So I finally decided that it was time to bring my bike army out and dive into the insanity of competitive 40k. So I went the Beltway Gamers First Blood 2013 40k Tournament.
I had to make some last minute changes to what I would have LIKED to run because I didn't get the all the bitz I wanted. I finally ordered all the heads I would need from Puppetswar along with some twin-linked autocannon arms, but it didn't get here in time. So the morning of, I finally decided on this.
+++ 1850pt Space Marines 5th Ed (2008) Roster (Primary Detachment)) +++
Selections:
Space Marines 5th Ed (2008) (Primary Detachment) Selections:
+ (No Category) + (335pts)
* Command Squad (335pts)
(And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Tactics)
Apothecary, Company Standard, Space Marine Bikes
* Veteran
Bolt Pistol, Meltagun
* Veteran
Bolt Pistol, Power Fist,
* Veteran
Bolt Pistol, Power Fist, Storm Shield
* Veteran
Bolt Pistol, Power Fist, Storm Shield
+ HQ + (205pts)
* Kor'Sarro Khan (205pts)
(And They Shall Know no Fear, Chapter Tactics, Combat Tactics, Independent Character, Master of the Hunt)
Moondrakken
+ Elites + (375pts)
* Dreadnought (145pts)
Twin Linked Lascannon, Flamer
* Terminator Squad (230pts)
(And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Squads, Combat Tactics)
Cyclone Missile Launcher, Terminator Sergeant
* Terminator
Power Fist
* Terminator
Power Fist
* Terminator
Power Fist
* Terminator
Power Fist
+ Troops + (580pts)
* Scout Squad (100pts)
(And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Squads, Combat Tactics, Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Scouts)
* 4x Scout
4x Camo Cloaks, Missile Launcher, 3x Sniper Rifle
* Scout Sergeant
Bolt Pistol, Camo Cloak, Sniper Rifle
* Space Marine Bike Squad (Troops) (245pts)
(And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Squads, Combat Tactics, Mounted Assault)
2x Plasma Gun, 4x Space Marine Biker
* Attack Bike
Multi-Melta
* Biker Sergeant
Power Fist
* Space Marine Bike Squad (Troops) (235pts)
(And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Squads, Combat Tactics, Mounted Assault)
2x Meltagun, 4x Space Marine Biker
* Attack Bike
Multi-Melta
* Biker Sergeant
Power Fist
+ Fast Attack + (255pts)
* Land Speeder Squadron (100pts)
* Land Speeder
(Deep Strike)
Multi-Melta, Typhoon Missile Launcher
Stormtalon Gunship 155 points
Typhoon
+ Heavy Support + (100pts)
* Thunderfire Cannon (100pts)
So lets get down to it.
Rounds 1: Codex Space Marines
Chaplain on Foot
Chaplain w/ Jump Pack
10 man Tac Squad - Flamer, Plasma Cannon
10 man Tac Squad - Flamer, Plasma Cannon
10 man Tac Squad - Meltagun, Multimelta, Rhino
10 man Devastator Squad - 4x Lascannon
10 man Devastator Squad - 4x Heavy Bolter
10 Assault Squad - Jump Packs 2xFlamers
Bastion
Primary Mission: Control the Relic
Secondary Mission: Victory Points
Tertiary Mission: Whoever has the most points from (Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, First Blood)
Deployment along the short table edges.
My opponents army was VERY shooty. Which I knew would be somewhat of an advantage to me because he would need to come get the relic from the center of the board. My bikes would be able to close in on it quickly and all I would have to do is survive the onslaught barrage of incoming fire.
Sadly this was the one and only gameplay shot I remember to take all day.
The real turning point of the game is when the Khan's squad turned up and on the flank and he turned his ENTIRE army and unloaded on them. Storm Shields and Feel No Pain to the rescue. I squad suffered minimal casualties. Maybe 1 or 2. The command squad did what it does best, hurt people. In the last turn I had the relic in my possession and my opponent unloaded on that bike unit. Thankfully they survived the onslaught giving me a win.
I won Primary and Secondary Mission giving myself a whopping 17 points.
I managed to win my first tournament game.. which was a TOTAL shock to me.
The Thunderfire cannon was MVP.
LVP was the terminator squad. They were actually the first unit to go down and cough up the point for First Blood.
The problem with winning is that you then get paired up with someone who also won their first game which gave me the pleasure of going up against Dameon Green's Bike Army. It was a very Student meets the Master moment for me because when it comes to running bikes, I don't know if there is anyone who does it better.. at least that I know of.
Round 2: Codex Space Marines
Mirror match (well in my case its kinda like a funhouse mirror match where he was the normal side of the mirror and I was the fat ugly mutant side of the mirror)
Primary Force
Kor'sarro Khan on bike
3x Twin linked Autocannon Dreadoughts
7 man Bike Squad, 2x meltagun, Attack Bike MM, melta bombs
7 man Bike Squad, 2x meltagun, Attack Bike MM, melta bombs
3x Thunderfire cannon
Aliied Force Dark Angels
Librarian on Bike. LVL 2
Scout Squad w/ Sniper rifles
Devastator Squad 4x Plasma Cannons
Ravenwing DeathShroud
Diagonal Board deployment
Primary Mission: Each Player has an objective, player who controls the most objectives wins
Secondary Mission: Nominate a single model to be a "messenger". If that messenger is within 3 inches of either objective at the end of the game.
Tertiary Mission: Whoever has the most points from (Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, First Blood)
I am really glad that I got paired up with him. It was def a learning experience. (We both knew how the game was going to end so it was became a bit of teaching game.. we bike armies gotta stick together) I learned a lot about love that summer.. I mean about bikes that game.
I had one shot at making this game respectable... and that was for my thunderfire cannon to take out his. The dice gods ensure that wasn't going to happen. He turned his 2 TFC and dreads onto mine and blew it me out of the water. My Khan decided to come in on the wrong table edge after that and it sealed my fate. I tried holing up and playing for a draw, but his khan and bike squad came out on my side of the board. So we got into a few rounds of epic Khan on Khan challenges. Sadly neither of us could hit with our instant death swords so in the end no Khans were killed in that combat. He hit and ran out of combat and headed for home.
For the sake of the tournament we played I wanted to play it through to the end because I knew he'd be in the running for best overall and I didn't want to concede any points to him for fairness sake. It did make a difference.. In the last turn of the game, my Stormtalon ran his messenger off the board.. Causing us to tie on the secondary mission. (In the end, he still won the tournament)
MVP: Stormtalon! I think I'd like running another one of those and see how much damage I can do.
LVP: Scout squad. Not really their fault, but camo cloaks do nothing against Ignore cover thunderfire rounds.
Loss for me.
Round 3: Tyranids
There is not a lot to say about this one. My opponent and I both agreed that the summary of this game was "There was a lot of templates and tears" The mission for this game was d3+2 objectives. and we rolled and got the special rule that extends the range of everyone's shooting by 6 inches. I was DESTROYED.
Our game ended pretty quick. Everyone who looked at our board and we told them what special rules we got just kinda went.. Oh.. wow... Great opponent. Great Army.. I was dead before turn 1. He had me outclassed in every way.
I learned a lot from my first tournament. I've already thought a few dozen ways to make my army better. I'll go into more detail on that later.
