When watching a tournament it is better to focus not on the result themselves, but the battles that created the results. Often times you can have someone sneak into a top 5 not because they were the best player or had the best army, but because the best players end up knocking off each other in the final round. That is why analyzing the top matches, is the best way to get a good sense of the best players and armies.

Here is a refresher on the last mission, which I like to call auto tie.

Scenario Five:

Primary Mission: Seize Ground – 2 objectives

Objective Deployment: Divide table in quarters and place objectives in non deployment zone quarters

Army Deployment: Spear Head

Game ends at the end of turn 6

Player who has more controls the most objectives = 15 points

Both players control the same amount of objectives = 10 points

Player that controls the fewest objectives = 5 points

Secondary Mission: Player with the most standard kill points = 5 points

Army lists for table three:

Chase Linbo’s Chaos Space Marines

Mike Benton’s Space Marines

The 3rd table showcased the last year’s over all winner Chase Linbo vs. Mike Benton.

When I saw these forces placed on the table I knew it was going to be a great, one of kind battle. This was the rare CSM biker list vs. SM biker list. Just looking at the board and the armies I figured Khan and his command section were going to be the difference maker. As it turns out Chase feed Khan one unit, then swarmed him with pretty much everything he had. Chase also avoided buying Lash even though he had MoS Princes. He also used a Noise Marine build that I had never seen before.

On the flip side Mike’s list was a good balance of unit types, but at the same time not as cost-effective as it could have been. I could not understand why he had power weapons over claws (unless it was an issue of WYSIWG). His list also featured Typhoon Speeders which are gaining more and more popularity. What I liked also about the list was the throwback Las preds; often Bike armies lack a long-range threat and this was a way to compensate for that. What was exciting about the battle was in each corner of the table there were mini battles going on thanks to the mobility both armies. In the end Chase won which propelled him to take second overall and earning a ticket to Vegas for next year.

Army Lists table two:

Zen Zheng’s Space Marines

Joe Traficante’s Chaos Space Marines

The second table featured a classic tale of blood for the god vs. the right hand of the Emperor. The only question was could Zen stop Land Raiders, if he couldn’t, then he would lose. I liked Zen’s list because it represented the healthy trend in Space Marine builds: flexibility over redundancy. He has a little bit of everything. Dreds, Speeders, Scouts, Termies, Tact squads, Land Raider, and Pred. With my favorite the Thunderfire Cannon a much poo poo piece of artillery.

Against this balance was Joe’s bloody axe of Khorne. Anytime you drop three Land Raiders on the table you have one scary army. With the trend towards hammer units this army represented a complete sledge-hammer to the face. As I watched Zen he had to accomplish two things. First, he had to isolate Land Raiders. Second, he had to spread out the Chaos Space Marine force as much as possible. Intentional or not Zen grouped his forces in three pockets that forced the slower moving CSM army to pick its battles. Still that would not guarantee victory for the Space Marines. What would though was the cardinal sin of CSM Land Raider: NEVER STOP MOVING YOUR LAND RAIDERS. I understand the desire to fire Lascannons, especially against a longer ranged force. Don’t do it because it is the Zerkers that keep the trains on time. Joe lost a LR early, which might have had a psychological effect on him, plus his success against his Zen’s own LR. Still CSM LR is 5 shots, where Zerkers are a butt load of attacks.

In the end Zen won proving that paper always beats rock.

Army Lists table one:

Nathaniel Williams’s Eldar

Gerry Sunada’s Blood Angels

Instead of going into the drama surrounding the battle. I will leave that for its very own post tomorrow. For now let’s focus on the lists themselves.

Nathaniel Seer Council was a fun (for a Seer Council). It had all the elements of 5th edition Council. Unlike 4th edition Seer Councils you often saw two Warlock Jetbike Squads, but with 5th edition you need more flexibility. This was a perfect example. The Guardian Jetbike spam being the key– kept in reserve they come out to claim and contest usually in the nick of time. As well I liked Nathaniel’s list lack of bright lances and use of Warp Spiders. The Spiders and Warwalkers are easy transports poppers as well as scoring unit cleaners. Nathaniel only threat was high armor valued units and even then that is what the Council is for.

As for Gerry Blood Angels list it was just represented a no thrills solid tournament list. His army has everything you need to clear the table. A hammer unit with the Death Company. Heavy armor clearing with Razorbacks and Attack Bikes. Baal Preds for MC and infantry killing. It is the type of army that can handle any threat. Out of all the armies in the top tables Gerry’s was the only one I could say maximized its 2000 points.

For the last part of my coverage of the Seattle GT I will look at the cheating and what makes for a bad tournament.

Questions for comment:

  1. Which army did you like the best?
  2. What army would you use to take on all these armies?
  3. How would you spend your points different with the units found in these armies?