DA Battle Reports and Tourney Shenanigans (20/09/2017)

[Pvnisher]

I think I may try the grav command out. It looks interesting and cool. I'm assuming you stick your company master with them right.

[Solrac]

Yep and usually my Chaplain as well

[Solrac]

Well here it is guys, my first time on Youtube!

 

Haven't watched it all yet so be gentle :P

 

Enjoy!

 

[Chaplain Raeven]

I had pity with the guys rolls, so many skulls 

 

And now we know the origine of Solrac's name... Damn, it was so simple!

[jbaeza94]

I had pity with the guys rolls, so many skulls

 

And now we know the origine of Solrac's name... Damn, it was so simple!

It all makes sense now! I think it's cool seeing what the people I interact with on a almost daily basis look like.

[oldmanlee]

Wow your opponents dice rolls where some of the worst I've seen in a long time

 

But good game

[SnakeChisler]

Cult Mech are really powerful Shroud Psalm x 2 and all in cover giving terminator saves is silly

 

Buckets full of dice his only mistake was not having a battle cannon instead of the Melta cannon 

 

The big downside is mobility which is why some of the skitarii units would have been useful

 

His dice rolling was awful as well and he seemed dejected at the start as though he was expecting to loose which in a hard match up is going to cause mistakes. Granted your a bad matchup for him but still against another DD such as Ultra's he'd get charges in with the Castallans.

 

Thanks for sharing

[Deagle_Raa]

Thanks for sharing all these reports. Very interesting to see how Dark Angels are going in the community comp environment.

 

Wondering if you've looked at Ravenwing? I'm trying to squeeze a support squad or strike force in with the lions blade, and find the comp points goes through the roof. Do you think its worth trying to add some in, or just focus on getting more transports?

 

And how does this list deal with deathstars?

 

Cheers

[Solrac]

Thanks for sharing all these reports. Very interesting to see how Dark Angels are going in the community comp environment.

 

Wondering if you've looked at Ravenwing? I'm trying to squeeze a support squad or strike force in with the lions blade, and find the comp points goes through the roof. Do you think its worth trying to add some in, or just focus on getting more transports?

 

And how does this list deal with deathstars?

 

Cheers

I've made a couple of lists for pure Ravenwing but yet to take them to a Tournament. I just don't have all the models painted. You can make an effective list if you use min squads and you can fit a Support Squadron in so long as you use the Vengeance instead of a Darkshroud. You can't really take a Darkshroud in an all Ravenwing list in CC as you have seen. A Support Squadron with the Vengeance is still pretty effective.

 

This list deals with Death Stars by either avoiding them, feeding them a unit at a time and minimising multi charges and/or to kill off the Death Stars support and use the manoeuvrability to outscore them.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Solrac

[Solrac]

Hey guys,

I went to the NSW Masters Tournament on the 27/28th Nov which is the state finals. I qualified by ranking 9th overall in the state. Top 16 players were invited. The missions were the exact same from the previous tournament which were all mixed Eternal War, Maelstrom and Kill Points and used Community Comp with armies being capped at 12 comp credits.

I was pretty excited as this was my first time qualifying for an event like this.

This list I decided on was slightly tweaked from the last army I used a couple of months ago. I used the points from the Dreadnought to make more of a Deathstar to both cause major damage when it comes down and to soak up the enemy fire.

My list was as follows:

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master

Power Fist

Combi-Grav

Articifer Armour

Storm Shield

Eye of the Unseen

Auspex

(5) Command Squad

5x Grav Gun

3x Storm Shield

Apothecary

Champion

Sacred Standard

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Lascannons

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Crozius Arcanum

Power Fist

Auspex

Warlord

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Lascannons

Razorback

Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

Auxillary - 10th Company Support

(5) Scout Squad

5x Boltgun

Command - Inner Circle

Ezekiel

Game 1 vs Space Wolves

My opponents list:

Company of the Great Wolf

HQ

Wolf Lord

Thunderwolf Mount

Runic Armour

Power Fist

Wolf Claw

Fellclaws Teeth

2x Fenrisian Wolf

ELITES

Servitor

Servitor

FAST ATTACK

(3) Thunderwolf Cavalry

3x Power Fist

3x Storm Shield

(3) Thunderwolf Cavalry

3x Power Fist

3x Storm Shield

Land Speeder

Typhoon Missile Launcher

HEAVY SUPPORT

Relic Sicarian

2x Lascannon Sponsons

Combined Arms Detachment: Space Wolves

HQ

Iron Priest

Thunderwolf Mount

Tempest Hammer

4x Cyberwolves

TROOPS

(5) Blood Claws

(5) Blood Claws

FAST ATTACK

Land Speeder

Typhoon Missile Launcher

Land Speeder

Typhoon Missile Launcher

(6) Sky Claws

2x Flamer

HEAVY SUPPORT

(3) Long Fangs

2x Lascannon

Rhino

(3) Long Fangs

2x Lascannon

Rhino

Legion of the Damned

(5) Legion of the Damned

Meltagun

Multimelta

Mission was Eternal War: Big Guns Never Tire, Maelstrom: Cleanse and Control with Dawn of War deployment.

My opponent deployed first and decided to go first and chose not to seize.

I'm always worried about Thundercav. Even with a lot of Grav it can really take a whole lot of fire power to kill them. I was worried this time. This time I had an ace up my sleeve. Forgoing my usual plan of beefing up my Deathstar with Sanctic powers, I rolled on Librarius and scored myself Null Zone. When my opponent saw what powers I got his face went white.

First turn saw him killing a couple of transports and moving up his thunder cav to take objectives and get close to my lines. He wasn't getting many good Maelstrom cards so had to really make sure he got the points he could.

I responded. Command squad came down next to his Thundercav with his lord but within range of other targets. The Flamers came down to put some hurt on the other Thundercav squad making sure the Cyberwolves would die first to try and make the majority armour the thundercav 3+ for my grav for next turn. Everything else I had moved up to crawl all over the objectives and get the Grav Cannons in good firing positions for next turn.

I successfully cast Null Zone on his Thundercav squad and opened fire. After the dust had settled almost everything was annihilated as I only missed one shot thanks to preferred enemy and inflicted 16 wounds. The wolf lord survived on his lonesome with 1 wound remaining.

The flamers managed to kill 2 cyberwolves to make the majority armour 3+ and also managed to inflict a wound on the Iron Priest.

Turn 2 saw his wolf lord run from my command squad and made his way to kill some tanks. The other Thundercav went into kill my Assault squad but failed to kill anything else with his heavies. The Thundercav killed all the assault marines but not before I killed the last 2 cyberwolves. He also got a horrible consolidating roll and were left within range of the Command Squads Grav. His wolf Lord managed to kill a razorback but was left in the open surrounded by melta. His reserves failed to show up.

With enough Grav and guns in range of the second thundercav squad i decided to get some extra movement out of my command squad and charging into his blood claws holding an objective. I cast Null Zone on the Thundercav and with Lascannons , Grav Cannon and Bolter fire was able to reduce the squad to 2 models killing the iron priest. A Grav cannon also lined up the Sicaran and scored 2 sixes killing it. The second Flamer pod came down and killed 2 blood claws making them run off the table and my scouts outflanked to secure Behind enemy Lines card. His Wolf Lord was killed by Melta and Bolter fire.

Turn 3 saw the Legion of the Damned come on but only killed a Rhino. By this stage he was having a lot of difficulty securing Maelstrom points. Eventually on my later turns I closed in moping up most of his units only leaving 5 Skyclaws and 2 Long Fangs alive at the end and only because he was tucking them away trying not to get tabled.

Dark Angels Victory 18 - 2.

Game 2 vs Eldar/Dark Eldar

My opponents list:

Combined Arms Detachment: Eldar

HQ

Autarch

Jetbike

Fusion Gun

Scorpion Chainsword

Banshee Mask

Spiritseer

TROOPS

(5) Dire Avengers

Wave Serpent

Twin-linked Scatter Laser

Shuriken Cannon

(5) Dire Avengers

Wave Serpent

Twin-linked Scatter Laser

Shuriken Cannon

LORD OF WAR

Skathach Wraithknight

2x Inferno Lance

Scatter Laser

FORTIFICATION

Imperial Bunker

Ammo Store

Icarus Lascannon

Aspect Host

(6) Dark Reapers

Starshot Missiles

Exarch w/ Starshot Missiles

(6) Fire Dragons

Exarch

(4) Shinning Spears

Exarch w/ Star Lance

Grotesquerie

Haemonculus

Web Way Portal

(5) Grotesques

(3) Grotesques

Mission was Eternal War: The Emperor's Will, Maelstrom: Cloak and Shadows, Hammer and Anvil deployment.

My opponent was the current ranked No. 1 player in NSW but I did have a good counter to his list with all my grav. But he is an amazing player so I would make sure I would try to think about every move I made.

He placed his Wraith Knight in reserve so I wouldn't smash it to pieces turn one and spread out his forces. I did the same and hid the lascannons behind their Razorbacks so the Reapers couldn't shoot them first turn.

My opponent went first but only managed to kill a Razorback and put a couple of HP on some Rhinos.

I still brought the Grav command in straight away and pasted a Wave Serpent. The First Flamer squad came down and killed two shinning spears and took an objective. The Devs with the busted razor in front had to climb up on top and took some pot shots at a serpent for no damage. The other dev Razor moved so that the Lascannons had a clear line and shot at the serpent. No damage but made it jink. Everything else I had moved forward except for two of the Grav Rhinos. I kept them back as he had his DSing Fire Dragons to come in.

Turn 2 saw the Wraith Knight come on and take out a Rhino. The Fire Dragons came on with the Haemonculous Web Way portal and killed all but 2 devastators from one of the units. The Grotesques converged on the command squad. All of them. Through Superior tanking they survived only taking 2 casualties and killing 2 Grotesques in return. They were being hard to kill as they had 4+ FNP from the Haemonculous book. The Shinning spears killed the assault marines and consolidated back onto the objective. The Serpent took snap shots at a Rhino with no success. The Dire Avengers from the wrecked Serpent to cover on top of the bunker. The Reapers in the bunker annihilated the dev squad on the wrekced Razor.

The Scouts came on outflanking behind the shinning spears onto the objective whilst the second Flamer assault squad failed to come in. The Razor on the left flank opened up on the Shinning spears killing the last spear and wounding both characters. The Scouts rapid fired and finished them off. . The combined fire from the Grav Cannons in the backfield killed all but the Fire Dragon exarch and Haemonculous leaving them on 1 wound each. The Razor on the Right Flank moved up and the melta squad got out to put a shot into the Serpent but only managed a glance with the serpent shields but casued it to jink once more. In combat the command squad took a beating down to just the Apothecary and having all the characters wounded once. I tried to cast force on ezekiel but was stopped by deny the witch so only managed to kill 1 grotesque in return.

Turn 3 saw the Knight destroy the Razor on the left flank, destroy the Rhino with Grav cannon on the right flank and charged and killed a drop pod for good measure. The Reapers took out the Razor on the right flank. The haemonculous and exarch charged the remenants of the Dev squad but annihilated it which was bad as he was hoping to get stuck. The Avengers on the roof of the bunker fired at the Tac squad closest to it leaving the melta and 2 marines alive. The combat continued with the Grotesques and Command Squad. The Grotesques killed the Master and the Apothecary while the Chaplain and Ezekiel killed off the smaller Grotesque unit.

The Flamer squad failed to come on once more. The Left flank Tac squad put a melta shot into the Knight but did not wound. The backfield squads finished of the exarch and haemonculous whilst transports repositioned. The Tac squad with the Grav retreated onto an objective whilst the Tac squad on the right flank moved to take the far back objective. I got domination!!!!! Ezekiel finally got force off and with a vengeance killed the Spiritseer and two grotesques. The remaining 2 managed to kill the chaplain and put a wound on Ezekiel.

The Wraith Knight began Turn 4 and killed the tac squad on the left flank and kileld the last dev rhino at the back of the field then charged the remaining pod killing it in combat. The Reapers destroyed a Rhino from the back field, the Grav Tac squad out and huddled in cover. The Serpent came around to kill the tac marines on the right flank on the objective and the Avengers went around a rock to do the same. The Tac marines were no more. In combat Ezekiel finished up the Grotesques and consolidated closer to the bunker.

The Flamer squad came down off mark (was aiming for the objective where the tacs were) and killed all but one avenger that ran off the board. Ezekiel moved up onto the bunker to throw a grenade at the serpent but failed to do damage. Two tacticals that were hanging around from one of the wrecks moved up to the side of the bunker.

The last turn saw the Wraith Knight moping up the Flamers squad and Ezekiel. The Serpent made a last ditch effort to take objective 1 in my back lines but I managed to gun it down with Grav and the avengers spilled out behind it out of range of the objective. The last two tac marines need a 6 inch run to take objective 2 for eternal war but rolled a 4

Dark Angels Loss 10 - 9

Game 3 vs. Khorne Daemon Kin

My opponents list:

Hellforged Hunting Pack: Khorne Daemon Kin

Greater Brass Scorpion

Defiler

Heldrake

Autocannon

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Maulerfiend

Mission was Eternal War: The Relic, Maelstrom: Deadlock, Vanguard Strike deployment.

This game wasn't that enjoyable considering what I was up against so this wrap up will be short and sweet. I rolled on the Technomancy tree and got a couple of the haywire powers but failed to do anything when I used them (bad rolling and good daemon saves). I aimed my command squad to drop on the right flank near a mauler and the defiler but within plenty of cover (as I learned my lesson from last time). My Pod decided to scatter the full 12 right in front of 4 mauler fiends instead. So the command squad was toast after turn 1 after being charged by 4 maulers and lots of S10 ap2 attacks.

I managed to take the Relic in the end after immobilising most of his maulers and killing another two and then I edged him out in Maelstrom. Took me two turns of firepower to kill the scorpion after it took out a fair few units.

Dark Angels win 18 - 3

Game 4 vs. Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarri/Cult Mechanicus/Imperial Assassins

My opponents list:

War Convocation

Tech Priest Dominus

Eradication Ray

Macro Stubber

Stasis Field

Uncreator Gauntlet

(3) Kataphron Destroyers

Plasma Culverins

Phosphor Blasters

(3) Kataphron Destroyers

Plasma Culverins

Phosphor Blasters

(3) Kataphron Breachers

Torsion Cannons

Arc Claws

(7) Skitarii Rangers

2xs Plasma Calivers

Omnispex

Alpha

Arc Maul

Pater Radium

Phosphenix

(8) Skitarii Vanguard

2xs Plasma Calivers

Omnispex

Alpha

Arc Maul

Pater Radium

Conversion Field

(5) Sicaran Infiltrators

Flechette Blasters

Taser Goads

Princeps

Digital Weapons

Conversion Field

Phase Taser

Infoslave Skull

(5) Sicaran Ruststalkers

Transonic Razors

Chordclaws

Mindscrambler Grenades

Princeps

Digital Weapons

Conversion Field

Skull of Eldar Nikoli

(2) Sydonian Dragoons

Taser Lances

Phosphor Serpentia

Onegar Dunecrawler

Cognis Heavy Stubber

Neutron Cannon

Cognis Manipulator

Mindscanner Probe

Smoke Launchers

Knight Crusader

Avenger Gatling Cannon

Rapid-fire Battle Cannon

Meltagun

Ironstorm Missile Pod

Officio Assassinorum

Culexus Assassin

Mission was Eternal War: Crusade, Maelstrom: Contact Lost, Dawn of War deployment

I got another rematch with my friend from the Youtube channel. This time he was rocking a much harder list in the War Convocation.

He set up first very defensively, afraid that I was going to come down and grav his Knight. I did the same trying to keep as much of my units LOS blocked and out of range. I rolled up Ezekiel on Sanctic and was really excited as I had landed Sanctuary, Hammer Hand and Cleansing Flame, very powerful combo.

My opponent went first and I failed to seize. He let rip with his firepower after moving and killed a Dev squad and got the other Dev squad down to 2 Lascannons but they stayed on the table.

My assault squad came down on an objective and with some good placing I knocked off a wound on the breachers and 2 wounds off the culexus. I had a horrible rolling streak start with 3 of my vehicles immobilising themselves as they were moving up to grab objectives.

My Command Squad came down where I wanted it and Ezekiel was in Cleansing flame range of the rangers, infiltrators and the walkers. Cleansing flame wiped out the infiltrators and got the rangers down to 2 models and knocked a HP from one of the walkers. Then my horrible rolling streak continued. I periled with cleansing flame....rolled a 1.... rolled box cars for leadership. Ezekiel fried his brain.

With the clutch of the unit gone it took only 2 more turns of firepower for the cult mech to whittle them down and kill them. I still did considerable damage and beat him in maelstrom but the Knight was just rolling so well and shooting everything down that it didn't matter. I had nothing to kill it with as my forces dwindled. If the game ended turn 5 I would have won but the dice gods demanded it go to turn 7. I had 1 Dev marine and 5 tac marines left at the end of the game.

Dark Angels loss 14 - 7

Game 5 vs. Tau/Imperial Assassins

My opponents list:

Combined Arms Detachment: Farsight Enclaves - Tau

HQ

Commander

Iridium Battlesuit

2x Missile Pod

Early Warning Override

Velocity Tracker

Commander

Coldstar Battlesuit

Early Warning Override

Velocity Tracker

TROOPS

(2) XV8 Crisis Battlesuits

2x Missile Pods

2x Twin-linked Missile Pods

Bonding Knife Ritual

(2) XV8 Crisis Battlesuits

2x Missile Pods

2x Twin-linked Missile Pods

Bonding Knife Ritual

ELITES

(3) Ghostkeel Battlesuits

3x Twin-linked Fusion Blaster

3x Cyclic Ion Raker

2x Target Lock

Bonding Knife Ritual

FAST ATTACK

Tetra Scout Speeder

Tetra Scout Speeder

Tetra Scout Speeder

FORTIFICATION

Munitorum Armoured Container Cache

Optimised Stealth Cadre

(3) Ghostkeel Battlesuits

3x Twin-linked Fusion Blaster

3x Cyclic Ion Raker

2x Target Lock

3x Early Warning Override

(3) XV25 Stealth Battlesuits

(3) XV25 Stealth Battlesuits

Officio Assassinorum

Culexus Assassin

Mission was Eternal War: The Scouring, Maelstrom: Tactical Escalation, Vanguard Strike deployment

This was the list I was dreading on facing the most as I didn't know how to deal with so many ghost keels. I thought I'd risk it and go for Diviniation to try and get ignores cover. The Prescience would help if he made me snap fire.

My opponent deployed first having a good spread. I deployed on the line ready to charge up as I figured the closer I get means after jet pack moves grav cannons would still be in range. He managed to wreck 4 vehicles in his shooting phase. I made sure I got all the grav and weapons as close to him as possible but 3 of the squads got pinned. he moved forward with his jet pack moves to cut me off and grab objectives.

My flamer squad came down, aimed at some stealth suits but also managed to kill a drone from the Ghostkeel Stealth Cadre squad. My Command squad came down in the middle of the two keel units and the Chaplain auspexed the Stealth Cadre keel unit. In my psychic phase I got off Prescience and Perfect Timing for Ignores cover.

Naturally he made the command squad snap fire. I managed to get 10 hits with the prescience re-rolls and caused 10 wounds. I managed to kill 2 keels outright, another drone whilst the snap firing marine squads and both las devs knocked the last keel down to 1 wound. Everything else I had moved up.

The Command squad took a pounding over the following turns trying to chase down the other keep unit. I ended up with Ezekiel and the Chaplain on 1 wound each attempt to charge it. I needed a 9 and rolled an 8. I should have probably split them. Ezekiel had force and precognition and would have wrecked the squad on his own.

I managed to kill a lot of his stuff but he scored lots of high point maelstrom cards at the start of the game and I couldn't catch him with most of my vehicles dead. I ended up winning the Eternal war though.

Dark Angels loss 14 - 5

Wrap Up

Apologies that the last few round write ups were short, the second day I was extremely tired and the store we were playing in didn't have very good air con and it was extremely hot that day so my sweat was sweating.

My list performed well I just think I need more practice with the death star. I haven't had a lot of play time with it in its current form and I think I'm being too aggressive with it. I came in 10th place out of 16 so plenty of room for improvement but the list is very strong able to clean up Eternal War and Maelstrom which is the majority of the points in these tournaments.

I'm also struggling a bit with Super Heavy Walkers I might change the list up a little more and see what I can fit into Community Comp. I'll update my Lion's Blade Tactica thread with my findings.

My next Tournament is the Gosford Masters in January which is the finals for our local game store. This one is 1850 Unbound, 300pts limit on Forgeworld and 1 GMC/Super Heavy limit. I'll be taking a Double Demi Lions Blade though. Theres no real pros going unbound anymore seeing as you lose formation bonuses if you do.

I'll give you all an update on that later on once I get the players pack.

Hope you all enjoyed the read and the photos.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Solrac

[Solrac]

Hey guys! Welcome to another Tournament Wrap up!

On the weekend I went to Gosford Masters which was the grand final tournament in my local area for 2016, 4 games over 2 days. Lists were to be 1850 battleforged, limit on 2 LOW and 300pt limit on Forgeworld. There was no ITC or AUSFAQ being used just straight up current official FAQ. The missions were home grown Eternal War style and we weren't allowed to know what the mission was gonna be until we got assigned a table.

To get an invite you had to win a league or Tournament at at my local FLGS to qualify for an invite. There were 12 players invited but only 9 made it so there was a bye player over the weekend.

Players are assigned an empty table with a secondary table filled with terrain assigned to that table. Players roll off and take turns placing terrain on their table until each player placed at least 3 large pieces or until both players were satisfied.

I had a great weekend and had a fantastic 4 games.

Here is the list I ran:

Lion's Blade Strike Force

Demi Company 1

Company Master

Articifer Armour

Storm Shield

Combi-Grav

Auspex

Powerfist

Eye of the Unseen

(5) Command Squad

4x Grav Gun

4x Storm Shield

Sacred Standard

Apothecary

Drop Pod

Deathwind Missile Launcher

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

2x Grav Cannon

Rhino

Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Combi-Grav

Auspex

Melta Bombs

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-melta

Melta Bombs

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-melta

Melta Bombs

Drop Pod

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

2x Grav Cannon

Rhino

Aux - 10th Company Support

(5) Scout Squad

Boltguns

Command - Inner Circle

Ezekiel

Game 1 vs Eldar/Dark Eldar

My opponents list:

Eldar CAD

HQ

Farseer Skyrunner

- Spirit Stone of Alanathan

Farseer Skyrunner

TROOPS

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

LORD OF WAR

Wraith Knight

- 2x Heavy Wraith Cannon

Eldar CAD

HQ

Eldrad

TROOPS

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

ELITES

(5) Wraithguard

- 5x D-Scythes

LORD OF WAR

Wraith Knight

- Sword and Shield

- 2x Starcannons

Dark Eldar Allied Detachment

HQ

Archon

- Shadowfield

- Web Way Portal

TROOPS

(5) Kalabite Squad

- Venom

- 2x Splinter Cannon

Mission was each player places an objective in their opponents deployment zone. At the end of the game the home objective is worth 3 pts, enemy objective worth 7pts and both worth 12pts. First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. Hammer and Anvil deployment.

He got Invisibility on Eldrad and one of his Farseers and got Shrouding on the other. I got Invisibility with Ezekiel.

I lost all the roll offs so my opponent deployed and went first. I failed to seize. He placed the D Cannon WK and the kalabite squad in Outflank reserves with Eldrad's Warlord Trait and would deep strike the Wraithguard with the Archon.

I deployed my line of Rhinos taking advantage of cover as best I could and chose to Outflank the Scouts.

Turn 1 saw him put Invisibility on the Sword Knight and a Jetbike squad and moved everything forward. He destroyed the Tactical Rhino I had parked on my home objective and the squad bailed out in the ruin behind. He also took 2 HPs from a Tactical Rhino I had sitting in terrain.

On my Turn 1 the Command Squad came down and took 3 Wounds off the Sword Knight with Grav and got Invisibility off on the unit. A Flamer Assault Squad came down targetting a Jetbike squad and also hitting the Venom. They killed all 3 jetbikes but no damage to the Venom. The Second Flamer Squad came down targetting the non Invisibile jetbike/farseer squad killing 1 jetbike. The Rhinos (except for the Tactical Rhino on 1 HP) all moved forward and flat out to get into position for Turn 2.

Turn 2 the D-Scythe Wraithguard came down managing to get 3 Templates over my Command Squad by targetting the Drop Pod to the left of them managing only 1 wound which I saved on a Storm Shield. Eldrad joined the Wraithguard unit whilst the Sword Knight jumped behind the Command Squad. Invisibility went off on the Wraithguard and the Sword Knight, Shrouding on the Farseer jetbike squad and 2 rounds of Psychic Shriek took the Master and Ezekiel down to 1 wound each. The Kalabites outflanked on next to the Assault squad that targetted the farseer jetbikes on the right flank. The D Cannon Knight failed to come on. The assault squad on the right flank was destroyed, the other assault squad on the left flank took 2 casualties and ran. The Wraithknight charged and killed the Assault Squad pod as he found out we Dark Angels still get full BS overwatch vs invisible targets as per the official FAQ.

In my Turn 2 the Scouts came on behind the Kalabites but aimed at the jetbikes doing no damage. The two tactical pods came down both focusing and killing a jetbike squad. The Dev Squad Rhino on the right flank moved forward whilst the Assault squad moved in to eat the overwatch from the D-Scythes for the Command Squad. The Command Squad moved to within 1" of the Wraithguard and together with the Dev Squad and Tac Squads on the left flank oponeed up on the Wraithguard but dealing no damage (either no hits because of invisibility or passed 4+ cover). In the Psychic Phase my Invisibility cast got denied but managed to get Force off and take a wound off the Sword Knight with Psychic Shriek. The assault squad died to D Scythe overwatch. The Command Squad charged, Ezekiel challenged and Archon accepted. Ezekiel didn't manage to get through the Shadowfield but the Archon did no damage in return. 2 Wraithguard were killed with all my attacks and 1 Storm Shield Vet died in return.

Turn 3 the D-Cannon Knight failed to come on again. Just a re-shuffle on the eldar side and they killed the Scouts, killed a melta Tac squad and reduced the other to 2 members (Melta still alive) and immobilised the Dev Rhino on the right flank. The other farseer joined the other farseer in the 3 man unit of jetbikes and cast Invisibility on itself and Shrouding. The Sword Knight charged the Command Squad hitting only once but saved on a Storm Shield Vet. Ezekiel and the Archon failed to damage each other again, the Chaplain and Vets killed 2 Wraithguard and the Master insta killed Eldrad and killed the last Wraithguard. The Knights stomps killed everything except the characters and a single Vet with a Shield.

My turn 3 I moved one of the Tac Rhinos to get LOS on his backfield behind a building and the other Flat out to the right flank to park on the enemy objective. The Tac squad in the ruins moved to better surround my home objective and put the Grav Cannon higher to a better vantage point. Invisibility failed to go off but got Force. The melta tac squad killed the Venom. Dev squad shooting from the Right flank failed to do any hits to the invisibile jetbikes, Pod Shots killed a Kalabite and the Left flank Dev squad moved up. In combat Ezekiel insta killed the Archon. The Knights Sword hit once again, saved by a Storm Shield Vet. The Company Master managed to reduce the Knight down to 1 wound before the Stomps took out the rest of the squad (rolled a 6 on the Stomp table). The Knight consolidated towards the left flank.

Turn 4 the D-Cannon Knight showed up outflanking on the left side and killed the Dev squad Rhino killing 1 marine in the explosion and exploded the Tac Rhino on the enemy objective. Both squads failed a snap fire check from the penetrating hits but were not pinned. Invisibility and shrouding again on the farseers and jetbikes. Psychic Shriek killed the last 2 Melta Tac Marines and a a marine from the Tac unit on the objective. Scatter Laser and Shuriken fire killed another 2 marines from the Tac unit on the enemy objective Grav Cannon still alive. The Sword Knight killed 2 marines from the left flank Dev squad with it's Starcannons leaving both Grav Cannons. The Sword Knight decided to charge the Dev squad dying to overwatch.

My turn 4 the Tac Squad Rhino surged forward to the enemy objective, about 8" short after moving flat out. The Tac Rhino on 1 HP finally risked a terrain roll and made it. He surged forward to reinforce and grab the home objective with the Tac squad in the ruins. The combined fire from the snap firing Devs on the left flank and the Grav Cannon in the ruins from the Tac squad on the home objective took the Dcannon Wraith Knight down to 1 wound. The snap firing Tac squad on the objective and Dev Squad still in their immobilised Rhino on the right flank opened up on the farseers unit taking 2 wounds off one of the farseers.

Turn 5 the Farseer Jetbike unit moved to within an inch of my tacticals to constest the objective. Kalabites moved up to support. The other 2 man jetbike squad (that hadn't been doing much all game) moved to the top of a building on the left flank and one bike died to dangerous terrain but made it's leadership. The Wraith Knight moved behind a bastion to hide from the Grav Cannon in the ruin on my home objective and exploded the Rhino heading to the enemy objective killing 3 marines in the explosion inc the Grav Cannon. Invisibility cast again on the unit but I managed to deny Shrouded. Psychic Shriek removed the two marines sitting on the enemy objective, The farseers squad killed the last 2 Grav Cannon Devs and the remaining Scat bike and kalabites killed the other two marines from the exploded Rhino. He then Jet packed the farseers unit so that they were all on the objective and spread out.

I moved the Tac Squad Rhino from the home objective forward 6" and disembarked the squad with LOS to the jetbikes. Everything I had left fired into the Jetbikes killing the farseer on one wound and 2 other bikes however the passed their leadership check. Rolled up a 2 to continue so the game ended.

Draw: 5 - 5

Game 2 vs Deathguard Chaos Space Marines

My opponenets list:

Death Guard Vectorium

Chaos Warband

Chaos Lord

- The Pandemic Staff

- Chaos Bike

- Mark of Nurgle

- Gift of Mutation

- Melta Bomb

- Sigil of Corruption

- Veterans of the Long War

Chaos Sorceror

- Chaos Bike

- Psyker Level 3

- Mark of Nurgle

- Spell Familiar

- Sigil of Corruption

- Veterans of the Long War

(5) Chaos Space Marine Squad

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- Meltagun

- Close Combat Weapons

- Aspiring Champion

- Power Fist

- Rhino

(5) Chaos Space Marine Squad

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- Meltagun

- Close Combat Weapons

- Aspiring Champion

- Power Fist

- Rhino

(5) Chaos Space Marine Chosen

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 4x Meltagun

- Close Combat Weapons

- Chosen Champion

- Power Fist

- Rhino

(3) Chaos Bikers

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 2x Meltagun

- Close Combat Weapons

- Aspiring Champion

- Powerfist

(3) Chaos Bikers

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 2x Meltagun

- Close Combat Weapons

- Aspiring Champion

- Powerfist

(3) Chaos Bikers

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 2x Meltagun

- Close Combat Weapons

- Aspiring Champion

- Powerfist

(5) Havoc Squad

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 4x Lascannons

- Aspiring Champion

(5) Havoc Squad

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 4x Lascannons

- Aspiring Champion

(5) Havoc Squad

- Mark of Nurgle

- Veterans of the Long War

- 4x Lascannons

- Aspiring Champion

Aux

Chaos Spawn

- Mark of Nurgle

Mission was each player scores points at the end of the game for each unit based on the distance to the centre of the table. 3 pts/unit 0" - 6", 2 pts/unit 7" - 12" and 1pt/unit 13" - 18". Dawn of War deployment and no secondaries.

I lost the roll off but my opponent wanted me to deploy first and so I decided to go first and he failed to seize. I had my standard line of Rhinos ready to rush forward to the middle. I infiltrated my Scouts in the middle behind a wall so they couldn't be seen. He spread out his Rhinos and Havoc Squads. Bikes and Lord on my far left flank, Sorceror and Bikes in the centre and the last bike squad next to them. I went with the new Librarius tree and got Veil of Time, Psychic Fortress and Null Zone while he rolled up some Nurgle Powers.

Turn 1 my Command Squad pod came down just to the right of the centre and the Command squad exited forward in the Ruins. I got Veil of Time and Force off (in case he tried to charge me with anything he wouldn't get FNP when Ezekiel attacked). The Chaplain used he auspex on the Sorceror's bike squad and the Grav fire removed it from the board. The two assault squads came down trying to clip as many surrounding units as possible whilst targetting the havocs however the Deathguard were too resillient. I immobilised two Rhinos getting off the line and a third one going up the left flank to get hull down next to a ruin. The other Rhinos surged forward to get firing positions. The squads in the immobolised Rhino (one Tac, one Dev) in the deployment zone got out and legged it Tac squad going left following a Tac Rhino and the Devs following the Dev Rhino on the right.

His Biker lord and bike squad failed to charge the left most assault squad. He got a squad of marines out of their Rhino and killed one assault marine from the same unit and blocked his spawn from being able to charge. The Chosen on the right flank got out of their Rhino and blew up the assault squad pod next to them whilst the bikers in the centre shot and charged the assault squad to wipe them out. The Havocs lascannons blew up a rhino on my left flank that made it towards the centre, and the Dev Rhino on the right flank and the occupants were pinned in a shrub.

Turn 2 both of the Tac Pods come, one in the ruin where the enemy Sorcerer once stood and the other scattered back towards the centre. The Master auspexed the bikes then shot at the closest Havocs killing all but one and then the Havoc squad was finished off by The Melta Tac Squad. The bikes on the right died to Grav fire from the Rhino Tacs on the right flank, one chosen was killed by the snap firing Devs on the right flank whilst the two tac squads on the left flank killed two bikers from the lords unit. The Assault squad flamed the Havoc squad again for no damage (cause I forgot to move them, lol) and the other Melta Tac squad killed a Havoc from that unit.

The Biker Lord and the melta biker charged a Tac Squad taking a wound on the Lord in Overwatch Killing 3 Tac Marines but they held. Havocs attempted to kill pods with no success. The Chosen charged the Command Squad but were all gunned down in overwatch. The Chosen Rhino surged forward to block LOS of the Grav Devs. The empty Death Guard squad Rhino drove forward to give cover to it's squad whilst the other Rhino with the Squad still embarked shot at the Melta Tacs but did no damage. The Death Guard squad on foot closed in on the Assault Squad pod shooting it's Meltagun but was saved by intervening terrain. They subsequently failed their charge on the Pod. The Spawn charged the Assault Squad and killed a marine but the Assault Squad held.

From here I just started moving all my units towards the centre as possible. The Tac marines held the Chaos lord in combat till his turn 4 combat before he died and I was just moping up units. He ended up not doing much more damage to me (killed Scouts and a pod). He ended up with 4 units in the Centre but didn't matter as my immobilised Rhinos were still within 18" so everything I had left on the board scored points.

Win: Dark Angels 28 - 17

Game 3 vs Eldar/Dark Eldar

My opponents list:

Eldar CAD

HQ

Eldrad

Farseer Skyrunner

Singing Spear

TROOPS

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Windriders

- 3x Scatter Lasers

ELITES

(5) Wraithguard

- 5x Wraithcannons

FAST ATTACK

Crimson Hunter

Hemlock Wraithfighter

HEAVY SUPPORT

(3) Dark Reapers

(3) Vaul's Wrath Support Battery

- 3x D-Cannon

LORD OF WAR

Wraith Knight

- Sword and Shield

Dark Eldar Allied Detachment

HQ

Archon

- Shadow Field

- Webway Portal

TROOPS

(5) Kalabite Squad

- Venom

- 2x Splinter Cannon

Mission was King of the Hill style. Each player alternated placing 2 objectives in their oppoenents deployment zone a 5th objective was placed in the centre of the table. Objectives were worth 3pts each with a bonus 3 pts if your Warlord controlled the middle objective. First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker in play, Dawn of War deployment.

He rolled on Telepathy with Eldrad but didn't get Invisibility. He went for Eldar psychic powers for the rest of his casters. I got Invisibility, Shrouded and Terrify. I ended up rolling on strategic traits and got -1 to reserves.

I lost the roll but my opponent opted I deploy first. I set up my usual line of Rhinos ready to rush forward and take the board. I placed the Scouts deploying normally in my deployment zone holding the objective in a ruin with LOS blocking walls. He decided to outflank his Wraith Knight and Farseer attached to a jetbike squad, both planes were in reserve and the Archon with the Wraithguard in deepstrike reserve. Eldrad was deployed in a LOS blocking ruin on the far right corner with the artillery covering an objective, Jetbike squad and Venom in the same corner but over the wall and the Reapers inside a boxy ruin with the Jetbikes behind. I decided then to go first and he didn't seize.

Turn 1 my Command Squad came down just outside Eldrads ruin. I moved as many into the ruin as possible. Invisibility was denied thanks to Eldrads re-rolls but managed to put a wound on a artillery gun with Psychic Shriek then killed the gun and 2 crew with a Grav Gun volley. The Assault Squad came down next to the ruin killing a jetbike and roasting the Kalabites inside the Venom. I brought a Melta Tac squad down on the far right corner and shot at the bikes but caused no damage (made them jink with the melta though). All my Rhinos except for one surged forward , making sure I had good LOS and coverage on the sides to get the outflankng Knight when it came on. a Dev squad rolled up to the middle next to the middle objective in a ruin. I kept one of the Tac Rhinos just outside my deployment zone in the middle just in case.

The Reapers popped out of their ruin and killed 3 of the Tac Marines leaving a melta and a bolter. The jinking Scat bikes killed the Dev Rhino in the centre and the squad got out to cover the objective, Grav setting up with good LOS on the left flank. The Jetbikes on the right move forward whilst the Venom stood still and together they killed the Assault Squad. The D-Cannons took aim at the Command Squad 2 of the 5 hits rolled up on the D table were '6s' but managed to look out sir from Ezekiel onto two Vets and lost the banner. Ezekiel tanked the rest of the hits with a 4+ cover.

Turn 2 my other 2 pods came in. The Assault squad landed on the ruin where the Reapers where on the left flank covering the jetbikes and reapers with fire killing a jetbike and two Reapers. The Tac Squad finished the last Reaper with a Melta shot. The other Tac Melta unit landed on the far right flank just outside my deployment zone and together with teh Dev squad on the right flank in the Rhino shot them to pieces. I had a Tac Rhino move forward towards the left flank closer to the Reaper building and an objective. I moved another Tac Rhino up the Right flank to grab the enemy objective just outside the ruins where Eldrad and the Command Squad were. The Command Squad moved up, got Invisibility and Shrouded off, shot pistols into the artillery for no damage but then charged. The Master challenged Eldrad, Eldrad causing no damage. Ezekiel, the Chaplain the Vets attacked and easily killed the crew then spilled in to kill Eldrad before the Master got to attack. They consolidated only a couple of inches starting to make their way out of the ruin.

Thanks to my Warlord trait only the Hemlock and the Wraithguard showed up. The Hemlock came on from the left flank killing the Tac squad Rhino that was there and pinning the squad. The Wraithguard and Archon landed in a ruin in my deployment zone behind the Rhino I left behind and destroyed the Rhino. The Venom flew ontop of the ruin where the Command Squad was and shot at them but did not damage. The jetbike squad on the far left moved out a bit and destroyed the assault squad. They jump moved back into the ruin, lost a bike to dangerous and ran off the board!

Turn 3 the Command squad moved up the wall, assaulted and killed the venom. The Hemlock was brought down by grav from the pinned Tac squad scoring a 6 then rolling a 1 for locked velocity causing a crash and burn. 6 Grav Cannons and Rhino Storm Bolters shot into the Wraithguard leaving only the Archon on 1 wound, the Archon tanking for the squad well before his shield shorted out.

That was the pivitol turn in the game. The Wraith Knight and Crimson Hunter didn't come on until Turn 4 and the Knight died to a boatload of Grav in Turn 5. The Farseer and the Jetbike squad came in Turn 3 where the Scouts were, jumping in and out of the Ruins putting shots in where it could. At the end of the game (Turn 5) all the was left of the Eldar was the Farseer on 1 wound locked in combat with 2 Scouts and the Crimson Hunter Flying around unable to kill anything.

Win: Dark Angels 17 - 2

Game 4 vs Tyranids

My opponents list:

Tyranid CAD

HQ

Hive Tyrant

- Wings

- 2x Twin-linked Devourers with Brainleech Worms

(1) Tyrant Guard Brood

- Crushing Claws

- Toxin Sacks

- Adrenal Glands

TROOPS

(10) Hormagaunt Brood

- Toxin Sacks

(10) Hormagaunt Brood

- Toxin Sacks

ELITES

(1) Hive Guard Brood

- Impaler Cannon

(1) Hive Guard Brood

- Impaler Cannon

(1) Malanthrope Brood

HEAVY SUPPORT

(1) Carnifex Brood

- 2x Twin-linked Devourers with Brain Leech Worms

(1) Biovore Brood

(1) Biovore Brood

Tyranid CAD

HQ

Hive Tyrant

- Stranglethorn Cannon

- Lashwhip and Bonesword

- Electroshock Grubs

(1) Tyrant Guard Brood

- Crushing Claws

- Toxin Sacks

- Adrenal Glands

TROOPS

(3) Ripper Brood

- Deep Strike

(6) Genestealer Brood

- Toxin Sacks

- Brood Lord w/ Scything Talons

ELITES

(1) Hive Guard Brood

- Impaler Cannon

(1) Hive Guard Brood

- Impaler Cannon

(1) Malanthrope Brood

HEAVY SUPPORT

(1) Carnifex Brood

- Stranglethron Cannon

- Crushing Claws

(1) Biovore Brood

Tyranid Sporefield

(3) Spore Mines

(3) Spore Mines

(3) Spore Mines

(1) Mucaloid Spore

(1) Mucaloid Spore

(1) Mucaloid Spore

Mission was 4 objectives worth 3 pts each at the end of the game. First Blood, Line Breaker and Warlord. Dawn of War deployment.

I rolled on Divination hoping to get ignores cover but didn't sadly. Ended up with the really crap number 1 which can't remember what it's called, Misfortune and number 6. I at least had Prescience to fall back on as my plan was to use the Command Squad to shoot up at the Flyrant.

I lost the roll to set up first. He deployed half of his force in a ruin to the right flank with a Malanthrope and the rest of the force in a large forest terrain piece with a Malanthrope. Tyrant in the ruin, Flyrant behind the forest. I set up my line of Rhinos outside of the Impaler Cannons range and Scouts in a ruin on my far left so if I needed to they could go an grab an objective at the end of the game. I chose not to seize as I wanted last turn to grab objectives. He set up all his spore mines defensively.

Turn 1 the Nids shuffled around in their cover. The Biovores shot at the Dev Rhino on the right flank to get some spore mines down only spawning one as the other 2 barrages hit the Rhinos. The Flyrant swooped over to the right flank taking shots at the Dev Rhino but only one glance went through.

First Flamer squad came down in front of the forest cover aiming their flamers at the Malanthrope and hitting a bunch of other Tyranids underneath. they managed only to kill 3 Hormagaunts. The high toughness and armour of the others hit saved them from wounds. The second Flamer squad came down in front of the ruins aiming at a Hive Guard managing to kill 7 Hormagaunts in the way. The Command squad came down mid field on the right flank in some cover and cast Presecience on themselves. Together with the Tac and Dev squad behind them, the Chaplain auspexed the Flyrant and they lit it up however thanks to jink and FNP from Catalyst only managed 1 wound. It failed its grounding test and lost another wound. The centre Tac Rhino move forward and hid behind a ruined wall grabbing an objective whilst the Tac and Dev squad on the left flank moved up to mid field also grabbing an objective. Quite a few spore mines were also cleared.

Turn 2 the Nids reacted. The Genestealers outflanked behind a wall on the left flank. The Rippers deep struck on behind a building in his deployment zone. The Gaunts in the forest moved forward to make room for the Dakka Fex and Hive Guard. The Dakka Fex killed 3 marines from the Assault Squad in front of them and they ran back a few inches out of charge range. The Hive Guard opened up on the Dev Rhino and destroyed it. The Dev squad coming out into the Ruin, Grav Cannons at the rear. The Flyrant flew straight up in between the Tac and Dev Rhinos on the right flank. The Dev Rhino was destroyed by the Flyrant and Strangle Cannons from the Fex and Tyrant. A Tyrant Guard from the ruins came out and charged the Assault squad. The Marines did no damage and lost a marine in return but held.

My Tac Melta squad aiming for the Nids deployment zone on the left to kill the Genestealers scattered and landed in front of the Forest where the main body of Nids were. They shot at the Malanthrope doing 2 wounds. The Command Squad cast Prescience once again and together with the Dev squad on the right flank destroyed the Flyrant. The Tac Rhino now moved up. The Dev Squad on the left killed the Dakka Fex that emerged from the forest and the Tac squad in the Rhino to the left of them killed a Hive Guard. The Tac squad near the objective in the centre reshuffled and moved the Grav Cannon into range. The two assault marines charged and joined the other Assault squad against the Tyrant Guard. All the marines causing one wound but the two charging marines were killed. Some more Spore Mines were cleared and a pesky Mucaloid spore kept making it's shrouded save. The Scouts exited the building making their way around to try and put some shots into the Genestealers.

Turn 3 the Hormagaunts emerged from the forest and charged the Melta Tacs. They took a casualty going in, saved from bolter fire by the Malanthropes shrouding. They killed 3 Tacs and killed a Hormagaunt in return but the Tacs held. The Hive Guard tried to kill the Tac Rhino on the left flank but only managed to glance it. One of the Biovores bombarded the Dev squad on the left killing two whilst the other two focused their barrage on the Chaplain and killed him with some unlucky rolls and look out sirs. The Strangle Fex and Tyrant fired on the Command Squad killing a vet. The Tyrant Guard from the forest charged the Assault Squad Drop pod out in front and destroyed it. Lots of Spores and Mucaloids failed their charges. The Genestealers moved further back along the rock wall closer to their deployment zone whilst the Rippers moved forward again to the front of the building. The Tyrant Guard from the Ruins killed another assault marine but the marines still held.

The final Tac Squad was delayed again. The Scouts moved up and killed 2 Genestealers with Bolter fire. The Command Squad moved up and fired on the Strangle Fex but all the Grav only caused 1 wound due to superior Shrouded and FNP rolls. The Dev squad on the right flank moved up to support the Command Squad. Both Tac squads on the left flank, the Dev Squad on the left and the Tac Squad in the centre ruin destroyed the Malanthrope and both Hive Guard in the Forest whilst the Tac squad on the right killed the Hive Guard in the Ruin. One more of the Melta Tacs were killed by the Hormagaunts leaving the Melta gunner who retreated back into the ruins. Another Assault squad member died to the Tyran Guard leaving only two but they held. More spore mines were killed.

Turn 4 the Genestealers moved in to charge the left Tac Rhino on the objective however bolter fire killed the Stealers that could see and they failed their charge. The Rippers moved down the building but stayed in cover. Spore mines bombarded pods taking hull points here and there. The Biovores killed a bolter and grav cannon marine on the right flank and pinned the squad whilst the other Biovores tried to kill the last of the Dev quad on the left flank with no success. The remaining gaunts from the Ruins, Hive Tyrant, Strangle Fex and Malanthrope emerged and charged the Command Squad. The Fex blocked the Malanthrope and therefore didn't make it in. The Company Master accepted the Hive Tyrants challenge and the Hive Tyrant insta killed him in turn with the Bone Sword and took a Vet and the Apothecary with him. Ezekiel killed the Hormagaunts who did no damage and the rest of the Vets didn't deal any damage. The Fex managed to kill the last of the Command Squad members with Hammer of Wrath and melee attacks leaving Ezekiel on his own. The Tyrant Guard from the Forest charged the Tac squad in the centre ruin whilst the Hormagaunts were destroyed in overwatch. The Tyrant Guard killed a marine but they held. The Tyrant Guard fighting the assault marines killed another however the remaining member bravely held him up.

The Melta Tacs finally arrived dropping in front of the Rippers and with combined fire from the Scouts destroyed the Genestealers with Melta and Bolter fire. The Dev squad on the left moved down to hold the centre objective whilst the Tac squad on the left flank not holding an objective surged forward to grab the objective in front of the forest. The Tac squad on the right flank moved across to head towards the centre objective in case the Devs fell. The Tyrant Guard killed another 2 marines but the squad held. Ezekiel managed to get force off for one last ditch effort to kill the monstrous creatures. The Tyrant Guard caused 2 wounds on Ezekiel. Ezekiel put all his attacks on the Strangle Fex in an effort to tie up the Tyrant but his hits failed to wound. The Fex tore Ezekiel to shreds. The Tyrant consolidated towards the Dev squad on the right flank whilst the Fex consolidated heading towards the objective outside the forest being held by a Rhino Tac squad.

Turn 5 Biovores tried to kill the two dev squads with no success. A mucaloid spore exploded on the assault squad pod killing the last assault marine and freeing up the Tyrant Guard whilst hte Malanthrope moved forward to grab the objective just outside the ruin. The Fex shot and charged the Rhino holding the forest marker but was killed in overwatch. The Tyrant shot the Strangle Cannon at the Devs killing a bolter marine but they passed their pinning check which allowed the Grav Cannon to kill the Tyrant in Overwatch (4 hits, 4 wounds, 4 failed FNP - got very lucky). The Rippers moved along to run to the Forest objective but failed to make the distance. The Tyrant Guard killed the Tac Squad it was fighting and consolidated towards the Devs holding the objective.

With that there was no way the Tyranids could win as I was in range to kill the Malanthrope with Grav Cannons and mop up the rippers and I was holding 3 objectives with multiple units. My oppoenent called the game.

Win: Dark Angels 14 - 5

Sadly couldn't find pics of this game

In Summary

All four of my games were nail biters even the 2nd and 3rd game until the turns started to go my way. Full BS overwatch definitley saved my bacon that weekend. I am getting the feel for my list more and more two the point where I think this will be my list for the rest of the year unless the rumoured 8th edition turns the game on it's head. My MVPs are the Rhino Grav units. Lots of target saturation and even if my oppoenent kills the transports usually they don't have enough fire power left to get rid of the guys inside which get an extra bit of movement in my opponents turn bailing out. The Command Squad was the distraction and power house that I needed, especially in the first game.

I'm the first Masters winner in my local area (as this was my FLGS first Masters event) and came away with a massive trophy and a $500 credit at the store!

I've got another 3 1850 Tournaments between now and the end of March including the 3 day Australian ITC Championships in Canberra at the end of January. I'll keep you all posted on my progress!

Edited January 10, 2017 by Solrac

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Good to see DA kicking ass and taking names. I look forward to the next report!

[Brother Vod]

Congrats on the victory, nice write ups

[Chaplain Raeven]

Congrats on the win Solrac! It's awesome to see you kicking ass (and what an ass-kicking!) with Greenwing. And damn, that's a nice price you recieved there.

 

Thanks for taking the time writing everything down.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Community Comp penalizes Ravenwing, but lets a Tau player play all suits, all the time?  I call shenanigans.

[Solrac]

Fixed the issue with a spoiler tag that hid the 3rd game and photos.

 

And thanks guys, was a good feeling to take the trophy home. First time winning a Tournament :)

Edited January 10, 2017 by Solrac

[Solrac]

Community Comp penalizes Ravenwing, but lets a Tau player play all suits, all the time? I call shenanigans.

Tau actually get hit pretty hard in Community Comp. The only thing that isn't is Vespid I believe. Ravenwing gets Comp'd hard because of our re-roll saves combined with our Scout moves/speed. You can run a pretty powerful 12 comp Ravenwing list just can't have a Darkshroud. I'm liking ITC more and more nowa days anyway, never really had a lot of Ravenwing models to run an army. Might have to fix that :)

[Solrac]

Brothers!

Welcome to another of my Tournament wrap ups!

On the weekend I travelled to Canberra to take part of the Australia Warhammer 40,000 ITC Championships held at CANON 2017. It was an 8 game, 3 day Tournament using ITC rules (with slight alterations putting stricter limits on Gargantuan/Super Heavies) and ITC Missions.

The summarys for these will be a different format to normal as the whole weekend is a blur and don't remember all the full details of any of the games anymore and the 2.5hr time limit made it hard to take notes. I'll be doing lists, missions, photos, summary and highlights rather than full batreps. So here we go!

This is the list I used:

Lion's Blade Strike Force

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master

Artificer Armour

Storm Shield

Power Fist

Combi-Grav

Auspex

Eye of the Unseen

(5) Command Squad

5x Grav Gun

5x Storm Shield

Apothecary

Sacred Standard

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Melta

Combi-melta

Melta Bomb

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Melta

Combi-melta

Melta Bomb

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Melta Bomb

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

2x Grav Cannon

Rhino

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Auspex

Melta Bomb

Combi-Grav

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Melta Bomb

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

2x Grav Cannon

Rhino

Aux - 10th Company Support

(5) Scout Squad

5x Bolters

Command - Inner Circle

Ezekiel

I wanted to see how my Double Demi Lion's Blade with mini death star would go in ITC as this list is also 12 comp points for Community Comp so was keen to see how it would fair in a less restricted event. I also painted up a new Apothecary just for CC and ITC events since I can give him wargear in these Tournament formats (the Grav Gun hand is magnetised).

Game 1 vs Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines

Chaos Daemons Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

Daemonic Flight

Mastery Level 3

TROOPS

(11) Brimstone Horrors

(10) Brimstone Horrors

LORD OF WAR

Chaos Paladin Knight

Daemon of Tzeentch

Omniscient Oracles Formation

Kairos Fateweaver

Lord of Change

Exalted Reward

Night Lord Chaos Space Marines Allied Detachment

HQ

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

Daemonic Flight

Mastery Level 3

Stormbolt Plate

TROOPS

(10) Chaos Cultists

HEAVY SUPPORT

Sicaran battle Tank

Perdus Rift Anomaly

ITC Mission 6

Primary: Crusade, Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker

Dawn of War Deployment

Summary:

My first game was a Grudge match against a good friend of mine since we didn't get to play at NSW Masters. My list performed very well dominating the maelstrom and doing the damage that it needed.

Highlights:

Command Squad was charged by a Lord of Change on 1 wound with the Grimoire up (2++ re-rolling 1s) and a DP on 2 wounds whilst a Cultist ate the overwatch. The Master challenged the Lord of Change. The Lord of Change and DP did no damage thanks to the Command Squads Storm Shields. The Chaplain managed a wound on the DP whilst the Master killed the Lord of Change. The DP failed instability and was killed. My next turn Ezekiel cast Null Zone on the Chaos Knight and was pummled and destroyed by over 30 Grav Shots From Dev, Tac and Command Squad.

Win for DA 14 - 8

Game 2 vs White Scars

Gladius Strike Force

Core - Demi Company 1

Kor'sarro Khan

(5) Tactical Squad

Combi-melta

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Combi-melta

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Combi-melta

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(2) Attack Bike Squadron

2x Multi-melta

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Lascannon

Razorback

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Hunters Eye

(5) Tactical Squad

Combi-melta

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Combi-melta

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Combi-melta

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(2) Attack Bike Squadron

2x Multi-melta

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Missile Launcher

Razorback

Aux - Storm Wing

Storm Raven Gunship

Twin-linked Multi-melta

Extra Armour

Storm Talon Gunship

Skyhammer Missile Launcher

Storm Talon Gunship

Skyhammer Missile Launcher

ITC Mission 1

Primary: Modified Emperor's Will, Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, Big Game Hunter

Dawn of War Deployment

Summary:

Very similar lists was quite fun to see and his scouting Demi company and going first made it a brutal fire fight. Volleys from Grav on each side were just smashing Rhinos to pieces. I managed to roll on the -1 for enemy reserves on the strategic trait which helped me win the game as the air cav didn't come on until turn 4. Ezekiel kept up Veil of Time making the Command Squad invincible and wreaking havoc all over the table in his back lines.

Highlights:

A Melta squad popped Kahn's Rhino who then took a Grav Gun volley from the Command Squad annihilating it and scoring me 3 maelstrom points for killing 3 units in a turn.

Later in the game the Chaplain made a last ditch effort to contest an objective to tie the game by charging at a Tac squad but was annihilated by Grav Overwatch.

Win for DA 16 - 3

Game 3 vs Eldar

Craftworld Warhost

Core - Pale Courts Battlehost (FW)

Aspect Lord-shrine

Farseer

Eldar Jetbike

(6) Dire Avengers

(6) Dire Avengers

(6) Dire Avengers

Aux - Fortress of Discipline

War Walker

2x Scatter Laser

War Walker

2x Scatter Laser

Aux - Aspect Host Formation

(6) Fire Dragons

Exarch

(6) Fire Dragons

Exarch

(6) Fire Dragons

Exarch

Aux - Aspect Host Formation

(8) Warp Spiders

(8) Warp Spiders

(8) Warp Spiders

Aux - Engines of Vaul

Falcon

Bright Lance

Shuriken Cannon

Aux - Engines of Vaul

Falcon

Bright Lance

Shuriken Cannon

Aux - Engines of Vaul

(2) Night Spinners

Shuriken Cannons

ITC Mission 2

Primary: The Relic, Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Strike, Table Quarters

Hammer and Anvil Deployment

Summary:

This game started off rough as my opponent forced me to go first. I made a bonehead move by charging everything I had up the board rather than staying back or finding what little LOS cover there was closer to the Relic. The Fire Dragons annihilated all the vehicles on my right flank and I failed all the pinning checks so couldn't fire back properly in response. The Warp Spiders made short work of everything else that showed up and the game was a very tough grind.

Highlights:

The Command Squad was stuck in combat for 3 turns with two war walkers as either I rolled bad on the Masters fist or my opponent rolled a ridiculous number of 5++ saves. I still managed to rack up a few kills and grab Maelstrom but went down overall.

Loss for DA 6 - 15

Game 4 vs Corsairs

Eldar Corsairs CAD

HQ

Corsair Prince

Void Sabre

Cloud Dancer (Jetbike)

First Prince: Traveller of Forgotten Paths

TROOPS

(3) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(3) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(4) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

HEAVY SUPPORT

Corsair Warp Hunter

Kinetic Shroud

Shuriken Cannon

Eldar Craftworld Warhost

Core - Pale Courts Battlehost (FW)

Aspect Lord-Shrine

Farseer

Jetbike

(5) Warp Spiders

(5) Warp Spiders

(5) Warp Spiders

Aux - Aspect Host

(6) Warp Spiders

Exarch

(6) Warp Spiders

Exarch

(6) Warp Spiders

Exarch

Aux - Wraith Construct

Skathach Wraithknight

2x Deathshroud Cannons

2x Scatter Lasers

ITC Mission 3

Primary: Purge the Alien (Kill Points), Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Strike, King of the Hill

Vanguard Strike Deployment

Summary:

This game was rough for all the wrong reasons. I let him bait me into thinking I could kill the 3 warp Spider units on the board at the start of the game when he reserved everything else (it didn't work lol). I managed to get 2 units of spiders down to 2 models each but that was it. The rest of the Spiders Deep Striked in, all the jetbikes outflanked and the Wraith Knight and Grav Tank came on normally and was an all out turkey shoot cause I totally forgot he said he was outflanking. I still managed to kill the wounded Wraith Knight with a hero Tac Squad but ended up going down as Eldar vs my army in Kill Points was never going to end well.

Highlights:

I had the most horrible rolls of the weekend in this game. The Warp Hunter Grav Tank shot D Blasts at the Command Squad and I was failing re-rollable saves hard. One round of shooting from that tank netted him 3 hits and all that was left at the end was 2 Vets and the Apothecary.

I managed to stave off a tabling having one Pod left on the table with 2HP when the game ended.

Loss for DA 3 - 16

Game 5 vs Iron Hands

Fist of Medusa Strike Force

Core - Stormlance Battle Demi Company

Captain

Cataphractii Terminator Armour

Lightning Claw

Thunder Hammer

Gorgans Chain

(5) Command Squad

5x Bikes

4x Powerfist

4x Storm Shield

4x Grav Guns

Apothecary

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Plasma Gun

Combi-Plasma

Drop Pod

Attack Bike

Multi-melta

(5) Devastator Squad

4x Grav Cannon

Drop Pod

Aux - iron Clad Dreadnought

Chainfist

Meltagun

Drop Pod

Aux - 10th Company Support

(5) Scout Squad

5x Bolters

(5) Scout Squad

5x Bolters

(5) Scout Squad

5x Bolters

ITC Mission 4

Primary: The Scouring, Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Strike, Big Game Hunter

Hammer and Anvil Deployment

Summary:

I had the clear board control advantage so made use of it and dominated the Maelstrom making sure to kill key units. They were a tough kill being Iron Hands but managed a nice win. The lack of obsec in my opponents list really hurt him.

Highlights:

My Command Squad let rip into the Iron Hands Bike Command Squad with all the Grav and failed to kill a single model. They then charged me in revenge blocking the Knight. I killed the Bike Command squad in 1 round of combat (go figure lol). The Command Squad ended up being locked in combat with the Attack Bike. Next turn the Knight charged my Command Squad however a combination of whiffing rolls, no 6's on his D and Stomp meant the Chaplain Melta Bomb and Master's Fist were slowy chipping away at the Knight. With only the Master and the Chaplain left after a few turns the Masters Power fist managed a killing blow. The Explosion scattered back killing his own Iron Hands units. The result was glorius.

At the other end of the battlefield it took my 2 Dev and 2 Tac Grav units 4 turns of shooting to kill all his podding marines and super beefy Captain in Cataphracti. And that included the overwatch Grav the Iron Hands Capatain took when assaulting my Rhinos. Ouch but a great game and I won out in the end.

Win for DA 16 - 7

Game 6 vs Space Wolves/Eldar/Assassins

Champions of Fenris Detachment

HQ

Wolf Lord

Runic Armour

Thunder Wolf

Storm Shield

Power Fist

Wolf Lord

Runic Armour

Thunder Wolf

Storm Shield

Power Fist

ELITES

Dreadnought

Venerable

Blizzard Shield and Great Axe

Lucius Pattern Drop Pod

Servitor

FAST ATTACK

(3) Thunder Wolf Cavalry

Wolf Claw

2x Power Fist

3x Storm Shield

(3) Thunder Wolf Cavalry

Wolf Claw

2x Power Fist

3x Storm Shield

Eldar Allied Detachment

HQ

Warlock

Jetbike

TROOPS

(3) Windriders

ELITES

(5) Wraithguard

5x D-Scythe

Wave Serpent

Twin Linked Bright Lance

Ghost Walker Matrix

HEAVY SUPPORT

Vaul's Wrath Support Battery

3x D-Cannons

Officio Assasinorum Formation

Culexus Assassin

ITC Mission 5

Primary: Big Guns Never Tire, Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Strike, Ground Control

Vanguard Strike Deployment

Summary:

My opponent was a guy that I had played against in numerous Tournaments previous. I knew how his list worked very well and knew how to take advantage of it (as he almost always takes the same list). I made him set up first and he split his two thunder Cav units so made sure I had the right amount of Grav on each side to start killing some wolves. The Wolves were no match to the sheer amount of Grav and full BS overwatch and I dominated in all parts of the game.

Highlights:

The one 2 punch of a Melta squad popping the Wave Serpent that had flat out right in front of my Rhino Gun line followed by a volley of Grav Cannon fire wiped out the Wraith Guard and their nasty D-Scythes.

The most memorable late game moment was when I rushed his home objective guarded by the D-Cannon batteries with a Tac Rhino squad and Dev Squad. He chose to shoot and kill the Tac Rhino but the squad was out and within range. The following turn the D-Cannon Batterires took 15 Grav Cannon shots with some fantastic 5+ rolls and re-rolls which ended up with the artillery unit fleeing and running off the table.

Win for DA 18 - 3

Game 7 vs Chaos Renegades/Chaos Daemons

Chaos Renegades of Vraks CAD

HQ

Renegade Command Squad

Arch Demagogue

Covenant of Nurgle

TROOPS

(29) Plague Zombies

(29) Plague Zombies

HEAVY SUPPORT

(2) Renegade Wyverns

(2) Renegade Wyverns

Chaos Daemons CAD

HQ

Kairos Fateweaver

Herald of Tzeentch

Mastery Level 3

Disc of Tzeentch

Paradox

Herald of Tzeentch

Mastery Level 3

Disc of Tzeentch

Exalted Reward

TROOPS

(3) Nurglings

(3) Nurglings

(11) Blue Horrors

(11) Blue Horrors

FAST ATTACK

(8) Screamers of Tzeentch

HEAVY SUPPORT

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

Daemonic Flight

Warp Forged Armour

Mastery Level 3

FORTIFICATION

Void Shield Generator

2 Extra Shields

ITC Mission 6

Primary: Crusade, Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker

Dawn of War Deployment

Summary:

My most favourite and close game of the weekend playing against one of the best dudes I had ever met and on top of it all it was his birthday. His list was really cool and really strong and hardy so I stuck to playing the objective game, doubling up Rhinos on objectives and putting the pressure on early with pod squads.

Highlights:

The Command Squad and Characters were the star players of the game. I podded in the Command Squad and both Tac Melta units in as close as I could to avoid the wyvern fire (which didn't work as the next turn both Tac units were annihilated by so much barrage). I pulled it off though. I used the Tac Squads meltas to break the Void Shields and the Command Squad gunned down the auspexed DP in the ruin for first Blood. The Command Squad then continued to wreak havoc in his little fortress he had created killing a whole squad of zombies in combat, a Wyvern unit, a summoned Daemonette unit and 2 squads of Nurglings whilst keeping his home objective contested.

I secured the win in Turn 5 when fateweaver failed to kill 4 marines on an objective with 3 different powers. He left one alive who didn't run and obsec winning me the primary.

Win for DA 14 - 7

Game 8 vs Farsight Enclaves/Tau Empire

Farsight Enclaves CAD

HQ

Commander

2x Missile Pod

Target Lock

Drone Controller

2x Marker Drone

TROOPS

(1) XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Squad

Twin-linked Missile Pod

Bonding Knife

(1) XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Squad

Twin-linked Missile Pod

Bonding Knife

FAST ATTACK

(5) Drone Squadron

5x Marker Drones

LORD OF WAR

(1) Stormsurge Squad

Pulse Driver Cannon

Shield Generator

Early Warning Override

Twin-linked Air Bursting Projector

Tau Empire Riptide Wing Formation

(3) Riptide Squad

3x heavy Burst Cannon

3x Twin-linked Smart Missile System

3x Stimulant Injector

2x Target Lock

(1) Riptide Squad

Ion Accelerator

Stimulant Injector

Twin-linked Smart Missile System

Early Warning Override

(1) Riptide Squad

Ion Accelerator

Stimulant Injector

Twin-linked Smart Missile System

Early Warning Override

ITC Mission 3

Primary: Purge the Alien (Kill Points), Secondary: Modified Maelstrom, Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Strike, King of the Hill

Vanguard Strike Deployment

Summary:

When I saw my match up my heart sank. And once I saw the table I was playing on I wanted to conceed then and there. The table had no decent LOS blocking terrain and with a 5 strong Riptide Wing and Storm Surge in a Kill Point mission was just going to be a turkey shoot. I still played my best and managed not to get tabled and just set some moral victories for myself and had fun. My oppoenent still made it a fun game to play (was a pretty cool guy) which I really appreciated.

Highlights:

The Command Squad managed to survive the interceptor by dropping in to 1 inch of all his suits with the other 2 pod units doing the same. However I still lost a couple of Vets. The initial volley of Grav and Melta fire got the Storm Surge down to 4 wounds. The Surge end up charging the command unit with a Riptide buddy eating the overwatch with a 3++ and stayed in combat for 4 turns. The Master, Chaplain and Apothecary winning out in the end only to be gun downed by the remaining tides.

Loss for DA 5 - 15

Conclusion:

I had ana amazing time playing some great games with amazing people which just topped this all off for me but it was a very tiring 3 days. The list performed better than I expected with Veil of Time making it incredibly resillient in ITC vs CC. The extra Grav Cannons really helped vs Imperial Knights and have also fully embraced rolling only on the Strategic Warlord Traits table as there is always good stuff in there. I particularly usually always hope to get the Infiltrate Warlord Trait as I can ifiltrate 3 Grav units and their transports in firing range for turn 1 if I'm going first.

The Grav Cannon backbone of the list and the full BS overwatch was very solid in every game. The Command Grav Squad was really worth the points sink in my opinion as in most game took the pressure off the rest of my army or if it wasn't shot at it meant that it was running around multi charging and wrecking everything anyway. I've found my list has good balance now and keen to keep trying it without changing it for the next few tournies at least.

I aimed for a top 30 finish and managed to pull a 22nd overall for which made me feel great at the end of the day. On the ITC rankings side, this placing jumped me up to 397th from 480th overall and to 17th Dark Angels player from 30th. I'll be working on getting highest ranked Dark Angels player in Australia this Tournament season. I also managed to go from 9th to 8th in the NSW State rankings.

My list I think will perform better in CC events as most lists that beat me or ended up higher than me were 20 comp or more if you worked it out in the CC document.

Next Tournament for me is Clash of Titans 18th/19th Feb which is Community Comp and the weekend after is an ITC event being hosted by Warzone: Central Coast youtube channel which will be a local event for me.

Hope you all enjoyed the write up and photos!

[Chaplain Raeven]

Looks like a fun event! However, I saw the picture of the last game, and I had an immediate 'Ugh, seriously'-feeling. Cool guy or not, if you drop 5 riptides and a stormsurge on the table, I'm not going to bother setting up my models. Nice to hear you enjoyed the game either way.

[Solrac]

Looks like a fun event! However, I saw the picture of the last game, and I had an immediate 'Ugh, seriously'-feeling. Cool guy or not, if you drop 5 riptides and a stormsurge on the table, I'm not going to bother setting up my models. Nice to hear you enjoyed the game either way.

That's the luck of the draw at a Tournament. The Tau list didn't really annoy me it was the table. I would have been fine if I got a table with good LOS blocking like I had most of my games over the 3 days. Because of the table I was playing on my whole plan going into the game was score some Maelstrom and don't get tabled which is pretty sad.

[Solrac]

So Clash of Titans is the next event I'm attending and it's Community Comp. The Community Comp document changed since last I saw it making Ezekiel cost 1 comp so I had to change up my latest list basically replacing Ezekiel for two Level 2 Libbys (squeezing some extra points out here and there also). Community Comp also has Comp on Veil of Time and Invisibility so my mini death star strategy will go back to Sanctic relying on trying to get Sanctuary for a 2++. I'll let you guys know how I go as always!

[Solrac]

Hey guys,

So this is a Tournament practice game I had with a friend to test out my new table at home that was actually a few weeks ago (been a bit busy!). I wrote up a full batrep for it and it was awesome but then accidentally deleted it cause I dun goofed and I need to learn to computer. Sooooo I'll just post up the photos with a little blurb on each one. Enjoy!

Dark Angels Lion's Blade Strike Force!

Dark Eldar Real Space Raiders/Eldar Allied Detachment/Harlequins Heroes Path

Armies are deployed!

Turn 1 the Eldar bikes move forward to grab objectives

The Dark Eldar blow apart some vehicles also

Dark Angels respond destroying m ost of the bikes and moving forward

The Autarch (DE proxy) is feeling brave

As the Scourges rain down death

The sons of the Lion retaliate

The Command Squad holding off a trio of Eldar characters thanks to Veil of Time

While the Master goes off on his own skull crushing adventure

And takes the bastion from the Rangers!

The Command Squad finishing off the Eldar characters in a bloody assault

Dark Angel victory!

[Solrac]

I know I just posted a quick batrep above but thought I'd get the next tourney shenanigans in whilst I've got time!

I went to Clash of Titans in Cherrybrook over the weekeend 18th/19th Feb. Clash in 2015 was the first Tournament I ever went to and is one of my favourite on my calender. It always has a great atmosphere, great gamers, great tables, fantastic turn out and TO's who really know their stuff.

This year was 5 games over 2 days using Community Comp 12 point cap however the event was also being registered for ITC rankings.

This was my list:

Lion's Blade Strike Force

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master

Power Sword

Artificer Armour

Auspex

Eye of the Unseen

(5) Command Squad

5x Grav Gun

Apothecary

Sacred Standard

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Auspex

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Combi-Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

Aux - 10th Company

(10) Scout Squad

Combi-Plasma

Boltguns

(10) Scout Squad

Combi-Plasma

Boltguns

Officio Assasinorum Detachment

Culexus

Game 1 vs Astra Militarum

My opponents list:

Astra Militarum Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

(5) Company Command Squad

2x Grenade Launcher

Bolt Pistol

Tank Commander

2x Leman Russ

2x Battle Cannon

2x Storm Bolter

Primaris Psyker

Mastery Level 2

Ministorum Priest

Plasma Gun

Ministorum Priest

Plasma Gun

TROOPS

(5) Platoon Command Squad

4x Flamer

(10) Infantry Squad

Autocannon

Flamer

Sergeant w/ Bolter

(10) Infantry Squad

Autocannon

Flamer

Sergeant w/ Bolter

(3) Heavy Weapons Team

3x Lascannon

(3) Heavy Weapons Team

3x Missile Launchers

(10) Veteran Squad

3x Plasma Gun

Sergeant w/ Bolter

Chimera

(10) Veteran Squad

2x Plasma Gun

Sergeant w/ Bolter

Chimera

FAST ATTACK

Valkyrie

Multiple Rocket Pods

HEAVY SUPPORT

Wyvern

Hydra Flak Tank

Leman Russ Demolisher

Storm Bolter

FORTIFICATION

Aegis Defence Line

Quad Gun

Mission was

Primary: Eternal War - Big Guns Never Tire

Secondary: Maelstrom of War - Cleanse and Control

Tertiary: Kill Points

Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Blood Shooting, First Blood Assault, Linebreaker

Dawn of War Deployment

My opponent was a young chap still in school and this was his first Tournament. His army was basically a 5th ed army he had been playing with for a number of years with his friends. He said he still hadn't grasped 7th ed rules so I made sure to explain my army well, what I was doing and cleared up any rules that he had and showed him where to find them in the rulebook.

Granted all this the game was a whitewash. I got first turn and he failed to seize. I did my Scout Alpha Strike, one Scout squad taking out all the Platoon Command Squad except for the Colonel and the other Scout squad killing 7 of the 20 Guardsmen that were joined in a blob and then they ran off the table. A Melta Squad came down and popped the Demolisher whilst a Flamer Squad came in and removed the Lascannon Team and the attached Priest.

My Command Squad came down but got no 6s on the Leman Russes. My opponent had a horrible First Turn retaliation and the game went downhill from there. A memorable mention was the Master after his whole squad being decimated by a Battle Cannon, assaulting and killing both Russes by rolling a tonne of 6s over a couple of turns.

Ended up tabling him Turn 5 but he said he had a great time and learned a lot about his army so I was happy with that.

Dark Angels Win 19 - 0

Game 2 vs Cult Mechanicus/Skitarri/Deathwatch/Imperial Knights

My opponents list:

Deathwatch Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Librarian

Auspex

TROOPS

(5) Deathwatch Veterans

3x Frag Cannon

Combi-Melta

Drop Pod

(5) Deathwatch Veterans

3x Frag Cannon

Combi-Melta

Drop Pod

Cult Mechanicus Cohort Cybernetica

Tech Priest Dominus

(3) Kastelan Robots

2x Heavy Phosphor Blaster

2x Twin-linked Heavy Phosphor Blaster

(3) Kastelan Robots

2x Heavy Phosphor Blaster

Twin-linked Heavy Phosphor Blaster

Power Fists

Skitarii Maniple

TROOPS

(5) Vanguard Squad

Omnispex

Arkhans Diviniator

(5) Vanguard Squad

Omnispex

Plasma Caliver

FORTIFICATION

Munitorum Crate

Oathsworn Detachment

Knight Warden

Mission was

Primary: Eternal War - The Emperor's Will

Secondary: Maelstrom of War - Cloak and Shadows

Tertiary: Kill Points

Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Blood Shooting, First Blood Assault, Linebreaker

Hammer and Anvil Deployment

This army was loaded with firepower and tricks. Hammer and Anvil wasn't going to help me much either.

It was a bloody battle. I managed to kill all his Deathwatch as they came on and the Command Squad killed the Dominus and the 2 tech priesty dudes in the Robot units but that was pretty much it. From there I wasn't doing much damage and he was getting lucky by whiffing his rolls when he assaulted my pod units so he would finish them off in his turn and fire the next turn. I opted for my Scouts to outflank but both units came on the wrong side which didn't help me one bit. I barely shot at the Knight but managed to get it down to 2 HP but couldn't kill it in the end. It was a very, very close game VP wise he beat me by 1 point. I won Maelstrom, he won Kill Points and we tied on Eternal War so he beat me in Secondaries.

Dark Angels Loss 8 - 10

Game 3 vs Space Wolves/Eldar/ Imperial Knights

My opponents list:

Company of the Greatwolf Detachment

HQ

Wolflord

Thunderwolf Mount

Runic Armour

Storm Shield

Power Fist

Wolflord

Thunderwolf Mount

Runic Armour

Storm Shield

Power Fist

ELITES

Servitor

Servitor

FAST ATTACK

(3) Thunderwolf Cavalry

3x Storm Shield

2x Power Fist

Wolf Claws

(3) Thunderwolf Cavalry

3x Storm Shield

2x Power Fist

Wolf Claws

Eldar Allied Detachment

HQ

(1) Warlock Conclave

Jetbike

Singing Spear

TROOPS

(5) WIndriders

ELITES

(5) Wraithguard

5x D-Scythes

Waveserpent

Twin-linked Bright Lance

HEAVY SUPPORT

(3) Vauls Wrath Support Battery

3x Vibro Cannons

Oathsworn Detachment

Knight Paladin

Mission was

Primary: Eternal War - The Relic

Secondary: Maelstrom of War - Deadlock

Tertiary: Kill Points

Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Blood Shooting, First Blood Assault, Linebreaker

Vanguard Strike Deployment

You may recognise the army. This is the 3rd time I've played my opponent at various different events and we always go tooth and nail which is great.

I set up first but made my opponent go second as I knew it was all about first turn shooting for me and his units had to be in range. As I've learned from all my previous games my opponent has a mentality of his unit has to assault and get in my face so I always let him. I held one Scout Squad in reserve and Infiltrated the other with the Assassin close to an objective and the Jetbikes but bhind a big LOS blocking building.

After he moved and ran almost everything forward his shooting didn't do much plinking a couple of HP off a couple of RHinos. But then my first turn of shooting was brutal.

Two Melta Pods coming in and blowing up the Waveserpent which he boosted up midfield (he rolled a 1 on his Serpent Shield to reduce a hit to a glance after failing a jink and then I rolled a 5, probably luckiest I got all weekend). The Wraithguard were then gunned down by 2 Grav Cannons. Next the Command Squad came down and reduced a Thunder Wolf Squad to just the Lord on Two wounds whilst the rest of my Grav Cannons reduced the other ThunderWolf Squad to it's Lord on one Wound and another Thundercav on one wound. The Scouts and Culexus came out from behind the bulding and killed 3 Jetbikes.

From there he had incredible rolling with the 2 man Thundercav unit charging the Command Squad and tanking all the Overwatch and wiping out the unit but not before the Master killed the other Thundercav. Both Wolflords were kileld by Grav in the next couple of turns. A Flamer squad and Scouts came in and killed a few artillery and assaulted and cleaned them up the following turn whilst the other Flamer unit killed the Warlock. From there everything else got cleaned up with me taking little return damage save the Knight picking and choosing what he wanted to kill. In the end though obsec came through jumping on the Relic and just smashing him on Maelstrom.

Dark Angels Victory 12 - 7

Game 4 vs Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines

My opponents list:

Chaos Daemons Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Herald of Nurgle

Locus of Fecundity

Greater Reward

Lesser Reward

Palanquin of Nurgle

Mastery Level 2

Herald of Tzeentch

Mastery Level 2

TROOPS

(11) Blue Horrors

(11) Blue Horrors

(16) Pink Horrors

Icon of Chaos

Irridescent Horror

(19) Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Plague Banner

Plagueridden

Greater Reward

FAST ATTACK

(4) Screamers of Tzeentch

Chaos Space Marines Allied Detachment

HQ

Sorcerer

Mastery Level 2

Melta Bombs

TROOPS

(10) Chaos Cultists

FAST ATTACK

Heldrake

Baleflamer

Omniscient Oracles

Kairos Fateweaver

Lord of Change

Paradox

2x Greater Reward

Lesser Reward

Mastery Level 2

Mission was

Primary: Eternal War - Crusade

Secondary: Maelstrom of War - Contact Lost

Tertiary: Kill Points

Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Blood Shooting, First Blood Assault, Linebreaker

Dawn of War Deployment

This match up was against a friend of mine from our gaming group. I've played him a couple of times before and haven't been able to beat his daemons although I have always come close. The mission was in my favour and I won a crucial deployment zone pick after he placed all his objectives in a deployment whilst I put mine out from the other sides deployment and then won the roll off to take his deployment zone which meant he he to come out to grab ojectives.

I had a good first round of shooting killing a whole mess of Horrors to reduce his warp charge pool (the split rule is heavily comped and in Community Comp you can choose not to use it to pay 0 comp). The Scouts also did their Alpha to help the Command Squad take 2 wounds off the Lord of Change (he had 4+ FNP from one of the rewardsm if he didn't have it he'd be dead).

The game was very back and forth and things were dying everywhere but I wasn't managing to kill whole squads.

Fateweaver was killing himself managing to peril every turn. I was always shooting at him with something as I managed to pull Kingslayer, Scour the Skies and Big Game Hunter but even when he was down to one wound he just wouldn't die.

My Command Squad and Culexus charged the massive group of Plague Bearers with attached Herald as they were fighting over an objective. I got give +1 to my FNP thanks to a Warp Flame from a Chariot so this squad tanked everything the Bearers threw at them as the Culexus was locked in a Challenge with the unit Champ. Surprisingly the Command Squad was doing a tonne of wounds in return thanks to the Masters Preferred Enemy. It took 3 turns of Combat but eventually I killed them all but lost the Master and couple of Vets. They made a last ditch effort late game to grab an Eternal War objective held by Blue Horrors and the Cultists with Sorcerer but couldn't stick the landing.

Another honourable mention was 5 scouts charging a large group of Pink Horrors with the Herald and wiping them out in one combat.

In the end though it wasn't enough. The Lord of Change proving too much of a beast and he managed to clear two objectives and still contesting the other to win Eternal War and of course he won Kill Points. Incredibly close but no cigar. I think I could have done it if I had another turn but the game ended.

Dark Angels Loss 13 - 5

Game 5 vs Dark Eldar

My opponents list:

Dark Eldar Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

(1) Court of the Archon

Lhemean

Venom

2x Splinter Cannons

TROOPS

(5) Kabalite Warriors

Venom

2x Splinter Cannons

(5) Kalabite Warriors

Venom

2x Splinter Cannons

(5) Kalabite Warriors

Venom

2x Splinter Cannons

FAST ATTACK

(3) Reaver Jetbikes

HEAVY SUPPORT

Ravager

Night Shields

Ravager

Night Shields

Ravager

Night Shields

Dark Eldar Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

(1) Court of the Archon

Lhemean

Venom

2x Splinter Cannons

TROOPS

(5) Kabalite Warriors

Sybarite

Haywire Grenades

Raider

Night Shields

Dark Lance

(5) Kabalite Warriors

Raider

Night Shields

Dark Lance

(5) Kabalite Warriors

Raider

Night Shields

Dark Lance

(5) Kabalite Warriors

Raider

Night Shields

Dark Lance

(5) Kabalite Warriors

Raider

Night Shields

Disntegrator Cannon

HEAVY SUPPORT

Ravager

Night Shields

Ravager

Night Shields

Ravager

Night Shields

Mission was

Primary: Eternal War - The Scouring

Secondary: Maelstrom of War - Tactical Escalation

Tertiary: Kill Points

Bonus: Slay the Warlord, First Blood Shooting, First Blood Assault, Linebreaker

Vanguard Strike Deployment

My final game was against the head of our gaming club which I was happy about cause we always have a great game which was a sigh of relief as we were both super tired by this point. I always forget how tyring 2 day Tournaments are until about the second game where it all comes flooding back.

Anyways as you can imagine this game was a blood bath with MSU vs MSU with one main difference. His dice betrayed him and his rolling was atrocious the whole game.

I won the roll to go first and did my Scout alpha strike again and he failed to seize. I combat squaded the Scouts and they made 4 of the vehicles on the left jink. Both My Flamer squads came down first, one of the squads covering 2 Raiders killing both vehicles occupants and the other killing the Sybarite Warlord. The Command Squad came down in a ruin in the middle of all his fleet and managed to immobilise a Ravager. The rest of my Rhinos moved forward to jumo on all the other objectives and get set up to grav everything next turn.

He had a decent shooting phase killing both Assault Squads, 7 of the Scouts and 2 Command Vets. His Ravagers whiffed bad though doing no glances on the Rhinos. My Turn 2 saw him loose half his vehicles with Grav flying everywhere and Scouts charging in and killing vehicles with Krak Grendades and weight of attacks.

It was a big grind for both armies but I had Rhinos or Pods on all the objectives and had a commanding lead in Maelstrom. by Turn 5 he managed to contest 5/6 objectives however that one objective was enough to win Eternal War and with a stroke of luck managed win in Kill Points also.

Dark Angels Victory 19 - 1

Conclusion

I ended up coming 8th overall out of 34 players which is great as it will give me a decent amount of points for rankings.

My list perormed well. I really liked the Scouts. They held their own and the sheer amount of Bolter shots did a lot of damage in early stages of most of the games. The Grav Command Squad did better than expected considering they had no invuls though with a lot of the meta changing and a lot of the Daemon players opting for no armour on princes and more MC's it might be better to change to Plasma. We shall see. The Culexus was good in most of the games though if I take a anti psyker list like this again I might experiment with taking 2 units of Sisters of Silence instead as it's two melta bombs more than a Culexus but then gives me 2 squads for a greater Psychic Abomination coverage and they can all take AP2 swords for free.

All other units performed as expected although I know I made a few tactical errors in crucial points in both games I lost which I will have to rectify.

All in all though another great weekend for me and the Dark Angels.

I have another Tournament coming up the weekend following this on the 26th/27th so stay tuned!

[Brother Dark]

awesome write-ups as always brother, I read these at work during lunch, and for some unkown reason, my it department dosent allow me to click the like button on posts......weird huh!

 

anyway, keep up the good work, I tried a double demi a couple of weeks back against an ork horde......in a friendly....it almost turned out unfriendly, ive sworn not to take it again in friendly games...

 

edit: apparently it does work, and I also need to work on things computer

Edited February 20, 2017 by Brother Dark

[Solrac]

Hey guys!

So back again with another tournament report! On the weekend my friend who runs Warzone Central Coast youtube channel hosted a Tournament in my local FLGS. It was ITC format with ITC missions and had 40 registered players so was worth quite a bit for ITC and NSW rankings.

Winning the Primary gave you 4 points, the Secondary was 4 points and each Tertiary was 1 point it so max score of 11.

This list I played with was:

Lion's Blade Strike Force

Core - Demi Company 1

Company Master

Power Fist

Eye of the Unseen

Artificer Armour

Storm Shield

(5) Command Squad

5x Grav Gun

5x Storm Shield

Apothecary

Sacred Standard

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad

Razorback

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

Core - Demi Company 2

Chaplain

Auspex

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Meltagun

Combi-Melta

Drop Pod

(5) Tactical Squad

Razorback

(5) Assault Squad

2x Flamer

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

Grav Cannon

Rhino

Aux - 10th Company Support

(5) Scout Squad

Boltguns

Ultramarine Librarius Conclave

Tigurius

Librarian

Mastery Level 2

Librarian

Mastery Level 2

Game 1 vs Tau Empire

My opponents list:

Tau Empire Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Commander

Missile Pod

Iridium Armour

Drone Controller

2x Marker Drone

TROOPS

(1) Crisis Battlesuit

(1) Crisis Battlesuit

FAST ATTACK

Riptide Y'Vhara Battlesuit

Stim Injectors

Early Warning Override

Riptide Y'Vhara Battlesuit

Stim Injectors

Early Warning Override

(8) Marker Drones

LORD OF WAR

Stormsurge Battlesuit

Early Warning Override

Riptide Wing

Riptide Battlesuit

Heavy Burst Cannon

Twin-linked Smart Missile System

Early Warning Override

Riptide Battlesuit

Heavy Burst Cannon

Twin-linked Smart Missile System

Early Warning Override

Riptide Battlesuit

Heavy Burst Cannon

Twin-linked Smart Missile System

Early Warning Override

ITC Mission 1

Primary: Emperor's Will

Secondary: Modified Maelstrom

Tertiary: Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, Big Game Hunter

Dawn of War Deployment

This game was intense. I got the Infiltrate Strategic Trait and got first turn so my plan was to put in a good Alpha Strike and then hunker down on objectives and try to win the Eternal War and Maelstrom.

Three of my Rhinos set up 18" away from the Storm Surge and the Command Squad would work on the Riptide Wing. My opponent made some spectacular 4++ saves on his Surge and only got it down to 4 Wounds and the same went with a Riptide only getting it down to 2 wounds.

The Y'Vharas were doing all the work. The 2 shot AP2 Torrent Flamers and the Haywire Missiles were just tearing through anything that they came across. In hindsight I should have focused killing both the Y'Vharas first but the Interceptor just always muddles up my decision making.

I did end up doing considerable damage to the tau in the end killing the Storm Surge, one of the Tides and one of the Y'Vharas and the bold charge at the end won me the game. Veil of Time helped considerably to keep the pressure off the Command Squad.

Dark Angels win 6 - 5.

Game 2 vs Blood Angels

Blood Angels Flesh Tearer Strike Force

HQ

Librarian

TROOPS

(5) Tactical Squad

Plasma

Combi-Plasma

Drop Pod

FAST ATTACK

(5) Assault Squad

2x Meltagun

Combi-melta

Drop Pod

(5) Assault Squad

2x Meltagun

Combi-melta

Drop Pod

(5) Assault Squad

2x Meltagun

Combi-melta

Drop Pod

(5) Assault Squad

2x Meltagun

Combi-melta

Drop Pod

HEAVY SUPPORT

(5) Devastator Squad

2x Grav Cannon

Drop Pod

(5) Devastator Squad

2x Grav Cannon

Drop Pod

Golden Host Formation

Dante

(5) Sanquinary Guard

4x Sword

1x Power Fist

(5) Sanquinary Guard

3x Sword

2x Power Fist

(5) Sanquinary Guard

4x Sword

1x Power Fist

1x Axe

ITC Mission 2

Primary: The Relic

Secondary: Modified Maelstrom

Tertiary: Slay the Warlord, First Strike, Table Quarters

Hammer and Anvil Deployment

I was looking forward to this game as it was against a friend from my gaming club and we hadn't had a game against each other in a while. He forced me to go first and null deployed which ruined my chances to get First Strike. Tactical genius on his part. As I had command of the table I made sure that I was deployed defensively in my end and Infiltrated the scouts on his objective. I didn't get any of the Psychic Powers I wanted so I would have to be careful of how I'd play the Death Star.

I used first turn to make sure I had all lanes covered and the center objective secured as well as grabbing all the Maelstrom points I could. I gambled and held off on the Command Squad coming in first turn as I wanted a shot at killing Dante and his Golden squad before he had a chance of doing any considerable damage.

The gamble paid off. His initial alpha did minimal damage and the Golden Host only managed to kill a couple of 5 man squads. The Command Squad came in Turn 3 and gunned down Dante and his squad a few times over. I managed to kill 2 out of 3 of the Sanguinary guard on my turn 3 and from there it was a mop up of squads. Special mention to a marine vs marine combat that went on from turn 2 to 7 finally killing the last marine for a tabling on my opponents last turn.

Dark Angels win 11 - 0.

Game 3 vs Eldar Corsairs

Eldar Corsairs CAD

HQ

Corsair Prince

Cloud Dancer (Jetbike)

First Prince: Traveller of Forgotten Paths

TROOPS

(4) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(4) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(4) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

(4) Cloud Dancers

3x Scatter Lasers

HEAVY SUPPORT

Corsair Warp Hunter

Kinetic Shroud

Shuriken Cannon

Eldar Craftworld Warhost

Core - Pale Courts Battlehost (FW)

Aspect Lord-Shrine

Farseer

Jetbike

(5) Warp Spiders

(5) Warp Spiders

(5) Warp Spiders

Aux - Aspect Host

(6) Warp Spiders

Exarch

(6) Warp Spiders

Exarch

(6) Warp Spiders

Exarch

Aux - Wraith Construct

Skathach Wraithknight

2x Deathshroud Cannons

2x Scatter Lasers

ITC Mission 3

Primary: Purge the Alien

Secondary: Modified Maelstrom

Tertiary: First Strike, Slay the Warlord, King of the Hill

Vanguard Strike Deployment

I was looking forward to this game very much as it was the same opponent and same mission that I got beaten by at Cancon. My opponent was a great guy and the rematch was welcomed by both of us.

I decided I would play this game way more tactically knowing now how the list played. I managed to get the -1 to reserves Warlord Trait which ended up being phenomenal.

I used my turns to secure objectives, get Maelstrom and set up firing lanes but also assaulted warp spiders were possible as they can't flicker jump from declaring a charge. I played reserve chicken with the wraith knight and my Command Squad. The Wraith Knight showed up Turn 3 and then my Command Squad turned up next to blast it off the table. I also used Cleansing Flame to clean up quite a lot of spiders as they cannot flicker jump from Novas.

His army was coming on in drips and drabs and I was cleaning them up piecemeal although the Warp Spiders were still being annoying they weren't doing a lot of damage this game.

Best moment of the game was when two marines and the 5 scouts gunned down the Corsair Prince for Warlord kill with pistols as they were preparing to charge him.

Dark Angels win 6 - 4.

Game 4 vs Tau Empire/Sister of Silence

Optimised Stealth Cadre

(3) Ghostkeel Battlesuits

3x Ion Raker

3x Twin-linked Fusion Blaster

3x Early Warning Override

(6) Stealth Suits

2x Fusion Blaster

Shas'vre

Tartet Lock

Vectored Retro Thrusters

(6) Stealth Suits

2x Fusion Blaster

Shas'vre

Tartet Lock

Vectored Retro Thrusters

Optimised Stealth Cadre

(3) Ghostkeel Battlesuits

3x Ion Raker

3x Twin-linked Fusion Blaster

3x Early Warning Override

(6) Stealth Suits

2x Fusion Blaster

Shas'vre

Tartet Lock

Vectored Retro Thrusters

(6) Stealth Suits

2x Fusion Blaster

Shas'vre

Tartet Lock

Vectored Retro Thrusters

Null Maiden Task Force

(5) Sister of Silence

5x Executioner Greatblade

(5) Sister of Silence

5x Executioner Greatblade

ITC Mission 4

Primary: The Scouring

Secondary: Modified Maelstrom

Tertiary: Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, Big Game Hunter

Hammer and Anvil Deployment

This game was against another of my club members that I've never been able to beat. The Double Stealth Cadre is brutal. Highly mobile, lots of effective firepower with ignores cover and also doesn't need to the marker light support. The big kicker this time was the issues the Sisters would cause for my Death Star. I didn't get any of the Psychic Powers that I would need to beat this list either. This was going to be a brutal game.

I lost the roll to go first so I deployed defensively making sure the Razorbacks where far enough forward so that when he Infiltrated his Suits they weren't able to kill the Grav Rhinos however I failed to get one of the Razors fair enough across and he managed to get a Stealth Suit team out of LOS behind a building. My game was not going off to a good start but then I rolled for seize and got it!

After my Company Master being insta gibbed by an intercepting Fusion shot, my first turn saw that close Suit Team being obliterated by flamers and a second suit team died to more flamers after Tiggy cast Misfortune on the unit. Rending Flamers were glorious.

From there though it was basically hit and run mode for his army destroying various units a turn then jumping away so that my Command Squad wasn't within 12" range to do any major damage to the Keels. I put up a good fight but ended up going down by losing both Maelstrom and Eternal War when the game ended Turn 5.

Dark Angels loss 1 - 10.

Game 5 vs Chaos Space Marines/Chaos Daemons

Chaos Space Marine Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Sorceror

Mastery Level 2

Force Axe

Aura of Dark Glory

Mark of Tzeentch

Veterans of the Long War

TROOPS

(10) Cultists

Autoguns

Mark of Tzeentch

(10) Cultists

Autoguns

Mark of Tzeentch

LORD OF WAR

Magnus the Red

Chaos Daemons Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Herald of Nurgle

Doomsday Bell

Plague Sword

Mastery Level 3

Herald of Tzeentch

Mastery Level 3

TROOPS

(10) Brimstone Horrors

(10) Brimstone Horrors

FORTIFICATION

Aegis Defence Line

Omniscient Oracles

Fateweaver

Lord of Change

Impossible Robe

Exalted Reward

Mastery Level 2

ITC Mission 5

Primary: Big Guns Never Tire

Secondary: Modified Maelstrom

Tertiary: Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, Ground Control

Vanguard Strike Deployment

This list looked rough on paper and could quickly overwhelm me if I wasn't careful. I decided from the get go I would play to the mission and not get carried away by trying to kill things I couldn't kill. I decided I would focus on killing his obsec units and sit on objectives as much as possible to win the Maelstrom and Eternal War.

I chose to set up second as I wanted the last turn to grab objectives. There were 4 objectives 2 in my deployment and two in his so I set up 3 of my vehicles nicely spread out but all 3 in range to grab objectives but all out of 48" range of the flying MC's so that I wouldn't take any damage first turn.

I committed both Flamer Teams to smash everything in the Aegis and my Command Squad to hunker down on the other objective whilst the tanks all surrounded objectives on my home turf.

My tactics won me the day. My opponent was way too focused on summoning more units of horrors that didn't do much beside give him more warp charges, buffing his MCs (that I wasn't shooting at anyway) and trying to get D shots off on Rhinos that he was either missing, not rolling 6s and rolling 1 to 2 HP on the D3 roll.

In the end I was assaulting and killing everything he threw at me in his deployment zone and ended up killing all his obsec units whilst my tanks just sat on objectives all game, pods and scouts grabbing linebreaker. He managed to kill 1 Razorback and summoned chariots at my end that did nothing then got gunned down the following turn. He was averaging 25 Warp Charge dice per turn that just wasn't doing anything to help him.

Special mention to me being greedy with Tiggy trying to get Sanctuary off, periling, rolling a 1 and then rolling a 10 for Ld which then failed because of the Doomsday Bell -1 Ld on the table. Was quite funny and stopped doing psychic phase after that as it wasn't worth the time.

Dark Angels win 10 - 0.

List Analysis

I really like the power the Conclave gave me however I still didn't get the powers I needed in 2 out of 5 games although one of those games I ended up not needing them anyway. The Death Star could have gone a lot better as I hadn't had a lot of practice with it. I know now that I just needed to focus on getting the two powers I really need first and then only going for anything else I think I need. Those 2 powers are Veil of Time for survivability and Electrodisplacement for mobility. I didn't even realise a power like this would be so handy but I only ever got it on my last game and didn't need to use it. More pondering on the SM conclave will be needed.

The rest of the list performed well as I had come to expect. I did notice a big damage output loss not having the extra combi-flamers in the assault squads so will need to work them back in I think. The bare bones Razorback squads actually did pretty well. They were never focused on because of the Bolters but then they still got me a lot of Maelstrom over the weekend without needing to shoot much which means the allocated points spent elsewhere was excellent. I think as a dedicated outflank unit I may need to squeeze in 5 more bodies in the Scout squad. After taking two big squads of scouts last week I've noticed how much of a difference 20 vs 10 Bolter shots can be.

There are a couple more builds I'm wanting to try but might leave those to practice games as I feel this list needs to go to my next Tourney in June. Will come back and let you guys know of the results of anything else I try.

Anyways as mentioned next Tourneys not till June so looking forward to a bit of a break, I was getting a little worn out. Will definitely have to put my feet up in Bali when I get there for a Holiday in a couple of weeks. Criticisms are welcome as always, hope you;ve enjoyed the wrap up and photos.