Turn 3 - Some Hope, But The Pain Just Won't Stop.
Chaos win the Initative, after I again roll a 1. Deciding to take the offensive, the Rhino retinue summoned Flamers (double 1), and went for a favorable engage against the Paladins, keeping everything outside counter-charge range. I moved my Paladins in, hoping for a second round. I was also able to get one stand of the 3 strong, 1BM Chosen formation into support range. Hey, what the heck. I roll first. 4x4+FS. Nada. 4x4+Normal, 1 hit, saved, naturally. Response is 6 hits. I roll 2 on each of the front guys first. 4 saves failed. Rerolled. Failed.  One hit on the remaining Paladin, and one hit on the Seneschal. 2 saves. Failed. Oh, come ON! Thankfully, both made it on the reroll. He had +2 for Size, I got it for BM's, he was up by 2 on casualties, I still had my Inspiring, so I'm down by 1. He rolls a 2 and a 3. I roll a 4! TIE GAME. He chooses not to countercharge, I do, but stupidly put myself in a position to be shot by all three Chosen. Now, with 6x4+ (2FS, 2MW, 2Norm), I manage to snuff two Rhinos. Woot! Return fire causes 8 hits, 4 to each of my surviving, but inevitably broken Paladins. Finally, luck happens, and I save all of them. The combat result has me up by 1! We both roll 3's, and I win the combat! Both retreat back. But I'm broken too, but fortune favours the bold, and I rush forward (as much to avoid the Feral and Armoured Comany behind me) to position for a rematch in 4th turn.
The Chosen activate, and choosing not to summon, break on the 2+ Initiative check. They fall back behind the Titan.
Squires double across to fire on the broken Rhino Retinue, killing a Flamer due to BM, and putting a decision into play with regards TSNP (Squires and Paladin A unbroken) and T&H (Squires covering the right Chaos Obj, Paladins covering the left).
TBolts A take a Void Shield off the Ravager. Land Raiders do the same to the Crusader, and TBolts B finishes out the trilogy on the Feral. This pays off when the Feral fails to activate, and with no visible targets, and an easy denial of TSNP for me, chooses to Rally. Success would have likely been a double that would have broken the Squires and denied me any chance for victory.
The Crusader activates, again requiring the urging of the Baron, wobbles a bit but makes the Walker test. Concerned about revealing himself to the Ravager, he works on securing the Knight Blitz for a possible DTF point. Firing on the Land Raiders, he's able to hit all with the template. Both Lascannons go wide, but two hits from the Quake Cannon cause one to explode. Yay me!
Activating the Ravager, he rampages the Titan over to Paladins A, and unleashes hell. The Deathstorms and Tail cause 3 hits. First Paladin survives. Two hits on the Baron. Makes one, takes one. Yeah! All I need is to save the TK hit on the first Paladin, and I can sprint to the Blitz for the game. Hold on, Critical for the Baron. 6. Crap! The first Paladin fails the TK hit anyway, but god damn!
With just the Wardens to activate, I consider going for DTF. Working out that it'd give me 1pt to 0pts, meaning a 4th turn regardless, I decided not to expose them to the Ravager's next activation, and instead directed them to break the Raiders. But they don't pay attention to me. Why should they? So I shuffled them into a position to maybe do something the following turn.
After failing to rally the Paladin B's, and having every single Chaos formation rally, and my inability to gain any points (the Squires were about to be savaged by the Feral and the Rhino Retinue, and the Wardens unable to reach the DTF, and with the ability to hit his own DTF without checks) and his ability to get two, and with time a factor (it was 11:30pm and the host's game finished and packed away), and rolling a 1 for Initative, I begrudgingly conceeded.
First game, effectively 2-0 loss in the 4th turn.
Morgan Vening
- Knightworld Sub-Champion
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