Cherokee Postmortem - Gavin

I went to the event with a list that was *fun* and not one that was very well tuned. I am familiar with the pieces and parts but I know the list has significant issues and problematic matchups. Space marines are also heavily tech-ed against due to the omnipresence of Roboute, so I am fighting a significantly uphill battle.

Game Recap

Round 1 vs Votann

Votann units move fast and their shooting hurts. My opponent was able to get the first turn and close the distance to negate the lone-op/ranged debuff my detachment and units have, and start picking up units. Shrike claimed a Hekaton in melee, which was cool, but  the game ended on turn 3 due to my opponent’s tendency to lose focus and verbally wander. A 25-50 loss.

Round 2 vs Necrons

This was a great game. My opponent was fantastic, the army was well painted, and the game was fairly close. The plane died for the first time since putting it on the table, and my loneop/ranged debuffs felt impactful vs the Necron shooting units. We ended up calling at the end of turn 4 and not being able to start turn 5, which is a shame as I had a Secret mission that would have won me the game had I been allowed to hit turn 5. 54-57 loss.

Round 3 vs Tyranids

The obligatory “I am new, don't break me” tournament game. This was his 12th ever game of warhammer. It ended up being a fantastic game for both of us. We had a great time and I taught my opponent some fun tips and tricks he could use against other armies going forward. A 54-49 victory.

Round 4 vs Blood Angels

This game was rough. The “bloodless angels” style army (blood angel detachment, buffed oath of moment, no uniquely blood angels units) is very effective. My ability to keep a distance only worked for so long and then I died when my opponent made it into melee. It was a good game but a confirmation that i need some kind of melee counter charge threat to make melee armies think twice. A 58-65 loss.

Round 5 vs Drukhari

Out of all of the people at the event, round 5 I was paired into someone local. This player has been a thorn in my side for years- something about how they play the game just rubs me the wrong way. My opponent decided to put us on a clock after verbally assuring me that we didn’t need to be clocked, and then had a direct text thread to one of the judges to verify all of my abilities and rules did what I said they did. (Which he called the judge several times in our game.) The enjoyment of a game played together as opposed to a game played against each other killed the event for me in the end, as I decided to drop after this game. I hung out and observed my teammates for the rest of the event. A 31-90 loss.

List Analysis

Shrike

Shrike is a very sad unit. He has many cool and interesting abilities, but taking him in your list is almost a direct downgrade when compared to all of the other marine variants that are available. I love this model and I am hoping that Raven Guard have more of a reason to see the table soon, but for now he will live on the shelf. He did claim a hekaton land fort, a winged hive tyrant, and a skorpekh lord in melee combat.

StormRaven

The stormraven was almost an MVP. The combination of -1 to hit, + cover, -1 damage is huge. The downside is that if an opponent knows how to play against a flyer, it becomes next to useless, as it can’t stay on the table or deliver it’s payload effectively. Speaking of payload,

Eradicators

The eradicators were honestly kind of okay. The matchups I had meant that the ideal targets were either already dead or resistant to my damage (4++ saves are one hell of a drug). Having them in the list would have been very impactful against something like knights or chaos daemons or a big mechanized force, but i just didn't find that.

Lone op and stealthy infantry

Of the units in my list, all of the characters have lone op or give it to their unit.

        ⁃       Shrike+5 JPI

        ⁃       Phobos captain with lone op cloak enhancement

        ⁃       Phobos libby with 5 man infiltrators

        ⁃       2x phobos combi lieutenants

        ⁃       infiltrators x5

        ⁃       Suppressors

        ⁃       2x 5 JPI

It’s a very powerful ability that I found useful going into armies with long range shooting and indirect fire, but I again did not run into that very much. My detachment giving -1 to hit and cover at 12”> did not really impact my games either. Round 2 it was huge but every other army marched up into my face and killed me.

Invictor warsuits

The invictors are so close to greatness. They die first almost every game, they force my opponent out into the open, and I love the unit… even though I know it’s just not as good as I need it to be. Its ranged output is lackluster and the melee is potentially spooky but only 5 attacks means that your damage output is reasonable and not scary enough to make your opponent keep their distance.

Hammerstrikes

The 2 hammerstrikes were fantastic. Deepstrike, t9, lots of s9 d6 damage. The d6 damage could have been much more swingy, but it was fairly reliable for me at the event. This is a unit I fully intend to continue to explore with.

Suppressors

The suppressors are such an awkward unit. Infantry, t4, bad autocannons. 6 wounds at t4 for 75 points is okay, 9 shots is okay, the damage being d2 and ap -1 is just okay, and the -1 to hit never felt very impactful. Another very cool unit design that just fails to deliver in game.

Final thoughts

My list was fun to pilot and I enjoyed almost all of the games I played, win or lose. Losing is less of a bother for me than it used to be- (having a several month long losing streak will dull that particular pain) and I regret dropping when I did. I should have just finished out the event and taken the L gracefully. In the future, I think I am going to prioritize having a good time over getting the most points, barring an undefeated run. If the game doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a good time, hand my opponent the W they are sweating for and walk away, play the next round.

Marines are the army that it seems like just about everyone was tech-ed for- in a situation like that, you have to do or play something unexpected or bring odd units that people don’t see often to throw off their practice.

That said, trying to force maximum phobos is exhausting- if i was going to continue to play marines, it would be as one of the “successor chapter” style lists. Bloodless Angels is actually a fun list to pilot, it was in contention for Cherokee but I could not get my hands on the units I wanted to make the list work in time. I for sure need actual melee units before I take that step.