Most recently, I attended Moocon Fore yesterday, a 1000pts Highlander style 40k tournament. By Highlander style I mean that you could not duplicate any unit, even dedicated transports. Undoubtedly it was going to be new and interesting, especially as I've always seen that some players may or may not be as capable without access to their SPAM armies (I may have been one of them sure). So the challenge was there. I decided to deviate slightly from my typical armies and go back to something old as I wanted to have sturdy scoring units which would be more important than ever in such an environment.
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor
Power Armour, Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades, Hammerhand
Venerable Dreadnought
2x Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
5x Purifiers
2x Halberds, 2x Psycannons, Daemonhammer in Transport 1
5x Grey Knights
Psycannon in Transport 2
5x Terminators
3x Halberds, Psycannon, Hammer
Dreadnought
2x Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Transport 1: Rhino
Transport 2: Razorback with Psybolt Ammunition
The other option was Coteaz and Henchmen in a Chimera but I felt despite being on foot the Terminators would make a sturdier scoring Troop, plus, I'd get Grenades this way.
So game 1 I got Jimmy Murphy's Orks. It didn't have the hordes of Boyz that the Purifiers would like, but Orks struggle with Grey Knights one way or the other. He had Ghazghul, 3 Meganobz, a Warboss on a bike, 3 Nob Bikers, 12 Boyz in a Trukk, a Battlewagon, and a Deffkopta. The mission was Spearhead Seize Ground (5). I deployed down in the south-east corner bunkering around some ruins, with a hill just north of me. There was another large ruin around the centre and Jimmy deployed behind that mostly out of sight in his quarter. He managed to steal and surged forward. His only shooting was Big Shootas so I came out of it unscathed. He couldn't say the same in my first turn however, as the Battlewagon went down to the first Psycannon, the Deffkopta was taken out by the Heavy Bolter and then Dreadnought fire put a wound on Ghaz. In his second turn he ran up with everything and the Boyz unloaded. He then declared the Waagh and charged absolutely everything into the Terminators at the frontline of my army. The Terminators were in terrain so struck first, however they fluffed almost everything and managed to kill only two Boyz. In return the Orks did 27 wounds collectively, and though I made 22 successful saves, the fails were one a piece and the unit was wiped. The OXI and Purifiers got out and went into the same ruin and the rest of the army backed off. Shooting saw a Meganob killed but that was all. The Purifiers charged just the Boyz (electing not to multi charge the Meganobz as to not be oversaturated with psychic power choices). They easily wiped them out and consolidated out of Ghaz' reach. Ghaz went after the Rhino, the Bikes went after the Ven Dread, and the Meganobz went for the Dread. The Bikeboss went for the Razorback but couldn't reach it. Ghaz easily tore open the Rhino but both Dread held on, with the regular losing his arms. The Purifiers went into the Bikeboss and the Strikes got out and went at Ghaz. Both were successful and the Dread continued to hold things up. The rest of the game the Dreads held up the last two Ork units until the Strikes and Purifiers could charge and finish them off, netting me a 17-3 victory.
I moved up to table 3 for game 2 and was to play Dawn of War Annihilation against Tadhgfffff Murphy's Blood Angels Funwagon. He had Meph, 8 Death Company and a DC Dread in a Raven, and a Rhino. He deployed Meph in the centre behind the Rhino in a ruin. I deployed my Strikes in their Razorback behind a hill in the corner. First turn he moved toward them fast while the Raven came on Flat-Out in the same direction. He fired one missile and popped the Razorback. I brought the Termies with OXI on near Meph while the rest of the army came on the far side hoping the Termies could claw out a few KP while the Dreads supported at range. The army managed to blow up Meph's Rhino and destroy the Raven's Multi-Melta before the Termies charged Meph and killed him. The Raven moved inward and the Dread jumped out and assaulted the Termies (after the Raven killed one). The Termies failed Hammerhand leaving the unit at S5. They hit with one Grenade but couldn't get the glance. The Dread then munched through the whole unit and then ran down the OXI. The Strikes couldn't get away so stayed put and put a Heavy Psycannon shot into the Dread, taking off its Melta arm. The rest of the army shot at the Raven, blowing it up. The now disembarked Death Company made a beeline for the rest of the army on the far side. The Dread went into the Strikes, killing three. The army shot at the DC as they crossed the field and over few turns managed to reduce them to two models before charging them and finishing them. His Dread was meanwhile done with the Strikes and on his way. He finally made a 6" charge through terrain and killed all but one Purifier, who hit twice with his S10 Hammer, and then failed to pen, meaning he died in my turn while my Dreads could do nothing, and so Tadgh narrowly won the game 14-6.
Game 3 was on table 4 with Merv Murphy's Grey Knights. Capture and Control Pitched Battle GK vs GK; fun. Merv had Coteaz, an OXI with all the grenades, 10 Strikes in a Raven, a PsyDread, a PsyBack, a Vindicare, and 5 Henchmen in a Chimera. I deployed in cover as Coteaz could easily take the initiative (though I kept the Termies in reserve to stay safe of Mindstrikes), but he played safe and reserved everything bar the Strikes who went on foot behind a large hill so I couldn't see them. Vindicare outflanked. I just shuffled in my first two turns as he did nothing in his first; Termies didn't come on thank God. Raven came in and went Flat-Out up the middle and everything else came on back in the corner behind the same hill as the Strikes, including the Vindicare as I had made sure he would not be in pistol range of anything without cover. The Termies then came on turn 3 and ran up the flank opposite Merv's army. Everything else worked on the Raven until it went down. He stayed in the corner, shooting over the hill and the Vindicare trying to pop shot Termies. Meanwhile I kept avancng stadil with the Purifiers and Termies while the Strikes hit and the Dreads supported. I managed to pop the Razorback, and eventually forced him to pull his Strikes off the objective and hold it with the Henchmen. By turn 5 I had my whole army and he had lost his Raven and Razorback. In turn 6 he managed to take out my Rhino and a Dread, however the Termies and Purifiers took out the two Strike combat squads. However poor consolidation rolls kept them from contesting his objective and so the game ended in an 11-9 draw to me.
Game 4 was another GK vs GK fest on table 5 with Ivan 'Nudie' McTubbs nee-Sheehan. It was Seize Ground (3) Dawn of War. He got to place two but had to place them in the open while I placed my one in a ruin. He had Coteaz, and OXI with all the grenades, 8 Strikes in a Raven, 3 Henchmen in a PsyBack, a Vindicare, and a Dreadknight. He deployed dead centre, with the Knight behind the Raven. The PsyBack went on the left near a hill. I bunkered in a ruin to my left and again reserved the Termies. Vindicare Infiltrated in a wood to the east. He zoomed up the centre with the Raven, shunting with the Knight. The Vindicare took out my normal Dread. I kept my positioning mostly intact and opted to forgo smoke for firepower. I managed to wreck the Raven, but couldn't get the Vindicare. In his turn the Vindicare popped the Rhino, leaving his Strikes with characters assault the Purifiers after I placed them poorly, and his Psya blew up mine, killing one Strike. In the assault my Grenades managed to reduce his attacks meaning the Justicar survived, and I was able to kill three of his guys. Just in time the Termies showed up and assaulted. The Strike assaulted the Dreadknight. This time I de-gunned and immobolized his PsyBack and wounded the Vindicare. In the assault his Grenades got to take effect again, and unfortunately mu Justicar Perils'ed and died. Major fluffage followed leaving Coteaz and three strikes alive, while my last Purifier and 2 more Termies died. The Dreadknight meanwhile got Force Weapon'ed to death. In his turn he failed to take down my Ven Dread with the Vindicare and killed the last of the Termies who only wiped one Strike. In my turn my Strikes assaulted and wiped one of his and Coteaz, sending the last running, while the Ven Dread killed the Vindicare. In his turn he debussed and hid with the Henchmen while the last Strike ran. In my turn I opted to run instead of shoot with the Ven Dread so as to assure the lone Strike couldn't contest or take, and my Strikes shot at the Henchmen, killing one but failing to panic them. In his turn they moved and ran however as the game ended it turned out they were actually 4" from the objective and so I got a 16-4 win.
Last game was on table 4 again playing Spearhead Annihilation against Caolan 'Slim' Gibbons' Blood Angels. He had Dante and 5 Sang Guard in a Raven with a Fury Dread, 5 Marines in a Razorback, and a Land Speeder. I made a similar deployment to game 3 in the same spot but with the Termies manning the frontlines this time. He reserved everything. I shuffled and cast Warp Quake while I waited. In turn 2 his Raven and Speeder came on, the Speeder scattering but avoiding Warp Quake. He failed to do anything with his shooting. On the flip-side, my shooting was quite the opposite. First shot took out the Raven, killing a Sang Guard in the blast. Next shot blew up his Dread killing another Sang Guard. Next shoot blew up the Speeder, while the rest wounded Dante. In his turn the Razorback came on and realising he couldn't risk it, hid behind the same large hill Merv used earlier. Dante and co advanced and blew up the normal Dread. I chose to play the game out instead of running and hiding for the win and pumped all but the Purifiers into Dante's boys, but only killed one. They retaliated by killing the Terminators. However in the following turn I wiped them and that was that; an 18-2 win to me.
So after 3 large wins, a winning draw, and a minor loss I was on 68pts and managed to pull 4th place out of 32 players, which I was both surprised and delighted with. There's no doubt that dice were with me at times, but games 2 and 3 showed that this was not always the case, so I was delighted with my performance. I had a great day also and will be back again for Moocon 5 - The Hand of the Moo.
With that (not so quick) report out of the way, it brings me to the other thing I've been up to - Warmachine. After been interested back in September one of the lads finally brought up his models and we got to play. After one of the lads bought some Cryx (my first choice) I decided to go with Cygnar instead and have not regretted it. The models are sweet and the army is pretty awesome. After reading the book I really wanted to use eCaine (the model is unreal to boot) and so instead of buying a started I wrote a 35pt list and just started buying models toward it working with what I had for smaller games. So far I've lost to Cryx, beaten Menoth, and tied in a team game teaming with Khador against Cryx and Menoth.
The main thing I found with Warmachine was how different the models were. They were more natural and less over the top than most GW stuff, and found myself compelled to begin painting right away. So far I've gotten Caine, a Sentinel and a Journeyman Caster painted from the list, and am currently working on a Defender, a Squire, and Eiryss. Pictures of my finished models are below. As you will notice, I haven't gone with the standard rulebook blue, and instead opted for a colour scheme I had originally intended for my Grey Knights had I not already painted a few models grey.
Menoth colour scheme on Cygnar, looks nice.
ReplyDeleteI bet you'll remember how Venerable works from now on ;)
ReplyDeleteIf the bikers had made a run for it on that turn I might have been able to gipsy something