Power from Paint: Mayhem Managed!

Hello again my fellow Archons. The Cult of the Sand Viper return to Comorragh from the First Founding battle fields. And how did we fare? Well read on...

And yes, usual warning; pic heavy, slightly lighter on words!

18 players gathered from near and far to move models and chuck dice. First round opponents were determined at random and then the Swiss Pairs system was used to pair off players with a similar record.

Please excuse the lack of detail, but enjoy some potted highlights and pictures...

Game 1: Orks
First mission up is The Scouring, and I'm up against a very mobile Ork army in a 6 objective game. Great list with a Warboss Biker, Nob Bikers, Deff Koptas and Trukk Boys.

Focusing fire

The early game was all about target prioritization, trying to take out the Deff Koptas and their annoying rokkits, and the trukks.

Left flank and centre

Some red hot saves meant the Koptas took an awful lot of shooting before they finally went down, all the while with the bikers bearing down.

Canny use of the LOS blocking terrain in the centre by both sides made this a game of cat and mouse in the middle, whilst each army held a flank.  As the clock ticked down we moved into an objective dash; the Dark Eldar making a move onto a lot of the objectives with their speed and the Orks then countering; moving and assaulting onto some of the squishy Space Pixie units to take them back.

And the final reckoning: A draw.

Game 2: Imperial Guard
Mission 2 is Mayhem Domination. This is all about controlling quarters and objectives in the centre of each quarter, with points being scored from turn 2 onwards (think of it as a more structured Maelstrom mission.

I'm up against a nicely balanced guard list: Pask in a Plasma Tank with a wingman with the ignores cover cannon. Vets in a Chimera, Infantry Platoon, and a Vendetta loaded with a Flamer squad.

Bring it on!

Pask and friends await the Cult's advance

The Dark Eldar have first player advantage and make use of it, taking out the Russ with the Ignores Cover firing cannon (a really big threat as I have to rely on Jink cover saves for a lot of my protection), and blast chunks out of some infantry.

That's a lot of infantry to kill!

The guard retaliate, pouring plasma onto the Dark Eldar skimmers. The infantry blob, cheered on by their priest start their advance into no mans land whilst some reserves hang back to hold the home objective.

The Dark Eldar move into the neutral quarters and start racking points, taking pot shots where they can, taking chunks out of the blob and damaging Pask's command tank. Pask decides discretion is the better part of valour and attempts a retreat.

We see you!

But alas doesn't get away as the Reavers close in for the kill. The Monkeigh are hemmed into their deployment zone for much of the game as the blob is tarpitted with Reavers, but a level of revenge is taken as the flamer squad parachute in from the Vendetta and burn the Cult's warlord in gallons of promethium!

The Dark Eldar are able to accumulate a healthy score over the turns resulting in a Win.

Game 3: Space Marines
Mission 3 is Mayhem Relics; a lot like the rule book mission but with 3 relics (movable objectives). My opponent is playing a compact but deadly White Scars army: Librarian with the Ignores Cover relic (there's a theme here) accompanying 3 Grav Cents in a Land Raider, 2 Drop Pods with Tactical Squads, a stalker tank and a Thunderfire cannon (oh good, more Ignores Cover).

Incoming!

The table is dominated by a huge piece of LOS blocking terrain running diagonally across the table. The Dark Eldar set up to the side with 2 visible relics on it, facing the Stalker and Thunderfire Cannon.

Turn 1 is a vicious exchange as the Thunderfire cannon dies to massed splinter fire and the Stalker claims both Ravagers in retaliation (ouch!). The Dark Eldar move on the 2 visible relics whilst the Grav Cents move onto the remaining objective.

The Drop Pods come in with the aim of separating the Space Pixies from their new shiny prizes!

Mine!

The Dark Eldar go on the defensive taking out Tacs, Techmarines and the Stalker, all the while under fire from the Land Raider and the Grav Cents.

Its quiet here.

A vicious squabble over the central relic sees it dropped by the Dark Eldar only to be recovered by some of the Reavers. Some cheeky last turn shooting by the Space Marines kills the biker holding the objective.

That's a big tank

And with that the game ends with a Draw.

Game 4: Space Wolves
The final game of the day is a modified version of Big Guns Never Tire, and I'm playing against a Drop Pod based Space Pup list. This is a battle of MSU vs MSU, my 15 units against the Space Wolves 21! Bloody hell!

Multiple Blood Claw and Grey Hunter squads in pods, Long Fangs in a pod, backed up by Wolf Scouts, Thunderwolf Cavalry and a Battle Leader on a Thunderwolf with a billion Fenrision wolves. This is a formation where all pods come in turn 1, and all the dudes in the pods get Feel No Pain and Fearless on turn 1 as well.

This is bad; all the naked infantry squads can cause my skimmers a lot of pain with their bolters. Oh and I lost the roll for turn 1. The plan is deploy as far back as possible, try and get the pods out of position then use my mobility to run away from them if I survive the alpha strike.

They are veryyyyyy close.

There is a special victory condition for this model to kill a "marked" unit. The Space Wolves are picking on a unit of Reavers whilst I've chosen the geriatric Long Fangs. The Pups are keen to kill the bikers as we can see above, but turn 1 we have Night Fighting. And jinking Reavers get a 2+ save in the dark. Miraculously the Dark Eldar survive the planetary assault unscathed!

Cavalry advance. Long Fangs grab seats in the gallery.

The Dark Eldar try to get out of Dodge. Alas there are so many opposing units on the table and the Thunderwolves are a good match for speed so there are few places to hide. The Dark Eldar claim kills where they can (including the marked Long Fangs) but are ultimately hunted down, their opponents too strong and numerous for them. A sorrowful Loss for the Sand Vipers.

I remembered to take some more pictures this game and Adam my opponent has kindly shared a few as well.

Space Wolves out in force!

Reavers and Venoms bugger off. Without passengers. Thanks guys.

Attempting to apply some pressure on the right flank 

And further up the flank, trying to get the drop on the Long Fangs.

And the Reavers scoot right up the table length!

So four great games and four great opponents.  I ended up 9th out of 18, and I'm happy with the armies performance given my lack of experience with it. I'll definitely be continuing to play the force!

But gaming isn't the only joy of attending events like Mayhem; it's also an opportunity to see some great painted armies. So it would have been a shame to not grab some more pictures for you:

Space Wolves

Harlequins

Imperial Guard

Harlequins. These boys won Best Painted.

And the actual Space Clowns.

Admech

Saim Hann Eldar

Nurgle Daemons

Hope you've enjoyed reading and looking at the lovely armies. Thanks to the Daves for organising, and my opponents for 4 great games.  We've got Octoberfest to look forward to next; our first tournament with 8th edition. Feel free to join us!