The Bitter Sting of Defeat

I definitely did NOT do well at the tournament, but I did receive a lot of compliments on my paint scheme! That helped ease the sting of defeat.... but I had a lot of fun and met some cool dudes, as well as learned a lot about the game itself. I am addicted now (as if I wasn't before!). I had really overlooked the actual game, focusing mainly on the artistic side of the hobby by modeling and painting, which is all good, but I won't win many awards (cause face it, my painting isn't professional enough yet to win awards) until I start focusing on a competitive list. I don't exactly want to be a power gamer, that isn't my style, but I would like to ensure that I don't lose EVERY game, which means I need to adjust tactics and thus my force lists.

A brief summary of the games:

Game 1 vs. Orks-
The objective of this game was to control as many of the 4 deployment zones as possible while denying the enemy control of the same. The 4x4 board was divided into 4 quadrants, with 6 inch spaces between deployment zones, which were located in each corner. The Ork player had over 105 models total! Boys, some Nobs, Deffcoptas, Meganobs, etc. Mostly boys though, at over 75 models! I tried to hold off the horde as long as possible, but my dice rolls were abysmal, and their assault phase totally overwhelmed my model-short force. I was destroyed by turn 4. Some notable moments of the battle: Terminators arrived on turn 2 and attacked the nobs in power armor like stuff (sorry I don't know much about Orks...), disrupting an assault before it began. Then they promptly died as combined fire from Deffcoptas with TL Rokkits, a Truk rocket, and a Powerclaw assault ripped them to shreds. The Rhino lasted longer than all the rest of the models, despite its storm bolter being blasted off. The Chapter Master turned tail and ran right off board, very unbecoming a character of his position!
Battlepoints: 3 / 23

Game 2 vs. Chaos Demons (BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!)-
The objective of this game was to have more scoring units in your opponents deployment zone than he had in yours. The deployment zones were 15" from each table edge. I had begun the game with my first tactical squad mounted in the rhino, and did not hold back any reserves. All of his forces had to be deep-struck in on the first turn, so I didn't really know how I was to deploy, but I lumped most of my forces to my left side for a strong push that way. I had to go second, so I didn't even get a chance to rush my rhino across the small board before his Soul Grinder immobilized it! So much for my rush strategy. I attempted once to get it working, but to no avail, so I had to wait a turn to disembark. The Devastators really did good this battle, helping to take out some troops of my opponents. My Dreadnought did admirably as well, destroying his big Soul Grinder with his multi-melta, but a more assault-capable demon ripped into it and tore it to pieces. My terminators died in the second turn, much to my disappointment. My Tactical Squad that was linked with my Chapter Master also died a horribly violent death, ripped to shreds by very assault-potent pack of Bloodletters. My devastators actually held their own in assault, holding back some dog-named demons of some sort. They unfortunately lost the initiative roll off, despite a tie, due to some special ability (mark of khorne) that allowed the deamons (with their special character) to automatically win tying die rolls for assault result by 1. My Dev's were close to the board edge, so when they fell back they went off board and were eliminated. In the last turn, my immobilized rhino desperately tried to kill the few remaining Bloodletters in my deployment zone while my surviving Tactical squad attempted to dodge through two of the larger demons to get across the board to force a draw, but the demons caught the squad and crushed it between the weight of their onslaught, and the game ended due to me not having any scoring units and the game time ended. I did better than the first game, inflicting more casualties and holding my own better, but those chaos demons are vicious with every unit deepstriking into my formations.

Battlepoints: 6 / 23

Game 3: Forfeit
Had to leave early because of perceived complications with my wife's pregnancy (don't worry, everything turned out to be ok).

Battlepoints: 0 / 23

TOTAL-
9 / 69 Battlepoints

9 / 46 out of games played = 19.5 percent points, equivalent to a F grade. I obviously need some work on my tactics. I probably would have done better if I had been able to stay for the last game, but sadly I could not. Oh well, lessons learned!