[Lord Borak]

Objective: Break through
Score 1VP for each unit in the enemies deployment zone. Characters/IC do not count.


Set up:
Dawn of War

Board:

ask's 909th Assault Group (Astra Militarum CAD with Elysian Detachment D-99 Allies) [2000pts]


Pask's Leman Russ Squadron (Tank Commander Pask, Warlord, Leman Russ Vanquisher) with 2 Leman Russ Vanquishers, all three have Hull Mounted Lascannons [505pts]


Armour Defense Platoon (Infantry Platoon) [210 pts]
- 3 Infantry Squads with Krak Grenades
- Platoon Command Squad


Objective Defense Platoon (Infantry Platoon) [150 pts]
- 2 Infantry Squads with Krak Grenades
- Platoon Command Squad


Air Support Triad [465 pts]
- 3 Vultures with Twin Linked Punisher Gatling Cannons




Precision Bombardment Batteries [390 pts]
- 3 squads of 2 Wyverns each


Deep Operations Command Squad [120pts]
- D-99 Command Squad, Captain with Tracking Beacon, 4 meltagun Veterans


Deep Operations Support Squad Alpha [80 pts]
- D-99 Veteran Squad, Sergeant with 2 plasma pistols, 1 meltagun veteran, 3 lasgun veterans


Deep Operations Support Squad Bravo [80 pts]
- D-99 Veteran Squad, Sergeant with 2 plasma pistols, 1 meltagun veteran, 3 lasgun veterans






Total Loadout:
Vehicles (12 models):
3 Leman Russ Vanquishers with hull Lascannons
3 Vultures with Gatling Punisher Cannons
3 x 2 Wyverns
Infantry (75 models):
5 Infantry Squads with Krak Grenades
2 Platoon Command Squads
D-99 Command Squad with 4 meltaguns and a homing beacon
2 D-99 Veteran squads with 2 plasma pistols and a meltagun, each




Tactics:
Tactics depend on the terrain and the opponent. In most casts, wyverns will deploy in the most protected way possible, not needing line of sight to Shred things. Pask's Vanquisher Squadron will deploy for best LoS options possible. Majority of Infantry will deploy to protect the armour from alpha-strikes and the like, hopefully using conga line techniques to prevent drop pod spam if necessary. They can also deploy as two big squads instead of 5 if kill points is a thing. Any extras will camp objectives. D-99s will project a deep threat, and will drop down wherever they can have the most use. D-99s can also deploy normally if Deep Striking is not advantageous. Vultures are highly mobile and will hit priority targets as soon as they get on the board.
All in all, this list will shred anything that isn't heavily mechanized. Pask's Warlord trait gives Preferred Enemy(pick a factor) to the entire CAD. Wyverns will vape anything less than T8 very quickly, especially when there are high model counts. Vultures will likewise cause a lot of wounds to anything less than T10, can maul flyers, and can glance AV11. The vanquishers will concentrate on anything armoured first, and 2+ saves second. D-99's will aim to do as much backfield damage as possible, or if it's more advantageous, grab objectives. Platoon command squads will hide and send orders at the Infantry Squads, and become objective grabbers/bubble wrap as necessary. Finally, any vehicle that comes close to the Infantry Squads can expect to get swarmed with krak grenades.

VS

HQ
x1 Chapter Master - 265
. Thunder Hammer, The Shield Eternal, Bike, Auspex, Digital Weapons
x1 Chapter Master - 270
. The Axe of Medusa, Grav Pistol, The Gorgon's Chain, Bike, Auspex, Digital Weapons




Troops
x4 Bikers - 114
. 2 Grav Guns
x4 Bikers - 114
. 2 Grav Guns
x4 Bikers
. 2 Grav Guns




Heavy Support
x1 Thunderfire Cannon - 100
x1 Thunderfire Cannon - 100
x1 Whirlwind Scorpius - 170
. Extra Armor, Battle Of Keylek Legacy




Space Marine AD, Salamanders Chapter Tactics
HQ
x1 Chapter Master - 275
. Drakesmiter, The Salamander's Mantle, Combi-Melta, Auspex, Digital Weapons, Bike

Troops
x4 Bikers - 94
. 2 Flamers




Heavy Support
x3 Quad Mortar Support Batteries - 180




Inquisitorial Detachment
x1 Inquisitor Karamazov - 200




There's just one thing this list was meant to do, and that's KILL KILL KILL. Sure, capturing objectives is nice (and I have a nice couple of Biker squads to do that), but you can't hold objectives if you're dead. Which the opposing player will be.




One thing immediately noticed is that I put almost half my points into just a few characters. Thanks to Salamanders getting a relic for EW, I now have a set of Chapter Masters that will just be too damn hard to kill without throwing entire armies at them. They each have an Orbital Bombardment to throw on their first turn in the field, and after that they can use their Auspexes to help support the rest of the list.
Outside of the Chapter Masters is Karamazov, who will camp with either the Quad Batteries or a Thunderfire (or even just stay by himself in cover, depending on how much AP2 the opponent has) and unleash his own bombardments each turn. The nice thing about the durable Chapter Masters is that he can target them on purpose and not get any scatters. That'll help if I just thrust the bikes up next to a squad but don't want to charge that one specifically.




Outside the Bikers, which we all know and love and therefore need little introduction to their role, all the rest of the points are in Heavy Support. Thunderfires got an amazing boost with Techmarines all being W2 (and 6+++/IWND makes them even more durable), and then I added the Scorpius variant of the Whirlwind. It gets Ignores Cover with that relic, which means I can launch D3+1 S8 AP3 Blasts that don't where you're camping. Awesome.
Rounding that out is the Quad Mortar Support Batteries. These are THE ultimate multitool. Getting a choice of either 12 S8 4 Sunder shots or 12 S5 Pinning Blasts ensures you're not going anywhere. AA isn't even an issue because of how many shots are put out.




This is definitely a unique all-comers that I'm excited to see go into action metaphorically.

 

[kingzerno]

Again the bikers grab a mission they aren't really suited to, and again I am going to go against them. The fire power the guard can bring to bear will take out those buike units pretty quickly, limiting the scoring options for the marines. Three flyers will have no issue making it into the enemies deployment zone and late game any remaining tanks can just bomb up the board.

Take out the bike units and it's not much of a fight.

 

[andrewbeater]

I'm very unsure with this matchup almost to where I almost want to call a tie. The deciding factor for me is if the Bikes can withstand the Guard's firepower enough to get into a scoring position in the Guards deployment zone. I don't think it will be easy to kill those bikes fast enough to prevent considerable scoring. However the board bothers me. A line of lava (or some other noxious element) cuts across the board and is prevalent in the middle limiting effective bike movement. For this reason, I have to give an edge to Pask's 909th Assault Group .

 

[Exarch Thomo]

Board and mission give this one to the guard. The bike marines just don't have enough scoring units to get into the deployment zone in significant numbers. With the terrain limiting movement somewhat, and Pasks 909th throwing out a horrendous amount of firepower, the guard have to kill just 16 bikers to stop them scoring completely (as IC's don't count as scoring). Not every bike unit is going to survive intact - and they realistically only have the 4 scoring units at the start of the game. (over half the SM armies points are taken up by characters and the artillery isn't going to cross the board). Between the 6 Wyverns and the 3 Valk's, the SM artillery won't last long at all, removing most of the long range threats to the guard. With the Russ variants and infantry concentrating on the bikes, and the artillery and fliers joining in once the SM artillery is mopped up, the bikes aren't going to last too long without being whittled down.

Given the firepower the guard throw out, and couple in 3 flyers and 3 deep strike squads - they'll win on VP's alone at the very least. Guard to win.

 

[Frost89]

The Guard won't have ground units in the enemy deployment zone by end game, and that's a fact. This gives an huge advantage to the space marine player, which just needs a lone biker to win the game.

Space marines

 

[Grand Admiral Nemo]

Let me just say that this one is a tough call, but I am going to have to give it to the Guard

This one doesn't come down to a better list, or more potent army, but simply a question of the table itself.
(And let me just state that this is an absolutely rocking table and I very much have put making something like it on my list of tasks for setting up my own game area at my new place!)

simply put, the abundance of impassible terrain on this board make the SMs primary advantage of increased speed of null significance, and that means that with comparable fire power and the guard's advantage in terms of raw numbers: the win goes to them.

 

[Lord Borak]

PASK: 4
Bikers: 1

Voting has ended!