So I went to Da Boyz
GT last weekend and had a great time. Even though I didn't do very well, I figured I'd post up my experience so that people can get the flavor of the event. I didn't have a camera with me, and I didn't take any notes, so these will be summaries rather than proper bat reps. Also, I don't have lists for everyone, so some of those will be from memory.
MY LIST
The new
DE codex came out the week before the
GT, so I was stuck with the old one.
Archon - Reaver jetbike, tormentor helm, punisher, shadow field, combat drugs, plasma grenades
Dracon - Agonizer, combat drugs, plasma grenades
5 Incubi - Plasma grenades
Raider - Slave Snares
7 Wyches - Succubus w/ agonizer, 2 blasters, wych weapons, plasma grenades
Raider - Horrorfex
10 Mandrakes
Beastmaster + 5 Warp Beasts
9 Warriors - Sybarite w/ agonizer and crucible of malediction, splinter cannon, shredder
Raider - Trophy Racks
8 Warriors - Sybarite w/ Poisoned Blades, splinter cannon, blaster
Raider - Torture
Amp
14 Warriors - 2 Dark Lances, Blaster
14 Warriors - 2 Dark Lances, sybarite w/ poisoned blades
3 Reaver Jetbikes - 2 blasters
Ravager - 3 Disintegrators
Ravager - 3 Disintegrators
So as you can see, I went full in for the comp route. Da Boyz are all about comp, so I figured this was in the spirit of the event. Plus, a big comp score essentially gave me a free game over the guys that brought harder lists.
GAME 1
Eldar - Allan aka Blackmoor
Avatar
Farseer
Warp Spyders
Harlequin Troupe
2 Guardian Squads
Dire Avenger Squad
2x 3 jetbikes - warlock and flamer
3 War Walkers - Scatter Lasers
Wraithlord
Wraithlord
Mission - Spearhead (
http://daboyzateam.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=downloadattachmentpage&board=missions&thread=2601&post=23667)
With my greater mobility, I figured I'd have this one locked down (hint: I was wrong). Allan deployed everything up on the line, with Avatar and Wraithlords in front, leaving the Spyders and War Walkers in reserve. I deployed everything aggressively forward, with Warrior Raiders blocking my assault units against first turn shooting. I put Warp Beasts, Mandrakes, and jetbikes on one of the flanks to run for the primary.
Here's a picture someone happened to take of our deployment:
On his first turn, he moved everything back and boosted the jetbikes out to the flanks. Shooting just shakes a couple units. I responded by boosting up all my assault units, and firing away with Ravagers. Due to the cover his army was giving itself, I only managed to drop some Dire Avengers.
Second turn, he whips out flame templates on my bikes and they fall back. My Archon conveniently fails his shadow field save, knocking him down to a lousy 5+ save for the rest of the game. The rest of his army's shooting does various damage to my Raiders. My second turn I jump the Dracon and pals next to his Guardians, hoping to get an assault off on two squads. He wrapped everything well, so I can only hit one Guardian squad and decimate them. Well, my Incubi are toast next turn. I attempt to assault his jetbikes with my warp beasts, but they whiff their difficult terrain test and sit there waiting to be barbecued.
For a couple turns, it turned into a melee, with my wyches knocking down his jetbikes, harlequins downing a Raider and eating the contents, a Warrior squad taking down an Avatar in
CC(!), and his stuff just shooting the hell out of my Raiders.
In the end, the game came down to run rolls on a few units. He had a single Dire Avenger left alive 21" from his board edge. My two foot warrior squads moved up the board turn 5 and ran, leaving me 21" from my board edge. The warriors that ate the Avatar consolidated out of combat, then moved and ran turn 5. Unfortunately, they pulled up 2" short of being 18" from his table edge.
So the game ended up 23-16 in Allan's favor. We tied on Primary and Tertiary, and he took the Secondary (
VP) by a landslide. If a couple of my run rolls had gone better, I could've taken both Primary and Tertiary. Although if it had gone to turn 6, he probably would've tabled me. All in all, a good start to the
GT. And since I lost, I got some free magnets.
Lessons learned:
- Foot eldar can put out an insane amount of firepower.
- Just because everyone locally runs jetbikes without flamers doesn't mean that no one does it. His one jetbike squad torched my Archon, jetbikes, and warp beasts without breaking a sweat.
GAME 2
Deathwing - Kevin
Belial
5 Terminators - Assault Cannon
5 Terminators - Assault Cannon
5 Terminators - Cyclone
5 Terminators - 4
TH/
SS
5 Terminators - 4 TLC
Dread - Multi-melta
Ven Dread - Assault Cannon
Land Raider
Mission - Lost Artifact (Each player places one objective and deep strikes another. Units in base contact can search an objective. On a roll of 6, that's the true objective and the rest are removed, secondary is
KP, tertiary is terrain pieces, diagonal deployment zones)
I placed my objective between the two foot warrior squads, with Ravagers behind them, and everything else spread out to prevent deep striking into my deployment zone. Kevin deploys the 2 dreads, the
TH/
SS squad on foot, and the TLC squad in the Land Raider, with everything else deep striking.
On my turn 1, I kill 4 of 5
TH/
SS termies and shake his vehicles. I also locate the objective in my deployment zone,so he's going to have to come to me. His turn 1, he's really ballsy with his Deathwing Assault and lands the two Ass Cannon squads right on my lines. They unload on one of my warrior squads, but the three important ones (2 lances + blaster), manage to live and not flee.
From this point forward, it basically went poorly for him. I dropped piles of Disintegrators on his clumped on Termies and then assaulted the remnants. There was a tense moment when hist last TLC termie soaked up my entire army's firepower before finally falling. Otherwise, he could have contested my objective. At turn 5, all he had left was a Dread which assaulted my Archon to avoid getting shot. They just whiffed at each other until the game ended.
The score ended up 32-15 in my favor. I took the primary and tertiary, with him taking secondary (
DE losing at
KP? say it ain't so!). I now realize that I could've taken the +1S drug with my Archon and potentially glanced his Dread to death in
CC. That would've given me full points. Oh well. It was a fun game, and Kevin was a really nice guy. I liked how gutsy he was with his deep strikes. He landed one squad two inches from the board edge, and another on the roof of a building two inches from another squad.
Lessons Learned:
- Terminators + Dark Lances + Disintegrators = Bad News
- Remember to take your drugs, kids.
At this point, I was sitting on 58 battle points and a big comp score, so things were looking good. Until I saw my next round match-up.
GAME 3
Imperial Guard - Rick James
Uh oh, this is going to be brutal.
CCS in chimera
8 man psyker battle squad in chimera
10 Penal legionnaires
4x vets in chimera
vets in valkyrie
2x vendetta
Hydra
Leman Russ Demolisher
Mission - Mission Impossible (each player places one objective in their deployment zone. If an enemy unit touches the objective, it is captured and removed. Starting at the end of turn 4, the objectives can explode, each player can nominate one troop squad to outflank/deep strike)
We were playing on a trench table (this guy here:
) so I figured I might have a chance. I put my objective behind a building ind my deployment zone, and wrapped it with the two foot warrior squads. Warp beasts and Dracon and pals went on one flank, jetbikes and wyches on the other, everything else set up in support roles, and one of my Raider squads outflanking.
Rick put his objective in a trench, surrounded by his Penal Legionnares. The rest of his vehicles set up the Guard parking lot, and he outflanked the three fliers and a chimera.
On my turn 1, everything went hell bent for leather forward to at least get closer to him before getting shot down. Shooting shook his Demolisher and killed a Penal Legionnaire or two. In return, Rick toasted my Dracon's ride, killed a few, then made them flee with the
PBS. They spent the rest of the game running.
Turn 2, my outflankers show up right where I want them, dismount, and prepare to hop on his Penal Legionnaires around the objective. Everything else continues flying towards his lines. In shooting, I manage to pop a Chimera and wreck the Demolisher. And now onto the main event, Warriors going for the objective. So I've got a splinter cannon and shredder firing, then a 9-man squad with an agonizer charging 6 or 7 Penal Legionnaires (who have gunslingers, by the way). Should have been a done deal, I thought. Instead, I only kill 1 and then get run out of
CC. Balls.
On his turn, he repeats the shoot-
HQ-unit-then-apply-
PBS maneuver to get my Archon running, then proceeds to shoot the ever-loving hell out of any units I have near his deployment zone.
The middle part of the game consisted of my wyches destroying his
PBS, then getting roasted, and my Mandrakes fighting a squad of guardsmen for 3 rounds before finally getting killed. If they would have performed better, they also could have touched the objective.
It got really interesting in my deployment zone towards the end of the game. He had 3 fliers and a chimera closing in on my objective, defended by the two warrior blobs, a Raider-load of Warrriors, and a Ravager. The Ravager got popped, and then he unloaded flamers on my foot warriors, causing both squads to flee off the table. In return, I tank shocked through them and unloaded my Warriors to wrap the objective. Next turn, he blew up the Raider and flamed the latest Warrior squad to death. Fortunately at this point the objectives decided to explode, giving me a draw on the primary.
At the end of the game, I had a weaponless, immobilized Wych Raider and he had a parking lot of damaged Chimeras and the fliers.
Score ended up 10-37 with us drawing on the primary, and him taking secondary and tertiary. Not bad for my first time playing mechanized Guard, I figured he'd table me way quicker. And if my outflanking Raider squad hadn't failed in such epic fashion, I might have even won.
Lessons learned:
- Kill hydras first. That thing was dropping Raiders like there was no tomorrow. Rick wisely had it covered by his Chimeras, so I couldn't really fire at it.
- The Psyker Battle Squad is nasty. Next time, these guys will be receiving a few pot shots first turn.
GAME 4
Nurgle Marines - Sam
Typhus
3 Terminators
Dreadnought w/ Plasma Cannon
3x 8 Plague Marines in Rhino - 2x plasma, powerfist
Land Raider
2 Oblits
Nurgle Daemon Prince
Mission - Primary and Secondary are equal points,
KP and
VP, Tertiary is a chosen secret mission (we both picked table quarters), diagonal deployment
Here's the table we played on:
I win the roll to go first, and put everything right on the line. I figure I can pop his rhinos, then chew on the juicy insides. He deploys one rhino and Daemon Prince on one flank, 2 rhinos on the other, Land Raider up the center, and oblits obscured behind a hill.
Sam steals the initiative and moves everything up. His Dread decides to fire its plasma cannon at his
LR. His shooting is largely ineffectual. On my turn, I fire everything at his rhinos and only manage to immobolize one.
On his turn, one of his Plague Marine squad unloads next to a Warrior squad and rapid fires the hell out of them. However, a few live due to cover. Other shooting pops a Ravager, and his Daemon Prince pulls up short of combat. In my turn, all of my assault units prepare to chomp on whatever falls out of Rhinos. Dark Lances open up, and...I knock off a few storm bolters. So some units go bang on the hatches, and Dracon and pals swallow some Oblits.
In his turn, his Land Raider immoblizes itself on a hill so he unloads Typhus and friends, and his rhinos bumble around. Shooting wipes out one of my foot warrior squads and downs a Raider. His daemon prince assaults my other foot warrior squad, and they kill him before he gets to swing! On my turn, I wipe out the Plague Marines near my foot warriors and gun down his Terminators. My Mandrakes make their customary futile assault and get wiped out.
The rest of the game consisted of me shooting Plague Marines, and them not dying. The lance weapons kept missing, while the splinter rifles would hit and then get saved away.
At game's end, he won in
KP and we tied in
VP. We also both got our tertiary, leaving the score as 12-35. It was a real battle of attrition, with me trying to whittle down Plague Marines and him killing enough units to keep
VP equal. My archon was again worthless, failing the first 2+ invulnerable save he was called to make, and getting vaporized.
Lessons learned:
- Plague Marines are really tough. No really, they're tough as nails. I shot two Warrior squads, 2 Raiders, and a Ravager at them for the last 2 or 3 turns of the game, and couldn't even kill the squad.
- Don't be careless with
CC heavy
HQ units. With both my Dracon and Archon, I got really discouraged by his rhinos not popping. So they just aimlessly wandered for a while (this would be a problem the next game too).
So with my chances for victory completely dashed, I headed into what should be a relaxed game 5.
GAME 5
Sisters of Battle - Wyatt aka PainTraina
Cannoness
Some other
HQ
Dominions in Immolator - 4 meltas
2x10 sisters - 2 flamers
3x10 guardsmen - sarge w/ power sword, autocannon, commisar, chimera
CCS squad - plasma and chimera
3 Flagellants
2x Exorcist
Mission - Heroes' Glory (Capture and Control with the first
HQ to die becoming the third objective)
We played on this table:
I deployed my objective in the large building and put the foot warrior squads and warp beasts near it. Assault units went on the line, and the two Warrior squads in Raiders stayed in Reserve to grab objectives late game. Wyatt deployed his three guardsmen squads in a blob on top of his objective in the ruins. Everything else stayed in reserve.
With nothing else to do, my assault units boosted forward and everything else shot at the blob in the ruins. I did something like 23 wounds with Ravagers, but he managed to save all but 3. Unfortunate. On his turn 1, he unloads at a Ravager and knocks a gun off.
Next turn, I get one of my Raider squads from reserve and boost it straight towards his objective. Archon heads that way too, and Dracon+pals and the wyches wait at mid-board for his reserves. I again put 20 or so wounds on his
IG blob, but he saves all but a few, not even enought to force a fall-back check. My archon decides he isn't going to win a fight against 20 odd guardsmen with 3 power swords and a Commissar, so he eldar jetbike hops away.
On Wyatt's turn, he gets 3 chimeras, both sister squads, his
HQ squad, his
CCS squad in a chimera, and both exorcists in. Not too shabby. The sister squads and
HQ pile into chimeras, and the Exorcists roll on near his
IG blob. Shooting destroys my Dracon's party barge, and knocks out the Raider that just came in from reserve. In my turn, I again pump into the blob (that sounds wrong) and nothing happens. Lances blow up the
CCS chimera, and the contents go running off the table (a few died in the explosion). My warp beasts start fumbling up the table (I should have left them to defend the base).
In his turn, he knocks another couple guns off of my Ravagers, and downs the Wych wagon, with a bunch dying in the explosion. His flagellants come out and jump at my Archon, who kills all but 1, who stays in combat. On my turn, I pump fire at his troop chimeras, but nothing flinches, and I manage to drop one of the Exorcists. My last Raider comes in from reserves and boosts toward his objective, which is slowly losing Guardsmen. In assault, my warp beasts go pound on the hatches of a chimera and my archon finishes off his flagellant.
He flames down my Archon, who becomes the third objective. He shot down everything near his objective, and drove his three chimeras towards my objective. I tried firing at the chimeras, but nothing worked. Running out of options, my Mandrakes dove at his blob, only to be cut down.
His turn, he unloads sisters in front of my objective and flames and bolters me into oblivion. A couple warriors live to fire next turn. My turn, I fire everything I’ve got left at the sisters near my objective. However, due to cover he keeps a few alive.
In his turn, he blocks shooting lanes with chimeras and finishes off my Warrior squad on my objective. In my turn, I shoot what I can at his sisters, but don’t kill them off. The game ends here.
Wyatt held his own and my objectives, and was 1” away from holding the third objective. I got crushed in victory points, so he got the secondary as well. Score goes down as 2-31. Ouch. Wyatt was a good player, and I played poorly, so he definitely deserved the win. I also found out afterwards that he was on the
ETC team, so I at least got a t-shirt out of the deal.
So I ended up with 72 battle points (75/90), a 32 in painting (40/90), and a 94 in comp (12/90), which was enough to put me at 58th overall, out of 90 players. I didn't really expect to do much better, and I had a great time. The terrain and armies were beautiful, and all of my opponents were enjoyable to play against. The level of play was much higher than the local tourneys, and I accordingly got stomped at some points. I'll definitely be going back next year, this time with the real Dark Eldar!
2000 pts
2000 pts
500 pts 
-7k 
- 10k