Many months ago I did end up going to the before mentioned tournament, with only 6 people at. My list went as follows:
Overlord with MSS, Sempiternal Weave, Warscythe and Resurrection Orb 160pts
2 Stormteks 50pts
5 Immortals with Gauss Blasters in a Night Scythe 185pts
5 Warriors in a Night Scythe 165pts
Annihilation Barge with Tesla Cannon 90pts
Annihilation Barge with Tesla Cannon 90pts
Annihilation Barge with Tesla Cannon 90pts
Daemon Prince with the Mark of Tzeentch, Mastery Level 3, Power Armours, Wings and The Black Mace 355pts
10 Cultists with a Flamer and the Mark of Tzeentch 65pts
Game 1:
I went up against a Necron force consisting of:
Nemesor Zandrekh 185pts
Vargard Obyron 160pts
C'tan Shard with Pyreshards and ???? 225pts (ish)
8 Deathmarks 152pts
20 Warriors 260pts
20 warriors 260pts
I felt quietly confident about this one, and how wrong I was. Because all of his warriors could shoot 24" and my Annihilation Barges could only fire to 24", every time I targeted a squad, I'd shoot down a few, half of them would then proceed to stand up, he would then move 6" closer and glance my barge to death. Since the warriors that stood back up got closer and then his 6" move, meant that about 15 guys were in range each time, as well Zandrekh gave them Tank Hunter every time. I didn't roll Iron Arm for my psychic powers, which didn't make much of difference. turn 2 Obyron teleported with Deathmarks, who marked the Daemon Prince as there target, and shot him clean dead. He wasn't flying because if he was, then I would of had to put him in front of 40 rapid firing warriors without Iron Arm, I might of had Endurance but I can't remember. And again my flyers came on one by one, so as they did he would put tank hunter onto a squad of warriors and put 2HP on that flyer. I did get my Immortals and Overlord into his deployment zone on an objective, and then hoped they would survive the game and get me a draw. Nope Obyron teleported with the Deathmarks and killed all but 1 Immortal, the Stormtek and the Overlord after Reanimation Protocols. By the end of the game I had 1 flyer left on 1HP flying around to survive and a warrior squad on a different objective in his deployment zone. While he had 2 objectives and most of his army still.
No idea what the score was in the end, but I had, Linebreaker and 1 objective. To his: Linebreaker, Warlord, First Blood and 2 objectives.
Game 2:
Was Necrons yet again (3 out of 6 of the armies there were Necrons):
Imotekh the Stormlord 225pts
5 Deathmarks 95pts
Triarch Stalker with a Heat Ray 150pts
15 Warriors 195pts
9 warriors 117pts
6 Canoptek Scarabs 90pts
3 Canoptek Wraiths 105pts
Annihilation Barge with Tesla Cannon 90pts
Doom Scythe 175pts
After the last game I decided that I wasn't so confident anymore with my list. So he won first turn and deployed all spread out, I castled up in my bottom left hand corner behind a Skyshield, which had been converted to have building walls around the bottom and not legs, so my guys were out of LOS. So he moved up with everything and took some potshots with his Annihilation Barge, Triarch Stalker and 9 warriors, also Imotekh's lightning ability, which he managed to keep night fighting up for 5 turns, doing 2HP on separate Annihilation Barges. In my turn I insta-killed all 6 Scarab bases, out 1HP on the his Annihilation Barge and killed 5 warriors out of 9 after Reanimation Protocols. His Doom Scythe then came on and done nothing, while everything else shuffled around and he only managed another 1 or 2 Hull Points on my Annihilation Barges this turn. His Wraiths were now into Deployment Zone. My flyers don't come in, I finish off the warriors and my Daemon Prince assaults the Annihilation Barge and kills it. His turn, and he puts another wound on my Daemon Prince and reduces a Barge to 1HP. My flyers both come on, I destroy the Triarch Stalker, the Doom Scythe, and kill 2 Deathmarks. I also move my Daemon Prince and an Annihilation Barge into his Deployment zone and closer to his warrior blob, and I place my warriors on an objective in my Deployment Zone, which was a mistake, because his Wraiths can now assault them, if I had waited then they would of survived. In his turn, he finishes off the Daemon Prince with some a lucky grounding from the Deathmarks, followed by the warriors putting a million wounds on him. His Wraiths then assault my warriors and we stay locked in combat. In my turn, my Immortals and Overlord disembark. with a combined effort from flyers, Barges and Immortals his warrior blob is reduced to 7 models after Reanimation Protocols and I finish off his Deathmarks as well, The Wraiths and my warriors stay locked in combat again. He then shoots and assaults my Immortal squad with his warriors and Imotekh, due to Pharoen on Imotekh. I win combat and sweep his unit, also consolidating in such a way that Imotekh can't come back. For the rest of the game the combat between the Wraiths and my warriors rages on, until he grinds me down. And as soon as combat ends, the game ends. I win though with 2 objectives, my Immortals are on 1 and my cultists who sat in reserve and then came on to claim another late game. I also have Warlord, First Blood and Linebreaker, to his Linebreaker.
Game 3:
it's Eldar, it's also my first encounter with new Eldar at this point surprisingly, he had:
Farseer on Jetbike with Runes of Witnessing and Singing Spear 135pts
Spitiseer 70pts
5 Dire Avengers 65pts
5 Dire Avengers 65pts
3 Windrider Jetbikes one with a Shuriken Cannon 61pts
3 Windrider Jetbikes one with a Shuriken Cannon 61pts
5 Wraithblades with Ghostswords 160pts
2 Vypers both with 2 Shuriken Cannons and Holo Fields 150pts
5 Warp Spiders 95pts
2 War Walkers both with Scatter Laser and brightlance 140pts
Wraithknight with 2 Heavy Wraithcannons 240pts
Going into this game I was actually in the lead surprisingly, since we had all won 1 game and lost 1 game each, but I had picked up the most victory points so far. I was feeling ok about this game, but I had to play it smartly with that Wraithknight on the board. He got first turn and deployed aggressively with most of his army, only thing in reserve was his warp spiders which were deep striking in. I deploy castled up around a small ruin, and I mean a small ruin, I hide my Daemon prince and cultists inside on an objective. I fail to seize and we begin. Everything of his moves up and shooting from his Wraithknight is ignored by jinking one of my Annihilation Barges. I shiffle around slightly, but I'm out of range and I don't want to be too aggressive. His spiders don't come on, and he advances up, his Wraithknight takes out a Barge this time around. Both of my flyers come in and I go a bit more aggressive, killing both War Walkers, both Vypers and a couple of Dire Avengers who then pass morale. his turn and he takes out another Barge with his Wraithknight, his Spiders also mishap and I place them right back in his corner of the board out of the action. In my turn, I jump my Immortals out of their Night Scythe, in hind sight I shouldn't of got my troops out this early yet again. Shooting kills the remaining Dire Avengers. This is where I make a mistake, I shot the Annihilation Barge into the Dire Avengers when I should of shot into the Wraithknight, and you will see why in a minute. My flyers shoot at his Jetbikes and kill 1, they pass morale. I then assault the Wraithknight with my Daemon Prince and deal 5 wounds to him, and passes his toughness check, leaving the Wraithknight on 1 wound, he then insta-kills my Daemon Prince. If I had shot my Annihilation Barge into the Wraithknight I probably would of dealt at least 1 wound and then the Daemon Prince would of finished it off. His turn and the Spiders shoot and deal 1Hp of damage to a flyer forcing it to Jink, and his Wraithknight takes out the last Barge. Both of my flyers then fly off the board, and my Immortals put 2 wounds onto his Farseer. His turn and he shoots 2 Cultists down with his Wraithknight, and his Spiders kill 4 Immortals and none of them stand back up. My flyers re-enter play and combined with my immortal and Stormtek shoot down his Warp Spiders, I also fail to put the final wound onto his Wraithknight. He then kills my last Immortal with his Wraithknight, also his Wraithblades and Spiritseer have sat back all game, camping on an objective. My flyers finish off his first Jetbike unit, but it takes both flyers to do so. My warrior squad also disembarks from their flyer and the Stormtek tries to take the last wound off his Wraithknight and fails, my Stormtek with the Overlord also fails to take out his Farseer on 1 wound. His turn, and he assaults the warriors with his Wraithknight and sweeps them, but my Stormtek stands back up. My flyers then fly off, and I again fail to kill either Farseer or Wraithknight. In the final turn he then kills the Stormtek again, and he gets up again. In my turn, I kill the Wraithknight with Stormtek finally, my flyers re-enter play and only kill 1 Jetbike between them, who then pass morale, and my other Stormtek fails to kill the Farseer, I also fail to move my Overlord and Stormtek to claim Linebreaker. The game ended with me having 1 objective and none of the bonuses. While he had 2 objectives and First Blood.
Overall summary of the tournament, if I had brought my pure Necron list with me I don't think it would of made much of a difference. I made a few mistakes which cost me, only slightly in game 2, I could of got a draw game 1 I think if I had focus fired on a single warrior squad at a time, and in game 3 if I had shot my Annihilation Barge into his Wraithknight and my Daemon Prince killed it, I would of probably won that game easily. But that is just how it goes and how you improve. The list I took I thought is ok, maybe just a bit more practice, sadly the Heldrake I ordered at the time hadn't arrived in time for me to use, which might of made a difference. I would of not taken any Mastery Levels on my Daemon Prince and only 2 Annihilation Barges, so that I could fit the Heldrake in. So that brings my tournament report to an end, I hope it was a good report.
Now it's time for me to review all of this year's 40K releases:
Tyramids:
The bugs returned in January of this year, without a supplement, but lots of dataslates and formations. a few new things were released, a new flying monstrous creature, the Hive Crone, and 2 new monstrous creatures, the shooty one being the Exocrine, and the close combat one being the Haurespex. On a rules basis, at first there was much disappointment on the rules side, loss of characters and the Spore Pod. Many units getting point reductions, but getting worse at the same time. But since then time has passed, Forge World have re-done the Imperial Armour with the Tyranids in, and I must say Tyranids are now a force to be reckoned with. They can now build multiple strong builds, like; FMC spam, Skyblight formation, Trap door spider tactics, and a few others. All of these builds revolve around either the Venomthrope in a Bastion, or a Malanthrope, both of which produce a 12" Shrouding bubble. So the Skyblight formation is the one with a few FMCs and 3 X 10 Gargoyles with objective secured and can keep coming back. Trap door spider tactics is just recent actually, it's all about sitting back in terrain with a Malanthrope providing 2+ cover saves to everything, and waiting for the right moment to break cover and charge in. This usually consists of 2 Flyrants (who can jink for their 2+ cover save), a Malanthrope, a Barbed Heirodule and a Living Artillery Formation (3 Biovores, 3 Warriors and an Exocrine, all with ignores cover).
Legion of the Damned:
These guys got a mini-dex just like the Inquisition but smaller. As you can probably guess it's just units of Legion of the Damned. It's really just used as a supporting unit, usually 2 X 5 LotD with 2 meltas in each squad, they deep strike and have ignores cover, so are good for popping those serpents, since the bolters can also glance the rear 10 armour, if they can see that facing, and hopefully the Eldar player fired the Serpent Shields last turn.
Imperial Knights:
Oh my! Did these guys make a big impact on the game, or what. They're really the first
Super-heavies allowed in regular games, without using a Lord of War slot. With 6HP, a strength D close combat weapon, Stomp attacks in combat as well as regular attacks, a 12" movement, a 4++ on a facing of your choice for that turn, a big gun, and some smaller ones as well. The Heavy Stubbers are key, because the Knight can fire it's weapons at separate targets, it means it can fire it's rapid fire Battlecannon/Thermal Cannon at one target and make a big dent in that target, or even destroy it, then proceed to fire it's Stubber (Stubbers in the case of the Paladin) at a different target, and then charge the other target. So in other words, 1 Knight can potentially take out 2 units a turn, if it can get a charge off. Forge World have also released some Knight variants, but I'm not going to go over them, you can actually download their rules on the Forge World website. Knights can be taken as a single army, or as allies, it's as allies is where they shine. They are great at supporting white Scars as they fly up the field, or bring some much needed close combat prowess to a guard army. As a stand alone army, with just Knights in, they are like most armies. They will excel against some armies, and flop against others. They don't do well against Necrons, since they can be glanced out. Now I haven't forgotten the Knights party piece, Games Workshop has decided that a really good looking model, with exceptional rules, needs to be made better. So they release the Adamantine Lance formation, consisting of 3 Knights in any combination of Paladins or Errants, this trio of Knights is almost unstoppable. When one Knight is within 2" of another Knight in the formation, they can re-roll their 4++ ion shield save, they get D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks instead of just the 1 and they can re-roll failed charges, so long as they started the assault phase within 2" of another Knight. So their weakness of exposing the armour facing without the 4++ on, will almost no longer exist, as each Knight can cover another Knights weaker facing. Currently this Formation + 2 Riptides has won both GT heat 1 and 2 so far in the UK. I'm personally playing Daemons at the moment, and Knights are really good against Daemons, so this Formation to me is like an impossible game for me to win, without a specifically tailored list to take on an Adamantine Lance Formation. But you know how the good old saying goes; "if you can't beat them, join them", so I have, recently I purchased 3 Knights and I'm going to be running them alongside my Daemons in the future.
Crimson Slaughter (CSM Supplement):
Chaos Space Marines got a bit of love by GW as well, in the form of some new models, some Formations and a new Codex Supplement. I'm not going to go into detail about the new models, but there was a Helbrute, and some re-boxing of stuff, from what I can remember. The new Formations were ok, but nothing really exciting and game changing. The Supplement on the other hand, was amazing for CSM players. All units cause Fear, some really good wargear options, and Possessed as troops, actually the Possessed as troops makes no difference, as their over priced for what they do. But on the whole, much better than the regular Codex and unbelievably better than the Black Legion supplement. You can even make a Chaos Lord that can survive shooting, and make it into combat without needing a transport vehicle. In my opinion it's game changing, but it does mean that CSM are no longer one of the bottom 3 armies, their now one of the bottom 5 armies.
Militarum Tempestus:
Another mini-dex, but this one uses the regular force organisation chart. It's basically a HQ which is either a Tempestus Command squad, or a Officio Prefectus Commissar. Troops are Tempestus Scion squads, dedicated transports are Taurox Primes. While Fast Attack is the Valkyrie and more Taurox Primes, and that's it nothing else. There's also a few Formations, one with loads of Scion squads in Taurox Primes, and another with Scion Sqauds in Valkyries. On the competitive scene, these guys aren't great. I have seen an army at a competition in the US, who was using a Command squad, 2 Scion squads, 3 Valkryies and an Adamantine Lance Formation, his Scions and Command squad had some special weapons in as well. Like I said they're not competitive, but as a themed army, about elite troops in flyers and fast transport vehicles, it is probably a fun army to play with and against I can imagine.
Astra Militarum:
Also known as the Imperial Guard still, these guys changed a bit with their new Codex. I'll go through each Force Organisation Chart slot in turn. The HQ section is key now for a competitive army, Yarrick is a Lord Commissar + Company Command squad in one, and he's cheaper than those added together with a power fist upgrade. He can also potentially come back from the dead. A Tank Commander was a really good addition to the Codex, I think it was eagerly awaited. It's also a good choice, and Pask is also good in a Punisher. Technically they're not HQ choices, but I'm going to mention them here anyway, the Priest and Primaris Psyker are good if you want to stick them in a blob squad. There's nothing great in Elites section, as with the case with most armies at the moment. For troops, it's going to be Veterans in Chimeras, or blob squads with heavy weapons teams, the blob squads are probably most common, actually I've seen Conscript squads used with Priests in, for another Fearless blob. Nothing great in Fast Attack either, now that the Vendetta went up in points. Now the Heavy Support section, it's always being the star of the guard army, and I'm happy to report it still is, with a new addition in the form of the Wyvern. Actually the Heavy Support section isn't used that much, other than for Wyverns, and sometimes the odd Manticore. This is because most lists will have a Tank Commander, sometimes 2 as the HQ(s), then blob squads with Priests and Primaris Psykers for Forewarning (4++) and Prescience, and some Wyverns. At the moment Guard aren't doing too well in the current meta, but I do like what GW have done with the new Codex, some nice new additions. I did buy the Codex just before 7th edition, just before GW made Daemons and Guard alliance Come the Apocalypse.
Grey Knights:
Now they're completely separate from Inquisition which was expected. This was quite a small release, no new models, not a complete change of rules, but there was a number of changes. No more Assassins, they've now got their own mini-dex (which I'll talk about next). They also got a nice new Force Organisation specifically for them, meaning they only need 1 troops choice, but they don't get as many Fast Attack, Heavy Support and Elite slots. But they do get to bring reserves on from turn 1, so long as they're deep striking in. Draigo is now a Lord of War, and any character without a model is now gone. They also lost Mindstrike Missiles on their Stormravens, but they gained something similar in the form of a grenade. The army now uses Santic Daemonology psychic powers as standard. The army is a good theme and can be fun to play with, A Librarian, 10 Terminators, 10 Terminators (or 10 Interceptors), 10 Interceptors, and 2 Dreadknights with Personal Teleporters, Heavy Psycannons,, Heavyy Incinerators and Nemesis Greatswords. The models generally got more cheaper in points, and is now more of an elite army, without the Inquisition in the Codex. It's a very in your face army, with Interceptors and Dreadknights teleporting forward turn 1 and Terminators coming down turn 1. In a competitive scene, Grey Knights aren't brilliant, but as allies, or with allies, they will be good.
Officio Assassinorum:
Yes GW has now completely separated out the old Grey Knights Codex. Much like the Inquisition and Legion of the Damned mini-dexes, this one is basically a specific detachment letting you use an Assassin or 2 in your army. Pretty much a cut and paste from the old Grey Knights Codex. there were some changes to one of them I know, which one I can't remember, but it was the anti-psyker one. The rules change I don't really know that either, something like all psykers within 6" lose the ability to do conjuration spells, yeah like I said I can't remember. so in all it's another mini-dex, nothing special to be honest.
Orks + Supplement:
Orks got the much needed update that they needed. They also got a specific detachment for both their main Codex and Supplement, which was basically more troops and HQs, in return they don't get objective secured. You can theme you army lists a bit more, I think that both the Codex and Supplement encourage this. Ghazgull is now a Lord of War, much like Draigo. They also got 2 new walkers, which are rubbish, and really should of been Super-Heavy walkers. In terms of competitiveness, Orks still aren't there, no real solid troops choices, neither is there any good HQs that stand out. Only really a few units which are worth taking; Biker Warboss, Tankbustas (at least 15), Warbikers (at least 10), Lootas and Lobbas. They also got some formations as well, the only good ones there were The Green Tide and the Meganobz one (3 units of Meganobz in Trukks). Like I said not competitive, but can be fun to play wih and against due to really being able to theme your army.
Space Wolves + Supplement:
Wow did Space Wolves get a boost for 7th edition. Logan Grimnar moved to be a Lord of War, I bet you didn't see that coming. None of the named characters are great, but the generic ones are brilliant, I'll come back to them later. Other than the Iron Priest on a Thunderwolf Mount, the Elites section is also not up to much in both Codex and Supplement. Troops aren't brilliant either, but you can take a 5 man squad with a Stormwolf transport, yes that's right Necrons are no longer the only army with a flyer as a dedicated transport. Fast Attack is very good, they can now take an empty Drop Pod as a Fats Attack, there's also Thunderwolf Cavalry, which got cheaper in points and their rules stayed the same. And finally there's the Fenresian Wolves, which are ok, but only if you put loads of characters in that unit on Thunderwolves. The idea of this is that the unit majority T3, but had majority Armour save -, so grav weapons wound on a 6+, and there's loads of characters with 2+/3++ to tank wounds. The Heavy Support is ok, but nothing stands out. The Champions of Fenris Supplement switches Troops for Elites, so you require 2 Elites and a HQ as mandatory. So you can take a Wolf Lord/Battle Leader (or 2) as the HQ(s) and Iron Priests on Thunderwolves as the Elites, then you can put them in either in with Fenresian wolves, or Thunderwolf Cavalry, heck you can even put with a White Scars Command Sqaud with Khan for Hit and Run as well. With Drop Pods you can put Devastator Centurions in them, since it's not a dedicated transport when bought as a Fast Attack slot. You can still use loads of Grey Hunters in Drop Pods, but the Thunderwolf lists are better. So yeah Space Wolves are now really good, as both a stand alone army, but even better with, and as allies.
Dark Eldar + Supplement:
So the latest of the 40K releases, Dark Eldar with the Haemonculus Covens Supplement. Keeping up with trends, every character without a model was removed from the Codex, which in the case of the Dark elder was a lot. Most important of these though was the Baron, who was the master of Hit and Run, and also tanking wounds. The codex has a specific detachment, losing a Heavy Support slot, in favour of gaining 3 more Fast Atttack slots. The HQ section is terrible, the only reason to take a HQ is for a Webway Portal, for no scatter deep striking on any unit and it's transport vehicle. The best thing to do here is an Archon and 5+ Fire Dragons, deep strike next to a Knight away from it's Ion Shielded side, and proceed to blow it away. But that's the only good thing for the HQ section. Elites, and Mandrakes got a boost with Shrouding and Baleblast improving. Trueborn are still good with the ability to take small units with multiple special and heavy weapons + a Venom transport. Other than those 2, the Elites section isn't brilliant. The only Troops choice worth taking is Kabablite Warriors with 5 men in a Venom. Fast Attack is now quite good, 5 Scourges with Haywire Blasters deep striking in, is good for anti tank, since Dark Eldar produce a lot of poisoned shooting for anti infantry. Beastpacks are limited to 12 models in any combination, but with no Baron they're not really worth taking anymore, also with less models their board coverage is exactly halved from before. The Razorwing Jetfighter is now in the Fast Attack section, but is still too flimsy for me, much like a paper aeroplane, would be a good comparison. But you can also take Venoms and Raiders as Fast Attack choices now (just like Space Wolves), meaning you can take some serious Venom spam now. everything else isn't worth a mention, so you can assume they're not worth taking compared to other choices. Not much in terms of Heavy Support, the Ravager has got more expensive slightly, since you have to pay to upgrade the Disintegrators to Dark Lances now. Also some of the vehicle upgrades are gone, like Flickerfield, which is only available for the Venom in it's wargear. So the Ravager now has to Jink, meaning it will be snap firing next turn, meaning it's pointless. the Cronos and Talos have good profiles, can now be taken in squads of 1-3, but are too slow, and since you can no longer attach characters to Monstrous Creature units, they can't use the Webway Portal. And finally the Voidraven Bomber got a model, a nice model and lots of guns and bombs and missiles, you would think it's great. Nope too expensive in points, and still just like a paper aeroplane. The Haemonculus Covens Supplement only has Haemonculi, Urien Rakarth, Wracks, Grotsteques, Venoms, Raiders, Talos' and Cronos'. With some handy special rules to boost Power from Pain, it is good in terms of synergy and the whole army working in unison, but I wouldn't say competitive. In all the Dark Eldar took a few hits, and have gained some things in their favour. I'd say they can be ok as a stand alone Codex, but they will always have Eldar for a helping hand.
Now onto my review of 7th edition, and I'm going to split it up into key areas of where changes have occurred that will the biggest impact on the game.
Psychic Phase:
So GW have decided to make 40K more like Fantasy, by separating out Psychic Powers into their own phase. It's also similar to Fantasy in terms of each player having a pool of dice to work with for casting and Denying the Witch. The impact it has had on the game is huge, previously an Eldar Seer Council would of been able to get 8-9 powers off successfully in 6th edition, now in 7th though, they are now looking at only getting 4-5 powers off reliably each turn. So it has effectively halved the number of powers players get off a turn. This has heavily impacted armies like the Seer Council, FMC spam Daemons, and others. It basically means that players have to choose more carefully which powers to cast and in which order. A new rule was added, saying the same Psychic Power can't be cast twice from the same unit per turn, so a Screamercouncil can no longer fire all of it's Flickering Fires. As a result of these changes some Deathstars have simply stopped working, or their design has changed, for example the Screamercouncil is now a unit of Screamers with only 2-3 Heralds on Discs attached, and is now backed up by another Deathstar/large unit, most likely Flesh Hounds, or a unit of Plague Drones with a Herald. So this change has a had a huge effect on the game and competitive play. I think the changes are good, some Psychic heavy lists are now toned down, armies can still get Psychic Powers off, just less of them. When 7th edition was first released people didn't really know what to think of the new Psychic Phase, but I think people have adapted well to it and it fits in with the flow of the game really well. I feel this has made the game more balanced, which is a step in the right direction.
Daemonolgy:
I had to make this separate from the Psychic Phase. Summoning has had a big impact on the game, all armies can use Malefic Daemonolgy, apart from Grey Knights. Everyone
