Emo-Wing: First Game

by SandWyrm

Had my first game with the Emo-Wing tonight vs. Protem's foot Marines. Here's a quick report.

My List

    HQ
225    Dante
250    Mephiston

    Elites
150    2 x Sanguinary Priest w/Jump Pack

    Troops
260    Sanguinary Guard Squad w/2 x Infernus Pistol, Powerfist, Chapter Banner
230    Sanguinary Guard Squad w/2 x Infernus Pistol, Powerfist
230    Sanguinary Guard Squad w/2 x Infernus Pistol, Powerfist
230    Sanguinary Guard Squad w/2 x Infernus Pistol, Powerfist
230    Sanguinary Guard Squad w/2 x Infernus Pistol, Powerfist

    Fast Attack
70    LandSpeeder w/Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta
70    LandSpeeder w/Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta
70    LandSpeeder w/Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta

Total: 2015

The list was supposed to be 2000 pts., but I screwed up and used the Honor Guard pricing for the Chapter Banner on Dante's squad. I'm such a newb. It's OK though, as I forgot about both Dante's Deathmask and Mephiston's transfixing gaze (and force weapon) when I needed them. :)

Protem's List

I don't have a copy of his list, but Protem was running a 10-man Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminator unit with some Lighting Claws mixed in. These were led by a Librarian with Null Zone and Vortex. He also had 2 Venerable Dreds (1 Rifleman, 1 Assault), 3 Thunderfire Cannons, and 3 Tac Squads with a mix of flamers and meltas that he combat squaded when the game began.

The Mission

We rolled up a Sieze Ground Mission with a Dawn of War Deployment. We put down one objective next to each of the bastions, which we decided to treat as actual buildings instead of ruins.

Protem rolled first turn, which was fine with me.

Deployment & Game Start

Protem's First Turn

Protem put down 2 Tac Squads that he combat squaded into 4 units at various places on the board, with his Force Commander in the bastion on his side. Everything else rolled on first turn.

I put Mephiston down out of sight behind the bastion on my side. Two Sanguinary Guard units and the Speeders would roll on first turn, while Dante would drop with 3 SG units later on.

Bottom of Turn 2

My two walking units + Mephiston and a Sang Priest went up the middle under heavy bombardment from Protem's Thunderfire Cannons. The cannon shots themselves didn't do much, but he kept putting me in difficult terrain which I had to make dangerous terrain checks to jump out of.

Mostly Protem stayed put, with his TH/SS Termies in a central position to threaten me. They were the only unit I was afraid to face in close combat.

The SG unit next to Mephiston got shot up enough that it's sole survivor ran into the middle building to hunker down and claim the objective. Meanwhile Mephiston and the Sang Priest would charge the Tac Squad in the center-right, while the other SQ squad took the squad that was right in front of the Termies.

The Speeders went up the left flank, where they shook up the Rifleman Dred and killed a few Marines in the leftmost building before being shot down. At least they drew a lot of AT fire that would have gone into my SG squads otherwise.

Two of my deep-striking squads (including Dante's) came down on Protem's left flank, putting the Bastion between them and the Termies. Dante's squad immediately got charged by the assault Dred, who tarpitted them for 2 turns before going down. The uncharged squad wiped out one of Protem's tac squads, but later got shot up by the Servitors' plasma pistols and the Bastion squad's plasma cannon.  The lone surviving power fist decided to help Dante kill the Dred after that.

The third deep-striking squad scattered onto a Servitor, who told them to go drop on the other side of the board in a building, killing 2.

The Termies went to work in the middle of the table, killing off an SG squad, the Sang Priest, and Mephiston, but managed to at least lose combat once. Which I thought was impressive.

End of Game

After clearing the middle, the Termies scooted around the bastion and charged Dante's squad, but lost the combat and ran up to the edge of the table. Dante escorted them off the board while his squad ran back to contest the objective.

The SG squad that misshaped lost 2 more models running over to my near objective, but was able to put one man in the bastion, claiming it.

The game then ended on turn 5, with a 2-0 victory for me. Woohoo! Go Angels!!!

Conclusions

Not a bad first game. I've got some learning to do still, but I'm enjoying being able to actually (gasp!) win assaults. Sanguinary Guard are very mobile and cut through Power Armor squads sooooo nicely. Termies are a problem, but can be swamped with power-weapon attacks if I play it right. If I'd charged Mephiston and an SG squad into them together, then things would have gone better in the middle.

It was also nice having good psychic defense. Though Protem's Librarian stopped about as many of my psychic powers as I did of his. Still... cool.

Now to get those speeders painted...