Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Best Army Nominees

Here are the nominees for best army from Throne of Skulls, I've also included a couple of extra shots that I coincidentally took of the nominees ahead of the nominations as well save me creating a new post for those. Anyway, first up my mate Liam, we'd joked about how my use of scenery would overshadow the poor soul who may have to display underneath me if I was nominated. You can see our fears were unfounded as Liam was indeed dsiplaying below my 'little Ferron Proxima'.

Liam's Daemon Prince, his head and arms are removable but Liam has abandoned the use of magnets for this and instead uses Lego, mainly the 'technical' pieces but you can't beat the flexibility, durability and downright reliability of these pieces to secure your miniatures and make them 'hot-swappable'.

Not sure who's marines this was but it was cleanly executed.

Which is why I took some pictures of it first thing on Day 1.

Not sure what Space Marine cahpter [and their Imperial Guard allies] this is but my buddies were mightily impressed by the scorching and damage to the drop pods.

Last Ocotber's Iron Warrior winner was nominated again, probably because of the added trophies on the base ;)

A unique Necron force featuring a white and green marble effect on their living metal.

These Howling Griffons were amazing. They were so cleanly executed with individual heraldry and freehanding. My mate Otty got to play against them with his Eldar

Mounted Demigryphs, not sure if these were run as Thunderwolves or bikes but they were another awesome addition and once again the clean finish was amazing to behold.

Mat Garside's White Scars. Excellent execution and consistency throughout

Here are the extra pictures I took before our battle on day 1.

And here's what I did with my space, as well as my army and a few extra additions to try and show the full Tyranid range I included my Tyranid Reclamation Digestion Pool, various craters, Ferron Fire Firs, Honored Imperium terrain and various wound and ability markers because they all go together. 

I'd hoped making the diorama would have helped unify everything together so you could see that the army went beyond just the figures - trying to bring a little bit of Ferron Proxima to Warhammer World. I'm still debating whether I should have measured the cabinet so I could have created a backdrop if I'm ever lucky enough to be nominated again but I do like the mirrors allowing you to see the backs of the models too.
Anyway, if you want to check out the facebook album full of 248 photos of the event please check it out here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.579078605444957.1073741831.212614545424700&type=3

Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Conclusion

So that was it, my five games and a whole lot of indigestion. Lets look at some of my units and how they fared:

Winged Hive Tyrant
Lets just say from the beginning I knew going in that he was going to be a potential liability. I was taking him more for the fact he was a newly finished model and a cool one to boot. I knew he had the potential to do well but equally fall at the first hurdle. The first two games he didn't survive past turn 2 but the last two games he actually was one of the key parts of my force that won [or nearly won] me the game. As for the third game, however bad it ended up he was probably the single most effective unit in play. I can't say I'd rely on him, he's still incredibly expensive and vulnerable but having a Deep Striking flyer is nothing to sniff at.

Tervigon
These really have become the workhorse of my army. I really should take on a third but I hated painting this one, there's just too much figure and I really don't want to be spending more money on the Tyranids or else I won't stop. Spawning was ridiculously poor and I even forgot to spawn in a couple of instances. It was certainly interesting to have both scoring Tervigons it makes them even more of an issue for the opponent when they're sat on an objective but I did miss out on an Outflanking Warlord Trait that was unnecessary on the Hive Tyrant but if I'd kept the Tervigon as a HQ could have been fun. Also I'm not 100% on all of the details in the battles on why they died but there seemed to be some combats they were unstoppable against tough opponents and yet others where they were whipped by seemingly inferior forces, c'est la vie.

Termagants
Having a spare 10 gaunts was handy, that's for sure. Termagants as a whole did surprisingly well, those 15 killing two Wraiths in game 2 being a particular high-point. Also their tar-pitting ability is handy but I guess with a greater understanding of multiple charges I'll now have to be even more strategic so that I can still follow up with Tervigon support. As I say spawning wasn't great, which was a shame.

Devgaunts
Devgaunts were their usual dependable selves, my only disappointment being they were quite often picked off before they could bring their weapons to bear. However, even 4 or 5 remaining gaunts proved to be effective, it's just a shame I didn't have the other half to be even more deadly. Perhaps I'll look at a bigger brood at some point, or a couple of pods of them to get within range before being mullered.

Broodlord and min Genestealer Brood
Didn't deliver much in game terms this time round. With only one brood there was less opportunity for them to shine and really their contribution was the added Biomancy power, hopefully picking up Endurance or Enfeeble but on a number of occasions lucking out with Witchfires.

Hive Guard
The Hive Guard did admirably, they secured First Blood on a couple of occasions which probably was the difference between a win or a loss. I did mess up with my Defence Line positioning, not always putting it within 24" of my opponent which would have benefited their range.

Doom of Malan'tai in Mycetic Spore
Not as unlucky on saving throws as normal but not as lucky as he could have been. The Doom is always a threat, Psychic Shriek is fun for that extra chance to kill people in the same fashion as Spirit Leech but with the added advantage of no cover saves. He had his moments of success and some moments where his only impact was to take a turns worth of shooting from anything nearby. Regardless, in these tournament environments I think he'll be a 'must take'.

Trygon

This is what I wrote last October:

Oh dear, what did you do? I think it may have killed a couple of things but overall it was 200pts that may well have been wasted. Perhaps it took fire which allowed the Tervigons to shine...

and it repeated that situation. I may consider saving 30pts and going with a Mawloc in future. If all it's going to do is get shot I may as well do it for cheaper and have a large blast attack to boot.

Aegis Defence Line
Game 3 and this baby must have made it's points back 10 times over, although ultimately it could not save everything. I think I was able to come up with some effective formations, although some didn't get me in a position to capitalise on the 24" range for an Impaler Cannon. That flexibility makes me shake my head when I see folk who have mounted theirs on a base, or recently I saw someone had magnetised the edged of theirs, which sounds and looks cool but really only gives you a straight line.

However, there was the occasional misunderstanding where my opponents didn't know that Fortifications are deployed in your table half, not your Deployment Zone. So when I'm putting it in advance of my army they think I'm trying a fast one. Equally the remarks from bystanders about Tyranids shouldn't have them was irritating, like Tyranids don't create structures on a planet  - digestion pits, spore chimneys, brood hives. And of course they defend these with a variety of bioforms. Those comments just illustrate an ignorance of the army in general. It's not really a big issue it's just an annoyance to have folk pass comment while you're playing and not have the opportunity to educate them, it's not like there's a lot of love for the bug anyway, who'd have thought that I'd come to the defence of these things.

Anyway, the big thing of course is that they won me Monument of Legend - Best Fortification prize. I'm pretty sure if it hadn't been in my army list with people seeing it in action it may not have succeeded. I think the pic below is evident that it certainly stands out on a standard Warhammer World Realm of Battle board. Of course there were only 5 entries which increased my odds but it was an accolade I was ludicrously happy about and made up for my less than stellar success on the battlefield.

Biomancy
How fickle the tides of the Empyrean. Obviously game 3 where I had all the powers at my disposal to survive almost anything only to be nobbled by poison weapons is a downer. Quite a few Endurance wounds were saved which totally renewed my faith in the powers beyond Catalyst. However I also got a few occasions where I was stuck with Haemorrhage AND Life Leech, was resigned to using them and they may have been effective too but as far as I can recall didn't bother! I also suffered a 1 in 5 Witchfire for my Broodlord with only one game where he traded his powers only to get nothing in return. Sorry but this sucks, I still don't get it and I still don't get why its FAQed that way. If I roll something above my Psyker level I get a re-roll because, one can assume, he isn't going to learn something too powerful for him. In the same context he's not going to learn something he has no ability to cast. Equally if you roll a double you get to re-roll as he isn't going to learn the same thing twice. The fairest option is a re-roll for a Broodlord, I've looked at Telepathy and Telekinesis too and the options are even less favourable for him there. I really should write a well considered appeal to the FAQ team about this, it's a nonsense.

Warhammer World Events Team

Say what you like about GW, its policies, practices, prices etc. but one thing they get right and it's Warhammer World. The weekend actually feels good value, the food that's included is top notch and the staff are excellent to the point where even after just three visits they are getting to know us and treat us like old friends. Even at the end of the tournament they asked if we'd had a good time when, lets face it, the sooner we vacated the building the sooner they could finish for the day. The last comment of the day was when I asked Nick 'if and when they renew some of the battle boards he would suggest a red planet one is created so my army would look even better' to which he replied 'well if perhaps you'd killed a few more people the board would have been stained red already' which my mates thought was hilarious.

Also there were significant improvements in the event compared to last October. It was a smoother operation from the Events team, games got underway easier and getting food was just as simple. One aspect I took upon myself to improve was to move my army to my next table as soon after finishing as it was announced. Quite often that meant the hall was relatively empty meaning I could navigate stools and gear with my horde without having 140+ other gamers trying to do exactly the same thing at the same time, just some advice if you go.

Ultimately I had a great time, the gaming success was minimal but I feel there were some moral victories in amongst the defeats and draws. I know I could have won two more games than I did but for my own misunderstanding and choice but even so they were all great games against thoroughly decent opponents. My only real problem was the nervous excitement and unnecessary stress that these events bring that manifest as silly errors and quite often indigestion. I'm not sure why I get this way, particularly when I want to have fun. In the end I was the least successful Tyranid player there and was ranked just outside the top 100 [I think] in joint 101st another vote for favourite game might have tipped me up a notch but there's nothing I could do about that. But I will look forward to going again, the guys have suggested October/November but I'll have to see if I can afford it. Until then I hope you liked the reports.

Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Battle 5, Tyranids Vs Space Marines

Last game of the Tournament, bring it on for the win!

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC troop Tervigon Plain troop Broodlord [Adrenal] Warp Speed Life Leech Haemorrhage NA Life Leech Endurance Endurance Warp Speed NA Haemorrhage Doom of Malan'tai Psychic Shriek

The low down:

• Emperors Will.
• Vanguard Strike
• I lost deployment
• Warlord Trait - Master of Defence - Warlord is Scoring

Chris Langton - Space Marine Iron Clad Drop pods, Scout Bikers and Thunderfire Cannons. So a similar list to what I've just faced  but with Iron Clads and Scout Bikers. As you can see my defence line holds my objective and I set up as far back as possible, Chris has his objective in the ruin top right. Chris had 'mined' some piece of terrain with his scouts, I assumed it was the ruin to my left, denying me putting my Hive Guard in it. I infiltrated the Stealers in the ruin opposite Chris's objective with the plan to leave them there until I could do a dirty dive across the 12-18 inches to contest the objective he held.

The Scout Bikers on my extreme left flank and snuck  round this Bastion.

Thunderfire, Tactical squad and Whirlwind secure his objective.

The Drop Pods start to land.

Some slight deviation but no damage to the drop pods and the Scout Bikers leave the safety of their cover and kill 6 of the exposed Devgaunts [thanks to grenade launchers], but not enough for First Blood. The CC Tervigon takes 2 wounds as well.

I go for a quick First Blood on an Iron Clads drop pod. I also end up in the same situation as my previous game regarding charging and Overwatch. Chris also believes, like Steve, that charges are run simultaneously and he will get to choose which unit he will overwatch on in a multiple charge. Knowing exactly where to look in the book helps reconcile the situation but once again I'm left with a situation where my opponent then believes that the Tervigon will not get into assault as it can acheive 'base contact'. This de'ja vu makes me think I have got it wrong but every game I've ever played has been like this and the rules support that view so I'm convinced you make your overwatch or risk not getting to overwatch at all. I also believe the second charger gets to complete if it can get within 2" of an engaged model, although I'd agree it would have to make a charge roll that would actually reach the model it wishes to engage, please if anyone can shed light on this I'm open to discussion. Anyway CC Tervigon spawned 10 over the defence line and they charged the Ironclad only losing 3 but at least he's tarpitted

Vanilla Tervigon spawned out on 13 but shortly thereafter Chris's Whirlwind drops a pie-plate on them taking out around 9 in one shot!

Devgaunts and anything else targetted the Scouts and manage to halve their number.

Boom, another Drop Pod lands in the centre of the board.

Out pops a tactical squad, the scout bikers close in on my defence line.

Chris had forgotten to deploy a five man squad so slogged them on over by his objective.

The CC Tervigon takes another couple of wounds, there was some debate over whether it would get a save from the missile launcher in the first floor ruins. When it was back in the middle of my line we judged no but I was of the opinion it would get one when it reached the line. However, when it did the sheer scale of the base meant we did a 50:50 to see if it got a cover save or not. I guess that's the price you pay for a 'big caboose'. Meanwhile the Hive Guard take a wound per brood.

But managed to get a glance on the Iron Clad

There's a Librarian and I think an Apothecary with the Tactical Squad so this may be a tough nut to crack. The CC Tervigon spans out 6 more gaunts behind the wall to try and have plenty of scoring troops surrounding my objective.

Boom, my spore pod arrives and on target by the looks of the dice. The Doom gets out and I think makes it into Spirit Leech range of the Techmarine, and both combat Squads. However, I think Chris passes his Leadership tests so he fails to deliver.

Spot the difference? OK, so my Hive Guard have moved out of shot, killed the hulled Iron Clad and the tarpitted Dreadnought was brought low by the intervention of the CC Tervigon. Once again it's an education regards the Smash Rules, how you halve only the base attacks which for a Tervigon is 3 so it gets 2 smash +1 on the charge +D3 for Crushing Claws [and ideally another +D3 if I have Warp Speed] and getting to re-roll penetrating hits and adding +1 to the chart! Anyway, it looks like he blew up and took a marine with him too. I consolidate towards the tactical squad.

I kindly inform Chris that he's going to be leeched in his turn too so he moves out of Leech range and fires everything at the Doom which just can't make enough saves and falls, it's really not been the Doom's tournament, even with Psychic Shriek.

The CC Tervigon regenerates a wound thanks to Endurance and It Will Not Die :) The five Termagants head off to support the Stealers when they make a move, note that they have Devourers, but these were just normal Felshborer gaunts. I'd used the Devgaunts with Toxin Sacs for my Devgaunts this game ]only one remains] as I found those 10 quicker in my boxes than the WYSIWYG ones. I've lost a Hive Guard but the other Brood is still only suffering one wound. Only 1 Scout Biker remains against the lone Devguants and 4 of the 6 spawned gaunts.

Even with 3 wound spare and FnP the CC Tervigon falls and somehow takes a Marine with it, not much comfort.

The Scout Biker assaults my Termagants. I'm slightly confused because there's only three in this shot bt somehow they prevail, probably counter attack thanks to the nearby vanilla Tervigon.

However, having killed the scout they consolidate back to man the defence wall but now there are 4? It would also appear when my CC Tervigon imploded it took 4 Termagants with it. The tactical squad consolidated towards them, I'm not sure why, maybe hoping to take cover.

But covers no good against Hive Guard and their armour save is better anyway so Fleshborer, Impaler Cannon and Stinger Salvos result in two more Marines falling.

About bloomin' time too. The Scourge of Oktavia Deep Strikes onto the board and precision shoots the Missile Launcher and a second marine out of the Tactical Squad holding the objective.

The Genestealers sallied forth from their hiding places. Lo and behold it was this ruin that had been mined by the scouts, my hiding had not disturbed the mines but moving out did. I may have lost a stealer but the Broodlord and one stealer maker it into assault. I think the sergeant suffers for his bravery.

Termagants are gone, four was obviously not enough to stem the tide and the marines consolidate and break over the defence line [we'll ignore the fact they're within an inch of my Tervigon]. It would also seem my Trygon has turned up too, better late than never I suppose.

Hive Guard repositions and combined fire from Devourers, Impalers, Bio-Electric Pulse and Stinger Salvo takes down 5 Marines but the objective is contested and he has Linebreaker.

I do the only thing I can, the Hive Tyrant lands and shoots the remaining Marines. I don't think he even needed to get into combat to contest. The marines are dead and the objective is lost.

The end result 2VPs to me - First Blood and Linebreaker and 1 VP to Chris - Linebreaker. I finally snatch a win. I don't know what happened next whether my Tervigon or Stealers survived but with all it's wounds and the Trygon in tow I should think the end of the Marines in any further turns [if the game hadn't ended] would have been inevitable.

So I snatch a victory to end the weekend 2 loses, 2 draws and 1 victory. I'll do a post Thrones review next but in conclusion the Doom didn't quite deliver [again] the Trygon and Hive Tyrant seemed to take an awful long time to turn up, I forget why but I guess it was just bad dice. I'm not sure if we ran out of time, we did start a little late as I was getting my figures out of the display cabinets but Chris did have the initiative to realise I was having to get them all and had come over before the game began and helped out with collecting and transporting them across the hall, something I was extremely grateful for. Overall this was a great game, another one that had plenty of folks standing watch over. Chris said that he was more of a Fantasy player and I think perhaps it was for this reason I gained the upper hand. I think perhaps playing against nids was a new experience, certainly the Doom was an eye-opener for him. I think perhaps my single minded pursuit of First Blood and holding the Stealers back who would gain me Linebreaker even without the Hive Tyrant was the tipping point. I was playing the objectives, both primary and secondary and in that respect it felt very much like my games in the previous Throne of Skulls where I was able to control the games more, even when the dice didn't roll my way.

Anyway, a great game and a great end to the day.