Strangeway Games Tournament Report (02/25)

So wow, this tournament ended up being nothing of what I expected.  I had posted earlier about how there was a 2000 point tournament coming up.  I suppose when looking closely the list composition rules were quite simple.  2000 points.  No unbound.  Really I should've known that this would be a more 'Ard Boyz style event but just assumed that it would be mostly regular stuff.  Boy was I mistaken!

I had pretty much been hell bent on running the list I posted earlier in the week but after listening to a few random YouTube videos out there, I opted to tweak my list.  I wanted to field the Decurion and still have my two beatstick units...but figured I should take a more MSU type approach.  As a result, I modified my list and took this to the tournament.

2000 points of "Annoying as Hell"/"Will Not DIE!!!" Necrons

Necron List - 2000 points (Decurion/CAD/Formation)

Decurion Detachment

Reclamation Legion

HQ - Overlord (Warlord, Phase Shifter, Warscythe, Nightmare Shroud) - 160 points
Troop - 5x Immortals - 85 points
Troop - 10x Warriors (Ghost Ark) - 235 points
Troop - 10x Warriors (Ghost Ark) - 235 points
Elite - 6x Lychguard (Hyperphase Sword, Dispersion Shields) - 180 points
Fast - 3x Tomb Blades (Shadowloom x3) - 57 points

Auxiliary - Deathmarks

Elite - 5x Deathmarks - 90 points

Auxiliary - Deathmarks

Elite - 5x Deathmarks - 90 points

Auxiliary - Flayed Ones

Elite - 5x Flayed Ones - 65 points

Auxiliary - Flayed Ones

Elite - 5x Flayed Ones - 65 points

Necron Combined Arms Detachment

HQ - Orikan the Diviner - 120 points
Troop - 5x Immortals - 85 points
Troop - 5x Immortals - 85 points

Formation - Conclave of the Burning One

Elite - C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer - 240 points
HQ - Cryptek (Phase Shifter, The God Shackle, The Solar Staff) - 115 points
HQ - Cryptek (The Veil of Darkness) - 90 points

I opted to reduce the amount of Lychguard under the assumption that most "good" players would just maneuver around the unit.  Still, 6 guys plus Orikan and my Overlord was what I felt was necessary to survive and still threaten a good amount of units.  By in large, I was not mistaken but arguably could've dropped another Lychguard (though  I don't know of anything I would've taken in their place).

I figured I would be able to weather most air force style lists thinking that at worst I'd be contending with some bombers or perhaps the occasional Storm Raven or Valkyrie/Vendetta.  I'd simply use the outstanding durability of the Necrons to my advantage.

I guess I was mostly correct.  I went against some pretty tough lists all things considered.  I did have a lot of fun most of the time and while I did openly state that some games felt like pulling teeth, I can also see where facing my list was equally frustrating to quite a few players.  I'm going to try my best to post the lists I faced from memory then do a semi-quick recap and name an MVP.  With that said...on to the games!

Game 1 - Orks

Orks CAD

HQ - Zhadsnark Da Rippa
HQ - Warboss on Bike, Power Klaw, Lucky Stick
HQ - 2x Meks
Troop - 5x Bikers, Nob with Power Klaw & Boss Pole
Troop - 2x Bikers, Nob with Power Klaw & Boss Pole
Troop - 3x Bikers
Troop - 3x Bikers
Heavy - 8x Lootas, 3x Meks
Lord of War - Mek Stompa, Mok Buzzgob
Fortification - Void Shield Generator, 3x Shields

Ork Waaagh Detachment

HQ - Big Mek on Bike, MFF (Mega Force Field?)
HQ - Painboy on Bike
HQ - 2x Meks
Elite - Grot Tank Mob (3x Tanks)
Troops - 3x Bikers
Troops - 3x Bikers

In the first game I faced against Cam (Camden?) and his Zhadsnark Da Rippa bike list.  It was very much a popular build from a lot of ITC batreps I'd seen in the past.  I can't help but think there are some inaccuracies in the list.  I know that Zhadsnark does let Bike Boyz become troops, but don't think that is conferred to the Ork Waagh Detachment.  I had originally confused a rule where I thought you had to choose either Buzzgob or Zhadsnark to be in the list but not both, but I don't think that is the case.

Anyway, the first mission was Emperor's Will.  I placed my objective to the right on my side of the table and he placed his in the opposite corner.  We rolled off and Cam elected to go first.  We were playing on a table full of large buildings that I would've assumed were LOS blocking.  Though once the game began there were clearly places where LOS could be established.  He scouted up his main bike boy squad and got pretty close to my Lychstar.  I held two Immortal Squads, one Ghost Ark Warrior Squad, my Deathmarks, and my Flayed Ones in reserve.  I was confident that his Stompa would only have limited success with shooting.

The first turn did seem to dictate quite a bit of things that would impact the game.  He managed to hit my one Ghost Ark with his Lifta Droppa.  I wasn't clear on whether to count it as a shooting attack or not (especially given the Night Fight rules were in effect) but he destroyed it and we ruled that the Warriors simply disembarked in the place of the Ghost Ark (before dropping it on my Lychstar).  He was seemingly gunning hard for my Immortals holding my one objective.  Unfortunately for him, he could not charge on Turn 1 and I proceeded to approach with my Lychstar and charge him.  That combat would basically go on for 3 turns with my Overlord challenging out a character every turn until there was nothing left.  Despite having Power Klaws and a good amount of attacks (being Orks and all), a 3++ (re-rolling 1's) followed by a 4+ Reanimation Protocol re-rolling 1's was too much to overcome.  Once Orikan went supersaiyan, it was all but over.

 

Throughout the game he would consistently shoot at my Necron units only to have them come back with a 4+ RP roll.  We reached the bottom of Turn 4 and I had possession of both objectives and he only had 2 Grot Tanks and the Stompa left.  I had 3 or so units in his deployment zone and there was only 7 minutes left.  We should've called the game but I allowed it to go on.  Instead of claiming an 8-2 victory (6 points for objectives, slay the warlord, and linebreaker) I lost all the units on his objective and lost linebreaker as well.  We ended during his shooting phase but even then I would've been able to Deep Strike a unit of Flayed Ones in on his objective had I been allowed my movement phase.  I settled for a 3-1 victory (points-wise, a "minor victory").

Cam was a great opponent and while he didn't know all the rules, I did generally think he had a great grasp on the game.  I guess he was unfamiliar with the Lychstar concept and was more concerned with the C'Tan and his posse.

Game MVP - Necron Overlord

That guy was a beatstick!  He murdered Orks and the re-rolls he provided were ultra valuable.  I can't discount Orikan as he also provided some much needed re-rolls.  Necrons don't have a ton of offensive threats but boy can they weather the storm!

One funny thing is that we broke for lunch afterwards and as I sat down to eat I heard Cam talking to two guys about how unkillable (annoying?) my list was to play against.  His two friends answered back almost in unison, "Just let him take on my list...I'll have answers for his units."  Prophetic words.

Game 2 - Tzeentch Soiree

Formation - Rehati War Sect

HQ - Magnus the Red - 650 points
HQ - Exalted Sorcerer Masterly Level 3, Disk - 215 points
HQ - Exalted Sorcerer Masterly Level 3, Disk, Boon of Chaos - 225 points
HQ - Exalted Sorcerer Masterly Level 3, Disk - 215 points

Formation - Tzeentch Flavored Daemon "Decurion"

HQ - Herald on Disk, Impossible Robe, Exalted Gift (Grimoire of True Names?) - 130 points
HQ - 9x (Individual) Exalted Flamers of Tzeentch (Core?) - 450 points
HQ - 1x Karanak (Auxiliary?) - 120 points

So one thing to disclose...I tend to like playing with dice who's colors match my army.  Normally when I play my orange Iron Hands I use orange dice.  When I play my purple Chaos Space Marines I use purple dice.  My buddy LaMonte gave me the dice for every Chaos deity years ago so I had to use my blue Tzeentch dice.  How would they fair against an army (mostly) dedicated to Tzeentch?

I found out that Cody is Cam's brother and had brought a pretty tough list to play against.  I was surprised that he "only" had 15 dice for casting but with Magnus it would prove to be more than enough.  His list was predicated on 2+ save re-rolling and then using the Exalted Flamers of Tzeentch and Warpflame shenanigans to dominate.  I had seen lists with Screamers and Pink Horrors before, but never seen someone spam Exalted Flamers.  I thought I was familiar with a lot of the Daemon stuff but found was still thoroughly confused.  When I play an army of similar unit spam, I constantly find myself asking "What weapons/buffs does this model have?" and in this case, "Which units have the 2+ re-rollable?"  Cody was a very honorable opponent and was always more than willing to answer the questions.

It took Cody up to the 3rd Exalted Sorcerer to roll for Cursed Earth to activate the +1 to Invulnerable saves from blessings.  It was normally an exercise in futility to fire at his units.  Ultimately this would be a game of "who could outlast whom?"  He went first and deployed first.  I tried to seize and see if I could by chance find a way to bring down Magnus before he took flight or started doing crazy casting shenanigans...but failed to do so.  If I won this game, I would have to simply play to the mission and try to survive until the end.  With the ability to cast D strength spells and absolutely no Psyker defense to speak of, I knew I was in for an uphill battle.  We played "Contact Lost" from the Maelstrom missions.  Holding objectives would be key as that would be the limiting factor regarding the future generation of Tactical Objective cards...something I was very much aware of.

 

In the first turn I would say I got lucky as Cody didn't get the Grimoire off and had to separate the death star to maximize effectiveness and minimize the penalty.  Throughout the game Cody tried to take advantage of being able to shift the warp storm table up or down one point to maximize the damage.  Unfortunately for him, he rolled a 2 and a 3 on two consecutive turns and basically opted to stick to Daemonic Instability tests across his army.  Looking at the Exalted Flamer stat-line though, he probably should've failed a lot more rolls as they are Leadership 7, not 9.

From the get-go, Cody was able to use various Malefic Daemonology powers to summon Khorne Heralds and other daemons using Incursion.  Interestingly enough, Cody was also paranoid about the power behind the Conclave of the Burning One and thought that with his 2+ re-rollable he could perhaps buff Karanak and the other Heralds to the point where he could tie up my Lychstar indefinitely.  I guess in hindsight, that was a bit of his undoing.  Cody generally wrecked a ton on the first two turns with spells and summoning.  But after the Psyker phase Turn 2, he opted to engage the Conclave with Magnus and the Lychstar with his Khorne guys.  Neither of those combats went his way.

In combat, the Conclave of the Burning One managed to keep Magnus the Red entertained for the rest of the game.  I do concede that it was a combination of Magnus whiffing on dice rolls (he often only inflicted 2 or 3 wounds per assault phase)...and also my Nightbringer rolling like a beast with a 4++ and his FNP when applicable (of note, I successfully managed to pass a warpflame test and his FNP went from a 5+ to a 4+).  As Magnus was in combat, most of the time he could not contribute to the psyker phase.

Against my Lychstar, Orikan went supersaiyan in round 2 but I completely messed up and treated him as being Strength and Toughness 5, not 7.  That would be huge as I normally was rolling on 4's or 5's to wound instead of rolling for 2's.  It took multiple turns but I eventually managed to take out Karanak and the other Heralds he has summoned.

The rest of my army worked to slowly take out the other Exalted Flamers and summoned daemons.  I used my Deep Striking units to take control of the board and by in large controlled 4-5 of the objectives in most turns whereas he only controlled the center of the board.  As the weapons the Flamers had were Heavy, he had to choose when he moved to take advantage of the Torrent Flamer or Strength 10 (!!!) shots.

A combination of limited (and bad) card draws for him and plentiful (and good) cards for me lead to me ultimately winning something like 8-7, another minor victory.  I think it would've been a larger margin but he had first blood and did manage to score some maelstrom points towards the end.

Game MVP - Shard of the Nightbringer (C'Tan)

When I was charged by Magnus, I never in a million years thought I would survive the relentless onslaught of a Daemon Prince Primarch.  I mean I know that he was never the best in CC, but that guy had fleshbane (to nullify my Toughness 8) and had 7 attacks at weapon skill and ballistic skill infinity.  Oh man...I just realized that the Nightbringer has WS 6.  That definitely would've made a difference in the first two games.  In any case, he ended the game with a single wound (he rolled horribly for Gaze of Death all game).  But again, denying Magnus from using his psychic shooting was huge.

I had just assumed I would lose this game when I saw what I was playing.  I had no offensive prowess, no way to shut down the psykers, and had enough threats to nullify saves and only allow at best a reanimation protocol roll.  Early on I admitted to Cody that the match would be horrible for me and it was one I dreaded...but needed to learn to play against Daemons all the same.

In the end, the  resilience of the Necrons and playing to the mission was my path to victory.  I was a little annoyed when Cody kept declaring to people, "It isn't his saves that are saving him...it's the dice!"  Did I make a ton of Invulnerable and Reanimation Protocol rolls?  Sure.  But I also can't discount that I was forcing him to shoot at those units and using the one defense mechanism I had to my advantage.  Every time an Exalted Flamer or other unit would go out of range of his re-roll cursed earth bubble, I would take advantage of the situation and nuke it to high heaven.

So having gone an improbable 2-0,  I knew I would be on the top table for the day.  I was going to be matched up against yet another tough matchup.  The only way I would win that one is by playing to the mission and hoping that I could score enough Maelstrom points to secure the victory.

To explain a bit more, when I showed up I knew I was in for a rough day.  One player was playing the new Aeldari rules with a bunch of soul burst shenanigans powered by offensive units.  Another player was playing with a Warhound Titan (!!!).  Of course I saw Magnus, a Stompa, and a freaking Thunderhawk!  I was worried when in previous tournaments I'd seen IG flyer spam and other really good lists.  But I really had no good answers to some of the Forgeworld shenanigans.

Game 3 - Space Marine Flyer Extravaganza

Now this list I will have to purely go off memory because it was a conglomeration of 30K rules, Forgeworld rules, and all sorts of other stuff.  The fact that the player was using the Death from the Skies supplement only made me that much saltier as it is a format that I've seen used exactly zero times in competitive play.  QQ more Heri!  By that point I was playing what most considered (by this point) to be Necron cheese.

Flyer Formation

Thunderhawk - all sorts of Iron Hands upgrades that basically made him AV12 all around, he had a turbo laser on the top, a ton of bombs, -2 to any weapon's strength on him, and a 5+ Invulnerable

Flyer Formation

3x Fire Raptors - again, Iron Hands with a squad leader.  Strafing run.  Ignores Cover (in most situations).  The Bolter up front with Strength 6 and AP3, 2x Autocannons (each), 4x Missiles, and also AV12 all around and -1 Strength to any weapon that shot at them.

Assassin Formation

2x Culexus Assassins (basically so he didn't auto-lose Turn 1)

 

So I won't lie, there are a billion things I was annoyed with but really he was completely in his rights to play the list he played.  JP himself was a nice dude.  He brought the one type of list I really had no answers to...I would simply have to play the mission and rely on my Reanimation Protocols (and in most cases, cover save) to win the day.

I accepted when he said that because of Death from the Skies he had air superiority.  That pretty much meant I only brought guys in on a 6+ and he came in on a 2+.  As a result I'd start the Deathmarks in reserve hoping to last until Turn 4 where they might come in clutch and grab a stray objective.  Outside of me finding and murdering both his assassins and him rolling 1's to enter the board on Turn 2, I would have to fight hard for 5 turns to win the game.

Another rule I was a bit annoyed by was the establishment that he could "take no cover save" as he was flying high and I could always see him (not a big deal since he could jink or rely on his natural defense of me having to hit only on snap shots)...the real setback was that he claimed that I could not basically hide from him in any situation.  There were buildings and a sky shield landing pad that I would argue would completely hide a few units from his shooting arcs.  Despite that he said they weren't officially a fortification and I was *NOT* inside any of the buildings.  Given that he had AP3 and AP4 in spades, I'd need to basically rely on Reanimation Protocols to win me the day (as on top of that he would use the pattern that gifted him ignores cover to his squads).

So early on I thought I could win the mission based on Maelstrom, but he drew two cards at the beginning of the game that gifted him a 2 point lead (he had to have all the objectives revealed and drew the card for the single objective he controlled).

The game was a shooting gallery for him.  My dice finally started to abandon me at the worst time.  He was forcing me to only roll Reanimation Protocols and I was strung out across the board.  I only had two units with Invulnerable saves that would give me a chance at winning.

I was pleased when I deep struck my C'Tan shard and absolutely murdered his Culexus Warlord using Death Gaze.  I rolled a 15 and he failed the saves to keep him alive.  The victory was short lived as my C'Tan was promptly exploded by a D-weapon the following turn.

Once Turn 4 came around, he had neutralized the bulk of my forces but I had built a sizeable lead in Maelstrom points.  I believe I was up 10-6 at this point.  With so few threats remaining, he dropped his flyers into hover mode and proceeded to start going after objectives while slowly plinking away at what little was left of my army.  I was definitely amused when a squad of 10 Warriors was cut down to a single robot (who proceeded to make his Reanimation Protocols and Leadership test rolls).  The following turn that one guy took the full fire of one Fire Raptor.  RIP Agent Doggett!


So at the end of Turn 5, I was up 12-11.  I had linebreaker.  I had no cards that I could score and he had 1 he could score immediately.   If the game ended, I would pull off the narrowest of victories.  I had two units of Deathmarks and my Lychstar on the table.  He had everything but one assassin.

I rolled the dice to see if the game ended.  I rolled a 5.  GG.

In his turn he annihilated my Deathmarks but my Lychstar was in tact.  My Overlord was the 2nd closest to the Thunderhawks but he could survive the onslaught.  Right?

Hrmmm...so he started by firing Heavy Bolters and Lascannons.  The  Lascannon managed to eliminate a single Lychguard putting my Overlord front and center for the Heavy Bolters.  With a 2+, re-rolling 1's I was good.  Then came the Turbolaser shot.  It scattered!  3 hits though so that meant 3 to wound rolls.  3.  3.  6!  Oh no...well I have a LOS.  Of course I had to roll for the 6 first and all I needed was not a 1.

...
...
...

1.  Game over.  No saves of any kind allowed.  No Reanimation Protocols.  We finish up the rest of the shooting and I did manage to pass with 3+ Invulnerable Saves.  After that on my turn I re-adjust but I drew 3 shitty cards (none of which I could score as the objectives were on the opposite end of the board).  At that point it didn't matter.  I had given up Slay the Warlord and he had scored one point.  I could only keep losing from there (especially given the rules for the mission).

So I lost, 13-12.  We both had Linebreaker and Slay the Warlord.  He had First Blood.  I guess I should've been a bit more careful in placing my Overlord.  I know I was trying to set up a charge where he would be guaranteed to use his Armorbane Warscythe on a Fire Raptor but there was precious little to gain.  Honestly at best I was relying on luck that he didn't draw any good Score Objective cards and I would do the opposite.

Game MVP - Shard of the Nightbringer (C'Tan) 

It is always hard to figure out an MVP during a loss, but again this guy drew a lion's share of fire power and paranoia.  He also put me in a great position by absolutely destroying the Culexus Assassin.  His Death Gaze ability circumvents any anti-psyker and snap shot shenanigans.  It also came on a turn where I had a card where I could get D3 points from having slain the warlord (I rolled a 3 giving me 2 points).

I had originally worried about facing a flyer list, knowing full well that I had no good source of skyfire and bringing Night Scythes was an exercise in futility as their AP - weapons would just force me to get a jink out of enemy flyers at best.

This game was entertaining to an extent, but also one of those games you dread.  Basically I could not interact with my opponent other than rolling for saves.  These are the types of games where people will claim that 40K is unbalanced (yeah, it is...no big deal).  My inexperience with Death from the Skies and 30K lists played a large part.  But I'm kidding myself as I knew that again I only could rely on my resilience and the mission to claim a victory.

Overall Thoughts

I finished the day 2-1 and while I didn't win overall, I still got 2nd highest battle points and got tickets to an escape room experience and some store credit.  Skip was running a sale this weekend on Start Collecting boxes and since he had no Mechanicus boxes, I picked up a Blood Angels box to round out the Blood Angels Gauntlet Tactical Squad I had picked up the week before.

I have to admit that unleashing an entire army's worth of shots into a unit and only taking 1 casualty is annoying.  While I didn't have any 2+ re-rolling saves, I know that against just about anything I stood a good chance of surviving.  I'm sure my opponents were also annoyed with that aspect of having to face my list.

Perhaps it was prophetic that one of the guys that said "Just let him take on my list" proved to be the one that beat me.  While I would've only lost even worse had the game gone on, I did still only lose by a point meaning that I was in it until the end.

Playing in this type of tournament does show me the toughness and resilience that Necrons bring to the table.  While the Conclave of the Burning One didn't do everything I wanted, in most situations I found that it did more than enough to mess with my opponents plans.  It forced my opponents to focus on him and his unit all the while the rest of my army was left to operate semi efficiently.

As a result, my overall tournament MVP is my Shard of the Nightbringer and his two lackeys.

Another observation...I listen to quite a few podcasts regarding big tournaments.  With the LVO being the biggest one in recent memory, I've heard at least 10 or so recounts of how players won and lost.  My one takeaway is that the winners that went far basically gamed the system.  In most situations they know there is a Maelstrom component and an Objective/Kill Point component.  Most of the best players are content to win one mission and give up the other.  Where they win the game is by winning the tie breakers.  They can always reliably get Linebreaker meaning they tie at worst in this point.  They bring a nearly indestructible Warlord.  Again, at worst they tie this but in most situations can claim it.  The third?  First Blood.  In ITC you have First Kill or somesuch.  Basically you need to ensure that you can claim a point from killing an enemy unit on turn 1.

In this tournament I yielded First Blood in every game and it did two things:

1.  It either gifted the game to my opponent (in hindsight).
2.  It kept him in the running.





Ironically, Necrons would be the army I'd expect to persevere and allow me a chance at claiming First Blood.  But this is something I really need to be mindful of, especially if I want to give my team at Crucible a chance to win!