My fourth opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Stillfrosty (Brandon) himself from the White Scars blog, with with his Legion of the Damned (White Scars). The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood. Mission #4 was Dawn of War deployment. Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (fast attack units score), kill points, and slay the warlord.
Brandon's list:
Khan on Moondrakken
Rune Priest
Tactical Terminators x10 + cyclones x2
Dread + autocannons
Dread + autocannons
Bikers x8 + attack bike, melta x2
Bikers x4 + attack bike, melta, combi-melta
Bikers x4 + attack bike, melta, combi-melta
Grey Hunters x5
Thunderfire Cannon
This was going to be a good game. Brandon and I both blog regularly but we've never ended up across the table from each other. I know what kind of hurt all that twin linked shooting and thunderfire can put on my army, but the table has a lot of BLoS terrain that may help. I get a side with 2 objectives out of sight, and first turn so I'm going to get full use out of Malys's redeploy.
Here's my left flank before redeploy.
And right flank.
Brandon deploys across from my left side with the terminators joined by Khan and the rune priest, with the thunderfire behind. The large bike squad is reserved with grey hunters, and small bike squads are outflanking. Dreads are deep in the right side behind a big wall. I redeploy the beasts (with Maugan) to the left and grotesques (with Malys) to the right. Rangers infiltrate in front of my right wall.
Brandon fails to seize and I'm off! Beasts advance. Walkers scoot around the bastion. Wyches jump out of the venom and run for the central objective out of sight. The venom shifts and takes out the thunderfire cannon, but not the techmarine. Walkers take down a terminator and Maugan drops another. They also fail their pinning test!
The pinned terminators can only snapfire but don't cause any damage. Dreads peak around their wall and take some shots at the icarus, but I make my saves.
My jetfighter arrives and the army pours more fire into the terminators while the beasts advance. I kill all but the cyclones and characters, but they pass morale and pinning this time.
Wyches take the middle objective and warriors shift right to move onto that objective. Malys fires the icarus on a dread but fails to cause damage. Beasts try to assault but prescience'd overwatch shots remove the closest khymerae and I fail the assault.
The large bike squad arrived with grey hunters behind. Khan, rune priest, techmarine, and cyclone terminators move up to assault.
Dreads come around and shoot down 3 rangers (went to ground). The rest of his army unloads on beasts and they kill a few ranks.
Khan tries to lead his unit into assault, takes a wound from overwatch, and they fail their distance roll!
Grotesques and warriors continue to shift to the right in anticipation of outflankers.
I fly the jetfighter off the table. Beasts took heavy casualties and are scoring this mission so I pull them back behind the ADL. My shooting claims another terminator and a few bikers, but his saves are pretty hot. Malys on the icarus takes an arm off a dread.
One unit of bikers arrives in the left corner. Combined meltas and bolters drop all 3 walkers (first blood).
The big unit of bikers form a barricade to protect the grey hunters and characters who pull back behind.
Dreads gun down the icarus lascannon.
My flyer comes back on from the same corner. Venom pulls back to fire on the flanking bikers and kills a couple.
Warrior units push the right side. Maugan fires on the central bikers and they fail their pinning test! The rest of my shooting and missiles take down a couple more bikers and Khan eventually goes down (warlord).
The last unit of bikers also arrive on the left side which means my right side is secure if I can keep the dreads away. Grey hunters advance alongside the pinned bikers. Combined fire kills a few more beasts.
Dreads shift and finish off my rangers.
I bring the jetfighter across the center and beasts make a move to keep the dreads away and possibly keep them from shooting. Warriors form 2 lines so each unit is within scoring distance on the right objective.
Beasts go after the scoring units on the left back objective. I decide to not risk a multi-assault and go for the bikers. Maugan murders most of the squad.
Brandon brings around the flanking bikes for turbo-boosting. He's just out of range due to placement and casualties. He opens fire instead, but just enough wyches and warriors survive to score.
In the middle, the remaining beasts with Maugan and the Baron finish off the bikes, but the rune priest holds them in place contesting that objective.
And with that, the game ends at the bottom of turn 5. We tally things up and the final score is 20-13 in my favor with Brandon scoring first blood and kill points, while I control more objectives and killed his warlord.
Well, I was really pleased to walk away with some points and a minor victory from this match. Brandon has a lot more experience with his army than I do with mine, but the dice went my way this time. Going first with this terrain and Malys's redeploy really helped me this time. Taking out the thunderfire and pinning the terminators during the first turn was just icing on the cake. This was also the 4th game of the day and 7th of the weekend and we were both crazy tired. I had a rough start to the day, but finished up with 69/132 battle points and I figured my paint score would boost me up a bit.
Game #5 is coming up next against a beautiful Draigo/Coteaz army.
CLASH OF THE BLOGGERS!!!!
ReplyDeleteVery nice battle report Aaron. I also would like to add that you have an amazing looking army.
It was a very enjoyable game. I think both of our luck was all over the place in this mission. I also learned a lot of painful lessons about coming up against you. Like learning about bikes not being able to re-roll assault distance.... Anyways, because of what happened at that tournament, my army has radically changed to reflect all of the new challenges that 6th edition presents. Thanks for helping out in that regard.
We are going to have to have a rematch next time I come out. Hopefully with a more decisive victor!