Adepticon Report: Gladiator Tournament Game 4

Round 4

Orks vs Eldar

Eldar list:
Jetbike Autarch, Mandiblater, Laser Lance, Fusion Gun
Farseer, Doom, Runes of Witnessing
4 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon, Warlock, Destructor, Singing Spear
4 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon, Warlock, Destructor, Singing Spear
4 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon, Warlock, Destructor, Singing Spear
4 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon, Warlock, Destructor, Singing Spear
6 Harlequins, Shadowseer, 6 Harlequin's Kisses
6 Harlequins, Shadowseer, 6 Harlequin's Kisses
6 Harlequins, Shadowseer, 6 Harlequin's Kisses
Falcon, Scatter Laser, Shuricannon, HF, SS, VE, SE
Falcon, Scatter Laser, Shuricannon, HF, SS, VE, SE
Falcon, Scatter Laser, Shuricannon, HF, SS, VE, SE

Mission: Hold At All Costs

Mission has table quarter deployment, with 12” buffer from the center/24” enemy buffer. The mission featured the Short Handed rule, or rather the “screw the superheavies” rule, which allowed the opponent to choose one of your units to be held in reserve until turn 4, at which point it automatically arrives on any table edge. Primary Objective is Victory Points with Table Quarter Objective (Rulebook p86, 1000 VP for enemy deployment quarter, 500 each for adjacent quarters.) Secondary was most scoring units. Tertiary was 1601 VP or more (which could be done because of the table quarter VP's above) Tactical points for having a scoring unit in your enemies deployment zone, and +1 if the Short Handed Unit is dead at the end of the game. Remember that last one.

So there I am. Going into the final round of the Adepticon Gladiator in a three way tie for first place with full points. Visions of Forge World Battlewagons dancing in my head. Knowing that my Stompa was probably going to be pushed to reserve for three long turns, but also knowing that if they did push it into reserves, their chances of being able to kill it and get that tactical point were really low. I had received a ruling from the judges that my Burna boys could bundle with the Stompa in reserves, per the FAQ, so their repair rolls would be right where they should be. Top three at this point were me, Bill Kim and his stealer shock, and I think another Ork army. Alas, I drew the Eldar, who had dropped a couple tactical points throughout the day. And off to reserve went the Stompa.

This Eldar army was rough. I had never been a fan of the guardian jetbike squad, so I have to say I maybe underestimated them. I certainly never fought an army with 4 squads like this before. The key nastiness of these units are the versatility and price in points. With the warlock, they have the S9 anti-vehicle shot, the move and fire heavy flamer, the 3 S6, 8 S4 Shuri barrage, the ability to turbo boost, and the Eldar jetbike always move in assault rule. All this for 156 points. I'm not sure how I would have played the first half of the game differently, but the forces I did have on the board were whittled down pretty far by the time that the Stompa and Snikrot (who also didn't show up until turn 4, the git) finally arrived. What was worse, Brian had gone first, which gave him 4 turns to arrange his forces for the arrival of the Stompa, which had basically allowed him to place a falcon and harlies in the far reaches of the board.

The rest can be summed up in three words: holofields holofields holofields. I put 2 dozen glances at least on those falcons , but just couldn't get the rolls to drop the skimmers. In the sixth turn with only the Stompa and the Burna boys left as scoring units, I made what I though was a heroic move. I moved the Stompa near a skorcha buggy that had been immobilized in an early turn. The Burnas got out and fixed it, which gave me a third scoring unit. I then forced a seventh turn. If I could just keep these units alive, and maybe drop a couple falcons on my turn, I might just pull it off. Alas it was not to be. A scatter laser shot caught the buggy at an extreme angle, 1 hit, 1 glance, 6 blows it up. Sigh. More glancing hits on falcons, but only one finally destroyed. But which one? Hey! It's the one that came from reserve, so I end up with the +2 tactical points as the Stompa ends the game alive and well in the enemy deployment zone. Hats off to Brian for a pretty flawlessly played game on his part. He didn't make any mistakes or give me any opportunities. I think it was about the worst mission/match up possible for me, but no whining. It was a real pleasure to play on this high level, and I'm glad to say I felt like I held my own with these top players. I'll be seeing you guys again.

Result: 31-2 point win for the Eldar

But what's that? 31? Alas not 32 for poor Brian, as he did not get the one tactical bonus point for killing the Stompa. As the tournament was decided, in the words of the judges at the awards ceremony, by one point, it was the survival of my Stompa which pushed the Eldar out of a tie for first, and into the comfortable ignominy of second place. I'm not saying Bill Kim owes me one of those Forge World Battlewagons or anything but......seriously, big gratz to Bill for winning his second Adepticon Gladiator.

Interestingly, I talked to Bill (so many Bill's in our hobby, I'm just going to start going by Biz) after the tournament and he said that had he drew me, he would not have put the Stompa in reserve, and would have come for it with the stealer shock. I agree that this would totally have been the right tactical call for him to make. Too bad, that would have been a really cool game. I would love to hear about the list of the Ork player he fought in the last round, and an account of that game.

End Result: 98 Total Points for 14^th place out of 145 players. I am really pleased with how I did in this tournament. It was really exciting to be in the hunt for the big prize, though it stings a little that even though I was so close, I still didn't make the top 10 for a future Invitational slot. Guess I'll just have hit some more tournaments!

Adepticon Report: Gladiator Tournament Game 3

Round 3

Orks vs Eldar

Eldar list:
Eldrad Ulthran
Prince Yriel
3 Guardian Jetbikes with 1 Shuricannon
10 Wraithguard, spiritseer with conceal (counts as trooops! I did not know about that option.)
5 Harlequins, Shadowseer, 5 Harlequin's Kisses, 1 Fusion Pistol
5 Harlequins, Shadowseer, 5 Harlequin's Kisses, 1 Fusion Pistol
6 Harlequins, Shadowseer, 6 Harlequin's Kisses, 1 Fusion Pistol
Falcon, Brightlance, Shuricannon, HF, SS, VE, SE
Deathspinner, HF, SS, VE, SE

Mission:Careful Planning

Mission has table quarter deployment, with 12” buffer from the center/24” enemy buffer. Each player got 5 glass tokens to commit, one by one, to a table quarter. Whoever controlled that quarter at the end got all the glass tokens in that quarter, which was the Primary mission. Secondary was 200 VP's and Tertiary was the destruction of Opponent's highest point HQ. Tactical bonuses were +1 for all opponent's troops being non scoring, and +1 for opponent controlling no table quarters.

My opponent was Mike M, who won the 2007 Adepticon 40K Championship and qualified for the Invitational 5 times over. Clearly I was playing with the big boys. (Actually, all my opponents from rounds 2-4 were Invitational qualifiers) We had another big level 3 terrain piece in the middle, so it was Stompa vs Wraithguard in the center. His best shot was on his second turn when he was able to unload on the Stompa with the full Wraithguard squad, but this was alas not effective enough for him. Shootas and Sluggas then swamped the center, which was a slow grind to eventually getting down to Eldrad who had already wounded himself with perils of the warp. Mike was a very clever opponent and made some really smart tactical moves (one was a move where he got the fusion pistol within 6” and then used unit coherency to keep the rest of the unit out of LOS, just a fantastic move) The Skimmers had to do a lot of hiding from the Stompa, and at the end, I just had too many units left for him to get any table quarters. We had to add up the points carefully, and I ended up with 252 VP's which was just barely enough for the secondary.

Result: 32-0 Point victory for the orks.

Adepticon Report: Gladiator Tournament Game 2

Round 2

Orks vs Tau

Tau list
(Can't find list, but roughly)
1 Commander Crisis Suit with 2 retinue
Solo commander Crisis Suit
2 small Fire Warrior squads
3 sets of 2 Crisis Suits
1 Piranha
1 Barracuda (Tau flyer)
3 immobile markerlight turrets
3 Hammerheads with all the upgrades.

Mission: On the Hot Seat

Mission has 12” long edge deployment. The primary objective was “Glass Tokens.” 10 glass beads were placed in the center. Starting on turn 2, at the end of each player turn, whoever controlled the board center with a scoring unit got a glass bead. Secondary objective was 200 VP's and the tertiary was Table Quarters. Tac bonuses were +1 for opponent having no glass beads at all and +1 for opponent having no scoring units left at the end.

I was able to take the center right away with the Stompa, so the glass beads started rolling in early. Scott had an early chance to slow the Stompa with the Piranha, but it had no effect and went down hard, as did the fire warriors and one turret on turn one. Snikrot came in on turn two and was able to catch the retinue commander and a squad of two suits crouching behind a hill. A second set of two suits joined the fray on the Tau's next turn. This fight was great. A couple rounds later, it came down to just Snikrot vs. three remaining suits. Snikrot won the combat and both units of suits broke and were cut down running by a solo Snikrot. As if this dice craziness was not enough, the flyer came very late, and once it did come, I was able to shoot/assault it and 2 hammerheads on the next turn after it arrived. Each of these units took one glancing hit, and in each case I rolled a 5 to immobilize, which I had to reroll due to the Tau wargear. All three of these rerolls were a 5 or 6, which pretty much broke the Tau's back.. With these amazing dice on my side and some pretty poor hammerhead shooting dice, I maxed out the second round as well. Scott was probably my favorite opponent of the weekend, as we both had a lot of fun.

Result: 32-0 Point victory for the orks.

Adepticon Report: Gladiator Tournament Game 1

Round 1
Orks vs Necrons

Necron list:
Res orb/staff Lord
16 Warrior
16 Warriors
5 Immortals
5 Immortals
5 Destroyers
5 Scarab Swarms
3 Heavy Destroyers
2 Monoliths

Mission: Identify and Secure

Mission has diagonal deployments with 4 objectives in no man's land and Modified Escalation (as per rulebook escalation, but all units not rolled for on turns 2-3 come in automatically on turn 4—A great permutation of the escalation rule for a tournament setting). Primary was objectives, Secondary was 200 or more Victory Points, and Tertiary was reducing all enemy troops to non scoring. Tactical points were +1 for opponent's highest point unit destroyed or fleeing and +1 for having more scoring units than opponent at end of game.

This was a fun game, but a pretty bad mismatch for my opponent. My shooting took care of the heavy destroyers early, and the stompa came on turn 2. There was also a big piece of level 3 area terrain in the center, so I was able to hide out on turn 1 . The lifta droppa made short work of the monoliths and dropped one on the lord's head, the killer kans took out the destroyers, and soon enough the game was over.

Result: 32-0 Point victory for the orks.

Adepticon Report: Gladiator Tournament List

Friday: Gladiator Tournament

Each mission in the Gladiator had three levels of objectives, which were worth 15, 10, and 5 points, with 2 possible tactical bonus points, for a total of 32 points a round.

I played the Gladiator on Friday with the following list:

2000 Mekboy Stompa Big Mek Bash

HQ

Big Mek 95
Shokk Attack Gun 60

Big Mek 95
Shokk Attack Gun 60

ELITES

5 Burna Boys (15) 90
3 Meks w KMB 0
3 Grot Oilers 15
(Riding on the Stompa)

12 Snikrot's Kommandos (10) 235
2 Burnas 30
Led by Snikrot 85

TROOPS

Deff Dread (75) 95
1 big shootas 5
1 DCCW 15

Deff Dread (75) 95
1 big shootas 5
1 DCCW 15

30 Ork Slugga Boyz (6) 240
3 Big Shootas 15
Nob Upgrade 10
Power Klaw 25
Bosspole 5
'eavy Armour 5

15 Ork Shoota Boyz (6) 135
Nob Upgrade 10
Power Klaw 25
Bosspole 5
'eavy Armour 5
(Also riding on the Stompa)

FAST ATTACK

1 Skorcha Buggies (40) 40

1 Skorcha Buggies (40) 40

1 Skorcha Buggies (40) 40

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 Mekboy Stompa 650

3 Killa Kans 150
3 Rokkits (45)

TOTAL 2000

As soon as the Apocalypse book came out, I knew I was going to have to build a Mekboy Stompa. I am an Ork player from about “Waargh the Orks” and one of my favorite all time units are the lifta-droppa speedstas from epic. The Lifta Droppa is just the most hilarious weapon. Then I saw the that it would be an allowable unit in the Adepticaon Galdiator. That's when I knew I would have to finish the darn thing. I put a ton of work into the scratch building of my Stompa, and I will have another post devoted to it.

Adepticon Report

This year I attended all three days of Adepticon and I have never had so much fun at any gaming event. The whole “for gamers, by gamers” aspect of the event was really strong. Big thanks to all the organizers, the cool opponents, and the gamers who I did not get to play, but who were friendly and fun to talk to. I got to meet a bunch of people who I just know from the net, some 40K net “celebrities” (Hi Fly Lords, Yakface, 40KRadio!) and a lot of new folks from all over. I didn't really feel like a customer, I felt like a member of a community, and that's a rare feeling in today's world. If you like GW games, you just can't miss Adepticon. Don't miss it next year. I'm sure it will be better than ever.

The quality of play was also top shelf. I did not come up against any opponents who I would not willingly play again anytime. Both in victory and defeat, everyone was fair, knowledgeable, and though he competition was tough, no one tried to pull anything over on me, or acted in any way that could be considered unsporting. Thanks to Paul, Scott, Mike, Brian, Other Necron guy (sorry, name escapes me) Derek, and Dave, who were all great players. I have had some pretty harrowing interpersonal experiences at tournys in the past (mostly at smaller tournys, not top events like this one) so I was really psyched that everyone was so great.