Hey everyone, sorry for the delay, but I am on vacation and can only take an hour here and there to get work stuff done. But, I wanted to get this down while it was fresh in my mind.
So, the Golden Throne GT was a 3 day table top gaming event, running Friday through Sunday, August 2-4.
The event featured several events but the main show was the 40K GT. This event was unique in that it used the much feared but seldom tried double force org, Forge World allowed format. Basically pretty close to an anything goes type of event. A lot of folks online feared that this would create a broken or unfun format but tht turned out to be all hype. The event was a ton of fun and the format was fine. In fact, of the finalists, almost no one had double force org or Forge World. Once again, it’s the player and not the list that carry the day.
Anyway, I can’t bang this entire report out in one day as I am on vacation and want to relax and my girlfriend will rabbit punch me if I spend too much time geeking out while we are away form everything! haha
I will start with my list as that is the part of this that I think a lot of folks are curious about as I took a wonky list. I will then follow up with a report on day 1 and then on day 2 as I played some really nasty lists and good players.
Those are the boys! The cream colored, Native American themed marines are my Space Wolves. The Imperial Fists are Oscar’s marines, and they are beautifully painted.
So, here is the list:
HQ:
Librarian: Gate, Null Zone
Lysander: Beat Stick and Boss Status
Rune Priest: Jaws and Storm Caller
Elites:
Sternguard x 10
Ironclad Dread: Melta, H.Flamer, Grenades
TH/SS Termies x 5
Fast:
Dread Drop Pod
Troops:
Scouts x 5: P.Axe
Scouts x 5: T.Homer
Grey Hunters x 9: P.Axe, Flamer, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod
Grey hunters x 5: Flamer
Razorback
Heavy:
Long Fangs x 6: M.Launchers x 5
Land Raider Crusader: M.Melta
2,000pts and a toolbox with a little bit of everything!
So, the list looks really weird and unfocused, but it is actually very carefully constructed. Each unit serves a specific purpose and the list is designed to function as a team which is why a lot of the individual units look crappy.
We’ll start with HQ. The Space Marine Librarian was my first choice. Why? Null Zone. Null Zone is a game winning power and it in fact won me the game twice. It is SO good for a few reasons. 1, it targets the psyker so enemy units don’t get to deny the witch. 2, as an aura ability it works inside a vehicle. 3, for armies that rely on invul saves, it is devastating. Eldar, Daemons, Tau to a lesser extent, Dark Eldar, Hell Turkeys, it royally owns all of them. Gate is also a game winning power and I have always played it as counting as teleporting as and such works with a teleport homer, however it sounds like some folks don’t read it that way. Either way, the ability to teleport across the table to threaten a flank, shore up a weakened flank of my own, contest or take an objective is game winning.
My Second choice was a Rune Priest for obvious reasons. The Runic Staff is retardedly powerful in 6th,and Jaws is straight up broken. Tau, Orks, Nids, all fear and hate Jaws for good reason. Plus the ability to take Divination, too? Wow. The Rune Priest is pretty much OP right now, honestly, and for 100pts I struggle to see a better HQ.
Lysander was my 3rd choice as I have found in this edition you really need something to fight all of the big nasty units that are everywhere. Daemon Princes, MCs, FMCs, monstrous infantry, etc. etc. Lysander cam take them all on with good odds of beating them down. Backed up with Null Zone and the Runic Staff, he can go into guys like Blood Thirster, Abby and Draigo and kick their ass. Plus, he gives the Sternguard Bolter Drill which makes them devastating. Space Marine Drop Pods also hold 12 (for now) which means I could drop him in with the Sternguard if I wanted to and make them such a big threat in the backfield with twin linked magic bullets and a tank to soak wounds who would also beat the pants off of anything in combat. Alternatively, I could also put him with the Termies in the Land Raider if I needed a true hammer unit.
Elites was my heavy hitters. The Sternguard are amazing. Expensive (I think they should be more around the 21-23 point mark, personally) but when they’re good, they’re amazing. In a pod, I could drop them anywhere I needed them and with Lysander as stated, for even more punch. These guys just punish infantry of all types, can ignore cover, armor, 2+ to wound, etc. With all of the crazy high toughness duders floating around, or 2+ reroll cover saves, etc. Sternguard provide a solid answer. Plus, they are no slouches in combat. They with Lysander were routinely my most potent offensive unit.
The Hammernators are the only Termies I still have faith in in 6th. They are capable of going into almost anything and smashing them, particularly when backed up by Null Zone and/or Lysander. The only way to run them, IMO, is in a LRC as it gives them the reach to actually get where you need them when you need them. These boys were smacking around all kinds of big nasty monsters and such the entire tournament, and wreck vehicles, too. Things like Broadsides and Crisis Suits particularly fear them.
The ironclad in a Dreadnaught Drop Pod was my gut punch unit. The Dreadnaught Drop Pod allows you to assault after the drop pod comes in. However, you must take a dangerous terrain test if you attempt the assault, rolling a 1 results in becoming immobilized. The Ironclad though, is the only Imperial Walker I am aware of that has Move Through Cover, meaning that it auto passes the test! That plus offensive and defensive grenades, AV13 and a H.Flamer and Melta make him a great multi-functional threat. Expensive for the combo, but when it works, it is amazing.
For Troops, I went with Assault Scouts for my marines. I like Tacs a lot, but I needed room for the fun stuff and Scouts are actually really good. They have ATSKNF, and a million deployment options which is good for a scoring unit. I can infiltrate if I need to, outflank, go in the Land Raider to stay safe, etc. One unit has the Teleport Homer is I needed to Gate around (again, I read it as working with Gate) the other had a Power Axe as Scouts actually do fine at beating up a lot of the wimpy backfield units like Firewarriors, Cultists, Guardians, etc. and WS3 isn’t nearly as annoying as BS3. The Axe actually never came in handy, i would have been way better off with another Teleport Homer or Melta Bombs or nothing at all.
The Grey Hunters need little explanation. They rock. The 5 man unit was there as Mech is coming back and the speed, and modest firepower really help a lot It also gave me a place to hide the Rune Priest to deploy if I wanted him on the board but out of LoS. The 9 man unit in the pod was my main “go out and get the objective” unit. Grey Hunters were made for a Drop Pod. They also gave me the magic number 3 of pods so I could drop 2 turn 1, but I could pick which 2, keeping one in reserve for later in the game depending on the in-game circumstances. I took 9 instead of 10 because it gave me a spot to plop the Rune Priest if I needed it for some hot Jaws action. It was all about deployment flexibility with this list. Lastly, if I needed to, I could drop the pod empty and Gate this unit forward turn 1 while also dropping the other pods and get maximum pressure up-field on turn 1 if I thought it was the right call.
Long Fangs just rock. Everyone knows that. 1 unit with 5 missile launchers provides some much needed long range firepower that my list otherwise lacks. They were awesome every game and gave me just enough firepower at range to keep my opponents honest. I could also hide the Rune Priest with them if needed and use Divination powers to really buff them up.
The land Raider Crusader with Multi Melta was awesome! Such a good unit. In 9 tournament games now, it has only died twice. Land Raiders are really resilient now. You don’t see nearly as many meltas as before and now you CAN’T be one-shotted by strength 8 as in the past. Plus, things like Night Scythes, Anni Barges, Turkeys, etc. just can’t touch it. It shoots well, too, and can get a unit like the Termies or Sternguard where you need them when you need them. Being an assault vehicle is a HUGE advantage in 6th, too. I took it as a heavy support choice because it made it a scoring unit in big guns and it meant I could start any unit inside of it if I chose to, which gave me more flexibility. Lastly, I could hide units inside of it if I needed to to keep them safe until they could score an objective, unleash Jaws, etc.
So there you have it! A complex web of a list, but one that was SUPER fun to play. It was all about tricks and flexibility which helped a ton to counter all of the crazy counters I knew would be coming in a tournament like this.
In the next article I will cover how it played in day 1 of the event!
Big thanks to Adam from the Dice Abide for the awesome pictures!