hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #3

My third opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Frank with with his mech Dark Eldar.  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #3 was Dawn of War deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (heavy support units score), modified kill points, and emperor's will (1 objective in each half).


Frank's list:
Baron Sathonyx
Trueborn x5 + dark lances x2, venom w/ extra cannon, grisly trophies
Trueborn x5 + dark lances x2, raider, grisly trophies
Wyches x5 + haywires, agonizer, venom w/ extra cannon
Warriors x5 + blaster, venom w/ extra cannon
Wyches x5 + haywires, agonizer, raider
Warriors x9 + raider, splinter racks
Warriors x9 + raider, splinter racks
Beastmasters x3 + khymerae x5, razorwing flocks x4
Reaver Jetbikes x6 + heat lances x2, cluster caltrops
Razorwing Jetfighter
Razorwing Jetfighter

My list can be found here.

I had actually played Frank the day before at the team event so I know how brutal it is.  I set up my objectives and aegis on the right flank.  He sets up his objectives on the left flank.  Frank gets to go first.

Across from my ADL and objectives, he deploys the Baron and beasts.  5 trueborn on foot are in the central crater.  Two venoms go behind the beasts, one is empty one has wyches.

He deploys most of the rest on the left with his objectives.  Red chips are the d3+2 (3) objectives, green ones are the emperor's will objectives.  Flyers and jetbikes are in reserves.

Forgot some pics here.  I deploy grotesques with Maugan and beasts with the Baron and Malys.  I reserve the rest.  Rangers and walkers are outflanking.

Frank shifts his fleet and focuses on the icarus lascannon killing it.  Grotesques take a wound from stray lances and I lose a khymera.

I advance both units cautiously.  I guess I should have been more aggressive with the beasts since they have defensive grenades with the Baron.  Maugan targets a venom near the center of the table and wrecks it with glances.

Neither flyer arrive.  The two venoms that were behind the beasts continue to shift away from Maugan.

Reavers arrive in his back corner.  5 warriors take up position on his green objective.  The raider fleet moves up.  Venoms drop several beasts.  The wall of raiders go flat-out and the jetbikes turbo-boost to block the left flank.

My walkers arrive on the right flank.  I have no choice but to put them in front of my beasts.  I send out the grotesques but keep the beasts back, banking on my walkers surviving an assault from his beasts.

My flyer arrives and heads for the barricade on the left flank.  Venom comes on heading for the central objective.  I decide the venoms are the biggest threat so the walkers explode one.  The jetfighter explodes one raider, killing 4 wyches and pinning the hekatrix.  My venom kills 3 of the warriors on his green objective and the last 2 break and flee.

Frank brings up his beasts.

Both of his flyers arrive and head for mine.  His raiders and reavers spread out.  My venom explodes from dark lance shots and I lose 2 wyches.  My flyer goes down in a ball of fire.  I lose a couple more beasts to shooting.  His beasts assault my walkers and survive overwatch.  His Baron actually explodes one walker with his hammer of wrath attack.  Another is wrecked via hull points.  He tries to hit-and-run, but fails his initiative test!

I bring up my remaining beasts.  My warrior squads on foot have arrived behind them by my 2 objectives.  My rangers arrive on the left flank and I bring them into the area terrain by Frank's objectives.

Wyches make a run for the central objective.  It's a long shot, but I'm way ahead on kill points so I've nothing to lose.  Grotesques continue to trudge for the center.  They can't score but can deny it from a late game disembarking squad.  Maugan takes out some trueborn.  My beasts assault his and sweep them.

Frank has the left flank and I have the right so he brings his forces towards mine.  My wyches go to ground and pass all of their saves.  My last walker survives razorwing fire but is immobilized without any targets in its firing arc.  I lose a few more beasts to various shooting.  Reavers turbo-sweep my big unit of warriors and kill 9 of them!  The survivor passes morale with 1's.  He sends a unit of wyches into my rangers and easily wipes them out.

I pull my beasts back to deal with the reavers.  Malys has been unit jumping in my backfield and she joins the beasts to get them closer to the reavers.

Grotesques continue to trudge to the center.  Maugan explodes a raider and takes out a few warriors. 

Beasts assault the reavers and wipe them out.

Frank sends the flyers after my backfield scoring units.  After all the missiles and lances have been fired, I still have an unbroken scoring model on my one red objective.  His midfield units wipe out my wyches.  His warriors in the crater roll poorly on their move and run, and will not be in scoring range of the center.

Not much to do in my turn.  Beasts and grotesques head for the center.  Maugan finishes off a trueborn squad.

We roll and the game ends after 5 turns.  We tally it up and it's 15-18 in Frank's favor.  We drew on red objectives, he had green objectives, I had modified kill points, and he had first blood.

This was a close, fun, and brutal game.  Frank's advantage was growing as the game progressed, but Maugan kills just about anything he targets in this match.  Taking out 3-4 light infantry with ignoring cover, rerolling to wound shots is pretty big.  I misplayed the beasts by being too passive.  It cost me extra casualties from shooting and I should have just run them up and remembered defensive grenades against his beasts.  If they had swept that flank a turn or two sooner, they may have made it into his back corner before the game ended.  I also should have deployed the icarus back more this time, but the mobility of his venoms meant it was probably going down first turn anyways.  All in all, I was OK with a 15-18 minor loss here.  Frank's list had so much more mobility, firepower, and scoring presence than mine.  I got the distinct feeling that Frank had been playing this codex and his army a lot longer than myself, so I was fairly pleased that I walked away with some points.  Despite being 1-2 at this point, my battle points are 51/99 right now so I'm still mid-pack and my painting and sportsmanship scores could bring me up.