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So I started looking into the ToF Invitational event. They have all the lists herehttp://www.torrentoffire.com/3549/torrent-of-fire-invitational-and-summit, and the bracket here http://challonge.com/tofinv. I got excited of course, and started to look at what the different peoples brought. So here are army lists by the numbers! I'll start with the well-known deathstars, then any player who didn't bring one of the well-known deathstars will be briefly summarized after


Jetlock Council: Matt Schuchman(Note: Inc allied Tau, not Baron DE), Matt DeFranza, Tony Kopach
Screamer Council: Bob Roda(Note, also includes a miniFiendStar), Shaun Reynolds,
BeastStar: Alan "Pajamapants", Sean Nayden(No Baron), Zach Lovett(Also had 4 Serpents)
O'vesa Star: Andrew Gonyo, TJ Myers(army was COMPLETELY SUITS)
SM BikeStar: Eric Hoerger, Josh Conant, Kenny Boucher, Paul Murphy, Rob Baer, Rob Fortin,
CSM SpawnStar: James Watkins
CenturionStar: Tim Gorham(also had 2 Chapter Masters on Bikes) WINNER

Others:
Ben Mohlie: Eldar Primary, Vect/Coteaz as back ups for cheap troops and 75% chance to seize
Brad Nichols: Tau/Farsight. Included a general "toolbox". IE Longstrike, a skyray, some Broadside. In short, he didn't use a deathstar!
Brad Townsend: Clan Raukaan/IG/Inquis. Did a blobguard with a RadInquis, Cypher, Chapter Master.
Frankie(FrontLineGaming): Ran his usual Vect/Farseer with lots of venoms, triple ravager, and a wraithknight.
Geoff"EGiNControl": Ran his nids!
John Parsons: Flying Circus
Justin Cook: Brought horde nids with triple Mawloc!
Kurt Clauss: Brought 4(yes 4!) StormRavens
Mark Aksel: Necron av13 Wall
Neil Gilstrap: Brought Tau/Crons with over 70 Sniper Kroot!
Nick Nanavati: Brought PlagueDroneStar
Simon Leen: SoB with Inquisition. That's right, the SoB were there!
Rob Tilly: Pod Marines!
Werner Born: Night Scythe Crons, also had a mini-scarab farm

So, the numbers for this are
Jetlock Council: 3
Screamer Council:2
BeastStar: 3
O'vesa Star: 2
SM BikeStar: 7
CSM SpawnStar: 1
CentDevStar: 1

Wow, a HUGE domination in terms of numbers by Bike lists for marines! The other deathstars were pretty well represented(62.5% of armies fit on the deathstar half of the above page), but there were also 12 players who didn't fit on the list, and brought something interesting. Nick Nanavati tried out a Plague Drone deathstar, Simon Leen brought SoB, etc. Also, note that Jetlock council didn't win. Why?! Well, I think the answer lies in the winning list, played by Tim Gorham. Here is the list:

Chapter Master: Shield Eternal, ThunderHammer, Bike, Artificer Armor
Chapter Master: Storm Shield , Powerfist, Bike, Artificer Armor

5 Scouts
5 Scouts

4 Centurions: Grav Amp/Hurricane Bolter(3x), ML/LC(1x). Omniscope
Stalker
Stalker

Tigurius

5 Scouts

Legion of the Damned: 5man. Combi Plasma, Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon

ThunderFireCannon

Inquisitor Detachment:
Coteaz
Inquis: Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades, Liber Heresius, 3x Servo Skulls

3 Acoloytes: Psyback
3 Acoloytes: Psyback

The list has a CRAP TON of AP2, Ignores Cover shots. That will mean even if the Jetlock Council got fully juiced up, they only have a 4++/4++. TL from Tigurius(and most likely perfect timing...) means that the Centurions fire 15 shots that hit on 3s, with rerolls, wound on 2s, with rerolls, and have a decent chance of killing a few jetlocks. Throw in 2 Orbital bombardments that are also Twin-Linked, Ignores Cover, a squad of Plasma LotD, and suddenly you can actually make the jetlock die, and pretty fast too. But his list also had a Thunderfire Cannon and a pair of stalkers, so it was well-rounded. His only huge weakness that I can see from the list was only having 3 5man scout squads at 1850. But he obviously managed to win with it, so hey, my criticism is useless

Well done Tim, and congratulations to the other guys who managed to earn the right to go there!

What other interesting things did you find from reading the lists? I suspect a couple people will try out Nick Nanavati's Plague Drone Star. I have before, but I tweaked it quite a bit from his version. Let me know what you guys think of this!

I feel Rob'd by all those biker armies. Lol.

Nice breakdown don't forget the 2x3 acolytes in psybacks that the winner had.

LOL I know right? All 3 Rob's were bikes!

Well done on the gamer joke, not many people joke about manbarbies


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@djn good catch, thanks!

I don't really know how thoroughly you read through these lists, Werner born's "wraith star" had zero wraiths in it.

Fixed! Misread Canoptek Scarabs as Canoptek Wraiths

What are you considering as "star"? Rob Tilly's list has 2x5 Bikes and Kahn. The closest he has to a star are the 3 Grav Centurions that can be, but are not always joined by characters. James Watkin's list has Spawn, but are five Spawn and a Lord really a "star"? Those units don't even break 400 points. Bob Roda's list has a Screamerstar, but again, are the Fiends plus a character a "star"? The list goes on...

I'm not saying that this event didn't have a ton of deathstars, but I think you throw around the term too loosely. It reminds me of the way any minor scandal becomes "insert term-gate."

yermom wrote:
I don't really know how thoroughly you read through these lists, Werner born's "wraith star" had zero wraiths in it.

LOL! you are correct.... i see 0 wraiths in this crazy wraith star

Edit...

awww they found it...

I like how far brad went : )

I use the "Star" in short for a unit, joined by a character, that is more than the sum of it's parts(usually through buffs for instance). There is a reason why I called the Fiendstar a mini-star. But that is my own personal definition, which is why I included Rob Tilly's. Whether he stuck Khan with the bike squad or the Cent Dev's, it was a star. A mini-star, that certainly isn't a huge investment in points. I understand if you disagree with Tilly's placement on the Bike horde category. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, it really isn't a Bike Horde, just a Pod army that had bikes to support it...

And now for the third edit. One of these days, I'll write an article that is perfect...

If anything my list was a spyderstar, as that's where the IC's were attaching to (as opposed to the scarabs). I don't really consider it to be a deathstar though, it doesn't function quite like the notorious ones you are lumping it with.

I'd say the 5x flyers are the bigger element of the list.

I misunderstood the list then. You stuck the dLord with the Spyders? Interesting!

And yes, there is definitely a difference between your star and the other more notorious stars, I was just trying to sum up each of the lists

So if you had ten boyz in a truck joined by a warp head that would be an "ork death star" oh nose the Death Stars are everywhere. A death star is something that pushes half your points into one unit.

The massed biked armies were crazy, but it seems like a lot of the bike players didn't always clump their characters in the same unit, so I don't know if they all count as stars as other players have pointed out.

That said its great to see a breakdown by the numbers, so thanks for that! I think most people who I talked to this weekend are really looking forward to something that forces the meta away from the death star. While I don't hate the star, I wouldn't be sad to see them disappear.

I'm just happy that fmc circus has a pretty winnable match vs most of the stars!

Usually people categorize a unit+character/s combo as a Deathstar /____Star if it represents one dominating threat that takes up a large share of the army's points, and thus as that unit goes, so generally goes the army. Just like blowing up the Deathstar won the battle in Star Wars.

That said, thanks for the breakdown!

The Pod Marines with bikes played fairly well, and although I usually play Daemons it was a good break to try something different. I can say that although a lot of people brought the deathstars, many people, including a fair amount of the deathstar players, felt that a meta shift would be nice to see.

That being said, even playing against screamer star, as mass marines, the game was exceptionally close and could have swung either way! I can't say enough about Bob Roda our game was a great one.

Also, East Coast VS West Coast had some 2v2 action going on after the third round! My Self (Rob Tilly) and Kurt went against Franky and Geoff with pride and a round of drinks on the line! Kurt and I pulled it off with a little bit of good rolling on our side.

I think it is hard sometimes to convey the atmosphere of an event when you do a by number breakdown. People want a meta shift, and even when attending a country-wide invitational many people are willing to take a risk and try different lists.

Pleasantly surprised by the list that won. I wonder how that list deals with screamer star though, I would think that 1 inquisitor with psycobroke grenades wouldn't be enough.

Go first, drop 2 Oribital strikes on the star....

Pony_law wrote:
Pleasantly surprised by the list that won. I wonder how that list deals with screamer star though, I would think that 1 inquisitor with psycobroke grenades wouldn't be enough.

As the only daemon player who played him, I promise you its enough. you are one failed grim from loosing that unit in combat. With the chapter master tanking and the nade cady they really wont do that much dmg to the cent star.

I played him also. Drone star vs cent star was very pivotal. Had he won first he could have nuked my drones. Had he not rolled ignore cover he could not have. Had he failed an early 3++ on his chapter master that wasn't eternal I could have swept the whole unit. Had he hit with a thunderfire on one of my troops after I deep struck that could have been a huge swing.

When 2 good players battle with relatively even lists the game will enevitably come down to a few single die rolls as that is the only variable that remains. Tim played very well and congrats to him! He deserved his wins!

I have to admit I'm rather impressed with the number of Stalkers and Rhinos from the guys who brought Marines. I'm looking forward to any battle reports that come out of this.

yermom wrote:
I played him also. Drone star vs cent star was very pivotal. Had he won first he could have nuked my drones. Had he not rolled ignore cover he could not have. Had he failed an early 3++ on his chapter master that wasn't eternal I could have swept the whole unit. Had he hit with a thunderfire on one of my troops after I deep struck that could have been a huge swing.

When 2 good players battle with relatively even lists the game will enevitably come down to a few single die rolls as that is the only variable that remains. Tim played very well and congrats to him! He deserved his wins!

Oops, still kinda bummed we didnt play in the final 4 :(

I'll remove references to my version of star then. This wasn't meant to start a debate on naming conventions, but rather a look at the lists that were brought.

Also, huge thanks to the players who attended for giving their input! That's an invaluable aspect to understanding an event.