40K British Grand Tournament: The Finals

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Righty-ho, as promised, here is a blog entry about the 40K Grand Tournament Final that I attended over the past weekend. Although, I think they're calling it the 'Throne of Skulls' instead of 'Grand Tournament' now. Regardless, it is still the same thing.

I got a few pictures from the two days, but my father has the camera with them on, so I'll hopefully get a proper look at them once the Easter break starts in a few weeks.

I ended up taking Eldar down (as usual), mainly because I haven't bothered to work on anything else recently. The army was as follows:

Spoiler

Eldrad
Avatar

Wraithguard x10 - with Spiritseer, Conceal and Singing Spear
Dire Avengers x5
Dire Avengers x5

Wave Serpent with Twin Missile Launchers and Spirit Stones
Falcon with Shurican Cannon, Holo-fields and Spirit Stones
Fire Prism with Holo-fields and Spirit Stones
Fire Prism with Holo-fields and Spirit Stones

So a very small but very tough army. Fortuned Wraithguard absolutely rock- out of 15 tournament games that I've used them in, only 1 person managed to wipe them out. Unfortunately, the army does suffer from a lack of volume of firepower and certain opponents can give it headaches (as I found out). Without further ado, here is a brief description of how the games went:

Spoiler

Game 1
My first opponent of the tournament was a chap playing a rather nice-looking Eldar army. Unfortunately for him, his units were not really good against mine and so he struggled to kill anything. Not that it mattered too much in the end: we were playing Seize Ground and he managed to contest all the objectives in the last turn. To my disgust, my damage rolls against his vehicles came up as 1s when I needed higher numbers. Result: Draw (0 v 0)

Game 2
The second opponent that I faced was also Eldar, this time with some more assault units. The mission was Killpoints and, as he had skimped on defensive upgrades in favour of more bodies, I was able to dismantle his tanks with some ease. His small amount of firepower in return meant he couldn't do anything meaningful to my forces. Result: Win (7 v 0)

Game 3
This was the last game of day 1 and I was feeling reasonably confident- 5 wins and a draw would still be enough to get a podium finish. Then I found opponent 3: Eldar! I thought we were supposed to be a dying race! Bah! This time we played Capture and Control. I felt fairly in control of most of the game, and none of his units ever really threatened my Wraithguard-held objective. Disappointingly though, he managed to get a lucky hit on my Falcon contesting his objective in his last shooting phase. Frustrating. Result: Draw (1 v 1)

Game 4
I must admit, I was still half asleep through most of this game. I faced Capture and Control against Daemons, my first time to play a Daemon army. As such, I made a couple of silly mistakes early on, followed them up with lackluster mid-game play and could not make saving throws even when Fortuned. Had the game ended quickly, I could have pulled out a draw, but it went on long enough for him to swamp one of the objectives and kill off my defending Avatar. Really though, it was my own fault for being in a position where I was hoping for a favourable die roll. Result: Loss (0 v 1)

Game 5
At this point, I knew my standing was not going to be good- draws are worth less than half as much as wins, so I was mainly trying to avoid finishing any lower than where I already was. The fifth player I faced was Space Marines and we played Seize Ground. He was playing a heavily mechanised force with two Land Raiders and pretty much sat on top of the three objectives for most of the game. Happily, I was able to sacrifice my Falcon in order to take out the mobility of his really nasty assault unit. On the other hand, I could not make any cover saves for my tanks and he immobilised my Serpent before I could go in for a sneaky last turn contest of the far objective. Ah well. Result: Draw (1 v 1)

Game 6
For my sixth and final game, I drew Eldar (again!?), but found that it was my third opponent again. As we had already payed, we were able to swap with the table next to us and I ended up playing against a Space Marine gunline in Killpoints. I wasn't too sure how to play this game to start with, as he had far more heavy weapons than me and didn't have to move to take any objectives. I sorted the problem by using the Wraithguard as a sort of impromptu assault squad and rapidly threw his flank into disarray. My various grav-tanks used some woods in the corner as cover and managed to take out his lighter, more mobile units. By picking on the weaker units in his army and minimising the effects of return fire, I got a small victory. Result: Win (5 v 3)

The tl;dr version:
I finished with 2 wins, 3 draws and a loss. Didn't do as well as I had hoped to, but really enjoyed the weekend anyway. To the surprise of most, Orks not only didn't win, but also didn't get second or third places either. Eldar won, while Chaos Marines took the two other podium places. Hopefully I'll be able to get a couple of pictures up in a few weeks.

Now I just need to plot revenge for next time...

 

Nice. Sounds like you had a lot of fun

I don't suppose you play fantasy to tournament standard do you? My boyfriend has tickets for The Devourer but will be unable to make it (again!)

 

I'm afraid not 8. I've always been tempted to start a Fantasy army, but I've never actually got round to it. Even if I were to get something pulled together in time and was able to learn the rules, I still don't think I would be anything more than mediocre until I've had much more experience of the game. Sorry.

Are you intending on going?

 

Can't go myself, don't play tourney standard and haven't got enough painted up, lol.