40k ETC and ESC 2015 Eldar Tournament Report!

So after the UK GT and 40k 6NC, my precious Wave Serpent army was rendered useless reasonable by the new eldar codex. Luckily I had a backup plan, involving some scatter laser jetbikes and D cannon artillery!

The full list was

Avatar

Two farseer skyrunners, one as the warlord with the spirit stones and the other with a singing spear.

6 units of 5 windriders and 5 scatter lasers

6 Swooping hawks, exarch

2 units of 8 warp spiders, exarchs

3 single D platforms

Note: During the ESC, it was ruled that the artillery model can move and a stationary crewman can fire the gun (as the firing model is then stationary). This, along with the "measure from the barrel of the gun" wording in the artillery rules, meant that turn 1 the platforms can get almost 6" further forward than the deployment line. Although controversial, I think it has a pretty strong basis in raw, and was in force for the entirety of both events (ESC and ETC).

40k ESC- Wednesday 05 08 15 and Thursday 06 08 15

First game I get drawn against Tristan. He'd travelled with the Swiss team and was playing in the singles while acting as coach for the team event. He had a Baron court, with sanctuary on the baron for double shields, 2 extra knights, and a Tau firebase cadre.

I got double misfortune on my powers and set up on the line. Tristan didn't seize! I only did 5 hull points turn 1 however, and his return fire killed 10-15 bikes. However, his Baron was a little too close to a platform, and between this, the remaining scatterbikes with misfortune and finally an Avatar Wailing Doom, I was able to down the Baron. The hawks also finished off the wounded knight.

The first spider unit came in near the riptide and broadsides, bounced away from interceptor fire and started harassing the tau. That was a massive turn for me, going from 15 bikes down to no loss, to 2 knights down.

Tristan tried to recover but, without the benefits of the baron court and my bikes outranging his firebase, it was an uphill struggle. The last knight died turn 3 to hawks and more shooting, while my spiders and bikes cleared out his broadsides for a turn 5 tabling. The D cannon platform that wounded the baron also scalped the riptide with a 6!

20-0

Game 2 I played Matt Robertson, the Welsh team captain. He had a really good decurion list and we've played the practice match many times. It's not good for me!

We played it anyway, and true to form Matt was able to tie up my bikes and dominate the table, scoring a 20-0.

20-20

Game 3 was on the second day due to technical issues, and I played one of the Netherlands team, Gijs Baas with his wolf star! Gijs knew it was a bad matchup but tried to play through it like a true champion of Fenris! He scouted forward and I went first. The scout was a mistake really, as it meant my warp spiders could line in front of the star and block his turn 1 movement without fear of assault.

I had a monstrous shooting phase turn 1, killing half or more of the wolf star- he had 3 of the 6 characters and a few ravenwing left.

He had a few drop pods to try and get kill points, but the avatar and warp spiders tidied them up wherever they came in. By the end of turn 4 Gijs was reduced to a single wolf lord, so we called the game at that point.

Gijs was an absolutely great opponent, and took the match with great spirit! We even swapped shirts during the final day of the team event, and the Dutch polo was a bit better for the heat than the Welsh rugby style shirt!

40-20

Game 4 was against Bogdan from team Romania. He'd also brought a Baron court, this time with 6 venoms. He won the roll for turn 1 and I had no misfortune... oh dear.

I debated trying to play cagily with the spiders and trying for the maelstrom, but in the end I was too tired. I explained that I would set my whole army up on the deployment line, before seizing the initiative! Bogdan laughed it off... until I rolled a 6!

5 venoms died to my firepower (poor rolls on one cost me a full house), while one Knight also died to a combination of D platforms and swooping hawk assaults.

Bogdan then decided to concede turn 1, giving me another 20-0!

Maybe he could have played on, but I had the platforms and the avatar to back him into a corner and could start to surround him with scatterbikes too. As it was, I was able to relax for a couple of hours before round 5.

60-20

Game 5 was against Bartosz (aka Ken), the captain of team Poland. I knew they were a good team going in, and Bartosz was surely a good player. He did not disappoint! He had Tigurius, 3 Level 2 librarians, 3 units of centurions in drop pods and 5 sternguard in a pod, as well as some blood angel and tactical drop pods, meaning all the cents and the sternguard could have a psyker attached and pod in turn 1. I castled up in a big ruin and waited for the drop. Ken killed the avatar, a platform and 3 units of bikes with a combination of auspex and perfect timing.

However my return fire was also pretty good- I killed the sternguard and librarian with warp spiders, while the other spider unit locked down the cents in my deployment zone. My bikes all combined fire into another unit of cents, and I was able to reduce them to the librarian and a single wounded centurion. Not bad! The rest of the game was quite cagey, with Ken's second wave taking objectives and my bikes having to clear centurions as fast as they could (one unit of which was invisible)! My Hawks had a great game, surviving a bit too long for Ken before finishing off some scouts, and clearing two fast attack drop pods (for the scouring) off of objectives and claiming a 3 point objective for themselves! It finished 12-8 to Ken, in one of the most interesting, tactical and intense games I've had the pleasure to play in! I really enjoyed the match and hope to play him again next year.

That left me on a score of 68 points, enough for an 18th place finish! I was quite happy with this standing- especially having played Knights twice and come away with 40 points from it!

Special shout out to Gas Jones, Team Wales member and last year's winner, who pulled 4th place this year with seer council! To finish top 5 for two consecutive years is a massive achievement, and he's an awesome guy too.

So with my "practice games" completed, I hoped I was ready for my first ever ETC...

40k ETC Fri 07 08 15, Sat 08 08 15 and Sun 09 08 15

In the first round Wales played Croatia. Our pairings were good for the whole event, and this round was a great way to start. I played 25 screamers, with a screamer council, Belakor and Fateweaver. Steven got his powers for the 2++ rerollable save. I got some rerolls and Will of Asuryan.

Steven's list was a tough one for me to beat, but luckily he made a couple of mistakes I could capitalise on early. Although all the screamers had some type of rerollable 2+ save, I could see Belakor with all the bikes, and even though he was flying I was able to do 3 wounds. He failed his grounding check, despite the Fateweaver reroll, and then failed his invulnerable save for first blood! Steven also moved his council too far forward, 14" from the Avatar. I made the 8" charge, and was able to lock them down all game- cursed earth and warpstorm increasing my invulnerable save certainly helped! I had a small amount of space where I couldn't be charged and was able to back away well after feeding the platforms to the screamers turn 2. Although I couldn't shoot the other two screamer units well, I was able to lock them down with fearless jetbikes while my warp spiders and hawks cleared out the horrors and cultists in the backfield.
I also blocked Fateweaver from flying after he was too close to the short board edge, and rather than leave the board my opponent landed- resulting in a dead Fateweaver the turn after!

I was going second and was able to jump most of the objectives, while the council eventually failed the grimoire and the avatar took advantage, reducing them to a single herald after instability for blood and guts! Final score 16-4 to Eldar.

Wales had a monster round, winning 128-32 and setting us up for a clash near the top tables round 2.

Round 2 we played Sweden, and again our pairings were spot on. Sadly someone had to be thrown under the bus though, and it was me. 50 warp spiders rode the bus, in the Swedish "arachnophobia" list of a Craftworld warhost and 4 aspect shrines, with 10 units of 5 spiders and 2 units of hawks, along with some minimum scatter bikes, farseer, etc and an autarch. I was really keen to play the list as I thought it looked really cool, but was not quite sure what to expect. Turn 2 I found out when Olof's alpha (or maybe beta?) strike killed 23 of my jetbikes! From that point I was just in "how many points can I get from this matchup" mode. By the time Olof realised the spiders couldn't hurt the avatar from shooting (str 6 vs initiative 10), I had killed most of his scatter bikes. The rest of the game consisted of my warp spiders rolling a heroic 12" and 11" jump on the two units to escape his killbox, while the avatar strode around killing units of spiders at a time in melee! I ended up with the Avatar on an objective, contesting, and turn 6 a single wounder spider exarch hit and ran onto another objective, contesting that. Between the maelstrom points I could accrue, as well as slay the inquisitor warlord and line breaker, I actually managed 4 points with just 2 models! Final score 16-4 to the "Inquisition". Olof was a really fun guy to play against, and I've never had as much fun while taking such a beating!

Wales won the round again though, giving us a very satisfying max points from day 1!

Day 2 started with Wales vs Denmark in round 3. I was playing against 3 Knights and 7 venoms. Again I had no misfortune, but I got the infiltrate warlord trait and so infiltrated the 3 units of platforms. My opponent was thrown by this, deploying 1 venom, a lhamean, some warriors and 2 knights (reserving 1). He nearly reserved all 3 knights, which would have been a massive mistake (more below).

I went first after infiltrating all 3 platforms opposite one of Paul's knights. I managed to 6 it out turn 2 after he'd killed one of my platforms, while a warp spider unit were able to box the other knight into the corner. This meant he couldn't shoot- if he wanted to shoot something else and heavy stubber the spiders to charge I could have jumped away, and I was too close for him to melta cannon the spiders without hitting himself!

For the third knight however... I turbo boosted all of my jetbikes to Paul's board edge, lining it fully so that if the Knight passed his reserve roll, he would be unable to move on and thus destroyed!

Paul duly passed, and I got my first "ETC special"! 5 venoms arrived and killed off all the spiders blocking, then the knight charged a jetbike squad. However my return fire killed 4 of the venoms, and my avatar made his way to the Knight, ready to punk it out in melee. I cleared up most of Paul's army and had a 20-0 already, so we agreed to fight the avatar against the Knight. I even went through cover, but he missed all his attacks and failed to stomp... 10 hull points later, the Avatar wins!

Wales just pulled out a draw in a very close round, so it was good to get the 20-0. If Paul had reserved all the knights, I could have lined his board edge and killed all three very easily! That would have been epic, but maybe a bit boring as a game.

Game 4 against USA! I played Andrew Gonyo, the captain, who had blob guard with wyverns and drop pod melta command and veterans. This could sting, but I went first so was okay. My farseer decided on an apocalyptic eldritch storm, which scattered onto 2 wyverns. One took a hull point, while the other took a penetrating hit, and I rolled a 6 for immobilised... at least, until Andrew told me it was open topped and so I had first blood! I killed the other two wyverns with shooting, which was immensely helpful. I thrust back onto cover, and Andrew's alpha strike back was quite weak, only killing one unit- his astropath even managed to blow himself up casting invisibility (which I even denied)! I had pretty good dice for a turn or two, which was an immense help. I was able to kill the dropped units and annihilate most of the infantry blob, leaving just the conscipts and the reserves. The conscripts with misfortune and priest buffs (when they passed) were able to tear through units, but I could block them well and after my spiders grabbed the relic turn 1, I moved it into the corner. I got some good maelstrom cards too (supremacy and ascendancy in the same turn) meaning I could push for a big win and it finished 17-3.

Wales sadly lost the round however, which was not helped by one of our players getting heatstroke! Luckily he was okay, and we have a grudge team for next year now!

Round 5 vs the Ukraine. I played Fedor, #2 at the singles championship. His ElTau was brutal with shooting, but as I went first I forced him to reserve a lot of his firepower and was able to castle well around a farseer who had shrouded. Fedor had some epic saves on his buffmander tanking for the broadsides, and this sadly (& unavoidably) slowed the game down so we had a turn 4 finish. Fedor going second with obsec bikes in reserve meant he was able to take some objectives from me at the end of the game, and it finished 9-11. My opponent was a great guy, but unfortunately the round as a whole was soured by the Ukraine Farsight Bomb slow playing against our Thunderwolf star after it had charged the Farsight Bomb. The refs unfortunately ruled that dice down was dice down, even in the middle of the assault phase, so we lost out on about 8 points that round, which cost us the win and left us on a draw. Still, most of the team had great games and it would be wrong to let those be soured by one experience.

Round 6 vs Italy! I was paired against double blob guard, with cypher for 2+ cover and some scatter bikes. I had made a small error in the pairings matrix, not realising the 2+ cover save, and so I was in for a tough match! I had no ignore cover, but was able to deploy second on hammer and anvil so stayed out of range. I ignored his lascannons and one unit of scatter bikes, leaving almost all of my scatter bikes against one unit of his- however I left one model from each of my units out of his threat range so he couldn't get first blood, and if he wanted to shoot me I could annihilate his unit with return fire. He realised this turn 1, and moved backwards 12"... so I moved forwards 12" and left the situation the same! Meanwhile one unit of spiders made a 10" jump turn 1 towards some conscripts who had strayed forwards. They had no priest so could go to ground, but I charged instead and was able to win combat by 5! With a strong sweeping advance, all ~50 were dead, along with the attached psyker! Talk about first blood...

His turn 2 he moved his scatbikes up to shoot mine and killed 3, and then I annihilated all but the farseer. On the other side my second spider unit also tore up the other bike unit, leaving Eduardo with just the Cypher blob that had to deal with some spiders. From this point I was able to pick off some of his lascannons with a good warp spider jump and then avoided the blob. I had second turn and guard blobs vs scatter bikes is a very slow game even with both of us speed playing all of our turns.

This meant I was able to shoot a couple of holes turn 5 and turbo boost onto the objectives. The Swooping hawk exarch finally died to his farseer in combat, leaving me on a 14-6 win. If the exarch hadn't died that would have been 15-5, and if the farseer had died it would have been 16-4 from maelstrom as well! Talk about close!

It was a great game and I was able to play through the tough pairing reasonably well.

Wales just snuck over the line for a round win, after our Skitarii and Knights player was able to pick up 20 points against Daemons (needing 14 for the round win)!

After scores and tie breakers were all jotted up, we were in 4th place on 8 points (around 520pts of tie breakers)! Highest ever finish for team Wales, and almost on the podium in 3rd place if the decision in round 5 had gone our way!

Still, it was a great result and I had an amazing time- 11 of the best games I have ever played, and many of them up there for the most fun too. It was also great to meet so many players from around the world- I played 2 Frenchmen (one was a mercenary for Croatia), a Dutchman, an American, an Italian, a Swede, a Dane, a Ukranian, a Romanian and a Pole (as well as one Welshman).

Team events are an amazing way to play 40k- simultaneously taking pressure off yourself to win everything but also fighting as hard as you can for every point for the team is a great dynamic.

I'm hoping to go again next year, and to see if we can't improve on 4th place!

The next event I'm attending will be the Allies of Convenience GT in November. AoC is an awesome competitive 40k podcast found here https://www.facebook.com/AOCPodcast and they've got a load of coverage from the ESC and ETC as well.

I'm not sure how regular my posts will be in future, but I'm hoping to do a couple before the tournament. I hope to see some of you there- if you're a reader, let me know!

Thanks for reading,

SimonW