I'm very proud to be able to announce that I took FIRST PLACE in the local 'Ard Boyz tourney down at the South Store today. We had 14 players, and considering how ad-hoc it was put together, and that there was a Magic Tourney happening at the same time, it went really, really well. All of my opponents were very good sports and we had lots of fun. We even had free pizza!
Here's the list I took:
HQ
Company Command Squad w/Plasma Pistol for Commander, 3 x Plasma Gun, Medic, Astropath, Fleet Officer, Chimera (Hull Flamer)
Elites
Sly Marbo
5 Stormtroopers w/2 x Melta
5 Stormtroopers w/2 x Melta
Troops
Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Flamer)
Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Flamer)
Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Flamer)
Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Flamer)
Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Flamer)
6 Grey Knights + Justicar w/2 x Psycannon (Thanks Farmpunk!)
Fast Attack
3 Sentinels w/Lascannons
Hellhound w/Hull Multi-Melta
Hellhound w/Hull Multi-Melta
Heavy Support
Leman Russ Demolisher w/Lascannon
Leman Russ Battle Tank w/Lascannon
Leman Russ Battle Tank w/Lascannon
First Battle: Tyrannid Horde
My first battle was vs. Tyrannids. I'll dub my opponent "NidDude", as he was much older than Nidkid from the North Store. I'd never seen or met him before, but he was a pretty smart player. We ended up with a perfect draw, 2 objectives each with equal killpoints. Though I'm ashamed to say that I could have won it. I screwed up and fired a squad on the last turn that I should have run to the center objective instead. Doh!
I was fuming all through lunch over that mistake. :)
Result: Draw
Second Battle: Horde Orks
My second game was vs. GrotBoy from the North Store. He's been around since the fall, but we just never seemed able to get a game going. So it was great to finally get to play him. He brought a mob of orks backed up with 2 Battlewagons, a Skorcha Wagon, and a Shokk Attack Gun armed Big Mek.
I massacred him. GrotBoy just wasn't mentally prepared to deal with 2 Inferno Cannons, 6 Heavy Flamers, 3 Battle Cannons, and 21 Meltas. Plus 16 shots/turn from the Grey Knights. It was Dawn of War deployment and he rolled first turn. So he set up two large squads of 30 on the 24" line on opposite sides of the center, with a Big Mek HQ in the middle sporting a Shokk Attack Gun. Rather than set up 6" in, I decided instead to not deploy anything and just roll most everything onto the board on my first turn. He then moved the big squads to within 12" of my table edge and rolled the rest of his army on from his own edge.
When I came on I did a denied flank onto the left half of the board, so that half of his army would have an extra long trip to get to me. I then wiped out the entire 30-Ork mob in front of me in a single round of shooting from the Demolisher, Hellhounds and Grey Knights. It wouldn't have been so bad for him if he had read Farmpunk's tactica on pulling models. But he kept pulling his casualties from the back instead of thinning out the mobs of Boyz in front of my flamers the way NidDude had done with his Gaunts.
He also made the mistake of taking 2 HQ choices. In this mission, each of those HQ choices was worth 5 KP all by itself. I got them both. The Big Mek with the Shokk Attack Gun fell to Marbo, while his Warboss fell to massed flashlight and Battlecannon fire.
Result: Massacre
Game Three: Mech Eldar
Now I got to play Redeye, who I'd last faced when he was playing with borrowed Marines. This time, he was in his element. He's won the last 2 local 'Ard Boyz tourneys with his Eldar. So I prepared myself for a really tough fight.
Oddly, the game went much like our IG vs. Marine battle. I rolled first turn, but he didn't keep his skimmers off the table. Like in the previous battle, he got spooked by my Fleet Officer and decided to just deploy everything right away. While I kept 3 Chimeras and a Hellhound in reserve. Like our previous battle, we were playing a spearhead deployment. This time with a single objective in the middle of each non-deployment table quarter. So I planned on using my reserves to take the objective nearest to my board edge.
Since I had first turn, I pummeled his skimmers before they could get aloft and start getting cover saves. My Sentinels destroyed one Fire Prism, while my Russes destroyed a transport and not only immobilized the other Fire Prism, but knocked it's main gun out as well. This left him with only the Fire Dragons for effective AT work.
He then did something I still can't believe, he moved a skimmer and 2 squads of troops onto the objective that was only 12" from my board edge. When my reserves rolled on, I massacred the forces he had there with Meltas and Heavy Flamers. He seemed surprised that I could bring my reserves on from anywhere on that long table edge, even though he had specifically deployed his forces in our last battle so that he wouldn't be hit by reserves coming on from that very same edge. Go figure. :)
Anyway, he sent Eldrad down to say hello. Who promptly fell to massed melta and flashlight fire from 2 disembarked Vet Squads. Marbo and the Stormies dropped into his backfield and managed to keep his Warwalkers, Fire Dragons, and Snipers busy for 3 turns while I killed all but 2 of his skimmers. In the end he gave me another massacre.
Result: Massacre
Random Musings:
1) Sentinels really are amazing.
Just when I start thinking I need to drop them from my list, they go and prove their worth once more. In my first game NidDude outflanked 2 units of Genestealers. Using the Fleet Officer, I forced him to re-roll his sides so that he had to enter where the Sentinels were. They survived 6 rounds of combat from a unit of 20 'Stealers. They only fell once he had 40 'Stealers on them during the last turn. Tarpit baby!!!
During the second game, they tied up a unit of Tankbustas for 4 turns that could have been shooting up my Chimeras and Hellhounds instead. During the third game, they popped a Fire Prism and soaked up most of RedEye's return fire before dying. What other unit can do all that? They're the ultimate distraction!
2) Hellhounds make people cry.
Let's see, you automatically hit me with a template that you can place almost anywhere within 18"? You then wound me on a 2+ with AP4 and no cover save? AND I need 6's to hit you in HTH? WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!
3) Chimeras with hull flamers and melta vets just rock.
Best offensive unit in the IG codex, bar none!
4) Marbo is a badass!
He almost pulled 30 gaunts off an objective in my first game. In my second, he killed an HQ single-handed before charging a unit of 30 boys to pull them back from my lines. In my 3rd, he killed 5 Fire Dragons with his demo charge and kept them from moving towards the objective until it was too late. Oh yeah!
5) Arizona Iced Tea + A Payday Bar = The Perfect Game 3 Energy Snack!
No headaches or loss of energy this tourney!
Congrats! Are you going to attend the semi-finals? I would have liked to attend a 'ard boyz myself, but the nearest store holding one was a 7 hour drive north. In Alaska, there are not too many gamestores around... Play a good game for me in the semi finals!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! The local stores around here are holding the tourney today (sunday) rather than yesterday because of the stupid magic event going on so I'm forced to hold onto my list until next year as I work 2-10 today :(
ReplyDeleteHow did the stormtroopers perform? I'm not a fan of them in compeitive lists, but I'd like to know how you used them here?
very nice win, congratulations
ReplyDeleteI am also curious about the storm troopers, are they worth their price tag when you already have so much bs4 love?
It's pretty likely I'll attend the Semi-Finals, but Mrs. SandWyrm gets the final go/no-go depending on the location and whatever else we happen to have planned that week.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Stormies, they worked out fine as a suicide AT/Distraction unit. In the first game they killed off NidDude's Hive Tyrant after my GKs had shot him up with Psycannons and then scared his Zoanthropes into taking cover before both squads got charged by Gaunts.
In the second game, they shook up one of GrotBoy's Battle Wagons. He then sent 2 units, including one of heavy Nobs after them in some ruins, which slowed his advance down. Part of that was due to his frustration with my flame-spouting wall of armor. At that point in the game he just wanted to beat something down "Honestly". :)
In the third game I dropped one squad behind RedEye's lines (I forgot to deploy the other) and took out a grav tank. Redeye then went after them with his War Walkers, who couldn't manage to kill more than 2 of them with scatter lasers. He then charged me with the walkers and wound up tarpitted for 3 full turns, while the stormies took one of the three down with kraks.
So yeah, I like using small 5-man, 2 melta, units of them as a long range AT threat and general distraction in larger games. They could also be used to block a Valkyrie melta-rush by deploying them as infiltrators to foul up your opponent's scout move.
And frankly, there's nothing else apart from Marbo that's really worth taking in the Elite section of the Codex. The re-roll for the deep strike scatter BTW, is much more useful then the AP3 lasguns, which I don't think I ever used.
The way your Stormies were geared I wouldnt expect less from them. They seemed to do their job nicely so you really cant ask for more. So, far I have only seen two builds or variations of Stormies doing anything worth while. One is the five man squad with two meltas and the other is the ten man squad with no special weapons. I use the ten man squad and I am pleased with what they do.
ReplyDeleteOk, it looks like I'm definitely going to the semi-finals. I looked up the list of available locations, and one of them is Pet Shop Comics down in Louisville where I grew up. I've been there once before and it was a pretty cool place, so I'm jazzed.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Wyrm is cool with it since she and the boys can hang out with my parents during the day. If Farmpunk gets released from moving duty by then maybe he can come take some pictures. I took the camera to this round but forgot to snap any pics. :)
i figured you'd do well with that list, congratulations.
ReplyDeleteahh. I wish I could have made it. moving was more important.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I will be driving back from vacation on the day of the semi's anyhow, so I wasn't going to be able to play then anyhow.
I'm glad you used the GK's. Sounds like they worked out nicely for you.
Well, given my performance in the last tourney, I was really only hoping to make it into the top third in rankings. And hey, I'm humble enough to know that there was a certain amount of pure luck involved. I saw armies there that would have been much harder for me to beat down than the ones I drew.
ReplyDeleteStill, I'd only ever played eldar once before. So I kept expecting Redeye to pull something I didn't know about out of his hat at the last minute. As I told him later, it was probably better for me to think I might be losing since I tend to screw up when I get overconfident. :)
As for the GKs, they did exactly what they were supposed to do. Hunker in cover and shoot until it was time to hug the objective. Though I do think I could have used them better than I did in the first two games.