Ard Boyz Round 2, Battle 2

Neither my first nor third battles were that tactically interesting. The details are a bit hazy, but they were basically bum-rushing, late game objective grabs and generally un-challenging and boring.

But the SECOND game... oh, that was a good one. Makes me want to travel out to El Paso sometime to return the favor...

I drew Zeus (short for Jesus) and his very nasty Khorne Daemons army. Ironically, right before the pairings a friend of mine was telling me about the list and just how brutal it was. (Ian and his Sisters didn't face Zeus, but was on a table next to him the first game.) I made a crack about how it would be just my luck and that I'd pull that army for the second battle...

As a note, this is just a reconstruction from memory. Some specifics of positioning or wounds caused may not be perfectly accurate... but should be correct enough to show what happened. If something looks to have moved too far, this is purely a fault of the reconstruction.

To save you back-tracking on what's what:
My List: Eldrad w 10-man Council in Yellow Serpent, Farseer w 8-man Council in Yellow Serpent, 2x6 Dragons in Red Serpents, 1x10 Banshees in Green Serpent, 1x10 Fire Storm Guardians w Destructor Warlock in Black Serpent, 3x Guardian Jetbikes, 1x DAVU Falcon w Scatter Laser turret, 3x Scatter Laser War Walkers.
His List: 2x Blood Thirsters, 3x7 Blood Crushers, 4x13 Blood Letters, 1x Soul Grinder, 1x Khorne Daemon Prince.

Another interesting thing about this tourney: the terrain fairy was on strike. The store had stacks of terrain on the walls, but almost every table had crap for cover. This was actually one of the "better" boards in that it had 5 pieces, though most were near useless with how they were positioned. The board looked generally like this:The two round sections were craters and the ruins were all Cities of Death single-story with very open LOS through them. If you look to the right of the board: his Wave 1 was the top selection of Thirsters, Crushers and Soul Grinder. His Wave 2 was the Letters and Prince.

TURN 1: Zeus won the roll for turn choice and decided to go first. I think he was worried about getting guys on the board as fast as possible. I put everything into Dawn of War Reserves, except the Jetbikes which went into normal Reserves. He rolled for his Wave... and got a 2! Then I got a second lucky break: his Daemon Prince deviated 10" back to land 1/2" off the board and kill himself with a Deep Strike Mishap! Neither of these two items was THAT critical to the game, but certainly helped alleviate the pressure early on.He went heavy left, obviously hoping to draw me over there and away from the mass of objectives.

For my turn, I obliged moved on at the left. I knew my mobility could get me to the objectives when needed. I also knew I'd need to concentrate my fire and eliminate entire squads as fast as possible to avoid getting bogged down in close combat. I had some nice Night Fight rolls and blasted a few Letters that had strayed into my sights. Knowing he had a bunch more Daemons to drop in, I castled up my forces to keep him from Deep Striking into the middle of them.In retrospect, this probably wouldn't have mattered since I had the speed to get away... but I wanted him thinking I was afraid of his assaults and going more shooty.

TURN 2: At the start of this turn the first objective went live... right between our forces. Ouch... especially when a unit of Crushers and a Thirster dropped on top of it. This pretty much decided where the main engagement would be. The Soul Grinder also dropped in and popped a War Walker (Immobilized) while the Letters on the left all backed off to avoid my guns.

Soul Grinder, meet Fire Dragons. Two Weapon Destroyed and an Immobilized meant it wasn't dead, but wasn't a threat either. Since this opponent wasn't shooty, both Councils Fortuned themselves rather than their rides; moving up to face the right flank threat. A nice round of Falcon and Serpent shooting also dropped a bunch of Letters. Then a bunch of fire also went into the Crushers and Thirster, but Night Fight and saves kept the wounds to a minimum and spread about the unit.

TURN 3: Shock, horror and surprise... a Khorne list opted to charge! All he could get was Crushers into the Council Serpents. Sadly, his attacks worked as expected and managed to drop both Serpents. However, they were both Penetrating 5's... and Destroyed results don't hurt passengers.

Neither Council was Pinned, so the scrum REALLY started. Eldar charged Khorne! Hah. My opponent confessed he thought I was insane... but then he learned what Seer Councils can do. He was nicely bunched up for Destructors. Add on a nice charge and the were Crushers hurting for little damage to the Councils. The Dragons finished off the Soul Grinder and Night Fight suppressed most everything else that was interesting.

TURN 4: Here the second objective went live... right in the middle of his forces. Bah! It was time for his retribution too, with the Thirster and a squad of Letters jumping into the scrum. Fortuned Saves kept the Thirster from doing anything and Doom kept the wound total about even.

Now I had to take some risks this turn... that big squad of Crushers up top got Doomed by Eldrad, shot up, and then charged by the Banshees. They lost 1/2 their squad in this, but the Crushers didn't get away unscathed either. I also finished off that first Letter squad and moved my Dragon Serpent so the third Crusher squad couldn't charge into the scrum. The Guardian Serpent made a jump to mid-table in hopes of distracting him a bit and positioning them in case we ran out of time on 5 or something. Then we went into CC and the Scrum saw off the last Crusher there. This meant Eldrad and all those witchblade toting Warlocks could start throwing their attacks into the "softer" Letters...

TURN 5: Thirster 2 jumped my lines to eat the Fire Dragons while the letters took down the Dragon Serpent. The Crushers up there also finished off the Banshees... a painful sacrifice, but it kept them occupied for the turn needed. The Crushers on the right took the Guardian bait and double charged with the Letters to block th Serpent's rear hatch. But all those attacks meant a Pen 6 was almost inevitable. It Exploded, I lost some Guardians, and the squad was still free to play on my turn. But best of all, the Letters get beaten down by witchblades and I win combat by 10 wounds. Even the Thirster loses his last wound against that many rolls...

With the big Scrum ending at a perfect time, I see a golden opportunity to wreak more havoc. Eldrad and Co head north to wipe the last of the Curshers there and then spread out so the Thirster can't jump their line and contest the objective. The Dragon Serpent and Stormies finish the arc to isolate the 2nd objective. The Stormies unleash their fire on the Letters... and manage to kill all but one! Massed Flamer templates for the win, but it did gimp my plans to charge them. :-p Meanwhile the Farseer and Co hit the right Crusher unit to draw them away from the objectives as well as pin them in place. The Falcon got out of the Thirster's charge range... and then failed Night Fight to shoot it.

TURN 6: Then the last objective comes in. I have a 3/4 chance that it'd be somewhere easy for me to grab. But no, Fate has to be a fickle bitch and it pops right in the middle of his unit of Letters on the left. *sigh* Fortunately, the FarSeer and Co manage to hang on against the Crushers. The Council successfully frustrated the Thirster from jumping them, so it decides to drop a tank instead. It was Immobilized and Weapon Destroyed, but not dead. I'm not reseting the entire Vassal game just to fix this one item. :p

And the killing blow is applied. Tank Shock denies him the objective on the left. (I actually had my tank such that I probably had it in my favor, but it was questionable.) Then the Dragons pop that last Letter while the Stormies advance to grab the objective. I had two objectives solid, so even though the Crushers popped the Farseer it wouldn't have mattered if they Consolidated to contest. (They rolled a 1 anyways...)

Objectives: 2 Eldar, 1 Contested
Kill Points: 9 Eldar, 8 Daemons
Final Result: Massacre for the Eldar, with a bonus point for having more Scoring units in his deployment zone (2) than he had in mine (0).

Close, fun, nail-biting, and tactically challenging. This was a top-notch game, army and opponent.

Cheers and hope you've enjoyed the read. (And Alex, I haven't forgotten your question on Outflanking Genestealers...)

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.

Mech Eldar for Ard Boyz Round 2

Hey there folks... I've managed to get a couple games in using the Round 2 scenarios and I think I have the list I want to run. However, I'm always open to suggestions.

So a few caveats:
1. I don't have the interest to rush my Jetlocks to a level I'd consider WYSIWYG.
2. I can only find 5 of my Wave Serpents. (But 3 Prisms and 4 Falcons... go figure...) I have and can field just about anything else in the codex.
3. I know the list is low on Troops. The bikes go in Reserves and only come out to take down small units and/or grab objectives. (I'll miss the foil of my Wraithguard, but I don't think people in this round are going to be baited into wasting their shots against them as much. Plus, I need the Fortune support for the Seer Councils.)
4. Most everything will be looking to jump down my opponent's throat. 2 years ago I got cheated in a round and ended up with 6th. Last year I qualified but wasn't able to attend Regionals due to SCA commitments. So I'm setting my goal high: placing or doing well just isn't enough, I want 1st Overall. So the point of this list isn't just to win, it's to take some risks to win big. I think that's the only way to have a viable shot at sweeping the tournament.

Eldrad 210
Farseer w Fortune, Runes of Witnessing, & Singing Spear 98
10 Warlocks, Enhance, 2x Embolden, 2x Destructor, 3x Singing Spears, Wave Serpent w 2x Shuri-Cannons 404
10 Warlocks, Enhance, 2x Embolden, 2x Destructor, 3x Singing Spears, Wave Serpent w 2x Shuri-Cannons 404
8 Fire Dragons, Exarch Upgrade, DB Flamer, Crack Shot, Wave Serpent w 2x Shuri-Cannons 245
8 Fire Dragons, Exarch Upgrade, DB Flamer, Crack Shot, Wave Serpent w 2x Shuri-Cannons 245
8 Banshees, Exarch Upgrade, Executioner, Acrobatics, War Shout, Wave Serpent w 2x Shuri-Cannons 260
3 Guardian Jetbikes, Shuri-Cannon 76
3 Guardian Jetbikes, Shuri-Cannon 76
3 Guardian Jetbikes, Shuri-Cannon 76
8 Warp Spiders, Exarch Upgrade, 2x Death Spinners, Power Blades 203
8 Warp Spiders, Exarch Upgrade, 2x Death Spinners, Power Blades 203

2500/2500

One debate is swapping a squad of Spiders and a GJB for a DAVU Falcon w Holofields, Stones, and Shuri-Cannon turret and chin. However, I think the firepower of the Spiders will probably be worth more than the durability of the HoloFalcon.

Cheers and thanks for any feedback! (And yes, there will be battle reports, win or lose...)

Reading your opponent's strategy

"Know yourself but not your enemy and you will lose as often as you win."
-Sun Tzu

So Sildani on the Warseer boards asked "Do you find yourself anticipating your opponent's moves, a turn or two in advance?... Basically, I'd like to know how you became so tactically astute so I can similarly elevate my game. And yes, I've read Sun Tzu and Clausewitz and have applied them, so at least I can say I've won more than I've lost."

My answer, with some updates:
Thinking ahead a turn or two is certainly a vital skill to learn. If you can discern your opponent's tactics for the next turn, you'll certainly be at an advantage to winning games. A tank can sit a bit farther into cover, a unit can back off a touch in hopes that Difficult Terrain tests trip up Assaulters, etc... Little things like this allow you to lever numerous small advantages that can tip the game in your favor.
But to dominate games consistently, you need to understand and plan for the entire game from beginning to end. This doesn't mean you should try to crunch the odds of every single possible move and attack... that's for computers, autists and savants. I'm talking about understanding their game plan; their strategy. If you can grasp that, not only will their tactical choices become easily predictable, but you can manipulate their own strategy to your benefit.
Figuring out someone's strategy can be a bit daunting. I don't follow a set pattern, but a crude version using the 5 basics of writing would be:
1. Who are they? Typically easiest with a regular group, as you know each other, who plays how, what their confidence level is, etc. Are they the type to play for the win, play for the kill, play by the statistics, or play for fun/story?
2. What are they fielding? It is critical to take a minute before you start and read your opponent's army list. The unit selection, weaponry, balance and overall composition can be a HUGE insight into their strategy and how they play. A large part of doing this effectively is having done your research before-hand.
3. When are they going to try ploys or grab objectives? Example: Objective capturing. Some armies Infiltrate and camp objectives from the start, others will advance onto them in a wall of iron mid-game, and others will just ignore them to jump back on them at the endgame. When you understand the timing of their list, you can understand when you need to be on guard versus when you can attack unimpeded.
4. Where are they going to focus? Locate the key points of the field (firelanes, hardpoints, objectives, etc) and then think of what would concern your opponent and their list. Also look at your list from their point of view and locate the concerns there. Might they avoid a courtyard if there's a unit of Reapers at the end? Is it worth putting the Reapers there anyways to keep him from flanking your gunline? Would adding an objective or sacrificial unit there tempt a squad to walk into the Reaper's killing zone?
5. How are they going to do unto you? This is where you add together all of the above. Try to envision what their overall strategy at the start of the game and how it adapts to the game. Even just a basic sense of their plan can be enough to take control of the game.
Let's take an example from my first Ard Boyz game. I don't think I'd ever played Chris before this, but he wasn't a complete stranger either. We'd chatted tactics and seen the other at prior tournies and just never faced off. I knew right off from this that he was an aggressive player who'd go for the throat if it was offered, but also smart enough to remember the objectives and play for the win. Looking at his list, I saw an aggressive list with some decent mobility. His defensive units were good versus range, but would suffer against CC, flamers or out of cover. They relied on the mechanized line to hold the opponent away. His aggressors were hella scary at close range, but ignorable at long. This made me bet that he'd go for an aggressive armoured push that tried to hit my lines at the same time or at least as a one-two punch.
So with this in mind, I placed my objectives and Wraith units all central. This was a solid a block of durable Troops sitting on/near 3 objectives. He couldn't just ignore them and would require something strong to dislodge them. I figured this would be his Sternguard and Termies, plus maybe a Dread or two. The thing is, it didn't matter to my strategy if my center held or fell. The key was to get him to commit a massive force centrally. This allowed my speedy units to run the edges, take out his defensive Scoring units, and still be in position to jump in and grab/contest objectives at leisure.
But this was only if he chose to follow the most tempting and likely strategy. I also made secondary plans for him pushing his forces to one side, splitting up and going for my flank, or just sitting back and waiting for me to come to him.

Said another way, the specific targets and even the results of what his Land Raider chose to shoot while advancing were incidental. That the Land Raider was going to advance to place the Termies seems obvious, but is still crucial to know and not definitive. But deliberately placing my objectives and army such that I was able to guide his strategy, causing the Land Raider to go for the center? That's how I took control of the game and won.

My #1 piece of advice for players looking to up their game? Talk to your opponent. After the game, grab a beer/soda/water and chat about what worked and what didn't for both of you. Post-game debrief is the most useful and informative tool. Talk about what their strategy was and why they chose what they did, then compare that to what you expected them to do. Also discuss what could have gone different and any mistakes made. Be fair and objective about things and you'll get some excellent feedback. It can also key you off to ploys or stratagems they might try next time. For example, I chatted with Chris afterwards and found out he'd realized he'd been snookered in my Turn 3, but didn't have the position or mobility to regroup. His comment was "I won't fall for that one again..." So now I know I won't be able to get away with this same plan next time. Maybe I'll try a swapped or refused flank instead. :-p

Anyways, I hope you have all found this useful or at least interesting. Cheers and good hunting!

Ard Boyz, Round 1, Battle 3

AAANnnd the last one. Round 3 was against a guy named Reagan with a remarkably well painted Ultramarines force:
Chaplain Cassius leading 7 Assault Termies w T-Hammer/SShields in a Land Raider Crusader
2 Dreadnaughts w Multi-Meltas in Drop Pods
1 Tac Squad w Multi-Melta in Drop Pod
2x Tac Squads w Multi-Melta, Meltagun, Pfist Sgt in Rhinos
2x Tac Squads w Multi-Melta, Flamer, Pfist Sgt in Rhinos
3x Vindicators

Simple, to the point and totally the type of list I know how to break. He won the roll and grabbed first turn. (I didn't win a single turn choice all day, but was still given the one I wanted every time... Hah!) He deployed in a standard aggressive phalanx. I went with the Wraithguard forward again and put both Spiders and all the Jetbikes in Reserves. It looked a little something like this:

Now it may look like I'm a little tightly grouped to be facing 3x Vindies, but the front of the ruin was solid and I knew he wouldn't be getting LOS for the shots. I wanted them to look like juicy targets for the Dreads... and oh did I get my wish.
Turn 1 saw both Dreads slam down right on top of my Wraithguard. I knew I was safe from the Vindies at that moment. He used a Dread to pop the Banshee Serpent, killing 4. The other targetted the Wraithguard and killed one, as did a stray Vindie shot.
My Dragons piled out of their tank and dropped the first Dread (killing 2 of themselves in the explosion), while the Banshees slipped over and stole their ride. The Wraithguard removed the other threat and advanced to where the Vindies could see them as I was now protected by Fortune. My right Dragon Serpent moved Fast to try and bait the Assault Termies into getting out early so I could shoot the snot out of them... And then my Wraithlords started Shooting. I destroyed the Land Raider, a Vindicator and Weapon Destroyed another Vindie. Oh yeah...

His turn I couldn't believe my fortune... he dropped a Tac squad in range of my Banshees. I'm used to them having targets to take down, but it's not every day that someone makes a target of themselves. His shooting was incidental and mostly he moved to swarm bodies onto the objectives and/or into the maw to slow me down. The nice thing was Cassius and Co taking my bait and going after the Dragon Serpent. They did manage to wreck it, but it meant an extra turn they weren't beating on my Wraithguard.
My turn saw the Dragons reap revenge on the Termies, dropping 4 thanks to DB flamers, Doom and a nice dose of luck. One Wraithlord Flamed and charged them, but failed to do any damage. The others also forgot what they were doing and missed with their shots. The Wraithguard dropped the last Vindie threat while the Banshees cleaned house: killing 9, losing 1 to the Sgt, and then dropping him with No Retreat hits. The Dragons meltabombed both Drop Pods, managing to kill 2 more of their number and a Wraithguard in the explosion. Spiders also came in on my left and took advantage of a Serpent popping a Rhino, but they only killed 1 guy.

Turn 3 saw him wipe the Banshees, blast my Dragons on the right and generally continue his path to swarm the objectives.
I retaliated for the loss of the Dragons, sadly such that I couldn't charge that turn. My surviving Dragons moved on to pop another Rhino, bringing their kill total up to 4 vehicles that game... and also killing another one of their own in the explosion. These guys were a little overzealous... Combined Serpent, Spider and Jetbike fire on the far left removed an entire squad, though the Spiders had to use their powerblades in CC to kill the last couple of guys.

So things at this point were pretty much solid, presuming I took care of a few odds and ends. His Termies finally killed my Wraithlord and then charged my Wraithguard, but got killed before they could attack thanks to Enhance. The other two Wraithlords wandered around and popped vehicles and tidying up. Here's what things looked like after my movement phase in Turn 6:

That little gap in my lines at the front left of his tank? Totally deliberate. I wanted to make sure that when I popped the tank, he couldn't do an Emergency Disembark and remain within 3" of the objective. Of course with all this preparation, the tank died to the first volley of Warp Spider fire. I chose to shoot them first since AP- won't cause Penetrating Explodes. He then tried disembarking on the side facing the objective, until I asked if he could do so without being in 1" of an enemy model. The two guys then took a full volley from the second Spider squad and died several times over. This gave me a full Wipe Out.

Final Result: Massacre #3. 24 Battle Points to 0.

This was enough to give me Overall with 68 points total. One other guy managed 3x Massacres, but didn't get enough extra points and had 67. The next closest scorer had 52...

All in all, a fun day gaming. Though there were a lot of really solid lists, any rules exploitations were minimal. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to spend the winnings on and if I'm free to head to Round 2!

Ard Boyz, Round 1, Battle 2

Battle 2, "Urban Warfare"
This was against Andrew and his Tau. He's a decent player that does decently at small events, but isn't quite top caliber.
His list was:
1 Crisis Commander w Plasmagun & Cyclic Ion Cannon
1 Crisis Commander w Fusiongun & Flamer
3 Crisis Suits w Plasmaguns
3 Crisis Suits w Missile Pods
6 Stealth Suits
2x 14 Kroot w 6 Hounds
1x 8 or so Fire Warriors in Devilfish w Flechette, Disruption Pods & SMS
2x 12 Fire Warriros on foot
2x 8 Pathfinders in Devilfish w Flechette, Disruption Pods & SMS
2x Pirahna w Fusionguns
2x Hammerheads w Railguns
2x Broadsides w Multi-trackers

I'll confess that I mentally licked my chops looking at his list. I had been concerned about this mission as my specialist army had 28 possible KP, but his was running a tasty 36! The table was a City Fight board with 6" roads and lots of 2-3 story ruined buildings. Andrew won the roll for first turn and chose to start things off. I think he was hoping to get as much fire into me as possible... He started his two foot FWs on the field while Eldrad and the Wraithguard went out alone against them. With Dawn of War pushing us off-table, it was going to be a test of my mobility and resiliency against his massed guns.

That wall of guys doesn't even include his 2x Outflanking Kroot squads and second Pathfinders! (I forgot to add them and wasn't going to reset everything just for that...)

The first turn saw us mostly moving onto the board. He moved on a bit cautiously, trying to cover lanes of fire without over commiting himself. He did a neat encirclement of the Wraithguard and threw a bunch of fire into them, but only got 2 thanks to their Toughness and Cover.
For my turn I didn't fire a single shot. Eldrad Fortuned his group up and then everything moved Fast, Turbo-Boost or Ran. The Wraithguard did spread back a little so the Spiritseer could cover two of the Wraithlords from Wraithsight.


Turn 2 saw his Pirahnas bop left to try and pop the left Dragon Serpent, but failing. Some Markerlight fire also lit up the left for the Railguns, but also failed. Serpent Shields are great! Then Markerlight fire and the entire rest of his army opened up on the Wraithguard... and killed three. T6 and 3+ Fortune, baby. He also had a Kroot squad Outflank to my right. Rather than tarpitting the Wraithlord like they should have, instead they charged the Wave Serpent in hopes of cutting my mobility... Good idea, but it didn't pan out.
When I saw how much of my army was still alive and ready to jump down his throat, I knew it was over but for the fat lady. It was just a question of how long it would take Andrew to realize.
So Eldrad and the Wraithguard charged; being closer than they appear in the prior pic. Between them they dropped a Devilfish, killing all but 3 guys on board and Pinning the squad, and wiped an entire 12-man FW squad. Yum, yum. Dragons jumped ship and dropped Piranhas and a Hammerhead while Spiders dropped a Devilfish and Pathfinders. But the worst was to the Kroot. My Serpent flew away and Mr. Wraithlord walked in with fuel sputtering from his flamers... 39 hits made for 27 wounds and they all went away. The only items that went poorly this turn were the Jetbikes failing to do much to the Stealth Suits and my Spiders jumping into terrain and killing half their squad in the process.


Turn 3 saw Andrew trying his best to recoup something. His other Kroot squad must have seen the slaughter of their kin and did not arrive this turn. He then turned enough fire into the weak Spider squad to destroy it. He also dropped half the Dragons on the left, so they got back in their tank and hid. The Pathfinder/Jetbike fight continued with another press. He also focussed two units of Crisis Suits and his Fusion Gun Crisis on the Wraithguard, but failed to kill a single one...
My turn saw the upstart Tau really put down. Two the Wraithlords passed Wraithsight and decided to kill tanks while they were at it. The third passed Wraithsight too but was left with no LOS to anything. Spiders then smashed some suits, Wraithguard smashed more on the charge, and my Banshees decided they didn't need out of the tank anyways and went looking for new targets.
This was the end of Turn 3:


This was the point that Andrew realized it was done. We still had 45 minutes left in the round, but there was no way I'd be getting anything less than a Massacre. KP were at 25 to 2.
Final result: 24 Battle Points to 0.

Andrew learned a few good things during this game... One bit of advice I gave him was to consider a sacrifice squad next time he plays Dawn of War. Something that goes way out on the front line to push the enemy back. It would have seriously slowed down my Wraithguard to have started farther back.

(Whew, almost there! Next time I'm bringing my camera as setting these up in Vassal takes almost as long as the actual game... :-p )

Ard Boyz, Round 1, Battle 1

Battle 1, "Illusions in the woods"
The first pairing of the day saw me facing a guy named Chris and his Crimson Fist army. My first thought was "Ugh, this will be ugly." Of the 22 entrants, Chris was one of the three other guys at the tournament that I consider "GT quality"; ie skilled enough to have a serious shot at taking Best General or Overall at a 60 person GT. I was going to have to do something special to pull this one off. Thankfully, it was an objectives mission and mech Eldar excel at those.

He brought:
Pedro Kantor
Master of the Forge w a Conversion Beamer
9x Scouts with Sniper Rifles & Cameleoline
2x Dreadnaughts w Multi-Meltas & Heavy Flamers
Venerable Dread w Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamers, in Drop Pod
7x Assault Teminators, 5 w T-Hammer/S-Shield and 2 w Lightning Claws, in Land Raider Crusader w Multi-Melta
2x 10 Sternguard, Sgt w Power Fist, in Rhinos
2x 10 Tactical Marines, Sgt w Power Fist, Multi-Melta, Meltagun, in Razorback w Heavy Bolters

Now here's why I label this report as having "Tricks": I knew that my force had superior mobility, but less Scoring units. All that really mattered was that I controlled more objectives while also killing more squads.
So the first trick was regarding the objectives. One went in the center and the other two went in our deployment zones. He won the roll for first turn and chose to go first. Looking at his list, I figured he was going to come hard and fast at my lines, especially if I gave him some bait. So after I saw him put an objective way to the left, I went ahead and clustered my two as close to the front and center as possible.

Deployment looked like this:

Guys off the board are in Reserves or in tanks. Guys tallied to the left are kills.
The Tacs Combat squadded; 3 Bolters, meltagun and Sgt into the Razorbacks and 4 guys and MM both going into his center forest objective. Master of the Forge and Scouts on the left objective. Pedro and Termies in the Land Raider. Dreads frontal to Screen the APCs in case I swung deep.
I put Eldrad, Wraithguard, and Wraithlords central. Some of the Wraithguard spilled out of the cover to sweeten the bait. Dragons are the red Serpents and Banshees the yellow.

Turn 1 was pretty uneventful.
He Deep Struck the Ven Dread, advanced and popped a few Wraithguard. He tried several shots into my Serpents, but their shield were proof against the puny melta weapons.
I managed to blow the Powerfist off the Ven Dread, reducing him to S6 but he was proof versus my blows in CC and shooting. I did make a mistake at this point by forgetting to declare an assault on the Dread with my Wraithguard. This would have pulled my guys out of range for his Termie charge... I think this was a mixed bag mistake since it eventually cost me my Wraithguard, but also kept him from shifting them to protect a flank.


Turn 2 was a little more bloody. His Land Raider pushed forward to sit just off the middle objective while also unleashing his Termies into my Wraithguard. Thanks to Enhance I popped 2 of them on the way in and Fortuned Rune Armour absorbed a couple Wounds, but I still lost half the squad. He also advanced his APC line and popped Smoke on all of them. Wave Serpent fields again saved the day versus those pesky melta weapons.
My turn saw the Banshees zipping into position, Dragons blasting some Scouts and a unit of jetbikes entering play. Spider fire proved superior on the right and popped a Rhino, killing 4 guys inside. Spider fire proved mediocre on the other and only got a Weapon Destroyed on the Razorback. Fickle dice included Immobilizing his Land Raider with a Bright Lance, only to merely stun it with all three Penetrating hits. I still couldn't kill that damned Ven Dread either... he finally caused a Wound and No Retreat popped another! Only Eldrad and the Spirit Seer were left at this point and my charging Wraithlord had failed to hit Kantor with all three attacks...


Turn 3 saw his Dreads whip back around to try and stop the Banshees, but speed and fields again saw proof, resulting only in a double Shaken thanks to Spirit Stones. The girls were safe to wreak havoc on my turn... His only other Shooting was a squad of Sternguard blowing away a Wraithlord several times over. Damnably, CC went poorly this turn, with me failing to kill any Termies while losing my Spirit Seer and Wraithlord. Eldrad broke and ran, fleeing off the table at the start of my turn. That bloody Ven Dread again shrugged off all blows and managed to fell the Wraithlord! GAH! But in my favor, the Master of the Forge and his Scouts had learned to fear the DB Flamer... so they broke cover, shooting and CC wiping the Dragons, but Consolidate not giving them enough move to return to safety.
My turn saw the left squad of Spiders jump forward and blast several Scouts. They then charged the MotF and killed him, but failed to drop the last two Scouts. The other Spiders wiped the small Sternguard while the Banshees took the Tac Marines to town. That damnable Ven Dread weathered the Fire Dragon shooting with only an Immobilized, but finally went down to meltabombs in CC! I also risked a unit of jetbikes up the right side to make him think about that objective there. Here's where I made my second mistake of the game, I forgot to move them back away from the Termies... but surely he'd flub the Difficult Terrain, right?


Turn 4 ended up being our last turn due to time. Neither of us was slow-playing, but Chris' has several unfortunate interruptions during the course of the battle. I'm sure this helped throw him off his game. We both knew it was the last turn and the push for the objectives was on!
Chris' Termies didn't flub and went on to massacre the Jetbikes. He encircled my right objective with a Rhino and Razorback as well as the Termies. The Sternguard ran to jump just onto the edge of my left objective. But the Warp Spiders and Banshees finished off the Marines guarding both of his objectives. He also tried Tank Shock on my jetbikes, but they laughed and moved aside.
Going into the final turn, I didn't hold a single objective to his two. I also thought we were tied for KP... So I resorted to mech Eldar trickery again! The Spiders on the left jumped out to threaten his Razorback while the Jetbikes grabbed the objective. The right Dragon Serpent then jumped his lines to contest the right objective. He was solidly on the other objective, so I Tank Shocked with my Serpent. Even if I lost it to Death or glory, I'd still push them back enough to allow the Jetbikes in to Contest. The DoG was tried and failed; the Sergeant reduced to a fine paste. As they were going to be Fleeing at the end of the game, they were removed to give me yet another KP. We ended the game at this point as it was clear I had the victory.


Final result was 2 objectives for me, 1 contested, and 2 unclaimed. With 9 KP to 7, I had managed to Massacre him. I didn't realize until today, but I probably should have pushed to shoot with the Dragons and Spiders on the right. Had I popped his Razorback and the guys inside, I could have pulled down an extra Battle Point. I think had we gone the full 6 turns, I still would have won. By turn 3 he was so commited to the center that there was no going back... He realized this too and says he's not going to fall for that sort of thing again. :-p

Final result: 20 Battle Points to 0.

P.S. Thanks to the crew at Vassal for providing such a great battle report tool for those of us to lazy or ashamed to take pictures! I hear you can even play games with it too...

Ard Boyz 2009, Round 1

Well, Ard Boyz has now come and gone. I'd planned to blog about my list, but I didn't finalize it until about 1am the night prior. I wasn't comfortable with how my playtesting had gone and it went through several iterations.

I played at my FLGS, Hat's Games. We had 22 entrants from around the area and the lists were tough. I took my mixed-mech Eldar:

Eldrad

2x 7 Fire Dragons, Exarch Upgrade, DB Flamer in a Wave Serpent w Spirit Stones and Shuriken Cannon turret

10 Banshees, Exarch Upgrade, Executioner, War Shout, Acrobatics in a Wave Serpent w Spirit Stones and Shuriken Cannon turret

3x 3 Guardian Jetbikes w a Shuriken Cannon

10x Wraithguard, Spiritseer, Enhance, Singing Spear

2x 8 Warp Spiders, Exarch upgrade, Powerblades, 2x Death Spinners

3x Wraithlord w EML/BL

I played Kantor Marines, mech Tau, and mech Ultramarines. It was a long and brutal day, but I managed to use superior mobility to pull three solid Massacres. This pushed me into Overall for the day. Makes my total Ard Boyz 2x 1sts local, 1x 2nd local, and 1x 6th regional. (I couldn't make the regional the second year due to SCA commitments.) So now it is off to Phoenix on August 8th for the next round.

How did all of you fare?

I'll be working on battle reports tomorrow and should post them up soon. Right now, I'm exhausted, hungry and dehydrated. I'm going to scarf some food, beat some baby seals in Overlord II, ice my knee and go to bed soon.

(Image, I'm sure, is copyright Games Workshop and will be removed if they ask me.)