Game 4 vs SCP Hodor's Space Wolf/ Space Marines
Matt was running his typical Pod list but added in some nice Space marine goodness. 2 Runepriests, 3 Pods with melta and Plasma, Long Fangs in a Bastion with Run Priest support, Chapter Master on a bike with 10 bikers w/ Grav, some Scouts and a Thunderfire Cannon. We have played a million times and each of us know how the game usually goes after Turn 2.
The game was Scouring with Vanguard Deployment. I had first turn.
My first turn I kill 9/10 of his Scouts and killed a couple Long Fangs. His turn he moved his bikes forward and shot what he could. Pretty sure he wrecked a Venom. Not to make the game short or give a bad report, but the game went pretty downhill for Hodor from here. Wraithknight kills 10 Grey Hunters and the Beasts ruin his Chapter Master's squad. Shooting kill Long Fangs and by game's end I hold 5/6 objectives. I feel bad having to play Hodor because I handed him his first loss of the tournament and it was the worse mission for him to play me (Scouring). He would go on to end the tournament 4-2 and finish 7th.
Game 5 vs Anthony D'Amore's Space Marines
Anthony and his gang came up from the Bay Area and had been bending people over all tournament long. He was less than pleased to see us being matched up against each other, probably from the beat down I gave him in the 2250 CoC. Regardless, we played.
His list saw Tigurius accompany 3 Dev. Centurions in a Lnadraider, 3 Triple Melta Drop Pod Tactical Marine Squads, 2 Thunder Fire Cannons, 2 Storm Talons, and 5 Scouts. The mission was the Relic with 4 other objectives. I get first turn and he Infilitrates his Scouts onto the Relic to start.
My first turn was rather devastating. His Landraider dies, 1 Thunderfire and Techmarine go bye bye, and because I shot things out of order, I only manage to put a wound on the other Cannon. My Wraithknight jumps up onto the 6'' tall cliff in the middle of the board to say hi to the Scouts. My thinking was to get stuck in CC with the Scouts and then be able to do what I want the next turn after after i kill the Scouts. This did not happen. I make my charge and of course I kill 4/5 Scouts. (I never hit 4/5 times and then wound all 4 times. Of course I do here.) He fails his Leadership and I fail to catch him.... DOH!
Anthony then takes this opening to utterly destroy my Wraithknight with the Centurions. 2 Pods come in, Combat Squad, and kill 2 Venoms and a Ravager! Gah! Thunderfire does almost nothing of note.
My next turn sees me kill many Marines and have the Beasts move closer to the Centurions in hopes of charging. I start with an 8'' charge and with Overwatch, my charge turns into 11''. I roll a 10... Twice! The Thunderfire Cannon also dies.
Anthony would then get in his 3rd Pod and both Talons come in. My other Ravager and a Serpent go boom, as does a lot of my Beasts. My army is starting to dwindle.
Over the course of the next 3 turns, I turn the Beasts back and mop up all of his troops. The remainign Serpent and Spiders kill off his Talons. By game's end, the Centurions and Tiggy are all that is left and I hold 3/5 objectives.
Have to say, it was a tough game and the first 2 turns, even though they were devastating for my opponent, he kept going and made a good game out of it. Our friendly banter back and forth easily made this a very fun game! I know Anthony wants his revenge, and I can't wait until he gets it. I know he's gunning for my Beastpack!
After my game, I had the delight to finish watching the slugfest of a match between Omegaprime and the only other undfeated player left in the tournament, Jeremy V. In the end, Jeremy took out Omegprime by 1 objective and contesting the rest with his 50 man bike list.
Game 6 Vs Jeremy V's White Scar Bikers
I was very excited for my next game. There was 1 undefeated player left in the tournament and that was Jeremy V. Before the tournament and all throughout the tournament, everyone was crowning this guy the champ and that no one could beat him. I had been wanting to play this guy from the beginning. I thought it impossible after my first game, but after crawling back and amassing by far the most Battle Points in the tournament thus far, I got my wish. Hearing him say he hadn't been challenged yet made me want to not only challenge him, but beat him, soundly.
His list was what you would expect and one that the internet has crowned as the best of the best for the new Space Marine book. This would also be my firts time facing White Scar Bikers. His list had Chapter Master on bike, Khan on bike, Command squad with Grav, 3 6 man bike squads with double grav, 2 10 man squads with melta, 2 Stalkers, and a Thunderfire Cannon. All in all he had about 50 bikes.
The mission is 5 total obejectives with Dan of War Deployment. I have first turn. He reserves 2 squads of Grav and both Stalkers. I am not sure about this and I think he did it because he had been doing so all tournament, so instead of thinking more, he just did what he was accustomed to doing. No argument here, less targets means more bloodshed first turn. He does not wish to seize and does not Scout up anything. he does combat Squad his 2 10 man squads however.
My first turn sees me blow up both 5 man Melta Gun Squads, his Thunderfire Cannon, and then take out 3 bikes of 1 squad and 2 of another. Not a bad first turn. I did make the mistake of moving my Beasts up so he could charge me with his Command Squad.
His turn saw his Command Squad move forward and charge my Beasts. His orbital Bombardment would do nothign as the Baron makes his save, the Farseer makes his, and my Venom makes his Flickfield save. Shooting from him sees him take a Venom out and immobilize a Serpent from a Multimelta. In CC, the Command Squad chews through some of my Beasts but they are just fine and runnign at abut 80%. I elect to Hit and Run and he does not elect to do so. So I go through him and push through to his right flank to destroy all ofh is bikes over there. His Coman Squad consolidates and is staring down a Serpent, Wraithknight, Warp Spiders, 2 Ravagers, and a Venom.
My turn 2, I Doom the Command Squad and move the Beasts to charge some Bikes. I get some Dire Avengers out and move everything to shoot the shit out of his Command Squad. Shooting sees me kill off all but 1 Attack bike in 1 squad and take 2 out of the Grav gun squad. Shootingi nto his Command Squad was massive. His Chapter Master would absorb about 90% of everything. With 4 wounds, that guy is a bitch to kill. He also makes 5 Feel No Pain saves to keep him chugging along. In the end though, he would fall, Khan would take a wound and 1 member of the Command Squad would die. Beasts would mop up a squad of bikes in CC.
As a side note, there was a small rules dispute. he wanted to Look Out Sir! a wound off of his CM. Khan was closest and I told him Khan must take it. he tried to tell me that the model closest to the firing unit must take it and not the closest model to the model being shot, and then claimed I hadn't read the "new" FAQ out. No new FAQ is out and that is not how Look Out Sir! works. His response of "that's fine we can play it your way" was comical. The reply of "playing it by the rules is all" came from me. I hate when people say things like "we will play it your way" because they make it seem like you are not playign by the rules.... Cool bro!
His next turn sees both Stalkers and 1 squad of bikes come in. He shoots and does little to nothing. he charges my Spiders and my Serpent. Stuns my Serpent and wipes my Spiders. That is about it.
It would get bloody in turns 3 and turn 4. My stuff would die and a lot of his stuff would die. Another thing came up, but not a rules dispute. He claimed that Khan was Strength 5. I thought he was Strength 4, but with an Army List that has no stats, and no codex to reference I took him at his word. He was in CC with the Wraithknight, and without being Strength 5+, he could not hurt the Wraithknight, even though Khan has an Instant Death Weapon. Khan's Weapon causes Instant Death a wound roll of a 6. If you cannot wound someone, you do not get that roll. Khan really being Strength 4 and not 5 would be unable to kill my Wraithknight. He ended up not killing him anyway, but just somethign shady I didnt think a season Tournament Vet would try and pull.
Over the course of the game we would trade blows until turn 5. At the start of my turn 5, he had a full squad of 6 grav bikes, that lone Attack bike, his Techmarine, and a squad of 3 bikes. My beasts are out of position to charge anything. I stupidly do not detach my Farseer to contest the objective he is claiming. I actually have to Midn Watr the Attack Bike off of the objective in order to stop him from winning! I kill off the Techmarine and 3 of the 6 bikes left from te Grav gun squad.
His turn 5 saw 3 bikes assault 3 Kabalite Warriors on 1 of my 2 objectives. Hammer of Wrath kills 2 and I make 3 saves on my Warrior to live and contest the objective! The 3 bikes left go claim the objective the attack Bike was on. My opponent calls the game here (it would have went on as we rolled for it) because he says I will table him and he does not want that to happen.
I win holding 1 objective and i easily could have killed his 6 bikes left. My wraithknght was in position to kill the bikes contesting my objective and my Beasts could have charged and killed the 3 bikes left. A hard fought game and tournament.
Check this out....
Overall the tournament was very competitive. This is the first 2-day event I have ever won. I have won local Twin-Linked events and Contest of Champions and placed very well at the BAO and Bugeater GTs but never have won an out-of-state tournament. The cup is awesome!
I had a fun time. The venue was awesome! The only thing that would need to change is the rules knowledge for the TO and being able to explain ruligns instead of saying "that's my ruling" and walking away. Some claim the local bias was non-existent, if so then that's fine. But, things like 5 hour games CANNOT occur. Everyone needs to play by the same set of rules and when you start changing it for some, you have to change it for all, regardless if you know someone playing or not.
Want to give a thanks to all of my opponents, the Punishers who traveled, and Guardian Games for having an awesome store, awesome customer service, and having a bar in-store! Totally awesome!
