750 Point Combat Patrol Tournament at Dragon's Lair, 01/05/08

Well, I made it to the tournament...barely! I wound up having to use poster tacky adhesive stuff to attach the jump packs and heads to my assault marines and the weapons to a couple of tactical marines...but I was there and got to play in my first tournament.

Here's the army list I used:

HQ: Captain (1#, 140 Pts)
1 Captain @ 140 Pts
Plasma Pistol (x1); Power Fist (x1)
1 Iron Halo @ [25] Pts
1 Terminator Honors @ [15] Pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (7#, 164 Pts)
5 Tactical Squad @ 164 Pts
Bolter (x3); Flamer (x1); Missile Launcher (x1)
1 Rhino @ [58] Pts
Storm Bolter; Extra Armor; Smoke Launchers
1 Sergeant @ [15] Pts
Bolt Pistol & CCW

Troops: Tactical Squad (7#, 170 Pts)
6 Tactical Squad @ 170 Pts
Bolter (x4); Plasmagun (x1); Lascannon (x1)
1 Sergeant @ [55] Pts
Plasma Pistol (x1); Power Fist (x1); Terminator Honors

Fast Attack: Assault Squad (10#, 276 Pts)
9 Assault Squad @ 276 Pts
Jump Packs; Frag Grenades; Bolt Pistol (x7); Close Combat Weapon (x9); Plasma Pistol (x2)
1 Sergeant @ [68] Pts
Jump Packs; Frag Grenades; Plasma Pistol (x1); Power Fist (x1); Terminator Honors
1 Combat Shield @ [5] Pts

Total Roster Cost: 750

So, how did I do?

You know what last place is? I was one up from that. :)

...but that's OK, because I went to the tourney fully expecting to get my ass handed to me. I went for the experience, wanting to get some games under my belt. I can definitely say I learned quite a lot.

Here's a brief summary of my games:

Game 1: Ultramarines vs. Dark Angels (played by Kirk)
What I learned here is that a tactical blunder in the first turn can lose the whole game for you. I should have bounced my assault marines over that forest and got into close combat ASAP...but I allowed myself to get distracted by 2 squads in Razorbacks. Those two squads chewed up one of my tac squads in CC and the Razorback's TL HBs chewed up my assault squad. By turn 5, it was all over but the cryin'. Result: Victorious Slaughter to Kirk.

Game 2: Ultramarines vs. Dark Eldar (played by Jeff)
I had met Jeff and his girlfriend previously at BFG, while we were both working on the models that made up the armies we were using. Nifty! Another tactical mistake on my part (chasing after skimmers with the lascannon-packin' tac squad) and a poor unit placement choice in deployment led to the Dark Eldar unloading 30 models on top of my poor commander and attached tac squad. Bleah. In turns 5 and 6 I did manage to bounce over with my assault squad and deliver some righteous CC goodness to one of his squads...but it was too little, too late, as the Dark Eldar tide swept most of my remaining tac squad under. My dice must have seen the way the wind was blowing, because they deserted me around turn 2 and never came back. Result: Crushing Victory to Jeff.

Game 3: Ultramarines vs. Chaos Space Marines (played by Daniel)
Daniel had a mix of Khorne berzerkers, Thousand Sons and Plague Marines and called them "Chaos Undecided". They had most excellent paint jobs and looked great. We were on the "losers table" and we knew it, but had a good, fun game nevertheless. My las squad stayed put this time and plinked at the berzerkers and actually scored some hits...but my dice continued their stone cold behavior and rolled a one every single time to wound. I sent the command squad to my right flank in the Rhino and promptly forgot to pop smoke...and paid for it when the plaguers shattered it with a Vehicle Destroyed glancing hit, which took 3 of my squad with it. My assault squad finally got it together and managed to wipe the Thousand Sons unit in a couple of rounds of CC (taking some casualties)...and then I caught the lucky break I really needed, failing (yes, failing) a Morale check which forced me to fall back 14" -- so I bounced them to the top of the 3-story building that dominated the board. Just in the nick of time, too, because the children of the Khorne would have charged in and ground them into tasty, bite-sized chunks the next turn. At the top of turn 6 I was hoping for a draw, so I left the assault squad alone and pulled the remains of my command squad behind the building and that was that. I was surprised that I actually scored enough points to get a Solid Victory.

I learned a lot about using terrain and cover, CC resolution, and how the game is played overall. I also learned -- painfully, and very much after-the-fact as I read over my army list this evening -- that one should remember they took extra armor on a Rhino, and that one should also use that damed smoke launcher to prevent little things like glancy-hit-death. (Note to self: Remember the details next time, ok? Oh, and just suck less in general.)

The tourney was well run and Kirk did a great job of organizing the games and making everything go smoothly. Everyone I played against was very patient with me and I had a blast playing. I'm really looking forward to playing more and I would definitely play anyone that was there in the future.

Congrats go to Mike (Psyberwolfe) for coming in first. I didn't get to play him, but I'm pretty sure he'll hand me my ass one day. :) Check out his video bloggery shot between rounds for a good overall tourney summary.

Next up is the 1,000 points Escalation League game this coming weekend. Hopefully, I'll have enough stuff ready to be able to participate...if I do, I'll be there.