I got back from the tournament. Here's the list I ran:
Blazinghand's List - Ulthwé
1996 pts, 1 Battalion, 1 Vanguard - 7 CP
+HQ+
Autarch on foot with Star Glaive, Relic: Faolchu's Wing, Warlord Trait: Fate Reader
Eldrad Ulthran
Warlock with Witchblade
+Troops+
5 Dire Avengers, 1 is Exarch with 2 Catapults
5 Dire Avengers, 1 is Exarch with 2 Catapults
5 Rangers
+Elites+
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Fire Dragons, 1 is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes
5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes
8 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons
+Dedicated Transport+
Wave Serpent with 3 Shuriken Cannons
Wave Serpent with 3 Shuriken Cannons
Wave Serpent with 3 Shuriken Cannons
Wave Serpent with 3 Shuriken Cannons
A typical Deployment for me:
Each of the 4 Wave Serpents carry either 5 Scythe Wraithguard, or 5 Dragons + 5 Avengers
8 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons in Webway Strike Reserve
5 Rangers is Appear Unbidden Reserve
I played in all three rounds.
Game OneFirst game, I faced off against an Ultramarines player, Joe. His list was, (roughly):
Ultramarines
+HQ+
Captain (Chapter Master Upgrade)
Lieutenant
Chaplain in Terminator Armor
+Troops+
5 Space Marines, 1 has Lascannon
5 Space Marines, 1 has Heavy Bolter
5 Space Marines, 1 has Heavy Bolter
5 Space Marines, 1 has Heavy Bolter
5 Space Marines, 1 has Heavy Bolter
+Elites+
5 Assault Terminators with a mixture of hammers and claws
5 Assault Terminators with a mixture of hammers and claws
+Transports+
Razorback with 2 Lascannons
Razorback with 2 Lascannons
Razorback with 2 Lascannons
Razorback with 2 Assault Cannons
Razorback with 2 Assault Cannons
We played ITC Mission 1. As Secondary Objectives, I selected Big Game Hunter, Recon, and Headhunter. My adversary selected Big Game Hunter, Headhunter, and one other Secondary that I forgot.
For deployment, I deployed my transports full of Aspect Warriors and Ghost Warriors, wth my Warlock riding along in one and my Autarch along with Eldrad in the open. Rangers and 8-strong Wraithguard unit in reserve. My opponent deployed a fort with his lascannon tac squad, captain+lieutenant in the back, a row of razorbacks, and infantry in front. He put his two flyers on one flank. Our deployment was the corners deployment 12 inches back from the diagonal.
Luckily for me, Joe's list was pretty similar to that of my friend Kingsley who I often play, in broad strokes. He had Razorbacks, characters to give them rerolls, space marine infantry with heavy weapons, stormtalons, and deep strikers–much like my usual opponent's list. Kingsley usually runs Plasma instead of Heavy Bolters, Devestators to get in more lascannons, some Dreadnoughts, and his deep-strikers are Imperial Guard rather than terminators, but the basics are the same. There's a castle of infantry and vehicles with a lot of firepower, and he'll drop some stuff on my head.
I basically moved everything forward, and dropped in my Wraithguard and Rangers aggressively from deep strike. I succeeded in smashing into Joe's stuff. 5 of my Fire Dragons and the 8 Wraithcannon Wraithguard chewed through his flyers and razorbacks pretty well. His Stormtalons never even got to move. The 10 D-Scythe Wraithguard drew a lot of fire but brought down (with the help of Shuriken support) most of his infantry.
He used his deep-strikers well, though. He brought in the Terminators and Chaplain behind me and popped a Wave Serpent in shooting. They were able to charge and surround and kill 5 Fire Dragons, 5 Dire Avengers, and Eldrad. Although Eldrad wasn't originally in the assault, a careful pile-in after the Aspect Warriors died meant that he couldn't escape. His Terminators and Chaplain weren't able to kill anything else, and I ended up picking off the Chaplain with some shooting when I caught him out of position as he raced ahead of the Terminators.
Overall, it was a tight match but I ended up winning since he didn't have a good answer for the Wraithguard. Assault cannons were ok, but his many Bolters and Heavy Bolters just couldn't do the heavy lifting needed, and his Lascannons had too many other things to shoot at.
Game One Result: Victory!--
Game Two
In Game Two, I faced off against Trent's Raven Guard. His list was:
Detachment: Patrol of Cadians
Commissar
20 Conscripts
20 Conscripts
Detachment: Vanguard of Raven Guard
Captain
Lieutenant
Primaris Ancient with Standard of Emperor Ascendant
5-man Tartaros Terminator Squad - 1 Power Sword, 4 Power Fists, All Combi Bolters except 1 Reaper Autocannon
7-man Jump Pack Veteran Squad - 1 Thunderhammer, 1 Power Fist, 1 Power Sword, 4 Bolter/Chainsword
Venerable Dreadnought: 2 Twin Autocannons
Razorback with Twin Autocannons, Storm Bolter
Razorback with Twin Autocannons, Storm Bolter
Razorback with Twin Autocannons, Storm Bolter
Detachment: Battalion of Raven Guard
Captain (Would be upgraded to Chapter Master)
Lieutenant
5-Man Intercessor Squad with 1 Power Sword, 1 Grenade Launcher
7-Man Scout Squad with Sniper Rifles and a Missile Launcher
6-man Scout Squad with Boltguns
Relic Leviathan Dreadnought with Grav-Flux Bombard, 2 Heavy Flamers, Storm Cannon Array
We played ITC Mission 2. For Secondary Objectives, I picked Reaper (which could easily earn me lots of points with those big Conscript Squads), Recon, and Big Game Hunter. He picked Behind Enemy Lines, Big Game Hunter, and Headhunter.
I did my usual deployment, though I took care to keep Eldrad and the Autarch out of line of sight of his Scout Snipers that he deployed early on. He set up with a solid screen and kept his jump pack troops and terminators in reserve. Our deployment was table quarters.
This turned out to be a pretty straightforward game. With the exception of his FW Dreadnought, all of my opponent's units were units I understood. And I figured I could take them in a brawling match. I deep striked my Rangers into my own backlines, and my opponent sent in both of his deep strike squads into my back lines, but had to send them in behind my Rangers and pretty far back to be out of range of my guns (since I could use the Forewarned stratagem to shoot at incoming deep striker). Once he had committed his 400 points of deep strikers to the back of my deployment zone, my Wave Serpents burst ahead, and brought the fight to his gunline. His Conscripts went down pretty easily, with my 4 Serpents putting out 36 shots a turn that are quite accurate and hit hard. I lost some guys on the way in, and had to hold back my 8-strong Wraithguard squad for 2 turns, due to his effective screening, only bringing them in on turn 3. When I brought the Wraithguard in, my opponent remarked, "wow, I never really had a chance, did I?" and the battle in his deployment zone went from "pitched" to "stomp" pretty quickly.
This game was won on the deep strike of his guys into my backline. He actually fought very well with his gunline, carefully repositioning his screening units and forcing my characters to stay out of the action with his snipers. Down (locally) several hundred points though, it wasn't enough for him to win.
Game Two Result: Victory!
---
Game Three
Going into this game, I was feeling pretty good, but also pretty tired, since it was my first tournament. At this point, there were 3 undefeated players. Due to score, it was very unlikely I'd take first. However, if I beat my opponent (the top-scoring player with a 1-1 record) I could potentially take second, if the loser on the top table lost hard enough. So, for the final game, I repositioned to the second-from-the-top table, and faced off against Adrian's Death Guard. His list was (working from memory for this one since I don't have a copy):
+HQ+
Typhus
Necrosius
Malefic Lord
Jump Pack Sorcerer
Jump Pack Sorcerer
+Troops+
19 Poxwalkers
19 Poxwalkers
17 Poxwalkers
+Elites+
Tallyman
10 Blightlord Terminators
+Heavy+
Plagueburst Crawler
+Lord of War+
Mortarion
Quite a list! And with Deathguard, which i'm not familiar with. I identified the poxwalkers as "potentially threatening, but not really a problem" and all the characters as "potentially a big problem" as well as the Terminators as "a big problem" and Motrarion, of course, as "the biggest problem" given his stature. I ran my Warlock with Protect/Jinx, hoping he could cast it on a juicy target like Mortarian to make that Invulnerable save a bit more manageable. Ultimately, my ability to win this game would come down to handling Morty and the Termies.
We got short table edge deployment, and laid things out.
At this point, it was starting to get late, I'd played 2 games in a row, and I was making mistakes. I mishandled Eldrad, letting him get charged by deep striking Terminators. I forgot to move a squad of Wraithguard one turn. I didn't keep the crew together: 2 wave serpents went up the center, and 1 went around each flank, rather than all 4 travelling together in a manner allowing for mutual support.
The most costly mistake was dealing with Mortarian. When Mortarian made his appearance, I didn't plan for how to deal with him in a tactical sense. I moved the bulk of my forces up onto the center objective on the elevated platform, but allowed Mortarian to walk right to the center of it. From the center, he zoned out my deep strikers from coming in on that platform: my 8-man Wraithguard squad I had hoped would drop in and toast Mortarian couldn't drop in. I had set up a great turn for them too, falling back some units out of assault with Mortarian, etc. Ultimately, these are mistakes that could have been trivially avoided, but as a day goes on and fatigue sets in this happens.
In the end, my Wraithguard had to come in elsewhere and shoot at sub-optimal targets (zombies and terminators) and Mortarian was able to clean up about a third of my army without dying. After that, it was all over but the shouting. I picked up a couple more victory points through some careful Eldar trickery, picking off a character here or there, boosting onto objectives, etc. I'd say I probably doubled my number of points beyond what would have happened if I gave up when all was lost, so I feel pretty good about that. Still, I wish I had been able to give this game my all. Adrian was a sportsman and a great opponent, and I'd like to get another crack at him. Maybe next tournament!
Game Three Result: Defeat!Overall, the tournament was a great experience. This was true both with the games (a lot of fun, everyone was sportsmanlike) and with the social aspect. It was cool to hang out and chat with other players, play against a bit more variety in list, and see what the local scene was like. I'll surely attend the next one in the area.
