The game against the Mech IG was much closer. I probably could have pulled out a win, but made a few mistakes. I also felt a bit of a sting at not having my second wraithguard squad. I think I would have had a much easier time of it with a list closer to my normal lists.
I used the same list as above. I am not sure about all the particulars of his list or what went where in his FOC but the list is more or less outlined below.
His List:- Inquisitor with a bunch of helpers. There was a psycannon, plasma cannon and some other stuff. He got +1 on the first turn roll. I think this squad had sharpshooter or something that let him reroll shots.
- Callidus Assassin.
- Basilisk
- Lemunruss with 3 Heavy Bolters
- Russ with Demolisher cannon
- Mechanics to repair the Russ
- 5 Chimeras
- Antitank squad with 2 lascannons and a missile launcher
- HQ squad with 2 plasma guns
- 3 more squads with 2 plasma guns
- I think all the infantry squads were storm troopers.
The Board:Most of the terrain features are level 3 area terrain ruins with a 4+ save. The feature in the upper left corner was very tall impassible terrain which blocked line of sight. The other two features were forests.
My Deployment:I had a large ruins in the center of my DZ and put the wraithguard there. I attached Eldrad to them. The wraithlord was in the same cover to the left of the guard. The avatar was in the open to the right of the guard. The spears were behind that cover. The harlies were in a bit of terrain to the right of the wraithguard with the jetbikes hiding behind that terrain. The firedragons were in the falcon which was behind cover to the left. There were two smallish ruins pieces that cut off line of sight. The walkers also used the same pieces of cover to hide. The scout move allowed them to move forward hiding behind the front piece.
His Deployment Starting from my left and moving right: He had a chimera deployed on the far left hiding behind some cover. The lemun russ deployed about 18-24” from the left edge. Immediately to the right of the russ was a forest in which the inquisitor squad deployed. A chimera deployed to the left of that forrest. The Russ with the demolisher cannon deployed behind in some large ruins in the center of his DZ. These ruins were roughly opposite the ones in which my guard deployed. They also were deep enough that the Russ was out of line of sight. A chimera was behind the ruins with the command squad inside. Another squad was in the ruins next to the Russ and the mechanics were in contact with the side of the Russ. A chimera was deployed on the right of the ruins and its squad was behind it. A 5”-7” gap separated the center ruins from ruins to the right. The lascannon/missile launcher squad and another took up a position in those ruins. A chimera was to the right of the ruins near the board edge and the basilisk was behind these ruins. It couldn’t really get out of LOS.
The Board After Deployment, Scout Move and Assassin Moving the Tank (not all models in the IG squads are represented):
Turn 1:He used the assassin to bump my falcon into LOS of the lemun russ. He won the rolloff and got first turn. The far left chimera moved forward for a shot on the walkers. The russ with the demolisher moved forward so it could shoot through the ruins. The mechanics moved with it. The chimera to the right of those ruins moved forward as did the chimera on the far right flank.
He destroys the falcon, but doesn’t kill any dragons with a lemun russ shot. The chimera on the left blows up a walker and stuns the other. The avatar takes a wound from something and one or two wraithguard die.
No assaults.
I manage to fortune the guard. I made a mistake in deployment and the Avatar is out of range. I don’t have anything else to do with the powers. The guard move forward through the ruins, the avatar advances on their right and the lord tries to on the left, but terrain slows him and he barely moves. I am taking pains to ensure that Eldrad is surrounded so he can’t be assaulted by the assassin. Unfortunately this leaves me a bit exposed to large blasts. The spears turboboost to the right hiding behind the terrain piece there in a spot just vacated by the jetbikes which move forward and line up a side armor shot on the chimera on that side; it had turned toward the middle to take shots at something there. The harlies advance forward.
The lord immobilizes the chimera on the far left, but track guards negate that. The walker can’t do anything. The deathjester manages to destroy the chimera which is to the right of the ruins in the middle of the enemy DZ. The jetbikes manage to shake and immobilize the chimera on the right, but track guards again keep the chimera mobile.
The jetbikes can’t hide with an assault move so they move forward hoping to get a shot on the bassie the next turn.
Turn 2:The assassin doesn’t show up. The chimera on the left moves back a bit to get out of the lord’s line of sight. The lemun russ pivots to shoot at the wraithguard. The troops behind the now destroyed chimera move into its wreckage. The the russ with the demolisher cannon moves back a bit. The chimera on the right moves back and the bassie pivots to protect its side armor. It is now facing straight at my bikes and spears.
The left chimera stuns the walker. Combined shooting from most of his force manages to kill another wraithguard—down to 6 or 7. The avatar doesn’t take any wounds. The lascannon squad had shot at him, but didn’t do anything. The wraithlord is wounded in either this round or the previous. The squad in the right ruins fire their plama guns and las guns at the jetbikes but don’t manage any wounds. The bassie fires on the spears, wounding one which passes its turboboost invulnerable.
At this point I have lost the falcon, taken a wound on the lord and avatar, lost 3 or 4 wraithguard and one walker.
Nothing happens in the assault phase.
I want to fortune the Avatar and wraithguard, but only manage to fortune the guard thanks to the inquisitor’s psychic hood. The dragons manage to disengage themselves from the falcon’s wreckage and move a bit forward. There is a forest in front of them and the chimera on that side (the left) is behind the forest. They may be able to kill it. The problem is open ground between the safety of the falcon and the forest. If they are stuck in the open the lemun russ could destroy them quite easily. They advance as far forward as possible while keeping the falcon between themselves and the russ. Next turn they’ll make a dash for the forrest. The lord, guard, avatar, harlies, jetbikes and spears all move forward.
The avatar and wraithguard fire on the russ with the demolisher and kill it. The lord kills one or two of the inquisitor’s buddies. The Death jester fires on the squad in the right ruins killing one. The jetbikes were going to fire on the bassie, but my opponent says its front armor is 12 and I don’t want to shoot it if I need 6s to glance. (I checked the IG summary after the game and it says the armor is 12, but I am sure that it is 11
Anyway, I didn’t want to argue.) I chose to shoot at the squad in the ruins instead and kill 1 or 2. The shining spears don’t do anything to the chimera with their shots.
The jetbikes decide to charge the squad in the ruins, if they manage to live, the lascannon squad will have its lanes of fire blocked. I can take away two squads shooting if I live. One bike dies to the dangerous terrain check, I take no casualties and get a kill. The guard stay in combat. The spears use the assault move to hide in the ruins nearby and all pass their dangerous terrain check. I should mention that this bit of ruins was only about 4” wide, but was 12” or more long. Its long edge was parallel to the short board edge. My harlies after 2 moves forward are finally near the end of the piece, but still in it.
Turn 3:The assassin shows up and decides she wants to kill my spears so deploys near them. The mechanics are angry about their russ being destroyed so they move forward to challenge the avatar. The chimera on the right moves forward. The command chimera behind the ruins in the center moves left a bit.
The left chimera shoots at and shakes the walker. The harlies take fire from several directions and lose all but the troupe master. The shining spears also take heavy casualties from the shooting and neural shredder and are reduced to the exarch alone. Both the troupe master and exarch are in the avatar’s fearless bubble though. The guard lose one or two more members.
The bikes and the guard squad don’t do anything to each other.
Eldrad again fortunes the wraithguard. Again the hood stops me from fortuning the Avatar. The walker hides behind some ruins to recover itself. The dragons move up to the forest. The wraithlord advances to the front edge of the ruins. The guard move out of the ruins and the Avatar moves toward the mechanics. The troupemaster moves to assault the squad that is standing on the destroyed chimera and the shining spear exarch moves to shoot the assassin then hide behind the long thin terrain piece. I probably would have killed her with a charge, but would have been in the open to face the fire of the chimera on that side. I figured I could stay alive for a while if I moved toward the middle where assaults were beginning to block fire lanes. Also moving toward the assassin would take me out of the Avatar’s fearless bubble. This would force last man standing checks.
I manage to wound the assassin. The lord shoots at the inquisitor squad, but doesn’t kill any. The guard don’t have range to any good targets.
The avatar charges and kills the mechanics. The spear exarch hides behind terrain. The troupe master charges the squad in the chimera’s wreckage. This was a mistake I think. I had forgotten that the now dead shadowseer is the source of my plasma grenades until I was ready to charge. Had I thought of this earlier I would have charged to support the bikes—I should have done that anyway. As it was my movement and fleet took me a bit away from them, and I didn’t remember the problem until I charged so I didn’t get to join that combat. I did get lucky though and saved the one wound I took before killing 3 or 4 guardsmen. They stay put. The bikes also manage to stay alive though they don’t kill anyone either.
Turn 4:The bassie moves forward a bit, the chimera on that side does also. The chimera on the left moves forward a bit.
Shooting drops me down to 3 wraithguard, plus the seer and Eldrad. The avatar takes a wound.
The lascannon squad tired of watching the battle charge the jetbikes and kill them. The troupe master kills a couple more guardsmen then succumbs to their return attacks.
I start to retreat the lord since I will need him to contest a quarter. The dragons advance into the woods right against the board edge, they are out of LOS of everything except the chimera they want to kill. The walker moves into the terrain and is out of LOS of everything but the chimera. I need it to hold that quarter. The guard advance toward the russ hoping to shoot it. The lord advances toward the command squad which had just hopped out of their chimera and were hiding in the back of the ruins there. The spear exarch moved toward the center hoping to avoid fire from the right. The avatar is fortuned. I need it to hold or contest a quarter and if it takes one more wound it can’t. The guard squad are below half so they aren’t that important. The hood blocks the attempt to fortune them. Eldrad separates from the guard and moves toward the inquisitor’s squad and the nearby chimera.
The dragons kill the chimera. No other shooting is worth noting.
The avatar charges and kills the command squad, the leader runs but is caught. The avatar can’t consolidate into a new cc because of a bad roll. The spear exarch manages to hide from fire on the right. Eldrad charges and destroys the chimera. It explodes killing someone in the inquisitor’s squad, but doesn’t wound Eldrad.
I made a big mistake here with Eldrad. Had I charged the inquisitor’s squad, I likely would have won as you will see in a bit. I forgot about the psycannon and figured that he would live to charge them the next turn. Ooops.
Turn 5:The bassie moves forward at full speed--it is the only thing that can contest the right quarter on my side. The squad that had killed the troupe master the last turn moved toward the center of the terrain piece in which the avatar is positioned hoping their plasma guns will do something to it. The assassin moves toward the middle, but has no effect on the rest of the game. The squads in the ruins on the right and the chimera on that side likewise have no further impact.
My spear exarch and Eldrad are killed by enemy shooting. How could I forget about that psycannon.
No assaults.
My dragons move forward planning to contest the left quarter on my enemy’s side. They spread out so that the bassie can’t kill them all with one shot. They also hug the board edge to maximize the chances of a shot deviating off of the edge. The lord moves toward the right quarter on my side to contest that quarter. He is able to stay out of sight in the large ruins. The guard advance toward the russ. Eldrad detaches and moves toward the inquisitor and the chimera next to it. The avatar moves to engage the squad which had killed the troupe master.
The guard destroy the russ with their guns.
The avatar charges the guardsmen, takes no wound, kills some and the other run. They don’t run too far though and he consolidates into them. They pass the test to regroup. Good, the Avatar can’t be shot and will contest that quarter unless they get a lucky cc wound.
Turn 6:No movement worth noting.
The bassie tries to kill the walker, but deviates and fails. The lord can’t be seen to be shot. The inquisitor’s buddies kill all the dragons save one. Blast, there goes the unit that was going to control that quarter.
The avatar kills the remaining guardsmen.
There is nothing for me to do in my turn. I am in the quarters I need to be in with my scoring units and can’t do anything about his scoring units. Actually I could have had I realized the inquisitor’s squad was a scoring unit. One more kill would have dropped them below half too. Three wraithguard and their seer could have shot and charged them. I mistakenly thought they weren’t a scoring unit—another big ooops! I shot at a chimera instead missing with each shot. So misses would have been misses regardless of the target, but had I been thinking I could have moved close enough to virtually guarantee a charge and should have been able to get that one wound.
Game Over:I control the quarter on my left side with my walker. The other quarter on my side is contested by the lord and bassie. The quarter on the enemy’s right side is contested by the avatar and the lascannon squad. The inquisitor and his buddies hold the quarter on the left side in enemy territory. One quarter each and two quarters contested. The result is a draw.
The board looked something like this. Only scoring units are shown.