Sinewy Scourge
Murfreesboro, TN
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A fellow GA regular and I attended the Kalm Before the Waaagh this weekend. Several people I know had attended the event last year and after their glowing recommendations I knew I had to make it this year. For the uninformed, the Kalm is a 50 man tournament held in a bar (the Jazz Factory) in Huntsville, Alabama. The Bartender was serving the whole event and they even provided a BBQ lunch that was phenomenal.
I was bringing almost the same list as I used in the Battle for Stones river last weekend, the only difference being 1 wyche dropped from a squad to make the 1850pts limit (BFSR was 1863). Of note, I made sure to grab a copy of all my opponent’s army lists to better represent them here, and have since lost them. YAY.
Here’s my list.
Archon punisher, tormentor helm, combat drugs, shadow field
Dracite w/agonizer
5 wyches (w.weapons + plasma grenades) + succubus w/ agonizer
Raider w/ horrorfex and nighshields
6 wyches (w.weapons + plasma grenades) + succubus w/ agonizer
Raider w/ horrorfex and nighshields
5 wyches (w.weapons + plasma grenades) + succubus w/ agonizer
Raider w/ horrorfex and nighshields
x2 5 man raider squad w/ darklance
Raider with torture amp and horrofex
x3 5 man raider squad w/ splinter cannon + blaster
Raider with horrorfex and nightshields
x3 Ravager w/ 3 disintegrators + nightshields
The first mission was spearhead deployment with the following objectives.
Get a scoring unit in your opponents fort (terrain designated by your opponent). 6pts
Kill the enemy general. 5pts
Control the most table quarters. 5pts
Killpoints. 4pts
My opponent brought a list based around biker nobs. But not THOSE biker nobs. He had been running this list for quite some time so it pre-dates the monstrosity that most of us associate with nob bikers.
His list
x2 Warboss on bike, Cybork body, Powerklaw, attack squig
x2 5 man nob bikers Cybork bodies, pain boy, x2 powerklaw, x2 ‘uge choppas
x3 12 ork truck mob choppas and sluggas + nob with powerklaw and bosspole
Trukks grot riggers
x2 Looted wagons ‘ard case, boomgun
As I won the roll off I give him first turn. Night fight is in affect.
Deployment saw me far back enough in my corner that his bikes wouldn’t be able to roll up and fire in the first turn. He splits his bikers so that one squad will come up the middle and the other will be coming up my table edge at me. His trucks are all well back in his zone and in cover. The looted wagons are both near the center.
Turn 1: He turbo boosts his bikes forward with one coming up the middle and one up my long table edge. One of his trucks moves to sit in his “fort” while the other 2 immobilize themselves in terrain!! The looted wagons manage to wreck one of the raiders carrying a darklance squad (who are forced to disembark into my “fort”).
I start by maneuvering 2 raider squads and the dracite’s squad up towards his long table edge with the intention of bypassing the bikers and going after his fort. The ravagers move to fire on the bikers and a wyche squad and the wyches accompanying the archon move to assault the bikers next turn. I also move a raider squad flat out in front of the nob bikers in the center to give them something to shoot/assault away from my lines. In shooting I manage to fluff most of my night fighting rolls and only manage to put a few wounds on some nobs and to immobilize a looted wagon in cover.
Turn 2: His center bike squad takes the bait and moves towards the raider that moved flat out. The other biker squad moves up to take shots at a ravager and the mobile looted wagon moves into better position. Shooting sees the flat out raiders darklance blown off by the bikers, while most of the other bikers where out of range of the ravager (thanks to nightshields) and they where unable to hit it. The looted wagons scatter off. One of the trucks manages to fix itself. In the assault the biker nobs manage to wreck the raider with ‘uge choppas and the raider squad disembarks on the other side of the raider (pinning past).
I move the dracite’s squad in to assault the center nob squad and the other wyche squads and archon move to assault the other. I shuffle a few raiders and ravagers around, while the two raider squads on his table edge move closer to his fort. My shooting phase sees several nobs killed out of the center squad and another wound or two on the other, as well as the mobile looted wagon getting destroyed. In assault the Dracite charges the remainder of the center nob squad and warboss while the first wyche squad charges the other, but the squad with the archon are unable to make it in, yikes. The Dracites squad kills a few of the nobs and loses 1 or 2 to the warboss, the orks hold. He makes all his saves for his other warboss and kills a few wyches who hold.
Turn 3: His only movement is to re-immobilize the truck that had just fixed itself! Shooting sees the looted wagon scatter off. In the assault the dracite’s squad finishes of the warlord and nobs while the other nob squad kills all but 2 wyches who amazingly hold.
I continue to move my raiders forward while the dracite’s squad re-embarks on their raider and continues to advance on his fort. Shooting sees 2 trucks destroyed as well as the last looted wagon, also one of the truck squads flees off the table. In assault my archon and accompanying wyches join the assault and run down the nobs + warboss.
Turn 4 with only an immobile truck and a few exposed boyz he concedes the game.
This was a rough matchup for my opponent and the constant immobilizations didn’t help him.
Result 20-0 win
Game 2 was a strange diagonal deployment (couldn’t deploy closer then 12” inches from the line or be more then 30” away from it either). An objective was placed in the center and each player nominates a fort.
Objectives:
Grab the objective with a unit (who could voluntarily drop it if they choose) and get it to your fort 6pts
Destroy your enemies most expensive unit 5pts
Killpoints 5pts
Keep the enemy out of your fort 4pts
My opponent was playing a gorgeously painted black legion CSM army.
His list (as I remember it)
Demon prince mark of tzeentch, warp time, wings, bolt
5 Terminators mark of tzeentch, combi-flamer, combi-plasma, combi-melta, reaper
x2 10 CSM champ with p.fist, plasma gun, melta gun, icon chaos glory
x2 10 CSM champ with p.fist, plasma gun, melta gun, icon chaos glory
rhino, demonic possession, havoc launcher
Defiler
Predator all lascannons, daemonic possession
This is a list I should be advantaged against as I love fighting power armor and he only has units that can hurt me at range and both are armor.
I had won the roll off and decided to go first, but then he stole the initiative….
Turn 1: Both rhinos move up to as far as possible to try and grab the objective next turn. The demon prince hides between them. The foot CSM squads move to occupy some buildings (one is his fort). Shooting sees a raider destroyed.
I figure if I can nab the objective early and get rid of his armor I can take him apart at range. I move a raider squad flat out to grab the objective (which is in the middle of a forest), I make my terrain role and the objective is mine. I manage to immobilize a rhino and kill a few foot marines in the building closest to the objectives. I also manage to put a wound on the daemon prince.
Turn 2. The mobile rhino tries to enter the woods and immobilizes itself. The other rhino squad gets out to fire on my raider. The daemon prince moves out to threaten my lines. Shooting sees him only manage to stun the raider as many of his weapons are out of range (thank you night shields!) However he manages to down 2 of my ravagers…ug.
I elect to have the stunned raider drop the objective (and its troops) which is then picked up by my dracite’s raider while the squad disembarks, as does the wyches with archon. Shooting is pretty ineffectual as all the effects of my shoots at armor are ignored due to daemonic possession…I assault the disembarked csm squad with my dracite’s squad who also has 1 member who assaults the daemon prince, who is being assaulted by archon with wyches. The assault goes poorly as I only kill 4 CSM and put 1 wound on the Prince. In return I lose 4 wyches from the archon’s squad. The prince and squad both lose a wound to combat ress.
Turn 3 His terminators don’t show yet. He disembarks his other rhino squad and moves to shoot up the raider squad that abandoned the stunned raider. His shooting phase is as abysmal as mine was, only managing to kill 4 of the 5 warriors and nothing else (the last warrior passes). In the assault I manage to finish off the daemon prince but not much else, combat is a draw.
The raider with the objective high tales it over to my fort. The last survivor re-embarks his raider and moves off. This proves to be a critical shooting phase as both the ravager and predator are destroyed as well as a rhino. I also kill some CSM in the building close to the objective. In assault my archon kills the remaining CSM.
Turn 4 His terminators show and he elects for a risky drop in the middle of my backfield to try and recover the objective. He scatters almost farther away from the raider but without incident. The CSM squad in the center building move forward to fire on my dracite’s squad (my most expensive unit). In his shooting phase he only manages to hit the raider with a meltagun who only blows the darklance off the raider. In other shooting he is able to shoot the archon’s squad down to the archon and succubus, and promptly flees…dang. The dracite’s squad is reduced to just the Dracite who passes.
I maneuver my units to wipe out the terminator squad and maul the remaining CSM rhino unit. My ravager accounts for 2 of the termies while lance and blaster fire gets the rest. Assorted dark lance and splinter fire removes most of the CSM rhino squad (who barely pass thanks to their icon). The lone Dracite then assaults that squad and kills all but 2, but takes a wound in response (I could have just hid her but I wanted to give him an opportunity to earn the points).
Turns 5-7 Is basically me cleaning up the remaining marines and my Dracite stubbornly refusing to die despite both our efforts. I remove the last CSM on the turn 7
My opponent was a great sport and I had a great time playing him. His army was gorgeously painted and its build was a lot different then what I had come to expect from CSM.
Result 20-0 win
Its worth noting that by this point in the tourney it was generally easy to judge how well people where doing just by looking at them. The ones that had lost one of their games had a drink in their hand and another on the way and those that had lost both their games tended to have a drink in each hand and a sideways smile on their face.
Round 3 – Old School
This was pitched battle deployment with d3+2 objective markers and a horrible twist…preliminary bombardment (roll a d6 for each unit on the table, on a 6 it takes d6 str 6 hits) and me with 11 av10-11 vehicles on the table….yikes.
Here where the objectives.
Have the most objective markers 6
Score the most victory points 5
Kill your opponents unit with the most wounds in it 5
Have the most victory points in your opponents deployment zone 4
My opponent (who also has 40 battlepoints) is playing Grey Knights. We both remarked on the oddity that the two armies potentially playing for best general where Dark Eldar and Grey Knights. I loved it!
His army
Brother Captain Stern in LRC
4 Grey Knight Terminators
Inquisitor (elite) p.weapon, heavy flamer type weapon, word of the emperor
Vindicar assassin
x2 10 Grey Knights with 2 immolators
x2 Land Raiders
Land Raider Crusader
I win the roll to go first and take it, not stolen this time. He deploys all three raiders in a back corner, with 1 blocking LOS to the other 2 along with a building (which housed the vindicar). Crucially that raider contains his unit with the most wounds. I deploy in a long line along my edge trying to hide the ravages until after the raiders are popped.
The preliminary bombardment misses his assassin but downs 2 raiders, 1 of which belongs to my dracite’s squad..doh. The (4) objectives are placed in 4 buildings forming a square.
Turn 1. I move around a bit, pick up my dracite’s squad with an empty raider (one belonging to a darklance squad). I move the other empty raider up in a bid to provide some cover. After some subpar rolls my shooting only manages to shake the lead land raider.
He advances the shaken rhino towards my right flank with the LRC close behind. The other LR moves towards my right and behind a building to obscure itself. His shooting is pretty effective. The empty raider that moved up is stunned and a ravager is destroyed. I also lose the dark lance off the wyche squads raider. His old school BS2 machine spirit was dead on, not missing so far.
Turn 2. I move to try and maximize shooting on the raider carrying the Grey Knight squad with the most wounds as well as get some better cover. The first half of my shooting is literally a cascade of 1’s to hit….then I get a break and destroy the target raider! The ravagers spring into action and kill…2 loads of cover saves made. Dang.
He moves the crusader to take the place of the raider I just blew and the other raider on my left moves to get a shoot in on my wyche raider. The grey knights move into the cover of a forest. He manages to immobilize it and destroy its dark lance but that’s it wheew. Another raider is destroyed close to one of his objectives. The previously stunned empty raider is immobilized and stunned again….
Turn 3. The wyches in the downed raider leave the death trap and start heading for the Grey Knights but since they had rolled 12” assault on their combat drugs, chances where good of them covering the 18-22” to their target. I continue to shuffle raiders around, and the dismounted squad moves up to get a blaster shot at the LRC from cover. Shooting is once again a miserable excuse for diceing…1’s and 2’s galore. The only kills I get are about 3 of the grey knight squad with disintegrator fire. In assault I kill all 2 GK for the lose of 2 wyches so draw.
His inquisitor disembarks from the LRC and heads towards my dismounted squad. While the LRC moves directly towards my lines. The LR on my left moves forward a bit to get an angle on my Archon’s raider which it appears I have left exposed….grr. In shooting the inquisitor roasts my raider squad off the objective killing all 5. The LRC kills all but one of the dark lance squad that was sitting on the objective (dark lance is amongst the casualties.) The vindicar picks off the dark lance from the squad on the left (forgot I got a cover save…) and the LR manages to destroy the Archon’s raider and the resulting explosion kills a quarter of the wyches who then flee of the board with my archon…ow. In assault I kill all but 3 GK for the lose of a wyche.
Turn 4. Ok so after that beating if I don’t have an amazing turn I am toast. I begin by moving my dracites squad to assault the inquisitor and the rest of the raiders move for shots. I remember that the raider squad that got shot down in the preliminary bombardment had yet to move, so they hoof it over to take a blaster shot at the looming LRC. This shooting phase began like the previous 2, with miss and miss after miss. In frustration I went to my box for a backup brick of dice. I then fired with the forgotten raider squad’s blaster. A hit! A pen! A 6! Boom. Hows that for dice mojo. The raider exploded leaving Stern and his raiders in a big crater. The ravagers added their fire and managed to down 2 of them. In assault the wyches finish off the GKs and move to the edge of the woods to threaten the assassin sitting on an objective. The dracite obliterates the Inquisitor.
He began by disembarking his last GK squad and moving them to roast my poor wyches. The last land raider moves up to fire at my ravagers. Shooting sees the wyches die and the assassin fail to wound the warriors on the left. The LR shoots down a ravager and the fails to hit the immobile raider in front of it. Stern and crew then assault the raider squad the blew up their ride and then sweeping advance into cover.
Turn 5 I realize that the remnants of the dark lance squads are not being well served by being out in the open, so both move to get out of LOS but still within 3” of the objectives. The dracites squad re-embarks on their raider and movies to fire on the remaining LR. In the shooting phase stern takes a wound and his body guard is obliterated. And crucially, the immobilized empty raider that has spent most the game stunned fires its dark lance at the remaining LR right in front of it and destroys it!! Never ignore a dark lance, even if its attached to a cardboard box.
Stern moves up to assault the nearby ravager and the remaining GKs move to punish the immobile raider. Stern kills the ravager which explodes, wounding the last warrior on my right objective!!! Luckily I make my cover save. The immobile raider is finally destroyed.
We roll and go on to turn 6
Turn 6. I move the lucky survivor away from the GK special character while still staying within 3” of the objective. Shooting puts another wound on Stern but nothing else.
In his turn he tries to shoot the last DE warrior of the right objective and fails.
We roll for turn 7 and game ends
At first I thought I had scored 16 points (as stern was in my deployment zone and was more points then my raider squad), but then we realized that stern only had 2 wounds and as such was dead! Giving me the full 20 points. This was an amazingly tight game for a while and was an absolute blast. My opponent played a difficult army very well and I would love to play him again.
Result 20-0 win
So in the end I received Best General, the most rewarding part of which was the confused stares and mutterings when it was announced that Dark Eldar had won best General This was an amazing event and I fully believe a few drinks between/during games markedly improves the mood of those involved.
Best overall went to the CSM player I played in my 2nd round. Also of note the biggest prize went to the Best Bar Tab. The prize was GW credit equal to the amount of the tab!
Of course the fun was marred somewhat, when driving home we got caught in a freak snow storm and where forced to find a hotel about 45 minutes from home. But I am of the mind that it was still all worth it.
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