hehe... i had four great games over the day and was happy and surprised with grabbing 3rd spot! i'd like to think that this was mostly due to the fact that i had a fully painted army (which for me was a big achievement)...
thanks iain (evilmonkey), teg, big ben & mike for the games. they were great, fun, challenging, exciting and rewarding (not necessarily in that order).
in my ever lasting method heres a little run down for those that are interested...
game 1, iain (evilmonkey) - Imperial guard.
Iain is a long time guard player with a lovely painted force in snow camo (using steel legion models)... he's also got TWO units of forgeworld death riders for his rough rider units... it promosed to be a vicious game at set up - as he packed in 6 full infantry squads along with accompanying command sections and veterans. but what he had in troops, i made up for in tanks - namely a pair of hellhounds...
knowing i was going to get first turn made me bold in my deployment of my infiltrating units - but then he grabbed the initiative and things were looking to turn sour... but over the entire first turn, he managed to kill only about 4 infantry models... HAH... or so i thought... cos i only managed to kill about the same in my turn! from there though, my hellhounds really hit home in a game where 4+ cover saves were keeping our tanks alive. in teh end they were pivotal in routing his troops and allowing me to hold my objectives.
Result: after a slow start we both got into our strides but in the end iains dirty heretical guard were defeated. largely i think this was due to iains reluctance to move his infantry units - he left it far too late to get to the objectives.
Highlights:
+ rocket launcher blowing up a hiding chimera (despite the odds)... and taking a bunch of rough riders with it!
+ "Lascannon alley" vs "burn baby burn"
Lowlights:
- Iain realising that my storm troopers were grenadiers - and watching him slowly pivot his leman russ turret to target them as they tried to sneak around the hill onto an objective... they had to go to ground to stop from being wiped out - but were still stopped from capturing.
Game 2, teg, chaos marines
Teg was another great opponent, his infantry chaos marine force - packed with noise marines and nurgle warriors - accompanied by a flying lord and demon - couldnt be much farther from iains guard from last round. with table quarter deployment i took to defending the bridge - i had little option - i had to castle in from his fast moving hqs and be wary of a plethora of infiltrating nasties...
getting first turn the daemon was public enemy number one - and the lascannons were right on the task - helped along by a deep striking command platoon with 2 plasma guns... but ultimately it was taken out by a scattering shot from the russ - having scattered from its main target - taking along the command section bar the rather fortunate (or not depending on how you look at it) officer!
it was a really hard fought battle which saw the chaos taking very heavy losses - but unfortunately they were doing an excellent job of forcing me away from objectives - if i got too close too early they would simply crunch through my units. this wasnt helped by my russ and demolisher both getting immobilised whilst trying to move through the river - i suppose there was a reason i was defending the bridge!
Result: despite suffering huge losses, the chaos held two objectives thanks to three marines from two different units... damn them - the jumping lord also managed to dislodge a unit from the bridge at the last - ensuring that the chaos won 2-1, with 2 contested. However, we only managed to get in 4 turns and both agreed that one more turn would have seen a draw - which would have probably ben the fairest result in a thoroughly enjoyable and tense battle.
My guard set up defensive positions along the river bank - the lascannons defending the bridge crossing.
Infantry stand ready for the attack - with the comfort of close tank support.
Enemy spotted!
Storm troopers advance in close support of the russ - with veterans rushing out to meet the enemy.
Game 3, big ben, imperial guard (traitorous of course)
ben is a Bracknell Forest Club Gamer - and a great one at that. His imperial guard force was similar in some respects - mainly that it had two hellhounds too! and that was scary...
He also had more troops than i did - and in this game that might matter, because the winner was be decided by kill points. It started relatively slowly - the table quarter deployment saw both of us using our tanks to try to protect our troops... but i had a trick up my sleeve - the infiltrating and deep striking elements of my force would hopefully be able to cause enough havoc to break the tank line and get to the meaty troops behind.
Long ranged tank shells blasted across the ruined town but the overgrown terrain was proving very survivable - the deep deployment in my own quarter of my lascannons were well placed to cover two main movement alleys - and ultimately proved incredibly useful in dealing with bens advancing tanks... the vulture came in fully expecting to start pounding those infantry but oen rather plucky autocannoner was ready - hitting the flyer and destroying a couple of weapons. scared, it moved away to come at the field from a better (read less dangerous) approach.
on the ground though, my breakthrough came - as deep striking veterans and a command section ambushed the demolisher and a hellhound - giving me the gap i needed - my own hellhounds rushed through and his troops didnt stand a chance... my second command section - armed with a pair of flamers followed suit, jumping on his troops and getting perfect shots at his infantry - following it up in following turns with some devastating combats.
Result: Although the early game was very tight, with tanks moving cautiously through the terrain, the game opened up with some risky ambushes from my troops and ultimately, some good luck (coupled with bens abissmal turn for the worse!). in the end he scored only 2 kill points... but i managed 14!!!
Highlights:
+ a stormtrooper unit assaulting a russ and blowing it up by using krak grenades (the new vehicle combat rules are ruthless)
+ a brave set of ambushes by my command sections and veterans to blow the game wide open
Lowlights: erm... ...didnt you read it, 14 kill points!
Enemy tanks advancing.
Cautious moving tanks spot glimpses of the enemy.
But in the end - the Big Guns were bound to draw a clear shot on each other, with devastating consequences.
Game 4, Mike, Tyranids
Mikes nids were a really great sight... a wonderfully painted and converted force that did not only look good, but played good too! (damn him!). It was a dawn of war deployment, and he had first turn... for some reason though - i thought it might be fun to try to seize the initiative, it had happened to me once and i thought i should try... immediately after i rolled the 6 to win the initiative, i realised that was the worst thing i could have done... i should have left him to take first turn and reacted to him!
as it was, too late... so my force rumbled on - spread across the line in order to make things as difficult as possible... then came the nids...
His masses of hormagaunts (and a bunch of spinegaunts too) were backed up by a pair of tyrants (one flying of course) some carnifexes and a handful (well, two handfuls) of outflanking genestealers... he was worried about my hellhounds - and kept well away wherever possible... and i about his flying tyrant - it just would not die... then came along the vulture - taking out genestealers and gaunts all over the place with some well placed missile shots... but that flyrant was still there - cutting through one squad - but it was now left in the open... i jumped at the chance - and moved my plasma gunners towards it - pulling it down with a sigh of relief...
The game was a close call though - as i pushed out from my line to grab two objectives - my opponent was trying to prevent me from grabbing mine - whilst also attempting to keep his own...
Result: Ultimately, my opponent was dogged by my seeming ability to hit with virtually everything... nids dont like large blasts, thats for sure. It meant that his troops were left too far from capturing objectives, whilst my troops, again protected by their tanks, were able to secure two objectives (as well as my vets, suported by a hellhound, securing a third - and preventing any nids getting close enough to capture it... a 2-0 win for the good - a great result for a game that could have swung either way...
highlights:
+ taking down the flyrant.
+ hitting with blasts... again and again...
Lowlights:
- an inabiliy to deal with the enemies other monstrous creatures... whom themselves were shaking my tanks.
lascannoners wihtin a ruin eye up the approaching monsters... the team took heavy casualties.
the nids scuttle onwards despite suffering losses, the long ranged shooting was proving temperamental - but they would reach the line shortly - and importantly, they were preventing the guard from getting at important objectives.
the flyrant is left in the open - his fate stood in the hands of the guard...
