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Ball and Chain is a hobby tournament run once a year. There are certain special limitations to each army list as follows:
1. Army size is limited to 750 points
2. You may only have 1 unit per force org slot (except for troops), plus one additional unit in either fast, heavy or elite
3. All units have to be different in some way (unit size, equipment etc)
4. No cheese – TO’s vet all lists for ‘cheese’ before the tourney
The event ran for 1 full day, where 54 gamers bashed out 5 games each with time limits of 1Hr 15mins per game (so very few photos – sorry!).

Battle 1 – Pitched battle (vs Chaos Marines) - You are here
Battle 2 – Spearhead (vs Space Marines) - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/401949.page
Battle 3 - Dawn Of War (vs Imperial Guard) - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/403019.page
Battle 4 – Pitched battle (vs Blood Angels) - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/403668.page#3439519
Battle 5 - Spearhead (vs Daemons) - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/415717.page#3659065

Ok, so now you know what the tourney is about, here is the list I took:
Tyranid Prime – Deathspitter and Dual Boneswords
Tyranid Warriors (4) – 1 barbed Strangler, 3 deathspitters
Hormagaunts (18) – Poison and adrenal glands
Termagants (10)
Gargoyles (10)
Hive Guard (2)
Zoeys (2)



My main concern with this list going into the tourney was whether or not I would finish games on time, and what my inexperience with the game thus far would open me up to...

Battle 1 – Pitched battle (vs Chaos Marines)

Primary objective: Annihilation
Secondary Objective: Capture and Control
Opponent – Chaos Marines

Lord
Assault marines - Rhino
Tac marines – Rhino
Vindicator
Dreadnaught – Plasma Cannon, mace and flamer

This match up was always going to be bloody. My main fear was that he would just back away from me as I advanced, and then counter assault me once he’d whittled me down. He won first turn, and I failed to seize.

Turn one – His dreadnaught went into a frenzy and moved forward on my right flank. The Rhino’s moved up next to him. His Vindicator moved up on my left flank and took a pot shot at my Hive Guard, missing everything.

My swarm moved forwards, the gargoyles landing on the landing platform in the centre, whilst the rest moved tentatively towards his army. My left flank moved away from his vindicator, towards my right. Shooting had minor impact, destroying one Rhino with my Hive Guard and Zoeys.

Turn two - His dreadnaught and rhino continued to move forward, whilst his marines backed off a bit, the rhino popping smoke. His Vindicator, dreadnaught and marines took pot shots at me with little effect (a few gaunts/gargoyles died).

My Gargoyles landed behind his marines, and my hormies moved in for the kill. My left flank continued to move away from the viindicator. Shooting from the Zoeys and Hive guard saw the dreadnaught get immobilised, and have its mace/flamer arm blown off. The gargoyles and hormagaunts then assaulted in killing all but one marine who promptly fled.





Turn three - His lord and assault marines unloaded into the hormies and gargoyles, which ended with me killing most of his assault marines, and him killing all my hormies and gargoyles. Combined fire from the vindicator and the dreadnaught finally succeeded in killing one hiveguard.

I advanced my swarm, firing on his assault marines with my deathspitters and taking out the remaining marines.





Turn four - He decided to assault his lord into my Tyranid Prime and warriors after having little success with his shooting (again). The Prime and lord swung at the same time, his Lords mass of attacks shredding my Prime, who in his dying throes managed to nick the lord with his boneswords - draining his life essence and killing him in return.

In my turn, my warriors advanced on his objective, whilst my Zoeys and Hive Guard doubled back to deal with his pesky vindicator. The Zoeys struck home, blowing it up with a spectacular display of psychic energy. With an immobilised dreadnaught and one rhino left, Chaos conceded at this time.

1 Game down, 1 Win to the Hive.

Stay tuned for the rest!

Very nice win. I love these low points games because it really changes the overall strategy. I think at this point level a footslogging list has a ton of advantages.

Nice win! Looks like both armies looked great on the table, I love when that happens. I also really like the idea of this tournament...I already e-mailed my FLGS to try and get them to copy it. Small games are fun! I can't wait to see the other 4.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments.

@ Doomface81 - definitely a good idea - the day was immense fun for all involved!

Next battle report is up to - Battle 2 – Spearhead (vs Space Marines) - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/401949.page

Stay tuned for post game analysis of both reports! Plus three more reports to come (Imperial Guard, Blood Angels and Demons!)