So! 9th has dropped and it was time to test it out. Wimaro and I would go at it again with the same armies that are quickly becoming each other's nemesii.... nemesisis.. nemesis'... enemies!
1000 pts Incursion
Wimaro running his usual forces, 3 starweavers, 3 troupes, solitaire, troupemaster and shadowseer along with 3 skyweaver bikers. A small hard hitting compact force.
I was running a horde of guardsmen - 6 squads, 2 veteran squads, 2 chimeras, 2 mortar teams, and a hydra along with 2 company commanders.
Turn 1 - Guard
I won the roll off and went first. Orders were barked out and re-rolls given. My lines opened up the starweaver on my left flank. Autocannons, stubbers, heavy bolters all shot out in to the dusk light, missing or failing to wound. Those that found their mark were saved by the flickering invul save of the alien craft. One lucky soldier fired his missile launcher into the darkness and BOOM found the mark doing 5 damage. The remaining lasguns finished off the final wound and killed an occupant in the ensuing crash.
Elsewhere, the hydra took out 2 sky weaver bikers.
The dusk light was ominous and forboding. Trooper Jensin could barely make out the shapes of the buildings in the fading light. Before he could finish his though the gunner in the chimera spotted something in the distance. Thunderous fire exploded out of the tank. The chugging autocannon, the rattling boom of the heavybolter and the staccato of the stubber all mingling into a deafening roar. He peered through his missile scope and in sheer instince just fired. A huge explosion in the distance lit up the landscape.
Turn 1 - Harlequins
Wimaro faced down a horde of guardsmen but ran straight in with his forces and attacked. He blew up a chimera and caused 5 casualities to an advancing squad. Not the best turn all round. He kept some of his forces back to hold and objective behind the ruined tower.
Turn 2 - Guard
The Harlequins were in front of me now. I opened fire and downed the remaning starweavers, but only after far too much firepower. Awful hit rolls and awful wounds rolls followed by good invul saves meant I'd dumped all my firepower onto the two vehicles. The clowns would be mowing through my men in short order.
Turn 2 - Harlequins
Close combat! woo. Men were sliced and diced but it mattered not - there were plenty more where they came from. A solitaire appeared and killed my mortars. They were in amongst me now. Steely courage and decent rolling is all that would save me now.
Turn 3 - Guard.
So.. I outnumbered Wimaro's clowns by about 8-1 almost. I fired what I could fire into the various pockets of harlequins but this would be a turn for the ages. A monument to mediocrity, a hallmark of shitty rolling, an epic tale of failure that would ring down through the ages.
Here's the thing. Harlequins aren't all that scary. T3, 4+ save. It's VERY overcomable if you have the weight of numbers. I had tonnes of men and about 50-60 attacks in close combat resulted in two wounds.... TWO! It was a game-breaking moment. Epic fail.
Turn 3 - Harlequins
Quick turn, solitaire kills the warlord and 15-20 men die. Still have about 50 on the table along with a hydra.... BUT twas the end....
I conceded with 50+ men and a hydra on the table.... but why? WHY?
Conclusion!
For the last 2 turns Wimaro had been pressing the attack. My slow guardsmen were only contesting one objective while Wimaro had been scoring victory points. This was the big change I didn't anticipate or understand well enough. You score your victory points at the BEGINNNING of your turn, during the command phase. Meaning you have to be reactive to your enemy. Knock them off their objectives in your turn so that their next turn they aren't scoring.
At this point Wimaro had 29 victory points. 5 in turn 2, 15 in turn 3 and 6 for slay the warlord and 3 for a secondary which involved killing as many men as possible. I only had 5 points. With turn 4 about to start I'd score no points as I was either to far away or bunched up at the back.
Barring another dismal turn of not hitting or wounding anything, I'd most likely table the remaning troupemaster, solitaire and 6 clowns... BUT tabling doesn't win you the game and it wasn't guaranteed either.
There was a change I could win, I had assasinate (kill characters, 9 potential points here), raise the banners high (do actions on objectives to more points) etc but it would require playing on for another 30-40 minutes and even then it was relatively unlikely and I'd need to wipe Wimaro, and then get lucky with orders to get my men up the table.
All in all! great fun, 9th is a bit confusing at times, the rulebook is unclear about a lot of stuff and being to eager to just play meant glossing over stuff. Either way - great fun and looking forward to the next game. I continue my tradition of ALWAYS losing the first game of a new edition - A proud feat I've managed since 2nd... good times!
