Las Vegas GT is looming... so I'm doing a new army! It is going to be good getting back on the US GT circuit - I've been "absent" for 3 years, and I miss some old friends.
With 5th Edition out, and a few games under my belt I've tweaked the list a little.
Oh yeah... I'm building a Slaanesh CSM force.
There will be both mobile elements, as well as units that can anchor objectives. I'll also have some Chosen that can do the Flanking move that is proving to be quite a lot of fun. I'm going to use the FW dreadnought (Crazed rule be damned), and the FW Daemon Prince(ss).
First pictures in the next week or so - I'm heading on vacation so I may take some models with me to work on in the evenings!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
"Mutants & Scum" at Astronomi-Con Vancouver 2008 - Pt2
Day one started early for me... nothing to do with the event, just the kids!
Opponent - Colin Sherlow - Orks
Mission - "Divide and Conquer"
Deployment was with a diagonal split across the table, with an 18" push back. I put my Basilisks as far back as I could (don't like Orks inside my minimum range...), and Colin then "pushed" the rest of my army back. Game was pretty predictable. Orks have a huge advantage in games like this - 18" is nothing for them, so first or second turn charges are pretty much guaranteed! My Basilisks managed to take out his Battlewagon on turn 2, which probably made the game last 15 minutes longer that it needed to! Took out his dreadnought, 2 of the killerkans and a lot of the boyz, but in the end the sheer speed of orks was my undoing. Oh, and the fact that I was out numbered about 3 to one! In the end I was totally wiped out...
Result - Ork Victory (zero battle points)
Notes - Colin was lots of fun to play, and his army is very "orky". Astro' scenarios are usually story driven, with 10 pts for the win, 3 for a loss, and 7 for a tie. There are also three (+/-) battle modifier points (ala the old GT days...). Later in the day I found up we had screwed up the deployment zone - the sheet said that we could not go within 6" of the middle of the table - it should have been 6" of the LINE down the middle of the table! Meh, probably would have lost anyway.
Game 2
Opponent - Craig Fleming - Orks (ARGH!)
Mission - "Assault and Battery"
Great, Orks again! "Assault and Battery" is a time honoured Astro' scenario. You have 3 griffons (gotta use them for something these days), which for every turn they "fire" the defender gets 50VP per shot per gun. The attacker gets 200VP for each gun that can no longer fire. The deployment is a modifed escalation, with the defender (me according to the standard Astro' attack/defend table) getting to put 1 HQ and 2 troops down. Well that would be the Last Chancers wouldn't it! The deployment "box" was 24" square, and in cover. The orks get to put everything out... again just 18" away from me! I needed to at least try to slow them down, so I placed my Chimerae up front, with some shooty/counter assault guys behind.
The game is also a Night Fight. Orks get first turn of course... and yes, the trucks get the nobs in mega armour to the Chimera on the left straight away. The nobs were the bane of my game - that 2+ armour save is tough! The Ogryns did a good job coming in on reserve and marching up the road - they ended up taking out 2 units of boyz. The Ratlings were pretty good too; whilst not pinning large ork mobs they can pick off troops and hold table objectives. I think the game may have been a draw if it has ended on turn 5, as oppossed to going an extra turn (Random Game Length). In the end though it was not enough, Craig's force was just too numerous and too tough for 25 T3 guardsmen with 4+ saves!
Result - Ork Victory (3 battle points)
Notes - Craig is new to 40K (long time FB player), but he plays with some VERY experienced players who have taught him well, and helped him build a fine ork force (damn you Aaron, Jeremy and Derrick!). I have one criticism of the scenario, and maybe of some the Astro scenarios in general. They seem to favour HtH armies - Night Fight is a common theme, and the 18" deployment differential favours faster HtH armies like Orks and Tyranids, and these 2 are pretty much always going to be the attacker. Sure my force was pretty specialized I admit that, but even with regular guard I would have a tough time stopping the orks from getting to the Griffons. Now 5th edition may help balance this; Orks winning HtH will NOT be able to sweep into the next "speed" bump (ie 10 guardsmen).
Game 3
Opponent - Marshall Reeves - Imperial Guard
Mission - "Midnight Patrol"
Marshall had a HUGE guard army! This included 50 Conscripts (with Commissar), and Basilisk, Demolisher, and a Cyclops. Many people forget that Astro' allows Imperial Armour entries and lists. This army was also in Vancouver last year, and I managed to avoid it. The table were put on was a familiar one to me; the terrain was from Checkpoint Charlie's, and I played on it last year vs. my nemesis Nick Daniels!
Again another Night Fight, and a modified Escalation game. Combined with only a 12" deployment zone, and zero fire lanes this was going to be a battle of indirect fire and HtH... Again one Troop and HQ deploy initially, with reserves starting turn 1 (on a 5+). I believe Marshall got the first turn, and failed to roll for anything coming on... I did a bit better, with both my units in Chimerae coming on and a Basilisk. There was not much shooting. Turn 2 saw the Cyclops come on and move towards my lines. Still not much shooting! My turn I got my Ratlings (oh, they were so going to swing this game...), the other Basilisk and my Ogryns on the table. The Ogryn moved towards the enemy, and my first Basilisk opened up on the guard. Due to scatter and good cover I think I only killed four guardsmen. On the right flank, my "heavy" unit was able to start working on getting rid of the couple of units that were deployed in cover. Turn 3 Marshall gets his conscripts on the table, jamming his deplyment zone with a juicy ID fire target, as well as his Basilisk.
The cyclops moved even closer to my Ogryns... Ogryns don't like the dark, so I moved then up and jumped out in front of one of his squads.
My shooting was pretty unspectacular! Other shooting knocked off a few veteran guardsmen, but I guessed incorrectly when targetting the Cyclops controller - he was inside my minimum range.
Turn 4... Marshall gets his Demolisher onto the table - thank goodness for 24" range! - and scoots it down my left flank. However the Cyclops moves up and get close to my Ogryns (and his guardsmen). BOOM! Two Ogryns get pulped, the Chimera gets immobilized, and 2 guardsmen die. Not bad. The Ogryns pass their leadership test from the remaining shooting. I have everything on the table now... I ignore the Conscripts, I'm not going to break them, wipe them out, and they can't do anything to me. I go after the veterans in the middle of the table, and move up on my left flank a little. I also move one Basilisk that is getting threatened by the Demolisher. Some direct fire kills a few guardsmen, indirect takes out Marshall's Basilisk. My heavies take down a few more guardsmen, but they continue to stick around, little buggers... The veteran squad take a melta gun, flamer, plasmagun, and demo charge in the face - some of them survive!
Time to get stuck in... the Ogryns charge the squad above - and fail to wipe it out - weak.
Turn 5. My squad that has shot at the veteran squad has been charged (I had fired RF weapons so I could not), and they get wiped out, as do the Ogryns. Nothing much went on here, the Basilisks took out his demolisher that had moved up on my flank, I managed to take out the sentinel with some lucky shooting in the dark. I could not finish of the squad on my left flank. I roll for more turns - the game ends after 5.
Result - Tied Game! (6 battle points)
Notes - damn that was close. In the end it was a 71 point differential. If there has been one more turn I think I would have wrapped the game up, but "ifs" don't count in 40k! Marshall was a great opponent with a very cool army; we realized on ~turn 3 that "tactics" would play NO role in the game - it was truely a game of chance. Fives all round on the soft scores from me!
Well there ended day one. Three good games and I'm going up in the results! We all headed off to Mahoney's for a drink and food, I headed home for a good night's rest for day two...
Day 2...
On arrival at UBC I found that there has been late night gaming (crazy blighters...), and that one of the games had been on the table I bought!
Game 4
Opponent - Brian Hicks - Imperial Guard
Mission - "Dyer Straits"
Oh great I get to play on my own table! Whilst you may think this would be something I would want (and normally it would be), I was dreading playing this scenario. The Astro' system would put me as the defender... luckily I was playing against another guard army, so there was a chance I would get to be the attacker (still not a palettable choice given the "size" of my army!).
Brian had one of the most beautifully painted armies at Astro' - and there were some damn fine conversions too (his Hydra had been the "talk of the circuit" for a couple of years.). He also had a flyer...
On the roll off for attacker/defender I lost, so I get the choice I did not want! The scenario allowed me to place one HQ, all my troops (so the Last Chancers again) and a unit "of my choice". Well of course I put a Basilisk out. I also get to control the turret as a Leman Russ Battle Cannon. Everything else is held in Reserve.
Brian got to deploy his entire force 24" from his table end.
Those heavy bolter teams were going to be a pest...
Brian started his turn with the repeating Preliminary Bombardment. This scenario rule was going to prove to be VERY effective for the attacker; with at least one vehicle unable to fire each turn and my Last Chancers getting slowly shredded by d6 wounds everytime the PB hit. Brian seemed to be able to roll a lot of 6's in the first 3 turns!
The game was pretty slow for the first 3 turns - Brian would move forward, slam my lines with the Preliminary Bombardment. Brian also had a LOT of grenade launchers. These served him REALLY well, when they hit, and he did alot of damage with them. I think they will be the Guard assault weapon of choice in 5th edition. Last Chancers don't break or get pinned of course, unless Schaeffer is dead. Turn 3 my Ogryns come on.
I chose not to shoot, as with the lines bunched the way they were on my left flank I figured I could roll 2 or 3 units. The first unit gets pounded into the mud, then I roll into the next, and hit the platoon command HQ. After wiping both those out I consolidate, but for some whacky reason I don't sweep into the storm troopers that had rallied from previous turns of indirect pounding! Oops...
The following turn they would take some grenade-love in the face, plus the Vulture showed up and dropped a full ammo load on them! Ultimately they would succumb, but they held that flank for 3 rounds of combat.
On the other flank I had immobilized the Trojan first turn, and the Command Chimera in the 3rd.
The Rough Riders (beautifully converted Cold Ones!) were also a worry. I had been sniping at them for a few turns, slowly thinning their numbers. In the end they would charge the unit in the trench above and wipe them out. However, Ratling Sniper and Chimera shooting would be the end of them! Brian rolled for the end/continuation of the game - done on Turn 5. With no units in my deployment zone I won!
Result - Last Chancers Victory! (11 battle points)
Notes - that was a REALLY good game. Lucky for me the Vulture gunship did very little other than crush my Ogryns. The MVP for me was the Ordnance fire - both from the Basilisks and the defensive turrent. For Brian it has to be the "Shell Shock" (repeating Preliminary Bombardment). Not that it affects anything, but I should have had 12 battle points - I had a Basilisk between the rear and middle defensive lines, as well as the Ratlings in the front trench line.
Game 5
Opponent - Andrew "Muskie" McKay - Nurgle CSM
Mission - "Dust Off"
Ah! Muskie! What a character... Seriously, Muskie IS a character, in the nicest possible way. And a damn fine painter too.
"Dust Off" is a favourite Astro' scenario of mine - I played it last year and I was the only one of the Defenders to win from what I understand. For the attacker it can be quite a challenge (as Muskie was about to find out...) as they start with nothing on the table, and the defender everything. The objective is to get the pilot to the Valkyrie (and off the table). The trick of this one is that he is too far away to "walk" - the solution is to put him in a vehicle, have him assault a unit on the way back, or in the case of 5th Edition "run".
The above shot is about 4 turns in... the game is a Night Fight (again!). Muskie got first turn, and failed to get anything in from reserve. I jumped the pilot into one of the Chimerae, zoomed backwards 12" and stopped. The Ogryn Chimera backed up too, keeping on "point".
Turn 2... Muskie failed to roll for any of his reserves.... Ouch... The pilot jumps out and makes a 6" difficult terrain move into the complex.
Turn three - Muskie gets his havocs on! They don't have much to shoot at with bolters, and Night Fight is not helping. The pilot moves up the steps with another good DT roll, and makes it to the Valkyrie - 500VPs for me.. I've moved the Chimerae around a bit, but with no targets it is pretty quiet. I fire one Chimera at the Havocs and fire my Ratings - I think I killed 2 Havocs that round.
I'm nicely castled in the terrain, and I have no intention of leaving!
Turn four Muskie starts to get some stuff on the table - a Rhino with Plague Marines, his Lord and the Land Raider. Sadly for Muskie it is too little too late. He give one of the Basilisks a bit of a scare, and takes out about 6 Last Chancers, but the "protection" of nightfight and hard cover served me well. My Ogryns counter charge his Plague Marines, the Basilisks dropped their load on one unit, and take out the Land Raider (after previously immobilizing and stunning it)... Muskie's Dreadnought failed to show at all. At the end of turn five I rolled to see if the game would go on. Game end!
Result - Last Chancers Victory! (12 battle points)
Notes - the scenario killed Muskie - pure and simple. Oh, that and using GW dice to roll for his reserves, his plasma shots and his FnP rolls - I've never seen so many 1s!
Muskie keeps a blog too - here is his version of the game.
Game 6
Opponent - Teras Cassidy - Tyranids
Mission - "Hammer & Ambull"
I don't have any pictures of the game - I was pretty tired by the time 4pm rolled around on the Sunday!
Teras had an "odd" list. The army was beautifully painted, and in many cases very well converted; the presence of the Ripper Swarms and the Malanthrope made sense, but the Zoanthrope, the 2 Carnifexes, the "spawning pool" and the Mycetic Spores really threw the "theme" for me. I've been around tyranid players for many years, some of the best (Jeff Burcham), and this one just did not "fit" for me.
The game was going to be an odd one - H&A had been around since the beginning of Astro' from what I know. This does not excuse the PITA that those Ambulls were going to be! EVERY SINGLE ONE that popped out of the ground did so towards me. Which meant that they would be assaulting the closest unit the next turn. My units.
In the first turn I took the initiative and shot/charged the first two. Moving beyond my hatred for the Rogue Trader era monsters...
I spent a lot of time dropping ordnance rounds on Ripper swarms, mushing them to chitinous pulp. The slower monsters I was not worried about at this stage as I'd have plenty of time to shoot them later. An interesting little side combat took place on my left flank. The Ratlings got charged by the Malanthrope, and even though they lost the combat they rolled two 1s to stay in the game (needing a three as they were below half strength and under the influence of a zoanthrope's crazy brain!). My Ogryns did nothing in this game - except survive, as their Chimera was immobilized on the first turn as I attempted to leave terrain!
The game was going ALL my way - emphazied when Schaeffer got charged by a Carnifex (with only 2 wounds left) - he hefted his power sword, swung, hit twice and then did 2 wounds (needing 6s), one dead 'fex! The next turn he walked up to the other Carnifex and blew its brains out with a single plasma pistol shot!
Then turn 5 happened... Those Mycetic Spores dropped in. They took out one of my Basilisks which allowed a "trapped" ripper swarm and hormagaunts to get to my Command HQ hidden behind (the "keep 1 inch away" rule in 4th ed stopped Teras from ignoring the Basilisks and charging the HQ with the rippers through the small gap between my two Basilisks. Well this turned the game. The Malanthrope then proceeded to attack Schaeffer, who despite dieing to excessive wounds managed to stand up on his bionics for one more round of heroic battle!
He later succumbed to his wounds.. fittingly he was the Last to die...
Result - Tyranid Victory (2 battle points)
Notes - pretty good game. I could have done without the distraction of the five Ambulls... or at least the odd one going into the Tyranid line. I sensed a Xenos conspiracy!
Summary
Yet again Astronomi-Con delivered on its promise! The weekend was lots of fun; good scenarios, good players, good looking armies. I feel sorry for the Vancouver players who could not be bothered to attend especially those that whinned that "it was not 5th edition". What tripe.
Astro' is the best we have had in Vancouver in a number of years (since the GT was cut), not playing at Astro' is confessing you can't hack a balanced, yet competative tournament. Oh well more space for the guys who DO enjoy that type of event.
I was very happy with the way the table turned out, how it was received and with the excellent scenario Mike and Christian cooked up for it. Thanks guys!
In the end I finished 9th Overall (edit - this may actually be 7th, as there appears to be errors in the final ranking sheet). I got second for Best Terrain... that made a few people look at Mike and Christian a bit funny...
I won Best Appearance! Holy Cow! I got 28/30 for my painting scores, beating Brian and Muskie. Pretty happy with that!
As always thanks to the guys I played - 6 excellent fun games.
I look forward to Astro-Vancouver 2009, and possibly Astro-Nottingham. My fellow Brits will not know what hit them!
After arriving at UBC and doing the usual round of catching up with old friends and saying hello to the new players, I unpacked my army and did a few touch ups to the table damage that had happened in transport. I spent a while talking with players about the table, its construction and getting a lot of complements about it. Job done and mission accomplished!
Onto the gaming. First round match-ups are based on your composition score. Most players will have an 18 or 20, so it is pretty arbitrary.
Opponent - Colin Sherlow - Orks
Mission - "Divide and Conquer"
Deployment was with a diagonal split across the table, with an 18" push back. I put my Basilisks as far back as I could (don't like Orks inside my minimum range...), and Colin then "pushed" the rest of my army back. Game was pretty predictable. Orks have a huge advantage in games like this - 18" is nothing for them, so first or second turn charges are pretty much guaranteed! My Basilisks managed to take out his Battlewagon on turn 2, which probably made the game last 15 minutes longer that it needed to! Took out his dreadnought, 2 of the killerkans and a lot of the boyz, but in the end the sheer speed of orks was my undoing. Oh, and the fact that I was out numbered about 3 to one! In the end I was totally wiped out...
Result - Ork Victory (zero battle points)
Notes - Colin was lots of fun to play, and his army is very "orky". Astro' scenarios are usually story driven, with 10 pts for the win, 3 for a loss, and 7 for a tie. There are also three (+/-) battle modifier points (ala the old GT days...). Later in the day I found up we had screwed up the deployment zone - the sheet said that we could not go within 6" of the middle of the table - it should have been 6" of the LINE down the middle of the table! Meh, probably would have lost anyway.
Game 2
Opponent - Craig Fleming - Orks (ARGH!)
Mission - "Assault and Battery"
Great, Orks again! "Assault and Battery" is a time honoured Astro' scenario. You have 3 griffons (gotta use them for something these days), which for every turn they "fire" the defender gets 50VP per shot per gun. The attacker gets 200VP for each gun that can no longer fire. The deployment is a modifed escalation, with the defender (me according to the standard Astro' attack/defend table) getting to put 1 HQ and 2 troops down. Well that would be the Last Chancers wouldn't it! The deployment "box" was 24" square, and in cover. The orks get to put everything out... again just 18" away from me! I needed to at least try to slow them down, so I placed my Chimerae up front, with some shooty/counter assault guys behind.
The game is also a Night Fight. Orks get first turn of course... and yes, the trucks get the nobs in mega armour to the Chimera on the left straight away. The nobs were the bane of my game - that 2+ armour save is tough! The Ogryns did a good job coming in on reserve and marching up the road - they ended up taking out 2 units of boyz. The Ratlings were pretty good too; whilst not pinning large ork mobs they can pick off troops and hold table objectives. I think the game may have been a draw if it has ended on turn 5, as oppossed to going an extra turn (Random Game Length). In the end though it was not enough, Craig's force was just too numerous and too tough for 25 T3 guardsmen with 4+ saves!
Result - Ork Victory (3 battle points)
Notes - Craig is new to 40K (long time FB player), but he plays with some VERY experienced players who have taught him well, and helped him build a fine ork force (damn you Aaron, Jeremy and Derrick!). I have one criticism of the scenario, and maybe of some the Astro scenarios in general. They seem to favour HtH armies - Night Fight is a common theme, and the 18" deployment differential favours faster HtH armies like Orks and Tyranids, and these 2 are pretty much always going to be the attacker. Sure my force was pretty specialized I admit that, but even with regular guard I would have a tough time stopping the orks from getting to the Griffons. Now 5th edition may help balance this; Orks winning HtH will NOT be able to sweep into the next "speed" bump (ie 10 guardsmen).
Game 3
Opponent - Marshall Reeves - Imperial Guard
Mission - "Midnight Patrol"
Marshall had a HUGE guard army! This included 50 Conscripts (with Commissar), and Basilisk, Demolisher, and a Cyclops. Many people forget that Astro' allows Imperial Armour entries and lists. This army was also in Vancouver last year, and I managed to avoid it. The table were put on was a familiar one to me; the terrain was from Checkpoint Charlie's, and I played on it last year vs. my nemesis Nick Daniels!
Again another Night Fight, and a modified Escalation game. Combined with only a 12" deployment zone, and zero fire lanes this was going to be a battle of indirect fire and HtH... Again one Troop and HQ deploy initially, with reserves starting turn 1 (on a 5+). I believe Marshall got the first turn, and failed to roll for anything coming on... I did a bit better, with both my units in Chimerae coming on and a Basilisk. There was not much shooting. Turn 2 saw the Cyclops come on and move towards my lines. Still not much shooting! My turn I got my Ratlings (oh, they were so going to swing this game...), the other Basilisk and my Ogryns on the table. The Ogryn moved towards the enemy, and my first Basilisk opened up on the guard. Due to scatter and good cover I think I only killed four guardsmen. On the right flank, my "heavy" unit was able to start working on getting rid of the couple of units that were deployed in cover. Turn 3 Marshall gets his conscripts on the table, jamming his deplyment zone with a juicy ID fire target, as well as his Basilisk.
The cyclops moved even closer to my Ogryns... Ogryns don't like the dark, so I moved then up and jumped out in front of one of his squads.
My shooting was pretty unspectacular! Other shooting knocked off a few veteran guardsmen, but I guessed incorrectly when targetting the Cyclops controller - he was inside my minimum range.
Turn 4... Marshall gets his Demolisher onto the table - thank goodness for 24" range! - and scoots it down my left flank. However the Cyclops moves up and get close to my Ogryns (and his guardsmen). BOOM! Two Ogryns get pulped, the Chimera gets immobilized, and 2 guardsmen die. Not bad. The Ogryns pass their leadership test from the remaining shooting. I have everything on the table now... I ignore the Conscripts, I'm not going to break them, wipe them out, and they can't do anything to me. I go after the veterans in the middle of the table, and move up on my left flank a little. I also move one Basilisk that is getting threatened by the Demolisher. Some direct fire kills a few guardsmen, indirect takes out Marshall's Basilisk. My heavies take down a few more guardsmen, but they continue to stick around, little buggers... The veteran squad take a melta gun, flamer, plasmagun, and demo charge in the face - some of them survive!
Time to get stuck in... the Ogryns charge the squad above - and fail to wipe it out - weak.
Turn 5. My squad that has shot at the veteran squad has been charged (I had fired RF weapons so I could not), and they get wiped out, as do the Ogryns. Nothing much went on here, the Basilisks took out his demolisher that had moved up on my flank, I managed to take out the sentinel with some lucky shooting in the dark. I could not finish of the squad on my left flank. I roll for more turns - the game ends after 5.
Result - Tied Game! (6 battle points)
Notes - damn that was close. In the end it was a 71 point differential. If there has been one more turn I think I would have wrapped the game up, but "ifs" don't count in 40k! Marshall was a great opponent with a very cool army; we realized on ~turn 3 that "tactics" would play NO role in the game - it was truely a game of chance. Fives all round on the soft scores from me!
Well there ended day one. Three good games and I'm going up in the results! We all headed off to Mahoney's for a drink and food, I headed home for a good night's rest for day two...
Day 2...
On arrival at UBC I found that there has been late night gaming (crazy blighters...), and that one of the games had been on the table I bought!
Game 4
Opponent - Brian Hicks - Imperial Guard
Mission - "Dyer Straits"
Oh great I get to play on my own table! Whilst you may think this would be something I would want (and normally it would be), I was dreading playing this scenario. The Astro' system would put me as the defender... luckily I was playing against another guard army, so there was a chance I would get to be the attacker (still not a palettable choice given the "size" of my army!).
Brian had one of the most beautifully painted armies at Astro' - and there were some damn fine conversions too (his Hydra had been the "talk of the circuit" for a couple of years.). He also had a flyer...
On the roll off for attacker/defender I lost, so I get the choice I did not want! The scenario allowed me to place one HQ, all my troops (so the Last Chancers again) and a unit "of my choice". Well of course I put a Basilisk out. I also get to control the turret as a Leman Russ Battle Cannon. Everything else is held in Reserve.
Brian got to deploy his entire force 24" from his table end.
Those heavy bolter teams were going to be a pest...
Brian started his turn with the repeating Preliminary Bombardment. This scenario rule was going to prove to be VERY effective for the attacker; with at least one vehicle unable to fire each turn and my Last Chancers getting slowly shredded by d6 wounds everytime the PB hit. Brian seemed to be able to roll a lot of 6's in the first 3 turns!
The game was pretty slow for the first 3 turns - Brian would move forward, slam my lines with the Preliminary Bombardment. Brian also had a LOT of grenade launchers. These served him REALLY well, when they hit, and he did alot of damage with them. I think they will be the Guard assault weapon of choice in 5th edition. Last Chancers don't break or get pinned of course, unless Schaeffer is dead. Turn 3 my Ogryns come on.
I chose not to shoot, as with the lines bunched the way they were on my left flank I figured I could roll 2 or 3 units. The first unit gets pounded into the mud, then I roll into the next, and hit the platoon command HQ. After wiping both those out I consolidate, but for some whacky reason I don't sweep into the storm troopers that had rallied from previous turns of indirect pounding! Oops...
The following turn they would take some grenade-love in the face, plus the Vulture showed up and dropped a full ammo load on them! Ultimately they would succumb, but they held that flank for 3 rounds of combat.
On the other flank I had immobilized the Trojan first turn, and the Command Chimera in the 3rd.
The Rough Riders (beautifully converted Cold Ones!) were also a worry. I had been sniping at them for a few turns, slowly thinning their numbers. In the end they would charge the unit in the trench above and wipe them out. However, Ratling Sniper and Chimera shooting would be the end of them! Brian rolled for the end/continuation of the game - done on Turn 5. With no units in my deployment zone I won!
Result - Last Chancers Victory! (11 battle points)
Notes - that was a REALLY good game. Lucky for me the Vulture gunship did very little other than crush my Ogryns. The MVP for me was the Ordnance fire - both from the Basilisks and the defensive turrent. For Brian it has to be the "Shell Shock" (repeating Preliminary Bombardment). Not that it affects anything, but I should have had 12 battle points - I had a Basilisk between the rear and middle defensive lines, as well as the Ratlings in the front trench line.
Game 5
Opponent - Andrew "Muskie" McKay - Nurgle CSM
Mission - "Dust Off"
Ah! Muskie! What a character... Seriously, Muskie IS a character, in the nicest possible way. And a damn fine painter too.
"Dust Off" is a favourite Astro' scenario of mine - I played it last year and I was the only one of the Defenders to win from what I understand. For the attacker it can be quite a challenge (as Muskie was about to find out...) as they start with nothing on the table, and the defender everything. The objective is to get the pilot to the Valkyrie (and off the table). The trick of this one is that he is too far away to "walk" - the solution is to put him in a vehicle, have him assault a unit on the way back, or in the case of 5th Edition "run".
The above shot is about 4 turns in... the game is a Night Fight (again!). Muskie got first turn, and failed to get anything in from reserve. I jumped the pilot into one of the Chimerae, zoomed backwards 12" and stopped. The Ogryn Chimera backed up too, keeping on "point".
Turn 2... Muskie failed to roll for any of his reserves.... Ouch... The pilot jumps out and makes a 6" difficult terrain move into the complex.
Turn three - Muskie gets his havocs on! They don't have much to shoot at with bolters, and Night Fight is not helping. The pilot moves up the steps with another good DT roll, and makes it to the Valkyrie - 500VPs for me.. I've moved the Chimerae around a bit, but with no targets it is pretty quiet. I fire one Chimera at the Havocs and fire my Ratings - I think I killed 2 Havocs that round.
I'm nicely castled in the terrain, and I have no intention of leaving!
Turn four Muskie starts to get some stuff on the table - a Rhino with Plague Marines, his Lord and the Land Raider. Sadly for Muskie it is too little too late. He give one of the Basilisks a bit of a scare, and takes out about 6 Last Chancers, but the "protection" of nightfight and hard cover served me well. My Ogryns counter charge his Plague Marines, the Basilisks dropped their load on one unit, and take out the Land Raider (after previously immobilizing and stunning it)... Muskie's Dreadnought failed to show at all. At the end of turn five I rolled to see if the game would go on. Game end!
Result - Last Chancers Victory! (12 battle points)
Notes - the scenario killed Muskie - pure and simple. Oh, that and using GW dice to roll for his reserves, his plasma shots and his FnP rolls - I've never seen so many 1s!
Muskie keeps a blog too - here is his version of the game.
Game 6
Opponent - Teras Cassidy - Tyranids
Mission - "Hammer & Ambull"
I don't have any pictures of the game - I was pretty tired by the time 4pm rolled around on the Sunday!
Teras had an "odd" list. The army was beautifully painted, and in many cases very well converted; the presence of the Ripper Swarms and the Malanthrope made sense, but the Zoanthrope, the 2 Carnifexes, the "spawning pool" and the Mycetic Spores really threw the "theme" for me. I've been around tyranid players for many years, some of the best (Jeff Burcham), and this one just did not "fit" for me.
The game was going to be an odd one - H&A had been around since the beginning of Astro' from what I know. This does not excuse the PITA that those Ambulls were going to be! EVERY SINGLE ONE that popped out of the ground did so towards me. Which meant that they would be assaulting the closest unit the next turn. My units.
In the first turn I took the initiative and shot/charged the first two. Moving beyond my hatred for the Rogue Trader era monsters...
I spent a lot of time dropping ordnance rounds on Ripper swarms, mushing them to chitinous pulp. The slower monsters I was not worried about at this stage as I'd have plenty of time to shoot them later. An interesting little side combat took place on my left flank. The Ratlings got charged by the Malanthrope, and even though they lost the combat they rolled two 1s to stay in the game (needing a three as they were below half strength and under the influence of a zoanthrope's crazy brain!). My Ogryns did nothing in this game - except survive, as their Chimera was immobilized on the first turn as I attempted to leave terrain!
The game was going ALL my way - emphazied when Schaeffer got charged by a Carnifex (with only 2 wounds left) - he hefted his power sword, swung, hit twice and then did 2 wounds (needing 6s), one dead 'fex! The next turn he walked up to the other Carnifex and blew its brains out with a single plasma pistol shot!
Then turn 5 happened... Those Mycetic Spores dropped in. They took out one of my Basilisks which allowed a "trapped" ripper swarm and hormagaunts to get to my Command HQ hidden behind (the "keep 1 inch away" rule in 4th ed stopped Teras from ignoring the Basilisks and charging the HQ with the rippers through the small gap between my two Basilisks. Well this turned the game. The Malanthrope then proceeded to attack Schaeffer, who despite dieing to excessive wounds managed to stand up on his bionics for one more round of heroic battle!
He later succumbed to his wounds.. fittingly he was the Last to die...
Result - Tyranid Victory (2 battle points)
Notes - pretty good game. I could have done without the distraction of the five Ambulls... or at least the odd one going into the Tyranid line. I sensed a Xenos conspiracy!
Summary
Yet again Astronomi-Con delivered on its promise! The weekend was lots of fun; good scenarios, good players, good looking armies. I feel sorry for the Vancouver players who could not be bothered to attend especially those that whinned that "it was not 5th edition". What tripe.
Astro' is the best we have had in Vancouver in a number of years (since the GT was cut), not playing at Astro' is confessing you can't hack a balanced, yet competative tournament. Oh well more space for the guys who DO enjoy that type of event.
I was very happy with the way the table turned out, how it was received and with the excellent scenario Mike and Christian cooked up for it. Thanks guys!
In the end I finished 9th Overall (edit - this may actually be 7th, as there appears to be errors in the final ranking sheet). I got second for Best Terrain... that made a few people look at Mike and Christian a bit funny...
I won Best Appearance! Holy Cow! I got 28/30 for my painting scores, beating Brian and Muskie. Pretty happy with that!
As always thanks to the guys I played - 6 excellent fun games.
I look forward to Astro-Vancouver 2009, and possibly Astro-Nottingham. My fellow Brits will not know what hit them!
Monday, July 14, 2008
"Mutants & Scum" at Astronomi-Con Vancouver 2008 - Pt1
Astronomi-Con is Canada's premier independent 40K tournament. Best part is that is not just one, but three; held in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
This year's Vancouver event was scheduled for the weekend of 5th edition's release, and hence would be a fitting end to the era of 4th edition.
For those that have been following my blog, you'll know (and will have or will read below) about the table I was working on. When it finally got to the venue (UBC) I could see the final result!
Using my "Mutants & Scum" at Astro' would probably be the last time I play the army as-is. It really is not viable for 5th edition (it was not that great for 4th...), so they will now be incorporated into my Guard army generally.
This was the force I took, their display base is an extension of the table
This year's Vancouver event was scheduled for the weekend of 5th edition's release, and hence would be a fitting end to the era of 4th edition.
For those that have been following my blog, you'll know (and will have or will read below) about the table I was working on. When it finally got to the venue (UBC) I could see the final result!
Using my "Mutants & Scum" at Astro' would probably be the last time I play the army as-is. It really is not viable for 5th edition (it was not that great for 4th...), so they will now be incorporated into my Guard army generally.
This was the force I took, their display base is an extension of the table
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Terrain Project - Complete!
Yep - it is done - and here are the pictures to prove it!
[I'll try to get better ones on Friday, once the table is set up at Astro, and out of my dungeon of a garage!]
the whole thing...
and this will be my display/movement tray
[I'll try to get better ones on Friday, once the table is set up at Astro, and out of my dungeon of a garage!]
the whole thing...
and this will be my display/movement tray
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Terrain Project - Part 2
So, sorry for the lack of updates - I *have* been working on the table, but I've also been distracted by a leaking hot-tub that has to be fixed (the hot tub is elevated and imbedded in our deck - the deck has rotted out [who the frak uses untreated wood for supports in an arboreal rainforest zone?], and is to be replaced later this summer).
I've been working on the table in the garage (relegating my Santa Fe to the driveway to get regular doses of bird poop from the overhanging tree...). As of last night I had some really bad photographs of ~1/3 of the table complete. The layout is done, and about half the foam cutting is completed. I'm hoping to do some more this afternoon - and with the nice weather finally being here I can open the garage door for some light!
Casting rates are a bit of a limitation right now - I have one mould to build, and about 10 pieces to come out of another. Working with HydroStone has been a great experience. I'm liking the way it pours, sets up, and retains the details from the mould. Working with it post-hardening is also easy - it cuts and sands a lot better than resin (ie faster!) so fitting pieces is pretty easy. Besides, HydroStone is about 1/10th the cost of resin!
The Layout shots - this is the time you can make mistakes!
The first cuts and insertions - no time for mistakes now!
I've been working on the table in the garage (relegating my Santa Fe to the driveway to get regular doses of bird poop from the overhanging tree...). As of last night I had some really bad photographs of ~1/3 of the table complete. The layout is done, and about half the foam cutting is completed. I'm hoping to do some more this afternoon - and with the nice weather finally being here I can open the garage door for some light!
Casting rates are a bit of a limitation right now - I have one mould to build, and about 10 pieces to come out of another. Working with HydroStone has been a great experience. I'm liking the way it pours, sets up, and retains the details from the mould. Working with it post-hardening is also easy - it cuts and sands a lot better than resin (ie faster!) so fitting pieces is pretty easy. Besides, HydroStone is about 1/10th the cost of resin!
The Layout shots - this is the time you can make mistakes!
The first cuts and insertions - no time for mistakes now!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Terrain Project - table for Astronomi-con Vancouver
So far this blog has focused on model painting. Let's be fair, that is what I enjoy most about the hobby; creating cool figures to take to high level tournaments and having fun with them.
Now, if I had the time, and the space, I'd probably spend a whole lot more effort (and money!) on terrain building. Frankly my motivation for terrain building is limited. Whilst I do like it (and I am pretty good at it) I've been spoiled by the local community. Checkpoint Charlie's had a great selection of terrain, both built by the guys who played there, and bought from local "professional" builder. These days I have the pleasure of playing at The Showroom, where Thor has produced some of the best terrain in the country.
Astronomi-con is coming to Vancouver in a few weeks. Part of their "show" is for locals to bring a table to the event. Not only is this cool, it also saves the organizers from shipping terrain all over the country! Even better - they award a prize for the Best Table.
I've been in discussion with the Astro' organizers and we have agreed on a table. I'm not going to reveal the details now, but I'll take teaser shots as it comes together. More to come tomorrow (when I get started on the basics).
Now, if I had the time, and the space, I'd probably spend a whole lot more effort (and money!) on terrain building. Frankly my motivation for terrain building is limited. Whilst I do like it (and I am pretty good at it) I've been spoiled by the local community. Checkpoint Charlie's had a great selection of terrain, both built by the guys who played there, and bought from local "professional" builder. These days I have the pleasure of playing at The Showroom, where Thor has produced some of the best terrain in the country.
Astronomi-con is coming to Vancouver in a few weeks. Part of their "show" is for locals to bring a table to the event. Not only is this cool, it also saves the organizers from shipping terrain all over the country! Even better - they award a prize for the Best Table.
I've been in discussion with the Astro' organizers and we have agreed on a table. I'm not going to reveal the details now, but I'll take teaser shots as it comes together. More to come tomorrow (when I get started on the basics).
Thursday, May 29, 2008
"Mutants & Scum" at the Canadian GT
The morning of Friday May 23rd saw five BC boys meeting at Vancouver International Airport for our flight to Toronto. Myself, Nick Daniels (Guard), Danny Hope (Necrons), Carson Sawatasky (Nurgle CSM) and Josh Steinhider (Tyranids). Our flight was pretty uneventful - Nick and I sat together, but could not get the movies to work on his laptop. We spent most of the flight bs-ing! We picked up our Aspen at the airport and proceeded to use Nick's rather useful GPS system to get us the 21km to Oakville... should have been 19 minutes (mapquest), took about 40. Let me tell you how I love the GTA...
After a quick trip to the HQ (which was mostly closed) we headed to our spiffy hotel, grabbed a bite at Wendy's and then played poker for a couple of ours. I was 3rd!
Saturday morning we gathered bleary-eyed (it was 5am PST...) loaded our armies and headed over to the Battle Bunker.
Just the day before we left I had finished the army. I was pretty happy with the end result (the models had gone past that "ass-phase" that painters often get to with their projects where they doubt the finished product will be anything but "ass"!). I'll probably do some more highlighting before Astronomi-Con Vancouver.
The full army list and backgrounder can be found here.
The Chimera came out nicely. I've switched airbrushes (to a Paasche), and whilst it is nice, I'm not at quite the same level of control I was with the Aztec; I really should get it fixed!
The Ogryns look good based.
And here are the 22 Last Chancers! I went with the classic DA Green Flak (Carapace in game terms) over Black fatigues. Weapons were kept simple - just metal - there has been none of that regimental "personalization" we see in regular Guard units.
and a close up...
This is the Command Squad with their 3 Basilisks. The rear doors on both the FW variants are hinged (bloody pain to do!) and detailed inside.
And last (the two M&S Chimerae are below), and least (!) the ratlings.
Game 1 - yes I was there to play games!
Opponent - Josh Curtis - Eldar
Mission - Head Hunt (kill the HQ!)
I've seen Josh on the GT Circuit for about 4 years now; he brings hard armies and has gotten progressively better as a player as he has matured. This army was no exception. THREE units of Pathfinders and 2 Fire Prisms. As soon as he deployed his Pathfinders in a building, to get a 2+ cover save, I knew I was pretty much doomed! Even with 3 Basilisks I was going to have a hard time winkling those guys out of there. I did a fair bit of damage to his force, but with the death of my HQ, the loss of a deep striking anti-tank unit to "drift", and the expensive Pathfinders staying above 50% I was unable to withstand the withering fire that I was on the receiving end of.
Result - Eldar Victory (Victorious Slaughter)
Notes - Josh played pretty straight up - there were a few times he moved through is own bases and I'm not convinced his measuring was 100% accurate!
Game 2
Opponent - Chris Orr - Black Templar
Mission - Scouting Engagement (escalation...)
Chris and I are old aquaintances - I have played against him one other time at GTs (where he barely beat my Armoured Company). He plays a drop-poding BT army, which is quite unusual, and can throw a lot of players off their guard, as he has some ground elements in there to engage you early. Escalation was going to hurt me, that and no infiltrate. I got my Ratlings and most of my Last Chancers in place, but kept a unit back in reserve. I was quick to do wounds to Chris' units (breaking his devastator squad in 2 turns), but the "flee forward" rule BTs have meant Chris was able to engage my LCs pretty quickly. Whilst his reserves were slow coming in, their ability to come in on turn 5/6 and take table quarters was my undoing.
Result - Black Templar Victory (Victorious Slaughter)
Notes - good fun game - thought I might pull out a tie on this one until a dreadnought dropped on my head on turn 5 and the unit pictured above engaged with the CC Dreadnought finally sucumbed after 3 rounds of combat.
Game 3
Opponent - Chadi Faraj - 13th Company
Mission - Enemy's Pride
Sadly I have no pictures of Chadi's army. Needless to say, like most of the work he has done it was well converted and had a cool paint scheme. Chadi is one of those "larger than life" gamers; loud, obnoxious (in a good way!) and loads of fun to play against. His attitude PO's some people, but after ~120 GT games I can pretty much take anything (other than that guy who was chewing and spitting tobacco... ::shudder::). Knowing 13th Co as I do I knew I had 2 ways to play this game - form a gun line and let him come to me... or get stuck in and try to tie him up and let the big guns do their work. Guess which I chose? Yep, the wrong one! Chadi got the first turn, so my LCs who infiltrated got into combat that same turn... ug-ly! His army moved so fast that I was unable to use the LCs as FOOs (as I'd been playing all day) forcing me to have the Basilisks push their way through the jungle (one immobilized of course) and engage his forces directly...
Result - 13th Company Victory (Victorious Slaughter)
Notes - LOADS of fun! Chadi got my favourite opponent vote at the end of the event
So there ended day 1 - bloody but not broken - I'd have another 2 games to get my "one win"! We headed off to the Outback Steakhouse and then off for the night's entertainment...
Day 2!
Even more bleary-eyed from the night out we hit the Bunker full of zeal for the last 2 games (!)
Game 4
Opponent - Dustin Perejma - Space Marines (Swift Like the Wind trait)
Mission - Personal Objectives.
Dustin had a pretty cool army. On first look most people thought it was a Ravenwing list, but we spotted some things that did not belong in that list. Also he had converted them up to be Legion of the Damned models - pretty sweet!
The battle was to and fro; I was happy with the way things were going for me. Dustin's dice roles for dangerous terrain were horrible! He lost his Librarian to a pair of 1's... I was able to kill quite a lot of his bikes, but my heavy weapons failed me when they most needed to kill bikes (the lascannon could not hit anything all game). Of course every time Dustin detached his techmarine from a unit they proceeded to fail their to hit rolls, and when he was attached the re-roll was not needed... yep, it was one of those games!
Fittingly Schaeffer was the last man left alive.
Result - Legion of the Damned Victory (Solid)
Notes - Good game, lots of missed opportunities, and a fair result. Dustin played it straight up, and he did not realize my "handicap" I was playing with of the Last Chancers acting as fire controllers for the Basilisks until I pointed it out at game end.
Game 5
Opponent - Doug Beverage - Imperial Guard
Mission - Secure and Control (and avoid being the Worst General!)
Doug is another player that I have known for a number of years and I've been at five events with him in the past. The only time I have played him though was at the GT last year, where he beat down my non-shooty tyranid army. Doug plays a mechanized, and Canadian themed, army.. This time he chose to bring 2 demolishers. I have no idea why! He had very little long range fire power on the table, and when I got first turn and took out his sentinals he had even less...
With only 3 objective markers on the table, this was not going to a close game.
Doug chose NOT to move his demolishers forward, but sideways, allowing my basilisks to target them indirectly with ease - every turn. I managed to stun or immobilize 2 of his transports in the second turn, and the third blasted towards my lines. To Doug's credit he had the right idea with that. Get amongst my basilisks and use the storm trooper's melta guns to blow them up. Sadly his dice failed him, my ogryns shot the unit to pieces and they were trapped, and therefore wiped out on their fall back. This is the ONLY time this has happened for me in 4th edition!
In the end I held 2 of the 3 objectives, had lost one Basilisk and 6 Last Chancers, with all my sub-units remaining as scoring. Doug had an immobilzed demolisher left.
Result - Mutants & Scum Victory (Victorious Slaughter!)
Notes - His game was pretty much summed up by a Ord 6 roll on his Ogryn filled Chimera in turn 3, and my melta/plasma LC squad deep striking at a point 4" from the table edge and between a demolisher and a chimera - 5" to either side. They drifted and stopped 3" behind his demolisher... I hate putting the beat down on a player like that, but Doug just had the wrong fit for my army and he was in a foul mood during the game! Besides, I really did not want to be labeled the worst general.
Summary
So the weekend was lots of fun. I think the guys who came out to experience the GT for the first time had mixed feelings. They enjoyed the games, but felt disappointed at the painting and sportsmanship scores they received. There is local bias when a BC player goes to Toronto - I've felt it in the past myself. But after playing as the "visitor" so many times I've either gotton used to it, or adapted to overcome it. This was my 24th GT, so I have a thick skin!
In the end I finished 20th Overall, and 9th in Sportsmanship (thanks to whomever voted me their favourite opponent). Congratulations to all the winners, and my thanks to all those I played against.
GW Canada's coverage can be found here.
I'd like to thank Cory Burns for organizing the event so well (as usual). He is leaving GW after Games Day and will be missed by gamers all over Canada. Best of luck to you Cory!
After a quick trip to the HQ (which was mostly closed) we headed to our spiffy hotel, grabbed a bite at Wendy's and then played poker for a couple of ours. I was 3rd!
Saturday morning we gathered bleary-eyed (it was 5am PST...) loaded our armies and headed over to the Battle Bunker.
Just the day before we left I had finished the army. I was pretty happy with the end result (the models had gone past that "ass-phase" that painters often get to with their projects where they doubt the finished product will be anything but "ass"!). I'll probably do some more highlighting before Astronomi-Con Vancouver.
The full army list and backgrounder can be found here.
The Chimera came out nicely. I've switched airbrushes (to a Paasche), and whilst it is nice, I'm not at quite the same level of control I was with the Aztec; I really should get it fixed!
The Ogryns look good based.
And here are the 22 Last Chancers! I went with the classic DA Green Flak (Carapace in game terms) over Black fatigues. Weapons were kept simple - just metal - there has been none of that regimental "personalization" we see in regular Guard units.
and a close up...
This is the Command Squad with their 3 Basilisks. The rear doors on both the FW variants are hinged (bloody pain to do!) and detailed inside.
And last (the two M&S Chimerae are below), and least (!) the ratlings.
Game 1 - yes I was there to play games!
Opponent - Josh Curtis - Eldar
Mission - Head Hunt (kill the HQ!)
I've seen Josh on the GT Circuit for about 4 years now; he brings hard armies and has gotten progressively better as a player as he has matured. This army was no exception. THREE units of Pathfinders and 2 Fire Prisms. As soon as he deployed his Pathfinders in a building, to get a 2+ cover save, I knew I was pretty much doomed! Even with 3 Basilisks I was going to have a hard time winkling those guys out of there. I did a fair bit of damage to his force, but with the death of my HQ, the loss of a deep striking anti-tank unit to "drift", and the expensive Pathfinders staying above 50% I was unable to withstand the withering fire that I was on the receiving end of.
Result - Eldar Victory (Victorious Slaughter)
Notes - Josh played pretty straight up - there were a few times he moved through is own bases and I'm not convinced his measuring was 100% accurate!
Game 2
Opponent - Chris Orr - Black Templar
Mission - Scouting Engagement (escalation...)
Chris and I are old aquaintances - I have played against him one other time at GTs (where he barely beat my Armoured Company). He plays a drop-poding BT army, which is quite unusual, and can throw a lot of players off their guard, as he has some ground elements in there to engage you early. Escalation was going to hurt me, that and no infiltrate. I got my Ratlings and most of my Last Chancers in place, but kept a unit back in reserve. I was quick to do wounds to Chris' units (breaking his devastator squad in 2 turns), but the "flee forward" rule BTs have meant Chris was able to engage my LCs pretty quickly. Whilst his reserves were slow coming in, their ability to come in on turn 5/6 and take table quarters was my undoing.
Result - Black Templar Victory (Victorious Slaughter)
Notes - good fun game - thought I might pull out a tie on this one until a dreadnought dropped on my head on turn 5 and the unit pictured above engaged with the CC Dreadnought finally sucumbed after 3 rounds of combat.
Game 3
Opponent - Chadi Faraj - 13th Company
Mission - Enemy's Pride
Sadly I have no pictures of Chadi's army. Needless to say, like most of the work he has done it was well converted and had a cool paint scheme. Chadi is one of those "larger than life" gamers; loud, obnoxious (in a good way!) and loads of fun to play against. His attitude PO's some people, but after ~120 GT games I can pretty much take anything (other than that guy who was chewing and spitting tobacco... ::shudder::). Knowing 13th Co as I do I knew I had 2 ways to play this game - form a gun line and let him come to me... or get stuck in and try to tie him up and let the big guns do their work. Guess which I chose? Yep, the wrong one! Chadi got the first turn, so my LCs who infiltrated got into combat that same turn... ug-ly! His army moved so fast that I was unable to use the LCs as FOOs (as I'd been playing all day) forcing me to have the Basilisks push their way through the jungle (one immobilized of course) and engage his forces directly...
Result - 13th Company Victory (Victorious Slaughter)
Notes - LOADS of fun! Chadi got my favourite opponent vote at the end of the event
So there ended day 1 - bloody but not broken - I'd have another 2 games to get my "one win"! We headed off to the Outback Steakhouse and then off for the night's entertainment...
Day 2!
Even more bleary-eyed from the night out we hit the Bunker full of zeal for the last 2 games (!)
Game 4
Opponent - Dustin Perejma - Space Marines (Swift Like the Wind trait)
Mission - Personal Objectives.
Dustin had a pretty cool army. On first look most people thought it was a Ravenwing list, but we spotted some things that did not belong in that list. Also he had converted them up to be Legion of the Damned models - pretty sweet!
The battle was to and fro; I was happy with the way things were going for me. Dustin's dice roles for dangerous terrain were horrible! He lost his Librarian to a pair of 1's... I was able to kill quite a lot of his bikes, but my heavy weapons failed me when they most needed to kill bikes (the lascannon could not hit anything all game). Of course every time Dustin detached his techmarine from a unit they proceeded to fail their to hit rolls, and when he was attached the re-roll was not needed... yep, it was one of those games!
Fittingly Schaeffer was the last man left alive.
Result - Legion of the Damned Victory (Solid)
Notes - Good game, lots of missed opportunities, and a fair result. Dustin played it straight up, and he did not realize my "handicap" I was playing with of the Last Chancers acting as fire controllers for the Basilisks until I pointed it out at game end.
Game 5
Opponent - Doug Beverage - Imperial Guard
Mission - Secure and Control (and avoid being the Worst General!)
Doug is another player that I have known for a number of years and I've been at five events with him in the past. The only time I have played him though was at the GT last year, where he beat down my non-shooty tyranid army. Doug plays a mechanized, and Canadian themed, army.. This time he chose to bring 2 demolishers. I have no idea why! He had very little long range fire power on the table, and when I got first turn and took out his sentinals he had even less...
With only 3 objective markers on the table, this was not going to a close game.
Doug chose NOT to move his demolishers forward, but sideways, allowing my basilisks to target them indirectly with ease - every turn. I managed to stun or immobilize 2 of his transports in the second turn, and the third blasted towards my lines. To Doug's credit he had the right idea with that. Get amongst my basilisks and use the storm trooper's melta guns to blow them up. Sadly his dice failed him, my ogryns shot the unit to pieces and they were trapped, and therefore wiped out on their fall back. This is the ONLY time this has happened for me in 4th edition!
In the end I held 2 of the 3 objectives, had lost one Basilisk and 6 Last Chancers, with all my sub-units remaining as scoring. Doug had an immobilzed demolisher left.
Result - Mutants & Scum Victory (Victorious Slaughter!)
Notes - His game was pretty much summed up by a Ord 6 roll on his Ogryn filled Chimera in turn 3, and my melta/plasma LC squad deep striking at a point 4" from the table edge and between a demolisher and a chimera - 5" to either side. They drifted and stopped 3" behind his demolisher... I hate putting the beat down on a player like that, but Doug just had the wrong fit for my army and he was in a foul mood during the game! Besides, I really did not want to be labeled the worst general.
Summary
So the weekend was lots of fun. I think the guys who came out to experience the GT for the first time had mixed feelings. They enjoyed the games, but felt disappointed at the painting and sportsmanship scores they received. There is local bias when a BC player goes to Toronto - I've felt it in the past myself. But after playing as the "visitor" so many times I've either gotton used to it, or adapted to overcome it. This was my 24th GT, so I have a thick skin!
In the end I finished 20th Overall, and 9th in Sportsmanship (thanks to whomever voted me their favourite opponent). Congratulations to all the winners, and my thanks to all those I played against.
GW Canada's coverage can be found here.
I'd like to thank Cory Burns for organizing the event so well (as usual). He is leaving GW after Games Day and will be missed by gamers all over Canada. Best of luck to you Cory!
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