I had heard of this Crucible event before moving out to Florida but it always seemed ultra-competitive and seemed to be centered around playing Warmachine (or so I thought). After spending a day around Tim and some of the local players I found out it is much more and is definitely meant to appeal to a wide variety of gamers. The event on Saturday was one of the multiple "golden ticket" events that are hosted around the state. As this was still supposed to be a casual/narrative style event, it would simply be raffled off at the end of the day. Other more competitive "carnage" events are meant to award a free entry to the convention to the winner for the day.
Tim set up some beautiful tables with amazing terrain, a lot of which he had acquired from GameMat.eu. I had seen them used in the past in various YouTube videos and was very impressed with the quality of their products. There were a total of 6 tables set up for gaming all with different rules. For instance, the "Mars table" was set on what looked like the surface of a manufactorum on Mars and had a squad of Immortals and a Lord to contend with during the game (enemy of both players). The "ice table" had special rules that limited LOS to 2D6 x2 inches rolled before choosing targets. The "ancient jungle" table had forests that wanted to lash out and eat you.
In addition to the specific table rules, some other quirky rules popped up throughout the day ranging from "bizarro 6's and 1's are switched" to "perils on any doubles". It definitely added a ton of flavor to the games and it definitely kept you on your toes. There were a total of 12 players in attendance and we were divided into two sides. On one we had the Imperium plus some xenos against the forces of Chaos and the Necrons. I think there are supposed to be more teams as the amount of participants increases. Points scored in the games went towards your team total and would lead to a winner at the end of the day.
Emperor's Children
I have an army of purple Chaos Space Marines I had always dubbed my "Kaos Kats" from back when I first started dabbling in Chaos. Normally I'd field them as a type of Black Legion army as everything ranging from my Rubric Marines to my Noise Marines were all painted in deep purple with silver trim. I had recently acquired the new Traitor Legions book and instead opted to field a detachment of Emperor's Children instead. The FNP shenanigans coupled with some close combat benefits were enough to entice me to give it a go. In an ideal world, I would've fielded the book's detachment but had to settle for a CAD per the rules. We were supposed to come up with three lists: a 1000 point list, an 1850 point list, and an optional 850 point list in case someone wanted to be matched up in a flyer/sky battle.Having thought more about my list and reading more about the rules, I evidently did cheat a couple of my opponents (unintentionally). I had read the rule where Noise Marines in a Kakophoni detachment received +1 Strength to their noise weapons. I guess I internalized that because I spent most of the day rolling Strength 5 Sonic Blasters. In most cases, my money maker in most games were my Blast Masters and I did correctly play them with their Strength 8, AP3 Blast and Strength 5, AP4 Assault 2 profile. I'm sure there were a handful of times where an Ork would've been spared its gruesome death.
We also had to choose a warlord for our forces that would remain in both the 1000 and 1850 point list. We had special objectives to complete each game that could gain them a bonus ability. I was able to complete both of my special objectives and as a result was able to enjoy Preferred Enemy and Scout throughout the day. Well...I never got to use Scout but PE was a nice addon to have.
1000 Point List
My 1000 point list was pretty straight forward. As this was a fluffy event I wanted to try to stick to the Slaanesh holy number of 6. As a result I came up with the following list:
HQ - Chaos Lord (Aura of Dark Glory, Bike, Power Weapon, Mark of Slaanesh)
Troop - 6x Noise Marines (Noise Champion, 1x Blast Master, 4x Sonic Blasters, Doom Siren, Rhino)
Troop - 6x Noise Marines (Noise Champion, 1x Blast Master, 4x Sonic Blasters, Doom Siren, Rhino)
Troop - 6x Noise Marines (Noise Champion, 1x Blast Master, 4x Sonic Blasters)
Fast - 6x Chaos Bikers (Chaos Champion, Mark of Slaanesh, 2x Melta Gun, Meltabomb)
Heavy - 6x Havoc Marines (Chaos Champion, Mark of Slaanesh, 4x Autocannons)
The list at 1000 points was not ideal but was meant to provide some decent marine bodies in support of my ally. I only played with the list once and managed to pull a close loss at 5-6. I chose my targets poorly but as a result of those losses was better able to utilize my marines in the rest of my games.
1850 Point List
My 1850 point list expanded on my 1000 point list. I was less worried about keeping the holy number and just wanted to test out some of the Icon of Excess benefits that granted a 4+ FNP to the Chaos marines in the unit. I also wanted to dabble in the whole combat drug thing and gave the upgrade to my Chaos Lord. I rolled a 3 yielding in 2 benefits. I got +1 Toughness (amazingly good on a T5 Biker) and +1 Initiative (putting me at Init 7). In hindsight I should've just given my Lord either 2 Lightning Claws or the infamous Powerfist/LC combo to give me more utility. In most games my Achilles heel was having to fight walkers with AV12/AV13 with little chance to nullify them. I did have the warlord trait that gave my warlord and his unit a +1 to his FNP save...making that delicious 4+ FNP a 3+ FNP. I think that was one of the biggest game changers.
HQ - Chaos Lord (Aura of Dark Glory, Bike, Power Weapon, Mark of Slaanesh, Combat Drugs)
Elite - 6x Chosen (Champion, Meltabomb, 2x Melta Guns, Rhino)
Troop - 10x Noise Marines (Noise Champion, Melta Bomb, Power Weapon, Icon of Excess, 1x Blast Master, 4x Sonic Blasters, Doom Siren, Rhino)
Troop - 10x Noise Marines (Noise Champion, Melta Bomb, Power Weapon, Icon of Excess, 1x Blast Master, 4x Sonic Blasters, Doom Siren, Rhino)
Troop - 6x Noise Marines (Noise Champion, 2x Lightning Claws, 1x Blast Master, 4x Sonic Blasters, Rhino)
Fast - 6x Chaos Bikers (Chaos Champion, Icon of Excess, Mark of Slaanesh, 2x Melta Gun, Meltabomb)
Fast - Heldrake
Fast - Heldrake
Heavy - 6x Havoc Marines (Chaos Champion, Mark of Slaanesh, 4x Autocannons)
The one potential mistake I made across all my games was being too static with my Noise Marines in Rhinos. Often I'd simply stand still and be content fire off my Blast Master at the desired target. Instead I should've pushed up a bit more at times and unloaded the Marines mid-field where they could all better enjoy the 24" range from the regular weaponry. Again, I did use Strength 5 Sonic Blasters but have a better idea on how to utilize weaponry more effectively.
Summary
So for the day, my Emperor's Children ended up going 2-1 with a close loss in Game 1 and a close victory in Game 2.In my first matchup we played on the ice planet. Sean (Shawn?) and his Necrons teamed up with me to fight against Joe's Orks and Jason's Eldar. Unfortunately I had deployed very aggressively and didn't support Sean as well as I should've. Sean had some very bad rolling for reserves that limited what he could do for a couple of turns. Perhaps the best moment of the game was when Joe rolled up to try and hit my newly arrived Noise Marines with the Kill Kannon on his Battlewagon. A really good scatter (for my team) later saw Jason picking up 6 or 7 Dire Avengers from a huge close combat that allowed the Immortals to finally clean up the remaining Dire Avengers and grots to win close combat. I was very impressed that somehow Joe's grots held in close combat with a full squad of Immortals and an Overlord for nearly 4 player turns.
In my second game, I played against Tim's "ringer" army of Greek-inspired marines with Ultramarine Chapter Tactics for the first 1850 point game. Tim's Ironclad Dreadnoughts in my backfield caused a mess of my firebase but I was simultaneously able to push up my bike squad and slowly eat up all the marines as they spilled out of their Razorbacks. While I had lost the objective mission, I was able to cleave my way through multiple marines and in the end pulled out the victory after having destroyed more units than he had. I think the MVP that game was the Icon of Excess bearer as he allowed me to shrug off wound after wound. Having a 3+ re-rollable save is nothing to scoff at. Slaanesh definitely likes to inflict pain to all players as I found out how painful it is to have to face Dreadnoughts with a fearless unit with no chance of hurting it. Note to self...meltabombs are worth it!
In my last game I had a pseudo-rematch at 1850 points against Joe's Orks on the jungle table. This game was a bit of a blast from the past from previous 40K editions as terrain was completely Line of Sight blocking and definitely had shooting lanes at a premium.
I had lost my bike squad easily against Joe's meganobs in Game 1 but this time it was my Chaos Lord and his posse that had the last laugh. They completely wrecked his Warboss on a Bike and the Boyz on Bikes that accompanied him. There was definitely some bad rolling of 1's in one round of combat where Joe failed a total of 3 re-rolls with his Lucky Stick. As a result he lost his Warlord after my Turn 1 charge leaving him without a Waaaagh! to call. He slowly hemorrhaged boys afterwards though I suppose I did bait Joe into some bad charges too (where his Orks died mercilessly to Sonic overwatch). By the end of the game, his Morkonaut was all that remained as it had tied up my bike squad (again having no weapon capable of hurting AV13). Using some sneaky shenanigans and LOS, my Lord was able to still take his 3+ FNP even though the Morkonaut had Strength 10 attacks due to the Lord being Toughness 6. In the last round he could've taken out my warlord but I was able to do enough wound allocation shenanigans to survive and get the 9-1 victory.
All in all I had a blast and would recommend the narrative stuff at Crucible to any 40K player. A couple of players managed to get $30 in store credit (random raffle) but after the initial winner of the golden ticket to Crucible turned it down, I managed to be the next name drawn! So now I have no excuse! I fully plan on upgrading to the weekend supporter pass to gain access to some sweet dice and other potential loot. But I'm grateful for all that Tim and his friends are doing to set this up. I am thinking of trying to take some of my own stuff to offer up as prize support to players that I think are deserving. I'm 95% sure I'll do the narrative as I'm not sure I'd have nearly enough practice to play in a pretty vicious 1850 ITC event. Still, I have another few weeks to decide before pulling the trigger either way.
Just like it was with BeakyCon, my mind is swimming with a ton of ideas regarding what lists I could take. I'm leaning towards either Orks or Necrons if I go for the narrative. Either Chaos Daemons or my Iron Hands should I go for the GT. hah but I bet tomorrow I'll be thinking of Imperial Guard and Assassins instead. I'm hoping I can get my buddy Sanjay on board to play with me at the doubles event on Friday. But I think we need a lot of practice for that to work. Plus I want to make sure he'd enjoy the convention as well and wouldn't just hop into that just for my sake.
Here's some of the pictures from my games on Saturday. Sadly my picture against Tim's Marines came out a bit blurry. Too bad too as it was one of the most beautiful armies that day!
Game 3 vs Joe's Orks (Jungle Temple Table)
Game 2 vs Tim's Space Marines (Ruined City Table)
Game 1 Doubles Sean's Necrons and my Emperor's Children vs Joe's Orks and Jason's Eldar (Ice Table)
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