1.27.2015

CANCON 2015 - event recap

Wow what a weekend!  8 games over 3 days is really quite a feat and it really pushes you by the end of each day and doubly so for the two games on day 3.  The 40K competitive event saw 60 players enter this year, down from previous numbers but it still had heaps of interesting armies and great players.


Full details of the event including players pack can be found here, missions were given out on the day.  My list was a version from my previous post, discussion of which can be found here. The final iteration looked like this:

HQ
Hive Tyrant, wings, 2 x devourers, electroshock grubs
Hive Tyrant, wings, 2 x devourers, electroshock grubs
Hive Tyrant, wings, 2 x devourers, electroshock grubs

Elites
3 x Zoanthropes
3 x Zoanthropes

Troops
Mucolid
Mucolid
Mucolid
20 x Termagants - 14 x Fleshborer, 6 x Devourer

Heavy Support
Sporocyst, 5 x Venom Cannons
Sporocyst, 5 x Venom Cannons

Tyrannocyte, 5 x Venom Cannons

Deathleaper's Assassin Brood
Deathleaper
Lictor
Lictor
Lictor
Lictor
Lictor

Day 1


Game 1

So onto the first game!  My opponent was playing an Eldar list and had first turn.  I was lucky enough to have night fight and some good ruins to sit on for my Flyrants.  Turn 1 was all about positioning for the Eldar player to make the most of firing lanes from turn 2 onwards.  My first turn was spent trying the get the vehicles to jink, taking the pressure away from my ground forces.  From then on I went after all of this troops and disabled everything that was fast, his Wraithknight I just ignored for the whole game, its high toughness meant that I had almost no tools to deal him him.  By turn 5 I was sitting on most of the objectives and had all 3 secondaries.  14-0 win my way.



Game 2

My next game was up against the creator of the Community Comp!  Hammer and anvil, kill points, I had first turn.  An interesting Eldar list that had a Harlequin star with an Archon and Asurmen coming out of a Bastion with an escape hatch.  There was a lot of back and forth with this one but with my #4 warlord trait on strategic for rerolling reserves meant that I was able to pour the board with bodies and just offer up too many targets while snatching multiple KP's.  I took a medium win from this one with 10-4.



Game 3

The last game of the day was a tough one, both in terms of fighting very hard for it and the venue working agaisnt us.  For the last 7 hours is was sitting at over 30-35 degrees in the exhibition hall, it was basically sauna 40K...  My opponent had Grey Knights with the Nemesis Strike Force, Grav Centurions and 2 shunting Dread Knights.  Not realising that the strike force had different rules I was in for a horrible shock when the grav centurions dropped in on the first turn with Draigo and 2 Librarians.  My only chance was to present multiple threats to them and hope that the grav unit would ignore my Flyrants.  Luckily it paid off and the tricky of the Maelstrom mission as well as the MSU presented by my list meant that he went after my units that could score.  A mistake that would end up costing him the game as I took down the Dread Knights and used all my dice to prevent him from getting Gate of Infinity off twice.  I took a medium win for the game putting me on 34 points for the day out of a possible 42.

Day 2


Game 4

Maelstrom mission against a Space Marine list with a Land raider + Terminators, 2 Devastator squads, 2 max bike squads, one led by a  beat stick Chapter Master on a bike.  I stole first turn and the battle soon turned into a rout, I blew up a rhino in the psychic phase grabbing me first blood and the explosion killed enough of the Devastator squads to make them both run off the board...  The following turns saw the Chapter master save over 40 wounds before falling under the might of 3 Flyrants he could not get into combat with.  Turn 5 saw me table my opponent for a 14-0 win.



Game 5

Another Maelstrom mission against a dual Thunderwolf, triple drop pod Space Wolf list that had a 10 man melta squad, 10 man plasma squad and a combat Dreadnought.  First turn again and I was up in the air maxing my Flyrants range and taking out the biggest threat to me, the Long Fang squad with Flakk Missiles.  Killing the squad netted me First blood, and I also managed to sneak a few wounds into a Thunderwolf squad.  As the game progressed I tried to whittle down both Thunderwolf squads to not much effect but the combat ability of 3 Lictors is not be be underestimated.  In the formation with Preffered Enemy against Characters I was able to put 5 rends and another 5 armour saves on a 2 man squad taking them off the table.  By turn 5 everyone was scrambling for Maelstrom points but my secondaries and a good roll on a D3 meant that I was able to grab a medium win netting me another 10 points.


Game 6

ANOTHER MAELSTROM mission!  I am really holding myself on a knife edge here as the luck of drawing cards makes or breaks some of these games.  Facing a Tau/Necron combo with Kroot, Sniper Drones, Necron Warriors, Riptide, CCB Overlord, Tau Commander unit and a host of other little tricks I am really worried.  My Powers of the Hive Mind are some of the best I could hope for this mission rolling up The Horror 3 times, this is especially great with the Lictors adding an additional -1Ld within 12".


With second turn I am in range and unleash my powers to full effect, pinning the Sniper Drones and Riptide.  That Riptide says pinned until the 5th turn as I wanted him to be stuck focusing on my Flyrants and leaving my very fragile ground troops alone.  I got some good luck with my cards and managed to get a 3+D3 VP by killing 6 units in a turn.  Overlord + CCB + 2 Tau HQ + drones + Sniper Drones, I rolled a 5 for my D3 on that one netting me 6 VP from a single card.


Big win here which netted me another 14 win, leaving me near the top of the pack on 72 at the end of day 2.


Day 3


Game 7

54 Flesh Hounds with a Juggernaut in each 18 dog squad is very hard to remove!  Especially when there is three large Daemonette squads and some horrors on the board.  Really amazing to see that many 2 wound models on the table and with a modified 1 objective each (Draw Hammer) it was going to be super tough to pull off a win here.  From the onset I really struggled but with going second I was able to ensure the both Sporocysts where going to be firing into a single squad of dogs at a time, baby sit my objective with a huge foot print and encase themselves in Spore Mine bubble wrap.

Mucolids here helped me immeasurably double tapping multiple dogs with multi charges and with Zoanthropes just being absolute heroes and passing way more saves that they had the right to in combat.  With some subtle manipulation I was able to place all but Deathleaper near my opponents objective, because he had spaced his models so well to reduce template damage they were able to drop down right inside an 18 strong Daemonette squad.  I then put pressure on the squad from flyrants hoping he would go to ground which would then protect the Lictors from reprisal before they could get around and bubble wrap the objective.  The gamble paid off and I snatched a full point win as the Lictors cleared out the contesting Daemonettes from his own objective and then saved them from a counter charge from the dogs as the Juggernaught lord was the initial charger and could not fit his bases though his own models.  That win puts me on the top table playing for first place!  Sorry forgot to nab a photo here.

Game 8

Super excited to be sitting here, 2 years ago I was playing at the top table and made a single measuring error which cost me the game and put me in 3rd place.  One of my mates I went over with told me I just had to make sure I didnt lose and I had the event in the bag as I was the only player with more than 6 wins - way to put the pressure on!



Playing a tidy list of Eldar and Dark Eldar in kill points.  First turn I was straight on the back foot losing my warlord and first blood along with a Zoanthrope Brood, I felt like it was 2013 all over again as I failed to make a single save on every single wound that was thrown at me.  By the bottom of turn one I had my Sporocysts sitting almost dead on 1 and 2 wounds left with my Warlord down, 2 Zoanthropes left out of 6 and my reroll reserves trait now gone I was really starting to worry.  In return I took out a bike squad and put 2 hull points on a Raider containing an Incubi Squad with the warlord, pinned the Warp Spiders and hoped for the best in turn 2.  First shot at one of my 2 remaining Flyrants saw him take a wound, the rest of the shooting was mitigated as he pushed all his shooting into my now wounded Flyrant and positioned his Incubi to take advantage of the grounding test I was moments away from failing... A fear test later, the Eldar Warlord dead and 3 of the 8 Incubi gone I am a little more hopeful that I might be able to salvage something here.



The next two turns are spent trading a point for a point but it all came crashing down as I landed 6 glances on a Wave Serpent from my Termagant squad, with only 2 of the glances saved I am now opening up on the Venom and anything that offers a kill point.  My Mucolids go after the Vauls Wrath Weapon squad wiping them from the table and pushing me to a 2KP lead by the end of the game, netting me my smallest win for the tournament but securing me first place.

It was a great event and I will hopefully go back next year to see if I can hold onto the top spot.


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