So today was a day at the bunker for me, and I was bound and determined to get some hard core BFG fun in. So i got 4 great games under my belt. here is the report as best as I can recall.
Battle 1. Grey Knights vs Imperial Navy
1500 pts.
Navy:
2 Overlords with left column shift, one has LD8 commander
2 Dictators
2 Lunars
1 Gothic.
Grey Knights (me)
G. Knights barge with Ordo Malleus commander
4 Grey Knight strike cruisers (2 replaced launch bays for bombardment cannons)
6 Nova escorts.
This battle was the first of the day. the player was new, and young, so I was not expecting tactical genius out of him... Things did not go well for him rather quickly as my ships easily outflanked and outmaneuvered his ships. The 5d6 AAF proved to be instrumental for the battlebarge (as it was able to keep up with the strike cruisers with far less issue then before.). Before long, the superior grey knight boarding and firepower present in my Nova's (who spent the entire day exceeding expectations), reduced most of his ships to crushed tin cans or floating hulks.
Then I totally got Creed'd.
His Lunar cruisers went AAF, and rammed my barge on it's starboard side. Dealing a total of 7 damage all at once. Reducing the untouched bastion of glittery good to a crippled mess. I got revenge the moment the next round came up, as I rammed two strike cruisers right up the tailpipe of the same said cruisers, destroying one and dealing 5 damage to the other... boarding action finished them off.
Lesson learned: Never underestimate a new player.
Game 2: Tyranids vs Imperial navy.
Nid fleet:
2 hive ships, launch bays, feeder tenticles and massive claws, one ld 8, one ld 9
4 massive claws cruisers
bazillions of escorts, only with feeder tentacles and massive claws.
Imp Fleet: same as above. (me)
This game is an example of how NOT to play nids.. No shooting, just close combat and ordnance.
This battle ended quickly, before he even got close to chew on me, one hive ship was crippled, one cruiser was destroyed and another was crippled. When he finally got close enough to start dealing damage (which he did do in spades), he forgot something.
I have a little button I can press.
my cheapest ship, a lunar, blew itself up as his hive ship came in to eat it. The resulting explosion destroyed one of his hulks along with it. The combined conflagration crippled the hive ship and destroyed about 70% of his escorts. My casualties were significantly lower. The next round, I destroyed the other hive ship and we called the game there.
Lesson learned: Close combat nids DO NOT WORK!
Game 3. Craftworld Eldar vs Chaos
Craftworld eldar:
Hero Ship (w/eldar hero 1 reroll)
Dragonship (batteries and LB with aspect warriors and a- boats)
3x wraithships (1 with aspect warriors)
6x shadowhunters (batteries)
Chaos:
Despoiler, torps, ld8 commander
4x slaughters
2x acherons
This was a GREAT game, a perfect example of how even one dice can ruin an eldar's day.
First things first, this match was in the mercurial zone, with a solar flare AND a rad burst.. AND the sun was on the short end of the table. No terrain to exploit and i can't zig zag on the table.
I played the waiting game, sticking around on my side of the table, only moving ahead to launch torps and bomber flights, until he got just close enough for me to start shooting. The damage to me was extremely minor, until his slaughters got close enough to punk the hell out of.
First things first: Aspect warriors are TOTALLY worth the upgrade! I won every boarding action i made with them, and had amazing control over where and when i boarded.
Once I started shooting and boarding, i started taking hits. a few lucky shots (usually with that single weapons battery shot he made) and i found my dragonship and one wraithship with LD4. Fortunately, the dragon ship was able to board another slaughter and take it down...
Things were going OK, until suddenly my hero ship was isolated around a bunch of cruisers, and the resulting shooting phase saw it explode, destroying half my escorts with it.
I determined this would not stand. My dragonship was crippled from another few lucky shots, so all i had were three wraithships, and three escorts... So i went balls out. I reloaded the wraithships, and locked on the escorts.
the aspect armed ship boarded, the others shot the enemy dispoiler... giving me the edge I needed to kill it in the boarding action. I lost the wraithship in the next phase due to a locked on acheron and two slaughters. I disengaged after that.
Lesson learned: I may have lost, but eldar boarding can be the meanest thing in the WORLD!
Game 4. Chaos Vs Grey Knights
Chaos (same as above)
Grey Knights (me, same as above)
This battle was also, VERY fun. He had a ton of free upgrades due to my ships, and it manifested in the form of 3 demon ships and 3 re-rolls.
Again, the bombardment cannon upgrade and lightning fast movement of the grey knights paid off. Before he had an effective firing solution on me, two slaughters were drifting hulks thanks to my barge, the nova escorts (who killed one all by themselves), and the bombardment cruisers.
I did not come out of it scott free. Two slaughters, two acherons and the Despoiler proceeded to push my Barge's face in the next round.. bracing for impact didn't help, and by the time it was done, it had 3 hits left. It ran the moment i had the chance.
Since he focused his fire so heavily on the barge, the four strike cruisers took the chance and boarded his battleship. after a round of locked on fire from nova escorts, his ship was not only crippled, but stationary due to a critical roll of an 8. He was stuck there unable to disengage. My escorts were nearly wiped out due to enemy fire, and a strike cruiser took a hit. Another boarding action in my turn resulted in the end of his despoiler... the game ended there with my victory.
Lesson learned: Grey knight strike cruisers have sharper teeth then a bio-titan.