Thursday, June 28, 2012

100TH WIN ORKS 5th ED!!!

Life is still proving to be crazy and squeezing in time for gaming is near impossible currently. I won the tournament at another store almost 2 months ago and I hit my 98th win for 5th edition with my orks in the last round. I wanted to hit that magical 100th win mark before the next edition landed. Preorders went out and I knew I would have to do it this week or bust. I went to the FLGS and like what happens often almost everyone was playing already or just talking on an on. I needed 2 wins to get to 100 and only had time for 2 games. If I lost either one I would not hit the 100 mark.

Ming and his ultras had no opponent and I wanted to get my first game in quickly. We set up and played 2000 points and the same exact lists we used in the previous tournament. Another grudge match and I know he wanted to stop me and go down in history in the club for doing so. We rolled up standard missions and got Kill Points and Dawn of War. I was going first and I set up my 2 30 man squads along the center of the board. I moved in on turn one and set one of the squads forward enough to bait our the terminators. He took the bait and on turn 2 the whole board was in close combat. We slugged it out for a while but because he never got to soften me up I wont the battle 12-7 in kill points.

I started looking around for who wanted to stop me from hitting win 100. One of my favorite opponents and friends in the club stepped up to face me with a crazy CC GK army. I looked across the table and I was not happy and he could very easily win if I make a mistake or he plays flawlessly. We rolled up and got KP/DOW again! I also managed to go first and set up as per usual with my 2 blobs along the center. He set up his deathcult assasins and terminators in the corner in a nice castle formation. I knew if I had to fight him I would have to hit him all at the same time and win one massive combat. When he drove his reinforcements on turn one he put them in the opposite corner. My mind was set and I was going to ignore most of his army and pick up the 7 easy kill points that he deployed on the other side of the board.

I just ran away from his deathstar and pushed into his other half of his army. The nobz and Ghaz made quick work of 5 kill points(almost 7) and I lost 3 in return. It was a close game and came down to strategy. It might have gotten even closer if the game continued past turn 5 but the dice gods didn't allow it.

I would like to thank everyone who I have played in 5th edition for the great games I have had (even you shiny rhino)! I can't wait to see what 6th brings and start my counts over for my armies.

RIPPED

Monday, May 14, 2012

April Assault: The Final Battle

The day grew dark and it was about time for the final battle to be fought. I was going to be against one of my good friends and rival Amberclad and his space puppies. There were only 3 Space Wolf lists in the tourney and  Ghaz got to fight all of them. I picked up my tray and moved to my now randomized table. We typically randomize the tables in later rounds to try to get players on NEW tables especially the ones near the top of the rankings so that players don't play on the same ones all day.

The table I got moved onto was my 2nd least favorite table. A massive 8 inch wide river ran clear across the center with high cliffs and a pond on one side. My massive ork horde would once again be slowed by terrain. I was ready for an epic battle to break out for the victory. I had made it to where I wanted and I was sitting currently in first place with a comfy lead over 3rd and 4th.

The mission was:
Primary: 5 objectives one in the center of each quarter and one in the center of the board
            (once captured early in your movement phase, you can move away from them and still control them)
Secondary: Victory Points
3rd: Table Quarters (i think)
4th: (i dont remember)

The Space Wolves have 1 Rhino, 1 Drop Pod, 1 Landraider, 3 grey hunter 10 man squads, 1 rune priest with jaws and murderous hurricane, Land Speeder Typhoon Squadron 3x speeders, Long Fangs /w MLs. My general strategy would probably not work for this game because of my mobility being cut down by the river. I had to formulate a new plan and quick. I thought about zerging his back field with the trukk and storm boyz but I realized that both would just get blown up in torrents of fire and the boyz would get stuck in the center river choke point. I knew I could not play this game they way I normally would so Instead I decided to go for the primary and let him come to me and make the mistake.

The first Turn his pod squad dropped in and took an objective quickly and he took one in his back field with the land raider squad. I lost my lootas to all of his fire even being in 4+ cover.

I retaliated by jumping my storm boyz onto his objective in attempt to assassinate his squad like I failed to do in the last game. I came very close where I killed 7 of the 10 guys and I lost quite a few. This was all done in a large pond in the corner. I was banking on his other squad not being able to make it over but if they did I would be in the clear to take and hold the center. Ghaz and my nobs took one of my objectives on the flank and a large boyz squad took my home objective.

CRAP he rolled well and made it into combat with my storm boyz on turn 2! I lost them all and he narrowly escaped with his squad. My large squads were not the main focus of his fire and boy did they take a lot. I got some cover and only lost a few boyz. I keep them spread out so that I don't get crushed by templates.  He moved his empty rhino onto the center to be my play toy for the kans.

The rest of the game was a boring tea party. Ghaz rolled a 6 irl for his kunnin ability and sat around on the center objective. I used his rhino that was contesting for cover for the kans. I moved the bulk of both 30 man squads into area cover and let him shoot and do everything he could to me. I slowly lost guys to his fire and by turn 4 I blew up his transport and took the objective. I was now winning the primary by holding 3 out of 5 objectives. Ghaz sat waiting to pop his Wahhhhgh and counter charge the space puppies for the victory point win. However they just never came and we rolled on turn 5 and the game ended. I lost on victory points but I won by getting the primary. Apparently my opponent had planned to get the center on turn 6 with a massive charge. Knowing ghaz and what he does I would have killed both squads in 4 rounds of CC with ghaz alone for the most part.

We shook hands after a great game of chess and waited for awards. I ended up where I had tactically planned... In first place based on battle points. Amberclad had also won best overall because he did not get crushed the final round and he had high points in sport, comp, and painting.

Tough day but I feel that round 2 and 3 were more a factor based on the table rather then the opponent. My orks did exactly as they were designed to. I was very happy to pilot them to another 3 wins in 5th edition. My goal is to hit 100 wins before 6th drops and I want to do it without a single loss.

Thanks for reading as always

RIPPED

Friday, May 11, 2012

Sorry...Tourney Batreps

College has been crazy and I have not been able to really play or do anything 40k related after the tourney last month. Here are the last 2 battle reports from rounds 2 and 3 of our April Assault.

Game 2 I found myself across from another space wolf player. I was ok with that but I was put onto the damn LAVA BOARD. At the beginning of the day it was ruled by the judges that the lava was going to be difficult and dangerous terrain for everyone. This board was covered in it and for me I knew I was always going to be going through part of it somewhere every turn with almost every mob.

The game was king of the hill with an objective directly in the center of the board. This objective was surrounded by over 3 inches of lava in all directions. It was chosen to be table quarters and I got put in the one that would funnel me through a small center opening and moving constantly through lava.

I set up my storm boys and ghaz in his trukk so that they could easily sweep up his flank and push through his lines. The storm boyz made it into combat on turn 1 like planned. However, between the good rolls and his banner being popped I only managed to kill 5 marines while losing a lot and then fleeing off the board. Ghaz was in position for turn two with his nobz. The trukk was exposed and I was hoping that I wont ramshakle backwards. I also shot up his speeders turn 1 with my lootas after they had already taken heavy fire from his long fangs.

His turn two he blew up the trukk as I thought he would. I got a ramshakle and closed my eyes and rolled the scatter result. A hit would have been fine but instead I moved 14 inches shooting a gap between terrain and his unit that the storm boyz assaulted the turn before. I was now in the heart of his army with ghaz and 5 nobz standing in a crater. You could almost see his whole army turn in fear and start blasting away hoping to wipe them out. I lost one nob to shooting and then was charged by his closest squad with his HQ in it. I lost all my nobz but Ghaz stood still in a drawn combat.

I moved my army forward and did some shooting but not much really happened on my next turn. I took more casualties to lava and slowly got closer to striking distance. His venerable dread shook off an immobilized result and was forced to not shoot the following turn. Ghaz won combat vs his grey hunters and they fled from the mighty warboss. Ghaz advanced to keep them fleeing and moved toward the rest of his army. I was ready to make my move.

He predictably shot at ghaz and then charged him. I popped my 2+ invuln and took 3 wounds for the whole turn with his army focused on him. Ghaz slayed 4 grey hunters in return laughing in their faces as he knew his friends would be there soon.

The rest of my army was now enraged and pushed into his lines. I slaughtered his grey hunter squad and kept his other one fleeing after my combat and made them run off the board. His lone wolf and dread smashed into a boyz squad.

The rest of the game did not take long at all. Ghaz marched over to the long fangs and tore them a new one. His dread killed the boyz squad but was taken down in a flurry of loota fire. His last rhino with grey hunters found out what kans do in close combat and were mauled to death. My grots came in on turn 5 and marched to the center of the board. He had a small terminator squad also marching toward the center but they were also ripped down by loota fire and kans. At the end of the game he had only one immobilized rhino left on the board and my grots were sitting on the objective surrounded by lava.

Ghaz was again by far the MVP of the game because he took out 2 grey hunter squads, long fangs, and his HQ ran off the board with some grey hunters. I will always argue that he is the best HQ in the game bar none.

Look for the next bat rep in a few days

Thanks for reading,

RIPPEDDRAGON

Friday, April 27, 2012

April Assault Round 1

Each round was going to be 2 hours at 1500 points. I was warned before my first game that I would be playing against a new player with less than 5 games played of 40k. He was a polite older gentleman who had played figure games most of his life and was finally getting into 40k. He was playing a space wolf army with long fangs, a dread, predator, a couple squads of guys, and a rune priest. He did not have dice and was very fresh to the rules and armies.

The mission was kill points and objectives and they were all centrally located on his half of the board. We were playing on a dense urban setup with plenty of tall los blocking buildings. I hid Ghaz's truck and lined up my boyz on the two major routs across the board and my stormboyz flanking to the left. He shot up some stormboys and my lootas and killed one kan. I marched forward and ran with everything prepping a quick strike. Ghaz shot forward and ate a squad that had gotten out of their rhino. There was plenty of talking and the first turn took well over an hour. I had a time crunch and knew I had to finish this quick.

Turn two was more of him shooting and not killing a lot. I lost a mega nob and a few boyz but not enough to stop the onslaught that was going to happen on my turn... We had about 30 minutes left when my second turn finally started. I moved everything and then blew my 6 inch fleet and then charged everything on turn 2. When the dust settled he had lost everything except the long fangs hiding in a building. My stormboyz got crushed by both grey hunter squads but had been multi charged by a 30 man squad and 2 kans.

We played 3 more turns but I just left his long fangs alone and sat on objectives and let him fire at me. I got full points for the game and was set to move on to play against the next top person.

Monday, April 23, 2012

April Assault Prep

After my poor experiences with blood angels and comp systems. I decided to scrap my plans and go back to the drawing board. I knew 6th was going to come out soon and I really wanted to break 100 wins with orks before then. I started to fiddle with perfect comp lists and digging out old models. Some of the lists I liked but I knew playing fluffy orks VS some of the lists that match perfect comp but are competitive in other codex will be hard.

I was pretty bzy with school and did not have much time to paint or build things. From that I knew I would already be behind in points. There were also 30 comp points given out on top of everything at the judges discretion. The judges are made up of people that I play with and as such they know I am here to stomp. No matter how fluffy my list is I will not be getting the 30 extra comp points. I concluded my only chance was to go for pure winning goodness. I build my list around that and disregarded comp. The only thing I had to do was make a list to meet the minimum comp requirements.

My List:

Ghaz
5x Mega Nobz
trukk
20 storm boyz
30 boyz
30 boyz
10 lootas
3 kans

Took me a little bit to make it to this point but it was not a hard list to make. It runs off of my standard ork build and strategy.

I took my first warm up game vs ming the weekend before the April Assault. Orks vs Ultras...classic!

Not much to report on that game. I tabled him by the bottom of turn 2 except a land raider. I then chased the land raider down for another turn and the game was over in 30 minutes.

Second practice game was against a bug list. He stayed back and kept shooting with warriors and guard. I pushed ghaz, nobz, and storm boyz down his throat and let my boyz handle the big bugs dropping in near the mid objective. The kans got into combat with Doom and tied him up and eventually killed him. His tyrant got into combat with ghaz on turn 5 and I blew my 2+ invuln and crushed him. The rest of my army had pretty much already wiped the board. Easy win.

Lists were turned in that day and no one could swap and counter me within the club.

I was happy with the strong showing from them as usual. Time to fight for first in the April Assault.

Battle reports for the tournament are coming.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

April Assault Champion: RIPPEDDRAGON!

Just got home after a long day of 40k. 18 people playing...less than out fall event but a lot of people from away which was good to see. I changed to my orks last weekend and played 2 games this week and stomped both. Today was a little different but partially due to terrain and my opponents. I had to go against space wolves 3 rounds in a row! The orks did it and I won all 3 games and got max points for the first 2 and a minor victory in the last round to Amberclad. I won best general and Amberclad took best overall due to my comp hit and lower painting scores. I never planned on winning overall with my comp score and wanted to just get best general and have the most battle points at the end of the day. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. MVP: Ghazghkull - he carries games plain and simple. I will be posting battle reports over the next week or so. Look for my updates ;)

Monday, April 9, 2012

April Assault thoughts

My flgs this april is hosting another large tournament with 30+ people (hopefully) sign up over at crossroad games you can buy tickets online. It is a 1500 point tourney standard codexes allowed with a very strict comp system which can be found in our forums.

I made a blood angel force and played a game vs creative twilight and I had no idea that the comp system existed. I found out that my army was very illegal and I would not be able to use it in the tourney. Fine... so i went home and started thinking of lists and almost everyone for blood angels had its balls cut out. These guys like the "hobby aspect" tournaments and as such all spam is unplayable literally you cant play if you have more then 2 of anything except troops.

I have been spending my time trying to come up with lists that have a decent chance of winning despite my comp setback. If you dont know already, both my orks and blood angels lack a ton of variety and I never built them for the "hobby". My armies were designed to win and play that way as you can see from my record.

I did play once with my neutered blood angels list against ming last week. It did not go very well at all, bad dice, and a shitty list. I held on and tried to win but no luck I ended up losing to him...the first time in many many years (3+). He joins the ranks of the very few who have beaten me in 5th edition. I was very happy for him because he has come a long way in his play skill. After playing with him and winning the doubles tournament last month he seems to finally understand that he needs to play aggressive with his death stars and pick proper targets.

April Assault has left a bad taste in my mouth already and I dont even know if I want to play in it. I have never played a game in my life just for the fun of it. Sports, video games, bets between friends, everything is always about being the best I can be. It is not in my blood to sit back and have fun and not care about the result. Anyone who has played against me should know that already ;)

"hobby event" wtf is that...

Friday, March 23, 2012

Final Battle for ES-THEA

In the pre-dawn hours the remnants of the Blood Angels 8th Company and their
Ultramarines 3rd Company allies completed preparations for the return to the
surface of ES-THEA. The Blood Angels Chaplain completed the rites of battle and
looked for any evidence of the red thirst. Although grim and determined, none
of the marines under his charge showed any signs of the rage and descent to
darkness. The Ultramarines Librarian and his battlegroup also completed
preparations, but their focus seemed more concerning checking the sights on
their bolters and power levels of their lascannons.

Planetfall was fairly uneventful, but the combined force chose to land some
distance from the Necron pyramid. None of the bright energy lances greeted the
blue and red colored marines as they landed off in the desert. However, some
distance from the pyramid, evidence of a new threat emerged. The remains of
several Eldar vehicles were found, but scorchmarks were indicative of other
Eldar weaponry, not Necron Gausfire.

The battleforce moved on, and towards dusk the pyramid was reached. As the
Battleforce arrayed itself overlooking the field below, it was observed that
Eldar units were seemingly interacting with the Necrons. The Chaplain and
Librarian communicated over the comm-net. It was likely that the Necrons were
controlling the Eldar. Almost as soon as that communication was held, the
Necrons and Eldar began mobilizing and heading towards their forms of vehicles.
It was going to be an armored clash in the waning daylight. Ultramarine and
Blood Angel units mounted up, leaving two Ultramarine squads on overwatch while
the tanks of the battleforce moved in on the center and right of the Necron
line.

The Blood Angel chaplain headed directly towards the Necron center while the
Librarian headed to hook around to the right. The real reason for this was
clear – the Necron Overlord needed to be drawn away from the battle, while the
Blood Angels attacked the center to do what they did best. The Chaplain would
assault with his ultramarine-equipped assault terminators. The Librarian was
accompanied by thunderhammer assault terminators as well. Both commanders rode
in Landraiders to the assault.

As the clash began with both sides firing lances and multi-meltas and
lascannons, it was clear that the fight would be grim and fierce. But as the
Tarot had predicted to the Librarian, the Necron Overlord soon determined to
take his chariot to the Imperial right. What the Marines did not count on
though was the tremendous firepower that a combined Necron army would have with
the addition of the firepower of the Eldar and their shackled warlock.

Soon the battlefield was full of haze and flames from exploding and damaged
imperial vehicles, and shimmering dust from Necron and Eldar skimmers. The
battle was not going well for the Imperium. Time and again the Librarian
reached out with his mind to try and aid the Marines, but he was thwarted time
and again by the Warlock. And then out of the dust advanced the Necron
Overlord, riding on his metallic chariot of death. The Landraider servitors
targeted the chariot and brought it down. But the grim overlord rose from its
debris and advanced on the landraider. Thunderhammer-armed assault marines
charged down the ramp to meet their foe – the Librarian stayed behind full
knowing he was the target and he had no desire to find himself shackled like the
hapless Eldar Warlock.

Soon the air outside the landraider was humming with scything green energies and
swinging hammers. More than once the Overlord was brought low, but he self
repaired and battled anew. Ultramarine terminators were turned on each other by
the Necon’s shackling mind control abilities, and the battle continued.
Eventually a combat squad of additional marines arrived and the squad’s added
assault power phased the Necron Overlord from the field of battle.

On the center of the battlefield wreckage was everywhere. Vehicle crews on both
sided fired until their weapons systems were down or the vehicles wrecked. The
Chaplain and terminators fought grimly on foot, spending time between assaults
hiding behind vehicle wreckage. Their Landraider had been exploded earlier by
combined fire from Stalkers and Wave Serpents, even after a damaged Ultramarine
Razorback, its weapons gone and marines dismounted has zoomed to the front to
try and shield the Landraider from the tremendous fire. The Chaplain and
entourage now crouched behind the remains of the Razorback.

On the Marine left, the Necrons and Eldar forces also attacked, tring to
outflank the marine’s overwatch units, but their assault was repelled with heavy
losses on both sides.

Now, as the sun set, the Necrons focused their energies on the marine center,
sending forward their Stalkers, a Monolith, and Eldar slaves to try and
overpower the marines. Marine fire and meltagun toting Blood Angel assault
teams thwarted this assault but again with losses. Just as the Marine line
began to bend, the Librarian and his terminators arrived, sweeping in from the
right to recover the line and break the back of the Necron assault.

As the night deepened, the Blood Angels Chaplain and Ultramarines Librarian met
on the battlefield, their armor lit from the fires of burning vehicles. The
Eldar warlock and units were nowhere to be seen – apparently sometime after the
Overlord was dispatched, the mindlock on the Eldar was broken and they fled.
Messages were already sent by fleet communications to call forward techmagos and
others with greater expertise in handling Necron tomb-worlds. Servitors were
already working to recover and repair vehicles, while apothecaries recovered
geneseed from the fallen. The Necontyr of course, had also disappeared, having
been phased away from the field of battle, leaving behind little more than
scorched sand and their warm, humming pyramid.

The plans for the next day were for the two Chapters to get together, honor the
fallen, and make arrangements for return of the Terminator Armor once the Blood
Angel force reached their armories at Baal. Soon 8th Company Blood Angels and
3rd Company Ultramarines would part, knowing that they shared more in common
than the red that decorated their armor.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Slaughter on ES-THEA

A small group from the 8th company of Blood Angels had been assigned to monitor the activity on the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy. They had been sent to scout out planets and monitor nearby TAU activity in the sector. Three months went by without any activity and with nothing to do the group from 8th company went to explore a nearby planet ES-THEA.

The planet looked similar to Baal mostly baron but not polluted by the hands of man. A few oasis full of vegetation were scattered across the planet. One in particular had no visible water present but was by far the biggest. They set out to take some readings and look for life. However none was to be found, there was only lush vegetation. When one of the sargents took a soil sample the ground began to tremble. The shaking continued to increase and the center of the oasis began to rise from the ground.

A large metal structure lifted from the ground and reached for the sky. It looked like a large metal pyramid. Some of the older marines realized what this was...It was a Necron tomb. A large crystal at the top began to glow and it shot a beam of light at the few storm ravens sitting on the ground. All of their transports were melted in an instant. The few squads formed up and prepared for a fight. The chaplain in charge of the mission called up to his cruiser and beacon for assistance.

Tomb spiders began to pour out of the tomb. A firefight erupted and the battle had begun. The Blood Angels had to hold out until a rescue transport could pick them up. The men fought valiantly but there were too many. Just as they were getting down to their few remaining men the familiar sound of a Storm Raven could be heard. The remaining men of the 8th company ran for the transport and got on board. As the ships landing ramp began to close the pyramid shot again. The chaplain sacrificing himself to absorb the brunt of the blast got in the way. His relic armor given to him from Dante himself melted instantly. He was thrown back into the cargo bay of the Storm Raven.

The ship took off and raced for the cruiser. The chaplain had suffered major injuries but was still alive. The remaining Blood Angels that survived were a mix of vets and sargents and one priest. The priest stabilized the chaplain on the way up to their ship.

Back on board it was decided they they would stay and monitor the pyramid's activity while awaiting for back up. A transmission was received shortly there after. A group of Ultra Marines were close and would like to assist in neutralizing the threat.

They arrived within a day, it was a small group from the 3rd company. They were lead by a librarian and were heavily armed. The Blood Angels had suffered major casualties and a lot of damage to their armor from scarabs. The Ultras seeing the damage that had been done loaned 5 terminator suits to the Blood Angels all equipped with lightning claws. The Chaplain received some armor as well and he quickly painted most of it black. They were ready to make planet fall and destroy the necron menace!