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Were you the Tau player that finished 5th Zagman? What was your list?

And congrats on the great showing! I know that FMC list has me pondering

Dorksim wrote:
Were you the Tau player that finished 5th Zagman? What was your list?

And congrats on the great showing! I know that FMC list has me pondering

Thanks. Yep, that's me. Name may have gave it away, lol. I posted my list in the Battle Report section, I'll be working on getting short batreps up of each game. I would have placed lower in the top bracket, but with drops I managed to sneak Tau into 5th. Most people were shocked to see Tau up in Bracket 1 to begin with.

Tau are still amazing, it just goes to show how many players relied on the crutch of batbros in 6th however. Good job.

Invisibility is really good for competitive builds. You can't go wrong with other than designing a list that's dependent on it.

Looks like we may see a run on Swooping Hawks after the success of some of the Eldar players with them at NOVA.

FINAL RESULTS

Best General- Tony Kopach (Eldar)
Rennissance Man- Thomas Donslund (Eldar)
Battle Master- Gareth Hunt (Daemons / Knights)

Swooping hawks have been good since the book dropped.

The mission structure just makes them even better.

 Leth wrote:
Swooping hawks have been good since the book dropped.

The mission structure just makes them even better.

Good, but not competitive. I dont see what they do that jet bikes cant do.

Both can get exactly where they need to go in one turn without scatter. Both die from a stiff breeze. Both shooting is bad. Jet bikes are cheaper. jet bikes are faster. Jet bikes can start on table turn one.

Hawks can deepstrike onto objective for guaranteed score (except not because their not OS) jet bikes can go flat out for guaranteed score (and are OS).

The hawks usually start on the table turn one, depending on turn order. They can then leave the table while bikes can not. In addition they bring an ignore cover large blast to the table.

So yes they are very different than bikes

 Leth wrote:
The hawks usually start on the table turn one, depending on turn order. They can then leave the table while bikes can not. In addition they bring an ignore cover large blast to the table.

So yes they are very different than bikes

They can leave the table, to come on later. Jet bikes can stay at the corner of the board or out of los. Ignores cover large blast can scatter, and in what competitive lists do one large blast (thats strength 4) do for you?

They are different. But jet bikes are better.

The Swooping Hawks can find and kill small scoring units that hide in the corner. First you drop a blast on their head then You fire all your shots into them. Then the Hawks leave the table to do it again next turn.

Other wise the ability to leave the table during your opponents turn makes Hawks more durable then Jetbikes which have to hide and hope your enemy doesn't have something that can find them.

DarthDiggler wrote:
The Swooping Hawks can find and kill small scoring units that hide in the corner. First you drop a blast on their head then You fire all your shots into them. Then the Hawks leave the table to do it again next turn.

Other wise the ability to leave the table during your opponents turn makes Hawks more durable then Jetbikes which have to hide and hope your enemy doesn't have something that can find them.

If your going to dedicate them into killing small units hiding in the corner then you wont be scoring with them.
I dont think you understand just how easily swooping hawks are killed They dont last a turn after deep striking in.
Both jet bikes and hawks are easily killed. They both last one turn after coming out of their safe spot. I would much rather score an objective then trying to kill a small unit hiding in the corner. Wave serpents are for that.

Its really a matter of who can score better. And the answer is Jet bikes.

What's funny is your giving all these "facts" ninja. Yet Many of us watched MULTIPLE games at nova where hawks were alive and doing work in turns 5/6/7. Just because you don't know how to use them doesn't make them worse than jetbikes.

 Byte wrote:
The young guy was using plasma grenades in assault.

Thomas should have assaulted the warlord with the WK after his WS popped the transport.

Than again, I'm not the one playing the final table.

The reason I didn't assault the warlord was twofold 1: wk was with 2 or 3 wounds remaining and I didn't want to risk losing it to lucky over watch and melts bombs and 2: I planned my beast pack to cleanup those two squads as a movement boost.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

DarthDiggler wrote:
The Swooping Hawks can find and kill small scoring units that hide in the corner. First you drop a blast on their head then You fire all your shots into them. Then the Hawks leave the table to do it again next turn.

Other wise the ability to leave the table during your opponents turn makes Hawks more durable then Jetbikes which have to hide and hope your enemy doesn't have something that can find them.

If your going to dedicate them into killing small units hiding in the corner then you wont be scoring with them.
I dont think you understand just how easily swooping hawks are killed They dont last a turn after deep striking in.
Both jet bikes and hawks are easily killed. They both last one turn after coming out of their safe spot. I would much rather score an objective then trying to kill a small unit hiding in the corner. Wave serpents are for that.

Its really a matter of who can score better. And the answer is Jet bikes.

Not dedicating them to do anything, that's your words not mine. They CAN kill MSU Ob. sec. Units hiding away from the main fight. Hawks trump those units. Hawks kill Jetbikes. Period. Hawks do not die easily to return fire for two reasons.

1. The units they go after are hiding and away from the fight so the Hawks themselves will be most likely hidden and away from the fight.

2. The Hawks can be picked up and put into ongoing reserve which prevents them from being shot/assaulted at all and also allows them to get the drop on another MSU unit all the way on the other side of the table.

What do you do if there are no MSU Ob. sec. Units for the Hawks to attack? Drop them safe and send them into ongoing reserve to grab objectives/Linebreaker at the end of the game.

Another great NOVA. Congrats to Zagman for getting top 5 with Tau! Don't be so self-deprecating! People drop every year; you don't know what they would have scored if they hung in there; you might have beaten them as well.

I took off to try the Narrative Warlords this year, and it was fun, but I can't wait to get back in the GT.

DarthDiggler wrote:
I dont think you understand just how easily swooping hawks are killed

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
They dont last a turn after deep striking in.

Well, yeah, if you fail to Deep Strike or Battle Focus them into hiding, they die their T3, Armor 4+ deaths.

Good use of them has you drop the STR4 plate, shoot up what's left, *and* Battle Focus behind LOS blocking terrain and then you keep them alive until game's end, which, I've been managing to do most of my games.

Only 6 of them, too.

DarthDiggler wrote:
They CAN kill MSU Ob. sec. Units hiding away from the main fight. Hawks trump those units. Hawks kill Jetbikes. Period. Hawks do not die easily to return fire for two reasons.

1. The units they go after are hiding and away from the fight so the Hawks themselves will be most likely hidden and away from the fight.

2. The Hawks can be picked up and put into ongoing reserve which prevents them from being shot/assaulted at all and also allows them to get the drop on another MSU unit all the way on the other side of the table.

What do you do if there are no MSU Ob. sec. Units for the Hawks to attack? Drop them safe and send them into ongoing reserve to grab objectives/Linebreaker at the end of the game.

Yes, Darth has it right. I've been using Hawks all summer to this degree, and more often that not, with only 6 birds to start with, ninjaFD, I've got birds on the table at the end of the game.

Oh, and I use two crews of Jetbikes (4 and 5 dudes) in my BAO list. Usually one of those units is still alive. I hope that's helpful.

Ok. Valid points all the way around. I guess I just cant wrap my mind around them surviving. Even with battle focus I just dont see them making it behind los cover every time, or doing enough damage or objective scoring to make them competitive.

I can also say that here in Austin, their is never los blocking terrain. In our whole store we have maybe 2 pieces that do well for los blocking.

Also important to note you cant arrive in from reserve, then leap out. Have to be on board a whole turn before escaping.

The two middle terrain pieces and the hills placed at opposing corners were very large, easily big enough to hide swooping hawks from anything not a wraithknight or flyer.

Had a great time again this year, the Fantasy GT was an absolute blast. Six close games against six outstanding gentlemen.

Can't wait until next year!

Why did Robertson with 1L and 1F finish below Frankie with 3 Ls?

AlexRae wrote:
Why did Robertson with 1L and 1F finish below Frankie with 3 Ls?

Withdrawing automatically drops you to the bottom of your bracket.

Hello,

Thanks for an excellent tournament to Mike Brandt and Mike Somerville and the rest of the Nova Crew. Easily one of the best tournaments I have participated in with great terrain, good venue and great execution. Defiantly something to recommend to other Europeans to try out.

Also thanks to my opponents for 12 fantastic games, especially:
- Matt Schuchman game 2 in the invitational which was a really strategic game
- Werner Born game 5 in the open. It was like playing chess, very fantastic.
- James Ramsey game 6 in the open. Got nuked in the beginning but won on troops by one point. James psychics and MC utilisation is the best I have ever seen and a living proof that FMC isn't dead
- Zach Pawlikowsky, open game 7, very impressed by his skills as a 16 year old player, well done
- Tony Kopach, open game 8 finals, amazing tactical execution by mr Kopach, a great challenge to play from behind when no invis and keep trying to create an opportunity that could turn the game to my advantage that nearly came but too late.

Players like Werner, James and Tony are a pleasure other than being very good they are also extremely friendly and nice to play. Thank you for that.

I'll write something of the twelve matches on my blog when I get home.

Best regards,

Dorner aka T Donslund

Glad to hear it Dorner! If we want to build a truly global 40k circuit someday we need people on both sides of the Atlantic to be as willing as you to travel.

Dorner wrote:

 Byte wrote:
The young guy was using plasma grenades in assault.

Thomas should have assaulted the warlord with the WK after his WS popped the transport.

Than again, I'm not the one playing the final table.

The reason I didn't assault the warlord was twofold 1: wk was with 2 or 3 wounds remaining and I didn't want to risk losing it to lucky over watch and melts bombs and 2: I planned my beast pack to cleanup those two squads as a movement boost.

Aye, I just found it a shame that it was so close at the end and the warlord may have made a difference.

Fantastic showing and congrats on Renaissance Man! I enjoyed watching your games!

I had an excellent time and was very happy to manage top 8 with flying MC daemons before Thomas knocked me out in the quarter finals in a very tight and thrilling game where he managed to keep a calm head even after some bad luck and win by 1 point, such a close margin but definitely one of the best games out of the 100s I have played. I dropped to enjoy some holiday time with my fiance after the loss but really enjoyed the format/terrain and the guys were so nice and friendly. Everyone was enjoying themselves.

I would like to say I will be back one day, who knows, but definitely recommend it to anyone who isn't sure if it is worth the cost. I would take playing in Nova over a year of local tournaments it was that good.

Hey, is there somewhere Justin Adams army list ?

Appended previous post

Anywhere to find the lists?

I can't wait to see some batreps.