More games played, demons and marines

 Had two more 1000 point games today, against demons and marines. See how it went!

As in previous reports, I used my currently favorite 1000 point list:

• Kahl with Concussion Gauntlet, Volkanite Disintegrator and Rampart Crest
• Hearthkyn with Rail Rifle, Plasma Beamer, Melee-thane and all specialists.
• 3-man Thunderkyn squad with Graviton cannons
• 3x 3-man Pioneer squads, each with Searchlight, Scanner and HYLas rotary cannon.
• Sagitaur with missile launchers
• Land Fortress with rail cannon, bolters and scanner.

My first game was against demons. My opponent brought a huge knight, not sure what kind, but it was about 400 points. He also had a bunch of Slaneeshi demons, two units of demonettes, a big chariot-like thing and a couple more characters.

Though we played with quite dense terrain (I went first and couldn't even target the Knight), he hadn't made any real attempt at hiding his demonette squads. They died quickly. And to make a long story short, I tabled him in round 2.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much Magna-coil autocannons (the standard gun on the Pioneer bikes) can do against hard targets. In one round of shooting, three squads took down 6 wounds off a Knight with only that gun. Those along with the Twin Bolt Cannons on the Land Fortress did as much damage to the Knight as my more dedicated anti-tank guns.

The second game was against the Minotaur chapter of Space Marines, again a fairly odd list: A stormraven, a predator (anti-infantry variant, I forget the designation), a tech-marine, a dreadnought of some variety (hurricane bolter and something else), a small unit of assault intercessors led by some sort of character - a captain I think. Then he had a Vindicare assassin and a squad of navy breachers.

This game felt very close. I spotted the vindicare (my Ruthless Efficiency target) and went after it with more than I needed to, which probably cost me the game in the end - things were a bit too much in the open. Still, Votann resilience counted for a lot, and the game swung back and forth - with many strange moments.

One such moment happened when my Thunderkyn exited the land fortress to fire at the Dreadnought. I rolled 4 attacks on 3d6. I rerolled one of the two 1s with a command point... and got a 2. They did nothing. Then he moved in the next turn, and they nearly killed it in overwatch.

The game ended a clear but not overwhelming victory to the Space Marines. I think if I'd have played a bit smarter at the start, I could have pulled off a win here.

Takeaways:

• Three squads of pioneers and a sagitaur is extreme overkill against a Vindicare assassin.
• With some luck, a Land Fortress can endure 3 rounds of focus fire from a Stormraven while being the Oath of Moment target.
• Graviton cannons can whiff hard.
• Pioneers are amazing. They take more damage than you'd think, they are blistering fast, and they can deal a lot of damage.