Hey all, just wanted to give a report of a fantastic tournament I took part in last weekend. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take any pictures, so sorry, I got too caught up in the fun of the event, I guess. There were about 96/98? people at the event, at a fantastic venue in London. Originally I believe there had been a 200 capacity, with a 30k event meant to run alongside, but since only half the capacity was filled this wasn't done. There was even a painting competition run with a £250 prize,
The format was 1850pts, 2 detachments,
FW allowed, no
LoW limit. The new
GW FAQ was not being used but there were a few independent
FAQs, such as GMCs had to be 25% in cover (none of that toe in cover with WK stuff). Death from the Skies wasn't being used.
Every board had either a FAT mat or Game mat, which was nice, and the terrain was about 7-8 ruins a table...which at first glance seemed weird but actually was quite decent, since the ruins could block
LoS for stuff that needed it (like Warp Spiders), whilst providing decent cover to most things. For this being the first ever inaugural London
GT I thought it was well run and the boards/terrain were not too bad. Definitely will return next year!
A note about missions: each mission had an eternal war primary, maelstrom secondary, and tertiaries were
FB/warlord/Linebreaker.
Sorry about no good pics: I only have a few candid ones of mine/opponents armies or shots of a few models - sorry!
Most of the pics aren't of my opponents armies, I forgot to get any good ones, so just got some cool pics of models to add some flavour
My list was as follows:
TAU CAD:
Ethereal
Solo suit - flamer
Solo suit
Solo Suit
Taunar Supremacy Armor
Riptide Wing:
6 riptides in units of 2 all with interceptor, HBC and 1 in each unit had target lock
Pic of the list in action:
The ultimate in min-max! I had a pretty filthy list, I didn't have to worry about stars either since only 2 detachments, so no culexus needed
Round 1: vs Imperial Guard
He had:
Command squad with meltas
2 Scion squads with meltas
2 Vet Squads with plasma in Tauroxes
2 Leman Russ Demolishers
1 Basilisk
3 Vendettas
Culexus
The mission type was Big Guns, with maelstrom secondary and the deployment was Dawn of War. He got first turn and made the very bold (and very risky) play to only deploy his basilisk in the corner of the board - his idea was that he'd go first, then I'd kill the Basilisk and on turn 2 all his reserves would come in and he'd at least kill a couple of riptides, reducing my firepower. He didn't want to start his whole army on the board since he reckoned he'd lose a lot of it turn 1. I deployed all my big robots in a line in range of his Basilisk.
However, I seize, kill his Basilisk with the single D shot from the Supremacy and get the full 20-0 points from a tabling, since he has no units left in his turn. Guess that's the first time a game's decided in 10 minutes and with only a single shot fired!
It was his first tournament, and I guess it was kind of a baptism of fire
lol.
(we decided to play another game after for fun with everything the same except I don't seize - in this one I tabled him on turn 5; his army just doesn't have the firepower to put multiple wounds on my big robots fast enough to stop himself dying)
Round 2: vs Tau
He had:
Ethereal
2 man crisis unit with 2 plasma rifles each
2x 5 man strike teams
3 Y'vahra
Taunar Supremacy
Tidewall shieldline
Drone net - 4x 4 marker drones
Supremacy mirror match! Normally these come down who can roll a 6 first, but his list was definitely weaker against mine - the Yhavras don't really do much with their Ap3 guns, and their flamers are only str6. Plus they only have 4 wounds. My riptide wing could easily take them on and put wounds on his own supremacy. Also, I think he thought his Supremacy could get the cover save from the shield line, but the
TO came over and explicitly reminded us that the rulespack only let GMCs take a cover save if they were 25% obscured.
The mission was Emperor's Will, maelstorm and hammer and anvil deployment. He had first turn and deployed everything over 36" away from my line of deployment (so my riptides could not hailfire turn 1), with his Yhavras spread out across his deployment, the fire warriors in buildings and the Supremacy with ethereal/some drones on the shield line. His crisis suits went in reserve. I deployed with the Riptides as far forward as possible (so they could at least Nova + shoot 12 shots each at the Supremacy), and my own Supremacy at the back of my deployment behind a building. My crisis suits and ethereal stayed off.
I seize (again!) and begin by 6'ing his Supremacy with my own's D gun, very lucky, and the Ion cannons + that put a total of 8 wounds on it, making it lose its invulnerable save too. My riptides move up and nova their HBCs. 4 of them finish off the Supremacy with rending shots (he was not 25% obscured for a cover save) and the other 2 kill a unit of drones and do 2 wounds to a Yhavra.
In his turn he boosts with his Yhavras into range of my riptides. He fails nova on two of them. All his shooting puts 1 wound on a riptide, and one of his Yhavras charges 2 riptides and they blunt off each other. In my turn I nova
SMS except for the tides in combat who nova their shield. My reserves come on and grab objectives. My shooting kills all but one unit of his drones and one of his fire warrior units. In the combat my riptides kill his Yhavra and consolidate forward. His turn 2, his crisis suits come on behind the ethereal who is hiding in a ruin. His shooting does nothing, even the crisis suits wiff against the lonely ethereal, who passes his cover saves. In my turn I nova bursts, and use split fire to finish off all his troops, earning me the 20-0 table'ing victory.
Round 3: vs Space Marines
His army was created using the raven guard decurion-style detachment.
He had:
Chapter master with jump pack, meltabombs and swift-murder sword
Chaplain with jump pack, meltabombs and some armor that gave him stealth
10 Vanguard Vets with jump packs, meltabombs, storm shields, 8 claws and 2 hammers
2 units of scouts with snipers
Tac squad in drop pod with melta and imperial marine
Tac squad in drop pod with melta
Attack bike with multi melta
Dev squad in drop pod with 2 grav cannons
Storm wing? formation:
Land speeder with heavy flamer
Storm talon
Storm talon
The mission type was Crusade and maelstrom with Vanguard strike deployment. I had first turn, and deployed my Supremacy far forward, bubble wrapped by all my riptides. My crisis suits and ethereal stayed in reserve. His whole army had Stealth/Shrouded turn 1, and his Vanguard vets (with master/chaplain) can deep strike turn 1 and charge, rerolling their charge distance - he also rolled the warlord trait that let him run and charge with that unit. The 2 detachment format really hurt his army though, since he couldn't include a sanguinary priest for
FNP or a conclave for psyhic. My plan was to intercept that unit, and then force him to eat 6 riptides worth of overwatch if he wanted to charge. He deployed both his units of scouts in ruins, his land speeder at the back of the board, and his attack bike in a ruin behind the scouts.
I start by nova'ing my bursts since I knew I'd have to interceptor in his turn, and moved up a bit with all my big robots. My shooting killed all his scouts and attack bike, despite his 2+ cover saves, but I couldn't hurt his land speeder. His turn, his devastators and the imperial marine squad pod in, and his vanguard star deep strikes behind my robot-blob in cover. I intercept his
devs first with one unit and kill 4 of the unit including both cannons. My other 4 tides intercept his star and kill 4-5 veterans, including one hammer. His land speeder moves on to an objective. His shooting does nothing - both grav cannons are gone and the imperial marine needs 5s to hurt riptides. He charges 2 riptides with his star and does 4 wounds, then runs them down. This is good since it means my supremacy can shoot him. In my turn 2 my reserves come on and jump on objectives, and the ethereal hides behind some scenery. Two of my riptides encircle the landspeeder since they cant shoot, and the other two encircle his last devastator and their drop pod. My supremacy moves within 1" of his vanguard vets. Only my supremacy can shoot, but its shooting kills his imperial marine
tac squad and 2 veterans - I only shoot the Ion cannons into the vets so I can charge them. In my assault phase, 2 riptides charge the speeder and kill it, 2 riptides charge a pod and the devastator and kill both, and my supremacy charges his veterans + characters. He realizes he can only really hurt my big boy with melta bombs, and so doesn't really do anything in the combat...I stomp and roll two 6s, wiping his veteran squad. His turn 2, the stormtalons and other
tac squad come in. Both the flyers die to interceptor and the
tac squad dies in the following turn - earning me another 20-0 table'ing victory.
At this point I'm 60-0 after day 1 and for sure going to be playing against some of the much harder lists in day 2....
Round 4: vs Eldar
He had:
Warhost of the Pale Court:
Farseer, bike + stone
Autarch, bike
3x 5 spiders
1 D Cannon
WK with cannons and 1 scatter laser
3x Aspect hosts each with 3x 5 spiders
60 warp spiders! Tricky list. The spiders especially are pretty great against my big robots since they will always even wound the Supremacy on 2+, and there are so many units that I probably wouldn't be able to kill them all with all their jumps. Its also pretty decent at maelstrom just through sheer weight of units and the mobility battle focus/jet packs offers.
The mission was Relic, maelstrom and Dawn of War deployment. I had first turn, and deployed all my riptides as far forward as possible, with the Supremacy to the right of them. Crisis and Ethereal in reserve. He deploys 3 units of spiders (from the warhost) and his D Cannon, all at far ranges and on different levels of buildings. This was good since the
FAQ meant blasts only hit one level. Everything else starts in reserve.
In my turn 1 I make my first mistake, I for some reason think that his reserves are coming next turn and I nova my HBC. I should have just nova'd
SMS and gone spider hunting. In the end, my turn 1 of shooting kills 2 units of spiders and all but 1 guardian in the D Cannon unit. His turn he basically just shuffles about. In my turn 2 my reserves come in and grab some maelstrom, ethereal hides behind a ruin. I nova HBC again and finish off the guardian and kill a few spiders. His turn 2, 6 units of spiders and everything else comes on. His spiders deep strike around my Supremacy, WK moves on into the centre, and the 2 characters join a unit of spiders on the far side of his deployment. I intercept his WK and only put 2 wounds on it - this was a huge mistake. I wasted my next turn of shooting, and I should have just intercepted his characters to claim warlord. Also he had rolled Invis on his seer, so I really should have killed it. I believe if I had intercepted there then I probably would have won the game with possibly a 20-0, since his WK would not be invisible. He Invis's the WK and fires everything, including all the spiders, at the Supremacy - doing like 4-5 wounds. In my turn 3 I move away from the WK with my tides, and my Supremacy kills a unit or two of spiders with shooting, and his autarch. In his turn 3 he again shoots everything at the Supremacy and puts it down to 3 wounds left.
At this point we come to turn 4 and only have about 10-15mins left, so we realize we will only get to play this turn. This is where I make a couple of huge mistakes. I move back from the WK with my tides and jump on objectives with my crisis suits/tides. My Supremacy doesnt shoot anything but moves within 1" of some spiders. My shooting kills his seer. My supremacy assaults the spiders, he hit and runs... which I had somehow forgotten about!
This was huge, what I should have done was moved all my big robots onto the relic next to the WK. Sure I'd lose a few, but I'd contest relic and would win the game with a much higher point margin. Not sure why I went chasing spiders with my supremacy..huge mistake. His turn, he finishes off the Suprem and jumps on some objectives.
The game ends with a 11-9 victory to me, since I held a lot of maelstrom and he had relic. I'm pleased with the win against a super hard list, but quite annoyed with myself for playing badly in the final turn of the game, as well as messing up my interceptor. Oh well - learning experience
Round 5: vs Eldar
Playing against my own brother in the final round (user:
drinkgasoline).
He had:
Seer with bike
3x 3 scatbikes
3x 2 hornets with pulse lasers
2 single warp hunters
WK with cannons/lasers
3x 5 spiders in an aspect host
Me and my bro theorize, play and bounce ideas off each other a lot, so we pretty much knew each others lists inside out... as well as the strengths/weaknesses.
The scenario was Scouring, maelstrom and Vanguard strike deployment. I had first turn and rolled the infiltrate 3 units warlord traits, so I just deployed my Supremacy fairly far forward. Crisis and ethereal in reserve. He deploys his WK behind a building and the 3 units of spiders in various levels of buildings/hiding. Everything else in reserve. I infiltrate my tides within 18 of his spiders/WK.
In my turn 1 I kill his WK and 2 units of spiders with my shooting. The WK eats a lot of riptide fire and I don't have enough left to mop up all the spiders. In his turn he just grabs some maelstrom and shuffles his spiders around. In my turn my reserves come on and grab some maelstrom, and all my shooting leaves the spiders unit with just the exarch, in between jumps and cover saves he manages to survive. His turn 2 all the reserves come in, and he kills 2 riptides with hornets/bikes and puts 7 wounds on the supremacy with Warp hunters. He also casts shrouding so his hunters have a 2+ cover save. In my turn 3 I kill 2 units of bikes and 5 hornets, but I fail a 4" charge with my riptides on the warp spider exarch and a 6" charge with my supremacy on the final hornet. His turn 3 he finishes off another 2 riptides with an ungodly roll on psyhic shriek, kills my ethereal with the hornet and finishes off the supremacy with warp hunters. My turn I finish off everything except his seer, 1 hornet and 2 warp hunters. His turn 4 he manages to table me with the fearsome D barrage.
This was always going to be a close game. If I had passed a couple of charges and made a couple more saves I feel I could have tabled him, since he literally just had a few skimmers left at the end. We finish the game in under an hour since we play so often that we don't need to explain or go over anything.
Post tourney thoughts:
So I finish with a respectable 4-1 win/loss record, and 71 points out of a total 100. I'm pretty pleased with this showing, the round 4 game was a good learning experience and my loss was against my bro who goes on to win best general/best overall.
Overall I really like the 2 source detachment limit, it means you're never going to have an unfun game against an untouchable invisible death star. I know some players didn't like seeing titans/supremacies, and I wouldn't mind toning this down to maybe a 500pts limit on
LoW. However, the top 3 spots were all taken by eldar playing balanced lists, so I'm not sure this limit would really curb the top armies at all. Eldar are really good, they have the tools to take down everything, as well as playing objectives quite well. I'm not really sure how to tone down such lists without implementing your own erratas/
faq's on D or on warp spider jumps, which seems excessive to do.
Nevertheless I had a lot of fun at the London
40k GT, despite the hiccups it experienced as a result of being a completely new event, and I have 100% confidence that it will be loads better when I return next year!
Thanks for the read
Here's a couple of pics of the event that were posted on the
FB page, this is just of the first room of tables:
^ you can just make me out in the white shirt on the right side of the room in the middle of my round 3 game against space marines
^ as you can see, lots of people + lots of different armies! This was in the middle of round 1, I'm in the white shirt on the second row of tables from the right playing against the guy in grey shirt and chinos.
Thanks for reading!
