In my last post I gave a brief summary of my Adepticon Fantasy Championship Tournament experience. I gave a short summary of each game, my opponents, the scenario, and the atmosphere. Today I'd like to go into more detail on the games, the scenarios, and how my army list performed in an effort to evaluate my current list and prepare for next year's tournament. That's right, I'm going back next year provided my work or home life doesn't interfere. I didn't paint 220ish models for nothing afterall!
Tournament Scoring
Before starting in on the details, let's take a moment to talk about how the tournament was scored. The Fantasy Championship was broken into three scores; Battle Points, Appearance, & Sportsmanship.
Battle Points were earned by winning games, fulfilling bonus objectives, and "capturing" terrain. For each game there was a maximum of 25 points with 15 coming from a win, 5 from bonus battle points, and 5 from objective points (terrain "capturing") for a total of 125 points.
Sportsmanship was judged in two methods, per game and overall. At the end of every game, players were allowed to assign up to 5 points per opponent. Ranking an opponent with a 1 or a 5 required writing a short justification to prevent abuse from low-balling someone or just following the lazy route and assigning max points. After the last match players then selected "best opponent" and "next best opponent". These selections would garner the individuals listed extra points for sportsmanship.
The last score to be calculated was probably the most controversial this year, Appearance. This score calculates a number of different aspects from painting, basing, display, and conversion work. A total of 25 points were available in this category.
I mention appearance as controversial as many players indicated that the judging was inadequate with judges visiting armies and only evaluating a single figure. For me, the judge came over, asked me if I had any conversions, and the picked up two figures. The two figures he chose show that the judge didn't understand Fantasy though as he grabbed the Grey Seer and then a random clanrat from the back of the unit.
For those curious, my scores were 66 Battle Points, 49 Sportsmanship, and 18 Appearance.
The Scenarios
Scenario 1
Deployment mimicked Blood and Glory and the game was set at six rounds. Each person had to identify the character with the highest value magic item. If a Lord level character was present then it was automatically that character (unless two lords were present). Victory was determined by standard victory points with greater than 100 point difference required for a win. Bonus points were scored for capturing the item as well as destroying the most expensive core unit in addition to the standard control of terrain features.
Scenario 2
This followed pretty standard Battleline deployment. The special rule for this scenario was called, "The Traitor". Under this rule each player chose a model from a Core unit and then they exchanged models. This represented a Traitor in the midst of the army. Bonus battle points were scored by either moving the traitor model on your side into the opponent's deployment zone or by destroying the opponent's traitor. Again, controlling terrain could net up to five points.
Scenario 3
This scenario was Blood and Glory including the inclusion of Breaking Point and Fortitude. The special rule for this scenario was called, "the bold". This allowed players to select a single Core unit. This unit counted towards the fortitude of the army and was granted the vanguard special rule. Victory was determined based on breaking point and fortitude which victory points determining the winner if neither army dropped below the breaking point before the end of the game. Bonus points were given for destroying your opponent's nominated "the bold" unit as well as for each point of fortitude your opponent lost. As per every scenario, claiming terrain pieces was again present.
Scenario 4
Scenario four followed standard deployment as per meeting engagement rules. The special rule, "The Flux" is in effect for the entire game. The Flux means that in every magic phase after Winds of Magic and channeling have been attempted each player rolls their power dice or dispel dice. Every result of a 6 adds a die to your opponent's power/dispel pool. Victory is determined by standard victory points. Bonus points are scored by killing one of your opponent's wizards and for each standard bearer in the opponent's deployment zone. Claiming terrain again provided bonus points too.
Scenario 5
This was the mish-mash scenario of the tournament. A battleline scenario in terms of deployment with random game length starting in turn four. Victory was determined by victory points. The board itself had an 18" square in the very middle and bonus points were scored based on getting fortitude into the box. Additional bonus points are scored by having the most fortitude in the box and for claiming terrain.
The Games
Game 1
My first game was fought against a Bretonnian army. My opponent fielded three large blocks of Knight's of the Realm, two trebuchets, and a variety of characters. A Lord was the general followed by a paladin BSB, a level 2 damsel, and the green knight. Lastly, two additional paladins rounded out the list.
The game started with me going first and a few pot shots from my Warp Lightning Cannons managed to catch a few knights. In my opponent's turn 1 he managed to charge the hellpit abomination and, due to the paladin's flaming lance, he managed to down it in the first turn.
The next few turns saw me holding up his paladin units with slaves or clanrats. My warpfire throwers teamed up on the unit of knights with his BSB and lord. In the ensuing combat with a unit of slaves they managed to win combat, break the unit (who lost the BSB) and chase the lord and the remaining knights down. Another unit of knights was devastated by the plague monks (augemented by Bless with Filth) with the plague banner.
Throughout the game the Green Knight was a constant pain. I killed him once only to have him reappear. Eventually my opponent ran him over to some woods to claim an objective but not before he claimed a warp lightning cannon and a warpfire thrower.
Initially I was worried about his trebuchets but ultimately they caused very little damage. I managed to kill one with my gutter runners while the other self-destructed on it's own.
At the end of the game victory points were counted and I won by roughly 1800 to 1050. Although thinking back to the game, I don't think the Green Knight should have resurrected the last time. I'm almost certain he rolled a 2 or 3 and he needed a 4+. Oh well. I picked up 3 terrain pieces and 2 bonus battle points for a total of 20-7 in my favor.
Game 2
I played game 2 against a Warriors of Chaos netlist. The army consisted of a Level 4 Nurgle Daemon Prince with death magic and a boatload of options. In the hero slot he had a BSB on a daemonic mount and Festus. For troops the army largely consisted of a single block of 20 Nurgle Chaos Warriors, 10 Slaanesh Maruaders, three blocks of 5 warhounds with vanguard and one block without. Rounding the list out were two chimeras with the typical add-ons and 3 Skullcrushers.
For traitors we exchanged a slave for a non-vanguarding warhound.
My opponent won the first turn and promptly moved forward. One of his chimera charged my scouting gutter runners and caused them to flee while his daemon prince moved forward to within casting range. He cast spirit leech and destroyed a warp lightning cannon and followed it up by Caress of Laniph on my Grey Seer. Being an idiot, I figured I could throw a bunch of dispel dice at Caress and make it go away and then scroll anything he had left for the turn. It didn't work that way and I lost my Grey Seer in turn 1.
From this point on the game quickly folded. Without the Grey Seer's leadership bubble my slaves quickly folded. My hellpit abomination ran afoul of the banner of eternal flame in the chaos warriors while the doomwheel was killed by death magic as well. My traitor model died horribly as I tried to cross the board and pick up some bonus points. My slaves broke and due to the cornered rat rule, it killed the warhound.
By the bottom of turn 4 I offered my concession to my opponent since I had already lost 90% of my army with only some plague monks and a handful of clanrats left alive. I racked up a measely 400ish victory points and didn't score a single bonus point to lose 25-5.
Game 3
My Game 3 opponent was against Daemons of Chaos. The army was led by a Bloodthirster with a herald of Khorne on a juggernaut, a level 2 herald of slaanesh, and a level 2 herald of Tzeentch. For units the army comprised of one large unit of 25 bloodletters, one small unit of 11 bloodletters, and one unit of 20 Horrors of Tzeentch. Additionally the army had 3 screamers, a skull cannon, and a unit of seekers.
For our, "the bold" units he selected the large unit of bloodletters while I selected the unit of clanrats with my general. He vanguarded his unit and I did not.
I won first turn and the HPA decided it needed to prove something and ran straight into the vanguarded bloodletter unit with the jugger herald. The cannons tried and failed to to anything to the skull cannon or the bloodthirster. The HPA started taking a toll on the bloodletters, but ultimately was dragged down by their numbers in later turns.
My opponent tried to kill the doomwheel by flying the screamers over and charging it with the seekers. While they did cause a couple wounds, the seekers died in a single round of combat. He also flew over his bloodthirster to my flank near the doomwheel. In my turn that proved his downfall as the doomwheel charged the bloodthirster, rolled S10 for the Zzzap attack and promptly killed the bloodthirster.
Eventually I killed all of the bloodletters in the large unit with plague monks and after a moment of reflection, that was the end of the game.
Game 4
As soon as I read "the Flux" rule for this scenario and saw the Slann on the other side of the table, I knew I was in deep trouble. My opponent's army consisted of the obligatory Slann with the usual ridiculous add-ons like becalming, rumination, and cupped hands but with lore of shadow. Following him were three saurus scar veterans on cold ones and a skink priest. For units the army consisted of two large blocks of 30 Saurus Warriors and a unit of 30 skinks with Kroxigors. For support the army brought along three units of 5 chameleon skinks, 2 salamanders, and 3 terradon riders.
The game started off okay with good deployment and clear fire lines to the dangerous salamanders. The only model in an awkward position was the doomwheel.
The magic phases over the course of the game proved brutal as my opponent often ended up with 10+ dice in his magic phase while in my phase I was lucky to have 5. Regardless of how many power dice I rolled, I usually gave my opponent enough dice to make us even or actually give him more dispel dice than I have casting dice. He used this to his advantage by casting withering, enfeebling, and miasma on the my units. I had to hold most of my dispel dice for the inevitable pit of shades.
Ultimately my dice rolls were horrible in the early game. The doomwheel died to a barrage of poison darts because I couldn't make any saves. I also failed to roll any wounds against the chameleon skinks and my roll to get the doomwheel within zzzap range of a salamander failed miserably despite only needing a 6 or 7 on 3 dice.
The HPA tied up the unit of skinks and kroxigors but ultimately was aid low due to poison plus the kroxigors. All the while I could never get good shots with my warpfire throwers and that is largely what cost me the game. I did a lot of damage over the course of the game, but my opponent did more, wiped out full units, and won the day.
I lost this game pretty handily when calculating victory points. I killed a lot of models but I just couldn't finish off units. I went down to a 2-2 record with 22-7.
Game 5
I felt this game was a karmic match since I just spent a boatload of money buying most of these models from Forgeworld earlier in the weekend. My a grand army of Nuln list from the Tamurkhan book. So it was led by Ellespeth Von Draken who led Captain Edward Van Der Kraal, Jubal Falk, and Luthor Huss, and a witch hunter. For units he had 19 Manaan's Blades, 12 Ironsides, and 10 Inner Circle Knights. In addition to that he had a Steam Tank, the Land Ship, and two cannons. Yup, you read right, 4 cannons.
My opponent won first turn and put 3 wounds on my doomwheel and destroyed a Warp Lightning Cannon. In a risky move he moved Ellespeth up behind a building just a short distance from the Doomwheel. Otherwise a few shots were taken, but nothing big happened.
In my turn I ran the doomwheel up and set up my redirect units to try and misdirect the enemy. I did manage to kill the Carmine Dragon that Ellepseth rode but only rolled 1 wound against her for the Doomwheel which was subsequently shot dead by a cannon in the next turn.
My opponent's Steam tank killed the HPA while my giant rats tied up his Land Ship in combat for 3 turns. My Grey Seer and a unit of Slaves of all things managed to kill of most of Manaan's Blades minus Van Der Kraal.
Ellespeth sniped my Grey Seer with Caress of Laniph and then sent a purple sun up the flank of my plague monks killing 25. The steam tank blew itself up while my gutter runners took care of the cannons and then harrassed the Ironsides. In my final turn I managed to run two units into the 18" square while manuevering a few others around to grab terrain pieces.
The game ended with me losing by a narrow margin of victory points. The margin was narrow enough that had I killed Ellespeth I would have won the game. Final points for the round were 19-12 with me claiming several terrain pieces and most of the points for the center objective (two standards plus my BSB as opposed to two banners on the opposing side).
The List
Grey Seer
The Grey Seer added much needed valuable magic support. Unfortunately his value is intrinsically linked to what spells he manages to roll on the chart. I went with 2 ruin and 2 plague and while I usually received good plague spells, my ruin spells were haphazard at best. I wish the earthing rod wasn't such a necessary item though as many other Arcane Items could find their way into my lists to make the Grey Seer a little more diverse. In the future I should probably look into some different magic items for the Seer such as the power scroll, or something else to make him a little less predictable.
Chieftain
Skaven need a BSB, that's why I have this little guy. I chose banner of the under-empire to try and get the lucky few wounds on an enemy unit fighting against the banner. What happened? I forgot the banner the entire tournament. At the end of the day, the BSB added a little to combats and allowed the usual rerolls and combat resolution modifiers, but ultimately did very little on the tabletop. I need to drop the magic banner, keep him defensible and add a little punch to the mix. Alternatively I need to just keep him cheap, but I prefer to make him effective.
Plague Priest
The Plague Priest was worth his weight in gold most games. He added some hefty S6 attacks in the first round of combats and, more importantly, he added an additional point of leadership to the plague monks who were usually out of range of the general's leadership. Additionally he usually had a good selection of spells with either blessed with filth or wither. I'd love to kit him out a little better for combt, but the points just aren't there in my current list.
Warlock Engineer
The Warlock Engineer was pretty useless. In two games he died before I could use his doomrocket and only in a single game did he actually use it to any effect. I need to either make a concerted effort to remember to use him, promote him to level 1 for the Warp Lightning, or just remove him altogether. I'm leaning towards removing him.
Clanrats
These guys did their job of holding back and being a bunker for characters. They really didn't cause much damage, in fact I think the slaves ultimately caused more damage, but the clanrats did an admirable job of surviving. I started each game with them ranked up 7 wide and 5 deep. In the future, I will probably switch to 5 wide and 7 deep as I think this will help with my lack f deployment room on the board.
Warpfire Throwers
The Warpfire throwers paid for themselves many times over. I know 70 points for a single wound model seems pricey, but they just cause so much damage when they work. Being able to fire into units fighting against my slaves makes these weapon teams work wonders. While they were a little erratic throughout the weekend, such as missing most of the time versus lizardmen and empire, they did cause massive damage versus daemons, bretonnians, and eventually the lizards. I really need to get better at initial placement of these units as well as leaving open lines of fire. Several times throughout the weekend I managed to miss shots simply because I couldn't aim the template due to friendly models being in the way.
Slaves
I hate to say it but the slaves stole the show at Adepticon. They tied up multiple units and allowed me wear down my opponents by attrition and lock them in place. Without Slaves my list just wouldn't function properly. If I had to rewrite this list right now, I'd consider adding in a 3rd unit of slaves.
Giant Rats
A great chaff unit. I need to get better at initial placement though so I can kep them far enough away from units to prevent them panicking several other units if they take wounds from magic/shooting. Also, I need to work on my boxing and redirecting with these units.
Gutter Runners
Again, they proved extremely useful versus enemy war machines. While they didn't kill a whole lot, they accounted for a trebuchet, a cannon, a salamander, and a handful of other models. They also proved useful in claiming pieces of terrain across the board and often allowed me to "steal" terrain from warmachines I hadn't killed yet. I need to get better at placing them when I scout though as they caused me no uncertain amount of headache in game 2 where a chimera effectively ran them off the board causing panic in my lines.
Plague Monks
In most games the plague monks performed admirable. In the first game they wiped out a whole knight unit on their own while in game three they got the game-winning kill against the bloodletter unit. In game four they did very well agains the saurus warriors despite being hindered by several shadow debuffs (making them WS1, S2, T3, I2). Ultimately I need to remember to reform them once they lose models or start them in a smaller formation as my biggest issue revolved around maneuvering the horde unit around the tabletop.
Hellpit Abomination
The Hellpit Abomination really didn't live up to my expectations. In most test games he stole the show but at Adepticon he rarely lived past turn two. His shining moment came in game 3 versus daemons where he killed a bunch of bloodletters before dying and then in game 4 for almost killing the skink/kroxigor unit single-handedly (and ultimately failing). Maybe it was bad luck, maybe it was bad placement/matchups but I really felt the HPA wasn't working as intended.
Doomwheel
This little baby proved that it is the best monster hunter in the game. Had I possessed two of these things I probably wouldn't have had as many issues in a couple of my games. In total it accounted for a bloodthirster, trebuchet, a few knights, some warhounds, skinks, and ellespeths carmine dragon. The only reason this little gem didn't cause more damage was due to bad placements on my part or massive artillery/death magic on teh part of the enemy. Given the mediocre behavior of the HPA I really wish I had brought another Doomwheel.
Warp Lightning Cannon
The Cannons were a major threat on the table. Even if they didn't do anything in a game, opponents tried their damnedest to remove them from the tabletop. Over the course of the game they were truly erratic but they still paid for themselves in most games where they weren't removed early on. In the future I think I should leave the monster hunting up to the Doomwheel and use the cannons to target units though. The random strength really doesn't lend itself well to killing monsters.
So that's it for my Adepticon Warhammer Fantasy weekend. What's next? Well, expect me to be offline for the rest of this week but once I get back plan on seeing a few articles relating to the new Warhammer FAQs, some pending conversions on my table, and my upcoming painting schedule as I try and move a few models/armies off my table. Lastly, I'll finally reveal my next big army project for Warhammer Fantasy (don't worry Skaven-fans, they are still my planned army for Adepticon 2014).
Before I leave, here is the small image dump from images I took at Adepticon (all 40k related sadly)
