Yesterday was Ard Boyz semis and I played at Legends Comics and Games in Cupertino (awesome store) and had a great time. All 3 games were against cool, fun guys, were challenging and enjoyable. Plus, almost all the armies present were fully painted! Not what we're used to for Ard Boyz, that's for sure.
45 players as well, which is a large turnout for Ard Boyz.
I saw a lot of familiar faces, some that I had not seen in years. That is one of my favorite parts of tournament play, seeing people that you only get to see a few times a year.
I busted out the trusty Bjorn Wolves. This is my tried and true tournament army that has been my workhorse throughout most of 5th ed. I love the army and it continues to perform well, and be fun to play. I made one, slight change to the list from last year, switching out an offensive power on one rune priest for more defensive buffs (another storm caller). Keeping my guns firing longer was more beneficial than the additional
JotWW.
So, without further ado, here is the list:
Bjorn Wolves 2500 Points
Unit Description Size Cost
HQ
Bjorn 1 270
Rune Priest
JotWW, Storm Caller, M.Bombs 1 105
Rune Storm Caller, Murderous Hurricane 1 100
Troops
Grey Hunters Flamer, Razorback, A.Cannon 6 150
Grey Hunters Flamer, Razorback, A.Cannon 6 150
Grey Hunters Flamer, Razorback, A.Cannon 6 150
Grey Hunters Melta 6 95
Grey Hunters Melta 5 80
Grey Hunters Melta 5 80
Elites
Dreadnought M.Melta, H.Flamer 1 115
Dreadnought L.Cannon, H.Flamer 1 145
Dreadnought L.Cannon, H.Flamer 1 145
Fast Attack
Land Speeder Typhoon 1 90
Land Speeder Typhoon 1 90
Land Speeder Typhoon 1 90
Heavy Support
Long Fangs M.Launcher x 5, Razorback, L.Cannon 7 215
Long Fangs M.Launcher x 5, Razorback, L.Cannon 7 215
Long Fangs M.Launcher x 5, Razorback, L.Cannon 7 215
Totals 64 2500
An alpha strike shooting army based around Bjorn's increased odds of going first. 75% of the time, it works every time! Ron Burgundy,
ftw!
Game 1: Victory Points, get a messenger model into the enemy deployment zone. Pitched Battle Deployment. 4th ed mission, which favors
MSU armies. This is why
KP's are good.
MSU already have a big mathematical advantage, and
VP's makes them even better. My army would love this game against any opponent.
I was running late because I was told the store needed terrain, so I packed my truck full of
BAO http://bloodofkittens.com/bayareaopen/ terrain. I live in San Francisco, which if no one has been there, is a crazy busy city and so getting the truck loaded up from my apartment was a pain. Anyway, it took longer than I thought it would and I got to the tournament late. So, I had to play the ringer which meant I played someone who hadn't actually qualified to be there. However, his list was a really good counter to mine, so I wasn't assuming it would be an easy game. Termies laugh at missiles.
When I got there they said they didn't need terrain after all, but I should have used mine all the same. The terrain they had was mismatched, ugly and sparse. They did their best though, it just made it a shooty armies tournament.
Opponent: Ian
List from Memory
HQ
Mordrak and 2 ghost buddies
Grand Master: Psycannon, various kit
Elites
Vindicaire
Trrops
Termies x 5: psycannon, hammer, halbred x 2
Termies x 5: psycannon, hammer, halbred x 2
Termies x 5: psycannon, hammer, halbred x 2
Termies x 5: psycannon, hammer, halbred x 2
Fast
Interceptors x 5: Psycannon, Halbred, Hammmer
Storm Raven: Various Kit
Storm Raven: Various Kit
Heavy
Dreadknight: teleporter, gatling blaster, heavy psycannon
So, this was actually a really bad match-up for me. Termie armies are my bane, and he had lots of them in potentially very mobile delivery systems.
Luckily, I got first turn. This meant the proposition of deploying on the board was pretty intimidating facing my army's firepower and the fact that there was only 1
LOS blocking piece of terrain on the board.
My opponent opted to reserve everything but the messenger unit. I deployed centrally as I assumed he would use his dual grand strategy to outflank most of his army (which he did).
The game would have been brutally hard for me if his reserve rolls had been good. If he would have gotten all 3 termie units in turn 2, I would have been in deep gak. They will wreck me in assault, and I wouldn't be able to kill them all the turn they came in, ensuring some of them making it into combat and chopping me up. However, his reserve rolls were crappy and units came in in ones and two, meaning I could focus fire them to death one at a time.
So, the game ended up being a route. Turn 4 tabling with max points to me. Despite the lop sided victory, we had a really fun game. Ian and I were laughing and joking most of the time, making "pew pew!" noises with our dude men. Fun game.
That put me tied for first with 24/24 points. Lucky draw, and luck in the game. I was feeling good about my odds!
Game 2: Have the most scoring units within 6" of the table center. Pitched Battle Deployment. Another 4th ed mission. I have 6 mobile, fairly resilient scoring units, so I felt good about this one unless I had to play a tough assault army. I don't want to go at those types of armies, I want to go away from them. Match-up would be hugely important in this game.
Opponent: Fuegan
HQ
Ghaz
Warboss: cybork, klaw, pole
Elites
Kommandos: sniktty snikrot, burnas (warboss attaches here)
Lootas x 15
Lootas x 15
Troops
Boys x 30: Nob, Klaw, Pole
Boys x 30: Nob, Klaw, Pole
Boys x 30: Nob, Klaw, Pole
Boys x 30: Nob, Klaw, Pole
Boys x 30: Nob, Klaw, Pole
Boys x 30: Nob, Klaw, Pole
Heavy
Kannon x 3
Kannon x 3
Kannon x 3
Holy crap. Worst match up possible for this mission. Horde Orks are a great army, and this is their ideal mission. 180, fearless, scoring boys lead by Ghaz march onto the objective and say, come and get us off of it. I thought I was screwed baring a miracle. I know how to fight horde orks with my army, but my standard strategy is to line up on the back board edge and shoot like the dickens. Having to go at the horde, plus having Snikrot and a Warboss coming in to rape me from the rear meant bad news bears. Plus, Fuegan is a very good player, which meant an even worse match-up. And, as the extra money shot to the face, there was a HUGE hill smack dab in the middle of the board, meaning the horde would largely be out of
LOS. Sweet.
I formulated my battle plan in my mind, knowing it would be a long shot. I have found that when you are facing these terrible match-ups, you just have to stay calm, think clearly and stick to a plan. Mine would need a lot of luck to succeed, but it's a game of dice where things can and do get crazy.
So, Bjorn got me first turn (thank you Old Man!) and I deployed my scoring units and Dreads centrally behind the hill, with Fangs and Speeders on the flanks.
Fuegan deployed his horde behind the hill with staggered cover saves, and his Kannons and Lootas on either flank.
I knew I had to take out the Kannons and Lootas ASAP as they are such good shooting units (Kannons are flipping awesome for those of you who have not tried them, i run 9 in my Ork list, too). Fuegan rolled poorly for his cover saves on his Kannons and I blew up half of them first turn. I also killed half the Lootas, forcing one of the squads to break and run.
I had 1 rune priest jump out and Murderous hurricane a boy mob (this would turn out to be an epic duel!) to slow them down and start whittling away their numbers.
The rest of my units moved forward and positioned for turn two assaults.
The horde advanced, running up the hill, preparing to come pouring over it and smash me. His shooting was largely ineffective as I had diminished it so dramatically with my shooting phase. This was critical as I needed my scoring units to stay mobile if I were to have any hope of winning the game.
Turn Two, opportunity knocked. Fuegan made a positioning error, leaving Ghaz, and 4
PK nobs in a line. Jawstastic! I suicided my
JotWW Rune Priest on a go-for-the-glory, potentially game winning shot. He got Jaws off, hit, and Jaws'd 2
PK nobs out of the mobs! Ghaz lived though. Had he died, that would have been epic.
So, two mobs were now without klaw, meaning that a dread could tarpit them for the rest of the game. However, Ghaz had lived, and I had to contain Ghaz or the big boss could walk through my fragile army by himself. I charged Bjorn and another Dread into Ghaz. The nob in the mob he was attached to was dead, so a lot of their punch was gone. I charged the other two dreads into a mob that was not on the objective, confident that they would hold that mob for the rest of the game.
Bjorn and his Buddy put 5 wounds on Ghaz, forcing Fuegan to call his WAAGH! to make Ghaz go invul, which is exactly what I wanted to happen. That way, with some luck, if Snikrot and crew didn't come in his turn 2, they would lose their ability to come 18" off my back board edge and wreck me. It gave me a little window where I could hover outside their charge range. I would then be able to kill them the turn they came in before they did anything.
Fuegan was starting to see that this wouldn't be an easy win for him and new he had to free Ghaz up or be stuck there for the rest of the game. He charged two more mobs into the Dreads and the brave
JotWW run priest to try and blow them off the hill. The Priest died fighting, and both Bjorn and the Dread took damage, but hung in there.
On the flank, my Murderous Hurricane Priest continued to pummel an Ork mob, and by the time they made it into combat with him, there were only 10 left! And, against all odds, the Priest won combat against them when he only took one wound in combat and the
PK nob that hit him 3 times, rolled 3 1's to wound! That Rune Priest was a bad ass!
Most importantly though, the Kommandos didn't come in, meaning I was safe from them. Whew! Had they come in that turn, I probably would have lost the game badly. Luck was with me so far, if it would hold out, I would have a chance!
The next few turns were me whittling down Orks by carpet bombing them with frags, and Feugan trying desperately to kill the dreads holding his units up. If the dreads would just hang in there long enough for me to set up a multi assault with ALL of my Grey Hunters at once, I might just be able to blow the orks off the Objective and take it!
First one, then another dread died to klaws. Bjorn lost both arms and was immobilized, but the Old Man kept head-butting and kicking Orks to death, refusing to die and keeping them, and Ghaz, tied in combat!
The last remaining Lootas managed to pop one of my transports, exposing the Grey Hunters inside, and the orks pounced, wiping them out. This meant I only had 5 scoring units left, exactly enough to get a massacre if all of them survived and I managed to knock ALL of the Orks off of the mid field (about 70 or so).
Turn 4 rolled around and Fuegan had manged to get one mob free from the Bjorn tar pit, and his Kommandos STILL had not come n the board. I had circled the hill with all of my Razorbacks and knew I had to strike now. I carpet bombed the free mob to death with 17 frag missiles and various assault cannons, wiping them out. The Rune Priest bad ass managed to knock the mob he had been fighting down to 2 models before finally dying! One Priest had killed 28 Orks!
All of my Grey Hunters jumped out (about 25 of them left) and they charged the Orks tar pitted on Bjorn on the objective. I killed 18, taking only 3 casualties in return, since the klaws and Ghaz all had to swing on Bjorn.
I won combat by 15! Fuegan rolled his fearless saves, and rolled just few enough saves that ALL of the remaining Orks died! Then, Ghaz failed his Leadership 2 check, and ran off the objective. I consolidated onto the objective with exactly 5 units of Grey hunters left (one only had a single model) to just barely earn the massacre in a crazy, whiz-bang, final move.
I couldn't believe I had pulled it off! 22/24 points and now clearly in first place. I had a good plan, and luck went my way big time, to allow me to pull a massacre out of my rear end when by all rights, I should have gotten scrapped.
Wow, that was a great game.
Game 3: At the beginning of turn 3, roll to see what the objective is. Kill points, table quarters of terrain pieces. Spearhead deployment. This missions had a 66% chance of being great for me and a 33% chance of potentially being crappy. My army has 24 kill points, and if I rolled this mission against a low
KP army, it could be a really tough match-up. My army likes spearhead though, as it gives me lots of options with deployment to adapt to different styles of armies.
Opponent: Evan (an old buddy from LA that I had not seen in years).
List: Footdar! Haha, awesome! Footdar at the top table, how cool! I love my Footdar and unlike a lot of people, wouldn't underestimate how good they could be in skilled hands. Evan had beaten 2 very, very nasty Grey Knight armies to get to table 1, one of whom had been Jy2 and his Purifier Spam list. This could potentially be a very rough match.
list from memory
HQ
Eldrad
Farseer: fortune, guide, spear
Troops
Wraithguard x 10: warlock, enhance, s.seer
Wraithguard x 10: warlock, enhance, s.seer
Wraithguard x 10: warlock, conceal, s.seer
Dires x 10: Exarch, bladestorm, Wave Serpent,
EML, Stones
Dires x 10: Exarch, bladestorm, Wave Serpent, Lance, Stones
Heavy
Wraithlord: Lance, Sword
Wraithlord: Lance, Sword
Wraithlord: Lance, Sword
A full blown, Iyanden ghost army. Awesome! So, this could be a very bad match-up if we rolled kill points and Evan went first. His troops are ultra durable, will kill anything they shoot, and will kick my dreads asses in combat thanks to witchblades. However, I could out-range him, and play keep away, backing up and shooting.
We ended up on a table that heavily favored my army. It had only 1
LOS blocking piece of terrain mid board. With spearhead deployment, this was bad for my opponent as I could divide my forces, and move out to both flanks to see around the hill, moving and shooting outside of his range. If I could take out his fast movers and long range shooting early, it would be a route.
We rolled for first turn, and the Old Man worked his magic again. First turn! This made up for the last
GT I played in where 5 out of 5 opponents rolled a 6 to go first against me and I went second every game!
At this point, I knew it was my game to lose baring bad luck. My shooting was below average, but I have so many shots, it didn't matter. I dropped both Skimmers and a Wraithlord before anything could get fortuned up or go flat out and that was pretty much game baring a crazy mission. My opponent now only had 2 ranged units and they shot 36" to my 48". My Rune priests ran up to the hill to start Rune Staffing his powers and boy did they do their job well! They stopped a good 3/4's of them, my rune staff rolls were hot.
The game then proceeded along a predictable course with me backing away, killing his units and him trying to play to objectives. Turn 3 we rolled up terrain pieces and I knew I had it. Had it been kill points, he could have fought me to a minor or draw as he had managed to kill Bjorn with a Wraithlord in combat.
By Game's end, I had dropped three of his 5 scoring units, held 4 objectives to his none and got all bonus points. Had he gone first and there been adequate terrain, that could have been a very tough game. But with the mission, going first, and lack of terrain meant it was my game from the word go. Luck was with me this tournament! In a game of dice, that is just as important as anything else.
I won! 70/72 total points.
So, I finally not only made it to Ard Boyz finals (Every other year some crazy bad luck prevented me from making it) but I won the big prize of a 2,500 point army of my choice. Cool!
I had a really fun 3 games against good guys, and good players.
So on to the finals!
I think I am going to get Daemons or Dark Eldar for the army. Not decided yet, but we'll see.
Thanks for reading.