Iron hands battle reports: new bat rep 2/23 (Page 6)

[Axagoras]

Game 2: I wont be covering game 2 in detail for a variety of reasons.
1: I played horribly, I forgot to move units, I forgot that i had a drop pod till turn 3, i played like a total noob (was running on 4 hours of sleep that day... recipe for success am i right :P )
2: My poor play was backed up by amazing fnp rolls (something like 15 passed in a row)
3: The main reason im looking to put this game behind me is that when i got home the next day i looked at the rules of cypher again, and some of the other units he was using. And lets just say that pretty much every rule was played wrong, or models were given special rules they didnt have... like cassuis having iwnd, or not being told cypher gives my librarian zealot... he beat me 10-1 and went on to do VERY well at the event.and the game was pretty close till the end when cassius who had taken 2 wounds (yet healed one inbetween) had the relic and he won the modified maelstrom by 1 point. My opponent was part of a gaming team, so I contacted the head of the team and explained my grievances and the list of rules played wrong. He talked to the gamer and apparently no one at the shop had called him on it so he thought those were the actual rules or w/e. He did tell the TO about it and asked if he wanted him to stand down so from that I can only say that it seems like he was very sloppy on his rule knowledge of certain models and it wasnt in malice. and these arnt small rules issues, these are pretty big ones and looking back I really dont know why I didnt call him on it (such as cypher using his bs to hit in cc... like how dumb can I be to not call that...) but w/e. its already happened so nothing will change that.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Deployment-1.png

That is the board we played on. his list was ultramarines with cypher, tigerius, 5 sniper scouts, a pod of tac marines with melta and combi melta, 3 grav centurions with hurricane bolters, and the formation of 4 storm talons, cassius and the 4 tyranic war vets. cypher and the HQS and cents scouted into the ruin and the talons all outflanked. I deployed at the line and turn 1 was able to charge his blob in the ruins and did good but failed to get prescience off (should of had rerolls from zelot) only managed to deal some wounds to guys and kill 2 cents. some gun slinging later cassius at 1 wound holding the relic, cypher was left at 1 wound, his scouts were still in the ruin (my scouts killed his tyranic war vets) and all of his birds were still in the sky,  all i had left was the librarian at 1 wound, some scouts, and the firestorm. which i placed in a bad spot since turn 2 all of the birds came in behind the center ruin out of LOS and 1 came in behind the silo in the upper left.

So yea, sorry for the unpleasant news there... Il try and get game 3 up Sunday evening west coast time. Cheers!

[markham82]

Thanks for the batreps.

 

Shame on that second guy for shaming the ultramarines! Bringing in Cypher is grand heresy. I don't think he was a very good player allowing his main unit to be charged first turn. Karma will break his face.

[Axagoras]

yea, one day I would love to get a rematch and settle the score... Like i said it wasnt all on him, i was playing really bad that game but w/e. Thanks markham82 :D

[tomsev]

Contrats on your first win, pity on game 2 but players like that exist everywhere... I had a player try to hit and run in the middle of a combat like at int. Step 2... Before bis opponent could hit back... Dont worry just try get a rematch and crush him...

[Kasper_Hawser]

Good report on your first game, really sorry about your second game. Hope you weren't recovering from a hangover the previous night which caused your lack of sleep and attention. Maybe next time you should at least take a look at the dataslate/sheet of any new model you might have not seen or encountered before. 

 

I don't remember Cypher giving the opposing side zealot unless the opponent is Dark Angels though. This is to represent that Cypher essentially makes Dark Angels crazy when they see him and get bonuses. But yes, his Balistic skill is 10, and he can fire overwatch at full BS. In close combat, his attacks are represented either with his bolt pistol strength of 4 AP5, or plasma pistol S7 AP2, like Logan Grimnar, he can choose how which of his attacks is which. Combined with Eternal Warrior, infiltrate and some other stealthy goodness I can't recall, Cypher is a very good army buffer and deceptively powerful in CC as well.

 

His only weakness, if one can call them that, is lack of Invulnerable save and 3 wounds, so concentrated fire will still get him

[Axagoras]

Thanks kasper, and i have a dark angle librarian who has the inner circle special rule. And in regards to your concerns about cyphers rules cypher cannot pick a profile to use he has to split then evenly with the bolt profile making more shots on a odd number. And I assumed the invuls being made on cypher came from a iron halo... But the biggest kiler i cant get over is i believed that cypher could use his BS to hit in cc... like wow am i dense lol. Anyway this week has been busy but later tonight I should be able to get my 3rd games bat rep up. It was agaisnt a skimmer heavy dark eldar army.

[Boris the Bulletdodger]

I've really enjoyed reading your battle reports, as always. I've got to be honest though, and say that (despite your opponent's poor rules knowledge) I think that you only really have yourself to blame for the loss in the second battle. And I feel that you know that, deep down. You should have called your opponent on the rules abuse, particularly as you had Cassius's rules in front of you in your own Space Marine book. Have to admit though, that I thought that Cypher used his BS to shoot his pistols in close combat, so as far as I'm concerned that wasn't your biggest sin! How did you suddenly transition from excellent play in game 1 to sloppy play in game 2? Was it just fatigue? Were the battles split over 2 different days?

Out of interest, what would the 1500-point Iron Hands-Dark Angels list have looked like if you could have packed some Forgeworld models? Replace the Firestorm Redoubt with some Hyperios Tarantulas and use the points saved to upgrade your characters, or company veterans to Sternguard?

[Axagoras]

the night before I was scrambling to get my black knights ready and wysiwyg (kit bashed and kinda sloppy atm, didnt want to spend 120$ for the squad) and then was having pre event jitters so I got about 4 hours of sleep in and game 2 it really hit me. in my 3rd game looking back i played like crap too. I still have no idea why I didnt call it, I never let that happen...

if fw was allowed i would either cut a storm out for a storm eagle or get a sicarin with lascannons, mars and saroshe legacies (perma tank hunter and once per game get skyceptor) and maybe squeeze in another storm scout squad or hyperios. One of the 2 would of made a appearance in some form... I really wish i had my sicarin tank in these games :/

[Axagoras]

Alright gentlemen, time for the final game of the event. tbh I played really bad this game as well, I was worried I was going to lose it there for a bit.

GAME 3:

The missions played was primary purge the alien, 2ndary was modified maelstrom with first blood, linebreaker and slay the warlord. Deployment was the corners of the board. The board was the same table I played on in my first game of the event (out of the 20+ tables im on the same one twice lol)

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/photobucket-16573-1409945755302.jpg

My opponent was a dark eldar player who was running
A archon with a agonizer and a shadowfield
4 incubi in a venom with 2 splinter cannons
3 trueborn with 3 blasters (s8 ap 2 lance) in a venom with 2 splinter cannons
2x 10 warriors with a splinter cannon, in a raider with a disintigraor cannon, the sheilds that give invul and reduce range and the splinter wracks (reroll splinter shots)
7 witches and 1 was upgraded into a squad leader in a raider with a disintigraor and the shields
3 reaver jetbikes
5 scourges with 2 haywire blasters
Ravager
Razorwing Jetfighter with some large blast missiles

Deployment: My opponent won the roll to pick sides and I won the roll to go first and placed my firestorm in nearly the same spot but a little bit forward to get more LOS. I deployed my whole army very aggressively and awaited the enemy deployment. My opponent placed everything but the fighter on the board, and man did he have a lot of cheap units and a heavy board presence. he placed the ravager, a raider with warriors and the venom with the archon and incubi behind the silo with the other warrior raider close by, and behind it were the trueborn and witches in their venom. The scourges hugged the building and the reavers sat on the objective. I scouted my speeders and bikes into midfield and when he failed to seize I moved in.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Deployment-2.png

Turn 1:
The 2 storms scream over to the reavers and with the holy flamer and boltgun purge the xenos before they can respond for first blood. The command squad lands behind the ravager and gets close enough to avoid the shimmering heresy and blow the skimmer out of the sky but lose 2 man in the explosion. My bikes move forward and drop 2 presienced orbitals on the archons venom and the raider but only manage to blow the gun off of the raider. The scouts on the quad gun managed to kill 3 scourges in a stroke of luck which allowed the icarus quad lascannons to fire at the raider but they fail to cause any damage. My opponent responds by having his witches hop out and backed up by the scourges and trueborn advance on the scout. They manage to blow up one of the storms but with most of the fire power extent they only managed to kill 2 scouts and failed to charge through the cover. On the left hand side of the board the 2 raiders full of warriros drive up along with the incubi and while 1 warrior squad stays inside the raider the other 10 hop out to join the archon in the assault. In the combat no challenges were declared and the warriors fail to do much damage but do kill a ravenwing vet while the incubi cut down another before Thamatica stopped their assault with his power fist and shield taking only 1 wound from the ordeal. The remaining ravenwing struck back at the kabalite warriors who had been weakened by overwatch and were no match for corvus hammers and Axagoras thunder hammer. The archon pokes at the artificers armor of Thamatica but has his shadow field shattered in 3 blows from the librarians power axe. Ironhands win by a ehavy margin and the archon flees with terrifying speed.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Turn1-1.png

Turn 2:
The scouts move out to avenge the fallen, with the 3 man squad flanking the witches to finish off the scourges while the fresh 5 man squad charges out to fight the witches. The bikers all split with the librarian and ravenwing going for the archon, and the 2 chapter masters going after the empty transports. I forgot to move my company vets (figured they could break the raider...) The snipers, the 5 ccw scouts and the quad gun and 1 of the firestorms guns (mustshoot closest target) all fired at the witches killing a few but leaving quite a number to deal with in CC. The other firestorm who couldnt see the witches or venom over the hill managed to plink off 2 hp from the raider across the table. In combat the masters smash down the 2 skimmers, the ravenwing guns down the archon with ease and the scouts charge the witches and although they lose 2 of their own they manage to cut down 2 witches as well leaving it 3 to 4. In my opponents turn his fliers comes on the board and loses a missile from the firestorm and takes a glance. It fires at the ravenwing and i catch no break jinking... they are left in a blood pile next to the archon. The kabalite warriors, and the trueborn with their venom gang up on Thamatica and gun him down as well... Now i realize ive been making quite a few mistakes here as well. In combat the witches fail to kill a scout and the scout cut down a witch.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Turn2-1.png

Turn 3:

I remember the company vets this time but being a turn behind they are outside firing range (-6 inches....) and make a charge at the raider which failed and they lose all but the melta gunner in the rear. The unengaged scouts tyr and charge the venom but fall short, as does my chapter master trying to charge the raider full of warriors. Well this is looking bad... At least the scouts make a 1 for 1 trade with the witches, leaving it a 2v2. Things do look better when my chapter master healed his lost wound back. In my opponents turn his witches got cut down and fled the table, his raider gunned down 2 of the scouts trying to harass the trueborn and his razorwing flew over my scouts and unloaded its lances and missiles at the quad gun but the large blasts easily clipped the socuts as well killing the gun and 4 of the scouts. And now the moment of truth. 20 tl splinter shots, 12 splinter cannon shots and 3 blasters and a disintegrator all aimed at 1 man. And after all the dice throw, he is left standing at 1 wound, bloody but unbroken. Turn ends.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Turn3-1.png

Turn 4:

Ok my mistakes have piled up high but my opponent has made a few as well. ITS NOW OR NEVER!!! With the melta gunner in range he fires the shot he has been waiting since turn 2 to make and explodes the cursed xenos craft that had killed so many of his battle brothers leaving the survivors in a bloody crater filled with the corpses of 4 of their own. The scouts fresh from killing the witches ran at the raider to kill it but its invul shielding defneded it from the worst damage the scouts could do to it. After recovering from the shock the lone scout jumps down behind the firestorm to hide while guns blows the fighter jet out of the sky. The lone scout chasing the venom managed to shove his melta bomb into the craft and jumped away as the explosion killed one of the trueborn causing the other 2 to hit the deck. The lone company vet lead the charge agaisnt the warriors to draw fire of the wounded chapter master and although his armor held strong he was gunned down on the way in. But his sacrifice was more then enough as axagoras cut down the squad to just 3 men who held their ground against certain death, a fashion uncommon for their race. On my opponents turn his raider reduced one scout to a pile of ooze but the others bionics held strong and protects him from the worst of it. The last of the trueborn let out a half aimed burst at the scout but miss by miles. In combat Axagoras continued to turn the crater left by the raider into a bloody soup of slim red armored body parts, leaving no survivors.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Turn4-1.png

Turn 5:
The firestorm unleashes its payload and finally lays low the final xenos skimmer. And in another act of self sacrafice the scout lunges at the trueborn and is reduced to ash from the blaster but while facing the scout did not hear the approach of the chapter master until it was too late and with a great swing of his thunder hammer left 2 more blood stains on the ground... As Axagoras looked over the ruined battlefield he know it was almost a pyrrhic victory, Too many assets were lost this battle but the prize of victory was great. A Archon and a whole fleet of their skimmers lay in ruins, and at least the only real casualties to his chapter had been a handful of recruits, and the resources it would take to rebuild Thamatica. Next time he wouldnt make these mistakes... Because mistakes are weakness, and weakness is flesh... And how does one make mistakes when they have no flesh left...

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Celesticon%202014/Turn5-1.png

Ok so yea... that was a pretty sloppy game on my part, forgetting units, being too aggressive, but in the end I pulled off a table so I guess I can complain at the outcome. Forgetting the melta cost me hard and I really dont know why i didnt assault that skimmer sooner. Oh well, lessons for next time. I really need to sleep more for these events lol, anyway hope you guys enjoyed the reading, Cheers

[Boris the Bulletdodger]

the night before I was scrambling to get my black knights ready and wysiwyg (kit bashed and kinda sloppy atm, didnt want to spend 120$ for the squad) and then was having pre event jitters so I got about 4 hours of sleep in and game 2 it really hit me. in my 3rd game looking back i played like crap too. I still have no idea why I didnt call it, I never let that happen...

 

if fw was allowed i would either cut a storm out for a storm eagle or get a sicarin with lascannons, mars and saroshe legacies (perma tank hunter and once per game get skyceptor) and maybe squeeze in another storm scout squad or hyperios. One of the 2 would of made a appearance in some form... I really wish i had my sicarin tank in these games :/

 

I never like to bring fliers as my sole anti-aircraft tech - IMO it just results in a mini-game of air-superiority whilst and old-school game of 40k develops below. In that respect I think that your current set-up is better than one that incorporates a Storm Eagle. I'm also not sold on the Sicaran for one turn of Skyfire & Interceptor. If I were to pack a 230-point AV13 vehicle into the list in an anti-flier capacity, then I'd rather go with a Contemptor Mortis to be honest (and not just because of my irrational love of Dreadnoughts!). With the Contemptor I'd have similar levels of firepower, which can have Skyfire every turn. I also have an invulnerable save and a chassis that's easier to obtain a cover save for. 

[Axagoras]

tbh its rare to fight fliers so the sicarin is such a beast as a tank hunter, cause it ignores jink saves which means gg to the skimmers that plague events like serpents and the lot. And yea the storm eagle usually comes out for a 1850 point limit with a talon to escort it in.

[Axagoras]

So I know its been a while but I have been waiting for these numbers since the GT. Idk what took so long but they finally posted them to frontlines ITC and I ended up taking 7th place out of 38 at the event. NONE SHALL STAY THE WRATH OF IRON

[Axagoras]

Last night I got back from the Contest of Champions in Sacramento. It was a no forge world 1850 event with a comp score and I will be trying to get those battle reports up soon. Ave imperator.

[Axagoras]

Finally got around to writing up the 1st games bat rep. In other news me and 5+ others from my gaming team will be at the Las Vegas open tournament next year, and hopefully some of the B&C community will be there to show the xenos players to not underestimate humanity!

My list:

My list was as follows:

Chapter master with Shield eternal, Thunder hammer, Artificers armor on a Space marine bike
Referred to as Axagoras and has a red base
Total-250

Chapter master with Storm sheild, Power fist, Artificers armor on a Space marine bike
Referred to as Thamatica and has a black base
Total-210

3x 5 scouts with ccw with melta bombs and combi melta in land speeder storms (heavy flamer)
Total-105(210)

2x Thunderfire cannons
Total-100(200)

Firestorm redoubt with magos machine spirit and a quad gun
(2x 2 tl icarus lascannons that must autofire at nearest flier at bs 3)
Total-280

Dark Angel CA Total-550
Librarian on a Space marine bike with a melta bomb
Total-85

5 man Ravenwing command Squad with an Apothecary and a ravenwing grenade launcher
Total-230

Company Veterans squad with 1 Melta gun and 4 Combi meltas in a drop pod
Total-175

5 scouts with snipers
Total-60

Pretty much my 1500 list with 2 tfc, more scouts and some more AT.

Game 1:

Deployment was hammer and anvil, the board was a rustic looking board with some old buildings and forests. The mission was each player put a objective in the opponents deployment zone that was worth 1vp at the end of a turn if held and 2 vp if held by a objective secure unit. There were also 3 relics along the middle of the board that were worth 3vp at the end of the game for holding them and 1vp for each full game turn held.

My opponents list was:
Kairos fateweaver

Lord of change (reroll invul, grimoire of true names and ml 3)
Dæmon prince of tzeentch (4+ fnp and ml 3)

11 pink horrors

10 pink horros

be'lakor

10 cultists

helldrake

3 obliterators.

Deployment:

my opponent won the roll for sides and I won the roll for first turn. No night fighting. I set up my firestorm and quad gun so that it would cover most of the board with hevay AA fire, and with so meany FMCs it was needed. Thunderfires hid behind the firestorm, and the snipers manned the quad gun. The storms scouted forward to grab the relics and the bikers surged forward to protect the scouts. My opponent reserved his horrors, cultists, and oblits and placed the dæmons behind the buildings to hide them from the first turn of AA fire.

Such a gathering of high level tzeentchian greater daemons had not gone unnoticed to the imperium and with both be'lakor and the fateweaver in attendance whatever their plans were could not be good. The Iron Hands of clan company Ferratus would lead the assault to interrupter them before their plans could come to fruition.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/CoC%2009_2014/Deployment.png

Turn 1:

The 3 land speeder storms moved up and dropped off the scouts onto all 3 relics while all guns aimed on the lead daemon. The company vets scattered off the board and went back into ongoing reserve. The librarian failed to cast prescience but the two orbitals hit their mark, forcing belakor to jink for a 2+ cover save while the other daemon had no such luck. Even his 4+ fnp did nothing to save him. The plasma talons fired into belakor causing 1 wound, and the thunderfire cannons missed kairos. The dæmons were furious at the loss of one of their kind in such a fashion and moved forward to meet the iron hands. Kairos flew towards the board edge casting spells the whole way yet for little effect then ran off the board. The lord of change cast the grimoire on be'lakor and he cast invisability on him self making it impossible to kill him. The 2 charged the biker squad and the lord of change issued a challenge, since its safer to fight 1 on 1 while belakor tanks. Axagoras accepted the challenge and managed to push 1 wound through while suffering one in return. Belakor splatted a ravenwing vet and got a solid hit in on master Thamatica and with a 2+ invul and being hit on 6s suffered no damage. At the end of the turn the bikers hit and ran out of combat.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/CoC%2009_2014/Turn1.png

Turn 2:

The scouts continued to back up with the relics, and the company vets finally showed up to try and strike the dameons but I realized they woudlnt do much vs a 2++ save with melta guns so they disembared from the other side and ran to cover the scouts in the south and get linebreaker. In order to have a shot at killing be'lakor I had to stop the grimoire so the 7 remaining bikes assaulted the dæmon, killing him and smashing the grimoire to dust. The firestorm had to shoot be'lakor because he was closest and failed to cause any damage. The enemies reinforcements slowly start to show up, Kairos flies back on and a squad of horrors land on my objective while the cultists shamble on trying to get to the relic in the south. Be'lakor flies towards my back line and recasts invisibility on him self. Kairos manages to strip a wound from Thamatica but loses a wound to interceptor and 2 to failing on the warp storm table (rolled something not good, used kairos to reroll it and got snake eyes and failed the ld test by 2).

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/CoC%2009_2014/Turn2.png

Turn 3:

The storms in the north move on the horrors and with the thunderfire cannons kill all but 1, while in the south the company vets join up with the storm to kill 2 cultists. The bikers stayed in cover and tried to get the last wound of kairos but failed to hit him, but Axagoras had other places to be, and took off to chase down be'lakor before he could cause any more trouble. As he gained on the dæmon he healed back to full. On my opponents turn only his helldrake comes in, and flies right over to the biker squad and flame them off the map but the blessed magos machine spirit of the firestorm blasted the infernal machine into a thousand pieces before it had the chance to fire. Kairos flew forward and took a hull point off a storm. The cultists shambled towards the company vets while be'lakor landed next to the thunderfire cannons and easily fried the techmarine with his cursed magic.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/CoC%2009_2014/Turn3.png

Turn 4:

The last horros was quickly dispatched by a blast from the scout sergents combi melta while the company vets backed by the scouts gunned down all but 4 cultists and awaited the charge. The bikers chased after kairos but failed to deal a single wound to him for the 2nd time in a row, but not all was lost. The sniper sergent on the quad gun had been waiting for Kairos and with a squeeze of the trigger sent the fateweaver back to his extreamly disappointed master. Axagoras moved to withen 2 inches of be'lakor ready to test his skills against the first dæmon prince, created aeons before the imperium, but the battle between the two would have to wait as be'lakor turned to shadows and vanished. With all 3 relics under my control and my objective, while having first blood, slay the warlord and a easy shot at linebreaker my opponent conceded. Victory to the Iron Hands. 20-5 (scoring was 15 for win, 10 for tie, 5 for loss with linebreaker and first blood with 1 vp and warlord with 3)

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/CoC%2009_2014/Turn4.png

My opponent suffered from some unlucky reserve rolls and having the warp suck 2 wounds off Karios but with all 3 relics under my control the game was still in my favor. There isnt much I would play differently, I feel that I reacted to the threats presented well and was ready to finally kill Be'lakor now that there wasnt a grimoire on him.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice, critiques or criticism feel free to let me know. Up next will be my fight vs a necron army with lots of av 13 skimmers.

[Paulochromis]

What did you do with the DA libby (guessing the bike with the blue base)? Did you get to use any powers? Could you have stuck him with the snipers/tfcs and used prescience?

Why DA vets over SM command? Price? Your SM command squad typically features flamers, which would probably accelerated the demise of the cultists.

 

Looks like you have a very good blend of ranged firepower, speed & manoeuvrability, assault and durability/resilience.

I think bikes & storms (scout & speed) means you can get from your deployment zone to his AND back within the game length, which can make all the difference in objective games.

How do you think you would have fared with your earlier, drop pod and FW missile heavy list?

[Axagoras]

Um, nothing lol. I couldnt get any powers off because i kept rolling 1 or 2 for the number of power dice. Personally I would rather get prescience off on the biker squad for the orbitals and re rolls to hit in cc instead of blessing a few snipers or a tfc. The da vet squad was a leftover from my 1500 point list because I was short 10 points of getting a marine command squad and they were the only squad in the game that could take 5 meltas for less. And yea I love how fast the list moves and its power/durability. Um which list of mine, like the mass pod list? I would probably better against it since the chapter masters would take on the lone chapter master

[Paulochromis]

Um which list of mine, like the mass pod list? I would probably better against it since the chapter masters would take on the lone chapter master

What I meant was how do you think your mass pod list would have coped with the daemon list.

I think the fluidity of your current list looks very good against daemons, and probably any list that has to come get you (eg BA, GK, Sisters).

Just curious about facing gunlines, where the pod approach seems superior.

I guess I'll see how you handled the Necrons soon enough.

[Axagoras]

my pod list would of gotten rolled hard, once they took off my small units would of easily been blown away by their magic or when a grimoired belakor with invis drops down to solo the army (hitting on 6s and he has a 2+ invul...) And my list agaisnt gunlines plays very much like the list i had on page 4 against the 2 tau armies. My opponent whos ovesa star I ran off the board told me I am the hardest player to fight with tau because everything is where it needs to be to kill him. Tbh the more i see tau lists in tournaments its not the 2-3 salvo side squads and 2+ riptide armies that worry me but the tau list that did well at this event (was 3rd in battle points) was a 2 tide list with positional relays on each deployment corner to outflank his army through some drone or wargear on any table edge he needed which really seems like a tough list to fight against. And hopefully il have a necron bat rep up shortly

[SalvationOfReason]

Last game seems like that would have been great to watch,

So, when are we gonna see an army shot? And when are you going to name your Libby? 

[librisrouge]

Wow, I hadn't realized how much I got out of those vassal maps until I read it with and without them. I suddenly deeply appreciate you working on them. Thanks for the excellent reports.

[tomsev]

Thanks again for thé great report...

[Axagoras]

Thank you both, I'm glad you enjoyed them. And yea I realized that without the maps it gets really confusing, especially when I run 3 scout units and my opponent might be running multiples of units as well. School and work have been pretty time consuming so soon il have the next game up!

[librisrouge]

Oh, I understand the work and school thing. I'm one of only four full time staff at my school AND just started getting my Master's in Military History. I'm glad to get in even three games a month and those that whine about playing an unpainted army can bite me.

[Axagoras]

Wow, it sure has been a while since Ive posted in here, well I cant get vassal to work, damned thing keeps crashing so im outta luck on making maps for now... so I should probably wrap up how that event went. game 2 was vs necrons. guy ran a av 13 spam list but it was a close killpoint game that involved 8 immortals beating down a chapter master with 3 wounds lol but I pulled the win to head to the top tables. Game 3 was against another necron player with 2 D lords, 6 wraiths, some annihilation barges and then a tau detachment of a riptide, kroot, toolkit commander with salvoside team. I got first turn and my orbitals thinned out his wraiths a bit and my melta squad killed the 3 broadsides. He then charged both destroyer lords into my biker blob and then i passed both mindshackle rolls and wipped the unit out, effectively ending the battle there. And with that win I took top general with the best combat record of the 40 players in attendance.

[Axagoras]

So last weekend I was at the Las Vegas open 40k grand tournament. It was a lot of fun with around 250 people in attendance from all over North America, but after 2 days and 6 games I finished with 4 wins and 2 losses. Fat wall of text incoming. Unfortunately no maps, vassals not working for me still. :/

My list: 2 chapter masters on bikes with artificers armor (warlord with shield eternal and thunder hammer, other with power fist, storm shield and melta bombs) 3 scout squads with combi meltas and melta bombs in land speeder storms, 2 thunderfires, a firestorm redoubt with a extra quad gun. Then allied was a dark angel librarian on a bike with a force axe, 5 sniper scouts, 5 company vets in a drop pod with melta, and 5 black knights with an apothecary and a

Round 1: I played a nid/cron list that was 2 flying tyrants with all the dakka, a crone, a carnifex in a pod and 2 termiguant squads, then allied in 2 night scythes filled with warriors and crypteks and a doom scythe. I got first turn but he seized on me but thanks to my AA guns I forced him to play conservatively and managed to contest my emperors will while parking my bikers on his at the games end for the win

Round 2: I played a guard/inquisition list that was 2x35 conscripts, commissar Yarrick, primaris psyker, 2 platoons that each had a barebones command squad and 2 infantry squads with melta guns and 35 conscripts (so 70 conscripts total) a earthshaker battery, a laser rapier battery, a vulture gunship and 3 tarantulas. Then it was a inquisitor with servo skulls and 3 plasma acolyte squads in psybolt chimeras and an aegis line. Well he didnt seize on me but he played super slow, his deployment time was about 45 minutes and even with 2 and a half hours per round we only had 20 minutes to play turn 3. well with only 3 turns and killpoints I had to act fast, tying him on killpoints but winning secondary getting the win 5 to 0.

Round 3: I played against another flier heavy list, ultramarines and st tylus force. He had a master of the forge, 2 bolter scouts in storms, a land raider Achilles, and a fire raptor. In the st tylus force he took cassuis, 4 tyranic war vets (joined motf in the land raider) and then 6 storm talons that can infiltrate but begin in hover mode. Well I got turn 1 and infiltrated and scouted to be ready to jump his fliers before they could take off, well he seized on me. So the fliers take to the sky and go to town on my scouts but my firestorm kicks to life and i manage to sweep the skies clear of enemy fliers by turn 4. Also a fire raptor really cant do much vs a chapter master who is holding the relic lol. 9 to 1

Round 4: I got paired up vs a well known player who was the 3rd favorite to win it all. He was running a farseer on a bike with the relic for -1 warpcharge on his spells (who summoned a ton of dæmons) 5 serpents with dire avengers inside, 2 wraithknights, 3 eldar artillery guns (small blast, s6, monofilimant) and 2 crimson hunters. Well he gives me turn 1 and I deploy aggressively to get as much of his army to jink or kill on turn 1... but he seized on me... and that pretty much cost me the game, my melta pod mishapped and some amazing rolling and some poor rolling left me with just the secondary mission giving me a loss 7 to 3. Not much I could do differently there, even without him seizing on me I should of had it. It was the scouring and he held 2 of the objectives with 1 screamer at 1 wound and the other with one at full health but my chapter master failed to kill it off, and some scouts failed to charge to contest a 3rd  objective. Oh well.

Round 5: Now with my first loss I get paired up vs a guy running the old necron codex (was allowed because how soon the codex dropped to the event) standard necron list with 3 annihilation barges, 2 arks with warriors, 2 scythes with deathmarks, a scythe with Imotekh and immortals with a hawire cryptek. Well I got turn 1, and then was seized on again for the 4th time this event, and that pretty much doomed me. first round of the lightning from Imotekh killed a thunderfire and blow up several of my transports, then all the tesla and deathmarks wounding on 2s really did a number on me. Close game but he got the secondary and on the final turn his scythe blew my last scouts off a objective to steal the primary mission from me. Loss of 9 to 1.

Round 6: Well at this point after those two frustrating and close fought games i'm hoping to change my luck but my final opponent wasn't going to make it easy. his list was 4 serpents with dire avengers, a farseer, 2x3 jetbikes and then 2 of the forge world knights with the hellstorm s7 ap 3 gun. He deploys a knight in each corner and 1 serpent in the middle. I get my whole army ready to jump the knight turn 1 and praises to the emperor he didnt seize on me and in one devastating round of fire (8 melta guns and 4 plasma talon shots) the lead imperial knight goes down. the rest of the game was me running from the other knight while cracking serpents as they came from reserves while hunting his jetbikes. On the final turn I boost my storms and scouts to the objectives, a lone scouts gets body blocked by the chapter master to protect him and my non warlord master boosts to force his knight to make a longer charge around him to get to the scouts on my home objective. He realizes that no matter what he cannot contest enough for primary and we shake hand. Victory for the Iron Hands 9 to 1.

If you made it this far then congrats, any comments or advice or thoughts are more then welcome. Ave Imperator!