Battles in the Garage.

This year I started playing 40K versus another human.  5 Games to date.  My BT challenged my brother's Orks.

GAME ONE. LOST.
  It was so frustrating.  I made some mistakes with shot selection and placement of Independent Characters (herein IC).  He annihilated me and was left with a Weirdboy and Slugga mob.  Ouch.  I learnt lessons though so it was still worth it.

I was dilly dallying with the Emperor's Champion (EC) but when I finally committed him to cc, he shone.  He cleaved the Warboss in twain.  I was surprised that a "Lvl 2" hero could so easily kill a "Lvl 3" character.  Hmmm.

The Dreadnought was another star.  AC & HF.  I didn't like the AC but throughout the game he proved more than a handful for the Orks.  Hmmm.

The Initiates also did well against the boyz but struggled against the Nobz Mob.  Hmmm.

I drop-podded (DP) a Crusader squad versus the 30 strong Slugga mob + Weirdboy.  It did not go well.  My guys were mown down.

After navel gazing, I decided that the Crusaders needed to be lead by ICs.  They were very good but needed the power of Lightning claws or Relic blade at i5 to deal with things harder than troops.  So I added a Castellan with PoLC and he and the EC would lead a squad each.

The Dread was great.  I dropped the AC for a MM and thought maybe he could lead a squad too.  i4 DCCW would do a job like the ICs and having him along with a Vindi & 3-las-Pred  would give the foe a target selection dilemma.

GAMES TWO, THREE & FOUR. WIN x 3.
After a few tweaks to my list and tactics (Castellan up to Marshal and no DP) saw three wins on the trot. 2 & 3 were very convincing.
3 was more dicey; DoW.  I spread my foot sloggers too wide and with the Orks coming in on my right I was asking for trouble.  I lost that flank but squeezed out a win due to the ferocity of Initiates with AAC.

My brother kindly let me play a few games with an Ironclad Dread.  Wowee, they are beasts.  In combo with AAC he ripped through boyz & Mega Nobz alike.  If they give us an Ironclad or Furioso in our next Codex I will be a happy fellow.

GAME FIVE. TIE.
My brother wanted to play at 1750 pts in preparation for an upcoming tournament.  I kept my army list the same but added Neophytes and some goodies to the Marshal.  He used a 500ish point Warboss + Nobz + Zogwart retinue.  Eeep!
Luckily just before he charged my Marshal's Crusaders, Zogwart fried some men and I failed my Righteous Zeal roll with an 11! Few!  This allowed me to flee and then after a turn the Warboss & Friends teleported into what turned out to be a bad position.  Just within range of my Vindi, Dread, 3-las-Pred and 2 Crusader Squads.  I mowed him down in one furious turn.
After that the game was all mine.  Just as victory was imminent, he hooned some Trukk boyz back to his objective.  Then he rolled a 2 for the first roll for turn length.  The game ended T5.
He admitted he had stolen a draw from the jaws of defeat.


This game makes me laugh.  The dice saved me from the Warboss destroying the Marshal and let me kill his mega-unit-of-death.  Then it kept me from a crushing victory.  Most of my army was intact and he had but two units left, but the dice said no.