You can find my Round 1 Battle Report here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/281869.page
Headed into Round 2 with a 22 point victory under my belt against my first round opponent, I was expecting to see a tough fight on my hands. I wasn't to be disappointed.
My army:
Ghazghkull
KFF Mek
17 Boyz+Nob(Wagon with
KFF)
12 boyz in trukk
12 boyz in trukk
10 gretchin/runtherder
15 burnas (Wagon with Ghaz)
15 Lootas
15 Lootas
1 Deffkopta, Rokkits and Buzzsaw
1 Deffkopta, Rokkits and Buzzsaw
My opponent Tim Hudak was running Salamanders!
Vulkan He'stan
Librarian, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Melta Bombs
Tac squad, flamer, multi-melta / rhino
Tac squad, flamer, multi-melta / rhino
5 Assault Terminators
TH/
SS
5 Assault Terminators
TH/
SS
Land Raider Redeemer, Extra Armor and multi-melta
Land Raider Redeemer, Extra Armor and Multi-melta
2x Multi-melta attack bikes
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Mission: Football! An objective starts in the middle of the table. Any infantry unit can capture it. Control it at the end of the game and win. Deployment: Pitched battle.
We placed the objective in the middle of the table. We rolled for sides and my opponent won! He deployed his forces - this was my first tournament taking pictures, and I forgot to take them at times; I ended up stealing the initiative, and this is a picture of my turn1 moves, but here's his deployment:
I deployed opposite him in the middle. Having not played Salamanders before, some glaring mistakes will make themselves obvious - for starters, I thought those were lascannons on the sides of the land raiders, not heavy flamers!! I also wasn't thinking about land raider payload. I turbo-boosted my deffkoptas up next to his rhinos, then stole the initiative. Gretchin in reserve for later, and turn 1 starts:
Ork Turn1: I'm not sure whether I should stay put and let him come to me, or move 12" forward into obvious range of every multi-melta in his list....I make the worst possible choice and move 6". Although this wouldn't dawn on me until my opponent's turn 1.
I start shooting - The deffkopta on the right wrecks its transport.
Side-shot of me moving up the table:
The deffkopta on the left whiffs, and my Lootas open up on his multi-melta bikes, killing them both. My right deffkopta assaults into his marines; they don't have a power fist, and if I don't assault them, I'm going to get a melta in the face his turn - I assault them, kill one or two, but they stay locked in with me.
On the other side, my deffkopta assaults the rhino and stuns/weapon destroys it. Booo!!!!
Salamanders Turn1: Tim must have been gleefully smiling in his head for my rookie mistakes, because I just did to him what I pray opponents will do to me every game - give up the charge. He zooms his land raiders forward 12" and dumps out his assault terminators from one of his land raiders. The other hands on standby - that objective marker is the football; I've basically lost the game at this point by letting his land raiders get to the football uncontested.
The marines from his stunned rhino empty out and move 6" to get in behind his land raider, while Vulkan comes around to greet my Deffkopta.
His thunderhammers dual-assault my land raiders, and only need 4+ to hit - he explodes them both!
Meanwhile, his tactical squad on the left ran in behind a land raider, and the squad on the right managed to kill the deffkopta assaulting them; I think he
PotMS his multi-meltas at trukks, but I made my
KFF saves.
Ork Turn2: The game is already grim; he's got a wall of assault terminators in front of me, another unit still in a land raider, and both his infantry squads closing in on the football. I have one trukk break to the left 18" trying to close in on his marines (I'm hoping to kill them and get rid of a ball carrier). The other trukk moves 12" up the right to be in position to answer whatever happens next. Lootas whiff on both sides (firing at Vulkan on the left, and the marines on the right). My big unit of boys that got disembarked from the battlewagon roll up to the empty land raider to beat on the hull while Ghazghkull and the burnas pile into the assault marines. Despite Ghazghkull having a 2+ invulnerable save, he takes two wounds from the thunderhammers, but I wipe out his assault terminators in exchange, with help from burnas, who suffer a few losses. I roll horribly for my consolidate.
Salamander Turn2: It is during this turn, that I'm informed that the Land Raider Redeemer carries twin-linked heavy flamers (or not twin-linked, don't remember). I do remember mass death. The big squad of boys that charged his land raider get incinerated. I guess I kind of lined up nice for him.
He rolled the other land raider up to the first one to block me off from the football, then hit me with several flamers. He also popped both of my remaining trukks with multi-meltas, ending my mobility. His troops moved in tight behind his land raiders, preventing the Lootas from shooting at anything, and his remaining assault terminator squad piled out and assaulted Ghazghkull and the burnas. In the ensuing combat, Ghazghkull died, but they and the burnas dealt exactly enough wounds to wipe the assault terminators too. Somewhere in there, the librarian piled out of his land raider as well. He had failed leadership for null zone, which is why Ghazzy lived this far.
Orks Turn3: I'm on foot now - my left squad of boys moves 6" to get closer to...anything. It was either assault the rhino that moved 12" or go after Vulkan, seemed like an easy choice.
My other squad boils forward trying to get closer to the football; I realize I'm going to get burned down and have lost, but am trying to be a good sport here. =p The gretchin came out of reserves, and I was moving them up towards the football as well. Farking ork boys on the left roll
for assault and fail to make it to Vulkan.
Salamander Turn3: He moves his land raiders tight together, puts a squad onto the football behind them, and incinerates everything in front of him.
Vulkan has his fun with the unit of boys that were assaulting him - the smell of burnt fungus is permeating the air.
Ork turn4: I have gretchin and my two loota squads left (and the big mek who attached to a gretchin squad) - my gretchin assault his marines in a last ditch effort to salvage the game:
They fail.
At this point, my opponent has two turns left to move into my deployment zone, pour redeemer flamer fire into my Lootas, and finish tabling me. I shook my Tim's hand and congratulated him on a great game.
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After Action Notes:
1. I actually enjoyed losing. No one "likes" to lose, but I felt validated for having done so. I went to this
GT to escape my local pond and find people better than the local fish that I continually dominate - this might sound strange, but it felt good to meet someone that could table me. I don't know if it influenced my mood or not, but I had started drinking at the start of the round (just after lunch) and was working hard on a fifth of Captain Morgan.
2. I take pride in the knowledge that I learn from my mistakes. I wish I could have a rematch - I would have rolled out aggressively on turn1 to get to the football, and now that I know those are FLAMERS and not lascannons...I have a healthy respect for being disembarked around redeemer land raiders.
3. I've had some...personal problems with people in the southeast. I've been asked not to join a
40k campaign in a new store locally (that I've never even been to before) because the owner said that he heard I was too competitive. I don't game at another local store because the core group of them (The Lords of War in NC) are *real* jerks. Another bad experience in Florida at one of my first ever tourneys.....just has been giving me a bad taste about the hobby. Needless to say, I was paranoid about going to my first ever event. If nothing else, this game and this tournament put my mind at ease. I know the rules pretty well; Tim told me that he thought I had an advantage because I've only ever played 5th edition - so I don't have prejudices or get various editions mixed up. At this tournament, I didn't HAVE to be a rules lawyer because everyone else knew the rules. The entire tournament, I had a single argument (can a monolith flux arc a battlewagon, destroy it, then flux arc the unit inside that comes out in the same shot?) Pretty obvious to me; my opponent disagreed - but we got it settled in a friendly manner, and I had not a single argument, complaint, or anything the entire tournament.
I think that was more valuable to me than anything else - I met a group of gamers who were similarly competitive (who else would pay $60 to spend 18 hours hunched over tables gaming?)
I really enjoyed it; I was genuinely surprised at how many people knew me despite never having met me (Hey, are you Dashofpepper from dakka?) (Hey, are you the pink ork guy? I love your posts) - that kind of stuff. I should probably have saved all this rambling for the end of my battle reports, but I thought it fit in well here.
Stay tuned for the battle reports for the other three games, and my climb into the top tables!
)
and 
Deathskulls
3000
3000 