Big Test
I've been very busy with work lately, so I haven't had much opportunity to get in any real games. I still want to progress with my DeathWing army, though. I decided to resort to what the military refers to as "artificial experience," the concept of preparing for operations through scenarios and situational practice so that the first time you experience a sticky situation, you don't have to do it in front of live ammunition. For me, this has taken two forms. The first is virtual battles. I take an opposing army list and my DeathWing and play them against each other. The biggest difficulty with virtual battles is making sure you play the opposing force appropriately. (As it would be played by a smart opponent.) The other form of artificial experience I've been making use of is by reading up on tactics and strategies online. In addition to The Way of the Water Warrior, I found another fantastic one at the Bolter and Chainsword. While I intend to discuss the tactical ideas there in a future update, I did find a really nasty army list there and I wanted to test my DeathWing against it.

I read up carefully on the notes for how the army should be used, so that I can play it intelligently. I will leave most of the notes in with the army list to help you understand how I will play it. I had planned on making turn-by-turn maps so that you could follow the action, but it took too long, so after the terrain and setup, you'll have to follow along based on my text.

Game: Pitched Battle with Annihilation as the only objective.

Chaos

410 points:2 Daemon Princes, Mark of Tzeentch, Wind of Chaos, Warptime, Wings
Killers through and through. Able to slaughter entire squads with Wind of Chaos and Warptime rerolls backed up by a powerful assault. There are few units like TH/SS Terminators that can actually stand up to this much killing but such units are rare and expensive. This unit also has the mobility (Wings) and durability (3+/4++ save) to survive long enough to make that large killgap.

105 points: 3 Terminators, 3 Combi-Meltas
A semi-suicide squad, deepstrikes in and hopefully removes a valuable piece of equipment. Afterwards it hangs out in the backfield causing a headache until its removed. Will not win the game on its own, but usually it will remove one of your opponents key units, making it more difficult for them to achieve a proper killgap.

191 points: 7 Plague Marines, 2 Plasmaguns
This unit forms the basis of your scoring unit defenders. It has a high D values and some ability for long(er) range fire support to assist the rest of the army while they're camping that objective. In non-objective games, it would assist the Firebase.

250 points: 10 CSMs, Flamer, Meltagun, Power Fist Champion, Icon of Chaos Glory, Rhino
A true jack of all trades unit. Enough assault capabilities to handle small squads and sufficient shooting to weaken larger squads. The weapons give it the flexibility to be used against horde, MEQs or tanks with some degree of effectiveness. Most importantly, the Rhino gives the squad the mobility to go where they are needed.

300 points: 2 squads of 2 Obliterators

1256pts

Deathwing
DeathWing doesn't have a lot of small-point options, you kind of have to spend your points in big chunks. My old army list was 95pts shy of the Chaos army total. Adding in my cheapest next unit (a Venerable Dreadnaught) puts me 59pts over, but I think it's close enough for non-government purposes.

Deathwing Strike Force
130 Belial, Master of the Deathwing

160 Venerable Dreadnaught: Assault Cannon, SB/DCCW, Extra Armor

250 5x Deathwing Terminator 1xSgt w/Stormbolter/PowerSword, 1xAssault Cannon/Powerfist, 2xStormbolter/Powerfist, 1xStormbolter/Chainfist
245 5x Deathwing Terminator 1xSgt w/Stormbolter/PowerSword, 1xAssault Cannon/Powerfist, 3xStormbolter/Powerfist

265 LandRaider, Extra Armor
265 LandRaider, Extra Armor

1315pts

Terrain. You may recognize this from the Duffer's Drift series

Deployment
Chaos took first turn and thus, set up first. He took the southern side of the map, setting up in the large building just off center with the Daemon Princes. The CSM in their rhino parked behind the low wall next to the Daemon Princes and the Plague Marines set up behind them. The Obliterators started behind the hill on the far side of the board and the Terminators started in reserve to Deepstrike in later. In turn, Belial and the DeathWing squads set up next to each other, sandwiched between their LandRaiders on the far side of the board. The Dreadnaught set up on the long, narrow hill.

Deployment

Turn 1
C: The Daemon Princes immediately fly toward the cluster of DeathWing, running 1 and 5 inches respectively. The Rhino pivots and rumbles toward them as well and pops smoke. The Plague Marines move up and run to get cover behind the wall. The Obliterators move up on top of the hill and fire at the near LandRaider, failing to damage it.

DW: The Terminator squads, Belial and the Dreadnaught move backward, firing at the faster Daemon Prince, killing him with their firepower. The two LandRaiders combine their firepower at the other Daemon Prince, causing 3 Wounds to it.

commentary: I was surprised at how well my shooting went. I knew I had to kill those DPs quickly, but I didn't expect to have so many wounds actually get through.

Turn 2
C: The remaining Daemon Prince, unable to reach a Terminator squad, careens into the lead LandRaider and blows it up. The Terminators don't show up just yet. The Obliterators fire at the second LandRaider, failing to damage it again. The Plague Marines are out of range and hold their fire. The Rhino moves forward another 12" and the squad piles out, rapid-firing into the 1st Terminator squad, causing 4 wounds, but they are all saved by their armor.

DW: The second LandRaider squad loads up in their LandRaider and drives straight toward the Obliterators. The first squad moves around the burning hulk of their LandRaider and fires at the Daemon Prince, killing it. Belial and the Dreadnaught also move forward, firing into the CSM squad and charging it. They kill 6 (actually, the Dreadnaught killed 6, Belial hit once with his Stormbolter and once with his Thunderhammer, failing to Wound with either.) The Powerfist champion strikes the Dreadnaught a penetrating hit, but only manages to shake the behemoth. The squad fails it's morale check, but uses the Icon of Chaos Glory for a re-roll, barely staying in the fight.

commentary: It was very strange having 1 squad mount up and make a run for the enemy firebase while the others were left to deal with the Daemon Prince and the Rhino squad, but I'm trying to get better at allowing each unit to act independently.

Turn 3
C: The Chaos Terminators Deepstrike down, aiming for the surviving LandRaider, but scattering 8" behind it. They fire their Combi-Meltas at it, managing a single glancing hit that immobilizes it. The Plague Marines fire at the first Terminator squad, but only manage to kill one of their plasma gunners in the process. The Obliterators fire at the immobilized LandRaider, failing to damage it yet again. One of the Chaos Space Marines actually manages to wound Belial. The Powerfist champion manages to shake the Dreadnaught again (Venerable reroll from an Immobilized result!) Belial kills off 2 more of the squad, but they stay locked in combat.

DW: The first Terminator squad advances on the Obliterators, firing at them, but causing no damage. The Immobilized LandRaider also fires at the Obliterators, killing the two from the first team. The second Terminator squad advances on the Plague Marines, killing two of them. The Dreadnaught kills the non-champion squad member while the Champion finally manages two massive hits with his powerfist and blows up the Dreadnaught (penetrating 6, rerolled to another 6) killing himself in the process. Belial shrugs off the shrapnel and hefts his hammer, glowering at the Chaos Terminator squad.

commentary: I didn't expect those results, but I think the DeathWing are still in a pretty good position. Let's look at it game-wise: Chaos has 2 Killpoints (LandRaider2 and Venerable Dreadnaught) to DeathWing's 4 (Rhino Squad, 1 set of Obliterators and both Daemon Princes) Slight advantage to DW, but it's still quite close.

Turn 4
C: The Obliterators and Plague Marines fire into the first Terminator squad, failing to injure them. The Chaos Terminators fire their combi-bolters into Belial and charge him, failing to wound him through his Storm Shield. He smashes one of them into the ground in return and they stay in the fight. The Rhino starts speeding away from the approaching Terminator squad 2, but takes a parting shot with it's combi-bolter, killing a Terminator!

DW: Terminator squad 1 starts slowly wading through the river, firing into the Obliterators as they walk, killing 1. The immobilized LandRaider fires at the remaining Obliterator, killing it. Terminator squad 2 continues to advance toward the Plague Marines, but turns to fire into the fleeing Rhino, immobilizing it. The Chaos Terminators give Belial another wound (taking him down to one) but he kills them both for their trouble.

commentary: The Chaos Terminator squad really doesn't want to get into CC with Belial, but they have no other close targets, and he would have charged them if they'd stuck around, so their best bet was to charge him and hope the extra attacks made it through. It almost worked. Chaos: 2KP, DeathWing: 6KP.

Turn 5
C: The defiant Rhino fires at Belial this time, but his armor (barely, rolled a 2!) stops the shot. The Plague Marines also fire at Belial, but fail to get through his armor.

DW: Everyone advances on the Plague Marines. Terminator squad 2 blows up the Rhino, while the rest combine their fire on the Plague Marines, killing 2 of them (leaving 3 left.)

commentary: A roll of 2 signals the end of the game, though the result was already apparent to the beleaguered Plague Marines. Final Score: Chaos 2KP, DeathWing 7KP.

They aren't as scary as they look
When I first saw this list, I really wondered if my DeathWing could come close to handling it. While the final score was pretty lopsided, I think that was primarily due to a little bit of good fortune in the first turn's shooting against the Daemon Princes. If the second one had an extra wound or two, I probably would have had to charge it with either Belial or one of the Terminator squads, which would have been painful. On the other hand, I think I can attribute a solid win (but not the whole 7 to 2 result) to good tactics. I initially moved back to fire (kiting) at units that were well within my range. I took the opportunity (though it didn't pan out) to mount up a squad and drive it forward toward a planned assault. All in all, I'm pleased with how my army worked this time, and I know I need to do more of this "artificial experience" to make sure that when I do get to play a game, it will perform this way as well.

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know

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