So, this was a no-soup (as in, no mixing armies even if they share a keyword) allowed ITC tournament at my FLGS, and I had to deliver a whole mess of Deathwatch for my Year of War challenge... so that's who I decided to play!
After some inspiration around the net (notably Ash's Deathwatch from GMG) and looking at what I had available I built up a list that was light on Objective Secured troops, high on vehicles and mobility. My game plan was to deny flanks and cause distractions with juicy targets to keep my opponents as wrong-footed as possible. If they're killing some out of position marines rather than hunting objectives that works in my favor- as long as I do it right. Still, I didn't expect too much (as I'm used to running a primarily Astra Militarum force) so decided to just have fun with it!
The List:
Strikeforce Obsidian 2000pts 8cps
Battalion +5cps
Watchmaster Pyrannius - Nowhere to Hide
Watch Captain Castiel - Xenophase Blade, Plasma Pistol, Beacon Angelis
Veteran Squad Gascoigne - Sgt. w/ Stormshield + Chainsword, x4 Veterans w/ Stormshield + Bolters
Veteran Squad Santiago - Sgt w/ power maul + Bolter, x1 veteran w/ power sword + bolter, x1 veteran w/ chainsword + bolter, x1 Veteran w/ Thunderhammer + Storm Shield, x2 Veterans w/ Fragcannons
Veteran Squad Bremman - Sgt w/ power maul + bolter, x2 veteran w/ frag cannon, vanguard veteran w/ powerfist + stormshield, Terminator w/ Assault cannon + powerfist, veteran w/ power sword + bolter, veteran w/ meltagun.
Hellblaster Squad Tercius - x5 Plasma Incinerators
Hellblaster Squad Maverick - x5 Plasma Incinerators
Biker Squad Hanno - Sgt. w/ Maul, x2 bikers w/ power swords, Teleporter Homer
Razorback Alacrity - Twin Lascannon, Stormbolter
Razorback Orkbane - Twin Assault Cannon, Stormbolter
Corvus Blackstar 'Night Unending' - Twin Assault Cannon, Stormstrike Missiles, Auspex Array, Hurricane Bolter
Venerable Dreadnought Helicanus - Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher
Venerable Dreadnought Constantine - Twin Lascannon, DCW/Heavy Flamer
Game 1: Nexus Control - Armored Ultramarines v. Deathwatch
Deployment: Seach and Destroy
Deathwatch Secondaries:
- Big Game Hunter
- The Butcher's Bill
- Ground Control
Ultramarine Secondaries:
- Big Game Hunter
- Old School
- Headhunter
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| Death watch takes first turn, moving up using the Hill as cover. The Corvus Blackstar moves behind the rocks to kill an Ultramarine Scout Unit that had positioned a little too greedy. |
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| Chronos in a quad Predator and an Autocannon Pred supported by Roboute Guilliman and a librarian roll up towards the Deathwatch position, destroying the Corvus thanks to the Primarch's aura. |
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| One squad of Hellblasters takes cover around an objective, content to put long-range plasma shots down range. |
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| Bikes go hard on the left flank, hiding behind a rocky hill in hopes of contesting the Ultramarine forward objective. |
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| The Ultramarine defensive position. Devastators with Las/Missiles in the building, tacticals and a venerable dreadnought defending the objective. |
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| A squad of Ultramarine terminators arrived via deepstrike, countered by the surviving squad members of the Corvus and cut-down between Frag-cannons and a bloody assault before consolidating back towards the right-flank objective. |
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| Both Deathwatch Razorbacks, two venerable dreadnoughts (Ultramarine and Deathwatch), and Chronos have been destroyed. The Veteran Squad attempts to kill the autocannon Predator but only manage to drop it to one wound between shooting and close combat. |
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| The Hellblasters teleported by the Teleportarium and the Devastator squad brutalize each other- before the remaining marines actually fail a leadership and withdraw. |
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| Ignoring the veteran squad (who go on to kill the Primaris Librarian), the Primarch turns his eyes towards the rest of the Deathwatch on the right flank. |
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| Double charge! The Primarch splits his attacks, and while the Watchmaster dies immediately the Venerable Dreadnought survives to fall back. |
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| Undeterred by the dreadnought, Guilliman decides to cut down Captain Castiel and claim the objective. |
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| At the end of the game, only Guilliman and Chronos stand against a grand total of four Deathwatch Hellblasters. However, when all was said in done it is the Xenos-Hunters who pulled out a close victory. |
Ultramarines- 26
Game 2: Precious Cargo- Bad Moon Orkz v. Deathwatch
Deployment: Frontline Assault
Deathwatch Secondaries:
- Reaper
- Old School
- Ground Control
Ork Secondaries:
- Big Game Hunter
- Old School
- Ground Control
 |
| In the maze of defensive fortifications, the Deathwatch go head to head with the system's Warboss- clearly intent on sacking whatever lies beyond. |
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| Half of the Deathwatch ready to entrench around the Precious Cargo- clearly whatever artifact they pulled out of the ground in the last minute. |
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| The other half on the right flanks, and that objective aiming to take the Precious Cargo away from the Orks by force. |
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| Twenty Meganobz supported by sixty gretchin body shields, two Weirdboyz, a Warboss and a Warboss on Bike take up the center while the remaining thirty grots and a Big Mek clearly tinker on the Ork precious cargo behind a wall packed with no less than fifteen lootas. |
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| The Corvus flies up and guns down/forces the retreat of twenty or thirty Gretchin. |
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| The firing line does it's best to whittle down the huge Nob horde, while the deepstriking Hellblasters and squad with Captain do their best to distract the brutes- which works to a degree. |
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| The Remnants of the Veterans do their best, but are easily butchered- outmatched by their armored opponents. |
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| On the right flank though, with the Ork Deathstar far away, the Gretchin defending the Ork Precious Cargo (as well as the Big Mek) are butchered quickly. |
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| Knowing the enemy is looking to target his vehicles and far ahead on points, Pyrannius calls for his units to pull back from directly engaging the Orks. |
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| Getting the signal, the Deathwatch duck behind the wall, out of range and line of sight from the Ork rocketz. |
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| In a final last ditch move the Weird boyz buff and Da-Jump the Mobs to the otherwise safe Deathwatch right flank. Their shooting proves ineffective and (luckily) they fail their charge even with a re-roll giving victory to the Deathwatch! |
Orks- 9
Game 3: What’s Yours Is Mine- Skirmishing Ultramarines v. Deathwatch
Also known as Primarch 2, Electric Boogaloo.
Deployment: Dawn of War
Deathwatch Secondaries:
- Old School
- The Butcher's Bill
- Headhunter
Ultramarine Secondaries:
- Big Game Hunter
- Old School
- Recon
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| The Deathwatch Deployment. The Ultramarines pushed heavily onto their right flank and the center, so I left a single veteran squad to hold an objective and hold attention and put almost everything else on the Deathwatch right flank. |
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| Scouts in the buildings around the central marker, also behind the far building in the picture and the line of buildings on their right flank. |
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| The Fortress, Devastators in the front, Librarian + Company Standard Bearer Warlord + and apothecary in a building with the Primarch moving forwards. A much angrier, aggressive use of him. |
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| That right flank. |
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| Bikes ready to rush the center, with Razorback and Ven. Dread providing a small fire base to counter the scouts in the buildings. |
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| No-man's land. |
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| Pyrannius sets up with a squad of Hellblasters, Las-Back, and the second Venerable Dreadnaught around an objective. |
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| Razorback and bikes roll up and cut down the hidden scouts to claim the objective. |
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| The Corvus flies up and systematically cuts down Scout squads. |
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| The Hellblasters teleport in and kill some Devastators- unfortunatly attracting the attention of the Primarch. |
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| Even as their Primarch hunts, the Corvus bursts into the fortified command center- killing a Librarian but finding itself reduced to a single wound. |
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| Around this time Kill Team Gascoigne is overwhelmed by Bikes led by a Librarian on his own machine and are cut down. |
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| Scout bikes leave the taken objective to try and disrupt the central Firebase- only to be eventually killed by middle Ven. Dread. |
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| The Squad in the center, advancing after killing the last of the Scouts in the middle... before combined long-range Devastator fire kills them. |
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| The Primarch avenges his Devastators (and in some ways, the first game) by absolutely destroying the Hellblasters. |
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| While Guilliman rampages the Captain and his Squad butcher all the characters and remaining Devastators in the command center. |
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| That did not go unnoticed. Even reduced to one wound by overcharged Hellblaster fire he was more than a match for the squad, rolling four sixes and annihilating them with Mortal wounds. |
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| Castiel took vengeance for his squad and his defeat in the first game by striking with his Xenophase blade, forcing a failure of his invulnerable save! ... Just in time for him to pop Honor the Chapter and blow him up before rolling his 4+ Resurrection save. Sigh. |
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| A Thunder-Hammer/Storm Shield killed the Deathwatch Bikes and beat up a Razorback before being executed by the rest of my force. The Ultramarines hit back hard, but it wasn't enough to catch up to my points- Deathwatch wins! |
Deathwatch- 27 (+3 for winning)
Ultramarines- 19
Reflection
Deathwatch wins! 90 points overall to take the tournament.
I super under-valued how effective my little mobile force was. With all of the line of sight blocking terrain on my tables, I was always able to keep at least a portion of the enemy armies at arm's length while I had the flexibility to run around and grab the objectives I needed. I also believe I was fortunate in the armies I fought. Both Ultramarines had excellent lists that were fun and competitive (despite that damn Primarch) but neither could drown me in bodies the way a true Horde Army could. The second list had 120+ models, but with 90 of them being Gretchin and the rest in a huge unwieldy Deathstar I could mostly avoid the worst of the damage- though More Dakka is crazy!
There was no doubt lucked favored me, especially with the failed charges in the second game- but at the end of the day, the Deathwatch were just a treat to play. It was great, felt fluffy as well as strong, and really goes to show that in 8th edition most armies can have the chance to really shine with the right moves at the right times and a little luck!
Most importantly though I'm just happy to have had three strong games, each one felt close and competitive down to the last turn and that's all I could have asked for!
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