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RTT December 8th- Adventurer's Guild, Riverside, California


Haven't been by the Guild since they moved to their new location, but it's one of the places I first started playing RTTs. Don't really know what the current player base is like, but some of the Game Empire Pasadena regulars are going, so I'll know some people there. Using my standard Tau build with a few tweaks here and there, primarily trying out Shadowsun since she worked
well in the Hardboyz.

HQ1 - Shadowsun
EL1 - 3x Crisis Suits (Plasma, Missile, Multitracker), Team Lead w/ Targetting Array and 2 Shield Drones
EL2 - 3x Crisis Suits (Burst Cannon, Missile, Multitracker), Team Lead w/ Targetting Array and 2 Shield Drones
EL3 - 3x Crisis Suits (TwinLinked Missile, Targetting Array)
TR1 - 6x Fire Warriors w/ Pulse Carbines
TR2 - 10x Kroot
TR3 - 10x Kroot
FA1 - 8x Pathfinders w/ Warfish (Smart Missile System, Multitracker, Targetting Array, Decoy Launcher)
FA2 - 8x Pathfinders w/ Warfish (Smart Missile System, Multitracker, Targetting Array, Decoy Launcher)
FA3 - 1x Pirahna (Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array)
HS1 - 3x Broadsides w/ A.S.S., Team Lead w/ 2 Shield Drones
HS2 - 1x Hammerhead Gunship (Ioncannon, Two Burst Cannon, Decoy Launchers)
HS3 - 1x Hammerhead Gunship (Ioncannon, Two Burst Cannon, Decoy Launchers)


Round One vs. Sergio playing Chaos

Sergio's one of the regular players I run into around the local RTT scene quite often, so we're familiar w/ each other's playstyles. His list is focused around the indestructible Plague Marine, which is bound to be annoying for my list to deal with.

Flying Daemon Prince w/ Lash of Submission
Chaos Lord w/ Terminator Armour and Lightning Claws
5x Terminators w/ a variety of shooty and stabby equipment
2x Obliterators
Plague Marine x7 w/ 2 Plasma Guns, Powerfist and Rhino
Plague Marine x7 w/ 2 Plasma Guns, Powerfist and Rhino
Plague Marine x7 w/ 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist and Rhino
Plague Marine x7 w/ 2 Flamers, Powerfist and Rhino
2x Predator Annihilator (or whatever Chaos calls them)

The mission is Twilight, which is essentially a straight up VP fight with possible Night Fight starting on turn 4. Sergio wins deployment and we both set up in castles on opposite corners, with most of our stuff out of immediate fire arcs. Both the Chaos Terminators and the Chaos Lord elect to Deep Strike. I get first turn.

Tau deployment




Chaos deployment



Turn One - Tau

I swing out to the right, while sending a suicide contingent forward to try to bottleneck the Rhinos while I utilize my range advantage to pound his troops. Obviously both Predators have to go in order for this to happen, so the first railgun volleys slam into the nearest Predator, but only come away with a Weapon Destroyed and Stunned. Long distance Ioncannon and Missile Pod fire shake the other one, so I guess it's not too bad a start. Slightly disappointed in not killing either Predator, but at least they're not firing. Shame that Markerlights can't remove Obscured from vehicles like they remove cover from troops.



Turn One - Chaos

The Rhinos manuever behind cover, advancing slowly, while a single Marine squad disembarks and downs the Pirahna. Obliterator lascannon fire shakes a Devilfish and both Predators wait to recover. The Prince attempts to Lash the Fire Warriors, but rolls an 11 on the psychic test. Not too exciting a turn.



Turn Two - Tau

I press the shaken Devilfish right into the way of the Rhinos, and for good measure blow up the lead transport. The Broadsides shift fire to the undamaged Predator and again blow off the top lascannon, but can't kill it.The first Pred is shaken again, but I just can't bring it down! Near the Marines, an Infiltrating Kroot squad fires into the closing Daemon Prince and manages to put a wound on it.



Turn Two - Chaos

Both reserve rolls come up empty. A Plague Marine squad shoots from the Rhino's hatch and kills the southern Devilfish with plasma fire. The Obliterators continue to hide behind the Predator and Stun my other Devilfish. A Rhino drives up to the Kroot that shot their Daemon Prince last turn and blast them with a combi-flamer blast, vaporizing the squad. The Prince goes after the Fire Warriors and beats the heck out of them, as they run off the board in terror.

Turn Three - Tau

You know, I'm starting to think this plan isn't turning out all that great. I've managed to trap the majority of the Chaos forces behind a building while setting up a killzone for when they come out. The problem is that they're NOT coming out. I haven't been able to take a single shot at a Plague Marine yet, and the Tau aren't exactly the kind of army that excels at driving straight into an enemy position (well, at least my Tau aren't that sort). At least this turn, the Crisis Suits finally manage to blow up the northern Predator while the Prince gets plugged by multiple Ioncannon shots and taken down after coming out of cover to murder the Firewarriors. Railguns track on the Obliterators, but only bring a single one down. I also fail to damage the remaining Predator.



Turn Three - Chaos

The Terminator squad shows up and neatly Deep Strikes right behind my advance. Reaper and combimelta fire Stuns one Ionhead while the Oblits + Predator take down the other one. Grrrrr.



Turn Four - Tau

Markerlights illuminate the Termies, and the Fireknives burn four of them down handily. My other Kroot pack runs backwards and rapid fires the survivor, but can't penetrate his armour. In another unhappy event, my Broadside team fails their Ld10 target priority test, ignores the remaining Predator, and promptly blows the tar out of a poor inoffensive Rhino that just
happened to be hanging around.



Turn Four - Chaos

The Chaos Lord teleports to the battlefield and for some reason sticks himself right in front of the Tau advance, menacingly waving his Lightning Claws. Meanwhile, the lone Terminator finishes off the Stunned Ionhead with his Reaper. In the center, the two remaining Rhinos accelerate and
drive through the building, ending up with one immobilized.



Turn Five - Tau

Shadowsun promptly puts the Chaos Lord out of his misery with a well-aimed Fusion Blaster shot while a Crisis team finally gets around the LOS-blocking wreckage of a Predator and finishes off the last Obliterator. The Predator survives yet another Railgun salvo, losing its tracks and another lascannon.

In the Assault phase, I opt for the extra attacks and charge the remaining Terminator with my Kroot pack, inflict 9 wounds, but all are saved. Obviously stunned also, the Terminator misses with his return attacks.



Turn Five - Chaos

Plague Marines disembark from the furthest forward Rhino, walk forward and neatly snipe Shadowsun out of her unit with a volley of plasma fire. Doh. Someday I'll learn to watch out for that. The Kroot fail to injure the Terminator, lose one of their own, but hang on.



Turn 6 - Both

And that's really about it for the game. I blast the front Plague Marine squad, but can't inflict any sort of casualties. The Kroot lose another round of combat, hold, and in the final close combat phase, bring the Terminator down. The game ends there, but I've lost way too many units to come out well, despite board control. I've also failed to damage any of the four Plague Marine squads and those are worth a load of VPs. The total comes out to be a draw, which is probably better then I deserve for not prosecuting the fight more aggressively. Off to Round Two.

Game Two vs. Ray playing Raven Guard

The game is essentially a Recon mission, which is just fine for me. Ray's army has a heavy Scout contingent, in all sorts of configurations along w/ light armour support and a few Terminators for good measure.

Chaplain
5x Terminators w/ 2 Assault Cannons
5x Terminators w/ 2 Assault Cannons
10x Scouts w/ Bolters
10x Scouts w/ Sniper Rifles
10x Scouts w/ Bolt Pistol and CCW
6x Marines w/ Lascannon and Plasma Gun in a Lascannon Razorback
6x Marines w/ Lascannon and Plasma Gun in a Heavy Bolter Razorback
5x Assault Marines w/ Power Fist
3x Predator Destructors w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons

I lose deployment choice, and set up in a strong corner castle as there's not quite enough terrain to shield all of our armour. I leave the Pirahna and my Fire Warriors over on the other corner just to keep Ray honest. He deploys lengthwise across his zone, with his Scouts set up in a skirmish line. I win first turn.

Tau deployment



Raven Guard deployment



Turn One - Tau

Skimmers break the castle and advance forward pouring fire into the two leftmost Scout squads. Markerlights zero the trench cover saves and over half of both squads die in the opening salvo. On the right, with the three Predators well hidden, the Broadsides vaporize the Lascannon Razorback. The remainder of my units advance up the left side of the board while the Pirahna remains safely tucked away on the right side.



Turn One - Raven Guard

The three Destructors roll foward blazing fire but their autocannons fail to inflict any damage on the skimmer advance. Lascannon fire is blocked by the Broadside Shield Drones and Sniper rifle shots are stopped by the stout walls of the Pathfinders' cover.



Turn Two - Tau

The remaining Scouts die in a repeat of the first turn, while Missile Pod and Railgun fire kill two of the Predators and the remaining Razorback. The advance continues.



Turn Two - Raven Guard

Both Terminator squads fail to show up on the battlefield, while the last Scout squad takes cover in the center of the battlefield. Weapons fire patters off the Broadsides again without inflicting any casualties.



Turn Three - Tau

With the left side of the board secure, my army swings in a rapid closing manuever on the remaining Marine forces. One lascannon squad goes down under Ioncannon fire while the Fire Warriors on the right take out the last Predator with a side Carbine shot.



Turn Three - Raven Guard

A single Terminator squad shows up, and takes down a pair of Shield Drones from a Crisis suit team. The Assault Team moves forward, but are blocked off from the Tau battlesuits by the skimmer wall, so they take cover in the wreckage of the Marine tanks.

Turn Four - Tau

The Terminators are knocked down to a single man from rapid fire Plasma Rifles and Railguns, from which they break and run. The Assault Squad + Chaplain are Markerlighted and vaporized.



Turn Four - Raven Guard

The last Terminator squad drops in, but only can shake a Hammerhead.



Turn Five - Tau

The Terminators suffer the fate of their brethren, and Ray concedes as the Tau army sweeps across the Marine deployment zone.



Ray's a good sport about the game and we spend a bit of time chatting afterwards.

Off to Round Three.

Game Three vs Greg playing Imperial Guard

Seen Greg around at various RTTs, but never played him before. His urban paint scheme matches nicely with the table we get assigned to (as opposed to my desert colours clashing). I'll probably do a really bad job of remembering all the squads here, but I'll give it a shot.

Command Platoon w/ 2 meltaguns + Chimera
3x Mortar Teams
3x Heavy Bolters
10x Stormtroopers w/ 2 plasmaguns + Chimera
Infantry Platoon w/ 3 squads (Lascannon, Autocannon, Missile + Plasma, Melta, Grenade Launcher)
Infantry Platoon w/ 3 squads (Lascannon, Autocannon, Missile + Plasma, Melta, Grenade Launcher)
Sentinel w/ Lascannon
Sentinel w/ Lascannon
Hellhound
Leman Russ
Leman Russ Demolisher
Basilisk

The mission is the Hunted, with bonus points for killing a specified unit. I pick Greg's Demolisher (if only to keep it away from me), and he picks my Broadsides. I lose both the deployment choice and first turn.

There's a good amount of terrain, but a lot of it is pushed up against the board edge, making it hard to establish JSJ positions w/o taking Dangerous Terrain checks every turn. I bury my suits 6"+ into terrain out of LOS and resign myself to taking damage while advancing. My two Ionheads end up on the far left of the board along with the Pirahna while the rest of the army is on the right side castled up. The Guard is spread out long board with good firing arcs, although there's a LOS blocking building in the center of the board.

Army deployment



better picture of the Guard deployment



Turn One - Imperial Guard

Heavy weapons fire rakes across the exposed Hammerheads, Stunning one of them. The two Chimeras shoot up both Pathfinder teams, and mortar fire pins both Kroot packs as explosions walk across their position. Luckily, the incoming Basilisk fire is stopped by Shield Drones and cover, so the suits survive w/o casualty.

- not an incredibly useful picture, I dunno what I was aiming at

Turn One - Tau

My main army on the right surges forward, seeking to close range with the Guard army. Both advancing Chimeras die from Tau heavy weapons fire while the Deathrains Stun the Basilisk with a volley of Missile Pod fire. On the left, the unStunned Hammerhead blows off the Hellhound's Inferno Cannon, while the Pirahna manuevers in the hopes of being able to get a shot on the Demolisher.



Turn Two - Imperial Guard

The Guard does what the Guard does, and heavy weapon emplacements begin raining death down on the Tau skimmers. The Stunned Ionhead loses its engines (even with Decoy Launchers) and touches down, only to have its Ioncannon blown off by another missile hit. Another series of Shaken results appears on the remaining skimmers, but no lasting damage. Mortar fire drops on target and pins both Kroot again!



Turn Two - Tau

I continue to advance, with battlesuits tearing into the packed Guard squads. Unfortunately, without the foresight of taking either an Airbursting Fragmentation Projector or Hammerhead Submunitions, it's going to be a long haul whittling down the squads. Pathfinders keep the fire on-track, but there's an awfully lot of men there. On the good side, the Broadsides blow the Leman Russ away and the Basilisk remains Stunned, so pie plates aren't really going to be a problem.



Turn Three - Imperial Guard

Pretty much a repeat of turn two, but Greg can't draw any damage results against the skimmers and his weapons fire is pretty much ineffective. On the left, the Demolisher decides discretion is the better part of valor and retreats behind terrain away from the Pirahna. The mortars end up with an absolutely huge amount of hits on the tightly packed battlesuits, but don't inflict a single wound.



Turn Three - Tau

Hmmm. I seem to be repeating myself, but yeah, more Guardsmen die. The Basilisk finally succumbs to the Deathrains, and the Broadsides find themselves in the weird situation of having nothing to really fire railguns at. My army begins to rotate towards the right, and I figure I'll just keep attritioning the Guard down since I'm not really taking any losses, even though the mortars have to start getting lucky soon.

Turn Four - Imperial Guard

The odds even up a little bit in this turn, as close range meltagun fire and multiple lascannon shots kill both Devilfish, while the Ionhead gets Shaken. Mortars still can't injure a single battlesuit, despite hitting nearly all of them. The tankhunting Pirahna gets caught out and shot down, but the Demolisher won't be playing any part of the game as it's way too far away from the fight.



Turn Four - Tau

I've finally managed to kill enough Guardsmen to start reducing the amount of incoming fire. Mind you, there's still plenty, and if this was a mission based on scoring units, I'd really be worried. As it is, JSJ keeps my battlesuits dumping continuous fire removing squad after squad without threat of counterfire. The loss of the two Devilfish is annoying, but it now gives me another JSJ position I can use, rather then risking the mortars.



Turn FIve - Imperial Guard

Guard Command teams charge the battlesuits, hoping to overwhelm them in close combat instead. Unfortunately, without power weapons, their attack falters and they're wiped out by the battlesuits. With their reduced numbers, heavy weapons fire is ineffective against the Ionhead and it continues unharmed.



Turn Five - Tau

All suits advance to rapid fire range and devastate the remaining Guard infantry. With no armoured targets, Broadside SMS fire adds to the carnage.



End Game

The few remnants of the Guard infantry break cover and charge into the battlesuits, but like the previous assault, lose badly and run from the Tau warriors.


So the tournament ends, and I've got two wins and a draw. Sadly, Sergio chipmunks me (just kidding) and he pulls ahead by a few points to take Best Overall. Greg ends up with Best Painted (I think?) and Darrian gets Best General despite ducking me the entire tournament.

Overall, a pretty good event and a good gaming community. After finding out the new location really isn't all that far from my house, I'll definitely be attending the next tournament they hold. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Excellent write up! My Guardsman and I walked away with Best Sportsmanship-Rick and his Imperial Fists took the Best Army award.

Great memory too on my list-for what its worth here is what I used:

Command Platoon
JO with x4 Flamers, Chimera
x3 HB's
x3 Mortars
Sentinel with LC

x8 Stormtroopers with x2 Plasma, in Chimera

PLT 1
JO with ID, x2 Meltaguns
Squad with Lascannon
Squad with Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
As above
As above

PLT 2
JO with ID, x2 Meltaguns
Squad with Autocannon, Plasma Gun
As above
Squad with Missile Launcher

Sentinel wtih LC
Sentinel with LC
Hellhound

Basilisk
Demolisher
Leman Russ

The game was a blast and I look forward to facing your Tau again in the future.

Oh BTW if you do live in the area, I am running a Tuesday night 40k league at the Guild. You can find out more info at www.hiredswords.com-it would be great if that fits into your schedule.

Great batrep Spmusubi. I had a blast playing my Grey Knight army and getting crushed by Sergio and his WAAC Plague marines of doom. Sorry I did not get a chance to play you but my Grey Knights were stuck in the losers bracket for most of the RTT. Hopefully I will get to face you at the Game Empire Pasadena RTT on Jan 12.

Darrian

Thanks for the report. Nice tables and nice looking armies. Nothing OTT, yet challenging. Very cool.

Good luck next time.

You let Sergio tie you?

What has happened to you? You use to be my hero.

I played against Death Guard a couple of weeks ago, and they are hard as heck to keep down. The fact that he had 4 squads of them are a pain. Most armies no longer have a lot of the strength 8 weapons that you need to bypass FNP..

When I saw that Sergio(Frenrik) was matched up against Erick(Spmusubi), I figured Erick was gonna crush him. So, you can imagine my shock when I ended up paired up with Sergio in round 2 after I got a lucky draw in round 1. I had just played Rays Ravenguard.
It turns out that Sergio is a bad man and his army is hard as hell to kill.

Darrian

On another note, ever since I ran you out of town Blackmoor(Allan), all of So Cal has gone to hell. I am almost considering letting you come back to So Cal.

Darrian

FNP has become butter with the new nerfing of dex's. My DC greatly benefit from it. Nice batreps.

Very nice batrep.

If you had a video camera, would you do a voiceover and sound effects for us next time?

That would be awesome! Spmusubi has the perfect voice for it too. I really hope Erick has a camcorder.

Next time,

Darrian

Darrian13 wrote:That would be awesome! Spmusubi has the perfect voice for it too. I really hope Erick has a camcorder.

Next time,

Darrian

I'll swap Eric the use of mine for the day if he takes some more pretty pictures of my stuff.

Your Guard do seem to photograph very well. My armies always look worse in pictures than in person, at least I think so.

Darrian

Darrian13 wrote:Your Guard do seem to photograph very well.

Yes from a foot or two away they look quite nice-because of the way the camo scheme works (particularly if the table is complimentary) you have to start picking them up to see the weaknesses in my painting skills, particularly the fleshy areas that can't be seen in detail from a distance.

Yes, at the next RTT, I'm not going to actually play. Instead, I'll just hover over Darrian's shoulder and make rude comments about his playing ability. Oh wait, I already do that, but this time it'll be on video, so all Dakka can watch and form their own peanut gallery.

"You know Bob, I'm pretty sure that wasn't 6 inches."

"Yes, Tom, it appears that he's trying to take advantage of his opponent's poor vision. And ADD. And minor retardation."

"Well, that may be true, but this is a tournament after all. There is NO room for weakness in a game of this caliber. And Darrian13 is nothing if not a true gamer."

"Right you are, Tom. How right you are."

spmusubi wrote:Yes, at the next RTT, I'm not going to actually play. Instead, I'll just hover over Darrian's shoulder and make rude comments about his playing ability.

Based on that last round at AGR, I think you can cover one of Darrian's games in the time it takes me to pull out and deploy the Guardsmen. We'll just rotate the Tau through a few Guard armies for the RTT and problem solved!

OMGLMAO! That is awesome. I was really looking forward to facing you at the next RTT so I would get another chance to FINALLY defeat you, but this might be even more fun. Spmusubi doing play by play= AWESOME!

Darrian

spmusubi wrote:Yes, at the next RTT, I'm not going to actually play. Instead, I'll just hover over Darrian's shoulder and make rude comments about his playing ability.

That has been a dream of mine for a long time.

Why am I not suprised?

I remember a few games, early on in my gaming career, where Blackmoor was facing me and asking me if I knew the mistakes I was making all the while destroying my army and my fragile ego. Sad times indeed.

Darrian

Darrian13 wrote:Why am I not suprised?

I remember a few games, early on in my gaming career, where Blackmoor was facing me and asking me if I knew the mistakes I was making all the while destroying my army and my fragile ego. Sad times indeed.

Darrian

I remember that...good times.

Beating up on you when you were a newbie was a lot of fun.

To bad you have gotten a lot better.