Team Tournament Game 3 Battle Report vs. Space Wolves & Necrons

 

Our third and final game in the team tournament was against a father/son team playing Space Wolves and Necrons.  The son was new to the game, and the father normally plays Apocalypse and hadn't played a tournament-sized game since 3rd Ed.  

Their lists were as follows:

Rune Priest on a bike

Swift Claw squad

2 Grey Hunter Squads

Long Fangs with a mixture of anti-vehicle weapons

Lone Wolf

Necron Lord w/res orb

Immortals

Pariahs

2 Warrior squads

Scarabs

Destroyers

Seeing the lists and listening to the players, I didn't think that we would have much of a problem with this game.  Here is were I like the scoring format of this tournament the most.  Your placement depends on your win/loss record, not the degree by which you beat your opponent.  That meant that we could play a fun game, and I didn't have to feel like a dick as I tried to table his army.  Merely winning was enough.

The mission was Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment.  I set up my Emperor's Champion, 14-man Crusader Squad, and Land Raider Crusader directly across from his objective.  He set up his Rune Priest and 2 Grey Hunter squads on the objective in a set of ruins approximately 20" away.  I used the Callidus Assassin's "word in your ear" ability to pull one of the Grey Hunter squads out of the ruins and within charge distance of my squad.  The Crusader Squad disembarked from their transport and fired into the Grey Hunters before charging, killing 3.  This would be just enough to force a break check on the squad, which he failed.  The Grey Hunters fell back into the ruins and out of charge range.  My Templars were left staring at each other as their prey ran for cover.

Instead of charging headlong into the enemy, my Crusader Squad was then charged by the Rune Priest along with a squad of bikes that had come in from reserve.  The combat took a surprisingly long time to resolve.  It was 3 rounds of combat before the Space Wolves had been dispatched, and the Crusader Squad consolidated towards the objective.  The Land Raider Crusader traded shots with the other Grey Hunter squad that attempted to defend their objective, but the tank had too many shots, and the Grey Hunters fell back.  The Callidus Assassin sprang from out of nowhere right behind the fleeing Grey Hunters and forced them off the board as she assaulted the Long Fangs who were maneuvering for a good shot.

Meanwhile, the Necrons were moving up the center of the table attempting to take our objective, which was located centrally on the table behind impassable terrain and being defended by a small squad of Storm Troopers and 2 5-man Crusader Squads.  The Necrons were all on foot, and posed little threat of being able to reach us in time.  The Scarabs turbo-boosted forward, and took cover in some shrubs, only to be charged by a trio of Penitent Engines.  The Scarabs were quickly taken out.  The Pariahs would move up and shoot the PEs, destroying 2 of them (with strength 5 guns!)  Keeping the Necrons at bay, the Destoyers decided to try to blow us off the objective, and killed the Storm Troopers.  One of the 5-man Crusader Squads was taken below half strength by the Destoyers, but did not fall back.  

At the end, we controlled both objectives and had a fun game to boot.