[40K] BT/GK vs IG/DE

All right guys, my long winter's nap is  over! I have been down and out and I have a lot to catch up on. Hoping to get this on the board before Wednesday is over, and then get to work on my writeup for Friday. 

Week one of our team league  was actually pretty fun. My partner (who bless his heart is trying to blame his codex for any "gimping" we get rather than me) and I spent some time via email/FB planning ideas and whatnot, and we had something of a coherent idea for our game. (Rather than aimless meandering, which I do a lot)

We were paired against a pretty tough team- both players are very smart and well versed in their armies. They had lists something like this: 

IG-

2 Vendettas (4 las ea)

1 melta squad

two 30 man squads

1 Chimera

1 small squad on obj.

DE

2 venom

2 ravagers

2 raiders

assortment of dark lances, blasters, decimators 

(I know there was something else but I am blanking on what it might be)

My partner ran Grey Knights, with something like this:

assasin

Inquisitor in Terminator armor (Psycannon, null rod, teleport homer)
Henchmen squad w/MM, Plasma, Mystics, sages, etc...
Chimera
Grey Knight Squad w/ 2 Psycannon
DN (TLAC)... Rifleman class DN

a couple other goodies but again not sure what 

I had my Templars suited up like so:

5 man unit Las,

5 man unit missile

9 man power weapon, flamer

EC

Land Raider

5 man squad terminators, 2 CMLw/TH

We rolled for deployment and got spearhead, with capture & control mission. After looking at the terrain, my partner commented that this would probably be a draw. I shrugged, not ever having done spearhead before. 

Here's the right side with a LOT of flying crap.

My team didn't have access to a Whirlwind (really, I don't get that) so we had to do some real interesting target priority to blow up the mobile gun platforms. Our deployment sort of included our ideas on that. 

You can see MOST of our set up here- although this is a later pic and my Termies have died some =(

I deployed my 2 little units on top of  the objective in cover, with my Terminators in some cover in the ruin there, and my Land Raider (with the BIG CC squad) hid between two hills. The DN, Chimera, and small squad were all deployed with cover as well. 

This game was full of surprises for me- We built and used good cover- and it actually mattered...

We attempted to sieze, failed. 

and now onto the best synopsis I can make given my really bad memory and inability to keep track of ONE army, much less 4...(If I forgot something important or left out your favorite part, I apologize!)

The DE are disembarking from one of the flying things.

Turn 1-

The Vendettas had scout moves- the meltas jumped out, trying to blow up a dread. Plus, there were shots from the Vendettas at the Land Raider and the DreadNaught. 

The DE Venoms and Raiders shoot at Termies (apparently CML with Tank Hunters made them a little worried) I THINK a Ravager moves around behind a building to sneak up on us (it might have been a different vehicle, I am not sure of the name)

very small moves on my side, just a lot of shooting.

Shooting at Vendetta and meltas (me) with Venom and Raider (my partner)

My landraider survives

partner's chimera survives

[This is big news! I've never survived turn 1 with a vehicle before, and my partner's Chimera has a reputation for getting blown up as well.]

Turn 2

There's more getting shot at by a Vendetta, a Venom (or 2), and a Raider (or 2). My LR, the DN, the Termies- you name it, they shot at it. Then the meltas closed the gap on the LR and the DN.

Grey Knight Terminators fail to arrive. The assassin moved onto terrain and flamed a big group of DE scum.

We had some minor movement to gain cover/avoid shooting My Land Raider blows some guns off the Vendetta and it can't move.Something (can't remember what- Missile Launcher Terminator?) blows up the second Vendetta. Some more shooting and so forth.  The Land Raider and Chimera on our sides stay on the board.

Turn 3

My remaining Terminators  are destroyed 

More flying death comes to spew blaster stuff down our throats. 

30 man blob makes it on the board (or was already there and advances)

There's a LOT of flying stuff for us to blow up

Our side presents with more shooting, and lots of it. We really didn't move a lot -just used guns. LOTS of guns. We blow up some of the unworthy DE villains, so all is good.

 The Land Raider stayed on the board, but I am pretty sure the Chimera was blown up into a crater at this point. (I think it took a couple DE with it, so it's not completely lost)

I think in Turn 4 the Grey Knight Terminators show up. Those guys are awesome. The Psycannons are awesome! Goodbye invuln save! Also, my guys finally disembark from the Land Raider, to do some CC damage when needed.

"BigSword" aka Brother Darius and pals on a hill.

There was some very interesting game theory going on at this point- our opponents deliberately decided NOT to shoot at me at one point because it would make my Templar advance towards someone ill-prepared for getting chopped up all close and personal-like.

Turn 5 had some important shooting. The opponent decided they WOULD shoot, and my small squads in cover were blown off the objective. There was also a small matter of me blowing up a Ravager and killing more of my guys than his.... And my partner did something similar....

There there was a huge assault, with one of the 30 man squads deciding to attack the EC and his buddies.

We managed to move my EC troops in such a way that they were able to contest the objective, and the turn ended with us at a draw. My partner and I hoped for the game to end, and were foiled.

Turn 6 was a lot of the same- a huge assault with IG dying in droves (but man, there are a lot of them) and not very many of ours left to fight them, and even fewer of those guys weretroops. It became a critical game of maneuvering at the end, with a run roll literally keeping us at a draw rather than losing. 

What I learned: Terrain & cover matter. A LOT. I gained a lot of advantage from being behind cover at almost every turn. 

What I need to work on: I think I need to laminate the Righteous Zeal rule. No matter how many times I play, it seems to be the most looked up and most confusing rule in my codex, and I need to be ready to answer the questions. Also, better notes. My partner did a WHOLE lot more than I remember at the moment- he pretty much kept my head above water the whole game. he deserves way more credit than I gave him!

About my partner: I learned so much this game- how to play so that I'm not struggling, how to use things to my advantage, how to be patient, and how to balance target priority against objectives. It was also really helpful to have a guy who knows what hits when so I could see the bigger stuff instead of getting lost in minutia. 

About my opponents: Flying dudes are a pain in the rear, and when they have 8-10 of them, it's a righteous ache. They played to their strengths and gave us a serious challenge. We realized pretty early on that we didn't have quite enough feet on the ground and it was going to be tough, but we did the best we could. 

I know I enjoyed myself a lot.  and that's the point right? (and to kill Xenos scum of course....)