Nova Style Tourney in the UK?

I have, for a long time, only ever played 1750pt Armies or less at Tournaments or in friendly games. Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my friends over at Oxford Gaming Club will be hosting their first of hopefully many 2 day 40k events. So what makes this one different? Well for a start its going to be 2000pts which is very unique for a UK 40k Tourney. This alone was very surprising, but what made it extra special was the fact that they will be using the renowned NOVA format produced by MVB over at whiskey & 40k

Introduction to the Tourney

So how will this work? Find the rule pack HERE It’s fairly interesting, with 3 different types of missions. Capture quarters, win by VPs and capturing objectives. Each of these will be used for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary missions. Now what makes this tourney unique even further is that you get more points for winning the Primary over the Tertiary. I really like this addition as it stop player trying to aim for their favorite mission by contesting the other two. I really like this, and what’s even better is that, your opponent will still get points for losing. I think this is a nice touch as it still leaves the loser with something to go away with. The winner will still receive more points for winning even on a Tertiary, but your opponent still gets a fair amount of points which doesn’t throw them out of the game.

Army List Creation

How will I go about creating an army list which not only is competitive & fun, but slightly different? Creativity is always fun, so today I’m feeling creative. I fancy a Storm Raven. I’ve always wanted to take a Storm Raven in an MSU army, but never had the points. With the objectives being as it is, I’m really feeling the need to upgrade my GK army even further, so a Storm Raven could be a great addition

To do this, I will start with my usual choice, big man Coteaz. His here to accompany my bad-ass unit in the Strom Raven which I will go into further down.

Next up is my Elites. Three units of 5 Purifiers equips with 2x Halberds, 2 Psycannons & 1 Hammer. These lads will be making their way around the board in their trusty Automobile, a Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy bolters & Psybolt ammo. I decided I would perhaps need as much shooting as possible to counter some lists which can put out a lot of things at 2k. The hammer & Halberds are a great addition, with reasons explained in my previous Crowe post HERE. They are an all round great unit to counter almost anything my opponent throws at me.

So with my Elites choices filled up, time to start on our scoring units. I want two units to sit on the backfield on objectives and hold my own quarter, so 2 units of 5 Henchmen in Las/plas razorbacks should do the job nicely for a minuscule 184pt tax. Lovely jubbly. Next, I want some Deep Strike disruption, so 2 units of five Strike Marines with a single Psycannon in a Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy bolter & Psybolt ammo. No hammer for these as from experience, these guys don’t really have a chance against anything where the Hammer would be useful due to their lack of attacks. So they will be simply used in a support role whilst attempting to capture Quarters/Objectives.


Now that we have a solid scoring base, I now need to sort out a nice unit to put in the Storm Raven. Terminators are always a nice choice, as are paladins, but I would only be able to take 5 or 6 (without Coteaz) which isn’t a big deal. I want this unit to come out, smash a target to pieces, and then…well, that’s it. If they do any more, awesome! To this end, I want to keep them cheap. I also want to try and keep them scoring, as against some armies it might be a good idea to use the Storm Raven as a last minute objective grabber. Cheap, awesome in combat and scoring…Yes you guessed it, Death cults. 7 of these lovely ladies and 2 Crusaders just to throw some ablative wounds on, and they still have a Power weapon awesome. Certainly can’t complain for 135pts.

So there’s our Troops done. Fast Attack? Not exactly much to choose here, but baring in mind the list, I will obviously need to take a Storm Raven. I will be giving it a Twin-linked lascannon & a Twin-linked Multi-melta to help give it some anti-tank to break open transports etc for the cargo inside. Also allows it to be used as a Gunboat.

Finally we come onto the mandatory Heavy Support section. I think we can all tell what’s going on here, and 3 Psyfleman Dreads (Twin linked Autocannons with Psybolt ammo for those of you who don’t know) will take up all three of our slots.

This brings our total to 1946pts. Now, I can’t really get another scoring unit for that many points, so what else can I do? I could grab a few more Death cults, but I think that would just be overkill. 28 WS5 Power weapon attacks should be more than enough most of the time. I could take an Inquisitor with Psycho & Rad grenades to buff the unit even further? I could also give the Death cults a dedicated Razorback to give me further saturation, a speed bump and some additional firepower. Lets go with that option, as it can be great to give my army a n extra hull to give my parking lot a cover save without the loss of one of my Units mobility. 4 points spare, let’s throw out some Searchlights on some Razorbacks.

Army List

The list should look like this:

Coteaz: 100pts

[5] Purifiers: 199pts
(2) Psycannons, (2) Halberds, (1) Hammer. Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy Bolter & Psybolt ammo.

[5] Purifiers: 199pts
(2) Psycannons, (2) Halberds, (1) Hammer. Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy Bolter & Psybolt ammo.

[5] Purifiers: 199pts
(2) Psycannons, (2) Halberds, (1) Hammer. Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy Bolter & Psybolt ammo.

[5] Strike Squad: 160pts
(1) Psycannon. Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt ammo & Searchlights.

[5] Strike Squad: 160pts
(1) Psycannon. Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt ammo & Searchlights.

[3] Henchmen: 93pts
Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked Plasma gun & Searchlights.

[3] Henchmen: 92pts
Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked Plasma gun.

[9] Henchmen: 186pts
(7) Death cult Assassins, (2) Crusaders. Razorback with Twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Psybolt ammo & Searchlights.

Storm Raven: 205pts
Twin-linked Lascannon & Twin-linked Multi-melta.

Dreadnought: 135pts
Two Twin-linked Autocannons & Psybolt ammo.

Dreadnought: 135pts
Two Twin-linked Autocannons & Psybolt ammo.

Dreadnought: 135pts
Two Twin-linked Autocannons & Psybolt ammo

Grand Total: 2000pts

Tactics


Let’s throw out some figures:

3 Str 9 shots
13 twin linked Str 8 shots
2 Str 7 twin linked shots
12-24 Str 7 shots
18 Str 6 twin linked shots
34 Str 4 shots


All of which have a range of 24-48 inches. I think that validates my shooting phase fairly nicely.

For counter assault we have Purifiers and the Grey Knight strike squads if necessary and to punch other death stars I have my own Death cult unit. The Storm raven will go in reserve most of the times and have a 24 inch threat range from its weapons, and a 21 inch charge threat range as well, pushing some assault armies back. The razorbacks provide cover to one another and can shoot over one another fairly easily, taking down lighter amour, putting wounds on MC’s or thinning out troops, and the Dreads along with the Psycannons De-mechs my opponent. Fairly standard tactics which should hopefully work well at this point range.

Most of the time I should be aiming for the primary mission, and depending on which ever it is dictates my deployment. I don't like splitting my army up so capturing quarters can be a pain, but If I stay fairly central, I should be fine to split off in any direction. For Collecting VPs, my army should be able to out shoot most bar Guard & maybe Wolves, so I can simply hang back and pick up VP's that way. Objectives will be interesting as they are already in set places, so I will have to constantly think ahead as my army isn't too great pushing up with only a few solid units capable of handling themselves up close.

Conclusion

If anyone has any feedback, input or comments I would love to hear from you. Also if anyone is interested in also applying for this tournament which is held at Warhammer World on the 18th & 19th of February 2012, please feel free to contact the guys at Oxford Gaming Club HERE.

Killswitch