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Adam does an overview of the missions before each game kicks off.
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Being
the eager beaver I am I turned up at the venue nearly an hour early. The first
to turn up from the 26 odd who played. One of these days I should realize that it only
leads to being roped into helping set up. I honestly don't mind as the amount
of stuff that TOs have to put up with is pretty staggering. It's the least I
could do to help the day go smoothly.
The
reason I've decided to do more one day, small point tournaments this year is
the misguided perception that they are less strenuous on your legs and back.
Boy was I wrong. When I jumped in my car for the two hour drive home my legs
where jelly and my calves where on fire. I put this down to the fact that, although
lots of chairs where provided in the spacious hall, I didn't start to sitting down until
the dying stages of my last game. I was
so engrossed in all my games removing myself half a meter from the table to
have a sit down didn't even cross my mind till my legs started to give out.
And
what games I had! 5 games of fast pace fun! Even the last game where I ended
turn 5 with not a single model on the board. I've enjoyed low point games but
the combination of 750pts with the unique missions made the even more than your
run of the mill tournament. And even though technically there was no painting requirements
the majority of armies that turned up had beautifully painted armies. Unfortunately
I didn't quite completely finished to 'my' table top standard but they did not
disgrace me at all.
So
I'll brake the reminder of this down into battles and outline how it went. At the end of the day I may even take this list
to the next Force Z (but with small tweaks).
Battle
#1: UPDATED ORDERS
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| The stage is set for an epic showdown between the fans of Chaos and stodgy Imperial Guard |
Player:
Simon Gojkovic (of Tabletop Tourneys fame go here to see his YouTube channel -
and hopefully a video of this game)
Army/List:
Chaos Space Marines
HQ:
Sorcerer w Lv 3 Mastery, Force Stave & Spell Familiar
Elites:
5 noise Marines w 5x Sonic Blasters, 3x Close combat weapons + Champion w
Doom Siren
Troops:
19
Cultists w 2x Flamers + Champion
19
Cultists w 1x Flamers + Champion
9
Cultists w 2x Flamers + Champion
Heavy Support:
Land raider w Dozer Blades
Outcome:
Primary
- Minor Victory
Secondary
- Win
Thoughts:
Heading into my first game of the day I did not know what to expect. As soon as I realised who I was up against I was so please I stayed up till 1am the previous night to try and finish painting my army. Although they were not completely finished they would disgrace me in front of the camera.
The centre piece of Simon’s army was his Landraider modelled as a stage for his Noise Marines. It had to be taken out! I rushed my Melta wielding Devil Dog forwards only to be 1inch out of melta rang. Luckily it survived the lascannon onslaught and followed up with blowing it to smithereens next turn.
From there the game gradually turned for the worst for the Chaos. As the Noise Marines where whittled away by autocannon fire. The game ended in a minor win as I wasn’t prepared to gamble away units to secure the middle objective.
Honestly the dice where in my favour and I shouldn’t have pulled out the win. I used what advantages the dice gave me to good effect, whilst there where some tactical mistakes Simon and I discussed about that would have given Simon a better position to assault my main line and tie up my autocannons. This put me in an optimistic mood for my next 4 games.
Battle
#2: THE HURT LOCKER
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Space Wolves ready themselves to exact the Emperors Justice
upon
a possibly innocent Imperial Guard regiment.
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Player:
Jason Beasley
Army/List:
Space Wolves
HQ:
Rune Priest - 2x Biomancy/Divination/Telekinesis, Rune Axe. (Warloard)
Rune Priest - Jaws, Living Lightning, Rune Axe. (Warloard)
Troops:
Grey Hunter Pack (9x Grey Hunters) - Meltagun, Drop Pod
Grey Hunter Pack (5x Grey Hunters)
Grey Hunter Pack (5x Grey Hunters) - Plasma Gun
Heavy Support:
Long Fang Pack - 4x Long Fang w/ Missile Launchers, Squad Leader
Fortifications:
Aegis Defense Line - W/ Quad-Gun
Outcome:
Primary - Draw
Secondary - Draw
Thoughts:
With a minor win from the previous game under my belt I was doubtful I’d come away from this match up without an ass whooping. But I was surprised at the final result of a draw all round. The highlight of the game and probably the only reason I didn’t get that fore mentioned ass whooping was the successful repulsion of a drop pod attack. With a very handy Autocannon intercept on the drop pod resulting in an explosion and leaving the Grey Hunter Pack left out in the open for a round of “First rank fire, second rank fire” from my main blob only left a rune priest to be moped up by some lasgun & missile launcher shots.
In the end another game that should of ended in a handy victory for the other side, but the dice and some tactics on my part kept me in the game.
Battle
#3: SABOTAGE
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This Eldar Spiritseer fails to foresee his crushing defeat,
but looks spectacular while doing it.
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Player:
Chris Stratford
Army/List:
Eldar
HQ:
Spiritseer
Troops:
10 x Guardian Defenders - Heavy weapon platform w/ Shuriken Cannon
5 x Wraithguard - Transport: Wave Serpent, T/Linked Scatter Laser, Under hull Shuriken Cannon
Fast Attack:
Crimson Hunter
Vyper Jetbike - Under hull Shuriken Cannon
Vyper Jetbike - Under hull Shuriken Cannon
Outcome:
Primary - Major Win
Secondary - Win
Thoughts:
These Eldar are beautiful. There isn’t any other way to describe them. Chris went on to receive players’ choice for his fantastically painted army. As for their performance against my many guns, alas they did not fair too well. The sheer weight of Autocannon fire took down his fast attack choices with ease. And liberal use of frag missiles kept his troops from even leaving his deployment zone. With the last minute destruction of one of his objectives clinched the major win for me and successfully following through on the secondary objective. Unfortunately for Chris this game was heavily in my favour from the start.
Battle
#4: FIRE SWEEP
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A Tyranid Hive fleet sends it hordes to sweep away the pitiful
Imperial Guard resistance.
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Player:
Shane Jackson
Army/List:
Tyranids (Old Codex)
HQ:
Tervigon
Troops:
Tervigon
Termagant Brood x 10
Elite:
Hive Guard Brood x 3
The Doom of Malan'tai - W/ Mycetic Spore
Outcome:
Primary - Major Loss
Secondary - Draw
Thoughts:
And this is where my victories ended. By this stage with a couple of wins on my score card I thought I might be at the top end of the draw, this might have been the case but it was all about to come crashing down. I’ve never been able to successfully fight off a full on Tyranid army, and today was no different. Though one of his Tervigons clapped out making babies in the first turn the other just wouldn’t stop! And their iron arm rolls just made it impossible for me to bring them down. To Shane’s credit he didn’t just focus on wiping me out, which he could do easily, he went for the objectives as well. Obviously the odds were against me, especially when the Doom got in my back lines and started sucking up lives, but it was fun and his army was also one of the best painted on the day.
Battle
#5: WARLORD HAMMER
Player:
Ewart Searle
Army/List:
Tau
HQ:
Commander - Flamer, MSS, Neuroweb System Jamer, Onager Gauntlet, Vectored retro-thrusters
Troops:
Fire Warriors x6
Fire Warriors x6
Fire Warriors x6
Elites:
Riptide - Early Warning Override, Ion Accelerator, Twin-linked Fusion Blaster
Heavey Support:
Broadside Team x3 - High Yield Missiles x3, Early Warning Override x2, Taget Lock
Fortifications:
Aegis Defense Line
Outcome:
Primary - Major Loss
Secondary - Loss
Thoughts:
Coming to the last game of the day I was wishing for one thing. Not to play Tau! Against cover ignoring fire I knew I had little chance. When the match up was drawn it was a fore gone conclusion. But you never know I might be able to force a draw or a minor loss. I scored first turn and I thought this might just go better than I thought. Then it happened; he seized on me. The first turn alone his Broadsides took 17 models from my big blog alone. But none of my units ran off the board, they held strong till the very last model, a sergeant, valiantly charged his Riptide on the 5th turn, but he never made it into combat. This game was short, it was bloody, but it was fun! Right down to the last model I was laughing and enjoying it right the bloody end!
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| Round 1 in full swing |
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Round 1 continues
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Adam Adjudicates points totalling on a close game
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My Guard repels some noisy Chaos Marines.
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My Guard readies themselves for an imminent Space Wolf Drop
Pod assault.
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Checkout this sweet ride!
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Stretching your legs between rounds is important!
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Final thoughts:
So
what did I get out of the experience? Apart from catching up with
people I haven’t seen since November, I met some new and interesting
characters, and had 5 amazing games at an awesome event run by a great
team from Alpha Hobbies, Adam & Sam. From the hobby/tactical side; I
came to the realisation that although it will be a few years before I
can compete in the same league as some of the big fish, I’m not too
shabby.
I also confirmed how fun and challenging small points
games are. Trying to fit in everything you want/need and then to know
what’s the best way to tackle the missions with those units is hard.
Some armies have replicating troops choices, some have cheap units and
others have hammer units/models that smash anything they come in contact
with. On the whole it’s very hard to make a list that competes will all
that and take objectives. I recommend playing some of these with your
gaming group if you don’t already.
Conclusion; Force Z is heaps
of fun and I’ve booked myself in for the rest of the year with the wife. I definitely will be going to the rest and hopefully will be
luckily enough to get an invite to the invitational at the end of the
year.
For more photos of the event check out my Photography Facebook page: LongYard design & photography
