Salzburger Schlachthaus 2011 [part 3]

Welcome to part 3 of my tournament report. The first three matches lead me into the finals and I was looking forward to the match afterall it was cleat that I would meet selfproclaimed Mr.40k Austria himself on the field of battle.

After counting two and tow together it became obvious that the near draw in match tow had cost me the lead and that meant I had to win this game. Worse still Fabian was fielding his Guard army which was designed to sit back and shoot everything foolish enough to step out into the open. On top pf that came the fact that I painted his army on comission (yome might remember these posts)so I couldn't even hope to win the torunament with the painting score. Darn- this meant either play for draw which was totally possible the way the mission was designed or get up close and personal and let the powerfists do the talking. I went for option two (who would have guessed?).  

BANZAI!

Fourth match against Imperial Guard.
1 x Amry command with Meltas in Chimeras
1 x 8 loonatic magicians
3 x 10 Veterans with Meltas in Chimeras
1 x Platton Command
2 x 10 Guardsman with Comissar
2 x 1 Vendetta
1 x 3 Hydras
2 x 1 Manticore

Mission: Take center of table (12" diameter)
First turn: HIM

The table was a city fight terran with a lot of sight blockers wich was good and bad for me at the same time. On the one side, I could approach with myterminators easily to get the tanks into close combat. On the other side I wouldn't be able to get easy shots at his artillery and at short range I was seriously outgunned.As lucky as I was in the previous games- this time I would not start the battle and so I prepared to dodge a lot of bullets and so I started with a little prayer to the agry emperor.

It was dawn of war deployment and he set up vrey broad over his edge keeping the infantry at the center flanked by Vendettas on the one side and Hyras on the other. I decided to focus on one corner and bring everything on from there to reduce his firepower with firing angels and picked the left corner.

Since it was still nightfight I only spotted one Vendetta and could only shake it and after that things got ugly. Long story short: In his second turn the sun rises and all his guns open fire. I loose many of my terminators, one Land speeder and my predators get stunned. At least my terminators pass their saves and charge headstrong (Templar rules). Again I cannot overlook the advantage infantry has over vehicles when it comes to survivability when I finally return fire it is only the cyclones and the lascannons of the paladins that do any damage because everything else is asleep. I kill one Hydra, down a Vendetta, destroy the launcher of one Manticore- laughable.

By now I know that my only way to defeat him will be to get into close combat fast and that it will take a serious beating to get there. I boost my last surviving speeder into his deployment zone for some distraction and continue my approach with the heavy infantry while my paladins exchange shots with his tanks. Another weakpoint of the Templar codex is revealed when his psychic korps starts their witchcraft. I test after even loosing a single model and on leadership thats some roll- ouch.

In turn five I make it into the center of his army and start killing stuff efectively but as always with guard you kill 20- 20 more show up! It is getting close when he runs out of troop choices and I run away from his psykers. As the game ends in turn five I cannot even benefit from the "and they shall know no fear rule" and give up points for the full terminator unit because they are still fleeing. As I always try to play on the safe side, I have still got a unit contesting the area but with a draw on the objective and the losses I suffer the game ends with a maginal victory for the Imperial Guard.

It was a game in good spirit and I had a lot of fun thanks to Fabian who is alwyas trying to cover up his sneaky cheat ambitions with a lot of humor and doens't take it badly when caught. ;)

Result: 9:11

I choose the side with less dakka for entering the frey and am hoping for some lucky shots in turn 1

After trading one round of blows I already  miss 4 terminators one speeder and the other speeders cyclone launcher.

The weapon destroyed speeder rushes forward to flank the guard army and starts a Heavy Bolter duel with a manticore (also suffering weapon destroyed) and looses it after three turns :(

6 Terminators survive the shooting and finally clash into the Guard army tearing down the command squad first (try to find the Army commander in the picture)

Then they batter into the center of the table exploding to more Chimeras and charging the passengers. Riddik seizes initiative and also charges in.

The veterans prove their worth when they unload an unholy amount of lasfire into the terminators and spare their Melta shots for Riddik (never to be seen again that day). The paladins do their best but can only save the draw.. that makes them angry.

At the end of the line I can say that I really had a pleasant day and congratulate Fabian to his well deserved 1st place. I myself went home with 3rd overall and new friends. I hope to go there again next year or even sooner.  Enjoy the video I took in the evening hours which shows the ambiente really well!