Chicago GT: Update 3
My last few posts have focused on the “Games Day” portion of the Chicago event, but I was mainly there for the “Grand Tournament”. Today’s post is going to focus on the Grand Tournament portion and specifically my games. I’ve mentioned a couple of times that the competition was really stiff and that I was excited (and lucky) to finish as well as I did.
GAME 1: Seek and Destroy
Opponent: Alpha Legion (Richard Fox)
My first game was against a neat Alpha Legion army; well, it was a Legion of the Damned army that used the Chaos rules. Richard didn’t like the Cursed Founding rules, so represented them as Alpha Legion. Or were they Alpha Legion pretending to be Legion of the Damned?.. Either way, it was cool. I didn’t manage to come back with Richard’s army list (he didn’t have an extra copy for me), but it was pretty well designed. He had a tough bike Lord (which killed more than his fair share), an infiltrating Lieutenant, a heavy bolter Havoc squad, a heavy weapon Havoc squad, and a handful of infiltrating Chaos Space Marine squads.
Highlights: His bike Lord was awesome! In two rounds (and without much help), he killed Dante, 4 Honor Guard, 6 Death Company, and then wiped out two Blood Angels tactical squads! Both of us were shocked at the turn of events, but it was a great game! Even with that devastation, I managed to keep the victory points pretty close. The Annihilation mission objective gave him a 247 VP lead, so he squeeked out a Minor Win.
Result: Minor Loss (7 points)
GAME 2: Secure and Control
Opponent: Death Guard (Al Gleason)
Still reeling from Dante being cut down so easy, I jumped into a Secure and Control (the one with the d3+2 objectives) with a pretty fierce looking Death Guard army. Al provided all of his opponents with a cool color handout with his back story and army list (nicely done!). He did a great job painting his army and crafting his list; he went with tough units but didn’t go crazy on wargear or gifts. A tough Lieutenant with a Manreaper and Speed, a Great Unclean One, a Plague Marine unit with the Daemonvessel (in a Rhino), an all Plasma Havoc squad (infiltrating), 3 other Plague Marine squads, a 7-man Nurgle Terminator squad and a Defiler. The first picture of this post is Al’s Defiler. I was really impressed with his self control and because he didn’t waste any points, his army had a lot of models for a Death Guard army but kept the punch.
I was pretty familiar with Death Guard (thanks to Bigred) so I knew this one was going to be an uphill climb. As you can see by the setup, we both filled the middle of the board with terrain (I needed to hide my jump packs from his Defiler and he needed to hide his Daemonvessel from my Assault Cannons). We both started within striking distance of the middle of the board, but with my first move I used my over-charged engines to swing to the right. This kept his infiltating plasma gunners out of the game completely and let me dictate when and where the assaults happened.
But, man, this was a hard army; like chipping ice off a windshield. With a Great Unclean One one one objective and 7 Nurgle Terminators on the other, it was next to impossible for me to hold anything. We managed to bloody each other’s noses nicely. In the end I managed to sneak in a Minor Win by using my two Landspeeders to hold three objectives.
Highlights: His Defiler found a small hole between my vehicles where he could see a member of the Death Company so he tried an unlikely shot. Using Night Fight rules he managed to place a shot through that hole 25″ away. He rolled the sight and managed to hit the guy. Well, Dante was right next to him and not part of a unit (me being over confident). Needless to say, he was wounded and I failed my Invulnerable save. That was the end of Dante in that game. Gah, Dante died before he even moved! For me, the highlight for me was the 13 Rends against his Great Unclean One! For Dante!
Result: Minor Win
Note: Al got my Favorite Opponent for the tournament, but it was a tough choice. I really liked everyone I played, but Al made a tough game a lot of fun. I hope I get a chance to play him again! Al, if you read this, thanks for a great, great game!
GAME 3: Take and Hold
Opponent: Space Marines (Jeff Lybbert)
This mission was made for the Blood Angels and the first (and only) time I had an advantage after deployment. Jeff had a cool and colorful army (again I’m composing the list by memory) that really packed a punch. Led by a jump Chaplain (and a nasty Assault squad), the core of his army was 4 large squads of Scouts. In addition to the Scouts, he had a rock solid Veteran squad (Furious Assault, Lightning Claws, Power Weapon, and a Power Fist in a Rhino), a beautifully converted Dreadnought, a Predator Destructor and 2 Land Speeders (with Multi-meltas).
If you look at the image above you can get a good idea about the deployment. The game was extremely close for four turns. Our shooting was very closely matched; even our close combats were very close. He was counting on his nasty, nasty Veteran squad to defend the objective from the Death Company. They did a good job, but the new Death Company is really a beast. Dante and the Honor Guard were able to assault one of his Scout units and his Assault Squad.
It was during one of these close combat phases that things took a sharp turn in the wrong direction for Jeff. I had an extremely lucky phase and he had an extremely unlucky one and with two good players that’s all it takes. After his Veteran and Assault squads were buried, I was able to get all of my mobile units into scoring range and deny his return fire. With double points for most of my army, I was able to pull off a massacre.
I had a great game and closed out the day. It’s rare to have a game (and opponent) this fun.
Result: Massacre
Note: Jeff got my Player’s Choice vote for best painting. I was so impressed with Jeff’s painting that I bullied my friends into voting for him (and verbally abused those that didn’t). He ended up with the Silver for one of the Golden Daemon categories. He’s a fantastic painter and a Texan to boot! Good work, Jeff!
GAME 4: Cleanse
Opponent: Tyranids (George D.)
George (I apologize for not writing down your whole name) was attending the Grand Tournament with his son. His son was playing a Mech Eldar list a few tables ahead of us, so he was pretty happy. George was extremely laid back and was there to have a good time (he’s a baker in real life). He brought a really well balanced Big Bug list that he called Hive Fleet Goliath. It had two Hive Tyrants with Venom Cannons and Tyrant Guard, a single GunFex, two tough-tough Carnifexes with Venom Cannons, 3 Zoanthropes, and 27 Genestealers. Ugh, Genestealers.
We played a Cleanse; I deployed first so I pushed one of my Baals far forward to keep his Genestealers away while I created decent firing lanes to funnel his Genestealers. Ugh, Genestealers. Now, I wasn’t too afraid of his Big Bugs (my Death Company can take them), but those Genestealers are better and faster than me so I had to watch out. Fortunately for me, George played pretty defensively to rely on his shooting to bring down my vehicles. His shooting dice just didn’t work for him. I wasn’t able to assault him (except on the edges to kill a Carnifex here and there) and he hid his Genestealers from me so I couldn’t mow them down as fast I would like. Ugh, Genestealers.
The game came down to the last couple of rounds. I mounted a calculated assault on a Hive Tyrant (trying for a Minor Win over a Draw) and I whiffed on my Rends. My Death Company got stuck in an Assault and one of his Genestealer Broods rolled a 6 on his Fleet and were able to join (by a fraction of an inch). Instead of gaining me 270 points, it ended up costing me a few.
At the end of the game both of us were rushing for table quarters. I managed to use my Land Speeder to contest the one that he took by reducing my Honor Guard to non-scoring. I managed to get a Rhino into one held by a Carnifex with one too many wounds remaining. It was a nail biter and loads of fun. We both really earned our points in this one!
Result: Draw
GAME 5: Recon
Opponent: Space Marines (Marc Parker)
This was by far my toughest game of the tournament. I drew Marc Parker, a multiple GT winner and a great guy, on my last game. We were on table 14 and a Massacre could push us up higher in the scoring, so the pressure was on! Marc brought a “stand up and shoot” Space Marine army with Inquisitorial allies. Two Devastator squads, 2 Deamonhunter Inquisitorial Retinues (heavy bolters, plasma cannon, psycannon, and mystics), a Witch Hunter Inquisitorial Retinue (heavy bolters, plasma cannons, and witch hunting gear), a Tactical squad, two Scout squads, and a tricked out Chaplain (with Crosius and Storm Hammer).
We drew a lava board and worked hard to screw each other with our terrain placement. I got the center blocked, but he made my path a hard one. The Liber Heresius and Emperor’s Tarot worked for him so he got board side and first turn. I wish I had some pictures. The game would have been a quick one in my favor if my damn over-charged engines would have worked. Instead I had to jump from my wrecked vehicles and cross his zone of death. With some luck (and a fast working Sanguinary Priest) my Honor Guard and most of my Death Company made it across the board. I made short work of one Inquisitorial Retinue and slammed into a Devastator squad. My Death Company finished them and needed a 3 on the massacre roll to tie up another squad (and leap frog across his gun line). Drumroll… I rolled a might 1. That’s right, my Death Company chose to stop for a snack in front of his firing line.
His nasty nasty Chaplain assaulted Dante and he chose to use his Storm Hammer. Dante hit 5 times and caused 3 wounds. Marc made all 3 saves. His Chaplain returned and caused 2 wounds and Dante failed his Invulnerable saves. My fire base (tactical squads and Land Speeders at this point) made sure that he didn’t get any scoring units across, but I just couldn’t drop enough of his army. In the last turn a lone Scout that refused to fail a single Morale test managed to drop a Speeder and that cost me the draw. But until the last turn, there was no way to determine who was ahead.
It was my game against Marc that made the whole trip worth it. There’s nothing that makes you more excited about this hobby that playing someone of his skill level. I’ll be back in Baltimore for my revenge if you make it, Marc!
Result: Minor Loss
I only have a few criticisms about the tournament. First, the rulings were a little off. My games required two rulings (one went in my favor and one went against me), but I feel that both rulings were bad. I know those guys were working hard, but I would have liked a little stronger judging. Secondly, I scored a 20 out of 45 for my painting. That’s below average and my army is certainly not painted to a below average level. Finally, I talked to each of my opponents and we filled out our score cards and turned them in together. According to the cards we turned in, I scored 50 sportsmanship points. But I was listed with 48. So either there was a mistake or one of my opponent’s went back and changed his number. I’m hoping for the mistake.
But, all in all, a kiss ass tournament! Can’t wait for my next one!
FINAL SCORES
Battle Points: 57 (out of 100)
Painting: 20 (out of 45)
Sportsmanship: 48 (out of 50)
Favorite Opponent: 2
Total: 127
Place: 27th (out of 120)
