Road to STGCC - Army Prep

One of the best parts when getting ready for a tournament is the prep up to it. I enjoy it mainly because a dateline usually forces me to complete parts of my army that I have been putting away for months, sometimes years. Having played a few games now, I was prepared to commit to the painting table. 

Sanguinary Guard all primed and magnetized. In the back you can spy the 2 Thunderhammer Death Company Marines too

Using Astorath's wings I cobbled together my own Slamguinus from parts I had in my bits box.

I wanted the actual Smash Captain to use a cooler set of wings because he was after all using Angel's Wings, the Chapter Relic. Scouting around for a nice set, I found Astorath lying at the bottom of my box of semi painted models. Like a strange sign, when I picked Astorath up, the backpack slid off!

Based, and primed, here are the Golds that I used to paint the Sanguinary Guard

I use the Vallejo Model Air range because shooting metallic golds through an airbrush meant amazingly smooth colors.

Starting with Gold, Bright Brass and then a final highlight of Polished Gold

I had a few Primaris Marines lying around and some extra white, so I zenithal highlight these models too

Now to let the models dry

Detailing! Some hate it but I love it the most. Brings such a strong pop to the models and them alive.

The wings took me a lot of time to get proper.

Some additional Scouts to help put more of my stuff in Reserves

We are slowly getting there

Based and ready to rock and roll! 

I did not add too much to my existing army but these were a blast to paint. I forgot how much I do love painting. I do have to find a better way to base these fellas. Regan was kind enough to pass me a few metal shells but I did not have enough time to add them. Maybe the next time I polish the models up I will attach them to the bases. 

Road to STGCC - Actual 2v2 Practice

Managed to get organize a game with Wai Liong who runs Here Be Geeks. We originally planned to do a fully painted batrep but because I need some practice for the upcoming tournament, I asked if he was open to teaming up with me to play against Patrick and Keith. Unfortunately since most of us were still firming up our lists majority of our armies were not fully painted up. 

Almost firmed up list

1000 points of Blood Angels in a Battalion.
Slamguinus with Angel's Wing, Thunderhammer, StormShield
Smash Captain with THSS
Death Company x 10 with Thunderhammer and Power Fist
Sanguinary Guard x 5 all with Power Fists
Scouts with Shotguns x 5
Scouts with Shotguns x 5
Scouts with Sniper Rifles x 5
Sicaran Tank with Autocannons and Heavy Bolters

This was basically the list I intended to bring to STGCC with maybe slight modification. The plan again was to send Slamguinus against the biggest threat and take it down.

In this game I was playing to get myself acquainted with my list.

Deployment - it's amazing when all the minis are painted to such high quality

I have to point out that Wai Liong is not only an amazing painter but also great at converting. His favourite seem to be mecha or large robots.

Dark Mechanicus - most of his models are lovingly crafted, some merging parts from Forgeworld making the model expensive!

Deployment

Keith and Pat brought Chaos with Nids. Pat brought the same list he played against me previously so I prewarned Wai Liong of the speed of Pat's Nids. Unfortunately some miscalculation later, Pat's Genestealer made it into combat.

These are some amazing models! Those Genestealer look angry! 

Chaos and Nids sure seem to move very quickly! 

Turn 1

I had little choice but to send in my Death Company to attempt to remove that pesky Dreadclaw only to have it limp away on one wound. On the flip side, I somehow managed to save an ungodly number of 6+ FNP on the Death Company due to some mortal wounds coming my way.

Our gun line was totally overwhelmed

In a bid to protect Keith's Daemon Prince, Pat wrapped his Gants around it

Though I still did manage to charge Slamguinus in

We were almost tabled at this stage so Wail Liong and I both called the game. It was amazing to see the painted armies though! Wai Liong and I will be doing a Blog Challenge after Orktober so stay tuned!

Unfortunately I didn't really learn too much about my army in this game. It was way too skewed but still it was important for me to get used to deep strike timings, model placement, strategems and army wide rules. 

Road to STGCC - Game 2: Team Practice

Jason and I clearly needed some practice so we found some time after discussing how our two armies should work in tandem with each other. The STGCC tournament was 2 players fighting 2 players, basically meaning that our armies had to work as 1.

Discussing this with Jason, my team mate, we were both quite certain that there will be a shift in the meta as more people bring out Imperial Knights, Castellan Knights etc. My Slamguinus was very suitable to take it down. This is how you can create the guy. 

Jason is then responsible for clearing chaff and bringing the Objective Holders. So we broke out our armies and headed out to GREX Queensway for our Team Practice. We played the ITC rulepack. 

Deployment and Turn 1 

I managed to get turn 1 so advanced the Death Company up to attempt the charge but failed!

Charge!!

A very short lived game with me quickly losing to Jason. While we did not manage to actually test our lists, our plan was to get accustomed to our armies. The key take away from this game was that my role in our team was to go for the big heavy hitters such as Imperial Knights and Characters.

The Road to STGCC - Game 1 vs Patrick

So Jason and I decided to team up for the Singapore Comic Convention which took place this September at Marina Bay Sands.

Patrick agreed to get me back into the game so I broke out my old army to try it against him. If you guys still remember, this was what it looked like from the last 3v3 that Zim, Mark and I went to.

The army that helped our team clinch Runner Up in the last 3v3

At this point, I was super rusty with rules and 40k in general. This would be a battle to wake me up. Our game was hosted at Battle Quarters.

Our host decided to decorate the table FULL OF TERRAIN! I had a great laugh mainly because it favoured a close combat army. Guess what Pat brought to the table that day? An army full of Genestealers.

Like a Son of Sanguinus, I soldiered on.

Deployment

 I chose to deploy the Death Company up front, hoping to take Turn 1 and charge him using Forlorn Fury the strategem. Unfortunately I didn't manage to secure the first turn, allowing Pat to move up his Genestealers enmasse.

Hormagaunts as meat shields

Bottom of Turn 2

By the bottom of Turn 2, I had little left. Pat destroyed the Death Co, killing off most of my hard hitters and forced the bulk of my tanks into a corner. We called it at Turn 3 I think.

The list needed work so I went back to tune it.

I really liked Slamguinus, the Smash Captain so I added another into my list. I dropped my Razorbacks in favor of Sanguinary Guard. I also dropped Lemartes to allow me to bring in the SG.

Stay tuned as I bring more bite sized posts for the STGCC journey that Jason and I went through. 

1000 Points of Blood Angles

After signing up for the 2v2 and 3v3 tournaments a couple of months back with the guys from this blog, I knew I had to work on the army to get it ready. Blood Angels would work best with a strong close combat element due to their Chapter Tactics of +1 to Wound on the turn they charge, get charge or make Heroic Intervention.

With this in mind, I started of by creating a list with a ton of Death Company.

Death Company in progress

Unfortunately I was not aware that Bolters were actuallybetter than Bolt Pistols in this edition, at least for the Death Company so I went and glued on their arms! I usually magnetize their melee arm and never once thought that the Pistols would be less useful. Hindsight....

Extracted some jump packs from other box sets

Testing all the weapon combinations for the Death Company - these were magnetized so I had to check polarity as well

Managed to get a game in with Marshall to test out the list

I then realised that my list could not make the cut. It was a paper thin army getting shot to bits was way too easy. I had to trim down the Death Company to make room for some guns. After watching how Marshall expertly used his Hellblasters, I ordered a box of them. It was also at this time that Jason suggested that I do the Slamguinus build and I was desperate to make this list work.

Broke out the old faithful-Sicaran

I went on to play a few more games and as the time trickled away, I decided to bite the bullet and power ahead with my list.

This then forced me to break out the airbrush and work quickly to complete the models.

The few more models I had to complete in time

Slamguinus in the middle of paint works

Through some of the games, I realised that I could upgrade the Death Co to Power Weapons so I hacked off some of the built arms for magnetization.

The fun of building a competitive list is that it encourages you to find optimal builds. While doing that, I still have my limits, such as I can't see my BA ever ganging up with Dark Eldar for example.

Just one of the completed Death Co

An afternoon of Scouts

This brush proved to be a fantastic buy for $8

I paint in batches of 5 as I use a lot of wet paints. This allowed drying time and consistency between models

More hacking and modelling as I added to the Death Co

One of the lists that I came up with had a Librarians with a jump pack

The 2018 FAQ then hit! My list was no longer viable! I could no longer hide the bulk of my army in the skies waiting to drop as the Power Levels cannot exceed those on the ground.

This led to me shrinking the Death Co, adding more tanks in the form of Razorbacks and creating a sold anchor. It also altered my playstyle forcing me to consider using more ground based tactics instead of depending on just Deep Strike. Oddly, this meant I was improving as a player.

Reaching the end stages, I was looking for Scout decals and managed to find them on the Primaris decal sheet

Glossed the shoulder pads in preparation for the decals. Flock on too! 

My fully magnetized Slamguinus

Now for the whole crew

After a couple of weeks of work, the 1000 point army was ready. 

This is the army I took to both the 2v2 and 3v3 events - oddly enough with very different results! Same army, quite a large pool of players but wow, the results stumped me. Feel free to go compare and give me your thoughts on why I won or lost.

GREX 3v3 Tournament

It was all a bit hazy but wow, Zim, Mark and myself just returned from Singapore's biggest tournament. We had 42 people in attendance. Using the ITC ruleset, this was held at RELC Hotel. The terrain was well organized and most of the tables had great amount of cover and LOS blocking terrain. Certain tables even had themed terrain such as the Necron pyramid and the Martian table. Very well done. 

The three of us, Mark (who is also a regular contributor to this blog), Zim and myself entered as a team. Originally it was meant to be Jason but he had a wedding to attend and Zim graciously stepped in to fill in for Jason. Zim is strategically sound and plays very good 40k. Mark has many tricks and great modelling skills. I am just eye candy (my models, not me). 

Those who read the previous weeks' tournament would have realised how my games tanked, with me being tabled twice and losing another. Unfortunately I had little time so I brought the same list to this tournament, prepared to go down in blaze of glory. My brief to the guys was to just send me in the grinder.  

Amazing turnout! 

This tourney pits teams of 3 against another team of 3. Each player nominates a Champion in secret and roll off. The loser declares their player and the opponent responds, pitting another suitable player to counter the other player. In effect this created a situation where we could not really affect the match ups too much. Each player would field 1000 points and fight using the ITC ruleset.

Here's my list which mirrors exactly last week's list:
++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - FW Adeptus Astartes) [67 PL, 1000pts] ++

+ HQ +
Captain [6 PL, 129pts]: 2. Artisan of War, Jump Pack, Storm shield, The Angel's Wing (replaces jump pack), Thunder hammer, Warlord

Lemartes [7 PL, 129pts]

+ Troops +
Scout Squad [4 PL, 55pts]
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Boltgun

Scout Squad [4 PL, 55pts]
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Boltgun

Scout Squad [4 PL, 55pts]
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout: Astartes shotgun
. Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Boltgun

+ Elites +
Death Company [18 PL, 218pts]: Jump Pack
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power axe
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power axe
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power sword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power sword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword

Relic Sicaran Battle Tank [14 PL, 185pts]: Heavy bolter
. Two heavy bolters: 2x Heavy bolter

+ Dedicated Transport +
Razorback [5 PL, 87pts]: Twin heavy bolter

Razorback [5 PL, 87pts]: Twin heavy bolter

++ Total: [67 PL, 1000pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

Mark

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [71 PL, 1000pts] ++
+ No Force Org Slot +
Legion: Iron Warriors
+ HQ [11 PL, 182pts] +
Chaos Lord with Jump Pack [6 PL, 104pts]: Mark of Khorne, Plasma pistol [7pts], Power sword [4pts], The Murder Sword
Warpsmith [5 PL, 78pts]: Cold and Bitter, Combi-bolter [2pts], Flamer [9pts], Mark of Slaanesh, Meltagun [17pts], Power axe [5pts], Warlord
+ Troops [20 PL, 251pts] +
Chaos Cultists [12 PL, 136pts]: 33x Chaos Cultist w/ Autogun [132pts], Mark of Slaanesh
. Cultist Champion [4pts]: Autogun
Chaos Cultists [3 PL, 40pts]: 9x Chaos Cultist w/ Autogun [36pts], Mark of Slaanesh
. Cultist Champion [4pts]: Autogun
Chaos Space Marines [5 PL, 75pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion [13pts]: Boltgun, Chainsword
. 3x Marine w/ Boltgun [39pts]
. Marine w/ heavy weapon [23pts]: Heavy bolter [10pts]
+ Elites [16 PL, 228pts] +
Helbrute [7 PL, 112pts]: Missile launcher [25pts], No Chaos Mark, Reaper autocannon [15pts]
Khorne Berzerkers [9 PL, 116pts]
. Berzerker Champion [24pts]: Chainaxe [1pts], Plasma pistol [7pts]
. Chainaxe and plasma pistol [24pts]: Chainaxe [1pts], Plasma pistol [7pts]
. 4x Chainsword and Chainaxe [68pts]: 4x Chainaxe [4pts]
+ Fast Attack [10 PL, 130pts] +Hellforged Dreadclaw Drop Pod [10 PL, 130pts]
+ Heavy Support [14 PL, 209pts] +
Havocs [10 PL, 133pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion [13pts]: Bolt pistol, Boltgun
. 2x Havoc w/ boltgun [26pts]
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon [28pts]: Autocannon [15pts]
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon [28pts]: Autocannon [15pts]
. Havoc w/ heavy weapon [38pts]: Missile launcher [25pts]
Hellforged Rapier Battery [4 PL, 76pts]
. Hellforged Rapier and crew [4 PL, 76pts]: 2x Chaos Space Marine Crew [20pts], Quad heavy bolter [36pts]
++ Total: [71 PL, 1000pts] ++
Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)


Zim++ Supreme Command Detachment +1CP (Imperium - Adeptus Custodes) [26 PL, 477pts] ++
+ No Force Org Slot +
Open the Vaults (1 Relic)
+ HQ [26 PL, 477pts] +
Shield Captain in Allarus Terminator Armor [8 PL, 142pts]: Guardian Spear [12pts]
Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike [9 PL, 175pts]: Auric Aquilis, Salvo Launcher [25pts], Warlord
Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike [9 PL, 160pts]: Eagle's Eye, Hurricane Bolter [10pts]
++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Adeptus Ministorum) [35 PL, 523pts] +++ HQ [18 PL, 297pts] +
Canoness [4 PL, 47pts]: Chainsword, Storm bolter [2pts]
Celestine [14 PL, 250pts]: Celestine [8 PL, 200pts], 2x Geminae Superia [6 PL, 50pts]
+ Troops [12 PL, 141pts] +Battle Sister Squad [4 PL, 47pts]: 4x Battle Sister [36pts]
. Sister Superior [11pts]: Bolt pistol, Storm bolter [2pts]
Battle Sister Squad [4 PL, 47pts]: 4x Battle Sister [36pts]
. Sister Superior [11pts]: Bolt pistol, Storm bolter [2pts]
Battle Sister Squad [4 PL, 47pts]: 4x Battle Sister [36pts]
. Sister Superior [11pts]: Bolt pistol, Storm bolter [2pts]
+ Heavy Support [5 PL, 85pts] +Retributor Squad [5 PL, 85pts]
. Retributor Superior [9pts]: Bolt pistol, Boltgun
. Retributor w/ Heavy Weapon [19pts]: Heavy bolter [10pts]
. Retributor w/ Heavy Weapon [19pts]: Heavy bolter [10pts]
. Retributor w/ Heavy Weapon [19pts]: Heavy bolter [10pts]
. Retributor w/ Heavy Weapon [19pts]: Heavy bolter [10pts]
++ Total: [61 PL, 1000pts] ++
Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

Game 1

I was paired up with Gerard who plays Drukhari. His build was interesting, bringing 2 Talos', 1 Chronos Pain Engine, Haemonculus, Archon, 2 Ravagers, 1 Raider, 5 Warriors and two units of 5 Sourges. 

Deployment - my game vs Gerard

Knowing that Gerard has Scourges coming in with some anti tank, I set up my Scouts wide on both flanks to prevent him from getting them within range. The Relic was in play as Eternal War so the first drop was my Scouts on the Relic. Securing it early game was important. Gerard responded by sending his Talos bunch up to contest by eliminating the Scouts.  The few highlights for me was the Talos eliminating enough Scouts so that it meant his Pain Engine was outside combat at the end of his First Turn. This allowed my Sicaran and Razorback to eliminate it. At the same time, another Talos charged my other unit of Scouts on my right flank which then reduced the Talos' toughness to it's base of 6 as the Haemonculus was out of the 6" range. I dropped my Death Company during my first turn and charged into the Talos which was engaged with my Scouts, not only managing to kill the Talos but also gave me enough movement to follow up and move Lemartes onto the Relic at the end of Turn 2. It was also then that I realised that we were going to tie the game. Slamguinus was my only chance of breaking the tie so I dropped him 11" away from the Archon as he was surrounded by Warriors. I took my Sicaran and eliminated the Warriors, dropped 2 CP for Descent of Angels. The swung but the Archon was limping on 1 wound. I then used Honour the Chapter to let Slamguinus go again and this time killed the Archon off.

As we only managed to get to Turn 2 due to time limits, it meant we only got Turn 1 Scores for Maelstrom. Gerard managed to win Maelstrom while I had the Relic. We both managed to get First Strike.

It was my first victory with this list! A marginal win of 10-9.

Mark vs Lum on my right

Zim vs Rai on my left.

Zim won and Mark tied. Our team managed to secure our first win.

It was then time for a short break while the TO's went about scoring our armies. The following are army shots.

Zim did a great job! 

My own army

The pop on those horses are amazing! Great contrast

I was pretty sure this army would win the Best Painted award

This was also another one of my top choices for Best Painted

Game 2
I was paired up with a Jokoh as my 2nd opponent. He brought an Ultramarine army which was centered around the Leviathan Dread. A nasty 20 shots, it could rip apart any of my vehicles with ease. Discussing it with the team, we had concluded that me facing the Ultramarine list was the most suitable as I had Slamguinus which could deal with the Dread. He also brought Celestine which was a troublemaker.

Just after deployment

Celestine and that Dread are a nasty combo

This game went on much faster and we got to Turn 5. The biggest highlight was when Jo moved Celestine to capture the Retrieval marker instead of Objective 1 - this puzzled me as I thought he had a bigger plan. At the start of Turn 5 he realised the mistake but by then it had allowed Slamguinus to not only kill off the Dread but also kill off his Warlord and Lieutenant.

Lemartes and Slamguinus at work

I won Maelstrom, we drew on Eternal War, we both scored Slay the Warlord. I got Linebreaker, but he got Big Game Hunter. I managed a 14-6 victory!

We checked the results and Zim won while Mark lost to his opponent. That meant we still won as a team so that was 2 Wins so far.

Game 3
Our last opponents were Ben, Fauzi and Chiyong. I was paired up with Chiyong who brought a nasty 12 Destroyer list with a Catacomb Command Barge in tow.

I risked my Sicaran to push his Destroyers back in order to give my Scouts some breathing room. 

In the opening salvo I had some pretty good luck, removing 3 of the Destroyers in one turn of shooting and Chiyong was unable to resurrect them. The Sicaran had really put some fear into Chiyong and he was now very wary. Highlights of the game was probably when I had to burn Honour the Chapter in order to reduce the second unit of Destroyers mid game. Chiyong was already going for the Kill Points (which was based on Power Level) so I had to find a tie breaker. His CCB was impossible to kill as it had some invert armor save gear. This meant that I had to throw my Death Co at the CCB but when the bounced off, I had to take King of the Hill.

At the end it was a tie as Chiyong won Eternal War while I managed to secure Maelstrom. He managed to get Slay the Warlord while I got King of the Hill. It was a really good game and we went on as old friends did.

Zim vs Fauzi

Mark vs Ben

At the end, Zim had won his game and Mark just had to score 2 points for us to come on top. Unfortunately we managed to secure only 1 so we came in the Runner Up!

Go team T&D!

Props goes out to the organizers for such a well oiled event. The tables were full of quality terrain, great mats and theme. Really amazing. With such a huge turnout, I hope this success will continue and maybe one day, we can play at a convention centre like Suntec or Singapore Expo. I am really looking forward to that day.