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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