Bugeater 2nd Day

So going into Day 2, myself and 1 other person are 4-0.  I cannot remember my opponents name, but he had 5 Imperial Knights, and from what I heard, he had been stomping people left and right.  As the tournament was set to begin at 9:45am, I sat diligently waiting at my table.  And I waited.... and waited.... and waited.... 10:10am rolls around and my opponent is a no show.  So I get paired up against another Matt. 

Game 5 vs Matt's Astra Militarum/ Imperial Knights

So I didn't get to play 5 Knights like I was supposed to, only 1.  But he also brought around 100 Guardsmen, 2 Punishers, 2 Chimeras, a Deathstrike Missile, Defense Line, and a couple Hydras.  The list looked very formidable on the tabletop.  However, my opponent Matt was new to the game and had only started playing.  Also, he had not been performing very well at the tournament.

*NOTE*  I was very displeased with being paired up against Matt.  Not with Tim, or anyone in particular.  I was looking forward to playing 5 Knights and another player that was 4-0.  Matt was not the best player, but his opponent also did not show up and he was set to play the Ringer.  Because the round was already almost 30mins in by the time we got paired, he was the only logical choice.

This game was fairly one sided.  My first turn was fantastic and I blew up quite a bit of his vehicles and Guardsmen.  It was a very laid back game that I did not cast any Psychic Powers in and let him kill things hat would otherwise not have died.  He seemed to have fun and I pointed out some rules in his book that he was unaware of, and was very appreciative of such.  In the end, we called it Turn 3 with him killing my Beasts for a point (Scouring) and killing the Baron for 2 more.

Win for Dark Eldar 15-3

So after 5 games, I was sitting "pretty" at 5-0 even though after the last game I did not feel I earned the record.  Tim initially was planning on having me and Mat Root play again as no one else in the tournament had more points than him with 1 loss.  However, if that were to happen, then 3 other rematches would have taken place, so Tim voted against it.  To be honest I think it was the right move.  To have 4 rematches with so much on the line would have been bad.  And as you will see worked out how Tim thought it would.

Game 6 vs CJ's Imperial Knights w/ Tau and Inquistorial Allies

CJ was a member of our C-State Domination team.  He had a beautifully painted army with tons of conversions.  His army included: 3 Knights, Buffmander w/ 3 x2 Missile Pod suits w/ x2 Shield Drones, x7 Fire Warriors, Coteaz, 3 Plasma Servitors, and a Chimera w/ some Henchmen.  A very tough list on paper and on the tabletop.

This game would go badly for me at the beginning.  CJ would win the roll off for first turn and take it.  I decided to roll on Telepathy for Puppet Master, Hallucinate, or even Invisibility.  I figured 2 rolls on Telepathy, and 1 roll on Eldar for Doom.  I grabbed Hallucinate then got stuck with Dominate and Guide (as I felt Executioner was no good HA!).  I would also fail to Seize.

CJ's first turn would see him shake a Ravager, blow a Venom, and blow a Serpent.  I would respond by committing my Wraithknight to one of his Knights and my Beasts to the middle Knight to contest the objective.  I used the destroyed Venom's Warriors to contest the other objective.  I cast Hallucinate on the middle IK and he.... DENIES IT! Great...   I shoot some Venoms at Coteaz who dies and kills some of the other Henchmen.  They would fail their LD check but stay on the board.  I shoot all of my Anti-Tank at the IK in front of my Wraithknight. I do 3 HPs and charge.  My Wraithknight destroys his IK.  In the ensuing explosion, the blast doesn't scatter and the Str. D hits my Knight and CJ rolls a 6.... Killing him.... Instantly.... Awesome... In CC, my Beasts do nothing and his IK Stomps some Beasts.

His second turn sees him kill a Ravager, blow the Scatter Laser off my other Serpent, shake my other Ravager, and kill another Venom.  (His Tau contingent was bossmode.)  In CC, I do nothing with the Farseer and he proceeds to kill more Beasts.  He gets 3 Stomps.  Rolls a 6 and kills 4 Beasts, then moves the next Blast over the Farseer and the Baron, Stomps them and rolls a 6... Kills them instantly.. Awesome... and then stomps 3 more Beasts and rolls another 6 killing more of them.  So this turn pretty much sealed the deal for CJ.  My turn 2 I do very minimal damage.

I call the game my turn 3 as I have no hopes of coming back shake CJ's hand.  CJ was an awesome opponent and took beating my ass with class.  He was apologetic for how bad the game went.  I laughed and shrugged as it didnt matter.

Mega loss for Dark Eldar! (2-15?)

The thing that kills me with the game is that I had no control over what happened.  I couldnt control him getting First Turn, Denying Hallucinate, Stomping my army to death, and Str. D-ing my own Knight.  Frustrating, but again I couldnt do anything about it.  I am glad that CJ isn't one of "those guys" and is a great player.

As a result, CJ ended up winning the entire Tournament and claiming the Sweepstakes Champion title.  With my 1 loss, I earned the Tournament Champion Title and 3rd place in the tournament.  I got a gift card to the Game Shoppe and used it to buy a 2nd Wraithknight.  Matt Bess placed 13th and Omegaprime placed 12th overall but he achieved 5th for Tournament points.  Team C-State Domination also won the Bugeater Cup for the 40k side of things as well!

I have some pictures of the Bets Painted armies and of the awards everyone won!  I will also post my overall impressions of the tournament as well.