Seattle GT Game 5 – Immo’rahem vs Chaos

Seattle GT Game 5 – Immo’rahem vs Chaos



With one win, two losses and a tie under my belt, here I end up on the last row of tables. No way I’ll be taking home an sort of prizes this year. I didn’t in any of the previous years either, so no big whoop. My first day was full of close, hard fought games, but the rules dispute from Game 4 still has me a little rattled. I try to go in with a good outlook, because my opponent has probably had a disappointing run of games as well.



Here’s the Mission:





Here’s my opponent’s army list:



Jeff Bolhassen’s CSM, Seattle GT – Game 5



165 HQ – Daemon Prince w/Mark of Tzeentch, Warp Time, Doom Bolt

100 HQ – Greater Daemon

215 ELITE – 5 Terminators w/ 5 CombiMelta, 2 Champions each w/ Power Fist

255 ELITE – 5 Terminators w/ 4 CombiMelta, Reaper Autocannon, 3 Champions each w/ Power Fist

280 TROOP – 7 Noise Marines w/ 5 Sonic Blasters, 1 Blastmaster, Champion w/ Power Fist

185 TROOP – 6 Noise Marines w/ 5 Sonic Blasters, 1 Blastmaster

300 TROOP – 10 Thousand Sons, Sorceror w/ Doom Bolt in a Rhino

225 HEAVY – 3 Obliterators

150 HEAVY – 2 Obliterators

125 HEAVY - Vindicator



Un-optimized Chaos, only two tanks, old Obliterator models on the wrong sized bases, not everything painted… I can tell he’s had a rough time of it, since after we roll for deployment and he wins, he has to look up in the rule book where his deployment zone actually is.



That’s the worst thing about playing on the low tables late in a Tournament. Not the bad luck, crappy deployment which came back to bite you, or less than stellar tactics which got you there, but the opponents who don’t know the rules. I’m used to people not knowing the rules specifically about Sisters, which is why I include them on every army sheet. But when you don’t know the rules for your own army, or even worse the basic game is when the teeth grinding begins.



So he deploys his HQ and 2 Troops right on the mid line…



…with Noise marines in the adjacent building…



…and drives on his Vindicator and Rhino full of Thousand Sons.



At the end of his movement, the Noise marines in the large ruin find the random objective on his first die roll. If he bunkers up with his Terminators and Obliterators I’m screwed.



Bottom of turn 1, and I drive everything (except Al’Rahem’s Outflankers) on…



…and pop smoke.





Top of 2, and he repositions toward the Objective Ruin.





Bottom of 2, and I drive close enough to burn a couple Noise Marines with 2 out of 3 Immolators, but Al’rahem doesn’t show up.





Top of 3, and one of his units of Terminators Mishaps, so I place them as far away from the Objective as I can,





The two units of Obliterators come in spot-on, as does the Greater Daemon which jumps out of the Rhino leaving the Thousand Sons without a Sorceror.





Obliterator Shooting from one unit explodes an Immolator, leaving two Melta Celestians alive in the crater.



Then he opens fire with the other Obliterators, wounding both Celestians.



I sigh, “Well, at least they get a cover save” while reaching for my dice.



“No they don’t.” he says “I shot you with plasma, they’re dead.”



“Craters provide 4+ cover.” I respond.



This then derails the game for five minutes as we look up precisely where in the rule book it says that craters left by exploded vehicles grant a 4+ cover save. (No, I’m not going to tell you the page, look it up yourself) He finally agrees, and I make both armor saves.



Bottom of turn 2, and here comes revenge…





I open fire with the Immolator on top of the felt crater, putting a wound on one unit of Obliterators which went unsaved. To finish them off I shoot with the two Celestians on foot. Both hit, but one rolls a 1 to wound. He starts to remove the wounded model.



“Hey,” I said urbanely, “you have to remove the unwounded model.”



“What? Show me where it says that” he says, while reaching for his rulebook.



OK, I might just possibly, maybe in some parallel universe believe that with only two vehicles in your army you honestly didn’t know craters provide cover, but if you’re trying to tell me that in the four games you’ve already played this weekend, the concept of Instant Death removing unwounded models first never came up even once before now? SERIOUSLY?!?



…which is what I wanted to say, but I managed to hold my tongue for the few minutes it took while he looked up the information.



Another two Meltas took out the other pair of Obliterators, and the Noise marines bunkered down in the Objective passed every save. So, I charged into the last Obliterator and started up a faith tarpit.





Top of turn 3, and here come the last of his reserves



The Terminators open fire into the Immolator right in front of them, blowing it up while killing two ISTs in the process. His Vindicator opens fire, deviates away from the targeted tank, and kills the two Celestians in combat with the Obliterator, which made its invulnerable save.



Bottom of 3, and Al’rahem comes in on the far table edge away from the objective…



…while I drive into the objective to try and evict the Daemon Prince and Noise marines.



The lone Obliterator and Vindicator die to Melta fire, but Noise Marines seem amazingly resistant to flames. I did manage to put two wounds on his Daemon Prince, though.

The Terminators don’t fare too well against IST Plasma, losing three.





Top of four, and it’s time for the Noise Marines, Terminators and Daemon Prince to get up close and personal with some Immolators



The Terminators fail to do anything to the IST Immolator, and the Noise Marines are too interested in engaging the Canoness in combat to harm her ride, but the Dominion Immolator gets ripped in two by the Daemon Prince, and three Dominions fall out.





Bottom of four, and the IG abandoned on the flank manage to kill three Terminators with their shooting, causing them to fail Ld and run towards them (Must be traitor Black Templars)…



…while IST Plasma sees the remaining Terminators off this mortal coil…



…and the empty HQ Immolator fails to Tank Shock the Thousand Sons off the objective while the Canoness prepares for another game of ‘Tarpit’ and combined Melta fire finally sees off the Daemon Prince, and those stubborn Noise Marines somehow manage to pass every cover or armor save that comes their way.





Top of five and the traitor Black Templar jog past the IG…



…as Thousand Sons and the Greater Daemon invade the Objective Ruin.





The Canoness manages to stay alive and tarpit for another round





Bottom of turn five, and the IG shoot flashights at the Terminators until they die





I manage to kill some Noise Marines at last, and a couple Thousand Sons, but with my Chimreas full of Meltas rushing to my aid, this is how it looks at the end of the turn:





We roll to see if the game continues… and it ends. Another tie.



Overall record: One Win, Two Losses, and Two Ties.



Time for the forensic of what worked, and what didn’t. In comments below.