April in the Championship season, and I’m determined to pull further ahead of Flame On’s Simon in the Epic UK Championship.
I set myself the challenge of avoiding the normal Marine crutch units – Warhound Titans, Thunderbolts and Terminators. I wanted to see if I could compete with a non-standard list. I still went Thunderhawk heavy though, I love Thunderhawks.
I also tried Scouts with Razorbacks – as I liked the idea of garrisoned twin-linked Lascannons. This necessitated lots of conversions using Ork battlewagon turrets glued together, as the classic SM2 era Razorbacks are super-rare.
Assault Marines – Supreme Commander
Assault Marines – Chaplain
Assault Marines – Chaplain
Devastators
Devastators
Devastators
Thunderhawk Gunship
Thunderhawk Gunship
Thunderhawk Gunship
Scouts – 4 Lascannon Razorbacks
Scouts – 4 Lascannon Razorbacks
Scouts – 3 Lascannon Razorbacks, 1 Rhino
Land Speeders
To battle!
With the tournament registration starting in Mansfield at 8:30am, we set off from Manchester at 8:29am thanks to Simon’s insistence on a heavy night out on Canal Street.
“These drinks are called bombs Simon! They’re 3BP each!”
Game 1 – Steve Gullick’s Biel-tan Eldar
Steve had a fairly similar strategy to me – with two sets of Aspects in Vampires that would aerially assault, while his ground formations sat around on overwatch on objectives. We romped through turns one and two in under ten minutes – which was fortunate as our late departure meant we were pushed for time.
The flying transports (each containing our BTSs) both landed turn 3, with the exception of my first laden Thunderhawk that was shot down in flames with no survivors.
I forced it to a Turn 4, but Steve obliterated my measly four-strong Assault Marines BTS and had a set of Aspects on my Blitz I was unable to approach let alone shift. 0-2 turn 4.
Game 2 – Jez Lock’s Codex Astartes Space Marines
Aha! A rematch against Jez’s Marines with a pair of Warhounds as its BTS. I’d played this last tournament – where I’d pounced on his Titanly BTS with all my Thunderhawks Turn 1, leaving one on 1DC. The hall had then witnessed howls of frustration as everything else I had fired at it hoping to finish it off only to watch it pass every 5+ reinforced save ever.
This game I forced corners, and attempted a similar Thunderhawk trick. At the critical moment Jez had advanced the bulk of his army up the board leaving the Warhounds behind unsupported. My first Thunderhawk approached this pair of cursed dogbots – only to be shot down on the approach. Again. Twice in two games.
I elected not to retain, and Jez doubled the Warhounds back to the safety of the main bulk of his force.
However, I still had two Thunderhawks left, and they did the classic one-two with the first dropping off its formations within 15cm to lay blast markers and add supporting fire for the engagement from the second. This wiped all the DC off both of them, and I got revenge.
However, this was a case of Captain Ahab getting his whale, as my obsession with the Warhounds meant the bulk of my army was in the open against Jez’s Marines. He won the initiative Turn 2 and destroyed all my Titan-hunters in turn, and went on for a 2-1 win Turn 3.
Game 3 – Tim Hunt’s Steel Legion Imperial Guard
Two losses under my belt, and the alleged swissing system now drew me against gaming supremo Tim Hunt. Argh! I’ve already faced one premier league player, I can’t manage two.
Tim expertly pulled my forces apart in short order, with my only real good tactical moves limited to onion-skinning my Blitz with formations from Thunderhawks to force a Turn 4. At least none of them were shot down on the approach.
Tim managed to assault some Razorbacks with his Deathstrikes, proving their worth as a front-line battletank.
So, three losses. Dismal outing for the experimental Warhoundless Marines.
Simon did similarly badly. However, he was using the same list to a previous tournament – and I was using a different Marine list to last tike (Codex Astartes and not White Scars) so I qualified for a bonus championship point – and pulled further ahead of him in the Championship. Epic win!
