So the weekend is over and we're all done! 6th overall, tied 2nd in battle, 2nd in sports and middle of the pack for paint (around 7/10) and comp (6/10). Let's just focus on the 2nd in battle with Nids and laugh at everyone but Rohnan who beat me :P.Anyway, to the event. Much better than two years ago re: paint, missions and comp. Paint score was much more transparent and consistent with other scores I've gotten over the years with the same army. Kudos to Alex there :). Comp was still amusing, clearly some misconceptions of what a good army is for some of the judges (which were not the TOs I believe but 'experts' not associated with the tournament) but the combined aspect ranked the armies in what was a rough appropriate order I felt. Missions were beyond better than they were last year (a reason I didn't attend) though still having a draw mission without a differentiating secondary was annoying. Either way, kudos there for improvements in that specifically and overall.
So some quick battle re-caps. I'll ask now, do you want the full battle reports or not? They're 5th edition so...I doubt interest is as high but still might get some enjoyment/tactical lessons from them.
Game 1 vs Jason Collins, Blood Angels
Five set objectives set up like a plus. Objectives in DZ counted as three ONLY for opposing player; zero for controlling (i.e. your DZ objectives counts as 0, midfield count as 1, in enemy DZ counts as 3).
Jason was using Vince's Blood Angels - MCs + Genes will be key to taking down those ASM in combat but those missiles can hurt my MCs from afar. Made a bit of a booboo my not bubble-wrapping my rear which allowed Vanguard Vets to deepstrike and take out a Tervigon but mass MCs supported by dakkafex/Termagant/Hive Guard firepower was able to help thin the ASM ranks. This allowed Genestealers to clear the entire left flank basically alone which left most of my army to deal with about half-two/thirds of his on the right. Aka, too many MCs for the ASM to deal with nor could they break thruogh the bubble-wrap.
Jason therefore went for dropping as many of my Troops as possible but forgot Genestealers were scoring as well and the final Tervigon was hidden out of sight. Amusing argument at end game if Tervigon was holding an objective - I thought I needed it for a full victory whilst Jason thought I needed it just to win the game. We were both wrong :P.
Game 2 vs Rohnan Browne, Space Marines
Four objectives in centre of quarters, four kill points chosen by you. Combination of each = final score. Greatest final score = winner.
This was going to be a tough game - three AV14 vehicles and 15 2+ save models which can get out ofsuch and assault after moving. That's the kicker as I can do no shooting wounds before hand so I need to force them out to assault something else or block them in. The issue here is since I would lose a shooting war significantly and thus have need to cross the board in some fashion. Luckily I bait Rohnan out to assault me midfield and he realises he's out of range so keeps his Terminators inside - I have a chance to MC smash them open so I surround a Land Raider and throw some MCs + Rupture Cannon shots around. Lives and the result is a losing attrition battle against TH/SS + Land Raiders (which break up formations enough to get MCs + Gants into No Retreat losing situations). I drop around 10 of the Terminators and two of the Land Raiders in the end, but too little too late and basically get tabled as game goes to seven turns.
Game 3 vs Mitchell Corrigan, Grey Knights
Pure Draighowing. Oh and a Vindicare. Sigh. And a mission based on VP (200+ for win). Secondary is quarters.
This is going to be a simple game of dropping a line of Termagants in front of the Paladins and focus fire one squad at the time. Very boring unfortuntately, sorry Mitchell! Through shooting and some key assaults I drop two of the Paladin squads but the other squad was able to attrition away enough as the game went on which kept the VP for both sides very close. I won the secondary easily though with lots of of Termagants spreading out for different table quarters.
Game 4 vs Scott Norwood, Space Wolves
Mission Draw - Capture & Control with Pitched.
Foot Space Wolves with Njal - interesting as Rhinos or Logan for more CML Wolf Guard (+ second Drop Pod) would have made this much more potent. Regardless, Jaws + lots of shooting = bad for Nids. Scott puts Njal on the front line though and I go for an aggressive infiltrate with Genestealers to try and punish this - it works and I nab Njal but lose the Stealers which hurts my ability to drop the mass of Grey Hunters. In the end, 40 Grey Hunters + Wolf Guard + mass missiles/lascannons attritions away my army (and his) and we end up with our own objective each plus secondary each.
If Njal had been in the 2nd line, much different game where I would have played very defensively until I could reach him in combat (if I could) and not pushed his objective. Silly mistake by Scott :p.
Game 5 vs Vincent Venstov, Orks
Kill Points with Dawn of War.
Ah another game against Vince. Will the great streak be undone? Wrong army to do it with unfortunately. Vince deploys slightly off centre which allows me to deploy in the usual central position, spread my shooting on wings and get sideshots on all the Battlewagons. Don't do much damage early but his Orks can only swipe at Termagant bubble-wrap (but he can't even kill one squad despite 25 wounds. I saved 12. 12. Yes TWELVE on a 6+. Seven more on FNP). The resulting counter-attack earns a bunch of Kill Points but Vince kept a couple squads as a second wave which can now punch through to my important stuff and drops a few of them. Too little too late though and I sail ahead on Kill Points the next turn and time is called though Vince has little remaining unfortunately.
Conclusion
An amusing array of armies, all lower comped than mine and all bar the pure Draigowing were at least relatively decent lists. Vince's list was probably the easiest for me to deal with, poor Vincey! Two rocks and Njal were annoying to deal with though - always happens with Tyranids :p but happy to pull out wins/winning draws minus the game against Rohnan.
All good games and was a nice weekend. Fun to bring out the Tyranids again as 5th edition dies and show they weren't terribly terrible. Nice to get some practice games against half the NSW ATC team as well!
Hopefully with 6th coming we can see the end of comp though. I mean everyone has access to some form of Allies, minus Tyranids poor guys, but I highly doubt it. I bet more comp will see use against the unfluffy/broken ally combos....even though some really good combinations are also really fluffy. We shall see! Onward to 6th (and the ATC)!
