Thinking about 2k Tournament

So the LGS has put up some details for the next tournament and its going to be a 2k event.  This is exciting as I don't know that they've had that point level at the shop, usually opting for 1500 with the rare 1850 thown in to balance out the occasional 1000/1250 pt.

I usually build my armies around 1850 since most of the 'bigger' tournaments around here seem to go with that, and I figure it's easier to move down to 1500 and not hard to move to 2k.  Of course now looking at 2k and I have to figure out what to do.

I, as always, would like to play something fully painted.  That pretty much takes Tau and my Chaos right out of the picture.  So over to Templar and Orks.  I don't want to take away from my Chaos painting, but at the same time I'm feeling unmotavated to work on horrors so a little painting might not be bad.

First up an all podding Templar list.

Champ-AACNMTO
Marshal- Twin Claws, Iron Halo, Terminator Honors
Marshal- TH/SS, Terminator Amor
Venerable Dread- MM/HF, Armor, Smoke, Pod w/ Deathwinds
Dread- MM/HF, Armor, Smoke, Pod w/ Deathwinds
6 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
7 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
7 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
8 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
9 Crusaders (All Shooty) PF/Plasma, 1 Neophyte- Pod
Speeder- MM/HF
Speeder- MM/HF
Speeder- MM/HF

Need to Paint- 1 Pod, 1 Neophyte

Pros- My drop pod templar have never done badly in a tournament, but they saw better success at smaller point values.  It's got a good amount of melta coming down (5 units should arrive on turn 2), as well as flamers and two deathwinds on the Dread Pods (which are my best anti-horde unit so why not).  I squeezed on the Venerable to see if that would help him possibly survive that first round of shooting.  5 Solid Troop choices of 50 marines is nothing to sneeze at, backed by some decent CC oriented HQs.

Cons- First off kill points are 20 which is a bit high. It will probably be in line with heavy mech armies but obviously elite armies will be way down.  I also think this list could be tweaked to be more effective, but it would mean painting more guys and probably adding one more pod.

I think it can own heavily mech armies, but I'm not sure about BA/SW or bugs, both of which are bound to be making a showing.  I just don't know if it has 'enough' CC without a rock unit.

So I thought about another whacky list...

Champ-AACNMTO

Marshal- Twin Claws, Iron Halo, Terminator Honors
Reclusiarch- Combi Melta, MB
Dread- MM/HF, Armor, Pod
Dread- MM/HF, Armor, Pod
5 Assault Terminators, 3 LC, 2 TH/SS
7 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
7 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
7 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod
8 Crusaders PF/Melta, 2 Neophytes- Pod

LRC- Smoke, Blessed Hull

Need to Paint- 1 Crusader

Pros- Kill Points are better at 17, though who knows if that's game changing.  I have my "rock" unit which can deal with almost any other nasty unit in the game.  I think having the LRC also makes people think twice about making me go first and/or reserving everything as it gives me a free advance with that bad boy.

Cons- The LRC is the only thing that being shot at turn 1.  Now if I go first I can probably get cover plus I've got "old" smoke.  I usually only need it to live past turn 1 to deliver a payload.  But if they go first I'm not sure if it's better to reserve it or just hope for cover... obviously that would have to get figured out on the fly.  I've also given up on some MM, and I'm down one troop choice with this list from the previous.  I'm not sure how much of me wanting to run this army is just to 'HAHA BLESSED HULL' someone, which of course means I'll get 3 non Lance players. :p

I see how both lists could work, but I also see how they could fold.  I wish I could get in some practice games, so hopefully the next two Friday nights would give me a chance to try these.

Of course there is always Orks, and I'd just run my same Capitol Punishment list.

Ghaz
Big Mek KFF
9 Lootas
9 Lootas
8 Kommandos w/ 2 Burnas + Snikrot
19 Shoota boyz w/ 2 BS + Nob PK/BP
29 Slugga boyz + Nob PK/BP
18 Ard Boyz + Nob PK/BP
3 MANz w/ 2 Combi in BW w/ Deffrolla, Armor, BS, Grot Riggers
Buggie w/ Rokkits
Buggie w/ Rokkits
3x Kans w/ Rokkits
BW w/ Deffrolla, Armor, BS

Need to Paint- 0, it's ready to roll.

Pros- A nice and tight 14 kp.  I know how the army works pretty well.  There's not much different from my 1850, and I learned a few things from Capitol Punishment from losing those first 3 games that I got to help win my last 2 games.

Cons-  Well this guy...

Sorry its a crappy flash pic but that's Snikrot.  Between CP and Ard Boyz he's been absolutely useless as everyone is so meched up it silly.  I think he's far more useful at lower point games, but his squad is what I have painted. 

If I had the time (and motivation) I would paint my other squad of Lootas as that would really make the list nasty.  But I don't have that kind of time. 

I could cut him and add a Dread and paint another Manz and 3rd buggie.  But the Dread is nearly as useless, the extra Manz is filler and the 3rd buggie is really the most redeeming thing out of that suggestion. :p

But when I look at the orks out on the table it's impressive.  I wouldn't want to play against it really with any of my other armies, so that's saying something I suppose!

Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions?

1ksons Friday Fight Night 10/15/10 Part 2

So Liam showed up right when Anthony and I finished our game, almost like it had been planned that way (which it more or less was).  So he brought out his sisters for an epic battle with the once defeated thousand sons.

His list was just a slight variant of lists he's run before, this time opting for two squads of girls on foot.
It looked vaguely like:
Cannoness
3 Celestian Squads in Immolators
3 Battle Sister Squads in rhinos
2 Battle Sister Squad on Food
3 Exorcists

We rolled and got the exact same mission and deployment I had just played, so we rerolled and got multiple objectives with Dawn of War deployment.  I got to place two objectives, then Liam won the roll off but let me go first.

I opted to take the opposite side of the table from my first game, and deployed the DP and one rhino with 1ksons as far up as I could.  I put the rhino behind a LOS building in case he stole turn 1.

Liam left everything to roll in on turn 1.

I advance everything in my turn and pop smoke on the advanced rhino.

Liam starts to roll on the board his turn 1.

He torrents fire on to the DP and manages two wounds.  One exorcist rolled very poorly for night fight.  He pops smoke on some of his vehicles on the right flank.

On my turn 2 I get my Warptime off on the prince and get one horror squad and the termies.  The termies comes down and shoot one exorcist dead.  The DP advances to tackle the other one (and downs it also).  My pred on the left flank pops a rhino, and the explosion manages to kill a generic terminator.  My rhino hussles back a bit, and the rest of my shooting is pretty ineffective, maybe I managed a stunned on his 3rd exorcist.  My horrors charge his slogging girls and kill a few in combat.

On his turn 2 and he starts advancing up the rhinos.

He also unloads all of his girls from various rhinos in the mid table.  He opens up on the terminators with two squads and brings it down to one guy.  He pops my advanced rhino and I think kills one son.  In combat my horrors kill a few more girls.

My turn 3 and my 2nd horror squad comes down.  My sons start shooting one squad of Celestians and prepare to charge tying them up. The rest of my shooting is meh.  My 2nd horror squad charges a girl squad to tie them up as well.  DP assaults another squad, last terminator gets into another squad.  Combat goes in my favor but not enough to clean anybody out yet.

His turn 3 and on the right flank he is ready to open up on my rhino despite my smoke popping goodness.

He pops it anyway and the sons pop out.  My first squad of horrors finish off the last of those girls.  The terminator is tied up in combat,  the prince kills more girls and the 2nd squad of horrors kill more girls.

My turn 4.  First of all my sons in CC lose the sorcerer to failed warptime/perils.  My sons shoot and advance on the second slogging troop girls that are advancing.  They make combat and tie those girls up while the DP clears out his squad of girls and the first squad of horrors assist on killing the last the girls engaged with the terminator.  My sons are just duking out with a small celestian squad.

Things are looking grim for Liam.  I think his last exorcists finally pops my pred on that flank.  His two celestian squad hop in their rides and head off toward my closes objective.  In CC his girls I think are actually able to see of my right flank 1ksons.  The other squad north of the objective continues to whiff.

My turn 5.  DP attacks an empty immolater and pops it.  My last termie and horrors are attacking a rhino that went fast and whiff.  My second squad of horrors are able to charge his squad of girls tie them up in combat.  My 2 oblits are still around (haven't done much all game but miss his exorcist) now have to advance to melta one of his immolators but they just destroy the weapon.   My squad of sons is still trading whiffs with his celestians.

His turn 5 and his exorcist is able to down the oblits.  His two girl squads get out and they pop my rhino on my objective and start shooting at the squad of sons.  One rhino swings up to contest my objective.  My horrors kill of his troops on the right flank and move to the objective, but the sons still wiff with the celestians.

At this point I've got the right flank, and he's got rhinos contesting the other two objectives.  Liam is ready to call it a game, but I say lets see how it plays out anyway since it will go fast.

In the end it goes too fast.  I know I was sloppy and managed to get the prince killed.  He manages to kill off my sons on my objective and I can't kill his damn rhinos.  His girls move to start killing horrors but going to ground saves my ass.

But then a turn 7!  I still can't kill the damn rhinos!  My sons finally do kill the celestians for the 'this doesn't matter all at this point' combat.

He opens up on the horrors but again going to ground saves there bacon from the exorcist and one squad of girls (I lost 1 out of 5) .  He realizes his only hope is to charge them through cover as I pulled the closest one for my casualty.  Amazingly my 4 guys with 8 attacks kill 3 girls including the sergeant, where I only lose 1 in retaliation.  Good luck continues with him failing LD and routing away.

In the end his rhinos are squatting on two objectives, of which only one has one of my scoring troops anyway, but my 2nd horror squad came through clutch in the end.

Afterward Liam pointed out how he should have really deployed all to one flank away from my DP and rhino as that turn 2 was pretty crippling.  I'm also not sure if getting out of the rhinos was best against my army which generally suffers against killing vehicles.  Overall though he fought back and made the came teeter on a tie until the last dice rolls, which make for an exciting game!

Another fun Friday night of gaming!

1ksons Friday Fight Night 10/15/10 Part 1

So I got a few games on Friday night once the office cleared out for the day.  Anthony was going to bring his marines over so I set the table up and got my Thousand Sons ready.

Nothing horribly new, pretty much the same as last week.  I figured I'd give that a go and see how they did for a few more games.

As it turns out Anthony's marines have been lost in the warp.  Seriously he can't find them anywhere.  So the army that was easiest packed was Necrons.  He doesn't really like to play them but since it was just me and my 'I like to nerf my nerfed codec' thousand sons why they heck not.

Destroy Lord w/ Res Orb
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
3 Destroyers
3 Destroyers
3 Wraiths
3 Heavy Destroyers
Monolith
Monolith

We rolled single objective and corner deployment.  I got to go first and set up ready to start my advance.  Anthony kept one Monolith off the board as well as 2 squads that would portal in later.

My turn one and I advance.  I decide to put my DP in front of a rhino thinking that I can give the rhino a cover save and then save my smoke for later.  Everything but the preds move forward.  I think I even manage to immobilize the Monolith and kill one heavy destroyer.

On Anthony's turn I get my first reminder of 'oh ya they can do that can't they' when he portals up his Lord and Wraiths.  This leads to the being able to assault the oblits, killing one and I kill nothing back.  Meanwhile he gets his destroyers to light up the DP and he goes down in a torrent of fire.  The two heavy destroyers manage to wreck my rhino that wasn't smoked.

My turn 2 and I think I had one squad of horrors come down.  I send them over to mix it up with the lord and wraiths.  I advance my lone rhino and squad, keeping my 3rd rhino back for my objective.  I think I manage to shoot dead one heavy destroyer and in combat he continues to work down one oblit and a few lesser daemons, I think I managed 1 W on the lord.

His turn 2 and the Monolith comes down and comes down a bit outside my objective.  His shooting isn't too great (or rather some of my saves were great), I think he immobilized a pred and popped my other advancing rhino.  In combat he wins again and I think I'm just holding on with a handful of horrors.

My turn 3 and now my termies come in but 2nd horrors stay out.  The termies come down and are close enough to blast one squad of 3 destroyers and kill them with the combi meltas.  My sons advance unable to wound his last Heavy Destroyer.  I turn my mobile dread and am able to again immobilize the 2nd mono.  In combat he finally wipes out my horrors.

On his turn he gets his second squad of warriors and pops them on the 2nd mono.  They shoot at the pred and I think don't manage a single glance.  The wraiths assault my second pred but I think pop a gun.  The lord is vacumed up to go assault my termies.  In assault he only manages one wound but it lands on my chainfist!  In shooting he's manage to shoot out both my icons out of my advancing sons.

My turn 4.  I'm really hoping to get my horrors down so that they could probably assault his warriors on his objective.  They might not win combat, but they could possibly pull him off and tie him up for 2 turns.  Alas its a no go, and I know my termies Icon wont make it two more turns.  Indeed 2 more guys go down and my sons advance.  I try to jocky my units around my objective for defence and shoot down a wraith (one must have been killed in combat early 'cause he only had the two now).

His turn 4 I think he pops my pred with his last heavy destroyer finally.  His 3rd squad of warriors advance on my own objective.  I think he shoots down my leading sons squad.  The lord only manages to kill one more termie so I can't shoot him, but he's killed my icon. He vaccums up the wraith but the one stays down.

Turn 5 and the horrors come down and I get them locked in on my objective.  My guys advance.  The lord kills my last terminator.  I can't kill a thing.

His turn and the lord gets vaccumed up to advance on my objecitve.  The lone wraith is able to contest.

I think the Lord advances and works down some of the sons.

The game goes to 6 but there's not much I can do.  My advancing squad rolls horrible for Slow and purposeful.  The other sons are killed by the lord.

His turn 6 and the horrors are shot to bits, then assaulted and totally creamed.  My vehicles are in bad shape.

My second squad continues to survive but are miles off his objectve as he put it in the back corner.

 

The game ends.  I think that's pretty much how it rolled.

Anthony has since pointed out my two big mistakes.  #1 was advancing the oblits so they could be charged from the portal.  If I had just sat back it would have maybe given myself and extra turn to shoot that would have helped.  #2  It turns out you can block the portal!  DOH!  I didn't think it actually worked like a vehicle but I had a rhino floating around in the back and I could have blocked off that portal.  That's probably not game changing but good to keep in mind for the future.

You know, for when I play Necrons next year sometime maybe. :)

Other than that a few other things didn't work out quite like I would have liked.  I perhaps should have kept my DP behind the rhino and just smoked the second rhino.  Getting that extra turn to advance would have been really helpful, even if the DP just got shot to bits anyway.

The 'when things Deepstrike' has been all over the place.  It just lends to having more units but smaller, not surprisingly very similar to what I've seen with the Templar Drop Pods.

So that was game 1.  Liam showed up for a game 2 which I'll write up tomorrow.

Daemon Prince Painted

So I wrapped up the Daemon Prince over the weekend.  I'm pretty pleased with him.  I think I should have done his leg and bracer in gold too to make it stand out but aside from that I think it came out well.

I decided to do the weapon like I did for the aspiring sorcerers and I think I'm getting better at that too.

 I tried doing some blend to purple.  I might go back and try to make the tips a little lighter but overall I think the effect looks alright.

 

So now he can be fielded without me having to much about with him not being attached to the base.  Hooray for small victories!

Switching to Paint Daemon Prince

So I had some time for painting last night.  I decided I needed a little bit more of a break from more horrors so I figured I'd try to work on the DP.  After all I'm tired of him being not attached to the base the whole two turns a game I have to move him.

I got a bit done, but man he looks horrible right now.  I did some more work on the blue skin and darkened up the wings with some purple, then I basically just focused on getting base coats down.

Damn that is ugly.  Hopefully over the weekend I'll get some time to add more layers and hopefully by Monday he's looking a little more like a well painted mini and less like something I would have painted in 6th grade.

Some More Chaos Painting

Finally finished up the 3 horrors to wrap up the first squad of 9.

 I also got the guns painted for the second squad of 1ksons.

Now I need to get cracking on the second squad of horrors but I'm feeling awfully unmotivated.  Maybe I need to switch over to the DP just to get a break from all that pink.

A Couple of Space Wolves vs 1ksons Games

So I got a couple of games in with my buddy Dave and his gorgeous Space Wolf army.  We wanted to run up against my 1ksons, and I knew it would be an uphill battle, but I didn't know exactly how uphill!

His list looked something like:

Logan

Rune Pries w/ Lightening & Stormcaller

2 Lone Wolves in Termie Armor w/ 2 Fen Wolves Each

5 Wolf Gaurd in Termie Armor w/ Various Upgrades, 1 PA Wolf Gaurd

4 Wolf Gaurd in Termie Armor w/ Various Upgrades w/ LR, 1 PA Wolf Gaurd

7 Grey Hunters w/ Upgrades in Rhino

7 Grey Hunters w/ Upgrades in Rhino

6 Long Fangs w/ 3 Lascannons and 2 ML

So its got the uber 4+ against Psy powers, a LR, and lots of terminators.  Pretty much a nightmare for my normal 1ksons.  Of course this time I was determined to try my 5 man terminators again but this time adding in the 2x9 horrors.  My plan was to rush as fast as I could up the table and start dropping down death.

We rolled long table edge deployment and killpoints, and Dave won and went first.  His deployment looked like this.

Now at this point I can reflect and say "hey maybe I should have put everything in Reserve" but that might have been a mistake anyway.  Either way I deployed ready to start rushing up my rhinos if they could survive the first onslaught of weapons.

 I manage to not steal turn 1 and the game is on.  My first nasty surprise?  Logan who is attached to the Long Fangs makes them all tank hunters.  All his long range opens fire, and the net result is a exploded rhino, a destroyed rhino, an immobilized rhino, and a destroyed predator.  OUCH.  So much for them blasting up turn 1!

 I start hussling up the board, I think I do some shooting and maybe I take down one of the wolf gaurd but it is pretty sad for me already.  I try to mussle it up and try to make what I can out of the game and advance my troops on foot.

Dave's turn and I think Logan and his Priest jump in the LR to join a squad of Wolf Gaurd.  The LR shoots dead one Oblit.  Eveybody else focus fires on my DP and just manage to kill him off.

My turn 2 and I roll for Deep Strikes and nothing comes in for me.  He's got his Lone Wolves screening his long fangs.  I lay down some fire on one of them and kill the two wolves and manage 1 W on the Lone Wolf.

Turn 3 and he starts jocking the one Lone Wolf around  one squad of sons. 

He then scoots his LR and rhinos around.  He focuses his firepower on my oblits and he does manage to wipe them out with concentrated fire.

My turn 3 and my Terminators and one squad of Horros come down.  The terminators are in good enough position to pop his LR and they do.  I'm now dropping some bolter shots from my two squads on the left on his long fangs and I kill a few.  My Pred takes out another 2 Wolf Gaurd leaving only 1.  My sons assault the lone wolf in front of them.  They kill the wolves and do 1 W to the WG but he's eternal warrior so no use trying to force weapon him (and my Warptime has been shut down also).  I lose two 1ksons.  The horrors charge the Long Fangs and the remaing Wolf Gaurd Terminator.  I think the combat is a push.

If you're following close now you'll note I've got 1 kp to Dave's 5. :p

Dave's turn 4 he shuffles some units around and opens up on my terminatros with combi plasma from one squad of WG and other melta bits from Grey Hunters.  In the end all I have left is one terminator with the Chainfist.  In Combat he charges me with his other Lone wolf but I think I actually manage to kill them both off for a whole 0 KP for me. :( I kill a few more Long Fangs and I think I might actually have won this round of combat.  I want to say somehow Dave's rune priest died to perils this round too...

My Turn 4.  My other squad of horrors come down and I drop them near Logan's Termies.  I manage to immobilize a rhino with my Pred.  My 2 squads of sons keep advancing slowly.  My other squad that had won combat charges in with the Long Fangs and remaining Hive Gaurd.  I think they manage to kill them off, but I'm only left with 2 horrors and 1 son with the sorcerer.  I foolishly charge Logan with my horrors but he and his Gaurd kill them before they can even strike thanks to charging through cover.  I had also assaulted a rhino but totally whiffed with my Terminator armor.

 I don't remember if we played turn 5.  I think we did.  I think he just quickly killed off my horrors, tiny sons squad, and terminator squad.  I think I opened fire and couldn't finish off that Grey Hunter squad.  I think that's right because we rolled a 2 and that was the game.  Just as well.  I was toasted bad early and could never recover.  I think I manage 5 kp to Dave's 9.  OUCH, quite the pounding.

Dave was sporting enough to give it another go.  This time we rolled up Dawn of War and single objectives.  Dave again won roll off but let me deploy first.  I set up two squads of sons with the DP as far up as I could.  Dave left everything to walk in on turn 1.

My turn everything advances.

On Dave's turn we brings everything on the table.  Another surprise for me is Logan making the Long Fangs relentless.  They shoot and pretty much are just able to bring down my DP.  Oh well, that's kind of his job to be shot to bits.

My turn 2 everything comes down.  The terminators are out of range of the LR so they just run, but a Pred get's lucky and blows the LR to pieces.  The horrors come down and just run to get into some cover. The oblits pretty much destroy one Wolf Gaurd squad leaving the Priest by his lonesome.

Logan and company charge my terminators and horrors with one Lone wolf assisting, combat goes poorly for me there.  His other lone wolf gets tied up with my second squad of horrors but that goes ok.  The priest joins the Long Fangs.

My turn 3.  I've got sons up to rapid fire on his long fangs and between them and the preds I only have the cyclone launcher Wolf Gaurd and the Wolf Priest with 1 wound.  Logan and co finally overcome my termies and horrors but there's just one Wolf Gaurd left there.

For some reason I've got no pictures of the front.  I've got a rhino wall blocking off one squad of Grey Hunters and am trying to hold him off my objective where I've got my 3rd squad of sons.

I've also got no other pictures of the end but the game goes all the way to turn 7.  If the game had ended on 5 or 6 I would have the win, but on turn 7 he's finally able to clear everything off his objective (including a rhino a had shoved up there).  On his objective he had basically Logan, a Wolf Gaurd, and one Grey Hunter.  I've still got a pred, oblits, my sons on a squad and I think one rhino.  He was able to pull off a great tie, damn you dice for turn 7!

They were two tough as hell games.  Yes the match up is horrible for me but its still great practice.  I'd like to run the list some more to see how much was a fluke but I can already see the fundamental problem.  Deep strike variability is bad, and 3 rhinos are pretty easy to stop if I'm going second.  I have a feeling the answer to make the list 'more competitive' is going to be about dropping the horrors down to 3x6 and make the termies 2x3.  This would give more flexibility and minimize some of the risk.  The horrors are good for tying things up, but against guys with lots of attacks they just die badly.  So I'm not sure 6 is actually enough.

So some more games with these guys as is before I get too carried away.  Either way I've got a lot to paint on the table.

Some Micro Art Studio Chaos Bases

So as I finishing up my first batch of 6 horrors I noticed something I wasn't quite happy with on these new models.  At the base of each horrors is a bit of stone, sometimes a skull.  This is to help mount the horror as usually it is only 1 small point to glue the base.  

The problem is the clockwork bases I'm using for my thousand sons army.  The rock and skulls look horribly out of place.  I thought about trimming it off but then the point/joint would probably be weak.  I thought about trying to trim/greenstuff/mold it into something else.  I also just tried to paint it to see if it would look ok.

But really the answer is no it doesn't look good.  And that's on one of the whacky bases with lots of bits.  On some of the bases that the are just tiles or gears and it would look really out of place.

So after much debate I decided that for my Summon Lesser Daemons I would try a different resin base.  So after the games on Sat I looked through the wide selection of Micro Arts Studio bases and decided I would go for the Chaos Bases they produce.  This would give a rock like base that I could match up with the Horrors and being Chaos-y they would look alright for these models. 

Here's one painted:

And here is what it looks like with a little greenstuff work to make the base of the horror fit nicely.

So there you go.  5 guys are done and on these bases, and the one guy needs to be pulled of the other base.  I'm a little bummed the whole army wont have matching bases but I think with just the horrors having unique bases I will just mentally write it off as them being summoned from the realm of chaos (or something).  Such mind tricks help me sleep...

Orks Waagh to the Top

Lot's of text incoming, and no pictures due to my wife leaving our camera at her work. :(

So the LGS trournament was a fun time and I did quite well finishing on the top of the heap at the end of the day.  A good clip of the regulars were up in Alameda for the GT going on there so the tournament was a little light with 12 people.  I think the breakdown was something like: 2 Blood Angels, 2 Tyranid, 1 Vanilla Marine, 1 Space Wolf, 1 Black Templar, 1 CSM, 1 Chaos Daemon, 1 Sisters, 1 Dark Eldar and me with my Orks.  A pretty good blend with really only IG not appearing being the only surprise, but with 12 people even popular codecs don't always get represented.

One of the local players has taken up the mantle of running the monthly tournaments for a few months and he made the missions and over all the day was nice and smooth.  There was only the DE army that was also fully painted I think, though 1 or 2 were pretty close to done. The TO mentioned that people who place don't get the Painted as well as its nice to get more people walking out with a prize.  I've gotten two before and, ya it's kinda cool to get two prizes but also a little douche-a-riffic.  I don't know if I would have had more votes than the DE (or other not 100% armies) but I probably had a good chance of getting paint... but obviously was going to try to do well regardless!

Game 1: Lorin's Sisters
So Lorin's moved down from Seattle and I think this might have been his first tournament at the LGS.  He was really friendly and outgoing, introducing himself to folks before the tournament and joking about how he should be writing a paper for school but decided to come play anyway.  He was really a cool mellow guy and was tough to boot!  His list was unlike a sisters list I have played before even remotely:

Inq Lord Karamazov
Canoness, Eviserator, BP, Cloak of St Aspira, Book of St Lucius
Callidus Assasin
10 Battle Sisters, Melta, HF, Vet Sup w/ Book in Rhino w/ EA, Smoke
10 Battle Sisters, Melta, Vet Sup w/ Eviserator, BP, Book in Rhino w/ EA, Smoke
IG Plattoon
-Command Squad, 2 Grenade Launchers
-Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon
-Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon
-Special Weapon Squad w/ 2 Demo Charges, Flamer
-Heavy Weapon Team w/ Mortars
7 Seraphim w/ 2 Hand Flamers, Vet Sup, Book
Exorcist, Smoke, Searchlight
Immolater, EA, Smoke

Deployment: Dawn of war.  Objectives #1 5 objectives (control more); #2 Most Expensive Unit Killed; #3 Control objective in enemies deployment.

He wins roll off and has much thinking about how to deploy.  He's not sure whether to push me back or sit deep.   After a bit of agonizing he decides to sit back mostly, but I end up dropping everything to walk in on turn 1.  I don't want that Callidus moving me around before the game!

I'm not sure how to best describe this game.  I advanced but I was taking so few loses from his shooting that I held back a little as well.  Meanwhile he kept his guys a bit bunched in the center rear of his zone.  His Callidus creamed a Loota squad and promptly died to the Shoota boyz.  I probably could have gotten Ghaz into combat turn 2 but decided to hold tight and then waagh turn 3 when he could be supported.  The wagon survived a solid round of fire (meltas, demo charges, etc) though it did get immobilized.  A few options were taken away but I decided to then charge to combat.  We all got stuck in, and the only thing I really forgot about was that damn book which kept his girls stuck in even when I was mowing through them.  I was able to drag his Inq Lord down with Boyz and Ghaz kept standing in the end.  He made a push with vehicles to contest two objectives and I couldn't pop em, and we both claimed one at the end of 5 with minutes left on the clock.  Neither objecive posessed was in the opponents zone so while we tied on the objective for 5 I picked up another 3 points for killing his most expensive unit.

Had the game gone on I'm not sure who it would have favored.  He still had guys running around and could have contested more, but I might have also been able to clear off some others.  Either way it was a great game

I will say I definately missed having Snikrot this game, as it would have just made a mess of his back line.  I'm just not sure what I could feasibly pull out in 1500 for him.

Game 2: Tom's Dark Eldar
Tom is one of the nicest guys at the shop.  He and I played early in this year when I brought BT pods, and he had a which cult theme.  Today he had a bit of a different build.

Archon on Jetbike (w/ stuff)
Haemonculi on Jetbike (w/ stuff)
10 Warriors w 2/ Dark Lances
10 Warriors w 2/ Dark Lances
10 Warriors w 2/ Dark Lances
9 Warriors w Blaster, Sybarite (w/ Stuff) in Raider, Lance, Horrorfex, Nightshields
8 Warriors w Blaster, Sybarite (w/ Stuff) in Raider, Lance, Horrorfex, Nightshields
5 Jetbikes w/ 2 Blasters, Succubus (w/ Stuff)
Talos
Talos
Talos

Deployment: Spearhead, Objectives #1: Modified KP (Hq 3, Elite/Fast/Heavy 2, Troops/Transports 1); #2 More table quarters; #3 Slay all opposing Troops.

Oddly we get the table that Tom and I before the game had decided was probably the best board for me to play on that day.  We're both looking at each others lists and the mission (his possible 21 kp to my 15) and we know this is going to be ugly fast. 

He wins roll off but lets me set up first.  I deploy and leave one 30 boy squad in reserve hoping they'll help protect/threaten a flank and if they come in late at least take the table quarter.  He sets up with as much cover as he can and leaves his to Raider in reserve.

My turn 1 I advance up and focus fire on one Talos and bring it down.  His turn and he gets a lance through and pops Ghaz's Wagon and advances his Talos up and his bike squad.  I think the only mistake he made was he didn't have his Archon with the squad. 

On my turn 2 I shoot both Loota squads at him.  He's got a 2+ invul for his first W, but on the second round of Loota fire it finally fails, but then is insta killed due to Str of the Deffgun.  Ghaz is close enough to just assault one warrior squad in cover and he makes short work of them.  The KFF has moved off to join another slugga boy squad. 

On his turn one raider comes on the table.  His raider and 2 remaining squad lay the hurt down on Ghaz and the boyz, and I call the waagh hoping to drop some of the lances on Ghaz.  This lets me keep the manz alive by having them take splinter rifle saves instead.  Sadly Ghaz end up still taking 3 wounds, and 2 of my Manz have wounds by now.  His 2 Talos advance and shoot up the sluggas they are approaching but are out of range of assault.  His jetbikes chage the Lootas but 2 live after fearless save (due to the Waagh being called) and I think I might have even killed a bike.

My turn 3 and my boyz show up and advance on the Talos and jetbikes.  The other Sluggas are also right on them.  Ghaz moves up to his gunline and Raider.  My shooting does nothing.  In CC the Manz wipe out his 2nd Warrior squad and Ghaz pops the Raider.  His jetbikes finish of the lootas, and his Talos kill a few boyz.  In return the jetbikes are attacked by about 45 boyz and killed, while the two PF nobs work on the Talos doing 1 W to one and 2 W to the other.  Sadly I still actually lose combat and take a few fearless deaths.

His turn 3 and his Raider comes on the table.  After debating what to do he bring it in to help support wiping Ghaz.  That new unit plus the 2 remaining Warrior squads finally put Ghaz and the Manz down.  In CC I finish up the Talos with a few loses.

At this point there's still about 25 minutes but Tom knows the proverbial goose is cooked.  I've lost a Lootas squad, Ghaz, the Manz and a BW for 7 points.  He's ONLY got a raider and 3 Warrior squads, meaning he's given up 17 kp.  Further more my shootas are up on one flank holding a quarter.  My Lootas are in my original deployment zone holding it (any unit could claim for this), one slugga squad is just about dead center but not quite in his quarter and the other is in the right flank zone to hold it.  Had the game gone on I might have made assault range but maybe not, but the raider was probably toast to Loota fire.   Even if not his best case would be to try to push to get all 4 alive units to each quarter to make that a push, but it seems unlikely as all hell so we call it a game.  We clean up and talk about the upcoming DE realease and we joke around about our painted armies.  We turn in the result sheet and the 13 battle points put me at 21, and now I've somehow landed on table 1!

Game 3: Scott's Space Wolves
I played Scott last early in the realease of 5th edition with my orks and his old bugs.  He's been playing SW consistantly since they came out and usually does very well so I'm not totally shocked he's won both his games (coming in with 27 points) and know this is going to be a challenge.

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, JotWW
5 Wolf Gaurd w/ Melta Bombsx 1, PFx4, Combi Melta x 4
5 Wolf Scouts, Melta
8 Grey Hunters, Melta, Wolf Standard, MofW, Rhino
8 Grey Hunters, Melta, Wolf Standard, MofW, Rhino
8 Grey Hunters, Melta, Wolf Standard, MofW, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Melta, MofW, Razorback (HB)
6 Long Fangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers

Deployment:  Pitched Battle. Objectives #1 Center objective; #2 Scoring Unit in Enemy Deployment Zone; #3 Destroy Opponents General
It's probably a text book list.  The Wolf Gaurd get to split up for every Hunter list and I think the Scouts too.  He wins roll off and goes first.  We're on one of the city boards and his Long Fangs fit perfectly on little square building roof tops with pretty good LOS down various fire lanes.  He spread his rhinos around down different avenues.  I set up using every bit of tom-foolery I can to get cover.  I've conga lined boys down around buildings and behind ruins, I've got Lootas in building/runis, and I've got my KFF on the wagon on the far right flank with another 30 man squad.

Turn 1 and the frag-fest begins.  The worst comes to one Loota squad who take the 5 frags for about 14 hits, 8 Wounds, and I failed EVERY 4+ cover save.  Funny enough that guy sticks around and remains the rest of the game shooting (though be it ineffectively) and any hull that he can draw LOS.  A few other boys go down but the cover saves help, and one set of Krak bounces harmlessly off the BW.

On my turn I advance up but again try to pull off as much cover as I can.  The Wagon goes up but positions so that only two Fang squads can draw LOS and they have to take front armor.  My rokkits and lootas manage to stun two rhinos but aside from that nothing to write home about at all.

His turn 2 and he starts to move his Priest rhino (which must have just been shaken) down his deployment toward the center.  Also his Scouts come in with his choice of deployment.  I've strayed to close to might right flank so they get to come on and take 6" melta shots.  I think one missed, and the second only managed a Stun so w/ Armor I'm just shaken.  He drops 4 Lootas with Frag out of my whole squad, and I think a few more boyz out of my far left flank.  He charges in with his scouts and Wolf Gaurd but they miss alot due to needing 6s and what they do hit fails to glance.

My turn 2 and I again find myself debating whether to go all out or hold back.  Ghaz could blast straight up and try to charge his two rhinos, but then will be left in the open to missiles and more importantly other melta/fist pain.  Instead I hook around the corner to give chase to the rune priest unit.  Again most of my shooting is ineffective (maybe another shaken rhino?) but my sluggas krump the scouts good, and cosolidate enough to catch the 6" KFF to at least get the 5+ cover.

His turn 3 and now he's ready to lay it on my hard.  On the left flank his rhino advances up and drops out a unit to rapid fire my conga lined unit of boyz, plus he's got the Razorback.  He drops enough shots with the rapid fire and one long fangs squad to drop me out of cover, then the Razorback picks off two more guys.  I think on this fron I'm down to about 15 guys.  One the far right flank we've got a similar maneaver.  One squad of Rapid fire plus two long fang squad probably drop me down to about the 15 man mark as well.  The rune priest rhino has moved to about the cetner of the board but still toward his deployment.

By my turn 3 my shootas have been slowly moving through cover (its a canal down the center) to finaly get to sit on the objective.  Now I've got to make new tough choices.  I don't think wither flank is going horribly well, not to where 15 orks are going to take 9 counter charging Space wolves.  My shootas are in range to lay down a near full volley of dakka on his left flank hunters and miraculously kill 4 guys.  Even more miraculously the fail their LD and fall back.  I have that unit charge the rhino and stun it, and they are close enough to that falling back squad to keep them moving.  On my right flank I decided to have Ghaz get out on the call the Waagh so he can hussle to move over to lend support to that squad.  I'm able to kill the squad to the man, but I lose probably 8 orks also.  The boyz hook around to get some cover, and Ghaz who wasn't able to be a part of that squad yet, stands nearby to further... provide cover and look menacing I guess.  My BW and KFF Mek had also started to make there way over to the center objective.  LASTLY, my Manz are able to Waagh around with 2 of them in cover and pop his rune  priests rhino.  Not a bad turn at all for the orks, and we would reflect later that this was the tipping point of the game.

Scott's turn 4 and things are starting to look challenging.  On my left flank his small squad gets out of the Razorback and they drop some shots along side it to kill off another 4 boyz, but are out of range of assault.   He now sees the problem he's got with my shootas on the objective and I think two long fangs drop shots on them, but I think in the end he only kills about 6 guys.  His priest also has to make the tough choice of deal with the Manz on his ass or move off to the objective.  He decides the Manz half to go.  he draws JotWW on two manz but amazingly they both roll their init test.  Of course they then die to PW/PF combat but not before one of them bonks the rune priest on the head with a Klaw to insta kill him.  His remaing two guys move for cover.  His last long fang squad shoots past ghaz at the boyz and manage to kill a few.

My turn 4 and things are looking promising.  My far left squad moves up to pop the Razroback with the Klaw and it wrecks.  My BW moves over to block off that flank from any of his troops from coming down that avenue (yes I blocked my own guys off  too but that leaves a wreck and boyz before they would get to the BW).  Ghaz officially joins up with the small sluggas and hooks around to try to move up to the deployment zone taking what cover they can.  The remainging Lootas do little, but hey they're still there trying to be useful.  We've got about 20 mintues left so we decide we might as try for a full turn 5.

His turn 5 and 2 of the long fangs are dropping to whittle the shootas away.  At this point I'm going to ground and I think he dropped another 4 guys, just leaving me at fearless level if I recall.  On the left flank he did some rapid fire on my dwindling (and now blocked in squad) and drops them to about 7 but they make the LD test to stay.  His last long fang squad work on Ghaz's squad, but I think he only manages two deaths.  His two last Grey Hunters on that side charge in and kill two more orks (2 are left) and Ghaz puts a quick end to them.  I get a decent cosolidate and move toward his deployment zone.

My turn 5 and there's not much to do.  I've got the center, I let Ghaz leave the troop squad so they can move freely up and they get a good enough run roll to hit his deployment zone.  Some pot shots later and we call it a game with about 5 minutes on the clock.  Sure had we pushed it he could have probably long fanged that squad down, but we had agreed it would end, and I could have alos left Ghaz with them to try to soak some shots... but really it didn't matter (even to the overall score).

I collected 15 points to take the day at 36.  Even thought Scott got a 0 on round 3 his 27 points was enough to tie for second with the Daemon player.  Tom got painting (which I thought was clear cut now that I had placed... plus I voted for him :) ) and 3 raffle prizes for just showing up to the remaining players (a $90 box set, a $45 boxset, and a $20 box).  Always a nice touch by the LGS.

I had a great time and all of my opponents were fun.  I was also really happy because I felt like any time something came up I just let my opponent have what they said.  Not big argumentative things, things like 'is this blast 2 or 3 guys.'  Just take the 3 guys.  It's orks.  I'm going to lose them, it isn't a big deal.  In the end it really didn't matter and I'm sure my opponents appreciated not feeling like they'd have to argue for the small stuff.

Word is this TO will run the Nov 3rd event and is looking to bump the points higher which would be sweet.  As much as I'd love to do the 2 day GT up in Sac I think I'll keep it one day and local in Nov as well.

Well it Looks Impressive

So Sat is a little 1500 pt tournament at the LGS.  Most of my friends aren't going, and I know several regulars at the shop are heading up the bay for a GT.  So I have no idea what the turn out will be but as i can only squeeze out one game day this weekend this is my only option.

So I'll break out the orks which normally I don't like at 1500 and see how they do.

The good news is it certainly looks menacing.  That's a lot of bodies to put on the table.  Of course I know I'll be pulling them off by the handful but my opponents don't always know that going into the game.

Ghaz
Mek KFF
9 Lootas
9 Lootas
19 Shoota boyz, 2 BS, Nob BP/PK
29 Slugga boyz, 3 Rokkits, Nob BP/PK
29 Slugga boyz, 3 Rokkits, Nob BP/PK
3 Manz, 2 combi, BW Ram, RP, BS, Grot Riggers, Armor

Short and sweet.  There are of course some serious concerns I have about this list.  There is only one piece of armor, the BW, and it will likely die really early.  I was going to keep it cheap but I had about 10 points left so it got a few 'extras' on there (but not enough for the Deffrolla).  I also don't know if the rokkits on the boyz are worth it.  Most of the time they should be running, but I know I've also regretted not having the ability to even have a chance to shoot a rhino with the lads.  Lastly Ghaz at 1500 is a big %, and with the Manz in the BW if it gets shut down early it could mean bad news for me.

The upside is the missions are posted and they look pretty good.  They all have a main objective with secondary and tertiary objectives.  Here's the short hand versions.

Game 1: Dawn of war.  Objectives #1 5 objectives (control more); #2 Most Expensive Unit Killed; #3 Control objective in enemies deployment.

Game 2: Spearhead.  Objectives #1 Modified KP (Hq 3, Elite/Fast/Heavy 2, Troops/Transports 1); #2 More table quarters; #3 Slay all opposing Troops.

Game 3: Pitched Battle. Objectives #1 Center objective; #2 Scoring Unit in Enemy Deployment Zone; #3 Destroy Opponents General

So these look fun and not horribly over balanced or showing favoritism to one army.  The first mission DoW will be tricky since the lootas will have to walk on but I have lots of troops so we'll see how that pans out.  The second game I have 15 kp which seems high for orks but I don't have flimsy buggies or trukks so hopefully I'll be able to just bring the killing power.  Game 3 looks fun but will depend on who I draw, but I suppose that's the case for all the games.

Either way I'm looking forward to some fun games even if I get my ass kicked all over the place.