Tournament Report: G2D4 Last Saturday

by SandWyrm

Contrary to popular opinion, I'm still playing 40K. I only took one week off to try out Kings of War; and another because I had daddy duties while Mrs. SandWyrm was out of town. So while I may be mad at GW and not be planning expansions to my forces anymore, that doesn't mean that I've retired.

Anyhow, I headed over to Games to Die For on Saturday to play in the tournament that Spag had hastily set up for those of us that had originally planned on going up to Kokomo. Before that event was pushed forward to next month.


The turnout was 10 players. We had a decent mix of armies. Most of them belonging to good veteran players.

1 Grey Knights (Spag's ringers)
1 Tyrannids (Wienas)
1 Blood Angels (GraveMind)
1 Imperial Guard (Mine)
2 Daemons (Dodger3 and one other)
2 Orks (JRock and the Lego Guy)
1 Tau
1 Mech Eldar (GeekProtem)
1 Necron

The Necrons were notable because they were played by a girl who came up from Bloomington for the day. Of course we teased her mercilessly, and vice versa. She fit right in. :)

I was expecting the Daemons, this being G2D4 and all. They're always trouble as we have what must be the best 3 Daemon players in the whole country here in Indy. Contrary to what the internets would have you believe about their competitiveness, I've yet to beat any of their armies with either my Guard or my Blood Angels.

So I made a few modifications to my usual 1850 list:

    HQ
125    Company Command Squad w/3 x Melta, Reg. Standard, Officer Of The Fleet
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
   
    Troops
100    Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
100    Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
100    Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
115    Veteran Squad w/3 x Plasma
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
115    Veteran Squad w/3 x Flamer, Doctrines (Grenadiers)
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
115    Veteran Squad w/3 x Flamer, Doctrines (Grenadiers)
  55    + Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
   
    Fast Attack
130    Vendetta Gunship
130    Vendetta Gunship
120    3 Scout Sentinels w/Autocannons
   
    Heavy Support
165    Leman Russ Demolisher w/Hull Heavy Flamer
150    Leman Russ Battle Tank w/Hull Heavy Flamer

1850    Total Points
19    Total Kill Points

I traded the Primaris Psyker and the Demolitions doctrines on my blocking vets for 2 more Chimeras. I also traded the Hellhound for 3 Scout Sentinels.

If facing Daemons (which I expected if I did well) The Officer of the Fleet would slow down their reserves. While the 2 extra Chimeras could be deployed empty used for tank shocking Fateweaver around. The Scout Sentinels would give me a bit more long range fire, while possibly being able to tie Fateweaver up in combat and forcing his friends to advance without his re-roll bubble. All while still being an effective all-comers list.

The Curse Strikes Again

As usual, I didn't get enough rest the night before. Some Chaos god must take pleasure in screwing with me before every tourney by denying me sleep. It's different every time. Sometimes it's thunderstorms, other times it's my kids getting sick and throwing up in the middle of the night. At Adepticon it was 2 guys arguing in the hotel hallway at 3am about why GW doesn't publish 40K comics anymore. Gah! I've even had city work crews decide to rip up the pavement across the street on Saturday morning to do sewer/gas repairs.

This time my Wife decided to wake me up 2 hours early at 7:30 (with fussing baby in tow) so that she could get ready to go grocery shopping just 30 minutes before the other 2 kids usually get up. She got a not-so-nice ear full and re-thought the plan, but the damage was done. I laid there not-sleeping until it was time to leave.

So if anyone wonders why I showed up tired, spacey, and a bit late, that's why.

Game One: Tyranids

My first game was versus Wienas' Nids. He was running an outflanking Genestealer build:

    HQ
Hive Tyrant w/Lashwhip & Bonesword, Scything Talons, Wings, Hive Commander, Old Adversary, The Horror, Paroxysm

    Elites
2 Zoanthropes w/Warp Blast, Lance
+ Mycetic Spore w/Ripper Tentacles
2 Lictors w/Flesh Hooks
7 Ymgarl Genestealers

    Troops
9 Genestealers
9 Genestealers
9 Genestealers
9 Genestealers
Tervigon w/Stinger Salvo, Toxin Sacs, Scything Talons, Catalyst, Dominion
+ Mycetic Spore w/Ripper Tentacles
10 Termagants w/Fleshborers

    Fast Attack
3 Spore Mines

3 Spore Mines
3 Spore Mines


    Heavy Support
Carnifex w/Devourers (x2), Adrenal Glands, Frag Spines
+ Mycetic Spore w/Ripper Tentacles

The game was a 3-objective Sieze Ground with a standard 12" deployment. Wienas won the roll for first turn and deployed his spore mines in my deployment zone. He then put everything in reserve, with the Stealers outflanking.

I deployed centrally around the mines and put my Flamer Vets in reserve with their Chimeras. Intending to come on later and flame away at his Stealers. On my first turn, I drove forward, exploding all the mines to no ill effect, and waited.

Much as expected, Wienas' forces came on piecemeal. Stealers arrived, and my OoTF made them re-roll their side. So that most of them came on to my left, on the opposite side of the table from the furthest objective that I needed to drive forward and reach. Pretty quickly, the axis of the fight rotated 90° so that we had the short edges to our backs.

His Hive Tyrant dropped in, scattered wide, and ate lascannons on my turn before he could do much.

His Carnifex dropped in, shot up a few infantry, and then died to lascannons and meltas.

My flamer vets came on and wiped out entire squads of Genestealers. His Ymgarls popped up in the center terrain and got flamed away by 3 tanks.

Wienas was able to push forward and claim my objective after a nasty fight, but I zoomed up behind him and took both of the objectives on his side of the table with Chimeras. So I won 2-1.

By and large, I'm just not a fan of massed outflanking, no matter what the army. It's just too unreliable and easy to counter. If I were Wienas, I'd take my cue from the Nid player who made it to the finals at Adepticon. He simply ran his Stealers forward with 2 HQ Tervigons to give them FNP and other boosts. If I had been facing a wall of FNP Stealers with Hive Guard and Zoeys in support, I would have had a much harder fight on my hands.

Just because you can outflank, doesn't mean that you should.

Game 2: Albino Orks

I'd seen JRock around at more than a dozen tourneys with his well-painted Orks and Guard, but this is the first time that we'd ever actually played a game together.

Here's his list:

    HQ
Warboss w/Mega Armor, Cybork Body, Attack Squig, Boss Poll
Big Mek w/Kustom Force Field, Slugga, Choppa, Mek's Tools

    Elites
6 Kommandos w/Big Shoota, Nob (Power Klaw)
4 MegaNobs w/Stikk Bombs, Twin-Linked Shootas, Mega Armor
+ Battle Wagon (2 Big Shootas, Armor Plates, Deff Rolla)
8 Lootas
 
    Troops
10 Ork Boyz w/Sluggas, Nob (Power Klaw), Trukk (Red Paint Job, Rokkit Launcha
10 Ork Boyz w/Sluggas, Nob (Power Klaw), Trukk (Red Paint Job, Rokkit Launcha
10 Ork Boyz w/Sluggas, Nob (Power Klaw), Trukk (Red Paint Job, Rokkit Launcha
10 Ork Boyz w/Sluggas, Nob (Power Klaw), Trukk (Red Paint Job, Rokkit Launcha
10 Grots & Slaver w/Grot Blastas, Slugga, Grabba Stick, Squig Hound
Deff Dread w/2 Big Shootas, 2 Dreadnought Close-Combat Weapons


    Fast Attack
Deff Kopta w/Twin-Linked Big Shoota, Buzzsaw
Deff Kopta w/Twin-Linked Big Shoota, Buzzsaw
Warbuggy w/Twin-Linked Big Shoota

    Heavy Support
3 Killa Kans w/Rokkit Launchas
2 Killa Kans w/Big Shootas
2 Killa Kans w/Skorchas

The mission was a 3-objective capture and control with Dawn of War deployment. I won the roll for first turn and deployed 2 empty Chimeras to force JRock to deploy further back.

Here's a pic from just after the top of turn 2. There's one objective in the middle of my deployment zone, one in the middle of the center building, and one over on the far left corner inside the building.

Now you could be forgiven for thinking that I was doing quite well. I had stopped all of his Trukks from advancing and had decimated his troops on the left after they bailed out. I'd also parked a fast-moving skimmer in front of the Battlewagon to keep it bottled up in the corner while I cleaned up the middle field. I also had sufficient blocking units on the right to keep the Orks there busy for a while.

Yeah well, then the Orks got lucky. And there's nothing more dangerous than a lucky Ork player. :P

The Battlewagon rammed the Vendetta and I failed my dodge. Letting the battlewagon drop off it's Mega-Nobs in front of my blocking troops. The flamer vets died, but I was able to melta the Nobs down on the following turn. The Battlewagon was immobilized, but repaired itself in time to smash forward through 2 Chimeras and drop off the Big Mek to contest my objective.

On the right, the Kommandoes managed to immobilize the other Vendetta, while the Deffkopta on that side came zooming in and assaulted the flamer vets that were on objective duty. They lost the combat by only one wound but ran off of the table anyhow.

In the center, I killed all but the Nob from a Trukk squad that had taken refuge in the building. Well, this one Nob makes something like 8 cover saves in a row and takes out 2 Chimeras all by himself before running full-speed across their craters and into my Company Command Squad that was trying to protect my objective from the Big Mek.

All of which complicated my attempts to hold the center building in the face of 2 Kans and the Deff Dred. I killed the Dred, but the Kans managed to get to the objective. While my squad there ran off after the Warbuggy killed a couple of guys.

The last few turns were a real nail-biter, but JRock's Orks took the victory 1-0.

Gah! And people wonder why I like Hellhounds so much. Lucky Orks are my bane.

Game 3: Blood Angels

This time I was up against TheGraveMind and his Blue-Baal Angels. He was the one that knocked off Dodger3's Daemons in the first round (cue cheers from everyone).

I didn't get a list from him, but he was running a Razorback/Pred list with a Stormraven, Venerable Dred, Flamer-Baal, AssCan-Baal, Autocannon Pred, 3 Las/Plas Razorbacks, 1 Twin-Linked Lascannon Razorback, 2 Typhoons, a Vindicator, and a Libby as HQ.

The game was Annihilation with a Spearhead deployment. Grave won first turn and... took the worst possible quarter! Deploying his tanks between 2 large rocks that would limit his mobility and open himself up to being trapped inside by a few wrecks. I set up opposite him with the expectation of having to face a bunch of fast assault troops that would hit me through the cover of that center line of trees.

We do our scout moves and he goes first, scouting a Baal Pred out to my right. Huh? He didn't move the Stormraven out from behind his line. (Edit: Maybe because Stormravens don't have scout. Duh for me.) So I moved up a Vendetta and made him stay there.

Then I stole the initiative. Cue groaning from Grave.

I start shooting and down comes the Stormraven to the lascannons from a Vendetta. While the other Vendetta, Sentinels, and my Russ all get lucky too. Blowing up or wrecking Grave's Autocannon Pred and two Razorbacks.

With that, it's over. But we keep playing anyhow.

Marines start trickling out of the slot on foot and I mow them down. The Vindicator comes forward and dies to side shots from my Sentinels. Grave zooms the Assault Cannon Baal up to try and kill my Demolisher, but whiffs and eats meltas. The Dred finally makes it out and tries to chase my Vendetta before turning back towards my lines. He's killed by my reserve melta vets.

Somehow I've stolen all of Grave's luck. He can't make any of his cover saves, while I keep getting explosion results on every tank I shoot. By the end of the game the table looks like a moonscape. We finally call it at the end of turn 5.

I hope Grave isn't too discouraged. I've done bottle-necked deployments like that before and paid the price. It's just something that you learn not to do.

Conclusion

Grave and I wandered over to the top table and watched GeekProtem's Mech Eldar fight it out with JRock's Orks for the top spot.

Their game was as close as my game with JRock. But Protem squeaked ahead on the final turn and took first place. JRock was 2nd, and I was 3rd.

I have to hand it to Spag for running a very smooth event on short notice. I also have to hand it to the players for all being cheerful and happy. We had no problems that I know of.

Now if I can just get some sleep...