With
Eoin giving out to me about how he has been writing all of the blog posts of
late, I thought it only fair to contribute by posting about the most recent
event that I attended.
Conclave
is an annual event run by Gary and the lads from The Gathering in Limerick. The
event took place in Thomond Park of Munster Rugby fame and it was probably one
of the best venues for an event I have been lucky enough to attend.
A
large spacious room was provided with generous amounts of room and terrain on
each of the tables, upon which games of Warhammer 40K were to be played on the
Saturday, with Warhammer Fantasy being provided on the Sunday.
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| Awesome Prizes including art by Ken Coleman |
I
went up early Sat morning with Richard Flood driving the pimp-wagon and Daire O
Mahony and Hugh Murphy in the back. The trip went nice and quickly as we were
all in the mood to discuss our armies for the day, some ETC stuff for Richard
and of course 6th Ed in all of its imminent glory!
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| This place is grand, but it's not Cork, like |
The
event was scheduled to begin registration from 9 to 10, with the event due to
kick off at half 10. We arrived at 5 past 9 to learn that we were the first
there and had to wait until nearly half 11 before the games got underway. While
deploying we were then told to rush it since we had little time.
I
am a real ball buster about punctuality so this really stuck in my craw, as did
the very long breaks in between rounds and being informed that I was not
allowed sit at the event, since it was a safety hazard. These issues were all
sorted out mainly thanks to Kevin’s Rynn and Stronach, and to be fair to Ryan
the event organiser, it was his first time.
Nevertheless
an event that I was supposed to be home from for half 8 or 9 ended up with my
getting home closer to half 10. This was a long old day and this could have
been helped.
The
rules pack for the day called for a 2250 list using Imperial Armour rules. No super-heavies
but everything else goes: Awesome. I was looking forward to this as I am a poor
man and have no Forge World stuff, so the chance to see some in the flesh was
great. There were a few bits and pieces around the place but nothing major.
Luke did have pretty much a whole IAA force of Eldar but unfortunately I did
not get to play him.
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| How Floody's might look if he had painted it. |
My
list was:
Mephiston
The
Sanguinor
JP
Priest
5
Terminators, 3 TH/SS, Claws, Srg (who gets the Sanguinors Blessing) Claws
Furioso
dread, Blood Fists, Extra Armour
10
Death Company, BP/CCW, 2 Bolter Fist, Lemartes
2
x Snippy DC Dreads
3
x Storm Ravens, all Extra Armour, all MM, 2 have TLC, other has AssCannon
It
is hilarious and a version of a list I had brought to Itzacon, though this time
I had no scoring units at a tourney with 2/3 missions involving objectives!
Game
one I was drawn against young Eoin and his Ork Horde, and I mean horde.
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| A Whole lot of Orks |
He
had:
Ghazghkull
and some Nobs in a Truck
Snikrot
and some Kommandos
Mega-Nobs
in a Truck
Deff
Dred
3
Killa Kans
Gretchin
Mob
of Boyz (100 boyz)
I
later discovered that this is an Apoc formation so was technically illegal, but
I had a laugh and was suitably scared looking at this wall of boys across the
table. Eoin was a lovely young man and has a good head on his shoulders. He
played well and made me work for the first few turns but I eventually got the
charge on Gaz and his Nob squad with Sanguinor and Meph, the latter taking Gaz
apart and the former inflicting some wounds on the Nobs. They took a few slaps
of Power Fists back but still won combat, get surrounded in the process meaning
they could not be charged by the approaching Green Tide.
Most
of the Armour had been taken down by my Ravens taking turns to move 6” and
unload their Blood Strikes, normally bagging a few Orks in the explosion thanks
to AP1 and the sheer amount of boys on the table!
I
was now able to make the assault on my terms and as Mephi and Sang finished off
the Nob squad in his turn, Mephi, his job done jumped back into a Raven to lick
his remaining 2 Wounds while the unscathed Sang stood in the middle of the
table to ensure everyone got +1A.
The
Death Company, Sang, a DC Dread and the Furioso charged the Boys and killed the
Warboss and caused 50 Wounds, to none back, with him inflicting 8 Wounds back,
I failed 3 and FnP’d them (Including one on Lemartes)
This
left him to take 50 fearless Saves, wiping the unit. I next got to run in and
kill his Mega Nobs and then had a Raven parked on each objective as we waited
for Snickrot and the Gretchen to turn up, at which point I killed them.
20-0
to me as the only damage taken was a Wounded Mephi.
So
after a pretty good round I went up against Hugh. I had played him the Thursday
prior to the event and was fairly confident that I could take him, but I hadn’t
counted on my inability to roll above a 3+ until turn 4!
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| Pictured: What Hugh Sees in the Mirror |
He
was running his usual Templars list with a few extra toys.
Marshal,
TDA, Claws
Terminator
Command Squad, Tank Hunters, 2 x Cyclone
Emperors
Champ, AAC
2
x 5 Terminators, Tanks Hunter, 2 Cyclone
5
TH/SS Terminators
3
x 5 Marines, Bolters
3
x 2 Typhoon
3
x Auto Las Preds
He
got first turn, forcing me to reserve. My toys turned up one at a time and he
easily dispatched them killing the occupants with ease. The Sanguinor managed
to get into combat with the TH/SS Termies, where he stayed continuing to roll
all 1’s to hit for 3 turns. I eventually managed to do some damage with my
Termies joining the Sanguinor to take out the TH/SS Termies and a Squad of
Cyclones.
Mephi
took out two Preds, the Champ and all of the Troops, the Speeders and Cyclones
managed to slag all of my DC with the exception of Lemartes who in turn 6, due
to being the only model left was able to use his JP to get into combat with the
closest Unit of Speeders, who had closed in on my DC. He managed to kill them
both, claiming what I thought was a draw on KP’s.
A
hard fought game that I thought I had pulled back, only for Hugh to realise
that we had miscounted the KP’s forgetting the Sanguinary Priest.
17-3
to Hugh.
Game
3 was against Kevin Stronach and his Eldar. He had some scary stuff for me to
contend with.
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| Kevin realises that Phil Mitchel has really let himself go |
Wraithseer
Farseer,
Doom, Guide, Spear, RoW, RoWit
Banshees
in a Serpent
Dragons
in a Serpent
Pathfinders
10
Wraithguard with Warlock
5
Avengers
5
Warp Spiders
Falcon
2
x Wraithlord
Mission
is Dawn of War and I go first, setting up the Sanguinor out of sight in the
middle of the board with the rest rolling on in the first turn.
I
was cagey with my forces as I was scared he might roll a 6 with any one of his
Wraithcannon on my transports removing the Model, and thus the occupants from
play!
I
turbo on and take some long shots at his Wraithseer who shrugs off all of the
Wounds. The Sanguinor moves forward still hiding.
His
turn one and his forces arrive but fail to see anything, with my raven all
having moved about 20” instead on their full move just in case.
Turn
2 and I used the Gunships to Kill the Wraithseer and the Falcon pinning the Avengers and the Farseer on that
side of the board. Sanguinor moved forward and charged the Wraitguard,
dispatching a few with the third Raven containing the Termies Parked on his
lines after Turbo Boosting to get into position to rear shot his Dragons, only
for him to pass his Boost save.
This
left his Dragons free to move over and wreck my DC Raven in the centre of the
board, which he did thanks to Crack Shot ignoring my boost, his other shooting
bounced off with his Banshees getting into a position to counter charge any
further offensive.
Mephi
debussed and moved to help out the Sanguinor dispatch the Wraithguard while the
Termies moved back to charge the Pathfinders and the Banshee Tank, the Furioso
moved to cover them, hoping to kill the Banshee transport and hold up the
occupants. The DC and their Dread made light work of the Dragons and their
Serpent with the Dread blowing it up with a rear armour shot, killing a few
Dragons in the process. This wreck provided a huge piece of dangerous terrain
however that my DC would be forced to charge into and having dispatched the
Dragons, they were forced to go through and remain in due to them raging at the
closest enemy, who was the hapless Farseer and his Avengers bodyguard, who were
now the only part of his army left. The Termies and Dread made combat Blowing
up the Serpent and a few of the Banshees in it and easily dispatching the
Pathfinders.
So
began the slow march at the Avengers and Seer.
Kevin
unloaded the Avengers with Blade-storm into the DC only for FnP to ruin his day,
his Farseer moved bravely forward throwing his Spear and then Charging a DC Dread
only to roll 1’s and 2’s on the Chart, both of which are ignored thanks to one
of my favourite Special Rule titles “None Shall Stay My Wrath”.
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| Seriously, none can stay it. |
The
clean-up was straightforward here and gave me my second 20-0 for the day. It
wasn’t until I got home and began preparing this blog entry that I realised we
had forgotten the Warp Spiders, which totally gives Kev the moral victory. Great
game.
A
successful day at the office gave me a respectable 43 points giving me third
spot and most importantly finishing above Hugh who finished fourth. Suck it
Hugh.
Though
I did have some issues with aspect of the organisation as I have already
stated, I must say that I had a great day out with some fun and challenging
games. My thanks to the organisers and I look forward to returning to the
event, especially if it is likely to be in the same venue.
I
totally played in Thomond Park!!
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| I have played here, honest. |
