SO, we've just got back from Gamesfest 09, where we competed in the
40k Doubles Tournament. We built some new armies for this, and a lot of people have been following the P&M blogs over here...
ArbitorIan's Squats -
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/261424.page
Panic's Grots -
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/261148.page
We arrived at Watford Colloseum to find a big town hall full of people hawking their latest boardgames/fantasy novel. Tucked away in the corner were the five tables for the tournament.
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OUR LIST - Squats (Imperial Guard) and Grots (Orks)
HQ: Engineer Guildmaster in Exo Armour
1 Techpriest Enginseer (Laspistol, Power Weapon, Power Armour)
Elites: Squat Rangers
3 Ratlings (Sniper Rifles)
Troops: Brotherhood Infantry
1 Command
HQ (5#, Lasguns, 1 Plasmagun, 1 Heavy Bolter)
1 Infantry Squad (10#, Lasguns, 1 Plasmagun, 1 Mortar)
1 Infantry Squad (10#, Lasguns, 1 Plasmagun, 1 Mortar)
Heavy Support: Leman Russ Squadron
1 Leman Russ Executioner (Plasma Sponsons)
HQ: Big GrotMek
1 Big Mek (Choppa; Kustom Force Field; 'Eavy Armour; Cybork Body; Grot Oiler x1; Mek's Tools)
Troops: Grot Squad
15 Gretchin + 1 Runtherd (Grot-Prod x1, Squig Hound)
Troops: Deff Kan
1 Deff Dred (BigMek = Count's Troop Troops; Dreadnought
CCW x2; Big Shoota x1; Skorcha x1; Grot Rigger)
Heavy Support: Killa Kans
3 Killer Kans (Dreadnought
CCW; Big Shoota x2; Grotzooka x1; Grot Rigger x3)
Fast Attack: Buggies
3 Warbuggies (Twin Linked Rokkit Launcha x3)
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SOME FLUFF
Karl Thurnisson clumped round the bulkhead corner and dived for cover behind a row of coolant tanks. He'd done it! Karl Thurnisson, of Gudrun's Brotherhood, outflanks the invading greenskins. One step closer to repelling another greenskin attack. Once step closer to finally getting out of the system and starting the reaving. One step closer to fulfilling the contract.
He looked through his sight - there were four little runt greenskins facing away from him. They thought they were in cover behind a makeshift barricade of floor plating and cable conduit, and snickered to themselves, occasionally taking potshots with some crude, rusty slug-throwers. This would be easy. Karl leant forward, and sighted along the barrel. His finger rested against the trigger.
"What in Briggi's name are you doing, Karl?"
Karl jumped out of skin, his finger squeezing on the trigger and letting a fusillade of lasbolts fly at the greenskins. The head of one was immediately pulped, another lost it's stringy little arm, and the rest of the bolts made tiny dents in the pile of plasteel decking. The remaining grots panicked and fled down a maintenance hatch.
'Hungry' Smurfsson sat down on the coolant tanks Karl was using for cover, his long-las resting on his lap. Karl wasn't going to ask how he got there - the few rangers attached to the Brotherhood forces were usually pretty good about that sort of thing.
"Smurfsson, what in the blind deep are you doing? I almost had them!"
"That's the outflanking force, Karl."
"What? I'm the outflanking detachment, Hungry - Gudrun sent me himself! And now the greenskins know we're here!"
"No they don't, Karl. Those were our greenskins. Or at least the last of them. Got here about ten minutes ago, through that rat-hatch. Someone's not been listening to the comms."
"OUR greenskins? But... Oh, bugger this, Hungry. It's all going to take a while to get used to. How am I meant to tell them apart? They all look the same to me."
Smurfsson plonked down onto the deck, hardly making a sound. The rangers didn't wear the traditional iron-shod brotherhood boots. Some might say they didn't have much care for the traditions at all. Too much time in the open air, probably. Sends your head funny, not having a proper stone roof over it. "You'll have to learn. Snorri was talking about making them wear the old brotherhood uniform, it's only rags but it might work."
"Bah, this is all Gudrun's fault. I'll bet he did receive the comms, but you know what he's like." Karl faked the gruff, throaty voice of Cheif Gudrun, the Brotherhood's commander, "I'm not taking orders from any stringy greenskin runt, no matter what side he's on".
"Well he's going to have to learn as well. We all are. You know what Master Frodosson said last month. He's got some plan brewing, I'm sure."
Karl grunted. "Yeah, well it wouldn't have happened if the Thane was still alive, that's all I'm saying. And i don't trust that two-bit greenskin engineer. It'll bring the eyes of the ancestors down upon us. Bring us bad luck."
Hungry looked up, apprehensive for a moment. "We've already got that, Karl. Can't say losing your Warlord before the expedition's even got out of system is exactly good luck. I think we should have returned for reinforcements. But you know the rules. The Guild have a stake in this, and that makes Frodosson second-in-command. Anyway, it's not like we're being dealt out of any action." Hungry paused, "There's another incoming. Better get back to the Brotherhood." And he turned, plodding away through the cargo hold, keeping to cover.
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GAME 1 - Joshua & Lol - Eldar & Orks
Capture & Control / Pitched Battle
We played the first game against two youngsters - Joshua and
Lol. They weren't too hot on the rules, but were very enthusiastic and their dads helped them out lots. They had a few good moments, my Executioner being destroyed by a War Walker and Panic's Killa Kans being taken out by some Warp Spiders being of particular note. However, they didn't manage to get anything near our objective and Panic's buggies were able to swoop in for a last minute objective grab. First win to us!
Autarch (Banshee Mask, Swoopin Hawk Wings)
10 Gaurdians (Scatter Laser)
8 Dire Avengers
5 Warp Spiders (Exarch)
Warboss
10 Boyz (Powerklaw nob)
10 Boys (Big Shoota, Rokkit)
Trukk
2 Warbikes
Scorcha
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GAME 2 - Ian & Michael - Imperial Guard & Daemons
Take & Hold / Dawn of War
Our next game was against father & son team, Ian & Michael. We were initally REALLY daunted by their list, and by the fact that we'd have to deploy through Dawn of War. However, our armour survived the Vendetta's lascannons quite well, and the Soulgrinder was taken out by a massed Kan & Dred charge. The Masque tried an ill-advised charge against the Executioner, but was plasmad to death by
th squats. Then our Infantry were decimated by Hydras and the (very effective) Primaris Psyker, but in the end the win revolved around a central objective. Their Bloodletters made a late game
DS onto it, and we charged with everything we had, but in the end we just couldn't kill enough to force a win. We ended with a draw. This was probably my favourite game of the tourney...
Primaris Psyker in a Chimera
Veteran Squad (1 Grenade Launcher, 2 Meltaguns)
Vendetta (3
TL Lascannons)
Hydra Squadron (2 Hydras)
The Masque
1 Fiend of Slaanesh
12 Bloodletters of Khorne
Soulgrinder
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GAME 3 - James & Michelle - Chaos Marines & Tyranids
Take & Hold / Pitched Battle
Our last game in the main heat was with James & Michelle, possibly the most serious players of all we faced. They had a much stranger tactic to boot. They won the roll for deployment, and opted to let us go first, and then put all their stuff in reserve (including some outflanking Genestealers). This meant we had the whole of our first two turns to move ourselves into a little fort around two objectives. On the third turn, some of their army arrived, but they hid it behind cover, so we were denied another turn of shooting. We got one round of rather ineffective shooting off at them when they emerged, and they went straight for a last minute objective grab, contesting two, and Lashing our infantry off of another. However, our army proved too durable to be cleared from any of the objectives, so we ended with a draw again!
Daemon Prince (Wings,
MoS, Lash of Submission)
5 Plague Marines in Rhino
5 Plague Marines
Hive Tyrant
8 Gaunts
12 Genestealers
Carnifex
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We then had a really weird situation. The tournament had been divided into two halves. We played everyone in our half, but three of the teams in our half had the same number of points. How were we to tie-break so we knew who would be in the final/semis/etc.
In the end, the
TO came up with some crazy plan where we rolled to see if we got a
HQ or a Troops choice from our list, and then played a quick 'last-man standing' match where the winner was the one who inflicted the most wounds. Monstrously unfair, but we were all gme for a laugh so we went with it, and ended up with a three-way game between the Daemon Prince, the Primaris Psyker, and my entire Infantry Platoon!
The Daemon Prince wiped out the Primaris on the first turn and then lashed one of my squads into charge range. In a fair fight, I rekckon my plasma power would have had it, but he caused so many wounds on the first infantry squad there was no way I could score more than him. James & Michelle ended up in the final (and ultimately won the tournament) and we ended up going for the 3rd/4th place.
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GAME FOUR - Marcus & Ross - Eldar & Space Wolves
Take & Hold / Dawn of War
Our last game was to determine 3rd/4th place between us and the other half's runners-up, Marcus and Ross. They had an interesting gambit with an Avatar and some drop-podding Assault Termies heading straight for our lines. In the end, though, they were so close to our board edge in their turn one that, once our army arrived on OUR turn one, we were able to bring numbers to bear. The Dread dealt with their terminators over the next few assault phases, and massed Plasma fire put the wounds on the Avatar, only to have it's last wound taken my a Grot's pokey stick! Their remaining infantry were advancing across the board, and we still had most of our army intact, but then we ran out of time and had to end the game. It was techincally another draw, but we played Paper Scissors Stone for bragging rights and lost. So our final positioning was 4th.
Runepriest (Hurricane) and 3 Wolf Guard Terminators in Drop Pod
5 Grey Hunters (Plasmagun)
5 Grey Hunters (Plasmagun)
Avatar
Dire Avengers
Dire Avengers
Dark Reapers
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All in all, a fun day. I had a little chat with Gav Thorpe, we were confused by Jervis's beard, we spent too much at the Forge World store, and got in more games than expected. I reckon we could have got 3rd place if we had a bit more time, and the tournament itself seemed a bit badly organised (especially the dodgy tie-break situation) but we had fun all the same.
