GamesHub League 2022 - Game 3

 Round 3 of the GamesHub 40K league was against one of my co-workers, a young man named Chris and his Ultramarines. I need to preface this to say that Chris can be hard work. He tries too hard and doesn't really pay attention what's going on. I've played him a couple times and I've annihilated him every time and I'm not a good player. He gets fixated on things and this league was no different. He made poor choices in his list, his deployment and his tactics. Part of me felt bad because I knew this was a game I was going to win, one way or another.

List building was quite simple. Patrol detachment with the basics I needed to grab objectives. Knowing that Chris is focused on his gladiator tank I had to take something to handle it, so I kept points aside to take both a redemptor and a regular dreadnought. That way they could bring the tank down (if he took it) and handle his troop options. In the end he brought the gladiator and a redemptor himself. I made the right choice I think.

The table was set up by someone else ready but they placed three large ruins in a sort of V formation and little else in the way of terrain. I like terrain and this could have done with a little more. Even so, I got to pick deployment zone so I made a decision that I would take the side with two ruins and leave Chris to deploy in the open or funnel everything into that one piece of terrain. It left me deployed somewhat in the open, but as I combat squaded my troops I felt confident enough. But that's when fate interfered. Chris won the roll to go first which I really didn't want.

However, getting ahead of myself, it was during his deployment that Chris made his first mistake. For some reason which even he couldn't answer, he had taken a phobos librarian with temporal corridor (no actual phobos units to use it on) and deployed him forwards onto the middle of the table where he could do psychic ritual. Completely forgetting that he was beyond the range of his ability to prevent me shooting him. Part of me wanted to point this out but it was a league game so I kept quiet.

On his first turn, Chris poured fire into my dreadnoughts taking a good few wounds off of both. He barely did anything towards my intercessors which would prove his undoing. On my turn focused on the redemptor mainly and almost brought it down. My chapter master fired at the phobos libarian and for some reason Chris activated his relic armour which gave him a 3+ invulnerable save for the shooting phase. This time I did query if that was really what he wanted to do and he said yes. He failed the invulnerable save and then my chapter master charged him and killed him out right. Oh yes, and Chris forgot to do his physic ritual on his turn which was the point of having him there in the first place. 

Then things got awkward. Another player, whose game had been cancelled, started coaching Chris on what to do and how to do it. I did point out that this was a league game and maybe that's better kept for the end of the match but he kept going. I was getting a bit frustrated to be honest but I'd said my piece. Following the advice, Chris started winning points. He took down my dreadnoughts and a few of my marines. For a couple turns he was winning quite nicely.

At this point in the game I was focussing my firepower into his troop choices and basically removing his ability to hold the objectives while using obsec to take charge of the ones he was sitting on. Chris made another mistake in how he used his bladeguard veterans. Instead of being bodyguards for the warlord, he placed them on his right flank and used them to hold an objective. I basically let them alone for a good part of the game because they were being wasted. Towards the end I made a push to retake and claim the objectives and it worked. Mistakes in list and in tactics cost him the game. At one point it did look like he might win and he was getting a bit excited but I knew the game was mine. Last turn of the game and Chris has his three bladeguard and the gladiator left, while I still had most of my army intact.

It was a good game and we both enjoyed it. The other player did message later in the evening to apologise for directing him but I can understand the desire to help him out as he was doing so badly in the league so far. I said it was cool but next time wait until after the match before coaching. I won but not by a huge margin but where it counted. It was very much a game of the primaries but I'd say his mistakes gave me my secondaries to push the points up. I wish him luck in the rest of the league but I have a feeling he'll come last unless he starts to really learn his codex and army. Meanwhile I don't think I will achieve my goal of being top 50% by the end of the league. I'm just not having the luck that I need. But we shall see. 

This match was played slightly early due Chris and I not having good crossover with our shifts at work so it'll be a couple weeks until I find out who I have in round 4. Wish me luck.

My list:

+ HQ +

Primaris Chapter Master [7 PL, 145pts]: Chapter Command:  Chapter Master, Frag & Krak grenades, Master of the Codex, The Burning Blade, Warlord

. Heavy bolt pistol, Master-crafted power sword and Relic shield.

+ Troops +

Intercessor Squad [10 PL, 205pts]: Bolt rifle

. 9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

. Intercessor Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad [10 PL, 205pts]: Bolt rifle

. 9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

. Intercessor Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad [5 PL, 105pts]: Bolt rifle

. 4x Intercessor: 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades

. Intercessor Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

+ Elites +

Redemptor Dreadnought [9 PL, 180pts]: 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, Heavy flamer, Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Redemptor Fist

Venerable Dreadnought [8 PL, 155pts]: Missile launcher, Twin lascannon

++ Total: [49 PL, 6CP, 995pts] ++

GamesHub League 2022 - Game 2

 Last night I played my second round of the GamesHub 40K league. I was wrong last time when I said that my opponent for this round was playing Drukhari. He was in fact playing Craftworld Aeldari (custom Craftworld), and the grey models confused me. Even so that made my predicament worse. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with either of those armies in 40K. They both outfight, outshoot and outmanoeuvre me as space marines. The only saving grace I guess is that at 1000 points on the smaller board, they can't fly around all that much.

List building was a nightmare. I just could not work out a list that I was happy with. I knew that I would have to go heavy on the troop choices and as much as I hate it, combat squad them in order to hold objectives and prevent my units from being overrun all at once. I opted for a small squad of hellblasters as I figured they might be good for anti-infantry and possibly an option for the jetbikes and skimmers that I would be facing. A friend talked me into a redemptor dreadnought even though I feared it would be a fire magnet for all those eldritch heavy weapons I knew my opponent must be taking.

Table set up hurt me a little bit as it hindered my avenues of fire but it balanced out as the Aeldari suffered just as much, or so I thought. We rolled our mission and ended up with Divide and Conqour, a mission that I had not played before which was nice. My opponent got the first turn and I knew I was in trouble. I needed that first turn but it was not to be.

While I remember, my secondary objectives were Domination, Lines of Demarcation and Oaths of Moment. I don't normally bother with the mission specific ones but this time and on a small table Lines of Demarcation seemed like a reasonable one to try.

Oh boy. First turn and I lost nearly half my army to the Aeldari shooting. So much for the terrain hindering him first turn. It really did feel like I was just picking models up off the table and that was my game for the night. On my turn I was forced to run like Hell to try and grab the objectives left and right of the table centre but bad rolls and a crater slowed my movement down and I failed to reach them. The Aeldari would subsequently get to them first and just gun me down under massed fire.

There wasn't much more to this game. He was much faster than me, and through good use of psychic powers, stripped my marines to the bone in three turns. I didn't even get a turn 3. That's how much of a stomping I took. My army was tabled and he lost two dire avengers and a war walker. If it wasn't for the fact that Rich is an awesome opponent, and our games are played with the right banter and fun approach, this could have been a bad bad evening. I went in knowing that this was not going to be my game and I was right.

Due to potential issues in arranging a match, I am playing my third round early - tonight in fact - and it may be my time to win a game if the dice are willing. Keep your fingers, toes and xenos appendages crossed for me.

My opponent was Rich from SprayBlack Studios over on Youtube. I recommend checking his channel out.

This is the list I went with. Wasn't happy with it really even before the game but it was worth trying out.

++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Imperial Fists) [55 PL, 12CP, 973pts] ++

+ HQ +

Primaris Chaplain [5 PL, 85pts]: 2. Catechism of Fire, Absolver Bolt pistol, Crozius arcanum, Frag & Krak grenades, Iron Resolve, Litany of Hate, Purgatorus, Warlord

+ Troops +

Assault Intercessor Squad [5 PL, 100pts]

. 4x Assault Intercessor: 4x Astartes Chainsword, 4x Frag & Krak grenades, 4x Heavy Bolt Pistol

. Assault Intercessor Sgt: Astartes Chainsword, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad [10 PL, 205pts]: Bolt rifle

. 9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

. Intercessor Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad [10 PL, 205pts]: Bolt rifle

. 9x Intercessor: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades

. Intercessor Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

+ Elites +

Redemptor Dreadnought [9 PL, 180pts]: 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, Heavy flamer, Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Icarus Rocket Pod, Redemptor Fist

+ Heavy Support +

Hellblaster Squad [16 PL, 198pts]: Plasma incinerator

. 5x Hellblaster: 5x Bolt pistol, 5x Frag & Krak grenades

. Hellblaster Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades

++ Total: [55 PL, 12CP, 973pts] ++