Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Terracon: My thoughts!

TERRACON 2012

So! After 2 years of various life interferences with me making the trek over to Naracoorte, in 2012, I finally had the green light to visit the famous Terracon :D

Difsta, Capt.Sparrow and Paddlepop Lion and I piled into our car for the 6 hour trip from Melbourne to     Naracoorte... It seemed like it was going to get old quickly, but the ride seemed dramatically shorter than it did on the way back.

When we arrived we checked in to our accomodation and hit the pub, meeting up with a couple of the South Australian guys. Watching DAMAGE go badass on punk kids was quite entertaining :)

So, Now would be a good time to post my list i suppose, It's slightly different to the one I posted earlier.
Inquisitor

Psychic Communion


Inquisitor
Psychic Communion
Servo Skull


11 Warrior Acolytes w/ Stormbolters
Mystic



10x Grey Knight Strike Squad
2x Psycannons

Psybolts
Hammer

10x Grey Knight Strike Squad

2x Psycannons

Psybolts
Hammer

10x Grey Knight Strike Squad

2x Psycannons

Psybolts
Hammer

10x Interceptors
2x Psycannons
Hammer

Dreadnought
2x Autocannons
Psybolts


Dreadnought
2x Autocannons

Psybolts.





This army is the king of 24" firepower, so much dakka at range, seemed like it would punish anything that wasnt mech.

One glaring weakness with the list is the lack of any way to deal with AV14, and while I hoped it wouldnt pop up too often, i managed to play 2 armies with landraiders, both containing a deathstar that would easily have been shot at...not so easily assaulted :P


We rocked up to the town hall at around 8.30 on the saturday morning...I wasn't too hungover and was keen to get stuck into some 40kays, all be it, with an army I had yet to play a game with!

Venue was pretty good, same old town hall for those who'd been there before...Walking distance to...well, everything, it's naracoorte...

Game 1: Objectives, Retarded Deployment, VS Craig: Grey Knights


Craig is one of the melbourne guys who came up, top bloke, always a good game. Neither of us had played our armies before and we both forgot lots of special rules, it was a fun game :P

He had a similar list to mine, 20 Strikes, Interceptors, a dreadknight, dreadnought and grandmaster.

My alpha strike came down turn two and wiped a unit off  the board, and did significant damage to another one, the game revolved around a central combat involving his interceptors, strike knights, grand master and units of my strike knights and interceptors. The winner of the combat was essentially the winner of the game. I took it out and won the game.

Result: 18-5 Victory


Game 2: Kill Points, 12" Deployment, VS Mark: Necrons


My first game against a South Australian :D Mark was a nice guy and we had a fun game, the mission favoured my army heavily as i was able to select his tomb spyder as my secret killpoint and collect 4 points for it when it died second turn. Among his other units were the two special characters which grant abilities and remove them from my units, aswell as 30 immortals, deathmarks and a barge.

My alpha strike proved too strong again, removing 3 units from the board when I came down. I proceeded to destroy a number of small units as the game progressed. He used his veil which scattered off the board, losing a 300 odd point unit, as well as another unit of similar value failing on ld10 and running 12" off the board.

Result: 19-5 Victory


Game 3: Bean Counters, Table Quarters, VS Neil: Space Wolves


So after winning 2 games, I get to play against some of the serious competition for the event. I've never played Neil before, but being a regular gaming buddy with a number of the Vic ATC players, I've heard his name pop up, as well as seeing him on wargamer here and there. Neil's space wolf list was solid and his army was much stronger in a bean counter mission like this one.

I played the mission wrong and thats all there is to it. I tried to deepstrike but Njal hooded one of my communions and half my shit didnt come on :(

I needed to deploy on the board against him to utilise turn 1 shunt on the interceptors and i failed to realise this. I struggled for bonus points, but in the end, went down.

Result: 5-19 Loss


At the conclusion of day 1 i was 39 from 60, and feeling alright. It was time t hit the bar and other shenanigans :D

Game 4: Scalps, 12" Depoyment, VS Josh: Grey Knights.


Josh is one of the guys I came up in the car with, and we'd had extensive discussions about our lists on the 6 hour drive up to Naracoorte. It was the general consensus between he and myself that my list was stronger.

I didnt do anything differently to what i should have during turns 1 and 2 when i deployed, however losing 2 killpoints to a fleeing ld10 unit really does hurt. Similarly, I managed to shoot down his strike knights, make them flee for 2 turns successively and have them regroup only 1-3" from the board edge.

I used my interceptors in deepstrike to bait out his landraider and deathcults with coteaz, with the mindset that he'd trade 1killpoint in killing the interceptors for the 2 and possible third (land raider) I'd get from shooting 2 squads of strikes  and assaulting the remainders into the deathcults.

My dreadnoughts were effective at de-meching, destroying a razorback and Josh's dreadnought, as wel as the chimera late game.

My shooting prooved ineffective and sanctuary killed 2 guys on the charge. One unit was out of range by an inch and this basically lost me the combat.

I was up 4-2 KP on turn 5, we rolled to continue, did so, and i ended up losing the game 2-4.

Result: 5-19 Loss


Game 5: BOB! 12" Deployment, VS Chris, Spacemarines.


Last game was capture Bob! the moving objective

I deployed my entire army on the board wiht the exception of the interceptors who were to deepstrike on my mystic turn 2. I played the game very systematicllly, shootingthe units on one half of the board until they died, then focusing on the other half.

Chris' deathstar, in the assault terminators in the landraider, exited on turn 4 when nothing, except the landraider itself was left. They took bob and ran into their deployment zne before being met by my remaining firepower. 2 squads of GK's charged in, and over 2 turns, won the combat, consolidated, and charged an immoblised landspeeder in my deployment zone, winning me the game.

Result: 18-5 Victory


Overall, I was happy with the way i performed, although dissatisfied about my performance in game 3, I felt that I played all other 4 missions the way they were meant to be played by my army. It was a learning experience for me, and, while this army may not be making an immediate return to the tabletop, A similar one using a librarian and coteaz may be used in the near future, depending on comp weighting, possibly eastcon.

Till next time

-Matt

Terracon Reults Published

TERRACON XIV 2012 Results
--------------------------------------------------
1st Overall - Dan Gilmour
2nd Overall - Tom Damin
3rd Overall - Neil Phillips
4th Overall - Myles Tyshing
5th Overall - Ash Cross
--------------------------------------------------
1st Best General - Josh Diffey
2nd Best General - Anthony Humpage
3rd Best General - Matt Antonello
--------------------------------------------------
1st Best Painted - Chris Appleby
2nd Best Painted - Jonas Dawson
3rd Best Painted - Caine Marshall
--------------------------------------------------
1st Best Sportsmanship - Shaun Hogan
2nd Best Sportsmanship - Alex Jackson
3rd Best Sportsmanship - Hew Evans
--------------------------------------------------
Players Choice - Josh Leondaris
--------------------------------------------------
Best Presented - Craig Laird
-------------------------------------------------
-
Wooden Spoon - Kane McDonald