Final game of what has been a tremendous weekend of gaming. I've had my fair share of luck and I was expecting a bit of a humbling in my final game against what was sure to be a very capable oppo. I knew from chatting to various people that I'd be up against either a GW employee with some Grey Knights (grrrrrr), a dude with a terminator heavy BT force or a fellow Dark Eldar Player.
Turns out I'm up against the Dark Eldar player! So it was to be a match up to decide who the most evil / cruel / malicious person would be, great!
My oppo was a pretty cool guy with a beautifully painted army which put mine to shame. His list was as follows;
- 2 x Haemonculus with webway portals
- Baron in a big unit of hellions
- Incubi in a raider
- 2 big squads of wyches
- reaver jetbikes
- ravager
- talos
I'd never played or used a webway list before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Mission type was 3 objectives and deployment was pitched. I got the first turn and tried my best to take out his transports and ravager. I blew up 1 raider on my first turn but manouvered my forces so I was well out of the way of where he was going to deploy the portals.
His turn consisted of him deploying a webway portal right next to 1 of the objectives. My following turn saw me destroy his remaining raider and ravager and position my flying things so I could shoot whatever came out of the portals.
The next few turns went really well with my oppos reserves coming on and being shot to bits. Turn 4 was a real game-turner. He multiple assaulted my hellions and a warrior squad with 2 big units of wyches. As both my squads had feel no pain I managed to weather the storm and drew the combat! My hellions disengaged and charged the following turn where I wiped out both squads. My Incubi then chewed through his reavers.
On his turn 5 he only had the baron left with a squad of hellions so he decided to call it a day. I won 2-0. Get in, 5 games 5 wins!
I got 1 player vote so my overall score was 16 which I was delighted with. Not enough to win overall but it did get me best Dark Eldar player. Congratulations to the dude who won, he won 4 games with his orks and got maximum player points and from what I could tell he seemed a really great bloke.
Weekend over and I'd had a blast, now to start thinking about January's TOS!
Saturday 12 November 2011
Saturday 5 November 2011
Throne of Skulls October Event 2 Game 4
First day over and done with and an impressive 3 wins out of 3. I'd had a really enjoyable first day and was really excited about day 2.
I rolled up to my table on the Sunday and was faced with Space Wolves. My opponent was a really nice dude from the states named Brian and he obviously had brought with him a decent army. Here it is (ish)
- Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf
- Several other Thunderwolves
- Fenrisian Wolves
- 3 x Grey Hunter sqds in Rhinos
- 2 x Long Fangs with 3/4 missile launchers
- Rune Priest
Mission type was kill points (oh no) but deployment was dawn of war (oh yeah) and I won the roll off for first turn and decided to go first.
My first turn I basically manouvered around a bit and shot up his thunderwolf squad (killed a few Fenrisian wolves and wounded a few of his big squad). I also concentrated on the rhinos and took one out.
Brian's first turn involved him moving things towards me as much as possible.
My second turn was a game winner, I took out a full long fang squad with missiles and killed all but 2 of the other squad. I destroyed another rhino and then wounded/killed a few of his DeathStar thunderwolf squad.
The game continued like this, with me taking out his other rhino and whittling down his Death Star until my Incubi finished him off by taking out 3 squads of Grey Hunters in combat and winning me the game.
Brian rolled 7 dice in anger in the entire game, every other dice roll was either a leadership test (he failed both) or an armour save.
A convincing win, couldn't help but notice that a Dark Eldar player was next to me on the top table and just beat his ork opponent, I now hoped that I would face him in the final match of the weekend, hoping that I wouldn't come up against the guy with the beardiest Grey Knight list in the history of the world, or the dude with the 50 terminators with cyclone missile launchers / storm shield list of doom.
I rolled up to my table on the Sunday and was faced with Space Wolves. My opponent was a really nice dude from the states named Brian and he obviously had brought with him a decent army. Here it is (ish)
- Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf
- Several other Thunderwolves
- Fenrisian Wolves
- 3 x Grey Hunter sqds in Rhinos
- 2 x Long Fangs with 3/4 missile launchers
- Rune Priest
Mission type was kill points (oh no) but deployment was dawn of war (oh yeah) and I won the roll off for first turn and decided to go first.
My first turn I basically manouvered around a bit and shot up his thunderwolf squad (killed a few Fenrisian wolves and wounded a few of his big squad). I also concentrated on the rhinos and took one out.
Brian's first turn involved him moving things towards me as much as possible.
My second turn was a game winner, I took out a full long fang squad with missiles and killed all but 2 of the other squad. I destroyed another rhino and then wounded/killed a few of his DeathStar thunderwolf squad.
The game continued like this, with me taking out his other rhino and whittling down his Death Star until my Incubi finished him off by taking out 3 squads of Grey Hunters in combat and winning me the game.
Brian rolled 7 dice in anger in the entire game, every other dice roll was either a leadership test (he failed both) or an armour save.
A convincing win, couldn't help but notice that a Dark Eldar player was next to me on the top table and just beat his ork opponent, I now hoped that I would face him in the final match of the weekend, hoping that I wouldn't come up against the guy with the beardiest Grey Knight list in the history of the world, or the dude with the 50 terminators with cyclone missile launchers / storm shield list of doom.
Saturday 29 October 2011
Throne of Skulls October Event 2 Game 3
2 wins so far and confidence is high. I'm saying to myself at this stage, please no grey knight army with autocannon nastiness, and guess what's next? Grey knights with 2 autocannon dreads. Great. Mission is table quarters and 1 objective each, I'm playing a dude with bags of confidence and a list straight from the pages of the bearded bible. It is:
Coteaz
Grand Master
Land Raider (lascannons)
Storm Raven
10 x Purifiers
7 x Death Cult Assassins
Henchmen with plasma guns / plasma cannons
2 x dreads with twin-linked autocannons / psybolt
I win the role off and decide to be tactical and let my oppo go first. I deploy as far back as possible to try and keep out of range. He goes first, what happens next will definitely never happen again in all the time I play 40k. His stormraven / land raider / dreads score a grand total of 8 penetrating hits on my shooty vehicles. 7 of these are destroyed results. I then proceed to make a grand total of 7 flickerfield saves. The one I fail is a shaken. What a moment, I would have cheered were it not for my oppo's bottom lip quivering like a baby. Get in!
My following turn I managed to destroy his Land Raider and Storm Raven and from then on the game was in the bag. I ended up winning 2-0.
End of day 1 and I had won all three games! To make matters even better, the lads I had travelled down with had also done pretty well, it was time to drink beer and celebrate!
Coteaz
Grand Master
Land Raider (lascannons)
Storm Raven
10 x Purifiers
7 x Death Cult Assassins
Henchmen with plasma guns / plasma cannons
2 x dreads with twin-linked autocannons / psybolt
I win the role off and decide to be tactical and let my oppo go first. I deploy as far back as possible to try and keep out of range. He goes first, what happens next will definitely never happen again in all the time I play 40k. His stormraven / land raider / dreads score a grand total of 8 penetrating hits on my shooty vehicles. 7 of these are destroyed results. I then proceed to make a grand total of 7 flickerfield saves. The one I fail is a shaken. What a moment, I would have cheered were it not for my oppo's bottom lip quivering like a baby. Get in!
My following turn I managed to destroy his Land Raider and Storm Raven and from then on the game was in the bag. I ended up winning 2-0.
End of day 1 and I had won all three games! To make matters even better, the lads I had travelled down with had also done pretty well, it was time to drink beer and celebrate!
Thursday 27 October 2011
Throne of Skulls October Event 2 Game 2
So game 1 went pretty well and I was going in to game 2 with a little more confidence. Mission type was the one I was most concerned with, Kill Points, and deployment was Pitched. My army was worth a massive 18 KP!
My oppo was a great guy called Jack who had brought an Imperial fists army led by Darnath Lysander himself. His list was:
-Lysander
-Sternguard squad x 10 with much melta madness in a drop pod
-2 x Ironclad dreads in drop pods
-2 x Tactical squads in rhinos
-1 x tactical squad
-Thunderfire cannon
-2 x Land speeder tornados
Turns out Jack's army was worth quite a few KP so I think he was thinking the same as me. I won the roll off and decided to let him go first so I could see where his drop pods would arrive. The rest of his army deployed at the back and prepared to shoot whatever I brought on. I reserved everything and we had a really tense, tactical game with neither of us really risking any of our units until the last turn.
I had managed to kill a drop pod, his sternguard squad (all hail the 4 monoscythe missiles!!!!) and his land speeders.
Jack had brought down a couple of venoms and a raider and so going in to the final turn it was pretty close. He attempted a charge with Lysander (which was just out of range) and moved a couple of his rhinos up. In my following turn I destroyed a drop pod, a dreadnought and Lysander (with much Splinter Cannon Fire). I then had an epic fail where 6 dark lances failed to destroy a rhino which left my incubi stranded in an open field. They had a go at charging the rhino and only succeeded in scratching the paintwork.
My oppo was a great guy called Jack who had brought an Imperial fists army led by Darnath Lysander himself. His list was:
-Lysander
-Sternguard squad x 10 with much melta madness in a drop pod
-2 x Ironclad dreads in drop pods
-2 x Tactical squads in rhinos
-1 x tactical squad
-Thunderfire cannon
-2 x Land speeder tornados
Turns out Jack's army was worth quite a few KP so I think he was thinking the same as me. I won the roll off and decided to let him go first so I could see where his drop pods would arrive. The rest of his army deployed at the back and prepared to shoot whatever I brought on. I reserved everything and we had a really tense, tactical game with neither of us really risking any of our units until the last turn.
I had managed to kill a drop pod, his sternguard squad (all hail the 4 monoscythe missiles!!!!) and his land speeders.
Jack had brought down a couple of venoms and a raider and so going in to the final turn it was pretty close. He attempted a charge with Lysander (which was just out of range) and moved a couple of his rhinos up. In my following turn I destroyed a drop pod, a dreadnought and Lysander (with much Splinter Cannon Fire). I then had an epic fail where 6 dark lances failed to destroy a rhino which left my incubi stranded in an open field. They had a go at charging the rhino and only
Tuesday 25 October 2011
Throne of skulls October Event 2 Game 1.
Hey, recently arrived back from Throne of Skulls (Event 2) at Warhammer World. I played Deldar with a list of flying beardiness.
My first game was against Grey Knights and I can honestly say I was fearing the worst as I read my oppo's list. Here's it is (roughly)
- Librarian
- Grad Master
- 5 Terminators
- 10 Purifiers - Rhino
- 5 Purifiers - Rhino
- 5 Strike squads - Rhino
First turn was a dream come true for me. Took out the Land Raider and Storm Raven, as well as a Rhino. From this point on I knew it was going to end well for me as his maximum range was 24" so I just stayed out of reach and shot him to bits.
My Incubi assaulted his Terminators and Librarian on turn 2 and wiped them out. A very satisfying game from a Deldar point of view but an absolute nightmare for my oppo.
Game finished 2 objectives to 0.
Lesson - He who has the longest reach shall land the telling blows
My first game was against Grey Knights and I can honestly say I was fearing the worst as I read my oppo's list. Here's it is (roughly)
- Librarian
- Grad Master
- 5 Terminators
- 10 Purifiers - Rhino
- 5 Purifiers - Rhino
- 5 Strike squads - Rhino
First turn was a dream come true for me. Took out the Land Raider and Storm Raven, as well as a Rhino. From this point on I knew it was going to end well for me as his maximum range was 24" so I just stayed out of reach and shot him to bits.
My Incubi assaulted his Terminators and Librarian on turn 2 and wiped them out. A very satisfying game from a Deldar point of view but an absolute nightmare for my oppo.
Game finished 2 objectives to 0.
Lesson - He who has the longest reach shall land the telling blows
Wednesday 5 October 2011
How to make a game fair.
That's quite a bold statement, considering we all play a game that depends hugely on the luck of a dice roll. We've all played games where we make those 5+ invulnerable saves an offensively large amount of the time (I just love flickerfields!). And similarly we've played in games where 6 of your invincible vanguard veteran, power-weapon-toting squad die because they sprain their ankle in a pile of mud!
There's quite literally nothing you can do about the roll of dice, and if the dice gods are in your favour then you're in with a good chance of winning. So I want to talk about mission selection. At the moment you roll a couple of dice at the beginning of the game and in those two awful moments, your dreams could be shattered. Like playing Deldar against gay knights and rolling pitched battle, kill points and also losing the first turn.
Times like these you've just got to sit back and accept that you're going to be in for a rough ride (or lose your cool and curse the dice gods profoundly). Now we can all recover from a lucky roll of a 6 on the damage chart which destroys your Land Raider but these two rolls at the beginning of the game have, in my opinion too much of an effect on the game.
So I present an alternative method to begin a game. Here we go.
1. First roll off. Whoever wins this roll chooses game type. Any special abilities (such as +1 to the dice roll when choosing deployment) are used.
2. Whoever loses this roll off then gets to decide whether to go first or second, or chooses deployment type.
3. Another roll off. Whoever wins this roll then chooses deployment type or whether to go first or second, depending on previous choice made.
Tada!!! There it is. A more simple, fair and more enjoyable way of playing a game of 40K. Yeah, someone's still going to get an advantage, but at least this way you're guaranteed to get something that enables you to stand a fighting chance.
There's quite literally nothing you can do about the roll of dice, and if the dice gods are in your favour then you're in with a good chance of winning. So I want to talk about mission selection. At the moment you roll a couple of dice at the beginning of the game and in those two awful moments, your dreams could be shattered. Like playing Deldar against gay knights and rolling pitched battle, kill points and also losing the first turn.
Times like these you've just got to sit back and accept that you're going to be in for a rough ride (or lose your cool and curse the dice gods profoundly). Now we can all recover from a lucky roll of a 6 on the damage chart which destroys your Land Raider but these two rolls at the beginning of the game have, in my opinion too much of an effect on the game.
So I present an alternative method to begin a game. Here we go.
1. First roll off. Whoever wins this roll chooses game type. Any special abilities (such as +1 to the dice roll when choosing deployment) are used.
2. Whoever loses this roll off then gets to decide whether to go first or second, or chooses deployment type.
3. Another roll off. Whoever wins this roll then chooses deployment type or whether to go first or second, depending on previous choice made.
Tada!!! There it is. A more simple, fair and more enjoyable way of playing a game of 40K. Yeah, someone's still going to get an advantage, but at least this way you're guaranteed to get something that enables you to stand a fighting chance.
Sunday 18 September 2011
40k Army list help - The 'Leafblower'
What do you do when your absolute pillock of an opponent deploys an offensive number of armoured vehicles in his DZ with a smug (OMG I'd love to slap him) face on? He also probably has brought with him a shopping trolley full of dice which he can't wait to use and when you mention the Assault phase he smiles and says 'what's that?'. The guy probably wears pants that come up somewhere between his belly button and one of his many chins.... I'm getting carried away. Calm down. So what do you do? If you're anything like myself then this kind of list presents an enjoyable challenge. First of all I'm going to look at the tactics that will probably be used by someone with this kind of list, then I'll have a look at how best to beat it.
*Please note that whilst the following is certainly consistent with my experience of the list, there are some cunning, almost sly players out there who may well vary tactics and army list.
Deployment
This will probably consist of a line of Chimeras screening another line of HS choices with the two plasma units in between. The Vendettas will be put in reserve, along with the scout Sentinel.
Tactics
So simple it almost hurts. Chimeras and HS choices will just sit back and punish you with a huge number of high strength, large blast shooting attacks whilst the veterans and command sqd will counter attack any infantry or light vehicles which get too close to the gun line. The Vendettas and scout Sentinel will come on and claim / contest objectives and be a general nuisance.
How to beat it
Well this is the tricky part. Target priority is so important here. The Chimeras are relatively easy to pop, and the nice soft juicy guardsmen inside can be comfortably dealt with but don't become obsessed with them. Taking out the heavy support choices and the Cmd squad and Veterans with shooting is essential. Once achieved, your combat units will be able to cause unopposed havoc as targets are usually very close together. As there is an officer of the fleet then this can disrupt the arrival of reserves. This is a blessing for combat-based choices as you don't want them exposed to all that firepower early on but a nightmare for any shooting-based choices. My advice is to use the shooting-based choices from the onset to bring down those essential targets ASAP. Also, I know it sounds obvious but utilise cover! Those 4up saves (or 2ups if you're beardy enough) are so important and will help your army survive long enough to throw some punches to the face.
So that's it. Simple eh? I know I know it's still a tough ask but the above advice will help you. I'm off to the Throne of Skulls event in October and I expect to come up against a few of these types of lists (I know I did last time) and I really wish I'd had a heads up as to how tough they can actually be. Believe me, if you're not prepared for it then you'll spend turn 2 onwards with a ridiculously low number of models and have to spend a lot of time staring at that smug grin on that stupid face...
Here's a typical list in all its glory. A Psyker Battle Squad is also a common sight (Large blast S10 AP1/2)
1750
HQ - Company Cmd squad
4 x plasma guns
Officer of the Fleet
Chimera
Troops - Platoon Cmd squad
2 x flamer
Chimera
Troops - Infantry squad
Autocannon
Chimera
Troops - Infantry squad
Autocannon
Chimera
Troops - Veterans
3 x plasma
Chimera - Heavy Flamer
Troops - Special weapons sqd
3 x Meltagun
Troops - Special weapons sqd
3 x Meltagun
FA - Vendetta
FA - Vendetta
FA - Scout Sentinel - Autocannon
HS - 2 x Manticore
HS - 2 x Hydras
HS - Medusa - Enclosed crew compartment
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