The Battle for Bloomington

Well this took way too long and I'm sorry for being gone so long, but I have good news! The fleet of Craftworld [Still-doesn't-have a-name] is up and running. Loki, Ishmael and I went down to Bloomington with four others in search of loot. None of us walked away with any loot, but we got something better. In my second game I ran into a great player, and hopefully a good friend: Wienas of Indy 40k, but more on that later.



My first round was against a new and very courteous player by the name of Ian with a fantastic looking army of Space Wolves including the internet-famous Thunderhoof Cavalry. I don't know how he created them, but here is a photo of his wolf lord taken by Loki. Sadly I did not get photos taken of the game, but here's the gist of what went down. We were playing a slightly modified version of the Pillage battle mission, so we each scored a point in our opponent's turn if we were on a point with a scoring unit. This gave my mechanized Eldar a solid advantage over his mechanized Wolves, allowing me to grab three points in the first turn and consistently hold at least two to his one all game. I moved one of my wave serpents from a point on the near left to the center point when his cavalry came down their way. My seer council tried to intercept them on my flank when they took out a fire dragon squad's transport and pinned them. The council was basically neutered in this game by Ian's superb use of his rune priest, driving him and his squad onto the center point and passing the majority of his runic weapon tests, shutting down fortune whenever my seer was in range. My shining moment of awesome for the tournament was when my pathfinder unit, sitting on a point minding their own business, sniped a rhino in cover, getting an AP 1 hit which rended and wrecked the rhino. On top of that, the grey hunter unit that got out of the wreckage was pinned.


The next game was one of the best games of 40k I have played in my two years. I drew Wienas, and his black templar painted as crimson fists. If you know Loki, you can imagine the amount of dread I had facing his two armies that have regularly kicked my %*& blended into one. Thankfully, Wienas' army wasn't like either and he was one of the most courteous players I've ever played, while at the same time being a smart player I was glad to match wits against. His first good move was to deny me two turns of shooting at him even though the mission had built in choke points and circles of impassable terrain. These really kept my Eldar corralled in my deployment zone and both Wienas and I had the same idea of what I would try near the end of the game. Like a lot of people, I've read Fritz' blog and know his Saim Hann tricks, but Wienas managed to out late game me by forcing me to go first and staying in his land raider crusader until the bottom of turn five. He forced me to turboboost my seer council to contest the middle point of three. The dice did not like my Eldar trickery and I lost my enhance, embolden and and destructor warlock to the crusader's torrent of fire alone. The followup charge by a combat crusader squad and the emperor's champion reduced the council to my farseer left on her own who was then executed the next turn. On turn seven I had a dire avenger squad swearing at a rhino on one point, another squad cowering in their transport near a dreadnought on a second and a fire prism surrounded by templar on the middle point after having blown dixie and moved into a crater after having gone flat out. All in all a great game against a great opponent who was both good at the game and a good person.


My third game was one I'd rather forget, but I learned a bit about conducting myself in a tournament. My last opponent was a junior high school kid and I gave him more leniency than I would have given Loki, Ishmael or anyone else I know and play against. I have to admit that his army threw me for a loop from the outset: shooty Orks. Yes, this is an odd thing to think about, but I didn't put in the thought on how to beat his army. I should have stayed out of his range and stuck my tongue out at him until he came to me; instead I swung my council out on a flank and succeed in killing a squad of killa kans before getting charged by two ork mobs. The high council of [Still-doesn't-have a-name] is vastly shamed by my poor decisions in this game.


In conclusion I had the opportunity to play against two new players and all three placers in this tournament. I ran into my first case of "4th ed. hangover" in the third game, or perhaps a simple misunderstanding of the rules for area terrain and TLoS with twenty lootas shooting through a solid wall at my serpents. I learned to treat all opponents equally. I need to treat all opponents like I did when I wrestled: treat them with courtesy, but when they step into the ring (or up to the table) they stop being whatever else they are and become an opponent first of all. Congrats to Ian and Wienas for placing second and first respectively. They both played great games and had greatly painted armies. Good luck to all.