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Glasgow GW today ran a 40Kin40 tournament to mark the release of the new edition of 40K. Some 2 dozen 40K gamers turned up to test their mettle. The day consisted of 3 games. I took along an army of my DIY Penumbra's Talons to join in the fun. My army consisted of 5 tacmarines w/lascannon and plasma gun; 6 scouts w/autocannon, 2 sniper rifles and bolters; 5 assault marines w/2 plasma pistols; and a heavy bolter landspeeder.
My first game was against Biel-Tan Eldar, a force consisting of 3 Dark Reapers including an Exarch, 6 Howling Banshees (Exarch again), and a Vyper jetbike. This turned out to be my crushing victory for the day.
Taking the first turn, I held my fast attack out of sight ready to react to my opponent, while my tac squad advanced and my scouts brought desultory (ie. ineffectual) fire down on the Dark Reapers. Then my opponent brought his Vyper and Banshees out, and I took some casualties. I replied by moving my landspeeder out, and my jump packers forward ready to assault the Dark Reapers. The Vyper crashed and burned under a hail of fire from the landspeeder's heavy bolter, and the Banshees took some casualties from my Troops. The Banshees then did some damage in close combat to my tacmarines, who fell back out of range. I won the game in the next turn as my jump packers moved in on the Dark Reapers, while everything else finished off the Banshees, who had consolidated into some nearby woods.
My second game was against Chaos Marines. My opponent surprised me by opting for the open side of the board. I gave him first turn, expecting him to advance. But he had a shooty force consisting of 1 squad of Chaos marines and 2 squads of Havocs, wisely armed with lots of heavy bolters and autocannons, as well as ML and lascannon. An early potshot at my unexpectedly visible landspeeder had no fatal effect.
My first turn consisted of a landspeeder drift [a mistake- this was a 3rd ed. rule that hadn't carried over into the new edition], and snake eyes on my difficult terrain roll for my tac squad, who therefore couldn't even enter the terrain they were aiming for! So my scouts stayed put waiting for support. In the end, facing an opponent who was just sitting tight and shooting, I chose to withdraw to cover to play for a minimum loss after I rolled 3 1's for saves and lost what remained of my tac squad who had finally got into the terrain they were aiming for (I had killed 1 chaos marine and lost 10 of my own 16 men at this point). The highlight of this game was my landspeeder surviving 3 hits from krak missiles and a lascannon!
My third game was also against Chaos marines, this time an assault-oriented force with a lieutenant and a unit of Bloodthirsters. This was the best game of all. On a board of fairly dense terrain including lots of ruins and some fortifications, I got my position of choice. I was able to set up a firezone (into which my opponent duly advanced), while covering my jump packers with terrain. I took a wound off the Chaos lieutenant on turn 1 thanks to my landspeeder. Unfortunately this guy was able to survive 2 subsequent turns of fire, and this was to prove decisive.
I went for victory in turn 3, at which point my opponent only had his lieutenant and 7 chaos marines in 2 uints on the table. I killed off one unit but unfortunately everything else survived everything I could throw at them. This meant that he could use his lieutenant to bring on his bloodletters. These promptly scythed through my 5-man tac-squad and into my scouts next turn (if the lieutenant had died, then the Bloodletters would've had to have joined in the existing close combat, and would therefore have been wide open to the firepower of my tac and scout squads). The game then devolved into bloody close combat.
Long story short: after 5 turns of teeth-grinding tension in which each and every turn after turn 1 (beginning with the lieutenant surviving hail after hail of heavy bolter fire) contained a potential or actual decisive turning point, I lost the game with my assault and scout sergeants remaining, while my opponent had one Bloodletter and 3 Chaos marines left. I thought I had this one more or less sewn-up from turn 2; then the Bloodletters appeared; but I still could've won it right down to the last close combat. We both agreed that this had been an outstanding game, and I took some small measure of satisfaction from the fact that my scouts had survived 3 turns after it had taken only 1 turn to wipe out my tac marines.
My second opponent was the tournament winner, while my last opponent came third. I was quite pleased therefore that the people who had beaten me had both figured in the placings. Also my army, which had attracted a lot of positive comments, won best-painted army. I was very pleased about this because I had stayed up till 2am trying in vain to finish every last detail, and, having failed to do so, had written-off my chances off winning anything on this front. This is the first time I have ever won anything at a GW event, so I was well pleased as you can imagine. I got a Battlegear badge and keyring for my efforts.
All in all then, GW Glasgow got the release of the new edition of 40K off to a flying start, and much fun was had by all. ;)
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There’s very little to add to this really, so that’s all for today. ;)
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