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Did a playtest of the IF against Black Legion on Wednesday. I didn't do a blow-by-blow report, but recorded the important points of the battle and the most relevant Fist-specific playtest points. For this game, I decided to keep my stuff mobile, giving everything rhinos. This meant that the fortifications I did purchase (1 set) would be garrisoned by scouts. I took assault terminators again, and tried out the 6-strong whirlwind formation. On to the lists:
Black Legion (2014 NetEA approved) 3000 points
Retinue, rhinos, 315
Retinue, rhinos, 315
Retinue, SC, 4 landraiders, 625 (BTS)
Defilers, 275
Havocs, rhinos, 225
Havocs, rhinos, 225
Chosen, rhinos, 145
2 decimators, 450
Hell talons, 225
He'll blades, 200
Imperial fists, 3000 points
Tactical, rhinos, SC, hunter, 450
Tactical, rhinos, 275
Devastators, rhinos, 225
Scouts, rhinos, 150
Scouts, rhinos, 150
Assault terminators, chaplain, 375
Whirlwinds, +2 whirlwinds, 425
Land speeder, typhoon, 225
Predator annilator, hunter, 325
Thunderbolts, 175
Thunderbolts, 175
Bunkers and minefield, 50
This time I put the minefield as far forward in front of the BL T&H objective as I could, but it was awfully close to mid board. In any case, I used the field works to seal off the middle of my half, garrisoned the bunkers with scouts, and planned on moving up the more durable tacticals to beef up the garrison and free up the scouts for other things (see pic 1).
Turn 1 BL got strategy, and went after my whirlwinds with the hell talons. They took out 2, and I was reduced to a regular WW fm right off the bat. I only had 3bp for turn 1, but was back at 4bp in subsequent turns. So the more durable fm was worth the price. Their placement was ideal as I was able to reach anything that got near my defense line. Dave, who was observing the game, mentioned that having short ranged artillery only was a bit in-siege-ey. Since there's legion basilisks in 30k now, perhaps a fm of those would be appropriate for this list? I liked the idea, but just a thought.
Other turn 1 notes: the land speeders got a lot of attention over the course of the game. They were down to one unit but still managed to fly around being annoying. The BL BTS doubled up to prepare for crossing my defense line turn two, but I managed to kill 3 out of 4 LR with my preds. Bad rolls for saves were a notable characteristic of the game, probably because we were both using my dice. At the end of turn 1, BL had doubled up all the retinues, and I had responded by targeting rhinos to hurt their mobility for future turns.
Turn 2: I teleported the termies to the top of the hill, and won strategy. Already prepped due to the loss of the land raiders, the BTS was vulnerable. Hitting on 2s, I hit a lot and there were very few saves. I lost one unit in return and the termies got my BTS through hack downs in resolution. Plus they were still at 75% strength, and in good position in the middle of the board.
Turn 3: the BL win strategy, and kill my devs with BP.
Turn 4: the decimators try to root my tacticals out of the bunkers (which they do with that nasty IC MW Barrage), but put themselves within 15 cm of the termies. The termies kill one of the WEs in the ensuing engagement and the other one breaks. So, if positioning is good, the teleporting terminators can be quite useful. I think they are a good way to shore up the defenses: the objective attracts the opponent to the defenses, he attacks, and the termies pop in to disrupt the attack. If they're still around (both the termies and the enemy) in subsequent turns, that cycle repeats itself, ideally.
The game ended in turn 4, IF won 2-0 with DTF and BTS. The BL was able to out maneuver the IF on turn 3 and break some of the maneuver units the IF could have used to gain other victory conditions. So the termie assault proved to be vital in getting BTS.
Question on the mines: does moving cautiously negate the dangerous terrain test for crossing a minefield, as with other dangerous terrain? How about walker? Seems like a sentinel shouldn't be able to avoid mines as well as the IF who laid them.
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File comment: Pic 3 center board at game start
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File comment: Pic 2 BL deployment
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File comment: Pic 1, IF deployment. Bunkers and minefield center right
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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean
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appreciate the effort! I'm just off to bed but have a few thoughts which I'll share tomorrow
