Sisters @ Moofool Games 4 & 5

Evil. Pure Evil. Bottled.

I went out on the Saturday night, had a few cans/pints and headed home about midnight from the pub and getting home at half past I figured it would be a good idea to open the missus' bottle of Baileys. The hangover in the morning told me it was a bad idea and I ended up missing game 4 on the Sunday morning giving the GK a 20-0 win (like they need it). I should pay more attention to those ads.

I managed to make it in for game 5 and was pitted against the birthday boy Dave C (the C is for Coco Pops) and his 4+ Raven BA list led by Meph. With 2 Furioso Dreads and a TDA unit riding with him. At least Celestine could hurt Meph reliably.

Sisters @ Moofool Game 3

We've got a great big convoy...

After 2 wins I was up on the heady heights of Table 1 where I was to face Lenny who had elected to leave his Trollingcave in the big smoke and travel south to Cork for the weekend to partake in festivities. He had brought his very nicely-painted Hybrid Mech/Jumper BA list with him, and walked away with the prize for best painted.

At the start of the game he told me that he'd practiced against the list in the Pale so I knew I'd be up against it as I hadn't practiced against his type of list, although it had plenty of melta-susceptible vehicles. I wasn't excited about all of the infantry though. Celestine would have her work cut out to take care of it all.

Sisters @ Moofool Game 2

It's heading right for us!

After the win in my first game I was pitted against Dan's Guard. This was a match that I reckoned would give me more problems as much of my firepower is short to mid-ranged and I would have to advance into the teeth of his guns to make the most of my melta bonuses. Thankfully, Celestine had the potential to work her way through the infantry squads with her Flamer and combat ability while the Rhinos could get me across the board relatively quickly.

Oh wait - Dawn of War. And the Guard are going first. And is able to deploy almost half of his army due to a recent FAQ update? Right. A change of tack was needed. In the end I deployed a Sisters squad in their Rhino on the halfway line to attract some firepower while Celestine deployed hidden ready to get the jump on some of the Heavy Weapons teams. I was hoping she'd be standing or get back up on the final turn and contest just to piss Dan off.

Sisters @ Moofool Game 1

Chaosy. Needs more tentacles though.

This was against Alan's Wolves riddled with Grey Hunters and Fangs with TWC and Scouts to cause havoc amongst my proxied lines. The mission was 5 set Objectives primary with KP secondary. I reckoned if I pushed some units into midfield and drew out the GH that I'd be able to counter-charge them or blow them away with Bolters one by one and have Celestine float about getting shot, getting back up and being an annoyance. A bit like Space Wolf Scouts really. Except she can cause havoc from the get-go.

Because the photos might cause confusion I'll add a guide as to what was masquerading as what in my army later.

Warpcon Game 5 - Chivite's Daemons of Chaos

Fateweaver: He's a decrepit monkey-skeleton.

After scraping through game 5 by completely gypsying my opponent and stealing 4 BP at the end thanks to a Rhino's tank shock I was in a big pack of people on about 51 points after 4 games and there were a few I was hoping to avoid. Luckily, I got to play an army I didn't want: Daemons. Despite their fall from grace post-Warp Quake they're actually a good foil to mech-based armies as many of their units don't go down to single shots so require enemies to focus fire to remove each target (no shaken/stunned shenanigans) and their units can tear through most units with either the sheer number of attacks (Fiends) or the amount of power weapons attacks they possess (Princes, MC's and Bloodanythings).

Then Chivite told me his list and I knew that this would be one of those games where I would either win big or lose big as Fateweaver surviving for a long period of time would decide how this game went. I have had a decent run against him, as Angry Merl will testify, as he has a nasty habit of being killed off early whenever he's showed up beforehand. I was hoping that my luck against him would hold this time and I'd be able make a game of it.

Warpcon 2012 Game 4 - Draigowing Grey Knights

Long Fangs v Paladins: They're a bit close though.

So after my loss the day before in Game 3 (link) I was pitted against the obligatory Grey Knights (they're always floating about near the top tables nowadays) ably commanded by Sylvan. It was a Draigowing list that I had seen him playtest against Angry Merl's Daemons so I had an idea of what was in it and thus, how to handle it.

I was hoping for first turn so that I could pound his army from a distance from the get-go but it was not to be as he put me in the corner with the least terrain, which wasn't that much of a hindrance as my army was mostly infantry and cover wouldn't be of much benefit until later in the game when Psycannons closed the distance and started rending. Sylvan set up pretty much as I'd expected: put Draigo and co as far forward as possible with the scoring Dreads (2 of them) set up near objectives further back to support their advance. So I responded as best I could: fire support far away and my Troops choices largely in reserve to get the jump on objectives later in the game.

Warpcon 2012 Game 3 - Black Templars

You've asked so you shall receive, TKE. This is going to be short and sweet. I was paired off with Alec's Black Templars in a Kill Point/Draw Mission Dawn of War scenario. I won the roll-off to go first and, unlike the previous game, picked the wrong side. There was a lovely LOS-blocking piece of terrain in one corner and I gave it to Alec figuring that I wouldn't be able to fit enough stuff behind it to make it work for me.

It didn't turn out like that as Alec could comfortably pack 7 Land Speeders, 2 Rhinos and 2 Terminator squads behind the wall for most of the game and pick off targets as they came at him piecemeal. Or when I presented them on a plate. That was a game to forget for me but they're usually the ones when you learn more than you would from any other games.

Warpcon 2012 Game 2 - Mike's Nids

All that the Nids deployed...

So after my win in game one I was paired off with Mike (this year's ETC Team Captain) and I knew this wasn't going to be easy as I had gone into the game with a W/D/L record of 0/1/1 against him with the last coming at the hands of his Eldar at game 5 of Gaelcon.

Mike's list was what you would call unconventional for a Tyranid list: No Hive Guard, Gaunts with Devourers, 3 Tervigons and the Swarmlord with a Tyrant Guard bodyguard. And Stealers. Lots of them including two units of Ymgarls. So I guess the idea was to rush me, weather the storm of the first (painful) round of combat and buy time by pinning my army down in combat, with the Ymgarls crawling out from under Tayto wrappers to help join in the gangbang before the bigger bugs arrived.

Well, I had a plan for that...

Warpcon 2012 Game 1 - Pat's Nids.

Warpcon has been and gone and it was a laugh (as always) and I ran with my Wolves (as always) and I managed to take a few pics along the way while facing a variety of opponents: Nids twice (oh Jaws, how I love thee), Templars (not Hugh), Grey Knights and finally Daemons.

Game 1 - Pat's Nids
This was my first time meeting Pat and I figured it would be tougher than it looked because it didn't have as much Jaws-bait as I would have liked: only 1 Tervigon and 2 units of Hive Guard were available and they were likely to hang out of range while everything else bombed forward. That everything else was a Hive Commander Flyrant, a Trygon Prime, 2 big Broodlord Stealer units (with Poison), the Doom of Malantai in a Pod, a big unit of Hormagaunts with Poison, Gargoyles, some Gaunts and a unit of Hive Guard hiding at the back.

ETC Battle Report Round 6: Austria

So after our caning at the hands of the hosts we were paired off with Austria in the final round. But not without a bit of controversy arising. The Nordies were left without opponents after the Norweigans flaked off to catch flights without informing them first (they only informed the Judges which was a bit disrespectful to their opponents) and Northern Ireland won the round 20-0. The Austrians had 2 lads in the same boat (should that be plane) and so they were down 2 men but we all tried to figure something out. We were given the option of winning the round by default which we turned down, and instead offered to have 2 of the Nordie lads take their places but the Austrians refused. Fair enough.

In the end, two of our players sat it out and we played 6 on 6 but we were up 40 points as a result of 2 byes. At least that would cover us for the 20 point penalty that was imposed because our lists were late because Darragh can't count. :P

ETC Battle Report Round 5: Switzerland

3+ saves? We can't make them.

So after our draw with Denmark we were paired off with the hosts Switzerland and this would realistically determine which of us would get a top 10 finish. I was paired off with Michel 'Giles Le Breton' Weibel and his semi-mech Eldar. The transports and Avatar didn't worry me but the War Walkers did - with their hail of shots they could realistically take out a Razor or unit of Long Fangs a turn while I would have to batter them into submission, forcing me to dedicate my firepower.

It wasn't an army I wanted to face as I couldn't rely on Stormcaller due to Runes of Warding and the Walkers would be a balls to get rid of, as would the Falcon with its Holofields. Have I mentioned before that I despise Holofields?

ETC Battle Report Round 4: Denmark

A 'Draw Pub' Result.

So the start of day 2 saw us pitted against more Scandinavians but this time of the Danish variety. Most of the team had headed out for a few beers on the Saturday night with 2 of us heading home about 2.30am and the other four staying out til 6.30am. If one of the other lads want to to come clean about how much they spent on a 1 litre bottle of Smirnoff and 5 cans of Red Bull in a Swiss nightclub I'll hold off on it. For now. :P

We all came in tired, some more tired than others and our Captain wandered in at 9.10am drinking whiskey. After thanking him for living up to national stereotypes I was asked if I could take a Grey Knight list with lots of infantry. I reckoned I could outrange him and play for a draw that would sneak points our way so I went for it rather than have it demolish one of our other lists or cause one of our swords to lose points.

ETC Battle Report Round 2: Belgium

Just look at those legs.

ETC Game 2 - Belgium

Flushed with victory from Round 1 we were drawn with Belgium. We were confident that we could get 2 points from them too which would have meant we might play one of the pre-tourney favourites like ze Germans or the Poles.

I wandered off to have a look at other armies including a stunning Harlequin-themed Dark Eldar army and give the Captain room to think about match-ups. I came back to see Guard and Grey Knights in front of me. I wasn't excited about Guard in Dawn of War but nor did I fancy the 2+ save horde of GK. My decision was made when the GK were given to our Nid player Cornflakes who assured us he had taken this kind of list in practice and knew what to do to crack it.

And this is where the importance of the match-up system came into being.

ETC Battle Report Round 1: Finland

Posers.

So I'm thrown up early as an answer to the Finnish Guard played by Aleksi Meuronen who has the coolest 'tache I've ever seen. I've had a fair bit of practice against this list (with match-ups for Round 1 released early) so I reckon I can take it but I'm worried about how much I'll bleed: 8 Razorbacks at the start tends to become 3 or 4 by the end while my Grey Hunter squads are beefy enough to mangle 10 Guardsmen but not enough to stand up to sustained fire from a gunline. Plus my Scouts are quite squishy and will take on a solitary Guard squad but not 2 or 3 at once.

It was definitely going to be an interesting game but I was feeling quietly confident going into it. Then we had our team talk where I was told that I was expected to get a win and loads of points. Basically: Nuke Finland.

No pressure so then.

ETC 6 Nations Round 5: England.

Hello. I'm scouting ahead of the Queen to make sure this city is safe.

Round 6 and the defending champions are up against the Old Enemy and only we can stop them. That's the romantic version. We were in 3rd place, with Wales in 2nd and England leading the pack. England only needed a draw to win it because of their VP's already scored  because we'd ruled ourselves out of it by drawing with the Nordies in Round 1.

Speaking of people being late: a big shout out to Mark (our stand-in Guard player) who got very drunk the night before and went home with 'some wee wan' according to ComplainyShanie (better known as Root).

Thankfully Ivan was able to stand in at the last minute. Yeah, the old drink tends to have a detrimental effect on the 40k tourney performances of Cork players alright. Thinking about it now if I had been in Mark's shoes I'd have done exactly the same thing. But with more mooing.

6 Nations Round 4: Wales

God-damned Holofields.

So no hangover despite a bottles of Hoegaarden and a few pints of Leffe (on tap in the Abbot's Ale House) and I was ready for the Welsh challenge. There were a few lists I wanted to avoid, namely the Captain Stu's Dark Eldar Venomspam (because of my distinct lack of firepower) so it was with a mixed feeling that I was told I was playing Gary's Eldar.

My thinking was that I could take out the Seer Councils one at a time by throwing the 3 2+ save Lords at them at once but if they both jumped me then I was going to be in trouble. Gary won the roll for first turn and chose to go first. Then he reserved everything.

I tried not to let the 'lolwut?' show on my face too much for fear of changing his mind.

6 Nations Round 3: Scotland

I assume the Scots retired early to practice bagpipes.

So with an early nights sleep due to the lack of drink on Good Friday we expected the Scots to be well refreshed and ready for our games i.e. not hungover.

So it was that I was put up against Pete and his very fancy newly-airbrushed Dark Eldar. With all the floating gunboats I figured that I'd have to hide most of my army before getting stuck in over the last few turns rather than deploying stuff and getting blown away very quickly.

6 Nations Round 1: Norn Iron

Or Northern Ireland as most people would know them. Following on from FIFA there's two teams from the island of Ireland. Thankfully, as the song suggests, they're not Brazil they're Northern Ireland: at the ETC they finished lower than Ireland last year so we were reckoned we could beat them but it looked a hard task as their armies looked impressive on paper.

I'll take the time now to thank the Nordie team for actually allowing the game to go ahead. I'd gone with Eoin, Caolán, Chris, and some of the boyos from Way-ells the night before and ended up drinking gin & o.j. till half 11 before stumbling off home. My phone died when I got back and fell asleep on the couch so I slept in as I had no alarm, had a quick shower and a puke, rang a taxi and headed up there. When I finally arrived 45 mins later I made my apologies and was told that the Nordies' Dave Mc was still willing to throw dice even though they were fully entitled to take a 20-0 win (I wouldn't have complained to be honest).

So thanks again to Captain Jonny and the lads, but especially Dave, for their patience.

ETC 6 Nations & Fixture list.

Its almost Easter weekend, there's no big sporting events on (Cork should win the football and City should beat Salthill), the courts are closed Friday and Monday and I have a 40k tournament coming up that is preparing me for the ETC proper in Switzerland. A 5-day weekend? God I love the law sometimes.

I finally have an excuse to start drinking at 9am in my underwear and stuff my face full of chocolate all day without getting strange looks from people. Apart from the Pinball Wizard and Dave C. Because they both look strange already.

Tourney Report: Itzacon Game 2

So after my bruising encounter with Dark Eldar in game 1 I was drawn against Colin from my own club and his Marines. Nice one - travel to Galway for the weekend and play one of the lads from my neck of the woods. Score. At least this one would be a more relaxed game for the both of us, especially Colin as he was after a few scoops already. I wasn't writing him off though as I remembered that drunken master guy from Virtua Fighter that was able to do well for himself with booze in his system.

My suspicions were confirmed when Col stole the initiative in our Kill Point/DOW game.