Cry of the Wind Tournament Report - Game 1

There may have been a lack of posting over the last couple of days. The reason for this is that I attended a tournament yesterday, and went with a friend, so I spent the previous evening prepping and making sure everything was ready to go. Plus I was at the club getting some last minute practice in.

The tournament in question was the Cry of the Wind event at the Outpost in Sheffield, a gaming store with a good gaming space upstairs where they hold tournaments. Kind of like a mini-Maelstrom. The tournament itself was a 20 player event, at 1,750pts with pre-determined missions. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't get onto their website the evening before so had no real idea what I was doing. I was taking a variation of my GT list, I was a little more fluffy the last time I went which cost me when I actually discovered what everyone else was running so this time I went for hardcore. The list was as follows:

Attempting to Drive with this on the passenger's seat...

Space Wolves:

HQ:

Rune Priest (Warlord): 170
-Master of Runes
-Runic Armour
-Jaws of the World Wolf
-Storm Caller

Rune Priest: 120
-Runic Armour
-Jaws of the World Wolf
-Living Lightning

Elites:

Lone Wolf: 85
-Terminator Armour
-Thunder Hammer
-Storm Shield

Lone Wolf: 85
-Terminator Armour
-Thunder Hammer
-Storm Shield

3 Wolf Guard: 99
-Terminator Armour
-Power Weapons (2 Swords, 1 Axe)
-Storm Bolters

Troops:

7 Grey Hunters: 155
-Meltagun
-Wolf Standard
-Drop Pod

7 Grey Hunters: 155
-Meltagun
-Wolf Standard
-Rhino

7 Grey Hunters: 155
-Meltagun
-Wolf Standard
-Rhino

Heavy Support:

6 Long Fangs: 140
-5 Missile Launchers

5 Long Fangs: 115
-4 Missile Launchers

Imperial Guard Allies:

HQ:

Primaris Psyker: 70

Troops:

Imperial Guard Platoon:

Platoon Command Squad: 35
-Vox Caster

Infantry Squad: 55
-Vox Caster

Infantry Squad: 50

Infantry Squad: 50

Infantry Squad: 50

Heavy Support:

Manticore: 160
-Heavy Flamer


Total: 1,749pts

Ok that was a long list. Onto the action.

My first game was against a guy called Dan. I have only been to 1 other tournament at the Outpost, and he was my first round opponent there too, in a game in which I first discovered the horrors of the Warp Hunter. To make this game even more interesting, in our previous encounter me and Dan drew (1 more turn would have given me the win), but also, on RankingsHQ we are seperated by 1 place and 0.1 rankings points (I'm still waiting for the GT Finale points though).

This time, Dan was running something a little different. He had a Space Wolves army. It was a different kind of list, but it was still pretty good. He had Logan, a squad of 9 Wolf Guard with a Drop Pod, 2 (which were in Terminator Armour) of which were being split off into a pack of Grey Hunters and a pack of Long Fangs. Then he had a 2nd pack of Grey Hunters in a Storm Eagle with a pair of Lascannons. He then had a Rune Priest in Runic Armour with Jaws and Living Lightning, and finally he had a Thunderlord with a Power Axe, Saga of the Bear, Storm Shield, with a pack of 3 Thunderwolf Cavalry with 2 Storm Shields.

The mission was 5 objectives (one of which had to be deployed in the centre of the board) with Dawn of War deployment.

Warlord Traits were important here. Dan declared Logan as his Warlord and he got the Personal Trait that meant that every time he killed a Character in a challenge, he got an additional VP. Meanwhile I got Stealth and Move Through Cover in Ruins. The psychic powers weren't attrocious, but they weren't what I was looking for. Essentially I ended up with 2 Presciences and Misfortune on my Warlord. Plus I got Enfeeble with my Primaris Psyker. No Invulnerable save.

Dan won the roll off for sides, and chose the one with slightly denser terrain, the objectives being placed pretty much in each quarter. He then won the roll off for first turn and gave it to me.

I spent quite a while deploying for this one. The opposing list wasn't conventional and so I needed to work out a strategy. I concluded that the game was essentially about board control, and although I had the bodies to dominate large sections of the board, Dan had the speed and durability to take some of the more important sections, plus 2nd turn for the jump.

I deployed the blob centrally, with the Misfortune Priest closer to one side and the Primaris towards the other. This way no matter which angle he came at me with his Thunderwolves, who have the weight of attacks to smash the blob, I'd have a counter. I then flanked the blob on the left with a Rhino in order to prevent the Drop Pod coming down and smashing it with Bolters first turn. On the other side I had the Manticore, which was also being flanked by a Rhino. Both of the Rhinos had Grey Hunter packs in.

Finally I had my Long Fangs. These were also deployed on the sides of the blob, but for a different reason. I was looking for Line of Sight to objectives in this game, and although I conceeded that they probably weren't going to do as much damage this game due to Storm Shields and Terminator Tanks, they were providing a huge disincentive for my opponent to go too near the objectives. The Lone Wolves were positioned towards the centre of the blob, right at the front, near the 2 psykers whilst the non Warlord Priest stuck near the back.

My opponent on the other hand didn't take very long to deploy at all. The Thundercav went on my extreme left flank with the Lord on, closer to the Misfortune. He then placed a pack of Grey Hunters on the backfield objective to my left and the Long Fangs on the objective to the right. The second pack of Grey Hunters go in the Storm Eagle and the Rune Priest and Logan go in the Drop Pod with the Wolf Guard. He then attempted to sieze the initiative, and succeeded. Giving me the first turn, watching me deploy, and then taking it from me. At least I'd prepped for that.

Oh dear.

So, my opponent comes down in his Drop Pod, the Rune Priest splits off and attempts to Living Lightning away my Rhino, but fails on a Perils. Logan and his buddies get out and stare at my Long Fangs, who are screening the blob, whilst the Thundercav charge up behind the Ruins and Drop Pod. Minimal casualties are taken.

In my turn I'm starting to feel a bit more confident now. Instead of moving the blob forward to take the centre, I decide to open fire on Logan's squad (who successfully denied the witch with his Wolf Tail Talisman). The Thunderwolf Cavalry will need a really long charge to get through into the blob so I'm unlikely to get beaten up and run off the board. I also jump the Grey Hunters out of the leftmost Rhino next to Logan, whilst the right one zooms up towards the enemy Long Fangs. The Drop Pod also drops into their face to ensure the objective's capture.

So the blob fires, but only manages to wound Logan once. I then proceed to fire the Manticore at the Thunderwolves, and get a number of wounds but all are passed. However, it also scatters onto the Drop Pod, killing it with the help of the Long Fangs and giving me First Blood. Determined to whittle down the Wolf Guard pack should they hit the blob, the Grey Hunters attemtpt to circumvent Logan and kill a couple of them. The enemy Long Fangs then lose their Terminator tank +1 but stay around. I then charge a Lone Wolf into Logan's squad hoping to tie them up for a turn but Logan kills him to even the score.

Turn 2 rolls around. Logan splits off from the Wolf Guard and goes after the Long Fangs, hoping to kill the Wolf Guard in a challenge. The Wolf Guard themselves move to babysit the Rune Priest, with the Thundercav moving up. The Storm Eagle doesn't come on.

Then we get the combats. The Wolf Guard charge the Grey Hunters, who with the help of the Wolf Banner manage to hold them. Logan charges the Long Fangs, and kills everyone bar the Wolf Guard, who denies a challenge, but must accept next turn and locks him down preventing me from shooting at him. Not that it matters, the Thundercav manage to make an 11" charge straight into the blob, with me only being 6 inches away from the board edge. Uh oh.

The blob performs well, causing 3 wounds in total, but I still lose combat by 9, and inevitably fail my morale check. Fortunately, the Thunderwolves catch me and I stay locked in combat.

In my turn, although Enfeeble fails due to the enemy Rune Priest, I manage to Misfortune the Thundercav. The Platoon Command Squad runs behind Logan in an attempt to bait him with the promise of another Character point. The Grey Hunter pack at the top jumps out and hoses down a couple more Long Fangs, whilst the remaining Lone Wolf moves in towards the Thundercav. The Manticore frags my opponent's objective a little more.

In the assault phase, I forget to charge the Grey Hunters from the Drop Pod (well done me), however I do charge the Lone Wolf into the Thundercav. All this actually ends up doing is giving me a free move as the Guard blob goes absolutely crazy killing the remaining Cavalry and the Lord. Logan then kills the Wolf Guard however, giving my opponent an extra point, whilst the Grey Hunters and the Rune Priest's squad continue to duke it out.

Turn 3. Logan takes the bait and charges the Platoon Command Squad, reducing it to just the character. Crap. The Long Fangs reduce my Drop Pod Grey Hunters to a 2 men, and the Storm Eagle comes on, attempting to shoot a Rhino, yet failing to do any damage.

My turn is mainly about combats and repositioning. The Lone Wolf charges up towards my opponent's deployment zone in an attempt to contest his objective. In addition, both the Grey Hunter packs in my opponent's deployment zone charge his pack of Long Fangs, winning combat but staying in. Logan finishes off the Platoon Commander giving my opponent a 3-1 lead.

In his turn 4, he moves Logan closer to the Guard Blob, but Logan is killed by overwatch fire as the blob also had Precognition up, eseesntially giving it an extra turn of normal shooting. The Rune Priest/Wolf Guard combat finally ends, with the Rune Priest coming out on top, with 1 wound and none of his Guard but on top none the less. The Grey Hunters then kill the remaining Long Fangs to claim the top objective, with the Storm Eagle shooting at the Manticore for no damage.

My turn 4, the Lone Wolf moves further up, but is unlikely to make the charge and so runs. The Grey Hunters consolidate their objective whilst the blob do the same, finally cutting down the Rune Priest in the process.

In my opponent's turn 5, the Storm Eagle drops into hover mode and dumps the Grey Hunters out onto the central objective. It then fires at the Manticore and finally kills it.

The Lone Wolf makes his charge into the enemy Grey Hunters, of whom there are only 3 left, and he kills them all, knocking my opponent off his other objective. The game then ends. I'm holding 2 objectives whilst my opponent has 1. However my opponent also has 3 points for killing Characters with Logan, but this is counter-balanced by my possession of all 3 secondary objectives.

It was a good game though, and for a period it was really dicey, and could have gone either way, but my opponent played well, and I have to go to work.