For Holy Terra Because space is scary

Rolling the Dice

Prior to Saturday’s tournament at Alternate Universes, we decided that opponents that were Raptured mid-game would count as being tabled.  Also, I was fully intending to claim their army for myself.  Unsurprisingly, no one in attendance was whisked away on a sunbeam.  I did win the Rapture-time round though.  Turns out it was my only win of the day.

Here was my list:

HQ
250 Mephiston (riding in Stormraven 1)
250 Honour Guard – Blood Champion, Pair of Lightning Claws, Power Fist & Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon & Chapter Banner
66 Razorback – Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Searchlight

Troops
230 Assault Squad x10 – Jump Packs, Sergeant w/Power Fist, Meltagun, Flamer (Deep Strike)
135 Assault Squad x5 – Sergeant w/Power Fist, Meltagun
31 Razorback – Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Searchlight
153 Assault Squad x6 – Sergeant w/Power Fist, Meltagun (Deep Strike)
153 Assault Squad x6 – Sergeant w/ Power Weapon, Infernus Pistol (riding in Stormraven 2)

Elites
65 Sanguinary Priest – Power Weapon (riding with squad in Razorback 2)

Fast Attack
235 Vanguard Veterans x5 – Sergeant w/Power Fist, 4 Power Weapons (Deep Strike)

Heavy Support
216 Stormraven – Extra Armour, Searchlight
216 Stormraven – Extra Armour, Searchlight

The first round was an unmitigated disaster from the very beginning.  I later quipped that I lost it by one die roll, but unfortunately, that die roll was to determine who went first.  I drew against Derek’s beastly Grey Knights list that would finish the day 3-0. The mission was Pitched Battle with four objectives.  Even setting up with all of my vehicles in cover, he managed to blow up both Razorbacks and Mephiston’s Stormraven and immobilize and shake the other Stormraven – all before I had a chance to move.  That was pretty much game.  That I managed to hold him off for four turns was at best a moral victory.  On my turn, I managed to pop his Land Raider, but  I didn’t realize that he had psyk-out grenades on his Paladin squad until just before I declared my assault with Mephiston.  Seven Paladins and Draigo going before Meph was a recipe for a dead Meph, so I managed to turn and head for another Terminator squad.  Mephiston wound up making his points back by slaughtering five Terminators and a Dreadnought, but that was about it.  Everything from Deep Strike came in on target, but it was completely ineffective when it got there.  At one point, the Paladin squad failed five consecutive armor saves (that’s five 1′s in a row) – and made all five FNP checks.  That was the kind of rolling I was up against.  I made not a single cover save, and at one point failed five out of 3+ armor saves in a single roll.  My dice didn’t just abandon me, they were claimed by the Inquisition and branded me a heretic.  I brought down a Land Raider, Stormraven, Dreadnought, Terminator squad, and a single Paladin, and still got tabled.   Grey Knights are beastly.

Round 2 was a much more effective battle, and my first experience fighting Space Wolves.  There was a point prior to starting this blog when I was wavering between Blood Angels and Space Wolves, and I have been questioning that decision ever since.  The model range is awesome, and I could have had so much fluffy fun with them.  My opponent has some beautifully painted Sons of Russ, and won best painted.  In fact, all of my opponents took a prize in this tournament – Best General, Best Painted, and the tournament’s Random Prize (the AOBR Deffcoptas).  The match was a back-and-forth bloodbath, which made sense being Dawn of War/Annihilation.   At no point did I ever feel I was losing or in position to lose, but neither did I feel like I was winning, either.  It was definitely a solid match.  In the end, I wound up losing by a single Kill Point.

Round 3 was against Hive Fleet Grendel in an interesting mission.  Spearhead/Annihilation, and at the start of every player turn, that player could remove one of their non-engaged units from the board and deep-strike them anywhere.  I was an idiot and held my Vanguards in reserve, but they came in on Turn 2 and did this twice, getting the charge all three times.  The Stormravens hung back and blew holes in Monstrous Creatures with Bloodstrike missiles, which made the cleanup a lot easier.  Ryan used the Deep Strike on his Zoanthropes, who then tried to lance my Stormraven.  Meph’s psychic hood took care of one shot, and the other two wound up simply shaking it.  Meph jumped out and assaulted the ‘thropes, merrily hacking away at them for a few turns while they made 3+ saves.  A mass of hormagaunts jumped on him, but my Vanguards jumped on them in turn.  Kill Points didn’t do his army any favors, because his Tervigon spat out three more of them before I got there.  The game ended after turn 5, 19 kill points to 6 for my only win of the day.

The takeaway is that I still have some tweaking to do to this list.  Deep Strike worked out exceptionally well, and I managed my charges well.  I think I might try to find the points for a second squad of Vanguards instead of having a 10-man jump squad.  That will whittle my troops choices down a bit, but the Vanguards are definitely deadly.