Time to up the game to 2000 points after our last match. I brought the Guard this time, focusing on the tank detachment. Yes, I know this is played with as many Russes and Dorns you can cram into 2k points. Yes, this is all I have. No, I won't buy any more for the time being. Yes, I did fill out the points with shitty tanks, like Hydras, Hellhounds and Basilisks. No, I did not list tailor. Yes, I brought chem cannons. Deal with it.
We played Purge the Foe and set up in our triangles.
Battle round 1
I got first turn and I did some preliminary shots, to no great effect. I mostly took board position, pushed forwards, and awaited the onslaught.
And it did come, with two Sentinels going down.
Battle round 2
I got Marked for Death and the 3 big knights were chosen, so I focused everything that could unto the Lancer. It survived with 5 wounds. At least I landed my Aquilons in the backfield for Behind Enemy Lines.
The Knights got rough secondaries, so they just came up front to kill me.
Shooting took down 2 Hellhounds. However, the Lancer failed the double charge.
Battle Round 3
Up until now, we were close in points with the Knights ahead due to all the killing power. However, I made it up this turn by executing the Lancer and pumping the Dorn into the Crusader, along with everything else. I ate a nasty Thermal Cannon overwatch that got the Dorn down to 3 wounds, but it had plenty of firepower left to do the job. I was also now holding 3 objectives.
On their turn, the Knights made a desperate push. Canis Rex is a beast (hue hue), effortlessly flipping a Russ. However, they did not kill the Dorn. After another use of Ablative Plating, I was sitting pretty at 1 wound.
Battle round 4
Here I got Assassination so I focused everything to take down Canis Rex. Holding 3 objectives again got me primaries. We matched out the Knights' turn. Going for killing meant potentially a lot of score. At this point we ended the game due to the store closing.
Conclusion
Victory for the Guard, but only by a hair's breadth.
The Knights are brutal, even when piloted by a beginner. Although if we played any other scenario, their score would have been lower. In Purge the Foe, they were rewarded for their killing power.
As for my tank battalion, they served well, even with guns unfit to fight the knights. Although even chem cannons did more damage than Basilisks. And out of the 10 hunter killer missiles, one did 1 and one did 5. That was it. But I flooded the board with (relatively) tough bodies, and it worked, keeping the Knights back on their half of the board all game. Obviously, the allstar was the Dorn Commander, living through a lot with the 6+FnP enhancement and doing a lot of damage as soon as the multimeltas got in range. When within 12" for the regular meltas, it really demolished the Crusader. On the other flank, the two Russes - one Commander, one regular - also did very well.
The stratagems are OK at best. I used them sparingly. Ablative Plating is overcosted and worth it only rarely. I also wasted 1CP on a full reroll overwatch by a Russ battle tank that did nothing. In this particular instance, the old detachment would have actually worked better. Basilisks still suck, artillery teams would have been a better combo with the cover denying Hellhounds. The detachment did nothing for them.
Overall not bad, I'll try this again, with some tweaks.
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