Beast Pack Classes – Late Registration

Hide you kids, hide your wives, cause the Beast Pack is hitting tourney scenes around the world big time – and you need to know how to deal with it!

Oliver here, once again on the school bench, this time learning lessons about the Big Boy on the tourney scene – the Deldar Beast Pack.

Since moving to England, I have become more and more familiar with the till now almost completely British phenomenon known has the “Beast Pack list”. England’s own Josh Roberts is winning tournaments left and right with this list, and in the recent LVO over in the US, 2 out of the top 8 finalists were running the BP. Ergo anyone on the tournament scene will need to know how to deal with it..

So first things first, let’s have a look at what I’m actually talking about. Just like any Death Star list, there are quite a few versions of the Beast Pack list. The Beast Pack itself though, usually looks the same:

Eldrad

Farseer, Jetbike, Shard of Anaris, Runes of Witnessing

Baron Sathonyx

5 Beastmasters, 25 Khymera

The idea here is that Eldrad and the Farseer primarily go for Fortune, and thereafter Invisibility, getting lots of other juicy powers in the process. In order to maximize durability and size, most players are now going for the 25 Khymera, rather than a few Razorwing flocks. The unit has a HUGE footprint (32 models, all on terminator bases), and with fortune (and maybe invisibilty) it can be a real PITA to kill.

The Death Star itself clocks in at 840 points. Let’s put this into perspective by comparing it to some of the other Death Stars on the scene:

·         QuadHerald Screamerstar: 790 points  + 300 point Fatey “tax” = 1090

·         O’vesa Star = 850 – 900 points

·         Farsight Bomb w. Loth = 1150 points

·         Jetseer Council = 850-900 points

As you can see, it is right in there pointswise with the other big Death Stars. However, compared to the other units described above, the Beast Pack’s gigantic size allows it to basically hit any part of the board it wants to, moving 12" a turn and charging with Fleet. But more on that later....

Back from Caledonian Uprising!

Made it home safely (with a few minor detours on the way home *cough* Ven Bro can’t navigate *cough* ;P ) after a great weekend of gaming!

Me vs. Sheridan's 'Crons

Oliver here, with a short summary of my Cally experience.

Overall I had two draws and three wins, netting me a total of 63 points in Generalship. This put me in tied for 20-22 place out 115 in Generalship, something I am fully content with for my first showing on the UK tourney scene. 

My overall performance throughout the 5 games I felt could improve. I need to become better at making decisions under pressure, and plan ahead to limit the amount the amount of tough decision I have to make late game when I am tired… All of that will hopefully come with more practice with the list and tournament gaming here in the UK.

On to a short rundown of my games. If you want to know what list I ran, it can be seen here:

Game 1 vs. Scott Milne (Scottish ETC player), CSM/CDM 
Scott ran 2 Spawnstars with a Sorcerer on steroids in each, along with a big unit of Plague Drones, and a Heldrake. Mission was Crusade/KPs with Dawn of War

• Scott started and advanced on me, but failed Grimoire on the Drones.
• Some poor shooting by me (forgot stealth and shrouded on the Drones like an idiot..) only saw a few Drones getting killed T1.
• T2 Scott charges the Drones into the O'vesastar - no wounds in CC and I HitnRun out
• I proceed to nuke Scott's troops, while hiding my Single suits on ruins/impassable terrain to prevent Scott from charging them.
• Late game I shifted my army away to the left flank, securing it by killing off one of the Spawnstars. In the last turn both I and Scott have one objective with KPs being tied after Scott killed a Single Crisis suit with a boltgun on the Sorcerer last turn :-(
• 10-10 draw

Game 2 vs. Mark Pocock (Markymark on the blog/ English ETC candidate). CDM
Mark was rocking the double trouble Screamerstar which can be checked out here. Mission was KPs/Scouring with Vanguard Strike.

• Mark got 1st turn and took it, got Forewarning but no Misfortune (phew)
• I deployed very spread out with O'vesa central, to avoid those pesky multycharges
• Turn 1 he advanced to midfield with the council and shot at the O'vesastar, but the Talisman did its job nicely... In my T1 I moved towards the council aiming to tie it up, while the rest of the army continued down either flank
• Having failed to get Scriers Gaze off, most of Marks troops came in T2. He managed to kill a Sky Ray with some Horrors, and the council charged the (stubborn) O'vesastar. What would follow the next couple of player turns was me tying the council up in Mark's turn, then HitnRunning out to Target Lock on some troops with the Burst Tide. Subsequently I would charge into the council in the end of my turns to lock it up again. 
• The rest of the army took care of Marks troops, but his second Screamer unit managed to do a number on me. I did a stupid decision when charging a Riptide into 4/5 Horrors, thinking he could handle them in a round or two - the combat ended up lasting like 3 game turns -.-
• In T5 Mark flew up Fatey. Seeing an opportunity to get a KP and Warlord kill, I decided not to go for the council, instead grounding and charging Fatey with the O'vesastar (to which I had joined a cheeky Solo-Suit). Fatey died, and the O'vesastar grabbed an Objective, while Mark's scoring Screamerstar held another. We tied in KPs and I won the Tertiary obejctives.
• Another 10-10 draw 

Caledonian 2014, olliswe's 1st Round Matchup

Hi guys!

This will be a short one going through the list I'm facing round 1 at  Caledonian Uprising, and a preview of the list I'll be running.

As you know, I'll be taking the O'vesa star with Riptide support. Not 100% satisfied by the list, but oh well... that's life... Would have liked to tweak around a bit on the loadout of my suits. Anyways, here it is:

Oliver Iyer
PRIMARY DETACHMENT: Farsight Enclaves – a Codex: Tau Empire Supplement
Farsight
O'vesa

Riptide, HBC, SMS, EWO, Target Lock, Talisman, 2 Shielded Missile Drones
Riptide, Ion, PosRelay, EWO
Riptide, Ion, EWO

3 Crisis Suits, TL MPs
Solo Suit, 2xflamer
Solo Suit
Solo Suit
10 Kroot

Skyray, BSF
Skyray, BSF

ALLIED DETACHMENT: Codex: Tau Empire
Commander Batman w. HitnRun and Onager Gauntlet

10 Kroot

List is simple, just the way I like it ;) Not many units to give you a headache.... A lot of surviveability but lacking a bit on volume of fire and marker light support. Ripple fire SMS is great in the objective based mission Cally are running - killing troops will win you the game 9 times out of 10. I went for 2 units of kroot because they're great for blocking etc.

The lineup!

Alright, on to the first round matchup!

99 )- Scott Milne
Primary: Chaos Space Marines = 1049pts
HQ1: Sorcerer (60) Force Axe (0) Bike (20) Gift of Mutation (10) Sigil of Corruption (25) Spell Familiar (15) Melta Telepathy dudes that chill with the spawn
Bomb (5) +2 Mastery Level (50) = [185pts]
HQ2: Sorcerer (60) Force Axe (0) Bike (20) Gift of Mutation (10) Sigil of Corruption (25) Spell Familiar (15) +2
Mastery Level (50) = [180pts]
Troop 1: 10 Cultists (50) Champion (0) +1 Additional Cultist (4) = [54pts]
Troop 2: 10 Cultists (50) Champion (0) = [50pts]
Troop 3: 10 Cultists (50) Champion (0) = [50pts]
Fast Attack 1: 5 Spawn (150) MoN (30) = [180pts]
Fast Attack 2: 5 Spawn (150) MoN (30) = [180pts]
Fast Attack 3: Heldrake (170) Baleflamer (0) = [170pts] Needs to die... 
Allies: Chaos Deamons = 801pts
HQ1: Herald of Nurgle (45) Exalted Reward (30) Locus of Fecundity (25) = [100pts] Footsloggin herald= no Jetpack move for Drones if he's joined. Gives them 5+FnP and Grimoire.
Troop 1: 10 Horrors (90) +1 Additional Horror(9) Iridescent Horror(5) =[104pts] 
Troop 2: 10 Horrors (90) +1 Additional Horror(9) Iridescent Horror(5) =[104pts]
Fast Attack 1: 9 Plague Drones (294) Death Heads (45) Rot Proboscis (35) Plaguebringer (5) Greater Reward (20) = Poison 3+ and a cheeky Instant Death Plaguebringer, death heads are two poison 4+ shots per dude.
[493pts]
Total=1850pts

Ok... 63 T5/T6 wounds... That's gonna be a real PITA....

A few key pointers I want to point out:

• Plague drone deathstar will most likely be rocking 3++ with 5+FnP, Poison 3+ in combat. Plan with these is to just ignore them (unless Grimoire failes), maybe tie up with O'vesastar if they get close...
• Target priority T1 will be one of the Spawnstars - easy target and potentially a warlord kill.  Hallucination/Psychic shriek can be a real PITA if let loose..
• Heldrake needs to die when it come in, will probably not shoot missiles on Skyrays T1 for this reason.
• Once troops get in they'll eat SMS, and then I will just try to mitigate damage from whatever is left of the 2nd Spawnstar/the drones
• If Scouring is primary (mission is randomly determined) I'll go and die in a ditch... covered in petrol... on fire... let's hope that doesn't happen.... Jokes aside, his 4 damage dealers will be priority throughout the game in that case. + I'll get extra points for killing them, so that's nice.
• If deployment is Vanguard strike, I might just consider a Kroot-wrapped castle in the corner... He's got so little shooting that it might just pay off. 
• In Hammer and Anvil I'll deploy halfway up the DZ and slowly back away while killing the Spawstars.

That's me for now, one lecture left and then it's Cally-time!! Wish me luck!

Dream of Caledornication

Hey guys, Oliver here with a little update on my prep for Caledonian Uprising next week. Half-term exams are finally done and the cross-hairs are firmly set on Cally!

Training!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went a to a 24-man three-round RTT in Denmark a few weeks ago.  At 1500pts, I brought 4 Riptides… because they’re good…  so yeah…  List was  basically a scale-down of my Cally list:

Farsight

O(verpowered)’Vesa

Riptide, Ion, SMS, EWO x 2

Riptide, HBC, Target Lock, Velocity Tracker

3 Crisis, Missile Pods

Solo Crisis x 3

Commander Batman w. HitnRun, Orangutan Gauntlet, Drone Controller and 2 Marker Drones

10 Kroot

Deadly Death Star fight to the Death - O'vesa vs. Seer Council

“Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL Death Star!”

Is basically what 40k is all about these days... Whether it’s Seer Council, Screamer Star, Farsight Bomb (that all of the sudden have created a liking for the Red Scorpions Chapter????) Centurion Bomb or whatever else, top tables around the world are sprawling with shit-expensive units that are nigh unkillable.

Hey guys, my name is Oliver and I am a new writer on this blog. I’m Swedish/German/Indian, and 18 years old/young, currently living in Denmark and England.

This year I started Uni at Cambridge, and met Venerable Brother at Sons of War (the local club). For any Danish tournament-goers out there, you might recognize me as a very tall and skinny dark-haired guy with a weird accent.

 I’ve been playing 40k competitively for about 2 years now (even though school + not having a car has made it hard to keep up some times), but still find that my skill at the game is lacking… But I intend to change that this coming year :)

I myself have jumped on the Death Star bandwagon – after playing “standard” Tau for quite a while, I’ve now turned to the O’VESA STAR. I’ll probs be taking this list to Caledonian Uprising in January, so currently I’m busy practicing away with it.

Farsight Primary and Tau allies @1850

Farsight

O’vesa

Commander Batman (w. Hit and Run and Onager Gauntlet)

Riptide, Ion, Interceptor  x 2 (One with positional relay)

Riptide, HBC,  Velocity Tracker,  Target Lock, Talisman of Arthas Moloch, 2 Shield Drones  (joins O’vesa, Farsight and Batman)

10 Kroot x 2

3 Crisis Suits, 3 Missile Pods

1 Crisis Suit, 2x Flamer

1 Naked Crisis Suit  x2 (Monat)

Skyray, BSF x 2

This is a very vanilla list that you’ll probably see at any major GT around the world. If you want a more thorough explanation of it, click here.

Alright, let’s get in to the meat of things. My first post will be a batrep of my Cally-prep with the list. This one will be vs. one of Denmark’s best players, playing the deadly SEER COUNCIL. Let's get ready to rumble!