Tournament - Game 2 vs. Imperial Guard

Second game of the day and I was facing Imperial Guard.

Sorry about the lack of details in the report below. I didn't have time to document all the details of every action as this was a competitive tournament game with a time limit.

Here is the Imperial Guard Steel Legion army:
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INFANTRY COMPANY [250]
Commander, 12 Infantry

INFANTRY COMPANY [300]
Commander, 12 Infantry, Hydra

SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [600]
3 Shadowsword, Hydra, Griffon Battery (3 Griffons)

ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]
3 Manticores

SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels

DEATHSTRIKE MISSILE BATTERY [200]
2 Deathstrike Missile Launchers

FLAK BATTERY [150]
3 Hydra

VULTURE SQUADRON [300]
4 Vultures

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

REGIMENTAL HQ [550]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Hydra

And my Imperial Fists:

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CENTURION [425] - 4 Assault Centurion, 2 Land Raider Crusaders
CENTURION [300] - 4 Devastator Centurion
TACTICAL [300] - 6 Tactical units, Razorback LAS, Rhino
TACTICAL [275] - 6 Tactical units, Rhino
SCOUTS [150] - 4 Scout units, 2 Bunkers + Minefields
SCOUTS [150] - 4 Scout units, 2 Bunkers + Minefields
LAND SPEEDERS [200] - 5 Land speeder
LAND SPEEDERS [200] - 5 Land speeder
WHIRLWIND BATTERY [300] - 4 Whirlwinds
THUNDERFIRE BATTERY [250] - 4 Thunderfire Cannons
HYPERIOS PLATFORMS [125] - 3 Hyperios Platforms
HYPERIOS PLATFORMS [125] - 3 Hyperios Platforms
2 STORM TALONS [200] 

Deployment

Deployment from the IF left flank. Tacticals, Whirlwinds and the other Tactical formation in the deployment zone. In front of them in the bunker are Devastator Centurions. To the left of the bunker in the ruin is a Scout formation and in the bigger ruin to the right of the bunker are Hyperios Platforms. Behind the larger ruin is a unit of Land Speeders.

On the right side the there are Assault Centurions in the deployment zone (deployed out of cover to avoid the Land Raiders being killed by the Deathstrike missiles). Garrisoned in front of them are the Thunderfire Battery in bunkers, Scouts in the ruins to the right of the bunkers and Hyperios Platforms behind the Scouts. Also another unit of Land Speeders covering the right wing.

IG focused their forces in their right side. Two infantry companies garrisoned along with Sentinels and Vultures. In their deployment zone (from the left) is the Superheavy Tanks, Manticores, Hydras and Deathstrike missiles.

The left flank of the IG army was covered by the Regimental HQ

Turn 1

After some initial stalling and bombarding each other with artillery IG made the first move. The Regimental HQ doubled up the IF right flank and broke the Speeders guarding that flank.

Imperial Fist launched an attack on the other flank, clipping the Infantry Company with the Scouts. The Scouts loose the combat but manage to break the Infantry Company in the process (sorry about the bad quality of the picture). IG advances the Sentinels to guard the area vacated by the Inf. Co.

IF doubles the Tacticals up their left flank and kill some more of the broken Infantry Company. The Vultures revenge their fallen brethren by blowing up all of the Rhinos from the Tacticals.

In the center the Hydras makes a kamikaze move to get rid of the Land Speeders. They kill 3 breaking the formation, and the IF Thunderfire Battery only manages to kill one Hydra in return. Both formations break and withdraws.

On the IF right flank Scouts advance to slow down the Regimental HQ while the Assault Centurions makes their way over there to deal with the guardsmen. The Assault Centurions still stay out of cover to shield theri Land Raiders since the Deathstrikes failed to activate turn one and still have two missiles coming their way.

Turn 2

IF wins initiative and decides to go for the Regimental HQ. Assault Centurions double up and kills a few units with their flamers. Scouts retain and engage with the centurions as fire support. IF wins the combat and only four Chimeras and four guardsmen gets away. Scouts loose two units in the assault. The Regimental HQ withdraws to where they started. At this point the Centurions forget to shield their vehicles, and the Deathstrikes launch ther missiles. Somehow they manage to miss both!

On the IF left flank Vultures advance and kills the last Devastator Centurion hiding in the Bunker. The rest of his formation was evaporated by the Shadowswords in turn one. In return the Hyperios platforms and the Tacticals (out of picture, above the left ruin) manages to kill two Vultures, breaking the formation.

In the center, Tacticals are doubling towards a take and hold objective but get most of their transports blown up by the advancing Shadowswords.

Turn 3

Both sides control their own side of the table. IF are advancing, trying to get to the take and hold objectives. IF left side:

IF right side:

I don't have too many pictures from this turn as I was too busy trying to figure out how to win the game :) A decisive move was when the Superheavy tank company stringed out to contest both T&H objectives.

At this point I had nothing left that could break the Superheavies, and my only chance to get a victory out of this game was to grab "they shall not pass". There was a lot of maneuvering back and forth but in the end the IG managed to open up a passage for the Regimental HQ to double across the middle denying IF the TSNP objective.

Result

Due to time constraints we had to end the game after turn three. At this point Imperial Fists had 1-0 with Defend to Flag. The game ended in a draw (~200 points in favor of the Fists).