Howdy there folks! I recently went to Adepticon, and competed in a few different events. One of them was the 40k Championships on Friday, and today I want to give you the battle reports for that day. I brought my Wolfstar list (it'll be a little further down), and the goal of the day was to 'qualify' for day two.
In order to qualify, you had to win 4 games in a row in Friday, or have a draw and win 3. In each game, there were three different objectives, and you had to have accomplished more objectives than your opponent. For example, the three could be 1) Killpoints 2) kill your opponent's unit that you selected at the start of the game 3) control more of the 6 objectives on the table than your opponent.
If you won a game, you would 'move on' and be paired against someone who also had won their game. I think it was random within that group of people- winners played winners, people with 1 loss played someone else with 1 loss, etc. Since there were 256 people at the tournament, only 16 people max could actually qualify for the day 2, where it would be single elimination.
So! I wanted to make it to Day 2. Here's the list I took:
Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf mount, Saga of the Bear, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Runic Armor Wolf Tail Talisman, Wolf Tooth Necklace
Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf mount, Saga of Majesty, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, Runic Armor
Rune Priest w/ Jaws and Tempests Wrath
3x Wolfguard w/ 3x Combi-meltas, 3x Power Fists (went into Grey Hunter squads)
9x Grey Hunters w/ Melta Gun, Wolf Standard, Rhino
8x Grey Hunters w/ Melta Gun, Wolf Standard, Rhino
5x Grey Hunters w/ Melta Gun, Wolf Standard, Rhino
4x Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ Thunder Hammer, 2x Storm Shields (one had both TH and SS)
5x Longfangs w/ 4x Missile Launchers
5x Longfangs w/ 4x Missile Launchers
5x Longfangs w/ 4x Missile Launchers
I was pretty nervous at the start of the tournament, not really knowing what to expect. First round pairings came along and:
Game 1: Wolfstar vs. Dan's Genestealer Spam Nids!
His list:
Swarmlord w/ 2x Tyrant Guard
Warrior Prime w/ Bone Swords, Death Spitter, Adrenal gland
2x Zoanthropes
2x Zoanthropes
10x Ymgarl Genestealers
10x Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacks, Broodlord w/ Scything Talons
10x Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacks, Broodlord w/ Scything Talons
10x Genestealers w/ Toxin Sacks, Broodlord w/ Scything Talons
4x Warriors w/ Lash Whips, Bone Swords, 1x Venom Cannon, 3x Deathspitters
So, lots and lots and lots of I6 Poisonous Rending. Whereas lots of people like to dis on Genestealers now, this list posed quite a few problems for my Wolfstar. The fact that they struck first, and were able to rend meant my Wolfstar was going to be hurt a lot if they charged it. If they didn't charge however, they might get to strike first, but the Genestealers would get rerolls to wound, since they're poisonous w/ (he told me furious charge? I don't see how he gets that, now that I look at the list)
Oh, before I forget, Dan has a podcast called The Eternal Warriors. Hit the link, it's a cool site!
Alright, so on to the game!
The objectives:
1) Get an HQ to within 6" of the table center. Both people can accomplish this
2) Kill Points
3) Table Quarters- control w/ troops, contest with anything
So, I won first turn, and decided to take it. I figured I'd get the first round of shooting, which would be useful against his Zoanthropes, Warriors, and Swarmlord. I deployed, ready to counter-charge his Genestealers when/if they outflanked.
Throwing my plans for a loop, he decided to reserve everything, keeping the genestealers in outflank, and everything else in normal reserves. Looked like I was going to need to get a lot done in 3 turns!
 |
| Here's my deployment, and my opponent, Dan. Fun guy :) |
Wolfstar Turn 1:
Well, I decided to spread out, and make sure I could react to the stuff he did. You'll see what I did in the pictures.
Stealers Turn 1:
He just sat there... with no models on the board.
 |
| I wanted a screen on the longfangs in the middle, since I still didn't know where his Ymargls were. That's what the Grey Hunters are doing in the middle there. Notice that the Wolfstar is just waiting for the Genestealers patiently. |
More of the same, woot.
 |
| There's also the rhino on the right there, waiting for Genestealers outflanking to that side, and also waiting to control/contest table quarters. |
He rolled his reserves and got: all 4 genestealer squads, and nothing else, with his 3+ reserve rolls the Swarmlord gave.
He successfully outflanked everything on my left side (which was good for me, since it meant I'd have an easier time controlling/contesting table quarters). The Ymargls were in my own building, and got ready to charge the poor Longfangs above them.
No real shooting, so we skipped to assault. My longfangs killed only two of the Ymargls, and were nearly entirely wiped out. One brave soul survived. Nids get the first blood (well, technically my dead Longfangs did, lol)!
 |
| You can't really see, but there are two full genestealer squads on the left side behind the building. 22 total models, since he has a Broodlord in each. |
I was able to move the Wolfstar up, ready to charge both of his Stealer units. I also moved the rhino with the Rune Priest up in order to block his psychic awesomeness that the Broodlord had.
Shooting didn't do much- maybe I killed a Genestealer in the back with Frags? Probably. Otherwise, it was time for a pivotal combat!
He got to strike first, but only killed a couple of my models (and none of my Lords). The Rune Priest was able to block both Broodlords powers without me using the Wolftail Talisman, and then I got to strike back. I killed 7 in 1 squad, and 8 in another. He failed his leadership, but I failed my pursuit roll, so they got away. Not a great thing, since they could regroup once they got back into Synapse. Wolfstar consolidated into the building where the Ymargls finished off my poor lone longfang.
 |
| It looks like only a couple of the wolves are alive, but in truth the building is hiding a couple more. I think he's measuring their retreats for the next turn... |
Dan got all his stuff in this turn, except for one unit of Zoanthropes. He advanced up the board a little, and decided to shoot me with his stuff. The Ymargls got ready for revenge against the Wolfstar.
Shooting really didn't do much. The Zoeys killed a rhino, and the squad passed its pinning check.
In assault, the Ymargls didn't do a whole lot, and my Wolfstar killed them to a Ymargl, consolidating toward his next (and last) big genestealer squad.
 |
| So, 3 squads down, 1 to go. If I can wipe out his remaining Genestealers, it shouldn't matter a whole lot what Swarmlord does to me- I can contest/control enough table quarters to win. |
Well, only 2 more turns for me to do anything before we start rolling to see if the game ended. The Wolfstar moved up toward the fleeing genestealers. The Rune Priest's ride zoomed up, disembarking everyone but the Priest himself, ready to rapid-fire a few Genestealers.
In shooting, I was able to put two wounds with one missile squad on the Zoeys directly in front of them.
 |
| heh, fail of a roll on his part. Poor guy... not the best dice rolls this game at all. |
In combat, the Wolfstar crashed into his fleeing genestealers, and killed both squads. I think I just didn't have the range on the last squad, so I decided to go for the killpoints instead.
 |
| So, right now I'm winning Kill Points- I've killed 3 Genestealer squads plus his Zoeys. He's killed a longfang squad and a rhino. Note the rhino who was originally going to claim the right quarter is now there for support- the disembarked small squad is moving to control the other table quarter. |
Dan really had no choice- he decided to charge the last Genestealers at the Wolfstar. His other stuff advanced. His last Zoey squad came in from reserve, as well, on the left.
His shooting was again sub-par. Zoeys didn't kill anything.
In combat, the Wolfstar was hurt badly, and only the lords remained. However, the Lords killed enough to win combat, and keep them stuck in there, making fearless saves. I was fast running out of steam though.
 |
| Cool blurry picture, lol. |
I wasn't sure if this was the last turn or not, but I needed my priest to get to the center of the table. To do so and make sure he wouldn't simply get sniped, I disembarked the 'support' squad from their rhino, and then disembarked the Rune Priest into them, ready to run onto the objective. If the game continued next turn, they'd just all jump into a ride again.
Shooting killed a few more warriors, but not many. I also killed a guard, and put a wound on the other one.
In combat, the Wolfstar continued it's slugfest, and ended up killing everything left.
 |
| I was hoping that the swarmlord would target the Grey Hunters in the ruins there on the left, instead of making my life difficult by advancing toward the middle. |
Dan decided to go bloodthirsty instead of trying to get an objective- his Swarmlord and what was left of his warriors advanced toward the 'bait' Grey Hunters.
His shooting was again off. :(
In combat, I was able to kill the rest of his warriors with my fist, before the Swarmlord butchered the entire squad in a glorious feat of awesomeness.
 |
| So, he's got 2 Zoeys and the Swarmlord left alive. Zoeys get to die if the turn ends, and the Swarmlord gets to try chewing his way through rhinos. If the game goes on. |
Results: 3-0 win for the Wolfstar!
Dan was a really nice guy, and his dice failed him completely this game. I rolled what I thought was average, but compared to his rolls, it certainly looked lopsided. He kept telling me "wow, I usually just roll Thunderwolf Cavalry." I believe him- genestealers are a legitimate threat to Wolves- I think my wolfstar is just run a little different than what he's used to. 800 points is nothing to sneeze at, for any unit in the game.
Boys of the Match: I'll have to give it to the Wolfstar for this one. They ate themselves 43 Genestealers total, single-handedly winning the match. A close second goes to the Rune Priest, who blocked way too many powers with his Runic Weapon :)
On to match 2!
Game 2: Wolfstar vs. Matt's Salamanders!
Quickly first, his list:
Vulkan
Librarian w/ Gate, Null Zone
5x Terminators w/ 4x TH/SS, 1x Lightning Claw
5x Terminators w/ 5x TH/SS
10x Sternguard w/ 2x Heavy Flamers, 7x Combi-meltas, Power Fist, Drop Pod
10x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-melta, Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Drop Pod
10x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-melta, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino
Land Raider Redeemer w/ MM
Thunderfire Cannon
So, he's got lots of Terminators, a hefty amount of combi-meltas, and also lots of flamers. Not the ideal list to play against, if you ask me.
Oh yeah, before I forget, here's a link to his blog!
Objectives:
1) Kill half your opponent's total kill points
2) Have more units in your opponents deployment zone than they have in yours
3) Hold more of the 3 total objectives around the board
Well, he had standard(ish) Salamanders army. The main threat is obviously the Land Raider, though it looked like if I could get Vulkan and the Termies outside of it and kill them, I could still win the game, albiet through much hardship. The plan was to get as many of my guys up the side of the board as possible, mostly avoiding his Raider, so as to get the objective of having more guys in the deployment zone. With his pods, I was certain I could get half of his total killpoints. Objectives have a way of taking care of themselves if you play the game the right way...
He won the roll for first turn, and took it. Here's what our deployment looked like:
 |
| Note that the wolfstar is actually 50% in cover- I wanted cover saves on the two wolves without them, for when the Sternguard showed up. Also of note is that he put his Librarian into the Sternguard pod. |
Salamanders Turn 1:
He struck the sternguard up close to the Wolfstar, as I figured he would. Otherwise, everything else advanced, and the Termies ran.
Shooting with his Thunderfire hit all 4 times, and killed 4 of my 5 Longfangs on the far right. The sternguard rolled well, and I rolled absolutely terrible. Seriously- he killed three of my wolves straight up, and put a wound on the last one, though none on the Lords. Worst rolling I'd done for a long time with them, heh.
 |
| Heh, you can see the dead wolfstar on the right corner there. Oh yeah, his Sternguard split into combat squads. |
Well, I didn't have much to do but move up. The longfangs hiding in the cover on the left got up onto the terrain, and the rhinos on the left both boosted up. The rhino with the small squad on the right moved up a little, but popped smoke and waited to suicide themselves on his raider. Wolfstar moved up a little bit and got ready to multiassault his Sternguard.
Shooting went as well as possible, with my lone missile dude shooting at and destroying the Thunderfire cannon. Hm, random.
In assault, my Majesty Lord wiped out his own combat squad, and the Bear Lord took 4 wounds... I rolled the saves and got all four 1's. So, Bear Lord dead before he could strike. I still won combat, and we consolidated. Yikes... at this point I wasn't sure if I could win the game.
 |
| The dead pile on the right continues to mount- both hammers in the squad as well as a normal guy and a shield. |
I had assaulted in a way that his Termies couldn't get to me that turn, so his Raider just moved up more, as well as his footslogging termies. His rhino stayed in cover by the objective near his edge.
He just kind of shot at me, but didn't end up doing a whole lot.
In assault, my Majesty Lord killed the rest of the squad off. Matt rolled some awful saves from my regular thunderwolf, but did manage to bring it down with him as well.
 |
| Cool, consolidate a bunch, just to get assaulted by Terminators. Luckily I had a turn to shoot first. |
Well, this turn would need to be a good one for me. I moved the small Grey Hunter squad up toward his Raider, and disembarked them, ready for 6" melta love. The other two full rhinos moved 12" and disembarked, ready to rapid-fire his footslogging terminators. The Majesty Lord got ready to charge the Termies when it was all over. The stage was set.
The melta fire destroyed the raider, awesomely. Whew! As for other shooting, I was able to snipe a termie from each squad with Jaws (see, order of shooting DOES matter), and otherwise kill every terminator but 2 from the footslogging squad. My Majesty Lord rushed in, and finished those two termies off right away.
It was his turn to roll terribly on saves- this would be a commonly recurring theme for both of us this game.
 |
| Hooray for popped Land Raider! |
It was his turn to have a lot of good things happen, or it would likely mean game. His last Pod came in, and landed right behind some of my disembarked Grey Hunters on the left. His other rhino also moved forward, and disgorged its troops, ready for rapid-fire goodness.
His shooting didn't do a whole lot, really. It killed about half a squad of Grey Hunters, though he rolled bad enough that I personally had to roll really bad to lose that many.
In assault, Vulkan + Terminators wiped out the poor 5-man squad. Vulkan saved both 3++ invulns caused by the fist. Darn! Worth a try, lol.
 |
| At this point, I'm just glad that Vulkan and co are disembarked. Lots of turns to shoot at them now before they can do anything awesome. |
Well, the depleted squad got back in their rhino, and zoomed off. The Majesty Lord got ready to assault the Rhino tac squad, and the full grey hunter squad got ready to assault his pod tac squad. Also, one of the Long Fang squads got into a vacated rhino, and moved 12" up, wanting the objective where I needed more guys in his deployment zone.
Shooting was somewhat of a dud, since I just tried (and failed) to kill his rhino with a couple missile launchers.
In combat, the Majesty Lord killed a few and stuck in, and the Grey Hunters killed everything they touched- all 10 pod marines died between shooting and combat.
 |
| Can Vulkan get anywhere fast enough to make a difference? |
He moved Vulkan away from the other termies, who advanced, and shuffled his rhino around, popping smoke.
In combat, the Majesty Lord wiped out the rest of the Tac squad, and consolidated.
 |
| So he's got... 2 pods, 4 Terminators, and Vulkan left. And a Rhino. |
Well, it was time to try and mop it up. The Grey Hunters moved up and shot the Termies as best they could, including Jaws. The Majesty Lord got ready to either charge the Rhino, or finish off the Termies.
I was able to kill 2 of the Terminators, and he failed his Morale check. I was also able to kill his rhino with missiles.
We decided to call it there.
 | |||
| Poor non-fearless Termies. Not sure why they aren't a fearless unit, honestly. |
Wow, I was relieved to have won, after such a scary disheartening start! I rolled terrible to start, but he rolled just as badly this game- it was as if we could only roll well on offense, because we both failed far more saves than we should have. Gotta give it to him, he was a great sport, and in the end got 'Best Imperial Showing' or something like that, along with like 5th overall in the tournament. Cool guy, you know you'll have a good game when your opponent shows up with a beer holster :)
Dudes of the Match: I'm going to have to give this one to my standard Grey Hunters. They popped a Raider, rapid-fired lots of Termies to death, and killed a full Podding Tac Squad. Awesome :)
Game 3: Wolfstar vs. Horde Orks
...... aka: The debacle
His list:
Warboss w/ Bike, Klaw, etc.
Warboss w/ Bike, Klaw, etc.
5x Nob Bikers, making them complex- w/ all the goodies like cybork bodies, Painboy, lots of PKs, etc.
25x Shoota Boyz w/ PK nob
30x Shoota Boyz w/ PK nob
30x Slugga Boyz w/ PK nob
30x Slugga Boyz w/ PK nob
Deff Kopta w/ Klaw
5x Lootas
5x Lootas
5x Lootas
Well, this game was somewhat of a stinker for me. That isn't to say that I played poorly, or that I even lost. I suppose you should just read on- you'll see.
The objectives:
1) Kill Points
2) Kill a unit you designate
3) Control more of the 5 objectives than your opponent
The Gameplan:
So, horde orks w/ Nob Bikers. I hadn't really ever played against this hybrid of a list before, and wasn't entirely sure on how to approach it. I knew I feared his S10 Klaws on the Warbosses, and that if I could force him to spend some turns getting to me, I'd be able to whittle his bikers down enough for me to deal with them. I designated the Bikers as my target, since if he didn't use them, he wouldn't win the game, simple as that. If I wanted to win the game, I would need to kill them at some point.
He won the roll to go first, and took it. Here are our deployments:
 |
| I wanted him to target one of the rhinos with the Deff Kopta. I mainly wanted to protect the Longfangs. Notice that his Bikers are on the far left side, and will take a turn or two to get to me. |
He moved his guys remarkably fast! If he kept moving them that fast, we'd get in the full 5 turns (heh). He basically just moved forward. The DeffKopta failed to kill the rhino.
 |
| Heh, scary? That number of Boyz is certainly intimidating, even to the Wolfstar. |
Well, not a whole lot to do. I just shuffled around, waiting for him. I shot some shots into his Nobz, but a 3+ cover save and warbosses with FNP vs. S8 kind of makes it a useless round of shooting. Instead, I shot at lootas, killing a full squad of them, as well as a few clumped up ork boyz. My rune priest got out of his ride, and used Jaws on the Nobz, but he passed all his (2) checks.
In combat, I slaughtered the Kopta with the Wolfstar.
 |
| So, I figured his Nobz would take another turn to get to me. Maybe he'd take the somewhat silly bait I offered, in the form of my lone Rune Priest. |
He took the bait- the Nobz only zoomed up 12" , to shoot the Priest. Otherwise he generally advanced.
I don't think shooting did much. It's only 10 lootas at this point. His Nobz were able to kill the Rune Priest. It was worth the delay in his movement. He did call the Waagh though, and some guys moved into assault range of my Wolfstar.
In combat he assaulted, and got beat down, but was fearless, and was left with only a few Orks. I think he actually ended up saving like 8 fearless saves, come to think of it. 8 saves on a 6+, lol.
 |
| The Orks look thinned.Need to do something about his Nobz coming up though. :) |
I moved my Rhinos to block off his Nob Bikers from getting to me. I also moved one of my Grey Hunters squads in to charge one of the free Ork squads- I wouldn't win the combat straight up per sey, but I would also block the Nobz from getting to the Wolfstar for another turn. The little Grey Hunters got out, and positioned the Fist so the Nobz would be unable to get it into base next turn, letting him choose his target (nobz, lol)
Shooting took a wound or two off of some warbosses, but nothing too serious. I also targeted more orks in the middle and used some frags, killing like 7.
In combat, I was able to kill off the rest of the Orks the Wolfstar was fighting, after some pretty bad wound rolling on my part. The Grey Hunters won their combat, but the Orks predictably stayed in the fight. I think they were fighting a squad of shoota boyz.
 |
| Wolfstar consolidated away over 12" from his guys, or... so I thought. |
He was pretty shady with his movement of the lead orks of the 'free' squad. I looked away, and when I looked back, their nob was within an easy 6" of the wolfstar. I'm a pretty good judge of distance, and I was pretty sure he had been out of range to get to the Star. I let it go, since I figured I'd win this game regardless, and you can't accuse someone of cheating when there's no way to prove it. Still, it sort of rankled me. His nob bikers moved grumpily up to the Rhino wall, ready to assault the 6-man Grey Hunter squad on the other side.
Shooting didn't do much.
He was (easily) able to assault the wolfstar, and also get the multi-assault into the already-worn out Grey Hunters in combat. The Nobz charged the 6-man Grey Hunters, and my fist consolidated into the Nobz. I won the wolfstar combat handily, and he took a bunch of no-retreat saves, though again he saved like 8 of them. The nobz killed my Grey Hunters, but the fist was able to kill 3 Nobz in return- only 2 more to go! They also wrecked one of the Rhinos.
 |
| aaand.. he's running out of guys. The shoota squad behind the building is down to like 20 at this point, from the missile fire. |
Not a ton to do. Just get the last Grey Hunter squad into combat, and finish this.
Shooting put more wounds on the Nob Bikers, and I was able to kill another one with the missiles- the Warbosses were almost dead. 3 models left, with like 6 wounds total. I could handle that.
The Grey Hunters charged in with abandon, and the orks folded. Well, they would have, there was some confusion about how many guys he had taken off, and he refused to take more off? It was pretty weird, but I was confident about winning at this point- this way at least the shoota boyz couldn't shoot before they charged in.
 |
| He's really running out of models now.I should have moved that rhino up to block the Warbosses access to the combat. Mistake on my part. |
He did what he could- charged the Shoota boyz into the big combat, and also the two Warbosses- one into the Bear Lord, the other into the Grey Hunters. The lone nob ran for his life, turbo-boosting across terrain (which I don't think you can do, but it was my fault for having missed it) and behind a hill where I couldn't see him with the Longfangs.
Not much shooting.
In combat, I killed one of his warbosses, and brought the other down to a single wound. In return, he rolled well, and I rolled TERRIBLY on my Grey Hunter saves- he killed all but 1 of the Grey Hunters remaining. I actually lost my first combat of the game, but only by like 2. The Majesty Lord let me reroll on the Wolfstar, but I chose to fail with the Grey Hunter (don't worry, I actually rolled it)- I needed him away from the Power Klaws so I could claim an objective next turn. I ended up rolling only 3" to run though- he'd run next turn too. Doh!
 |
| Wolfstar is down to only the two lords- so my opponent has achieved his objective of killing his targeted unit. Right now he's winning. |
My Grey hunter ran again, this time enough to get out of range of his boyz. I moved my rhino over to block line of sight to him from the Lootas. One squad of Longfangs got into a rhino, and moved up onto the building, ready to snipe the Nob next turn, if they could. If not, they could just shoot lootas.
Other shooting kind of failed, I killed a few more lootas.
In combat, I won and killed his last Warboss, but he stayed in combat, with only a few more Boyz left.
 |
| All too winnable at this point. There's no reason I don't win, unless the Lords (who are mostly healthy) fail a LOT of saves. |
Not much he can do, but jump into combat. I think he wrecked my rhino in the building.
In combat, my Wolfstar owned the remaining orks, consolidating toward his lone nob.
This is when he chooses to 'remember' that this was actually turn 6, and that we should have rolled last turn to see if the game was over. He throws a fit about it, and I say 'alright, let's see if it even matters'. At this point, we can't really play more than my own Turn 5 anyways, because of time constraints. We roll, and of course it's a 1. So we argue for forever, and we get a judge.
The judges don't know what to do- my opponent claims that I've skipped (both) turns of taking pictures with my camera, and the judges can't really use that as evidence anyways. Fair enough. He's absolutely sure that he is the right one, won't let me talk (keeps talking over me), tells me I'm a dick for trying to take it away from him, etc. The judges don't know what to do, since it's my word vs. his. I suggest we roll off, but he refuses to roll off about it. No matter what, he says he's not rolling off.
The judges don't know what to do, since he won't roll off, and decide for us to just score it right then. He controls an objective with the Nob, and he also has killed his designated unit, while I've accumulated more kill points.
He technically won 2-1. It was super frustrating, and I wish it had gone the other way. But I don't want to dwell on it. Y'all are reading this for battle reports, not whining, and so battle reports I'll give you.
Man of the Match: Hard to tell on this one, I'd have to say my Majesty Lord, since he killed a warboss, as well as countless numbers of Orks, which led to more Orks dead. He'd be the reason I had won, if my opponent hadn't lied to the judges. /sigh
Game 4: Wolfstar vs. David Arimond's Ultramarine 4th Company!
First, here's his list:
Captain w/ Relic Blade, Storm Shield, Artificer Armor, Digital Armor
5x Grey Knight Terminators (this was his last chance to use allies before the new book came out!)
10x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Flamer, Power Fist, Flamer, Las Cannon
10x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Flamer, Power Fist, Flamer, Las Cannon
10x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Melta, Power Fist, Melta Gun, Las Cannon
10x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Melta, Power Fist, Melta Gun, Las Cannon
2x Land Speeders w/ 2x Heavy Bolters each
God-Hammer Land Raider w/ Multi-Melta
Predator w/ Auto-cannon, 2x Heavy Bolters
Predator w/ Auto-cannon, 2x Heavy Bolters
The objectives:
1) Kill Points
2) Hold more objectives in your half of the board than your opponent does (there were 3 on each side)
3) Hold more objectives in your opponents half of the board than your opponent
The way it worked was this: we each placed a single objective in our own deployment zone, and 2 in the others zone. Pretty straightforward.
It was dawn of war, and he won the roll, choosing to go first.
Before I go on, I just want to say that David was a true gentleman- I was somewhat flustered from what had happened in the previous game, and he was extremely laid back and understanding of that. It took me a few minutes to get my act together, and he was extremely chill about it. If you read this David, just want to say thanks for that, I needed a laid back game :)
So, here is our deployment:
 |
| Night fight is a great way to protect models. I like to put one of my Wolf Lords up 8", to give me the extra like... 5" when the rest of the army comes on. |
He came onto the board. He failed to see my Wolf Lord, and it was my turn!
 |
| I love the idea of tactical marines footslogging, for some reason. It just seems very thematic for some reason :-p |
I came onto the board, and got my Longfangs into place. The goal as always was to get to his gunline and out-assault them. Very little in his army could really out-assault me. Hopefully the Terminators would come into play sooner than later.
 |
| I also popped smoke. Note the fail of the Longfangs' run rolls, lol. |
He shot at me. He had a lot of shots, and evaporated one of my Longfang squads. He also put a couple wounds on my Wolfstar, but not many. Rhino remained untouched.
 |
| He also backed away. Wise man. |
I advanced! Woo! Longfangs shot and weapon destroyed a heavy bolter, lol. They also hit and killed like 6 marines with Frag grenades. Next turn I'd be into him.
 |
| Notice the rhino on the left threatening his flank, and the smaller squad a little further back, to control objectives. The other rhino closest to the wolfstar is there to support them, however they can. |
Ultras Turn 3:
He disembarked his Termies, and kept everything still, intent on killing the Wolfstar this turn.
It didn't happen in the shooting phase- most of my wolves survived.
So he charged with the 5 terminators and the Captain. The captain whiffed, and my Majesty Lord killed 3 of the Terminators before they could strike. The other termies caused a few wounds, but I wiped them out with my return attacks. Consolidate was 5", and I was a few inches from his gunline.
 |
| I think this picture was before the consolidate. |
...and we decided to call it there. I was in charge range of basically everything with the Wolfstar, the Grey Hunters were ready to go on a rampage, he would have nothing to really stop me. It was David who suggested that we call it here, and I saw the wisdom of it. Wolfstar sinking their teeth into tactical squads is fun in theory, but I didn't want him to stop enjoying the game.
He was a great guy to play, and I liked his army a lot! Been a long, long time since I've played true Ultramarines :)
Results: 3-0 win for the Wolfstar!
Man of the Match: Gotta be the Majesty Lord. He killed enough Terminators that they were no longer a threat in Close Combat, and allowed me to present enough of a threat to the Tactical marines left alive that the rest of the game would be a non-factor.
Man of the Tournament: In the end, I think it was my Majesty Lord. He was the MVP twice, and could have easily been the MVP in the game against the Salamanders. He killed just about everything he came in contact with, and did what needed doing. For 240 points, he's a little expensive, but... he was certainly worth it this tournament!
Overall thoughts:
I had a fun tournament, tainted unfortunately by my Game 3 opponent. However, the other 3 opponents were a blast to play against, and were all very nice people. I'd play any of those 3 again anytime :)
As for placing, I ended up with 10 objective points, which gained me 2nd alternate for the Finals. They got my phone number, and told me they'd call me if anyone dropped. Which was of course a joke- someone would need to either get really sick or have a family death to drop in the finals after a rough day 1.
In the end, I got 36th overall, and would have gotten like 5th if my opponent in game 3 hadn't nerfed my sportsmanship. I didn't really like how they scored things, in the end, but I did like the W/L/D format. Overall a great tournament, and I'm sure I'll be going there next year as well, so long as they keep the format to this tournament about the same.
Stay tuned for my Fantasy Championships battle reports, which I'll soon begin working on! Until then, enjoy this batrep :)
Thoughts? Questions? Trolls? (just kidding, trolls will be deleted)
18 comments:
Nice report. Sucks about game 3.
I've heard too many stories like this from Adepticon, though. Does no one use some form of turn counter for their games?
I have a very large D20 that I use to track what turn it is. It's always in sight of both players, and it's big so it's pretty obvious if someone is messing with it.
Heh, it's nice when someone does that, though I rarely do- when I try to remember to do it I just pick the dice up eventually. I doubt it would have helped though, he was just being irrational and telling me I had forgotten everything.
/shrug
Excellent report, though that Ork match was a bummer. Couple things...
1. I don't think the Swarmlord gives the +1 to reserve rolls unless he is on the table at the start of the turn. You got hosed there, I think. Unless the INAT is different?
2. The biggest bummer of the Ork match is not the shady opponent, but the spineless judges. Judges shouldn't be afraid to make a ruling, and when its a situation of my word vs. yours it should AT LEAST come down to a dice off. There is no way that he should get the win because he was the loudest. Worst case scenario it should be a 50/50 chance if you disagree over reality.
3. I don't use a turn counter, but I do keep a pad of paper to keep notes when allowed. Usually in short-hand to help jog my memory on batreps, but in this case it can serve as a turn counter. I actually fail to see why your photographs weren't admissible evidence. It's your word AND your camera vs. just his word. Seems like a clear cut choice.
Plus horde Orks? Like it's believable you got 6 turns done at tourney that quickly? C'mon. All the evidence points to it being turn 5.
"Spineless judges"? I've seen a few disingenuous posts on this blog regarding AdeptiCon, but the way this whole thing has been presented is a bit over the top. The number of turns played is 100% the players responsibility to keep track of. Judges are there to arbitrate rules disputes and the like, not babysit. Short of not being able to produce a time machine, I fail to see how this is the judge's fault.
Calling their game where it stood, as opposed to where it was back when it ended under Turn 5 according to the one player, was the best case scenario. That WAS an actual call, not spineless. Was there discussion? Of course there was. It was discussed by the judges at the front table and voted on as the fairest thing to do at that point if the players could not come to an agreement or work out the turn order themselves.
To simply say, "dice off for it" sets an incredibly terrible precedent. It wouldn't be long before lots of people who didn't like the results of their game were suddenly 'forgetting' what turn it was and reducing the game to a 50/50 die roll. That would be terrible, spineless judging.
Lesson is: count your turns. Take responsibility for your game.
Easy there Mattias. Read the post. The judges DIDN'T know what to do. I didn't say anything about 'spineless judges'. In fact, read a few posts down, in the comments. I absolved the judges from fault. No need to get on your high horse man.
I don't agree with the way it was handled overall, but in the end, there was no real good solution. They did what they could, and that was that. My blame rests on the player.
Disingenuous posts? You mean the ONE post I posted a long time ago about my feedback being ignored? No need to blow this out of proportion. I said what it seemed like to me, you took offense (and ranted hard about it), and we made our peace (or so I thought).
Seriously... take it easy. I even said I enjoyed the event, despite the PLAYER from game 3. Read the whole post, instead of just assuming I'm dissing you.
Nike: Heh, no clue about the Swarmlord thing. I wasn't too worried about it. If it was a big deal somehow, I suppose I would have asked more questions.
As to the judges... well, it's always a lot clearer in hindsight. I still think that a rolloff would have been preferable to just letting a bully get his way (since 50% of the time he would have been foiled, instead of giving the chance that he gets his way without contest) but... guess that's just how it goes. I don't think they were TRYING to screw me- just a difference in approach I suppose.
/shrug
The notes might have worked- but I don't really ever take notes. Not a lot of reason to, when I take pictures. Maybe I'll start thinking about it.
Matthias, I didn't mean to cause offense.
I'm comparing my experience playing professional magic the gathering to this situation, and I'm being fair: the judges at a major MtG tournament wouldn't simply let one player have his way in a word vs word scenario.
I don't mean to be overly critical about a situation I have limited knowledge of. My suggestion is to check out the MtG tournament floor rules for how judges are supposed to handle when the two players cannot agree with reality and there is no way to reconstruct the scenario.
As soon as I saw the "Three Foot Two" shirt bending over the table I knew it was going to be a tale of a cheater. What a complete asshole. Those guys cheated last year, and evidently have no intention of stopping. That dude is a piece of human sputum floating in the toilet of life, and I commend you for not punching him in the face. You sir, evidently have the patience of saint.
I guess I don't understand why the judges couldn't use pictures as they would lend credit to your story, though there probably need to have been plenty of them. I am planning on hitting the GT in Omaha in June and I think this sinks the deal on me taking pictures to build a case to stop this crap. At any rate, great batreps as usual and sorry for the arse that stole your thunder.
It is always interesting to see how people respond to pressure. The no-lose requirement to get to day 2 must really pop some player's blood vessels and create a huge amount of stress. Good to see you were able to keep to the high road.
No reason not to take pictures, Patrick. You'll enjoy them and can make a battle report using them. I think they're not a bad idea, anyway. In the Ard Boyz final a couple of years ago I thought my opponent was slow-playing, so in an early turn when he ran off to the bathroom I both alerted the judges and started keeping a written record of how long our turns were taking.
Sorry - I thought by the content of my post it was obvious I was responding to Nike's comment, a comment fueled by your previously loose and ambiguous language like "We fought about it until the judges came over and told us they didn't want to deal with it". This is the textbook definition of disingenuous, something you later admit in the comments. Still, this sort of self-serving language (at the expenses of the judges) fosters one-sided, knee-jerk responses like Nike's and the guy that claimed the AdeptiCon judges had "jewed" a few people. Cute.
While I was not a rules judge for this event, I was helping run it, and was involved in the discussion about this issue. In hindsight, and in the issue of fairness, I might have changed my vote to have you complete whatever turn it was your game was on (even if the clock had expired)...although I wasn't necessarily aware that the player turns were lopsided at the time.
On the positive side, this gives me a great idea for some AdeptiCon 2012 swag. A die (maybe 6 or 12-sided if you did half turns) With Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3 and all that on it. Arrow above the number so you can point the die at the player whose current turn it is. You could even print the Random Game Length rules on the face...
Heh, I like the idea of the dice in the swag bag. That would be cool for sure! Cuz right now I have no real inclination to buy one myself.
As for the rest man... just let the anger subside. Nobody here is trying to make you mad, or even rag on you. I just wanted to write battle reports for my games. There was an explanation required as to why I lost, and I tried to keep it as brief as possible. I've been trying to be as straightforward about what happened as possible- if you're still not convinced, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change anything. I liked your event, and want to go back next year. Simple truth.
Check back in a while, I'll have an 'overall report' on Adepticon- maybe you can find more 'disingenuousness' from me. It'll be a positive report though.
Not sure where you get the angry vibe from, other than it makes for a convienent way to write me off. Nothing could be further than the truth, this is simple pushback against false generalities about people that spend a considerable amount of time and energy to make events like this happen. Those judges do care about every game and do the best they can when presented with situations that are impossible to arbitrate.
I feel for you in the grand scheme of things. No one likes to have a game end on such a sour note. Part of this stems from the nature of the event/format and is something that is likely to see some changes going forward.
The swarmlord can hand out FC to one unit. That is how the GS probably got it. Nice battle reports. If you ever meet the ork guy, you should get a rematch.
Great battle reports, gave me a lot to do at work, lol. I particularly like the pictures with those beautiful blue and gold dice ;) ... Stinks about that player,r you would think "game turn," would be a pretty easy thing to keep track of... the idea of a turn counter die in the swag bag is great (Feast 2011!).
Duke
Not to poo poo on judges, as I know from experience that having to make a hard game deciding call, especially at a large is killer, and that even if we want to we can't solve everything dispute. But the fact that someone involved in the discussion of what to do over your game three wasn't presented with all the facts (like the lopsided number of turns), is really a mark against them if that information was presented by you to whatever judge you first called over, or any other judge that subsequently became involved in the dispute.
Either way, great report, glad that the cheater in game 3 didn't ruin your entire Adepticon experience.
Sorry, the phrase "wasn't necessarily aware" was meant to imply that I cannot recall the full details of the conversation (I was very busy entering the results from 123 games). On top of that, I was not a rules judge and therefore my role in any resulting discussion was very limited nor influential. I am pretty sure Adam made the judges fully aware of this fact and it was ultimately their call to make.
Any real involvement I had in this discussion occurred well after the call was made. If I was a rules judge would I have called it differently? Perhaps, but that is neither here nor there. The facts were considered and the call was made by the judges and those rulings are final. If you don't want judges ruling on such things...well there are a couple simple answers to that.
If there's ever a situation like that, Its usually quite easy to take one uni, say his nobs or your star, and quickly run through what they did each turn. Very easy and can't be argued with.
Although I understand that you're saying he wouldn't even talk about it and wouldn't let you talk to the judges either ... so bad times.
I would have just smashed him in the face or flipped the table over. So kudos for keeping your cool and just letting it go in the end and moving on. Nice report too. Always a pleasure to read.
Post a Comment