Guard Tournament Results (part 5)

Rob speaking,

So going into the last game, still in a good position despite my loss last game, game 5  I would be facing off against a very similar army to mine, space wolves and imperial guard.

Game5: Mike Foulks, Big Guns Never Tire, Hammer and Anvil deployment.

PLAYER: Mike Foulks
PRIMARY DETACHMENT: Space Wolves
HQ1 : Wolf Guard Battle Leader, frost weapon (axe), saga of the hunter [105 pts]
HQ2 : Rune Priest, living lighting, jaws of the world wolf, runic weapon (axe) [100 pts]
HQ3 : Rune Priest, storm caller, jaws of the world wolf, runic weapon (sword), bolt gun[100 pts]
HQ4 : Rune Priest, living lighting, storm caller, runic weapon (staff), chooser of the slain
[110 pts]
Elite1 : 3 Wolf Guard, 2x terminator armour [84 pts]
Elite2 : Lone Wolf, terminator armour, chainfist, storm shield, 2x fenrisian wolves [105 pts]
Elite3 : Lone Wolf, terminator armour, chainfist, storm shield, 2x fenrisian wolves [105 pts]
Troop 1 : 10 Grey Hunters, 2x melta guns, wolf standard [165 pts]
Troop 2 : 10 Grey Hunters, 2x melta guns, wolf standard [165 pts]
Troop 3 : 5 Grey Hunters, flamer [75 pts]
TOTAL [1114 pts]
ALLIED DETACHMENT: Imperial Guard
HQ1 : Primaris psyker [70 pts]
Elite1 : Psyker battle squad, 9 sanctioned psykers [110 pts]
Troop 1 : Platoon command with vox caster [35 pts]
Platoon squad 1 with autocannon, power axe on seargent [70 pts]
Platoon squad 2 with autocannon, power axe on seargent [70 pts]
Platoon squad 3 with autocannon, power axe on seargent [70 pts]
Platoon squad 4 with autocannon, vox caster [65 pts]
HS1: Manticore Rocket Launcher [160 pts]
FORTIFICATION: Aegis defence line with icarus lascannon [85 pts]

Lots of things to look out for, the Manticore and Lone Wolfs are going to cause a pain, plus the Blob can outflank thanks to Saga of the Hunter! So it’s a nasty nasty list.

Deployment:
Again I was passed first turn so set about deploying the blob centrally, the 1 pack of Grey Hunters on either flank with the Veteran squad on the left flank, the Hyperios had no real position to deploy as there was a hill in the centre of the table that blocked LOS, with 2 large LOS blocking buildings on either flank, so the only position to deploy them was centrally, the Command squads went in reserve, with the Warlord Command squad in a Vendetta.

Mike outflanked the blob, the Manticore then went in reserve, the Grey Hunters all deployed in a line centrally, 1 squad manning the Lascannon from the ADL, the 5 Grey Hunters and Platoon Command deployed in ruins at the very back of the board. The Psyker battle squad then deployed centrally behind a ruined wall, with the Lone Wolfs on the right flank.

Turn 1
Nothing much happened as I have 3 objectives to Mikes 2, It was night fight so the Hyperios who has LOS to a Grey Hunter pack were out of range. Mikes turn 1 he moved up and ran with everything bar the Psyker squad who remained stationary and the Grey Hunter pack on the lascannon.

Turn 2
All 3 Vendettas turn up, again 2 huddle in a corner, but 1 is poking passed the building blocking LOS, the 3^rd vendetta comes on the left flank which is hidden by a large ruin,  the Grey Hunters start to back up from there move forwards turn 1, as they need to support the blob from the outflanking blob which is due imminently. Mike then intercepts the Vendetta and takes it out! First blood to Mike! I then do minimal damage again killing a couple of Grey Hunters from a pack on the left flank, moving to the right flank, the Grey Hunter pack and the remaining Vendetta, then strip a single wound from a Lone Wolf and kill one of the Fenrisian Wolves accompanying it.

Mikes turn 2 and the Manticore arrives, the Blob turns up in my bottom left corner, the Lone Wolfs on the left flank and Grey Hunters on the right flank both push up while the 2 groups of Grey Hunters drop back slightly, the Blob opens up into the rear of the Vendetta on the left flank and strips a hull point, the Manticore takes out a Rune Priest and about 10 other Guardsman 3 shots are rolled and all scatter into the blob.

Turn 3
With the arrival of the 2 units that threaten my army I try to deal with these, my blob walks towards Mikes and prepares to charge as do a squad of Grey Hunters, the Vendettas both move to get into range of the Manticore and the Grey Hunters on the left flank move into rapid fire range of the Lone Wolfs, the Vendettas then both fail to scratch the Manticore… 1 even on it’s side armour. The Blob then and Grey Hunters then hit the Blob and the epic combat begins.

Mikes turn 3 and the game only has 20mins left, the Lone Wolves charge the Grey Hunters on the right flank and both remain locked in combat, the Manticore then takes out the Platoon Command knocking me off an objective! This means I’m going to close this game unless the blob can somehow win! The combat continues and takes aaaages to sort out with some really ‘strange’ things going on, in regards to the models which I have to remove and which models Mike starts to remove and the combat ends in a stalemate again, this time dragging me off another objective.

With about 5mins left in the round we decide to call it quits here as there is no time for both players to get in another turn.

Overall:
I wasn’t happy at all after this game, we both took waaay to long to do anything in this game, deciding tables sides, generating psychic powers and warlord traits took about a hour, deployment took ages and we only just got to turn 3… I made a MASSIVE error on the right flank if I hadn’t of got greedy with the Grey Hunters trying to kill the Lone Wolfs they could of dropped back to the objective and the game would have been a 11-9 loss on first blood, but instead I lost 15-5. I was totally gutted with how the game went and how I played, plus a few strange rules interpretations. But there we go,

In the end I finished 45^th which is midfield so I have to be happy with that!

As for the tournament overall, it was run excellently as always and even though I had 2 difficult games, I was extremely happy to have attended and there was no bad blood between any of my opponents. I would like to play them again given the chance, I think a lot of the problems came from different rules interpretations and the pressure of time, so not being able to fully read into them caused the friction.

I was also disappointed with the list, it properly let me down, the Vendettas just didn’t cut the mustard in many of the games, I would of preferred more units on the table from turn 1 and I don’t believe Flyers are all they are cracked up to be.

I’m looking forward to my next tournaments in the coming months I have a couple in mind including a team tournament I’m looking at entering!