Welcome all!
Round 1
Round 2
...
Round 3, Fight!
Note: Unfortunately I seem to have accidentally most of the pictures from this game, leaving me mostly with pics from the start and pics from the finish. Due to the lack of pics to remind me and it being a week and a half since the Preliminaries, this report won't be terribly detailed. My apologies.
My list:
HQ:
Captain Saldimos (Counts-As Vulkan)
Elites:
5x
TH/
SS Assault Terminators
-Dedicated Land Raider Redeemer- Multi-Melta
5xTerminators-
CML, 1 Chainfist
-Dedicated Land Raider- Multi-Melta
6xSternguard- 4xCombi-Meltas, Powerfist
-Rhino
Troops:
10xTactical Squad- Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher, Powerfist
-Rhino
10xTactical Squad- Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Powerfist
-Rhino
10xTactical Squad- Flamer, Missile Launcher, Powerfist
Fast Attack:
Land Speeder- Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder- Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer
Heavy Support:
Vindicator- Dozer Blade
Vindicator- Dozer Blade
Predator- Heavy Bolter Sponsons
My opponents list:
HQ: Archon w/Agonizer, Shadowfield.
Retinue: 1 Incubi Master, 4 Incubi- Agonizer, Nightmare Doll
-Dedicated Transport: Raider- Dark Lance, Nightshield
2 Haemonculi
Elites:
10xGrotesques
10xGrotesques
10xWyches
-Dedicated Transport: Raider- Dark Lance, Nightshield
Troops:
4 10-man Raider squads- 1xBlaster
-4 Dedicated Transports: Raider- Dark Lance, Nightshield
2 10-man Warrior squads- 2xDark Lances each
Fast Attack:
4x Reaver Jetbikes- 1-2 Blasters
Heavy Support:
2 Ravagers- 3xDisintigrators each, Nightshields
1 Ravager- 3xDark Lances, Nightshields
Plan: Fought this Dark Eldar player before, so I know my target priorities- Hit the Raiders and Ravagers first, worry about the others second. The sooner I can pop his paper-mache solar sailboats, the easier time I'll have. Of course, the scenario helps in my decision. The board is pretty devoid of terrain actually, so cover'll be hard to come by while
LoS won't be an issue.
The Scenario:
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Mission: Modified Kill Points:
HQs are 2, everything else is 1. Exception: Anything with the potential to move over 6" in a single phase (Excluding 1-shot deep strikers like Drop Pods) counts for 3
KP.
HQs that can move >6" are only 3
KP.
I won the roll off, he used his Doll to make me re-roll it. I still won and opted for first turn, and apparently killed his Nightmare Doll holder in the process.
Deployment:
Me: Deployed in a Gunline-style, stuck the
PG/
ML tac squad in their rhino on the left end (My perspective) of the board, the
MG/
ML squad on the right. Flamer squad combat squadded, the
ML half went in some ruins while the Flamer/Sergeant portion sheltered behind the Land Raider as always. Terminators sat next to the Flamer squad in the shade of the Land Raider in case of Ravager + Initiative Steal. The Speeders went with the Rhino-mounted Tactical squads, 1 on each end of the board. Predator went in the middle towards the back, and the Sternguard deployed next to the
LR. 1 Vindicator went next to them, the other went in Reserve. Vulkan and the Hammernators deployed in the
LRR just to the right of the ruin that the
ML combat squad was hiding in.
His deployment: He castled up behind the large ruin on the side of the board across from the
PG/
ML squad. Raiders formed a ring around the Ravagers while the 2 warrior squads went in the ruins. The Haemonculi joined the Grotesques and both squads deployed on the other side of the board.
He fails to seize the initiative.
Top of Turn 1:
Movement: The Vindicator rolls into some dangerous/difficult jelly-acid puddle...and immobilized itself. Talk about points well spent on that Dozer Blade [/sarcasm].
LRR rolls forward toward the castle 12". Rhino-bunkers stand still. Flamer combat squad hops in the
LR and it moves over towards the Grotesques. Terminators move up, now with a clear line of fire to the Raider castle. Speeder on the right side of the board floors it 24" toward the Grotesques, while the other moves 24" towards the Raiders.
Shooting: To sum it up: Exploded 1 raider, wrecked another. Neither squad is pinned. Krak missile kills a Grotesque.
Assault: Nothing.
Yeah, I'm not sure how I managed to blur half the picture and make it relatively clear on the other half either.
Bottom of Turn 1:
Movement: Raiders go flat out, pushing towards the
PG/
ML flank. Ravagers go 6" to unmask guns. Warriors are stationary,
De-meched squads begin the slow march forward. Grotesques advance toward my line.
Shooting: Dark Lances shake the
LRR and wreck a Speeder.
Assault: A squad of Grotesques charges the other Speeder, and their flailing manages to immobilize it, which gets upgraded to wreck from flat out.
Top of Turn 2:
Movement: Vindicator doesn't arrive from reserve.
LRR moves up towards the Raider line and everybody hops out.
LR moves toward the opponents deployment zone again, and
Tac. Terminators move closer to the Raiders as well. Sternguard wheel 12" behind and around the Immobili-cator. Predator pivots.
Shooting: A hail of long range anti-tank fire sees the Archon and another raider popped, with the Warriors in the latter raider pinned. One of the Ravagers is downed. Grotesques take another casualty from a Krak missile (Old
FnP is a pain!)
Assault: Vulkan and the Hammernators (Note to self: Possible band name...) charge the Archon and Pals. Archon sends all of his attacks at Vulkan for a grand result of nothing, and incubi + master attack the terminators and kill one. Vulkan slays the remaining Incubi at the same time, and the Terminators mop up, throwing around 4-5 wounds on both the Archon and Incubi master. Archon rolls a 1 on his Invul while the Master lacks an invul, and combat ends. The squad consolidates into a line so it won't get annihilated by Disintigrator fire.
Bottom of Turn 2:
Movement: Bikes move toward the Sternguard rhino.
De-meched warrior squads move up again, as do Grotesques. Wych raider takes them flat out to my deployment zone, right behind the
ML combat squad. The last Warrior-Raider moves up near the
PG/
ML rhino, flat out again. Ravagers shuffle round.
Shooting: Ravager fires at the Terminators, manages to take down 2.
LRR gets shaken again from Blasters. Dark Lances wreck the
PG/
ML rhino, squad not pinned.
Top of Turn 3:
Movement: Vindicator doesn't come in. The band breaks up as Vulkan splits from the Hammernators to persue his own solo career. And by career I mean to murder more Warriors. Hammernators move towards the Tri-Lance Ravager,
LR moves toward enemy deployment zone,
MG/
ML squad disembarks and advances toward the Grotesques. Sternguard disembark and move toward the bikes.
Shooting: Vulkan manages to catch 2 squads with his Heavy Flamer and destroy one while crippling the other. The other 3-Disintegrater ravager is destroyed.
PG/
ML squad fires at a Raider but doesn't do anything worthwhile. Meltagun kills a Grotesque.
Assault: Hammernators down the last Ravager,
MG/
ML tac squad charges the first wave of Grotesques. Manage to win combat with only a couple casualties on my side, first wave breaks and runs. The squad consolidates to form a wall between another wall and the
LR, blocking the 2nd wave of Grotesques from the Terminators and Rhino.
Bottom of Turn 3:
Movement: Moves up a warrior squad towards the sternguard, disembarks the last 2 Raiders. Grotesques move up to the
MG/
ML squad.
Shooting: The Homunculus fires a weapon at the
Tac squad that forced an armor save that, if failed, would cause an explosion of
Str = Toughness of model exploding and
AP = armor save of model exploding. Luckily, I passed the armor save.
Can't remember much specifically from here, so I'm going to switch to a summary of the rest of the game:
Grotesques charge, combat's locked, next turn the Flamer squad disembarks to join the brawl and the 2nd wave of Grotesques begins to flee. The rhino hides behind a wall for the rest of the game and the Flamer squad gets back in the
LR to escort the Grotesque squads off the board. Wyches murder the
ML combat squad while the Warriors and
PG/
ML squad have an epic slap fight that doesn't go anywhere until the Wyches join in and after a couple turns cut the squad down to the Plasma Gunner, who breaks and runs off the table.
LRR is killed by one last Dark Lance shot from a Raider before that Raider gets toasted. The wyches go on to knock off the Vindicator from reserve while they and the warriors take casualties from the combined fire from the Immobili-Cator's stormbolter and a rhino stormbolter + the Predator. Warrior squad assaults the Sternguard for another drawn out slap fight of attrition that sees the Sternguard down to 2 men at the end of the game, still locked in combat. Vulkan went on to completely destroy one of the 2 Dark-Land warrior squads in the ruins at which point I forgot about him, leaving him standing there with his thumb up his butt, grinning sillily as dark lance fire from the other warrior squad 10" away keeps missing until the last turn when he finally fails his invul.
End game results:
Me: 40
KP- 20
BP for a massacre + 4
BP for the mission (+1 for double
KP, +1 for 3000
VP over the course of the tourney, +1 for having more units in center than opponent, +1 for scoring unit in enemy deployment zone)
My Opponent: 20
KP- 0
BP for being massacred + 2
BP for the mission (+1 for 3000
VP over the course of the tourney, +1 for scoring unit in enemy deployment zone)
All in all, this game seemed set up from the start against my opponent. The lack of terrain + Me getting first turn + horrible dice rolls throughout the game really hurt him. Great guy to play against though, he has his own web show (Check out Good Times and Heroin on Youtube).
I wound up coming in 2nd at my store, which is pretty awesome considering my record from last year (Lose-Lose-Lose). Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the Semi-Finals, but I doubt it. Only 1 store in the whole state is hosting Semis, and when I called today they were fully registered, so I got my name on the waiting list. Ah well, even if I don't get to Semis this year, there's always next year, and I have a neat certificate to go with it:
UPDATE: Got an email from the store hosting the Semis today, and there'll be room for me!
I'll try to remember to take pics of what happens at the Semis, including the 3rd game.
1850! 
For the Emperor! 