Hi everyone, Michael here with the third game of my recent Team Tournament adventure. This game would see the GSC take on the current meta threat of the Harlequins. For more reviews and analyses, check out the Tactics Corner.
The third game of the Team tournament would see me take on Stewart’s Harlequins. I had not yet played against the new Harlequins, but had heard that they were the terrors of the tournament scene, so was not looking forward to this!
One aspect of the Team Tournament format that is a lot of fun is the tactical pairings of each round. It works in different ways, but the aim is to put the most favourable match ups together for your armies to win each game. Alternatively, for bad match ups you can attempt to score as high a loss as possible, or to reduce your opponent’s score as best you can.
In our team, we were all counting on losing against the Harlequins. The aim would be to score as high as possible, or deny Stewart from scoring a lot of points. It was decided that the GSC would jump on the Harlequin grenade for the team. The GSC are really good at scoring a range of secondaries, so were well placed to rack up a decent score before being utterly crushed.
My army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment (Twisted Helix)
Patriarch- WARLORD, Prowling Agitant (Trait), Elixir of the Prime Specimen; Enhanced Resilience (Relic), Might from Beyond, Mass Hypnosis, Mutagenic Deviation
Magus- Familiar, Might from Beyond, Psychic Stimulus, Mutagenic Deviation
10 Acolyte Hybrids- 4 Heavy Rock Drills, A Trap Sprung
10 Acolyte Hybrids- 4 Heavy Rock Drills
5 Acolyte Hybrids- Lying in Wait, 5 Hand Flamers
5 Acolyte Hybrids- 5 Hand Flamers
5 Acolyte Hybrids
5 Acolyte Hybrids- From Every Angle
Kelermorph- A Perfect Ambush
Nexos- Cranial Inlay (Relic)
10 Purestrain Genestealers- They Came From Below
10 Purestrain Genestealers- Our Time is Nigh
10 Purestreain Genestealers
4 Atalan Jackals- 1 Demolition Charge
4 Atalan Jackals- 1 Demolition Charge
Goliath Truck
Goliath Truck
Patrol Detachment (Twisted Helix)
Magus- Familiar, Mass Hypnosis, Mind Control, Mutagenic Deviation, The Unwilling Orb
10 Neophyte Hybrids- Shotguns
10 Neophyte Hybrids
5 Acolyte Hybrids
10 Hybrid Metamorphs
Stewart’s army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment (Harlequins, Blaze of Light)
Troupe Master- A Foot in the Future, Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss, Player of the Light, Cegorach’s Rose
Shadowseer- Mirror of Minds, Webway Dancer, Shadow Stone
5 Troupe- 2 Fusion Pistols, 2 Neurodisruptors, Harlequin’s Kiss, Harlequin’s Embrace, Harlequin’s Caress, 2 Harlequin Blades.
5 Troupe- 2 Fusion Pistols, 2 Neurodisruptors, Harlequin’s Kiss, Harlequin’s Embrace, Harlequin’s Caress, 2 Harlequin Blades.
5 Troupe- 2 Fusion Pistols, 2 Neurodisruptors, Harlequin’s Kiss, Harlequin’s Embrace, Harlequin’s Caress, 2 Harlequin Blades.
5 Troupe- 2 Fusion Pistols, 2 Neurodisruptors, Harlequin’s Kiss, Harlequin’s Embrace, Harlequin’s Caress, 2 Harlequin Blades.
Death Jester- Rift Ghoul, Favour of Cegorach
Death Jester
Solitaire- Prince of Sins
5 Skyweavers- Haywire Cannons
5 Skyweavers- Haywire Cannons
Voidweaver- Prismatic Cannon
Voidweaver- Prismatic Cannon
Starweaver
Starweaver
Starweaver
Starweaver
This would be a tough match up for me. The invulnerable saves negate my high AP close combat attacks. The Troupes would likely fall to my mass of attacks, but I would struggle to crack the transports to get to them outside of combat. Once I killed a transport in combat, my unit would be vulnerable to the counterattack, and he had just as many units to trade as I did. Plus, the high mobility of the army meant they could quickly be upon me vulnerable elements.
For secondaries, I chose Deploy Teleport Homers, Behind Enemy Lines and Psychic Interrogation. The last one was a risk with the Shadowseer and ability to keep his characters in a transport. However, I didn’t see a better choice as I was unlikely to kill a lot of his vehicles or infantry. Stewart chose Assassinate, a Deadly Performance and Stranglehold.
Stewart deployed deep in his deployment zone, with the two squads of Skyweavers screening his units. All the characters but the Shadowseer went in transports.
I won the roll off for first turn.
TURN 1
I deployed my army. The Jackals went on each flank, moving up to secure the end objectives in the centre. The Purestrains pushed up to get a first turn charge on the Skyweavers. My other forces deployed at the back, hiding behind the ruins and holding the objectives. The Trucks pushed up to get at some central objectives. I brought one unit of Acolytes in to get Deploy Teleport Homers for 2 pts on turn 1. I also performed the action to get points on the primary. I used my psychic phase to give the Genestealers an extra attack with Might from Beyond.
The Purestrains charged a unit of Skyweavers and bounced hard! Thanks to being -1 to hit and to wound, only two Bikers fell to my 50 attacks. Luckily, I only lost 2 in reply, but the Harlequins could fall back and shoot and charge. I was hoping to kill the unit and consolidate into some of the transports to at least shut down at bit of their firepower. I scored 2 pts for Behind Enemy Lines and Teleport Homers, as well as 3 pts on the Primary.
In Stewart’s turn, the Skyweavers fell back towards a nearby objective, supported by one transport. The other unit of Skyweavers advanced towards my Goliath Truck. The rest of the army spread out to fire.
The Shadowseer cast smite, periling and using a CP re-roll to kill three of the Purestrains. He then periled on his second power and took a mortal wound.
The shooting phase saw one unit of Jackals killed, along with the 5-man Acolyte squad and the Purestrain Genestealers. The Skyweavers took some wounds off the Truck. Stewart used fire and fade to move a transport onto an objective to get him Stranglehold.
The Skyweavers charged the Truck, but failed to kill it in combat.
At the end of the turn, he scored a Deadly Performance and Stranglehold, as well as 3 pts on the primary. (GSC- 7 pts, Harlequins- 9 pts).
TURN 2
In my second battle round, I score four primary points and start the action to get more points with my Neophyte squad. The Patriarch and Metamorph Hybrids moved up on the Bikers engaged with the Goliath Truck. The Genestealers disembarked from their Truck and moved up on a transport in an objective. I brought a unit of Acolytes in from reserve to support them, and brought in a couple of Acolyte squads to get behind enemy lines and started Deploy Teleport Homers with one.
In the psychic phase, I got Psychic Interrogation with the Patriarch, and gave the Metamorphs an extra attack with Might From Beyond.
In the charge phase, the Patriarch and Metamorphs charged the Skyweavers. I tried to charge a transport on the objective with the Acolytes, but Stewart used the stratagem to move it, so I had to redirect into another Starweaver. The Genestealers joined them in the combat.
The Patriarch struck at the Skyweavers, doing 5 wounds. Stewart failed 2 invulnerables, but used his luck re-rolls to pass them. The Hybrids also struck, doing 12 wounds. Stewart then passed 9 of his 4+ invulnerable and used his last 3 luck dice to pass the remaining 3! Wow. The units had bounced hard after some incredible invulnerable save rolls, passing 17 out of 22 4+ invulnerables! The Starweavers killed five Metamorphs in reply.
The Acolytes and Purestrains managed to kill the transport and 2 of the Troupe died on deploying.
At the end of my turn, I scored four points for Behind Enemy Lines and Teleport Homers, and 3 for Psychic Interrogation and the bonus primary points.
In Stewarts turn, he scored 4 Primary points and started the primary action as well. A Voidweaver moved up on the Patriarch, as the Skyweavers fell back towards the Atalan Jackals. The other units moved up to engage the GSC reserves. The 3-man Troupe moved up on my backfield objective.
In the shooting phase, the Bikers took out the Hybrid Metamorphs, leaving the Voidweaver to kill the Patriarch. The firepower of the other squads took out the Acolyte Hybrids and all but two of the Purestrains. In a reversal of fate, I couldn’t seem to make a single 4+ invulnerable save, where Stewart couldn’t seem to fail them!
In the fight phase, the Skyweavers on one side killed the last two Purestrains, while the other squad was able to kill all but one of the Jackals. The Solitaire took care of the remaining Acolytes in the Harlequin’s deployment zone. The 3-man Troupe failed their charge on my Neophytes, keeping them safe for another turn.
At the end of his turn, Stewart scored 4 pts on Assassinate, and 3 on a Deadly Performance, Stranglehold and the mission primary bonus points (GSC- 25 pts, Harlequins- 23). At the end of turn 2, I was still in the lead, but had lost a ton of my units, while only succeeded in killing one Starweaver so far. If this rate of attrition continued, I would have little left on the table in turn 3.
TURN 3
I scored no primary points this turn, as I was only on one objective. I fell back with the Jackal and put a unit of Neophytes back into reserve with a CP. The Neophytes and characters moved up to target the Troupe threatening them. I brought in the Purestrains near the enemy objective, and the Acolytes, Magus and Kelermorph arrived on the left. I brought the last Acolytes in to get Teleport Homers once more. The other squad of Acolytes deployed to grab an objective from a Voidweaver to deny Stewart Primary points in the next turn.
I managed to get psychic interrogation once more for 3 pts. A smite from the other Magus killed one of the Skyweavers. The Kelermorph fired at the Skyweavers, killing a few more with his pistol shots. The Neophytes were able to kill the 5-man Troupe with their shotgun firepower.
In the charge phase, the Purestrains and Acolytes managed to make their charges on the enemy objective, killing the Shadowseer and a Starweaver in combat.
At the end of my turn, I got 3 pts for Psychic Interrogation and the primary pts, and 4 for Behind and Teleport.
The Harlequins got no primary points thanks to my movement tricks, and moved up to deal with the GSC threats. The firepower of the Harlequins took care of the Neophytes, Acolytes, Purestrains. The Troupe fired at the Magus, but both their Fusion Pistols missed! The remaining firepower killed the Kelermorph. I used my last 2 CP to make a Heroic Stand and fired at the last Skyweaver near the Jackal. If I could kill him, I would be able to hold the objective and score some points. Sadly, I didn’t go a single mortal wound with my 12 shots and only took him down to one wound left. The Skyweaver unceremoniously shot the last Atalan Jackal off the objective.
The charge phase took care of the remaining Acolytes and Purestrains in the enemy deployment zone. Meanwhile, another Troupe killed off the Neophytes, Nexos and Magus.
Stewart scored 9 pts for Assassinate and 3 for a Deadly Performance and Stranglehold.
With that the writing was pretty much on the wall. I brought in the Neophytes and moved up a unit to get four points for Behind Enemy Lines and Teleport Homers. I scored no more primary points and couldn’t get Psychic Interrogation off, as there were no characters in range.
In his fourth turn, Stewart killed my remaining units on the table, and maxed out the Primary for the last 2 turns. The final score was GSC 57 (13 primary, 34 secondary, 10 battle ready) and Harlequins 92 (37 primary, 45 Secondary and 10 battle ready). I expected to get defeated, but managed to score high enough to get an 18-2 loss, actually allowing our team to win the round by four points!
AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
My first game against the Harlequins went pretty well as expected. I had heard this army was tearing up the competitive scene and I can see why!
I didn’t realise how much my army would bounce off the Skyweavers. Had I known how tough they were, I would not have gone so hard into them on my turns. I probably would have been better putting the Purestrains back into reserve to go after some better targets in my subsequent turns. As it was, they killed a couple of the Jetbikes, but were then slaughtered in reply.
My biggest issue here was that I had no way of cracking the transports outside of combat. One of the downsides of my list is the lack of firepower, so I do struggle against armies with lots of protected units in transports. Once the vehicles were taken care of, the Troupes inside could easily slaughter the units that had killed their transport vehicle.
It might have actually have helped to go second in this game, and react to where the Harlequins moved. I couldn’t really tie up their units anyway, as almost all of them can fall back and charge and shoot. Plus, their firepower could shred my units with ease. Had Stewart taken the first turn, he would have likely spread out his units a bit more, allowing me to take them on and swamp the objectives.
As it was, I scored just enough points to allow us to win the round, so the team plan worked overall. This put us on three wins for the day, going into day 2 undefeated.
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