'Ard Boyz Semis Report, Part II

by SandWyrm

Have you ever done technical work late at night? Trying to finish, say, that last bit of computer coding to make everything work, only to give up, exhausted, in defeat and go to bed? Then, the next day you wake up, look at what you did the night before and wonder "What the heck were you thinking?".

Yeah, that's how I feel about this year's 'Ard Boyz Semi-Finals. Man, what was I thinking?

I'll get my pathetic excuses out of the way first:

1) My Wife and I have a newborn at home.

I got 6 hours of sleep the night before the Semis and was like: "Woohoo!, I'm ready to go!". Except that I wasn't. I can function on 6 hours, but not after a week of 3 and 4 hours per night. It's only after coming home and getting 2 full nights of sleep since that I can really appreciate the fail.

2) Allergies

Got hit by these when I passed Fort Wayne on I-69. With the result that I was coughing and wheezing thoughout the day. I brought meds, but these didn't help much.

I'm also allergic to wheat gluten, so that severely limits my food choices when I'm traveling. With the result that I didn't eat enough food before showing up at 9am. Then the tourney didn't start until 11am, with the lunch break planned for 1:30pm. So I was having blood sugar issues throughout the first half of the day. Which I could only help by eating candy bars. It's a wonder I didn't puke during my first game; between the coughing fits caused by pollens and the somersaults my stomach was doing.

Anyhow,  here's how it went down:

My List

    HQ
210    Company Command Squad w/4 x Melta, Astropath, Officer of the Fleet, Krak Grenades, Chimera (ML/HF)

    Elites
160    5 IG Stormtroopers w/2 x Melta, Chimera (ML/HF)
160    5 IG Stormtroopers w/2 x Melta, Chimera (ML/HF)
160    5 IG Stormtroopers w/2 x Melta, Chimera (ML/HF)

    Troops
155    Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta,  Chimera (ML/HF)
155    Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta,  Chimera (ML/HF)
155    Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta,  Chimera (ML/HF)
170    Veteran Squad w/3 x Plasma, Chimera (ML/HF)
145    Veteran Squad w/3 x Plasma, Grenadiers
145    Veteran Squad w/3 x Plasma, Grenadiers
   
    Fast Attack
130    Vendetta Gunship
130    Vendetta Gunship
145    Hellhound w/Hull Multi-Melta

    Heavy Support
165    Leman Russ Demolisher w/Hull Heavy Flamer
165    Leman Russ Demolisher w/Hull Heavy Flamer
150    Leman Russ Exterminator w/Hull Heavy Flamer

This has been my more or less standard list for a while now, and I feel like it had all the tools I needed to do well in my first 2 match-ups, and possibly even my third. In contrast to previous occasions, I don't feel an overwhelming need to change it in response to what happened at the tourney.

What I do feel I need though (besides sleep), is more practice with it. It's a list that's built to be as flexible and unpredictable as possible, yet that flexibility means that I haven't yet been able to test out all it's possibilities against a wide variety of opponents. Whereas a more straightforward list would always deploy and play the same, but be more predictable.

Game 1: Black Templars

My first opponent was Jollyboy, who was very enjoyable to play. He was running a fairly solid Black Templars list:

   HQ

140   Emperor's Champion w/Armor of Faith, The Black Sword

   Elites

130   Dreadnought w/DCCW, Twin-Linked Lascannon

130   Dreadnought w/DCCW, Twin-Linked Lascannon

526  Teminator Assault Squad w/4 x Lighting Claws, 2 x TH/SS, Land Raider Crusader

   Troops

230   Crusader Squad w/Meltagun, Power Fist, 1 Neophyte, Rhino (ExA)

219   Crusader Squad w/Meltagun, Power Fist, Rhino (ExA)

219   Crusader Squad w/Meltagun, Power Fist, Rhino (ExA)

219   Crusader Squad w/Meltagun, Power Fist, Rhino (ExA)

   Fast Attack

75  Land Speeder w/Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

75  Land Speeder w/Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

75  Land Speeder w/Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

   Heavy Support

128  Predator w/Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, (ExA)

128  Predator w/Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, (ExA)

128  Predator w/Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, (ExA)

We set up on a very mech-favorable table. He won the roll for first turn.

And here's my first flubbed deployment.

First the Vendettas. I reserved them because I was afraid of Jollyboy's AT. But they should have gone in the back corner of my deployment zone, out of range of his AT, which was all pretty far away from me. They could then have torn apart any tank that tried to advance towards me. Giving me a huge advantage in terms of control.

Now the Stormies. I outflanked them, thinking that I'd bust up Jollyboy's Predators and distract him. But I should have put 2 of those units up front and scouted them right into the face of his Land Raider instead. Forcing him to either deal with them or go around. Giving me more time to chew him up and letting the Stormies take it in the nose before my scoring troops.

Lastly, I put a unit of Grenadiers out with my tanks to provide a screen against the assault troops in Jollyboy's Raider. But what do I do instead? I move the tanks up and leave the screen behind. Nice.

Turn 1

Jollyboy pours fire from his Preds, Dreds, and Speeders into my Russes. Which soak up most of it, but he does manage to stun my Demolisher on the right, which I then smoke and run up into the face of his Land Raider. Or at least as much into his face as a the extra 2" I rolled let me.

In return, I pour fire into his speeders and the Rhinos on my right. Popping a few and immobilizing a Rhino. I ignore his Crusader since he's got the special glancing-only smoke.

Turn 3

By now, he's popped my Hellhound and immobilized the Demolisher on the right in addition to taking off it's main gun. The Demolisher on the left still has a flamer and can move. Though I forget to do so a couple of times. The Exterminator died while blocking for the screening troops.

I rolled up 1 squad of Stormies on turn 2, which I sent into Jollyboy's Pred Parking lot. They manage to miss (twice) when shooting meltas at his Pred, finally destroying it with krak grenades instead. By turn 3, when the other 2 Stormie squads arrive, I bring them on to support my right; which is having a hard time. Though they did kill Jollyboy's Raider and the Termies inside.

The Stormies slaughter Jollyboy's Marine squad on my right, but then are too far away from the action to do a whole lot else.

My other reserves roll on in the center, where they have to deal with the crazy marines. I lose a Vendetta on the left because nobody told them it was suicide to enter there. But I did at least hold up the Emperor's chump so that he could only engage me with one squad in the center.

I'm killing Marines, but I'm also allowing far too many multi-charges and letting my scoring units get chewed up. While the Stormies, oddly enough, have it pretty easy.

Turn 4

Both Vendettas down. Most squads are walking. Here comes the Emperor's Chump.

End of Game

The Emperor's chump claims the center, but I contest it with the headless Demolisher. Since I'd forgotten to move it, Jollyboy might have thought it was dead. Nobody's left alive on the left to claim anything, while I've successfully locked down the objective on my right.

So, Minor Victory with 2 BPs for me. Minor Loss with 1 BP for Jollyboy.

And that was the best game I had all day. Kudos to Jollyboy for being very relaxed.

I'll wrap up the last 2 rounds in the next post.