Well, I went to the Semis, and was rather disappointed. I took what I think was a pretty reasonable list, but ended up losing one, tying one, and getting one massacre. Here's a recap of the action:
Game 1: Orcs and Goblins
Well, I played against a guy that I had (a year and more ago) played in my final game in 'Ard Boyz 40k Semi-Finals (and won by massacre, giving me 1st place in the tournament). He was the eventual winner of the entire event, though I can't help but feel cheated by the dice and quite a few of the rules he imposed, such as march blocking w/ fanatics (when he can't). He was a nice enough guy, but I left the game feeling like if I had to play two more guys like him, the tournament would be a long, long day.
Highlights include my Cold Ones failing their first two stupidity checks, then getting raped by a doom diver, my Hydra flamering 2 fanatics in my way, and rolling a 1 to wound both times (needing a 2+) with the fanatic going on to cause 6 wounds on my Black Guard, and his doom divers/bolt throwers with 6 leadership (he used 6, anyways, someone later told me it was actually 5?) passing EVERY terror/fear check they had to make (somewhere around 15 checks, all told). The biggest though, was my positioning my Black Guard to take a charge from his general's unit and a big block of orks on both flanks (but knowing I can kill enough that I probably won't take too many casualties), but holding both squads there for a rear charge from my dragon and some dark riders in both rears. I killed the front row of both orc blocks (using always strikes first), and so only lost like 3 black guard to his general. He still won combat because of the flanks, ranks, mass, etc. but thats what Stubborn Ld. 10 is for, right? I roll: 12. Okay, well thats what my BSB is there for, right? Reroll: 11 And then I run 3" and he runs me down.
On top of that, he took a long time to play, and so negated me getting a final turn anyways. I barely squeaked out a draw there. 11-11. Blah.
Game 2: Beastmen
I'd never played beastmen before, but I'd heard they were an 'easy' army to beat. Not so. This guy had apparently been ONLY playing beastmen for a long time, and was using a hero that allowed to 'ambush' with his entire army. He left his 6 chariots on the table, with his dragon ogres, and then 'ambushed' me with the rest.
His main guy used magic to charge my Cauldron of Blood, and his big block of Bray Shamans w/ gors charged a Hydra. CoB Hag challenged, got slaughtered by a guy that had S10, A14 or something stupid (and kept rolling wounds until he rolled a 1). He got overkill 7, and won, but I got away. He would then try to finish off the rest of the attendants the rest of the game, finally succeeding.
Other highlights include my Dreadlord with Executioner's axe ending two chariots, and the assassins w/ rending stars slaughtering his other 4 chariots and lord/hero/general guy. Also, my charged Hydra butchered the shaman squad he had sent at me during 2nd turn, and proceeded to go on a rampage.
I ended up tabling him for full points, 24-1.
Game 3: Ron Santoni's Demons of Tzeench
Well, as you probably don't know, me and Ron Santoni have been nemesi since we met more than a year ago at my first Tacticon, when I had to play against his demons. I'd never played against demons, but we had a very close game, and ended up with a perfect draw. He then went on to place 5th at the Vegas GT with that list. He ended up winning the 40k 'Ard Boyz Semi-finals this year, though in my defense, I wasn't there as I had to go to my friend's wedding. In the final match of a team tournament my friend and I had played in, we had to play against Ron, and we ended up with full points. Overall, a great guy, and really skilled player. The only problem is: I've never played against demons in Fantasy, and he has power dice Tzeench Demons.
He's a good player, and though I think the mission screwed me a bit, it was a rather sad matchup anyways. My Hydras didn't get their Regen saves against most of his shooting/casting, and most of his (very strong) spells only needed a 3+ to go off. It was a pretty brutal game, but he ended up killing most of my army, for a Major Loss to the Dark Elves. I'm happy to note, however, that I killed every herald in his army, and WOULD have killed the Bloodthirster a FEW times over, if he hadn't gotten re-rolls on EVERY armor save/ward save/leadership/to hit/to wound roll from the scenario. As it turned out, we were using the wrong scenarios for the tournament, and we shouldn't have been using those ones at all, as they were apparently last year's.
So, I didn't place in the tournament, and it was a little sad, but it was a fun game against Ron at the end, and I learned a lot about the various armies out there. I'll play next year, with my goal being to actually place this time!
Alright, I'm outro.
