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Fhanados hits the Tournament scene

Started by Fhanados, February 16, 2014, 12:21:44 AM

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Fhanados

Hi all! Long time no see. Sadly my new office for work has a much more restricted internet access than before and I'm rarely on the net at home so it has been a while since the last time I've perused these boards. Seeing a whole bunch of lovely new battle reports inspired me to post a write up of a tourney I went to in January. I learned a lot (I think) from facing new and exciting opponents and will very likely be making major changes to the way I play in the future (once I get more models!). Hope you enjoy it!

My Army

Chaos Lord: Mark of Khorne, Axe of Blind Fury, Gift of Mutation, Combi-Melta, Sigil of Corruption
Chaos Marines x10: Plasma Gun x2, Champion with Power Axe
Chaos Marines x10: Plasma Gun x2, Champion with Power Axe
Cultists x10: Autoguns x8, Heavy Stubber, Shotgun
Cultists x10: Flamer
Helldrake: Baleflamer
Obliterators x2: Mark of Nurgle
Obliterators x2: Mark of Nurgle
Aegis Defence Line: Quadgun




Game 1
Deployment Type: Vanguard
Primary: Scalps – When one of your units destroys an enemy unit it scores a "scalp" token for each enemy unit destroyed. If your unit is destroyed you lose all the tokens it has earned. The player with the most tokens at the end of the game is the winner
Secondary: Data maps – There are two objectives in opposite corners. Holding an objective at the end of the game scores 1 point per objective.
Secondary: First Blood – First blood scores 1 point

Opponent: Dark Eldar
Dark Eldar list

Archon – 2++, some kind of instant death power sword.
Incubi in a Raider
Warriors in a Raider
Warriors in a Venom
Wyches in a Venom
Warriors in a Venom
Ravager
Ravager

Deployment:
This was tricky for me. I got first turn and there was a lot of terrain. This made it VERY difficult to set up any kind of reliable fire lanes with my Quadgun so I settled for putting it near the objective near my edge for a late game run-and grab with some cultists. The rest of my army deployed on the other side of my edge opposite the other objective with the Lord in the Cultist unit. Obliterators and Helldrake were held in reserves

Early Turns:
First turn looked good. I managed to explode a raider full of warriors with the quadgun, killing all but 3 of them. The rest of my units moved up the board towards the objective near his edge. This proved a horrible idea! 3 Venoms worth of gunfire made short work of my Marines, whittling one unit down to 3 models and shaving about 5 cultists of the Lord's unit. A Ravager also took out the quadgun first turn, so that limited my range somewhat. The Helldrake came on early but failed to do much. I subsequently forgot how flyers worked and ended up moving it into ongoing reserves where I completely forgot about it and left it there until turn 4.

Late Turns:
Incubi and Archon multi charged Cultists and Chaos Marines, the weaker squad already killed by Venoms. The Lord stepped up and challenged the Archon, annihilating him with an impressive 7 wounds from the axe, about three of which got past the 2+ invuln. In the turns fter this the Incubi wiped out everything, scoring 3 scalps for themselves. I hadn't achieved much else in this time, Obliterators didn't come on until Turn 4, killing a Venom and most of the occupants before getting killed themselves by various things. The remaining Cultists tried to sprint for the objective after spending most of the game going to ground behind an Aegis line but their difficult terrain and run rolls were abysmal and despite only being 12" away two turns of movement later they were still too far away to claim it. A Venom zoomed across the table, dumped a bunch of Wyches and killed them, claiming the objective for themselves. When it was actually on the table, the Helldrake caused some serious havoc, killing 2 Venoms, a unit of warriors and almost a second unit. In the end it was all I had, earning 3 scalps, while he had a decent amount of his army left, although his infantry were in tatters.

Result: Dark Eldar – 5 or 6 Scalps and 1 objective, total 13pts. Chaos – 3 Scalps and First Blood for 5pts total.

Post Game Thoughts
Being on foot did not work well for me. I was outmanoeuvred at every turn and he was able to quickly reposition to take advantage of any new opening he could. It was brutal. There was a LOT of LoS blocking cover which made it very difficult for me to line anything up, since it could just flit away and avoid me for another turn. I also really messed up with the Helldrake! If it was on the field for another turn or two I think I could at least have drawn. As it turns out though this kid was pretty high ranking in the local scene, so I could have done much worse.




Game 2
Deployment Type: Hammer and Anvil
Primary: Objectives – There are 5 objectives positioned on the table in the same pattern as the 5 on a D6. For each Data Map held from game 1 you can reposition an objective 6". The middle objective cannot be moved. The player with the most obectives at the end of the game is the winner
Secondary: Advanced Linebreaker – If you have 1 unit within 12" of the enemy's short table edge you get 3pts.

Opponent: Deathwing
Deathwing List
Belial
Deathwing Knights x5
Deathwing Termiators x5: Cyclone Missile Launcher
Deathwing Terminators x5: Assault Cannon
Ravenwing Bikes x6?: Multimelta Attack Bike
Predator: Twinlinked Lascannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons
Deployment:
The terrain was not too bad this time. In my deployment zone there was a ruin which housed one objective and the second was in a small castle. The castle had really poor line of sight as an other ruin was about 12" in front of it blocking the view. I set up my defence line to cover the gap between the ruin and castle with the quadgun smack bang in the middle, manned by the ranged cultists. Combat cultists sat in the ruins on the objective and a unit of Marines camped the castle one. Oblits both deployed on the second floor of the ruin, giving them an excellent view. There was a rock blocking my view of his deployment zone but it didn't prove to be a problem. He deployed bikes behind the rocks, his missle termies on one objective (which was out in the open) and the predator near the other, getting good LoS to my quadgun and cultists. I kept one unit of marines in reserves.

Early Turns:
I won first turn and killed most of his Terminators and shook the Predator. Belial came down on my flank and scattered away from my units. His other Deathwing lost 2 models to intercept shots from the quadgun and another one to dangerous terrain. His bikes moved in and killed the quadgun cultists. My Chaos Marines near the castle got a grav wave gnerator as their objective, which resulted in 2 failed charges from Belial and friends. My flanking unit came in and moved to attack the bikes from behind, killing the Multimelta and 2-3 more bikes. Helldrake came on and wasted most of Belial's crew. Obliterators finished off the Predator and Terminators and a lucky round of shooting from my other marines wiped out most of his bikes, leaving one alive.

Late Turns:
Shooting from the Assault cannon took out a few Chaos marines as they moved away from their objective (and the Deathwing Knights) although they were eventually caught and cut down by Belial. The lone biker wiped out the second cultist squad. My next shooting phase cleansed the board of the vial Dark Angels and I netted myself my first victory... or so I thought.Obliterators finished off the Predator and Terminators and a lucky round of shooting from my other marines wiped out most of his bikes, leaving one alive. Shooting from the Assault cannon took out a few Chaos marines as they moved away from their objective (and the Deathwing Knights) and they were eventually caught and cut down by Belial. The lone biker wiped out the second cultist squad. My next shooting phase cleansed the board of the vial Dark Angels and I netted myself my first victory... or so I thought.

Results: Deathwing – Draw 8pts, Chaos Space Marines – Draw 8pts

Post Game Thoughts:
So it turns out you only win by objectives. I call bullshit! I tabled him completely on turn 4. If I knew I needed an objective to win I wouldn't have wasted his last terminator and walked onto one with my Lord's flanking squad. I wasn't too upset though, since he was a cool kid to play against and the dice were very heavily in my favour. Still, I was kind of annoyed. If we were playing standard missions that would have been a win for me. After chatting to a few other players that tabled their opponents or were tabled themselves they counted it as a win, but since I asked the TO about it and he said it was a draw I couldn't really go back and claim it now. As far as my army went, most important units were definitely the Oblits. Without them I would have Terminators running amok all over the place. Cultists just kind of sucked again.




Game 3
Deployment Type: Dawn of War
Primary: Objectives – There are 10 objectives positioned on the table, each player positioned 5 of them. The player with the most obectives at the end of the game is the winner.
Secondary: Priority Targets – Whoever killed the most non-scoring units scored +3pts
Special Scenario: After turn 2 players take it in turns to remove objectives from the board. We removed 2 then forgot about it, but it made no difference in the long run.

Opponent: Space Marines

Space Marine List
Captain: Bike, Power Fist, Storm Shield
Librarian: Jump Pack, Force Sword, rolled Invisibility
Bikes (x10?): 2 grav guns
Assault Marines x10: 2x flamers
Sternguard x10: Drop Pod, Heavy Flamer, bunch of Combi-Melta
Tactical Marines x10: Drop Pod, Melta
Tactical Marines x10: Drop Pod, Melta
Tactical Marines x5: Plasma Cannon

Deployment:
Not a lot of terrain so I castled almost everything behind the defence line. The Lord and combat Cultists deployed further forward behind a building and Oblits sat on top of a building to the right of my deployment zone. His bikes and assault marines were deployed directly opposite me, with the Plasma Cannon on top of a building. I left one unit of Oblits and the Helldrake in reserves.

Early Turns:
It started off as a bloodbath. 2 Drop pods came down right in front of me, one full of Sternguard. The Sternguard wiped out my ranged cultists and the tacticals picked off my combat ones. Plasma cannon missed me and my shooting didn't do much back with invisible jump infantry and jinking bikes. My Lord wiped out a unit by himself before another drop pod came down and wiped him out.

Late Turns:
He hit my lines and munched his way through my stuff. Drake and oblits came in on Turn 4 and wiped his plasma cannon unit out. My Obliterators on the building were severely lacking in targets and decided to shoot at the Drop Pods to at least net me some kills. Nothing. The rest of the game was a grinding melee of Chaos Space Marines vs Bikes and Assault Marines. In the end we ran out of time and the game finished.

Results: Space Marines - 3 objectives and Priority Targets 15pts, Chaos – No objectives, 4 points

Post Game Thoughts:
Castling failed me. Again my lack of speed was a big weakness. I had no control of the game. It was brutal and bloody and a lot of fun, but I had no hope. My champions consistently lost challenges (which they were forced to accept). I really wanted them to deal the damage with the rest of the unit acting as ablative wounds in combat, but it was the other way round. Poor reserves rolls really worked against me as well, but that's been a pattern today.




Game 4
Deployment Type: Dawn of War with 6" deployment zone instead of 12"
Primary: King of the Hill – The player with the most scoring units within 12" of the middle of the board wins! Warlord counts as 3 scoring units.
Secondary: Regicide – Killing the enemy's warlord scores +3pts

Opponent: Orks

Ork Army List
Warboss: Mega Armour, Power Klaw, Bosspole
Nobs: Mad Doc, a few Klaws and Big Choppas, Trukk
Slugga Boyz x20 or 30: a few Big Shootas, Klaw and Bosspole on Nob
Shoota Boyz x20 or 30: a few Big Shootas, Klaw and Bosspole on Nob
Lootas x5
Lootas x5
Battlewagon: Dethrolla, Big Shoota
Battlewagon: Re-enforce Ram, Big Shoota

Deployment:
I was on the same table as last game, on the same table edge. I deployed very similarly although the 6" zone as opposed to 12" made it difficult to hide my Lord and Cultists, so they started behind the defence line.  Both units of Oblits started on the field, one on each flank. He deployed his Lootas behind buildings and the Wagons in the middle loaded up with Orks. The "hill" was marked by a chaotic looking maw sprouting from the ground, so this became the Battle of the Maw.

Early Turns:
Everything piled in towards the middle from both sides. Oblits blew one unit of lootas off the table and failed to dint the Battlewagons after several rounds of lascannons and multimeltas. The Orks bailed out and shuffled around the Maw. Chaos Marines and Cultists took out a few before the resulting charges. Luckily I had a few champions to absorb the Nobz challenges on made in the assault with the Lord's unit which left him free to axe some Orkz! Next trun though my Lord and all the cultists died, but thankfully the Obliterators won the combat and saw the Orks run away. In the other assault my Chaos Marines heroically survived and stuck back with a vengeance. Although still fearless, I killed enough to significantly cripple their number of attacks. This became a drawn out assault until I eventually won and ran them down.

Late Turns:
Again my Heldrake came in on turn 4. He made up for his lack of presence by burning the second lootas out of their building, killing all 5. Obliterators now free to roam the open plains took some more shots at Battlewagons, failing to do anything. Nobz and Warboss disembarked near the Maw and moved in to finish off my Marines. I managed to kill about 5 of them with assorted gunfire but it wasn't enough. My Obliterators continuously failed tank shock tests from the Trukk and Battlewagons and ran around all over the place. Sometimes Ld8 just isn't enough... Heldrake killed a few running Orks with Vector Strike and burned another Nob. With that the game ended.

Results: Orks – Victory, Regicide total 15pts. Chaos – Loss. 4pts.

Post Game Thoughts:
Another really fun game! Man those tanks just didn't die. Although the Lord essentially won the combat on my right flank by himself, his death was a big punch in the face to me. I really needed him to carve up those Nobz! Obliterators didn't do too badly considering the hilarious number of failed tank shock tests and inability to destroy vehicles, but they've done worse. The Helldrake again was too late to be useful. It would have been nice to have him when 40-60 Orks were crowded round the Maw. The castled cultists on the Quadgun were useless this game. They killed a Nob, which to be fair is probably almost the same points as their entire unit, but they needed to kill a bit more than that to be useful!




Post Tourney Thoughts:
Well, that could have gone better. I think my list really let me down. I was banking too much on the Helldrake causing havoc, and I either stuffed up his placement or he didn't come in until too late. Castling and Cultists did not work at all for me. I think there's 200 odd points better spent elsewhere. The axe Lord is amazing, but he needs a more reliable delivery system than the Ablative Wound PatrolTM. Champions really let me down. I so desperately wanted them to kill things but the only champion to win a challenge in the whole tourney was when my Cultist champ KOd a Tactical Squad Sergeant armed with a combi-melta. I think dropping the axes and running them naked would be more worthwhile, but it seems so... not hardcore. I saw a few Mauler and Forge Fiends out and about during the day and that makes me want to use mine. Coupled with a bunch of Rhinos hopefully I can put up enough armour to make people decide not to kill it first turn. Maybe....

On the plus side I netted myself a prize and the "Uncontrollable" award: least objectives held throughout the entire day. Not a bad result. Not bad at all.

Arguleon-veq

Great report, and great to see some fellow Second Sphere[ers?] hitting up some tournaments.

Ive got to say that decision by a ref to call that game a draw is utterly stupid. There is no justification at all for him to call it that way. A tabling is always a win and even if it wasn't, you still had at least another turn to play which you clearly should have gotten to play if tabling isn't a win, which would have let you claim objectives. Crazy ruling. As much as im relaxed and friendly at tournaments that would have just ruined my day so well done you for carrying on with it and enjoying the rest of the day!

I think one of the issues for you is that you reserved the Oblits too much. I think the only game I really would have considered it was against those Battlewagons and even then I think id have just stuck them out on either flank so that they could easily get a bead on the squishy side armour of them with their Lascannons. I think against the Dark Eldar they would have given you a chance of blowing away both his Ravagers turn one which would have made them super hard to deal with in return.

As for the list I think kitted out Champions are usually a little bit of a waste because of the daft challenge rule we have to deal with.

Ive seen a tooled out Lord run around with 30 cultists before and do really well, usually on a Jugger with that Axe. Id maybe lose the Combi and the Gift, lose some upgrades on the cultists and just cram as many as you can into one squad with basic hand weps and pistols so that he then has a really big meat shield and you then have a much more durable scoring unit.
X-Wing Tournaments;
1st - 38
11th - 33

BigToof

Thanks for the rep!
I'm glad you're finding that the board still has a good amount of life to it.
Just somewhat erratic at times I suppose :)
Loved you rep, btw, and I'm also a bit shocked at the call on your second game.
That should have been made clear at the start, and I'm glad that it didn't sour your day.
Hoping to read more.

Best,
-BT

P.S.  Karma'd!
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Fhanados

Thanks for the replies guys!

That "draw" really felt like a win so I wasn't really too bummed out about it. An annoying ruling but it was a fun game and like I said, the kid who owned the army was pretty cool about it and a good sport. I've played people who come within an inch of flipping the table when they roll so badly so it's nice to see people who enjoy the game and accept the fickle dice gods for what they are.

I admit I'm pretty conservative with my Oblits. I'm still used to last edition where I could deepstrike them nice and close without scattering and use them in a close supporting role with my core troops. With our beacons gone this hasn't worked as well as I'd hoped.

The wargear on the Lord is a bit funny. It's a result of WYSIWYG and a few leftover points. I'd like to run him on a Juggernaught with some spawn or bikes but I just don't have the models. In my new list I'm swapping him out for a Tzeentch lord on disk with Burning Brand and a few other bits and pieces, hopefully the added mobility helps fill some of the gaps in my current list.

silverfuge

Just so you know the dark eldar loses the 2++ once he fails a save.
Gm is God

Fhanados

Yeah I know, but it didn't really matter in the end. He rolled all his saves at once since any 1's meant death anyway.