Sunday, October 21, 2012

Boltgun roundup

Well another spectacular tournament for Boltgun Battles this year. I didn't do as well as I had hoped on the battle front, but as ALWAYS I had a great time at this event. Right up front, thanks to all who helped make it run as smoothly and efficiently as it did.

We played 3 games with a streamlined 6th edition set up. We were allowed the following:

2000 point armies
No allies, no dual force org charts
Imperial armor unit ARE allowed as long as you have the model and the book
No super heavies or gargantuan creatures
Holy Crap the prizes!!!!! and yes, that is a warlord titan!

I took my Heresy era Thousand Sons. My list looked like this.

Ahriman

2x 9 1k sons
9 1k sons with rhino w/ex armor
2x 20 cultists with 2 stubbers
10 cultists with 2 flamers
Storm eagle
2x heldrake with baleflamer
2 obliterators

Round 1
 Pirmary
3 objectives worth 3 VP each, and kill points
Secondary
First Blood, Linebreaker, and Warlord

I played Paul Elswick and his imperial marines. His list was three scout squads, two tactical squads, a contemptor mortis dred, and two ironclads in lucius drop pods. All backed by a caestus assault ram carrying tigurius and a chaplain along with 8 assault terminators.

At the end of the game the only things left on his side were the terminators and the caestus, but his warlord role made his warlord scoring. So he was sitting on one objective that put him up by three points. He also had Ahriman killed and was in my deployment zone. Essentially that ram wrecked my day!
Two things happened here that could have turned this to a win. The first thing was Ahriman not using invisibility in turn one. That could have saved him, and helped down the drednought that killed him. Also the sorceror in that same combat turned himself into a spawn with his Boon of mutation role.... Right at the end of the game, I had didn't drop my small cultist unit out of the stormeagle. That could have brought three more points and a draw right there....(my tray was under the table, and I had totally forgotten the unit) Sigh....
Result LOSS

Round 2
Primary Kill points
Secondary
First Blood, Line-breaker, and Warlord

I played Pete Brown and his Marines here. Pete was on the receiving end of a dice swing in my favor.
I needed 3 5s to live...


This game was a perfect storm of luck, good dice, and brutal fire zones. He lost both his veteran squads, his warlord, his quad-gun, and 2 other squads by turn 2....End of game saw me with an 11 to 3 win.
Result WIN

Round 3
Primary
2 Objectives, one in each deployment zone
Secondary
First Blood, Line-breaker, and Warlord

I played John Cocomelli and his gorgeous Tau army. Now John, I just know I butchered your last name so up front I'm sorry man! John can't get enough kudos from me for his list design. He used Forgeworld units mixed with fire warriors to make a list the was really crippling to just about anything. Unfortunately it was a bad match up for both of us, and the mission turn two shooting armies into a couple of turtles. He both sat on out hidden objectives and sniped at each other. The first one to stick his head up would get it shot off....(me) sigh. John got first blood which meant I had to kill his warlord while protecting mine. He knew it so he hid his general in a corner behind some terrain. I still managed to kill the guys pods and take 3 of his 4 wounds before he killed my flyers. And with them gone, my hopes of a draw. Awesome, tense battle, but the mission was crippling for both of us.

Result LOSS

 There were quite a few good looking armies there. Here are a few of the games I got to see a bit of.
red grey knights...man I wanted to play this army!

Parker Gibson played the army he won last year!


So I ended up 1-2, but I had 3 great games. People seemed to notice all the little conversions in my army. I think the 30k cool factor played some hand in it as well.  I wasn't done, and I will take time to finish the army properly now, but I won best appearance! WOW

This award is player chosen by the players as well as judging so thanks to all who voted for me, that feels really good, and is a HUGE reward for all the hard work I have in the army so far. With allies allowed next year the list should come into its own and shine! Here is the planned list:


Ahriman
9 1k sons
2x 9 1k sons with rhino
30 cultists with 2 flamers
Storm eagle
2x heldrake with baleflamer
2 obliterators
Tzeentch Herald with bolt on a chariot
10 horrors with the changeling and bolt
4 flamers


So how did you all do and what did you think of Boltgun this year?

Friday, October 19, 2012

Boltgun Battles

Well Boltgun Battles is tomorrow, and I have 2 models left to finish for it....will it happen? LOL I doubt it! I am going, but those last two sad panda models will likely only be half painted. I  plan to stay up late tonight to work on them, but the odds are stacked.

I'm taking chaos, so those last two models have only been in my posession for 2 weeks. NOT enough time for centerpiece models like these. I wish I had a couple more days to work on them, but c'est la vie.

In any case this will be the tournament debut of my Heresy Era Thousand Sons army. I plan to make further refinements to the list but for now this beast is doing about as well as I expect. Boltgun Battles is one of the highlights of the local tournament scene, and it sold out in record time this year!

I ALWAYS have 3 great games at Boltgun so this should be a ball. I will post my list and army pics for critique after the event tomorrow. I am interested to see what people think of my list, both as it is and with a few changes.

Wish me luck!