Dropzone Commander Battle Report #41 – The Scourge vs Shaltari Tribes

Welcome back to the Maelstrom! We’ve been busy with painting and building work, but this week we managed to work in another Dropzone Commander game for your viewing pleasure. We upped the ante and went with 2,500 points, escalating to a full blown battle between the warriors of Ubii Tribe and the Scourge known as the Endbringers. The mission was Intel; let’s take a look!

The Armies

The Endbringers

The Scourge – 2,500

Scourge Oppressors

COMMAND – Desolator w/ Scourge Master (CV4)

SUPPORT – 2x Reaver Gunship

Scourge Vanguard

STANDARD – 3x Hunter MGT

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

STANDARD – 3x Hunter MGT

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

SUPPORT – 3x Reaper AAGT

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

Scourge Vanguard

STANDARD – 3x Hunter MGT

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

STANDARD – 3x Hunter MGT

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

SUPPORT – 3x Reaper AAGT

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

Scourge Warrior Cabal

TROOPS – 2x Warrior Horde

            -Intruder Alpha Light Dropship

TROOPS – 2x Warrior Horde

            -Intruder Alpha Light Dropship

TROOPS – 2x Warrior Horde

            -Intruder Alpha Light Dropship

Scourge Warrior Cabal

TROOPS –3x Warrior Horde

            -Invader APC

TROOPS –3x Warrior Horde

            -Invader APC

            -Sharing Marauder Medium Dropship

SUPPORT – 3x Ravager

            -Harbinger Assault Dropship, attached Vampire

Scourge Invasion Host

HEAVY – 2x Slayer HGT, 2x Razorworms

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

HEAVY – 2x Slayer HGT, 2x Razorworms

            -Marauder Medium Dropship

Scourge Occupation Patrol

SCOUT – 4x Prowler

            -Intruder Beta Light Dropship

SCOUT – 4x Prowler

            -Intruder Beta Light Dropship

SCOUT – 4x Prowler

            -Intruder Beta Light Dropship

Ubii Tribe War Party

Shaltari Tribes – 2,500

Wings of the Chieftain (Gate Pool)

3x Eden Medium Gate

4x Spirit Light Gate

2x Haven Terragate

Court of Elders

COMMAND – Gharial w/ Prime Warchief (CV6)

EXOTIC – 6x Ronin

HEAVY – 2x Ocelot Warstrider

SCOUT – 4x Yari Light Grav-Tank with Light Ion Cannons

Shaltari Swordpoint

STANDARD – 2x Tarantula Battlestrider

SUPPORT – 3x Kukri AA Grav-Tank

Shaltari Swordpoint

STANDARD – 3x Tomahawk Main Grav-Tank

SUPPORT – 3x Kukri AA Grav-Tank

Shaltari Warrior Clan

TROOPS – 4x Pungari Auxiliaries

TROOPS – 4x Pungari Auxiliaries

Shaltari Warrior Clan

TROOPS – 2x Braves

TROOPS – 2x Braves

Shaltari Warfist

HEAVY – 2x Caiman Heavy Grav-Tank

HEAVY – 2x Panther Warstrider

Shaltari Arrowhead

AIR – Warspear

After Action Review

It has been quite some time since I had new Dropzone units to mess around with. Since I bought so many of the expansion units for the Shaltari recently, I just decided to give them all a go! The army was really just a big combination of a bunch of Shaltari units I haven’t used much in the past, along with all the new stuff. I have to say that for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised.

Ocelots still feel fairly unimpressive due to their tendency to completely fail to do damage. It doesn’t seem like you would find a one that often, as this is the only number with which the Ocelots fail. Still, it seemed that every single turn at least one of them was missing entirely, or failing to do any damage when it did land a hit. Perhaps it is simply poor dice souring my outlook on the unit, but I think I will continue to set them aside in favor of the more rounded units. They simply eat up too many points that could be spent on a Jaguar block, which I haven’t tried in a long time. As soon as my Leopard arrives, I may have to revisit that juggernaut unit…

I looked at the Ronin for a long time, and when they initially had the Alpha Strike rule I really wanted to pick some up. At the time, though, 40k was consuming all of my attention and finances, so I never got around to picking them up. When I bought the Reconquest: Phase II book I decided to give them a new look. Their Lightning Reflexes rule seemed interesting, and I wanted to see how it played out on the tabletop.

The Ronin are probably one of my favorite Shaltari units now. So often the Spirit Gates just sit around with nothing to do, but now I have a mission for them in maneuvering the Ronin about in those middle turns. They seem like just the ticket to hunt Prowlers, Technicals, and artillery. They also seem to be very good options for just ticking away at buildings, since they can use Gates to deploy forward and still do this damage. Perhaps I just had a good game with them against the Scourge, but I am definitely going to continue working with them in the future.

Many who watch the channel also know that I’m hesitant to use Fast Movers. Where I play PHR and Shaltari for the most part, their high points cost and lack of full reliability has always worried me. Still, I wanted to revisit the Warspear, since I’ve only used them once since they got their second Damage Point. In that instance, I had poor luck and it was brought down by the Reaction Fire of a single Wolverine.

However, in this game the Warspear proved incredibly useful. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to keep the early Objectives on the table. It also served to immobilize the Scourge light infantry, preventing them from continuing their advance across the table. Ultimately the score was neck and neck until those infantry groups ran out of forward steam in the middle of the game.

The Gharial also proved to be much more interesting than I was expecting it to be. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Coyote, simply because it stands around in the back field and does a whole bunch of nothing. It does ensure that the expensive Commanders I like to buy remain intact throughout the game, but it’s always felt lackluster to me. I’m now looking forward to picking up a second Gharial, along with a pair of Crocodiles, for a list I am planning around Warchief Isis. While I didn’t get a chance to use the Neutron weapons in their intended role, the main weapon on the Gharial continued to carve through anything it touched. I see this tank being even more effective in Objective games, where I can use the Flame profile against enemy Infantry!