W00T! My second game!

It was a team game… my ally was Joe, playing Dark Angels. My opponents were Ryan and Jim, both fielding what ended up to be very mean and shooty Tau.

While me and my fellow space marine lost in actual ‘victory points’ I learned a LOT and had great fun.

A quick synopsis and lessons learned from the battle…

• The 3 man squad of Tau XV-88 broadsides with with shield drones and rail guns HURT. Between the other shooty units doing some damage and the 6 railgun hits (AP1/2) my assault squad wasn’t able to close into assault after deep striking in. I’m not sure how to counter this and need to think this through.
• I need to bring a regular tape measure…the fabric one I have isn’t great for 40k.
• I need to write my name on all my stuff…when theres 12 players all with rulebooks and gear out, it can get a bit confusing.
• Dreadnoughts are slow and while tough, haven’t been relevant until late game when the tide is already not in my favor. I need to either drop-pod them in and hope they survive an enemy round of shooting… and/or order the lucius pattern drop pod from Forgeworld.
• The contemptor patter dreadnoughts 5+ shooty invulnerable saved ended up being worth it!
• When I WAS able to charge into assault with my assault marines…the Tau dropped like flies.
• I purchased a $12 brand new combination blast/spray template, put it in my back pocket, then sat down. I now have 1 template in two pieces. :/
• I still need to study assault rules & vehicle rules. I have movement and shooting phases more or less down (although I still have to ask for opponents toughness and think for 5-10 seconds on to wound roles in the shooting phase.

My first game of war hammer 40K! I went on down to At Ease Games in Poway. I entered the league for $10 (although not sure what being in the league means?) and was matched against Chris, who was running a mech heavy space marines list. (Thank you Chris for your patience and teaching me the basics of 40K!)

As this was my first game, I lost BADLY. I was tabled at the top of turn 5. Here are some of my lessons learned:

• Holding 70% of my army in reserve for deep strike, even with descent of angels, was a bad idea. (I kept on failing on my reserve roles)
• Remember to roll for ‘red thirst’
• When deep striking, you have to do it well away from cover and the table edge… and your squad arrives in a nicely packed group that fits nicely under the large blast template (not good). Sanguinary priests are more of a must here.
• My ‘shooty’ terminators weren’t so great against assault terminators.
• To hit is easy to remember.
• I’m starting to understand/remember the ‘to wound’ chart in my head but not the toughness of all the models.
• I need to study the assault rules at length.
• The ‘Master of the Forge’ and ‘Vulcan’ (need to look up in more detail) hurt me badly.
• Remember to pop smoke on the predator and vindicator when appropriate.
• I forgot to take my contempt or pattern dreadnought, even though he was in my list!

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