If you’re even remotely into the Warhammer 40k tournament scene then you already know that the 2009 ‘Ard Boyz Tournament is less than two weeks away. And you probably already know that the locations, rules, and scenarios have already been posted.
Last year I did fairly well in the tournament, taking 1st place out of 40 in the preliminaries with a very balanced Space Marine + Grey Knights allies army. I spent a lot of time running practice games and preparing…which led to complete 40k burnout. I didn’t play again until the second round and I ended up making a lot of foolish mistakes which I chalk up to being rusty (one of which cost me a win in game #2).
All in all, I had a blast. I love playing big games and I didn’t run across a single jerkoff at either location.
This year, I’ve decided to try something new. I’m currently building a mechanized Imperial Guard army, so there’s really no leftover spending cash for tailoring my Salamanders for 2500 points. Instead, I’ve decided to use my Chaos monstrous creature list and fill out the Troop selections to make up the difference from the 1750 level. It’s not a powerful list by any means, but it’s a lot of fun to play (except against IG/Tau).
For 32 points, an allied (Daemon Hunters) Ordo Malleus Inquisitor and 2 Mystics is a no-brainer for most competitive Imperial Guard armies. This seemingly insignificant throw-away unit can make a properly outfitted army virtually unassailable via deep striking units. Because my Salamanders army is entirely reliant on the deep strike rules, figuring out how to overcome Mystics has become a chief concern, and Imperial Guard are hard enough to beat as it is.
The Inquisitor + Mystics combo is indeed powerful, but, like any strategy, it has weaknesses that can be exploited by a savvy opponent. As always, the first step to beating this tactic is to understand the rules that come into play.
Expect the Inquisition: Know the Mystic Rules
A single Mystic allows the inquisitorial unit to fire upon any unit which deep strikes within 4D6″ after it lands but before it takes any actions. Pretty pointless unless you take Warrior henchmen with special weapons.
The real nastiness is when you take 2 Mystics. Taking two allows any unit within 12″ of the unit containing the Mystics to fire on a unit deep striking within 4D6″ (of the Mystics’ unit). Keep them within a foot of a Leman Russ Executioner and anything landing near your army is deader than dead. It’s especially deadly because the shots are fired before you can use the Run rule to spread out.
The following army has really been my pride and joy since the end of 4th edition, though I’ve owned the models considerably longer than that. I started up a Salamanders list back in 3rd edition for a number of reasons, first and foremost being that I thought it would be fun to play with 3 Vindicators, and the chapter’s background support brutal, “up close and personal” combat tactics.
At some point during 4th edition I modified the list and made it fully mechanized because, hey, tanks are cool. Fully mechanized marines were garbage in 4th edition, so it became my non-competitive, “fun” army. Of course, that didn’t stop people from crying cheese the moment they saw me plunk 3 Vindicators down on the table. And yet no one ever complained about the retardedly overpowered combos I had in my Alpha Legion tournament list. Go figure.
I eventually took a long hiatus from Warhammer and returned after the new Chaos codex had been released and completely raped my favorite army. I didn’t find playing Lash all that interesting, so I made the conscious decision to make my Salamanders a competitive army, and to continue with the “in your face” play style.
The Imperial Guard Valkyrie, a shiny new model with a mammoth new price tag ($58), was released along with the new codex last month. Its over-the-top rules and undercosting make it the stand-out choice for Fast Attack, however it has become apparent that GW never actually play-tested the model in a game of 40k.
The problem with the Valkyrie model is the new flight stand, which measures about 5 1/4″ inches tall. The increased height allows the model to fly quite a distance above the tabletop plane (fly, plane, get it?), and while this may look impressive, it creates some fundamental problems for how the model functions in the game.
First of all, let’s look at the rules for transports. In order to disembark a unit from its transport vehicle the unit must be able to be placed within 2″ of an access point. Many players assume that you measure along a horizontal plane, therefore (incorrectly) believing that you can place the unit on the ground under the access point. The rulebook, however, makes no such limitations on distance.
The Battle for Salvation 2009 Tournament was held this past weekend in White Plains, NY, with all of the proceeds going to the Salvation Army World Mission Fund. The tournament itself was a smashing success, with 30 players and over $1300 raised for an excellent cause.
The tournament consisted of three rounds, each consisting of a 1750 game with missions taken straight from the book and secondary objectives generated by our friendly local tournament organizer. Each game yielded 15 points for a win, 10 for a draw, and 5 for a loss, with an additional 4 possible points for completing secondary objectives (for a total of 19 per round). Our club has a lot of excellent artists, so paint score contributed a hefty bulk of the overall points (20) and the judging was very harsh. Soft score sportsmanship made up the last 15 points (5 per game, scored by opponent). Finally, each player was allowed to select a favorite opponent, each vote giving the nominated player an additional point towards the overall tally.
I managed to win all three games and had the most battle points by a wide margin (55 versus the next highest of 48), but due to my mediocre painting skills and getting tanked on sportsmanship in the third game by a sore loser, I took home second place overall. Not bad! Even better were the prizes–$200 for First Place, $150 for Second, $100 for Third, and a replica broadsword for Best General.
Last year I did fairly well in the tournament, taking 1st place out of 40 in the preliminaries with a very balanced Space Marine + Grey Knights allies army. I spent a lot of time running practice games and preparing…which led to complete 40k burnout. I didn’t play again until the second round and I ended up making a lot of foolish mistakes which I chalk up to being rusty (one of which cost me a win in game #2).
For 32 points, an allied (Daemon Hunters) Ordo Malleus Inquisitor and 2 Mystics is a no-brainer for most competitive Imperial Guard armies. This seemingly insignificant throw-away unit can make a properly outfitted army virtually unassailable via deep striking units. Because my Salamanders army is entirely reliant on the deep strike rules, figuring out how to overcome Mystics has become a chief concern, and Imperial Guard are hard enough to beat as it is.
The following army has really been my pride and joy since the end of 4th edition, though I’ve owned the models considerably longer than that. I started up a Salamanders list back in 3rd edition for a number of reasons, first and foremost being that I thought it would be fun to play with 3 Vindicators, and the chapter’s background support brutal, “up close and personal” combat tactics.
If GW hasn’t learned by now, they never will.
Email Danny Internets
Dashofpepper: See, this is an obvious fabrication by someone who’s just jealous of my META skills.
Timmah: Hey, wait a minute. That picture was photoshopped!!!!
Daemon-Archon Ren: My black/red dice are WAAC (ask Stelek) my army is not. Also, funi artykal
Green7: HAHAHAHAHAHA !!
Killswitch: Screw you and your british jokes D:<!
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