Surrey 40k Tournament: Game 1- White Scars vs Space Wolves

I recently attended an ITC 40k tournament in Surrey, where I took my White Scars army. This was a five game, 2000 pts tournament, featuring the first five ITC missions. You can also follow the blog on Facebook to get regular updates and photos of my tournament games. 

The first game of the day was against Lee's Space Wolves, using ITC Mission 1 and Dawn of War deployment. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Captain on Bike- Twin Bolter, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Master of Snares, Wrath of the Heavens

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Stave, Mantle of the Stormseer, Ride the Winds, Storm-wreathed

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

Impulsor- 2 Storm Bolters, Ironhail Heavy Stubber, Shield Dome
3 Eliminators- Bolt Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks
3 Eliminators- Bolt Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks

Battalion Detachment

Captain- Jump Pack, Master Crafted Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Chapter Master, Imperium's Sword

Lieutenant- Jump Pack, Power Axe, MC Bolter

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistol, Combat Knives
3 Inceptors- Assault Bolters
3 Inceptors- Assault Bolters

Battalion Detachment
Chaplain- Jump Pack, Crozius Arcanum, Bolt Pistol, Litany of Hate
Phobos Librarian- Force Sword, Camo Cloak, Shrouding, Mind Raid

5 Infiltrators- Marksman Bolt Carbines, Smoke Grenades
5 Infiltrators- Marksman Bolt Carbines, Smoke Grenades
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Lascannon

Thunderfire Cannon- Techmarine Gunner with Flamer, Plasma Cutter, 2 Servo-arms



Lee's army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment
Bjorn the Fell Handed- Heavy Flamer, Heavy Plasma Cannon
Wolf Lord- Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Saga of the Wolfkin, The Wulfen Stone
5 Blood Claws- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords
5 Blood Claws- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords
5 Blood Claws- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords
5 Wulfen- 2 Great Frost Axes, 2 Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, Frost Claws
5 Wulfen- 2 Great Frost Axes, 2 Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, Frost Claws
Stormwolf- Twin Helfrost Cannon, 2 Lascannonsm, 2 Twin Heavy Bolters
Stormwolf- Twin Helfrost Cannon, 2 Lascannonsm, 2 Twin Heavy Bolters

Spearhead Detachment
Rune Priest- Runic Axe, Jump Pack, Bolt Pistol, Stormcaller, Fury of the Wolf Spirits, Armour of Russ
3 Eliminators- Bolt Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks
3 Eliminators- Bolt Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks
Relic Leviathan Dreadnought- 2 Storm Cannon Arrays, 2 Heavy Flamers, Hunter Killer Missile

An interesting Space Wolves army, with a lot of firepower in the vehicles and a lot of combat potential. The Wulfen are brutal in combat, and can even strike back when killed, making them especially lethal in combat.

For secondaries, I chose Recon, Engineers (two Intercessor squads) and Marked for Death (Two Wulfen units, Bjorn and the Leviathan). Lee chose Headhunter, Butcher's Bill and Recon.

The objectives were set up as shown below. There were a lot of good ruins on the table, with a big line of sight blocking piece in the middle:

We then alternated deployment. I put most of my fire base in the ruins on the left flank; the Thunderfire Cannon, one unit of Eliminators, the engineer Intercessors, the Infiltrators and the characters. In the right hand ruins went the second Engineers Intercessors and the Eliminators. I put a unit of Scouts, Infiltrators and the Phobos Librarian in the central ruins. I put the other Scout units on each flank. In reserve, I had the two units of Inceptors and the Impulsor (with the Encirclement stratagem).

Lee put one Stormwolf in the corner of each deployment zone (with a Blood Claws unit inside each). The Wulfen, characters and Dreads went in the centre, with the Eliminators on each flank. One Blood Claws unit went on the right ruins. The second unit of Wulfen went in reserve.

I won the roll off for first turn and Lee failed to seize the initiative.

TURN 1- WHITE SCARS
I used the Litany of Hate on the Chaplain.

On the left flank, the Biker Captain, Librarian and Chaplain advanced towards the enemy forces. Both Scouts units on each flank moved up on the ruins. In the centre ruins, the Scouts and Infiltrators moved up on the objective.

In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast Storm-wreathed on the Biker Captain. The Phobos Librarian cast Shrouding on the Infiltrators.

The shooting phase began with the Thunderfire Cannon targeting the Wulfen, using the Tremor Shells stratagem to slow their move. The Cannon did no damage to the unit, despite wounding 5 times, thanks to their Storm Shields, but its main purpose had been successful.

On the left flank, the Eliminators fired on their counterparts with the Mortis rounds, killing one of the squad. On the right flank, the Eliminators did the same, but only manged a single wound.

The Tactical Squad fired at the Stormwolf on the left, hitting and wounding with the Lascannon and getting 6 damage on it!

In the charge phase, the Biker Captain charged the Blood Claws, while the Chaplain and Scouts charged the Blood Claws and Eliminators. On the right flank, the Scouts charged the Eliminators.

In the fight phase, the Captain did 5 wounds on the Blood Claws, killing three of the squad. Lee spent 2CP to interrupt and the Blood Claws attacked the Scouts. However, they did not do any wounds on the squad.

The Chaplain then struck, killing the last two Blood Claws and consolidating into the Eliminators. The Scouts then attacked the Eliminators, doing five wounds. Lee then failed four out of five 3+ saves and the squad were wiped out. I was hoping one would survive to allow me to stay locked in combat with the squad to save me from the enemy firepower.

On the other flank, the Scouts did 9 wounds on the Eliminators, but only one made it through their armour to kill one. In reply, the Eliminators were unable to wound the Scouts.

At the end of my turn, I scored Hold 1, Kill 1 and Recon for 3 points.

TURN 1- SPACE WOLVES

On the left flank, the Blood Claws disembarked from the Stormwolf, moving to engage the Scouts. The Flyer moved along the flank to target the White Scars in the opposite ruins. The other Stormwolf moved up, landing near the Phobos Librarian.

In the centre, Bjorn, the Wolf Priest and Wolf Lord shuffled to get into the right table quarter, while the Wulfen advanced on the nearby Scouts, joined by the Leviathan moving up to get line of sight on the central Scouts.

In the psychic phase, the Wolf Priest cast Fury of the Wolf Spirits on himself. Lee then spent 3CP to use the Cloaked by the Storm stratagem to get a -1 to hit bubble on the nearby units. He then successfully cast Storm Caller.

The Stormwolf on the right flank opened fire on the Intercessors in the ruins, killing two. The Leviathan Dreadnought opened up on the central Scouts, doing 7 wounds and killing the squad. The second Stormwolf fired at the Phobos Librarian, killing him in the first shot with a Lascannon.

The Wulfen and Blood Claws then charged the Scouts in combat with the Eliminators, the Wulfen easily slaying the enemy White Scars.

At the end of his turn, Lee scored Kill One, Hold One, Kill More, Recon, Butcher's Bill and Headhunter. I scored Hold More.

VICTORY POINTS:
White Scars- 4
Space Wolves- 6

A decent first turn for both players. Some poor positioning of the Phobos Librarian had seen me lose him to the Stormwolf. However, I had shut down the firepower of the Eliminators and still had a good degree of board control.

TURN 2- WHITE SCARS
The Chaplain used the re-roll to hit Litany, while I also moved on to the Tactical Doctrine.

The Chapter Master and Lieutenant advanced towards the Stormwolf, the Librarian advancing to support them. I decided to advance the Infiltrators off the objective towards by board edge. I figured the second Stormwolf would go after my firebase, so wanted to be able to screen my characters from its firepower with the Infiltrators.

On the left flank, the Tactical Squad moved round to target the flyers, while the Biker Captain, Chaplain and Scouts stayed in the ruins. They could not be shot at, and I wanted to have the Assault Doctrine activated before going after Bjorn and the two characters. For now, they were content to wait to launch their assault. At the end of the phase, I brought in one unit of Inceptors, landing near the Wulfen to get them in the quarter for Recon, as well as being able to target the Space Wolves.

The Librarian cast Storm-wreathed on the Chapter Master to block the overwatch fire. He then cast Smite, taking 2 wounds from the Stormwolf.

In the shooting phase, the Thunderfire Cannon hit the Wulfen once more with Tremor Shells and taking 1 wound from them. The Inceptors added their firepower. After some terrible rolling, only 6 wounds went through and all but one were saved by the Storm Shield, losing one Wulfen in the process.

The Eliminators on the right flank fired at the Space Wolves Eliminators, but failed to do any damage. The Intercessors fired at the Stormwolf, taking one wound from it. The Lascannon fired at the far away Stormwolf, but failed to hit.

In the charge phase, the Chapter Master and Lieutenant charged the Stormwolf. The Chapter Master struck with his Thunder Hammer, destroying the enemy flyer. The Blood Claws inside emerged unscathed from the wreckage.

At the end of my turn, I scored Kill 1, Hold 2, Engineers and Recon. Annoyingly, the Wulfen had soaked up a ridiculous amount of firepower once more, surviving my volleys thanks to their Storm Shields.

TURN 2- SPACE WOLVES

The central Blood Claws advanced towards the central objective. Bjorn, the Wolf Lord and the Wolf Priest moved towards the White Scars in the ruins. On the left flank, the Leviathan moved up towards the centre, accompanied by the Wulfen, while the Blood Claws advanced into the crater in front of them. The Stormwolf went into hover mode.

At the end of the phase, Lee brought in the Wulfen next to the Scouts, Captain and Chaplain in the ruins.

The Wolf Priest cast Fury of the Wolf Spirits on himself, which the Librarian failed to deny. He then cast Storm Caller.

In the shooting phase, the Leviathan Dreadnought opened up on the Inceptors, obliterating them in a hail of fire. The Stormwolf fired at the Intercessors, killing them.

With the little shooting out of the way, the charges began. The Wolf Lord, Wolf Priest and Wulfen all made long charges on the Scouts, Captain and Chaplain (most needing an 8 or 9" charge). The Wolf Priest used the Armour of Russ to force the Biker Captain to strike last.

The Wulfen activated first, attacking the Scouts and Captain. They were able to kill off the Scouts with their Claw attacks, then the Thunder Hammers went for the Biker Captain. The Wulfen wounded him 6 times. I failed two saves, using a CP re-roll to pass another, leaving the Captain on 3 wounds. The Squad Leader then struck, doing 3 wounds with his Frost Axe. I failed one save and Lee rolled a 3 for the D3 damage, killing the Captain!

I used Only in Death for 2CP to attack with the Biker Captain on the Wolf Priest. He was wounded three time, but made all his invulnerable saves to survive. This was getting ridiculous! Lee had passed all but 2 invulnerable saves out of about 20 wounds with his units so far. I had failed more invulnerable saves in a single round of combat than Lee had done the entire game at this point.

The Wolf Lord attacked the Chaplain, wounding him three times, but this time I made all my invulnerable saves. The Wolf Priest had not selected the Chaplain as a target, so was unable to harm him.

The Chaplain attacked the Wulfen, wounding them four times. He made 3 invulnerable saves, then a FNP save to take a single wound. If any of these dice rolls didn't start going my way, Lee was going to storm this game.

Lee decided not to use his last 3CP to fight again to try and kill the Chaplain, meaning he could escape next turn.

At the end of his turn, Lee scored Kill 1, kill more, Hold 1, hold more, Headhunter, Butcher's Bill and Recon, giving him a solid lead at this point. The durability of his Wulfen and Characters meant that I was struggling to do any damage to his key units, while mine were falling quickly to even his meagre firepower.

VICTORY POINTS:
White Scars- 8
Space Wolves- 13

TURN 3- WHITE SCARS
The Chaplain passed his litany roll to get re-rolls to hit and I switched to the Assault Doctrine.

The Librarian, Chapter Master and Lieutenant advanced towards the Leviathan Dreadnought, while the Chaplain fell back towards the central objectives. The Infiltrators moved up to support them, while the Eliminators moved to the other side of the ruins to grab the objective.

At the end of the phase, the Inceptors landed near the Wulfen on the right, while the Impulsor can in behind the Eliminators on the right.

In the psychic phase, I cast Ride the Winds and Storm-wreathed on the Chapter Master.

The Inceptors opened fire on the Wulfen. Despite getting full re-rolls to hit and wounding on 3's, re-rolling 1's, I only managed 9 wounds after some below average rolling. Lee then passed 7 invulnerable saves and a FNP to take a single wound. The Infiltrators added their firepower, killing one of the Wulfen. The Eliminators fired, doing four wounds and he took 3. Things were finally turning my way in this shooting phase.

The Thunderfire Cannon used 3CP to fire twice and use Tremor Shells, targeting both Wulfen. The Cannon was able to wipe out the damaged squad on the right, and killed one in the other squad. The Impulsor fired at the Eliminators, but failed to do any damage.

The Tactical Squad fired at the Stormwolf. The Lascannon hit and wounded and once more did 6 damage to the flyer!

In the charge phase, the Chapter Master and Lieutenant assaulted the Leviathan. The Chaplain and Librarian charged the Blood Claws, while the Infiltrators failed their charge on the unit. The Inceptors failed a charge on the Blood Claws in the crater to their right.

The Chapter Master struck at the Leviathan with his damage 5 Thunder Hammer, putting 5 wounds on him. However, Lee passed every invulnerable save with a single CP re-roll. He actually started apologising for his saves as this point, as I was getting pretty depressed with the way the game was going. The Lieutenant attacked, doing two wounds on the Dreadnought.

The Chaplain struck at the Blood Claws, wiping them out. He consolidated into the ruins, out of line of sight. I forgot to activate my Librarian to move him closer to the wall to help get him out of line of sight, an error I would regret later. The Leviathan managed to put a wound on the Lieutenant.

At the end of my turn, I scored Kill 1, Hold 1, Engineers, Recon and Marked for Death (Wulfen). The Leviathan surviving combat was a big blow, but at least I had shut down its firepower for this turn.

TURN 3- SPACE WOLVES

The Stormwolf moved up towards the central ruins to target the enemy characters, the Wolf Priest and Wolf Lord advancing to join it, as Bjorn moved up. The Leviathan fell back from combat, while the Blood Claws moved up towards the Eliminators.

In the psychic phase, the Wolf Priest cast Smite, I failed to deny it and he rolled 3 mortal wounds, enough to kill the Lieutenant.

Bjorn fired his Heavy Plasma Cannon at the Chapter Master, wounding him 3 times, but I made all my saves. The Flyer fired at the Librarian and Chapter Master. The Heavy Bolters and Lascannons targeted the psyker. The Heavy Bolters managed to do 2 wounds, while the Lascannon did one wound, which I then saved with my armour. The Helfrost Cannons targeted the Captain, but failed to get past his invulnerable save.

The Eliminators fired at the Librarian, doing a single wound to leave him on one remaining.

In the charge phase the Blood Claws assaulted the Elminators, killing two of them for no loss in reply.

At the end of his turn, Lee scored Headhunter, Hold 1, Kill 1 and hold more. I scored kill more, after some lucky saves from my Librarian.

VICTORY POINTS:
White Scars- 14
Space Wolves- 17

I was managing to hold on in the game. Some lucky saves on both sides had seen the damage to each army reduce slightly, allowing me to get kill more for the first time.

TURN 4- WHITE SCARS
The Chaplain failed in his Litany roll.

The Chapter Master and Librarian moved up on Bjorn and the characters. The Intercessors disembarked from the Impulsor, which then moved up on the Leviathan. The Eliminator fell back from combat, while the Infiltrators moved up on them.

In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast Storm-wreathed on the Chapter Master to protect him from the overwatch. I rolled a double 1 and perilled. I used a CP re-roll and got another 1! The Librarian was killed, taking one wound from the Stormwolf in the resulting psychic explosion.

The Inceptors and Infiltrators fired on the Blood Claws, killing four of the squad. The Thunderfire Cannon fired at the Wulfen, wounding them 5 times and they took a single wound. The Intercessors fired at the Eliminators, wounding them once.

In the charge phase, the Chapter Master charged Bjorn, the Wolf Lord and Wolf Priest heroically intervening. The Intercessors charged the enemy Eliminators, while the Infiltrators charged the last Blood Claw. The Impulsor charged the Leviathan, taking a couple of wounds in overwatch fire.

The Wolf Priest used the Armour of Russ to force the Chapter Master to strike last. Bjorn then attacked, doing 6 wounds on the White Scars warlord. I failed four of six 3+ saves and he was slain. I used 2CP to fight in death, and the Chapter Master took down Bjorn in death.

The Infiltrators took out the last Blood Claw, while the Intercessors killed the Eliminators.

At the end of my turn, I scored Hold 1, Kill 1, Recon, Marked for Death and Engineers.

In hindsight, I should have charged the Chaplain into the Wolf Priest and Wolf Lord. This would have stopped them from heroically intervening into the combat and allowed my Chapter Master to strike first and take out Bjorn. I would most likely have lost the Chaplain, but the Chapter Master may have survived if Lee used the stratagem to fight with Bjorn in death and I got lucky with my saves.

TURN 4- SPACE WOLVES

The Leviathan fell back from combat, while the Wolf Lord and Wolf Priest moved up towards the Chaplain. The Stormwolf moved up on the White Scars firebase. The Wulfen stayed on the objective in the ruins.

In the psychic phase, the Wolf Priest tried to cast Smite, but failed with a CP re-roll.

The Stormwolf fired at the Inceptors, killing two of the squad. There was no other shooting for the Wolves.

The Wolf Lord charged the Chaplain, killing him with his Thunder Hammer.

At the end of his turn, Lee scored Headhunter, Butcher's Bill (in my turn), Recon, kill one and hold one. I scored Hold more and we drew for number of kills.

VICTORY POINTS:
White Scars- 20
Space Wolves- 22

Things were still close. I had lost most of my characters, but still had a number of units left on the board.

TURN 5- WHITE SCARS

The Infiltrators moved up on the Wolf Priest, while the Eliminator moved into cover to hold the objective. The Impulsor moved up on the Leviathan Dreadnought.

The Inceptors and Infiltrators fired on the Wolf Priest, killing him. The Elminators fired at the Wolf Lord and managed to put two wounds on him. The Lascannon fired at the Stormwolf, but failed to hit. The Thunderfire Cannon targeted the Wulfen, but failed to do any damage.

The Impulsor charged the Leviathan once more, taking no damage in overwatch. Neither vehicle was able to harm the other.

At the end of my turn, I scored Hold 1, Kill 1 and Engineers (I had maxed out Recon already).

TURN 5- SPACE WOLVES

The Leviathan fell back from combat, while the Wolf Lord moved up on the Infiltrators. The Stormwolf went into hover mode.

The Stormwolf fired at the Inceptors and Infiltrators, killing the last Inceptor and one Infiltrator. The Wolf Lord then charged them and finished off the squad.

At the end of his turn, Lee scored Kill 1, kill more, hold 1, Recon and Butcher's Bill. I scored Hold More.

VICTORY POINTS:
White Scars- 24
Space Wolves- 27

With that, we ran out of time, giving it a win for the Space Wolves.

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
Thanks to Lee for a fantastic game. It was very tactical and frustrating at points, but I had a blast playing against him.

On paper, this should have been an easy win for the White Scars, but some errors on my part and great moves from Lee meant that he was winning the whole game, leaving me to scramble to pick up points.

First up, I think my choice of units for Marked for Death were an issue. I was only able to score 2 out of 4 points for this secondary, while maxing out on Recon and Engineers. I think I should have chosen one of the Stormwolfs over the Leviathan. I didn't choose the flyers, as I had little that could shoot at them effectively (though the Lascannon did its best!) and thought he would just be able to move away from my characters for most of the game to stop them from getting into combat with it.

I did not expect the Wulfen and Leviathan to be so resilient to my firepower and attacks. I don't think choosing these was a big mistake, but Lee was just rolling incredibly well for his invulnerable saves for these three units for much of the game. With even average rolling for saves, I think I would have been able to wipe them out with my attacks over the course of the game.

Lee did comment during the game that the luck was definitely going his way for much of this game. My attacks with most units were distinctly below average, with the Inceptors doing particularly poorly with their rolls.

When my characters did do well in combat, Lee's saves were there to block any damage that they might have taken.

Thinking back on the game, there were a few errors that I made.

I think that going first was a reasonable call in this game. Had Lee gone first, the flyers would have been on my units from the first turn, and could have done a lot of damage to my Engineers units. I was worried he would take them out quickly and stop me from scoring this for much of the game. In addition, the Wulfen probably would have got a first turn charge on the Scouts in the centre, maybe even the Infiltrators and Phobos Librarian as well. This would have forced me to deal with them sooner. I probably would have lost the Scouts on the right as well.

However, going second might have allowed me to take out a flyer on turn 1 if it came near my Chapter Master, as he was most likely to be able to destroy it on turn 1. It would also have allowed me to jump on the objectives after seeing where Lee had deployed.

A second mistake was not screening the Captain and Chaplain sufficiently on turn 2 to stop the Wulfen coming after them. I could have move the Captain and Chaplain back out of cover to block the Wulfen from getting near them, using the Scouts that were out of line of sight to stop the enemy firepower from targeting them. This would have prevented them from being killed on turn 2 by the massed charge of the Space Wolves characters and Wulfen. I was convinced that Lee would sent the Wulfen in reserve after my firebase to take that out, so was surprised when he went after the Captain and Chaplain.

The Thunderfire Cannon did brilliantly in this game. It was effectively able to neuter both squads of Wulfen. The ability to cut their movement in half, meant that they didn't really do much after their initial charge, stopping them from gettting far into my lines. It's just a shame that they proved so durable to its firepower, as those Storm Shields were able to block almost all my firepower going against them.

Positioning my Phobos Librarian better might have also saved him from the Stormwolf's firepower. I wasn't expecting Lee to go after him, but he was able to slay him with ease in his first turn and deny me a useful unit for taking the board centre.

Had we had the final turn of the game, I don't think it would have made much difference. I didn't have the firepower to kill the Leviathan or second unit of Wulfen, so couldn't have scored any more secondary points. I might have got kill a unit if I had been able to take out the Wolf Lord with my Eliminators for a point, and would have probably got hold an objective and hold more if my Eliminator survived the firepower of the Stormwolf. Lee probably would have got kill a unit had the Wolf Lord or Stormwolf gone after the Eliminator. He could have grabbed 2 objectives to draw me on number of objectives held and denied the bonus.

Overall, a fun first game. I knew my army would have some weaknesses in the ITC format and they were showing that to be true in this game. You can also follow the blog on Facebook to get regular updates and photos of my tournament games.