Round 1
Deployment: Spearhead
Mission: Seize Ground (5 Objectives), with Kill Points as a secondary objective
Opponent: Dark Eldar

This was the first time I’ve ever faced a Dark Eldar army, and while I knew roughly what to expect, I didn’t know all the details. This, combined with a bit of first-round nerves, led me to make a few critical tactical mistakes. Spearhead is my least favorite deployment format anyway, and against a fast assault army it leaves me at a distinct disadvantage. I left my Fire Warriors in reserve, which was a mistake in retrospect. Had I deployed them along the back edges of my corner, I would have had a gunline that could have been putting out 30″ shots. My opponent went first, and on turn 1 managed to get one of his two Archons in assault with my HQ unit. Amazingly enough, I managed to lock that Archon in melee for two turns, and actually came out on top. I lost my bodyguards and shield drones (which kept me alive) and took two wounds on my commander in the process, though, which left him weakened against the Wyches which followed. Meanwhile, I was able to thin out two of his Warrior squads with Hammerhead submunitions, but that left two more – one in a Raider, one in ruins near an objective, that I could not destroy. The sheer number of lance weapons I had to face kept my vehicles stunned, and my Fire Warriors coming on piecemeal were wiped out one by one. I managed to wipe out one unit of Warriors, destroy one Ravager, and disarm and disable a Raider, but in the end my army’s setup worked against me. I lost two objectives to none, and fifteen kill points to three.

Round 2
Deployment: Dawn of War
Mission: Cut Off the Head (see below), with Capture and Control as a secondary objective
Opponent: Space Marines (Imperial Fists)

The mission was an Annihilation variation – kill points counted, but only after you had killed one of your opponent’s HQ choices. Anything before that did not count towards the objective (but did provide bonus points for the overall standings). My opponent chose to deploy and go second, and deployed nothing before the game. I mostly concentrated my forces in one corner (near my objective), but kept my Piranhas, one Hammerhead, and one Devilfish in the other corner. His army itself consisted of two Land Raiders containing terminators – one with Lysander and Storm Shield/Thunderhammers, and one with a Chaplain – and two Razorbacks containing five-man tactical squads.  He moved them up the middle on his first turn. I responded on turn two by destroying one Razorback and immobilizing the Chaplain’s Land raider with railgun and missile fire. In return, he started moving up Lysander’s Land Raider and destroyed the Devilfish. I eventually lost the Piranhas to lascannon and assault cannon fire, and didn’t manage to do much beyond shaking the mobile Land Raider. I did manage to immobilize the other Razorback about 5 inches from his objective. Unfortunately, without the lighter vehicles as targets, most of my army was left with nothing to target. Lysander and his escort did get out twice; once to kill my Deathrains, and once to kill an immobilized Hammerhead, but beyond that I had few opportunities to kill his HQ. I kept mine on the edge of the board and out of LOS. In the end, no one was claiming either objective uncontested, and no HQs had been destroyed, so no kill points were awarded. With that, the game ended in a draw.

Round 3
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Mission: Once More Into the Breach (see below)
Opponent: Eldar

This was an interesting mission. It was a variation on kill points, but instead of points being awarded for killing units, they were awarded for forcing a morale check by causing 25% casualties during the Shooting phase (even if the check couldn’t fail). Every such check awarded to shooter one point. There was also a secondary objective that awarded points for destroying enemy units in assault. My opponent was running a hybrid Eldar list – one maximum-size Jetbike squad with a Warlock, a Jetbike Farseer with Fortune and Doom that ran with them, two Wave Serpents filled withFire Dragons, two units of Pathfinders, and a Falcon for heavy support. Being mechanized was to my advantage in this game, since my vehicles couldn’t give up points, with one exception: the gun drones. Early on, one of my Piranhas was destroyed by an immobilizing Pulse Laser shot, which caused the squadron’s drones to all disembark together. One was then killed by shuriken cannon fire from the jetbikes, forcing a morale check. The other Piranha ended up getting revenge against the Falcon, however. His Jetbikes spent half the game turbo-boosted, and along with the Farseer’s Fortune, that made landing any wounds on them difficult. The other challenge was not landing too many wounds. On two occasions, both against his Pathfinders, I managed to do so many wounds that the unit was wiped out before a morale check could be taken. Eventually, though, his Jetbikes had to slow down to take shots, and that opened them up to my attacks. I managed to force two morale checks against them in turns 5 and 6. I also forced two checks on his Fire Dragons, but not before he forced checks against my Deathrains and Fireknives. At the end of turn six, we were tied on shooting morale checks with four each. The secondary objective never came into play; we had one assault at the end of the game, with three of his Fire Dragons against my one remaning Fireknife, but neither group could hurt the other. Again, the game ended in a draw.

So, one loss and two draws. Not as good a performance as I’d hoped, but I did hold my own, more or less. Once again, a fast assault army was my undoing; this just shows that I need to practice against such armies more, especially in Spearhead deployment games. Still, I had a great time, and I hope I can attend another event sometime this year (although the schedules rarely work with mine). On a side note, my friend Dennis, who played the other Eldar army at the tournament, came in just shy of getting third place, so congratulations are in order to him!!

• Finish Deathrains. Detail work is completed, and I started painting the bases last night. They should be finished up this evening.
• Finish Piranhas. I’m on the detail stage now. Lenses and edge highlighting are complete, and now I’m on painting the cockpit and pilots. I’m hoping to have these finished up Wednesday night.
• Assemble Devilfishes. Mission accomplished. Sadly, the weather was far too damp to allow priming – we’ve had dense fog for the past several days – so I’ll have to run bare plastic on these.
• Get in practice games. I managed to get in one game against my friend Dennis’s Eldar tournament list. The list performed pretty much as I hoped it would. My Piranhas harried his armor, my Crisis Suits and Hammerheads worked on picking off infantry, and my Fire Warriors came in later to sweep up objectives. I managed to keep his assault unit (Howling Banshees led by Jain Zar) ineffective by denying it any targets. I’ve got a feel now for how the army plays, and I like it.
• Make any final changes to the list. My earlier list tweaks have been tested and found successful. I think this list is as ready as I’m going to get it.

Tonight and Wednesday are my last painting nights this week, so it’s a bit of crunch time here. Fortunately, it’s just detail work for the most part, which goes very quickly. I think I should have no problem finishing up my work before Saturday afternoon.

HQ: Commander Shas’el (274 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el(Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Crisis Bodyguards (Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Twin Linked Burst Cannon)
2 Shield Drones

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuit (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer Squadron (150 pts)
2 Piranha Light Skimmers (Fusion Blaster; Gun Drones x2; Disruption Pod, Targeting Array)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Total Roster Cost: 1499

Changes include:

• Trading Gun Drones for Shield Drones. The HQ unit’s drones have been switched out. More survivability will allow that unit to keep doing what it does longer, and to absorb fire that could otherwise one-shot the Crisis Suits.
• Merging the Piranhas into one squadron. I lose the ability to split them off, but this keeps their firepower concentrated, meaning they’re more likely to kill their targets. It also cuts two kill points from the list.
• Targeting arrays on the Piranhas. These are going to be my seek-and-destroy vehicle hunters. I want their shots to count as much as possible.
• Streamlining the Hammerheads. These changes are all paid for by trimming points off of the Hammerheads. I’ve switched both to using twin burst cannons, and I’ve removed the target locks. Sholto brought up a good point; I’m going to be moving these things 12″ whenever I can; a target lock does no good when I’m only going to be firing the railgun each turn.

One point of contention seems to be the Crisis Suit bodyguards in the HQ unit. Let me explain why I have them the way I do. This is an infantry-hunting unit, and I want to keep it between 12 and 18″ away from its targets at all times. The command suit is well-equipped for this thanks to the CIB’s 18″ range and the plasma’s 24″/12″ rapid fire range. I wanted to run other suits that would compliment it, so I went with burst cannons and plasma rifles, which have the same ranges. I twin-linked the burst cannons because it’s cheaper than a targeting array; no, it doesn’t help the plasma, but I couldn’t afford to help the plasma. Now, if I could figure out a different loadout that could accomplish the same goal for the same cost or less, I’d love to try it. If nothing else, I could switch out one suit for the new loadout, which would help with wound allocation. Suggestions are welcome!

• Finish Deathrains. The flats are done. Either tomorrow or Tuesday, I’ll start on the detail work, which should only take an hour or so per suit. Edge highlighting, lenses, some dry brushing, and then painting the base.
• Finish Piranhas. I finished the flats on these this morning, save for the pilots, who just need some minor work. Then they too move to the detail stage. They have the extra step of having the pilots (or at least their upper halves) glued in place.
• Assemble Devilfishes. My two Devilfishes shipped on Friday, so I should have them no later than the 12th. I’ll have them assembled that night. I do need to pick up some fresh glue, which I’ll probably do tomorrow on my lunch break – thank God for gaming shops a few blocks from my workplace.
• Get in practice games. I need to test my list against some other armies. Fortunately, I can run them against Dennis’s Eldar and Richard’s Orks, both of whom are going to the tourney as well. It’ll help me see if there are any weak spots.
• Make any final changes to the list. There are a couple of minor changes that I’m contemplating thanks to the feedback the list has been getting from various sources. I’m holding off until the practice games, but I’ll have a couple of alternate models (mostly different drones and vehicle weapon layouts) ready just in case.

I think I can get that done in two weeks, no sweat.

So, I’ve made a hybrid of his list and mine, which I can hopefully try out in a few practice games before the tournament itself:

HQ: Commander Shas’el (264 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el(Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Crisis Bodyguards (Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Twin Linked Burst Cannon)
2 Gun Drones

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuit (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (70 pts)
1 Piranha Light Skimmer (Fusion Blaster; Gun Drones x2; Disruption Pod)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (70 pts)
1 Piranha Light Skimmer (Fusion Blaster; Gun Drones x2; Disruption Pod)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (170 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (180 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Smart Missile System; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Total Roster Cost: 1499

On a side note, I ordered two Devilfish sprues from The War Store, so I should have three ‘fish available for my Fire Warriors by the 23rd. Everything’s falling into place for the tournament! I may not have everything painted, or even primed (curse you, winter temperatures!), but since it’s not a requirement for this tournament, I think I’ll manage.

I’ve managed more work on my Deathrains over the last couple of evenings, and I’ve finished the flats and lining. On top of the Knarloc Green basecoat, I’ve painted the suit bodies in Goblin Green, with some Gory Red (Vallejo’s Red Gore equivalent) on the team leader. The front sections of the missile pods are still in Knarloc Green to provide a bit of visual interest/contrast. After that was complete, I went in with my Zig Millenium micron pen and colored in the armor gaps. I have to say that Zig Milleniums are still my favorite micron pen; I was less than impressed with Sakura’s product. While it might be great for inking on paper, it didn’t suit my purposes nearly as well as the Zig. It may just be a difference in the pen’s nib, but whatever the difference is, it had me falling back on my old standby.

The next step is clean-up, where I’ll retouch any areas where my layers of Goblin Green and Gory Red didn’t get good coverage, make sure there’s no overpainting, and generally get things sharpened up. After that, it’s on to detail work, where I’ll do things like edge highlighting, lenses, and any weathering. Finally, I’ll get the bases finished up, and this unit will be ready to roll.

On a somewhat related note, I’m prepping for a 40K tournament on the 23rd – my first in almost a year. The missions themselves are being kept secret, but I’ve decided to go with my aggressive list, hoping that I can inflict enough damage on my opponents to keep them from hitting my fragile objective holders. There is one minor, tiny flaw with my plan – I’m short one Devilfish! In friendly games, I just proxy in using one of my spare Hammerhead hulls, but that won’t fly in a tournament. I’ve got a couple of options that I can go with to get an additional ‘fish, but I may have to revise my plans and my list somewhat if I can’t make it happen in the next 2 weeks. Fortunately, this tournament doesn’t require that things be painted, so I can run bare gray plastic if need be. It’ll be ugly, but it’ll get the job done.