Hard Boys Semifinals Battle Report from

I have a nice little Gem here for you today. Lance Cooper, who has started a new blog about his 40k exploits and his winning of a place at the Chicago Hard Boys Finals by winning round two, has send me his battle report so far. Here is the link! And yes, I mean to say Hard Boys,not 'ard Boys. I'm not a stinking xenos.

He thanked Fritz and I directly for our posts on 40k in the 5th dimension and "Thinking out side the 40k box". I am personally flattered that I inspired his great achievement! Though, I would say that Fritz deserves most of the credit. Any way, I asked Lance to write up a nice report on his list, his tactics and what he won... so without further ado...

From Lance Cooper:

Hey Jawa here is the batte report I promised you. Thnx alot for all your help...


For this years 2009 Ard Boyz Semi-Finals I went to kitchener waterloo. I heard some rumors of a massive cheese cloud raining down over this area so I was a little worried. I knew that the cheese would be in full force today. I knew that I was prepared though. I did my research on the missions. I practiced each mission at least 20-30 times and I had a solid game plan for anything that could be thrown at me.




My List:




HQ 1 - Farseer Total = 185
Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stonee, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

HQ 2 - Farseer Total = 170
Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

Elite 1 - 10 Howling Banshee's Total = 297
Exarch W/ Executioner, Acrobatic
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 2 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 3 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Troop 1 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 1)

Troop 2 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 2)

Troop 3 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 3)

Heavy Support 1 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 2 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 3 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones




Round 1: Marines




Cassius
Librarian W/ Avenger and infinity Gate
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, Plasma Cannon, Flamer in a razorback
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, M Launcher, Flamer in Rhino
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, M launcher, flamer in Rhino
5 sniper scouts
5 sniper scouts
5 scouts W/ melta bomb
5 assault termies in land raider
techmarine
dreadnought W Multi-melta and storm bolter
5 assault marines W/ Storm Shield in drop pod
land speeder storm W multi-melta

2 land speeders W/ 2 heavy bolters each
vindicator
vndicator
predator annihilator W/ T-L lascannon and las cannon sponses



When I first seen this list I gave my head a shake. I could get my head around it. On paper it's not very scary, and it was about the same on the board. The person playing it was new to the game so I understand. He was a great guy though, and we had a fun game. When he seen I was playing a double council list I he told me he knew it was over, but he still fought the good fight and we had a great game because of it.




Mission: This was a kill point mission with a few things being changed.. HQ = 1 Troops = 3 Elite/fast/heavy = 2.




Dice off: I won the roll and let him go first.




His Deployment: He deployed using most of his side of the table. He left the drop pod, in reserve with the assault squad both his Hqs and the techmarine in it.




My Deployment: I threw both my councils on the board and my three wave serpents. I made sure I deployed on his weak flank because he made the mistake of spreading out against a fast army, because of this I knew how this game would end.




Turn 1: He dropped his Drop Pod in front of one of my seer councils. He also moved his land speeder storm W/ 5 scouts up to help back up the drop pod. He used his scout move to get the Land Speeder a little closer so he was in charge range turn 1. He Targeted my council ( no fortune up yet ) with everything in the drop pod and manged to kill 5 of them. He had two flamers and also avengers his AP3 flamer. I will admit it hurt. He then charged me with his scout hoping to tie me up for one turn so that the drop pod marines can charge me, but I wiped out the Scouts with my witch blades. He took some pot shots at my skimmers but was unable to do anything.




My turn 1: I fortuned up both my squads and moved into charge ranged of his drop pod. I sent the Wave serpent with the Fire dragons closer to his Land Raider. I moved the full 24' and got right in front of it so that next turn he would be unable to get the distance to back up Cassius with his assault marines. I then moved the wave serpent with the banshees 24” and it was right behind that. My goal was to use the dragons to pop the raider then use the banshess to kill the termie goodness inside. I used the other wave serpent to go after his lone predator annihilator. I also went flat out with this Wave Serpent. In the assault phase I charged into the marines that came out of the drop pod. I also charged the land speeder storm and drop pod in a triple assault because everything was close enough to do so. I managed to pop both the Land Speeder and the drop pod. I killed all 5 assault marines and the libraian but Cassius was still standing there laughing at me with his FNP. He took his Fearless wound and still held. I was happy with this out come though because now my seers could not be shot at next turn.




Turn 2: He knew his Termies would not get into range to back up Cassius so he made the choice to get out of his Land Raider and charge the two Wave Serpents in front of him. I put them there for that exact reason so I did not mind. He did very little moving other then that. During his shooting he put everything he had into my 3 wave serpents but the luck of the Dice gods would not let me fail a 4+ cover save. After charging with his Hammer Termies He blew up my Fire Dragons Wave Serpent. I was not to worried because better he kill a wave serpent then tie up my seers all game. Also in the assault I managed to finish off Cassius.




My turn 2: I fortuned both my seers and doomed his termi squad. The banshee's smiled with delight. I made the choice to just go flat out with my small seer squad because it was missing 5 warlocks already. Its new job was to keep going flat out till I got close to a tank. The full seer squad went 24' towards his scouts to cook them up with some ap4 flamers. The banshee's got out of the Wave Serpent and ran towards the doomed termies. I then moved the Wave Serpent behind the termies so if I wipe them out this turn I wont get sniped by his scouts or have a plasma cannon shot on my head. The Fire Dragons moved up to the Land Raider and the other fire dragon squad got out of the wave serpent to blow up his predator annihilator. The Land Raider got blown up as well as the predator annihilator. The banshees managed to kill one of his termies in shooting so I was feeling better about my odds against his massive 3+ inv. Them being doomed helped a lot though because I managed to get in just enough wounds that I wiped the squad. I used my D6 to get close behind the wave serpent I placed there so I would get a cover save from his vindicators and plasma.




Turn 3: He was running out of choices. He shot his Vindicators and scatters off. His plasma could not see the banshees and did nothing to the serpent. His scouts could not see the banshees so he kill the Fire dragons that killed his Land Raider.




My Turn 3: I fortuned up and doomed both his scout squad. All 3 of my Falcons come on the board. I move them each on 12' and shoot the Pulse Lasers at the dreadnought managing to pop it. The banshee's got back in the Wave Serpent and the fire Dragons followed suit. The big seer council went after the scouts to flame them to death. The small seers went after the vindicators. I made the choice to detatch my Farseer so I can go after both at the same time. 1 did not move at all so I made the choice to put the farseer on him because I would be auto hitting and glancing on a 1+. The other one I would need 4+s to hit so I figured having 2 warlocks would give me 6 attacks on the charge. Not bad odds. I moved my wave serpents behind cover best I can and make my charges on the vindicators blowing both of them up I killed both of his scout squads using my destructors

After turn 3 he soot my hand and said good game. He figured there was no point on going any further. I got 24 points from this Round.




Round 2: Marines

Lysadner
Libraian W/ Null Zone and gate of infinity in termi armour W/ storm Shield
10 man tax squad W/ meltagun, muli-melta, power first, combi-flamer in a rhino
10 man scout squad W/ power fist camo cloaks and combi melta
8 man scout squad W/ power first camo claks and combi melta
7 man assault squad in Land raider crusader
7 man assault squad in Land raider crusader
venerable dreadnought W/ heavy Flamer, Multa Melta in a drop pod
7 man devisator squad W/ 3 missile launcher 1 lascannon




I felt bad this round because this was a friend of mine from my Local Club. He managed to come in 2nd at the first Round of Ard Boyz and I was hoping he did well again. We practiced this mission a few times together and we both knew how it would end. He was upset that he drew me for this Mission.




Mission: 6 Objectives are placed on the board. On turn 2 , 4 , 6 you roll a D6 whatever number the D6 is that is one of the REAL objectives for the end of the game. The secondary is Kill Points. The Deployment is also Dawn of War with Night Fight the whole game.




Objective Placement: I placed the first Objective in the right side of the table in the far back. He placed one on his side pretty close to the middle of the board 12” out. I then placed the next one 24” to the left of my first one. He placed his next one 12” away from his first. I then placed my last one 24' away from the middle objective on my side and he placed his 12” away from his 2nd. I commented on his nice placement being a slower army. My goal for my objectives was simple. If I keep two Falcons on the middle objective most of the game they will be able to reach either objective in a single turn of moving but the objectives would be to far away for him to have any chance of making it to two of mine if two happen to be the real ones.




Dice Off: He won the roll and forced me to take first turn knowing how much I love 2nd turn.




My Deployment: I place nothing on the board and reserve everything in Dawn of War Reserve.




His deployment: He also places nothing on the board places his 2 scout squads in normal reserve and then the rest in Dawn of War Reserve His Drop pod would come down on turn 1.




My Turn 1: I knew I had to split up his land raider some how. I had to pull off some sneaky tricks for sure. I places a fire dragon Wave Serpent on each flank both moving up 18” to get the cover save. I moved my Banshee's Wave Serpent 24' right in the middle. I put a falcon on each side of the banshee's about 8' away from the banshee's Wave Serpent. I then put a seer council spread out one on the left and one on the right. I used the other falcon to fill in a random cap so it looks like I would be using most of the table to attack. My goal here was that he would see a seer on each side and place a Land Raider on each side to tie them up a good 4-5 turns with his termis. I also knew that with Null Zone up I was going to have a hard time if those Raiders stayed together.




His turn 1: He dropped his pod on one of his objectives and got out. He moved his devistators into cover and brought the land raiders on one on each side just as I hoped he would. To make it worse for him he managed to immobilize The Land Raider with Lysander in it. A huge Smile came on my face because that single dice changed the whole game. For the rest of the game I knew I would ignore that Land Raider. He took some shots but was out of range because of the Night Fight.




Dice Roll for objective: It was a 6. The bottom Right objective on my side. This made me very happy.




My turn 2: I fortune up and doom and start to move everyone to the right side where the Libraian's Land Raider is. The goal was to Swarm his squad with both seers and the banshees to try to wipe them out before any of them can attack and then I can get rid of Null Zone once and for all. I moved up 24” with all my skimmers placing them in a line so I can put my seers behind it and not get assault by his termies. Passed the turn




his turn 2: His reserves did not come on the board. He moved up his Raider and got out to assault. He was hoping to pop one of the skimmers to make a whole big enough to charge threw. He used his raider to spot light the Wave Serpent with Fire Dragons in it, but after shooting almost everything he had into it he could just not get past the 4+ cover. He said screw it and charged the skimmers having nothing else to do. He also made the choice to Lysander and his termies out of his Land Raider and started heading towards my objective. He failed to get his Null Zone up thnx to WOW.




My turn 3: I managed to get both my fortunes off but both doom's got denied by his Hood. Now with no Doom I figured my banshee's might not be worth going into that squad. He would just use them to tie or win combat and try to run me down. I made the choice to go 24' towards his dev squad with my wave serpent instead. My Fire Dragons got out and went move toward the Land Raider and popped it.. I then moved my Wave Serpent out of the way so both my seers can double team his termies. I moved my councils in a line so that my Farseers where in the very back of the pack about 8” away from his models but 2” away from mine so that they would be in my warlocks unit still but be unable to make the assault. This way I would not have to worry about failing a unlucky save and get insta killed. I used my 3 falcons to try to pop his Rhino but no luck. I managed to bring his Termi squad to just the Libraian and one termi. He is stubborn from Lysander though so makes his test with a 3. He was unable to kill any of my warlocks.




His turn 3: Both his scouts come in and try to pop my Wave Serpent the banshee's with there melta + charge but failed to do so. He moved his Lysadner and friends closer to my objective. At this Rate he would be there by turn 6. He then tried to use gate of infinity to get out of close combat with my Council. After a short convo I said lets just let the judge make the choice because ½ the people in the world say you can and ½ the people in the world say you cant. I'm one of the you cant people simply because other ability's like that “ you can use this to leave combat “. The Judge said ya you can so I left it at that and was not to worried. He used his gate to start going toward the objective just like Lyander and friends did. Lucky for me he got a 9 inch scatter coming back at my units. I use my consolidate to move closer to his termies again. He used his dead to move a little closer to my banshee Wave Serpent. I knew that if the banshee's got out he would tie them up with his dead for the rest of the game. He moved his rhino up closer to my seers and was going to rapid fire next turn. Null Zone fails again.




Turn 4 Dice off. A 4. This was the far left objective on my side. This was going perfect for me.




My turn 4: Fortune goes off one one council ( the full one ), but not the other one. Doom goes off on the termi squad. I got out of my Wave Serpent with my with my banshee's and start moving in for an assault on the dev squad. My Dragons get out close to his Dreadnought. I knew I had to pop this Dreadnought or I would be tied up with my S3 the whole game. Lucky for me I popped it and was a happy camper. I moved two of my Falcons in front of the Lysander Squad so they would either have to charge them or go around them. At this rate they would not make it to the objective by turn 6. I used my other falcon to hold the objective on the far left. I moved the other fire dragon wave serpent to try get in the way next turn. I circled his Rhino with my non full seers and use my other seers to go after the pesky libraian and friends. In the assault I charge the dev squad leaving one behind and he makes his Leadership because of stubborn. I managed to kill the Librarian I also popped the Rhino with a 5 and his troops had no where to go. So they got destroyed.




His turn 4: He used one of his scouts squads to kill the fire dragons and brought the other scout squad In to help against the banshees. With the luck of the dice he managed to kill the banshee's off but I finished off the last dev squad member and a couple scouts. Lysander and friends popped a Falcon and stunned the other one ( thank you spirit stones ) My 5 Dire Avengers got out of the Falcon.




My turn 5: I brought the seer council that popped the Land Raider closer to his 3 objectives ( with 4 objectives being able to be the real one there was a 75% chance that one of them would be one of his ) I wanted to make sure that he was unable to get it just in case he ended up getting Lysadner to that other objective to contest and try to tie it. I moved the Wave Serpent one inch in front of lysander and friends and I did the same with the other Falcon. My Mighty 5 Dire Avengers moved and ran to the objective being about 1 inch away from it now. I use the full Seer council to go after Lysadner and would be on him next turn.




His turn 5: he spread his scout out enough that maybe he could get lucky and grab one of the objectives I was now about 19' away from both so would not get the assault. I was planning on just sitting on whatever objective it was on turn 6 if it was on his side.




Turn 6 Dice off: A 2 comes up. It was on his side but with my seers in contest range we called it because he would be unable to make it to the objective that my 5 Dire Avengers held or the far left one that my Falcon held.




I ended this with 22 Points.




Round 3: Dark Eldar




I was not looking forward to this Mission. I practiced it at least 30 times and about ½ of those it ended up in a tie or a minor win. I was pretty upset about this mission to say the least.




Archon
Dracite W/ 8 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night Shield
9 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night shield
9 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night shield
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
3 Reavers W/ 2 blasters
5 Reavers W/ 2 blasters succubus
Raveager W/ 3x disintegrators, night shield
Raveager W/ 3x disintegrators, night shield
Raveager W/ 3x Dark Lances, night shield




Mission: There is a single Objective in the middle. The Deployment is Spear head and the secondary is Table Quarters.




Dice Off: he wont he Dice off and forced me to go first.




My deployment: I placed all my skimmers as far up as I could. This is one of the few times that my skimmers would be able to pop tanks like no Armor 10 open topped does not last long against a lot of str 6 and 8 shots. I placed my seers behind the skimmers and waited to see what he would do.




His deployment: He put his all his foot slogging troop choices and his bikes on the board. He also put his 3 heavy support skimmers and1 wyche raider on the board. He reserved 3 skimmers total.




My turn 1. I moved up 12 with all my skimmers to shoot one gun each. I fortuned up with my seers and moved 24” towards his warriors ( 4+ save vs AP 4 flamers = BBQ ). In the shooting phase I managed to take down Two Raveagers and one Raider. All in all I was happy with the resault.




His turn 1: He had Dark lances of Doom coming at me. I was pretty scared but he was getting all 1s 2s and 3s. I was a lucky camper for sure. His shooting phase ended with killing nothing.




My turn 2: my seers where both in range to kill warrior squads. I managed to flame one of the squads to death with Doom up on them but the funny part is I also killed the Raider behind them with my flamers. First time for everything I guess. The other seer council managed to wipe out a warrior squad also. This council was 1 inch in cover ( funny story for later ) I also moved up all 6 of my skimmers to the middle making a wall of skimmers in the middle so he would have to go threw them before he had a chance of getting to them. I managed to shoot down the rest of his skimmers and also his 3 man reaver squad.




His turn 2: All his reserves came on and he was planning on assaulting me with both his witch squads. He was about 2 inchs away with both squads after his fleet so I figured I should get ready for an assault on my seers. He uses his Bright Lances to stun two of my Wave Serpents and goes flat out with two of his Raiders far enough away that I was unable to do anything. His Larger squad of bikes shot at the seer council killing 2 of them. During his assault he rolls DT for both squads and comes up with double ones on each leaving him 1 inch out of assault range. Today the dice gods where on my side.




My turn 3: I doom up both of the wyches and move in with my flamers. I wipe them both out as well as the other bike squad and shoot into his new Raiders that came on the board with my pulse lasers but do nothing. He now has 1 wych squad, one warrior squad and two full warrior squads in Raiders left on the board.




His turn 3: he manages to get his Wytch squad into combat with my seers council ( they have the always go first power ). He goes and managed to bring me down to the farseer and 2 warlocks. I hit back and killed ½ of them. My farseer only having one wound left on him after this combat I knew something had to be done.




My turn 4: I back up the seer council in combat with my other seer council managing to wipe them out. I used all my skimmers to finish of his foot slogging Warrior Squad.




The rest of the game he just kept going flat out with his other Two Raiders. I managed to kill one but not both...




I got 23 Points for this round










After all 3 round I had 69 points. I took 1st place.




2nd Place had 68 points. He was playing Battle Wagon Orcs. 3rd Place had 57 Points and was playing Double Lash Chaos.




Final Thoughts: I had a great day of gaming, and managed to sneak out of there with a free 2.5k Army of my choice from GW Thanks to my 1st place win. Im looking forward to the Finals in Chicago and will have Videos and pic next time ( Camera was orderedlast week. )




Respect: I would like to say thank you to my friends Jon and Mike. I don't think I would have done as well as I did with out there help. Mike sat down with me countless nights practicing each mission with me so I would be ready for this Round of Ard Boyz. Jon is a math wiz and went over alot of the what ifs with me. Spitting out % and everything so I would have a good idea of what I should stay away from. For this I thank both of you.




GW will be sending me my Free 2.5k Army in the mail and im hoping to get it in a few weeks. Sadly they only allow you to pick the Race and a Theme though. I cant complain though Free is Free. I told them I wanted Flying IG so im hoping to get few valks.




Thnx for reading and I hope you enjoyed my coverage of This years Semi-finals.


Image source: http://api.ning.com/