Tournament Report: Bladestorm 2012

Date : 25/26 February
Location : 256 Main Street Bairnsdale. 3.5 hours drive out of Melbourne

Points Level : 1500
Number Of Players : 34 Capped at 50
Scoring Breakdown : 
Battle:  25-100            
Sports: 0-50 (Checkbox)
Composition: 0-50
Paint 0-25 (Minimum of 9)
Link to forum : http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showforum=382
Gaming Club: BADgaming http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showforum=248


Relevance Of Composition: The total with minimum battle and paint reduced as well as sports being a checkbox leaves the tournament with 141 points that can be gained. Assuming paint scores of 16 (Standard tournament army) This is reduced to 134 points which are being played for. Over 5 Games with 34 players it is possible for 2 people to win all 5 games. However this is unlikely. An army with  a comp score of 0 would need to earn 100 battle points and would allow no army with a comp score greater than 15 to earn 85. Comp playing such a huge factor in this event reduced the chances of winning substantially if a 0 comp army was to be taken. Only 1 army recieved a 0 for composition with the majority earning somewhere in the high teens. The top 10 places was dominated with high comp armies indicating that maybe the comp hit was slightly too heavy and lent itself well to people taking weaker armies and recieving low wins or draws until day 2.

Comp represented 37% of relative score in this event.
Battle had a relativity value of only 55%.
Paint (Above Standard Army) had a relevance of 8%.


My List:
As stated above, I clearly misjudged the relevance of comp for this event. I took an army more suited to an environment where comp represents less than the 37% Bladestorm weighted it at. Realistically the Dark Eldar autohate due to the the double ravager/blasterborn combo comped me out of the event. Regardless, I didn't achieve the battle score I needed which came down to bad rolls in 3 of my 5 games and generally getting outplayed in 1 of them. I wouldn't take this list again unless comp was closer to 25% of relevance, and even then, I'd make changes.

HQ:
Haemonculus w/ Shattershard + Venomblade

TROOPS:
20 Kabalite Warriors w/2 Splintercannons


10 Kabalite Warriors w/1 Splintercannon


5 Kabalite Warriors w/Blaster
Raider w/ Flickerfields


7 Wyches w/Agzr Hekatrix
Raider w/ Flickerfields


6 Wracks w/Liquifer Gun
Raider w/ Flickerfields


ELITES:
4 Kabalite Trueborn w/4 Blasters
Venom w/ Extra Splintercannon + Nightshields



4 Kabalite Trueborn w/4 Blasters
Venom w/ Extra Splintercannon + Nightshields


HEAVY SUPPORT:
Ravager w/ Nightshields + Flickerfields


Ravager w/ Nightshields + Flickerfields


What's Wrong With That List?
A number of people asked me what was wrong with my list when we were discussing comp scores for the events. Many felt it was too strong for the field (And my comp score of 17 agrees). However, what many people who do not play dark eldar fail to realise is just how easy the 10 man squad is to kill. Furthermore the lack of squad leaders on the 20 man and the wracks makes them run very easily if somebody observant has the ability to cause enough wounds. There is also a complete lack of shockprows and Torment Grenade Launchers meaning i am unable to tank shock at all, and once the raiders lose their darklances they become essentially useless.


Venue:
Well well. After a 3.5 hour road trip we arrived in Bairnsdale. Sunk a few bourbons and met up with some mates who were staying in a different area of the town to us. Difsta, Durkah, Esrun and myself retired to our cabin just shy of midnight and made preparations for the next day. Durkah and I had a mostly restless night due to being too tall for our beds -.- but come morning we were all good and ready to go.

The Bladestorm venue was, put simply, amazing. Very spacious. Could have easily fit another 5-6 tables in there and the event would have run comfortably at 50. The Venue literally shared a carpark with the nearest maccas and subway as well as being in walking distance of countless other options (including a rocking souvlaki place we found across the road)


And then we found out it was air conditioned.
AIR CONDITIONED
Fuggorf, I actually love you forever.


Missions:
Missions were good. Some where a little funky, but were all simple and mostly, they were all balanced. Every army had a chance to win each mission. Props to zagamihammer and valk down, really enjoyed those ones guys, didn't so much love beacons.


ZagamiHammer: Scalps in its most basic form. Each killpoint is given as a counter to the unit that killed the enemy unit. Wiping out that unit removes the counter. Most counters at the end of the game wins. Spearhead Deployment


Drawhammer2: An attempt to fix drawhammer by placing a 3rd objective in the middle of the board which was only counted if both of the other objectives were held in true drawhammer fashion. Spearhead Deployment


Beacons: 5 Objectives which could be 'turned on' by capturing them. Once turned on you could move away from the objective and hold it until the enemy contested it or took it back for themselves. Pitched Battle Deployment.


Valkyrie Down: Center 'objecitve' a valkyrie crashes as per reserve roll and leaves an objective in the center of the table. MOST scoring units around the valkyrie wins the game. Dawn of War deployment.


Secret Missions: Pick your primary and secondary from a list of missions. Reveal them to your opponent at the end of the game. Bonus points achieved for any of the 5 missions you could pick as opposed to the other 5 bonus points. Pitched Battle Deployment.


Terrain:
Terrain was, for the most part, excellent. Especially considering the club is very small in comparison to the number of players there on the day. But please, dear god, whoever owned table #10, the eldar one...never let it be used in a tournament again. It looks really really cool, but is amazingly impractical and frustrating to work with.


A number of the tables were quite impressive such as the one with the huge drawbridge on it. Props the ex WSWA guys who brought down tables as well. Mad props guys :)


Overall:
Was a great event. Loved the road trip up and had a great time throwing some dice, having a couple of drinks with some mates and watching Esrun take out his first event.


Ben and Les did a fantastic job running the event and I'll definately be back next year!


Viva La Bladestorm! :D