Sprue Posse mini GT battle reports PART 2:

This is the second part of my Sprue Posse mini GT battle report series that will have my next 2 games. 

The next post will have my final game as well as my some commentary on the army, my games and the tournament in general.  You can find part 1 of this post here.

Game 3:

My third round opponent was a really good Imperial Guard player with a really solid army. I was actually intimidated by the list but glad I got to play it for the challenge. He took the following list:

HQ
Company Command Squad (Melta x4) w Fleet Officer w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Elite
Psyker Battle Squad x6 w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Psyker Battle Squad x6 w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Troops
Veterans x10 (Melta x3, Autocannon x1) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veterans x10 (Melta x3, Autocannon x1) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veterans x10 (Melta x3, Autocannon x1) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veterans x10 (Plasma x3, LasCannon x1) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Fast AttackVendetta (Heavy Bolter x2)
Vendetta (Heavy Bolter x2)Vendetta (Heavy Bolter x2)

Heavy Support
Hydra x2 (Heavy Flamer)Hydra x2 (Heavy Flamer)Hydra x2 (Heavy Flamer)

Deployment:

I am not sure how much of a difference this made but my opponent forgot it was table quarters and deployed as if it were pitched battle. I won the roll to choose first or second and allowed my opponent to go first. He deployed the majority of his army in his left side and only a squadron of Hydras, 3 Vendettas, the command squad and some Psyker battle squads more towards the middle/right. 

Turn 2:

Opponent:

There wasn't anything to do but to maneuver around in anticipation of where I will come on. 

Me:

I got everything on except for a Jetbike squad and a Fire Prism. I moved both Fire Dragon squads flat out (24") towards his Vendettas, a Dire Avenger squad flat out towards an objective on the right and the rest of my army huddled behind a piece of terrain that had good cover/LOS blocking.  My shooting did not do much except for stun the Hydras on my left and the Chimera in front of them.

Turn 3:

Opponent:

Seeing as how this is an objective mission, my opponent has his eyes on how to play the mission and wastes no time in trying to eliminate my troops as best as he can. His Psyker Battle Squad reduces the LD of my Guardian Jetbikes and his Vendettas put enough wounds on my bikes to cause them to take a break test which I fail (ld 4 with the Autarch in there). The rest of his army tries to take some pot shots at my well hidden Wave Serpent (the black one in the pictures) and only manages to take out the turret and shake it a few times.

Me:

Those Psyker Battle Squads are brutal, with only losing 25% of a squad I ended up losing the whole squad  because of them and so my scoring units are in a tough fight for survival. This turn, my Fire Dragons move up 12", get out and destroy 2 of his 3 Vendettas, the Wave Serpents themselves shake one and destroy another Hydra on my left and the rest of my shooting shakes his third Vendetta and stuns the nearby Chimera. I also move my Dire Avenger squad more into the center positioned within 3" of 2 objectives. My second Jetbike squad and Fire Prism fail to come on from reserves.

Turn 4:

Opponent:

My opponent moved away from my Fire Dragons with the Vendetta and moved some Troops into position to be able to grab objectives. This guy is really playing the objectives game well. His shooting takes out a Vyper and my black Wave Serpent in the middle and causes my Dire Avengers that get out to break and run. 

Me:

My Jetbikes come on and move up the right to take out a Chimera and are in position to take out whatever IG squads he has around there. My Fire Dragons embark and their transports move up to take out the Chimera that spent much of the game stunned and they destroy a weapon and shake the remaining Hydra on the left side of the table. The rest of my shooting gets some nice shots off and stun a few Chimeras.

Turn 5:

Opponent:

With things coming down to the wire, he moves one squad on the right onto an objective, moves a squad in the middle onto another objective and tries to get out and move/run some more guys to other objectives but comes short. Sofar, it is 2 objectives for him and 1 for me. With his Psyker Battle squads he lowers the LD from my Jetbike squad Dire Avenger squad (the one in the crater on my left) and proceeds to shoot them up to the point where they fail their LD tests and run off the board. Now it's 2 objectives to none and the rest of his shooting just takes some pot shots at my Fire Dragon Wave Serpents downing one. All he has to do now is hold on to the objectives and he has an easy win.

Me:

I did not like how that turn started for me, I am now down to one depleted Dire Avenger squad that recently regrouped. I managed to get them into an empty Wave Serpent (the other Dire Avenger's WS that I moved towards the middle earlier) and moved 12" onto my objective. I then completely wiped out his IG squad on the objective on the right side of the table (they were not in cover and the Night Spinner put 6 wounds on them alone, in addition to everything else). I then moved my Fire Dragons up, got out and stunned his Vendetta which is good for me since if the game went on another turn he could have potentially just move flat out onto my objective. I also moved a lone Vyper as close to his objective as possible hoping to be 3" from it. By the end of my turn, it went from 2 objectives for him and none for me to 1 objective for me and potentially none for him thanks to my Vyper. 

The dice was rolled to see if the game ended and it ends with a roll of a 2. Now the Vyper's position was too close to call so we had to get a judge over to measure and see if it was 3" from his objective and it was. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat thanks to a Vyper, Fritz would be proud.

Game 4:

My fourth game opponent had an identical list to my first opponent (they were friends who came down together and there were actually some other similar lists in the tournament). I played this guy in the 'Ard Boyz finals last year and knocked him out of the running so he considered this a rematch =). The list he took was:

HQ
-Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf Calvary, Power Fist and Stormshield, Runic Armor, Wolftail Talisman, Saga of the Bear) and Fenrisian Wolves x2
-Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf Calvary, Power Fist and Stormshield, Runic Armor, Wolftail Talisman, Saga of the Majesty) and Fenrisian Wolves x2
-Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf Calvary, Wolf Claw and Stormshield, Runic Armor, Wolftail Talisman, Saga of the Warrior Born) and Fenrisian Wolves x2
-Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf Calvary, Power Fist and Stormshield, Runic Armor, Wolftail Talisman) and Fenrisian Wolves x2


Fast AttackThunderwolf Cavalry x3 (Power Fist + Storm Shield x3 and Melta Bombs x3)

Troops

Grey Hunters x5 (Flamer) w Razorback (TL Heavy Bolter)
Grey Hunters x5 (Melta) w Razorback (TL Heavy Bolter)


Heavy SupportLong Fangs x 6 (Missile Launcher x5)
Long Fangs x 6 (Missile Launcher x5)
Long Fangs x 6 (Missile Launcher x5)

Deployment/turns 1:

opponent:

My opponent won the choice to go first or second and chose to go first. After deployment, he just moves up while I wait in reserves.

Turn 2:

Opponent:

More moving up and waiting for me.

Me:

Everything but a Fire Prism and Night Spinner comes on. I take some pot shots at the 2 Wolf lord unit and take out 2 of the fenresian wolves and he falls back, amusing. With the rest of my shooting, all I manage to do is kill 2 Long Fangs.

Turn 3:

Opponent:

He automatically rallies the Wolf lords and consolidates/fleets just barely out of charge range of my Jetbikes. The rest of the Wolfstar moves up and he gets a charge off with another Wolf lord that split off. His Long Fangs shake a Wave Serpent and knock the turret off another but otherwise cover saves and blocked LOS save me from the worst of it.

Me:

This turn was the turn where I had to choose to turbo 24" away from his Wolfstar or to block off parts of the Wolfstar with my tanks and isolate and destroy the 2 man Wolf lord unit. I opted to go all out to try and destroy the 2 man Wolf lord unit to secure my right flank which would put me in a good position to rack up the kill points from his squishy Long Fangs and Grey Hunters/Razorback. I move both Fire Dragon squads up, get out into the forest in range of the Wolf lords and I move both Autarch up to be in charge range should I need it, the rest of my army blocks off the remaining Wolf Star units forming a protective barrier for my Vypers and Jetbikes. I shoot everything in my army at those 2 Wolf lords which only took out the 2 fenresian wolves and put 2 wounds on each lord. 

So just to clarify, I rolled pretty good for my hit and wound rolls and so at the end of the shooting phase I scratch my head as a total of 71 S6, 28 S4,4 S5 shots along with my Eldar Missile Launchers, Fire Prisms, Night Spinner and 10 Melta Gun shots (of which 8 hit and wounded) only put 2 wounds on each lord. Well, nothing to do now but to charge my Autarchs so both of them charge the lord with a Power Fist since the Wolf Claw armed one wouldn't instant kill me and I would have a fighting chance of holding him up to get away with the rest of my army. With 12 attacks, I wounded him 5 times and he passes all of his invul saves then manages to instant kill one of my Autarchs and my other one Breaks and runs away. 

Turn 4:

Opponent:

Well, now that his 2 Wolf lords are free to run around they split up and rack up the kill points. One charges and kills a Fire Dragon squad, another charges and wipes out a squad of Vypers while his Long Fangs destroy a Wave Serpent and shake a few others. His remaining Wolf cav units knock off the weapon from my Night Spinner.

Me:

I get a break with my Autarch regrouping within charge range of a Long Fang squad and on the charge I kill 1 guy (lotsa 1s and 2s) and just barely hold in combat. The rest of my army tries to tank shock his Wolf star units while getting out of the way and with my shooting I manage to finally kill one of the Wolf lords on my right but the other one survives another crazy amount of shooting.

Turn 5:

This is all that is left =(

Opponent:

At this point, he downs several of my tanks with his shooting and Wolf star charges and wipes out a Jetbike squad and Vyper. My Autarch continues to hold up the Long Fangs.

Me:

My Fire Dragons move up to charge and help my Autarch in combat, its that bad, and the rest of my army takes out the wounded Wolf Lord while I tank shock and break the 3 man Thunderwolf unit and hope to not take too much damage from the rest of his Long Fangs and Wolf lords.

The end:

The game goes on for another brutal 2 turns where he continues to just knock my tanks out of the sky with his Thunderwolf lords charging and the game eventually ends with 4 KP from me (2 Wolf lords, Wolf Cav, Long Fang squad) to 8KP for my opponent. Of special note was that towards the end of the game, my Fire Dragons in combat with the Long Fangs take some wounds and I lose combat but my Dragons hold and my Autarch runs away then I manage to later charge and wipe those pesky Long Fangs out eventually. My opponent basically marveled at the end of the game and pointed out that nothing went my way with dice and he rolled exceptionally well for his hit/pen and armor save rolls. So since he said it I don't feel bad bringing up the terribad dice rolls =). He got his rematch and came out on top so grats to him.

Well, those were my next 2 games. I came out of the first day being the only one 3-0 and after the first game on the second day I took a big hit in my standings but I still have a fighting chance to pull out 2nd place if I win my next game and maybe 3rd if I tie. Stay tuned for part 3 which will have my final game as well as some commentary on the army, my games and the tournament in general.