Road to The North China Open

[Morticon]

I’ve modeled most of my lists off yours mort - to solid success. I am currently on re-work number 77 based on your contemptor Mortis feedback. Ordering two during forgeworlds dread arm sale!

 

Between your tactical analysis and based on the sang guard feedback from your and shazeaus, I’m excited to try out a new list with a solid core of dreadnought shooting paired with a solid forward element! Thanks for these reports, they are greatly appreciated

Really nice feedback to hear.  Thanks for that! 

[Morticon]

For future games and tournaments, especially ITC ones, I'm likely to go back to pure BA despite it being far less effective/efficient.  The Death Watch essentially make this list. It's a DW core, with SM/BA support.  
 

But considering that the ITC format now only notes you as BA if you're mono-dex, its inspiration to find a strong mono-dex build.  I dont think i'll be as successful, but I'd still like to do reasonably well as a BA player. 

The next big one should be in September for the Hong Kong GT.   WIll keep you all posted on that. 

[keeblerartillery]

Sounds great! I’m still running mono-BA, cus I have to (only exception would be to run BA + DA as an old angels of death throwback...I’m fluffy like that) but based on this tourney, I think the build is viable. Once I try it out, I’ll post some feedback

[Morticon]

Hey all, so while I did take a few pics, Ive not yet found an easy way for me to upload them yet.  Photobucket has changed their policies again, so im outta luck in that regard. 

Anyway, I'll give an overview of the games as best I can. 


First game was fortunately/unfortunately vs a mate of mine that I'd had some of the most practice with - the nid player.  Good news was I knew his list and tricks inside out, bad news was he knew my list and tricks inside out. 

A lot would rest on the first turn, given how fast the stealers are. 

 

He was rocking:

 

Magus

Patriarch  (WL)

20x Acolytes - 14 hand flamers, 2 cutters, 2 saws, iconward

5x Acolytes 

5x Acolytes

Kelermorph

Clamavus

 

Hive Tyrant

Swarmlord

Malenthrope

 

20x Stealers

20x Stealers

3x Rippers

5x Hive Guard

 

****

 

We deployed short board edges - hammer and anvil.   He got the +1 to go first, and rolled higher, which meant I was in for a stealer rush.   I usually try to stem the tide with some speed bump scouts.   Basically, use two or so throwaway squads to create a funnel where he cant use his full stealer movement, ie:  8" + 3d6" (picking highest and multiplying it by 2).  It's a big throwaway, and it puts me on the first turn backfoot, but knowing how my army fights back against this type of list, I felt good.  I deployed my Phobos Libby on the third floor of some ruins as bait, but also to be close enough to block powers, and to potentially slow down the back rank stealers with tenebrous. 

 
My smashy was set up in a way that if I got first turn, he would be into the hiveguard no problem (as most of his forces were set up on my left flank, with the hiveguard relatively unprotected on the right flank).  But, as fate would have it, he got the turn, which meant that I felt I had to protect smashy and burn 2 CP to move him to a safer location. 

 

My opponent has a set of tricks that he uses to successfully wrap the enemy.  He moves up, moves again thanks to swarmy, charges, usually kills it, then uses overrun to move again, then uses the fight again strat to consolidate wrap around another enemy (not actually fighting it, because he didnt declare a charge, but still wrapping it).  Due to his positioning and charging he wound up not being able to do this, as he had brought a librarian into the combat, which he had failed to kill on account of his stealers being spread out.  This prevented the whole tactic.  Which was excellent for me.  I would have been in serious trouble otherwise. 

My first turn saw my scout bikers and my 8man Vet squad move up, while smashy used Wings to engage the hiveguard. 
 

By the end of my second turn, I had made it into combat with the guard, killing all 5, cleared out the stealers in my lines, and slowed down the backfield stealers with the Tremor Shells from the thunderfire. 

 

In his turn, Kelermorph came in, and got 6 wounds (2dam each) on the Captain - i wasn't too fussed with my 3++, until i failed 5 of them. That sucked. But, fair trade, I feel. 

 

His reinforcements arrived in my backlines, and charged where they could.  With so much of my army still coming in from reserve though, the game went the same was as it usually does, which left my big dakka units coming in and playing clean up, vaporising big units of gribblies at a time. 

I think I tabled the opponent by turn 4 or so leaving me on a 28-6(or8 or so?) win. 

Star players were the Deathwatch and the DW smash cap, who usually dies quickly, but was around for long enough to use TP shenanigans and help take out the enemy. 

(Wo)man of the match went to the Callidus, who despite rolling very high for her deployment, and subsequently failing her charge, managed to leech 3 or 4 CP off the opponent, greatly influencing his play. 

[Morticon]

Game 2 was against an incredible ork list - fun, fluffy and unlike anything id seen.  

From memory it was:

 

Weirdboy

Weirdboy

Werdboy

Trike Boss

Warboss

Snikrott

 

4x 10 Grots

2x 30 Boys

 

5x Kommandos

5x Kommandos

 

26x Stormboys

Trukk

 

3x spikey-rammy buggies

 

Burna Bomma

Dakka Jet

The Other flyer (he had one of each). 

 

We set up in quarters, with me having to set up first (game 2 uses CA19 set up). 

 

After doing a little bit of research in the lead up to the tournament, I saw the damage that the Bomma puts out if it explodes, it was definitely on my kill-but-not-in-combat list.  

 

I deployed my DW bikers on board, thinking that I would need as much of my dakka to bear as quickly as posssible. The 8man deployed in my backlines, forming the faux-protecting guard  - basically a rear guard that can TP to the front should I need them.  The scouts and 10 man intercessors (splitting) all deployed on the borders, ready to push up and create a buffer zone around my objectives.  Basically, I made it so that any "Da-Jump" or deepstrike reserves wouldn't be able to hit my core, and id be able to mount a counter assault. 

 

He deployed really interestingly, and unexpectedly.  

His front rank was the 3 buggies + the warboss trike, supported by the flyers. His boys and grots though were MILES back, huddled right into his corner.  This meant that I could bring little to nothing of my firepower to bear against the boys- which took me by surprise.  However, smash was gonna cause problems. 
 

His pregame move put him deep into the heart of the enemy, and ready to charge about 4 different units. 

My libby dread also moved up, but failed to get off quickening and since the FLY rule only allows you to hop over models, not terrain, a pipe restricted his charge enough. 

 

The scouts and bikers and other units spread out even more, creating an even bigger buffer zone. 

 

Then the lascannons let rip, killing the Bomma, and smashy charged, killing a plane, a spikey trukk (or two even?) and the warboss, i think (Artisan for the win).   

 

The opponent was in deep trouble.  With only one turn having passed he had lost 2 of his flyers, and I believe 3 of 4 vehicles (not including the trukk) 

 

To make matters worse for him, he wound up failing Da Jump (even with all the orks around him, and even with a reroll).  

This would mean that he couldnt draw fire away and assault the lines - the writing would likely be on the wall.  

In turn 2, i spread out even more, creating a massive buffer zone now, and controlling close on 70% of the board.  I took out the remaning flyer and other vehicles, and starting whittling away at grots and boys.  I kept my 5 man squad of vets in reserve still. 

 

His turn 2 saw 65 orks come to the rescue.  They lined up on my right flank, but, because of the massive buffer, smashed into a scout squad and a veteran squad and that was it. ....they were now in the open. 

 

This allowed my veterans from reserve and the 8man unit to play support and just nuke both squads, the bikers flanking around and getting in on the action too.  He fought back valiantly the next turn, using the Green Tide ability to save a unit of 8 orks and replenish them to 30 again, and assault my lines again.  But, by this stage it was too late. Some fighting happened over the next few turns, but in the end, it was just snikrott sitting on top of a mountain trying desperately to avoid being shot at. 

It was a bit of a white-wash, and an unfortunate one, given that the ork player was not only an absolutely awesome dude, but incredibly formidable (he went on to come 4th) and the list, when it gets momentum is very scary!!  

But, the BA/DW were victorious.

 

 

 

[Morticon]

Game 3 was vs. Shaezus! 

You've seen his list.  

We played Vanguard deployment, and I cant remember who got the +1 ><; 

What I do know is that playing with a smash captain and playing against a smash captain are two different things.  MAN.  My limited experience against a smash captain saw me fail to measure the distances properly, and as a result, put my two shooty dreads, hiding in cover, but well within reach of the Smashy.  The second he made his Forlorn move, I knew I was in for trouble.  

 

I also didnt know about bolster weapons, and I had totally forgotten about the stygies 9" move.  Such a brilliant combo.  

 

This put me in such a terrible position, that I was stressing, big time.  THAAAAAANKFULLY, Shaezus gifted me a huge, huge error on his part.  He made a mistake (that i too have made in the past) by forgetting to move his Smashy after the forlorn move.  This meant that he failed to kill what would have been two dreads. 

The shooting from the electros hurt though. 

This game was super tight.  My smashy, if I moved him up, would kill one thing (either Evil-Smashy or Libby Dread) and then die in return.  So, i needed to wait. 

I moved what I could where I could, electing to try use the huge terrain and maneuver around, taking out the priests and avoiding too much incoming fire from the heavies.  

 

The priests were whittle down substantially, but they still stood.  Also, the Vindy dropped the ball doing all of 1 or 2 wounds only on the smash cap (i was hoping to take him out).  

 

My scouts engaged with his scouts, and my DW Cap called in the beacon drawing the 8man vets from the far left flank of the board to engage with the Electropriests on the far right.    I did move my libby dread into a "Queen for Queen" exchange, but sadly didnt get off the combo i was hoping for having him wrap around and get the sicaran in the fight again strat.  

His smashy then moved to engage the dreads on the left flank, I was hoping he would take my bait, because I left my smashy close enough to Heroic if he got too hungry and moved into both dreads.   He did, and this helped.  The 5++ on the Contemptor came through, And i survived, killing him in return. 

 

However, the firepower from the Sicarans and the Dreads severely drilled my Veterans and my scout bikers.  I tried to fire back, but did limited damage against the one sicaran, and taking out the priests. 

I cant remember if he forgot (I have a feeling Tim said he forgot the SG, rather than elected to have them come in later), but either way, because of the later game deployment, I also kept my guys in reserve for another turn.  

 

When they did come down though, they started wrecking face and make quick work of my dreads, having gotten into combat off a 9" charge. 

My return fire from my veterans (both squads) saw a massively amazing set of saves from him which saw the SG unscathed.  The battle then continued for a few turns back and forth, as I tried to send more and more meat into the SG grinder.  

 

I made my screw up when i positioned my DW Captain to charge the sicaran, and then forgot to charge him :/  

The game was super tight for the longest time, but I think after turn 4 or so, Tim timed out on the clocks. 

 

I used my remaining 20 minutes to speed play for whatever objectives I could take getting me up to 28 points  - I cant quite remember what Tim got, but it may have been 14? Not too sure at the moment. 

 

 

Tight game, with SG being the incredible players.  Really hairy unit with the discounted fists and the sneaky warlord combo.  Made even better by the 5+++ Banner.  

 

 

[Tokugawa]

He put the WL and relic on one model, and this guy is both the source of melee reroll and fnp. ...I think i saw too many eggs in one basket. And it make SanGuard less reliable than other "Deathstar" style units(e.g. Blightlords).

[Morticon]

He put the WL and relic on one model, and this guy is both the source of melee reroll and fnp. ...I think i saw too many eggs in one basket. And it make SanGuard less reliable than other "Deathstar" style units(e.g. Blightlords).

Nah, the Ancient had the banner Relic, the WL was just a regular non-character model in the squad. 

[BrotherAetherick]

Game 3 was vs. Shaezus! 

 I did move my libby dread into a "Queen for Queen" exchange, but sadly didnt get off the combo i was hoping for having him wrap around and get the sicaran in the fight again strat.  

 

 

Did you mean Honour the Chapter or Only in death? As you can't do Honour the chapter with the libby dread as he isn't INFANTRY or BIKER. And if it's only in death you might have been forced to consolidate into his "dead" libby dread.

[Morticon]

Only in death, yeah.

[Morticon]

Game 4 was my least favourite game in terms of how I played despite my opponent being very solid and having a really, really impressive list.

It was my poorest performance against my strongest opponent - and that factored heavily into me losing the game. 

Chaos 2.0 was new for me, so the combos and synergies were entirely unexpected.  Poor prep on my side.  

 

He was rocking an Alpha Legion soup list.  From memory:

 

 

2 buffing characters (i forget their names)

3x CSMS - Autocannon

8(9?)x Possessed

3x Oblits

5x Havocs - 4x chainguns

Rhino

 

some kind of Nurgle psyker Character

Nurgle character

3x3 nurglings

 

DP Tzeentch

DP Tzeentch

Sorceror

 

and 30 points for summoning

 

____  Now when I first looked at this list, I drastically underestimated it.  The fact that they could get additional -1 (or even -2) to hit on an existing -1, FNP, and the shoot twice, as well as all the smite (3 of which suffered no penalty to it) meant I was in for a FAR tougher time that I had expected. 

With this being game 4, it meant that first turn was decided on the depoyment roll...  I got first turn, which I thought would be amazing - given my list vs his ...but...this also allowed him to choose his board quarter. 

This was actually the biggest game changer of the match.  He chose a quarter that was PERFECT.  Loads of forests in his area, fronted by two big LOS blocking terrain pieces meaning I had to be funneled into his death zone.

 

He was an exceptionally meticulous player, and deployed counter to all of my shooting.  He used his swarms to protect his possessed and his rhino where he embarked the havocs.  

 

The characters were all in the back lines surrounded by other units.  I made the mistake of  choosing an eversor - i think a Callidus would have been best, followed by a Culexus.  

 

The first bad omen was when I moved my smash captain up with forlorn and then did EXACTLY the same thing Shazeus did -  forgot to move the bloody thing.  I felt this was karma coming round to kick me in the nads.  I actually ran over to Tim shouting "OMG- I DID EXACTLY THE SAME THING!".  ><;  Bleh.  I was so bleak.  

The thing is, that while this was a huge, potentially game changing mistake, it actually made no difference.  My plan was to kill his rhino, by moving around the nurglings, and then consolidating into the havocs, if there was any space- in fact, i thought there wasnt. 

As luck would have it, i at least made a 10" charge to the nurglings - and then i proceeded to burn ALL my CP to kill some bases, make some space, and move into the rhino to fight again and kill it - which i did.  

Sadly, I didnt account for the fact that the enemy could deploy onto the crates above the rhino - just within 3" of the rhino. This meant that my whole gamble was for naught. 

In retrospect though, it was an even WORSE decision, because I didnt think about the fact that the enemy could lob 6 smites my way, and 2 other psychic mortal wound powers my way. 

A complete and utter throwaway, that I believe actually cost me the game. 


My other movement and shooting saw me advance up very cautiously, not overextending on account of the fact id be going into his trap.  But little else was done.  

 

 

In his turn, his Havocs vaped 2 or 3 squads. Now, this is AGAIN where I screwed up.  Because he was a slower, more meticulous player, and because we were on clocks (and he wanted to pause the clock for every bit of accounting) I just took to noting the CP on the cards we had in front of us as they were being used, thinking this would help speed things up.  However, every time he fired his big boys twice (havocs or oblits) i only deducted one bloody CP -not two. He didnt pick up on this. :/ So, by turn four, when he shot again, i thought to double check (as he was on 2 CP left), and thats when i realised it cost two.  I was very bleak with myself.   I didnt want to retroactively argue that he had no more CP, when I feel it was right, because it would have left a sour taste for everyone I think, so i just continued. 

 

In my second turn, i made the second biggest tactical blunder.  I should have held off JUST one more turn.  I called in the beacon, but did so without measuring all the units around me, meaning that a nurgling squad prevented me from getting really close to the possessed. 

I couldnt drop my assassin yet, as there were no openings in the backline. 

I targeted the Havocs with extreme prejudice - firing all my contemptor las into them. My opponent gave me a surprised smile when I declared them as a target - not expecting me to hit them with the las, but knowing it was the right choice. Sad for me though, was i think this was my best target priority of the game- the rest was poo. 

 

In his second turn though, he stayed his fortress Chaos.  I had hit the possessed with Tremor shells, meaning they couldnt really venture out anyway.  

 

But, the amount of smites and the oblits coming down made short work of my veteran squad - even with the SS and the termies.  

 

Turn three, saw my units come down and try whittle down his hammer, which had all sorts of stacked buffs on it - fnp,additional -1 to hit etc. I got nowhere. 

 

My assassin also failed to do much damage, with him saving 5 of 6x 4+ save wounds.  I fought back as hard as I could, but the firepower from the oblits combined with the smite damage just kept ripping through my men.  I choose some really poor targets in subsequent turns trying to go for mission objectives rather than long game plays, which lead me to losing more men in the long run from the shots from the oblits.  

 

My characters fought valiantly trying to target daemons and characters where they could, but he was lucky with saves, and I just couldnt do enough damage.  By turn 4 or so he had moved his remaining possessed out to my upper most objective that the scouts were claiming, and just held the lines. He actually timed out in turn 4, but because i just failed to do anything in terms of damage, I couldnt even climb back points wise.  

 

I think It ended 28-14 to him. 

 

I honestly believe that my list would take his 4 games out of 6, and in a rematch it would be VERY different, but he played better than I did that game, and luck was on his side with board quarter/terrain so, thats the way the game goes!! 

Overall, frustrating, but deserved win for my opponent. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Panzer]

Game 4 was my least favourite game in terms of how I played despite my opponent being very solid and having a really, really impressive list.

It was my poorest performance against my strongest opponent - and that factored heavily into me losing the game. 

 

[...]

 

Overall, frustrating, but deserved win for my opponent.

 

Heh, I know that feeling. When you are doing well the later games become twice as hard. You don't just have to pöay against tougher opponents, you also are more mentally exhausted.

If your opponent managed to keep his mental exhaustiom low, he has a much easier game agaibst you.

 

But that as well is part of playing in a tournament and something one has to consider and work with. You fight not just your opponents but also your own body. ;)

[BrotherAetherick]

Sounds like a rough game especially with 1 cp endless cacophony (shoot twice) haha.

 

From my experience culexis is not that great vs thousand sons DPs. With 24" smite and 12" movement they can easily outrange or out maneuver the culexis bubble and if you keep him with your army it debuffs your own deny the witch and casts as well. Also if you put him in front he just dies to prescience + havocs/oblits.

 

Psychic fortress is pretty decent in keeping a screening unit/smash character alive from smite spam however.

 

You did mention terrain was pretty rough but for psychic castles I still prefer the vindicare, especially when he has oblits stacking minuses to hit. If you don't move you ignore the negatives to hit and killing 1 oblit you already made your points back (and significantly reduce their firepower). Bonus points if you manage to snag a non DP character when he pops up to smite.

 

Something to keep in mind vs chaos are the stacking buffs are god specific, or time locked.

 

For example:

Dark apostle: -1 to hit prayer, has to be done at the START of the battle round, aka, he can't be in a transport, and can't buff deep striking oblits (they aren't on the table)

Delightful Agonies (5+++ FNP): Slaanesh only, so he can't buff his nurgle marked stuff

Poxbringer Miasma of Pestilence (-1 to hit): nurgle DAEMON only, so can only buff his possessed and nurgle daemon stuff, not his oblits

Master of Possession: his buffs are locked to DAEMON and LEGION keyword, so can't buff his souped elements.

[Are Verlo]

Did i just fail to see it or is there really no battle rep from game 5 here ^^

[Morticon]

Game 5 !! 
 

I was hoping to avoid this game the whole tournament- but given that he was just cleaving his opponents meant that I was going to have to see him if I was doing reasonably well, too. 

Tau. 

 

To my understanding he only lost his first game (against the Chaos player that won) because they got to turn 2.  

 

I was up against (from memory)

 

Shadowsun

Fireblade

Ethereal

 

6x5 Firewarriors

2x5 Pathfinders

2x6 Shield Drones

1x5 Shield Drones

 

Riptide 

Riptide

Riptide

 

2 Missile-Sides

1 Rail-Side

1 Rail-Side

 

 

***** 

We were playing Crucible of Champions, which is usually a strong mission for me.  I rolled for deployment and we got "Hammer and Anvil". 

 

This dictated my strategy, which I was oddly happy about.  If it was a long board edge, i would have had to gamble on how to set up - whether I went for Alpha or Beta strike, basically.  With a +1 to the roll it would be worth taking the gamble for the Alpha, but if I failed, it meant id be screwed.  This way meant the beta strike would play for a specific deployment. 

I was surprised with my opponent's deployment.  He set his firewarriors up quite far forward.  He had subsequently mentioned that he realised he wasn't getting any points by castling up - so he still did fortress Tau with the big boys, but used his firewarriors and pathfinders to hit mid field objectives.  It wasn't what I was expecting but it did make engaging with his army easier, even if it meant making the game itself (overall) more difficult. 

 

Having spotted this list in the app, i had already considered a variety of tactics. 

I broke from one of those ideas, which in retrospect was not a good idea - or may have been, but didnt work out for me. 

 

In short, I deployed my Captains, my 10man Intercessors, and 5 of my Veterans (split from the bikers) into reserve.  I kept my 8man Vets on the table (but RIGHT at the back), ready to beacon bounce when needed. 

 

In my head-plan, I had the 10man bike/vet linked and deepstriking - good T and save, meaning better results, but I felt that i wanted to try and whittle down his firewarriors from turn one. In retrospect, I think I would have preferred them as one big squad. 

 

My scouts and Phobos libby deployed aggressively on to the middle objective.  It meant that if all went to plan, I could possibly get an early 1 point bonus.  Given the set up, I chose an Eversor assassin- and put him in reserve, thinking id move him in with the assault on fortress Tau when the time came. 

 

In retrospect, I think I should have chosen the Vindy or the Cally.

 

 

On the board, were my two dreads, the Tfire, my libbies and my bikes (scouts too, obviously).  The rest were in reserve.  My backfield looked quite sparse, but I placed quite far back, beyond the majority of his firing.  

We rolled off- and I won !! 

WHOOO HOOOO !!!

 

 

 

Then he seized.....and i cri. 

 

He advanced aggressively with his firewarriors on the left flank, and even moved up with a Riptide and some central pathfinders or firewarriors- to engage the scouts and libby and try to claim the center point. 

 

That was one of the worst things that could have happened.  In his turn, he vaped my aggressively deployed scouts, dinged my scout bikers down to 1 or 2 and nuked my Tfire cannon.  I think he took a few wounds off a Contemptor too.  The rest of his army was out of range, however.  

Basically units that would have managed to take out at least 3 firewarrior/pathfinder squads ><; 

In my turn one, I moved up the libby dread aggressively. The Libby and remaining scout bikers I moved to where I could to try take out some firewarriors. 

The Contemptor shooting managed to pop a Broadside (some failed drone rolls + lascannons = bad news).  That was a small mercy! The DW bikers are on the right didnt really have range to the pathfinders on that side, so i elected to boost them up on to the objective so I didn't fall too far behind.  

In the middle, the Libby dread burned a whole bunch of CP to get off quickening and then kill the riptide (Wisdom + Rage + another re-roll I believe).  But, got the job done thanks to his 5++ only. 

 

The DW libby failed in both his shooting and assault, sadly.  So, while things could have gone a lot better, him losing a riptide and a broadside wasn't too bad for me at all. 

 

In his turn I took some heavy casualties, losing the scout bikers and all my librarians. Burning all the CP on the Dread meant that I didnt have a CP for a reroll armour save - and I got a bit unlucky with the Phobos, meaning he went down cheaply.  

After his turn 2,  the mid and backfield was entirely his.  Everything would now rely on my reserves.  At least my Engineer would start mining for points....(or so I thought......). 
 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Morticon

[Morticon]

So, Turn 2 - and it's all in.  Go big or go home.  

Given that the back field is all the big boys (2 'tIdes and 3 'sides) with Shadowsun - and about 15 drones remaining, I couldnt put the assassin there. I felt hed be underutilised.  Instead, I put him on the firewarrior heavy side. 

 

The enemy had pushed forward enough on the Hammer/Anvil map that he had left space for me to deploy right on the backline.  I dropped my Smash Captain, the DW Captain, the 10 Intercessors and the 5 veterans in on the back line.  I then Beaconed in the 8man squad in my lines to reinforce the back. 

 

Because the drones were still alive, I had to focus all my fire on them.  So, 20 SIA Bolt Rifle shots, 33 SIA Bolter Shots went the way of Drones and then 20 SIA Bolter shots went the way of pathfinders.   

After all my shooting was done, the drones were gone.  Big plus on that side!   Now I had to get the Smashy in. 

I had an option to try get the DW captain in, but wasnt sure if I should risk it.  I took the gamble, and unfortunately came up against some good Tau shooting, and lost him.  Really silly mistake on my part that could have been fundamentally game changing. 

Smashy tried to charge in but fail....BUT....Wings reroll saw me make the 9" !!!! Riptide was going to take some pain!!! Sadly, I didnt wind up killing him, despite having 4 wounds a pop - i think only 2 or 3 got through.  

Then the Assassin was on the left flank ballsing things up- failing his charge and taking a bunch of wounds for his efforts ><;

 

Not a great turn 2, but he now had to shift a lot of marines.  

In turn 3, he pumped his Inv Save on his 2 remaining tides and shot where he could.  The Storm Shield/Termy group tanked beautifully - but the smash cap got taken down to 1 wound. 

I think it was this turn too, (though i stand to be corrected) but under pressure he also forget to shoot his one riptide. 

 

In my turn 3, i moved in to try kill and tie up what i could.  I think I focussed on the missile sides with the smash cap, ignoring the riptide for now.  The Intercessors then started taking long range shots down field to the firewarriors that had minced the Eversor.  

 

My DW bikers were still alive, and had bounced from shooting to combat out of combat and into the middle of the board where the Ethereal was hiding. 

Smashy then cleaned up the broadsides, and and the marines started unleashing hardcore bolter fury on the Tau whittling down the little ones and trimming wounds off the bigger ones. 

 

What followed over the next two turns was me throwing long range las support, from the dreads, downtown.  They wound up finishing off the wounded riptide and then severely gimped the other 'tide.  

His return fire saw my 10 man Intercessors nuked easily by the riptide, but the 8man vets held strong.  

In a 3 turn tit-for-tat, the resilience of the marines and the 2+/3++ paid off.  By turn 4 i was dominating objectives and units killed and by turn 6 the board was clear of Tau except for a Riptide on 4 or so wounds. 

He had about an 8 point lead after turn 2, but I pulled it back in the end to get 24-22.   

I THOUGHT i had 28, but tragically i didnt realise you couldn't score engineers with  ( or choose your engineer to be ) a character.  :/  SO my techmarine that i had at the back on an objective was literally doing nothing the whole time. Thankfully this didnt cost me the game- as I would have been absolutely gutted knowing I could have gotten points for anything else. 

These four points would have also netted me the highest VP of the tournament ><; instead, I came second in that regard.  

 

But, a win's a win.  And against Tau none-the-less!! 

[CaptainHelion]

Incredible game, Mort! Tau are a hell of a time for us, but it sounds like you acquitted yourself admirably 

[Morticon]

Was probably my most intense and favourite game.  The score card looked amazing.  First two turns getting slaughtered, then a slow fightback, culminating in a flip around and me wrecking it for the last 2/3

[BrotherAetherick]

Well done. Tau is a tough matchup for marines, and it was a shadowsun riptide castle too. I think you made the right choice with the big turn 2 play especially with hammer and anvil deployment.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Very impressive win and well played Mort ! /thumbsup