Power from Paint: Mayhem 19 Raid Report

Welcome back to the Vault once more! The Kabal of the Sand Viper have raided Real Space once more and returned to Commorragh with a bittersweet mix of Glory and Woe to in equal measure!

Last weekend I attended First Founding's Mayhem 2019 40K tournament (playing my Dark Eldar army) and I thought I'd share a few pictures and thoughts of the event. The day was to be the first table top outing for my newly completed Succubus and I was keen to let her loose on the battle field.

Mayhem is a 4 game, 1250 point tournament with some unusual army composition rules (primarily based around a single codex) and a mix of quirky missions.

Game 1: Gambit
I am randomly drawn against Jon's Catachan Imperial Guard in the first mission. Gambit is a 4 objective, progressive scoring mission where each player secretly chooses (then reveals) one of the objectives to score double points should they claim it.

This is a tough start for me; the Guard have 4 Leman Russ tanks, 2 Hell Hounds and a number of infantry models and I have left a number of the usual Dark Lances at home! I've chosen one of the mid table objectives whilst Jon has been very aggressive and chosen my home objective.

It's likely the Guard will take the first turn and so I try my best to hide my vulnerable skimmers out of line of sight of his heavy guns.

Too many Tanks!

We trade shots over the early turns and both push onto the mid table objectives. Point scoring is relatively even at this point.

As the game continues I start to lose the war of attrition and whilst I clear out most of the Guard Infantry, their vehicles prove to be too much. My back field collapses and Jon holds his with (depleted) Mortar Teams and a Russ.

The Guard advance onto all 4 Objectives, using Objective Secured Leman Russes (ow!) to stop my remaining models from contesting and Jon goes onto rack up a healthy dose of Victory Points. The game felt a lot closer than the score indicated and Jon would go onto win the overall event.

Game 1: Dark Eldar Loss

Game 2: Dust to Dust
Onto the next round and I am facing one of my regular opponents, Paul and his Sisters of Battle. Dust to Dust is a 5 objective, end of game scoring mission with bonus points awarded if Troops hold the objectives.

It looks like I have the first turn so Paul & I deploy accordingly.

Unfortunately Paul Seizes the Initiative with a lucky 6. Then continues to roll an impressive series of 6s for advance rolls as the Immolators full of Dominions scout move, then regular move right into my lines. Doh!

It's at this point the luck changes, and the Sister's Alpha strike of Melta and Blessed Bolters fails to make an impression on the Dark Eldar.  The Space Pixie retaliation is more effective and the Sisters start to fall.

Alas the game goes to time, but the Dark Eldar manage to squeak out a narrow win on objectives.

Game 2: Dark Eldar Win

Game 3: Domination
Next up is another regular opponent; Duncan and his Space Wolves. Domination is a 6 objective, progressive scoring mission using Hammer and Anvil (long table) deployment.

The Wolves have a couple of scary Long Fang shooting units, a number of Grey Hunter and Intercessor packs, a variety of HQs all backed up with some Aggressors and Wulfen. The Wolves will have first turn so I deploy to deny as much Line of Sight to the Long Fangs as possible. The Wolves are spread across their deployment zone whilst a Pack of Grey Hunters and Intercessor go on the Hunt (placed into Reserve).

I'm given the first turn and I capitalize on the opportunity; the skimmers deploy to my left flank and kill a number of the Lascannon Long Fangs. My longer term plan is to use my mobility to control the two objectives in the mid table whilst holding the 2 home objectives and outscore the Wolves 4-2 each turn.

The Space Wolves start their advance up the board under the protection of the swirling storm.

The Dark Eldar hold the mid table and continue their fusillade into the Wolves.

The central right hand objective becomes a focus for the mid game as the Hunting Packs try to wrest it from the Dark Eldar. The Troops are defeated before the Wulfen enter the fray! I've kept the Wyches, Hatred Archon and Succubus back in case of counter-assault and these units go toe to toe with the Wulfen, eventually defeating the furry fellows.

The Kabal continue their push across the board and at the end of the game are deep into the Space Wolf deployment zone.

Dark Eldar Win

Game 4: The Four Pillars

I'm paired off against Matt and his Adeptus Custodes for the final game. This is a first for me as I've never played against the Custodes before.  This is a super-elite army comprising of 2 units of Jet Bikes, some characters including a super-annoying -1 To Hit Banner Guy, a shooty Robot and an equivalently shooty Grav Tank.

The Four Pillars is an odd mission; it is progressive scoring for controlling more objectives and killing more units than your opponent each round.

I found out the hard way that Custodes are Very Hard To Kill; 2+ armour, 4+ invulnerable and everything being at least T6 (and usually in a -1 to be hit bubble) is a real challenge for my poor Kabal. And the Custodes are also Very Killy; flat 3 Damage per shot from the Robot and Tank left my Ravagers reeling every time they were targeted, and the Bikers were fast enough to get into my lines to cause significant damage from lances and hurricane bolters.

I also made some stupid mistakes this game; I forgot the Flayed Skull stratagem which would have negated the -1 penalty on the bikers and made some poor positioning which Matt skillfully exploited.

The Custodes dominated the game and earned a well deserved victory.

Dark Eldar Loss

So another 2 and 2 result for the Sand Vipers; losing to the eventual tournament winner (for the third tournament in a row), and having the pleasure of playing against the Custodes which won the Best Painted award (check out the marbling effect on the Grav Tank, absolutely awesome).

I'm impressed with the performance of the Wych Cult and considering adding further units to my collection. My other take aways are the usual; play more to get better and play more to get faster! Let's see if I can do better at the next event.

The gaming at Mayhem/Octoberfest is always fun, but I also enjoy looking at the other armies for inspiration. Here's a few pictures of some of the armies:

Ad Mech

Blood Angels

Custodes. So pretty. So annoying.

Dark Angels

Gene Stealer Cult

Guard

More Guard

Iron Within

Iron Without

A Knight In

Necrons

Sisters of Battle

Tau

Ultra Marines

Space Wolves

Space Wolves

Ynarri

If you've made it this far thank you for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed the post. Tournaments are great fun, and Mayhem is always a great day. I'd heartily recommend the experience to all!

Feel free to drop by the Vault again soon; I've got plenty of 40K inspired ideas brewing and I'm looking forward to sharing some of them with you all.