Hello everyone last weekend I was in Washington DC playing in the Nova Open. Great event and I will be back next year. Let’s dive into the Invitational. Check out the Tactics Corner for more great tournament reports!
This is the list I brought:
| HQ | ||
| khan | Moondraken | 1 |
| Chaplain | Bike, Auspex | 1 |
| Troops | ||
| Tactical Squad | melta, Grav Cannon | 10 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, Grav Cannon | 10 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, Grav Cannon | 10 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, Grav Cannon | 10 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta | 5 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta | 5 |
| Droppod | _ | 1 |
| 10th Company Task Force | ||
| Scouts | _ | 5 |
| Scouts | _ | 5 |
| Scouts | _ | 5 |
| Fast Attack | ||
| Space Marine Bikes | Grav x2, Combi-Grav, Multi-melta Attack bike | 4 |
| Attack Bike | Multi Melta | 1 |
| Heavy Support | ||
| Devastators | Grav Cannon x2 | 5 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
| Devastators | Grav Cannon x2 | 5 |
| Rhino | Dozer Blade | 1 |
The invitational is comprised of 32 of some of the best 40k players in the country. I was lucky enough to get invited this year.
Round one I was paired up against a unique Daemon list without Fateweaver and without a Screamerstar. He had a unit of 20 Seekers with a Hearld, Unit of 20 Khorne Hounds, Lord of Change, Belakor and 2 units of Pink Horrors with a Hearld in each. I won first turn and got ready for an alpha strike by scouting all my Rhinos up and infiltrating my Scouts close to the Seekers. My opponent seized the initiative which hurt a lot…. He multi Charged into all of the scouts with the Seekers, killed one Rhino with shooting and charged 2 more Rhinos with the Hounds. The Hounds were only Able to kill one Rhino and the Seekers killed all but one Scout who hit and ran away. Unfortunately, two of my Grav units were pinned getting out of the Rhinos. I popped a Tactical Doctrine and emptied all of my Rhinos. I shot more than half of my army into Belakor who rolled poorly for his saves and ended up dying. The rest of my shots went into the Seekers, killing all but 3 and the Hearld. Daemons turn two, he charged the hounds into my bikes and lands the Lord of Change who he cast the Grimore on. The seekers killed my 5 man Tactical squad that had come out of the Droppod and my Bikes failed to hit and run, darn 6. I charged a few more units into the hounds and was able to kill the last Seekers with the Hearld. I also ran a few units into my back field to kill some units he had deep struck back there. The next turn he charged the Lord of Change into the combat killing 5 Marines. I was also able to hit and run and nuke the Lord of Change with all my Grav. The game only went 5 turns and ended in a Space Marine Victory, Space Marines 13-6. I was still in it to win it in this brutal, single elimination event!
Round two I pulled another Daemon list, played by the gentlemen that had won the invitational last year. He was playing two full Screamer units, one with 4 Tzeentch Heralds, a Full Plague Drone unit with 2 Nurgle Heralds and of course: Fateweaver. Three deathstars that I wasn’t sure I would be able to kill. I decided to out flank everything and give him first turn. I also picked the end of game objectives so I didn’t need to worry about missing any points. He moved to control the center so he could see where my army would come in. My Drop pod came in on my turn and put some shots into his Pink Horror unit along with grabbing me line breaker as long as he didn’t kill it. He flew one of his screamer units over next to the marines and moved Fateweave to mid field. My turn I got 3 Tactical units in Along with my bikes and a Devastator squad. One devastator squad came out on the wrong side and the rest came out next to the Screamers. I used a Tactical Doctrine and was able to kill the Screamers with weight of fire! My Devastators were hugging the edge of the board. His turn, Fateweaver flew next to my army to kill a five man unit and a Rhino. His Drones charged in and were able to wipe out some of my bikes and bring two units of Marines down to a few guys. His remaining Screamers moved towards my Devastators. My turn I had the rest of my army come in except for one unit of Tactical Marines. I brought the pain onto Fateweaver bringing him down to one wound. Khan was also able to kill one of the Plague Drone Hearlds in a challenge. My opponent’s turn he flew Fateweaver away and killed some more Marines in the Combat. I Hit and Run with my bikes and a unit of two Marines. The game only went to turn five again and Fateweaver ended up blowing off his head with a perils, which gave me Slay the Warlord and sealed the deal for Linebreaker. I also got some big Hit and Runs so that I could control 2 more objectives. End of the game Space Marine Victory 16-14, it was very close.
Round three I pulled a Tau and Eldar army which I knew would be very tough for me since they have no problem killing my vehicles. He chose to go second which seemed odd to me but I was okay with it. I deployed and scouted forward for my alpha strike. He chose not to seize… well okay, I emptied most of my rhinos and moved my bikes forward, it was time to bring the pain! I was able to kill 5 and 1/2 of the Broadsides, along with the Buff Commander. The last Broadside broke towards the board edge but was able to re-group. His turn he tried to overcharge his Riptide and failed dealing one wound to it… He shot his Skyray into a Rhino dealing two hull points and charged his Riptide into the Drop Pod killing it. My turn, I brought the Riptide down with Grav and Brought two of the Scatter Bike units down. I also charged my Scouts into the Skyray and killed it. It was looking grim for his at this point. His turn he got one unit of Bikes in which he flew into a corner and got both flyers in which opened up on my bikes, killing all but Khan. My turn I was able to get around the hill and kill the new bike unit along with charging Khan into the Warlord and killing him. At this point my opponent gave up. Unfortunately he wasn’t ready for the alpha strike my army can deliver with mountains of Grav weapons all starting within 24″ range, otherwise it would have been a lot closer. Space Marine Victory 17-2. -I have to jump in hear and offer a friendly tease to our friend Tomb King a bit, who was Frankie’s opponent. He is always on me saying that going second is an auto-choose for 7th ed, but in this case it turns out that was not the best choice! All in good fun, buddy! -Reecius
Round four I pulled a Thunderdome army that has Space Wolves, Dark Angels and Space Marine Conclave. I knew this would be a really tough match up since his army is fast and resilient. He gave me turn one which was a great play. I decided to outflank everything again since the objectives are table corners. He deployed in two separate Deathstars and moved up the field on his turn one. My turn I brought the Droppod into a corner pretty far away from his unit and hid it unit behind a hill. His turn he moved his deathstar in that table half towards the Pod and ran the unit. His other star summoned a unit of Flesh Hounds. I ended up getting 2 units of Scouts, the Bike unit, 2 units of Tactical Marines, and one unit of Devastators. I put a lot of fire power into both units doing quite a bit of damage but couldn’t kill any characters since my Grav Guns were split on the outflanks. His turn he was able to kill two units of scouts 3 rhinos and 3 units of five Marines. My turn 3 I only got two units in, one on each side luckily. I was able to kill all but two Iron Priests on the left side and killed a Librarian and an Iron Priest on the right side. On his turn he has two Rhinos come in mid field away from my army. He charged into a Devastator squad and a Tactical squad with the two Iron Priests, unfortunately for him I rolled really well on the over watch and ended up killing one. The other deathstar charged into two units, killing all but one guy. I tried to Hit and Run in both combats and was able to get away from the single Iron Priest, however I failed the Hit and Run on the big Deathstar in which each character only had one wound left..damn! Had that not hapenned, I would have almost certainly blown it away with my shooting! My last unit came in next to the big unit but unfortunately wasn’t able to shoot them since they were locked in combat. The left side I easily killed the last Iron priest but unfortunately I was not able to bring down the big star by the end of the game. He got two Psychic shrieks off that killed two five man units and controled the entire right side of the table. I ended up losing because he still had a lot of points left on the board. If I had picked progressive missions I might have had a better chance but instead I picked end game…Oops! But oh well, it was my first time playing the mission so of course mistakes were be made.
So I got knocked out in the semi finals and my opponent went on to win both the Open and the Invitational. Congratz, Aaron! Great player and he was using a very solid list. I had a great time, and can’t wait to give it another shot next year. Hope you all enjoyed the article and hope to see you all next year.