Adepticon 2011, Part III: Team Tournament, Game 4 vs. Penguins of Chaos

After the crushing defeats it was time for the 4th, final, less-competitive and more casual Game of the Adepticon 2011 40k Team Tournament. Usually by that time most teams realize that there is no reason to be super competitive unless you actually have a chance of winning something or scoring within the... erm.. Top 20? Besides, booze adds up, hehe.  Well, for us it didn't. Cuz.. you know.. 3/4 of the team were under 21 (Thanks for the shots, Team Sweden ;P)? Our fourth game was indeed very pleasant and laid back, so without further ado let me introduce you toooo...

Penguins of Chaos

All the way from the famous tourney scene of Toledo, Ohio we were to face these wonderful fellas. Not exactly too far, my only memory from the Buckeye State was waiting 15 minutes for a meal in Burger King on the way back from Games Day 2010.... but that's another story. It's Batrep time, baby!


We played against the guys on the left who ran a classical, yet unorthodox Blood Angels/Space Wolves armies. First of all.. there were Drop Pods. Lots of them.

"Suit up!"

The Space Wolves player had a very beautifully painted White Scars army using Space Wolves bits and he fielded 3 Grey Hunter packs in Drop Pods, lead by Wolf Guards in Terminator armor, one had a Rune Priest with Living Lightning and Murderous Hurricane and no Chooser of the Slain, which surprised me. There were also 2 units of 4 or 5 Missile Launcher Long Fangs to boot!
The Blood Angels player had a two big Assault Squads, one of which had a Sanguinary Priest and a Librarian - they all had jump packs (obviously!). A Dreadnought with um... Multi-melta/Heavy Flamer in a Lucius pattern Drop Pod for that sweet Turn 1 assault, an Attack Bike with a Multi-melta and I'm pretty sure he had something else in a Drop Pod which didn't see a whole lot of play.

Needless to say they had us beat on mobility and fire power.. But could they deal with 3 units of Thunderwolves?

Mission#4 was A World of Bones!
Deployment was Spearhead with an Objective Marker in each "Neutral" quarter. Primary Objectives was an Annihilation variant named Marked for Death! Basically, each Coalition picked an opponent whose army was the only part of the Coalition worth any Kill Points. Secondary Objective was Breakthrough! and was all about having more Scoring units entirely within your opponents deployment zone. Tertiary was controlling the Objective Markers. Tactical Bonuses were awarded for controlling both "Neutral" table quarters (Outflanked) and controlling the enemy's deployment zone (Outnumbered). Command tokens granted the Scoring ability!
Reflection: With only two troops choices and our opponents having so many Deep Striking elements there was no way in hell we could get the Secondary and/or Tertiary Objectives. It was all Primary or nothing!

We rolled for Deployment and picked our side and obviously deployed first. We were not afraid of a Deep Striking Rune Priest without Jaws of the World Wolf.. ;) We Marked for Death the Space Wolves player who had way too many "free" KP's with his Drop Pods. And they Marked me! Both TWC units with Wolf Lords in 'em got the Command Tokens for some Scoring goodness and they failed to seize the initiative. We did our standard deployment with tons of Wolves all over the place and they had two Long Fang squads with two blobs of AssSquads hanging back just waiting for us to go after the juicy old men with big guns. The Librarian/Sanguinary Priest squad was also surrounding the Attack Bike. You could tell that we were playing against experienced players who had a plan.. Well, we didn't so we just had to improvise!

Turn 1
What an empty board! We just knew that the Lucius patter Drop Pod was going to aim for my Long Fangs so we pretty much bailed on them with Nolan's lesser Thunderwolves surrounding mine to protect them form any DP-ing shenanigans. Our Long Fangs were out of range to hit theirs.. So yeah.. we moved around, ran a bunch that was it!

From Brian Carlson's blog

And then it was the Penguins' turn! As predicted the Lucuis Drop Pod with the Dreadnought dropped right in front of the Long Fangs and the walker was pretty much guaranteed an assault. The blobs of AssSquads did some minor shuffling, patiently waiting for a chance to get the charge on Nolan's flanking Thunderwolves.
And then they made a fatal mistake that cost them the game. To the side of our Thunderwolves there was a pretty big, flat cliff/canyon piece of terrain. After some talking the Space Wolves player surprised us and dropped both of his Pods on top/around the cliff. We really didn't know why...


Then they focused Nolan's Thunderwolves with bolter fire, Murderous Hurricane and missiles just because his Thunderwolves were in front of mine and were giving me free cover! No wolves died which was good and only a few wounds were caused after the smoke cleared. The Dreadnought assaulted the Long Fangs who managed to wreck his close combat arm and were to then beaten in combat but stayed. It was now our turn to react..

Turn 2
NOW we realized what our opponents were thinking with Deep Striking their two juicy Marked for Death drop pods filled with Grey Hunters AND a Rune Priest. They thought Thunderwolves could not get on top of cliffs, but we corrected them. Cavalry cannot climb and assault on top of buildings and ruins! Naturally my Thunderwolves looped around chasing and running after the more distant Grey Hunter pack while Nolan's squad went for the closer one trying to avoid making dangerous terrain tests. His Rhino and Thunderwolves on the left flank continued towards the "Neutral zone" while my Rhino moved a little bit and the Rune Priest inside managed to wreck a Drop Pod with Living Lightning! Both TWC squads managed to get into assaults, but Skarvald was not able to strike in mine. Not that it was needed. Tons of S5 rending attacks and then a Thunderhammer reduced the squad by a lot and at the end only the Rune Priest and Terminator Wolf Guard remained. Oh, the Thunderhammer guy directed his attacks towards the drop Pod and squished it. Nolan, on the other hand ate the other Grey Hunter squad for breakfast and chose not to consolidate because of Murderous Hurricane.
The Dreadnought managed to win and chase down the Long Fangs he escaped but then ran off the board edge.

On their turn I believe a Drop Pod made it and dropped at the very corner of our deployment zone and an empty Drop Pod did the same, except in their deployment zone. Not sure what the Dread did, but I know that the Libby/Sanguinary Priest blob got the assault on the Thunderwolves and the Librarian managed to cast that S10 power. *gulp* The Assault Bike moved a little. Long Fangs immobilized my Rhino.  Long Fangs shot at Nolan's Thunderwolves while mine remained unscathed since they were still in combat... in which Skarvald slayed the Rune Priest and the rest of the pack ate the Wolf Guard then consolidated 6'' towards the Long Fangs. Needless to say the less elite Thunderwolves got thundered to the ground.

Turn 3
.. in which my Rune Priest and Grey Hunters disembark from the Rhino to be in melta range of the Dreadnought. I know, right? Such a grrrreat idea. Bare with me, though!
Both of the Thunderwolf squads are runnin' wild aiming at the closest Long Fangs squad - there was a forest which we had to circle around, and I think we both eventually failed the charges. Nolan's Rhino headed towards the Neutral quarter in front of our deployment zone and managed to get on top of a bunch of cliffs, taunting the Blood Angels in the distance. The idea was to win us some time by luring them towards the Rhino and draw them away from the juicy Rhino, Grey Hunter squad and Rune Priest in the middle of the map.

"..balllllls of steel. Toledo steel."

Oh, and of course Living Lightning and the single melta shot failed utterly and miserably, so in stead of standing there and waiting to be shot at, the Grey Hunters raised their banner and charged the Dreadnought. That's right. No melta bombs. No power fists. Just Mark of the Wulfen, krak grenades and balllllls of steel.
And actually the first round of combat was pretty good with multiple 6's to hit and to glance with the krak grenades and a bunch of shaken results, immobilized and what not. I don't know... All I know is that until the end of the game the Dreadnought was playing Whack-a-Wolf with his puny S6 attacks and I guess our opponents kept on thinking "It's cool, he's got it!" and they never send extra troops in the assault until the end of the game. Distractions are awesome.

"I spit on your Fast Rhinos. We drive 4x4's!"

On their turn their scary Death Star jumped 12'' at a weird angle, which is what we wanted because we knew they wouldn't risk taking dangerous terrain tests. The squads that had dropped in our deployment zone just sat there and did not bother to help out the Dreadnought who was swinging at the Wolves of Fenris. The AssSquad babysitting the Long Fangs also moved 12'' and in charge range to get my TWC.
They really wanted to take out that Rhino, but the threat of the impending Thunderwolves was bigger, so all of their rockets were aimed at... you guessed it.. Nolan's Thunderwolves.
You know.. the ones worth no KP's? This final salvo managed to get rid of the Thunderwolves (I believe? Things are still fuzzy..) and some melta shots from the nasty Blood Angels Assault Squad managed to immobilize and destroy the storm bolter on the Rhino. Oh, oh, oh! The Attack bike failed to do anything to the Rhino with its multi-melta. Then they charged it and made it explode and Nolan's Grey Hunters really didn't care for any pinning checks or casualties. They just surrounded the cliff and were happy to catch the Blood Angels off guard and get the charge on them rather than take tons of S5 I5 shenanigans. Oh, and the other Blood Angels squad charged my Thunderwolves but no Furious Charge from a Sanguinary Priest meant that Skarvald got to clip te wings off of 4 or 5 unfortunate Angels and that was that. The few remaining ones managed to flee from combat but they would never regroup with the Thunderwolves howling behind them. Oh, and that assault with the Dread was going nowhere.

Turn 4
Going to keep it short. Obviously we had absolutely no shooting now, so Nolan's Grey Hunters shot some hot melta and bolt pistols into the big and scary Librarian who also failed his psychic check (yay!), raised the Wolf Standard above their heads and bravely charged the Blood Angels. The battle was so-so, really. Skarvald's squad annihilated the Long Fangs, consolidated 6'' keeping the Blood Angels flappin' their frilly pretty wings. The Grey Hunters were thinning out but not enough for the Dreadnought to be called successful.

The fleeing Blood Angels are removed from play as they touch the board edge! Woot! On their turn they repositioned some guys and the Attack Bike once again fails to do anything with its ranged weaponry. Kind of funny considering the Rhino has been immobilized and without a weapon for a few turns now.. Long Fangs shoot at my Thunderwolves accomplishing nothing.. The Blood Angels in the corner finally manage to clear the Grey Hunters with their abundance of power weapons and power fists and are now controlling the objective in the neutral quarter. The assault against the Dreadnought is still lame and pathetic with an occasional Grey Hunter dieing from time to time but the pack doesn't seem to care. The Attack Bike assault the Rhino and manages to get a glancing hit, but it is a 1 and the Rhino yet remains!

Turn 5
It is now time to finally get rid of the opponent's Long Fangs. Skarvald splits from the squad and an impressive fleet move puts him right in front of the unfortunate fire battery as his thanes on Thunderwolves surround a Drop Pod. The Rhino tried to repair itself...... and failed! :( In the assault phase Skarvald slays all 5 of the Long Fangs with a single swing of his frost axe and the Thunder hammer Space Wolf hits the Drop Pod so hard that not even a wreck is left for show and tell. The Dread situation is... still dreadful.

On Penguins of Chaos' turn a small Blood Angels unit joins the little game the Dread, my Rune Priest and Grey Hunters are playing.. but it's too late because we already have more Kill Points than they can possibly score.
The Attack Bike finally manages to explode the Rhino.. Boo.. And the assault with the Dread is still lame.

We roll for an extra turn.. and Nope! Game is over on turn 5.
We quickly calculated the points. We had the Primary Objective (15 pts.), killed one HQ (1 pt.), had one still breathing HQ (1 pt.) got the Outnumbered Tactical Bonus (2 pts.)  and one surviving Command Token (1 pt.) for a total of 20 points.
They got Secondary and Tertiary (a total of 10 pts.), killed one HQ (1 pt.), had one still breathing HQ (1 pt.) also had the Outnumbered Tactical Bonus (2 pts.) and had two unused Command Tokens (2 pt.) for a total of.. 16 points.

VICTORY

The game was a lot of fun and the opponents were also cool. There were many mistakes made by both Coalitions, but in the end we managed to have a great game. They definitely had an advantage with their crazy mobility, but in the end Skarvald caught up to them and justice was served!

And this was the last battle report from the Adepticon 2011 40k Team Tournament. Hope you guys had fun!