1500pt July Tournament - hyv3mynd's Game #1

The July tournament at Millennium Games was a 1500pt format with judged painting and player ranked sportsmanship & comp.  The breakdown was 15/7/3 battle points for win/draw/loss with up to 15pts for painting and 15pts for sportsmanship/comp.  The new Eldar codex (and wraithknight in particular) was calling to me so I put together this list.  My goal was to use as many painted models as possible with no special characters or duplicates (cept 2 rhinos) to max my soft scores.

Farseer + spirit stone of anath'lan (game #1 warlord - furious charge, prescience, guide, mind war)
Ordo Malleus Inquisitor + terminator armor, psycannon
Henchmen - acolytes x4 w/ melta x2, jokaero
Chimera + searchlight
Guardians x10 + bright lance platform (DE warriors proxy)
Rangers x5
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon, hammer
Rhino + searchlight
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon, halberds x2
Rhino + searchlight
War Walkers x3 + scatter lasers x6
Wraightknight (stock)
Nemesis Dreadknight + teleporter, hvy incinerator




Game #1 was against Bill and his pre-heresy Emperor's Children (C:SM).  The mission was BGNT with Hammer/Anvil deployment.  Coincidentally, Bill crushed me playing the same mission back at the May tournament.  This was my chance for revenge!

Bill's list:
Marneus Calgar
Sternguard x10 + hvy flamer x2, drop pod, locator beacon
Tactical Squad x10 + melta, combi-melta, lascannon
Tactical Squad x10 + melta, combi-melta, missile launcher
Vanguard Vets x10 + relic blade
Thunderfire Cannon
Thunderfire Cannon
Aegis Defence Line + quad gun

We rolled up 5 objectives and Bill got the odd one.  I won the roll and made him go first.  We also had night fight for the first turn.

Bill placed his 3 objectives in a line and followed it with the ADL.  The quad gun was in the middle with the two (scoring) thunderfires closer to me.  Calgar joined the sternguard in the drop pod and the vanguard vets would deep strike.

I didn't want to make a mess of the terrain the TO meticulously arranged so I deployed loosely around it.  I know first hand how much a sternguard alpha strike hurts so I put the more resilient units outside.  I didn't want to lose the wraithknight or guardians w/ attached farseer to get punked by poison or ignores cover shots.  I favored the far side due to a large fantasy building in the center that blocked LoS from his thunderfires to my guardians on foot.  My rangers are outflanking.

Turn 1:

After pondering my blob, Bill decided the potential trades weren't worth it and dropped his pod back by his lines and sent the sternguard into the center.  His first shots were mitigated by night fight.

My first roll in my turn was a perils on the farseer.  I also forgot to use his ghost helm to block the wound.  I followed that by immobilizing my rearmost rhino on terrain!  The rest of my army shifted around for position and shots.  War walkers were able to take out his quad gun as I didn't want that gunning for my walkers.  The rest of my army fired on sternguard but his saves were hot and he only lost 3 or so.

Turn 2:

I think my big monsters were intimidating as Bill opted to bring the vanguard vets into his backfield instead of trying a tricky heroic intervention.  Maybe he was playing safe since he started with 3 objectives to my 2.  I've kept my foot units out of sight of his thunderfires so he puts 4 blasts on the chimera for no damage and the other 4 on war walkers for 1 hull point.  Sternguard fire on the NDK causing 1 wound.

I shunt the NDK up the far flank for a long shot on the vanguard vets.  Walkers get guide and the wraithknight gets prescience (this continues all game).  My mobile rhino pushes around the central building.  My shooting claims several sternguard, a few vanguard,  and the wraithknight explodes the drop pod for first blood.

Turn 3:

Sternguard advance without Calgar.  He drops the orbital strike on my chimera, blowing off the multi-laser.  Thunderfires continue to be inefficient due to me keeping foot units out of sight.  My NDK takes another wound from random shooting.  My lead rhino takes a glancing hit also.

My rangers arrive on the far side and run for the woods by the vanguard vets (and an objective just over the ADL).  The NDK jumps up to assault the vets.

I skirt my wraithknight around.  I'm not playing aggressive with him since he's scoring and I think he loses a fight with Calgar.  Strike knights get out of the rear immobilized rhino (I failed to repair it all game).  The central strike knights disembark to fire.  Their ride will flat-out in front of them during the shooting phase.  My shooting takes out a thunderfire cannon, a couple more sternguard and vanguard, and 2 wounds off Calgar.  I actually landed mind war on Calgar also, beating him by 3 but he made all his invulns.  The NDK assaults the vanguard, takes a 3rd wound, kills 2, they elect to fail morale, and I catch them to keep them locked.

Turn 4:

The central tactical squad sends their melta gunners towards my rhino.  Calgar gets as close to the strike knights as he can.  Surviving sternguard advance on my war walkers.  Meltas explode my rhino.  The rest of his shooting is inconsequential.  Calgar assaults my strike knights and challenges, I decline, lose 3 marines, and my hammer fails to wound.  My NDK knocks over a couple more vets, they choose to fail morale and excape me this time.  Sternguard fail their assault move on war walkers.

I push everything forward now into scoring positions.  I disembark the inquisitor and henchmen to shoot the remaining sternguard and put the chimera between them and Calgar.  My NDK jumps to the center to take on the tac squad.  I finish off the sterguard and the techmarine without a thunderfire with my shooting.  The NDK roasts a few tac marines and fails his assault move.  In assault, my justicar challenges Calgar and dies, but the surviving hammer keeps him tied up.

Turn 5:

Bill's last VGV rallies and comes after my rangers.  He survives overwatch, but my i5 Eldar knock him out before he can swing.  The last thunderfire knocks over a war walker.  The rest of his shooting tries to finish my NDK but fails.  Calgar finishes my strike squad and is left standing in the open.

I line up my inquisitor, henchmen, and guardians on Calgar taking him out for slay the warlord.  War walkers and NDK combine forces to finish off the central tac squad.

And with that, we call the game due to time amongst other things.  I'm scoring 4 objectives to Bill's 1.  I also claimed first blood, slay the warlord, linebreaker, and one heavy support kill for a 16-3 victory.

Well, this game went very well after my initial immobilization and perils rolls.  The final result is more a result of rock/paper/scissors lists and beneficial terrain than anything else.  Bill's army had very little anti-armor and I hid my foot units from his thunderfires for most of the game.  I do think an aggressive drop with his pod and vanguard vets would have kept me back more, especially considering how strong Calgar is in assault.  Either way, Bill is always a fun guy to play against and is one of a dwindling few hobbyists who builds his lists on theme and fluff first, and comes to events to have fun above all else.  He also won "Best Sportsman" for this event.