Games Workshop Heat 2

After a very long drive (in snow and ice!!) I’m back from Heat 2 of the GW GT. I went 3-1-1, and came 9th out of 86, with 4 “best army” votes and 4 “favourite game” votes. really pleased about that.

Usual format, brief battle reports, and then a wrap up at the end ..... and a shock announcement!! 

Game 1

Against Eldar - Wraithknight, 3 Wraithlords, 2 Hemlocks, a Crimson Hunter, some rangers and a bunch of Psykers. The GT was playing the old missions, where last drop goes first. I had fewer drops so I was going first. Can’t remember the mission (didn’t really matter).

The only thing I was really concerned with was the Wraithknight, and only a little. The issue is I need to get close with multiple Starweavers so I can Fusion Pistol him down, which means that, if I dont kill him he can multi assault the 'weavers, and has a really good chance of killing more than one. So the plan was to be a little patient and make him come to me, so that I I could get enough Fusion Pistols into double dice range as possible and make sure I killed him in one turn of shooting.

The problem was, his Farseer had Fortune. A Fortuned Wraithknight is a bit scary! But he deployed poorly (which he admitted in our after action round up). He bunched up his army, within range of the Solitaire (again, knowing what the Solitaire does, and really understanding what he can do on the table top are 2 very different things). So, the Solitaire hops out, blitzes across the table to within a couple of inches of all three of his Psykers. I moved up some Starweavers to just within charge range of the Wraithknight, hoping to “bait” him into moving up for the charge, so I could Fusion him down next turn. In shooting, I killed a couple of units of rangers for first blood. The Solitaire charged all three Psykers, killing the Farseer and putting wounds on the bone singer. Crucially - no Fortuned Wraithknight.

In my opponents turn he did move up his Wraithknight, and in fact pulled of a really long charge, but he wiffed in assault, failing to kill either of the 2 Starweavers he charged. However, I had stupidly left my Farseer exposed, and his Hemlocks assassinated him.

In my turn 2, everything moved up and everything was in range, I killed 2 Wraithlords, the Wraithknight and the rest of the rangers. My opponents retaliation was minimal, and I killed everything bar the flyers in turn 3 for victory.

Poison and Fusion pistols are a pretty hard match up for high toughness armies.

Game 2

This was a great game, against a really fun opponent running Alpha Legion. Obligatory block of berserkers, loads of cultists, 2 squads of havocs with Laz cannons, 2 wierd forge world Dreadnought thingies, a big block of slaneshi terminators with Combi plasmas, and some chaos marines. Happily I was going first so I didn’t need to worry about the ‘zerkers. Kill points, dawn of war.

Now in deployment my opponent did something a bit clever - he split his army into 2, deploying one block in one corner, and the other in the another corner.  While he had more drops than me, I had more units (most of my units start in transports). He had also realised that my army is pretty close range, and would need to get close to kill either block of units. His thinking was that I would come to one block, and kill it, before moving onto the other. If he could hold me up long enough in killing one block, and while doing so take more killpoints from me than were in that block, I wouldn’t have time to get across to the other block to even up the kill point tally.

And that’s exactly what would have happened, if it hadn’t been for one brave Kabalite Warrior!!!

Of course I only worked all this out afterwards and fell for it all, hook line and sinker. I moved up to the largest block, and over a number or turns wiped it out. So on turn 4 I was on 10 kill points and he was on 9. I was also at one end of text table and he was at the other with a havoc squad toting 4 laz cannons, a Lord, some cultists and some marines. The problem was, I would need to move up to try and get more kill points, and the chances were I would lose some units on the way in - and we might only have 2 turns left....! 

So I decided to bravely run away and hide, hoping I could hang on to my 1 KP lead. 

I tried to hide as best I could, but there was very little LOS blocking terrain. The best I could do was force my opponent to move his laz cannons every turn, so he was hitting my 4 remaining Starweavers on 5s. So after 4 turns (it went to turn 7!!), I had ducked and dodged and rolled 4++ saves like a champ, and I won ..... !

And the brave Kabalite Warrior? Well he was the last remaining model in his unit and I had forgotten about him chilling in the back field, but my opponent hadn’t. He managed to get one laz cannon in range, roll a 4 to hit, and a 2 to wound, meaning I needed to make a 6+ to avoid a draw ...... and I did!

Great game!

Learning point - think things through at the start. Always ask, at the very beginning of the game -  what’s your game plan for winning the mission, something I failed to do in this game. If I had thought it through, I might have worked out my opponents cunning plan, and I could have kept my army more central, rather than focusing on on end of the board. 

Game 3

Against grey Knights. Two Grandmasters (one of them in a Dreadknight), a bunch of Paladins, 3 units of Stikes in Razorbacks, a Stormraven and a Stormhawk interceptor (not sure of the name, not the Stormtalon, the other one!!). TBH, not the most optimised Grey Knight list, and I was slightly surprised he was sitting on 2 wins. Mission was the Relic (what a silly mission!!), and he had fewer drops so was going first.

My only really tactic for turn one was to “clench” and roll 4++ saves. With the 2 flyers and the deepstriking Dreadknigh (plus a Razorback he gated behind me!!) there was a lot of fire power coming my way!! 

And he made a dent (!), killing 2 Starweavers, the Solitaire, and both Troupes inside. It could have been worse, but it hurt. However, there then followed one of the most uneven examples of dice rolling I have ever witnessed on a table. 

In my turn 1 I surrounded the Stormraven with fusion pistols, and killed it in one volley from one ‘weaver. He then lost a Paladin to a “1” and I proceeded to kill all but 1 of the remaining paladins with the other Fusion pistols. The Kabalites opened up on the Dreadknight and reduced it to (I think) 3 wounds (he just kept rolling handfuls of 1s when rolling saves). In his turn the Dredknight killed a Starweaver and other shooting brought the Troupe down to 3 players left with Fusion pistols (but that was all his whole army did - I just couldn’t fail a 4++ save, it was getting embarrassing!). 

But the highlight came when the remaining Paladin and the non Dreadknight Grandmaster assaulted the 3 players that came out the destroyed Starweaver......I killed both of them in overwatch! 

It went downhill after that!!

Win to me!

Game 4

So, I dont think I’ve ever gone 3-0 in day one of a 2 day GT before. I was expecting a hard list for this game and I wasn’t disappointed! Girlyman Primaris gunline with Girlyman, 2 Libbies, 2 Repulsers, 6 Aggressors (first time I’ve come across these ... bloody hell but they kick put a lot of shots!!), and some of them Primaris tac marines (intercessors?). Retrieval mission, and he was going first.

Cutting to the chase, I was tabled at the end of turn 4. The fire power of the Repulsers and Aggressors was just too much. Combine that with Null Zone on one of the libbies, and I was really stumped on how to deal with this. At one point I thought I might hide (there was some los blocking terrain) and then just jump on the objectives, but my opponent was “wise” to this, and had placed his 2 objectives 12” apart, and 12” from one of mine, meaning he could move his whole army onto the “triangle” and just sit there. I realised that my only hope was to rush him and pray which is what I did, turn 3... but he just had too much fire power, and with re-rolls to hit and wound....!

Maybe if I had just rushed him on turn one I might have survived (I had been whittled down a bit by turn 3). We chatted it through after the game and both came to the conclusion that was probably my only hope!!

Learning point - null zone is horrible for Harlies, and Girlyman is an outstanding force multiplier!

Game 5

Against Eldar again. Hemlock, Lynx, 2 Fire Prisims, a Nightspinner, Wraithknight, Warlock, Farseer and some (pretty random IMHO) Kabalite Warriors with an Archon in a raider. Hold and secure (old Emperors will i.e. one objective each - the “draw game”). I was going first.

Long story short we drew. It was a great game, with lots of really tense moments (at one point my opponent was complaining about his blood pressure and had to take "a moment"!!), but no real tactical insights. We both played the game well, with no mistakes. If I could be allowed an excuse - I had used up all my luck in Game 3, as I coudln’t make a 4++ to save my life, only got one psychic power off all game, and every player toting a fusion pistol was blind! Oddly however, my opponents dice were similarly cold. In one round I seem to remember his whole army managed to take 2 wounds off a Starweaver (and not because I was making lots of 4++ saves)!! 

Still, we laughed a lot and had a blast.

learning point? Well, when I say I didn't make a mistake, I forgot to use my Solitaire! Simply forget to get him out his 'weaver when it blew up....duh!

So, there we have it 9th overall, and qualified for the final in May.

And the shock announcement - I love the new Blood Angels book, and have bought a bunch of marines.

EYIG