Yesterday's game was a lot of fun. While I wait for my friend to give me the pictures, here's a recap and thoughts on how various units and strategies performed.
First off, my Cobra: It did exactly how I thought it would. Devastated a lot of things on the first turn, and spent the rest of the game with weapon shaken results. On the first turn it took two structure points off a Hellhammer, took a structure point off a Warhound Titan and exploded a nearby bunker, exposing the troops within. For the rest of the game my opponents concentrated their firepower on it, but a combination of holo-fields and cover saves (from a nearby Tower of Tzeentch) kept it from losing any structure points, though it did take a lot of driver stunned/weapon shaken results.
The Revenant Titan: On the first turn destroyed a Vindicator squadron that was threatening a nearby bunker. It is a devastating formation and I decided that it should go away quickly. It took some shots, but the holo-fields really saved the day. I did lose one structure point and had a couple of weapon shaken results.
Shining Spears: They attacked some terminators, but even after two rounds of charges (hit and run) couldn't kill all 5. They just don't have enough attacks, and their extra toughness and armor save just aren't enough to stop powerfists. They are pure Marine killers (who have to be in the open as Spears don't have grenades).
Windrider Host: Due to a Disruptor Beacon, they were quite scattered but took a backline objective. I wasn't going to take the formation because it is really expensive for not getting too much, but as objective claimers they're excellent.
Fire Dragons: In one round of shooting, they took out a Baneblade without even needing to charge in with Meltabombs (3 died in the explosion). They survived a lot longer than I thought, even with a marine squad double tapping and a squad of terminators pumping them full of depleted uranium. They all died eventually, but wiped out more than their points cost. Their Wave Serpent lost its weapons, but survived the game and took an objective.
Howling Banshees: Led by Jain Zar, once they moved the distance to charge a squad of marines (the same squad that nearly wiped out the Fire Dragons) my opponent simply removed the marines without bothering to roll. How's that for reputation?
Genestealers: Did well, Feeder Tendrils on a Broodlord gets the whole unit twice as deadly. If Flesh Hooks and Acid Maw could be taken on the same unit, you would have a unit who could reroll to hit and to wound. With rending, that becomes extra deadly. Unfortunately to do that you have to lose Flesh Hooks, which is very much required.
Malanthrope: For some reason was a big target. It's tough for a husky floater like him to get a cover save, and he took a lot of shots. His supporting Carnifex did well, the extra wound was very helpful. The other fex got taken down by a powerfist rather quickly.
A couple of words on the strategic asset Disruptor Beacon: This changed the game entirely. My ally had the Chaos Conclave which makes all members of the Conclave have a Disruptor Beacon, and my opponents took one and placed it in the center of the board. Since no objectives were in the corners, both sides were throwing reserves into the forested corners. They rapidly became hotspots of combat, but all of it was meaningless as no one could reach any objectives.
Memorable points in the game: The Hellhammer's apocalyptic explosion which immobilized a nearby Warhound Titan, the Dragons cooking a Baneblade, and the surprising appearance of 5 scratch-built Lightning Fighters. When those appeared they used the Precision Strike asset, firing all their missles and weapons at the Cobra. That's 20 missiles, 10 twin-linked autocannons, and 5 lascannons for those of you keeping score at home. Furthermore, a couple of devastator squads joined in the fun of getting a 2+ to hit on my Cobra. Because part of the time it was shielded by a Silver Tower of Tzeentch (which blew up after just a couple shots) the Cobra survived the entire thing unharmed. Granted, it couldn't move or shoot, but no structure points were gone and no weapon destroyed. On the next turn because it got neither a holo-field save nor a cover save it lost the D-cannon. I tried to repair it the next turn but failed. Finally, the last memorable moment was when my Banshees had to take 9 cover saves against a Vulcan Mega-Bolter. I passed all 9. I will admit it, the dice were with me this game. I rolled lots of chain reactions and made lots of saves.
Pictures coming soon!
