Clash: 1447/1500 points
Standard Army
Standard Roster [1447/1500 pts]
Gate Group [196 pts]
Gaia: Gaia [76 pts]
Eden Gates: Eden [45 pts]
Eden Gates: Eden [45 pts]
Haven: Haven [15 pts]
Haven: Haven [15 pts]
Court of Elders [341 pts]
Coyote: Coyote(Shaman) [145 pts]
Jaguar Squad: Jaguar [100 pts]
Firstborns: 2x Firstborns [96 pts]
Swordpoint [244 pts]
Tomahawk Squad: 3x Tomahawk [114 pts]
Firedrake: Firedrake [130 pts]
Warrior Clan [263 pts]
Braves: 2x Braves [64 pts]
Braves: 2x Braves [64 pts]
Kukri Squad: 3x Kukri [135 pts]
Warfist [187 pts]
Ocelot Squad: Ocelot [95 pts]
Thunderbird Squad: 2x Thunderbird [92 pts]
Arrowhead [216 pts]
Warspear Squad: Warspear [108 pts]
Warspear Squad: Warspear [108 pts]
Land Grab: There are 5 Focal Points (F) on the battlefield. You get 3VPs for having the most number of ground units within 6" of a F. If you have one ground unit within 6" you can contest the F for 1VP. Focal points can be destroyed in buildings and eliminated from the game.
Pre-Battle Analysis: (I have never played Land Grab or Focal Points before. For ease of the tourney, Hawk Simon told us to deploy normally.)
- Ground Units: 912 (Scourge) vs. 813 (Shaltari). At the time, it "felt" like I was at a disadvantage in having a Desolator (airborne commander). Looking back, Daniel brought an air superiority list. In retrospect, the Firedrake is about the same points cost as the Desolator (without commander).
- Warstriders: While Shaltari skimmers are armored like paper mache, Warstriders are pretty resilient.
- Air Power: Two Warspears were definitely superior to my two Corsairs. I've never encountered Thunderbirds (gunships) so I wasn't sure how good they would be. The Firedrake can start firing blast templates on Turn 1 and the blast templates can negate skimmer defense bonuses.
- Infantry: Sure, I had two squads of Destroyers but Braves and Firstborns are scary! Outnumbering Daniel's infantry (4 to 3) was not going to be that much of an advantage as there were no objectives to search for in this scenario.
- Havens: Daniel only had 2 Havens so my strategy was to wipe them out and keep his infantry as spectators in orbit!
- Overall: For all the reasons above, I was not feeling confident as I felt that Daniel's list had the advantage in this scenario.
Highlights:
- Turn 1 - I rolled two 6's and both Corsairs were available! Daniel got one Warspear though! He moved his Firedrake down Column B before driving his Kukri AA down the center. I chose to not use my Corsairs because I didn't have much AA and I was afraid of losing one of them to a Warspear intercept. So our Fast Movers did nothing on Turn 1. What do you guys think? Should I have tried to take out the FireDrake when I had my chance? In hindsight, I should have gone for it as the FireDrake wrecked face! It was amazing!!!
- Fearing the FireDrake's blast weapon, I drove my Hunters and Reapers behind building until they could spread out on Turn 2. The FireDrake definitely slowed down my advance! Daniel was in my head! I hid behind Buildings 7, 8 and 9. (So 3x Hunters and 3x Reapers to approach each Column (A and B).
- Daniel's Ocelot walked on Column A and the Jaguar and Coyote materialised on Column A.
- Daniel's Tomahawks were on Column B.
- Daniel's Thunderbirds went to the deck behind Building 5 & 6. Smart move as my Corsairs could only attack them by going along the centerline on Daniel's side and would be subject to all the Kukri AA reaction fire.
- Daniel sent Braves to Buildings 1 and 3. I sent infantry to Buildings 7 and 9.
- My strategy was to take out the Havens to strand his infantry and make a late turn push to Building 5 and gain 9 VPs to win the game.
- I sent my Prowlers behind Buildings 4 and 5 to defend/slow down his Warstriders.
- Turns 2-4 - It was stopped on time at the end of Turn 4.
- It was really a Mexican standoff as we just maneuvered outside each other. Personally, I couldn't risk losing infantry or other ground units because I needed them to "score."
- Daniel's Thunderbirds and FireDrake destroyed a squad of Reapers on my right flank. I managed to shoot down the Thunderbirds with my Corsairs (attack runs from Building 8 to 6 to just stay out of range of the Kukri). Overall, Daniel's air power dominated my right flank.
- I tried to get my Tormentors up the field to threaten the Braves in Building 3 but they were destroyed. In retrospect, I should have kept them back to try to win Focal Points.
- My Prowlers kept his Jaguar and Coyote busy on Column B. He eventually destroyed 6 of them but they kept him occupied. Eventually I sent 2 Prowlers to help win the F at Building 7. I could have risked them to contest the F in Building 1 but Braves were firing from the windows.
- During the game, I kept on having more battlegroups than Daniel but I destroyed both Havens so maybe he forgot to activate his Firstborns from orbit? They eventually marched onto the battlefield via foot. Keeping the Firstborns from challenging Building 5 was huge IMO!
- With the Reapers short AA range and the Corsairs being only 50% accurate, Daniel was taking out my AA piecemeal.
- Eventually, Daniel materialised his Kukri around Building 8 and his Ocelot at Building 7. Luckily, I took out the Kukri. Caught me by surprise! I forgot that he could make a late game push to my side of the field.
- I had two Underground Monorails and was gonna send my infantry for the late push to Building 5.
- We had no Close Quarter Battles.
- Daniel had the Fs at Buildings 1 and 3. With his Ocelot he contested the F at Building 7 and he had one Tomahawk at the F at Building 9. I clearly had the F at Buildings 7 and 9. Daniel (8 VPs) vs Me (6 VPs). It all came down to Building 5. Did I have enough? Drum roll...
- I barely had more points (less than 10?) to win the F at Building 5 but Daniel contested it! Daniel (9 VPs) vs Me (9 VPs).
- It went down to Kill Points. Remember, within 200pts is a DRAW. Well, I think we were within like 50pts. DRAW!
- The next tie-breker was total kill points over the course of the tournament.
- Fast Movers did not do much this game but I felt my Corsairs were enough of a deterrent to keep Daniel's Warspears at bay.
- You gotta really concentrate to take out WarStriders.
- FireDrake - that's a great unit! Gunships can be useful!
- EPIC FINAL - thanks to Daniel for the great game and the closeness of the game cannot be expressed in words!
- So I finished the tourney at 2-0-1. I'm surprised that the eventual tie-breaker went to kill points instead of Victory Points.
- For the different variety of scenarios and armies, it's really hard to have a balanced army - part of the fun!
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