hyv3mynd @ DaBoyz GT ~ Game #1

After much drinking and many shenanigans the evening following the team event, I went to bed reasonably early and mostly sober.  This was my one big event of the year and I didn't want to compromise my grey matter for the GT.  The picture above was the view from the main gaming hall on Saturday morning before round #1.  One entire wall was floor-to-ceiling glass doors so half of the room had this view all weekend.  A snowy view, a fire in the fireplace, hardwood floors, antler chandeliers overhead, it was quite the rustic venue.  Also a note on pictures:  You'll notice a bright white glare back-lighting the photos.  There was actually a blizzard raging outside that dropped a couple inches of snow.  All the big windows and a bright blizzard washed out these pics so apologies they weren't better.

* A note on my battle reports * I realize and accept that fact that not everyone designs optimized competitive lists.  I realize not everyone plays a tactically perfect game.  The main purpose of my reports is self reflection and improvement based on the situations at hand.  Out of respect to my opponents, I prefer comments to be based on my own list or performance and avoid overly critical comments on my opponent.  This will be a standard disclaimer for every game *

My first opponent was Max Dubois who won "Best Appearance", "2nd Theme", and had the highest sportsmanship score in the entire event.  DaBoyz spread out prize support so the same player can't win more than one prize.  The exception being "Theme" as that is actually player voted, otherwise Max would have also won "Best Sport" and "Best Opponent".  Max is from Quebec, Canada and traveled down with a ton of guys.  Their group all had expertly painted armies, and they started drinking at 9am haha!  Max is also a commission painter and planned to sell this army after the event.  Winning those awards should help drive a price.

Max's army was nearly fully converted ad-mech counts-as grey knights.  My favorite model was the NDK with a servo skull inside a glass tube for a pilot.  When the TO walked by, Max told him our game would be the best looking game of the weekend!

Max's list (I probably messed up the henchmen numbers):
Coteaz
Inquisitor + conversion beamer
Vindicare Assassin
Techmarine + grenades
Techmarine + grenades
Henchmen - 3 servitors w/ plasma cannons (inquisitor here)
Chimera
Henchmen - 3 servitors w/ multi-meltas, jokaero, 3 acolytes w/ plasma (coteaz here)
Chimera
Henchmen - 3 crusaders, 5 assassins
Razorback + assault cannons, psybolt ammo
Henchmen - 3 crusaders, 5 assassins
Razorback + assault cannons, psybolt ammo
Stormraven Gunship (one crusader unit + 2 techmarines here)
Nemesis Dreadknight + teleporter, incinerator
Rifle Dread

Here's my list with psy. powers for game #1 (1850):
Farseer + spirit stone of anath'lan, shard of anaris (game #1 - warlord: 12" use his leadership. Fortune, prescience, shriek)
Spirit Seer (game #1 - Conceal, shriek)
Baron Sathonyx
Wraithguard x5
Wave Serpent + scatter lasers, holofields, ghostwalk matrix
Dire Avengers x5
Wave Serpent + scatter lasers, holofields, ghostwalk matrix
Windrider Jetbikes x3 + cannon
Windrider Jetbikes x3 + cannon
Kabalite Warriors x5
Venom + extra cannon, grisly trophies
Beastmasters x4 + khymerae x12, razorwings x2
Wraithknight
Vaul's Wrath Support Battery x3 shadow weavers
War Walkers x3 + scatter lasers

Game #1 featured 4 objectives as the primary (20 battle points) and kill points as the secondary (10 battle points) with the standard bonus points (1 battle point each) for a possible max of 33 battle points.  Deployment was Dawn of War and we had night fight.  Max would deploy and go first.  The table was a nice GF9 (I believe) set of autumn trees and BLoS plateaus.

 He places one objective centrally with the dread and NDK on it.  The second objective is on my right with the 2 chimera units and vindicare.  Stormraven has a crusader unit with both techmarines inside.  Both razorbacks will roll on, one will be empty.

You can see one of my objectives on the left behind the plateau.  I counter-deploy using a form of refused flank that I've developed with this army.  All my vital units go out of range or sight.  The artillery goes on the opposite flank as a cheap sacrificial bait unit, and the wraithknight (WK from here out) enticingly placed as the only model in firing range for the first turn.  As the baron has most to lose from the vindicare, he is out of range and in position to move behind the biggest BLoS plateau when he moves.  Psykers are in range of the grisly trophies and all 3 characters are joined to the beasts.  This is how I run the beasts for every game.  Plus, I got fortune this game (only 2 games out of 6).  I typically run the serpents as wingmen with the wraithguard always closer to danger.

Here's the artillery bait with my second objective.  I usually place my objectives far apart even outside of my deployment zone due to the ability of bikes to move 48" per turn.  Both bike units are reserved.  Walkers are outflanking.  I don't try to seize and we're off!

Turn 1:

Not much movement or shooting due to night fight.  The rifle dread strips a hull point from a serpent.  The vindicare fails to wound the WK.

I fail my fortune test as well as conceal!  As a result, I keep beasts back out of range of his henchmen and chimeras.  My shooting is ineffective.

End of turn 1 kill points: GK-0, Eldar-0

Turn 2:

The stormraven arrives and angles for my vehicles and explodes my venom for first blood and I lose a couple kabalites.  The rifle dread immobilizes my serpent up on the plateau.  The henchmen and chimeras combine fire on the WK and claim 2 wounds.  The vindicare fails to wound again.

One unit of bikes arrive and hang out by my well defended objective.  Fortune and conceal both go off and the beasts move up but string out to screen my serpents from potential henchmen assault.  My mobile serpent hops up top to launch some long range shield shots.

My walkers arrive on the right and Max actually reminds me to avoid Coteaz's IBEY ability.  There's more than one reason this guy had the top sports score. It takes both serpents, WK, and my artillery to take out one chimera.  The walkers then gun down the plasma cannon servitors what pop out.

End of turn 2 kill points: GK-1, Eldar-2

Turn 3:

The empty razorback arrives and angles for my walkers.  The NDK is still hanging back, but he underestimates my beast movement and gets into assault range.  The chimera, servitors, and razorback combine fire and knock down 2 walkers.  The rifle dread wrecks the immobilized serpent.  The vindicare and stormraven knock my WK down to 1 wound.

I fail my fortune test again!  Turn 3 is too late to play safe so I throw the beasts towards the NDK anyways.  I want to start on the far flank and bounce my way across with assault moves and hit-and-run.  It takes all my shooting to drop the second chimera.  Beasts lose a khymerae to overwatch and make their assault move on the NDK, causing 2 wounds and losing a dog or two.

End of turn 3 kill points: GK-2, Eldar-3

Turn 4:

The last razorback arrives with crusaders and assassins.  Combined fire on this flank will take out my last walker and the WK.

The stormraven goes into hover mode and drops off one terchmarine who torches my kabalites.  The skimmer and rifle dread take out my last serpent.  Ouch!  I lost 4 units this turn.  My beasts kill off the NDK, literally one wound at the lowest initiative step of the unit causing the final failure.

My second unit of bikes arrive.  Beasts get fortune, conceal, and prescience.  Dire avengers come around to gun down the techmarine.  Wraithguard fire a couple shots at the raven and bring it down.  Artillery tries to barrage Coteaz but scatter off.

Beasts head for the rifle dread and make their assault.  The baron claims 2 hull points and a razorwing gets the last one and they consolidate into the forest.

End of turn 4 kill points:  GK-6, Eldar-7

Turn 5:

Henchmen move up for assault.  They will eventually lose the techmarine to overwatch and fail their assault move.

He circles the wagons around his only objective, but the cost of moving all those vehicles and plasma cannon servitors means no damage is dealt.

I make my final push.  Wraithguard and dire avengers easily gun down the henchmen that failed their assault, with the avengers running onto my back left objective via battle focus.  Bikes take top mid and back right objectives with turbo boosts.  Beasts multi-assault both razorbacks and wreck both with the help of the baron.

We roll for the end and it's game over!  I have objectives 3-1 and kill points 11-6.  We drew on StW, I had linebreaker, and Max got first blood.  Final score was 32-2 in my favor.

Well, this game worked out in the end, but my dice had me off to a shaky start.  Getting fortune had me feeling confident, but I failed the psy test two of five turns.  Losing venom as first blood and both serpents by turn three had me really concerned.  I did get lucky by taking out the NDK and rifle dread in my opponent's turns as the consolidate + 12" move and assault following allowed me to roll up a flank and across the entire table over three turns.  I think the turning point was where my opponent decided to commit the airborne henchmen to my backfield objective instead of hitting my beasts from the rear.  The grenade dispenser techmarine paired with assassins could have caused enough damage to neuter them and allow him to score the objective that the beasts later cleared.  Max was a great opponent the whole game.  I feel really lucky to throw down across from an army that won "Best Appearance", "2nd Best Theme", and the top ranked player in sportsmanship.

Next up is a game against a 3 year blog follower who was toting a Taudar list with 2 riptides, commander helpful, bikeseer, and broadsides for some really nasty combo shooting.