Genghis Con 2011

I traveled up to Denver this month for Genghis Con and competed in the 40k tournament run by the Fort Collins War Party.  I want to thank Tony (Baron Tuman), the TO, for running a great event!  This is the second time I’ve driven 12+ hours in a weekend for a 40k event in Colorado and really enjoyed myself.  The 40k players in Colorado continue to impress me and I look forward to my next trip up there.

Four of my five games were really good and deserve a fleshed out analysis, but that would make for an extremely long post and I already tend to be long winded.  So instead, I’ll hit a couple points in each game and spend more time evaluating my list.

Here’s a link to the tournament scenarios.

Game One – Orks

My first game was against Orks played by Andy.  This game makes 2 games against Orks in as many weeks, and also accounts for my overall experience against Orks since my return to 40k almost 2 years ago.  His army consisted of Ghazgkull, Mekboy with KFF, Mega Nobs, 4 Mobs of Boyz, 3 Battle Wagons, 2 Trucks, a unit of Killa Kans, and Kommandos with Snikrot.  My list for the tournament was as follows:

My game plan was decent and was similar to that from my previous post about fighting Blood Angels.  I deployed a few units on the board in order to occupy my opponent and hopefully reduce his mobility.  The remainder would come on from reserve.  While Andy rolled solidly above average for his KFF saving throws, he also gave himself the chance (an important concept in 40k) for good luck by remaining disciplined throughout the game in keep units within 6″ of the Mekboy’s battlewagon.

My first wave of reserves arrived and drove onto my left corner as per my plan.  Here I learned out quickly Orks can sometimes move.  Two battlewagons had been destroyed (which included Ghazgkull’s, but not the Mekboy’s) but the Trucks were still alive.  Both moved 12″ towards the newly arrived reserves, the Boyz dismounted, used Ghazgkull’s Waaagh, and assaulted.  That’s a 27″ move to assault.  I was impressed!

The last of my reserves arrived on Turn 3 and I used them poorly.  They included a Typhoon and the Emperor’s Champion, Crusader Squad, and Rhino.  In an effort to try to kill Ghazgkull I placed these units near the center of the board, not in my left corner.  Each unit would die and earned 1 KP in return.  In hindsight, I should have placed all these units in the corner with the first wave of reserves.  Though I wouldn’t have been able to kill Ghazgkull, I would have given myself a better chance at overall victory.  The game ended in a loss, 5 KP to Andy’s 12 KP.  Minus the 4 misused-KP, that’s 8-5.  It was a damn good game and only fell apart when I ventured away from my game plan.  Andy was a great opponent and would go on to win Best Overall.  Congratulations Andy!

Game Two – Tyranids

Derrick was my opponent’s name, IIRC, and he wasn’t a very good player.  The only copy of his list must have been turned into the TO because he didn’t have one to show me.  He also mumbled and I couldn’t understand him in a room with 70+ people.  At least this game was a rout and I earned the maximum battle points, 54.

He had a battle force list with a Hive Tyrant, Trygon, Tervigon, 2 Carnifexes, Tyranid Warriors, Gargoyles, Genestealers, and a Termagaunts.  I had the firepower to handle his list, and on top of that, I used the terrain and he didn’t.  The EC and Crusader Squad took his objective, and I held mine.  His only KP would come from Genestealers assaulting a Vindicator.  The only highlight of the game was an assault by the Venerable Dread against his Trygon which deep struck near my objective and had 2 wounds remaining after my shooting.  The Trygon penetrated the Venerable before I could strike but after a reroll the Venerable was only shaken and finished off the Trygon.

Game Three – Space Wolves

Chris was my opponent’s name and the scenario was Victory Points.  He had a solid Space Wolves list with 2 Runepriests, 4 Grey Hunter squads with Wolf Guard in Rhinos, 3 units of Long Fangs (3 missile launchers, 2 lascannons each), and a single Razorback.  He won the roll off and I wasn’t able to steal the initiative.  His first turn shooting hurt as he was able to destroy half of my heavy weapons.  I did my best to use terrain and what firepower I had left, but I fully expected him to play defensively for the easy win.  However he didn’t and on Turn 3 he advanced towards me with Grey Hunters in Rhinos.  We talked after the game and he thought that I was going to hide behind a castle-looking piece of terrain in the center of the board, so he came after me.  Doing so gave me a chance at victory.

The game was close and came down to Turn 6.  He was finally able to destroy both Vindicators and another Laserback (a total of 440 points) which solidified his victory despite the fact that I had more KPs than him.  More on my list later, but Victory Points is probably the worst possible scenario for me.

In Albuquerque we don’t have any Space Wolf players (crazy huh?), so this was my first battle against triple Long Fangs.  I wasn’t as impressed with their firepower as I expected to be, and I look forward to fighting similar lists in the future.

Game Four – Blood Angels

Shane was my opponent’s name and the scenario was Seize Ground.  He had a dual Redeemers with 4 Assault Squads, 2 Priests, 2 Librarians, 2 Razorbacks, 2 assault cannon Baals, and a Typhoon.  Dual Raider lists were something I expect to have trouble with, so I was looking forward to seeing how my list would actually do.  I chose to go first in the hopes of immobilizing or wrecking his vehicles, especially those Redeemers, on his side of the board.  In hind sight, considering his list and the mission, going second would have been better.

Shane would hold the mid-ground for most of the game as well as my left flank.  I focused on the right flank where I planned to claim objectives.  I think Shane lost sight of the mission when the action started to heat up.  Had he used his Troops more effectively, he could have won this game solidly.  However, he was also faced with the downside of dual Raider lists (fewer Troops) which is compounded by putting Troop choices inside Landraiders.  To play offensively, he’d have to dedicate the two Troops inside the Landraiders to combat me, which left 2 Troops against my 5 Troops to capture objectives.  Add to that the Emperor’s Champion who dismounted by himself, assaulted through dangerous terrain, killed a Priest and a Librarian, and held in close combat 2 Assault Squads.

On Turn 6 I claimed 3 objectives and my opponent claimed 2, however my opponent’s Typhoon was still alive despite my efforts and was able to contest one of my objectives.  The game ended in a Draw.

Game Five – Tyranids

The scenario for game five was Spearhead with a single objective in the center of the table.  My opponent, who’s name I can’t remember, was fielding a flying Hive Tyrant, 2 Trygons, Hive Guard, Tervigon, Genestealers, Doom of Malantai, Terma and Hormagaunts.

This battle was a bloody slugfest, as should be expected with a single objective.  KP were heavy on both sides.  I did my best to maneuver, but the terrain and scenario didn’t allow for much.  The game ended in a very close Draw.  Had a meltagunner survived three hormagaunt wounds the game would have been mine.

My only complaint about this game was my opponent.  It’s the fifth game in two days and we’re all tired, but zoning out and putting into their case 13 termagaunts in the middle of a timed game is ridiculous!  However, with a little prodding we were able to get through turn 5.

Summary

This post is long enough, so I’ll critique my list on another one.  Otherwise to summarize this tournament, beyond the g’job to FC War Party, is to say:  Know your enemies!  I played fairly well and have a good handle on Black Templar capabilities and rules, but I don’t have that same understanding of other armies.  That could have made a difference at this tourney.  So that’s what I need to do.  Study and put Vassal to good use.

~ by BigDunc on February 26, 2011.