Novakane
Initiate
(5/12/02 5:08:55 pm)
Tourney report #1,kinda long.

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Hello all,
Brother Edward suggested i write a report on my tournament experiences for fame and fun so here is my first of three.
Quick background on me, i played this great game years ago way back in 2nd edition ( i think it was about 7-8 years ago), but quit after only playing for a year.I stopped playing after i finished my ultramarine army, and while its not as beautiful as B.A.B.E.'s, it is very nicely painted and was then and is now the best looking army in my region.(My local gameshop stopped giving awards for best painted army after i won 2 months straight, hehe.) I am proud of my army, my paintjobs, and to a lesser extent my tactical ability.In the interest of helping others learn much as i have learned from others, i am posting these reports.
Keep in mind when reading these reports, you will notice rules errors.Our shop is not an official games workshop store, and our tournaments are not Rogue trader affairs.The shop manager tries to officiate fairly and does a good job overall, but we do have certain "house rules" which are completely unfounded in GW products.

Tourney day
1500 pt tourney, played on 4' by 6' tables, each player will play 3 games total, each game will last an hour and a half OR for 6 turns whichever comes first,Deep Strike and Infiltrators are allowed, nothing which requires opponents consent is allowed(special chars etc),all armies must show signs of "a work in progress" i.e. if you have unpainted miniatures you will be gently reminded that each tourney your expected to have more models finished, and finally everything that is not W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G. must be declared BEFORE the game starts and fully explained to avoid any confusion.

My Ultramarines for this tourney was very shooty, its been 4 months now but ill post what i remember:

HQ=Commander with P.pistol and force weapon,jump pack,Iron halo , who leads-
FA= 7 Man Assault Squad equipped normally(2 p.pistols, vet sergeant p.pistol and power fist) remember i am vanilla, power weapons are not as good for me as you B.A.s, i dont get 1 str on the charge
H.S.=2 7 man Dev squads,5 missile launchers,2 lascannons, 1 plasma cannon
F.A.= Attack bike w/ multimelta
Troops=2 7 man tactical squads with Heavy bolters and plasma guns( i have since gotten more tactical marines painted up to increase my options here!)
Elites=6 man tactical terminator squad w/2 assault cannons and 2 armed with chainfists
Dont remember any more of the list but thats really close

Game 1 vs. codex eldar and a durn fine eldar player
This was a disaster for me so ill be very brief
We deployed with great fields of fire, and i failed to deploy much of my troops in cover, a mistake i soon regretted.
I got turn 1 and after having read so much about Wraithlords i concentrated my considerable firepower on his 1 Wraithlord and the Wraithguard surrounding it.Not surprisingly i eliminated both the guard and the lord.Other than that i moved closer and was done.
His turn one was brutal for me.A guardian squad shot and killed my attack bike despite its 5 toughness and 2 save.2 of my termies were killed,then he shot and wiped out 1 of my tactical squads, and half of the devastator squad behind the tactical squad. My assault squad lost 3 of its members to firing, then were assaulted by Howling banshees.He won combat(barely) i failed my leadership test (despite having the commander present), i fell back he swept into them and the turn was done.
Turn 2 i saw just how bad things were as now my devastators were out of range of anything in his army worth shooting Lascannons and a plasma cannon at.So i shot guardians with little effect.(He keep making the 5 cover save given him by the power conceal)
My remaining termies advanced towards the deadly dark reapers, and my remaining tactical squad moved forward to try to block LOS to my dev squads.The termies killed nothing as they were out of range to the DR.This brought us to the assault stage.I managed to lose combat again,my commander and 2 more marines were killed,once again i failed leadership and fell back and once again he swept into me.(How i failed to roll higher than he when i was rolling 3 dice to his 2, for the SECOND time in a row i dont know!)
At this point i mentally gave up.I had lost so much and was winning in no sector of the board.My dice were not rolling well and i was completely out classed by my opponent.
His turn he put the nail in the coffin by shooting my remaining termies with everything left in his army.(Some kind of a vehicle i dont remember but it shot alot, all of his guardians, all of the D.R. with the fast shot exarch.)
The termies died.
During assault my marines died no surpise there.
He swept into the tactical squad and i just started grinning expecting some revenge on my shooting phase.
My Turn
I shot the sweeping Howling banshees with everything i had left.(The half str tactical squad,and both dev squads).
So your thinking they all died right?
Wrong.
I learned why you dont shoot blast markers into a unit that sweeps into one of yours.
5 of his Banshees survived my torrent of fire due to some great rolling by him and some typical rolling by myself.
During assault all of my tactical guys died.
Thankfully the match was ended here due to time.
I got over 200 pts for killing the WL and WG,He got alot more and i learned alot.

Game 2
Still smarting from my smashing start, i now faced a Vanilla Chaos army.
This guys army was so badly painted, and used figures from other GW products that in my defense i was unable to identify what posed a threat to me.(This is a common problem with SOME of our younger players that don't want to take the time to do the basics- paint and assemble your models that is.)
He did have a strong Assault theme to his army as i remember.
Highlights in this game were very few as i was not enjoying the game due to his playstyle.He was the type of gamer we dont like to meet, the kind of guy that is always moving his units that extra inch just so he can make it into assault with you, the kind that is quick to point out rules that are to his advantage but never says a word when you err in his favor.
Turn 1 he moves towards me with a Land Raider and 2 Rhinos plus a foot slogging tactical troop.
Turn 1 i Blow away 1 rhino and shoot the occupants with the rest of my army killing a 3 or 4 out of 10.
Turn 2 he assaults my termies with his termies from the land raider, assaults my tactical squads(both) with his guys from the other rhino.
My termies win close combat, his super loaded commander wins the other combat for him and both of my tactical squads or whats left of them fall back.
On my turn i assault his possessed which were in the rhino i blew up on turn 1.My assault squad and commander do very well considering he got the "vorpal blades/claws" ability and the combat is a draw.
My termies and his termies wipe each other out with powerfists, something i have seen happen several times since then.My dev squads shoot and kill most of what was in his commanders squad.I feel im doing quite well here.
His turn he assaults my dev squad with his commander and surviving squad members, his possesed and my assault squad kill most of each other, i lose combat but refuse to fall back.
On his turn he assaults my commander and the 1 assault marine left with his footsloggers, they combined with the possessed kill my boys, my dev squad is wiped out by his commander, and the game ends due to time.
I actually thought i had a chance to win this one, but my ignorance of some of the rules allowed me to be exploited.Still i remember it was close, he won by a few points(80-90 cant remember exactly).
At this point i remembered my attack bike still sitting in my carrying case and laughed, more inexperience for you.

Game 3
This was the best.Not only did i win but i played vs. salamanders and a very nice player.Funny thing was i did notice him using a special char but since he was kewl i didnt say anything.(And i was in control from the beginning).
Turn 1 he shot me with a vindicator?It didn't hit and i destroyed it on turn 2 so im not sure what it does.
He shot me with 10 scouts, and my assault squad passed a LD test to avoid being pinned.He shot me with both of his Dreads to little effect.He then moved his rhino up and shot smoke.
My turn 1 was a real doozy(sic?)
I blew up his tank, immobilized both of his dreads and his rhino,shot and killed half of his scouts.Then i assaulted his scouts with my spiffy assault squad destroying them to a man!Not understanding the sweeping advance rules i swept into his immobilized dread.(I think he knew i couldnt do this but let me thinking he would win CC next turn).
His turn he rolled for his termies that were deep striking, they came in and he used a teleport homer on his chaplain that was standing beside the smoking ruin of that lone rhino.He shot my termies with one of his dreads to decent effect killing 2 of them.The other dread shot my assault squad full of holes killing 4 guys.
HIs chaplain and the tac squad with him assaulted my tactical squad, which his termies had just softened up.
I lost both combats but my assault boys did destroy all of the dreads weapons.(I love powerfists)
My next turn was a game winner.My termies shot and then assaulted the other dread(immobilized)
My 2 dev squads shot and killed all of his termies.My assault squad or what was left of it(powerfisted serg and my commander )finally blew up dread #2.
I lost the combat his chaplain was in and the rest of my tactical squad was killed.He unwisely swept into the dev squads.As you will shortly see.
His turn we had nothing but assaults.My termies wiped out his poor remaining dreadnought.
Then my dev boys did something nobody expected.They won close combat!How? i dont remember the exact wounds inflicted by both sides but i do remember hitting alot with"rock throwing attacks" and him failing alot of saves.His guys fell back right into my attack bike and the game was over.

What i learned from these games was:
My army composition was horrible, i was trying to take a balanced force capable of dealing with every type of threat and i couldnt win any specific confrontation.I couldnt outshoot the eldar, i couldnt outfight the chaos army and i only won vs. the last guy because his composition was even worse than mine.
I also learned that you MUST know the rules to play this game.You cant defend yourself from unfairness, either honest mistakes or blatant rules bending, if you dont know the rules.
And finally i learned i needed tactical help which i decided to get from these boards.
It improved my game 100%,( since that tourney i have only lost 2 games both in tourney play and outside friendly games).
I hope something in this very long winded report will help someone.
~ Novakane
May 2002