Gaelcon Games 2 ( Heresy-Online's Lord Reevan) and 3.

Just for you Rob.

Next up was Rob and his Sanguine Spectres (BA) with the 2nd mission being Annihilation/Dawn of War. The caveat here was that you had to win by 2 KP something which I was happy with originally but now don't want to see again. Thankfully it looks like Warpcon's already dropped it.

Here be Lord Reevan from Heresy-Online. I was looking forward to this as I had already been to one or two other events with Rob but hadn't drawn him yet. I haven't had a lot of trouble with Wolves when I play BA as I have enough to deal with Mech lists through firepower and Infantry lists with my own Grey Hunter squads.
Rob brought a Mech list:

Libby in TDA with Storm Shield (Powers: Rage and Shield)
Sang Priest in TDA
5 Terminators with 2 Claws, 3 TH/SS
Land Raider Crusader with Extra Armour and Multi-Melta

5 RAS with Meltagun in Rhino
5 RAS with Meltagun in Heavy Flamer Razorback
5 RAS with Meltagun

Dakka Dred

2 Multi-Melta Attack Bikes

2 Vindicators with Siege Shield

I chose to go first and deployed my ThunderLord and a Rhino squad (the small one) on the halfway line. The Lord would be able to rush things that get close and the squad had a pair of Meltas that could open any tanks that came near as well as tie up any Marine squads. The Terminators were a problem but I reckoned that I could keep them at bay with the Lord and then torrent them with firepower while backing off

Deployment A

Those Fangs are way too far forward. I was worried about them getting cover but I should have simply kept them away from that terrain and instead used it to shield them. Where they ended up left them vulnerable to short-ranged fire and assault. Land Raider occupants can move up to 20" to attack someone.

Turn 1

The Fangs spread out to cover the board and give me good angles on anything in the centre while being able to target anything on the field with at least one squad (the brown thing on the right is a wood but we moved the trees as they kept falling over). The Rhinos moved up to offer cover to the Fangs and to get into the middle of the board asap. I brought on everybody but the Scouts who were OBEL'ing and the Speeders who would Deep Strike as I felt that the terrain wouldn't dick me.

Rob brought on his Attack Bikes who boosted onto the halfway line, presumably to get a cover save while his Raider came up my left and the Vindies drove up the centre. His Dakka Dread moved to get cover from a hill. His Vindicators tried to shoot the Lord and the Rhino but I passed my Invul/Cover saves.

Turn 2

The Wolf Lord moved to where a decent Fleet roll would give him a choice of targets but I rolled poorly so I was confined to hitting the Bikes. The Red Rhino's squad got out and shot Meltas at the bikes. They both missed so they had to rush them. The Rhinos all moved up and popped smoke. In a spate of poor rolling the Long Fangs managed to silence one of the Vindicators. The Lord rushed a squad while the Grey Hunters attacked the other with the Lord smushing them and the Hunters getting bogged down. Idiots.

Rob managed to get his Flamerback and a Rhino in from Reserves while his Raider moved up 6" (and he kept his Termies inside o_O) to unload all its guns into the Lord. Combined with a Vindicator it did 1 wound. His Dakka Pred managed to Immobilise my left-hand Rhino while his Attack Bikes and my Hunters handbagged each other.

Turn 3

My Speeders and Scouts arrive (on the wrong table edge) while my Lord moves to grab his Terminators.

Mistake - I should have sent him off after the Dakka Dread or tanks for easier KP (auto-penning if I hit) but felt that I had to stall the Termies up for a turn at least. I should instead have backed off and pummelled them for a while before withdrawing steadily.

The Speeders tag the Raider and the Termies fall out while I again manage to stun a Vindi. Combat starts well enough with the Grey Hunters killing off the Attack Bikes with jammy to wound rolls but it quickly decends into disaster as the Scouts only manage a Weapon Destroyed result on the Flamerback (2 Meltaguns, 5 Krak Grenades and a Power Fist all manage a solitary Pen) and the Lord falls over to a pile of Power Weapon attacks from the Terminators without getting to strike. Not only that but Rob gets a big consolidation move to take him into my lines. Not good.

The Terminator mob move into the Long Fang's area terrain to bag both them and the Immobilised Rhino next to them. His Marines hop out of his vehicles and maul the Scouts in short order while his Vindicators try to pummel Marines and Rhinos but with little success.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a Monster? Is it a Monster?

The Terminators make up for this by demolishing both the Fangs and the Rhino to claw back 2 KP. The Grey Hunter squad inside the Rhino hops out and thankfully isn't pinned.

Turn 4

My Speeders move to get a side shot on either the Vindicator or the Dakka Dread at the back while my Grey Hunters hop out of their Rhinos to pour Melta fire into Vindicators. The GH at the back move to put as much distance between themselves and the Termies as possible while the Wolves that had arrived from reserve moved to shield the Long Fangs and that unit from assault.

Mistake - I reckon that I should have just parked the Wolves in a corner and ran the Long Fangs too so that I could have sacrificed the Grey Hunters by either Rapid Firing or rushing them and trying to bag the Libby or Sang Priest with a Power Fist. That was doable with my Wolf Standard re-rolls and would have cost me 1 KP instead of 2.

The Fangs, Speeders, both GH squads and the Rune Priest all fire at the Dread and both Vindies and manage to Immobilise and Destroy both guns on the Dread, wreck the one in the middle and it takes an assault phase to drag down the Vindi on my right. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that so that I would have a few extra inches to move toward the Marines cowering in the corner but there was nothing I could do.

The Terminators move out of Terrain and run straight into the Wolves and Long Fangs while the Marines move back into their vehicles. Predictably both of my units are chewed up in short order.

The Pack Leader is always the first to die...

Turn 5

My Speeders move to take out the Flamerback-sans-Flamer while the rest of my Squads move into their Transports to get closer to the BA. I didn't move full distance as I wanted to get some shots off before I got there and I was also wary of giving away easy KP with the Rhinos as the Marines all had a Melta in their squads. There was also the potential for my units to get charged and destroyed or worse yet - suffer casualties, fail their Ld and flee while being shepharded off the board. So they plugged away slowly but surely.

The GH on my right continued to scamper away from the unkillable Termies in their midst, although I managed to bag one with a Krak Rocket. Thankfully the Speeders bagged the Razor which would hem in the Rhino.

Rob's Termies kept chasing my men but weren't going to reach them. The Rhino moved away from my Speeders as Rob probably didn't want to risk his Meltas missing and leaving it very exposed, while the remaining Marines moved into cover.

Turn 6

The game continued and I was able finish off the Dread with Meltas and bag the Rhino with Living Lightning but I wasn't able to kill enough Marines to force them to flee. Neither was Rob able to catch any of my squads in my backfield.

We added up the KP and I was up by 1, but thanks to the rulespack I had only managed a Draw.


Post-game

I was a bit pissed off as I thought I had it but it was my own fault for exposing the Long Fangs and slowly drip-feeding units into the Terminators rather than forcing them to pick a single target and let the rest of my army run away or engage it as needed. Losing the Lord was a stupid thing to do as I could have pulled the Termies into the middle and then simply driven off in my Transports while I rained Kraks down on their heads.

Aside from that, it was a very enjoyable game (I'd been looking to face Rob for a while) and I could console myself with the fact that I would have won had we used the regular rules. Oh well, at least I managed to pick up 10 points for my troubles.

Game 3

Result: Bye. 20 point win.

Yup, I managed to get a bye when my opponent wasn't brave enough to face me. Or had to go to work. Either way, I was a bit miffed that there wasn't anyone lined up to play me as the bye-breaker army had been left at home. I did get 20 points for a concession but I'd rather have played a game than wait about on my tod. I would have been up against 6 Battlewagons in a Pitched Battle with 3 Objectives and I reckon I could have won that by parking my Long Fangs in either corner and forcing him down one side while the rest of my army pulled away. Ah well, we'll never know.

I reckon that playing a game with a minimum score of a draw would have been a better way to play it. Normally a bye-breaker doesn't have to show up mid-table and would be confined to the person in last place.

Still, it did give me a half-decent score going into day 2 and I was ahead of Pinball Wizard. That's always good.

Note: I travelled up to Dublin with the missus for the weekend and had her camera for day one but she went a-touristing and visiting friends so she took it with her. Hence, I'll try to use something with Paint instead.