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So I've noticed there's not much chatter on Dakka Dakka about Astronomicon, one of the better independent tournaments around. I thought perhaps a report of myself and my club (Betty's Fighting Havenicans) recent experience would help get the word out. This will be more of a general rundown as I am going from memory on the actual games.

Details of the tournament can be found HERE but here's a bit of a rundown.

-1500 points and 6 games
-These guys are about fun more then anything else. They allow forgeworld (non superheavy) and even accept VDR submissions with their approval. Many lists are allowed. They even have a bootstrapped Lost and the Damned list that can be used at the event.
-Each table has a different mission associated with it. This means there's a theme to the terrain usually and alot of cool special rules abound. It also means everyones tournament experience is different. I really like this from a fun tournament standpoint, but it does mean there is another factor beyond matchup and metagame to consider.
-Points in games accounts for about 40% of overall (10 points for wins, + and - 3 point modifiers for a max of 78). While that means there's a lot of soft scores, there's also alot of categories one can win awards in.
-There is a math comp system. It isn't all that harsh in my opinion as it is 20 points with -1 mods for each selection beyond 1 in FA, HS, Elite and HQ. They are a bit hard on having lots of troops though (-1 for 4th choice, -2 for each 5th and 6th), I guess cause of 5ed and possible min max but it is a minor quibble. Most armies fall in the 16-18 range and perfect comp is not expected or encouraged, it is just a way to rank armies for initial matchups and create a bit of a handicap.
-Painting is 30 points max IIRC. It is a pretty stringent checklist, one that is similar to the GT system (but one they have done for a long time and is overall pretty fair as far as judged painting goes).
-Sports is a simple 0-5 ranking for player and 0-5 ranking of armylist each game. Simple but with all the possible issues associated with opponent scored categories.
-Army lists are also judged 0-10. This isn't comp but is more how cool or themed or extra work is done on the list presentation-wise (as well as usuability of the list, theme/fluff etc). I've seen scrolls, comic books, wolf pelt covered leather books and the like. Pretty cool category and one that allows for some cool options.
-Although not part of the overall there is an award and voting on favorite table, since anyone can submit a table and terrain for use at the tournament (to inlcude extra models and mission ideas). The tables are always pretty nice overall, with most being higher caliber then the typical FLGS but some being outstanding.

Ok so info out of the way, onto the report itself. On Friday after an 8 hour drive and no sleep the night before we arrived at the University of British Columbia campus, the site of the last 3 Astronomicon Vancouvers. This is an excellent venure for a couple reasons:

1. Where you stay is where you game.
2. Cost is cheap, like 35-40 canadian a night or so.
3. The rooms are dorm style with a shared bathroom and kitchen/living area which is a great advantage if travelling with friends (after hours is a blast). Also you can easily eat on the cheap with frozen pizza's and sandwhiches and a real fridge or 2 for beer and stuff is nice).
4. There's a kick ass pub 3 blocks away, Mahony and Sons, that is served by nice looking gals in tartan skirts. Great food and great service to boot.

So we get there, grab some food and drinks for the next few days and I proceed to wrap up painting my bases with the help of a club mate (thanks Bob!). I get a decent night sleep considering I hadn't really slept in days. Saturday morning I get some coffee and advil and head down for the start of the tournament.

My army for the event is a typical 5ed Tyranid army that scored 18 points on comp.


Hive Tyrant w/ Toxin Sacs, 2x Devourers
^2x Tyrant Guard

Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/ScyTals
Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/ScyTals

12x Stealers w/ carapace, tendrils, scuttle
12x Stealers w/ carapace, tendrils, scuttle
8x Stealers w/ carapace, tendrils

Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/Venom Cannon, Enhanced Senses, Chitin
Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/Venom Cannon, Enhanced Senses, Chitin

I have a much neglegted blog of my work on these guys here that will get a final update soon with nice pics of the army.

So Game 1 I get matched up with another 18 point comp army, an Eldar list ran by Mike.

Eldrad
Maugan-Ra

10 or so Banshees w/ exectioner exarch
^Waveserpent w/ shuriken cannons and trimmings

3x jetbikes+warlock w/ sword Destructor iirc
3x jetbikes+warlock w/ spear Destructor iirc

3x Vyper (Brightlance, Suriken Cannons iirc)

Wraithlord w/ EML, flamers, sword
3x Warwalkers w/ scatter lasers.

Lotta points in HQ, not alot of stuff that scares me but most importantly few and fragile troops.

We are playing X-Factor. It is essentially a Cleanse/quarters style mission with a few twists.
1. There is a vinidcare assassin on a watchtower. Players roll off to see who controls him each turn.
2. There's a massive sandstorm. I really felt sorry for the eldar player with this one. You have to take a difficult terrain test whenever moving which means jetbikes have to take DTs if they move. Period. It can also cause skimmer pilots to lose control and be moved via scatter dice. Move through cover on my whole army for the win. This also causes issues with shooting -- within 12" there's no affect but outside of 12" you need 6's to hit and BS cannot be used on blasts. The Vindi is immune to this.
3. In this one only scoring units can claim a quarter but anyone can contest (as you will see later some quarter missions are any unit).

I win roll off and elect to go 2nd. He sets up close to the tower, with his units essentially surrounding it. His warwalkers are a bit back trying to hide but everything else is very very close to the center and my deployment zone (12" no deploy around the center).

There's a building blocking LOS from my quarter to his, so I end up splitting my forces a bit, overloading one side of the building with carnifexes and the other with just one gunfex. I place the Hive Tyrant up close so he can get to work with his devourers but also deny shots from his wraithlord and vypers via LOS and range. My non scouting stealers are setup behind the tyrant and the other two go for the outflank. I don't try and sieze and the game begins.

1st Turn
I get control of the Vindicare and take a pot shot at eldrad and fail. Hindsight I shoulda went for the serpent to keep it from contesting later on in the game.

His turn he moves his jet bikes and I inform him that he has to take dangerous terrain checks. He misread the rules apparently and assumed they scattered like skimmers. He procedes to lose a regular guy (bummer) and puts one of his bike squads within reasonably long range of my stealers (but still doable with good rolls) and moves the other closer to me but hidden by the building. He shifts around a bit and shooting is uneventful (needing 6's is rough).

My turn I move the Hive Tyrant around the building, hoping to intercept or get shots on some jet bikes and move the stealers to attempt a charge on the bikes and move some carnifexes to get LOS and move into other quarters. Stealers run roll is pretty good but I still need a good DT roll for the charge and I decide to run the Tyrant but whiff. Carnifexes whiffed their shooting. Stealers then fail to reach the bikes, leaving them open to a shoot and charge.

2nd Turn
I get control again and decide to blow the 2+ wounding round on the wraithlord, wounding him. Good thing cause that was the last time I held the Vindi.

His turn he sets up his bikes for destructor and a charge at my stealers. He brings the banshees serpent over also, setting up another charge next turn perhaps. I believe this was the turn he moves the other squad to avoid my army and loses the warlock to dangerous terrain test (ouchie). I also think this is where we ran into troble scattering a squadron of skimmers that failed the check (we worked something out and he was lucky to not have scattered off the table). His shooting I think he may have wounded a carni or two, maybe the tyrant. He then wiffs the wounding rolls on the stealers but still kills a few. He charges and we kill 2 each I believe.

My turn both stealers come in and end up and either side of the board. I hide the one back in a corner where almost nobody is and the other comes on in support of my 3 carnifexes. Other movement I think is where I see my better bet is to move the Tyrant over into the middle and so change course (need to play more ). My carnifex shooting is pretty effective this time, as a gunfex downs 2 vypers and a boom one finshes em off. The other gunny does nothing to the serpent though. In assault the stealers win combat this time and run the bikes down.

3rd Turn
He takes control of the vindi and I think wounds the tyrant.

His turn he disembarks the serpent and goes for the charge on my stealers. Serpent backs off this round. He decides not to move his bikes for fear of losing more bikes. Wraithlord moves up toward my stealers. Eldrad hangs back behind him. Maugan heads off toward my stealers in that far corner. I think shooting brings a wound on some stuff, nothing major -- and IIRC he had to run Maugan but perhaps he shot and killed some stealers. Assault brings the banshees into the stealers. I think I was wiped (there was only a few left).

My turn brings the Hive Tyrant around the building just far enogh to shoot at the jetbikes. Gunfex moves away from the banshees and the other fexes and stealers move in to take on wraithlord. My stealers in the corner will have to deal with Maugan if they want to score so move and run toward him. Tyrant has to roll 6's to hit but reroll on misses and wounds and some abysmal saves wipes the biker squad. He can only draw at this point. Rest of the shooting was uneventful and I fail to get the charge with the stealers, leaving them in bbq range.

4th turn
He gets control of the Vindi again and I think whiffs.

Eldrad dooms my stealers over near him. His banshees tear off after my gunfex, with his waveserpent behind them in support. His wraithlord comes in to bbq the doomed stealers. His war walkers focus on the center of the board and my Tyrant. Maugan moves closer to the stealers. Shooting sees some stealers killed and I think I fail an epic number of saves on MCs, losing the Tyrant this turn or next. Banshees charge the gunfex and get stuck in. I think wraithlord fails to charge due to casualty removal.

My turn I get the charge off on Maugan with my stealers and multicharge wraithlord and eldrad. I think Maugan survives but is killed next turn and the lord and Eldrad don't survive.

Really rest of the game can be summed up with him and me dancing between quarters with his serpent and my stealers that killed Maugan, all while trying to kill the other stealers so other units can contest a corner. We do this till turn 7, with me having last turn being able to claim an uncontested quarter. I get 11 points and he gets 1. He was a great sport about all the issues thrown at him so he got full sports (well everyone usually does from me but still he really deserved it).

That is it for now. More to follow including pics as I get mine together and find other folks pics.
EDIT -- I gacked up explaining the comp system.

great batrep, I`m super jealous. I was gonna get in on that, till I got laid off and suddenly updating the IG army I picked up a couple years back wasn`t an option

glad to hear it was enjoyed though!

What a crappy mission. As a guard player if I had to pay money to play using thoes rules I would be super pissed. Even though it was only the first game, no one likes to start with an auto lose.

One of my club mates brought IG, I'll have to see if he played on the table. There are definitely some tough combinations of table and matchup but I always look at it as a challenge.

Usually you'll have 1-2 games that are kinda rough but there are others that are balanced or wacky enough or really favor your army. I've played this format alot (we've used it locally for club tournaments also) and it really is pretty fun to most folks. I guess you just have to have a different mind set and preparedness for the meta then a typical tournament. The main thing is the missions are different -- not the standard fare that gets stale really really quick.

Game 2.

I am playing Lee and his Bloodaxe Orks

Biker Warboss
BigMek w/ KFF

10 or so Lootas
8 or so Burnas (ride in Battlewagon)
4 Mega Nobs
^Trukk

30 slugga boyz, PK Nob
30 slugga boyz, PK Nob
10-12 Ard boyz, PK Nob
^Trukk

2x Buggies (1 skorcha, 1 shoota)

Battlewagon -- Death rolla and other gubbins





The mission is Temple of Doom. This one is pretty complicated so I will focus on a few things

1. There's an Inquisitor Lord and pimped Retinue torturing a prisoner in a ruined temple.
2. The temple is surrounded by a force field that can only be brought down by overloading it (losing a lot of guys trying to cross it) or shooting a pylon (Ar14 building stats)
3. Your objective is determined randomly via cards. You and your opponent will have a different objective and each objective has some perks associated with it -- only if you reveal what your objective is to your opponent. There is a 2+ bonus for never revealing and thus not getting the perks.
4. Objectives are killing Inquisitor and claim prisoner w/ HQ; Quarters; Kill enemy HQ; Keep Inq from dying.
5. The Inquisitor and retinue will shoot the closest unit at the top of ever turn.
6. Escalation is in effect. However reserves can arrive on turn 1 on 5+
7. Deployment zone is 6" long from long board but also 12" from short edge along 18" of either side.

I get the Kill the Inquisitor and rescue the prisoner one. Perks if I reveal are pylons become AR13 and I don't have to rescue the prisoner.

He wins and goes first. He deploys lootas in some terrain on my left. Boyz in the middle in front of the temple. Everything else is in reserves.

I deploy my 3 stealer units centrally. I am shooting to get at the Inquisitor early before his mobs get in the mix. This is in hindsight a mistake, as it is such a slim chance I can get to the Inquisitor without MC support. Any event that is the plan. I scout toward the temple. EDIT I don’t win the seize roll.

Top of turn 1
Inquisitor kills some of the stealers (luckily I get cover saves from the ruins).

His turn he shuffles closer to the Temple with one boy squad, and moves the other that is on my left along one side of the Temple. I have a feeling he is protecting the Inquisitor, as he is awfully close to the Temple and I know he isn’t killing the Inquisitor.

My turn I make a move for the Temple. This is probably my biggest mistake of the tournament as I really have a slim chance of doing something and almost assuredly a good chance of losing an entire 12 man stealer squad. I was thinking I could assault the pylons and open up the field but I forgot AR13 was only if I revealed my objective – and I really wanted that 2+ bonus (bragging rights I guess). In the end I shoulda just held back and protected my MCs, because I didn’t overload the field and instead lost 4 more stealers. I was thinking I could maybe try and assault through the field for another attempt at it but it seemed like you had to do the overload in the movement phase.


Top of turn 2

Inquisitor mows down the rest of the stealer squad. Yeah that was pretty dumb.

Lee reveals he is protecting the Inquisitor. So basically we cannot draw at this point, either I kill the Inquisitor or Lee wins. Bummer. His perks are +1 to Reserve rolls and the Inquisitor and force field no longer affects him. Double Bummer. With the perk he gets his whole army in this turn (pretty sure, might have been a straggling Nob Trukk). Warboss moves to join the ork mob closing around the temple. Battlewagon w/ KFF and Burnas ends up on my right making a b-line for my lines along the Temple wall. Nob trukk is next to it (or gets there easily next turn). Buggies and Ard boyz trukk follow a road on my far left and make it to mid field. No shooting to speak of, just running.

I reveal my objective so I can get the AR reduction. I get 1 each boomfex and gunfex from reserve. Gunfex drops the force field directly in front of me. Boomfex shoots and missed the Inquisitor. My remaining 12 man squad makes a mad dash for the Inquisitor but fails to reach em (setting them up for a waagh charge next turn). My 8 man squad sets up to deal with the buggies and ard boyz sneaking in on my flank but still get cover save incase the lootas decide to light them up.
Top of turn 3

Retinue goes for my 12 stealers and the plasma servitor overheats and dies; so I think I lose 1-2.

Lee moves the Buggies and Trukk into my part of the board, within charge range to my 8 man stealer squad if I get a decent run roll. Wagon and nob trukk move closer to my lines. Biker warboss breaks off to do his own charge on my stealers. Mob sets up to do some charging of their own. Shooting from lootas do a wound on my boomfex. Warboss combi-skorchas my poor stealers and kills a lot. Waagh is called and the stealers are charged by the mob and the warboss. They do their part and kill some boyz and I think wound the warboss too. But it is too much and they are pulled down by a mass of choppa and powerklaw.

My turn brings the last of the carnifexes but I think my Tyrant sits out another round.
My 8 man stealer squad goes for a multi-charge on the buggies and truck (I want my shooty bugs free of distractions) and my MCs shuffle a bit. One gunfex goes after the Warboss and instagibs him with the venom cannon. One boomfex I think shot at the ard boy truck but missed. The rest shoot at the retinue and kill a few things (I think they killed the other two gun servitors here, maybe some orks). Stealers get a good run roll so charge the Trukk and both buggies. I pop the truck but do minimal damage to the buggies. The boyz get the good ramshackle result and I await their charge.

Top of turn 4 on

It gets a little hazy here for some reason so I’ll highlight the main points. I was able to wipe the retinue and even forced seven 2+ armor saves on the Inquisitor from the Hive Tyrant devourer but he made every single save. I had a tough choice with my one gunfex – go for the inquisitor or go for the wagon, which was going to either block LOS to the temple or defrolla the heck outta stuff. I decided I need to kill the Inquisitor now or die so go for him and whiff. At that point his mega nobs and the remnant of boyz are all over my MCs and wipe out all but one lonely boomfex. Since the wagon did get placed to block LOS my last model has no shot at the inquisitor initially and due to the placement of the inquisitor in the ruins he woulda needed two turns of movement to get a shot (and ard boyz and a full mob waiting to tie him up). Had it been 4ed I may have had the 6” into area terrain but in 5ed there was no way and I conceded.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
For Game 3 I am at the bottom of the heap with 11 battle points. So low and behold I get to play the ringer -- and battle wits with none other then Christian who is the co-founder of the Astronomi-con. I was pretty stoked.

More to follow.

winterman wrote:
-There is a math comp system. It isn't all that harsh in my opinion as it is 20 points with -1 mods for having more then 2 FA, HS, Elite and more then 1 HQ. They are a bit hard on having lots of troops though (-1 for 4th choice, -2 for each 5th and 6th), I guess cause of 5ed and possible min max but it is a minor quibble. Most armies fall in the 16-18 range and perfect comp is not expected or encouraged, it is just a way to rank armies for initial matchups and create a bit of a handicap.

My army for the event is a typical 5ed Tyranid army that scored 18 points on comp.

Hive Tyrant w/ Toxin Sacs, 2x Devourers
^2x Tyrant Guard

Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/ScyTals
Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/ScyTals

12x Stealers w/ carapace, tendrils, scuttle
12x Stealers w/ carapace, tendrils, scuttle
8x Stealers w/ carapace, tendrils

Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/Venom Cannon, Enhanced Senses, Chitin
Carnifex w/ Barb Strangler/Venom Cannon, Enhanced Senses, Chitin

That composition scoring system seems a little confusing to me. You are encouraged NOT to have more than 1 HQ, 2 Elites, FA or HS, NOR more than 3 Troops choices. Yet when I look at your army list's composition I do not see where you broke any of the suggestions (you have 1 HQ, 2 Elites, 3 troops & 2 HS) but did not score the full 20pts, ranking 18pts instead. Would you have earned the other 2pts for your army's composition score if you had included 2 FA choices in your list?

Are they 'suggesting' that to maximize your army's 'composition' aspect of the tournament you should consrtuct an army list of EXACTLY 1 HQ, 2 Elites, 2 FA, 3 Troops & 2 HS?
Are they are 'suggesting' that ANY army list composed of 1 HQ, 2 Elites, 2 FA, 3 Troops & 2 HS is going to be an even match against ANY OTHER of the same composition elements (no matter the Army List's Codex used).

Please explain this to me.

(edited to clarify my questions)

Astro runs the following comp rules

Mandatory Choices:
1 HQ
2 Troops

Free Choices
1 Troop
1 Elite
1 Heavy
1 Fast

-1 Comp Score
1 HQ
1 Troops
1 Elite
1 Heavy
1 Fast

-2 Comp Score
2 Troops
1 Elite
1 Heavy
1 Fast

So you guys start at 20, and buy units from the list. For his example you get -1 for 2nd heavy and -1 for 2nd elite, putting him @ 18

http://www.astronomi-con.com/

I hope I'm not crossing any bounds posting their stuff.

Thank you Dracos for the clarification!

Soooo, to append my previous post where I assumed what the 'best' composition consisted of according to this system of scoring... Your ideal army list (for composition scoring purposes, thus 'fairness' or 'balance' in the TO's mind) would be: 1 HQ & 2 Troops (with a possible 1 Troops, 1 Elite, 1 Hvy & 1 FA choice at no penalty).

Thanks again!

How does this compare to say GW's GT scoring system? (is there a defined composition score or is it purely subjective or not included?)

Sorry Rockit, that was my fault. I have now corrected that sentence to make it more clear (although their website does a much clearer job explaining it with their chart).

Thanks Dracos and no I don't think you are breaking any rules.

As to the question, the TO is not really saying 20 comp is ideal or that they want everyone to bring a 20 comp list. In fact they even said that with this new comp system (it is a bit different then previous years) that they expect most people to fall in the 16-18 range if they want to stay competitive (which was true, only 2 or 3 of the 25 had perfect 20 comp). I know that sounds odd, but all they are really doing is creating a bit of a ranking and handicap. It isn't perfect but at 1500 points it does a pretty fair job.

As far as GW -- well there isn't a GW GT this year. But for the last several years they have removed comp. All that remains is an army list related question on the sportsmanship checklist.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
For Game 3 I am at the bottom of the heap with 11 battle points. So low and behold I get to play the ringer -- and battle wits with none other then Christian who is the co-founder of the Astronomi-con. I was pretty stoked.

He is running his Mikes Necrons. This would be his 2nd game playing them. It consists of

Deceiver
Destroyer Lord with full warscythe, res orb and full kit.

5-6 Pariahs

10 man Warrior
10 man Warrior
10 man Warrior

3x Destroyers
3x Wraiths

It isn't exactly a hard list to be honest but the deciever is a tough hombre and he has synergy w/ the Pariah.

We are playing Night Patrol and we are playing on a NEcron themed table (a large green pyramid and rows of smaller pyramids and obelisks). Very cool themed gamed.

Rules on this are simple
1. Night Fight is in effect the entire game
2. You can only deploy one troop choice along your 12" long board edge-- everything else is in reserves
3. Advance reserves are in effect, so units can arrive turn 1 on 5+
4. Game is won on VPs. Bonus for getting a scoring unit in opponents deployment zone.

We roll off and he wins and picks the area with some bunkers to hide in. He deploys off to my right. I decide to take the bait, knowing he'll probably redeploy them with the deceiver but I need my middle open for the MCs to come on anyways. Both 12 man stealers outflank. As I figured, he moves the necrons into the middle of his deployment zone.

I win seize initiative and go first.

First turn, Boomfex makes it from reserve. Both he and the 8 man stealer move and run toward the necrons on the table.

His turn Pariah, Destroyers, a Warrior squad and Deciever come on. Pariahs come on close enough to the right short edge to allow an assault (need a good run roll). Destroyers take the mid table. Warriors come on between the middle and the Pariahs and Deceiver comes in between those warriors and the Pariah. Some run rolls and shooting at my 8 man stealer squad (I think I lost 1-2).

Turn 2 I get all but a gunfex from reserve IIRC. Stealers arrive on either short edge, I bring the Tyrant on in the middle and the rest more on my right but still centrally. I get a great run roll on the 8 man squad and am able to setup a charge on some warriors. The squad running for the Pariahs gets a 3 (slim to none chance I can charge them this turn). The other 12 man squad move around the large Pyramid and into his deployment zone. Everything else runs at the Necron line.

Assault sees the warriors wiped but I take a few casualties. I do fail to assault the pariah with the 12 man squad.

Christians 2nd turn he gets the last warrior squad, which come on in the middle and destroyerlord and wraiths; which setup to charge the 12 man stealers with the pariah. Deceiver tries his tricks with ld7 on the stealers but they are not affected. Shooting removes the remnants of my non scouting squad. Some casualties from shooting from the pariahs. Then all those baddies assault my 12 man. I think I kill a wraith and some pariah, wraiths and lord take a swath of stealers as do the pariah. I lose combat but make my ld test and hold.


My third turn I get the last gunfex in. Tyrant had a great run roll last turn so is moved into shooting range of the destroyers. Both boomfex run toward the Necron lines. My dilemma with the stealers on my left is whether I can get into the necron lines in time and intact. If those destoyers live I suspect they will go after them. I decide that with the turns left I'd have to get better then average run rolls to catch any warriors and decide to vp denial them and grab the bonus point. Dunno if that was a mistake but ah well.

Shooting with the Tyrant wipes the destroyers. Assault sees the last of the stealers wiped.

Christians 3rd turn sees him turbo boosting the wraith and lord over to kill some gunfexes. Deciever comes over to stop my fexes and tyrant from making phaseout. Warriors fall back. I don't think much else happens here.

My 4th the carnifexes kill enough warriors to force a morale test and they run off the board. Tyrant goes after the last warriors but they are too far away. Lone gunfex takes potshots at lord and wraiths to no avail.

Christian moves warriors back more. Deceiver owns a carnifex in close combat as does the lord and wraiths.

5th turn I again try and kill warriors with Tyrant but fail. Last boomfex shooting fails. Gunfex fails also. He assaults the tyrant with deceiver and wins combat and causes some more wounds from no retreat and the unit is removed (I think I had taken a few wounds from shooting previously, all I know is he owns the tyrant in one round). He also assaults another gunfex with the lord and wraiths. I was surprised cause if the gunfex gets some kills on wraiths then I can maybe cause phaseout. But it was not to be. He do get turn 6 but not much else to say, I get taken to one carnifex and fail to kill enough wraiths. I lose but playing the ringer I get points for a win and the bonus. It was a fun game and illustrates how I need to play more.

That ends the first day. We had some dinner and drinks at Mahoney and Sons (this place is awesome, great food, great staff) and later we played cards and drank to the wee hours. To quote the guys in the pod I was staying in the next morning
"You feeling ok? You were slurring your words when you tried to talk to us late last night"
"I talked to you guys last night?"

So next day I had a bit of a hangover but nothing some advil and H2O couldn't handle. I shuffle down to the tables and find myself assigned to the infamous "Sink the Baneblade" table. This is the quintessential Astronomicon scenario, unique, strategically tricky and usually a hoot to see what the baneblade ends up doing.

I was kinda stoked to play this one, as it was the first Astronomicon scenario I ever played way back in the beginnings of 4ed and I wanted another crack at the beast. Then I find I am faced up against Duke and his Tau. I figure he is gonna kill the baneblade quick and be up on VPs in a hurry.

But low and behold in the 5ed version this is a KP mission. I think this is actually the only KP mission at the tournament. So things were looking up.



List from my now fading memory (gah should have wrote these quicker...). I am sure I am wrong on a few things

Shas'O, Plasma, MP, drones
Shas'El, AFP, MP, MT

2x Fireknives
2x Deathrains, 4 gun drones

12 x Firewarrior squad, bonding knife
12 x Firewarrior squad, bonding knife
^Devilfish, Disruption pod, flechettes possibly other upgrades
12x kroot, 4x hounds

7x Pathfinders
^Devilfish, Disruption pod, flechettes possibly other upgrades

2x Pirhannas, fusion blasters, possibly other upgrades

1x Broadside, SMS, ASS?

Ionhead, SMSs, Disruption pod, possibly other upgrades

Even better, he only had a single railgun. He may have an even harder time dealing with the baneblade then I, with only the broadside and pirhannas that can really deal damage.

So Sink the Baneblade is an escalation mission. You win by scoring more KPs then both the baneblade and your opponent. Yes the baneblade can win the game, which would be funny as hell. Each structure point on the baneblade is worth 1 KP.

Armies are setup 12" in from long table edge but only get 3' of the edge. The bane blade is then placed center of the board in the half where the armies aren't deployed (hope that makes sense).

The baneblade is essentially a 3rd army and acts at the top of every game turn. It first moves 6" straight forward, then shoots everything it can. You basically go through the list of weaponry, check for the closest unit in LOS fire and determine results, then repeat with the other weapons, attempting to shoot at a unit that has not been shot at if possible (so can end up shooting at units more then once).

He wins the roll off and deploys his broadside on a hill with good vision of the baneblade but well within range and LOS, a foot firewarrior squad below the broadsides hill and pathfinders such that they had full view of the baneblade but were between some trees gaining them a cover save. Still he is pretty close to the baneblade with all of his units. Kroot are in outflank, everything else is coming in from the board edge.

I deploy my 8 man non scuttle stealers on my left, as far from the baneblade and his units as I can get. I know this sets them up for some kroot action but I am fine with that. MCs are in reserve and my 2 scuttlers are outflanking.

So the game starts off with the baneblade focusing its attention on the Tau, killing a good chunk of FWs (they run but rally next turn with the help of the bonding knife) but not much else. His turn he hits the baneblade's engine with the railgun, cutting its speed to 3". My turn I poke my stealers heads out but don't get as far as I wanted and am in the front sites of the baneblade.

Baneblade then procceeds to kill about 4 stealers with the main cannon. I don't think he does much to the tau this turn. Dukes turn he brings in his Pirhannas on my far right, looking for a rear shot. FW in devilfish come in in the middle of the table, but well obscured by trees. A few suits come in near his firebase hill. And then the kroot decide to show up and come in right next to my stealers. His shooting does nada and he chooses to charge rather then shoot at the stealers. I go first and put quite a few wounds on his squad, killing about 6-7. He responds and kills all but one. I still win and proceed to sweep the kroot with the single stealer. Duke then realizes he shoulda shot them instead (24 shots, 12 hits 6 wounds, 3 dead -- about the same result but no kroot casualties). I think getting them into some trees made him a bit more giddy and bolder then he shoulda been.

So my turn I get both stealers, 2 boomfexes and the tyrant. Stealers both end up on my right so one unit heads for the baneblade and the other for the pirhannas. The boomfexes also come in right across from the baneblade. Tyrant come in between some snazzy ruins, dead across from the broadside. No real shooting, just running. Single stealer doesn't get good rolls so hides out in the forest, just outside the Tau firebase of suits. I get into assault on my right though and whiff against the baneblade, but manage to immobilize a pirhanna and blow up another. Too bad the explosion kills a good chunk of my stealers.

Turn 3 the baneblade does very little to the Tau but decides to turn its big cannon at my poor stealers who just got whacked with fish guts and kills all but a few. He does a wound to a boomfex also.

Tau then bring on the rest of his army at this point except for the pathfinders DF. The deathrains come on over behind the pirhannas and the hammerhead behind the broadside. Devilfish with firewarriors setup to double tap the remnants of my 12 man that took the baneblade blast, detaching the drones as well. His shooting starts off against the single stealer, doing little. He then does something amazing -- he hits the baneblade with the railgun and gets a pen 6. Chain reaction so he gets to roll again, another 6 (may have been a 5, but ap1goes to 6). Rolls again, another 6. Use the Force Duke Its like Luke against the deathstar. I am seriously expecting a 6 on the explosion chart but it was not to be. Still though, the explosion does a number on my full 12 man and even wounds a carnifex.

So at this point it becomes a more normal Tau vs Tyranid affair. The FWs and drones end up wiping the last few stealers from the pirhanna killers and assault moves from the drones sets up a wall for my remaining scuttler stealers to deal with before getting to the juicer targets.

So my turn a boomfex crushed the FWs hiding behind the devilfsh and they book off the board. The deathrains get hit by the other boomfex and are pinned. I think it is this turn my Tyrant puts some hurt on the fireknives. In assault Stealers wipe the drones (2kp worth) and my single gets to mix it up with the fireknives and kills one.

From here on it is pretty simple, stealers on my right get to the deathrains and then proceed to move toward the left, going for devil fishes. Boomfexes do the same. My gunfexes and tyrant end up in a shootout with the tau firebase and I am able to get rid of the remnants of the pathfinders and FWs that weathered the baneblade storm of shots. In return I lose the tyrant but the fireknife does go down. I think it ended turn 5 or 6. Even though Duke got the 3 kp for the baneblade I ended up with 2 more KP for the win.

Duke was a great guy and was fun to play against. KP is just plain tough when taking that many little drones and he was unlucky to face my compact army in the only KP mission of the tournament. He took it very well though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Game 5 will be a short one.

I am facing Dean and his Horus Hawks: A really nice egyptian themed Black legion spin off army (he has a whole codex style army list and back story for these guys, very cool army). I had the pleasure of playing Dean 2 years ago at Astro and was happy to see his smiling face across from me.

I don't have a pic as of yet but I am trying to track one down.

His army
Chaos Sorcerer, MoT, Wind of Chaos

Dread

10 CSM, 2x meltaguns, Champ
^Rhino
9 1ksons, Wind of Chaos sorcerrer
^Rhino
8 Berzerkers, Skull champ w/ fist

6 raptors, 2x MG

Defiler
Landraider

Unfortunately he and I end up playing on Hill 2.0. This is a mission tailor made for my army.
Quarters mission, Nightfight the entire game, there's a big hill in the center that is an extra point if you control it. The key here though is unlike game one -- any unit can claim. While I think he could maybe win if I do something dumb this is just one of those crappy matchups for him.

Even worse, his dread rages first turn, runs over and basically suicides into my Hive tyrant (who kills him before he even strikes). I am also able to kill the defiler 2nd turn, eliminating the main threat in my army (without it his chances of winning were slim).

He also had forgotten his forceweapons couldn't instagib tyranids so got stuck in a battle he couldn't really win.

Even still he made a valient effort to contest with his raptors. This forced me to split my army and chase then down. He also did something I had not considered later on -- he was keeping his bezerkers in the landraider in one quarter and I figured ok, he contests that one but I have one uncontested, game over regardless of the raptors, but then he jumps the bezerkers out and grabs the other quarter. Duh! Well I had to beat feet over to get at them but eventually all he had was the land raider and that was that.

Dean was all smiles though and took it in stride. I admire that, many players woulda been sour from start to finish. If there had been a fav player vote he would have gotten mine for sure.

That tournament sounds like a hoot! Glad you had 5 great games, all you can ask for at a tournament.

I actually had six great games lol. I'll wrap this up tonight with the final game and the results and whatnot. I am still trying to find some more pics too, I didn't take many pics and many of what I took were poor.

Dang sounds like a great time.

That's the kind of tourney experience worth having.

So after game 5 I am officially 4 and 1 going into game 6 (while we all know I am truely 3-2). Having a chat with my clubmates and a few others over a beer it sounds like there's no one undefeated and I might be in the running for best general, even as underserving as I was. I was thinking I'd either be playing Bob or a Dark Eldar player. I was pretty exhausted at this point but the beer helped. We head down and low and behold I was matched up with Marshall and his much converted IG. Like Dean, I played him two years ago but with an entirely different army (conscript heavy horde was what he had at that time). I don't have a whole army shot but here some pics I took during another of Marshall's games:

His army is pretty stunning. It has some extreme highlighting that isn't gold daemon standard by any means but looks great on the table top. He also has quite a bit of freehand (markings, pinup girls on vehicles). However the impressive thing is every single model is individualized and converted. Even the lowly flashlighter had GS goggles and many extra gubbins. His vehicles are all pretty extreme kitbashes and conversions as well. This was my player choice vote and after much deliberation with myself his demolisher (as seen above) was also my fav model. It is funny cause his IG army was my fav pic two years ago, and this was an entirely new army done since then.

I can't recall the specifics of his list and I know I may be way off on the foot part of the list. It was a hodge podge of weapon selections but here is the gist

Company Command, 2x plasma guns iirc, medic?
Priest iirc

Platoon Command, flamers
^Chimera, heavy flamer
3-4 Infantry Squads (mostly MLs and ACs with GLs and flamers)
2 or so Heavy weapon teams i think

Veteran squad (no idea on load out)
Veteran squad, grenadiers, 2x flamers (in Valkyrie)

Valkyrie, 2x HBs
scouts sentinel, heavy flamer

Demolisher
Basilisk

The mission was Crash Site Recovery. There are 5 ammo crates and the pilot as objectives. Ammo crates can be picked up and moved and when grabbed for the first time explode like a bassie shell on d6 result of 1. The pilot pretty much runs for a table edge and is captured if you beat him in assault. Minimum 1 troop is deployed but all troops may be deployed if desired. Anything not deployed comes on from reserves with a couple caveats -- 5+ on turn 1 and they come on from a random table edge (1 left 2-5 your long edge, 6 right). So the table it self had the classic Battle for MaCragge shuttle, a bunch of craters, tank traps and wire and the old chimera bunker terrain and similar. There nothing much taller then the shuttle pieces except for some trees in one of the corners.

We took turns deploying the objectives. They ended up more or less in a line along the center of the board, with a cluster of crates on the right side and the pilot placed on the left side.

I am pretty hazy on Marshalls army and what shot at me and so on, so this will be a bit less indepth. Basicaly Marshall wins roll off and takes the long edge near the pilot. He creates a gunling all along his table edge, with his PCS and chimera on my right protecting the cluster of ammo there, and his non-valk vets on the left going for the pilot. Everything else between are the scrubs. He elects to DS the valk w/ vets and outflank with the sentinel. I refuse flank and deploy my 3 stealer squads on my left focused on the pilot and two other objectives there. So I go for the pilot and ammo crates on the left but lose a good chunk of a 12 man stealers for my trouble.

My tyrant gets a lucky 6 for sides and come on to assault the PCS chimera and begin the process of tying up units on the right (hopefully allowing me to keep hold of more then him on the left side).

After that it goes pretty much downhill. I was able to do some good with the tyrant on the right but Marshall is still able to grab some objectives with the vets in the valk and another squad. I lose too many stealers on the left and while i was able to multicharge some guard squads to keep them off objectives he gets ahold of the objectives on the left. He also kills off the pilot I had control of during shooting (losing us some tournament points lol). There's not any real extra time and we aren't playing particularly fast so I don't have time to whittle him down with carnifex shooting. 1 point loss for me, solid 11 or 12 for Marshal. It was a fun game none the less.

So I figure my slim chance at an award was denied and I'd just be ranked in the top 50%. I figured I had no shot at any other award since my army would likely not get 5s across the board and I just didn't have the level of painting for those awards. No biggie though I come here for the games and after-game fun.

So we sit down and go through the drawings for prizes. A clubmate won the much sought after terrain that were donated by Dean (from game 5 above). Really stunning egyptian terrain made with hirst arts molds. Then we get to the impotant stuff.

-Gregg, a clubmate wins Best army list for his list that was done up as a comic book (really unique award, I like seeing what people do for this one.)
-Magnus (of a local and rival club, the Mommaz boys) wins fav model for his Wolf Lord (a really finely painted model, admired the work on the frost blade).
-Best
-Deans terrain wins favorite table award (they have players submit a table if they wish and can win a trophy for it).
-Derrick, the afore mentioned Dark Eldar players win Best General.
-Another clubmate Jeremy wins Best Painted (his other army, a dualwing DA army, can be seen on the Las Vegas GT coverage from last year).
-Marhsall's IG army wins Favorite Army

-Now Best Sportsmanship 3 folks get a perfect 60: my friend Bob gets 3rd place, the tournament organizers (lol) and low and behold -- me! I was speechless. I really have my opponents to thank for that one, as none had any issues with the army and had a good time (even the guys who had a tough matchup).

-And to no ones surprise my friend Bob wins his third Astronomicon.

Overall I had an awesome time and will be going back for sure.

winterman wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Game 5 will be a short one.

I am facing Dean and his Horus Hawks: A really nice egyptian themed Black legion spin off army (he has a whole codex style army list and back story for these guys, very cool army). I had the pleasure of playing Dean 2 years ago at Astro and was happy to see his smiling face across from me.

Huh? What? Oh wait, that's me!!!

I don't have a pic as of yet but I am trying to track one down.

Well, let me see if I can dig some up. Detailed pics of my army are here in the meantime:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=142716&hl=horus++hawks

His army
Chaos Sorcerer, MoT, Wind of Chaos

Dread

10 CSM, 2x meltaguns, Champ
^Rhino
9 1ksons, Wind of Chaos sorcerrer
^Rhino
8 Berzerkers, Skull champ w/ fist

6 raptors, 2x MG

Defiler
Landraider

Actually a few of the wargear/powers are off but it's close enough. Didn't help me any.

Unfortunately he and I end up playing on Hill 2.0. This is a mission tailor made for my army.
Quarters mission, Nightfight the entire game, there's a big hill in the center that is an extra point if you control it. The key here though is unlike game one -- any unit can claim. While I think he could maybe win if I do something dumb this is just one of those crappy matchups for him.

Yup. When I was walking around looking at armies I saw the very nicely done Godzilla army and thought to myself..."I really hope I don't have to face that..."

I had designed my army list to do pretty well against just about everybody...but I knew that if I had to deal with multiple MCs I was in trouble.

And I was right.

Even worse, his dread rages first turn, runs over and basically suicides into my Hive tyrant (who kills him before he even strikes). I am also able to kill the defiler 2nd turn, eliminating the main threat in my army (without it his chances of winning were slim).

He also had forgotten his forceweapons couldn't instagib tyranids so got stuck in a battle he couldn't really win.

Yeah that part sucked. I thought that Imhotep would be able to go out in a blaze of glory, but instead he just went out in a blaze.

The Asprining Sorceror on the other hand...that was funny. It took what, 4 full rounds of combat for the Genestealers and Tyrant Guard to take out that 1000 Sons squad? And even then it came down to one failed armor or Inv save on that 4th round...otherwise it would have been 5.

I'm still intending to write a fluff piece about that battle.

Even still he made a valient effort to contest with his raptors. This forced me to split my army and chase then down. He also did something I had not considered later on -- he was keeping his bezerkers in the landraider in one quarter and I figured ok, he contests that one but I have one uncontested, game over regardless of the raptors, but then he jumps the bezerkers out and grabs the other quarter. Duh! Well I had to beat feet over to get at them but eventually all he had was the land raider and that was that.

Dean was all smiles though and took it in stride. I admire that, many players woulda been sour from start to finish. If there had been a fav player vote he would have gotten mine for sure.

One thing that's nice about battles that you know you really don't have a hope of winning or even drawing is that it forces you to become very creative on dealing with the situation.

Hi Dean/hailstop! You've decloaked from lurk mode I see

Thanks again for the game. Hopefully if we face off again it will be a more even situation!

Also thanks for the link to your army. It is cool to see em next to the pyramids.

By the way, I am pleased to be (temporarily) in possession of your donated egyptian terrain. They've gotten quite a few oohs and aahs around here. I can't wait to see what you are cooking up to replace em.

Finally got around to writing this story. It was insprired by our game.

The Horus Hawks: Zuka’s Last Stand

Hierophant Zuka sat quietly in the dark of the Horus Hawks Command Rhino, his face illuminated only by the green glow from the tactical readouts that his Lord, Imhotep was examining. The Rhino slammed into a knocked down tree, briefly shaking the silent riders within.

Zuka steadied himself with an armoured hand, glancing for a second at Imhotep, who hadn’t moved at all. Imhotep ground his teeth in aggravation and turned his head towards Zuka. Only remnants of hair covered Imhotep’s head. His dark skin was desiccated and taut and his eyes were glowing black-red pits.

Imhotep pointed emphatically at the tactical display. “There’s the hill where we shall obliterate the last of this accursed xeno infestation,” he snarled.

The Horus Hawks had attacked this unknown, unpopulated world, attempting to wrench secrets and artifacts from the strange pyramid-like structures located all over the surface. A week ago a fragment of an unknown Tyranid Hive Fleet had touched down on the planet. Imhotep was determined to destroy them. His research was not yet complete.

“Yes, my Lord”, replied Zuka.
“You will take your automatons and defend that hill against all forces. Set and Ramses will support you.”
Zuka didn’t have a lot of faith in the Defiler Set or Ramses the Dreadnought. Set, a daemon of some power had delusions of grandeur, comparing himself to one of the great gods of Thebes. Ramses...well Ramses was not entirely controllable. The former pharaoh of Thebes had been imprisoned in the sarcophagus of the Dreadnought, forced to fight for the very force that stole his world from him. The pain and agony of never being allowed to fall unconscious had resulted in Ramses’ mind being destroyed. All he was good at was destruction. Zuka chuckled to himself at the poetry of Ramses’ fate.
As the Rhino approached Hill 0.25, Zuka saw that Ramses would be located on his right flank, with Set on the left bombarding any Tyranids that attempted to approach. A unit of Raptors was flying high in reserve. Another Rhino, carrying a squad of Chaos Space Marines ,was also speeding up to the hill on the left flank. Far to the right a Land Raider carried some Khorne Berzerkers, ready to countercharge the inevitable onslaught of Tyranids.
Zuka looked over the eight animated suits of Power Armor that accompanied him and Imhotep in the Rhino. They sat silently, not moving, not speaking. Understandable since there were no minds in the suits. They were controlled only by Zuka’s will.

Suddenly the tactical display lit up with targets. The Tyranids had arrived. The Rhino shook as it was hit by a large projectile. Zuka saw light beginning to stream through holes burning through the side armor of the Rhino. Some sort of acid projectile had hit the vehicle. Seconds later the occupants of the Rhino were thrown forward as the acid ate away at the left track, destroying it and immobilizing the Rhino at the base of the hill.
Zuka threw open the upper hatch doors of the Rhino and looked outside. Coming over the top of the hill was a Hive Tyrant. It was covered in blue chitin, with brown armoured plates. Unlike most Tyrants Zuka had seen, this one was armed with two projectile weapons. To the left of the Tyrant, he saw a huge Carnifex, also armed with ranged weapons. “Unusual”, Zuka thought to himself.
Imotep stood up just as Ramses suddenly lost control and started rampaging towards the Hive Tyrant. “Damn him!” cursed Imhotep, raging as he watched the battle plan beginning to unwind.
Screaming, Ramses charged up the hill. However, just as he was about to pile into the Tyrant, it fired its weapons at point blank range. The biomorphic weapons literally ate through Ramses’ armor and entered the powerplant. This forced a massive explosion, knocking Ramses’ sarcophagus clear over the hill.

“Disembark!” Imhotep ordered. “I’ll deal with this beast. You will cover me.” Imhotep’s force scythe crackled as he activated it.
Zuka mentally commanded the automatons to exit the left side of the Rhino, while Imhotep exited to the right. As he stepped down the side ramp, Zuka realized that the other shoe was about to drop. Coming over the top of the hill came a dozen Genestealers, and the Hive Tyrant was accompanied by Tyrant Guard. Imhotep would have his work cut out for him.
The genestealers raced down the hill at Zuka and his animated suits of armor. Zuka commanded the automatons to unleash their bolters on the charging genestealers. The enspelled bolter rounds cut into the oncoming xenos, killing several of them, but there were too many. Zuka steeled himself for the charge and activated his force sword.
Crackling electricity flowed up the blade just as the genestealers hit Zuka’s unit. Several genestealers ripped three suits apart immediately, but were then cut down by Zuka’s sword.
Zuka relished at the feeling of combat, and a satisfied smile crossed his face as green ichor splattered all over him and the side of the Rhino. His grin widened as he heard the Tyrant scream in pain, Imhotep obviously haven struck a solid blow.

Two more automatons were shredded by the claws of the horde of genestealers wading into them. Zuka continued to slash with his force sword, cutting one genestealer down after another. Bodies upon bodies of genestealers began to pile up around him. Zuka climbed up onto each one as he cut them down, forming a small mountain of broken chitin and ichor.
Suddenly a scream came from the other side of the Rhino. Imhotep’s body was flung over the swirling melee and landed with a thud in the earth twenty feet away from Zuka. Imhotep had fallen. Zuka watched his body disintegrate into dust as his soul returned to his phylactery.
More genestealers ran over the top of the hill while the Hive Tyrant screamed a challenge at him, mocking his fate.

Zuka knew he was going to die. His suits were taken down one after another. Neighbouring units of Chaos Space Marine were falling to a man under the massive onslaught of the horde of monstrous creatures.
Zuka mouthed a prayer to Osiris, the god of the dead, as five genestealers rushed him and dragged him to the ground. Their claws ripped into his armour and he felt pain and agony as his intestines were dragged out of his belly. Not a pleasant way to die, but it would shortly over.
All went black.

.
.
.
Zuka awoke screaming.

The pain he felt was more intense than anything he had ever felt in his life. It felt as if lightning bolts were constantly hitting him. It felt like he was having his skin repeatedly flayed. In his pain induced awareness, he saw that he was suspended in some sort of device in a manufactorum.
A renegade member of the Adeptus Mechanicus looked up at him and turned, calling over to someone. Zuka was unable to turn his head to look. Imhotep, newly regenerated, walked into Zuka’s line of vision and looked up at him. A cruel smile spread across his face, causing flakes of dead skin to fall to the floor.
“My Lord.” the adept said. “He is awake.”
Imhotep chuckled to himself. “He’ll do. Close him up and prepare him for transport to the Cadian Gate. This will be a suitable punishment for failure”.
Screaming in agony, Zuka’s eyes scanned the scene in front of him, fastening on a line of viewscreen monitors behind. Suddenly he realized what he was seeing. Horror and terror was added to the pain as he saw his broken body. He was legless, armless with massive scars covering his face and torso. Cables and hoses were attached to his head, his neck, his back and where his arm sockets would have been.
Zuka continued to wail as the Dreadnought sarcophagus lid closed on him.

Kick Ass Story Dean!!

Well Done!

Can't wait to see the new Zuka!

Gregg

Yeah, I guess I need to model him now don't I?

:-)

Hey, where have you and Bob been on the Taken list? Haven't heard from you guys in forever.

Lurking!

Yeah, I read the digest all the time. Don't contribute since Yahoo Groups is kinda painful to use (to me at least).

I wish it was more forum based.