Toy Soldier 40k Tournament Report - Game 2

Being honest I'd been looking forward to game 2, as I really wanted to try something. The mission here was the Relic with Vanguard Strike deployment. The modification here was, again, no First Blood, but there was also an objective worth a single point in the centre of each table quarter. My opponent was, surprise surprise, a Tau player.

He was running an Ethereal, he had 2 Riptides, 2 squads of 3 Broadsides with Missiles, 3 squads of Pathfinders with Marker Lights, a few squads of Fire Warriors, and then Eldar Allies in the form of a Farseer on a bike, a Wraithknight and 2 squads of Windrider Jetbikes.

Now, in the middle of the board was a big piece of LoS blocking terrain, with really one completely open facing. I chose the deployment zone and picked the one opposite this facing, so that I could jump on the Relic whilst only being shot by SMS. However, my opponent won the roll off for first turn and chose to go second in order to dive bomb the objectives last turn with his jetbikes.

I pivot with my Land Raider, move 6 inches, disembark the squad 6" after a Difficult Terrain roll and pounch onto the objective with the Lord holding it so that I have a reliable Look Out Sir roll should I need it. I move a squad of Spawn up behind a ruin on the left, ready to tie up a Riptide or squad of Broadsides that he left there, whilst the Bloodthirster jumps into the LoS blocker with the Relic squad.

My opponent shoots at the Bloodthirster with SMS, and that's all he really does, meanwhile in my next turn I jump into my Land Raider and drive behind the Aegis Line. My job now is to remove the threats to my Land Raiders. I start with the easiest charges. The Broadsides are blocked so the Spawn charge the Pathfinders, whilst the Bloodthirster takes out the Riptide on that side. Now my opponent is forced to dispose of the Bloodthirster before he can jump into the Wraithknight.

The Bloodthirster is next up in the firing line, or else the Wraithknight is to be executed

All of his Kroot come on and kill my Cultists, which also arrive, before a squad of Spawn doubles back to deal with them, leaving him with minimal Tau scoring.

Essentially, this game comes down to 2 things. Firstly, can I hold onto the Relic, and secondly, will the game end at a time when there isn't a biker Farseer contesting my objective, as he's holding 2 objectives, I'm holding one and the Relic however him flying over to contest my objective will give him Linebreaker and thus a 3-3 draw.

Turn 5, he makes it through the first Raider, which I used to block the Relic holding one. However I still have the Relic. He doesn't turbo his Farseer this turn. The game doesn't end.

Turn 6, he goes for broke, the Wraithknight has space cleared through a number of Chaos Marines to the Land Raider but fails the charge through the Aegis. However, he does turbo his Farseer onto my objective. If the game goes on I club him to death with Chaos Space Marines and Bloodletters. If it doesn't then it's a 3-3 draw. The game ends. Damn!

So, after 2 games I'm on a Draw and a Loss, however in those games I have won the Primary Objective and Drawn it, so without the tournament modifications I would have won those games. It's only right that I didn't win those games, I'm not having a gripe here, you know the mission before you start and so you have to play to it, my point here is that despite the record the list is really holding up well to the standard rulebook missions.