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