Warhammer 40k Tabletop XXI: Preferred Enemy (Dice)

[Psychotic]

Living 3 hours away from my buddies and the nearest gaming club, it's very rare that I get to play a game. I broke my 3 week drought by playing a 1850 point game using the Siege Assault Vanguard list against the Death Korps Assault Brigade. I didn't write things down, so don't have a batrep drawn up unfortunately.

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Imperial Fists Chapter Tactics
- Siege Master with Power Fist and Shield Eternal
- ML 2 Librarian
- Tactical Squad (Siege Mantlets, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Combi-Melta)
- Tactical Squad (Flamer, Heavy Bolter, Combi-Melta)

- Rhino

- Siege Assault Squad (Power Sword, Meltabombs for the squad)

Land Raider Redeemer (Multi-Melta, Extra Armor)

- Dreadnought (Twin-Linked Autocannon x2)
- Thunderfire Cannon
- Devastators x10 (4 Lascannons)
- Vindicator x3 (Dozer blades x3)

So, since neither my buddy nor I have played with the new tactical objectives, we rolled the dice and played Maelstrom of War mission 6 (Deadlock).

Things I learned:
- Land Raiders, while still very durable, can still be hit with a lucky demolisher shell by enemy Thunderers and blow up in one shot.
- Assault Marines are not very good at Assault. Stop trying to make them do things and if I want an Objective Secured Land Raider, just keep the marines inside.
- When the marker template in a barrage hits (whether the Thunderfire Cannon or the Quad Launcher from the DKoK), the pain is gonna be bad. If not, you're in luck. So I think I might try reducing the pain of missing by bringing another Thunderfire sometime.
- Triple Vindicator is brutal at destroying nearly everything. Don't bring next time unless I feel like being a jerk.
- The Rifleman Dreadnought is still decent if you can get into side armor shots. And if you can't do that, it turns infantry into chunky salsa. I managed to pop a chimera and put some hull points off of Salamander tanks and left the heavy tank killing to vindicators and devastators.
- I'm still unsure how I feel about the Psychic Phase. I rolled Telepathy and got Invisibility and the power that gives Shrouding (as well as Psychic Shriek for the Primaris). My Librarian managed to get Invisibility off on the Vindicator squadron, and cast Shriek once - but ended up nearly nosebleeding himself to death. Some of the powers are suuuuuuper awesome and some of them are rather underwhelming. I guess I'll just keep playing around with them.
- The Maelstrom of War missions reaaaaaalllllyyyy love mobility. Neither my friend's DKoK list or my list were particularly good at either. Might stick with Eternal War next time if we both know that neither list is really well suited to Maelstrom.
- Lastly, when it comes to Maelstrom of War - is anyone else finding that luck of the draw is a huge part? My opponent manged to get 3 objective cards scored on turn 1, and then had a combination of getting dud cards and me actively stopping him from achieving other objectives. Conversely, I got awful cards for the early turns, but once I was able to assert board control by parking 3 Vindicators in the middle, I was able to achieve 2 cards a turn on average.

On to a different topic - I'm gonna be coming into possession of an armless Contemptor Dreadnought with a Lucius Drop Pod soon. I've got a few different thoughts on load-outs and want your opinions.

1) Kheres Assault Cannon/Powerfist with Heavy Flamer. Drop in, shoot away out of the pod for a turn and then start rampaging through like an AV13 walker.
2) Dual Kheres Assault Cannons. He could theoretically just chill inside of the Lucius Drop Pod and constantly unload. Thanks Open Topped for giving my dreadnought ablative Hull Points!
3) Dual CCW's. Just because I like the idea of big robots punching and smashing their way through the enemy.

Anywho - thoughts?