Another AWC tournament yesterday.
I brought my orks. I actually used nob bikers for the first time, though not too many (I don't like huge point-sink units that much). This was brought on because I'd finally painted the
FW Biker Boss that my wife got me for Christmas last year, and he deserved to go kill some stuff.
HQ: Big Mek w/
KFF, Burna
HQ: Warboss on Bike, Powerklaw, Cybork Body
Elite: 5 Lootas
Elite: 5 Lootas
Troops: 5 Nobs on Bikes, Cybork Bodies (Powerklaw/Banner, Powerklaw/Bosspole, Big Choppa, Dok, and Choppa)
Troops: 19 Shoota Boyz, 1 Big Shoota, Nob w/
PK, Bosspole
Troops: 20 Shoota Boyz, 2 Big Shootas, Nob w/
PK, Bosspole
Troops: 10 Grots, Herder
Heavy: 3 Kans w/ Grotzookas
Heavy: Battlewagon w/ Deff Rolla, Boarding Plank, 2x Big shoota
Heavy: Battlewagon w/ Deff Rolla, Boarding Plank, 2x Big shoota
Big Mek rides with the smaller boyz unit.
Not a very optimized list, but full of good stuff, and I think I've got the tools to handle anything (maybe)...
The Tournament Organizer worked out three missions from the Battle Mission book, tweaked them a bit for the primary/seconday/tertiary system, and let have.
Game One
Carnage (Black Crusade)
Deployment is like pitched battle, but with 15" deployment zones.
Primary is Kill Points, Secondary is scoring 500 more
VP, and tertiary is killing the opponent's highest point unit.
Mission special rules: War Without End. Any non-vehicle unit that is destroyed is returned to play at full strength. This rule deactivates on turn 5.
Opponent: Chris, with Tau
He's rocking:
HQ Shas'O w/ two Drones, Airbursting Gun, Cyclic Ion Gun
Elites: 3 plasma/missile suits w/ 2 drones
Elites: 6 stealth suits (1 fusion), 2 marker drones
Troops: 6 Firewarriors
Troops: 6 Firewarriors
Fast: Pathfinders (8, 3 rail rifles), In Devilfish
Heavy: Hammerhead
Heavy: 3 Broadsides, 2 Drones, multitrackers in the unit
Early analysis - he's got a bit of everything. In an objective mission, he'd be doomed, but this isn't that. If he goes first and makes me cross the whole board, he could end up killing my mobility and rinse/repeat. It's not a focused list, but certainly not one to be taken too lightly. What I'm really concerned about is him dropping my non-recyclable wagons on the first turn, and then using his pathfinders to strip the cover saves off my bikes while he points those railguns at them later on.
I guess a lot depends on the roll for first turn - he wins it, and then, tells me to go first, as he wants to see how I'll deploy. Well, that's probably enough of an edge for me right there...
So I deploy first, spreading out across my deployment zone. I put the biker boss on the far left, where there's a no-see-though building to hide him behind with a turbo-boost, and the nob bikers on the far right. As these are the most-mobile, they get the flanks, while the two battle wagons will go in the middle.
He spreads out as well, ensuring that everything has something to go after, although he does use his crisis suits to deny my boss the building to hide behind en-route to those broadsides.
Turn 1, I move stuff up, putting the boss where the suits will have to go after him cause the broadsides can't. Kans shoot at the crisis suits, to scare them more than anything. Nob bikers get shots on the pathfinders and kill 4, they break. Not a bad start - I just have to weather one turn shooting now, and it'll be mostly over.
His shooting kills the kans - they won't be back. He also kills two nobs, but they're okay with that. Importantly, the battlewagons survive, through low pen rolls and good cover saves.
Turn 2 and beyond, Warboss engages crisis suits, boyz kill broadsides, mek engages firewarriors, other boyz kill firewarriors and hammerhead, nobs kill stealth suits. All that is left from the initial force is the devilfish and commander, who's off in a corner. His turn 2, some of it comes back, but ultimately do little. Any protacted fights end in my favor. At this point, I spread as many boyz out along his table edge as possible to force his reserves into the corner with his Shas'O. There's not much left to tell. At the end, I've killed everything but the Shas'O once, and a few units twice, while he's killed my kans, nobz, and boss twice.
45/48 points (recycling units made it hard to score the bonus points for him not having surviving unit types)
Game 2
Implacable Advance, versus John's Imperial Fists.
HQ: Lysander
Elite: Six Terminators, 1 Cyclone
ML, 1 Chainfist, 1 Sgt w/ Power Weapon, in Land Raider Crusader
Troops: 10 Tacs,
ML, Melta,
PF Sgt, Rhino
Troops: 10
CCW Scouts,
PW Sgt
Fast:
HF/
MM Speeder
Fast:
HF/
MM Speeder
Fast:
HF/
MM Speeder
Heavy: Vindicator
Mission:
16" Deployment zones, 16" No-Man's land. One objective in the middle of each of these zones.
Primary: Secure the objectives. An objective is secured if, at the end of your turn, you have a scoring unit within 3" of an uncontested objective. The only way to lose a secured objective is for your opponent to secure it.
Secondary: Marked for Death - Nominate a unit at the game's start- did you kill it?
Tertiary: 500
Vp differential
I nominate the scouts as the must-kill unit. My plan is to secure objectives early, kill his troops, and just play delaying games with Lysander.
He wins the roll-off, and tells me to go first. I set up to surge my Battlewagons up the middle, securing two objectives on turn 1. But, then, he steals the initiative, and all bets are off. He advances the Termis, and debates shooting or charging the kans. In the end, he shoots them, killing the two he'd be able to charge, but Lysander and pals are out of their vehicle.
I Ram the land-raider, immobilizing it, and dismount 40 shoota boyz. Their combined fire kills... 1 terminator. But one unit and the one remaining kan charges and gets a few more kills. Interestingly, because of the rammed tank position, it's impossible to consolidate my boyz into his remaining terminators, and the combat just ends, with Lysander and one friend left, an exploded Kan, and my boyz on the other side of the battlewagon.
Nob bikers and grots secure two objectives, with the nobs in position to go after his troops next turn.
Turn 2, he explodes the battlewagon, and kills a couple of nobs with the vindicator. A landspeeder makes short work of one unit of 5 lootas.
Then Lysander and friend charge the boyz, this time for good, and the boyz kill the termie before Lysander slaps a few of them about with his sillyhammer. My nob is non-plussed that he's fighting an eternal warrior w/ 3+
inv. save.
After this, the Nobs pretty much have their way of things, killing, in three turns, the scouts, the
tac squad, and then the vindicator and rhino. Shoota boyz and the other loota squad eventually down the speeders, (Who killed the grots! How mean, they never did nothing to no one), and Lysander carves bloody swathes through both the shoota boy units, killing all of one squad, and most of the other, while only taking 2 wounds through it all. At game's end, I'm up by 451
VP - needed another turn to kill that Land Raider, and miss the tertiary.
I score 42/48 possible points, and go into game three on the top table.
Game Three
Fighting Withdrawal, Versus Dave's Mech Guard
I didn't get a pic of Dave's army set-up, but it was painted largely in Ultramarine blue, because his other army is Ultras, and he had blue paint left over, or so he claimed. There are a decent number of pics of this game though, so that should make up for it.
Dave ran:
HQ:
CCS, 4x plasma, Officer w/ plasma pistol, Chimera,
HF/Multi-laser
Troops: Platoon:
PCS: 4 flamers
Infantry squad w/ Lascannon
Infantry squad w/ Lascannon
Infantry squad w/ Lascannon
Special Weapons w/ 3 flamers
Troops: Vets, 3 meltaguns, Chimera w/ Multi-laser/Heavy Flamer
Troops: Vets, 3 meltaguns, Chimera w/ Multi-laser/Heavy Flamer
Fast: Vendetta
Fast: Vendetta
Fast: 2 Banewolves w/ Hull
HF
Heavy: Hydra
Heavy: Hydra
Mission:
Divide table in half diagonally. One player will be attacker, one will be defender. Defender picks their quarter. Three objectives are placed, one on the center of the centerline, one in the very corner of the zone, and one in between the other two. Defender can deploy anywhere in their zone, attacker does not deploy at all, but takes the first turn, and rolls on anything they want then. Defender's units get hit&run.
Primary: hold the objectives
Secondary: Kill all troop choices, including transports
Tertiary: Score 500
VP more than opponent.
Yeah... I figure, if I'm the defender, and he has to come to me, I might be able to do this. If I have to attack, he's got too many guns and I've got a long way to go to get there, against an army that looks happiest sitting back shooting.
So, of course, I lose that roll, and get to be the attacker.
His deployment. The objectives are the downed ork pilot, the barrels of oil, and the spare tires.
After my first turn movement. My lootas take up firing positions behind a hill-crest, the wagons take the lead. I opted to keep the bikers back, rather than rushing them in, because I thought that they'd be too exposed far ahead of everyone else and there's too many AP2 weapons over there.
His first-turn shooting kills a wagon, and takes a gun off a kan. I think a loota died too.
Turn 2, I take a few shots with the nobs at the lascannon squad in the woods. I push the battlewagon 12", because in spite of his banewolves, I figure being a little further up will help when the wagon inevitably dies this turn. My lootas manage to shake one of the banewolves.
And then the pictures run out, as the game got far too interesting...
On his turn 2, he gets melta vets into range of my wagon. I make the cover saves, but have to re-roll them because of some order, and the battlewagon goes poof. Seconds later, the boyz inside go poof in a flood of poisoned acid and fire. One kan dies as well. My nobs, however, survive the rest of the fire.
Turn 3, My nobs separate from the boss. Boss goes and kills the lascannon team, but some hold. Nobs engage the banewolves and chimera. I can't remember exactly what got happened this turn, I know they got more swings on his turn though. My boyz unit kill most of the melta vets too, but one of them holds as well. They try to hit&run but fail. So, only the nobz are exposed to shooting.
On his turn 3, meltavet and lascannon team die off. Nobs, due to a combination of positioning, and saves, survive, but lost a couple guys, I think. They got their "still in combat" swings at the tanks that hadn't moved and finished them off.
Turn 4, Lootas start earning their pay, as they kill a hydra and immobilize a vendetta. The boyz take some more swipes at the vet's chimera, removing the heavy flamer and shaking it some more. My warboss cleans out the lascannon team in the corner, but is left open this turn. Meanwhile, the kans implacable advance continues. The Nobs finish off the tanks they're messing with, leaving a vet squad with meltas in range.
On his turn, he pastes my warboss, and drops my nobs to just the two
PK guys. He's losing guns though, but not fast enough. His commander's unit put shots on the kans, taking one's
CC arm off, and the other dies. His hydra takes potshots at my wounded loota squad, dropping them to two guys, but they hold.
Turn 5, My boyz get in range of the downed pilot objective, and continue harassing that poor chimera - they knock it's other gun off, but it can still move. The two remaining nobs block the rear hatch of the commander's tank, and shoot at it, following with a multi-charge into it, and the last lascannon team. The lascannon guys run, and the chimera is destroyed. Between some overheats earlier and the explosion, only the commander and one gunner are left here. The armless kan kills the last four melta-vets with his grotzooka.
His turn 5, his special weapon team get out of their immobilized vendetta and move for the downed pilot objective. His other vendetta has to try and get the platoon command unit it's carrying into position to grab an objective. The commander kills the kan, leaving just the two nobs, and other shooting drops them to one nob with one wound, but not running...
If the game ends here, he's got the downed pilot, the tires are contested, and no one has the fuel... but it doesn't.
Turn 6: my boyz charge the special weapon team, with the nob going for that darned chimera again. My nob charges the platoon command squad, killing all but the officer and one flamer guy. They pass their
LD test (YAY), but then hit&run, leaving me in the open. Lootas kill his officer. At the end of my turn, the nob holds the tires, and the boyz are fighting an immobilized chimera that is contesting the pilot.
His last two troops board his mobile vendetta, and move in position to hold it. The vendetta shoots the nob, who passes his save! Then the hydra shoots him, and that's too many saves, he dies. The boyz manage to immobilize that last chimera though.
If the game ends here, he has the tires, and the pilot is contested... but it doesn't.
Turn 7:
My boyz back off and re-charge the now weaponless, immobilized chimera, finally killing it. They settle in for some cover from the fire they know is coming.
The unit of 5 lootas shoots at the vendetta... 1 shot each - nothing happens there. The unit of 2 lootas then try for it... they get four shots, one hit... '6' to pen. '6' to explode it! The flamer guy perishes in the explosion, leaving the officer to take a pinning test (failed) and, with 50% of his squad dead, a leadership check... FAILED! The officer runs screaming off the table. Now all I need to do is pass some cover saves with my boyz.
The downed vendetta (with
HBs) and hydra light them up, they take enough casualties to force the test... but they hold!
End of seven, I've rescued the downed pilot, and everything else is gone.
The game ends with one hydra and an immobile vendetta on his side of the table, a unit of grots (that needed another turn to get to an objective), seven lootas, and five boyz huddled in the wreck of a chimera on my side.
But, with that last explosion, I ended up with both the primary (the objectives), and the secondary (all troops dead), while we tied on the tertiary (with almost nothing left alive) for a 42 point victory. Certainly one of the tightest games I've played in a long time - and as you can see, one where the victory wasn't secured until the end of seven turns.
I guess this is why you should play games out... I was about ready to pack it in after turn 2, but fought through some rough initial turns to make it into a really memorable game.
Conclusion
I end up taking Overall for the tournament, with a 14 battle point lead. I wasn't entirely sure how the army would perform, having never played the nob bikers before, and seeing just how much damage even five can take (and dish), I have a better appreciation for them (and their cost). The kans didn't do a lot except draw fire, until that one turn where the one armless little kan killed a troop squad off. But, for their cost, even just drawing that fire is useful. I like the models, and they might stay in the list. The grots did little this game. With no missions where I could place an objective, they were hard pressed to get where they needed to be without drawing fire. But I like the list overall.
I'm running the event in June, so no report from me next month.
.....Bay Area Open GT 2013 - Best Tyranids 
.....LVO GT 2014 Team Tournament - Best Generals
2000 pts