Ok, I brewed me tea and I am ready.
So despite many times saying I would never partake in any kind of competitive Warhammer 40k game ever again... I did. I know, how can you ever trust me or my kind again with this kind of deceit. I myself was shocked. But not as shocked as the result nor the experience.
For me, if you are lucky enough not to know me, narrative play is far more entertaining. Forging the freakin narrative etc etc, pass the plot. But for others its the feel of challenge, accomplishment and the idea that maybe, just maybe, you can be good at the game. Maybe they are right?
Convinced, some would say manipulated, I dragged my nemesis cum partner Rory to another Doubles tournament at GW Oslo. Mostly because at the time they only had 6 people participating. Which oddly doubled in size to something more akin to 14 people a week later. Some very notable names on that list too, well locally, of players both talented and veteran. My blood turned cold.
Momma didn't raise no coward!!!!
After about 3 lists and 5 cups of tea later, I devised the following list:
Codex Necrons
- Overlord with Warscythe
- 6 Wraiths with Lashy Whipsicles of trolling.
- 10 Warriors
- 10 more Warriors
- 10 extra Warriors because I like sets of 3.
- 1 heavily converted Heavy Destroyer because why not.
Paired up with Rorys Black Scorpions (Read: Blood Angels), it was a very 5th maybe 6th edition force. No fancy Eldar tricks, super heavies, knights or mini maxing. Rory btw, went for A Priest, Sanguinary Guard, basic Death Company, Tac squad in Drop Pod. No frills for us!
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| Wait, the Overlord is dead? That puts me in charge!! |
Deciding to make the harder to kill Overlord the warlord and taking Necron cards, we headed down for a fight. Go team Hobbit!
Game 1 - Contact Lost (Against team Bolton)
Our first game was against Thomas and Max, a daring duo who sported a joint Imperial Guard force. Their gimmick was a giant grey camouflaged Baneblade that stuck on the left flank and a Valkyrie with a command squad with 4 melta guns.
Right then, this was a tournament! O_O
Thomas had come along with Max to try and get back into Warhammer 40,000. If he'd have asked me I wouldn't of recommended a competitive environment for that! However nothing could breach that sportsmanship smile or the fact that they were there to genuinely have a laugh. Which was good... because -
The first game was a classic matter of experience, aggression, army composition and above all, tactical skill (read: luck).
Since the scenario was based upon how many objectives one held at the start of each turn (having none, meant no Tac Cards= no chance for points), we pushed forward aggressively, taking first turn and leaping into cover in the mid ground. For me my greatest fear was getting whole swaths of Warriors killed by that big ass Baneblade pie plate. But then as Rottimus, my partner, informed me: I was the punching bag.
Luckily something happened! Wraithfear!! My 6 lash whipped Wraith stormed dead centre, aiming to link up with Rory's drop podding tactical squad, which disembarked in their deployment zone and proceeded to kill stuff. Seeing this, the Baneblade opened up virtually everything on the Wraith.
Wraithfright? Wraithfear? Necron Wraiths have a nasty rep and yes, it is earned. In the new edition, that infamous 3+ invulnerable save was boosted with a higher toughness of 5, which meant the Baneblades Str9 huge blast did at best, one wound on a 2 wound creature. The low Ap of the blast played no role against the Inv save either, making them actually perfect for being shot at!
Meanwhile my 30 some Warriors advanced largely unscathed, to come up mid game and started firing at what their flayers were good at killing. Guardsmen. Like the Company HQ. Rory's Death Guard got to play baby sitter as we dominated the objectives ensuring our side possessed the maximum chance at getting points while our opponents were boxed in and left with no opportunity to get Tactical Objective Cards.
Hi point was the Baneblade firing on itself by accident while trying to escape the remains of the Wraith.
On the right flank, eager for something to do, Rory's Sanguinary Guard and HQ charged the enemy's 2nd company command with immediate effect. I've been there, once had a Basalisk ask a Carnafex to swallow an Earth Shaker round, but the cheeky bugger refused, effectively spitting it back down the barrel. But thats another tale.
At this point the game was a forgone conclusion, though where one may find negativity in such a one sided game Team Bolton were exceptionally good spirited about it, despite Thomas saying twice "I may need to fire on friendly infantry" to his partner.
If the game has a sportsmanship award here is where it would have been. Any game you can walk away from thinking "Rematch bitches!!" was a good one.
Final Score: 10 to 1. Team Hobbit victorious!
Game 2 - Cloaks and Shadows (Against team Need2Feed)
Eeeeek!!
This game felt like I was holding my breath the whole time. Power duo Preben and Bjørnar played a very paper competitive combination of Dark Eldar with Venoms galore and Tyranids with Flying Tyrants and 2 Mucalids to fulfil that pesky troops choice thing. It was an army streamlined and designed over time by folk who play weekly. We had nothing effective against those flying monstrous creatures and the Poison weapons of the Dark Eldar had me on range and my toughness meant precisely D&%#.
I was not expecting what happened next.
Preben deployed his Flyrants on each flank. Nominating the one on their left as Warlord. Both had psychic powers up the wazoo that would make them Feal No Pain and more. Like we didn't need that! Meanwhile Bjørnar deployed on the far edge, knowing his weapons out ranged the majority of mine and having this beautiful kill zone in front of him was deadly.
Luckily, we chose the side with the most Objectives. And scenery.
The game began as expected. Taking the first turn again we got some decent cards that required sacrifice.
I sent my warriors onto objectives, avoiding stretching myself to thinly. Rory took the right flank and advanced as a whole. Taking the large building to the centre, we now possessed many Objectives. Some getting us points.
My Wraith advanced boldly, but the length of the board put them in open ground against the majority of Bjørnars Venoms. This would not go well...
Rorys Drop Pod slammed down and scored us First Blood by killing a Venom, but its nearby neighbour had Bjørnars Archon and Incubi, Space Marine killers. The combat would last just long enough for us to just miss a "Behind Enemy Lines" Tac Card >_<. Still, it did it's job.
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| The floor is LAVAAA! |
It was about this time that things suddenly took a dive for Team Need2Feed. Prebens dice rolls took a nose dive, the Mawlocks failed to emerge causing one of the them to die and with most of the objectives on our side, their tactics worked against them. All we needed to do was hold. Kind of.
We still had to deal with those Flyrants!!
While Bjørnars Dark Eldar hugged the rear Preben's Flyrants got fed up waiting for the two Mawlocks (or the other ones?) to emerge and attacked my Overlord on his squad. The amount of fire slamming into them was horrendous! Luckily, My Overlord remained untouched after some damn lucky Reanimation rolls. To add salt to the wound, the proximity of the Warriors meant rapid firing Gauss Flayers eventually brought one down (not the warlord!!) but with the Sanguinary Guard, managed to ground the other.
In a torturous last turn, Rory's Death Company lay into the grounded Hive Tyrant Warlord bombarding it with too many wounds. Meanwhile my Overlord got to issue a challenge earning us yet another point.
At the last minute, as if to Troll us, Prebens last Mawlock, delayed for several turns, emerged killing the Overlord Tremers style. If there ever was a "teabagging" in 40k, that was it.
Still, the damage had been done. Despite the massive last turn points boost from Team Need2Feed, the game was hours. Something that still surprises me. But then, Maelstrom is less about killing and more about being ready to accomplish the Tactical Objectives you get!
Final Score: 12 to 6. Victory Team Hobbit!
Game 3 - Spoils of War (Against Team Wraithsome)
Unsurprisingly, at this point we were all getting tired, therefore excuse the poorer pics below.
With 2 wins under our belt we got paired off with our biggest challenge yet. Another team of Necrons and Space Marines. But they had a KNIGHT!???
The end scenario allowed opposing sides to take their opponents Seize Objective cards, which couldn't be discarded. Basically, we needed to take as many objectives as possible. Which... well... did I mention we were tired?
Kim and Adam were a power duo I'd never heard of until today, regulars of the Outland club, between them they possessed some killer units and good rules knowhats. You could almost feel the luck run screaming out the room. O_O
Eager to get the game started very few pics were taken, these are from turn 2! You may note that while our right flank is suddenly very naked, this is most likely because my Wraiths got stomped to death by Adams Knight. Who, incidentally, rolled double sixes two turns in a row, meaning not even the Invulnerable save could save my Wraiths. Terrible rolling my end compounded the issue.
Meanwhile, my Warriors stationed centre had two units of Gauss Blaster carrying Immortals, perfect against Warriors, ripping into them. Their Wraiths, unchallenged played havoc with our strong left push.
Designed to move through cover and carry us into their lines, our left punch stalled as soon as it hit. Between unbreaking Space Marines in Rhinos, an Overlord in a Command Barge, Tomb Blades and then those Wraiths, we got Tar Pitted quickly.
Despite our bad luck on the right flank, our left attack did eat through some units with ease initially, Rorys Death Company keeping their reputation in ruining Kim's Praetorians. A big user of these bad boys myself, I'm rather glad they never got to fire and charge.
Post turn three got furious and very intense. The cards were against us, giving us cards our opponents could use. Strategic Point 6 and 5 came up 3 times each, which lay on our right flank now controlled by the enemy.
In the end we fell foul of the same hardship and mistakes Preben and Bjørnar did in the last game. Our army, focussed so acutely on the left, didn't control the board enough to ensure we would get points, or at the very least deny points to the enemy. In essence, winning the battle but losing the war. Luck aside, in hindsite we could have spread our forces more, but that Knight. Damn. Go big or go home eh GW? Fair enough.
Final Score: 5 to 15. Loss for Team Hobbit!! :'(
When the final scores came in, Kim and Adam took 1st place, well earned, but damn! To go from expecting totally annihilation and having no fun at all to getting so close was intoxicating.
And we took the Best Painted prize, which was awesome. All that Bone on those Necrons paid off!
My opinion of tournaments? Well I believe its only as good as the worst player you face off against. And we were treated to some diverse armies, with different players who gave us a really good day.
Gentlemen, thanks.
Oh and you Rory. Same again in 2 months?
Now, about those Knights.....
Thanks for reading folks!
R
