Marsh and I met for our usual Monday gaming at Titan. 1850 tourney lists - no quarter given. The following is the result of our 3 hour timed game. The models are pretty much WYSIWYG except for a few.
Mission: Maelstorm + the Relic (15 points)
Ultramarines won the roll off to choose table sides
Tyranids won the roll for First Turn so I took it
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| Flyrant on the ground is actually on the 2nd floor as it fell. |
LAN secured the building on my side while my Venomthropes kept out of LOS.
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| Used the bases to indicate my Flyrants location on the ruins. Spread the Gants out to prevent the Marines from dropping in |
Unfortunately for me I rolled 3D6 and got a Perils of the Warp. I failed my Grounding Check and took 2 wounds from one Psychic Phase. It was also the Warlord. I was now on the ground and the Marines had a full turn to shoot at him.
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| I managed to score these 2 VPs |
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| Marines drop right in for the Relic (the barrels) and supported the 2 units with the Bikes |
The Marines moved up to secure the Relic. They also took out my Warlord, giving Marshall First Blood and Slay the Warlord.
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| Marines scored these 2 VPs |
Turn 2
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| Tyrannocyte came in with the Toxicrene |
I was expecting the Grav Centurions to come in to take out my Tervigon so spread the Gants further out to blanket my backfield. Some moved up to assist with the Relic.
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| I charged the Gants into the Marines in the hopes of tying them up |
This was probably a mistake. I had Secure Objective 2 in my hand and the Gants were already sitting on Objective 2. The Space Marine bikes were right in front of the Gants but were 7" away. The Tactical Marines were 3" away. If I stuck to the plan, I would have been able to engage the Bikes and still secure Objective 2. Ahhhh hindsight.
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| Mid field |
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| Tyranids didn't manage to score any VPs for Turn 2 |
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| The Centurions come in and takes out the Tervigon, wiping a big part of my backlines |
The Tactical Squad up front had also charged my Gants forcing them to consolidate upwards. This was also the Squad that had the Relic. Interesting choice.
Worth noting at this point that I kept thinking the Relic was captured by the unit and was not dependent on placement. Marshall did point to the Marine that was capturing it but it did not register with me almost until the end.
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| Marines wipe out the unit of Gants that charged them |
The 2 Stormtalons that came in managed to take out my other Flyrant. Here's where I made a mistake. After the first Storm Talon did 2 wounds, I should have Jinked for the 2nd one.
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| Marines scored another 2VPs |
Turn 3
I was losing my Synapse network and quite quickly too. I had also made a big boo boo in Turn 2. I had the opportunity to discard a card so could have discarded Secure Objective 6 (which my Gants were caught in combat with the Tactical unit) but held onto to it. I should have discarded Objective 6 since Tactical Marines are quite difficult to shift unless I really commit to taking them out. Lesson learnt.
In hindsight, I should have pulled the Hive Guard back onto the Skyfire Objective 4. Jinking would not have made a difference as I was on Ruins which conferred a 4+ cover anyway. I held onto Scour the Skies because I did not expect the Flyrant to die from one round of shooting.
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| While I managed to fail the Synapse check on the Toxicrene, I was still able to move it towards the Relic Tacticals |
The rest of my army attempted to create a no mans land between the Relic and the Marines, isolating the Tactical Squad holding onto the Relic. It was worth 15 points hence I was keen to get it.
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| Toxicrene charges in to take out a few Marines |
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| In desperation I charged these Gants in but lost 1 for my troubles |
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| Failed to score any |
Note to self: In this game, I continually forgot to consider discarding cards as I was hard pressed by time and felt bad holding it up. However, I have the right to consider dropping the cards. I will not be pressured into making decisions from now and will remember to drop the cards that I will struggle to score.
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| In the combat I finally managed to kill off the Tactical unit holding the Relic |
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| Stormtalons were in my deployment zone now |
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| Marshall scored another 2 |
Turn 4
I now had the opportunity to grab the Relic and win the game. However, 3 hours was up and since we were playing under tourney conditions, it meant the game would be called at the end of Turn 3. I couldn't take Turn 4 hence could not capture the Relic. A real waste!
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| End game shots |
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| End game shots 2 |
We tallied the VP's from the Maelstrom cards and Marshall clearly came out on top, scoring 9 to my 2. I was determined to win this game by going for the Relic but was beaten by time. Would it have made a difference? Considering the Marines still had a lot of firepower, Marshall could have targeted the unit with everything he had and forced my Termagant to drop the Relic. Would it have made more sense to put it on the Toxicrene? Yes, very likely with T6 and natural Stealth. However, I wanted to use the Toxicrene to charge the other Tactical Unit and get away from the Centurions in my back line. My original plan was to get the Relic back to my lines using the Termagants and within Venomthrope cover. Assuming they survived the ThunderFire Cannon, that would have been game.
Well hindsight is powerful! Now let's play this mission again but this time with my other list. Let's see how it does.
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