Warhammer 40k at The Venue

 

I had decided to partake in no more 40K tournaments until next year. There have been a few on offer in Exeter and Crediton, which means organizing travel and such. Also Christmas approached, a busy time that also demands money. But then, I saw The Venue were running a small event and it's right on my doorstep.

It was an interesting one. 1250 points, 9 Command points and Incursion missions from the GT 2021 pack. I wasn't sure why this specific format, but I figured it would be interesting. It's also the first time I've been there for an event so I would get to see how things are run.

I'd recently had a surprisingly successful 1000 point game against George's Destroyer Cult Necron list. It wouldn't take much to add 250 points.

Custom Patrol - Children of Prophecy, Expert Crafters

HQ

Farseer, Warlord - Seer of Shifting Vector, Faolchu's Wing, Smite, Doom, Executioner

Jain Zar

Troops

10 Guardian Defenders, Shuriken Cannon

5 Dire Avengers, Exarch, 2 Catapults, Bladestorm

Elites

5 Howling Banshees, Exarch, Executioner, War Shout

6 Striking Scorpions, Exarch, Scorpion's Claw, Scorpion's Sting

Fast Attack

3 Shining Spears, Exarch, Swooping Dive

5 Warp Spiders, Exarch, 2 Death Spinners, Withdraw

Heavy Support

5 Dark Reapers, Exarch, Rapid Shot

Falcon, Bright Lance

Dedicated Transport

Wave Serpent, Twin Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon

(the 1000 point list lacked the Dire Avengers and the Wave Serpent)

It was an interesting game. Skorpekh Lord, Hexmark, 6 Skorpekhs, 2 Heavy Lokhurst, 2 units of three Lokhurst, 3 Ophydians. I leaned super hard into playing the mission, Aspect Warriors died in droves. The Hexmark is much maligned, but against toughness 3 elves he is no joke. The game was 64 - 41 in my favour, largely off the back of maximizing Octarius Data and having a list that doesn't give up much for kill Secondaries.

It was built for fun, but it struggles to play the Primary. If George had brought a more balanced Necron force, I wouldn't have maxed it out, nor denied him points on it. It was a lucky pair of surviving Guardians that grabbed both the final Objective AND Octarius Data to clinch the win. But I'm not enjoying GT missions with the book as is. Which is fine, I own five million armies and the new book is currently seeing some previews in the Advent Engine.

This was a tournament, I didn't know who else was going and the prizes were good. So I turned to an old friend.

 An interesting quirk of the event was the points limit. 1250. My previous tournament list [ As seen in this post ] had (quite rightly) gone up in points via The Balance Dataslate. Yet this event let me get the lost models back and gave me some more points to play with. Would that be good enough? Would the extra 250 points my opponents had access to make a difference?

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  

6 Reavers, 2 Blasters, Combat Drugs - Splintermind

6 Reavers, 2 Heat Lances, Combat Drugs - Splintermind

Flyer  

Razorwing Jetfighter, Splinter Cannon, Dark Lances

Dedicated Transport  

Raider, Dark Lance, Grisly Trophies

Raider, Dark Lance

I was able to keep the two units of Incubi, as cutting one of them and a single Hellion would keep me under 1000 points. I then decided to swap out the Hellions entirely for a second unit of Reavers. I preferred their speed and the extra special weapons. I gave them Blasters, simply because that's what they are modeled with. I would rather have had 2 more Heat Lances, but what can you do?

With the remaining points, I took the Razorwing. It gives me a little more firepower, but more importantly it's a "Distraction Carnifex". Any effort my opponents put into destroying it during the early game is effort not expended towards my more important units. But it's Dark Lances can't fully be ignored either. 

Did taking Drukhari make me "That Guy"? Probably. But the reception to it at Kirton made me feel better about taking them. It's also not the current tourney-build of the faction, having switched into Haemonculus Covens units (which I had picked up in the interim). Time to see if they are still good after the Balance update.

The Tournament  

It ended up being quite a small tournament, with only 6 people attending. I don't blame anyone, as Covid is running rampant down here at the moment. so it probably made the event even safer. The armies present were Drukhari (myself), Marines (a custom chapter), Sisters of Battle, Imperial Knights and 2 Custodes.

I didn't take photos, and I forgot to take notes. So I'm doing all this from memory, and the ITC Battles App. Points don't include the 10 for painted, as they decided to not award them to entice new players to play. Three rounds, let's go - 

Round One  

I was paired against Stu, playing the custom Space Marine Chapter. I knew Stu already from X-Wing and the Transformers TCG.

Bladeguard Captain, Lieutenant and 4 Bladeguard

5 assault Hellblasters

3 Eradicators

Redemptor Dreadnought

4 units of 5 Intercessors, 2 rapid fire, 2 assault    

The mission was Raid. Which is a Hold Two, Hold Three, Hold More Primary. Not what I'm used to as I think it's the only Incursion mission that does so. I took Herd the Prey because it's an auto take, No Prisoners because he was worth a whopping 7 points if I tabled him and Assassination, because I was at a loss for the third. Stu took Oaths of Moment because Marines, Retrieve Octarius Data and Assassination because my army doesn't give up many Secondaries.

I won the roll for first turn, and move all my anti-vehicle weapons into a position where they could target the Redemptor. Opened up with the Heat Lances, and boom! Not only did the Redemptor take maximum damage from the two shots, but it exploded and damaged most of Stu's force. My remaining dark light weapons did obligingly fail to kill anything though.

The game snowballed from there. By the end of my third turn, Stu had indeed been tabled and I had only lost a Raider to the Eradicators. He did manage to Retrieve Data in two quarters but didn't really get an opportunity to get Oaths started.

45 Primary, 15 Herd, 7 Assassination, 7 Prisoners

vs

5 Primary, 3 Oath, 4 Data, 0 Assassination

W - 74 points  

Round Two  

James, playing Adeptus Custodes. His force was beautifully painted, but the only missions he had played prior to this were the ones in the Core Rule book. 

Shield-Captain on Bike and in Allarus Terminator Armour

4 Custodian Guard, 2 Spear, 2 Sword and Shield

4 Allarus Terminators

3 Venitari

Telemon Dreadnought   

The mission was Centre Ground. I took Herd the Prey because it's still an auto take, No Prisoners because his force didn't really give me many options and Assassination because I'm boring. James took Assassination, Grind Them Down and Behind Enemy Lines as his choices. 

That Telemon is a difficult beast to kill, even with all my anti-vehicle weapons. -1 damage and a Stratagem that halves damage for a phase is no joke. And an Invulnerable Save to back it up. My early shots did very little damage to it. I think I got lucky though, with the Shield-Captain on Bike chasing the Razorwing for a couple of turns around his back field. This meant his forward units weren't getting the re-rolls. This game went the distance, with the Telemon surviving until the end staring down my Succubus, 4 Incubi and a Raider.

45 Primary, 15 Herd, 3 Prisoners, 7 Assassination

vs

20 Primary, 4 Assassination, 3 Grind, 0 Enemy Lines

WW - 144 points

Round Three  

Dave Newby. Playing Sisters from Our Martyred Lady. Newby and I play each other quite a bit, including helping him practice for a 2000 point event at Union County Games. I didn't realize he was attending until the night before.

Hospitaller

Repentia Superior

Cannoness

Palatine

 2 units of 10 Sisters, 2 units of 5 Sisters

10 Celestians

9 Repentia

5 Dominions with Storm Bolters

5 Retributors with Multi Meltas

2 Rhinos

This mission was Show of Force. I chose Herd the Prey, because it will always be an auto take until GW adjust it, No Prisoners and Assassination because I never faced the Knights player and I'm predictable. Newby chose Defend the Shrine because it's cool as hell, Bring it Down because I do have 3 targets and Raise the Banners because he has a lot of Infantry.

Battle round one went exceptionally well for me. I jumped on the Shrine and managed to not only destroy a Rhino, but also the Repentia that were inside. Newby then made 2 critical errors which i believe cost him the game.

Firstly, he jumped at my Razorwing. It was a valid target as he had gone for Bring it Down but it took his whole army's shooting. Including all the pistols, and a Cherub from the Retributors. So he only just killed it, at the cost of leaving the rest of my force alone in the shooting phase. Secondly, he threw all four of his characters forward into combat with my forward Reaver unit and only killed two of them.

My turn, the second set of Reavers used Eviscerating Fly By to finish off the Hospitaller and the first unit used Cruel Deception to go engage other targets. This left the remaining three characters open to an easy charge from Drazhar and the lads. 13 points scored, straight up.

A thing of note was onlooker reactions. They were disgusted when I used my Succubus to tear up a unit, then amused when she died in return. As it should be. The Competitive Edge build can slay anything it touches, but as a toughness 3 model she easily dies back to bolter fire. That's the trade off. I think she's fine, but the rest of the book still needs adjusting around her. Who decided to make some stuff more expensive but then make the Covens units cheaper?

Newby couldn't pull the game back, though he put in a valiant fight. He couldn't even get a unit to his Shrine. 

45 Primary, 15 Herd, 5 Prisoners, 13 Assassination

vs

10 Primary, 2 Bring it Down, 1 Banner, -3 Shrine

WWW - 222 

 First place! Only undefeated play and a special set of points. I had the choice of either the Catachan Colonel or £30 store credit. I was sorely tempted by the store credit, as The Venue sell MTG singles, but the Colonel was hard to resist. I already have one, but I have an idea for a conversion....

The Other Players  

I didn't have a chance to really look at the other army lists. The Knights were two big ones and 3 little (I believe) and the other Custodes were heavy on Dawneagle Jetbikes. 

Against the Custodes, I probably take the usual suite of Secondaries. Because I'm obvious. Then I hope to make the combats happen on my terms and drown them in weight of attacks. 

Against the Knights however, I have a conundrum. Assassination gets replaced with either Bring it Down or Titan Hunter but the third choice is less obvious. I think my dark light weapons match up well with the small Knights, and Drazhar and the lads can mess up a large Knight in melee. But that third Secondary eludes me. I suppose in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, as the player count means the undefeated was good enough to get first place. But it's certainly something I need to think about going forward. It may be worth turning a unit of Reavers back into Hellions so I have some options for doing actions.

The Drukhari Problem?  

What would have happened if the points hadn't been adjusted? I would have had a full 250 points to play with. This lets me add the following - 

Black Heart Patrol Detachment

HQ  

Archon,Writ of the Living Muse

Troops 

 10 Kabalite Warriors

Dedicated Transport 

Raider, Dark Lance 

instead of the Razorwing. This gives me keeps one of the Dark Lances in the list that the plane was providing. It gives me better anti-Infantry firepower and the ability to look at the action Secondaries. It also opens up the Agents of Vect Stratagem, which can be crippling at this level of Command Points. It would have been a far stronger list and would potentially seen me get greater scores. It's also three more units that can hold Objectives.

I think, at this level, the adjustments go some way to making the army fairer. I found that I was taking ages on my movement phases, as it feels like positioning is the key place I can throw the game away. Two minutes on my shooting phases, although Plasma Grenades were surprisingly effective when I used them. And the fight phase was largely slowed down by me counting dice. 

At the larger level, they were also fine. Until the Coven units dropped in points at the same time. Now all the 2000 point competitive lists have switched to spamming Talos, Wracks and Grotesques. So the factions dominance hasn't really changed. 

But for this event, the games felt a lot more balanced than the ones at Kirton did. The Custodes game had plenty of chances for me to bounce off things if dice had gone slightly differently. And if Newby hadn't made either mistake, that game would have had a very different trajectory. The Reavers not being shot let them rampage around, and the characters gave me an easy 13 points and removed their abilities from the table.

The Venue  

 It was a really well run event, especially for their first one. They are looking at doing something monthly, and I hope to attend them when I'm free. Lots of prizes were on offer, Stu won a copy of Blood Bowl as a door prize and James won best painted on top of the prizes for Top 4. I may take something a little different next time, depends what Santa Claus delivers.

 

 

Did you enjoy what you read?
Do you have something to say?
Do you have an opposing opinion?
Feel free to comment below, and please share this post with your friends.

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. 

Did you enjoy what you read?
Do you have something to say?
Do you have an opposing opinion?
Feel free to comment below, and please share this post with your friends.

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.

The Return

 Apparently I have a habit of leaving this blog alone for long stretches of time. It would be a shame to break the habit.

 So, where have I been and what have I been up to?

Moved house, had no internet access at home for a while, Covid hit the world, 9th Edition 40k released, restrictions now easing...

That put a bit of a crimp in both the hobbying and the posting to the blog. However, I have found ways to get some stuff done and am now ready to return to getting my thoughts back out there online.

 

 

 

Warhammer 40K

I don't know if you heard, but Ninth Edition released. I've been fortunate, as I've been able to get together with George quite frequently to get games in. Recently, we've been playing 1000 point Grand Tournament missions, so we can get practice in the Secondary Objective system. We are also preparing to do a narrative Pariah Nexus Crusade; Necrons versus Imperium. Will I puzzle out the mysteries of the Nexus before the snare closes around my neck?

I've also been invited to a slightly larger campaign group and another group are gearing up to start regular meets to get games in. Truly, this shall be a golden age for 40k.

I also spent the majority of lockdown getting my backlog of miniatures painted. I lost count, but easily painted over a thousand models. To see my work and progress, check out my Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/elementalkid/  

I now have 38,418 points of painted models across 12 factions. I even did some terrain recently too.

 

Age of Sigmar  

I took the opportunity across Christmas and New Year to pick up some boxes to partake in GW's 'New Year, New Army' scheme. Start a new army, get it painted, earn a pin badge. 

I chose to use it to finally dip my toe in Age of Sigmar, and dived into Disciples of Tzeentch. Before I could look at getting any games in, Third Edition was announced.

I now have 3170 points of painted Disciples models, I've played one game of Third (on release weekend) and I'm looking forward to playing more. 

Marvel Champions  

Started playing Marvel Champions, its a great card game that can be played as a group or solo. The Villains all feel very different and what you need to be doing to defeat them changes. Same with the Heroes, they all suit different play-styles and the Aspect based deck-building helps different builds actually play significantly different from each other. It's a blast and I can't wait for more group games now restrictions are easing.

Transformers  

Wizards of the Coast discontinued their Transformers TCG. Bastards! 

The game was fun and had some great potential, even though their final set has some power level issues. Fortunately, fan groups have stepped into the breach and carried on designing. I've even been a part of the process.

Check out - 

Energon Hustlers

https://www.bayformers.net/ 

For the best stuff. There are also still tournament circuits running. Check it out

That's the gist of it all. Have you managed to get any gaming done?