Fields of Blood 2009

On September 19-20 2009 I entered my first ever tournament.  Given how long I've been playing 40k, you would think I would have entered the tournament scene a long time ago, however tournaments have a reputation as brutal cut throat affairs that always put me off - I'm in this game for the fun after all, winning is secondary.

Well, at least when it comes to Fields of Blood, nothing could be further from the truth.  The whole event was fantastic, every player was friendly, helpful and really just looking for a good time, and so the whole thing was much more of a 'Warhammer 40k party' than a competitive event.

I played OK - I was fighting off the flu the whole weekend so had a splitting headache for much of the time, and never seem to have enough time between games to eat or take breaks, so it was a bit of an endurance test too.  On the positive side, I got to see some amazingly painted armies, and met some fantastic people.

This is the army I fielded:

It's made up of the following:

A Big Mek with a power claw and a kustom force field

Warboss on Bike with Power Claw

6 Nobz on Bikes, with 2 power claws and two 'Uge choppas and a boss pole

20 shoota boyz with 2 big shoota and a Nob with power claw, 'eavy armour and boss pole, in a Battle wagon with a Kannon, big shoota, deff rolla and red paint job

2x12 choppa boyz with a Nob with power claw, 'eavy armour and boss pole, mounted in trukks with rams and red paint jobs

10 burna boyz in a Battle wagon with a big shoota, deff rolla and red paint job

10 Lootas in a Battle wagon with a big shoota

I won three games and lost three.

 

My first game was against a Khorne demon army.  I deployed badly, which is to say I deployed at all.  I've found the best tactic when playing against all-deep-strike armies is to stay off the table in reserve to rob them of the initiative.  This means I lose turn one altogether, and makes my entry to the table a bit random, but it eliminates a pretty powerful advantage for the enemy.  At any rate, I didn't do that this time, putting everything but my Trukk mobs on the table.  Craig, my opponent, deep striked just out of assault range, soaked up the firepower I could muster, then charged me.  From memory It was not quite a wipe out, but it was pretty close to one.  In my defense, the table may as well have been a clear board, based on the way it was set up - but that would have worked in my favour if I had put more thought into it.

My second game was against Necrons - this was a much closer game, which ended in a draw.  When this happens, you tally up how many points of units you killed vs. your opponent, and if there is a 500 point margin, the leader wins.  I had used my expensive Nob bikers and warboss to soak up the Necron shooting in turns one and two, which protected my force well, but cost me the game due to the points they gave up at the end.  So while the mission was a draw, this counted as a loss.

My third game was against Eldar (sorry, no picture).  I was warmed up by this point, and had learned some of the particulars of the tournament bonus points system, and the 'tie breaker' rules.  I also picked up on a comment the Necron player had made - I was playing defensively.  He didn't actually say that - what he said was 'I'm not used to an Ork player who holds back so much' but that was the gist of it, and the main mistake I had been making.  No more.  So this game I threw everything I had forward, and it paid off.  I wiped out every single Eldar unit.  I'm not sure, but that may be the only time I've every actually achieved a wipe out.  I was patting myself on the back until the Eldar player said he had been wiped out in all three games - so I guess my win was as much due to his playing as my own.  Oh well, it was my first actual victory, so I savoured it.

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and was ready for round four.  My next opponent was using Sisters of battle - an army I have never played before.  He was ready for me - I played aggressively and charged his lines, but he used a combination of Rhino walls and flamers to toast many of my boys, and used the thrice damned missile tanks to put great amounts of hurt on my Nobz.  In the end I lost, but it was actually pretty close.

Game five was against Nurgle Demons.  I used the lessons learned from my first demon battle and held my army in reserve, which worked a treat.  Nurgle forces are pretty slow once they hit the table.  Add to that some bad reserve roles by my opponent, and overall I did very well, ending in a decisive victory for the Orks.

Game six I played a very classic Space marines army (sorry, no picture of this one either) - in many ways similar to my Blood Angels force - which meant I knew where the soft spots were.  Using my truks to hold objectives, I sent my Nobz and Wagons after his left flank, ignoring his right flank.  He deployed spread across the table, and  there were huge buildings providing good line of sight blocking, so I was able to divide his force in two, and only had to deal with one half.  By the time he bought the rest of his force over, the battle was decided - almost.  In turn six a desperate fight between one of my boyz mob and his librarian left only my Nob alive, who was able to run to the objective after killing the wierdbeaky with his power claw.  There was a land raider hot on his heels, so if the game ended I would win, but if there was another turn, he would likely gun down my Nob in a hail of assault cannon fire.  I gave the Marine player the dice and had him roll to see if we would play another turn.  To my relief, the game ended, and in a role of the die victory was mine.

All in all it was a blast.  It turned out I was given the lowest comp score in the tournament however, so ended up ranking pretty low.  But who cares - I had lots of fun - and now I have a painted 1750 point force!