation that makes you snap shoot at them
Some weird Tau suit that I never saw before. It could move 24" and still charge!
2 "troop" dual flamer crisis suits

And that was about it.

Mission was Take and Hold and maelstrom.

He won the roll to deploy and gave it to me. I was stoked! i NEEDED to go first, but then i found out he steals initiative on a 4+ ! Oh man...

Problem:
Whoever goes first will probably win.

Solution:
Deploy as far back as possible, and split my forces 50-50.

So i did. I put my Knight front and center, hoping to bait him into shooting that. The warp hunter and hornets went on the right side of the table, the lynx and bikes on the left. My reavers were smack dab in the middle ready to zoom out to assault whatever they could.
He deployed the Keels opposite the lynx, his commander in the middle, and the super jump suit and three riptides opposite the warp hunter and the hornets.
He infiltrated the stealth suits in some ruins in front of the lynx.

I then SCOUT move my hornets to the middle of the table! He now had three riptides and a super suit opposite only a warp hunter! It is the little things like that that make me happy...

He then rolls to seize...
And failed.
Whew!
Turn 1: Corsairs..
I move the knight up to double flame the stealth suits. I then move the reavers up the middle, to fly at the tides or the keels, depending on my shooting.
Shooting starts and the knight removes two suits. Pretty bad rolling for me and good saves for him.
The hornets take aim and take a riptide down to 1 wound. Nice!
The Lynx then shot at and REMOVED a riptide! (Rolling 2 6's on str D will do that...)
A unit of Splinter Cannon bikes then shot at and removed the last wound from the hurt riptide.
The warp hunter targets his jumpy suit, and misses. Well that sucked.
The rest of the bikes shot at the commander, removing 3 wounds from him and all but 1 marker drone. He had to go to ground!

So after the smoke cleared, his HQ barely alive, his riptides down to 1, and his scout squads about to get charged by the wraithknight. The main threat left was the keels, so the Reavers all zoomed over and got right in their grill. yes, they are about to get smacked, but rather them than the more important and useful Lynx, Hornets and Warp hunter.

i then do assault moves with the other bikes, and pass the turn, FORGETTING to charge with the Knight! Stupid!

Tau 1:
Ouch Ouch ouch. He was hurting to be sure. He jumped the super suit 24" in front of my Warp hunter, and shot it with some shotgun/haywire thingy. I jinked, and survived with 1 Hull Point.
His keels and Stealth suits open up on my reavers, and even with the Jink and 5++ shimmershield saves, they were taken down to three bikes. Not even caltrop bikes!
He garnered Warlord.

His assault phase saw the supersuit CHARGE the warp hunter. I asked for a ruling, as i never heard of a 24" move that you can charge from but was overruled. Well, the hammer of wrath alone was enough to remove the warp hunter from play.
My reavers held.

Corsairs 2:
Payback!
My Hornets lined up on his super suit, and my Lynx lined up on both the last riptide and supersuit.
The bikes took out 1 stealth squad and one down to 2 members. Other bikes took out his commander and last marker light, and combined weight of fire took out the supersuit and last riptide. My knight jumped at the ghostkeels.

Assault saw my three reavers charge and eliminate his 2 stealthsuits. I lost 1 reaver to overwatch.

Tau turn 2:
He moved his keels as far away from the Knight as possible, and opened fire on it, netting ZERO wounds. he was in trouble.
His two troop suits came in. They flamered the warriors killing the unit.

Corsairs 3:
Knight jumped to 1" away from keels, reaver bikes move within 8".
All shooting was nulified, saved or out of range except for his two crisis suits, which while facing the meat of my army simply disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Assaults saw me declare the reavers on the keels. He once again seemed less than pleased, knowing my Knight will come in without being shot at. He conceded the game.

What went right:
He failed the seize.

What went wrong:
forgot to charge the stupid knight at this stealth suits.  It may seem small, but those kind of mistakes have a habit of coming back to haunt me. Games can be won or lost on something as trivial as that.

Star of the match:
The Reaver jetbikes.
yes, they killed a stealth suit unit, and nothing else.
However, they absorbed an insane amount of firepower that would have simply decimated my entire army. They got shot at because they HAD to be shot at! If that unit charged the ghostkeels, they would have won and run them off the table (-2 ld remember?) And, if somehow they did not win, they were fearless, and would have tied them up preventing shooting, then hit and run, so the keels could get blasted, and then recharge them. Again and again.

He shot them because he HAD to shoot them, and by doing so, let me remove the rest of his army from the board.  They performed flawlessly.

So... 3 games, 3 perfect scores
Dark Eldar/Corsairs/Eldar won the tournament!

3 great games against three great opponents.

Congrats on another great tournament showing! Thanks for sharing!

What are the stats on the wraithknight flamers? I don't recall...assuming it's from IA11. Too tired to go find my book.

Beautifully narrated tournament. Congratulations on a great showing!

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

Congrats on another great tournament showing! Thanks for sharing!

What are the stats on the wraithknight flamers? I don't recall...assuming it's from IA11. Too tired to go find my book.

The knight has 2 flamers:
Hellstorm template
Str 7
Monofiliment (wounds against Initiative, not toughness and rends on a 6, but not against vehicles)
Shred

OR

it can be fired as a 7" blast, same stats but does not ignore cover like the hellstorm template does.

Pretty much a Warcons worst nightmare.

Thanks for the great Battle Reports!

Quote :

"How Deployment can win games"

The Wraithkight, Linx, Warp Hunter, and Hornets certainly don't hurt the odds either

Quote :

Went to an ITC based tournament this weekend

Quote :

He won the right to deploy and go first, and deployed his bikes hidden in a ruin far far away. He then informed me he was giving me first turn. (Of course he was :-P )

On each scenario page, Step 8 says:"...The player going first then deploys first and goes first unless the other player seizes the initiative." Its a minor detail but something to remember if your opponent deploys first and tries to get you to go first.

https://www.frontlinegaming.org/community/frontline-gamings-independent-tournament-circuit/itc-2015-season-40k-tournament-format/

Quote :

The knight has 2 flamers:
Hellstorm template
Str 7
Monofiliment (wounds against Initiative, not toughness and rends on a 6, but not against vehicles)
Shred

OR

it can be fired as a 7" blast, same stats but does not ignore cover like the hellstorm template does.

Pretty much a Warcons worst nightmare.

And a Dark Eldar's worst nightmare

yukondal wrote:

On each scenario page, Step 8 says:"...The player going first then deploys first and goes first unless the other player seizes the initiative." Its a minor detail but something to remember if your opponent deploys first and tries to get you to go first.

Yeah, this is a crucial piece of information to remember in a tournament that is using the ITC scenarios. Unfortunately, not every ITC event uses the ITC scenarios, and some of them that make their own scenarios fail to transfer over step 8 into their own scenarios.(I don't know why. It's sort of a stupid rule without that change, in my opinion.)