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I would like to share the results of my participation at a minitourney yesterday sanctioned by the official GW distributor here. Tourney pointage was at 1250 (due to an influx of newbies this year, we have scaled down tourney pointage in order for them to participate, slowly escalating as the year goes on), with no painting score, just generalship. 3 games, with strength of schedule as the system for tiebreakers.

We had 17 players (1 had to leave early, but another filled in)...4 space marines (including the 1 who left), 3 IG, 2 CSM, 2 eldar, 2 orks, 2 tyranids, 1 tau, 1 sisters..quite a good mix of armies....

Before I continue, I cannot resist showing you the pics of 1 IG player and his mad air cav force (mad since the games were on a 4x4 table!!)..and all those nose designs (including the WW2 inspired ladies) are hand painted!!!





The 7th Galen task force was composed of:

1 CCS with an AC, regimental standard, in a chimera with a ML, HB
1 the AGENT (marbo) (I used an eversor to represent him)
Platoon 1 1 PCS with 2 flamer, 2 melta, chimera with ML, HF
2 x squads with GL, AC
Platoon 2 1 PCS with 1 flamer 3 melta, chimera with ML, HF
1 squad with GL, AC
1 AF squad with plasma pistol, flamer, chimera with ML, HF
1 veteran squad, plasma pistol, 1 flamer, 2 meltas, chimera with ML, HF
2 x 5 man rough riders
1 manticore, 1 hydra

I decided to experiment with the manticore and the hydra in a tourney setting, since no one has seen them in action yet in a formal tourney.

Round 1

My opponent was Mike and his Smurf marines (ultramarines)

He had a Librarian with null zone and avenger, and he joined a squad of 5 assault marines in a land raider (!!!).
2 tac squads (1 w/ melta and plasma cannon, the other with melta, ML)
1 speeder with multimelta
1 vindicator

The mission was the classic rescue mission. You place 6 numbered counters on the board face down, then roll a d6 to find out which 1 is the real objective. Once a scoring unit touches 1, it is revealed. The player who has the counter at games end wins. In addition, only troops are allowed to deploy at the start of the game, everything else comes as reserves!

Mike won the toss, so he went first..there was an option for a corner style deployment (6" from the table edges of the corner) or a straight up regular pitched battle deployment (up to 6"), and he decided for the corner deployment. I took the opposite corner.

SM turn 1
He split the unit with the plasma cannon and melta into combat squads, the other did not. The plasma cannon squad moved forward attempting to enter the ruins as a firebase, while both rhinos moved forward and popped smoke.


Mike moving his smurfs!!

IG turn 1

My corner side had a huge hill like thing we classified as difficult ground. Because of that I could not fit all my chimeras in since I did not want 2 get immobilized, so I held my 1 PCS1 and the veterans in reserve.


My deployment. The AF squad and PCS2 chimeras on the extreme left, and the 3 squads across the hill. Note the black round objective counters in front..

I move some squads forward to better firing positions, closer to the objectives. The chimeras move 6" forward, and multilaser shooting removes a storm bolter from a rhino, and kills 2 marines in the ruin, who hold.

SM turn 2
Mike is unlucky as he fluffs ALL his reserve rolls!!!

The full 10 man tac in the rhino disembarks next to 1 counter, but it is a dud! The other rhino with the 5 man squad moves towards the next objective counter to the right.

The plasma cannon immobilizes the AF chimera


End of SM turn 2

IG turn 2
I get really lucky as ALL my reserves bar the manticore and PCS1 come in!!!


Reinforcements! 1 RR comes in on the extreme left, the CCS1 chimera comes in just to the right of the big hill, and the veterans and the hydra come in behind the line of ruins on the extreme right...

The AGENT comes in on a ruin, overlooking the 10 man SM squad, within demo charge range.

Squad 1 manages to reach the objective counter on the hill, but it is a dud!!!

The AF dismounts from it's immobilized chimera, and moves, then runs, behind the PCS 2 chimera, who moves towards the middle of the field. Squad 3 makes a dash towards an objective counter behind a ruin to it's right.

The AGENT hurls the demo charge, but it scatters 2 inches. It is enough to kill 6 marines.


Bang!!!

Shooting sees 1 more marine die in the ruins, and the rhino carrying the 10 man squad is wrecked...


End of IG turn 2

SM turn 3
This time Mike's rolls have all his reserves come in! The land raider comes centrally between 2 ruins, the vindicator comes in on his left, with the AGENT in plain sight, and the speeder deep strikes in front of the hydra.

His 5 man tac dismounts on an objective, but it is a dud! 3 more to go! The remaining 4 men from the 10 man tac makes a dash towards the objective in the crater, but he fluffs the run roll!

The vindicator shoots the storm bolter at the AGENT, who goes to ground and survives with 1 wound. Other shooting does nothing, as I either make cover saves or he fluffs the rolls!


End of SM turn 3

IG turn 3
The remaining manticore and PCS1 shows up, the manticore placed between the CCS chimera and the hydra, and the PCS1 following where the other chimeras come in. Squad 3 reaches a counter, but it's a dud! Only the 2 centrally placed counters are up for grabs! PCS 2 dismounts on an objective next to the 4 man smurf squad which did not reach the crater, and that turns out to be the one! The fake counter in the crater is removed, and the game turns to the "protect/steal" the counter mode! Other movement sees the chimeras and RR move forward to support the units in the middle of the field...


My last reserves come in! And the counter is captured by PCS2!

Shooting proves devastating! The manticore fires a full 3 salvoes at the land raider and clumped marines in front of it, and the units in the middle of the field pick on the marines near the crater. While the hydra only manages to shake the speeder, the end result after all the smoke cleared is that all the mounted tac marines are wiped out, except for a PF sergeant and a regular marine, and the last rhino explodes. The land raider however escapes intact, having made its cover saves!


Mass carnage due to IG shooting...

The rough riders decide to assault the speeder, and the finish off the speeder when shooting did not, managing to wreck the speeder despite needing 6's to hit!


Gotcha! The speeder goes down!

SM turn 4
With the time limit coming up, we knew this was our last turn. Mike's only hope was to wipe out the squad with the objective, forcing a draw.

With this in mind, he moves the land raider all the way forward, and dismounts the librarian and termies in front of PCS2. The 2 remaining mounted tac marines move forward toward the center

In a crucial decision, he decides to use avenger, and proceeds to wipe out all of the squad! The vindicator finishes off the AGENT.


The librarian mind wipes PCS2! The objective is unclaimed!


The vindicator "vindicates" at the expense of the AGENT

IG turn 4

As the counter was freed by shooting and the terminators did not assault, the counter was claimed by the AF squad. The veterans dismount in front of the terminators, and the rest position themselves versus this target. The RR who destroyed the land speeder make a beeline for the vindicator.

Shooting wipes out the assault termies, and the librarian is brought down to 1 wound. Only the PF sergeant remains for the tac squad. The LR survives, and vindicator evades the krak grenades of the RRs.

Game over! I claim the objective. Thanks Mike for the game!


Only the librarian and the PF Tac sergeant is left standing...


End of game situation...

Rounds 2 and 3 to follow...

Round 2

I was paired with Lucas, someone from my local store whom I've had many a good fight. We had practiced a couple of times for this event so we knew what each army was made of.

He brought his Seer Council jetbike mech eldar with war walkers composed of the ff:

Farseer on jetbike, singing spear, fortune and doom, spirit stone
4 warlocks on jetbikes, all with SSpears (2 destructor, 1 enhance, 1 embolden)
1 autarch on jetbike, reaper launcher, power weapon
2 storm guardian squads with flamers, each in a wave serpent with TL scatter lasers
3 war walkers with scatter lasers
3 war walkers with shuriken cannons

The mission was the classic cleanse, adapted for 5th ed. A key point which I did not pay attention to (to my undoing) was that only scoring units could claim AND contest (I assumed wrongly that even non scoring units could contest)...ah well...

Lucas won the toss, and thus setup first...the war walkers with shuricans were kept in reserve...


Eldar setup

With the table being open with minimal cover for vehicles besides the tall building in the center, I decided to have the foot ssquads 1-3 hug the tank traps on my corner, with the dismounted CCS behind them. I deployed the vehicles in 2 prongs...the empty CCS chimera acting as a cover for PCS1 and the veterans, with the manticore behind them, on the left flank. On the right flank I deployed PCS 2 and the AF squad, using the large building as cover as much as possible, with the hydra behind them. The 2 RR I kep as reserves.


My deployment...

I try, but fail to seize the initiative...

Eldar turn 1

As one, the eldar force makes a move to outflank me on my left....fortune is successfully cast before that.

Lucas starts by targetting my hydra. He knows from experience how much damage it could do, and he successfully destroys the quad autocannons! He also manages to kill a lasgunner as well as put 1 wound on the autocannon team (going to ground helped me survive the bulk of shooting), and also kills 2 guardsmen from the closest squad.


The eldar outflank, and shooting causes damage to the IG lines

IG turn 1

My chimeras advance slightly in order to shoot, trying to avoid flank shots from the eldar. The vehicles on the right flank hug the side, trying to deny an entry zone for the war walkers in reserve.

I bring back my CCS into the fight, and with the seer council so close I pour most of my shooting into it. S6 multilasers, GL, and S7 autocannons do a fantastic job, as despite the rerolls from fortune the farseer is instakilled, and all the warlocks fall! Seer council gone, only the autarch remains.

The manticore fires a massive 3 volleys which brackets the war walkers and 1 serpent. However, the energy shield and cover from the war walkers ensure the serpent is just stunned. 1 war walker is wrecked, and 1 other loses a scatter laser.


The eldar psykers fall, while a serpent is stunned!

Eldar turn 2

Despite the +1 to the reserve roll from the autarch, the shurican war walkers fail to come in.

With his main unit destroyed, Lucas goes to plan B, area denial. His surviving autarch turbo boosts to hide behind the large building in the center. His active serpent hovers over some tank traps for a better shooting position, and his surviving scatterL walkers move to get a good angle at shooting. his shooting just manages to immobilize the empty CCS chimera, and an angled shot shakes the AF chimera.

IG turn 2

I fluff all my reserve rolls, so the game continues without reinforcements on my side.

The shaken AF chimera moves 12" and pops smoke. The AF squad disembarks and gets a perfect view of the autarch. The hydra also moves forward so that it's HB can spot him. On my left, the chimeras move forward into melta range of the walkers and serpent.

I manage to fluff shooting versus the autarch, only causing 1 wound! 1 more war walker is destroyed, and the last one is stunned and reduce to 1 weapon. The energy field again protects the other serpent, as all the ammunition bounces off it, and it just ends up stunned.


The super autarch survives!


At the end of turn 2...units are being slowly whittled down from both sides from shooting

Eldar turn 3
The war walkers turn up on my right flank. The autarch moves right in front of the AF who had the temerity to shoot at him. The now active serpent stunned in turn 1 moves closer to my lines besides a ruin on my left side.

The serpent shoots across the table at the flank of the PCS2 chimera on my right, and destroys it! The shurican war walkers fluff their shooting and does nothing to the other chimera. The autarch then proceeds to destroy the AF squad, the consolidates back into cover behind the building.


The super autarch slices through the AF squad!

IG turn 3
My rough riders come in, and set their sights on the nearby serpent and last war walker on my left flank.The PCS2 move from their wrecked chimera into close melta range of the shurican walker squadron, and the hydra and AF chimera position themselves to shoot at the autarch hiding behind a building.

What I should have done at this stage was to move some foot squads in order to claim the quarter to my left, but I was relying on my chimeras to deny him some quarters, which in turned out was wrong since only scoring units could deny in this mission!

Shooting yielded mixed results. The PCS 2 squad fired 3 meltas, and after some support from the line squads only 1 shurican walker was left standing, shaken. The last scatterL walker is reduced to being a spectator (no weapons and immobilized), but the hydra and AF chimera do NOTHING versus the super autarch! And AGAIN the energy field manages to protect the serpent near the ruin.

With shooting iffy, the RR decide to make the action close and personal, and the combined charge from both units causes the serpent to explode! 3 RR die from shrapnel, and 3 storm guardian manage to jump off, ready for action.


Eldar walkers fall! But the super autarch survives!


The RR tank bust with success! But the majority of the storm guardians are unfazed!

Eldar turn 4
Again, time was running short, so this would be our last turn. The surviving storm guardians make a beeline for the ruins, while the autarch and last shurican move forward, intent on assaulting PCS 2. The last serpent stays in the quarter beside the middle, as it's storm guardians can claim it.

The flamers of the storm guardians wipe out the 5 man RR squad. The charge of the war walker and the autarch, however, fluffs spectacularly and only the flamer guardsmen dies. In return, they cause 1 wound to the autarch. Draw!


Burn baby burn! The RR are roasted to a crisp!

IG turn 4

This is it, now or never! I assessed the situation..in my mind my quarter was contested because of the autarch and walker stuck in combat with PCS2. The quarter with the dismounted storm guardians and last scatterL walker I felt I could handle, while the quarter with the active serpent would be difficult since I had to pop the serpent first, then kill the guardians inside, but I could contest with an empty chimera. In reality, I already controlled my quarter since as per the mission rules he could not contest with the walker and autarch, and unless I move a troops unit into the quarter with the active serpent he claimed that.

Regardless, this turn had to be decisive. I realized I failed to bring in the AGENT last turn, but on a 4th turn should be OK right? Well, he must have been on vacation since I rolled a 1. Damn!

I dec ide to make an attempt with my closest foot squad to run forward in order to claim the quarter beyond, but I fluff my run roll...in addition I make my BIG mistake and disembark my veteran squad in front of the last serpent, with the intent of assaulting it with krak G in case shooting fails. In retrospect I should have kept them inside as I moved it's chimera to the other quarter in order to contest. It proved to be unnecessary as the serpent is finally wrecked, and the last scatterL walker is destroyed. I use a heavy flamer on the surviving guardians, but not all are killed.

Thus, the key is to eliminate the 7 guardians in the ruins. After shooting a heavy flamer and flamers at them, 1 manages to survive! Damn! No problem, the last 2 RR charge headlong at the lone flamer toting guardsman. He manages to kill 1 RR first, then suffers 2 wounds. The resulting armor saves have a result of a 5 and a 6. He survives to contest the quarter!!!


The heroic last storm guardian!

It is a draw! Kudos to Lucas for not giving up! And also for the resilience of his autarch and serpent!

Round 3

My last opponent is another veteran of the hobby, Romy. He has been fascinated with the intricacies of slaanesh, and thus brought his CSM army...

His list was:

2 flying lash daemon princes
2 10 man CSM squads (1 with PF, 2 meltas, 1 with PW, 2 meltas), both in rhinos.
1 defiler
1 chaos vindicator
1 havoc squad (forgot the weapons, as he never brought them out..see below..)

The mission was extremely funky. It was Gain Ground, where only FA choices were allowed to set up first. The objective was to have scoring units advance as much as possible across the field, as the one with the most cumulative distances travelled forward added together from all scoring units from it's own starting edge wins! To compound the problem. At the start of each game turn, if a 1-3 is rolled, there is a tremor and the entire table is treated as difficult terrain!

Romy wins the toss up, and since he has no FA he deploys nothing. I decide to keep my RR, and deploy nothing as well...thus it is on to turn 2!!!

Chaos turn 2

Romy rolls and gets the tremor results,,funky...

Only his defiler turns up, and it moves, then runs forward.

IG turn 2

My reserves are fantastic, as the CCS and both platoons come in, together with 1 RR unit. However, the AF chimera ends up immobilzed on it's own edge, so the AF gets out to walk the rest of the way. The AGENT comes out right behind the defiler.

Shooting immobilizes the defiler, but the demo charge only stuns the defiler, who laughs at the result!


Here comes the guard! The CCS is deployed at the rear left of the line, the AF is forced to walk up the hill as it's chimera cannot move due to tremors.


The AGENT fails to harm the defiler!

Chaos turn 3

The tremors stop, Romy's reserves come in except the havocs.

1 daemon prince decides that the agent is a nice snack, and lands right beside him. the vehicles all move forward and pop smoke, with 1 daemon prince behind the rhino with the power fist AC squad. The defiler shoots at squad 3, kills several guardsmen, and they fall back since they are too far from the regimental standard! The other daemon prince eats the AGENT, then consolidates forward!

IG turn 3

The hydra and other RR squad comes in. The chimeras roll 6" forward. Shooting is absolutely horrible as the only result gained is a detroyed combi bolter on 1 rhino!!!

Chaos turn 4

Tremors reappear again....and Romy forget s to roll for his havocs

The rhinos move forward, with the lash princes in tow.

Shooting has the defiler and vindicator killing 4 guardsmen from the AF squad, as well as 2 RR beside them. Both units manage to hold.


Here they come!

IG turn 4

The veterans come in, and the remaining elements of my army continue to roll forward, shooting all the way....the remaining AF and RR trying to seek shelter behind the chimeras. Shooting manages to wreck the rhino carying the PW squad,who disembark in good order, and the vindicator is shaken.

Chaos turn 5

Tremors continue...and Romy forgets to bring in his havocs again...

The PW squad runs forward, trying to gain as much ground as possible. The daemon prince flies beside it. The shaken vindicator moves 12" forward to tank shock the PCS1 chimera, and the PF CSM squad also dismounts, readying their meltaguns to shoot at the IG transports. The tank shock and shooting destroys both the multilaser and heavy flamer, but the vehicle itself is still ok! the defiler misses with it's battle cannon.

The daemon prince lashes out to squad 1, who then move into it's assault range. The daemon prince predictably wipes them out in CC.


Lash of submission in action.

IG turn 5

The manticore finally shows up. With the dismounted PF squad exposed, the chimeras move forward, with the now weaponless PCS 1 chimera curling around the vindicator, and the PCS1 dismounting. PCS2 curls around the rhino to the right, and the veterans move into melta range,. Both the AF and RR squads manage to advance far enough to be a factor despite the tremors.

Shooting destroys the last rhino, continues to shake the vindicator, and only 4 marines survive the shooting phase. The 2 RR and PCS 1 assault and wipe out the entire unit, with PCS1 consolidating deeper into chaos territory, and 1 RR manages to consolidate totally around the AF squad, protecting it from assault from a daemon prince.


The last remaining marines from the PF squad, before being destroyed from RR in a combined charge.

Dice is rolled, and fortune favors chaos as the game continues! He still has a chance to wipe out more troops!

Chaos turn 6

Tremors stop...and the havocs end up totally forgotten...

The last CSM squad moves, then runs forward to gain as much territory deep into the IG lines. The daemon prince who destroyed squad 1 flies over to join the action in the middle. The vindicator just turns around since it has no space to move...The other DP looks to feast on PCS2....

DP 1 lashes out at Squad 2, who runs all the way back to the baseline. The defiler fires a battle cannon round smack into PCS1, wiping them out! And DP2 snacks on PCS2, discarding human bones as if they were chicken drumsticks....


PCS1 is wiped out by a battle cannon round

IG turn 6

With the game end not sure yet, I must focus on the objectives, yet not ignore the DP and vehicles as they could destroy my remaining troops if the game progresses to turn 7.

Luckily, squad 2 was lashed back close to the empty CCS chimera. They enter the chimera, which then dashes forward 12" and pops smoke. The RR ready their krak grenades versus the vindicator, and the AF and veterans level their guns at DP2.

The manticore fires 2 missiles at the last CSM squad, causing 10 wounds! However, the chaos gods favor all but the aspiring champion, as all survive except him! The hydra adds another casualty, but that's not enough for a morale check! Slaanesh must have not been pleased though, as DP2 is reduced to a pile of slag by shooting, and the vindicator explodes from a krak grenade, taking 2 RR with it!




The view after turn 6

With that, a 4 was rolled, game ends!!!

We measure, and I had 59 inches to Romy's 30, as he had only 1 scoring unit. I survive!

This was one of the funkiest and strange missions i have ever played! Great fun though, and truly I had the edge because I simply had more troops!
We completely forgot about the Havocs in the heat of the action!

Anyway great game Romy!


After 3 rounds I ended up tied for first with 2 others, with 2 wins and 1 draw. Ian and his nidzilla list, and Patrick with his marines supported by 2 thunderfire cannons. By the use of the strnength of schedule system, the final points total of our opponents were totalled, and I ended up 3rd with 125 pts. Ian and his nids won since his opponents totalled 150 pts, and Pat was second as his opponents totalled 140. Romy and his CSM ended up in a 4 way tie for 4-8 place. Grr, if only that storm guardian failed 1 of his 2 saves!!!!

All in all a great day of gaming, with great opponents! Despite all the different scenarios, the guard with a mech component has proven flexible enough to adapt!

Cool reports! What did you use to make your rough rider bikes? They look much better with IG than space marine ones.

kestral wrote:Cool reports! What did you use to make your rough rider bikes? They look much better with IG than space marine ones.

I got real cheapo ones at a toy store..you know, one of them war dioramas with jeeps, toy soldiers....well I saw some with bikes..just kept the bikes and got rid of everything....

the problem was that 1 side was hollow..luckily we have an excellent converter from my group, so he sculpted the details of the other side in, plus also the conversions to make the cadian/catachan bits become my riders...

Hey great report, and just out of curiosity, is your army based of the game for the ps3 Valkyrie chronicles if so that's awesome! any way great job on the report.

Awesome battle report man (I can just hear ride of the Valkaries while looking at that Air Cav army btw, anybody end up singing it? xD)

That last game was neat, I'd like to see more people try that objective.

Nice bat reps... not too many tables I have seen like those, where ultramarines are camouflaged...

As always, great battle reports. Pics with a well painted army always make my day.

That is a positively absurd amount of Valkerys.

3 blue armys on a blue table!!! wtf?

around here all armys are red.

greetings Badger

cheesesteak wrote:Hey great report, and just out of curiosity, is your army based of the game for the ps3 Valkyrie chronicles if so that's awesome! any way great job on the report.

err no..it should be the other way around, since I started my IG (with this paint paint scheme) in the year 2000...

I love that game...I am still in chapter 8, and enjoying it!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

starbomber109 wrote:Awesome battle report man (I can just hear ride of the Valkaries while looking at that Air Cav army btw, anybody end up singing it? xD)

That last game was neat, I'd like to see more people try that objective.

Well, an aircav army on a 4x4 table is not recommended...joe's valks ended up assaulted to death....but he had fun so hey that's the most important thing...

Very good report, congrats on taking 3rd

Very cool camo on your infantry, looks really good

Not a big fan of the "Aegis-pattern" Hydra or "Whirlwind-pattern" Manticore, but it is an easy solution, so I could see the reason to use them for a tournament.

I'm probably bringing a Manticore to my next tournament, so would love a short description of its performance. Did you use it most against tanks? Did it reliably take out stuff you aimed at? Did you use indirect fire etc.

Illumini wrote:Very good report, congrats on taking 3rd

Very cool camo on your infantry, looks really good

Not a big fan of the "Aegis-pattern" Hydra or "Whirlwind-pattern" Manticore, but it is an easy solution, so I could see the reason to use them for a tournament.

I'm probably bringing a Manticore to my next tournament, so would love a short description of its performance. Did you use it most against tanks? Did it reliably take out stuff you aimed at? Did you use indirect fire etc.

Hahaha yes those were the quick solutions..for the manticore I will do a more formal conversion soon......

Thanks for all the comments on the camo scheme..I really wanted to do something different than camo green fatigues or desert brown...

In this tourney the manticore's was used mostly to armor bust...in the first game it did a good job in cracking open the rhino plus killing a few marines..in the second in did good cracking open war walkers even with "splash hits" (half strength)..but it had difficulty versus the serpents due to the energy field. In the last game it came in on turn 5, thus it's effect was limited...most of the time I fired direct as the table was small...

I will still use it , but will add a basilisk or russ for ap3 cracking goodness....I love the hydra, for it's points cost it is really an efficient death dealing machine....

This has been bugging me for quite a bit now, maybe it's because I don't know jack about IG, but whats the AGENT exactly?

The model representing him is awesome though, good job!

the AGENT is my version of Sly Marbo..I used an eversor model in the meantime, sometimes I use the Lt. Varras model from the 4th ed starter box...

I like the bodysuits of the imperial assassins..am thinking of a head swap (maybe with a wood elf head, the one with a hankie around the mouth, or a hooded head) as a conversion to represent a hi tech marbo...need to do an actual painted model before this October's 1850 pt. tourney...

Or maybe the new GI Joe movies could provide some inspiration..dunno..anything but a Rambo stand in would be good.....