Tournament Report: Offence 31/03/13

This tournament was 1500 pts, with Imperial Armour allowed. 24 players in total turned up and I took my guard:

CCS, lascannon Veterans 3x plasmagun, chimera with multi laser and heavy flamer Veterans 3x meltagun, chimera with multi laser and heavy flamer PCS with 3x grenade launcher Infantry Squad with missile launcher, flamer, commissar Infantry Squad with missile launcher, flamer Infantry Squad with autocannon, plasmagun, commissar Infantry squad with autocannon, plasmagun Hellhound with heavy bolter Vendetta Leman Russ Vanquisher, heavy flamer Leman Russ Demolisher, heavy flamer Aegis with quad gun

Here are some of the armies that were present:

Paul's Daemons:

My guard:

Ilya's Orks:

So I said to Paul before the tournament, "There's one tyranid army signed up, really don't want to verse them, what's the odds that they're gonna be my first game?"

Game 1: I came up against Tyranids. Mission ended up being crusade with 5 objectives and the classic deployment.

His list had:

2x hive tyrant with wings and twin devourers
2x 2 hive guard
2x 10 gaunts
2x tervigon
Carnifex with more devourers
3 Raveners

This would be my first non-apoc game against tyranids and I knew that this would be a tough match up for me. He won the roll-off to pick sides but it didn't really matter since terrain was fairly evenly distributed. What was important though, was that he got to place three objectives to my two, with his being mostly behind LOS blocking pieces of terrain. I basically went for a "fortify my deployment zone strategy". Night was on for turn 1.

Turn 1

I won the roll-off for turn 1 and obviously chose to go first. Unfortunately, straight off the bat disaster struck with both my hellhound and meltavets chimera immobilising themselves on terrain. However, I still decided to continue my advance with what I could since my opponent had rather shrewdly got basically all his army out of range from mine, except for the raveners which hid in the middle ruin. My mobile chimera, realising that hive guard don't need los, but not realising that I wouldn't get cover tries to hide behind the nearest piece of terrrain having sped forward.

Shooting proved thoroughly ineffective with me completely forgetting that my army had searchlights and so my whole result from this turn was a wound or two off the squad of raveners.

Tyranids respond with the Hive Tyrants leaping towards my lines and some gaunts hiding behind los. Hive guard open up on my lead chimera and explode it, and other fire kills all the contents. Hive tyrants' devourers go into my CCS netting the officer with precision shots, who I somehow managed to foolishly place in such a way that he did not get cover...

Turn 2

Night is over and guard shooting begins in force. The Vendetta comes into play with it's payload of PCS and proceeds to take three wounds off a FNP-less tervigon which had screwed up it's psychic powers last turn and my two russes aim for the clumping in the middle behind the los-blocking terrain after the blobs manage to ground the hive tyrant which is the enemy warlord. All the gaunts, remaining raveners and two wounds from the tyrant are claimed by this firepower.

In response, the hive tyrants, angered by this show of strength, each assault a blob. Overwatch does literally nothing and I try to use challenges to minimise losses.

Turn 3, I manage to kill the tervigon but the game is basically over at this point. One blob runs out of sergeants and then my commissar rejects the challenge, tyrant kills 5 guardsmen and they flee and are caught.

Tyranids put the vendetta into locked velocity so now it cannot even drop off it's cargo onto an objective. The remaining chimera is blown up by assorted firepower, guard spill out.

In my turn the guardsment try to move up to contest the only nid held objective at that moment, but are met with a lot of firepower and soon die.

Hive tyrants clear out my backfield and I, not knowing that you can turn in locked velocity fly the vendetta off the board, giving my opponent a wipe-out win of 20-0. My opponent was a good sportsman and had this tournament not only allowed you to give sportsmanship scores of 1 and 5 once, I would have given him a 5 (highest score). As it was, since it was the first game I gave him a 4. He very kindly gave me a 5.

Overall it was a good learning experience for playing against tyranids, and I think I learned quite a lot from it. First of all guard vehicles don't like terrain and secondly, I should have probably gone after his hive tyrants or hive guard rather than concentrate on killing gaunts and tervigons.

In any case, having lost 20-0 in game 1 I now hoped for an easier opponent. Paul and Ilya had also lost their first game so it wasn't that bad.

Game 2 - Dark Eldar

So another army that I would be playing for the first time. However, since I've actually read their codex I know a bit about how things work. I won the roll-off to choose sides and obviously chose the side with more terrain. I threw my aegis out in front as I knew the dark eldar would try to maximise the distance they were away from me.

Baron Santhonyx
2x 3 trueborn with blasters, venom
2x 5 warriors with blaster, venom
5 wyches, venom
Beastmasters, with 4 razorwings and I think 6 khymerae
6 reavers with cluster caltrops (I think)
2 ravagers
Voidraven with shatterfield missiles

Mission was Scouring, with the same deployment as game 1. Objectives were placed with two being behind my aegis and one in a ruin on my right flank, and the others behind los-blocking terrain in my opponents deployment zone with two on my left flank and one on my right. I got nothing useful as my warlord trait and my opponent got night attacker, but at least I got to deploy first.

Quite confident in keeping the iniative, I deployed my tanks more or less out in the open so as not to repeat the experiment of dangerous terrain as I had done in the last game. Russes stayed central, command squads and one blob as far forward as possible near the objectives, other blob in the ruin, light tanks on the flanks. Plan was to go really aggressive with my light tanks, and hopefully for my hellhound to score an objective if needed late game.

Dark Eldar deployed, predicatably elusively, mostly hiding or out of range of my guns. My opponent failed to seize and night was on.

We turn over objectives and have (going from left to right) a 3, 2 and 1, my opponent, 4, 2, 3

Turn 1 for the guard consisted mostly of running into position and moving flat out. I realised that I'd probably give away first blood but I needed to move into position. Even with searchlights, all I manage is to kill one or two beasts and put a glance on a venom.

In return the dark kin start their advance, killing the lead chimera and assaulting the contents inside, massacring them. Some firepower goes into the blob, but it is the bladevaning that takes the heaviest toll.

Turn 2

The gaurd kill a few beasts and only manage to dot around a few hull points somehow. However, the chimera is closing in on the right flank and my hellhound is now sitting on a three point objective.

Dark eldar cautiously move around and pour most of their firepower into my CCS, however between look-out sirs and going to ground for a 2+ cover I manage to make all my saves. The quadgun however, is not so lucky is killed. Also fortunately for me, the darklight weaponry proves to not be very effective this turn and my russes only have their paintwork scratched (and I think the vanquisher lost a hp). Also I think the void raven came on this turn.

 Turn 3 guard

We continue to shoot stuff quite ineffectively including the demolisher missing the cluster of tanks in the middle. We do manage to kill all but one of the reavers though, who flees and put soem more hurt on the skimmers.

Dark eldar get into assaulting the missile blob and after one wound from an overwatch flamer kill the lot.

Vendetta comes on and we finally start to explode the xenos' transports. Predictably most of the guys inside start to die. I manage to also flame all but one of the witches who had foolishly tried and failed a charge against my chimera. I also flame a lot of the beasts and then a lucky vanquisher cannon shot takes out the baron to give me slay the warlord. At the end of this, my opponent has a half-dead venom, 2 trueborn, a withc and 3 fleeing warriors in his deployment zone. The judge calls time and we finish off my opponents turn.

 
Assaults from the beasts and mixed firepower, kill my command squads and leman russ, but leave the dark eldar out of position. He also wreacks my remaining chimera at around this point.

In the end I am holding a 1, and a 3 objective, while my opponent isn't holding any because his warriors are fleeing and his beasts assaulted my leman russ and can't reach an objective. I also have linebreaker, slay the warlord and have killed his reavers.

He has first blood and slay the warlord, but has narrowly beaten me on vps. With a 7-2 on the mission and only a small difference in vps, the score is 16-4 in my favour. Now I just need to win my last match and I can finish in a decent place.

I really had a lot of fun in this game and gave my opponent a 5 for sportsmanship and he returned the favour. To be honest it was really close, and had we not run out of time (he did play quite slowly, but it was worth it for him to think out every move as I often could not see important vehicles) he would have probably won it or it would have been much closer.

Meanwhile Paul had just about won his second game, while Ilya lost his and so they were matched up together for round 3!

Meanwhile I got to face Paul's opponent from round 2.

Game 3 - Tau with Space Marine allies

Shas'o Airbursting Fragmentation System, missile pod
3 crisis suits with assorted weaponry
6 drones (mix of shield and gun)
6 firewarriors
20 kroot
3 broadsides with 4 shield drones
Hammerhead, disruption pod
Chapter master, with combi-plasma
5 tactical marines with plasmagun (yeah I know you can't have that but I let it go)
Stormtalon with twin-lascannon

So it's relic, and I'm up against a fairly static list. It's diagonal deployment, so having won the roll off for deployment (but not for picking sides) I throw my defence line forward but not as far as I should have because I'm worried about not controlling the quad gun.

My worrying proves to be silly because my opponent's whole army deploys out of sight behind a massive pile of rocks. Plan is to charge forward and grab the relic, distract from the side with vanquisher and hellhound, hold the centre with demolisher. If that fails then my veterans can come in from reserve and scoop up the relic/provide another layer to keep my opponent busy if necessary.

It's night and the tau fail to seize and so since I can't see anyone anyway, everyone basically just runs full speed towards the relic turn 1.

In return the tau stay still and shoot at the hellhound and vanquisher, as well as killing a few guardsmen who are out in the open.

Meanwhile in the Paul vs Ilya "Battle of the century"...

 Turn 2 guard.

I continue the relentless advance and start to take a few pot shots. But my main target of the hammerhead, makes it's disruption pod saves..

In other news, my chimeras come on and advance at max speed forwards but make sure to stay hidden.

In the tau turn the stormtalon comes on and is immediately intercepted with the quad gun and forced to evade. Firepower thins out the ranks of mainly the left blob especially due to an orbital bombardment called down by the chapter master. The hellhound is exploded by a railgun to the face and in either this turn or the next, the vanquisher suffers a similar fate.

Turn 3 guard and the chimeras have got into position obstructing the view to the squad of guardsmen that are about to claim the relic, snap shots kill a few drones. However, we have now claimed the relic.

Tau start to kill chimeras and despatch the contents. Firewarriors come on and kill the pcs. The stormtalon, wary of the quadgun, flies off the table.

Turn 3, we kill all the broadsides and all but one firewarrior. We also net a few drones. The blob with the relic, begins to laboriously run away from the tau army. Vendetta comes in, but again the tau disruption pods, save the hammerhead.

Meanwhile on another table...

Later stages:

Stormtalon comes in and hides for a turn, then comes out to try and kill the demolisher which is guarding the open ground having immobilised itself of terrain. The stormtalon is then killed by the quadgun. The tau eventually manage to deal with all the stuff that I threw towards their deployement zone, but it is too late as the blob is too far away. My opponent forgets to roll for the kroot to come on and being the generous person I am I let them come on halfway through his turn 5. Some sneaky and a bit dodgy snap-shotting later and over two turns I lose my ccs (I decided not to argue as he was losing although you can't shoot at full bs, for 24 inches with a rapid-fire weapon if you've moved - maybe I'm too nice?)

What I don't realise though is that my opponent now has line breaker and slay the warlord, as well as first blood. We come to the end of turn 6 where it draws to a close. He thinks I've won. I think I've won. We look at the battle field and I point out that he has gained three points from secondaries, making it a draw. If I had realised that I would have moved the blob around the terrain and into his deployment zone to claim line breaker, so I basically let this one slip into a 10-10 draw. But it's allright, you live and learn.

Gave the opponent a 4, he gave me 5, so I attained max sportsmanship. Scored surprisingly low on painting-scores and came 12/24 overall so not bad, I'm improving. It was great fun anyway.

Things to take away?

- Dangerous terrain - avoid it
- My list is good, just needs a little tweaking now, the flamers on one of my blobs did absolutely nothing and I don't think I even used my plasmaguns from the other one. Ideally I need two squads with just autocannons and then I can use the spare points for marbo. Problem is I don't have the models... as usual
- Dark eldar are a really cool army

Just FYI Paul finished 15th (hopefully report later) and Ilya 20th having lost 13-7 to Paul in the last game. Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.