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I just got home from a great tournament at GMI games here in Southern California. It was a bit small, 14 people showed up, but there were some really good players there and it was a lot of fun. We were preparing for the upcoming SoCal Slaughter, which should be a great Vegas qualifying GT if anyone will be in the area.

Anyway, on to the good bits. I brought a list I have never played before, wanting to try out some new stuff and had a good time with it.

Space Wolves

HQ

Bjorn
Wolf Priest with always hit on 3+

Elites

Dreadnought, Twin linked H.Flamer, H.Flamer

Troops

Blood Claws x 15, P.Fist
Grey Hunters x 5, Flamer
Grey Hunters x 5, Flamer
Grey Hunters x 10, MoTW, M.Gun x 2, D.Pod

Fast

Thunder Wolf, S.Shield, T.Hammer

Heavy

Land Raider
Land Raider
Land Raider Crusader, M.Melta

So, I had never used Bjorn and just wanted to try him out and I had never run Blood Claws and figured I would give them a whirl too, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with both, expecting them to under perform.

Game 1
Opponent: Q
Inquisition Army
Mission: 4 objectives, taking an enemy objective with a unit with a WS destroys that objective and earns you its points. 3 for protecting own objectives, 6 for popping enemy's. Bonus for taking objective with HQ.

HQ

Grey Knight Brother Captain
Retinue: 5 Grey Knight Terminators
Land Raider Crusader, Smoke Launchers
Cannoness: Master Crafted Eviscerator, Book, 2+save, ignore first instant death attack, melta pistol

Troops:

Battle Sisters: S.Superior, Eviscerator, Book, M.Gun x 2, Rhino, Smoke, x-arm
Battle Sisters: S.Superior, Eviscerator, Book, M.Gun x 2, Rhino, Smoke, x-arm
Imperial Storm Troopers x 5, M.Gun x 2, Chimera, Smoke, x-arm
Imperial Storm Troopers x 5, M.Gun x 2, Chimera, Smoke, x-arm

Fast:

Dominions: S.Superior, 4 x M.Gun, Immolater, Smoke, x-arm

Heavy:

Dreadnought, M.Melta
Dreadnought, M.Melta

Bjorn wins me the roll for first turn with his reroll. I take second, deploy in a refused flank. The game goes like this: he rushes me, I fail to destroy anything in shooting apart from one dread, he gets into melta range, I still fail to destroy anything, he meltas my land raiders, they pop, I assault his Nuns with Guns, bounce off and run off the table, I whiff in combat, only manage to kill two squads and a single transport all game, Cannoness chops my last Land Raider on my objective in half with three pinning 6's. It was a painful game, despite having my models in the right place, nothing went my way.

This was a total list mismatch. My opponent had 15 melta weapons that were all fast vs. my 3 LR's and 2 dreads. This combined with abysmal dice, and my opponent playing a smart game led to an utter ass kicking. If I had been able to open up a few transports I would have been able to pull off a tie at the least, but I just couldn't roll anything above a 2 and saw my land Raiders get popped one, two, three. I charged a 3 girl squad of sisters with a Cannoness who were about to pop one of my objectives with two squads of Grey Hunters, failed to kill a single sister, lost combat and ran off the board. That was about how the dice went for me all game. But, Q is a skilled player and I always enjoy playing him when I get to see him, so despite the butt whipping, I had a fun game.

Pros: Blood Claws worked well, killed the two squads I did defeat in combat and Bjorn was very useful, surprisingly so.

I was massacred, so I dropped to the bottom table. Sweet! Worst ass kicking I have ever gotten in a tournament game before, dang near tabled.

Game 2
Opponent: Matt
Imperial Guard
Mission: Kill Points for wiping out all units in a certain slot, i.e. all Heavy, or all Elites, etc. Bonus points for holding objectives. Preliminary bombardment, any unit gets his on a 6, takes D6 wounds, vehicles start stunned.

HQ:

CCS, medic, astropath, plasma, standard, body guard x 2, vox

Elite:

Marbo

Troops:

PCS, missile launcher, medic, vox
Platoon Squad: Flamer, vox
Platoon Squad: Flamer, vox
Heavy Weapons: 3 x H.Bolter
Heavy Weapons: 3 x A.Cannon
Heavy Weapons: A.Cannon x 3
PCS, missile launcher, medic, vox
Platoon Squad: Flamer, vox
Platoon Squad: Flamer, vox
Veterans: Carapace armor, m.gun x 3
Veterans: Carapace armor, p.gun x 3

Fast:

Valk, Missile pods, H.Bolters
Valk, Missile pods, H.Bolters
Hellhounds x 2

Heavy:

Leman Russ: H.Bolter Sponsons, L.Cannon

I am missing some wargear, but essentially it was not an uber competitive list and a total missmatch against mine, he had no way of dealing with my LR's.

The game was just kick the baby really, which sucks. My opponent was a cool guy and hung in there, but it was over as soon as we put our models on the table. I would have tabled him, but his Hellhounds didn't come on until turn 5 and it ended before I had a chance to attack them. Bjorn got me first turn again, which was great. He destroyed a ton of stuff, and the Blood Claws were pure murder against the guard. They are cheap, with 4 attacks each on the charge with rerolls from the wolf priest they were just a lawn mower, multi charging and wiping out everything they touched. Funny event was when my Thunderwolf got blown up by the preliminary bombardment. That was lame, but everyone around us got a good laugh from it, including me.

So, I got the massacre which jumped me back up to the top tables as all the winners tied or had minor victories against each other.

Game 3
Opponent: Willie
Army: Blood Angels
Mission: Kill Points, with a Kill point equaling 1 for every 100 points the unit cost rounding up for non troops and down for troops. Bonus points for table quarters.

HQ:

Mephiston

Elite:

Furioso Dread: Blood Claws, M.Gun, D.Pod
Sanguinary Prient x 2

Troops:

Assault Squad x 10: P.Fist, M.Gun x 2
Assault Squad x 10: P.Fist, Flamer x 2
Assault Squad x 5: melta, Razorback, T.L.L.Cannon
Assault Squad x 5: melta, Razorback, T.L.L.Cannon
Death Company x 8: Jump Packs, Lemartes, P.Fist x 2

Heavy:

Vindicator

The Blood Angels are nasty, wow, they are nasty. Mephiston is just a beast too, so powerful. But anyway, on to the report.

I won first turn without Bjorn's help this time, deployed forward and prepared for the oncoming rush. My opponent went all reserves.

First turn his Furioso dread drops down and blows up a LR. I then charged it with my Thunderwolf and Dread, 2 las cannons shots, 26 strength 10 CC attacks and 4 rounds of combat later I finally blew it up. I was thinking it was going to be one of those games. He had me on the ropes through turn 5, Mephiston immobilized my LRC, I had to sacrifice the Blood Claws to tie him up, the Death Company jumped in to help kill them off (Lemartes is stupid, In6? Why?) and the combo of the Assault Marines and Mephiston with the feel no pain and furious assault from the priests in the Razorbacks was nasty, nasty. I thought it was going to be my second ass kicking of the day, when I turned the tide on turn 6.

My Thunderwolf and H.Flamer Dread proceeded to catch both assault squads in combat and kill them both. Bjorn and Grey Hunters Charged Death Company and wiped them, then Mephiston Charged Bjorn, rolled 4 pens with his strength 10 buff, I stopped two with Bjorn's invul, Mephiston rolled snake eyes for the pen table then Bjorn smacked the greasy mullet right off of Mephiston's space vampire head. Finally killing him was a glorious moment because I had been pumping slowed amounts of fire power into him and he just kept making his saves.

In the end I managed to pull of the major win as I destroyed everything he had but a Razorback and two of the 5 man assault squads. The Thunderwolf and Bjorn were the MVP's, destroying everything they touched.

It was a great game, definitely the most fun I have had in a really long time, it went back and forth and ended on 7. We both had a great time and were laughing the entire game at some of the crazy dice rolls.


So, I finished upper middle pack with a massacre for me, against me and a major win. I also got the award for best painted, which was cool. In all it was a great RTT and I will definitely go back. I encourage people to go if they are in the area as they hold them every other month.

Nice batreps. I used to play LR-spam with my Grey Knights, but now with the plethora of meltas spammed in all the new codices, I've stopped doing that. They just can't compete in a tournament setting against a well-balanced army. While I'm not sold on Bjorn, Blood Claws + Wolf Priest in LRC is always a deadly combo...one that opponents often underestimate until it's too late. I fail to see how 1 TWC can make much of a difference, but it looked as if you had pretty good results with him in game 3.

Yeah, I underestimated the Blood Claws, they were great. I will definitely use them again. The 15 bodies on the cheap with a wolf priest to make them fearless is a really nice combo. 60 rerollable attacks on the charge is no joke, plus their pistol shots.

Bjorn was a lot of fun and he did well in every game. I took him just for laughs, I wasn't going to this tournament to wreck face, I mean the list was not weak at all, I just took some off beat units to mix it up and have some fun with it.

I will use Bjorn again for sure though, I was totally pleased with his performance.

The single Thunderwolf with T.Hammer and S.Shield is AWESOME. Think about it, he is basically a character.

5 strength 10 T.Hammer attacks on the charge, tough 5, 3++, 2 wounds. He is a 110 point character that moves like a beast, he is great. He will wreck vehicles, infantry, you name it. In almost every game I have used him, he has been an all star. A friend of mine runs three of them equipped like that and they are brutal. Well worth the points, in my opinion. A Lord that is about 50% more effective costs twice as much. Try them out sometime, you may be pleasantly surprised.

And thanks, I really enjoyed the tournament. One day RTT's are perfect, IMO.

Best painted you say?? Pics plzzz =)

I can't find the dang USB cable form my camera, I have about 200 pictures form adepticon that I want to post as well.

I have won best painted at a few RTT's with my marines. I am not the best painter in the world be any means, I just have clean paint jobs and every model in my army is unique.

But, there were only 14 players there, haha, so it wasn't like I won a Golden Daemon or anything!

I will try and get some pictures up though, I need to find that stupid cord, its in my desk somewhere.

Thanks for the Report. Man thats allot of land raiders. What do you normally field for the same points?

Yeah, the triple Land Raider army is too much AV14 for most armies to deal with, giving me a big advantage. Then you face a 15 melta gun army and cry! Haha.

At 2,000 I don't usually take more than 1 LR, but my Rhinos aren't painted. I normally take more units in Rhinos and Razorbacks to have more mobile scoring threats. I like to take 5 units of Grey Hunters. It tends to make for a more fun game.

But in a tournament, I bring what I have painted.

And thanks, glad you enjoyed the reports.

Thanks for the reports. Hopefully you will find that there cable and pump some pics into it.

- Blackbone