Battle for the Cure!

Saturday was Battle for the Cure… the first of what is bound to be many.

To say that it was successful would be to understate.  Game Vault was, as always, an excellent host.  Turnout was great. (With 24/25? people?)  The scenarios were solid.  We raised an $1,405 for the Race for the Cure.

That’s right.  $1,405.

The silent auction did well; there were a lot of things (backpacks, Flames of War sets) donated by Game Vault and Games Workshop, several painted minis (one of which, an Azrael painted by double-Golden Daemon and Forgeworld Best in Show winner Andrew Wylie, went for ~$110!) as well as several folks offering painting services.  My offer to paint a squad of ~10 models ended up going for $130!  (A sum that is as ridiculous as it is flattering.)  Frank did a magnificent job putting it all together.

All three of my games were extremely close.

My list:

MAXIMUM KHORNAGE
Chaos Daemons – 2,000 points
HQ
Bloodthirster – Death Strike, Unholy Might
Bloodthirster – Death Strike, Unholy Might
Elites
Bloodcrushers x4 – Fury of Khorne, Icon of Khorne, Instrument of Khorne
Troops
Bloodletters x16 – Fury of Khorne, Icon of Khorne
Bloodletters x8 – Fury of Khorne, Icon of Khorne
Fast Attack
Flesh Hounds x8 – Karanak, Fury of Khorne
Flesh Hounds x8 – Fury of Khorne
Heavy Support
Daemon Prince – Mark of Khorne, Death Strike, Instrument of Chaos, Iron Hide
Daemon Prince – Mark of Khorne, Death Strike, Instrument of Chaos, Iron Hide
Daemon Prince – Mark of Khorne, Death Strike, Instrument of Chaos, Iron Hide

Game 1

My first game was against fellow IFLer Mike Gatewood’s Eldar.  Scenario was built around getting to an objective in the middle of the board and hanging onto it.  Secondary victory condition was modified Kill Points, tertiary was table quarters.

The first half of the game was him charging me, me counter-charging him, him counter-charging me, and so on.  It looked like the bulk of the game was going to be spent in a big furball that sucks up every unit on the board until… :pop: all of his models in the throwdown evaporated.  A lot of back-and-forth.

Other highlights included five Bloodletters pwned the Avatar in one round of combat, as well as an unending battle between a Daemon Prince and a Wraithlord.  (Toughness 8 is tough!).

I ended up losing, but it was close. His third Wraithlord’s Move Through Cover roll was responsible for a 17 point swing: had he rolled nothing higher than a 4, I’d have pulled it off.  He rolled a 5, though, and killed the crap out of the scraps of Bloodletters that were holding onto the objective.

A really great, close game.

Game 2

My second game was against another fellow IFLer, Mark Callan, and his Salamanders.  Scenario was built around a “three day battle:” odd numbered turns had Dawn of War.  Five objectives.  Secondary was normal Kill Points, tertiary was table quarters.

This game was hard to judge.  I was unable to get a single wound through a Stormshield.  If you had a Stormshield, you were invincible.  I have to admit that this got a little frustrating.

Again, a lot of back and forth.  I killed the living crap out of anything that didn’t have a Stormshield, though.

What was shocking was that we tied in every way: we tied on objectives, we tied on Kill Points, we tied on table quarters.  I won the game with one point: I had a unit in his deployment zone, which good for a single bonus point.

It was a good game.  The Storm Shield thing drove me up a wall, but it was exciting and close despite that.

Game 3

I have to admit that I forgot the name of my third opponent.  He was running Space Wolves.  Scenario was built around a extra “runner” character and having them camp an objective in the center of the table.  Again, Kill Points, quarters.

This game started out a bit frustrating.  It was hard to tell where one squad started and the other ended (because they were a mishmash of marines, space wolves and chaos marines).  His Thunderwolves were on cavalry bases, of all things.  (“Canis Wolfborn being on a big base doesn’t mean all Thunderwolves are supposed to be on a big base.  Besides, they don’t even sell big bases.”  I expressed 1) why that that’s pure ridiculosity and 2) that they do sell them.  He spaced them out as a result, though, so I really can’t complain.)

It chugged along.  Not a whole lot of back and forth initially: just starting at one end and chewing it up.  Had extremely good luck chasing the Thunderwolves and a full squad of Grey Hunters off the table.

The last three rounds saw everything I had trying to kill his runner and him trying to kill mine.  Ultimately, I was able to wear his runner down and, in the very last round of the game, free my runner from combat.

I’m curious to see the final scores, but I can’t complain about three close games (or two wins).

The event was extremely successful, so we’re definitely going to see a repeat next year.  Hopefully, with more lead-in, we’ll be able to get the extra support we almost got this year (but couldn’t, because we didn’t have enough lead-in).