Tale of Many Gamers - Month 3

Month Three

Development

Month 3, 750pts with no restrictions. I could pick anything I want, but first I needed to look at the force I used against the Craftworld Eldar player to decide what to pick.

I realised the Deathwatch were lacking solid ranged firepower with a mostly template-based squad in a Rhino and a Frag Cannon squad that saw it's heavy weapons sniped out the game before running off the table edge. I didn't want to get too close to my opponent's Wraithguard with their D-Weapons that could rip apart a super-heavy titan, let alone five marines in power armour. Long range felt lacking, so I decided to beef that area up.

First in was a squad of five Stalker Bolter wielding Veterans. I refer to these as my sniper squad and their job is simple, hang back and shoot the enemy at range. The special ammo allows them to hurt most targets, they provide a psychological terror in the opponent's mind to no mill about in the open and they have a long reach. They are also dirt cheap.

A Librarian was brought in to comply with the Combined Arms Detachment. Cheap and run without any extra options, they are an ideal leader for the low points bracket. Psychic powers can be tailored to suit the game depending what part of the army you want him to support.

Next the Bikers were fleshed out with three more riders. The Codex describes them as a battering ram, so Power Mauls and a Power Axe are order of the day. S6 lets me ride up to vehicles and smash them apart using the weaker rear armour value and provide some much needed anti-tank support. Twin-linked Bolters would send more special ammo downfield but the Power Weapons also add more punch in melee. A double bonus.

Finally, a Rhino to protect the Frag Cannon squad and use the top hatch as a mobile fire point. It turns a humble and cheap transport into a make-shift battle tank (something the Deathwatch sorely lack).

Gameplay

I was expecting to take on another army than the Craftworld Eldar, but as we were the only two to turn up on game day it was time for a rematch and some Eldar vengeance!

The mission was Purge the Alien and my opponent added more psychic punch with a Farseer on bike, a squad of Jetbikes to provide an entourage and a Wave Serpent hosting some Dire Avengers. The opening looked to be an expected bad start for the bikers as one gets shot down, but the Warp proved unstable as the Farseer perils and nearly gets dragged into the warp. The warlord's entourage strayed too close to the counter-attack squad who duly got out and filled them with lead. The Bikers trashed the Vyper and proceeded to embark on a marauding rampage through the back lines. Meanwhile the snipers were badly deployed and struggling to find a shot. As for the Librarian, he also suffered a peril but survived and turned into a rampaging monster, sadly he was too far back to do anything.

It was clear my opponent had the edge in the psychic phase but the warp still proved too much for him to handle and, for two games in a row, the Warlock frazzled his own brain with psychic power to heal the Farseer and died. The Farseer had run off and was far enough from the action to unleash a massive psychic storm that all but wiped out the counter-attack squad expect for one Veteran.

The Dire Avengers swooped round in a flanking move and the Wraithguard shot at the Rhino containing the Frag Cannon squad. In a sheer act of bad luck, they missed with all but one shot and rolled a 1 on the D-Chart meaning they failed to cause any damage. This was pivotal as the Frag Cannons turned their sights at the Wraithguard causing horrific damage. The snipers also had a shot and joined in, downing the last few with some well placed shots.

The Wave Serpent went down after the Bikers bashed it into a smoking heap and the Banshees tried to take out the Rhino in a desperate move to force the occupants to disembark into the gunsights of the Dire Avengers. They failed, and the rest of the game was dominated by the Frag Cannons dropping cones of deadly lead into anything with pointy ears and still moving.

The game ended 8-1 with the Frag Cannons blasting the Farseer into a smoking heap of flesh and twisted metal in the centre of the battlefield.

Conclusions

The snipers brought a lot to the table and had various shots throughout the game, but line of sight needs to be considered. The range is still fairly short compared to most heavy weapons and they cannot cover the entire table, especially once we move from 4'x4' tables into the standard 6'x4' size. They need to be deployed more centrally in a good piece of cover but I could see my opponent becoming hesitant to leave units in their sights. The psychological impact of a sniper team works.

The Rhino worked wonders and gave the Frag Cannon team ridiculous protection and mobility. Two of them in a Rhino causes horrendous damage and I will be looking to include another squad like this. They just work very very well.

The Librarian had Telekinesis which sucked. I need to rethink this guy and get Mastery 2 as soon as I can. The Bikers I was unsure about with Power Mauls but the ability to ride to vehicles and trash them gave some much needed flexibility.

I need more high strength, low AP firepower though. Depending on the challenge that we are given for Month 4, I will be looking to include some long range anti-tank shooting as I am still reliant on getting up close and personal. The Wraithguard were far too close for comfort. As for the campaign scoreboard, first place! Deathwatch are currently the force to beat. :)