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).