So Sundays game came and went and the mood over all was good. But shocker of shockers the game ended in a draw, so stay tuned for next weeks installment covering the sudden death bout to finish the tourney. Moving right along with the here and now, the game lasted well into the evening (we started at 12pm and ended around 8pm) and we saw a few changes in the roster due to a last minute withdraw by Heavy D. So I became a judge and D and his Eldar allied with with new comer Derek and his Blood Angels while Dan and Mike played there combined Imperial list. The lines where drawn and the Titans prepped, so here is the mostly complete account of what went down.
Turn one see's a stunted deployment of armor (mostly Dan's and turn one for the most part didn't happen) A battery of basilisks and a stormlord and Baneblade make for some menacing if not vulnerable targets for D's Phantoms. The guard make a play to lock out an objective early on and provide a minor threat towards the towering Eldar war machines by deploying a harasser squad of scout sentinels with auto cannons right on the Eldars doorstep forcing them to prioritize there targets rather then target the larger more valuable armor and Basilisk formation. The guard made a effort to blast away a structure point or two from the Eldars titans but to no avail. Now you may notice a growing line of guardians snaking along The Eldar deployment zone, this was actually part of a clever play devised by D to thwart any pesky out flanking maneuvers on his side of the board and as far as I know it worked. The top of turn two finds the Eldar making a good show of scrapping the guards forward armored push by almost immediately scrapping Dan's stormlord (which for some reason he left completely empty) and blasting apart a handful of sentinels. The remaining IG forces are forced back out of no mans land and the area becomes a neutral zone yet again.
Here we see the bottom of turn two, Dan un swayed by the loss of his sentinels pushes forward into no mans land yet again with his Demolisher's. But the real show stopper this turn was the massed artillery barrage that almost completely crippled one of the Phantoms leaving it immobile with only one functioning weapon and one less structure point.
The top of turn three and the Blood Angels make their move deploying deep into the guards rear lines, deep striking a dreadnought and land raider almost right on top of the guard. The BA are not able to scrap any guard armor but they remain a menacing threat against the guard well into the next turn, in the same turn the Blood Angels deploy Dante with a full compliment of Sanguinary guard into the objective point in no mans land effectively tipping the balance into the Eldars favor. The biggest hit from the Eldar came as expected from the titans as the phantoms opened up on the Reaver shredding it down to one structure point but otherwise leaving it operational. Turn three ends with the Eldar and Blood Angels taking the lead, holding both objective points in no mans land.
Above we see the Sanguinary guard holding the central objective point while the BA termies deep strike using the locator beacon in the dreds drop pod to strike deep at the guards rear flank.
The bottom of turn three and the Guard are in full deployment bringing everything out of strategic reserve and making a rather good show of it as well. here we see the massed ranks of armor preparing for their forward push. Right now I myself was enjoying wing stop so you'll forgive me if the details are a bit sparse on the first wave of attacks. Starting in short order the guard opened up with the Baneblade crippling the Phantom further and taking off a few structure points for their trouble, then the Reaver and shadow sword unleashed a fusillade further damaging the phantom leaving it for all intensive purposes dead in place. This turn the terminators would also suffer the wrath of the Guards guns suffering the loss of near half there force and the destruction of the Land Raider and Dreadnought. The guard also make a push to secure their own objective points, but fall just short. Turn three ends with the Eldar and BA still in the lead holding both Objectives.
The Eldar sweep the remaining Imperial forces from no mans land and leave the reaver a ticking time bomb on the Imperials side while shredding a few structure points from the guards super heavies and leaving the baneblades main gun destroyed. The bottom of turn four and the guard manage to seize an objective, though still lagging behind they manage to level out the score slightly. In the top of turn four the Blood Angels termies made an attempt to engage the guards Basilisks sitting at the rear but due to some bad rolls they only managed to scratch the paint a bit.
Above we see Dan just after deploying his strategic asset, re deploying the now unstable Reaver right at the Eldars feet, unable to move or shoot but offering the menacing prospect of an apocalyptic explosion should the final blow be a powerful one. After re deploying the Reaver the Guard resume bombarding the one already crippled Phantom, this time the graceful giant was destroyed and removed from play. Meanwhile the formation of Valkyrie drop ships speed towards the center objective in a desperate bid to contest the most valuable bit of property in the game. Turn 4 ends with the guard having removed one of the titans and moving to take a second objective, effectively tieing the game.
Turn Five See's the Valkyrie formation hammered by D cannons and blown apart leaving the storm troopers inside out in the open a mere stones throw from the objective (freshman Tom assists with the game after Dan had to duck out) The Eldar also land a misplaced shot on one of the guards buildings, the D strength blast destroys the building entirely and its occupants dropping the Guard back into second place. The Reaver still stands as the Eldar side did not wish to risk a meltdown.
So this is where my side of the story comes to an end, the bottom of turn 5 and the guard roll out in a desperate push for supremacy doing there best to turn the tide (though to be honest the guard seemed to be making up a fair bit of the tide already) The center objective is blasted out of existence by a well placed Shadowsword blast over the Sanguinary guard, removing both Dante and the rest of his squad along with the building. The Reaver is now fully mobile and unleashes a hail of fire on the warlock stripping away two structure points and a shoulder weapon. At this point the Eldar are in the lead holding one of the two remaining objectives. Turn six rolls around and the Warlock destroys the Reaver, but in the process causes a reactor meltdown that causes both the eldar guardians and the building they where holding to be blasted out of existence, this effectively tied the game since neither side had any troops with in range of an objective.
So next Sunday the game resumes, with new terrain configuration and new lists to decide who will be entered into the hall of Legends (other wise known as the cool little plaque I am going to have made) So stay tuned this week, both for Bay Hammer Radio and to see who will win.
I would like to thank
Legends Comics And Games in Cupertino for hosting this event, and all those who worked to make this happen, but above all I would like to thank the players, without you guys this never would have happend.
Also Congrats to the winners of the Stormwardens charity Raffle, and a special salute to everyone involved with the project.
Cheers
Scott
BH Senior Editor