NOVA Open 2014

I played the in NOVA Open GT this year with Space Wolves with allied IG, the reverse of last year. I

ended up going 3 and 5 this year,  a bit disappointing since I was playing for a bracket title at one point but considering I was using the new SW codex for the first time and had only concocted the list the night before, it was a good learning experience.  So here was my list:




SW:

HQ:  Wolf Lord in Terminator Armor with Combi-Melta and Power Axe

Troops:

6x Grey Hunters with melta gun, WG in TDA with Storm Shield and Combi-melta in a drop pod
8x GH with plasma gun, WG in TDA with Power Axe and Combi-plasma in a drop pod
8x GH with plasma gun, WG in TDA with Power Axe and Combi-plasma in a drop pod

FA:

2x Drop Pods (heh heh -- because I can)

HS:

Long Fangs, 4x Missile Launchers with Flak

IG:

HQ:

Pask in a Punisher, HB x 3, Exterminator wingman with HB x 3
Priest

Troop:

Infantry Platoon

PCS with 3 Melta Guns in a Chimera

2 x Infantry squads with AutoCannon (these guys rode down in the empty pods)

40 Conscripts

HS:

1 Wyvern

Record:  L-W-L-L-W-W-L-L.

I won't really deepend on bat reps, but I'll give the highlights:

Game One:  vs Clan Rakuun w/ LOTD,  We ended up tied on Primaries and Secondaries, but I lost on the points destroyed.  Really made one big mistake on my final drop that cost me the game -- went after his warlord rather than an objective. derp.

Game Two:  vs a cool guy I played 2 years ago, Ultramarines disguised as Dark Angels, including a Storm Talon disguised as a Nephilum, overall a cool game, another close one but won on primaries.

Game Three:  vs a GK (old dex) Crowe, 2 Dreadknights, 20 purifiers, a Storm Raven and an Imperial Knight -- pretty forgettable game, only kill-point mission, I should have gone for modified KP, might have helped, but,  I screwed up my first drops trying to alpha strike the rock, payed for it.  Meh, opponent had the personality of a door knob.

Game Four: VS White Scars disguised as Ultramarines (which pissed off my UM playing son to no end)  nice net-list, pal.

Game Five: vs MORE MARINES!!! High point of this game was watching a thunderfire cannon shoot point-blank at my Grey Hunters and miss...  then the Tech Marine got killed by a grey hunter using his bare hands.   I used aggressive drops to keep my opponent on the defensive, having to drop his own pods in his own back field.

Give Six: vs.... UltraSquats!  WHAT??  Yeah Squat models using Ultramarine rules with Marneus, Tigurius and resin drill pods as his drop pods, also he was using some converted Starship Trooper models as Centurions... So this was an epic game -- we went long since it was the last game of the day and they announced that they wouldn't enforce the time limit.  Ultra cool opponent.  Highlights:  Tigurius perils, rolls a 1, uh oh, passes leadership, takes a wound.  Tigurius perils again, rolls a 1, OH SHIT!, Fails his leadership, gets sucked into the warp! The other highlight of this game was using the consripts bolstered by the Wolf Lord and the Priest to tie up Marneus and his Centurion body-guards for most of the game.

Game Seven: vs NIDS, opponent was cool, played a good game, I'm glad I played him rather than the other Nid player who was slow-playing like you wouldn't believe -- most of her games got to turn 2 when time was called.  Talked to some friends who played her and had nothing good to say.  The bracket final ended up being Nids vs Nids, and unfortunately, ms slow-play won.  I suspect my opponent from this game just said screw-it and left half way through his last game.

Game Eight: vs Eldar,  good game, the conscripts charged his Wraith Knight and said "Welcome to the Tar-Pit!"  tied up the Wraith Knight from turn-two.  Fun.  Good game all around even if  I lost.

Overall:  Really enjoyed most of my games, enjoyed having folks I'd played in previous years come up to say hello, and really enjoyed having folks come up to me to ask if they could take pictures of my army!  One guy even wanted to take Pask and a couple of troopers over to where he had better light!  (I kept my eye on him...)  Another great event by the NOVA Open staff.

I didn't get any pictures myself but my son got some shots from his cell phone:

Amazingly, this guy left this sitting out on the floor overnight

One thing that bothered me on the paint judging:

Here was one of the finalists:  Notice any wrong with this picture?  No?  The Knights really aren't based.  Also the two components of the army look like they were painted by 2 different people, just an observation...

That's all.