[DCM]
Tilter at Windmills
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Saturday the 15th I played a three round, 2k tournament at my regular FLGS, The Game Castle in Londonderry, NH.
They were using unique scenarios and a few special rules. It was single force org. Fortifications were allowed. Warlord traits worked as per the rulebook, HOWEVER, instead of rolling on the tables, you could instead opt to take a unique trait in each scenario. Objectives were NOT mysterious. Neither was terrain. The tournament used battle points, 8/12/16 for L/D/W, +2 bonus points available each round, which corresponded to two of the three secondary objectives from the book. Old-style VPs were also recorded as a tiebreaker.
I brought:
Reclusiarch
Sang. Priest with Lightning Claw
5 Assault Terminators w/4x TH & SS
Furioso with Blood Talons
7 Death Company with TH, Fist
10 Assault Marines with 2x melta, Fist
10 Tactical Marines with ML, Plasma
2 Attack Bikes w/MM
Stormraven w/TL AC, TL MM, Extra Armor
Stormraven w/TL AC, TL MM, Extra Armor
Allies:
Farseer with both Runes, Doom
…joined to 10 Defenders with Scatter Laser, Warlock with Embolden
10 Defenders with Scatter Laser
The priest rode with the terminators in their SR, as did the Furioso.
Game 1 vs. Matt T, down from Maine, with Cobra (from GI-Joe)-themed IG + Dark Angel allies
Matt brought (roughly)
Yarrick
…leading 10 Ogryn
…with Azrael attached to give them all a 4+ Invulnerable save.
5 man PCS with mix of specials, in Chimera with ML & Heavy Flamer
2-3 infantry squads with Plasmagun, Autocannon, in Chimeras with ML & Heavy Flamer
5 man PCS with triple flamers (rode in a Vendetta)
2 more infantry squads with Plasmagun, Autocannon, in Chimeras with ML & Heavy Flamer
Vendetta
Vendetta
Griffon
Griffon
5 DA Tactical marines with bolters and a flamer.
So a pretty straightforward mechanized IG list, with cheap & accurate (griffons can re-roll their scatter) sniper barrage weapons, plus a giant deathstar walking up the field.
Pitched Battle deployment, five objectives, with normal alternating placement, but you had to place them before choosing table sides (like in 5th). Bonus tournament points were Linebreaker & Warlord.
Special mission rule: The five objectives had the property that any unit within 3” of one could Overwatch at BS2 instead of BS1. Unique Warlord trait option: Re-roll 1D6 (which could be part of a multi-d6 roll) per player turn. Whoa.
Beginning of game stuff: Matt rolled a normal Warlord trait, getting the +1vp per character killed in a challenge for Yarrick. I took the special one. Psychic: I kept Doom. Night Fight: Turn 1.
The table was a moonscape with large and small craters, broken up by scattered ruins, rock formations, and a couple of impassible pillars. Matt clumped up three of the objectives to one side (which turned out to be my left), and I put the other two far to the right, one near each side. One of the three on the left was around the table’s midpoint, and the other two much closer to one long edge (which turned out to be Matt’s). Matt weighted his deployment mostly over there. He had his Griffons right next to each other mostly covered be a ruin on the right, and a couple of Chimera squads to that side, and a third Chimera central. Given the barrage fire about to be incoming (and Matt’s lack of psykers) I minimized what I deployed; starting with my Tactical Squad to the far right, my cheaper Defenders central, spread out between a ruin and a crater, and my attack bikes left behind cover. My ten man assault squad held back to deep strike.
It’s been a few days and I had a game and a half last night and my memory’s losing it now, so just a quick summary.
Summary of the game- I distracted the Yarrick/Ogryn deathstar in the early turns, drawing it to the left edge of the table chasing the attack bikes, while advancing everywhere else. I otherwise mostly stayed the heck away from the Ogryns until T5. On the right flank his Griffons pounded my tactical marines and then my deep-striking assault marines, sniping out my missile launcher and sergeant from my Tac marines on turn 1, and my meltaguns from the jumpers when they landed as well. Between the tacs, jump pack squad, and my DC SR flying on that flank, I outnumbered him on the right flank, focusing on the Griffons as soon as I could with the SR and assault marines. My SR failed to kill either of them on the turn it arrived (just getting an Immobilized and a couple of Glances), but the assault marines, despite losing 3-4 guys immediately on the drop, got a good long 10” charge roll which allowed them to hit and finish off both Griffons the following turn.
I gradually advanced on the right flank with the tactical squad and my Defenders, but wound up only taking the right-flank objective closer to my side, as Matt eventually managed to wipe out my Tactical squad which was heading for the other, with concentrated fire from two Chimeras and their squads. My flyers won the air war across the game, although it took a couple of turns of dogfighting, as at first I was just getting glances and an Immobilized through the Evade saves.
On turn 5 my squad of Defenders with the Farseer was comfortably holding my right side objective, with only one squad of guardsmen who had just jumped out of a destroyed Chimera anywhere near. Matt had another squad on the most central objective, with a Chimera blocking for them. He had the Dark Angel Tac squad and a depleted PCS on his back objective, and another Chimera squad, encircled by Ogryns, holding the mid-table left flank objective. So at top of 5 he held three objectives to my one. However both of my SRs were alive in his rear left, so O was positioned for some key assaults. My DC and terminators assaulted and killed the DA tac and platoon command. My remaining five or so jumpy marines charged and killed the ten man IG squad holding the central objective, and consolidated onto the objective. My Furioso charged into the Ogryns, who, despite Yarrick and Azrael, had no way to hurt it in HtH. And the deathstar also couldn’t voluntarily flee from the combat, because Yarrick made them Fearless. My biggest worry (the practically-unkillable deathstar pushing me off objectives) was nullified, and I held two objectives to his one. IIRC the game may have gone on for one more turn, but he had no real way left to get me off the objectives I held, and if there had been a T7 my Terminators or DC would have been able to reach and assault the one unit he had on an objective, which had been shielded by the Ogryn.
Game result: Win +1 (Linebreaker) for me, Loss +0 for him.
Observations:
The 45 degree arc down on a flyer can be a big deal. There were some shots both of us wanted which were difficult or impossible to get while going where we needed to within the flyers’ movement restrictions. Positioning your flyers with future turns in mind, and moving to counter your opponents’, is a big deal.
10 Ogryn + Yarrick + a second combat character and a 4+ Invulnerable for everyone is scary. But it’s still slow, expensive, and had an achilles heel.
Game 2 vs. local rival Jon G, Blood Angels with IG allies
Jon brought, (roughly)
Librarian (took Divination)
…attached to a 50 man IG blob squad with commissar, 5 plasma guns, 5 Sgts with power axes.
5 Tactical Terminators with Cyclone ML
Furioso Librarian (took Divination)
Sang Priest riding with…
5 Assault Marines (with plasma, I think) in Rhino with Dozer
10 Assault marines with 2x melta, Fist
2x MM Attack Bikes
CCS with lascannon, plasma, in Chimera with ML & Heavy Flamer
5 man PCS to go with the blob platoon, which he hid in Reserve
2x LR Demolishers with MM sponsons
Hammer & Anvil deployment, Purge the Alien + Relic. The Relic was worth a bonus 3vps if you controlled it at the end. Bonus tournament points were First Blood & Warlord.
Unique Warlord trait option: The Warlord’s unit and units within 12” of him, if not Fearless, could choose to voluntarily fail Morale checks. Free Combat Tactics? Darn tootin’. My DC obviously could not benefit, and my Warlord being in Reserve would limit the units he could aid, but it could still come in darn handy.
Beginning of game stuff: Jon rolled a normal Warlord trait, but I can’t remember what he got. I took the special one. Psychic: I kept Doom; he rolled for both of his Librarians and got Prescience and Ignore Cover Saves for both. Night Fight: Turn 1.
The table had a very tall impassible rocky spire just North of the center objective (toward the far long table edge from where I stood; my position being South), a long multi-level hill in the NW quarter, a large ruin in the SW, a wood center S and another NE of the spire, a LOS-blocking ruin to the East of that wood, and a wooded hill in the SE quadrant. I took the West end, thus having the large ruin and long multi-level hill.
I got choice for first turn and gave it to Jon. He deployed his jumpy squad opposite the Relic for T1 grab, and the giant blob behind them (East). Chimera behind that, and Furioso Librarian North of the jumpy squad. Rhino and Attack Bikes in the woods south of the blob, then Demolishers south of the Rhino, out of the woods, along the table edge, and with the Terminators in front of them to give them cover. I deployed my tactical squad in the SE ruin, my cheaper Defenders behind it (West) and my farseer, warlock squad, assault marines, and attack bikes on the back slope of the hill out of LOS. I made sure the Farseer was positioned to be within 24” of where the Assault squad would have to be to grab the Relic.
Turn 1: Jon advanced, but could do little damage to me to start, as I had deliberately deployed out of range or LOS with almost everything. His Demolishers were slowed by a bad difficult terrain roll by their screening terminator squad. Just the attack bikes could get range, and my tac marines lost maybe one guy. He jumped up the assault squad as expected to take the Relic, moving 3-4 guys up in the front line roughly equidistant with the model holding the relic. The rest of the squad (including the meltas and sgt) hung back a bit, hugging the rock spire. I responded by Dooming the assault squad, and advancing my Tac Marines and Defenders just into range (just the scatter lasers for the Defenders) and LOS of the assault squad, but again mostly out of range or LOS of his army. Between the Tacs and the scatter lasers, I killed those first few AMs, making them drop the objective. My attack bikes and assault marines moved defensively around the North flank, planning to head for Jon’s backfield to target the Furioso Librarian and/or Chimera in the backfield, and the PCS and/or CCS back there, if the blob was going to come for me and leave those units relatively unprotected. One of the ABs took a wound from terrain.
Turn 2: Jon continued forward, with just about everything, grabbing the Relic again with the assault marines, again hugging the spire with the squad to try to give me somewhat restricted LOS on them. The big blob was also right behind them, now. His little PCS arrived from Reserve and started running up toward the CCS Chimera. The Rhino advanced NW to give FNP to the assault marines and Attack Bikes and screen the blob a little. He shot my Tac Marines some more with the attack bikes, Rhino SB and Terminators, killing a couple more guys. He shot his backfield Chimera’s multilaser and the Lascannon out the hatch at my attack bikes, but missed or were Jinked.
On my half I Doomed the attack bikes and got my DC SR from Reserve, which Zoomed up the middle to target the attack bikes and the Rhino, hoping for a couple of easy KPs. Between Jinks, FNP, and iffy to hit and Pen rolls, I just killed one of the ABs and put a glance on the Rhino. That sucked; between the Rhino, AB squad, and the five man squad and priest in that Rhino, there were four relatively squishy and easy KPs there which I needed, and wasn’t getting so far. My Attack Bikes and Assault Marines continued their advance up the North, and the Defenders contributed Scatter Laser fire to assault marines, killing the closest model, which was the guy holding the relic. He dropped it into the front lines of the blob.
Turn 3: Jon cast the ignore cover saves power from his Librarian on the blob, and got it off past my Runes, darn it. He advanced the Attack Bike SW starting to move around the Tac Marines’ Ruin toward my backfield. He moved his assault marines North around the spire to shoot meltaguns and pistols at my assault squad, and moved his Furioso behind them as counter-charge. The blob moved up to take the objective and to get all the plasmaguns into 24” range of my SR. The demolishers and terminators continued advancing along the South edge, targeting my tac squad in the Ruins. The Rhino moved North to be alongside the spire and popped smoke. Jon’s AMs killed 1-2 of my AMs. Jon hit my Tacticals with the Demolishers, dealing six hits. I had an interesting dilemma here; I wanted the squad alive and not taking too many casualties, to preserve the KP and hopefully finish off the AB at some point, but I also wanted them to absorb some more firepower and not die too fast. I could GtG for 2+ cover in the Ruin, or I could eat some casualties, choose to automatically Fall Back thanks to my Warlord’s SR being within 12”, and come back later. I think I made the wrong call when I chose to Go to Ground, and lost just one guy. Despite Bring it Down orders and negating the option to Evade through ignoring cover, Jon just did a glance or two to my SR. He also lost one PG to overheat.
My half of 3: I Doomed Jon’s assault squad. I failed my Reserve roll for the second SR again. Ouch, that hurt. Now I had the unpleasant choice of deciding to send the DC & Reclusiarch in alone against an undamaged, Stubborn, ATSKNF blob with 5 power axes (which I’d need around a 6” charge to reach anyway, which is certainly not a guarantee), or waiting another turn and cutting down the number of phases they’d be going it alone from 4 to 2. I elected to wait, zooming the minimum 18” to bring the MM and AC to bear on the Demolishers and a missile toward the backfield Chimera, while positioning as well so that the DC would have a practically guaranteed charge if the SR could survive another turn. My Defenders continued holding back, positioning for shots on the Rhino. My assault marines advanced to shoot and charge Jon’s Doomed and depleted assault squad, and my attack bikes behind them, with the first AB getting within 12” of the Furioso. My SR’s shots bounced. My SLs got an Immobilized on the Rhino. My Attack Bikes just got a Glance on the Furioso Libby. My AMs killed most of Jon’s AMs and only took a couple of casualties doing it, and held them in place.
Turn 4: Jon tried ignore cover again with his Librarian, and took a Perils wound. Nice. His Furioso tried Prescience for re-rolls, and got a simple failure on an 11. Good deal. The blob moved up to 12” range with his plasma into my SR, while moving the Commissar holding the Relic backwards (East). The Furioso moved up to charge into my AMs. The AB positioned to shoot either tac marines or the SR, the Demolishers focused on the SR, and the terminators kept advancing toward my ruin & tac squad (and, theoretically, the Defenders behind the Ruin). The PCS in the backfield continued advancing for some reason, while the CCS sat tight in their Chimera. Jon used Bring it Down on the blob again, but they failed to take out the SR (losing another PG in the process), with me Evading away a critical glance. But then the four MMs on the Demolishers got two hits, a 5 and a 6 to pen, and managed to shoot down the SR which dropped on the spot, leaving just the Reclusiarch alive in the crater. He made another invulnerable save against the MM from the AB, then died to the cyclone missiles from the terminators. Jon’s backfield Chimera and lascannon again bounced off my ABs. The Furioso killed 2-3 of my AMs in assault, while my assault squad finished off Jon’s. They Piled Into the Furioso.
My 4: Doom had no real targets in range. My remaining SR Zoomed 30”+ toward the Demolishers and blob, angling to put the AC on the Rhino or Attack Bike as well. Since Jon’s blob didn’t include meltabombs, my Furioso could potentially do quite a lot of damage to it, and between it and the Terminators, we might even be able to kill enough (if the game went on to 6 or 7, or Jon by some miracle actually broke on Morale), to take the Relic away from him. My attack bikes moved back West to hide behind the spire and get shots on the Rhino peeking around its Western edge. My tac marines positioned in the ruin to maximize shots on the AB while minimizing the chance of a successful charge from Jon’s terminators. My South Defenders also moved South around their Ruin to get some shots on the AB around the Ruin. My other Defenders with Farseer and Warlock started moving more central down from the hill, figuring if the ABs popped the Rhino, they could start working on the contents. Shooting finally killed Jon’s second AB, but again bounced off the Demolishers and even my MMs missed or were saved on the Rhino. In assault I lost a few more assault marines (getting low now) and did manage to hang a second Glance on the Furioso. My guys also fell back and got away, but didn’t run a far distance. Okay, that might be helpful. It gives the Furioso the option of charging again, but maybe he’d be tempted to charge something else, and possibly fail or give me a lucky MM Overwatch. The Furioso got a nice big Consolidate West toward my DZ.
Jon’s 5. He did not take the risk on psychic powers, not wanting to give me free KPs. His Furioso moved up near the AMs, but they were partially obstructing his progress toward the Attack Bikes or Defenders with Farseer. His Commissar continued moving back within the blob, while the blob itself stretched a bit more, again making sure the remaining three plasma guns were in 12” range, and the Demolishers were positioned to either pie plate anyone who survived a wreck of the SR, or try snap shots with the MMs again. The terminators continued West, pushing to the edge of the ruin in my DZ. Stuff in the backfield mostly sat tight, though he kept walking the little PCS a bit forward. The unit in the Rhino stayed put; they might have popped off a shot or two out of the hatch; can’t remember. His terminators killed a couple of tac marines but failed their charge. His shooting knocked down my SR, and the crash scattered 10” due East into the middle of the blob! The large blast actually landed right in the middle of his remaining plasma guns, and killed them all, and due to the blob being a little bit spread out, there was actually enough space there for either my Dread to be placed, a couple of terminators, or possibly a terminator plus my priest. Jon failed to penetrate my Furioso’s armor with the S10 hit, and I knew he stood the only real (longshot) chance against the blob, so I put the Furioso down, and the terminators and priest were automatically killed. Mega ouch. Three more KPs right there. To add insult to injury, his Furioso Librarian needed 8 or 9 inches to make his charge on my attack bikes around my three remaining assault marines, and Jon got a 10. My ABs did not get a 6 for Overwatch, and promptly both died.
My 5. Okay, I’m basically done here; might as well go out swinging. My Farseer on the hill NW Doomed the Terminators in the SW ruin. My Defenders and remaining tactical marines in and around the ruin advanced on the terminators. My few remaining assault marines headed for Jon’s backfield, knowing that even three marines can deal with little five man IG squads and a Chimera. My Farseer and Warlock in their squad retreated up their hill a bit, hoping to finally finish off the Rhino in shooting and make the Furioso fail the charge on difficult terrain. My Furioso shot his storm bolter and meltagun to try thinning out the horde a little, and failed to hit or wound with all shots. The SL finally popped the Rhino. All the shots from the SW Defenders and Tacticals (just their pistols), despite Doom, killed (IIRC) one terminator. The assault marines North ran for extra distance heading East. My Furioso charged into the blob and killed 7 guys. Jon failed Morale but stayed on the Commissar re-roll. My tac marines and defenders charged into the terminators and killed one more, then lost some models and (IIRC) both broke.
The game went to Turn 6. The main things that happened this turn were the terminators (IIRC) finishing off either the Defenders or the Tac marines, the Furioso Librarian making his charge up the hill into my Defenders, killing three but them passing morale, and my Furioso only killing five IG, who stayed strong. On my half my Farseer finally got that third killing glance on the Furioso, but my own Furioso had clearly thrown in the towel, only killing TWO IG and leaving them still happy and well over half starting strength. IIRC my couple of assault marines did finally reach the PCS in Jon’s backfield despite suffering a couple more casualties; I think the last guy did wipe out that little five man unit.
Ouch. A comprehensive beating. I think the final tally was 8 KP to 5, with him having an extra 3vps from the Relic. Jon got the Win +2 for First Blood and Warlord, I got Loss + 0.
Rules notes & observations:
The Relic has a lot of restrictions on how you can move with it, which are not immediately apparent unless you read it closely. Like not being able to Run with it. Thankfully I had just played the scenario recently, so was on top of those rules.
Jon was unpleasantly surprised to learn that Leman Russes now being reclassified to Heavy vehicles, replacing Lumbering Behemoth, actually makes them WORSE at shooting if they have an Ordnance weapon. He was not psyched about only being able to Snap Fire the MM sponsons if he fired the main gun.
Game 3 vs. local player Justin with Space Marines + Blood Angel allies
Justin brought, (roughly)
Captain in Terminator armor with TH & Storm Shield
…attached to 10 man tactical squad with melta, multimelta, combi-melta, in Drop Pod
8 man Tactical Terminator squad with Cyclone
10 man Tactical squad with ML, plasmagun, combi-plasma, in Rhino
2 Attack Bikes w/MM
Thunderfire cannon
Librarian with Divination
…leading 10 (IIRC) Death Company with a power weapon and a fist, I think
10 Assault Marines with 2x melta, Fist
Stormraven w/TL AC, TL MM
…being escorted by SM Storm Talon
Vanguard deployment, Purge the Alien
Bonus tournament points were First Blood & Linebreaker.
Unique Warlord trait option: At the start of your own turn, you could choose to make your Warlord (and his unit, if attached to one) Vanish off the table. They would then enter again on your following turn as if from Ongoing Reserves, restored to full strength if they had suffered any wounds/casualties. Holy mackerel.
Beginning of game stuff: We both took the special Warlord trait. Psychic: I kept Doom; he rolled for his Librarian and got Prescience and Misfortune, IIRC. Night Fight: Not on turn 1, and we forgot about it at the end of the game.
The table was a desert with stepped mesas in the corners and center, a bunch of tall and some low impassible spires and rock formations scattered around, a small ruin in the middle of one quadrant and a large ruin in the middle of the opposite quadrant. Justin got choice of DZ and took the one with the large ruin, so he could fortify it and have better LOS. That quadrant was Northwest, from my perspective.
Deployment: I deployed Defenders with Farseer central (SE quadrant), using Ruin and rock spires for cover and to block LOS. Tactical Marines deployed NE of them. I tried to also make sure there were no good landing spots for the pod, and valuable models were central, to avoid them getting picked off if the pod came down in an unexpected spot. I reserved everything else, with the assault squad deep striking. Justin put the Thunderfire on the second floor of the bigger ruin for better LOS, deployed his terminators central, and his assault marines East of them, toward the narrow corner of his DZ along his long table edge. He reserved everything else.
T1: I moved a bit more defensively to keep the terminators from having any decent LOS, and stay defensive from the pod. Justin dropped the Pod in just North of my Tacticals, and it scattered fairly close to the East short table edge, but stayed on. His terminators advanced but had no LOS. His TF and pod squad combined to kill a few Tac marines, but he held back his combi melta.
T2:I Doomed his Tac squad, got my other Defenders (which moved on mostly hidden by terrain just West of center on the board, positioning to snip a little with the scatter laser toward the fight on the right (East), got my DC SR in, which aimed for his Pod and to go after the Tacticals with his Warlord, and got my Deep Striking squad, which dropped in the far NE, on the opposite side of the ruin from the terminators, and in an area where the walls and floor of the ruin itself blocked the ability of the TFC to see them either. My plan was to go after the TF KP and the Linebreaker point, make it so Justin didn’t have a good hiding spot for any relatively fragile units in reserve (like the Rhino or Attack Bikes), and possibly draw the terminators back toward Justin’s DZ, preventing them from contributing to the main battle on the Eastern half of the table. In shooting my jumpers ran for better position/cover, my scatter lasers and SR assault cannon did maybe one wound to the tacticals, and my SR only managed a Glance on the damn pod. No First Blood yet for me.
Justin’s T2: He got in his attack bikes which jetted forward up the table toward me, a bit East of center, and his flyers (Talon escorting Raven), which also flew on central, targeting my SR. His tacticals advanced South toward my tacticals, shooting. His assault squad also followed, a bit behind, having lost some distance moving SE as opposed to due South from their starting position, for a bit better cover. His Terminators headed back West to deal with my assault marines (yay!), but mostly didn’t have LOS. His TF had no LOS, so he rolled Difficult and moved it down from the second floor and an inch or two East, hoping to escape being assaulted and survive long enough to be rescued by the terminators. In shooting he hurt my tac squad a bit more, but the big blow was that he shot down my SR. Owch. First Blood to Justin. I got lucky, however, in that he rolled two 1s to wound in the crash, which left my Reclusiarch and one DC model alive to Vanish on my turn.
T3: My Reclusiarch and DC Vanished. My attack bikes arrived and positioned to shoot his (or survivors were Justin’s SR to crash), without exposing my ABs to too much. My Terminator/Furioso SR arrived, went a bit East facing NW and aimed to shoot down Justin’s birds. My tac marines and East Defenders with Farseer continued retreating South, while shooting. My assault marines moved around the back of the NW ruin, staying well away from the terminators but getting several models (including both meltas) into 12” range to shoot the thunderfire. In shooting I took got some good dice and got revenge on BOTH of Justin’s flyers, and managed to kill all his DC and Librarian in the crash (and a little follow up shooting from other units, to make sure he couldn’t just Vanish like I had. I scored two melta wounds on the Thunderfire, and Justin failed the cover save on his Techmarine, so that was taken care of.
Justin’s 3: His Rhino showed up and moved up central-East following the attack bikes and toward where the flyers had crashed. He advanced South in general, except his terminators, which positioned to get a round of shooting on my assault marines. His shooting didn’t take down my SR, putting (IIRC) a glance on it, but did kill some more tactical marines , which were down to two or three guys, and a couple of jump marines.
T4: My DC showed up and walked on in the SE quadrant, behind my Farseer/Defenders squad, readying to counter the advance of Justin’s tactical squad with his Warlord, which was moving implacably toward my table edge. My SR Zoomed ~ the minimum 18” toward the center aiming at the Rhino and attack bikes. My Defenders and Tacticals in the East continued their Southward retreat. My Assault Marines jumped SW away from the terminators, again behind the Ruin. In shooting I popped the Rhino but only wounded an attack bike.
Justin’s 4: His terminators finally reversed field and headed back East, realizing they would be led on a wild goose chase by a more mobile unit. Everything else continued pressing aggressively toward me, including his tactical marines from the Rhino, alongside the attack bikes. Nice for me. The Tac Squad from the Rhino finished off my attack bikes with shooting. His shooting again whiffed on my SR, but killed the last two or three guys from my tactical squad, and now his assault marines had caught up to his tactical squad, both units well inside my deployment zone and getting ready to charge my Farseer + Defenders next turn.
T5: Now I felt like I was really in solid position. I Doomed the now-dismounted Rhino squad. My DC moved up toward the Warlord’s squad and the assault marines. My SR hovered and positioned to soften up the Tac squad with assault cannon, and blow up the pod with its MM (albeit well outside 12”) and remaining missiles, and dropped off the goodies. Terminators set up for multicharge on attack bikes and former Rhino squad. Furioso went after the jumpy assault squad. My assault marines in his back corner basically hung out. My Defenders on the left (West) moved East a bit for better LOS and to contribute a few more shots. The Farseer and his guys mostly tried to get out of the way. In shooting I finally popped the pod, and killed a SM or two with other stuff. In assault my terminators got into the attack bikes and tac squad from the Rhino. My Furioso charged the assault marines, but they got a 6 on Overwatch with a meltagun, and Exploded him! Nooooo! Well, that was inconvenient. My Death Company wasn’t quite close enough to reach those guys, so now there was basically no escape for my Farseer & friends. In assault the terminators killed the attack bikes and about half the tac marines, who ran using Combat Tactics but thankfully didn’t roll very high for distance.
Justin’s 5: His terminators continued hoofing it back to the center-East, and threw cyclone shots at my SR, which Jinked a Pen on a lucky 5 and survived. His Tac Marines retreated while shooting plasma at my terminators, killing one. His Warlord and company kept moving up, while his assault marines charged my Farseer & company and killed them.
We did have a T6. My terminators went after Justin’s tac marines again. My remaining Defender squad moved East to contribute a few more shots. My SR Hovered a bit East. My DC went after the assault marines and killed them, but lost a couple of guys. The assault terminators finished the Tac marines and consolidated toward his terminators.
Justin’s 6: His terminators had a choice between shooting at my SR and being charged by my terms, running away while shooting my SR, or shooting and charging my terminators. He moved up and shot the SR, which again Jinked and bounced a Pen with a lucky 5. His Warlord and tacs charged my DC, I refused the challenge from his Captain, although in retrospect I should have accepted it in the first round and kept a few more DC alive to attack in the next round if there was one. IIRC I finished off the assault marines here, but lost a 3-4 DC to the Terminator-armored Captain and his tactical friends, so only had 2-3 left. We stuck.
There was a 7. My terminators charged Justin’s Terminators, killing about half the squad and losing one in return. His terminators ran. My Defenders got excessively bold and charged into the tac marines to help- I was able to throw ten or twelve S3 attacks, and only a couple of the Tac marines could swing back at the defenders, so I hoped to swing the combat res a bit in my favor. I accepted the Captain’s challenge with my Reclusiarch this turn, which was dumb, and I must have been tired. He should have either Refused again to guarantee survival for another round, or accepted last round. This time my Reclusiarch died, and that pushed the combat res enough in Justin’s favor that the Defenders broke, running off the table. The other thing I could have done was disembark my Sanguinary Priest, either this turn or last, to help out with his WS5 Lightning Claw. He could have even sacrifice challenged to preserve the DC and Reclusiarch for an extra turn, albeit at the cost of a KP.
Justin’s 7: His terminators tried one more time to knock down my SR, but this time couldn’t penetrate. In the assault his captain and tacs finished off the last couple of DC. Time to count up.
I had killed:
Drop Pod
10 man Tactical squad
Rhino
2 Attack Bikes w/MM
Thunderfire cannon
Librarian
Death Company
10 Assault Marines
Stormraven
Storm Talon
I had lost:
Reclusiarch
Furioso
Death Company
10 Tactical Marines
2 Attack Bikes w/MM
Stormraven w/TL AC, TL MM, Extra Armor
Farseer
Defenders
Defenders
10 to 9. Close game! I lost a good lead when my Furioso got blown up on my own turn by Overwatch. I then made multiple mistakes in that final DC combat, including throwing away the Defenders, but made a couple of lucky Jink saves to keep a 1 KP lead. I think Justin would also have been better off shooting and charging in his big tac terminator squad into my assault terminators, and shooting at my SR later if needed. I could never get it of the Cyclone’s range anyway. So I got the win +1 (Linebreaker), he got the Loss +2 (Linebreaker + Warlord).
I wound up I think in 6th place. Jon got third, behind a Daemons player in 2nd and a Necrons player in 1st, both down from Maine like my first round opponent.
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Laziness is no excuse. 
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