4.21.2011

Adepticon Championships, Game 2 (Mech Guard!)

This was a tough match up - a very tough match up.  While this isn't the Guard army I would build, it's still a great build... but worse, from my point of view, it seemed custom made to beat me.


He had three units of two Hydras with Heavy Bolters and Heavy Stubbers: Str6 Twin-Linked, Str5, Str4... and separated across each third of the board.  Most of the game they pivoted and fired, pivoted and fired.  And that's just a portion of the army - you can see the rest in the picture.



I didn't get my preferred wave.  No alpha strike.  I dumped my Fiends on one flank and landed my Icon in the middle of the board.
One thing that isn't noticeable is the Master of the Fleet... that's just like the kiss on the cheek after a spanking in front of the girl's volleyball team.

I normally split my drops evenly, but here the strategy was different: I loaded my shooting in the preferred wave and my Fiends and Troops in the secondary.  I wanted my Heralds and Princes on the board, softening up the armor long before my Troops hit the field.  This was an objective based game - there was never a doubt in my mind he'd go after my Horrors in the worst way.

I used cover to block as much of the shooting as possible, then started launching assaults.
I didn't get my preferred wave, so with this matchup I'd have to pick my spots carefully.  If I couldn't salvage as much of my Fiends and Horrors as possible before the rest of the army arrives - late, thanks to the MotF - I'd lose.

I went to ground over and over with the Horrors in the first three turns; to my mind, one of the most underused rules in the game.

Notice the Fiends in the center?  They multi-charged two Chimeras.  That's how to deal with Mech Walls.  The resulting explosions can potentially devastate the Vets ('cause it's always Vets!) inside, but I usually hope for a Pinned result.

I'm pretty sure I lost my Icon by this point, but the Horrors going to ground in cover soaked a lot of shooting.
 So I'm softening up the left flank, but the right flank is largely untouched.

Not much left, and the Master of the Fleet means my reserves plain aren't coming in.
 Despite my best efforts, I'm losing way too many models.  I start conserving where I can.  The good news is the left flank belongs to me...

I never will hit the Hydras on my extreme right flank with Fiends - that's too much board to cover, even with Beasts.  Still, they take out 3.5 of 6 units.  I can live with that.
 ...the bad news is, here's his right flank.  It's an objective game and he's still got more models.

Here's something to consider though: in the scenario, it was important to get units into your enemy's deployment zone.  You'll notice I end up moving units inside toward the end.

Bolt, Breath, and Gaze; the latter (Str5) can still take out armor with rear shots.
Ding ding!  Saved by the bell, 'cause here comes the rest of the army.  The downside to the Master of the Fleet is everything usually comes in on Turn 5 - that's a lot of stuff, late in the game.

This was taken from the extreme left board edge.  I control more space, but the Vendettas are a primary target now.  I can't have them swooping in to steal my objectives, nor tie me out with the deployment scenario.

A Daemon Prince lands here and shoots down one Vendetta.  Notice the lone Fiend, hiding.  I'm not giving up easy Kill Points!

I chase this model around the board before finally destroying it.
That's basically it; I went from coming close to losing every unit I had on the table to practically wiping out the Imperial Guard.

My opponent was a great player who knew how to play his army... the advantage I had was the countless games I played against Evil Homer's Mech Guard.  This isn't a fluke - I usually beat Mech Guard.  (The games are here if you want to hit the labels on the right.)

And it usually surprises them.  One advantage of playing a lesser known build is opponents are often under-practiced against your army... plus, there's a tendency to underestimate you.  (Space Wolves players have loaded the board with Thunderwolf calvary then called this army cheesy after the game.)

This was a tough army to face... but actually Game 3 was the toughest I'd face in my first 4 games...

(That's foreshadowing, by the way.)

13 comments:

Lauby said...

Sorry Brent, all of this is worthless because CLEARLY your opponents were terrible players (and probably bad people). I mean, honestly - loosing to daemons? Unforgivable.

I mean, what kind of world do we live in where someone with two years experience can beat armies with tanks in them? I mean the land raider alone is enough to make ALL close combat against tanks a pointless endeavor.

Plus someone told me that this wasn't a competitive event. The sheer fact that you did so well positively proves this. So you triple loose.

Your win is stupid, adepticon is stupid and daemons are stupid.

You should quit warhams 4ever and everyone involved should kill themselves.

Krisken said...

Well, if every criticism and detractor is going to be met with snark, what's the point of being civil?

@Brent: You handled a crappy situation pretty well, and I have to say it seems luck was on your side when assaulting those Chimeras. I imagine the Vet with the flamer croaked in the ensuing explosion?

Tenzing said...

Nice write-up; looks like it was a tough game, and a well deserved win- especially since you had the level-headedness to not give away easy kills (common-sense, I know, but often forgotten.)

Would love to have a had a couple more pics to show the situation turn 5-6 when the rest of your army turned up.

Oh- and thanks for showing Daemons in a good light. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Meta in the next year

SinSynn said...

This was a tough army to face... but actually Game 3 was the toughest I'd face in my first 4 games...

(That's foreshadowing, by the way.)

I heard dramatic music in the background when I read that part...

tzeentchling said...

@Lauby: Clearly, he only won because the event used the INAT FAQ.

Unknown said...

Hey Brent.

This is Jon, you're opponent from this game.

Just wanted to pop in and say hi and thanks for the game.... and the ass woopin :). It was a good learning experience for me. And you are exactly correct in your assumption that I havent faced a lot of Daemons. I have played them before, but very rarely.

I lucked out in that every one of my opponents was a great guy, and you were no exception. And lucky me... I got to face two "Internet Celebs" at my first Adepticon ever. I ended up playing Yakface's Orks in round 4.

It was a great event, and I'm looking forward to next year.

Drkmorals said...

Hmmm Your comments are slowly becoming almost as good as your articles.. Either thats awesome or you should step your game up lol.

Gauthic said...

Lauby, troll, whatever:

Yes, Brent has been known to be lucky with his dice rolls more often than not, but there's no need to poo-poo his success. He's a top-notch player and probably plays one of the maybe 2 competitive lists in that codex. It took him MONTHS of pain and suffering in our local store to get a good list and a feel for this very fickle army.

Brent wasn't bragging about his win, he was just reporting it. There was nothing in his post (nor have there been in ANY of his posts) that he's "TEH BEST PLAYUR".

I realize I'm breaking my "Starve the Internet troll" rule, but someone has to comment to your accusations just in case you're uneducated and serious in your flame.

Krisken said...

I hope people aren't confusing me with someone who is trying to take something away from his successes. If anything, I'm simply trying to improve my own game by understanding how he deals with the difficult situations he did and how much was luck and how much was by design. This is hardly trolling (I'd much rather have answers than negative responses).

I'm primarily a Daemon player who plays a hybrid list of the Fateweaver build and the build Brent uses. I'm not afraid to share my name and use the same variant of user name no matter where I post online. Kinda hard to troll when doing so. ;)

If you are referring to Lauby, he's not really trolling, he's making fun of Captain Vonkillenstein from BoLS.

Lauby said...

@ Gauthic: I'll let Brent explain this one to you.

Gauthic said...

Lauby: I get it now. awesome.. no worries then. I misread the tone of your post :) (gawd it's hard to read genuine fun sarcasm in a flood of Internet trolls ;) )

Lauby said...

@guathic: lawl. No problem, my man!

@Krisken - I'm making fun of more than one person ;)

Brent said...

Ah, this was a lot of fun!

Krisken - it wasn't directed at you. Lauby was satirizing some rather funny anti-daemon remarks.

All in good fun!

(A new favorite!) Anon: I haven’t even bothered playing a game of 6th yet, cause I have read the rules, and actually understand how they interact with units. I know my armies no longer function how they should, and so I need to change them.

Strictly Average: 'cause 6-inches is all you get.

Stalking Jawaballs since 2009.

Jawaballs: "My butt just tightened up."

Brent, preferred 2-to-1 over Not Brent in a recent, scientific poll.

Brent: emptied the Kool Aid and DRINKING YOUR MILKSHAKE with an extra-long straw.

Unicorns don't exist.

Home of the Stormbuster, the Dyson Pattern Storm Raven.

I'm a comment whore and this whore is getting no play.

Not Brent hurts Brent's feelings.

I think, therefore I blog.

"You should stop writing for everyone else and worry about your crappy blog." - Anon.

Not Brent has been spotted lurking around with a green marker.

He's not like a bad guy from a cartoon, all devious but never quite evil, Not Brent is bad beans, man, bad beans.

Dethtron: "Again I feel obliged to remind you that trying to sound smart only works if you are."

MVB: "I am not one to join the unwashed masses of self-titled 40k experts out there distributing advice from their blogs about exactly how your list should be built..."

Shiner Bock on tap: that's how I choose hotels.

Strictly Average: The Home of Hugs and Gropings.

Don't feed the trolls!

MoD: "Welcome to Brent's head."

Competitive is Consistent.

Dethtron: "...you could use that extra time to figure out a way to get your panties unbunched and perform a sandectomy on your vagina."

Dethtron: “When calling someone an idiot, it's generally best to avoid making grammatical mistakes.”

Warboss Stalin: "You know, if it actually WAS funny, maybe I wouldn't mind."

Mike Brandt: "It's not a successful bachelor party if you don't misplace someone".

"The Master Manipulator (every store needs one): "...now, enough stroking."

Kirby: "I don't know about gropings. Seriously, Brent, keep it in the pants, please."

Loquacious: "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Hugs & Gropings or Stalks Jawaballs into Brent's little tribute."

Captain Kellen: "I rate this article a Brent on the Faith Hill to Nancy Pelosi scale!"

Drathmere: "Come for the balls, stay for the Brent? Kind of disturbing, man."

Go no further, lest thee see something thine eyes would fain look past!

Isabelle: "So, thank you for supporting your local and not so local unicorns. A noble gesture like that can show some scared kids out there that they don't have to hide from everyone and it's ok to be who they really are."

There is nothing more interesting than We The People... in all our beautiful, ugly glory!

On Internet Advice: You see, I have an almost religious belief that's it's a huge, colossal waste of time.

...I think I'll call it the Gun Shy Pattern Stormbuster, because after the Internet destroyed my first humble effort, I find I'm a bit worried about the reaction to this one.

Lauby: "Is it left over from that time you thought that you could just complete step one 12 times to meet the mandates of that court order?"

Not Brent: "I guess we'll have to read on and find out. Signed, Not Brent. Especially today."

Cynthia Davis: "I think the scrolling text is from Glen Beck's new book."

Grimaldi: "Spamming certain units creates interesting possibilities but also fatal weaknesses."

Purgatus: "Math can inform decisions. It cannot make decisions."

Thoughts? Comments? Hugs and gropings?

You'd be that much quicker to figure out what I mean when I refer to a Unicorn if I covered it in a rainbow flag.

SinSynn: (To Brent) "Curse you and your insidious influence on the internets..."

Dave G (N++): "You know you're an internet celebrity when your following is more akin to tabloids."

I prefer the term Internet Personality (or IP) myself, seeing as how I coined it.

Lauby: "Your attempt to humanize him as failed. I feel nothing but scorn for his beard - it's like a warcrime or something."

BBF: "I've always thought you are a good player but I finally figured out that you are a great player. It's hard to see sometimes because your personality is engaging, sincere and quite charming - to me that is kind of a rare combination."

'Clearly cheating?' I didn't misspeak: you jumped to conclusions. If you'd like to apologize I'll be happy to send you an autographed picture of my ass.

Ass.

I thought I was doing alright before I realized I was losing.

Age and treachery beats youth and vigor every time.

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