Okay, after each tournament I go to, I like to analyze my games looking for mistakes in rules, tactics and just go back over list again and again so I make sure the next time I play that I will remember not to make the same mistake twice. As some people have asked me for advice, I figured I would post my thought process so maybe you can start doing the same thing again as well. So I will take it round by round.
Round 1
I lucked out and stole initiative which was what I was going for since I deployed my units. My opponent had told me that this was about his 5th game, and that it was his first tournament. So I really wasn't worried about it. I should have just reserved, but after his deployment there wasn't too many threats. A fire prism, 4 Bright Lances at BS 3, and some fire dragons in a wave serpent. At best he would be able to damage 6 of my vehicles. At average 3. No real mistakes in this game. It was a learning battle for him, and I didn't want to go all out and ruin it for him.
Round 2
Pulling a Nidzilla list was very confident going into the game. I wanted this fight. I made only two mistakes in this game. First, I got his large unit of Hormagants down to have strength, but I charged in with 2 MC in support position, they were hurt, but not our of the game yet. I should have just held back until the MCs were killed and then assaulted...since there was still 4 turns left in the game. My opponent took advantage of this by locking his MCs in close combat, making it so I couldn't finish them off with shooting. The other mistake I made was knowing where his reserves were coming in from cover, but not positioning my vehicles to instant kill them but not being able to deploy. I knew they were coming in, I kept my vehicles moving at 12", but had I just deployed my vehicles into the terrain or moved them to block the entrance, I allowed myself to get charged.
Round 3...or ton of mistakes round.
I made every mistake in the book on this one. I chose to go first in Dawn of War deployment. With my list it would have been better if I had chosen to go second and used the first turn to get in close against my opponent's foot-logging list. But I allowed him to walk on and take shots at me killing a few of my vehicles....it was key for me to get in fast and I paid for it. I also when coming in under-estimated the ranges. I should have moved in about 12-16 inches, keeping me out of range due to the night fight.
My next mistake was target priority and forgetting his special rule. He had taken Magnus, which allowed him to choose to pass or fail any leadership test. This allowed him to keep his Dev Squads at max range on the board edge, without letting me kill a few and get them to run off the board edge. I targeted his TH/SS Terminators over his shooting ones. I should have just used my dark lances against the models with a 5++ save vs a 3++ save. This would have allowed me to remove some of the CML Termies and save a few vehicles. The TH/SS ones I should have just saved for CC last, or just ignored entirely. I followed his Librarian with shots as well, trying to get rid of null zone, rather then going after my primary target of Magnus, though my opponent did hide him well.
Lastly, I didn't hide. He had a lot of long range shots that I should have avoided, but I wanted to rush his army, and in failing, it almost cost me first place. I knew going in that if I had drawn, I would still be in first, when in this position, I should have just hidden and let him try to get to me.
Now tactics aside...we both made mistakes on Victory Points as well. He should have gotten another 65 points from his damage to my vehicle, but I also should have gotten a ton more points since his IC had one wound left. Been awhile since I have used Victory Points so we should have reviewed these more carefully.
I blame most of my mistakes on it not getting a lot of sleep, a long drive, thirst, and looking at the clock worried I was going to upset my wife-to-be. But in the end those are excuses, and I should have paid more attention to the game.
Hope this helps in your tournament experience.
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