I had the pleasure of heading over to Games and Stuff to complete a trade with Damien. We got to talking, and he introduced me to a friend of his waiting for a game. I had brought my 1850 Flesh Tearer list with me, plus some extras, so I was happy to oblige his request to go to 2000.
What I brought:
Librarian with Shield/Unleash Rage, traveling with 5 TH/SS Terminators and a Sang Priest with Infernus Pistol in a MM/LC Storm Raven. Oh, and a Furioso Dread with HF, Magna Grapple, and Blood Talons riding in the back.
Shield/Blood Lance Librarian in a drop pod with a 5 man Infernus/MG Assault Squad, with an Infernus packing Priest
2 x Assault Squads, 10 men, Double Melta, Sgt with a Power Fist in a Rhino
Baal Predator- LC Assault Cannon, HB
2 Vindicators, both with siege shields
What Dave brought:
2 Wolf Characters, one with Saga of the Bear and Thunderhammer, one with Saga of the "I get to roll extra attacks for killing people last turn" with a wolf claw/SS, both of those on Thunderwolves, and a Wolf Ironpriest on a Thunderwolf, kitted out with a thunderhammer, and such. All three of these had wolves accompanying them, and were formed in once mega unit.
A Runepriest with Living lightning and something else that he never used.
3x 8 man Grey hunters in Rhinos, with attached wolf guard goodness
1 five man Grey hunter squad in a las/plas razorback
2 long fang packs with missile launchers.
Mission: Seize Ground (3 objectives)/Dawn of War
Dave and I rolled for it, and he won first turn. He set up his Rune Priest with a Grey Hunter Squad and Rhino near the right objective. I started with nothing on the board. I opted not to seize because I wanted him to waste a turn of potential shooting, and since it was an objective game, I wanted that possible last chance to grab or contest an objective. I had intentionally placed objectives mid field to draw him to the board center, and closer to assaults.
He moved his deployed Rune Priest and attached squad forward into the ruins near the right most objective. His other transports entered near the center, book-ending the T-Wolves, and created a space just big enough for my pod to fit. He popped smoke, and waited for my response.
My pod struck the earth in the dead center of his formation. From the superheated hull of the pod, there spilled forth a Sanguinary priest, who went right, a librarian who went left, and the squad in the center. Three units, one pod, and one mission: to take out as many transports as possible on the first turn. The Storm Raven screamed up the center to support, and the Baal and Vindicators moved 12 inches onto the board, a foot behind the Raven. The Rhinos both aimed at the Rune Priest's Rhino, on a mission to pry it from the objective, and break that Rune Staff as soon as possible. And will fast forward to the result: nothing. Not a single thing broke, died, or was otherwise inconvenienced. The Blood Lance went off, but did nothing. The Melta and Infernus Pistol from the squad both hit, but the smoke saved the Rhino. The Sanguinary Priest's pistol missed. The Raven's Machine Spirit-guided Multi-Melta hit, penned, and was smoked into nothing-ness. Everything else was out of range, or unable to fire.
His wolves moved up to pummel the 5 man squad to a fine paste, and the Sanguinary Priest from the pod was gunned down. Dave's razorback penned the Raven, luckily just stripping the Multi-melta. Things were not looking all that great, but I've faced worse, and I have learned not to give up in the face of crappy luck. The Librarian and the Terminators disembarked, and the Raven moved in behind them, turn it's lascannon and missiles to the two transports in front of it. The Vindicators and Baal advanced, hoping to gut the Thunderwolves. To hedge my bets, the Assault squads in the Rhino stayed in their transports, but moved up to melta the Rune Priest's Rhino. I started off the shooting phase buy having my librarian's power getting shut down by the Rune Staff, and the Raven's missiles hitting with only 3 of the 4 missiles I fired, and the lascannon and the accurate missile only scratching the paint of the transports they targeted. The regular assault squads did manage to immobilize the Rune Priest's ride, and the combined firepower of the vindicators killed a wolf or two as they scattered to the five winds.
The rest of the battle was a desperate scramble to keep my units on the other two objectives, kill as many of his troops as I could, while claiming the Rune Priest's objective for my own. At the end of turn five, the far left objective was unclaimable, as I had killed all the troops on that side with my Furioso dread, save one lone wolf guard, who died in a vehicle explosion caused by one of Dave's characters. As it was, if it had ended at turn five, the game would have been mine. I contested the center objective with a lone Sgt, and the remaining full assault squad had claimed the right most objective. Sadly, the 6th was rolled for, and I was pulled off the objective by the remaining Thunderwolf, and my long sgt was beaten like a rented mule.
So close, and yet so far...
The Furioso - despite missing with all four attacks on his first round of combat- performed exceptionally well. He killed the wolf lord with thunderhammer, killed Dave's Razorback squad of Grey Hunters, and nearly wiped an entire Grey Hunter pack by himself. My deployment severely hampered his Long Fang's utility. The pod tactic was risky, and didn't pan out, sadly. I may not repeat it. Dave was an excellent player, and really got me thinking about objectives, which is what I need to focus on. We shook hands at the end, and had a great time.
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