Battle for Salvation Tournament Coverage - Game 1 vs Rob Baer

As promised here is the coverage for my experience playing in the Battle for Salvation Tournament in White Plains, New York on Saturday November 21st. As in past posts of this nature I have included a photo of my opponent, some pics of their army, and a few other shots to keep things interesting.

Game 1 was against Rob Baer's beautifully painted Ork Imperial Guard army. That is right, I said Ork, Imperial Guard army. Rob has converted and painted up a very impressive Imperial Guard army using a mix of Imperial and Ork vehicles and replacing the Imperial Guardsmen with Boys and Grots. Rob won overall at Mechanicon with this army and I am not surprised. While I personally think the painting could use just a bit more depth (the army is just to clean for a Ork force for me, even if meant to be IG) it is still a beautiful army and the crown jewels are definitely is Vendetta Helicopter conversions, just stunning work.

This army, like pretty much all Mech IG these days was a hard nut to crack. 2 Manticore Missile Tanks, 3 Hydras, Lots of Chimeras, Hellhound Variants, and nastiness. Luckily mission 1 was a modified kill points missions, in where after setup each player got to pick 5 units (of which up to 3 could be dedicated transports) to count as a kill point with the rest of the army not worth anything. I chose Rob's Inquisitor+Retinue and their Chimera, his Psyker Battle Squad and their Chimera, and a Hellhound as my 5. Rob chose 3 of my outflanking Razorbacks, my predator, and the regular landraider.



This was a rough game for me with models coming in a dying all over the place, but I got in my licks and in one good turn went on a spree of Chimera destruction and took out 3 of the buggers in one go. However in the end it came down to just 1 dice roll at the bottom of turn 7. Rob had managed to kill all 3 of my Razorbacks and my predator. The landraider was immobilized, had no weapons, but was still alive deigning him the KP so Rob had 4 KPs. I had destroyed the Chimera with the Psyker Battle squad in it and the resulting blast had wipe the squad out as well, and I had destroyed his Hellhound, leaving me with 3KPs. I had, in the last moments of turn 7 fired a Hunter Killer missile in desperation at his remain rhino with the Inquisitor and retinue inside. The missile hit, it penetrated the armor and rob had rolled a 3 for its cover saving meaning the missile had got through. Now all I needed was to roll a 5 or a 6 to tie the game, with a 6 meaning I could do some damage to the Inquisitor and Retinue inside and maybe get them to run, giving me the victory.

I rolled the die and rolled a 1! Gar! Round 1 to Rob. It is a good close game with the Mech IG holding out just long enough for the win.

More to come so stay tuned...