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This was Adepticon’s 7th year, and my 6th year attending (I missed 2005, after moving to California). STILL the best tournament I’ve ever attended, and run by some of the most capable organizers and players in the country. Hat’s off to everyone involved!

Travel was pleasantly uneventful this year. United was paying for my ticket, after delaying my trip home last year, which made it fairly simple to pick a flight. Some minor delays in San Francisco (high winds were preventing the catering truck from elevating to outfit the plane; eventually, the crew hand-carried about 6 cases of drinks onboard), so arrived in Chicago at about 11:45 PM; it was a little after 1:00 AM on Friday by the time I go to the hotel. Caught up with the rest of Dakka Detachment 1, and learned that even expensive noise-cancellation headphones are no match for the sonic attacks of a snoring roommate. Next year: $2 earplugs.

The first event, for me, was the Gladiator. I have something of a love-hate relationship with the Gladiator: most years go fairly poorly, and the one year where I was actually in contention, Centurian99 jinxed my dice quite effectively, preventing me from rolling Siren even once on 12d6. I skipped it last year, in favor of WHFB Devestation. This year, I decided to return to 40k, as it provides an excellent warm-up before the team tournament on Saturday.

Besides, I had bought a new toy.

My list:



Eldar:
Eldrad
Prince Yriel

10 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/2 cats, Defend, Bladestorm
--Wave Serpent, Bright Lance & Spirit Stones

10 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/2 cats, Defend, Bladestorm
--Wave Serpent, Bright Lance & Spirit Stones

10 Storm Guardians, 2 Fusion Guns, Warlock w/Spear & Embolden
--Wave Serpent, Scatter Laser & Spirit Stones

3 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon, Warlock w/Embolden

Fire Prism, Shuricannon

Fire Prism, Shuricannon

Cobra w/Bright Lance

I loved the Cobra model, and this provided the necessary excuse to procure one.

One of the sad truths about this army: it attracts, by far, the most positive painting comments of anything I’ve ever painted. It does this in spite of being incomplete, and in spite of requiring one-tenth the effort of anything else. Pretty metallic airbrushing nets positive results, I guess.


Round 1:
My first round finds me paired up against Neil Cauley and his orks. I seem to have misplaced Neil’s exact list, but it goes a little like this:

Big Mek w/KFF
Warboss on Bike
7x Nob Biker Buddies
7x Nob Bikers
Unit of Grots (smallish)
Unit of Grots (smallish)
Unit of Burna Boyz (small)
Killa Kan
Killa Kan
Goff Stompa

For those not aware, the Goff Stompa is cheap (450 pts), carries 30 models, and has a 12” move/12” assault. Minor guns. I may have left something out; not everything disembarked from the Goff Stompa during our game.

The mission:
Old RTT-style diagonal deployment zones, Night Fight all game. (Someday, the Eldar will discover headlight technology, and then the universe is DOOMED!)

Objectives:
Primary: Control the Battlefield (center of the board objective, have to have a scoring unit w/in 3” of it unopposed for a full player turn).
Secondary: Victory Points, 225 pt margin
Tertiary: Kill the enemy commander

Bonuses for being in the enemy deployment zone, and holding terrain.

From the Primer missions, I had expected a mission like this. I even had a plan – go first, park skimmers all around the center, and snag a quick point or two. Unfortunately, my plan hit a snag quick – I didn’t get to go first. (The stompa holds the Big Mek, 2 Kans, a small Grot unit, and the burna boyz.)


And then a Stompa with Grots on board walked onto the objective, and I knew it was going to be one of those games.

Neil boosted the bikes out to the flanks.

My turn 1, and the only thing I do right is to move an (empty) wave serpent up to w/in 3” of the objective, to prevent him from snagging a Primary point. Yriel, for some reason, decides to charge the Nobs w/Warboss, and dies for his efforts. I keep everything nicely clustered to let him charge a WHOLE BUNCH of stuff next turn.

And he does:



After resolution, I lose the Wave Serpent on the objective (to a charging Killa Kan), the dismounted the Dire Avengers (who formerly hung out with Yriel in the Wave Serpent), the Wave Serpent belonging to the OTHER Dire Avengers, AND a Fire Prism. Some very nice 6’s to hit rolling by Neil and his power klaws.

My turn 2 sees the Storm Guardian’s wave serpent moving up to contest (Stormies on board), and my surviving Dire Avengers bladestorming some nob bikers, with an assist from the Cobra. Killed 3 or 4 of them, and they actually broke (out of range of the Stompa). (Of course, they fled directly back into range of the Stompa, and so regrouped the following turn.) No other shooting of significance.

Turn 3: the broken Nobs auto-rally, and take their 3” consolidation. A second Killa Kan pops out of the Stompa, along with the grots – the Stompa wants to chase the Cobra. The Storm Guardian’s wave serpent is destroyed in HtH, and Neil is reminded of how emergency disembarkation works – the Guardians & Eldrad evacuate through the forward hull, no casualties. The Stompa rolls a single hit against the Cobra…which is negated by the Titan Holofields.

My turn 3: The Cobra puts a “drive damaged” hit on the Stompa, which is a small help. I’ve got one shot at glory here – the Guardians & Eldrad spread out to shoot the Nobs & multicharge the Nobs and Grots. A fusion gun puts down a Nob, and the Grots are largely wiped out, with the remnants fleeing…but the Nobs make their modified leadership roll, and hang out. Oh well. (I think my Jetbikes come in this turn; they play no significant part in the game.)

Turn 4: The Stompa turns around. The Nobs over on the left turn kombi-skorchas on my last unit of Dire Avengers, who oblige Neil by dying to a man. The Stompa, 2 Killa Kans, and the remaining Nob bikers pile it on, and kill the last Guardian or two, plus the accompanying Warlock. Eldrad hangs around.


My turn 4: Nothing significant happens. Eldrad still hangs around.


Turn 5: The Stompa gets bored with Eldrad, and wanders off, in search of my last living Fire Prism. Eldrad hangs around. (Bad things happen to my Jetbikes, courtesy of the last couple other Nob Bikers.)

My turn 5: Eldrad’s guard slips, and he takes a powerklaw to the face. The Nobs consolidate to w/in 3” of the primary objective…
…but the game ends on turn 5, denying Neil the primary.

He takes the secondary & tertiary, plus both tactical points. He played well, and made no mistakes sufficient to let me sneak anything in there. And it never hurts to have an assault-oriented superheavy sitting on the objective, right?

Yriel’s death was a mistake, which brought the Nobs into multicharge range on turn 2. Otherwise, barring some catastrophic superheavy explosions, I didn’t expect to win this one, once I lost first turn. Neil was much to canny to leave the objective exposed.

But it was a tremendously fun game – the center objective forced us into conflict, and denied me the effective (but not fun) tactic of just dancing around at extreme ranges. Night Fight contributed to that a few times, as well.

nice report been hearing a lot of fun stories coming out of Adepticon.

Round 2:
With all stress surgically removed, courtesy of Dr. Neil’s powerklaws, I was looking forward to 3 more interesting games. I wasn’t disappointed.

Round 2 brought me to Ben Boggs’ Tyranid invasion.



I actually retained a copy of Ben’s army list:

Hive Tyrant (Dakka pattern, walking, extended carapace)
Hive Tyrant (Dakka pattern, walking, extended carapace)
9 Tyranid Warriors (Deathspitters)
Elite Carnifex (Dakkafex)
Elite Carnifex (Dakkafex)
20 Spinefist Gaunts
21 Spinefist Gaunts
16 Fleshborer Gaunts
15 Fleshborer Gaunts
15 Fleshborer Gaunts
10 Ripper Swarms (+1 to S)
Ravener
Ravener
Ravener
Carnifex (Barbed Strangler/Venom Cannon)
3 Zoanthropes (Synapse, Warp Blast)
Trygon

A literal wave of models, and very attractively presented, too.

The mission was called “The Shortest Distance Between Two Points.” According to Centurian99, this was intended to be the “screw the assaulters” mission; it definitely favored mobile forces.

Rules & Deployment: SHORT EDGE deployment zones, with 24” between sides. “Warp Flux” allows for non-vehicle units to redeploy via Deep Strike and assault, but units are lost on any roll of doubles (irrespective of rolling a “Hit”).

Objectives: Seize Ground (5 objectives); Recon (most units, any type, in enemy deployment zone); Biggest Target (kill most expensive enemy model). Bonuses for no friendlies in your deployment zone, and redeploying via the Warp Flux rule.

I won the “who goes first” roll, and took it. Deployment photos:


Eldrad then redeployed my left flank elements to the right.

Turn 1:
A little movement, a little shooting. The Cobra tries for the Warriors, and instead catches a whole gaunt swarm. They are removed. Concentrated Bright Lance fire does 3 wounds to the right-side Hive Tyrant, and a couple other random wounds are caused by Fire Prism templates.



In response, Ben moves forward. No damage from any of his shooting this turn.

Turn 2:

My Jetbikes arrive. Some more movement, some more shooting. Yriel suddenly realizes that he would be far more effective if he were riding with Eldrad, and bails out of his Waveserpent. The right-side Tyrant dies, the right-side dakkafexes catch a wound each from the Cobra (there’s a Zoanthrope still providing Synapse, plus that brood of Warriors hiding in the trees), and some gaunts die from scattering Fire Prism templates. Concentrated Bright Lance fire removes that pesky right-side ‘thrope.



His turn:

His gunfex stuns one of my Fire Prisms. Lots of stuff advances; a couple broods hunker down on local objectives.



Turn 3:

More shooting & scooting. Yriel joins Eldrad in a Dire Avenger serpent. Ben has spread his Carnifexen out a bit, making it hard to catch both in the Cobra’s fire; one is insta-gibbed. I’m going to need a plan to get scoring units across the field soon, and will have to address those broods of ‘gaunts parked on objectives, too. So many bugs, so little time….



His turn:

Trygon arrives! (And he brought his own crater, which rocks.)



He tries to Warp Flux the Warrior brood. They roll doubles, and are lost forever more. Shooting takes one of my bright lance. The Trygon eats my stunned Fire Prism.



Turn 4:

Inspired by his Warriors, my Jetbikes try to warp jump; they, too, roll doubles and are lost forever in the warp. Oops.

Yriel, Eldrad, and one unit of Dire Avengers set up to hunt them some Trygon. The other Dire Avengers, having lost their Bright Lance, speed over to Ben’s deployment zone. The Cobra removes one squad of ‘gaunts from an objective. (Ben is distressed to only now realize that there are zero cover saves involved.) Bladestorm, Fire Prism, and Wave Serpent fire takes 3 of the Trygon’s wounds; Eldrad and Yriel assault the beast, and Yriel cuts it down with the Spear of Twilight. Oh yeah.



His turn:

We take 3-4 minutes (WAY ahead of schedule here) to hunt down Yakface. At issue: Ben thinks Yriel & Eldrad have blocked the Trygon’s tunnel, and I want him to bring in his swarms. Yakface clears it up for us (treat any part of the crater as a valid entry point for the auto-reserves), and here come the swarms!



Ben’s shooting is ineffective, as is the assaulting he manages.

A word here: Ben spent much of the game shooting 2 Carnifexes’ worth S6 Devourers at AV 12 skimmers. He sensibly ignored the Cobra, and focused on the ‘serpents. He rolled NOT ONE 6 for armor penetration. Poor guy.



Turn 5:

Here’s where is can get a bit sticky: the game could end this turn. He’s got ‘gaunts sitting on one objective, with range enough to reach a second, and another unit of ‘gaunts nearly to a third. Time to get busy!

My backfield Dire Avengers, in the turret-less Serpent, tank shock their way to contesting an objective:



My other Dire Avengers remount their serpent, and drive onto the middle objective. The Storm Guardians, still in their serpent, fly to a third. The Cobra drops *most* of a 3rd swarm, but not all of it. Worse, as Ben isn’t an idiot, he removes the models closest to Yriel first. This forces Yriel to get tricksy. Instead of trying to assault the ‘gaunts (MAYBE a 6” roll would have gotten him there, maybe not), Yriel goes into the swarms. He triggers the Eye. One S6, 5” blast later, all the swarms are dead. Yriel then rolls 5” for consolidation:



Come get some.

His turn:

Poor Mr. Dakkafex shoots at the BACK of the nearby Dire Avenger serpent…and does nothing. He finally drops the skimmer in HtH, triggering Emergency Disembarkation rules.



His last 4 ‘gaunts try valiantly to drop Yriel, and between shooting and assault, they get two wounds onto the Autarch-Prince. Meanwhile, Eldrad gets assaulted by a Ravener, just ‘cause.

The game does not end.

Turn 6:

Here’s where I snatch a draw, from the jaws of victory:



Can you see it? Ben did. I end up with a serpent full of DAs on one objective, and both dismounted DAs and mounted Storm Guardians on a second. The middle objective I leave defended solely by Yriel, while a Fire Prism drives fast to the middle of nowhere. *sigh*

Shooting from the Cobra scatters, and only kills 6 or 7 gaunts from the big squad in the rear. Yriel wants him some Carnifex, though:



And he takes him, too. Will Mr. Tyrant dare to charge?



Ben, not being stupid, guns Yriel down. His center ‘gaunts move easily to the middle objective, while the rear ‘gaunts move up onto another. The game ends, with each of us holding 2 objectives.

I claim the Secondary (2 units in his deployment zone, being DAs in a Serpent, to a single Ravener in mine), as well as the Tertiary (Trygon vs. the Cobra). We both pick up a single bonus point for attempting to use the Warp Flux.

I like the dice in this game. Looks like a good match, too bad about the doubles-mishaps.

Nice pics and fun writing, thanks for sharing it

Cool! All these Adepticon batreps are pushing me to go next year if I
a) Can afford it
b) Have a decent army list
c) Am not working

Thanks!

Janthkin wrote:One of the sad truths about this army: it attracts, by far, the most positive painting comments of anything I’ve ever painted. It does this in spite of being incomplete, and in spite of requiring one-tenth the effort of anything else. Pretty metallic airbrushing nets positive results, I guess.

Wow... I literally thought to myself "Damn that's a nice looking army" and then just happened to read the above sentence. So yeah, Janth, I am now living proof that your army gets compliments for painting before anything else.