Overview of the Rookie Rumble 2016.

Last Saturday, I took part in the 2nd  Rookie Rumble - WH40K 2016 Tournament hosted by the FLGS known as GR.  This was my third overall tournament I took part in and the second singles tournament I took part in.  A year has gone by and I have added more experiences under my belt.

Prior to the tournament, I had set-up at least 5 practice sessions with Luminator and Farseer G.  The results did pay off.  I made changes to my list and got rid of dead weights in the army.  Although my list is still a typical CAD army and is still lower the power level of most "Decurion" style formation armies.  

This year, Cmdr Ryanbo was not allowed to participate having becoming one of the top 8 in last year's final tournament.  Think of it as a ladder or league where only the top can compete.



The Tournament itself.
Format is exactly the same as last year's rookie rumble.  Same Maelstrom missions, same number of objective markers, same table size, same points and breaks were given between the games.
The only difference is that this time we actually get to place the objective markers.  
 

 First round – Eldar Harlequins (Shadowseer JY)

JY as I am told is a relatively experienced player and very nice person to game with.  I was not familiar with his army and so adopted the conservative approach and deployed my units within cover.  Throughout the game he extremely patient and explained to me what each unit could do and sometime repeating it when I forgot.   Since both of us were late, we didn't have the opportunity of playing the game fully and had to end at around turn 5.  At the end of it, I manage to secure a minor victory over him.  I attribute some of these to good dice rolls on my part and bad dice rolls on his part.  Overall, I was fortunate as Harlequins was not ranked high on the power tier compared to other factions.   

Second round – Mantis Warriors Space Marines (Cmdr WK)

WK was part of our gaming group and took part in the Badab War Campaign early last year.  This is his first tournament and he brought with him a triple dreadnought list.  Captain on bike with command squad accompanied by Scouts.   I have experienced Drop Pod Alpha Strike list quite often and knew what to expect.  My deployment was to essentially to deny him alpha strike capability and minimize my own casualties.   This game was hard fought, we both inflicted heavy casualties on each other and the game could have swung either way.   Our cards were equally bad and neither of us got to capitalize on it.    In a way, the dice rolls favored neither of us.  Both of us got bad dice rolls but at end of the turn 5.  Variable game length decided that game will end when I had slight lead, resulting in a minor victory for me.

Third round – Tau Empire (Cmdr YA)

YA is a long-time veteran but has mostly been painting and not playing.  Unlike the previous two list, he is using a hunter contingent cadre with formation special rules.   This means his list is significantly higher on the power tier even though he isn't using the storm surge.  He also managed to seized the initiative, allowing him to pick off my units that had the ability to punch back.  The game was pretty one sided.  I could not get over there to lay the hurt and would lose many units.  Needless to say, I lost this game pretty badly.

Since I am in no position to actually score or win.  My plan was to not get tabled by the end of the game and entice him to close ranks so that he will be within reach of my weapons.  The plan kind of worked, I also managed to tarpit his Riptide for 4 Turns.  That is 4 turns of the Riptide not being able to bring its devastating weapons to bear on my units.

RESULTS OF THE TOURNAMENT

This year, Farseer G cliched the top spot.  After many tournaments and being matched up with some of the strongest list and players in the competitive scene.  Farseer G finally clawed his way to the top.   The only true competition this tournament was Overseer A.   He is by far the player with the most playing experience playing competitive games and had one of the strongest list.

This year however, we see Archon RC take the top spot for best painted.  Having previously won Australia's Golden Daemon, it is no surprise.   It looks like this trend is going to stay since RC no longer works for the other FLGS known as Titan Games, which at the time of writing this article has already closed down. 

Conclusion

I enjoyed myself immensely, even though for my 3rd match I could not do anything against the Tau.  For the first time, I actually managed to score 2/3 score in a tournament.  I was fortunate to be paired up against mid tier list and friendly players.   My preparation prior to the tournament also paid off as I learn to focus more on the mission rather than fighting my opponent head on.  Just because you are within the power to do something, does not mean you should.  Depending on circumstances, sometimes it is better to divert your resources elsewhere where it will do more good.

The TO has also mentioned that this will be the last Rookie Rumble that they are organizing.  In the future, minimal points format is at least 1500.  I was sadden to hear this of course, as I am just starting to grasp the 1000 point bracket.   Looks like I will have my work cut out for me.

First taste of 40K competitive game

For the past several months, I only played small games in 40K.  500 points is the maximum I could muster and I became somewhat familiar with what my list can do.  There weren't much variety of units on the table so that was easy.

Last week was the beginning of my very first 40k game at 1000 points and I was utterly smashed.  I played two other games following my first game and lost all of them.  I was so excited and tense this time, I forgot to take photos of the game.

Anyway I thought I should write about what I learn so far, just to keep track of my progress (if any) and for future references.


All three missions played were Maelstrom - Spoils of War.  First two games was with Commander Ryanbo and third game with Chaos Lord SJ.

FIRST GAME
Ryanbo had Wolfstar accompanied by an Imperial Knight (IK).
I had Tactical Squads, supported by Razorbacks, Predators & Dreadnought, basically all my painted models and those that I am currently painting up for the June painting challenge.  The tanks were borrowed from Ryanbo.

There was limited tables and we shared a 4 x 6 table with Farseer G and Somjai.  So the battlefield had some overlapping areas.  This may have a slight impact on my deployment.

Commander Ryanbo won the dice roll and went first.  In addition he opt for Night Fighting to give him cover save as he moved across the open.  In his first turn, he moved his IK forward and fired off it's thermal cannon.  This took out 65% of my units.   Then remaining units tried shooting at the IK, taking away a couple of HPs but ultimately did nothing.
As the IK closed in with the Wolfstar, I knew the game was done.  I had nothing left on the table that could effectively contest the objectives.   Absolutely no way I could have gotten there in time.  With no chance of winning I conceded.

What I learnt:

• IK can move 12".  (That is really fast!!!)  I thought I was safe behind cover but I am not.
• Wolfstar is moving very fast too at 12".   I was quickly hemmed in.
• 4 x 4" table isn't very large.  Fast moving units can quickly grab objectives easily or move to  places that can project a threat bubble
• Tournaments do not use a lot of terrain, there are not a lot of covers

SECOND GAME
Same opponent and set up as before.  This time I tried deploying better.  As usual Wolfstar and IK advanced.  Wolfstar split and massacred my Scouts hiding behind the tower.  IK fired at my tanks, did less damage this time but immobilized my Razorback.
I knew IK are hard to take down so I pump as much shots at the Wolfstar as possible.  Later, IK got in range and charged my Vindicare Assassin, taking him out.  Wolfstar charged into my tacticals.  The surviving wolf lord circled around the building and charged my dreadnought.
I was fortunate and killed the wolf lord due to some lucky dice rolls.   My battleline of Predator tanks was finally taken out by the IK.  Near the 4th turn of the game, Ryanbo still had his IK and one wolfstar left.  I had only a dreadnought which the IK caught up to and destroyed.  I did better this time as I managed to score a few objectives and killed some of Ryanbo's forces even though I lost.


What I learnt:

• Wolfstar are fast and vicious in melee but can still be taken out if I focus my firepower into it.  Their power diminishes as it takes wounds.  Unlike the IK, removing HP will not affect its ability at all.  Losing a wolf or two, means that the unit itself has less attacks in melee and the character has less meatshield to rely on.
• I should have deployed my scout in the tower itself and move to claim objective late game

THIRD GAME
This time I face Chaos Lord SJ and his mobile bike army supported by Landspeeders.  I have the same army as before.   Taking potshots at his units, I manage to kill one or two bikes.  The objective cards weren't on my side so SJ was gaining in victory points quite rapidly.  By the time, his command squad closed in.  The battle started tilting in his favor.  In the end, I lost by a huge margin of victory points even though I could kill a couple of his units.  Only the scouts, predator and a dreadnought was left on my side.


What I learnt

• Vindicare already has a 4+ Invuln save, putting him in cover makes no difference.  He will get at most 4+ cover save from the ruins.  I am deploying my Vindcare wrongly.  Given the Vindicare's ability to ignore cover, I should place him right in the center at the back end of my deployment.  Where he can draw LOS to any targets.
• Target priority, I should have used the Vindcare to target the Landspeeders.  With AV10, it is auto-penetration.  
• Focus fire, I should have focus all my fire into a single unit until it is completely destroyed.  This ensures that unit does not come back and haunt me.  Or get in a position to flank me.  If I had focus my fire on the Landspeeders, SJ would have harder time taking apart my tanks.  My razorback and tactical squad both objective secured units may still be around.
• Scouts did reasonably well against SJ's bikes, tying them up for 3 turns.  And they are cheap unit compared to his bikes.  I should paint more Scouts.
• My razorback and Predator should trade places.  Razorback should be closer to the objective.  I basically lost a turn of shooting trying to maneuver the Predator into position to claim objective and VP.

CONCLUSION
I have a long way to go in this hobby.  My positioning, target priority and list building needs to be improved on.  But with a self-imposed limitation of playing only with painted models.  I think I can only practice on my positioning and target priority now.
That is okay, I will learn to make do with what I currently have.  I will (hopefully) learn the strengths and weakness of the units I field and how to use them more efficiently.  While I do have a specific plan and strategy in mind, it calls for units that I have not even began to work on.

I shall need to work on an alternative army list that can capitalized on what I have painted so far.