Welp its the 7th and Last Game of the Railhead Rumble. Ive Battled my way to the upper division, and Ive fought the rest of the way to be at the top of the upper division.

I get put on Table 1 (for the 3rd time this tournament), and get paired against Nick's Space Wolves. Nick has 250/250 Battle Points

Nick's Space Wolf List

Rune Priest, Jaws and Hurricane

WolfGuard X5 , 5x combi Melta, 5x Power Fist
Wolf Guard, Storm bolter
Wolf Guard Naked
Wolf guard - Terminator Armor, Power Wep, Cyclone
Wolf Guard - Terminator Armor, Combi Melta, Power Fist

Grey Hunters Pack X7 Meltagun , Mark, Rhino
Grey Hunters Pack X7. Meltagun, Mark, Rhino
Grey Hunters Pack X7. Meltagun, Mark, Rhino

Grey Hunters Pack X8, MeltaGun, Drop Pod

Grey Hunters Pack X10. 2x Plasma Gun.

Wolf Scouts Pack X5 , MeltaGun, MeltaBombs
Wolf Scouts Pack X5, MeltaGun, MeltaBombs

6x Longfangs, Pack Leader, 5x Missile Launchers
6x Longfangs, Pack Leader, 5x Missile Launchers

Objectives:
Primary - Capture and Control
Secondary - Reduce all units to half or below.
Tertiary - Destroy Most expensive unit.

My most expensive unit is Eldrad, his is the Foot squad of 14.

Eldar Win the Roll off, and I elect to go first.

My Objective Goes down behind my hill.
Nick Puts his objective on the same side as me on the other side of the hill.

Pre Game

Well this is it. All that stands in my way from winning the tournament are 65 models in power armor and 10 models in scout armor.

He has a standard but weird list. He has 3 squads of 7 in Rhinos going Kopach Style. He has a drop pod thrown in with a dude with a power fist. Ok thats cool I can deal with all that. He then has a foot squad of 11 with a cyclone. Ok I can deal with that as well. He also has 2 scout squads, and 2 more Longfang squads.

In order to beat his army I need to smack his Longfangs off the board. After that I need to wither down the hunter squads one at a time. My Dragons can stay back for buffer support, and if any rhinos need to be slagged they are good to go. After the Longfangs are dead and his army is foot slogging, I need to watch out for the scouts. They arnt a huge deal, but they can do damage. Worst case scenario they come in off the board edge and smack a wave serpent. What I cant let happen is a charge on my war walkers or melta shots. If scouts get into my walkers and tie them up before the rest of the army gets there, Im screwed.

His army is basically designed to Lay Down supressive fire, while the 21 Grey hunters get in your face. So you deal with the Fire Base, and Wait for the guys to get to you, and in the meantime 10 scouts and 8 more Grey hunters plop down in your face.

What I need to do Is blow the Longfangs off the board first, pick off the pod and scouts, and do my best do avoid the 21 Guys that are comming at me. If I can do that I win.

I also need to put alot of pressure on the runepriest. If I can keep him on his side of the board, eldrad should be ok with Psychic support.

Turn 4 I will drop stuff out of transports, and Ill start turbo boosting towards nick's edge. Hopefully I can contest his with skimmers and shoot him off mine.

Eldar Deployment

I castle in Right Corner.
I get a squad of DAVU out to stop is Scouts from comming in where they are not wanted. If they pick off a serpent thats fine, they just cant hit my walkers.
2 Walkers go on the hill, one goes on the left.






Space Wolves Deployment

Scouts Wolflank
Drop pod reserves
He puts a squad of longfangs on the hill middle, another in the ruins center.
He puts rhinos behind the hill, the runepriest in the corner.
The squad of 11 or so captures his objective behind the hill, and the cyclone is ready to shoot at me all game.




Nick Rolls to Steal the Initiative, And rolls a NOT 6.

Eldar 1

Im absolutly Gleeful that I get to shoot first, as it was really dependant on me winning this game. If the space wolves had gone first Im not sure I would be able to deal with everything.

Well his Drop pod will come in this turn with guys, and the scouts after that.

I need to kill longfangs asap, because I dont want to deal with missiles all game because Ill get shot off the board. I also need to slow the Rhinos Down. I dont need to worry about the foot unit of (11-14?) In his backfield on the hill, because its camping the objective (Although Ironically this is his most expensive unit). What I need to kill is Longfangs > Slow Down runepriest > Drop pod guys > Wolf Scouts > the other 50 guys in power armor.

I cast double guide on scatter laser walkers, and fortune the EML Walkers that are on the far right.
I move some tanks forward to keep the drop pod off me.
Everything else stays still to keep the Catacomb around me to keep the scouts off my walkers.

My Left Walkers move forward behind a serpent to make sure they are in range of longfangs.

I shoot Scatter Walkers into right Longfangs. I get about 15 wounds and nick fails 1 of them. He pulls the attached guy.
I shoot Scatter Walkers into Left longfangs in the center ruins. I get about 15 wounds and nick fails 3 of them, attacked guy, pack leader, and 1 missile bite it. 4 are left.
I shoot Krak missiles into the longfangs. Im able to kill 2 more bringing both squads down to 3 or 4.

I shoot my wave serpents into longfangs and probably kill more. At the end of the turn each squad has 4 models left (thats the important thing).






Wolves 1

His drop pod comes down right in front of my hill.

His left rhinos move forward, his right rhinos move out from behind the hill. Most of his Rhinos pop smoke.

His first Longfang pack shoot at the EML Walkers. Through bad rolling and fortune saves nothing happens.
His 2nd longfang pack shoots at the EML Walkers. Through bad rolling and fortune saves he shakes one.

His Guys with Meltas from the drop pod shoot at my wave serpent with fire dragons left of the hill and Blows it up. 2 dragons die in the explision.




Eldar 2

The games going ok. I need to whipe longfangs this turn, whipe or almost whipe the drop pod squad, and stop a few rhinos and I should be good.

Eldrad casts double guide fortune.

1 Fire Dragon serpent moves up and gets out to melta drop pod guys. Other Fire Dragons are in their crater. Other Fire Dragons are right side of hill.

Scatters shoot into the left ruins longfang squad and whipes it with ease.
Scatters shoot into right ruins longfang squad and whipes it with ease.
EML Walkers shoot into middle squad, and kill a few.
Most of my tanks, and 8 fire dragons shoot into drop pod squad and brings the squad down to 2 models. The guy with the powerfist and a scrub.
I shoot into the right back rhino with the runepriest, and im able to stun it.

14 Guys with power armor killed this turn, 20 guys with power armor killed so far.





Space Wolves 2

He rolls for his scouts, and both squads come in.

One Squad comes in my right board edge.
One Squad comes in my left board edge and are out of the game.

Right Rhino Moves up, runepriests doesnt move.
Left Rhino moves 6" and Meltas my fire dragon wave serpent, and does nothing.
Scouts move up, Melta a DAVU serpent on the right, and blows it up killing 2 DAVU in the explosion.

Scouts cant assault DAVU as I put them in the back of their footprint.

Drop pod guys assault both fire dragons. He whipes the squad of 3. I loose combat, Run away, He doesnt catch me. 5 Fire Dragons are now free to shoot

Eldar 3

Double Guide, Fortune.

Eldrad gets out and joins squad on board edge.
5 Davu on Back Board Edge move up.

Tanks start moving towards Nicks Table Edge.

EML Walkers shoot and blow up the runepriests rhino.
Shooting blows up the left rhino as well.
DAVU And 5 fire dragons and Tanks shoot into the scouts, and whipe them.
5 Fire Dragons move up and shoot the 2 guys in the open and whipe them.







Wolves 3

Wolves get out of lead rhino and shoot and assault my fire dragons and whipe them.
The rhino then moves on top of the hill.
Runepriest and his squad move forward and is finally within 24" of eldrad.
Left Wolf squad shoots meltas at my wave serpent again and charges it doing nothing.
I looose an EML WAlker from shooting from the cyclone on the hill.



Eldar 4

Davu Get out and serpent moves up.
All my tanks either turbo boost or move 12" towards nicks objective. (I have 4 of them left).
My Army shoots into the grey hunter squad in my backfield, and with doom, some guides, and a crapload of shooting the squad whipes.
Dragons shoot into his rhino on the hill and blows it up.






Right now I have a tank in his back left, 3 tanks moving foward.

Wolves 5

I have taken my C&C Objective.
Nick now desperatly tries to clear his.
His Runepriest Squad, Foot Squad, and Other GH Squad assault/melta/plasma my serpents. Through cover saves and bad rolling he isnt able to do anything to it that keeps it from moving.

Eldar 5

Skimmer on back table edge tank shocks 15" towards his objective contesting it.
Other Skimmer either moves 24" or tank shocks 24" to back-back with the other serpent.
2 Other wave Serpents move 12" to be in contest range turn 6.

My Guided War Walkers shoot into the Foot Squad, and im Able to lower them to 3'ish models.
Nick Rolls His Morale, And Fails his Leadership and runs 3"; From the Board edge.




Wolves 5

His Squad is within 6" and runs off the board. (This is his most expensive unit).

He tries to melta/assault my 2 wave serpents. He doesnt do anything to either of them.







Game Ends, CRAFTWORLD AVIOR GOES 6-1, Bringing my Summer Record to 10-2 playing as Eldar.

Primary: Eldar Win (60)
Secondary: Either Tie or Loss. I dont remember what they ruled if neither players got it.
Tertiary: Eldar Win (20)
+2 points for winning kill points
+3 points for going to game 5.

Eldar win , getting 90/125 Points.

I end the tournament with 295'ish/375 Battle Points, Going 6-1, Loosing to a questionable ruling in round 4.

Game 7 Summary

Going first was huge. I was able to whipe both longfang squads with relative ease. After that All I had to do was kill the drop pod squad turn 2, the scouts turn 3, and the right rhino squad turn 4, and the foot squad turn 5. Once again we see a player not using his army together. If all 70 of Nicks models had hit me at the same time, I wouldnt of been able to do anything, but because they came in staggered I was able to pick off units one at a time, using my entire army against parts of his.

Nick was a great guy to play. He played well, his deployment was fine. The reason he lost it was that he went 2nd, one wolf scout squad pooped out on him, and he wasnt able to overwhelm me with 2-3 squads. His dice were also pretty bad, he shot and assaulted a few wave serpents and didnt do anything. If he had mabe killed some of the wave serpents going for his objective we might of tied primary.

Railhead Rumble Tournament

We sit down for awards. I know that im probably in the running for best overall/Best general. Id honestly rather get best general as sportsmanship score and painting mean nothing to me. I like having a painted army (dont get me wrong its part of playing the game seriously, bare pastic looks dumb). I also treat people with respect, but as far as the actual scores the onlything I personally care about is battle score.



It comes down to best general, they start by saying "Well the person who wins Best General this year actually won best general of the lower bracket last year, I guess you can say he improved a little bit". I start laughing as I know ive won best general. I get a great looking plaque, a stormraven, 25$ to chapterhouse, and a medal for going un-defeated the 2nd day.




I give the stormraven to a guy that will actually use, and the 25$ to a salamander guy because chapterhouse as GREAT bits for salamander armies, but not that much for Eldar (as I already have a full council).

RailheadRumble was really fun. Great staff, Great players, great feel and a really nice venue downtown with plenty of food. Anyone who lives in Dallas or Texas or the southern part of the United States, And really encourage you to go to it!

I get in my car, go home, and crash.

IF youve read all 12 reports so far, I hope youve enjoyed it and learned alot. I hope that whatever list I do decide to bring to WarGamesCon will be interesting. Also if your going to Wargamescon, Please find my Eldar and say hello. My Goal isnt to win WGC, because I know if I bring Serpent or Walker Spam Ill do well because ive played so many games with it. Im probably going to bring a Close Combat centered army with Karandras (as hes a badass model and I want to use him in a GT before 5th goes away). I want my WarGamesCon games to show the aggressive close combat side of eldar, that does exist.

Tune in Monday for the first WGC Batrep!

Welp tommorow im going up to WGC to play in the 250 person 40k grand tournament.

Im going with my girlfriend which will be fun.

This is going to be the most challenging tournament, and probably the most competitive. I honestly dont have very high expectations, ive already done well in 2 tournaments so I dont have a super need to do well again as I already have.

WarGamesCon List

Farseer, Fortune, Warding, Jetbike
7x Warlocks, 7x Jetbikes, 2x Embolden, Enhance

Karandras

5x striking scorpions
Exarch, Power Fist
Wave Serpent, Cannon

5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent, Cannon

5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent, Cannon

3X Guardian Jetbikes, Cannon
3X Guardian Jetbikes, Cannon

5x DAVU
Wave Serpent, Scatter

Wraithlord, EML, Scatter
Wraithlord, EML, Scatter
Wraithlord, EML, Scatter


Now I know what your thinking. Smitty what the heck are you doing? WTF is that? Ive never seen an Eldar list like that its horrible.

The lists basic premise is I threw in as many good units as I can. With eldar lists I always have a problem of some units doing really well, while other units literally do nothing. Fire Dragons carry the list, while the wave serpents do some, and the troops do little, as well as the fire prisms.

I basically took out all the units that dont do anything, and added units that can do something.

Seer Council - 24 attacks on the charge, WS5 , wound on 2s, re roll leadership, 3+(+) armor save.
Karandras's Squad - 20 regular attacks at inititiave 5 with grenades, 11 ws5+ power fists on the charge. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
Dragons - 10 Meltas to my opponents 2 biggest threats.
Wraithlords - Toughness 8, 3+ save, str10 powerfists at inititiative and 2 flamers and 5 anti tank shots.


Cons:
1) If I hit a psychic hood ill be in trouble.
2) If I hit GK Stormravens Ill be in trouble.
3) If I hit dark eldar Ill have some problems with their poisoned weapons.
4) Only 3 troop choices.

Pros:
1) Maxed Eldar close combat army.
2) Amazing anti tank.
3) low kill points.
4) Easy to take table quarters
5) Assasination target is Karandras
6) Everything is really hard to kill.
7) Decent amount of ranged shooting.
8) Runes of Warding

Basically what I need to do is play the mission hard, and push the army to the limit. If Karandras can get into close combat, I can kill whatever it is (besides Paladins and large assault terminator squads, Ill have to kite those or kill with fire dragons). Seer council can absolutly eat vehicle walls, while Karandras and the seer council can absolutly eat any regular squad including purifiers. I have runes of warding to screw GK. Wraithlords t8 is overpowered. Alot of armies cant deal with this. You might think they are relatively easy to take down, now this is true, but look at what else I have in the army. A maxed seer council and a Phoenix Lord barreling at you. Why would you shoot at the wraithlords?? Especially later game I can camp objectives like none other, I can literally tie up squads 10 strong and they wont be able to touch me. I can sit on an objective, and theres nothing they can do except die.

In order to win games I need to use my seer council perfectly. I have to avoid hoods, avoid mindstrikes, and get fortune off asap. I need to get the charge off with my seer council and ill be golden. I also need Karandras to get into close combat. Hes a complete beast, and every game I play with him he earns his points back tearing through anything. 7 PF attacks at WS7 is absolutly crazy, not only that, but he has 6 minions to soak up damage before he takes a wound, not to mention the squad gets a 3+ cover save and has grenades so shooting at them is almost dumb.

The key here is a triple threat list. I can hit my opponent fast and hard. I can win close combats, and my army is incredibly resilient, with good fire power, and maneuverability.

Ive tested this list a few times for fun, and it does well. It hits armies hard and fast and its hard for them to react.


This is a much harder list to play than the lists ive played before, and I hope that ill be able to have some crazy close games with alot of really strong tactics. Ill actually have to place every unit perfectly in order to do well.

Off to wargamescon, will be interesting to see what happens.

Welp I get up Saturday at 7am, and Im incredibly Excited / Exhausted and Nervous. I need to navigate from my friends appartment, 10 miles through austin, to a hotel that ive never been to before, find parking, register, get my army set up. Then I need to play 4 games of Warhammer with an army that would be considered by many people as a bad list and a bad codex. Im very nervous.

I drive through Austin, Find the Hotel, go in the Huge Hotel, and find where WarGamesCon is. (Under the main room in a huge convention hall).
Nick Rose registers me, and I go set up my Army with all the other Dallas guys who are already there.

Im shocked at how many people are here, I think the tournament peaked at around 140-180 players in the 40k GT, meaning that its 2-3X larger than the Alamo GT. One thing to keep in mind that comming in 5th at Alamo, would be like comming in 15th here, and comming in 5th at Railhead would be like comming in at 25th here.

I walk around the tournament, and get some pictures of whats going on / armies that are on display.

One thing I do notice is that terrain is exellent. There is an exact 25% on the table, with varrying firing lanes, sizes, BLOS, non BLOS. I cant believe that BOLS got so much terrain, but they were able to fill out 70+ talbes with perfect terrain.

One thing that really shocks me is that everyone brought out the BIG BAG O' CHEESE. Its obviously a tournament, so competitive armies are welcome, but it was to a really absurd degree here. Every army was Min/Maxed, there honestly wasnt an army that I saw on display that I thought I could beat 90%. Usually at tournaments I can find armies that are bad and I know I can beat. At Alamo and Railhead there were alot of armies I looked at, saw werent maxed, and knew I could beat based on having bad units and or bad upgrades. Every army at WGC was maxed. There were ALOT Of space wolves, like ALOT. There were so many stupid GK lists. IG was out in force. Necrons were out as well with alot of fliers. There were a few Blood Angels, Orks, Tyranids. Dark Eldar had alot all sporting the same venom spam variants"Dashofpepper lives on". Tau was there. There were 2 SoB armies (Russel and JR fighting the good fight). There were also 5 Eldar armies. SmittyDar , ReeceDar (which I got the pleasure of meeting) , Some guy from out of state with a cool 30 Fire Dragons/Avatar/8 Tanks (a list I want to try out), Another Footdar, And a Biel-Tan Mechdar.



ShowCase of The Event









The skull in the middle was glowing it was freaking sweet










Compleatly converted Army



Crazy Tau Army








The Joker Dark Eldar Army with a Joker model as an Archon




Good Ole Footdar