Getting Back To My Centstar Roots

Hey everybody, Captain A here with some thoughts on what I’m planning on bringing to BAO. The BAO is going to be a great tournament this next weekend in San Jose, CA. They’ve been sold out for quite some time now and the waiting list is still…er waiting to get into this prestigious event. I went last year and did miserably with a subpar list that almost won a lot of games but almost doesn’t cut. Especially when you got some grandiose ideas in the works.

At the beginning of this year’s ITC I had planned on just playing my list from the LVO. I had some serious doubts though when I played in a smaller tournament with the new ITC format and saw how my list struggled with the new maelstrom and also struggled with some of the new bonus missions. Both of which favor MSU style builds. I also felt and know the list struggles against certain types of builds – Drop Pods and Web Way Portal Eldar for instance. I thought it was the end of the Centstar as I knew it.

So when Wargames Con came around I took a very strong Necron list and did pretty good, but also felt that my old Centstar list would have done as good or even better against the lists I faced. I also know that I probably won’t be gracing the top podium when faced against the likes of many top tier players, so I need to play my own game and do 40k for me. Setting my own goals and living my own 40k life. You can’t tell me what to do mom!

 

New Censtar New Dilema

I’ve been tinkering like a mad scientist for quite some time trying to come up with a list that is close to what I was playing, still had Grey Knight primary, and had a shot at placing in the top ten of an event, which is what you need to score ITC points.

I can go heavy in GK or in one of my other detachment choices, but I need maelstrom power, killing power, and maneuverability. You know, everything!

So I’ve tried a few things and have some ideas in the back burner but model wise I have to act fast as the BAO is looming. Here are some things I’ve tried and some ideas I have to keep the Censtar and still rock the casbah.

Librarius Conclave

This formation is hilarious. For 345 pts you can get Tigurius and two mastery level 2 Librarians. In the ITC you can only cast as many powers as your mastery level so if you want to take advantage of casting on a 2+ then you can only cast through one character and therefore only three powers max. Even so with the Conclave, my GK Librarian and Loth I was able to get Invisibility, Perfect Timing, Forewarning, Sanctuary and cast a couple of shooting powers as well. Made the star nigh invulnerable but all that went to crap when Loth periled on three of four casts of Invisibility and killed himself. It is what it is.

The problem I see with the Conclave is that it bloats the Star but doesn’t necessarily get its points back. I’ve tried with getting more shooting powers like Psychic Shriek, Smite, and Assail, but even so, those points took away from the rest of the army in terms of scoring and killing. Even so it was hilarious to be reliably casting so many powers.

Cultstar

I’ve also been toying with adding Cult Mechanicus and taking out the Cents to make a Destroyerstar. The army looks like:

GK – Nemesis Strike Force

Libby – ML3/Halberd

5 Strikes

2 Dreadknights – Teleporter/Hammer/Incinerator

Draigo

Librarius Conclave

Tiggy

2 ML2 Librarians

Cult Mechanicus

Techpriest

4 Kataphron Destroyers – Heavy Grav/Phosphor Blasters

Kastelan Robot Maniple – Phosphor for days

Lots of shooting, tons of grav, especially if I get Perfect Timing, still GK primary, but alas, I don’t have the models.

For BAO

All of this theorizing and practicing is fine, but I need to commit to something. So this leads to what I’m planning on taking to BAO. Take a peak.

Skyhammer Centstar of Doom!

GK – Nemesis Strike Force

Libby – ML3/Hammer

5 Strikes – 1 Incinerator

1 Dreadknight – Teleporter/Hammer/Incinerator/Psycannon

Draigo

Allied Space Marines

Sevrin Loth

10 Scouts

Drop Pod

3 Cents – Grav/Omniscope

Skyhammer Annihilation Force

5 Devs – Drop Pod/2 Gravcannon

5 Devs – Drop Pod/2 Gravcannon/Multimelta

5 Assault Marines – 2 Flamers

5 Assault Marines – 2 Flamers

So I still have my old Star that I am very familiar with, 10 scouts that can go in the drop pod, combat squad, drop the empty pod, infiltrate or whatever depending upon the mission. One trusty Dreadknight that is going to be Deep Striking more likely than not and the Skyhammer Annihilation Force. Cheese with my cheese yes please! I’ve seen what the Skyhammer can do and it can be pretty brutal. I feel this gives a lot of flexibility in the areas I am interested in and helps shore up some weaknesses against some of the more dangerous combos out there.

But What About…?

I know what some might say, what about armies X, Y, and Z? Yes, there is going to be an army X, Y, and Z that will give me problems but the fact of the matter of it is I may not face one army like that, or I may face 5 out of the 5 games I play. In playing as many tournaments lately as I have, I’ve seen such a variety of lists. It is actually a cool thing. Wargames Con I faced Ork Bikes, Knights and DA Deathstar, Trip Raven BA, Eldar/Tau Firebase, and Drop Pod Marines. LVO was Flyer killy Tau, Decurion Necrons, Nurgle Flying Circus, DA/IG Obsec Madness, and Tau Triptide. Just a Games Con was CAD Necrons, Tyrants, and Space Wolves. These armies were all over the place and super varied. Even the ones that were from the same faction were vastly different.

I think my point is that you probably can’t make a list that is excellent against every possible list out there. For the average gamer (of which I am proudly a member of) I think you need a strong list that will have a chance against many lists, but more importantly play to the missions. The chances of playing a list that is a hard counter to your army is probably pretty small. There is so much randomness in this game that trying to cover every base will just give you headaches. Practice against as many lists as you can, tool your list to win the missions, know your rules and what other key units/formations are and you should be fine.

Or screw it all and play your game and for your own goals and reasons. For me, I hope to have a winning record at BAO at least and attempt to crack the top ten. I think I will have a better shot than last year and at the very least look forward to seeing old friends, taking a road trip, and playing a ton of games next weekend. See you there!