BR16: The Black Buzzards VS SoB Mech - 1500pts

Another game against Shadows Revenge, this time he was using Sisters of Battle!

The armies:

Black Buzzards (DE)

HQ
Haemonculus ancient, liquifier, power axe, WWP

ELITE
6 Grotesques, liquifier, aberation, venom blade

TROOPS
5 wracks, liquifier
5 wracks, liquifier
5 wracks, liquifier
5 wracks, liquifier
5 wracks, liquifier

FAST ATTACK
9 Reavers, 3 blasters, arena champion, venom blade
9 Reavers, 3 blasters, arena champion, venom blade

HEAVY SUPPORT
Talos, Twin-linked liquifier, Twin-linked splinter cannon
Talos, Twin-linked liquifier, Twin-linked splinter cannon
Talos, Twin-linked liquifier, Twin-linked splinter cannon

The aim of this list was survivability and flexibility whilst being able to stick to a strategy despite of casualties and other circumstances. The portal (support portal) provides a way to prevent the small scoring units from giving up first blood, as well as an alternate entry point for reavers in reserve. The aim was to control the midfield and home objective and use the threat of a fast contesting unit to force my opponent to come towards my army. The talos provided area denial and an effective anvil as well as long range fire support.

Mechanised Sisters of Battle (SoB)

HQ
Saint Celestine

TROOPS
10 Battle Sister, 2 melta, SisterSup, combi melta
Rhino, search light
10 Battle Sister, 2 melta, SisterSup, combi melta
Rhino, search light
10 Battle Sister, 1 flamer, 1 heavy flamer SisterSup, combi flamer
Rhino, search light
10 Battle Sister, 1 flamer, 1 heavy flamer SisterSup, combi flamer
Rhino, search light

FAST ATTACK
8 Seraphim, Two hanflamers x2, SeraphimSup, Eviscerator

HEAVY
Exorcist, search light
Exorcist
Exorcist

Mission: Crusade (four objectives)
Deployment: Dawn of War
Night fight on first turn: No
First turn: SoB
Warlord Trait DE: Inspiring Presence (All models within 12" of the warlord may use his leadership)
Warlord Trait SoB: Legendary Fighter (VP for each Character killed)
Drugs DE: Grav Lotus (+1S)

Deployment:
Unfortunately I don't have an image for deployment. We set up objectives. The SoB deployed along their line ready to push forward, with the seraphim out of site and the exorcists deployed for maximum coverage. I deployed centrally ready to move forward and hold my two objectives, the reavers were deployed in cover but in such a position so that they could threaten advancing forces and at least hit something if I was lucky enough to seize. I seized! (Wait do I really want to be going first, my plan was to go second... Well lets see how it goes)

Turn 1 (DE):

The Grotesques moved forward, and the Ancient deployed the portal. The reavers jumped out and managed to take out a rhino with their blasters, the explosion killed one sister (sister samantha). The three talos moved forward and fired into the surviving sisters killing five.

Turn 1 (SoB):

The Sisters rolled six for their number of faith points. The surviving sisters moved onto their objective, and later used a faith point to re-roll ones and managed to kill two reavers with their bolter fire. The three remaining rhinos moved forward two of them popping smoke. The Seraphim advanced and the exorcists repositioned. Two of the exorcists fired into the the leftmost talos firing a total of six rockets between them and inflicting two wounds on the talos. The last exorcist fired five rockets into the rightmost talos inflicting a single wound (4+ cover saving the day). Some bolters were fired out of the top of rhinos to little effect.

Turn 2 (DE):

Three of the wrack squads came on, leaving the reavers and two other wrack squads in reserve. The wracks fanned out of the portal, trying to get two liquifiers into range. But only inflicting one wound one the saint due to rolling a 5 and 6 for the AP value and her tanking most of the wounds on her 2+ save. The three talos fired into the sisters on the objective killing three. The reavers moved forward to get a shot at the rhino behind the central piece of terrain, immobilising it, this was a colossal mistake as despite their assault move they would be in flamer range of a sister squad in a rhino (This mistake could very well have cost me the game).

Turn 2 (SoB):

The Sisters rolled another six for their number of faith points. The rhino on the left near the reavers moves forward, the sisters jump out and purge the reavers with their flamers. The sisters in the immobilised rhino disembark into the ruins and take out a wrack squad. The Saint and the Seraphim use a faith point to allow them to re-roll to wound, cleansing another wrack squad with righteous flame and killing a single grotesque. The first exorcists fired six rockets into the leftmost talos failing to inflict any wounds thanks to cover. The second exorcists fired five rockets into the same talos again failing to remove it's last wound (this 4+ cover save is un-fail-able!). The final exorcist fired six rockets into the rightmost talos failing to inflict any wounds (I passed a total of six 4+ cover saves against exorcist rockets that round).

Turn 3 (DE):

The reavers didn't come on, however the two remaining wrack squads did. One moved on to my home objective, the other moved forward to liquify the sisters on the central objective, despite hitting six a six was rolled for AP so only one sister died. Another wrack squade moved forward and managed to hit seven but rolled a five for AP and killed two sisters. The Grotesques moved forward and fired their liquifiers killing two sisters as the saint managed to tank most of the damage. Two talos shot at the seraphim, again the saint managed to take all the hits for the team. The final talos shot into the sisters on the central objective but failed to kill any. The grotesques charged the seraphim, the aberration took two wounds from the heavy flamer on overwatch, but they made the charge. The Saint challenged, the aberration accepted and was cut down. The remaining grotesques and the ancient killed four seraphim, the surviving seraphim fought back taking two wounds off a grotesque, the seraphim held as they were fearless (saint). At this point the seraphim should have used hit and run, but Shadow forgot (not being a SoB player), this was a costly mistake. A talos charged the sisters on the central objective the flamer and heavy flamer managed to remove two wounds, it failed the charge due to difficult terrain. The wracks that didn't come out of the portal charged the sister on the central objective, the sisters failed to hurt them and in turn they inflict one wound. The sisters broke, but the wracks roll a one for sweeping advance and the sisters conveniently fell back onto their home objective (not good, this could have been a winning retreat)!

Turn 3 (SoB):

The Sisters rolled five for their number of faith points. One faith point was used to rally the fleeing squad. One of the exorcists immobilised itself in a crater (oh dear!). The leftmost sister squad used a faith point to re-roll 1s to hit and fired into the wracks on the objective, who went to cover for a 2+ save, killing a wrack. The first exorcist fired four rockets into the leftmost talos but missed most of its shots and failed to wound with the one that hit. The second exorcist fired five rockets into the same talos but again missed and failed to wound. Several storm bolters and a melta fired into the talos inflicting a single wound. The final exorcist fired two rocket into the talos inflicting one wound which was saved by cover. In combat the saint challenged the ancient inflicting one wound, the ancient in turn failed to inflict any damage due to the saints invulnerable save. The grotesques killed the seraphim before they got to strike.

Turn 4 (DE):

The talos that was furthest forward moved onto the central terrain piece to get like of sight onto the sisters on the middle objective and fired his splintercannons at them killing two. The two other talos fired at the sisters on the left objective killing them (one of them earning a pain token). The wracks ran forward. The reaver who had come on earlier bladevaned the sisters on the middle objective killing one. In combat the ancient survived the saints onslaught and in turn cut her down. The grotesques consolidate towards the central objective.

Turn 4 (SoB):

The Sisters rolled another five for their number of faith points. The saint got right back up (necrons wish they had her version of reanimation protocol), regaining a single wound out of a possible three. The saint proceeded to kills a grotesques with her heavy flamer, she latter charged the grotesques but died to AP2 liquifier overwatch. The left sisters embarked on their rhino and two of them used their faith power and shoot the wracks who have gone to ground again on the central objective, killing one, they passed their leadership test thanks to the 12" leadership bubble from my warlord power (that ancient upgrade was well worth it). The combined fire of two exorcists and their bolters finally take down one of the talos. The final exorcists shot at the another talos inflicting a single wound.

Turn 5 (DE):

Night fight didn't happen. The reavers reposition and fired into the rear armour of the rhino near the dead saint taking it out, the explosion failed to kill any sisters. The two surviving talos fired into the lone sister on the left objective who went to ground and managed to take here out despite her 2+ cover save, earning one of them a token. The ancient and his grotesques moved into position to liquify the sisters who survived the rhino explosion, managing to inflict seventeen hits at AP1 and AP3, killing all of them (I'm melting...).

Turn 5 (SoB):

The Sisters rolled a four for their number of faith points. Thankfully the saint didn't get back up. The exorcist tank shocked the reavers (to get them to fall back to deny the line breaker VP) and they passed thanks to the LD9 from the arena champion. A blaster reaver made a death or glory attempt and inflicted a penetrating hit, which was saved by the exorcists 6+ invulnerable save (blasters are not heatlances don't do death or glory with them). The two remain exorsists fired eight rockets into the talos without FNP but failed to kill it (T7 and a 4+ cover save, was unkillable this game). The rhino with the flamer sisters rushed forward for the central objective and fired their flamers out the top hatch killing two wracks on the central objective. The game looked won for the dark eldar, however the game did not end on turn 5!

Turn 6 (DE):

Darkness falls (night fight). The revers repositioned and shot into the rear of a rhino, stunning it (passengers can't shoot even if they get out). The grotesques move two inches near the objective (the plan was to screen with them. I should have moved my wracks in such a way as to prevent the sisters from contesting the central objective but forgot (a massive tactical blunder).

Turn 6 (SoB):

The Sisters rolled a two for their number of faith points. An exorcist tank shocked the reavers, again they only just passed their leadership test thanks to the champion. The stunned sisters disembarked and contested the central objective. The two other exorcists finally managed to take out another talos despite its 2-3+ cover save thanks to night fight. The saint got back up, and regained a single wound denying me slay the warlord. She used her jump pack move to get line breaker and contest my objective. The game was tied at this point: first blood, line breaker vs linebreaker, and a character kill VP (warlord power). She used her heavy flamer on the wracks killing two, and then charged them killing one. The two wracks fought back and killed the saint winning me the game (the game ended).

SoB VPs: 1 (Killing a character) DE VPs: 6 (objective, line breaker, first blood, kill the warlord)

Conclusion
Well that was a rollercoaster of a game. I made some pretty bad mistakes: loosing the reavers early and not blocking my objectives. Fortunately Shadow made some mistakes two (due to not playing SoB) and my talos would just not die and took a disproportionate amount of fire. Seizing the initiative was interesting, although I didn't really have a list that could capitalise on it, and personally think it will be better to stick to going second (what the list was designed for).

Originally my plan was to give Shadow and actual game (as in the two previous games he had tabled me by turn two). I decided to play the mission and try and be an "active" player as previously despite playing aggressively I rarely had a plan other than kill!There was also some WWP crowding issues meaning I couldn't get my Taloi to the front to use their liquifiers, something to plan for in future. The reavers were great as a less aggressive mobile backfield harassment unit and the blasters meshed in well with the rest of the list. The talos were fantastic, I was really impressed with the ability of their twinlinked splinter cannons to reach out and slaughter infantry, meaning they could just lurk and defend their objectives.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game and really like the feel of my list, so look forward to using it again. Thanks for another great game Shadow and look forward to your feedback.

Hope you enjoyed the report!

WOW!!! talk about breakfast and a show! thanks!
this has given me great ideas for using the talos (thanks for your info on outfitting too btw)
and wracks. i'd say that this list proved very survivable (those taloi just wouldn't die )

i have one question though, did you plan to have the reavers coming out of the WWP to be a harassment
or that was part of being flexible and what the situation called for?

GREAT MATCH YOU TWO!!!

Dark Minion

Thanks!

DarkMinion wrote:

i'd say that this list proved very survivable (those taloi just wouldn't die )

I think they over-performed and should have died faster, but they can be reasonably tough in cover, the S8 exorcists missiles were only wounding on a 3+, so T7 is pretty useful.

DarkMinion wrote:

i have one question though, did you plan to have the reavers coming out of the WWP to be a harassment
or that was part of being flexible and what the situation called for?

The idea with the list was to have the option to have either the wracks, the taloi, or the reavers come in through the portal (depending on the situation). The reavers could come in from the table edge or portal depending on what they needed to do (to blade vane those sister they could have come in from the table edge). I still need to change the wrack squads a bit, maybe merger two into a single unit of ten so I have more leeway with the 50% reserve rule. The portal is also really useful in hammer and anvil at leasts that's the idea.

Love the army list Mush. Interesting to see such a wrack/grot/talos heavy list (and not a single transport to be found!).

Interesting to see a DE list without any vehicles and everything T4 or higher. Have you thought about having 2 Haemonucli and having them leave their PTs with the Reavers T1 to then go on and join a Wrack or Grots squad and still benefit from FNP? I feel this would greatly increase the survivability of what is already a fairly tough unit (for DE).

Murkglow wrote:

Love the army list Mush. Interesting to see such a wrack/grot/talos heavy list (and not a single transport to be found!).

Thanks, it's very different but was a load of fun to play. I'm excited to see how it develops.

mug7703 wrote:

Interesting to see a DE list without any vehicles and everything T4 or higher. Have you thought about having 2 Haemonucli and having them leave their PTs with the Reavers T1 to then go on and join a Wrack or Grots squad and still benefit from FNP? I feel this would greatly increase the survivability of what is already a fairly tough unit (for DE).

I did consider that when I was creating the list. Unfortunately if a haemonculus is joined to the reaver unit when it comes in from reserve, then they move on as one unit and he can't leave the unit as you can only leave in the movement phase. This would prevent the reavers from bladevaning. I like the option of having the reavers start in reserve if need be as it gives the list more flexibility (also they normally get a pain token early on when they bladevane onto the board).

Mushkilla wrote:

Unfortunately if a haemonculus is joined to the reaver unit when it comes in from reserve, then they move on as one unit and he can't leave the unit as you can only leave in the movement phase. This would prevent the reavers from bladevaning.

Don't have my rulebook to hand but I think you leave a unit during the movement phase, not at the beginning. So if you declare the Haem to be with the Reavers before the start of the battle and the Haemonuli simply moves onto the board with the Reavers but ends his movement > 2" from them then he has left the unit (and can give them his pain token). That then leaves the Reavers free to bladevane to their evil little heart's content in the shooting phase.

Count you got my hopes up and then I checked the reserve rule. Unfortunately there's a clause to prevent that.

Quote :

If an independent character has joined a unit for reserve, it cannot leave that unit whilst in reserve, and it cannot choose to leave the unit on the turn it arrives from reserve. - BRB page 124

Mushkilla wrote:

Count you got my hopes up and then I checked the reserve rule. Unfortunately there's a clause to prevent that.

Quote :

If an independent character has joined a unit for reserve, it cannot leave that unit whilst in reserve, and it cannot choose to leave the unit on the turn it arrives from reserve. - BRB page 124

Blast! Those buggers have thought of everything. Still, what about when you want to have them on the board first turn? You can do the PT shenanigans then. Obviously it's based on the situation but if you have adequate space to hide them it seems like a good tactic.

mug7703 wrote:

Blast! Those buggers have thought of everything. Still, what about when you want to have them on the board first turn? You can do the PT shenanigans then. Obviously it's based on the situation but if you have adequate space to hide them it seems like a good tactic.

Well the initial plan was to do that with the ancient, but the test to see if the grotesques go "Berserk" is at the start of the movement phase, which is risky business as 2d6 S5 automatic hits against every unit within 2d6" could be catastrophic even if it only happens on a roll of a 1. Shame it's not more reliable, i.e you could voluntarily trigger it! Other then that I don't really have a use for a second haemonculus, so I would be paying solely for the option to give the reavers a pain token (unless I wanted to start the grots with fearless that is).

Mushkilla wrote:

Count you got my hopes up and then I checked the reserve rule. Unfortunately there's a clause to prevent that.

Quote :

If an independent character has joined a unit for reserve, it cannot leave that unit whilst in reserve, and it cannot choose to leave the unit on the turn it arrives from reserve. - BRB page 124

Damn and blast! Arriving from reserve must be the most stressful thing in the whole Grimdark! No assaulting, no leaving a unit. I'm surprised you're even allowed to move!

Count Adhemar wrote:

Mushkilla wrote:

Count you got my hopes up and then I checked the reserve rule. Unfortunately there's a clause to prevent that.

Quote :

If an independent character has joined a unit for reserve, it cannot leave that unit whilst in reserve, and it cannot choose to leave the unit on the turn it arrives from reserve. - BRB page 124

Damn and blast! Arriving from reserve must be the most stressful thing in the whole Grimdark! No assaulting, no leaving a unit. I'm surprised you're even allowed to move!

Next update you'll only be able to Snap Shot upon arrival!

Count Adhemar wrote:

Damn and blast! Arriving from reserve must be the most stressful thing in the whole Grimdark! No assaulting, no leaving a unit. I'm surprised you're even allowed to move!

I'm surprised they even show up at all to be honest! It clearly is daunting to cross an imaginary line that suddenly means you are allowed to get shot at and eaten by aliens or worse!

was a great game as always Mush

I really think where the problem lies in your list is the fact that you A: Lack long range AT and B: the Talos and grots are your only real threat. My list have minimal long range capabilities, and if I didnt have god aweful rolling (and you had some amazing 4+ coversaves) those talos' would of been dead by T3~T4. This would of allowed me to push up more on your wracks, which could of been what would of won me the game.

I would say keep playing the list (I know you will anyway) and see what you can do to tweak it. RIght now though I think you are onto something, I just dont know how to really approach how to improve anything until you test it against a real long range threat army, maybe guard???

Also I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about why I charged with the saint T6, I was afraid if it went one more turn, she would get liquifed bt 2 talos' as well as getting charged by them and the wracks

It'll be interesting to see how this list fares against Tau.

Shadows Revenge wrote:

was a great game as always Mush

It was a load of fun! A bit more interesting for you I hope this time, not tabling me in two turns.

Shadows Revenge wrote:

I really think where the problem lies in your list is the fact that you A: Lack long range AT and B: the Talos and grots are your only real threat. My list have minimal long range capabilities, and if I didnt have god aweful rolling (and you had some amazing 4+ coversaves) those talos' would of been dead by T3~T4. This would of allowed me to push up more on your wracks, which could of been what would of won me the game.

Agreed the Talos should have died a lot faster, but the fact that they benefit from area terrain now does make them a little tougher. The lack of ranged AT is going to be a problem as-well. I'm curious to see how I will get around this problems, if i can at all (Seeing as our main long range AT is in the HEAVY support section).

Shadows Revenge wrote:

I would say keep playing the list (I know you will anyway) and see what you can do to tweak it. RIght now though I think you are onto something, I just dont know how to really approach how to improve anything until you test it against a real long range threat army, maybe guard???

Guard is always a tough fight for DE, and the large high strength blasts they bring will make short works of the grotesques. Have you decided what to play for our next game (if you are not getting board of fighting DE that is)?

Shadows Revenge wrote:

Also I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about why I charged with the saint T6, I was afraid if it went one more turn, she would get liquifed bt 2 talos' as well as getting charged by them and the wracks

That makes more sense, to be honest you were ridiculously unlucky against those wracks.