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So in a few weeks my FLGS is doing an HQ arena of death, rules are:
-No Uniques,
-no Mounts (Jetbikes / thunderwolves / bikes, and no I don't know why there is this restriction),
- no summoning spells (Tervigons can't make gaunts, and boon of mutation / gift of chaos don't create spawn- but they do still instantly kill)
-and only a single model (so no ccs, etc).

Players respawn and after a set number of turns everybody tallies their number of kills, then subtracts their number of deaths, highest total wins.

10 dollar entrance fee, 1st place gets a 40 dollar box, second place gets a 20 dollar box.

I went a head and purchased a Hive Tyrant for the competition, namely because I think I can do a good showing with it, and its a gorgeous model and I'm having a lot of fun magnetizing it etc. In case you are curious, here is my Build.

(250) Hive Tyrant- 2x tl Devourers w/ Brainleech Worms, Old Adversary, Implant Attacks, Toxin Sacks
Its a pretty all around build that basically works as a gatlin gun, and be capable in close combat with preferred enemy and implant attacks when things close. I was debating between toxin sacks and adrenal glands and I ultimately went with Toxin Sacks because even though 4+ poison causes slightly fewer wounds than a 2+, they give me more chances of triggering Implant Attacks, and when every enemy model has multiple wounds, that could help a lot.
Obviously my biggest weaknesses are susceptibility to instant death, from say a blissgiver, or GK force weapon, and my lack of an invulnerable save, furthermore in a game like this I5 really isn't anything to write home about, so I'll probably be attacking second if I get charged.

I was talking with one of my friends the other day, and these are some opponents we expect to see / top competitors:

Daemon Prince- Mark of Tzeentch, Wings, Gift of Chaos, Bolt of Change
- If there are chaos space marines, my hunch is that this is what will represent them. t5, eternal warrior, 4++, and up to 2 casts of gift and his close combat attacks. Furthermore I don't think there will be much psychic defense to mess with him, since librarians and farseers are too squishy, and Special Characters are not allowed. An absolute terror against Archons and Wolf lords since Archons are especially susceptible to gift, and it bypasses Saga of the Bear.

Wolf Lord- 2+ armor, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer, Bear, necklace, Jump pack, 5+ nullification thing
Wolf Lords will surely be plentiful and this seems like the best they can do. limited psychic defense, eternal warrior for durability, and Jumppack for speed. No other space marine model can come close to his power and durability. If he could take his thunder wolf he would be even more scary.

Great Unclean One / Keeper of Secrets
Greater Daemons have pretty spectacular stats, especially the Keeper. It may only have a 4++, but I don't think there will be an abundance of psycannons and devourers, mostly just 1 shot s8+ ap1 stuff, and the GUO will get FnP against those things anyway. Eternal Warrior keeps em alive, and their statlines should do the rest.

Necron Overlord- Warscythe, Phase Shifter, Mind Shackle Scarabs, Tacyon Arrow, other upgrades to taste
- Generally it seems like Necrons will be a strong contender. Mind Shackle Scarabs provide amazing protection, and strength 7 power weapons are very powerful. The arrow can also snipe and try to go for an instant death. His high toughness will mean that very little can double him out even if it passes through his 3++, since thunderwolves are disallowed. Ressurection protocals may also save his skin and deny a kill.

GK Librarian or Brother Captain-
The librarian may only have 2 wounds, but he can buff himself up to initiative 10, and warp rift will totally screw over Necron lords and any Warbosses. with masterly level 3 and a warding stave he can be a terror in close combat as well. the Brother Captain can pack a Stave or a Halbred, and a psycannon for some good gunning, as well as a whole bucket of grenades which will really mess people up in close combat.
GK's biggest weakness is their vulnerability to things like Blasters, combi meltas, and tachyon arrows, since they have nearly a 50/50 chance of doubling him out.

Dark Eldar Archon- Husk Blade, Soul Trap, Blast Pistol, Shadow Field, whatever else
Husk Blade Archons are made for this kind of thing, 2++ gives them above average protection, and once they get on a roll they'll become incredibly scary. Archons biggest problem is getting that first kill. Necron Lords are protected by MSS and a 3++ and require the Archon to get a 6+ to wound, Wolf Lords and Demon Princes have Eternal Warrior. His best bet is against something like a Hive Tyrant, or Halbred GK, but at the same time a devourer or psycannon salvo can put a lot of stress on his shadow field! This is what my friend is running and I wish him luck!


Here are some units I don't think will do well.

Chaos Lord- MoS, Wings, Combi Melta, Daemon Weapon
- even those his i6, and causing instant death with a daemon weapon, I just don't see this type of build doing well at all. Saga of the Bear stops him cold, Mindshakle scarabs, a 3++ and wounding on a 5 means necron lords will have a good chance of beating him, Archons and GKs similarly will probably one hit him before he can one hit them. His defenses are also pretty terrible, so all in all I just see the poor chaos lord struggling.

Warboss-
Warbosses I think will have trouble, nothing wrong with the Boss, its a great model for its COST, but sadly it just can't be upgraded enough to really compete. 250 points is ALOT for Warboss, and all he really brings to the table is an s10 power klaw with a good number of attacks from his squig. I just see him losing to more kitted out characters the majority of the time.


So Dakka, what do you think of my analysis, the soundness of my decision to bring a tyrant. and what are some builds and threats that I should be on the look out for. Overall I am looking forward to this game, as I think it will be very interesting to see how everything stacks up!

You missed a bloodthirster from the list
High mobility, great strength, plenty of attacks, 3+/4++

List goes on, but thats what i would have been tempted to take.



Tyrant is nice, but keep in mind its all heavy hitters, so most will ignore saves.
If i had to run a tyrant, i would go with whip + sword, TL devs and adrenals plus the usual extra's.

You want to be hitting 1st as there are a fair few things that will hit harder than a tyrant.

That Wolf Lord is pretty much what would have taken.

Once in combat a staved Librarian will be pretty hard to kill, but of course if the Dark Eldar gets to shoot he'll probably be dead. I would have given the Archon a blaster rather than the pistol, the extra range can be a big plus.

There's a lot of rock/paper/scissors in this particular line up.

I fear your Hive Tyrant is on the low end of the power curve, along with the Warboss. I would agree with the whip. Get your hits in first. You probably won't get to strike second.

This isn't necessarily the line up that I think we'll see, simply just a list of models who I think would perform better than their comparative peers. a Best of the Best list if you will.

I ran some numbers of my Tyrant against a Wolf Lord, it was quite interesting. I assumed that I got one volley of devourer fire off, and the Wolf Lord got the charge. In nine test rolls, Tyrant won 3 times, Wolf Lord won 3 times, and they simultaneously killed each other 3 times. Which I found interesting. Of course it will be a huge brawl, and obviously if the wolf lord gets the drop on the Tyrant he'll shred him.

Overall I don't really expect there to be many more competitive choices aside from the ones I've mentioned, although a Naked Thirster might put up a great showing as well.

My tyrant obviously does better against models with a lower save like the Demons, or ones who I can put between my crosshairs for a few turns. I don't think lash whip bone sword is a good idea because I want to maximize my damage output from down range. I'm better off pumping another 6 long range shots into an archon to try to burst its shadow field than I am guarenteeing a first strike into a 2++. Know what I mean?

Well, I take it that psychic powers are part of the deal, right? So that means that your Hive Tyrant (which I think is a good bet) could potentially reduce anyone's WS and BS to a 1, and furthermore, it also DOES have psychic defence installed. (Yeah, I know that Paroxysm is a shooting attack! But if you know you're going to get assaulted by something nasty with a force weapon and more attacks than you care to see dice rolled for, that 5+ instead on their usual 4+ might just do the trick. Oh, and it works pretty well for anti-shooting (say; another Dakka Tyrant?))...

But i did ponder... Are there point limitations to the game?
EDIT 2: (And the answer to that question lies in the very thread name... Would you look at that! -.-)

EDIT:
I just looked up some units in my 'Nids 'dex, and i stumbled upon an old fella' - the Broodlord... I know he's nowhere in any super league, but... The times I've used him in real games, I've often managed to completely lock down enemy unique characters with Hypno-Gaze, rendering them unable to do anything else than soaking up hits. Furthermore, he can be equipped with both Implant attack, AG and TS... Not bad for a cheap(ish) model, I'd say.

But then again... He's nowhere in any league, compared to the other combatants

I would ask about jump packs and wings. Since they said no bikes (more toughness/movement speed).

The only contender at 168 points as I see it is this
Big Mek, SAG, Burna, ammo runt, cybork, eavy armor, bosspole (just in case), attack squig, 3 grot oilers (just in case).

This gives you 5, count em 5 mini's to field to give you the orky feel of numbers, but 4 of them are just for decoration! Then if you kill yourself with the SAG you get a point and lose a point, so friendly fire is not bad at all making the only bad result a double 5 where you get to charge in. If you are playing on a large field you may have the advantage after dieing the first time to be off in the corner somewhere and then just shoot a variable str (possibly even just removing enemies from play on 12) from max distance (hope for a 4x4 board.

On a more serious note your top contenders are going to have eternal warrior and high invulnerable saves, or other gimmicks that remove from play or ignore invulnerable saves.

I could see farseers doing well (mindwar and other shenanigans) but they will get crushed in melee.
I do see the Necron lords probably doing the best, especialy if they respawn as a new model so they get their labrynths back

I was thinking about running a similar tournament in my club.
My idea was to give each player 600p to spend on 3 HQs (no unique and so on). Then you play tag team, with two on the field at the time. When one dies, you take in the reserv and put the dead one into reserve. Deepstriking or something similar. This way makes cheaper character viable, like Warbosses and Brotherhood Champions.

What Im wondering about is the turn order. How do you play 6 guys at the same time? Every player take his turn like normal? In a 6 turn game that would be 36 possible assaultphases and 6 shooting phases, making dakka HQ rather pointless. My idea was to play 2v2 or 3v3. Then you get a more balanced fight with shooting and assault.

Also, I dont really see the point in the "no bike rule", this makes it much harder to get some mobility for some HQs (Orks).
Another thing I'd like to see it Hit and run for free to all HQs. I think they need it for a more dynamic game. Otherwise its too easy to get a dakka HQ locked into close combat. Dakka HQs are too squishy.

So you prefer the 6 extra shots instead of hitting 1st? 0_o

6 shots.
3 hits.
2 wounds (We will assume a T4 target for the low end of the scale)
A T4 model will have a 2+ or he wouldnt really be there.
That or higher toughness.

So, those 6 shots do, well, nothing.
In 3 turns of shooting them you average a wound on someone with a 2+

Archon, Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Shadowfield.

Jackal wrote:You missed a bloodthirster from the list
High mobility, great strength, plenty of attacks, 3+/4++

I'd go with a thirster myself too. Fits the price exactly, has an excellent blend of mobility, toughness and killing power (ID's GEQ's and also MEQ's on the charge)
And...its a bloodthirster. Its one of The Iconic Warhammer Monsters someones gotta field one at least

Funny thing is, in my daemons army i have: Skarbrand, kairos, 2 keeper of secrets, GUO and 2 lords of change, but no normal thirster 0_o

Alright! the Arena of Death has concluded! In case anybody is curious here were the standings. I gave the Hive Tyrant to my girlfriend, and I took a chaos lord with wings MoS, Daemon Weapon, combi melta.

1st) Daemon Prince- MoT, Wings, Gift, Bolt [by a landslide]

2nd) Necron Lord- MSS, Tachyon Arrow, 2+, 3++, some other stuff [beat out my tyrant by 2 points]

3rd) Hive Tyrant- 2 tl Devourers w/ Brainleech, Old Adversary, Implant Attacks, Toxin Sacks.

After that it was a hodge-podge of GK Brother Captains, Wolf Lords, and a Winged Hive Tyrant.

Sadly there were no greater daemons, as nobody brought a 'thirster, and the local Daemon player didn't bring his Forgeworld Great Unclean one.

The Wolf Lords had trouble, they were either non effectually battling with necron lords, or getting turned into spawn by the Daemon Prince, overall they put up a much worse showing than everybody expected.

My friends archon finished at -2, but he was having shadow field troubles.

oh, and my Slaaneshi lord and I came in last place by a ton! But it was worth it to watch my GF wreck face with my Tyrant who I have aptly named Mr. Snuggles.

Nice outfall, akaean. I had great confidence in Mr. snuggles from his statline alone!

So... What gave the 1st and 2nd place their position over the others?


EDIT:
I just felt a strong urge to ask... Mr. Snuggles!?

I really thought that the Necron Overlord would have won, just because of the 2+/3++/4+++, the MSS and the Str 7 Warscythe.

The necron lord was durable yes, but it wasn't killy enough to win. No ranged attacks except for a single arrow shot and only a six inch walk means people needed to come to him. Further he only actually edged out the tyrant because he passed something like 7 of 9 reanimation protocol rolls.

The price did so well because of speed, four wounds, eternal warrior, and good spells. And his enemies inability to pass toughness tests! If his turn started in cc, it was not uncommon for him to get multi kills.

Mr. Snuggles did well because he could reach out and touch people from 18 inches, and with rerolls for almost anything was able to hold his own up close. My gf was also pretty lucky though, like a staved gk failing 2 of his 3 saves and going down in close combat, and passing multiple mss tests to finish off a necron lord. Being able to snipe off wounded enemies was also a huge asset to the tyrant's kill count.

Necron lords would have done better in straight up to the death combat, but they were hindered by kills minus deaths scoring.

Overall all three top finishers were lucky in their own ways, but I feel they deserved to do.well based on their builds. And I totally called a tzeentch prince being a top contender!

EDIT:

Billinator wrote: I just felt a strong urge to ask... Mr. Snuggles!?

I mean, his just a big 'ol ball of muscle, spikey bitz, armored plates, virulent toxin, and a healthy amount of brain leech worms! what could possibly be cuter?

Besides, that Black Legionnaire disagreed, and look how he turned out!