Deadzone: UK Championship List Reflections

In my third and probably final blog on the Deadzone UK Championship I want to have a look at the lists I took and how they worked out and offer some thoughts on what could be tweaked.

Veer-myn: Played 4 - Won 4

1 * Master Creeper

4 * Stalker

2 * Nightmare

2 * Malignus with Heavy Ray Gun

1 * Malignus with Chem Spitter

2 * Creeper

1 * Tunnel Runner

13 Models, 18 VP's

Going into the event I knew that the Veer-myn was the stronger of my two lists and expected them to give me the better chance of victory in most if not all scenarios. We didn't know which scenario's we would be playing before the event but we could choose the list we played (up to a max of 4 times) once we got to the table and found out what the scenario was.

This list has pretty much all the bases covered in terms of scenario play, it's fast so can get onto objectives early, likes a fight and has some reasonable shooting and access to a good amount of AP. The fact that much of it is speed 2-3 is what I think makes the list so potent. On an 8 * 8 board being able to go so fast is a massive bonus and means you can start scoring objectives early on. Also being able to move 2 seemed to open up more chances of clear / higher shots than my more shooty but slower GCPS. 

I shared some of my train ride back with Terry and he suggested that speed 2-3 be changed to speed 1-3, which seems like an idea that should be given some consideration and play testing. It would mean the faction is still fast if it wants to get somewhere but if it wants to do something as well then it needs to play by the same rules as pretty much everyone else. 

So would I change anything? The list does include some short range Frag via the Creepers and the Master Creepers splat, but nothing over range 2. Swapping the leader model over to the Progenitor with Grenade Launcher would add a highly mobile source of Frag (4) with probably a better splat for a combat orientated list. I'd probably need to drop a Malignus to fit it in but it could be done.

Weighing against that is the fact that the Master Creeper is about 2/3 the cost and has the potential to make any model into a grenade user. Also, and more importantly for me is that I really like the model I've done for her and she did lead her nest to four victories, it would be a supreme act of bad faith to drop her for some filthy Frag action. 

So all in all I think the Veer-myn are in a good place for me and my play style, I've got a fair few DZ factions and I think this is the one that probably works best for me.

GCPS: Played 4 Won 0

1 * Ranger Lieutenant

5 * Corporation Veteran

1 * Corporation Veteran with Flamer

2 * Corporation Veteran with Thermal Rifle & Ammo

1 * Corporation Veteran with Sniper Rifle & AP ammo

2 * Riot Trooper

1 * Mortar Team

13 Models, 20 VP's

I don't want to be too hard on this list as I'm not sure all the loses can be pinned on the list, I think I need to shoulder some/most of the blame. I think the extra 3 points to take your basic troop tax from standard Marine to Veteran is well worth it. Shooting on 5's having that extra security blanket of Weight of Fire (1) is great and having a Fight of 5+ rather than 6+ really helped when I went up against Kevin's Zombie horde list. The Hacker rule is a nice bonus and gave me an extra VP in at least one of my games. The Riot Trooper is very solid and well worth it's points but especially in a game with either lots of overhead cover to stop Indirect Frag attacks or against lists with no Indirect Frag attacks. The mortar (when it was alive/able to fire) offered some board control and I didn't come up against much that couldn't be pinned. Only having one put me at a disadvantage against Andy with his double mortar as he could use one to pin me (in fact he killed it with his first counter-battery shot) and the other to pound my troops. So perhaps the answer is to go double mortars. But if I was playing against that on the sort of terrain we mostly had I don't think for most scenarios I would be having an enjoyable experience. 

So what does the list lack? 

Firstly, speed. Essentially you have Marine on Monocycle as your speed option, I quite like the model and they are dirt cheap at 9 points & 1 VP. But.... It is just a standard Marine with a rifle who still doesn't like a fight and isn't great at shooting. He could be good in a horde list so you can move them late on in the round onto objectives so your opponent doesn't have activations left to kill them. Of course they would need to be ground level objectives as Bike's cannot climb cubes apart from via ramps. The second option is using Rangers as a pseudo-speed unit as you can drop them pretty much as you like onto the board after deployment, also the Jump Pack rule means they can traverse the board more easily than most. But.... They aren't cheap and give away at least 2 VP's and dropping closer to the enemy isn't always a great idea. The temptation would I think often be to go Ranger Sniper(s) onto the top of a stack and then camp, that's just a 3 VP melee/bullet magnet in my view. 

Secondly, AP. Thermal rifle's are ok, the short range isn't a massive hinderance on a board with decent terrain but if you want something with a long range then you need to be thinking about point three.

Thirdly, Big Chonky Stuff. The only unit over size 1 is the mortar, sometimes you need a big ole unit to take on the enemies big bad unit or make them at least think twice against coming into it's threat range. Small dudes (even with shields) don't have the same intimidation factor as something massive plonked onto the table. To fill that role you are either going with the Ogre Terminator or a Strider, or perhaps two in some sort of combination. But neither of these are cheap so you'd need to drop lots of units or downgrade them to a more basic version, again more of a Recruit based horde army with lots of 6 point 0 VP chaps unlocking your mortars and big stuff. That of course would be a completely different list and possibly require a different leader.  

Finally here are the final standings of the Deadzone UK Championship:

And the Win / Draw / Loss per faction, the Plague include 7 losses for the ringer and I certainly didn't help the GCPS numbers.

Veer-myn - W 11 D 1 L 0

Plague  W 9 D 0 L 18

Forge Fathers  W 7 D 1 L 4

Enforcers W 7 D 0  L 9

Marauders W 5 D 1 L 2

Asterians W 4 D 1 L 4

GCPS W 3 D 0  L 9

I presume this means I'm one of the top 10 Deadzone players in the UK and also the most sporting Deadzone player in the nation! Not bad for my first ever event, but also a heavy responsibility to carry.

Flamer-man. He had quite the trip including fighting off Zombie Hordes, charging
and being one shot by Monarch, going AWOL against the Plague and then
being fried in a flame-off against a Malignus.