Lords of Terra: Final players pack & mission analysis

So the final players pack for Lords of Terra has been released. I’ve been busy this weekend doing…well nothing really. I’ve been prepping my models for spray painting which will happen tomorrow and researching Tervigon conversion ideas. Will be using the newest Carnifex models w/some modelling ability to try and stay as close to the picture in codex as possible. I’m also going to be getting some trial games in to rev up my Tyranid playing ability and cursing at my thesis supervisor (who has demanded we meet today and refused to reply to me asking if we can change the time. This means I got up at 530am to get to uni before 10am thanks to traffic. I hate Sydney =D). So, let’s look at the players pack a little more in-depth by analysing the missions. The only change since Vinsanity posted the trial version is minor mission changes.

So actually battle is worth 50% overall of your total mark. Meh but what can you do. Comp & Painting are both 20% and Sportsmanship is 10%. Painting/Sportsmanship seem pretty straightforward with checklists so one can hope no one attempts to be a douche through the sports score and the painting aspect appears to be based upon your standard tabletop quality with extra points for going beyond this (I hope I would get a few of the extras but have no delusions). There is also a “neat little hobby aspect” with custom objective markers (giants eggs FTW!) or background fluff which I’ll happily do for the extra 4 pts even if I do dislike the concept in relation to scoring at a tournmanet ^^. Comp though will screw me over. I imagine I’ll get a 1 or a 2 if I’m lucky (though I dislike the description of a “balanced army.” Based on that I should get a 3 =D). So, onto the actual battles! 

Battles are worth between 0-20 points with 5 games per player. Points for W/D/L are 14/8/2 based on the primary mission with 6 bonus points available. 3 are available through the secondary missions, 1 for having a unit in the opponent’s deployment zone at game end, 1 for not having any enemy units in your deployment zone at game end and 1 for killing 75% of the opponent’s models (model number or point wise? Needs to be clarified). There are also two penalty points including -1 for having none of your units leave your deployment zone during the game and -1 for failing to destroy at least one enemy unit (or 10 models). So, preliminary impressions are advocating mobility and defense whilst still being able to kill stuff. Kirby is pleased.

As Vinsanity pointed out before, Objectives are impassable terrain which is interesting. I’d also like Vinsanity to weigh in how he thinks the missions will affect his army list!

Mission 1:

Pitched battle deployment with 3 objectives along the center of the board in the middle and 12” from the middle towards the sides. Primary is having “more” units in your opponent’s DZ than in your DZ with secondary controlling more objectives. I’d prefer this to be the other way around but oh well. Each scoring unit entirely in your opponent’s DZ is worth 3 “points” whilst any non-scoring unit is worth 1 “point.” To win the Primary mission you must have 3 more “points” than your opponent. Needs to be clarified if transports count as a non-scoring unit (they should based on BRB rules).

This is again advocating mobility and defense and will not make foot lists happy. Shooty 5th edition lists like Tau are looking for a wipeout here whilst every other army should be attempting to control midfield and push into their opponent’s DZ whilst defending their own. My Tyranids list as it stands should be pretty comfortable with this mission due to its love and joy of midfield but pushing into my opponent’s DZ may prove problematic if they attempt to block my movement and I may need to add some more mobile elements (more Raveners? Gargoyles?). Actual tank mech lists should have a significant advantage here due to mobility and extra points gained.

Mission 2:

Pitched battle deployment using Kill Points. Secondary mission is table quarters from 4th ed (I.e. more units than your opponent, more table quarters = bonus points). This is more of a 4th edition mission in the disguise of 5th edition (kill points) but still encourages mobility with table quarters. No Kill Point modifiers like were used during ‘ard Boyz which is good.

Even with Tervigons spawning Gants, my Tyranid army should enjoy Kill Points due to the large number of T6, multiple wound units and my HG being quite capable of knocking out light armor. Outside of that pushing midfield should again create engagements where I can bring MC statlines and Gant madness to bear.

Mission 3:

Dawn of War and Capture & Control with secondary being table quarters. Not a fan of this mission. High likelihood of auto-draw should be inevitable here with only table quarters coming into it. C&C is fine but I think in Spearhead it’s much more of an interesting game due to the different deployment style and actually starting on table. Would also fit more into the table quarters secondary mission.

Against a list I want to play defensively I’m going to have a hard time dragging out a win here due to Tyranids susceptibility to tank shocks and slow & steady advance. Any lists with Land Raiders or Battlewagons should have the offensive edge against me unless I want to gamble with my T-Fexes. Although it should be easy to defend my objective with Gant & MC walls, will I be able to break through to my opponent’s objective to contest?

Mission 4:

Another Pitched Battle deployment with 3 objectives in the center akin to Mission 1 and 2 more objectives placed by players in their deployment zone ala C&C. You and your opponent then pick a primary and secondary mission from 5 options:

1. Control enemy home objective
2. Kill points
3. No enemy units within 6” of your objective at end game
4. Objectives
5. Kill 90% of your opponent’s models whilst keeping more than 10% of your models alive

To gain the points from the missions you must be successful in achieving yours and prevent your opponent from achieving theirs. This offers some interesting ideas and gameplans depending on the army you are using and versusing. Although Tyranids are vulnerable to tank shocks I think protecting my home objective should be easy enough but depends on the list I’m facing and it also bogs me down a bit in my backfield whilst normal objectives place my “aim” in midfield where Tyranids excel. Mech armies will again enjoy this mission due to their mobility and flexibility advantages and I cannot see anyone taking option 5 as 90% is simply too steep to bank on (unless you are named Tau). Oh and your opponent doesn’t know what your missions are which can be important in figuring out how to stop your opponent from achieving theirs.

Mission 5:

Spearhead with 5 objectives. Finally a good deployment! This is straight out of the rule book with the addition of Kill Points as a secondary mission. Can’t complain about this and I think it’s an appropriate use of Kill Points and ensures any army that is running around with min troops won’t be happy.

Again midfield will be important so my Tyranid army should be happy. The secondary missions of Kill Points seems to be attempting to minimise points gained by Mech lists but I doubt it will change the standings outcome much. Gants will be spawned for ensuing lols of masses.

Overall thoughts:

Outside of Mission 2, I think all of these are good choices for a 5th edition tournament. Whilst I would prefer more varied deployment types to make it feel less like line up and shoot, it could of been a lot worse. I think Mission 3 is going to be a pain and anyone who can sort out a win there should be in good shape if they’ve won their first 2 games. I enjoy the emphasis on midfield, objectives and mobility (outside of Mission 3) and the only changes I can think of for my Tyranids would be mobility based.

What are everyone else’s thoughts? Who’s going to LoT and is happy with these? What changes would you like to see? How do you think it will affect your army list if at all? To everyone else, would you be happy if these missions turned up in a store near you?