19,200 mostly 16-25 year olds swarming an anime convention…an hour after arriving and pushing our way through dressed up (or undressed) anime fans, we finally discovered that the GT was in the attached Marriott and made our way there to check it out. I’m glad that we did an advance recon, or we would have been extremely late the following morning, which is probably why the GT was an hour late kicking off – others weren’t so fortunate!
I brought my Dark Eldar to the Railhead Rumble. The list is as follows:
Dashofpepper’s Darklight Storm:
HQ: Baron Sathonyx
HQ: Haemonculi with Shattershard and Crucible of Malediction
Troop1: 5x Warriors with a Blaster inside a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Troop2: 5x Warriors with a Blaster inside a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Troop3: 5x Warriors with a Blaster inside a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Troop4: 5x Warriors with a Blaster inside a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Troop5: 5x Warriors with a Blaster inside a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Troop6: 9x Wyches with Haywire Grenades inside a Raider with Torment Grenade Launcher, Grisly Trophies, and Flickerfield
Elite1: 4x Trueborn with 4x Blasters in a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Elite2: 4x Trueborn with 4x Blasters in a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Elite3: 3x Trueborn with 4x Blasters in a Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons
Fast Attack1: 3x Beastmasters, 5x Khymerae, 4x Razorwing Flocks
Heavy Support1: Ravager with 3x Dark Lances and Flickerfield
Heavy Support2: Ravager with 3x Dark Lances and Flickerfield
Heavy Support3: Ravager with 3x Dark Lances and Flickerfield
The missions can be found here!
I don’t have Will Ferguson’s army list, so I’m working from pictures and memory here.
HQ: Rune Priest with Terminator Armour, Power Weapon, Murderous Hurricane, Living Lightning, Chooser of the Slain
HQ: Rune Priest with Terminator Armour, Power Weapon, Jaws of the World Wolf, Living Lightning, Chooser of the Slain
Troop1: 9x Grey Hunters with a meltagun, wolf banner, mark of the wulfen, powerfist in a Rhino Troop2: 9x Grey Hunters with a meltagun, wolf banner, mark of the wulfen, powerfist in a Rhino Troop3: 6x Grey Hunters with a flamer, powerfist in a Las/Plas Razorback
Troop4: 6x Grey Hunters with a flamer, powerfist in a Las/Plas Razorback
Elite1: Some number of Wolf Guard
Elite2: Dual Twin-Linked Autocannon Dreadnought
Elite3: Dual Twin-Linked Autocannon Dreadnought
Heavy Support1: 5x Missile Launcher Longfangs + Pack Leader, Las/Plas Razorback
Heavy Support2: 5x Missile Launcher Longfangs + Pack Leader, Las/Plas Razorback
Heavy Support3: 5x Missile Launcher Longfangs + Pack Leader, Las/Plas Razorback
Here’s a shot of our table!
Table Quarters with Killpoints as the primary objective, and the secondary being having the most units outside of any deployment zone. Bonus points for having an HQ and highest point unit within 12” of the center of the table.
We roll for deployment option and Will wins, and elects to deploy and go first.
Here’s his deployment: Long fangs lined up to shoot at anything, an autocannon dread at both ends of deployment zone, and las/plas razorbacks all around with the rune-priests holding up the center in their rhinos.
For my deployment, I go full reserves. I fail to seize and we start turn one!
Enemy Turn One:
The right side of the board shifts to the right, and not much else.
Dashofpepper Turn One:
Nada!
Enemy Turn Two:
The right side of the board shifts right some more.
The left side of the board shifts forward, and he pops smoke on the whole army.
Dashofpepper Turn Two:
Reserve rolls! I get three troop venoms, the wych raider, all three trueborn venoms, and one ravager.
Movement onto the table. There’s not very good cover in range for my trueborn to move up and disembark for an alpha-strike, and that left razorback has a unit with a flamer in it….I don’t want to lose a trueborn unit to a flamer.
I *do* move one venom 12” forward and disembark what I think is far enough away from the razorback with the flamer in it for an extra blaster shot. The wyches…well, I can move 12” on and use my lance and get my wyches shot down the following turn, so I choose to move them flat out instead. Even if I lose the raider, the wyches will be in range to threaten something in subsequent turns.
It is *so* danged hard to get models to stand upright on those bloody craters.
Shooting!
I stun the far left razorback with the guys inside, and wreck the one next to it (a longfang razorback). Splinter cannons take down three of the missile launchers in the front unit.
On one of the rear longfang units, I take down one missile and the squad leader.
Enemy Turn Three:
He moves around to try getting optimal shots – the bunker thingy in the middle is tall enough to prevent most of his right side of the board from being able to shoot at me, so he’s got the three longfang units, a dreadnought, maybe the second one, a rhino, and a razorback, maybe two to shoot at me. One of the razorbacks on the far right immobilizes itself on terrain.
Shooting!
He explodes one of my trueborn venoms, which kills one of the trueborn inside. He also shakes the lead empty troop venom and weapon destroys another trueborn venom.
Longfangs on the left open up on my ravager and weapon destroy and immobilize it.
My wych raider gets exploded. My wyches all pass their saves, but the haemonculi takes a wound, and they fail their pinning check and go to ground.
Dashofpepper Turn Three:
I roll for reserves and get…a single ravager and my Baron+Beasts *sigh* Ravager moves on 12” on the far left – I’m trying to minimize exposure to the razorbacks on the right side of the board.
Meanwhile, my whole army shifts forward. Venoms move forward 6” so that the passengers can still fire, and one venom drops its troop load into cover. Trueborn from the exploded venom move forward as well.
The shaken venom moves flat out trying to hide behind the central piece of terrain since it can’t shoot anyway.
My beast unit in the backfield in from reserves.
Shooting!
On the far left, I dark lance his previously stunned razorback and explode it. The marines inside pass their armour saves, but fail their pinning check and go to ground – which is fortunate since I won’t have to deal with them this turn.
The rest of my anti-tank (true-born, dark lances, warrior blasters) manages to shake and weapon destroy the auto-cannon dreadnought in an incredibly unimpressive display of firepower.
Splinter Cannons go to work and finish off the lead unit of Longfangs!
The rest of my splinter cannon fire goes into the unharmed Long Fang unit – I’d rather kill them than finish off the one without the squad leader since they can’t split fire anymore; I’d rather have one guaranteed dead vehicle than two probably dead vehicles. I wipe them out.
My beast unit runs and spreads out – I don’t want to pick up frag templates or a flamer if he’s feeling up to trying it.
Enemy Turn Four:
He shifts on the right more to line up shots, while the left side of the board is mostly decimated by this point. The shaken dreadnought retreats 6”.
Shooting!
The middle trueborn venom gets exploded, true-born die, and fail pinning and go to ground. Meanwhile, the left trueborn venom is immobilized.
He opens up on the same venom from anything that can see it on the other side of the board and also scores a shaken and weapon destroyed result, but doesn’t kill it.
My lead ravager suffers two penetrating results from longfangs in the rear, and I pass my first flickerfield saves of the game!
Dashofpepper Turn Four:
I roll for reserves and don’t get my ravager, but I get another troop venom. It moves on 12” and lines up for shots at the grey hunters who were just pinned. Meanwhile, my mobile ravager moves 12” to the left to line up shots at his dreadnought. My units on foot move forward trying to keep in blaster range of targets.
Trueborn from the immobilized venom disembark and move over towards his vehicles as well.
My beast unit moves up some more, and the previously shaken venom moves to try creating a roadblock from his flamer-toting grey hunters to my beasts – while also angling for shots at the previously pinned grey hunter unit.
The wyches aren’t pinned anymore and get 5-6” of movement forward. The hill in the middle was terrible for putting models on, so we marked the front and rear of where my unit was with dice.
Shooting!
I immobilize the weapon-destroyed dreadnought but can’t finish it off with five dark lances. All my blasters kill the nearest rhino with a rune-priest in it (it took 10 of them), and my splinter cannons finish off his last long fang unit and wipe out the grey hunters that were in the wreckage of the far left razorback.
The haemonculi pops the shattershard onto his grey hunters and kills 1-2 of them, but none of the special weapons or wargear.
Assaults!
My wyches assault into the grey hunters, and multi-assault into the razorback there as well – from their original positioning and my 2D6, I can move them in such a way that I don’t have to get into dangerous terrain. He pops his wolf standard so that he can reroll all 1s for the phase.
I whiff against the Razorback with haywire grenades – not a single hit. I kill all but three grey hunters and the rune-priest in exchange for losing three wyches, and we stay locked in combat.
Enemy Turn Five:
His units on the right swing back in towards the center and open fire on me.
The far left venom suffers two weapon-destroyed results, but doesn’t die!
He shoots down a fourth venom, and we move to assaults.
My wyches COMPLETELY whiff. Not a single wound. He kills…something in return; enough that I fail my leadership and attempt to run. I fail and he catches me.
Dashofpepper Turn Five:
As we’re starting my turn, the judges announce that we have 17 minutes left. At this point we’re tied 7-7 killpoints. I’ve lost the wych raider, wyches, haemonculi, and four venoms. I’ve killed three longfang units, one grey hunter unit, two razorbacks and a rhino.
I didn’t take any more pictures because I was trying to rush through the game, but here’s the short of it:
-Ravager in reserve comes into play in centerfield to try killing a razorback on the right.
-Baron Sathonyx detaches from the beast unit and jumps 12” forward to get into assault range of a razorback.
-Venom on the far left with twin-weapon destroyed results moves 12” to the right and disembarks warriors.
-All my warriors and trueborn – everything foot mounted moves towards the center of the field to have range on him – ravager on the right that isn’t immobilized lines up for more shots at his dreadnought.
-Beast unit moves up 6” on their own without the Baron.
Shooting! 12 blasters and 8 dark lances fail to kill ANY vehicles.
Assaults: Baron Sathonyx assaults into a stunned razorback, and the beasts make a 12” assault and make it into the rune priest and the three tactical marines. He swings and kills beastmasters and a khymerae. I did have to assault through dangerous terrain here. As I start rolling dice against him (razorwings into the tactical marines, everything else into the rune priest), the judges call the one minute mark. I do a bunch of wounds to the rune-priest and the razorwings do three rending wounds to the three grey hunters. Meanwhile, my opponent is arguing with the judges for another turn – and says that if he doesn’t get another turn, he’s not touching the table again. I’m like, “Dude, here’s the wounds – make your saves.” Judges call time and “Dice Down!”
Will argues with the judge some more, and I’m like, “Dude, I just need you to pick up your dead models.” And he’s like, “No, the game is over. I’m not touching the table.” The judge steps in and rules that the game has ended. I say, “If he wasn’t busy arguing with you at the end of the time, we could have finished my turn.” The Baron didn’t get to attack, and his marines were auto-dead, which would have put me 8-7 on killpoints.
As it stands, we tie on killpoints, and I get secondary – I have 14 units outside of any deployment zone to his 11. We both get the bonus points for having the highest point unit within 12” of the center of the board and a chosen HQ within 12” of the board, so I come away with 16 points instead of 24.
Post-Game Assessment:
After the game, Will got a judge and took me outside to talk – and said, “Did you intentionally slow play me?” And I said, “No – I’ve finished every game so far, usually with 45+ minutes to spare.” He said, “Well, why didn’t we finish the game then?” And I said, “You tell me, I was in reserves for the first two of your turns.” Taking pictures takes time…but it doesn’t hamper me finishing games.
With careful thought, here’s what I think: Me taking pictures takes a bit of time. Not a huge amount, but some. Having to go back through pictures to show him how far I moved because he didn’t believe me takes time. His deployment took a while, as did his first two turns of movement; after deployment, he redeployed most of his vehicles differently. Judge calls took quite a bit of time. Whether I had LOS from my immobilized ravager to him. Whether I could multi-assault my wyches (he wanted me assaulting his grey hunters and rune priest through dangerous terrain of his wreckage). Him disembarking from wrecks 3-4” out, and having to redo it because I was like “Uh…that’s too far.” Second-guessing his own disembarks to try minimizing what my shattershard could hit. More judge interventions. I was rushing through my fifth turn and skipped reserves – judge ruled that reserve rolls are mandatory, and since it automatically comes in on turn five, I needed to place my last ravager on the board, which my opponent was unhappy with. Judge calls, time time time.
Ultimately, it comes down to this: Will believed that if we had a sixth turn, he could pull a win by bringing his other grey hunters in to support the assault I was in with my beasts. I disagree. I was down four venoms and my wych/haemonculi/raider. I didn’t *need* those splinter cannons anymore, he had two infantry units left. My anti-tank was completely intact. I was down a couple of blasters from trueborn, a lance from a ravager, and a lance from my wych raider. Those guys were more than 12” away from me, I’d still be locked up with the rune priest, and he wouldn’t have made the assault. And in return…I’m pretty sure that my entire army worth of anti-tank could kill another tank or two.
Ultimately, he did a *lot* of bitching. What’s more unfair than him not getting a sixth turn is me not getting to finish my fifth. I didn’t even need to finish my fifth turn, I just needed him to pick up the models that I had killed and remove them from the table. And he refused. The judges took the stance, “If you felt the game was slow-playing, affect it with sportsmanship.” I disagree.
Me getting the win took him out of the running. Affecting his sportsmanship is meaningless at that point. Him nuking my sportsmanship might take me out of the running as well. Ultimately it wouldn’t have because I took Best General anyway. But since I missed “Best Overall” by THREE points…and I had maximum sportsmanship at the end of the GT….what matters would have been being able to finish the turn. Or at least for the rended models to be removed.
I’m a little concerned about area drama – my wife was sitting outside reading during the last two games. My evil nemesis from the Alamo GT Chris Carlile was at this GT, and my attempt to reconcile with him Saturday morning was met with him yelling “DON’T FUCKING TALK TO ME!!” He’s got a very warped perception of events, and I’m told he’s been telling anyone that will listen in the area that Dashofpepper is a cheater. Interestingly, three of his opponents on the first day reported that he cheated during their games, so he had permanent judge attendance at his later games. Relevant to the point is that my wife was sitting outside reading when Will and Chris and an unknown couple were outside after the game talking some *serious* shit about how Hulksmash (whom Chris played) and I were serious cheaters. I’ll admit, it makes me uncomfortable.
Chris, if you read this: Grow up and stop being a fucktard. You’d be quite likable if you didn’t have the emotional maturity of an 8 year old.
Will, if you read this: Look me up on Skype; I’m Dashofpepper. I’d like to get in a rematch to get a game through to completion without a time limit. I hope that what my wife told me was you being caught in the moment and upset at a loss and not starting down the path of the kind of douchery Chris is capable of.
