Vanquish is probably the largest tournament event in the region, and certainly is one of the best, I can honestly say the terrain and tables they provide are the best I've ever had the pleasure to game on - far far better then anything to be found at the GW HQ even, there is'nt random terrain, the tables are themed and the quality of the painting on them puts many of the armies to shame with an unrivaled attention to detail. This combined with a great atmosphere, some great players and good organisation - I won't say great because I think admittedly there were a few glitches especially in the last round where I was moved twice before finally getting in my game - makes for a brilliant event, one of the best.
I fielded my Guard List B, as I took to PAW and the GT Final earlier in the year.
Game 1 -
Dawn of War, Annilation
I had the pleasure to play against the Spiky Clubs James Karch with his beautifully painted Space Wolves which went on to win best painted at the event, the list included a Wolf Lord with Wolf Guard Terminator Bodyguard, a Dreadnought, three units of Grey Hunters with Rune Priests all in Drop Pods.
Giving him first turn I deployed nothing instead arriving in full on turn one to face his Terminators and two units of Grey Hunters, I took out most of the nearer squad of Grey Hunters while the Roughriders with a little Fire Support wiped out the Terminators, though crucially not the Wolf Lord. With the arrival of a second unit of Grey Hunters he then proceaded to tackle my Infantry successfully wiping out my left hand deployment over the course of the game.
However with the failiure of the remaining unit of Grey Hunters to reach my tanks and remaining Infantry he was left unable to reach my left hand deployment without exposing himself to significant fire given he was effectively now a foot slogging force, the Dreadnought arrived though it did'nt last long and with his remaining Infantry going to ground I set about targetting his pods. Thanks to the game going on to a full 7 turns I was able to take out just about all of them resulting in a final score of 11KPs to 10 in my favour.
Game 2 -
Spearhead, Cleanse (Yes the old 3rd/4th Edition Table Quarter Capture Mission)
Embassressingly I can't remember much about my second game, except that I was playing against a nicely themed Crimson Fist's force with Cantor some Assault Terminators and a number of basic Marines Squads in transports.
It was a close run thing right through the game, helped along by exploding tanks my Infantry took a real pounding, however so did his. Both our own table quarters were contested his my by Valkyrie, mine by his Terminator Assault unit bearing down on some rather scared looking Veterans (whose eventual survival scored me a secret objective bonus), that to the right of me was contested with two mauled squads of Infantry facing off against a Marine Combat Squad, however to the left a plucky Guardsman too many had survived and was unopposed winning me the quarter and the game.
UPDATE - Had an email from Tom the chap behind the army (hello!), I missed off the Sternguard Veterans from his list of unit, they met a slightly sticky end at the end of some Hunting Lances before they could do too much damage leaving Cantor alone, it's still rather hazey I'm afraid, being a little while back now, but I seem to remember Cantor then laughed off several Lascannon and Plasma shots only to be brough down by a lone Lasgun, though of course the game was far from over then! Thanks for the great game Tom!
Game 3 -
Pitched Battle, Recon (Yes another of the old 3rd/4th Edition Missions, this time with the aim of getting into your opponents table quarter)
My opponent for this game was from the other local Club to me, Mark Packer-Hughes of Ryga's Roughnecks with Tyranids, not perhaps exactly what a Guardsman would want to advance towards! With a couple of big units of Gaunts, one of Hormagaunts who outflanked, three units of two Zonathropes, two in pods, a Tervigon and a Hive Tyrant with two Guard and a big unit of Gargoyles I was'nt I'll admit particularly confident, despite gaining first turn. However despite the Veterans fluffing on a unit of Zonathropes the total destruction of the Gargoyles by a combination of Tank and Mortar fire was a good start, over the following turns he pushed hard on my right flank but I was able to repel the Gaunts as they approached, finally intercepting the last of one unit with Roughriders, the Hormagaunts arrived taking an infantry squad and going to ground in a building from where I was then unable to shift them as the Tervigon advanced though critcally at a slow pace, throughout the game the Zonathropes tried in vain to bust open my tanks, but through a combination of bad luck on my opponents part including a silly number of Perils of the Warp Tests (though I dont think they actually resulted in any wounds) and rapid counter strikes from myself I only ended up losing weapons from my tanks.
By the late stages of the game my Infantry on the left was in full advance one squad already in his deployment zone courtasy of the Valkyrie with three more on foot close behind my Heavy Weapons having finished off the Hive Tyrant (allowing me to complete my Vanquish Secret Objective of wiping out his HQs while keeping my own alive) the game ended on turn 5 with one unit in each zone, turn 6 would probably have continued the draw with the Tervigon and one of my Infantry units both unopposed, turn 7 alas would have seen a win for me with the other two units arriving. However I certainly have no complaints, pulling a draw in a mission which I considered difficult at the best of times for Guard, even more so against Tyranids was an unexpected bonus!
Game 4 -
Spearhead, Capture & Control
Day two started with me facing off against a fairly balanced Chaos Marine list with two units of mounted Plague Marines, one of Berzerks in a Landraider a Daemon Prince with Lash and a couple of units of Obliterators. With first turn things started well the Veterans blowing the Landraider to pieces, though I lost both them and the Valkyrie in return, however there in I faced an unstopable Rhino, the Plague Marine occupants piled out of it to secure his base while the Berserks jump aboard and I simply could'nt stop it, knocking off the Storm Bolter and eventually immobilising it but by then it was already too late, assisted by my exploding Demolisher (it killed more of my own men then his!) my Infantry were cut to shreds and all posibility of denying him his quarter evaporated as I struggled to hold onto mine, placing rapidly dwindling numbers of guardsmen in a defensive position, forgoing shooting which would of been desoltory in favour of moving to stall him I was almost able too stall him, however a last victorious combat saw him sweep into contesting range with a couple of units (and to be honest by this point I only had two understrength units left), the game ended with a painful loss for me but I drew consolation if actually having anything left on the board! My inability to stall his Rhino a turn or two earlier definately cost me the game, though it's immpossible to say how exactly it would have panned out had I managed it, I suspect perhaps a draw at best still.
Game 5 -
Pitched Battle, Seize Ground
My final opponent was the Traitor Guard of Nick Cox, the same Traitor army which won Best Painted at the UK GT Heat 3 earlier in the year. I must admit to having been critical of it in the past on account that there are a few rough edges where things are'nt assembled properly such as the Valkyrie canopies, however I can't reinforce how lovely an army it is overal beautifully painted and converted and well deserving of the award and praise it has recieved. It was a pleasure to face it across the table and Nick is a brilliantly fun opponent to play against, I do hope I have the pleasure of a rematch one day!
I deployed in almost full force with just my Valkyrie with the Veterans outflanking, Nick meanwhile held much of his army in reserve, only a few infantry squads deployed in buildings, on turn two the first of these came crashing down the squad inside quickly cut down while my Mortars plugged away at another unit, however on his turn two reinforcements started to arrive, my Valkryie was immoblised by his Vendetta the Veterans smashed by Banewolf and Veterans, while his Leman Russ and Hydra began to chew on my Infantry, my return fire was similarly effective the Hydra blown to pieces and his Valkyrie and Banewolf immobilised (at this point there were three Immobilished vehicles in a space less then 1 foot square), the Medusa and his Valkyrie with a Special Weapons Squad arrived the following turn more Infantry died and one unit of Roughriders was sent running as we both started pushing towards the objectives, in the center two units contested one in a building one outside, one objective was securely mine, another held by his Veterans and a lay open, I was able to cut down his Veterans with my second unit of Roughriders while four Guardsmen then moved ot hold it before being countered by the arrival of his Pyskers, as I pushed for the forth his Valkyrie with the Special Weapons Squads swooped in and took despite being shot down (opps I forgot to run :( ), unopposed the Special Weapons Squad was able to spend a turn taking pot shots on my suad contesting the central objective, one last casualty forced a test on them which I promptly failed at which point we ran out of time, it could have gone onto turn 7, though I doubt at that point I could of changed the outcome, though I was able to succead in my final secret objective by defending my deployment area with a Heavy Support choice uncontested).
It was a brilliant fast paced, fun, friendly and quite bloody way to finished the weekend, though actual VPs on both sides were quite low as the only things to die were mostly cheap infantry - gota love Guard on Guard!
In the end with two wins, a draw, and three of my five 'secret objectives' (additional cards of which one could be played each game, successfully completing giving you a bonus point) left me with 12pts overal putting me in 23rd place overal in a field of 67, not earth shattering, but enough to make me happy!
More pictures and the full results can be found on the Bristol Vanguard Website HERE.
Next up fighting on the home turf at Exeter Legionary!
Bring it on!
2 comments:
Thanks for the write up mate, it was very interesting. I too was lucky enough to play Nick, what a lovely guy eh?
It was a shame I didn't get to face you, maybe next time!
No worries, Nick is indeed a great chap!
Yeah theres always next year, I can guarantee I'll be back!
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