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catalyst22000 point game against Ari's Daemon Hunters. Mission was Seize Ground with 3 objectives, deploying as Spearhead. First time I have faced a Land Raider and that thing dealt it all over the place all game. Fortunately, there was a lot of cover so plenty of saves which served me well. It was also my first game with a Whirlwind and the old Pie Plate o' Doom dealt it out very nicely, as did the Predator - the TL lascannon missed every shot, the sponsons landing almost every shot, leading me to threaten to "accidentally" leave the turret behind next time!
The game was very close for three turns and then his Grey Knight Terminators stared tearing my left wing apart just as my Whirlwind/predator combo started tearing his left wing apart. Result? I held one objective (by one inch!), he held one objective (very easily) and third one was contested. Kill points were 4 - 3 to me so I won. WOOHOO!
Things I learned:
1) cover is still my friend
2) bikes can be good but I have to stop getting them bottle-necked early in the game. Even though they were effective here, slowing his left wing advance to a crawl, if they had been free a turn earlier, they may have given me a second objective by shooting his unit off the contested objective
3) the Whirlwind can be very destructive - it only got off three shots in the game (we finished after turn 5) but one destroyed an entire stormtrooper squad (10? 12 figures - I can't remember), massacred 8 in another squad and then hit his Grey Knights holding his objective, with only 2 of the 7 surviving
4) the Predator can be good - I just have to pick my targets better. It took a Chimaera out first turn with a penetrating hit that exploded the vehicle, immobilised his second Chimaera in turn two and then blew that one up in turn three. It then took out two Grey Knight terminators in turn five
5) I am getting the hang of the Razorback/combat squad combo and it is proving very effective. I even ran one of the Razorbacks directly in front of his Land Raider so that it had to stop - impassible terrain either side of it meant that the LR couldn't risk an unsuccessful ramming because the passengers would have got stuck inside with no way out. It also meant that his Terminators had to disembark and walk a turn earlier. Given the damage they caused any way, that was probably the key strategic thing I did in the whole game!
Overall, I enjoyed this game - under tremendous pressure, I stuck with my game plan and pulled off a victory, albeit by the narrowest of margins. Thanks for the game, Ari!
My W-L-D record is now 6-3-0. Another "WOOHOO!" is in order I believe!
