Da Boyz GT, Game 1

So, it's time to get to Da Boyz content... more specifically, the content most of you are interested in: the Battle Reports.

Lucky for you, I ALWAYS take my camera!

I went 2nd, but I didn't get my preferred drop, which was definitely the stronger of the two.  My plan changed at that point from 'attack' to 'hold him off.'  What was most important was the Horror unit with the Icon - I HAD to have that Icon, since the mission required your units to move to the opponent's deployment zone for the win.  Kris' zone is the left edge of the table, so you'll see later in the game my units shift left. 

Game 1 was against a new tournament player... my notes aren't here but unless I'm mistaken his name is Kris.  Obviously he's playing Blood Angels.  He's got a Furioso in a Pod, a Tac in Pod, two Tacs in Rhinos, a Predator, and a Land Raider Crusader with a Terminator Squad including a Reclusiarch and a Sanguinary Priest.  It's a fairly balanced rock to the head, but I like it a lot better than most Blood Angels armies out there.  He played it well but I think his inexperience played against him.

Shooting from my initial drop destroys all but the Plasma Cannon.  I immobilized the Rhino on the left up there.  Everything except the Horrors with the Icon are sacrificial units, including the Fiends in the upper left zone that you can't see in this picture.

He quickly counter-attacks with two Tac Squads, destroying my Heralds.  Here I'm screening my drop-zone with Plaguebearers.  The Horrors went to ground - I need that Icon so I can drop my Fiends.

That Horror in the building survives more firepower than he rightly deserved to.  The other small Horror unit is in the upper right, also getting killed.  Again - I don't care - I absolutely have to have time to set up the charge.  I'm terrified of the Rock... as well I should be.  My first-drop Fiends counter-attacked the upper Tac squad, got locked in combat, and were promptly counter-attacked by the Rock.  The Rock = Reclusiarch, Priest, and Terminators... the Fiends disappear, torn apart like paper.  It was worse than I realized.  I knew then I'd lose anything the Rock charged.  

This is what I've been playing for.  Notice I'm screening my Fiends with 'Bearers and Daemon Princes.  The Horrors are almost dead, but they did their job.  Everything is on the board and it's time to sweep the Blood Angels.  I hope!  As an aside, the DP's both dropped Breath and Gaze, but luckily for Kris his Tac survived.

He's lining up against me.  That Horror was a hero... the Furioso didn't move as far as he could have toward my drop-zone.

The counter-attack.  Notice the Fiends in the upper right?  They destroyed the Plasma Cannon and the Predator, so now they're hiding behind the immobilized Rhino and the wreck of the Pred.  I really want the Rock to attack toward my board edge.  I was worried, since I didn't roll high enough to screen my Fiends with my Plaguebearers, so there was a hole.  The Furioso was destroyed, obviously.

Same picture, different angle.  I thought the best play was for Kris to bypass the 'Bearers and just assault the Fiends, with perhaps one model to pick up the Plaguebearers.  He would have ripped them apart but I probably would have stuck, so he wouldn't have to suffer my shooting.  Naturally, I would have counter-attacked with Fiends,  and DP's, but I thought it was his best chance.

Correct here is like I said, assaulting the Fiends first.  Kris makes a mistake and - minor though it is - it hurts him.  He targets the Plaguebearers and rolls a DT test, getting a charge result of 2.  He can't reach the Fiends.  It was important he does so, since his Initiative is 5 on the charge...

He destroys the Plaguebearers.  He also finishes off one of the DP's.  I think he's feeling pretty comfortable...  but that's because he's been getting his assaults off.  I knew it would be a different story if I could launch it first...

...and that's how that story goes.  Two full-sized Fiends and a DP?  It's safe to say Kris wasn't expecting that.

I move one unit of Fiends toward the edge - remember, that's Kris' deployment zone  - while the other unit assaults the Land Raider and the immobilized Rhino.  I want to make sure it can't shoot if the game goes on.

The game is Random Game Length and it ends after turn 5.  I win the Primary, Secondary (Victory or Kill Points - can't remember which), and the Tertiary (unit closest to the opponent's edge), scoring almost full points for Round 1.  Even had the game continued I would have been okay.  The Land Raider couldn't move or shoot, but I would have left it to assault those remnant Tac Squads.  

Kris was a pleasure to play and a great sport.  He was doing so well in the first half of the game that I think the quick turnaround surprised him some.  More than anything though, I think his inexperience cost him.  Had I been in his position, I would have moved most of my army toward the opposite edge and left the Land Raider, Dreadnought, and maybe a Tac Squad to break up my army...

...but that's that darn Captain Hindsight talking, isn't it?  It's much easier to judge a game after it's been played.  All in all, Kris came very close to putting away my chances early, and only sacking a good chunk of my army slowed him up long enough to allow me to seize the initiative away from him.

Good game.