Jolly Toys Outing Round 1 Review

Firstly, I didn't do incredibly well overall in the tournament, 2 wins and 3 losses; all the losses on the first day too. I faced Dark Eldar after my Grey Knight opponent which left me in last place (no chance against Dark Eldar) then to face an Eldrad army in spearhead quarters which had bright lance War Walkers and Pathfinders which simply ripped up my MC's. I did feel a bit bashed about as I couldn't do much against the second and third opponents though they were great guys to play I was annoyed as I felt I could have done better in the first game..... and here's why....

Turn 1

Yes, Tau are stand-in Paladins....

So the deployment was Dawn of War and mission Kill Points (have to win by 3 or more). So against a Paladin list with a Libararian, Draigo, 5 Intecepters and 4 Dreadnoughts I was looking at a very hard match-up. I gave him first turn and brought everything besides the 30 Termagaunts on first turn like so and left the gaunts as a back-up, my sneaky plan.....

The idea here was I saw him deploy in a T shape with his Paladins and Draigo (with the Libby at the rear turn 1) so I split flank: Tervigons, Hive Guard and Venom on one side; Hive Tyrant and Tyrannofexes on the other. The idea being he must go for one and be more susceptible to a devastating charge from spawned (and reserved) gaunts in the later turns as we dance about the center. I needed to hit him with my entire army in one charge or he would win easily. I also knew that the only real way to keep my big MC's alive in combat and not force weapon'ed (thank you Brotherhood Banner) was to screen with gaunts as well so only 1 Paladin could attack the valuable MC's.

This is the start of my turn 4 after much dancing and maneuvering this was the turn I attempted my charge. The orange represents the Tervigon side which was the focus of his shooting, downing both Hive Guard broods, the Venomthrope and a Tervigon luckily for him. I had only managed to kill 1 dreadnought and 1 Paladin with many wounded though. The green shows where the Hive Tyrant was desperately moving to assault and stupidly of me shoot. My biggest mistake was not running the Tyrant as my opponent managed to exclude him from combat and avoid his deathly attacks that may have swung the game.

The three gaunt squads had either been spawned or were from reserve and although there were more he cleverly made sure only about 40 could charge due to careful movement. Then quite a number died to Sanctuary or whatever power it was that made me take both difficult and dangerous terrain when assaulting; horrible.

Although my opponent was pulling of clever movement tricks I was too and here I demonstrate how I managed to attack 1 Paladin with both Tervigons leaving them alive for one more turn. I had also cast Paroxysm on the unit making them much easier to hit and myself a lot harder to hit.

All my plans went well and I eventually beat the Paladins by 3 wounds but sadly when he took his Ld 7 test he passed..... on a 7! After that the game was set as my charge had failed and all the Tyranids in that combat then died from Force Weapons and the like. Very close game hinging on one role and some very close movement, my best tactical game ever!

In the end I enjoyed it and the man (ranked 7th in Rankings HQ!!!!) said I had done very well against such a tough list and player and it had been very close. Good game sir.... til next time......