Tourney Report: Itzacon Game 2

So after my bruising encounter with Dark Eldar in game 1 I was drawn against Colin from my own club and his Marines. Nice one - travel to Galway for the weekend and play one of the lads from my neck of the woods. Score. At least this one would be a more relaxed game for the both of us, especially Colin as he was after a few scoops already. I wasn't writing him off though as I remembered that drunken master guy from Virtua Fighter that was able to do well for himself with booze in his system.

My suspicions were confirmed when Col stole the initiative in our Kill Point/DOW game.



Colin's list was:

Colin's wondering where his pint is.

Lysander

10 Sternguard with some CombiMeltas in a Pod (Lysander goes here)
5 TH/SS TDA

Land Raider with Extra Armour
Ironclad with Meltagun, Heavy Flamer in a Pod

5 Marines in a Razorbackwith Heavy Bolters
5 Marines in a Razorback with Twin-Las

Predator with Autocannon, 2 Lascannons
Vindicator

Turn 1
I deployed Njal on his own behind a wall with a Rhino either side of him to block LOS. I'm glad I did it as it started raining men. Dead men. A dead man. In giant armour.

Thankfully I'd been a bit clever with my placement of Njal so that he was completely out of LOS to anything that might drop down because the Rhinos were blocking the way and there would be no room for any Drop Pods to come down beside him as the Rhinos act as a buffer and the board edge was behind him acting as a further deterrent. It just goes to show you don't need bubblewrap to cockblock Deep Strikers.

Col had deployed a unit in a Razor on my right. The Dread shot at the Rhino in front of him and did nothing. Nice. The rest of his army rolled on and shot something but did nothing again.

My turn 1 began with Njal hopping into a Rhino and being joined by a squad of Hunters whose ride then pulled off to the right, where most of my army went to join them and I put a unit of Fangs and a Razor on the left. The Speeders were going to hopefully wait for the Land Raider to get into the middle of the table and get the Termies to walk across the board being shot while I backed off. The rest of my stuff ran into position to ready my guns for Turn 2. Apart from one of the Hunter squads who ran into a Rhino where Njal started and popped the Ironclad with their Meltas. The job.

Turn 2

Down come the Sternguard that combat squad to target two units but they shoot a few Long Fangs while Lysander stays with one squad. Col's army advanced with the Termies in the centre. There was some more shooting, I lost a few models and some of my tanks were shaken with one Rhino Immobilised.

My turn and a Speeder shows up and Immoblilises the Land Raider (despite smoke) much to Colin's bemusement. The Termies don't mind though - they're in midfield already. One squad of GH leaves Njal in their Rhino and rush off to tag a tank or unit if they can and they manage to bag a Razor dumping the squad into the open and pinning them to boot. I shoot some Sternguard and Lysander takes 2 wounds when hits are allocated to him. Lol. To make things even better I take out both the Vindicator and Predator with side armour shots from my Long Fangs that are deployed to create lovely overlapping fire lanes across the centre of the board.

My Lone Wolves run forward to make themselves a target although the GH on the right are just out of range of the pinned Tac squad.

Turn 3

I'm worried that my GH are going to get torn to bits by Sternguard fire and Lysander is going to start walking through my army. There were also the Termies to worry about. Not good. I wanted a pint but was off the sauce because I'd promised the missus after my Warpcon episode.

The Land Raider opened up on the Rhinos in front of it and popped one (Njal fell out not pinned) and only Immobilised the other (full of GH) as well as taking out the Speeder that stalled it while the Sterns shot down some GH but they held their nerve. Lysander forgot to move (I blame the drink myself) while the Termies took out a Rhino in combat after rolling poorly on their assault move and failed to reach Njal cowering behind a wall. A Lone Wolf was attacked too but survived.

The end of Turn 3.

The GH on my right raced into the Tac Marines in the open while the GH in the crater double-tapped the Sternguard in front of the pod. The 2nd Speeder drops in and targets the Raider while I pound the Sternguard again leaving only Lysander and 2 or 3 buddies. The Raider is still alive so a Lone Wolf gets stuck in with his Chainfist wrecking it while the GH on my right tear the Tac Marines in combat. And do sweet FA. Meanwhile the Lone Wolf is wounded by the Termies. 

Turn 4
The other Tac Marine squad hop into the brawl on the right while what few guns Col has left are poured into my Marines to little effect again. At least Lysander gets himself a Long Fang squad and the GH are torn to pieces by the combined might of all the Tac Marines so only 2 of them escape.
Oh the shame.

Ah well, at least I've got enough grunts and guns to fuck up what's left. That's pretty much what happens as I run the unit of GH that was in the crater at a squad of Tacs and blow a whole pile of Marines and a Pod to bits. And Lysander too :D

The GH get stuck in in combat and mangle the Tacs (unsurprising really as I had called on my Wolf Standard) while the Lone Wolf was joined by the other Loner and they continued to tarpit the Termies.

Turn 5
Col's army was running away from mine to preserve what he had left or was stuck in combat so his shooting did nothing memorable while his Hammers finally bagged themselves a Lone Wolf. Which gave me a Kill Point.

My turn was spent chasing after things or moving away to ensure the Termies couldn't get some easy KP if their combat ended and the game continued. Neither did as they failed to kill the 2nd Loner and my army blasted away at some more Marines and Sternguard to give me the game with a 17-3 scoreline. Happy days. So far. Onto game 3.

Handbags at dawn gentlemen?