War of the Roses - tourney report

Target: Top 10 or 3:2 ... Did both! WHOOT!

Finished 10th in this tough field of 32.

Played 3 members of the England ETC team.. 

Was great fun.

Not been to Sanctuary as a location and its a wicked venue.

Shame Mansfield itself is a little....depressing? 

Travel was good, team banter was good.

Caught up with the England boys and had a blast talking shit and good food and few beers on Saturday night. 

My list is in the last post.

It did what I wanted it to do, but I got caught out once on a seize and was given first turn after conservative deployment and scout in another game that left me out to dry...surprise to say, I lost those games. 

This army wanted to go first and hit real hard. 

Game 1 - Imperial Guard Russes and Grey Knights termies and Dreadknights. Lots of usually very tough to kill models. Unless you field an army of hyper mobile grav... Despite my opponent best tricks, it really did come down to me staying out of range, pushing to my envelope and dangling melta bait..then sweeping in the following turn with bike Grav and finishing anything the two Drop Pod Cents hadn't killed. 

Stu was a great opponent and lives relatively locally, have since been in touch and trying to organise a games day with a few buddies... But it was a bad match up.

Game 2 - old Eldar with Hornets galore, Serpents, Dcannon battery and Wraithknight. I went first and was able to remove serpents and wraithknight.. The cannons hit my cents hard and then it was cat and mouse with the Hornets who outflanked. Tough, nail biter towards the end, but I had enough maelstrom and kill points to secure a narrow victory even if I didn't get any of the Eternal War at the end...suffice to say I did and it was all good. Mike was a very good opponent, very chilled, knew his tactics well enough to kick back and enjoy a few brewskis. Top lad, tough game

Game 3 - 12 Broadside, 2 Riptide Tau gun line. Was going first, deployed and scouted aggressively... Got seized. Game. Doh. 

Was too aggressive in this one, really I should have deployed out of range for a turn or 2/3 and just grabbed some maelstroms and stayed alive. Certainly, it's bad match up, however going first and with ignores cover/Auspex on my GrAv Cents, I felt I had a chance.. Alas.. It was one of those things. 

Alex took the seize with grace and style... Or danced around with glee...if you know Alex H you can guess which it was.. ;) 

We had a good few beers that night and chatted shit and caught up, so I let him off seizing on me... 

Game 4 was full Drop Pod Melta with FT SF/ Sisters. The Fast Attack/Dantes Drop Pod Emporium allowed for a nasty wave of melta to drop in and get me... However, I had a cunning plan and deployed accordingly. It's a secret sauce plan just in case drop pods hit hard in the tourney scene (which I think they will..see tomorrows post re Skitarri in Pods) and it worked ...flawlessly. Game to me via deployment. Was a slow slog to get through all the peeps, but it worked out well. 

Game 5 was competing for third place. Grav Bikes vs..........Demons. Doh. No bloody armour. 

It's ok, I'll go first and Bolter the 3 packs of screamers to death...well 2 of them.. No. Deploying second. 

Paul deploys aggressively on the line with all screamer units. I am aware that with the multiple Divination Rending he rolled up I could lose 3/6 bikes units in a turn I go within 34-36" of him, the 

other units I could lose to Fateweaver and Tzeentchian firepower from Flickering Fire en masse. So I deployed conservatively, and then Paul gave me first turn. 

Shit. 

I dropped in and killed Fatey for first blood, warlord and 2 maelstroms...then got smashed. My error. I asked Paul if he would give me first turn no matter what..he said if I'd have deployed on about the 34-36"'.... Yes. Then I could have got long range bolter shots but nothing more. It's a bad match up for my army, we all said so...but I'll have to playtest to see if I can get points. 

Overall, finsihed 10th according to the spreadsheet and had an amazing time with 3 big wins and 2 big losses..the army truly is "go big or go home" and I've been convinced by the weekend that more pods are the way to go. I've got several builds I want to run, one using Melta Astra Militarum, one with Skitarri. I've played the Skitarri...and bloody love them!! More on that this week! 

Now...when's the next tournament!