Kirtonian Conflict XII - Part Two

 

Part One

Sunday morning and myself, Dick Jones and Dick Nixon headed to Kirton. Would we find victory? Defeat? Would we have travelled all that way to play each other?

Dick Jones was playing Necrons, in the Awakened Dynasty, and Dick Nixon was trying the new Bully Boyz detachment with his Orks.

Round One 

Nixon was up against the Leagues of Votann, Jones faced T'au and my opponent had brought - 

Necrons Incursion (1000 points)

Hypercrypt Legion

CHARACTERS

C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer (295 points) • 1x Gaze of death 1x Scythe of the Nightbringer

C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon (290 points) • 1x Canoptek tail blades 1x Spear of the Void Dragon 1x Voltaic storm

Royal Warden (40 points) • Warlord • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Relic gauss blaster

Transcendent C’tan (285 points) • 1x Crackling tendrils 1x Seismic assault

OTHER DATASHEETS

Lokhust Destroyers (30 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Gauss cannon

Lokhust Destroyers (30 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Gauss cannon

Lokhust Destroyers (30 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Gauss cannon

Triple C'tan! This is a nightmare of a list on paper, and a nightmare to see on the table opposite you. The saving grace of it was Jake was actually a great opponent. We all know players who would have made this the Worst Game Ever TM. But it was a fun game, despite the uphill struggle.

Sites of Power made things worse, as his hard to shift units are also Characters, for the Empowering points. The approach was simple, use my mobility to get to and clear his chaff, and hope I can pull ahead on Secondaries. I nearly messed this up, as I had misunderstood the footprint of a ruin and sent the Hawks in unsupported to tackle a Destroyer I thought my other units could see. Luckily they chose to be heroes that day and it finally took a concerted effort from the Nightbringer to kill the Exarch. 

Round two saw me kill all three Destroyers, to maximise No Prisoner and Fire and Fade the Warp Spiders onto his home Objective. It was Deploy and Behind that made the Nightbringer return to clear me out. The Void Dragon sat on the central Objective almost all game, scoring 24 Primary on it's own. I largely ignored the C'tan, only firing at them when I lacked other targets

We matched on Secondaries, but as expected he out did me on Primary. I did manage to keep the Autarch scoring Primary for me though so I feel i did as much as I good to score well. I'm happy with the points, although I had a few turns to draw Capture Enemy Outpost which would have been great.

A loss for me and wins for my teammates, we had a lunch break then on to round two.

Round Two 

Nixon was up against the Necrons and Jones faced Orks. In fact, they had been paired into each other. Not the best result for the team, as it meant we only had one chance left for someone to go undefeated. They had also essentially already had the game as practice in the week. Meanwhile, I faced the T'au that Jones had defeated in the first round - 

T’au Empire Incursion (1000 points) 

Mont’ka 

CHARACTERS 

Cadre Fireblade (50 points) • Warlord • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Fireblade pulse rifle 2x Gun Drone 

Cadre Fireblade (50 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Fireblade pulse rifle 2x Gun Drone 

BATTLELINE 

Breacher Team (100 points) • 1x Support turret • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Gun Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol 

Breacher Team (100 points) • 1x Support turret • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Gun Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol 

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS 

Devilfish (85 points) • 1x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine 

Devilfish (85 points) • 1x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine 

OTHER DATASHEETS 

Hammerhead Gunship (130 points) • 2x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 1x Railgun 2x Seeker missile 

Piranhas (55 points) • 1x Armoured hull 1x Piranha fusion blaster 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine 

Piranhas (55 points) • 1x Armoured hull 1x Piranha fusion blaster 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine 

Sky Ray Gunship (140 points) • 2x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 1x Seeker missile rack 

Sky Ray Gunship (140 points) • 2x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 1x Seeker missile rack

A very vehicle heavy T'au list, featuring zero Battlesuits. I know the Breachers are nasty when they get close, while the other tanks want to bring death from afar. The Piranhas are there for scoring. Lots of hulls and mobility, and Purge the Foe wants a mix of holding Objectives and killing units.

Jacob was quite a cagey player, and remarked after the game that Kauyon may fit his playstyle better. But the book was freshly released on Saturday so he wanted to give it a whirl. 

Parking the Sky Rays on his home Objective locked me out from Capture Enemy Outpost, and I couldn't lure them out. I did manage to get a bead on one and drop it to 1 wound though. Dick Jones had remarked on how deadly the Breachers were when they hopped out of Devilfish and deleted units. Jacob's cageyness against me let me pop a Devilfish and deal with the squishy contents without letting them get many shots off.

The Autarch struggled in combat against the Breachers though. He just didnt want to hit, which was frustrating, He did help stop them getting shots off though, so I guess it's a wash.

I was able to get Kill More for most of the game, which let me stay ahead on Primary. He ran out of units and was unable to push out of his half of the board by the mid-game, which let me keep just enouh ahead to win the game.

Dick Jones won the Dick off, leaving me at risk of being paired into Dick Nixon for the final round.

Round Three  

Jones faced his second Ork opponent of the day, Nixon faced his second Votann opponent, and I faced Necrons. Again. After playing them twice for list testing as well.

Necrons Incursion

Hypercrypt Legion

CHARACTERS

C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer (295 Points) • 1x Gaze of death 1x Scythe of the Nightbringer

Hexmark Destroyer (70 Points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Enmitic disintegrator pistols

Hexmark Destroyer (70 Points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Enmitic disintegrator pistols

Trazyn the Infinite (75 Points) • Warlord • 1x Empathic Obliterator

OTHER DATASHEETS

Lokhust Destroyers (30 Points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Gauss cannon

Lychguard (85 Points) • 5x Lychguard • 5x Dispersion Shield 5x Hyperphase sword

Monolith (375 Points) • 4x Death ray 1x Particle whip 1x Portal of exile

At least there was only one C'tan this time. No shade intended to Ryan, but as Necrons are quite popular amonst the Dicks I was hoping to not face them two out of three games at this event. It was a different list to Jake's, but running a similar ethos. Trazyn was there to grant Sticky Objectives to the Lychguard and the other units were there to score the chosen Fixed Objectives - Behind Enemy Lines and Deploy Teleport Homer.

The issue in this one was the Objectives disappear. So if i can screen him out from the Omega and the non-Alpha I can actually try and get ahead on Primary. Then it's just hoping my Secondaries are scoreable, while dealing with the units that drop down to score his. 

 Ryan forgot to Deploy a Teleport Homer in the second round, opting to shoot instead. He also then struggled to have more than one unit in my deployment zone, lowering his Behind Enemy Lines score. This let me focus on the Primary, and I would have scored for the Omega in round 5 if I could have done 3 more damage to the Nightbringer. Combined with Assassinate, that would have been worth 20 points. I'm still happy with being able to do 8 damage to it, especially given how little I had left at the time. 

My fellow Dicks both picked up losses in the final round. So all that was left was to see the Standings

Fifth place for me, Ninth for Dick Jones and Thirteenth for Dick Nixon. A good showing from the group and I'm very happy with my result. 

Big thanks to Kirton Games and Rob Angell for running the event. It's a shame there were a few players that couldn't make it as I really like the look of his list

Astra Militarum Combined Regiment

Incursion (1000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Tank Commander (205 Points) • Warlord • 1x Armoured tracks 1x Eradicator nova cannon 1x Heavy bolter 2x Heavy bolter 1x Heavy stubber

OTHER DATASHEETS

Leman Russ Demolisher (200 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks 1x Demolisher battle cannon 1x Heavy bolter 2x Heavy bolter

Leman Russ Executioner (170 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks 1x Executioner plasma cannon 1x Lascannon 2x Plasma cannon

Malcador Defender (310 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks 1x Demolisher cannon 7x Heavy bolter

Wyvern (110 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks 1x Heavy flamer 1x Wyvern quad stormshard mortar

A lovely Tank list and I adore the Malcador model

Takeaways

So, how did the list perform?

I was happy with almost everything in the list. The Autarch doesn't kill much, but is fast and supplies me with Command Points. The Falcon is a great Dragon delivery system and distraction. The Spiders and Rangers do their jobs. 

The Dire Avengers were okay. If I were to run a similar list going forward, I would have to see what else could be in their spot. They weren't awful, but they don't do much about the beef that's running around at the moment.

The Swooping Hawks though. They were MVPs all day and the Exarch was a hero. They made far more saving throws than they should have and scored me so many points. I can't wait for them to get a plastic kit so I can add some more to my army.

Other than that, the list was fine. Not exciting but certainly a workhorse. I'm going to have to tinker to see if I can find some better tools for the job.

Thanks again to Rob Angell for running/hosting and to Dick Jones for driving us there and back. Hopefully we can continue to get the team to events, and share in each others successes.

Kirtonian Conflict XII - Part One

 

Dick Jones convinced myself and Dick Nixon to attended Kirtonian Conflict XII, this weekend at Kirton Games. It's a 1000 point, 3 round event and should be a good day out. I've enjoyed their events for a variety of game systems, although this is my first 40k attendance since Kirtonian Conflict VIII

I took the Drukhari to that one, and had a really good performance. For this one though, I'm going to stick with my beloved Iyanden. Despite GW's best efforts to put me off Wraith units.

Aeldari Incursion (1000 points) 

Battle Host 

CHARACTERS 

Autarch Wayleaper (115 points) • Warlord • 1x Dragon fusion gun 1x Mandiblasters 1x Star glaive 

Death Jester (105 points) • 1x Jester’s blade 1x Shrieker cannon • Enhancement: Fate’s Messenger 

OTHER DATASHEETS 

Dire Avengers (70 points) • 1x Dire Avenger Exarch • 1x Avenger shuriken catapult 1x Avenger shuriken catapult 1x Close combat weapon • 4x Dire Avenger • 4x Avenger shuriken catapult 4x Close combat weapon 

Falcon (140 points) • 1x Bright lance 1x Pulse laser 1x Twin shuriken catapult 1x Wraithbone hull 

Fire Dragons (85 points) • 1x Fire Dragon Exarch • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Firepike • 4x Fire Dragon • 4x Close combat weapon 4x Dragon fusion gun 

Fire Prism (180 points) • 1x Prism cannon 1x Shuriken cannon 1x Wraithbone hull 

Rangers (55 points) • 5x Ranger • 5x Close combat weapon 5x Ranger long rifle 5x Shuriken pistol 

Rangers (55 points) • 5x Ranger • 5x Close combat weapon 5x Ranger long rifle 5x Shuriken pistol 

Swooping Hawks (80 points) • 1x Swooping Hawk Exarch • 1x Aeldari power sword 1x Close combat weapon 1x Hawk’s talon • 4x Swooping Hawk • 4x Close combat weapon 4x Lasblaster 

Warp Spiders (115 points) • 1x Warp Spider Exarch • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Death spinner 1x Death spinner 1x Powerblades • 4x Warp Spider • 4x Close combat weapon 4x Death spinner

When the Dicks have posted lists recently, I've been posing them the following questions (stolen from Goonhammer) 

1. What's your plan for dealing with Hordes?
2. What's your plan for dealing with Vehicle/Monsters?
3. How are you approaching the Primary?
4. How are you handling Secondaries?

This ensures that you are already making plans during the building stage, and not just taking units that look cool or defaulting to your faves. So, what are my answers?

1. Geoffrey Dester, on Sustained mode. Getting anywhere between 6 and 12 hits with decent firepower and potential Dev Wounds is amazing into Infantry hordes. This is backed up by the Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders, Dire Avengers and the alternate firing mode of the Fire Prism. I should have little trouble clearing chaff.
2. The Fire Prism's main gun is flat 6 damage. If that fails I have the guns on the Falcon and the unit of Fire Dragons, plus the Autarch in a pinch.
3. The Primary is a difficult one. With so many abilities granting bonuses when units target enemies on Objectives, and Toughness 3 making most of my Elite army fragile, I can't afford to sit and hope to survive any attempt to shift me. I will have to claim Objectives where I feel safe from retaliation, while using my killing power to try and stop my opponent from getting too far ahead on the Primary themselves. Hopefully I can catch up/overtake in the second half of the game.
4. The Rangers let me start in good positions for scoring, and the list has a lot of mobility. I'm likely to start the Warp Spiders in Deep Strike, as well as the Falcon. It's payload will be match-up dependant. My choices are the Fire Dragons or the Dire Avengers, both can be great when dropped in behind the right foe. The Swooping Hawks ability to jump off and on the table is also key to this.

I've only managed a couple of games for testing, both against Necrons. The Obeisance Phalanx and the Annihilation Legion. Both were very different builds and playstyles despite being from the same book.

Against the Phalanx, my list had a Wraithlord and a D-Cannon platform instead of the Falcon, Fire Dragons and Dire Avengers. The Wraithlord hitting on 4s makes it a massive liability at 160 points, which upsets me as it's one of the models that got me into the game. The D-Cannon, long one of my favourite weapons, is very expensive now for d3 shots. I understand how good it is, but feel it needs to be taken in multiples, which you can't afford in a 1000 point game.

This lead to me swapping to help with scoring in the second game, at the cost of the Iyanden flavouring. Hopefully having the extra units should give me a little more table coverage, while also being much more manouvreable than the Support Platform was. 

The Dataslates have been unkind to Aeldari, rightly so given their tournament performance. But point increases based on 2000 point armies are always going to make list building for 1000 points more difficult. Making Guardians cheaper almost makes them feel useable, but they are still very fragile. And a unit size of 10 makes them difficult to hide. Add in a Leader to Bodyguard and that's 20% of your list already gone. So I'm not happy with them in an Incursion

That's the list and the logic. Now to see if the plan survives contact with the enemy tomorrow

Kirtonian Conflict VIII

A couple of weeks ago, I was playing a casual game against George, and we spotted that Kirton Games were running a 1000 point 40K tournament. A short discussion later and we had both bought tickets. 

That didn't give a lot of time to get army lists together, as the tournament was due to take place two weeks later. Painting was optional, but having one or two units not finished feels bad. So we had to get cracking. It was semi-easy for George as he only has his Necrons at the moment, although it would still take him some time to settle on a list. For me, as a foolish fool with multiple armies, I'd have to settle on a faction first.

I wanted to play Craftworlds. I would have loved to play Craftworlds. I'm just currently not happy with the army, in a competitive sense. The troops are too fragile to hold objectives, the killing power is held up in a couple of expensive units (Shining Spears), Wraithguard are too expensive, the list could go on. I've been happily playing different configurations in casual games, but I didn't fancy just getting stomped all day. Also, the two week window wouldn't give a lot of time to test things.

 I've recorded 11 practice games on the ITC Battles app, mostly against George, across 6 different factions. I didn't fancy playing Marines as I figured they would be popular, being the most popular faction in general. So that discounted the Ultramarines. Not enough of my Guard is painted, I didn't fancy transporting Harlequins, my Sisters and Ad Mech aren't ready, Ynnari suck in small games. In the end, I decided to do a dark deal. A deal with...

Yeah, I caved to temptation and brewed up a Drukhari list. I don't like going to an event without practicing a list and my Drukhari collection is small enough that I wouldn't be wibbling over what to include. 

Brainstorm Time     

First things first, a Realspace Raid was off the table. I don't own any Wracks and wasn't about to shell out for a squad just for this event. I haven't even decided what colour scheme for my Coven yet. 

Next idea, twin Patrols. One Kabal and one Cult. Played around with some selections on Battlescribe. Did I want a Plane? How many Transports? I eventually discarded this idea. I was struggling to cut down from "all the toys".

Final idea; Wych Cult. Cult of Strife as I have Lelith Hesperax available. The questions here were much simpler. How many units of Reavers? How many Hellions is too many? Soon I had my answer. Warning, cheese ahead

Patrol Detachment - Cult of Strife  

HQ  

Drazhar, Warlord - Hatred Eternal

Succubus, Archite Glaive & Agoniser, Show Stealer, Artefact of Cruelty - The Triptych Whip, Tolerated Ambition - Competitive Edge, Combat Drugs - Adrenalight

Troops  

10 Hekatrix Bloodbrides, Hekatrix - Blast Pistol & Agoniser, Hydra Gauntlets, Razorflails, Shardnet & Impaler, Combat Drugs - Adrenalight

Elites  

5 Incubi, Klaivex - Demiklaives

5 Incubi, Klaivex - Demiklaives

Fast Attack  

8 Hellions, Combat Drugs - 2 Random

6 Reavers, 2 Heat Lances, Combat Drugs - Splintermind

Dedicated Transport  

Raider, Dark Lance

Raider, Dark Lance

I wanted to hit hard and fast, and figured this list could do that. Obviously, Drazhar is a blender and making him the Warlord lets him have Hatred Eternal while spending a Command Point on Tolerated Ambition allows the Succubus to have a warlord trait. This does not work the other way around. Giving her Competitive Edge also gives me a Competitive Edge when it comes to her combat prowess. To be honest, if you've been paying attention to tournament lists, none of this should come as a surprise. 

Two units of Incubi may seem excessive, but apart from some more Hellions and 6 more Reavers, this list contains most of my Wych Cult models. Infantry can be key to the Chapter Approved missions, so a second squad of Reavers was probably out of the question. Heat Lances give me a little more punch against vehicles, I can't expected the two Dark Lances to do all the work. And finally, 8 Hellions may seem like a weird number but that's what the remaining points allowed.

Combat Drugs were a small debate. I figured I should use them to enhance the job of the unit. Extra attacks for the Succubus and the Bloodbrides was a no-brainer. Likewise, Splintermind for the Reavers to make the Heat Lances better. The sticking point was the Hellions. Most of the drugs are useful on the unit so I decided to just let them have 2 at random each game. With that, the list was set. Time to squeeze in some practice before we go.

Practice Games  

I set up my table for a couple of games against what I felt was a very standard Ultramarine list, Goldfish style. 

They were brutal. Both games the Marines were down to 2 models by the end of the second Battle Round. At the cost of either the Hellions or the Reavers, and a Raider. That's fine though, as it's games against myself and there is potential for bias in the decisions.

With less than a week to go, George and I had our regular game. Him, using a Necron list he was considering and myself using the Drukhari filth. He dropped my Succubus to 1 wound, and scooped as I had demolished all of his heavy hitters. During the second Battle Round. It was pretty demoralizing, and sent him back to the drawing board for his list while we discussed what we thought the meta might look like. 

Final practice game was mid-week against Mark and his Space Wolves. That second battle round, when I hit him like a truck and cleared most of his units off the board, was when I saw the light go out in his eyes. I had clearly become 'That Guy' and there wouldn't be time to make a different list. 

So be it!

An early start and George driving saw us as the first ones to arrive. James Evans shortly followed (james.evans1808 on Instagram) . I've followed him for a while on Insta, but we hadn't interacted much. He knows Josh well though. Sound bloke, hope to see him at more events. Once everyone arrived, Rob at Kirton went through the pre-tournment briefing and put the pairings up on the big screen. It was to be a three round event (as advertised) with bespoke trophies as prizes for top 3, top 3 painted and favourite opponent. Mission would be announced at the start of the round and would be from the Chapter Approved Grand Tournament 2021 pack. Points would be scored as per that book, including the 10 points for painted.

About half the field was Marines, with a couple each of Custodes, Drukhari, Necrons and Asuryani. Death Guard and World Eaters represented Chaos, but are essentially fancy (Death Guard) or worse (World Eaters, who still only have one wound) Marines. Oddly no Sisters, Ad Mech or Harlequins in attendance.

(I didn't take any pictures, as I'm useless at remembering to do so mid event. Be thankful I took notes) 

Round One  

Martin Butler - Dark Angels

A Ravenwing force full of fast moving bikes and land speeders. Much like my army, he could go where he wanted, when he wanted.

Outrider Detachment  

HQ

Ravenwing Talonmaster, Warlord - Lightning Fast Reactions, Arbiter's Gaze

Fast Attack  

Attack Bike, Multi-melta

Outrider Squad

Outrider Squad

Outrider Squad

Storm Speeder Hammerstrike

Storm Speeder Hammerstrike  

The first mission was Ascension. I rolled up Painbringer and Splintermind for the Hellions and dithered over which Secondaries to choose. I eventually went for Herd The Prey, No Prisoners and Assassination. Martin chose Engage On All Fronts, Death On The Wind and Deploy Teleport Homers. I won the roll off for deployment, made Martin the Defender and then ended up winning the roll for first turn.

I sent the Reavers forward to do some damage to a Storm Speeder, alongside the Dark Lances from the Raiders, and moved the Hellions up to the centre of the board. Martin brought everything forward to strike, killing a Raider and removing models from the Reavers and Hellions. That scored him 6 points from Death and Teleport Homers, and left me on no Primary Objectives.

Then came my counter punch. It was brutal. Disgusting. I left Martin with one Storm Speeder, which died shortly after. Victory was mine, 78-6, as Martin's army wasn't painted.

45 Primary, 15 Herd, 4 Prisoners, 4 Assassination, 10 Painted

vs

0 Primary, 0 Engage, 2 Death, 4 Homers, 0 Painted

 W - 78 points  

It was a quick game, allowing me to fully score the Primary and Herd after his forces was destroyed. Not gonna lie, while victory felt good the crushing victory didn't. It felt like Martin didn't really get a game. Once I disembarked my Infantry and Characters, they killed everything they touched. Just as planned. The Advance and Charge granted by Power From Pain really meant I could strike where I wanted.

Round Two  

Rick Abell - Drukhari

An almost mirror match, with Rick choosing to try out a Realspace Raid. I'd turned this idea down, for the reason I listed earlier, so I was intrigued as to how this would go. He had some of the tools I had, plus some extra like the Talos and the plane. This would be interesting.

Battalion Detachment

HQ  

Archon, Ancient Evil, Huskblade, Raid Mastermind, Warlord, Writ of the Living Muse, Splintered Genius

Haemonculus, Diabolical Soothsayer

 Succubus, Random Drugs, Precision Blows, Triptych Whip

Troops  

10 Kabalite Trueborn, Splinter Cannon, 2 Blasters, Power Sword

5 Wracks, Electrocorrosive Whip 

5 Wyches, Random Drugs, Phantasm Grenade Launcher

Fast Attack  

3 Reavers, Random Drugs, Grav-talon, Heat Lance

Heavy Support  

Talos, Macro-scalpel, Ichor Injector, 2 Heat Lances  

Flyer  

Razorwing Jetfighter, Splinter Cannon, 2 Disintegrator Cannons 

Dedicated Transport  

Raider (kabal), Dark Lance, Splinter Racks

Venom (cult), Splinter Cannon, Twin Splinter Rifle  

This round's mission was Show of Force. My Hellions took some Adrenalight and Grave Lotus, and I chose Herd The Prey, Assassination and Minimise Losses as my Secondaries. Rick chose Herd The Prey, Minimise Losses and Raise The Banners High as his. I won the roll-off for both deployment and first turn and the kin strife was under way. 

This game started similar to the first, I moved up and Rick responded by coming out swinging. I got luck with my big guns and downed the Talos and killed all but one Wrack. Rick got unlucky and both the Archon and Succubus decided they didn't want to charge their targets. That meant in the second round, I slaughtered everything except the Razorwing. Including a luck set of Dark Lance shots taking out Rick's Raider and allowing my Succubus to charge the squishy passengers. 

It was essentially over, but Rick was able to use his Razorwing to score some more points for Herd. Victory was once again mine, 85-20.

45 Primary, 15 Herd, 10 Assassination, 5 Losses, 10 Painted

vs

0 Primary, 0 Losses, 10 Herd, 0 Banners, 10 Painted

WW - 163 points  

Rick and I went over some ideas during the game and going forward. The planes was difficult for me to deal with once I lost my anti-tank guns, but by then I had killed everything else. At least it felt like more of an even game, with me only having a handful of models left at the end.

Round Three  

Jacob Moffat - Blood Angels

Blood Angels with 2 units of Sanguinary Guard. An army that can hit as hard as I can and has mobility too. And he had clearly beaten his previous two opponents. We weren't privy to the standings at this point, and some people thought if I beat Jacob I'd easily have won the whole event. I felt my score in the first round was a little too low, due to my choice of Secondaries. And I still had to beat the beautifully painted Blood Angels.

Vanguard Detachment

HQ  

Captain on Bike, Warlord - Gift of Foresight, Storm Shield, Teeth of Terra

Librarian Dreadnought, Storm Bolter, Quickening, Wings of Sanguinius

 Troops  

5 Infiltrators

Elites  

6 Sanguinary Guard, 6 Encarmine Swords, Plasma Pistol

5 Sanguinary Guard, 5 Encarmine Axes, Inferno Pistol

 5 Vanguard Veterans, Jump Packs, 4 Storm Shields, 5 Lightning Claws, Relic Blade

Fast Attack  

3 Suppressors  

The mission was Rise of the Machine Spirit. The drugs of choice this round were Grave Lotus and Splintermind and my Secondaries were Herd The Prey, Assassination and To The Last. Jacob chose Retrieve Octarius Data, Psychic Interrogation and  Oaths Of Moment. I won both roll-offs, yet again. Which is annoying as I would much prefer to go second, but it is what it is. 

I decided to play a little cagey, but sent the Reavers forward to tackle the Infiltrators. This proved to be a mistake as I quickly lost one of the To The Last units. Jacob similarly tried to be cagey, but soon worked out that without getting a unit to the centre of the board for Oath, I would end up ahead on points due to Herd. He also needed to lure my characters out for Interrogation. So he brought the Suppressors down on the centre and went for it.

The Hellions over-performed this game, dropping 2 Suppressors and 2 Infiltrators across consecutive turns via shooting alone. My the Sanguinary Guard didn't manage to reach anything except one unit of Incubi and were slaughtered in return. It did take me until turn five to hunt down the cowardly Captain, but at that point the game was over anyway. Victory 82-56.

45 Primary, 15 Herd, 7 Assassination, 5 Last, 10 Painted

vs

25 Primary, 8 ROD, 3 Interrogation, 10 Oath, 10 Painted

WWW - 245 points 

Second place. Patrick Robins, playing Ultramarines had beaten me to first place with a grand total of 249. Four points difference, as we were both undefeated. George came 9th but picked up Second Place Painted and Most Sporting. So a successful day all around. Martin had two great wins and came 6th, so my crushing defeat didn't stop him mounting a comeback.

The Phantom Fourth Round  

I've been considering what would happen if there had been a fourth round. Obviously I would have been paired against Patrick. So, how do I think it would have gone?

Ultramarines Patrol  

HQ   

Captain with Master-Crafted Heavy Bolt Rifle, Warlord - The Imperium's Sword, Warden of Macragge, Sanctic Halo

Primaris Lieutenant, Master-Crafted Power sword, Neo Volkite Pistol, Storm Shield, Seal of Oath, Rites of War 

Troops  

5 Intercessors, Auto Bolt Rifles, Astartes Grenade Launcher, Power Fist

Elites  

3 Bladeguard  Veterans

Redemptor Dreadnought, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Onslaught Gating Cannon, 2 Storm Bolters, Icarus Rocket Pod

Fast Attack  

3 Suppressors

Heavy Support  

3 Eradicators

5 Hellblasters,  Assault Plasma Incinerators  

Not far off the sort of list I would have fielded. Although I prefer Rapid Fire weapons on my Intercessors/Hellblasters. I also think the latter aren't quite good enough at the moment. But this list was built to play the missions and was successful for Patrick. He scored 249 points, 91/67/91, so two very high scoring games. It would be interesting to see who his opponents were in the first and last rounds and how they went. It looks (from the final standings) like he played against the 7th place Asuryani list, who scored 30 points in their final game. A solid Ultramarine list.

However, I suspect I would have crushed it. Without knowing what mission we would play, my usual tactic of striking hard in turn two wouldn't have met any more resistance than my previous opponents. This sounds egotistical, but I feel is more of a reflection of how stupidly powerful Drukhari are in such a small game. While Ultramarines have a Stratagem combo that allows four units to Overwatch against one unit, Cult of Strife have a Stratagem that gives Overwatch immunity. Transhuman doesn't matter when Wyches wound on fives/Drazhar re-rolls wounds/Succubus gets a second attempt at failed wounds.

The Drukhari Problem  

Drukhari are built to be a glass hammer. They hit really hard, but the strike back shatters them. This means the melee units are designed to work like blenders and slaughter an opposing unit that costs more than them, and then in your opponents subsequent turn the Toughness 3 comes into play and units fall over as your opponent looks at them. Their fast transports and Power From Pain bonus in the second battle round lean into this, allowing them to strike at the parts of your foe you want them to and brace for impact.

However, in a 1000 point game there are problems with this. As your units trade up in melee, your opponent ends up with very little left to strike back with. Many of the assault units I took can either destroy or severely cripple an enemy of twice their cost. I would argue that that 530 points of my list fall into this category. So if they do perform optimally, they have killed 1060 points, more than the opponent can field. Especially as it's difficult to take screening units and have enough points left to buy actual units that can play the game.

This is compounded by the board size.  I can pretty much, using turn one to set up correctly, get my best units to anywhere I want on the board turn two. So sitting back and hiding isn't a great counter-strategy. Especially if (as happened to me in Round One), you destroy a Raider but don't have the shooting left to punish the unit inside/destroy it in close combat. I can risk the Emergency Disembarkation Stratagem to gain a 6" move out of the transport. Then next turn Advance and Charge into any tasty target you've left unguarded.

So what can you do? I'm not sure to be honest. I think the optimal solution is a small cost hike to everything, so that the army is smaller in 1000 points. That would make it less deadly. Herd The Prey is very good as a Secondary. If you kill your opponent, you only need two turns left to maximise it, assuming you had scored zero for it before then. Same with the Primary, 3 turns unopposed maximises that. Leaving your debate as to what other two Secondaries to take.

All I really know is I probably won't take the army to 1000 point games again. While winning is fun, I prefer games to have some back and forth. Making heroic decisions in the fourth or fifth battle round that may swing the game back in your favour is where I feel the fun of the game truly lies. Alpha strike lists are more obvious than this, but if an unsuspecting foe goes first and comes barrelling up the board I imagine a turn one tabling could happen.

Luckily, I've got really good set of opponents for casual games here in Plymouth and I can take some time now to design something a little less brutal should another Tournament pop up.

Kirton  

Rob Angell, from Kirton Games, ran a great tournament. The table layouts were fantastic and for the battlefields that shared a physical table there were screens between them for Covid spread mitigation. Plenty of hand gel too and masks were optional, but advised. The bespoke trophies are great (i can say this because I earned one) and Kirton always put on great events. There were even Aeronautica Imperialis demos being run downstairs. As always, I recommend visiting them, especially if they are running an event for a game you play.

All the players at the event were great sports and there was zero drama. Shout outs to Martin, Rick, Jacob, James and of course George. I'm unlikely to attend another event before Xmas, but I hope to see more of those guys going forward. 

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Kirton Games Summer Hyperspace

 

This past weekend saw the return of normal X-Wing competitive play to the South West with the Kirton Summer Hyperspace. 16 players (mostly from Tin Squadron) traveled to Crediton for a full day of |Pew-Pew and plastic spaceships. I attended alongside Pete, Troll, Matt V and Captain Rex. 

My list was... simple. I had only decided to attend about two weeks earlier and have largely ignored the Hyperspace format during the Pandemic. What could go wrong?

Hyperspace  

Galactic Empire (200)

Baron of the Empire TIE Advanced v1 (31)
Deadeye Shot + XX-23 S-Thread Tracers
Carida Academy Cadet TIE/rb Heavy (43)
Ion Cannon + Target-Assist MGK-300
Planetary Sentinel TIE/sk Striker (42)
Thermal Detonators + Suppressive Gunner
Planetary Sentinel TIE/sk Striker (42)
Thermal Detonators + Suppressive Gunner
Planetary Sentinel TIE/sk Striker (42)
Thermal Detonators + Suppressive Gunner

 I scanned through which ships were legal for the Empire in Hyperspace. Only named Interceptors, only generic Advanced, no Shuttle. Madness. I would have flown Interceptors, but the available Modifications left a lot to be desired. A mod that changes the K-turn into a Sloop, but only if its a speed that the dial doesn't have? Take damage on my three hull ship to remove a stress? How about I don't. This lead me to looking at the TIE Striker. Suppressive Gunner seems expensive but it can really mess with an opponent. Thermal Detonators can do the same, but seem cheap.

I had tried pairing the three of them with Soontir Fel but wasn't happy at all. I'm rusty flying a lone Ace and he doesnt punch hard enough alongside them. Last minute inspiration had me looking at the TIE Brute. Keep it simple and add an Ion Cannon for some extra annoyance. Finally throw in a Baron of the Empire, with some upgrades because the bid doesn't matter for this list.

I managed to get a couple of games in last Thursday, so I at least knew what I wanted to be trying to do with the list. And we rocked up early Saturday morning ready to go

Round 1 - Troll  

Galactic Empire (200)

Inquisitor TIE Advanced v1 (40)
Foresight
Inquisitor TIE Advanced v1 (40)
Foresight
Inquisitor TIE Advanced v1 (40)
Foresight
Inquisitor TIE Advanced v1 (40)
Foresight
Inquisitor TIE Advanced v1 (40)
Foresight

And my first match was against Troll. Not only someone I traveled with, but one of the two practice games I had on Thursday. A very cagey game, he doesn't want to get caught by my bombs, I don't want to get punished by Foresight. Bits of damage traded here and there and the game was looking quite even until the penultimate round. An Inquisitor took a stray crit, Troll flipped a Direct and it left the table. A shot into a second full health Inquisitor had Hit, Hit, Crit versus triple Blank. Followed by flipping another Direct. Taking those two off the table with only a couple of minutes left on the clock meant Troll couldn't get enough guns on my survivors to bring the score back

160 - 106 win

My takeaway from this game was that it was a very grindy match up. Both sides trying to minimize how many shots are aimed at any one ship, both sides trying to position so that they aren't punished by opposing upgrades. A little bit of luck secured the win for me.

Round 2 - Rick Hancock 

(38) Torkil Mux [HWK-290 Light Freighter](2) Protectorate Gleb(2) False Transponder Codes Points: 42
(30) Captain Seevor [Modified TIE/ln Fighter]Points: 30
(62) Bounty Hunter [Firespray-class Patrol Craft](2) False Transponder Codes Points: 64
(62) Bounty Hunter [Firespray-class Patrol Craft](2) False Transponder Codes Points: 64
Total points: 200 

My second game was against Rick of the Tins. I made too many mistakes in this game, to be honest. Flew a Striker through a Debris Cloud, forgot the stress a couple of turns later. That didn't cost me the ship, but put it out of the fight for too long due to the maneuver I had dialed in. Spotted the stress as I went to activate the ship and realized i wasn't going to get my Ailerons bank. Misjudged some positioning as well throughout the game. And Rick capitalized every time. Also, Seevor's ability to Jam meant my Strikers never had an Evade so evaporated pretty quick.

High point was taking out Torkil pretty quickly. But once I lost two Strikers, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do enough damage to either Firespray to get points for them. Gave it a go though.

42 - 127 loss  

My takeaway from this game was mistakes are costly. Sounds obvious, but you really need to focus. Especially against a player like Rick, who just missed out on the top 4 cut.

Round 3 - Mat Burnett  

Scum and Villainy (198)

Bounty Hunter Firespray-class Patrol Craft (70)
Thermal Detonators + Hull Upgrade
Torkil Mux HWK-290 Light Freighter (56)
protectorate gleb + Moldy Crow
Bossk YV-666 Light Freighter (72)
Cutthroat + Zam Wesell + Greedo + Contraband Cybernetics + Hull Upgrade

 My third game was against one of the many Burnett's amongst the Tins. In this case, Mat. A very strong set of Scum ships and upgrade combos to boot. Not my preferred match up when I've already had a loss. This game was fun though, despite my trepidation. Highlight was managing to get 3 Ion tokens onto Bossk while he was pointing at the edge of the board. He was still on (and at an angle) by mere millimeters. Fortunately (for Mat), the hard turn kept him on board and I didn't have enough firepower left as he got the half points for my final two ships in the last round. Losing that Bossk (who was pretty healthy) would have sown up the game for me.

91 - 158 loss  

My takeaway from this game is difficult. I killed Torkil and got half the Bounty Hunter. I can't pinpoint exactly where it went wrong. Zam wasn't really a factor in the game. It's possible I simply wasn't doing damage quickly enough.

Round 4 - Blaze  

Hera Syndulla (VCX-100) (72) Selfless (2)  Ion Cannon Turret (5) Hull Upgrade (2)  Ship total: 81 

Jake Farrell (34)  Proton Rockets (5)  Ship total: 39 

Wedge Antilles (A-Wing) (35) Proton Rockets (5) Ship total: 40  

Shara Bey (A-Wing) (32) Proton Rockets (5)  Ship total: 37 

 Total: 197 

Mobile ships and a hammer. This turned into a slow game, not due to stalling but due to all the ships not really wanting to get into a fight. The occasional shot here and there, Blaze's Procket dice not being great, me not taking enough shots at Hera, these all caused it to look on paper like a non-game. Two ships halve on both sides meant a very low score for both players.

40 - 43 loss

My takeaway from this game is twofold. Firstly, I should have tried harder to fly aggressively at Hera. Her lack of Agility meant I probably would have burnt her down sharpish. Secondly, the named A-Wings feel a little cheap. I guess we will see if AMG agree when they adjust the points later this year.

Round 5 - Matt Vicary  

First Order (195)

Major Vonreg TIE/ba Interceptor (57)
Daredevil
Kylo Ren TIE/vn Silencer (79)
Heightened Perception
"Recoil" TIE/vn Silencer (59)
Predator

Final round and I'm up against Matt V, my other practice game from Thursday. Full disclosure, he wasn't fully invested in winning this game. I just wish someone had told his dice, as the Red's didn't have blanks on them. My Red's fell asleep but the Thermal Dets put in some work. I also flew super aggressive and managed to catch Major Vonreg early. In the final round, Matt chose to not spend a Force on Kylo's defense roll to give me the win and allow him to grab the Wooden Spoon

 166 - 137 win  

My takeaway from this game involves lessons from the Thursday game. In that game, Matt split his aces and the Strikers we able to keep on one of them til I destroyed it. This game went similar, except i flew more aggressive to give Matt minimal chance to get it away. The bombs not only present damage that ignore Agility, or Strain to lower Agility, but the flexibility of dropping them on the 1 or 2 Straight OR both helps keep aces honest. I expect Thermal Detonators to go up a point or two.

 

Final Standings

I went 2-3 and came 11th. 

Not the best result, but I'm not upset. First tournament in two years, last minute decision and I don't massively expect good results at the best of times. This was mostly an excuse to hang out with the guys and see/play people who I haven't been around since before the Pandemic. I consider it mission accomplished.

As usual, James Fox ran a fantastic event, and i highly recommend attending a Kirton tournament, no matter the game you play. 

If you want to see how the good players were playing, check out https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1124944961 . Shout out to Pete for being top of Swiss and not losing a game until the Final.