Full batrep link: http://wargamingtrader.com/epic-batrep- ... eed-freeks
We used a scenario based on one of Matty_C's ones from viewtopic.php?f=177&t=31785
This was Border War, but instead of Triumphs we let the player who finished first choose who won the first turn Strategy roll. This mission plays very differently from the Grand Tournament Scenario with it's per-turn scoring, holding objectives based on unit numbers and deeper deployment zones. I can strongly recommend giving it a try.
Table and lists:
Unit & formation thoughts after the game:
Chosen plus Dreads plus Spawn
- Assault Dreads now have a good mix of ranged fire and FF, at the cost of much poorer CC ability. They now feel like a viable option at 50pt when compared to the more powerful Desecrator at 75pt.
- With Spawn as well this made for a tough and capable formation.
- Future test - try Dreads in a Retinue with Havocs as a shooty Garrison.
- Plague Marines with Scout are particularly good for Border War.
Vindicators and Hulks
- Plague Hulks did a *lot* of damage in CC (six MW hits!) but because the formation was slightly overextended they took most of the return fire and died easily. If the formation had been closer before assaulting, I could have had some of the Vindicators or Nurglings in base contact to soak up hits instead of the much more expensive Plague Hulks.
- Vindicators never fired normally (but there were only two turns) but did a good job of supporting fire.
- I only rolled two Nurgling Swarms, but having them disembark on the the assault helped the Hulks reach combat and soaked two hits without giving the Orks any kills.
- In a normal game this formation would have made an unusual BTS for Death Guard as the three Plague Hulks are the only Fearless units.
Overall
- Taking no anti-air was a risk and the Contagions definitely suffered for it. On the other hand the formations are mostly tough enough or large enough that they're not as vulnerable as for example Eldar. A better idea would be to drop one Plague Hulk from the Armoured Assault Company and add a Desecrator to either the Contagions or the Daemon Prince's Retinue.
- Double Plague Zombies was great for locking down areas of the board, even if they do nothing else.
- Nurgle's Rot from the Daemon Prince kicked in in the big assault and killed an extra stand of Orks.
A note on table layout/terrain - I tried to keep to the Grand Tournament guidelines of 12 pieces of scenery for the table as a whole, but with an organic look rather than even distribution of terrain. We played the generator area as an area of intact buildings, played all area terrain (buildings, ruins and forests) as being 'solid' for LoF up to the height of the highest element and played the hills as-is. A single step in hill height was treated as open ground for movement, with two steps being treated as a cliff, although this played no part in the game.
