GottaCon 2010

Returned last night from GottaCon. This was the latest GW Tournament Circuit qualifier, held in Victoria (well Saanich actually), on Vancouver Island.
Took the ferry over on Friday afternoon, along with fellow A-Club-er Nick Daniels. Les Sohlier took the ferry 1 hour ahead of us.
After checking in at the sketchy (and we would find out how much so later) Howard Johnson we headed over to the venue. GottaCon was held in a local community/rec' centre. We were using the indoor basketball/tennis courts as our space, so it was well lit and well ventilated!
First impression of the set up was good - lots of table space (side bars!) and good terrain. It turned out that ~80% of the terrain belonged to the tournament organizer - quite impressed by that.
We took a look over the scenarios and the scoring sheet; we were not so impressed by that - they were using the much hated Massacre system.. So after a bite to eat, and some lively debates about rules we normally let slide in the club (such as how to do multiple combats correctly!) it was time to sleep... or try to. It so happens that our hotel hosted a seedy bar, which generated multiple conflicts during the night, and we were also disturbed by sirens down the street - there has been a shooting murder. In Victoria? W.T.F.

Saturday was a wonderful Spring morning (yes, the Winter Olympics start this week...), and boded well for the day's festivities....

I had elected to run my Penitent list (again), yes it has it's weaknesses, but it is pretty and fun, and I really don't care!

• Cannoness, with multi-melta Celestians, in HF-Immolator
• 2 units of Arbites (5) in Rhinos.
• 10 battle Sisters (HF, FL, VSS with SB) in Rhino
• 2 units of 2 Penitent Engines
• 14 Sisters Repentia with Priest
• Inquisitor with PW
• Callidus Assassin

Game 1

Opponent - Ric Jesson - Guard.

Mission - Dawn of War; Primary - Annihilation, Secondary - Capture and Control

Ric set up first, strung out on his back edge with a few units held in reserve (I'll post pictures later), I deployed aggressively as I wanted to get into combat as soon as possible.
As you can imagine I took a lot of fire, but the game swung my way on turn 2. My Callidus Assassin popped out - next to his unit of 10 Rough Riders. She "flamed" 6 of them down (they passed their morale some how) but then she chopped the rest down in combat. The next turn she repositioned. On turn 4 she went after the psyker choir (and Primaris), shooting and killing them in a similar manner. Turn 4 she stumbles - charging into an infantry squad, she must have been tired... it took two turns to take them down! On turn 7 (yes, one finally went my way!), she cooked the crews of the 3 sentinels that had been a thorn in my side for most of the game.
For those of you at home keeping score - 120 pts of 2 wounds, T4, S4 chick took out 612 points of Guard.
Sweet!

Result - Primary - win, Secondary - tie.
Minor Victory - 17 battle points gainedIf it had not been for the Assassin ripping through the back line it would have gone VERY differently. Ric was a very good sport about the whole thing, and his army was stunningly converted (it was one of my 3 favourites on the weekend).

Game 2

Opponent - James Allen - Ultramarines.

Mission - Spearhead; Primary - Capture and Control, Secondary - Big Game Hunt (kill most expensive unit).

Well this game did not start off well. As soon as I saw his list there was a problem. He was 2 points over. This did not seem to concern him, nor did the TO want to do anything about it (did not want to cause a "fuss"). What really got my goat was James was unrepentant about this... not a sign of contrition on his part (nor did he change his list over the rest of his games).
His list was VERY hard hitting - 2 Vindicators, LR with TH/SS termies, Sternguard in drop pod (with Librarian), 2 Tactical squads in Rhinos and Scout squad with Telion.
Well the game was over on turn 1... his Sternguard dropped in and flamed my Repentia (both these were our most expensive units). They dealt 18 wounds to a 17 wound unit. I did manage to run around and take out the two Vindicators, the terminators, and most of the Sternguard - sadly my Assassin (must have been pooched from game 1) failed to kill off the last of the Sternguard.

Result - Primary - loss, Secondary - loss.
Massacre!- 0 battle points gainedHorrible and controversial...

Game 3

Opponent - Scott James - Space Wolves.

Mission - Pitched Battle; Primary - Annihilation, Secondary - Center of the Table.

Good job there was no rule about unpainted models! Whilst James' army was beautifully converted, only 1 unit dogs had been "washed"... and I think that those were the only models that had been primed. This saddens me, especially when I've taken so long to paint my own army, often for people who can not appreciate the effort or the results. But I digress...

This game was interesting - a two-in-one type of game. The dogs did a good job forcing my units to commit to them (Rage rules), and bogging me down whilst they chipped away at me. Canis Wolfborne is a beast (!), and it took a lot to get rid of him (the Callidus did it in the end). The 3 units of Grey Hunters then did the mop up. In the end it was close, 11 KPs to 9, but due to the Massacre system that was enough, along with the Secondary, to give Scott the Massacre win.

Result - Primary - loss, Secondary - loss.
Massacre!- 0 battle points gainedIf James' army had been painted he would have received a lot more points - it was a fun game, which I thought I had on turn 3, but the GHs were just too much for the little of my army that was left. It is games like this which remind me of why I despise the old GW Massacre system so much, and how systems like they have at OFCC, and at Conquest, are much better.

Game 4

Opponent - Stew Murray - Tau.

Mission - Spearhead; Primary - Seize Ground (4 objectives), Secondary - Assassination (Destroy enemy HQ).

This table had a LOT of terrain, with a bastion and barriers in the middle. I finally one a dice roll, and chose to go first - it was a deliberate move, I wanted to dominate the table. I set up aggressively with the Engines to either side of the bastion, and with the rest of my army split evenly behind them and to their flanks.
Stew chose to keep all his suits (3 identical elite units, plus the obligatory HQ), one (of his two) Hammerheads, and two 'fish mounted 6 man squads in reserve. I asked him to clearly state how they would be entering "all suits will deep strike" was his response. Cool I thought! This left him with one hammerhead, two Broadsides and two 6-man fire warrior squads to deploy. He deployed them in the farthest corner.
Turn 1 was pretty quiet - I think I just moved up my units, and his shooting was ineffectual. Turn 2 saw my Assassin turn up, she immediately went after the Broadsides, destroying both of them, and she also inflicted one glancing damage to the hammerhead - which immobilized it! I love my assassin... Stew pulled in his HQ and 2 units of suits on turn 2. When he walked his commander on the board edge (to go after my assassin) I questions the move. He said he had indicated that the HQ would walk on... O.K. And I must have misheard him (well I am 41 and decrepit!). One unit of suits came in at the "north" of the table, and did little damage to the Engines up there. The other came in "south" and engaged the repentia (thank you!). My next turn I wiped out both units in HtH. I also went after the troops that had been deployed initially - burning one away with a remaining engine (one had been destroyed by the immobilized hammerhead). Turn 4 I went after the remaining 6 man unit - immobilizing my Immolator 2" too short to burn them off with the Inferno cannon... The HQ deployed, and would have to do it on foot the next turn. My Assassin had been taken down by combined fire from the the fire warriors and the HQ. My battle sister squad went after the two transports and the hammerhead that had come in on Stew's 3rd turn. With some luck, and an Act of Faith, I was able to immobilize one of the 'fish. Stew's final unit that had been "delayed" in turn 2, can in again and again it mishap-ed - so I put in in difficult terrain (::evil::) - he made all 3 tests, right by my repentia (:: VERY evil::). Of course I wiped them out... My HQ shot (but did not break) the fire warriors sitting on one of the objectives (I was planted on two others, and one was up for grabs, though I contested it with a Rhino). Stew moved in to my deployment zone and took the objective from the Arbites.
Turn 6 I moved my sisters back to hold one objected, and booted their Rhino, that had been contesting it, over to the one I just lost. I made a HUGE mistake at this point. Instead of my HQ going after the lone fire warrior, who had pulled back from the objective, I went after the hammerhead, and wiffed. Stew punished that unit - taking them off the board, and as his warrior had moved up to the objective I could no longer contest that one. His hammerhead took out the SoB Rhino that had been contesting the one in my zone. Game over!

Result - Primary - tie, Secondary - loss.
Loss - 7 battle points gained