Nova Open Game #4 Blackmoor vs. Nids!

Nova Open Batrep #1

Nova Open Batrep #2
Nova Open Bartep #3

So after beating Farmpunk I am up there at 3-0 and I find out that I will be going up against a Tyranid army played by Casey C. He must be good because he is up here with me, so even though Grey Knights match up well against Tryanids, I still need to be weary of them.

Batrep after the jump

Blackmoor: Stelek did not get cheated

Well there was some controversy in my game with Stelek that I cheated in our game. Here is what happened:

My batrep here
Stelek's batrep here

I get my Paladins on turn #5 and I placed them into combat squads as they entered from the table edge. Stelek says that I cheated when I did this. He also says that either cheating cost him the game, or luck. I hope he referred to this game as him losing by luck because they entered into the same table quarter and the fact that they combat squaded has no impact on our game.

So after I saw that I was accused of cheating I wrote a Mea culpa when I read the FAQ under Space Marines. I thought that indeed I did play it wrong. Well, rules are never my strong point, that is why whenever an opponent questions one of my rules I look it up, and when ever my opponent makes a rules assertion, I let it go.

So yesterday he begins again with his cheating allegations.

If you do not want to read through the post, here is the quote:

4) Cheating. Note this isn’t a shot at Blackmoor, he just happens to be the best example of cheating (Dash cheated too, as did every other DE player, but they were stopped in their attempts by me or a judge).

You cannot combat squad Marines when entering from reserve. Period.

Really? Period? Well let's take a look shall we...

E-mail in! How to be a competitive 40k gamer when you are new to the hobby?

E-mail in!

Josh writes:

I am very familiar with the rules of 40k and know a lot of things about most of the armies.  However, whenever I lay an army down on the table, I kinda have the feeling like I don't know what I'm doing.  I have done quite a bit of competitive Warmachine in the past year, so I have a feeling for the competitive scene.  I was hoping that you could give me a rundown on the basics of how to be competitive in 40k.

I'm looking to start fresh on an army for 40k, but my army choice really isn't what I'm worried about right now.  I think sometimes during games I have a hard time trying to decide what is important to do.

Anyway, it would be great if you could give me some suggestions, or even better make a blog post about it!

Thanks, Josh

Well, you have several things going and I will try to answer them. Your questions seem like they are:

#1. You don’t feel like you know what you are doing.

Everyone feels this way at first. It takes while for anyone to learn what they are doing. When I play fantasy I don’t know what I am doing either. I have no idea what units can kill what units, and what tricks and traps, and nasty surprises are in my opponent’s army book that I have to watch out for. Getting comfortable with the game just takes time on the table top and you need experience playing a wide variety of armies and there are just not a lot of shortcuts for that.

Nova Invitational game #4: Blackmoor vs. Timmah’s Space Wolves

Because Timmah asked for it...

So I am now 2-1 and working my way up and for my next game I ended up playing Timmah’s Space Wolves. Timmah had just beat Stelek and so he was very animated. In my game it was like playing someone who just chugged down 4 red bulls. 

For some additional reading, here is Timmah's battle report of our game. 

For my battle report, keep reading...

‘Ard Boyz Shenanigans

While listening to podcasts and to people who casually play 40k games, it is funny to hear what their thoughts and perceptions are of tournament games and gamers. When they go to tournaments and do podcasts there they are always surprised that there are no problems at the top tables and people are having fun. It seems like they think that tournament gamers are all power gamers with their win-at-all-cost attitudes that will do anything to win a tournament. They think that whenever you compete for a prize that it brings out the worst in players.

In my experience, the opposite is true. Tournament gamers are prepared and professional, and they play well, and they play fair. I do not remember the last bad game I have had at a major tournament. I think one of the reasons why is that you have to pay a reasonable amount of money, and that most people there have been to tournaments before and they are not there for a prize, but to have a fun weekend playing 40k, and have themselves good and challenging games.

Now on the other side of the coin is the ‘Ard Boyz tournament. Since they are free, and every shop runs them they are a lot of people’s first and only tournament experience. Not only do you get stores that might not have run many tournaments before, and the fact that it is free means that everyone plays, and that the players that look at the chance to win prizes, and have that carrot dangled in their faces to try to do anything and everything they can to win. I think part of the problem is the way that GW markets the event with no painting not sports, just bring your toughest army and try to be the ‘Ardest Boy.

So some of my worst games I have ever played have been at the ‘Ard Boyz tournaments. Slow play, questionable rules knowledge, etc have been in play. To give you an example I will talk about my last game of the ‘Ard Boyz semi-finals.

Nova Open game #3 Blackmoor vs. Farmpunk

Nova Open Batrep #1

Nova Open Batrep #2

So after beating Stelek I get to go play Garrett (Farmpunk) from the blog Theback40k. I met him the day before when he was one of the judges for the invitational. He was a nice guy and he was playing one of the armies that I have a very hard time dealing with, and that is Grey Knights in Stormravens.

My List

2000 Points of Grey Knights

HQ

Draigo

Librarian w/Warding Stave, Might of Titian, Quicksilver, Sanctuary, The Shrouding

Troops

10 Paladins w/4 Psycannons (1 Master Crafted), 2 Hammers, 4 Halberds (1 Master Crafted), 3 Swords (1 Master Crafted), Brotherhood Banner

6 Grey Knight Strike Squad w/1 Psycannon

Fast Attack

9 Grey Knight Interceptors w/2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Justicar w/Master Crafted Demmonhammer

Heavy Support

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

So there it is…28 Models+ 3 Vehicles

Farmpunk’s List

HQ

Castellan Crowe

Libirarian w/Might of Titan, Shrouding, Sanctuary, Warp Rift

Troops

10 Purifiers w/4 Psycannons, 5 Halberds, Demonhammer

7 Purifiers w/2 Psycannons, 4 Halberds, Demonhammer

5 Purifier w/2 Psycannons, 3 Halberds

Rhino

5 Purifiers w/2 Psycannons, 3 Halberds

Rhino

5 Strikes w/Psycannon

Rhino

Fast Attack

Stormraven Gunship w/TL Assault Cannon, TL Multi-Melta

Stormraven Gunship w/TL Plasma Cannon, TL Multi-Melta

Heavy Support

Dreadnaught w/Multi-melta

Dreadnaught w/2 TW Autocannons, psybolt ammo

This is where I hope my experience pays off. I played at Wargames Con and played a list a lot like this and it crushed me keeping me out of the winner’s bracket. Now I know what to expect and what to look out for. I am still in trouble though even with my experience because Grey Knights in Stormravens are tough for me to deal with. They have a brutal combination of being faster than me so they get to pick their battles, they have psych-out grenades so when they charge I go last, they have a lot of attacks at initiative 6, they have force weapons to nullify my 2 wounds, and they have mindstrike missiles to croak my librarian. 

Mission:

Primary: Kill Points 

Secondary: Table Quarters

Tertiary: Objectives

The good news is that it is my favorite mission…Kill Points!!!

Deployment: Dawn of War

Setup

He starts with a couple of purifiers on the table. One in the center on the hill, the other on a tower on the back right. The rest of his army will come on turn #1.

I keep my whole army in reserve hoping to be able to shoot down his stormravens when my dreadnaughts come on.

Nova Open Batrep Game #1 Grey Knights vs. Tau

We all know where I finished at the Nova Open, and this is were I started. As they say in these things, you have to get a little lucky, and I ended up with a new player named George from Columbus Georgia. The first round pairing can be crap shoot and you can get anything to one of the best players there, to a new players, and George and his wife were great people and I enjoyed meeting him.

I am going to go quickly through this batrep so we can get on to some of the other games, but I am adding it for the sake of completeness.

Here is his army:

I played at the Empire Games GT last weekend

My summer of 40K is coming to an end next week with ‘Ard Boyz. It is almost over and I can start to work on my next army.

Last weekend was a local GT with about 50 players.

I took my Nova Invitational list:

1750 Points of Grey Knights
HQ
Draigo
Librarian w/Might of Titian, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, Warp Rift

Troops
10 Paladins w/4 Psycannons, 2 Hammers, 4 Halberds, 3 Swords, Brotherhood Banner, 5 Master Crafting sprinkled in there.
10 Grey Knight Strike Squad w/2 Psycannons,

Heavy Support
Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

So there it is…22 Models+ 3 Vehicles

I was going to change it around some, but I got lazy/busy and just dropped Psybolt ammo on the Strike Squad and added some Master Crafting to the Paladins.

 

I had a lot of fun and played 5 fun games. For detailed coverage of the event I would suggest that you check out this thread on Dakka Dakka:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/396953.page#3322086

Cheating and me!

Stelek over on his blog had this to say about our game:

"Game vs Blackmoor. I said you can’t combat squad from reserve. The judge said nothing when you said it. It’s in the NOVA FAQ. I *could* have raised a stink about it, but I was asked multiple times to *not* raise a stink, so I did not. Please note that since 2 units did this, that’s twice you did something you should not have. It’s my understanding that this happened repeatedly throughout the tournament. No, I am not mad at Blackmoor. I am pointing this out not for the internet to rage, but for Mike and his judges to see a point of failure–and hopefully for Blackmoor to read the tournament rules (or the GW FAQ that says you can’t, and yes, it’s a stupid rule but they wrote it so there it is)."

And to that I say...oops!!!

I thought that you combat squaded when you deployed, so when I got a unit out of reserve I just deployed it as a combat squad. Now after I look it up it says that you can't in the Space Marines FAQ (I don't play space marines so I have no idea what is in there) and also in the Nova Open's FAQ. I had no idea that is was in the Nova FAQ either because I never read it all the way through (I just thought is was filled with common sense stuff) and I just read the Grey Knight and General portion. In hindsight I should have read the whole thing.

To sum it up again, the rule that you can't combat squad from reserve is nowhere in any Grey Knight or General FAQ.

Now in my game with Stelek it was an advantage for him to have my Paladins in combat squads because then he only has to burn down 5 of them to knock them down to half victory points. If they were the full 10 man unit., he has to kill all 10 of them to have them stop being worth full points, and killing 10 of them in 2 turns is nearly impossible.

I wish he would have said something because I would not have combat squaded them and played the rule right. He says that he raised a stink, but I did not hear anything about it. I get rules wrong all of the time, so that is why I generally go with what ever my opponent's interpretation of the rules are. In my game with Tony you can see that in action. I challenged him in Njal's power and I took his word for it. When he questioned the aegis working with the psychic hood I looked it up to be sure.

And there was some question of my use of Psychic Communion...
I started Draigo on the board for the sole reason of casting Psychic Communion. Again, I rolled a "3"
for the Paladins on turn #2 and had them wait and I had the rest of my army try to stay off, but I still got on the interceptors and a dreadnaught. On turn #3 I used Psychic Communion again and I rolled a "1" for the Paladins to come on from reserve and even with the +1 they did not come on. On turn #4 I did not cast if because I need anything but a "1" to come on and that is what I rolled, I do not think that I can add +1 to that because I think that a roll of a "1" is always a failure, but I might be wrong.

Nova Invitational game #3: Blackmoor vs. Vulcan Space Marines

My List

1750 Points of Grey Knights

HQ

Draigo

Librarian w/Might of Titian, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, 2 Servo Skulls

Troops

10 Paladins w/4 Psycannons, 2 Hammers, 4 Halberds, 3 Swords, Brotherhood Banner

10 Grey Knight Strike Squad w/2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo

Heavy Support

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

So there it is…22 Models+ 3 Vehicles

Space Marines (From Memory)

HQ

Vulcan

 

Elite

5 Assault Terminators w/Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields

5 Assault Terminators w/Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields

Troops

5 Tac Marines

Rhino 

10 Scouts

Heavy Support

Land Raider 

Land Raider 

Land Raider Redeemer

He said that he is taking his 2000 point list minus his troops to fit everything in. 

Mission:

Primary: Table Quarters 

Secondary: Kill Points

Tertiary: Objectives

Deployment: Spearhead

He sets up and I start in reserve. Hmmm, maybe I start in reserve more that I thought I do.  

Turn #1

Space Marine Turn #1

Not much for him to do.

Nova Invitational Game #2: Grey Knights vs. Space Wolves

My List

1750 Points of Grey Knights

HQ

Draigo

Librarian w/Might of Titian, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, 2 Servo Skulls

Troops

10 Paladins w/4 Psycannons, 2 Hammers, 4 Halberds, 3 Swords, Brotherhood Banner

10 Grey Knight Strike Squad w/2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo

Heavy Support

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

So there it is…22 Models+ 3 Vehicles

Jeff’s Space Wolves

HQ

Rune Priest w/Wolf tail Talisman, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Tempest’s Wrath

Elite

Wolf Guard Pack

2 Wolf Guard w/Combi-meltas, Wolf Claw

4 Wolf Guard w/Combi-meltas, Wolf Claw

Razorback w/:Lascannon, TL Plasma Gun

5 Wolf Scouts w/Power Weapon, Melta Gun

5 Wolf Scouts w/Power Weapon, Melta Gun

Troops

5 Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun

Rhino

5 Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun

Rhino

5 Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun

Rhino

5 Grey Hunters w/Melta Gun

Rhino

5 Grey Hunters w/Flamer

5 Grey Hunters w/Flamer

Heavy Support

5 Long Fangs w/4 Missile Launchers

Razorback w/:Lascannon, TL Plasma Gun

5 Long Fangs w/4 Missile Launchers

Razorback w/:Lascannon, TL Plasma Gun

5 Long Fangs w/4 Missile Launchers

Razorback w/:Lascannon, TL Plasma Gun

Looks like just about every space wolf list out there. 

Mission:

Primary: Kill Points

Secondary: Table Quarters 

Tertiary: Objectives

My army is hard to get Kill Points from and I can almost always win a Kill Point mission.

Deployment: Dawn of War

He wins the dice roll to go first and sets up with a couple of units.

Here is my set up:

Nova Invitational game #1: Blackmoor vs. Alex (The Everliving) Fennell

Well before the first game my roommate Alex and I make a pact that if one of us wins the $1000 prize we will pay for the room. In the morning I get out of the shower and Alex comes up and says that one of us is guaranteed to go on to the next round because we are playing each other!

 

My List

1750 Points of Grey Knights

HQ

Draigo

Librarian w/Might of Titian, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, 2 Servo Skulls

Troops

10 Paladins w/4 Psycannons, 2 Hammers, 4 Halberds, 3 Swords, Brotherhood Banner

10 Grey Knight Strike Squad w/2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo

Heavy Support

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought w/2 Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

So there it is…22 Models+ 3 Vehicles

Stormcrow has Paladin questions, and I have answers.

Stormcrow over on Dakka asked me some questions about my list and here are the answers:

1) Do you always combat squad your group? I read your post saying "When the paladins don't combat squad they are the feathered from hell. They are where other deathstars go to die," and I watched two of your games via live stream, but I have to say I don't know if your statement means they are horrible when grouped up, or if they are so amazingly better than other death stars others die wishing they could be like them. I saw you did where you played Tony, hower.

Answers below!

The Nova Open…the beginning.

So I leave for Washington on Wednesday night at 11:58 pm. I am taking the red eye flight out there and will be flying by night.

Since they are charging for checked luggage, there is another advantage to my Paladin list is that I can fit it into a battle foam tray and then into my wood tray/display board. Then I can stuff it full of clothes, and there you go, one bag for everything (I did have to put my dreads into a Tupperware container and put them in my back pack).

Here is a picture of it with a pair of pants and a T-shirt: