u/rmobro

I might be absolutely out to lunch, but the new speeder detachment, combined with drop pods, looks like a really fun way to alpha strike your opponent's scoring /screening units with cheap units, or at the very least jail them behind a wall of cheap vehicles and marine bodies.

4 stormspeeders, 20 intercessors, and 2 drop pods is 1000 pts, and with the new speeder detachment can deploy with the pods turn 1. Fill the rest with scouts and more elite units to hold objectives.

Am i crazy or does this not look super fun?

I played:

Possessed Slaughterband: Demon Prince on Foot

3x Slaughterbound (Crits 5s and 4+ CP on kill), 6x Eightbound, 2x3 Eightbound, 6x Exalted, 2x3 Exalted, Land Raider, Jakhals, Goremongers

He played:

Mortarions Hammer: Mortarion, 2x Defiler, 2x Bloat Drone, 2x3 Deathshroud Terminators, 2x Terminator leaders, 2x10 Poxwalker, Vehicle buffing hero, CP generating hero

Hammer and Anvil

Mission E WTC layouts

He deployed first and he also took first turn.

We each deployed our terminators/smaller exalted eightbound in deep strike reserves.  I placed crits 5s  with the 6x Eightbound and the 6 Exalted w/ CP on kill in the landraider.  The last slaughterbound led a 3x Exalted in deepstrike.

We each deploy in cover.

Turn 1

He moves up defilers and bloats to take a shot at the landraider’s tiny sliver of gun sticking over a ruin, land raider drops to 9 (ouch!).  He takes centre objective and moves up mortarion behind some walkers. Ends turn, he scores area denial (oops my bad) and extend.

I move everything up to stage and move the landraider to try my luck with hitting on 5s lascannons (afflicted is bullshit, to be honest, its worse than oath).  Defiler gets plinked.  I drew tempting target and he made it the centre objective, but i failed an easy charge with eightbound (with rerolls) because he reactive moved the pox walkers off the centre, but made it with goremongers but -1 to hit is absolutely brutal.  Because they didnt kill the pox walkers, I couldnt 6” consolidate back into the objective, and I lose tempting and overwhelming.  Otherwise I just staged.

Turn 2

He draws assassination, and in response, he deepstrikes 6” his deathshround right behind my prince and big crits 5s eightbound unit, and even though I heroic my prince dies to flamers and combat.  In response my eightbound unit wipes the deathshroud, but his stupid lord stands back up (i mean .. in a faction with so many debuffs but also really great shooting and combat and 6” deepstrike and charge, why the fuck do they also have this stand back up bullshit /endrantfornowbutnotreally).  Elsewhere, he fails to kill the landraider through smoke, but otherwise kills the goremongers, but whiffs shooting into the hung-out-to-dry eightbound and they lose just one model, and then cannot be seen and survive.  I rapid 3 unlead exalted into a sweet spot where he cannot really shoot them with much.  He scores assassinate :( 

My turn, with my landraider still alive miraculously on 4 wounds, I move it up, dump the exalted eightbound, and plink the defiler again for nothing.  I also move my 6 eightbound into the centre, and the 2 surviving eightbound go and kill the alive-again terminator lord.  I also drop my led-3x exalted unit onto an objective to try for a 9” charge into a defiler (and fail, but take the objective).  In my charge phase, I slam 6 eightbound, 3 exalted, and 6 exalted, plus 2 slaughterbounds into the defiler (lives on 2), the line of pox walkers (dies immediately), and mortarion (who the exalted eat after the eightbound clear the pox screen).  Even through feel no pains, the primarch dies with damage to spare.  So … the defiler living on 2 really sucked, and there was a second defiler that heroics into me and still lived on 7 (vs eightbound).  Not being able to buff the eightbound +1 damage into their non-preferred targets is really annoying (and i feel needlessly limiting), and means my eightbound (even with crits 5) cannot really damage the defiler.  I score no secondary because of my draws and the fact hes not on objectives at all, and only 5 primary and hes ahead way ahead.

Turn 3

Well, I’m sitting in the centre with my pants around my ankles at this point.  He deepstrikes his last unit of deathshround 6” away from my big exalted unit, and even though I FOD with 4, he wipes the unit and I cant kill him back.  I lose several of my eightbound as well, and my exalted unit loses 2 models, but surges 6” into the defiler (but it lives anyway, due to weird activation priorities and FODs, I cant kill it).  THe other defiler finally loses its last 2 wounds.  He moves up with bloats as well, and the landraider unfortunately also dies to mass shooting.  He gets a great draw and scores again for engage and overwhelming.

I’m in a bad spot.  I offer to talk it out, he declines because he thinks its really close but I know what my guys can do.  And theres too much to get done.  Anyway, I play my turn in like 4 minutes, and score 4 for extend and 5 primary.

Turn 4

His turn he smashes the remainder of my stuff off the board and scores primary.

My turn I just concede, he can finally see there’s nothing stopping his runaway victory.  43 to 17 for Deathguard.

So this was my first game into Deathguard, and I was playing Possessed Slaughterband again, despite it being a severe handicap.  I’m building a second land raider and a helbrute and I’m really eager to try Goretrack out; with Smashthrough I am so sold on slamming two Landraiders into my opponent in turn two or three after just basically staging and shooting from cover with my land raiders.

Deathguard is extremely punishing to play into.  6” deep strike with charge on a unit that hits like a truck, shoots really well, and is also tough to kill is … definitely a thing.  Possessed gets 6” deepstrike, for a cp, and no charges.  So I definitely felt like I was playing with a hand behind my back, a little bit.  I’m proud to have killed Mortarion, but everything hitting at -1 and my land raider hitting on 5s  … that was just too much for my army.

Also, he was a very strong player.  I realize now that him scoring low the first few turns was him just outscoring me.  He didnt risk resources because he got good secondary draws, and was comfortable sitting back and letting me throw myself into his shooting.  On my turn 1 when I drew tempting target, I should have just … declined to risk 2 resources going for a not-guaranteed reward.  Instead, I risked it, failed, lost two units for no victory points and gave up a staged position on an objective.  Silly.  Really silly.