The past two weekends were spent on the road at a couple of Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments; the Midwest Conquest GT in Kansas City and the Bug Eater GT in Omaha.
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| Salamanders - Blood Angels |
For the tourneys, I planned on bringing my Imperium combo of Salamanders and Blood Angels. The Salamanders are the backbone with four razorbacks, a Leviathan dreadnought in a drop pod and tac squads with lascannons. The Blood Angels have two smash captains and a chaplain with jump packs to thump the enemy.
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| Blood Angel Command |
Somehow I drew the ringer army in the first round. One of the tournament organizers played a Custodes army and played me kind of soft - and I still lost. I technically won the game because it was the ringer but I actually lost in "real" points and that started a spiral of losing that I have never experienced before.
I know I didn't have an optimized list for tournament play but I didn't do well at all. Bad dice, bad army construction, not enough models... I can point to a lot of things but I really have to blame myself for the losses. However, I had a very good time and in the final game I got to play my buddy Warren and his Orks. Coincidentally, we played in the same round and on the same table as last year and we had another great game. Officially for the tournament, I went 1-5 but I really put up a goose-egg.
The next weekend, I went to Omaha to the Bug Eater GT - another one of my favorite tournaments. My buddy Kyle went with and I had so much fun. I often go solo to these events since my local gaming group went to a new store in the area but having a friend along took the trip to the next level.
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| Salamanders Catachan and Blood Angels |
I changed my army up a little bit and added a Storm Raven, dropped the Leviathn, added a Catachan spearhead of Manticores, and made the Blood Angel force a little bit smaller. I also finished my display box which is supposed to be a Salamanders fortress with a force field generator for the, "Time of Trials," when the Salamanders home world splits open and lava washes over the planet.
The changes to my army didn't really help my gameplay as much as I had hoped. The Manticores are normally the alpha strike of my list but many players were able to tie them up despite my efforts to bubble wrap them.
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| Bugs slowly scratching my paint. Not fooled by Catachan camouflage. |
In fact, I play a Tyranid player in the first round in a Hammer and Anvil deployment and he managed to move 48" across the table, eat my units protecting the Manticores and then tie them up for the rest of the game. I never got a shot off...
The rest of the tournament went about the same way for me, and I ended up going 0-6. A guy who dropped out after the first day scored more points that me however I met some other fantastic players, including Mark from Sacramento who is another game store operator and comic book fan. He had an Eldar army inspired by the X-Men and we had a blast - maybe my most fun game all month. We've friended each other on Facebook and I hope that I can play him again at some point.
I also played "Robe Guy" and his crazy Judge Dread themed Sisters of Battle Army. He also had a model of himself in his combat robe, Ash from Evil Dead, and working lights on his police tanks. Another amazing guy who loved his army and winning be damned kind of guy.
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| Imperial Soup vs Judge Dread themed Sisters of Battle on Tatooine. |
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| Judge Saint Celestine beats up my Salamanders Captain. |
Things I've learned about tournaments and the current 40k meta:
*Deployment is key. A Raven Guard/AM player herded me with scout deployment and won the game before the first turn. Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, Stygies AdMech lists are almost a must; at least having a special deployment unit. I probably learned more from losing to the Raven Guard player than I have in any other game of 40k.
*Tournament players often don't care about painting. I played so many armies that looked like they were finger-painted - I was kind of taken back that they didn't care for their army like I love mine. I really care about each of my models but for the winning tournament players, they are just game pieces and represent rules. I maybe need to shift my thinking from fluff to winning?
*Except for a Necron player in the Midwest Conquest, most the winning armies had 100-150 models in their army. Lots of cheap troops to soak wounds, control the board and hold objectives; zombies, cultists, bugs, conscripts seem to be the flavor of the month. I dropped the Leviathan in the droppod because I could never place it in my opponent's deployment zone.
*Big expensive vehicles aren't worth their points.
*I really want to build the Trent Northington Thousand Sons army that has TONS of cultists, tzannagors, and shammans to spam Smite. He won or placed in the top 3 in both tourneys and I love his simple and nasty army.
Despite playing terribly, I had a blast. I have had more fun playing 8th edition than any other edition of Warhammer - perhaps the most fun playing any miniature game system. Kyle going along on the Bug Eater trip especially fueled my enjoyment.
One of the things I've noticed is that the good nature of the Table Top Tactics guys has rubbed off on me. Unconsciously I have stopped worrying about winning and adopted their outgoing play style where they cheer on their opponents and play for a fun game rather than simply relishing in my own success. I've caught myself using some of their catch phrases, like, "be somebody," or "lucky for some," and "marked for death." I've also started cackling like Bone and yelling, "YEESSSS! YAS!" when my opponent does something well and I've stopped moaning and bitching about my own luck. I've occasionally yelled, "DAMNIT," like Joe when I roll terribly but it's more in character than out of of frustration. Their ability to enjoy a game, win or lose is amazing and I'm glad that it's now appearing in my own games.
I went 0-12 the past two weekends and I don't think I've had a better time losing.
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