March 17th EGC RTT Result Synopsis

Ok, so I winged it…
Had been waffling about going for the last week, and decided at the last minute (night before) to go.
Finalized my list the morning of (with a quick shift of things 15 min before leaving).
My list;
1850
-Overlord(Warscythe, Phase Shifter, Tachyon Arrow)
Catacomb Command Barge
-Overlord(Warscythe, Phase Shifter, Tachyon Arrow)
Catacomb Command Barge
-Court 1 (3 destruction-teks/1 pulse, Lord/Warscythe+Mindshackle)
-Court 2 (3 destruction-teks/1 pulse, Lord/Warscythe+Mindshackle)

-Warriors x7
Ghost Ark
-Warriors x7
Ghost Ark
-Tesla-mmortals x5
Night Scythe
-Tesla-mmortals x5
Night Scythe

-Annihilation Barge(Gauss Cannon)
-Annihilation Barge(Gauss Cannon)
(the point behind the list, test a number of units for viability WITHOUT any of the ‘tricksy’ stuff in the codex. Combos can be intentionally stymied, or simply run afoul of their counters…I needed to see holes that I ‘missed’, confirm issues I suspected and confirm viability of units ‘in a vacuum’)

All missions were Adepticon missions.

Round 1;
My opponent…Necrons. (I hate civil wars).
His list(from memory, he didn’t have a copy to share permanently).
Overlord(Phaeron)
Overlord(Phaeron)
10x Warriors
10x Warriors
9x Warriors (Ghost Ark)
9x Warriors (Ghost Ark)
5x Destroyers (2x hvy)
5x Scarabs
5x Scarabs
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
(turns out, he had the same things in mind. Yayyy for a game where both players are just plain refusing to die!!!)
Mission;
Kill points, Table Quarters, Table Center
Deployment;
Spearhead

He won the roll to go first.
-He ground forward, I pulsed first turn. Nothing was in range for him.
I shifted left, fired. I dropped a standard destroyer with an Anni-barge.
-He ground forward further on turn two, shifting to his two outlying quarters and took advantage of a ‘no-pulse’ turn but only managed a stunned A-barge and immobilized scythe.
I returned fire (while further shifting to my left, after living metal let me ‘flee’ with the A-barge). I killed one of his A-barges and successfully stunned a Ghost Ark.
-I pulsed on his turn three, forcing his Destoyers into close range to fire. Nothing else of his really had a chance to shoot. Destroyers successfully shook the other A-barge.
I dropped his Destroyers to a man (after disembarking the Tesla-Mortals with tek+lord, from the immobile scythe).
-Turn 4 stripped some broadsides from my lead Ghost ark, and then I went and started the ‘whack-a-mole’ game.
-It went to turn 6, with me finishing off all his barges with ‘whackamole-lords’ and using the last mobile scythe to contest a quarter.

I won KP, Quarters and Table Center…while netting a very minimal number of VP’s. Definitely a grinding game.
Scythes gave me tempo control, but fired infrequently.
Cat-Barges definitely let me feel more confident, but needed something…more?...against his army.


-Round 2
Opponent’s List (ML-Josh M) from memory-Blood Angels;
Mephiston
Sang Priest(JP)
Sang Priest(JP)
(5?)10 man RAS with dbl melta and Pfists or Pweapons
Attk Bike(mm)
Attk Bike(mm)
(3) 5 man missile devs

Mission;
Kill points, Objective(5), Marked Unit
Deployment;
Pitched

Okay, so I wussed out on this one.
Glaring hole (that I missed) #1…massive MOBILE melta with FNP.
The high number of MEQ backed by FNP, yeah…Tesla no-likey!!!
He marked one of my Scythes (which, upon further reflection, he couldn’t do because of the ‘no ded-port’ restriction…but we both missed that, so meh!) 
I reserved it empty.
I won roll, chose to go second.
After his deployment, I castled in an opposite corner from his devastator-star (building that gave him maximum range+LOS), and then seized the initiative.
We ‘played’ for 5 turns…and by played, I mean I hid like a little bi!@#…and he sniped. I got a KP right off (turn 2) from an attk bike, and was willing to settle in for a slight advantage.
He was concerned enough about an unfamiliar enemy army, and underestimated the threat he posed to me. He didn’t jump into my face, but played the waiting game hoping for a mistake…no fear, I delivered one to him on a silver platter! :-D
Turn 6, with both of us frustrated at no action (sometimes, conservative play may be smart…but can damned sure be dull…I blame my cowardly overlords), I stuck my nose out to contest objective count (hoping to eek out a slight win)…and barely underestimated a few range 6” breaks…and promptly had said ‘nose’ chopped off.

Until that last turn, it was a dull game (still with a fun opponent).
Last turn it wasn’t dull, but it was fun (for the filthy Chaos pla…I mean BA player!) ;-)

Josh wins;
KP, Objectives.
With a solid victory though, he still only managed approx 300VP off of the army.


-Round 3
Opponent’s List (ML-Jason) from memory-Black Templars;
Marshal (terminator/Storm Shield)
Chaplain(terminator/Cenobite Servitors)
Emp Champ
Terminator Unit (dbl Cyclone)

Big Blob unit (4x scouts, melta/pfist)
Big Blob unit (4x scouts, melta/pfist)
5x las/plas squad
5x las/plas squad
5x las/plas squad
5x plasmacannon/melta squad
5x plasmacannon/melta squad


Mission;
Kill points, Objective(6);
2nd and 3rd victory conditions were based on placement of objectives in dep zones. 2nd VC was controlling more of the objectives in your opponent’s dep zone(3 of them), 3rd was controlling more of them in your own.
Deployment;
DoW (thank gawdz, never seem to see this one often enough).

I won the roll, and deferred.
He deployed one initiate blob, and the termies. We both forgot 1+1, and he had the ICs joined to the termies. No big, it happens…I just saw terminators, and wasn’t thinking. He was playing a wholly different list than he is accustomed to, and just deployed by reflex. I did not attempt to seize, and kept everything off table. His deployment put the blob, and termies, up the middle in order to drive toward my dep-zone objectives right off the bat.

-He walked on his turn one, spreading out to maximize his Las/Plas squad’s fire windows. Terrain was sparse, so the spread (and 48” ranges) were going to give him maximum coverage. He hasn’t had much exposure to the new ‘crons, and wasn’t taking into consideration the Solar Pulses. He ran termies and blob-1 deeper into my dep-zone.
I drove forward max-speed up my left table edge, hugging the ‘wall’ as tightly as possible. Flat-out on my CCBs.
-His turn two, I pulsed…he cursed (with a smile). He managed to get off 3 shots. One was bounced by a flat-out save, two came up as penetrations (against the same Ghost Ark) that he then rolled 1’s on and I promptly living-metal saved away…but had to hide that Ghost Ark for the rest of the game. He ran blob-1 to within scoring range of one of my home objectives…run rolls were good for him!
I flat out-ed the two CCBs over a las/plas 5 man, and took out two (including the Lascannon). Fire from ABarges further reduced the unit. I moved the Scythes flat out up the edge into his far corner.
-His turn 3 I pulsed again, he cursed again. He managed range on a scythe, which he wrecked. I forgot the ‘back in reserves’ rule here, and deployed from the wreck. New mechanics got me…wish I’d remembered, it would have given me a contesting unit for later in the game. All other fire was either bounced off flat-out saves (CCBs), or glances that came up 1’s and were living-metal saved away.
I played whack-a-mole across another unit, getting my CCBs into the center of his back edge (and netting another lascannon). Fire from Abarges annihilated the remnants of that unit, and fire from onboard Warriors/Scythe crippled another.
-Turn 4 saw so much of his fire reduced, that I didn’t really miss the pulses. He secured two of my objectives, I cleared and secured all but one of his.
-Turn 5 and 6 was cleanup. More fire that was bounced from him (never lost another vehicle, or Quantum Shielding), and more Whack-a-Mole with the CCBs. At the end (which was turn 6), I had re-contested one of my Dep-zone objectives, and scored all of his.
Win;
Me by KP and VC #1, he scored VC#2.


Overall, I got what I wanted/needed.

1st, 3 fun opponents/games.
I’ve had little opportunity for such in the last few months. In fact, the last time I played was the January EGC. I have a tendency to forget the brotherhood that can be found on the tabletop, and needed the reconnection with my hobby and friends.
2nd, playing outside the box.
I needed to get away from the 3+ paradigm for a bit, and funky-xenos armies are usually my favorite route to go for that.
3rd, finding my weak-points.
I did that, in abundance.
(with all my games ending on turn 6, I got what I consider the ‘ideal’ number of turns for testing each time)

I found I built for the current Mech-meta out of reflex. I wasn’t thinking about it per-se, but when my second and third opponent’s had NO vehicles I found myself wondering ‘what the hell am I going to do with all these anti-vehicle toys???’


Glaring weaknesses and success stories.
I am VERY glad I played against two MEQ foot lists, one very mobile with melta-spam.
It pointed out some issues, not least amongst them is difficulty dealing with a T-4 base FNP. Tesla Destructors will deal with T-3 FNP all day, but once I hit that T-4 range, I was screwed…screwed enough to produce a very dull game for poor Josh M. Coupled with his lack of understanding of the innate advantage he had, my castling made game two almost not worth him un-assing all his models. Fortunately, though nearly bored into unconsciousness until turn 5/6, he pulled a win out…so it wasn’t a total waste! 
Melta is VERY punishing to AV-13 Open Top…VERY. I knew this going in, but sometimes you really need to see it in action to drive the point home.
Bubble wrap…cripes, Necrons need it.
Tricks. I intentionally went in with no ‘tricks’ (a pair of solar pulses were my only concession to the tricksy-crons…and that was only the pair that insures ‘crons don’t fold to an IG/GK/Krak-Fang alpha strike). I said it with the advent of the ‘dex, they are a warmahordes/MTG style army. They NEED tricks/combos/synergy more than most armies. Ok, cool. I now accept it on a fundamental level. It bothers me a bit, because I don’t like being forced (so to speak) to play certain styles/builds/units…but if I am going to choose to pick up the tool, I have to learn how to use it or quit whining (and boy, can I whine).
Transports are expensive in this army, stoopeed expensive. Again, I knew this…but building lists for these guys just beats it over my head every time. BUT, this also gives me some further clues into 6e (assuming Necrons aren’t going to be the truly-gimped edition-crossover codex). I don’t think they are a waste, but it pushes the transport+unit paradigm in a different/new direction. This is GOOD for the meta, and the game as a whole…and with tuning, I think this may wind up being the best mech+foot hybrid army currently available.
Scythes+Arks is NOT very synergistic (not a total fail yet, but not complimentary). Again, something I suspected going in…but application proves or disproves theory. I consistently found myself trying to figure out how to chase my scythes with non-fast Ark/Barge pairings, or protect my vulnerable scythes as they presented easier/softer targets than my Arks. NEVER present your opponent with an easy choice, and utilizing those vehicles together can/does.

Catacomb Command barges. They can be stymied, but jeebus they pay out when they aren’t.
Game 1, they accounted for my highest percentage of vehicle damage/kills.
Game 2, they couldn’t get close enough to the melta-spam to pay out, but they threatened enough to manage movement a bit.
Game 3, they crippled an armies ability to engage me at range…or keep the range open.
I can see a singleton being nothing but a counter element, and don’t think it would be great in that role…but a pair of F#@^-Lords on barges playing whack-a-mole is very nice! Now to stop wasting points on;
Tachyon arrows…grrr. Wanted to play with them, did, and regretted it almost from the git-go. Missed with EVERY shot all three games. Discard! To get use out of them, I would need to face a mech opponent…WITH decent tank(s)…and probably pair them with a Chrono-tek. Okay, not happening…NEXT!
Courts. Not really much to say here, they rock…even without mechanized opponents in two of my games, I knew going in they were going to stay in my lists…and no change there.
TESLAAAAAAA! Love the exploding d6 mechanic. Again, something I liked already…but confirmation of a positive bias is always nice. I am still iffy on Anni-Barges. Average first game, nearly useless game two, but exploderpated everything they even looked at game 3. Iffy in the sense that I don’t think they are a panacea, and likely won’t field 3 of them consistently, but 2 did the job when needed. Again, I had a problem with FNP T-4+ units, but really a threat to everything else a-foot…and HOPING that someday I manage to face an AV-11 mobile force to check their damage output there. I DID keep forgetting to check the whole d6 Arc rule (after game 1), so that may be skewing my perception a bit negatively.

I have to bow to convention. I think I need either Scarabs or Wraiths. GAH, I hate that…I like choices, not choices to accept weakness.
I am going to try a few other avenues first, though.


Damn, yesterday was FUN!

(oh, came in 7th even after that terrible game-2 showing…and still had a flarkin BLAST!)