This past weekend I made the short trek to Holton, Kansas to play in the Freestate Gaming Club GT. It was a five round GT with 32 players. I went 2-3 with my Salamanders. I know that my Salamanders/Space Marines aren’t in the greatest spot compared to the meta lists but I gave it my best and kept my chin up in some brutal losses. Also, I was dog tired and I have a serious case of medicine head from my allergy meds that are trying to combat a battle against a spore invasion from my arch nemesis, Spring.
Here’s my list:
Vulcan He’stan
Apothecary
5 Assault Intercessors
5 Intercessors
3 Flamer Aggressors x 2
3 Bladeguard Veterans x 2
3 Erradicators x 2
Landraider Crusader x 2
Redemptor Dreadnought (Onlsaught loadout)
Repulusor
Repulsor Executioner with Heavy Laser Destroyer
Here’s a quick recap.
Day 1:
Round 1: 18-100 loss to Orks.
Oof. Joe’s ork nob list ate all of my vehicles by the end of round 2 and the Orks went krumpin and I was tabled by round 3. I tried to yeet my Redemptor dread into Mozrog in turn 1 and whiffed. Overall, I played WAY too aggressively for a Space Marine list and that netted me 18 points in total… yar.
Round 2: 86-46 win against Iron Warriors
Lane’s Iron Warriors were on the backfoot most of the game, and his dice did him no favors. I got extremely lucky and my Repulsor Executioner rolled boxcars on an overwatch with the big cannon popped one of his two Obliterators. I was also fortunate just about everywhere else on the battlefield and I felt like I played a good strategic game. The score also doesn’t reflect how close the game was, and if Lane had added one more objective, he might have made it a much closer match.
Round 3: 79-69 win over Chaos Space Marines
This game was nearly a draw (and nearly a loss,) but my opponent didn’t have a fully painted army. He also didn’t have any basing elements (or painted bases,) most of his models weren’t the basic three colors minimum, he had tons of proxy figs, and they weren’t modeled WYSIWYG… Despite that, the TOs let him play in the GT but the Chaos player scored himself 10 points for painting in the first two rounds… I always hope anyone can play in a tournament and I know painting isn’t everyone’s favorite part of the hobby, but in a GT, I feel like he was soft cheating by taking the painting points that he didn’t earn. It feels like a technicality, and I hate that I had a win that came down to painting score. At the end of the last round, we tried to get him as many other points as possible, but it came down to a 10-point win because I earned painting points and he didn’t. This is a win I hate.
Day 2:
Round 4: 60-100 loss to Sisters of Battle
In this game, I felt like I had a strong battle plan against Jason, a seasoned tournament player, but man, my dice were cold. Ice cold. I couldn’t roll 2+ to hit or 4+ to save. The strategy and dice rolls of my opponent were rock solid and he was even wiping out my units when his units died… Sisters are so good against Marines and I needed luck on my side because I played a poor strategic game and I forgot about Oath of Moment for the first two rounds. It sucks to suck. Jason was very generous and after he figured out that he had 100 points, he took his foot off the gas and let me score some garbage-time points in the last turn. He didn’t need to do that and I really appreciate his kindness. Honesty, he probably could have tabled me in turn 4, but his sportsmanship was very much appreciated.
Round 5: 32-100 loss to Necrons
I faced another player named Jason and his C’tan Necron list. Jason was a good opponent with a nasty list and it really shows how different the Necron Codex and the Space Marine Codex are built. I’m not sure there was a build I could have fielded that can beat this list. Maybe a tricked-out Templars list? Maybe? I may have been able to score some more points with a better draw of secondaries, but I think my marines lose this fight 9 out of 10 matchups. I don’t want to take anything away from Jason, who played a fun game and we both tried to give each other as many points as possible but I was tabled after about 45 minutes of play.
I loaded up my army and was headed home when Jesse, the TO, stopped me in the parking lot and asked me to stick around for the awards. I was ranked 27 out of 32 but I went back into the building.
Early in the awards section, I won best in faction because I was the only Salamander player (I thought it was just Space Marines for the faction award.) Then to my surprise, I won best Sportsman! I couldn’t believe it! I do try to keep my head held high, especially in these crushing losses, but this is one of the best compliments I could have received. I was also told that I nearly won best painted as well! For the award, I received this massive glass stein, a $150 gift card to the Freestate Gaming club FLGS, some paints and minis from Duncan Rhodes’ Two Thin Paints range, and a wood burned plaque. Oh man, that was so generous of them!
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