Post AdeptiCon - Part 3

Day 3... getting tough to keep going...

Warhammer 40k Championships.

Game 1

Opponent - Jon "yakface" Regul - Tau.

Mission - Annihilation; Primary - Annihilation, Secondary - VPs, Tertiary - Eliminate Troops.

OK... so I get one of the best rules "lawyers", and he is playing Tau. So I won't be cheating... hehehe.
The best shooting army in the game, vs. my HtH beasts. Oh, this was going to hurt!

I let Jon set up first - I want to see where he was going (I guessed either way I was screwed, but at least this way I could maybe counter some of his deployment. I could always seize the first turn.
I failed to take the first turn... Jon quickly dispatched two Penitent Engines.
Turn 2 saw my Arcoflagellents and remaining Engines moving up. I had to try to get something into HtH as quickly as possible...
The Tau ventured forward and I committed my celestians to the battle - they had to be capable of doing something!
Not much it seems... other than attracting a LOT of Tau fire power and dieing...
Turn 4 would finally see some combat (yes, all my other HtH units had been wiped out...).
Yes! Lost combat to 5 Firewarriors - TWICE.... bloody hell... Eventually she beat the warriors, but succumbed to the waiting circle of Kroot.
Mercifully the game would end on turn 5... I think I had one Inquisitor left - he hid all game.

Result - Primary - loss, Secondary - loss, Tertiary - ... loss! ZERO points gained.
Ouch.... Jon was a lot of fun to play; just the wrong match up for me and mine!

Game 2

Opponent - Jason Bentley -Space Marines

Mission - Unplanned Assault; Primary - unknown, Secondary - VPs, Tertiary - Eliminate HQs.

I like this mission - we find out on turn 4 what we are fighting for Table Quarters, Seize Ground (terrain), or Field of Battle.

The marines set up first.
The rest of the army was destined to come on on turn 1...
I countered with one unit and transport.
Turn 1 saw some inconsequential shotting from the marines (plus turn 1 was a night fight), and then I bought my army on.
So did you notice it? Yep, he forgot to bring his army on during his first turn. OMFG!
To be honest I have no idea what this means in rules terms, but I did not want to even contemplate asking the judges, just in case they came up with "destroyed!".
We decided that they should now come on as Reserves. Of course, this could potentially doom his game plan as I out numbered him for most of the game.
He did manage to get a Vindicator and Devastator Squad on in turn 2.
My Penitent Engines had rushed forward and after dealing with one of the tactical squads, they were engaged by the other, in the woods. This battle would last for the majority of the game.
My Immolator moved up to the woods, to track down anything that wanted to come near the combat - and promptly immobilized itself...
Turn 4 was good to the Marines... the Landraider arrived! An attack bike showed up, but I killed it off with 2 storm bolter shots from an Arbite Rhino!!
My Arco's went after the Vindicator (which has been pummeling the Sisters Repentia in the woods), and the Repentia finally Raged and ran towards the Landraider.
Turn 5, and the final unit of marines shows up - jump troops! The assault terminator squad, with Cassius, jumps out of the Landraider and heads towards my Celestians and Palantine.
The Sisters Repentia get stuck into the Landraider and wreck it (woot!), the Celestians stand up to the terminators (Spirit of the Martyr, and Preferred Enemy really do help!)
Turn 6 I had to try to deal with the jump pack troops that were going to deny me my right table quarter, but that was not going to work out.
The Repentia came over to help deal with the terminators, but in the end Cassius survived, denying me both the tertiary objective and one of my table quarters!
Result - Primary - tie, Secondary - tie, Tertiary - tie. Plus all 3 Tactical Bonuses. 20 points gained.
Hard fought game. I'm not sure how different it would have been if the marines had come on on turn one like they were supposed to. But that is part of the game - you have to remember which units are coming on how, and when. I really should check the rule on that mistake.

Game 3

Opponent - Chuck Bethea - Daemons of Chaos (Nurgle).

Mission - Capture and Control; Primary - Objective Markers, Secondary - VPs, Tertiary - Control the Table.

Ah, daemons - so much fun! Chuck had one of the nicest Nurgle armies I've ever seen, and his painting score reflected this.

Chuck let me deploy first... I use my turn 1 to spread out a bit.
The Tallyman, a Soul Grinder, some plague bearers and two winged daemon Princes drop in...
Epidemius backs off from my penitent Engines...
My Repentia charged up the middle (with some nice Holy Rage rolls), and wiped out the unit of plague bearers. They'd need that cover to survive shooting from the Soul Grinder...
Didn't help much! But at least I failed my moral check and got to charge.
The DP went after my two Engines, that combat would last a couple of turns more...
Turn 3 saw some Plague Bearers come in behind my lines, so I needed to deal with them ASAP, and my other two engines went toe-to-slime with the Greater Daemon - eventually beating him down.
Turn 3 saw more Plague bearers come in, and need to be dealt with. As well as the Soul Grinder going over to help out the Greater Daemon.
Turn 4 - I wanted Epidemius dead! I threw in my Battle Sister squad... the Penitent Engines finally went down, it would have been nice if they could have lasted one more round...
Turn 5 saw some ongoing combats...
Turn 6 did not resolve much...
Game end.

Result - Primary - win, Secondary - tie, Tertiary - tie. Plus one Tactical Bonus.13 points gained.
A good hard fought game! This is the first time I've done well against daemons in a regular game - I think my extra-choppy units were well worth the points.

Here are the results. Not so great - I really stunk on the quiz, and I'm betting I lost a sportsmanship point from game 2, when I did not allow him to just walk on after messing up his turn one deployment (yeah, like I'm going to give up an immediate assault, on his terms!).