Golden Throne GT battle reports part 1:

The Golden Throne GT was a great and fun event and I'll definitely try to make it out again next year and I recommend everyone else go if they can! With that said, these next few posts will cover my games in the event along with my thought process going into and through each game.


So how this set of posts is going to work is basically I'll start off with an overview and some thoughts on the tournament in general then I will jump into my first 4 games. My 2nd and 3rd posts will cover my 5th and 6th games since they were the most intense and tactical and probably will be the most interesting since they were ultimately the championship games of the tournament against some notably good players =).

Match-ups: 

Considering all of my potential opponents, I barely ducked having to play Liz Foster and her Demons of doom, Franky with his brutal 6 Venom/6 Ravager list and I am sure there were plenty of other players/lists that would have given me a hard time such as triple Helldrake with Necron Flyers along with other combinations of Eldar/Tau and so on. My friend Nick, from The Dice Abide, brought 5 Serpents and 5 Warp Hunters and that would have been a pain to play against! So ultimately, I don't think I played any lists that were hard counters to my army but I played 6 very good games and made it to the top which goes to show how a solid list with solid gameplay can take any player to the top and come out ahead =). Maybe one day I will play those other lists/players and get some battle reports under my belt and I'll be happy to post them up on my blog for all of you to check out. In the meantime, read on to find out what armies I played against and how the games turned out.

Thoughts on list design:
 Looking at other armies, I saw a variety of lists and philosophies behind them. Some were totally spamming the heck out of one type of strength such as shooting, combat or things like flyers. Others were very balanced and equipped to handle multiple threats. Overall, I think that all of the armies that made it to the finals were pretty balanced except for Franky's who might have brought a bit more than his "pod" could have handled though all it took was one game against Reece with bad dice to take him out of the running.

With that in mind, I think the best lists are the most balanced as they give you the tools to handle any threat and if someone overloads on one area of the game, you can punish them by taking advantage of their weaknesses-and every list has a weakness. That is particularly how I think I got so far, I looked at the list my opponent was bringing and tried to eliminate their strengths while capitalizing on their weaknesses and this is what makes 40k such a thrilling game-the tactical aspect of out playing your opponent and their list. Sometimes I do it well, sometimes I fail horribly but regardless, it's the most fun aspect of 40k for me.

So with all of that said, I definitely learned a bit about the list I brought and how I could have made it stronger/played it better and at the end of each game and this set of posts, I'll reflect on what worked or didn't work for me and why.

The tournament:
The official web page for the Golden Throne Grand Tournament can be found here for those interested, It should have the winners listed along with a breakdown of the meta. Essentially, it was a 2000 point tournament that allowed Double Force Org (including 2 sets of Allies/Fortifications as per BRB) as well as Forge World.

Missions:

Round	Deployment	Scenario
1	Vanguard Strike	Crusade (3 objectives)
2	Hammer and Anvil	Purge the Alien
3	Dawn of War	Big Guns Never Tire (5 objectives)
4	Vanguard Strike	The Scouring
5	Hammer and Anvil	Crusade (3 objectives)
6	Dawn of War	Big Guns Never Tire (5 objectives)
Championship	Dawn of War	Crusade (3 objectives)

My list:

My list without the Grav Tanks

2000 points Eldar/Tau: 1999

Eldar Primary: 1226

HQ: 170
-Farseer: 100
-Spiritseer: 70

Troops: 447
-Wraithguard:210
32(base)*5=160+50(5xD-Scythes)=210
-Wave Serpent:110(base)+5(Scatter Laser)+15(Holofields)=135

-Windrider Jetbike Squadron: 51
17(base)*3=51

-Windrider Jetbike Squadron: 51
17(base)*3=51

Fast Attack: 152
-Warp Spiders:152
19(base)*8=152

Heavy Support: 457
-Dark Reapers:250
30(base)*5=150+32(4X Star Shot)+10(Exarch)+10(Eldar Missile Launcher)+10(Fast Shot)=212
-Wave Serpent:110(base)+5(Scatter Laser)=120

-Night Spinner: 125
115(base)+10(Spirit Stones)

Fortification: 85
-Aegis:85
50(base)+35(Icarus Lascannon)=85

Tau Allies: 688
-Commander: 214
85(base)+20(multi sensor suite)+15(puretide engram neruochip)+25(heavy Iridium)+5(vectored retro-thrusters)+20(velocity tracker)+5(early warning override)+15(Plasma)+24(2x Shield Drones)=214

-Riptide:210
180(base)+0(Fusion)+5(Ion Accelerator)+5(early warning override)+20(Velocity Tracker)=210

-Kroot:60
6(base)*10=60

-Broadsides:204
65(base)*2=130+10(Shas'vre)+40(2x Velocity Tracker)=180
-Missile Drones:24
12(base)*2=24

Game 1:

This game my opponent brought the following:

Coteaz; Hector Rex; Xenos Inquisitor w/ Conversion Beamer; 2x5 Inquisitorial Henchmen w/ 1xMystics; 3x10 Strike Squads w/ Psybolt Ammo, 2x Psycannons, 1xDemonhammer; 5x Terminators w/ 1xPsycannon, 1xDemonhammer; 8x Purgation squad w/ 4x Psycannons; Fortress of Redemption w/ Krackstorm Silo, Icarus lascannon, 4x Heavy Bolter Emplacements.

Set-up:

First turn had Night Fight and I won the roll to go first so I set-up accordingly. I generated Prescience, Guide, Conceal and some other useless powers. My opponent got prescience and some other things that didn't really come into play.

I deployed the Dark Reapers in the Serpent by the Icarus with the Farseer/Spiritseer while the Broadsides/Commander were next to the Icarus. Warp Spiders and Riptide were along the right flank to try and get into a good position to blow up some building sections and troops inside while the Wraithguard/Night Spinner hung back to get into position where they were most needed.

My opponent deployed Rex with a henchmen unit in the Krackstorm annex while the Purgation squad with Coteaz was in the central annex with the Heavy Bolter weapons on top. He also seized on me which threw my plans into disarray.

Turn 1:

Opponent's turn:
My opponent seized on me and proceeded to murder my Warp Spiders but his other shooting failed to do anything. Looks like I have a lot of AV14 buildings to deal with now...

My turn:
Realizing how much of a pain the AV14 building sections are going to be, I move my Riptide up to try and blow a section up with his Fusion gun but fail to do anything and even take a wound from failing to Nova charge (was hoping for double Melta shot). I take some pot-shots at the building with the Reapers and fail to do anything as well while I move my Wraithguard up and then flat-out so I am virtually right in front of the annex with Coteaz and the Purgation squad.

Turn 2:

Opponent's turn:
My opponent gets all of his reserves in but deepstrikes in a way that none of my interceptor units have LOS so he just lands safely (especially thanks to his Teleport Homers in the buildings) and runs a few units around to spread out. His shooting kills my Broadsides as I fail a lot of saves.

My turn:
I get my Kroot and Jetbikes in and move them to hide as best as possible while my Wraithguard get out and deliver 5d6 wounds of S4 Ap2 goodness to the units inside the Annex with the Heavy Bolters...Coteaz and friends are annihilated. The Riptide also manages to blow up the Krackstorm  missile silo, with some Fusion shots, killing everyone inside except for Rex and my Serpent moves around to take out a 5 man Henchmen unit. Night Spinner takes out a few Strike Squad members including 2 Psycannons. Dark Reapers get back into their Serpent to get into a better position should my opponent run for some objectives.

Turn 3-end:

Opponent's turn:
My opponent gets another unit into the building and runs around to try to get some shots off at my units managing to eventually finish off my Wraithguard (thanks to poor armor saves).

My turn:
I get some units into position to shoot stuff up and essentially kill his terminator unit with Jetbike /Commander and Serpent shooting. My Reapers mow down a Strike Squad that exposed itself to go after my Wraithguard while my Riptide blows up another Wall section and does a lot of wounds to the unit inside. Ultimately, by the end of turn 4 my opponent has one Strike Squad that can get an objective and I still have everything except for my Braodsides/Warp Spiders and he calls it right there.

I learned a few valuable lessons in this game. First of all, even if you have first turn, deploy as if you expect your opponent to seize...because if you don't and he does seize you will be in a worse position. If I had my Spiders back more and deployed smarter, the game would have started off a lot better as giving up First blood like I did was really frustrating. Second of all, this was my first game dealing with a Fortress of Redemption and boy is this thing a beast! So much AV14 that Tank Hunter does not help against...I was really glad I got a Fusion blaster on my Riptide and that I could Smash attack the battlements.  The Wraithguard were also my MVPs here being able to flame into the buildings with Fire Points which was very nice. All in all, once the buildings are falling apart, I think an opponent will fall apart if they rely too much on the fortifications.

Another thing worth mentioning is make sure you are familiar with the rules for fortifications and are prepared to show your opponent what the rules are if they are playing them improperly. My opponent and I this game got in a tiff over how fortifications work and I don't think he played them properly...For starters, I blew up the section with the only "door" to the fortification yet he insisted he could still enter it and he was also firing emplaced weapons that were on top of the battlements from inside which I think is a no no since they were technically on a different section. Regardless, it was a valuable lesson learned in how to handle the Fortress of Redemptions...Bring Flamers and Melta!


Game 2:

This game my opponent brought the following:
Sammael on Corvex; Techmarine on a Bike; 5x Ravenwing Command Squad w/ 4x Plasma Talons, 1x Ravenwing Grenade Launcher, 4xCrovus Hammer, Standard of Fortitude; 4x Ravenwing Command Squad w/ 4x Crovus Hammer, 3x Plasma Talons, 1x Ravenwing Grenade Launcher; 4x Ravenwing Attack Squadron w/ 3x regular bikers and 1x Attack bike w/ Multi Melta; 2x 5 Ravenwing Black Knights w/ 4x Crovus Hammer, 3x Plasma Talons, 1x Ravenwing Grenade Launcher; Mortis Dreadnought w/ 2x lascannons; Mortis Dreadnought w/ 2x lascannons.

So looking at the above list, he basically had 8 fast bike units with scout about to get in my face and some Dreads for long ranged fire support. One thing I didn't realize was how fast this army can get to me and how painful 16 Plasma talons can be when they also can lower the T of a unit by 1 thanks to their Grenade Launchers!

Set-up:

Our deployment

Opponent's Scout moves

There was no nightfight turn 1 and my opponent won the roll to go first. Ultimately, he deployed in an aggressive manner and I tried to be as far back and defensively deployed as possible. I held my Jetbikes, Warp Spiders and Kroot in reserves while my opponent ended up coming at me full speed ahead with his Scout moves and such...I generated Prescience, Guide, Forewarning, Conceal and something useless.

Turn 1:

Opponent's turn:

So by the end of my opponent's first turn, he is about 1" away from most of my army!

This turn my opponent did nothing but come at me full speed with most everything in his army...Move 12" then Turbo 12" was the daily special here.

My turn:

Well, this was quite the conundrum as I don't think I've ever had to start the game in this situation before. Since this was Purge the Alien I figured I might as well go for the biggest and best targets and then hope to hold the lines from his inevitable charges/shooting...

I started the game by moving Wraithguard up and flaming Sammael's unit but Sammael and friends tanked a ton of hits. My Night Spinner eventually got a lucky shot off and sniped the Banner of Fortitude (that FNP had to go) then I finished off Sammael, the Tech Marine and brought the Command Squad down to a single member along with putting a few wounds on some other bike units.

I achieved First Blood, Slay the Warlord and got 2 KP this turn which was a solid start...Now to weather the incoming storm of Plasma doom and charges.

Turn 2:

Opponent's turn:
This turn my opponent eliminated my Riptide, Wraithguard and a Wave Serpent while puting some wounds on my Broadsides while my Reapers tanked everything thank's to their 2+ Cover save. He also got some lucky Krack Grenade Glances on my Night Spinner and a Wave Serpent and through charges only managed to Immobilize my Night Spinner while my Wave Serpent escaped unscathed. Overwatch saw some crazy luck as I killed a whole 3 man Bike squadron and a single Black Knight saving me the trouble of taking them out in my turn =).

My turn:

This turn my Warp Spiders and Kroot come in so I Guide the Spiders, Prescience the Reapers and cast other powers and get ready to do what I can...Ultimately, between my Reapers, Warp Spiders, Night Spinner, Broadsides, Serpent and Kroot I finish off all but 1 of his Black Knight units which has 1 model left, not bad! Granted some of his saves were kind of poor but the amount of Eldar Firepower is pretty intense. Basically, Reapers/Spiders each took out a unit while the combined might of everything else eventually put enough wounds on the other units to see much of the bigger threats taken out.

Turn 3:

Opponent's turn:
This turn my opponent takes out my Kroot, Night Spinner and Broadsides while he charges my Reapers with some bikes but I actually kill them in combat thanks to some nice Wychblade action on my part and bad armor saves on my opponents part. Also worth mentioning is my Tau Commander died because I was dumb and didn't look out sir the incoming Lascannons and failed his saves, oh well (that is why he charged, he killed my Hit & Run capability).

My turn:
I take out more of his bike units so that all he has left is an attack bike, 1 random biker and a 3 man bike unit along with his Dreads.

Turn 4-end:

Blurry picture of what was left by the end...

Opponent's turn:
My opponent shot some Warp Spiders up and charged them and the Bike unit leaving the Reapers to pretty much do whatever though my Bikes and Spiders held and then the Spiders used Hit & Run to get out of there. I think he eventually killed bike unit as well.

My turn:
I moved one bike unit up by his deployment zone for line-breaker and then finished off the rest of his bike units and at that point we called the game.

The game ended with 14 KP from me plus First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Line Breaker while my opponent got 9 KP from me with no secondaries. Ultimately a very close game of beating each other up...The Dark Reapers for sure were my MVPs as they were killing something a turn and proved to be able to take a charge quite well and continue to bring the pain. It got to the point where my opponent had to just ignore them and go for other KPs but the Eldar firepower was quite potent and managed to clean the Bikes up eventually...I have to admit, though, that first round of shooting my opponent gave me was quite potent and I knew the Plasma Talon guys had to die, sheesh they can bring the pain!

Game 3:

This game my opponent brought the following:
Librarian w/ Mastery lvl 2, Auspex, Power Field Generator; Librarian w/ Mastery lvl, Terminator Armor, Displacer Field; 10x Tac squad w/ Plasma; 10x Scouts w/ Cammo Cloaks, Sniper Riles; 3x Hyperios Platforms; Contemptor Mortis Dread w/ Kheres Assault Cannon, Cyclone Missile Launcher; Contemptor Mortis Dread w/ Kheres Assault Cannon, Cyclone Missile Launcher;  Whirlwind; Aegis w/ Quad Gun; IG Command Squad w/ Vox, Regimental Standard, Officer of the FLeet; Blob Squad w/ 3x Lascanon/Plasma Guns; Platoon Command Squad w/ Vox; Vulture Gunship w/ Punisher Cannon; Manticore.

Ultimately, a very shooty army with some nasty FW units thrown in.

Set-up:

Opponent's deployment

My deployment

My opponent won the roll to go first and generated Perfect Timing, Prescience x2 and something else. He deployed with a lot of his firepower centrally while the Hyperios were placed on the top of a building for a god field of vision.

I counter deployed as best as I could staying out of LOS so basically his first turn shooting shouldn't do too much damage (hopefully). I generated Prescience, Guide, Conceal and some other random stuff which was useless.

Turn 1:

Opponent's turn:
This turn my opponent managed to take out my Commander's Shield Drones and put a few wounds on him. The rest of his shooting was ineffective as I passed any requisite saves so no First Blood for my opponent.

My turn:
This turn I move out the Serpent with my Wraithguard to get some side shots at the Manticore then get my Dark Reapers/Riptide into position to do some damage and manage to take out the Manticore with the Serpent Shield, Stun the Whirlwind and take out a Contemptor Dread with my Dark Reapers while the Broadsides put some wounds on the Scouts in the center. All in all a solid turn considering it is Big Guns so I'm already up 3 points (2 from 2 Heavy Supports and 1 from First Blood).

Turn 2:

Opponent's turn:
His Vulture came on but my Icarus didn't do anything to it so the Vulture put quite a few wounds on the Dark Reapers nearly wiping them out, I think I had just 2 left by the end of the strafing run and failed 1/3 2+ saves I had to make =(. His other shooting put a wound on my Riptide and killed a Broadside.

My turn:
My Jetbikes/Kroot come on and I cast the necessary powers. I make a run for it with my Wraithguard to get into position to grab an objective and flame some of his stuff up. The Kroot kill the Company Command squad hanging out by the Hyperios platforms (who didn't have LOS on the Kroot to shoot their Interceptor shots thankfully). I manage to shoot down his Vulture with some Dark Reapers/Broadsides while the rest of my army takes another HP off of the Whirlwind and brings the Scouts down to 2 models (who break but will eventually regroup).

Turn 3-end:

My opponent hoots down the Wraithguard's serpent and puts takes some HPs off of my other Serpent and eventually takes out my remaining Wraithguard though his shooting is greatly diminished in the last few turns of the game.

I manage to eventually finish off the Whirlwind, take out the other Contemptor and flame the heck out of a lot of his units leaving him with the Hyperios platforms, his Librarians, a few Guardsmen in the Blob squad and the Company Command Squad...Seeing as how I still have an objective with my Reapers/Broadsides and am in a position to get at least 3 more with my Jetbikes/Kroot, we call the game though we accept the fact that I probably would have finished off what he had left on the board would we have rolled it out.

All in all a solid game where we both rolled actually pretty bad for many random things. Ultimately, the firepower of the Reapers and Wraithguard ate through his lines and left him in a position where he couldn't keep me from getting the objectives to win, plus I already got 4 Heavy Support kills, First Blood and Line Breaker for a 6 point advantage.

Game 4:

This was the first game of the finals as both my opponent and I went 3-0 on the first day. This game my opponent brought:

Typhus; 5 Terminators; 2x8 Plague Marines w/ Melta, Plasma in Rhinos; 2x10 Zombies; 2 Hell Drakes; 2x3 Obliterators w/Mark of Nurgle.

Set-up-turn 1:

There was first turn night fight and the mission was Crusade (3 objectives) with Hammer & Anvil deployment. I won the roll to go first so I chose the side with the 2 objectives on it forcing my opponent to come to me to have a shot at winning. I deployed far back while my opponent deployed as much out of Night Fight range as possible with Typhus, Obliterators and Terminators Deep Striking.

I generated Guide, Prescience, Forewarning, Conceal and some random other power that was useless.

My turn:
I cast the regular powers, moved up into position to get some good shooting done but roll so badly all I manage to do is kill a few Havocs and put a HP on a Rhino, Reapers and everything else basically rolled 1s galore even with Prescience =(.


Opponent's turn:
He moves up with everything and puts a HP on the Serpent (it was a Penetrating hit but the Serpent Shield dropped it down).

Turn 2:

My turn:
My Spiders manage to come on as do my Kroot and a unit of Bikes so I move them around in what I hope will be a useful position. I cast ForeWarning on the Spiders in anticipation of Hell Drake flames of pain next turn and move my Wraithguard in a position where I can come out and flame anything that Deep Strikes too close to my Reapers. The rest of my shooting finally takes out his remaining havocs for First Blood and I think I kill some zombies and put some Hull Points on each Rhino.

Opponent's turn:
Typhus comes on and lands behind my Reapers while a unit of Oblits lands by my Kroot but mishaps off the table and gets placed into ongoing reserves. The rest of his army moves up and takes pot shots at my stuff but nothing really happens except for my Riptide shoots the S8 Ap2 Interceptor shot at Typhus' unit but scatters onto himself and takes a wound. Sofar 3 wounds taken from failed Nova Charging and the bad scatter =(.

Turn 3:

My turn:
I cast the requisite powers and then move everything in position to try and wipe out Typhus and friends but after everything I had shot at his unit, Typhus was alive with 1 wound taken. The rest of my shooting took out both Rhinos and a Plague Marine unit. Riptide charged Typhus and with his Smash Attacks manages to hit twice (Prescience helped) but Typhus saved both of his invul saves! In return, Typhus fails to wound the Riptide for a drawn combat.

Opponent's turn:

This turn my opponent gets a Hell Drake in and deepstrikes another unit of Obliterators by my Kroot but manages to hit this time. Icarus takes the Bale Flamer off of the Hell Drake and Immobilizes it so that my Spiders are safe. His shooting takes out a bunch of Kroot but they pass their test. In an epic combat, Riptide Smashes Typhus again and this time kills him with the S10 attack (Typhus is not Eternal Warrior and only T5). Riptide>Typhus in CC, apparently =).

Turn 4:

My turn:
I cast the requisite powers again, get my last Jetbike unit in and grab whatever objectives I can. Shooting takes out the Hell Drake, a bunch of zombies and some Plague Marines while his Obliterators lose one and take a wound but are otherwise unscathed.

Opponent's turn:
His other Hell Drake comes on but Icarus manages to blow off the Bale Flamer and shake it so my Spiders are safe yet another turn. He deepstrikes his other Obliterator unit right by my Reapers but they mishap and get placed back in reserves. He shoots at/charges my Jetbike unit in the Ruins and wipes them out while his other units shoot at some stuff but do nothing.

Turn 5-end:

I cast the regular powers and proceed to take out his zombies and put some wounds on the remaining Plague Marines on the left while his Obliterators take everything I shoot at them and ask for more.

At this point, my opponent calls it since he can't keep me from getting an objective and I can contest his and already have First Blood, Slay the Warlord and can easily get Line Breaker.

All in all, a fun game against a solid CSM player who was surprised he made it as far as he did. His army was not anything OP or anything so he must have just made it on solid play and such. Ultimately, this game just consisted of him hurtling his forces against my lines but not being able to gain any ground as I just shot apart whatever got too close.

Conclusion:

So these were my first 4 games of the tournament and from here I made it to top 4 and then top 2 which ended in me winning overall. These first 4 games taught me a lot about how important positioning is and how target priority really makes or breaks your games. 

In game 1, I had to deal with the Fortress which was a unique challenge. Once I got my Wraithguard/Riptide into position, however, I was able to dismantle his army piece by piece and take out the important Scoring units for a solid win. I also learned how important deployment is and not to underestimate the possibility of getting seized on.

In game 2, I had to deal with an opponent being 1" away from me from the start so I didn't have the luxury of shooting everything off the board before they got to me. This game was all about target priority as my Reapers and the rest of my army were able to take out his HQ unit asap which really limited his CC punch and the survivability of the rest of his army. This ultimately allowed me to take out the rest of his Plasma Talon units the following turn after which all I had to deal with was regular bikers which didn't scare me that much. All in all a very challenging game which taught me a lot about Dark Angels and Ravenwing.

In game 3, I faced a solid Gunline style army and overcame it by maximizing LOS/Cover and range to minimize incoming damage while I was able to use my Eldar shooting to basically kill a few key targets ever turn. 

In game 4, I maintained a strong firebase where the opponent had to close in on me to have a shot at getting any objectives so I was able to take out whatever was coming my way virtually piecemeal though his bad reserves and scatters did help me, for sure. Wraithguard have proven to be quite a great unit to respond to 2+ save deepstriking units that get too close to my lines.

So with all of that said, Dark Reapers have been all around MVPs just dishing out a crazy amount of firepower each turn and with the Tau Commander and Eldar support powers just become a very resilient powerhouse. Wraithguard also proved their worth by doing a ton of damage each game to key targets while the maneuverability of the Jetbikes and Warp Spiders have really helped me get/deny key objectives or positions to my opponents.

Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 where I go into detail of my semi-final and final games of the tournament.