Post Battle Thoughts

They say an artist shouldnt blame his tools. Well theyve obviously never tried to copy a picaso with a piece of brick and paint.

The loss was huge. But, like nearly every game, the loser walks away with more to think about. What did I learn from this game? Especially a day on, after the vengeful rage has subsided.
Well, I can sum up the cause for the disaster in three simple sections.

Cause 1: The Player
Unfortunatly, working for 48 hours before the game and having only 4 hours sleep did take its toll. Mistakes were made. Namely the forgetting of the Storm Troopers, whome I was forced to deploy as Deep Strikers. I would have preffered them setting up as either scouts or outflanking, better being able to stall and surprise. I cannot complain with what they managed to accomplished, but by golly they could have done so much more!
Also, for some reason, I moved my men forward in the first turn, over eager to claim the objective and running straight into the fearful Space Marine Counter attack. The maths is clear, whoever gets to rapid fire first, usually hits hardest. What I did in that first turn was outright simplistic stupidity that can and did result in a horrible mess. Think two predators destructors firing all, two tactical squads (one rapid firing) and a razorback all pounding into my units.

Cause 2: The Army
While the Space Marines can utilise any weapon to better kill their foe, the Imperial Guard are running up hill. Not many weapons could be described as Space Marine killers (ie removing that infamous 3+ save). This means it comes down to fire efficiancy. Either lots of it, or lots of plasma and ordenance. I had neither.
In many ways, my army was better suited to killing Orks or Eldar. ALso, what kind of IG army lacks a proper Leman Russ or three?
The continuing choice of Basalisks has to stop also. The mobile artillary, now costing 125 pts is a waste at such range. Unable torely on armour, scenery or cheapness, its better suiting to huge boards where its indirect fire (now a compusary addition) is better suited.
Indeed, removing those two walking basalisks and replacing them with one maybe two Leman RUsses changes the aspect of battle instantly. Armour 14 is not something to ignore. (Unless its Necrons...)

Cause 3: The Other
Unfortunatly the board size was smaller than normal, pushing the deployment to a meagre 7". this didnt cause to much of an issue until the lack of room to retreat came into the fold.

Man of the match? Storm Trooper Squad, for executing the enemy general. Again. :D



So.

What next? So far I have been musing on these possible fixes:

1. Leman Russes! If he's going to be extra fluffy and use lots of Tactical Squads with rhinos, I should return the favour with at least two more Lemans.
2. Imperial Veterans in Chimera Vs Imperial Guard Infantry platoons...
3. More Rough riders! 30! Theyre only 10pts each!
4. Ditch the Basalisks. Maybe ditch a squad of storm troop.
   
5. Deep strike the Valkyrie next time for instant suprise.
6. More plasma guns!