It's Been A While...
Since I couldn't,
post my blog on time,
And it's been a while,
So I'm saying sorry...
The last post was nigh two months ago, and what have I done hobby related in that time? Well, not much of note.
I blitzed through that commission army in about a month, but didn't blog about it as it wasn't going to be joining my forces and this is my blog about my stuff so it didn't feel right to claim it (though I did claim the painting points, it still counts) given while I may have painted it I'm not the one who built it, so if someone saw it and thought it was a cool conversion, I'd be claiming credit where it wasn't due.
And then hobby wise I did very little... until this weekend just gone, where I attended Battlefield Birminghams Double tournament with my friend Ken, using the Wacky Races list I painted for it. Hopefully that should provide some inspiration for some posts as I discuss what I thought of the 6 new ork vehicles in testing conditions and debate adding more of each to my existing armies (as the mean machine may stand out somewhat among my speed freaks) and keep the wacky racers as components for the speed freeks board game that I still haven't got round to trying to rules of...
But first, the tournament itself!
With my usual disregard for tournaments reflected in the absolute shambles of a list I threw together just so I could convert and paint a wacky collection, we weren't expecting much. We were hoping to get as many wins as losses or better, and aim mid table. I entered with some trepidation, as I expected to face the usual nastiness tournaments offer. But a first game draw (against arguably the toughest list we saw all weekend, knight backed by skitarii with that dirty forge world tunnelling thingy) meant we settled into mid table obscurity early on and avoided the nastiest lists that were doing the rounds (several of which appeared in the best painted army nominations to their credit, one can only hope they painted these themselves)
The event was well run, the tables were well populated with scenery of a decent standard (functional and with some aesthetic value... we aren't talking the full on GW range everywhere, this isn't the billionaire boys club, but it looked good enough to play on that I didn't begrudge them expecting all participants to paint their armies.) We were allowed 3 hours a game which I thought should be more than enough for a 2k game. We met some good people, and could barely complain about any of them, my minor grumbles (that I will list later) being more down to decision paralysis than any deliberate foul play on an opponents part. And we did better than we expected, the draw was followed by a minor win, another draw, a crushing win and finally a minor loss, leaving us on more wins than losses as hoped, and a quite respectable 29th out of 78 teams.
However, I was a little disappointed that I never felt we got to finish any of our games. We had three hours, I'm not blaming the tournament organisers, that should have been plenty enough time... but we managed 4 turns, 4 turns, 5 turns (though couldn't roll to see if there was a 6th or 7th) 3 turns, 3 turns. That second day felt like only one game!
I put a lot of the problem down to the opponents, who were basically spectators during our turn. They'd watch what we do, roll when appropriate, and generally enjoy the spectacle. Then their turn would arrive and they'd turn to each other and say "So, what should we do?" I cannot count the minutes that were lost during discussions between teammates on the opposite side of the board. During their turn, Ken and I would watch, roll when appropriate, but also be having a continual tactical discussion, based on what objectives there were for both sides, what maelstrom cards were in play, about what opportunities might have just been presented... such that when it came to our turn, we'd pull the latest maelstrom cards, do a quick check to see if there was anything on them that would override our already laid plans, adjust quickly if so, and be moving models within a minute of the play being handed across.
This was made more frustrating by the fact that in each of our games, I was usually decimated (being an ork in a bright shiny vehicle charging towards the enemy does tend to attract attention, and by attention I mean bullets, but that was part of the plan really. I draw the fire and present a threat they HAVE to deal with NOW, allowing the tau to gun them down with impunity.
The first game ended turn 4. I was pretty much decimated, but most of the tau suits were alive, the enemy knight was stranded miles away from the action and only 5w left, the skitarrii firebase had been nullified and we were holding 4 of the 6 objectives. 2 points behind, but timed out. I don't think we could have tabled them, but we could have easily outscored them.
The next game ended turn 4 with a minor win, but once again, there was very little left on our opponents side. 3 badly battered flyers, 2 mekguns. They held one objective to our 5 by this point, and again most of the tau forces were intact.
Game 3 we got to turn 5 and were marginally behind on points (a tournament draw) but given out opponent had a wounded weirdboy, 1 mekgun, 15 grots and we had two thirds of the crisis suits left, if we had rolled for and got a turn 6 (more likely than not) we could have tabled them and scored points with impunity.
Game 4 was the absolute worst example. They started with a good portion of their forces in reserve, so had even fewer units to activate, so you'd think this would speed them p, but seemingly not. We spread our forces to limit deep striking opportunities, and apart from a few sallies out kept those positions awaiting their reserves arrival. When Typhus and 10 Blightlord terminators dropped in, we could easily have used the mobility of our vehicles and Tau jump moves to keep them at arms length and whittle them down bit by bit. But I had seen how slow they were playing and warned Ken we were never going to get past turn 3. So in our third (and presumably final) turn we went reckless. We grabbed every objective, scored as much as we could, and left ourselves dangerously overexposed. But given we were on all the objectives and you had to be ON an objective to generate a maelstrom card, we had effectively shut them out from scoring points that turn. They did have about half an hour left, if they could have got their act together, and made their turn quick, we'd have been forced to play a fourth turn. Given our reckless overextension had seen me lost over half my army in one turn we'd have been on the back foot and they could have clawed something back. This at least proves they weren't slow playing deliberately, as we had built up a big lead and time was not on their side. Despite time now being on our side, I still found it immensely frustrating to watch as, with 21 minutes remaining for the game, our opponent began moving his primaris tank, It was the only model he had left. He moved it. Checked line of sight. Wasn't happy. Moved it back. Checked Line of Sight again. Checked a possible charge range. Moved it a little this way... and so on. By the time they finally started their psychic phase, he had moved it half an inch from it's original position... and 16 minutes were left on the clock. Five minutes to move one tank half an inch. I was ready to scream, but they took up all the rest of the time with their turn, there was no time for turn 4 and our tactic worked, we had a crushing victory. It felt dirty. But we reckon we had used about 45 minutes of the three hours on our turn at most, so felt they had no one to blame but themselves.
Game 5 was the other three turn game, and while there was indecision here, with several farseers on jetbikes with different powers that needed to be moved to different places to cast different spells, at least there were some decisions to be paralysed by. We lost by 5 points, but once again, we had two thirds of the crisis suits at full health, most of the rest of the tau forces untouched, and our opponents had a wave serpent, a warlord farseer on 1W, a few other characters, a unit of 5 rangers, a unit of 2 rangers (currently locked in combat on an objective) a unit of 5 kabalite warriors and a unit of 5 wraithguard that, yes, were a threat... but a short ranged one stranded miles away from the action. We were now on 3 of the 6 objectives (fighting for the 4th) and the following turn apart from a few smites and some ranger fire there was very little they could do to us. If the wave serpent went to pick up the wraithguard they may have got back into the game by turn 6, but otherwise they were probably out of it.
So my overall experience? Fun but a little frustrating. Grateful I avoided the lists where you feel you have no hope from the get go. Not sure I'd want to fight for high honours. I missed playing my usual Ork lists, having 30 boys jumped at you makes me miss doing it to other people. ANd overall left with the impression that if you plan for games to be 3-4 turns long, you will go far in this environment. bring me your glass hammers. I wonder if this is why Eldar do so well at tournaments? They can blitz the opposition but can't take a punch. In this environment, the bell rings while the ref is still counting the unconscious Eldar fighter. He takes the win on a points decision.
post my blog on time,
And it's been a while,
So I'm saying sorry...
The last post was nigh two months ago, and what have I done hobby related in that time? Well, not much of note.
I blitzed through that commission army in about a month, but didn't blog about it as it wasn't going to be joining my forces and this is my blog about my stuff so it didn't feel right to claim it (though I did claim the painting points, it still counts) given while I may have painted it I'm not the one who built it, so if someone saw it and thought it was a cool conversion, I'd be claiming credit where it wasn't due.
And then hobby wise I did very little... until this weekend just gone, where I attended Battlefield Birminghams Double tournament with my friend Ken, using the Wacky Races list I painted for it. Hopefully that should provide some inspiration for some posts as I discuss what I thought of the 6 new ork vehicles in testing conditions and debate adding more of each to my existing armies (as the mean machine may stand out somewhat among my speed freaks) and keep the wacky racers as components for the speed freeks board game that I still haven't got round to trying to rules of...
But first, the tournament itself!
With my usual disregard for tournaments reflected in the absolute shambles of a list I threw together just so I could convert and paint a wacky collection, we weren't expecting much. We were hoping to get as many wins as losses or better, and aim mid table. I entered with some trepidation, as I expected to face the usual nastiness tournaments offer. But a first game draw (against arguably the toughest list we saw all weekend, knight backed by skitarii with that dirty forge world tunnelling thingy) meant we settled into mid table obscurity early on and avoided the nastiest lists that were doing the rounds (several of which appeared in the best painted army nominations to their credit, one can only hope they painted these themselves)
The event was well run, the tables were well populated with scenery of a decent standard (functional and with some aesthetic value... we aren't talking the full on GW range everywhere, this isn't the billionaire boys club, but it looked good enough to play on that I didn't begrudge them expecting all participants to paint their armies.) We were allowed 3 hours a game which I thought should be more than enough for a 2k game. We met some good people, and could barely complain about any of them, my minor grumbles (that I will list later) being more down to decision paralysis than any deliberate foul play on an opponents part. And we did better than we expected, the draw was followed by a minor win, another draw, a crushing win and finally a minor loss, leaving us on more wins than losses as hoped, and a quite respectable 29th out of 78 teams.
However, I was a little disappointed that I never felt we got to finish any of our games. We had three hours, I'm not blaming the tournament organisers, that should have been plenty enough time... but we managed 4 turns, 4 turns, 5 turns (though couldn't roll to see if there was a 6th or 7th) 3 turns, 3 turns. That second day felt like only one game!
I put a lot of the problem down to the opponents, who were basically spectators during our turn. They'd watch what we do, roll when appropriate, and generally enjoy the spectacle. Then their turn would arrive and they'd turn to each other and say "So, what should we do?" I cannot count the minutes that were lost during discussions between teammates on the opposite side of the board. During their turn, Ken and I would watch, roll when appropriate, but also be having a continual tactical discussion, based on what objectives there were for both sides, what maelstrom cards were in play, about what opportunities might have just been presented... such that when it came to our turn, we'd pull the latest maelstrom cards, do a quick check to see if there was anything on them that would override our already laid plans, adjust quickly if so, and be moving models within a minute of the play being handed across.
This was made more frustrating by the fact that in each of our games, I was usually decimated (being an ork in a bright shiny vehicle charging towards the enemy does tend to attract attention, and by attention I mean bullets, but that was part of the plan really. I draw the fire and present a threat they HAVE to deal with NOW, allowing the tau to gun them down with impunity.
The first game ended turn 4. I was pretty much decimated, but most of the tau suits were alive, the enemy knight was stranded miles away from the action and only 5w left, the skitarrii firebase had been nullified and we were holding 4 of the 6 objectives. 2 points behind, but timed out. I don't think we could have tabled them, but we could have easily outscored them.
The next game ended turn 4 with a minor win, but once again, there was very little left on our opponents side. 3 badly battered flyers, 2 mekguns. They held one objective to our 5 by this point, and again most of the tau forces were intact.
Game 3 we got to turn 5 and were marginally behind on points (a tournament draw) but given out opponent had a wounded weirdboy, 1 mekgun, 15 grots and we had two thirds of the crisis suits left, if we had rolled for and got a turn 6 (more likely than not) we could have tabled them and scored points with impunity.
Game 4 was the absolute worst example. They started with a good portion of their forces in reserve, so had even fewer units to activate, so you'd think this would speed them p, but seemingly not. We spread our forces to limit deep striking opportunities, and apart from a few sallies out kept those positions awaiting their reserves arrival. When Typhus and 10 Blightlord terminators dropped in, we could easily have used the mobility of our vehicles and Tau jump moves to keep them at arms length and whittle them down bit by bit. But I had seen how slow they were playing and warned Ken we were never going to get past turn 3. So in our third (and presumably final) turn we went reckless. We grabbed every objective, scored as much as we could, and left ourselves dangerously overexposed. But given we were on all the objectives and you had to be ON an objective to generate a maelstrom card, we had effectively shut them out from scoring points that turn. They did have about half an hour left, if they could have got their act together, and made their turn quick, we'd have been forced to play a fourth turn. Given our reckless overextension had seen me lost over half my army in one turn we'd have been on the back foot and they could have clawed something back. This at least proves they weren't slow playing deliberately, as we had built up a big lead and time was not on their side. Despite time now being on our side, I still found it immensely frustrating to watch as, with 21 minutes remaining for the game, our opponent began moving his primaris tank, It was the only model he had left. He moved it. Checked line of sight. Wasn't happy. Moved it back. Checked Line of Sight again. Checked a possible charge range. Moved it a little this way... and so on. By the time they finally started their psychic phase, he had moved it half an inch from it's original position... and 16 minutes were left on the clock. Five minutes to move one tank half an inch. I was ready to scream, but they took up all the rest of the time with their turn, there was no time for turn 4 and our tactic worked, we had a crushing victory. It felt dirty. But we reckon we had used about 45 minutes of the three hours on our turn at most, so felt they had no one to blame but themselves.
Game 5 was the other three turn game, and while there was indecision here, with several farseers on jetbikes with different powers that needed to be moved to different places to cast different spells, at least there were some decisions to be paralysed by. We lost by 5 points, but once again, we had two thirds of the crisis suits at full health, most of the rest of the tau forces untouched, and our opponents had a wave serpent, a warlord farseer on 1W, a few other characters, a unit of 5 rangers, a unit of 2 rangers (currently locked in combat on an objective) a unit of 5 kabalite warriors and a unit of 5 wraithguard that, yes, were a threat... but a short ranged one stranded miles away from the action. We were now on 3 of the 6 objectives (fighting for the 4th) and the following turn apart from a few smites and some ranger fire there was very little they could do to us. If the wave serpent went to pick up the wraithguard they may have got back into the game by turn 6, but otherwise they were probably out of it.
So my overall experience? Fun but a little frustrating. Grateful I avoided the lists where you feel you have no hope from the get go. Not sure I'd want to fight for high honours. I missed playing my usual Ork lists, having 30 boys jumped at you makes me miss doing it to other people. ANd overall left with the impression that if you plan for games to be 3-4 turns long, you will go far in this environment. bring me your glass hammers. I wonder if this is why Eldar do so well at tournaments? They can blitz the opposition but can't take a punch. In this environment, the bell rings while the ref is still counting the unconscious Eldar fighter. He takes the win on a points decision.
Yeah, game length is an issue in 8th anyhow, and it's always been an issue in doubles events as well. Definitely a source of frustration.
ReplyDeleteI think my fave from the Army shots is the one with the Armiger Warglaive trying to shoot the Hormies clawing at its ankles!
You'd have loved what we fought in our fourth game then... that Repulsor tank, as much as it was a source of frustration, was also quite beautifully modelled with nids clambering up the hull to attack the exposed gunner, who was bringing his pintle mounted weapon to bear on the impending danger...
DeleteHa! Excellent!
DeleteYou should get extra tournament points for the Staind reference.
ReplyDeleteSadly I didn't make the blogpost until my return, so no joy, although given I didn't get any bonus points for wearing a wacky races tee shirt on the first day I don't think they were giving away spot prizes for that kind of thing...
Delete