The FLG League is winding down into its final week and we’ve got an update for you.
The league has been a blast so far and we’ve learned a lot. We hit some time constraints going into the holidays and a lot of guys weren’t able to get all their games in which is understandable due to family obligations. However, we do currently have 2 undefeated players left and assuming some of the gents that still could go undefeated do not do so in the next 6 days, it looks like it will be an Imperium vs. Eldar finals!
Current League Standings
Player # | First Name | Army | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Total Score |
21 | Paul | Imperium | 1036 | 1035 | 1024 | 1038 | 1036 | 1031 | 6200 |
4 | Reece | Biel-Tan | 1033 | 1029 | 1036 | 1034 | 1039 | 1028 | 6199 |
7 | James | Alpha Legion | 1034 | 27 | 1037 | 1038 | 1037 | 1039 | 5212 |
14 | Frankie | Sisters of Battle | 1031 | 1030 | 17 | 1037 | 1029 | 24 | 4168 |
18 | John | Drukhari | 1029 | 27 | 1028 | 23 | 1032 | 3139 | |
15 | Anthony | Valhalla | 1033 | 1028 | 18 | 9 | 1029 | 3117 | |
3 | Andrew | Genestealer Cults | 17 | 1035 | 1031 | 26 | 2109 | ||
10 | Ted | Astra Militarum | 13 | 1032 | 1030 | 16 | 18 | 2109 | |
6 | Jeff | Saim Hann | 1020 | 1029 | 22 | 2071 | |||
19 | Mark | Imperium | 1037 | 1031 | 2068 | ||||
11 | Steve | Ultramarines | 15 | 1018 | 14 | 15 | 19 | 1081 | |
16 | Cooper | Adeptus Astartes | 9 | 15 | 1035 | 1059 | |||
5 | Adam | Astra Militarum | 1029 | 25 | 1054 | ||||
1 | Pablo | Imperium | 22 | 1030 | 1052 | ||||
13 | Quentin | AdMech | 11 | 1036 | 0 | 1047 | |||
9 | Larry | Heretic Astartes | 1030 | 13 | 1043 | ||||
20 | Kasey | Adeptus Astartes | 1023 | 1023 | |||||
8 | Jason | Grey Knights | 15 | 18 | 12 | 20 | 65 | ||
2 | Pascal | Chaos | 6 | 20 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 65 | |
12 | Andy | Orks | 20 | 14 | 13 | 47 | |||
17 | Garrett | Necrons | 10 | 7 | 17 | 34 | |||
22 | Yu | Sapace Wolves | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
Interestingly, over the course of the 42 games played so far in the league, we’ve got the following statistic:
- Player going first wins: 18
- Player going second wins: 24
So as we see, going second certainly seems to continue to be advantageous in our format which is a nice balance to the power of going first in 40k presently. We’ve got a bunch of last minute games being scheduled for this final week and we look forward to seeing how it winds up.
Here’s a quick bat rep too between Frankie and myself with a fun and exciting game for us both! Below is the Biel-Tan Brigade I’ve been playing all league and have been having a ton of fun with it and doing quite well so far.
Unit | Force Org | Cost | # | Total | Weapons | Cost | # | Total | Total |
Biel-Tan Brigade | Eldar | Command Points | 9 | 965 | |||||
Asurmen | HQ | 175 | 1 | 175 | 0 | ||||
Avatar | HQ | 250 | 1 | 250 | 0 | ||||
Farseer | HQ | 100 | 1 | 100 | 0 | ||||
Warlock Council | HQ | 30 | 4 | 120 | 0 | ||||
Dire Avengers | Troops | 8 | 5 | 40 | Shuriken Catapult | 4 | 6 | 24 | |
Dire Avengers | Troops | 8 | 5 | 40 | Shuriken Catapult | 4 | 6 | 24 | |
Dire Avengers | Troops | 8 | 5 | 40 | Shuriken Catapult | 4 | 6 | 24 | |
Dire Avengers | Troops | 8 | 5 | 40 | Shuriken Catapult | 4 | 6 | 24 | |
Dire Avengers | Troops | 8 | 5 | 40 | Shuriken Catapult | 4 | 6 | 24 | |
Storm Guardians | Troops | 7 | 12 | 84 | 0 | ||||
Swooping Hawks | Fast | 6 | 5 | 30 | Lasblaster | 7 | 4 | 28 | |
0 | Hawk’s Talon | 10 | 1 | 10 | |||||
Warp Spiders | Fast | 10 | 5 | 50 | Death Spinners | 8 | 6 | 48 | |
Shining Spears | Fast | 18 | 3 | 54 | Twin Shuriken Catapult | 5 | 3 | 15 | |
0 | Laser Lance | 8 | 2 | 16 | |||||
0 | Star Lance | 10 | 1 | 10 | |||||
Howling Banshees | Elite | 9 | 9 | 81 | Power Sword | 4 | 8 | 32 | |
0 | Executioner | 7 | 1 | 7 | |||||
Striking Scorpions | Elite | 13 | 6 | 78 | Scorpion Chainsword | 1 | 6 | 6 | |
0 | Scorpion’s Claw | 12 | 1 | 12 | |||||
Fire Dragons | Elite | 7 | 6 | 42 | Fusion Gun | 17 | 6 | 102 | |
Dark Reapers | Heavy | 5 | 7 | 35 | Reaper Launcher | 22 | 7 | 154 | |
War Walker | Heavy | 50 | 1 | 50 | Shuriken Cannons | 10 | 2 | 20 | |
War Walker | Heavy | 50 | 1 | 50 | Shuriken Cannons | 10 | 2 | 20 | |
Totals | 87 | 1399 | 600 | 1999 | |||||
Command Points: | 12 | Detachments: | 1 |
And here’s Frankie’s new foot Sisters army that is quite intimidating on the table. So many power armored bodies!
Unit | Force Org | Cost | # | Total | Weapons | Cost | # | Total | Total |
Brigade Detachment | Sisters | Command Points | 9 | 1996 | |||||
Celestine | HQ | 200 | 1 | 200 | Gemini | 25 | 2 | 50 | |
Canoness | HQ | 45 | 1 | 45 | |||||
Canoness | HQ | 45 | 1 | 45 | Power Sword | 4 | 1 | 4 | |
Ministorum Priest | Elite | 35 | 1 | 35 | |||||
Imagifier | Elite | 40 | 1 | 40 | |||||
Imagifier | Elite | 40 | 1 | 40 | |||||
Battle Sisters Squad | Troop | 9 | 15 | 135 | Storm Bolter | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
Battle Sisters Squad | Troop | 9 | 9 | 81 | Melta, Poweraxe, Multi-melta | 49 | 1 | 49 | |
Battle Sisters Squad | Troop | 9 | 9 | 81 | Melta, Poweraxe, Multi-melta | 49 | 1 | 49 | |
Battle Sisters Squad | Troop | 9 | 9 | 81 | Melta, Poweraxe, Multi-melta | 49 | 1 | 49 | |
Battle Sisters Squad | Troop | 9 | 9 | 81 | Melta, Poweraxe, Multi-melta | 49 | 1 | 49 | |
Battle Sisters Squad | Troop | 9 | 9 | 81 | Melta, Poweraxe, Multi-melta | 49 | 1 | 49 | |
Seraphim Squad | Fast Attack | 11 | 8 | 88 | Inferno Pistol x4 | 36 | 1 | 36 | |
Seraphim Squad | Fast Attack | 11 | 8 | 88 | Inferno Pistol x4 | 36 | 1 | 36 | |
Seraphim Squad | Fast Attack | 11 | 8 | 88 | Inferno Pistol x4 | 36 | 1 | 36 | |
Retributor Squad | Heavy Support | 9 | 9 | 81 | Heavy Bolter x4, Poweraxe | 45 | 1 | 45 | |
Retributor Squad | Heavy Support | 9 | 9 | 81 | Heavy Bolter x4, Poweraxe | 45 | 1 | 45 | |
Retributor Squad | Heavy Support | 9 | 9 | 81 | Heavy Bolter x4, Poweraxe | 45 | 1 | 45 | |
Totals | 117 | 1452 | 544 | 1996 | |||||
Command Points: | 12 | Detachments: | 1 |
ITC Champion’s Scenario: Crucible of Champions
Deployment: Front-line Assault
Eldar Secondary Objectives:
- Recon
- Kingslayer
- Head Hunter
Sisters’ Secondary Objectives:
- Recon
- Death by a 1,000 Cuts
- Old School
Frankie and I rolled up Crucible of Champions and Front-line Assault. The mission and deployment really favored Frankie’s army as he has lots of Characters for that bonus point and his army wants to get close. Front-line Assault starts the two armies as close to one another as possible. Luckily for me though, I got to choose my deployment zone which was favorable to me as I was able to take a zone with more LoS blocking terrain. Frankie’s army doesn’t care too much about hiding but mine most assuredly does. During deployment, I tried to bait Frankie into overloading a flank and then countering with the Eldar redeployment strat but he wisely stuck to his plan and overloaded the center with a wedge of Sisters. So I ended up with a 3 pronged deployment with the Avatar and Guardians in the middle, Asurmen and the Dires on one flank and the Psykers and Dark Reapers on another.
Frankie won the roll off and chose for me to go first. It was a good call as I didn’t have too much that could really hurt him and in our missions you want to go second for the advantage it gives you in scoring objectives.
Early Game
I made a mistake in the first turn, bringing in both War Walkers to start netting Recon points but handed Frankie a kill on a platter which was also an Old School point and as I killed nothing in my turn due to a lack of units in range and the large unit sizes of the Sisters, I also handed Frankie the kill more units point as well. Not too bright on my part. He was able to take them both out and also charge 3 units of Dire Avengers with Seraphim, tying them up and stopping them from moving. This gave Frankie a significant early game lead.
I countered by moving up to mid-table and overloading a flank with reserves. As there was a large LoS blocking building in the middle of the table, I was able to fight a chunk of his army with a larger portion of my own. This let me deal quite a bit of damage while remaining safe from retribution. On the opposite flank, Asurmen charged into the Seaphim to free up the Dires but Frankie rolled god mode on his 6++’s on I only took out one, lol. The remaining Seraphim then unceremoniously Melta Pistol’d him to death….doh! That was bad. Meanwhile, the Avatar had gone into melee with Celestine to hopefully take her first life early but again, Frankie’s saves were hot and I barely hurt her, taking heavy damage in return. As it stood, Frankie was leading on the scoreboard and stalling me from moving into better board position while he also earned the mission bonus point and was in position to continue to do so.
Mid Game
I needed to start playing more aggressively or Frankie was going to have dominating board control. Disaster struck though when Celestine used an act of faith to slay the Avatar with Celestine forcing me to brun 3 CP to keep him alive as otherwise, she’d be free to charge again that turn. Celestine’s luck continued though as she beat the poor Avatar down in melee for a second time that turn and I was out of CP to res him again. That was bad. On the other flank, the Seraphim continued to be a massive pain, keeping me tied up as they refused to die. My Fire Dragons didn’t help as they missed with 5 of 6 shots on a unit with 2 models remaining, lol. Nice work, boys.
A fun bit of luck though occurred when I sent in my wave two assault units on the desperate mission to contain Celestine. I had managed to Jinx her unit with my Warlock Conclave (who I come to love more and more as I play with them). The Striking Scorpions came in and damn near killed the entire unit in one round of combat! With Mandi-blasters and the basic attacks of the Scorps, they killed both of the Geminae, and the Exarch rolled hot and nearly killed Celestine (lowering her save to a 5++ was clutch) with his claw. The Shining Spears who’d also gone in then easily finished her. The Scorpions then stayed to fight off a unit of Sisters on the middle objective until end game which was tremendously helpful. While that was great, I had really wanted to have the Avatar take her first life as now she was free to deep-strike down behind me and cause havoc with her second life =/ Things were looking rough….
Late Game
I needed some luck and to play ultra aggressively to get back in the game. I had finely freed myself of the dang Seraphim and bum rushed Frankie’s flank dealing heavy damage with the Dires and Fire Dragons. Frankie hit back hard but not hard enough and with the Shining Spears flying over to reinforce them I was able to sweep that flank in a fun infantry battle. Dire Avengers are just so dang good in that environment. That secured my quite a few objectives and swung the kill count in my favor as well as putting another objective firmly in my control.
On the opposite flank, my Aspect Warriors were duking it out with Frankie’s Sisters and we essentially wiped one another leaving only a few models left, one of which luckily for me was a Swooping Hawk Exarch who then camped an objective for the rest of the game earning my some points. However, the turning point of the game was the battle of my Warlocks and Farseer vs. Celestine and her crew. It should have been a wipe-out but my Fraseer went Steven Segal and decided to be hard to kill that day, lol! He tanked Celestine for 3 rounds of combat, making 13 out of 15 4++ saves, it was crazy. He must have been mad that she’d wiped out the Dark Reapers the turn before. This allowed he and the Warlock Conclave to defeat Celestine and her ladies in melee with a combination of Smites and Witchblades in a surprise victory. This was huge as it kept that flank secure for me, maxed out my Head Hunter and Kinglsayer, denied Frankie my Warlord and let me score an objective for a turn or two longer than I normally would have. It also kept Celestine from sweeping up and taking out more of my units.
When the dust settled, there was not much left on the table as we’d pummeled one another. However, the Farseer turning into Neo from the Matrix and living beyond when he should have let me come back from the early game slump to put up a big turn 6 score and win a close one, 28 to 26. Great game!
So, this means that there are only two players left with undefeated records, Paul and his Imperial Soup and myself. Unless another player gets the rest of their games in by Sunday and goes undefeated with more than Paul or I, it will be us in the finals! Should be good fun.
We’ve learned a lot from the League and will run another 40k and also an AoS league before we start rolling out the ITC League Format to help facilitate others jumping in to the fun as well.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!