Starsmash 2011 Tournament Report - Part 2

Sorry for the delay of this guys, been extremely hectic at home with work, Gym and trying to get the Ex back :(. Appologies for the lack of images, I completely forgot and was too tired to remember.

So onto Day 2 of this years Starsmash 2011 Tournament report. We (Brighton Warlords) arrived fairly early, filled with a “fresh” breakfast straight from the local McDonalds. I unleashed hell in the bathroom before the tabletop after this, but lets just say I was more than happy with releasing such a god like log. I would have left it for all to praise but thought it may offend some of those lesser men amongst us.

So onto the round 4.

Round 4: John Jasinski

Army: Grey Knights

Mission: The person with the most scoring units fully within sx inches of the centre wins. This means that even if one model is partially out of 6 inches, or if any part of a transport holding a troop unit is partially out, you may not score. Deployment was Dawn Of War.

Johnused a fairly mech heavy GK army, which also contained plenty of scoring bodies which I was rather worried about. Here is his list:

Inquisitor with TDA, Psycannon & 2 Servo Skulls.

Inquisitor with TDA, Psycannon & 1 Servo Skull.

2x 8 Acolytes. 3 with Meltaguns, 4 with Storm bolters & 1 with Laspistol & CCW in Chimeras.

5x 5 Strike Marines with 1 Psycannon and Razorback with Psybolts.

2x Dreadnoughts with 2 Twin-linked Autocannons & Psybolts.

Faily solid build with plenty of shooting. Although it lacks he 3rd dread, he makes it up with Melta support and extra Psycannons.

I took first turn and placed two empty razorbacks deployed sideways 7 inches on. He deployed the same on his side of the board. John decided not to seize so I rolled on with my army. I placed 2 units of purifiers out on foot to get some decent firepower and push him towards the center of the board into fire lanes which I had setup. John rolled on, popping smoke with the majority of his tanks, pushing as far forward as he could with his Dreadnoughts hiding behind.

Turn two I shuffled around creating fire lanes while still keeping the majority of my army in cover. I opened up and after the smoke cleared, 1 Razorback was Stunned, another was weapon destroyed & immobilised and another was wrecked. I also managed to explode one of his Chimeras, killing 4 of his henchmen in the blast who stood their ground.

Return fire was fairly minimal. He pushed up again, getting one of his Strike squads out and killed one of my Purifiers. He then shot the majority of his force centrally and killed 3 purifiers in the centre. One of my empty Razorbacks on my right flank was immobilised but was already set in a nice firing position.

Turn 3 saw one of my reserved Accolytes move on into one of my razorbacks in the backfield. Reason for putting my Accolytes in reserve was to prevent my opponent targeting them early on. I started to move my army more central, pushing my plasma acolytes with their new Rhino into a ruin which completely blocked LOS, ready for a turn 4 push to the centre. This turn saw one of his strike squads getting reduced to one man who ran away like the wimp he was. Another unit was completely wiped out, whilst two more razorbacks were wrecked. One of his dreadnoughts lost an arm and was immobolised, putting it out of the game due to its position.

John's turn saw his army push forward again, with his lone Grey knight rallying then rolling a double one for movement. He was under pressure from all sides now with his left flank crumbled and his centre being pushed. I took minimal casualties this turn, only losing a razorback to melta fire & a Dreadnought to Autocannon fire.

Top of turn 4 I decided to push the centre, putting pressure on his now depleted army. He still had a big chance to pull this from me, so I decided to concentrate above all on his troops. I pushed my Plasma squad up and popped smoke. Three razorbacks with Accolytes pushed forward, on from the left, 2 from the centre, keeping back in cover. My depleted Purifier squad who mounted up a razorback last and pushed forward popping smoke, got out ready to assault his Acolytes, whilst Coteaz and his assassins came up from behind with another unit of Purifiers still in their transport. My last unit of Purifiers on foot started to run along towards the centre, ready to assist if I couldn’t push the centre with what I had. All my firepower went into another unit of Strike marines and his Chimera now in the middle of the board. His Chimera was Immobilised and weapon destroyed, whilst the strike squad was reduced to one man again. This left him with exactly 12 Strike marines. I assaulted his Accolytes with my Purifiers, killing 3 with cleansing flame & his Inquisitor with my hammer whilst the rest ran and were caught.

Bottom of turn 4 saw John pushing his strike squads centrally, putting his one man loner in his Razorback and pushing the centre, whilst his closest 5 man unit moved to assault my depleted Purifiers. Shooting saw little in damage from what I could remember, perhaps a few stuns and losing a few weapons on the razorbacks. In his assault phase, he failed to kill all of my Purifiers, leaving one with a hammer to keep them locke din combat.

Tope of turn 5, I pushed for the Centre, with my plasma unit, 1 Accolyte unit, my Assassins with Coteaz & another unit of Purifiers who swa,ped his central army, wiping out everything, vehicle & strike marine alike. The game was ended in a swift stroke, from multi-assaults and explosions, leaving him with little chance to take the game. The game continues to turn 6, which involved my army moping up his Strike Marines & Razorbacks, leaving him with a single untouched dreadnought at the end of turn 6, who managed to take down one of my own before the game ended.

On reflection, my game plan was executed perfectly. Each unit played its role well, and everything supported itself. Each movement left me with enough firepower, whilst retaining a majority of cover across the board. My opponent said after that there was a few turning points, but he admitted that with the way the game developed there wasn’t much he could do to counter my push. His lack of dedicated combat units
meant that my Purifiers & Assassins could put pressure on his de-mech’d army unless they were stopped early on.

Result: Win

Bonus Points: 6 (Max)

VP’s: Approx 1300

Great game and due to a few mistakes in positioning, it meant I could pick his army piecemeal. Rather than keeping his Strike marines to support one another, they were isolated and picked off one at a time.

Round 5: Simon

Army: Eldar

Missions: Killpoints, Pitched Battle

Simple mission, against a fairly balanced Eldar list which has clearly done very well to get to Table 1.
Simons army was:

Eldrad
5 Man Seer council with goodies.
2 units of 3 Jetbikes.
1 Large unit of Dire Avengers with Bladestorm.
8 Banshees in a Wave Serpent with Twin Shurican Cannon & Spirit stones
6 Fire Dragons
2 Falcons with Brightlance, Holofields & Spirit stones
3 War Walkers with Scatter Lassers.

Pretty standard list with a few interesting choices such as Banshees. Clearly from the start, the player knew this army, so I was not going to get too overly hyped about the match up. Lets first take a look at the situation. I have played Eldar before so I have a good idea on how he will play this. He will keep his Jetbikes & Dire Avengers hidden as they will play no part in this battle without giving up KP’s. His Fire Dragons will most likely push to get a Killpoint, one which is isolated and out of the way. The Falcons will advance either slowly, trying to de-mech some of my units, whilst the Banshees rush up to support the advance, backing up the Council.

So judging this, I decided to play defensively, and deploy far back, giving me at least 2 turns of shooting before he was on me. I lost the role for first turn which wasn’t a big deal as I wanted turn two anyways. After his central deployment, I deployed centrally with a majority of my army, whilst the Dreadnoughts held the flanks along with 1 razorback behind cover. All my Accolytes & Deathcults went into reserve without their transports as they would not provide me with anything to this game.

He redeployed slightly with Eldrads ability, and after refusing to seize, he moved up. Everything either turbo’d or moved towards my left flank/centre. He managed to wreck one Purifier razorback & immobilise another Razorback. I shuffled around slightly, whilst my Dreadnoughts appeared out from cover. Return fire wasn’t spectacular, I destroyed 2 War walkers and shook the last one. One Falcon lost its Pulse laser & was shook, whilst the Wave serpent carrying Banshees lost its turret weapon.

Turn 2 saw him turbo his Banshees & Council towards the centre, ready for a turn 3 assault. His Fire Dragons were baited out with one of my Dreadnoughts on y left flank and blew it up. Return fire, I killed all the Fire dragons, and after getting out my purifiers for extra firepower & focus firepower, I just could not bring down the Falcon carrying the Seer council. That was until I remembered I still had one Razorback to shoot. 3 shots, 2 hits, 1 6, followed by a double 6…Immobolised from a glacing hit. Oh and it had Turbo boosted. Oh and it had Fortune. Yep, it was wrecked by the last str 6 Heavy Bolter. What a relief. This was pivotal as it meant his biggest threat was now on foot.

Simon started to get a bit nervous and knew that the only way to win now was to get a solid multi-assault with his Seer council. The Walker was now well and truly hidden after pegging it from my turn 1 shooting, and his reserves had all come on, only to hide behind a building.

His Banshees were still to far to support so their wave serpent moved around ready for a turn 4 support charge. His Council moved up, and he rolled a 6 for fleet. Unfortunately he could not fleet, as I pointed out Eldrad does not have fleet. I guess this ruined his plans to get a large multi-assault in, as he was only in range of one Razorback which he wrecked. This left him fully exposed to my firepower, and I unleashed everything I had at them. Eldrad took a single hit from one of my Dreadnoughts and failed his re rollable 3+ inv save, and after the dust settled, the entire council was dead.

The Banshees Wave serpent also was wrecked, leaving him with little hope left. His Banshees pushed up and assaulted one of my Purifiers, whipping them out but not after losing 2 of their number from cleansing flame, and 1 from Coteaz’s Sanctuary (which prevented them from assaulting two units).

Beginning of my turn 4 - moping up the Eldar

My turn 4 saw the Banshees get shot up, and from there Simon was pretty sure he was defeated. His other falcon was now weaponless and immobolised, so he could do little else. The game eneded turn 5, and had it gone on I would of killed the Falcon from 2 assaults + shooting, but alas it was not to be, so therefore I did not get the final bonus point.

Over looking the game, I think I played it right. I knew Simon should have to play aggressively in this mission to get his Council amongst my army. I was worried that, by deploying close together, I would be susceptible to a multi-charge, however by blocking off points of access, sanctuary & spreading my infantry apart once out of their transports, this wasn’t much of a problem, but rather a blessing as each unit could support one another. I usually De[;oy in this fashion, but was ore warry due to the Seer Council. After one round of shooting this was not a problem, seeing them washed away in a tide of bullets.

Result: Win
VP:s Around 1100pts
Bonus: 4pts

With this, I came in 1st place, with only 6 points separating me with Richard Grint who came Second with Imperial Guard.
I was fairly happy with the performance of this list, even without the support of solid scoring bodies. I am, howver, getting slightly bored with my Grey Knights.

I have decided to go back to my Wolves for a bit, and I actually took them to the Team Challenge in Maelstrom, winning Best General (won all 6 games) and our team came second. I have always enjoyed using my Wolves, so I will be covering their development in the future. From Tournemant prep, lists ideas & ETC prep.

On other new, the first 2 players for the ETC Team England have been announced. Chris Green and myself (Alex Harrison). If anyone is interested in playing for England, I will be posting up the Team Captains message regarding how to apply this weekend.

Killswitch