40k GT Heat 1 Tournament Report! Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my tournament report for the independent UK 40k GT Heat 1! Part 1 is here if you haven't read it, and my list is here. The draws for round 4 were completed Saturday evening before we left, so I knew I'd be playing Matt Edmonds and his Daemon army on Sunday morning.

Game 4

Matt plays for Team Scotland at the ETC, so I knew I was in for a tough match. He'd brought Daemons, with a twist on the classic "Screamer Council" build:

The game was The Relic/Spoils of War on Dawn of War deployment. Something worth noting was that the Relic was played exactly like a normal objective that could be moved- so it was possible to contest within 3" if it was picked up, and it was even possible to claim it with ObSec if a non-ObSec unit had picked it up!

Pre Game

I'd heard a lot about Plague Drones but had never actually faced them before, so this would be a good challenge. They looked very durable, with 3 wounds, toughness 5, Shrouded and Feel No Pain from the Herald. Matt explained that with clever use of the Beam power from Fateweaver he could increase their Feel No Pain save too, to a max of 2+!
When playing Daemons it's always good to try and kill Fateweaver as soon as possible, and in my 2nd game on Saturday I'd already made the mistake of letting him fly around killing tanks. The Screamer council is a different matter, and I just needed to get it in melee with the Wraithknight to lock it down permanently.

Deployment and Eldar Turn 1

Matt wins both roll-offs and sets up the council and Fateweaver behind the large rock, while the Drones spread along the the edge of his line, hoping to tie stuff up and glance out some tanks with a few multiple assaults. My deployment is fairly symmetrical, spreading out my firepower so I can get shots everywhere, but especially on the Council should I seize...

So naturally, I seize! I waste no time in lining up shots on the council- I can't see many heralds, but I can thin out the screamers and make it more vulnerable late  game. My whole army bar the Wraithknight shoots the council, and we have some crazy dice where Matt's Portal herald fails 5 Look Out Sir rolls in a row, but then passes all 5 Invulnerable saves!  Meanwhile, my Wraithknight jumps up onto the hill and can just see Fateweaver. 1 wound goes through, and despite a 3+ cover save with the reroll...

...Fateweaver is sent back to the warp, for Warlord and First Strike. Result!

Daemons Turn 1
Matt's Plague Drones advance and try to glance out a Night Spinner but only manage 1 hull point. The council gets the Grimoire off and moves around the side. This turn is a bit quieter- Matt's psychic phase is naturally crazy as he casts all sorts of powers, but the only one of note is a Beam that explodes my red Serpent for First Strike!

Eldar Turn 2 Onwards
Not many photos this time unfortunately- it was such a great game and we didn't stop until the end.


Turn 2 I was able to butcher 5 of the Plague drones with Serpent Shields and the Wraithknight, while my Hawks tried to kill off some Horrors. I started to take a steady lead in the Maelstrom mission too, which I maintained for the entire game. Matt glances out the Green Serpent with the remaining Plague Drones, while the council beams and summons its way around the board. The Nurgle Herald splits off to charge 5 Dire Avengers, who turn on their secret ninja abilities- despite needing 5s to hit from Fear and then 6s to wound, they cause 2 wounds and Matt fails both of his saves and FNP!
Eventually the Screamer Council gets stuck in melee with the Wraithknight, but Matt is able to summon enough Drones and Horrors to completely cover the Relic, and with the advantage of last turn he can win the Primary, despite my best efforts to fly in with ObSec tanks. However I win the Secondary and Tertiary, resulting in a 10-10 draw!

Post Game

This was really a great game against a great opponent. It was really in the balance at the end, and Matt played really well despite an early setback with the loss of Fateweaver. Plague Drones do seem like a strong unit, but unfortunately my large volume of high strength Ignores Cover fire, combined with some poor FNP rolls, pretty much took them out of the game on turn 2. They're great for summoning though, as they're pretty mobile. Jetpack Cavalry is also the most unusual unit type I've seen!

Game 5
My 5th Game was against Dan Sackett. I'd seen him playing earlier, so had an idea of what to expect, but 30 Warp Spiders look a lot more menacing once they're set up! His full list is below:

The game was The Scouring/Deadlock on Vanguard Strike. The Scouring points were modified, so there were 2x1, 2x2 and 2x3 for the 6 objectives.

Pre Game
Dan's Reaverstar looked menacing, and they had Invisibility, so they'd need to be dealt with by the Night Spinners. My plan was simple- kill the Warp Spiders as soon as possible before the Reavers arrive, and then focus on them. I also needed to thin out the Jetbikes as much as possible, to stop Dan stealing the Primary. Overall the Primary looked good, but the Secondary was maybe going to go his way with all the Jetbikes.

 Deployment

I chose this corner to stop Dan hiding behind the big rock, and clustered my tanks. He lined up all the Warp Spiders, and after I measured some threat ranges I chose to let him go first!

Game turn 1

Dan's Spiders all sprint forward as fast as they can- 20 hiding behind the rock on my right and 10 in the tower to the left. His Wraithknight spiked a Distort on mine, but luckily I just passed my cover save.
In my turn, I lined up as many shots as I could. The Night Spinners both barraged the tower, taking advantage of the new 7th Edition rules and killing 4. The Serpents killed another 8 from the second squad, while the Wraithknight got into melee and swept a full squad of 10 for First Strike!

Again there are no more pictures this time.

Turn 2 is quite quiet as no Reavers arrive until turn 3. The remaining Warp Spiders try to hurt some tanks, but I Jink and then finish them all off.

The Reavers arrive, and Shriek my wounded Wraithknight to death with a 15! Slay the Warlord to Dan. However they fail Invisibility with 6 dice, so in the following turn I reduce them to 2 bikes and 2 Farseers. By the end of the game both Farseers are reduced to 1 wound and all the Reavers are dead, thanks to the Night Spinners. Dan has a commanding lead in the Secondary, but I've got the Primary locked down by killing 4 Fast Attack choices and claiming 7 points of Objectives. The Tertiaries are a draw- I can't quite finish Dan's Warlord Farseer, and he didn't get First Strike. We both get Linebreaker, because Eldar. The final score is 12-8 to me!

Post Game

That was a brutal game- losing 22 Warp Spiders early on meant Dan had to use his Reaverstar to take down my units, but then he failed Invisibility too! Despite that, Dan's Shriek meant he was able to control a lot of the board with his Wraithknight, and my Dire Avengers couldn't quite get it done fast enough to kill him. He was also able to hide his jetbikes well, and out of Scatter Laser range to limit my firepower. This game put me on 68 points, a score I was almost certain would qualify. As for the Maelstrom, Deadlock is very prone to first draw skews- taking 6 cards turn 1 and having all 1 pt/difficult missions vs 2 point/easier ones can really decide the mission early on.

Game 6
My last last game was against Dan Sargent's Eldar/Tau:

The final game was Crusade with 4 Objectives/Contact Lost, on Hammer and Anvil.

Pre Game
I was really tired by this point, but powered through. Dan's army looked pretty strong on paper, and his summoning Farseer would be a pain, but I felt like I had most of the tools to deal with his list. However, this was not to be...

Deployment
Dan won the roll and chose to play first. With hindsight, I should have split my forces to deploy far away from Buffmander and the Missile Crisis, preserving another tank. As it happened, I didn't and this would prove costly.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures during this game, as it went very badly from the start and threw me on a tilt. Dan's first turn saw him kill the red Serpent, and the Orange one, and also manage a single Distort to kill my Wraithknight.
In return I was able to kill 1 Serpent, and the other Jinked. That was not the reply I was hoping for. Despite my deployment mistake, I still had a chance at the game but unfortunately I didn't make a couple of clutch plays- the Fire Dragons failed a charge at close range onto a Wraithknight, and my 20 Dire Avengers were firing marshmallow discs, unable to rend the Wraithknights for 2 turns. The game went this way until turn 6, where he Stunned my last remaining Serpent eliminating any chance of points for me and we called it there, with a 20-0 victory to him.

Post Game

As much as my dice weren't great, I also didn't play very well, and Dan did. He used the summoning Farseer to keep the pressure up all game, and his Wraithknights overwhelmed my lines. I did eventually kill them both, but I couldn't kill them and Buffmander's unit, who were able to kill a tank 4 turns in a row. Meanwhile I was tired, and it really showed- my target priority was poor, and my positioning could also have been better. However throughout the whole game Dan was a great sport, and very gracious in his (overwhelming) victory.

So that was my last game of the event! We had a short break while the final standings were calculated, and then the qualifiers were announced:

So I'd qualified! It was closer than I would have liked, but I was still happy with 9th place. I also think I'm a better player for the event, despite that poor final game.

I'd make a few changes to the list:

I'd remove the Night Spinners, Autarch, and Swooping Hawks, and put in a Summoning Bike Farseer with the Spirt Stones of Anath-Lan, a 2nd Wraithknight, and some more Ghostwalk Matrices & Cannons on the tanks.

I didn't need that much anti-infantry all the time from the Night Spinners and Hawks, but a 2nd Wraithknight would have definitely helped me score bigger wins in most of the games. Summoning is so good too- you can lock down the backfield early doors, then use Horrors and Daemonettes to dominate midfield and clear out infantry (effectively replacing the Hawks and Night Spinners).

So that's my first Tournament Report! It was a great event, and all my opponents were great players and great sports. Even though the standard of competition was pretty high, everyone there was much more relaxed than last year and it was an awesome atmosphere. I'm already looking forward to the final, and I hope to see all of my opponents there- they all qualified (including Rich through a Best Painted nomination).

Moving forward, I'm starting to play more Warmachine/Hordes with my Legion of Everblight, so I think there should be a couple of battle reports soon. There's also a Warhammer Fantasy escalation league starting at my club in the next 2 weeks, so that will inspire me to paint up my Wood Elves and get playing with them!
I'll still be playing 40k and a bit of X-Wing too, but hopefully the content of the blog will become a more even spread across the different systems.

Thanks very much for reading! If you've got any questions or comments, let me know beneath!

SimonW

40k GT Heat 1 Tournament Report! Part 1

Welcome to my first Tournament Report!

This was the first of 3 qualifying heats for the UK's annual independent 40k GT. I was running my Eldar list and was feeling quite prepared. Going into the event, my primary goal was naturally qualifying, however a top 10 finish would also be nice. I thought that the best record for this would be at least 4 wins, and at least 60 points out of a possible 120 for gaming.

I've got battle reports from every match, although due to the strict time limit I wasn't able to get turn-by-turn photos for most of my games.

I had seen the list of players beforehand, and knew it would be a tough heat, but upon arrival on Saturday it really sunk in. There were at least 6 ETC players in a field of only 26 players, including the current European Singles Champion with the infamous "Beast Council" death star build (Gas Jones). There was only 1 other Beast Pack (Paul Burke), but there was a Screamer Council (Matt Edmonds), a couple of Taudar/Eldau lists and at least 5 Serpent Spam builds. The Round 1 draws were included in the mission booklets, and I awaited my first opponent...

Game 1: Matt Robertson's (Team Wales ETC Captain) Tau/Imperial Knights "Pacific Rim".
Matt's list was the following, the infamous "Pacific Rim" army from the East Coast of America:

Primary- Farsight Tau
Ethereal
3 Crisis, Bonded, No Weapons
1 Crisis, Bonded, No Weapon
1 Crisis, Bonded, No Weapon
Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Early Warning Override
Riptide, Ion Accelerator
Allied- Adamantine Lance Formation
3 Imperial Knights: 2 with Battle Cannons and 1 with Melta Cannon, as far as I remember.


The game was Big Guns Never Tire/Tactical Escalation on Hammer & Anvil.

Pre Game
What a first draw! This was a great way to get started. Adamantine Lance is a really strong formation, allowing Knights to reroll failed charges and Ion Shield rolls if they're within 3" of another Knight. I did a post about this sort of army not long ago though, so I wasn't feeling that bad about the match.

Deployment Matt wins the roll-off and deploys first. He spends a whole 2 minutes setting his 3 Knights up in a line and putting 2 Riptides down behind them, declaring everything else in reserves.
My counter deployment was similarly brief, hiding everything behind the big blocking pieces of terrain. My Wraithknight got to Infiltrate, and did so just clipping the big piece to get a 4+ cover save (we agreed to play it like ruins).

 Game Turn 1

Matt went first, firing pie plates galore down the field to try and chip hull points and wounds. After his shooting is done I lose 1 wound on the Wraithknight and a hull point on each of the red and orange Serpents.
With my return fire, the Night Spinners chip 2 hull points from the centre Knight, the barrage avoiding the Ion Shields. The rest of my shooting chips another 1 hull point from the centre Knight, reducing it to 3. My Wraithknight then assaults, and smashes the Knight into pieces before it can D-saw me in half! I'll almost certainly lose it next round, but I'm happy to trade it to kill 1 Knight and get First Strike.

 Game Turn 2
Matt's Knights combine to take down my Wraithknight for Warlord. The Riptides continue to send pie plates down field, but don't achieve anything meaningful.

In my turn I manage to get in the side arc of 1 Knight and reduce it to a single hull point! The other gets dropped to 5...
Not such an intense turn, but I start spreading out to form a U-shape, surrounding the Knights and getting in as many arcs as possible. A crisis suit arrives and is misplaces into the bottom left corner, while the Ethereal hides behind a big column at the back. My hawks hide behind the column in the middle, ready to Haywire any nearby Knights.
Matt has built up a good lead on the Secondary by this point, but I've still got a chance at the Primary and Tertiary.

Pacific Rim Turn 3
The badly damaged Knight gets down the field, blowing up the yellow Serpent and assaulting the unit inside. Unfortunately he gets to make Stomp attacks, taking out 4 of the Hawks too...
The Riptides finish off the red Serpent, while the final Knight shoots across at the other Serpents to no effect.

 Eldar Turn 3
I need a plan to deal with both Knights this turn, setting me up with 2 more turns to kill the Riptides and win the mission. After 4 of the Hawks died, I need them and the Fire Dragons to kill the 5 HP Knight. Attempting to clear a path, the Night Spinner decides to Ram first Knight... and succeeds! Boom! It blows up a Swooping Hawk, but this is fine by me. This clears a path for the FIre Dragons to get to the other Knight, and with an Explodes result are able to take it out. Suddenly this game is going very well. I then start shooting Riptides, doing a wound.
I've almost certainly won the Primary Mission now, and I'm closing in on Matt's Secondary score too.

 Game Turn 4
The Crisis suits all arrive and try to grab objectives, but start losing numbers to my firepower. Dire Avengers start Bladestorming Riptides, and they start losing wounds. My Hawk jumps and gets ready to pummel the Ethereal.
After the turn, Matt has 3 Crisis suits left and 2 Riptides with 5 wounds between them.

Game Turn 6

Due to time, I could only get a picture at the end of the game.
Turn 5 involved Matt grabbing a couple of Objectives, but my Serpents flying into to contest with ObSec. I also finished off a Riptide. The Hawk came in behind the Ethereal and took his first wound.
At this point, I was winning the Primary and Tertiary, but Matt had the Secondary. However, the game continued...
Turn 6, Matt killed a Serpent in melee with a Crisis suit and he attempted to Nova Jump into my deployment zone for Linebreaker, but failed. In my turn, I killed everything except for the final Riptide, who was sat on 1 wound!
We then timed out- I won the Primary and Tertiary Missions, while Matt took the Secondary, for a 14-6 win for me!

Post Game
What a match! I was really pleased to get a positive result from the game, especially as he went on to win the tournament with only 1 loss and 5 more wins. I think I played quite well to get around the Ion Shield, but I did get a bit lucky with the Ram attack! I could have played the Maelstrom Missions better, but I was pretty focused on killing the robots. On reflection, not winning 20-0 was a blessing, as it meant I could avoid a top-table game the next round. Overall Matt and I had a great game, and it really put me in a good mood for the rest of the event.

Game 2
This time I was matched against a player from my club, Rich Lewis, He had the following Daemons/Chaos Space Marines list:

The game was Kill Points/Cleanse and Control on Vanguard Strike.


Pre Game
Rich's plan seemed pretty clear- rush with the Hounds, while they had the Grimoire and Invisibility to protect them. Multi-assault a load of vehicles at once and then mop up. Luckily we had Kill Points, so Rich couldn't really summon. My counter strategy was simple- tie up the dogs with the Wraithknight, challenge out his Herald and then kill the rest of his army.

Daemons Turn 1
The Hounds rush up with the Grimoire and Invisibility as expected. The Screamers/Fateweaver/Belakor come up the other side. Rich's turn is otherwise quiet, as he doesn't get First Strike.

Eldar Turn 1
I position the Wraithknight far from the Herald, ready to avoid his attacks. He jumps into assault and kills 1 dog, taking no wounds back from the Str 4 Hounds, and the Herald is out of range to attack.
Meanwhile the rest of my army focuses down the Screamers for First Strike- despite Shrouding  from Belakor granting them a 2+ reroll cover save, the Serpent Shields take them all out.

Daemons Turn 2
Rich's Cultists and Heldrake arrive from reserve, but do little damage. Fateweaver's Beam power immobilises a green Serpent and kills the purple Night Spinner! One squad of backfield Horrors turn themselves into a Lord of Change. In melee, the Wraithknight challenges out the Herald, survives the "6s to wound are Instant Death" attacks, then stamps him into the floor with Str 10 attacks. Now I can tie up the dogs all game with him, so I'm feeling pretty good.


There's no picture from the Eldar Turn 3. One Serpent shot at Belakor and did 2 wounds, while the others made various Snap Shots at the Heldrake to no effect. My Hawks arrived and killed 8 of the Cultists, and the survivors ran off the board.


By this point I'm winning 3-1 on Kill Points and have a strong lead in the Maelstrom mission too. I also have First Strike and Rich can't get my Warlord, so it's going well.

Rich's Turn 3 onwards
Fateweaver flies around and beams the Yellow Serpent, then kills the squad with Flickering Fire. He ends up trying to beam more tanks but can't manage it. His Lord of Change glides into the centre of the board, does little damage, and then gets the Serpent treatment. The red Serpent also takes out the Heldrake. Belakor drops to the floor, and assaults the green Serpent on Turn 5. It explodes, then the squad lose 2 men and fall back off the board for a 2 point swing! We thought this tied the scores at the time at 5-5, but looking back I think it was actually 6-5. My last turn was a mad dash to kill a squad of Horrors that I thought I needed for the win, and despite Rich passing his first 10 saves, I was able to kill off a squad for a 6-5 (actually 7-5) win.

End Of Game
Everything has moved up to tackle the Horrors in the back right corner. 1 dog is left in melee with the Wraithknight!

Post Game

That was close! The Wraithknight was pretty clutch this game, tying up the Dog Rush for the whole game. Rich's psychic phase was brutal, including a couple of times casting Invisibility on 2 dice! Still, I was able to win all 3 missions, for a 20-0 final score.

Game 3

This time I was up against Gary Morgan's (Team Wales ETC) Taudar- including 3 Riptides, Broadsides in a Bastion with Buffmander, and a Wraithknight. His full list was:

The game was Emperor's Will/Contact Lost on Dawn of War.


Pre Game
Due to the table, I knew Gary could castle up well, and could use the Bastion to my forces away from his Emperor's will. I won the roll-off and chose turn 1. With hindsight, I could have gone second, absorbed the alpha strike, and done better in the Primary with a Turn 5 swoop. Ah well!

Game Turn 1-2
My Fire Dragons turbo boost over to the Bastion, hoping that Gary will have to sacrifice all his shooting to kill them, and I might even have 1-2 left to tackle the bastion full of Broadsides. I also get First Strike on his Wave Serpent, tucked in his castle on the left. Over the 2 turns I am able to take down 1 Riptide, while Gary's shooting isn't very hot- he has to use everything to kill the Fire Dragons and Serpent turn 1, then Turn 2 he forces 1 Night Spinner to Jink and the Bastionsides kill a Wave Serpent.

Game Turn 3
My Wraithknight has hopped closer and closer to the Bastion, and this turn kicks it down! My Hawks were on top and 4 of them die, but it's a good trade. A Broadside dies in the explosion, and the 2 remaining are forced to fire Snap Shots too. However this doesn't stop them killing another Serpent!
Meanwhile 3 of the Dire Avenger squads decide to Battle Focus and shoot the big guys, but unfortunately the Fleet rerolls let me down on the left and I can't get into range. The yellow squad takes the right hand Riptide to 1 wound though.
Gary brings his Kroot on, and my Night Spinners split their time between clearing them out and trying to snipe Gary's Farseer in his castle. 2 of the Dire Avengers bodyguard perish, and one squad of Kroot is all but annihilated by the torrent.

Eldar Turn 4
The Wraithknight does his thing this turn, killing Buffmander and his friends for Slay the Warlord. My tanks reposisiton and stay safe, and continue to score Maelstrom points. At this point I've taken quite a lead in the Secondary mission, but the Primary is anybody's as I went first.

 Taudar Turn 4
Gary responds by using a Nova Charge move to threaten my home objective with a Riptide, and pulls his Wraithknight forward to threaten my vehicles. Gary also closes the gap in the Maelstrom missions.

End of Game
3 of my tanks block off my home objective, preventing Gary's cheeky Nova Jump attempts. I try to steal his objective, but my 2 Hawks can't wipe out his 2 Dire Avengers, so a Serpent flies over but gets stamped by a Wraithknight. We also tie on Maelstroms, as Gary kills a vehicle to draw it level.
Final scores: Primary Draw, Secondary Draw, Tertiary Win for me, resulting in a 12-8 victory overall!

Post Game
That was close! As I said earlier, I think going second could have won me the game here, as my Serpent Shields would have got me through the alpha strike, except for the Bastionsides. However it's far from certain, as he might have been able to get through 2-3 serpents in turn 1 which would have killed off the game.


Day 1 Summary
I'd managed to go 3-0 on Day 1, so I was happy. All of the games were close and at times in the balance, so I was glade to be able to get a good result each round.
Getting the 3 wins meant that on Sunday I only really needed 1 win to guarantee qualifying. I was sat on 46 points, with full paint score, so with about 20 points tomorrow I would almost certainly be through.

Part 2 is now up here, where I face off against Daemons, Eldar/Dark Eldar and Eldar/Tau!

Thanks for reading!

SimonW

Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Eldar vs Astra Militarum, 1650

In addition to this week's X Wing games, I also played some more 40k, against Nick and his Astra Militarum!

My list was the usual one, but I tinkered slightly with the vehicle upgrades, swapping 2 cannons out for 2 Ghostwalk Matrices (I've edited the original post to be this version too).

Nick's list was:

Company Command Squad, Astropath (Psychic Shriek, Dominate), 2 meltaguns, Chimera

2 Ministorum Priests

Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Meltaguns (Platoon commander was Warlord)

4x Infantry Squad, autocannons, Power axes, krak grenades, meltabombs

10 Veterans, Autocannon

Manticore

3 Vendettas

Allied Space Marines, White Scars

Chapter Master, Burning Blade, Artificer, Meltabomb

5 Scouts, meltabomb

We played Mission 6. The Primary was  Crusade (4 objectives), the Secondary was Contact Lost and the Tertiaries were First Strike/Linebreaker/Warlord. This mission used Hammer & Anvil Deployment.

For Warlord Traits, my Wraithknight got Conqueror of Cities, while his Platoon Commander got Master of Ambush.

I won the roll to select ends, but Nick won the roll to set up first, and chose to. I elected to try for Night Fight, but it was not to be.

 After both our deployments and Nick's Infiltrate moves, this was the board. The 4 Primary objectives are by the red Serpent, in front of the blob, in the ruined temple and by the Veterans on the near side.

Going into the game, my plan is to kill the blob as fast as possible, then use the Wraithknight and Night Spinners to mop up the rest of the ground troops while my Serpents focus on the Vendettas, hoping for a Skyfire Nexus to help out.

We prepare for the first turn, and I attempt to seize... successfully!

Eldar Turn 1

After my seize, I immediately put my plan into action. By deploying second, I ensured the green Serpent could move into the side arc of the Manticore and bring it down with the laser and shield, and it didn't disappoint. The rest of my army combines fire on the blob- both Night Spinners fail to snipe the priest, and then the Wave Serpents open up. After the dust settles, I've reduced the Chapter Master to 2 wounds, and killed 3 sergeants, 3 Heavy Weapon teams, and about 20 infantrymen. Not bad!


Astra Militarum Turn 1

Nick goes all out on the counter- he moves his chimera up and the CCS go for the max disembark, hoping to Shriek my Wraithknight who I left a bit too close. It casts with a perils that kills the Astropath, but it still hits! Nick then rolls a 17 and my poor Wraithknight evaporates! In the shooting phase the CCS runs and shoots meltaguns at half range into the orange Serpent. They both miss, but I have still Jinked. The blob advances but the Chapter Master stays still, using his orbital strike. He targets the pink Serpent, which jinks, but scatters onto the yellow one and blows it up! I lose 3 Dire Avengers in the resulting Explosion. The autocannon then does nothing to the Pink Serpent. The Veterans also do nothing to my blue Night Spinner.


Turn 1 Missions:
Nick got 2 Tacos this round- he controlled 3 objectives, and 1 numbered marker, for a total of 3 points. I held one counter, for 1 point. We both got First Strike, but Nick also got my Warlord...

Eldar Turn 2

 I need a strong retaliation after that impressive counterblow! The Hawks and green Serpent combine to annihilate the Veterans in the ruins and take the TacO. All my Dire Avengers that side and Fire Dragons disembark and combine with the remaining vehicles to annihilate the blob and Chapter Master, just leaving 1 priest!

Astra Militarum Turn 2

2 out of the 3 Vendettas arrive this turn, and Nick's PCS jumps out of one to meltagun the green Serpent in the rear, Stunning it. The plane itself goes for my blue Night Spinner, but he heroically passes all 3 Jink rolls! The other Vendetta shoots the Red Serpent, and it explodes. 1 Dire Avenger perishes in the blast. Nick's scouts also arrive and bolt pistol 1 Swooping Hawk down.


Turn 2 Mission Summary
I achieved another TacO, cutting Nick's lead to 3-2. I haven't got his Warlord... yet.


Eldar Turn 3

After wiping the blob in my first 2 turn, I start shooting the Vendettas. There is a Skyfire Nexus, but it's between the Hawks and the Chimera, so my Serpents can't get there. The Fire Dragons nail the Chimera, then the green DA squad nail the final priest. The 7 pink & yellow Avengers, as well a Night Spinner, go for the PCS but Nick goes to ground, leaving just his Warlord alive. The 3 serpents combine fire on the far side Vendetta, reducing it to 1 HP and shaking it. 

Astra Militarum Turn 3

Nick flies both the planes off the board after his 3rd Vendetta fails to arrive, so they can all come on together next turn.
The Platoon Commander has Gone to Ground so stays where he is, but the Scouts attempt to charge the Hawks! Overwatch kills 1 Scout, but the Sergeant succeeds in reaching them. However neither of us cause any wounds, so it's a draw.


Turn 3 Mission Summary
I scored the TacO for holding 3 objectives this turn while Nick couldn't achieve any, giving me a 4-3 lead. I still haven't got his warlord!

Eldar Turn 4

I try to rush his board edge to make it difficult for him to get good shots with the Vendettas, but I keep close enough to the Objectives that I can get to all of them with Flat Out moves. The Autarch separates from the Fire Dragons, so that I'm holding the Objective with 2 units. The pink and yellow DA squads combine to kill the Platoon Commander (finally), while my green squad makes a 10" charge to join in the melee! They overwhelm the Scout Sergeant with attacks and both they and the Hawks consolidate.


Astra Militarum Turn 4

I missed a picture this turn, as we were too caught up in humming "Flight of the Valkyries" as all 3 Vendettas flew on! One killed 3 red Dire Avengers due to lack of a better target, the next did 2 hull to the pink Serpent- I decided not to Jink for the Skyfire Nexus, and the third caused Crew Shaken on the green Serpent


Turn 4 Mission Summary
The yellow DA squad achieved another TacO, so I've got a 5-3 lead now. We're currently drawing the Tertiaries after I finally killed Nick's Warlord, but I will have Linebreaker at the end of the game.

Eldar Turn 5

The pink Serpent uses the Skyfire Nexus to kill the full health Vendetta that shot it, while the green and orange Serpents both do nothing to the 2 remaining planes. The Purple Night Spinner boosts over to the objective in the top left, so that I've got 2 units on it.


Astra Militarum Turn 5

 Nick crosses his Vendettas- one tries to eliminate some of the Dire Avengers in the ruins to no avail, while the other goes for my Purple Night Spinner- I jink and take 1 hull point.


Turn 5 Mission Summary
I have First Strike, Warlord and Linebreaker, so will win the Tertiary 3-2. I also have a 6-3 lead in the TacOs after scoring another point for killing a Flyer. I've got control over all 4 Primary Objectives too.


We roll for Turn 6, and  the game carries on!

Eldar Turn 6

This turn I am able to get 2 Wave Serpents onto the Skyfire Nexus, and they clear the last 2 Vendettas with Scatter Lasers and Serpent Shields to completely table Nick.


End Game Mission Summary
I win 20-0; 12-0 on the Primary Objective, 6-3 on the Secondary TacOs and 3-2 on the Tertiary Objective.

After Action Thoughts.
What a shoot-out! The first game turn was insane!
Thanks very much to Nick for a lovely game- even though it didn't go very well for him he was still a great opponent, and I can easily see why he won Most Sporting last year.
His list was pretty strong, but I think the Chapter Master should have had the standard Bikemander build instead. I'd also have maybe swapped the Astropath for an Officer of the Fleet, but he did prove his worth! Nick's positioning in his blob meant I was able to use careful angles with the Wave Serpents to kill off most of his Heavy Weapon Teams and Sergeants, but in fairness blobs are very vulnerable to that and my Serpents are very mobile.
The Manticore was underwhelming, and I think with Wave Serpents being so popular currently they don't have much of a place any more. The points could go into more psykers, upgrading the Chapter Master, and maybe even grabbing Yarrick rather than the CCS.
I was glad to test my blob-killing power; 2 rounds of fire to take down a whole blob with a Tank Chapter Master is what I was aiming for, and I was pleased that it worked so well. I might stop trying to Snipe the priests and focus more on Heavy Weapons Teams though, especially with the second barrage.
I was happy at the way I dealt with the Vendettas too- getting inside their fire arcs meant that I could protect my wounded tanks easily, and if they drop into Hover mode I can kill them quite easily. The Skyfire Nexus was really useful too.
My Swooping Hawks performed once again, killing a unit of Veterans and a Scout Squad. They even scored a TacO as well.
Psychic shriek is truly the bane of the Wraithknight, as it's easily able to knock a couple of wounds off and sometimes just kill him outright like this time! I should have positioned it better though- 2" further back and I'd have been out of range.

Finally I'd like to thank Nick once again- he's also going to the GT, so I'll see him at the weekend. Thanks for reading the Battle Report, and if you enjoyed it or have any comments please let me know beneath!

SimonW

X Wing Battle Reports: Imperials Vs Rebels/Rebels/Imperials

Yesterday I played several rapid-fire games of X Wing. I used the same squadron (or a slight variation) every time, one I've really been enjoying:

Tie Interceptor, Soontir Fel, Push The Limit, Royal Guard Tie, Targeting Computer, Shield Upgrade
Tie Phantom, Whisper, Veteran Instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device
Lambda Shuttle, Omicron Group Pilot, Darth Vader Crew (in the final game this was Mara Jade instead)
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I went for the 3 point initiative bid as I really enjoy being able to choose to move after enemy Soontir/Whisper, or shooting before Han Solo, with my Soontir and Whisper.

Game 1

In the first game I played Jay, who was running the following 3 ship rebel build:

B Wing, Ten Numb, Autoblaster, Proton Torpedoes, Fire Control System, Veteran Instincts
Y Wing, Horton Salm, R2-D2, Advanced Proton Torpedoes, Blaster Turret
Z-95 Headhunter, Tala Squadron Pilot, Cluster Missiles

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 The board after our rocks and setup. I decided I'd try and slow them with my shuttle, while Soontir and Whisper go in guns blazing.

 The Lambda gracefully sweeps through the middle, with the aces flanking. Jay pushes up his squadron, with his Tala ready to face off with Soontir next round...

 Soontir floats up for a Range 1 engagement with the Z-95, which I didn't realise had cluster missiles. Jay has his missiles ready to go with a Target Lock, so I need Soontir to kill that ship... one Target Lock/Focus stack later, the Tala is smithereens, failing both of his evades!
The shuttle hard turns into the engagement, and starts work on Ten Numb.
Whisper however has a much less glorious time- he accidentally lands on a rock, and does nothing this round or next. Hooray for Whisper...

 Whisper turns off the rock but he's still out of the fight. The Shuttle pulls a 1 straight, colliding with the B Wing to block. Jay's Y wing gracefully banks through the gap and blaster turrets my Lambda for minimal damage, while Soontir aims at Ten Numb, continuing to hurt him with his piles of tokens! 

 Whisper and Ten Numb line up R1 shots on each other- Ten Numb is PS10 with Jay's build, so I'm quite worried. The Phantom is reduced to 1 measly hull, but then the B Wing is too!
Jay's Y Wing is just off the bottom of the picture, coming back for another pass.
The Lambda begins a long process of turning through the rocks (without hitting any), while Soontir turned right rather than left because I was worried he would collide with something with the left turn.

 A quiet turn for me- Whisper decloaks then recloaks, to try and get away from Ten Numb but to no avail, the B Wing's Fire Control System ensuring my demise. Soontir pulls a hard 1 and a boost to get back in the fight next turn, while the Lambda and Y Wing have a competition over "Who can be out of the fight for the longest?"

 Soontir has had quite enough of not doing any damage, so he grabs a Boost/Focus/Target Lock ready to annihilate the B Wing. Ten Numb tries to barrel roll away but he's still in range 3- Soontir proves his worth again as he deals 3 hits, finishing off the second of the rebel scum!

 Now Soontir gets to play "Chase the Y Wing", made interesting by R2-D2 and the Blaster Turret. I start to do damage, forcing Jay to pull green manoeuvres to recover shields. The Lambda continues to turn.

 The chase continues- the Y Wing recovers a shield, then Soontir takes 2 off again. The Lambda is still turning.

 Soontir gets to Range 1 and does 4 damage to the Y-Wing! Now it only has 1 left, after recovering again this round. The Lambda keeps trying to get back in the fight.

Soontir pulls up next to the Y Wing and slightly behind it- after much deliberation, including an independent adjudicator our friend Ryan, Soontir has a shot. He goes the 4 hits he was destined for, and Horton Salm is destroyed. 3 out of 3 for Soontir!

After Action
Go Soontir! I was disappointed by Whisper this time- I flew him much more poorly than I did previously and got very little use out of him. Soontir however did not disappoint, putting out at least 12 points of damage over the game and bagging all 3 kills! My MVP this game has to be the Shuttle though, for avoiding all of the rocks... Admittedly it didn't look good if the game went to another turn though. Jay's squadron was pretty cool, although I think and Ion Cannon and perhaps Dutch Vander would be a better build for the Y Wing. The Ten Numb Autoblaster combo at Range 1 is brutal, essentially delivering whatever damage it rolls!

Game 2
This time I played Ryan. He only got into X-Wing this summer, but has taken to it very well. We played 2 games- in the first, I used the same squadron and he used the following Rebel list:

E Wing, Corran Horn, Fire Control System, Engine Upgrade, Push The Limit and R2-D2
X Wing, Biggs Darklighter, Hull Upgrade

Z-95 Headhunter, Bandit Squadron Pilot
Z-95 Headhunter, Bandit Squadron Pilot

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Ouch! A tricked out Corran Horn along with a "Biggs Mini Swarm." However Corran is only PS8, so as long as I don't make any mistakes I shouldn't have too much trouble...

 I deploy similarly to before, with a similar plan- the shuttle will hold Ryan up in the middle, while my aces flank. The rocks are fairly tight in the middle.

 After a couple of rounds, the board is such. My shuttle is ready to turn in for the engagement next turn, while my aces are standing by.

 First engagement to the Empire! One Bandit Squadron is just too far in front of Biggs' leash, so he goes down to Whisper and the Shuttle. Soontir boosts to try and take advantage of a naked Corran, who clunked on a Headhunter. However, this takes him into range of Biggs so he is only able to take 1 shield, and also puts him in a bad position for next turn.

 The Lambda can't pull a 3 bank to avoid Soontir due to being stressed, so instead tries to go far enough forwards to avoid the collision. This does block Biggs and the Tala, and Corran koigrans so also loses his action. Whisper gets out of the way, and then Soontir... collides into the Shuttle. Oh crap. Ryan wastes no time- Biggs, the Tala and Corran reduce him to a single with their shooting, and then Corran activates his ability- with the Fire Control System's help he is able to blow the Interceptor to smithereens!

 The shuttle continues to stall Biggs, while the Tala is able to Koigran over, into a gap between the shuttle and the asteroid that is just big enough! Corran can't shoot this turn, so goes on the defensive. Whisper now has to do some heavy lifting, but first he gets away from the fighting, ready to make another pass. Combat passes with Corran taking no damage from the shuttle, and the Tala doing 2 to the shuttle.

My shuttle flies towards the bottom of the board, away from threats and also hoping Ryan will chase it and so fall into Whisper's trap. He doesn't go for it yet, just re-positioning his ships. No shooting this turn!

 Whisper pulls a decloak Koigran and is just in range of Biggs, to take a shot and get his cloak back up. Corran and the Headhunter follow the Lambda, and alas it is no more. Whisper really has his work cut out now...

 Whisper goes for the throat on Biggs, and gets it- with the damage dealt by Soontir earlier and Ryan only passing 1 evade, the X Wing is destroyed! Corran continues his approach, while the Bandit shoots the re-cloaked Whisper, but does nothing.

 We dance around, ready to continue the fight. Ryan gets Corran ready to Koigran next turn, while the Z-95 shuffles forward.

 The poor Bandit Squadron Pilot, abandoned by Corran, faces off against the mighty Whisper, and it goes predictably well for the Phantom. Corran pulls a Koigran, and it seems we're about to have an impromptu joust!

Whisper and Corran begin their duel. Whisper shoots first, taking 2 shield. Corran uses both of his attacks to do the same to Whisper though!


We stopped at this point as we wanted to get another game in afterwards. We decided to call it a draw- neither of us had kept time, our ships were similar points, and in a duel between them it's very tricky to determine the outcome- perhaps Whisper has the edge by moving afterwards, but Corran has R2-D2 and can wait for his chance to double attack.

After Action
Well, that game was tough! I flew Soontir very poorly in the first exchance, and Ryan had positioned well to take advantage. This match really did show me the power of a phantom though- for less than 40pts, it can clear up most of a Squadron by itself! Truly a beast of a ship, and if it can pick its fights then there's no stopping it! Corran was great for Ryan- he's lots of points, but he is very strong. It's a shame that Push The Limit is so necessary rather than Veteran Instincts- with PS 10, he'd be incredible.

 Game 3
Ryan and I pushed on for another quick game!
I used an almost identical squadron, but I wanted to try out Mara Jade instead of Vader. Her stress inducing ability is very strong, and I felt like I wasn't always getting much out of Vader as a blocker/delayer.

Ryan used an Imperial squadron this time:

Tie Interceptor, Soontir Fel, Push The Limit, Targeting Computer
Tie Interceptor, Carnor Jax, Push The Limit
Tie Phantom, Whisper, Advance Cloaking Device, Veteran Instincts
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This is why I like a 3pt initiative bid. As high PS Imperials are getting more popular, you need to be able to win the mirror match. Most high PS builds will have a 1pt bid , but many more are countering that with a 2pt bid of their own. I bid 3pts, as there's not really anything else I want in my squadron for 1pt (except maybe Enhanced Scopes on my blocker shuttle, to make it PS 0 during the activation phase).

This time there are less pictures of the opening & deployment.

 My opening sees the shuttle and aces leapfrog each other, sticking close together. My plan is to lure Ryan into a close range dogfight, then block with the Shuttle and stress his phantom with Mara Jade.
Ryan deploys Carnor and his Whisper in the opposite corner, and his Soontir zips towards them along the top edge.

This is the first engagement, and it took us both by surprise. Ryan's Soontir accidentally landed on a rock, taking a damage and losing his actions. Seeing this, mine boosted into Range 3, and with a Target Lock/Focus stack was able to bring his doppelganger down! A very unfortunate start for Ryan. However his Whisper is able to return fire, taking 1 hull and 1 shield from my Soontir. Carnor takes a potshot at the shuttle for 1 hull.

 My Whisper decloaks opposite his, and we exchange firepower, each losing a shield or 2. The shuttle successfully stays out of Whisper's way.

The Lambda moves to Block Ryan's Whisper, but he is just able to avoid me. He damages my shuttle some more and recloaks, but I am still able to deal him another damage. I also stress him with Mara here.


We called the game here as the store was closing soon, we were both tired, and now there was almost nothing Ryan could do to avoid getting blocked and shot down by my Whisper next turn.

After Action
Brutal game- 3 aces died in 2 rounds! I felt bad for Ryan with his Soontir hitting a rock, as it really proved costly. Even though we ended up trading Soontirs, I was confident that my Whisper/Shuttle could beat his Whisper/Carnor due to initiative, and then taking out Carnor too made it a tough climb for Ryan. I liked Mara Jade in the shuttle- I find with this squadron that the shuttle either dies very fast and Vader is little use, or it blocks for a round or 2, he does maybe 1 crit and then has to turn around. Mara however greatly improves the blocking round, as she ensures every ship around her has a stress token, which prevents people pulling Koigrans over the shuttle or around the aces. I think I'll keep trying with her.

So that concludes this week's X-Wing action! There's also a 40k Battle Report to come too, which was potentially my final practice before the GT. It was against yet more Astra Militarum, this time with 3 Vendettas! That should be up very soon.

Thanks to Jay and Ryan for the great games, and thanks again for reading!

SimonW