Lessons Learned

The Gentlemen's GT was only my second 5 round tournament that I've played in and I learned a few lessons about tournaments, myself and my army over the course of two days.  Instead of hoping that I remember them for next time, I thought I'd write down as many as I remember so I can review it before Adepticon.

Play with your list before the first round of the tournament.
I not only didn't play with my list beforehand, I had two units that I had never fielded before (Thunderwolf Lord, Wolf Scouts).  Understanding their theoretical capabilities is not the same as understanding how to practically employ them.

Don't be so hungover.
I believe that this lesson and the previous lesson combined to cost me my first round on Saturday.  I don't know if it caused the loss in the first game on Sunday because I was pretty over matched but I'm sure it didn't help.

Play faster in the early turns.
The rounds were only two hours and fifteen minutes but not having enough time to play a 6th/7th turn could have had major consequences.  I felt pressed for time in all my matches and I know at least once it caused me to make a mistake that I'm sure I would have avoided if I hadn't been trying to cram in the final turns.

Terrain trumps lists.
On paper, my list stacked up poorly with at least half of the lists in the field, including at least three that I had to face throughout the weekend.  Luckily the terrain on the tables had a good mix of area and blocking terrain and I was able to neutralize many list advantages through cagey tactics.  The biggest boon was definitely largish blocking terrain located near the center of the board.  I would have gotten blasted off the table by the Razorwolves and both Guard armies if we had played on less populated boards.

The meta game is real.
I've always been a proponent of building lists that you like and damn the consequences but going to big tournaments makes me reconsider just a bit.  Going to the Chicago area and facing the competition that I did makes me realize that if you are planning on taking unconventional lists, have a plan for the major meta net lists or don't expect to win a lot.

Going to ground is how heroes are made.
Going to ground is the least used and most helpful rule I have ever seen.  Going to ground with units that would otherwise be wiped out saved me against the two Guard armies I played as well as helping a great deal against the Razorwolf army.  I know what you're thinking, you're thinking "But Noah, going to ground only saves 1-2 models who are going to get killed the next turn anyway!"  While that may be true, that is still one more unit that has to allocate its fire to a remnant unit rather than a more effective unit somewhere else.  If they ignore the two remaining soldiers, opponents can be devastated to learn how much damage a couple krak grenades can do.  Twice I had melta Grey Hunters survive an Executioner plasma tank only to later kill it or another vehicle.

That's all I can think of for now (see, already forgetting what happened this weekend), I may add more later but I doubt it.

-Noah S.

RockCon '11

I was pretty wiped by the time I got home yesterday after the drive home from the Gentlemen's Grand Tournament so I didn't write anything up.  Hopefully I haven't forgotten too much in the past 24 hours.

Let me start by saying I had a great time.  All the players I faced were great sports, I loved the mission setup and my dice were average.  I couldn't have asked for more!  Here's the vitals for the tournament before I get into my thoughts on my play.

Gentlemen's Grand Tournament
Where: RockCon, Rockford, IL
Participants: 30-32
Format: 5 rounds, Primary-Secondary-Tertiary objectives, Swiss pairings

Best Overall: Noah Schmelzer (Space Wolves, der)
1st Place: Tim Gorham (Grey Knights)
2nd Place: Steven Welch (Imperial Guard)
3rd Place: Jordan Nach (Imperial Guard)
Best Painted: Clayton McCarty (Dark Eldar)
Player's Choice: Steve Carlson (Space Marines)
Best Sports: Troy Weis (Space Marines)

That's right, you read that correctly, I ninja'ed another one!  I don't know how the tournament organizer's rubric worked for scoring, but I can tell you I was surprised as hell when he called my name.  I went 3-2 on the weekend so my sports and painting score must have given me a serious boost.  I'll give a quick and dirty breakdown of my games, don't expect too much, I don't love writing battle reports (gasp!).

Round 1
Opponent: Troy Weis - Space Marines
I lost to a Shrike list, he only had a Dreadnought, two Tactical Marines and two shelled Razorbacks left.  I had a lot left but I played too conservatively and the game ended on turn 5, much to my chagrin.  The highlight of the game was sucking half his Terminators and his Librarian into the ground with Jaws of the World Wolf.  Not a clean game by this guy but I learned a ton about my army, especially the strengths and limitations of my new units (Thunderwolf Lord, Scouts).  Record: 0-1

Round 2
Opponent: Matt Bartley - Imperial Guard
Standard Mechanized guard list.  I had first turn, it was Dawn of War deployment and there was a large piece of blocking terrain in the middle of the table.  Those three things contributed to my victory over Matt.  Wolf Scouts are the (melta) bomb.  Record: 1-1

Round 3
Opponent: Matt Raatz - Daemons of Chaos
Nurgle Daemons led by Ku'gath and Epidemius.  I felt in control of this game from the outset.  I was lucky enough to Jaws Ku'gath before he did too much damage and my Wolf Lord carved up Plaguebearers like it was his job....which it is....  Record: 2-1

Round 4
Opponent: Tony Malave - Space Wolves
I think Tony won this tournament last year, I could be wrong though.  In any case, he was a very good player and introduced me to a true razorwolf list.  I was able to keep it close by turtling behind blocking terrain and making forays out with non scoring units to inflict as much damage as I could.  In the end, he got the primary, I got the secondary and he may have gotten the tertiary but I can't remember.  Record: 2-2

Round 5
Opponent: Jarred Saxman - Imperial Guard
Jarred was a ton of fun to play and handled some atrocious dice rolling like a champ.  He had first turn and I just threw my stuff out to get blown away and he completely wiffed.  I was able to take control with some accurate melta shots and barely hung on for a win.  Record: 3-2

I'm going to be honest, I'm rushing through this so I can go back and bury my nose in my shiny new Necron Codex.  Here's pics of the new units all finished up and battle hardened.  TTFN.

-Noah

Judgement Day Cometh

I am 85% sure I'm going to make a Necron army within the next two weeks.  I haven't played Necrons since 3rd Ed. when I dropped them in favor of Space Marines.  The reason I dropped them initially was because they lacked character and there didn't have many options to field different armies.  It looks like both of these issues will be resolved in the new book, at least judging by what has been leaked so far.

I'm excited about the new book for the following reasons:

-More competitive
-New models, none of which will be metal!
-Hopefully a viable infantry, foot slogging army is an option, I am getting tired of mech
-Easy, easy, easy to paint
-They're Xenos, I need to break up the power armor party that's going on in my closet right now

Unfortunately I'm sure this will be a huuuuuuge bandwagon army.  Possibly more that Grey Knights but I hope not.  I need to think of a scheme that is different enough that I won't be knocked in painting scores.  I may go with some kind of fancy base or something.  I'll be back.

-Noah

List for GGT

I think I have my list figured out for the Gentlemen's GT (Nov. 4-5).


I am liking this list a lot.  Not a huge model count so I'll have to be careful with my Grey Hunters as they're my only scoring units and the backbone of my close combat.  I may miss my Terminators but they've been so poor lately that I don't mind leaving four of them at home.

One dimensional close combat armies will give me a lot of problems but hopefully they will be relying on transports that I can pop at range and whittle down anything dangerous.

Feel free to critique, I basically made it up just now.


HQ

WIP Wolf Scout

Logan Grimnar - 275

Elites
Dreadnought - 125
-2x twin-linked autocannons

Dreadnought - 125
-2x twin-linked autocannons

(5) Wolf Scouts - 110
-melta
-melta bombs

Troops
(9) Grey Hunters - 150
-wolf standard
-melta

Rhino - 35

(9) Grey Hunters - 150
-wolf standard
-melta

Rhino - 35

(8) Grey Hunters - 120

(3) Wolf Guard - 149
-power fist, combi melta
-power fist, combi melta
-terminator, storm shield, chainfist

Land Raider Redeemer - 250
-multimelta

Heavy Support
(5) Long Fangs - 115
-4x missiles

(5) Long Fangs - 115
-4x missiles

(5) Long Fangs - 95
-4x heavy bolters



Need to Paint
-4 Wolf Scouts
-2 Rhino hatches
-Logan Grimnar
-4 twin-linked autocannon arms

-Noah

The bandwagon is a calling (Thing 1 & Thing 2)

It seems like riflemen Dreadnoughts (2x twin-linked autocannons) have become all the rage lately on the net.  I had one guy I watched play a lot at my old shop that used a couple but I have no real world experience fighting against them or using them.  That being said, I am strongly considering converting my two multimelta drop dreads into riflemen.

I've beaten to death what I think of AV12 walkers dropping down unsupported so maybe it's time I tried out the new trendy walker on the block.  As things stand, I have a couple Aegis Defense Lines sitting in my closet that could be converted pretty easily to make them.  With the magic of magnets, I won't be required to scrap the multimeltas I have already converted for them, just add the option of the autocannons.

Ultimately, it's a matter of me sitting down and finalizing a list for RockCon and seeing where the Dreadnoughts fit it.  I wasn't planning on using them but I was just thinking the other day about how I love the models and how much of a shame it would be to never use them for anything but Apoc games, so finding a use for them in competitive play would be great.  Its getting a bit late to do anything about it tonight but I'll have a think on it and maybe write up a list or two this evening.

As a side note, I think I'm going to go public with this blog so I feel less like a nerdy teenage girl journaling about her toy soldiers.  We'll see if I feel up to public scrutiny!

-Noah

We have entered the Visual Age!

I cobbled together a temporary photo booth rig today.  I found a couple $2 desk lamps at Target today which I think will work great.  Definitely not perfect but I think it will be serviceable for the time being.

Ghetto Rig.

The mess.

Here's a random assortment of models I've painted over the past few years.  I basically grabbed a little bit of everything that was near at hand. My Imperial Fists began as a painting project with no intention of creating an army but I just kept adding to it and now I'm sitting at around 1500pts.

Ineffective but she's a looker!

That's all for now, don't want to use up all the material in one post!

-Noah

Found Some Pictures

I found a few pictures taken at Armies on Parade '11.  Thanks to whoever took them (John maybe?).  I think the first one is just a random assortment of Space Wolf stuff on one of the sections from my 40k table.  The second one is my Rune Priest that was my HQ in the Gateway GT.