{"id":1909,"date":"2014-05-18T10:39:15","date_gmt":"2014-05-18T14:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2014-05-18T13:30:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-18T17:30:27","slug":"40k-redcaps-1000pt-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/05\/40k-redcaps-1000pt-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"40k: Redcap&#8217;s 1000pt Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-42\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/kingbreakers-icon.png\" alt=\"kingbreakers-icon\" width=\"81\" height=\"81\" \/>Ten people showed up for <a href=\"http:\/\/redcapscorner.com\/\">Redcap&#8217;s<\/a> May\u00a0tournament, once again an excellent production.\u00a0For whatever reason the theme was definitely strife within the Imperium, with Orks and Tyranids making an appearance but everybody else loyalists battling amongst themselves to determine who the Emperor loves most. Even the Sisters came to fight for\u00a0the title of most blindly dedicated to the empire.\u00a0Also notably, the overwhelming majority of armies were painted, and most\u00a0of those\u00a0pretty well.\u00a0Full results and armies in play are up on the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/app.torrentoffire.com\/#\/tournament\/Redcaps-Corner-1000-Pt-Standard-Tournament\/3\/leaderboard\">tournament page on Torrent of Fire<\/a>. I will say, ToF&#8217;s interface remains\u00a0amazingly\u00a0terrible, specifically the non-intuitive navigation among pages, but it&#8217;s super cool to be able to\u00a0see details of who played who and so on.<\/p>\n<p>More photos, including other games\/armies, are\u00a0in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/sets\/72157644723065084\/\">Flickr gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1912\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7517.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1912\" class=\"wp-image-1912 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7517-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"It almost killed him, his dad, and even Tom M to get in done in time for Adepticon, but Colin's Blood Angels came out impressively well and superbly retro-40k styled.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7517-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7517-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It almost killed him, his dad, and even Tom M to get them done in time for Adepticon, but Colin&#8217;s Blood Angels came out impressively well and superbly retro-40k styled.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Army<\/h2>\n<p>I dropped the Predator and downgraded a Razorback from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/05\/40k-1000pts-practice\/\">Thursday&#8217;s games<\/a> to add some bodies and a quadgun:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\"><em style=\"font-weight: inherit;\">Capt Angholan&#8212;<\/em>Vulkan<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\"><em>Ghost Squad Harmon<\/em>&#8212;Sternguard x5 w\/ 3x Combi-Meltas, Poweraxe, Drop Pod<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\"><em>Squad Scolirus<\/em>&#8212;Tacticals x10 w\/ Vet Sgt, Powerfist+Boltgun, Flamer, Multimelta, Drop Pod<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\"><em>Squad Titus<\/em>&#8212;Tacticals x10 w\/ Vet Sgt, Chainsword+Bolt Pistol, Meltagun, Missile Launcher,\u00a0Rhino<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">Scouts x5 w\/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">Imperial Bunker w\/ Quadgun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, having made that quadgun swap, nobody brought any flyers\u00a0and\u00a0only the Tyranids brought a flying monstrous creature&#8230;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1922\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7586.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1922\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1922\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7586-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Sniper Scouts fresh from the training yards infiltrate into position.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7586-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7586-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1922\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sniper Scouts fresh from the training yards infiltrate into position.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Round 1<\/h2>\n<p>First up was John L and his Clan\u00a0Raukaan Iron Hands Space Marines, fielding something like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Librarian<\/li>\n<li>Sternguard x10 w\/ 5x Combi-Meltas in Drop Pod<\/li>\n<li>Tacticals x10 w\/ Rhino<\/li>\n<li>Scouts 5x<\/li>\n<li>Centurions x3 w\/ Grav-Amps<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Stalker<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The mission was 12&#8243; table edge deployment, Scouring objectives. I went second by choice, both of us picked normal scoring.<\/p>\n<h3>Fight<\/h3>\n<p>Raukaan Sternguard dropped directly\u00a0in front of the Kingbreakers&#8217; bunker with massed combi-meltas, an ironic twist for the latter. Those Sternguard had some back and forth about which targets to prioritize&#8212;the bunker or the\u00a0nearby troops&#8212;but eventually cracked the bunker\u00a0open.\u00a0They were in turn\u00a0obliterated when Squad Scolirus dropped onto the Kingbreakers&#8217; own base in a dramatic reinforcing action.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile,\u00a0Capt Angholan and the\u00a0Ghosts claimed first blood by taking out the opposing Stalker on the drop, but were immediately knocked down\u00a0by the Raukaan Centurions. The Centurions then began a slow march across the bridge dividing the table, a wall of hurricane bolter &amp; grav-amp fire sheltering their advance and\u00a0withering Kingbreakers all across the board.\u00a0Kingbreakers Tacticals played a tight\u00a0game of desperate and decreasing\u00a0chances to pull off a win by hiding around their now-burning bunker to\u00a0hold and contest their two home objectives in the endgame, but ultimately the margins grew too thin.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1919\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7490.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1919\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1919\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7490-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Whoah buddy, watch where you're pointing those things!\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7490-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7490-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Whoah buddy, watch where you&#8217;re pointing those things!<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Outcome &amp; Analysis<\/h3>\n<p>A crushing loss for the Kingbreakers, finally swept off the table in Turn 7, one bonus point\u00a0earned for John having no elites left.<\/p>\n<p>The huge mistake I made here was underestimating the Centurions. I played John and basically this list plus some flyers and dreadnoughts in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/01\/40k-redcaps-1850-tournament\/\">January tournament<\/a>. In that game the Centurions were\u00a0very hard to eliminate, but didn&#8217;t actually achieve much either. However, that was on the dockyard cathedral board were they had almost no sightlines and I was able to drop all my guys into protective cover right near them before running in\u00a0Angholan and\u00a0Scolirus to\u00a0tie them up (2+\/3+ save on the captain) and slowly take them down (powerfist on the sergeant). On this bridge board however,\u00a0once they got on the bridge they literally had sightlines to every part of the board except the tiny space behind my bunker.<\/p>\n<p>So, in the drop I went for the\u00a0assured First Blood kill with the Sternguard tagging the Stalker because that secondary is\u00a0frequently\u00a0critical, five\u00a0Sternguard weren&#8217;t going to be able to wipe out the Centurions, and from that previous game I wasn&#8217;t super worried about them anyway. That was wrong. The Sternguard should have\u00a0attacked the Centurions. Even if they&#8217;d only killed one that would have been a dramatic reduction in their firepower throughout the remainder of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, I could have gone for the Rhino with his Tac Squads. I saw that as a much less probable drop to get melta bonuses, but even without that I still would have had a good chance to pop it. Potentially I could even have separated the Sternguard and Angholan to crack\u00a0it with the Sternguard and then\u00a0heavy flame the guys inside. It would have been really helpful later to have his troops advancing slower, as well as to prevent him from using that\u00a0Rhino to block in my own Rhino.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1918\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7489.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1918\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1918\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7489-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Raukaan and Kingbreakers apparently do not agree on Imperial philosophy.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7489-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7489-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1918\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raukaan and Kingbreakers apparently do not agree on Imperial philosophy.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Round 2<\/h2>\n<p>Next was David H and his Sisters of Battle. I can&#8217;t recall when I last\u00a0played against the Sororitas, so that was pretty cool. He fielded something like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Celestine<\/li>\n<li>Inquisitor<\/li>\n<li>Battle Sisters x10 w\/ Rhino<\/li>\n<li>Battle Sisters x5<\/li>\n<li>Seraphim x7<\/li>\n<li>Dominion Squad x5 w\/ Immolator<\/li>\n<li>Exorcists x2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The mission was\u00a0table corners deployment, four Big Guns Never Tire objectives. I went second by David&#8217;s choice, both of us picked alternate scoring.<\/p>\n<h3>Fight<\/h3>\n<p>Kingbreakers Scouts camped out on top of an objective while Tacticals did double duty manning the\u00a0quadgun and covering another objective by\u00a0their bunker. In the opposite corner, Exorcists (a scoring unit under Big Guns) attempted to hold down objectives\u00a0alongside a small squad\u00a0of Battle Sisters protecting an Inquisitor.<\/p>\n<p>Angholan and the Ghosts tried to drop on the Exorcists but scattered badly, well out of direct contact. Squad Titus advanced quickly along the flank to support them, but was hung up by immobilizing missile fire. Hoofing it on foot, the squad was then raked\u00a0and decimated by\u00a0an outflanking\u00a0Immolator and melta toting Dominions outflanking onto their side. Angholan and Harmon returned the favor, pivoting to wipe out Immolator and Dominions both in assault before\u00a0switching back to march on\u00a0and crush the nearest Exorcist.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1927\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7551.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1927\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1927\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7551-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Situation: Not good.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7551-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7551-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Situation: Not good.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Directly in the midst of all this, Squad Scolirus dropped onto an objective in the middle of the firefight. One combat squad took up defensive positions on that\u00a0objective with their multi-melta while Scolirus lead a running gun battle through and under the dockyard ruins against the Sisters and Inquisitor on the other objective. Eventually clearing them off, the remains of\u00a0Tactical 1\u00a0then hunkered down in dense\u00a0ruins\u00a0in hopes of\u00a0outlasting\u00a0sniping fire from the remaining Exorcist.<\/p>\n<p>On the opposite table edge, the Kingbreakers quadgun immobilized an oncoming Rhino and forced a contingent of Battle Sisters to advance slowly toward their target objectives. Scout Snipers killed Saint Celestine but she resurrected to lead her\u00a0Seraphim in overwhelming the Kingbreakers&#8217; bunker and cruelly turning the quadgun against the\u00a0snipers in retribution.\u00a0Battle Sisters eventually took the bunker objective, but the Sororitas&#8217;\u00a0advance\u00a0on the other was halted by\u00a0a precision multi-melta shot from across the battlefield\u00a0that put Celestine out for good.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1928\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7572.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1928\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1928\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7572-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Come down here and fight us!  No thanks!\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7572-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7572-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1928\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Come down here and fight us! No thanks!<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Outcome &amp; Analysis<\/h3>\n<p>Max points for the Kingbreakers, a crushing victory and two bonus points for more secondary objectives (all three) and opponent having no HQs on the table.<\/p>\n<p>One small trouble I had here was that I should have picked the laterally opposite\u00a0corner with a nice ruin, and placed my fortification better. \u00a0As-was, the impassable building in my corner was a touch too high to claim the objective from on top of it so some of my Scouts had to hang out on the ground floor. Similarly, by putting an\u00a0objective next to that my fortification wound up too close, so my second\u00a0objective had to go\u00a0a bit off and some Tacticals similarly had to hang out on the ground floor.\u00a0When I selected that corner and set the bunker\u00a0I was thinking in terms of\u00a0running\u00a0to claim on Turn 5 as for normal scoring, but I&#8217;d opted to go with alternate, per-turn scoring, for this round, so\u00a0my defensive position was a little more brittle than it should\u00a0have been.<\/p>\n<p>I thoroughly enjoyed the one point where I had a choice between sniping at the oncoming Battle Sisters to try and pin them, or sniping my own now-vacant quadgun in hopes to sabotage it before the Seraphim could\u00a0take it over&#8230;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1931\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7574.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1931\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1931\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7574-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Well, that used to be a nice quadgun. *sigh*\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7574-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7574-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1931\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Well, that used to be a nice quadgun. *sigh*<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Round 3<\/h2>\n<p>Finally up was Rob W and his Imperial Guard, forcefully debating\u00a0which army had the true heroes of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/02\/40k-redcaps-doubles-tournament\/\">February doubles tournament<\/a>. He fielded something like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Company Command w\/\u00a0Officer of the Fleet, Artillery Spotter, Voxcaster, Autocannons<\/li>\n<li>Inquisitor w\/ 3x Servo Skulls, Liber Hereticus, Powerfist<\/li>\n<li>Primaris Psyker<\/li>\n<li>Ministorum Priest<\/li>\n<li>Platoon Command Squad w\/ 4x Flamers<\/li>\n<li>Infantry\u00a0Blob x20 w\/ Lascannons<\/li>\n<li>Conscripts x30<\/li>\n<li>Veterans x10 w\/ 3x Plasmaguns<\/li>\n<li>Basilisk<\/li>\n<li>Aegis Defense Line w\/ Quadgun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mission was 12&#8243; table edges, four Crusade objectives. I went second by Rob&#8217;s choice, both of us picked alternate scoring.<\/p>\n<p>Rob placed his two objectives surprisingly far apart, one\u00a0in his corner artillery encampment as expected, the other\u00a0near the opposite corner across from my base camp.\u00a0I chose to deploy my Scouts as normal so that he couldn&#8217;t block their infiltration with his servo skulls. They then\u00a0made a scout move up onto an objective in ruins just outside my deployment zone. This wound up being important as it upped the\u00a0velocity toward combat on that flank, as well as eventually getting me a critical bonus point for having\u00a0a troop mid-field.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1938\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7595.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1938\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1938\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7595-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Come get some.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7595-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7595-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1938\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Come get some.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1937\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7584.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1937\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7584-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"The blob advances.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7584-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7584-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1937\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The blob advances.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Fight<\/h3>\n<p>Supporting the planetary\u00a0governor to investigate rumors of imminent rebellion, Kingbreakers Scouts had just moved into reconnaissance\u00a0positions to surveil\u00a0a huge gathering\u00a0of Conscripts suspiciously\u00a0milling about\u00a0a shadowy Inquisitor, Primaris Psyker, and a\u00a0Ministorum Priest\u00a0when they\u00a0were shocked to see the blob suddenly leap\u00a0to life and charge at their position under the trio&#8217;s raging exhortations! Facing a\u00a0substantive threat to\u00a0the Marines&#8217; base camp\u00a0as well as their own lives, all possible reinforcements were coolly\u00a0called in as the tremendous volume of lasgun shots\u00a0forced the Scouts\u00a0to ground.\u00a0Captain Angholan and Scolirus&#8217; First Tactical themselves immediately dropped from orbit, bringing the\u00a0flaming heart of the chapter to burn away the heretics before the psyker theology insurrection\u00a0could continue. Gouts of flame halved the Conscripts&#8217;\u00a0numbers and rebuffed their\u00a0countering assault, while the Kingbreakers&#8217; fire-tempered armor shrugged off the\u00a0blistering\u00a0heat of\u00a0the Platoon Command flamers come to reinforce the\u00a0felons.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1940\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7606.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1940\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7606-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"With fire &amp; flame in the Emperor's name.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7606-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7606-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1940\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">With fire &amp; flame in the Emperor&#8217;s name.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1941\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7608.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1941\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1941\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7608-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Right back at ya!\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7608-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7608-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1941\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Right back at ya!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The forecasted rebellion suddenly under way, the Kingbreakers&#8217; camp found\u00a0itself under barrage from the local Guard\u00a0artillery corps. Marines dove for cover in their bunker\u00a0and surrounding ruins, spooling\u00a0up their quadgun and krak missiles to take out the Guard&#8217;s own anti-air defenses. The skies cleared, Harmon&#8217;s\u00a0Ghosts dropped square into the heart of the traitors&#8217;\u00a0encampment, taking out the primary\u00a0artillery\u00a0before being\u00a0forced out of the fight by crippling mass shooting surrounding their position.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Angholan and Squad Scolirus\u00a0hurled themselves into the Conscripts amid the whirling flames, Angholan bellowing forth challenges to any who would stand against the Emperor. Driven mad by his\u00a0false visions, the\u00a0Primaris\u00a0rallied\u00a0first\u00a0but was cut\u00a0through as quick as air.\u00a0Stepping into his place, the Priest was similarly slain but not before driving in a near-fatal\u00a0power blade.\u00a0Leaping\u00a0over the bleeding\u00a0body of his crippled captain, Scolirus met the rogue Inquisitor in mid-strike, powerfist hammering\u00a0powerfist and\u00a0blasting both down in the titanic energies unleashed. Their heroes\u00a0down but the\u00a0rotten core of the rebellion\u00a0excised,\u00a0Tactical 1\u00a0redoubled their efforts and eliminated the stragglers before following Sergeant Titus, overdriving his Rhino through the thick of the combat, to take up defensive positions preventing\u00a0the rebels\u00a0from claiming their leaders&#8217; bodies for martyrdom.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1946\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7627.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1946\" class=\"wp-image-1946 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7627-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"The Psyker's powers do nothing to stop Angholan's relic blade.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7627-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7627-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1946\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Psyker&#8217;s powers do nothing to stop Angholan&#8217;s relic blade.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1947\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7632.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1947\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1947\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7632-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Titus leaps from his Rhino to halt oncoming traitors.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7632-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7632-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1947\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Titus leaps from his Rhino to halt oncoming traitors.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Outcome<\/h3>\n<p>Victory for the Kingbreakers, with a\u00a0bonus point for having a\u00a0troop\u00a0in no-man&#8217;s land.<\/p>\n<p>When the blob first started coming at me I was really worried about being swamped through sheer numbers, and it got\u00a0really close to my forward line\u00a0very quickly! With all the orders and special dudes going on it also caught me off guard\u00a0(!) with a bunch of tricks&#8212;Scout move, 4+ Invulnerables, Fearless, debuffs on my guys, etc., in addition to then having a couple multi-wound power weapons buried in the blob.\u00a0Fortunately in deployment I&#8217;d put Angholan with Tactical 1 specifically to go flame that blob, and that&#8217;s what they did. Flamer overwatch did me a huge service when it took out the whole front rank of the Conscripts, causing them to fail a\u00a0charge by about half an inch. The Salamanders&#8217; anti-flame buff also negated\u00a0the Platoon Command flamers. Together that meant the whole squad got to charge rather than be charged in Turn 2, at full strength, and got in two rounds of flaming the blob beforehand. \u00a0Following that, neither of us remembered Rob&#8217;s\u00a0maledictions forcing re-rolls on Invulnerable saves for a turn or so, which certainly helped Angholan survive longer.<\/p>\n<p>That said, I&#8217;m not sure how much\u00a0all those specifics mattered. All I really needed to do was tie up the Conscript\u00a0blob for a while so that\u00a0objective wasn&#8217;t being claimed, with Titus\u00a0coming forward to claim or contest against the Platoon Command that came in. With that blob blunted Rob didn&#8217;t have much\u00a0that&#8217;d be able to cross the board to claim or contest my objectives. The limited sightlines, Scout camo cloaks, and my bunker then basically ensured the large blasts coming down from his Basilisk and artillery officer wouldn&#8217;t be able to blast away all three of the troop units I had in my backfield to claim two objectives, particularly with the Sternguard available to most likely take out\u00a0one or the other of those (the Basilisk in the end). So, this was a tight game of quarter inches and critical rolls, but once\u00a0that blob wound up in combat back by its own objective\u00a0I felt I was playing for the victory,\u00a0and\u00a0I don&#8217;t really see how he could have avoided that combat.\u00a0Caveat some supremely bad scatter on Angholan and poor luck on\u00a0run or charge rolls (very short for me and\/or very long for him), I don&#8217;t think\u00a0the blob\u00a0could have\u00a0kept pressing forward to change that basic\u00a0calculus of two objectives for me, one for him, and his other contested or unclaimed.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1953\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7599.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1953\" class=\"wp-image-1953 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7599-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Thwarted again!\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7599-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7599-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1953\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thwarted again!<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Tournament Results<\/h2>\n<p>All of that was enough to take 2nd place, as I have in\u00a0each of the three Redcap&#8217;s tournaments I&#8217;ve played in 2014 (one the doubles tournament teamed with Rob). John L&#8217;s Raukaan took top honors, beating my points by exactly that crushing victory in our\u00a0first round battle. Tom M picked up a nice result, taking\u00a0third with his Custodes (Grey Knights). Tom also drew the random award for painted armies, so he actually took home the biggest slice of the pot.<\/p>\n<h2>General Thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>Just a couple general tournament thoughts follow.<\/p>\n<h3>Painting<\/h3>\n<p>Obviously it&#8217;s a comparatively easy target at the 1000 point level, but my impression was that the random painted army award has already motivated quite a bit of activity. There was noticeably significantly more painted dudes around. <em>Lots<\/em> more players\u00a0than previously were\u00a0talking about last ditch efforts to finish up new units, or putting more emphasis in army selection on what they have painted.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1957\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7502.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1957\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1957\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7502-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"You just made my list of things to do today...\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7502-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7502-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1957\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You just made my list of things to do today&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>The Scouring<\/h3>\n<p>Probably the Scouring mission should be tweaked for\u00a0tournament play. I still got swept by John&#8212;after a grueling seven turns!&#8212;but it worked out that I had both the 4 point and a 3 point objective in my corner, versus the 8 points available across all four other objectives. An easy fix to this mission would be for players to alternate placing an objective along the centerline of the table, otherwise following the usual rules (6&#8243; from table edges, 12&#8243; from each other).\u00a0These could also just be fixed at the 1st &amp; 3rd quartiles\u00a0on the centerline. Then the players alternate placing two objectives each in their deployment zones. A small tweak would be to place one in their own deployment and the second in their opponent&#8217;s, Apocalypse style. Then each player\u00a0makes the obvious roll to\u00a0determine which objective in their zone is a 3 point, the other being a 2 point. Another random roll is then made to determine which of the centerline objectives is the 4 point, the other being the 1 point.<\/p>\n<p>If both players pick\u00a0Redcap&#8217;s alternate scoring none of that matters as those\u00a0points\u00a0are irrelevant. But that&#8217;s also unfortunate as it\u00a0makes the Scouring just a 6-objective mission rather than the actually different structure the variable value objectives give it compared to Crusade and such.\u00a0In terms of increasing the number of interesting strategic decisions being made, having different missions, and eliminating random advantages (&#8220;I picked normal &amp; the 4 pt objective is in my base, excellent!&#8221;), for the Scouring you should know which objectives are worth what before selecting normal or alternate scoring. But then scoring selection needs to be moved to just before any deployment, which sounds reasonable to me off the cuff as a general change.\u00a0Then, of course, the previous about\u00a0fair Scouring objective placement applies.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1958\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7563.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1958\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1958\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7563-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Custodes investigate a Chaos shrine.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7563-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7563-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1958\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Custodes investigate a Chaos shrine.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Alternate Scoring<\/h3>\n<p>This was my first tournament under\u00a0Redcap&#8217;s new alternate scoring.\u00a0It actually totally caught me off guard as I forgot about that\u00a0entirely. In the first mission I picked normal scoring just because I didn&#8217;t have time to process what was going on and\u00a0make an actual decision so I just went with my usual type strategy. With my half-castle and half-alpha strike contest army it would have\u00a0gone better for me to pick alternate, though that&#8217;s not clear given I had the imbalance of valuable objectives.<\/p>\n<p>In general though I think that&#8217;s probably true. I have trouble envisioning many armies or strategies that shouldn&#8217;t pick\u00a0alternate scoring as it is currently. This is particularly true without any\u00a0cap on\u00a0how many times\u00a0the objectives can be continually scored, offering\u00a0a strong potential for\u00a0that scheme to simply offer more points than\u00a0the normal scheme. Neither of those is a problem if you&#8217;re actually effectively changing the game but leaving in the normal scoring just in case that does work better for someone, which isn&#8217;t an unreasonable position. But if the intent is to offer different victory paths than the rules\u00a0should perhaps\u00a0be\u00a0tweaked, though I have to think about it more.<\/p>\n<h2>Closing<\/h2>\n<p>All in all, once again another excellent tournament at Redcap&#8217;s. More photos, including other games\/armies, are\u00a0in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/sets\/72157644723065084\/\">Flickr gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1959\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7611.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1959\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1959\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7611-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Pop!\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7611-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/IMG_7611-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pop!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten people showed up for Redcap&#8217;s May\u00a0tournament, once again an excellent production.\u00a0For whatever reason the theme was definitely strife within the Imperium, with Orks and Tyranids making an appearance but everybody else loyalists battling amongst themselves to determine who the Emperor loves most. Even the Sisters came to fight for\u00a0the title of most blindly dedicated &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/05\/40k-redcaps-1000pt-tournament\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[272,38,227,17,274,29,198,45,228,24,325],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-battle-reports","tag-40k","tag-imperial-guard","tag-iron-hands","tag-kingbreakers","tag-miniatures","tag-page","tag-raukaan","tag-redcaps","tag-sisters-of-battle","tag-space-marines","tag-tournament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}