As we walked into Bugmans on Sunday morning and ordered the first of many Lattes we wondered whereabouts in the rankings we might be after our loss. This tournament doesn't just take into account wins and draws but also favourite games and votes for best painted army so, although we thought we might not be able to win, we did believe we could still finish highly. So a good marker would be what table number we would be playing on...
Sunday - Day 2 - Game 4
Table 20 was the result so we knew that at least we were in the top 40 somewhere. Our opponents Jason and Rich duly arrived and we had a good old chat. These guys were playing on the next table to us for the first game of the tournament and so we had already said hello. I had even already said "thakn goodness we're not playing that army"...
Army
Jason and Rich were playing an army called 'Void Rage' which consisted of Dark Eldar and Eldar.
The army consisted of a huge amount of flying or hovering stuff which meant -1 to hit for the flyers and -1 to hit outside of 12" - This was not going to be fun hence my comment of yesterday - Nice to look at though!
 |
| Top Gun of the future |
The mission was Scorched Earth from the Chapter Approved book.
When we first looked at the missions our thoughts were that this mission would be ok for us. Although the objectives are scored at the end of each player turn - which is difficult for us - we could still focus on sitting tight in a shielded deployment and shooting, picking up points from one or two objectives, before moving out to grab more late on in the game. Also we would have the ability to raze any objectives that are in our opponents deployment zone to gain D3 victory points. We had planned on using our fast moving Taurox and deep striking Scions to have a go at this on turns 2 or 3.
It looked like we had got a tough match up here against a bunch of flyers at -2 to hit however, we also have a lot of bullets so some would be bound to get through...
Game Highlights
From now on Rich will be referred to as 'The Fool'.
So after only winning one first turn roll off on the Saturday 'the fool' decided to handicap us hugely again on the Sunday by losing the roll off for deployment and first turn AGAIN!!! To compound our problems Jason and Rich rolled for deployment map and got exactly what they wanted - 'Hammer and Anvil' - that's short table edges which is great for a super fast mobile army but not great for a sit tight and not moving army - Oh!
Also Jason and Rich gave us the table end with no terrain whatsoever - just a hill that we could sit on top of and wave flags saying "Look at us, we're really good targets and easy to see!".
So looking at the scenario that 'the fool' had given us with Jason and Rich absolutely making the right decisions:
- We were stuck out of range with most of our stuff.
- We had no cover
- We were going second
- We were a long way away from the objectives in the middle of the board
Honestly we didn't really know what to do so we figured that we needed to get on with setting up as we normally would pushing as far out as we could to the edges of the deployment zone and scouting the sentinels still. At least this would maybe distract our opponents into shooting at the sentinels and guardsmen rather than the important stuff. Then we could see what we had left after their first turn and re-evaluate.
 |
| Our standard deployment |
 |
| Our standard deployment |
As expected we got absolutely wrecked in their first turn. We lost a few Lascannons, one manticore and had one manticore reduced to uselessness. Quite a few guardsmen went to meet the emperor and one of the punishers took some heavy wounding. Consequently our first turn turned into nothingness as we moved out as much as possible but had very little to shoot back that was in range. We were struggling here as we had taken some heavy losses and done little back. We would have to be patient, wait and endure...
Jason and Rich's turn 2 was even worse for us as the 3 void ravens did their dirty work and ripped over our battle lines on a bombing run virtually wiping out our infantry and shooting most of the rest of the lascannons to pieces. It was brilliant to see the destructive power - well it would have been if it wasn't our army being taken off the board!
 |
| Eldar turn 2 bombing run - ouch! |
Taking even more losses we started to get into a negative mindset and thinking that we couldn't come back from this as we were losing models for fun, not doing any real damage back and getting quite behind on victory points as they were getting 3 a turn while we were only managing 1.
At this point I took a step back to re-evaluate and get away from the emotions of the game. I started thinking about all of the positives of our army, what units we still had left and what damage they could do. I also started to consider the end game - how we could get enough victory points to catch back up and, more importantly deny them victory points.
I grabbed Rich and we started discussing the basics of the game - what their biggest threats were to us and what we could do about them. We also discussed how we could pressure their army and draw some fire away from the 2 punishers which are the most important units in our army as they are tough, deal a lot of damage and can hold objectives. After a quick 5 minutes we had a plan and I had come up with a great idea that Rich thought he could execute...
Our immediate threats were:
1. The void ravens as they had crippled our army in the 2nd turn and were only going to hurt us more as the game went on.
2. Next were the Wave serpents with fire prisms as their shooting was horrific.
3. Then we had 3 or 4 smaller Eldar units that were buzzing around objectives racking up the victory points each turn.
Here was our plan:
1. Void Ravens - We had to get rid of them, their bombing run was going to hit more infantry and tanks next turn and their sheer firepower would put some serious hurt on us. However, I had the idea that instead of shooting at them and wasting bullets could we just get them to fly off the board and deny them a turn or 2 in which case they couldn't shoot or make a bombing run. We wouldn't waste any shooting or important movement to do this and it would remove a problem temporarily and buy us some time. A flyer can only turn 90 degrees and with their position (see pic above) they could only turn to their left so if we could reposition our infantry to stop their bases landing on the board they would be off. In our team Rich is the movement man, I am rubbish at moving models - I can think it but I can't do it - so Rich got busy and, constantly asking Jason and Rich if they agreed with his placement, he somehow managed to spread everything out enough to pull it off! Those pesky flyers would not be doing anything next turn!
2. Couldn't do much about the Wave Serpents I'm afraid, we would just have to take the pain. They were too far back with a -2 to hit and a bunch of wounds and so it would be a complete waste of bullets shooting at these guys. I think it is important to note that ignoring something is a totally valuable tactic in a game. It is really hard to ignore something that is hurting you and to have the discipline to not get emotional is a real skill. Instead we made sure that the two punishers had our psychic powers being cast on them and kept them in cover or out of sight as much as was possible.
3. We planned to totally wreck their left flank - our right and stick all of the sentinels on all of the objectives. This meant that we were denying them points if they didn't shoot our unimportant units which also deflected fire away from our important units. I always reassure myself that our army lasts a lot longer than other armies - we will still have lots left at the end so lets use everything! To take the right flank we pushed the punishers and taurox that way and deep struck the scions into that side.
After this push forward we had destroyed three units and had taken a warlord. Also we held one objective and were threatening 3 others.
 |
| Taking the right flank |
 |
| The Eldar squads feeling some pain at last |
 |
| The assault up the right flank |
Turn 4 was a real game changer! We got very lucky in this turn:
- Only one of their void ravens came back on!!
- The punishers, having cleared the right flank about turned and moved around the corner to clear the units off of objectives on the left flank on the final 5th turn (we had already decided when the end of the game was going to be as time was moving on)
- The Scions moved upfield and cleared the Eldar units from an objective in their deployment zone and were within 3" to claim it themselves. We made the decision that we would probably get knocked off of this objective in the last turn and so needed to raze this objective and hope for a high D3 score or we wouldn't be able to catch up. Amazingly we rolled for 3 victory points!!! another stroke of luck!
- The sentinels stayed alive again! and held 1 objective while denying points on the others - yet another stroke of luck!!
Unbelievably we had managed to claw our way back to level points at the end of turn 4. This was incredible after being absolutely smashed for 3 turns...
Turn 5 - Cheek clenching time.
Looking back I cannot believe that with the game being so tense we managed to play the whole turn in just 12 minutes! This is all that was left on the clock and all 4 of us just got down to it and worked together to chat, agree, move and shoot everything we needed to. It was great to be a part of actually.
So...
Eldar turn
- The void ravens came back with a bang and while one got right up in our deployment zone for a potential linebreaker the others shot up our sentinels to claim objectives at the end of their game turn to get some more points.
- Any units left on the eldar side moved as much as possible towards any objectives they could.
- Last but not least the Fire Prisms barraged poor old Pask to try to get another warlord point. It felt like they were taking hundreds of shots but obviously not! With a -2 to hit (cover and pychic powers) he was a tough target. Unfortunately on the first set of shots (with a potential -5 to any saves remember) Jason rolled a couple of 6's to hit! Then proceded to roll two 1's to wound - Phew!!! And so came the second set of shots...he rolled a pair of 2's to hit (yaay!) then command re-rolled two 6's (Noooo!)! Then came the wounds - two 1's (yaay!!!) and no re-rolls left!
Each of these rolls was accompanied by screams from both sides and a few people had stopped to watch at this point. I have to say that we were very lucky again here!
So after a bit of a battering and some great play Jason and Rich had managed to get themselves 4 victory points in the lead with an extra possible linebreaker point to come. Wow - 5 points behind with 1 turn and about 5 mins of the game left, Rich and I looked at each other and went for it...
Our turn
This was the plan...
4 objectives held and 1 linebreaker point would draw us level. If we could also destroy the void raven in our deployment zone we win.
- we had to hold 4 objectives by the end of the turn - 1 in our own deployment zone (easy) and 3 in the middle of the board currently with Eldar units on. Note that we didn't need to kill everything to do this - we either had to get units with objective secured, or get units with more models, or both onto the 3 objectives in the middle of the board. We didn't have the models to do this so we would need to clear 2 of those objectives...
- Move the scions that were just out of the eldar deployment zone into it for linebreaker.
- Kill the void raven that was getting them a point for linebreaker.
So here is what we did...
5 points behind...
- The first thing was for the scions to move as this was an easy point that couldn't be denied. We also needed them to be in rapid fire range of one of the units on an objective though so that the Taurox could hold it if we could clear it. They moved and shot and removed nearly all of the models from 1 of the objectives.
1 point gained for linebreaker...4 points behind...
- Our home troops were already holding our objective in our deployment zone.
1 point gained for this objective...3 points behind...
- 1 sentinel moved within 3" of the middle right objective and then our 2 remaining sentinels opened up on the 1 model holding that objective and killed it.
1 point gained for this objective...2 points behind...
- The Taurox moved within 3" of an objective in the middle of the board with a squad and a vehicle on it and then opened fire on the squad, killing it.
Objective tied...2 points behind...
- The standard Leman Russ punisher drove up to within 3" of an objective in the left middle of the board to hold it. Then it opened fire on the vehicle next to the Taurox, killing it!
2 Objectives held...Level on points!!
- Which left the last thing to do to win the game - Kill a Void Raven with a handful of wounds left and deny them a linebreaker point! We still had a few lascannons left and of course we had Pask in the punisher...
At this point Jason and I were struggling to watch and we left the two Rich's to decide the game and instead put an arm around each others shoulders to watch from the other end of the table...
...2 minutes left on the clock...
...Rich rolled for the few lascannons we had left...
...2 hits and wounds got through...a couple of high rolls for D6 damage would do it...
...two 1's!!!...Jason next to me cheered - I groaned!...
...It was down to tank commander Pask then...
...40 shots from the punisher cannon...
...loads of hits...10 or so wounds...surely...
...Nooooo! he's saved all but 1!!!!...Jason cheers louder...I nearly punch 'the fool'...
...1 minute left on the clock...
...Pask's Lascannon...hits...wounds...I cheer!!...1 damage!!!!!!...Jason cheers louder!!!...
...2 multi meltas left to fire...3 wounds left...
...Rich rolls 2 dice...1 hit and 1 miss on a 1!!!...
...This is it then, 1 dice left to wound...and he rolls a 5 to wound...I cheer!...
...10 seconds left...
...a 4 or higher on one D6 we win, any less and it's a draw...
...Jason and I can't watch so we turn away arms around each other shoulders...
...Rich rolls...
...and Rich cheers!!!!!
We turn around and Rich managed to roll a 5 to finally kill the Void raven and win us the game by 1 victory point as the clock ticked to zero!!
Best Game Ever!!
I can categorically say that this was, by far, the best game of 40k I have ever played. We had played some cracking games the day before but this one had everything. There was fun, sportsmanship, drama, tactics, luck to both sides and even then it all came down to a 50-50 roll - this is what the game is all about!!
Even from a cinematic point of view it was very apt that it all came down to Pask - our warlord - in the end too.
It was played in great spirits and all of us agreed that it didn't matter who had won or what was at stake, we would all have been happy to go home at the end of the tournament having played a game like this.
Really I would just like to say thanks to Jason and Rich for being absolutely awesome and making it such an amazing experience for us.
I only had one moan about this game - I wish I had taken more photos!!
Game Summary
Coming back from such a bad start and then managing to claw 5 victory points in the last turn as the clock ticked to zero was such an emotional experience that we were absolutely wrecked after this game. Also during the game we were told that we had been nominated for best painted army which meant that now we had to rush to get our army together and set it up in the cabinets for people to vote for before we could rest and go to lunch - an honour that we weren't going to moan about though!
Finally we made it to lunch and began to reflect on the drama and wonder where we might be in the tournament...could we still win?
'Void Rage' would eventually finish 58th in the tournament out of 85 with 3 wins and 2 losses. Well done guys!
fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads
No comments:
Post a Comment