2200-point tourney. My list as follows.
Archlector, 1+ rerollable armor save, speculum, great weapon <--- the general
Level 4 Wizard lord, Lore of Shadow, Rod of Power, Crimson Amulet (auto-passes all stat tests except leadership, 6+ ward)
BSB, 2+ armor save, luckstone, biting blade I completely forgot to use in every single game
2 Identical priests with heavy armor and shields
Steam Tank
48 Halberdiers,
cmd
48 more halberdiers, more
cmd
29x Swordsmen,
cmd
23 Greatswords,
cmd (General here)
2 mortars
Game 1 Vs. Empire: So this is how it feels to be Skaven
This was a battleline scenario, and it involved shooting being totally pants the first round (effects identical to a stormbanner except flight was allowed) and partially pants the second round (roll a 3+ to fire warmachines,
BS shooting at -1). The setup was Dawn Attack (randomize DZ's) and you got extra objective points for getting units into your opponents DZ's (left, right, center) and keeping him out of yours.
His list: Archlector general (setup much like mine), master engineer, 10 crossbows, 10 handguns, ~30 greatswords, ~30 flaggs, 2 mortars, 2 cannons,
BSB captain.
The scenario won this game for me. Not only did my opponent have all that shooting, but the deployment stuck his battle standard, one mortar, one cannon, the engineer and BOTH troops of shooters in a corner behind an enormous pyramid. And then he couldn't roll a direct hit to save his life.
Shadow magic was incredibly critical. One of my halberd units was charged in the middle of the board by the flaggs and the greatswords at the same time. However, I had debuffed the weapon skill of the flaggs and the strength of the greatswords to 1 each, so the flaggs couldn't hit, the swords couldn't wound, and I actually won the combat. Next turn I charged the flags with the steam tank, squished them all completely before they got to swing, and won the combat. With his battle standard still floundering in a corner, he couldn't re-roll the 10 he rolled on his break test, and the game was more or less over. I felt bad for my opponent, a classy individual who took a very tough loss with good humor and great politeness.
Round 2 vs Dark Elves: Party in the pit of shades.
The Scenario was straight
VPS and battle line deployment, with extra scenario points for capturing banners and getting in the other guy's DZ.
His list: Level 4, pendant of khaleth,
BSB on chariot (!), 3 more chariots (!!!), a large spearelf brick, 20 or so black guard, 2 hydras, 10 repeater crossbows.
Three main events controlled the outcome of the game. First, on his turn 1, he made my steam tank fall in a pit
However, my turn 2, I made both of his hydras fall in a pit!
All the cheese was cheesed right off the board by turn 2, and none of it got to fight at all.
Second, I could not seem to roll anything but mortar hits. I rolled one miss in 8 mortar shots, and also rolled a direct hit on the pit of shades the hydras fell in. This meant that by the time he got his black guard into combat with my greatswords, there were only 7 left, and then I killed 3 with soulfire and wiped the rest out with attacks.
Third and final, I shot his general's unit with my mortars, caused them to panic, and the poor guy failed his panic 9 and then failed his rally 10! Ran off the board and that was game. He captured more banners than I did, so my score was lower this time, but still a solid win.
Game 3 vs Warriors of Chaos: The war of the roses.
This was the ultimate winner of the best appearance award, and richly deserved. He's got a gorgeous converted warriors of chaos army with a slaanesh theme with flowers growing from their bases.
Scenario: Meeting engagement. Objectives gave points for destroying all of: Core, special, rare units. I got the rare points for free because he had none.
His list: Sorc lord of Slaanesh on a steed (!) Six great weapon Chaos Ogres (!!), 5 khorne knights, some khorne halberds with
BSB and some tz sword and board warriors with the rapturous standard.
Both of our lists loved the meeting engagement rules, and we were in combat by bottom of 1 (He went first). he had his hammers (knights and Ogres) on the left facing all my halberds, and I had mine (greatswords and tank) on my right facing his warriors. Greatswords held up the khorne halberds (eventually being wiped out to a man, but the archlector made it) and the tank in the front and the swordsmen in the flank were able to break the tz warriors, pursue into the khorne warriors in the nick of time to save the general from breaking from combat res, and broke the khorne warriors as well. In the meantime, the ogres couldn't get through steadfast on one halberd unit, nor the knights on the other halberd unit. Eventually I made a combat reform and wiped out the ogres with tons and tons of horde attacks. Finally, my shadow wizard cast pit of shades on his sorceror lord, which rolled a six and went poof. At this point he conceded, giving me points for the sole remaining chaos knight (and therefore all his specials).
Game 4 vs Dark Elves: For All The Marbles.
Scenario: Blood and Glory, with extra points for capturing banners.
His list: One hydra (!), a level 2 of shadow with a scroll (!!), about 20 rxbs in one unit with a banner, and bricks of executioners, black guard, and spearelves.
This is the most fun game of warhammer I have ever played. First, we were on table 3, each of us with a real shot to win the tourney (or at least best general, since my army is the ugly). Second, board was almost cheese-free... just one tank on my side and one hydra and a cauldron on his (i'd call that about even up, though others may disagree). Third, neither of us rolled pit of shades! Fourth and most important, my opponent was that rare combination: a really good player with a really good sense of humor.
He clumped up his guys in a clump in a corner and I lined up my guys in a line to bum-rush them. Some highlights: his hydra breathed on the general's greatswords and then ate them, leaving the general fighting the hydra heads up. The tank charged the executioners turn 2, and there they sat for the rest of the game (the tank survived with 1 wound). this was important because their positioning blocked my halberdiers with battle standard from getting into combat, which they didn't until the top of 6. The other halberdiers obliterated the spearelves, and then got reared by the black guard and crushed. My swordsmen, with the help of substantial shadow debuffs, smashed the repeaters and then pursued them off the board. When they came back on, they made the critical error of charging the black guard in the rear.
I figured steadfast 9 would be ok for a while, and it was, but on the FINAL turn of the game, two crucial developments occurred. The first was that, after successfully casting a shadow spell on somebody or other, I swapped my wizard and my general, so that the wizard was fighting the hydra by himself and my general was fighting the black guard. My reasoning was that the wizard was totally insignificant in blood and glory, and if I could get the black guard banner I would win the game (there were about 4 or 5 left). His general, though, was in that unit, and like an idiot I didn't issue a challenge, either with the general or with the champ. The general had the s6 weapon and the unit had an armor piercing banner, meaning that my 1+ rerollable was a 5+ rerollable. He was buffed with an extra attack and did all 5 wounds to me. I managed to save 4, but the poor arch lector had two hydra bites on him already, and perished. The black guard then proceeded to wipe out the swordsmen down to their champion. The standard bearer died and the game was instantly over.
Just for fun, I rolled the lone sword-champ's break test. I rolled
If I had challenged with the sword champ, and therefore kept the banner, I might have won the game.
However, as I said, this was a VERY satisfying tournament. I ended up around 8th in battle points, and my opponent for this game ended up taking best general. It gives me hope for the future of the game that a dark elf list with no level 4 and no second hydra can win at one of the nation's premier fantasy tournaments, and the win couldn't have gone to a better player or person. For me, I learned a lot, and I'm very satisfied with my performance overall. I hope some other folks will post some recaps of how their adepticon went. And of course, feel free to comment away.
but it is really cool to see such seemingly unconventional lists. Also sweet that you got to play the winner of best appearance!