Game 1 of the Warhammer World Battle Brothers Tournament. Gav and I were representing Claws and Fists and given the amount of play-testing we'd gone through, and my recent experiences on the tournament scene in 6th Ed. expectations were low.
Our first game was against a couple of friendly chaps playing a BA and IG list that looked something like this:
BA Captain w. Jump Pack, Infernus Pistol & Thunder Hammer
Assault Squad x5 with Flamer & 2x Hand Flamer
Death Company x10 Thunder Hammer, Power Fist 2x Infernus Pistols, Drop Pod
Death Company Dread with Blood Talons.
Baal Predator w. Flamestorm and Heavy Flamer
Storm Raven w. Plasma Cannon & Multi-Melta
Lord Commissar w. Powerfist
Marbo
Infantry Platoon
PCS w. Plasma Gun & Plasma Pistol
20x Guardsmen w 2x Autocannon
Aegis Defense Line w. Quad-Gun
The mission was Purge the Alien with Hammer and Anvil deployment.
We got first turn and struck a decisive blow by dropping then Sternguard with Lysander I. Front of the Blob in the Aegis and a Tac Squad in front of the 5 man Assault squad. The combined power of the Sternies and the TFC wiped out the Blob squad and the Tac squad took the Assault Squad down to a single Flamer guy. This really did cripple them early on and gave us the momentum.
 |
| Bottom of Turn 1 - Movement Phase |
In return they dropped their Death Company behind our lines to take out the scouts but only succeeded in killing 4, the PCS moved up to control the Quad gun and The Lord Commissar and BA Captain charged Lysander's unit. The Commissar challenged Lysander leaving the Captain free to whittle down the Sternguard, killing 2 or 3, while Lysander squished the Commissar.
Turn. 2 saw the Libby dropping down with the Melta Tac Squad to take on the Death Company. A successful enfeeble, a volley of bolster fire and a charge from the Terminators reduced their numbers to 3, The Thunderfire Cannon wiped out the PCS, the Flamer Assault Marine was cut down by Overwatch fire and Lysander squished the BA Captain. Good stuff so far!
The Baal arrived on the right side of the board to toast the Librarian's squad leaving the Libby and 3 marines standing. In the Assault phase the Assault Terminators finished off the Death Company. The Storm Raven had also showed up this turn and destroyed the TFC leaving the Techmarine free to run about.
Their interest piqued by the warm greeting given by the Baal, the Librarian's Squad and the Assault Terminators made quick work of it in their Assault phase. Seizing the opponent's Quad gun we reduced the Storm Raven's HP to 1 and took off the Plasma Cannon.
Marbo had been waiting quietly for the perfect moment and now he took his chance and his demo charge took the Plasma Tac Squad down to a single man and killed a couple of Sternies for good measure. Obviously cheered by that result the DC Dread charged and began blending his way through the Sternies.
Turn 4 was, however, the end, Lysander got to grips with the Furioso and smashed him, one Quad Gun finished off the Storm Raven and the other took out Marbo.
Final result 14-3
A really solid win to start the day off with and really not representative of how close the game was. It was a toe-to-toe blood-bath, the difference was that our opponents just couldn't quite apply enough force to completely kill of squads in a single turn, allowing us to regroup, protect the remnants and deny the VP. At the end of the game, the Scout Squad and a Tac Squad were down a single model each, the Termies were down to three models and the other Tac Squad was down by about half.
Really enjoyable game against really fun opponents!