What. An. Epic. Weekend.
I really dislike that miserable post-tournament period, when you are back at work wondering where that weekend went. Like clockwork, 9am the following day I am busy perusing the next available overseas tournaments with tickets still available. There is a lot to be said for an overseas tournament as there is something that feels inherently different about them. In my view, when you are playing overseas it feel less rushed, more relaxed and therefore considerably less intense and this is how I like to play 40k. It’s an experience I’d recommend any 40K player to try, irrespective of the army they collect or the standard of their play because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. It’s a game of toy soldiers, so enjoy it, learn and soak up the experience.
Last weekend saw the third MWW3 Wargaming Weekend take place but the first at the Malmo Arena – a fantastic venue made to host 40k tournaments. Fingers and I had heard of this event through mutual friends at SN’s No Retreat invitational and decided that a weekend eating crisps, rolling dice and drinking in Scandinavia would be a terrific idea. This event did not disappoint, what a fantastic occasion and a testament to what a group of guys with a passion for the hobby can achieve.
The Tournament
The 40K tournament at MWW3 is a 64 man ITC major (http://malmofigurspel.se/mww/spelmww3) that uses a heavily adjusted ITC Champions mission pack. The Primary Mission is split in to two parts – Maelstrom and End of Battle Round/Player Turn scoring to a maximum of 30 points a game. A good addition for me was a bonus point being awarded for capturing an objective in the player turn that was previously held by your opponent at the start of the turn. Secondary scoring follows the ITC pack verbatim. I liked the mission pack, less emphasis on killing things outright and more on playing an objective game, which to be honest suited me down to the ground.
The List
I decided to take a Nurgle soup list to this tournament as it is the army I am most familiar with in 8th edition and I had the models, so minimal effort to deploy the list. I really like resilient armies and I highly value wounds on the board so I went with a Death Guard/Daemons concoction that is a pretty familiar list to most devotees of the Plague god, no great surprises in here I don’t think. I was always wary with this list that it would struggle a bit against Knights, especially Gallants with a 2+ save but I felt that I had a chance against the other types of list you commonly see in wave serpent spam, talos spam, prisms and/or hemlocks for example. I was hoping for a favourable draw and for the most part, I definitely got it.
Battalion + 5CP
Nurgle Daemons
Daemon Prince – wings/talons
Spoilpox Scrivener
Plaguebearers x 30 – Icon/Instrument
Plaguebearers x 30 – Icon/Instrument
Plaguebearers x 29 – Icon/Instrument
Battalion + 5CP
Nurgle Daemons
Poxbringer
Sloppity Bilepiper
Nurglings x3
Nurglings x3
Nurglings x3
Spearhead + 1CP
Death Guard
Daemon Prince – wings/talons – Warlord – Arch Contaminator
Foul Blightspawn
Foul Blightspawn
Plagueburt Crawler – Spitters/Slugger
Plagueburst Crawler – Spitters/Slugger
Plagueburst Crawler – Spitters/Slugger
This list above all things is annoyingly obdurate and takes some killing power to remove. The PBC’s have been a staple inclusion for me since their points dropped and they have been MVP’s in so many games I don’t leave home without them. There is an argument to suggest that spitter drones are better but they are 18 points more expensive and are less durable – for me that’s a bit selling point of the PBC. A little unit I absolutely love is the Foul Blightspawn, these guys are constantly underestimated and make their points back in spades, especially when you take them in multiples. Also, their putrescent fog ability works really well when you chuck them in with a unit of Plaguebearers, so they can sometimes fight first. Nurglings are incredibly useful in objective missions where they can be hidden away out of line of sight and sit on objectives all game, they can also be used to deny space to deep strike units. I’d like to try and fit in a few more of these little guys in future as they are so damn handy to have around.
Starting with a very healthy 14 CP’s I almost always made extensive use of Warp Surge which was a crucial one to keep in mind. I paid for the Plague Banner on all three units of Plaguebearers as that is a must. The psychic powers and relics could be changed from game to game so I’ll go through those as I used them.
Game One
Chaos Iron Warriors
Secondaries: Recon, The Butchers Bill, Old School
Relics: The Suppurating Plate (Warlord)
Psychic Powers: Virulent Blessing, Miasma of Pestilence x2
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
This was a game where basically everything went as it was supposed to and the dice definitely favoured me. I was facing a fantastic opponent, really friendly guy but just didn’t quite have the synergies to effectively utilise the list he brought. It was a very friendly army and I was fortunate that the composition of the list suited me as it was almost all low-shot high-strength multi damage weapons which I don’t really mind facing. I deployed very aggressively as I felt I could get right in amongst his lines with a turn two charge, I deployed my Nurglings on objectives to the side of the board to protect my flank from deep striking obliterators. My opponent had the first turn and unfortunately didn’t secure a kill and from there I was able to advance and tie up most of his units quickly. The PBC mortars did some work in this game, deleting terminator and marine units but the MVP’s were the Foul Blightspawn who between the two of them nailed four times their points back – a chaos lord, a dreadnought, two vindicators, 5 man plasma marine unit and a fair few cultists – great work from them. Lesson learned here is to always save your shooting phase CP re-roll for the shots on this guy, he can delete units when he gets close enough especially when re-rolling wounds. I ended up tabling my opponent on turn 4 and claiming a maximum points victory 42-13.
Game Two
Necrons
Secondaries: Recon, Old School, Ground Control
Relics: The Suppurating Plate (Warlord)
Psychic Powers: Virulent Blessing, Miasma of Pestilence x2
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
Incredibly intense game this one. I know Necrons are struggling a bit at the moment with some very expensive and overpointed units but this game surprised me as the weight of firepower they were able to put out was very impressive. My opponents list was all about gauss and tesla with very little CC threat to speak of, with the exception of Imhotek. The three doomsday arks were a major threat to my PBC’s so I hid them for the first two turns as best I could to limit the targets he had available. This worked to a point but it negated the way I generally like to play them, which is more aggressively so I can make use of the spitters. I had first turn in this game which was quite valuable as it gave me the chance to advance early and gain board control, which never really relented all game. This game was all about survival and grabbing objectives as and when you could. Between the arks, destroyers and immortals my opponent was able to really put some hurt on me in his shooting phase but I got very fortunate with maelstrom cards and with the board control I had from early in the game I was able to remain on most of the objectives in the middle of the board and in my own deployment zone so eventually ran out a 26-18 winner but a very close game that could have gone either way. One plaguebearer unit failed three consecutive charges to make it in to the warriors/immortals which really didn’t help!
Game Three
Thousand Sons
Secondaries: Old School, Recon, The Butchers Bill
Relics: The Suppurating Plate (Warlord), Horn of Nurgles Rot (-1CP)
Psychic Powers: Virulent Blessing, Miasma of Pestilence x2
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
This was tough game as I didn’t have the weight of firepower necessary to kill Magnus early, before he could get weaver of fates off. This is a limitation of my list that I need to address in future builds as I was consistently not able to secure first strike in all but the first game. The PBC mortars are not reliable enough to kill any 10 man unit so I may have to consider alternatives, that BS4 really hurts! I didn’t have first turn in this game but it was mitigated slightly by my very defensive deployment so I would not have had to deal with a warptimed Magnus on my first turn. My opponents psychic phase hurt, a lot, he cast death hex on a plaguebearer unit which got largely obliterated by a cultist bomb but that was about it for the turn so I got away quite lightly really. This game really swung back and forth with Magnus a constant thorn in my side on the left flank just causing pain wherever he went. I got really fortunate in turn three, I was able to deny weaver which turned out to be massive. I was then able to bring two PBC’s and the Blightspawn in range and managed to take Magnus 14 remaining wounds. That really swung the game as at that point it could have gone either way but I still had plenty on the board and was able to capitalise on a couple of good maelstrom draws to eventually win comfortably.
Game Four
Nurgle/Tzeentch Daemons/Thousand Sons
Secondaries: Reaper, Old School, Ground Control
Relics: The Suppurating Plate (Warlord), Horn of Nurgles Rot (-1CP)
Psychic Powers: Virulent Blessing, Miasma of Pestilence x2
Deployment: Area of Operations
Yep, this is where it all went horribly sideways. It had been coming, I’d had some crucial rolls go my way in previous games and I always felt that there would be a game where is all came round to even out and this was definitely that game. To be fair to my opponent, he played it perfectly and executed his strategy well. I largely knew what to expect but I still couldn’t prevent it.
It was a very turgid game – we both had 90 odd plaguebearers which met in the middle and slugged it out for a few turns. Not particularly fun to be a part of but what made the ultimate difference was that he had death hex and I didn’t and it really cost me. I couldn’t bring my PBC’s to bear throughout the game to be that effective and I drew some next-to-impossible maelstrom cards – but nothing in the world will save you if you roll like I did in this game.
Ultimately I got swarmed and overrun in the middle of the board by someone who had more models than I did. I got out horded! He used the antimatter crystal to jump a bloodletter bomb around on to my right flank which caused absolute havoc. I conceded the game at the end of turn 2 because I had nothing left to do, everything was tied up, I was surrounded and I would maybe have collected four or 5 more points perhaps, it wouldn’t have made a difference in the end. This was very heavy loss but I was still 3 – 1 going in to the final game but my hopes of a podium were very much gone.
Game Five
Death Guard
Secondaries: Old School, Recon, The Butchers Bill
Relics: The Suppurating Plate (Warlord), Horn of Nurgles Rot (-1CP)
Psychic Powers: Virulent Blessing, Miasma of Pestilence x2
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Without doubt my favourite game of the tournament as my opponent was an absolute boss. For the second time in the day it was a Nurgle vs Nurgle showdown and I was taking on my beloved Death Guard. My opponent had three PBC’s, two with entropy cannons, a bloat drone with spitters, a few units of cultists, three units of oblits and two helverins. Even now I have no idea why I took The Butchers Bill, absolutely mental choice given what I am playing with and what I am facing. Ground Control would have been a far better option. Lesson learned. I opted not to seize and allowed my opponent to go first as he was out of range with pretty much everything except two helverins. I was pretty fortunate in this game as I actually won the roll off for deployment and was able to pick the end with a big piece of line of sight blocking terrain so was able to park all three PBC’s there out of view of the helverins, I didn’t really feel I needed to be aggressive with them in this game. It turned out to be a decent call as in my movement phase I didn’t move a single model, I was well protected and my opponent had two units of obliterators to bring down t2. This game started off in quite amusing fashion as collectively we rolled badly for hits and wounds but very well for disgustingly resilient so nothing died until around turn 3. The first thing to die with was the bloat drone, which secured me Scour the Skies, again the Blightspawn doing the heavy lifting. I advanced up at that point which opened up the game – it was pretty cagey up to that point. However, this game was fantastic because my opponent knew my list really well and was an absolute gentleman in giving me some pointers and tips which were so useful. Thanks Oscar! This game was extremely tight for four turns, barely a point in it. The decisive point came in turn 3 where I deep struck in a unit of Plaguebearers and rolled a 10” charge and was able to tie up his PBC’s – they pretty much didn’t shoot for the rest of the game. In turn 5 I got some very achievable cards and achieved last strike, linebreaker and recon giving me a 5 point turn and the victory but it all could have been so different. Great game and I really enjoyed it.
Summary
The whole tournament experience was absolutely fantastic. I finished with four wins and one defeat which wildly exceeded my pre-tournament expectations for a 9th place finish. I was even more delighted to receive the top Chaos award, to sit next to Fingers’ Best Army in Show. What a great weekend for RapidFire Wargaming!
I was very impressed with how the list did. Luck played its part for sure but I felt that the resilience of the list really helped in this format and probably won me more primaries than my play probably deserved.
- Games are won and lost in the movement phase.
I really learned the value of moving well and taking time to consider the order of movement before actually placing my models. It sounds simple but when you are trying to maintain auras and synergies with 100+ models it actually isn’t and there is more to consider. I found myself at a couple of points out of synergy and it definitely cost me so I need to be more vigilant when moving. Also, screening characters is definitely a skill when facing enemies that take Headhunter as a secondary. I had 7 characters in this list and it was a weakness so keeping them safe from deepstriking/shooty ranged units was pretty key.
- Nurglings are underrated and so so valuable
I hadn’t used Nurglings before this tournament and on paper I couldn’t understand why they got such rave reviews. Now I understand. Absolutely incredible unit that can sit on objectives and hide there all game. I’d take another couple of units if I could spare the points. They can also screen and can suicide charge units in the first turn to tie them up which I love doing. In objective missions, these guys are invaluable.
- First Blood/Strike is a problem
Taking the old school secondary required me to get first strike – kill a unit in your first turn. My only ranged guns are the mortars on the Plagueburst Crawlers and they are a D6 weapon hitting on 4’s which makes them inherently unreliable. I only achieved first strike twice in the tournament as it is difficult to come by when trying to do enough wounds to kill 10 models. Their resilience is great but the PBC’s didn’t do that much for me in this tournament, I am considering Helverins to replace them.
- Foul Blightspawn
MVP’s of the tournament for me by a long way. Never failed to make at least 3x their points back in every game. They are constantly underestimated and just do so much work for me. When combined with Arch Contaminator these things become death incarnate and the assault/auto hit gives them fantastic redundancy. At 77 points they are a steal, just keep them protected.
Congratulations to the guys for hosting such a fantastic event!
I cannot wait for next year!
Champs x