Team Game 120 PL Crimson Fists and Necrons VS Tyranids and Drukhari

01/29/2018 Austin, TX ... Wonko's Games and Toys
120 PL, Win, 5-2, BRB Secure and Control
8e Space Marine & Tyranid Codex, Necrons & Dark Eldar Index

• Rhinos are a good unit for eating Smites, blocking enemy movement, tying up shooty units with charges, and dish out enough bolter shots to chip away at enemy hordes 
• Be mindful of the end game and not overly focused on goals that don't directly accrue victory points
• Having Space Marine infantry but no Missile Launcher or Heavy Bolter is a disservice. Those Stratagems help make a Marine army punch. 
• Units out of sight get left out of mind if you don't have a meticulous approach to managing your turn
• Armies that must be aggressive getting up the field to be effective often are vulnerable in the rear. Economically speaking over-committing to offense compromises defense.
• Imperial Space Marine is a character killer, but against vehicles and monsters he is frustrating to use

Deployment

Random teams made for strange allies. While Necrons and Space Marines are not a new combination, Dark Eldar and their kissing cousins Tyranids were new to me. Tyranids combined with Dark Eldar are a powerful aggressive combination. Barely any DE were slain as the Necrons and Crimson Fists focused all their fire on the rushing Tyranid swarms. [Elsewhere in the store, Grey Knights fought alongside Thousand Sons against Tyranids allied with Deathwatch!]

By the end of the game, the T4 allies were run roughshod, and nearly collapsed, yet were able to steal a victory due to the bold actions of Jumppack Marines. The game did end early and had we played a turn 5 I'm confident the T4 allies would have lost. 

I took some unusual units and load outs to experiment. My tactical squad with flamer/combiflamer did well slaying Gene Stealers, while my melta/combimelta were difficult to maneuver into range of the enemy units they are best against. Not having any long range shooting in the Marine army made me realize how good Marines are at long range shooting. 

The Imperial Space Marine is a curio I've never used before. In this game, he shot a Hive Tyrant 4 times and never wounded it. He has a 1D6 Damage weapon, but its only Str 5. He's clearly a Character Killer, but does little against Vehicles and Monsters. In a Guilliman list he'd make an interesting sucker punch but without the reroll to wound the Imperial Space Marine is too myopic.

As much as the opponents rushed up the field at our armies, I was able to hold up important portions of their horde by charging a large squad of guants with a Rhino.  The Rhino is a valuable unit time and again for the little things it does. It takes up space, doesn't draw fire, but gets in the way and does shoot back. I got a lot of use out of it, and still under utilized the humble Rhino in hindsight. It would have been an ideal unit to draw Smites, but I didn't even consider positioning in regards to that. 

I need to become more familiar with the names of enemy units. Confusing Venomthropes and Neurothropes disadvantaged my army.  Kantor, Jumppack Captain, and the Rhino! of all Units have me the most pumped for my next game. I'm going to bring two next time. 

Misused Scouts to the bottom left, Captain Hero-Man makes his move on the bottom right, Rhino eats space in the middle of the board, while the T4 alliance barely holds out on the top left. Top right is a large Dark Eldar force that could turn the battle towards our enemies but fate did not workout for them this time. 

At one point I literally forgot about some Scouts I had deployed far up field. They had been Smited earlier and were pretty forgettable, something my opponents did as well. By advancing them, I brought them close to the opponent's objective. Ultimately I forgot they have ObSec, and instead used them to charge some Tyranid buff-manders. I didn't suffer for this mistake as Captain Bad Ass, er Captain Cortez, my JumpCaptain with the Fist of Vengeance and Storm Shield, as well as an Assault Squad I use for Character protecting were able to take the Objective.

Our objective was defended by 10 Necron Warriors, tough to move dudes. They were never contested. The enemy's objective was defended by gaunts, who were similar to tissue paper in toughness.

I did fear the Dark Eldar fire power, but at one point 20 Kabalite Warriors disgorged from a Raider and shot a biker marine. 40 shots, 3+ to hit, 4+ to wound... resulted in 1 wound, and the biker passed his armor save. It's one thing to know the variance in die roll results, and the basic bell curve of probability, but to see that futility play out was eye opening. Shooting T5 with a DE Poison Weapon is exactly what you are supposed to do, but odds are something odd will happen.

Where Eagles Dare

Had I used the Scouts more tactically though, I would have had a more likely victory rather than squeezing a win out and being grateful others have families they needed to get to. Even though we did win I could have tilted the odds more in my favor. 

Pedro Kantor and a Lieutenant with Powersword made hamburger meat out of Gene Stealers. The Pants Thieves were reduced all the way down to 10 models by the time they made their charge, significantly hurting their killing power. Ultimately Kantor slew 5 or 6 Stealers, taking 2 wounds himself, and the Lieutenant killed the remainder. Kantor, his +1A bubble, the Lieutenant 2+ WS and his rerolling 1s bubble, and Kantor's Chapter Master bubble make their combined offensive output strong, and their efficiency in delivering attacks is outstanding. 

The Quantum Shielding of the Necrons is trolling. Rolling a D6 Damage weapon and not wanting a 6 is counter intuitive. I saw it shrug off many powerful blows. Damage 2 and 3 weapons may be the best tools for getting through Quantum Shielding. 

Assault Marines land near the up field Scouts.

In summary, our opponents brought serious pressure onto the T4 alliance, and moved towards us aggressively. Much of the conflict happened on our side of the board. This allowed me to deepstrike my units close to their objective, but our side of the board was too crowded for the enemy to deepstrike near ours. I never felt like we were winning until accounting for it all at the end of the game. 

Everybody got Linebreaker; we got Slay the Warlord and Take and Hold, while they got First Blood. 5-2 victory.