Bottom line up front: Tournament went much better than expected, we were the Peterborough GW Invasion Champions, top team in one of two stores participating. Overall in the event we placed second in both game score and army appearance. I'll post this a bit later today in the guild with some photos of the armies and from the event.
Gritty details:
Battle One
Hammer and Anvil Deployment (deployed second)
Purge the Alien
Opponent: Tau + Daemons (Riptide, flying Tzeentch greater daemon, some battlesuits, firewarriors, pink horrors, and Soul Grinder)
Result: Loss (5VP to 1VP)
A classic example of my dislike of the kill-point system, but a fair loss with gracious opponents, and not without its heroic moments. Facing Tau with short-edge deployment led to a definite no-mans-land in the middle, and I deployed a shade out of range of his battlesuits, as the Tau had entrenched in buildings. Arleta sent Celestine straight into the no-mans land, charging to the board mid-point very quickly. She absorbed a ridiculous amount of fire without taking a single wound, acting perfectly as a fire magnet and sheltering the rest of the army, before ultimately charging a squad of Horrors and bringing them down to 3 models. The Greater Daemon however flew straight for my Guardsmen mob, in what was definitely their crowning achievement. The Daemon cast a spell, not sure the name, but it was 4d6 attacks; the Guardsmen endured with 5 casualties after going to ground. The following turn, my company commander ordered them to Bring it Down! and First-Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire! on the Daemon, inflicting one wound, and grounding the Daemon. The Chimera and Command squad opened up on it as well, dropping it from 5 to 3 wounds. Their next turn, the Daemon took flight again and battered a different unit, but was grounded successfully again by lasgun fire (flashlights blind pilots apparently!) and picked to pieces by the command squad, Chimera, and infantry squad, resulting in our sole kill point, a 285-pt Greater Daemon.
From reserves came the Daemon Defiler-thing, which landed behind our lines and withstood a volley of Melta before Arleta's penitent engine engaged it in a duel that lasted two full turns turns, but was ultimately lost. We also lost a Rhino and a Chimera, for a total points loss of 180 points, hence my frustration with kill victory points. Our opponents also drew first blood and got Linebreaker with their deep-struck Daemon, resulting in a loss by 4VP.
Also funnily, the Tau Riptide nearly destroyed itself in turn one, with a series of failures and weapon overheats, as well as failed saves. We never shot at it, but by turn two, it was down to 1 wound.
Battle Two
Diagonal Deployment (forget the name) (deployed second)
The Emperors Will (one objective in each deployment zone)
Opponent: Eldar + Orks (Wraithguard, Vyper, missile boys, 2 Kanz, 1 Kopta, some guardians, Swooping Hawks, Vibro Cannon)
Result: Victory (4VP to 3VP)
The deployment style of this battle made it difficult to make the slog to the other board edge. Celestine flew across the field and was a turn away from contesting the enemy objective when the buzzer rang, though the guardsmen on our objective received a hammering from Swooping hawks, Wraithguard, and the Vyper. We won by the skin of two guardsmen sitting on the objective and having taken out the Vyper as first blood. Fairly uneventful game, with slow-moving opponents so the 90 minutes elapsed before we really got to the climax of the battle.
Battle Three
Dawn of War Deployment (deployed second)
Seize the Relic
Opponent: Orks + Space Marines (3 big mobs, a SM Master of Forge with a big super-plasma-cannon, scout snipers, tactical marines, Dreadnought, Predator)
Result: Victory (3VP to 1VP)
This was probably the most fun battle for me, as I'd arrayed myself in front of two large Ork mobs on my side, where Arleta seized the Relic with Celestine and fended off Space Marines. We seized the objective first with Celestine running up to it and capturing it on the first turn. She was subsequently shot dead twice from all angles, but came back to life the next turn for each before the opponent could seize, and pulled it back behind our lines as the giant crush of both our armies came in to defend and attack.
Meanwhile on my flank, my strategy of flamers as assault repellents worked perfectly. After an initial FRF! SRF! from the guardsman squad, it was charged by an Ork mob of about 15 survivors, but were devastated by about 9 kills from overwatch (between the two flamers and 34-ish lasgun snapshots), and the assault failed. The second Ork mob tried to assault my platoon officer's Chimera, and overwatch from the occupying unit killed enough orks that this assault failed as well. The following turn I charged forward into the Ork lines and shot them completely to pieces, eliminating both with volleys of lasfire.
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