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
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