BatRep Tournament 1.500 pts.

This saturday I visited a 1.500 points 40k tournament with my Hive Fleet Aurantium, fielding my favourite infiltration/outflank/deep strike armylist consisting of the following:

Flyrant (230) Hive Commander (25) Toxic Sacs (10)
2 Zoantrophes (120) Spore (40)
10 Termagants (50) Spore (40)
1 Tervigon (160) Regeneration (30) Adrenal Glands (10) Toxic Sacs (10) Cluster Spines(0)
10 Genestealers (140) Toxic Sacs (30)
10 Genestealers (140) Toxic Sacs (30)
10 Genestealers (140) Toxic Sacs (30)
1 Trygon (200) Prime (40)Regeneration (25)

1st game was about KP vs Black Templars.

I deployed the Flyrant and Tervimom because we started with 1HQ and up to 2 troops units just in order to make a influence in his movement phase because I knew he would stay away of my Flyrant and run into open space where I could deep strike and outflank easier. I expected most action in that area of the tabletop.

And I was right. Within 1 additional turn that area was bursting with activities. While my genestealers ripped the Assault Termies out of the way, the Tervimom sliddered pathetically on her temporary Good-Bye-Lenin-DVD-base and managed to lose wound after wound while my Termagaunts were forced to rush into the combat and save the day. In the upper left corner of the pic you can see the feet of the big Templar unit which wanted to support this chosen area but I rushed in with my Flyrant, knowing he would die, but he would take the Champ of the Emperor with him so it was a KP exchange. Further it was a goal to get those Templars busy until my 3rd Genestealer unit arrived to finish the job.

This is about the 5th turn in a 6 turns game. The jerking Tervimom found its end but also did most of the threatening units in my dear opponent´s army. In the 6th turn I lost a Spore but rushed in with my Trygon and destroyed his Drop Pod in return so I won 8:6 KP.

First game won, 2 more to go, and the next one was a Tau player and 2 MO to conquer.

Early in the game I concentrated on holding my MO (Mageknight guy bottom left) and contesting the second (right upper corner behind the tree). I also deep striked in the middle of the table in order to distract a little bit.

After a disapointing Tau shooting phase the way was free for my party animals. I also managed to destroy a transporter with my Spore, so the fire warriors were forced to continue on foot. My Tervimom bred 2 Terma units (14 and 12) and conquested also the second MO (half Mageknight guy right). With murderous beasts at their heels and in brutal close combat actions, the Tau were beaten in turn 5.

2 games, 2 wins and now against a Ork guy with 2 massacre wins ... gulp! We were playing 4 MOs, so I placed 1 in my corner (hold) and 1 near one of his near the table edge (contest). He placed his second MO somewhere in the middle where it would see no action, as I thought.

Blessed with 3 of my 4 synapse cratures I attacked a weak wing of his "deployment" (end of movement turn 2) and destroyed a Pikk-Up with 12 Boys within. He could just respond with a Boss-Biker mob and 12 other Boyz from a near Pikk-Up. And this is where hell began to burn my lady Fortuna. The Orkz shot and killed a lot, because I failed most of my save rolls.

This is how it looked like after the Ork close combat phase. Fething hell!!! I just had one chance left. Outflank on the left table edge (which I managed) and hold 1 MO. The second thing was not so easy. I outflanked my Tervimom in the middle of the Orks and hoped to breed a lot and survive in order to contest. But the Orks were just to many and to tough. I got all my guys erased and there were 2 MOs on that side. But I managed to distract his troop units by charging at angles which pulled them away from the MOs. I was just partially successfull, because I couldn´t prevent him from also holding 1 MO, but at least from holding 2 instead. So at the end of the game I had just 1 unit genestealers left while he was hovering around with his troops just where I distracted them.

So the last game ended in a draw (with terrible losses for me, but never the less) and I was placed 2nd in a 10 players tournament.

Things I´ve learned:
- Again, always keep the victory conditions in mind. Count KPs and keep an eye on subsequent turns and how you could hold/contest MOs.
- Don´t waste your units. But if it seems advantageous, sacrifice them in order to win the game (e.g. sacrifising a Hive Tyrant for a Emperors Champ sounds silly, but it kept the bigb Templar out of action until my own reinforcements arrived).
- Even if everything seems lost, think about the options. I´ve got my butt kicked by greet feet. I was about to head into nothing. So what do I have to lose? Nothing! I made a risky plan which I followed until I turned a desastrous defeat in a draw.