Vanquish tournament write up

[Chaplain Otho]

Vanquish is the biggest event in my local area (Bristol UK) which I have attended 4 times before.

Attendance was down this year with 30 players, which is a shame as it has been up at close to 100 a couple of years before.

 

5 games at 1750 points, missions are either Maelstrom or Eternal War, kill points as secondary objectives, painting scores count for overall placing. You also got a set of tactical objectives which are similar to the secondary objectives in the main rule book but each are worth 2 TP if completed

 

The army composition was Old skool, think late 5th ed, early 6^th ed. No LOW’s (even characters), no formations, no duplication of a HQ, 30k armies allowed, cap on warp charge, no more then 2 of the same unit.

 

 

List

Here is the list I used.

Wolf Lord; Thunderwolf Mount, Runic armour, Storm shield, (Relic) Axe of Black Death, 2 x Fenrisian Wolf

Iron Priest, Thunderwolf Mount,

5 scouts boltguns

5 Wulfen, leader with frost claws, 2 with Great Axe and Stormfang launcher, 2 with TH/SS

10 Grey Hunters, 2 melta guns, Drop pod

10 Grey Hunters, 2 melta guns, Drop pod

5 Blood Claws, Drop pod

5 Thunderwolf cavalry, Thunderwolf Cavalry Pack Leader with Stormshield, 2 Stormshields, 2 Powerfists,

Landspeeder Typhoon

Landspeeder Typhoon

Relic Whirlwind Scorpius, Battle of Keylek, (Legacy of Glory)

Total                                                                                                                                                      1,748 points

 

List Thoughts

I was originally going to run with a CAD and a Champions of Fenris detatchment but the comp counted battle brothers as allies of convenience so characters can’t join units from the other detatchment and couldn’t benefit from the warlord trait. As only the Thunderwolves would really benefit from the Champions of Fenris rules I decided that objective secured from the CAD would be more beneficial.

I had a lot of units so a kill point missionmight be a struggle but I could hide units in reserve if necessary.

 

 

Game 1

Chris with his Orks

Cleanse and Control Dawn of War deployment, Orks deploy first and go first.

Big Mek with lots of close combat weapons

Nobz mob with lots of close combat weapons

15 stormboyz with nob with powerklaw

3 x 10 man ard boyz units nob with power klaw in trukks

10 tankbustas with rokkits nob with power klaw

Battlewagon

 

 

Chris is a great guy to play great fun, and very easy going. Would happily play him every game.

Regardless of how the game went I knew I’d have at least 1 great game during the event.

 

Chris went first and advanced his trukks onto objectives whilst the Stormboy moved and ran forwards to my lines. Shooting did nothing.  My turn I advanced the Thunderwolves towards the Stormboyz and then tried to bring in my grey hunters to take down the trukks. First unit scattered into impassable terrain and went into ongoing reserves. Other squad came down and popped a trukk. Thunderwolves and Wolflord took down the Stormboyz without taking a scratch.  Turn 2 Chris’s Nobz mob, Big mek as well as an Ard boyz mob charged my Thunderwolves whilst the disembarked Ardboyz mob charged the grey hunters. Hunters took a few casualties but survived combat. Both Typhoons went down one to combat, one to shooting. Thunderwolves and WolfLord were wiped out despite taking a few nobz with them. Chris racked up a few maelstrom cards. Fortunately the scouts and grey hunters arrived from reserve. Scouts and Wulfen combined to take out an Ardboyz mob whilst grey hunters blew up a trukk. Iron Priest charged the Battlewagon and did 2hp  damage. The Whirlwind gunner had had his Weetabix and blew up 6 nobz and a couple of Ardboyz. Ardboyz in combat with the grey hunters wiped them out.

The mid turns of the game consisted of me killing off the vehicles and the Tankbustas with my grey hunters and Iron Priest whilst the Whirlwind rained death on an Ardboyz mob and most of the nobz and their trukk. In return Chris killed off my Iron Priest and the Bloodclaws and then ran his units away to avoid the Wulfen. Chris was unlucky in that he kept drawing cards to hold objectives whilst I had cards to kill units.

By turn five Chris was down to his Nobz and Big Mek in a trukk and a handful of Ardboyz desperately trying to avoid getting shot by grey hunters or assaulted by Wulfen. Due to the terrain I was never able to take out the Ard boyz but the scouts grabbed linebreaker and the Whirlwind popped the final trukk. In the end the game finished on turn 6 with a small handful of models left each.

 

Totalling up the points it was a victory of 16 to 12 to me.

Phew that was close. I made huge mistakes in this game. Firstly, by not attempting to seize the initiative, secondly by wasting my Thunderwolves against the Stormboyz allowing them to be counter charged and thirdly by not getting the Wulfen involved enough. Chris did a good job of baiting out my most killy units. Chris only really made one mistake which was not to kill the Whirlwind which had a great game all round. I also got unlucky with the grey hunters and bloodclaws scattering and misshaping. All in all a great game but I really had to scramble for a win due to being on the backfoot from turn 2.

[Gemini]

MORE MORE MORE! :)

[Valerian]

Enjoyed the BatRep. Didn't Chris' army violate the army composition rules? "3 x 10 man ard boyz units nob with power klaw in trukks" would have broken the limitation of no more than two of the same unit.

[Chaplain Otho]

Enjoyed the BatRep. Didn't Chris' army violate the army composition rules? "3 x 10 man ard boyz units nob with power klaw in trukks" would have broken the limitation of no more than two of the same unit.

 

Fair point I should have pointed out the duplication rule didn't apply to troops as that would be very limiting on some codexes.

Anyway Orks kan't kount and don't follow da rulz.

I also realised when writing this up that my drop pods shouldn't have misshaped due to the inertial guidance rule.

Game 2.

Halfway through turn 1 of this game the TO realised that the results card from game 1 had been filled in wrong so it looked like Chris had won rather than me.(Not a surprise as the form was very confusing and we are both called Chris) therefore we should have had each others’ opponents. However, too late by then to start again.

Anyway.

The Scouring vs Moz and his Ynnari

Table quarters deployment.

Yvraine

Shadow seer

7 Harlequins

Farseer

D scythes in wave serpent

Warp spiders

Wraithlord

3 units of 3 bikers

Fire dragons in Falcon.

I won the roll off and decided to let Moz deploy first and go first so I could assault anything he put on objectives at the end of the game. He didn’t have a lot of long range shooting either.

 

Moz deployed with the jetbikes hiding at the back and everything else far forwards. I had 3 objectives in my table half to his two so I was content to sit in my deployment zone and wait for him to come to me.

Moz’s first turn was uneventful with only the Whirlwind being glanced. In my turn I took down the Wave serpent and killed off half of the Harlequins. They then needed a morale check and as Yvraine and the Shadow seer was with them and they were right on the edge of the board this was a potentially game deciding role but they passed. Moz’s second turn saw all  the grey hunters butchered by the Harlequins or d scythed to death but little else. I then charged the Harlequins with the Thunderwolves and killed off the remainder plus Yvraine and the Shadowseer. In turn 3 the Warpspiders did some damage to the Thunderwolves with rending and the Whirlwind got shaken by the brightlance on the Falcon but really the Ynnari were doing very little damage. In my turn 3 I charged the Wraithlord with the Wulfen and killed him, killed the Falcon with the Thunderwolves and charged the Iron Priest into the d scythes to eat overwatch then charged the Wolf Lord in to beat them up. Iron Priest died and the Farseer saved all the damage on his invul save. Turn 4 saw the Fire dragons shoot dead 3 Wulfen before being charged and ripped apart. The Warp spiders joined the combat against my Lord but fluffed their attacks. The Wolf Lord then killed the Farseer and 3 d scythes and the warp spiders lost combat failed their morale check and ran off the table. By this point Moz was down to nine jetbikes in the far corner. They stayed there so I jumped on 4 objectives then sent in my Wolf lord and Thunderwolves who killed off 6 jetbikes with the final squad getting shot by Typhoons leaving 1 alive at the end of the game.

 

Objectives Wolves 4 Ynnari 0

I got all three secondary objectives too for a solid victory.

 

Moz said after that this was only his third game with the Ynnari and he used to play Bloodangels. He had some decent units but got unlucky with his early shooting and the Warpspiders being far worse than usual. I think the main difference was that Moz played very conservatively and I could isolate and deal with his units 1 or 2 at a time and get some good matchups whereas his units weren’t able to support each other. Going second against this army was also a bonus.

So two games in and two wins all good so far.

 

Game 3

Carl and his Eldar

Dual Cad.

Farseer on jetbike,

2 units of 3 scatbikes

2 units of Warpspiders

Swooping hawks

D scythes in wave serpent

Shrine of the Aquilla fortification

2^nd Cad

Farseer

2 units of 3 scatbikes

2 units of 2 hornets

Swooping hawks

Mission was to end the game with units in different table quarters, 5 points per unit in your opponents deployment zone, 3 points per unit in neutral deployment zones with 1 point per unit ending the game in your deployment zone, linebreaker not in effect.

 

Whoah tough army. I had the choice and decided to deploy second and go second to hit any Eldar units that ended in my deployment zone. There were a lot of ruins on the table and I could go to ground to improve my cover saves.

I only deployed the Wulfen, Thunderwolves Typhoons and Whirlwind with everything else to deep strike or outflank.

Carl started the game with 20 minutes of shooting. A typhoon went down for first blood then he opened up on the Whirlwind doing 2 glances despite a 3+ cover save and front av 13. He then started on the Thunderwolves. I had put the Iron  Preist at the front to use his 2+ save. He then rolled 2 1’s for his first two armour saves and then started failing look out sir roles. 3 rolls later he was dead.  Another 3 Thunderwolves followed him to the dead pile two of them with stormshields. Luckily I passed morale. I started my turn by trying to drop grey hunters into Carl’s deployment zone to take out his Warlord farseer and some bike units. Of course 1 unit then scattered off the table and was destroyed. I then only killed 2 bikers and put a wound on his Farseer. The Whirlwind missed and the Typhoon only killed 1 d scythe. I had moved the Thunderwolves up to charge Carl’s lines as there was nowhere to hide and I wasn’t able to make saves. I then lost the remaining Thunderwolves to overwatch leaving the Warlord on his own. Whoops. Carl’s turn 2 saw the Whirlwind, Warlord and Typhoon exit the board as well as half the grey hunters. The Wulfen survived due to being out sight and also approximately 40 inches from anything resembling an Eldar model. The Bloodclaws and Scouts arrived from reserves and went into hiding in Carl’s deployment zone. Turn 3 onwards saw the damaged jetbike unit finished off whilst Carl played shoot the space wolves with bloodclaws and Wulfen falling and the drop pods being wrecked. At the end of the game only a single space wolf scout survived as he was out of sight.

I managed to kill the wave serpent, a single scat bike squad and a few wounds here and there.

 

Carl won the game 41 points to 5 as his units all piled into my deployment zone turn 5. 

 

Ummn well whatever tactical mistakes I made in this game were compounded by abysmal dice rolling as I just couldn’t make a 2+ armour, 3++ or3+ cover save in turn 1 with the result that my units dropped like flies. I also shouldn’t have gone for such a risky deep strike with the grey hunters and sacrificing my Thunderwolves in a suicidal charge attempt turn 1was just stupid. But ultimately up against a general that good and an army list with that much shooting I had very little chance. Maybe going first would have been the better choice but I was worried about the Eldar using their mobility to just scatter out of the way.

[Chaplain Otho]

Game 4.

Al and his Ultramarines drop pod list.

Relic with Hammer and Anvil deployment

Tigurius

Grav centurions in drop pod

10 Sternguard with 5 combi meltas in drop pod

3 units of 7 tactical marines in drop pods with plasma and combi plasma and one with the imperial space marine

Deathstorm drop pod 

Leviathon siege dreadnought in Lucius drop pod

Stormtalon

 

I was deploying first and going first. I knew what was coming so I needed to turtle up and hope he didn’t do too much damage I also had a couple of tricks up my sleeve. I deployed the Iron Priest and my Wolf lord with fenrisian wolves separately to the Thunderwolves so he couldn’t take them all out at once.

I moved up turn 1 and dropped the Bloodclaws on the Relic to claim it whilst a unit of grey hunters spread out nearby to deny landing zones. Wulfen hung near the back to protect the Whirlwind. Al’s turn 1. Leviathon dreadnought dropped by the Whirlwind; stayed in the Lucius pod then blew up the Whirlwind with its three shot melta gun. Deathstorm drop pod dropped in and hit almost every unit in my army but only did a wound on the Thunderwolves. Sternguard combat squadded, did another wound on the Thunderwolves and wiped out the Bloodclaws. Grav centurions split fired and killed 2 Wulfen due to stormshield saves then found they wounded my Wolf lord on a 6+ due to majority armour saves (from the Fenrisian wolves) then his 3++ saved the wounds inflicted. All in all I got away quite lightly.

Turn 2. My other grey hunters arrived from reserve and dropped in by the Sternguard. The counter attack was on. Newly arrived grey hunters rapid fired a sternguard combat squad to death and the other grey hunter unit secured the Relic and did the same to the other combat squad with the aid of a Typhoon. Iron Priest then charged in and wrecked their drop pod. Wolf Lord charged Tigurius and the Grav Centurions I chopped up the Centurion sergeant and the other two buddies. TIgurius passed morale and stayed put. Wulfen and Thunderwolves surrounded the Lucius drop pod then charged in and wrecked it.  As the dreadnought couldn’t emergency disembark due to being surrounded it was destroyed. What a turn for the Wolves! I still had the Relic and had taken out all of Al’s heavy hitters. Al’s turn 2. All three other drop pods arrived as did the Stormtalon. Almost everything fired into the Wulfen and only killed 1 due to FNP and some very lucky 3++ saves and then the Thunderwolves took a couple of wounds. I then took out two of the newly arrived tactical units with the Wulfen and Thunderwolves and the Deathstorm drop pod with the Iron priest. With that the game was pretty much over bar the mopping up which happened on turn 5 when the Stormtalon went into hover mode to shoot my scouts and the Iron Priest smashed it up. Fittingly Tigurius was the last to fall, cut down by my Wolflord. 

 

This was a major victory for me as I got the Relic and all secondary objectives as well as tabled my opponent.

Al had a good army and game plan he just didn’t do enough damage turn 1. Had he taken out the Wulfen or the Thunderwolves I would have really struggled with the dreadnought. I got lucky with that trick but to be honest Grav centurions are a common foe so I had a plan to deal with them. Once the Leviathon, centurions and sternguard were dead the tactical squads folded quite easily. Al was a great guy and opponent, rather than getting grumpy or salty about things he sportingly acknowledged my play and congratulated me on a job well  done. He was also very forgiving as my bus to the venue was late so our game started ten minutes late and he was totally cool with that.

[Chaplain Otho]

Game 5

Chris with Iron Hands and Champions of Fenris

Deadlock with Dawn of War deployment.

Chapter master on bike with powerfist and shield eternal

Command squad with apothecary and grav guns

Big bike squad with grav guns and attack bike

Techmarine on bike

2 tactical squads in rhino with meltaguns

Devastator squad with 2 lascannons

Wolf lord on Thunderwolf with powerfist and wolf claw (Warlord)

3 Thunderwolf cavalry (represented by Wraith models)

2 lone wolves with frost blades and melta bombs

 

I deployed first and went first. Wulfen and Thunderwolves in the centre Typhoons on the flanks, Whirlwind at the back and Bloodclaws near the Wulfen.

Chris deployed his tactical squads in the rhinos on the flanks, Bikes in the centre Wolf lord and Thunderwolves on his right and devastators on the far right with lone wolves hiding out of line of sight. He combat squadded the big bike squad and joined the grav half with the Techmarine. Chapter master joined the command squad. 

 

Turn 1 I got some good cards of holding objectives. Bloodclaws drop pod came in and grabbed 1 objective whilst the Wulfen and Thunderwolves moved up to grab two more. Grey hunters dropped in to claim a 4^th objective. Shooting was almost totally ineffective as the Whirlwind missed and the grey hunters and Typhoons combined to only wreck 1 rhino.  Chris’s turn was a bit more eventful with one bike unit blowing up the Bloodclaws’s rhino, a Typhoon being wrecked with shooting, the traitorous WolfLord and traitorous Thunderwolf cavalry butchered 7 of my loyal grey hunters who then ran away and a tactical squad making the other Typhoon jink. Chris picked up a handful of maelstrom points. In my turn scouts came on as did grey hunters but shooting failed to amount to even a single casualty. The Thunderwolves and characters butchered the grav half of the bike squad and the Techmarine. In Chris’s turn he shot dead the newly arrived and totally useless scouts. The 3 remaining grey hunters were munched down by the traitorous wolf lord. Chris shot my Thunderwolves with the orbital bombardment but scattered off and just missed the Wulfen. Chris then assaulted my Thunderwolves and characters with his command squad and chapter master, he also tried to charge in the Thunderwolf cav but failed the 4 inch charge even with a reroll and then he tried the same with the other half of the bike squad who also failed a 5 inch charge with a reroll. A lone wolf did make the charge though. Combat was quite bloody but the Thunderwolves won with 3 casualties to 1. I got very lucky there. Whirlwind managed to miss again and Wulfen advanced forward but couldn’t get into the combat. Bloodclaws and grey hunters combined to take out a tactical squad whilst the Typhoon shot dead a couple of the other tactical squad. Close combat saw the lone wolf and apothecary and 2 command squad members killed as well as a wound on the chapter master. I lost a powerfist and storm shield guy but was winning the combat. I was also ahead on maelstrom cards at this point but Chris still had a number of units left to do damage.

In Chris’s turn 3 he charged in the bike squad and the Thunderwolf cavalry, his Wolf lord moved up but was too far away to charge and he decided not to charge the Wulfen. Devastators killed 2 Wulfen. Lots of hammer of wrath attacks resulted in no damage then my stormshields came to the fore and saved most of the damage. My Wolflord got very angry and chopped down the Thunderwolf cavalry whilst the rest of the unit killed the Chapter Master and the last command squad guy and then killed enough bikers to make them run away and chased them down. Big turnaround for the wolves. Over the remaining turns of the game I killed the Thunderwolf lord tactical squad and rhino and the lascannon devastators in return for my remaining Thunderwolves and characters and my Typhoon.  

 

I ended up winning 15 to 11 inwhat was a pretty bloody game that could have swung either way.

 

My shooting was poor for the first half of the game and the Wulfen didn’t see combat at all. In fact, they only contributed their buffs to the nearby Thunderwolf unit. Chris was unlucky with his charges in turn 2 as had he hit me with everything I would have been hard pressed to win that combat and when he did make combat his dice rolls were below par. However, had he done more damage the Wulfen would have been able to join the combat which probably would have swung it back in my favour. As has been the case so many times before with my list it was the Thunderwolves who took the damage from the enemy heavy hitters and dished it out twice as hard.

 

Final standings and final thoughts.

I ended up fifth overall (out of 28)having won 4 out of 5 games. I was very pleased with that I was close to the guy in 4^th but the top 3 were well ahead. Carl with his Eldar was third whilst another space wolf player was 2^nd and heresy Imperial fists won the event. Moz from game 2 ‘won’ the wooden spoon. My tactical play could have been better in some games and game 3 was just a complete disaster all ends up.  

I was happy with the overall performance of my list, it combined well with some long range shooting mobility and some serious close combat punch. I think the Thunderwolves were the stars in every game winning game 5 single handedly and doing a great job in game 2 also. The Wulfen were probably most disappointing as I think I played too cautiously with them particularly in game5 where they did nothing. Overall they didn’t accomplish as much as I hoped that they would but I think that was due to player inexperience with them. What they did hit in close combat they easily wiped out but they just didn’t see enough combat.

 

Until next winter.