Sunday 26 January 2014

Dust: Bringing the KoenigsLuther to a Tournament

This Sunday we had a tournament, I decided to do it for the Post #34 (Quebec) of Dust Devils International (aka DDI) versus Post #20 (Montréal).


How we did it is we split the players, here ten, in two teams of five. In this tournament, players would win not for them but for the whole team.
End of the tournament, the team with the most wins see all their players get a prize. (Well I messed up registration of players so that didn't happen...At least the important part is that all players got to play games and have fun). We also did teams so people would not face their regular opponents.

How did I do?

Not bad, one loss, one win and a bye.
How did I lose?
I chose a wrong deployment side to deploy my KoenigsLuther... This cost me the game as 95pts of my army had a though time reaching the center of the map.

Here's my list, which I thought was quite solid:

Panzerabteilung 203, 26-01-1947

Kommandotrupp
Battlegrenadiers
Laser Grenadiers +grenades
Heavy Laser Grenadiers +high visibility lasers
Support 1: KoenigsLuther
Support 2: Heinrich
Command Section Support: Sniper Team

SturmPionere
Laser-Jagdgrenadiers
Support 1: Heinrich

(The things I would change out of this list might be the Laser Grenadiers as without any transport to move them around they are a little too slow...On the other hand, these guys can handle the unexpected infantry 4, Winterchild, etc...)

Thoughts Behind the List:

This whole list was made so I could field the mighty KoenigsLuther.
A lot of people find that the model is rarely worth its 95points and I must admit that, most of the time, you are better off playing a SturmKoenig as it is much more versatile versus 99% of the things as it is able to: attack air (which the KL can't), is a little better when it comes to attacking infantry and attacks vehicle with relatively the same efficiency unless it is a enemy super heavy.
Well I said it: ''enemy super heavy''.
Now, if you were a sane Dust Warfare player, unlike me, your automatic answer would be: ''Why not take a Wotan'' if long-range anti-tank is what you want? A Wotan will cost less points and possibly destroy most vehicles in one turn.

KoenigsLuther vs Wotan Debate:

No doubt the Wotan is an amazing vehicle but it has two flaws compared to the KoenigsLuther: it is a vehicle 6 with a damage capacity of 6 compared to a class 7 with a damage capacity of 10 AND it is totally useless versus infantry.
Of course, the Wotan also cost roughly 30 or so less points allowing you to get something that will shred infantry like nobody's business, much better than a KoenigsLuther would...So is Vehicle 6 with a damage capacity of 6 really that big a flaw??

Well in an environment of planes able to cross the map, tankbusters jumping from cover to cover and always getting the first shot, wotans appearing in enemy lists and random Long-Tom shells falling everywhere, YES, I think the KoenigsLuther definitely deserves some serious thoughts: he might not do the job as well as a Wotan could...but he'll probably survive to do it, heck he might even survive the whole game and attract enough fire!
The KoenigsLuther is also a bigger blocker of line of sights to protect your troops as they move toward objectives. ;)

So? Will you give that beautiful centerpiece that is the KoenigsLuther a chance in a tournament list? If yes, why so: did I convince you or you have your own reasons? If no: what would you do instead?
I'm quite interested in seeing your point of view: please leave a comment :)

NOTE: special mention to the two Heinrich who slaugthered snipers in heavy cover, destroyed planes and overall made more than their 20pts back. Same thing for the SturmPionere who did amazingly well.


Pictures of our Tournament:

Yaum's 'Axis Mass Infantry Need for Speed' list.
A real 'in your face' playstyle like I usually go to.

Isabelle's SSU heavy Red Guard list faces Richer's SSU heavy Red Guard list.

The Tankbusters with Ozz with a Bellowing Bertie...Exactly why I chose a KoenigsLuther over a Wotan.

Richer's troops get exiled in Siberia...

Stefan's beautifully painted Allied army

Andrew's super nice 'salt-weathering' and 'string camo' SSU army (played by Isabelle)

On top of the tallest building, careful not to step on the windows, SturmPionere face off against Tom's Grim Reapers...A pure bloodbath leaving no survivors on both side.

What is it with the Priest always getting in melee with Apes?!

Jean-Sebastien Allies

Isabelle troops, tank-riding and hoping to stop Jean-Sebastien's victory streak

In a bold move, Yaum's SturmAffe engage French Foreign Legion (yes they have the other heads) and Grim Reapers...Despite Marcus' help, nothing happens.

Somewhere else, Dan's monkeys overrun Chris' Allies.
I missed what apparently was a truly amazing Ape vs Ape game (my boss Dan monkey list: 2xregular Apes, 1x SturmAffe vs Yaum's 1xSturmAffe + 1xregular Apes. Of course both had Marcus.) There must have been a discount at the local zoo ;)

In the end, Post #34 (Quebec) managed to come out on top thanks to Chris crushing every single opponent he face with his ''Mass Infantry Allies'' and Isabelle doing almost the same feat until Jean-Sebastien stopped her. The results were extremely close as it was 16 to 12 (so a loss on our side would have made this end in a tie 14/14) and Jean-Sebastien and Stefan proved the Post #20 (Montreal) was not to be trifled with!

Thanks for reading, lets discuss about the KoenigsLuther!

3 comments:

  1. French Foreign Legionnaires are actually the Vandoos, a French-canadian unit... French-Brits! :)

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  2. The Konigs-Luther is a brilliant looking walker. I've never played one myself but I've felt their wrath on several occasions.

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  3. Funny fact: I almost never fire the KoenigsLuther: most of the time I'm better off doing ''march moves'' to bring its 95pts to objectives.

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