This past weekend I played in the Guardian Cup, a thirty player 4 game 1750 point RTT, held at Guardian Games. Cool set up with W/L/D, VP tiebreakers, and 3/4 missions are Seize Ground (with 3,4,&5 objectives). I decided to take my World Eaters; they aren't the
most competitive force, but they are new, and I like them, so they are what I brought. Even with the counts-as I didn't get too much hatin', but like I said, not super competitive. I mean, 4 HQs, Blood Claws, no Long Fangs... this is not what a good SW list looks like. Incidentally, when Legions comes out I expect most of my long-range firepower to come from Obliterators. Anyway, I'm rambling, on with the show.
Game I v. Steve's Space Wolves (Razorburn variety)
So first game we had Seize Ground (5) and Spearhead deployment. You can see four of the objectives in the picture above, the unseen one is under my Juggernauts somewhere. Steve's army had a Thunderwolf Lord with a single buddy (both with Wolf Claw and Storm Shield), a Rune Priest, 2 units of Wolf Scouts w/ Melta, 3 5-man Grey Hunters with Meltaguns and LasPlas Razorbacks, and 3 maxed out missle Long Fang packs with LasPlas Razorbacks. Above you can see the board had a big central piece of terrain, I deployed mostly around it, and Steve deployed his Razorbacks strong in the center (with the Thunderwolves behind) with the Long Fangs on the flanks. Steve went first.
Turn 2 I destroyed a Razorback with Living Lightning and another one of the Razorbacks immobilized itself going over the wreckage. He sped one of his Razorbacks to block off my forces here, but I wrecked it with a Chainfist in my next Assault phase. My Lord foolishly charged over the hill into the waiting guns and ate it, but my other squad of Juggernauts got into his lines, killing another Razorback and tying up a whole bunch of other stuff. His Thunderwolves get into my Blood Claws in an epic battle on top of the hill. My unit is Fearless and he doesn't roll great so I hold them there for over four Assault phases, including when it was down to just the Lord v. my Wolf Priest and I passed 3/3 invulnerables. That combat along with my Juggernauts holding up so much stuff up meant that at the bottom of 5 I was holding a 3-2 objective lead. Game over. Bad luck for Steve.
My little Slayer unit does it's job and holds the backfield objective.
My one remaining large squad sees the possibility of victory and seizes it, knowing that if the game goes to 6 they will be pulled off one objective or the other, or more likely just wiped out. Saved by the bell.
Game II v. James' Grey Knights (Coteaz)
Didn't get a ton of pics of this game. Seize Ground (3). His army had Coteaz, 10-man Strike squad, Terminators in a Land Raider Redeemer, 3 Acolytes in a Stormraven, DCAs+Crusaders in a Stormraven, and two Psyflemen. Quick rundown of this game. I won the battle on the ground due to a bunch of good luck, but could never knock down either Stormraven despite multiple penetrating hits. This meant my opponent easily contested two objectives and held one for the win. Highlights included my Power Fist armed Juggernaut rider destroying the Land Raider during a Death or Glory attack, two wounded Juggernauts charging the full Strike Squad w/ Coteaz then beating them and escorting them off the board.
Game III v. Steves Necrons
Game three saw me matched up the new Necrons for the first time. Awesome! My opponents army consisted of Nemesor, Overlord in CCB, 8 Harbingers of Destruction and two Lords in two Courts, 4 5-man Warrior squads (with two Crypteks in each), 2 10-man Immortal units with Tesla (one with both Lords and Nemesor), 3 Tomb Spyders, and 8 Scarabs. The mission was Seize Ground (4) with Dawn of War deployment. I deployed my Blood Claws with Wolf Priest and a Slayer unit. I deployed them too far forward and exposed them to too much firepower early. My Blood Claws got neutralized by a Scarab charge; I killed all the little bugs but it left the unit crippled. My Juggernauts got into his Warrior units, but I just couldn't put them down quite fast enough. His Immortals were able to foot slog over to a midfield objective, while I held one in my deployment zone. You can see the Immortals led by Nemesor and the Lords trundling up to the objective below.
The fourth objective was on the far right flank and neither of us held it. This meant it came down to this one. A single scoring Cryptek who passed his Everliving roll, my Juggernaut 3.5" away. Necron win, 2-1.
Game IV v. George's Tyranids
Last game against George's Tyranids was Annihilation and Pitched Battle. His army had a Prime, three units of Hive Guard, a unit of Termagants, a troop Tervigon, three ten-man units of Genestealers, seventeen Gargoyles, and two Trygons. I deployed strong to the center and infiltrated my Wolf Scouts to deny space to the Genestealer units. The Gargoyles screened the Hive Guard on the right flank, while the MCs all went to the left.
Turn 2 saw my Juggernauts charge into and wipe out the Gargoyle swarm. They ate a bunch of Impaler Cannon shots and then started munching Hive Guard. My Grey Hunter units each got good rapid firing shots on Genestealer units, one of which was out of Synapse, and broke.
The third Genestealer squad got mixed in with my Blood Claws and Lord. The Trygon tries to charge in to save them, but the Lord slaughters him behind a series of good die rolls.
The last of the Blood Claws and Juggernauts slaughter the last of the Tyranids. Killed em' all.
So overall it was a great tournament. I really liked the mission set-up (maybe one Capture and Control next time) and how the Sports and Painting was done (everyone ranks three best). Speaking of painting, turns out my army choice was a good one, because I won 'Maestro' (Best Painted). Apparently the judge votes were at a dead lock between my army and another, but the player vote was overwhelmingly in my favor! Thanks so much to all the players who voted for my army, I really wasn't expecting the honor with how many great armies were there.
Here we have my Orikan conversion all finished up. I made him a little swampy to fit the theme, but overall he is the cleanest of the bunch. I used the Cairn Wraith with a Deathmark head and a Rod of the Covenant. I used some Army Painter Battlefield Tuft on the base. Using a mix of that stuff and regular static grass you can get a really natural looking landscape with ease.
