Very enjoyable one-day tournament yesterday saw a group of gamers battle for local honors. 12 gamer's in two teams of 6 with each playing 3 games over the course of the day in a winner take all event. The range of lists at the event reflected the interest shown in the Gathering Storm series with 2 including Saint Celestine and 3 Ynarri Reborn Warhosts; overall Eldar and other Xenos dominated the army parade with barely a Space Marine in sight. Although there was a very nice Sisters of Battle army which did a good job of wiping the floor with me.
Continuing to enjoy Harlequins. They are very different to CSM/KDK but I've started to get to grips with how to use them properly. The special rules are also second nature now which is good especially as there are so many of them.
Game 1 vs. Dark Angels led by Ezekiel was a great way to start resulting in a 20-0 win. I was greatly helped by the large building/ruin in the middle of the table, by getting first turn and by my opponents entire army being on foot except for a single unit of Bikes
Essentially I debused my infantry into the ruins while my vehicles zipped in and out of cover blazing away with their Shuriken Cannons. Once they'd obliterated all of the DA heavy weapons the Solitaire and Players charged in and it was all over.
Game 2 vs. Sisters of Battle and Saint Celestine was very different. It was going resonably well as I managed to take out a few vehicles here and there but then I began losing Starweavers and Infantry. Saint Celestine and my Solitaire got locked into combat for 3 rounds with no result whatsoever before we both eventually managed to hit and run and try something else. In the end I got blasted off the board and only had some Skyweavers and a couple of Players left. But still I managed to eek out a 7-13 close loss. Key lessons: Starweavers do not move like Jet Bikes so don't expose them, save the Solitaire for combats he can win and Death Jesters are not that great but fun when their special rules that make people flee come off.
Tip when fighting Saint Celestine make sure your striking first and have the ability to take ALL 9 wounds in the first round of combat. I killed her little flying human shields 5 or 6 times over before a Harlequin Player of all things scored the first and only wound on her with a Shuriken Pistol at the end of Turn 7.
Game 3 vs. Tyrannids. I got extremely lucky in Turn 1 when snap shooting grounded a Hive Tyrant right in front of my Solitaire and a Troupe of Players. They charged in and hacked it to bits. But I suffered by deploying to far back and was, as in Game 2, nearly tabled. The result a 6-14 loss which if I had played better made have been at best a 10-10 draw.
Not sure when the next local 40k tournament is, must be soon. Have some painting to do in the interim to finish off a few Harlequin models and to add edge highlighting to all of their vehicles. The Eldar Trio of Awesomeness is also on order and should be here soon as well so looking forward to that.
