So, I played the third Platinum Devil tournament last weekend at Canterbury University, organised by Ketara and Reds8n. Fantastic event as always and very well organised - seven games of
40k over two days, with the games escalating in size as we go. I won the last one with my Daemons, but wasn't expecting the same results this time round as I was bringing my Tau. We needed three lists - 1000, 1250 and 1500pts. Here are mine...
1000pts
* 1 x Shas'
el - Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multitracker, 2 Gun Drones
* 1 x Bodyguard - Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multitracker
* 3 x Crisis Suits -
TL Fusion Blasters, 2 Target Locks, Gun Drone
* 6 x Fire Warriors
* 6 x Fire Warriors
* 8 x Pathfinders - 3 Rail Rifles - Devilfish -
SMS, Disruption Pod, Seeker Missile
* 2 x Broadsides - Blacksun Filter, Gun Drone
* 1 x Hammerhead - Ion Cannon,
SMS, Disruption Pod, Multitracker, Seeker Missile
1250pts
* 1 x Shas'
el - Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multitracker, 2 Gun Drones
* 2 x Bodyguard - Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multitracker
* 2 x Crisis Suits -
TL Fusion Blasters, Targetting Arrays, 2 Gun Drones
* 2 x Crisis Suits -
TL Missile Pods, Targetting Arrays, Gun Drone
* 6 x Fire Warriors
* 6 x Fire Warriors
* 8 x Pathfinders - 3 Rail Rifles - Devilfish -
SMS, Disruption Pod, Targetting Array
* 3 x Broadsides - Multitrackers - 2 Gun Drones
* 1 x Hammerhead - Ion Cannon,
SMS, Disruption Pod, Multitracker
1500pts
* 1 x Shas'
el - Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Multitracker, 2 Gun Drones, Shield Generator
* 3 x Crisis Suits - Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multitracker, 2 Gun Drones
* 2 x Crisis Suits -
TL Fusion Blasters, Target Lock, 2 Gun Drones
* 2 x Crisis Suits -
TL Missile Pods, Blacksun Filter, Gun Drone
* 6 x Fire Warriors
* 6 x Fire Warriors
* 8 x Pathfinders - 2 Rail Rifles - Shasui Target Lock - Devilfish -
SMS, Disruption Pod, Multitracker
* 3 x Broadsides - Target Lock - 2 Gun Drones
* 1 x Hammerhead - Railgun,
SMS, Disruption Pod, Multitracker
* 1 x Skyray -
SMS, Disruption Pod, Targetting Array
------------------------
Game 1 - 1000pts - Victory Points
vs Yiawchuah's Deathwing
My first game in quite a while, and it was against Yiaw and his Deathwing! I've met him at two previous tournaments, and he won both of them. Anyway, I hadn't planned to win everything, so I set up as standard REALLY FAR AWAY, expecting to be dealing with horribly armoured Deep Strikers all game. As it happened, he held his entire army back and attempted to engage me in a shooting game, which didn't work out very well (I don't think a single Cyclone missile found it's mark - hurrah for Disruption Fields).
However, the one squad that DID deep strike was more than a match - a Terminator Command Squad with Belial and an Apothecary rampaged through my lines, partly due to bad movement on my part and my terrible judgement of what 'out of charge range' meant. I managed to kill two of them and Belial. They pretty much destroyed my army.
Result: LOSER
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Meanwhile, on other tables - Rinkydink's Marines
Panic's Grots go up against Snarky's Elysians
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Game 2 - 1000pts -
vs thesearmsarerob's Silver Marines
This time I was up against some standard Space Marine fare. It looked as though the list was tailored for other Marine armies, with the standard Avenger/Null Zone librarian and lots of troops. For most of the game, this went exactly as planned - most of the transports were popped early, and my Crisis suits had a merry old time with popup plasma attacks. However, in the closing part of the game, I couldn't seem to destroy his Dakkapred, which munched through my tiny Fire Warrior squads, leaving us with one objective each.
Result: DRAW
------------------------
Game 3 - 1250pts - Assassination
vs Stu H's Eldar
A fantastically yellow match up, this game was kinda decided at deployment, given the nature of the terrain. The deployment was Table Quarters and the tables had been set up in such a way that one quarter had a handy row of crates and area cover, which faced an opposite quarter consisting of a long clear fire lane. I won the roll and selected the barricades, expecting Stu to put all his Eldar in reserve and fly them on superfast on the other side of the table.
To my surprise, he set up in the opposite quarter and flew down the fire lane, which gave plenty of opportunity for my shooty units to prove themselves. In the first turn both Wave Serpents were destroyed, by the third the Wraithlord was dead, and in the fourth both Fire Prisms were out, and infantry being mopped up.
Result: WIN!
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Meanwhile, on other tables - Yiawchuah continues his rampage, this time on Notprop's Sentinels
Rinkydink's Marines go up against the Kan Wall
Battlecannonit Phil's Valkyries line up
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Game 4 - 1250pts - Objectives
vs Snarky's Elysians
I've never faced many flyers so I wasn't sure how this one would go. I set up in a huddle in the middle while Snarky put everything into reserve except a Tauros. Thankfully, they arrived piecemeal enough that I could concentrate fire. I lost a couple of Crisis teams to deployed Veteran units, but few of those units got close enough to threaten my line - the only one that did was taken out by massed Fire Warrior fire - the only thing they really did all tournament! I also had some serious vehicle troubles due to Snarky's habit of using any Shaken flyer as a very long ranged ram! Oh well, Missile Pods and Pathfinders pulled though in the end...
Result: WIN!
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Maenwhile, on other tables - Lovepug and Arasaki inspect the rules
Yiawchuah checks up on something
Battlecannonit Phil is rather happy with his Mordians
Notprop and his guard
Killkrazy's Tyranids munch on some vegetation
TitanPrinceps has flyers!
Killkrazy's amazing Tau terrain
------------------------
DAY 2
------------------------
Game 5 - 1000pts - Victory Points
vs Jonagon's Tau
Spoiler alert: TAU WIN THIS ONE. Um. Yes. Up against another Tau army so amazingly painted in a camouflage scheme that it was really hard to tell what each of them was equipped with. My main concern in this was the massive outflaking Kroot squad, and so I set up in an extreme refused flank, hoping that he'd roll the wrong edge. And he did! Hurrah! I didn't have to worry about them all game, and despite the early loss of my Pathfinders and the face that the enemy Disruption Pods were working just as well as my own, managed to pull off a clear win...
Result: WIN!
------------------------
Game 6 - 1500pts - Kill the Troops
vs Reds8n's Chaos Marines
An extremely cover-y table and a scenario which meant that, while you only get
KPs for Troops, the Troops are also without number! I took the most densely built part of the city, and Reds8n deployed in the canals to take potshots at me. While his small troops units didn't do much damage all game, I found it impossible to kill a whole squad of them. The Rhinos which came in from reserve were easy targets, but they were in cover too and with my Broadsides taken out by and early Lash, I didn't pop any of them either!
Late in the game, Red realised that he hadn't got any points either and executed an incredibly risky
DS with a squad of Obliterators into my back corner, killing a Fire Warrior squad. Thinking myself clever, I had them turn up in exactly the same spot on the next turn to rapid fire the Oblits along with everything else nearby. Unfortunately, my entire army caused a total of ONE wound on the Oblits, who then killed the same Fire Warrior squad again in the last turn!
Result: LOSER
------------------------
Game 7 - 1500pts - Portal
vs Battlecannonit Phil's Guard
Last game of the weekend was against Battlecannonit Phil's Mech Guard army - this time with less tanks due to some forgotten models. I had some lucky early uses of the Portals, allowing me to get rid of the flyers quite early, and popped a lot of the Chimeras as they emerged from cover, attempting to deliver Ogryns and Meltas. Very few units actually made it to my lines, apart from a squad of Rough Riders which used a Portal late in the game to appear on my objective and kill my last squad of Fire Warriors. Just like game 2, despite my killing almost all of the opposing army, my lack of troops let me down again. Note for next time : I must get those Kroot/Tau substitutions painted up....
Result: LOSER
1-0-0
0-0-0
0-0-0
3-1-0
0-0-0
