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This past weekend, Sazzlefrats & I crammed our armies and our backsides into his cute little Infinity, and drove 6 hours down to Orlando, CA, for the SoCal Slaughter in Space 2. My motivation was largely to hang out some more with a bunch of folks from Adepticon, and have some fun with my toy soldiers. Mission accomplished!

Big thanks to all the SCGWL folks involved in setting up the event - they were very well organized, and put on a solid event. I know the turn-out was less than they had planned for, but hopefully the fun we had will translate into a larger event next year. (It might also help to be a little temporally further away from Adepticon - it was a challenge for many to find the time/funds/wife points to travel for several events within a 3 week period.)

A few thoughts at the outset:
1) The Orlando convention center is a full-sized venue; our little tournament fit into one of the side ballrooms, while an all-weekend dance competition for went on in their larger spaces, and a children's martial arts tournament was added to Sunday.

2) I appreciate the early posting of the rules packet/missions. Yakface already said pretty much everything that needs to be said, regarding potential mission balance improvements for future years.

3) Terrain was attractive, but a little light on LoS-blocking elements. The hills were 2" tall, which was a great start, but only a couple tables had actual LoS-blocking towers; the rest had ruins, with lots of windows; on most boards, you'd have a hard time hiding anything bigger than a 10-man infantry squad.

4) It's very odd for me to be done with Saturday at a tournament by 9:15 or so. I'd dearly love some evening gaming space in the hotel next year (as space in the convention center is likely too expensive to keep open).

5) In dealing with some last-minute work stuff before driving down Friday, I forgot my camera; sorry!


I'm still looking for ways to make Tyranids competitive, so I made some changes to my Adepticon lists, and took the following:

2000 pts

Tyranid Prime w/Boneswords, Deathspitter, & toxin sacs

3x Hive Guard
3x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore w/Cluster Spines
8x Ymgarl

18x Genestealers w/toxin sacs
6x Genestealers w/toxin sacs
6x Genestealers w/toxin sacs
10x Spinegaunts
Tervigon w/Catalyst, scytals, adrenals, & toxin sacs

Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon, Cluster Spines, and Larvae
Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon, Cluster Spines, and Larvae

Theory:
What I learned at Adepticon & in other play-testing is that 9 Genestealers is the wrong number - they do more damage than needed, when arriving from reserves, and are still too few to handle the return fire from bolters/flamers/harsh language. This list tries to mitigate some of that - 6 man squads are still useful when outflanking, while the 18 man squad can infiltrate in front of my lines, and take advantage of Catalyst & cover during approach - the frontage is so wide that it's generally easy to find cover, while still threatening to charge a huge part of the table.

How'd it work out for me? Keep reading, and find out!

My judge-scored comp was a "10," which made me the 7th-least-cheesy army present. (Comp was judged at time of check-in for me; apparently, they misplaced the list I emailed in 2 weeks ago.) At registration, I also received a "reroll token," as a reward for pre-registering.

Game 1 sees me paired against Ryan Dougan, who has orks:

Ghazghkull
Big Mek w/KFF

5 Nobz
15 Burna Boyz

5 Mega-Nobz (as Troops) in Trukk
11 Boyz w/PK Nob in Trukk
11 Boyz w/PK Nob in Trukk
19 Boyz w/PK Nob, Shoota
19 Boyz w/PK Nob
19 Boyz w/PK Nob

Battle Wagon w/Deff Rolla (Nobz + Ghaz)
Battle Wagon w/Deff Rolla (Burnaz + Big Mek)

(Ryan's comp was 11.5, meaning he was less cheesey than I.)

Mission: Planetfall
Modified DoW - "L" shaped corner deployments (12" deep).
Primary: Objectives placed in the center of the board & the centers of unoccupied table quarters; 12 points (5 for tying)
Secondary: Keep the enemy out of your deployment zone (5; both can get)
Bonus: Destroy enemy heavy support (2); keep most expensive Troops alive (1)

I was going second, and deployed off the board. The Ymgarl were napping in a forest along the centerline, within easy reach of 2 of the objectives (center & right flank). The Prime joined the Zoanthropes in the pod, the spinegaunts went into normal reserves, and the 2 small Stealer squads were outflanking.

Turn 1: He moves on. I move on, the Hive Guard crack a Trukk, and a Tyrannofex kills the Burna/Big Mek battlewagon. Good turn.

Turn 2: He moves up. I get my Ymgarl and 1 squad of outflanking stealers (who come on via "his" short edge; my left flank). The Tervigon makes 7 termigants, and tries to use them to screen itself. Shooting kills another trukk. My giant, FNP stealer squad charges both dismounted Trukk squads; the outflankers charge one of the foot squads, and the Ymgarl charge another. Many, many dice results in: dead outflankers (14 living boyz), tarpitted Ymgarl (5 boyz live), and 2 dead trukk boyz squads (no casualties to my stealers).

Turn 3: Ghaz calls the WAAAGH! The 18-man squad catches a deff rolla to the face (2 dead), the remaining 14 boyz from one foot squad, Ghaz & Nob buddies, and the burnaz. My Tervigon & Hive Guard are caught by the Meganobz (bad placement on my part). The third foot squad jumps on the Ymgarl. End result: 1 wounded Nob (left from the 14 boy squad), 3 Nobz & Ghaz, 3 burnas & the Big Mek, and 7 Genestealers; no Hive Guard, no Tervigon, and 4 Meganobz; 5 Boyz, 14 Boyz, and no Ymgarl. That last wounded Nob is so far away from the remaining stealers that he's cut loose from the combat, and moves back towards the objective in that quarter. My turn 3 gets me my Spinegaunts, who move on & head towards my right flank objective. My shooting is irrelevant. The ongoing Ghaz fight is reduced to 5 stealers, Ghaz, and 2 Nobs.

Turn 4: The wounded Nob on the left moves to the left flank objective. He now has a wounded Nob on the left objective, a squad of 14 or so parked in the crater around the middle objective, and a squad of 5 boyz trying to hoof it over to the right objective. His Meganobz kill one Tyrannofex in my deployment zone, and the Ghaz fight goes to 3 Stealers, Ghaz, and 1 Nob. In my turn 4, my last reserves arrive - the outflanking stealers come in on the right, and the Zoanthropes + Prime land between the center & right objectives (getting me some much-needed synapse in place to control my spinegants & created termigants. The Zoanthropes blow away his Battlewagon, the Pod kills one boy from the squad of 5, and shooting reduces the center-crater squad to about 9. Ghaz is left as last man standing from the giant brawl.

Turn 5: He moves about, and shoots many of the created termigants ; his squad of 4 boyz assaults my zoanthropes and sticks there. In my turn, my spinegaunts come remove the 4 boy squad, while my last Tyrannofex shoots & assaults the boyz in the crater. I could have assaulted with my last 2 created termigants, but decide to play for a turn 6 instead.

He rolls for end of game, and rolls a "2." This displeases me, so I pull out my "free reroll token," consult with the judges to make sure it's usable, and then I roll...a 2. Game over!

End result: His wounded Nob claims the left objective, my outflanking stealers claim the right objective, and my Tyrannofex contests the last 4 boyz in the center crater: Draw on Primary. He has models in my deployment zone (meganobz); I don't have any in his: he gets Secondary, I don't. I killed his heavies, he didn't kill mine: I get 2. His most expensive Troops are alive (Meganobz), mine aren't (giant stealers): he gets 1 pt.

Ryan 11, Janthkin 7. We'll call that a (minor) loss.

Ryan played a pretty smart game towards the end, and I wasn't lucky enough with my outflanking roll or the end of the game roll to correct for some early mistakes. But that giant FNP stealer squad worked about as well as I could ask for - they got 24 Trukk boyz one turn, and then ate 15 Burnas, 13 Boyz, a Big Mek, 5 Nobz, and 3 of Ghaz's wounds before going down.

Game 2 - Who could THAT be?

Games 1 & 2 were paired based on judge-scored comp. By their view, my next opponent's dastardly army was a full 1 point cheesier than mine. Worse, it was cheesey TAU! And suspiciously familiar Tau at that....

Round 2: versus The Elusive Yakface!

Oddly, Jon's army list is the only one I didn't retain a copy of. It goes something like this:

Shas'el (Fireknife confi)
Shas'el (Plasma & Air-bursting Frag)

2 Fireknife suits w/2 shield drones
2 Fireknife suits w/2 shield drones
2 Fireknife suits w/2 shield drones

6 Firewarriors
6 Firewarriors
13 Kroot
13 Kroot

6 Pathfinders w/tricked-out Devilfish
6 Pathfinders w/tricked-out Devilfish

Railhead w/all the trimmings
2 Broadsides w/2 shield drones
2 Broadsides w/2 shield drones

Mission: Cut off the Head of the Beast
Primary: Whoever has most Kill Points alive, not counting dedicated transports, wins. (12/5)
Secondary: Kill all enemy HQs (5)
Bonus: Your HQ kills theirs (2); most expensive unit lives (1)

So Jon starts w/14 KPs (not counting 'fish), and (fortunately!) no gun drones on his skimmers. I start with 11, and the potential to make more from the Tervigon. A little uphill, but not nearly as bad as some people were facing. And, as it happens, I've played more test games against Tau than anything else.

I won first turn, and took it. My Zoanthropes were dropping in their pod, but the Prime was attached to the Hive Guard this game. The 6 man stealers were outflanking. My Ymgarl were napping in a 3-story ruin in Jon's deployment zone; he had a squad of Pathfinders on the 2nd floor, and a unit of Broadsides on the top floor, but the bottom floor was pretty large & unoccupied. His Kroot were screening much of the rest of his deployment zone, protecting all those suits and a unit of Pathfinders. My 18 genestealers infiltrated last, a little over 6" in front of my army and spread way out across the board.

Turn 1: I move forward, and FNP the stealers, who use their Run move to put over half the unit in two craters just past midfield. Hive Guard kill 3/6 Pathfinders from the squad behind the Kroot, and they run; they have to run AROUND the Broadsides though (not enough space to run through the unit), so 7" doesn't get them off the board.

Jon's turn 1 sees the fleeing Pathfinders rally, his Firewarriors jack the Pathfinder 'fishes (which they'll stay in all game) the entire army dump fire into that 18 man 'stealer squad. 12 die; 6 remain.

Remaining KP: Yakface: 14; Janthkin: 11.

Turn 2: The Ymgarl wake up! Both outflanking Stealers arrive on the left board edge, on the opposite end of his deployment zone from the Ymgarl; they don't Run far enough to assault anyone this turn. I believe my Zoanthropes arrive as well, and Lance the Hammerhead into wreckage - no Disruption pods at THIS range! I spawn some termingants, and get 17(!!), but run out. The 6 living Stealers from the giant squad assault 1 of the units of Kroot, while the Ymgarl jump on the Pathfinders & Broadsides in the tall building. The Kroot die, the Broadsides loose 1 drone, and 4 Pathfinders die; no genestealers die in either combat. Critically, the Broadsides start running but the Pathfinders roll double 1's, and volunteer to protect my Ymgarl from harm.

Yakface's turn 2 kills the 6 surviving stealers from the big squad (he had to assault with the other Kroot to do it), 2 Zoanthropes (poor save-rolling), and 5/6 of the Stealers from the closer of the two outflanking squads. The Pathfinders are slain, and the Ymgarl consolidate towards a cluster of Kroot, one Shas'el, and a Crisis team.

Remaining KP: Yakface: 10; Janthkin: 11.

Turn 3: I dump fire into the far-left Crisis team, but to no avail. I do finish off the last 3 Pathfinders. The Ymgarl come out of their ruins, and the Kroot, Crisis Team, and Shas'el die; the Ymgarl get JUST enough consolidation to keep the Broadsides running. The solo stealer on the left tries to beat up some crisis suits, but is slain for his efforts with only a drone to show for it.

Yakface kills the Ymgarl, and 3 of the stealers from the last squad on the left; they roll boxcars and run backwards a bit. I think my last Zoanthrope probably died in here, too.

Remaining KP: Yakface: 6; Janthkin: 8.

Turn 4: I kill some drones here and there; he's out of easy-to-catch KP, and is making a reasonable number of saves against my remaining shooting. My MCs get closer, and the Hive Guard will enjoy FNP from here on out, making them really tough to hurt.

Yakface kills my last 3 stealers.

Remaining KP: Yakface: 6; Janthkin: 7.

Turn 5: My MCs move closer; the Tervigon will be able to charge his Broadsides next turn.

Yakface's turn 5: he kills 1 of the 3 Hive Guard, but separates his HQ from the last suit in his semi-escort.

And...the game ends.

Primary goes to me; neither of us claims the secondary. Jon picks up 1 bonus point for keeping his most expensive unit (one of the two units of Broadsides) alive.

Thanks for the bat reps Janthkin.

Nicely played!

Good to see you again, Janthkin, and I agree, it would be nice to have some gaming at night to hang out and shoot the bull.

Time for round 3, and I have one minor win and one minor loss, but two good games. Round 3 starts the Swiss pairings, so I'm probably safe from anything TOO nasty...right?

Enter Anthony Wang. Anthony's army scored a judge-scored "5." On the plus side, he won Best Painted (including my vote therefore). We had been chatting after round 2, before pairings were up, and his comment on his army was that "he'd wanted to try out some of the techniques from the FW Masterclass book." He was very successful. It was also his first major tournament.

His army, beloved of Nurgle:
Daemon Prince: MoNurge, Warp Time
Daemon Prince: MoNurge, Warp Time

3 Terminators w/combi-meltas

5 Plague Marines (2x Melta, Champ w/Fist & Combi-melta) in a rhino.
5 Plague Marines (2x Melta, Champ w/Fist & Combi-melta) in a rhino.
5 Plague Marines (2x Melta, Champ w/Fist & Combi-melta) in a rhino.
5 Plague Marines (2x plasma) in a rhino.

3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators

Ewwwww; nasty! But very, very pretty.

Mission 3: Strike at the Heart
Deployment: Essentially Pitched Battle, but 6" in from the short edges as well.
Primary: Destroy two enemy objectives by having one of your units w/a WS within 3" at the end of a player turn, while your opponent has no units there to contest. (6 points per objective)
Secondary: Keep your objectives alive (3 points per)
Bonus: Have an HQ kill an objective (2 pts)

I win the roll-off, and choose to deploy/go first. My setup is similar to that against Yakface - 'thropes in Pod in Reserve, dormant Ymgarl in a crater that should allow assault reach to either/both of his objectives, out-flanking little stealers, infiltrating giant stealers in a line across. Nurgle sets up with 1 Prince & 1 unit of Oblits on each of his objectives (center of his deployment zone), the third unit of Oblits in a forest to the right of center, termicide in reserve, and all the rhinos hiding behind/around a hill to the left of his center.

My plan: Move up, FNP the 'stealers, try and kill rhinos w/Tyrannofexes and Hive Guard, get the 'stealers into the Princes or the Oblits on turn 2. Even my Spore Pod has a weapon skill; if I can clear an objective, just landing near it will kill it.

And then he steals the initiative.

Turn 1: The oblits all lumber back towards his table edge, and unload into the Hive Guard; I take 3 wounds, in spite of cover and mediocre rolling on his part. The rhinos all advance, with the ones in front popping smoke & screening the others. In my turn 1, I crack both smoked rhinos, and my 18 genestealer squad jumps on one squad of disembarked Plague Marines in the smoking crater of their rhino...and sticks there. The combination of T5, FNP, and Blight grenades results in 2 dead Plague Marines, but not until they kill a few 'stealers.

Turn 2: One of the daemon princes hops in to help the Plague marines; the other is advancing up my left flank behind one of the rhinos. He kills another Hive Guard. More stealers die, and I kill 1 more plague marine. In my turn, the Prime joins the spinegaunts, leaving the last Hive Guard to hide where he can. The Tervigon makes a bunch of 'gants, who combine with one out-flanking unit of stealers to jump on the advancing Nurgle prince; they accomplish nothing but 3 dead 'stealers, with the rest fleeing. The first Prince finishes off the large stealer squad, and he & the two living plague marines go their separate ways.

Turn 3: His obliterators kill my Tervigon, in spite of cover. Ouch. In my turn, synapse is reestablished for the broken stealers, so they rally & jump back into the fight with the Prince...where they are killed; the created 'gants are holding the Prince in place for a little longer, though. The Tyrannofexes combine fire to kill the daemon prince in his backfield, who had been wounded by the 18 genestealers he had for breakfast. The Ymgarl & Zoanthropes arrive this turn; I try to focus on the objective with just 1 squad of Oblits, but a) the Zoanthropes only manage to wound once with the Warp Lance; and b) the Ymgarl roll a fleet of "1," so they're too far away. I toss them at the two oblit squads instead; they kill 3 oblits total, across the 2 squads, and lose 3 of their number in return.

Turn 4: His prince breaks free in his turn, and his termicide lands (and stays - it Mishapped back into reserves last turn), to try and kill a few of the spinegaunts attached to the Prime. I lose my Zoanthropes and Ymgarl to Plague Marines and Obliterators, respectively. In my turn, my last unit of 'stealers arrives, and tries to kill off that Daemon Prince; they fail, and are killed. A Tyrannofex dismounts his plasma plague marines, who were finally coming across the board in their rhino, and then eats them in the assault phase.

Turn 5: He kills a few spinegaunts, leaving me 3, and seriously wounds a Tyrannofex w/Oblit fire. In my turn, the Prime (who has just 1 wound left, after the early game fun with the Obliterators & Hive Guard) runs over and kills the terminators off.

I roll to end the game, and roll a "2." He's not happy with that, and uses his reroll token. He also rolls a "2." The game ends: neither of us achieves any primary or bonus points; both of us get 6 secondary points.

6-6 draw.

Great reports! Wish I could have been there but Adepticon exhausted all my wife points for the time being.

Antman's army was stellar, easily the best there.

Good old initiative stealing, that is my army's worst nightmare in most cases. Well played though, Janthkin.

And you should definitely come next year, Ozzy. Just make sure to buy your wife roses and spa treatments randomly a few times a year to start building up wife points to cash in for fun events like this one! haha.

Saturday "night" (by which I mean "late afternoon" - it's such an odd feeling to be finished with the last game of the day before 7pm), much of the con loaded up and went to BJ's for beer and conversation. Rather than wait for hours to get a giant table, a few of us split off to a smaller table: Yakface, Blackmoor, Sazzlefrats, Lambadomy, and myself. There was beer, there was conversation, and we were all amused at Sazzlefrats' low alcohol tolerance (he was very cheerful on 2 pints).

The evening ended all too early - we REALLY need to get some evening gaming space organized for next year.

Sunday morning, after a really poor buffet in the hotel (tip: they have a Sunday brunch, which starts later, and sink most of their efforts into that; order from the menu Sunday morning, if you eat there), we wander over to the hall.

Now, I'm 1-1-1 at this stage, with rather low overall battle points, so the competition should have eased up, right?

Heh.

Round 4: The Dark General

I find myself paired against Touradj Mansouri, aka The Dark General, aka Mr. Lowest Comp For Two Years Running. His list is incredibly interesting:

Skulltaker on a Juggernaught
The Bloodthirster of Khorne (Unholy Might, Blessing of the Blood God)

8x Bloodcrushers (Full command)
8x Bloodcrushers (Full command)
8x Bloodcrushers (Full command)

8x Bloodletters (Instrument)
8x Bloodletters

Daemon Prince of Khorne (MoK, Flight, Armor, Unholy Might)

Now, when I'd first heard "24 bloodcrushers" in conjunction with this tournament, my first thought was "How do I deal with Fateweaver and 24 Bloodcrushers?" But that's not what I was facing. Hell, there's not even a single shooting attack in the army. It's theme is great - "I'm going to land, and then I'm going to stomp on your face. Stop me." I was going to try.... Unfortunately, the mission wasn't going to help me succeed.

Important to mention here that his 3 units of bloodcrushers are of three different generations of juggernaught models. In fact, he owns 48 of them, total. All his daemons are on square bases (much like my slaaneshi hordes).

Mission 4: Thinning Their Numbers
Old "Cleanse 2" deployment (opposed triangles)
Primary: 3 pts for each enemy force org slot (excluding HQ), in which you reduce all units to less than half strength (or immobilized). 2 pts if you both achieve this for a given org slot.
Secondary: Control one of your objective markers (placed in the no-man's land between deployment zones) (5 pts)
Bonus: Control an enemy marker (2 pts) Destroy at least one enemy HQ (1 pt)

The special rules need some mentioning here:
1) Reserves: Start rolling on turn 1. (Yes, this applied to Daemons; we asked.)
2) Preliminary Bombardment: "After deployment you roll a die for each of your opponents units on a 6 that unit takes d6 wounds or if it is a vehicle it starts stunned."

We rolled preliminary bombardment, based on the above language, for every unit, irrespective of whether it was in reserves. I did 1 wound to 1 BC unit. He did 3 wounds to Hive Guard, 3 to Spinegaunts, 1 to a 6-man 'stealer unit, 4 to the other, and the Ymgarl saved the 2 wounds he rolled their way. Ouch. Best shooting EVER by this particular daemon army....

He won the "go first" roll, and took it. I deployed with my Hive Guard on the third floor of a ruin, my MCs clustered up, my Zoanthropes on the board w/the Prime, the 18-stealer squad spread in a long line across my front, the spinegaunts in a line across my back (no DS'ing behind me). The little stealer squads (such as were left of them) were outflanking, the pod was dropping empty, and the Ymgarl were dormant in a central-right crater.

Start of the game (units at 50% or greater, by force-org slot):
Janthkin: 1 HQ, 4 Elites, 5 Troops, 0 FA, 2 Heavy
The Dark General: 2 HQ, 3 Elites, 2 Troops, 0 FA, 1 Heavy

First, he gets his preferred wave. And then, given the odd Reserves rules, he starts rolling, and gets everything else. Nothing bad happens during his initial landing, though his army definitely wants to scatter towards me. It ends up with 3 units of bloodcrushers in an arc, about 12" from my lines, with the Bloodthirster mixed in there as well. The Daemon Prince was 2-3 turns out, and the two units of Bloodletters were way off to the right of center, very near my Ymgarl.

I go buy us some beer at this point. It's going to be a bloody game, no doubt.

My turn 1, and I get all my reserves. The Ymgarl wake up, and plan to jump both units of Bloodletters, assisted by the unit of 5 stealers coming from that board edge. The 2 man squad comes in on my left, and plans to hit the LEFT 'crusher unit, alongside my 18 stealer unit. I try to drop my pod in the back left corner, and it scatters too far off the board, and mishaps itself to death Shooting kills one crusher from the MIDDLE unit, and that's about it. Charge! After the dust settles, there are no bloodletters on the board, to no casualties for the Ymgarl or outflanking stealers; and 3 wounds remaining (on three models) in the LEFT 'crusher unit, to about 13 models left from the 18 man squad (plus the 2 outflankers).

Janthkin: 1 HQ, 3 Elites, 4 Troops, 0 FA, 2 Heavy
The Dark General: 2 HQ, 2 Elites, 0 Troops, 0 FA, 1 Heavy

Turn 2: the MIDDLE crushers charge into the giant stealer/crusher brawl; the RIGHT crushers jump on the Ymgarl, and the daemon prince jumps on the 5 outflankers over by the Ymgarl. Skulltaker splits from the his buddies on the RIGHT, and heads towards my "castle" of 3 MCs, whom he wants to instant-kill; the Bloodthirster flies over that way, too. After his combat phase, the 13 'stealer squad is down to about 2, and the 2 outflankers are still there; I've finished off the LEFT 'crushers, and put a couple new wounds on the MIDDLE crushers. The Ymgarl and right-outflanking stealers are dead.

In my second turn, I make 14 'gants, but run out. I then forget to move them, so they won't be assaulting/tying down the Bloodthirster as planned. :( Shooting puts a wound on Skulltaker, but his Collar of Khorne protects him from Warp Lances. The ongoing assault kills the remnants of my 18 'stealer squad, but the 2-man outflanking squad holds on.

Janthkin: 1 HQ, 2 Elites, 3 Troops, 0 FA, 2 Heavy
The Dark General: 2 HQ, 2 Elites, 0 Troops, 0 FA, 1 Heavy

Turn 3: Skulltaker wimpily hides on the ground floor of the ruins, out of assault range (and unable to get at the Hive Guard on the 3rd floor). The Bloodthirster flies up there, though, and eats them up. The RIGHT crushers & daemon prince all head towards me, but don't get there. The MIDDLE crushers only kill 1 of the 2-man stealers, but he flees from their musician, back towards my board edge (and into synapse from the Tervigon).

In my turn, I set up for some charges: spinegaunts, both T-fexes, the Tervigon, and the last 'stealer align to charge the MIDDLE crushers, while the created fleshborer 'gants set up to charge Skulltaker in the ruins. Shooting gets me wounds scattered throughout the MIDDLE crushers. In assault, I lose my last genestealer, and pick up a few wounds on a T-fex, but I kill the MIDDLE crushers. I also kill Skulltaker, who couldn't even kill a termigant, and then fails 3/4 of his saves against their poisoned attacks. Glory!

Janthkin: 1 HQ, 1 Elites, 3 Troops, 0 FA, 2 Heavy
The Dark General: 1 HQ, 1 Elites, 0 Troops, 0 FA, 1 Heavy

Turn 4: We're moving along now, with so few units to deal with. His Bloodthirster comes out of the ruins and jumps on the Prime/Zoanthropes (I should have split them up last turn...), where he will kill the Prime. The daemon prince jumps on the Skulltaker-killing 'gants, and beats a bunch of them down; they do manage to get a couple wounds on him.

My turn, and I just move my MCs and spinegaunts further from the angry red dudes, hoping that the game ends on turn 5 and lets me hold one of my objectives. I lose a 2 zoanthropes to the 'thrister, and there is 1 'gant holding on against the daemon prince, after making 2 "no retreat" saves.

Janthkin: 0 HQ, 0 Elites, 2 Troops, 0 FA, 2 Heavy
The Dark General: 1 HQ, 1 Elites, 0 Troops, 0 FA, 1 Heavy

Turn 5: The RIGHT crushers charge in on that last 'gant, getting some bonus distance out of killing it, and the Bloodthirster finishes with the zoanthropes.

I am unable to shoot the Daemon prince to death. The spinegaunts are screening my Tervigon from the 'crushers, but both T-fexes are exposed to flying daemon charges.

C'mon end of game!

Janthkin: 0 HQ, 0 Elites, 2 Troops, 0 FA, 2 Heavy
The Dark General: 1 HQ, 1 Elites, 0 Troops, 0 FA, 0 Heavy

And the roll is a...5. There will be a turn 6.

Turn 6: The Bloodthirster jumps on the unwounded T-fex, and does 3 wounds. The bloodcrushers jump on the spinegaunts, and kill them. The Daemon Prince jumps on the wounded T-fex, but only manages 2 wounds, taking 1 in return.

My Tervigon rushes over to beat on the Daemon Prince, and kills it, but not before both T-fexes are slain.

Janthkin: 0 HQ, 0 Elites, 1 Troops, 0 FA, 0 Heavy
The Dark General: 1 HQ, 1 Elites, 0 Troops, 0 FA, 0 Heavy

I let him roll this time. He drops the die, it's showing a '6'...but it's obviously cocked on a forest template. He drops another die, it's showing a '6'...but it's obviously cocked on a Bloodcrusher. He drops a THIRD die, and it comes up a '2'. Game over!

This was an extremely interesting game. The goofy special rules somewhat interfered - I'd be very curious to play against the list under "normal" conditions - but it's not nearly as abusive as it might sound. I gave Touradj max comp/sports points, and ended up voting him my favorite opponent, as well. He went on to win Best Sportsman for the event, in spite of his lowest judge-scored comp.

We start adding up points - he gets 3 for Elites, I get 3 for Troops, we each get 2 for FA & Heavy, and we each get 1 for killing an enemy HQ.

Khorne favored this battle: it's an 8-8 tie.

That sounds lie a really fun game! I would like to have watched that one, actually. Daemons on Nids sounds like a good time.

Reecius wrote:That sounds lie a really fun game! I would like to have watched that one, actually. Daemons on Nids sounds like a good time.

It was a freaking HILARIOUS game. And it was interesting to see what it takes to kill 8 Bloodcrushers; the answer is "a lot."

I love the writeup of the bloodcrusher game. Personally I think The dark general got screwed on the comp scoring...at least his army is themed! And having two troops is nothing but a handicap in 5th unless your army is guaranteed to table someone.

Much thanks for the great Battle Report Kevin! (Janthkin)!!!! It was indeed a very interesting and fun game! I do feel that my list was overly harshly judged, but "on paper" the list is intimidating...sure if I get the first Turn, get the right half on Turn 1 and the rest of my Army on Turn 2! Even then, with lack of Shooting (in a very shooting game), and lack of speed my Army is kinda handicapped in some areas. But, it's all good...I enjoy my 40K games for the most part, and this was definitely one of the highlights! A good hard fought bloody scrap! KHORNE WILLS IT!!!! Had we went on to Turn 7....lol!