So before I start this long post regarding my games I want a bit of a forward. Mike ran a great event which I was very happy to attend and look forward to attending again next year. Also I’m not going to list names since I met many people and I’m sure I’d miss people (or take too long and attempt to think of them all).
Be warned this will be long all 7 games of the Nova Open (game 7 was very short though so for the quick battle report skip to game 7).
Format - Well if you don’t know already feel free to visit the website for all the details or check the threads MVBrandt has plastered all over Dakka.
http://novaopen.com/
My list
HQ - Njal Stormcaller
EL - Wolf Guard Pack (4) - 2 Bolters, 2 Combi-Flamer/Power Weapon
EL - Wolf Scouts Pack (5) - Power Weapon, Melta Gun, Meltabombs
EL - Wolf Scouts Pack (5) - Power Weapon, Melta Gun, Meltabombs
TR - Grey Hunter Pack (7) - Flamer in Rhino
TR - Grey Hunter Pack (5) - Flamer in Razorback (Twin Linked Heavy Bolter)
TR - Grey Hunter Pack (5) - Flamer in Razorback (Twin Linked Heavy Bolter)
FA - Landspeeder Squadron (3) - Multimelta/Heavy Flamers
FA - Thunderwolf Cavalry (5) - Thunderhammer
FA - Thunderwolf Cavalry (5) - Powerfist
HS - Predator - Twinlinked Lascannon & Heavybolter Sponsons
HS - Predator - Twinlinked Lascannon & Heavybolter Sponsons
I did not take a picture of my army for the event, but here is an older picture of a similar list
Game 1
Mission - Primary is Victory Points, secondary table quarters and tertiary is objectives.
Deployment - Dawn of War (Night Fighting 1st turn)
Opponent - Steven (jariksolo) playing Chaos Space Marines
His List
HQ - Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Slaanesh, Lash of Slaanesh
HQ - Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Slaanesh, Lash of Slaanesh
TR - Khorne Berzerkers (9) - Champion with Powerfist in Rhino with Combi-Melta
TR - Khorne Berzerkers (8) - Champion with Power Weapon & Icon in Rhino with Combi-Melta
TR - Plague Marines (6) - 2x Meltaguns, Personal Icon in Rhino with Combi-Melta
TR - Plague Marines (6) - 2x Meltaguns, Personal Icon in Rhino with Combi-Melta
TR - Plague Marines (6) - 2x Meltaguns, Personal Icon in Rhino with Combi-Melta
HS - Obliterators (3)
HS - Obliterators (2)
HS - Obliterators (2)
Game Start, I believe I lose the roll to go first and he passes it to me (I may be wrong, but don’t remember exactly) and then he seizes the initiative.
Here is a picture of deployment, I only put Njal and a Grey Hunter Squad in the Rhino forward both Scout squads in in Outflank (Move behind Enemy Lines and everything else coming on turn 1. He chooses to bring everything on first turn other than the two man Obliterator units.
Turn 1 - Nothing really to see here, we both move onto the board, see picture below.
Turn 2 - Steven deep strikes the two 2 man Obliterators units to the far left flank and I think does a wound on the
TWC unit on the left, otherwise shooting is ineffective. My one scout squad arrives on the far right flank and shoot the Khorne Rhino and blow it up then they charge in after lots of shooting on said unit. Njal takes a perils of the warp for something, and the
TWC charge the closest Obliterators and do a whole lot of nothing... not a very effective round for me.
Picture I believe is from the end of Round 2 (Red arrow to show the bloody assault with Scouts/Berzerkers (I think we both have 2 guys left).
Turn 3 - This turns out to be a pretty bloody turn. He blows up a Razorback, Predator, 2 Land Speeders and Immobilizes the Rhino. He lashes out my squad of
TWC on the right and charges them and is able to finish off the remainder of my scouts on the far right flank. My
TWC in assault kill of the 2 man Obliterators finally... and the other scout squad arrives from reserves and they engage the Obliterators on his board edge. I think I shoot to death one Daemon prince and bring the other down very low on wounds but he kills off all but one
TWC who flees. I believe I also somehow manage to blow up/wreck 2 of the Plague Marine Rhinos.
Turn 4 - All my units on the left flank either break from losing combat/shooting but eventually recover. The right becomes a big smoking pit of dead transports. Njal & squad engage the plague Marines and kill a few eventually wiping the squad. The
TWC on the right is reduced to one remaining model then flees off the board. The Daemon prince had 1 wound left and I think is shoot to death and the remainders of the Berzerkers are shot and killed. My
TWC on the left recover and go and kill the Obliterators in assault.
Here is a shot at the end of turn 4.
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http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2010/8/18/130497_md-Nova%20Open%202010%2C%20Game%201%20-%20End%20of%20Turn%204.jpg[/img]
Turn 5 - He moves his Plague Marines on the center hill/objective and I kill off the remaining Plague Marines in Assault with Njal/Grey Hunters. He unloads the Khorne Berzerkers on the far right flank but they don't’ really move forward. He blows up my last Razorback. I shoot up/engage the Plague Marine squad which moved forward from the right flank and my
TWC on the left kill the remaining Obliterator. Game ends at 5 due to time being called.
End of game shot.
Results we tie primary since our
VP totals are within 250 points, I claim 3 out of 4 table quarters for the win and he had 2 objectives to my 1 (gladly it didn’t go to tertiary.
Overview - Pretty close game throughout and I had some pretty heavy losses at the start with not much to show in return but eventually took my portion of the board and held off the Chaos forces. If the game had continued I think I would have been in trouble unless my
TWC could have reached the center Plague Marine unit.
Game 2
Mission - Primary is objectives, secondary is Victory Points and Tertiary is table quarters.
Deployment - Pitched Battle
Opponent is Daniel and his Blood Angels.
HQ - Dante
HQ - Honor Guard (5) - (lots of wargear, and in size 8 font!)
HQ - Librarian (Unleash Rage & Shield of Sanguinius
EL - Furioso Librarian Dreadnought - (Wings of Sanguinius & Fear of the Darkness)
EL - Brother Corbulo
EL - Sanguinary Priest
TR - Assault Squad (10) - 2x Melta gun & Thunderhammer
TR - Assault Squad (5) - Remove Jump Packs, Flamer & Powerfist in Razorback (Las/
Plas)
TR - Assault Squad (10) - Meltagun, Flamer & Powerfist
FA - Attack Bike Squadron (2) - Heavy Bolters
HS - Stormraven Gunship - Typhoon Missile Launcher
HS - Dreadnought - 2x Twin linked Auto Cannon.
Game Start - I think he won the roll and passed it to me. I put everything on the board spread to take the center and put the scouts in outflank. He puts the Riflemen Dread and attack bikes on the far left flank and a 10 man assault squad and 5 man assault squad with brother Corbulo in the razorback on the right flank, everything else he puts in reserve.
Here is a shot of deployment.
Turn 1 - I move forward and attempt to do some shooting but fail miserably and end up not touching anything of his. He disembarks Corbulo onto the hill on the right flank, shakes my Rhino and his assault bikes are able to destroy 1 of my Land Speeders and rips the weapon off another from shooting/assault (bad day for the skimmers). Shot below is the end of turn 1.
Turn 2 - I shake his dreadnought with lascannon fire.
TWC on the left flank assault and kill the Attack Bikes,
TWC on the right flank assault and kill Corbulo and 5 man Assault Squad. Dante + 10 man assault squad deep strike behind my Razorback on the far left flank (see yellow arrow) and stun/weapon destroy. His razorback shoots and kills the remaining two landspeeders. He counter assaults the
TWC on the right flank with the 10 man assault squad. He ends up with 3 marines left and I have 2
TWC left winning the combat and his Assault Marines fleeing away. Picture below is end of turn 2.
Turn 3 - The left
TWC assault the Riflemen dread and blow it up. I disembark the Grey Hunters and shoot at Dante’s unit causing a few casulties with large amounts of firepower and my Scouts arrive on the left board edge and shoot at Dante as well. I also lose Njal to perils of the warp due to Dante’s power reducing him to 1 wound (I really don’t like that power). He gets his Stormraven (carring Dreadnought & Honor Guard) and puts them on the left flank and causes the
TWC to run using Fear of the Darkness and shakes a predator with long range firepower. He charges Dante & crew into the Grey Hunters killing only 4 and I stay in combat (leaving the
TWC out of 6” but much closer to Dante). I also think the remainder of his Assault Marines on the left flank flee of the board. Shot below is end of turn 3.
Turn 4 - I attempt to shoot what I can at the Stormraven to stop it or do whatever to it but to no avail. I move onto the center and I think the far lower right objective. The right
TWC charge the Razorback and blow it up. The other squad and the scouts charge Dante and kill them off. I also move the Razorback forward on the far left to hopefully contest the objective in later turns. On his turn he charges my damaged Razorback with the Dreadnough and immobilizes it. Also his Stormraven moves to the right (see big yellow arrow). Time is called and this ends the game. Picture below is from end of game.
Results - We tie objectives (I wasn’t holding the bottom right it seems by 1/4 of an inch and should have disembarked the troops!). I am 261
VP’s ahead and take secondary for the win, and I think we tied on table quarters.
Overview - Had the game gone to turn 5 or beyond I think it would have went badly for Daniel, however him not moving the Stormraven to contest the center objective won me the game and I should have really disembarked the troops on the right to make sure I was on the objective. Hindsight here is I was very close to a loss due to carelessness but won because of a mistake on Daniels part (granted he could have crashed on the center objective due too Dangerous Terrain but I don’t like 1/6 chances of that happening).
Game 3
Mission - Primary is table quarters, secondary is objectives and tertiary is victory points
Deployment - Spearhead
Opponent is John (Stjohn of 3+ & YTTH blog fame) with his Blood Angels
HQ - Dante (again!)
HQ - Mephiston
EL - Sanguary Priest (3) - Jump Pack
TR - Sanguinary Guard (5) - Powerfist, Infernus Pistol
TR - Sanguinary Guard (5) - Powerfist, Infernus Pistol
TR - Sanguinary Guard (5) - Powerfist, Infernus Pistol
TR - Sanguinary Guard (5) - Powerfist, Infernus Pistol
TR - Sanguinary Guard (5) - Infernus Pistol
TR - Sanguinary Guard (5) - Infernus Pistol
Game Start - I believe John wins the roll to go first and passes it to me. He only puts Mephiston on the board at the closest mark behind the building. I set up everything in drop protection since everything of his is deepstriking. Both units of Scouts are put in Outflank.
Turn 1 - I move not much and pop smoke on everything! (this wasn’t smart since Deep Striking jump packs do not come on turn 1...) John moves Mephiston behind the big building. Picture is from the end of Turn 1.
Turn 2 - I spread out further and try to get as many shots oh Mephiston as possible (I think I cause 1 or two from shooting). One of my Scout squads arrive and come in the far left flank. My closer
TWC squad is in range of Mephiston and they assault. I end up killing Mephiston and taking 4 wounds (Njal cancels S10 & Instant Death Force Weapon). He gets 4 squads from reserve. One drops near the
TWC on the far right with Dante (see the white wings) and they do 2 wounds to the
TWC from shooting. One squad lands near a predator and rips off the Twin Linked Lascannon. His left flank squads drop and kill the arriving scouts from shooting and I think try to shoot at the
TWC on that half but do not cause any wounds. The shot below is from the end of Turn 2.
Turn 3 - So I guess I missed a Unit which arrived see giant red arrow in picture below. I move a lot to engage this unit in shooting. I attempt to shoot up Dante’s Unit and charge it with a Grey Hunter Squad & the
TWC. A scout squad arrives and engaged the lower left Sanguinary Guard and Predators/
TWC engage the top left unit. The picture below displays the carnage.
He gets his last unit from reserves and puts it to the right flank to go after my speeders (I think blowing or wrecking 1). The untouched unit in the center he moves to engage the
TWC on the left killing all but 1, the scouts finish off the last remaining Sanguinary Guard they’re engaged. Dante I believe wiffs really badly and takes the brunt of 3 S10 powerfist attacks and fails at least 1 invulnerable save killing him leaving only the Sgt with Thunderhammer alive to the right. Picture below is at the end of turn 3.
Turn 4 - Well I shoot to death the new squad on the top right, my
TWC + Lone Grey Hunter kill the Thunderhammer Sgt and the
TWC + Scouts kill all but 1 Sanguinary Guard who flees. On his turn he is far enough away to rally and moves him forward twords the
TWC then pulls him conceeding the game. Sorry last shot of the game is blurry.
Overview - First off I must acknowledge much of Johns rolling in Assault was horrible which lead to a swift victory and a big win on my part, however in his own words even without the rolling the game would have been closer but most likely the same result in subsequent turns. Also another thing to note we played next too each other in our first game and I said I never wanted to face his army due too all the power weapons... obviously when I saw my opponent game 3 my heart sank a bit... granted my fears didn’t pan out so that was a bonus. I end up with a lot of Victory points, 4 table quarters & 3 Objectives (since you can play remaining turns).
Game 4
Mission - The organizers roll the big dice for which of the 3 previous missions we play and we play game 2’s mission (Primary Objectives, Secondary Victory points & Tertiary Quarters.
Deployment - Pitched Battle
Opponent is Brad (Hulksmash) and his Chaos Daemons (Adeptus Mechanicus counts as).
HQ - Hearld of Tzeentch (Chariot of Tzeentch, Deaemonic Gaze & Bolt of Tzeentch)
HQ - Hearld of Tzeentch (Chariot of Tzeentch, Deaemonic Gaze & Bolt of Tzeentch)
HQ - Hearld of Tzeentch (Chariot of Tzeentch, Deaemonic Gaze & Bolt of Tzeentch)
HQ - Hearld of Tzeentch (Chariot of Tzeentch, Deaemonic Gaze & Bolt of Tzeentch)
EL - Fiends of Slaanesh (6)
EL - Fiends of Slaanesh (6)
EL - Blood Crushers of Khorne (6)
TR - Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch
TR - Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch
TR - Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch
TR - Plaguebearers of Nurgle (6)
FA - Screamers of Tzeentch (3)
FA - Screamers of Tzeentch (3)
HS - Daemon Prince of Chaos - Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze
HS - Daemon Prince of Chaos - Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze
HS - Daemon Prince of Chaos - Mark of Slaanesh, Pavane of Slaanesh, Breath of Chaos & Soporific Musk
Game Start - I lose the roll to go first but end up seizing the initiative. I deploy everything to try and maximize my board coverage for deep strike mishaps (even the scouts).
Turn 1 - I move forward and take up defensive positions. Here is a shot after my movement turn 1 awaiting the Daemon Horde!
Brad splits his waves into shooting (basically all Tzeentch units other than Horrors) and Assault (everything else). He rolls for the Assault wave and get a 2, which brings his shooting onto the board. He mishaps one herald, the remainder are spread out and he blows up and hurts 1 speeder and Pavanes the
TWC on the left to group them up more for Breath of Chaos. Picture below is from end of turn 1.
Turn 2 - I basically engage or shoot everything I can. At the end of my turn he only has the one Daemon Prince (See arrow) and plaguebearers left alive. Picture below displays the carnage.
He gets Two horror units, a Seeker unit, Fiends & i think the Blood Crushers. He charges the Plaguebearers and the Daemon Prince into the
TWC, I’m not sure the outcome but I know he takes some wounds and I do as well.
Turn 3 - I move and engage the Horrors unit with the Speeders and shoot to dead screamers and put as much firepower into the Blood Crushers (I think causing a few wounds). My
TWC unit kills the final Daemon Prince in Assault and a few Plaguebearers but leaves at least 1 or 2 alive. Shot below is after my turn.
He moves his Blood Crushers forward (see in bottom left). Charges the Fiends into the
TWC and I think is able to wipe them out (of if he doesn’t its on my next turn he does... damn Initiative 5) and saves Plaguebearers. I think he may have received some more from reserve which he puts out of camera to the bottom right (Horror unit I think). Shot below is end of turn 3.
Turn 4 - I move away from the Crushers and pour everything I have into them, killing 2 more (I think they had 1 wound). My
TWC definitly got killed in my assault phase and you see the Seekers/Plaguebearers consolidate in the top left.
He moves everything forward! Gets seekers and Fiends and puts them on the far right. I think he also Immobilizes my remaining speeder with shooting.
Turn 5 - I move a lot of my forces this turn to spread out twords objectives and shoot up the remaining things. Biggest threat are the crushers who I unload a lot of firepower into and they all die (yay!). I also move single units thinking I can do a lot of damage to the Fiends... here is the problem I think they’re 1 wound each. They are not they’re 2 wounds... so while I do three or four wounds on each squad with my Grey Hunters this obviously isn’t enough considering they’re pretty beefy in assault. I get worried at this point and prepare for the worst.
He engages lots of my units with Fiends and it doesn’t end very well for me. I eventually lose the Razorback/Grey Hunters on the right and kills half the squad on the left. In the end its not horrible but still not good for me.
Turn 6 - I cannot shoot much of anything since its all still tied up in combat. I kill off the last of the Horrors on the far right (they were on the objective). I run Njal/Grey Hunters to the bottom left objective (it was very close and Mike the
TO actually called them within 3” of the objective). I move the Razorback to attempt and contest the top left objective. My
TWC on the left route the two horror squads which were hiding behind the ruins (thank you for rolling well on the charge). He also kills 1 or 2 more Grey Hunters on the left and uses Hit and Run... and moves to contest the objective with the remaining Fiend. Below is the top of turn 6.
He moves his fiends on the right to kill predators and explodes one and shakes the other. Time is called and we figure out who wins (were both 3 - 0 at this point). We tie primary (we both have no objectives), I win secondary and not exactly sure about table quarters but I think i have that as well 3 to 1.
Overview - Brad played a hell of a game and my mistake about 2 wounds or 1 on the Fiends could have cost me the game. Had we had time and the roll had us play turn 7 it would have been pretty bad for Brad but we didn’t and it came down to the wire.
End of Day 1 - So I end up going 4-0 day one and am seeded 4th overall going into day two. I only had one really big win and 3 closer games and had a lot of fun throughout the day.
Day 2
Game 5 - So going 4-0 on day one I was seeded 4th of five undefeated people and me and the 5th place person have to play off to see who progresses to the final 2 games.
Mission - Primary is Victory Points, Secondary is Quarters and Tertiary is Objectives.
Deployment - Dawn of War (Night Fighting Turn 1)
Opponent is Justin (Dashofpepper, I seem to keep getting the Internet personalities) and his Pink Waaaaugh! ... its a good thing he’s comfortable with his masculinity (jk =P ).
HQ - Ghazghkull Thraka
HQ - Big Mek - Kustom Force Field & Powerklaw
EL - 15 Burnas
EL - 5 Lootas
EL - 5 Lootas
TR - Nobz (7) - Painboy, and lots of wargear (they’re all different) in Battlewagon - Defrolla, Boarding Plank, Big Shoota, Grabbin’ Klaw, Grot Riggers
TR - Ork Boyz (12) - Nob with Powerklaw in Trukk - Boarding Plank & Reinforced Ram
TR - Gretchin (10)
FA - Deffkopta - Twin Linked Rokkit Launcher & Buzzsaw
FA - Deffkopta - Twin Linked Rokkit Launcher & Buzzsaw
FA - Warbuggies (3) - Twin Linked Rokkits x3
HS - Battlewagon - Deffrolla, Boarding Plank, Big Shoota, Grabbin’ Klaw, Armor Plates, Grot Riggers
HS - Battlewagon - Deffrolla, Boarding Plank, Big Shoota, Grabbin’ Klaw, Armor Plates, Grot Riggers
Game Start - Justin wins the roll to go first and takes it. I only deploy Njal in the Rhino with the Grey Hunters. He has everything come on the board first turn, everything other than the scouts (in outflank) come on the board first turn for me as well. Here is the shot of deployment.
Turn 1 - I don’t believe his shooting accomplishes anything but I may be wrong. I move onto the board and I think I destroy one of the weapons on a buggy. Below is the fighting after turn 1.
Turn 2 - Justin moves forward. One of his buggies wrecks itself going over terrain, his lootas rip a meltagun off one of the speeders and he immobilizes my razorback on the far left. He has also forgot to deploy his gretchin and we just put them in reserves and he rolls them on screening his lootas in the top left. Both my scouts arrive from reserves, one comes in the left flank the other I can choose. On the left flank my only target is the Gretchin so I move into position to assault them. The other squad I move behind the battle wagons in the hopes of a logn range meltagun shot to disable or blow up the
KFF. The rest of my forces I try to circle up ready for the inevitable assault incoming and hope to create a big counter charge (more on this later).
Sadly my melta gun misses, my scouts crush the gretchin (duh) and my disembarked Grey Hunters cause a wound on the Deffkopta on the lower left. Thus not enough to warrant excitement. Shot below is end of turn 2.
Turn 3 - I guess I’ll refer to this turn as “the house of cards falls”. My guestimate of range of where my right flank to withstand the charge was way way off. In this turn due to assaults I lose both
TWC (Ghazghkull & Nobz respectively), a Grey Hunter Squad (Burnas) and both Scout Units (Truck boyz and/or Lootas shooting). The instant he moved his Battlewagons I knew the jig was up. I end up killing the 20 man Boyz squad, putting a wound on Ghazghkull, a few wounds on the nobs, half the burnas and wrecking a warbuggy. It sounds good in theory but the majority of my army has been gutted due to my misjudgment of distance. Our game was pretty slow due to early morning/lack of sleep on both our parts and it ends due to time at the end of this turn. Below is the overview of the carnage brought upon my Sons of Russ by the Ork Horde!
Overview - I could make lots of excuses as to why I got crushed here but it comes down to a misjudgment of distance. Had my initial plan worked of getting the Orks to engage some but not all of my major forces my counter assault could have been devastating. It goes to show you if you think your close always give yourself a bit more room than needed. While a loss first thing in the morning is slightly bittersweet I looked forward to the final games of the tournament and can’t knock the fact I was one of 5 out of 88 people who went 4-0 the first day (I have a big trophy to show for it as well!).
Game 6
Mission - Primary is Quarters, Secondary is objectives and tertiary is victory points.
Deployment - Spearhead
Opponent is Nick (yermom) and his Chaos Daemons
HQ - Fateweaver
HQ - Bloodthirster - Unholy Might
EL - Blood Crushers of Khorne (6) - Icon, Musician & Champion
EL - Blood Crushers of Khorne (6) - Icon, Musician & Champion
EL - Fiends of Slaanesh (6)
TR - Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch
TR - Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch
TR - Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch
TR - Horrors of Tzeentch (5) - Bolt of Tzeentch & Changeling
TR - Bloodletters of Khorne (8)
FA - Screamers of Tzeentch (3)
FA - Screamers of Tzeentch (3)
FA - Screamers of Tzeentch (3)
Game Start - I win the roll to go first and let him take first turn (shoot those dropping Daemons!)
Turn 1 - He gets his preferred wave which is Fateweaver, Bloodthirster, Blood Crushers, Horrors with Changeling and 2 Screamer Units. I’m not sure if he’s able to shoot anything or if its effective. I respond by dropping large amounts of firepower into his Blood Crushers (causing a few wounds), shooting 1 screamer unit to one left and assaulting the second unit with the
TWC and consolidate them onto the center terrain. My 2nd
TWC unit assaults fateweaver and I believe its this turn they cause a wound and he fails his stay on the board save and he flys off the battlefield (this may happen in top of turn 2 as well not 100% sure). Thus for the start of the game this is a pretty major victory removing such a big threat as Fateweaver. My Scout squad on the far right assaults the Horrrs with Changeling and kill him and most of the unit (except for 1). Shot is the end of Turn 1.
Turn 2 - My memory breaks down here a bit (and lack of pictures, sorry). I know he got a unit of Blood Letters and put them center board, he also got more Horrors and put them to the sides and I know his Fiends arrive on the far right. He charges the Blood Thirster into the
TWC (or into the combat already in progress not 100% but fateweaver flys away early game) and they slug it out for awhile eventually the Blood Thirster over a turn or so kills the unit off and suffers only 2 wounds in return. His remaining Blood Crushers try and take the center and charge into
TWC and other units, this turns out the be disastrous and he loses the whole unit with few casualties on my part. Most everything of his is already engaged on my turn so I take a few shots at the Horror/Bloodletter units which have arrived and assault the Bloodletters killing the unit. I consolidate the
TWC to intercept the eventual Fiends arriving.
Turn 3 - His second unit of Blood Crushers arrive and I think he is still in combat with my
TWC/Bloodthirster. I don’t think he has any shooting. His Fiends kill my scouts engaged with the Changeling Horrors (on my turn they finish them off I think). Since I have no shooting targets other than the Blood Crushers I pour all remaining firepower into them since they’re the most serious threat. I also must have something wrong since the picture I have the Fiends are already chewing through my forces in the center and they surround the lone Scout remaining in combat with them. Below I believe is a shot at the end of turn 3.
Turn 4/5 - Here is where things are a bit fuzzy. I’ll try to type what I remember. His Thirster blows up all my speeders, his Crushers chew through two of my Grey Hunter Packs (leaving only 2 survivors which become important later) and his Fiends finish off my center. Somewhere in the mists of this I know his Bloodthirster takes a wound from a Dangerous Terrain test so he’s down to one wound. Needless to say my forces are dwindling and his assault units are encroaching on my remaining squads things look grim.
Turn 6 - His Bloodthirster blows up the Predator on the far left, the combined forces of Fiends/Crushers blow up both a Razorback & Rhino. The tide of battle seems to be going the way of Chaos, however the Wolves still have a chance. My two Grey Hunters rallied and they shoot the Blood Thirster killing him! My surviving predator puts 6 wounds on his Bloodcrushers he fails 4 says and the unit is lost. Between shooting/powers/explosions his Fiends are reduced to 5 wounds, I kill of one of the two remaining Horror Squads on the top left objective. I run the Grey Hunter Squad right to take the bottom right table quarter. If the game ends now I would lose since we tie on primary but he has 2 objectives to my 1. We get Joe (one of the judges/organizers) to roll to see if we go on and he does and we go onto turn 7! Below is a shot at the top half of turn 6.
Turn 7 - Nick sits for a moment and thinks how he can win, he decides he needs to remove the the Razorback to keep quarters and unless I roll very well I won’t be able to make it to the far objective to bring it to victory points. He puts the Fiends and fires the Horrors but is only able to shake the Razorback. Between Njal’s final storm power and shooting I kill the fiends, secure the far objective and bring the Horror Squad to half and contest the top left of objective. Shot is from the end of the game.
Overview - I end up with 3 Table Quarters, and 2 Objectives. Victory points was 1404 (Nick’s) to 1906 (me). It was a slaughter that went back and forth all game and was one of the most exciting games I’ve played in a long time since at any turn I had no clue who was going to win. Nick played a hell of a game and it was fun to play since I know we both did the... “gak, what the hell do I do now” moments you have in your head. Also you can see by the very few units we had on the board at the end of the game it was a slaughter both of us having less than 1000 Victory Points between both of our armies combined.
Also nothing against anyone else I played but I would have to say game 6 was the best game of the tournament (and trust me that is a hard choice in this tournament), thus my hat is off to you Nick/yermom.
Game 7 - So here is my quick tale of what is supposed to be my last game. Due to the seedings I was supposed to play Justin/Dashofpepper again... at this point were both exausted and he suggests we just dice the game off since its for posterity sake. I agree and he allows his wife as a proxy dice roller. I roll first and get a 4! so 50/50 chance, however she rolls the hard 6 and I lose my final “game” of the
NOVA Open.
Final Overview - I was very glad I took the time and effort to make the trip down to Virginia and as many have said Mike ran a wonderful tournament in a different format which worked quite well (
imo). I’ll end with a big thank you to Mike and all the
NOVA Open staff for running a wonderful event and I’m sure it will be as good if not better next year.
bro plays 
1100points
2500points
