So after a two hour drive, Im finally at Battlefield Games in Killeen. Im really surprised by the armies I see on display, there alot of lists that look pretty competitive. Killeen is a smaller town I thought it might be less competitive, but if anything it looks just as competitive as any place ever. I've never been here before, I dont know anyone here, but I feel odly pretty comfortable. Everything looks legit, and the TO sounds out table #'s.

Game one I get paired against Bryce who has an Awesome fully painted Space Marine Army.

Space Marine List

Sentinels of Terra

-Libby, ML2, Eye of Hypnoth, Bones of Osrak

-Tactical Squad X 5 (Walking)
-Tactical Squad X 5 (Stormraven)

Legion of Damned X 10 in two separate units? combi Melta, Meltagun, MultiMelta.

Centurion Devastator Squad X 3 , 3X TL Lascannons, 3X Missile Launchers

Relic Whirlwind Scorpious, Battle of Keylek
StormRaven, TL assault Cannon, TL multi Melta, 4X Stormstrike Missiles

Red Scorpion CAD

Magister Sevrin Loth

Tactical X 5 , Combi Melta, Meltagun
-Drop Pod

Thunderfire Cannon

Centurion Devastator Squad, 3X Grav Cannon & Grav Amplifier, 3X Missile Launchers

Mission #1

Primary : 5 Objectives, 1 Center, 4 in Each Table Quarter Centered (Red Circles in Pictures)
Secondary : Modified Malestorm (Green Circles, Top of Bat Rep)
Tertiary : First Blood, Slay the Warlord, High Ground


We Roll off and I get the option of Deploying First. I get my warlord trait from Strategic (3 Pinning Tests on Enemy). I roll Psychic Powers and I get nothing I need. On the Sixth and Final Dice I roll it, and get a 5!!!!



PreGame - All right, pretty legit list here I gota put on my try hard hat. He has Loth which gives all the powers from Telepathy or whatever, so he has Invisibility as well as a whole bunch of other lesser powers. Its imperative that I negate his Invisibility, because if that unit gets Invis up its not going to die, luckily I have 14 warp charges so that should be ok. None of his troops look too bad, those will all die. Stormraven will be annoying I cant do anything to it. His Centurions and overall shooting is pretty good, Im probably going to loose both my serpents and all my wraithlknights. Basically what I need to do is to Charge up the center, stay in cover with my knights, and try to kill stuff. Hopefully I can get the back to objectives, Hold or Contest the center, and take out the top right or left with my DeathStar



Eldar One

I deploy everything Centralized, Bike Squad 12" Up, Wraithknights in cover, Wave Serpents in Center, And Guardian Jetbikes in Reserve.

Bryce does not Seize, although if he did It would have been really bad. He rolls pinning on 3 of his Squads, none of them are pinned.

He Deploys StormRaven+Drop Pod in Reserve. Loth+Libby+Centurions go in Center cover. Tactical Squad is Left. Centurions and artillery tank and thunderfire go top right corner.

I move everything in my Army 12" Up, Trying to stay in Cover. My Wave Serpents put their but towards the board edge orienting towards center so his Drop Pod Meltas will get Jinking Side armor as opposed to rear armor.

In Psychic Phase I get off Fortune (Re Roll Armor), and Protect (+1 Armor). I shoot almost everything in my Army at Loth Squad in Center. Through shooting I take out around 2 Centurions.

I also get Secure Maelstorm Objective 2 in my Backfield (Malestorms were done by Player Turn not Game turn by the TO's announcement).

Not tooo Shabbay.





Space Marine One

His drop pod comes down to my left. His guys get out to Melta the side of my Wave Serpent.

His whole Army shoots at my right Drop WraithKnight, all Templates shoot at Jetbike Squad.

Through good rolling and poor 3+ Cover Saves, he puts 5 wounds on my right WraithKnight. He also had some rule where he was negating my cover save by -2, which didnt help. Shooting into the Jetbike Squad resulted in maybe a warlock dying.

During his Psychic Phase he goes for Invis, and gets it with 3 Charges. I negate it with all my Warp Charges, and I Deny the Witch.

He gets his other powers off. Loth goes God Mode with his Toughness and 2+ Invul Save. He casts other stuff that buffs the unit.

He Meltas into my Wave Serpent, and through Jinking I negate the Penetrates.



Eldar Two

Ok, Im doing all right.

There is currently an Objective Secured Drop Pod on my back left Objective along with Meltas. These need to die for me to win so I bring Center WraithKnight Back to deal with those. My Jetbikes do not come in.

My Seer Council Moves Forward to Engage Loth's Squad. This should give me First Blood, Slay Warlord Tertiaries. This will also allow me to Swing Right and whipe his shooting base after I hopefully whipe Loth's Squad. I plan to shoot the 5 man tactical Squad off their Objective.

I get Fortune Off. I get +1 WS+ Initiative Off. I try to -1 his Armor Save but he Denys it with the Libby in the unit.

I shoot alot into Loth's Squad. I take out the last centurion as well as I think put a wound or so on Libby + Loth. I shoot my Wave Serpents into the Legion of the Damned Squad behind Loth. I make them take Two Wounds. They take their Morale Check (Irrilith is within 18") so they fail. They run backwards and are about 0.5" Off the board edge.

I Charge into Loth's Squad. I go through cover and I dont have grenades so we go at same initiative. He challenges me and I deny the Challenge because I dont want my HQ's Dead. I randomly Roll and Irrilyth cant attack.

My WraithKnight makes it into Charge range with Loth. Someone Overwatches a high strength weapon, rolls a 6, rolls to wound, and kills my wraithknight getting first blood. Thats unfortunate.

The Close Combat Tarpits and we both do meager amounts of wounds. I maybe put one on the Libby and Loth. He maybe kills 1-2 Warlocks. We both Hold.

My WraithKnight makes Charge Distance into his Squad in my Backfield, I kill maybe one.

Malestorm I get Securing Objective One



Space Marine Two

His StormRaven Comes on.

He Shoots everything (ALOT) at my wave serpents. Through Poor Rolling on his part, and me making around 10 Jink Saves in a Row, he doesnt destroy it.

Our Close Combat Tarpits. WraithLord Maybe Kills One Marine

Eldar Three

Jetbikes come in and go to back left objective. They Spread out.

I cast my Psychic Powers that I need and get them off.

His Legion Squad in the back of 3 charges into me. We do close combat and each do meager amounts of Damage. Somewhere around this time the Libby Drops. Loth is passing 2+ Invul Saves like a boss, he looses maybe a wound.

Space Marine Three

His StormRaven Moves up to the Center Objective.

Everything in his Army again shoots at my Wave Serpents. I make less good rolls this time and I think loose my left Wave Serpent either this turn or next. My Guys get out.



Close combat again goes herp derp. I do meager Damage, he does Meager Damage. Loth is down to One wound.

At this point I've Grown tired of Loth, so I hit and run out of the Combat. and move 9" Towards the Left to go after that objective.

Eldar 4

Through Shooting and Assault my Deathstar kills 5 Tactical Marines. I consolidate towards the objective on the top left corner.

My WraithKnight is still locked in close combat with 5 Tactical Marines.........Ive been killing 1-0 for like 5 Assault Phases now. I really need the knight to get out of combat and kill that Drop Pod so my Bikes can Score.

I get Maelstorm for securing Objective in my backfield with serpents







Space Marine 4

At this point the TO calls that we have like 10 minutes left. So we go fastmode.

He moves his Stormraven up and drops 5 Tacticals on Middle Objective.

Loth + Other Squad move towards my Jetbike Squad.
His last Legion Squad Pops Down on the top left Objective to go after Seer Council (This was a mistake, if he had gone bottom right or left he would have won).

Loth gets the Charge off on my Seer Council, and Dies to either OverWatch or just close combat attacks. I consolidate back towards the Objective.

WraithKnight finally wins combat.

Eldar 5/ Space Marine 5

At this point we have like 5 minutes left. We agree to do turn 5 but at Super Speed, only doing things that matter.

My WraithKnight Shoots/Charges Drop Pod Killing it, I get bottom Left Objectiv with Knight + Bikes.
Wave Serpent moves towards the Bottom Right Objective, also Mine.

Illirlth Separates from Jetbike Squad, towards Legion Squad in the Open. Jetbike Squad Shoots them down models, Irrilth shoots them down models, Irrilth charges giving me a turn 5 Malestorm of getting a kill in Assault.

His StormRaven turbo's over to the Top Left Objective. I had an issue with the Storm Raven not being able to turn that far, I think it might have turned well over 90 Degrees to get the Objective. I didnt see him move it, and its too late. I thought it was facing towards the board edge so it couldnt of gotten close to the objective, but Bryce told me he was able to do it.








End Game

Primary - We Tie. I have two objectives towards my edge. He Has Middle and Top Right. Top Left is Contested.
Secondary - We Tie on Malestorm 5/5.
Tertiary - I have Slay Warlord, He has First blood (Lol WraithKnight) Neither of us got High Ground.

We Tie 11-11

Wow what a game. It was a good game, Bryce knew the rules well and we didnt argue about anything the whole time. Nothing to complain about. Tactically I think I played it fine, nothing I really would have done differently.

Couple things hurt me including the game not ending due to time. My WraithKnight dying to a overwatch lost me the game, if he had charged at initiative I would have gotten first blood with the centurion dying. My Seer Council got Tarpit with Loth longer than expected due to really good 2+ saves. If the game had gone on I would have moved the WraithKnight to contest the Center Objective. The StormRaven would have flown off the board, and I would put my seer council in a way where he couldn't of contested the objective.

If the game had gone on, I think I would have pulled it out

Overall not a great way to start the day, but not horrible. At Half Battle Points (Total of 23) Im not too far behind the leaders and should get a pretty easy seed second game Opponent.

So after a pretty try-hard game, Im ready for my second opponent. Im pumpin at this point in full Wargaming Mode. Lack of Sleep? Skipping Lunch Break? Two hour drive ahead of me and a snow storm on its way? Yea sorry Im a power gamer so I ignore everything relevant and im ready to win game 2.

I get paired up against John (Im like 99% sure thats right). Johns list is below

Knight Errant ; Warlord (Seneschal 3+)
Knight Paladin ; (Knight Rank)
Knight Paladin ; (Knight Rank)

Lord Commissar - Carapace Armor, Camo Gear, Emperors Benediction.
Veteran Squad ; Forward Sentries, Sniper Rifle X 3, Lascannon Team.
Veteran Squad ; Forward Sentries, Sniper Rifle X 3, Lascannon Team.
Mulitarium Tempestus Squad, +2 MT, Meltagun X 2

Vandetta

Leman Russ Exterminator:, Lascannon, Heavy Botlers.

Mission

Deployment : Vanguard Strike (Opposite Corners)
Primary : 4 Objectives (10)
Secondary : Modified Maelstorm (10)
Tertiary ; Slay Warlord / LineBreaker / Solo Blood.


Pre-Game

Awesome. I've heard alot about "Knight Spam", so Im excited to play against it. The Casual in me wants to complain about a cheesy list, but then I remember Im a power game and that I eat Cheese for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner. Im looking to get hit in the mouth to test where Im at, so this is the perfect way to do it.

Its objectives. His Vandetta wont do a whole lot, His Leman wont do a whole lot, his Troops wont do a whole lot. All 3 of them could do meager amounts of damage perhaps put wounds on a WraithKnight or make my jetbikes fall of the board or kill a Wave Serpent, but Holistically they arnt that big of a deal. The main thing I need to do is separate and kill his Knights one at a time. I need to kill 1-2 of them, I dont need to kill all 3. My Squad can Hit and Run out of combat, and everything in my army is fast. I just need to play like a non scrublord and use my advantage of Speed.

Psychic Powers, Fortune and Invisibility are Important. If I miss out on both of them Im probably going to loose. If I get Fortune and even Invisibility, this game should be really good.

Deployment

I roll the dice and get to go first. I deploy first. I roll my psycic powers and get Fortune (woot) and I also get +1 str to my warlocks and doom. Those are both important.

I deploy centralized, and my Opponent Deploys in his corner. One squad of troops in each building, Melta Vents in Reserve, 3 Knights spread out in his DZ.

Objectives are Generic, Two in each deployment zone moderately spread out. He has both in his buildings.

HOW AWESOME IS THIS TERRAIN, A+++++, This store has better terrain than most legit GT's.







Eldar One

My Opponent does not seize (if he did it would be bad). I positioned to somewhat mitigate an alfa strike but if he seized it would be bad.

He has deployed troops in each building, and each of his knights guarding his Objectives.

It looks like he is going to make me come to him, which is difficult. He will be able to somewhat contest backfield objectives of mine. My Seer Council + Wraithknights need to charge into him.

Heres the thing though. My opponent has a 24" Death Bubble. If he uses all 3 knights in Tandom, I cant break it. 3 Knights in the same combat = dead. If I move within his 24" Threat bubble whatever moves in is probably going to die. I need to move close, out of his 24" threat bubble, and hope that I bait something out. I can then alfa strike 1 Knight, take it out and then deal with 2 instead of 3. My Goal here is to get one knight out of position, and even the odds.

If my opponent takes the bait, I win. If my opponent doesnt take the bait, it means that I hit and run into his backfield and hope to get lucky contesting his objectives with 3 Knights trying to stop me.

I move my Wave Serpents to get meager shots into his troops (ignoring 3+ cover saves is cool). I then move my Seer council and WraithKnights up the center outside a 24" threat bubble. I keep both Knights Toe Dipping 4+ Cover Saves.

I get Shroud+Protect+Fortune so Im getting 2+ re rollable cover and armor saves. I get these all game except for round #4.

Shooting from Wave Serpents kills meager amounts of troops that pass morale. Shooting Knights does 3 Hull Points to his centralized Warlord (not to shabby).

I assault move and try to spread out everything within 2" consolidation to avoid blast goodiness

I get Maelstrom number #6 so Maelstrom im at 1.



IG Turn One

Everything shoots at my WraithKnight, Templates go into Knights + Bikes. We see a Warlock with Quicken power drop (lol Quicken), and we see 5 wounds put on my first WraithKnight. Rolled above average and I rolled poor on my cover saves.

Overall this is pretty unfortunate. At this rate im going to loose all my nights on turn 3, which is bad. WraithKnights are actually pretty decent against Knights with Hammer of Wrath, and then Initiative 5 Str 10 Attacks. Im keeping my knights in cover so its hard for me to think of anything else I can do except for just keeping them on the back board edge which I think isolates my army and puts me in an unwinable defensive posture.

Eldar 2

I move my units more in their clockwise movement, trying to stay out of the 24" bubble.

I get my important 2+ re rollable powers.

Shooting takes out 2 more points on his warlord knight. I rolled a One on the D3+1 table, so I got a little unlucky. I hoped to kill the knight and get the maelstrom but I didnt.

My Bikes come in and sit on the back objectives out of range of most weapons.

Wave Serpents against spam shoot into the guardsman.

I get Maelstorm #1.

I also move my Wave Serpents so their but is not able to get melta'd. I assume his Melta Vets are comign next turn.



IG #2

He shoots his entire army at my wraithknight and bikes. Through decent rolling and bad rolling by him he didnt kill a bike, nor did he put a wound on the knight.

His melta vents come in and melta my wave serpent. He lands on the Deep Strike, and I jink, and he manages an Immobilized result. This is somewhat bad but I still have on serpent and a full bike squad.

He moves his warlord knight forward and declares an assault into my WraithKnight. I mention that he shot Heavy Stubbers/Templates into my bikes, so his primary target should be the bikes which he couldnt assault. He agrees and the assault fails.



Eldar #3

I get powers I need.

I move WraithKnights into Front & Side Arch to avoid his shield at least once. I also move knights into counter charge range if needed. A WraithKnight should throw at least one wound into a knight and kill it no problem.

I move Bikes to shoot into remaining IG Squad. Irrilyth is within 18" so they should fail leadership and run off the board.

So this is basically what I needed, one of his Knights if out of position so Im going to kill it with minimal pushback and only have 2 Knights to deal with. His 2nd Knight is contesting his two homefield objectives. His third knight will probably go after my right objective. His Vandetta will also come on this turn so its going to be a close game.

I shoot into his squad on the left ruins and kill everything but the commissar.

My Backfield units shoot at the IG squad of 5. Everything in my Backfield shoots at them and they get whiped turn 5. He passes like 35/40 4+ saves.

I shoot his Knight and do nothing, I then assault his Knight with my 1 wound WraithKnight and take off the last wound.

I kill the Knight (His Warlord) and in the explosion my WraithKnight Dies.

I get Malestorm #5 for the 3rd turn in a row (lol)



IG 3

His shooting does very little if not anything.

His Vandetta comes in shoots one of my serpents, I Jink and it does nothing.

His Knight tries to charge my Jetbike squad and fails with a bad roll.




Eldar 4

I change up my psychic powers. Protect no longer matters because im on my 4+ invul saves. I get fortune off. I then Doom his Knight (Re roll to Penetrate), and I empower my Squad so I get +1str.

I shoot into his Knight with everything, and then I charge it with my remaining WraithKnight + My DeathStar.

My WraithKnight puts around 4 Hull Points into him. My Jetbike Squad then finishes it off with 2 more hull points. Str 4 + Armor Bane + doom for the win. The Knight Blows up and kills my WraithKnight & like 3-4 Jetbikes. Im a little bit peturbed at how much stuff a Knight kills when it dies. From a conceptual standpoint you should be rewarded for killing it, not further damaged. I dont really understand why a dead Knight does so much damage, but whatever it is what it is.

I get Malestorm #6, so I have a total of 4.

Right now he has 1 Knight, One troop squad, Vandetta, and Leman Russ. I will probably be able to contest/control his backfield objectives based on where his 3rd Knight Goes. If his 3rd Knight goes for My back objective Im going to take his back 2, and the 3rd with my Jetbikes winning 3-1. If he moves towards his backfield Ill contest and take my back 2 giving me at least 2-1 or 2-0 lead.





IG 4

He moves his last Knight to Intercept my DeathStar, meaning my back to objectives are basically mine. He also moves his Leman to objective grab.

His Knight Charges my Bikes, we trade wounds. He kills a few I cause a few HP.

I Hit and Run out (LOL) to his back objective.




Eldar 5

At this point we are again out of time. John and I decide that this in fact will be our last turn.

I move my jetbikes and I assault his troop squad in the building. I whipe it taking the objective and his last OBJSEC Unit.

I move my Wave Serpent onto my Objective, and get rear shots into the Leman and Immobolize it.

I move my Jetbikes onto the other objective the Vandetta is on. The 5 IG in my backfield finally die (One of my wave serpents is dead at this point).

I get Malestorm #6, giving me a total of 5 Malestorm Points.





IG 5

He moves his units. At this point we decide that I've won the game. He has the one objective his commissar is on. I have the back two objectives. The Objective with my Jetbike Squad / His Knight is contested, his Knight wont kill my entire unit with Fortune, and Ill H&R Back on the Objective and get it. Im winning 2-1 on Objectives. He chose to shoot at my Wave Serpent with the Vandetta and I jinked and he didnt do anything. HE could have shot at the Jetbikes trying to get them to fall off the board, but getting 2 kills on a jetbike squad with a 4+ jink save would be difficult. Something he should have tried though.





Game Summary

So Primary I've won 2-1 , 10 Points
Secondary I have 5, he has less, 10 more points.
I have Linebreaker, Solo Blood, and Slay the Warlord, another 3 Points.

My opponent gets 1 point for Linebreaker.

So I win 23-1

Overall a pretty good game. I got the psychic powers I needed and was able to play the mission. He separated his knights which allowed me to pick them off. If he had consolidated his knights he probably could have forced a tie, theres no way I can deal with 3 Knights together.

One thing he didnt try was killing jetbikes and having them run off the board. If he had killed my jetbikes and made them run off the board, it would have made the game more difficult for me. So Im glad he didnt try shooting at my Jetbikes.

So far Im at 34/46 Battle Points, and I move on to the final game #3.

Game 3 I get paired with Ryan and his Blood Angels. His list is as Follows.

Libby
Commander Dante
-Death Company X 10, 2X Power Weapons, 1 X Thunder Hammer.
-Death Company X 10, 2X Power Weapons, 1 X Thunder Hammer.

-Furioso Dred, Drop Pod
-Furioso Dred, Drop Pod

Tactical Squad X 9, Heavy Flamer.
Tactical Squad X 9, Rhino

Assault Squad X 5 , 2 Meltas
Assault Squad X 5, 2 Meltas

Mission

Primary : Kill Points
Secondary : Modified Malestorm
Tertiary : Blue Blood (Destroy Elite Unit before your opponent) / Slay Warlord / Line Breaker

Deployment : Hammer & Anvil.

Ryan wins the roll to Deploy First, and he goes first. I have no objections to this as its actually better for him to go first.

This list reminds me of 5th Edition. The mission is kill points. Im just going to castle in my corner and hope that he divides his units. Any of his units any one of my units can deal with easily. If he drops stuff next to my army im just going to kill it and win.








BA One

Night Fighting is in effect. He drops down one Furioso Dred, and it scatters back out of flamer range.

He doesnt do any damage to me.



Eldar One

I have fortune, I also have most of the Psychic Powers I need. I actually did not get protect this game though which is sad face.

He has dropped a drop pod and a furioso in front of my entire army, its basically my job to kill it.

I doom the Furioso. I move Irrilyth to get side shots, Wave Serpent to get side shots, and both WraithKnights to get front shots.

Shooting takes out the Furioso (re rolling armor pens with no cover saves is lol). Furioso Dead. Shooting also sees the drop pod die. I shoot into the backfield Rhino and do 2 Hull Points.

Eldar : 2 Kill Points . Blood Angels : 0 Kill Points.



BA 2

Everything comes in besides his two assault squads.

Two Death Company Units come in, as well as the Furioso in its Pod.

Shooting takes a wound off the Farseer + Wound on Phoenix Lord. I think that I got shrouding off so was rolling 2+ cover saves or 3+ armor saves or 4+ invlul saves.



Eldar 2

At this point I've basically won the game.

I doom Furioso. Jetbike Squad comes in from reserve behind it. WraithKnight lines up shots on Furioso as well as Drop Pod shots/Assault.

I give my Jetbike Squad Enhance (WS+Initiative) and PreScience so (re roll to hit).

I move my north WraithKnight to go after LOTD Squad up North.

Jetbikes shoot into the Furioso rear armor, 2 Shuriken Cannons with doom kill it (lol doom is so dirty now).

WraithKnight shoots/Assaults Drop Pod Killing it.

WraithKnight Shoots/Assaults north LOTD squad and kill a few.

Seer council shoot + Assault LOTD squad in middle with Dante.

Rest of the Game.

Not much to say really,

My DeathStar Whipes Dante + LOTD Squad.
My DeathStar then moves and helps the WraithKnight Whipe the other LOTD Squad.
My Jetbikes + Wave Serpents + other WraithKnight kill the Two Assault Squads that come in with Meltas. Through Jinking I loose both Wave Serpents to the Assault Marine Meltas.

I whipe my side of the board by turn 4, so on my Turn 5 the only thing he has left are his two Tactical Squads and a Rhino. Im up 10-2 Kill Points so we decide to call it.













Game Summary

I win Primary 10:2 (10 points)
I win Secondary 5:2 (10 Points)
I get Blue Blood, Slay Warlord, and Line Breaker (its assumed that my WraithKnight would be able to move into his DZ, we called the game after turn 4).

So I win 23-0

Total battle Points : 58

So this game was pretty easy, played against a list that I countered pretty bad. All of my units are just better than his units. He also came at me piecemail. He had 2 Tactical Squads and a Rhino in his backfield the whole game, that was like 400 points of unallocated models that didnt do anything. His Furioso also came in by itself. So my 1850 point army basically went against around 1200 points. 1850 Points of Deathstar Pwndar should be able to take on 1200 points of worse units.

This game was won turn 2 via Deployment, and mainly due to army composition. With Kill Points there was probably no way that I can see for my opponent to win with the list he had. Overall it was a good game and a great way to end the Tournament.