First game of 7th (or 6.5, whatever they are calling it)

Lee wanted to get a game in with the new rules after having a few days to read over it. Being I had taken leave of the game for about a year I decided to dip into the waters to see how the changes are.

We met at Learn to Play Games in Tampa as they was open on Memorial Day and Anthem was not. The owner was really cool and the store was clean and well laid out. Clearly more of a card and board game store they also really want to bring in more mini gaming to the store.

Lee had the typical IG and tested out a few odd and end things...2 Wyrvens, several Chimeras, some veteran squads and a regular platoon, Inquisitor, Commander, some Priests and Commissars. A ton of shooting in essence....against my small horde of Word Bearers that had a Dark Apostale, Sorcerer, 4 Squads of 10 Marines (1 with 2 flamers, 1 with 2 meltas, 2 with 2 plasma guns), 2 Havok Squads (4x Heavy Bolters and Missile Launchers x2 and Autocannons x2 in the other), 2 small squads of cultists and a Vindicator....we opted for 1500 to keep the game small as we was learning the changes to the rules.

We opted to try one of the Maelstrom Games, which are the  more advanced missions, we got the one where you can score off your opponents cards as well as yours. In these missions the objective cards can really swing a game it seems. We placed 6 objectives, I won table side, Lee got first deploy/turn. I failed to seize on the first turn. At first our dice was wiffing but the large number of shooting from all the Chimeras, squads and weapon types plus Wyrven Bombardments started to take a heavy toll. I tried to stick to the game to  rack up victory points and managed to earn first blood....many of the scoring cards came up on my end and I was able to stall  Lee enough to rack up a decent total before my army crumbled in the end. We rolled for another turn and got it, this really helped Lee fill the gap...

The result: 10 VPs (me) and 7 VPs (Lee). I got first blood and a lucky 3 on a d3 on a card with a bunch of other 1 point cards. Lee got my Warlord, Enemy Lines and 5 from objectives. The Word Bearers was blasted to atoms and was to me a hollow win. It did prove the cards creates a random element in the game and does make things slightly less predictable. 

Thoughts:

Psychic Powers: Interesting changes, overall I think I like it....I do see a heavy psychic army pulling a ton of dice into a pool and stomping  someone in the psychic phase. Being in its own phase is nice to see again.

Like the Circle of 3-4-5 of vehicles going from weak to tough to weak to slightly tougher in 6th....I killed TWO Chimeras the entire game and it was a pain in the ass. AP1 and AP2 weapons are IMO gold now if you REALLY want to destroy a vehicle. Vehicles are back, they are no longer plastic coffins...

We really didn't do much hand to hand as I was foot slogging and he mostly sat back and shot with Chimeras advancing squads safely. Shooting is a bit more brutal with model removal and the resolving X set of weapons first also seemed to be a nice return.

What would have helped me was to have a Demon Prince and used the new Psychic powers to summon squads of demons to rampage on the field, fluffy for Word Bearers anyway. Also, Rhinos...or rather transports in general, a MUST in any army. Drop the cultists and take a few would have helped.

After thoughts, they fixed a few issues and opened a can of worms in many other aspects. To me the scales just reversed now. I had to say this but really their new stuff like the Wyrvens was DIRT cheap and UGLY in the game....yea, GW wasn't marketing these bitches to sell like other new kits right? Right! I do see several abuses that can spawn up quickly and I am unsure how this will impact the competitive gaming. To me keeping it simple and playing with friends is what I will do....and watch the local tournaments. Personally, the Unbound option just screams ABUSE ME! Like other famous lists you see on the net that are very popular to use by power games that just have more money than sense. Yea, I have a 9 Vendetta lawnmower list....pat yourself on the ass and call you Susan because you are that special. You broke the game and exploited the rules. Feel good? Want a medal? Making the game not fun for others a good thing? Nope. Oh well, it is going to happen....I just plan to avoid the stupidity. Yea, I am now a beard and proud of it. 

In many ways I am slightly disappointed by how GW handled this edition, the editing is rushed as I think the rules testing was also. They are clearly mining for cash and don't give a rats ass about a game really as long as they are sucking in the cash. They had a great game and concept and slowly been sucking the good from it and also pricing themselves to the point it is just stupid. Great you have a quality product but you don't have to charge designer drug prices for it. 

Shots of the game...

Darkside 2250 tournament (April)

Well, this is long overdue to post, so I will just post the highlights.

Chris and I hit Darkside this month and brought some interesting armies. Chris broke out his Blood Angels again to give them another try under the new rules and I put together a Chaos army with IG allies.

Chris was able to go 2 wins and 1 loss. I ended with 1 win, 1 loss and 1 draw. A mistake on my part caused the draw and should have been a win for me but I really didn’t care. I felt like I was not in the running for the top and I was having a great game anyway with Cajun in the last round.

All three games was great except for the middle one with the Tyranids which I have to say was unique and refreshing to play but wow the gaunt unit doing like 60 shots on a flank with rerolls (gah!) Very annoying…..it was a one hit wonder but wow it was a rough game. Maybe if I had another turn or two it could have been a game changer for me as we NEVER got past turn 3. So, it was to the Tyranid player’s advantage at that point, I was slowly chewing down his army and as I said I could have turned it around given another turn or two. It was just a simple case of a new player with a large army that just plays slowly, it sucks but not much you can do about it.

40k Team Tournament: Armada Games (March)

Chris and I headed to Armada to play in a team tournament they held at the first of the month. We brought the Space Wolves and Imperial Guard to this event expecting some rough lists.

I don't have the list Chris had but I know he had one Rune Priest, a few Grey Hunter squads with melta guns, each with a power weapon and a Wolf Gard with a power fist and combi-melta, 2 Long Fang Squads of 5 missiles, 5 Scouts with 1 power weapon and melta gun with another Wolf Guard with the same kit. Each of the Grey Hunters had a Rhino and I think that was all.

My IG list was rather bland with a Command squad with 3 melta guns and a power weapon on the officer, 2 Veteran Squads with 3 melta guns and Chimeras, the HQ had a chimera also. I had one platoon command squad with 4 flamers in a chimera, another 2 line squads with autocannons and sniper rifles in a Chimera also along with two special weapon teams with 3 melta guns each. I had also the Executioner with plasma sponsons and a heavy flamer in the front hull along with a pair of Exterminators with full heavy bolter kits.

The event was supposed to start at 1 but was delayed until after 2pm as the organizer  (not the usual guy I know) was late showing up to run it. Not a good start off the bat. He also printed out 2008 team tournament missions from Adepticon so they was dated for 4th, not 5th edition games.

The first game was against Space Wolves and Blood Angels! Wheew! Ugly mix here. They had several jump squads of Blood Angels, Sanguinary Priests, two scout squads with sniper rifles with cloaks, several heavy weapon squads and the Space Wolf player had two drop pods with 1 dreadnought with a multi melta and another squad with Logan, I think he also had another Grey Hunter pack in a Rhino (maybe two) and they also had Mephesiton in the army.

The game was take the objective in the center that scatters left or right....it went to our right a few inches and we opened with a stream of firepower to weaken their forces. The game passed back and forth until the time was suddenly called. The organizer was not the usual guy running the event and was a store employee. He apologised he was busy with customers and failed to give any time warnings. Sadly, this resulted in a loss for us with a few bonus points along with a secondary objective going to us due to this half ass time keeping.

Next up we was paired against Tau and Dark Eldar. While I don't recall everything, they had ALOT of vehicles and Broadsides. This was overall a rough game, early one they was totally blasting us to hell but we was able to slip back into the game once our reserves came on. This put some pressure on them that allowed us to score some points in the secondary and last objective even though we didn't take the primary. We also picked up some bonus points that helped our score out.

The last round we was put up against Dark Eldar and Blood Angels! Well, we got first turn which I figured would come down to who went first. Our first two turns of shooting was nothing short of a amazing. By the end of the 2nd round 80% of the Dark Eldar was shot down and the Blood Angels was having their own troubles. By the end of the game, we had the center taken and ready to blow up the beacon along with tabling the team on the final round. The second Storm Raven was the last thing to go. Again this was another crazy game...the Death Company made it to our lines only to find so many guns pointed at them they died a painful death after killing one unit. The second amusing part was Dante landing with a squad behind one of the Long Fangs and killing all but one, then everyone rolled towards them and the squad also ate 3 plasma cannon shots among other things. Needless to say, there was little left of that squad after the shooting phase ended. It was a brutal loss for the other team and was extremely lucky on our part to have some great dice rolls but I guess we built our our karma that day due to the mishaps.

Each game ran longer than expected and we didn't leave until 11:30, mind you we was at the store at 12 noon when they opened. I got home later than going to an event in Sarasota that takes me about an hour and half to drive home! GAH! Plus we went for food between turns 2 and 3 only to find that Dairy Queen had a line that was not moving and a bunch of workers that just stared at you as they walked by. Service was not their goal there, we ended up getting McDonald's at Midnight (mind you we last at at 11:30 am at Wendy's) that was again another fast food nightmare....

Chris was not fond of Armada but I explained the guy hosting it was not the usual organizer and should give it another try before he writes off the store. Despite all the crap we did take 3rd and got some prize money....we laughed on the way home as it worked out to $2 an hour roughly in prize money...hahhahahahahaha

Our first round opponents! Alberto and Jim.

Deployment for the IG/Wolves

First turn, the Dreadnought lands near. Blows up the Executioner!

Granted we blew the dreadnought and drop pod to hell the next turn in revenge!

The game about mid point...

Grey Hunters head for the wreck for cover!

Wolf Scouts suprise the IG!

Blood Angel Jump Troops threaten the vehicles.

Keegan and Charles (hope I got their names right!)

Deployment for us....

                                                                   James and Austin, Round 3!

The Dark Eldar take a pounding!

Simply amazing artwork on the raiders.

More erotic artwork on the other side.

Death Company make to the lines only to discover a ton of guns pointed at them.

Feel no pain? Feel some shotguns and 3 melta guns!

Team Tournament in December at Darkside Comics.

Chris and I loaded up for our only tournament for December at Darkside Comics. We went with a good pairing of Space Wolves and Imperial Guard. Alas, I forgot my chip to the camera and at the start of round 1 I was annoyed I forgot to check the camera! ARG!

Space Wolves:

2 Rune Priests, 1 with a Chooser of the Slain, both with living lighting and Jaws of the Wolf and Murderous Hurricane.

3 Troop choices of Grey Hunters with a power weapon and melta gun with a rhino. Two was 8 strong and 1 was 9 strong.

4 Wolf Guard with comi-melta and power fists, they join the Scouts and the three Grey Hunters.

Long Fangs x6 with 5 missile launchers, razorback with heavy bolters.

Large scout squad with melta gun and power fist.

Imperial Guard:

Command Squad with 4 melta guns, Chimera and Astropath

Vet Squad with Harker, 3 melta guns and Chimera

Storm Trooper Squad with melta and plasma with Chimera

1 Platoon Command with 4 flamers.

3 Troop squads in Chimeras with melta guns.

Leman Russ with Lascannon.

Vendetta

Game 1 vs Necrons and Orks

I am bad with names and forgot the Necron player’s name, but Zack was playing orks. Both of these guys are regulars at the store and great guys. Never played against the Necron player before but we have had several great conversations in the past about the Necrons among other armies discussed... Zack and I have often been paired off in many tournaments.

Their list from memory….

Necrons:

Doom Ark (the cannon that is STR 9)

Several Cypteks with lances with the STR 8, AP 1 shots.

Large unit of Immortals

2 Units of Warriors with Ghost Arks

Praetorians with shields and swords with a standard Necron Lord.

Orks:

Mad Doc

2 Large Ork blocks with cybork, big shootas and a Nob with a Klaw.

2 Units of Kommandos with one with a Klaw and the other with Snikrot.

Dreadnought

We played the first Scenario from Adepticon 2011, with the command token that allows you to issue one USR to one unit. The primary was to hold the center of the table with the most units with the highest VPs and the Secondary was to Capture and Control (two objectives, one in each deployment zone).

They won the dice off and deployed first. Their objective was off to the side with the gun and troop ark holding the objective. The Immortals to the middle, off to the other side where our objective was the two ork blocks and the Dreadnought. The last transport was near the middle to swoop down the middle.

We hid one Rhino behind a building and a Leman Russ behind a large terrain feature to avoid being shot at by the big cannon of doom the Long Fangs deployed in cover to take the big guns opening shot. The opening was as we expected, they advanced up and we lost a rhino on turn 1 to shooting. Turn 1 for us was quick moving into a building and the Long Fangs shot down the Doom Ark in a blazing doom.

Turn 2 nothing much happened, some shooting but no major losses and several orks moving towards us. We rolled reserves, Chris got one unit of Grey Hunters and nothing else. I got everything but one troop choice. I flanked the Vendetta near the objective with the command squad in it. Harker and the Vets appear behind the Necron lord to threaten the back side. The Stormtroopers pile in behind the Orks ready to burn them.

The rest of the game saw the Wolf Scouts assaulting the Immortals, my vendetta flanking near their objective. I sacrificed Harker and his crew to draw the Necron Lord and his unit. The next turn the Wolf Scouts finished the Immortals as the rest of the army was slowly chewed down to nothing. We managed to repel both Kommando units after taking the loss of a Leman Russ and a Chimera and the large squad of Orks was reduced to ash leaving Mad Doc’s large unit to deal with. Sadly, as there were  closer units he ran back towards Harker and lost ground moving to the center. We wiped out the Necrons in the center and piled as many units as we could into the middle for the win taking a full 28 points for the win.

Game 2 vs. Space Wolves and Grey Knights

Our next game was against Steve and Matt with Grey Knights and Space Wolves.

Their lists:

Space Wolves:

Wolf Lord with runic armor, talisman, mounted on a wolf with saga of the bear and had a frost weapon or claw with a storm shield.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader, same with the Hunter Saga (which was illegal, infantry only, GREAT JOB ARMY BUILDER). Matt said he saw someone using it at another event but here is what you get when something isn’t proofed.

1 Unit of Grey Hunters with a Rhino, think they had a power fist or power weapon with plasma or melta.

1 Unit of Long Fangs with mix of missiles and lascannons.

Large unit of Thunderpups with storm shields, power fist…the usual unit mix.  Not sure if the whole unit had storm shields or just part.

Wolf Scouts with power weapons and melta guns.

Grey Knights

Drago

Complex unit of Paladins with Apoth, mix of weapons, etc…for wound allocation shenanigans.

1 unit of Grey Knights with psycannons.

2 Riflemen Dreads with psyammo

What you have here is a clear min/max list that is designed to be low kill points, loaded with a few death star units to handle all issues.

We won the dice off and let them pick the table side.

As it was Dawn of War they deployed their very little the Paladins I recall was sitting near both objectives in the center. Ours was off to the side opposite. We setup nothing holding much to move in first turn and flanking with Harker, Scouts and Stormtroopers.

A dread and Long Fangs took up one building on the far right (of them); center was a Rhino with the Grey Hunters and his Paladins with Drago in a building for cover. One unit of Grey Knights to reserve, the Thunderwolves setup to charge down the middle to our objective and the scouts went into flanking reserve. They elected their Thunderwolves and one Dread to be a Troop choice at the start of the game.

There isn’t much too really say about this game except our dice was just bad, real bad. That along with their rolls was on fire, Matt was not failing a single shield save except two the whole game I think when we shot at the Thunderwolves. It wasn’t till the end when he separated the Battle Leader was he taken down.

By the end of the game was able to contest only one objective. Sadly if the dice was in our favor we could have contested two more objectives. This would have left them with a lower score of 5 points instead of 15 for their win along with other bonus points and the secondary objective against our zero for the game.  I forgot special orders for “run run” with two units that could have helped on two of those and that was my fault. Orders has always been a weak point for me with IG due to the nature of how I mech up.

If I had the Manticore or the Executioner with plasma cannons I feel the game could have played out differently. That and some better dice rolls.

Game 3 vs. Necrons and Grey Knights

The last game was a great match against Grant and George that helped take the sour edge of the final game.

Their lists:

Grey Knights:

Librarian: Hammerhand, Might of Titan, Quicksilver, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, Warp Rift.

Grey Knight Terminator squad with halberds and a demon hammer with a psycannon.

Dreadnought with Psybolt Ammo with an Assault cannon

Stormraven Gunship with twin linked plasma and multi meltas.

Grey Knights Strike Squad in a Razorback with force swords. Razorback had a heavy bolter with psybolt ammo.

Vindicare Assassin

Another Terminator Squad similar to the first.

Necrons

Overlord with Res Orb, Tachyon Arrow

Royal Court with 2 Harbringers of Destruction with  Lances and one of Transmogrification that had the Tremor Stave and Harp of Dissonance.

5 Immortals with Telsa Carbines

10 Warriors in Ghost Ark

10 Warriors in Ghost Ark

7 Scarab Swarms

Monolith

Deathmarks

The game:  Declare one list that counts for kill points. At this point my IG was picked and we choose the Necrons. The other objective was two objectives on each side of the table.

Deployment: Table Quarters (objectives was placed in the opposite quarters in the center). They won the dice and deployed first.

The game:

Overall this was a good game, we had a few rules bumps but each time we was able to resolve them and keep the tempo of the game going at  a great pace. I held most of my stuff in reserve to ensure they could not shoot it and have less turns to score kill points.

Here are some of the highlights I recall from the game:

Vindicare getting splattered by a missile early in the game after a failed cover save.

Early on we wiped the scars from the table quickly and moved to disable the transports with the Necron Warriors inside. I was able to flank the Stormtroopers and Chris got his scouts to appear near them and we was able to attack from a weak angle that helped us change the tide of the game. On that corner of the table, only towards the end did the Grey Knights leave the Razorback to engage us and by then the game was pretty much over. The Deathmarks landed and was shot off the board the turn they landed with ruthless firepower. Our goal was to keep the pressure on for kill points.

One of the most comical moments was trying to blow up the Monolith. We either could not hit it, fail to pen it or we would roll poorly on the glance/pen chart getting nothing but Stun and Shaken results! Finally we took off the big gun towards the end! What a steak of bad luck again!

Sadly, I forgot to roll for Harker after the first reserves and Chris even reminded me later (and I thought everything was on)! Would have it made a difference? Maybe but not by much, they would have either help wipe out the Necron HQ or perhaps would have been able to roll on and grab the other objective for a few more bonus points.

We held one objective and had more kill points than they did to score up a decent tally. Depending on how things went with the rules error (see below) or Harker showing up this could have shifted our game by a few points putting us back into the rankings as we was just four points shy of third place.

I did discover one rule error after the game that nobody caught when the Raven went flat out and was shot down. Instead of the passengers disembarking they should have been dead per the FAQ. This would have been a huge game changer for us as we would not have wasted time trying to kill the Dreadnought, Librarian and his Terminator Squad but instead moving towards objectives, removing the other Grey Knight Squad and blowing up the Monolith earlier instead of allowing it to linger on the field.

Lesson learned is what I say, I should rebuild my FAQ binder I used to haul around with me but I got sick of dragging that extra material so I gave up the ghost a few months back. Now it comes back to bite me! Hah!

Book Review: Imperial Glory

Finished Imperial Glory last night and I have to say is what a great book!

By far out of the Imperial Guard books, this one has one of the best and well developed Imperial Guard personalities that are only matched in Blood and Steel from the Bastion Series. I won’t try to compare it to Gaunts Ghosts or Shaffer’s books as those are so different and a series compared to single one off books that requires a write to develop the regiment and their personalities in a short span of a time between the covers.

Without giving any spoilers there is some interesting plot hooks and multiple story arcs in the book that takes you a few different directions. The ending to me was not totally unexpected but was a bit of a shock as to how it closes out in the end and wraps up.

I find it a nice touch also in the end of the book the writer gives thanks to his family that had served in the military which was a nice personal touch from a writer. This shows that what he wrote was from the heart as well as the mind. The front has a nice regimental layout giving you an idea of the 11^th Brimlock’s organization.

My only one complaint is about the Orks. I can see how the writer was playing the orks as primitive as they were spawned from the spores of the dead orks aboard the rok that crashed on the planet. It still amazes me that the orks did not explore the rok more, especially after they figured out the lobba and cannons they found. To me, they should have been able to salvage the concept of guns, grenades and weapons like big shootas, burnas and rocket launchers making them even more of a threat. Still, it is in an Ork’s DNA makeup to understand these things and despite everything was wrecked on the rok that they should have been able to salvage something more.

Despite that one single downfall the book was excellent and worth the read! I give it 4 out of 5 Chaos Stars! Pick it up now and read away! Feel free to comment as well!

Ard Boyz After Action Report

My Ard Boyz outing took me to Birds of Paradise about 30 miles away from where I live. At first some friends and I was going to travel further to a store that we enjoy playing at known at Dark Side and enjoy some Amish food prior to the event. Sadly, one of my friends had to work and another had committed that weekend to his wife. I choose a new store strictly on the interest of checking out a new location and perhaps meet new players that I have never played against. The store itself ended up with 16 players on 8 tables making for a full turnout at the store.

The list I took was an IG list with Witchunter allies. I checked the GW site, the PDF is gone. No doubt removed so they can post up the Sisters of Battle new PDF in the next month or so. The core Ard Boyz lists it as a valid codex and the PDF for the FAQ does not disallow allies. Here is my list:

·         Shraken with Chimera, 4 melta guns, Master of the Fleet and 2 bodyguards

·         Inquisitor Lord with Psychic Hood, Bolter, Power Sword, Sage, Warrior and Familiar

·         Callidus Assassin

·         Vet Squad with 3 melta guns and Chimera

·         Vet Squad with 3 plasma guns and Chimera

·         2 Platoons with a HQ with 3 melta guns and a flamer. 2 Squads with melta guns and a power sword. The last squad had a flamer and power sword. A commissar was assigned to the first squad with a power weapon.

·         Vendetta

·         Manticore

·         Basilisk

·         Leman Russ with Lascannon in the hull

Game 1 vs. Blood Angels

My first game was against a great guy by the name of Oscar. I met this gent a few years back at Anthem during one of their first events there. There were only 4 players attending the small store at the time before James expanded the game room to a second storefront location. We had a great game of Sisters of Battle vs. Tau. A true game of I shoot the Sister’s and he burns me alive. A great game, sadly I did not see him at any events for years until Ard Boyz. It was a real treat to not only to see him, but to have a chance for a game against a great player.

Oscar was playing his Blood Angels a new army for him and this was his list from memory:

·         Mestiphon

·         Chaplain

·         15 Death Company with power weapons (not all) in a Land Raider Crusader

·         2 Assault squads with jump packs, melta gun, melta pistol and power weapon.

·         2 Sang priests

·         Baal Predator with Assault Cannons, heavy bolters and storm bolter

·         Storm Raven with Multi Melta and Lascannons

·         Death Company Dread with Blood Talons

·         Heavy Weapons Team with 3 Plasma Cannons and 1 Lascannon (may have been a missile launcher)

·         Vindicator

We swapped our traitor models and rolled for who goes first. I won and picked my side on the city based table we were assigned to. My deployment was simple, empty Chimeras to the front, the ones with Vets and HQs to the back. The Inquisitor loaded up into an empty one on turn 1. Shraken in the middle along with the heavy tanks in the back and the Vendetta flanked with the traitor. Both Platoons grouped into one squad each and shielded the flanks and forward parts of the side elements on each side.

Oscar placed out his Vindicator, Heavy Weapons Squad and the Crusader with the Chaplain and Death Company loaded up. Everything else went into reserve. This could be tough with the Master of the Fleet (later it hit me that we forgot that Decent of Angels allows a reroll) but would not make a huge impact on the game. He had a series of bad luck with reserves and scatters using DOA. One assault squad ended up on the far edge of the board and the Storm Raven was delayed a turn.

Highlights of the game for me was the Callidus being able to kill the traitor on his turn after she assaulted and put one wound on him. The next rounds allowed her to finish off the heavy weapons team and chase them off the board. For Oscar I have to say his brick was that Crusader that I could not stop. He also plowed down a Vet squad with melta guns, most of my platoon squad and forced them to fall back. If not for Shraken being able to rally them I think the damage would have been worse. The remaining Death Company ripped up Shraken’s squad leaving just him. The remaining 1/3 of the platoon sacrificed themselves to finish off the read of the Death Company as Shraken crushed the Chaplain’s skull with his bare hands. Only the Shraken and a single melta gunner were running for a Chimera for cover.

At the end of the game, we both had killed the traitor but I had managed to take a minor victory with full bonus points.

Game 2 vs. Necrons

The Necron player Jim was another great player. He had a rather basic and tough Necron list like this:

·         2 Lords both with scythes, one had a destroyer body, one had the orb, one had the Veil of Darkness and I think one had the 4+ inv save.

·         2 Monoliths

·         4-5 squads of 10 Warriors

·         3 Large unit of Destroyers

I won the roll again, took my table quarter and setup for a split move to each Empty Quarter and a run for the center with a defensive line to be left behind. He setup his Monoliths to the front and the warriors behind with destroyers in support. He managed to roll a 6 and seized the first turn! Ugh!

This was your typical Necron game; he would shot me, get several glances but was only getting 1-4 as results and just knocking around my transports. I was able to make one monolith immobile and destroy the second. About half way through the game he had one quarter and I had the other well in hand. It was all down to the center.

For the last round I could only hear the sergeants in the Veteran squads yelling “Drop your cocks and grab your socks! We’re going for a walk boyz!” as he slams the release switch to the hatch of the Chimera.  And that is what my veteran squads did, they disembarked best they could within 2” and moved out. One squad managed to get close to the center objective but could be 3 or 4 inches! I open fire on his Destroyer squad around it and hoped the lone necron warrior near was not within 3”. As my shooting came to a close the plasma vet squad was my last squad and the one near the objective. I would have rather than them that last turn but instead I was forced to open fire and pray I was close enough. I rolled 6 wounds with the plasma and by luck I was right at 3”! WOOT! His warrior was 3.75 away from the objective! Another minor win but only with 1 bonus point this time.

I knew I was in the upper tier but it would take a good game to bump me further if I was going to continue to the second round. They started to pair us up until I noticed one of the top leaders was about to play the Necron player I had second round. This didn’t make sense so we inquired about it. Appears there was an error in the last round of matching. Gah! So instead of an IG player I get Grey Knights.

Game 3 vs. Grey Knights (Inquisition)

Kris was his name and had a rather straight up list. We were both close to the top and we both stood a good chance to continue on. He had this:

·         Cotaez

·         Grey Knight Lord that allowed the d3 special perks with purifier and terminator armor.

·         5 Squads of Henchmen each with a Jokero and a mix of Crusaders and Death Cult Assassins in Chimeras.

·         3 Dread Knights with mixed weapons.

This game was pretty heated the first part, we both was out for blood to win. He got some shock hits in but I managed to pull the lines together and hold my own towards the end. The flanking Dread Knights threw off my game plan and nearly cost me the game.

Highlights for Kris were the Dread Knights, those things able to jump 12” and that fist one with the STR 6 flame template was a beast. It blew up a Basilisk, Chimera and killed half the squad inside. Ouch! One key point for me was the Callidus being able to kill not one but two of these monsters in close combat. She was VERY lucky and he ignored her thinking she wasn’t a major threat. I would manage to get two wounds on them with shooting and she would finish them off with a pair of lucky 6’s rolls and a C’tan sword is nothing to sneeze at.

When we added up the points I think it was 335 or so in VP difference in my favor. Draw! ARG! I got two bonus points and waited for the other games to end.

I sat at 3^rd place for a long time until one game ended. A tyranid player that earned only 8 points his first game, managed to pull out not one but two massacres with full points! Yea, I saw the list and it was nothing that I could see as special or amazing. So, he took the 2^nd spot and I was bumped to 4^th along with another player that was using Blood Angels.

Well, there is always next year. I had fun, 3 good games, the players was great that I met. Some old faces and some new were great. The store was nice and the drive wasn’t bad. I’d go back for another event there.

Meet Oscar

My Deployment

Here comes the pain!

Callidus dukes it out with the Devastators.

Line shot.

Death Company cleaning house!

Fall in! We can take them!

A shot of the scatter dicce at the Raven scatters into my troop blob.

Check out the LEDS!

He even pimped the ride with LED lights on the inside!

Shraken survives!

Jim the Evil Necron Lord

Just a cool model!

The Monoliths on the move!

Platoon HQ vs Necron Lord. Necrons win!

Getting ready for the final rounds. Necrons move to close off the last objective.

Necron lord beats on the Chimera.

THAT was close!

Stunned!

Kris, only an Inquisitor could love a guy like this!

The lines drawn and the battle fought to the bitter end.

The other side flanked by the last Dread Knight.

Shraken directs the mayhem.