1850 Farsight Enclave with Allied Tau

Primary Combined Arms Detachment: Farsight Enclaves
HQ
164 Commander(?) +2xMissile Pod(?) +Velocity Tracker(?) +Target Lock(?) +2xMarkerDrone(?)

Troops
246 Crisis Team
82 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xMissile Pod(?) +Target Lock(?) +2xMarkerDrone(?)
82 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xMissile Pod(?) +Target Lock(?) +2xMarkerDrone(?)
82 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xMissile Pod(?) +Target Lock(?) +2xMarkerDrone(?)

177 Crisis Team
67 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xBurst Cannon(?) +2xGunDrone(?)
67 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xBurst Cannon(?) +2xGunDrone(?)
43 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xBurst Cannon(?)

106 Crisis Team
53 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xFusion Blaster(?)
53 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +2xFusion Blaster(?)

106 Crisis Team
53 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +Fusion Blaster(?) +Fusion Blaster(?)
53 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +Fusion Blaster(?) +Fusion Blaster(?)

43 Crisis Team
43 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +Twinlinked Missile Pod(?)

43 Crisis Team
43 Suit(?) +Bonding Knife(?) +Twinlinked Missile Pod(?)

Elite
265 Riptide(?) +Heavy Burst Cannon +Twinlinked Fusion Blaster +Velocity Tracker(?) +Stimulant Injector(?) +Earth Caste Pilot Array(?)
235 Riptide(?) +Heavy Burst Cannon +Twinlinked Fusion Blaster +Velocity Tracker(?) +Stimulant Injector(?)
190 Riptide(?) +Ion Accelerator(?) +Twinlinked Fusion Blaster +Early Warning Override(?)

Primary Detachment Total 1575

Allied Detachment: Tau Empire
HQ
220 Allied Commander(?) +Drone Controller(?) +Vectored Retro Thrusters(?) +Stimulant Injector(?) +Shield Generator(?) +Iridium Battlesuit(?) +Onager Guantlet(?) +Puretide Engram Neurochip(?) +Command and Control Node(?) +Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite(?) +Neuroweb System Jammer(?)

Troops
54 Allied Fire Warrior Team x6

Allied Tau Empire Detachment Total 274pts
Army Total: 1849/1850

Opponent: Kayley Whalen


Army: Tyranids/Tyranids


3xFlyrant, 2xCrone, Tervigon, 2x Zoanthrope, Lots of Gaunts, Gargoyles

Mission: 6 Objectives, Tyranids Progressive Scoring, Farsight Engame Scoring
Secondsaries: Tyranids(1st Blood?, Marked for Death(Straight On Single TLMP Suit, and Slay the Warlord?), Farsight(First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Marked for Death(Warlord))
Deployment: Dawn of War
1st Turn: Tyranids
Warlord Traits: Tyranids(-1 Reserves), Farsight(+1 Seize, Reroll Reserves)
Nightfight: No

Pregame Thoughts: Well, its Bugs with 5 FMCs. I am extremely glad I sprung for the Velocity Trackers, and very happy I have HBCTides instead of 2:1 Ion Accelerators. My plan is to deny first blood, pick it up and work on maxing secondaries.

1st Turn: Tyranids

Deployment: Dawn of War


Well my opponent did get first turn and chose progressive scoring. We had a miscommunication after first turn, and even though she had declared Blitz, I believed her when she meant Maginot. Cost me giving 1 VP up early, but wasn't a deal. She deployed kind of spread out to gobble up the objectives and rack up the points. Four FMCs and the Tervigon and Venomthrope to my Right, Warlord out of LoS to my far left.

I deployed to my Right, planning on sweeping to my left and keeping the mass of bugs on the right at a distance before scrambling and using my reserves to strike hard and drop behind for more Objectives.

Seize the Initiative: Yes! My Warlord Trait was worth its weight in gold here as I siezed on a 5.

Farsight Turn 1


I use my Twinlinked Ignores Cover Monster Hunting Targetlocked Deathstar to drop the Venomthrope with just my Commander, then split two off and killed one Crone, hurting the other, and lighting a Flyrant up like a Christmas Tree. Then I used my HBCs to drop the wounded Hive Crone, and then got lucky with my IA Riptide and my Earth Caste HBC dropping the marked Flyrant.

When the dust settles I've dropped the Venomthrope and 3FMCs scoring first blood with the Venomthrope and subsequently removing the Ruins 2+ Cover save.

Tyranids Turn 1


Tervigon spawns 14 Gribblies and the Bugs advanced trying to jump on as many objectives as possible for a 3pt Turn 2. Marked for Death Warlord hides, Bug do zero damage to my army. Tyranids psychics were pretty successful with FNP for just about everyone.

Farsight Turn 2


Well, I need to limit how many objectives my opponent can hold and how quickly they can tick up VPs. I bring on a good number of my reserves thanks to being able to reroll the failures including my Burst Squad, Firewarriors, and a Fusion unit. I use my rerolls to keep my marked for death Solo Suit off the table. I nuke the Tervigon and consequently some of the surrounding Gribblies. This removes my opponent's last synapse on the far right causing thier army to crumble. My Dual Burst unit does what it does best and throws a bucket full of dice at the Gribblies, and kill one unit off the Objective. HBC Riptide kills some Gargoyles, then my IA Riptide kills just enough to deny my opponent that objective.

Tyranids Turn 2


The game is moving a bit slowly mainly due to the number of gribblies that need to be moved around the table so I offer to help move backline models to speed up play offering to conceded any dispute about a model I moved. My opponent scores 2 VPs. She moves around, uses Flyrants to regain synapse, and puts the Warlord in a vulnerable spot swooping with FNP. My opponent ops to fall back and try and rack up points for future turns instead of trying to directly confront my massed firepower. I lose a single Dual Fusion suit to firing and maybe a model somewhere else.

Farsight Turn 3


I again manage to keep my Marked for Death unit off the table. Despite a metric asston of firepower, the Warlord does not die with a single wound remaining. My army pacmans accross the board and secures more objective and a strong central position evaporation units as it goes.

Tyranids Turn 3


Warlord Flies off the Table and she racks up one more VP. Last Flyrant on the board does a bit of damage and the gribblies move around to try and hold objectives for another turn.

Farsight Turn 4


Damn, warlord is not on the table, so I can't rack up my 4 BP. But, I kill most of their OS units and scramble on enough objectives and kill them off enough others to mean they will not earn any more BP this game. During the end of my turn the Finish last turn warning is delivered.

Tyranids Turn 4
As it was massively to my opponenets benefit we decide to shake hands and I give her best possible outcome for turn 4. Warlord Flies on, kills one unit off the objective and contests one other.

Game ends with Tyranids having racked up 3BP on Primaries, 0 on Secondaries. I end up with 2x2 Primaries and 4BP on Secondaries for an 8-3 Victory. Had we played a turn 5 I would possibly have tabled my opponent and at the very least taken out the Warlord despite where it flew on and racked up at least two more Objectives for a 14/15-3 Victory.


Post Game Thoughts: This was a fun game, seizing the initiative was horribly unfortunate for my opponent as has that not happened I would have killed one fewer FMC and my opponent could have boxed me in and got their Psychic defenses powered up. Progressive Scoring definitely was a hugey in her favor, but the shere amount of quality firepower I had on the table was going to remove too many units too quickly.

My opponent went on to 1-3 in her first 4 games, I saw a nasty game against a 5 Knight army at one point, then she went on to win Bracket 10.

Opponent: Bryan Delvalle


Army: Space Marines(Iron Hands)/Imperial Knights


Librarian, 3x Tac in Rhinos, 6 Grav Cents, 2xVindicators, and Imperial Knight Paladin

Mission: 6 Objectives, d3 Worth, Endgame Scoring
Secondaries: Space Marines(Linebreaker, First Blood, Slay the Warlord), Farsight(First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Marked for Death(Warlord))
1st Turn: Space Marines
Nightfight: Yes

Pregame Thoughts: Well, its a Knight and 6 Grav Cents, and 2 Vindicators with some MSU scoring. Luckily its Hammer and Anvil and the objectives favor my corner and my opponent only has a 1pt in his far corner. I've marked his Librarian Warlord for Death, hopefully he'll be more careful with it and keep that grav away from me. My plan is to drop the Knight Turn 2 after dragging it through the Difficult Terrain, keep the Vindicators and Grav Cents out of range, elminate his mobility and Vindicators, then rush forward faster than the Grav can kill me to take all the Objectives.

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil


Well, my opponent deployed as closely as he can. I'm not quite sure why he deployed his Grav Cents behind the Ruins. He could have deployed them to at least one side and avoided movement penalties as the cost of making it easier to kite them around the LOS blocking terrain.

Seize the Initiative: No!

Space Marine Turn 1


Everything advances, he scores 1 wounds through my BuffCommander after immobilizing a Rhino the far left. Interestingly enough my entire army started 31" away from his Vindicators and his Grav Cents.

Farsight Turn 1


Everything powers up, I immobilize one Vindicator, wreck a Rhino for First blood, and drop 2 HP off the Knight.

Space Marine Turn 2

Again everything advances. Again my entire army is 31" away from his and only the Knight can fire getting another wound through my BuffCommander.

Farsight Turn 2


I drop the Knight, Drop the mobile Vindicator, and still stay out of range of the Grav Cents. here I got ballsy. I dropped two Dual Fusion suits out to his right, even with a scatter his Librarian is still the closest target. I marked the crap out the unit so I was firing four ignores cover BS5 Fusion Blasters. Alas, he does fail a look out sir, but manages to make his 5++. Almost a 4VP gamble.

Space Marine Turn 3

My opponent hunkers down with the Grav Cents in the Ruins on the 3pt objective. Nukes my Dual Fusion squad, and shuffles. The Vindicator again has no targets in range.

Farsight Turn 3


More reserves come in including my Dual Burst Squad, I drop them aggressively and take out a lot of Tac Marines combined with the rest of my army's firepower. My army advances and I believe I drop another Grav Cent and wounded 1? other. I am unable to really get the Burst Suits out of the line of fire and they get sacrificed to the Grav Gods as bait.

Space Marine Turn 4

My opponent does what he can, but he has so little on the table. He bunkers down on the Grav and tries to deny me points by keeping his Librarian alive. He does manage to completely nuke my Dual Burst Squad.

Farsight Turn 4


All but one of his relevant tacticals die, and I maneuver for the win.

We decide to end the game here. We got a late start due to a pairing mistake, I got marked as a Loss game one and my opponent a Win, so that took a bit to sort out, yay for data entry errors. The game is a foregone conclusion barring some luck, I've got plenty of Objective Secured to steal the three point objective, and I've got most of the other High point objectives. My opponenet has only 11 Tactical Marines left, 4 Grav Cents, and a Librarian, I've got everything except one unit of Dual Fusions and my Dual Burst Suits.

8-0 Win as I am again denied my Marked for Death Warlord.


Post Game Thoughts: Well, deployment pretty much decided this one. Hammer and Anvil meant I could avoid taking damage the first to turns from his heavy hitters. My army doesn't find Knights very scary, so that wasn't a problem either. Once the Knight fell and I eliminated all of his ability to press for my Deployment Zone the game was a foregone conclusion turn 2. Bryan was an awesome guy and the game was an absolute blast. Bryan would go on to 7th in Bracket 6.

Opponent: Tom Ogden


Army: Eldar/Eldar


Farseer on Bike, Shadowseer, 3xDAVU Serpents with Holofields, 2x3 Scatter Walkers, 2xWraithknihgts, Crimson Hunter

Mission: Kill Point
Secondaries: Eldar(First Blood, Linebreaker, ?). Tau(First Blood, Linebreaker, Strike the Rank and File(Kill Troops))
Warlord Trait: Eldar(Master of Ambush), Farsight(Reroll Reserves, +1 Sieze)
1st Turn: Eldar
Nightfight: Yes

Pregame Thoughts: Well Crap, him having Infiltrate and first turn is a serious problem, but otherwise my army matches up very well against Eldar and in KPs I shouldn't have trouble racking up more VPs and I shouldn't give up First Blood either. I'm worried about the Wraithknights, and really need to Sieze the Initiative to make this an easy game. Without it, It'll be close but I'm pretty confident that I can take the list down in KPs. If I can draw his army to the Corner, I should be able to bring on my squishier KPs on the far side of the table and hid them without giving any of them up. I've basically put 6 KPs on the table, and if I keep everything but my Fusions away I'm only risking 8KP against his 13KP.

Deployment


Nothing Crazy. The next day we were talking about this, my opponent insists that I won the roll for first turn and made him go first but that would have been suicidal with him having Master of Ambush. But, hey. It was the third game in one day at NOVA, your brain is definitely fuzzy by that stage.

Deployment after Scout and Infiltrate


He deploys both Wriathknights fairly far back, he could have deployed them closer with Infiltrate by a few inches. I think his original plan was to get into a firefight, which is not a good idea against my Farsight.

Seize: No!!!

Eldar Turn 1


My opponent makes a huge mistake here. With Infiltrate and Scout deployments, my opponent forgets to move up his Wriathknight. He fortunes the closest Wraithknight, and moves his Warwalkers into range. After butckets of dice(Twinlinked ScatterWalkers) I end up with a few wounds sprinkled around, maybe two three on two Riptides. The Heavy Wraithcannons fail to distort any Riptides. He opted to fire the Wraithknights at my Tides as any shots at my BuffCommander would have been LOSed to a Drone with cover. Still may have been a better option, but, my opponent didn't like the odds.

Farsight Turn 1


Well, since my opponent forgot to move his Wraithknights, I no longer need to kill one of them this turn like I was planning. I Instead shuffle around, take out a unit of WarWalkers for First blood, one Wave Serpent, and I believe I Immobilized another Walker. I shuffle around in the Assault Phase to draw more of his army to the corner.

2-0KP

Eldar Turn 2

His Hunter comes on. Wraithknights move up. Again, his shooting isn't very effective. S6/7 bounces off my 2+/FNP units. My IA tide stays away form the Scatters all game. Wraithknights again sprinkle wounds to the Riptides. Again he Fortunes the clostes Wraithknight.

2-0KP

Farsight Turn 2


With reroll Reserves I really bring the pain this turn. I DS the Dual Burst within range of his hiding Warlord to the right. Both Dual Fusions land close enough to have range to the nonFortuned Wraithknight. Both Solo Suits walk on with range to his Warlord and his Crimson Hunter. Firewarriors walk on towards the corner as far from the action as possible as they are KP liability.

When the dust settles I finish off both remaining Wave Serpents, and use the Markerlights and the Riptides to drop the leftmost Wraithknight. I also drop his BikeSeer with my Dual Burst Suits. My Solo Suits take their pop shots at the Hunter to no avail.

And then my big Shooting Deathstar rolls a 3 on their Jetpack assault moves giving his Wraithknight the perfect charge. I move everything else into a huge overwatch block and try to block off the potential charge. I guess luck is making up for him forgetting to move them Turn 1, I'll need to survive the assault and Hit and Run out of the Combat.

5-0 KP

Eldar Turn 3


Well, he does his thing, shoots what he can, and moves the Wraithknight up to assault. I believe he kills the Ritpide that was down to a single wound and kills two of the Fusion Suits. He makes the assault, but not until I deal a whopping 5 Wounds to the Wraithknight. It makes it into assault and only manages to deal 2-3 wounds, I make my Leadership 7/8 and hold. Actually, my onager gauntlet hit and rolled a 1 to wound and all of my 10 S5 attacks bounced off. And here I forget to Hit and Run out of Combat! Big mistake.

5-2 KP

Farsight Turn 3


Well, I make Shooting Deathstar Stubborn and continue to forget to Hit and Run out of Combat. Either way I begin cleanup duty on the board and don't pick up any KP in this turn. He kills 2 Drones in combat and I forget to Hit and Run out, again. Again, his Wratihknight keep shis last wound as I can't seem to wound him or he makes his armors.

Eldar Turn 4

His army has almost no firepower left, he batttlefocuses around to pick on the Riptides to no avail. Crismon Hunter plinks at one Riptide as well but after having been forced to Jink its damage output is nill.

In combat my Onager Guantlet finally connects after losing a drone or two and I kill the Wraithknight.

6-2 KP

Farsight Turn 4


Having my Shooting Deathster free I kill the Spiritseer and two of the squads of Dire Avengers leaving only on eon the table. I also kill the Scatter Walkers down a single Immobilized Walker left. We call the game here as I will table him on 5 and he has virtually no chance of earning any more KPs.

13-2 KP, I achieved Linebreaker, First Blood, and Strike the Rank and file for a 15-0 Victory.


Post Game Thought: Man, I got very unlucky with him getting Master of Ambush and first turn, and equally lucky by him forgetting to move his Wraithknights Turn 1. I then got very unlucky on my Jetpack Assault move to get very lucky on my Overwatch damage and making my LD7 check. I had 4 Fusion Blasters, 2-3 Twinlinked Fusion Blasters, lots of HBC shots, 16 Missile Shots, and 8 Markerlight shots on my Overwatch. Had he remembered that, it would have been much closer. I don't think he would have been able to win, but I wouldn't have been able to table him. I really needed to remember I had Hit and Run on my BuffCommander.

Tom was a stellar opponent and proceeded to do very well at NOVA, taking 2nd in Bracket 2 for 18th overall.

Opponent: Joseph Harmon


Army: CSM(Crimson Slaughter)/Daemons

Bike Lord
Bike Sorcerer
6xSpawn
2x10 Cultists
2xMaulerfiends

Juggy Lord(Axe of Khorne)
Herald of Tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch
2x16? Horrors
19x Khorne Hounds

Mission: Relic/Objectives
Secondaries: CSM(Moment of Bloodshed(Kill 3 Units in one turn), Linebreaker, ?), Farsight(Moment of Bloodshed, FirstBlood, Linebreaker)
Warlord Traits: CSM(Master of Ambush), Farsight(Master of Ambush)
1st Turn: Farsight

Pregame Thoughts: Ouch. This is a very fast assault list with four major melee threats, 2x Maulerfiends, the Hounds with Lord, and the Spawnstar backed up with a fair amount of Daemon Summoning. At least I'm likely to get two turns to shoot him, us both having Master of Ambush hurts as he has guarenteed Turn 2 Assaults with both the Hounds and the Spawnstar. Did I mention I hate Daemons and Psyker heavy armies. It takes forever to roll everything up, and its an absolute pain in the ass to keep everything straight. And then you summon Daemons which takes even more time.

Deployment: Vanguard


He keeps his Spawn unit to Infiltrate while I Infiltrate my MPCrisis Squad with Commanders and one Riptide. I put two Riptides down centrally, then win the Infiltrate roll forcing him to deploy Infiltrates first. I deploy almost everything centrally.

Seize: No. That is a relief, if he seized game was over.

Farsight Turn 1


I shift towards his long board edge. I take out the Top Maulerfiend for 1st Blood, then devote as much firepower as I can muster into killing quite a few hounds. I had one or two Failed Nova Reactor rolls on my Riptides this turn which took a bit out of their bite.

Chaos Turn 1


Everything advances. He summons two more Heralds.

Farsight Turn 2


All of my reserves come in. One squad of Dual Fusions gets eaten by the Warp after a Mishap. I manage to snip both summoned Heralds and after devoting most of my firepower to it manage to take out second Maulerfiend for my Moment of Bloodshed. I kill two Spawn and put a wound on his Lord. My DSing Dual Bursts take out quite a bit of one unit of Horrors. Again this turn at least one of my Riptides had reduced firepower due to the Nova Reactor failing. I believe it was 3/4 fails on the Non Earth Caste. Either way, I get ready for what is going to be a nasty assault.

Chaos Turn 2


He advances and one unit of Cultists arrive, summons Hounds to the North and Plague Drones on top of the Relic. Here he Dark Flames my Dual Burst Squads twice, due to come confusion he fired two S5 AP3 Torrent Dark Flames instead of two S4 AP5. The squad is wiped out, in retrospect looking at it he must have been confused about the particular power and I should have looked as losing that squad in his deployment zone was a pretty big deal. I didn't question it because when I asked about the power at rolling, that is what he said it was.

He assaults into two Riptides with the Spawn, one is the ECPA. When the Dust settle I only lose combat by 1? and make Leadership. The Spawn bounced off the 2+ as did his Lord, and his Sorcerer had to contend with 5++ and FNP. The Riptides Hold.

His Hound/Juggy unit assaults into my Shooting Deathstar and takes four wounds in overwatch between the unit and the Riptide supporting fire. The Hounds roll a total of 17 wounds and I fail 2 armor saves, and make one FNP. The Juggy Lord gets to attack Drones and Suits and deals 4 wounds. In return I dealt a total of 4 wounds. Or maybe the he got 2 Wounds through my Commander, either way I make my LD 9, then make my Hit and Run out of Combat jumping over the combat with 10".

Farsight Turn 3


We end up having a rules debate about how the Relic is held etc with Objective Secured. BAsically, even if he is holding it, I can still control it with my OS units. I press forward, take out one Plague Drone and choose Stubborn for my Shooting Deathstar knowing that he basically can't wipe them and I'll still have Hit and Run for the next turn. I take out one Plague Drone and maybe more Hounds and set my Fusion suits right next to the Relic knowing that I need to contest them the next turn and plan on assauting the Plauge Drones hoping to hold the next turn.

Riptides, this time with a 3++(I was hoping for either a 3++ or to drop 1 of the 2 remaining wounds off the IA Riptide. They hold yet again this turn.

Chaos Turn 3


He summons more hounds and possibly/probably something else.

He declares an assault with the Plague Drones against my Fusions suits. I roll my attacks and end up punching 2 wounds through onto them. Now this is where the "finish your game turn" warning arrives. It catches us both completely off guard especially a all he would have needed to do was Jetpack assault away with the Relic to win and now that he declared the assault I have a good chance of denying him the Relic. The Drones attack and I end up making all or all but one of my saves and win combat which means the Relic is mine. he rolls Demonic Instability and rolls boxcars, adding insult to injury.

He assaults into my Shooting Deathstar again with both the Cultists and the Hournds, and ends up drawing combat or I make my Ld10. I then Hit and run out again, only 7" and can't make Linebreaker.

He finally wipes both Riptides and consolidates onto the Objective. He kills off a lone suit in assault but doesn't get far enough to deny me the 1pt objective near my bottom right.

The game ends 10-8.


Post Game Thoughts: I really don't remember this game only going 3 turns, i would have sword we played four and time got called during the bottom of 4. I may have forgotten to take two pictures, because it just doesn't seem like we only played 3 turns. It was a brutal game and I was getting my ass handed to me. The Dark Flame mistake kind of hurt, as it would have just bounced off that unit instead of wiping it which would have given me one of two of his home objectives and taken out some of his Summoning. Otherwise it was a fantastic game and we both enjoyed ourselve each giving the other full sportsmanship. I still think we played four turns and I'm just missing two, but I could be wrong. My opponent went on to do well, taking 4th in Bracket 2 for 20th overall.

With that win I'm now 4-0 and guaranteed a spot in Bracket 1 against the other undefeated players and the best 3-1s in the tournament.

Opponent: Kelsey Haley


Army: Chaos Daemons

Fateweaver
GUO
3xNurgle Princes
2xHorrors

Powers:


Mission: Table Quarters. Farsight(Progressive), Daemons(End Game)
Secondaries: Can't Remember.
1st Turn: Daemons!

Pregame Thoughts: Well, this isn't so good. I can handle FMCs pretty well, but I'm worried about summoning in the backfield on a quarters mission. He's got great powers and gifts, literally Fateweaver will havea 2++ Rerollable all game and all of his princes will have a 2+ Cover Save with either IronArm or 4+FNP. And he gets to go first. But, the biggest and scariest problem is that he has Enfeeble which makes my BuffCommander not so Tankish. I have Master of Ambush which is great, unfortunately he has first turn so I can't nuke the Enfeeble Prince or anything else before his defenses get up and going. My goal is to just rack up points, and try and drop in his backfield late game. If I can take out a couple of princes, I can put alot of point in quarters late game and rack some points up early, but its not looking good. This is the guy that beat Reece and his Adamantine Lance Game 4. If the princes his assault, I lose as they all have Instant death, Fleshbane, or Ironarm.

Deployment


He hides anything. Its my second game in a row on this table, and that LoS blocking terrain is fricken massive. It caused issues last game, and this game is no different. I deploy evenly in my backfield trying to rack up some points with units with most everything in reserves, yet again.


Seize: No!!!

Daemons Turn 1

Well, he flies up, Enfeebles my Shooty Deathstar, rolls up 8 Strength on his powers and hits the unit hard. I have to LOS away everything to keep my BuffCommander alive and it takes out most of my buffer drones. Then after a reroll of the Warp Storm he hits the unit for a gob of Strenght 6 which kills more drones etc. Then he fires a lance at the unit and I've got either a 4++ or ID on my BuffCommander or I can LoS it to my Warlord with no save. The BuffCommander fails his 4++ and I've lost my only chance to take out any of his FMCs. Yep, I lost the game before I ever got to move a model.

Farsight Turn 1

Well, I shift around, set up to get a couple of points. I put all of my shooting into his softest target, a T8 2+ Cover Daemon Prince and drop it down a ways, then he rerolls his grouding check thanks to Fateweaver and grounds the FMC so it can assault Turn 2.

And that is basically game, we half ass go through turn 2, but I have zero chance of winning and he half hearted starts summoning in the background. I'll rack up some points, but have absolutely no way of winning the game and we call it early as its a foregone conclusion.

Postgame Thoughts: Yep, that was the worst 40k beating I think I can ever recall. Everything went his way, and nothing went my way and the game was over before my half of Turn 1. Had he not had Enfeeble, or had I had the ability to shoot the Enfeeble prince the game would have been much closer, but as it stands, his Alpha Strike won the game and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. FMCs move 24", Enfeeble is 24" with more successes than I had dice, and then the Warp Storm pointing the unit with ID goodness was just icing on the cake. My opponent was awesome, but wow that was not pretty. Welcome to the top Bracket at NOVA,! The bucket on the left is for your tears and will be drunk by the overall winner.

Two games in a row on table 6 against Daemons and Psychic heavy armies, I'm getting sick of watching my opponents roll for powers, and gifts, and trying to keep track of what model has what powers, etc. The ridiculous number of pregame rolls and book keeping is quite frustrating to have to sit through, I really hope GW fixes this gak.

Opponent: Gareth Hunt


Army: Chaos Daemons/Imperial Knights

2x Heralds of Tzeentch
9xScreamers
2x~13Horrors
2x Slaanesh Grinders

Knight Errant
Knight Paladin

Mission: Objectives
Secondaries: Chaos(Marked for Death(Solo Suit), Linebreaker, ?), Farsight(First Blood, Marked for Death(Knight Errant), Linebreaker)
1st Turn: Daemon Knights
Warlord Traits: Farsight(Master of Ambush... yet again without first turn)
Psychics: Heralds each have Incursion, one has Cursed Earth.
Knight Fighting: Yes.... he he get it, Knight Fighting...

Pregame Thoughts: Well, this is my third Daemon opponent of the day, all on table 6. 6... 6...6.... 666 well, isn't that cute. Two knights backed up by a Summoning Screamerstar, nasty, especailly as he can summon more units to hold objectives and the massive LOS blocking terrain piece in the center is going to cause me more headaches. Anyway, I need some luck to win this game. He has Cursed Earth and the Grimiore for an awesome 2++ Rerollable ScreamerStar. Though, with only two Heralds, one Cursed Earth, and no Fateweaver, its far from as reliable as it could be. I should have a chance to nuke it once in the first three turns, even one failed Grimiore will be huge and I'll need to capitalize on it. I was ballsy thinking I'd be able to take first blood and by marking his Knight Errant for Death. In fact, I'm planning on taking out his Knight Errant for first blood and killing both of them by the end of Turn 2.

Deployment: Vanguard


I deploy in such a way as to pull his Grinders into DT and get get range on his Knights and make sure Knight Fighting is to my benefit. My IA Riptide actually moved up there, otherwise, I didn't really move much.

Seize: Yes!!! Wow, lucky. Here is my chance to start this moving the right direction, I've got a chance to hit his Star and put quick Damage on his Knights.

Farsight Turn 1

I didn't move hardly at all, just moved the IA Riptide up high for LoS to one member of his ScreamerStar. Here is my chance. I attempt my Nova Reactor on my Earth Caste needing Rending to hurt the Knight.... and fail. I then reroll it thanks to the Earth Caste.... and Fail it again..... and fail my FNP for a wound. Nice. I then attempt my Nova Reactor on my other HBC Riptide... and fail as well as wound myself again. Outstanding. And then for fun my IA Riptide gets hot and failed to fire on the clustered ScreamerStar. Holy hell, after getting lucky and Siezing, the dice just bitch slapped me hard. It has hard to believe.

My MP CrisisStar puts everything into the Knight Errant hitting it for 8 MarkerLight(Which can't be used) Hits and punching 2 HP through its Ion Shield(Statistical Average). My HBC Riptides don't even fire as they only have AV13 targets.

Wow, what a disappointing turn.

Daemon Knights Turn 1

Everything advances, he summons two units of Plague Drones(A common theme), his Knights pound my MPCrisis Squad, but everything bounces off my BuffCommander and his 2+/3+(Cover)/5+++(FNP) barring a wound or two. Oh, and he Turnboboosted the Invulnerable Star to Point Blank Range.

Farsight Turn 2


Both Fusion Squads DS in, both land ok, one scatters clean over a Knight to the other side which is fine. Now, I actually make my Nova Reactor Checks this turn and am poised to dump 24 S6 Rending Shots, TLFBs, 16 Tankhunter MPs, and 8 Fusion Blasters all on Knights that won't have an Ion Shield Save because of how many different facings I'm on. He chose back for the Paladin, and Forward for the Errant.

I unleash hell.... or what is supposed to be hell. I start by putting the Markerlights into the Errant and all my MPs into the Paladin. I hit Erant with only 7 Markerlights and only put 2 HP on the Paladin.... wow, should have averaged 4 with no Ion Shield or Cover. Even 7MLs was low.

Then I light up the Errant with 4 BS5 Fusion Blasters in Melta Range... and manage 3 hits, 2 Pens and a Glance. No Explodes Results and the Errant is down to 1 HP. Ok, not great. I then dump both HBCTides into it with lots of Markerlights and can't roll a 6 to save my life, I believe he Ion shields the only one out of 12 Twinlinked BS5 and 12 BS6 shots. Ouch. Not good. I fire my IA riptide into it and get nothing. I then fire my solo MP Suits into it and get a 6 which he again Ion Shields away. Now, I'm forced to dump my last Fusion Squad into it to kill it, and manage one hit which is a pen... and not an explodes. But either way, it dies and of course with a Screamerstar and another Knight in close proximity is scatters directly onto my Fusion Squad and takes them out.

Well, that sucked. I had the firepower and position to drop both Knights.... and I barely manage to kill my Marked for Death Knight for First Blood.

Also, by Dual Burst Squad dropped on and lit up one Horror Squad only killing 4-5.

Terrible turn.

Daemon Knights Turn 2


Well, Grimiore Goes off. Cursed Earth Goes off. 1-2 more Incursions go off, so he's brought on more units of Plague Drones. We weren't even bothering putting the drones on bases after the first.

His Paladin turns around and manages to move and assault my Dual Burst Suits in his corner which really hurts, he makes the 9" charge. at one point I had four armors saves to make against stomp and failed them all. His Screamerstar makes combat with two of my Riptides and they proceed to slap each other for a while.

Farsight Turn 3


I Imobilize one of his Grinders with Ripplefired Riptide Fusion and retreat to my corner. My 3++ Riptides keep holding up against he Screamerstar. I start killing Plague Drones but its a losing battle.

Daemons Turn 3


He moves the Knight to shoot at my MP unit but keeps bouncing off my BuffCommander. He summons more Daemonettes, and a 4th or 5th unit of Plague Drones. He failed Cursed Earth this time, and my Riptides win Combat, but it doesn't matter.

He did end up with three perils with his Heralds, and got good results every time, two 6s and a 3.

Anyway, we out most of four and call this as I have a Riptide running for Linebreaker he won't be able to touch and he's got all the Objectives.

I've killed over 2:1 in points, but with 7 summoned units(Daemonettes, 2xScreamers, and 4x Plague Drones) hitting the board he is bringing on more units per turn than I could kill.

Victory for the Daemon Knights

Post Game Thoughts: What can I say? My opponent told me to burn my dice cube and buy a new one at least once a turn all game. I had the opportunity to win, but man Lady Luck kicked me in the sac, repeatedly and without mercy. I needed something to go my way, and the dice certainly didn't want it to be so. I had never thrown so many dice, many with rerolls and gotten so few 6s, it was ugly. And my Fusion was horrendous. Overall, the Knights weren't really an issue and should have been dispatched easily, but its Summoning that kills me. 2+ units per turn is just too much for me to deal with in an objectives mission. His Paladin not dieing and making the long charge to take out my Burst really sealed the deal as I lost the corner with two of his objectives instead of being able to sweep that corner in a few turns.

That was a tough game to end a tough day. Winning my first game to make Bracket 1, then getting pummeled in my first game of Top Bracket then having Lady luck kick me in the sac made for a mentally exhausting and draining day. I'm definitely looking for some more favorable matchups in my last two games on day 3. There are plenty of Eldar and some Necrons I'd rather be facing than Summoning.

My opponent would go on to take Battle master with 102 Battle Points and 3rd overall. Very well done.

Opponent: John Parson


Army: Astra Militarum/Knight


Eruo Pask
3x Melta Vets in Chimeras
3x Plasma Vets in Chimeras
2xWyverns
Russ
Knight Paladin


Mission: Table Quarters, AM/IK(Progressive), Farsight(EndGame)
Secondaries: AM/IK(First Blood, Linebreaker, ?), Farsight(First Blood, Last Laugh, Linebreaker)
1st Turn: AM/IK

Pregame Thoughts: Well, due to unreported drops after game 6, my opponent is MIA. So, Parson from Bracket 2 is nice enough to Ringer up and give me a game 7. And he's using some serious Mech Guard with a Knight. Basically, I can't stop him from ticking Table Quarters up to 9 as a unit in a Transport counts as 2. So, I've basically got to let him tick up to 9, then put enough points value of my stuff in the quarters to score a 9 myself at end game and also have more secondaries than him. That damn Wyverns are going to be annoying, I'll need to kill them quickly.

Deployment: Dawn of War


Basically I deploy my MPCrisis unit in the opposite corner of his Wyverns, and directly across from his Knight... just like he wanted me to. My IA Riptide is far right, he's going to go after the Wyverns. For the 4th game in a row I've had Master of Ambush, and it just doesn't matter as I am again going second. I've seriously rolled -1 reserves everytime and rerolled into Master of Ambush without it helping me every time.

Seize: No. That would have been too easy.

AM/IK Turn1


Everything advances and shoots if it can dealing a sprinkling of wounds. My IA Riptide to the far right seem to be botching everything he rolls. Pask and friends just flatout forward thanks to orders. Wyverns move behind the hill almost removing them from LOS.

Farsight Turn 1
I throw everything into the Knight, I don't throw many 6s and he is a machine with his Ion Saves, I end up with only 2HP through, ouch. IA Riptide gets hot... again.... and does nothing but hide in the Ruins waiting to die. I end up with a pretty bad Jetpack Assault move on my Crisis unit putting them just within 21" of his IK, so a 9" charge will catch them.

AM/IK Turn 2


Again he advances and looses all the delicious guard firepower. His counter ticks up 3. The Knight fails its charge with a 7 or 8 and he does some wounds spread out, the IA Riptide is down to 2? Had the Knight made the charge, It would probably have been game.

Farsight Turn 2


Only one Fusion squad comes in from reserves but scatters and lands close enough to the Knight to be useful. My Dual Burst aggressively DS near the Wyverns and scatter onto them for a mishap, they are placed bottom left away from anything that matters. Both HBC Riptides Ripplefire their Fusions. I Light up the Knight and kill it with my Fusion Crisis, its explosion does no damage and grants me First blood. I managed to Ripplefire Pask and charge him with a Riptide to kill him. My IA riptide manages to shoot and charge the gaurd sweeping them. I also deal some HP damage to a Chimera with my Firewarriors and my lone crisis.

AM/IK Turn 3


AM/IK secure more BP. They finish off the IA Riptide and fail to do much more.

Farsight Turn 3


I drop fusion on top of the Wyverns. I use my MP Crisis unit to take out two Chimeras. One Riptide Ripplefires the other Punisher and assaults it for the kill. I also prinkle out more damage.

Due to a late start and the game now being a foregone conclusion we call it. I'm probably going to table him by 5 and I've got way too many points left on the table, most of it ObSec, to not get my 3 table Quarters at game end. I've also got 2 of the secondaries without question and its highly probably I'll get the third as he has no chance of securing more than Linebreaker.

We call it 15-11 win for Farsight

Post Game Thoughts: Well, if he made the 9" charge with the Knight he would have probably won barring some luck and a successful Hit and Run out, I would have lost then and there. But, when the Knight and Pask, who had to get too close to get out of the corridor and get a firing solution, died it was pretty much game. Blowing up 2 Chimeras and forcing the occupants to either be pinned or Snap Shot also didn't help matters and made the game a foregone conclusion. It was fun playing against Parsons and I really appreciated him ringering up from Bracket 2 to give me a game.

Opponent: Zach Pawlikowski


Army: Eldar


Autarch
4x DA Serpents
2x Fire Dragon Serpents
3x Swooping Hawks
Wraithknight

Mission: 6 Objectives. Eldar(Progressive), Farsight(Endgame)
Secondaries: Eldar(First Blood, Linebreaker, Marked for Death(SoloSuit)), Farsight(First Blood, Linebreaker, Marked for Death(Wraithknight))
1st Turn: Eldar
Night Fighting: Yes
Warlord Trait: Farsight(+1 Sieze, Reroll Reserves)

Pregame Thoughts: Well, I finally get another army I prepared for and its against Zach, the 15 year old wonder who suffered his first loss in the SemiFinals and was 6-1. Hella Impressive. But, this is a matchup that favors me barring some crazy luck with his Wraithknight. To keep his Wriathknight shy, I mark it for Death and decide I'm going to focus on his Wave Serpents. With Vanguard and my ability to kill his Serpents, I expect him to go Progressive which he does. I figure I've got enough ObSec that I can keep off the table or hidden long enough to steal enough points late game. I also pick First Blood as my army doens't give it up easily, and barring a lucky Distorn through 2+ Go To Ground Cover I won't be giving it up.

Deployment: Vanguard


He deploys Cautiously. I deploy trying to keep my BuffCommander out of the Wraithknights LOS and keep my Riptides in 3+ Ruins Cover thanks to Night Fighting.

Seize: No. Not lucky enough to do it on a 5+ twice in a tournament.

Eldar Turn 1


He shoots everything he can, uses LOS to shoot around my BuffCommander with Serpents and kills some drones. He also manage to put a couple of wounds on my non ECPA Riptide. All in all his turn does very little Damage and not as much as he was hoping for.

Farsight Turn 1


In return I advance, Kill a FD Serpent to the north and light up the close Serpent. I then Ripplefire, boost Balasitic Skill, and nuke the closest Serpent with effective BS10 and Ignores Cover. Without a Shield, it blows. I used the other HBCTide to kill the occupants. I then shuffle around in the assault phase defensively. Here I make a mistake, I forgot that Hawks blast isn't taken from the center of the blast, but from the location of the Hawks, so I end up with Suits inside and the drones outside trying to keep my Drones alive. This costs me most of my Drones.

Eldar Turn 2

He ticks up 1 at the start of the turn as I killed his serpent and Dire Avengers off of one. He does about the same this turn except due to my mistake his Hawks kill most of my Drones. He drops my HBC Riptide down to 1 Wound remaining after he went to ground to survive the Wraithknight's shooting.

Farsight Turn 2


I keep all but my Firewarrors off. Firewarriors kill four Hawks. I Immobilize one Serpent an wreck 1-2 others. I manage to kill most of his scoring units around Objectives.

Eldar Turn 3

He ticks up again for 2 Primary. He then dumps everything he can into my army and deals minimal damage. Hawks leave the table. Wraithknight finally advances but fails his charge on my ECPA who I left a bit too close. On this turn I don't lose any models. My armor saves were terrible on my HBC riptide, but many my FNP made up for it.

Farsight Turn 3


Well, all of my reserves arrive, mostly where I want them. I take out his last serpents and prepare to deny all his objectives. I also am poised to hammer his Wraithknight most of his units and am about ready to kill his marked for Death Wratihknight with a ton of firepower and some markerlights.

We call the game before I finish my shooting phase, I've dealt so much damage that it won't be possible for him to tick up any more on Primary. We assume his remaining Hawks swill kill the Marked for Death Unit and get Linebreaker and that I'll get full Primary. If the game played out it was quite likely he would have been effectively tabled on four and tabled on 5.

15-6 Victory to Farsight.

Post Game Thoughts: Man, Zach is a good player. I'm thoroughly impressed with how efficient he is on the table and how quick his decision making is. Though, my army is a pretty hard counter to his and he faced two choices, stay out of my range and lose by Objectives, or try and kill me and hold out long enough to rack up points on Objectives. He could have chosen end game objectives and castled in the corner, but that too came with its own risks and would have only saved one turn of shooting possibly 2 while greatly decreasing his firepower. Zach was a great opponent who finished 6th after tie breakers. Neither one of us realized it, we though he was 3rd or 4th no matter what, but my big win allowed me to end up just above him on BP with the same final record. Zach was an awesome opponent and really blew my mind how well he could play the game as a 15 year old.

And so concludes my NOVA adventure. Making the final bracket, then taking two hard losses to come back and win my last two and place well, ending up 5th overall as NOVA ranks drops as Losses and some in the final bracket chose not to finish their final games. NOVA was a blast. There were some serious lists rocking the tables and some phenomenal opponents. I can't complain about the experience too much, my only constructive criticism is that the missions and terrain currently favor Daemon Summoning too much and that was reflecting in their Overall showing. Though, that just my be my bias of facing three Daemon armies on the same table(666) and suffering two losses to them!

I loved NOVA, but I think I'm going to take another break from 40k until the Renegade and play some awesome Firestorm Armada in the meantime.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my battle report and NOVA experience.