Of Wolves and Fortresses: Or, Smurfs Gets Shot to Shreds

[Cap'nSmurfs]

So, I rocked up to my local GW last night for a game. I brought my Space Marines. It's usually busy and didn't take long to find an opponent (who, I should stress at this point, was a really, really nice guy!) and we settled on a 2,000 point game.

My army was the bog-standard list I've been using lately. Nothing too special: Captain and Command Squad in a twin-Lascannon Razorback, 3x Tacticals, one in a Rhino, Stormtalon, Terminator Librarian with Tactical (assault cannon) Terminators in a Land Raider, Vanguard Veterans (who never showed up).

He had a double-FOC Space Wolves list - two Long Fangs, four Grey Hunters, all with big nasty guns out the ya-ya, and two Rune Priests throwing Prescience all over the shop.

And a Fortress of Redemption. And an Aegis Line with a Quad Gun.

We got scenario one, rolled three objectives. We got the diagonal table halves deployment. Now, this table really didn't have much in the way of cover, and almost nothing to block LOS in my favour, because it was a last-minute repurposed Fantasy table. Which is fine, that's just how it goes.

He put the Fortress, the line, and all his stuff in one corner.

Now, because this is the kind of guy I am, I said, well, it'd be boring to give me an advantage with objective placement, so we put one in his fortress and then one near it, but a bit outside, because it made sense that my more mobile force should be attacking this fortress.

Long story short: I try to close in to attack the fortress and its objectives, I get annihilated, and call it by the start of my turn four. I killed, in total, five Space Wolves. My vehicles got immobilised or destroyed, the Stormtalon got wiped out as it arrived, and then my units got blasted to pieces by big nasty guns and the Fortress' missiles. My shooting barely dented him and I was prevented from assaulting on two occasions by his objective turning out to be a Grav Wave Generator.

So, the question is - was this a perfect storm of You're Gonna Lose, Ultramarines, or could I have done better? If so, what could I have done? Was there anything I could do to save this, or was the combination of armies, deployment zones, lack of cover just against me from the off? The main thing I thought of after it was too late was to make more of an effort to try and blow his fortifications up - I had plenty of Lascannon and Missile Launchers, after all, and I know the collapse chart can get pretty nasty.

Any comments appreciated - even if it's just "buy some Vindicators". Trust me, that occurred...

[Seirin]

Well for one, don't give him the undue advantage with objectives. He chose to play a defensive game, but that doesn't mean you have to. Even if you wanted to play it 'flavourfully', consider the way most sieges went in history. By far the most common means of victory was by starving the enemy to submission rather than breaking the walls - so your 'objectives' could be strategic points outside the fortress.

The vanguards....could be swapped for sternguard in a drop pod easily enough. Drop a 10-man unit in with meltas/combi-meltas all over the shop and waste a few vehicles before dying.

Would lose the command squad too, unless they are on bikes it's just not worth it.

Rhinos on all tactical squads.

I'm really not a fan of stormtalons..just die too easily.

Your biggest weakness in that list is you have no support fire. Add some predators or something with autocannon/las sponsoons or even HB sponsoons.

[Chris*ta]

If so, what could I have done?

Played a 1999 point game. :runs away from retaliation:

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Thanks!

On sieges - you're right, but that doesn't feel right for Space Marines to me. They're shock troops, not besiegers - that said, I take your point, and sallying forth to break a siege is an important part too, so maybe an even distribution would've been just fine. But I'm a sucker for imagery and self-sabotage in equal measure.

It's a fair point, Chris. He acknowledged that his plan was out the window with a smaller game - I may be playing 1750 until I can workout some dual-FOC tricks of my own.

As to supporting units - excellent point, it is something my army lacks. A Predator at least would be good times. I also need to get transports for the other two tactical squads, certainly.

For what it's worth, I like the Stormtalon very much, and this is the first time it's underperformed (because the guy had two big nasty guns with Interceptor - if I'd known, I'd have taken something else!). The Command Squad, to their credit, soaked up an awful lot of shooting from big guns thanks to Feel No Pain and a captain who was able to take three krak missiles on his artificer armour and not feel a thing - they were unsupported because everything else had died, and missed out on getting into assault (where they're very nasty) due to the objective.

[isotope99]

Nothing wrong with a narrative siege type game but you need to tweak the rules accordingly to make it fun, maybe throw in some free reinforcements, melta bombs or orbital barrages for the attackers.

[Anggul]

I think you got it right with your own comment on needing to bring down his fortifications. The guns mounted on those things can put out some real pain, and will protect his army well. Perhaps a couple of Drop Pod units with meltas to melt them?

On the other hand, Space Wolves are 'better marines' so it was always going to be stacked against you a bit. He can have almost anything you have but for less points and better.