NoVA Battle Reports: Games 3 - 4

I came into game 3 with 2 very strong finishes. One thing I've noticed thus far as well is that my list doesn't give up Victory Points very easily. A big part of this is because my list is such an "msu" monstrosity that nothing is really worth much. The only thing that has many points in it are my Ven Dreads, which very rarely die, and my Librarian. This has meant that my victories thus far look a lot more lopsided on paper than they really were. The reason I'm saying this is because this is going to help me get into the 4-0 bracket on Day 2.

Round 3

I was actually playing on the table next to my round 3 opponent during round 2. When I was eyeballing his army, I was thinking, "man, I hope I don't draw that guy because I'm going to be in trouble." Well, I drew him. As an aside, I think that from now on, I will not wish to "not draw" any particular person anymore because this tournament seems to prove that this thinking guarantees that I will play that person next.

Here's my Round 3 opponents "basic" list from memory:

HQ:

Coteaz - 100

Elites:

2 x Ven Dreads w/ TLACs

Troops:

3 squads of Death Cultists and Crusaders. Maybe some other stuff.

Fast:

3 x Storm Chickens

Heavy:

3 x Dreads w/ TLACs

The reason why I am afraid of this list is because it sort of out shoots me. Worse, we are fixing to play Kill Points. And to make it even worse, he gets first turn. I'm thinking my tournament ends right here.

Here's what I think he's going to do. He'll turbo-boost the chickens up. I'll come on the board and try to take them down. He'll fly in with multi-meltas and get clear shots on my normal dreads to take them out. Then, he'll tie up my Ven Dreads with his Assassin squads. Then, he'll rack up kill points on my Razors with his Ven Dreads. GGWTFPWNED.

He didn't do any of these things. What actually happened was he took a look at my list, and he was thinking that I would outshoot him. I think he psyched himself out. He did come forward with the Storm Chickens. I blew one up on my Turn 1. Then, he ran away to hide.

I was slack jawed at this point. I really wasn't sure what to make of it. So, I pulled my entire army up behind some terrain, started using shrouding to get a 3+ cover save, and we started trading shots with our Dreads. I won the shoot out. He came forward near the last turn to claim objectives, I shot down the Storm Chickens, and I won the game on Kill Points. It was very fast. We were probably done in an hour.

It was definitely an interesting, psychological game. I think with more practice with his list, if he had seen what I saw, i think he should have stomped me. Next time I will not be so lucky against this opponent, me thinks.

Round 4

This round I drew a very soft spoken but extremely skilled GK player. Turns out, this is the guy who will end up on Table #2 in the 4-0 bracket. By definition, that means I lose this game. But oh so barely.

His list approximation was this:

HQ:

Libby

Coteaz

Elites:

1 x Ven Dread w/ Multi Melta + Flamer Fist

Troops:

2 x Acolyte squads, one with trip melta, one trip flamers.

2 x Large squads of Death Cultists and Crusaders

1 x 5 man Strike squad w/ Psycannons

A few psybacks

Fast:

Storm Chicken

Heavy:

2 x Dreads w/ TLACs

Land Raider Crusader

I'll admit, coming into this game, I was over-confident. I did not recognize my opponent from anywhere, and I do not like his list. Boy, was I in for a shocker. Having now met and played with the guy, he's awesome to play with. Real laid back. He's very, very good as his finishing shows. He plays very smartly.

Game starts with him giving me first turn. This my first surprise. Not really sure what I was in for, I set up my army in a pattern to defend against reserves, using my Razors for cover, blowing smoke etc. I managed to immobilize his LRC, which he did deploy in cover, on Turn 1 which really helped my game.

His whole army come on in Turn 2 save for the LRC + Assassins/Libby he already had on the board. He came in my extreme flank/corner. He flew the storm chicken straight up and immobilize one of my Dreads facing the wrong way. Otherwise, he didn't do much.

My turn, I took out the Storm Chicken, but it took most of my Dreads to do it. Luck of the dice. I didn't get the explode result I wanted, and his DCA unit/Coteaz + the Ven Dread bailed out. On his turn, I got the witness how awesome the concept of that Ven Dread actually is. In fact, I want to run them in my list now. They really are brutal coming out of a storm raven. Really, his Ven Dread didn't do that much other than contest an objective (which did win him the game in a way), but it was the fact that I had nothing to really deal with it. I could have rerouted Smiley and the girls to MoT him down, but I needed them in board center to claim.

We go through a couple more turns of shooting each other up. His DCA unit gets held up by one of my Ven Dreads. The game is definitely starting to unfold in my favor as I shoot up his Dreads, his Strike Squad gets mauled, etc. I lose my DCA to his flamer acolytes that are with Coteaz, and my other pack are on the mid objective. A long Razorback has traversed the whole board to claim a corner objective.

We get to the fated turn 5. At this point in the game, I'm definitely winning. Indeed, to seal the deal, I need to only make a few simple moves and it's over. Then, through a calamity of dice rolling, the game slips by me. Here's how it works.

First, to seal the deal, if I can cook his DCA squad that is with his Libby, he won't have enough troop choices to tie me on objectives. This is easy since my Purgation squad is definitely within range. All they have to do is drive over, bail out, and roast them. They go to move, and I get immobilized in terrain. They don't make it.

Now sweat, I have a Razorback still in range to contest one objective his acolytes are on. All I need to do is make it, and I still got smoke launchers. He makes it. All he has to do now is survive a few BS 3 melta guns under smoke. It's not the best situation, but favorable odds. He won't survive as on his turn all 3 melta guns hit.

Before that, I still have Coteaz to contest. However, he dies to a pummeling by the LRC which rends on him, twice, and then I roll snake eyes to save. :(

Still, we got this, so long as it goes to Turn 6, I can handily extract him from mid and win.

He rolls and the game ends on 5.

I lose. When looking at the stat sheet, you see how close we are. The closeness of this game combined with my 3 big wins, is what will propel me into the 4-0 bracket on the next day.