Storm of Silence - Warhammer 40k Tournament Results

I'm going to keep my Battle Reports pretty brief because it's been long enough that all the details are becoming fuzzy.

I love playing Orks because I find the players are generally very pleasant. It helps that it's one of the armies I know pretty well having played Scott so many times. This gent was new to the game and the tournament scene, so we played a pretty relaxed game. Frankly, I was steam rolling him the whole time but I tried to make it fun for him. Towards the end once the game was decided we just had fun with it, charging things for laughs, playing the Hierodule as toughness 6 so the boys could hurt it. It was a good time, but in the end our lists were on different planes.

Tyranid Victory 10 - 0 (never killed Ghazzy)

My opponent's list included 3 Maulerfiends, 3 Chaos-dreds, Belakor, a Biker Star and a Helldrake, among other things. The game would basically depend on my ability to deal with the Helldrake and Belakor and kill enough of his army that I would be able to compete for objectives late in the game. I ended up basically tabling him and then we called the game early. I think he was a little too aggressive with his units. I would have kept more off the board and safe from Flyrant shooting in order to have more end game scoring presence.

Tyranid Victory 11-0

This guy's list was pretty nasty. It was the usual White Scars grav-biker spam with Space Wolves beat sticks mixed into the units. Our board had no ruins either, meaning I'd likely be jinking a bunch. He wanted desperately to go first so he could start running his squads up the field and when I won the roll off I was happy to oblige him, as I usually prefer to go second. I mis-played my Hierodule horribly early in the game and got him killed. The rest of the game I targeted his grav units first, and avoided shooting into the Space Wolves without guns. He was hitting his 3+ saves like they were 2+ saves the entire game. This match-up really should favor my list, especially if you can deal with the grav units early. But they just weren't dying! The game was incredible close. On the last turn he charged a half dead ripper squad with an Iron Priest on a Thunderwolf. The rippers rolled one 6 to hit, one 6 to wound, and he rolled a 1 - killing the Iron Priest before he could swing! That secured me an objective and a Malestrom point that won me the game. Well, well, well! I guess sometimes the dice can torture you all game only to repay you at the very end. This was the closest game of 40k I have ever played and it had an epic (and funny) finish.

Tyranid Victory 9-2

I went into day two undefeated and seated at the top table no less! Another Ork player, this time our lists were not on different planes. I've played against Orks plenty, but I think this guy's list is the best I've seen. He also was a fantastic general. Many times he'd make a move and I'd think to myself, "that was a mistake, score!", only to realize later in the game the evil genius behind the move. His list was essentially one giant Biker Star with Zaddy (2+ jink dude), Pain boy, Warboss with a lucky stick and a few more characters and then Tank Busta Truck spam with the obligatory game winning grot squads. Nasty killy and durable death star? Check. MSU scoring ability? Check. Jink-forcing-AP3 shots? Plenty. He started the game with just the Bike Star on the board. We exchanged first turns doing very little, him moving way up and not shooting, me moving and shooting to little effect. In my second turn, realizing there was no saving the Barbed Hierodule at this point, I stacked three Paroxyms on the Bike Star which reduced the whole group to WS1. Then I charged in with the Barbed Hierodule and stomped the whole thing to death over the next to turns. Those stubborn green bastards dragged the Hierodule down with them though. So I dealt with one third of the army, then the other two thirds came in. The swarm of Trucks with Tank Bustas came in and controlled the board the rest of the game. I had a chance to win on the last turn but I rolled the worst two Malestrom missions I could. Game over!  Chuck went on to win the whole event!

Tyranid Loss 2-10

Here I thought I would get through the whole event without facing Eldar or Crons... Nope! Sean is a great player with a great list. I rolled the Fighter Ace ability that allows me to fly off the board in my opponents shooting phase so I thought, "hey, I won my 3 games already and I'm out of the running to win, let's try some shennanigans!" My plot was to focus entirely on one mission, snag first blood, and get line breaker and I would win. So I deployed just the Fighter Ace Flyrant and flew up and shot some bikes. In his turn, I flew off the board. First blood still in play. My turn came and all my Flyrants came in and most of what I wanted to stay off the board did (including my Hierodule). My scheme was working! I would easily clear one unit of bikes off the board and snag first blood. I wanted to keep my Rippers off the board so I place them in the corner to intentionally mishap. Bingo - but then I rolled a 1... First blood goes to Sean.  Bah! I was playing risky the entire game so it wasn't a surprise. I made it competitive for the rest of the game but Sean went on to claim max points.

Tyranid Loss 1-11

That last game was a blast and Sean was a pleasure to play with. We both were out of the running at that point so it was a very relaxed game.

I went 3-2, finished 13th overall in a field of 64, and had an opportunity to play on the top table in round 4. I had so much fun at the event and I am eager to attend the next Storm of Silence. Next up is the Guardian Cup in a few weeks! I've already been to 4 events in 2015 which was the goal I made for myself earlier in the year. I'm having a great time at the ITC events and I intend to keep going. Thanks for reading.

Chaplain Sam signing off.