Highland Library Golden Rhino Tournament 7-28-15
It’s TOURNAMENT TIME! All the prep I’ve been doing will either pay off or fail dismally. How did I do? Read on to find out!
Spoiler alert: due to an overly long lunch and other factors, we only played three 2 hour games instead of 4. Sadly, this means we did not get to play mission 4 which was my favorite of the 4.
Before we begin, here’s the goodie bag I got for entering:
Included in the bag: a bunch of White Dwarf magazines, some Age of Sigmar promo stuff, and two balls of fluff, painted and embedded with a tea light to make it look like smoldering wreckage! Also, six sculpey-clay numbered objectives that hold a die to mark Mysterious Objectives and another objective that looks like a brain! NEAT!
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Here is the list I took in all three games. Remember, I am trying to win in an anything goes tournament with a Combined Arms detachment Highlander list.
Bozeman – Azure Flames Space Marines (Salamanders) – 2000 pts
-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
All missions have: 2 ruins, 2 craters, 1 impassable LOS blocking terrain, 1 river or water feature, 2 forests, and 1 armor 14 building. Each mission also has the special rule At Any Cost: You may target the building, even if it is friendly.
Wins give 3 tournament points, ties 2 and losses 1. Ties at the end of the tournament are settled via # of victory points total for all 3 games.
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Mission 1 – Command and Conquer
Dawn of War Deployment, 3 objectives in neither player’s deployment worth 3VPs and 1 in each deployment zone worth 5 VPs.
Opponent: Chris – Eldar Harlequins with Craftworld Eldar allies.
Quick Breakdown: Chris started with a brutal Alpha Strike. I was unable to do much at first. The lead Harlequin charged the bikes with the Librarian, killing everyone but the Librarian. The Librarian cast Sunburst in a brutal Nova, killing a large amount of the Eldar force that had bunched up. Leonidas and the Assault Squad deep struck out of position and did little damage. A Solitaire killed most of the Assault Squad and dashed away. Most of my remaining forces on the left side of the board died, but Leonidas and the surviving Sergeant ran on turn 4 to deny objectives. Due to time limits the game ended after 4 turns. Final score: Azure Flames 7, Eldar 5.
Our setup
Alpha Strike kills the bikes and land speeders!
The Librarian survives against the odds, and pulls off a devastating Sunburst.
The left side of the board goes poorly for me.
The Solitaire leaves combat after wounding Leonidas and killing 4/5 of the assault squad.
On the right side, Chris killed everything except this Rhino with a Tactical Squad inside, who dutifully sat on the objective all game.
Endgame: Leonidas scores objecive 3 while the Assault Sergeant contests objective 1, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
Postgame: I should not have won, but the time limit saved me. Chris was less than pleased. On to the next game!
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Mission 2 – Recover the Standard Template Construct!
Hammer and Anvil Deployment, carryable objective similar to the Eternal War mission 6: The Relic.
Opponent: Stephen – Chaos Daemons of Nurgle with Death Guard Chaos Space Marine allies.
Quick Breakdown: Stephen’s army moved forward in a wave on turn 1. His Daemon Prince of Nurgle summons some Nurglings… and Perils of the Warp removes the Daemon Prince as a Caualty! Amazingly, the Daemon did this in Stephen’s previous game. Leonidas deep struck and with him and the Thunderfire Cannon, half of the Zombies are removed. Stephen bolsters the remaining zombies by enfeebling Leonidas and his squad with a Great Unclean one… AND PERILS REMOVES THE GREAT UNCLEAN ONE AS WELL! This is the most unlikely thing I’ve seen in a game, and I’ve played against Lexington. A Helldrake arrived and killed half the bikes and half a Tactical squad before re-rolling Melta brought it down. Leonidas and the Assault Marines whittle down the zombies until another Great Unclean One finishes them. The objective, held by Nurglings, is dropped as a Tactical Squad charges them. Both sides throw everything they have at each other. In the end, no one holds the objective. Final score: Azure Flames 9, Chaos 7.
Stephen’s setup
My setup, with the objective circled.
Centered in this picture: the empty hole where a Daemon Prince was sucked back into the warp. Papa Nurgle ANGRY.
Not pictured: 15 zombies that burned or exploded.
Upper left: a Great Unclean One is killed by Perils, while on the bottom a Helldrake incinerates four bikes.
A last-ditch charge dislodges the objective and confounds the Nurglings!
Typhus and his Terminators arrive… a bit too late to salvage the objective.
Postgame: In baseball you win 1/3 and you lose 1/3, it’s what you do with the other 1/3 that counts. This game was a gimme. Stephen lost around 600-700 points from Perils of the Warp, and amazingly lost the same Daemon Prince twice in two games! Other than that, I just tried to win by Kill Points which worked pretty well.
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Interlude
Lunch was catered by a fancy Hamburger joint and was worth all the money the Highland Library paid AND MORE! After lunch, the Painting Competition was scored. Franklin, who was not participating in the tournament, won first. I won second, but when you see Franklin’s Necrons you will see why:
Absolutely stunning.
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Mission 3 – The Deadline
Vanguard Strike Deployment, Maelstrom of War objectives. All tables generate the same Objectives, and objectives 11-16 are from the main book, not from your codex. Each round, any objective that is not scored or discarded is COUNTED NEGATIVE to your score! At the end of the game, your total cannot be less than zero.
Opponent: Ian, event co-ordinator – Sisters of Battle with Inquisitorial and Knight allies and Legion of the Damned, in addition to a giant Plasma Obliterator.
Quick Breakdown: Ian stole the initiative! I went 2nd in all three games this tournament. Ian pinned down my forces with some heavy firepower. Sadly for him, his objectives were un-scorable while mine were easy. I got off to an early lead, as a good round of shooting killed Ian’s Warlord: Uriah Jacobson. Ian’s Knight Titan stomped all over the left side of the board, wrecking unit after unit. The Legion of the Damned arrive, kill the Predator, and hold Objective 1 which Ian had to secure several times in the game. Land Speeders and Bikes remove Ian’s tanks one by one. Outflanking Sisters botch a Meltagun wave, sparing the Thunderfire, who cuts them down in return. An overheat in the Plasma Obliterator kills the Inquisitor manning it! Objectives go back and forth in a frenzy. Final Score: Azure Flames 19, Sisters and Allies 9.
The Azure Flames advance slowly on the right side of the board.
The Ironclad removes Uriah Jacobson’s Immolator, and the rest of the army blows the squad inside away.
Nothing can stop the Knight Titan!
The Sororitas recieve Aid Unlooked For…
The Sisters fail to remove the Thunderfire Cannon, and the Thunderfire and Dreadnought cut them down, while the Tactical Squad removes their Immolator.
To score a point, Ian blows up the bunker. Why? Because Maelstrom.
The Plasma Obliterator overheats, killing the poor Inquisitor inside!
Postgame: This was the most fun game of the three I played. Although I took an early lead, Ian got some good turns later and I was on the edge of my seat thinking that I could have a bad turn to screw it up. Luckily that didn’t happen. Knight Titans are still such a big problem. I have no idea how to kill one without buying a whole new Sternguard squad full of meltaguns.
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Conclusion:
I tied with Loki (see previous posts for prep game against Guard), but because I got more VPs total over all 3 games, I WON THE TOURNAMENT! WITH A HIGHLANDER COMBINED ARMS! WOOOOOOO! Oh man, I feel great! 40K has problems, as it always has, but IT IS OFFICIALLY STILL FUN!
I also won this absolutely sweet book bag:
In the end winning and painting got you raffle tickets. Here’s what I won with mine:
A 6th edition Dark Angels codex (cost me one ticket!) A tile with Lord of the Rings models superimposed on it. Games Workshop dice cube. Finally, a custom made Doctor Who dice bag, made by the significant other of Event Organizer, Ian! My fiancee, who sews and is openly critical of bad sewing, declared it to be of very high quality. Her exact words were: “She’s got sewing game!”
Finally, we all took a picture:
This was the best time I’ve had playing 40k in a LONG TIME. Second best to Big Game V. Truly awesome. The Highland Library 40K club is a wonderful group, and if you are even REMOTELY close, check them out on the last Tuesday of every month at the Highland Library. Finally I’d like to say thanks to Dawn, who let me into the Library before it was open to use the restroom. Seriously, thank you.
Next: I don’t know! I’m pretty tired. Perhaps Tau Battlefleet Gothic, Blood Bowl Ork helper models, or Necromunda Escher? Stay tuned!
This is great! Thanks Eric. And congrats again. You deserved it.
Until next time!