Fall From Grace IV: Battle Summaries for Fighting Tigers
FFG’s relaxed atmosphere is conducive to experimenting with new army lists (Tip: never test-drive an experimental list at a tournament. Not a good idea). Also, many of the best players at the Millenium Gate (such as the nigh-invincible Ken “Orcboy” Lacy) show up, so it’s a good place to find a worthy challenge. 

This year, I brought along some new lists as well as some revised older lists. If one catches your interest, feel free to give it a try. 

“Rolling Thunder”
Long-time Jungle visitors will remember that I have an irrational fondness for bikes. They’re expensive, they’re easy to kill, and they’re even easier to negate by snagging them in hand-to-hand combat. Nevertheless, I love how they look and I use them just for fun. 

This list is headed by Raja Shamshir Talatra, who rules half the Fighting Tigers but doesn’t get nearly as much attention as his counterpart, Raja Khandar Madu (“the Redhead”). Raja Shamshir favors a mobile assault, emphasizing speed over firepower. 
 

Raja Shamshir Talatra. Force Commander w/ power sword, bike, Terminator honors, artificer armor, Iron Halo.	170 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran Sergeant w/ bolter-flamer and ccw. Eight Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ flamer.	181 pts
Man-eater I. Rhino w/ extra armor and smoke launcher.	58 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran Sergeant w/ bolter-flamer and ccw. Eight Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ flamer.	181 pts
Man-eater II. Rhino w/ dozer blade, extra armor, and smoke launcher.	63 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Sergeant + 9 Marines. Sergeant and 8 Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ meltagun.	160 pts
Man-eater VII. Rhino w/ extra armor, searchlight, and smoke launcher.	59 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Sergeant + 9 Marines. Sergeant and 8 Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ meltagun.	160 pts
Man-eater VIII. Rhino w/ extra armor, searchlight, and smoke launcher.	59 pts
Tigers of Kali (Space Marine Bikes). Sergeant + 4 Marines + Attack Bike. One Marine w/ flamer; one Marine w/ meltagun. Attack Bike w/ heavy bolter. All have blind grenades.	253 pts
Tigers of Kali (Space Marine Attack Bikes). Three Attack Bikes w/ heavy bolters.	150 pts
Tigers of Kali (Assault Marines). Sergeant + 9 Marines. Sergeant and 8 Marines have bolt pistols and ccw. Two Marines have plasma pistols and ccw. No jump packs.	160 pts
White Tiger II. Land Raider Crusader w/ searchlight and smoke launchers.	259 pts
Sabretooth. Whirlwind w/ extra armor and smoke launchers.	83 pts
Total	1996 pts

So how did this army do? 

Battle Results for the “Rolling Thunder” Army
Mission: Bunker Assault (page 147 of the main rulebook) 
Opponent: Eldar (Rob)
Points per Player: 2000 

What happened? Rob is a local Borderlands regular whom I’ve known for a few years. We’ve always been meaning to get together and play, but one thing or another had kept us from throwing down—until now. Rob brought his “reformed Eldar,” a “vanilla” army that used to use the difficult-to-master Saim Hann rules. See, I’m not the only one with an unhealthy attachment to bikes….

Rob brought:

• a Farseer on a jetbike
• Six jetbikes w/ shuriken catapults
• Five Storm Guardians and a Warlock, mounted in a Wave Serpent
• Five Storm Guardians and a Warlock, mounted in a Wave Serpent
• a Squadron of two Vypers w/ starcannons
• a Squadron of two Vypers w/ starcannons
• One Vyper w/ a starcannon
• Five Dark Reapers and Exarch w/ shuriken cannon and Fast Shot, with Wave Serpent
• a Phoenix flyer (from the Imperial Armor Update)

My grand plan almost unraveled when Rob won the Strategy Rating roll and chose to be the attacker. “Rolling Thunder” is an interesting list, I think, but not designed to defend (my “Don’t Rush Me” list would have excelled in this role). Nevertheless, I took the approach that “the best defense is a good offense” and resolved to take the fight up-close-and-personal to the Skinnies.

Rob spread out his army while I clustered mine in my deployment zone, with the “White Tiger II,” fully loaded with Assault Marines, right at the forward edge, ready to ram down the Eldar’s throats. Battle began and Rob’s army shot the bejesus out of mine, crippling two of my Rhinos in my deployment zone, leaving those squads to do nothing more than run for the bunkers while Eldar bikes and vehicles zoomed overhead. It looked like something from Pearl Harbor, with Rob’s Eldar as the Japanese and my Marines as the Navy men scrambling for cover as explosions blossomed around them. 

Rob’s fatal mistake was that he rushed in closer when he should have stayed on the edges of the board and continued to blast me with heavy weapons. With my Whirlwind’s rocket launcher the first casualty of the battle (sigh), I had nothing with sufficient range with which to shoot back. His error allowed Raja Shamshir (a hand-to-hand monster), two Tactical Squads, and the Assault Marines to get into close combat, where they promptly broke the backs of whole squads of coneheads, including the Farseer, the Jetbikes, and the Dark Reapers. 

As for the Phoenix, it showed up on Turn 3. It pasted my Attack Bikes but otherwise wasn’t much of a factor. But Rob’s conversion, using a Wave Serpent (see below), is really sharp!

Outcome:  Tigers win (1453 Victory Points to 788 Victory Points)

“Red Thunder”
This list is a variant of “Rolling Thunder.” I recently upgraded the Command Squad attached to my other Force Commander, Raja Khandar Madu (at right), who shares command of my Fighting Tigers Chapter. In addition, my friend Dwayne Powell was kind enough to paint a brand-new Rhino for “the Redhead.” I was itching to try out the new bodyguards and the new ride.

“Red Thunder” uses the same units as “Rolling Thunder” except that it replaces Raja Shamshir, the Bike Squad, and one Attack Bike with Khandar Madu, her Command Squad, and their Rhino. Thus:
 

Raja Khandar Madu. Force Commander w/ master-crafted lightning claws, Terminator honors, artificer armor, Iron Halo.	165 pts
Singh Squad (Command Squad). Veteran Sergeant Lakshman + Apothecary + Techmarine + Standard Bearer + 5 Marines. Veteran Sergeant w/ power fist and bolt pistol. Apothecary w/ reductor and power weapon. Techmarine w/ power weapon. Standard Bearer w/ bolt pistol and ccw. Three Marines w/ bolters. Two Marines w/ flamers.	250 pts
Man-eater IX. Rhino w/ extra armor and smoke launcher.	58 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran Sergeant w/ bolter-flamer and ccw. Eight Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ flamer.	181 pts
Man-eater I. Rhino w/ extra armor and smoke launcher.	58 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran Sergeant w/ bolter-flamer and ccw. Eight Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ flamer.	181 pts
Man-eater II. Rhino w/ dozer blade, extra armor, and smoke launcher.	63 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Sergeant + 9 Marines. Sergeant and 8 Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ meltagun.	160 pts
Man-eater VII. Rhino w/ extra armor, searchlight, and smoke launcher.	59 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Sergeant + 9 Marines. Sergeant and 8 Marines w/ bolters. One Marine w/ meltagun.	160 pts
Man-eater VIII. Rhino w/ extra armor, searchlight, and smoke launcher.	59 pts
Tigers of Kali (Space Marine Attack Bikes). Two Attack Bikes w/ heavy bolters.	100 pts
Tigers of Kali (Assault Marines). Sergeant + 9 Marines. Sergeant and 8 Marines have bolt pistols and ccw. Two Marines have plasma pistols and ccw. No jump packs.	160 pts
White Tiger II. Land Raider Crusader w/ searchlight and smoke launchers.	259 pts
Sabretooth. Whirlwind w/ extra armor and smoke launchers.	83 pts
Total	1996 pts

I played two games with this list. So how did it do? 

Battle results for first game
Mission: Rescue (page 143 of the main rulebook )
Opponent: Chaos Tau (Dwayne Powell) 
Points per Player: 2000

What happened? Dwayne has recently built a way-cool Tau army that has fallen under the influence of the Ruinous Powers. He uses all the same rules as those found in Codex: Tau, but his army is painted in black and dark purple and has all kinds of spikey accessories to mark them as fighting for “The Greater Evil”

Dwayne brought:

• a Commander in a Crisis Suit
• One 3-man Crisis Suit team
• One Stealth suit team
• Two 12-man Fire Warrior teams
• Two 10-man Gue’vesa squads (deserters from the Imperial Guard)
• Five Pathfinders and a Devilfish
• Two-man Broadside team
• Two Hammerheads

Above: Chaos Tau and Tigers race for the counters (Dark Angel Helmet Bearers) 

I assigned my Tactical Squads the role of grabbing counters and sent everything else to engage the Tau in hand-to-hand combat as soon as possible. Dwayne, being no dummy, did his best to disable my transports. Two Tactical Squads that had their rides split open early in the game spent the rest of the time basically cowering behind cover; as in the game with Rob, a lack of heavy weapons kept them returning any significant fire. Fortunately, one of those squads was near enough to a counter that I could be patient and grab it on the last turn. 

Dwayne tagged the rocket launcher on my Whirlwind early (sigh) and it wound up joining the rush to the Tau lines in the hope that I could Tank Shock some Tau punks with it. The Land Raider Crusader weathered a lot of fire and delivered the Assault Marines into the Tau, where they wreaked havoc. Raja Khandar and her bodyguard managed to grab a counter, but weren’t really able to reach the thick of the fighting. Drat!

In the end, I had five counters and one was loose. We rolled to see which counter was the one to have, and it wound up that the Tactical Squad that had spent most of the game hiding had it. Patience had indeed paid off, but I wanted to give “the Redhead” and her crew another try.

Outcome: Tigers win.

Battle results for second game
I got the chance the next day against my pal Ken Lacy and his “40K Slann,” a Tau army that uses Lizardman bits for a distinctive look. Ken has an impressive win/loss record that he maintains as Da Orcboy’s Scorecard (I liked that idea so much that I blatantly stole it to use on this site as El Tigre’s Scorecard). We set up on the “winter” table and went to work.

Mission: Patrol (page 141 of the main rulebook)
Opponent: Slann (Tau) (Ken Lacy)
Points per Player: 2000

What happened? Ken’s modus operandi with whatever Shooty Army From Gehenna he’s playing that day is to:

• Carefully deploy so as to maximize fire lanes;
• Maintain his distance, and;
• Unload unholy amounts of firepower into his opponent, usually as they slog through some difficult terrain. 

• an Ethereal
• a Commander in Crisis Suit
• One Crisis Suit Team
• One Stealth Team
• Four 12-man Fire Warrior Squads
• One Kroot Carnivore Squad plus Kroothounds
• Three Broadsides

At was at this stage of the game that I had a tough decision to make. I could attempt to hide my victorious Tactical Marines behind some cover and wait for the rest of the Tiger forces to arrive, or I could charge ahead into a storm of massed pulse rifle fire (two Fire Warrior squads in rapid fire range—OUCH!). Option 1 didn’t look good: God only knows when the backup forces (coming in from Reserve) would arrive, and in the meantime, my troopers were sitting ducks for Ken’s Crisis suits, who could hop in and out of cover taking potshots at me. Not to mention the Broadsides….

Option 2 was so ugly it made Rosie O’Donnell look like the Playmate of the Year. But Ken’s dice had been bad throughout the game, so maybe I had a chance. My Tactical Marines trudged forward (remember, their Rhinos had been taken out) in the hope of reaching the Fire Warriors or the nearby Broadsides. All came to naught, however, as the Slann blasted them into tiger-striped chunks before they could reach close combat.

Meanwhile, Ken kept pegging my Whirlie, preventing it from firing (sigh). My other Tactical Squad took its sweet time showing up, as did “the Redhead” and her retinue; these two units took no real part in the battle. Fortunately, I was able to ram the Land Raider Crusader full of Assault Marines right down the Slann’s throats, inflicting all kinds of damage.

In the end, Ken held a narrow lead in Victory Points. He considers the game a tie, but I’m calling a spade a spade and taking the loss—a close loss, but a loss nonetheless. While I enjoyed this game, I didn’t really get to use Raja Khandar’s new bodyguard to their full extent. I’ll just have to bring them along to my next 40K outing (perhaps a Rogue Trader Tournament?).

Outcome: Slann (Tau) win (1021 Victory Points to 983 Victory Points) 
 
 

“Don’t Rush Me,” Version 3
This year I’ve been experimenting with a list designed to stop those wearisome “Rhino Rush” armies dead in their tracks (pun intended, thank you). While this list has worked well against a variety of opposing armies at the Battle Bunker and Games Day, I hadn’t had the chance to give it a proper test-drive against a real “Rhino Rush” army. 

All that changed when I was able to convince “One Man” Matt, a local player, to bring out his Black Templars for a “training session.” Visitors may recall that last year, Matt’s Templars triumphed over my Dark Eldar by managing to have one man still standing at the end of a “Meatgrinder” mission— hence my nickname for Matt. 

I explained the concept behind my list and Matt was kind enough to oblige, bringing a Land Raider Crusader, several Rhinos, and a pair of Razorbacks—all loaded with troops—to the party. I had:
 

Khandar Madu. Space Marine Commander w/ lightning claw and bolter-flamer	80 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Srgt w/ bolter; one Marine w/ missile launcher; three Marines w/ bolters.	85 pts
Man-eater IV. Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma guns and lascannon; dozer blade, extra armor, smoke launchers.	98 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Srgt w/ bolter; one Marine w/ missile launcher; three Marines w/ bolters.	85 pts
Man-eater V. Razorback w/ twin-linked lascannons; dozer blade, extra armor, smoke launchers, and searchlight.	104 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Srgt w/ bolter; one Marine w/ missile launcher; three Marines w/ bolters.	85 pts
Man-eater VI. Razorback w/ twin-linked lascannons; dozer blade, extra armor, and smoke launchers.	103 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Srgt w/ bolter; one Marine w/ missile launcher; three Marines w/ bolters.	85 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Srgt w/ bolter; one Marine w/ lascannon; three Marines w/ bolters.	90 pts
Tigers of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Srgt w/ bolter; one Marine w/ missile launcher; three Marines w/ bolters.	85 pts
Tiger Shark Squadron. Two Land Speeders w/ multi-meltas	130 pts
Flying Tiger Squadron. Two Land Speeders w/ multi-meltas	130 pts
Marut Squadron. Two Land Speeders w/ multi-meltas	130 pts
Tyger Tyger . Predator Annihilator w/ lascannon sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers, and searchlight.	154 pts
Tiger Claw. Vindicator w/ extra armor, smoke launchers, and hunter-killer missile.	143 pts
White Tiger. Land Raider w/ dozer blade, extra armor, and smoke launchers.	263 pts
Total	1850 pts

So how did it do? 

Battle Results for the “Don’t Rush Me,” Version 3
Mission: Cleanse (page 139 of the main rulebook)
Opponent: Black Templars (Matt)
Points per Player: 1850

What happened? You can call it “taking up defensive positions” or “playing it smart,” but there’s really just one word to use when almost all the Barney Badass Black Templars are out of sight behind buildings and scenery and not even attempting to advance or shoot back. And that word, friends and neighbors, is “hiding.” That’s what we had for most of the game. 

Similar to what I did in the penultimate game of the Blood Deserts of Auros IX Campaign, I deployed my force well back and directed my attacks to fight down the length of the 8' table instead of across. My Tigers unloaded every heavy weapon they had into whatever Templar unit poked its nose out of cover. In Turn 1, my Vindicator nuked Matt’s Land Raider Crusader, forcing the Emperor’s Champion and his Terminator friends to get out and walk. Then my Vindie lit into them with another blast, and Matt started to hide Marines ASAP.

Despite the hideous amount of firepower I threw, not all was peaches and cream for Our Stripey Heroes. One of Matt’s Tactical Squads sat under cover in the center of the board and played “Sniper” with their missile launcher, blowing up my Vindicator and forcing me to divert fire onto them. Matt also gunned down all my Speeders by Turn 3, severely limiting my mobility and safeguarding his units at the far end of the table, which were out of range of my tanks and troops. 

But any game where the Black Templars aren’t rampaging around in your deployment zone, smashing up people in hand-to-hand combat, is a good game. Satisfied that the BT’s were cowed, I began, on Turn 4, to roll my Land Raider, my Predator, and my Razorbacks towards enemy territory to claim quarters. I didn’t get as far as I would have liked, though—I should have started my advance on Turn 3! In the end, I had one quarter, Matt had one quarter, and two were contested.

Ah, well. As far as I’m concerned, the game was a huge success and a thorough validation of the list.

Outcome: Tie 

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, September 2003
 

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