Squat WE v Crimson Fists (Scions of Irons) - 3,000 points

Deployment
Squats set up with refused flank on their left flank around their Blitz objective, with a couple of trike formations out on the right flank. Iron Hawk Recon Squadron (IH) garrisoned around the Blitz objective to set up a screen over the bulk of the Squat forces (2 Colossi, 2 Overlords and a Skysweeper formation).

Marines hold 3 terminator formations off board, deploy in a line across their deployment zone (left to right) terminators in land raiders (TLR), heavy tactical (HT) formation, bike formation. Scouts garrison between Squat objectives on their side of the board.

Turn 1
• TLR advance forward down their left flank, straight towards the bulk of the Squat forces
• Trike formation 1 advances to secure marine objective in front of them
• Bike formation advances to about the middle line of the board
• Trike formation 2 advances and shoots at bike formation, killing one bike stand
• Scouts stay on overwatch
• HT advances and its barrage destroys 2 iron hawks and breaks the formation, the survivors fleeing to the middle of the Squat deployment zone
• Overlord 1 advances into the midst of the advanced marine formations, fires on scout formation, killing a stand of scouts
• Skysweeper formation goes on overwatch
• Colossus x 2 fire on TLR, leaving only 1 stand of terms and a land raider – survivors break and flee back to their own deployment area
• Overlord 2 fires on the Hvy Tac formation, BM only
• Rally Phase: TLR rally; IH fail to rally; other formations clear blast markers

Turn 2
• 3 termie formations teleport in, each formation targeting a Colossus
• Two termie formations assault two Colossi close to the blitz, one taking overwatch fire from skysweeper formation, giving it a blast marker. Assault results in the loss of one terminator formation and the other broken, the Colossi were damaged, the one with the Grand Warlord in particular was heavily damaged (1 DC left). The broken terminators flee behind cover
• Last terminator formation assaults 3rd Colossus – lose half their number and flee back towards their own lines.
• Trike formation 2 sustain into bikes and wipe them out
• TLR survivors dash across their deployment zone to try to defend their Blitz objective
• HT shoots down nearby Overlord 1
• Rally Phase: formations clear BM; Broken IH dashes into open space in the middle of the board, close to trike formation 2

Turn 3
• Trike formation 2 sweep towards the marine Blitz objective, destroying the nearby LR and leaving the single remaining terminator stand broken.
• Overlord 2, Colossus x 2 fire into HT, finally destroying it (NB: this is the first time this formation has been killed by anyone in the local scene – it is rightly feared and extremely resilient – my opponents poor armour save rolling definitely helped)
• Surviving scouts began to withdraw from the field of battle, leaving the Squats in control of the field of battle
• IH still continue to flee, their morale utterly destroyed.

Squat forces – Defend the Flag, Blitz, Break Their Spirit
Crimson Fists – no objectives claimed

Review
The targeting of the Squat War Engines cost the Crimson Fists, if they had taken out the Trikes first and then pinned the Squat War Engines in place, they could have controlled more of the board. The frontal assault into the guns of the Squats may have proven more fruitful if the Crimson Fists could make at least an average number of armour saves. It was my opponent’s first game against this list and his general feedback was that nothing really stood out as an issue in the list.

Another piece of feedback from another local player was that the War Engines all seemed very similar – I think is to do with the Cyclops and Colossus. As I like to point out, they are multi-role behemoths, with the ability to fire direct or indirect with their missiles. I think they fit the fluff of the Squats, as big war engines that cross the hostile environments of the Homeworlds in small groups or even alone, they should be able to handle just about any sort of opponent. Strength in versatility

I still need to test out the land train in a few games to see how they play out as part of the list.

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