Ravenguard vs. Siegemasters

6:th and final play test with the Ravenguard. We were asked to test an Ambush spam army so I put together a list with three Sternguard Veterans using Ambush. The general idea was to ambush and then pick them up in Storm Eagles for a turn 2 recycle. I took a lot of AA in the list to shield the fragile Storm Eagles from enemy fighters. This time Mrdiealot brought a Siegemasters list.

Ravenguard

STERNGUARD VETERAN [300] - Four Sternguard Veteran units, Ambush
STERNGUARD VETERAN [300] - Four Sternguard Veteran units, Ambush
STERNGUARD VETERAN [300] - Four Sternguard Veteran units, Ambush
TACTICAL [375] - Four Tactical units, Supreme Commander, Hunter
TACTICAL [275] - Four Tactical units, Hunter
TACTICAL [275] - Four Tactical units, Hunter
STORM EAGLE [150] - One Storm Eagle
STORM EAGLE [150] - One Storm Eagle
STORM EAGLE [150] - One Storm Eagle
LAND SPEEDER [250] - 2 Land Speeder Tempest, 2 Land Speeder Typhoon, Land Speeder Tornado
LAND SPEEDER [200] - 5 Land Speeder
WARHOUND [275] - 1 Warhound Class Titan

Baran Siegemasters

REGIMENTAL HQ [400] - Supreme Commander, 9 Siege Infantry, Rapier Platoon (3 Rapier laser destroyer units), Thudd Gun Platoon (3 Guns), Sniper unit

INFANTRY COMPANY [200] - Commander, 9 Siege Infantry, Sniper unit

INFANTRY COMPANY [200] - Commander, 9 Siege Infantry, Sniper unit

HEAVY TANK PLATOON [300] - 6 Ragnarok Heavy Tanks

HEAVY TANK PLATOON [300] - 6 Ragnarok Heavy Tanks

LIGHT TANK PLATOON [150] - 6 Siegfried Light Tanks

SAPPER PLATOON [250] - 8 Sapper Units

FLAK BATTERY [150] - 3 Blitzen AA Guns, Gun Emplacements

FLAK BATTERY [150] - 3 Blitzen AA Guns, Gun Emplacements

MARAUDER BOMBERS [250] - 2 Marauders

MARAUDER BOMBERS [250] - 2 Marauders

MARAUDER BOMBERS [250] - 2 Marauders

FORTIFIED POSITION [75] - Up to 50cm trenches, 50cm razor wire, plus 6 Gun Emplacements.

FORTIFIED POSITION [75] - Up to 50cm trenches, 50cm razor wire, plus 6 Gun Emplacements.

Deployment

Siegemasters put the HQ in the top right corner, defending the Blitz, and everything else garrisoned in the center. Ravenguard had Land Speeders behind the ruins to the right and Tacticals spread out on the baseline.

Turn 1 

RG 1.1 - The Warhound advances and shoots the Ragnaroks. Both macro hits are saved.

B 1.1 - Marauders stand down

RG 1.2 - Land Speeders double and kills one Ragnarok.

RG 1.3 - First formation Sternguard Veterans ambush the Ragnaroks. 1-1 kills, but the Sternguard lose the combat and breaks with no further losses.

B 1.2 - Second formation Marauders stand down

RG 1.4 - Tacticals double and place a BM on the AA behind the Baran lines.

RG 1.5 - Second formation Sternguards ambush the Flack from the woods behind them. Two AA guns are killed and the Flack Battery is wiped out.

B 1.3 - Siegfrieds advance and kill one Rhino from the BTS

RG 1.6 - Tacticals doubles up to support the third ambush. After the screenshot was taken Ragnaroks decide to use their overwatch and kills 2 Rhinos and one Tactical from the formation.

RG 1.7 - Sternguards fail! Supreme Commander re-roll was already spent on one other Sternguard formation.

B 1.4 - The HQ sustains on the garrisoned Land Speeders, no kills.

RG 1.8 - The Land Speeders also fail to engage!

B 1.5 - An Infantry Company marches down the left flank.

RG 1.9 - A Storm Eagle ground attack the Siegfrieds, only one kill.

B 1.6 - The Infantry Company sustains on the damaged Tacticals, one kill and the formation breaks.

RG 1.10 - The Supreme engages the Siegfrieds. 1-1 in kills, but bad resolution dice for Barans and the surviving Sigfrieds are hacked down.

B 1.7 - The Flack hiding in the corner behind the HQ goes on overwatch.

B 1.8 - The Sappers retain and double back, killing two Sternguards.

RG 1.11 - A Storm Eagle ground attack the Sappers and kill three.

B 1.9 - The final formation of Marauders ground attack the Supreme. Both bombers are shot down by combined flak from the Hunter and Storm Eagle.

RG 1.12 - The final Storm Eagle picks up the three broken Sternguards that assaulted the Ragnaroks.

Turn 2

RG 2.1 - Tacticals advance and put a BM on the Infantry in the houses.

RG 2.2 - The Warhound retains and engage. Bad combat resolution roll for Ravenguard and the assault goes to a second round. The Warhound takes too much fire and is killed. Bad start of turn 2...

B 2.1 - Ragnaroks in the center (just rallied) marshals to remove all BM.

RG 2.4 - The Sternguards that failed in turn one ambush the Infantry in the center houses. Finally Ravenguard manages to clear the houses from siege infantry. Three surviving Barans withdraws. The Ragnaroks get a BM from supporting the lost assault.

RG 2.5 - Land Speeders take advantage of the BM and assaults the Ragnaroks. The tanks are hacked down in resolution.

B 2.2 - The Sappers break the Sternguards with a BM

RG 2.6 - Land Speeders pop up and shoots the second Ragnarok formation, no kills.

B 2.3 - Ragnaroks fails to marshal, kills one Rhino from the Tacticals.

RG 2.7 - The Supreme Commander doubles to set up an air assault.

RG 2.8 - The Sternguards hits the Infantry from behind. Looking back at this, I did not do the math on this one... Too much static modifiers stacked against the Sternguards, and they lose the assault. The Storm Eagle survives since all Barans within 15cm got killed. This also leaves the Supreme Commander in a bad position.

B 2.4 - Marauders hit the Supreme. One Marauder is killed from ground AA but the remaining bomber kills one Rhino and one marine.

B 2.5 - The Infantry Company engages and wipes out the Supreme Commander. BTS to Barans.

RG 2.9 - Tacticals (rallied after turn one) marshal to remove BMs and hack down a broken Siege Infantry.

B 2.6 - Flack in the corner fails and removes BMs.

RG 2.10 - A Storm Eagle breaks the Infantry Company that wiped the BTS

Turn 3

RG 3.1 - A Storm Eagle fails to break the Sappers

RG 3.2 - Knowing he is about to be broken a lone Sternguard marshals, fails and breaks.

B 3.1 - Sappers marshals

B 3.2 - Ragnaroks sustain and breaks the Sternguards in the houses. A single unit survives.

RG 3.3 - Tacticals engage the few remaining rallied Infantry. The Barans are wiped out.

B 3.3 - The HQ fails to sustain.

RG 3.4 - Land Speeders spread out to defend a T&H objective.

B 3.4 - Marauders ground attack the other Land Speeders, 3 hits three kills and the single surviving Speeder breaks.

RG 3.5 - The flack in the corner fails and removes BMs.

Neither side has managed to secure victory. The Ravenguard have taken a lot of damage and most formations are severely damaged...

Turn 4

The battered Ravenguard formations are broken one after the other by the Barans and in the end Barans win with BTS and DTF.

Summary

The ambush ability is great, but you pay 300 points for 4 Sternguard units. I don't think spamming them is an issue. The matchup against defensive Barans was not the best, but there are many other opponents that the 4 units Sternguard formations have issues dealing with. Looking at the Ravenguard armylist I hand not considered using the ambush ability (too expensive), but after trying it out I might include Sternguards with ambush in future lists.

The Self Planetfall could use some rule clarifications, e.g. does each unit scatter individually or does the formation scatter? We used individual scatter, which was a bit annoying.