For all sins great and small, there will be a reckoning

Jeff and I ended up playing a 50ss game.

My list:

Kirai  (Absorb Spirit,Bloody Sheers, Swirling Aether)
Ikiryo
Datsue Ba (Spirit Whispers, Immediate Vegeance)

Izamu the Armor (Aura of Decay)

Grave Spirit

Shikome

Onryo

Onryo

7 Stones

Jeff's List, from what I recall:

Vik of Ash

Vik of Blood, Mark of Your Armor Doesn't Matter

Vanessa

Student of Conflict

Taelor

Ronin
Ronin
Ronin

Friekorps Librarian

A great game.  It ended during the 5th turn, with me getting approximately 3 points, and Jeff getting 5 due to him actually killing things during a Reckoning Game. Odd that.

An error I made: someone pointed out to be that if I marked my own models with the Feast trigger, that the gaki summoned would be under my **opponent's** control. 

So much for that strategy, then. 

Vengeance is mine

The 35 Soul Stone Crew

My List:

Kirai  (Absorb Spirit, Immediate Vengeance, Swirling Aether)
Ikiryo
Datsue Ba (Spirit Whispers)

Izamu the Armor (Aura of Decay)

Grave Spirit

Gaki

Onryo

Onryo

Onryo

7 in the cache

Jeff's Guild list (approx)

Lady J (Vendetta?)

Exorcist
Scales

Judge

2 Death Marshalls

3 Guild Rifleman

My opponent for the evening was Jeff Schmaley. He and I had agreed to a 35ss fight, but we decided at the last minute to go for 50ss. It wasn't a problem for me, as all I needed to do was add in Izamu with Aura of Decay and promote two Gaki to Onryo. We ended up playing Turf War with a standard six inch deployment. I took a revealed Breakthrough and Vendetta on a Death Marshall with one of the Onryo being the bearer of the Vendetta. Jeff revealed Kill Protege and concealed his breakthrough, IIRC

The board was filled with terrain, with an acropolis at the center breaking up line of sight quite well, making his guild riflemen less than useful. 

I ceded choice of sides to Jeff, allowing me to set up second. For a while I was afraid that we would put his riflemen in an elevated position, allowing him to pick me off, but he kept them on ground level, a mistake in my opinion. They weren't much of a factor in the game. Jeff kept his crew to my left, and I chose to respond by advancing right center behind a building. I won initiative, and again ceded first activation to Jeff. As with most first turns, this was less than exciting, as it was mostly maneuver. Jeff advanced straight into the acropolis with his guild rifles, and his melee moved behind it out of sight. I moved straight ahead, bulling a few movement/summoning shenanigans with Datsue Ba and Kirai, enough to get me a Gaki right on the guild master in the first turn. Of course, as Lady J had a full hand and with Gaki only having a ML of 4, that Gaki went nowhere fast, and ended up dying quite quickly (mainly because I forgot Hard to Kill).

The second turn had me in a good position to advance to the center, and start claiming Turf War points. Not a lot happened this turn. I got my one of my spirits in position to drop a scheme marker for Breakthrough, and moved to block Schmaley's advance into midfield. He seemed hesitant to commit, allowing me to claim an unanswered point for the strategy. He did shoot Izamu with a guild rifleman, and ended up flipping the red joker for damage. I had put the grave spirit in base with Izamu the activation prior, however, and so seven damage became three. 

The third round was when it all seemed to come apart for me. I foolishly charged Izamu into Lady J, only to have her easily survive the assault due to a better hand/soulstone use. Her ripose hit Izamu hard, but allowed for me to summon Ikiryo since an undead model had been damaged (Izamu). Lady J activated and took Izamu down, fulfilling the Protege scheme. He then advanced the exorcist, and let me tell you how awful that was. The exorcist shuts down all spirit and undead triggers, so my gaki had no access to feeding frenzy on the Judge or Lady J. I did get off a cast of Sundering on a Death Marshall, with the double crow trigger making him a potential Gaki. I also fulfilled the first part of my vendetta scheme. At this point, the Guild forces were close enough to start gaining turf war points, and so the score was now Guild 4, Ressers 3

From then on it was a scrum in the center, with the Guild slowly gaining the upper hand. That was until I was able to kill the marked Death Marshall with Datsue Ba's Weigh Sins, gaining me two models  for the price of one. It almost made up for the Exorcist paralyzing half of my crew the last two turns with Turn Undead. The problem for Jeff was that he couldn't kill anything I had. Spirit made me too resilient. He kept attempting to kill Kirai, but due to her being living, the Exorcist's Damning Oratory didn't apply to her triggers. Thus Kirai was able to shunt off Lady J's damage to spirits close to her. Somewhere in all this, I was able to drop off a second scheme marker for breakthrough.

As it was, the game ended on turn five, with Jeff only having one point for break through, three points for Kill Protege, and three for Turf War. That left me gaining three points for my announced breakthrough, one point for Vendetta, and 4 points for the Turf War, allowing me to squeak by with a one point win.

Final Score:

Kirai: 8
Guild: 7

An exhausting victory: those glass stones mark the models paralyzed by the Exorcist in the last round.

What won me the game: aggressive movement towards the center in turn two, and focusing on getting whatever scheme points I could. Listening to a few recent Malifools podcasts reminded me that I'm no longer playing 40k. Killing things are secondary to gaining points. I think I was stuck in the mindset of "if you're not killing, you're not winning." The Malifool's advice was simple: most of your points are tied into schemes, and since schemes are relatively unknown or unknowable until they're revealed, denying your opponent their strategy point for a turn is likely the most controllable, obvious way of winning the game. It's

simple advice, but it really saved my bacon in the last two games.

Battle Report- Wolves vs. Flesh Tearers

I had the pleasure of heading over to Games and Stuff to complete a trade with Damien. We got to talking, and he introduced me to a friend of his waiting for a game. I had brought my 1850 Flesh Tearer list with me, plus some extras, so I was happy to oblige his request to go to 2000.


What I brought:


Librarian with Shield/Unleash Rage, traveling with 5 TH/SS Terminators and a Sang Priest with Infernus Pistol in a MM/LC Storm Raven. Oh, and a Furioso Dread with HF, Magna Grapple, and Blood Talons riding in the back.


Shield/Blood Lance Librarian in a drop pod with a 5 man Infernus/MG Assault Squad, with an Infernus packing Priest


2 x Assault Squads, 10 men, Double Melta, Sgt with a Power Fist in a Rhino


Baal Predator- LC Assault Cannon, HB


2 Vindicators, both with siege shields


What Dave brought:


2 Wolf Characters, one with Saga of the Bear and Thunderhammer, one with Saga of the "I get to roll extra attacks for killing people last turn" with a wolf claw/SS, both of those on Thunderwolves, and a Wolf Ironpriest on a Thunderwolf, kitted out with a thunderhammer, and such. All three of these had wolves accompanying them, and were formed in once mega unit.


A Runepriest with Living lightning and something else that he never used.


3x 8 man Grey hunters in Rhinos, with attached wolf guard goodness


1 five man Grey hunter squad in a las/plas razorback

2 long fang packs with missile launchers.

Mission: Seize Ground (3 objectives)/Dawn of War


Dave and I rolled for it, and he won first turn. He set up his Rune Priest with a Grey Hunter Squad and Rhino near the right objective. I started with nothing on the board. I opted not to seize because I wanted him to waste a turn of potential shooting, and since it was an objective game, I wanted that possible last chance to grab or contest an objective. I had intentionally placed objectives mid field to draw him to the board center, and closer to assaults.


He moved his deployed Rune Priest and attached squad forward into the ruins near the right most objective. His other transports entered near the center, book-ending the T-Wolves, and created a space just big enough for my pod to fit. He popped smoke, and waited for my response.


My pod struck the earth in the dead center of his formation. From the superheated hull of the pod, there spilled forth a Sanguinary priest, who went right, a librarian who went left, and the squad in the center. Three units, one pod, and one mission: to take out as many transports as possible on the first turn. The Storm Raven screamed up the center to support, and the Baal and Vindicators moved 12 inches onto the board, a foot behind the Raven. The Rhinos both aimed at the Rune Priest's Rhino, on a mission to pry it from the objective, and break that Rune Staff as soon as possible. And will fast forward to the result: nothing. Not a single thing broke, died, or was otherwise inconvenienced. The Blood Lance went off, but did nothing. The Melta and Infernus Pistol from the squad both hit, but the smoke saved the Rhino. The Sanguinary Priest's pistol missed. The Raven's Machine Spirit-guided Multi-Melta hit, penned, and was smoked into nothing-ness. Everything else was out of range, or unable to fire.


His wolves moved up to pummel the 5 man squad to a fine paste, and the Sanguinary Priest from the pod was gunned down. Dave's razorback penned the Raven, luckily just stripping the Multi-melta. Things were not looking all that great, but I've faced worse, and I have learned not to give up in the face of crappy luck. The Librarian and the Terminators disembarked, and the Raven moved in behind them, turn it's lascannon and missiles to the two transports in front of it. The Vindicators and Baal advanced, hoping to gut the Thunderwolves. To hedge my bets, the Assault squads in the Rhino stayed in their transports, but moved up to melta the Rune Priest's Rhino. I started off the shooting phase buy having my librarian's power getting shut down by the Rune Staff, and the Raven's missiles hitting with only 3 of the 4 missiles I fired, and the lascannon and the accurate missile only scratching the paint of the transports they targeted. The regular assault squads did manage to immobilize the Rune Priest's ride, and the combined firepower of the vindicators killed a wolf or two as they scattered to the five winds.


The rest of the battle was a desperate scramble to keep my units on the other two objectives, kill as many of his troops as I could, while claiming the Rune Priest's objective for my own. At the end of turn five, the far left objective was unclaimable, as I had killed all the troops on that side with my Furioso dread, save one lone wolf guard, who died in a vehicle explosion caused by one of Dave's characters. As it was, if it had ended at turn five, the game would have been mine. I contested the center objective with a lone Sgt, and the remaining full assault squad had claimed the right most objective. Sadly, the 6th was rolled for, and I was pulled off the objective by the remaining Thunderwolf, and my long sgt was beaten like a rented mule.


So close, and yet so far...

The Furioso - despite missing with all four attacks on his first round of combat- performed exceptionally well. He killed the wolf lord with thunderhammer, killed Dave's Razorback squad of Grey Hunters, and nearly wiped an entire Grey Hunter pack by himself. My deployment severely hampered his Long Fang's utility. The pod tactic was risky, and didn't pan out, sadly. I may not repeat it.  Dave was an excellent player, and really got me thinking about objectives, which is what I need to focus on. We shook hands at the end, and had a great time.

NOVA Open Round Three

The third round saw me facing Joseph Trueblood, a gamer I had not met before. He plays mostly in the VA area, and, like me, was undefeated coming into the round. Scenario 3 saw us setting up as a pitched battle, with table quarters as the primary, with objectives as secondary, and VP's as the tertiary. As you can see from the very brief video above, I completely slacked on the recording of my games as the day wore on. This was the last video that I took for the day.

Joe was playing a highly mobile BA force.
Mephiston
3 5 man assault squads with various special weapons in Razorbacks
3 Furioso dreads
3 Vindicators
3 Baal Preds, 1 flame storm, 2 Twinlinked Assault Cannons

I won the first turn, and set up in the far corner, castling and waiting for the pain to come my way. He toed the deployment line, getting as close to me as he could. He attempted to sieze initiative, but failed.

He scouted forward, and my valk scouted to the flank to get side shots on his preds and vindicators. The valk also served as a distraction to draw away fire power, as did my ratlings, which were also deployed to get side shots. I had Marbo and a guard squad in reserve. The guard squad was to enter on another table quarter and hide to add 75 points to my total there.

With the set-up we had, I was able to whittle him down over time. Anything that threatened my area of the board got unloaded on until it was stunned, immobilized, or destroyed. He clumped his vehicles together, which allowed my manticore, devil dogs, and medusas extra leeway in targeting, and indeed, got me extra hits. That being said, it was still a hard row to hoe. I had to maneuver to get shots in his vulnerable side armor for his baal predators and his vindicators. He made excellent use of cover as well. My guard squad that was meant to hide was actually forced to do something, and plasma-gunned on of his vindicator's guns off.

It was another desperate, hard fought battle, but in the end, it was tied for quarters, tied for objectives, and I won in VP's. Set-up was very favorable to me, and it accounted for my victory.

NOVA Open Round 2

Round two was possibly the hardest fought game that I had. The impossible happened, and we ended up going through tieing all three victory conditions until a winner emerged.

Out of eighty-eight possible opponents, my foe was no less than Leigh Brady, a fellow Fr.A.G.er. I knew I was in for a hard fight, but little did I know how hard. I don't have his list, but you can see it on the video: Razorspam with Gating Terminator bully boys and Dakkadreds. It was hard as hell, and twice as ugly to have to face. The mission was objective capture, and the deployment was pitched battle. Secondary tiebreaker was VP by a 250 point margin, and tertiary was table quarters.

As with the last post, my camera work was hit and miss, but I hope that it lends you all the impression that after turn two, I thought I was done. My losses at that point: My Devil Dog, two Manticores, a Chimera, a Platoon Command Squad, and I was sitting looking at Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators squarely in my deployment zone.

Then it all took a turn for the better. I torrented the Libarian away from the Terminators, and they took a ton of wounds. I passed my Weaken Resolve roll, and they fled for the rest of the game. My hydras, Chimeras and autocannon squads pummelled his vehicles senseless, and my melta vets captured a key objective in the center. Each of us were tearing each other to pieces, but the game ended all too soon. At the end, we tied on objectives with two each, we failed to clear a 250 threshold for a VP victory, and both of us had two table quarters. It came down to raw victory points.

I won the game by 5 points. Let me repeat that: 5 points. Less than 1/3 of a Marine. But a "W" is a "W", so... Leigh sucks. Forever.

Seriously, though. This was a hard fought game, and it couldn't have been closer had I tried. It also goes to prove that whole addage of "never giving up". Had I conceeded after turn two, I never would have had that great game. Neither of us can beleive that the game turned out that way. It just goes to show you what massed firepower can do.

NOVA Open Recap, Round 1

After watching these videos from the weekend, I realize that I am unqualified to do these things in a tournament environment. I'm far too into the games to actually remember to take the videos in the first place. But the videos are all I have, as my still camera crapped out on me. So, they're what you get. My apologies.

That being said, the NOVA Open was a great time. 4 rounds of some of the best (and closest) 40k games I've ever had. I can't say enough about the level of competition and sportsmanship on display this weekend, and the dedication of the staff on hand to resolve issues that arose during the game. The format can be found on the Whiskey and 40k blog.

So, let's get onto the games, shall we?

Game 1 had me facing Casey Campbell, from the Iron Fist League, a group of veteran gamers based in Northern Virginia/DC.

His list:
Swarmlord
2 Tyrant Guard
Warrior Prime with Lashwhip/Bonesword, Deathspitter
8 Warriors with Rending Claws, Deathspitters, 1 Barbed Strangler
9 Stealers+Broodlord with scything talons
9 Stealers+Broodlord with scything talons

10 Termagants with spine fists - 60
Tervigon with catalyst, scything talons, cluster spines, adrenal glands, toxin sacs - 200
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
Doom with Pod
3 Ravenors with rending claws

What did I bring? The glorious Valhallan 42nd Mountaineers, pride of the Motherworld!

Lt. Sorin Company command with lascannon, plasma x 2 Chimera with HHB and TML
Chef Gordo Ramsey and Kitchen Crew (3 Ratlings)
Psyker Battle Squad 7+1 Overseer, Chimera with HHF, TML
Guardsman Marbo
Revnik's Ragers, 1st Platoon, Faith Company
-Platoon Command, flamer x 4, Platoon Commander, Chimera with HHB, THF
-3 Autocannon/plasma squads
-Commissar Price, power weapon
Veteran Squad with 3x Melta, Chimera with HHF, TML
Al-Marakesh's Irregulars (Veteran Squad) Plasma riflex3*
Devil Dog, HHF
Devil Dog, HHF
Vendetta Gunship *(The plasma rifler's ride)
Manticore
Medusa squadron of two
Hydra squadron of two

Mission: Dawn of War set up, VP primary objective/Table Quarters tie-breaker/Objective secondary tiebreaker

How do I sum this game up? It was a dawn of war mission with a shooting army opposing a close combat army with no real form of transport. Casey's only chance was getting his infiltrating stealers into CC early, and getting Doom quickly to distract me. Due to his terrain rolls and reserve rolls, it just wasn't happening. He made some interesting choices for his list that-- which as someone who doesn't play tyranids-- I just didn't understand. Not spawning, including warriors, not including another tervigon, allowing termigants to slow the Swarmlord down... I think the cards were stacked against him, but I think at that point, you have to play more aggressively than he did. He attempted to keep the termigants in cover, and the tyrant guard/Swarmlord squad behind them to give them cover. All that ended up doing was hold the Swarmlord back, and I never had to worry about him. I know what he was attempting to do, protect all at all cost, but that was the wrong strategy to employ with a Tyranid list. He was so afraid of failing that he ended up failing. All my list had to worry about was: the Hiveguard, stealers, and the Doom and pod. 2000 points versus 806 points tells you how that scenario will end, no doubt.

1500 Escalation League part 2

Same list as the last post.

I ended up facing a Brettonian list with two large lance formations, a Duke, a BSB, a prophetess on foot, a damsel on horseback, peasants with fire arrows, and a stone thrower.

We played mission 4, which stated that once your army was down to two remaining banners/general points, they lost the game.

We rolled off for terrain, and I placed a manor house centrally to block LOS for some of his units, and a tower opposite it to funnel the action to a narrow choke point. I set up favoring the choke point, and set my Prince up behind the manor house to keep from the archer's line of sight. My nurglings flanked to the right of his heavy unit with the Duke, BSB and assorted knights.

His Duke unit was stationed near the choke point, and his other unit was to the right of the manor, near the stone thrower. The peasants were at the choke point opposite the Duke/BSB unit, and the Prophetess was between the two, as bait.

Fairly soon, I got myself in trouble. My nurglings tried to get out of his charge arc, but the didn't quite get there. The Duke's unit stomped them into the ground in one combat with the nurglings doing nothing.

I charged my Prince into the duke's unit unsupported, hoping to kill them fairly easily, but their armor held well. I had a chance of breaking him that first turn, but the valorus standard (accompanied by his uncanny knack of making ward saves) saved his bacon. Over a few rounds of combat, the rpince was seen off. To support him, I charged the units in after him, and we ended up with a bizzare combat tetris. Please marvel at my MS Paint skills:



Eventually, even the peasants joined the party, flanking my plaguebearers on the side, but it was too late for the Prince, as he was killed shortly after, but not before the prophetess died. The peasants were flanked themselves by the other Plaguebearers. The peasants died horribly, and I failed to restrain my victorious Plaguebearer's pursuit. They took themselves out of the cover the manor provided, and allowed themselves to get smashed between two brettonian units of knights. After that, it was game over. Two rolls determined the game: his passed leadership after my Prince charged him, and my failed pursuit retraint. If either of those had gone the other way, it would have been a much different game.

What did I learn?

My list is vulnerable to heavy armor. I need magic or high strength models to get past it. Or I need to cause more wounds. I have to learn not to be baited by seemingly vulnerable units alone. I have to learn better positioning, and that monsters unsupported are not in a favorable position. Had my nurglings survived and been able to flank him, I might have broken him, and then the game would have swung a different way.

Good lessons, I say.

1500 Point Escalation League WHFB

Making a Daemons of Chaos army fit 1500 points with the models I've got is more difficult than I thought. I was supremely outnumbered by both my opponents, but that's to be expected with daemons, I suppose.

Lords:
Daemon Prince
Winged Horror, Soul Hunger, Unnatural Swiftness

Heros:
Herald of Nurgle, BSB with Banner of Sundering, Noxious Vapors, Slime Trail

Herald of Nurgle, Noxious Vapors

Core:
20 Plague-bearers, MSC, Banner of re-roll wounds

20 Plague-bearers, MSC, Banner of re-roll wounds

Special:
5 Nurgling bases

1500 even

I lucked out with my first opponent taking the Lore of Light, so my banner was in full effect against the Empire.

We played meeting engagement, and my prince and my non-bsb plague bearers ended up in reserve. I won the roll to set up first and positioned lone PB unit where I could claim some cover from a watchtower midfield. I held my scouting nurglings back. He ended up with just two units in reserve, some swordsmen with their detachments being in reserve, and some handgunners. He placed his remaining swordsmen to the left of my unit, and his flagellents right in front of my BSB unit. His wizard was midfield, and his priest was with his swordsmen. There was a mortar and a cannon on my far right, and a cannon just behind the midfield wizard. I placed my nurglings where I could threaten the warmachines and prayed he didn't roll a six to get first turn.

My prince and the missing PBs came on from the board edge, and the nurglings marched toward the mortar. The charge against the flagellents failed, and the PBs stumbled forward. Things did not look good for our intrepid non-heros. On his turn, his flagellents crashed into the BSB's unit, full of hate and such, but the PB's gave as good as they got, and ground them down after two turns. The prince ended up being shot up, and in the next turn, was Van Horstmaned to death by the priest. The priest's swordsmen and attached spears smashed into the fresh PB squad, and the two units slowly ground each other down, with the advantage on the side of Nurgle. In the meantime, the BSB's unit killed the handgunners attached on the priest, while the underestimated nurglings slaughtered the mortar crew, overran into the nearby cannon crew, killed them, and panicked a unit of handgunners off the board, and then survived a fulisade from another handgunner unit, only to kill them off as well. Don't underestimate the power of 15 poisoned attacks!

Meanwhile, the BSB's unit circled around to the rear of the now decimated swordmen, and were in a position to charge them. The priests bound spells had all been dispelled, and now the unbreakable swordsmen with the priest with a 5+ ward save was down to just the priest. The spearmen had long fled, and the priest decided to leg it. The nonBSB plaguebearers ran him down. From there, it was simply consolidating my victory.