Anyway, I went to the NOVA last year, based on hearing good things about the TO, Mike Brandt, and liking what I was reading about the format. I had an absolute blast, and definitely wanted to go again this year, even with my impending trip to Europe and needing to save up for that. And also having to stay at the hotel itself, rather than at a friend's place like last year (the friend moved to nowhere near the venue). I flew in this time, instead of driving, which was only about $20 more thanks to the price of gas and a fraction of the time involved.
Got in Thursday night, and met up with Mike, who linked me up with James and another guy, Jon, who were to be my partners for the Trios tournament. It was one of those random hookup things, since none of my buddies from the Wrecking Crew were planning on participating in the Trios. Turned out it was a pretty good matchup, and I consider James a good friend now.
So, James and I do a one-on-one practice game at first with our 2000-point lists. I should probably fire off those now before I get too deep into these. Both lists are counts-as Space Wolves, and similarly structured so I could maximize my practice.
2000-point list:
HQ
Wolf Lord
--Thunderwolf Mount
-Power Fist/Storm Shield
-Runic Armor
-Wolf-tooth Necklace
-Wolf-Tail Talisman
-Saga of the Bear
-2x Fenrisian Wolves
290
Battle Leader
-Thunderwolf Mount
-Frost blade/Storm Shield
-Runic Armor
-Wolf-Tooth Necklace
-Wolf-Tail Talisman
-2x Fenrisian Wolves
225
Rune Priest
-Jaws of the World Wolf
-Living Lighting
100
Elite
Wolf Guard
-Power Fist/Combi-Melta
-Power Fist/Combi-Melta
-Power Fist/Combi-melta
-Power weapon/combi-plasma
162
Troops
Grey Hunters
9x Marines
-Melta-gun
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
200
Grey Hunters
9x Marines
-Melta-gun
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
200
Grey Hunters
9x Marines
-Melta-gun
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
200
Grey Hunters
8x Marines
1x Flamer
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
180
Fast Attack
Thunderwolves
-No equipment
-Storm Shield/Thunder Hammer
-Storm Shield
240
Heavy Support
Long Fangs
4x Missile Launchers
115
Long Fangs
3x Missile Launchers
90
Total: 1997
1000-point list:
HQ
Rune Priest
-Master of Runes
-Chooser of the Slain
-Wolftooth Necklace
-Runic Armor
-Jaws
-Lightning
195
Elite
Wolf Guard
-Combi-melta/power fist
-Combi-melta/power fist
-Combi-melta/power fist
129
Troops
Grey Hunters
9x Marines
-Melta-gun
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
200
Grey Hunters
9x Marines
-Melta-gun
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
200
Grey Hunters
8x Marines
-Melta-gun
-Mark of the Wulfen
-Wolf Standard
Rhino
185
Heavy Support
Long Fangs
3x missiles
90
Total: 999
Ok, so James and I were testing our 2000-point lists. He had Grey Knights, with the six psyflemen Dreadnought configuration, plus Coteaz and some various Grey Knights, as I recall.
We were testing Spearhead deployment with I believe Table Quarters as the primary objective. We tore chunks out of each other, and I had a few bad rolls with my Thunderwolf deathstar, but it was still pretty even when we had to call it after three turns as James had to go do organizing stuff for a while. He was definitely a competent opponent and I was glad he was on my team. Next year we'll have to rematch, I think.
Later in the evening, we did a team game, Jon and I using our 1000-point lists versus James and another random friend of his using both of his 1000-point lists (he couldn't decide whether to spam Inquisitorial Henchmen and Dreadnoughts or Terminators). James also smuggled in a bottle of Gentlemen Jack's, and I had a couple bottles of Pepsi available, since we didn't feel like paying $7 a beer at the cash bar (and they had no liquor anyway, pansies). Sufficed to say, after a couple glasses for each of us, the game started getting VERY entertaining. I've never played 40K even remotely drunk before, I think I'll have to try it again sometime, ha ha ha.
The setup was Dawn of War, with Objectives as the primary mission. I setup two of my Grey Hunter Squads and the Rune Priest right behind the central terrain, and spent most of the game castling on the terrain pretty effectively. Jon brought his Tyranids to bear and did some damage with his Trygon. James put the pressure on my right flank, but careful maneuvering and some lucky shots kept him off the middle and we finished with three objectives to their one. James ultimately decided to use his Inquisitorial list for the Trios the next day.
That was it for day zero. Day one was the Trios. Our first match was against a team that had traveled all the way from Scotland, and I drew the short straw on playing solo with my 2000-point list, while Jon and James took on the other two. My opponent was using Blood Angels, with two Land Raiders, Mephiston, a couple of regular Predators, and of course lots of Sanguinary Priests. Unfortunately, I have no pictures, but his army was counts-as, with his Marines sporting a well-painted scorpion motif on their black armor. Even more unfortunately, my opponent was a bit of a dodgy player, constantly wanting to revise his moves or fudge distances, as well as not always being clear on what he was rolling for. Even so, I blew apart both Land Raiders, annihilated all his troops, and my Thunderwolves ate Mephiston for lunch, though not until after he single-handedly struck down both my Long Fang squads. So I finished with a strong win, while my teammates lost pretty badly.
Onto game two, this time it was me and Jon with his Tyranids versus Tau and Deathwing.
The mission was Spearhead with Objectives as the primary. We did alright at first, tearing through the Deathwing, but the Tau player (who kept laughing at me every time I made a mistake) laid down just too much firepower, and both I and the Deathwing player were wiped off the map, leaving the bugs and space-commies to duke it out. Alas, Jon was a fairly inexperienced player, and I think I spent more time just coaching him on how to play than actually doing playing myself. Sufficed to say, we wound up losing that one, though James pulled a solid win against his Ork opponent.
Our final game was James and I versus vanilla Space Marines and Daemons with a Fatecrusher list (that's Fateweaver hanging out by one or more units of Bloodcrushers if you're not familiar with it. It's a pretty tough nut to crack).
The daemons wound up proving the more immediate threat, with the Fatecrusher unit heading straight towards the middle of our line where my Long Fangs were.
We finished the game holding two objectives and they held two, so we went to Quarters which we won. Meanwhile, Jon lost his game again.
So, overall, we finished 5th for Competitive rankings. When it came time to the paint judging, we elected to have my army judged for the overall army category, then James did single miniature and Jon did conversion. Pretty much only due to my entry, we finished 4th for appearance. Overall, we finished 5th of 12 teams. Not bad for three random dudes being paired up with no thematic coordination between our armies, heh.
That evening was the pub crawl! WHOOO! I spent a good bit of time twiddling my thumbs waiting for James and Mike to finish up their stuff before we headed out. I got to learn how to use the D.C. subway system, and we got off at L'Enfant Plaza. Our first stop was a place called OYA, a psuedo-upscale Japanese/French hybrid bar that looks insanely fancy but is actually designed for low-income scrubs like myself, though Mike was awesome enough to buy the first round for everyone. I got a mixed drink called a Red Dawn (rum and some kind of fruity stuff in it, rather interesting) and some lamb skewers for dinner. We also ran into another pub crawl group, and I got into a fun discussion with a Black Templars player about the fluff behind my Chapter and how the BTs would probably want to purge the Lords of Oblivion if they knew how many psykers they had.
At this point, it was already going on midnight, and I knew it was going to be at least 30 minutes to get back to the Hyatt, plus a 7 AM wake-up for the GT. However, James said he was going to buy the next round at the next bar, so I said, "...Well...I GUESS I can stay for one more round." We walked a few blocks to the Rocket Bar, which I was looking forward to as it was supposed to have various bar games like pool and table-shuffleboard for us to play, which I thought would be fun. Alas, there were about 200 people crammed inside, and I could barely hear myself think. James randomly tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what I wanted to drink, so I went with my default choice, rum and coke. This caused a good laugh, as I didn't realize that's what everyone else had ordered too, other than Mike getting Jack and coke (him and his whiskey. Oh, who am I kidding, whiskey is awesome too). After that, it was back to the hotel. The taxi ride was...interesting, as four of us crammed in the back seat, and the buzz was definitely taking hold (I saw the bartender pour the drinks, and it was 3/4 rum to 1/4 coke, which I was honestly amazed at. Worth every penny!).
Finally, I staggered into bed and set my alarm for 7. I'll have the events of the GT in a subsequent post, so stay tuned!
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