Daemons Vs Imperial Guard... Again!

So, we're down to the final game in the Comics Asylum tournament that was held a few weeks back.  My opponent is a well-traveled tournament player, whom I met first at Wargames Con.  Let me say up front that he is truly one of the nicest players I've run across, very friendly and outgoing.  I don't want to mention his name, since he was very careful not to appear in pictures (though all three of my opponents gave me permission to take and use the game pics) so I've got to assume he wants to remain private.

I got my preferred wave, and Fiends set up across the board in charge positions for Turn 2.  One unit drifted too far left, but it is what it is.

It's very difficult to follow the flow of this game through the pictures.  Suffice it to say, Primary was Kill Points, Secondary was table quarters, and my opponent full-reserved his Mech Guard.

That's not a terrible idea against Daemons.  While I can attack his army as it comes in... so can he.  If done properly, he can leave my army out of position and destroy those units too close to his board edge through devastating and numerous short-range firepower.

Still, if I can effect my strategy I'll do okay.  In general, these types of games are one of the few times I'll stack a drop; in this case, my preferred drop is my Fiends.  If I get my preferred wave, I can start launching assaults in Turn 2.  If I don't, all my shooting is in the other wave, so I'll start softening up targets for later in the game.

The right flank, top of Turn 2.  Since two of my three beasts units are on the left flank (relative), he's wisely concentrating on the right.

The battle is joined.  I'm multi-charging units, trying to do as much damage as possible before reinforcements arrive.  I have the advantage early against Guard in this scenario... which is actually the opposite of traditional games against them, where I suffer early.  The Hydras have to go, and they did.

He starting to get more and more units on, making me pay for every Kill Point.

Some of my units I hold back, intending to grab table quarters, but also avoiding Deep Striking in a unit-dense area of the battlefield.

By this time all his units are in play.  I'm ahead, but I'm too familiar with Guard to let up.  I tend to run of of steam late in the game, once my Fiends are brought to ground.

Back and forth.  This is late middle game, and he still has plenty of toys with which to counter attack.  It's hard to tell, but some of these tanks that look in play are actually destroyed.

With mech-heavy armies, it can be hard to tell what's wrecked, shaken, or stunned versus what's in play, especially when there are few distinguishing features in an army and a multitude of similar tanks.  Twice in this game I found myself moving to engage tanks that were destroyed.  Dice aren't really a reliable marker, since they tend to fall off.

Point is, I'd recommend you get dedicated counters if you're a mech-heavy force.  It's your army, it's on you!  Besides, you wouldn't appreciate me trying to put counters on your stuff, would you?

My opponent was perfectly honest about the disposition of his forces... and in one case, he could have literally put a full-sized unit of Guard in a Chimera back in play - I forgot I'd destroyed it, that's how thick and rough that middle game scrum was!  I might have realized it later, but by then what could I have done?  You can't rely on memory - you can't.

An example of why GW small dice are horrible!

By the end of the game, my opponent didn't have many toys left.  I was firmly in control, and had been through much of it after Turn 3.  He stayed positive, though the outcome wasn't in doubt.

 There's actually a few more pictures but I'll let it go here.  I ended up sealing the first place finish with this win, though I didn't realize it until later.  After all, I was on Table 2, not 1, so I assumed I was maybe  2nd or 3rd place.  The organizers actually moved me down so I could play on a different table, so that explains that!

The dude who won on Table 1 (did he play Stetson?) was interested in the outcome of my game with the mystery opponent, since obviously he stood to benefit if I drew or lost.  We talked later and he seemed confident his Mechdar with 3 units of War Walkers with Scatter Lasers could beat me up pretty good.

That's a game I hope to have in the future. :)