Ven's Blog Wars 4 Bat Reps

*PICS TO BE UPDATED LATER*

This last weekend was Blog Wars 4. The 4th (unsurprisingly, its a bit Ronseal) such event ran by Alex from From the Fang. For those not in the know it is a one day, 1850, 3 game, standard mission tournament with a single stipulation - you must include a Special Character in your force, ideally from your Primary Detachment.

I have won the previous 3 and was gunning for a 4th title.
The mission packs, entrants and details can be found here.

I ran the following after I couldn't finish my Nids in time.. which I think would have fared equally well in my match ups. If not better.. But anyway, I ran my Necrons - tweaked for the scenario:

Obyron

10 Immortals - Gauss

10 Immortals - Gauss

5 Warriors - Night Scythe

5 Warriors - Night Scythe

5 Warriors - Night Scythe

5 Warriors - Night Scythe

6 Wraiths

6 Wraiths

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

Annihilation Barge

Lots of shooting, lots of highly mobile troops, Aircraft, wraiths for distraction/tie ups.. should be good...what did I face?

Game 1 - Necrons/Blood Angels by Andy BG from Iron Legion
Game 2 - Grey Knights by Matt Greenwood from From the Fang
Game 3 - Eldar/Dark Eldar by Frank Marsh from Generation 40k
"Unofficial" Game 4 - Eldar/Dark Eldar by Frank Marsh from Generation 40k

You can guess, I am sure, that due to the speed of Game 3, we were able to get in another game.. but who took a 50 min destruction-style spanking? Read on, reader, read on..

THIS IS WORDY! 10 MINS READING TIME PROBS! Worth it though o' course..

Tournament scoring:
The primary missions were scored out of 30 Tournament Points (TPs) with 25 - 5 being the maximum score you could get and the minimum score your opponent could get.
Depending on the scale of your victory, you and your opponent split the points.

As a back up, essential in a 3 game tournie, 5th ed style Victory Points (VPs) were also collected in each game. This would be used in the case of a tie on Primary TPs.


Game 1 Andy "astro physicist" BG from Iron Legions and his Cron Angels.

Trazyn
Court x 5 - Veil, 4 Destruction
10 Immortals
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
9 Warriors - Ghost Ark
5 Scarabs
5 Scarabs
Annihilation Barge

Dante
5 Assault Marines - Plasmagun, LC/SS on Serg.
5 TH/SS Termies

This game was 5 objectives, Vanguard deployment. Night fight was in.
 I went first I think. I jockeyed for position, moving my Wraiths and other units up behind the central bastion. He jockeyed a little, quite defensively. Got a plasma shot off on the Wraiths, but failed to hit.
Turn 2 I put on the hurt. Only one flier showed up, but I was able to move in the Immortals in a position that they could either remove a Warrior squad or put hurt onto Dante's squad.
The Annihilation Barges moved down to shoot Dante and his RAS supported by the Flier (whose Warriors stayed on board). Wraiths moved up to engage the Scarabs. Foot Immortals moved up to get some long range shots onto the Warrior masses.
ABarge and Scythe targets and kills Dante's unit down to Dante on 1W and a Marine. The Immortals go for the Warrior squad next to them instead of finishing Dante - I figure I can either slay Dante and buddy on the charge with Overwatch or Obyron can kill Dante.
Wraiths engage and kill both Scarabs for first blood and excellent positioning for next turn strikes versus Warriors.
His 2, Termies teleport into my backfield, but scatter 9"..essentially they are out of the game now and will be dealt with when I can afford it. Warriors, his ABarge, Ghost Ark and Immortals pour fire into my Wraiths. I lose a few..like 4/5 total from 2 units of 6 - I am pretty sure that left one unit of 2, and one unit of 5 (one wounded). Not enough to stop me.
Dante and his buddy moved up to assault the Immortals - I gunned down the Marine on the way in with Overwatch, then Dante got pimp slapped by Obyron. He was on his last wound remember.. wounded twice, failed one..dead Dante.
My 3 everything shows up. I move the Fliers in to support the anti infantry fire power and I kill everything on foot except Trazyn who dies but is teleported into the Ghost Ark. The ABarge (his) is charged by Wraiths (2) but they do nothing, in the back field I ignore his termies this turn simply moving my foot Immortals away from them, pinging some ineffective fire into them from long range and my trio of ABarges move away to lend fire support to the Warrior slaying in Andy's back yard.
His 3, he moves the ABarge away from the Wraiths, but they are still in cc with a couple of Warriors so it cant shoot them. The Termies vainly move up towards my objectives and Immortals (foot) - miles away. His Ghost Ark and Warrior squad inside broadside my foot units, killing a couple of units of Warriors (5 man'ners) and rapid firing dead a Night Scythe - very impressive broadside.
My 4 I reduce the Ghost Ark to a single HP and kill the ABarge I do this with my Warriors and Oby's Immortals. I kill the Terminators with some redirection fire from fliers and my trio of ABarges.
His 4, he kills some Immortals of mine.
Turn 5, I destroy the Ghost Ark, kill the dudes inside and Trazyn eventually falls to my firepower.
I lose 330 5th ed VPs, but gain 1850 VPs, I gain maximum TP (tournament points) of 25, with Andy gaining 5.
Big solid win against an awesome opponent, thoroughly nice guy who I felt bad smashing. I honestly thought it would have put up more of a fight.. I think the Termies should have stayed on the board and been used as an assault screen in front of the Scarabs, then they may have absorbed the Wraiths a bit better, rather than the Scarabs just getting punked to S6 Wraiths. I think Dante and his little sqaud should have sat at the back/rear of the deployment zone and been used as a counter assault unit, waiting for me to come to him rather than staying out in an aggressive position, exposed and isolated as they were. I think Andy should have been more aggressive with his own Veil Immortals, bouncing over to my own back field to pressure my lone Immortals on foot and potentially securing objectives, certainly that would have drawn my fire, diluted it somewhat.. Other than that though, Andy is a sound player who, from conversation, kinda just took stuff that he had over making it true blood competitive.. overall, I thought he had the tools, just not quite the application - I hope if he reads this he doesn't take any offence if I seem casual in my dismissal of his forces!


Game 2 - Matt Greenwood from From the Fang - Coteaz GK

Matt I and have played before with GK vs Crons, back in January of this year at the Jolly Toys Outing 2k tournie where I took 3rd. That game saw a henchman-heavy, tricked out toys army lose out to a lean, mean Necron machine.. and on Sunday, the same kind of army lost out again.
He took:
Coteaz
10 Purifiers - 4 Cannons
4 x 3 Acolytes in Psybacks
3 Acolytes
2 Crusaders, 5 DCA
Storm Raven - Psybolts, TL AC, TL MM, Hurricane Bolters
Dreadknight - Jump, Incinerators, paired Fists
Dreadknight - Jump, Incinerators, paired Fists
Dreadnought - psybolts, Dual TL Autocannons
Venerable Dreadnought - psybolts, Dual TL Autocannons

Plenty of tools, but so, so light on troops. Now, in discussion with Matt he said that that was the only way to get all the stuff.. DCA/StormRaven, Purifiers, 2 Dreadknights, 2 Psyfledreads, some Psybacks.. but the issues are so impactful that they can't be ignored.. scoring is so weak.

Especially in The Relic, long ways deployment. I won the roll off and let Matt deploy and go first.

He deployed in a balance fashion, with a Dreadknight on each flank near the edge of his DZ, two Psybacks with Aco's in and a Dreadnought on either side of his DZ. The flying Raven was in Reserve with DCA and Coteaz and the 10 Purifiers deployed on my right.  In response to this, I deployed on my left, refuse flanking his force to some extent. Wraiths up front, Immortals and Barges behind. Fliers in reserve ofc.
He moved up his forces in a relatively defensive manner, capitalising on his range superiority he just played the long game.. literally. Wraiths took a beating from S8 Psyfledread fire and S6 Razorbacks plus some S5 Storm Bolters. but were still up and running. One dreadknight (on his right, my left) stayed in position, the other pushed slightly forward to tease me, as have the Purifiers.
My turn 1 I mishap with Obyron and the Immortals and off to reserve they go. Balls. I wound the Dreadknight that approached a bit then tie it up with Wraiths in combat. I kill 6 Purifiers, leaving only 4 Cannons and Coteaz cowering behind real marines.
Turn 2, I got the -1 Reserves roll Warlord trait so his Storm Raven doesn't show up.. rolled a '2' anyway I think, so he'd not have had it come in anyway... non-engaged, cagey Dreadknight moves up and flames dead some Immortals (foot). Other Wraiths get pummelled by fire (Razors have moved up slightly, Cannons stayed still to unleash Purifier goodness..) killing more Wraith but 1 survives on 1w. Wraiths are down to 2 dude in combat with DK.
My T2, 2 fliers come in, Obyron and his boys come in from ongoing reserve and mishap and die. Yup. 350 points gone - poof! Feck. It's not like I even deploy aggressively with these guys! Ah well.. it's bound to happen and in so many games it doesn't happen at all..even when I run 2 Veil units..a year of Veiling and I can still count on my hands the number of times in total I have mishapped. Sigh.
Right, so everything fires at the DK in my face and I kill it. Trio of Annihilation Barges, 2 Fliers, 2 Warrior squads, 9 man Immortal squad. Just goes down. at one point, Matt made 11 2+'s in one roll. Nice.
The other DK has now lost a couple of wounds and fails to kill my lone, single wound Wraith. BEAUTIFUL. On the other flank, I can't remember what happens to the other Wraith, but he doesn't get to anything this turn I am sure.
T3, Matt's flier zooms in, Melta's am ABarge, guns at a flier, making it jink to save..which it doesn't and explodes, Storm Raven makes an impact and 2/3 of its points back. His other forces pummel my ABarges to almost no effect, one HP glanced away from a Dread.
The final Wraith finally falls to the DK and Matt consolidates 4". Like it can hide.
My T3, my other fliers come on, I kill his DK and a Razorback, I try to charge his Aco's with my lone Wraith.. it makes combat only for the 3 Acolytes to kill the gigantic Wraith. I kill his Storm Raven with my own fliers and an ABarge which gets a lucky pen and explodes it.
From here on out, Matt "floods" the Relic with waves of henchmen.. all of which, unsurprisingly go down to massed fire from Immortals and Warriors, my fliers zoom about killing Razors and Dreads and I use the smaller Warrior squads late game to block the lone Dread from getting near the Relic.. it's overkill tactics though as I table Matt for full TPs shortly after.
This was my most costly game as I lost 1000 points worth of stuff. however, when we break that down what this is mainly consisting of - 160 Oby, 170 Immortals that died together in a mishap and the 2 6 man Wraiths at 210 each.. so 750 in 3 units. Then a flier, a pair of ABarges and we are there..
In the end, about 30 Necrons, 3 Fliers and an ABarge were still pumping..


Game 3 - Frank Marsh from Generation 40k with Eldar/Dark Eldar allies.

He took:
Farseer - Jetbike, Fortune, Doom, Spirit Stones, Runes of Witnessing
Farseer - Jetbike, Fortune
Baron Saxonythx
Seer Council x 6 - 4 Destructors, Enhance, Embolden
Shining Spears - Exarch w. Hit & Run, Star Lance
3 Guardian Jetbikes w Shurican Cannon
3 Guardian Jetbikes w Shurican Cannon
10 Dark Eldar Warriors, Lance
Aegis Defence Line - Quad Gun
De Ravager, 3 Dark Lances, Night Shields
3 x War Walkers each with 2 Scatter lasers
3 x War Walkers each with 2 Scatter lasers

A tough player who had just finished totally dispatching Dave Symcox and his Necron Wraithwing the previous game, I was a little bit nervous going into this one tbh.
Frank was running the newly resurgent Seer Council with jetbike Farseer and the Baron allied in to give the unit Hit & Run, plus a 2++ rerollable save to tank small arms fire at the front of the unit..
The Shining Spears were an outsiders choice, but with Fortune from the Farseer would be tough to remove, they too had Hit & Run.. so could save themselves from being shot by staying in combat, then buggering off in my turn to hit again in their own.. "sub-optimal" units in the right hands..

Game was Dawn of War, Purge. I got first turn. I deployed dead centre as far forward as I could. Frank had to put up his aegis first, so I knew where his fire base was going. But that tempting treat also meant he knew where I'd be going..
Frank deployed carefully with pre-measuring and put his 10 DE Warriors behind the ADL and the Seer Council Deathstar in the far right corner, with the Farseer Spears in the exact opposite corner. These 2 "Deathstars" were out of range of all my traditional guns and Wraiths.
Frank failed to Seize the Initiative, I plough forward with my Wraiths moving and running into a defensive 3++ assault screen to absorb the intial hit from Seer Council, making sure I couldn't have my other stuff charged..
I decided it would be crippling to kill off one of the 2 units before Fortune went up, so I Veiled with Obyron and Immortals over to his weaker "Deathstar" and after a reasonable scatter I killed 4 Shining Spears.. the Farseer and remaining SS then ran off the table on an "11" roll.. Nice.
On the ADL side of things.. It went no better for Frank as every 24" gun I had killed his GTG 2+ cover save Warriors.. of course Frank waited till 2/3 of the unit was dead before going to ground (GTG) as he wanted to operate his Quad Gun the next turn, but it was all over.. 1 single DE Warrior remained resolute.

Frank's T1, he moves up the Seer Council with Fortune and gets into position to charge in his T2.
T2, I am keen for a perfect tabling here. I know Gary P (The Voice), my fellow Sons player is on Table 2 and on 2 wins as well.. they have barely begun their game, but a strong game for me could be demoralising for Gary.. and Frank I guess too..
3 fliers come and it is time to rock and roll. Obyron Veils back onto the right hand side in front of the Council, the ABarges move over to the right, the foot Immortals and the 15 Warriors from the fliers pile out. Both Wraith units move in to position for a pretty secure charge.
I fire.
The Council falls.
Almost.
The Baron took an absolute age as a tank.. took loads of fire to get through a 2++ with rerolls. But I made sure from positioning that I could fire the Warriors and Fliers into the side of his Council, getting straight to the Warlocks, avoiding Baron. I cut through them with ease, then the ABarges and Immortals went for Baron. Eventually he fell to a S7 Tesla Annihilator shot and was insta-gibbed.
Too many of the Council had fallen for both Wraith units to get in on the action so I pile in one unit who fail to get though the T4 (jetbike) Farseer with a fortuned save (3+/4++).
The game goes on.
Franks Scatter Laser War Walkers come on the right behind my fliers, they kill a flier. The GJB's come on and gun some snap shots at fliers to no avail.
CC and the Fortuned Farseer plus mate stay alive.
My T3, the other flier comes on at an oblique angle and some other stuff that can't CC turns around and blast away the War Walkers..Obyron and the other Wraiths get in on the combat action and we kill the Seer Council off.
T3 for Frank consists of the lone DE Warrior behind the ADL almost getting to the gun.. and the GJB units bombing to the other side of the board to stay alive! But close enough to be targeted..
T4, the 7 remaining models on the Eldar/Dark Eldar side die.

Game time. 50 minutes from deployment to end.

Game 4 - Same again, but this time Frank went first to see how much of a difference that was, Frank didn't have Fortune on his Spears which meant I just put them down. The other way around.. how would it turn out? The deployment for me was the same for speeds' sake more than anything else. Frank threw forward the Deathstars as they should work and whilst they killed more stuff.. they simply do not have the support from the rest of the army.. the result.. the same. We called it after an hour with just the footnotes to write.. done and done.
One crucial error in this game was Frank not getting Fortune off just ONCE, he lined up a multicharge on a squad of Warriors and an ABarge, looking to keep in combat to avoid being shot.. but then used Desctuctor...AP4 Destructor...and wiped out his intended charge target with it.. no Warriors, no charge.. I pressured then on the Council and BOOM.. it went again, this time, the Baron and Farseer surviving for one more round of Cron shooting. A game of chase here and there with GJB and Wraiths.. Obyron went down from Dark Lance fire, then got up on Ever Living.

Frank was a cracking final opponent and it was absolutely brillaint to pit myself against a tough player and a popular new allied list. The Seer Council is certainly a tough nut.. I can only think that Frank would have been better with a huge Hellion unit as his second Deathstar..Baron able to pop between the 2 units when he knew he would be committing the Council to combat. Far more firepower and far more hitting power than the Shining Spears.

So.
I won Blog Wars for the 4th time in a row. Gary P (The Voice) ended up second with 3 big wins, Bringer of Death (Steve) also won all 3 games finishing 5th behind Dave Symcox and.. Frank Marsh who got 3rd despite his loss to me.  other top finishes I think went to Frank Marufo..and um..I'm sure Alex will put it up soon..

It is a wonderfully run event with a cracking crowd of people. I am so glad that it continues and is a truly "community" event. I will always attend where possible to make sure someone can claim my crown!
A huge thank you to all those I played, to all those that attended, to Alex for running it again of his own back...to Steve for driving the van!

Any questions or thoughts.. holla.. mainly though - thanks for reading.