Game 2 - High Ground vs. Daemonhunters (Ray)

This week’s mission was the High Ground mission; the one where you have to control the central building to win the game. Ray and I opted for 6 building ruins with the central one, one in each quadrant, and one on my right side, straddling 2 quarters.

Stratagems:
Ray = Razorwire (n=5) & Preliminary Bombardment (didn’t affect any of my units, but did destroy 2 razorwires)
Me = Combat Engineers & Medicae Facility (on the central objective)

I won the choice of deployment zones, so chose the one on my right so as to have one building AND half the one straddling into the quarter.

I won the roll off for 1st turn and went fist (or maybe Ray won the roll and had me go first?)

Dusk & Dawn = Dawn – Night Fight Rules for Turn 1

Let me get a few game-long issues out of the way, rather than going back to them turn after turn. Ray’s Lance Strike arrived on Turn 2 and proceeded to scatter/miss most of the time, finally killing 3 Dire Avengers in Turn 6.
As mentioned in an earlier blog, my Bare Metal Farseer cast Fortune 6 times, rolling 11s and failing FOUR (4) of those times.

Eldar 1
I moved the Falcon, Banshees, and Wraithlord up a bit. W’Lord shot at the IST Chimaira, but couldn’t see in the dark conditions.

=][= 1
Ray moved around a bit, but didn’t have range/LOS for shooting.


Eldar 2
Everything but the Dire Avengers moved up towards the objective w/ the Falcon/Dragons heading over to my left flank. Falcon shot at the IST Rhino and immobilized it. W’Lord shot at the 10-man GK squad on my right flank, but this time, their Shrouding confounded the Spirit Warrior Construct.

=][= 2
5-man Grey Knights shoot psycannons at Falcon, shaking it.

Eldar 3
Everything, including Dire Avengers, moved towards the objective. W’Lord shot at the Chimaira and stunned it.

=][= 3
5-man GK squad & Inquisitor opens up w/ Psycannons on a squad of Dire Avengers, killing 6 – they passed their LD test to remain in the fight (whew!).

Eldar 4
Falcon moves back to left flank (had popped behind cover last turn to wear off the shaken result) and drops Fire Dragons off in ruin. Falcon shoots at 5-man GK squad, killing 2. Fire Dragons shoot at IST/Rhino squad, killing 2.

=][= 4
Dread makes his move, shoots at Falcon, and blows both the Pulse Laser and Scatter Lasers off. 10-man GK squad on my right flank opens up on the Harlequins, killing 6 (ouchy-waa-waa). Chimaira also fires on Harlequins, killing another one and leaving the Shadow Seer & Troupe Master. The IST/Chimaira squad continues the fussilade on the Harlies, killing the Shadow Seer. On my left flank, the 5-man GK squad psycannoned 4 fire dragons dead, leaving only their Exarch (who just happens to be w/i 12” of the Avatar, so is fearless for this turn’s break check and next turn’s last man standing roll). Also on my left flank, the Eversor Assassin goes after the Falcon w/ an Assault, but misses the to-hit rolls.

Eldar 5
The Falcon tank shocked the IST/Chimaira unit, but they passed their test (opted NOT to Death or Glory); shot at them and killed 2 w/ the Shuriken Cannon. Fire Dragon Exarch moves toward the IST/Rhino squad and Dragon Breath Flamers 4 dead; assaults the last one, killing him, and consolidating into the GK Brother Capt. The Avatar assaults the Eversor Assassin, making short work of him. Farseer throws spear at Chimaira, hitting, but failing to penetrate/glance. Dire Avengers on my right open up on the IST/Chimaira squad, which is now hunkered down in a building. Effective use of a Bladestorm results in the death of all the IST in that squad. The Howling Banshees and Harlequin Troupe Master assault the Grey Knights on my right flank, killing 9 (w/o the assistance of Doom, mind you – I forgot to cast that). Thankfully, 1 GK stands, so I’m locked in combat for Ray’s turn and can’t be shot at by the other nearby 10-man GK squad.

=][= 5
5-man GK squad, Inquisitor, and Dread all shoot at Avatar, who manages to make all his saves. Chimaira shoots at the undamaged Dire Avenger Squad, killing 2. Not surprisingly, the Fire Dragon Exarch is killed in close combat w/ the GK Bro. Capt. Conversely, the final GK in close combat w/ the Banshees was cut down. Although its not in my notes, I *THINK* the GK Dread assaulted the Avatar this turn, resulting in the Avatar cleaving the Dread off at the waist (i.e., destroying it).

Eldar 6
Most importantly, the W’Lord and both dire Avenger squads move into the objective. Harlequin Troupe Master fails last man standing roll, and flees the battle (during the pile in during my last turn, he was starved out of close combat, so was standing there twiddling his thumbs). The Howling banshees, having finished the last GK squad in Ray’s Turn 5, had consolidated towards the other 10-man GK squad. Pistol shots and an assault wiped all of them out. Finally, the Avatar assaults the GK Bro. Capt., killing him.

=][=6
The remnants of the 5-man GK squad and Inquisitor shoot at the Avatar, with all 3 wounds being saved. Chimaira shoots at the Farseer, and kills him. This is the turn where Ray’s Lance strike kills 3 dires in the objective building, but it is not enough to bring them below scoring status.


In the end, I had 3 units at scoring status in the objective, and won the game. It was a hard fought battle for sure, and without a doubt, the Howling Banshees is what did it for me by taking out 20 Grey Knights pretty much by themselves.

Lessons Learned… I went into this game with a list geared towards the mission. I don’t like to “tool” a list to oppose a specific opponent/army, but most generals know their mission up front, and therefore can put the best resources towards achieving the objectives. That’s the stance I took – I had an objective, and put the right resources towards achieving it. The plan was to walk much of the force (HQs, W’Lord, Dire Avengers) towards the objective with the faster elements (Falcon/Dragons, Banshees, Harlequins) “overshooting” the objective and hopefully stalling the GK/=][= advance. I figured if I had opted for a more mechanized type of list, it would fail in the mission objective (skimming vehicles not being able to claim objectives in CoD).

As for the Harlequins, they once again proved disappointing. However, I’m not ready to give up on them yet. I think their failures are more a result of poor fleet rolls on my part (happens every time) and a general lack of experience w/ moving them (I think they need more cover saves in CoD to increase their ‘save’ from 5+ to 4+; a Fortuning Farseer wouldn’t hurt either).

Having played relatively infantry-horde-esque lists the last two games, I think I’ll be shifting my gears towards more mechanization and speed. I was also pleased with the Autarch in Game 1, so want to give him some more table time (and give me more experience w/ him).
I won’t be making it to league night tonight, but hope to be back in action sooner than later. Ciao for now!!