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I just got home from the Broadside Bash and had a fantastic time. The tournament ran smoothly, there were 48 great players for 40K, and it was held in the Pent House of the Raddison Hotel in LA with beautiful views of LA, we could watch planes taking off and landing which was really cool. The tables were set up well and there was was ton of great terrain, far more than what I am used to seeing at a tournament. Each table was themed, which meant that while some tables were beautifully decorated with terrain sets, they didn't all have enough actual LOS blocking terrain.

The comp system was a little weird, the judges didn't say how they were grading you and it was simply a number given by a judge with no rationale behind it. That was one of my only two minor complaints, that the comp system was based on adhering to the army's fluff, which meant some power builds got a good comp rating (like Horde Orks) while some soft armies got boned. Soft scores weighed VERY heavily in this system, and the guys running it were upfront about it as they are hobby guys more so than competitive gamers, so everyone expected it coming into it.

There were a ton of Dakkites there like Blackmoor, KevinNash, HulkSmash, and a ton of other guys, and I got to see a bunch of old gaming buddies from Los Angeles that I have not seen in ages, so that was fun.

The competition was stiff and there were some really gorgeous armies there. That is one of the best things about a tournament, new players to meet, new armies to play and new friends to make.

At any rate, I built an army that was meta-gamed for what I thought would be the most prevalent armies: assault armies, primarily Nids and Orks. The reason I thought this was because there were no Dawn of War missions and all of the missions but one were advance to center board and hold objective style games. So I built a list capable of wiping out any assault units and scoring objective, while being very hard to kill for those types of armies. Funny thing is, I ended up playing no assault armies! Haha, that is the danger of making a spoiler list. On a 1 to 6 rating for my comp score, 6 being best (a strictly thematic, soft list) and 3 being average, I got a 2, which I thought was fair.

Anyway, on to the games.

My list:

H.Q.
Ragnar Blackmane
Wolf Priest: Wolf Tail Talisman, M.Bombs
Rune Priest: Chooser of the Slain, Wolf Tail Talisman, M.Bombs

Elites:
Wolf Guard: P.Fist x3, C.Weapon x3

Troops:
Grey Hunters x9, Mark of the Wulfen, M.Gun, D.Pod
Grey Hunters x9, Mark of the Wulfen, M.Gun
Grey Hunters x10, Mark of the Wulfen, Flamer x2, P.Weapon

Fast:
Thunderwolf Calvary x1: S.Shield, T.Hammer

Heavy:
Land Raider
Land Raider
Land Raider Crusader: M.Melta, x-Armor

My list was designed to have one, kick you in the nuts, unit with all the characters and the big Grey Hunter squad in the LRC to blow any other unit off of an objective and provide psyker defense. The unit with the pod was able to either deep strike, or start in a LR, and the third GH unit started in a LR. This way most of the other guy's weapons were useless if they couldn't hurt AV14. The thunder wolf was a support unit to go where he was needed, lurking in the middle near the LRs. I only play tested this army once before taking it to the tournament which is far less than normal for me, but I felt good about it from my test games.

Game 1

Mission: Table Quarters: Hold a quarter by having more scoring units than your opponent in it. The player with the most table quarters held at game's end, wins.
Deployment: Table Quarters
Opponent: Tyler with a World Eaters army that was funny in how similar it was to mine.

H.Q.
Kharn
Lord with Blood Feeder

Elites:
Dread: 2xDCCW, H.Flamer
Dread: 2xDCCW, H.Flamer

Troops:
Berserkers x9, Fist
Berserkers x9, Fist
Berserkers x10, Fist

Heavy:
Land Raider, Daemonic possession
Land Raider, Daemonic possession
Land Raider, Daemonic possession

So it was a Land Raider duel! We both laughed at the odds of pulling each other first game since our lists were nearly mirrors of one another's, and we both wanted to see a showdown between Ragnar and crew with Kharn and his boys, but it didn't happen unfortunately. The game went very fast, only 45 minutes start to finish as both armies played very quickly. He focused on trying to kill me, I focused on taking the objectives. He shot me up pretty well, and all I managed to do was immobilize two of his Land Raiders and then block the third from getting out of his deployment zone with one of mine that had been rendered weaponless. So, despite not killing a single model, I still managed to get a massacre as the game ended on turn 5 and I held 3 table quarters and he was still in his deployment zone.

All star of the game was the lone Thunderwolf that charged Kharn's Land Raider turn 5 and immobilized it with his strength 10 T.Hammer, sealing my win. My opponent was a great guy and we both had a fun game.


Game 2

Mission: Try, Try, Tri: three objectives running down diagonal center of the board. The two far objectives are worth 1 VP per game turn, the center is worth D3 per game turn. The player with the most points at game's end, wins.
Deployment: Corner deployment zones
Opponent: Aaron, with an absolutely beautiful Iron Warriors Army.

H.Q.
Daemon Prince: Mark of Tzeentch

Elites:
Terminators, 4 xC.Melta, 4 x C.Fist, Mark of Tzeentch
Land Raider
Terminators, 3 xC.Melta, 2 x C.Fist, Mark of Tzeentch
Land Raider

Troops:
Warriors x 10, Fist, Melta x2, Rhino
Warriors x 10, Fist, Plasma x2, Rhino

Heavy:
Vindicator, Daemonic possession
Vindicator, Daemonic Possession

Another tank battle! I took first turn, deployed to take the center and far objective closest to him, he deployed to counter me. I dropped a pod down on the far objective near me and the Grey Hunters inside camped on the objective all game, earning me a point a turn as the Iron Warriors were never in position to contest them. We duked it out in the middle and his near objective all game, neither of us scoring either objective. A combination of small positioning mistakes and plain bad luck for my opponent stopped him from ever destroying my land raiders (although he crippled both), even when his termies got out and unleashed melta fury and charged with more chain fists than I have ever seen he couldn't finish them off. I countered with Ragnar and the Rune and Wolf Priest and the Thunder Wolf and they destroyed all the termies. Ragnar is an absolute beast, just a lawnmower. The game was bloody in the center, but I positioned my units to make sure the Iron Warriors could never score an objective.

The game ended turn 5 with me earning just enough VP's to win the massacre. Aaron was a good sport and if not for his poor deployment and plain bad luck, he easily would have fought me to minor victory if not a tie. This game was over in less than an hour too, which is the nice thing about Mech lists; they play quickly.

Game 3

Mission: Provide No Quarter: Kill Points but instead of a single Kill Point for destroying a unit, you got its point cost. It was like a blend between Victory Points and Kill Points. The player with the most at game's end, won.
Deployment: Table Quarters
Opponent: Rory with a great Crimson Fists army.

H.Q.
Captain: Relic Blade, S.Shield
Command Squad, Champion, 3 x S.Shields, 3 x P.Weapons, Rhino
Chaplain, T.Armor

Elites:
Stern Guard, Pod, 2 x H.Flamer, 6 x C.Plasma, Fist
Assault Terminators x5, S. Shield, T.Hammer

Troops:
Scouts x 5, H.Bolter
Sniper Scouts x 5, M.Launcher
Tactical Squad x 10, Rhino, P.Gun, P.Cannon
Tactical Squad x 10, Razorback, M.Launcher

Heavy:
Land Raider
Dev Squad x 5, 4 x M.Launcher

This was a list miss-match for Rory. He only had 1 unit capable of doing anything to my Land Raiders at range. He had an uphill battle from the word go, and it showed. He did the best he could and played a good game but there really wasn't much he could do, all he killed was my T.Wolf when his Sternguard came down. I held my LR's back and shot up his transports and bum rushed him with Ragnar and Friends in the LRC. His assault termies tried to stop the onrushing LRC but as it moved 12", even with rerolls from the chappy, they couldn't stop it needing 6's to hit and glance. After that Ragnar and his maniacs came out and went through all of his infantry like a buzz saw, including his command squad. Ragnar is just insane against an infantry list that he can come to grips with. With saga of the Warrior Born (giving him a bonus attack for every model he kills in the next round of combat), D3 extra attacks on the charge and furious assault to his squad and rerolls from the wolf priest, it is slowed what that squad does. They will obliterate pretty much anything.

The game ended in a massacre to me and while Rory had a rough go of it because his army just didn't have the tools to face mine, he played well and we both enjoyed the game. He was another really fun opponent.

So that ended day 1 of the tournament and had me sitting at first place in battle points and my painting score had come back fairly high, with 11 out of 15 points. I felt pretty confident coming into day 2.

Game 4

Mission: Take and Hold: Each Player places 2 objectives anywhere on the board out of deployment zones and 6" from the table edge or another objective. Player holding the most at game's end wins.
Deployment: Standard 12"
Opponent: Dave, ranked #2 in battle points with his very cool Death Guard. Dave is a buddy of mine and one of the best 40K players I have ever met. I knew this would be a tough game although I felt I had the list advantage and the mission favored me as I was better in assault and we had to close with one another to score objectives.

H.Q.
Daemon Prince, wings, Mark of Nurgle, Warp Time
Lord, Bike, Nurgle Daemon Weapon

Elites:
Dread, 2 x DCCW, H.FLamer

Troops:
Plague Marines x 7, Rhino with combi melta, Fist, C.melta, 2 x melta
Plague Marines x 7, Rhino with combi melta, Fist, C.plasma, 2 x plasma
Plague Marines x 7, Rhino with combi melta, Fist, C.flamer, 2 x flamer
Plague Marines x 7, Rhino with combi melta, C.Flamer, 2 c Flamer

Heavy:
Predator annihilator: 2 x L.Cannon Sponsons
Defiler
Defiler

This game started out great, I took first turn, advanced onto three objectives and dropped my empty pod in position to contest the 4th. I also destroyed his Dread and stunned a rhino. Then it just got ugly from there. Turn one he immobilized one LR with a lucky shot from a Defiler with a 6 to glance and 6 on the damage table. Turn 2, Dave blew up my LRC with Ragnar and Co. with a great shot from his Pred, then shot the exposed unit with two direct hits from the defilers, neutering the squad. He advanced onto the objective held by my empty pod with a unit of Plague Marines and forced me to deal with him. I had to throw my T.Wolf who had been lurking center board in a support role out to destroy them and I had to sacrifice Ragnar and the Wolf Priest to destroy the Rhino as it would pop my pod with its combi melta and stop me from contesting an objective. After that, from turn 2 to 6, all I managed to do with shooting was knock a combi melta off of a rhino, my shooting was just terrible and his saves were amazing, making all but one cover save. I just couldn't hurt him as my luck seemed to have left me, and he played a great game, putting himself in position to contest every objective by end game. Turn 6, he was contesting every objective and and his good luck held as he shot my Rune Priest who was hiding near an objective to contest it from some advancing Plague Marines with a defiler shot which hit again (he only missed twice all game with the two of them) and I failed my 3+ cover save and suffered instant death. I still would have pulled out a tie game had my last surviving Grey Hunter from Ragnar's squad who was also contesting the same objective not failed his morale check when the last shot of the game from Dave's advancing Plague Marines killed his buddy and he ran off of the objective, giving Dave the minor Victory.

A combination of Dave playing a brilliant game against a tough match up and plain bad luck on my part cost me the win, or at least the tie. In retrospect, I could have been less aggressive with my LRC and held it back to play for the last turn objective rush, but at the time I felt it was the smarter play to bring the LRC's weapons to bear and sit on the objective in a position to assault onto any other objective. I just couldn't damage his shooting units to keep the heat off of me which I desperately needed to do. But that is the way it goes sometimes, and Dave is a really good guy and fun to play and he earned that win as it was not a good match up for him.

Game 5

Mission: With Interest: Three objectives spaced evenly apart form one another running along the middle line of the board long ways, each worth D3 objective per game turn they are held.
Deployment: Standard 12"
Opponent: Toby with a stunning Eldar army, which won best painted. This army was really similar to my Eldar and I knew I was in for a tough, tough game. Toby was undefeated and this was a list miss-match for me as he was loaded with bright lances, and that is obviously bad news for a Land Raider list.

H.Q.
Eldrad
Avatar

Elites:
Harlequins, 7 kisses, Shadowseer, Troupe Leader with P.Weapon

Troops:
Pathfinders x 5
Dire Avengers x 10, Exarch, B.Storm, Defend
W.Serpent, B.Lance, S.Stones
Guardians x 10, B.Lance, Warlock, Conceal, S.Spear, S.Seer
Guardians x 10, B.Lance
Jet Bikes, S.Cannon

Fast:
W.Spiders, Exarch, Dual Spinners, P.Blades, Withdraw

Heavy:
Wraithlord, EML, B.Lance
Wraithlord, EML, B.Lance
Warwalkers x 2, 2 x S.Cannons, 2 x S.Lasers

So, despite losing my last game, due to soft scores I was still on top table with Toby who was leading in battle points. I took first turn as I knew how his army worked and knew I needed to advance quickly or get destroyed in my own deployment zone. I deployed one LR in front of each objective, he deployed in a refused flank. I used my chooser of the slain to try and keep his Pathfinders off of an objective turn one to prevent him from getting ahead of me in points early game, but he deployed just out of the 18" and then used his scout move to get within scoring distance pregame. Turn 1 I dropped my pod onto the objective with his pathfinders to contest it, and moved two of my LR's full speed, the LRC at center board getting into position to score, the other on the far objective from the action just out, and the T.Wolf holding center position to go where he was needed. My LR nearest his held objective moved 6" to still get cover but fire at his W.Serpent to no effect as the cover save was passed. The bad luck began here as my opponent then wisely destroyed the pod to stop it form contesting and then with a lucky shot, destroyed my LR nearest his objective with a pen 6. The squad inside was then shot at with everything the Eldar had putting 9 wounds on the squad, of which I failed 8 armor saves. Ouch.

We rolled for victory points on our held objectives, he got a 3, I got a 1. Ouch again (I really, really don't care fro random points earned for objectives).

Next turn my T.Wolf came over to assault his Pathfinders and try and kill them or contest the objective in the least but he failed to make his charge by an inch, which turned out to be game changing as it also kept him 1/2" away from contesting that objective. My Land Raider near the far objective moved into scoring position. I moved the crippled Grey Hunter squad from the destroyed LR onto the center objective. I decided to make a bold move with the LRC holding the center objective with Ragnar and Co. which in retrospect may have been a bit too bold. I tend to play very aggressively, but in this case it turned out to be a bad decision that could have been great had it worked. I decided to try and engage his army with my super squad and hope to tie them up and kill his fast movers. I drove off the objective with the LRC and unleashed everything I had, getting a multi charge hoping to not kill everything and stay locked in combat. I stupidly fired two flamers into the primary target unit (Warp Spiders) which was dumb, dumb, dumb. Had I not done that, I could have possibly stayed locked and not wiped out all the squads I had engaged. I should have fired only one, as I only needed to kill one of the warp spiders to allow me to get past them and lock the squad behind them as well. What did happen was that Ragner rolled a 3 for the squad's extra attacks and they butchered all the Eldar. Next turn I got hit with everything they had, baldestorming Dire Avengers, lances, war walkers, etc. then counter charged by the Harlies, Avatar, a Wraithlord and Eldrad. The end result was a dead Wraithlord and my super squad bleeding in the dirt.

From here it turned into a game of me desperately trying to contest his held objectives with my remaining mobile units but the odds were against me. We rolled for our held objectives, I had two at this point, he had one, but mine totaled out to 3 and he rolled a 3 as well. Dang it, stupid random objectives! Had they been set to one point a turn, I would have had 3 to his 2, but despite outplaying him he had better luck than I did.

The last turns of the game were me trying to keep my LRC alive and contesting objectives and the T.Wolf trying to kill things but I couldn't do enough of either. I started rolling decent for my held objective and by turn 4 was ahead by a point, one point behind at turn 5, and the game went to turn 6 and in the end, we both destroyed all scoring units in position to take the center objective. He got a good fleet of foot roll with his Harlies and came within 1/2" of my held objective, allowing him to contest mine but still score his own, held by the Pathfinders, ending the game on turn 6 with his 14 points to my 11, just giving him a major victory.

It was a tough game for me, I think if I had played a little more conservatively with my super squad and not committed turn 2, it would have been a better move, but I played for the win and had it worked, or just a few small things gone my way, I could have won, which is the mark of a good game. My army got mauled but I was in it until the very end. We rolled for fun to see what would have happened had he not contested my objective last turn and I rolled a 3, which would have tied us up! Oh well, them there is the breaks.

Toby was a very skilled opponent and I hope to play him again...and whip him next time!

So while I ended with three massacres and two losses and dropped from 1st to 5th place in battle points, and I believe 9th overall although I have not seen the final standings, I had a great time. I also somehow tied for second for best painted, which was cool. That was a fun tournament and I look forward to Adepticon and the SoCal Slaughter after that. Thanks to all my opponents for the fun games and I hope to see you guys again at the next event.

Good read Reecius. Thanks for posting.

Thanks, Kevin. That was a fun tournament, I look forward to seeing you guys at the next one!

Thanks for the report. You had some pretty funny matchups with all those LRs!

- Blackbone

Yeah it made me laugh to see me being paired with Land Raider Armies too! But Those games play really quickly which is nice in a tournament.

I'm really envious that you guys have such a fantastic tournament scene on the West coast.

I heard that there was some confusion about the winner of best overall? A White Scar player who wasn't on any of the top tables? I'd be curious to know how this all worked out.

Yeah it was weird, when they announced best overall everyone was like, huh? We thought it would be the Eldar player I played at top table last game, but they said they tied in points overall, and the Ultramarine player got the win because more people voted him favorite opponent.

The tournament scene here is great, so many to chose from, and a lot of them pretty close to each other. If you live in LA you are really spoiled.

Well done Reecius! Look forward to our team games at Adepticon.

Reecius wrote:Yeah it was weird, when they announced best overall everyone was like, huh? We thought it would be the Eldar player I played at top table last game, but they said they tied in points overall, and the Ultramarine player got the win because more people voted him favorite opponent.

The tournament scene here is great, so many to chose from, and a lot of them pretty close to each other. If you live in LA you are really spoiled.

Yeah...nearest GT to me is 7 hours away, but I'm packing up and driving to it!

surprised you lost to that eldar list, honestly I dont think anything of that list. It looks pretty average at best. Those guardians should have been fried on turn 2, and pathfinders die to flamers like nobodys business. Wraithlords are tough cookies to hurt, and you dont have a whole that can do easy damage to them, and eldrad avatar combo is dirty, but if eldrad was walking you could have overwhelemed him with shots and had him die (plus you have rune priest so you shoulda been stopping all the fortune).

anywho, good stuff, seems the tripple land raider is hit/miss

Thanks Ozzy, and yes, we will rape and pillage at Adepticon!

That sucks Dash, but we do have to pay crazy $$$ to live in this state if that is any compensation.

@Mafty
Yeah, that list LOOKS weak, but it so, so is not. I have a foot Eldar list too, very similar to this, and in a year of playing it as my main army have not lost a single game.

Toby has won several GT's with that list, it is not joke. I think there are a few weak points to it, but he is a really good player. He kept himself out of my kill zone and got a few lucky rolls when he needed it, plus my armor saves that game were utter dog gak.

Eldradr was with the harlies so I could never target him. The Pathfinders were out of range o me and failing my difficult terrain test with the Thunderwolf turn 2 fo rthat charge just cost me the game. It was rough.

But kudos to him, he went 5 and 0 against some tough opponents and had 3 massacres and two major victories, I believe. I wish Hulksmash would have drawn him last game as his army would have brought the pain. All those lances were no bueno against my Land Raiders.

He also did an excellent job of keeping Eldrad away form my rune preist. I managed to stop a few powers the turn I charged, but it was not enough. Runes of warding shut down my psychic phase. I play Eldar and I think that it is overpowered. It should only be 24" radius.

But, despite the two tight loses game 4 and 5, I still had a great time. I want to go to the dang Vegas GT and I thought I was going to pull it off after day 1, but oh well, try again at the SoCal slaughter. Problem is, that one was even tougher competition!

Congratz on the good showing and fun games! Toby is indeed a great player, and has won the SoCal GW League championship 3 times, back to back to back! (lil' punk!) I was on the Fantasy side of things at the Broadside Bash this year, but I'll be at the SoCal Slaughter in Space for sure! Hope we can get a game in!

Nice report. Man, I would have hated to see your lists and what you played against in a tournament. My main tourney list for a while has a really big Achilles heel against Land Raiders. To see a total of 6 from your first three opponents is crazy, not to mention your three! Ugh.

Keep up the good work!

Man, I wish I'd gotten to play in it. Due to the dates, it fell on Valentines Day weekend and my wife wouldn't like it if I went to play on her favorite holiday... However, a few of us went up to check it out on Saturday and the terrain looked beautiful. Watched Dave play the I-Guard guy (can't remember his name) in the second round. Saw a bit of Reecius's 3 Land Raider onslaught on the next table over. Good times!

Lord, Bike, Nurgle Daemon Weapon

How well did this lord setup work out for you Opponet?

Great report, thanks!

Glad to see a list with Ragnar doing well, as I have a narcissistic desire to field a SW army using him.

Great report there! You did very well overall IMO

Good job

G

Reecius wrote:

The comp system was a little weird, the judges didn't say how they were grading you and it was simply a number given by a judge with no rationale behind it.

Opinions may differ on whether it is appropriate to include comp. in a tournament. However, I hope that everyone would agree that having a SECRETIVE PROCESS for determining the comp. score is unacceptable and undermines the legitimacy of the scoring. It's comlete B$#^**$##!!!! Any scoring system, comp. or no comp., should be transparent. Complete BS otherwise.

After day 1, it looked as if you would do really well. Actually, that is kind of a shock to me. I used to run LR-spam, and in my 1850 list I would have 4. You would really do well against some armies (orks, daemons, deathwing). However, with the plethora of meltas and bright lances out there, I've kinda stayed from and gone with a slightly more balanced list nowadays as most tournament lists have plenty of AT. Anyways congrats on you finish.

olympia wrote:

Reecius wrote:

The comp system was a little weird, the judges didn't say how they were grading you and it was simply a number given by a judge with no rationale behind it.

Opinions may differ on whether it is appropriate to include comp. in a tournament. However, I hope that everyone would agree that having a SECRETIVE PROCESS for determining the comp. score is unacceptable and undermines the legitimacy of the scoring. It's comlete B$#^**$##!!!! Any scoring system, comp. or no comp., should be transparent. Complete BS otherwise.

My understanding is that comp played no part in actual scoring; it was used for determining parings for the first few games.

Exactly. The judge scored comp was just used for the first 3 match-ups which resulted in some people with 2-0 records playing people who had lost both or lost one and tied one. But yeah as long as they comp doesn't get added in I don't care if it's secretive.