LVO Practice Tournament Report

Ok, this is all a little late, so please forgive my lack of details. It is almost impossible to take notes during a tournament so I'm doing this on memory. That also means that I'll be dividing each game into deployment, early, mid, and late phases and giving the general details from memory.

I took a four Knight list and some Scions for support. I'm convinced that this has a lot of potential.

Whose got the advanced tech NOW tau?

My List:

Adamantine Lance-

Knight Paladin (Warlord)

Knight Paladin

Knight Warlord

Militarum Temptestus CAD-

Scion Command - Meltagun x4

Scion x5 - Meltagun x2

Scion x10 - Flamer

Knight Castigator (LoW)

Pre-Tournament Thoughts:

I was worried about the Knight Castigator being a LoW. This made him worth two extra Maelstrom points during the game and was, as such, a liability. It also helped the enemy Seize the Initiative. Thankfully, spoiler alert, it never happened. Still, it would be better if I could take another detachment and ditch that spot.

Game 1-

Mission: Heck If I Remember (time, gaaaah!)

Deployment: Long Edges

His List:

Knight Detachment-

Knight Lancer (Warlord)

Knight Errant

Knight Paladin

Rainbow Warriors (White Scars) CAD-

Captain or Chapter Master on Bike - Artificer Armor, Burning Blade, and Shield Eternal
Tactical Squad x5 - Missile Launcher
Scout Squad x5 - Camo Cloaks and Sniper Rifles
Bike Squad x8+1 - Gravgun x2, Combi-Grav, and Multimelta (Attack Bike)

Pregame Thoughts:
Some hot sexy Knight on Knight Action! Game On!

I live for this!

Deployment:

All Scions went into reserves to deep strike. Knights lined up a bit.

He spaced his Knights out a bit and put the marines where they could get cover, except for the bikes who planned on Jinking.

The Castigator was worried about...something. IDK, what.

Early Game:

I opened up with some shots into his men and tried to strip some hull points from his Knights. Killed a few bikers (four or five) and made him Jink, so they're not much of a threat now.

He advanced and did much the same, going 2/2 with the Paladin hurting the Castigator. I learn that my Sacristans apparently don't know how to maintain Ion Shields and that won't change this whole tournament.

My trap then gets sprung! He forgot about my deep strikers and moved his Knight Lancer forward.


For those that don't know, the Knight Lancer is all kinds of awesome but cannot put its shield backwards as a balance factor. My Scion command came in and stripped only five HP off, thanks to missing one shot (with twin-linked from an order!) and then failing one pen roll against AV12. Geez. Still, my Adlance finished the Lancer off. The small melta group mishapped but was just placed back in reserves. The big squad came in and decided to pick on some tactical marines, killing all of one.

He responded by charging my warlord, killing it with only 2 HP lose, and having his bikes try to slaughter my large scion squad, only to lose a guy from overwatch and fail the charge by the distance lost. On the right side, his Paladin continued to strip HP from my Castigator while it took two in return from the Paladin.

Pre-losing my own warlord

Post-Overwatch. AP3 is kinda fun.

Pre-losing his warlord! I love this shot.

His Knight takes on my Knight, who should not be facing Knights!

Mid Game:
With our warlords traded, my remaining lance mates, working with my Scion Command, finish off his Errant and begin to move to counter the Paladin that has reduced my Castigator to two hull points. Thankfully, my small melta Scions came in around the Paladin and will fail to do anything to it, scattering just outside of melta range and having a bad rolling day.

My Scion Command and Large Scion unit will eat chapter master and die a horrible death, but not before taking out his tactical marines.

Flippin' Chapter Master

In between gaining a numerical advantage, my Knights were slinging shots at his men on his objectives.

Late Game-
I think I might have actually traded my Errant for his Paladin...I honestly don't recall and it would fit with my dice that day.

My Scions finish off his Paladin and then my Knights charge and kill his bikes. Thankfully, the game goes long enough to see the Knights cross the field and kill his scouts as well. Being tabled, I've achieved victory in game one.

That Paladin will then charge and kill his Chapter Master...

...before moving onto some tasty scouts.

Result: Victory for House Pelletier!

Post Game Thoughts: This is exactly what I wanted my Scions to do and it went a long way to helping me achieve that victory. The game also highlighted how poor the Castigator is against other Knights, since I did far more damage to his bikers and scouts than I did against other Knights.

Game 2 -
Mission: The Relic
Deployment: Short Table Edge

His List:
Blood Angels CAD-
Sang. Priest - Meltabombs and Strategic Trait Relic (Warlord)
Sang. Priest
Assault Terminators x5 - TH/SS x4
Assault Terminators x5 - TH/SS x4

Tactical Squad x10 - Meltagun, Heavy Flamer, and Combi-grav (Ded. Drop Pod)

Tactical Squad x10 - Meltagun, Heavy Flamer, and Combi-grav (Ded. Drop Pod)

Empty Drop Pod x2

Stormraven x2 - TL Assault Cannon and TL Multi-Melta

Astra Militarum Allied Detachment-

Command Squad - Officer of the Fleet and Meltagun x4 (In Drop Pod)

Ministorum Priest x2 (With Terminators in Stormravens)

Veteran Squad - Meltagun x3 and Demolitions (In Drop Pod)

Wyvern x2

Pre-game Thoughts:

This was actually the last list I wanted to face. Aside from the Wyverns, everything in his list is great at tackling Knights. Drop pods mean that he has a huge advantage in Relic missions, since Knights cannot pick up the Relic...sadly.

Deployment:

I lined up my Knights on my side and held the Scions in Reserves.

He deployed Wyverns in cover and everything else had reserve transports.

Simple...

...and simple. Note, my enemy scoping me out.

Early Game:
I took first turn, hoping to neuter his Wyverns, and the battle cannons actually inflicted three pens, only to have him make all his +4 cover saves.
His drop pods carrying IG come down and tag my Castigator, removing only five HP. He actually rolled good on everything...except scatter. The Command came down too far for melta range.

My Knights kill his IG to a man AND his drop pods. Clearing my deployment zone. My Scion command is the only one to show up. It scatters ten inches, but diagonally so three meltaguns can at least get shots off (I fail my order) accomplishing nothing. He throws a bit of a fit here until I explain triangles and how close I was aiming my deep strike. I might have been getting a bit snarky but I also don't like being accused of cheating. It also wasn't helped by accidentally bumping his pieces midway through our argument...I'm not a fan of playing our local tournament team.
His entire reserves arrive thanks to one of his warlord traits (re-roll reserves iirc.) His flyers finish off my Castigator with missiles and then strip 4-5 HP from a Paladin despite the shield.

Note: I will make exactly ONE Ion Shield save this game, even with Adlance re-rolls. I may as well as not had that ability.

First Pod...millimeters from melta range.

His flyers and other pods begin his dominance.

Mid-Game:
I need to start doing some (any) kind of damage to him so I try to thin his tactical units and clear the objective. Backed by poor scattering from him and the arrival of the other melta Scions, I eliminate his Wyverns.
In return, he finishes off one Knight with the gunships and charges his terminators into the other two, complete with character support. Neither kills a Knight in one turn but both are down to one or two HP while I kill exactly one Ministorum Priest in return. I think two hits and four stomps accomplishes very little...and people grip about Knights.

My only real accomplishment the whole game...

This is him also claiming Linebreaker

Game 1 Pic: Not certain why its here. About to kill that Paladin.

Before he charged me, I tried to get a pod out of the way.

 Late Game:
My Knights are finished off by his terminators and he claims the objectives. My large Scion squad attempts to make a go at contesting the relic. They kill one too few a tactical marine...leaving the HEAVY FLAMER!!!, which promptly kills nine on its own before bolters finish the job.

Result: Solid Defeat for House Pelletier

Post-Game Thoughts: His dice were hot and mine were not. Don't get me wrong, he is a good player and was going to be a challenging opponent however my dice were but you cannot win these kinds of match ups without actually passing the occasional Ion Shield save or other critical roles. Even a single '6' on the stomp would have reversed the situation (potentially.) Still, he had a good list and played it well.

Game 3-
Mission: 2 Objectives (Whatever that is called, The Scouring?)
Deployment: Long Edges

His List-
Nurgle Biker Lord - Powerfist and stuff (Warlord)
Nurgle Daemon Prince - Wing, Armor, and ML3
Terminators x3 - Combi-Meltas
Plague Marines in Rhino with Plasmaguns
Plague Marines in Rhino with Plasmaguns

Nurgle Bikers with Meltas and a Powerfist

Maulerfiend with Lashtendrils

Helldrake x2

Vindicator with Siege Shield

Pre-game Thoughts: I was, admittedly, crestfallen after my last game and didn't take any pictures, except at the end. Despite that, I did not think his list could challenge mine too much. He actually swapped out the plasma at the last minute and now regretted it.

Deployment: We both basically lined up.

Early Game:

My Adlance lays into his bikers, killing about half the unit with shooting. My Castigator, somehow, gets the charge on his Daemon Prince, giving as well as he got since I couldn't roll that +5 to hit. He then charged the Castigator with the Maulerfiend. I'd lost four HPs by the time I killed both. My Scion Command killed his Vindicator before it could get into trouble.

Mid Game:

Any Discord reference is appropriate when facing Chaos.

His plague marines made a go for my objective while I charged his depleted bikers with my Warlord, only to kill the two remaining mooks and have the Chaos Lord hulk out
and kill the undamaged Paladin single handedly, with just a powerfist. Sigh. The explosion hurt him at least. My small Scion squad would move to secure my objective from his plague marines while my large Scions tried the same on his side. His helldrakes wasted their breaths by vector striking my Knights...with no targets near by.

Late Game:

Splitting up the lance, the Paladin went to back up my Scions on my objective, securing it. The Errant supported the Scions on his, securing it though his late entry terminators and re-emerging Helldrake would reduce my unit to about two or three.) The Castigator would be down to his last HP but would survive and help to make sure those rotten Chaos worshipers didn't get my objective.

His Objective: If it went another turn the Errant would have taken it over from my surly dead Scions.

My Objective: The Castigator has claimed it. It is his.

Result: Victory to House Pelletier

Tournament Result: 6th out of 22 (or 20)

Post Tournament Thoughts:
Not bad when two things are considered. First, this was an LVO practice tournament so everybody there was going full tilt and really wanted to win. Despite that, my opponents were largely great guys. Game 2 was genuinely a bad match up and is something Knight players need to watch for. Any flyers are a problem but Stormravens and Stormwolfs are especially a pain for Knights. Facing two is a difficult proposition. Combined that with his dangerous pods, my inability to make saves, and the fact that those ravens were chalk full of Knight stomping termis and I was going to have a tough time, really. With such a devastating lose, I'm very pleased with a 6th place.

List Thoughts:
I like the list a lot and the only things I would change is the large squad. They need a bit more umph in order to contribute in any way beyond simply being in a place. I'm going to ditch two members and add in some plasmaguns on them. Someday Forgeworld will release an anti-air Knight. On that day, I will be broke and jumping up and down.


Well, that was fun to type out (took various time over three days!) but it was also quite a bit late. In the mean time, I'm gotten about 53ish models for Scions because I don't do things halfway. They're the old Kasrkin models, which makes me both very happy and very nostalgic. They were some of the first models I ever bought when I got into 40k. They were also some of the few I'd painted and I sold them, something I've regretted since. I also picked up three more Valkyrie chassis that are sitting in Simple Green now to get their paint off. The more I play 7th Ed., the more I'm convince that my IG lists need flyers. It kinda bites but I like winning more than I dislike playing flyers, so future IG lists will feature airborne deployments, probably by my Kasrkin.

Thoughts?