We set up some terrain then rolled for standard deployment and got number 5, I believe, one of the speartip type.
Deployment presented a little bit of a problem for me, because he had scout snipers and a couple of squads of Eliminators. I wasn't really going to have any cover to put characters in, so I ended up putting them near units to buff and resolving to either charge to kill snipers right off the bat, or to use Prepared Positions and hope for the best. I had a couple fewer units to deploy, so I got to add one to my roll for first turn, and rolled a 7, against his 6. He tried to seize but failed, so I went first.
This first couple of pics will show the board setup and deployment. The first pic wasn't actually taken until after I'd begun movement (thus the scout bikers being out of coherency for a second while I snapped the pic).
So, a quick breakdown of armies. I had a basic list of:
Gravis Captain
Primaris Librarian
Phobos Lieutenant
Intercessors x 3 units (one with Auto Bolt Rifles, two with Bolt Rifles)
Primaris Ancient
Reivers
Scout Bikers
Predator
He had a highly optimized competitive list of:
Jump Pack Captain w/TH
Terminator Catain w/THSS
Captain on Bike w/THSS
Eliminators x 2 squads
Scouts x 4 squads
Sanguinary Guard (6 models)
In my first turn, I begin by declaring Devastator doctrine, then go into movement. I have decided to go after his snipers as the first order of business, not knowing where his Jump Pack or Terminator smash Captains will deep strike into, only that it will be outside of my deployment due to my screening. I advance my Scout Bikers over near to the woods where he has two units of Scouts in cover. I advance my Reivers up the board toward the near squad of Eliminators. My Librarian advances more or less alongside them. I advance my Assault Bolter Intercessors up to a spot kind of between the near Eliminators and the Scouts in the woods. The Primaris Ancient advances with them. I advance my Gravis Captain up toward the woods also, and the squad of Intercessors on the left side of the board, too. The Phobos Lt. and the Intercessors on the right flank stay put, because they are on an objective.
In Psychic Phase, I Smite his far unit of Eliminators and one model takes one mortal wound. I also put Storm-Wreathed onto my Reivers so they will be able to charge without fear of Overwatch, and also potentially do mortal wounds when they slam into the enemy unit.
Shooting, I begin over on the right. The Lt. can't reach anything. The Intercessors on the point shoot at the far/high Eliminators and manage to get a wound through, so that's one of them dead, now. Of my Reivers, only the Sgt can shoot, but fails to do anything. My Assault Bolter Intercessors should take -1 to hit, but I play the 'Flamer in your face' stratagem for 2CP (down to 6) to autohit 15 shots at the Scout Snipers in the woods, and I think three of them die at this attack. Librarian and Ancient can't shoot. Scout Bikers have advanced, and so can only shoot shotguns. They do that, into a unit of Scouts in the woods, and I think four of them (non-Sniper type) die in that volley. Gravis Captain can't shoot. My Intercessors have advanced, so I play Steady Advance (down to 5) to let them shoot as if they had stood still, into the Scout Snipers in the woods, and either nothing gets through, or they kill one of the guys I said got killed previously. I also shot my Predator, but I don't recall what it did. Not a ton, I think. Maybe it accounted for one other model from above I may have mis-credited elsewhere.
Charge Phase, I get my Scout Bikers into the woods to fight his Scouts. My Gravis Captain gets in there, too. My Assault Intercessors don't have room on the woods piece to be able to charge into it, because apparently the whole unit has to be able to get onto it? So, they don't charge. I get my Reivers up onto the terrain in the middle of the board, Charging his Eliminators. Come to find out, I did this illegally, because Grapnel Launchers only let me ignore vertical movement in the Movement Phase, but here I did it in the Charge phase. We wouldn't discover this until later, though. Here's a pic of a bit later that shows some positioning. I think this was early in his turn. Ignore whatever he's doing with the Sanguinary Guard in this pic; they never went up there, and his Eliminators didn't actually move down from there, either. Not sure what was going on in this pic...
Anyway, fighting ensued, and crazily enough his scouts got a couple of wounds in on my Gravis Captain. Big, crucial mistake here. I forget to consolidate my Captain, so he's twisting in the wind out of combat going into the next turn. Not good! Here's the body count after my first turn:
During his movement phase, he uses his remove-and-deep-strike stratagem on the Jump Pack smash captain:
And moves up his Sanguinary Guard:
As well as Smash Captain on Bike:
Here's a nice pic of the state of things here:
During his Shooting Phase, he uses both squads of Eliminators to kill my Gravis Captain. I had even played Transhuman Physiology (down to 2CP), but he rolled 5s and 6s. Lame! Then the guns on his Sanguinary Guard (which are fucking mean) to kill half my Assault Intercessors, which both get to fire back because of banner proximity. I don't think anything dies, though. I lose another three wounds on that unit (now just the Sgt left) to his distant Scouts in his backfield.
In his Charge Phase, Fly Smasher comes at my Intercessors:
Biker Smasher comes for my Librarian:
And The Sanguinary Guard come for my Ancient:
Fly Smasher kills 4 Intercessors. Bike Smasher kills the Librarian, and all the Sang Guard kill the Ancient. I had used the last of my CP on Counter-Offensive to fight with the Ancient, but nothing came of it.
The body count after his first turn:
It's not looking good going into my second turn. I also forget to change it up to Tactical Doctrine.
In Movement, my Lt moves up a little closer to Fly Smasher. My Scout Bikers fall back away from his Scouts in the woods over near to his Bike Smasher. The lone Assault Intercessor Sgt with the Thunder Hammer scoots a little nearer the Smasher, too. My Intercessors over on the left advance up to the objective there in the woods with his few remaining Scouts near it. My Reivers edge a little closer to his near Eliminators on the middle terrain piece. My Predator stays put.
I don't really remember what happened during this shooting phase. Not a hell of a lot, since my Bikers had fallen back, and Intercessors had advanced, and I had no CP to effect it otherwise. I think my Predator killed a couple of his Sanguinary Guard, though.
Charge Phase, I sent my Intercessor Sgt and Lt. into his Fly Smasher.
My TH Intercessor Sgt and Scout Bikers into his Sang Guard:
My Intercessors into his Scouts:
And my Reivers into his Eliminators:
I can't really hurt Fly Smasher, who then fights back and kills both my models. I am able to wipe out his Sang Guard and Scouts, though. I also kill another Eliminator.
Now his turn again, and his Terminator Smasher teleports in:
In his Shooting phase, he keeps trying but can't quite kill my TH Intercessor Sgt. The Terminator Smasher also fails his charge at said Sgt. lol. Something he does finally kills that Sgt, but I forget what...
Fly Smasher charges my Predator, but I can't fire Overwatch against him because of a relic he has.
Biker Smasher charges and kills my Scout Bikers.
Going into BR3 here. I do remember to change to Tactical doctrine, finally:
Fly Smasher has my Predator down to 2 wounds after his combat. I fall back with the tank 3" just so I can charge back in with it that turn.
I also charge my woods Intercessors into Bike Smasher. I'm trying to charge my Reivers into the far/high Eliminators, but this is when we discover the Grapnel Launcher limitation, so the Reivers are caught out in the open away from combat.
From here, in fighting, his Smashers wipe out my Intercessors and Predator, which does not explode, and he's able to gun down my Reivers with his remaining Eliminators and backfield Scouts for the table wipe.
His hidden squad of Scouts were on a point all game and did literally nothing else.
So, all in all a big fail of a battle today, but whatever. You can't expect a casual list like mine to stack up to a tournament-tailored one like his. It was still a lot of fun to roll some dice and push some models around and just chat the whole time.
I do have some ideas on how I can improve my list and play, but probably nothing that's going to hard counter a list like this one Will played today. And I'm not really all that interested in doing so, either.
Lessons learned:
Consolidate!
Change combat doctrines!
White Scars should get to Assault doctrine!
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