Opponent: Jamie
Mission: Recon
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 1000
Daemonhunters
- Inquisitor Lord Kurven, Psycannon, Emperors Tarot, Gun Servitor, Plasma Cannon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2 x Imperial Guard Veteran, Plasma Gun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2 x Sage, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Mystic, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol
- Eversor Assassin
- Daemonhost
- Squad Godirtho, 6 Storm troopers, 2 x meltaguns
- Squad Matoso, 6 Storm troopers, 2 plasma guns
- Armoured Fist Squad (inducted Imperial Guard) Sergeant, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Flamer, Chimera, Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Smoke Launchers, hunter killer missile, heavy stubber, track guards
- Infantry Platoon (inducted Imperial Guard) Command squad, junior officer with power sword and plasma pistol, medic, vox caster, 2 plasma guns, Infantry squad missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster, Infantry squad missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster
Imperial Guard
- 2 stalk tanks (sentinels with autocannon)
- Leman Russ
- Infantry platoon with autocannon and grenade launchers
- Armoured fist squad
- Mortar squad
- Stormtroopers with two plasma guns
- Command section
Background
My second game against Jamie. My first was against his Crimson Fists but this time I was facing his Imperial Guard, heavily converted to resemble the Blood Pact from the Gaunts Ghosts books. He has a number of stunning conversions in the army including stalk tanks built from beefed up predator turrets with defiler legs and under slung autocannon.
Other vehicles are his stripped down Leman Russ with all of the track mechanisms exposed, and his chimera which has loyalist guardsmen nailed to the hull to simulate extra armour! His command section is festooned with all kinds of banners and decoration, and all of his guardsmen use the helmet with mouthpiece from the Cadian sprue. All in all a very sweet army, but me being Daemonhunters it was my duty to blow them into oblivion.
Terrain and deployment
Surprise, surprise we were on the Cityfight table and I ended up with the deployment zone littered with buildings. Partly due to time constraints, partly to keep clear lines of sight and partly due to inexperience with ordnance I set up my firebase centrally, models close to each other. Worried about the Leman Russ I placed squad Godirtho on my right (with their meltaguns) accompanied by the Eversor assassin (and his melta-bombs).
The game
Despite the Emperor's Tarot (that forced us to re-roll for first turn twice) Jamie got to go first. He stunned the chimera, preventing it from moving or firing in my turn and his ordnance and mortars blew great holes in my guardsmen in the centre. In return I decimated his stormtroopers with Inquisitor Kurven and retinue, and took out a stalk tank.
His second turn saw my Chimera stunned again, and more guardsmen going down to Mike's blast weapons. My deployment in the centre was looking decidedly poor. With little left to hit back with I wiped out the stormtroopers and knocked the autocannon off the last stalk tank.
Jamie's Russ now lined up part of Inquisitor Kurven's retinue and killed the sages and mystic. The Mortars took out more guardsmen and his advancing chimera added to the carnage. His weaponless stalk tank rushed forward and impacted my chimera in the side, rolled two sixes to penetrate the armour then a further six to blow the vehicle sky-high. The resultant wave of fire further thinned my guard and storm trooper squads in the centre.
Now my Daemonhost appeared, right in the centre of the Blood Pact guardsmen. Unfortunately I rolled an unusable power so he would have to survive the turn before he could act. Squad Godirtho broke cover to get the Leman Russ in their sights and would be able to get shots in against it's side armour next turn, and with a bit of luck my assassin could get a charge in if necessary.
This turn marked my nadir in the game. The Daemonhost went down to a couple of autocannon shots and lasgun fire from the armoured fist squad (oh, the shame). The Leman Russ swivelled and killed every stormtrooper with a direct hit. Even the mortars hit Inquisitor Kurven's squad and took them below half strength. And to add insult to injury I took out the stalk tank with plasma gun fire, it exploded in a fireball with a 5" radius and took out more of my Guardsmen.
Things looked up when the Eversor assassin contacted the Russ and blew it to smithereens with a melta-bomb. Next turn he could target the mortars and then maybe sweep to the left and get into some Pact guardsmen. Kurven and co killed the entire Blood Pact Command section in just one turn of shooting.
In the centre the remnants of squad Matoso, survivors of the armoured fist squad and the two men left in my command squad, all sprinted forward toward the Blood Pact deployment zone. I was hoping to catch Jamie off-guard here and pull out an unlikely win. He had brought his chimera back to deal with the Daemonhost and his two infantry squads were still in his deployment zone on my left. If the Eversor could cause some carnage, I could get some survivors of my squads into the enemy deployment zone for bonus victory points, and if Kurven could take out the chimera to deny points to Jamie, I might have a chance yet.
The Eversor did his thing, wiping out the mortars but Jamie had pulled his infantry away and I rolled poorly for the sweeping advance. Game over for the Eversor. My three squads in the centre all made it over the board into the deployment zone and gained 300 points between them. Mainly this was because the Blood Pact were moving and not shooting. His chimera hit my deployment zone and dropped off the fist squad, and despite Kurven's best efforts they were still there at the end of the game. That gave the Pact 400 points and the win.
Result: Loss
Learning points
- Never take a single vehicle in an army. My chimera was targeted by every heavy weapon on the board and subsequently achieved nothing in the game. Either have multiple vehicles or none at all.
- I was caught off-guard by the ordnance again. To be fair it was partly due to time (it was far easier to set up in the small patch of open ground than to begin perching models in amongst the buildings), but Jamie had also set up the Russ in a ruined building so I thought his lines of sight would be more restricted than they were.
- The Leman Russ in itself was always going to be a problem for my army. I just don't have the long range punch to take out tough targets. Armour 14 from the front was just too much for my Daemonhunters.
- We agreed on a re-match when my Imperial Guard are finished. I'll get you then Blood Pact!
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