Road to War Invitational Qualifier Report
This weekend, we had an Invitational Qualifier over here in sunny Singapore while GenCon 50 was happening in Indianapolis and I'll be going through the 3 games I played in the tournament as well as my thoughts and feelings regarding the list I brought and the current post-Razorwing flock & Stormraven spam meta.
It's the first 2000 point tournament in the country and although the Grey Knights and Chaos codexes have been out for just over a week, they were included for legal use. I felt that it was a good inclusion as we would simply have seen a 75% Space Marine field (being the only legal Codex) otherwise. Which would have been boring to say the least.
All the most current ITC (Independent Tournament Circuit) rules and GW FAQs were in effect as well, including the faction list for Obsec which you can find here, and we played ITC missions 1, 3 and 6 from their draft Combined Arms Missions pack.
Without further ado, this is the list that I brought to the tournament which I felt gave me the best chance at winning games without bringing Roboute Guilliman.
Aaaaand how it looked like on the "tray" I managed to "pick up" just before the tournament began. Excuse the random masking tape which I had to leave on for later use.
18 deployment drops and 10 Command Points. The aim of the list was to have a back-line firebase, an ample number of bodies to sit on objectives and prevent deep striking units from easily accessing said firebase, and to have an aggressive element that would force opponents to deal with when they arrived. The 3 detachments amply provided what I needed in nice, modular, blocks. The GK librarian was specifically chosen as the warlord for the "First to the Fray" trait which allows GK units within 6" of him at the start of the charge phase to re-roll their charge range. The most ideal choice for a scalpel that I wanted dropping in and charging to maximise their force weapon loadouts. Kaldor Draigo, though a beast, is limited to Daemon-Slayer as his trait should he be the warlord which was not ideal.
The Space Marine characters were there to provide the firebase with re-rolls and my plan was to upgrade the Captain to a Chapter Master against any list that included 2 or more hard-to-hit Flyers. I had also planned to bring the relic "Standard of the Emperor Ascendant" for the Company Ancient mainly for a chance to fire/attack back on a 3+ for models that died within 6" of the Company Ancient. The "Teeth of Terra" relic for the Captain was taken in situations where the opponent had a hard hitting force that needed a better close combat sweeper to push out. This means I would begin the game with between 4 to 9 CP (Command Points) depending on the opponent.
My first game was against Khairul's Ravenguard army that had 2 Stormravens, 1 Storm Talon, Shrike, 7 Vanguard Veterans with jump packs and lightning claws, a scout squad and 3 5-man Tactical Squads plus 2 Ironclad Dreadnoughts in the Stormravens. We were playing ITC Mission 1 which was Retrieval and the deploayment type was Dawn of War. Terrain was mostly ruins themed accordingly.
I deployed on the bottom right corner (based on my point-of-view) of the table having won the roll to choose deployment zones and placing both of my objectives as close to my zone as the mission allowed. My opponent placed one of his in his own deployment zone and the other close to mine (but more than 12" away) in the right centre of the board as he was an assault-oriented army and would likely be moving towards my lines. Having seen his list, I deployed Draigo to counter the inevitable charge while leaving the 3 GKSS squads, GK Librarian and Scions in orbit awaiting the command to deep strike onto the battlefield.
He went first and this was what his position looked like at the end of his turn 1. Both Stormravens were at the front of my lines with their respective cargo and though not visible from this angle, both Shrike and the jump pack Vanguard Vets were about to pounce on the front conscript line and Devastators set up in the ruins.
His Stormravens (SR) opened fire on my Devastators on the second floor and the first line of Conscripts (poor fodder) and the return fire from the 2 missile launchers and 1 Lascannnon Devastator (yay for Company Ancient) managed to put a 4-5 wound dent on the left SR. One Aggressor and the Razorback (my only vehicle) were taken by their twin multi-meltas and the Storm Talon's Twin Lascannon. The resulting charge took out both the Commissar (which I had foolishly hidden in the corner of the ruins thinking him safe) and Devastators on the ground floor. The resulting Heroic Intervention from the Captain (promoted to Chapter Master for this game), wounded Shrike 7 times but alas his 4+ invulnerable save proved impervious to all but 1 of the wounds which dealt 2 damage. Draigo was not within 3" of a charging enemy unit so could not do the same. The rest of the front Conscript line ran away without a Commissar to instil a sense of "bravery" in them.
My turn 1 started with me manoeuvring Draigo into a position to charge both Shrike (in case my captain couldn't hold his own) and the Vanguard Veterans. The Aggressors moved into firing range of the Vanguard Vets to support the GK Librarian and the Falchion-wielding Strike Squad that deep striked into my deployment zone. The sword squad that had Gate of Infinity allocated to them, dropped into the opposing deployment zone to present more targets and prepared to claim a maelstrom objective. The psychic and shooting phases allowed me to bring down the Vanguards Vets to a single marine and destroyed the left Stormraven that had taken a few wounds earlier, forcing a tactical squad and Ironclad dreadnought to the ground. The charge and Fight phases saw the Chapter Master on bike and Draigo finish off both Shrike and the Vanguard Veterans. The 2 remaining Aggressors tried and failed to charge the Tactical Squad that disembarked from the destroyed Stormraven, losing an Aggressor in the process to overcharged Plasmagun Overwatch fire.
In a bid to take out Draigo (which had Sanctuary cast on him by the Librarian), my opponent disembarked his other Ironclad Dreadnought, another Tactical Squad with combi-melta and Plasmagun and Librarian with jump pack while his remaining Stormraven and gunship veered off, keeping their velocity. The Librarian's psychic phase proved uneventful though as the Null Zone he tried to cast was denied by Draigo. Turn 2's shooting phase saw the 2nd squad of Conscripts take enough casualties to have the remaining men run off and the heavy bolter Devastators in the ruins in the centre of my deployment zone take a couple of casualties. In hindsight, I felt that my opponent should have shot the falchion GKSS (can't recall if they were out of the 24" range) instead of the Conscripts as the latter could do a lot more damage.
Draigo took the combined fire of the Tactical Squad and the shotgun scouts as they emerged from the ruins where Objective 2 lay. The Ironclad Dreadnought could only fire at the Chapter Master on bike as he was the closer character and the biker took a couple of wounds from the hurricane bolters, protected from the its meltagun by his Iron Halo. The resulting charge from the Ironclad Dreadnought and Tactical Marines into the CM on Bike and Draigo produced one of my learning moments of the tournament as the CM on Bike Overcharged his combi-plasma during the overwatch in the hopes of taking a few wounds off the dreadnought. He missed on double 4s but I was greedy and re-rolled them (due to his aura), promptly rolling a double 1 (though it would have taken only a single 1), killing him as his overcharged plasma overheated. Note to self...save your re-rolls for 1s when Overcharging plasmas and don't re-roll non-1s during overwatch. Fortunately for me, Draigo's 2+ invulnerable save shrugged off the combined attacks of the Ironclad Dreadnought and the Tactical Squad (the sergeant was armed with a lightning claw) and destroyed the Dreadnought on the return swing. The other Ironclad dreadnought finished off the remaining Aggressor and searched around for its next target. The Librarian with jump pack launched himself into the 2nd floor of the ruins in an attempt to kill my Lieutenant and tie up the remaining lascannon devastator but could only deliver a single wound with his force sword which did 3 damage but left my Lieutenant with 1 wound, who promptly killed him with 3 powerfist attacks on the return swing.
My turn 2 saw my remaining reserves dropping in with the Scions in my opponent's deployment zone (to attempt the securing of another Maelstrom point) while the halberd GKSS dropped out of 9" from my opponent's remaining 3 Tactical Marines hiding in the ruins in the centre of the table. The sword GKSS then teleported back into my half with the aid of Gate of Infinity to shoot the scout squad that had left the safety of their cover the turn before, but could only deal 2 unsaved wounds with their stormbolters. The combined psychic might of the GK Librarian and the falchion squad, along with the remaining 2 missile launchers from the central Dev squad took out the remaining Ironclad Dreadnought, leaving the falchion squad free to charge the tactical squad to help Draigo out (not that he needed any...they just wanted to use the charge to slingshot them to a more central position). Halberd squad made the charge but could not deal more than 1 unsaved wound and in the end, lost 2 Grey Knights to the sergeant's lightning claw strikes.
My opponent's turn 3 went quickly as there were not that many models left on the table for the both of us. His Stormraven turned back towards his board edge with its occupants of his remaining 5 tactical marines as the Stormtalon went in for the kill on my Scions in his deployment zone. Long ranged anti-tank and anti-infantry firepower from both flyers took out my remaining Devastator squads' models and the Scions. While my halberd squad took out the marines they were fighting.
Without any remaining long ranged anti-tank weapons, I focused on claiming objectives and killing his remaining Scouts to force his last 5-man Tactical Squad to disembark from the Stormraven and eventually teleported Kasldor Draigo in to finish them off, leaving the remaining 2 Flyer Battlefield Role vehicles but winning due to the new "Boots on the Ground" rules. The game ended in Battle Round 5 with a 19-0 score and a few lessons learnt (especially from my combi-plasma-toting Captain).
My 2nd game ended in a loss to eventual Best General, Gavin, who went undefeated with his Conscript/Guilliman/Celestine/double Stormraven list and I won my 3rd game against a Heretic Astartes Army combining Khorne Berzerkers, Cultists and Slaanesh Nightlords Terminators. Eventually finished 1st Overall (Weightage of 50% Battle score, 50% Painting) with my 2 win 1 loss record (to my surprise) due to my painting score being higher than the other players that went 2-1 or 2-0-1 (1 draw) and due to Gavin not being able to win another prize having already won Best General. It was a very close result and 4 different players were tied for the next spot.
I'm planning to finish up the battle reports of those games and my learning points from them later in the coming week as I want to leave you with pictures of the best looking armies in the tournament. Enjoy!
Tsui's Ultramarine Army in bright blue and white
Azlan's Alaitoc Army with seldom seen Eldar Jetbikes (this edition)
Master of Relic (Best Painted) winner Daryl Xune's Daemon's army.
A big thank you to the organisers, Gamersaurus Rex, for organising and taking the time and effort to do up the very cool looking terrain you see in the background, and all the participants for an eye-opening experience, and our first 2000 point Warhammer 40000 tournament here in Singapore. Looking forward to the 2v2 event at the Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention (STGCC), held at the posh Marina Bay Sands this year on the 9th and 10th of September. It will be a great showcase for the hobby/game and The Crossroads will be bringing you coverage of the 40k event of one of Singapore's largest conventions!
In the meantime, keep painting everyone!
Cheers,
the BenCH