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Pure Blood Angels go 5-0 Game 5

Reecius

Here we are with the final game in Thomas’ amazing 5-0 run at the Boise Cup GT with his pure Blood Angels force!

Read the game 4 report, here.

Thomas Hegstrom Oakley – Boise Cup

+HQ+
Sanginor [150pts, 9pl] x1
Chaplain with jump pack [99pts, 6pl] x1 powerfist
Librarian with jump pack [127pts, 7pl] x1 force sword, inferno pistol

+Troops+
Scouts [57pts, 4pl] x5 stormbolter on sergeant, combat knives, bolt pistols
Scouts [57pts, 4pl] x5 stormbolter on sergeant, combat knives, bolt pistols
Scouts [57pts, 4pl] x5 stormbolter on sergeant, combat knives, bolt pistols

+HQ+
Sanginuary Priest with jump pack index [86pts, 5pl] x1 chainsword, chainsword
Captain with jump pack [124pts, 6pl] x1 thunderhammer, stormshield

+Troops+
Scouts [57pts, 4pl] x5 stormbolter on sergeant, combat knives, bolt pistols
Scouts [57pts, 4pl] x5 stormbolter on sergeant, combat knives, bolt pistols
Infiltrators [110pts, 5pl] x5 bolt carbines

+HQ+
Librarian in Phobos armour [111pts, 6pl] x1 force sword, camo cloak

+Elites+
Sanguinary Ancient [83pts, 6pl] x1 encarmine sword, inferno pistol, standard of sacrifice
Death Company [380pts, 27pl] x15 5 thunderhammers, 10 chainsword, 10 bolters
Sanguinary Guard [344pts, 20pl] x10 8 encarmine swords, 2 powerfists, 10 angelus boltguns

Game 5 (ITC champions mission 6), the tournament organizers decided to skip Mission 5 and finish out the whole thing with mission 6.

My opponent this round was a player named Ryan again from the Pacific-Northwest, running a Forces of the Hive Mind list. It was centered around 8 shooty Carnifexes. He had plenty of support characters, a unit of Aberrants to drop in, and even a huge unit of Bullgryn to tank for him, and hold down problem units. The table we got was a neat set of Imperialesque ruins who’s walls blocked line of sight, but had no roofs and was played that doors were open. Despite the abundance of ruins I knew the Vindicare would again play well. I also knew that I could deal with the Bullgryn in close combat so really I only had the Aberrants dropping in on something I didn’t want them to and the Carnifexes’ shooting to worry about. I surmised the ruins would help me with the Carnifexes and I’d just have to screen as best as I could against the Aberrants. Usually I would worry so much because the Infiltrators block almost all possible charges out of deep-strike, but the Genestealer Cult has a stratagem that allows them to move a unit D6 inches after it drops. On top of that the Aberrants can easily get a +1” to their charge and I believe re-roll it, so really they won’t fail a charge, even starting 12” out.

Secondaries:

I opted to take, Headhunter, Engineers (choosing two units of my Scouts) again, and Gangbusters. Ryan took Headhunter, Engineers (on his two units of Termagaunts), and Butcher’s Bill. Which is honestly a good choice against my army. I have lots of characters, and little Scout units, which should be easy to pick up, if you can get at it.

Deployment:

I won the roll off for choosing deployment zone. I rolled Spearhead, which turned out to be serendipitous for me. There was a large four walled ruin centered toward the middle of the table in one deployment zone. At the back edge of it was a destroyed Warhound titan which while cool looking was a pain in the butt to move and place models around. I chose that deployment zone obviously. This was huge because the other one only had ‘L’ shapes in the corners that couldn’t have protected me from his ‘fexes shooting entirely. Being that it was another even mission Ryan got to choose who would go first. I honestly think that at the end of a long weekend and a frankly hard game 4 for him he wasn’t really thinking about what my list was meant to do. Rather than sitting back and having me come to him, he opted to go first.

He deployed aggressively. His Bullgryn right on the line, with many of his support/caster characters right behind (out in the open I might add). His Carnifexes he spaced out behind them taking up the middle of his deployment zone. He stretched his two Engineer units of Termagaunts against the back of his deployment zone, within 3” of the objective there, but screening out against any possible deep-strike. Finally he deep-struck his Aberrants and two of their supporting characters.

I put my infiltrators up front on the inside edge of my ruin. Behind them I put down the Death Company and many of my characters. Notably my Sanguinor was sticking up above the top of the ruin. In the back corners of my deployment zone, behind two small ‘L’s I placed a unit of Scouts each. On my back objective, which was covered by the large ruin I placed one of my Engineer units. I deployed two other units of scouts outside my deployment zone on each objective that is placed at 36” by 6” in mission 6. Both of these units were covered by the large walled ruins here, keeping me safe from his Carnifexes would be ravages. I also placed my Phobos Librarian out behind one unit of these Scouts toed into some area terrain but close enough to move and jump on the objective on my side of the table for the bonus point. I chose to deep-strike my Sanguinary Guard, and placed my Vindicare on top of the destroyed Warhound for perfect line of sight down on his centrally located characters.

Ryan’s turn one:

Continuing his stance from deployment he moved right up to me. I had placed one unit of Scouts near enough that with a 7” or 8” charge his Bullgryn could get into them, but placed the Phobos behind them far enough back that they would be outside 12” of him when it came time to declare charges. With as little caution as I assume a real life Bullgryn would have they came on, not caring that the Scouts were bait. His Carnifexes moved up for the most part, with a pair beginning to slid between ruins to get out the flanks where I was hiding units. His support characters (mostly casters) came boldly up the middle as well. And here is where his luck deserted him. I had made the mistake of placing my Sanguinor where he was head and wings above the low slung ruin walls and his casters could see him, be with 18” and no one else was.

Once I saw it was still feeling OK, considering I had a deny from my close by Phobos Librarian and the feel no pain Standard, but I’d rather have not made such a critical deployment blunder. Anyway in Ryan’s first psychic phase his dice showed the tune they’d take all game when it came to psychic powers. He failed one Smite, I stopped one, and he rolled double ‘1’s and perils one. He even used a CP to re-roll it, but it was back into a ‘1’ again. Immediately one of his Genestealer Cult characters took three wounds. Finally one of his Neurothrope’s Psychic Scream got through, but to add the insult to the injury I rolled 2 ‘6’s and a ‘5’ for the Sanguinor’s feel no pains again the 3 wounds the power resulted in. His Carnifexes had absolutely nothing to shoot at much to his chagrin and to put the cherry on an awful turn of dice his Bullgryn failed to get into my Scouts. He got hold one.

My turn one:

I’d dodged a bullet when it came to the Sanguinor big time. Average rolls should probably have put 3-4 wounds on him, and if Ryan had rolled well the Sanguinor should have died. That was just bad luck. On the other hand, the Bullgryn failing the charge on the Scouts meant that they weren’t in the perfect place for my Death Company and characters to assault and consolidate into the ruin they were behind. So instead of moving forward and out into the open I backed up. I hid most of my characters, and most of the Death Company deeper in the ruin,behind the bulk of the downed Warhound as much as possible. Worried about the possible Aberrants on turn 2 I advanced out my back field Scouts to screen as much as possible, knowing that his Carnifexes would get shots on them. The midfield Scout unit on his side of the table I moved up into the ruins they’d been behind. On my midfield table side I moved my Phobos Librarian within 3” of the objective he was near, but still in line of sight of his Bullgryn and other characters.

The other midfield Scouts moving to form a screen between the Bullgryn, Ryan’s characters, and my Phobos Librarian. I moved my other Librarian onto my back field objective. Finally I realized I’d mis-moved characters, wanting to bonus so I had to pay 2 CP to redeploy my smash Captain. I placed him against a ruin wall on the objective at 6” and 36” on Ryan’s ‘side’ of the table, opposite the identically placed objective my Phobos Librarian was on. For Psychic phase I gave +1 attack to the Death Company for security, tried to Tenebrous Curse the Bullgryn but was blocked, and Succeeded at a large Smite for 5 mortal wounds on the Bullgryn. In shooting my sublimely placed Vindicare gazed out lustily upon the fields of her soon to be crops. She easily finished of the Genestealer Cult character who had so graciously wounded itself and did 3 out of 5 wounds to one of the Neurothrope’s. The turn ended 5-2 me.

Ryan’s turn 2:

Ryan stayed aggressive, moving his Bullgryn forward to just outside my ruin, intent on waylaying my Infiltrators just inside. Most of his Carnifexes continued forward a few being able to draw line of sight on my Scouts I’d spaced out to try and limit his Aberrant’s deep-strike options. The ‘fexes he’d moved around the ruins to the flanks he kept moving, trying to come at me from enough angles I couldn’t completely hide from him. His characters continued forward, some reaching within range of my Vindicare, others drawing line of sight to my Scouts screening the Phobos Librarian. At the end of the movement phase Ryan paid 3 CP to bring down his Aberrants and move the D6 inches. He placed them just over 9” out from my smash Captain. Wanting to deal with him early.

He deployed his two support characters for them just behind. With his D6 move he got a 4, giving him a 5” charge, that I believe he received some bonuses on. I wasn’t to sure, except that I knew they’d make their charge and kill my smash Captain in all probability. I honestly was alright with this move on his part. I much preferred the smash Captain to go to Death Company or one of my buffing characters. I also knew that I could pay 2 CP and swing with the smash Captain in death. During his Psychic phase Ryan buffed up his Bullgryn giving them +1 to their saves, unfortunately his dice betrayed him again, giving him double ‘6’s this time, he opted to re-roll and for the second time in a row rolled into the same number, another ‘6’ in this case. Bonkers! While he did succeed at the power he also put two wounds on his Primaris Psyker making it easy meat for my Vindicare. His Neurothropes used Smites on the Scouts screening the Phobos Librarian, because they ended up closer than my Vindicare luckily for me. I stopped one with my Librarian because he was within 12” and received a +1 to deny. So he had to use his Psychic Scream to finish the Scouts off.

In shooting his Carnifexes were far enough away that he could only pull a few of my Screening Scouts off with their D3 shots from venom cannons. Otherwise I had again denied his Carnifexes any shooting. In the Assault phase his Bullgryn charged into my dismayed Infiltrators, and the Aberrants easily crossed the abbreviated distance to my Captain. The Bullgryn rolled poorly but still pulled all five Infiltrators, and chose to stay outside the ruin and wait. On his table side my Captain put in a valiant effort but fell to the Aberrants. I took the opportunity presented and paid 2 CP to fight in death. I rolled well and Ryan’s feel no pains couldn’t over come three damage per wound. He lost four of the five Aberrants. Then the Hive Mind gazed elsewhere and the final Aberrant failed morale, which Ryan CP re-rolled into another failure. From my perspective this was a great trade, the kind the smash Captain was made for, but honestly poor Ryan’s dice were punishing him. Ryan got two kills, his first Headhunter, and first Engineers.

My turn 2:

Things were working out pretty well for me, Ryan had dropped and used up his Aberrants, much of my army was safe from his Carnifexes and he had brought the Bullgryn in close for my souped-up Death Company to play with. Honestly I don’t think Ryan realized how nasty my Death Company could be, but as I’ll explain later, despite poor strategies, his dice were as much his enemy as me. For Movement I of course moved my Death Company forward again to just outside an inch of the Bullgryn, but inside the ruins to continue to skulk away from the leering, frustrated gazes of the Carnifexes. The Sanguinor, Sanguinary Priest, and Ancient all accompanied them. On his table side in the back my Librarian moved up staying within 12” of the back of the Death Company, while setting his steely gaze upon Ryan’s support Genestealer Cult characters, now exposed without their guardian Aberrants. A diminished unit of Scouts moved along behind the Librarian planning an attempted 6” charge.

On my table side my Phobos Librarian moved up to try and cause some mayhem to his remaining characters. My Chaplain must have started seeing death visions of Sanguinus because I decided to get greedy and move the Chaplain out ahead to knock out enemy characters. My rationale was that with two Carnifexes behind a ruin, two more about to be engaged with a unit of Scouts charging from behind another ruin (the midfield Scouts on his table side) and a consolidate into another, he wouldn’t have enough to shoot up my Chaplain. Finally I dropped my Sanguinary Guard in on my mid table side. Using the ruin my Phobos Librarian had been hiding behind to screen from most of the Carnifexes with a planned 9” charge into the two who had come around the other side of the ruin to engage me from multiple angles.

In Psychic phase I succeeded at giving +1 attack to the Death Company, and then used the Blood Angel psychic power that allows the librarian to move again to get in close on Genestealer Cult support characters. On my table side the Phobos Librarian failed a Tenebrous Curse but got a Smite through for a misery one mortal wound on one of Ryan’s Neurothropes, leaving it with a single wound remaining. In shooting my Vindicare picked up the Neurothrope with one wound left and shot into the second doing a couple wounds. On Ryan’s table side my jump pack Librarian and Scouts near him contributed a couple wounds to one of the Genestealer Cult characters there, and on the right my newly arrived Sanguinary Guard put a couple wounds on one of the Carnifexes they intended to charge.

In the Assault phase I charged in the Sanguinary Guard paying the 2 CP for the 3D6 charge, I charged them first wanting to remember and save my CP re-roll for the phase for them just in case. I didn’t need it rolling an ‘11’. To avoid taking a bunch of over watch and plan for the following turn, I only charged the closer of the two, intending to pile-in and consolidate around the second and lock it in combat for Ryan’s turn. In the middle the Sanguinor, Sanguinary Ancient and Priest joined the Death Company in charging the Bullgryn. I believed I had the numbers to take them out without bringing all the Death Company to bear and so opted to stay inside the ruin and avoid Ryan’s probable revenge firepower. On his table side my Scouts tried to take the over watch for the more important Librarian and charge in first, alas while they didn’t lose anyone in the attempt the failed the measly 6” charge. Having to brave it alone the Librarian (who because of his double move was much closer) of course received 3 wounds in overwatch (ironies of a dice game).

My midfield Scouts on his table side charged into the two nearby Carnifexes guaranteeing they wouldn’t shoot as long as I didn’t die to their close combat attacks. On my midfield side my Phobos Librarian went mono e mono with his Astra Militarium Priest, and finally the lusty Chaplain having realized his peril revisited charging into the remaining Neurothrope and decided to try his hand at a Carnifex, hoping to tie one up and maybe roll well and kill it, and thus consolidate into another also close by. Honestly I just played the Chaplain entirely wrong. He shouldn’t have even been out there first, and second once he was I forgot the initial plan with him and actually moved him away from the objective he and the Neurothrope were near that I could possibly have stood on to bonus for the turn. To really ram home the stupidity of him being out there, I lost 3 of his 4 wounds in over-watch to the Carnifex he charged.

In the Fight phase I chose to swing the Death Company first, not wanting to give Ryan the opportunity to interrupt and swing before them. I had made sure that all the Thunder Hammer wielding members of the unit would swing, and additionally I’d get that many with chainswords as well. Despite having double goofed and moved my Chaplain out of support range for the Death Company I still did something like 16 wounds to Ryan’s Bullgryn. This is where the Emperor was again blinding the Hive Mind for me. My first wound finished off a wounded Bullgryn of the 2+ armour save variety. Ryan had then equipped his unit with three Bullgryn with the 4+ invulnerable shield, which were buffed to 3+ by the psychic power he’d cast on his turn. Mathematically he should then have saved about 10 of the 15 remaining wounds, instead he rolled two ‘2’s and a ‘1’, followed by another ‘1’ when he went to re-roll. With this horrible turn of events his Bullgryn were almost completely wiped out. The last one falling to a combination of my chainsword Death Company and Sanguinary Priest. Truly a horrible turn of events for him.

On my table side the Sanguinary Guard piled in to the Carnifex they charged, easily taking it out, but couldn’t quite get all the way around the second Carnifex to keep it from falling back. In the midfield the Chaplain survived the fight with his Carnifex, but didn’t finish him off either, so was unable to consolidate into the other, truly bungling the whole affair. So to did my Phobos Librarian botch his assault on the Preacher, who in return caused a couple of wounds.. My jump pack Librarian got greedy and tried to take out both Genestealer Cult characters and so failed to take out either, but at least wasn’t slain for his lack of effects. My midfield Scouts actually did a couple wounds to one of the Carnifexes and only lost one Scout in return, so that plan worked at least. Considering the over all mediocrity of the side fights the round actually ended in a push 2-2. I did get my first Engineers as well. Obviously things could have gone worse, but it just goes to show how important re-rolls and auras are in this edition of the game.

Ryan’s turn 3:

Despite things going poorly, I had severely limited Ryan’s options. He obviously fell back with the Carnifex in with the Sanguinary Guard and the two Carnifexes I had charged with the midfield Scouts. In an effort to keep me from doing the same thing again, he fell forward with one of them and back with the other. The Carnifex in with the Chaplain also retreated as did the Neurothrope. His two Genestealer Cult characters fell back from my Librarian onto the nearby objective. He left his priest in my Phobos Librarian. But advanced his Primaris Psycher away. This left him three Carnifexes that I had forced to fall back from a combat. He lined these up to shoot mostly into the Sanguinary Guard, but also the midfield Scouts that were now exposed. Finally he dropped in single unit of Rippers 9” from my Engineer unit on my back objective. In Psychic phase he finished off the cretin of a Chaplain, and put a couple wounds my Phobos Librarian, leaving him with only a single wound. In shooting he killed the Scouts with his Devourers, while the Venom Cannons started doing damage to the Sanguinary Guard, killing four of the ten. In assault his Priest tried and failed to finish my Phobos Librarian who finally landed a couple wounds in return. He also succeeded at Charging his Rippers into my Engineer Scouts in the backfield, killing one in return for a couple wounds on a swarm base. He finished the turn with another Headhunter, and a second Engineers.

My turn 3:

On his table side I moved up the Librarian to finish off the Genestealer Cult characters, while the now left behind Scouts turn around to go help the Engineer Scouts on my back field objective. Also my final unit of Scouts which had been hiding in an ‘L’ shape came out to help with this endeavor. On my table side I fell back with the Phobos Librarian getting him close enough that my Sanguinary Priest could be within 3” of the objective there and 3” of the Librarian to begin healing him. Also on that side of the table my six remaining Sanguinary Guard moved up to ‘L’ shape he had there that one unit of his Engineer Termagaunts were using as cover. My intent was to shoot and then charge into them and hopefully consolidate to within 1” of the Carnifex he’d fallen back with on his turn which was on the other side of the ruin wall from the Termagaunts.

In the middle the Death Company made their appearance, moving up the table for a 6” charge into one Carnfiex which had remained there. Knowing I would easily remove that Carnifex in close combat, but then expose myself to the other six he still had, I devised a naughty plan. The Carnifex he’d fallen forward with in an attempt to not allow me to easily charge multiple of his Carnifexes at once, was close by. I moved my Death Company in such a way that at the tip of the unit’s three Thunder Hammers were placed would be the models that would actually do the damage to the centrally placed Carnifex. While doing that the rest of the unit spread in a line back to a big loop that I made around the closer Carnifex. My intent was to charge only the centrally located Carnifex, killing it, but once it comes to the combat step you can pile-in and/or consolidate on whatever is the closest. So I would surround this other Carnifex and use it to keep me from being shot by its fellows.

Ryan was not amused with the Death Companies antics to say the least. Finally the Sanguinor and Sanguinary Ancient moved up to the central objective, securing my bonus point as long as the jump pack Librarian did his job and survived. At the end of the movement phase I healed two of the four wounds on the Phobos Librarian with my Sanguinary Priest. In Psychic phase my jump pack Librarian secured the +1 attack on the Death Company again, and Smited one of the two Genestealer Cult characters off the table. My Phobos Librarian was hidden out of line of sight, so didn’t do anything. In shooting I pulled a few Termagaunts with the Sanguinary Guard (though not as many as I was hoping for). Killed the remaining Neurothrope with my Vindicare, and then shot again to finish off the Priest. In my Assault phase my Death Company completed their plan losing a single model to over watch. In my back field the two newer units of Scouts came to the rescue of my Engineer Scouts.

On Ryan’s table side my jump pack Librarian made it into combat with the last remaining Genestealer Cult character, and in Ryan’s bottom corner my Sanguinary Guard went in against the Termagaunts. Again quite underwhelmingly, my Sanguinary Guard didn’t finish as many Termaguants as I had hoped which meant I couldn’t consolidate into his Carnifex. To boot, the ‘Gaunts were fearless so didn’t mind losing much of their unit. In the middle it went like clockwork, only two Thunder Hammers getting in on the charged Carnifex, but easily able to end it, while the rest of the unit surrounded and hugged the other Carnifex, which did kill a single Death Company for such an affront. My jump pack Librarian finally did his job, finishing the character he was in with. Finally in the back field the combined might of the two charging units of Scouts finished off the Rippers securing me an Engineer point because my Engineer Scouts hadn’t actually acted on my turn, though locked in combat. Overall a very productive turn for me. The round ended 5-2 in my favor.

Ryan’s turn 4:

His options even more limited then before Ryan chose to fall back more, spreading and advancing his Carnifexes away from me to give his guns some play and some depth from my predatory Death Company. He lined up a couple Carnifexes to shoot at my Sanguinary Guard, including the one I’d failed to Consolidate into, falling back with this remaining Termagaunts. His remaining character, the Primaris Psyker again tried to flee further away, but couldn’t get out of line of sight of the sinister Vindicare. In shooting his Carnifexes that could shoot killed 2 more Sanguinary Guard. In close combat he killed another Death Company model with his trapped Carnifex, but I failed to kill him in return, doing only a couple of wounds. Ryan scored his third Engineer point with his other unit of Engineer Termaguants.

My turn 4:

Having failed to finish the Carnifex off so I could charge something else I opted to jump all the remaining Death Company into the ruin on that side of the table. I lined the Sanguinor up to charge into the now free Carnifex, if need be but also had my jump pack Librarian there with a Smite, and Infernus pistol. On my table side I began moving up my Phobos Librarian along the outside of the ruin there, retracing the Sanguinary Guards original route, while staying within 3” of the Sanguinary Priest to receive more healing. My remaining Sanguinary Guard moved closer to the Carnifex who’d come close around the edge of the ‘L’ shape to them. My hope was to shoot, charge, and dispose of that Carnifex and then Consolidate mostly back out of line of sight from the Carnifexes he had in the central aisle of the table.

At the end of the movement phase I remembered to actually use my Sanguinary Priest two turns in a row (wonder of wonders!!) and healed my Phobos to full life. For my Psychic phase I Smited the Carnifex for a couple wounds, taking it down enough that the Librarian’s Infernus pistol had a fairly decent chance to end it. The Vindicare continued to show her worth, finishing Ryan’s last character. On my table side the Sanguinary Guard landed a whole wound on the Carnifex they were about to charge. Finally the jump pack Librarian squared up and took aim at the Carnifex and shot it right between the eyes, putting the pistol to real use the first time in the whole tournament. During the charge phase the Sanguinary Guard went into the Carnifex they faced and actually did work, finishing it off and then consolidating back toward the center of the table and Ryan’s closest units, getting somewhat behind cover. I scored my third Engineers and the round ended 5-1 in my favor this time.

Ryan’s turn 5:

He Continued to back away, managing to draw line of sight on my Sanguinary Guard with two of his remaining Carnifexes. In shooting they peeled away two more Sanguinary Guard leaving me three I believe. He declined to charge into them, but scored his last Engineer point.

My turn 5:

Using my Phobos Librarian and Sanguinary Guard I managed to Smite, curse, and shoot one of the Carnifexes wounded earlier in the battle to death. Everything else remained about where it was. The round ended as the previous 5-1 with me scoring my last Engineer.

Ryan’s turn 6:

With only three Carnifexes left and only one able to draw a bead on the Sanguinary Guard he opted for a heroic last effort. The one Carnifex came in close as possible and shot taking a single Sanguinary Guard out and then attempted a charge, but failed.

My turn 6:

Wanting to make sure I secured a kill on the last round I advanced the Sanguinor off the central objective and had him take over holding the objective from my jump pack Librarian. My Librarian then moved up the table intending to double move to get into Smite, and if successful even Infernus pistol/charge range of one of the Carnifexes. My Phobos Librarian moved up on my table side also making my chosen Carnifex the closest model. Through a combination of Smites, a successful double move, but failure of an Infernus pistol I came to have to charge to finish the Carnifex off. Luckily the Sanguinary Guard while reduced to two models showed their continued mettle and finished the Carnifex off in close combat. This gave me a final 5-1 round to finish the game. We shook hands over a game completed, though not Ryan’s favorite. He was a very patient opponent who took the table, dice, and list going against him well.

So there it is. 5-0 with ITC pure Blood Angels. I’m planning on doing a couple of articles about how my list works in the next week, so stay tuned. I appreciate and I’m grateful for all the shout-outs and praise I received. This is a great community and I’m happy to be part of it.

 

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