That's right, I'm back, and far sooner than last time.
It's been a busy month of little toy soldiers for me – I have averaged more than a game a week since coming back to wargaming proper, and thought it might be cliché, I have felt myself shaking off more rust with every game.
Between Grim Series events, I signed up for my local league at Jolt Games (fantastic store, by the way) and bye-busted at a local two-day event, Capital Clash.
Given I am still painting at a positively glacial pace, it was very nice to get to play at Capital Clash, even if there were no stakes. I'm aiming to get my army painted for HeroCon in November, and after my outing at this month's Grim, I'm feeling reasonably confident that I won't need to make a lot of changes.
The list is the same as last event – but for those playing at home:
Azrael (115pts)
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon (70pts)
5 Intercessors (80pts)
5 Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90pts)
5 Deathwing Knights (250pts)
5 Deathwing Knights (250pts)
5 Deathwing Knights (250pts)
6 Inner Circle Companions (180pts)
5 Scouts (70pts)
Ballistus Dreadnought (140pts)
Ballistus Dreadnought (140pts)
Ballistus Dreadnought (140pts)
Repulsor Executioner (220pts)
My confidence has grown significantly with this list since Grim 5 last month, where I stood too close to the walls and Titanic Tim stomped on me.
And so Saturday came, and it was time to see how much I'd learned...
Game 1 – Alex "The Rizzler" (Chaos Knights) – Purge The Foe, Crucible of Battle
Alex finally (kind of) understood how the grudge process worked, after I helped him communicate his desire for a free win in the right channel in our local discord.
A clanker in at least one sense of the word, and coming in hot off his win at Capital Clash the weekend before, I knew I would have my work cut out for me. Once again, I would be starting off with games against the local terror of the meta, Chaos Knights.
I still don't have strong opinions about the faction, I will leave that to more qualified pundits. What I will say is that I welcomed the opportunity to show Alex what I was capable of, and also to demonstrate to myself how far I had come in a month.
Alex was running what I would call the "NBA All Stars" – that is to say, five bigs (Double Atrapos, Double Despoiler, Lancer) and a Karnivore to mop the sweat from the floor.
I was offered $5 if I put this picture on the internet, so, here it is:
Having a firmer grip on what this sort of game demanded, I opted for Fixed Secondaries like everyone else, and, like everyone else, it paid dividends.
I would also like to say that despite the amount of trash that was talked before the game, Alex was the model of a perfect gentleman, and we played a free and easy game once I'd settled down, and had at least one hissy fit. I'm pretty disappointed in myself for that, and it's something I will need to continue to work on.
With all of that out of the way, my goal was simple – engineer a scenario where I could get my big melee threats to double-team two knights and ride that momentum until the end of the game.
I started off in good shape, after Alex's Lancer battle shocked itself walking over a ruin, locking it out of using its free tank shock and its -1 damage, leaving it vulnerable to being beaten with sticks by two units of Deathwing Knights. I opted not to use my fight on death, feeling I might be able to roll enough invulnerable saves – and was immediately punished by failing four invulnerable saves out of five.
Whoops.
I quickly ate the Lancer, but Alex played a cagey standoff-ish game until my line had broken down a bit, then started jamming his shooting threats into my deployment zone. I lost Azrael's lads to an overextension, and incorrectly positioning my Jump Pack Intercessors meant I lost them for free.
My Ballistus dreadnoughts did my best to keep me in the game, routinely clobbering Alex's knights for massive damage (one Ballistus clapped a Despoiler for 17 damage in an activation) – but I'd lost too many Terminators, and Alex had covered the board in sticky OC5 markers. I fell one knight short, and couldn't take any objectives, and that was that.
Result – Salamander Loss, 86-67
Whilst, yes, I had written a check that I could not cash, and was rightly pummelled into the dirt by an experienced and competent opponent, it was clear that I had learned my lesson. I deployed better, still not perfectly, and apart from a costly fight on death miss, I leveraged the tools I had to give The Rizzler a run for his money.
Of course, I also did get lucky, and Alex also did his best to not-quite coach me (I must remember to model a power fist on my squad of intercessors) but doing so well, despite not walking with the game, was a big morale boost.
Game 2 – Mitchell (Adeptus Custodes) – Supply Drop, Tipping Point
One of the folks from G-Town who had made the pilgrimage, Mitchell was running Shield Host with Trajann, some bikes, and three bricks supported with characters.
This game had all the hallmarks of an old school brick-off. With a scenario that didn't reward you for sitting on your home objective, the result was an absolute bloodbath, where the middle of the board turned into a fight pit.
The deciding factor here was my shooting, which pressured Mitchell to come forward or slowly lose to my volume of Lascannon fire. I also drew his bikes in to be murdered by my Deathwing Knights with a tasty snack of scouts.
It didn't go all my way, I made a bad mistake early, pushing my knifey bloke too close to Trajann and friends, who promptly said thank you for the freebie and blew him away.
As it turns out, it would've been super nice to have him around late in the game.
I thought I had Mitchell on the ropes when I put my unit of Inner Circle Companions and a unit of Deathwing Knights into Trajann's unit that had already been shot up, only for him to pop every defensive buff known to man, and shake off my assault with relatively light casualties.
In the end, -1 damage on all of Mitchell's spears and axes gave me the edge, and I forced him to roll enough saves that my D2 weapons (eventually) put all the Golden Janitors down. A failed 7" charge from his Alloy Wheel Terminators when Azrael and his mates were in a bad spot sealed the deal for the men in (bright) green, who then ate Trajann, then his Terminators.
Unfortunately, despite winning the fight, I had either forgotten to stand on the objectives, or waited too long to stand on the objectives, and so I posted a very low winning score.
Result – Salamander Win, 35-17
I had avoided the bye, and was feeling ok after the end of two games. I hadn't covered myself in glory, but hadn't shat the bed either. My low score meant that I would pair into the middle of the pack of those players who were 1-1. Ironically where the bye hurt me last event, it would've helped this event, although that would've meant re-entering the tunnel of shove to face Apex Rowan once again.
Game 3 – v Joe (T'au Empire) – Scorched Earth, Crucible of Battle
Joe was running the most awesome version of Tau, which is the one with all the Crisis Battlesuits that drop 6" away from you and shoot you to death, before flying away.
He had four bricks of suits – some with Burst Cannons, some with Fusion Blasters, some with Missile Pods, and one with Farsight and many flamers.
Fortunately for me (in this mission) I went second, deployed conservatively and screened out my backfield from an exciting second turn gift. Instead, to my shock and horror, Joe deployed all his Panic Suits with Rapid Ingress next to his stealth suits, putting me in the unenviable position of trying to be in two places at once.
So, after making yet another mistake in movement, and accidentally giving Joe an angle with his Broadsides, I decided that I only wanted to be in one place, which was his half of the board, and tactically ran at him.
I used his Kroot as a convenient springboard to steer my Deathwing Knights into his Stealth Suit units, his Riptide, and Azrael ate a unit of crisis suits. Joe was able to find an angle for his suicide unit of Sunforge suits, but some smoke and low damage rolls saw my Executioner very much survive, and blow them away in return.
The game got away from Joe at the bottom of three after I shook off his shooting and continued to jam Green Men in his deployment zone, munching on support units of Stealth Suits and bricks of Suits as they went.
As per usual for Scorched Earth, the game ended with a flourish as I burned Joe's home objective to punch in a big primary score.
Result – Salamander Win, 81-45
It would be another 2-1 finish for the men in (bright) green, which would be good enough for 9th place. This time I'd done it all by myself, instead of getting carried with a bye. All things considered, my day was a mixed bag, and I wasn't thrilled with how I'd played through the day. My game mechanics are improving, but my deployment and movement still leave a lot to be desired.
What I was very pleased with, however, was the army. It is getting left behind by the meta, but it still feels strong and flexible, and doesn't automatically lose if your opponent can deal with one particular part of it, because your other elements can bridge the gap.
And, of course, it has that "flat track bully" floor where if your opponent is underprepared, or you can find the line, you can run your opponent over.
The feedback I did get for taking it further revolves around removing the Repulsor Executioner. It is something I am coming around to, but the question will be what to replace it with, and that remains an eternal struggle.
But that's another article, for another time.
Catch you next time,
Vulkan
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