][con 1.8k Doubles Tournament

[majorspeirs]

A week ago I was involved in an 1800 point doubles tournament called ][con. This was the first time that my Death Korps Engineers and my friend’s Spartan Blood Angles have taken to the field. Below are our combined 900 point lists and a photo of our armies on my friend’s display board:

Librarian w/ Jump Pack (warlord)
Assault Squad (10x), w/ Power Sword, 2x Meltagun and Inferno Pistol
Assault Squad (10x), w/ Power Sword, 2x Meltagun
Sanguinary Priest w/ Power Sword and Jump Pack
Sanguinary Guard (5x) w/ 2x Inferno Pistol

CCS w/ Lascannon and Master of Ordnance
Veterans w/ Shotguns, 3x Flamer, Power Fist and Demolitions
Veterans w/ 3x Plasmagun
Veterans w/ 3x Plasmagun and Autocannon
Vendetta w/ 3x Lascannon
Colossus w/ Heavy Flamer
Manticore w/ Heavy Flamer

(Note: both of our armies aren’t quite finished as we are building to a late January deadline, when this doubles tournament just cropped up)



Just as a disclaimer, I am working off photos and memory a week after these games, so I apologise to any involved for any inaccuracies, discrepancies or contradictions.

[majorspeirs]

Game 1

Our starting game was against a Necron army, which was the first time either of us had played against the Codex. My knowledge of the codex is a little hazy, so forgive me if I identify units incorrectly or simply describe what they do.

Destroyer Lord (warlord)
Anrakyr the Traveller (the guy with the magic arrow) in a Command Barge
6x Wraiths
10x Immortals w/ Gauss and Cryptec (with teleport-thing and Haywire-stick)
9x Immortals w/ Tesla
8x Immortals w/ Tesla
10-12x Warriors in Ghost Ark
5x Warriors w/ Cryptec (with flamer-thing) in a Night Scythes
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge



The game was Crusade (2+D3 objectives) on a Hammer and Anvil deployment (short board edges). Night fighting was mandatory on turn 1 and secondary objectives were in play. We rolled three objectives and since our opponents rolled higher two were placed in their deployment zone and one in ours. The Crons deployed hard along their deployment line to advance on first turn. A squad of Tesla Immortals and an Annihilation Barge were on each flank, with the wraiths in the middle. The Ghost Ark was the left flank (from our perspective) and the Command Barge on the right, with the Gauss Immortals tucked away deep in the deployment zone.

We deployed our army with the intention of taking the left objective and holding our own. I had one Vet squad, the CCS and Manticore at the centre of our board edge, the Colossus off to the left and the other vets sitting in the middle to each. The Spartans deployed in a solid phalanx to charge straight down the left flank.


Turn 1

After failing to steal the initiative our opponent advanced most of his forces. The Command and Annihilation Barges flew fast down the right flank, whilst in the centre and on the left flank the Wraiths and Ghost Ark advanced to just out of 36 inches of all our firepower (this involved creative measuring with dual tape measures, which was only possible with two players).



In response we advanced the left hand veterans a little bit forward, whilst the phalanx of Spartans advanced 12 inches down the left flank, again maintaining 24 inch distance from the Wraiths (more creative dual tape-measuring). The CCS ordering the Vets to shoot the Command Barge with its Autocannon, knocking off a hull point. They then ordered themselves, allowing the Master of Ordnance blow the Barge clean out of the sky (scoring First Blood). Anrakyr was now on foot, but he was not wounded or pinned. The two artillery pieces failed to achieve anything of note.






Turn 2
The Night Scyth failed to arrive this turn, the Immortals on the right flank moved forward to join with Anrakyr, whilst the Annihilation Barge lined up the Manticore. The Wraiths advanced in the centre, keeping their distance from the Spartans, whilst the units and vehicles on the left also stood them off at 24 inches. The teleporting Immortals tried to land near the Colossus, but landed on something bad (a tank, some infantry, etc) and rolled “Misplaced” on the mishap table. As they could simple teleport again we just put them back in their deployment zone on some difficult terrain to induce dangerous terrain tests (our cunning ploy failed, as done died). On the left flank combined fire whittled down some Marines from the advancing Spartans, whilst the misplaced Immortals ran 1 inch to get out of the ringed deep strike formation. The Annihilation Barge on the right blew up the Manticore (taking down a Vet in the explosion), and after losing his ride Anrakyr launched his magic arrow at the Colossus, blowing it up.



The Vendetta/Blimp arrived and came tearing down the left flank to support the Spartans, meanwhile the Sang Guard landed behind the Ghost Ark, but scattered out of Inferno Pistol range. The Spartan phalanx advanced further down the flank and prepared to weather another turn of firepower. My left hand Veteran squad also moved to fire on the central Wraith squad whilst everything else held position. After rolling double 6 for my orders, the CCS fired on the Wraiths however the Master of Ordnance scattered 13 inches off target and landed perfectly on top of the misplaced Immortal Squad, killing two of them. The combined fire of the CCS Lascannon and the two Veteran Squads managed to knock a single wound off the front Wraith. The Vendetta Lascannons and the Spartan melta weaponry failed to achieve anything on the left flank.




Turn 3
The Night Scyth arrived and flew forward directly in front of the Vendetta (meaning that if it survived it would be forced to either fly past or revert to hover mode. The Gauss Immortals again deep struck, however this time they landed safely, and in the centre of the board the Wraiths and Destroyer Lord moved to intercept the Spartans. The left hand Tesla Immortals and Annihilation Barge fired on the Sang Guard, whilst the Ghost Ark swung around to broadside both the Sang Guard and the remaining Spartans. A flurry of ones marked the demise of the Sang Guard. The Annihilation Barge on the right flank fired on the CCS, causing five wounds; the Lascannon was insta-gibbed, a grunt died, and then my Master of Ordnance passed three consecutive 5+ saves (after which I may have “whooped”, since he is my favourite conversion in the army). My elation was short-lived as the deep striking Immortals fired on and killed the CCS survivors. The Night Scythe also knocked a hull point off the Vendetta. The Wraiths then charged into the Spartans, and in short order utterly destroyed the remnants of one of the Assault Squads.





Time was getting a little bit tight at this point so we agreed to finish the game at the end of the next (fourth) turn. My friend and opponents split into pairs to speed up the game. At my end the Vendetta/Blimp flew flat out into the far right corner past the objective. Back in our deployment zone the two Vet squads unleashed on the deep striking Immortals, killing five and causing them to flee out of our deployment zone. I missed the action with my friend’s Spartans, but my understanding is that the remaining Assault Squad, with attached Sang Priest and Librarian, melta-ed the Ghost Ark, then charged and killed the Warrior Squad which spilled out after it was destroyed.




Turn 4
Time was really running out now so we really had to speed things up. In our deployment zone the Cryptec and the three Immortals regrouped and fired on the left hand Vet squad killing one. The Night Scythe flew to our objective and then INVAAASSSSION BEAAAAMMMMEEEDDDD the five man squad in to take our objective. The flyer and Annihilation Barge fired on the rear Vet squad, killing then off, whilst the invasion squad killed another two Vets in the left squad (who saved their morale check). Simultaneously in the Spartan’s corner they were shot at by the Tesla Immortals and then charged by the Wraiths. In the ensuing combat the “standard” Assault Marines were all killed, except for the Sergeant (the last scoring model there), the Librarian (the warlord) and the Sang Priest (dishing out Feel No Pain). These three models passed a ridiculous amount of armour/Feel No Pain saves, before fleeing out of combat.



It turned out fleeing from the combat was incredibly lucky, because these three models (being Space Marines) regrouped, jumped over the nearby bunker and charged into the scoring Immortals on the nearby objective. The Immortals were wiped out with no losses, meaning the Spartans had taken the objective. On the other side of the Necron deployment zone the Engineer Veterans disembarked from the Vendetta/Blimp, which had swung around to face the Tesla Immortals which had run the previous turn to claim the objective. After launching flamers, shotguns, a demo charge and the Lascannons at the Immortals, six were knocked down allowing the Engineers to claim the objective. Back in our own deployment zone four surviving Veterans ran around the Necron Warriors and over the wrecked Manticore to contest our own objective.




Much to our surprise we managed to secure a victory in the first round. Moral victory goes to our opponents as we were being thrashed around pretty heavily by their army. If the game had continued we most likely would have lost the four Veterans contesting our objective and the last three Spartans. Regardless it was nice for our first game with our new armies to be a win, and it was an enjoyable game.


Whilst our opponents list was certainly not over the top, both of us felt that it was a much harder list than our own, so we were rather happy with the end result. Also it really felt as though the list was just an 1800 point army split in two (aside from the fact it was from one army collection), which I think was kind of against the whole point of a doubles tournament. That said they were very nicely painted and it was good to play against a new Codex.

Something really stood out to me in this game. Our opponents were intent on keeping their distance from our army and pre-measured everything to ensure their units were at risk from either shooting or charging. Pre-measuring is great, but I would argue that it lost our opponents the game. They were so intent of ensuring that it would be us and not them that moved into the “kill zone” that the momentum of their assault faultered. If they had been more aggressive (maybe sacrificing a unit or two - particularly as our ranged firepower wasn’t that harsh), then they would have easily been able to knock us out completely by the end of turn four. Granted they would have managed it by turn five, but I think by clinging too resolutely to maintaining control, and not taking risks (such as risking an unlikely 9-12 inch charge from the Blood Angles), we were able to snatch victory from their otherwise impressive game play.

[majorspeirs]

Game 2

Our second game was against Space Marines and Eldar. This is an approximate outline of their lists. I must note that I’m working off photos and memories a week after the fact, so I again apologise for any discrepancies.

Captain w/ Lightning Claw and Bike
3x Scout Bikers
5x Sniper Scouts w/ Missile Launcher
Tactical Squad w/ Plasmagun and Lascannon
Ironclad Dread w/ Drop Pod
Predator w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolters
Bastion w/ Quad Gun

Eldrad
10x Dire Avengers
10x Dire Avengers
10x Guardians w/ Warlock and Scatterlaser
5x Fire Dragons
Wraithlord w/ Scatter Laser

The mission was based around Santa Claus being shot down and crashing 8D6 from a random short edge. The objective of the game was to capture as many presents as possible from his shattered sleigh by getting as many scoring units within 5 inches of the crash site (I think it was 5 inches). The side with the most scoring units (not models, units) within this radius would win - there were no kill points and no secondary objectives.

Our opponents won the roll and deployed first, spreading out across their side of the board (more on that in a minute). We deployed second and focussed on protecting our artillery units from the Drop Podding Iron Clad. The Manticore was in the centre behind a bunker, with the CCS to its left, a Vet Squad in front on the bunker and the other Vets to the right. A full Assault Squad plus the Sang Priest and Librarian wrapped around these to the left. The Colossus was deployed on the far right flank with its exposed side wrapped by a combat Squad from the other Assault Squad and the Sang Guard behind it in the corner. The remaining Combat Squad was placed in reserve.



Due to Eldrad’s tricksy nature, some of the enemy was redeployed (hence why I’m covering them second). Running down the deployment zone, the Bastion was deployed about 20 inches from the left flank, with the Guardians and Eldrad inside and the Fire Dragons firing the Quad Gun on top. The Wraithlord and one unit of Dire Avengers were to its left, whilst a Tactical Combat Squad was to its right. On top of a bunker in the middle the remaining Marines with their Lascannon were deployed, with the second Dire Avenger unit to their right. On the far right flank were the Predator and the Bikers. The Scouts infiltrated off hard to our left to fire at the side armour of the Manticore.




Turn 1
We again failed to steal the initiative so our opponents commenced proceedings by landing the Ironclad Dreadnought on our right flank to Meltagun the Manticore. Most other units also advanced forward. The scout unit fired on the Manticore, knocking off a hull point and rolling a five to immobilise it, whilst the Dreadnaught missed when it fired its Meltagun at the same target. Combined firepower from a number of other sources also managed to shoot the CCS to pieces, with only the Commander himself surviving, and killed two Veterans on top of the Bunker.



The Combat Squad guarding the Colossus moved to intercept the Dreadnaught with their melta weaponry, and the nearby Veteran Squad shuffling right to open up more fields of fire. The full Assault Squad on the left and the Sang Guard on the right advanced forward to improve their threat-radii for future turns. The lonesome CCS Commander moved into the shadow of the bunker for a little bit of cover. In our shooting phase some Dire Avengers were taken out by our artillery, the Combat Squad Melta-ed the Dreadnought and the two Veteran Squads took out a Scout Biker.




Turn 2
Christmas would never be the same again. Rudolf made a grievous error by programming the GPS in Metric units whilst Santa’s directions were in Imperial units. As a result the Sleigh ventured into restricted airspace and was fired on by automated Hydra defence turrets. Santa’s chaff launchers fired, but instead of distributing a cloud of metal strips it sprayed out candy canes and rainbows. The rainbows caused the AA fire to veer, however instead of hitting the sleigh it cut through Rudolf, Blitzen and Donner, who each disappearing in a mist of blood and shrapnel. The Sleigh began to list lazily to the left, but this soon developed into a death spiral and plummeted to the earth. With Vixen, Comet and Cupid engulfed in flames, Santa pulled hard back on the reins allowing Dasher, Dancer and Prancer to arrest the dive and level out the stricken Sleigh. Unfortunately it was too late and their altitude was too low, as the Sleigh hit the ground at the middle of our right hand board edge and skidded a full 26 inches across the field. The last thing Santa saw was an oncoming thicket of trees, in which the sleigh rolled over and exploded into a million pieces. There were no survivors. Amidst the carnage Santa’s sack had ruptured, scattering presents everywhere within a 5 inch radius of the impact site. Both armies engaged on the field promptly ignored all previous objectives and made their immediate priority to capture as many presents as possible.




The Eldar and Marine infantry continued to advance into the mid field and again opened fire on our units. A significant volume of firepower was directed into the Assault Marines on the left flank, however a truly ridiculous amount of armour/feel no pain saves were passed and only a couple fell. On the other side of the field the Bike Captain split off from the Scout Bikes so each could respectively assault the Combat Squad and Vet Squad on that flank. With each target 6-7 inches away, this was a reasonable prospect, however both failed to make it into either assault. To add insult to injury the Veterans managed to kill the two Scout Bikers with overwatching Lasguns.



The Vendetta arrived from reserve hovering on six inches as far right as it possibly could, keeping out of range of the Quad Gun. The Sang Guard moved to assault the Predator and the Combat squad moved to Melta the Bike Captain with two Meltaguns and an Inferno Pistol. They failed, meaning the Veterans were forced to take him down in a fusillade of Plasma and Lasgun rounds. The artillery fired into the right hand Dire Avengers taking half their number down, whilst the Vets in the bunker killed the last two members of the forward Tactical Marine Combat Squad. The only mission of the Assault Squad on the left flank was now to tie up as much opposition for as long as possible. The Librarian split off to take down the four remaining Scouts, whilst the Sang Priest and Assault Squad moved to intercept the Dire Avengers. Between overwatch and the Eldar’s higher initiative the Assault Squad drew combat with some casualties, while the Librarian fluffed all his attacks against the Scouts. The Sang Guard managed to destroy the Predator.




Turn 3
Turn three began with Eldrad and the Guardians disembarking from the Bastion and the four Dire Avengers on the right moving towards the objective. The Lascannon in the Tactical Combat Squad knocked a hull point off the Vendetta, while the Fire Dragon Exarch on the Bastion levelled the Quad Gun at the Colossus and blew it up in a cloud of smoke. The Librarian, despite all his cunning, guile and Jedi mind tricks again failed to achieve anything in his dual with the Scouts. Meanwhile the Wraithlord sauntered into combat to aid the Dire Avengers, but whiffed all of his attacks; the combat was again a draw.



The remaining Assault Marine Combat Squad arrived from reserve and landed in the woods next to the objective, while the Sang Guard leapt over a rocky outcrop to intercept the four Dire Avengers. The Vendetta hovered forward another six inches and disembarked the Engineer Veterans who began running towards Santa’s Sleigh. At the same time the CCS Commander ran out into the open and shouted orders at the two other Veteran units to also converge on the objective. The Manticore opened up on the Guardians who had just disembarked from the Bastion, taking down five of their number with three spot on templates. The Librarian continued to enjoy high tea with the Scouts, whilst the Assault Marines were further whittled down by the Dire Avengers and Wraithlord; both held their ground. The Sang Guard assaulted into the Dire Avengers, losing two of their number to overwatch and the higher initiative of their foes, before failing to kill any of them in combat.




Turn 4
Like the first game severe time constraints meant this would be the final turn of the game. On the right flank the Librarian was cooking a three course meal for the Scouts, whilst the Assault Marines were finally squished by the Wraithlord. In the middle the Fire Dragons fired on one of the Veteran Squads to invoke a leadership test, but the squad passed. Eldrad with the Guardians and the remaining members of the Tactical Combat Squad threw themselves into combat with the Sang Guard to rapidly close the distance to the objective. Despite the flurry of attacks the three Sang Guard emerged unscathed and were able to cut down one or two Dire Avengers. At this point Eldrad received an urgent message through the Webway and decided he had somewhere urgent to be, so fled from combat with the Guardians in toe.



The lonesome CCS Commander again shouted orders, and the two Veteran squads consolidated around the objective. The Engineer Vets also managed to achieve the long run roll required to get them within 5 inches of the objective as well. Due to time constraints we only bothered running the Sang Guard combat, which again ended in stalemate.




The game ended as a second victory, as we had four scoring units within range of Santa’s Sleigh to our opponents two. Overall it was a fun and interesting game.

We tried to keep ourselves focussed on achieving the objective of the mission and not getting carried away, and in the end it paid off. If the objective had landed in the same spot on the other flank (i.e. in front of the Bastion) it would have been a very different game, as we would not have been able to ignore either the Bastion and its contents or the Wraithlord.

[Deleted]

Two victories for your two first games is pretty solid.

[majorspeirs]

Yes Ivory, we were surprised at how well we were doing - it didn't last though, as you will see below....


Game 3
After winning our first two games we were a little surprised when we found ourselves on Table 2. We are rather new to the tournament scene so recognised it might be a tough round. We certainly weren’t wrong as we came up against Rick and John of the “Legendary Muthafukkas” (their team name) with their Grey Knights and Sisters of Battle. Again I’m working off memories and photos a week after the game, so I apologise for any inaccuracies.

Inquisitor Coteaz
5-6 Henchmen (basically a Psyker Battle Squad)
10x Grey Knight Strike Squad
10x Grey Knight Strike Squad
Psyrifleman Dreadnaught
Psyrifleman Dreadnaught
Aegis Defence Line with Quad Gun

Saint Celestine
10x Sisters of Battle
10x Sisters of Battle
5 Dominions in Immolator
6 Retibutors with 4x Heavy Bolters
Exorcist

Deployment was Vanguard Strike (diagonal) and the mission was Victory Points with Linebreaker, First Blood and a modified Slay the Warlord. If you killed one contingent’s warlord you scored 2 VPs but if you killed the warlord from both contingents you would gain 5 VPs.

We won the roll of and elected to go first (yay!) so we hunkered up in our corner planning to lob artillery shells and play a defensive game. The two Vet Squads were placed in a ruined building, with the two artillery pieces behind and the CCS further back in the corner. Due to a lack of large templates in the enemy army all of the Spartans again deployed in a large phalanx to the left of the building, ready to hold off any offensives in the midfield.



Our opponents deployed their defence line parallel to our lines with the Quad Gun on the far left flank (our left). One Sisters squad was deployed on the table edge to man the gun, and the other one along the same edge deeper into their deployment zone. The Retributors and Henchmen Psykers deployed in their central building for decent fields of fire. One Psyrifleman Dreadnought was deployed as far left as possible, whilst the Exorcist was deployed far off on the opposite end of the board. The second Dread, the Dominions, the two Strike Squads and Saint Celestine were held in reserve.




Turn 1
Things were looking good until our opponents stole the initiative; from here things kind of went downhill. They proceeded to hit the Colossus with six missiles from the Exorcist, penetrating it four times and killing some Vets in the explosion. The Psyrifleman also moved a little to the left and destroyed the Manticore in a fusillade of fire.



Oh dear, there goes our game plan. The Spartan phalanx advanced directly across the board, now required to hunt down some kill points, whilst the Guard units sat tight. The highlight of my game came from the Master of Ordnance calling in an artillery strike and blowing the Exorcist into a thousand pieces.


Turn 2
Of the many enemy reserves the only one to arrive was St Celestine who landed next to the CCS. She promptly flamed the heck out of them, killing everybody bar the Commander. The enemy units then unleashed on the Spartans, killing four Assault Marines. The Dread then charged into an assault with the damaged squad which lasted the rest of the game.



The Vendetta arrived and zoomed 36 inches straight towards the building in the centre of the enemy deployment. Unfortunately the plucky little Sister on the Quad Gun managed to intercept it and knock off two hull points and a Lascannon. The Spartans made for the defence lines with the Assault Marines preparing to charge and the Sang Guard prepared for incoming reserve units. The Veterans unleashed on St Celestine, who disappeared in a flare of Plasma. The Vendetta fried two Psykers from the Henchman unit (meaning their blast as no longer AP2 or 3). The Assault Marines charged, however the distance was long and damage was limited by the low number of Sisters who could get into combat.








Turn 3
The Strike Squads again failed to arrive from reserve, however the second Psyrifleman strolled on and blew the Vendetta clean out of the sky. My intended target had been the lonesome Coteaz hiding behind the centre building and I nearly succeeded in killing him, as the crashing Blimp landed directly on top of him. I needed anything but a one to wound and insta-gib him, and surprise surprise I rolled a one. I was so disappointed as it would have been the coolest way to kill him. All bar two Vets were killed in the blast but they were promptly gunned down. St Celestine rose from the dead (it’s a miracle!!), then flamed and assaulted one of the Vet Squads. Meanwhile the Dominions arrived and with the Retributor’s Heavy Bolters managed to kill the Sang Guard unit. Combat continued between the Assault Marines and the Sisters but was unresolved.



Things were looking a little grim at this point. The remaining Vets again unleashed on the newly resurrected St Celestine; she suffered two wounds but her invulnerable save protected her from the strength 7 Plasma. Meanwhile the Assault Squad remained locked in combat with the Dread, and the other Assault Squad finally killed the Sisters Squad.



Turn 4
Like the two previous games we were required to make the fourth turn the last due to limited time. Both Grey Knight Strike Squads arrived, and with the unengaged Dread and the Retributors they killed a few more Assault Marines. St Celestine, with her one wound, flamed the CCS Commander taking off a wound. She charged into combat and in what could have been the second coolest moment of the game (after crashing a blimp into Coteaz) he wounded her with his overwatching Laspistol. To the disappointment of all sides she passed her armour save and proceeded to cause 3-4 wounds in combat. Surprisingly the Commander’s Refractor Field saved him from the brunt of the attacks and he only suffered a single additional wound.



The unengaged Assault Marines attempted to gain some kill points by tackling both the Retributors and the remaining Henchmen Psykers. For memory the Retributors fled out of combat and the Psykers were cut down. Meanwhile the last Veteran Squad clambered down the side of the building and charged into combat with St Celestine to aid the Commander. They were too late and he was cut down.






The game ended there, and as you can see we had our arses handed to us. Full credit goes to Rick and John because even though they were in control every step of the way, they made the game both fun and interesting.



After the two wins and a crushing defeat we placed 12 out of the 30 teams, which we were immensely pleased with. The team tournament format was great fun and we will definitely be partaking again next year.

Thank you to those who read everything, as it took a ridiculous amount of time to write. To those who just looked at the pretty pictures, I hope you liked them (I’m guilty of doing it too).