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.

Ravenguard vs. Orks II

Another game trying out the Ravenguard list. This time I wanted to test spamming the smaller Tactical formations. Again Ravenguard was facing Orks.

Orks

MEKBOY STOMPAMOB [570] - 3 Stompa, Supa Stompa, 2 Flakwagon
WARBAND [315] - 2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Battlefortress
WARBAND [315] - 2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Battlefortress
KULT OF SPEED [200] - 8 Skorcha
KULT OF SPEED [200] - 8 Skorcha
KULT OF SPEED [200] - 8 Warbike
BLITZ BRIGADE [200] - Oddboy, 2 Gunwagon, 2 Flakwagon
BLITZ BRIGADE [200] - Oddboy, 2 Gunwagon, 2 Flakwagon
BLITZ BRIGADE [150] - 4 Deth Kopta
KOMMANDO WARHORDE [150] - 6 Kommandos
FIGHTA SKWADRON [150] - 3 Fighta Bomba
FIGHTA SKWADRON [150] - 3 Fighta Bomba
LANDA [200]

Ravenguard

TACTICAL [300] - Four Tactical units, Supreme Commander
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
TACTICAL [200] - Four Tactical units
LAND SPEEDER [200] - 5 Land Speeder
LAND SPEEDER [200] - 5 Land Speeder
LAND SPEEDER [200] - 5 Land Speeder
WARHOUND [275] - 1 Warhound Class Titan
WARHOUND [275] - 1 Warhound Class Titan
THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175] - 2 Thunderbolt Fighters
THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175] - 2 Thunderbolt Fighters

Setup

Ravenguard spread out the tactical formations with the Supreme Commander in the center. Land Speeders are garrisoned to the left, behind the central forest and in front of the army to screen the SC from an air assault.

Orks have their forces spread wide with one Blitz Brigade in each corner. Kommandos and Deth Koptas garrisoned. The Landa is loaded with Warbikes.

Turn 1

O 1.1 - Fighta Bommers ground attack a formation of Land Speeders, killing three breaking the formation.

O 1.2 - The other formation Fighta Bommers repeat the process killing three more Land Speeders from another formation, breaking one more formation.

SM 1.1 - Tacticals double up to the houses on the right side of the table, shoots and kills one Deth Kopta.

SM 1.2 - Another tactical formation doubles forward and kills one more Deth Kopta, breaking the formation

O 1.3 - Skorchas double up and kills one Tactical

SM 1.3 - Thunderbolts fail to go on CAP

O 1.4 - The Blitz Brigade on the right flank doubles and kills both Rhinos from the Tactical formation, breaking the marines thanks to a crossfire.

SM 1.4 - The second Thunderbolt formation goes on CAP

O 1.5 - A Fortress Mob doubles and shoots the broken marines, killing two, wiping out the formation

SM 1.5 - Another Tactical formation doubles forward, hacking down one Deth Kopta.

O 1.6 - Kommandos engage broken Land Speeders, wiping them out.

SM 1.6 - Tacticals double and puts a BM on the Fortress Mob. 

O 1.7 - The second Blitz Brigade Zzaps a Rhino from a Tactical formation on my baseline.

SM 1.7 - A Warhound advances and kills the Oddboy and a Gunwagon from the Blitz Brigade on the right. The Blitz Brigade breaks.

O 1.8 - Second Skorchas double

SM 1.8 - In a risky move the Land Speeders engage the Fortress Mob. I have a lot of support set up but only two of the Speeders can reach engagement range. The Orks roll a lot of sixes and both Speeders die before the support can be used :(

SM 1.9 - Fearing the Ork Landa, the now exposed Supreme Commander goes on Overwatch.

O 1.9 - The Landa comes in but targets the Warhound on the right instead of the Marine BTS. Thunderbolts intercept but only places a BM on the Landa. The Bikes shoot the Warhound in a crossfire and do two wounds, and one critical. No more Warhound!

SM 1.10 - The Tactical formation that lost a Rhino to the zzap marshals, removing all BMs.

O 1.10 - Stompas double and shoots barrage on the Tacticals and intermingled Land Speeder. No kills.

SM 1.11 - Tacticals double and puts a BM on the Blitz Brigade to the left.

O 1.11 - The second Fortress Mob doubles and kills a Tactical in a crossfire.

SM 1.12 - The remaining Warhound doubles and breaks the Landa, killing it in hackdown.

End of turn one. A lot of marine formations have taken losses and all Land Speeder formations are broken.

Turn 2

O 2.1 - Orks win initiative and the left Fortress Mob engages the nearby Tacticals. Four marines are killed, with only one Grot in return. The Tacticals are wiped out.

O 2.2 - Retaining, the Warbikes engage the Warhound that destroyed their Landa. The kill the Warhound straight off.

SM 2.1 - Tacticals on the far left engages the Blitz Brigade, wiping it out in combat resolution.

SM 2.2 - Tacticals in the building doubles back to get away from the second Fortress Mob, putting a BM on the Warbikes.

O 2.3 - Realizing an assault on the Warbikes was coming Skorchas double to block the engage path for the nearby Tacticals, killing one.

O 2.4 - Retaining Fighta Bommers wipe out the three Speeders that were also in a position to engage the Warbikes.

SM 2.3 - Tacticals engage and wipe out the Kommandos.

O 2.5 - Second Fighta Bommers ground attack the BTS, but only kills a Rhino.

SM 2.4 - Thunderbolts hit the Skorchas, but manages to miss everything.

O 2.6 - Second Skorchas tries to avenge the fallen Kommandos, but all hits are saved.

SM 2.5 - Second formation of Thunderbolts also targets the Skorchas, but only one is killed.

SM 2.6 - Retaining, the nearby Tacticals fails to engage the Skorchas, even with SC re-roll. The remove BMs.

O 2.7 - Stompas double out to the left flank and kills a Rhino from the nearby Tactical formation.

SM 2.7 - The lone Land Speeder marshals.

O 2.8 - The second Fortress Mob doubles back to defend the Ork table half

SM 2.8 - The Supreme Commander sustains fire on the Warbikes, killing two, breaking the formation.

End of turn two, and the Ravenguard is not in a great spot, but a lot of the Ork ground forces are broken, and failed to rally.

Turn 3

SM 3.1 - Finally the Ravenguard gets to go first. Tacticals engage and breaks the Skorchas on the right.

SM 3.2 - Retaining, the Tacticals on the left runs away from the Stompas, moving towards an Ork T&H in the center. The kill a Skorcha in a crossfire.

O 3.1 - The Skorchas doubles back to secure the T&H. They kill one marine.

O 3.2 - Retaining, a formation of Fighta Bommers fails, even with Supreme Commander.

SM 3.3 - A lone rallied Land Speeder marches to grab the Ork Blits

O 3.3 - This forces a Fortress Mob to double back, but they fail to kill the Speeder.

O 3.4 - The second Fortress finishes the job.

SM 3.4 - Tacticals engage Skorchas in the center. Bad dice for the marines and they break with two marines killed.

O 3.5 - Fighta Bommers limit the mobility of the Marines by killing two Rhinos.

SM 3.5 - Thunderbolts breaks the Skorchas in the center.

O 3.6 - The Stompas spread out to take both T&H. They kill two nearby Tacticals.

At this point Orks have DTF and T&H but are out of activations. Ravenguard needs to contest one of the T&H objectives, but broken Skorchas are blocking the way.

SM 3.6 - Thunderbolts kill one Skorcha

SM 3.7 - The Tacticals who just lost their Rhinos advance and finishes the screening Skorchas.

SM 3.8 - The Supreme Commander marches to contest the Ork T&H

Turn 4

SM 4.1 - The Supreme Commander runs away from the nearby Stompas, onto the Ork table half, giving the Stompas a BM.

O 4.1 - The Stompas sustain on the Supreme, killing only a Rhino and a Marine.

O 4.2 - Fighta Bommers (using the Supreme Commander re-roll) breaks the Tacticals near the Stompas.

SM 4.2 - Thunderbolts fail to CAP

O 4.3 - Fighta Bommers wipe out a formation of two Speeders that had finally rallied.

SM 4.3 - A very crippled Tactical formation marches to deny DTF

O 4.4 - A Fortress Mob doubles to secure a T&H and kills one more marine from the BTS. Only the now broken Supreme Commander remains. The SC runs away to relatively secure location behind a forest.

O 4.5 - The second Fortreee Mob doubles and tries to break the only Ravenguard formation left unbroken on the Ork table half, but fails.

Orks now have a solid line boxing in the remaining Ravenguard forces on their table half. various broken formations to the right, Fortresses in the center and Stompas to the left. Unfortunately there is one tactical formation unbroken behind the Ork battle line denying both TSNP and DTF. 

Ravenguard has a few activations left, but no way of changing the score so we did not bother to play out the final activations. Draw, with Orks winning on points.

Summary

Rough start of both turn one and two for the Ravenguard. The Fighta Bommers massacred my Land Speeders and Rhinos, while my Thunderbolts seemed unable to hit a stationary target from point blank. Also, most of the Tacticals seemed to have left home without their power armour. Anyway I should not blame the dice...

I have tried this list once before in a game we never finished, that time against Black Legion, with similar results. The Tactical formations are too small to handle things like Mobs with a Fortress, Stompas of a BL Retinue and they are fragile because of their size. At the same time its hard to win against this army, since it has a lot of activations that tend to survive engages and later rally. Not a list I would bring to a tournament...