First taste of 40K competitive game

For the past several months, I only played small games in 40K.  500 points is the maximum I could muster and I became somewhat familiar with what my list can do.  There weren't much variety of units on the table so that was easy.

Last week was the beginning of my very first 40k game at 1000 points and I was utterly smashed.  I played two other games following my first game and lost all of them.  I was so excited and tense this time, I forgot to take photos of the game.

Anyway I thought I should write about what I learn so far, just to keep track of my progress (if any) and for future references.


All three missions played were Maelstrom - Spoils of War.  First two games was with Commander Ryanbo and third game with Chaos Lord SJ.

FIRST GAME
Ryanbo had Wolfstar accompanied by an Imperial Knight (IK).
I had Tactical Squads, supported by Razorbacks, Predators & Dreadnought, basically all my painted models and those that I am currently painting up for the June painting challenge.  The tanks were borrowed from Ryanbo.

There was limited tables and we shared a 4 x 6 table with Farseer G and Somjai.  So the battlefield had some overlapping areas.  This may have a slight impact on my deployment.

Commander Ryanbo won the dice roll and went first.  In addition he opt for Night Fighting to give him cover save as he moved across the open.  In his first turn, he moved his IK forward and fired off it's thermal cannon.  This took out 65% of my units.   Then remaining units tried shooting at the IK, taking away a couple of HPs but ultimately did nothing.
As the IK closed in with the Wolfstar, I knew the game was done.  I had nothing left on the table that could effectively contest the objectives.   Absolutely no way I could have gotten there in time.  With no chance of winning I conceded.

What I learnt:

• IK can move 12".  (That is really fast!!!)  I thought I was safe behind cover but I am not.
• Wolfstar is moving very fast too at 12".   I was quickly hemmed in.
• 4 x 4" table isn't very large.  Fast moving units can quickly grab objectives easily or move to  places that can project a threat bubble
• Tournaments do not use a lot of terrain, there are not a lot of covers

SECOND GAME
Same opponent and set up as before.  This time I tried deploying better.  As usual Wolfstar and IK advanced.  Wolfstar split and massacred my Scouts hiding behind the tower.  IK fired at my tanks, did less damage this time but immobilized my Razorback.
I knew IK are hard to take down so I pump as much shots at the Wolfstar as possible.  Later, IK got in range and charged my Vindicare Assassin, taking him out.  Wolfstar charged into my tacticals.  The surviving wolf lord circled around the building and charged my dreadnought.
I was fortunate and killed the wolf lord due to some lucky dice rolls.   My battleline of Predator tanks was finally taken out by the IK.  Near the 4th turn of the game, Ryanbo still had his IK and one wolfstar left.  I had only a dreadnought which the IK caught up to and destroyed.  I did better this time as I managed to score a few objectives and killed some of Ryanbo's forces even though I lost.


What I learnt:

• Wolfstar are fast and vicious in melee but can still be taken out if I focus my firepower into it.  Their power diminishes as it takes wounds.  Unlike the IK, removing HP will not affect its ability at all.  Losing a wolf or two, means that the unit itself has less attacks in melee and the character has less meatshield to rely on.
• I should have deployed my scout in the tower itself and move to claim objective late game

THIRD GAME
This time I face Chaos Lord SJ and his mobile bike army supported by Landspeeders.  I have the same army as before.   Taking potshots at his units, I manage to kill one or two bikes.  The objective cards weren't on my side so SJ was gaining in victory points quite rapidly.  By the time, his command squad closed in.  The battle started tilting in his favor.  In the end, I lost by a huge margin of victory points even though I could kill a couple of his units.  Only the scouts, predator and a dreadnought was left on my side.


What I learnt

• Vindicare already has a 4+ Invuln save, putting him in cover makes no difference.  He will get at most 4+ cover save from the ruins.  I am deploying my Vindcare wrongly.  Given the Vindicare's ability to ignore cover, I should place him right in the center at the back end of my deployment.  Where he can draw LOS to any targets.
• Target priority, I should have used the Vindcare to target the Landspeeders.  With AV10, it is auto-penetration.  
• Focus fire, I should have focus all my fire into a single unit until it is completely destroyed.  This ensures that unit does not come back and haunt me.  Or get in a position to flank me.  If I had focus my fire on the Landspeeders, SJ would have harder time taking apart my tanks.  My razorback and tactical squad both objective secured units may still be around.
• Scouts did reasonably well against SJ's bikes, tying them up for 3 turns.  And they are cheap unit compared to his bikes.  I should paint more Scouts.
• My razorback and Predator should trade places.  Razorback should be closer to the objective.  I basically lost a turn of shooting trying to maneuver the Predator into position to claim objective and VP.

CONCLUSION
I have a long way to go in this hobby.  My positioning, target priority and list building needs to be improved on.  But with a self-imposed limitation of playing only with painted models.  I think I can only practice on my positioning and target priority now.
That is okay, I will learn to make do with what I currently have.  I will (hopefully) learn the strengths and weakness of the units I field and how to use them more efficiently.  While I do have a specific plan and strategy in mind, it calls for units that I have not even began to work on.

I shall need to work on an alternative army list that can capitalized on what I have painted so far.