DoA?

+++Transmission begins+++
So, call me behind the times if you like, but I have had good success with mech spam - Lascannon Razorbacks, Assault squads with Priests, 2 Baals, 2 other Predators, a Vindicator, and whatever else (usually Librarian Dreads) depending on points.

Still, I am wanting to expand my options a bit more, so I have been trying a number of other lists (dropping the Autocannon and Lascannon Preds for Missile Launcher Devastator squads, Assault squad spam, so on).

But, I'm torn on the best way to do a DoA lists, so I thought a discussion might be interesting.

1850 points:
an Episolary Librarian with a jump pack
an Honor Guard unit with a storm shield and lighning claw, a power sword and storm shield, a storm shield and power sword and melta bombs, and one with a storm shield and the Chapter Banner (and the standard Sanguinary Initiate).

6 squads of 10 Assault Marines with 1 melta and a power fist each.

That is 1850 even.

I was strongly considering this, though:
a normal (1 power-per-turn) Jump Librarian
the Honor Guard above
A Storm Raven
4 Assault squads as above
a Furioso with a heavy flamer and extra armor
2 Jump Priests

If I don't include a Storm Raven, I can use:
a jump Librarian
the HG above
2 jump Priests
4 Assault squads
2 Librarian Dreadnaughts

What have been your experiences with assault lists and what do you think will make a good DoA list against the current "OMG the game is broken" (note: that is meant sarcastically) lists out there?

+++Transmission Ends+++

Back in business: Two more full sized banners incoming!

Finally I have the banner machine running again. The lady who sews my banners for me had a breakdown. Her machine broke. That meant that I had to figure out who was going to sew the banners for me before I was able to do more! Definitely an inconvenience since I already accepted payment for two.  In case you have been sleeping under a rock with the Geico dudes, I paint full sized banners by commission. Here is a recent one I did for Feast of Blades actually taken by Chandler the guy who is organizing the tournament.



I hope the link works!

I got it off his photobucket.

Any way, back to the machine. I ended up finally offering to buy the lady a new machine on agreement that she would work off the cost by sewing banners for me.  Machine was handed off today and we are good to go!

The two banners I am working on now are the Space Wolves Chapter Banner and Helbrechts personal banner.

Image borrowed off Bolter and Chainsword

who borrowed it from some one else.

The dancing dog!  It really is a pretty abanner and I am looking forward to painting it.  This one poses a challenge though. Normally I send off the fabric to be sewn while I paint the image onto a nice and neat piece of canvas, then she sews the canvas onto the banner.  But there are elements to this banner that extend all the way to the edges, while others do not.  Plus they overlap. Big problem. So I am going to have to do all of the painting directly onto the banner.  This is hard because the "Duck" cloth soaks up the paint, causing me to have to use many layers to get color down.  

The next one is Helbrecht's

Thanks to Ron Saikowski, this is his work from his blog.

Now this banner is more traditional. A big black piece of cloth with a rectangular image sewn on.  I am having her sew the banner and will paint the image onto canvas.  Nice and easy!  

Lots of guys have been asking for prices on these.  Let me break it down.  In materials and labor on the banner being sewn I spend 100 bucks. I pay her 50 bucks, plus paint and fabric runs about 50. I use top quality paint.  So the first 100 bucks of the cost are eaten up just in production. That leaves me charging 300 bucks to do a codex chapter like these.  It takes about 10 hours to paint one and my standard cost is 20.00 an hour.  (Hey I could make 10 bucks an hour at Michaels Art Supply or even McDonalds, I don't think 20.00 an hour for putting all of my degrees to work including my BFA and a masters is too much to ask, especially since I made more than that doing landscaping!) 

I also do customized ones, but I add a couple of hours to the total based on just how much work I have to do. This means that I ask the customer to do a rough sketch of what he wants, including his desires for color etc. then I redraw it to look good and work well. This may include changing it around to meet the principles of design and just plain look good.  Usually I will have to spend time researching images and figuring out how to paint them. 

What it comes down to is that I have never charged 300 bucks for a banner and done less than 10 hours of work. Usually I would estimate it at 15+, but another 100 bucks on the price tag starts to push it well out of reach.  My Blood Angels Chapter Banner was at least 15 to 20 hours.  You can find a link to that on the right.  

Ok time to get to work. I got resin to pour.  

Jawaballs

Mail Call! Taking Qs... Kicking As.

What is your primary malfunction maggot!?!

Time for some mail call!  I don't do this enough. In general, most of the emails I get have to do with two things. Either list help, or a very very hard question as follows:

hey jawaballs love your vids i am new to warhammer 40k and i do not fully understand all the rules i get how to move your army and about building a army but the actual gameplay is what im not so sure about i have a rulebook but i need advice from a advanced really good player like you please help thank you

How do I answer that! I can write a book on this and not even scratch the surface. If I can throw you some tidbits of advice for a total noobie, I would say first of all, spend a couple hours looking through the GW website. Before you even start caring about how the game works, you need to decide if you are serious about going into it. Then figure out what models you like the most. Don't worry about what is good, what has the best fluff, what armies win the most tournaments. Worry about what YOU like. You will be building and painting models that you pay a LOT of money for. Make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.  The first tank I ever bought was the Vindicator because I thought it was awesome. I went with Space Marines because I remembered all those old pictures from when 40k first started of the beaky marines in huge combats.  I wanted to collect them!  I do Blood Angels now because I love assault marines, and red is my favorite color.  So go with that first. If you like anime aliens in mech armor, go with Tau. If you like Ripley Scott aliens infesting planets, go with Tyranids. If you like Starship Troopers with hundreds of grunts pounding the ground and dieing like gnats, go with Imperial Guard. They are all good.

Start small. Buy yourself a SINGLE SQUAD. Assemble and paint it. Then get another. A transport or something. Build your army slowly. DO NOT collect an entire army and stack the boxes on your shelf or worse open and assemble them all. You are a long way off from playing full games, so don't worry about a full army. Aim small... figure out what is in a 500 point force and build that army. Then learn how to play with it.

Find a friend.  Get some one else into it with you. Two noobies learn faster than one nooby and a vet. When I started learning Fritz was teaching me, but I came to rely on him knowing the rules and I was learning poorly. It was not until another nooby and I got together at my house and we played the game for like 8 hours, lookign up every single rule every single time.  That is the only way.

Look up every single rule, every single time.  Thats right! Do not be afraid to look up rules. We learn through repetition. Do not be embarrassed, but do not let some one who knows more about the game rush you through learning the rules. Ask for explanations until you fully understand them, then do it again.

Thats about it for that! Follow those rules and you are well on your way.

List Help!

Hey Chris, I was wondering if you could review my 2k list for local play. Whenever you get a free minute. No rush.

I have a lot of IG, SM and Tau in my area. Now I can’t decide what to do about my hammernators, put them in a SR or LRC? I like the SR cuz I can add the furioso with it. With the LRC I can throw my HQ with the Priest and Termies in it. With the SR I do Termies, Priest, and Resc + Furioso. Your thoughts please, Thanks! -Dan

:HQ:

Libby- TDA + Storm Bolter

U.Rage, Smite

Reclusiarch

:Elite:

Furioso - Talons, H. Flamer

Hammernators SS

Priest- Power Sword

:Troops:

Tact - Flamer, ML

Rhino

Tact - Plasgun, Plascan

Rhino

Scouts - Snipers, ML

:FA:

VGV - Sgt x2 LC, TH, Single LC, x2 CCW+BP

Jump Packs

Landspeeders x2 - Typhoon, AssCan

:HS:

Devastators - x3 ML, LC

Storm Raven - TL PlasCan

-1975 Total

-25pt for whatever extra

Ok. On quick review, I would say that I would love to face your list in a GT.  For local play it is decent, and actually probably better because you wont be crushing every one and will be more likely to get other guys to play.  Remember that my point of view comes from that of a Grand Tournament contender who goes to win every time. I am not really the guy to ask about list building for your LGS.  In that regard your list will be strong but not crushing and most armies should be able to put up a fun fight.

Now if you want to push this, as I think you do since you were asking about better options for your termies, get them in a Land Raider Crusader and drop the hammer time. Hammertime goes against what makes Blood Angels good, The Red Thirst.  If you want to play hammernators, play Codex Marines. They have other strengths to wrap around those hammers like cheap Termi libbies with Null Zone. Blood Angels need to take advantage of their Furious Charge and pump out the initiative 5 wounds.  My lightning claw termies lead by a chaplain with a priest is truly devastating to just about any thing.  Putting them into a LRC gives them assault grenades which you need to take advantage of your Furious Charge. Put one hammer in the squad for dread busting. If you have them in a Raven, you again will lose the benefit of the Furious Charge if they assault into terrain, and they most likely will.  The raider will also give you something to hide your VanVets behind if your opponent leaves you nothing to Heroic Intervention. In that case I suggest you advance them behind your raider and assault enmasse using the priest from the terminator squad. That squad is armed well. 

Your troops are ok. I prefer assault marines, but tacs are ok. Scouts are not a horrible choice for the cost. Though I would put a fist and combi melta on the SGT to give you more flexible options. Now you can flank them and pop tanks from behind.  

Speeders are hit or miss.  I've written books about them, so I won't get to involved here, mostly they require smart tactics and practice to use well.  Here is an old article. 

Devs are effective and surprisingly good at killing troops.  Deep strike hammernators? Here are 20 hits with frag missiles. Make those saves.  Even if you only get 10 wounds that should be one or two dead.  

Most important here is to keep in mind your goals. If you are looking to have fun at a LGS make sure you go with that mind set. Joke, play, chat, make the social experience the point, not the game.  If you are looking to prep for a tournament at the LGS, be sure your opponent knows that and is ready before you start the game.  I get in so few games at the LGS that all of them are prep games for my GT face beating lists. When I go I look for opponents and make it clear to them that I will be trying to table them.  That slims down the guys willing to play punching bag pretty considerably, but it is better than strolling up to a table against some Tau army played by a noob with no idea how to play them and running him out of the game.  Be clear and upfront.

More List Help:

hey jawa here is the list you told me to email you to have you give tips on
 
2000 point blood angel list
Commander Dante
Librarian jump-pack infernus pistol epostolary
(unleashed rage/shield of sanguinius)
Sanguinary Guard banner,P fist, infernus pistol
Sanguinary priest x2 power sword jump pack
furioso dreadnought H Flamer, talons and Extra Armor
assault squad(10man)x2 flamer, meltagun, powerfist
vanguard vet, sergeant powerfist stormshield, LCx2 melta bombs, LC stormshield, LC stormshield, thunderhammer stormshield
stormraven extra armor, assault cannon, multimelta

Ok, I'm guessing on your intentions here.  Dante with priest and Sanguard. Assault squad with priest and libby. Vets in Raven? If this is the case, you will struggle to win vs most other 2k armies.  Dante will deep strike and pop a transport then you will lose most if not all of the squad to massed dakka and high AP weapons. If the raven makes it across the table, the vets will not do all that well in combat. Most of them are going last. Against most squads you will probably take at least light losses, and in some cases lose them outright before they even get to do damage. Refer to my answer above. Blood Angels need to take advantage of Furious Charge. Switch the fists to Power Weapons. A 5 man squad with 3 initiative 1 weapons is bait. The stormshields make them expensive bait.  

You also have no survivable troops. You are going to be dropping your Sanguard to their deaths every game. You are the going to be forced to use your assault squad to be your secondary kill squad, and lets face it, they are not that good compared to other armies dedicated assault troops.  That leaves you with no troops to hold objectives, forcing you to go for the massacre every time with an army that will have a hard time doing that.  Oh wait, I just saw that you have 2 assault squads.You need something that holds the line, so switch one to a tactical squad in a rhino with something that can reach out and touch like a lascannon.  Expect to lose just as many games as you win if not more!  


Quick advice. Your list relies too much on good luck and terrain to win. Sanguard are a poor choice as a troops choice since they will die. I would drop them for another large assault squad, and drop the vets for an honor guard.  Attach Dante to the HG in the raven. Get a transport on the table to provide at least some mobile cover for those circumstances where there is none, and march across the table. That will improve your chances. However many guys you have, expect to get less than half of them into combat.  If you don't think you can take out an entire army with half of your forces, than rethink what you are playing! :)

Thats it for all folks.

Jawaballs

The Colonial GT, Princeton NJ

Whats next on the Jawaballs tour?  The Colonial GT of course!

The Colonial GT, from what I understand and I invite any of the guys involved to correct me in the comments, was primarily a Fantasy event. (Maybe one of you guys can send me a little blurb and I can edit it in to his copy.) But this year I think they are offering 40k for the first time? I don't know any of the main guys, but I know Dave fairly well from Brother's Grim in Selden NY. Dave runs their local tournaments and has been invited to take the reigns on The Colonial. I know he has run some bigger ones out on Long Island at large cons so he is the perfect man for the job.  By the way, Brothers Grim will be having a GT of their own this summer. Visit their site for details. It falls on the same weekend as The Throne of Skulls so I will not be in attendance.  Next time! But it is sure to be an outstanding tournament.

Back to The Colonial. It bills itself as a laid back tournament where friendly games and sportsmanship are the norm, not the exception. That is my kind of place. I certainly do play to win, but I make it my mission to have a good time, and help my opponent do so to. This is encouraging for The Colonial. Looking at the list of participants, I see some big names already signed up and expect to see a few more before it starts. So I know there will be lots of competition, but I also know that the names I recognize I do so for a reason. They are memorable opponents! One that I can't wait have a beer with is Ted Nagel. I did a player spotlight on him not long ago. You can read that HERE. Great guy. Hopefully Brad "The Spoiler" Park will be there too. And no Brad, I have not started your Vrock yet. :) I have to finish some Templars first.

Then there is Dameon Green. You might remember the guy who got raked over the coals over on Blood of Kittens. Well, gaming aside, the guy is really nice. He truly does care about what people think about him. (He found my TAC measurement tool on the floor and mailed it to me.) I had a very frank conversation with him at the end of our game at Valentines and he honestly was asking for my feedback on not just his gaming, but his overall persona and demeanor. You have to respect a guy who asks you point black for your brutal criticism on his personality. Some guys, no, most guys don't have natural charisma and have to make a big effort to improve what is undeniably part of scoring in major GTs. For that I salute you Dameon.

You see, these events are about much more then crushing your enemies, driving them before you and hearing the lamentation of their women. Beating face is part of it, but it is also about good natured banter, toasting a drink and sharing battle stories. This is what The Colonial GT boasts as it's focus. And this is what 40k has come to mean to me. The fact that it is just a couple hours away, and situated in Princeton NJ, home of one of my wives college friends does not hurt. "Hey baby, lets go to Princeton and you can hang out with Kelly! I will give you money to buy dinner. Just leave me at the hotel!"

So be looking for me, my noob buddy Jim Stanton who will be playing in his first GT getting ready for The Nova which he wants to do well at, and hopefully Fritz to be making the trek and joining the boys from Brothers Grim, DaBoyz, DC and every else on the East Coast for a great time.

See you in Princeton!

Jawaballs

The new GW Posterboy!

I got a great chuckle today when I opened my email and found another GW message. This time it was a Gamesday promo email rocking my goofy mug showing off my Best Banner loot from 2010 Gamesday!

This one has been making the rounds. It has been up on the GW site for a while, and most recently appeared in last months White Dwarf.  Is Jawaballs the new GW poster boy? I don't know whats worse, the grease stain from Chicken Fingers on my thigh or my little chicken legs looking like rotten wooden peg legs. How a fat man can have skinny ankles is beyond me!

Now to figure out what banner to paint for Gamesday 2011.  Suggestions?

Jawaballs

Jawaballs plays in 3 game local tournament

Last weekend I went out to play a 3 game tournament at a local gaming store called Toywiz, in Nanuet NY.  There are only two places in my area outside of New York City that throw decent sized and semi regular tournaments. Brothers Grim in Selden NY and Toywiz. I don't get to make the Grim ones any more because they start them too late for me. The wife did not appreciate me getting home after midnight last time.  :)  So it was nice to be able to get in a good tournament and be home by 7. I even got to cook the wife dinner so as to lessen her wrath.





Moving on!

EDIT:
I am adding my list.


My list:

Meph
Reclusiarch

Termies x5
four claws
one hammer
Land Raider Crusader
Multi Melta
Extra Armor

Priests x2 no upgrades

Storm Raven
Las and multi

Devs with 4 ML

3 assault squads
1: Rhino, Melta
2: Rhino, Melta, PW
3: Razor, TL Las (Priest catches ride)

Furioso with Talons


Game One:

Picture borrowed from Tordek. 

Check his blog for more pics.

I ended up against blogger Tordek! I linked him up under the picture. Check his blog for more pictures and his batrep.  He was a nice guy and the game was a pleasure. I won the roll to go first and he failed to seize. So blast away I did!  If you look at the picture you see a blocky terrain piece near a crater and measuring tape on the left. Well, he had his two ravagers behind that piece. It was not enough to give them a cover save though, and on my first turn my Raven blasted one with the blood strikes and one with the Las, exploding them both.  My raider moved up and destroyed another raider while the rest of my shooting killed another I think, and took the gun off yet another.  

This pretty much ended the game. He with no way to move his boys, and most of his guns dead, there was little he could do against me but brace for impact.  I disembarked Meph and sent him down the middle towards that crater and sent the raven with the dread to its current position. The dread got out and killed the infantry holding that objective while the raven killed their raider. My Land raider put the hurt on some wyches which I surely did not want to have to get into assault. He dropped a webway hoping to bring in his much needed reinforcements right in my face. Sadly though, his Talos waited until turn five to come into the game. By the, it was all he had left. My raider punished his strong assault forces, while my assault forces ate up his shooty troops. 

Tordek was a spectacle of good sportsmanship though. The game was fun and light hearted. Some times guys get very sullied and bring the mood down when lady luck turns her back on them. Tordek just smiled and we played on. Good conversation, good game and good fun. 

In his defense, had he gone first, he would probably have blasted me off the table.  He had a lot of lances and would have certainly killed my armor, then probably gotten the jump on me in assault rather than me getting him. I shudder to think about what two squads of wychs would do to my terminator squad or Mephiston.

Great game man!

I tabled him and prepared for round 2.  

Round 2. (Sorry no more pics.)

I played against a Deathwing army played by a relatively new player. He tabled his round one opponent.

He had all terminator squads with a Deathwing librarian and the named dude who makes them troops or whatnot.

I reserved every thing and prepared for the killing! My raider and raven came on turn two and I sent them straight in after 3 squads of hammer termies I call Hammertime.  I sent in my termies and my dread. Bad mistake on the dread. 3+ invul saves dont care about Blood Talons. This was a KP mission, so I would have been better off just sitting him in the back some place safe. I took down a lot of termies especially after a bad round of rolling on his part from my shooting. He rolled a lot of 1s!  He killed my raven with missiles, and Mephiston was pinned in the wreckage! Damn box cars.  But before he could get more termies over to that side the flank folded. I killed his libby and 3 squads of hammertime. By then it was a matter of staying out of assault and punishing him with my Land Raider and Devastator squad with Frag Missiles.  Make a bunched up squad roll 25 dice, and he is gonna get some 1s.  By the time his named boy hit the table, it was over.

Round 3.
I played a Lysander marine army with Libby with Null Zone, two raiders, two squads of Hammertime, two 10 man tacs with rhinos and some scouts.

Way too confident, I sent in the raven to try to alpha strike his raider and kill his troops.  I failed to hurt the raider, and the cover saves failed to save the Raven, it died in the center of the table. On my next turn I went for assault. Meph got in, but only killed one tactical marine on the charge. The dread rolled a 1 for his movement, and a 1 for his run.  Blah.  I figured I would lose Meph to hammertime, but wanted to at least wipe out a tactical squad first. But I failed. On his turn I only killed two more tacticals, and he hit Meph with Hammers and killed him.  Lysander killed my dread.

Any other Blood Angel army would have folded at those losses. But that is why I have my big red Death Star!  Out charged my termies and killed Lysander and the first squad of Hammer Time.  From there the game became a dance of death, trying to hold objectives. There were three, our bases and one in the center. He immobilized a raider on terrain, and took out mine with a melta shot. I killed lots of marines, and tank shocked guys off his base twice, but going last he was able to take out my razorbacks and recontest or take the objectives.  The game ended in a draw!

You would have thunk I had learned from Valentines Day Massacre where I had two big losses from doing just what I did here. We will see if the lesson set in for next time. All I had to do was sit back and bait him into my destruction range, kill his heavy hitters at my advantage, then contest his objectives. If I had gotten my dread into his base with no hammers to take it down, it would have eaten all 3 of his troops squads defending it.

So that was it. I ended 2-1 on the day. When the scoring was being wrapped up, I noticed that the guy who went 3-0 for the day was playing with an unpainted army. Some of it was done, but it was mostly grey models. That meant that I could probably leapfrog him for the win!  Sure enough. My painting won yet another tournament for me.  :)

All in all it was a great local tournament and surprisingly competitive. There were 24 guys I think, and at least half of them were top notch players that I would see at any GT, with the rest being a mix of experienced casual players and noobies.

Fun stuff! Up next? The Colonial GT.  More to come on that later.

Jawaballs

BloodQuest: JP or DoA?

Okay Gents, MadMaverick here with another article concerning our little emo space vampires (I can only imagine all the black nail polish and Emo Music coming from Jawaballs' new army). Anyway, on to the article....

To JP or to DoA, that is the question?¿?¿
From the release of the BA codex, the internet has been a buzzing with army lists for BA. With that came the Razorspam, Mech BA, Sanguinary Guard Spam, ASM Spam, Dread Heavy Lists, and of course a mix of a few others. While all lists have their strengths and their weaknesses, it seems that there is a learning curve to each list, but lets focus on two of the more recent ones, full JP and DoA. Now most will say that a JP Army and a DoA army is the same, in most respects it is. Although it is in my humble opinion that they are different very slightly, which leads to a much different tactic.

DoA: Descent of AsskickingAngels
Example 1500 Pts. DoA Army List:

• 2x Libby w/ JP
• HG w/ JPs, 4x Melta
• 2x Sanguinary Priest w/ JP
• 2x ASM w/ 2x Melta, PF
• ASM w/ 2x Flamer, PW
• VV w/ JPs, PF, 2x PW, 1x MB

DoA is a great skill, an amazing one! It gives BA the ability to DS a lot more reliably. Now there are many situations where DoA is great, a good example being against a Castled Mech IG army. Generally this allows you to drop right next to tanks for some nice fireworks. The keyword there being GENERALLY. The ability to drop right next to your enemy and pour firepower onto them is great, if it works. Here is where the problem lies, if it works. With that said, even if it does work, it can leave you open to blast templates, ordanance, and even getting assaulted. Most players can overcome some of these with clever placement and such, but nothing can beat the chances of the dice. It is highly unlikely, near impossible, to DoA perfectly! When I say perfectly, I say drop each squad spot on with no mishaps and no reserve delays.

How to fix DoA?
Vanguard Veterans have been one way that many people have tried to help our BA from falling flat on their faces. VV can DS (more accurately thanks to DoA) and then assault any unit that may give your ASM boys any trouble, whether it be a distant Heavy Support or a nasty CC unit. The issue with this tactic is that generally it is a one-time-trick. VV will come in, hold/kill what needs to get out of the way, and then generally shot to death in return. Now I understand that this is a very situational unit, but can it really justify the heavy point cost?

JPs: Wings for our beloved Angels of Death
Example 1500 Pts. DoA Army List:

• Libby w/ JP
• HG w/ JPs, 4x Flamer
  
• 2x Sanguinary Priest w/ JP
• 2x ASM w/ 2x Melta, PF
• ASM w/ 2x Flamer, PW
• 2x Devs w/ 4x MLs
• Scouts w/ 5x Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks
  

Jump Pack armies, they consist of all jump packs right? To me they don't, they are majority JP, but not ALL JP. With that in mind, JP armies will generally rely on more FNP, Mobility, and some support to get across the field and into the enemy lines. The main advantage that JP has over DoA is guarantee! The guarantee that all your troops, especially crucial ones (i.e. Sanguinary Priests, Librarians), will start on field in the exact position you like. The major drawback is that they will start on the field, make sense right?¿? The other drawback is you give up the ability to fully DoA your army, but is that such a bad thing?

JP Army Composition
JP Armies generally consist of the typical BA units, ASM, HG, Libbies, Sanguinary Priests. The main difference in army composition is the addition of "support" units to the army. From Devastators, Rifleman Dreads, Libby Dreads, and even Predators (Vanilla or Baal Flavored). JP armies focus on getting as much ASM as possible in order to survive the Op-For firepower. The support units are generally kitted for anti-tank (Devs w/ 4x MLs), and from a distance they will lay down fire on the Op-For softening up positions and opening metal boxes for assault. Now I understand many will say that a JP army with Dev/Dread support will be vulnerable, specifically the backfield positions of the support element. This can be countered with proper deployment, adding addition support units (i.e. Cheap CC Scouts). Also this is disregarding the fact that at 1500 Pts, Op-For has chosen to ignore the 30-40 FNP/FC ASM charging towards them.

Summary
I have run both DoA and JP armies since the BA update. I started with a Hybrid, then to straight DoA (utilizing VV), and now I am using JP with Dread/Dev support. I can tell you from my experience, DoA is lots of fun, when it works. There is just too much uncertainty in a battle plan utilizing DoA for me. Since I have changed over to JP, I have found that my tactics are staying the same, allowing for a greater comprehension of them as a whole. DoA tactics are always changing based off of terrain, objectives, and Op-For, too much to utilize even semi-similar tactics. I find that if a player wants to try DoA, start with a JP Army with support first. This will get you use to the basics of ASM tactics and such, once you master that, move onto DoA. I made the mistake of doing DoA first, and it gave me many headaches and heartbreaks. JP Armies are more forgiving and better lovers on the battlefield, trust me!

For Sanguinius! For the Emperor!

Wargamescon! The completion of the trifecta.

Hey folks!

My tournament travel scene is sort of like the Bermuda Triangle. I want to hit three big events, and the rest of my life disappears in between.  Two of the big ones that I have decided to lock myself into are The Mechanicon and The Nova Open. Both are outstanding events put on by good people and most importantly, within driving distance. So what event finishes off the triangle?  Well, I would like to say Adepticon, but I have never been there! I'm not saying it is not awesome, but until I have gone, I have to file it under "I'm Trying". The boys over at BOLS have become friends of mine. I went to Bolscon two summers ago and was unable to go again this past summer. But I definitely plan on going again this year! What is keeping me back? Well, it is not an easy decision. I would love to see Larry, Jwolf, Goatboy and the guys again, drink some beers and enjoy another weekend of good gaming. But that damned Throne of Skulls had to pop up this year. Plus I intend on going to Gamesday in Chicago. Add to that the Jawababy and my quest to buy a home to raise him in... and Wargamescon does not seem like a possibility. I should know more in a few weeks after I have filed all the necessary paper work to start the process. 

Should YOU go to Wargamescon? I have to say that if it was driving distance, I would be there hands down. I had such a great time last time that my expectations for what a tournament should be were set almost unreasonably high. It was that good. If you want to experience a top notch event, get there.  

Hope to see you guys in Austin!  

Jawaballs

Tournament Report: Feast of Blades Qualifiers (with pictures!)

Hey there folks, how's it hangin?  Xaereth here again, from Delusions of Grandeur!  Today I have a tournament report for you.  I brought a Space Wolf list, (I know, I know, this is supposed to be a Blood Angels blog) but I figured since Jawa was kind enough to paint a banner for this event out of the goodness of his heart (click here to take a look at it), this was a good opportunity to post up a few battle reports!

The Feast of Blades looks to be an up-and-coming annual tournament in Colorado.  The basic premise is this:  each gaming store in the state has a qualifying tournament.  The two best overall players from each store are then invited to the Feast of Blades 'finals', where the best players from all over the state compete for big prizes, including the honor of hanging the Jawa Banner in your LGS for a year, until the next year comes along and someone else has the opportunity to win it.

I should say straight off that my LGS is home to one of the most competitive group of players in the state.  We recently (as in, 2 or 3 weeks ago) had our first GT in Colorado with over 70 players.  The end result had from my LGS alone:  Best Overall, Second Overall/Best General (me), 4th Overall, Sixth Overall, and a few other guys in the top 15.  If you want my tournament report for that tournament, click here.

At any rate, suffice it to say that at this specific tournament, we had at least six guys who could very likely qualify for the tournament in any other game store, had they wanted to.  Instead, everyone showed up for one of the toughest 3-game tournaments I've ever taken part in.

So, enough back story.  Let's jump into the games!

First, here's my list, Space Wolves at 2000 points:

Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Bear, Runic Armor, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tail Talisman, Wolf Tooth Necklace

Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of Majesty, Runic Armor, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace

Rune Priest w/ Jaws of the World Wolf, Murderous Hurricane

3x Wolf Guard w/ 3x Power Fists, 3x Combi-meltas

9x Grey Hunters w/ Wolf Standard, Rhino (Wolf Guard goes here)
9x Grey Hunters w/ Wolf Standard, Rhino (Wolf Guard goes here)
8x Grey Hunters w/ Wolf Standard, Rhino (Wolf Guard + Rune Priest go here)

4x Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ 2x Storm Shields, Thunder Hammer, Melta Bombs (one has both SS and TH)

6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers
6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers
6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers

This is almost the exact list I got 6th with at Wargamescon last year, with a few tweaks to the Wolfstar itself.  It's a pretty tough list, and I've had good success at tournaments with it thus far.  But enough reminiscing, let's talk about my games!

Game 1:  Wolfstar (me) vs. Eric's Blob Guard!

So, me and Eric have a history of playing each other quite a bit of late.  Of note, we played the 2nd round at the GT a few weeks ago, though he had Tau then.  In fact, I almost typed 'Eric's Tau' up top, instead of Guard.  He's one of the guys who played his way into the top 15.

Here's his list:

Straken's CCS w/ 3x Meltaguns, Medic, Bodyguard, Astropath, Chimera w/ HB

Platoon Command Squad w/ 4x Flamers, Chimera w/ HF

Infantry Squad w/ Autocannon, Meltagun, Power Weapon, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Autocannon, Meltagun, Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Autocannon, Meltagun, Power Weapon

Platoon Command Squad w/ 4x Meltas, Chimera w/ HF

Infantry Squad w/ Autocannon, Meltagun, Power Weapon, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Autocannon, Meltagun, Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Autocannon, Meltagun, Power Weapon

Platoon Command Squad w/ Al'Rahem, 4x Melta Guns

Infantry Squad w/ Flamer, Power Weapon, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Flamer, Power Weapon 
Infantry Squad w/ Flamer, Power Weapon

Leman Russ w/ Heavy Bolter
Leman Russ Demolisher w/ Heavy Bolter
Gryphon Squadron w/ 2x Gryphons

So, a pretty straightforward list, with lots of tough to deal with threats.  The mission was modified kill points, with HQ's worth 3 points, Troops/Dedicated Transports worth 1, and everything else worth 2.  Special characters were worth an additional point (i.e. Al'Rahem's squad would be worth 2 points, and Straken's CCS would be worth 4).

Secondary mission was table quarters where only troops could score/contest, and tertiary was keeping your highest point unit alive for the entire game.

Dawn of war deployment meant that my army was going to have a rough game of it.  I'll explain a little more later.  Eric won the roll to go first, and took it.

FOR BIGGER PICTURES, CLICK ON THEM!

Here is our starting deployments.  He put down a couple of his blobs, and kept his two platoon command squads (PCS) in regular reserve.  Al'Rahem was of course outflanking.  I put my Bear Lord on the table, 8" from the edge, giving me an extra 4" or so with the Dawn of War deployment, when the rest of the Wolfstar could walk onto it.  Otherwise, a Grey Hunter rhino hid behind some terrain.

 Guard Turn 1:

His stuff walked on.  They took a few potshots at my rhino, but failed to do any damage.

Straken was in the middle in a chimera, just waiting to hand out counter-charge.

Wolfstar Turn 1:

I walked my army on.  You'll see in a little bit where everything is, but you'll see I kept one of my Longfang squads in reserve.  Why, you ask?  There was a +1 bonus point for keeping something in reserve, and I didn't want to spare one of my Hunter squads.  Longfangs would be of limited use against his high AV tanks, I thought.

I drove up my rhino who had started far up the board, and popped smoke.

No picture this turn, apparently.

Kill point count:

Wolves: 0

Guard: 0

Guard Turn 2:

He rolled for reserves, and only got Al'Rahem in.  He walked them on right next to the Wolfstar.  Otherwise, not much movement went on.

See... right next to them.

 The blob fired at the Wolfstar, needing 4's to hit, and 6's to wound.  He caused 5 wounds, and I rolled my first saves of the game:

Nice!  Happy to start the game off rolling well :)

His other shooting didn't do much.  He did manage to pin one of the Long Fang squads with his Grypons, after killing a couple of them off.

See, I kept my Grey Hunters rhinos centralized, to go where they needed to go in later turns.

 Wolfstar Turn 2:

I needed to kill Al'Rahem's blob as quick as I could, and lay down some suppressing fire on those Gryphons!  So, I moved both rhinos over, disembarked their contents next to the platoon, and prepared to rapid-fire.  My other (previously advanced) Grey Hunters got out of their ride, and prepared to assault his blob on the left- I mostly needed to keep them busy for a few turns and divert his auto-cannons.

In shooting, my Rune Priest started things off right by sniping his commissar out of the squad.  Rapid-firing helped to kill droves of guardsmen.  My Star fleeted closer to the squad.  My single longfang squad was somehow able to get a pen and a glance on his Gryphon squadron, and immobilized/destroyed both of them! 

In assault, I tried to assault his blob on the left:

I rolled a 2, and couldn't get to them.  /sigh  Guess last turn he immobilized that rhino too.  Forgot about that!

Other assault occurred with my Wolfstar vs. his blob, and the Wolfstar wiped them out to a man, consolidating toward his blob.

Notice Al'Rahem is still fully intact in his chimera.  I just couldn't get to it this turn.  Actually, this is at the end of his turn 3.  See how little Guard move? :)

Kill point count:

Wolves: 3

Guard: 0
(remember, it's modified kill points)

Guard Turn 3:

His other two PCS came on, but couldn't do a whole lot.  He didn't really move much.

Shooting went down, and his demolisher insta-deathed two of my wolves!  Other random shooting put a few more wounds on my Wolfstar, and he killed a couple of my Grey Hunters on the left with lots of lasguns/a battlecannon shot that scattered a little.

Again, no assault, and it was my turn.  Look at the picture from last turn to see what happened, lol.

Wolfstar Turn 3:

I got my Longfang squad in from reserves, and marched them on directly facing where his chimeras had come in at (on the far right side).  My Grey Hunters on the left marched up and got ready to shoot meltas at his 'normal' Russ, and then charge if need be.  Wolfstar advanced toward one of his blobs.  My Rune Priest's squad got back into their rhino and advanced a little bit.  The other squad moved toward Al'Rahem's chimera, ready to open it and assault the contents.

Shooting ended up opening Straken's ride, since I had side shots on it (he failed a lot of cover saves this game).  I failed to hurt the Russ or the Chimera though.

In assault, my Wolfstar charged his Blob, and killed a ton, but took a couple in return.  His commissar was still alive though, and so kept them stubborn on a 9, which they passed.  The Hunters on the left assaulted his Russ, and hit twice with the fist!  Then they rolled double-1's and sat there, waiting to be vaporized.  The fist on Rahem's chimera ended up wrecking it, though the squad passed their pinning check.

On the top left, you can just see the sad squad of Grey Hunters who failed to hurt the Russ.  Poor dudes :(

Kill point count:

Wolves: 5

Guard: 0

Guard Turn 4:

Well, he couldn't do a whole lot more than just shoot at me.  Raheem's squad moved up to try and melta a rhino.

Shooting vaporized my Grey Hunters on the left, and Rahem's squad killed a rhino of their own.  Yikes!

In assault, his Blob lost a lot of good men, but made up for it by dropping my Majesty Lord, who succumbed to a grand total of 4 power wounds over the course of 2 turns (despite his Storm Shield).  Way to be resilient buddy! 

Good come-back turn by the Guard.


Wolfstar Turn 4:

Well, it was getting down to the wire.  I needed to kill more stuff!  I moved my Rune Priest's rhino up, and disembarked the guys inside, ready to snipe Straken with Jaws!

So, they got out, and the Priest rolled for his check:

Failed power!  Sad face :(  Incidentally, this is the last picture for the game, since we started running short on time.

Other shooting went a little better.  The Long Fangs were able to kill his Demolisher on side armor, through a couple more failed cover saves.  I also shot some missiles at Straken's squad, and whittled them down to only Straken.  I also wiped out Rahem's squad completely.

In combat, I was able to wipe his Blob out, finally.

Kill point count:

Wolves: 10

Guard: 5

Guard Turn 5:

He needed to make something happen.  So, he shot everything into my 3 remaining Wolfstar models.  I lost a single model, and the other two (the two hammers, including the Bear Lord) had a single wound remaining on each.  His autocannons shot at my Long Fangs and killed 2 in one squad.  They rolled a 10 for leadership and ran off the board!

His blob on the left assaulted my immobilized rhino, and failed to hurt it with their S4 Frag Grenades.

Wolfstar Turn 5:

I moved the Star up to assault his Chimeras.   Mostly everything else stayed still.

Shooting failed to kill Straken.  One awesome thing though:  I shot 5 frag missiles at his PCS squad with flamers.  I hit 4 times, but the 5th scattered huge, hit one of my Wolfstar members, and killed my Hammer/Shield model!  /sigh  He then went to ground and saved all but one of his guys after like 15 wounds)  Other shooting killed another of his Chimeras.

(as a side note, Eric wouldn't stop talking about how amazing my dice rolls were.  Some were pretty good, but you can't really overlook a couple random terrible rolls of mine netting him a total of 4 kill points to help him stay in the game, especially if you count my 3 failed 3++ saves vs. 4 wounds caused, which was worth yet another 3)

In assault, my Bear Lord decided to take on a nice easy Chimera, which he did.  Every kill point counts, at this point!  His blob whiffed against my rhino on the left.

Kill point count:

Wolves: 12

Guard: 9

Guard Turn 6:

Well, if he could kill my Bear Lord, and then kill my Rhino on the left, he could win the game if it went unanswered.

He shot at my Bear Lord, and caused 3 melta wounds to him.  I rolled and saved them all.  Whew!

In combat, he finally killed my rhino.

Wolfstar Turn 6:

Heh, I was happy enough to just let the game end.  There was really no way I could get 9 more kill points than him, no matter how well I rolled, which was the 'massacre' result.  I got the win, but drew on the secondary and tertiary.  Not the strongest win ever.

We rolled just to see if I would have killed Straken, and I would have.  So, me passing those 3 saves with my Bear Lord wasn't as pivotal as we had originally thought.

Results:  Win, 25/45 possible points

Like I said, not the strongest of wins.  I felt I played it right, but with the losses of a few crucial squads and the epic fail-ery that was my leftmost Grey Hunter squad I barely squeaked out a win going into the next round.

After a nice lunch with my friends from Laramie (WY) at Noodles and Company, we got our Round 2 pairings:

Game 2:  Wolfstar vs. Mick's Fatecrusher Demons

His list:

Wave 1:

Fateweaver
Blood Thirster

5x Bloodcrushers w/ complex gear
5x Screamers of Tz
Soul Grinder w/ S10 shot
Soul Grinder w/ S10 shot


Wave 2:

6x Fiends
5x Flamers of Tz
5x Plaguebearers
5x Plaguebearers
5x Plaguebearers
7x Plaguebearers
 
Well, this was another guy I didn't want to draw.  His list is solid and extremely difficult to deal with.  I know the internets like to hate on Fatecrusher lately (or do they?  I know Brent does, lol), but if he makes his saves, this list is all but impossible to actually beat.  He's also a great player, and though he didn't go to Genghis, I think he would have also placed high.  No slouches at Gryphons, nosiree.

The mission was 5 objectives, with 'standard' deployment.  I normally really like this sort of mission, but against a demon army with all those plaguebearers able to drop down wherever they want, it was the sort of uphill battle I didn't feel particularly up to.  I mean seriously... who wants to play against Fateweaver? :-p

Guess I could ask the same about the Wolfstar :-p

I won the roll for first turn, and gave it to him.  He didn't have enough shooting to really really scare me, and I needed that last say in who held the objectives.

Here's my deployment.  I tried to spread my Fangs out so as to avoid the Flamers killing more than a single squad once they landed.  I also wanted some shots to reach behind that big wall piece of terrain you can see there in the middle.  Notice I was giving my Rhinos a cover save, since I was more concerned with his Grinders killing Rhinos when they dropped than shooting their single S10 shot into them.

Demons Turn 1:

His selected wave roll (i.e. literally the biggest roll of the game) came up and... he rolled a 6.  So he got his selected wave.  Man, I really wanted that roll to go awry.  Ah well...

He landed Fateweaver behind 'the wall', and his Thirster next to him.  The Crushers scattered backward a little, which made me happy.  You can see that his Grinders landed to either flank of mine.

Shooting caused a single wound on my Bear Lord with his S10 AP1 guns.  Otherwise, he ran a little bit, and that was the end.

Lots and lots of stuff I need to kill this turn.  We'll see how that works out for me.

Wolfstar Turn 1:

I didn't really advance much.  My Rune Priest's rhino moved up 6" to get ready to try and Jaws his Fateweaver.  Another Grey Hunter rhino moved forward 12", so as to get into a solid location to react from.

I used Jaws first, and failed to kill either of his 'big' guys (big surprise, but it was worth a try).  It also hit two bloodcrushers, who both failed their checks and were removed from the table.  Nice :)  My missiles went into Fateweaver then, and though he failed a ton of 'original' saves, he failed a grand total of ZERO saves total.  Ut-oh.

Fateweaver wounds caused: 0

Well, I just have to hope he doesn't get his fiends in this turn.

Fatecrusher Turn 2:

For reserves, he got his Flamers of Tz, who tried to strike next to a Fang squad, but scattered 8" away.

He decided to go for it with his Thirster.  Jumping up, he prepared to assault the Wolfstar under the cover of Fateweaver's awesome ability to reroll stuff.  His other stuff also advanced.  One huge break is that Fateweaver landed on terrain, and rolled a 1, followed by a 2 for his save, followed by another 2, and he took a wound. 15 missiles can't hurt him, but some 'dangerous' terrain can.  What a joke.  He passed his leadership though.

His shooting didn't really do a whole lot.

In assault, he attacked my two rhinos, one with the Grinder, one with the Screamers.  He failed to hurt either one very much, though he did immobilize the one the screamers were in contact with.  The Thirster assaulted the Star, and caused a couple wounds.  I was able to cause 3 back, and we stuck there in combat.  Man, a 4++ rerollable save is nothing to balk at!

So you can see the scrum there in the middle.  Things are getting tense quick!

Wolfstar Turn 2:

I needed to neutralize his Soul Grinder on the right this turn, at all costs.  So, I disembarked both rhino squads, and moved one into assault range of the Blood Crushers.  The plan was to melta with one squad, and if they failed to do much, to melta with the other.  If the first squad succeeded, I could assault his Crushers, taking away their charging advantage.  The other rhino from my left moved up and disembarked, scooping up the Rune Priest from another rhino, and preparing to rapid-fire Fateweaver.

Shooting happened, and I was able to put another wound onto Fateweaver.  I was also (barely) able to immobilize the soul grinder on my right, though it took both squads' meltas to do it.  A squad of Long Fangs were able to frag missile his Flamers out of existence.

In combat, I killed his Thirster, though only after he killed two of my wolves (they already had wounds on them).  His screamers exploded the immobilized rhino.

Fateweaver Wounds Caused: 2 (one of which was super lucky)

Lots of stuff I gotta kill here.  Way too much stuff.  And it's his turn.  Scary, scary army.

Fatecrusher Turn 3:

His fiends came in, as did most of his plaguebearers, who struck close to various scattered objectives.

His Crushers moved to get out of terrain, but failed to get out of it entirely.  His grinder on the left moved up, ready to assault my Long Fangs.  And perhaps my biggest surprise:  his screamers moved up to assault my Wolfstar.

Shooting again didn't do much.

He failed the charge on the left with the Grinder, but his screamers dove in against my Star.  Crazy as it was, I only caused 2 wounds, and we stuck into combat.  Excellent move by Mick, since that makes my Bear Lord unable to go try to swat the Grinder on the left next turn.  Fateweaver can make units like Screamers multi-faceted.  Madness :)

The crushers charged in against a single Grey Hunter squad, and I failed to cause any wounds at I4, and at I1, I was left with just a few guys.  I was, however, able to cause a couple back with my fist.  I barely passed leadership, and stuck in.

The fiends are all behind 'the wall' in the middle.

Wolfstar Turn 3:

I needed to kill Fateweaver this turn.  It was now or never.  If I couldn't, then I would lose, simple as that.

Movement was somewhat limited.  I moved my rightmost grey hunters into charge range of the crushers, and the other squad into charge range of the screamers (though if I needed to I would rapid-fire fateweaver as a last resort).

Shooting went as well as it could.  I first targeted Fateweaver, and killed him off fairly quickly. Whew!  Then I shot at the leftmost Grinder, and immobilized it.

In assault, the Grey Hunters charged in, and killed off the injured Crushers, and also wiped out the suddenly beleaguered screamers.

The Grey Hunters wanted to get into cover, to prepare for the last great threat:  the fiends.

Fatecrusher Turn 4:

He moved his fiends, and decided against assaulting any of my Grey Hunters, instead opting to charge a rhino I had moved forward to eventually contest an objective on the right.  They failed to do much to it.

The bird things on the top right are the fiends.

Wolfstar Turn 4:

I moved the Grey Hunters forward to rapidfire the fiends.  The wolfstar moved toward the top right objective, and the plaguebearers there.

Shooting wiped out the Fiends.

I charged the shite out of his plaguebearers.

Yay for cavalry, I guess?

Rest of the Game:

We played out most of the rest of the game, but he wasn't able to do much with a couple immobilized Grinders and a few plaguebearers.  In the end, I had contested or controlled all of the objectives.  Here's the last picture I took:

Whew, that game was much closer than it looks like here.

The secondary objective was kill points, which I got.  I forget what the Tertiary was, but I got it as well.

Results:  Win, 44/45 total points

Mick was a great sport, though he made known to me how much he hates my list (as in, he thought it was difficult to deal with).  I don't blame him, though Fatecrusher isn't exactly the easiest list to deal with either.  :-p

Well, the stage was set.   I was still in the running to win or at the very least qualify.  However, none of my options for opponents was very favorable.  I ended up drawing:

Game 3:  Wolfstar vs. Andy's Battlewagon Orks

Man, this was seriously the matchup I least wanted to draw.  For those of you who hadn't read my Genghis Con GT report, Andy was the only guy who beat me the entire tournament, and who went on to win the whole stinkin' thing.  He's got a nasty list, and is a great player who just waded through the competition to get the GT win.  Going in, I least of all wanted to play Andy.  The other guys all thought it added to the drama, though that wasn't something I cared about- I just wanted to qualify for the 'finals'.

On a positive note, it looked like if I could win this game, I could also eliminate him from going to the finals, so we didn't get a threematch (see what I just did there?)

His list:

Ghaz

KFF Mek

15x Kommandos w/ 2x Burnas, Snikrot

4x Meganoz w/ 2x Kombi-Skorchas, Battlewagon w/ Deff Rolla, Red Paint, Boarding Planks
18x Slugga Boyz w/ PK Nob
18x Slugga Boyz w/ PK Nob
12x Trukk Boyz w/ PK Nob, Trukk w/ Boarding Planks
12x Trukk Boyz w/ PK Nob, Trukk w/ Boarding Planks

2x Deffkoptas w/ 2x Power Klaws

Battle Wagon w/ Deff Rolla, Red Paint, Boarding Planks
Battle Wagon w/ Deff Rolla, Red Paint, Boarding Planks
3x Killa Kanz


So as you can see, he's got lots of S10 floating around, and Ghaz has a potential 27" charge, which beats my wolfstar by a pretty wide margin.  Lots of stuff that negates my advantages.


To make matters worse, it was Capture and Control on Spearhead.  Orks with all those scoring units do better than my three clunky Hunter squads.  Spearhead was also bad for me, because I had to put all my Longfangs on one side, making it somewhat impossible to get side shots on his Battlewagons.

We rolled for first turn, and he won, taking first turn.

I knew he would try to alpha-strike my Longfangs with his Deff Koptas if he could, so I put them all in a neat little cube and then bubble-wrapped them with my Grey Hunters.  So, that's what you're looking at right now.  I kept one Grey Hunter rhino in reserve

My game plan was somewhat more complex than it normally is:  I put my objective (where you can't really see it) on the far right side of my deployment zone, though not in the corner.  You see, I wanted to make it impossible to ignore my Long Fangs.  Either he went for my objective, and my Fangs would get good side-armor/back armor shots on his wagons, or he would wipe out the fangs, and make it easy for me to keep my own objective contested/controlled.  My reserved rhino in the meantime would make it's way up to control his own objective, doing what they could to control/contest it.  The wolfstar would help where needed, though my main plan was to wreck the battlewagons as quickly as possible, sacrificing the Wolfstar if need be.

With all that said, let's start the (somewhat tense) final game.

Orks Turn 1:

He decided to try to alpha-strike with his Koptas, but into my Grey Hunters instead.  Everything else rumbled up toward the Longfangs.

In combat, he charged the Hunters, killed one, and the Koptas died, as they likely should have.

Cool... stage 1 (killing the Koptas) complete.  Note the trukk off to the far right.  It's important.

Wolfstar Turn 1:

Well, I wasn't going to wreck any Wagons this turn, with them having moved this fast.  So, I decided to flank them, and go for the trukk on the side.  I also wanted him to take the bait with Ghaz and charge the Long Fangs, so I took my Grey Hunters and put them in their rhino, ready to counter-charge or wreck a wagon if the opportunity presented itself.

Shooting went alright, killing the leftmost trukk, and scattering them far away (because of the ramshackle rule), toward his objective in the corner.  The explosion killed 6 of them as well, though they didn't fail their leadership.

In combat, the Wolfstar charged the Trukk, and killed it, though it also ramshackled away.  So there I was, ready for him to deal with me.  If he didn't, I stood a good chance of winning the game.

No picture though, for some reason.

Orks Turn 2:

His Kommandos didn't come in, which was fortunate for me.  Ghaz + Meganobz moved up and disembarked, ready to assault the shite out of the Long Fangs.  The other two wagons peeled off, ready to assault my Wolfstar with both 18-boy squads + the Trukk squad they had forcibly disembarked.  48 Boyz were on their way to give the Star a bad day.

No real shooting, though he did declare his Waaaaaaggghhh!!  and move 6".

Assaults came at me.  These were the deciding assaults of the game.

See, he couldn't get all of his boyz into combat.  He maintains that he missed out on about 50 attacks, though I think that might be including boyz I normally would have killed before they could have struck.

Ghaz and his Nobz could get into combat with only two Longfang squads, which was fortunate for me.

The battle raged, and I ended up killing a ton of Boyz in the Wolfstar battle.  I wasn't without losses though- my Majesty Lord took 10 wounds, and on his 2+ Runic Armor save, he failed like 5 of them.  Lol, resilient my ass.  I lost a couple other wolves in the combat as well.

When the smoke cleared, I had won combat by 10, and as such, one squad of his went POOF! due to his being fearless this turn, and the others were decimated, but stayed locked into combat.

There's all the boyz I killed.  I also put a wound on each nob.

As expected, the Long Fangs all died a grizzly death, though they did manage to put a wound on Ghaz.

Wolfstar Turn 2:

My reserved Grey Hunters rhino didn't come in.

The Grey Hunters on the left got out of their ride, and prepared to try and melta the side of his KFF-less battlewagon.  The Rune Priest rhino moved up 6" to use Jaws on his Nobz.

Shooting went well for me.  I used Jaws, and killed two Nobz.  I then also used missiles to kill another Nob.  The Hunters also did me a favor, and exploded his Battle wagon.  So, on that front, there were only Ghaz + a single Nob left.  Not bad :)

In combat, the wolfstar wasn't positioned to be able to kill all of his boyz off, and so only killed most of them, for another casualty in return.  Next turn I'd break loose though.

I feel bad for the Longfangs there.

Orks Turn 3:

His Kommandos came in, and decided to reinforce Ghaz' squad.

His two remaining wagons moved backward toward his objective, and away from the Wolfstar.  Ghaz and the Nob moved toward the Grey Hunters to try and charge them.

In assault, the Wolfstar finally wiped out the last of the Orks, and consolidated toward his Wagons.  Ghaz failed his charge, and the Kommandos killed all but one of the Longfangs, who killed a couple in return, and passed his leadership.

Those lucky, lucky Grey Hunters.

Wolfstar Turn 3:

My reserves came in, and headed straight toward his objective.

I moved the remaining models of the Wolfstar up toward his Wagons.  The Grey Hunters in the middle decided they wanted a piece of the Kommandos, and got ready for that.

Shooting didn't really exist.

In combat, I killed one Battle Wagon, immobilized the other.  The Kommandos all died, but not before finishing off my poor final Long Fang.

You can't see it, but the Killa Kanz are easily in range to counter-charge my Wolfstar.

Orks Turn 4:

He didn't have a whole lot to do- charge in, and hope it's enough.

Ghaz and his minion charged into the Grey Hunters, and largely whiffed.  The Hunters put some wounds on them in return, and stuck in combat.  The Wolfstar combat was a little weird, with the Kanz charging in, and me killing one.  The Bear Lord was somehow unable to get into that combat, and stayed there next to the immobilized Wagon, which he exploded.  The Kanz killed my remaining Wolfstar, except for the Bear Lord, who still somehow had 2 wounds left on him.

Crazy battles... it's winding down now.  He can't get to my objective in time.  Can I get to his?

Wolfstar Turn 4:

My reserved rhino kept truckin' on up toward his objective.

No shooting.

In assault, I was able to kill both of his Kanz, and received a single wound on the Bear Lord in return.  The Grey Hunters were further whittled down, but put another wound on Ghaz.  One more to go on the big boy!

That's the Bear Lord hanging out with the scraps of metal that were the Kanz.

Poor sad Grey Hunters.  They're heroes though.

Orks Turn 5:

We skipped straight to combat, where I killed Ghaz, but failed against his final Meganob, who killed the remaining Grey Hunters.  Man, those guys were heroes- they killed 1) Deff Koptas 2) Battlewagon 3) Kommandos 4) Ghaz
So, we played a little more, and I ended up killing his KFF Mek, and likely would have tabled him if we had played the full game.

Results:  Win, 45/45 points

So, I had won all 3 games, and probably won the tournament.  I was also glad to have won the rematch between me and Andy, though if I never have to play that Ork list again, I'll be happy.

In the end, I'm not sure exactly what happened.  It was a somewhat confusing situation regarding what painting scores should count for, and I think in the end we just used straight battle points.  In this, someone edged me out by 3 points, though had we gone with painting I think I would have 'had' him.

It was no harm no foul however, since the purpose of this tournament was simply to qualify.  A few extra prize support dollars would have been nice, but in the end, I qualified, which was what mattered.

All of my opponents were great, both in sportsmanship and in gaming ability.  I was fortunate to have done as well as I did, with the missions and opponents as they were, and I'm honored to be able to represent my club at the first annual Feast of Blades Finals, which is on Saturday, March 19.

In the end, it was a fun time, and I can't wait for the finale in a couple weeks!  Then, it's off to Adepticon, and the Glory that might (but probably doesn't) await me there!  :-p

 Thoughts?  Questions?  If you want more battle reports like this, I do lots and lots of them.  My own blog has a link on the right hand side labeled 'battle report log', or you can simply click this link.  I try to do a 'weekly' battle report, though lately I've only been doing tournament reports.