I also did some work on the pods. They aren't finished yet, but a few hours to get the white complete and the details should mean they are done before the weekend.
Josh came up Sat and we mostly spent the day painting. We also tossed together a list for Josh and we tried to jam though a game before he had to split. We figured we'd make a list that would give my podding Templar problems even if it meant it would suck in an all comers event.
Pedro
Stergaurd x 10, Fist Searg, Rhino
Stergaurd x 10, Fist Searg, Rhino
Tact Marines x 10, Flamer, Missile, Fist Searg, Rhino
Tact Marines x 10, Flamer, Missile, PW Searg, Rhino
10 Assault Marines, 2 Plasma Pistols, PW Searg
Vindicator
The game plan for Josh would be simple. He would surround the rhinos around the vindi to prevent close pod/melta deployment and tuck his assault guys behind them and leap out when the opportunity arose.
I took my updated list with more Neos, Flamers on the Speeders, Adamantite Mantle on the Marshal, and no Tank Hunting/Venerable upgrades on the Dread.
We rolled Dawn of War and Multiple objectives, I won roll off and chose to go second, and we placed three objectives that all were fairly close to Josh's board edge.
Josh set up pretty much as planned, His rhinos not only blocked most shots on his vindi they also made it impossible to put a pod in there and you'd be crazy to try to drop a speeder in there. They also right away were claiming 2 objectives. His assault guys were tucked into a ruin right next door.
By turn 2 when I came down I pulled 3 pods (both leaders), the dread, and one speeder. They all landed right about where I wanted. However all I managed to do was stun one rhino and blow a storm bolter off another.
Josh's turn 3 shooting wasn't too great, but his vindi did end up taking out 4 or 5 marines in cover. My Marshal had to take that save and failed, so one saved HQ due the Mantle! His missiles don't hurt my dread or speeder, but he drops a number of other marines with sterngaurd out the top hatch of rhinos and assault marine firing. Finally his stormbolters on the rhinos manage a shake on the speeder. His assault marines charge the EC squad, and blows are made but the EC squad comes out killing one more marine, but he sticks around to keep fighting.
Turn 3 my last troop comes in but does a bit of scattering to be out of position. The dread moves up to a rhino but fails to pen it with the melta again. I do pop Pedros rhino and he and the SG deploy. My speeder goes fast to the flank and my guys out of position run into cover. The dread assaults the rhino and destroys it. My marshal and remaining lads charge into Pedro, but have to move through cover. Combat ends with him up a few guys, me down to one fist and the Marshal at one wound, but the Mantle saves instant death from Pedros fist. The EC chops a few more guys, and he lands a wound on the EC and kills off the last marines there. We stick all around.
Josh's turn 4 and his vindi kills a few more marines that I have with cover squatting on the 'farther' objective. His troops that are next to the dread fail to pen with the missile. His unit of Stern (no pedro) and Tacts jump out of the rhinos and start shooting the out of position Templar. He kills a 4 or 5, but with RZ I'm able to pull myself fully into cover now. Pedro's squad manage to kill off the fist and Marshal and Pedro has only lost one wound and has two Sterngaurd left. The EC again kills another guy or two, and makes his saves to survive! All that's left is his PW sarg and 2 Plasma Pistol guys, and I'm thinking I might actually pull off a win there!
Dan's turn 4 and I actually kill off my own EC with a badly scattered Deathwind. Yay. It happens. My two speeders both land in flamer range of Pedros squad, and manage to flame his two marines to death. The dread flames/MM a few marines. The third speeder comes up to his other tact squad and flames a few. The Dread charges the marines and kill another 2 and lives through the fist attacks. My other troop squad charges his remaining Stern on the objective and hack it out. It's close, I think I win combat, we sticks around, and has a few more guys than I do.
At this point it has gotten late and we need to pack up and call it. At that point I have 5 marines on an objective, Pedro is sitting on one, and his Stern are probably close enough to an objective even though they are tangling with my templar (plus he has a rhino there). Technically I guess a tie, but the longer the game would have gone on the worse it would have been for me.
Pedro and the Vindi could both Template down on my 5 marines on my objective. Maybe going to ground helps, maybe I still flee with LD 8. Now that my EC is dead his assault guys are free to help out his Stern that are in Melee with my Templar, and that pulls a close combat into a win for Josh. His marines that are free might not make it to Pedro to get to and objective on turn 5, but certainly turn they could. The dread is locked in with 5-6 marines with a hidden fist. Maybe he lives, but again the longer it goes the worse it is for me and I'm not going to kill them and be useful again until at best 7 (which is all unlikely). My best hope is scooting speeders around to contest objectives. Could I win? By the grace of the Emperor, yes. Could I tie? There are fairly good chances I could pull that off if the game doesn't go to 7. But best chances are Josh could sneak out a win there.
The challenge for me against this list is that I have to shoot at silly rhinos, when I'd much rather be shooting at bigger and badder tanks. A stun and a weapon destroyed doesn't mean crap to a rhino (usually), but on tanks like vinidis and exorcists it's huge. Pedro also turned his marines into competent CC combatants with the +1 attack so that helped as well. Of course the flip side of this is he had very little Anti tank because we knew he wouldn't need it.
Upside: The list feels good despite my lack of popping tanks early. Adamantite mantle paid off twice, and once would probably have been enough for me to leave it in the list. The speeders used their flamers, though once again not so useful against marines. The venerable/tank hunting was not missed, nor was the increase in Neos. Lastly, I can't imagine seeing a list like this at a 1500 tournament, but if someone does manage to bring 50 marines they just may have my number!
So now just to keep on that painting train...
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