Thoughts From The Weekend's Games

The two games on the weekend really gave me a lot to think about, especially since they were so large and I took such different armies in each of them.

In the first game I think my army selection was what really hurt me combined with Chris' brilliant zone defense against teleporters and drop pods. My big infantry units were neutralized and his artillery and air power wore me down. In hindsight, after a Sunday afternoon of painting and thinking, his air power was frustrating but not decisive. It was breaking my units first that did me in, and then the aircraft could attack those broken formations and annilhate them.

In the second game my units were far more effective. My infantry got to shoot lots, my assaulters got the hand to hand match ups that favoured me more often, and even though I lost the Banelord it forced the opponent to use so much to do so that it was almost worth it.

Some other random thoughts:

- The Banelord continues to disappoint me. His firepower is pathetic for such a large titan. He is deadly in closecombat but his void shields provide little protection in that case. He is most deadly in firefight support but since he is always the BTS when on the board, my opponents seem to target him with everything and rightly so. I fear he will only come out in the big games where I can also afford supporting war engines in which case he acts as the bait/deterrent and the rest do the actual work.

- The Ravager continues to impress. His firepower at 45 cm is so nice to have, and his extra speed makes up for fewer shield and DCs. I would kill to have a Banelord class titan with Ravager weapons at this point.

- Defilers are actually more deadly in direct firing if there are vehicles within 45 cm such that the Battlecannon and twin lascannon have range. Added bonus is that the marines they are attached too can shoot too. I think I might garrison the defilers forward in cover more often.

- I'm also seriously considering more defilers as a second artillery would barrage would have been nice to use against Chris' artillery.

- I've got to stop rolling ones for initiative because every time I do I have to lose D3 daemons and everytime I roll 3 daemons lost. Grrrr...

- I need more Swiftdeath/Hellblade fighters. So I pushed my second hellblade squadron to the top of the painting list to get them ready ASAP. Not only will they provide better protection against enemy air power but they also assist in boosting my number of activations.

- I need more activations. I had fewer activations than both my opponents but didn't feel it against Sean because so many were tied up in the Lander and Thunderhawk and teleporting. But against Chris where his entire force was available I was totally mangled, force to commit while he sat back and waited. What also hurt is that I was unable to kill some of his weaker formations to reduce his activation count.

- Armoured companies of 6 predators and two landraiders were nice. Might make more use of them in the future.

- I find my opponents are getting better and better at securing their own blitz from terminator attack, so I used my terminators in a less agressive role against Chris and completely defensive against Sean and found for the most part it worked well (ignoring the 4 BMs I rolled for one formation in the game against Chris).

- Drop podding only works well when you land close to a target or objective. Chris' use of scouts to force me back was brilliant and easily cost me the game. Its no use having a 650 pt unit do pretty much nothing except die.

- Damn pinpoint attack missed again!!! Arrrrrgggg! :screams:

- obliterators... I love and hate them. I love their firepower and capabilities, but hate their lack of mobility and transport. Still, I'm almost at the point where I think I prefer to have them with marines on foot, garrisoning forward, than not having them and letting aircraft rule my life. Hmmm... Time to get that batch of Obliterator MkII painted.