The NOVA Open

I attended both the NOVA Open tournament on Saturday and the Whiskey Challenge on Friday night.

For the Whiskey challenge I faced a fellow 40k blogger Mr. Canady (of Kennedy 40k)

http://kennedy40k.blogspot.com

He brought his Space Cops! (Bike heavy list with 5 Dual Twin-AutoCannon Dreadnoughts!
I brought my 1850 foot angels (That I recently used at the ICGT) but to add 150, I upgraded the Librarian to Mephiston.

The 1850 foot list is designed to destroy Mech marines. The match up in lists did not favor Kennedy, I won, and we both had a great time.
Thanks again to Mr. Canady.

On Saturday I woke up with a bit of a hangover (not something you want to have when you are about to play 12 hours of 40k)

Anyways, here is what I brought.

Librarian w/Shield of Sanguinius, The Sanguine Sword

10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Flamer, Combi-Plasma
10 Tactical Marines w/Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Combi-Plasma
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun

3 Sanguinary Priests w/1 Power Sword

Attack Bike w/Multi-Melta
Attack Bike w/Multi-Melta
Attack Bike w/Multi-Melta

10 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
10 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
10 Devastators w/2 Multi-Meltas, 2 Plasma Cannons

This list is designed to break and man-handle razor spam, rhino spam, and mech anything.
I assume there will be an abundance of these types of lists.
It is not an "all comers" list by any stretch of the imagination.

ROUND 1:
My first opponent was Patrick Vetter, he brought Necrons.

The Deceiver
Lord w/Warscythe, Destroyer Body, Resurrection orb.

10 Necron Warriors
10 Necron Warriors

8 Immortals
8 Immortals

Monolith
Monolith
Monolith

So, trip monoliths, ouch.

We played the first NOVA mission, Dawn Of War, Victory points.

Patrick deep struck his monoliths in front of my base of firepower, thereby making it difficult to torrent his actual necrons. For the first three turns, my objective was to kill warriors and Immortals to cause a phase out. This proved ineffective as Patrick made "we'll be back" rolls very well. (failing 1 out of 28, I believe) After this I had to switch my strategy and go after monoliths and the deceiver. I was able to kill the deceiver, and use The Sanguine sword to beat down a monolith. I got lucky and used a melta to glance one to death.
In the end, I was ahead by about 265 Victory Points, enough to grab the Win.
Definitely a tough game.

ROUND 2:
Nick Nanavati, who brings a version of Chaos Daemons known as FATECRUSHER!

Fateweaver
BloodThirster w/Unholy Might

6 Bloodcrushers w/Icon, Instrument, Fury
6 Bloodcrushers w/Icon, Instrument, Fury
6 Fiends of Slaanesh

5 Horrors w/Bolt of Tzeentch, Changeling
5 Horrors w/Bolt of Tzeentch
5 Horrors w/Bolt of Tzeentch
5 Horrors w/Bolt of Tzeentch
8 Bloodletters

3 Screamers
3 Screamers
3 Screamers

We played the second NOVA mission, Pitched Battle, 5 objectives.

It is rare to be handed a list and lose the game, which is what happened.
Daemons are my worst nightmare for this list.
I thought of doing things one of two ways.
1) Castle up in one zone and play the Counter-Fire game (like I do with my foot guard) which would lose me an objective game.
2) Spread out and try to focus fire on threats while sacrificing units. If I roll well, I can win objective games.

I chose 2. I put the plan in motion, sacrificing units in order to counter-fire.
In the end, I had lost 85-90% of my forces. I had killed the Bloodthirster, a unit of Bloodcrushers, most of the other unit, the Fiends, and 2 squads of Horrors, with one other unit being slightly damaged.

Nick was a great and fun opponent, despite the HEAVY beating I took, we both had a great time.

ROUND 3:
Neil Gilstrap, who brings Space Wolves. (Finally, a Mech army! Just Kidding, they are all on foot.)

Logan Grimnar
10 Wolf Guard w/2 Power Weapons, 2 Terminators, 2 Cyclone Missile Launchers
10 Wolf Guard w/2 Power Weapons, 2 Terminators, 2 Cyclone Missile Launchers
10 Wolf Guard w/1 Power Weapon, 2 Terminators, 2 Cyclone Missile Launchers

3 Thunderwolf Cavalry w/2 Storm Shields, Powerfist
3 Thunderwolf Cavalry w/2 Storm Shields, Powerfist

6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs w/5 Missile Launchers
5 Long Fangs w/4 Missile Launchers

The mission is spearhead, Table Quarters.

We setup across from each other, both kind of hiding behind a HUGE piece of LoS blocking terrain in the middle. This let his Thunderwolf cav move up unmolested to a turn 1 assault. Bollicks. We traded fire and I was finally able to kill all the Thunderwolf cav while suffering "minor" losses.
I stupidly combat squaded my missile devs, allowing Neil to take saves on his terminators from Krak missiles, d'oh.
In the end, Neil had a full 10 man squad in one corner, 2 partial long fangs in his home quarter, and a lone model hiding in a third quarter (out of LoS, behind the huge terrain).
Logan was in my quarter w/1 wound left. (He would not die)
I still had a good bit of my army left.
This was a very close game, in VP's and quarters. Sadly, I made some mistakes (like combat squadding missile devs) and lost this one.
Again, Neil was an excellent and fun opponent, we also had a great time.

ROUND 4:
Michael Perez, and His orks. (aka, Finally an army I might do well against?)

Big Mek w/Kustom Force Field
Big Mek w/Kustom Force Field

10 Lootas
10 Lootas
10 Lootas

10 Ork Boyz w/Nob, Powerclaw, Bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram
10 Ork Boyz w/Nob, Powerclaw, Bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram
10 Ork Boyz w/Nob, Powerclaw, Bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram
10 Ork Boyz w/Nob, Powerclaw, Bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram
10 Ork Boyz w/Nob, Powerclaw, Bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram
10 Ork Boyz w/Nob, Powerclaw, Bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram

3 Warbuggies w/3 Twin-Linked Rokkits
3 Warbuggies w/3 Twin-Linked Rokkits
3 Warbuggies w/3 Twin-Linked Rokkits

3 Big Gun Kannons w/1 Ammo Runt
3 Big Gun Kannons w/1 Ammo Runt
3 Big Gun Kannons w/1 Ammo Runt

Wow. Lots of stuff.
We replayed mission 2, which is Pitched Battle, 5 Objectives.

We deployed across from each other, hugging cover for our infantry.
I did not combat squad anything except the Plasma/Multi-Melta Devs.
I was able to destroy 2 trukks with missiles and then kill the occupants with boltgun fire.
I took little casualties from the rest of the ork firepower, as I had FNP bubbles on every unit and cover from their already sub-par shooting ability.

His remaining 4 trukks got assaults off. Apart from the Nobs, his charging was not very effective.
FNP FTW. I was able to either 1) Repel charges (10 orks v 10 marines is not a guarantee of wiping me.) or 2) Counter charge and wipe.
By the end of turn 3, I had destroyed all of his scoring units. After that, the game became hide and cleanup. I won 3-0.

Mr. Perez was also a great and fun opponent (who also won a raffle prize).


CONCLUSION:
So, in the tournament I went 2-2, which I am completely fine with. (especially with never facing a bread+butter matchup, I guess all the Mech Spam was winning games, unlike me, lol)

I won the Whiskey Challenge, which was an awesome amount of fun (even if I wasn't playing 40k), but it allowed to keep my streak of "undefeated when drunk".

I made some errors in this tournament definitely. My random ass pairings didn't help.
(There was only 1 Necron player, and 3 Daemon players)
I am kind of glad I got to face some different armies, and very glad I was able to face new people.

On the weekend I was 3-2.
This brings me to 77W 29L 20D, in Fifth Edition.

-Mike