The Imperiad Grand Tournament: Game 5

My last game was a Maelstrom of War Spoils of War mission using Dawn of War deployment. My opponent was Eldar, and he was using:

Farseer on Jetbike w/ singing spear

6 Jetbikes w/ 2 Shuriken Cannons

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent w/ twin-linked scatter laser

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent w/ twin-linked scatter laser

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent w/ twin-linked scatter laser

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent w/ twin-linked scatter laser

10 Warp Spiders

10 Warp Spiders

Wraithknight w/ suncannon



We both deployed across our whole deployment zones to maximize our chances to jump on any objectives that we need to.

My deployment from the right.

My deployment from the left.

The game had a really odd feel to it. The Warp Spiders charged forward on the left while the Wraithknight charged forward on the left. The Wave Serpents stayed back and shot. My Command squad charged forward, not at the Wraithknight but at an objective that I needed. The two passed each other, with the Command Squad futilely chasing the Wave Serpents and the Wraithknight killing my Tactical Marines and most of the Devastators on the right.

The Command squad earns a victory point by moving right past the Wraithknight.

Who moves right past the Command squad to menace my Tactical Marines.

The Warp Spiders and Jetbikes with Farseer surged forward and wiped out my Devastators on the left. They took a horrific amount of retribution, with only 2 Warp Spiders from each squad surviving to fall back. The Tactical Squads tied up the Jetbikes in assault.

The surviving Warp Spiders teleport away after enduring massive bolter fire.

The Crimson Hunter and Wave Serpents make short work of my Stormtalons.

The falling back Warp Spiders run into the path of my Command squad, who have thus far been denied assault. One squad is gunned down while the Command squad butchers the other.

The Command squad charge up the temple to finish off the Aspect Warriors.

 At this point, the Jetbikes broke from combat with the Tactical Marines and fell back into range of my Command squad, who charged them immediately.

The Command squad charges toward the Jetbikes. Note the Wave Serpents hiding in the corner.

Captain Amalric claims the head of the alien leader.

Things weren't all rosy for the Executioners. The Wraithknight and Crimson Hunter were rampaging through my backlines, killing off my Tactical marines and Thunderfire cannons. My Command squad and Tactical marines with meltas finally corner the Wave Serpents, just as the game ends.

I am denied vengeance on the Eldar tanks.

I have to mention the lone survivor in my backline. One Devastator with a lascannon survived on my right flank, being passed over by the rampaging Wraithknight. He exchanged fire with a Wave Serpent for the rest of the game, doing two hull points of damage to it while refusing to fall to its relentless firepower.

Never underestimate a Devastator in a fortified ruin.

When we tallied the score, we both had 6 maelstrom objective points and Linebreaker. My opponent had First Blood but I had Slay the Warlord, so it was a draw. I was very pleased to not have lost all of my games, and this was a very tough opponent. It turned out that he hadn't lost all of his games like I had. He was in the middle of the pack, but there had been a problem with the pairings so the TO had paired me against him, assuming that I wouldn't mind a tougher opponent. We both agreed that it had ended up being a great game.

Lessons Learned:

1) Eldar are tough, no doubt about it. Wave Serpents, Wraithknights, and Warp Spiders are good, but that's no news to anyone.

2) The Crimson Hunter was really impressive. I know no one takes it because it is super fragile, but it has mobility and firepower to make up for it. Vector Dancer allows it to line up shots on any target, removing the standard limitations of flyers. I tried to bring my flyers on second to shoot it down, but it didn't come on Turn 2 and both of my Stormtalons did. It's hard to evade 4 BS5 S8 shots that re-roll armor penetration.

3) Many of the other players in the tournament mentioned that their games were determined by who drew better objectives. More importantly, it favored very mobile armies. In our case, we drew pretty even objectives and both of our armies were quite mobile, which made for a very even game. I think the TO made a good decision in using Spoils of War, since both players could score any objective cards that had been drawn. This reduced the chances of one player drawing significantly better cards than the other.