Wednesday, April 28, 2010

RTT Fun

Went to a Rogue Trader Tourney for fun last weekend. Here is the bare bones of the results. Forgot got my camera and slept poorly Friday night, so details are not what I would have wanted them to be.

Tourney Points: 1850pts

My list;
Logan Grimnar
Runepriest (Living Lightning/Tempests Wrath/Saga of the BeastSlayer)
Wolf Lord (T-Wuff/Thunder Hammer/WTT/Saga of Majesty/SS/2x Fen Wolves)
2 Lone Wolves (SS/ChainFist/2x Fen Wolves/Terminator Arm)
2 T-Wuffs x3 (TH-SSx1/SSx1/MeltBx2)
3 WG x5 (4x PA/1xTermie w-Cyclone/Pw)
Long Fangs x5 (2x Lascanno/2x HB)

Mission 1
Spearhead/d3+2 objectives(4)
(secondary objective;VP Points[750pt spread]/Tertiary Objective;Table quarters per old cleanse mission)
Lose roll for first, opponent chooses 1st. Deploys line abreast with
1x 8 bloodclaws (attached Lukas, no spcl wpns)
2x 8 Wolf Guard (1x pwr wpn)
1x 5 WG Termies (3x Wolf Claws/Ix THSS/Attached Arjac)
1x 3 Long Fangs (Leader/ML/LC)
Njal
Bjorn
Logan
Terrain is quite sparse. (this is the case for all the tables, 5 simple building or Woods bases on all the tables)
He has list experience issues, so I play a little bit to his game and run up the middle turn 1 after he advances. He has little shooting and running turn 1, no casualties on my part. My turn 1 I shoot up the Blood Claws(4 dead), and snip individual units that are unengaged for 2/3 dead p-armour wolf guard. We have a furball in the middle on turns 2 and 3, the game ended on turn 4(time?). I lost most of each unit of T-Wolves, and most of all 3 WG units. He has Njal left at the end. Because I charged early (not spending another turn of full saturation fire), I don’t win secondary objective, 690vp spread…this will cost me in the long run.

Scenario 2
Pitched Battle/Straight KP’s
(Secondary Obj;VP’s by 250pts/Tertiary Remaining troops?)
Win roll for first. I implement a dispersed central setup. Opponent lines up with 3e style deployment, Gargs to my left, Horms to my right. 1 Tervi behind a building on my right on the far edge. 1 Tervi and 2 Terms in the center. Parasite with Gargs, Doom and Zoans DS in pods. I get ready to start nuking, and he seizes the init…grrr.
1x Parasite of Mortrex
1x Doom of Malantai (pod)
2x Troop Tervigons
2x 10 Termagants(poison)
1x 15 Hormogaunts(poison)
1x 16 Gargoyles(poison)
1x 2 Zoans (pod)
1x Trygon Prime

He runs everything forward on turn 1 and does not spawn (KP mitigation). I advance, shoot central tervigon down to 1 wound and kill half a unit of Termagants. I fleet my T-Wolves and charge. Lone T-Wuff unit hits Gargs w/Parasite, T-Wuff lord and T-Wuffs hit right side far Hormogaunt squad. After combat, Horms down to 5 models for 1 wd on my Lord, Gargs down to 3 models and the Parasite for 1 wd on a T-Wuff. Turn 2 his Zoies drop to the left of my LFangs, Central Terv comes around and spawns behind the squad engaged with the Gargs. 2nd central Term squad positions around my Lord and his unit. Right side Tervi spawns and rolls doubles before coming around the building on my right. He then shoots the central tervigon at a static WG unit. Shoots again at Long Fangs with Zoies, and kills two. They flee right to the table edge. CC phase sees off the Gargoyles/Parasite and he charges a spawned and original unit of Termagants into the right flank T-Wuffs to no effect. My shooting pops the central Tervigon and takes 6 Terms with him. CC kills all the Gants on the right, brings my T-Wuffs into the remaining Gants on my left. Turn 3 His Trygon and Doom of M drops in my center. Pretty much devolves into a furball in the center at this point, Lone wolf and Logan kills the Trygon, Doom sucks the life out of 3 WG (nobody breaks) and free-roaming range T-Wuffs commit atrocities left and right(I start popping Spore Pods for KPs). Over the next two turns Doom of M sucks 2 more WG before dying and he’s down to the right-most Tervigon at the end. I win all three Objectives.

Mission 3
Some really jacked up shite…Diagonal deployment (I like), 1 central ‘Primary’ Objective(the only true win).
Primary; Centrally placed objective.
(Secondary; KPs/Tertiary; 3 DS objectives that scatter 4d6 off central and then boom a s-6 ap-2 blast when they land)
Opponent’s List
1x Flyrant
1x Deathleaper
2x 2 Zoans (pod)
3x Mawloc
3x 10 Genestealers
1x 16 Hormagaunts(poison)
GREAT opponent. FUN game. It was a dance. Drew Primary and Secondary, lost tertiary.

At this point I was tired, and not tracking. The flow of the game was a dance around the central (primary) objective. All 3 Mawlocs popped in the center of my formation on turn 2. My dispersed deployment reduced their casualty count to 3 models, and I gunned/hacked them down in the turn they appeared. 2 of the ‘stealer squads arrived this turn(outflank) as did a unit of Zoans (podded into a building 8 inches from the objective) and the Hive Tyrant (his own table edge, flying to join the Zoans). The stealers assaulted the Long Fang Squad (good fleet rolls) with Logan and the Runepriest. A flying mess of whiffs kept us locked in combat all the way till turn 4. After much shooting, hacking and general mayhem the game ended on turn 6.
We contested the Primary objective. He held the leftmost (horrible save rolling on my part with a T-Wuff unit against 5 remaining Hormogaunts) the rightmost 2ndry objectives (with the remnants of the 3 ‘stealer squads that finally ate Logan/RP/Long Fangs) and I held the central 2ndry obj. We tied on KP’s (thank you lone wolfs, for not generating KPs when you die!).
Final tally here, Primary=draw;Secondary=draw;Tertiary=Minor Loss. Scenario=Draw with points advantage to my opponent.
I wish I could really have remembered this game better, as it was just incredible to play. Neither one of us made mistakes, both of us had botch-roll rounds that balanced out (for the most part). His just came early (‘stealers) mine came late (T-Wuffs).
Had the game ended rd-5, I would have won. Turn 6 was the draw. If it had ended turn 7 it probably would have stayed the same, but could have gone either way dependent on rolls. Loved the balance.

I took 3rd, 1 total point behind 2nd and not many points (unsure total spread here, cannot remember what was quoted...need notes) behind 1st (my last opponent took 1st place).
Had I gone for the throat utterly with my first opponent, instead of dinking around and assaulting a turn early, I would have had 2nd OR played a different opponent rd 2 and then who knows.

Lessons;
The Lone Wolves were worthwhile, but I don’t know if they truly paid for themselves. More experimentation will tell that one.
Thunder-Wolves probably should have assaulted closer to one another on game 1 and game 3, though game three I had no choice.
Logan made the army viable, but still assessing his value.
Runepriest probably needed to be upgraded to utilize both powers a turn.
Don’t just eyeball table edge distance during deployment, measure it! (rd 3 I could have prevented the ‘stealer outflank assault had I been 2 inches further in…though this would have brought him 2+ inches further had they survived shooting (likely) to assault a turn later.
Finally, if you want to do a battle report…don’t rely on muddled memory, take PICS!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

'Leafblower'??? ...WTF were you thinking Cpt Hubris!?!

(click here for the inane)

ah the fugging hubris.
I know I'm late on this(like over a week late), but I have been thinking...and thinking...and thinking about it.
I don't like knee-jerk reactions anymore, was too prone to it.
But the FUGGING hubris.

I was playing variations of this list for quite a while.
I retired my 5e version of this list before his run at Ard Boyz.
And I REGULARLY stated it was not purely my own creation, but an amalgamation of ideas and development of numerous players, myself included, that I have been exposed to for a while.
And this jack-arse has the gall to claim he 'popularized' ONE of the obviously efficient build theories from one of the most efficient 'dexes in the current environment?

No, he took the same path I did...and then said "I'm sorry I introduced this fiasco to all you noobs who couldn't develop it on your own"....SHIT.

Now, this is a quick blurb, I intend to expound (in the comments) after a quick trip to Yellow Springs for wifely modeling gig...
(oh, and the spam of IG at Adepticon? Yeah, a chunk of that came from my own store...that had been developing their own 'leafblowers' before the last Ard Boyz run as well. Maybe Douche-wynn should have said 'I'm sorry I ran what everyone else ran, I'm so carbon copy' {that is NOT a slam on anyone from my, or any other, LGS..none of them were running around claiming they invented the wheel, they were just building a better engine and trying to drive it with more panache!})

Friday, April 16, 2010

Ard Boyz 2010

Okay,
so I think I have decided to play in the Ard Boyz Competition this May.
I was building lists and tweaking play, and finally settled on my Tyranids as the most comfortable list I have (well, other than my IG...but I don't want to be 'just another' guard player. It would be easier, but frankly I think I'll have more fun the other way, and fewer chances of running into 'meta' counters).
We'll see.
Anywho, I had been developing my list around my converted Tyrannofexes and Tervigons, and stumbled on Stelek's (of YTTH fame) maximum MC wound list here


http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/02/ard-boyz-tyranids.html


It plays the way I have been playing, and plays to all the strengths I personally like to play which is; damn the environment, I'm doing what I'm going to do regardless of what you think you'll stop.
It's the way I competed in MTG, SFB and so forth. A kind of environmental control that involves ignoring the environment your opponent creates to such a degree that even initiative won't prevent him from having to react to you as the game develops. (barring flukes of course, which happen from time to time no matter how well you are prepared).
I don't know how I'll do, but as his list really fills all the roles I want, focuses on the models I am building/have built, and really flows like mine, I think I want to take his 'Ard Boyz Challenge' while still running something akin to mine. I would have used Deathleaper as psy-defense in place of the third unit of Hive Guard, and dropped one Tervi for a Tyrant with Hive Commander and Old Adversary, but meh...might as well make a challenge within a challenge, and see if it pans out to be the better list.
Kinda rambling now, as tired and the Ambien is starting to kick in...but I shall expound shortly.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Jeebus

It has certainly been a while.
And this has no real meat to it, but INSOMNIA SUCKS!
Okay,
getting back on track over the next few days.
Have some feline entertainment, and a review.
:)