I love it when a plan comes together

For possibly the first time since I've been writing these post battle analysis pieces it's time for some self-congratulation. I had a plan and I stuck to it. So, let's stroke my ego and see just how well it went:

Objectives

I placed my two Objectives close to Andy's and also close to his deployment zone. I wanted him to think twice before charging his Land Raider across the board and from the cautious route it took it seemed to work.

Deployment

I actually took something from what I learned here. I actually took some time to make sure that my Long Fangs had good lines of sight regardless of which route Andy took around the central ruin. Leaving my Speeders, Assault Cannon Razorbacks and Vindicator in reserve meant that they didn't get shot to pieces before they got to do anything.

Okay, so that's enough dumb self congratulation. I am pretty proud of my Objective placement and deployment since I'm not usually very good at these areas but I did still make mistakes in this game.

Claim the Objectives

Yes, so Mission 2 for Open War is 6 turns but if I couldn't have taken out Andy's last four guys in my final turn then I could only have claimed two Objectives maximum.

Leave the Steel Coffin

Never get out of the vehicle unless it's an emergency. That's my mantra. Well, when an Assault Squad is about to charge my Long Fangs, that counts as an emergency. A Twin-Linked Lascannon shot, a Meltagun shot and four Rapid Firing Boltguns were never going to take out 5 guys especially since they were in cover. I should have gotten a second squad out and then charged them both in.

Order of Fire

Okay, this isn't really a mistake but it's worth talking about. When trying to take out Andy's Land Raider, I fired my two Land Speeders first, then a Razorback and then finally the Vindicator. The thinking behind this is that if I can blow it up first I can use the Demolisher Cannon on the grouped together survivors. In this case I was just a bit unlucky that I didn't take it out but it's always worth keepin the other option in mind - Vindicator first and then everything else.

Rogue Trader

For some reason I still think that Lascannons have 60" range. Clearly they don't. At least I'm not trying to fire my Plasma Guns on maximum power.

Alright, enough about me, let's look at the other side of the board.

Sat Nav

There was a pretty big ruin in the middle of the board and Andy had to decide which way round it he wanted to go. He chose the route that would put the Raider nearest to where my reinforcements would come on. Bearing in mind that my reinforcements contained most of my reliable anti-AV14 weaponry I would have gone the other way. Although having said that, I would probably ave parked the Raider on an Objective and used the Terminators as a counter attacking unit.

The Sky is Falling

Now, when Andy tried to charge my Long Fangs but only managed to get a total of 3" for two Difficult Terrain tests was very unlucky. When he missed with two Meltagun shot against my Rhino, it was very unlucky. The thing is the Assault Marines were dropped in the wrong place to start with. They probably came in too early which can always be difficult with reinforcements but they should still have been dropped near to the Objectives. With two more scoring units near the Objectives Andy could easily have claimed a "Deadlock" or maybe even a "Tactical Advantage".

Windy

I also didn't feel that Andy used his two Typhoons very well. He seemed to be trying to hide them for a lot of the battle which meant that they didn't really get to shoot much. Yes, they're fragile but you have to make sure you get the most out of their range and those tow S8 missiles.

Personally, I think I'm going to stick with this strategy - keep the enemy away by the placement of Objectives then use my range to pound them from distance. Then bring on my reinforcements with their shorter range destructive firepower.