Mech Grey Knight Tournament Report (day 1)

Rob speaking,

Following on from my tournament the other month, I was attending another tournament shortly. I wasn’t totally happy with my list and with a couple more practice games, things just didn’t improve with it. So I have decided to go back to Grey Knights and take a list that is rarely seen on the tournament scene, but I believe could work. My one practice game before the event didn’t go well, but the list was competitive at least, so I decided to go with it!

 The list:

[HQ 1] Coteaz (100) = [100]
[HQ 2] Malleus Inquisitor (25) Terminator Armour (40) Psycannon (15) Lvl1 Psyker (30) = [110]
[Troop 1] 10 Strike Squad (200) 2 Psycannons (20) Psybolt Ammo (20) Justicar Hammer (10) = [250] (Transport 1)
[Troop 2] 10 Strike Squad (200) 2 Psycannons (20) Psybolt Ammo (20) Justicar Hammer (10) = [250] (Transport 2)
[Troop 3] 5 Strike Squad (100) 1 Psycannon (10) = [110] (Transport 3)
[Troop 4] 2 Warrior Acolytes (8) 1 Banisher (15) = [23] (Transport 4)
[Troop 5] 3 Warrior Acolytes (12) = [12] (Transport 5)
[Troop 6] 3 Warrior Acolytes (12) = [12] (Transport 6)
[Fast 1] 5 Interceptors (130) Psycannon (10) = [140]
[Heavy 1] Dreadknight (130) Heavy Incinerator (30) = [160]
[Heavy 2] Dreadnought (115) 2 Twin Linked Autocannons (15) Psybolt Ammo (5) = [135]
[Heavy 3] Dreadnought (115) 2 Twin Linked Autocannons (15) Psybolt Ammo (5) = [135]
[Transport 1] - Razorback (45) Heavy Bolter (-) Psybolt Ammo (5) = [50]
[Transport 2] - Razorback (45) Heavy Bolter (-) Psybolt Ammo (5) = [50]
[Transport 3] - Razorback (45) Heavy Bolter (-) Psybolt Ammo (5) = [50]
[Transport 4] - Razorback (45) Heavy Bolter (-) Psybolt Ammo (5) Searchlight (1) = [51]
[Transport 5] – Chimera (55) Multilaser (-) Heavy Flamer (-) Searchlight (1) = [56] 
[Transport 6] – Chimera (55) Multilaser (-) Heavy Bolter (-) Searchlight (1) = [56]

[1750 Points]

Looking at the meta as it stands most players are taking infantry armies, so people are weighing their lists to include flamers and are taking plasma over melta, while all the time taking boots on the ground over the protection of tanks, so this is where my list comes in. It's designed to pray on the lists that are strong at the moment, so that’s Necron Wraithwing, Tyranid MC spam/Psychic choir and Daemons Screamer/Flamer spam. While other pray armies are starting to rear their ugly heads, like Dark Eldar Venom heavy lists and Marines with Thunderfire cannons.

So jumping straight into the tournament:

GAME 1 Crusade (3 objectives) Pitched Battle deployment.

I would be facing Chaos with Ork allies, 2 Daemon Princes, both with wings, 1 with mark of Khorne, the other with Tzeench and various upgrades, 2x 10 Cultists, 3x Helldrakes with Baleflamers, Warboss in mega armour, 10x Lootaz, 2x 27 Boyz with 2 big shootaz in each squad. With 2 objectives on my opponents side and 1 on mine, I new I had to push, but I didn’t want to expose my infantry as the Baelflamers are perfect for taking them out, STR6 AP3… So I deployed in the bottom left corner, as the Chaos has deployed in a line down the centre of the table with the lootaz in the middle on a large hill, flanked by a squad of Boyz on either flank, with the Daemon princes behind the hill the Lootaz are on, the Cultists and Helldrakes in reserve.

My tactics where to deep strike the 5 Strikes and Dreadknight, with the Interceptors to move on from reserve and these would all go for the far right objective, while I deployed the rest of my army on the left flank, this worked to a degree, but one thing I didn’t anticipate was the fact the Helldrakes can move on 36” and Vector Strike… all 3 turned up turn 2 and Vector strikes removed both Chimeras first, then in the shooting phase Baleflamered the contents which was nicely packed in the wreckage, the first 10 strikes were reduced to 2 and the second squad, Coteaz was out in front and he saved everything, which was about 10 saves from the first flamer, then followed by a second flamer which only hit 3 or 4. The rest of the game consisted of me clearing the far right objective with the Dreadknight, who got me linebreaker, took out both Daemon Princes for Slay the Warlord and Firstblood, while the Baleflamers and Vector strikes took out all the tanks and I just about fought the Orks off the objective on my side, while I had 2 guys left to get my objective with Coteaz taking the hits from a Baleflamer, but after passing about 26 saves through the game, he failed the first of 3 and other guys where auto killed… giving Matt the win, 4-3 on VP's. If I’d passed 3 2+ saves it would have been a 6-4 win to me!

30-1 Loss

Game 2 Big Guns (5 Objectives), Vanguard Strike Deployment

I would be facing off against Space Wolves with Grey Knight allies, Rune Priest, 2x 7 Grey Hunters with 2x Plasma, Standard, 10x Grey Hunters with 2x meltaguns and 3x 4 Hyperios Defence Batteries, Coteaz, 10x Strikes with 2x Psycannons and a Dreadknight with Jump Pack, Incinerator and Great Sword.

Basically we placed the objectives 4-1 weighted on the right hand side of the table, so whoever won the roll off would be in a very strong position. My opponent won the roll, so my deployment was pretty limited, I castled as close to the objectives as possible, with the whole idea of trying to contest/capture as many as possible... I won first turn and took it, then deployed on the right flank with everything bar the Dreadknight which went in deep strike reserve with 3x Warrior Acolyte squads to walk on. My opponent deployed centrally and towards my right flank. The highlight of the game was, I got firstblood by taking out a Rhino, basically the first 2 turns I was quite dominant taking out the Drop pod and its contents for the loss of a Razorback, the game then came down to a turn 7 end. Turn 5 I had the top left objective and it was close on the other 3, 1 would not be contested/captured as we both targeted each others troops, The opponents Dreadknight had gone through a Strike squad and Inquisitor as I messed up on the charge, I should of cast hammerhand and mutually killed the Inquisitor and the Dreadknight… but the Dreadknight was down to a single wound after the Rune Priest had blocked the Force Weapon. Anyway, back to turn 5, I fired everything into the Dreadknight and it eventually failed its save, freeing up a squad of 3 Warrior Acolytes to capture the objective, this means the game goes down to 2 objectives which my opponent had pretty much sewn up, with 7 Grey Hunters and 10 Strikes + Coteaz on each.

Turn 6, after taking out the Dreadknight my attention switched to trying to take out the troops, which doesn’t work as by the end of turn 7 there are 2 Grey Hunters holding 1 objective and 2 Strikes holding another objective, I should of concentrated fire power into 1 of the units… basic school boy error, but I won the game in the end with a firstblood, warlord and 1 heavy support choice secondary objective win. 25-5 win.

Game 3 Emperors Will and Dawn of War Deployment

This game I would be going against Tyranids, 2x flying Tyrants with Devouers, 2x 10 Gants with Devourers, 2x Tervigons, 2x Trygons and a Doom in a pod.

An army I’ve designed my list to beat, so here is the acid test, but the mission is quite difficult to win, my opponent won the roll off for first turn and decided to go first, outflanking a Tervigon and a flying Hive Tyrant, while keeping the other Hive Tyrant in reserve. So there was only 2 squads of Termagants and a Tervigon deployed on the table. I deployed in a line, with most of the vehicles central, Interceptors went on the right flank and the large strikes deployed, one on the left flank to capture my home objective and the other centrally to act as a blocking unit. The Warrior Acolytes in reserve with the Dreadknight in deep strike reserve. Highlights of the game, turn 2, the Hive Tyrants came on and deleted the Interceptors and I rolled out my skin to save the Strikes on the left flank who took a peppering but only lost 2 guys.. My opponents then rolled a shocker, the first shot into a Tyrant and it was grounded and was deleted by the Strike squad in the middle, the other Tyrant was grounded first shot and was deleted by the other strike squad, the Dreadknight stayed in reserve. Skipping forward and we decide to call the game at the end of turn 5, with the Dreadknight taking out Doom and consolidating and running towards the opponents objective in my turn to contest it turn 5 giving me the win. Warp quake won me the game, the doom had to drop to act as a blocker to my opponents objective and both Trygons also dropped way back and where both taken out before they could do any damage rather than dropping in my face, a second win of the day, this time 30-1. That’s the end of day 1!

Overall I was extremely happy to have recovered from the mauling game 1, with 2 good wins in game 2 and 3. I should of won by more game 2, but I was getting greedy.

More to come…

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Biovore Fun Battle Reports

Nick speaking,

I have had several attempts at playing my 1750 point Biovore Fun list, but due to unforeseen circumstances it just hasn't happened yet! I did however have a couple of games with a smaller 1200 point version of the list against my sons Space Marines, and then my Buddies Blood Angels. The list is for pure fun, so don't worry about the lack of Scoring units. Here is the list and the two battle reports I did of the games...

Biovore Fun (1200 Points)

1x Tyranid Prime (90)
20x Genestealers-Talons/Glands/Sacs/Brood Lord-Talons/Acid/Implant (510)
9x Ripper Swarms (90)
1x Trygon-Regen (225)
3x Biorvores (135)
5x Spore Mine Cluster (50)
5x Spore Mine Cluster (50)
5x Spore Mine Cluster (50)

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Necron Void Dragon Conversion (part 2)

Nick speaking,

Just a progress update from my first post with my attempt at making this model...

Into this one...

Here is the work that I have done so far using a chopped up Daemon head, the arms of a Reaper Bones model and some green/grey stuff...

Lots more to come...

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Biovore Fun!

Nick speaking,

I have been playing some pretty competitive Nid Lists lately, you know, the usual Flyrant, Hive Guard and Tervigon combos. Having just finished painting my Biovores, and for a break from the norm, I thought I would come up with a fun list to use them in. First, I wanted three groups of Spore Mine Clusters in the list, after all, I want as many Spore Mines out on the table as I can, so the list starts with three groups of five Clusters and a Brood of Biovores...

 

  

As I am not too bothered about winning with this army, with the emphasis more on fun. I thought I might as well use Genestealers as the main Troops choice. One large beefed up brood to advance up the field with all the upgrades (gulp), and a Brood Lord to swap out for a couple of Biomancy powers. I will need to give the unit cover saves, so one unit of Ripper swarms to scuttle in front of them should keep the fun theme going nicely.

I will need a small unit of Stealers to sit on an objective in my deployment zone, and that will mean the Biovores will be short of some Synapse. So I will take a Tyranid Prime to join them and keep them shooting every turn. Now to bolster the list, if it's possible! The Large Brood of Stealers are going to be a big target, so I will run forward a Trygon along with them to try and syphon off some shots, I might as well give him Regeneration as well. Sadly I haven't been able to get away from a Flyrant in the list. I really need some extra distractions for the Stealer unit, along with some upfront Shadow of the Warp. I then end the list with a brood of Y-Stealers, just to keep the Stealer and fun theme going.

Here is my final list...

Biovore Fun

HQ
1 x Winged Hive Tyrant/Devourers/Adversary
      *Swap powers for Biomancy (285)
1x Tyranid Prime/Lash Whips and Bone Sword (100)

TROOPS
20x Genestealers/Talons/Glands/Sacs/Brood Lord/Talons/Implant/Acid
       *Swap powers for Biomancy (510)
5x Genestealers (70)
9x Ripper Swarms (90)

ELITES
8x Ymgarl Stealers (184)

FAST
5x Spore Mine Cluster (50)  
5x Spore Mine Cluster (50)
5x Spore Mine Cluster (50)

HEAVY
3x Biovores (135)
1x Trygon/Regeneration (225)

Points 1749

I am not expecting to win, but I am expecting to have some fun! Battle report to follow...

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Army List Clinic - Biker Hybrid Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, we hope that our responses have given you some pointers and have been useful. In today's post we will have a look at a list submitted by our reader Paul and his Space Marine Biker Hybrid list.

Email in:

Hi guys,

Looking to build a multiple points level tournament (1,500 and 2,000) list with a strong theme which is fun to play with and against. Competitiveness is important, but theme and character rank higher.

First the list;

			1985
Captain		Hq	185
Bike, Power Fist, Combi-Melta, Artificer Armour
Bike Squad		Tr	205
4 Bikes and Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter,
2 x Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs
Bike Squad		Tr	205
4 Bikes and Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter,
2 x Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs
Bike Squad		Tr	290
8 Bikes and Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
2 x Melta Guns, Melta Bombs
Attack Bike		Fa	50
Multi-Melta
Sternguard Squad		El	230
7 Sternguard, 2 x Plasma Guns, Drop pod
Terminator Squad		El	235
5 Terminators with Assault Cannon, Chainfist
Thunderfire Cannon		Hs	100
Storm Talon		Fa	155
Typoon Missile Launcher
Scouts		Tr	100
5 Scouts with Sniper rifles, Heavy Bolter
Camo Cloaks
Tactical Squad		Tr	230
10 Marines, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun
Storm Bolter, Drop pod

Firstly, the 1500 point list ends at the Thunderfire cannon, the 2,000 still has 15 points to play with.

The list is based on a successor chapter of the Dark Angels, who form part of my overall Imperial Apocalypse force (Sisters and Guard total about 10k between them). The chapter is in penitence at the order of the Sisters, in an attempt to redeem both theirs and their parents chapters sins against the emperor in their quest to hunt the fallen at the expenses of the ‘greater good’ of the Imperium. As such, it needs to fit the feel of a ‘Rapid Response’ force which can be called to the aid of the Sisters at any give time. I.e. not a gun line.

As for tactics, it’s very much a synergy list. Individual units perform poorly on their own, but in unison have the speed and offensive capabilities to overwhelm individual units. Large bike squad combat squads to give me three melta delivery platforms to deal with heavy armour. Plasma bike squads then dakka the occupants of opened transports. Terminators Deep Strike to provide fire support to the bikes where required and then attempt to die glorious deaths in an attempt to soak fire power away from the bikes. Captain is my all star, starting in the bike squad mostly likely to come under fire, his principle job is to tank with his T5 W3 2+/4++, and jump between units as required. His secondary function is to break free from his unit, nuke a transport with his BS5 Melta shot and then assault the occupants, hopefully tying them up whilst he Donks a couple each turn. The Thunderfire cannon is again, able to provide fire support anywhere on the table thanks to its insane range, and also pick out troublesome special weapons, banner bearers and Sanguine Priests and the like. It also add’s horde control and allows me to ‘slow’ down units I want to keep out of the fight, adding to the overall plan of isolate and destroy (and if you’re thinking how’s a Thunderfire cannon fit in with a rapid response force, well you haven’t seen my awesomely cool Tow bar and trailer conversion on the individual attack bike!) The Sternguard are their to capitalize on poor deployment decisions and create a ‘deal with me or die’ distraction to allow the bikes to get into position on turn one. Moving up to 2,000 points, the inclusion of the Storm Talon is to help with flyers, the scouts to help the Sternguard in dealing with MC’s and the tactical squad allow me to hold back the Sternguard when required, and also to create sever problems for people in the Relic mission (Drop Pod screens the relic and they grab it turn one whilst falling back the rest of the game)

In principle, this army should be able to hit small sections of the enemy hard and fast and wipe them completely out thanks to the synergy in the units and its overall speed. Its weak point is obviously model count. Not quite being a glass hammer with T5 3+, it’s certainly not going to grind out any victories in a sustained fire fight.

Main issues are at 1,500 points; No flyer defence. There is no way I can justify any fortification, so emplacements are out. The list just doesn’t work if I drop any of the bike units to squeeze in the Storm Talon, and the Sternguard and Termies are too valuable for their ability to drop in and support the bikes by adding volume firepower. I see no way round this. I feel much more confident in the list at 2,000 than I do at 1,500 due to this fact.

Controversial points; Plasma Pistols? I hear you cry. Well, yes is the answer. For the 15 point premium (taking the plasma squads from 190 to 205) I go from 4 to 5 Str 7 AP2 shots, which lets face it, is the reason this unit is there. That’s an 8% increase in cost for an increased offensive output of 25%. It’s a no brainer. Add in Precision shots and you’re on to a winner. Tactical Termies? Again, these fit better in this list. I need the Termies to drop in and help me out at the drop of a hat. Assault termies don’t help me with this at all, Tacticals do. They also offer duality in the fact they can, in later turns, engage in assault and shoot. They also have the ability to drop in behind vehicles and smoke them. Helpful with so little ranged Anti Tank.

So, thoughts? Changes? Tactical amendments? I’ve all but built this list now, so I’m nearly ready to get some games in with it. I’ve played two so far @ 1,500 points. Vs Guard/Orks and Necrons. Both games were comfortable wins. Vendetta’s and Dakka jets are not a problem for me, my worry is Helldrakes. 

Firstly Paul, this is a fantastic list request, we really appreciate the time and effort you have taken to go into detail about why you have chosen each unit, this really helps when giving feedback.

Right, onto the list;

Taking into account the last paragraph, where you stated you have just built the list, I won't be suggesting any changes at either points level. I believe both of your list to be very solid, I would prefer to see another troops choice at 1500pts as I think 3 troops (2 of which are fairly small) could struggle to claim objectives, but on the other hand you have 2 strong denial units at 1500pts, which imo can be just as important, because this allows your army to win games by inches. By that, I mean you’re denying your opponent objectives with the Sternguard and Terminators, then you can jump on 2 objectives knowing if you get shot off one, you should still be able to claim the other and win by the one objective.

You’re completely right about the regular Terminators over Assault Terminators in the deep striking roll. Terminators in general have got better due to the drop in AP2 weapons and lack of combat units with the ability to get past 2+ armour, even my squad of 10 Grey Knights Strikes would hesitate charging 5 man Terminator squad, so they make a great distraction unit as they cannot be ignored and will easily go through MEQ units.

As for the 1500pt flyer problem, well, there is nothing much that can be done, but try to ignore them and position yourself in such a way that they only get 1 turn to shoot at you, then they have to go off board or reposition for a turn with no real targets. Helldrakes will ruin this army, as they do many armies, being able to hover also will cause problems because they should have a target each turn… and there is pretty much nothing that can be done other than invest in an Aegis (which you said you didn’t want) or a couple of Dreadnoughts and hope to get lucky… I’m still struggling to deal with Helldrakes myself, the only way I can see feasibly beating Helldrakes, is by taking a flyer yourself and as I said before I don’t want to suggest dropping units you’ve only just purchased/made. If push comes to shove and you want that flyer defence, you can drop the 2 Heavy Bolter Attack Bikes from the Bike squads and the lone Multimelta Attackbike for 150 odd pts and get yourself and Storm Talon, for the loss of 2 Heavy Bolters and a Multimelta it’s not a great loss.

At this point I open the list clinic to the readers, what are you opinions on the list, what would you suggest to help Paul's anti-helldrake predicament? If you would like to submit one of your army lists to the clinic, you can do so here: listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Necron Grand Obelisk/Pylon Painted

Nick speaking,

Here is my Laser Cut Card 'Cyborg' Grand Obelisk all painted up, first as the Grand Obelisk and then as the 'Cyborg' Apocalypse Obelisk, which is an ideal Necron Pylon proxy. As you can see from the pictures, it makes a pretty cool looking Pylon, even if I do say so myself.

 

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Necron Void Dragon Conversion (part 1)

Nick speaking,

Right, with a bit of inspiration from Fritz 40k to get back into the three C'tan Necron list build. I thought it was about time I did something with the very poorly painted Nightbringer that I got from eBay a while back, and what a better thing to do with him than to convert him up into the Void Dragon C'tan! The first job for me was to strip it down and get rid of all the flash that had not been previously removed.

Then with a very inspirational picture, It was time to rummage through my bitz box. I found a Daemon head and a Reaper Bones mini that I plan to chop up for the arms and a leg...

Hopefully the conversion will go well and the Void Dragon will be joining my other C'tan Shards on the battlefield soon. More to come on this one...

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Triarch Stalker Painted

Nick speaking,

Here is my magnetised Triarch Stalker all painted up with the three different weapon options. I also converted it up so that it is hovering instead of standing as I think it matched the rest of the army better. The front two legs move up and down on the joint so that I can have different poses and rest the front leg on the ground if needed. I hope you like it... 

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Army List Clinic - Tyranid Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has already submitted their army lists to our Clinic, we hope that our responses have given you some pointers and were useful. Our very first army list in for review was from a reader called James, so I just wanted to take the time and say thanks for emailing in your list James, and lets have a look at it.

Email in: 

HQ
1 x Flyrant duel Devs, Old Ad.
1 x Tervigon 3 powers Toxin Sacs crushing claws – warlord
Elites
3 x Hive Gaurd
1 x Dom in pod
Troops
1 x Tervigon 3 powers Toxin Sacs
10 x Termagaunts
18 x Devour Gaunts in spore Pod

Thats for a 1250pt tourney in UK, any help would be appreciated.

Firstly, I want to say the list is very solid for its points level. Choosing to take the Tervigon as your Warlord may seem like a good idea, because it is tough to kill, but I don’t believe it is necessar. I think it is a much more sound strategic idea to take the Tervigon as another troops choice, this way you have 2 rock hard scoring Monstrous Creatures that can push forward when needed to take those objectives.

Without much information if this list is working for you or not, it’s quite difficult for us to critique, but if you’re looking for changes/improvements, I will give a couple of ideas where I think the list could be improved by changing wargear, but would require some more models. So, I would be tempted to drop the additional powers on both of the Tervigons, this frees up 60pts to start with, at 1250pts you don’t have many points to play with, the additional powers are nice and vastly increase the chances of Iron Arm, but we have to trim the fat at tournament level. The 60pts dropped can be used to give the first Termagant brood a Spore Pod and Devourers, this then gives you 3 units that will drop in the ever reliable pods right in your enemies face and with the Hive Tyrant Swooping to support them, giving them both Preferred Enemy, you will have a devastating alpha strike. To make this more reliable though, I would then be tempted to drop the crushing claws on the Tervigon that was originally your Warlord and invest the points in Hive Commander on the Hive Tyrant to make your alpha strike that much more reliable.

So with the minor tweaks mentioned above your list should look something like this:

Hive Tyrant w/ wings, dual devourers, old adversary and hive commander - 310
3 Hive Guard – 150
Doom in Pod – 130
Tervigon – 160
Tervigon – 160
13 Devourer Gaunts in Pod – 170
13 Devourer Gaunts in Pod – 170
Total: 1250pts

I hope this helps and thanks for emailing your list in!

Please post your thoughts and comments on helping James with his list, or if you felt I may have missed something, or have your own way to improve the list? Please feel free to comment and if you want to submit one of your army lists to us, you can do so here listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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New Laser Cut Card Buildings and Discount Reminder!

Nick speaking,

There are now three brand new Art Deco Buildings available on the Laser Cut Card website, and amazingly, they will also qualify for the exclusive 10% discount voucher that I have at the moment, but hurry as the discount code ends soon. Please see below to find out more...

 

So, if you have been thinking about getting yourself some of the fantastic Laser Cut Card products that I have been reviewing on the Blog recently, or these new buildings, then I think you might be interested in this. I am very please to be able to offer you an exclusive 10% discount on ANY Laser Cut Card products on the Website until 15th March 2013. All you have to do is enter the code: IDICB/BL when you place your order and you will receive your discount.

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Guard Tournament Results (part 5)

Rob speaking,

So going into the last game, still in a good position despite my loss last game, game 5  I would be facing off against a very similar army to mine, space wolves and imperial guard.

Game5: Mike Foulks, Big Guns Never Tire, Hammer and Anvil deployment.

PLAYER: Mike Foulks
PRIMARY DETACHMENT: Space Wolves
HQ1 : Wolf Guard Battle Leader, frost weapon (axe), saga of the hunter [105 pts]
HQ2 : Rune Priest, living lighting, jaws of the world wolf, runic weapon (axe) [100 pts]
HQ3 : Rune Priest, storm caller, jaws of the world wolf, runic weapon (sword), bolt gun[100 pts]
HQ4 : Rune Priest, living lighting, storm caller, runic weapon (staff), chooser of the slain
[110 pts]
Elite1 : 3 Wolf Guard, 2x terminator armour [84 pts]
Elite2 : Lone Wolf, terminator armour, chainfist, storm shield, 2x fenrisian wolves [105 pts]
Elite3 : Lone Wolf, terminator armour, chainfist, storm shield, 2x fenrisian wolves [105 pts]
Troop 1 : 10 Grey Hunters, 2x melta guns, wolf standard [165 pts]
Troop 2 : 10 Grey Hunters, 2x melta guns, wolf standard [165 pts]
Troop 3 : 5 Grey Hunters, flamer [75 pts]
TOTAL [1114 pts]
ALLIED DETACHMENT: Imperial Guard
HQ1 : Primaris psyker [70 pts]
Elite1 : Psyker battle squad, 9 sanctioned psykers [110 pts]
Troop 1 : Platoon command with vox caster [35 pts]
Platoon squad 1 with autocannon, power axe on seargent [70 pts]
Platoon squad 2 with autocannon, power axe on seargent [70 pts]
Platoon squad 3 with autocannon, power axe on seargent [70 pts]
Platoon squad 4 with autocannon, vox caster [65 pts]
HS1: Manticore Rocket Launcher [160 pts]
FORTIFICATION: Aegis defence line with icarus lascannon [85 pts]

Lots of things to look out for, the Manticore and Lone Wolfs are going to cause a pain, plus the Blob can outflank thanks to Saga of the Hunter! So it’s a nasty nasty list.

Deployment:
Again I was passed first turn so set about deploying the blob centrally, the 1 pack of Grey Hunters on either flank with the Veteran squad on the left flank, the Hyperios had no real position to deploy as there was a hill in the centre of the table that blocked LOS, with 2 large LOS blocking buildings on either flank, so the only position to deploy them was centrally, the Command squads went in reserve, with the Warlord Command squad in a Vendetta.

Mike outflanked the blob, the Manticore then went in reserve, the Grey Hunters all deployed in a line centrally, 1 squad manning the Lascannon from the ADL, the 5 Grey Hunters and Platoon Command deployed in ruins at the very back of the board. The Psyker battle squad then deployed centrally behind a ruined wall, with the Lone Wolfs on the right flank.

Turn 1
Nothing much happened as I have 3 objectives to Mikes 2, It was night fight so the Hyperios who has LOS to a Grey Hunter pack were out of range. Mikes turn 1 he moved up and ran with everything bar the Psyker squad who remained stationary and the Grey Hunter pack on the lascannon.

Turn 2
All 3 Vendettas turn up, again 2 huddle in a corner, but 1 is poking passed the building blocking LOS, the 3^rd vendetta comes on the left flank which is hidden by a large ruin,  the Grey Hunters start to back up from there move forwards turn 1, as they need to support the blob from the outflanking blob which is due imminently. Mike then intercepts the Vendetta and takes it out! First blood to Mike! I then do minimal damage again killing a couple of Grey Hunters from a pack on the left flank, moving to the right flank, the Grey Hunter pack and the remaining Vendetta, then strip a single wound from a Lone Wolf and kill one of the Fenrisian Wolves accompanying it.

Mikes turn 2 and the Manticore arrives, the Blob turns up in my bottom left corner, the Lone Wolfs on the left flank and Grey Hunters on the right flank both push up while the 2 groups of Grey Hunters drop back slightly, the Blob opens up into the rear of the Vendetta on the left flank and strips a hull point, the Manticore takes out a Rune Priest and about 10 other Guardsman 3 shots are rolled and all scatter into the blob.

Turn 3
With the arrival of the 2 units that threaten my army I try to deal with these, my blob walks towards Mikes and prepares to charge as do a squad of Grey Hunters, the Vendettas both move to get into range of the Manticore and the Grey Hunters on the left flank move into rapid fire range of the Lone Wolfs, the Vendettas then both fail to scratch the Manticore… 1 even on it’s side armour. The Blob then and Grey Hunters then hit the Blob and the epic combat begins.

Mikes turn 3 and the game only has 20mins left, the Lone Wolves charge the Grey Hunters on the right flank and both remain locked in combat, the Manticore then takes out the Platoon Command knocking me off an objective! This means I’m going to close this game unless the blob can somehow win! The combat continues and takes aaaages to sort out with some really ‘strange’ things going on, in regards to the models which I have to remove and which models Mike starts to remove and the combat ends in a stalemate again, this time dragging me off another objective.

With about 5mins left in the round we decide to call it quits here as there is no time for both players to get in another turn.

Overall:
I wasn’t happy at all after this game, we both took waaay to long to do anything in this game, deciding tables sides, generating psychic powers and warlord traits took about a hour, deployment took ages and we only just got to turn 3… I made a MASSIVE error on the right flank if I hadn’t of got greedy with the Grey Hunters trying to kill the Lone Wolfs they could of dropped back to the objective and the game would have been a 11-9 loss on first blood, but instead I lost 15-5. I was totally gutted with how the game went and how I played, plus a few strange rules interpretations. But there we go,

In the end I finished 45^th which is midfield so I have to be happy with that!

As for the tournament overall, it was run excellently as always and even though I had 2 difficult games, I was extremely happy to have attended and there was no bad blood between any of my opponents. I would like to play them again given the chance, I think a lot of the problems came from different rules interpretations and the pressure of time, so not being able to fully read into them caused the friction.

I was also disappointed with the list, it properly let me down, the Vendettas just didn’t cut the mustard in many of the games, I would of preferred more units on the table from turn 1 and I don’t believe Flyers are all they are cracked up to be.

I’m looking forward to my next tournaments in the coming months I have a couple in mind including a team tournament I’m looking at entering!

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