I enjoy attending 40K tournaments when I can fit them into my schedule. I do tabletop RPGs and LARP, so that doesn't tend to be as often as I'd like. I also have a hard time getting in games between events, as I live in a kind of rural area and it generally takes an hour to get to the places where I might seek them out. Also, GTs tend to be a bit of a stretch for me, as they take multiple days and often occasion hotel stays, which is not insignificant money.
All that said, an opportunity to get free registration to the Winter Assault ITC Major at the Everwinter in Waltham MA fell into my lap, so I decided to go for it. Winter Assault is a 100 person event, making it easily the biggest I've been to since I went to Battle For Salvation in Nyack NY a couple years ago. I thought I would share my list going into the event and talk a bit about what I'm using and why.
My first couple games of 10th edition, I messed around with a Ravenwing heavy list to see if they had much play in the new edition. The short version of what I learned was no, they don't. So, I switched gears, starting playing a list with a heavy Deathwing component and a lot of Whirlwinds, and was doing reasonably well with that. However, the release of Codex: Space Marines made me want to try something different. So, I decided on a Firestorm Assault Force.
Why the Firestorm? The answer is Hellblasters. I've been harboring the opinion the best way to field Hellblasters is with Azrael and a Lieutenant and have them ride around in a Land Raider. Now, a case can be made for a Repulsor, and it's likely a stronger case. However, I don't have one, but I do have this poor Land Raider I've had since 3rd edition and in all that time it's never even been a remotely competitive choice. Now, all of a sudden I can put it on the table at a tournament and not feel like I'm deliberately playing on Hard Mode. How can I turn up the chance to do that?
Azrael makes a pretty obvious choice to enhance and compliment Hellblasters. For a secondary character, I opted for the Bladeguard Lieutenant from the Indomitus box. I wanted him for the Lethal Hits, and because between his master crafted power weapon and Azrael's Sword of Secrets, the combined unit could actually do some work in assault. Maybe not Deathwing Knights+Terminator Chaplain work, but work nonetheless. As it happens, the Lieutenant also grants the unit the ability to shoot and charge after falling back, which I wish I'd known the first time I played the list. I'll circle back to that later.
So the Land Raider full of Hellblasters is all well and good, but it's not a whole list by itself. To compliment the hitting power of the Hellblasters, I opted for three 5-man units of Devastators. For 2 of the units, I opted for 4 multimeltas, which prompted me to paint a bunch of MM Devastators I've had kicking around unpainted since at least 7th edition. To help the Devastators get within range to do some work and to enhance their shooting, I'm having them ride in Razorbacks. The tracks' Fire Support rule can allow the MM Devastators to reroll all their Wound rolls, which I figure will go a long way towards helping them punch up vs the bigger, tougher targets we used to be able to bring down with multimeltas with so little effort. The total package is not many more points than a squad of 6 Eradicators with a lot more mobility and similar output, so I'm optimistic about their value in the list. The 3rd squad of Devastators is packing 2 lascannons and 2 grav cannons and riding in a Rhino. Their job is to sit in the Rhino minding an objective and shooting whichever guns are more appropriate on a turn by turn basis. I chose grav cannons in particular to peel the last few wounds off of vehicles that have been taken most of the way out by my other shooting, and lascannons to give them something with some reach in case there are no good grav cannon targets within range.
My last meched up unit is a squad of 5 Infernus Marines riding in an Impulsor. That makes a mobile little package of crowd-clearing dakka, just in case I find myself playing against someone who puts a lot of chaff on the table.
To make the tracks a little harder to deal with, I included a Dark Shroud. I figured a speedy little bubble of Stealth and Benefit of Cover would be a value-add to the list. For utility work, I included 2 squads of Scouts and 2 squads of Inceptors. The Scouts have a mix of shotguns, sniper rifles, and missile launchers so they have a tool for all occasions, but are mostly there for utility work. As for my Inceptors, I have 1 squad each of bolter and plasma boys. The bolter boys have actually been sitting on the sprue since I got the starter box they came in, only just now getting assembled and painted because all of a sudden Inceptors of either type are enormously useful for scoring secondaries, which explains why they have the sexy smoke trail base things and the plasma boys have the weedy little clear flying stand they came with.
The last little bit of tech is the comb-weapon Lieutenant. I have a bunch of robed Veterans, which I've used as squad sergeants and as a distinct unit of Company Vets, so I've slapped one of those guys onto a 40mm base so he can give me reroll 1's to Wound at a midfield objective, and then run around doing utility work for me.
I did manage to take this list to a little RTT on Thanksgiving weekend at The Portal in Manchester CT. I almost never play with incompletely painted models, but I figured it was important to give the list a trial and work out the kinks ahead of attending a GT with it. So, I sacrificed the Battle Ready points on my games to use the unpainted Devastators and got some reps with the list.
My first game was against Alex Fennell. Yes, THAT Alex Fennell. LVO winner, player of pink flower-themed Necrons, and all around lovely guy. The funny thing about playing a top player is that it kind of takes the pressure off, and it was my very first time playing the list, so I wasn't expecting to come out on top anyway. Remember me mentioning I wish I'd known the Lieutenant granted shooting and charging after falling back? I had my Hellblasters stuck in combat with Alex's C'tan the whole game. Sure would have been nice to know I could have them fall back and shoot. However, I did learn that Azrael made the unit pretty tanky against the C'tan, and the Lieutenant granting Lethal Hits actually let the Hellblasters peel a not insignificant amount of wounds off the C'tan, enough so that Alex was obliged to commit more resources to the fight to save his monster. He still won 100-41, but he didn't just walk over me.
I won my second game. My opponent was also playing Necrons, a list very similar to Alex's, except instead of a C'tan, he was using Heavy Destroyers. Since I'd just played against Necrons and not many players are as capable as Alex (yours truly included), I did much better, winning 78-56. My Land Raider lasted just long enough to for me to get my Hellblasters where I wanted them, and they did the lion's share of the work.
My third game was against Sisters of Battle, and it was my worst showing of the day. It was an eminently winnable game, I just made several mistakes that cost me in the long run. Chief among those was spreading myself out too thin, not getting my Hellblasters into the fight quickly enough, and assaulting my opponent's Rhino with my Impulsor and letting that fight go on more than a turn.
I'll leave my list posted below so you can look at it if you're inclined to do so. I'm about as ready as I'm going to get. I just have a couple hunter killer missiles to paint up, and I'll be as ready as I'm likely to get. Wish me luck. I hope to be a credit to the 1rst Legion!
+++ Dark Angels 2K Firestorm Assault Force v1.0 (Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition) [1,990pts] +++
++ Army Roster (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels) ++
+ Configuration +
Battle Size: 2. Strike Force (2000 Point limit)
Detachment: Firestorm Assault Force
Show/Hide Options
+ Epic Hero +
Azrael: Warlord
+ Character +
Lieutenant: Forged in Battle
. Neo-volkite pistol, Master-crafted Power Sword & Storm Shield
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
+ Infantry +
Devastator Squad
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Sergeant: Bolt Pistol, Power Weapon
Devastator Squad
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta
. Devastator Sergeant: Power Weapon, Storm Bolter
Devastator Squad
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Grav-cannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Grav-cannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt Pistol
Hellblaster Squad: Plasma Pistol
. 9x Hellblaster: 9x Close Combat Weapon, 9x Plasma Incinerator
. Hellblaster Sergeant
Inceptor Squad: Plasma Exterminators
. 2x Inceptor: 2x Close Combat Weapon
. Inceptor Sergeant
Inceptor Squad: Assault Bolters
. 2x Inceptor: 2x Close Combat Weapon
. Inceptor Sergeant
Infernus Squad
. 4x Infernus Marines: 4x Bolt Pistol, 4x Close Combat Weapon, 4x Pyreblaster
. Infernus Sergeant
Scout Squad
. Scout Sergeant: Boltgun
. Scout w/ Heavy Weapon: Missile Launcher
. Scout w/ Scout Sniper Rifle
. 2x Scouts w/ Astartes Shotgun: 2x Astartes Shotgun, 2x Bolt Pistol, 2x Close Combat Weapon
Scout Squad
. Scout Sergeant: Astartes Shotgun
. Scout w/ Heavy Weapon: Missile Launcher
. Scout w/ Scout Sniper Rifle
. 2x Scouts w/ Astartes Shotgun: 2x Astartes Shotgun, 2x Bolt Pistol, 2x Close Combat Weapon
+ Vehicle +
Land Raider: Multi-melta, Storm Bolter
Ravenwing Darkshroud: Heavy bolter
+ Dedicated Transport +
Impulsor: 2 Storm Bolters, Ironhail Heavy Stubber, Ironhail Skytalon Array
Razorback: Hunter Killer Missile, Storm Bolter, Twin Heavy Bolter
Razorback: Storm Bolter, Twin Heavy Bolter
Rhino: Hunter Killer Missile
Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)
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