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.

The Emergence of Mephiston! How I play him.

We all know that Mephiston is a deadly foe. He can single handedly tear through entire armies. But his two major weaknesses have kept him out of most Blood Angels armies.  His lack of an invulnerable save, and his whopping point cost.  Most guys have him figured out, especially IG. Roll up a couple chimeras full of vets, and rapid fire plasma. One dead vampire.  T-hammer termies own him.



But I have to say, over the last couple months I have fallen into a renewed love affair with him, and he is kicking ass. He rarely dies, and when he does it is because I left him unsupported and in the open after wiping out a squad. Allow me to tell you how I have been using him to beat face. It's no big secret really, the Storm Raven.

Once the model came out, I started playing the unit in my list. To go along with it, I also started playing Meph and a Furioso inside of it.  This combo has been tearing it up.  I first used it at Templecon to go 2-0-1, finishing 2nd or 3rd, I forget. Why did I not win? Mephiston had two wounds left and had to kill a dread for me to win. I rolled Box Cars for preferred enemy, and box cars again for STR 10.  Dead Meph. Drawn game. Not much you can do about that!  Then I made some changes to my list and played him at Valentines Day Massacre. I went 3-2, with three undeniably overwhelming victories. I lost my two games because of mistakes I made. No excuses, I fooked up. I learned.  

Last weekend, I played in a local 3 game tournament, and won. Mephiston was a terror! I went 2-0-1, getting a draw in game three. (Another guy finished higher than me but with an unpainted army, giving me the win.) I sent in Meph to destroy a 5 man squad and failed to do so in two rounds... perhaps the luckiest 5 man marine squad in the history of the game. That tied me up long enough for a T-hammer squad to get in and whack a mole Meph. Again though, the draw was a mistake. I over extended and left Meph unsupported with two squads of hammertime sitting in raiders waiting for him to come. He used Lysander to pop my furioso at the same time by the way.  :(

More on that later.

Mephiston's Personal Ride.


So what am I doing? I equip the Storm Raven with multi melta and las. First turn is key. If I win the roll, I take it. Depending on how much fire power he has I will either turbo boost my Raven 24" right into his face and take a shot at a high priority tank with the Multi, or I will move 6 and fire all the missiles at juicy targets. I did this to help destroy most of a Dark Eldar army on turn one. Raiders hate Bloodstrike Missiles.  

Turn one cover save snag on the Raven!


Hopefully by next turn, my Land Raider has caught up enough so that I can disembark the raven and the raider and assault enmasse. I will usually send the Furioso after large infantry squads, and Mephiston after smaller ones.  Or send them in together. I send my termies after his hardest squad. Or simply after every thing I can.  Litinies and furious charge work well vs any thing, even tanks that moved 12". The Furioso is a blender capable of slaughtering dozens of models a turn. 

I typically don't send Mephiston after rock hard units. His lack of an invul save does mean he cannot take on a lot of power swords. I save those for the termies and send Meph after troops hanging around on objectives, and definitely after dreadnoughts. He is a dread killer. I will use him to take down threats to my Furioso, like enemy dreads or small squads with power fists. I will prioritize squads too. I will single out the squads that have lots of plasma/melta and assault those first. Don't want those rapid fireing on me when I wipe out a power fist squad. 

Mephiston is an IC killer. Provided that they are not eternal warrior, you send in Meph first and get base to base against the IC, then send in the furioso to get the squad. Preferred Enemy and STR 10 spell doom for any IC without eternal warrior or T6.  The odds are simply against him to make 3 to 6 invul saves at initiative 7 or 8. I always forget about Transfixing Gaze too which forces a -4 LD test and if failed Meph gets Preferred Enemy and Lightning Claws vs that IC. 

Units to avoid with Meph?  Hammertime. Unless you assault a squad of termies with a full squad of your own, with Meph helping out as well, keep him away. For that matter, avoid any squad with lots of Invul saves like Wychs.  

Be smart with your targets. It is crucial that after wiping out a squad, Meph ends up in cover. Ideally, you want to not wipe out the squad on the charge at all, instead finishing them up on your opponents turn. I will typically not even roll his preferred enemy power if I am against a soft squad because I want to stay in combat for a turn. On his turn I will use my powers and finish them off so that I am free to act on mine. 

Use vehicles wisely. When diving into a bees nest of angry IG or any other army that is packing a butt load of AP2, blocking Line of Sight with his massacre move is key. Try to aim your assaults so that you can massacre to the other side of dead tanks, or walls. Use his jump pack move and fleet to get to the other sides of units where there may be blocking terrain. Don't be happy with the closest starting assault position. Make sure you have a plan for after he wins. 

Remember he has fleet. You can move your Raven 12", disembark 2" from the base, fleet d6", and assault 6". That is a possible 26" threat range. If you deploy up in your zone, you can get assaults off on turn one. Very few guys are ever prepared for that. Just be careful with that tactic, a bad fleet will leave your butt hanging in the wind. He will almost assuredly not survive an entire army teeing off on him. 

Ok thats it for now. You guys tell me, do you want more of this Blood Angels Tactics stuff? 

Jawaballs


Possibilities of 6th Edition: The fantasy-40k Mirror Effect




Hey all, Kevin here again, and today I would like to throw out some thoughts on what we can expect in 6th Edition since it is a lot closer than we expect. More so I would like to talk about something discussed a lot in the old FLGS but not a lot online, the mirror effect between Fantasy and 40k.






It is a well known fact that GDubs likes to test out new rules between systems and, if they like them, start to incorporate them into the new rules sets for each new edition. We saw this a lot in the incorporation of True line of site as well as not guessing ranges anymore into fantasy....now there were many other rules changes so lets discuss the possibilities!






1. Interactive Terrain






Now a big new thing for fantasy was the change to a similar set of terrain rules for fantasy and 40k (in the that fact they didn't block LOS anymore). Now they also changed some pieces of terrain into "Magical Terrain pieces" that would have some kind of effect by rolling on a chart to find out to see what would happen. Now whether it was a venom thicket or they would reduce rank bonuses it was still a big change in the game. Now can this be Incorporated into 40k in a way at all? Now I could see it Sci-fi(ified?) by adding in different warp effected terrain pieces or mine fields. This could be cool and would add more flavor to a pretty dull battlefield. I could see this being ignored at tournaments although for a more basic and level playing field yet it is still a possibility.






2. Percentages instead of FOC






When the new fantasy edition hit one of the big changes was the way you made up your army, percentages became the way you could make up your army. Now could we see the FOC slashed in favor of a system like this? If you played your cards right more tank heavy armies or lesser HQ choice spam (like a LOT of Haemonculi) could then become possible. It would be interesting but also a lot of armies that rely a lot on maximizing a few choices could become non-viable(like spending a majority of points of TH/SS termies for your Shrike themed army). Yet again, just another thought






3. Pre-measuring





Now this was probably one of the biggest and most crucial aspects of the game changed. Really think about it....If pre-measuring was allowed in 40k the game would change as tournament play would become a lot more competitive in a chess tournament style. It had this effect on Fantasy as guessing ranges became a lost skill. It would also make decision making a lot easier but removes the risk of just going for it and hope you have the range.... Could we possibly see this in 6th?




There were many changes in Fantasy yet how would the community react if we saw these changes in 40k? I look to rules like this with a cautious demeanor as Iw ouldn't know how I would feel about some of these changes.... Now back to my Dark Eldar to prepare for the Colonial...more to come (XD)





So how would you feel about changes like the above to 40k? Is there any new rule you expect to see in 40k? Is there any other rule in fantasy you see incorperated into 40k? Please comment and lets get a discussion going!



Blood Angles Apocalypse Formations



Well, the new White Dwarf has a ton about Blood Angels, including 4 battle formations for Apocalypse and a whole battle report.  As a Blood Angel player myself, I am already working on building up enough forces to field these formations.  

These White Dwarf articles are a great way for GW to keep Apocalypse in the forefront of 40K gaming.  I was actually quite disappointed that GW didn't publish formations for the Dark Eldar.  If you are going to release a new codex, you need to release new formations for that codex. 
 
So let's take a look at the two nastiest Blood Angels Apocalypse formations. 


The Death Company  200 points + models

Formation:

Astorath
1+ Chaplains
0-1 Death Company Tycho
3+ Death Copany squads (1 squad must include Lemartes)
2-4 Death Company Dreadnoughts

Now the most important of this (as with most formations) is the special rules.  The first, Strike Force, says that after you Deep Strike Astorath, all other units are placed within 6" of him, but do not scatter.  Very useful for crowded tables.  

The second rule is absolutely GRIM.  Bloodrage states that "For each unsaved wound caused by a unit in this formation in close combat, it can immediately make another attack.  If this attack causes an unsaved wound, you may make another attack, and so on."

This is basically the Blood Talon rule for Death Company Dreadnoughts being applied to your basic Death Company dudes.

HOLY WIPEOUT BATMAN!    This rule is absolutely insane.  I cannot possibly imagine how any unit survives being charged by the Death Company here.  And considering that there is basically no limit to the number of Death Company in this formation, this formation could wipe out a Green Tide with ease.

It would be interesting to take some of your Death Company in Drop Pods and some with Jump Packs.  After they have arrived, they can act independantly, so could charge multiple targets.  The Dreadnoughts of course need to be in Drop Pods.....Lucius pattern Drop Pods if I have anything to say about it!

Which brings me to the basic tactics for this formation.  Your put your Dreads in Lucius pattern Drop Pods.  They land with everything else, but since they can assault the turn they land, the Dreads tie up the opponent until the next turn when the Death Company can charge.


The second of the Battle Formations from White Dwarf 373 is Dante's Sanguine Host.  This is a formation that boggles the mind how nasty it is.  Every bit as intimidating as The Death Company, this unit is capable of assaulting the turn it arrives and basically won't scatter!  Who needs Vanguard Veterans with "Heroic Intervention"?

Dante's Sanguine Host  75 points + models

Formation:

Dante
1 Honor Guard
2-4 Squads of Sanguinary Guard

As with The Death Company formation, the special rules make this expensive force worth every point.

Deep Striking Force, says that after you Deep Strike Dante (using his Tactical Precision which allows him not to scatter), all other units are placed within 6" of him, and also do not scatter. 

Angels of Death is a special rule that states that units cannot shoot or run the turn they arrive, but they CAN assault.


So, this formation is very nasty and can take out multiple annoying units the turn it arrives.  It will not scatter so you basically decide where it shows up.  You can't shoot, which is one of the best things about Sanguinary Guard....Infernus pistols!  But as soon as you wipe out that annoying unit, you can jump around blasting the big stuff.

Now of course in order to be able to actually field this unit, you need to buy 4 boxes of Sanguinary Guard and then make a Blood Angels Honor Guard.  This is actually a fun project and I already am working on it.  I actually built my Blood Angel Honor Guard with jump packs and it is being painted by Toby Wearing, a phenomenal painter who has done most of my Crimson Templar / Templars Sanguine armies.

This Friday I get 4 boxes of Sanguinary Guard and it is off to the races!


Alec


Rules Discussion: Gate of Infinity and Squadron Cover Saves

Hey Folks, I thought I would share this little tidbit from a tournament I was at this weekend. Thankfully, I was not part of the actual rules debates. So here goes!

Sorry I cannot give image credit, since my work blocker 
will not let me actually open Lexicanum. That is where I got the image though. 


Gate of Infinity:
I know this one has been beaten around the forums quite a bit. I don't have the actual rule book in hand, so I will rely upon one of you to put the copy in the comment section. But to summarize, the Libby casts a psychic power during the Movement phase. The power allows the libby and a squad he is attached to, to move up to 24" away and be placed back on the table as if Deep Striking. The question is, can this power be used if the Libby is locked in close combat? In my opinion the answer is yes. Powers can be cast by models locked in close combat. Models locked in CC still get a moving phase, they just cannot move. The question is, may they activate that power if they cannot move? As a precedent, other similar powers directly say that they may be used during close combat. That would mean that since the Space Marie power does not say it can be used in Close Combat, then it cannot. But as we all know, 40k rules are permissive. That means that if something were NOT allowed, it would say so. Otherwise, we go by the rules as written. GUH! I hate that phrase. It is most often used by dudes trying to abuse some loop hole exploit to win at all cost.

In the case this weekend, the player trying to use the power and his opponent got into a rather heated debate. The opponent refused to allow a dice off on the matter. Which frankly is the only way I can see it being resolved since the rules do not say one way or another. When they hit the word circle wall, meaning that they had said all they could both say on the discussion and were now arguing in circles, they should have just rolled a die to answer it. Not allowing the die roll was poor sportsmanship. The TO was asked to intervene and he ruled in favor of the opponent. Gate was NOT allowed to take the squad out of close combat. The two guys got a draw. What do you guys think?

Topic Two:

Vehicle squadron cover saves if they are mixed. The new FAQ answered the question about those all stars who try to get cover saves by intermixing squads in the open like a checkerboard. We have all seen it, hell, I have even written about it and take partial credit for guys trying to do it. I wrote an article about it way back when 5th ed first came out. However, the only way I advocated that it could be used effectively and legally is if the squad is a jump squad that can actually jump over the other squad. And for the record, I never actually tried it in a tournament game. The FAQ states that when this is attempted, the squad with models closest to the shooter will NOT get cover saves.

Image from Ironjens


Now, lets try this with speeders. Say you have two squads of 3 speeders each, all mixed up so that they are granting cover saves to each other. The rules for vehicle squadrons getting cover saves say to first determine if each vehicle in the squadron would get a cover save individually, then use the rules for normal squad cover saves to determine if the squadron gets a cover save. That means that 50% of the vehicles in a squadron have to be getting a cover save in order for it to get one. So if there are two speeders in a squad, and one of them is 50% obscured, then both get the save. Using the rules for normal squad cover saves would force this discussion under the umbrella of the FAQ saying that the closest squadron would NOT get a cover save. What do you guys think?

What we have to understand here is that the most important thing is that we are enjoying ourselves. It is simply not worth it to stand there and argue over a silly rule. Maybe I can say this because over the last two years, as I have become a better player and tournament contender, I have also become more enlightened. I more often than not will simply allow my opponent to play the rule how ever he has decided to twist...er interpret it, within reason. For example, recently an opponent was attempting to "turbo boost" his bikes in a semi circle with the models actually only ending up about 10 inches from where they began but "by the arc" they actually moved 24". After being forced to explain the rule to him a few times, (the bikes must end their move at least 18" away from their starting point) he relented with a skeptic look on his face and I got out the rule book and showed him.  That was a case where the discussion (that went on painfully longer than it should have) was easily resolved by a hard and fast rule. But other situations are not so obvious. In those cases where the rule book will not clearly answer the discussion I will either just let him do it, or at worst offer to dice it off. And probably beat him any way.

It's a little thing called Good Sportsmanship. Say what you will about me and the way I play, and I admit I have gotten into some EPIC rules argume... er... debates with buddies and even complete strangers, but I always finish near the top of any sportsmanship list when I play in a tournament. Also, I think with confidence that 99% of my opponents will admit that they enjoyed our game whether they beat me or I tabled them. Maybe some good ole Soul Searching should be performed by any one who enters a tournament?

Chime in folks and keep it civil! Remember to support your opinions and statements with explanations at the very least, and page numbers if at all possible. Inappropriate language will result in your comment being deleted.

Jawaballs!

Reader submitted work!





I get lots of reader Blood Angels pic submissions for posting on the blog, and I have not been good enough about getting them up. I promise to make more of an effort to get them up!  Here are a few recent ones, including one who was inspired by my Mephiston Conversion I posted up last week. Check out that POST HERE. I don't usually include names because a lot of the artists are minors.  Feel free to brag about your work in the comment section!  

Jawaballs


Tyranids: Return of Genestealer Shock




Hey all, Kevin from BAALS-2-the-WAALS here again to discuss the list a buddy of mine is bringing to TempleCon this Saturday for the 1850 Point Tournament. Now before I get into the list let me state that I am not a Tyranids player. I can say however that about half of the games I have played in the past year since the codex dropped have been against the bugs. Lets just say they are an old nemesis of mine due to my buddy, Marcus, playing them as well as my old FLGS community was made up of mostly Tyranid, Tau, and vanilla marine players (Yes very odd but it what was popular in my area at the time)..... anyway here is the list before I go on and on..... Here is his version of 5th edition Stealer shock....

Hive Tyrant w/ Wings and Hive Commander - 255
Hive Tyrant w/ Wings - 230
2 Zoanthropes in a Mycetic Spore - 160
8 Ymgarl Genestealers - 184
8 Ymgarl Genestealers - 184
8 Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacs and a Broodlord (w/ Toxin Sacs and Scything Talons) - 184
8 Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacs - 136
8 Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacs - 136
8 Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacs - 136
Trygon Prime - 240

Ok first of all elt me talk about a typical Nid tournament list. Its based off of Tervigons spawning grunts backed up by Hive Guard spam with the occaisonal zoans in a pod all rounded up by Trygon spam. The one flaw this army has is few shots and it has to foot slog/ out shoot MEQ's and Guard players alike. This works ok but is not a true competitive list in this day of MSU and Mech spam.

Now Fritz has gone a lot into how 5th Dimension Nids should play and he is right. The quicker you blitz your opponent using all sides of the board does work. It seems to be the way Nids can work in this edition and this list utilizes this concept in an effective way.

First the core of this list is of course, the Genestealer. Rocking in with Initiative 6 backed up with 2 attacks base and a decent Strength, toughness and weapon skill make the Stealer tough, IT is even tougher with its attack being rending. It is an assault machine that can tear through Khorne Berserkers like they are Guard Rough necks. Disregarding the 5+ armor they are the assault blitzing machine Tyranids need to focus on. Although all of these are good qualities the main point to using them is thier ability to outflank and infiltrate. Yet again a 5th dimension quality. Ymgarls are a less seen elite version of a genestealer with similar qualities except they can pop up in a designed way from any piece of terrain pre-concieved by the Tyranid player. This is another crucial element to the list design. Now lets look at our HQ, two Flyrants, also one with hive commander. This is another crucial point to the list giving you the ability to bring Troops from reserve in quicker than normal. The last two points of interest in the list are the Zoans ment for taking down the odd land Raider and a Trygon (Prime because of extra points).

Now lets talk about stradegy, Ymgarls hide in critical pieces of terrain and, with the threat of outflank, you box up your opponent in the middle. If you plan correctly you can have Ymgarls come in behind or in your opponents ranks ready to assault crucial elements and break up your opponents stradegy. Zoans come down and take down heavy support. Trygon comes in and distracts your opponenet as stealers break in and crash your opponents lines as well as break up vehicles. Flyrants fly around making crushing squads. If used correctly this makes a true Stealer Shock army very scary to play against. I played against this army as gaurd many times and have narrowly defeated him, and I play this due to experience with my own list. It has models showing up in the middle, the sides and in your opponents deployment and brings the game down to about a 2' by 3 foot block. Now don't get me wrong there are ways to counter this list but it can shake up the way people play. It gets in quick and puts a threat directly in your face. Plus all Stealer Lists can be very cool to see playing.

Now My friend Marcus has just played this list at the TempleCon singles tournament and went 2-1 with his only loss being a narrow loss to a Fateweaver daemon army. he placed 7th Overall at the tournament out of 30 players....Just more food for thought....I am very interest to see how this list plays out in the future....more on this later...



This is Marcus after the TempleCon Tournament celebrating his success, he is a much better player than you would think




Is this the new way for a Nid player to play? How do you play your bugs? Let

s get a discussion on how to bring Nids up to the top. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading.

The Nova Open




I love to travel to 40k events. It is about more than the game though. It is about the atmosphere. The friendship. The fun.  Playing 40k and winning events is secondary to the experience. I have met more than my share of dudes that I would count as friends at 40k events. Such is how it should be. I am pleased to add The Nova Open to my list of must do events.

My first big travel experience was Bolscon 2009.  Fritz and I flew out to Austin to meet Goatboy, Jwolf, Larry and the crew and had an amazing experience. That trip set the bar for me on a travel gaming experience.  Since then I have become a regular at most gaming events I can get to. Mechanicon being one of them and last year I went to The Nova Open on a whim. It was really late, and Fritz and I were supposed to go to Bolsc.... er... Wargamescon, but Fritz had to bail so I did to.  With a suddenly open schedule, I decided to see if Mike Brandt could get me into The Nova, which he managed, and next thing you know I was driving alone Chantilly, VA!

If you would like to read my writeup of last year's Nova, CLICK HERE It is a long but worthy read!

Onward with Nova Open 2011.

In prep for a preview post on this coming Open, which I have already bought tickets for and reserved hotel, I emailed Mike Brandt, the TO and asked for some back ground info on what he had in store for us.  He responded with a book.  My eyeballs popped out when I saw the awesomeness that will be this years Nova. Allow me to try to pop out your eyeballs too.

Here we go, in no particular order:

The Golden Nova painting competition.  He did not give me many details on this, but one can surmise that it is sort of like Golden Daemon.  I suspect that the models entered into the competition will not be allowed to play in the tournament, but don't quote me on that. Mike Brandt can clarify this, or you can look on his blog which has become the main source of info for the Nova.

The Whiskey Challenge!
Perhaps one of my favorite parts of last year was the Internet Celebrity Challenge that happened on Friday Night where I got to play against Tim from Tau of War.  It was a slugfest of a game, but I edged him out! Perhaps this year we will get a rematch and he will turn the table!  During the game, there was live podcasting going on and it was cool for me to be able to do interviews and sit and spread my two drunken cents.  This year the Whiskey Challenge will be taking place on that Thursday, and is promised to be bigger and better than ever.  For my win against Tim, I scored a little bottle of Makers Mark while Tim managed to take home a bottle of bottom shelf rotgut.

Malifaux:
I have no idea what Malifaux is, but Brandt is running a tournament on that Friday.  32 players, 30 ss scrap size... Have at it other game players!

Warmahordes:
I love the term!  I did not get many details on this except that variable sized events will be running all weekend.  Something for every one!

A Fantasy GT with seats for 96 players.

As Mike put it, "A metric crapton of other stuff".  This includes vendors like battle foam, social events, drink specials etc.

And of course, the 40k events. (Notice how I did not say just event.)

There are three separate 40k events going on throughout the weekend.  On Friday, there is a "trios" tournament for three man teams.  I don't know any details on it, but it sounds like outstanding fun. I would be playing in it but I won a ticket for the tournament in the next paragraph!

And also going on is perhaps one of the hottest tickets in the country at the moment. Previously, the hot pants ticket was the Throne of Skulls golden ticket. Every one wanted one. I got one. (actually 3, and was the only guy to do it with Blood Angels, and did it with both the Codex and PDF... own horn has been tooted.)  But the fever sort of died when the rules packet was released. I will definitely be in attendance for the ToK, but a lot of guys who won tickets will not.  Enter Mike Brandt's Nova Invitational.  Mike handed out tickets to other major GTs going on throughout the country. The winner scored an invitation to attend the Nova tournament. The invitational is a 5 game tournament held all on Friday.  Only winners of major events like Mechanicon, other prestigious titles like Renaissance Man at Battle for Salvation and a select few are invited to the very exclusive tournament.  That means that only the very best of the best will be there.  Those of us lucky enough to have scored an invite are in for a treat to be sure!  I personally can't wait to lock horns with the best in the country, and get a chance to possibly lay claim to the title that I previously held on Rankings HQ. I know, it's mostly just silly, but fun! (By the way, Tony Spino get November's Mechanicon results reported to Rankings HQ!)

Any way, the Nova Invitational is shaping up to be one of THE events of the year. And with a $1000 cash prize going to the best overall and renaissance man, it will be hotly contested.  Mike correct me if I'm wrong on the prizes.

And lastly, the big shabang:

A 256 player supreme 40k GT played over 8 games. Four on Saturday and four on Sunday.  But it is bigger than just playing 8 games. This is Nova!  On saturday, you will end up with a record consisting of a combination of 4 wins or losses.  Then on Sunday, and this is key because it sucks to go to two day events only to get raped on Saturday and have no motivation to play on Sunday, you get to play in a separate tournament based on your record! You can find a breakdown of how it works here. But to summarize, on day two, if you went 0 and 4 on Saturday, you will be in a separate tournament occupied only by other guys with zero wins.  There will be only 16 guys playing in that bracket and then it is game on!  Those 16 guys will get to play their own tournament with complete prize support! So if you get stomped into the mud on day one, you still have a chance to come out of the event with a Best General and pile of loot on day two. How awesome is that???  All the guys who went 4-0 will fight it out for the supreme prize and bragging rights, while the 3-1 dudes slug away for rights of their own, and the 2-2 and 1-3s get their own chance at glory.

That means that no matter who you are, what your play style, interest, army or whatever, you will have fun playing at The Nova Open.  Maybe not Day One, but definitely the next.

This tournament, my friends, will be one for the ages.

What else did Brandt share with me?

An improved mission objective format. Kill Points have been incorporated into the scoring since they are a real part of the 40k rule book.  Last year they were eliminated, which also eliminated many players who did not agree with the decision. You better be there Alex!

Even bigger and better swag bags than before!  Last year you were given a bag of loot that set the bar pretty high for swag. Markers, lasers, rulers, tapes, bits you name it.  This year promises to put that bag to shame.

A dramatic change in venue!  The entire event will be held under one roof this year, TAKE A LOOK! Last year it was a little inconvenient that we had to go to a separate building to play. The biggest advantage of this is that open gaming will be going on as long as humanly possible I suspect. Brandt can clear that up with a comment here, but if it is any thing like Mechanicon, there should be gaming into the wee hours of the morning.

Unprecedented game coverage! In addition to the multitude of podcasters who will be covering the games live, they are working on getting up some video feed and John Madden like screen annotation. Holy Crap! If that works out I will almost wish I could be watching the games from home!

Phew. My fingers hurt.

So Mike Brandt is setting some pretty lofty, ambitious goals. But if you met the guy, you would understand that his confidence is well placed. I have no doubt that he will pull it off flawlessly! He has promised mucho loot, loads of fun and hundreds of gaming hangovers.  I personally have made my reservation until the following Monday. You can find me sitting at the pool Sunday night chilling and drinking a beer rather than battling millions of other people trying to drive north on 95 in Jersey on the last weekend of the summer. (I suggest this for all of you by the way. Last year the drive home from nova took me 10 hours and should have been 5.)

To make the mountain of loot even bigger, I am throwing in my own addition in support of what should be one of the most outstanding events of the year. Like I am doing for The Feast of Blades, CHECK IT OUT HERE I am painting a unique, custom full sized (3x6 feet plus) banner for The Nova Open.  Mike can do with it as he sees fit, but I suspect it will go to the overall winner of the weekend. Maybe it can go to the best overall painted model. Or maybe to the last place finisher! Or the guy who finished right in the middle. Also I will throw in some of the usual bases and such.

Ok that is it for now. Fritz, Myself and my noobie buddy Stanton are confirmed attending. Also you can expect to see the likes of some of Battle for Salvation's finest like Black Matt, Danny Internets, Big Ed, his son Eddie, and Ultrabob. I doubt Stelek will miss this opportunity to put some meat behind his words and you can bet there will be a multitude of other guys.  So come on out! Lets have some brews, shots, and lots of 40k.

Last I heard, about 175 of the 256 slots were already paid for and taken, with a boat load of other guys giving Brandt the "Sign me up I will pay you later!". Two of those slots are taken by Fritz and Stanton, and as the old cliche goes, "money talks, bullshit walks."  So don't wait. Get your ticket.  Visit the website to register.

Here are some links to 3+ save's blog, showing pictures of last year.

Armies!

More armies and a shot of the room.

Even more armies

More to come!

Jawaballs