Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Eldar vs Astra Militarum, 1650

In addition to this week's X Wing games, I also played some more 40k, against Nick and his Astra Militarum!

My list was the usual one, but I tinkered slightly with the vehicle upgrades, swapping 2 cannons out for 2 Ghostwalk Matrices (I've edited the original post to be this version too).

Nick's list was:

Company Command Squad, Astropath (Psychic Shriek, Dominate), 2 meltaguns, Chimera

2 Ministorum Priests

Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Meltaguns (Platoon commander was Warlord)

4x Infantry Squad, autocannons, Power axes, krak grenades, meltabombs

10 Veterans, Autocannon

Manticore

3 Vendettas

Allied Space Marines, White Scars

Chapter Master, Burning Blade, Artificer, Meltabomb

5 Scouts, meltabomb

We played Mission 6. The Primary was  Crusade (4 objectives), the Secondary was Contact Lost and the Tertiaries were First Strike/Linebreaker/Warlord. This mission used Hammer & Anvil Deployment.

For Warlord Traits, my Wraithknight got Conqueror of Cities, while his Platoon Commander got Master of Ambush.

I won the roll to select ends, but Nick won the roll to set up first, and chose to. I elected to try for Night Fight, but it was not to be.

 After both our deployments and Nick's Infiltrate moves, this was the board. The 4 Primary objectives are by the red Serpent, in front of the blob, in the ruined temple and by the Veterans on the near side.

Going into the game, my plan is to kill the blob as fast as possible, then use the Wraithknight and Night Spinners to mop up the rest of the ground troops while my Serpents focus on the Vendettas, hoping for a Skyfire Nexus to help out.

We prepare for the first turn, and I attempt to seize... successfully!

Eldar Turn 1

After my seize, I immediately put my plan into action. By deploying second, I ensured the green Serpent could move into the side arc of the Manticore and bring it down with the laser and shield, and it didn't disappoint. The rest of my army combines fire on the blob- both Night Spinners fail to snipe the priest, and then the Wave Serpents open up. After the dust settles, I've reduced the Chapter Master to 2 wounds, and killed 3 sergeants, 3 Heavy Weapon teams, and about 20 infantrymen. Not bad!


Astra Militarum Turn 1

Nick goes all out on the counter- he moves his chimera up and the CCS go for the max disembark, hoping to Shriek my Wraithknight who I left a bit too close. It casts with a perils that kills the Astropath, but it still hits! Nick then rolls a 17 and my poor Wraithknight evaporates! In the shooting phase the CCS runs and shoots meltaguns at half range into the orange Serpent. They both miss, but I have still Jinked. The blob advances but the Chapter Master stays still, using his orbital strike. He targets the pink Serpent, which jinks, but scatters onto the yellow one and blows it up! I lose 3 Dire Avengers in the resulting Explosion. The autocannon then does nothing to the Pink Serpent. The Veterans also do nothing to my blue Night Spinner.


Turn 1 Missions:
Nick got 2 Tacos this round- he controlled 3 objectives, and 1 numbered marker, for a total of 3 points. I held one counter, for 1 point. We both got First Strike, but Nick also got my Warlord...

Eldar Turn 2

 I need a strong retaliation after that impressive counterblow! The Hawks and green Serpent combine to annihilate the Veterans in the ruins and take the TacO. All my Dire Avengers that side and Fire Dragons disembark and combine with the remaining vehicles to annihilate the blob and Chapter Master, just leaving 1 priest!

Astra Militarum Turn 2

2 out of the 3 Vendettas arrive this turn, and Nick's PCS jumps out of one to meltagun the green Serpent in the rear, Stunning it. The plane itself goes for my blue Night Spinner, but he heroically passes all 3 Jink rolls! The other Vendetta shoots the Red Serpent, and it explodes. 1 Dire Avenger perishes in the blast. Nick's scouts also arrive and bolt pistol 1 Swooping Hawk down.


Turn 2 Mission Summary
I achieved another TacO, cutting Nick's lead to 3-2. I haven't got his Warlord... yet.


Eldar Turn 3

After wiping the blob in my first 2 turn, I start shooting the Vendettas. There is a Skyfire Nexus, but it's between the Hawks and the Chimera, so my Serpents can't get there. The Fire Dragons nail the Chimera, then the green DA squad nail the final priest. The 7 pink & yellow Avengers, as well a Night Spinner, go for the PCS but Nick goes to ground, leaving just his Warlord alive. The 3 serpents combine fire on the far side Vendetta, reducing it to 1 HP and shaking it. 

Astra Militarum Turn 3

Nick flies both the planes off the board after his 3rd Vendetta fails to arrive, so they can all come on together next turn.
The Platoon Commander has Gone to Ground so stays where he is, but the Scouts attempt to charge the Hawks! Overwatch kills 1 Scout, but the Sergeant succeeds in reaching them. However neither of us cause any wounds, so it's a draw.


Turn 3 Mission Summary
I scored the TacO for holding 3 objectives this turn while Nick couldn't achieve any, giving me a 4-3 lead. I still haven't got his warlord!

Eldar Turn 4

I try to rush his board edge to make it difficult for him to get good shots with the Vendettas, but I keep close enough to the Objectives that I can get to all of them with Flat Out moves. The Autarch separates from the Fire Dragons, so that I'm holding the Objective with 2 units. The pink and yellow DA squads combine to kill the Platoon Commander (finally), while my green squad makes a 10" charge to join in the melee! They overwhelm the Scout Sergeant with attacks and both they and the Hawks consolidate.


Astra Militarum Turn 4

I missed a picture this turn, as we were too caught up in humming "Flight of the Valkyries" as all 3 Vendettas flew on! One killed 3 red Dire Avengers due to lack of a better target, the next did 2 hull to the pink Serpent- I decided not to Jink for the Skyfire Nexus, and the third caused Crew Shaken on the green Serpent


Turn 4 Mission Summary
The yellow DA squad achieved another TacO, so I've got a 5-3 lead now. We're currently drawing the Tertiaries after I finally killed Nick's Warlord, but I will have Linebreaker at the end of the game.

Eldar Turn 5

The pink Serpent uses the Skyfire Nexus to kill the full health Vendetta that shot it, while the green and orange Serpents both do nothing to the 2 remaining planes. The Purple Night Spinner boosts over to the objective in the top left, so that I've got 2 units on it.


Astra Militarum Turn 5

 Nick crosses his Vendettas- one tries to eliminate some of the Dire Avengers in the ruins to no avail, while the other goes for my Purple Night Spinner- I jink and take 1 hull point.


Turn 5 Mission Summary
I have First Strike, Warlord and Linebreaker, so will win the Tertiary 3-2. I also have a 6-3 lead in the TacOs after scoring another point for killing a Flyer. I've got control over all 4 Primary Objectives too.


We roll for Turn 6, and  the game carries on!

Eldar Turn 6

This turn I am able to get 2 Wave Serpents onto the Skyfire Nexus, and they clear the last 2 Vendettas with Scatter Lasers and Serpent Shields to completely table Nick.


End Game Mission Summary
I win 20-0; 12-0 on the Primary Objective, 6-3 on the Secondary TacOs and 3-2 on the Tertiary Objective.

After Action Thoughts.
What a shoot-out! The first game turn was insane!
Thanks very much to Nick for a lovely game- even though it didn't go very well for him he was still a great opponent, and I can easily see why he won Most Sporting last year.
His list was pretty strong, but I think the Chapter Master should have had the standard Bikemander build instead. I'd also have maybe swapped the Astropath for an Officer of the Fleet, but he did prove his worth! Nick's positioning in his blob meant I was able to use careful angles with the Wave Serpents to kill off most of his Heavy Weapon Teams and Sergeants, but in fairness blobs are very vulnerable to that and my Serpents are very mobile.
The Manticore was underwhelming, and I think with Wave Serpents being so popular currently they don't have much of a place any more. The points could go into more psykers, upgrading the Chapter Master, and maybe even grabbing Yarrick rather than the CCS.
I was glad to test my blob-killing power; 2 rounds of fire to take down a whole blob with a Tank Chapter Master is what I was aiming for, and I was pleased that it worked so well. I might stop trying to Snipe the priests and focus more on Heavy Weapons Teams though, especially with the second barrage.
I was happy at the way I dealt with the Vendettas too- getting inside their fire arcs meant that I could protect my wounded tanks easily, and if they drop into Hover mode I can kill them quite easily. The Skyfire Nexus was really useful too.
My Swooping Hawks performed once again, killing a unit of Veterans and a Scout Squad. They even scored a TacO as well.
Psychic shriek is truly the bane of the Wraithknight, as it's easily able to knock a couple of wounds off and sometimes just kill him outright like this time! I should have positioned it better though- 2" further back and I'd have been out of range.

Finally I'd like to thank Nick once again- he's also going to the GT, so I'll see him at the weekend. Thanks for reading the Battle Report, and if you enjoyed it or have any comments please let me know beneath!

SimonW

Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Eldar vs Astra Militarum, 1650

After this week's X-Wing games, I had another GT practice match as well, against Andy and his Astra Militarum artillery army. We played Big Guns Never Tire/Tactical Escalation, with Hammer and Anvil deployment. I was looking forward to seeing how the Wave Serpents performed against the firepower of the Astra Militarum, particularly against the Vendettas and artillery.


Lists
My list was the same as usual.

Andy's list was approximately the following:

Company Command Squad, Banner, Medic, Officer of the Fleet

Platoon Command, 4 Melta Guns (in a Vendetta)
20 man Infantry Squad, Ministorum Priest
Sabre Defence Platform, Lascannons

Platoon Command, 4 Melta Guns (in a Vendetta)
20 man Infantry Squad, Ministorum Priest
Sabre Defence Platform, Lascannons

Vendetta

Vendetta

3 Thudd Guns

3 Thudd Guns

3 Medusa Gun Carriage Heavy Artillery Platforms with Bastion Breacher Shells (Imperial Armour 1: Imperial Guard, 2nd Edition P. 188)

Skyshield

Deployment

 I won the roll and had to deploy first. I lined my long board edge symmetrically, with 1 Wave Serpent at each end, the 2 Night Spinners inside them and the last 3 Serpents in the middle, with the Fire Dragons in the exact centre. My Wraithknight Warlord is at the front, hoping to punch out the artillery as soon as possible.

Andy places his Skyshield centrally and all the artillery on top, with the Company Command in the middle to help with orders and banner rerolls for Morale and Pinning.
One blob starts centrally and one on the left, so that my Wraithknight has no clear path to the artillery.
The 2 Sabre platforms deploy in the towers either side of his Skyshield.

I choose to take 1st turn, and Andy fails to Seize the Initiative.

The Game

Eldar Turn 1

I move everything into range and try to take out as much of the artillery as possible turn 1.
The Night Spinners team up and manage to snipe out Andy's Company Commander for Slay the Warlord and to neutralise his orders. Good work! The Wave Serpents start shooting at the artillery, but it doesn't go well- T7 and 3+ armour makes these things resilient. After the dust settles I've killed the one Sabre Platform on my right for First Strike and 1 of the Medusa platforms. Those platforms are extra durable with 4 wounds each! As it's Tactical Escalation I only have 1 TacO this round, one of the bridge objectives, which I don't reach this turn.

Astra Militarum Turn 1

Andy moves the blobs up to slow down the Wraithknight, and the artillery prepares to fire.
The Medusas take aim at the Fire Dragon Serpent containing my Warlord. It jinks, but to no avail, as the Str 10 Ordnance does its thing and blows it up! First Strike for Andy. The Thudds scatter wildly (fortunately for me) and that's the end of the phase. Andy gets the middle bridge objective as a Taco and is just out of range, even after running.

Turn 1 Mission Summary:
We both have First Strike, I have Slay the Warlord, and neither of us have any TacOs.

Eldar Turn 2

I decide that shooting the artillery is not going to work, so I need to blow away Andy's fearless tarpits to allow my Wraithknight to move up and kill the batteries in melee. My Swooping Hawks would have been very useful here, so they naturally decide to stay in reserve (despite only needing a 2+). One Night Spinner tries to snipe a Priest on my right but scatters completely away. The other shoots at the 2 Thudd batteries and is more successful, managing to pin one of them. All my Dire Avengers get out to shoot into the blobs, and the Fire Dragons get into a newly empty Serpent. After shooting is over, the central blob has just 2 guys left and the far side has about 6. The Wraithknight assaults the larger one and kills 4, leaving the fearless Priest and a single friend.

Astra Militarum Turn 2

Andy's Vendettas both arrive with the Officer of the Fleet bonus, and each shoots a Wave Serpent, forcing 2 to Jink. The Medusas aim at the red Serpent which Jinks but is still shaken, and they also clip the blue Night Spinner, denying it a Jink save and it becomes immobilised. 2 Guardsmen slip past the Wraithknight to score a TacO, and then in melee the Wraithknight easily crushes the Priest and final guardsmen, consolidating towards the Skyshield.

Turn 2 Mission Summary
Andy achieved 1 TacO this round, for a 1-0 lead in the secondary.


Unfortunately my phone's battery became too low for the camera at this point, so I have to continue the report without any pictures.

Eldar Turn 3
My 4 wave Serpents advance slightly and pair off, 2 shooting each Vendetta. Between them they manage a single hull point on one, which is not what I would have liked. The Night Spinners eliminate the Company Command Squad and it's banner, denying the artillery pieces re-rolls to Morale in the assault that's going to follow.
My Swooping Hawks arrive next to the remaining Sabre, ready to jump up and melee it to death next turn. The Wraithknight assaults the Medusa unit and after causing 3 wounds they fall back and he sweeps them all.

Astra Militarum Turn 3
Andy's planes each turn and cross each other. The melta Platoon Command Squads both deep strike out and use the Run then Shoot Order to get in close range of a Serpent each. Between the 4 squads he makes all 4 of my remaining Serpents Jink, but it's not enough for one of them and it explodes. The other 3 have taken a variety of hull points throughout the game, through glancing hits or crew shaken results after Jinking. The Thudds annihilate 2 squads of Dire Avengers.

Turn 3 Mission Summary
While I achieve 2 TacOs this round, Andy does too, and his are each worth 2pts! He takes a 5-2 lead in the Secondary. However I've killed a Heavy Support choice so I'm winning the primary 1-0 (not counting objectives).


Eldar Turn 4
I'm losing firepower pretty quickly so need to do something about it this turn. I form a plan to clear out a substantial amount of Andy's army this turn- my Wraithknight will destroy a Thudd Battery in assault, the Hawks will jump up and kill the Sabre Platform in melee, my Night Spinners, Dire Avengers and Fire Dragons will shoot both melta PCS while my Serpents will try to kill Vendettas. I also need to score some TacOs, and have enough cards now that I'm able to score a 2 for 3pts. However I need to kill 3 units this turn and control an Objective.
In the ensuing shooting phase my infantry/Night Spinners do their job and clean out both of Andy's PCS. The Hawks and Wraithknight forgo shooting to get ready for melee, while my Serpents look to the skies. Each Vendetta takes another hull point, and 1 is Shaken as well.
In the Assault phase, the Wraithknight does his thing to the first Thudd battery and sweeps it, while the Hawks beat up the crew for the Sabre, neutralising that as well.

Astra Militarum Turn 4
Things aren't so good for Andy now- that was a really clutch turn for me and has possibly sealed the game. His final Thudd battery tries to kill my Fire Dragons and Autarch for pride but can't quite manage it- the Autarch drops to 1 wound and 1 Fire Dragon is left alive after some careful Look Out Sirs! His Shaken Vendetta flies off the board, ready to come back on turn 5. The other one zooms over to a damaged Wave Serpent and annihilates it in a hail of Lascannon fire.

Turn 4 Mission Summary
I draw level on the TacOs this round, as Andy doesn't score any and I get 3pts, leaving the scores at 5-5. I also got another point for Big Guns, extending my lead to 2-0.

Eldar Turn 5
I think I'm in a position to win now, so go for the throat. I position units on 4 out of 5 Big Guns Objectives to get a strong margin of victory should the game end, the Wraithknight hops on to a Skyfire Nexus by the Skyshield to try and shoot the Vendetta off the table, and both Wave Serpents take take aim as well. Despite the Wraithknight missing twice, the Wave Serpent is finally successful and Wrecks the Vendetta. The Hawks jump over and sweep the Thudd Battery, despite losing 3 of their number to Overwatch fire from Lasguns!

Astra Militarum Turn 5Andy's Vendetta flies on his left side, and tries to nail a Wave Serpent to rack up some more points destroyed. Unfortunately for him I pass my Jink saves,

Turn 5 Mission Summary
I was able to achieve 2 more TacOs in my turn (control a marker and kill a flyer), so now I have a 7-5 lead that Andy will almost certainly not be able to assail. I've also got 15pts for Big Guns- 4 Objectives and 3 Heavy Support, while Andy doesn't have any.

We roll for the game... and it continues...

Eldar Turn 6
 My Night Spinners spread out so that I now control all 5 Big Guns objectives, and another TacO. My Wraithknight stays on his Skyfire Nexus and draws a bead to the last Vendetta, but misses twice again! However my final 2 Wave Serpents have a taste for planes now and Andy's final unit is Wrecked.

Game over!

End Game Mission Summary
I control all the Big Guns Objectives and destroyed 3 Heavy Support choices for an 18-0 win in the Primary, netting 10 Tournament Points. I also win the Secondary with an 8-5 in TacOs for another 6 TPs, and take the Tertiaries (First Strike/Warlord/Line Breaker) 2-1 for 4 TPs. Final Score is 20-0 to the Eldar!

After Action Thoughts

Wow, that was tough! I thought that I probably had the board control and manoeuvrability to win the Primary mission, but Andy really made me work hard for it. After Andy's Turn 3 I thought he had a real chance to win the Secondary (as long as I couldn't table him), but luckily I was able to score points when I needed to and never fell too far behind. The GT rules pack prevents you scoring more than 2 TacOs per turn, and I think without that limit Andy could really have pulled ahead, but alas.

I was happy with the list again, and was glad to really be able to test the firepower. I was happy that I could clear out almost all 40 guardsmen in 1 round even without the Hawks, and the Night Spinners once again performed well by clearing key models and causing Pinning checks. I think Andy was slightly too aggressive with the blobs- had they hung back ready to tarpit my Wraithknight they'd have had much more of an impact and kept his artillery alive, but the central Objectives made that difficult.

I also want to talk about those Medusa Artillery Platforms some more- they were amazing! Toughness 7, 4 Wounds, 3+ armour and 4+ Invun from the Skyshield, with a Large Blast Str 10 AP2 Ordnance Barrage is a truly sick profile! Bastion Breachers are a cheap upgrade too, trading the large blast for a small one but gaining Str 10 AP1 Armourbane instead. They are just over 100pts per gun, but 1 battery is worth it in my opinion. I was lucky Andy only got 2 shooting phases with them, and that he got a bad scatter turn 2 that stopped them killing a 2nd Serpent. I think with orders, or a Divination psyker for Prescience (and maybe Ignores Cover), they'd be obscene!
The Thudds were devastating too, but I think 2 batteries of 3 is overkill- 16 blasts from 2 lots of 2 guns should be enough, especially if you can use the leftover points for better psychic support.

So, there's just under a week to go until the GT and I'm feeling excited! Those 2 games of X-Wing really helped with my 40k burnout, and this game improved my strategy against artillery, gunlines and cake stands Skyshields.

I'd like to wrap up by saying thanks to Andy for a great game! It was much closer than the scoreline indicates, but that's often the way with tournament points unfortunately.

This week I plan on finishing the last few bits of my army, so hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon. Thanks once again for reading, and as always any comments or thoughts are appreciated below!

SimonW

Road to the GT: Anti- Death Star Tactics

Hello, and welcome to the latest post from Back In The Box! Today I'll be talking about some of the popular army lists you're likely to encounter at a GT style event, and some tactics you can use to try and get the edge over your opponent!

So, what army lists are popular at tournaments at the moment? Naturally there's a wide variety, but many of the most "competitive" builds can be separated into 2 categories: Death Stars; or Spam. Here I'll be focusing on Death Stars, but I'll do a follow-up post about tackling Spam lists too.

A Death Star build normally focuses on using very powerful combinations of rules to create a single incredibly powerful unit that is both deadly and resilient. To qualify, it normally has to have a way to destroy at least 2 units per turn (multiple assault, split fire, etc), and a way to absorb any incoming damage (re-rolling saves, tanking characters, invisibility, etc). The lists will have some support elements too- often lots of small troop squads to claim objectives while the Death Star destroys your opponent, along with some hard hitting units to fill in any gaps with the remaining points.
Some common Death Stars at the moment are:

• Eldar Primary/Dark Eldar Allies "Beast Pack"
  -This is the most common Death Star in the current meta- essentially it's a large Beast Pack unit from the Dark Eldar codex consisting of at least 20 Khymerae (space dogs that move as beasts with 3 base attacks at Str 4 and a 4+ invulnerable save [4++ for short]), with some characters for support. These are almost always the same- Baron Sathonyx, for Hit and Run and a 2++ to tank wounds, and several Eldar psykers to either cast Fortune (re-roll failed saves), Invisibility (can only be targeted by Snap Shots or hit on 6s in melee), or both. One psyker holds a relic called the Shard of Anaris, making the unit fearless. It uses multiple assaults to attack many units at once, and with Hit and Run it can hide in combat effectively too.
• Eldar Primary/Dark Eldar Allies "Seer Council"
  -This involves 9-10 Eldar Warlocks on jetbikes, joined by Baron Sathonyx (from above) and 2 Eldar Farseers on jetbikes, one holding the Shard of Anaris again to grant Fearless. It relies on casting Fortune and then getting 2+ rerollable armour and cover saves from various warlock powers, as well as using the 2++ reroll from the Baron. Again it uses multiple assaults to attack many units at once, with more Warlock powers to debuff enemies and buff themselves, alongside hiding in combat too. It was a staple of 6th edition but it's less common now, as it relies on casting far more psychic powers than the Beast Pack, so with the psychic changes in 7th edition it's much less reliable.
• Eldar Primary/Dark Eldar Allies "Beast Council"
  -My favourite Death Star build currently just for the sheer audacity of it. Pioneered at the ETC by (I believe) Team Wales, this monstrosity contains a full Seer Council of jetbike Warlocks buffing themselves, and then also a full Beast Pack with 5 Spirit Seers, Baron Sathonyx and Eldrad Ulthran! It tries to cast Invisibility on the Beast pack, making them almost impossible to shoot, and then Fortune on the Seer Council to reroll 2+ saves (Eldrad joins the Beast pack and uses his 24" range Fortune on the Warlocks). It's very flexible, and extremely deadly. The Beasts can assault many units a turn, and the Warlocks can join in or bust tanks with str 9 singing spear shooting. The unit with the Baron (normally the Beast Pack) can also hide in combat. A common tactic with the Warlocks is to roll all their powers on summoning, creating new units of daemons and even turning some of the Eldar psykers into Lords of Change!
• Space Marines Primary/Grey Knights Allies (or vice versa) "Centurion Star"
  Not the most durable Deathstar out there, but it packs a huge punch. 5-6 Centurion devastators with Grav Cannons and Grav Amps, as well as an Omniscope to split fire. The characters are normally Draigo (if he's allowed) to always have Gate of Infinity, or a Grey Knights Librarian, and Tigurius of the Ultramarines for Prescience/Ignores Cover/Other Divination Nonsense. The unit then teleports around, shooting the daylights out of 1-2 units each turn. The unit relies heavily on a tanking character, such as Draigo or the Chapter Master from the Bikestar, to mitigate return firepower as well as the natural 2+ saves and Toughness 5 of the unit.
• Space Marines "Bikestar"
  This is what my opponent Drew used in this battle report. I won't go into as much detail here as I've already covered it- essentially it's a Chapter Master with a 2+/3++ save and Eternal Warrior to tank wounds, Khan to grant scout moves, and a command squad with either Grav Guns, Storm Shields or both. It can shoot pretty well, can jink for a 3+ cover save, and is fearsome in assault too. Plus with Hit and Run it's very hard to catch, hiding in combat for most of your turns.
• Tau "Farsight Bomb"
  Commander Farsight and 7 bodyguard suits, and either Shadowsun or a Commander, along with a whole bunch of gun drones. Someone in the unit holds wargear granting twin-linked, ignores cover, and a choice Monster Hunter/Tank Hunter/Stubborn for the unit as well as BS5 for the drones, and everyone else takes dual missile pods/dual plasma rifles/dual fusion blasters and target locks. As you may have guessed, it's plan is simply to shoot 3-4 units off the board each turn. It can Deep Strike without scattering, and delivers a crippling blow with the huge volume of firepower. However it isn't very maneuverable after it arrives and often isn't very resilient to return fire either.
• Astra Militarium Paskstar
  A fairly new list that emerged from the ETC, this Death Star is different to the others in that it's a vehicle squadron. It uses 3 Leman Russ Punishers, led by Knight Commander Pask, and drives across the board mowing down whatever it can reach. Due to his order the squadron gains the split fire rule, and as Pask has rending or pseudo- tank hunter the unit is quite flexible. It requires much more support than other Death Stars as it needs to be bubble wrapped by Conscripts to prevent enemies getting too close, and it also needs multiple psykers nearby, to cast Prescience for re-rolls to hit and Forewarning to get a 4++. Still, the firepower is fearsome, and not many armies have great solutions to 3 AV 14 Vehicles with 4++ saves that you have to deal with at long range.

Note: In this article, I frequently refer to "tanking wounds" or a "tank character", etc. This means using the "closest model first" wound allocation rules to allow a character with a significantly better save/more wounds/both than the rest of the unit to absorb firepower that would annihilate his squadmates by simply standing at the front. A tank should have Eternal Warrior too, so that there's no way for him to suffer Instant Death and leave the unit vulnerable.
I also refer to "hiding in combat". This involves using the Hit and Run rule selectively, so that you launch an assault in your own turn, stay locked in combat for your opponent's turn (so you can't be shot), and then Hit and Run away at the end of their turn to escape combat, and be free to act as normal in your own turn again.

While the above lists are all very difficult match-ups to play against, it doesn't mean they can't be beaten. Here are some of the best ways to go about it:

Avoid them. There's a very good article on Torrent of Fire by Justin Cook about using MSU (Multiple Small Unit) tactics against Death Stars. Essentially, if you spread your forces and stick to the corners and edges of the board, you can mitigate the Death Star's ability to kill multiple units quickly and force them to spend valuable time crossing the board trying to get to you (and crucially, not doing anything in the mean time).

Play the mission. You can't beat it in a straight fight, but can you hold more objectives at the end of Turn 5? Can you achieve more TacOs than them? Good placement of objectives also helps here- spread them out as much as you can, so that the Star can't threaten more than 2-3 at once, allowing you to draw or even win the mission. This isn't possible in Kill Points games, and if you're playing Kill Points against a Death Star then you have my sympathy- they're very, very hard to beat at Kill Points. Just try to get as many points from the game as you can, and drink beer.

Kill what you can, when you can. Normally, the Death Star will be about 1/3 to 1/2 of your opponent's points, tied up in an unkillable block of nastiness. However, this means that all of your army can focus on eliminating their support units, not worrying about killing anything else! Destroy any small troop squads when you get the chance, stopping your opponent from claiming objectives. Kill his fire support if you get the chance, using your numerical superiority to gun them down efficiently. However, the caveat "when you can" definitely applies. You need to keep moving away from the Death Star with most of your army, and occasionally sacrifice something to it when there's nowhere else to go. Try and make sure that, when you sacrifice something, it will only be able to kill that unit. Transports with units inside are excellent here- he will often have to waste a turn killing the transport, and then another turn killing the unit too! If you just line up and try to out-shoot your opponent, he will, to put it bluntly, move across the board and kill your whole army.

Take your chances. Many of these Death Stars rely heavily on psychic powers or careful positioning. If your opponent fails a psychic power or makes a mistake in positioning, it may create an opening for you to either kill off some of the key models from the unit, reduce its numbers, or even destroy it entirely.

Go first. While this sounds obvious, it's often forgotten. A jetbike Warlock council without any psychic powers up is as durable as 10 tactical marines. A naked beast pack just becomes 30 T3 models with 4++. Bonuses to seize the initiative are excellent here- Coteaz with his re-roll, or the Strategic Warlord Trait granting +1, or even Asdrubael Vect/Imotekh the Stormlord getting a 4+! Remember than most of these bonuses stack too.

Deploy well. Again, this sounds obvious, but this is one of the times you should definitely spread out in deployment. Additionally, you'll almost certainly be deploying second if your opponent gets any say in it, so use this to your advantage and counter-deploy, using your tape measure to stay out of their threat range. Remember though that you'll almost always be trying to seize, so ensure that if needs be you can move Turn 1 to shoot their Death Star while it's vulnerable.

So there you have it, my best anti- Death Star tactics. Even if you do all of the above, victory isn't guaranteed, but at least you've got a fighting chance against some of the most frustrating armies to play against. Next time I'll be writing about another most style of tournament build- spam!

Until then, thanks once again for reading, and as always any comments or ideas are welcome below.

SimonW