The Venue:
Exterminatus was located at the local convention center. a little north of Atlanta.
The Setup:
This tournament had, quite frankly, the best terrain/tables I've ever seen. The Organizers spent most of a year building terrain and prepping it, and the results showed. The buildings could be disassembled to play on multiple levels, there was adequate
LOS blocking stuff for 5th edition, and the surfaces were setup to stand models on. On top of this it all looked fantastic.
The Field:
Unfortunately, to the same degree that the tables were amazing, the attendance was disappointing. There was mid-teens numbers for both the fantasy and
40k side. Obviously, at a 5 game tourney you want more. I hear Exterminatus is going on the circuit next year, maybe that'll raise the #'s.
My Army:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/219036.page
The Missions, General:
In each mission, there is a total of 22 battle points at stake. The Primary is 13 points, the secondary is 7, the tertiary is 2. They've avoided the pitfall of mutually achieved objectives by making a tie worth less points. So, if you both achieve primary, it's only worth 6 points to each of you. It seems to me like a good way, in general to do 5th edition missions.
Mission 1:
Deployment: Dawn of War
Primary: d3+2 markers
Secondary: Kill enemy's most expensive non-
HQ unit
Tertiary: Keep your most expensive
HQ unit alive.
Opponent: Space Marines
Terminator 3 wound chaplain w/ 6 Terminator Squad
10 man Marine squad in Rhino
10 man Assault Marine squad
5 man
tac squad w/lascannon
5 man
tac squad w/plasma cannon
6 man Devastator squad w/4 missile launchers
2 Assault bikes, one w/heavy bolter, one w/multi-melta
landspeeder w/assault cannon
Dreadnought w/twin-linked lascannon, missile launcher
Whirlwind
Predator
Assessment: The player is a kid who mentions that this is his first tournament, and Space marines are the natural prey of Khorne Daemons besides. This will be a walkover.
From the Warp, the Skulltaker scanned the battlefields of the galaxy, until blue armored figures filled the bloody surface. He snarled. The chosen warriors of the Corpse Emperor, a perfect first stage for the race. He smashed his fist into the gate and opened the portal, toppling into the Materium alongside his fellow Daemons.
The Game:
He deploys his terminators w/boss, and a rhino full of Space Marines
I try to bring in my Icon Bearer, my strong Herald and my 3 crushers and 3 grinders. The dice don't cooperate, so in comes Skulltaker, the unremarkable Herald and 6 units of Bloodletters.
I land them far away and advance in a lesiurely manner, a bit worried that he'll be able to blast away my bloodletters. The mission stops this though, as all his guys have to walk on. He also fixates on the Skulltaker/Herald, due to their large models. His shooting is predominantly light.
Next round the main army lands near his forces and the game goes predictably thereafter. I do end up having to skedaddle the Skulltaker away, as he takes 3 wounds and nearly dies. He blows the legs off my phlegm grinder and his terminator unit is amazingly stout, flexing the charge of a Khorne Herald, and grinding their way through a Bloodcrusher squad before succumbing the last round to a Bloodletter charge.
After the battle, the Khornate Heralds counted up the skulls. Nuklaabak's Bloodcrushers were in the lead with 19, followed closely by the Soul Grinders of Qetzaktak and the Skulltaker himself tied at 12. Slasher's legion of Bloodletters brought up the rear with 10, despite arriving first. The brazen host returned to the Warp for round 2, the other Heralds glaring enviously at Nuklaabak and his thunder herd of Juggernauts
Tournament Assessment: Ok, I've got one of only 2 clear 22's this round. I'm on table one up against some Nids. I'm pretty sure I can take them, as they are fighting nids. Player-D's list lost some points when Kairos took a sniper shot to the head and left for the Warp, while Player-A got slowballed and only played 3 turns. The only 2 Ork players both lost, so they are going to be facing off way down in the field, a reversal on the usual Ork turn-2 faceoff. Tournament is looking good, but its too early to get cocky.
Mission 2:
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Primary: Take objective marker in enemy territory
Secondary:
VP's
Tertiary: Kill an enemy
HQ
Enemy:
Fighting Nids
Walking Tyrant w/
CC upgrades
Flying Tyrant w/double devourers, warp field
2 dakkafexes
2 fighting fexes
3 Zoey's w/warp blast
5 units of Genestealers w/carapace armor, one of which has Scout
Assessment:
The basic plan here is to land the hard part in front of his army, or the soft part far away if I mess up the roll. However it shakes out, I'll ultimately confront him with Grinders. He can't shoot them, so he'll have to assault them, he'll do so with fexes/tyrants. I'll counter with Heralds/Grinders, he'll counter with Stealers, and then I'll counter with Letters for the win. I'll drop one letter on his objective, and keep my army in his face enough that he'll never get to mine, even if I lose the battle.
Within the Warp Skulltaker snarled his displeasure. The Corpse God's lackeys hadn't provided a decent challenge. He wished for a foe who could fight in close quarters, one whose hunger for blood and battle mirrored their own. Directing the bloody mirror to a nearby Hive Fleet he found his chosen prey. Within moments the brass horns were sounding, and the chariot races second stage had begun.
The game:
He castles up and puts his objective on the east side of his fortress formation. I put mine basically opposite him diagonally on the board edge. Initially I'm inclined to put it in the opposite corner, but he's left his scuttlers in outflank, and I don't want them getting at it.
When the drop comes I make my big mistake. I get the right half of my army, but I sort of spread out around his fortress, instead of making a concentrated drop. Thus, I've got an east and a west half of the encirclement, and he's able to spring his whole army on the eastern half, while running away from the western half.
This isn't such a big deal except that 5 out of my 6 bloodletter units come in on round 2, and I send them to reinforce the eastern half (as its close to his objective). This is doubling down on a failed policy, and obviously the genestealers rip through the bloodletters.
He then turns around and engages my western half. He gets a little lucky and is starting to win through, while 2 genestealers go running for my objective. They fleet well, and I shoot poorly, and on the bottom of the seventh his guy makes it there, while a Soul Grinder fights a frantic battle with a tyrant to keep me from being massacred.
The Skulltaker painfully reconstituted himself, deep within the warp. He'd been shot down in one volley by the Hive Tyrant, and it had pained him to die without dealing a single wound to his foe. The rest of his force had faired little better, in particular the Bloodcrushers of Nuklaabak, who'd been smashed on the wall of the Carnifexes. The score had been altered, now the Bloodletters were in the lead with 22 kills, the Bloodcrushers and Soul Grinders followed up with 21 and 20, respectively, while Skulltaker was in the rear with his 12. In rage he tried to settle things with an immediate duel, but a mandate from the Red Lord silenced him. The race would continue...Khorne willed it.
Mission 3:
Deployment: Spearhead
Primary: Kill Points
Secondary: Claim Terrain pieces with troops
Tertiary: Keep > half your troop choices alive
Opponent, Orks:
Warboss in mega-armor w/5 mega armored nobs in Battlewagon w/deffa rolla, boarding plank, wrecking ball
Big Mek w/flamer &
KFF and Burna unit in looted wagon w/scorcha
Looted Wagon w/Boomgun
20 Shoota boyz w/nob w/powerklaw, bosspole
20 Shoota boyz w/nob w/powerklaw, bosspole
30 Slugga Boyz w/Nob w/powerklaw, bosspole
12 Lootas
12 Lootas
Dread w/big shootas
My assessment:
Ordinarily, Orks have my number. This Ork, however, is not as fierce as the usual. There are only 70 boyz, while I'm used to twice that #. Further, the Mega-Nobz will get chopped by any Khornate unit, and the flamers won't be as effective as one might imagine, so long as I get them up against a chariot or crusher unit. I've got Grinders for the Lootas, and the Dread can only be in one place at once.
The Soultaker needed to get his score up, and quick. Orks could help with that. The Greenskins were nothing if not numerous. The Bloody Mirrior churned and bubbles, and Big Mek Burngudd's boyz appeared within it. The Third Stage of the Great Race would dwarf the casualties which had gone before.
The Game:
Once again, the Chaos Gods frowned on me, and I found myself with a heap of troops and nothing with any weight behind it. I struck the letters and Heralds back in my own zone, tempting him forward. I also put a Herald (not skulltaker) near the Lootas he'd inexplicably put as close to the center of the board as possible.
He shot down a few letter units, but good going to ground and interweaving kept them on their feat for the most part. He took the bait, and sent out his deff rolla and mega nobz to kick some trash. He also sent the burnas after Skulltaker. Skulltaker weathered the flames and lopped off the Big Mek's head as they killed him, which neatly avoided falling further behind in
KP, and took out his Kustom Force Field.
On the next round I got virtually nothing in, and I thoght the game was over. If he'd simply driven back to his base and laughed he'd have totally had it, but he continued to get stuck in, and I was able to get my Herald into his Lootas, which he killed, and then into a 20 man Boy unit, which he killed with the assistance of a 3 man Letter squad.
With his army all spread out it was easy prey to the grinder/crusher squads that finally dropped. I stalled his counter-charge with a Herald when he sent in the slugga boys, and one of my blood crusher units killed his dread after it got charged. I got a lucky extremely close landing with the Bladebringer, and hit one of his quads with vomit from close range, followed by a phlegm shot that direct hit.
Ultimately I was able to take a full vicotry in the bottom of 6, in what was to be the closest game I had in the tournament.
The coffers overflowed with skulls. The Bloodcrushers lead with 64, followed by the Soul Grinder with 61, and the Blood Letters with 55. The Skulltaker himself had taken but one skull during the battle, but it was that of the enemy general. His personal tally rose to 11, but he counted the Big Mek's skull as more worthy by far than their common offal.
Mission 4:
Deployment: Triangle
Primary: Victory Points
Secondary: Get more troop units near center than enemy has
Tertiary: Keep > half troop choices alive
Enemy: Player-A's Chaos Space Marines
Lash Prince w/ wings
Lash Prince w/ wings
9 Berserkers in Rhino w/fist
9 Berserkers in Rhino w/fist
7 Plague Marines in Rhino w/fist
7 Plague Marines in Rhino w/fist
Defiler
2 Obliterators
2 Obliterators
My outlook:
I've never beaten this army before at 2000 points, but this time I've got 6 more crushers, and I'm hopeful. If I drop 8 problem units in his face he can't lash more than 2, and maybe only one if he rolls bad. His shooting and counter-charges shouldn't get much done vs. the crushers/heralds, and he has to stop the Soul Grinders at the same time. I think I can overload his ability to counter and wipe him out.
As the Skulltaker was pondering the last legs of the great race his meditations were interrupted by fervent prayers to the Blood God, ringing around him and disturbing his meditations. They wanted Khorne to be with them in their next battle. Skulltaker smiled. Their prayers would be answered.
The Game:
Gah, of all the games for the Daemon codex to stab me in the face. I got the wrong half of the army, for the third game in this tournament, and then my reinforcements arrived 1 on turn 2, 1 on turn 3, 5 on turn 4 and one on turn 5, when the game ended. Dang it! So much for winning this tournament.
The game itself was pretty typical as such things go, a piecemeal army getting lashed about. I had a few bright moments, but in general this was just not in the cards.
The Khornate Daemons hurtled back into the warp, broken and bleeding. The Grinders had slain 6, the crushers 10, and the letters a measly 4. It was a miserable outing, leaving the Crushers well in the lead going into the final battle.
Mission 5:
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Primary: Table Quarters with Troops
Secondary: 3 Objectives, one in center, one in enemy territory, one in your deployment zone
Tertiary: Kill more enemy non-troops than they kill of your non-troops.
Enemy: Chaos Space Marines:
Kharne w/Berserkers in Rhino
Warptime Prince w/wings
Another Rhino full of Berserkers
Rhino full of
CSMs
Havocs w/4 missile launchers
Havocs w/4 lascannons
predator w/lascannons
4 Chaos Bikers
10 lesser Daemons
1 Greater Daemon
My assesment:
CSM w/out lash = Space Marine = Prey for Khornate Daemons. I'm going to charge this list off the board.
Only one man could be the final leg of the Khornate Race. The army was drawn like iron to a magnet towards the warhost of Kharne the Betrayer. They poured into realspace to face the greatest champion of their Lord. At the end, it would be Blood for the Blood God, in a battle with no winners or survivors.
The game:
It's essentially over before it begins, and this isn't helped by the fact that my luck is incredibly good. On the first 2 rounds the Terran Sunset destroys 2 entire squads of
CSM with its pie plate, while the Lasher one-shots the predator. The Terran Sunset goes on to defeat the Greater Daemon in combat.
Skulltaker moves up to take Kharne's charge, and while the Betrayer is ultimately victorious he takes a wound and has lost 6 out of his 9 man bodyguard (3 to Kharne, 3 to Skulltaker). He's then run over by a Bloodletter unit.
At the bottom of 7 his last model dies. He fights hard and well, but this one was a mismatch from deployment on.
Ultimately Crushers and Grinders had tied with 80 each, while Letters lagged behind at 69. The Skulltaker ended up with 17. Unfortunately, on the site of the Betrayer's body (or perhaps merely that of a similar Berserker, such are the ways of Chaos) a massive melee broke out between the Khornate factions. None can say what the outcome was, but Nuklaabak, Qetzaktak and the Slasher have not been seen since, while the Skull Throne towers ever higher.
Tournament wrapup:
The winner overall was a Nidzilla list (not the one that beat me)
The best general was a Tzeentch Daemon list (though the Nidzilla had more
BP's.)
On the fantasy side the winner was the Vampire Counts.
Started my Salamanders army 
