Another game at Heroes and Villains, this time against Dakota and his Thousand Sons. I was itching to try flamer squads in a Chimera after Chapter Approved made them cheaper, and Dakota wanted to use his Terminators even though he knew taking two squads wasn’t ideal. I also opted for a battalion of Scions to see if they could reconcile themselves from my last game against Dakota, when 11 of them dropped in and killed all of 2 Rubric Marines.

Catachans – Brigade

HQ

• Straken
• Company Commander (boltgun, chainsword)
• Company Commander (boltgun, chainsword, Warlord: Master of Command, The Laurels of Command)

TROOPS

• 6x Infantry Squads, no upgrades

ELITES

• Command Squad (heavy flamer, flamer)
• Special Weapons Squad (3x flamer)
• Ministorum Priest
• Commissar (bolt pistol, The Blade of Conquest)
• Harker

FAST ATTACK

• Hellhound (heavy bolter, storm bolter)
• Scout Sentinel (heavy flamer)
• Scout Sentinel (multilaser)

HEAVY SUPPORT

• Basilisk
• Griffon Mortar Carrier
• Heavy Weapons Squad (3x mortar)
• Wyvern

DEDICATED TRANSPORT

• Chimera (multilaser, heavy flamer, storm bolter)

Battalion

HQ

• Tempestor Prime (command rod)
• Tempestor Prime (hot-shot laspistol)

TROOPS

• 2x 5 Scions (2 plasma guns, plasma pistol)
• 5 Scions (2 hot-shot volley guns, plasma pistol)

BATTLE PLAN

Though not great against Thousand Sons due to this list’s high volume of D1 firepower (Rubric Marines and Terminators get +1 to their save against D1 weapons) the plan was to have a strike force of flamer infantry in the Chimera supported by a Company Commander for the Burn Them Out order. The Scion battalion would be a second strike force that could hit hard wherever needed on turn 2 or 3, while the rest of the army either held the line or swarmed something in melee if it got too close. Harker would use his aura to boost my artillery output.

Thousand Sons – Battalion

HQ

• Ahriman (no disk)
• Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (2 malefic talons, wings)
• Exalted Sorcerer (force stave)

TROOPS

• 15 Cultists (autoguns)
• 2x 10 Rubric Marines (soulreaper cannon)

ELITES

• 2x Scarab Occult Terminators (hellfyre missile rack)

HEAVY SUPPORT

• Predator (4x lascannons, storm bolter, havoc launcher)

Deployment

We were playing The Scouring – 6 objectives to control at the end of the game with the usual extra victory points of First Blood, Slay the Warlord, and Linebreaker. Dakota finished deploying first (obviously) and won the roll for first turn. I opted not to seize the initiative. With Prepared Positions granting cover on turn 1 and deep strikers not allowed until turn 2, I like going second with the Imperial Guard. We are a tough army, and it’s nice to have the final turn for seizing objectives.

Thousand Sons Turn 1

Dakota moved his army forward except for the Cultists who swarmed toward the objective on his right flank and the Predator which stayed still to fire more accurately. I had hidden all my tanks except the Chimera, which I had foolishly left exposed. Whoops.

He cast Weaver of Fates on his Deamon Prince to bring its invulnerable save up to 3+, and Glamour of Tzeentch on his Rubric Marines in the center of the field to give me -1 to hit them. His Predator trained all 4 of its lascannons on the Chimera but Prepared Positions helped me save against one blast, resulting in 6 wounds taken off it from the two shots that got through. His Rubric Marines managed to kill a few Guardsmen, but the Emperor’s legions are vast and my army was easily able to absorb these meagre casualties.

Catachan Turn 1

I used Jury Rigging to bring my Chimera up to 5 wounds. My infantry on the left advanced toward the objectives on that side of the board. My Hellhound and Sentinel with heavy flamer moved into range of the Rubric Marines taking cover in the building in the center of the table. My infantry on the right advanced to screen the Chimera with its payload of flamers.

Hoping to get First Blood, I trained my Mortars, Griffon, and Wyvern at the Cultists but only managed to kill half of them. A few more ran away leaving 2 remaining. My Hellhound and Sentinel unleashed the Emperor’s holy fire on the Rubric Marines, but with cover from the building and All is Dust granting +1 to their save from D1 weapons, they still had a save of 2+ and I only managed to kill one or two. My Basilisk lobbed a shell at the Predator but failed to do any damage.

I remembered partway through the shooting phase that Dakota had Terminators about to teleport onto the board, and I had a gap in the backfield of my right flank! I ordered a squad to Move Move Move to try to cover the gap, hoping for a good advance roll and thankfully got a 6, leaving him very little room to deep strike should he choose to arrive there.

Thousand Sons Turn 2

Turn 2, as always, was shaping up to be the pivotal turn. Dakota moved his Rubric Marines forward, consolidating into the building in the center. His other squad moved toward the building on his left, looking to use Warptime to move in the psychic phase and get in range to shoot. He moved his Daemon Prince into position to charge either my Hellhound or Chimera, though my infantry screen was in his way.

Now it was time for the Terminators to teleport in. Dakota opted to drop one squad in the corner to the left of my artillery and another near the center. This was a serious threat to the core of my army and if I didn’t deal with it decisively on my next turn I would be in trouble.

This psychic phase was going to be important. It started off well for Dakota as he manifested Gaze of Fate, granting him one reroll to be used that turn. He then tried to manifest Warptime to move his second squad of Rubrics into position to shoot, but it failed. “Good thing I have Warptime,” he said as he rerolled, which then also failed. Uh oh. At least he manifested Weaver of Fates on his Daemon Prince giving it a 3+ invulnerable save, which it would need the following turn as it was likely to be exposed to my guns.

His Rubrics in the center building attempted Smite, but he rolled a double 1! Not wanting to lose D3 Marines to Perils of the Warp, he used his command point reroll. The rest of his psychic phase didn’t go much better. He managed to manifest Glamour of Tzeentch on his Predator for -1 to hit against it, but that was it aside from maybe another Smite. This was a very bad psychic for the ever-important turn two.

His shooting managed to clear away most of the infantry screen on my right flank, giving the Daemon Prince a clear charge lane to either the Chimera or the Hellhound. The Predator unloaded on the Hellhound, dealing 9 wounds and bringing it down to 2. His Rubrics and Terminators hosed down my infantry squads with bolter fire killing 20 Guardsmen. He also destroyed the heavy flamer Sentinel near the building in the center.

His Daemon Prince then charged into my Chimera. The heavy flamer took a wound off it in overwatch, but the monster smashed through the tank’s hull and destroyed it, finishing what the Predator had begun. 3 lasgun guardsmen inside died trying to escape, leaving the rest deposited behind the wreck of the tank itching to unleash hell with their flamers in vengeance on the following turn.

Dakota had done some damage but had so far failed to destroy anything vital. Now it was my turn to respond.

Catachan Turn 2

There were two serious threats I needed to deal with or I was going to be in big trouble: the Daemon Prince, and the two squads of Terminators. With that in mind I moved my army into a position to blast them with everything I had.

First I used Jury Rigging to bring my Hellhound back up to medium stats. This was critical as it gave me enough movement to line it up against the Daemon Prince. I then moved all the infantry on my right flank into a position to unload on the monster, most notably the 5 flamers that had just emerged from the ruined Chimera.

I decided to commit my entire battalion of Scions against the Terminator squad on my far left. If those guys got into my artillery it would probably be game over for me.

I started on the left with my Scions, pouring 10 plasma shots into the Terminators. The Emperor’s blessing was with me as they fried all 5 Terminators without even needing any help from the volley guns!

My artillery and lasguns in the center then blasted the Emperor’s fury into the center Terminator squad and again His judgment was exacted upon the heretics, killing 4 and leaving the last with just a single wound!

On the right, a roar of flame erupted as the Hellhound and 5 flamers unleashed hell on the Deamon Prince, reducing it to a single wound. I charged in with Straken and the rest of my infantry, and Straken himself managed to deal the killing blow to the monster!

I had struck a very serious blow to Dakota’s forces, thanks to poor rolling on his party and good rolling on mine. It would be difficult for him to recover from this, but I didn’t have an effective way of dealing with his Rubric Marines and the battle would hinge on what they could accomplish.

Thousand Sons Turn 3

Dakota’s Marines moved forward to target the exposed infantry on my left flank, and his Predator moved forward to target my artillery. His psychic phase went a little better this time, giving his Rubrics in the center -1 against my hit rolls and +1 to their invulnerable save. This was a good decision as they were his biggest threat on the board right now, as well as the most exposed. He got a solid Smite off on my warlord, bringing him down to just one wound.

His Rubrics blasted the infantry on my right and center, killing 15 Guardsmen. The Predator finished off the Hellhound, which thankfully didn’t explode.

Catachan Turn 3

Now that his Terminators and Daemon Prince had been dealt with, I needed to destroy those Rubrics. I moved my flamers into range, and advanced my Scions toward the center of the table. My warlord hightailed it behind the wall to hide amongst the mass artillery.

This turn the Emperor’s blessing was not with me, and I only killed 2 Marines from the squad in the center and zero from the squad on Dakota’s left. Flamers are very bad against Rubric Marines. At least I finished off the 2 Cultists holding the objective on Dakota’s right.

I charged at the Rubrics, but my squads failed the charge and only Straken, the Priest, and the Commissar made it in. Straken swung at the Sorcerer, but only managed 3 successful wounds which were all saved! Dakota used Counter Offensive to interrupt with his Rubrics, and they killed the Commissar before he could attack. So much for the Blade of Conquest. My Priest, of course, didn’t kill anything found himself surrounded along with Straken, who had suffered 3 wounds at the hands of the Sorcerer with his force stave.

Thousand Sons Turn 4

Dakota moved his Predator forward to get a line of sight on my artillery. The rest of his troops were already either in cover or locked in combat and didn’t move. Once again he manifested defensive powers on his Rubrics in the center. Those guys are hard as nails, especially when buffed.

He finished off both Straken and my Priest with Smites, freeing his left Rubric squad to mow down my remaining flamer-armed Guardsmen. The center squad in the building also killed some Scions, but the biggest damage was dealt when the Predator unloaded on my Griffon, destroying it outright. Luckily it didn’t explode as this would have been devastating to my artillery camp.

Catachan Turn 4

It was time for me to start thinking about objectives. I moved my leftmost Guardsmen squad into the building on my left that contained an objective. This would also give me Linebreaker as it was in Dakota’s deployment zone. I hid my last infantry squad on my right, out of sight from the Rubric Marines’ powerful Inferno Boltguns, along with a Company Commander, ready to pounce on the nearby objective next turn. My Scions continued toward the Rubrics in the center, and the nearby objective.

I managed to kill a few more Rubrics in the building, bringing the squad down to 3 remaining. I also killed one or two from the other squad with my artillery.

Thousand Sons Turn 5

This was potentially the last turn and Dakota knew he had to do some damage. He moved aggressively, psyching and blasting away to kill more Scions, but no decisive blow was struck. His Predator shot all 4 lascannons at the remaining Sentinel, but it only did 4 damage!

Catachan Turn 5

As planned I jumped out of hiding onto the final two objectives, which would put me one point ahead should the game end now. My artillery bombarded the now exposed Rubric Marines on Dakota’s left, killing all but 2, and my Scions finished off the Rubrics in the center.

Dakota was down to just a few models now. He rolled for game end, but the battle continued.

Turns 6 and 7

Dakota had one last desperate card to play. He took the two center objectives with Ahriman and his Predator, then used his once-a-game teleport to jump his remaining 2 Rubric Marines 9″ away from the objective on his right. His Predator vaporized one of my Tempestor Primes but failed to finish off the Sentinel, but the battle was being decided by his Rubrics on the right. He killed 4 with his inferno boltgun and soulreaper leaving 2, then attempted to charge in but failed. I used Insane Bravery to roll D3 for morale instead of D6 which made my men immune, so they desperately held on to the objective for the Emperor, knowing reinforcements were nearby.

Over the next 2 turns I blasted his Predator down to its lowest stat bracket. My Scions finished off the two Rubrics and that was the game. It was a close battle ending 8-7 (I held the minor objective, 3 regular objectives, and had Linebreaker, and he held the major objective, one regular objective, and First Blood). It was a costly battle for both sides, but these losses were acceptable to achieve victory for the Emperor and the warriors of Catachan.

Analysis

Turn 2 really decided the game, as it so often does. Dakota’s failure to manifest most of his psychic powers was a huge blow, and his shooting that turn wasn’t great either. 2s are the worst number for him to roll since he hits on 3+ and rerolls 1s, and he rolled a lot of them this game. Couple that with a devastating turn 2 of shooting for me and he was facing an big uphill battle. We both had our moments of good and bad rolling but I think Dakota overall got the short end of it, especially since most of his bad luck and most of my good luck occurred on the most important turn.

MVP

For me, definitely the Scions this game. They delivered a mortal blow to the Terminators on turn 2 and later finished off both squads of Rubric Marines and helped seize 2 objectives. Surprisingly, my runner-up would be the Griffon Mortar. Its ability to ignore cover coupled with its D3 damage so the Rubrics and Terminators didn’t get +1 to their armor save allowed it to deal a lot of damage before it was destroyed by the Predator.

Speaking of the Predator, it was likely Dakota’s MVP as it was instrumental in the destruction of 3 of my 5 tanks. Though the tough Rubric squad in the middle held on for 5 turns and did a lot of damage. Once again, those guys are tough. Shooting them with D1 weapons is almost completely futile.

Conclusion

Overall this was a very fun game, and it was close the whole way even though it swung in my favor on turn 2. I did only win by one point after all.

Any suggestions on what I or Dakota could have done better to help our chances? Any comments on our lists? Thanks for reading!

This is a story of things going wrong one at a time and spiraling into a blowout.

I headed down to Heroes and Villains today for a 1,000-point game against Jason’s Orks. Our last encounter was marked by a deployment error on my part which he converted into a turn one charge into the heart of my army. Needless to say, it was a massacre. Now it was time to see if I could avenge the fallen sons of Catachan.

I wanted to try a more aggressive strategy this time so I opted for a lot of mobility and flame throwers. This list is pre-Chapter Approved which would have reduced its cost a little bit.

BATTALION

• Straken
• Lord Commissar (bolt pistol, power maul)
• 4x Infantry squads, no upgrades
• Hellhound (inferno cannon, heavy bolter, storm bolter)

VANGUARD

• Company Commander (boltgun, power fist)
• Command Squad (heavy flamer, flamer, 2x lasguns)
• Minostorum Priest
• Special Weapons squad (3x flamer)
• Chimera (multilaser, heavy flamer, storm bolter)

SPEARHEAD

• Company Commander (boltgun, Warlord – Grand Strategist, Death Mask of Ollanius)
• Leman Russ (battle cannon, lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons)
• Wyvern
• Mortar squad

The basic idea was to run a standard Straken murder ball with fire support. Additionally I would put my flamer squads in the Chimera accompanied by the power fist Company Commander for the Burn Them Out order (also, Catachans with power fists are strong), providing me with a mobile strike force.

Jason had 30 choppa Boyz and 30 shoota Boyz, a squad of Tankbustas in a Trukk, some Gretchin, and some characters. He was using the Evil Sunz clan rules giving him +1 move, +1 advance, and +1 charge. This is obviously very strong for Orks, and he used that mobility to great effect in our previous game.

Deployment

We were playing The Scouring which meant there were 6 objectives to hold at the end of the game, plus Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker, and First Blood.

Jason placed most of his troops in the middle of the board ready to charge forward. I did my standard line deployment with my infantry screening my tanks, covering most of my deployment zone.

Jason won the roll for first turn so I used Prepared Positions and hunkered down to weather the green storm…

Ork Turn One

Jason’s Boyz surged forward, covering half the distance between our armies. Evil Sunz are fast! His shoota Boyz were in range of my infantry, and his wagon full of Tankbustas was in range of my Hellhound and my Chimera full of flamer infantry.

He cast Warpath to give his big mob of choppa Boyz +1 attack for a whopping 5 attacks each, then cast Da Jump to put them 9″ away from my infantry line. He was gambling on a big charge and close combat phase to bowl over my line again.

His shootaz and sluggaz chewed up about 10 Guardsmen, then his Tankbustas took aim at my Hellhound. Using the Dakka Dakka Dakka stratagem to proc extra attacks at 5+ instead of 6, he unloaded his rokkits into my tank. He managed to wound it 7 times, meaning it was a 50/50 shot to keep it alive (it had a 2+ armor save due to Prepared Positions and rokkit launchas have -2 AP which adds up to a 4+ save, and rokkits do 3 damage each). This was going to be a critical roll because Hellhounds auto-hit, so knocking it down to the lowest damage tier wasn’t nearly as useful as killing it…

I saved 4 of 7, leaving it at 2 wounds. This was the first thing that went wrong for Jason.

Next up was the charge phase. With +1 to charges and the reroll for ‘Ere We Go allowing you to reroll one dice or both, he had about a 70-75% chance to make the charge. He failed. This was the second thing to go wrong for him. Now instead of bowling over my line, his slugga Boyz were sitting ducks for my guns.

Catachan Turn One

Having survived the Orkish advance without too much damage I was in a good position to hit back. As I was running a Straken murder ball I knew it was time to charge in, and my infantry moved forward all along the line. The Chimera moved into flamer range but the troops stayed inside. The damaged Hellhound limped forward 4″ to get its inferno cannon in range.

Knowing that Jason would likely use the Counteroffensive stratagem in the Fight phase, I consolidated my two squads on the left into one squad of about 15 men. That way I could hit him with most of my Guardsmen before he got a chance to hit back. Catachans can hit hard, but they can’t take a punch very well.

With everything in position, I unloaded the bulk of my guns on the Boyz mobs in the middle. The choppa mob was reduced to 11 models, and a few shoota Boyz were picked off as well. My Leman Russ took aim at the Trukk full of Tankbustas and destroyed it, but the Tankbustas survived unharmed. At least now they were out in the open where I could blast them on future turns.

With only 11 Boyz remaining in the choppa squad I opted to only charge with my Guardsmen and leave my characters out of charge range of the shoota squad behind it. Overwatch killed one man from the big squad, leaving me 13 Guardsmen and one sergeant for a formidable 44 attacks. This killed the choppa squad to the last Boy without my second squad even getting a chance to attack. First Blood to the Catachans.

Ork Turn Two

Jason could see the battle was getting out of hand and knew he needed to take some chances. His main targets were the crippled Hellhound and the Chimera full of flamers. After mulling over some ideas he decided to go for the Chimera with his Tankbustas and use his shoota Boyz to mow down the flamer infantry it would spit out, and use Da Jump to put his Warboss in range of my Hellhound.

He advanced his shoota Boyz so far that they were almost touching my infantry line (just over 1″ away in fact), and successfully jumped his Warboss into the corner near my Hellhound.

He then every rokkit he had at my Chimera with his Tankbustas, using both the Dakka Dakka Dakka stratagem and his squig bombs, which was enough to do in the transport. One Guardsman died and the rest were deposited behind it, out in the open. The shoota Boyz then annihilated both squads and left the Company Commander with no company to command.

In the charge phase, Jason realized that with his warboss across the table he wouldn’t be able to charge with his shoota Boyz who had advanced this turn! At least he successfully made the charge with his Warboss, who destroyed the Hellhound. It exploded and did damage to the Warboss, my mortar squad, the Ministorum Priest, and the Lord Commissar. But the shoota Boyz were now totally exposed, and he regretted sending his Warboss across the table even though he destroyed the tank.

Catachan Turn Two

I moved my infantry up the board some more, consolidating the third squad in the middle with the big squad for a 20-man unit, to get the maximum number of attacks first in the Fight phase.

The recently stranded Company Commander found another squad to order around, the undamaged squad on my right flank. He used Move Move Move on the squad and himself to go after the Gretchin on Jason’s left who were hiding near a couple objectives.

I poured it on again in the shooting phase, then charged in with everyone this time–Guardsmen, Straken, Commissar, Priest. The Boyz squad was wiped out and the Weirdboy was slain.

At this point Jason conceded. What had begun poorly for him continued to go poorly throughout the game, and there were only a few Orks and Gretchin remaining. The Catachans achieved victory for the Emperor over the foul green Xenos!

Analysis

While I didn’t get to use my flamer squads at all, the Straken murder ball worked better than it ever has before. This battle shows how powerful Catachans can be in melee. I’ll do a post on this soon and break down the numbers.

Though of course, things would have been much different if a couple of things had gone Jason’s way instead of mine. He failed his big charge on turn one, and also failed to kill my Hellhound which he ended up sending his Warboss after on turn two, leaving his shoota Boyz in the open. Also, we both agreed that while the Tankbustas were cool, they probably weren’t worth their points. Orks need to be in combat, and tying up 30% of his points in that unit (including the Trukk) was probably a mistake.

Any thoughts or comments? Anything you would have done differently? Let me know!

My local game store, Heroes and Villains, does 650-point games every Tuesday so I made a standard Catachan list and headed down there to give the enemies of the Imperium a taste of steel and muscle.

Battalion detachment

• Straken
• Company Commander (Warlord – Grand Strategist), boltgun, Death Mask of Ollanius (cuz why not, try something new)
• 4x infantry squads, no upgrades
• Commissar with bolt pistol and power axe
• Ministorum Priest with plasma pistol (because it’s on the model)
• Basilisk
• Leman Russ with battle cannon, hull lascannon, sponson heavy bolters
• Heavy weapon squad with 3x mortars

My opponent this week was a Tau player named Ross. His list consisted of infantry and drones. He had some anti tank but not a ton, and many of his troops were close range. The mission we played was one generated from Age of Sigmar cards and had the following special rules.

All units get +2″ to their movement and add +1 to their Advance and Charge rolls. In addition, all units are immune to morale. Each player places an objective in their deployment zone at the start of the game. You win if you control both objectives at the end of your opponent’s turn.

Deployment

I deployed most of my infantry and characters in a building where they would be in cover, and I put my tanks on a hill. The Basilisk was in cover but the Leman Russ was not, though it could see virtually everything on the battlefield (and hence be seen by everything on the battlefield).

Ross castled most of his units on the opposite hill. He had range on my infantry squads which meant I would have to come at him unless I wanted to rely solely on my tanks and mortars. Since it was unlikely I could outshoot Tau with only half my army, it seemed I would have to come at him.

I won the roll for first turn but Ross seized the initiative. I’m still not sure why that’s a rule but oh well. I used the Prepared Positions stratagem. I love the new anti-alpha strike rules, they really help to balance out the game.

Tau Turn 1

Ross moved forward a little to get line of sight and range on a few units. His close range troops advanced forward and hid behind terrain. I was pleasantly surprised to see him coming at me, partially negating his range advantage.

In the shooting phase he painted my Russ with marker lights and managed to knock off 6 wounds despite it having a 2+ save due to Prepared Positions. This was worrisome but at least I could use Jury Rigging to bring it back to top tier stats.

Catachan Turn 1

My infantry blob advanced, surging out of the house in a sea of well-muscled humanity. Along the left flank a lone infantry squad approached a 5-man Tau squad hiding on the other side of a big rock.

In the shooting phase I blasted everything I could at his anti-tank units. My Russ, at 7 wounds and full stats from Jury Rigging, did the most damage. Ross, seeing that he badly needed his anti-tank units to finish off my Leman Russ if he was going to have a chance, elected to take all the damage on his nearby drones and I ended up killing 2 of his 3 drone units, but he still had all his anti-tank left. I didn’t expect my Russ to survive another turn…

Tau Turn 2

Ross continued toward me, positioning his units behind cover. Once again he painted my Russ with marker lights and poured everything he could into it. I expected it to be destroyed or crippled, but due to some poor rolling not a single wound was removed! He did manage to kill a few guardsmen, but now he had brought his units close enough that I might be able to charge…

Catachan Turn 2

Aided by the mission’s movement buff, my bloodthirsty warriors surged at him. I consolidated my front two squads to ensure they could both make it into combat. My leftmost squad moved around the corner toward the rightmost Tau unit.

The Catachans lit up the Tau in the shooting phase. Aided by orders, my guardsmen annihilated Ross’s rightmost squad and killed several other models, and my tanks and mortars took out half of Ross’s anti-tank troops.

With a mighty roar, the large consolidated squad charged in. I lost a few guardsmen to overwatch, but in return they obliterated the Tau with their big knives and rippling muscles. Unfortunately that left them in the open right in front of the Tau’s remaining guns…

Tau Turn 3

Ross now abandoned his goal of killing my Leman Russ and focused all his weapons on the guardsmen that has just burst from the bushes. I used Take Cover to give them a 4+ save, which shows one of the benefits of consolidating squads (I now had two squads under the stratagem instead of one). The Tau just barely managed to kill all 16 remaining guardsmen, however I had plenty more ready to charge in.

Catachan Turn 3

I moved my remaining 2 squads and 4 characters toward the Tau, who were making their last stand by the ruins. Shooting killed a few, then I charged in with Straken and a squad of 10. Overwatch killed a few guardsmen, then in close combat I killed a couple fire warriors and took some wounds off his characters. The Tau were close to breaking.

Tau Turn 4

All the Tau fell back out of combat. Ross had a special character who allowed all nearby units to fall back and still shoot. He finished off the guardsmen squad that had charged in and nearly killed Straken, but the Catachan hero survived with 1 wound! And now Straken was mad, ready to break some blue fish heads on the following turn.

Regrettably I don’t have a picture for the end of Tau turn 4, but it looked a lot like the end of Catachan turn 3 but with a few less Guardsmen.

Catachan Turn 4

The Catachans stormed forward and opened up with lasgun, tank, and mortar fire as they prepared to charge in. I killed half his remaining units in the shooting phase including his warlord, so at this point he conceded. Another foul Xenos foe obliterated by the strength of Catachan for the glory of the Emperor!

Analysis

Ross failing to do any damage to my Leman Russ on turn 2 really sealed the game. It would have been much closer if he had killed it or knocked it down a stat rung or two. Also the fact he moved forward instead of letting me come to him allowed my Straken-led murderball to get close enough to get stabby on turn 2, which took out a couple squads and put him in a rough position.

Highest performing units

My MVP this game was the Leman Russ, which killed many Tau particularly with its battle cannon. The Catachan doctrine helped prevent it from having any low damage turns due to poor rolls. In my opinion this is the doctrine’s true strength, not just increasing its average number of shots from 3.5 to 4.25. I’ll do a post on this later. The Russ’s heavy bolters also did some serious work. The Basilisk, as usual, happily lobbed shells for 4 turns doing consistent if not stellar damage. Basilisks are best against heavy infantry and vehicles. They can kill light infantry of course, but for the points Wyverns or mortars are much more efficient.

Moving Forward

Overall I like this list, though it’s fairly vanilla. I may go for a flamer-heavy list next time. I like the idea of getting up close to PURGE THE XENOS SCUM WITH HOLY FIRE, though it will likely not be as effective as bringing standard Guard tanks and infantry.

Is there anything else you think I could have done better? Any decisions you would have made differently, any list modifications you would have made?

 

 

On this blog I will be posting everything Catachan – battle reports, tactics, theorycraft, etc. If you are looking for a blog about the puny shooty boys from Cadia this isn’t it. If you want to see brutal flamers, gripping close combat, and abs of steel, you have come to the right place!