Tournament Prep part 3: Extra Cheese
Previous opponents have had some fun in their list, but nothing overtly ridiculous or game breaking.
Couldn’t last forever.
In my final test to see if I’m competitive, I played an over-the-top Inquisition-Guard-Knight list with a lot of dirty tricks and a LOT of psykers! My opponent, who wishes to go by his gamertag Loki 1003, put together a list that assumes a cadre of Inquisitors wrangeled together a Scholastica Psykana contingent, an elite Imperial Guard regiment, and a Knight Titan into a juggernaut of psychic power and unbeatable destructive capabilities. Can I succeed? Let’s find out!
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Bozeman – Azure Flames Space Marines (Salamanders)
-Leonidas, captain of the 1st company (counts as Vulkan He’stan)
-Librarian, Level 2, Space Marine Bike, Melta Bombs
-Dreadnought, Extra Armour, 2x Twin Linked Autocannons
-Ironclad Dreadnought, Ironclad Launchers, Chainfist, upgrade Storm Bolter to Heavy Flamer
—Drop Pod
-Bike Squad x8 with Attack Bike, Veteran Sergeant, Power Fist, Melta Bombs, 2x Meltaguns, Multi-Melta
-Tactical Squad x10, Veteran Sergeant, Power Fist, Combi-Melta, Meltagun, Multi-Melta
—Rhino, Extra Armour
-Tactical Squad x10, Veteran Sergeant, Power Fist, Combi-Flamer, Flamer, Multi-Melta
—Rhino, Extra Armour
-Scouts x5
—Land Speeder Storm, Multi-Melta
-Assault Squad x5, 2x Flamer
—Drop Pod
-Land Speeder Squadron x3, 3x Multi-Melta
-Predator Destructor, Heavy Bolter sponsons
-Thunderfire Cannon
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Loki – Inquisitorially Mandated Imperial Hodgepodge
-Malleus Inquisitor, Psyker level 1, Daemon Blade (Warlord trait: -1 to all Daemon saves within 12″)
-Malleus Inquisitor, Psyker level 1, Daemon Blade
-Hereticus Inquisitor, 3 servo skulls, Psyocculum
-Hereticus Inquisitor, 3 servo skulls, Psyocculum
-Imquisitorial Henchmen: Sanctioned Psyker x3
-Imquisitorial Henchmen: Sanctioned Psyker x3
-Imquisitorial Henchmen: Sanctioned Psyker x3
-Imquisitorial Henchmen: Sanctioned Psyker x3
-Imquisitorial Henchmen: Sanctioned Psyker x3
-Imquisitorial Henchmen: Sanctioned Psyker x3
-Company Command Squad, Astropath, Master of the Fleet, Master of Ordnance, Standard, Lascannon
-Company Command Squad, Astropath, Master of the Fleet, Master of Ordnance, Standard, Lascannon
-Veteran Squad x10, 3x Plasma gun, Lascannon, Demo Charge
-Veteran Squad x10, 3x Plasma gun, Lascannon, Demo Charge
-Rough Riders x8, Meltagun
-Knight Crusader, Icarus Autocannon, Meltagun, Melta-Cannon, Mega-Bolter
-Callidus Assassin
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Tournament Mission 3: The Deadline
Terrain: 6’x4′ board, 2x ruined buildings, 2x hills or craters, 1x impassable LOS blocking feature, 1x river or water hazard, 2x forests that count as “twisted copses,” 1x Armor 14 medium building with 4 access doors and 4 fire points, one in each direction.
At Any Cost: The building may ALWAYS be targeted for shooting and assault, regardless of who is occupying the building.
Deployment: Dawn of War
Maelstrom of War: Each player generates 3 objectives each turn. At the end of your turn, you may discard one. Any objective not scored or discarded SCORES NEGATIVE! It’s do or die! This, however, cannot bring your total score to below zero.
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Deployment
Loki chose sides and went first. No seize, no night fight.
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Inquisition Combined Force – Turn 1
Orders allow lascannons to snipe at the Predator with ignore cover, blowing off a heavy bolter and glancing it. The Titan blasts the smaller bike combat squad, earning First Blood. The Callidus Assassin hurts the Thunderfire Cannon, and claims objective 4 for a point. Horrendous psychic phase sees two out of nine psychic powers successfully cast.
I guess the Psykers haven’t had their coffee yet…
There used to be some bikes here…
The Callidus eschews a quick kill to score points.
Azure Flames – Turn 1
Right flank moves up to hide behind the big wall. The flamer Tatsquad deploys to the building and shoots the Callidus, doing one wound. The Ironclad arrives and manages to somehow severely damage the Warlord’s Command Squad, a psyker squad, and a veteran squad. The Warlord and one other Inquisitor are all that is left, and they break and flee!
Holy crap, a titan! Hide!
The building is secure.
Fwoosh!
Inquisition Combined Force – Turn 2
The Titan shoots the Ironclad and the Predator, killing them, and the drop pod. It then charges the drop pod, glancing it to death. The Rough Riders charge the Tactical Squad, killing five, but losing three. The Callidus shoots the Thunderfire, destroying the cannon, and then charges the Techmarine, but there is no result. The Master of Ordnance, enhanced by a psyocculum, shoots the bikes behind the wall, killing 3 and glancing one Land Speeder.
The Titan is capable of killing three units in one turn. So, yeah, superheavies have really added a new dimension to the game. About this time, I feel like this Drop Pod, as I have no way to stop this rampaging titan.
Rough Riders hit hard.
The Callidus whiffs!
The teeth of the enemy list is revealed! An ignores cover S9 AP3 large blast that is BS 10 against units that contain psykers!
Azure Flames – Turn 2
Reserve shenanigans prevent reserves from arriving. The Librarian advances, and uses Inferno to blast a Veteran squad. The Land Speeders move flat out as a distraction. Combat with the Callidus and Techmarine continues with frustration. The remaining two Tactical Marines kill a Rough Rider. Turn not pictured.
Inquisition Combined Force – Turn 3
More ignores cover ordnance wipes out the Librarian and the bikes. Poor fire and good jink saves kill only one Land Speeder. The Callidus finally finishes off the Techmarine.
…predictably the Librarian is removed. Had I known that the Psyocculum was the thing making this possible, I’d have run the Librarian alone to spare the bikes.
Techmarines are no match for an assassin.
DISTRACTION!
Azure Flames – Turn 3
In a bid to get points, the Land Speeders go for an objective. Sadly, the psykers on the objective go to ground and deny me the point! The Rhino takes the last wound off the Callidus with a lucky shot.
A desperate gambit doesn’t pay off…
Lucky shot!
Inquisition Combined Force – Turn 4
The last Tactical marine is killed by Veterans. Another Veteran squad wipes out the Land Speeders.
Nothing can stand up to plasma, lascannons, and a titan.
Gone.
Azure Flames – Turn 4
Leonidas and the Assault Marines arrive. Despite having Invisibility, the Warlord’s squad takes the brunt of two flamers and a heavy flamer! How? Leonidas leaves the Assault Marines, and targets a psyker squad, getting four of the Invisible Command Squad, while the Assault Marines target the Veterans, killing them and hitting three of the Command squad! Finally, the Warlord’s squad breaks and FLEES OFF THE BOARD. No more ignores cover crap. The Scouts come in on the left, when I wanted them on the right, so their Land Speeder goes flat out. Turn not pictured, sadly, as it was GLORIOUS.
Inquisition Combined Force – Turn 5
The Titan blasts all but one Assault Marine, and assaults Leonidas, killing him.
Azure Flames – Turn 5
Despite a valiant effort, the Scouts can’t do much. Time exceeded. Turn not pictured.
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So, how’d I do?
Inquisiton: 7 plus Slay the Warlord and First Blood for 9
Azure Flames: 7 plus Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker for 9.
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WHOOOOOOO… Damn. That list is BRUTAL. With reserves control, ignores cover ordnance that is BS 10 against psykers, 14 Warp Charges base, and a goddamned Titan, this is a list that can dish it out. However, it can’t really take it and it doesn’t have the tactical flexibility. This is another leafblower. It’s really good. However, it relies on a lot of randomness. Loki got off Invisibility several times. If he hadn’t had Invisibility, that squad with an infinite rage death pie plate would have actually been targetable in the mid and late game.
To another completely different point, I had about 2 bad turns of objectives while Loki had about one. I still hate Maelstom of War. It’s too random. Good roll or draw? You win. Bad? You lose. Tactics come into it, but with Eternal War missions, you KNOW what you have to do and go DO IT. I would never have thrown away the Land Speeders if objective 5 had not come up. Who knows? A lucky couple of shots with the Land Speeders might have hurt or even killed the Titan. As it was, I needed to take stupid risks to get objectives that I had less than a turn to prepare for.
No more prep. Tournament is at the end of the month. Next: a super secret project and the tournament! Stay tuned!
m,o,o is a s9 ap3/ not s10 ap1
Fixed.