Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Guardian Tournament Oct 11'


So my local game store, Guardian Games, hosted a 2000 point tournament recently. It was based off a pure W-L system ala Nova. With 18 people and 3 rounds there would still be two people at 3-0 at the end of the day, so total mission objectives achieved as the first tiebreaker, and straight victory points as the final tiebreaker for Best General. There was also a Best Sportsman and Best Painted award. There was a really nice mix of armies, almost fifty percent non-Imperial, including the Eldar I decided to bring. I used the same list I took to WargamesCon, seen here:

HQ
Eldrad 210
Autarch w/ Fusion Gun 80
Elites
7*Fire Dragons 112
in Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser 115
7*Fire Dragons 112
in Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser 115
Troops
9*Dire Avengers w/ Exarch w/ Double Catapults, Bladestorm 140
in Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser 115
8*Dire Avengers w/ Exarch w/ Double Catapults, Bladestorm 128
in Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannon 100
5*Dire Avengers 60
5*Dire Avengers 60
3*Jetbikes w/ Cannon 76
3*Jetbikes w/ Cannon 76
Heavy Support
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Holofields, Stones 175
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Holofields, Stones 175
Fire Prism w/ Holofields 150
=1999

Round 1 v. Emporer's Children
The Defense of Sor Vaelon
So a nice, adversarial first round match up with some Slaaneshi Chaos Space Marines. My opponent had a Lord w/ Blissgiver, a Lash Sorcerer, 5*Terminators w/ Lightning Claws and Icon of Slaanesh, Land Raider, 2 5*Chaos Marines w/ Meltagun, Power Sword, and Icon of Slaanesh, Rhino, 2 5 *Noise Marines, Blastmaster, Rhino, 5* Raptors, Predator, Dreadnought, and a Vindicator.
The primary objective was table quarters, the secondary kill points, and tertiary objective markers. The table was set up with a large Imperial ruin in the middle of the table and scattered groups of trees everywhere else. The set up was Dawn of War.
My opponents got first turn and set up his Sorcerer with a squad of Chaos Marines in a Rhino, in the middle of the board, directly behind the ruin. I set up nothing, holding my Bikes and Falcons in reserve, while everything else got ready to roll in Turn 1. He didn't have a large scoring presence, so I decided I would wreck those small units, and win on the first objective. He brought on his entire army on one side of the board, so I came out on the other side, using the ruin to split his army. When he swings his armour back towards the other side, my Falcons come in behind them and start wrecking their rear armour. Eldrad was locked in combat with the Chaos Dreadnought for three turns. I destroyed his Land Raider with some Fire Dragons that fled from combat with his Raptors. In the end he only had one unit of Noise Marines in a Rhino on an objective. I got all three mission objectives and 1800 something VPs.


Round 2 v. Speed Freaks
The Shadow on Brightfall
Round two I was matched up with an Ork Speed Freak army. He had a Warboss on a Bike, a Mek with a Burna, 6*Burnas in a Battle Wagon, 5*Nobz in a Trukk, 3 12*Boyz in a Trukk, 20 Boyz in a Battle Wagon, 9*Warbikes, 3*Deff Koptas, and 3*Rokkit Buggies.
The set up was pitched battle. I don't remember the priority of the objectives in this mission. The table was covered in small brick buildings and bunkers.
My opponent got first turn and set up in a battle line across the whole table. The Bikers with Warboss and Nobz anchored one end, while the two Battlewagons anchored the other end. He outflanked his Koptas. I again reserved my Jetbikes and Falcons, and deployed strong in the corner facing the Battlewagons, with a lone Fire Prism in the far corner against the Bikes. We exchanged some long range fire, I wrecked a couple Trukks while he wrecked Eldrads Serpent. The Deffkoptas which came in charged into Eldrad an his Avengers, but were cut down.

My reserves came in half on each flank, which made his Bikers boost back and forth a few times to no effect. Fire Dragons are able to instakill his Nobz after they wreck the Fire Prism. Remember killing a lot of Greenskins, all he had left at the end was 2 Buggies and his Warbikes. Three mission objectives and 1700 something VPs.

Round 3 v. Deathwing
The Struggle for Terreo Secundus

So round 3 I was matched up against a REAL Deathwing army, none of this support stuff, just straight Terminators. 41 of them, 28 with Storm Shields, one nasty list, and a definite challenge.
Spearhead set up with primary objective markers, secondary kill points, tertiary quarters. I would have to win this mission on the primary, there was no way my 17 KP army could compete with his 9 KP army.

My opponent deployed strong in the center, ready to cover the board in Terminators. Knowing I had to play the objective game, I went all reserve, denying a couple turns of Cyclone fire at my tanks. It was going to a rought ride no matter what. I played somewhat sloppy in this game, getting too close to Terminators and allowing charges when it wasn't necessary, but the overall resiliency of my tanks held up over the course of the game. The Deathwing were drawn off objectives on turn 4 charges toward tanks. Those tanks then hopped back over their heads to claim the objectives on the bottom of turn 5, when the game ended, for the win. Classic Eldar bullsh*t. I lost KPs but won Table Quarters.

So in the end I was 3-0 with 8 total objectives, edging me over a Grey Knight player for the Best General award. It was an awesome tournament, and I look forward to more.

1 comment:

MJ;-) said...

Awesome job. And nice array of opposing armies. Gosh, if I could play a 3-game tourney without having to play vs. the typical flavor of the month stuff, I'd start attending tourneys again. ;-)