Once Again, The Galaxy Weeps
Hellions And Wracks
On Sunday, On August 21, 2011, I played my second Kill Team tournament with my Dark Eldar at The Game Room in Brick, NJ. Having some success with the last tournament, I agonized over what to field this game. I didn't want to change up my list too much, but I didn't want to play the same team twice. This time my team consisted of five Hellions with a Helliarch (armed with splinted pistol & power sword) that were backed up by seven Wracks decked out with a Liquifier Gun and a Hexrifle-toting Acothyst. Wracks already start off with one Pain Token and they have a higher Toughness than a regular Dark Eldar. Also, since Wracks are cheaper than Trueborn, I could get more bodies on the table. The idea was to charge ahead with the Hellions while the Wracks would be an unstoppable (okay, pretty durable) wave of close combat nastiness. Then the Acothyst would use the Hexrifle to snipe any scary, multi-Wound monsters.
The more Pain Tokens, the better.
Learning from the last tournament, I painted up another four Pain Tokens so I wouldn't run out and have to use dice proxies. Since the Wracks already start off with a Pain Token, I decided to only put down subsequent ones for them. I think I finally have enough painted up for standard 40K claims.
My apologies if my commentary on the event is a wee bit biased...
Round One: Tau on Talarn
That Stealthsuit's camo is so strong, it can't even be photographed!
My first game was on my favorite table against my friend Bill. The night before, I had suggested he back up his Stealth Suits with Fire Warriors. I kinda wish I hadn't. This game had a scenario where the defender would have to protect a objective with AV 10. Knowing the Fire Warriors could easy destroy something that weak, I let Bill defend. However, Bill's force was designed for that task. I rolled for my Hellions’ combat drugs and the result yielded a Pain Token and the only USR I used was Infiltrate for my Helliarch. Within three long rounds, I took massive casualties and could not get to his objective when time ran out. That gave my opponent a well deserved win. Looks like Bill got to finally avenge his Kroot from last tournament.
Round Two: Tyranids on Sanctuary 101
A desperate battle waged against Tyranid beasts.
The game was another with a scenario. The object was to kill a randomly determined defending model and then take it back to the attacker's deployment zone. The defenders in this game were three huge Tyranid Warriors and a Zoanthrope. I rolled for my Hellions’ combat drugs and the result yielded the ability to reroll wounds in close combat. I gave Infiltrate to my Helliarch and Stealth to my Acothyst. It looked like I didn't have a chance in hell until my guys got into combat with the Zoanthrope. The combat was fast and furious. Then things got messy for both of us. The last round came down to the Warrior that was the objective and my Acothyst. With a lucky roll, I could have rended the Warrior's armor and then one-shot him with the Hexrifle's instant-killing power. Well, I failed to wound and the Acothyst was ripped apart by a barrage of bio-weaponry. I lost, but it was a suprisingly close game.
Round Three: Orkz on Armageddon
Pointy-ears versus Greenskins.
Having lost my first two games, I didn't have high hopes for this one. My opponent had a bunch of infiltrating Kommandos and then a metric ton of Boyz. He wouldn't have to make Leadership tests until I had killed off at least 12 models! I rolled for my Hellions’ combat drugs and the result yielded the ability to reroll wounds in close combat. The only USR I used was Infiltrate for my Helliarch. This game had a scenario where there were multiple objective markers on the table, but a model had to reach the object and roll a die to see if it was the real objective. So that meant models were running around to objectives and hoping it was the right one. Also, if you held the objective at the end of the game (even if you fail a Leadership test), you till won. Amazingly, I killed enough Orkz to make my opponent rout. He failed his test and my Wracks had secured the actual objective at the time. My first win for the day!
Round Four: Squats on Gryphonne
Hellions & Wracks locked in combat with Hearthguards in Exo-armor.
Finally, a standard Kill Team game! My oponent was none other than AshHammer, the tournament coordinator. Normally, he doesn't compete because he can't really win the prizes he's giving out. But we had odd-numbered players this time, so he was in. If you don't recognize his models, those are Squats (the 40K equivalent of Dwarves). They have since been purged from the 40K game & background. AshHammer used the rules for Chaos Space Marine Terminators for his models. I rolled for my Hellions’ combat drugs and the result yielded the ability to reroll wounds in close combat and the only USR I used was Infiltrate for my Helliarch. During the game, I successfully one-shot a Terminator {the one with Furious Charge) with the Acothyst's Hexrifle. It was also the first game I got to use the Liquifier Gun, but it didn't kill anything. It was a game of long brutal combats but I eked out a win when the last Squat fell.
Bonus Round: Black Dragons on Sanctuary 101
No mercy for either side.
While the three-way game to determine who won the tournament raged on one side of the store, Justin challenged me to a fun game on one of the empty tables. It was a standard Kill Team game and he was sporting a 9 man tactical squad of Black Dragon Space Marines. His heavy weapon was a plasma cannon, his special weapon was a plasma gun, and his Sargeant had a power fist. Once again, I rolled for my Hellions’ combat drugs and the result yielded the ability to reroll wounds in close combat. I actually got to kill something with the Liquifier Gun this time. The Wracks did a good job of shrugging off Bolter fire, but they weren't so great in close combat when Marines keep making their 3+ Power Armor save. The Helliarch, however, did some major damage with his power sword. In the end, the Marines all died. Then we realized Justin forgot to use one of his Marines with a Boltgun. I wonder if things would have been that much different if Justin remembered to play with all 9 guys instead of just the 8 he put on the table.
Final Outcome: Two Wins and Two Losses (Plus One Unofficial Win)
Well, I'm still averaging a 50% victory rate. Not bad, as far as I'm concerned. I also take pride in having the best looking Dark Eldar force in the tournament. I can't believe I rolled four 4's in a row for my combat drugs. Those are some pretty slim odds. All in all, the Wracks weren't bad (despite my whining during the game against Bill's Tau) and I look forward to using them in standard games. My MVP this time around was probably the Helliarch. Gotta love that power sword and four attacks on the charge (especially with re-rolling failed Wounds).
Acothyst with Hexrifle: not a bad choice for 35 points, really.
The Acothyst was a nice little wild card in the roster. Sure, that one-shot only worked one time the whole tournament. But there's always that chance it'll rend. Power Armor is no good when you can't use it. The Liquifier Gun was pretty neat the two times I got to actually fire it. I don't know what I would do to this list to tweak it; every model had a use. However, I always try to use a different list each time I play, so who knows what I'll use next time.
Previous Kill Team Tournament