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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report  Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:38 pm |
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Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:00 pm
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Location: Suffolk, United Kingdom
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I didn't do very well in this game, losing 3-0.  I did all the classic things wrong: over committing formations too early (bad enough as I'd spread my formations so thinly), forgetting how many formations Bill still had to play (I focussed on shifting his garrisons).
Also, I should have used my Warlord far more aggressively. There was nothing in Bill's army which could really do a significant ammount of (shooting) damage to it, and its weapons really took their toll on infantry - when shooting at formations not in cover.
And when I teleported the Terminators, I should have gone for Bill's blitz objective (defended by a relatively small Trappaz formation), rather than on to one of my own - a turn later they were broken by a combined assault/fire-fight/shooting whammy from three formations! They weathered this well, considering how outnumbered they were! 
So the biggest lessons I learned from this game:
- when facing horde armies with a relatively small force, don't spread your formations too thinly.
- Don't be afraid to be aggressive with resiliant, well armed formations like Warlords or Terminators.
The pic below shows how the game ended - what remained of my initial lined, pretty well surrounded or broken!
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:42 pm |
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My next game was against Joe Stephson's superbly painted Eldar force. I was determined to draw upon my mistakes in the last battle, so I deployed my formations so they were close enough to support each other. Also, I was fearful of losing my Warlord early on to Eldar firepower (pulse & lance weapons), so I deployed behind a hill and buildings.
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:47 pm |
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Location: Suffolk, United Kingdom
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:51 pm |
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By the end of the third (and final) turn this picture shows all I had left. Joe controlled pretty much all the objectives - and nearly got the Warlord, which was limping off the battlefield having been broken and with only ONE damage point left after taking fire from several formations!
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:58 pm |
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Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:00 pm
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So after two battles I had only 9 points to my name! ?
I learned from that battle how deadly Eldar fire-power is, and also another classic lesson:
When facing armies with lots of firepower, don't deploy formations IN their transports! ?Because of this I lost a Tactical formation to MW pulse shots in one go. ?Ouch! ?
My final battle was against David Bartley's Space Marines. ?David hadn't been having a much better day than me, though I think this was less to do with inexperience and inability (as in my case) than to what he described as 'bad dice karma'.
Once again, I did badly. ?AGAIN I over-committed formations too early, and on the first turn lost my Supreme Commnder-led Tactical formation to a combined assault of Thunderhawk-dropped assault formations, Landspeeders, and a fire-fighting Tactical formation, as the pic below shows.
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:59 pm |
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So once again the pile of dead quickly mounted!
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:13 pm |
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My biggest mistake in this game was that I simply forgot to take in to account the formations which weren't on the board. David's Thunderhawk, even after it had dropped its two formations of Assault Marines, was a constant thorn in my side (not helped that I couldn't seem to roll anything other than a 3 for my Hunter's AA shots  - what was that about Bad Dice Karma?  ).
To be honest, I did this with all three games - I feel I need to learn to have a bit of foresight about what formations my opponent still has to play, and keep this in mind BEFORE I activate my formations.
Also, David pointed out that I was making a mistake by retaining initiative - which I did frequently. As I had so few formations, when I retained I'd used up my activations in two-three moves, and then had to sit and take everything my opponent could throw at me - without having any kind of response.
In any case, the tournament was a great event - I had a great time even if I did so badly!  There was a nice, friendly atmosphere, and the level of sportsman-ship was very high. I've been to GW tournaments where things can be a bit tense, people can take a bit too seriously, which creates a bit of an atmosphere. But there was none of this at this tournament.
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:17 pm |
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The tournament was eventually won by Nathan Hoole (on the left here), who was playing Marines, whose final match against David Thomas (another marine player) was very close, going right to a draw. ?As you can see from the pic, this game required both players' total concentration!
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:20 pm |
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There were some extremely well painted armies there, too. Here's Matt Otter's Marines, which were nicely detailed:
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:22 pm |
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Another impressive Marine army, these belong to Matt Philpott (who came Third place in total). Obviously a fan of the new Warhounds!
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firestorm40k
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Post subject: Full Scale Assault Tournament - Firestorm's report Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:24 pm |
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Finally, here's Joe Stephson's fantastic Eldar. Quite deservedly, this won the Best Army award!
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But he was very sporting and patience, helping me get to grips - and through this first game!