Lists:
Deldar
HQ:
Baron Sathonyx - 105
Haemonculus w/Webway - 85
Haemonculus w/Webway - 85
Haemonculus w/Webway - 85
Troops:
10x Wracks w/2x Liquifier Guns - 120
10x Hellions - 160
10x Hellions - 160
15x Hellions - 240
Elites:
4x Trueborn w/2x Splinter Cannon - 68
3x Trueborn w/2x Splinter Cannon - 56
3x Trueborn w/2x Dark Lance - 86
Heavy Support:
Ravager w/Flicker Field - 115
Ravager w/Flicker Field - 115
Talos w/Stinger Pod, Extra Close Combat Weapon, Chainflails - 130
Dedicated Transports:
6x Venoms w/Dual Splinter Cannons - (6x65) 390
2000 Points
Wolfwing
HQ
Canis Wolfborn - 1 FenWolf
Wolf Lord - Thunderwolf mount, Thunder hammer, Storm Shield, Runic armour, Saga of the bear, 1 Fenwolf
Troops
15 FenWolves
15 FenWolves
15 FenWolves
15 FenWolves
Fast Attack
4 Thunderwolf Cavalry - 4 Storm Shields, 1 Thunderhammer
4 Thunderwolf Cavalry - 4 Storm Shields, 1 Thunderhammer
4 Thunderwolf Cavalry - 4 Storm Shields, 1 Thunderhammer, 1 melta bomb
First, the vital statistics:
Mission: The Relic
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Warlord trait(s): both warlords rolled immovable object making them scoring.
The Warlords were Baron Sathonyx and the Wolf Lord
So, this wasn't that bad for me, I got the best warlord trait I could as it meant I actually had something to seize the objective with. Hammer and Anvil wasn't great as it gave Melons a lot of space to retreat into with the Relic and he had the speed to get there quickly. Thankfully, Wolfwing is fast too so I should be able to catch him eventually. The real point of contention would be those Venoms, they were going to be a real pain to catch and they could throw out enough torrent to deal with any of my units. This would be tough as I would have to be very proactive due to the heavy firepower facing me.
Deployment
Deldar won the roll off and the Wolves failed to seize.
This wasn't good as I pretty much needed to close down the distance straight away and couldn't afford to be shot too much beforehand. Never mind, this is something I'd have to deal with eventually. Why not now. I deployed at the front of my zone to reduce the distance I had to go and spread the Thunderwolves out to try and close down the places he could hide his vehicles.
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| I should apologise for the pics not fitting on the page properly, blogger decided on this and if they are at a smaller size they are hard to make out. My apologies. |
Deldar - Turn 1
This was my least favourite turn of the game as it was the one 'free' turn of killing the Deldar got before I could advance. His movement was relatively simple, scooting forward for firing lanes and ranges. His orange Haemy disembarked in the centre to drop his Webway between me and the relic and his other two Haemys interestingly flat-out into the middle of my lines, I think to open up more Webway positions.
His shooting phase. Two Venoms (and one lot of Trueborn) open fire on my orange FenWolves, killing 9 and the middle Venom plus the Trueborn in another Venom shoot my green FenWolves but only kill 4 (thanks to the poor shooting angle of the middle venom). The Ravagers open fire on one of my HQs each but Melons' track record with Dark Lances stayed true to form and he couldn't even score 1 wound with all 6 shots. Phew.
My luck then runs out as I fail the orange Wolves morale (LD 8 rerollable) on double 6s and 5s respectively. They then run 15" and only stay on the board by 1". Thankfully the green FenWolves stay on snake eyes.
Wolves - Turn 1
Start of my turn I roll to rally my orange wolves (LD8 from Canis). I roll a 10. Huh. No problem, it's rerollable I say cheerfully. 11. They pelt off the board with their tails between their legs. That grants the Deldar a point for First Blood. That's...not great. No worry, time to kill my way back from this.
I go on the offensive in return. and run forward with everyone except the blue Thunderwolves who spin round to take out that Venom.
Shooting phase (I actually got one, exciting I know!). The blue Thunderwolves fail to scratch the Venom behind them with a Krak grenade, the red Thunderwolves (+ Wolf Lord) manage to immobilise/wreck (upgraded because of flat out) but the Venom saves it on a 6. Surprisingly Canis manages to explode the middle Venom (on BS2) with a krak grenade though.
Assault: The blue TWC wreck the bottom Venom decisively and pin the Haemy inside. The red TWC manage to do the same but not pin the Haemy. Then, I try to get a charge off on the Wracks with my blue FenWolves, they lose 2 to overwatch and that puts them out of range leaving them stranded!
Not a bad turn, the worst decision I think was throwing the grenades at the venom with Canis' unit. Yes it took it out and left me with some cover from buildings, but looking back I could have used the extra distance to get to the back vehicles quicker, it also would have meant they wouldn't be blocking my green FenWolves from mauling that Haemy, giving him chance to pass his pain token on to another squad. I had also hoped to take out the Venom's with grenades so I could assault the Haemy's and remove the threat of a) more webway possibilities and b) Linebreaker points but this was always risky when relying on grenades.
Score 3-0 to Deldar (First Blood + 2x Linebreaker)
Deldar - Turn 2Reserves: the Talos doesn't arrive but all the Hellions make it in (that's 36 guys including the Baron for those who wondered). The rest of the movement was mainly the vehicles backing off.
For the shooting phase, both the Ravagers aim for Canis, causing him 1 wound (the rest were saved, the Storm Shields showing their worth). The white TWC do then go on to only take 4 wounds from the massed Hellion fire (losing 1 guy, Canis' FenWolf and 1 wound on another guy). The blue FenWolves take a pounding and lose 8 guys (but do stay on a 7 so that's an improvement). The Wolf Lord manages to shrug off most fire, putting the only 2 unsaved wounds on the FenWolf who dies and a normal guy. The bottom Venom does manage to kill my melta bombs TWC in the blue unit as well.
The last two Haemy's drop their Webway portals in my backfield.
Wolves - Turn 2
I press the attack as I've not lost too much at this point and there's some squishy options for me to sink my (literal) teeth into; with this in mind I close in on the Hellions with everything except the blue FenWolves who swoop back to go on a Haemy hunt.
The White TWC (+ Canis) toss frag grenades into the orange Hellion unit and kill 7. The blue TWC do the same on the green Hells but scatter onto the blue Hells who pass their saves. The WL tries his frag on the blue Hells but he manages to scatter onto the green Hells, killing 4 (my army clearly trying an interesting target swap without telling me). The red TWC get it right though and kill 4 blue Hells. Onto the assault phase.
The blue TWC and green FenWolves charge the green Hells and lose 1 wolf to overwatch. The TWC then kill 4 more guys, the 4 FenWolf wounds are all saved and the Hells fluff attacks in return. They stay, but choose to Hit & Run 11" towards the bottom left. My guys consolidate, Wolves forwards, TWC give chase.
The WL's unit charge the red Hells. They take 2W and lose a guy but then wipe out the Hells in return (without even needing the WL) and consolidate forwards.
Next Canis' unit multi-charges the orange Hells and the Haemy who was in the way (they lost their charging bonus attack here, but the Baron's defensive grenades caused this anyway). They lose another TWC on the way in (2W from overwatch). Canis then challenges the Baron who accepts (mwa ha ha). The Baron hits 5 times but causes no wounds (all come up 3s! Unlucky). He then takes 6Ws in return and fails his 3rd Shadow Field save so dies (Slay the Warlord earned). The TWC cause 1 more wound on the Haemy but lose their Hammer in return (1W from both Haemy & Hells) but win by 2. The Haemy runs 9" but the Hells stay so I can't chase him down. The Hells then H&R 14" and I consolidate 1" forwards
The blue Wolves then charge the Haemy at the top, he kills 1 (terrain reduced their I to 1) and they cause 1W in return. Stalemate.
I'm pleased with most of this turn. I didn't lose a huge amount of guys and managed to completely slash his Hellions from 36 to 10 (netting a VP in the mean-time). If there was anything I'd do differently it would be find a job for those purple wolves (even chasing down that lone Haemy at the bottom) and consolidating the ble TWC forwards to press the attack and threaten Melons' backfield, the purple wolves could handle those 2 Hellions.
Score 4-1 to Deldar (First Blood + 3x Linebreaker - Slay the Warlord)
Deldar - Turn 3
The Haemy rallies and calls in his pet Talos in the top left corner. The orange Haemy joins the orange Hells (creating a nice colour co-ordination) and everything else shuffles round for line of sight. The vehicles are still backing away into Melons' corners. The Wracks advance on the WL.
The Wracks have a crack at liquifying the WL to no effect. He also uses LoS! to pass the 2Ws from the top Venom onto another guy and that guy dies. Canis takes 1W from a Venom, failing LoS! but passes his other (Hellion inflicted) wound onto the TWC with him. One Ravager kills the blue TWC's hammer, the other fails to wound Canis (lucky again). The Talos fluffs it's blast shots on the purple Wolves causing no wounds but the green Wolves lose 7 to combined splinter fire (failing 7 out of 9 cover saves).
Nothing runs though.
The assault sees a Deldar counter-attack. The orange Hells (+Haemy) charge Canis. The Haemy backs out of Canis' challenge having seen what happened to the Baron and Canis goes on to kill another 3 normal guys. The Hells do drag the last wound off the remaining TWC though (he LoS! to leap in front of a blow aimed at Canis), because of this the Hells get their 2nd pain token, gaining furious charge. Canis wins by 2, the Hells stay but H&R 7". Canis consolidates 4" forwards.
The blue Wolves recover their I5 and take down the Haemy before he can swing .
The wracks charge the WL and retinue and cause 1W which went through LoS! (this kills off the injured TWC). The TWC kill 2 more (go hammer guy, this was all him) and the WL kills another 3. The Wracks lose by 4, run and are caught and killed. The WL consolidates 5" back into the middle.
Wolves - Turn 3
The WL picks up the relic! (this is very exciting for me as I've never captured an objective with Wolfwing before). Canis joined the green Wolves to receive back up against the orange Hellions and everything else abandoned the Talos in it's corner. I didn't have the resources to kill it and didn't want to just feed it my squads.
In the shooting phase Canis frags 2 of the Hellions. Again, impressive for BS2.
Canis then charges into the Hellions in the assault phase, the Hells score 3 wounds on Canis and he passes them all onto the Wolves (killing them all and granting the Hells fearless). Canis then wipes the 3 last Hells and the Haemy does nothing, combat draws.
The blue TWC and purple Wolves charge the last green Hells. They lose 1W in return but kill them both and consolidate away from the Talos.
Well I have the relic, which is good. But there's a lot of enemy firepower to deal with still and the WL didn't run far enough to be safe. Looking back I should have moved him above the Webway to shield him from the top 3 vehicles, to play it safe. Hopefully that wouldn't bite me too badly. Strangely, Canis had managed to remain safe from shooting for next turn, so there was hope for him yet. I'm not sure why Melons' used H&R in his turn as it just let me gain ground with Canis, though I guess it did cost me the green wolves. All in all, there is hope for wolfwing if the WL can survive, even if I've sacrificed 1VP for Linebreaker with the Talos.
Score 4 - 3 to the Wolves (Relic, Slay the Warlord)
Deldar (First Blood, 2x Linebreaker)
Deldar - Turn 4
The Talos moves into the deployment zone corner nearest to it. Everything else is still going for firing lanes.
Shooting: Melons is clever, he removes my red TWC bodyguard with Venom fire (not letting me take advantage of my WL's 2+ save) before pouring Dark Lance fire into my WL till he falls. This nets Melons Slay the Warlord and loses me the Relic in one fell swoop. More splinter fire drops 4 blue Wolves, the middle Venom goes flat out and the Talos runs into his corner.
The assault phase is short and sweet as Canis causes the 1W he needed to polish off the Haemy and consolidates 6" into the Deldar back field.
Wolves - Turn 4
Canis Wolfborn lets out a mighty howl and charges at 'Son of Ravager', in the top right corner of the map. The purple Wolves move up and the blue TWC spin round to kill the Haemy.
The blue TWC wound the Haemy once with a krak grenade before charging in and finishing him off, whilst Canis fails with his own krak grenade but succeeds in immobolising the Ravager in combat.
It's not looking good by now, I have 3 units left, 2 of which stranded in my back field and one unsupported amidst a sea of Deldar vehicles. The purple Wolves began moving up way too late and are unlikely to see combat and with Canis' lack of an invun. save I'm doubtful he can survive one turn of shooting. It's an heroic effort and it could still pay off though with a little luck!
Score 3-2 to Deldar (first blood being the deciding factor)
Deldar - Turn 5
Most stuff spins round to target Canis in the movement phase, they also spin in case of Trueborn shots on the purple Wolves.
Son of Ravager can only fire 1 Dark Lance at Canis. It hits him. He dies. On the positive side, that's meant that everyone else facing Canis (the Venoms) now have to waste their shots.
The Bottom Venom scores three wounds on my blue TWC. They fail all 3 saves. They both die. I think my luck left me when my optimism did as my FenWolves then go on to fail all their cover saves and lose 8 wolves from the Trueborns' combined fire. Amazingly they don't run.
Wolves - Turn 5
Well, time for a last Hurrah! The Purple Wolves bound up the field and throw themselves into assault with the bottom Venom. They lose nothing to overwatch and wreck it with 4 glances. The Trueborn are not pinned, for what it is worth.
It is at this point we call the game. Really I would have called it at the end of turn 4 but Melons' rightfully insisted we play to a full game.
The Final Score was
Deldar Victory 3 - 2
So I lost entirely on that First Blood VP (it was an amazingly impressive series of rolls, in a bad way. It was clearly fated). However if we had continued I know I would have lost. I would never have caught those vehicles and would have melted to all the firepower. I pointed out my mistakes as I went back over this report. I think a final one would have been to potentially hold the WL in cover behind that building until a later turn before making a play for the relic. I may have been able to sneak onto it and just last out.
Still, this was a great list to play against (I love Hellions, even if they got a poor showing here) and it's good to see how Wolfwing fares against Venoms (the bane of my foot lists. Until it comes against a Helldrake I guess). They can bring them down easily if they can catch them, sadly I got stalled in the centre of the field killing Hellions. Next time I'll make it. Next time.
Speaking of next time I said in my previous post that I'm giving Wolfwing a short break so I can come back to it with fresh eyes (why did I think I'd need those Melta bombs?) so for a little while at least you will be seeing some (potentially) more normal lists being fought.
Until then,
The Emperor Protects.
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