Great Lakes Team Tournament Thoughts

This past Saturday FC40k hosted an Adepticon-style four player team tournament at Gamer's Sanctuary. Being the good hosts that we are, we decided that winning was not that important. OK, we actually got our butts kicked. But it was all in good fun. I was part of FC40k's 'B' team. Though since team 'A' didn't actually play, I guess we were the 'A'-team. Much like the original A-team TV show, our shooting seemed to miss everything.

Our Team "Knights of the Sanctuary"  -  Jevin (IG), Me (BA), Valace2 (GK), John (GK)

Actually, it wasn't all that bad. Our team was cobbled together and we were up against some of the best players from around the state, including local pro Bill Kim. Although our 1-5 record didn't account for many battle points, we had close games that came down to a couple of bad dice rolls and failed morale saves.

Picture from our one win - Jevin (IG) and I (BA) did pretty well on the heavy terrain table against BA+GK

It almost goes without saying at this point in 5th edition, but it was another Imperial civil war in the field of sixteen players that showed up (7x Blood Angels!, 4x Grey Knights, 3x Imperial Guard, 1x Black Templar, 1x Space Wolves).  Most players brought mech heavy lists that would have made a Necron scarab farm list fat and happy.  With the Adepticon team rules allowing IA units, there were some creative models hitting the field.  I would have loved to play my Tau and use my IA stuff, but it wasn't in theme with my IG and GK allies.   I guess my Blood Angels Contemptor could have made an appearance.

I practiced two team games leading up to the tournament against mech GK and found my mech BA lists lacking. At 1000 points with a restricted FoC, I didn't know how much more creative I could be.

Sanguinary priest (Corbulo model) with a jump pack painted up the night before with new GW paints

As was pondering my mech list options, I asked myself, what would Brother Jeramiah do?  Fortunately, I had just heard from him as he continues his deployment in Afghanistan.  Thanks to him, I tried out some of the new paints on a modified Corbulo model I had gotten from Mike.  I was very pleased with how the red turned out with the new Carroburg Crimson shade. Inspired by my painting, I decided to add a unit of jumpers to my list in place of some minimum unit assault squads in LasPlas Razorbacks.

1000 points Blood Angels Team list (Restricted FoC)

     HQ: Librarian w/ Jump pack (Shield of Sanguinius, Unleash Rage)
     EL: Sanguinary Priest w/ Jump pack
     Tr: 10x Assault Marines, 2x melta, PF
     Tr: 5x Assault Marines, Flamer, Razorback TLHvyFlamer
     Tr: 5x Scouts, 1x ML, 4x Sniper, Cloaks
     FA: Baal Predator, HB Sponsons
     FA: Land Speeder, MM
     Hvy: Predator, AC+Lascannon sponsons

Not the most competitive list, but I thought it was fun to play some jumpers. I used the whole available FoC that I had. The scouts had a great 1st game, then took the next two rounds off.  The Land Speeder killed nothing. Unfortunately, I seemed to have a hard time cracking tanks and often had to assault to get to the troops inside. My 10 man assault squad with the libby and priest were definitely my MVPs on the day.

It was interesting for me to see what the other Blood Angels players brought. I was surprised at how effective some units were against us.  Furioso Librarian dreadnoughts, outflanking Flamestorm Baal Predators, Death company in a Godhammer Land Raider?   It was cool to see units that the internet feels are uncompetitive work in a tournament. I stopped playing a lot of those options and now I am eager to try out some more things that go against the Internet mentality.   Here are some pictures from the day.  Congratulations to the winners. Next time we will have to visit your house.

Thanks to Cerberus for being the TO and to Michael for setting up everything and getting the word out.  It's nice for someone like me to just be able to show up and play.  Thanks guys.