Battle Brothers of the GCWA: July 2018

The Battle Brothers made the trip north to Chattanooga, TN for the yearly American Team Championships. There 72 teams of five players each vied to be the best in the country.
**As many may have heard, there was some controversy among players at the top tables that resulted in a team being DQed. I will not be discussing that here as it did not impact our team's games. Tune in to the podcast as we will likely discuss issues like this in our segment "The Climate of 40K".**

The Team and the Event

For those that have never been, ATC is a unique experience in the competitive 40K scene. Normally when you attend a large convention, you're playing for yourself and attempting to survive and advance with a win or the most battle points - not so with ATC, at least on the individual level. This event pairs two team of 5 against each other with the goal of pulling out a team win. The players on each team are then paired off using a system of "put up lists" or "attacker/defender lists." This isn't too complicated in practice but for the sake of time, the explanation can be found in the ATC rules packet located on their website. The result of this system is that some players get really good matchups, some get really bad matchups, some are on par, but ultimately the two teams can try to maneuver for the best pairings in an attempt to maximize the points possible. In order to win the round, a team needs to either score 4 victories out of 5 games or win by an aggregate battle points score of more than 10 (this is a simplified version but effectively what has to happen). Less than 10 point differential results in a tie unless one team wins 4 games. The tournament was using ITC Champions Mission 1-3.

Our team, Battle Brothers of the GCWA, was composed of the four usual hosts of the podcast along with our friend Robert Harp who lives near me in Florida. Our armies were as follows:

Robert: Dark Eldar Wych Cult and Black Heart Ravagers with Eldar Jetbikes/Shining Spears and 2 Hemlocks

Scott: 3 Knights and Guilliman with some guard

Hinkel: Nurgle Daemons with 3 units of 7 Beast of Nurgle

Adam: Thousand Sons Smite Spam with lots of Cultists and Tzaangors

John: Longstrike and friends with a Riptide and Stealth Teams

My List

T'au Sept Brigade

Fireblade: Warlord, Puretide Chip

Longstrike: Ion, SMS, 2 Seekers

Coldstar: 4 Fusion

4x5 Strike Teams

2x5 Breachers

3x3 Stealth Teams

Riptide: HBC, SMS, Counterfire Defense System, Target Lock

3x4 Shield Drones

3 Hammerheads: Ion, SMS, 2 Seekers

Sa'cea Vanguard

Fireblade

3 Firesight Marksmen

Pathfinders (5)

The Games

ROUND 1
Opposing Team: Team Not Last Place
Matchup: Cory, Imperial Knights and Guard

My first round matchup saw me playing against Imperial Knights for the first time since their new book was released, as such I only had a general idea of what they could do. But my opponent was run a Gallant, 2 Crusaders (BC and Gatling) with a pair of Helverins and a Guard Battery. He was running House Taranis which has one of the absolute dirtiest combos I've faced. House Taranis has a stratagem that allows a non-exploded Knight to come back to life at the end of the phase it was destroyed in with D3 remaining wounds. Questoris Mechanicus then has a stratagem that allows a knight to operate with its top Wounds bracket...see where this is going? Happened to me in this one. We were playing on Spearhead Assault with 6 Objectives. I took Titan Slayer and Big Game Hunter (naturally) along with Recon, while Cory took Old School in place of Titan Slayer.

He goes first and was able to move his Knights up and kill 3 units from range, I believe it was a couple Strike Teams and a Stealth Team on my right flank. He was able to reduce Longstrike and another Hammerhead to their second profile and have a decent chance of a turn 2 charge with his Gallant Warlord. I returned fire and was able to severely injure the Gallant with Seekers but was not able to kill it. Stealth Teams on my left flank were able to gun down a guard squad on an objective to ensure I killed something but couldn't displace another unit there. Turn 2 his Gallant actually failed the charge and died to my return fire but his Crusaders were into my lines at that point and began removing Hammerheads and my Riptide. The Stealth Teams were able to harass him long enough to guarantee I maxed out Recon and kill a unit to keep it respectable but I was never able to get any of the bonuses. The game winner for him was using his Command Re-roll to ensure the first crusader I killed returned to action. That was a blow I couldn't recover from and with his low unit count he was able to finish me off in turn 6 as my last fire warriors attempted a heroic last charge into his Crusader. It went about as well as you expected.

Fortunately, that was the worst matchup we had and I actually got a decent amount of points for a loss, so the team pulled out a 4 win victory.

Game Result: Loss, 19-35
Team Result: Win 4-1, 242-158

ROUND 2
Opposing Team: The General Staff, The Greater Evil
Matchup: Collin Watts, Thousand Sons and Daemons

Many of you will recognize the name of my opponent in this one as Collin is consistently in contention for the top spot at Warzone Atlanta every year and actually is the reigning champ (I can't remember if it was Best General or Best Overall). He was running a Thousand Sons army with two 30 man Tzaangor Bombs and a 30 strong unit of Pink Horrors with Psykers and 3 Vortex Beasts backing it up. I took Recon, Reaper and Headhunter while he swapped Big Game Hunter for Reaper. It was Frontline Assault deployment with 3 objectives.

I went first and killed off two Vortex Beasts and a unit of Brimstones while canvasing the board to try and block off areas for his Tzaangor bombs to arrive. He used the Dark Matter Crystal to arrive on a flank near a hammerhead but luckily failed his charge and took some casualties on the way in. The game turned into a real meat grinder as I had no answer for his Smites and he couldn't really crack through my tanks. Ultimately he was able to get into my lines with the Tzaangors and consistently edge me out on Kill Points and that ultimately won him the game. I had a critical misplace towards the end as I used my last stratagems to bump my Riptide back up to five wounds and then use its top profile, but then failed in target selection. There was a good chance I could've killed either Ahriman or a poxbringer (maybe both with luck) but I tried to take out a Daemon prince on the other side that was Glamored. With a little luck, that could've swung it just enough or me to tie or win. But unfortunately, I goofed.

*As a personal note, I wasn't too upset as I was able to go toe to toe with a top notch player in what I would likely view as a bad matchup for me. For those listening to the Best General by Adam Abramowicz, we all have the goal of competing at the top of a GT and in order to be the best, you've gotta beat the best. I'm not there yet, but games like this against a 'known' 40K champ are very encouraging about the progression as a player.*

This was actually a super close game and we were a point away from taking a team loss. But the other guys were able to have strong showings to force a tie, I know Robert scored in the mid-30s as the put up list. These guys ended in the top 8 I believe so it was a good result.

Game Result: Loss, 23-27
Team Result: Tie, 2-3, 190-210

ROUND 3
Opposing Team: Cigarettes and Marshmallow Fluff
Matchup: John Seng, Imperial Knights and Guard

This team actually had a Tau buddy of mine, Scott Corbeil, on it who was borrowing two of my Y'Vahra for the event so it was a funny twist we ended up playing each others' teams. Hinkel may have had some flashbacks though as he got paired against Scott and I know he has some trauma from what my Y'vahra have done to his Orks in the past.

I was paired against my second Knight opponent of the weekend with John Seng, another Ohio guy like Scott. He was running a different list than Cory as he opted for a more close combat oriented army. As I recall he had a Valiant, Gallant, Warden with Reaper and Gatling, a Warglaive and Vostroyans in the backfield. I again took Titan Slayer, BGH and Recon while he went with HH, BGH, and Old School. The deployment was Recon with 4 objectives in a diamond layout.

I believe he went first in this one but without much LOS to my Hammerheads, he just killed some Fire Warriors that got stuck in the open. My Stealth Teams did a good job of harassing his flanks and drawing attention away from my main firebase long enough for me to take out the Gallant and severely injure the Warglaive (down to 1 Wound...couldn't close the deal that shooting phase). He critically failed a charge with the Warden while also taking some Ion Cannon shots on the way in. I was able to clean it up with a single hammerhead's shooting the next turn before turning my attention on the Valiant. A fun moment was a Fireblade using the EMP Grenade to take the last wound off the Warglaive. This game went pretty decidedly in my favor although John's dice just went cold at a couple of key points. For instance, he fired the harpoon twice - once at a firesight marksman (T3 W3) and once at a Riptide (T7 W14) - and rolled a 1 to wound both times. I ended up finishing off his last character in turn 5 to end the game.

This was an incredibly tight match on the team front as we actually won 3 of the 5 games but they edged us in battle points to result in a draw.

Game Result: Win, 32-17
Team Result: Tie, 3-2, 196-204

ROUND 4
Opposing Team: All About The Captain
Matchup: Mike Miller, Guard and Blood Angels

We then drew AAtC which is comprised of a lot of guys from my local gaming group at TBS Comics in Pensacola/Fort Walton Beach. We had some fun with this one as we've all played each other at one point or another and Mike and I ended up playing. Mike was also running some of my models for ATC as he had a large contingent of Sanguinary Guard.

We were back to the six objectives on a Dawn of War deployment. He spread his 3 Tank Commanders out on his left flank with his Taurox in the center and left. My Stealth Team was able to block off one of his units of Scouts so I ended up having pretty good center board control. He spread the Catachans out in the backfield on Objectives with Mephiston and SmashCaptain coming up the gut in the center. The Sanguinary Guard went into Deep Strike. He finished deploying and won the roll off to go first, which I had banked on and tried to cluster my tanks around the one piece of LoS blocking terrain in my DZ. But...then I seized on him.

This was one of those games where the dice were very much in my favor from the get go, much to Miller's frustration. Two tank Commanders went down turn one and I tied up the other with a unit of Stealth Suits while I grabbed the other home objective with another unit to score the bonus objective. Miller his back hard and got good points on the primaries for Turns 1 and 2 but he really had no answer after the tanks fell turn 1 and 2, and the Riptide and Commander took out his Vulture. The Sanguinary guard were able to remove a Hammerhead but by turn 5 he had SmashCaptain staring at a barely scratched Riptide with 3 Hammerheads staring at him and last 4 Sanguinary Guard. Big win for the Tau but Miller is always a great opponent and fun to play against.

Despite my best efforts, I couldn't deny enough points to keep us in the tie range and they were able to squeak out a win, but it was still a great time with a lot of my favorite gaming buddies.

Game Result: Win, 36-14
Team Result: Loss, 188-212

ROUND 5
Opposing Team: Huckleberry
Matchup: Ted, Custodes and Guard

To close out Day 2, we drew one of the Orlando Brohammer teams. For those that don't know, these guys are one of the strongest clubs in the South and routinely place well at tournaments. I ended up drawing what on paper seemed like a favorable matchup - 3 Leman Russ Tanks, guard battery, and a Shield Captain with 3x3 Jetbikes. Oh my was I wrong...

You know sometimes you have games like my previous round against Miller where everything goes perfectly, and then sometimes you're on the receiving end of that. This was the latter. Ted was a fantastic opponent, great guy with a great looking and characterfully painted army and he was playing like a champ. It was a Vanguard Strike Mission with the 3 Objectives again and I got a wonderful wall to hide my stuff behind. He went with Death by a Thousand and managed to get 3 points off of that turn 2...yep, he killed 9 units turn 2. The nature of the game was summed up when I made a desperation move to try and score some points by advancing my commander across the board in an attempt to slag his warlord. Needing a 3+ to hit and a 2+ to wound I rolled 1,2,1,4...successfully wound...and he makes his 5++. This was honestly a really fun game, especially once I accepted the inevitable.

I haven't taken an ass beating like that in awhile but in the end, the rest of the team took this one on the chin as well. But we got some great beer and fried chicken afterwards so I'll take the day as a win.

Game Result: Loss, 7-28
Team Result: Loss, 161-239

ROUND 6
Opposing Team: Barnyard Animals
Matchup: Alex Pracht, T'au Empire

We returned on Sunday for the final round and were in need of a victory to shore up our placement. We faced off against a great group of guys from Greenville, SC which included a father some duo; always a cool thing to see at one of these events. My opponent was Alex who was piloting a T'au list that I had seen concepts for on paper but never actually had the chance to play against. Two Riptides, Shadowsun, 3 Broadsides with Missiles, 55ish Fire Warriors and some supporting characters. My initial assumption was he was trying to play the double Kau'yon on Turns 1 and 2 to get full rerolls around Shadowsun. Thankfully we drew a Hammer and Anvil deployment and I was able to toe the back board edge enough to stay outside of the 36" range of his weapons thereby keeping my Hammerheads relatively safe. My Riptide was deployed forward but I was banking on his 12 Shield Drones to stay alive. The Stealth Teams were deployed across the centerline to grab Objectives and secure Recon quickly. Alex deployed in two firebases: his right flank consisted of the vast majority of his Fire Warriors and characters while the battlesuits and drones were on the left.

I won the roll off and moved half of my infantry forward to grab objectives while my Stealth Teams tried to clear off some screens. I took a calculated risk on turn 1 and poured all of my firepower into his unit of Broadsides. The thought was that at T5, I could force a lot more wounds on them and subsequently the drones that needed to be removed. Having 12 myself, I know how sturdy Shield Drones are to direct fire. The plan actually worked exceedingly well. I cleared off all 16 drones which accounted for 5 units, took out a Broadside and reduced another to 2 wounds and cleared off the front screen of Fire Warriors. The big firebase was largely untouched but they were well out of range of my important units and could be dealt with later. His turn began with a Mont'ka that advanced all of his big guns forward for free which killed off a Stealth Team and the Pathfinders. All in all it was an excellent trade in my favor. Turn 2 was honestly where the game was decided and unfortunately for Alex it was due to some horrible dice rolls. Having Nova Charge both of his Riptides, they had taken a mortal wound in exchange for the 3++ shield, and it felt like I'd have to devote most of my firepower to take either down that turn. It only took one. The first Hammerhead fired it's Smart Missiles into the closest Riptide resulting in one unsaved wound. It Overcharged and rolled 4 shots, all of which hit, and all of which wounded. All four saves failed to the tune of 12 damage and a dead Riptide. From there, the Riptide cleaned up the Broadsides and the Hammerheads shot into the surviving Riptide causing a good chunk of damage. Alex put up a good fight but once the second Riptide fell, it was mostly cleanup. The conclusion saw my Coldstar advance across the board to sit behind two Marksmen whom were promptly melted. The surviving Fire Warriors then shot and charged the Commander, beating him down in close combat to give Alex some secondary points.

All in all this was a really fun game and despite the poor dice rolls, Alex said it was one of his more enjoyable games of the event which is always great to hear. Our team was able to take this round with a strong 4-1 showing to close out ATC 2018 in 31st Place overall.

Game Result: Win, 36-16
Team Result: Win, 244-156

Wrap Up

ATC is becoming one of my favorite events to attend and I encourage any of you out there able to make it to Chattanooga in the summer to try throwing a team together and making the trip. Shane and the guys at Dicehead Games put on a great event and it's one of the largest gatherings of 40K players in the world with over 360 in attendance. The team aspect is such a cool dynamic off the usual singles event that it simultaneously lifts some pressure from you but ups your desire to perform well to help the team get a victory. I may be wrong but I think everyone on our team was either 3-3 or close to it, several of the losses being incredibly tight games that held us in range to get a tie. We'll be talking more about the event on our podcast this week so be sure to check us out at Battle Brothers of the GCWA on iTunes and podOmatic, and like the Facebook page to follow competitive 40K on the Gulf Coast.

Until next time!