Librarian on a bike (original model!) 5/5
This guy was pretty badass. In the first game he didn't do a great deal, but then tbh most of my army didn't do a great deal in the first game. Games 2&3 taught me to love the psychic power Terrify, as units left the board in both games. I'll definitely be using that more often.
He has intrinsic value to the list in that he makes the bikes objective secured. This saves points elsewhere in the list and gives me two very fast super scoring units. Overall I would keep the librarian.
Boltgun Scouts & Landspeeder Storm 4/5
These guys performed well, needlessly dying in the first game but in the second and third game they really put in a shift. In the second game, they helped play a part in the refused flank tactic that contributed to our successes in that game, before flying away rather swiftly.
In the third game their scout and infiltrate is limited by the deployment, but they could have gone in my partners deployment zone. However! They did well, using their scout move and our first turn to "drive by" a unit of dark Eldar, rapid firing them to their doom. The objective secured landspeeder is a huge boon to the army, I would definitely take these guys again.
2x Grav Gun Bikes (3 man units) 4/5
These guys are really what made my list tick. They are also objective secured thanks to the biker librarian, and have lots of grav. Whilst their shots aren't as reliable as the centurions, I really like these guys. Being able to move 24 inches in one turn is something that again really helped with securing objectives.
The one issue for me is their size. At 3 models you only need to blink at them and the lose their effectiveness. Perhaps at next year's double trouble I'll try bigger squads, but I don't know if they then loose their points efficiency. The funny thing is that I could broke the rules a bit by having a command squad on bikes. That would have given me three squads of bikes and been totally legit.
Grav cannon Centurions in a drop pod 2/5
So these guys are badass, and i got called all sorts of things for bringing them. Spending 1/3 of my 750 points (plus the cost of the drop pod) on them is the closest I've ever come to fielding a "Deathstar" in the late 5th early 6th tradition of death stars. I was worried that I would be surrounded by fluffy, deliberately teeth less lists and look out of place, but there were some equally competitive lists, so I didn't feel bad.
However, in the 3 games I played they didn't feel useful to a 285 point equivalent. They killed a lot less than normal, i'm not sure if that's because they are to far towards being a white elephant at 750 points. I faced a reasonable amount of armies where their grav weapons would have been useful, but they just weren't quite all that. That could be situational, we'll have to see!
Tactical Squad with missile launcher (original models!) 3/5
These guys performed reasonably, mainly just holding an objective and being in the backfield, allowing us to double up on points all the time. They were the only unit to get destroyed in the first game. In part I think that's due to them being 5 marines with a missile launcher (and therefore not a threat) but their presence meant that we always had an objective, in every turn of every game.
For me there was something very encouraging to use these models. They are "me", they're a massive part of where my hobby started. To use them where my hobby is now was a big encouragement! And I've gotta say, I got a real kick out of seeing other people's 1st time models there.
Conclusion
So there you are! my short review of something that happened 2 weeks ago. Overall, I think the army performed well, as you can see from the ratings. Nothing was that big a suprise, the faster units were really what allowed me to do so well. I'd be tempted to trade the grav cents out for maybe 2 units of something. Perhaps a bike command squad and something arriving from reserve. Maybe even wheel out the legion of the damned! Love those guys.
These guys performed reasonably, mainly just holding an objective and being in the backfield, allowing us to double up on points all the time. They were the only unit to get destroyed in the first game. In part I think that's due to them being 5 marines with a missile launcher (and therefore not a threat) but their presence meant that we always had an objective, in every turn of every game.
For me there was something very encouraging to use these models. They are "me", they're a massive part of where my hobby started. To use them where my hobby is now was a big encouragement! And I've gotta say, I got a real kick out of seeing other people's 1st time models there.
Conclusion
So there you are! my short review of something that happened 2 weeks ago. Overall, I think the army performed well, as you can see from the ratings. Nothing was that big a suprise, the faster units were really what allowed me to do so well. I'd be tempted to trade the grav cents out for maybe 2 units of something. Perhaps a bike command squad and something arriving from reserve. Maybe even wheel out the legion of the damned! Love those guys.
The big learning point for me was how much i like terrify. I'm going to be using terrify a lot more i think! I've already fielded a librarian conclave once since. I'll be fielding it a lot more in the future!
