Tournament Report

[riddles]

So, tournament this weekend. Thought I'd better let y'all know how I got on.

 

Tournament: In UK, Westbury. 2300 points. Forgeworld 40k-stamp units are allowed.

 

Heavy comp - maximum 4 of the same troop unit. maximum 5 of the same dedicated transport. no doubling up on HQ, no tripling up on fast attack, elites or heavy support. Comp was at the discretion of the TO. If you had a theme you wanted to run with, he'd give you the OK. (the comp was mainly written to stop razorspam and coteaz henchmen armies, which have caused some problems down here).

 

Custom missions - No mission came from the rulebook.

Covert operations - you got 5 points for a win, 3 for draw, 1 for loss. In losing you could gain a bonus point (by not being tabled) and both players could earn a point for achieving their covert op.

Skill cards - you had 5 skill cards for the tournament and could play 1 per game. they had bonuses like +1BS for a turn, fleet for a turn, fearless for a turn (which allowed fearless units to re-roll failed no retreat saves), re-roll 1 scatter dice etc. I lost my cards after game 3 and only played 2 in the whole tournament. they weren't a big factor.

Because of the points size, all the games were 6 turns minimum, with variable turn 7 and 8 rolls.

 

So, a friendly tournament with a great reputation. The field was a shocker, though; 3 nids, 5 blood angels, 1 space marine, 3 DARK ANGELS (3, really?), 1 sisters, 1 Tau, 2 orks, 1 grey knight, 1 space marine. 2 no shows. No wolves, no guard. very surprising.

 

My List:

Belial

Int. Chaplain in TDA

3x Deathwing Squads - cml, cf, 2 THSS

1x Deathwing squad - cml, 2 THSS

1x Upgraded Deathwing Squad - cml, 3 THSS, 2 TLC, apothecary, banner (got the ok from the TO to run this as a separate troops choice as I wanted to run as monowing as possible).

2x mortis pattern dreadnoughts - imperial armour, baby!

1x dreadnought - venerable, extra armour, plasma cannon, heavy flamer

2x landspeeder typhoon - multimelta

1x mortis pattern contemptor dread - kheres assault cannons, cyclone missile launcher

 

Game 1: vs. Sister of Battle.

Played D McCoy. He's an ex army medic, so at 9.15AM, I start the game with a bottle of beer. Clearly going to go well!

Mission: Anihilation. Think there was a tweak, but doesn't really matter.

Deployment: Escalation. Like pitched, except deployment zones were 18 inches instead of 12. You started with fast attack, got troops on turn 2, elites, heavies and HQ on turn 3. If you put stuff in reserve, it would turn up using the reserve rules instead.

My covert op: Execution - kill all units in the opponents elites slots.

 

So, right from the off, Dave is screwed. He has 1 rhino mounted sisters squad, 2 footslogging squads, 1 dominion squad (heavy flamer immolator), 2 seraphim squads, 2 exorcists, 3 penitant engines, celestine, cannoness and command squad with heavy bolters. To cut a long story short, I walked my terminators onto the board (the TO ruled that I could DWA if i chose, but the HQs would have to stay in reserve and come down with the other squads. Defeated the point of my triple threat strategy) and anihilated him from range. we got to combat in turn 5, eventually and I hammered him. Felt sorry for the guy because the mission really turned him over. got my covert op by combatting the repentia to death. Dave took it really well and we had a good giggle.

Score: maximum 6 points.

 

Game 2: vs. Orks

Deployment: Spearhead

Mission: Ambassadors. This is a great mission. There were 2 ambassadors (mine was Ezekiel!) placed in the table quarters we didn't deploy in. 6 inches from the back edge, 18 inches in. To score an ambassador point, you had to have the ambassador controlled by a scoring unit at the end of your opponents turn. Ambassadors joined the closest scoring unit within 3 inches in the movement phase (for both players). Units controlling ambassadors could move 6 inches maximum and couldn't run or charge but couldn't shoot.

My covert op: lose your highest value troops unit (figured this was the best one to play it in, they were likely to be a speed bump)

 

The ork list looked pretty tasty. Battlewagon with ghazgul and wound allocated nobs, 3 squads of 30 boys, 7 lootas, 10 tankbustas, grots shielding a bigmek with shokk attack gun, snikrot+commandos+nob (apparently a legal unit...), 4 deffkoptas, 1 with buzzsaw, 3 killa kans with grotzookas and a big looted wagon.

 

Game didn't start well. I mishapped belial and his unit (NOT the command squad) and they ended up in my corner of the board until turn 4 (i played the re-roll scatter dice skill card and went exactly the same direction , just 2 inches more) when snikrot & co turned up and butchered them. However, the chaplain squad and the command squad came down fairly close to his ambassador. I pop his battle wagon 1st turn and Ghazzy sits in it for 2 turns (think the chap I played wasn't sure what to do). Lots of templates and charges from the command squad mean that it's looking very good for me turn 3. he's lost koptas, 2 boyz mobs, tankbustas, lootas, 1 kan. The contemptor is worth its weight in gold gunning down boyz mobs. My command squad hammers a boyz mob but loses a claw and a THSS dude. They get shot at by grots, I lose 2 FNP terminators (yes, really) and charge the TLC dude left. 3 turns later they actually manage to kill him, getting me my covert objective and holding up that flank while I took a lone terminator squad and took his ambassador. and bringing shame to the chapter.

 

It changes slightly when he calls the waaagh. gazzy joins a unit of boyz and puts 96 attacks on the terminator squad I have advancing on my own ambassador. they die, obviously. snikrot gets stuck into belial + unit and nails them. the killa kans roll double 6 for difficult terrain and hit the chaplains squad, beat them in 2 turns and proceed to bully the venerable dread next turn (by bully, i mean tear to pieces). His looted wagon actually hits something and wrecks a landspeeder, the contemptor is tied up by the remnants of a boyz mob and a lone nob and painboy lock up a mortis dread.

 

Now it gets a bit dicey as ghazzy heads towards poor ezekiel and with me having little left that can react. I'm a point ahead so if I can hold off gazzy and avoid anything with my controlling squad, i'm ok. Fortunately, the contemptor manages to kill the boyz in combat with it in his turn 4, allowing me to gun down gazzys unit turn 5. As this was the last turn (time) and I was 1 point ahead, it didn't matter, but it demonstrated, yet again, that as Deathwing start taking casualties, they suffer and if you don't have 1 of your units where you want them (ie: not stuck in a table corner), they suffer.

Score: maximum 6 points.

 

I'll do the other 3 games tomorrow as one of them was possibly the best game of 40k i've had in 2 years and one of them contains 2 mistakes that cost me the tournament. Apologies for the lack of detail in the bat reps, there was lots of drinking and the games were such fun i didn't make notes.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

I'm looking forward to see the rest of the battle reports.

Sounds like a fun tournament!

[riddles]

It was. One of the best things about the tournaments this TO runs are the custom missions. the C&C scenario is incredibly rare and it brings an element of tactics and thought to the game that means you can't just play on autopilot like you can with the rulebook missions after 100 games.

 

that and the people. great people.

[skink]

snikrot+commandos+nob (apparently a legal unit...)

 

I was about to wade in with 'You woz robbed, the codex clearly states that Snikrot is an upgrade to an existing Nob, you can't have a power klaw come on where ever you want!!!' but having checked the FAQ...

 

Q: Several units have the option to include a named

character as a boss, are they added to the unit or, like a

nob, do they replace one of the existing boyz? (p99-

103)

A: They are added to the unit.

 

...turns out you can. I know how my Ork list is about to be changed...

 

That little bit aside, thanks for taking the time to write up some battle reports, I enjoy reading them. Looking forward to the rest, and glad you had fun! Also, I've been umming and ahhing about getting a Contemptor in exactly the set up you have; how did you find it? It hasn't seemed to have featured much yet; was it just solid rather than outstanding? Was the additional Cyclone worthwhile?

[riddles]

That little bit aside, thanks for taking the time to write up some battle reports, I enjoy reading them. Looking forward to the rest, and glad you had fun! Also, I've been umming and ahhing about getting a Contemptor in exactly the set up you have; how did you find it? It hasn't seemed to have featured much yet; was it just solid rather than outstanding? Was the additional Cyclone worthwhile?

 

The range is an issue when coming on the back of the board, which the cyclone missile launcher greatly helps with. It was solid against sisters. Stellar against the orks. Solid in game 3 against Grey Knights, outstanding against Deathwing and got blown up first turn in the final game.

 

It is most definitely worth the points and a gorgeous model to boot. However, if you're looking at a large scale force, the auto/las preds are probably a better bet because you can stick a cyclone on a regular (elite) contemptor and having firesupport and combat from there. But if you're allowing contemptors, you may as well allow mortis dreads, which were outstanding all day.

 

So. Game 3. This might get a longer writeup as it's posibly the best game i've had in 2 years.

vs. Grey Knights. Run by my clubmate Dave. Dave is one of the loveliest guys I've ever met and, about 6 months ago he started bringing out old school Grey Knight models. Then said he'd wanted to play a marine horde for as long as he could remember but rapid fire rules and the mech nature of 5th put a cramp in it. He came up with the idea for a deep striking GK army and we sat and tweaked it together a lot, so I know exactly what this list does, and it isn't pretty.

2x inquisitor with communion (1 w/conversion beamer). 3 servo skulls.

4x strike squad - 10 dudes, 2 cannons. 3 had a hammer. 1 had a halberd.

1x terminator squad - 10 dudes, 2 cannons, mix of halberds, hammers and swords

1x interceptor squad - 10 dudes, 2 cannons, couple of halberds

2x dreadknight - both with heavy incinerator

1x purgation squad, 4 incinerators, rhino.

He pops communion off turn 2 and proceeds to drop 50 PA dudes, 10 termis and 2 MC in your face. Nasty list.

 

Anywho...

Mission: 1 objective, dead centre of the table worth 2 points. you got a point for every non-vehicle, non-walker, non-swarm unit in your opponents deployment zone at the end of the game.

Deployment: Pitched battle standard.

Covert objective: kill his highest points HQ while keeping 1 of mine alive

 

Dave wins the roll and goes first. The objective is in a small fort type piece of terrain that was a difficult terrain test to get in but you could move freely within it.

 

He deploys everything but the terminators and dreadknights becuase he knows I like to DWA. lots'o warp quake. I reply in kind, but have so many models I want on the deployment line, don't manage to castle up enough. He manages to plink off a couple of terminators. I begin the slow slog towards him knowing I can punk him in combat and drown the objective in 2+ saves. I climb belial's unit into the fort and send the command squad off as a distraction. His interceptors leap forward and engage belial in combat. He kills a couple, I kill a couple. draw. tit for tat in both shooting and combat.

 

Turn 2 1 dreadknight and the termis come down. I lose a landspeeder and a mortis dread. I respond by throwing the chaplain's squad into the centre fort and anihilating the interceptors. Now Dave is coming to me. I drop 6 terminators with the vendread plasma cannon. I love me some plasma. I charge thedreadknight with my command squad and get the kill, but my 3 dudes and 1 dude remaining from another squad are now out in the open.

 

Turn 3, Dave starts heading towards the objective. his shooting is again effective and I'm looking thin on the ground. I manage to pop his inquisitor with a rifleman. which would be great if both my characters weren't on 1 wound each. Contemptor drops another 2 terminaotrs, but they won't run and sit in cover. They're not coming at me, at least.

 

Turn 4, dave's now heading towards me with a vengeance. His squads break cover as I hold the central objective with belial, chaplain and 5 terminators. His shooting from the high ground takes out a terminator and he throws another squad at me which manages to nail the chaplain and 2 terminators. belial follows up with the running squad and kills the purgation dudes, but doesn't consolidate enough to get back into the fort, leaving him nicely out in the open. I start moving my remaining mortis to intercept the one of the last 2 strike squads.

 

Turn 5, belial gets popped by psycannon fire. no covert op for me ;). The second dreadknight makes it into combat with the 3 remaining terminators. I roll 3, 5, 6 for my saves and whollop him. Things are looking good for holding on but there's still an 8 man strike squad headed my way, as well as the purgation squad. I manage to make them run in combat, but there's still 2 flamers and a sword left. I turbo boost my remaining speeder to cockblock the movement of one of his strike squads. I immobilise myself on dangerous terrain. not cool.

 

Turn 6, I have 3 terminators, 1 dread, 1 speeder left. Dave's really done a number on me, but he only has 17 strike marines (in 3 squads), 4 terminators and an inquisitor (hiding at the back of the board having done his job). Dave moves the purgation squad to contest after they rally. passes his difficult terrain for the strike squad to get into combat with the 3 remaining DW and his termis stay where they are (claiming the highest point on the battlefield for his covert objective). Strike squad kill 1 termi with shooting. I have 2 scoring models left. his whiffs his assault and kills 1 with the hammer, my attacks back win me the combat and those boys are running. So, last turn of the game (due to time) and I have 1 scoring model. At the moment, it's a draw as we both contest the objective. It's been a fantastic game so I look at Dave and tell him I have to go for the win. I charge the strike squad. He hits and fails to wound with the power weapon. He hits and wounds with the psycannons and i roll a 1. game over, draw to a loss but one hell of a game.

Result: 2 points (loser+loser bonus for not getting tabled).

We won bloodiest game of the game with over 4000 victory points shared between us. Honestly I couldn't say either way right down to the last dice roll who would win. great game.

 

Next up: Day 2, hungover, late and a mirror match!

[riddles]

Very quick one for Game 4. We turned up late thanks to taxi driver getting lost. We were exceedingly hung over from the night before. Wasn't pretty. However, after a quick hair of the dog, I was ready to roll.

 

vs. Deathwing!!!

Objective: Anihilation - units worth less than 150 points were 1 KP, less than 250 2 KP, less than 350 3KP and over 350 4KP

Deployment: Spearhead. Nightfight turn 1. Continues in turn 2 on a roll of a 4+

Covert Objective: Escape 1 unit off your opponents board edge (does not count for KP or victory points)

 

So, Deathwing, ay? Lots of old school metal terminators. He had Belial, a termi librarian with a combi-melta and 40 terminators. Yes, 8 squads. Command squad was all THSS, and he had 3 other units with a single THSS each. If I can deal with the command squad at range, I can outcombat him for the rest. He had 4 cyclones and 4 assault cannons.

 

he practically fills his table quarter with terminators, it was rather intimidating. I set up my dreads fairly close, with 1 speeder as far to the right as possible and on the halfway line, the other speeder at the back. I steal the initiative. I searchlight Belial+Command Squad with the mortis dreads and proceed to pour everything I possibly can into that unit. I've dropped my 3 squads on the left flank, so I can deal with him piecemeal. After the smoke clears, only Belial and 1 THSS termi is left (the apothecary, funnily enough). His shooting is rather ineffective. We both realise that plinking away at each other with storm bolters isn't going to yield much and get down to the charging. Highlights include Belial being squished by the venerable dreadnought, my landspeeder escaping off the table turn 2, me charging my command squad into a 5 man squad with NO storm shields and getting wiped out to a man with only 2 casualties in return.

 

In the end, I tabled the guy. Mirror matches are never fun. Especially when I'd turned up late (I was apologising all game). Even with 2 cigarette breaks, we still finished an hour under time so I got a chance to see how other people were doing.

Result: 6 points

 

Game 5 is a doozy folks, don't forget to tune in, where I am on the top table fighting it out for the tournament win!