Thursday, October 24, 2013

Wave Serpent Down: Revenge of the Jetbikes!

I had a grudge match last night against the five Wave Serpent list that massacred the previous incarnation of my Jetbike army. SeerK rolled it out again so that I could test my new retooled Jetbike list as I viewed this as my worst matchup. The new list was utterly victorious. The Wave Serpents went down fast and SeerK took the gentleman's way out and conceded at the top of Turn 3, as he only had seven infantry models and a Crimson Hunter left and I had only given up two kill points.
The new list hits like a freight train and I am inspired enough to actually get everything finished from the hobby side of things. I have been in a bit of a hobby slump because I wasn't motivated to do anything. As I reflect on my tendencies, I usually am only able to muster sustained hobby progress for models I am actually going to use and enjoy in the near future. During my search for non-Wave Serpent lists, I was unable to commit to anything. Now I have purpose.

So can my Jetbikes beat Serpents? Oh, yes. Now I just need to start hunting the other normal tournament lists.


Since "Serpent Spam" is crossed off my list, what other builds should I seek to test my Jetbikes?

8 comments:

  1. Give us the game breakdown! How did you down the serpents fast enough?

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    1. Basically, deploy along the forward line of my deployment zone, Infiltrate the Rangers to have good lanes of fire to the Wraithknight.
      Turn 1 - move out into position. All the bikes can pretty much be anywhere on the board after one turn of full movement. Soften the Wraithknight with 12 Sniper rifles.
      His Turn 1 was pumping all of his Wave Serpents and his Wraithknight's Suncannon into my army. I don't think he rolled less than a five the entire turn for his number of shield shots. 40-50 wounds incoming, remove ~20% of my bikes.
      My Turn 2 - move in, shoot, assault. Wraithknight dies, three Wave Serpents die, one squad of Guardians die.
      His Turn 2 - Being completely surrounded and boxed in, he went with trying to do maximum damage and cause maximum More checks for my units to clear the air a bit. His Crimson Hunter comes in and annihilates mine. Remove some more bikes and my hapless airplane.
      My Turn 3- Move in further, shoot, and assault. Two more Wave Serpents die, two more Guardian squads die, four out of ten Wraihguard die. SeerK concedes.

      I lost one full squad of bikes and the Crimson Hunter. He lost five Wave Serpents, 30 Guardians, 4 Wraithguard, and a Wraithknight.

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    2. Specifically, my total casualties were 22 Jetbikes of various design, five Rangers and the Crimson Hunter.

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    3. Impressive mate. Next up, necron air wing.

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    4. Thanks!
      I have no earthly idea how a game between Cronair and this list would do. I honestly think it might just be a giant slap fight.

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  2. I'll admit it is a better result than I thought they would have. The speed of the army will give some other armies fits although I suspect that the story would have been significantly different had he gotten turn 1.

    I'd be happy to give you test game with my new White Scars/Eldar force some time. I'll be playing them for the first time in there new setup tonight but I think it has the capability of being fun and large tournament viable.

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    1. Him having the first turn would have made my life harder, for sure. Thankfully, the bikes are fairly resilient to weapons with no or negligible AP value like the Wave Serpents. There are also some deployment options not usually available that the bikes can take advantage of due to their speed. Mainly, this game gave me solid hope that I finally found a list that has enough merit that I can begin to hone into something that A) I'll enjoy playing and B) isn't going to just get stomped all the time by powerful "tournament" style lists.
      I would love to go head to head with your bike list. I need data on new Space Marines.

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  3. send me an email at paul.hans.steiner at gmail.com and we can setup a game

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