Blood and Glory Tournament Report

Back from Blood and Glory. Great tournament. I went 3-2, coming 15th out of 73. There were soft scores in play, so although I only had 18pts from my games, I got another 6 points from 3 "best games" votes (essentially sportsmanship) and 3 from "best army" votes i.e. painting. I was also one of 6 nominated for best army, although I didn't win. Really pleased.

And I loved playing my Harlies.

So usual format, brief battle reports, a list review, and thoughts on how I’ll develope my list as a result.

Genestealer Cult's First Tournament

Last weekend was the GSC’s first tournament. I had a blast and went 3-2, which I was pleased with, particularly when you read about how I lost my first game…..!

The list I took was

The Cult's First Battle

So, for the first time in a long time I was at the non-club last night (which now seems to be a proper club with presidents treasurers and everything….none of which I have anything to do with I'm happy to say!), and played my first game with the Cult. A learning experience. But first, hobby update….

I have 20 Neophytes, 5 metamorphs and 5 Genestealers to finish (they are all “base coated and washed”) and then I’m done. God it’s been a slog, but nearly there. But onto my game.

Back From the Dead

Yet again, rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated!!

After a dramatic start to the year (3 tournaments in 3 months Caledonian Uprising, LVO and Dark MIllenium 3), I hadn’t played a game of 40k until this weekend!! Real life has conspired against me, and the hobby has been on the back burner for some months – even to the extent that all my models, paints etc are packed away to the garage.

However, things have improved, and I’m getting back to playing with my toys again. Breaking news is I’m going to the LVO again in 2017. After this year I know I don’t want to sight see in Vegas (horrible place), and my hope that I would recover from jet lag by getting there early was plain silly. So next year it will be a flying visit – I fly in on the Thursday and out on the Monday. My gaming buddy isn’t joining me this year (he’s just back from the ETC, and feels that a trip to Vegas might just be a little OTT), but my brother is. So I’m going to fly half way around the world for 9 games of 40k, and to spend some time with my brother (who I only see a few times a year because he lives in the US). Sounds good to me!! 

But anyway, I played in a one day 20 man  RTT on Saturday. … and that’s really what this post’s about.

Caledonian Uprising - After Action Report

Just back from Cally. What a weekend! Never been to such a big tournament. One hundred and eighty people registered. I think something like 175 people played in the end. Haven’t’ drunk so much beer in a very long time, laughed so much, or played so many challenging games of 40k. 

For those of you who haven’t seen it, this is the Facebook sight with all the information (https://www.facebook.com/events/542549995871068/646210672171666/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity)

I can not recommend this event enough. Incredibly well organised, and professionally run. It’s probably the closets thing we have to the big GTs in the US (Adeptacon, Nova etc), although without all the side events.

Preferred Enemy Bat Reps

Just back from Preferred Enemy in Stirling. About 24 of us turned up for a 7 game 1,650pt tourni. It was the first big test for my revised bike army using the new codex.

The list I took was in the last post

Counter Attack Tournament Report.

My faith in 40k is restored (despite GW’s determination to break the game!). Had a great weekend at Counter Attack, 5 great, pretty tough games against fun opponents.

My list was the one I posted in the last post, 2 Mark’O’Rain teams, 2 teams of Double Burst Cannon XV8s, a team of 2 double fusion gun XV8s, 2 packs of Kroot, 2 Skyrays and 2 Hammer Heads with Plasma Cannons.

Common Ground Tourni 10 November

Went to a fun tournament at Common Ground Gaming in Stirling  at the Weekend.

Took a list that I thought would be “fun”, but it turned out to be just really bad!

Farsight

Commander, Twin Fusion, target lock, Stim Injectors. Warscraper Drone

Riptide, HBC, ECPA, Talisman, VT, EWO

3 - XV8s. One with twin Fusions and Target Lock, 2 with Twin Plasma, one with a positional relay and the other with Vectored Retro Thrusters

3 XV8s all with Twin Burst Cannons and Stim Injectors.

2 Skyrays

Allied Tau Commander with all the toys

2 packs of 10 Kroot, plus a hound.

Warrington GT Tournament Report

Had a great weekend at the Warrington GT, played 6 tough games against 6 fun opponents, but man it was hard.

I had read before that this was one of the most competitive tournaments in the UK, and I can see why. It seemed like about a third of the field had played in the ETC at one time or another, and the lists were just brutal (I played a 3 Wraithknight list, and a 9 Broadside one … neither of which went well!). Still, didn’t play any idiots and had 6 fun games. When the dust settled I went 3-0-3 and came 27^th out of (I think) about 50 people … what can I say – mid table obscurity! I was nominated for best painted however, and I came 3^rd on player voting, which was pleasing.

Usual format, (very) brief bat reps, and some general thoughts.

Clan Wars Tournament Report

Just back from Clan Wars, great tournament at a fantastic new facility in Stirling, Scotland (Common Ground Gaming). Five very varied games against cool opponents. New Tau’s second tournament.

Although it wasn’t a big field (about 20 or so people) Competition was pretty tough, with a good few of the Scottish ETC team among the 20.

So, usual format, brief summary of games, and lessons learned.

Games of War Summer Tournament

Just back from the Games of War Summer Tournament. As always, I had a blast. Of more interest, it was New Tau’s first Tournament…. could be very interesting.

The tournament is 1750pts on day one, and 2000pts on day 2. Here are the lists I took

Games of War Spring Tourney

At the weekend I was at the Games of War Spring Tournament. The tradition at this one is there are 2 lists – 1750pts on the Saturday and 2000pts on the Sunday. Usually I simply add some units to my 1750 list to make it up to 2000, however, as long as the primary detachments are from the same codex, there was nothing stopping me taking a completely different list … which is what I did.

 

On the Saturday I took

 

Captain with Artificer Armour, on a bike with Lightening Claw and Power fist

 

Biker Command Squad, 2 Storm Shields, 2 power lances and 2 power axes

 

10 man Scout Squad

 

Bike Squad, 2 Plasma Guns, 5 extra guys, Combi Melta, MM Attack Bike

 

Bike Squad, 2 Plasma Guns, 5 extra guys, Combi Melta, MM Attack Bike

 

Storm Talon with Typhoon Missile Launcher x2

 

Thunder Fire Cannon x2

 

On Sunday I took

 Vulcan

 

Lysander

 

Command Squad, 4 Melta Guns, 4 Flamers, 2 Melta Bombs, Drop Pod

 

Tac Squad, Melta. Multi Melta, Combi Melta, Drop Pod x3

 

Iron Clad, Twin Heavy Flamers, Assault Launchers, Drop Pod x2

 

So first is list all about manoeuvrability, hitting hard  and running away, 2^nd list all about getting up close and personal, before smashing face.

 

 

Game 1

 

Big Guns, 5 Objectives against Blood Angles. His list was Libby with Jump Pack, a priest with a jump pack, 2 Assault Squads with Jump Packs, 2 Frag Launcher Furiosos in Pods, bunch of Death Company in  Storm Raven with Lemartes, and a DC Dread in a Pod.

 

Must say I was worried about this list. I don’t really have any “expendable” bubble wrap in the bike list to push back his pods, other than the scouts.

 

So, he got first turn and set up the assault squads with the Libby and the Priest, everything else in reserve. I set up everything , using the scouts to bubble wrap as best I could, but I also used the command squad. With the captain and 2 storm shields they should be able to take some punishment from the frag launchers. I combat squaded the bikes, 2 plasma’s in one squad for heavy infantry duty, and the combi melta and MM Attack Bike in the other one to hunt dreadnaughts. I hid the melta teams behind the bubble wrap, so they could deal with the dreads after the drop.

 

His first Furioso comes down and hits “bang on” right beside on of the TFCs. However, his other one scatters off the board and he rolls a “1” on the mishap table i.e. destroyed. Now this was unlucky, he wasn’t going for a particularly risky deep strike, he just scatter a long way. So we agreed that, while it would count as “first blood”, we would treat it as a “misplaced” result instead, and I placed it way over in the far corner.

 

The first Furioso wiped out the scout bubble wrap.

 

In my turn I killed the Furioso, and pounded the assault squads with the TFCs, but didn’t kill very many due to their 3+ and 5+ FNP rolls. I didn’t move around much ‘casue I wanted to see what he did with the DC dread and the ‘Raven.

 

In his turn 2 the DC dread stayed off, but the ‘Raven came on. The ‘Raven came straight at me, but really didn’t kill anything because most of my bikes now had a 4+ Jink save.

 

My next turn won the game. One of the Stormtalons came on and blew up his ‘Raven. All the death company bar one and Lemartes died in the explosion.  After that it was just mopping up. The bikes killed the DC dread when it came down, and the other Furioso after it slogged all the way across the board. The TFC’s and the ‘Talons killed the Assault Squads, and the Command squad dealt with  Lemartes.

 

Win to me. Learning point? Assault cannons are pretty good against Stormravens when they rend! 

 

 

Game 2

 

The Scouring against Ratwolf’s Nids. Two flying Hive Tyrants, 4 Hive Guard, 2 Trygons, 2  Tervigons with lots of little bugs, and the Doom in a pod.

 

Yikes….! This is a pretty evil list, and I’m not very good with Nids. I’ve played Ratwolf’s nids before, in 5^th, and beaten them with my “old” tri Stormraven list, but nobody locally plays Nids, and I’m not very familiar with what they do. I’ve read the Codex, but that’s very different from having experience playing them.

 

And Ratwolf was out for revenge – we’ve played twice before at these tourney’s and its 2-0 to me……..!

 

I go first and I set up conservatively, giving myself as much space as possible to gun down the big bugs, while running away. He deploys as far forward as he can.

 

In my first turn I move all the bikes to get a 4+ cover save, but don’t really go anywhere. I kill a squad of ‘gaunts with the TFCs. This would be a feature of the game. Ratwolf would spawn some gaunts, and I would remove them! TFC’s are pretty awesome!

 

Anyway, the game went as one might guess it would. The big bugs rushed me and I manged to kill all of them bar one. Once the ‘Talons come on, it’s a surprisingly shooty list. It doesn’t have a huge volume of shots, but because it’s so manoeuvrable, you can get the guns to where they need to be. So at the beginning of Turn 4 I  thought I pretty much had the game in the bag …. and then the Doom came down…..!

 

And this is the difference between reading about what a unit does, and experiencing it. I had of course read up on what the Doom could do, but experiencing it is an entirely different matter. I had bunched up my units to try and deal with the last remaining Trygon who was on 2 wounds. The plan was then to move onto one of the Tervigons that was threatening the middle objective. But the Doom stopped all of that…!

 

After the dust settled I was left with the Captain and a depleted command squad, and the odd bike her and there! The Captain managed to Power Fist the Doom in assault, but it was too late – I didn’t then have enough bikes to kill the Trygon, the Tervigons and then grab some objectives.

 

An 8-6 win to Ratwolf.

 

Although it was a loss, I was actually quite pleased with how this game went. I felt  I was getting the hang of the hit and fade tactics. If had had more experience of the Doom, I might just have snatched it.

 

 

Game 3

 

Crusade, Hammer and Anvil, 5 objectives, against guard. Command Squad, in a Chimera, 2 other Chimeras with guys inside, a 20 man blob, the obligatory Manticore, 2 Leman Russes with scary guns, and the (2) obligatory Vendettas with guys inside (gosh, but guard armies are a bit “samey”!).

 

I let my opponent go first so  his ‘dettas would be on the board when my ‘talons came on turn 2. I set up as spaced out as possible and hunkered down. He set up as you would expect, all castled up behind his Aegis, and let rip…. and killed one TFC for first blood….phew!

 

In my turn the bikes roared forward, trying to keep behind cover as much as possible. The plan was to kill the stuff that would hurt me a range and then run away and grab objectives, leaving the Captain with his command squad to cause havoc.

 

In this turn 2 one of the ‘dettas came on and he killed a few bikes, but not too many. In my turn 2, both Talons came on and singularly failed to kill the one ‘detta that was on the table….! They stripped 2 hull points and forced it to jink though, which was OK I guess. The bikes fared better however, killing both Russes, with the Command Squad lining up a charge on the blob….which it then failed!

 

Now that I had killed all his ranged weapons (other than the Manticore, which was tucked away in the back, behind some Chimeras) the rest of the game consisted of me running away to claim objectives, while trying to kill the vendettas to stop the guys inside claiming or contesting. I was successful (although those bloody Vendettas were a pain to put down!)

 

Win to me.

 

Again, the manoeuvrability of the bikes really paid off. The key in this game was to hit the key targets quickly and then run away, while the TFCs and the Talons kill stuff.

 

 

Game 4

 

So day 2 and I’m on table 2 (Little Geek is on table one, having gone 3 – 0 yesterday!) against Tau, kill points, vanguard strike. Now playing the 2000pt pod army.

 

Now I very seldom get to play against Tau, but I obviously know the Codex very well, and how the army plays … and I have a pretty good list to play against them, so I was pretty confident going into this game…..! You can guess where this is going can’t you…!

 

He had a Deathrain Shas’el with  Positional relay (this is important!), a squad of twin plasma XV8s, a Stealth team,2 squads of Kroot, 3 squads of fire warriors (one in a ‘fish), a Hammerhead, 3 piranhas in a squadron, 2 Broadsides with plasma rifles and Sniper Drones. Oh, and a Bastion!

 

Now I’ve never thought about taking a bastion with my Tau, but it makes perfect sense. Put the Broadsides inside and the Shasel on top manning the laszcannon/quad gun. Now your Broadsides have a much better line of sight, and an AV14 building to hide in. It makes them very static, but they are pretty static anyway. Bubble wrap the bunker and you have a pretty effective gun “line”.

 

Long story short, I managed to “squeak” a draw. Bluntly, I was completely out played…!

 

My opponent set up this bastion, bubble wrapped by Kroot and a squad of fire warriors. Broadsides inside, Commander with a small squad of F’warriors on the top, manning the lazcannon. He was then able to keep everything else in reserve. I podded in to kill the bubble wrap, the Bastions etc. Over the next 2 turns he keeps most of his army of  the board using the Positional relay. Makes me work (really) hard to kill the bastion and the Broadsides (Lysander got slapped down by the Broadsides in assault, having lost 2 wounds to overwatching Railguns…!), and then brings the rest of his army on turn 4, killing 3 units in that turn, and (from memory) 2 more in turn 5 for the draw….!

 

A very tactically astute game by my opponent, and pretty dumb one from me ..!

 

I see a Bastion in my future!

 

 

Game 5

 

So while I drew my last game, I took enough VPs to be on top table game 5 (5^thed VP’s were used to separate rankings). Up against my old nemesis Hesh and his guard. Emperor’s will, Vanguard Strike.

 

Now, after our last game (see the report in the last GofW tourney report), Hesh had obviously had a long think about how to counter drop pods. So this time, as well as the obligatory, Manticore, 2 Vendettas, blob squad and 3 squads of guys with melta and plasma in chimeras, he was running Coteaz in a henchman squad with 2 Jakeros, 2 plasma cannons, 2 plasma guns, some “wounds” and a multimelta. He had swapped his comms relay for a Quad gun, and kept the strike squad for warp quake…….!

 

Hmmmmm….!

 

Luckily, I get first turn and take it to try and get down before he gets warp quake off. I still need to contend with “I’ve been expecting you” but I have a chance.

 

Hesh castle’s up in a corner on his objective, with everything on the board except Marbo and the 2 dettas. I place my objective in the opposite corner (as you will see later this was a mistake). The plan is to bring one tac squad down on the objective and the other 2 down to support the first wave. Coteaz fails to seize and we’re on.

 

IMHO, Hesh deployed poorly (sorry mate…!). He puts Coteaz squad in a ruin which partially blocks their line of sight to the left of his line. I can bring down units on the left, out of Coteaz 12” cheese bubble, and even if I scatter into the gorgonzola, not everything will get to fire. So that’s the plan.

 

First dread comes down perfectly, the Pod just outside the bubble. The dread deploys inside the bubble, but the MM can’t see it and the Jokeros either can’t see it, or miss, I can’t remember. The important point is that he’s fine. I try to do the same with the next dread, but because I only have a small area to work in, I try a more risky deep strike and the pod mishaps off the table. I roll “misplaced” and he now has a very long walk to get anywhere. Vulcan and his melta team come down perfectly however, just out of the cheese bubble, but just in melta range of a chimera. I’ve now use up the “window” and Lysander needs to come in right in the middle of the gorgonzola. The pod comes in, is hit and blows up, killing (from memory) 3 sternguard. Coteaz brings out the super strong cheddar and fires the same henchman squad again at Lysander and the Sternguard (stupid rule!), killing all but 5 and putting 2 wounds on Lysander.

 Hmmm… not great, but could have been worse.

 

In my shooting phase, Vulcan and friends kill a Chimera, and most of the guys inside die in the explosion. The dread kills some guardsmen, and a couple of strike marines. The Sternguard play a blinder and very, very nearly kill Coteaz (he was one 4+ save away from snuffing it from a combi melta shot, but saved). However, they whittle down the henchman squad.

 

In Hesh’s turn he fails to get Warp Quake off (happy dance!). He also forgets to move his artillery (he was running a Colossus along with the Manticore) so he can’t draw line of sight on Vulcan, or the dread  that’s up close and personal. He lets rip, but all he does is kill the remaining Sternguard and takes Lysander down to 1 wound. He then (IMHO) makes another mistake and assaults Lysander with the strike squad. He forgets for a moment that Halberds are now AP3. This assault will last for about 4 rounds while Lysander whittles down the strike squad, but importantly, keeps him safe from shooting, until most of the other stuff is killed and he can kill the last remaining squad holding Hesh’s objective.

 

In my turn all 3 pods come in. One goes onto my objective, and the other 2 come down to support the front line. The misplaced Dread starts running! I kill another Chimera, immobilise the last Chimera and the front line Dread assaults Coteaz and his squad. By this time Hesh’s castle is a wreck, and all that’s left for me to do is mop up.

 

However, on his turn 3 both dettas come on and make a beeline for my objective. And this was my big mistake. Stupidly, I had placed the objective way over in a corner, leaving only one tac squad protecting it. Two ‘dettas filled with melta guns, flamers and plasma, and (next turn) Marbo, made short work of them, and take my objective. What I should have done is place my objective as close to Hesh’s as possible, so that I would have multiple suads available to hold it. Duh…! That lost me the game.

 

So, at the end of turn 4, Hesh had my objective, first blood and line breaker for 5 points, and I had line breaker and kill the warlord, for 2 points. On my turn 4 I had come up short by about 2 inches on a run roll to grab  his objective. Time had been called and I had lost, but very honourably, Hesh suggested a turn 5 and I was able to run one tac marine onto his objective, for the draw.

 

Well played Hesh, and a suitable ending to a tense and exciting game!

  

List thoughts

 
Neither of these list are “the best of” space marine lists, but both of them are really fun to play, but in very different ways. In fact, they couldn’t be more different. The bike list is very mobile, relying on mobility and movement to deliver a hammer blow, exactly where it’s needed, before fading away our of trouble. The Drop Pod list is a very blunt instrument, delivering a hammer blow in one location, but struggling to redeploy to cope with anything else. I love them both!

 

How could they be improved?

 

 

Bike List

 

What worked

 

·         Thunder Fire Cannons are awesome. They dealt with the Assault squads in game one, kept me in the game by killing loads of little bugs in game 2, and even although one of them was killed first turn, dealt with guardsmen in game 3.

·         A captain on a bike with artificer armour is really tough – he’s just great at “tanking” wounds and keeping stuff alive. In game 3 my opponent’s blob squad fired 54 las gun shots at the command squad, and killed on guy!

·         Storm talons. Jury is still out, but they did really well, killing a Stormraven in game one, dispatching big bugs in game 2, and (eventually) a Vendetta in game 3. I was worried about fragility, but they survived to the end of all three games.

·         Bike squads. Having 2 full squads allows you to split them into 2 plasama squads and 2 melta squads, increasing flexibility.

 

What didn’t work

 

·         The command squad. I’m just not persuaded that a command squad tooled up for close combat is really worth its points. As it stands it’s running at around 290pts. It never got into close combat in game 1, finally killed a grounded Hive Tyrant in game 2, and killed a blob squad in game 3. However, investing those points in more guns might be a better option.

 

So  I think I could lose the assault orientated command squad without really weakening the list. I’ve been thinking about 3 alternatives

 

·         Re tool the Command Squad, swapping the power weapons for plasma guns. That would be just terrifying, but pricy.

·         With a bit of jiggling around, I could probably squeeze in another full bike squad.

·         A second tooled out captain, with points to spare. The thinking here is that when I need to get a melta squad into position the captain can “lead them out” tanking wounds on the way in, allowing to melta to get close enough to hit it’s target

 

Hmmmm….!

 

 

Pod List

The pod list was pretty much the same as the last time and worked pretty much the same as last time. It has serious limitations which were shown in both games. In game 4, my Tau opponent “danced rings round me”, and in Game 5, Hesh exploited my inability to redeploy to win the game. In game 5 I could have placed my objectives smarter, but there was little I could have done in game 4.

 

I’ve already discussed how this might be strengthened using Space Wolf allies, but, as a C:SM list, I can’t think of how to improve it, while still keeping it an all pod list. My only  thought might be to replace the tac squads multi melta’s with laz cannons. I could combat squad and keep the laz cannon half in the back field to hold objectives and provide some long range shooting – but 3 lazcannons doesn’t really scare anybody.

 

One thought that is intriguing, however is whether I could squeeze in a Stormraven, now that C:SM can take them. It sort of keeps the integrity of the list as everything still starts off the board, its just that some of it is in a Stormraven…….or 2!

Caledonian Uprising 2013

Back from Cally. Great weekend (even with all the snow!) My aim for the weekend was to do better than last year (2-0-4), and better than at the GT Heat (2-0-4).

Usual format, brief Bat reps and an overview.

Points were 1850, 5 games with primary and secondary objectives scoring slightly differently. It’s the qualifier for the Scottish ETC team – top 4 scots qualify automatically, the rest are picked by the captain.

Game 1

Game one was the scouring and vanguard strike. Up against grey knights. Coteaz, 2 strike squads, 3 dakka dreads, 5 razorbacks with psybolt ammo (3 of them with 3 man henchman squads), aegis with quad gun and 10 terminators. It was a very “5^th edition” list. My 5^th edition Tau list (6 Broadsides, loads of missile pods) would have ripped it apart, my “new” 6^th edition list, not so much. It’s still a good counter, but not the hard counter it would have been in 5^th.

I got first turn, and gave it to him. I wanted to see whether he was going to deep strike his terminators so I knew whether to set up a deep strike defense or not. He deployed everything behind his Aegis. That meant I was able to deploy in a more open formation, giving me more flexibility of movement. So I set up as far away as possible, hiding the Tetras behind a building, and getting the Hammer Heads out of range of his Preds. I gambled on him simply advancing his termies across the table (what else was he going to do with them and their 24” range!), so I reserved the Firewarriors in their fish, hoping that they would come in turn 2, hop our, and dakka down the termies.

Well, everything went to plan. The Railguns killed the armour, the Plasma Cannons killed the strike squads, the Tetras refused to die (must have passed about 20 2+ saves on them!)  and the fire warriors came on, jumped out and (with marker light support) blew away 6 terminators in one round of shooting. The remaining termis promptly failed their leadership tests and ran for it. While they rallied next turn, it stalled their advance, and I was able to kill them all before they got anywhere near my gun line.

A 19 – 1 win to me.

Game 2

As always, the problem with winning your first game is that you are then on the top tables! Next was a combination of the relic and Emperors will. I was up against an odd army of Eldar and Dark Eldar. Farseer on a bike with a 7 man seer council, two 9 man squads of reaver jet bikes, 2 squads of 3 guardian jet bikes, a Phoneix bomber and a jet wing fighter, and some foot sloggers who where just there to camp the home objective.

I was at bit at a loss to know what to do against this army. It’s so fast I didn’t think I could stop him snatching the Relic. And he could “lurk” at the other end of the board until turn 5 and then snatch it. Hmmm…!

So I decided that there was very little prospect of me getting his objective, and that getting and keeping the Relic was pretty impossible. The plan (such as it was) was to deploy everything in range of the relic, try and get first blood, hold my own objective, and kill anything that goes anywhere near the relic.

It didn’t really work! The problem was the phonix bomber. My opponent had explained what it did, but I didn’t really listen well enough. It’s missiles decimated the orks and the Fire warriors, and the reavers did the rest. In the end I was lucky. I eventually killed the seer council, and the reavers, and the guardian jet bikes broke and ran off the board. So in the end, nobody had the relic, he held his home objective, and I managed to pass enough leadership tests on orks and fire warriors to hang on to my own objective with one remaining ork! So a loss, but not a huge one. Think it was 17 – 3.

Lesson learned – do not get fire warriors out of their fish until absolutely necessary! They are just too fragile to start on the board.

Game 3

Kill points against Guard with space wolves. He had Company Command Squad, Platoon Command Squad, Primaris Psyker, 50 man blob with Axes and melta bombs, 3 Vendettas, 2 Rune priests, 2 squads of grey hunters with Wolf Guard and a Hyperion Missile Battery. He rolled on divination and got the power which grants a 4+ invulnerable save!

Hmmmm….. my list really has no answer to Vendettas and a blob squad with a 4++. So the plan was to kill everything else and ignore the Vendettas and the blob.

And that’s what I did….. but he killed 2 units more than I did. I made one huge mistake which lost me the game.  I hadn’t clocked that the blob had melta bombs, and I got a Hammerhead and a Devilfish too close. He assaulted both and killed them (small conciliation was that I killed a bunch of guardsman in the explosion!)

Lesson learned – blobs are even more terrifying than I thought, and I really need something in the list that will deal with AV12 flyers and guard blobs. The difficulty is what!

Game 4

Eldar and dark elder again. Eldrad, 10 Wraithguard, Harlies with a shadowseer, the Baron and 2 Venoms with kabalite warriors, 3 squads of Guardian Jet Bikes and 9 (9!) war walkers. Mission was Crusade with 5 objectives, Dawn of War.

On paper I should win this one. He has nothing that can damage my Hammerheads at range, and he can only glance the Devilfish. As long as I keep away from the Wraithguard and the Harlies, and kill the bikes and the Warriors it should be good. I’m a little concerned about the weight of fire the War Walkers can put out, but not really. My main concern is the Barron tanking wounds for the Wraithguard on his 2++. However, the TO ruled that fortune doesn’t effect the Baron, so it’s not too bad.

He gets first turn and takes it. He sets up Eldrad, the Wraithguard, the Hariles and both Venoms and leaves everything else in reserve (just realised he had too much in reserve, ah well!). Oddly, he does not set up the Baron to tank wounds. The Walkers are outflanking. I set up the Broadsides in the middle behind the aegis, surrounded by orks. Everything else is on my left. I thought about lining  that board edge with infiltrating  to Kroot stop him coming on there, However, he had that covered by his 2 venoms which would have toasted the Kroot, so instead I put the Hammerheads there, with a plan to move them up the board edge and outflank the Kroot, hoping they would come in on that edge to block the rest of it.

I then seized the initiative! So taking advantage of the Wraithguard not being fortuned, I pour everything into them in that first turn, killing 6 of them. A good start. In his turn 1 nothing really happens, I think his venoms kill some orks. My turn 2 one squad of Kroot come on, but come on on the wrong side! They are isolated way over on the right, so I bring them on, on my side of the table and hide them. I move up the Fire Warrior’s ‘Fish. The plan is to strip the Harlies cover with the Tetras, and blow them away with rapid firing, pulse rifles next turn.  I kill 2 more Wraithguard, but my shots are then stalled by Eldrad’s re-rollable 3++. I think I take a hull point of a Venom, the Broadsides failing miserably to kill paper aeroplanes!

In his Turn 2 all the War Walkers come on. One squad comes on, on the right, and 2 on the left. He keeps his bikes of with his warlord trait (the one that allows you to re-roll reserves). And then disaster, he opens up with everything on the Broadsides, kills 2 Drones and they fail a leadership test and run off the board, giving him first blood and kill the warlord….bugger!

It was a bit of a blow! I was beginning to feel I had this one in the bag, but without the Broadsides it was going to be tricky, and giving up first blood and kill the warlord was a disaster! But, I swallowed hard, sucked it up, and pressed on with the plan!

Over the next few turns I managed to squeak out the narrowest of wins. Highlights were one squad of Firewarriors jumping out their ‘Fish, and killing 2 War Walkers, getting charged next turn by the remaining Walker, and killing it with Overwatch! The other squad of fire warriors getting charged by the Baron, blowing away his Shadow Field with Overwatch, and then slapping him down in the ensuing combat!  And finally, a pack of Kroot holding up a squad of jet bikes long enough in assault, so they could not snatch an objective

When the smoke settled, I held 2 objectives and he held one. However, because he had slay the warlord, first blood and line breaker, we drew on tournament points 10 each. However because I also had line breaker (gun drones FTW) I won on 6^th ed VPs 7 -6. The very (very) narrowest of wins.

Lessons learned – don’t panic! But also – I wonder if it is worth that extra 25pts for the Shas’o and his leadership 10!

Game 5

Big guns never tire, hammer and anvil, against Space Marines. Captain on a bike with a squad of scoring bikes, 3 pods, one with a tac squad and 2 with Ironclads, 2 more tac squads (one in a Rhino) and 2 Thunderfire cannons.

Hmmm… when I saw his list and the mission I knew I would have to try quite hard to lose this one (or be very unlucky!). I gave him first turn, so I had last turn to grab some objectives, and set up the 30 orks to bubble wrap my gun line.

He podded in one ‘clad and one tac squad, and killed some orks. In my turn I killed the tac squad and immobilised the ‘clad.

In his turn 2 the second ‘clad came in and managed to immobilise one of my Hammerheads (a very risky deep strike right on the edge of the board which I did not think he would go for!). His scout squad outflanked on my side, and ran into a ruin, and his bikes moved up. He killed some more orks. In my turn 2 I killed the ‘clad, and most of the bikes. The small squad of orks and one of the Kroot squads came in and failed to kill the scout squad (it went to ground in a ruin for a 2+ cover save).

In his turn 3 he killed some more orks, and a shield drone. The remaining bikes failed their charge on a pack of Kroot. In my turn I moved up both ‘fish heading for the central objective. I killed the remaining bikes, but not the captain. The Kroot charged the scout squad and wiped them out.

In his turn his quad gun fired at one of my ‘fish, he rolled a 6 to pen, I rolled a 1 to failed my 2+ cover save, and he then rolled a 6 to blow it up. He then smacked the Fire warriors with the Thunder fire cannons and the survivors ran…..! A blow, but not a disaster as the other fish moved up to reach the objective in my turn. His captain also charged a pack of Kroot, wiping them out, but he was not able to consolidate into cover. In my turn 4 I killed his captain and the remaining devilfish moved onto the 2^nd objective, with the Firewarriors ready to hop out and claim it in turn 5. At that point we were running out of time, and we agreed turn 5 would be the last turn.

In his turn five I had an anxious moment. He killed enough shield drones to force a leadership test on my Broadsides who were holding the home objective…but they passed this time! In my turn 5 I claimed the middle objective, and finally killed a Thunderfire cannon for an extra point!

A 16-4 win to me!

This game was closer than I thought it was going to be – the problem were the Thunderfire cannons. I just could not risk getting my Firewarriors out their fish as they would have been pounded by the cannons. Without their fire power, it was trickier putting down the captain (with his artificer armour) than it would have been if they could have simply torrented him away.

So, I went 3-0-2 and ended up with 55 tournament points, enough for best Tau general. I also came 23^rd out of 87. Very pleased with that. Sadly however, I was not in the top 4 Scottish players (think I came 5^th or 6th, but not sure) so didn’t qualify for the ETC team…..!

List analysis

This list performed much better than at the GT, but it still has problems.

The reason for improved performance is partly greater experience in playing the list. I played a much more fluid game, and really only castled up in game 5, to counter the podding Dreads. I still made mistakes of course (deploying the Firewarriors out their fish in game 2, allowing the melta bomb wielding blob squad to assault my vehicles in game 3), but I had more comprehensive plans for all my games than at the GT.

However, the list was also improved. The biggest change was the quad gun and fewer orks. The quad gun was OK, but is laughable against AV12 flyers. Fewer Orks was a big improvement. The 30 “man” mob was ideal for bubble wrapping when needed, and was much more manageable than the 2 30 man mobs I took to the GT. Interestingly, one change made a big difference – the sensor spines on the D’fish. I put them there as an afterthought really, but when you don’t need to worry about terrain, it makes deploying the Firewarriors so much easier.

The other thing was that the Firewarriors worked much better this tournament. In game one they blew away a 6 terminators, in game 3 they blew away a pack of Grey Hunters, and in Game 5 they killed the War Walkers (and the Baron in assault – although that was a bit of a fluke!). They are still very vulnerable once thet are out their ‘fish (Game 2 and Game 5, where they stayed in their ‘fish almost the whole game for fear of the 2 T’fire Cannons). But if you get your timing and your positioning right, they’re OK (still not great, but OK).

Having said that, I was kinda lucky in my match ups. I didn’t play Wraith Spam Necrons, nor flamer/screamer spam demons. Against Demons I think I might stand a chance, providing I managed to get the ork bubble wrap right. Not sure what I would have done against Wraith Spam however.   

I also have no answer to AV12 flyers, nor really to a guard blob.

Further thought required.

EYIG

Games o War Bat Reps Part 1

Game one

Against Dark Eldar….oh dear! Can’t remember exactly, but something like a Venom with trueborn, one with Incubi, 2 raiders with warriors, one with witches, a Ravager, and one of the flyers – can’t remember which one. Mission was Big Guns with 5 objectives.

My opponents should have spread out well away from the objectives forcing me to drop near him to kill his stuff, thus taking me off the objectives. With my limited mobility I would have struggled to both alpha strike him, and take objectives. Especially if he played “keep away” and just dakkaed me down at range. He sort of did this, but on the first wave I managed to kill both of the warrior’s raiders, and toast the guys inside (twin linked heavy flamers are utterly devastating to anything that doesn’t have a 3+ armour save). My second wave came in and consolidated my grasp of the objectives.

Highlights of the game – my opponent getting his witches out to assault an Iron Clad with haywire grenades and then dark lancing a nearby drop pod, blowing it up, and killing a bunch of the witches! The rest went down to overwatching heavy flamers. Another one that was particularly pleasing (!) was snap firing a multi melta at his flyer, rolling a 6 and blowing it up!


Win to me.

Game 2

Against, Hesh (who sometimes posts here), my old nemesis. We have played a number of times at these tourney’s and I think the best I’ve ever managed is a draw. Frankly, he usually wins the tounri’s at Games of War, and, if I was going to win, I needed to beat him.

Hesh always runs guard (he used to drive a tank for real in the Gulf, so you can forgive him that!). This time his list was something like, Command Squad, lots of troops, 2 Hydra Flak Turrets, 2 Manticores, 3 Vendettas with guys inside, and Marbo. He also had Grey Knight allies – an Inquisitor and a Strike Squad. Mission was Kill points.

I was worried about the Strike Squad and warp quake. However, I got first turn, so my first wave came in before Hesh could get Warp Quake off.  All the pods came in more or less where I wanted them, and the alpha strike was pretty devastating. On his turn Hesh was unlucky with his Manticores and I managed to weather the storm reasonably well, losing a couple of pods and some bodies. On my turn 2 the rest of my pods came in and landed more or less where I wanted them. More importantly, the Iron Clads had survived and did a number on the Hydra’s and the 2 Manticores. In his turn 2 I think all his reserves came in (maybe only 2 Vendettas perhaps?), but the “highlight” was Marbo turning a full tactical squad into a heap of smoking power armour and genetically engineered offal!

After, I think turn 3, it came down to whether his Vendettas could kill enough pods to claw back the kill points lost from having his gun line wiped out. They couldn’t.

Win to me.

Game 3

Against a Chaos Marine list. Khorne Lord on a Juggernaut, in a small squad of Fiends. Kharn, Maulerfiend, 2 squads of Berserkers in  Rhinos, 10 (I think) bikers, Havocs with Auto Cannons, a Vindicator and a Hell drake. Mission was Dawn of War, The Scouring.

Haven’t played a lot against new Chaos, so this would be interesting.

The objectives were spread out all over the board, but with a weighting on the right. My opponent spread out in his deployment area, with bikes and the Drake in reserve. IMHO, this was a bit of a mistake. He had 4 scary things –Kharn, the Lord, the Mauler Fiend and the Vindicator. By spreading them out it allowed me to deal with one or 2 of them at a time.  So I decided to play the game on the right hand side of the board and alpha strike the Havocs, the Fiend and a squad of Berzerkers. The Dreads hit the Havocs, the Stenguard hit the Berzerkers and the Command Squad hit the Fiend. All of them failed to a greater or lesser extent!

The dreads left 2 Havocs standing, the Sternguard left 3 or 4 Berzerkers to charge them next turn…and everything just bounced off the Fiend! But not to worry, the pods had come down in such a way as to block off the right of the board and the Lord, Kharn and the Vindi would struggle to get to my army.

This was a really close game, which swung from one side to the other, with some crazy dice rolling. On turn 2 my opponent’s bikes came on killing one of my Dreads. In turn I killed the whole squad with one and a half tactical squads. My opponents kept rolling handfuls of ones and 2s. On turn 4 his Hell Drake had to hover to draw a line on some Sternguard. That gave me a chance to fire 2 twin linked Multi Meltas and 2 twin linked melta guns at it – all of which missed!

In the end, the game turned on whether I could kill his Heldrake (which was sitting on an objective – remember it’s fast attack and scores)  with a Multi Melta, which was about 5mm in range. I did. Great game, and another win.

So on to day 2.

EYIG