For the first time in my 40k history I find myself in the curious position of not only having interest in a newly (re-)released army, but also having the disposable income to buy a ticket to ride the bandwagon. $300 and several Bartertown trades later, I can now admit that I’ve gone and built a mechanized Imperial Guard army.
Why did I choose IG? Obviously it’s not for the models. The old school WW1 army men theme is fun, but not particularly interesting. Mostly it has to do with fielding lots of tanks and artillery. But that’s not the only reason.
When the IG book was released there was lots of rabble about how overpowered the army is, which is typical for any codex release, and then there were the contrarians who point out that everyone overestimates the potential of new armies which inevitably end up being balanced. I usually find myself arguing in defense of the latter, however I firmly believe that the IG codex is hard. Not just hard, not even just rock hard, but fucking titanium hard. This is one army that I don’t think is going to sink to the level of mediocrity. And it takes the mech metagame to a whole new level by scaling twice as well as any other army thanks to the copious vehicle squadron options.
Again, no pictures, sorry. Details are also a little spotty. For the TLDR crowd: Kris won.
Game 2: Dan (Chaos Troopzilla) vs. Kris (Vulkan bikers)
Kris and I came to the tournament together and with only 3 players in the tournament it was inevitable that we’d play each other. So, we sucked it up and made the most of it.
Kris’s list is dead-hard and I knew I was fighting an uphill battle from the get-go because his list could only potentially yield 26 kill points, whereas mine yields 36. More importantly, each of his Troop units are fast and pack a ridiculous amount of anti-tank, and we both knew he could afford to send units on suicide missions if it meant taking out my heavy and elite choices.
His list was as follows:
Vulkan
Captain – Bike, combi-flamer, relic blade
5 Assault Terminators – Thunder hammer and storm shield, Land Raider Redeemer w/ multi-melta
5 Assault Terminators – Thunder hammer and storm shield (in LRR)
5 Space Marine Bikers (Troops) – Meltagun x2, combi-melta, Attack Bike with multi-melta
5 Space Marine Bikers (Troops) – Meltagun x2, combi-melta, Attack Bike with multi-melta
5 Space Marine Bikers (Troops) – Meltagun x2, combi-melta, Attack Bike with multi-melta
5 Space Marine Bikers (Troops) – Meltagun x2, Attack Bike with multi-melta
5 Space Marine Bikers (Troops) – Meltagun x2, Attack Bike with multi-melta
2 Land Speeders – Multi-melta, heavy flamer
2 Land Speeders – Multi-melta, heavy flamer
Game 1: Dan (Chaos Troopzilla) vs. Zach (Battlewagon Orks)
My first opponent was Zach, a fellow Dakka-ite, who was running Battlewagon Orks led by Ghazghkull using a fairly standard configuration. His army was roughly as follows:
Ghazghkull (in Battlewagon with Nobs)
Mekboy – KFF (in Battlewagon with Nobs)
12 Lootas (in Battlewagon)
12 Lootas (in Battlewagon)
Nob Squad – Mega armor, kombi-flamers, power klaws, Trukk
Battlewagon – Boarding plank, big shoota x2
Battlewagon – Boarding plank, big shoota x2
Battlewagon – Boarding plank, big shoota x2
We used the round 1 scenario, Land Grab (modified Capture and Control + Annihilation), and deployed directly across from one another on the left half of the board. I kept my objectives as close together as possible, knowing that I could easily castle them with the huge volume of vehicles I was fielding. Zach set one objective across from me and the other on the opposite side of the board.
Perhaps as a result of the Grand Tournament season being canceled, there has been a marked increase in the frequency of local 40k tournaments in the New York area over the past year. But even preceding the slew of local competitions the players in our club (Battle for Salvation) had really begun to step up their game, bringing leaner and meaner lists with firmer handling of the rules and better application of tactics. When we aren’t matched against each other we tend to take home trophies.
There have been a number of times when we’ve played one another only to knock ourselves out of the running, the most famous example of which was when I played all three rounds against fellow club members (none of us ended up placing). To avoid this at ‘Ard Boyz, our club decided to split up amongst 3 different hosting locations.
Matt, James, and Bobby (playing Chaos, SM, and IG) went East to play in CT, where they took home 1st, 3rd, and 4th place, respectively. Matt tells me that the guy who placed 3rd can’t make it to the semi-finals, so that means Bobby is in.
Charlie went solo over the Tappan Zee to Toywiz where he captured 3rd with his Space Marines (+ Grey Knight allies).
Kris and I went to Maplewood Hobby, also in Jersey. I took 1st and he took 2nd (of 3 total, lol).
Overall, every single player from our club who went to the tournament is going to the second round. I guess we’ve all been eating our Wheaties.
So, the purpose of this post? I am proud of our club members and they all deserve accolades for their performance, even if it is still only the first round. Tonight is our weekly gaming night at the Salvation Army, so I’m sure there will be lots of stories to share.
Over the holiday weekend I managed to get the first 2 of 3 planned practice games in with my Troopzilla list in preparation for the ‘Ard Boyz tournament on Saturday. I would have liked to get more in, but real life has been calling and my fiancé will kick my ass if I don’t answer (we all need a good ass-kicking from time to time).
On Friday morning, Charlie brought his boards over to my apartment and we squared off against each other in the Drawn and Quartered mission slated for game 3 of the upcoming tournament. The scenario is a modified version of Capture and Control using Spearhead deployment and kill points as a secondary objective to determine the extent of victory (massacre/major/minor). I can’t help but think that the title of the scenario is a good-humored jab at the writers of Capture and Control, which is frequently referred to as the “draw” mission. The modifications are great though, and it is hands-down my favorite of the first round.
I played my Troopzilla list with some slight modifications, swapping out extra armor and heavy flamers for twin-linked lascannons on both Chaos Dreadnoughts and trimming some fat from the CSM units.
Charlie’s army used the Space Marine codex as its primary, but made heavy use of Daemonhunters allies. He was rocking the following list (roughly):
For the first time in my 40k history I find myself in the curious position of not only having interest in a newly (re-)released army, but also having the disposable income to buy a ticket to ride the bandwagon. $300 and several Bartertown trades later, I can now admit that I’ve gone and built a mechanized Imperial Guard army.
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