Ard Boyz Round 2

Well, Ard Boyz Round 2 is done and gone. Games 1 & 3 were boring enough that I have little interest in doing full battle reports on them. Game 2 was interesting and might be worth the time if you guys want it. But for now, here's the overview:

Game 1 saw me facing a guy named Beau from Imperial Outpost. He had a pretty stock Marine list of Calgar, Librarian, 7 T-Hammer Termies in a Crusader, 5x Tac Squads with Las/Melta or Flamer/Power Fist, 3 Rhinos, 2 MM Attack Bikes, a Land Raider and a Vindicator.
Dice fail of the game: 14 Bolt Pistol shots into my Seer Council getting 13 hits, 12 wounds... failing 6x 4+ saves despite re-rolls. *sigh*
A big problem with this game was that he's just a slow player. I don't think it was deliberate, that's just how he is. It was a lot of little things, like bringing his entire case of Marines and sorting out the ones he needed at the start of the game rather than having done so prior. All three of his games never got past Turn 4.
Now I know a number of little ways to hurry along a slow player and/or can adjust my strategy or tactics to adapt to this. But I got the real kicker of the day during his deployment phase: a text message that a good friend of mine had died of a sudden heart attack an hour previous. This completely killed my tournament mindset. I didn't even realize there was a problem until it clicked that we were 1:45 into the game and just starting Turn 3. I kicked things into high gear, had a good Turn 3 and was able to push us through most of 4 too. However, it just wasn't quite enough. Dice Down was called right as I was starting my Assault phase. I was just shy of a Minor Victory and those sweep-up assaults would have jumped me to a Major Victory or even a Massacre. Instead, I got stuck with a Draw.
I'm of a rather mixed mind about this game. I should have had the victory in the bag, but didn't stay focussed on the game or my opponent's prevarications. On the other, I think I had extenuating circumstances for allowing a slip like that. I do know that if I ever draw this guy again, I will be requesting a different opponent.

Game 2 was against Zeus (short for Jesus) out from El Paso, TX. He had an EVIL Khorne Chaos Daemons list with 2 Thristers, 47 Letters, 21 Crushers, a Daemon Prince and a Soul Grinder. He also knew what the hell he was doing and played very smart. Neither of us had any spectacular dice fail and it was a hard fought battle. He has a new appreciation for the evils of Eldar. A quote was "I've never had someone do this much damage to my list, especially not in CC. I thought the pointy-ears were pushovers. I was thinking the game was done when you were 'foolish' enough to charge me..."
It was one of the best games I've had in years and we both played to top form. There were some epic combats and both our lists took a beating. However, I had a little more focus on the whole-game strategic as well as superior mobility. The end of Turn 6 saw me in control of 2 of the 3 objectives and with more KP earned. I probably had the 3rd objective too but it was questionable enough that it wasn't worth arguing. End result was a Massacre that I really felt was well earned.

Game 3 was against a guy named Russ, sadly another slow player. However, his wasn't an issue of dithering (too much) but instead his army: Nidzilla + Horde. He had 60-odd Termagaunts, 30-odd Stealers, 2 DakkaFex, 1 Assault Fex, 3 Zoanthropes, 3 Biovores, 7 Warriors, a Winged Tyrant, and a foot Tyrant w 2 Guard. I had one of the most epic fails of my gaming career that game: Eldrad and Council charge to unleash 33 attacks on some Termagaunts and Warriors. I needed a 3+ to-hit... and failed with 27 of the 33 attacks. His return attacks (of course) then managed to wipe out everyone but Eldrad in return. *sigh* Still, by paying attention to the mission and distracting his attention to the flanks, I was able to secure the objective in the last turn with a wall of tanks and Tank Shock. I felt a little cheap winning that way, but my epic fail dice and some other questionable items balance my conscience out. The end result was a Major Victory for me.

Running 2-0-1 put me in 4th place. Had I gotten my Assault Phase at the end of Game 1? I would have had enough points for 2nd at the least. But that would have meant other opponents, other tables... and who cares about might-have-beens? On the other side, that would have probably meant facing more Marines like my list was actually geared for. Meh. The list fared quite nicely and I don't know that I'd make many changes to it. This may or may not matter depending on if guy who took 3rd can get the time off work for the finals. If he drops and I can find the finances, then there's a possibility of heading to Chicago... If it doesn't happen? Well, it means I start thinking for next year. Perhaps my poor Space Wolves will be of a quality to come out and play...

For those of you who care about the composition and placing: There were 24 entrants. 3 Eldar, 2 Chaos Marines, 2 Daemons, 2 Sisters, 2 IG, 2 Bugs, and 11 Marines. The Marine players were 3 Vulkan, 3 Kantor, 2 Khan, 1 Calgar, and 2 normal. In order, the top places went to: Eldar, Sisters, Chaos Marines, Eldar, Chaos Marines, Sisters.