3rd Overall and Undefeated with CSM at the Dark Star GT

The title says it all. This last weekend 70 players gathered for a two day, five round, 1850 point warhammer tournament.

I had a blast, going 5-0,  and successfully beating my 3-2 record from last year, despite having the highest strength of schedule of anyone in the top ten. Despite my strong record I must say that out of all my events with the Chaos Space Marines, this weekend actually was the most challenging. The Minnesota meta brings a fantastic variety of armies, and this leads to many unique challenges. I found myself consistently saying, "You have me on the ropes," to my opponenets as I faced new threats such as multiple wraithlords, speed freak orks with triple dakka jets and more bikes than I have ever seen, hyper-aggressive Dark Eldar (going second and not having my preferred wave with night fight) and of course there was the finals too.

Connor, a friend who I traveled to Indy with and who I have playtested against, was my foe on table one in the last round. He was playing Fateweaver, three units of screamers, three units of flamers, and four of plaguebearers. Five months ago I said this was the one list my army couldn't beat. Back in December we played each other and he clobbered me.

6-1 At The Indy Open

I had a great time in Indianapolis at the Indy Open GT. I was painting right up until 11PM the night before in my hotel room to get my army to look at least half way decent (I didn't get lowest paint score!). While I didn't win the GT I did have an impressive showing, only losing one game (to Hans who won the last Indy Open and took 2nd this year) and winning my bracket. I doubt I will do battle reports as the new daemon book makes the tactical side of reports defunct, though I took pictures so I may post them another day. Here is my army and a list of my games:

Typhus

15 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

5 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

The Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Horrors of Tzeentch

9 Screamers of Tzeentch

Soul Grinder (Phlegm)

Aegis Defense Line (Comms Relay)


Round 1: MSU GK

He had first turn and combat squaded everything. By the time he moved up and used the jump move on his now four squads of interceptors I had very little space to land my deep strikes, leading to a soul grinder mishap. At the end of my second turn I only had 19 models on the table. Typhus was forced to roll five saves and failed four of them, dying. It was an uphill climb, but with some major help from my Heldrakes when the dust settled on turn six I was winning by a slim margin.

Announcing The Renegade Open GT (November 23rd and 24th, 2013)

Get your army ready, because there is a new GT in town. This November the inaugural Renegade Open GT, taking place just North of the Minnesota Twin City metro area, looks to become not just one of the premiere tournaments in the Midwest, but rather the entire country. The event features four rounds on Saturday, judged via a Win/Loss/Draw system, with the top sixteen moving on into a winners bracket on Sunday. The rest of the field will have their scores cleared and will enter into a separate three round tournament scored equally on their table top performance and the appearance of their army.

You should definitely check out the website, as it is one of, if not the, nicest looking tournament website in the world!

More info after the jump!

Indy Open 2013: I Am Going And So Should You

There were a few GT's the first two quarters of the year which were on my list of perspective events either because of their affordability or the praise past years had gotten. After some prodding from Hulksmash I am officially registered for the Indy Open 2013 the weekend of March 2nd and 3rd.

The event is a six round 64 person tournament using a win loss draw format. They will have over $2000 dollars in prize and are drawing some huge names from the 40K community considering it is only their second year running the event. Saturday is four games to determine fight for first on day two, and for those not still in the hunt for can play in a multitude of events including a three round RTT with brackets set up for players to play their peers based on the previous day's results. The only downside is that the event is 1750 rather than 1850, but that is a small detail in the long run.

Last I heard they had about twenty spots left, so if you are on the fence now is the time to buy them before others do!

Give Yourself A Gift: Go To The Bay Area Open

Maybe the title is trying a little too hard? Regardless, the Bay Area Open is a premier event. If I was not as restricted on traveling as I am due to my job I would certainly try and make the trip. Not only is it well run, but Reece and the Frontline/Zero Comp guys are totally boss (and hilarious). Last I heard they were just over 50% full, so do not hesitant to buy your ticket. With that I turn it over to Reece!

Ready to form Voltron! Activate interlocks! Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up; mega-thrusters are go! Form feet and legs; form arms and body; and I'll form the head!

My Tyranids Take Third at the Midwest Massacre GT

 

Nidzilla represent! My big bugs were able to lead me into a third place finish at the six round Midwest Massacre in Missouri last weekend. The first year GT had slightly disappointing attendance with only 28 playing in the event. I was the only Tyranid player, but there was a good mix of armies with only Sisters and Dark Angels being absent (even Black Templars made a strong appearance). First place was a Daemon list with 45 flamers (who I lost to in round two) and second was a foot Grey Knight list. My other opponents played Nurgle Chaos Space Marines, Mech Imperial Guard with Space Wolf allies (Tomb King from Dakka), Hybrid Blood Angels with Grey Knight allies, Henchmen Grey Knights with Space Wolf Allies, and four flier Necrons.

I will be doing full coverage and battle reports as life allows. First I have to finish covering the Golden Throne!

Pyrovores at a GT? My Midwest Massacre List

I clearly should not ever say what I will post when, as my life of being a college senior who is both triple majoring and working full time is not conducive to being able to set a firm writing schedule. But you don’t care about my lovely life; you want to know why anyone in their right mind would bring pyrovores to a GT.

The answer is simple. Pyrovores fill several holes in my current list.

Oh, that isn’t a good enough answer? Lets look at what 45 points gets you. S4 and T4 is a bit low for that cost, but 2W and a 4+ isn’t bad. The key here is that each pyrovore is a walking heavy flamer, plus its close combat attacks ignore armor (thought at I1 and 1A you don’t want to be fighting man to man. My concept is that my list is prepared to engage targets and finish them, against hordes my big expensive beasts get stuck in. Dropping 3 pyrovores in a mycetic spore will do a huge number to anything not in power armor. Using them in this way also gives me two units for line breaker and lets me put   accurate pressure deep behind enemy lines.

Golden Throne GT Review

Random Tervigon eating a Grey Knight

The Golden Throne GT has come and gone, and let me say that it was an immensely enjoyable event. This tournament was the first GT put together by Rob Pace of Heroes on Paper. The event took place August 4-5, 2012 in downtown San Jose. If hosting his first ever GT was not enough, Rob decided to continue forward and be the first 6^th edition GT in the world even when it was unclear of how the competitive scene would look. On top of that, the store that he owns was broken into two weeks before the event, and the events that followed took up a lot of his time. Despite it all Rob put together a fun event.


 Scoring based on nine categories after the jump!

Golden Throne GT Video Report

Got back from a great weekend in San Jose playing in the Golden Throne GT. This week and next there will be a full tournament review as well as all the battle reports, but today I present you with the first ever video content on Turn 7 Wargaming. This video contains interviews with my opponents and the tournament winner and is full of great thoughts, sights, and sounds related to 6th edition. Two things of note;

1. There is spoilers after the jump. If you want to read the battle reports spoiler free then watch the video