Painlord Titan Princeps of Slaanesh
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Well, I was painting madly for Wargames Con today at my local GW, and in walked young Andrew looking for a 330 point game with his new guard army he'd recently started.
Unfortunately for Andrew, the store was deserted. He and his dad looked rather bummed [it was very unusual for it to be so barren] so I grabbed the squad of 10 Chaos Counts-As Blood Angels marines I had and offered to take him on.
His list:
Leman Russ Punisher, no sponsons
2x Infantry Squads, flamer, grenade launcher
I'm fairly sure guard can't take a flamer and a grenade launcher in the same unit, but hey whatever. my list:
5-man assault squad, meltagun
5-man assault squad, meltagun, powerfist
The board:
A few very tall ruined buildings framing a killing field in the center with almost no cover, but a statue of a space marine. Played on a 4x4 board.
Mission: Capture and Control - he put his objective in the far back right corner of his deployment zone. I did the same with mine, so they're opposite corners.
Deployment: Standard deployment
He won the roll to deploy and put both squads in the center, with the Punisher off to his right.
I elected to go all reserves - I wasn't about to have that punisher fill me with bullets all the way across the field!
Turn 1 him:
He moves forward with everything. Doesn't run.
Turn 1 me:
Derp derp reserves.
Turn 2 him:
Moves forward again. "Are you running?" "Nobody's shot me yet". He doesn't know about running. I decide to wait to tell him when it's too late for him to win.....no, I don't tell him yet, but I will before things get too late.
Turn 2 me:
Thanks to descent of angels, I get both units. One lands behind the punisher and stuns it, but the other lands next to it and blows it sky high. That's pretty much game. I know I can win, as both of his units can't get out of assault range of my units and I've landed on the other side of a building where he can't shoot me much. Rather than make this a route, though, I decide to use this as a very effective coaching opportunity.
Turn 3 him:
He ignores my troops and moves everything forward towards the objective. He's keeping his units tightly packed, and I'm not sure why. At this point I point out to him that if he has nothing to shoot at, he can choose to run in the shooting phase. I also point out this will get him further away from my assault troops - lesson 1 today is that if you don't have a good shot, get the hell away so they can't charge you. He's still well within range, but hopefully the lesson sticks with my next move. He does in fact run, getting some distance on me and heading towards my objective.
Turn 3 me:
I deliberately move the non-fist squad such that it will be just out of range to assault, moving so that I'm basically making a beeline back towards my objective [so it doesn't look like I'm giving him a "gimme"]. The other squad flies into the intervening building, losing a member, to shoot him from the upper floors. I kill a few guardsmen with pistol shots and then OH NO! I'm just out of assault range! Good thing he ran!
Turn 4 him:
He starts to move his squad that's closest to my objective - they have a long way to go, after all. But he's keeping them in this tight bunch, and it moves the whole squad out of range of his guns. I tell him that he needs only a SINGLE model to be within range of the objective to claim it - so with a bit of coaching, he now moves the unit such that the closest guy to the objective moves a full 6" towards it, and the rest keep coherency enough to rapid-fire my non-fist squad. His other squad moves up and both arrange themselves to fill me with flamer fluid.
After the dust settles, he has slain two marines from the unit. It rolls a 10 for morale and breaks, fleeing 14".
Turn 4 me:
Alright, that went well for him! Didn't kill many marines, but he didn't have to. I decide it's time to swing the game the other way and murder a squad. My now 4-man fist squad jumps out of the building.....and the sergeant and meltagunner hit their heads and die! They pass morale and shoot the weakened guard squad, which holds. My other squad regroups, and rather than throw them right at the guard to finish them off, I run along the edge of my board towards my objective to head him off. My now 2-man squad without a sergeant charges his 6 remaining guardsmen from squad #2. He manages to kill one, then I wipe them out.
Turn 5 him:
He's learned! He moves the closest guy a full 6" towards my objective, but the rest string out to remain in range of the last surviving marine from the fist squad. He shoots with all his might, but the marine lives. Tough break!
Turn 5 me:
My lone ranger flies off and runs, claiming his objective. My other squad flies over to be close to my objective, but can't make it. Their 2 pistols and meltagun fire and kill a guardsman. I'm only in range of the very front guy, and he removes him.
WAAAAAAIIIIIITTT! I teach him that he can remove anyone, and he gleefully replaces the model and takes one from the back. He's still a good ways away from the objective, and it'll be near impossible to reach it if he killed that guy.
Turn 6 him:
He moves everything up as close as he can. He's not near enough to the objective, but he lets my marines have it with everything. Unfortunately I pass all my saves.
Turn 6 me:
I fly over to my objective. It puts me out of assault range of him, but I have this game in the bag for the most part. I can't just let him win [it'd be obvious if I just ignored objectives], but I don't want to just wipe him out either. I shoot and kill a single guardsman. He kills the flamer in the very back, who will never be in range again. Success, lesson learned!
Turn 7 him, the final turn.
He moves as far as he can, and is about 5" from my objective and my marines. Time for the biiiiig biiiiig strategy lesson!
I point out to him that I have a marine on his home objective. If he shoots me with everything, the best result is that all my guys die. That means I have one objective to his zero, and I win. His other option is to run, which might bring him in range to contest my objective - but I'll have his, and it'll be 1 me, other contested for my victory.
His shoulders slump as he realizes he can't avoid a loss, and I encourage him with the final, balls-to-the-wall option.
If he charges me, it puts him on my objective, contesting it. Now, his odds are slim to none that he'll kill all these blood angel marines. Slim to NONE. BUT! If it should happen, I tell him, he will control 1 objective and so will I, making this a hard-fought tie. He grins and decides to go for it.
I have a meltagunner, a basic guy, and a veteran sergeant. He has eight guardsmen, but only 4 and the sergeant are in striking range. I roll my 6 attacks. 3 of them hit, 2 of them wound. He makes a save, and one guardsman [from the back! Great job!] dies. Now it's his turn.
4 charging guardsmen and a charging sergeant makes for 12 attacks. He hits with 6, and wounds with 2, right on the average. I tell him what's at stake - that if I fail BOTH saves, I will lose combat and have to make a morale test that if I fail, my 3d6" falling back marines will send themselves right off the board edge 4 inches behind them. The dice are rolled. It's a 2! And....a cocked die!
The cocked die has to be re-rolled of course but one's already failed! That means this one is crucial or it'll be a tie! [I'm telling him all this as I get ready to roll. He's about to wet his pants!]. I re-roll the die and.....it's a one! Two marines drop dead and the guardsmen win the combat! I didn't go easy with this, the veteran sergeant is of course the one left standing. Leadership 9 and we lost the combat by one. I roll the dice and get a.....NINE! The sergeant breaks and flees right off the board!
Guard objectives: 1!!!!
Angels of Sin objectives: 1!
It's a tie! We analyzed his options and went for the only hope, and it paid off! The kid was so full of pride at his brave guardsmen, and went to tell his dad excitedly about the last turn and about how his guardsmen beat the odds and defeated BLOOD ANGELS of all things in hand to hand!
I really felt good about the game. Other than not charging when I could have turn 3 and 5, I didn't really hold back that much. From the standpoint of grabbing objectives, I went for those instead of the massacre, so really it wasn't all that obvious. And I didn't need to fudge any rolls - every weapon stayed the same and every rule was followed. I didn't make anything up for him, which I told his dad afterwards. Crushing his army with a double-assault wouldn't teach him anything other than "your army sucks and you do too hur hur" and could lead to him quitting the hobby or just quitting guard to get spess muhrines. He learned a lot and had an exciting game, and hopefully his guard army grows large and successful.
Thanks everyone for reading, and let's hear it for Andrew!
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5 Wins, 6 Draws, 3 Losses 2000 points
500 points
~4000pt
