Weekend Tournament: Fun N Games

So yesterday, (Sunday), my friend John and I ventured to our LGS Fun N Games for their monthly Warhammer 40k Tournament.  John has Orks at his home but here in Blacksburg, he's got nothing but us and +Evan S's armies; Evan set him up with an in your face Ork army, while I came there with 2 lists ready for hopefully a fun day.  My Lists were basically the same with a few minor exceptions.  I had one list that was a Monster Hunter list while the other was Bjorn making another appearance for the Wolves (Three Player Game).  Upon arriving at the store I was greeted by a wonderful sight of 7 other players besides John and myself and a variety of armies, including Tau, Dark Angels, Tyranids, 2 Orks, Imperial Guard, Chaos Marines, Space Wolves, and another army that I can't recall.

I was (un)lucky to draw Tau, Chaos Marines, and Imperial Guard.  It was a fun day full of surprises.

Courtesy of Games Workshop

My list that I ended up using was due to the number of flyers present including a Hell Drake, Vendetta, and Flyrant.  There were also quite a few armored units of AV 12 or higher, Monstrous creatures, and some Nurgle Obliterators.  My list needed to be quite diverse and able to take on everything.

So I present to you the Bjorn the Fell-Handed 1000 Point List:

Bjorn the Fell-Handed

- Twin Linked Lascannon

- Warlord

Rune Priest

- Chooser of the Slain

- Runic Armour

- Wolftooth Necklace

Grey Hunters: 9 Strong in a Rhino

- Plasma Gun

- Plasma Pistol

Grey Hunters: 10 Strong

- Flamer

- Meltagun

Whirlwind

Long Fangs: 6 strong

- 1 Squad Leader

- 5 Missile Launchers

My First Game was against a mighty Tau force including 3 Fire Warrior Squads, Hammerhead with Longstrike and Smart Missile Systems, Hammerhead with Ion Cannon and Smart Missile Systems, Pathfinders, Stealth Suits, Battlesuit Commander, and two Crisis Suits in two separate squads.

The Deployment was Hammer and Anvil and the Mission Type was Emperor's Will.  I won Deployment and decided to place my objective in the Red Ruins seen above with my squad of 10 Grey Hunters, Bjorn was guarding the near table edge, the Rhino with Rune Priest and Grey Hunters was in behind ruins with the Whirlwind hiding right beside it.  My Long Fangs were setup in the far ruins.  His deployment was such that the fire warriors were in front of Longstrike with his commander and stealth suits sitting behind ruins. His other Hammer head was to the right with another squad of Fire Warriors down the near side in ruins with the two Crisis suits sitting just outside.  The Pathfinders were sitting in his far ruins with his last Fire Warriors sitting outside in the open.  

Turn 1 there was Night Fighting so it was going to be hard for me to do anything against the Hammerheads. The Whirlwind took his first shot on the Pathfinders in the building and killed two of them causing a Morale check that they passed.  The Long Fangs launched three Frags at the Fire Warriors in the Open and two Krak at the Longstrike Hammerhead.  The Frag took out 2 of the Fire Warriors causing a morale check and causing them to run. Almost off the Board.  Krak didn't do anything because of Disruption pods. Bjorn decided he wanted to take out a Crisis suit and sniped the Crisis Suit earning First Blood. The Rhino moved up with a 6" 5+ cover save thanks to the Rune Priest.  The Fire Warriors took off the board in a mad dash for safety.  Longstrike took fire at Bjorn and blew off his Power Arm while everything else survived. The Pathfinders got their Marker lights onto the Rhino allowing the cover saves to be removed while the Ion Cannon took aim and barely missed while the Fire Warriors glanced the Rhino to death causing the Rune Priests and Hunters to take off into cover.  The solo crisis suit moved up to try to glance Bjorn and missed horribly.

Turn 2 saw Bjorn move up a bit and the Rune Priest and Hunters shuffle in cover.  Bjorn took a shot at the Longstrike but had his shot glance but saved by disruption pods.  The Whirlwind missed the pathfinders but just barely, while the Rune Priest took aim at the Stealth suits and Commander unleashing the Jaws of the World Wolf removing the Commander and 1 Stealth suit giving me the Warlord Victory point.  The Stealth suits some how stayed but just barely.  The Grey Hunters took aim at Longstrike and missed horribly.

Tau Turn 2 saw the Hammerhead miss on Bjorn, the Ion Cannon hit the Grey Hunters but they survived, and the Tau were fairly ineffective at shooting.

Turn 3 would be the final turn.  Bjorn missed his last shot at Longstrike while the Rune Priest and Grey hunters took out the Remaining Stealth suits.  The Long Fangs were ineffective causing three glances that were all saved.

The Tau did the only thing it needed to do to win.  They Killed Bjorn giving him a Warlord Victory point and D3 (he rolled a 6).  The final score for the round was 7-5 in favor of the Tau.

The Second game was Vanguard Strike with Purge the Alien.  I was paired up with the Chaos Space Marines that had an interesting list.  I lost Deployment as well as the side which didn't matter since the board was identical. He had a Flying Demon HQ, 3 squads of cultists, the Hell Drake, and a squad of 3 Obliterators.  The Hell Drake and 2 of the Cultists squads started in reserve while his Demon and Obliterators got the infiltrate special rule. His last cultist group was deployed on the wall on his hill.  I deployed my Rhino and Whirlwind behind a Wall with the Long Fangs Hanging out on the Wall.  Bjorn was on the ground behind cover and my last Grey Hunter squad started in reserve.  I placed the Chooser of the Slain in the center of the map forcing his Demon and Obliterators to be off to the side not really any closer to my line.

Turn 1 saw no night fighting and his Demon take flight towards Bjorn while the Obliterators step forward and shoot their Lascannons at Bjorn.  Bjorn saved all of his wounds thanks to his Invulnerable save. Not much Turn 1 for the Chaos.

The Wolves saw the Rune Priest activate his 5+ Bubble before moving in to support Bjorn.  The Whirlwind took aim at the Cultists and blew apart 9 before they took off the table giving first blood to the Wolves again.  Bjorn took aim at the Demon and missed while the Long Fangs shot the Obliterators causing 3 wounds with 2 being saved.

Turn 2 saw another Cultist squad come in along with the Hell Drake.  The Hell Drake came hard up the Flank destorying the Long Fangs except for the Squad Leader.  The Demon Prince landed behind Bjorn and the Rhino while the Obliterator moved up and blew up the Rhino.  Everyone came flying out of the blown-up Rhino.  The Demon Prince assaulted the Grey Hunters and Rune Priest.  A Challenge was issued and the Rune Priest Declined.  Luckily the Demon Prince wounded poorly and 5 Wolves were lost. 

Turn 2 for the Space Wolves saw the Whirlwind take on the Obliterators and cause 1 wound even though it hit all 3.  The Squad Leader took off to the Demon Prince along with Bjorn being pissed off and going after the mighty Demon Prince.  The Demon Prince challenged Bjorn who was happy to accept.  The Demon Prince tried to smash Bjorn and only caused a shaken result.  Bjorn took aim and hit with all of his hits, doing all wounds and the Demon Prince was brought down giving me the Slay the Warlord.  The Squad Leader, Rune Priest and remaining Grey Hunters, and Bjorn took off for the Obliterators.  

Turn 3 saw the Hell Drake Kill the Squad Leader and Whirlwind with the Bale Flamer while the Obliterators missed on Bjorn.  Both Squads of Cultists were hiding behind the far hill to stay out of range.

Turn 3 for the Wolves began with my Grey Hunters Sprinting on to hide.  The Rune Priest and Bjorn moved up to take on the Obliterators.  The Rune Priest Jaws of the World Wolfed an Obliterator while Bjorn did a wound with the Heavy Flamer before charging into battle and Blowing the Nurgle Obliterators up with his Clawed Assault hand.

Turn 4 the Hell Drake Killed two Grey Hunters leaving the Rune Priest alive.  The Cultists still hid.

The Final Act of Bjorn saw him take a step back and 1 shot the Hell Drake with his Lascannon (yup rolls of 6, 6, 5) to blow the Hell Drake from the Sky.  It was decided that I had won since I wouldn't be able to A: reach the cultists in time, B: nothing could stop Bjorn or the Rune Priest, and C: it was the right thing to do.

The Final Score was 6-4 in favor of the Space Wolves.

The Last Match was against the Imperial Guard Army that brought a mighty force of armored vehicles.  There was a Hydra, three Chimera, Manticore, Vendetta, Marbo, Veteran Squad with 2 Grenade Launchers, and three troop choices that I never saw.  We played on a river map with Purge the Alien and Vanguard Deployment.  I won the roll off deployed first, had first turn, there was no night fighting, and then I had turn 1 stolen by a roll of a 6.  The Rest of the Battle was gone Turn 1.  The Manticore killed my Whirlwind and Bjorn turn 1.  The Hydra took out my Rhino Turn 1, and the Chimera took out all but my Rune Priest and 3 Grey Hunters.  To sum up the Rest of the Battle, my Long Fangs killed 2 Chimera's and removed the Lascannon on the last while immobilizing it.  The Long Fangs killed the Vendetta while making it all the way to the end of the game.  Morbo came on and blew up the Last Squad after they walked on. 

It was a Turn 1 Massacre with only the Long Fangs surviving for the Wolves.  The Final score was 11 - 4 in favor of the IG.

This was an awesome list filled with a lot of different weapons that had range, strength, and some good profiles.  I would have to say that I was happy with the lists and happy with the results from the weekend.  From all 3 Games I would have to say that my MVP were the Long Fangs.  They were the most consistent, they survived 2 of the 3 games, and they almost got their points back for all three games (units killed/wounded divided by total cost for all three games).  The Most Memorable game moment was Bjorn walking up, challenging the Demon Prince and showing him what he did to Magnus the Red (Twice) as well as shooting down the Hell Drake after exploding 2 Nurgle Obliterators.

Great Weekend with a lot of fun and Bjorn Leading the Way.