The Move is Over... Need Some Gaming!

So as some of you know, I recently moved to Colorado from California.  I am finally settled in and need to do some gaming!  I have heard from Adam Tricola over at www.rumorsofheresy.blogspot.com that Gryphon Games is the place to go for gaming.  I think I will start my search there.

To all my gaming friends out in California, keep gaming and I will see you guys soon!  To my canine companions in Reno, keep HOWLING! and giving the guys in Sacramento fits!  Hope to see you all at the LVO.

At the very least, I will be attending the Bugeater GT in Omaha, Nebraska for sure.  Wish you gusy the best and keep in touch.

I will try and get some games in the next couple of weeks and sharing my thoughts.  Will atleast take some pictures of the game stores I attend and let you know my intial impressions.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Twin-Linked GT Results and Post Tournament Thoughts

So 10 days ago the inaugaral Twin-Linked GT took place.  It was a full weekend of gaming, fun, and friendly banter.  I teamed up with my buddy Big Ray Barrera.  Our lists can be seen below:

Yeeman's Dark Eldar

Baron

x8 Harlequins, Shadowseer, x6 Kisses

x5 Warriors, Venom
x5 Warriors, Venom
x5 Warriors, Venom

x5 Masters, Fiend, x5 Khymera, x6 Flock

Ravager, Nightshields

Big Ray's Eldar

Spiritseer

x9 Wraithguard
x5 Dire Avengers, Serpent w/ TL-Scatter, Cannon
x5 Dire Avengers, Serpent w/ TL-Scatter, Cannon

Wraithknight

Yeeman's and Big Ray's Twin-Linked GT army

I will give brief run downs of our games and highlights from each.  I will be stealing pictures from various sources as I never take any pictures anytime.  Something that will change next year for sure!

James Van Houten's IG in Game 1

 

Game 1 vs IG/Space Marines

They had first turn and we were staring down 6 Chimeras, 3 Rhinos, a Manticore and many Guardsman.  Fortunately for us, their first turn was minimal and it went down hill from there.  Beasts made a 12'' charge Turn 1 into a Chapter master and his Bikes and elminated them.  The Beasts then proceeded to multicharge 3 Chimeras and annhilate their army.  Bad target priority for our opponents 2nd turn sealed their doom.  Word of Advice:  Do not shoot the Wraithknight with 6 Chimeras and all of your Heavy Weapon Teams.  It will not end well for you.  

Game 2 vs Farsight Tau/ Tyranids

This was against two very good local players, Paul McKelvey and Alex Hein.  They were running the pretty standard builds you would expect.  3 Suit Troops, Broadsides, a Barracuda (awesome by the way), Flyrant, Tervigon, Doom, HELLA Gaunts!  They won first turn and the damage they had was minimal.  Our turn saw us ground the flier and then see Alex make 5 FnP saves to keep him alive with 1 wound of which our Wraithknight had to charge in and take care of instead of craging 8'' into Braodsides.  The other highlight was the Beasts failing an 8'' charge into the Broadsides as well.  The game would go downhill from there.  Having all of their Reserves come in and they proceed to kill us unit by unit.  The whole game we were always a wound or model short of killing a unit.  The Broadsides would hold the Wraithknight in combat for 5 ROUNDS!  it was rediculous.  In the end we would lose the game.

Game 3 vs Orks/Orks

That's one large Ork Horde!

This game was against John Johnston and Scott Anderson.  In short, they brought 201 Orks to the table.  They wanted to see how many each team could kill in the game and total for each round.  In short, we tabled them Round 4.  We did not keep the record as a 6 Dreadnought list tabled them turn 3, but our record of 98 Orks killed in 1 turn did hold for the entire tournament.

We finished the day 2-1 and with a total of 45/60 Battle Points.  We are still in contention, but it will be an uphill battle, and there were Wolves on the horizon....

Game 4 vs Tau/Necrons

Our opponents brought as optimized list as you could to the Twin-Linked tournament.  Tau had a Buffmander, Riptide, 3 Broadsides with max Drones, 2 Fire Warrior Teams, and a large Kroot squad.  Necrons had a Destroyer Lord with 6 Wraiths,  2 Night Scythes with Warriors, 10 Immortals, and an Annhilation Barge.  2 awesome lists that would be tough to crack.

They Seized on us (a theme for day 2) and proceeded to shoot the shit out of us.  Turn 2 they focused all of their firpower into the beasts (literally) and kill them all but the Baron.  Harlequins looked at the 2.5 Wraiths and a full wound Destroyer Lord, chraged them, and BAM!  They all died.  Harlequins did not lose a model... This would be their highlight.  Unfortunately for our opponents, we would turn the tide round 3 with some key rolls on their fliers and pinning their army in their Deployment Zone.  Some key LD fails on their part would seal their fate and we would grab 5/6 objectives and win with full points!

Game vs IG/Dark Eldar

Oade's Middle Finger IG



Shot Down Mind's Dark Eldar



HOWLLLLLLLLLL!  The Wolf Brothers 1st Company enter the ring.  They are undefeated at this point and had been blasting armies apart with their Earth Shaker Cannons and Heavy Field Artillery.  The 50+ Guardsman would go to the grinder as they are meant to be, while the Dark Eldar flew around in their 3 Venoms and the Beasts lead the way with their claws, eating any remnants of an army that survived the first couple turns.

Me telling the Wolf Brothers it is going to suck WHEN they Seize on us...

The mission having 3 Relics on the field seemed like an advantage and them placing theirs in a corner started out ok.  We put ours in the same corner and hope we could just get to theirs and tie them up.  We have first turn and set up for an all out bullrush.  They deploy their artillery in the opposite corner to avoid the rush.  So we get ready to move on the first turn but Mike Oade decides to try and Seize... remeber that theme I said was Day 2.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  I yell... They seize, and there is No Night Fighting.... YAY!

We survive the first barrage pretty well.  The game was a bloodbath.  We cause their Earthshakers to flee off the table, but being able to re-roll a dice (tournament theme using poker chips) they re-roll and succeed!  Damn you!  Death is everywhere and the game going into Turn 5 is a draw.  Shot Down Mind's Beast Pack is staring down the 3 Dire Avengers holding our Relic.  The Baron in the Beast Pack is holding theirs.  Instead of the guaranteed tie, he go for it.  Needing 6'' for the charge and unable to move mor than 6'' without droppig the Relic he rolls.... double 3's!  he makes it by the skin of his teeth and ends up moping the floor with the Avengers!  We lose but get almost a full point loss!

The best game of the tournament by far!  Hell of a game and a shitload of fun!  I thought the game was ovwer when we failed to take first turn.  We dug in, clawed our way through and made it as tough as we could.  Great game!  We laughed and hollered throughout the game.  Appreciate it fellas!

So after our second loss we know we are out of contention for overall, but with the plethora of prizes out there to win, we know we are still in contention of multiple prizes!

Game 6 vs Eldar/Chaos Space Marines

Our last game would be against some guys from  Redding.  They recognized us from NorCon and knew about how we went up there took names!  Eldar had a Seer, 3 Serpents, and 3 Lance War Walkers.  The CSM player had a tooled out Prince, Hell Drake, Spawn, 2 Oblits, and lots of Cultists.

We would go first... But remember that theme I have been preaching about?  They roll to seize... and yeah you guessed it... Succeed.  Luckily for us, Ruins were a plenty and we had master of Ruins for a Warlord trait.  The damage was minimal.  The Beasts bore the brunt of it and lived to still wreak some havoc.  We would systematically destroy them unit by unit.  But there were soem highlights!

His Nurgle Prince absorbed 35 wounds in one turn.  Literally our whole army shot him and he made 35 saves.  The Prince then decides to charge the Wraithknight... Overwatch happens and the Wraithknight sends the Prince back to the Warp!  Awesome!  The very next turn, the Knight shoots up at the Helldrake... 6 to hit!  5 to Pen!  Failed Invuln.... 6 blows it up!  our opponents were cheering for us and made it a hell of a game.  Very fun game and a great way to end the tournament!  Very glad we got to end the tournament with a very fun game and some great guys! 

Overall we would finish 4th for the tournament and win 2nd Best Sportsman!  The Wolf Brothers, HOWL!  would come in first after dominating the last round!  Great job!  Here is what we won:



Backside of our Dice Bag



Frontside of our Dice Bag

Our Certificates for our awards

Part of our SWAG Bags.. Those our sweet Objective Markers!

My thoughts overall for the tournament:

Venue: A

Great Escape Games always has plenty of space and the quality of terrain is superb.  There was tables to place our armies on so we weren't cramped.  it wasn't very hot or very cold.  Overall great place to hold a tournament.

Organization:  B

We had a late start on Saturday because the guys from Reno had to come donw the mountains through the snow. On sunday some mis-information was put up which made some people come in 20-30 min late.  Some people were paired up multiple times, but it was settled quickly.  Pairings were up promptly and mission packets were handed out ahead of time.

Prize Support:  A

With a $90 entry fee, the prize support did not disappoint.  The winners of the event shared a $250 gift card, won dice bags, and got certificates.  Top 4 got prizes, 3 paint awards, 3 SPortsmanship awards, and a low man on the totem pole award was handed out as well.  Not to mention, various raffle prizes were handed out throughout the tournament on both days.

Missions:  B

Most of the missions had a lot of flare and created a different environement.  The only thing I do not like is having missions that kill my models via large blast barrages.  Seeing as how we have to fight 2000pts worth of armeis I would prefer not having to fight against the missions as well.  The two missions that did kill your army did not effect us too much, but I would rather not die to the mission and the players I am fighting.

Price Point:  B

I think $90 is quite a bit for a tournament.  I know it is split for the two players and the prize support made up for the fact it was $90. I think only playing with 1000pts and the fact i have a partner I need to rely on is why paying that high amount of money is a little unsettling.

Experience: A

Overall, a very very fun weekend of gaming.  Me and Ray had a frickin' BLAST!  The whole tournament from start to finish was awesome.  All of our opponents were great and we had no hiccups on rules or missions.  Friday- Sunday resulted in one of the best gaming weekends of my life.  I know my buddy Ray echoes my thoughts as well. 

I want to thank all of my opponents and Mark aka Omegaprime for a great weekend.  I had a ton of fun and cannot wait for next year.  the new season of the Twin-Linked Tournament series starts up in February and can't wait!  Thanks again!

Inaugural Twin-Linked GT THIS Weekend!

So this weekend will be the first ever Twin-Linked GT.  Those that have followed this blog for the last year or so know that the Twin-Linked tournament held at great Escape Games in Sacramento, CA is a bi-monthly Team Tournament run by fellow Sac City Punisher Omegaprime.  This coming weekend, instead of running a 6th Team Tournament, Omegaprime has decided to run a 2 Day GT event that follows the same format as his regular tournament.  The GT however features MUCH more prize support, swag bags, Friday night gaming and fun, and a multitude of other things.  Something I am very much looking forward to and have been for the entire year!

I will again be teaming up with my buddy Big Ray Barrera and we will be bringing the PAIN!  Our lists are below:

Yeeman's Dark Eldar

Baron

x8 Harlequins, Shadowseer, x6 Kisses

x5 Warriors, Venom
x5 Warriors, Venom
x5 Warriors, Venom

x5 Masters, Fiend, x5 Khymera, x6 Flock

Ravager, Nightshields



Big Ray's Eldar

Spiritseer

x9 Wraithguard
x5 Dire Avengers, Serpent w/ TL-Scatter, Cannon
x5 Dire Avengers, Serpent w/ TL-Scatter, Cannon

Wraithknight

So I am sure the initial reaction is WTF!?!?!?!? HARLEQUINS!?!?!?!?!?  Breath slowly, take a coupel deep breaths and relax.  I am freaking out just like you are!  Ever since we submitted our lists, I have been goign back and forth!  I am unsure how they will perform.  I predict very much feast or famine.  I am sure in atleast 1 or 2 games they will be MVPs.  The other games.... Just die or do nothing.  I do think in this format, they can do some work.  I think they put out enough attacks (4) on the charge and high enough WS (5) to reliably hit and Rend with theb est of them.  We plan on using them as bodyguards for the Wraithguard.  Ignoring Cover when moving allows them to be fast while remaining hidden with a 2+ Cover save standard.

The rest of the list is pretty standard.  3 Venoms, Beasts, and a Ravager for me is pretty standard and will do work, like always.  We went with the Wraithguard to get a hard, tough to crack troop.  5 man squads are good, but 9 Wraithguard gvie us soem Strength 10 and a nice objective holder when need be.  2 Serpents and a Wraithknight will offer great support for our assault elements. 

I wil predict us going 5-1.  i like our lists and both of us are competent generals.  The big X Factor is the Harlequins.  I have officially played 1 game with Harlequins before and they got shot off the board before doing anything.  We have a practice game set up for tomorrow so hopefully I can get the much needed practice.  Wish us luck and I will report on the games next week!

As a note, 25% of the army lists submitted have Tau in them!  So it looks like, every table will have atleast 1000 points of Tau on it at the least.  it's going to be great killing a bunch of Blue Communists!

YEE!

Guardian Cup Games 4-6 and Results!

So going into the second day I am 2-1 and in Bracket 1!  I am currently ranked 6th (the highest out of all the people with 1 loss)  I am excited that I am still in the running for the tournament, but I need to avoid any hiccups and beat my opponents down.

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!

Back from Portland! Guardian Cup games 1-3!

So this past weekend, some of the Sac City Punishers and I headed up to Portland, Oregon for the Guardian Cup.  Omegaprime, Hodor, Lyzz Foster, Sirus Chapelle, and I all made the 10-11 hour drive up north.  Easy drive, but it took forever and there is little to no scenery on the drive.... Blah!

View of just part of Guardian Games.  Yes we are the second floor!

Onto the tournament.... the Guardian Cup was held at Guardian Games.  being from California and playing at Great Escape Games, I am privy to one of the largest gaming spaces in proabably the entire USA. Guardian games challenges GEG for amount of space, amount of product, and all out awesomeness as a store!  The customer service and the ability to buy beer and cider onsight was just.... AMAZING!  Definitly a big thumbs up for both of them.

The tournament was a 40 person NOVA style event.  They played 1 of each book mission with preset objective placement.  Secondaries (First Blood, Slay the Warlord, and Linebreaker) were only used in an event of a tie on the primary mission.

Now onto my games.  Check out my last post to see the list I brought to the tournament. 

First Game vs Necrons/Chaos

His list:

Overlord, Weave, Scythe, Mindshackle Scarabs
Cryptek, Volatic Staff
Cryptek, Voltaic Staff
Cryptek, Voltaic Staff

5 Warriors, Night Scythe
5 Warriors, Night Scythe
5 Warriors, Night Scythe

8 Scarabs

Anni Barge
Anni Barge
Anni Barge

Chaos Lord, MoK, Axe of Blind Fury, Boon

x30 Cultists
x10 Cultists

Helldrake

x2 Oblits

Skyshield Landing Pad

A pretty formidable list.  The guy I played was a local of Portland and had a pretty big following of supporters during our game.  The mission was Killpoints with Dawn of War deployment.

The game started off with a rocky start when he announced that a Cryptek was his Warlord.  I did not agree with the call and the TO came over.  He replied with a "that's how we play it here and quickly scurried off."  I don't really know how that is an explanation of any rules, but whatever.  The rule disputes would not be over at that, unfortunately.

The first turns for each went rather uneventful.  I kill a Barge and some Scarabs and a little of the Cultists.  he multi-charges his Khorne Lord and Scarabs in with the Wraithknight.  i was not worried since the Scarabs cant hurt me and the Lord needs 6's.  he tried to say he could Entropic strike me and again called the judge over to which I had to explain to both of them the need to be able to wound me to be able to have Entropic Strike go off.  Luckily, I actually got this call. 

The next turn sees my farseer split off to kill the Khorne Lord, Baron to kill a Barge, and the Beasts to kill Oblits.  Oblits die, barge loses 2 HPs, and Farseer kill the Cultist Sarge.  He gets a Night Scythe in and prepares to shoot the Baron.  Unfortunately for him I am directly below his flier.  he explains that he has 180 degree firing arc and can shoot the Baron.  I then explain his weapon is Hull Mounted and how those work in the game with the BRB open.  He again, calls the TO over who then says that he can fire 180 degrees up and down but only 45 degrees side to side..... HUH? WTF?  So he essentially just made some rules up and how Hull Mounted weapons work... Cool!  So of course he shoots and kills the Baron.

My turn 3 sees the Beasts join the big Multi-Assault going on.  This is when the biggest and laughable ruling of the entire weekend goes.  Beasts wipe out the Cultists and Farseer IDs the Lord during his turn after I charge in during mine.  The Wraithknight is left in B2B with 1 Scarab and the Farseer and Beasts are on the other side of the combat about 5'' away.  My opponent then explains I need to consolidate into CC with the Scarabs.  I explain to him that I cannot make it into B2B with the Scarab so I get to Consolidate out with both the Farseer and Beasts.  He disagrees and says I have to try and make it in, to which I explain I cannot make it in.  TO who is on speed dial at this point gets called over.  He tells me to try and make it into CC, I tell him I cant.  He says I have to try the following turn because I am still locked in CC.  I try to explain that if I do not make it into CC with him I get to consolidate because there is no one to assault.  The BRB is open, and withotu even looking at it, he looks at me and says "thats my ruling."  Then he walks away.  I was pretty dumbfounded... I was rather pissed.... Part of me wanted to explode, part of me wanted to walk up to him and show him the BRB.  I bit my tongue and allowed it to happen.  With my luck, I would get thrown out and I would be stuck in the state of Oregon with nothing to do.

So I kill the Scarab in my Turn 4 and the Beasts and such consolidate now out of CC.  Unfortunately, he has 2 Scythes and the Helldrake waiting for me.  he obliterates the Beasts and the Farseer.  This sucks because had I been able to play by the rules and allowed to consolidate out, the Beasts would have killed his Overlord, a squad of Warriors, and the Farseer could have went to finish off the 10 man Cultists.  But I wasn't and instead of getting 3 Killpoints, I was denied them and lost 2 myself.

The rest of the game sees him pick off the easy Killpoints and win the game 13-8.  In our game I kill 2 Crypteks which would have counted for 2 more KPs according to their system and "the way they play it there." 

 I only bring this up because someone I know got his first game overturned because of his 2 Crypteks dying.  They had won his game by 1 Kill Point.  Crypteks aren't ICs and therefore should not count as individual KPs if killed alone.  They count as 1 KP if all of them are killed.  After his game, his opponent went to the judge and explained that he had killed both Crypteks.  The TO ruled that each Cryptek is worth a KP each and for killing the squad, you get an additional KP.  So for killing 2 models, his opponent received 3 KPs.  HUH?  Sirus would then get his Win overturned to a loss after the fact and not told about it until the start of game 2.  These rulings are getting rediculous.  Even if Crypteks did give 1 KP away each, they definitely dont give away an additional for killing the squad.  I would just like to note that this guy was also a local as well.  Coincidence? LOL....

Feeling deflated after my first round 1 "game" I get paired up with a very nice local and his Chaos Space Marine/Daemon army.

His list:

Ahriman
Chaos Sorceror, Term. Armor, Lvl 3, Sigil, VOTL, Melta Bombs, Spell Familiar

x13 CSM, x2 Plasma, Powerfist

x20 Marines, MoS, Icon of Excess, Power Weapon

Helldrake

Herald of Tzeentch, Lvl 3

x15 Bloodletters
x16 Horrors

Sould Grinder, MoS, Warp Gaze

Initially I was not worried about his list. It is rather small and I can tank with the Beasts and Wraithknight while I dismantle the rest of his army.  My plan worked just fine.  Beasts charged the large Excess Marines and the Wraithknight charged Ahriman and the 13 CSM.  The rest of my army would then kill off the rest of his stuff by turn 3.  He called it turn 4 when all he had was Ahriman left and I controlled 5 of the 6 objectives.  I feel bad for my opponent but he ran into a very hard counter and the rest is history.

My game 3 saw me paired up against Ryan Fredin.  A super nice guy with a small elite Space Wolf/Blood Angel army.  His list:

Rune Priest
Rune Priest

8 Wolf Guard, 1 Term. Armor w/ Cyclone, x6 Combi Meltas, Drop Pod

10 GH, x2 Melta, Power Axe, Mark of Wulfen, Standard, Rhino

10 GH, x2 Plasma, Power Axe, Mark of Wulfen, Standard, Rhino

x6 Long Fangs, x4 Missiles, x1 Lascannon

x4 Long Fangs, x3 Missiles

Mephiston

x5 Sniper Scouts

Stormraven

Defense Line, Quad-Gun

His list is small... Very very small.  The thing that scares me the most is the Stormraven.  Mephiston, while being a beast, has no Invuln and I am not worried.  I get first turn and we begin.

I put 4 wounds on Mephiston and kill 2 Rhinos, the Quad Gun, and 5/6 Long Fangs.  His pod comes in and fries a Venom.  Mephiston runs toward the Wraithknight.  His shooting does nthing other than the 1 Venom dying.  We laugh about Mephiston coming in and killing the Wraithknight as that would be pretty damn epic.  He assaults me and I roll boxcars on my Overwatch.... Then Double 1s for Damage.... Yee!  So Mephy makes it into CC but fails his Str 10 sword.  Looks like he has to kill me the old fashoned way.  He rolls and gets 4 hits and 2 6's... Rolls for his Force Weapon... BAM!  dead Wraithknight.  Lol... we both just start LOLing.  Turns 2 and 3 see me kill piece by piece of his army.  His Stormraven would do the only other damage to my army before dying turn 3 to my Warp Spiders. 

All in all a fun game 3 and my opponent took the loss in stride.  He kill the Wraithknight, a Venom, a Ravager, and some random Beast units.  I held all 4 objectives at game's end.

So after the first day, I was 2-1.  VERY frustrating start to the day, but I gathered myself and beat 2 opponents.  Lyzz would lose her last game of the day after a 5 hour game... Yes 5 hours.  the TO allowed the game to go on until its natural conclusion.  If the game ended when it should have (Turn 3... this guys was slow playing everyone all tournament 1st and 2nd days) Lyzz would have won.  However, the TO said that the game can end naturally as there are no games left to be played.  He said this after the time had ended for the round and after Lyzz had played Turn 3 as her last.  So she loses Turn 7.  As a side note.... The guy she played... Also a local... I see a pattern emerging here... Hmmmm....

Matt is 3-0, Mark is 3-0, I am 2-1, and Lyzz is 2-1.  Me, matt, and Mark are all bracket 1. Lyzz ends up in bracket 2.  I have the highest Battle Points in the tournament despite having a loss.  I am ranked 6th in the tournament as there are 5 undfeated players ahead of me.  I was happy to see 3 of us in bracket 1 and we had a good chance of taking the whole thing.

Check back when I update you on the last 3 games and the results for the tournament!

Wall Mural on the side of Guardian Games.  Great Escape might be surpassed... Very impressive!

Twin-Linked Results and the Guardian Cup!

So with the Twin-Linked Team Tournament wrapped up for the season, I will write a brief rundown of last tournament.  In the future, I will write something on the changes I would like to see and possible changes to my own lists.

So the last tournament ended with a bang!  Me and my buddy Big Ray Barrera went in wanting to win the last tournament.  We ALMOST accomplished this goal.  Getting a 37/40 in our first two games, we ended up playing Matt Bess (my old TL partner) and ben Vaughan.  A very formidable combo indeed.

 To start, the mission we played was probably one of the worst missions in a tournament I have played.  It made us split our forces, and had the enemy only 18'' away from us.  Not ideal since you can get first turn charges VERY easily.  Unfortunately for us, they seized on a 5+ (a special ability they earned) on us and proceeded to wipe me off the table.  Matt podded 3 pods in and Ben turned his Sabre Platforms on my army and all but wiped me out.  Without the support of Ray, I was easy pickings.  Without his support or models on my side of the board, they could worry abotu him AFTER killing me.  Which they did with ease.  A very frustrating end to a tournament because I don't feel that we got out played, but the mission was set up so bad, that it was an uphill battle from the start.  Oh well, you win some and you lose some. 

Evn with our crushing defeat, we still tied for 2nd place and we won 1st Overall for the Season by 17.5 points!  Huge victory for us!  Very fun season in which I had the luxury of playing and winning 3 tournaments and the overall season award!  Thanks Mark!

Now, for what's coming up!  This weekend, in Portland, OR is the Guardian Cup at Guardian Games is happening.  It is a 2 day, 6 game event and the ticket only cost $20!!!!!  WOW!  From what I have heard, it is the largest game store in Oregon and has Beer on tap inside the store!  WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?  Awesome!

I will be heading up with Matt Bess and Mark Broughton.  Lyzz Foster and Sirus the Virus Chapelle will beh eading up as well.  A few Zero Comp guys will be up as well as Oregon's finest.  Here is the websitey ou can go to for details.  They are full with 40 people with a 10+ person wait list.  they are running a NOVA style tournament with brackets and missions.

Here is the list I will be bringing:

Baron- 105
x5 Warriors, Venom- 110
x5 Warriors, Venom- 110
x5 Warriors, Venom- 110
Beasts, x5 masters, Fiend, x5 Khymera, x6 Flock- 250
Ravager, Nightshields- 115
Ravager, Nightshields- 115

Farseer, Spirit Stone, Shard of Anaris, Jetbike- 170
x5 DA, Serpent w/ Scatter Laser, Cannon- 195
x5 DA, Serpent w/ Scatter Laser, Cannon- 195
x7 Warp Spiders- 133
Wraithknight- 240

I think it is pretty solid and gives a nice base to deal with all targets.  Fliers might give me the most trouble, but hopefully the Serpent can down them and Guided Spiders can certainly help!

I am worried about a few lists, but I am mostly there to have fun and play with a great group of guys!  I am very much lookign forward to it and will definitly let you know how it goes!

Still have some painting to do, but not much.

-Finish the Wraithknight and the gems on him
-Paint the canopy and Cannon on the Venom
-Paint an entire Ravager (Ah!)
-Touch up metal Beast models
-Finish putting wash on display board


I guess that is quite a bit!  LOL... Wish me luck!

Gearing Up For the last Twin-Linked!

So tomorrow is the last Twin-Linked Tournament of the year.  Me and Big Ray Barrera are back in the saddle and ready to win a second tournament in a row.  We are inline to win the Overall Season Award for having the 3 highest scores for the year.  I am definitely excited and looking forward to tomorrow.

Onto our lists.  We have changed them again.  We want to iron out what to take to the 2 day GT in December.  Here's what we got going on:

Dark Eldar

Baron- 105

x6 Wracks- 60

x5 Warriors, Venom- 110
x5 Warriors, Venom- 110
x5 Wyches, Haywire Grenades, Venom- 125

Beasts, x5 Masters, Fiend, x5 Khymera, x6 Flock- 250

Ravager, Nightshields- 115

Bastion w/ Quad-Gun- 125

Wracks sit on Bastion and fire the Quad-Gun.  There are the cheapest unit we can get and are very survivable with FnP.  Also, with the FOC restrictions, Wracks are our only real viable option.  They don't score so any shots at them are essentially wasted shots.  everything else does what it does.  I like the Wyches opposed to Warriors just in case we get a Podded Dread or Landraider that out Lances can't crack.

Eldar Army

Farseer, Spirt Stone, Falchou's Wing
Warlock

x5 DA, Scatter Laser Serpent
x5 DA, Scatter Laser Serpent
x10 Guardians, Bright Lance Serpent

Wraithknight

Pretty straightforward.  Farseer and Lock go with the Guardians.  Farseer will use Falchou's Wing to last turn capture or get away from something.  3 Serpents pew pew away.  Wraithknight charges headlong into the fray and beats some ass.

So what do you think?  Good chance?  I will report in and let you know how it goes!  Wish me luck!