ROUND ONE All rounds were scored massacre (20 pts), major victory (17 pts), minor victory (13 pts), draw (10 pts), minor loss (7 pts), major loss (3 pts), and getting your ass handed to you (0 pts).
Every round had the same three bonus pts: most expensive
HQ still alive, most expensive troops still alive, and getting a troup choice into your enemy's deployment zone (one point for completing each).
A little background about me; I haven't played in over a year. I've only played three games this year before this tournament and there are a number of armies that I've never played (Grey Knights, 'Crons,
SoB, and others) so I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to most things
40K. I have a fairly decent grasp of the rules but only a bare understanding of tactics, so I wasn't going into this tournament expecting to rule ass or anything. Win a few and hopefully keep from getting tabled, but we'll see what happens. Also, I've never done a batrep in my life, so I'll apologize now if they suck. So on to the first game.
Fists of Redemption vs Mech Angels
First round was a kill point mission, so the pairings came down and I was up against a
BA player. I walked to the table and he didn't have his army out, so the first thing out of my noob mouth was "You're not playing
DOA are you?" Once he told me he wasn't, my sphincter unpuckered enough to take a look at his army list.
(from memory, didn't get a copy of the list)
Meph
3 x
TL botler backs, 5 marines each
3 x
TL lasbacks, 5 marines, each squad w/melta and
PW 3 x annihilation preds
3 x ball preds w/heavy bolters
and again, my list:
Libby-nullzone and who cares he has nullzone
2 x rifleman dreads
5 x sternguard, 3 x combi-meltas, 2 x combi-flamers, rhino
10 x
tac squad (two of these) lascannon, combi-melta, meltagun, rhino
5 x
tac squad (two of these) las/
plas razor
2 x typhoons (2 units of 1)
2 x multi-melta attack bikes
2 x dakka preds
5 x
devs, 4 missile launchers, asscannon razor
My army in all of its badassery:
Fear my bald-headed psychic powers!
Ok, so the mission was kill points:
Win by 4 for a massacre, then 3 for major, etc. etc, you get the idea. Spearhead deployment.
Pregame:
Didn't really see anything to worry about too much here. Meph could really be a kick in the nuts when he wanted to be and I'm not too good at cracking
AV 13, but on the bright side I really didn't have to move too much. Hopefully I could use my libby to keep Meph from doing too much. Have to see how it all works out.
I won the roll to go first and obviously took it. 10 man tacs all piled into their rhinos and deployed forward with the libby/
SG right behind for backup.
Devs went on a ruin in my corner. Had a pred, dread, and las/plasback (w/squad inside) on each flank. Typhoons stayed in the rear to see where he would deploy. Because their was a big piece of terrain in the middle he could only come at me two ways and I could funnel both. One way he would have to come right at me and the other he would have to come near my long table edge, so I kept my assback and bikes in reserve hoping to get side shots on his preds.
my deployment
He deployed kind of spread out with the Baal preds and a few razors near the front, Meph behind a tank near the front, and kept one Baal and a
TL bolterback in regular reserve. I think he made a mistake by not outflanking his Baals, but we'll see what happens.
He tried to seize and failed.
So I moved a bit. Upper dread moved to get shots on a razor, rhinos went forward and popped smoke, typhoons came out of hiding to shoot some crack missiles. Not really too much. So fired everything :8 crack missiles, 8
TL autocannon shots, 2 regular autocannons, and two 2 lascannons. I came away with one exploded razor. Really? Seriously? Not even a shaken pred? I either missed or failed to pen/glance w/everything but one dread. What a great start.
my movement
This was after my first shooting phase. All those big guns and all did was blow up a razor. Epic fail.
He came forward 6" with everything and then he unloaded on me. One of his Baal's got through smoke on a rhino and exploded it. I lost three marines and they were pinned. Other than that nothing really happened. I used combat tactics to fall back and missed going off the board by one inch, but at least they could shoot the next turn.
My two my assback came in. He came in on the far side of my deployment zone and lined up on the side armor of an annihilation pred. My other
tac rhino zoomed around the mountain in the middle and then bailed out to melta his Baal pred advancing up the center. The libby and
SG followed them for back up and I wanted to keep the libby within 24" of Meph incase he decided to 'roid rage. Upper dread fell back so he wouldn't get raped if his other melta squad came in. Razors, other dread, and typhoons shuffled for shots.
Two close range meltas managed two weapon destroyed on the pred (ouch). Assback immobilized the annihilation pred.
Dev's wrecked a razor. Squad that got blown up last turn missed. I think I may have got another razor in there somewhere.
Wrecked razor and weapons destroyed pred. You can barely see Meph peeking out behind the foreground pred. This would be very important on his next turn.
His two, his Baal and
TL bolterback came in near my firebase. Meph used wings (cancel was unsuccessful) to get near the squad that had their ride exploded. He would need a decent fleet to get to them. His shooting managed to stun my assback, has Baal that came in unloaded into the side armor of my upper pred and stunned it, and he shot a lot at my
devs but I managed to save them all. Meph rolled a "3" for fleet and was still too far to charge. He could have ran Meph into the crater where my rhino exploded, getting a cover save, but instead he came forward (no cover). Inside, I smiled a little.
His squad that I wrecked assaulted my squad that tried to melta his pred. Naturally I lost (duh). I used combat tactics to escape. He could have fell back with his squad in consolidation, but chose to come forward to keep me from regrouping. He consolidated into a really nice template formation...
We're sexy and we know it....(random pic)
My three, my bikes came in next to the assback (who was stunned) to try to kill that damn pred. My broken squad fell back more. The libby and crew drove up to his squad that had just pummeled me in assault and bailed out ready to deliver some flamer love. Everything on my right flank swiveled toward Meph. If I could take him out I might be able to wrap this up (and save my right flank at the same time). My upper dread whistled nonchalantly while sneaking down the side of the board, trying to stealth his way into side armor shots on his Baal that came in from reserve. My stunned assback and pred both popped smoke, as did the libby's ride.
And then I began what I like to call "Operation Whoop Meph's Ass into Submission, or OWMAIS for short for you folks that like acronyms. First, the squad that Meph was going to eat in the previous turn (if he would have reached him) unloaded a lascannon, melta, combi-melta, and I think three rapid fire bolters into his face. All the big guns hit and wounded and I snuck a bolter wound in there as well. That went better than expected. OWMAIS was well under way. Since my lower razor was w/i 24", I went with him next. Both
plas and las hit and wounded, and that ended the threat of Meph. Well done boys. Only two units and the scariest thing on the board was now dead. In other news, the bikes stunned and blew a weapon off the invincible pred. Between the libby and
SG, I caused like 16 wounds to his squad that was chasing mine and they evaporated. My upper dread wrecked his
TL bolterback that came in from reserve and they got pinned. Somewhere in there I stunned his Baal that came in from reserve. I also popped another razor with a typhoon and I think another pred somewhere. My dice were finally heating up. There was no assault so I turned it over to him.
The 'ol dice were finally heating up.
His three, he didn't really have a lot left to do. His guys moved around a bit. He lined up shots on my assback and libby's rhino.
In shooting he got the libby's rhino, didn't hurt the assback, and that was pretty much it.
My four, my now regrouped squad jumped back in their rhino and started making for his deployment zone. The bikes got closer to the accursed pred while the assback moved back a bit. The ninja dread finally got within the side arc of his reserved Baal. The libby and boys headed toward his squad that was pinned the previous turn. Everything else shuffled around for shots.
My upper dakka pred fired on his pinned squad, killing a few. The libby finished them off with Avenger. The dread popped the Baal pred. I finally got that F'ing pred with my bikes. I blew off another weapon and immobilized the pred in the middle of the table, so he was one immobilize/weapon destroyed away from a wreck. Stunned an annihilation pred and I think popped another razor, with a few random shots aimed his marines on the ground.
My rhino headed for his DZ
We killed somebody!
His four, he really didn't have anything left. He exploded my assback with his
TL lasback and I think killed a biker and killed some of my
SG, that was it.
My five, my libby and
SG ran for cover (like the heros they are). My troop rhino got into his deployment zone by tank shocking two squads and not doing anything to either. I lined up shots with everything else. I wiped out the first squad that I had tank shocked, wrecked his last razor, and stunned his last pred. I think I gunned down a squad in there somewhere too.
His five, he shot at the rear armor of my tankshock rhino and then charged it, not doing anything. We decided to call it there.
Remember the stealth dread I mentioned earlier? That's him in the upper part of the pic. This is the only pic I got of him (because of his mad ninja skills)
Dread doing the victory dance (honestly I have no idea when I took this pic, so threw it in here)
Aftermath:
Once my dice finally started working with me I started rolling. I got lucky killing Meph, I won't deny that. He wasn't having a lot of luck with rolls, but I think his target priority was somewhat skewed. For example, for two turn he shot at my
devs with his annihilation pred. I had plenty of tanks he could have been popping. I think his list could really benefit from a blood shield libby and possibly a priest or two, but I don't play
BA so I could be talking out my ass here. He took it like a champ and was pretty upbeat throughout the game and we talked a good deal afterward. Unfortunately my army is pretty good at
de-meching other armies and then finished off the squishies that fall out.
So, I was 1-0. And because I did so well in my first game, I got the pleasure of playing XXXX Grey Knights in round two.
3000 Points
500 Points
2,801p
'ardboy Nob and his 'ardboyz
2-3 
5000+ pts. 
At least Jesse do.