Keep Your Eyes on the prize

A small battle report and after-action analysis

Setup

RECON MISSION 500pts

Daemon Princess (Daemonic Flight and Stature, not sure what else)

2x6 Thousand Sons

Dracon w/punisher, Shadowfield, Combat Drugs, Animus Vitae, Tormentor Helm

2x Raider squads (both Sybarites and Dracon got Haywire grenades, one squad was full, the other was at nine, so the Dracon could ride)

The game in brief

Chaos advances and shoots at Raiders.  In three bolter shots, the Dracon’s Raider goes down in flames.  Dracon separates from squad and he and squad fleet of foot.  Other squad flies up, dismounts and shoots.  Dracon uses Combat Drugs to get into HTH with one squad of K-sons.  Daemon Princess zips forward and engages the first squad, while K-son shooting takes out the other squad (except the Sybarite, who joins the combat against the DP)  The DP takes out both Sybarites, suffering no wounds, and continues to munch on the squad.  The Dracon is wounded by his own combat drugs twice in the space of two turns and dies.

Hindsight is 20/20

After the game, Mike suggested I should have run away.  Now, while I was severely hurt by the dice this game (Raider falling to 3 bolter shots, Dracon wounded twice in 4 rolls (only 2 dice each) by combat drugs, both Sybarites failing to wound the Daemon Princess in close combat) I still could have turned it around by changing my tactics. 

Mobility

After my first Raider went down, I could have changed my tactics by having the other Raider make an end run using the full 24” movement and hiding behind terrain.  Then I would have had an undamaged vehicle and a full squad in his deployment zone, equalling his two full squads in my deployment zone.  Further, even using the Dracon and his squad as I did, by tying up one of Mike’s squads for even a couple of turns, I would likely have prevented that squad from getting into my deployment zone and getting bonus points.  Admittedly, he could have sent the Daemon Princess after me, but I’d still have some advantages there, and I would have probably gotten in a turn of shooting at her and still had an undamaged vehicle in his zone, even if she chewed up my squad. 

The Dance

I could have used my first turn to move my Raiders out to greater distances and let their disintegrators wound Mike’s Thousand sons from outside of bolter range.  Sure, that wouldn’t do a lot of damage, but I would certainly be able to knock at least one squad under half, or even wipe it out, while sustaining almost no damage in return.  At that point, I could have simply zoomed into his deployment zone and won the game handily.  (all those bonus points for having undamaged vehicles and squads in the enemy zone, you know.)

Lessons Learned

More tactical planning.  Read the victory conditions.  Remember that even in a straight VP mission, you don’t have to kill all of the enemy, just more than they kill of you.  With bonus VPs for objectives, you don’t even have to do that.  I tend to build armies with tactical flexibility and good mobility, but I need to remember to use that flexibility and mobility.  Had I put my mobility to good use, I could have changed my plan to either a light contact Dance or even played Hide and Seek with the enemy, instead of just blindly charging in and losing everything.

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