Escalation League: Month 2 Results

So last week our league had it's second meeting at 500pts. I was up late Friday night finishing up the paint on my Librarian, only to realize afterward that Monster Rain had walked off with my Super Glue after that night's practice games. So I had all my painting done but none of my guys had their jump packs glued on. Not to worry though, I left home early Saturday morning and picked up some glue on the way to the FLGS.
Lowe's FTW!!!


Just as a refresher, the list I took was as follows:

JP Librarian w/ Plasma Pistol, Unleash Rage & Blood Lance

JP Priest w/ Plasma Pistol & Melta Bombs

     

I take no credit for the Priest/Chaplain... 

that model was painted by Granesh @ SLW

The weather was so bad leading up to league that I could not get mine primed..

10x  JP Assault Squad 

(1x Plasmagun, 1x Flamer, Sgt w/ Power Fist & Plasma Pistol)

 

The 3 games to be played were:

Game 1:  Pitched Battle, Capture & Control
Game 2:  Dawn of War, Seize Ground
Game 3:  Pitched Battle, Annihilation

I ended up playing Game 1's scenario versus 2 different opponents because we had one league member show up late and miss his first game. So I intentionally did not play the second scenario, then played the third scenario as my 2nd game, and the 1st scenario as my 3rd game, against the player that showed late. *Phew* now that that's out of the way... lets get to the games...

Game 1 vs Codex Space Marines

His list was:

Master of the Forge, 

5x Scouts - 4x Sniper Rifles, 1x Missile Launcher

T/L Dual-Auto Dread

T/L Laz & M/M Dread

He deploys the MotF and the Scouts on top of his objective behind some impassable terrain with one Dread about 6" away from them and the other Dread about 12" away from the first Dread across his table edge.

I keep everything off of the table to deep strike in later. I place my objective in some ruins on my own table edge. 

This is how close the game was to disaster

When my Squad finally comes in, I combat squad the Assault Squad and drop the Libby, Priest, Sgt, Flamer, Plasmagun, & 2 Meatshields in the 6" gap between his objective and the table edge. It's hard to see in the picture but I'm about an inch and a half away from misshaping. After that almost fiasco, I deep strike my other combat squad *near* my objective but out in the open so no mishap is possible, then I run them onto my base.

I punish that Scout Squad with all my Plasma/Flamer death and kill one lowly Scout. I overheat with the Librarian and the Sgt but no one dies. The MotF and Scouts assault me in the next turn and I kill them all off with the "Rage Unleashed." My opponent can't win at this point, and can only tie if I get tabled by his 2 Dreads. With some hope remaining for him, we play on.

In my next turn I attempt to kill the close Dread but fail and end up getting assaulted by it. After a couple rounds of combat, I finally get a lucky strike with the Priest's Meltabombs and blow up the Dread. I forget what happens to the other, farther away Dread, I think I may have "Lanced" it to death, though I can't quite remember. The game ends and it's a win for the Angels.

Game 2 (Scenario 3) vs Craftword Eldar

Farseer w/ Guide (Played as the Banshee Exarch in the Pics)

10x Dire Avengers & Exarch in Wave Serpent

3x Guardian Jetbikes

War Walker Squadron (2 Models) w/ Scatter Lasers

Another Pitched Battle game, I reserve everything again to deep strike onto the board in later turns for 2 reasons; firstly, to save my models from his excessively shooty army, and secondly, to hope that he spreads his army out so that I can attack it piece meal. As it turns out neither one works out for me.

During his "free" turns my opponent pushes forward with the Farseer & Walkers with the Jetbikes close by and the Wave Serpent in the rear. They are all close enough together to support each other so my second reason goes out the window AND my squad comes in early, now I have to suffer through at least 3 full turns of shooting from all of the Xenos weaponry. 

I combat squad again focusing my plasma death squad on the War Walkers and the 5-Man Flamer Squad on the Jetbikes. I destroy one War Walker and one Jetbike. In my opponent's turn, hell is unleashed, including the "Bladestorming" Avengers. I suffer the shooting really well as my FnP saves were on fire. I take a few wounds here and there but not enough that I don't think I can handle the Eldar in assault.

In the following turns, my Flamer Squad gets into the Jetbikes and I get a lucky *Blood Lance* and immobilize the 2nd Walker and insta-kill the Farseer when he fails his save. Later on, my Priest commits suicide by "overheating" plasma (The 2nd time in 5 games, I might add) so I give up the easy kill point there. My Libby goes down to Wave Serpent weaponry later on but I finally get the Sgt Squad into his Dire Avengers and kill them off. In the end, all he has left is the Serpent. It's a very close game, but I win 4-3.

Game 3 (Scenario 1) vs Dark Eldar (Sorry, No Pics of this one)

His List:

Hemoculi (Sp?)

10x Warriors w/ Dark Lance

10x Warriors w/ Dark Lance in a Raider

3x Trueborn (2 w/ Dark Lances)

3x Trueborn (2 w/ Dark Lances)

What is that, seven Dark Lances @ 500pts... Yeah, that's gross! :)

I end up with the top turns and again reserve everything. The Hemoculi, 10 Foot Warriors, & 1 Squad of Trueborn camp on or very near his Objective. I place my objective in a forest deep in my deployment zone diagonal from his objective. I once again reserve everything so as not to eat Dark Lance & Poison fire for the entire game. During his "free" turns the Raider zooms all over, eventually settling near mid-board while one Squad of Trueborn push up my right flank, though it's the opposite side of where my objective is.

As it turns out, I don't get my guys in until T3. I fail the reserve roll in T2 and choose not to re-roll it. :)

I combat squad them again with all the I/C's and Plasma in one squad and the Flamer with 4 regular dudes in the other. The Raider with the warriors is still hanging mid board so I deep strike the Libby Squad to the rear of it and the Flamer Squad as close to it as I dare.

You can guess what comes next, I *Lance* the Raider into oblivion and shoot the Flamer over the survivors.  Unfortunately, there are still a lot of Warriors remaining so I lose a few guys to his following shooting phase. I have enough guys left to make my following assault painful as I wipe the remaining Warriors but I suffer some loses up front. Damn Eldar and their I5!!... I have only the Plasmagunner from the Death Squad remaining w/ the Libby & Priest and 4 dudes from the Flamer Squad. The Flamer took one of the initial Dark Lance hits. I roll a huge consolidation and get out of the Raiders crater.

In the following turns, the Plasmagunner makes a run for my home objective but eventually gets gunned down by Dark Lance fire while my 4-Man Squad with Libby and Priest make a run for my opponent's objective, all the while eating poison shots and Dark Lances by the boatload. I do FINALLY get into his Hemoculi & Foot Warrior Squad with only a wounded Libby and 2 or 3 regular Dudes. The Priest went down earlier from poison fire. As it turns out, a *raging* Librarian with 1 other Space Marine is enough to break the Warrior Squad and they run off the table. In my opponent's defense, he forgot (until later in the night) that they had FnP from the Hemoculi, and I did as well... Oops, I bet he doesn't forget that again :).... I've made that mistake plenty of times...

Fortunately, the game ends in 5 with my 1 lone Troop model standing on his objective with my wounded Libby close by. There isn't a DE model within 24" of my objective so I get the win.

3 Wins on the day with no defeats catapults me back near the top of the standings. I believe Dawson and I are currently tied for 2nd with Monster Rain at the Top (He also went 3-0 on the day). On the day, all of my opponents were fantastic and the games were awesome, with 2 out of 3 coming down to the last few dice rolls. Those are always the best games, aren't they??!!

So our 2 rounds at 500pts has come to an end. 

At 1000pts, I'm looking to add only Death Company models...

Until Next Time, Keep Rolling....  Average :)

Snake Eyes