Pics from the tournament...

From the Armored Gopher Tournament 19 Feb 2011...

From my first game against the IG :-) Initiative seized, Deathwing dropped in to say "Hi"...  Game ended before they could all be killed, I'd like to think the Teleporters extracted the lads...

This was against Mike's chaos force...  First shot was of my Ravenwing just before they died :-)

Yes, found the camera too... 

Getting into playing "strange" lists...  I figure that some of the things not normally seen on the field like Techmarines, Whirlwinds, etc...  The DNs are solid, and I think that I might field at least a pair of them...  It'll be interesting at least, but will probably lose.  Not a problem, the best lessons I think come from analyzing a defeat.  Wins do not tell you as much I think...

Tournament…

Well, we had our store's league tournament… Played:

 

Belial (TH/SS)

4 Deathwing squads (2 TH/SS, 1 LC, CML w/SP/PF, SB/PF), one w/Apothecary

Land Speeder Typhoon

Ravenwing Squadron (2 Melta, Attack bike w/MM)

DN (TLAC)

 

We played "Rules of Engagement" stuff, so weird missions…

Game one against a good IG Blob/Mech mix. I wound up seizing imitative, with Deathwing assault and my own deployment I was able to pretty thoroughly wreck a flank, deep strike another squad on one of his objectives (mission was to get BtB with objective during movement, and spend the Assault phase blowing it up)… Later my flanking Ravenwing zipped in and got the second one. The sheer number of missiles the army throws downrange makes life hell for a Mech army. So, wound up winning that one on the tiebreaker of kill points as we both ended up achieving our primary and secondary objectives (mine was hold one of my own objectives, and Deathwing in cover are REALLY hard to dig out)…

 

Second game was against Mike's new Chaos army… My mission involved "recovering information" from one of his objective points… Have to spend the whole Movement phase in contact with the point, then that's it… Secondary objective was hold one of my own points. Took a chance, moved the Ravenwing into BtB with his in my Scout move, miscalculated and his Daemon Prince was able to reach me on the first turn… Oops. Well, long story short the Deathwing were able to kill off pretty much everything in HtH or my shooting it with missiles… So, another one where we both got our objectives (his was "Assassinate", he killed Belial with a Daemon Prince before it was hammered out of existence), but I got more kill points so the win…

 

Third game was against an Iron Hands (Salamanders)… Pretty good list, excellent player… It came down to him missing my Speeder, and the Speeder killing the LRC. Vulkan and his TH/SS squad had to get out and walk. We both saw how many 1's we could roll as we each lost a Terminator squad or so to random normally saved shots… A Deathwing squad met Vulkan and his much reduced escort, and was victorious. So, once again Deathwing sitting on objectives in cover win it out…

 

Last game was against a very large IG blob army… My mission was "Annihilation", basically I had to take ALL of his units to less than 50% starting strength… Yeah, not going to happen in a timed game, or frankly with Deathwing. Prevented him from his mission, so won the tournament on win/loss record… Will post pics in a few days, think I left my camera at the store though…

Another week…

    

Updating my resume yet again… Prepping for a few jobs I know are coming up, and having a few folks look it over… I'll be tailoring the resume to try to fit the job description, shouldn't be too hard. I've had more than a few jobs over the years, so I could put a LOT of random stuff on paper, at least what I could either remember or admit to… Yes, this is shaping up to be a bit more intensive than I anticipated, but I think it will be worth it…

 

On the gaming front, tournament this weekend… Biggest choice will be Whirlwind or just stick to the "standard" list as follows:

 

"The Number Shall Be Three…"

Belaziel (Belial) w/ TH/SS or LC

3 Deathwing squads with 2 TH/SS, 1 LC and Cyclone Missile Launcher in each, one of them with the Apothecary upgrade

3 Ravenwing Typhoons (MM/TML)

3 DNs, Mortis (2 TL AC), 2 others… All in gunboat configurations…

 

Whirlwind would be useful against one or two lists really… So probably a "no" for the tournament…

For the Tournament :-)

Well, gearing up for the Tournament next weekend… I think I've narrowed my choice down to one of two lists:

 

Belial (TH/SS or LC)

4 Deathwing Squads, 2 TH/SS, 1 LC and Cyclone Missile Launcher in each. One squad w/Apothecary

DN (TLAC or Plasma/ML)

Land Speeder Typhoon (MM/TML)

Ravenwing Squadron (Attack bike w/MM, 2 Melta)

 

 

Belial (TH/SS)

3 Deathwing Squads each w/ 2 TH/SS, LC, CML, etc…

3 DNs (TLACx2, Plasma/ML, ?)

3 Land Speeder Typhoons (Multi Melta, TML)

 

Well, the first one has 4 troops, the Ravenwing scout, flank and have teleport homers allowing me to deep strike in with no deviation. And the Deathwing have their "Deathwing Assault" rule allowing me to bring up to half of them in on turn one like the Drop Pod Assault, but I "May" bring up to half, I do NOT have to bring them in early. So, mobile(ish) and more troops allowing me to set up in cover and hold a bit longer…

 

Second one is more spamish, LOTS of heavy weapons (21 so far, plus whatever the last DN brings) each turn… So, I think it can take on pretty much whatever I face… Sadly I do actually have pretty much all of it ready to roll, either way really. This second list I think really wins more by killing lots of things than by playing for the objectives, etc… But still it might be the better one for a tournament… I could also change out one of the DNs for a Whirlwind and random upgrades all around…

 

I'll have to look at the Escalation scenarios a bit more to see which one looks like it works better…

Let’s try this again :-)

Bloody magnets are REALLY powerful… Trying to get too fancy I think with some of them since they are resisting my efforts to have the same pole face outward on either side of the bodies, especially some of the truly ancient lead RT Termis… There is a very real size difference there, but with my Consecrators it just feels right to use the ancient metals.

The lads did well at 1250 points, fielded:

Belial (TH/SS)

4 Deathwing squads each with a Cyclone Missile launcher, 2 TH/SS, 1 LC, one squad with the Medic

2 Typhoon Speeders with MM/TML

 

So, a crapton of Str 8 low(ish) AP shots… 14, 12 missiles and 2 Multi Melta… Not bad, especially at 1250 points. Not the most mobile, especially when I roll 1's and 2's for moving through difficult terrain and fail to assault almost every turn with one squad, but I could Deep Strike if I need to. I do REALLY prefer to do so in concert with a beacon like on the Ravenwing, but still, "Who Dares Wins". One of the things I'm really looking at for next year's Adepticon is whether they keep the allied beacons usable by all of the people on that side. Scouting bikes and attack bikes with built in beacons could be a huge advantage for some of the weird missions, especially with me fielding a bunch of Fearless Terminators who can very reliably just appear more or less anywhere on the field. Especially if my partner can back my play with heavy weapons and/or dedicated assault troops. Blood Angels, Wolves and the Dark Angles will all make excellent "team players" in the context of this type of tournament.

 

1250 Level

Ah :-) Finally… Well, the dice were not friendly as my Deathwing died to a BA list last night… Dedicated Assault Terminators with Lightning Claws and a CPT with Thunderhammer getting a grand total of 2 hits and one kill over the course of 3-4 turns of HtH? Yes, the list was solid and the plan was sound, just was not a good night to be a Consecrator Deathwing member apparently…



Anyway up to 1250 and I'm thrilled…



So:

Belial (Bezaliel for my chapter) probably TH/SS or Claws 130

Deathwing "Command" Squad: Apothecary, CML, 2 TH/SS, LC 270

(might swap out the CML for the Standard if I just want to sell out for an assault squad)

Deathwing Squad: CML, mix of weapons 235

Deathwing Squad: CML, Mix o' weapons 235

Mortis class DN (2 x TLAC) 125

Land Raider Crusader (+ storm bolter) 255



Nothing at all subtle here, Land Raider rolls forward with Bezaliel and his squad loaded out with HtH weapons covered by the other two squads and the DN… The Ravenwing might do the same job, but I REALLY like the DNs…



The other major option would just be 4 Deathwing squads, one of the w/ Apothecary option, all with the CML and 2 Typhoon class speeders (breaking out some of the ancient metal ones I have)… I do not think I could deal well with another Terminator based force, but Marines are in trouble with 12 Str 8 AP 3 missiles each turn… Horde forces? Well, against the IG, I'd just be saturating the heavy weapon teams with fire for the first few turns, hoping for even average rolls on the cover saves for him since each missile kills the entire team it hits (more than double the T value). Then more or less choose one blob and just pour all of my fire into it until it goes away or reaches me. Since I am also able to fire on the move, I'll likely be backing up as I fire… Orks? Um, yes… Just choose the nearest blob, fire like we're voting in Chicago… Early, often and targeted…



Power and Internet blipping in and out here, so I'll post as it comes back :-)

It’s a few weeks out, but…

Local Tourney coming up in a few weeks… We run leagues in the store with a tournament at the end of an 8 week league, so this is the end of our "escalation league"… I've been doing fairly well with my Consecrators "Deathwing" force so far, but we're only at the 1000 point level, I have very little experience at the Tournament's level of 1500 points… So, is a second HQ even worth it at the 1500 point level? I considered running something fairly "standard" at least more "old school DW" like this:

Belial (TH/SS or LC)

Librarian (TDA, Combi melta?)

Deathwing "Command Squad" (CML, 2 TH/SS, LC, Apoth)

Deathwing squad (as above)

DN (PC/ML)

Land Raider Crusader

Land Raider

Land Speeder Typhoon

 

But my concerns are that the Librarian is really expensive for a 2 wound "might be useful" model, only 2 "Troops" squads and the Land Raiders are not all THAT hard for a lot of forces to take down when push comes to shove… Still might win a few by virtue of being so compact and tightly focused, just more likely to be destroyed for the same reason I think… That and the LRC I "have" is actually a MK I Land Raider I am converting to a Spartan class LR with magnetized weapons… I SHOULD be able to get it done by then, but…

 

My other initial thought was just Terminator Saturation:

Belial (TH/SS)

4 squads of Deathwing, one w/Apoth, all with: CML, 2 TH/SS, LC, etc…

DN (Gunboat, TLAC or PC and ML)

Ravenwing Attack Squadron (2 Melta, Attack bike w/MM)

Land Speeder Typhoon

 

I've been REALLY liking the Deathwing Assault combined with the Ravenwing's teleport homers allowing me to simply place the deep strikers exactly where I want them (Also a BA player, the Drop pods w/ beacons are HUGE for my DoA lists)… It's surprised a fair number of people locally and allowed me to put my people in the best possible defensive positioning to take and hold objectives… Then just hold until time runs out really… Down sides being: Only 2 vehicles and Terminators are not THAT hard to kill, especially with the new DE 5^th ed "star cannon" (Yes, I remember that far back when the Eldar came out in 3^rd ed with the Star Cannons that just wiped Marine armies off the tables using them…) or just massed AT firepower… Up sides being: 4 troops that are not easy to kill, all fearless so, no worries about running away or IG PBS silliness, fair amount of long range firepower, etc…