Longtime Dakkanaut
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Sorry for the long delay, in between work and the new forums I've been unable to get around to this report as quickly as I'd like.
First off, in answer to your question, I've tested this list a number of times and haven't noticed the loss of a Resurrection Orb. Shooting of s10 isn't really a concern (due to its rarity) and CCW that ignore armor saves shouldn't get to attack. This list has to treat CC extremely respectfully, with the Deceiver keeping the enemy off of me.
General Report:
Environment:
The tournament environment was spacious and well lit. There was an adequate number of tables, and each table had chairs. A problem was the lack of adequate vending. Candy and Sodas are necessities at a tourney, and they ran out around noon. On the other hand it was possible to get lunch delivered from Subway, which was very convenient.
Tables:
The tables were covered in terrain, very familiar terrain to Atlanta players. Warfan terrain, Nato terrain and some Exterminatus pieces were in evidence, and in all honesty they aren't the most impressive pieces. Oh well, at least guys stand on them without much effort. I was irked by how much terrain there was, it seemed like every board had 1/4 coverage...but every piece of it was size 3. Size 3 area terrain was by far the majority, not promising for my beloved Decepticrons.
The Field:
Working from memory there was:
1. Drop pod marines (No Fear the Darkness)
2. Eldar (Creepy Basement studios guy, lots of guardians)
3. Eldar (awful spray-painted job, by the book Mech with harlies, Eldrad and super-falcons)
4. Nids (Looked like butterflies, emerging from fruit)
5. Nids (Zilla nids)
6. Marines (Ultramarines w/Grey knights allies)
7. Marines (Ravenwing)
8. Necrons (Monliths + Orb lords)
9. Necrons (me)
10. Orks (Lotsa Orks)
11. Dark Eldar (Raider squads + witches)
12. Chaos (Mostly Khorne, rhino squads + some demons + prince)
13. Witch Hunters (No sisters, instead 3 hunters + Ecclesiarchy stuff...banners)
14. Orks (Speed Freaks)
15. 13th Company (Wolves, Wulfen, etc.)
16. Blood Angels (Big Death Co)
17. Blood Angels (Big Death Co)
If I missed your army I apologize. Its been a few days and my memory has faded. I took photos, but my photobucket account is on the fritz.
The Missions:
In each mission there is a primary objective, for which you get 15 points for a VS, 12 points for a major, 10 points for a solid, 8 points for a draw and 5 points for a loss.
There was also a secondary objective, for which you got 5 points, and a tertiary objective worth an additional 2.
Typically each mission also has a gimmick rule, that changes the game slightly.
Mission 1:
Primary...VP's
Secondary, keep at least half your troops scoring
Tertiary, General alive
Gimmick: 4 objectives worth 250 points each, and everyone except Boss + 2 troops starts in reserve
Assessment: This would be a decent mission for my crons, but not having the immortals on the board is pure pain. I hate HQ + 2 troops instead of good old escalation. The secondary and tertiary missions are essentially gimme's to me, no one will shoot at warriors while Immortals/Destroyers are in the same general area, and the Deceiver is probably going to be alive at game's end.
The enemy:
Space Marines! w/Grey Knight allies.
Dreadnought w/assault cannon hand, CCW SB hand
Dreadnought w/assault cannon hand, CCW SB hand
6 man tac squad w/sarge + lascannon
6 man tac squad w/sarge + lascannon
6 man tac squad w/sarge + missile launcher
7 man tac squad w/plasmagun + rhino +sarge carrying teleport homer +
8 man assault squad w/flamer + sarge w/lightning claws
Predator w/ twin linked lascannons + heavy bolter sponsons
Vindicator
Land speeder w/ assault cannon
10 Grey Knights w/Deep Strike, Incinerator, Psycannon + Justicar
5 Grey Knight Terminators w/Incinerator, Holocaust + Brother Captain
Chaplain w/ jump pack
Essentially the idea of his list is to drive the rhino up with the assault squad flying along behind it, then teleport in both the grey knight units with the TP homer. Everybody flames and the next round they dive into assault. Meanwhile the stand and shoot elements of his army blast away.
My list assessment:
Its a very simplistic notion, really, and there are any number of things that could go wrong with it. If the enemy goes first and shoots his rhino unit down on its starting line he's just in trouble, and how strong is a 3 unit blitz anyway? Space marine shooting is lackluster, and he's got so many vehicles that any kind of fire directed at his dreads/landspeeders. I anticipate no difficulties
The game:
Escalation really throws a monkey wrench in his plans, as his static shooty elements basically can't get up and support. On the other hand his rhino drives up all right, let's the guys out behind it and ports in the Grey Knights, they put 2 wounds on the Deceiver. Necrons shoot them, Deceiver charges. Next round the terminators drop in and flame all 3 Heavy D's out of existence...Ouch, so much for assesssing them. Deceiver misdirects over and slaughters them, Necrons shoot down the remaining knights. When the assault squad arrives they suffer the same fate, and the shooty elements have been vaporized by immortals. Its an utterly one sided slaughter. I lose my 3 heavy d's and have a wound put on my Deceiver. I think he's still got a squad or two sitting behind buildings, but I'm on every objective and I've killed like 1500 points of his list. The way that the Deceiver charges each tough unit, holds them for his move and shoot phases, then jumps out and lets me shoot them while he goes on to another is just textbook. Worth every point.
In the first round you usually get matched up against less competitive lists. I'm happy to have gotten the reserves mission out of the way in a battle with a non-competitive enemy.
The Field:
The walking orks, the Nidzilla list and the Witch Hunters have all got the same slaughters as I've got, and the Dark Eldar and Mech Eldar are hovering close behind. If I've got to fight the Nidzilla list the next game is the time to do it. If I don't get the Nidzilla I'll end up fighting him in the third round, which will be a catastrophe, as its got alpha, presuming we both slaughter our round 2 opponents. I can't really see my list losing to orks or Witch hunters in this next mission, so I'm hoping for Nidzilla in round 2.
Mission 2:
Primary...VP's
Secondary, Kill all enemy Heavy Support choices, or HQ if there are no heavy support choices
Tertiary, Put a scoring unit in enemy's deployment zone
Gimmick: All infantry w/o special movement modes get the Scout special rule. Scoring units can score by being within 9" of the board center, take and hold style.
Assessment: I love this mission. The extra move is excellent for the warriors and immortals, and will encourage the enemy to leave cover. It essentially adds an extra turn to the game, however, so slowballing is something to be very wary of. Take and Hold is a great mission for Necrons, we like to bunch up in the center anyway. This is probably the best mission for my army of the day. Bring on the Nids!
The enemy. Walking Orks!
Warboss in mega-armor w/5 mega armored nobs in his bodyguard. They rid in a trukk (all trukks have rokkit launchas, grot riggers and red paint jobs).
18 slugga boys w/Nob with power klaw and Big Horns, 3 Rokkit launchas
18 slugga boys w/Nob with power klaw and Big Horns, 3 Rokkit launchas
18 slugga boys w/Nob with power klaw and Big Horns, 3 Rokkit launchas
10 Tankbustas w/4 rokkit launchas, boss has big horns
13 Gretchin w/Slaver with Rokkit launcher and squig hound
13 Gretchin w/Slaver with Rokkit launcher and squig hound
11 Trukk boys in Trukk w/ burna, Nob w/ power klaw
11 Trukk boys in Trukk w/ burna, Nob w/ power klaw
2 Warbuggies w/ twin-linked rokkit launchas, grot riggers
Looted basilisk w/ indirect fire, grot riggers
3 Kannons in a battery
My list assessment:
Its actually a very strong army. They footslog at ya tossing rokkits, and once you get mired in them the trukks zoom up and kick your trash. All the while the bassie lobs shells at you. The skorchas basically screen the bassie, and the Kannons and Gretchin do the stuff you expect from that sort of trash. Against me he's up a creek though, as Immortals can't be reached by his footsloggers. The field is essentially an absolute dead zone, and he can't even ID the immortals with his rokkits. The only way I can lose is if I let the trukk boys get a charge in, or the bassie forces morale tests, or the warboss & retinue end up in the center. My force is kind of his nightmare opponent, each and every ork gimmick countered with overwhelming firepower.
Also of note is that it would be best for me to lose this round, as if I win I'll get the Nidzilla list on Alpha cleanse, and I can't win that game. I agonize over it, but decide that sportsmanship requires I do my best at every game, not at the tournament as a whole.
The game:
We start playing and instantly his luck punches him in da teef. His bassie goes nuts, driving 8 inches through the building it was hiding in, tank shocking his tankbustas out of the way. I duly shoot the bleep out of it, and the firefight is on. Without his bassie he's essentially reduced to lobbing rokkits at destroyer, and I'm smoking every part of the list I can see, but that isn't much. I pop both trukks but the bailers are save behind the hulks, and the sluggas and mega nob are screened by terrain. I'm basically shooting down gretchin and such, while he's focusing on destroyers. We both know the game will be decided when I move up and try and occupy the center for the Take and Hold points. I do so, he columns up behind a building, Mega-armor nobs in their trukk in the lead. Its a clear challenge, if the Deceiver can run up and pop the trukk he gets a round of shooting at it before it can swoop down on the nobs, but if the Deceiver can't hit the trukk (which moved > 12) it zooms by and depositst he warboss + nobs in my immortal throng. There is a heavy destroyer with a clear LOS to the trukk though, so he devotes his entire shooting phase to killing it. He shoots 11 rokkits, hits 4 times...4 1's to wound. His gamble has suddenly turned on him, as the Heavy D takes 1 shot at the trukk and causes it to explode hurling out the mega-nobs and warboss, and destroying half of a slugga boys squad behind it. He thinks about it, and then bails them out close to the Deceiver, his last chance being that my charge goes badly and I rescue his mega-nobs from immobilize in that manner. I take the dare and send the deceiver in. 5 attacks...5 hits....5 wounds...5 Instant-deathed mega-armored nobs, and the warboss routes. Game-Set-Match in an instant. I win by major victory, and I got the primary and tertiary objectives. My opponent played an excellent game, but the dice were against him the whole time. He had a credible chance at victory with a codex many regard as unusable. Hats off.
I've had my cake and ate it...now I'll have to pay. I look forward to alpha cleanse against the Nidzilla and the ruin of my ambitions.
Mission 3:
Primary...Table quarters
Secondary, Kill highest point enemy unit that isn't the general
Tertiary, Kill enemy general
My assessment:
My army blows at this mission. In order to contest all quarters I have to either put my army in the mid-field, or hide the destroyers/heavy d's and zoom em out to turbo-boost at the end. Not that bad, right? The problem is phase out. I have to hide elements of my army for the mission objectives, but the enemy can choose to go whole hog for the phase out. If I group to protect from phase out he can just hide from my fire and contest all 4 quarters. In addition my army works via volume of fire, endless shooting phases that annihilate the opponent. Without the Destroyers and Heavy D's we are shooting at 3 enemy units...total. In addition to all this I don't have the largest number of scoring units out there. The Heavy D's are an attempt at mitigating this (imagine this list with a unit of 4 destroyers instead of the 3 solo Heavy D's and you can see how it used to be), but its ugly all the way through. I'm resigned that this mission is going to suck.
The Enemy...Dark Eldar! (Apparently the Nidzilla player got tripped up by time due to the scouting in the last mission, and they only got 4 rounds. The Orks I just beat actually got the Nids. Teach me to consider going for lower Battle points.)
Archon w/6Incubi retinue on Raider w/ Nightshields
6 Wyches w/Succubus holding agonizer on Raider
6 Wyches w/Succubus holding agonizer on Raider
6 Wyches w/Succubus holding agonizer on Raider
Raider squad w/ dark lance
Raider squad w/ dark lance
Raider squad w/ dark lance
Raider squad w/ dark lance
Raider squad w/ dark lance
Ravager w/ 3 disintegrators
Ravager w/ 3 disintegrators
Ravager w/ 3 disintegrators
My list assessment: This list is my list's spiritual brother. Same maxxing of good squads. Same shooty emphasis with 1 assaulty element. The difference is that my list is slow and sturdy, and this list is fragile and fast. Oh, and that this list is awesome at alpha missions! I can't see a way to win. He's got 13 scoring units that each have a fast skimmer. The board is covered in terrain that blocks LOS. Excellent list, well suited to this mission.
The Game: I've agonized over this, because I don't like to criticize folks behind their backs, but the fact is that he misplayed. He had some good moves (used transports to block Deceiver's charge at a critical moment, split his assault to remove maximum shooting instead of going for an assault win) interspersed with the sort of blunders you'd expect from a novice (put his Lord in B2B with the C'tan, maximized the fight radius on his 6 wyches vs. 10 immortals, thought he could tank shock with raiders, went for the absolute destruction of squads even after they weren't scoring and couldn't see anything of his that was scoring, etc.). The best I can figure is that he's a good 40k player who doesn't play Dark Eldar all the time. Hig biggest mistake was his deployment/strategy though. I figured he'd deploy far back out of my walk + shoot range and pelt me till I got in. Its a corner mission after all. I thought he'd have a raider squad or two run behind cover into the other quarters where I could never reach them. He could have contested at least 3 quarters with nothing I could do, then focused his list, including his vast array of non-scoring raiders, on destroying everything that ventured out of my deployment. Instead he deployed his army right up in my range, everyone standing next to their transports, so if they blow up he'll lose infantry. The only units whose raiders are screened are his assault element (who obviously won't be scoring by game's end). Everything else is in LOS. The message is unmistakable, he wants to have a big shoot out in the center. I've got a shot. I get first turn, step forward and blast the enemy. I take out the transports so he can't get his guys in them, drop like a third of his dark lances in my first phase. He brings in the wyches and lord and they get wrecked by Immortals + C'tan. Ultimately, the dice turn on me and I can't take the game. Deceiver can't kill 2 troops in 2 assault phases, I can't sink a ravager with 3 glances (shaken and 2 weapons destroyed). I can't drop a 6 DE squad to non-scoring with 4 Immortals...etc. He gets 2 quarters to my one.
Lest I come off too arrogant, I made a bunch of blunders in that game too (Shot a raider instead of a ravager, shot transports that didn't have squads in them, forgot to shoot destroyers), and he had some really hard luck (couldn't bring this last immortal down in one squad despite shooting a mind-boggling amount at it) but I had no business even being in contention. Thanks to my enemy's combative nature I had a shot. Definitely my most exciting game of the day, and although I lost it was the one I had the most fun in. I ended up with just 12 points from my loss + tertiary + secondary. The worst part was the knowledge that he was going to get wrecked by Nidzilla, and I was out of the tourney.
Mission 4:
Primary...VP's
Secondary, Make all enemy troops non-scoring
Tertiary, Control as many table quarters as your opponent
Gimmick: Triangle deployment, hunted squad
My assessment:
Good final mission, just a slug-out. Triangle is annoying, but I'm decently mobile, so I'm not complaining too hard. My biggest annoyance with this mission is the Hunted rule, which means that Deceiver is going to be a fire magnet of tremendous proportions.
The Enemy: Witch hunters!
I've lost the list, but man, was it complicated. I think its posted in the other battle report (along with the other side's view of this battle)
My list assessment: Its the first time I've seen something like this, and I'm impressed that he's made it to the last round at table 2 with such an unconventional list. He's got a strong firebase of SM's + dreadnoughts, a lot of landspeeders as his mobile scoring/shooting force. He's got a set of penitent engines and a bunch of CC troops that hide behind a rhino with the world's biggest banner, and 3 inquisitor's w/retinues. He's also got an eversor assassin, who gets bonus points for not being a Celexus. Its a unique army. I try and focus and figure out what its up to.
Basically he's got an assault element that can't reach me, and a lot of long range shooting. I hunt his lord inquisitor + squad, reasoning that making him fearless will keep him from running away from fire using his choose to fail rule, but I forget to apply this during the game.
The game (for further coverage of this see the Witch Hunter player's batrep on this same forum):
Basically we sit behind/on rocks and shoot at each other. He's got more long-range shooting but I've got better durability, cover and stronger shooting once I get there. As we go into the last round I'm up about 150 points. My only hope in the tourney is that The DE player and the Nidzilla player draw, so I've got to shoot for the fences in this one. I bring Deceiver out from behind cover and try and scare off one of his expensive units, but he makes his morale test and shoots down the Deceiver in his last round. Since Deceiver is hunted I go from up 150 to down 300. He wins a solid victory, neither of us got secondary, both of us got tertiary. Very tame game, no real excitement.
Tournament results:
Winner overall: Nidzilla (stunning)
Best general (most battle points and not overall winner): Mech Eldar ( I didn't see any of his games, must have just kept winning after first round)
Best sportsman: Other Necron player
Best army: Space Wolves 13th co.
Very good tournament, I got 4 full games, 3 against strong enemies. 3 of my games were against people I hadn't played before. Good times.
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