|
Some Battle Briefs from Vancouver Game 1: Rescue the Princess Mission. Nurgle Opponent. Plague Marines and Plaguebearer Daemons, Great Unclean One, Predator. A pack of Plaguebearers came in on turn two and found the objective near his lines. He quickly started moving them back and screened them with the rest of his forces. Although I wiped out several squads of Plaguebearers and chewed through a couple squads of Plaguemarines, the game ended before I could get free and give chase to the Daemon pack holding the objective. Highlight of the game: in the one turn of clear shooting at the Great Unclean One, I managed to take off all 6 wounds, so it never hit my lines. Loss. I think that if I'd had another turn, I might have been able to get clear of his screens and shoot down his Daemons, creating a draw. Game 2: Daybreak mission(?) Opponent was a friend of mine with Imperial Guard. Lots of Chimeras and grunts, Valkerie and Vulture flyers. I used a large rock formation to keep my inside flank and pressed my whole army into the extreme right of the board. My Cyclone Launchers took out a bunch of Chimeras while I moved forward, then I engaged anything and everything with my Powerfists. Although I took out almost all of the vehicles, he cleverly laid them out in a shield wall so I couldn't get to his troops. Game Result: 194 pt gap between our scores, Draw. I think my Apothecary saved 5 or 6 Terminators this game! Game 3: JB, the event coordinator, asked to play this game with his Imperial Guard, so I sat this one out and checked out how all my friends were doing. Game 4: Mud Fight Mission. Iyanden Opponent. 3 Wraithlords and 3 squads of Wraithguard, each with a Warlock and one in a Wave Serpent. Also Farseer and Dark Reaper squad. Treating all ground as difficult terrain slowed me down a lot. Multiple Starcannons and Bright Lances really dropped my numbers quickly. I wasn't able to do enough damage to his forces to keep him from contesting quarters. In hindsight, I probably should have closed as quickly as possible to subject his Wraithguard to my powerfists. Result: Loss. Highlight of the Game: Outnumbering his army with Deathwing. Game 5: Breakout Mission. Word Bearers army featuring several squads of Chaos Marines, Lord and Lieutenant and some Daemonettes and Bloodletters. Extremely well-painted army and a great opponent. Although I threw him off by placing my Terminators facing in one direction, then turning and moving them the other way, he managed to stall the bulk of my forces long enough to wipe out all but one squad. Result: Loss. Not shooting at the one remaining member of a squad (the one with the summoning icon, of course) and failing to take out his Lord in two rounds of powerfist combat let the Daemons in close enough to engage the bulk of my army and kill them off. Game 6: Take and Hold. Iron Warriors army. Large squads of Chaos Marines with lots of Bolters and Heavy Weapons. 2 squads of mixed Havocs, Predator, 3 Obliterators, inexpensive Lieutenant. (Note: No Defiler, No Basilisk, only 3 Obliterators.) He was deployed around the objective, with about 40% of his army in reserve. 30 Terminators moved onto the table and made their implacable advance whilst firing Missile after Missile and countless Stormbolters. I shredded one squad at a time while I advanced, and the combination of light weapons (lots of Heavy Bolters and such, rather than armor piercing things like Lascannons) and having a chunk of his force in reserve really handicapped him. He played well, but the strikeforce swept the Iron Warriors in front of them, with the lead squad actually making it to the far board edge by the end of the game. Result: Win. I think that my phalanx arrangement and concentration of firepower really won the game here. I just kept shooting at a unit until it was gone, then started on the next one. In the end, I had a really good time and came across two opponents that I would go out of my way to play again. I also got to see my fellow Geek, Jeff "Da Nid" Burcham, win Best Overall! A while ago, I wrote up an article on how to win tournaments. In that article I talk about how it takes being good at all parts of the hobby to win a tournament. If you crush your opponents in battle, but you are a jerk or have a poorly painted army, you won't get far. Jeff is a perfect example here. He typically places highly in Sportsmanship, his army was one of the top 10 in the Best Painted Category, and he ended up going something like 5 wins and 1 loss in Battle. Being close to the top in all categories, he deserved that trophy, for being the consummate hobbyist. Well, I had a great time in Vancouver, which is, really, what it's all about. Although I've got 110 Tyranids to paint and a display board to make, I'm really looking forward to the Seattle GT. This time I'll actually be competing in the tournament, instead of just being the staff army, so we'll see what happens! If you get the chance to come, please look me up, I'd be happy to hear from you! If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |