We decided on a 1500 point game and rolled up the basic Maelstrom mission - Cleanse and Control.
Wiggy's army was a couple of units of scouts including Telion, missile devastators, a land speeder storm, a stormtalon and 3 drop pods containing 3 devastator centurions with level 2 librarian, an ironclad dreadnought and a tactical squad.
As I knew he would bring the CentStar I fielded a Ravenwing Support Squadron, as well as one each of the Ravenwing and Deathwing detachments. I felt a bit bad using the support squadron, as Wiggy did not realise what the Interceptor rule did when I showed him the datasheet. At the start of the game I just deployed the squadron and was happy for him to go first. He took the bait and duly dropped in the centurions and the ironclad right by my unit, only for the plasma storm battery, multi-meltas and assault cannons to wipe out his deathstar as soon as they disembarked. I got first blood and warlord in the first phase of his turn. That formation is a very hard counter to that particular deathstar. It could be a very useful ally in many Imperial forces.
To be fair to Wiggy, he did not throw in the towel, but kept focusing on the maelstrom objectives to try and level up the game. Unfortunately he never really recovered from the early setback, with the score at 9-14 in my favour when the game ended after Turn 5.
We both made some silly mistakes, like my terminators straying too close to a grav squad after they had managed to beat the Ironclad in combat. I also allowed Sableclaw to be assaulted by two different units of scouts, which was careless and cost me Warlord. However, this is a new army for me, which is subtly different from my Howling Griffons. I need to get used to the DA rules, especially things like Stubborn. Markers for jinking and having fired interceptor shots would be very handy. I also need to practise with the central interaction between the Ravenwing and Deathwing, so the units come on at the right time in the best places. Reliable reserves is very useful, however.
I was obviously pleased with killing his key unit early doors, but I don't expect to get away with that trick too often. I was also happy with smaller things like the Power Lance on one of the Ravenwing Sergeants, which is a weapon I have not really seen used before. Strangely, I have never used a Typhoon Launcher before either, but I think I will definitely include more of these with my Guardians of the Covenant.
