Games Workshop Store Tournament: Round 3

The third and final round of the Games Workshop store tournament series was on July 24^th. I was there. there, but I was having trouble determining which list I will play. In fact I was trying to decide if I wanted to take the Eldar or the Dark Eldar. Doing all three rounds of the tournament with the same army makes sense. Taking a different army of the same race did sound appealing though. Since nobody really plays Dark Eldar I would have an element of surprise. Not to mention I really want to play with them.

The Dark Eldar are fast, mobile and can pack a punch at range. The 1750 point list I came up with has An Archon with retinue, a Wych Dracite with retinue, three warrior raider squads and three ravagers. The list packs a lot of punch and is fast. The big thing is, Aspect warriors aside, Dark Eldar are better at shooting. They all have a ballistic skill of 4 and a weapon skill of 4. Granted they are still toughness ans strength 3 but I am use to this. I don't have psychic powers though. Since I run double Farseers most of the time it will be a challenge running with no psychic powers and really only one way of dealing with pyskers. Granted I did not take the Crucible of Malediction in the list but I may swap things around to include it just in case.

So I have a fast, mobile and shooty list of Dark Eldar prepped and I have an Eldar list slightly modified from last time. I dropped the swooping hawks and second Farseer and added a wraithlord for a total of 2. I also increased the warlock retinue size to 9.

I should have taken the Dark Eldar. My opponent was a Blood Angels player who brought a mech list. 2 tactical squads in rhinos, 2 Baal Predators, a Vindicator and a Storm Raven chuck full of assault terminators, the Sanguinor and a Furioso Dreadnought. Things started well but went south fast after I destroyed the vindicator. I could not roll worth a darn for armor penetration and I was light on bright lances. All I know is that the Storm Raven should be more points. It has more abilities than a land raider and is basically a flying one.

So I got hammered 9 kill points to 4. Sad I know but I should have taken the Dark Eldar list I prepped as its killing power, especially on vehicles, was better. I lacked power weapons and AP 3 weapons which are essential to kill space marines. I was 70% sure I would be facing marines but apparently I had a ditz moment and did not prep an appropriate list. Eldrad's unit did well tying up the Sanguinor, terminators and a tac squad for 3 turns until a lucky thunder hammer hit took out the venerable Farseer. Despite having Fortune active my dice were against me. I lost the Fire Dragons to the dreadnought after they slagged the Vindicator. I should have had a bigger squad that included Fuegan. The Furioso would have thought twice about charging a Phoenix Lord that hits like a monstrous creature.

On the plus hand side I got a peek at the Isle of Blood boxed set for fantasy. It has 76 figures half of which are Skaven. Roughly 40 clan rats, a warlord, which looks nice, a rat ogre, look like some kind of shooty unit and that’s all I saw. I was more interested in the high elves. I wish they had allowed me to take a picture of the lord on the griffon. It was gorgeous. It is very aggressively posed. You also get a decent size unit of Sea Guard and some plastic Sword masters of Hoeth. All the new stuff looks nice and might actually get me back into fantasy when the box set is available.

So next time I play in a tournament I am going to plan the list a little better or just use the dark Eldar. I am going to be concentrating on getting 1850 points of Dark Eldar painted up to my standards for tournament use. Until the codex comes out in November that is. Then its new model time.

Our next installment will be about the current campaign we are doing at the store. We had our first round this past Wednesday and it was fun. So more on that next time

Until Then..........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its been a Necron kind of week

So I have gotten a few games in this week in preparation for the GW Store Tourney series round 3 on the 24th of this month.  So far the only takers have been Raven Wing and Necrons.  Wednesday night saw me square up against the Necron horde of "Meat Ban" Evolutions games computer guru and follower of this site.  He also started a rather colorful, lots of foul language, Nercron blog called March of The Machines.
This game was pretty brutal.  the list consisted of

Eldrad with 6 warlocks 2 with spears, embolden, enhance and a wave serpent with scatter lasers
2x 7 man squads of pathfinders
1x 6 man squad of guardian jebikes with 2 shuriken cannons
1x Farseer on jetbike with runes of witnessing, spirit stones, guide and fortune
2x Fire Prisms with holo fields and spirit stones
1x 5 man squad of dark reapers with Exarch armed with missile launcher, crack shot and fast shot.

I cheated though.  I was so distracted I forgot the Striking scorpions I got out of my case were not in the list and they got placed.  Granted they spent the game moving across the board and did not really contribute at all but still,  It was late and I was tired, I feel bad.
  Granted this did not stop the fire prisms from killing all his immortals on the first turn and the pathfinders from killing all his destroyers also in turn one.
The game went six turns but he was on the ropes from the begining.  He did get some revenge though.  His Monolith immobilised Eldrad's wave serpent in close combat. He did it from the rear and basically stood there unmoving so Eldrad and his Warlocks could not get out..........for three turns.  He just would not stay down.  needless to say frustrating.

Today I phased a 71 warrior strong force on turn 6 with the loss of a few jetbikes and warlocks.  This list removed the fire prisms dark reapers and second Farseer in favor of a 5 man unit of wraithguard with warlock in a wave serpent, a wraithlord and 10 warlocks as opposed to 6 and the Avatar.  This Game was 1850 points as opposed to the 1750  point game with Meat Ban.  No accidental scorpions this time though.
Once I closed the distance it was a slaughter house as the Avatar and Eldrad cut a bloody, or is it oily, path thru the warriors and 4 destroyers.  The two lords took longer to get as they started to retreat to the other side of the table with the surviving warriors.  I eventually caught him and got him below his phase number as we went into turn 6.
I felt bad though as I also played him in a small 500 point game with his raven wing and killed them to the man loosing only 2 shining spears and loosing none of the jetbikes.
So the list has been doing ok so far but i need to test it against a space marine force and without cheating this time.
We will see what Saturday Holds

Until then

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!

GW Store Tourney Round 2: The Wrath of Ulthwe

The smoke has cleared and the Guns have fallen silent. Above the carnage on a hill overlooking the battlefield Eldrad Ulthran surveys the destruction his army has wrought upon the Mon-keigh and their so called Imperial Army. Victory tastes sweet.

Round 2 of the Games Workshop National Store tournament was this past weekend and yours truly played at the store at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills. I faced an Imperial Guard army that was actually all infantry. I came in expecting space marines or a chaos army or even a guard army that was a mechanized wall of death. I was a little surprised and feeling a little nostalgic when I faced a Cadian Guard army that was all infantry and only had 2 Leman Russ's and a Vendetta.

My list consisted of

HQ: Eldrad Ulthran with 8 warlocks. 2 destructor, 1 Enhance, 1 Embolden. All in a Wave Serpent armed with Eldar missile launchers, vectored engines and spirit stones

Troops: 1x 10 man squad of dire Avengers with Exarch armed with Dire Sword and Blade storm in a Wave Serpent armed with bright lances, vectored engines and spirit stones.

Troops: 1x 6 man squad of Guardian Jet bikes with Warlock w/Conceal and 2 shuriken cannons

Elites: 1x 6 man squad of Fire Dragons w/Exarch armed with Fire pike, tank hunters and crack shot

Fast: 1x 6 man squad of Swooping Hawks with Exarch armed with sun rifle and intercept

Heavy: 1x Falcon with scatter laser, holo fields and spirit stones

Heavy: 1x Wraithlord armed with bright lances and wraith sword

The guard player had his force divided in two parts which made my job kind of easy. He had a squadron of scout sentinels and a squadron of armored sentinels with 2 heavy weapons teams and his command HQ on one side of the board in the corner and the bulk of his force in the other corner. This did not make much sense to me since this was a pitched battle with the annihilation mission.

So after a redeployment, I got first turn, thanks to Eldrad I sent the Dire Avengers in their Wave Serpent and the Guardian Jet bike squad to deal with the Command HQ and the heavy weapons. I sent Eldrad and the Wraith lord against the right flank of the guard while the Fire Dragons hitched a ride in the Falcon to hit the left flank and the 2 tanks he had perched on a hill. Turn one saw the death of all the heavy weapon teams and one sentinel on the right side and the death of a few guardsmen and a Leman Russ being unable to move or shoot. I lost one Jet Bike and 2 Fire dragons and the falcon could not shoot in his return fire salvo. He ran 3 squads to cover and that was about it.

Turn two I advanced further with Eldrad and the Wraithlord. The fire dragons Got into lethal range and blew up the disabled Leman Russ taking several Guardsmen with it. The Bikes continued the assault on the sentinel destroying the armored squadron in close combat, thanks to 3 penetrating hits by a singing spear one in shooting and 2 in close combat, and the command HQ was obliterated say for the head dude and master of ordnance thanks to a Blade Storm. They were destroyed in the ensuing close combat by the Dire Avenger Exarchs Dire Sword. Eldrad and his coterie of Warlocks laid waste to 2 squads of Guardsmen and a Heavy Bolter squad with the Wraithlord. I lost a couple warlocks and several bikes in combat this turn as well as my Fire Dragon squad being cut down to the Exarch.

The Leman Russ left destroyed Eldrad's Wave serpent and began to move towards the Farseer. My Falcon was forced to retreat and turbo boosted from harm as the Vendetta came on the table and fired upon it.

Turn 3 I mopped up the sentinels and stared bringing the Warlock and last Guardian over to help the rest of the army. The Dire Avengers loaded up in their Wave Serpent and turbo boosted over to the other side as well. The Fire Dragon Exarch refused to run and got within bonus die range with his fire pike of the vendetta and shot it down in a fiery explosion which claimed 75% of the veteran squad within. Eldrad mopped up some remaining guard with in range and the wraithlord destroyed the 2^nd tank in close combat. The Swooping Hawks finally decided to come in and did it with a bang killing an entire squad with their grenade packs and heavy fire from las blasters and the Exarchs sun rifle. I Finally lost the Fire Dragon Exarch and another warlock. Turn 4 was quick I killed some guard and my opponent did not kill anything except 4 swooping hawks.

That's when time was called and I came out on top 11 kill points to his 2. I scored roughly 1350 victory points and he scored 740. The game was a massacre if it had gone to turn 5 I would have tabled him. I have no doubt on that fact. I was closing in and he had 2 squads of veterans left and an infantry squad. It was a good game and I am glad my list did so well. I think I may change it a bit for the last round as I am expecting to face space marines.

So a very decisive Victory for Ulthwe. Next time we will be covering or next Aspect warrior in the Aspects of Khaine series. Fire Dragons

Until then......................................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GW Store Tourney Series Round 1: The Fury of Khaine

Before we delve into the tactics and strategies of the different Aspect Warriors later in the week, I participated in the Games Workshop Store tournament series Round one this past weekend. It was at Games Workshop Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills. It was a 1750 strait codex rules game and the tournament runs for the next 3 months. Each month you are required to play one games. They tally up the kill points and the victory points from each round. The manager said a store champion will be crowned and the person. with the highest overall scores will be the overall champion.
The game went badly though. The troops and strategy was there. The only issue was my dice were not cooperating. I did mange to score 8 kill points ans 1630 victory points though. My first opponent was a Blood Angels army Led by Mephiston and Lord Dante.

His list consisted of

Lord Dante
Mephiston
2x Furioso Librarians 1 delivered by drop pod
1x 5 man death company squad
1x 10 man assault squad
1x 10 man tactical squad in a rhino
1x scout squad

My List consisted of

Farseer with spirit stones, runes of warding and witnessing, doom, fortune, mind war
4x warlocks 2 with singing spears and destructor. others had embolden and enhance
1x 15 man guardian squad with shuriken cannon and warlock with conceal and spear
The Avatar
1x 10 man squad of Dire Avengers with Exarch armed with dire sword
1x 6 man squad of Fire Dragons with Exarch armed with Fire Pike and Tank Hunter
1X 10 man squad of Striking Scorpions with Exarch armed with Claw and both powers
1x 3 man Jet Bike Squad with shuriken cannon
2x Wraithlords with wraith swords, one with a bright lace the other with star cannon
1x wave serpent with twin linked bright lances and spirit stones for fire dragons
1x Falcon with spirit stones

It was a bloody fight. Turn one was uneventful as the Furioso came in and the Blood Angels Advanced. My army then advanced and killed a single marine. Mephiston advanced and engaged The Avatar in hand to hand. The Avatar i have to say was the MVP. Not only did he kill Mephiston he then proceeded to battle a Furioso Librarian for two turns before killing it. He then marched over to Dante who came in on turn four and killed him after one wraithlord killed the death company with him. For his final trick in turn seven he killed the remaining Furioso librarian. He lived the whole battle and took on all the heavy hitters and won. He avenged the Farseer and warlocks who died at Dante's hands.
The army was blasted in submission, mine that is. It was a hard battle but a moral victory despite the loss. All he had left was a drop pod and the scout squad in the end. I had the Avatar and 5 striking scorpions. I lost the tanks in turn two and the Fire Dragons fled under fire as the remaining two that survived the explosion of the wave serpent. The dire avengers held up in a building until turn 4 when the dreadnought finally wiped them out. The Bikes lasted until turn 5 when the scouts dealt the final blow.
I am somewhat happy with the list but I must cut down on the kill points. I could not have gotten a win even if i killed his entire army. he had only 9 kill points in it.
The Fire Dragons were useless as always so they are going to get cut. I may upgrade to Eldrad for my Farseer and also try to squeeze in a squad of shining spears for some hard hitting hit and run assaults.
The Emphasis will be on cutting the amount of kill points i can give up and still pack a punch. I will keep you posted as time progresses and I play with a few lists

Wednesday I will begin my multi part series detailing the Aspects of Khaine. First up will be the ubiquitous Dire Avengers
Until then........




Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!