1500Point - Play the Game, Read the Story GT Report - Games 3 & 4

     Last week I covered my first 2 games of Play the Game, Read the Story’s annual GT (You can check them out here). This week I'll be hitting the 3rd & 4th games against an Ork Horde lead by Ghazghkull, and a near mirror match against my 3rd Tyranid opponent of the day.

Check out both games below the fold:

Here’s what I brought:

HQ

Tyranid Prime w/ Lash Whip & Bone Sword, Toxin Sacs

Elite

2 Hive Guard

5 Ymgarls

Troops

12 Termagants

Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and +2 Powers

5 Genestealers w/ Broodlord

Fast Attack

5 Shrikes w/ Lash Whip & Bone Sword, Toxin Sacs

Heavy Support

2 Carnifex w/ 2X Twin Link Devourers

3 Biovores

Total: 1496

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Round #3

Mission: Purge the Alien

Deployment: Dawn of War

Bonuses: +1 Killed an opponent's HQ in a Challenge, +1 if your opponent has no Heavy Support at the end of the game. 

Will’s Army: (approximate)

HQ:

Ghazghkull

MekBoy w/KFF

Elites:

15 Lootaz

Troops:

20 Boyz w/ Power Claw'd Nob
20 Boyz w/ Power Claw'd Nob

20 Boyz w/ Power Claw'd Nob

20 Boyz w/ Power Claw'd Nob

20 Gretchin 

Fast Attack:

Dakka Jet

Heavy Support:

3 Killa Kans

     Looking at Will's list, and considering it was a killpoint game, I knew that I was going to have a hell of a time.  9 Killpoints to 9 Killpoints meant that the game was going to be even on that score, but my opponent had roughly 3 times as many wounds as I had. Plus, there was Ghaz to consider. I've never had great luck in taking him down before.

     Will deployed first, stretching out his deployment along most of his table side. From Left to Right he deployed Boyz - Lootaz -  Gretchin - Boyz w/ Mech - Boyz - Boyz w/ Ghaz - Kans in front of the Boyz.  The first thing I noticed was that Ghaz was deployed in the right table half. I decided to perform a deny flank maneuver.

Photo taken during Will's first turn. 

     I responded by deploying the majority of my force in the 1 foot square to my left (Ymgarl in special deployment and Gaunts in reserve). All of my monsters were at the front, followed up by the Shrikes. I knew that a Loota Volley could do some wounds, but I could easily spread the wounds around without much damage to any of those units.  The Genestealers hid behind the building, ready to throw out Endurance to whomever needed it, while the biovores peeked around the corner to clobber boyz.

     The first turn was relatively uneventful. Will moved forward, and I did as well. His shooting did maybe a wound, and my first Biovore volley scattered, doing a handful of wounds to several units.

     Will's second turn had him slowly moving the horde left. The Gretchin behind the rock pillar had become pinned by the Biovores, and helped to impede his movement.

     Second turn had me in Dakkafex range of the left-most Boyz unit. A full volley from the Dakkafex unit, followed up by the Shrike assault, wiped the unit out before any Boyz got to strike.  

     My Hive Guard take down 1 Kan, while the Biovores get over a dozen Boyz. Here's one of those moments where I turn off my brain. I'm thinking that my Ymgarls will be able to charge into the Lootaz, and keep them tied up into his turn. I'm fine with the loss of a killpoint at the time, but in retrospect, he was shooting down my big bugs, who could take the shots. I should have run away with them. Anyway, I didn't anticipate my opponent rolling a 3 for shots. I thought a few would survive, cause a wound or 2 and maybe cause the mob to flee, but no such luck. The entire charging unit is wiped out.

     Will spends another turn walking towards me, and the Lootaz turn their attention to the Tervigon, landing only 2 wounds. Will's Dakka Jet also comes in and kills the biovores (not shown in the pictures). In response, my DakkaFexs shoot down the flyer, the Hive Guard take down the last Kans, and the Shrikes move into wipe out the Lootaz. The Tervigon and the Genestealers gang up on a small unit of boyz, but they hold with a leadership roll of snake-eyes.

 

     Turn 4 comes around and both of us jockey for position. He comes forward, while I don't engage. I'm trying to position all of my units for a last assault. I pick off one of his two remaining unengaged Boyz squads, while the Stealers and Tervigon kill off the last few Boyz in their combat.

     At this point, we know that the battle is done, but there is a key bonus point to be fought over: Kill an HQ in a challenge! We set up the last assault so Ghaz can go toe to toe with my Prime.  

     The remainder of a Boyz unit accompanies Ghaz into combat against the majority of my army. The only one left out is the Tervigon. My Prime manages to land a wound or two on Ghaz, but can't finish the job. Ghaz creams the Prime. My consolation begins next turn when everyone else tears Ghaz apart.

 

     Will and I talked about the game afterward and he said that it was clear that he made a big mistake in the deployment phase. By stretching his forces across the board, he diluted his army. I was able to take down units one at a time, concentrating my forces, while isolating his. In the end, I lost the Ymgarls and my Prime. He also managed to do around 9 wounds to the 2 Carnifexes, but with Endurance and It Will not Die, they kept on regaining wounds.    

     

A big win bumped me up a table to face:

Luck-OOOOOOOOO!!!

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Round #4

Mission: At the beginning of turn 2, the active player rolls to see what the mission is: 1-2 Relic, 3-4 Big Guns, 5-6 Crusade

Deployment: Dawn of War

Bonuses: +1 Opponent has no Troops, +1 if you destroy more units in close combat. 

Ben’s Army: (approximate)

HQ

Tyranid Prime w/ Dual Bone Swords

Elite

Doom! in a Pod

6 Ymgarls

Troops

Termagants

Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and +2 Powers

Termagants

Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and +2 Powers

Fast Attack

3or4 Shrikes w/ Lash Whip & Bone Sword, Toxin Sacs

Gargoyles

Heavy Support

2 Carnifex w/ 2X Twin Link Devourers

     

     This mission had us start off with unknown objectives, we'd roll to see what they were turn 2. With that in mind, I was the first to deploy.

     I deployed centrally with the intent to hold the middle of the board in case the mission turned out to be the relic. My Hive Guard were stationed in the ruins to the left. With Doom as their only target, I wanted to keep them in cover, ready for the kill. My Shrikes were to run up the left/center, finding cover behind the central ruin, with the DakkaFexs and Tervigon holding the right/center. The Biovores were set aside in the right most crater and the gaunt unit was stretched out to grant cover saves & act as a speed bump. The Genestealers would eventually infiltrate and jump into the central building. 

      Ben deployed his Shrikes, Gargoyles, a Tervigon and his Fex Star, while keeping the rest in reserve. I assume he didn't want the Gaunts to get caught in a First Blood loss.

I

     I swung my army like a closing door on turn 1. The Biovores moved to be screened by the Gaunts, while shooting down the Gargoyles. Their barrage killed all but a few of them.

     During Ben's turn, he moved his army forward and shot up my gaunt unit. Turn 2 is when the action started to heat up. We rolled for the mission and it's Crusade. I get a lucky roll and get 3 objectives to Ben's 2.

     Turn 2, both of our Ymgarl units pop. I send mine to speed bump/split target priority, while his targets my Biovores. My Ymgarls get shot to bitz, while Ben's is able to eventually take down the Biovores.   I send

     I continue to move up, and shoot down Ben's Shrikes. Having played them for so long, I know that they'd murder everything of mine. His remaining Gargoyles come to lend a hand to the Ymgarls, and there's a dogpile around the remaining Biovores. I spawn with the Tervigon, and the combined assault kills the gargoyles and Ymgarls, along with the last Biovore. With that, my deployment zone is secure. 

     With my attention on the Shrikes and Ymgarls, Ben uses the opportunity to move forward and wear down my Carnifexes, killing 1, putting 3 wounds on the other, and 1 on the Prime. 

(Not pictured)  To the left, my Shrikes have been staying just out of Dakkafex range and guarding one of the objectives near Ben's side. When Ben moved his Dakkafex unit up, I knew it was time to strike. I was keeping him at out of dakka range, 24inches, but he had to move closer to me to hit my Dakkafex unit. With a jump and an easy 7 inch charge, I attacked. My initial assault did exactly enough wounds to kill his HQ & 2 Carnifexes. In an unexpected reprisal, I paid for my assault when Ben's 2 Tervigons, and about 3 turns of spawns from each, killed all 5 of my Shrikes in a flurry of shooting.

     Ben cleared up the North side of the board, and solidified his grip his two objectives.  Time was running down and to save time, I told Ben to just use dice instead of Gaunts. 

     Having learned from my mistakes made earlier in the day, Doom becomes a footnote in this battle. You can see the pod he arrived in. Doom's 1st Spirit Leech didn't cause a wound on either the Tervigon or the small Gaunt unit (roll 5 on 3D6!), and then I just backed up, preventing any more wounds. The Hive Guard moved during my turn, and that's all she wrote.

     At this point I tried to push onto one of Ben's objective, but after counting up the points, there didn't seem to be a way for me to get a big win. We were also close to time so we decided to call it. Damn you Ben for spawning over 60 gaunts!

     Ben controlled 2 objectives to my 3. He had First Blood, but I had Linebreaker an Warlord, giving me a minor win. Since the difference of a minor win (6 points) and a major (7) was only a point, I didn't sweat it.  

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      I had 2 minor wins, a major win and a minor defeat putting me on the 4th table for my final game.

     In my final post of the event I'll go over my final game, what I thought about the comp system, and my final thoughts.

Thanks for reading,

-Crispy