Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Webway Portals Now In 3D: Webway List Development Continues

I got in a game vs CVintons new space wolves army this past weekend while I was in Lansing at the FLGS. I have dubbed the list “The Tour Of Fenris” as it really hits all the high points of the codex. We played a strait up book mission. Capture and control with dawn of war deployment. It ended in a tie. I think he might have edged me out in kill points though as I took massive casualties.

I may do a blow by blow of the game later this week. I really want to talk about the Webway list and some post game changes I made after some rather expensive pieces of wargear once again failed to do anything. I speak of Agonizers. The 20 point power weapon that always wounds on a 4+. Its a main stay of Hekatrix Wargear to add some more kill power to a wych unit for those monstrous creatures and tough opponents. A main stay that is now dead to me. Much like the Dark , or Fail, Lance The Agonizer will now have no place in any of my lists. I have taken them all out of the webway list and replaced them with venom blades. I have also stripped out the night shields on the venoms. After stripping out over 100 points in Agonizers I was able to add a Chronos Parasite engine to the list.

After further thought I was thinking about how I can add some more flexibility to the list. The Razorwing fighter has been pretty solid in killing things, but is a big target that I can't hide behind anything. Lelith is also pretty solid, but lacks some punch against tougher foes when she does not have any pain tokens. I digress a bit though. The whole thought process about flexibility started when CVinton surrounded my furthest forward Webway portal with a group of Grey Hunters.

Although the Webway style list is not that widely used and opponents have a hard time adjusting tactics to combat it, CVinton has been part of conversations about it and has already played against it once. With one portal effectively cut off I had all of my forces pouring through one portal. I thankfully had placed it in a good spot with lots of surrounding cover, as I knew there would be Long Fangs on the table. Regardless my whole army was packed into a proverbial barrel for a frag missile fest. I decided I need to add a 3rd portal. I could just add a 3rd Haemonculus, but I need to have some punch as the addition of another Haemonculus would require the removal of Lelith, due to points and stripping out the Chronos, as its an untested new addition.

My solution is to strip out Lelith and the Chronos and possibly the Razorwing. This will free up a good number of points. I will be adding an Archon and a warrior squad. I may also add in a fully dizzied out Ravager. Basically the whole point is to add a 3rd Webway portal. After having 50% of my deployment options cut I decided I need to squeeze a 3rd portal in. The list is based on this alternate deployment method. It revolves around engaging the enemy quickly and brutally. With the Haemonculi and Wrack units hanging back to seize objectives as momentum carries the Wych squads forward. The Beast Master Pack tears apart large low toughness units while occupying tougher units for a turn or two.

I am prepping for a game as we speak so I hope to have a report up Saturday about how the changes worked, or did not work. Warboss Matt and his Orks should be an excellent test.


Until next time.......


Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 comments:

  1. I'll be interested to see a battle report as my current experience of playing against 'portal' lists hasn't exactly made them seem impressive.

    Either they're dropped to close to me and I can block them off or too far away and I just shoot the crap out of whatever comes out. Positioning is the key and I don't think many people do that well with them.

    The only reasonably challenging list I played against had combined them with Beastmaster units so they could be dropped in safe locations and still have the units that come out of them have an impressive threat range.

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  2. The learning curve is indeed sharper for the webway style deployment. I will post the battle report Saturday. I faced one of our local war bosses in a very good game. I liked the three portal set up. Placement is key though especially when you use beast,aster packs as the units are very large and they bottle neck easily.

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  3. My first game against new DE was vs a Portal list with my Tau, in my...5th(?) ever game as Tau.

    I allowed him to Assault out and into Kroot, which was foolish, and evaporated my wrap.

    I was too far from my lines, and that's a mistake I'd only make once...frankly, I don't think I'd have a huge amount to fear from it again.

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