My First Tourney: Post-Game

If My Opponents Looked Like This It Would Have Been A Better Day...

So my first tourney has come and gone and I have to admit it wasn't that bad. I went in expecting last place and beat my own assumption in a pretty big way. My opponents ranged from WAAC to "quirky" to laid back to really cool. As a recap from my first post, this tournament had an 842 point cap on 4x4 tables with each table having its own "theme" that changed up the rules from crazy stuff to boring as hell. As an example there was an ice-planet table where you could slip and slide on in the movement phase. I don't know the details on that one as I wasn't lucky enough to play on it, but Eric can probably post a comment on it below. Anywho, I'm rambling, so let's get to it! Five short battle reports after the jump.

If you're curious as to what my list was, jump on over to the previous post and check it out. As for the five games, let's get started:

Game One

Opponent: (Easily Excitable Fellow) Black Templars

Special Rules: Lightning Rods; three objective markers (lightning rods,) any model within 6" of a lightning rod at the beginning of their turn will be shocked on a 1-3 (4-6 nothing happens.) If shocked, roll D6 S4 AP- hits, even in close combat. This made no difference however as nothing died from lightning.

Result: Tie, almost a Win (0 to 0 Objectives, 1 to 1 Kill Points)

Overview: As my first tourney game ever I was a tad nervous, up until I met my opponent. Let's just say he was an interesting fellow. By interesting I mean he made this a hollow victory (ties count as victories for Necrons.) I don't feel like I had won, I feel like my opponent had lost (there's a huge difference.) I didn't win because of my skill or intelligence, I managed to tie because my opponent lacked both when it came to this game. He didn't know the Necron rules, he didn't know half of the 5th Ed Rules and he didn't even know some of his own rules. I kept thinking to myself, the next four guys he goes up against are going to make up rules and he's not even going to know it. In all honesty this gave me a confidence boost I liked though later it would be shoved back down into the pits of fiery humbleness, but I'll get to that. I could have won this, very easily too, if it weren't for a couple of factors.

First, my Wraiths and Lord were clearing the board like it was spilled milk and they were a washcloth sold by that pervert with the headset on TV. Because of this power I was wielding half the board was open for my Warriors to take hold of the lonesome point that was left unguarded...ya know, if I had remembered to run with them. I was 2" from holding the point at the end of the game, so unless I rolled snake eyes to run I would have come out on top. The other factor was my opponent was a sand-bagger. And I mean holy panda nuts did this guy sandbag. Between rolling for searchlights on a table that had no night-fighting rules, "Just because I can. /giggle" and walking away from the table to check with the judge on how Righteous Zeal works, it was frustrating. Had the game given me 10mins more this also would have been a win. But, thems the ropes. But, again, a tie is a win in my Necron-ee book.

Game 2

Opponent: (Very Laid Back Guy) Chaos Space Marines

Special Rules: Desert Inferno; Basically a large blast template randomly moves around the board possibly killing things. I don't remember the specifics as this thing danced around my Necron's feet, but never made any contact.

Result: Loss, not even close to a Tie (1 to 3 Kill Points)

Overview: This guy's list consisted of a Vindicator, Nurgle CSMs, Regular CSMs, Oblits, Termies and a Tzneetch Lord that couldn't hit to save his life. I might have come out with a tie on this, though I doubt it, had I noticed something before deployment. That Vindicator isn't a Predator. I don't know how I made this mistake, but I chalk it up to not having my glasses and me seeing a big grey unpainted blob sitting there. Thinking his Vindi was a Pred, I didn't plan for large pie plates to slam me down with AP3, which they did. Deployment was not in my favor, but it's my own fault. Had I not made that vital mistake I would have held everything in reserve and hoped for the best, or at least spread the hell out. There's not much to say about this game except for the luckiest shot I've ever made in my three years of playing 40k:

One lone Immortal shoots at his Vindi, one hit one miss. The hit is a glance. The damage result is a 5, making it a Weapon Destroyed. I was pleased. Other than that all I could get rid of is his Oblits and Weapon Destroy/Immobilize his Vindi along with some dead CSMs here and there.

Game Three

Opponent: (The Cheatifier) Blood Angels

Special Rules: Bees!; The objectives are bee hives randomly placed. To hold an objective you must pic up the bees and they will go where your unit goes. At the beginning of your turn if you have bees, the unit holding them takes D3 S3 AP- hits.

Result: Loss (Tabled, 1 to 5 Kill Points)

Overview: I'll start by saying that this opponent is a personal friend and I game with him pretty regularly, so all of the mockery I'm about to unload is all in good fun. But yeah, he's a cheater and a douche. His list consisted of a StormRaven with Death Company, a RB with Assault Marines and Mephisty-cuffs on foot. There's no way I would have won this, I'll just put that out right now, but I think had my opponent played by the rules I might not have been tabled. The two things he was doing was giving Mephiston FNP (thinking of the old edition) and using the reroll to hit/wound with Mephiston on things that weren't ICs. A big mistake of mine was forgetting Mephiston could fly... I think the game would have gone a lot differently had I remember this. But, live and learn. And live and learn I did, but more on that in a bit. There's really not much else to say about this fight, it was fast and merciless. I wouldn't call my buddy and WAAC player, but umm, winning graciously isn't his strong suit. /hugs

Game Four

Opponent: (The Deceiver) Blood Angels, again...

Special Rules: King of the Hill; one objective point in the center of the table on a hill, any unit can capture. Pretty straight forward.

Result: Loss, almost a Tie (0 to 1 Objectives, 1 to 1 Kill Points)

Overview: This was another Blood Angels endeavor, though quite a different list. A Dread with 2x blood talens, Dev Squad with MLs, Tac Squad with Flamer/ML, Rhino with Death Company/Chaplain. Holding his Rhino in reserve gave me time to take out the Dread. Shooting took out one of his claws which gained me flawless victory with my Wraiths and Lord in melee. After that it was downhill. He didn't really play his Rhino's squad as aggressively as he should have as he probably could have tabled me, but that was fine. By the time the last turn rolled around I had a single Wraith hiding out ready to turbo boost 24" onto the point to contest it and had the game gone on another 2mins, this would have happened. However, this was my second sandbagger of the day. This guy was really nice and fun to play against and even though he cheated (I let him do it anyway after bringing it to his attention,) by getting out of his Rhino during the shooting phase it was still an enjoyable game. Up until the last turn which he drew out as long as he could, and we both knew what was going on there. In any case, the game ended with his Death Company on the point and nothing of mine to contest leaving my lone Wraith flaccid and self-concious.

In any case, I'd run up against two Blood Angels players in a row and I was ready for something new.

Game Five

Opponent: (The Empathizer) Blood Angels...yet again...

Special Rules: Prisoners; Objective points are gained by winning melee combat. Winning again a unit is 1 Objective point. ICs are D6 Objective points.

Result: Loss, almost a Win on Kill Points (0 to 5 Objectives, 0 to 2 Kill Points)

Overview: First of all, I'm damn proud of this fight. My opponent informed me I was the only person to not get tabled by him and I almost won in Kill Points. His list was basically the same as my opponent on Game Three except he had a Dread instead of a RB and Mephiston was inside the StormRaven. So, having fought pretty much the same list as before and having gotten tabled on it I decided to play like a ninny; everything of mine was in reserve. And as my models trickled in, I ran. I don't mean I shot when I could, I mean I didn't shoot a single weapon until turn 7 and it worked like a charm as far as survival goes. Somewhere around turn 4 his Stormraven and all the goodies inside managed to catch up to my Lord and 2 of the 3 Wraiths that were left from shooting, and slaughtered them without issue (damn Force Weapons.)

The rest of the game consisted of me continuing my pattern of moving and running until turn 7. About half-way through the game I apologized for playing like an asshole: just running the whole time, but my opponent was sympathetic to the Necrons as a whole. In this game I was going last and the games were a maximum of 7 turns (whatever you could fit into an hour.) All of my models had all been running during the game and ended up in the same corner, and so did his greedy StormRaven full of IC and Dread nugget. On turn 7 I whip back around with 19 Warriors Rapid Firing and 5 Immortals firing full-on into 3 Kill Points that had just turbo-boosted, all I needed was one juicy glancing 6 on the Vehicle Damage table, just one. My opponent failed all of his cover saves and victory seemed so very close. Unfortunately all I managed to get was 6 crew shaken results... It was quite saddening. But Necrons being the only army he didn't table goes to show you it's more about the player than the army, or maybe it's all dumb luck. Either way I wanted to prevent a second tabling on my part and I succeeded and almost came out the victor.

Conclusion

So one tie and four losses, not that good. But the moments of strategic brilliance I had I'm proud of whether they went noticed or not. Having never been to a tourney and playing the worst competitive-wise army in 40k, I'm not disappointed. Anyone who has had fear of tournaments, I suggest reading through my inspiring words on this post including this:

You're probably better than you think. At no point did I ever have to question a rule myself as far as the core rules go and actually corrected a few of my opponents. On top of that, I met so many new people and had a great time (well worth the staying up for 32 hours to play in this thing.) So, in conclusion, don't be a wuss... ya' know, like I was. Give tournaments a shot.

Side note; I won a door prize. Success!

More lengthy posts to come. So stay tuned.