RE: [NetEpic ML] Slann battle reports and analysis

From: <nils.saugen_at_...>
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 10:24:47 +0200

Hi Peter,

Great report! One thing though, will this mean that Raider CAF is reduced to
+2 and the lord to + 6 or does these stats remain unchanged?

Eivind and I have scheduled 3000 pts a game for thursday. We will use your
new CAF and Jump rules, in addition we will test Eivinds suggestion of
rolling for each detachment, rather than stand, under the nullify tewmplate.

As for the second game, I think the Slann would have been better of taking
another company card (Gravguard/Spawnguard???), reduceing the number of
Support Cards.

Nils

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Ramos [SMTP:primarch_at_...]
> Sent: 15. oktober 2000 19:53
> To: netepic_at_egroups.com
> Subject: [NetEpic ML] Slann battle reports and analysis
>
> 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 - 08:24:47 UTC