Game Depot Store Championships - Mini Battle Reports

This last weekend I played in the Game Depot store championships, which I had qualified for in the previous weekend's tournament. I actually won the qualifier, finishing 2-0-1 out of a field of 32, and had the battle points for Best General. Boy was I surprised when I finished 0-2-1 in the championships!

There were 8 competitors, in fact the top 8 from the qualifier round. So these were are all great tournament players, of course the competition would be tougher. Only battle points counted; no painting and no sportsmanship scores. I played 3 great opponents and had 3 really close games - in fact, some of the closest tournament games I've had in a long time.

I ran the same list I ran the weekend before:

Chaos Space Marines - 1500 Pts.
HQ 1: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 2: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 3: Greater Daemon
TROOP 1: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 2: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 3: 10x Lesser Daemons
ELITE 1: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory
ELITE 2: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory


Game 1:
Opponent: Black Templars
Terminator Marshall
Terminator Chaplain
Both with a Term Command Squad (6-man, 4x Lightning claws, 2x Thunder hammers)
Command was riding in a Landraider Crusader
8-man Assault Squad
6-man Las/Plas Crusader Squad
8-man Crusader Squad
Venerable Dreadnought w/Assault Cannon

Mission: Alpha Recon (Most scoring units in enemy deployment zone wins)
Result: Black Templar Win (2-1 scoring units)

I got first turn and did some damage to the two crusader squad using lash and shooting. The crusaders moved closer to my princes. 1 was in charge range the other was not. The DP who could charge did so and whiffed killing only 1. The other DP had to stay put, close to some of my other squads (1 NM squad, 1 Chosen Squad, which was a problem. This meant that the Command Squad would be able to get multiple charges off, instead of having to pick one or the other.

The command Squad rolled in and killed the DP and killed most of the NM's, who held. On the other side of the board, the Assault Marines and the Dread assaulted the DP and killed it, the DP only managing to take out the DCCW.

My Greater Daemon popped out of the chosen squad by the command squad and killed the marshall. The following round she killed some of the squad before going down herself. The command squad was right at half and remained in my deployment zone until the end of the game. On the other side of the board, my Chosen and NM's and the recently summoned lesser daemons made quick work of the Dreadnought and Assault Marines. The Landraider Crusader was really the MVP who managed to whittle down most of my squads to less than half. My remaining Chosen Squad took several shots at the Landraider, but couldn't scratch it. In the end, my Daemons were in the deployment zone and he high-tailed his LRC into the DZ, and his command squad was already there.

In retrospect, I should have used that Chosen squad to take one more wound off on the command squad, making them not scoring. Instead I tried to run them to the deployment zone while taking pot shots at the LRC. I should have known that the squad would never reach the DZ as a scoring unit.

All in all, it was a really fun, close game. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want the win, but I had a great game nonetheless.


Game 2:
Opponent: CSM
1x Lash Prince
6x Chosen (4x Melta, 1x LC's)
8x NM's (1x Sonic Blaster, 1x Blastmaster, 1x Champ with Doom Siren)
8x NM's (1x Sonic Blaster, 1x Blastmaster, 1x Champ with Doom Siren)
8x Raptors (IoK, PF)
2x Vindicators
5x Havocs (2x ML, 2x AC)

Mission: Gamma Take an Hold (Extra VP's for scoring Units wholly in the center)
Result: CSM (Opponent's) Win - 1500 VP's to 1227 VP's

3 Lashes on the board made things interesting. I went first and killed his chosen squad thanks to lash and plasma fire. I wiped out a NM squad again, using the same trick. He responded by nearly wiping out two of my squads with vindicators and lashing a noisemarine squad nearer his raptors. This was the game deciding factor, we both agreed after. His raptor squad was down to 2 men, and then just the fist for 6 rounds of combat or so. He held like a champ despite me pouring more than enough attacks into him. Meanwhile he killed 3 or 4 marines a turn.

Eventually my one of my DP's killed a Vindicator, and one of my princes killed his prince, who died a turn later to the Havocs. My daemons never came out because the icons were gone. My Greater Daemon killed the other Vindicator and was still scoring in the center until the last turn, when I just couldn't make invulnerable saves against the Havocs.

In the end I was wiped from the board. All he had left was the Havoc squad and his non-scoring NM's, which just put him over the margin for a win. Again, another really close game, and very enjoyable. Another great opponent.

Hmm, looking back, I wonder if he should have gotten the points for the Daemons. I thought I remember reading somewhere that if they don't come in the opponent doesn't get the VP's. With the WHFB rules floating in my head, plus 5th Ed. rules, and Adepticon FAQ's, I could definitely be way off on that one. Either way, wouldn't have helped me to win overall, so not a big deal, still would like to know for the future. Still a blast.

Game 3:
Opponent: Tau

Commander w/ 2 Bodyguard – 2x Burst Cannons, 3x Missile Pods, Frag Burst Weapon
Crisis Team (3) – Plasma/Missile Pod
3x Broadsides w/ Shield Drones
2x Piranhas – Fusion Blasters, Decoy Launchers, Seeker Missiles
12x Gue’la (Human Auxilaries) – 2x Pulse Rifles, Marker Light
12x Gue’la (Human Auxilaries) – 2x Pulse Rifles, Marker Light
14x Fire Warrios – Marker Light, Target Lock
3x Stealth Suits – 2 Gun Drones
Sniper Drone Team

Mission: Omega Annihilation
Result: Draw

I had played Brian and his Tau in the qualifier round (you can read the Battle Report here). The mission and the deployment in that game were so heavily in my favor (It's not a good thing when 2 lash princes can set up 18" away). He conceded after turn 3. He was definitely looking for some redemption, and I think he got it.

With this being omega, my princes would have to come in from reserves, and then from the board edge, unless I wanted to DS them, which I didn't think would be a good idea. Standard exchange of fire for the first turn. Everything of his came in on the second turn, and a decent amount of my models began to drop. Neither of my princes came in my second turn, but my Greater Daemon did (horrible luck since I was so far back, she would get shot at quite a bit). I charged her and a unit of Chosen into one of the Crisis units that had DS'ed way of course. I strung out my Chosen, so my powerfist wouldn't get to go that first round - the idea was to not wipe them out so we would be locked during his turn. It became quite comical as I was rooting to whiff on my attacks, and he was rooting to fail his own saves. Unfortunately for me, I wiped them out and he was able to put some wounds on the Greater Daemon (who would go on to take almost 2 rounds of fire - saving the rest of my army from it - until dying); still I made a disproportionate amount of Invulnerable saves. I also charged the command squad with my NM's in the area, and tied them up for the rest of the game until the Crisis suits broke after several rounds of combat.

On my third turn one of my DP's managed to come in, as did my daemons. One of my Chosen squads was about 5 inches away from the Broadsides, and the daemons were 3 inches away from the Firewarriors (both in Difficult Terrain). I rolled for the daemons: 2-2. They sat there. I rolled for the Chosen: 1-1. They sat there and took a bunch of return fire, but were still strong enough to assault the next turn. Eventually my other DP came in and was inconsequential, as was a unit of NM's on the right flank, who essentially hid all game.

We called it early, since it was pretty clear it was going to be a draw. In the end his Gue'la squads were untouched, his piranhas were scoring, and his Sniper teams were untouched. The firewarriors were still scoring but we figured they'd be dead or running after another turn. We also figured that he would be able to get my NM's who had just killed the commanders squad to below half (having to cause 1 wound). So in the end I was left with 1 Daemon Prince, 1 Chosen squad below half, 1 Daemon Squad, and 1 full Chosen squad, 1 NM squad.

This had proven to be an exhausting day, with 3 incredibly close matches. I had a great time, and Patty and Dave (the owners of Game Depot) did a great job hosting and running the tournament. I will definitely be competing again next year.

Oh, and on a side note, I brought my camera to take pictures. I forgot each games, only to remember as I was cleaning up. I swore to take pictures the next game, only to repeat the cycle. Arghhh. That explains the inclusion of the Photoshop rush job above (boy did she die horribly all 3 games).
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More Easterlings Finished (Bowmen and Swordsmen)

With school over for the year, I've begun putting more time in on my summer projects. The first project is my Lord of the Rings Easterlings, the majority of which I hope to have finished by the end of the weekend.

Tuesday night I finished 8 swordsmen, and just now I finished 6 Bowmen.



You can find steps on how I painted these here.

I still have the following left to do:
6x Bowmen
6x Kataphrakts
4x Spearmen
2x Captains on foot
1x Banner
12x Swordsmen

Well, just looking at this list, I'm not very optimistic I can get this all done this weekend, especially since I will be playing in a 40k tournament on Saturday. I'll more than likely need next week to complete these as well. Then I'll have to try and make up some time while working on Anthony's Uruk-Hai.
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Army Showcase: Slaaneshi / Undivided Warband

Round 1 - Chaos vs. Chaos
Round 2 - Chaos vs. Tau
Round 3 - Chaos vs. Tyranids

As promised, I've got some pics below of the Chaos army I took to last weekend's tournament at Game Depot. Here's the list again first:

Chaos Space Marines – 1500 Points

HQ 1: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 2: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 3: Greater Daemon
TROOP 1: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 2: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 3: 10x Lesser Daemons
ELITE 1: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory
ELITE 2: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory

Greater Daemon

Daemon Prince 1

This was made out of the Fantasy Mount of Slaanesh and the 40k Daemon Prince.

The mouth piece was inspired by one of the Emperor's Children heads. The Doom Siren was made out of polystyrene tubes and the warp amp from the chaos vehicle accessory sprue.

The wings were an afterthought, after Daemon Speed was invalidated by t.he newest codex

The whip was made from brass rods twisted together, and tipped with part of a mace from a Chaos Marauder. Looking at these close-ups I can see that some touch-ups are needed.

Daemon Prince 2

Chosen Squad 1

Chosen Squad 2

I'll be making a post later in the week showing some of my other Black Legion banners, with directions on how I made them.

One of the Noise Marine Squads

Lesser Daemons

This is pretty much the standard army I've been running since the new codex came out. At 1750, I add another Chosen Squad. At 2000 I'd throw in 3 Obliterators.
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1500 Pt. Battle Report (3rd Round of Tournament)

Round 1 - Chaos vs. Chaos
Round 2 - Chaos vs. Tau
Army Showcase

Alright, folks, here's the final battle report from last weekend's tournament.

Game 3 – Tyranids
Mission: Cleanse II (Whoever has more table quarters wins; NO VP’s)
Deployment: 18” Wedge Deployment
Battle Point Results: 12 – 9 (my favor)
Opponent’s Army:
Hive Tyrant – TL-Devourers, Venom Cannon, 2x Tyrant Guard
10x Hormagaunts
10x Hormagaunts
8x Genestealers – Extended Carapace
8x Genestealers – Extended Carapace
2x Dakkafexes
2x Sniperfexes – Extended Carapace

Note: All references to "Termagaunts" should be read as "Hormagaunts."

Alright! Double Lash vs. Nidzilla: The battle of the cheese. This was a great game, and I played yet another great opponent. Here’s our deployment.

He got first turn and moved up as indicated above. His shooting was either out of range or did no damages this turn.

My turn one, I moved up as indicated. My left DP lashed a sniperfex towards my chosen. Both squads opened fire and killed it. My left NM’s opened up on the Tyrant and Tyrant guard, hoping to cause one wound, and I got it! The NM’s on the right moved up at caused several wounds to the topmost termagaunts. My DP on the right planned to lash one of the dakkafexes to keep it out of range and LOS next turn, but rolled an 11 for his psychic test! Uh, oh. This failure cost me the Quarter 2. Also incidently I had caused more casualties to myself at this point than he had caused thanks to overheating plasmas. Can’t stand the heat, don’t fire a plasma gun.

His turn 2, he pulled back his remainig sniperfex, afraid of the power of the chosen. The Tyrant stayed put, and the lower squad of genestealers came across the Level 3 rocky area in the center. Both dakkafexes closed on my DP on the right and opened fire. You can’t really stand up to 16 S6 TL’ed shots, re-rolling to wound. The DP went down, and the NM’s nearby looked at me wondering how they were single-handedly supposed to hold that flank.

My turn 2, both the greater daemon and the lesser daemons came in. I brought the lesser daemons off the right chosen squad, and also summoned the greater daemon off of that squad’s aspiring champion. The left NM’s held position, and the right NM’s pulled back, trying to put the building in between them and the dakkafexes, but also to get LOS on the genestealers in the rocks. My chosen moved up towards the Tyrant. All of the NM’s opened fire into the genestealers and managed to kill four. The DP then lashed them back on the other side of the rocks, delaying them another turn. The chosen opened fire into the Tyrant and his guard, killing the guard and leaving 1 wound on the Tyrant. The daemons charged the Tyrant, made their invulnerable saves and then caused 4 wounds. He rolled his 2+ save, and there was a “1” among them. I consolidated the daemons to the right to try to be a buffer between the approaching genestealers and the chosen or NM’s.

His turn 3, the genestealers came back over the rocks and had enough movement to charge the weakened chosen squad (the one without the AC), bypassing the daemons. They wiped out the chosen and consolidated into the greater daemon. Elsewhere the other Nid shooting was ineffective, save the dakkafexes who were very deadly. Thankfully LOS issues made it so I would only lose 2 models that turn, even though I had failed many more saves. Also, the top genestealers decided to start heading across the rocks. A squad of termagaunts in Quarter 1 charged by daemons, who again made all their saves, and killed 5 of the termagaunts. They were locked in combat.

My turn 3, I continued moving the right NM’s away from the dakkafexes. All of the NM’s opened up into the generstealers in the rocks, causing 3 wounds. The chosen continued to move up, but had no real targets. With the end of the tournament round quickly approaching, I moved the remaining DP into a position to be able to contest Quarter 1. I also lashed the new squad of genestealers away, but it wouldn’t be enough. In combat the first squad of genestealers wounded by greater daemon once, but then she quickly wiped them out and moved up. The daemons killed all but one of the termagaunts who held, thanks to the Warriors’ synapse.

His turn 4, he moved the dakkafexes up. One held in the building to grab Quarter 2, the other moved up alongside the building into Quarter 4. They both opened fire and killed all but one of my right NM’s. The sniperfex moved back again, and had little effect with shooting. The remaining genestealers, the warriors, and the remnant from the topmost termagaunt squad all charged the daemons, and wiped them out. We received word that the round ended in the middle of this turn, and so my next turn would be the last turn of the game.

My turn four, I saw how to get the win. I had to bring the genestealers in Quarter 3 below half (I just needed to cause 1 wound). I also had to lash the dakkafex in Quarter 4 back into Quarter 2. I also needed to assault the couple of termagaunts with my chosen and slingshot off of them with a massacre roll. If I could pull all of this off, Quarter 1 would be contested, he would control Quarter 2, but I would control both Quarters 3 and 4. Everything worked perfectly. I even charged the greater daemon into the termagaunts just to make sure I would wipe them.

We then were informed that when a unit straddles 2 quarters you randomly determine which quarter its in. My NM’s who were predominantly in Quarter 4 were straddling the line. I was under the impression that you counted them in whichever quarter the majority of the unit was in. I let my opponent roll for it: 4+ they were in Quarter 4, 3- they were in Quarter 3. He rolled a “3”. So the end result was that Quarter 4 was uncontrolled, and we each had one quarter to the game was a tie. I managed to get all of the bonus points and still won the tournament.

I understand that the whole game requires a certain amount of luck. Still, I found it a little annoying that the draw came down to that one roll. I guess I’m nitpicking, I still won the tournament, and I had a really great close game. In fact I had 3 fun games against 3 great opponents and I won a battleforce. So I really shouldn’t complain (but for those of you who know me, would you expect any different?). Oh and an odd little fact, I never once had to use either of my two powerfists all tournament. Weird, huh?

Going into this tournament I had a feeling that at this points level, most armies wouldn’t be able to compensate for 2 lash princes. I got lucky and didn’t get paired against any elder or SM librarians. Even if my lash were shutdown, dealing with 3 MC’s at 1500 points is not something that most armies can handle. I’m really beginning to dislike lash, because it’s such a crutch, and I don’t even use it in any of the overly abusive ways. It’s just so cost effective. So too are the Daemon Princes and the Greater Daemon. I hate spending 410 points on 3 HQ’s, but the problem is that each one is such a good deal. One can be dealt with by an opponent, but 3 becomes a huge problem. I’ve tried running lists without them, but I get so much more bang for my buck with them. This army will probably be retiring for a while after the next Adeptus Arizona Tournament Tracker event.

Later tonight I’ll post some pics of the army, and maybe some Easterlings that I finished last night.

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1500 Pt. Battle Report (2nd Round of Tournament)

Round 1 - Chaos vs. Chaos
Round 3 - Chaos vs. Tyranids
Army Showcase

Here's the battle report from the second round of last weekend's tournament. Below is also a refresher on my army:

Chaos Space Marines – 1500 Points

HQ 1: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 2: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 3: Greater Daemon
TROOP 1: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 2: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 3: 10x Lesser Daemons
ELITE 1: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory
ELITE 2: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory

Game 2 – Tau

Mission: Hostage (Score extra points for controlling a hostage marker)
Deployment: Board Edges (12” for attacker (opponent); 18” for defender (me); hostage is 12” from defender’s deployment edge in center of the table)
Battle Point Results: 18 – 3 (my favor)
Opponent’s Army:

Commander w/ 2 Bodyguard – 2x Burst Cannons, 3x Missile Pods, Frag Burst Weapon
Crisis Team (3) – Plasma/Missile Pod
3x Broadsides w/ Shield Drones
2x Piranhas – Fusion Blasters, Decoy Launchers, Seeker Missiles
12x Gue’la (Human Auxilaries) – 2x Pulse Rifles, Marker Light
12x Gue’la (Human Auxilaries) – 2x Pulse Rifles, Marker Light
14x Fire Warrios – Marker Light, Target Lock
3x Stealth Suits – 2 Gun Drones
Sniper Drone Team

According to the scenario, the player with the most points in Fast Attack was the attacker. Since I had 0, and he had two piranhas, that left him with the unsavory task of attacking a mid- to short-range firepower army with better than average CC potential.

I deployed both DP’s and a NM squad on the left flank, behind a forest that was up against the board edge. My other NM squad deployed in a building in the lateral middle of my deployment zone up near the edge. One chosen squad infiltrated in the forest, and the other had to placed in my deployment zone on my right flank.

The Tau player deployed in two ranks across his deployment zone. The rear rank, from my left to right was: Broadsides, Gue’la squad, Sniper Drones, Gue’la squad, Piranhas. The front rank from left to right was Crisis team, Fire Warriors, HQ with bodyguards. The stealth suits infiltrated in my deployment zone in the rear right corner.

I got first turn and moved my units on the left into the forest, and my DP’s across the forest into open ground. My center NM’s held position in the building, and my chosen on the right held position to get shots at full range (24”). These last two units opened up on the crisis suits lined up against them and dropped the drones and a suit. One DP lashed the other crisis team into charge range. The other DP lashed the broadsides into range of the chosen on the left, and also into a position that I hoped would prevent LOS from them to that DP, designed to be blocked by the impending combat between the other DP and the crisis team (I was hoping not to break them that round). The chosen managed to pop one of the broadsides, and the NM’s in the forest took out a couple of fire warriors. The DP, who lashed the crisis suits, charged them and killed the drones and a suit. As expected they held protecting the DP from return fire.

On his turn, the stealth suits popped a couple NM’s, the piranhas moved up a popped 2 chosen. The broadsides used their Slow and Purposeful move to gain LOS to my unengaged DP (which also moved them closer to the fire warriors – you’ll see why that’s important). Most of the Tau then shot at the unengaged DP, who took two wounds leaving him still scoring. In combat, one suit was left with one wound and miraculously held (not part of the plan).

On my turn the lesser daemons showed up. I brought them in off the right chosen squad, and they were able to assault the stealth suits and wipe them out in one round of combat. My right chosen unit moved up to rapid fire into the piranhas but only managed to stun them both. All the NM’s laid fire into the fire warriors taking out several more. The left chosen fired at the Gue’la opposite them and reduced their number some. My unengaged DP had plenty of range to charge the broadsides, but lashed them closer to the fire warriors so I could more easily consolidate into the fire warriors. Everything worked as planned, and the DP wiped out the broadsides and consolidated into the fire warriors. The other DP finished off the crisis suits and consolidated into the woods to try and restrict return fire by limiting range and LOS.

At this point, my opponent told me that unless his next turn went really well, he was willing to concede at the end of it, since otherwise almost all of his units would be in combat the next turn. His turn was pretty uneventful and he conceded the game to me, giving me another 18-point win.

He was a very gracious opponent, and took his loss in stride. In his previous game he wiped a ‘Nid player off the table with few casualties in return. We both recognized that this was a bad match-up for this particular scenario, especially where the Tau have to be the attacker. He did qualify for the next round of the tournament and even won best painted! He had a beautiful army, which was terracotta with some beautiful contrasting purple on some units.

Tomorrow the final battle report against the ‘Nids, and tomorrow I’ll put up army pics (I promise).
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1500 Pt. Battle Report and Tournament Results

Round 2 - Chaos vs. Tau
Round 3 - Chaos vs. Tyranids
Army Showcase

It's been a while since the last entry; things simply just got crazy during finals! But finals are over, and I survived. Immediately after my last final ended on Friday, I drove up to Phoenix to get some games in, and then to participate the next day in a tournament.

This last weekend, I played in the third 40K event for Adeptus Arizona’s Tournament tracker series. This particular tournament was Rogue Trader Style and I wound up winning overall! I also won the last event and took 2^nd in the first event, so I have a strong position in first place in the series. There are three more events, and hopefully I can have 3 more strong showings. Overall standings can be found here (at the time of publishing the standings were not yet updated with the third event).

This event, which was at Game Depot in Tempe, AZ, was also their annual qualifier for their store championships. 32 people entered the tournament, and it was a great crowd. Patty and Dave, the owners, hosted a great tournament and I had a lot of fun. By placing in the top 8, I qualified for championships next Saturday. The marital unit was very accommodating about two tournaments up in Phoenix two weekends in a row!

Here’s my list:

Chaos Space Marines – 1500 Points

HQ 1: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission

HQ 2: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission

HQ 3: Greater Daemon

TROOP 1: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters

TROOP 2: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters

TROOP 3: 10x Lesser Daemons

ELITE 1: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory

ELITE 2: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory

Game 1 – Chaos Space Marines

Mission: The Hunted (nominate a squad, score double VP’s for killing it)

Deployment: Board Edges (12”)

Battle Point Results: 18 – 3 (my favor)

Opponent’s Army:

Daemon Prince – Wings, Warp Time

10x CSM – Champ, Plasma, Missile Launcher

10x CSM – Champ, Plasma, Missile Launcher

10x Raptors – Champ w/ PF, 2x Melta

10x Lesser Daemons

10x Terminators – 2x Reapers, 2x Combi-Meltas, Several PF’s

This game was against Kyle Kinghorn, who is the bunker manager out at the GW Ontario Bunker (LA). I knew him when he was working at the GW in Phoenix, though he left for California, right before I started working at the Phoenix GW. We’ve kept in touch off an on over the years, and it was great to play him.

Both of us concentrated our deployment on the right, with the exception of his daemon prince and one of my chosen squads, which I placed out of charge range of his DP.

I got first turn, which turned out to be pretty devastating. I moved up a unit of chosen, and planned to lash one of his troop squads into their rapid fire range. I got really lucky with both of my lash rolls and managed to move that squad a total of 16” towards me. So in addition to rapid firing into them, both DP’s assaulted and wiped them out. My two units of NM’s also put a few wounds on the other troop squad from shooting.

On his turn he moved his remaining troop squad into a better firing position and his raptors towards my bulk of troops. His DP moved closer to my chosen on the left, but not fully. He left him back to give him the option to commit to either side of the fight. The raptors took out one of my chosen on the left.

On my turn 2, both my lesser daemons and greater daemon came in. My greater daemon came in with the lone chosen on my left, and the lesser daemons came in from the chosen on the right, right up in front of the raptors. I lashed his troop squad into Range/LOS of my NM’s and also into charge range of both DP’s. My chosen on the right put three wounds on the raptor squad, and my chosen on the left stayed put to single shot the DP, putting 2 wounds on him. The daemons charged into the raptors, and the DP’s charged into the troop squad. The DP’s wiped out the troop squad, and one consolidated into the raptors (to be resolved the following turn of course). The daemons put another 2 wounds on the raptors and took none in return (lucky Inv saves).

His turn, the Terminators and Daemons failed to arrive (neither of these units coming in here, probably sealed the game in my favor). His DP charged my daemons, and did 2 wounds to them. The daemons and my DP finished off the raptors. The daemons piled into his DP, and my DP moved away freely.

On my 3^rd turn I moved the DP’s in to assault the DP. I also consolidated all of my other forces, which had no targets, in order to “castle” to make it more difficult for him to deep strike/summon his remaining units. The DP’s charged in and with their higher initiative, finished his DP off rather handidly.

His terminators finally came in, and they deep struck in the middle of my army. He took out 3 of the chosen squad on the left.

On my 4^th turn, I poured fire from every unit I had into the terminators. Both DP’s and the Greater Daemon assaulted and wiped them out. This ended the game, since there were no icons to summon the daemons.

Kyle was a very gracious opponent and next game in the tournament he “redeemed himself” (his words). I was quite pleased with how my army performed. To be fair getting first turn, lucky lash rolls, and his failure to bring reserve units in quickly did a lot to help me pull out the win.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the final 2 battle reports (Tau and Tyranids) and pictures of my army.

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Battle Report - 1000 Points - Tau vs. Chaos Space Marines

Last Saturday I had my first final. Afterwards, a classmate came over and I introduced him to 40k. He apparently has some old Dark Elves, though he's never played WHFB before. He also is an old school RPG'er, so he was able to pick up 40k pretty quickly.

I thought I could put together a decent map in Adobe Illustrator pretty quickly, but it took way too long. So enjoy the first and the last Illustrator BatRep map.


Armies:

Black Legion (Black/Grey) - Played by Vlad
A: 10x CSM (2x Plasma, Icon of Chaos Glory, AC w/Powerfist, Rhino)
B: 8x Havocs (4x Heavy Bolters, Icon of Chaos Glory)
C: Predator (All Lascannons)
D: Chaos Lord (Power Weapon) and 8x CSM (1x Plasma, Icon of Chaos Glory, AC w/Powerfist, Rhino)

Tau (Blue) - Played by me
A. 3x Piranha (Fusion Blaster) - Separate squadrons
B. 9x Firewarriors (Shash'ui w/Bonding Knife)
C. Hammerhead (Railgun)
D. 9x Firewarriors (Shash'ui w/Bonding Knife, Devilfish)
E. 5x Stealthsuits (1x Fusionblaster) Infiltrating
Not Shown: Shas'El Crisis Suit (Twin-linked Fusion Blasters, Shield Gen) - Deepstriking

Mission
Infiltrate, Deepstrike
Objective: Hold the Buildings - I chose not to use victory points. To win, you had to control more buildings than your opponent. To control a building you had to have a scoring unit within the building, with no enemy scoring units in the same building.

Chaos got first turn and began moving the havocs and the predator into Building 2. I advised that it would give the predator some protection (in the form of a hull down roll) and that it would make Building 2 into an impressive firebase. I also warned that it would expose the tank to return fire, and that it might get immobilised. After weighing the risks he decided to move in, and passed his dangerous terrain rolls. The predator managed to get a hull down shot at the hammerhead and got a Crew Shaken Result. The predator would probably survive the next turn.

The Rhino on the left rolled out towards the stealth suits, and dropped off the CSM's who rapid fired into the suits, killing all but one. On the right, the Rhino with the Lord dropped off its cargo outside of Building 3.

On my turn, the Firewarriors on the left slowly moved up in to Building 1. The Devilfish dropped off its Firewarriors inside Building 3 and they rapid fired into the CSM's. One marine died, but the FW's were easily in charge range the next turn. The Hammerhead moved out of LOS of anything. The middle and right Piranhas moved into the center to try to pop the predator. I figured it wouldn't happen since I was outside the 6" double penetration range. The first Piranha hit, rolled a 6 to penetrate, which he downgraded with a successful hull down roll. The result on the glancing table: 6 - Destroyed. Oops!

Next turn saw his havocs and my firewarriors in Building 1 moving into better positions. The Lord and his posse easily wiped out the Firewarriors in Building 3. He also managed to destroy the only weapon on my left Piranha, which I then hightailed out of the area to go hide behind a forest to capture or contest a building in the last turn (cheesy I know).

The next turn his havocs opened up on my firewarriors and killed all but 2. They ran and regrouped several turns later (thanks to bonding knives) but had no further impact. The Lord and his squad chilled in building 3 taking a potshot with a plasma at a Piranha in the center, to no avail. The two Piranha's and the Hammerhead sniped at the Havocs to try to get them below scoring.

Turn 4 saw the approach of the Marine squad on the left making its way to the building (barely). The Lord's squad was able to rapid fire a plasma gunner at one of the Piranha's destroying it, but getting hot in the process and killing the gunner. This turn also saw the arrival of my Crisis Suit Commander who showed up north of building 2 , and along with a Piranha and the Hammerhead brought the Havocs below scoring.

Turn 5 saw the crisis suit charge into the Havocs, whose Heavy Bolters had bounced off of the center Piranha. They were tied up for the rest of the game. The Hammerhead, the Devilfish and a bunch of drones who had left the safety of their ships sniped away at the Lord's squad, which had goten lucky with a side shot on the center Piranha and destroyed its fusion blaster.

In turn 6, the marines on the left firmly rooted themselves in Building 1. The Lord's squad in Building 3 was right at half strength, and tried to take out the Piranha, no luck. Going last, I moved the Piranha into Building 2 and the Hammer head into Building 3. At this point He had Building 1, I had Building 2 and Building 3 was contested. I opened up with everything at the Lord's squad and got the one casualty I needed to get them below half, thus giving me control of Building 3 and the game (what, you didn't think I was going to let him win, because it was his first time?).

We called it a minor victory since I only had 1 more building than he did. My own Tau, beating my CSM's left a bad taste in my mouth. Something wasn't right in the universe. I guess the boys in black only perform at their utmost for their true commander.

We both had a good time, while chilling with some beer. He picked up the game really quickly and had memorized the stats for his units in no time. He also knew what he needed to roll for various things. He said he's down for another game after finals, which would be cool. I enjoyed getting to play and will be spending this summer convincing him to start his own army.



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Study Break: Las Vegas Grand Tournament

Grand Tournament
Las Vegas
September 5-7, 2008
Treasure Island Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada


Yesterday I signed up for the Las Vegas Grand Tournament. Proceeds from the sale of my Ravenwing paid for the ticket . I signed up for the 40K tournament, and will likely be playing Imperial Guard.

"But wait, Sean. You don't have an Imperial Guard army." Right you are voice of reason. However, I've been planning on doing a traitor guard army for a while. And all I've needed is a crazy deadline.

I will be doing the Sons of Sek from the Gaunt's Ghosts series, who will be, er... dropping from the sky. Yes, I'm doing drop guard plasma/melta spam, but with flair. I have 169 models in the army. It's 167 infantry who will all be heavily converted. The other two models will be Penitent Engines, piloted by the new Bloodletters, which will count as Sentinels.

It's going to be really tight getting this army done, especially since before I can start them, I have to finish my Easterlings and Anthony's Uruk-Hai army for the Lord of the Rings Indy GT in July! I've created a schedule, which I'll post in the future. Everything (the Easterlings, the Uruk-Hai, and the Sons of Sek) will all be documented here from start to finish. I've got some cool conversions planned for the Sons and can't wait to get started on them.

I'm really excited for the GT, but I have a ton of work to do. Speaking of work, back to studying. Had my second final today, next one is Friday. Can't wait to be done.
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Study Break: Emperor's Scythes - 1st Company

So I've been studying pretty much non-stop for the last four days. I've got my first final Saturday morning (Saturday?), and then 4 more over the next two weeks. Good news is I'm done studying for Saturday, the bad news is that's only because I needed extra time to study for the next final.

Last night during an unplanned study break, I was talking with Anthony about the Lord of the Rings Indy GT and Las Vegas GT (40K). It got me thinking that once I'm done with finals I've got a couple weeks to paint my LotR army and then his. As soon as I get them done, I've got to get working on the 169 converted traitor guard for the GT (details to follow). Basically I started planning out everything I have to do, and developed a 12-week schedule for getting the traitor guard done. It's not going to be pretty.

He also told me that I should put something up on ye ol' blog. So posted above and below are pics of Anthony's Drop Imperial Guard, the Emperor's Scythes 1st Company. I did these for him a couple of months back and is a good taste of what I'm in for with my traitor IG.

Back to studying Adverse Possession under Color of Title...
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