Imperial Fists CAD

Warlord - Libby, Lv2, Power Armour, Combi-flamer
Libby, Lv2, Terminator Armour, SS, Primarchs Wrath

Scout Squad – 5 man, Bolters,
Scout Squad – 5 man, Bolters, HB
Scout Squad – 5 man, Sniper Rifles

DEV squad – 2x LC, 2x ML
Sternguard – 8 man, 4 x Combi-plasma, DP (joined by Libby in Term. Armour)
Dreadnought – TL AC x 2
Landspeeder – MM x 2

Aegis Defence Line - Icarus LC

Legion of the Damned Allies Detachment

Legion of the Damned – 5 man, MM, MG, Combi-melta
Legion of the Damned – 5 man, MM, MG, Combi-melta
Legion of the Damned – 5 man, PC, PG, Combi-plasma
Legion of the Damned – 5 man, PC, PG, Combi-plasma

TOTAL 1749 Points

Total Models 53 /Infantry 50 /Characters 2 /Vehicles 1 /Psykers 2

As expected, quite an Imperium heavy contingent of armies, but just enough filthy xenos lists in there to keep it interesting.

ARMY 1 - CHAOS

Very nicely painted chaos army

ARMY 2 - SPACE MARINES - White Scars

Nicely painted SM bike army, but symptomatic of a wider problem at the GT - no proxying allowed, yet these guys were playing as white scars when clearly ultramarines and Black Templars. In this case its fairly debatable as there were no named characters present and you can argue they were successors or something, but still slightly dubious.

ARMY 3 - TYRANIDS

Only Tyranid List of the day (considered much nerfed in these parts, obviously haven't been reading jy2's posts on the subject) but mean looking none the less.

ARMY 4 - GREY KNIGHTS

My game 1 opponent, very nice Grey Knights playing as some kind of fluffy 'Dark Knights', hence the Dreadknights proxied by chaos thingymajigs (answers on a postcard please....)

ARMY 5 - CHAOS

Really nice chaos list, customized to the point where I couldn't tell what they were - I think the frog like things in front were spawn?

ARMY 6 - SPACE MARINES - Sons of Fenris

Nice space wolves supplement list from a player who was very friendly to all, but again more proxying - the long fangs are 10x PC, proxied as 10x LC, termies are armless but really SS, TWC are headless, knight seems to have lost half his hittable mass in his shoulder pads, and all are clearly Black Templar (although again debatable on the fluff).

ARMY 7 - TAU

Only Tau of the day, maybe next year I will enter mine to try and bump up their numbers

ARMY 8 - SPACE MARINES -Ultramarines

Mr regular sparring partner,Neophyte2012, and his improved ultramarines, this time with more drop pods! As it turned out, my game 5 opponent.

ARMY 9 - IMPERIAL GUARD

Tank! Tanks! TAAAAAAANKS!

ARMY 10 - ORKS

Well painted Mech heavy Ork list

ARMY 11 - SPACE MARINES - Imperial Fists

Nicely painted IF Army (Except the Cents & Chaplain of course) also no idea what the tank on the far right is - anyone?

ARMY 12 - ELDAR

A terrible thing happened in this chaps first game - someone bumped his table and the titan fell off and smashed to pieces (this picture is after repairs). Not a nice thing to happen, but then I remembered that he had bought a 900 point near invincible unit as part of a Eldar power list to the tournament, and sort of lost sympathy (as did many others.....)

ARMY 13 - KNIGHTS

Knights with SM allies

ARMY 14 - CHAOS

A daemon factory list, and the subject of much controversy on the second day (which I will deal with later in day two write up)

ARMY 15 - SPACE MARINES - Blood Angels

New codex arriving just too late for this guy....

ARMY 16 - ORKS

Another top notch painted army, this time traditional brush, and heavily customized in the best orkish traditions. My game 3 opponent.

ARMY 17 - SPACE MARINES - Salamanders

Really top notch airbrushed SM army with Knight, my game 2 opponent

ARMY 18 - IMPERIAL GUARD

Immaculately airbrushed tank force.

Game 1: Titan’s Bastards vs Grey Knights

Mission: Emperors Will
Deployment: Random - Dawn of War
Game Length: Variable (2.5 hrs. time limit)
Terrain: Pre-set
Going first: Me!



Initially I thought this game was going to be a tough match up for me, having never played against Grey Knights before and not really knowing what to expect beyond a lot of warp charge points and pain. As a result I’m not sure exactly what it was I was up against as I lost the list, but it was basically two units of terminator knight type thingy dudes (that is the technical name for them I believe), one with Draigo and the other with another character who’s name evades me, and of course three Dreadknights (I will update the list when I find it).

My strategic approach to all the games in the GT will be in keeping with the theme of my list - the desperate remnants of a Marine task force are dug in behind their defence line, the Devasators, Warlord and lonely Dreadnought ready to deal death until the bitter end, with the scouts out doing what they do best - looking for enemy movement and harassing their advance. Once the battle is met, the plucky defenders will hang on as long as they can while their own reinforcements arrive in the Sternguard, Libby and Land speeder, backed up by the mysterious Legionnaires answering their desperate prayers for salvation.....



'Eeeeek! I think it saw us!'

The sparse terrain slightly favours me, and makes me glad that I decided to fork out on the Aegis Line, even if I will have no use for the Icarus LC this game. I go first and my opponent fails to seize. My Tournament gets off to a bad start though - I attempt to alpha strike one of his Dreadknights with my Sternguard & Libby, and promptly scatter 12" in the only direction that will have me off the table. Mishap roll hands my opponent the option of where to put it, and it ends up way in the back corner, effectively out of the game :(



'The grass on this world is really, REALLY green...'

First round of shooting from me does nothing, and the turn is over. His turn, and everything moves forward. Dreadknights take care of the two units of scouts in the central ruins with their shooting, and they force my third unit of sniper scouts to ground in the crater. First blood to my opponent.



'Long old poke from here boys!'

Turn 2 and three of my LotD squads come in. If the majority of his force gets across the board to my deployment zone it will be all over, so I decide to try and tie his units back in his zone and sacrifice the three LotD squads to the cause (sorry flaming heavy space metal band dudes!). I drop them in nice and close, and shooting removes two terminators and puts a couple of wounds on a Dreadknight, but that’s about it from my guys.



'We fear nothing! Except maybe hot baths and pop music!'

He takes the bait and goes after the LotD with the majority of his forces. The legionaries survive shooting and combat fairly intact, tying up his troops for a crucial turn. However, two Dreadknights use their teleporter engines to go after my objective!



'Yaaaarg! It did see us! Ahhhhhhhhh!'

Turn 3, and my remaining reserves come in. The plasma LotD squad land near my Aegis Line and help the DEV squad and Dread take out the two Dreadknights (phew!), effectively ending the threat to my objective. Sternies continue the long march towards his objective. His turn, and combat continues - one unit of LotD get wiped, but the other two make a huge string of 3+ saves to remain in the fight and lock up his remaining Dreadknight and unit of terminators for another turn. The free unit of Termies back away from my approaching sternies and their plasma goodies.



"Boom! Your welcome boyos!'



'*wheeze* You try running in tactical dreadnaught armour!'

Turn 4, and my speeder pilot notices that the enemy have backed off from the sternguard's approach so much they seem to have abandoned their objective, so he gets in position for a sneaky attempt at grabbing it next turn. Another unit of LotD buys the farm, but one remains intact. He cannot resist the temptation and charges everything he has left, with predictable results......



' He he he! It’s just like hid and seek! But with guns.'



'Lads, this is gonna hurt…..'

Turn 5

I make a cheeky grab for his objective, but he realises what I am up to and used Gate of Infinity to warp his Terminator squad onto his objective and destroy my Landspeeder in the process (not last turn photos I'm afraid, as we were too busy picking up the bits of the adjacent tables Revenant Titan which too a nose dive off the table).

With time almost up, we end the game both holding our own objectives, my opponent taking First Blood and my Sternguard having covered just enough ground to take Linebreaker

TITAN'S BASTARDS 4:4 GREY KNIGHTS

A DRAW!

Having only managed to kill 5 of his models all game, I was very happy to have managed a draw against such tough opposition. Apart from the gaff with the drop pod, I think tactically I played it right, trying to tie his guys back in his DZ. With Draigo in a unit of Termies, I was never going to get slay the warlord and after losing first blood I think a draw was all I could reasonably expect.

That said though, I was still delighted as my main aim results-wise was to not get tabled every game and maybe pick up a result. From my perspective, this definitely counted!

My opponent was great fun also, and was much more concerned with having a great game than winning – he even offer me to reroll the deep strike mishap that had my guys posted in the back corner, but I decided bad luck was bad luck and it would serve to teach me the value of measuring 12” from the table edge in future

Game 2: Titan’s Bastards vs Salamanders with Imperial Knight

Mission: Crusade (4 total objectives, marked by orange barrels in the photos)
Deployment: Random - Dawn of War
Game Length: Variable (2.5 hrs. time limit)
Terrain: Pre-set
Going first: My opponent!



Chapter Master - TH, Shield Eternal
Librarian, Lv1
Command squad – SS x3, PA, PS, MG x4, Apothecary
TAC (10 man) PG, MM, DP
TAC (5 man) Flamer, Razorback (TL LC)
TAC (5 man) PG, Rhino (TL LC)
SCOUTS, Shotguns, LSS
Ironclad, HKM, DP
Knight Paladin


Another first for me - I knew I would come up against one (or more) sooner or later, but I was kind of hoping for the later. Knights are a bit of a mystery to me (something about shields only facing one direction?), but looking at the rest of my opponents list I felt fairly confident that I would at least be competitive. His deployment of the Knight along the left side flank (presumably to protect it from my DS LotD melta squads) helped confirm my approach to this threat - I would ignore it as best I could, probably surrendering which ever objective it happened to be near, and concentrate on challenging for the other three.

My early confidence was abruptly drained though when I discovered my opponent was one of the veteran players at the FLGS, and one of three favourites for the overall crown. Great.

My strategic approach would be the same again, boys dug in behind the ADL waiting for salvation to arrive, but this time I decided to outflank two units of scouts to try and challenge for the back two objectives on his side of the board, while infiltrating the sniper scouts into the central ruins.



'Keep yer heads down lads!'

The sparse terrain favours my opponents Knight and its big old gun, making me doubly glad of having the Aegis Line for cover, even if I will have no use for the Icarus LC for the second game in a row. My opponent rolls to go first and I decide not to seize, as I want to use my DP strike to counter his.



'Three craters and two ruins do not an interesting game make...'

Turn 1, and my opponent parks his Rhino & Razorback on his backfield objectives, while two of his drop pods come in and land near the two objectives near my deployment zone. The Command squad & Chapter Master emerge from the one on my left flank to waste my Dread with their meltaguns, making him go boom and giving him First Blood. The Ironclad emerges from his DP on the right flank and attempts to flame the DEVs and my warlord, but they make their saves. The Knights battle cannon scatters off, and a fairly lack luster first turn for my opponent is over.

My Drop pod comes in next to his Command squad, and the combined 21 shots from Libby & Sternguard result in a mighty.....2 models being removed (the ones without SS). Not quite the result I was looking for. DEVs shoot at the backfield Razorback but miss, and i forget about the scouts in the central ruin due to their excellent camouflage. Very poor first turn for me, but the vast bulk of my units are yet to come in.



'Tsk. I dunno Serg, don't they teach kids how to park pods anymore?'

Turn two, and my opponents scouts come in from reserve, but his DP with the TAC squad is still out. The LSS with scouts outflank to the left flank with my Sterguard but cause no damage in shooting. The Command squad shoots & assualts the sternguard, killing 5 in total for a loss of none. Despite losing the combat, my guys would hold. Knight kills a DEV while the Ironclad gears up for the charge on the same unit but fails the distance.



'Aha! I'll see your counter pod strike and raise you an outflanking unit!'

My turn and both units of scouts and the land speeder come in from reserve, but none of the LotD! Aaaargh! Disastrous! I was hoping for the exact opposite! Never mind, will have to make the most of it. One unit of scouts comes onto the far back of the right flank, trying to sneak behind the rhino guarding the objective and glance it to death with massed bolter fire. They would fail. The second scout unit outflanks into the path of the knight on the left, and managed to down the newly arrived LSS with a well-aimed krak grenade. Unfortunately, all passengers survive the explodes result. My Land speeder also comes on and pops the Razorback guarding the objective in the far back left flank, killing three passengers, causing the survivors to break (but not quite off the table) and leaving one objective unguarded.... for now. Close combat is a stalemate, with his warlord taking a wound.



'if we are really reaaaaaaaaaally quiet, he won’t notice us'



'Yes? Well, I’ll see your counter counter-pod strike outflanking unit and raise you another outflanking unit!'

Turn three, and his final drop pod comes in. He brings it down on the objective recently vacated by his razorback and proceeds to wreck the land speeder with massed bolter fire. The Knight thinks about charging the scouts, but decides the heavy stubber is probably more efficient and shoots them to death. His scouts join the combat with my Libby & sternguard, which ends in yet another stalemate - me losing a sternguard and him a scout. The Ironclad charges the remaining DEVs and destroys them, leaving my warlord to leg it- er, tactically withdraw in the opposite direction.



'Hmmm, on second thoughts white and red might not have been the most inconspicuou-aaaarrrgh!'



'I want my mum...'



'What do you expect? Have you ever tried punching ceramite?'

My go, and only two LotD come in this turn, one plasma and one melta. Its probably too late now, but I can at least try and capture a few objectives and maybe deny him one. Both teams drop near the Rhino on the far back right flank objective and shoot, but only manage to put it down to 1HP. I finally remember the scouts in the ruins and they start making a move for the objective claimed by the ironclad’s DP. Combat continues, I lose both remaining sternguard but the Libby hangs tough against the chapter master.



"better late than neve- oh, wait. Gak.'

Turn 4, and my opponents stuff shuffles about a bit but with time running out he knows he has won and so doesn’t do much apart from killing a few scouts with the Knight’s battle cannon.

My Turn, and the Remaining legionnaires come in, all too late. I drop one near the Ironclad drop pod and wreck it, while the scouts run to claim it but fail by half an inch! Argh! The other LotD teams destroy the remaining Rhino and the scouts claim the objective, making the score a little more respectable.



'Argh! If only we weren’t wearing these stupid cloaks and tripping on them we would have probably made it!'



'Right, ok. So next time, better early than late. Got it.

The TO calls time and we end what has been a fairly pulsating game, with both sides pod striking, outflanking and deep striking all over the place. He holds two objectives; I hold one and one is (just about) unclaimed. My opponent also takes First Blood and Linebreaker, while I also pick up Linebreaker with my scouts.

TITAN'S BASTARDS 4:8 SALAMANDERS

DEFEAT!

Well, I have to say that was one of the best SM on SM games I have played in a while - it was really quite exciting, with almost every kind of reserve move used and lots of darting back and forth across the board to deal with threats on all flanks. My opponent was great fun too and very gracious in victory, suggesting that my late arriving LotD units really helped him out.

And I guess that was the big story of this game - my strategy to ignore the Knight was the right one I think, as he put out some damage but not enough to warrant throwing everything at him. If the LotD had come in turns 2/3 rather than 3/4 I would have had more time to shoot his troops off of one more objective and would have felt fairly confident in holding them with the 3+ invulnerable saves.

As it was, I was proud of the way I handled one of the favourites for the tournament (he would go on to finish second) and felt the score was more than respectable, even if it was a defat. If my scouts had made that final run by just one more inch (I needed a 3+ and rolled a 2) the score would have been even closer (8-7)!

Game 3: Titan’s Bastards vs Orks

Mission: The Scouring (6 total objectives, represented by the orange barrels, with random points values)
Deployment: Random - Dawn of War (three in a row!)
Game Length: Variable (2.5 hrs. time limit)
Terrain: Pre-set
Going first: Me



Warboss (finkin cap, mega armour, cybork body)
Painboy
Mek shok attak
Mek shok attak
30 Grots, 3 Runtherds, 1 with Squig Hound
30 Boyz Sluggas, Nob Powa Klaw, Boss Pole
30 boyz shootas, Nob Powa Klaw, Boss Pole
20 Boyz Sluggas, Nob Powa Klaw, Boss Pole
dakkajet
dakkajet
6 Lootas
5 Lootas
5 Lootas
3 Mek guns - Kannon, 4 grots + 3 amno runt
3 Mek guns - Kannon, 4 grots + 3 amno runt

Urgh. Orks. But not just Orks - a gak load of Orks!

Now that’s not to say I don’t like Orks. Far from it as, like most people, I happen to think they are probably the most entertaining faction in 40K and the models are always great (especially when painted to this standard! ). I am also really looking forward to this match up as it is my first proper Xeno list of the day, and always being paired against the ever popular forces of the imperium can get a it dull sometimes.

The issue I have is playing against a horde, about whom I know very little and cannot really tell apart from one another. Target prioritization will go out of the window here, as just about the only thing I know to go after are the Lootas and the Dakka jets (and even then I will have to ask my opponent which models the Lootas are exactly…..)

My strategic approach would be as usual, long range units dug in behind the ADL waiting for salvation to arrive, but this time I will keep the infiltrating scouts on the park. LotD, Sternies with Libby in DP and Land speeder in reserves. As the green tide advances, I will try to whittle them down with bolter drill and stay out of close combat . Simple enough - after all, Orks aren’t shooty armies, right?

The sparse terrain sort of favours me with my (assumed) superior shooting, and I will at last have a use for the Icarus LC when the dakka jets come in. Having decided to start with my scouts infiltrating rather than outflanking turns out to be a blessing, as my opponent roles ‘Master of Ambush’ as his Warlord trait and declares all 80 boys will be infiltrating! Wha?!?!?! Luckily I rolled to go first so position my scouts in a way that means infiltration does very little for him (god bless those 18” LOS bubbles). I roll ‘Pinceps of Defeat’, which leads to one of his units of Boyz starting the game pinned. Nice.



‘101, 102, 103, 104……' My opponent (second left) taking 45 minutes to set up. Note how everyone else’s games are well underway…..

Turn one, and we turn over the random objective barrels. I hold a 3 pointer behind my ADL, with the four pointer just left of the central ruin and the other 3 pointer inside the ruin. I try to bring the drop pod down on the 4 pointer to score, but it scatters two inches off (this would have far reaching consequences).

I cast invisibility on my Libby & Sterneis, but nothing else goes off. Shooting is fairly ineffectual, only killing a couple of lootas and a few of the boys in the Painboyz unit (the group closets to my Sternguard unit, if like me you can’t tell what’s what). It’s about now that I realise my fit out is geared more towards Armour, TEQs and MEQs, and not really anti horde. I am going to struggle to inflict enough damage from range.



'Argh! Green skins on a green background? It’s like Polar bears in the snow!'

My opponents turn, and the boredom begins. Half hour later, his movement is complete, and he gets on with the equally mammoth task of shooting. Many many dice later, he kills two of the DEVs behind the Aegis Line and a handful of scouts around the board. Assault, and the 30 odd boys + Painboy make a massive charge somehow and get into CC with my Sternguard and Libby. I deal very little damage, while he kills 7 out of the eight Sternguard and puts a wound on my librarian. They break, badly, and only just avoid being swept.

It’s about 5 minutes later than I realise I have made a MASSIVE mistake here. I totally forgot that the unit was invisible, despite putting the card RIGHT NEXT TO THEM to remind me (see below photo). If not winning the combat, my unit would have at least tarpitted the boyz for a turn or longer, and would certainly not have been so battered. At this point I scuttle off to the loo for a cry, and return utterly deflated.



Yeah, as it says clearly on that big fething card. INVISIBLE! Idiothole……

Turn two, and my Land speeder and two units of LotD come in (one melta, one plasma). My Libby and sole Sterguard regroup and decided to hang back on the four point objective, while the Land speeder grabs an outlying two point objective. More ineffective psychic powers followed by poor shooting and my turn is over.

One of the Dakkajets comes in and I intercept it with the Icarus (at last! It has been used!). Results are less than overwhelming. Hit, Pen, roll a three and it doesn’t crash and burn. Hardly scratched it. It them proceeds to kill my Dread stone cold dead. Shooting from his lootas then takes out the Icarus LC, which I figure is no great loss.



Despite everything, I have to say that this was an excellent dakka jet conversion – note the storm talon engines! Brilliant!

Turn three and time is about to be called (yes, beginning of turn 3). Since the schedule for the day is already an hour behind, and it has been a long day, I offer to call it a draw with my opponent (even though at this stage I was about 9-4 up on points). He refuses, so we play on to the bitter end.

My remaining LotD come in and do very little other than grab Linebreaker. The melta LotD team that came in last turn charge the Painboy and his unit, and actually win the combat! The Orks break, but as the LotD are slow and purposeful, they cannot sweep them. It is, however, a small victory none the less, and my exhaustion and gloom lift ever so slightly. I don’t drag out my turn and it ends after about 5 minutes.



'oh yeah buddy, feel the pain of my flame encrusted fear inducing spectral fist in your face. Bam!'

My opponents turn, and for some god forsaken reason he decides to move everything up, in some bizarre attempt to get into CC with an LoTD squad who are in no way important to the final outcome of this game. His second dakka jet comes in, and proceeds to shoot my Libby and Sterguard off of the four point objective.

The Painboy’s unit regroups and heads for the uncontested objective in the centre of the ruin, while everything else shots at various units, taking forever and rolling literally hundreds of dice to kill a handful of Legionaries who were not scoring or contesting or really doing anything other than waiting to be packed away.

With my will to live thoroughly drained, and most other contestants gone home, the game finally ends.

He holds two objectives and has first blood and slay the warlord; I hold two objectives and pick up Linebreaker .



Even the Dread has lost the will to live. Well, that and about 6 glances.....'

TITAN'S BASTARDS 5:6 ORKS

DEFEAT!

As you might have been able to tell from the write up (and the lack of photos), I really didn’t enjoy this game and was glad when it was over. It was so bad that I even considered not coming back the next day, as I wasn’t sure could face another session as punishing as that.

It wasn’t just that it was the last game of a long day, or that my opponent was not quite in the spirit of things. It was more that standing around for hours watching someone move 140+ models a turn, then rolling literally hundreds of dice to generate a small number of (rather lethal) hits was utterly boring. It is no surprise we only got to the end of turn three, and even then a full 45 minutes after time had been called (after my opponent refused to call it).

A close result though, and much closer than I thought I had any right to be considering the fit out of my list. Had I not made a few crucial mistakes such as the invisibility gaff, or only leaving my Libby on the 4 point objective, it might have been a victory. Also, who new Orks were so shooty? The vast majority of their damage was dealt at range, and with only two assaults all game I won one and should have at least tar pitted the other (had I remembered invisibility).

Still, a valuable lesson learned with regards to policing my own game, and a mistake I will not make again.

With that, I headed home for a well needed break and decide I will come back for day two – after all, who knows what tomorrow will bring

Game 4: Titan’s Bastards vs Sons of Fenris

Mission: Crusade (4 total objectives, represented by the black barrels, with random points values)
Deployment: Random - Dawn of War (four in a row! What are the odds?)
Game Length: Variable (2.5 hrs. time limit)
Terrain: Pre-set
Going first: Me

Alas no photo as I failed to grab it on one day one and forgot to get one before the game

My Opponents List

Njal Stormcaller
Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Fangsword Of The Ice Wolf , Armor of Russ, Stone Helm of Durfast, Bite Of Fenris (I think this is every relic available!)

Grey Hunters x10, PG x2, CCW x3 6, DP
Blood Claws x 15, Flamer, MG, PF
Stormwolf, TL MM, Hell Frost Cannon, etc
Wolfguard Terminators x5, AC, TH & SS, CF, twin Wolf Claws, Frost Sword
Land Raider Redeemer , MM, HF x 2
Long Fangs x6, PG, PC, LC x2, MM, HB
Razorback, TL HB

Ok, back to what I know – Space Marines. Three out of four games so far have been against power armour dudes and I have to say it is a little dull, even if they are all different chapters with their subtle tactical nuaincessasasasayadadadadadada. Next year I will definitely bring my Tau for a bit of variation. Still, at least I know what I am facing and have a fair idea of how to beat it. Unlike yesterday’s Ork force, I also believe my fit out is well equipped to deal with everything in my opponents list.

My strategic approach would be as usual, long range units dug in behind the ADL waiting for salvation to arrive, scouts infiltrating onto three of the objectives from the start and just hoping to stay there unnoticed. LotD, Sternies with Libby in DP and Land speeder in reserves. My strategy will be to try and keep his attention on his side of the table with my Libby unit in the DP causing trouble from turn 1, while the LotD deep strike where needed (Plasma for Termies/Meltas for Land Raider) and scouts picking up the points.

The sparse terrain slightly favours my opponent has he starts with more guns on the board, but that will change as soon as the LotD come in. We both role equally useless Warlord traits, and it is game on.

Turn 1. My opponent fails to seize, and I drop the pod on his backline to score on the objective as well as put me in range of the Longfangs guarding it. The pod hits the mark for the first time in the tournament. Nothing else moves.


Njal, riding his land raider like a surf board. Apparently, it is in the fluff. Somewhere. (see the ‘Summers on Fenris’ supplement)

I cast Terrify on the Longfangs hiding in the trees, as a softener-upper for Psychic Shriek, but my opponent manages to Deny the latter. However, the Longfangs then fail the Terrify moral check and sprint 11 inches clear off the board, giving my First blood without even firing a shot! Brilz I fire some shots at the razor back from range but do nothing, and my turn is over.

My opponents turn, and he brings the DP with Grey Hunter down next to my Scouts in the crater to try and clear them of the objective. He would forget to shoot with these guys.


Get ‘em lads! Yeaaaaaaargh!

Land Raider then rumbled on towards my Sternies, with Njal and the Wolf Guard safely tucked up inside…


Hmmm. Looks ominous…..

….who, between them and the Land Raiders heavy flamers, completely wipe out my Sternguard. Only the Libby survives. The wolf guard then assault him for good measure. Eeeek.


Er, hang on – where did the other eight boys go?

Turn two, and my Land speeder and two units of LotD come in (one melta, one plasma). My Libby is stuck in Combat but manages to cast invisibility to help him stay alive.



The Melta LotD drop in behind the Land Raider and hit it. Both the MG and combi-melta bounce off, but the MM punches through and I roll a six on the damage chart. Boom! Gotta love those one shot melta wonders.


See that big patch of green where your 250pt tank used to be? Sorry about that.

Plasma LotD drops near his Grey Hunters and the DP - between them, the sniper scouts and the Dread they are wiped out to a man. Good shooting.


‘There once was a lonely drop pod….’

The DEVs and Land speeder also manage to finish off the Razorback between them, completing a pretty awesome turn of shooting for me.


‘I told you to only blow the bloody doors off…’

My opponents go, and in all fairness he is reeling from last turn losses. His luck changes slightly though and in comes the Stormfang with 15 blood claws and the tooled up Warlord. They head straight for my backline with the DEVs and scouts on the objective. I attempt to intercept the Stormfang with the Icarus LC, but only manage a glance (he would then take it out with the Stormfangs guns – so far in the tournament this AA platform has been a bitter disappointment).


‘Whaaaaaaaa? Where did they come from?’

They would assault the DEVs and wipe them out in CC, while my Libby would succumb to Njal and his cronies. They would also take out the DP, just for good measure.


‘Hmmm. Nice view for up here. What’s that screaming coming from over their?’

Turn three and the remainder of my LotD comes in, one unit heading to help the scouts hold the objective against the newly arrived blood claws, while the other goes off to help mop up Njal and the Wolfguard.


‘You know what goes really well with Termy armour? Plasmasauce! Boom!'

Plasma/melta cross fire makes short work of the Wolf Guard and Njal, but the lack of LotD running ability mean they won’t make the objective by the time the game is over. All other fire is directed at the blood claws, 10 of whom die but they hold due to the warlord being attached.

My opponents turn, and he charges his only remaining scoring unit at the scouts in an effort to clear them off the objective. It ends up being a disordered charge though against the nearby LotD, and after a tense combat phase two scouts and two LotD remain in contesting distance of the objective.


‘Chaaaaaaaaaaarge! No, not the flaming heavy metal space band dudes, the weedy looking guys in the cloaks!’

With only one unit left, I offer to call it so as to avoid a tabling and my opponent agrees, ending the game early.

He holds no objectives but has line breaker and I mistakenly give him first blood (forgetting about the long bolted Longfangs). I hold two objectives and pick up Line breaker .

TITAN'S BASTARDS 7:2 Sons of Fenris

VICTORY!

After yesterday’s final drudge match, if I was looking for a game to restore my faith in 40K, I certainly got it.

And all of the credit for this had to go to my opponent. He was, quite simply, great fun to play against. Not only had he flown in all the way from the Philippines to play in the tournament (unbelievable commitment on his behalf), he had a great attitude in the game as well. He had been tabled in every match up till this one, and ended up in last place overall by the end of day two, but it didn’t stop him smiling once. Even amongst the carnage of the turn two shooting rampage, he had the air of a chap who was just happy to be playing.

As far as the game itself went, it was another pulsating exchange of deep strikes, drop pods and fast moving reserves that I have come to expect from SM on SM matchups, and the game was a lot closer than the score suggested. If he had cleared my scouts from the objective in the last turn, it would have ended 5:5 (provided I noticed the first blood mistake). That said, if we had gone one more turn I would probably have tabled him and taken it 10:0, but neither of us really wanted that, and I think it was better served as a close fought duel.

A close result, and I had some great luck (pretty much all of turn 2) but still made some tactical mistakes (dropping my Sternies far too close to the Land Raider) but I managed to pick up my first win of the tournament, and headed into the afternoon spirit refreshed and faith restored.