Re: [NetEpic ML] Slann battle reports and analysis

From: warprat <warprat_at_...>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 20:14:03 -0700

Hi Peter!

I noticed that the Imperial forces in the second battle contained
elements of the Imperial Guard AND Tech Guard. Why did you use elements
from each, rather than a pure army of only one?

Just wondering...


Warprat ;)



Peter Ramos wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> It was a fun filled Saturday night at the Comics Lair in NJ playing with
> Darius and Ed. We gave the Necron a good testing. Here are the battles and
> what we found.
>
> Battle One
>
> Tyranids versus Necrons
>
> Darius played Tyranids for the first time as I finally got to field my
> Necron in a real battle. The playing field was level due to both our
> inexperience.
>
> The game was 5000 points with three objectives, two on opposing hilltops and
> one in the valley in between.
>
> Necron
>
> 1. 2 Assault Necron companies
> 2. 1 Nemesis Detachment
> 3. 1 Frog Pod of mechs
> 4. 1 Dragonking titan (the big man himself makes his debut!)
> 5. 1 Spawnguard detachment
>
> As you can see I took a small force of very potent troops. We needed to test
> the assault necron and did so with the following rules changes: Caf is now
> +4 not +5, as you'll see it is balanced this way. The cost is 750 points not
> 600. We also wanted to see if the Dragonking was worth 2000 points.
>
> Tyranids
>
> 1. 2 exocrine broods
> 2. 2 biovore broods
> 3. 1 Dactylis brood
> 4. 3 Termagant broods
> 5. 2 Hormagant broods
> 6. 2 Genestealer broods
> 7. 2 Lictor broods
> 8. 2 Gargoyle broods
> 9. 3 Hive warrior broods
> 10. 1 Hive tyrant
> 11. 2 Dominatrixi
>
> large force, the ultimate battle versus quantity and quality, needless to
> say I was outnumbered at least 3 to 1!
>
> Turn 1
>
> The tyranids surged forth lead by their infiltrating Gargoyles and lictors,
> they got near the objectives on both hills and kept their distance from the
> open valley objective. One assault necron company attacked each hill
> supported by one detachment of frog mechs, the dragonking held the center
> with the nemesis detachment hiding behind it. The spawnguard stayed to the
> extreme right and provided support.
>
> Tyranid fire was somewhat good, downing several necron assault warriors all
> but one would arise from the ashes however. Their was minimal skirmishes
> between Lictors and assault necron in which the Necron gained the upper
> hand, but no real damage was caused.
>
> The dragonking made the earth shake (literally since this thing is big and
> heavy!) and opened fire. It was devastating! Termagant, hive warriors and
> hormagants died in a blink of an eye as the center line of the Tyranids was
> decimated. The sole replay was psychic bombardment which the Dragonking
> ignored with its mighty psi-protection (in retrospect Darius and I realized
> while slim this attack could have destroyed the dragonking and each him
> 40VP's! a game breaker for sure, luckily for me it was not so).
>
> The first turn ended with the necron ahead with 25 VP's to the Tyranids to
> the tyranids zero (remember they get no points for objectives and double
> points for wiping whole units out).
>
> Turn 2
>
> The mayhem began in earnest as the necron assault went full swing into the
> tyranids in the same manner they did the same. Tyranid fire from exocrines
> and biovores started to land telling blows destroying the spawnguard and
> picking off the frog mechs. Retaliatory fire from the necron frogs was
> fierce but paled in comparison to the dragonking fire which destroyed whole
> broods of exocrine and biovores, the tyranid firebase was decimated. The
> necrons were fairing no better the amount of tyranids were far to many and
> the assault necron were taking casualties and both companies were broken and
> in shambles. The frogs did their best holding off large broods of
> termangants with mantis missiles, but one by one they were being cut down,
> yet they held....
>
> I had gone for broke this turn, hoping to end the game, I cam close with 43
> Vp's to the tyranids 30, but another turn ensued.
>
> Turn 3
>
> I made a last ditch effort and took the objectives from the hills with the
> surviving necron lords and the remaining frogs, the pitiful few stood to
> receive the tyranid onslaught. The Dragonking finally made it to the
> objective in the valley, their was no one left to oppose it. The tyranids
> mustered their forces for the storming of the hills the Dominatrixi leading
> the fray. On one hill the attack was too great and overwhelmed its
> defenders, the dragonking in its furry let loose its entire barrage to the
> defiant Tyranid on that hill, when the dust cleared only the Dominatrix was
> left standing (that bitch!). The battle for hill two was more of a Necron
> success when the Tyranid warriors just annihilated the Necron defenders
> leaving but two models the counter attack however swept the Tyranid warriors
> away.
>
> A couple of Necron assault detachments made the long warp jumps to take out
> the remaining biovores.
>
> Victory was conceded to the slann at 47 to 33 since it was clear that they
> still had enough to hold what they had taken in objectives and the tyranids
> were too few to take them back. This was a real bloodbath since there were
> literally less than 20 models left on the tabletop.
>
> Analysis
>
> The assault necron worked fine at a CAF of +4, this will be their new CAF
> and the cost per company is 750 points. It was obvious that a higher CAF or
> lower cost would make these units too good. The units are very good at what
> they do, but suffer casualties fast, against a highly shooty army they will
> fair poorly.
>
> Tyranids fair poor against the likes of the dragonking or Imperator, they
> don't have enough firepower to take them down without a lot of luck. They
> need biovores to "distract" such a unit so the rest of the army could do
> their job. The Necrons one due to his unit. Its worth its 2000 points, but
> it is clearly not the equal of the Imperator.
>
> One pattern is clear for the Necron and slann, they need to develop a lead
> early in the game, since otherwise attrition will make them lose in the
> later turns. they don't have much staying power, but one hell of a first
> turn punch.
>
> Battle 2
>
> Imperial guard versus Slann
>
> I had a pretty good idea going in that I could pull out a victory, not
> because of any genius on my part but due to the fact that I was playing a
> well known army versus an army that we are all learning about. This means I
> would use well known tricks, while the slann needed to react to them.
>
> On the surface this may seem like an unfair test for the slann, but actually
> it is a valid one in the since if the slann are unbalanced they will make it
> difficult for me to win or even win themselves when they are at a
> disadvantage.
>
> The battle was 4500 points per side
>
> Imperials
> 1. Tactical mole company
> 2. Heavy company
> 3. Assault company
> 4. Artillery company
> 5. Roughrider company
> 6. Shadowsword company
> 7. Knight paladin company
> 8. Lancer knights
>
> Slann
> 1. Exodus company
> 2. Frog pod
> 3. Slann mage mech
> 4. 2 Kroxigor detachments
> 5. 2 gravguard detachments
> 6. 2 Spawngiard detachments
> 7. 2 skink detachments
> 8. 1 frog tank detachment
>
> The board was similar to the previous battle with a couple of buildings
> added.
>
> Numerically I vastly outnumbered the slann. My plan was simple the mole
> company would surface around the center and hill objectives and overwhelm
> the opposition by numbers. This ploy is difficult to counter especially if
> you have not played against it. I knew the slann would have a rough time
> countering it, but if they did so too easily, this would tell me something
> about the balance too. The mole company would be supported by the knights
> paladin. The remaining hill was attacked by rough riders and the assault
> company with the shadow swords and lancers in support.
>
> Turn 1
>
> Everything went according to plan, the mole company appeared and immediately
> engaged the slann units, the end result was the decimation of the frog pod
> and exodus company, good ranged firing from the shadow swords destroyed the
> slann mage mech and harried the remaining frog mechs.
>
> In truth the game was pretty much won on the first turn although the second
> turn inflicted numerous casualties on the IG. However the initial plan
> worked so well that the slann had no effective attacking force, it could
> only defend and shoot.
>
> Turn 2
>
> Pretty much was all massive close combats with some good shooting, but the
> battle had been decided and we didn't play any further. It ended 48 to 33
>
> Analysis
>
> I'm glad to say the slann are balanced, the battle turned out as it did
> solely on tactical ground, we all learned something that day and now know
> better slann tactics.
>
> One important thing that was discussed and changed was the warp jump rules,
> I found them counter intuitive and too dicey. They are now simplified as
> follows:
>
> When a mech or infantry that is jump capable makes a jump it rolls once (and
> only once) on the following table while adding any appropriate modifiers:
>
> Modified die roll
> zero or less- Models sucked into the warp and destroyed
>
> 1-2- partially successful jump, but model is displaced and confused, scatter
> 3d6cm and model may not fire, may be fired at normally
>
> 3-4- successful jump, model makes the jump and may act normally, no snap
> fire can be taken, but first fire unit may fire
>
> 5-6- Perfect jump, model lands precisely and by surprise, enemy models may
> not snap fire or first fire against a unit with a perfect jump.
>
> A standard "safe" jump is 40cm, note there is NO chance of falling into the
> warp with a safe jump. For every additional 10cm beyond 40cm their is a -1
> penalty to the roll on the table. If a jump of 60cm is attempted a roll of 2
> or 1 results in destruction and a perfect jump can never be achieved. Their
> is no upper limit restriction to the jump, but it doesn't need one, after
> jumping 30cm over the safe 40cm it becomes not very feasible to do so since
> the -3 makes death a 50% probability and the best you can hope for is a
> successful jump.
>
> Vanguard/slann magi that accompany the pod make it unnecessary to make the
> roll IF the jump is within 40cm, if longer they require a roll but they add
> +1 bonus for their presence, this means they can jump farther and safer, to
> a point of course, the penalties for range still apply. This means if you
> jump an additional 20cm, the penalty is -2 to the roll but would be -1 since
> the vanguard adds +1 bonus.
>
> Peter
>
>
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Received on Mon Oct 16 2000 - 03:14:03 UTC