Ultramarines vs White Scars

Steve once again stopped by the house for a pick up game. This time we had the Ultramarines facing off against the hapless bikers. I used my same tried and untrue list...

Khubilai [Samael] Jetbike
Bikes [6] MG [2] Attack Bike [MM] Sgt [PF]
Bikes [6] MG [2] Attack Bike [MM] Sgt [PF]
Bikes [6] MG [2] Attack Bike [MM] Sgt [PF] Apoth
Bikes [3] FLM [2]
Land Speeder [HB, AC]
Land Speeder [HB, AC]
Assault Marines [10] Sgt [PF]

Steves list from memory (will edit if needed) :

Librarian [Jump Pack, Fury]
Assault Squad [10] PF, PPs [2]
Terminators [5] BumCan [2]
Marines [6] LC, PG
Marines [6] LC, PG
Marines [8] ML, PG, PF, Rhino APC
Marines [8] ML, PG, PF, Rhino APC
Veterans [6] LC, PG, Tankhunters
Devastators [8] HvyBolter [4]
Tornado

We rolled up Cleanse and Steve won quarter choice. He placed his Devs on a hill top placed deep within his DZ flanked by a LC/PG squad to either side. Veterans took up the most forward position atop another hill. Rhinos in center of quarter, Termies pointing towards one edge and the Tornado the other edge. Curses pics are easier *grumble*

I placed most of my army on my left/Steves right quarter with my Apoth squad off to the right. Attack Bikes detatched.

I make an aggressive Scout move before roll off and I win 1st turn.

White Scars Turn 1

Gamble pays off on the Scout move and I move my bikes up further across the field. My Apoth biker squad TurboBoosts acroos the field with a Tornado in tow. My Flamer squad TurboBoosts towards the center hill where the Veterans are taking up position. A general all out push towards the Ultra gunline with remaining units.

Shooting sees a Rhino pop on a Pen roll of 6 taking 3 Marines in the explosion. The huddled Marine squad then gets a PlasmaCannon template atop and all that remains is the PF Sgt thanks to the wreck cover save. Other shots allocated to the 2nd Rhino fail. The Veterans get peppered by the 2nd Tornado and two other squads leaving a lone Plasma Gunner.

Ultramarines Turn 1

The Ultras start off by driving their Rhino into a hill and immobilising it. They bail out a set up rapid fire positions. The Termies push on towards the boosted Apoth squad. The Assault Marines shuffle back a bit and the Tornado swings around for a better angle on its board edge.

Libby starts things off with a Fury kill on my middle bike squad. LC/PG squad one quickly dispatches the Attack Bike reponsible for the Rhino kill. LC/PG squad two along with the Tornado and and lone Veteran rip a bike squad a new one along my left leaving only the PF Sgt. Devastators take down a bike off my center squad. The Termies lay off the triggers as they are just within charge range of the Apoth squad.

Close combat sees the Termies mash four bikes while losing one in return.





**more to come**

My list only had 8 Assault Marines and 5 Veterans. Other than that its right on.

Good job so far Marc. I thought you didn't want pics?

Damn cliff-hangers

That was funny Nathan.

White Scars Turn 2

umpff.. 11 Bikes and an Attack Bike lost in the 1st turn. So I pull my left flank of Flamer squad, Assault Marines and an Attack Bike along the center hill with my lone PF Sgt on that edge moving up to engage the last Rhino squad. The Tornados move to center to spit a bit of covering fire. The far Attack Bike TurboBoost to board center. My center bike squad, now just 4 strong zip up to engage LC/PG squad one to Steves left.

Shooting was acceptable. Tornado A manages to pick off the lone PF Sgt from Rhino squad one. Tornado B destroys its Ultra counterpart. Khubilai and the center Bike squad soften up LC/PG squad one by just 2 Marines. On my left the second Rhino squad gets pumped from the lone PF Sgt, Attack Bike and a pair of Flamers leaving 2 Marines.

Charging into the Rhino squad were the PF Sgt and Attack Bike which dispatched the remaing APC Marines. Center saw the bikes charge LC/PG squad one killing three but the Ultras hold. Termie combat continued and the Apoth squad was butchered while the Terminator Sgt was lost.

Ultramarines Turn 2

Steve started with the Termies closing in on Khubilai while the UltraAssaulters jumped over to aid LC/PG squad one. Steve opened the shooting phase by killing off a burned Plasma Gunner from LC/PG two and another rolled one allowed the Lascannon to be ineffective. Libby Furied dead two Assault Marines. Pinning test passed. HvyBolter Devs poured rounds into the Assault Marines. Assault Cannons from the Termies into Khubilai fail to wound.

Termies charge into the White Scar HQ and the Assault Marines pile into the center combat. The Termies lose 2 to Khubilai and the remainder Termie whiffs. Center sees the Libby unable to wound while his lads take down two Bikes. In return the Assault Squad loses one and the Libby takes a PF to the face.


White Scars Turn 3

With both Rhino squads eliminated the White Scars continued their push towards the Ultra gunline. The Attack Bike targets the 2nd LC/PG squad while the Flamer bikes head towards the Devs. I continued around the center hill with my Assault squad. The twin Tornados maintain their hold on the center board while the last Attack bike stays put in his table quarter.

Charges on the LC/PG squad from the Attack Bike and into the Devs go the Flamer squad. One casualty on the LC/PG, they hold. Just one Dev to zero bikes. Khubilai finishes off the Terminators. The center bike squad is wiped out. Steve gets 1" on the LC/PG and 2" on his Assault Marines.

Ultramarines Turn 3

The Assault Squad pushes towards a table quarter rather than jumping into center table Tornado range. The 1st LC/PG remnants take aim at a Tornado and nab a Shaken result. Combat sees the Attack Bike vs Lascannon Marine strike up a staring contest. Devastators drag down a Flamer Marine but lose 2 more.

White Scars Turn 4

Khubilai backs off and takes aim at the well spaced Assault Marines killing one. The unable to fire Tornado speeds off out of Lascannon sight. Center Attack Bike moves across to MultiMelta another Assault Marine. Second Tornado pops a LC/PG Marine. The Assault squad closes in on the Dev/Flamer combat.

Charging in the Assault Marines drag down another 2 Devastators with a loss to their own. The AB vs LC staring contest continues.

Ultramarines Turn 4

The LC remnant takes aim at a Tornado and misses. The Assault Squad jumps up and Plasma Pistols the Tornado with no luck. In they charge and discover they still cant hurt the thing. AB vs LC rages on while the Devastators are finally wiped from the field. Assault Marines get a nice 6" while the bikes go 5" towards the rear of the immobilised Rhino.

White Scars Turn 5

The Tornado pilot pulls his machine away from the rock tossing Assault Marines while Khubilai, center Attack Bike and 2nd Tornado line up their shots. This remaining firepower finishes off the 2 squads. Assault Marines jump into the LC vs AB fray. The Lascannon Marine wounds the AB before falling to the Assault squad.

End Game

Well a wins a win right? Evening up my record to 2-2 is all well and good. It was quite grim after my first turn as losing 12 wounds of Bikes is not how one would go about starting a game. Some daft overheats and Libby h2h rolls helped me out (..balancing back from the WBB rolls from last game ) Kudos to Steve for allowing me yet another army to test up against. Steve also had a *cough* or two as I was moving models thus allowing me to rethink what the hell I was doing. Helluva player.

Nice report Marc, and good to see the White Scars getting another win.

It definitely seems like your army needs to pick some advantageous assaults in order to win, supported by shooting.

I'm always surprised by the lack of effectiveness of the tornados. They should average over a marine and a half killed per turn, yet I don't recall them turning in such favorable results ever.

I do like your white Scars very Nice, Good to see another win for them...
Good enough to go to Tourney?

Yea that was another good game in the basement. It had it all for me. It looked like Marc was done after my first turn of shooting, but those bikes can be hard to kill. The comeback was a little slow, but it was darn effective.

I agree with both comments that Jon made. Tornado's have such potential but I never see them live up to it.

They are now an Ork delicacy!!!

I managed to eat a lot of Orks with them before they went down in my last game against makari

Thanks for the remarks.

Agreed at 100pts a pop they seem to not pan out.
Maybe a pair of Whirlwinds instead of the twin Tornados?

*slowly creeping away from pure RW*

I keep wanting to include whirlwinds.

I'm thinking of dropping one bike squadron and a tornado completely, adding a tac squad kitted out in a rhino and then a pair of whirlwinds.

sounds like an awesome time. That white scars list can be absolutely cruel (especially when you get first turn like that!). I know I pee'd down my leg a little when I saw all those T5 3+ models suddenly get uncomfortably close. Remind me why i pay for mobility again? haha

looks like a fun time.. Im here if you want another run at the pointy-ears marc (and a more fair run, at that ). Also steve.. my harlies want a taste of some ultramarine..

ryanscav wrote:

Im here if you want another run at the pointy-ears marc (and a more fair run, at that ).

I should be there this Saturday or next..

I think AssCannons would be better than typhoons on the speeders.

Indeed, but 70pts is almost our Whirlwind.

The Typhoons could be HvyFlamers or simply save the 20pts.

In the end I'm swapping 3 Bikes for 2 Tanks. Or even...

Khubilai [Samael] Jetbike

Bikes [6] MG [2] Attack Bike [MM] Sgt [PF]
Bikes [6] MG [2] Attack Bike [MM] Sgt [PF]
Bikes [6] MG [2] Attack Bike [MM] Sgt [PF] Apoth

Assault Marines [10] Sgt [PF]
Land Speeder [MM]

Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Whirlwind

I think the three whirlwinds is too many. Not too many boards are going to have enough terrain to hide all three of them and then they will start going down.

I'm interested to see how my slow sloggy wolves would do against either of your lists.

Maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and put together the 13th Company bike list I wrote up.

The 2 things that draw me away form whirlwinds are this. One is escalation, the earliest they can shoot is turn 3, more likely turn 4. Two is you need terrain to hide 2 or even 3 whirlwinds. Unless you play the magic cylinder theory for LOS, thats not going to be easy (I can never fully hide 2 rhinos in my deployment zone).

Yeah, and magic cylinder area terrain is rumored to be going away in 5th ed. with a 5+ cover save taking it's place, so very few boards will have large chunks of wysiwyg terrain.

(Except for Greg, who has that massive rock as part of his terrain collection. I love when we place terrain by alternating cause I always grab that sucker and stick it in the middle somewhere)

Well 3 Whirlwinds is a bit extreme but just 1 wont bother folks.

Its kinda like Rhinos

JMarv wrote:

I'm interested to see how my slow sloggy wolves would do against either of your lists.

We do need a game in John..

Steve wrote:

One is escalation

Is this not gone in 5th?

They are changing it too Dawn of War rules, is the rumor. Its 1 HQ and your 2 compulsory troops start on the table. At least those are the rumors I have heard. If they don't have some type of reserve options for armies it will seriously change how people have to construct armies.

You're right. I remember reading that blurb.