Call To Arms 2014

Call To Arms in Wellington was a bit of a rollercoaster ride this year.  Day 1 is probably best forgotten entirely.  

Let the Chaos Gods decide

I took what I thought was a decent list:

2 x Hive Tyrant - Wings - 2 Brainleech Devourers- Electroshock Grubs (I never fired the grubs once)
2 x Zoanthrope
1 x Venomthrope
2 x 12 Termagant Brood - 7 Fleshborers 5 Devourers
2 x 3 Ripper Swarms
3 x Warriors - Stranglethorn Cannon
11 x Gargoyles
12 x Gargoyles
2 x Crone
1 x Carnifex - 2 Brainleech Devourers

It certainly packed a punch and I think I got First Blood in almost every game.  Unfortunately it had no real stamina and I was inevitably whittled down, losing all 4 games in the first day.  I probably should have taken a Tervigon for more staying power but that would have made my list almost identical to Blaise St-Laurent's.  This would have been frightfully awkward (He was the best Nid player overall, as opposed to Phil Darby and yours truly who were rocking along the bottom throughout. We even played each other in game 5, being tied for last place.  The difference being that Phil was literally playing all the Tyranid models he owned (Genestealers are bad, mmmkay?) rather than trying to craft a good list)

A bit grainy I'm afraid but I was rather proud of it.

I did manage to get all my terrain finished in time.  You can see some of it in the shot above which was my display board.  I'll  have to post my frantic attempt to finish it in time separately, suffice to say that my 'Evolution Chamber' looked more like a meringue than a sinister alien terrain feature.

My first game was a bit of a sickener (no reflection on my opponent Peter Rundlett) and set the tone for the day.  The very first mysterious objective I uncovered was 'Sabotaged!' and predictably blew up in my face, killing my Zoanthrope in the process and leaving my left flank without synapse.  Conversely, Pete's first mysterious objective was 'Skyfire Nexus' which he uncovered with his Devastator squad and Librarian.  I have 4 flyers in my list constituting over 50% of my army points.  Game Over.

Josh realises that he can ground and pound my Warlord in turn 2.  Happy face.  I was crying salty tears however.

Having just lost to Dark Angels I was in no mood to face them again, so thats exactly what happened.  Josh Evans was playing a Deathwing list composed entirely of Terminators.  He deepstriked onto all but one of my Maelstrom objectives in turn 1 and beat the snot out of me.  Fair play to him, I thought it was a surprising, unconventional list and he ended up coming in 3rd overall.  Thats pretty cool but in future, any Dark Angels players who bemoan that their army is under powered will be met with scorn from me.

Crazy Gundam conversions.  Loved it

I faced Alex Neil in Game 3 which was kill points. Alex had 2 huge blobs of zombies, some Plague Marines, Heldrakes and a Maulerfiend.  I'd never faced this before and its true that ignorance will kill you.  I went after the Maulerfiend and the Plague Marines.  They simply would not die.  The Maulerfiend even had the rule 'It Will Not Die'.  You'd think I would have taken the hint.

As much as I despise Deldar, they were so beautifully painted I just had to snap a picture.  Thank God I didn't face them.

Game 4 was against Mike Talk's Space Marines.  I was absolutely knackered and depressed at this point (8 hours of 40k is too much for me.  I think I'm getting old).  Fortunately I know Mike personally and we decided to have a bit of a leisurely game.  Once again, my target priortiy was terrible though and Mike completely outmaneuvered me to win the Crusade mission.

Glen Burfield's dreaded Iyanden list.  He went on to win best General.

I was tired and emotional at this point and pretty much went to bed as soon as I got home.  I may also have been suffering from some sort of intestinal malaise attributable to one of the pies I ate.  Whilst the cakes and cookies served at the hatch in the St. Patricks venue were delicious and the coffee was a life saver, I strongly advise you never to try the pastries.

Carson Turnbull's Necrons were awesome.  I'm so going to steal that Warscythe idea.

I briefly contemplated not bothering to turn up for day 2 but berated myself for being a complete wuss and was buoyed by the notion that things could not possibly get any worse.  I managed to win against Phil Darby's Tyranids despite the fact that it would have been a draw without the most amazing dice rolls.  That's the thing about luck.  Or should I say probability.  It always evens out in the end.

Blaise St-Laurent's Tyranids.  I loved the colour scheme and paint job, he had Forgeworld Rippers, a 3rd edition Zoey and a brilliant Tervigon conversion.  Just Awesome.

The beauty pageant went well and I got to set up my Nids on my own terrain board which only added to the effect.  I thought the painting standard was really high, exceptional in some cases and have taken lots of pictures.  Most of them are blurry failures but I've posted the ones where my thumb wasn't covering the lens.

Rob Ransom's Sisters.  He was the best of our club players at the tournament.  He didn't like Kill Point mission very much.

Alistair Allan's display board was genius.  I bet you can't guess what he made it out of.

Lots of Tau at the tournament.  All painted/converted to an extremely high standard.

More Tau.  You can see my 'meringe' Evolution Chamber in the background.

My final game was against the tournament TO, Thomas Max.  I drew a bye and thought I'd be able to sit this one out.  No such luck.  Thomas wanted to try out the brand new Space Wolves' codex and I was his test subject.  I was absolutely delighted to discover that the infamous 'Jaws of the World Wolf' in the new edition of the rules ABSOLUTELY SUCKS.  I'm sorry Space Wolves players, but it was the most detestable power ever dreamed up in the dungeons of GW HQ and I for one am overjoyed that it has been nerfed into oblivion.  Anyway, Thomas is no slouch and despite not having time to build and paint a Logan Grimnar dog sled, he terrified me with drop pods and I ended up having one of the most nail biting games of my life.   The mission was Relic and my army is very fast out of the starting blocks.  I basically grabbed it and ran into a corner, hanging on for dear life for 5 turns whilst I was pursued by angry, mutant Space Marines.  Ripper swarms with Feel No Pain are awesome by the way.

This is what tournament organisation does to you (right).  I think Thomas will sleep tonight.  Huge thanks to him for organising a great weekend.

Finally, I won best painted.  I am a very happy bunny.  I'm going to frame this.  I don't care if you call me a nerdy, sad, anorak boy.  Its mine and I'm keeping it forever.

Monkeychuka approves.