---------------------------GAME 1 OF THE MARCH RTT: NIGHT LORDS VS. WORLD EATERS----------------------------
As a World Eaters player, I'm happy that their codex has made them a top contender. Although, since various units were eliminated from the list my 2,200 points of World Eaters is now only 1,450 points of World Eaters. So it'll be awhile before I can field World Eaters at the tournament level. Sigh.
I learned from this game that World Eaters Eightbound and Exalted Eightbound are very, very good. So good that my opponent apologized to me for using them. The good thing about this game is that it was over quickly. :) But my opponent was also very nice as he ripped my army apart and shredded it to death. I was tabled on Turn 4 and all I'd done to his army is kill a Dreadclaw, a squad of Zerkers, and a squad of 3 Eightbound.
Here are some photos:
The board at deployment
Nightsnipers Havoc Squad
They were ingloriously thrown forward as a desperate screening unit during this game. Poor bastards.
World Eaters hit my biker screen
Biker Lord Chamorro told me "This job of screening could be done better by a Cultist Squad at half the price." I responded, "Be quiet, you."
Scrum in the middle
Harry vs. Eightbound
Sorcerer Deadsoul's first (and last) stand
Juggie Lord Takes out Malcharion
I've wanted a juggie lord for decades. Now I can add one to my World Eaters again, Yay!
---------------------------GAME 2 OF THE MARCH RTT: NIGHT LORDS VS. ADMECH----------------------------
For Game 1 Terminator Lord Saris was hired by a mysterious entity to destroy an AdMech force that were combing the ruins of the Planet Everett IX. My opponent's list was something along the lines of:
Admech
HQ
-3 or 4 repair type Techpriesty characters (sorry I don't know much about Admech)
-1 Skitarii character, the Marshall I think?
TROOPS
-1 reallly big squad of Skitarii
-2 or 3 smaller Skitarii squads (?)
-A squad of 3 tracked Kataphrons
ELITES
-Squad of 5 Infiltrators
FAST ATTACK
-Ironstrider Squadron of 2 to 3 with lascannons
-Squad of 5 Skystriders--these blokes looked really cool
HEAVY SUPPORT
-Dunecrawler with big gun
-Dunecrawler with big gun
-Dunecrawler with big gun
TRANSPORTS
-1 Dunerider
This came was very close. It was (thankfully) a very dense urban board with very limited lines of sight. If this had been a more typical board with a normal amount of cover it would have been another Marianas Turkey shoot for the Tau. But, like the defenders of Stalingrad and a thousand other urban battlegrounds, the army with less firepower took advantage of dense urban terrain to even the playing field.
The game featured both of us screening our backfields from deepstrikers with firebase elements while manuevering up the board. As such, it was as much a game of chess as it was 40K. I really like how 8th and 9th editions, with their emphasis on objectives, have forced gunline armies such as the Tau into the middle of the board. I hope we keep this in 10th edition.
Lessons Learned
1. Don't deep-strike next to an intact Tau gun line. Actually, I already knew this. But on Turn 2 when I deep-striked the Atramentar Terminator Squad, Lord Saris in Terminator Armor, and Sorcerer Deadsoul in Sorcerer Armor I commented to my opponent, "Now deep-striking here behind this building on the right flank would be the smart move. And deep-striking on my right-flank where I can possibly charge you would be the fun move. Guess which move I'm going to make?" My opponent guessed, "The fun move?" And he was right. My termies all failed their charged and got blow away for their trouble.
Termies drop in on the Night Lords right flank
Lesson Learned Number 2: Remember to "retrieve data" when you have chosen it as a secondary. D'oh!
Lesson Learned Number 3: Don't forget to shoot with Oscar the Obliterator, he's not just there to deny deesptrike and outflanking to Rangers and Skystriders. D'oh!
In all, it was a very fun game. I'd have to say my MVPs were my two Chaos Biker Squads who managed to advance up to his flank and charge it on Turns 1/2 and then tie him up in melee with liberal uses of the 2 CP Night Lords strat "We Have Come for You" which locks units in melee. I'd sure like to keep this strat in 10th edition. But I understand what GW is saying about subfactions, they currently contribute a lot to game imbalance because they introduce so many additional variables during play-testing. If they take away "We Have Come for You" I will understand.
Chaos Bikers during deployment
My Biker Squads "Bat to the Bone" and "Night Riders" being champs
In the end the forces of the AdMech won a very close victory and, for once, my army was not tabled. Instead I enjoyed a fun, close game.
Sadly, House Nightfall's defeat meant their mysterious client refused to pay them. And Chaos Lord Saris earned a black mark in the Council of Eight's Book of Grudges.
----------------------------GAME 3 OF THE MUGU GAMES MARCH RTT: NIGHT LORDS VS. SALAMANDERS----------------------------
For Game 3, Chaos Lord Saris was hired to deal with a pesky force of Salamanders Space Marines. I love playing against Salamanders. Their generals are always nice, casual, well steeped in the lore of 40K, and often have gorgeously pained armies. This was true of my great opponent on all counts.
My opponent's army: Salamanders at 2k (not entirely accurate since it's from memory)
HQ
-Chaplain on Bike
-Librarian
-Vulkan
TROOPS
-Squad of 5 Infiltrators
-Squad of 5 Infiltrators
ELITES
-Squad of 10 Vanguard Vets kitted with meltas and such
-Squad of 5 Aggressors with powerfists and flamers of doooom
-Emergency Backup Squad of 5 Aggressors with powerfists and flamers of doooom
-Apothecary
HEAVY SUPPORT
-Squad of 3 Eliminators with their super sniper rifles
-Emergency Backup Squad of 3 Eliminators with their super sniper rifles
-Squad of 5 Assault Termies with shields and hammers
TRANSPORTS
-Drop Pod (for the Vanguard Vets)
Sadly I didn't take many pics. j
The game pretty much boiled down to 3 melee scrums:
My Left Flank
I pitted the bulk of my forces to this flank: Termies, Lord, Sorc, and both biker squads. He dedicated an Eliminator Squad and an Aggressor Squad to this flank. The mobility of the Night Lords (deep strike and bikers) meant they could arrive on this flank "firstest with the mostest" as Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest would say. This meant that I was victorious in this scrum.
As an aside, General Forrest had a very complicated history after the U.S. Civil War, first working with the KKK in the 1860s as a horrific racist to crush the rights of blacks and then he had a moral upheaval in the 1870s and shifted to supporting African American rights and advancement, which made him an enemy of the KKK).
My Center
I tasked my 2 Helbrutes and 2 of my Legionaries Squads, the Reavers and Harbingers, with holding the center. They were pitted against an Aggressor Squad, an Apothecary, an Infiltrator Squad, and Vulkan to this flank. Interestingly, we pretty much attrited each other into mutual destruction in this fight and it was a draw with not much remaining other than a Helbrute and remnants of the Harbingers on my part and remnants of his Aggressors on his side. So it was a draw.
My right flank
I only dedicated a squad of Legionaries, the Jackals, to this flank. They held their own for awhile, but were eventually take out by his termies and an Eliminator Squad.
I didn't take many photos during the game, so here are 3 images:
Harry treats Vulkan with extreme prejudice and bops him on the head, thus knocking the Salamander unconscious
Jarvak's Jackals are surrounded and eliminated on my right flank, with Aspiring Champion Jarvak being the last to fall
In the end, it was a very close game and the forces of Chaos had beaten the forces of the Corpse God by something like 6 or so points. Huzzah! More importantly it was a fun, close game.
Here are my thoughts on how I'd grade my units:
HQ
-Lord Saris in Termie armor: he died without doing much in most games, but I still love Termie Lords: F but a C because of nostalgia
-Sorceror Deadsoul in Termie Armor: this was his first outing and the first time I've used a sorcerer instead of a Master of Possession since our new Codex came out last July. Boy, the regular spells available to him are pretty lame compared to the MoP's spells. He took Death Hex (which rarely worked since it casts on an 8) and Warptime (which was rarely useful since we can no longer charge after using it). I think I'll shelve poor Deadsoul til 10th Edition when hopefully he gets better: F
TROOPS
-Harbingers, Jackals, and Reavers, 3 full squads of Legionaries: there's a reason none of the "meta" CSM lists (read Black Legion with bricks of 10 Termies and some squads of Possessed) never take full squads of Legionaries. The folks were lackluster in every way, but I love 'em. And in games against other casual opponents such as the Salamanders, they do fine: C grade
ELITES
-Harry and Malcharion: my 2 Helbrutes were both solid midfield units that contributed in both melee and shooting: B
-Atramentar Terminators: my squad of 5 Termies often did wonderful things in melee: A
FAST ATTACK
-Bat to the Bone and Night Riders Chaos Biker Squads: This was the first time I've used Bikers since the Codex came out and, wow, I'm really impressed. It's like they are a sleeper unit that truly shines thanks to the 3rd wound and their speed. These suckers did what was asked of them by chipping away at and tying up the enemy: A grade
HEAVY SUPPORT
-Oscar the Obliterator: no grade because I kept forgetting I had him. Sigh.
-Night Snipers Havocs Squad: their autocannons didn't do much, I think I'll try a squad of 4 with lascannons. F Grade
-Deathbat: very vulnerable to enemy anti-tank weaponry but still a solid and fairly cheap way to reliably chip 3 to 6 wounds a turn off of the enemy from across the table. You cannot really ask for more: B
The March Rogue Trader Tournament at Mugu Games was a superb event. Thanks to all my opponents and to the Tournament Organizer, who always runs excellent events. He will be bringing an army to the July Tacoma Open so I'll see him then.
House Nightfall's Night Lords, "The quick and the dead."
Edited by Tallarn Commander
