Hey everyone,
GTA here back from The Road to the Bay Area Open Blog, and I just attended a tough but another great year at Celesticon. This year’s Celesticon had it’s share of great players and friends that showed up. There was a lot of representation from the team of course (Team Zero Comp). Reece brought IG, Dan the Man brought his 3rd ed space marines, Jason brought his IG/DA and finally Christensen came out of retirement and brought his IG/SW. First off thank you Doc for running the tournament, it was really well run and well judged, everyone had a blast. I will be definitely going back if I can next year to try again to win overall champion and best general.
As for me I did pretty well, I went 2-1 with my only loss being from Isreal Sanchez and his Taudar. I’ll talk about every game I played, and post my thoughts on each of the video battle reports I took. But first off lets talk about what I brought Celesticon. So my 1500Pt list consisted of:
Double farseers on jetbikes with singing spears and one of them having the Shard of Anaris also
8 Warlocks on jetbikes
Baron
3 Trueborn in Venom with Splinter Cannon and Grisly Trophies
2 x 5 Warriors in Venoms with Splinter Cannon and Grisly Trophies
2 x 3 Guardian Jetbikes
2 x 2 Warwalkers with BL/SL
One of my ususal lists but I just removed the 2 warp spider squads I had been using and a few other extras from my 1850 list. It came out really well balanced, it offered the right amount of AT that I needed but also put out a lot of shots into horde armies and MEQ type opponents. I was very happy on how it had been performing through play testing the last couple weeks so it was definitely a keeper.
My first opponent was Keith, a long time Necron player that I have played many times before. Keith uses a very good using non-flyer, all foot necron list. First off Keith, good game your a very good opponent that is extremely tactically sound with your Necrons. Keith’s list looked something like this:
Nemesor Zahndrekh
2 Crypteks, one with AP1 flamer and other with Deepstrike
Triarch Stalker
3 x 10 Warriors
3 x 3 Destroyers
2 x 2 Doomday Arks
My second opponent was Isreal, an amazingly good Tau player that has become even better with the new releases of the Tau and Eldar. Isreal and me have played many times before but before this we were even 1-1 since the new Eldar had come out. We go way back since the beginning, when I first joined Team Zero Comp, but when it’s a tournament everything changes we become heated opponents that both want the win. Here’s what Isreal’s list looked like:
Commander with all the upgrades
Farseer on jetbike – prefect timing, guide, prescience
2 Riptides with interceptor, skyfire and ion accelerator
3 x 10 Fire warriors
3 Guardian jetbikes
10 Pathfinders
3 Broadsides with high yield missile pods, smart missiles, interceptor
Wraithknight stock
My last game was against someone I’ve never played before, Pete. Pete plays Tryanids, one of the best counters to me at the tournament besides GK. Again I’ve never played Pete before but he had seen many of my past video battle reports so was well schooled on how my council worked. Going in with that in mind made me a little nervous because shadows is a huge counter to all my psychic powers. Here’s what his list looked like:
Swarmlord
Doom in pod
2 x 2 Hive guard
2 Tervigons
3 x 10 Guants
2 Trygons
1 Biovore
So that was the tournament I finished up 2-1, I didn’t get best general like I hoped but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things. I wrapped all the post tournament thoughts into a video.
Ya, when Tau steal initiative and you are betting on cover saves, reach across the table shake hands and pack your dudes because its game over. There are no tricks, maneuvering or ability that will save you. I know that sounds crappy, but its absolutely true. The way ignores cover works and, as Reece has also stated on his LOS article, lack of true LOS denial terrain Tau are just going to win. The only way I have broken that is by having a knight get into combat and break multiple units. I really wish that Tau where more skill based and tactical, but there are not and in the hands of a good player, ifs not fun. I feel for you. Some of my favorite units are not on the table anymore: Shining Spears, Jetseers, Quins.
I have started using the Iyanden Spiritseer council and popping them in with some DA and a serpent. I think its better over all. For these reasons: LD 9, 2 wounds. I am playing around with them and some scorpions, but you have to do some silly deployment shenanigans. But if you have 5 SS and you can get off two protects, that’s a 1+ with a possible fortune… So you have a crazy good meat shield and try some horrify and psychic scream combos. The down side is the loss of the bikes and the spear. Different stroke for different folks.
That being said, Vanguard Vets look very promising, and your multi charging is sweet. Well played.
Yeah, it’s rough with now LoS blocking terrain. So many things ignore cover now that it is absolutely imperative to break up fire lanes or else forget it. Just bend over and take it in the shorts! haha
Blind weapons help against non-suit Tau, so that is definitely a plus.