So I got to play in my first tournament over the weekend, and it was extremely fun, and a good experience as well. I'll save my final thoughts and the results for the end though. It was 1700 Pts, with all rules followed from the rulebook (Regarding allies, formations, etc). I don't remember the opponents lists 100%, but I will try to get it as close as I can.
My Liat:
Hive Tyrant - Wings, x2 Tl Devs
(Warlord)Hive Tyrant - Wings, x2 Tl Devs, E-Grubs
x3 Hive Guard
Venomthrope
Venomthrope
x30 Termagants
Tervigon - Crushing Claws, E-Grubs
x15 Gargoyles
Hive Crone
Living Artillery Node
x3 Warriors - Barbed Strangler
x3 Biovores
Exocrine
Game #1
Crusade (4 Objectives), Dawn of War
Vs Tau
Buffmander
Ethereal
Riptide - Burst Weapons, FNP upgrade, skyfire upgrade
Riptide - Ion thing, FNP Upgrade
x6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish
x6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish
x6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish
x6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish
x10 Kroot
x10 Kroot
x6 Pathfinders
x6 Pathfinders
x3 Broadsides - SMS Missiles, High Yield Missiles, x7 Missile Drones
x3 Broadsides - SMS Missiles, High Yield Missiles, x7 Missile Drones
So for my first game I got matched up with apparently the best player that goes to the store. Everyone said how sorry they were about the match up, which made me even more determined to beat it. I simply hate Tau, such a boring army that does not take nearly as much skill to master as others. Looking at his list, there was a lot of shooting, but I was fairly confident I could take it. Anyways before the match while rolling warlord traits, something suspicious happened that kind of irritated me, and I hope someone can help clarify on this. He used the ethereal as his warlord and rolled in the Tau book for warlord traits. He rolled #1 and said he was rerolling, which I was cool with as he was obviously battle forged. Now he rolled a different trait and told me the ethereal was unable to take the trait as he did not have a 'shooting' attack himself. I didn't really care, but conveniently, he ended up with the skyfire warlord trait... now as far as I know, you are stuck with a warlord trait even if it is useless to you. Someone correct me if I am wrong though. I didn't call him out on it as I just wanted the game to start... though he did the same thing to my brother later when they played, which looking back, I wish I did say something as it was huge in our game.
It was dawn of war deployment, and I had a objective on my side in some ruins, and the other one was placed in some ruins on the other end of my zone. He placed one objective in the middle of the table, and one in some ruins on his other side. The table had a fair bit of terrain on it, with a lot of it being LOS blocking. I got to deploy first, and spread my force out fairly evenly with Venomthropes providing shrouded where needed. He castled up in a corner and had one unit of path finders on the other side holding his objective in the ruins he placed.
I got first turn and he failed to steal. He infiltrated his kroot units up to the ruins on my left hand side, which held my Biovores, Warriors, and a objective.
Turn #1
I moved forward with everything, with Hive Guard damaging a devilfish, and my Biovores, Warriors, and Gargs killing a unit of Kroot to take first blood. I shot a bit into the missile units, and killed a few drones. My Crone killed 5 of his pathfinders, leaving only one left. He killed off one of my Venomthropes with a devilfish and took out a Biovore, and also wounded my Warlord.
Turn #2
I continued moving forward with the Tervigon and she spawned out with 6 Gants. The Crone killed off all of the Drones in one of the missile units, with the Hive Guard destroying one of the devilfish. The Biovores and Hive Guard tried to fire at the missle-sides hoping to try and eliminate the the Ethereal, with no luck though. I think I killed off a few more pathfinders as well. He ended up killing my Crone and taking my Warlord down to one wound, and also killed off another Biovore and Warrior.
Turn #3
I killed off another Devilfish and the Firewarriors it contained, and the Hive Guard also glanced the last one. The Tyrants and Exorine all fired into his Ethereals unit and only killed a single broadside. The Termagants moved forward to take his mid field objective, and I killed off a few more PAthfinders who sat on his other objective in the ruins. He killed my Warlord and wounded the other Tyrant. He also killed another Warrior.
Turn #4
I moved the Gants forward, and made my biggest mistake of the game. I flew my other Flyrant out of his deployment zone to keep him swooping. My Tervigon blew up his last devilfish and killed all but two of the Firewarriors. As a result of this, on his turn he fired with everything he had to kill all my Termgants and take the objective with the two fire warriors, and a Riptide jumped forward for line breaker.
The game ended due to time and the score was 11-10 for the Tau. Though this counted as a draw for tourney points, which was good for me, but I still would have liked to defeat the Tau.
Overall I made a lot of mistakes looking back on the game that I won't be making again. My opponent was nice enough, but there were a lot of questionable rules he kept doing, and he made a very lot of rules errors which made me question things that much more. Regardless, being my first time on the competitive scene, and against supposedly one of the best players in the city, I'd say I did very well. Had I of done a few things different, like keeping the Tyrant in his zone, and also just focusing down the Ethereal, it would have been game-set match. One other question for you Tau players, can a buffmander give off more then one of his 'buffs' at once?
Game #2
Purge The Alien, Vanguard Strike
Vs Space Wolves
I don't know Space Wolves to any degree, so forgive me if I write this list horribly
.
Rune Priest
Wolf lord - Terminator Armour, Thunderhammer/SS
Dreadnought - Assault Cannon, Venerable
Lone Wolf
x10 Terminators
x10 Blood Claws - Rhino (Some sort of leader with them as well. Unsure of its name and if it was independent or not.)
x10 Grey Hunters - Drop pod, Meltagun, Chainswords, Bolters
Stormwolf
It was Vanguard strike for deployment, and I won the roll. I deployed right along the deployment line ready to go right at him. One Tyrant on either end, the Terv and Gants in the middle, a venomthrope on either end, with the LAN on one corner with the Hive Guard on the other. I got the Infiltrate Warlord trait, and had my Crone, one HT, Hive Guard just deploy a few inches ahead as he could see me anywheres else. He deployed with his Rhino over where my Hive Guard ended up, and the Dread in the middle, with the Lone wolf on the other end facing my LAN in cover. He had the Termis and Lord in the Stormwolf and the Grey Hunters in the pod with the priest.
He failed to seize so I went first.
Turn #1
I killed the lone wolf with my Warlord HT, and my Hive Guard killed the Rhino. The Crone and other HT then killed off two Blood claws (he had some really good rolling). In his turn he just killed two Gargs and charged the Gargs with his dread and was then blinded, and failed to kill a single garg. His pod landed behind the Terv and Gants and he targeted my Venomthrope. He failed to kill or wound anything.
Turn #2
One of my HTs landed and the Crone flew off the board. Between the Gants, LAN and Terv, I killed all of the Grey Hunters and the pod. I also killed off another Blood claw, with the other HT setting up for his flier. His Flier came on and took a wound off of the Tervigon. The dread did not get blinded but didn't kill any gargs. He charged my HT with his Blood Claws as it looked grim anyways. He challenged me with his leader guy who I killed off. The two remaining blood claws then did two wounds to the HT with krak grenades!
Turn #3
My Crone came back on, and between it, the HT, and my Hive Guard, I downed the flier. It crashed and burned killing all but four termis and the lord. The Gants and Terv then fired and charged the survivors and killed them off. The HT finished off the Blood claws and moved towards the Dread and Garg fight. The dread got blinded again but killed two Gargs, making enough room for the HT to enter.
Turn #4
The HT charged and smashed the dread down to 2 HP. The Gargs blinded it again as well. It failed to hit the HT
Turn #5
The second HT landed to get ready to charge the dread. The other HT smashed and did another HP. The dread failed to hit it. We rolled and it went to turn #6.
Turn #6
The other HT joined the combat and between the two of them it killed the Dread.
The game ended there with the Nids getting a 14-0 victory which put me back in the running for the tourney. It was a fun game, and my opponent was in good spirits the whole time, which was great!
Game #3
Crusade (5 Objectives), Dawn of War
Vs Iron Hands
Chapter Master - Bike, SS, Thunder Hammer
Command Squad - x5 Bikes, x3 Grav Guns, Apothacary
x5 Sternguard - Heavy Flamer, x3 Combi-Melta, Drop Pod
x10 Tac Marines - Plasma Gun, Lascannon
Razorback - TL Heavy Bolter
x10 Tac Marines - Plasma Gun, Lascannon
Razorback - TL Heavy Bolter
StormTalon - TL Lascannon
Thunderfire Cannon
Knight Paladin (Battle Cannon One?)
So come the final game, there was a 4-way tie between four of us. My brother ended up playing the Tau guy and I got to play against the Iron Hands. I had played this opponent before on my youtube channel, and he was a great guy to play with. The table was absolutely awful as well. Literally not one piece of LOS terrain, even my opponent didn't like it lol. But it is what it is. Two objectives were placed in a trench in the middle of the table by me as I knew I had to move forward anyways. One of his was over on the left side of the table by his deployment zone, and the other on the right. He placed his third one as he won the roll off for it, and set it on a small building in his deployment.
He won the roll and chose to deploy first. He placed the Knight in the middle up front, and had his Razorbacks on the left with both Tac squads combat squading to fit inside. One unit of the combat squads went on the far right to hold an objective, while the other went on top of the building in the middle with his third objective. The Thunderfire cannon deployed with the combat squad in the ruins. His command squad and master started just beside the Razorbacks. I placed all my Nids right up on the deployment line ready to move forward. Gargs in front as a screen, while the Venomthropes were placed on some craters in hopes they could avoid giving up first blood. I spread my gants around to ensure his Meltas could not get near either of my Tyrants. the LAN and hive Guard went on the left side to get ready to pop his Razorbacks and hopefully have the Exocrine blast away the command unit.
I didn't end up stealing from him so he went first.
Turn #1
The Knight moved ahead but scattered and only killed a few gargs. The Command Squad moved forward and hit the Exocrine doing a wound. The Sternguard fired at the Venomthrope on the left and managed to take him out with exactly two wounds with their ignores cover rounds getting him First blood. On my turn I spawned out with 15 Gants on the Tervigon, while the Gargs moved forward to get ready to tie up the Knight. My Tyrants and Crone surrounded it on all angles so his shield couldn't save him. Between the three of them they took him down to 2 hull points, which was awesome. I killed all the Sternguard and the drop pod with the Gants and Tervigon. The Hive Guard killed one of the Razorbacks. The Biovores fired at the Tactical squad who emerged, killing two of them. The Gargs then failed their 3" charge, rolling double 1s!! Was funny, yet sad. The Exocrine also fired at the command squad killing one of them off.
Turn #2
His command squad moved forward, as did his Knight. The remaining Razorback moved forward to get into range of my second Venomthrope. The Stormtalon also arrived, getting in place to fire at one of my HTs. His Knight opened fire on my Hive Guard and killed two of them. The Command squad didn't fire as they jinked last turn from the Exocrine firing at them. The stormtalon fired at my HT, but I jinked, and ended up only taking one wound. The Thunderfire cannon shot at my venomthrope and missed, but killed 5 gants and wounded a Biovore. The command squad charged the Gants as he knew a counter charge would surely follow, and he wanted to be tied up so I couldn't shoot them next turn. He ended up killing enough Gants to free us both from combat. The Knight charged the Gargoyles and killed all but four of them, and they also blinded the knight. On my turn I vector striked the StormTalon with the Crone and only manged to glance it once. The Spawned Gant unit moved forward to take one of the objectives in the middle of the table. The HT that jinked moved to fire at the last Razorback, while the other one moved to fire at his command squad. The Tervigon continued forward to take his far right objective from the tactical marines there. I ended up killing everyone but the Apothacary and the Chapter Master, while the jink'd HT finished off the other Razorback. He then proceeded to wiff all of his rolls with the knight, so the combat continued there.
Turn #3
His Stormtalon moved forward to try and finish off the Weakened HT, while the command squad moved towards the Exocrine. The Tacticals by the back Razorback moved to get in position to fire at the weakened HT as well. The command squad didn't hurt the Exocrine with shooting. One of the Lascannons from the back Tactical Squads killed the Barbed Strangler Warrior. The Stormtalon missed all of its shots at the HT, as did the Tactical Marines. The Command squad then charged the Exocrine and easily finished it off. The Knight killed all but one of the Gargs, tying it up still. On my turn the Crone flew off of the table, again failing finish off the Stormtalon. The wounded HT moved back towards the Chapter Master, as the Warlord went for the Stormtalon kill. The Tervigon continued its advance towards the objective. Between the HT and Warriors they managed to do two wounds to the Master and kill the Apothacary. The Warlord managed to finish off the Stormtalon. The remaining Hive Guard and Biovores managed to kill a few of the Razorback Marines as well, leaving only two left in each squad. The Tervigon made a charge on the tactical marines on his right field objective and managed to make the charge and kill all but one Marine, who then passed Moral. The Gants who survived the earlier command squad charge, went into the Knight again and tied him up even longer. The knight failed to kill anything again, but was not blinded.
Turn #4
The Command Squad remnants moved towards the Biovores and the Venomthrope, while the Tac Marines on the left moved towards the objective. The Thunderfire cannon fired at the Venomthrope but only managed to do a wound to a Biovore beside it. The Tac Marines with the Lascannon in the backfield with the T-Fire cannon killed off another Warrior, leaving only one remaining. The Chapter Master then fired his orbital bombardment at the Biovores and Venomthrope and managed to kill off one Biovore and the Venomthrope. The knight then killed all but one Gant, who was out of Synapse, and then failed morale and fled back into Synapse, freeing up the knight! The Chapter Master then charged the remaining Biovore, easily killing it. On my turn, the Crone came on and flew at the Knight. Both HTs circled it, preparing to finish it off. The remaining Gant moved towards the second objective in the trenches, while the Hive Guard moved towards the Razorback Marines holding his left objective. The HTs blew up the Knight, which scattered away and didn't hit anything at all. The Hive Guard failed to kill the Marine, and the Gant ran on top of the objective. The Tervigon finished off the Marine to claim his right field objective while babysitting the spawned gants on one of the trench objectives.
Turn #5
The Chapter Master moved towards the lone Gant holding the left hand trench objective, while the Razorback survivors moved to hold position on that objective. The Chapter Master fired and Killed the lone Gant, freeing the objective, though not holding it. The Thunder-fire cannon fired at the Spawned Gants, but missed. The rest of the Marine force fired at the wounded HT, and actually killed him! On my turn the Warlord went to Glide mode and jumped back by the Marines, T-Fire cannon, and objective. My Last surviving Warrior moved towards the chapter Master, forcing him to either hold the objective or come kill the Warrior who was near the objective with Objective secured. The Hive Crone and Hive Guard Cleared the Razor back Marines and claimed the objective. The Warlord fired at the Marines and killed two of them but they held their ground. We rolled and the game continued.
Turn #6
The Chapter Master finished off the Warrior, but didn't get a long enough consolidation move to take the second trench objective. The Thunder fire cannon killed all but two of the Spawned Gants on the other Trench objective. In my Turn the Warlord fired and charged the remaining Marines, killing all but one of them! We then rolled and the game ended...
7-4 Victory for the Nids. However I was one Marine away from taking that objective, which would have given me a massacre victory and I would have taken first in the tourney!! However, I will never complain about 2nd place for my first ever tournament. This was by far my favorite game of the day as it was very tight the whole time. The table sucked for both of us, but we made the best of it and had a good time.
I ended up taking 2nd place, while my brother tied for 3rd place.
I also ended up winning best presentation (Painting)! I really hope to enter another one soon.
My afterthoughts:
I really enjoyed playing in a more competitive environment. It was fun having to try and make a list to work against a lot of different armies. Living Artilery Node is ridiculously effective, the re-roll scatter saved my butt more times that I can remember in that tournament. Getting used to timed matches was one thing I need to work on, though after the first match it got a lot better. I was worried the amount of models I had would be a issue, but it turned out to not be bad at all.
Overall I am pretty happy with this list as everything performed excellent. The Gants and Gargs tied up whatever I needed to, while the Crone and HTs were ridiculously hard to get rid of. My LAN and Hive Guard were able to easily deal with vehicles and infantry a like, while with the amount of bodies on the table, the venomthropes were dishing out +3 svs on the regular.
Hope everyone enjoyed this write up!