I finally got enough of my Squats painted that I wasn’t too embarrassed to field them, so I’ve now played my first game.
A more detailed battle report (with pictures!) can be found through the link below, but here’s the TL;DR:
Game type:
3000 point tournament game
Armies:
Grindel Stronghold Squats (1.7.2), 2995 POINTS
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WARRIOR [345]
10 Warriors, Rhinos, Warlord, Grand Warlord
BERSERKER [215]
7 Berserkers, Hearthguard, Rhinos
BERSERKER [175]
5 Berserkers, Hearthguard, Tunnelers
THUNDERER [420]
8 Thunderers, 3 Rapier
ARTILLERY BATTERY [150]
5 Mole Mortar
GYROCOPTER WING [200]
3 Iron Eagle
GUILD ROBOT SQUADRON [225]
5 Colossus Class Robot
THUNDERFIRE BATTERY [150]
2 Thunderfire
GUILD SQUADRON (M) [315]
7 Guild Bikers, 2 Guildmaster, 4 Guild Trike
AIR ATTACK CORPS [250]
Overlord
LAND TRAIN [550]
Land Train, Berserker Battlecar, Dragon Battlecar, Mortar Battlecar, Bomb Battlecar
Biel-Tan Craftworld (NetEA Tournament Pack (2023-01-03)) - 2995 POINTS
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AVATAR [0]
ASPECT WARRIOR WARHOST [550]
Dire Avenger, 2 Exarch, 4 Wave Serpent, Striking Scorpion, 4 Howling Banshee, 2 Dark Reaper
ASPECT WARRIOR WARHOST [400]
4 Dire Avenger, Exarch, Autarch, 2 Striking Scorpion, 2 Fire Dragon
GUARDIAN WARHOST [300]
Farseer, 7 Guardians, 3 Wraithguards
RANGER TROUPE [125]
5 Ranger
WINDRIDER TROUPE [200]
6 Jetbikes
SWORDS OF VAUL TROUPE [295]
Falcon, Fire Storm, 3 Fire Prism
NIGHT SPINNER TROUPE [175]
3 Night Spinners
PHANTOM TITAN [750]
Result:
2-1 win for the elder on turn 4 (I.E. a close fight)
Link to BATREP:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6SwfA ... sp=sharingThoughts on the 1.7.2. list:
The game was against one of my regular opponents. We are generally fairly evenly matched, though probably 60-40 in his favor, so getting a very narrow loss on my first game with the list feels reasonable.
We deliberately both chose fairly rounded armies to get as “natural” an experience as possible.
In terms of usability, the squats are certainly much easier to handle than Orks and probably in line with Imperial Guard.
Overall, it feels like a good, solid, list with some strong points and a number of weaknesses for the opponent to exploit.
Some words about the various units I fielded (and some I deliberately didn’t use):
Warrior Brotherhood: They warriors themselves did decently for their price and the grand warlord is a total (if very expensive) beast in combat. I wouldn’t change much.
However, pricing Hearthguard at 70 points seems excessive. I suppose the closest comparison are ork Nobs, who have worse special rules but better stats and are priced at 35 points a piece. Or maybe an IG Storm Trooper with commissar at 25 points (depending on how you see it), who would generally be better in almost every way.
I would at least suggest giving Hearthguard an EA (+1) assault weapon, if not an outright MW assault.
The fact that Hearthguard are so expensive also means that the discount from taking medium and large formations generally gets eaten up.
For example: Instead of a medium Warrior Brotherhood (18 warriors and two hearthguard), I could get a small brotherhood, plus three Rapiers and seven warriors (so, one hearthguard, 16 warriors and three Rapiers) with 10 points to spare. That’s a deal I’d take almost any day. Add in Rhinos, and you even get more total units with the second option (31 to 30).
Berserker Brotherhood: My opponent targeted these really heavily, so they didn’t get to see much actual action. On the flip side, they did occupy the Phantom Titan for half the game, so I suppose they did well enough.
With these I can at least see the case for a single hearthguard, as it will let you place a blast marker at range. Once again, I’m not sure about the case for upgrading to medium or large units, mostly because you have to pay the premium for another hearthguard.
Mole Mortars: They did well, though I really should paint up another one to get the extra blast marker. Seems fine.
Gyrocopters (Iron Eagles): Very dangerous - I would probably almost always include some. Having just three in a formation means that you break too easily though, so I would generally field at least four. They seem to be well priced.
I’m going to try out the Steel Hawk variant at some point, as it seems fairly interesting, but I really cannot see the War Hawk as anything but a straight downgrade. Even against a 4+ reinforced AV (probably the best case use), it only changes from 0,2 to 0,25 hits per attack, and in any other situation, it’s purely worse than an Iron Eagle.
Guild Squadron: I really like these, and in the future I expect that my opponent will be very careful around them, after they completely mauled his aspect warriors (with supporting Vampire Raiders, Avatar and Guardians!). Trying to find the right mix of bikes and trikes is an interesting puzzle.
Guild Masters seem reasonable at 50 points, though they really should have lascannons if you want to be true to the old rules. Still, I think they work well as is.
Thunderfire Battery: Given the Squats lack of flyers and AA, these seem almost mandatory. I didn’t have a third one painted, but at only 25 points extra, the first two almost seem like a tax to get the third. I don’t mention them in the battle report, as they didn’t do much, apart from placing some blast markers on the Guardians, but their very presence sort of closed off the center of the board for the Vampire Raider, so I have no complaints.
Guild Robots: I brought a unit of these, but mostly to fill out points. At 225 points for five, I really struggle to see a good argument for these. I would basically rather bring any of the other things you can get for the same price.
The Colossus Class, with its Multi-melta, might have some small use against Space marines, but for the same price you could get a Guild Squad with a Guild Master and seven Trikes sporting the same weapon but with more than twice the movement to actually get in range for a shooting attack or firefight.
I really think these need some sort of upgrade to be even remotely useful.
Thunderers: I positioned these badly, so I didn’t get to see them at their full potential. I’ll try them another time, but they seem fine as is.
Land train: Great, iconic, unit. It’s slow and expensive, but very dangerous. I rather suspect that a single Bomb + Skyhammer battle car might be the best way to use one of these.
I will also try out a Colossus at some point, but if you don’t bring your tiny metal toy train, why are you even playing Squats in the first place?
I feel like I need to point out that a Land Train with a Fire shield and two berserker battle cars is the same price as a Leviathan. Given that the ability to transport lots of units in a vehicle that itself only moves 15 cm is fairly marginal (the only real advantage the Leviathan would have in this matchup), I don’t see why anyone would ever choose the Leviathan. This is not to say that the Land Train is too cheap (I think it’s well priced for what it does), but rather to say that the Leviathan lacks a clear reason for existing and/or is too expensive.
I really think that the Leviathan needs to become a transport option for a Warrior Brotherhood (or something similar), if you ever want to see them on the table. Maybe bring back the classic Ironbreaker Formation.
I also think that the Land Train needs a small FAQ regarding firing arcs. We played it so that the arch was measured from the battle car that held each weapon, but this makes it quite slow to play and leaves lots of room for interpretation.
Also, also, the “Imperial Void Shields” rule box should be included on the army list - just to avoid confusion.
Overlord: I used mine poorly, so it didn’t do too much in the game, but it seems fine as it is.
It would be somewhat simpler to use in the game if it was changed to have four Battle cannons with all-round firing arcs (as a compromise between worst and best positioning right now), plus the two FxF twin autocannons, but that’s just a suggestion.
