So it's the day after 'Ard Boyz and my feet still hurt from standing all day in shoes I should have known better than to wear to an all day tournament! Regardless of the pain involved, it was an absolute blast! I've never been to an event that was run that well, and attended by a group of such awesome players. Everyone brought their best to this tournament, and while the T.O. Bob would have liked to see more paint on the field (he's a Silver Golden Daemon winner), he ran a very enjoyable event, and I didn't see a single argument while I was there. I only had to call him over to judge something once, and it didn't really have a major outcome on the game.
Anyway, on to the specifics.
Event: 'Ard Boyz Qualifier
Location: Game Empire - Kearney Mesa, California (San Diego)
My list
Njal Stormcaller - 245
Rune Priest (Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane) - 110
Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf Mount, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Runic Armor, Saga of the Bear) - 270
Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf Mount, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Meltabombs, Runic Armor, Saga of Majesty) - 245
3 Wolf Guard (3 Power Fists, 3 Combi-Meltas) - 129
8 Grey Hunters (Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino) - 185
8 Grey Hunters (Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino) - 185
9 Grey Hunters (Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino) - 200
5 Grey Hunters (Meltagun, Razorback w/
TL Lascannon) - 155
5 Grey Hunters (Meltagun, Razorback w/
TL Lascannon) - 155
2 Thunderwolf Cavalry (Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, Storm Shield) - 190
6 Long Fangs (5 Missile Launchers, Razorback w/
TL Lascannon) - 215
6 Long Fangs (5 Missile Launchers, Razorback w/
TL Lascannon) - 215
Total 2,499
A (bad) picture - I couldn't get decent lightning!
Pre-Tournament thoughts
I've never been to 'Ard Boyz before, but with the reputation this tournament has I'm expecting stiff competition and a host of good players. As I looked over the various armies and chatted with some of the players in attendance, I get a sense that many players have spent a month or more designing a list and practicing. I felt a bit disadvantaged because I didn't even know they were holding the qualifier at my local store until only two weeks before the event, and I while I'm quite confident in my ability to design a solid list, I didn't have much time to practice the missions. I only got in two practice games with my list prior to the event, and the first was a draw while the second was a minor loss.
There were 20 players at this event, which is a big tournament for the venue. We used every available table and almost all of the available terrain. Among the armies I saw were two other Space Wolf lists, three Blood Angels lists (including my good friend and practice partner Erik McIntosh), two Grey Knights lists, two Imperial Guard, one Black Templars, two Orks, one Sisters of Battle, one Dark Eldar, one Tyranids, one Chaos, and three Vanilla Marines including a nasty looking Vulkan list and a nicely modeled and painted Dark Angels list. Notably absent were Tau and Necrons, and I was surprised at the low number of Grey Knights and Dark Eldar. I expected a much bigger concentration of both.
Round 1
Mission: Git Dat Dirty Git!
Objective: Capture the Traitor and score more Kill Points than your opponent. For those that are not familiar with this scenario, it's basic Annihilation, except that you give your opponent a model out of your army that becomes an Independent Character worth 5 Kill Points.
Deployment: Pitched Battle, Night Fight on the first turn
My first round was against Patrick, playing a Grey Knights Paladin list.
His list
Kaldor Draigo - 275
Librarian (The Shrouding, Sanctuary, Might of Titan) - 165
10 Paladins (2x Psycannon/Halberd, 2x Psycannon/Hammer, 2x Sword/Storm Bolter, 2x Halberd/Storm Bolter, 2x Falcions/Storm Bolter) - 640
10 Paladins (2x Psycannon/Halberd, 2x Psycannon/Hammer, 2x Sword/Storm Bolter, 2x Halberd/Storm Bolter, 2x Falcions/Storm Bolter) - 640
Dreadknight (Greatsowrd, Heavy incinerator, Personal Teleporter) - 260
Dreadknight (Greatsowrd, Heavy incinerator, Personal Teleporter) - 260
Dreadknight (Greatsowrd, Heavy incinerator, Personal Teleporter) - 260
Total 2,500
Setup: I won the roll for first turn and took it, choosing the side of the board with two ruins (both had a large ruin, but one had a smaller ruin and the other had a rubble terrain feature. The ruin gave my Long Fangs a better position). I deployed toward the right side of my deployment zone hoping to bait my opponent into deploying hard on that flank. He partially took it and combat squadded one Terminator unit, deploying Draigo with one half and the Librarian with the other, directly across from my mass of Grey Hunters. The other Paladins he spread out in his backfield, and placed two Dreadnights toward the middle of the board (across from my Thunderwolves), and one on the right flank, presumably to deal with the Long Fangs in the tall ruin. His traitor went in one of my Raizorbacks, and my Traitor went into the large unit of Paladins.
He attempted to seize the initiative, but failed to do so.
On my first turn Njal rolled bubkis for his ability. I shifted everything 12" to the left, putting a solid gap between Draigos units and most of my army. My bait largely worked, and so I was able to set up for a ranged shoot-out and force him to walk most of his army across the board in order to get to me. I did move my Thunderwolves forward in hopes of baiting his Dreadknights to attack me. Njal rolled double 6's for Tempest's Wrath and took a wound (Ouch!), and a few failed Night Fight rolls saw my shooting completely whiff, even with Acute senses. Patrick followed up by shunting two of the Dreadknights into my backfield, one near the Long Fangs on my right flank, and the other near my Thunderwolves. The third Dreadknight moved 12" directly in front of my Thunderwolves, taking the bait. Everything else moved forward, and Draigos unit managed to roll enough distance to see Njal's Rhino. A few Psycannon shots knocked out the gun and shook it, but otherwise it was fine. The rightmost Dreadknight flamed my Long Fangs, killing the Pack Leader and one Missile, while the other two hit my Thunderwolves and caused no wounds. The one that didn't shunt charged my Thunderwolves and caused one wound to my Thunder Hammer lord. I caused three in return, and he passed his no-retreat saves.
On my second turn, Njal rolled his 24" difficult terrain bubble. Everything continued shifting left, Njal's Rhino got out of the way and popped smoke, and I moved my other two Grey Hunter packs in shooting distance of the Dreadknight sitting in my backfield. One of their Rhinos immobilized itself on terrain, rolled a 6 for repair, which actually had a decent impact on the game in the end. I unloaded with everything I had on the Dreadknight in my backfield, but only managed to cause a single wound. I rolled terribly to hit with my Meltaguns, and my Bolters seemed unable to roll even a single 6.
IIRC the only wound I caused came from a missile, which was the only one out of its pack to hit. I ignored the Dreadknight on my right flank, hoping Patrick would continue to harass my Long Fangs while I dealt with the other two. Considering the Paladins have a 2+ save, the Missiles were expendable. In assault, my Thunderwolves finished off their Dreadknight and consolidated back toward my deployment zone. Nobody was in range to have to make a morale test. On Patricks turn, he hit my massed Grey Hunters with a Heavy Incinerator, causing minor casualties, and jumped his other Dreadknight into the bottom level of the building my Long Fangs were occupying. This actually cost him dearly, as in the end, his base could not fit on the second level, so in order to charge me he had to roll a 6 for difficult terrain and make it to the top level. He rolled a 2 and was stuck in place. Had he merely jumped to the top level he could have assaulted that turn. His Paladins on the other hand actually got into firing range this turn, but were well out of assault range. His large unit shot up my Thunderwolves, but due to poor rolling on his part, and average saves on my part, he only caused a single wound to a generic Thunderwolf. The other two units rolled similarly unimpressive results, failing to do anything to my Rhinos. A charge from his Dreadknight saw four dead Grey Hunters, but my Power Fist returned with a wound, and they held their ground.
On my third turn I rolled the morale test bubble. I hopped my unengaged Grey Hunters back in their Rhino and moved away, then shifted Njal and all of the Razorbacks back toward my left corner. All of my Lascannons lined up shots on his unengaged Dreadknight, causing two wounds, and my Thunderwolves moved in for the kill on the Dreadknight. Njal fired Jaws of the World Wolf through Draigos unit, catching Draigo and both Psycannons, but he only failed the test on one Psycannon. My Thunderwolves charged and slaughtered the Dreadknight in assault, allowing the 4 surviving models from the Grey Hunters pack to consolidate toward cover. Unfortunately, they only rolled 1" and could not get out of range of the large unit. Patricks turn saw him hop his Dreadknight to the top level with the Long Fangs (he got wise after the last turn!), and the Paladins made a general advance. The two units with Draigo and the Librarian rounded the corner of the central building, and the large unit of Paladins actually backed up slightly, anticipating a charge from my Thunderwolves. Psycannon shots saw both occupied Rhinos get wrecked, and three members of my Grey Hunters on foot fell as well, leaving just the Meltagun. He passed morale and held his ground. Patrick finally made the assault with his last Dreadknight, killing 3 of the 4 Long Fangs. They DID manage to put a third wound on the Dreadknight however, but failed morale and ran down a level. Fortunately for me, this left his Dreadknight in prime view of my Lascannons.
On my 4th turn I rolled Chain Lightning with Njal, but at that point he was looking down the barrel of a Draigo-Librarian-Paladin triple-team, so he dove inside the only remaining Rhino (the one that had previously been immobilized, but rolled a 6 to repair) and backed into my deployment zone. My Thunderwolves also backed off a bit and lined up in front of my Razorbacks as cover. The poor running Long Fang rolled double 1's for his retreat though, and was unable to move down to ground level. Njal fired a second Jaws through the Librarians unit, killing another Psycannon, and my Lascannons finished off the remaining Dreadknight. The Rune Priest and his unit that were now hoofing it decided to make for a ruin on the far left, and managed to make it to cover with a decent run, and my single Meltagun model dove behind a solid wall below my Long Fangs, out of Line of Sight. The untouched pack of Long Fangs fired at the Librarians unit, killing one model. Nothing was in range for Chain Lightning. On Patricks turn, he advanced Draigo toward my line of Razorbacks. The Librarians unit shot and killed the remaining Long Fang, and Draigos unit shot up the previously un-touched pack of Long Fangs, killing their pack leader. The big unit fired at the Thunderwolves again, managing to kill off the previously wounded Thunderwolf, leaving both lords and the one with the Thunder Hammer alive.
Turn 5 I decided to get a little ballsy. This might be the last turn, and at this point my opponent had 3
KP's and I had 3, so I needed to cause some damage before I lost another vehicle. I rolled Chain Lightning again, and moved Njal into position for a Jaws of the World Wolf on my traitor. The Thunderwolves advanced up the middle and ran directly toward the unit with the Traitor, and all of my Razorbacks took aim at the Librarians diminished unit. Firing off a pile of Lascannons saw only a single dead model, leaving the Psycannon and the Librarian alive, and the Thunderwolves failed their assault, rolling an 8 for Difficult Terrain when they needed a 10. Jaws hit three models in my opponents unit, including my Traitor, and both Paladins failed their tests, but the Traitor passed! The score was still tied. Patrick moved his Librarians unit back slightly and Draigo moved up to the wreck I had been using to cover Njal's Rhino. The large unit on the other hand decided to move back again, which I think really hurt Patrics overall standing. I was expecting him to position the unit for an assault with the Traitor at the very back, but instead he simply put a Dangerous Terrain feature between us and left the Traitor in the same position. His psycannons put a wound on my Thunder Hammer model, but Draigo and the Librarians unit decided to shoot the Long Fangs again, killing all but 2 and causing them to fail morale and run near the board edge. If we didn't get a turn 6, the game would end with a minor victory for Patrick. We rolled and........TURN 6! Thank God!
My Long Fangs rallied and dove behind a building out of Line of Sight with the single Meltagunner, and the Thunderwolves advanced to within a few inches of the Terminators, and the Razorbacks lined up more shots on the Librarian. A blaze of shooting saw the Librarian and the Psycannon in his unit go down, and in assault the Thunderwolves did their job. Due to the Independent Character rules, my opponent had to move the Traitor into combat with my Wolf Lord. I survived his Halberd attacks without much trouble, but he notably did NOT cast Hammerhand, so I knew he was holding out for activating his Force Weapons. The Traitor struck with my Wolf Lord, and while I only caused two wounds, he failed both invulnerable saves! Unfortunately his return attacks killed both the Wolf Lord with the Claw (I failed to nullify the Force Weapon with Njal's staff), and the Thunderwolf with the Hammer, leaving just my Wolf Lord with the Thunder Hammer alive. We both swung with out Hammers, and I killed two models while he failed to cause a wound. I won combat by 2, and he failed morale. I allowed him to retreat and consolidated to within 6" so he could not rally. On his turn, he ran another 6", but his return Psycannon fire put down my Wolf Lord. Draigos unit went after Njal's tank who was hiding behind another wreck, and failed to damage it. He was out of range for the assault, so at this point I was up by 5
VP's. Patrick was hoping for another round, and we rolled a 6, giving him a turn 7 to try and narrow the gap.
Unfortunately for him, I moved Njal's Rhino a full 12" directly toward the retreating unit, disembarked, then ran to within 6". Everything else fired at Draigo who absorbed all but one shot, and took a single wound. On his turn, Patrick rolled an 11 for his fall back move, forcing the unit off the board. With only Draigo left, he could not possibly win unless he killed both the Long Fangs and the Meltagunner hiding behind a wall. He did attempt to get close, but couldn't get them in Line of Sight, so he instead fired at a Razorback and did nothing, ending the game.
Results: I scored 6
KP's and killed my Traitor for a total of 11, and Patrick scored 6
KP's but failed to kill his Traitor. The result was a Minor Victory. I did score 3 additional Battle Points for killing my Traitor, Killing one
HQ, and controlling more terrain pieces. Patrick scored 1 for killing an
HW. Final result was 16-8 in my favor.
Thoughts: This was a tough round. I faced the one list I did NOT want to get in round 1, and while I squeaked out a win, it was more due to an unfortunate decision on Patrick's part than my armies ability to kill his. He played a tough list, and I was just able to outmaneuver him, but the Kill Point advantage was so vastly in his favor (I had 19 in my list and he had 8 AFTER combat squadding with one unit) that I had to work very hard to stay out of assault range, and only dive into assault when the reward was well worth the cost. It was a tough game, and well played by Patrick. He was an excellent opponent and I very much hope to play him again in the future!
Curently, I'm standing middle of the pack. Two people (including Erik running his Blood Angels), steamrolled their opponents for a 26 point massacre, putting me 10 points behind the curve.
Round 2
Mission: Whoz got da Motz!
Objective: Control as many objective counters as possible. For those that are not familiar with this scenario, there are 5 objectives. One is placed in the center, and one is placed at the center of each table quarter. The one at the center is worth 4 points, the ones in non-deployment quarters are worth 2, and the ones in deployment zones are worth 1.
Deployment: Spearhead. The game lasts 6 turns, with Night Fight on the last turn
My second round opponent was Danny, running Mechanized Imperial Guard (Oh Snap!).
His list
Company Command (4x Meltaguns, Chimera with Heavy Flamer) - 145
10 Veterans (3x Meltagun, Chimera with Heavy Flamer/Multi-Laser) - 155
10 Veterans (3x Meltagun, Chimera with Heavy Flamer/Multi-Laser) - 155
10 Veterans (3x Meltagun, Chimera with Heavy Bolter/Multi-Laser) - 155
10 Veterans (3x Meltagun, Chimera with Heavy Bolter/Multi-Laser) - 155
10 Veterans (3x Meltagun, Chimera with Heavy Bolter/Multi-Laser) - 155
Vendetta - 130
Devil Dog - 120
Devil Dog - 120
2x Leman Russ Executioner (Hull Lascannons, Sponsion Plasma Cannons) - 490
2x Leman Russ Eradicator (Hull Lascannons, Sponsion Heavy Bolters) - 390
2x Leman Russ (Hull Lascannons) - 330
Total 2,500
Thoughts: Oh dear God! That's got to be one of the strongest lists in this tournament. 6x Leman Russ, a pair of fast Melta Cannons, Lascannons everywhere, and Melta-Vets out the ass! This list scares the crap out of me, and I'm certain it will be a loss. To make matters worse, Danny is quite a good player!
Setup: We roll for 1st turn and I win, opting to go first and take a table quarter with a decent sized ruin where my Long Fangs can hole up and take pot shots. I deploy in tight formation using the Thunderwolves as cover for my Rhinos, and the Rhinos as cover for my Razorbacks. The Long Fangs set up in their ruin with most of them on the top level, interwoven to minimize blast damage against any one unit and maximize line of sight potential. At this point, Danny makes an absolutely vital mistake. He deploys the Eradicators hard on my left flank, and the regular Russes hard on my right at the back of his deployment zone. He puts the Vendetta right on the line, then holds EVERYTHING else in reserves. Why he made that choice I don't know, but it cost him severely. During scout moves, Danny moved the Vendetta flat-out to the back of his deployment to ensure a cover save.
My turn 1 I roll the -1
BS bubble for Njal, then rushed Danny's deployment zone with everything but the Razorbacks, which I shift for better Line of Sight. I tried moving one of them toward the unoccupied zone to my right, but it immobilized itself on terrain. I popped the Vendetta with a Lascannon shot, and blew the turret off one of his Eradicators with another. The Missiles managed to shake both of them. He wisely moved both of them back away from my approaching Thunderwolves, and his battle cannons fired at my Razorbacks, stunning one of them.
Turn 2 I forgot to roll with Njal, not that it would have mattered a whole lot anyway. I charged his Eradicators with the Thunderwolves and blew up one and wrecked the other. My Grey Hunters made a general advance toward the objective to my left and popped smoke. My Lascannons shook both of the regular Leman Russes, meaning I didn't have to deal with their battle cannons for a round. On Danny's turn, he rolled poorly for reserves, only getting his
CCS and two units of Vets in. They managed to blow up one of my Rhinos and deal a few wounds to the guys inside, but by-and-large I escaped unharmed.
Turn 3 I rolled Howling Cyclone for Njal and pulled back the Grey Hunters with my other Rune Priest, hiding their rhino behind the building within 3" of the center objective. I pulled the Thunderwolves around and lined up a charge on one of the Chimeras. My Grey Hunters managed to knock the gun off a Vet Chimera while the Lascannons blew up the
CCS Chimera. The Long Fangs shook the third Chimera and knocked its Multi-Laser off. In assault, between the Grey Hunters and the Thunderwolves, I wrecked the Vets Chimera, pinned the unit inside, and killed off the
CCS. At that point nobody was in range for Howling Cyclone. On Danny's turn he again rolled low for reserves, getting the remaining Veteran units, who came in near the back of his deployment zone, but the Devil Dogs and the Executioners remained off the board. He sped away with the shaken Vets unit and popped smoke in the corner of the board. Most of his fire was ineffective, but he did manage to stun a Razorback and knock the Lascannon off another.
Turn 4 I rolled Howling Cyclone again for Njal, then moved the Thunderwolves back toward his new arrivals but was unable to get within assault range due to the wrecks of the Eradicators. The Grey Hunters on foot moved into a crater to hold down an objective, and Njal's tank rushed forward and popped smoke, attempting to get in range of a Chimera. The Razorback without a gun moved up into cover to run interference and provide cover for the others. My Lascannons knocked the gun off one of his Leman Russ tanks, and a bunch of Missile Launchers took down the previously shaken Chimera that popped smoke. Njal did get within range and blew the gun off the lead chimera. On Danny's turn he AGAIN rolled low for reserves, only getting the Executioners who rolled onto the board next to my squad holding the objective on foot. His Chimeras re-shuffled and one moved behind the Leman Russes for protection. The other moved forward while the squad on foot moved back away from the Thunderwolves. His shooting proved in-effective yet again, with most of my units making cover saves, but the Executioners wiped out the unit holding the objective and the vets moved in behind them to attempt to secure it next turn.
Turn 5 I rolled Howling Cyclone for Njal, yet again, and hopped his Rhino over a terrain piece to get in range of a Chimera. I broke my Thunder Hammer Lord away from the unit and moved him into my opponents deployment zone while the rest rushed back toward the Executioners. The previously shaken Razorbacks re-positioned themselves slightly and everything fired at his lead Chimera and the Executioners, but nothing managed to hit worth a damn. He passed every cover save, and every result that got through was superficial. Finally, after all that, Njal managed to blow it open with Howling Cyclone, forcing the disembark and allowing my Wolf Lord to charge the unit. My other Thunderwolves charged the Executioners and caused one wreck and an explosion. My Wolf Lord consolidated to halfway between the scoring unit on foot and the remaining Leman Russes. Danny was in bad shape at this point and he knew it. He got his Devil Dogs by default, but between them and a single mounted scoring unit, that was all he had. He moved them onto the board to try and break open Njal's Rhino and position himself for a last-turn contest of the objective in the middle, and his Leman Russes moved forward slightly to further protect his last scoring unit in a position to do anything useful. The vets on the far side of the board were staring down the barrel of a Thunderwolf charge, and had to move through dangerous terrain to get to the objective. His shooting blew up my gunless Razorback, but his Melta Cannons missed Njal's Rhino. With that, he had one more turn to survive then hope to contest.
Turn 6 I rolled Chain Lightning (Finally! Now that it was guaranteed
lol). My Thunderlord positioned himself to charge either the scoring unit on foot or the Leman Russes, and one of my Razorbacks moved to cover the objective on my far left while the Thunderwolves over there intercepted the Vets (We didn't even roll for that combat. I could not possibly have failed my charge, and he had no power fist, so even with horribly below average rolls I'd have held him in combat). On the other side of the board, Njal got out of his Rhino and the unit spread out wide to cover the middle objective against the Devil Dogs contesting it. In my backfield, my other Razorback unit got out of their tank that had been immobile since turn 1 and ran toward my home objective, but were unable to get within 3" due to a poor run result. My Missiles were horribly out of range and due to Night Fight I couldn't have seen anything anyway. My only effective shooting took out the Chimera hiding behind the Russes, and the Wolf Lord charged the unit on foot, wiping them out and consolidating onto the objective in his deployment zone. Chain Lightning did nothing of value. On Danny's turn he tried to Tank Shock Njal's unit with both Devil Dogs, but a Meltagun stunned one of them, and they just moved out of the way of the other. Neither got close enough to contest and the Leman Russes were too far away. He tried running his now on-foot Vet unit toward the objective to my right, but could not get close enough.
Results: I scored 6 objective points and Danny scored 0, which gave me a Massacre! I also scored two battle points for all of my
HQ being alive at the end of the game, and none of his units being in my Deployment Zone. He scored no battle points as I had units everywhere and killed his
HQ early. The result was a 22-0. An absolute domination with me nearly wiping him out!
Thoughts: This changes everything! I'm absolutely stoked about the results of this battle and I cannot believe I won. Danny made a vital mistake reserving everything, allowing my Thunderwolves to get to his table edge before anything arrived, and basically walk up and down the board uncontested while he came on piecemeal. He rolled very poorly for his reserves, but that's the risk you take with that type of deployment. The rest of his rolls were pretty average, and nothing stood out as being particularly high or low. He probably failed a few too many cover saves but otherwise he played a good game with the results he had. As I said, Danny is a good player, and I very much enjoyed this game. I've seen him around the store but I have always been terrified of his army, so we have not played before. I would definitely play him again!
After that, I'm now sitting in 3rd place with 38 points, and the only two above me are Doug and Junior, each with 40 points. They play eachother, and I have to play Adam who is sitting in 4th place at 37 after he also scored a 22-0 massacre in his last round!
Round 3
Mission: Head of Da Snake!
Objective: Destroy the enemy
HQ while keeping yours alive. For those of you unfamiliar with this scenario, it uses Victory Points (page 300 of the Rulebook), except that each player nominates an
HQ choice to be a General, doubling their victory point value.
Deployment: Dawn of War
My third round opponent was Adam, also running Imperial Guard! He had an excellent "Imperial Navy" list primarily consisting of Air Cavalry.
His list
Company Command Squad (Ministorum Priest, Straken, 2x Bodyguard, Camo Cloaks, Carapace Armour, Medic) - 290
10 Veterans (7 Shotguns, Heavy Flamer, 2x Meltagun, , Power Fist, Grenadiers) - 155
10 Veterans (7 Shotguns, Heavy Flamer, 2x Meltagun, , Power Fist, Grenadiers) - 155
10 Veterans (7 Shotguns, Heavy Flamer, 2x Meltagun, , Power Fist, Grenadiers) - 155
10 Veterans (7 Shotguns, Heavy Flamer, 2x Meltagun, , Power Fist, Grenadiers) - 155
10 Veterans (6 Shotguns, 2x Meltagun, Power Fist, Grenadiers) - 135
2x Valkyries (Multiple Rocket Pods) - 260
2x Vendettas - 260
2x Vendettas - 260
2x Leman Russ - 300
Demolisher (Hull Lascannon, Sponsion Plasma Cannons) - 220
Colossus (Hull Heavy Flamer, Enclosed Crew Compartment) - 155
Total 2,500
Thoughts: Now this I can deal with, but that Colossus scares the s*** out of me. Fortunately my opponent could only choose his Company Command Squad to be his General, giving me HUGE points if I can destroy them, but Straken with a Medic is an annoying target to take down. I'm not that worried about the Leman Russes, and Night Fight on turn 1 gives me a significant advantage if I go first. Also, this mission is CRAZY HARD to actually pull out a victory. The margins are 0-375 = Draw, 376-750 = Minor Victory, 751-1125 = Major Victory, and 1126+ = Massacre. So in essence, I have to near table Adam and score points for killing Straken's unit in order to pull this out, but if I do Massacre and the guys at the top table draw or get anything less than a Massacre, I could potentially win the whole tournament. A lot is riding on this game!
Setup: We roll off and tie with a 3. As we roll again Adam mentions that he has not gotten first turn all day, and it occurs to me that I have gotten nothing but first turn. He rolls a 1, and I roll a 5, claiming first turn for the third time. A good omen. I deploy the 9 man unit of Grey Hunters near the middle of the board behind a ruined temple, and Adam holds everything back.
On my turn 1 I move everything onto the board and castle up on the left middle of my deployment zone. The Long Fangs hunker down in a pile of rubble with decent Line of Sight, and the Rhinos set up in a line in front of the Razorbacks. On my right flank, I run the Thunderwolves as far forward as possible. I've got nothing to shoot at so I pass my turn and wait. Adam moves his Vendettas Flat-Out and the Valkyries (carrying Straken) he moves forward to take some pot shots on my Rhinos. The Colossus moves onto the board and cannot fire (thank God), and the Leman Russes fire at the Long Fangs but scatter off and do nothing.
On turn 2 I roll the morale test bubble, and my remaining Long Fangs fire off some shots on the Valkyries, wrecking one and shaking the other. The Lascannons get some decent fire on the Vendettas and managed to knock a Lascannon off one and shake the other. My Thunderwolves rush for the pair of Vendettas that moved onto the board in front of them and knock one out of the sky with some seriously lucky Thunder Hammer hits and pin the units inside. The other is shaken. I rush forward with my front unit of Grey Hunters, pop smoke on their Rhino, and put them in the line of fire as a distraction from my General (the standard Rune Priest), hoping to bait him into blowing up their Rhino and shooting them. Adam takes the bait, blowing up the Rhino, but fails to do any significant damage to the unit inside. Strakens Valkyrie flies directly at Njal's Rhino and the Vendettas on the left skirt around the edge of the board, landing on a hill after a flat-out move. The remaining Valkyrie near my Thunderwolves backs off to unload on them, and the Demolisher pivots to do the same. The resulting blast kills off the generic Thunderwolf in the unit, and the Lascannons put a wound on my Wolf Claw Lord. The Colossus lines up a shot on my Long Fangs and whiffs, but the Leman Russes wipe out everyone but one Missile Launcher in one pack. On the assault phase, Adam charges my Grey Hunter pack with a unit of his Veterans, managing to kill a couple of them in melee before getting wiped out and run down, thanks to Furious Charge. His Power Fist failed his save or he might have done more.
Turn 3 I roll Howling Cyclone, my Thunderwolves break up and the Thunder Hammer Lord goes after the Demolisher, the Thunder Hammer Thunderwolf goes after the Valkyrie, and the other Wolf Lord moves toward the pinned unit that came out of the Vendetta. My Razorbacks generally shift, and Njal's unit disembarks (leaving Njal in the tank) while the other unit on foot moves toward Straken's Valkyrie. I move my General's Rhino back behind the Long Fangs and hold position for Living Lightning. Njal manages to put a wound on himself trying to cast Living Lightning (Probably had something to do with me dropping my tape measure on his head and breaking his arms off!), and the rest of my army whiffs on Straken's Valkyrie. There wasn't a cover save my opponent couldn't make, and my Meltaguns couldn't hit for crap, but come the end of my shooting phase, Njal busts the thing open with Howling Cyclone, leaving Straken stranded. Unfortunately nothing could roll high enough to charge him. My Thunderwolves on the other hand rocked the house, cleaning up the pinned unit and blowing up the Demolisher. The one regular Thunderwolf managed to shake his Vendetta and knock off a Lascannon, but failed to destroy it. Either way, things are looking very good. On Adam's turn, he has a severe brain fart and forgets to move that Vendetta! Straken decides to go after the unit that hopped out of Njal's Rhino and moves into charge range, but Dangerous Terrain claims one of his Bodyguards. The Vendettas on my left flank hold position and blast open my General's Rhino, but the unit just disembarks and stays solid. The Colossus and the Leman Russes make every attempt to kill that unit off but my opponent made the mistake of firing his Heavy Bolters, allowing me to stack a bunch of S8 Cover Saves on the unit, and a regular Heavy Bolter save on the Rune Priest, who passes. The unit gets nearly wiped out, but my General is alive. Straken charges my Grey Hunter pack, but whiffs most of his attacks, and I strike back with a devastating blow. Unfortunately I failed far too many saves, so we drew combat with 1 wound on Strken, the Medic, the Bodyguard and a couple regular guys dead. At the end of Adams turn, I smash his Vendetta with my Thunderwolf and the unit inside hops out, but passes Pinning.....not that it mattered.
Turn 4 I rolled another Howling Cyclone and skirt around the edge of combat with Njal's tank. I do some fancy driving and get my General into the back of a nearby Razorback while running the surviving Wolf Guard and Melta Gunner from his previous unit straight at the Vendettas on my flank. My Thunderlord runs toward the Leman Russes but is about 3/4" out of range for a charge, and my regular Thunderwolf bears down on the new target that fell out of the Vendetta he killed last turn. My Claw Lord moves behind a building. He took a wound in the previous combat from a Power Fist, and so I was keen to kill him alive instead of giving up any more
VP's. My shooting is mediocre, but I do manage to take down one Valkyrie and shake, immobilize and knock a Lascannon off the other. I try to take some pot shots at the Colossus but it passes cover. In combat, my unit kills everyone but Straken and the Ministorum Priest, who kill two guys, and the fight continues with Straken at 1 wound. My Thunderwolf kills off the squad in front of him, then hunkers down in a crater. Nothing was in range for Howling Cyclone. Adams turn is unimpressive due to a lack of options, but the Leman Russes to skirt sideways to try and avoid the Thunderlord bearing down on them, and their shots ravage the other Long Fang pack while killing the remaining model from the first pack. I'm left with 3 Missile Launchers, but they pass morale and pinning, and hold tight.
Turn 5 I rolled Chain Lightning and rushed Njal's Rhino straight for the Colossus. Everything shifts toward the middle and the Thunderlord makes a nice run, easily getting within range of the Russes. The Lascannons all shoot at the last Vendetta, which gets knocked out of the sky and the unit fails pinning. Njal ends up close enough to hit the colossus with Chain Lightning but fails to do anything. I finally finish of Straken in combat, and my Thunderlord pounds both Leman Russes into the dirt. On Adam's turn, the Colossus fires at the Long Fangs, but he fails to wound one of them leaving the squad alive. Battered, but alive. His Melta Vets attempt a shot on Njal's Rhino but fail to hi and fail to charge. We roll and the game ends!
Results: It's a bloody mess. Adam is left with two battered units and a Colossus Siege Mortar, while I still have most everything alive. He does get points for half of Njal (Damned Perils!), and half of the Claw Lord, as well as 3/4 of the Long Fangs, half of two of the Grey Hunter packs, and the two Rhinos he destroyed. Even still, due to the massive cost of Straken alone the points gap is well over 1,300, giving me a second Massacre!
I score 2 Battle Points for killing all of his Fast Attack and keeping my General alive, but I could not get all of his troops, giving me a 22-0 victory for the second time in a row! Definitely not the result I expected, but I'm very pleased. Adam was a great opponent, but his whiffed shooting on turn 1 and his brain fart forgetting to move his Vendetta gave me a big opening which I exploited to the fullest. Also, he tried to win combat with Guardsmen against Grey Hunters, which cost him big time.
I'm now sitting at 60 points, so unless the top table ends in a Massacre, I could actually win! At this point I walk around the store for a bit and talk to people who have finished. Over at the top table it looks like Junior will get a win, but the question is how big will it be? After about a half hour waiting for the game to finish, Junior pulls out a 23-0 Massacre, putting his total at 63 and launching him into the 1st place spot, and giving me 2nd place overall! For my first 'Ard Boyz, I am extremely pleased with this result. I played three of the best games of
40k I've ever played, and my opponents were amazing, which all around lead to an awesome event.
Afterthoughts
My Friend playing Blood Angels came in 5th overall running 4 Land Raiders and 4 Predators. It turns out Doug (the guy Junior beat for the win) handed him a minor loss in round 2 due to some pretty ridiculous dice rolls. Erik scored 7 penetrating hits against Ork vehicles on turn 1, and Doug passed EVERY
KFF SAVE. Every. Single. One. It was an uphill battle just to prevent a Massacre at that point.
Dave Fay was also in attendance and while he scored a Massacre on his third round for the overall 4th place spot, he kinda got screwed in his first round. He was lined up for a 26-0 Massacre with the Traitor in his opponents Deployment zone, and then his opponent (Daniel, playing Space Wolves, who came in 3rd overall) fired Jaws of the World Wolf and killed him, bringing his total down to a minor victory and 16 total points. One Psychic Power cost him 10 points, which was a huge problem, especially since he played Kelly in the 2nd round and they drew. Kelly was running a Vulkan list and Dave needed to run 4" to secure the middle objective for a Major Victory, but rolled a 1, giving them both a draw.
Even with the wackiness I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time. I know I did, and I'm looking forward to the semi-final in Pasadena next month!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. - I would like to give a shout out to Unholy_Martyr for providing the inspiration for my list! It served me well, and had I gone with my original design I don't think I'd have done half as well!
I've never been a big fan of the 'Ard Boyz tournaments personally and thus I didn't play, but from what I've heard it sounds like this was a good time.
3000 point Imperial Fists army
.....Bay Area Open GT 2013 - Best Tyranids 
.....LVO GT 2014 Team Tournament - Best Generals
