For the October 2017 Rockport Invitational (so as not to confuse with others), the organizer created a team event - one side to be Chaos, the other as Imperium. The event included 8 different tables, each with its own missions, and some missions tables had effects that could impact what was going on at other teams.
I decided (as forecast in the last post) to bring Ultramarines. In fact, my side (Imperium) was most true to the spirit of the event - having Ultramarines, Raven Guard, Imperial Fists, and Imperial Guard as our armies. If there was anything badly done, it was that the "Chaos" side consisted of Plague marines, Khorne Marines (ok so far....) and orks, and genestealer cultists and Mechanicum!
Overall, through the first two rounds, the Imperium was winning. Then a large point swing in round three granted victory to the chaos team.
Here are some pictures of the event so I (with comments) can clear them off my phone!
First a sort of armies on parade!
The Good Guys!
The BAD Guys!
Some game table Shots:
My game 1 vs Mechanicum. I was the attacker in the mission. The goal was not to get hit by flying debris raining down on the planet and eventually capturing a piece of tech from a crater. I was really hoping to win this fun misson, but lost on the last dice of the last turn, 0-1 was the score. It all boiled down to me rolling a 1 for Calgar's last save. Took the score from 4-0 to 0-1 in a single roll.
Game 2 VS Khorne Marines.
At deployment. It ends up we both played the mission as written - but the TO had changed the win parameters (we did not know it), so we played on as written. My tactics as defender were based on defending my objectives and threatening to slay his warlord (Kharn) with my own warlord (Calgar). Needless to say it worked, my opponent ended up hiding his warlord and I killed off many of his units, the game ended 0-0 in points.
The picture above was a bit of rules controversy. I'd surrounded the Chaos Rhino with a squad, hoping to take off the last two hull points. I failed to do that in assault. In my opponent's turn, he dismounted his red Berserkers by "jumping over" my blue marines to the positions shown. It tuened into a discussion on the dismount rules, and having to dismount wholly withing or "toe within" three inches of a verhicle and if you can dismount moving within / through opponent's bases to do so. I said Shenanigans! The TO did not rule in my favor and the 5-man squad was wiped out moments after the picture. It was probably the only rules controversy of the day.
Game 3 vs Genestealer Cult
I was the defender. I got wiped out. Lost 4-0.
Others
Yep, besides a cool packet for the day, really cool effects, and lots of fun...each side had to wear custom made overshirts to mark out each side...
All for now! Work calls!
MING
Rules on disembarking are pretty clear. Place every disembarking model within 3" of the hull, not within 1" of an enemy model.
ReplyDeleteAfter that they can move normally.
People fudge this constantly in the name of "speed," but it's never done right and always ends up with models having moved further than they could have if it was done in proper sequence. There's no way 10 32mm base models all fit in some of the spaces folks measure from.
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ReplyDeleteThe TO sent me a separate text message, and says it is still interpret-able that you dismount toe-in the three inches, and then can move/shoot as normal AFTER that, based on his re-reading available FAQs and such. He offered that one way to prevent it, is to deploy the attackers around the vehicle, most of them just barely within an inch from the vehicle creating a much larger bubble where the dismounting defenders cannot be setup toe-in the three inch rule.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I still say shenanigans. Most offer/interpret in other venues that in dismounting, you only get the 3-inch dismount plus unit movement (typically 6 inches) for a total of 9 (typically) inches of possible movement. The interpretation followed at the event would change that expectation to 10 inches or more depending on the model's base size. Regardless, each model has to dismount and be placed before follow-on movement, and then normal movement rules would apply after the dismount. Meh.
You can definitely place models "toe in" as the rule only says "within" and not "wholly within. "
DeleteBut we all need to start requiring people to place the squads first, then move them. Simply allowing people to place models nine inches from the hull is going to give people a lot of free movement for models that would have ended up in the back rows.
The trend I'm seeing with the loose movement and charge rules is that people don't make base contact during charges so they can move models in completely different directions later on the the pile in move. It happens very often with large models like knights and monsters so they can shift the large base around a smaller base by virtue of being closer than the .99 inches to your model despite moving their large base 3" in another direction.
If you are interested in narrative gaming events, I recommend the episode 103 of the Masters of the Forge podcast. It really identifies some important tones for these kind of events, such as, bring an army list that meets the spirit of the event. Don't bring lists that intend to break the boundaries of a scenario.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I loved the missions and work that the TO put into this invitational event. If I was to suggest anything it would be for the team / faction leaders to know their roll in advance, so they can review their team's lists and know weaknesses and strengths or make list suggestions for stronger pairings.
As for my own list, it was a good first cut, but it seemed to waste points here and there that created some pitfalls.
Example 1 - Tiggy. Has no means to teleport in with the terminators or Calgar to support them. Marine spells are also not that great. His prescience effect was marginally useful. Overall, he might not have been worth the points in my matchups. I thought I'd see more in-your-face chaos units, where he might have been more useful. I might swap him out for a libby in terminator armor and try again. Depends on points.
Example 2 - Landraider - big box, fun to use. I don't think anyone every traveled in it. I took it to have the option for a transport, and for the lascannons. In reality I could have swapped it for maybe two razorbacks (paired to the the devs). You will notice I went for lascannons and HKMs and storm bolters on all the vehicles - that is because the last time I played this crowd, many had knights or larger/greater demons. This time I was killing berzerkers or mechanicum foot infantry with them. For the points I might have been better off to have more twin-assault cannon units. The landraider itself might have been better swapped out for another deep striking unit (terminators or assault marines).
Example 3 - Assault terminators vs tactical terminators. One could go either way here. I took the assault termies, expecting to have the ability to deep strike in to wreck some units, but they ended up being used as a reaction force. At least in game 2 - they added a bunch of fun. My opponent knew I could deep strike Calgar and the termies into his backfield, so he split his forces on the mission. Not only did I keep Calgar with the main body, but I used the terminators' teleport homer (upgrade) to flash them from the opponent's back corner to my deployment zone to further protect my home objectives from being destroyed. It left my opponent with a bunch of units in his backfield that I could later ignore. Teleport homers are fun for just this purpose. That said, tactical termies would have done the same job, but at least would have been able to shoot...In game three it might have been better to have tactical terminators to deep strik into the opponent's backfield and shoot up/stop those hidden damn earthshaker batteries. Might have changed the game!
Thoughts?