Objective Secured

Moving into round 3 the team were in generally good spirits. We had flagged QLD as the worst of our rounds and had come away with a draw – but then we hit the wall known as Victoria.

I have known Josh, the captain for VIC, for a few years now and can only say that he and his team play top notch 40k. He is a great list builder as well and he probably has more experience with the match up process than anyone else in Australia. He has captained the Australian ETC team twice (I was on the first team back in 2012) so when it comes to these events, he makes the VIC guys the team to beat.

So as we are into the final 3 or so match ups, when Josh utters “bugger” I know I have done something right. In fact, I think we did fairly well all things considered in the match up process and got solid mix of games.

I ended up playing against Matt and his Guard/Wolves. I thought to myself – this is a good match up for me… no telepathy in the army for the blob, divination is ok but not dazzling… how wrong I was. See if you can spot it before you scroll down to my summary…

PLAYER 5: MATT JACKSON

ALLIED DETACHMENT : ASTRA MILITARUM

DETACHMENT : GRIMNAR’S WAR COUNCIL : SPACE WOLVES : CHAMPIONS OF FENRIS

DETACHMENT : Allied

HQ1: Company Command Squad (60), 1 Company Commander (0), Laspistol (0), Close Combat Weapon (0), Refractor Field (0), 4 Veterans (0), 4 Lasgun (0) [60pts]

HQ2 : 1 Primaris Psyker (50); Mastery Level 2 (25); Laspistol (0); Force Axe (0); Refractor Field (0) [75 pts]

HQ3 : 1 Primaris Psyker (50); Mastery Level 2 (25); Laspistol (0); Force Axe (0); Refractor Field (0) [75 pts]

HQ4 : 1 Primaris Psyker (50); Mastery Level 2 (25); Laspistol (0); Force Axe (0); Refractor Field (0) [75 pts]

HQ5 : 1 Ministorum Priest (25): Laspistol (0); Close Combat Weapon (0); Rosarius (0); [25pts]

HQ6 : 1 Ministorum Priest (25): Laspistol (0); Close Combat Weapon (0); Rosarius (0); [25pts]

HQ7 : 1 Ministorum Priest (25): Laspistol (0); Close Combat Weapon (0); Rosarius (0); [25pts]

HQ8 : Cypher (190); Cypher’s Pistols (0); Cypher’s Sword (0) [190]

Troop 1A : Platoon Command Squad (30): 4 Guardsmen (0); 4 Lasgun (0); Platoon Commander (0); Laspistol (0); Close Combat Weapon (0); [30]

Troop 1B: Infantry Squad (50): 7 Guardsmen (0); 7 Lasgun (0); 1 Heavy Weapons Team (0); Lascannon (20); Sergeant (0); Laspistol (0); Power Axe (15); Melta Bombs (5); [90]

Troop 1C: Infantry Squad (50): 7 Guardsmen (0); 7 Lasgun (0); 1 Heavy Weapons Team (0); Lascannon (20); Sergeant (0); Laspistol (0); Power Axe (15); Melta Bombs (5); [90]

Troop 1D: Infantry Squad (50): 7 Guardsmen (0); 7 Lasgun (0); 1 Heavy Weapons Team (0); Lascannon (20); Sergeant (0); Laspistol (0); Power Axe (15); Melta Bombs (5); [90]

Troop 1E: Infantry Squad (50): 7 Guardsmen (0); 7 Lasgun (0); 1 Heavy Weapons Team (0); Lascannon (20); Sergeant (0); Laspistol (0); Power Axe (15); Melta Bombs (5); [90]

Troop 1F: Infantry Squad (50): 7 Guardsmen (0); 7 Lasgun (0); 1 Heavy Weapons Team (0); Lascannon (20); Sergeant (0); Laspistol (0); Close Combat Weapon (0); Melta Bombs (5); [75]

[465 pts]

HS1 : Wyvern Battery – 3 Wyvern (195): 1 X Camo Netting (15); 3 x Two Twin Linked Stormshard Mortars (0); 3 Heavy Bolters (0); [210 pts]

DETACHMENT : War Council

 HQ1: Ulrik the Slayer (145); WARLORD; Plasma Pistol (0); Crozius Arcanum (0); Healing Balms (0); Wolf Amulet (0); Wolf Helm of Russ (0); [145]

HQ2: Njal Stormcaller (180); Runic Armour (0); Bolt Pistol (0); Psychic Hood (0); Nightwing (0); Staff of the Stormcaller (0) [180]

HQ3: Rune Priest (60); Mastery Level 2 (25); Runic Armour (25); Bolt Pistol (0); Runic Axe (0); Space Marine Bike (20); Melta Bomb (5) [135]

HQ4: Iron Priest (55); Thunderwolf Mount (50); Runic Armour (0); Boltgun (0); Servo-Arm (0); Thunder Hammer (0); 4 Cyberwolves (4X15=60); [165]

Spotted it yet? I didn’t right up until we were rolling for his multitude of psychic powers. “Pyromancy” he says on his first Primaris Psyker. Did I just hear that right? Yes I did. He rolled on pyromancy! In fact he rolled on it for all 3 of these psykers. It was at this point I discovered the secret. Fire Shield. Its a fairly good power in a somewhat average discipline. The blessing gives the caster and his unit a 4+ cover save. Not bad but not game changing. Until I remember cypher. It dawns on me he now has over 50 models in the blob with a 2+ cover save…

Never mind I think, I have deployed first and am going first. Kill cypher (since he can’t join the blob at deployment due to infiltrate) and the blob is much more manageable. Its then I realise the second trick. The War Council seize on a 4+… so he goes first.

Its an ultimately futile game for me – I try the firepower of the list but a 2+ save means only a handful of models are killed. The knights in combat do little better with the only highlight being a stomp removing Njal, the Rune Priest and 3 of the melta bomb sarges just as the 3rd knight is dying. By that stage I am in full conservation mode, backing up and conserving points while scoring what I can. Thanks to a Hammer and Anvil deployment I have plenty of space to do so.

I eek out a 5-15 loss for the round which is a little tough to swallow – it just goes to show that during our prep when everyone of us was wondering what this list did we should have dug deeper.

As it transpires, the rest of the team are fairing little better. We win just 2 of the 8 games this round. Of the losses we suffer – only 2 are max losses while the others (mine included) manage between 5 and 9 points netting us 59 to 101 for the round. Its a better result than last year against the VIC boys but still a tough one to take.

I like to think we at least gave them a scare – we will get them next year I hope!

Some pics from the round now though I seem to have managed to get every table but mine!