This is a test game to try out the Space Wolfs Wolf Guard Terminators ability to use drop pods. See discussion at: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=27676&start=105
The Setup was that I would try to show how deadly they are against a low SR unit that uses the “hoard” tactics. Mordoten took his standard Ork list and I used a tailored SW army that tried to max out on terminator drops.
Ghazgkhull Thraka's War Horde (Epic UK v100909)
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BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [300]
3 Flakwagon, 5 Gunwagon, Oddboy - Super Zzap
BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [300]
3 Flakwagon, 5 Gunwagon, Oddboy - Super Zzap
MEKBOY GUNMOB [175]
5 Big Gunz, Oddboy - Super Zzap
MEKBOY GUNMOB [175]
5 Big Gunz, Oddboy - Super Zzap
WARBAND (BIG) [350]
4 Nobz, 12 Boyz, 4 Grotz, Warlord
WARBAND [270]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, 2 Nobz
WARBAND [270]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, 2 Nobz
STORMBOYZ WARHORDE [150]
6 Commandos
LANDA [200]
LANDA [200]
FIGHTA SQUADRON [200]
4 Fighta Bomba
FIGHTA SQUADRON [200]
4 Fighta Bomba
FIGHTA SQUADRON [200]
4 Fighta Bomba
Space Wolves (NetEA Army Compendium v20120208)
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GREAT COMPANY [425]
6 Grey Hunters, Hunter, Rhinos, Wolf Lord
GREAT COMPANY [350]
6 Grey Hunters, Battle Leader, 2 Blood Claws
WOLF GUARD TERMINATORS [375]
4 Wolf Guard Terminators, Wolf Priest
WOLF GUARD TERMINATORS [325]
4 Wolf Guard Terminators
LONG FANGS PACK [300]
4 Long Fangs
THUNDERHAWK [225]
Space Wolves Thunderhawk Gunship
LAND SPEEDERS [200]
5 Land Speeder
STRIKE CRUISER [200]
Space Wolves Strike Cruiser
THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175]
2 Thunderbolt Fighter-Bombers
THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175]
2 Thunderbolt Fighter-Bombers
BLOOD CLAWS PACK [250]
6 Blood Claws, 2 Blood Claws
Attachment:
Setup.jpg [ 1017.07 KiB | Viewed 2615 times ]
Drop was set to turn 1.
Big Guns Garrison on OW and a big Warband garrisoned away from the deployment zone. (Some Landspeeders garrison ahead of the small groundforce to be able to support the dropping force.
TURN 1
SM Wins initiative but give it to the Orks as the plan didn’t worked out that well so now I wanted to make him waste activations.
Fightas ground attack Landspeeders. Kills 2
Landspeeders Hold and removes BM (1 left)
Fightas go on CAP
Thunderbolts Stand down. This is going well for the emperors finest…
Fightas ground attack Great Co that guards the Blitz. Hunter misses but the Great Co only suffers a BM.
Landa retains and air assaults the Great Co at the blitz. Hunter does 1 DC. 1 Nobb and 2 Grunts is killed but 4 Gray hunters and 2 rhinos is lost in the battle. After rolloff a single lone broken Rhino is left of the BTS formation. Losing the Great Wolflord in the battle…Disaster again
Thunderbolts go on CAP fearing the second Landa
Blitz brigade double forward
Thunderhawk air assaults some big Guns that manage to intermingle with the big warband but is intercepted by some fightabommas who score a crit… 8 brave Bloodclaws is caught in the explosion, yeah right...
Big warband leaves the intermingled big guns and shoots the landspeeders. Hitting on 7+ but still manages to kill 2 (5 hits) Single Landspeeder flees toward a hill
Strike Crusier activates and the Bombardment misses everything. The drop pods steer toward a blitz brigade and the deathwinfd kills a battlewagon or something similar.
Two units of terminators, some long fangs and a great co jumps out. Two Big gun formations on OW fires at the terminators, killing 2 and breaking them
Great Co retain and assaults the nearby Blitzbrigade killing the whole unit but lose 3 in return.
Nearby Stormboyz doubles away from engagement reach
Terminators move and fire at the Big guns, 1 BM
Long Fangs shoot at the same guns killing them all
End of turn 1.
Everyone except stormboys rally. Not looking too good for the Wolfs
Attachment:
Turn-1.jpg [ 842.25 KiB | Viewed 2615 times ]
TURN 2
Orks win initiative…
Fightas attack lone landspeeder, killing it
Lone Rhino manages a Hold action and flee into nearby woods
Blitzbrigade double and shoots at the long fangs. Killing one
Stormboys retain and wants to engage the fangs but is too afraid so they Hold and regroup instead.
Terminators engage the Blitzbrigade and kills them all with no loss
Fightas attack lone rhino (BTS) Nothing
Thunderbolts ground attack big guns and kills one
Big Warband double and shoots at the lone hiding rhino killing it…
Terminators marshal as there is nothing within range.
Fightas intercept thunderbolts and kill them
Long fangs marshal and move
Landa stands down
Great Co triple move
Big guns hold and remove BM
Warband double
End of turn 2. Big guns fail to rally. The SW leader has lost all hope of winning but the battle goes on…
Attachment:
Turn-2.jpg [ 1019 KiB | Viewed 2615 times ]
TURN 3
SW wins initiative
Long fangs goes on OW as nothing is in range and a landa gull of orks is about to activate…
Warband double, securing objectives
Great Co engage big guns kills all but loses 2 marines in the battle
Landa without orks sweeps past the long fangs, killing one
Terminators on OW
Fightas attack long fangs 1 BM
Terminators on OW
Fightas attack Long fangs killing another and breaking them
Fightas attack terminators, 1 BM
Warband double to objective
Landa attacks terminators. Thunderbolts on CAP moves in but only manages a BM. A not so bloody fight ends with only a loss each and some lone wolfs run away
Stormboys double trying to negate some of the SW objectives but OW fire kills 4 and the formation breaks.
END of game
Attachment:
End-of-game.jpg [ 783.74 KiB | Viewed 2615 times ]
Orks win 3-1
Conclusions:
Well sometimes nothing works…
The start with terrible activation rolls and a very bad first assault (1 out of 7 saves…) just went on with the thunderhawk being shot down.
This game was to try and show how powerful dropping terminators is compared to teleporting ones. Normally I would not take more than one unit of terminators but it was a test so…
The problem with drops is that I feel obliged to drop close to the blitz because the units will be slow once dropped. I also think it is wise to put the two other objectives relatively close. That leads to the fact that the opponent can figure out where the drop is coming, sure the 15 cm navigation helps and in this case garrison also helps to spread out the army. Perhaps I should have made the drop in the corner as I first intended but then I would have had a hard time reaching the blitz at all.
For me the teleporting flexibility outweighs the BM you get from it. Still a single pod in late turns can be very good but I’m not sure terminators is the best unit. They need to get into base to base to be really good. A dropping long fang formation is probably a better drop.
Next time the terminators will be flying in the thunderhawk and be shot down instead of dropping.
I have tried drops against IG and Tau that had more units on the table from the beginning and it can be devastating but that is due to the Deathwing ability to hit everyone within 15 cm and to luck. Landing in front of a Leman Russ co and then losing the activation can hurt. Especially with CC orientated units.
Anyway perhaps not the funniest game I have played but the opponent was glad at least
