Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 or simply Warhammer 40K is a miniature-based tabletop game. It involves building and painting your own miniature army and pit them against others' on a dioramic 6x4 or 4x4 feet table using a standardized set of game rules. Miniature armies come in various factions, from Imperial commandos to space-faring orks, each with its own background stories (what 40K players call "fluff") and combat units.

My army, a sub-faction of the Adeptus Astartes or the Space Marines, is of the so-called Dark Angels Chapter - one of thousands of regiments of bio-enhanced supersoldiers created by the Emperor of Man to impose his will throughout the grim universe of the 41st millennium.


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Dark Angels of the Adeptus Astartes
The Dark Angels Chapter is first among legions of Space Marines bred by the Emperor from his own genetic imprints. Enhanced physiologically for combat operations, they are literally Angels of Death in the battlefield, sowing fear to anyone who dared oppose their mandate. Their homeworld, Caliban - now reduced to a barren asteroid after an epic battle against their traitorous Brothers - holds the Chapter's mobile fortress-monastery called the Tower of Angels. Here, deep within the labyrinthine pathways to the underground caverns, lies the key to their monastic nature. The Dark Angels hides a millenia-long secret that compromised their honor. It is with this reason that they and their Successor Chapters are called the Unforgiven.


The Workshop:

 

 

 
The Interrogator-Chaplain's Wargaming Sanctum

Thursday, April 16, 2015

My First Store Champs for 2015

What: X-Wing Store Championship 
When: April 12, 2015
Where: Neutral Grounds - Cash and Carry
How: Four Rounds Swiss

I should have gone on an earlier store championship in NG - Glorietta but daddy duties have to take over that day. For this one, at the Cash and Carry branch, I finally was able to join. At the end, I placed 4th and grabbed me home a fancy dice bag, some acrylic Focus tokens, and an alternate art card for Soontir Fell. Thanks goes to Neutral Grounds and Luigi for setting up the tourney and my opponents for the awesome games!

I used the list below, which I call the "Fringer Bees". The idea is to fly slow while shooting from afar, capitalizing on the secondary weapons that negate the Range 3 bonus to defenders. All my ships are also tanks with 8 to 10 hull+shield rating so if I can keep it at distance, enemy shooting should be better evaded with range bonus and make my squadron endure longer.

  • Wild Space Fringer (YT-2400 with Mangler Cannon, "Outrider", and Recon Specialist)
  • 2x Blue Squadron Pilot: (B-Wings with Heavy Laser Cannons)

Battle Report

Match 1
vs Kevin's Rebel Squadron
* 4x Blue Squadron Pilots (B-wings)
* Bandit Squadron Pilot (Z-95 Headhunter)

Wow. Just when I thought the meta is all about big ships and two-ship lists now, almost everybody's flying a swarm in this tournament. For the deployment, Kevin turtled on my upper right corner of the table while I took the opposite diagonal with the B-wings closer to the enemy squadron. I plan to have the YT-2400 take the open lane straight up and fly behind Kevin's formation.

match 1 deployment

As I planned, we joust in the middle of the table where the asteroids are clustered together while my YT-2400 took a long path to circle around Kevin's squadron. After the first pass, we both lost a B-wing.

first pass

I was only able to deal heavy damage to one of his other B-wing before his swarm ganged up on my own remaining B-wing for the kill. Without support, my YT-2400 zeroed in on his damaged Bee which luckily limped on the same flight path with the Corellian ship as the rest of his squadron is too far to do a meaningful attack run.

his damaged Bee on the left

The YT-2400 was able to destroy the damaged enemy B-wing but have to endure a withering hail of laser fire from the arriving backup (his remaining 2 B-wings and a Headhunter). I was left with 1 or 2 hull points before time is called. It's a victory for Kevin!

(Me: 44 points - Kevin: 58 points)

last pass


Match 2
vs Pao's Rebel Squadron
* 4x Bandit Squadron Pilots (Z95 Headhunters)
* 2x Prototype Squadron Pilots (A-wings)
* Blue Squadron Pilot (B-wing)

Another swarm... hurray! That's sarcasm, by the way. With initiative, Pao took the top-middle deployment for all his ships except the A-wings which he set in the upper right corner of the table for flanking purposes. Again, I took the opposite corner (bottom left) with the aim of having the YT-2400 do another straight pass on the open lane then turning right at the top edge to appear behind his swarm.

first few turns

Things got ugly fast when everybody except the YT-2400 met in the middle for a joust. As expected, blocks were made to prevent my ships from taking actions while the Corellian ship sniped on the approaching enemy B-wing. Both of my B-wings however prioritized taking out the nimbler A-wings since I know, given free reign, it can easily sneak behind my B-wings for deadly Range 1 shots. Lucky for me, his return fire only scratched some shields on my tanky ships.

joust

The middle part of the table got very cramped with all those ships blocking lanes and heavily penalized my focus-reliant B-wings. One of the Bees got dangerously low hull from combined shooting from the enemy swarm so I have to fly him away from the furball with the hope of taking attention away from it. My return-fire got better results killing an A-wing then a B-wing and then damaging the other A-wing heavily.

my other B-wing running from combat (top right)

With his ships facing on different headings without getting to focus fire on any of my single ship, all enemy fires are taken with minor damages to my ships' shields. After subsequent passes inside the killing field with my YT-2400's turret mangler cannon as my only way of shooting back, the Bees finally was able to circle back to combat and finish the remaining A-wing and destroy a Headhunter before time is called.

my B-wings finally got to turn back to action

With that, I was able to grab 64 points while losing none for a victory! The law of averages finally kicking in after I suck my rolls big time during the first match.

(Me: 64 points - Pao: 0 points)


Match 3
vs Janton's Scum and Villainy Squadron
* IG-88B (Aggressor w/ Push the Limit, Advanced Sensor, Mangler Cannon, "IG-2000", Feedback Array, and Autothrusters)
* IG-88C (Aggressor w/ Push the Limit, Advanced Sensor, Mangler Cannon, "IG-2000", Feedback Array, and Autothrusters)

It's one of the most tournament used S&V squadron, the double Aggressor! I looked forward to this game because I want firsthand experience flying against this list. Our deployment is aimed at having a direct joust on the left side of the table where the lane is clear of asteroids. 

deployment

In what will later be a big blunder, I had a change of heart and decided to lure the Aggressors inside the asteroid field by spending my first few turns veering to the right side of the table. The Aggressors zipped quickly to follow doing potshots on my YT-2400 which is the only ship that can fight back from my squadron because of its turret cannon. At this point, I forgot that both his IG-88's have autothrusters that rendered my turret cannon less potent. Argh! At most, I was only able to do a couple of glancing damages on his shields.

into the asteroids

I should have opted for the direct joust thus rendering the autothrusters useless and with dual heavy laser cannons, I could have posted more threat than doing 2-3 turns where my B-wings are impotently running through the asteroids with the YT-2400 watching their sixes and accumulating damage. 

The Aggressors capitulated on this blunder and quickly stripped the shields of the lagging Corellian freighter. At about mid game, I decided to turn the B-wings back in combat, seeing I can't lure the Aggressors further away without losing my YT-2400 first.

B-wings hit back while the YT-2400 tries to escape

With the B-wings now fully participating in combat, I tried to have the YT-2400 run away by skirting the right edge of the table but the persistent Aggressors with its superior zero-G "Push the Limit" aided maneuvers followed behind and focused fire, destroying it finally with a well placed Feedback Array auto-damage before the B-wings can block the lanes for its escape. In turn, I was able to strip the shields off IG-88B's Aggressors while doing minor damages on the other (IG-88C). 

final turns

With the YT-2400 gone, the remaining B-wings are easy pickings for the more agile scum ships. Both went down on the subsequent turns. A major victory to Janton's S&V squadron! Suffice to say, I learned the hard way not to dilly dally against this lethal combination.

(Me: 0 points - Janton: 100 points)


Match 4
vs Luigi's Empire Squadron
* Rexler Brath (Tie Defender w/ Heavy Laser Cannon, Stealth Device, and Proton Rockets)
* Howlrunner (Tie Fighter w/ Swarm Tactics and Stealth Device)
* 2x Academy Pilots (Tie Fighters)

A loaded Tie Defender with a mini Tie swarm. Rexler has a huge "Target Me" sign on him but the escort Tie swarm have proven on every tournament how pesky they can get, especially with Howlrunner to reroll each of their attack dice. On deployment, Luigi turtled his Empire squadron on the upper right corner of the table while I took the opposite corner with my YT-2400. I deployed the B-wings closer to the middle bottom of the table so they can be an early threat.

deployment

My B-wings moved forward and met the Imperial fighters at the middle right part of the table while my YT-2400 sped up and circled on that big asteroid in the middle to flank the enemy with turret cannon while avoiding their firing arc as well. After the first pass, the Tie Defender succumbing to Luigi's oddly bad rolling was destroyed from the B-wings' focus firing despite the incredible 5 defense dice roll (stealth device + asteroid) it have.

5 defense dice = 1 evade, 3 eyeballs (no focus), 1 blank

On my squadron, a few shields have been stripped but not enough for me to consider moving any of them away from combat for a respite. I K-turned both B-wings back to joust and a couple of eyeballs just won't stand a chance endurance-wise against a tanky list like this. A couple of passes after, the Tie Fighters eventually got decimated from the superior cannons of my ships.

 (Me: 100 points - Luigi: 0 points)


Inscribed by Interrogator-Chaplain Randel on 10:36 AM               0 Incoming Transmission

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Never forgive! Never forget!