King of the Gnoblars 2012

As I wrote about in a previous post, I recently started playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle. My main reason for starting was the fact I signed up to play in a Fantasy tournament run my WAC member and all around handsome man, Rob "Lovely Jumpers" Gleasure. The event was King of the Gnoblars and it was a 2400pt, 5 round Fantasy tournament held on the 3rd and 4th of March in UCC. Here's where you'll find the rulespack. The event was using SCALE a very interesting version of comp, if you'd like to find out what SCALE is then you can read the rulespack, read my previous post, click this link.

I'm not kidding about his jumpers. They're at least 3 times as lovely as this one.

Well the list that I was bringing, thanks to input from the aforementioned Prod Rob and everyone's favourite red name, Nigel "Got tabled by the Child" Kavanagh was:
TEAM FULL COMMAND
High Elves [SCALE SCORE - 0]:
Level 4 ArchMage, life, 4+ ward, scroll
Level 2 Mage, shadow, jewel of the dusk, seerstaff [pit of shades, mindrazor]
Noble with BSB, GW, armour of caledor
28 Lotheran Sea Guard, shields, flaming banner, FULL COMMAND
30 Spearmen, shields, FULL COMMAND
20 Swordmasters, FULL COMMAND
28 White Lions, FULL COMMAND
5 Reavers
5 Reavers
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Eagle
Eagle

For those of you who don't know about/play fantasy here are the main parts of the list: Magic and White Lions. I'm not going to lie, the magic usually bites me in the ass but those White Lions, they win all the things.

Do you want to throw down?

Anyway, after finishing work on the Friday it was time to get some food and head to the pub to meet the lads who were coming down from Dublin and the North. After several pints there, a couple of us headed across town to meet Dan "Bye Buster" Ahern who had been out with some work people. I would give you some kind of a humourous account of what happened here but I was in no state to be remembering what went on. Something, something, shots, true story, something, something. What I do remember was that I had loads of fun and the hangover the next day was totally worth it.

A toast in memory of my liver.

So the next morning I made my way over to UCC to get ready for my first game. This involved recieving serveral different models from various different people. After I had my army it was time for my first game. Game 1 was a challenge against WAC player and fellow 40k-head Hugh "I'm sorry" Murphy and his Chaos Warriors. Thankfully the open lists system means I have easy access to his list which is here:

HUGH*
Warriors [-1(0]):
Kholek (605),
Throgg (175),
Level 2, tzeentch, disc, golden eye, scroll, third eye (235)
BSB, tzeentch, shield, biting blade, 4+ ward (200)
18 Warriors, tzeentch, standard, musician, shields, blasted standard (366)
7 Trolls (315)
5 Dogs (30)
5 Dogs (30)
Shaggoth, ahw (275)
Giant, slaanesh (265)

It could use more cat-lasers. Just saying.

My first tournament game of fantasy. How exciting. Well, Hugh had brought an army of Troll-things including a guy called Kholek Suneater who has 18 wounds is strength 50 and auto kills everything within a 2 mile radius, or something like that. Who could destroy my whole army if he got across the board. So.... I had to stop that. His main weakness is his lowly initiative 1. This makes him a perfect target for a spell called "Pit of Shades" which is a blast template that makes you pass an initiative test or die. Just like Jaws of the World Wolf, yay. So this entire game was basically me trying to pit of shades him while he tries to stop me.

Get it? I love puns.

In my first attempt at the spell I manage to random the random and it both scatters off him and blows my wizard up. In my second attempt I once again randomed the random so it scattered off of Kholek and blew up my wizard again. This time the wizard dies. No more "Pit of Shades". Stupid fantasy.

How do you scatter off him? He's the size of a house.

So without Pit of Shades I was kind of boned. However I still had one tactic left in my arsenal. The tactic that has now become known as fantasy-ing someone. I basically threw some dice at the problem until it went away, randomly. More specifically I cast "The Dwellers Below" at Kholek. The Dwellers Below is like Pit of Shades except it's a Strength test and, thankfully, can't scatter. You might remember from earlier that Kholek has Strength like 1000000 or something. This is where the, in retrospect, best and most balanced part of the fantasy rulebook comes in. You auto-fail all characteristic tests on a roll of a six. Guess what Hugh rolled? A four. Ah no, I'm kidding, this is fantasy, he totally rolled a six and Kholek died a fiery magic death.

It's a bit good.

So with Kholek dead it was just a case of killing things with White Lions until the game was over. With everything counted up it was an 18-2 win to me. Thanks for rolling that 6, Hugh.
Game 2 had me up against an actual fantasy player, John John. I think I heard somewhere that he usually plays Salamanders, I think, anyway this tournament he was playing Orcs and Goblins with this list:
JOHN JOHN
Orcs and Goblins [0]:
Warboss, armour of destiny, warrior bane (170)
BO Big boss BSB, shield (117)
NG level 2, scroll (110)
SO level 2, obsidian amulet (135)
SO level 2, shrunken head (155)
20 Night goblins, standard, bows, 3 fanatics (145)
36 Savage orc big 'uns, musician, standard, ahw (431)
20 Night Goblins, standard, bows (70)
Wolf chariot (50)
11 Trolls (385)
Spear chukka (35)
Spear chukka (35)
1 Troll (35)
1 Troll (35)
24 Squigs, 15 handlers (237)
Rock lobber (85)
Doom diver (80)
Mangler (65)
Mangler (65)
Pump wagon, spiky roller (60)


To be perfectly honest, I have no clue which of those things were which when I played them. However, I have grouped them into 4 different, easily distinguishable categories:
1. Things that killed me with magic
2. Things that killed me from far away
3. Things that killed me close up
4. Things that could have killed me but I was already dead when they got there.

Foolish plan 1: Playing Fantasy

I did have fun though. I got to run my Reavers around. I also got hit with a weapon that involves putting a foot template on my units. Nice. John John went on to get second which I like to think i contributed to with conceded, through various different scenario conditions, about 130% of the victory points I started out with.

Isn't Maths fun?

So that was 0 points for me. Leaving me on 18 total. Class. That amount of points meant I was playing against Chris Mince, who was playing Vampire Counts. He was taking advantage of an apparent loophole in the comp that meant that Manfred Mac Vampirestein was a really good choice as general of your army. There were about 4 or 5 people using this guy at the tournament. His entire list was:

CHRIS
Vampires [0]:
Mannfred (530)
Vampire, vampires, dragonhelm, scroll, seed of rebirth, beguile (177)
Necro, level 2, vampires, cursed book (135)
33 Zombies, standard (104)
34 Zombies, standard (107)
20 Zombies, standard (65)
5 Wolves (40)
30 Ghouls, ghast (310)
Spirit host (45)
2 Bat swarms (70)
Corpsecart, lodestone, spear (121)
29 Grave guard, GWs, champion, standard, barrows (418)
3 Vargheists (138)
Mortis engine, blasphemous tome (240)

It was around this time that I had renamed the Magic Phase, the Random Phase. I also had Ivan "Nudie" Sheehan sit down next to me and help me explain to Chris why his game system was ridiculous, random and stupid. We also explain he should totally come play an actual game, like 40k. All of this happened why Chris was soundly beating me into the ground. I remember one of his things being big and making all the things around it much better. I then tried to kill that thing and failed. Ah well. At least I got a whole zero points out of the game. Chris's toys were really, really beautiful and it was nice to be thrashed by them.

Unfortunately not available in the High Elf Codex.

Well that's enough stupid, random fantasy, on to the drinking. A bunch of us headed over to the Bierhalle, a very nice restuarnat with a large selection of craft beers. For the first time since we first met I was out drinking with Rob so I decided to make him drink a couple of  "craft" beers. "Craft" in this instance is code for 15% alcohol. After 3 or 4 of these and a very nice burger we took off into town. The night was a mixture of shouting, drinking, comparing fantasy to 40k, drinking and towards the end tequila. Oh so much tequila. Rob is a fiend for tequila.

I have no idea where Rob found that hat.

After we finished up all of the tequila in the world we headed for home. Rob was staying at my house and myself, himself and Nick "Nuns with Guns" Meade stopped off to get some food on the way home. Rob, telling us he was okay for food, elected to sit down on the raised footpath for a "breather". Then, while myself and Nick were inside the classy food establishment Rob began to vomit so spectacularly and with such fervor that by the time we came back outside an crowd of more than 10 people had gathered to cheer him on. I felt so proud of him but also understood exactly why his wife had not let him drink with me. Oh well, home to bed.

You can do it, Rob.

I have the feeling that I felt somewhat better than Rob in the morning as we both traveled to UCC for the final 2 games. As we arrived we found that we had all been locked out. Oh no. Apparently no one agreed with me that we should abandon all hope of ever getting in and just go to the pub. Some people *shakes head*. Eventually we managed to make it in. After informing everyone of what had happened to Rob the night before it was time for game 4. I was playing Mike from Limerick, one of the genuinley nicest guys I've ever played against in any game. He was using this list:
MIKE M
Warriors [0]:
Lord, tzeentch, steed, aethersword, 4+ ward, favour of the gods (344)
BSB, nurgle, shield, flaming banner (170)
Level 2, nurgle, spell familiar (155)
Level 2, death, scroll (145)
Level 2, fire, charmed shield (125)
17 Warriors, nurgle, shield, FC, rapturous (352)
35 Marauders, nurgle, FC, flails (225)
29 Marauders, khorne, FC, GWs (195)
19 Marauders, tzeentch, FC, shield, l/armour (154)
5 Dogs (30)
5 Dogs (30)
9 Knights, nurgle, standard, banner of rage (445)
Warshrine (130)

He had some terrible luck in this game but that didn't stop us from having loads of fun. Surprisingly the Swordmasters were the bosses in this game. Winning one combat, overrunning into another combat and then ALSO GETTING TO FIGHT IN THAT COMBAT DURING THAT PHASE. What a silly, silly game. Thanks to Mike's terrible luck the game ended with me having 20 points.

Good job, dice.

So going into the final game I was up against Mal who was playing Vampire Counts. Again with Manfred Von Bite-ur-neck:
MAL
Vampires [0]:
Mannfred, hellsteed (560)
Vampire, vampires, hellsteed, h/armour, lance, shield, dragonhelm, other trickser's, scroll, quickblood (229)
Necro, vampires, cursed book (100)
Wraith (60)
Wraith (60)
40 zombies, FC (130)
40 zombies, FC (130)
40 zombies, FC (130)
22 zombies, FC (76)
5 Wolves (40)
5 Wolves (40)
5 Wolves (40)
5 Wolves (40)
10 Black knights, FC, flaming (300)
27 Grave guard, FC, greatweapons, barrows (404)
2 batswarms (70)
Corpse cart (90)


This game only got to about turn 3 which is mostly likely due to me being a massive newb. It was a little different to Chris's list which was nice. This Manfred was on a horse with some friends(also on horses). Unfortunately for me, Mal cast a spell on the awesome white lions of awesome which reduced their leadership and they ran away. Without enough turns to rally I lost them all. I was sad. But hey, random game is random. Game ended as a 15 - 5 win to Mal.

Okay, that's me deployed. Your turn 1.

So after 5 games I was on a very respectable 43 points. This meant I came 15th out of 22 but much more importantly I came third out of all the 40k players there. Result. Also, surprisingly, I won most sporting opponent. All I can say about that is everyone must agree with my, rather loud, opinion that fantasy is a stupid, silly and random game. It sure is fun though. I'll be looking to play more in the future. Thanks Rob for a great tournament and thanks to all of my opponents for putting up with me.

Next tournament report is about my travels to Galway in "Itzacon: The Revenge of Warpcon"

Warpcon 2012

So finally I've writing tournament reports of events I went to this year. And first up is one close to my heart: Warpcon 2012. Warpcon held a 1850pt, Warhammer 40,000 tournament in UCC on the last weekend of January. It was also utilising a very interesting 2 missions per mission rulespack. It was different from the one that was used in the TOWN by putting more weight on the secondary objective. It was also the first 2 day tournament where I'd be using the new Necron Codex.

They said they'd be back.

The list I was using was what I affectionately call my "So many new things so I took one of everything" list:

Anrakyr w/Command Barge
Overlord w/ Mindshackle, Warscthye, Semp Weave and Command Barge 
Royal Court 1:
Solar Pulse Crytek
Veil Cryptek
Royal Court 2:
3 S8 AP2 Crypteks
Solar Pulse Cryptek
Chronometron Cryptek

Triarch Stalker
7 x Warriors
8 x Warriors
8 x Immortals (W/ phyriann eternal upgrade)
6 Wraiths w/ upgrades
9 scarabs
3 scarabs
3 diversified Tomb Spyders.

As you can probably tell, the name wasn't picked ironically. I can't do irony.

Will I make a Tony Starch joke? Yes, yes I will.

Basically the ingenious plan behind my list was I was waiting for a new codex for ages. Therefore, I wanted to use all of the things, all of the time. Which I did. It was glorious. It's at this point I should say that I really like the new codex. Good but not to the retarded level of Space Wolves or Grey Knights. Cool tricks involving entropic strike and night-fighting but still quite fragile.

Anyway, I seem to be getting distracted by all this talk of wargames. It turns out that the Friday night of Warpcon was also the day that I finished my end of year exams. This led to many, many drinks being consumed. Some would say too many drinks but I don't hang out with people like that, so it's fine. After being a good Samaritan and helping transport and set up tables I parked my car in UCC with the direct intention of being unfit to drive for several days. While setting up tables the lads from Dublin arrived down, Alec "Black Templars" Cornelius, Peter "Richard Gere" Scott and newbie Ryan "Emily" McMullan. Also Bobert "Oh crap, my Drop Pods are on fire" Brennan was there but, to be honest, I see that guy all the time. He might as well move to Cork. HINT HINT.

Insert obligatory picture of Alcohol.

So anyway, we met a plethora of nerds in the Old Bar and formed to become the most formidable quiz team of all time. This time we even had a girl. An actual girl and not just Jiggy. The way I remember it, we won the quiz, were applauded as fantastic nerds and then I continued to act in a responsible manner for the rest of the evening. It was either that or we(I'm using "we" quite liberally) tried to ruin the quiz, shouted and were playing a ridiculous cruel game of roll dice and drink beer(hmmm.... sounds like Skibbcon). After many a beer, shot and other various alcoholi it was home for a good 4 hours sleep before having to be up to play in the morning.

The next morning.

So OW. My head hurt but I managed to get myself down to UCC(which is more effort than I put into my entire of 3rd year). After many hellos and hugs to all the people who came down early on the Saturday it was time to get all matched up. I was playing James "Mage" Carey of BannerCon fame. I was gutted to have missed that one as the lads have told me about how much fun it was. James was playing an Eldar hybrid lists. It had:
Elderad
Wraithlord
Big Guardians squad
2 Fireprisims
Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents
Lots of Dire Avengers with Bladestorm.
More Wave Serpents?

I won first turn which put James in a bad situation. I had a moderate amount of S8 firepower but combined with the Triarch Stalker and the chronometron it was all very reliable. So as is not uncommon with Eldar he went full reserve. I used the 2 turns to spread out. Wraiths and a lord on a barge down one flank, scarabs spyders and Anrakyr down the other. The Stalker walked down the middle with the guns getting into a good position. Half his things came on first turn. The wraiths went after the guardians and wraithlord. The scarabs ate themselves a serpent. While my lord swept a firm prism. When my wraiths managed to tag the Wraithlord into the combat versus the guardians he died to Fearless saves.

Lord of the who? Must be different Wraiths.

The rest of the game went poorly for James with his dire avengers failing to kill my Wraiths leaving enough time for my furious-charging immortals time to deepstrike over and assault next turn. The scarabs and anrakyr teamed up to maul more tanks and go after Elderad once he'd become unmeched. Unfortunately just before the game could end James was called away and had to concede the game. It was a shame as I had a lovely time playing him. He's a great opponent and I have no trouble seeing why BannerCon was such a success.
20 - 0 to me.

This put me up on Table 2 with Rowan "Why don't I just jump on this band-wagon" Sheridan playing a Venom heavy Dark Eldar Tesla heavy Necron list. To be honest, I can't ridicule his list as being all spam and broken-ness because it was the exact way I was going to go before I went with the Dana approach. His list was:
Nemesor Zandrek w/barge
Obyron
Anrakyr w/ barge
1 gun squad of Crypteks, 1 with veils and pulses.
3 Annihilation Barge
2 squads of Wraiths
Immortals
Warriors

We both decided to leave the pulses at home to get around the whole Daytime, Night-time problem. We started off and the first thing I did was charge a 6 man Wraith squad into his 5 man Wraith squad with a mindshackle lord. With that happening in the middle of the board I tried to slow his stuff down. Obyron hopped in his bosses barge and was slowing making his way towards me along with the second squad of Wraiths. I didn't have near enough guns to kill his stuff. His wraiths won out in the middle of the board and he had his objective well covered on his side of the board. I did, however, swamp Anrakyr's Barge and mange to stop him from setting out, so that made me feel better.

Suck it Other Anrakyr.

18 - 2 to Rowan.

So for my third delay to my drinking on Saturday I was playing Lloyd "I still remember those Red Imperial Guard" Courtney of The Last Chancers. I was delighted because Lloyd was the second person I'd ever played a full game of 40k with back in game 2 of Warpcon 09. He was also the first person to ever table me. Now I get a chance to get even. Lloyd was playing Dark Angels. No, not Deathwing, Dark Angels. His list was:
Interrogator Chaplain
Belial
Troop Termie Squad
Venerable Combat Dread
Big Assault Squad
Tactical Squad in a rhino
Tactical squad in a Drop Pod
2 Predators

So the table we were at had a piece of terrain in the middle courtesy of Donal "Right, okay" Casey. It was an awesome Ork Fortress. Beautifully detailed and HUGE. It took up the entire centre of the table. It reminded me of a very evil piece of terrain from Gaelcon that took advantage of poor drunk Eoin. We decided to make the walls impassable as we both had jump infantry squads so we would be a very interesting game revolving around this terrain piece. It was kill points primary, 1 objective each secondary with deployment as Dawn of War. Both objectives were deployed on one side of the fortress. I won first turn and I set up my cryteks, and 2 troops on my objective hoping to shoot anything that showed up. Lloyd brought everything on the other side of the fortress out of line of sight of my army.

And you can't shoot what you can't see.

My wraiths jumped into the fortress ready for action and hid for 2 turns while my scarabs got shot and slowly made their way towards his things. My two lords hopped into the assault squad causing the marines to do more harm to themselves than anything else. My stalker hung around my objective pretty safe, ready to destroy the tac squad and drop pod that would poised to show up at any moment. Turns out Lloyd had been told previously that scarabs are a lot scarier than they actually are, which explains the hanging back. It's didn't take too long however for him to realise he just needed to charge them and he'd be all good. The game got very bloody towards the end but I managed to get more kill points and Lloyd's defensive strategy left the two objectives in my possession too. Vps were brutal though and the game ended with a win to me. Not the utter hammering Lloyd gave me back in the day but it went a ways to patching the wounds.

And he didn't.

17 - 3 to me.

So then it was drinking time. A pile of us headed to Captain America's for dinner. For my dinner I had a Long Island Ice Tea. I emphasise the LONG as I got a Cocktail Tower. These things are awesome. Unfortunately no amount of sweet, alcoholy goodness could convince Sylvan to come back to the Old Bar with us so into a taxi we went and took off to the land of Beer(UCC Old Bar). Here I played an exhibition match or Red or Black against no 1 contender for my world championship title. The game ended rather suddenly when I predicted the joker and won the universe. Also, Burkhardt the mean German made me cry. The night ended with a bunch of people having to hear Drunk Eoin talk about why the new Necron Codex was the best thing to happen since Batman became a thing.

I later found out that Batman is a Necron.

Cue Sunday and a horribly hungover taxi ride to UCC. My head was killing me. I finally got in the door and was greeted with the great news that I was to play Mike Tagney, ETC Captain and all around way too good a player to play drunk-gover. It was also nice to see that Mike's list had been made specifically with killing Wraiths, Scarabs and Necrons in general, firmly in mind. I think this was because of two of his clubmates bringing Necron lists down. Thanks guys...

His list was:
2 x Tervigon
Hive Commander
His bodyguard
2 squads of Genestealers
2 squads of Ymargl Genestealers
Various different flavours of guants.

I had various different flashbacks to the only other time I'd played Mike before. It was in Athlone, with old Necrons, when I was too hungover to move. I had to tell him to roll all of the dice and I'd believe him and just let me die inside until I needed to roll saves. I'm some classy opponent. We were playing the 5 objective game and Mike had ALL OF THE TROOPS. Well long story short here, Mike destroyed me. He's a great player and I just couldn't handle those Ymargls. Why have these not been in every Tyranid list ever? Great game, apart from the Hangover of Doom.

I was so hungover my teeth hurt.

Loss 17 - 3

Game 5 had me against Cork gamer James Howell. Although he's a WAC-head I'd never had many dealings with James as he games mainly on the weekends, when I go down to Skibbereen and he can't come to games on Thursdays because of his work schedule. James was playing Space Wolves with everyone's favourite Great Wolf(After John Stowe), Logan Grimar. His list was:
Logan
Long Fangs
Large Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos
Tiny Wolf Guard Squads in Razorbacks
Wolf Scouts

Ah, the familiar look of cheating with Space Wolves.

This was a brilliant game with lots of back and forth, his scouts taking out my Stalker early and all of his Grey Hunters destroying my Wraiths. There was a Giant Combat with a big squad of Long Fangs and Grey Hunters in combat with a big unit of scarabs that meant that my mindshackle lord could pick on Logan and make him punch himself over and over. Silly Logan. Scarabs were the MVPs in this match making James job just way too difficult. Game ended after 7 turns of slaughter to a victory for me. James is a fantastic opponent and hope to find a way of playing his Wolves again soon.

Win 17 - 3

So I finished up on about 59 BPs, 1 BP and place behind Ryan "Cheating with Space Wolves" McMullan. I had a fantastic time and learned so much more about my new codex. I want to thank Colin and all of the lads for the sterling job, all of my opponents and everybody who was there to make the whole event spectacular. Big shout out goes to Lenny for making some class buns for the ETC fund-raising and winning Merv's predator in a game of "Throw the dice in Merv's tank to win it".

See you all there next year. I'm not going to miss it.

Terminator reference number 4

-Eoin

Musings on Imperial Guard

I was recently in attendance of Wargames Association Corks (WAC) annual event "Astronomicon" held in University College Cork.

Due to the event being primarily a fun weekends gaming, yet featuring some of the best local gamers, I was quick to sign up, but with a twist. I took the opportunity to take an Imperial Guard army that Dave Chambers was nice enough to lend me.

Not only are the models beautifully painted but Dave is one of the unsung heroes of the local scene, for when he isn't ensuring that friends can borrow either his Guard or his equally beautifully painted Space Marines, he will be playing the "by" list in either 40K or Fantasy (in which he also has several gorgeous armies) or helping to organise the event.

List was as follows:

Company Command Squad: 4 Plasma, Astropath, Bodyguard, Chimera, H. Flamer

Company Command Squad: 4 Plasma

10 Vets, 3 Melta, Chimera, H. Flamer

10 Vets, 3 Melta, Chimera, H. Flamer

10 Vets, 3 Melta

10 Vets, 3 Melta

3 Valkyries

2 Hydra

2 Hydra

Leman Russ Executioner

Game 1 was against Colin and his standard Codex Marines list using Daves other beautifully painted toys. This list has 3 Drop pods. I got first turn, he reserved, I moved around my Vendettas so as to boost back in turn 2 and get saves for my Vendetta's, block most line of sight to my army and prevent him from dropping too close to my list. Seems sensible right?

His turn one two pods came in and I realised I was obviously still drunk for having made such a school boy error. Cue to the loss of a squad of hydras and 2 Vendetta's. His Ironclad bagging the former and his combat squaded Sternguard the latter. This led to an uphill battle from here on in but I managed to get the draw with VP's making it an 11-9 in his favour.

Game 2 was against Hugh and his Templars. I got first turn and deployed aggressively. He decided to reserve all but a 5 man squad who camped on his objective. I killed them and then everything that came on as it came on till I ran out of rounds. Had I played a turn six I would have tabled him. He did 0 to me but was left with a wounded Marshal and a Land Raider so I got a 19-1.

Game 3 was against Merv and the first of his Space Wolves lists ( he played a second list on the Sunday, the one that he submitted to the ETC). He got first turn and I deployed in cover, using my Valks to soak up as much of the firepower as I could by scouting them into his face.

Cue me failing every cover save and armour save from exploding tanks I was called on to take and I was pretty much doomed from turn one. I clawed back some points by baging a few Razorbacks and Long Fang squads but not enough to matter. I had a draw in turn 5 but it wasn't to be and by the end of turn six he had me beat.

Had the game ended in turn 5 I could have got another 11-9 but the extra round and my having exposed myself to get the draw resulted in an 18-2 to him.

Game 4 was against Little Dave and his double storm raven and Descent of Angels Blood Angels list.

I got first turn and deployed surrounded by terrain, spaced out so as to make his DoA hard even on one D6" scatter. As described earlier, I Scout moved and set up my Vendetta's so as to move them back and provide more cover for his arrival from turn 2.

This worked quite well. He got two troops and a squad of HG in on turn two. One of the squads Deep Struck onto my models and went back into reserve with a lucky 6. The remaining troops and HG landed in plain sight of my Executioner and decided to run out of template formation rather than shoot down something. My plasma squads disembarked and combined fire left him 2 marines from the HG. His Ravens turned up in turn 3 and I bagged them both using orders to make him re-roll the cover saves. I finished off the remaining HG who had killed one of my CCSquads.

Meph and one Dread shot into a Chimera hoping to bring out the contents but did so only in the assault phase, leaving me ready to pummel them with all of my fire power, while the other Dread charged the vets that had killed his Raven. He killed 1 Vet; they held. His other squad also arrived taking out a Chimera on the other side of the board that had been heading for his objective lest Meph survive and contest mine.I proceded to shoot everything and Meph made a stupid amount of cover saves only to move onto my objective. Daves remaining squad moved back to snag his objective as the time was running out. Game ended before anything else could happen.

One more turn and I could have wiped Meph but prob not all of his marines so it would have been a draw, as it was I got a 13-7, killing Meph would have made it higher but I was happy enough.

Game 5 I played Merv again with his ETC list.

He got first turn in Dawn of War. I rolled on most stuff in turn 1 with a Valk and a Vet squad and a CCSquad staying in reserve to deal with his scouts. I deployed two empty Chimeras so as to use their Searchlights to pop a few tanks as I rolled on.

This didn't work out though with his rolling boxcars twice to see my chimera's and stunning both. My stuff came on and got killed. I just could not stand up to the firepower of 3 LF squads and 9 TLLC Razbacks. 19-1 to Merv. Less said the better.

So what did I learn? Chimera's get in the way of shooting. Using this to your advantage is a key to blocking the already slow mobility of the Guard. Side armour shots against Armour 10 mean that even a plasma will get through and if you blow up a transport the chances are he is loosing 5/10 Vets minimum and they can easily be pinned.

Vendetta's are cool and all but can be taken down fairly easily by combined firepower. Remember that they are not Storm Ravens and are susceptible to Melta and have weak rear armour. If you can take away the save they go down easy.

Hydra's are simply awesome. Tricks of the trade are hiding one so that both get cover saves, be careful of that. Also as a squadron they get to fire smoke once, as each one does it separately and the unit counts as obscured. Once you have silenced them, move on.

If they are not shooting they are useless and chances are there are other things to take care of. While the executioner is seriously threatening, it tends to miss, a lot. I mean I averaged about 2 in 5 on target each time I shot it.

This list was not optimised. I went with stuff I thought was good and left out stuff like Manticores, Platoons and other staples that I thought were superfluous. I was wrong. Simple things like lining up 25 marines in an "L" shape in your back field prevent Wolf Scouts "Operating Behind Enemy Lines" and other suck infiltrators, The Manticore will Instant Kill big characters and take down tanks that your lads will not be in a position to deal with.

I have to doff my hat to lads who get this army to work how I have seen it play against me over the years. I honestly didn't think that it was as complicated as it is. It is not Point and Shoot. I am sure it can become that way after playing it for a few years, but it is not as forgiving as I had thought.

Interestingly it is not as boring to play with as I had thought either. This does not mean however that I think it is the best Army in the game or that those who use it well are the best Generals. They are not. Because put simply, if you loose, you loose badly regardless of who you are. Marines can claw back a win out of a loss better than anyone provided they have the right man at the tiller and someone who knows his toys.

Playing guard also increases your awareness of Target priority too. You must identify and deal with a threat much quicker than with other armies, simply because if they get too close they are all of a sudden hitting side armour and able to get flamers into range and charge your tanks/infantry. Good experience, not likely to do it again for a long time.

If you get the opportunity, do it.