Before we get into the second game, NIDSES!
The setup for the second game was as follows:
Spearhead deployment
Victory condition one: Control uncontested table quarters with Troops
Killpoints for any non-Troops units killed (Troops include their dedicated transports)
Have an HQ unit within 3" of the center of the board with no enemy HQs also within 3".
I got paired with a gentleman who introduced army as "Vulkan and his Angels." I feared what I was about to face (but was delighted by the Mk 1 Land Raider below!)
His list was as follows:
Vulkan He'Stan
Librarian with Avenger and Null Zone, Terminator Armor
Tactical Squad with Multimelta, Meltagun, Rhino
Tactical Squad with Plasma cannon, meltagun, Razorback with TWL Hvy Bolter
Tactical Squad with Razorback, TWL Lascannon
5(?) Assault Terminators, 2 with Lightning Claws, 3 with Thunderhammer/Storm Shield
Phobos-Pattern Land Raider (i.e. Standard)
2 Vindicators
Venerable Dreadnaught with MM, Hvy Flamer, Drop Pod
I once again won the roll to go first and deployed in the bottom right corner of the map pictured above. I deployed my tanks such that my Leman Russ' and the Manticore were protected by the Chimeras from scary drop pods, two Vendettas on the wings and one in the backfield. He deployed everything but the Podding Dread and his Libby who was set to teleport. The Plasma cannon tac squad combat squadded with one half in the Razor and the other on an outcropping overlooking my base.
Turn 1a:
I once again get off to a good start. The Vendettas on the wings Scouted out to get better shots on targets. One got a side shot on a Vindie and blew it up, the other got a shot at the Rhino and wrecked it while the third wrecked the Heavy Bolter Razorback which was hiding the other Razor. The Manticore continued its awesome streak by immobilizing the Land Raider on it's first shot. The Russ squadron began a trend of not both seeing the same target, one of them managing to take out a single member of the wrecked Razor squad... try saying THAT five times fast!
Turn 1b:
With the majority of his Marine's mobility marginalized... man, I better cut down on the alliteration before people start thinking that I'm Loquacious... my opponent was in a bit of a pickle. The Dread came in near my rightmost Vendetta and blew it out of the sky. The Land Raider shook a Vets' Chimera and blew off the Multilaser of my CCS' Chimera. The remaining Vindicator snarled, fired and managed to knock a lascannon off of my leftmost Vendetta. The Laserback finished the job.
Turn 2a:
Two of my birds were out of the sky leaving me down in KP. I tried some halfhearted shots at the Vindicator but cover or lack of penetration saved the little bulldog. The Manticore fired again, this time dropping three warheads, two of which I was able to chain onto the Land Raider, knocking off its Godhammer lascannons while also hitting the Plasmacannon combat squad. My Meltavet squad and my CCS drove over to the Dread and Pod and bade them both a fond farewell while another Vet squad started sneaking around the hill in the center of the field, hoping to catch the Vindie unawares.
Turn 2b:
Unfortunately for my opponent his Librarian came in early, deepstriking onto the center hill and hoping to stand for 3 turns. The Vindicator turned around and started heading over towards my right flank going behind the hill. His large tac squad also started picking up speed, charging slowly across his long board edge to try and grab another table quarter. His Terminators stayed ominously silent, however.
Turn 3a:
My tanks looked at the Librarian and sneezed. Just because they happen to be down with a plasma infection is not my fault. My Meltavets tried to take a shot at the Vindicator but were just out of range. My Manticore and Vendetta tried to seal the deal but merely managed to shake the beast through its smoke. My other tanks eliminated the Plasmacannon combat squad while my CCS started getting in position to make a move on the center of the board.
Turn 3b:
The Vindicator was fed up with all of the Chimeras yapping about and charged one... but unfortunately did not manage to penetrate. Vulkan and his Terminators finally charged out of the Land Raider, surely with blood or at least mangled tank bits on their minds. His Tac squad tried to fire a meltagun at my Meltavets but were also unfortunately out of range. The Laserback also immobilized a Vet Chimera.
Turn 4a:
Currently I was winning on kill points and held my table quarter securely. My opponent did likewise with his quarter. One of the other quarters contained the shot up remnants of a combat squad and a fully functional Vet squad while the other had a Vet squad, my CCS, the Vindicator and a butt load of Terminators. Nobody had gone for the center objective... yet. The Terminators needed to be dealt with, and my CCS and Plasma tank delivered. All but one of the Terminators were destroyed and Vulkan was reduced to one wound. I also managed to blow the Demolisher cannon off of the Vindicator rendering it toothless.
Turn 4b:
Things were getting desperate now. Vulkan left his Terminator bodyguard and joined the Tac squad and started charging up the hill. The Vindicator ran away to hide in the table quarter, diverting my focus. The lone remaining Hammernator walked up to my command Chimera and smashed it to pieces in a fit of righteous fury, killing one of the two remaining Veterans that hadn't burned themselves to death in the resulting explosion.
Turn 5a:
Despite killing most of his army I was now in serious danger of losing the game. If Vulkan managed to get to the top of the hill and survive while standing in my home table quarter it would leave him holding the only uncontested quarter. To stop this and secure a win I needed to accomplish four out of five tasks:
-kill Vulkan
-kill the escorting Tac squad
-kill the remaining Hammernator
-destroy the Vindicator while keeping my Vet squad alive and in that table quarter OR take out the remaining stragglers from the combat squad in the other contested table quarter.
I accomplished the second task with a bit of luck. I disembarked my vet squad from the immobilized Chimera and moved them into position to shoot the Tac squad, but failed to do anything. My CCS and a veritable hail of Multilaser fire failed to take out the Hammernator. My plasma tank, Vendetta and Meltavets on the other hand somehow managed to eliminate all of the Tactical marines even in cover, leaving Vulkan alone but untouchable by my forces. This meant that I left the Vindicator to its own devices, so I was relying on my Battle Tanks to destroy the contesting combat squad. Unfortunately they failed me.
Turn 5b:
Vulkan ascended to the top of the hill and waited for his Angels to take him to safety. The Hammernator assaulted my CCS and got stuck in thanks to a lucky Refractor Field save. Even so, my opponent for the first time was in place to win if the game ended here.
Turn 6a:
Fortunately the game did not end and the screaming began. Vulkan disappeared under a fusillade of plasma fire, the Vindicator was destroyed by meltaguns, the Land Raider by a Vendetta and the combat squad was removed by the Battle Tank twins. The Hammernator won his combat with my commander, but even so I controlled at least two uncontested table quarters.
Turns 6b through the end of turn 7 were simply filled with the last marines dying.
All in all this was the most fun game I had all day. Even though my opponent got started on a bad foot he made quite the come back and almost pulled off a turn 5 victory. It was very tense and hard fought the entire way, exactly what I wanted from a tournament game.
The final game, wrap up and more pics tomorrow.
1 comment:
It gets better - what a great game!
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