Adepticon 2015 part 2, I played in two comps  Epic Armageddon, and Bolt Action Tank Wars.   Both were a lot of fun, I have known the Epic Community here in the US for a long time, but until now I had never made the time to play with them.

As for Bolt Action well this was my first event, my first game and it was a load of fun.

Adepticon 2015 part 2

Epic Armageddon Grand Tournament

I have played Epic for what seems like ever. I have had a chance to finally play against the US guys, it was a fun comp and would do gladly play everybody again.

The Lists

We started with 9 players, so the TO was the bye player, but as happens life got in the way of gaming for some of the players, so we dropped to 6 players.  Had some $400 in prize support.  All the tables were provided by one player, it shows some great community spirit.

Dave (TO), 2945 POINTS
Knight World (NetEA v2.2.1 *APPROVED*)
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KNIGHT HOUSEHOLD [415] 4 Knight Paladin, Seneschal

KNIGHT HOUSEHOLD [415] 4 Knight Paladin, Seneschal

KNIGHT HOUSEHOLD [415] 4 Knight Errant, Seneschal

CUSTODIAN HOUSEHOLD [375] 3 Knight Castellan

CUSTODIAN HOUSEHOLD [375] 3 Knight Castellan

LANCER HOUSEHOLD [500] 3 Knight Lancer, Baron

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [150] 2 Thunderbolt Fighters

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [150] 2 Thunderbolt Fighters

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [150] 2 Thunderbolt Fighters
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Jordan, 3000 POINTS
Steel Legion (NetEA Army Compendium v2014)
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REGIMENTAL HQ [550] Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Griffon Battery (3 Griffons)

INFANTRY COMPANY [450] Commander, 12 Infantry, Infantry Platoon (6 Infantry), Fire Support Platoon (4 Fire Support)

TANK COMPANY [650] 9 Leman Russ, Vanquisher

ARTILLERY COMPANY [600] 9 Basilisk

ARTILLERY BATTERY [250] 3 Manticores

SENTINEL SQUADRON [100] 4 Sentinels

FLAK BATTERY [150] 3 Hydra

MARAUDER BOMBERS [250] 2 Marauders
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Scott, 2995 POINTS
Biel-Tan Craftworld (NetEA Army Compendium v2014 (v4.2))
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WRAITHGATE [50]

AVATAR [0]

ASPECT WARRIOR WARHOST [400] 8 Shining Spear, Exarch, Autarch

GUARDIAN WARHOST [120] Farseer, 5 Guardians, 2 Heavy Weapon Platform, 1 Wraithguard

VOID SPINNER [275] Void Spinner

RANGER TROUPE [125] 5 Ranger

SWORDS OF VAUL TROUPE [315] 5 Falcon, Fire Prism

SWORDS OF VAUL TROUPE [315] 5 Falcon, Fire Prism

SWORDS OF VAUL TROUPE [265] 4 Falcon, Fire Prism

WINDRIDER TROUPE [200] 4 Jetbikes, 2 Vyper

REVENANT TITANS [650] 2 Revenant Titans

VAMPIRE RAIDER [200] ————————————————–

Dustin, 3000 POINTS
Codex Astartes (NetEA Tournament Pack 2014)
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BIKE [200] 5 Bike Unit

BIKE [200] 5 Bike Unit

LAND RAIDER [325] 4 Land Raiders

SCOUT [150] 4 Scouts, Rhinos

TACTICAL [450] 6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, Hunter, Rhinos

TACTICAL [325] 6 Tacticals, 2 Razorback, Rhinos

TACTICAL [275] 6 Tacticals, Rhinos

TACTICAL [275] 6 Tacticals, Rhinos

TERMINATOR [350] 4 Terminators

THUNDERHAWK [200]

MARAUDER SQUADRON [250] 2 Maurader bombers
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Matt, 3000 POINTS
Imperial Fists (NetEA V1.2 – Developmental)
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DEVASTATOR [525] 4 Devastator units, 2 Land Raider Achilles, Supreme Commander

LAND SPEEDERS [200] 5 Land speeder

PREDATORS [325] 4 Annihilator, Hunter

PREDATORS [250] 4 Destructor

SCOUTS [200] 4 Scout units, 2 Razorback HB, Rhino

TACTICAL [275] 6 Tactical units, Rhino

VINDICATOR [225]

WHIRLWIND BATTERY [300]

FELLBLADE [350] 1 Fellblade

FELLBLADE [350] 1 Fellblade
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Eric, 3000 POINTS
Ghazgkhull Thraka’s War Horde (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
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GARGANT [650] Warlord

WARBAND (BIG) [765] 4 Nobz, 12 Boyz, 4 Grotz, Flakwagon, 2 Battlefortress, 6 Skorcha

KULT OF SPEED (BIG) [385] 16 Warbuggy, Flakwagon

STORMBOYZ WARHORDE [300] 12 Stormboyz

BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [300] 7 Gunwagon, Flakwagon, Oddboy

BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [300] 7 Gunwagon, Flakwagon, Oddboy

BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [300] Flakwagon, 7 Gunwagon, Oddboy

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Nat Speed Freek Horde, 2990 POINTS
Burning Death Speed Freeks (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
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KULT OF SPEED (BIG) [350] 10 Warbuggy, 6 Skorcha

KULT OF SPEED (BIG) [350] 10 Warbuggy, 6 Skorcha

KULT OF SPEED (BIG) [350] 10 Warbuggy, 6 Skorcha

FIGHTA SKWADRON [150] 3 Fighta Bomba

FIGHTA SKWADRON [150] 3 Fighta Bomba

FIGHTA SKWADRON [150] 3 Fighta Bomba

SPEED FREAKS WARBAND (BIG) [375] 6 Boyz, 6 Trukks, 2 Nobz, 5 Warbuggy, 3 Skorcha

SPEED FREAKS WARBAND (BIG) [445] 6 Boyz, 6 Trukks, 2 Nobz, 5 Warbuggy, 3 Skorcha, 2 Flakwagon

BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [335] 6 Gunwagon, 2 Flakwagon, Nobz, Mekboy Speedsta

BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [335] 6 Gunwagon, 2 Flakwagon, Nobz, Mekboy Speedsta

Game 1:  Orks

This was my first game in two and half years, most of my army had not shown up so I was playing with a half borrowed army.

This game was close up until I made a classic mistake, I looked at the Great Gargant it had a dice on it ‘4’ and thought that was DC (Damage Capacity), not it had 8DC and it had 4 Shields. I committed my Shinning spears to this unit, and lost…

The game went to a fourth turn tie breaker, which after my mistake I had to work hard to keep a point, but I lost 0 – 2 on Objectives. Berzerkmonkey was great to play against, and choose to sit out round two so the TO would get to play a game, one of the guys that had never seen Knights before got a chance to see them up close and personal

Game 2:  Imperial Fists

m_folias who was also my room-mate for the weekend, is a great guy, I had a lot of fun playing against him, don’t get me wrong the Imperial Fists are a hard army, the two super heavies take a lot of fire power and the fists are very flexible. But now that I was back in the swing of Epic and I remembering what I was meant to do with Eldar the dance began and this time I didn’t make any mistakes, that cost me formations.

The table had no clear sight lines, so the Eldar had a big advantage, as everything in my list moves 35cm and well the Fists are slow.

I had put my Objective 31cm from the from m_folias’ base line objective with the Wraith Gate being that objective, I also forced the battle down the right hand side of the table, and broke up chain of command of units, so they had to move away from me on the left hand side.   Through the Wraith Gate came my infantry and I summoned ‘Fluffy’ my avatar there as well, and supported with Jetbikes.

Once I won the assault with the Avatar and the Infantry I moved on to both Objectives, winning the game in 3 Turns 2-0.  It was a hard game, because the left hand flank was only supported by a super heavy of my own and some shinning spears, so I had to win assaults there to secure my flank as well.  There was a lot of maneuver over the first two turns to get it all to happen, but result was a great game, I would play it again, I think on a more open table where the fell blades had LoS it might have been a different game.

Game 3:  Ork’s Cult of Speed

By now everybody had lost 1 game and nearly everybody had won 1 game, so the tournament was open for the taking, and I had to again beat on a horde of Orks. One thing Eldar are not good at is killing Infantry, thankfully this list is all Light vehicles, which eldar are good at killing.

A much more open table for this game, I could not hide as I would have hoped. but I did the same thing in this game as did in the last, I put my Wraith Gate 31cm from the base like objective.

I lost my Void Spinner in the first turn to Aircraft, that was the only formation that lost. I hunted each Ork formation until it was destroyed, they nearly took my left flank, but I attacked up the middle splitting the force allowing me to control the game, and use the fortifications in the middle of the table to protect my troops.

I used the same idea in the third game as I did in the second and it worked again, but this time I also made sure I destroyed the biggest unit. I won the game in 3-0 in three turns.

In the end I had won the comp, and with the prizes I gave them away to the TO, m_folias (for the Terrain), and Nat for the loan of the missing part of my army list. The guys made sure I walked away with something, and I picked up some new minis.

Over all the comp was great fun, it had rekindled my interest in Epic.

But then it waned again, when I found out the points were tested for changing again.  This is only 4 weeks since the last change. I purchased exactly what I needed to make my original list then found out weeks before the points had changed and had to buy more, which never arrived, I felt like I had just wasted a lot of money on stuff I would never play with.  I know this is a problem with guys that purchased stuff when Epic was still being made and now those lists have all changed, it is super expensive to buy stuff now, so this has pushed players away from the game.

List Review.

Gardian Warhost: Once I worked out how to use it best it worked well, as you have to take one of you want to use an Avatar, applying it correctly is important.
Shinning spears: So very important to this list. It’s arragance is only matched by it’s ability to kill whole activations. This formation works best when engageing with the jetbikes in support the cross fire is very important. But it can look after it’s self. It was a great unit, for me a must have.
Falcon + Fireprism: This is the reason the list works, it can hit and run there is almost nothing you can do about it, overwatch is important when playing against Eldar. The sheer amount of falcons you get is what is the kicker, they can break a unit in no time at all, limiting your ability to fire back. However the really big formations could shrug off the attacks, making a 6-7 activation big formation very nasty to deal with. I would have to take these same formations again.
Windrider Troop: these jetbikes provided me with crossfire and Firefight support, where ever they were, and this was important, cause the Eldar are out numbered, so limiting saves can be a killer in games. These.
Vampire Raider: Possibly too many points for what I used it for. If I had other Aspect Warriors that could be mounted this might have been a great unit, however I think that as it currently stands with this list I would have been better off with fighters. The 2DC is handy but it has so little in the way of AP (anti-personal) weapons it is hard to justify.
Void Spinner: The points increased on this sucker two weeks before the comp, forced me to change a lot of stuff. Now it is 100 points more expensive than Night spinners, and now the night spinners start to make more sence as a unit and drop the superheavies. I am not sure the reason, and I really wish stuff would be left alone, nobody makes models any more so leave it as is, fix the broken rules, re-write the tournament scenario.
Rangers: I am not sure I used these guys to the best of my or thier ability the more I think about it the more I could have used these guys with the Vampire Raider and had a good chance at really causing some havok.

Over all I think I need more time with Eldar, however I am unlikely to play them again as the constant point changes make them unviable to collect as an army.

Bolt Action Tank Wars

On the Sunday I went and played Tank Wars, I had never played Bolt Action for but I had the rules since release, and I have my army there ready to go, so seemed like a great time to get a game in, and enjoy my self.

I had walked around the Bolt Action tables before and meet a few people, and will all the guys that I had talked to on boltaction.net, I was really looking forward to playing.

My List

The Tables

These are only photos I took of the tables we played on, basically this is flaw I have, once I start playing I tend to forget to take photo’s as I end up focusing on playing than photos.

Game 1.  Pegasus Bridge v Germans

Kitty v Kitty’s.

The list I played against.

1 x Panther
2 x Panzer IV
1 x Hetzer
1 x Puma
1 Platoon of Inf, with assault Rifles & 4 Panzerfausts
1 x SKdzf 251 Half Track

We played half on half off, I have twelve dice, so I had a big advantage, my opponent played with 1 Panther, 1 Panzer IV, and one Hetzer. I had my Tiger, Panzer 3, Pak 40, Transport, Mortar and it’s transport.  We setup across the river and started trading blows, this was a game of rolling 2’s.  The Pak did kill a tank, the Tiger absorbed a lot of fire.

I ended up losing all the tanks, it did take 6 turns, I also took out three platoons, this mission was kill platoons for VP, end score was 3-3.  Both sides rolled terribly. I saw 4 Panzerfausts miss the side of my Immobilized Panzer II.  It was one of those games dice wise, but a lot of fun for the first game, the Kradschutzen were fantastic, on a road using recce rules and harassing a unit of Infantry.

Game 2 V Americans

The mission was to get teams off the opposite side of the board.   I found that I automatically started playing my list defensively, so this mission that would work well. We had a 10″ x 20″ deployment.

There were roads just outside of deployment zone, so my poor motorcycles could not start on the road and run on the first turn off the board.

My opponents List

1 x Chaffee
1 x Sherman 76
3 x Sherman 75
1 x Transport 
1 x Jeep
Air observer
Sniper team
There were other Infantry teams I can't remember them though.

It was an open table and I had a Pak40 and a Tiger on table, half of our lists off.  My panzer 3 took out the Air observer in the first turn, which is funny as neither of us thought the panzer 3 was going to do much with the HE firing short 75mm gun.  but it did, the Tiger again failed to hit, the Pak 40 did it’s job and pinned down tanks. The flame thrower Infantry did it’s job chasing around a tank. but really I lost the game, cause I didn’t stop teams escaping, however I did get lots off the table.

The first three turns it was a knife fight each of us working to pin down tanks, unfortunately for me that was me first, the Tiger got immobilized and then flanked, once that happened the Pak had a lot of work to do, and it could not do everything it’s self.

This was a great game, I picked up a lot about how the game works, reading the rules was is only one part.  Playing you pick up a lot of extra information.  End result was I lost to the overall winner, lots or not very much.  I think we got through

Game 3: Russians.

This was my favorite game, hands down, mainly cause I think we were both exhausted and neither one of us wanted a hard ass game.  In saying that Joe from Planet Arbitrary and Game Classy Pod cast (I am mentioned in the latest podcast).  was really good with the rules, he knew I had only played twice, so the one time we had concealment issues, it was good to get his perspective and it was resolved quickly.

Joe’s List (just provided)

I did setup quite well, I had two defined Kill boxes, thanks to the Pak40 and Tiger.  The mission was to capture an Objective in the middle of the table, which both the Tiger and the Pak could see, so the russians were forced to hide, like girls, and I got to start holding the objective with my pioneer squad.

We had extra rules about moving, we could break down on a ‘1’ and we might run out of ammo on a ‘6’ both could be fixed with a ‘Down’ order.

Turn 1 saw my pioneers get to flame some Russians so I did.  How ever the following turn saw my Pioneers get flamed too, neither one of our platoons liked getting flamed, so they both ran like girls. again my motorcycles were fantastic, we got MG stuff, and run all the time.  This was also the first game where I lost my Kradschutzen The tiger and Pak had a load of targets and they did not let-up. At one point the Tiger lost a track, and Joe thought he had a break, however I choose not fix it and kept firing. It alone took care of all but one T-34/85 it was a thing of beauty.  I ended up loosing but I made the russians pay for each step they took.  The MMG team took care of a platoon, the mortar kept the russians moving.  My Panzer IIc absorbed a crazy amount of fire, the Panzer 3 did one job then died, which was what I had it there for. It was a great game and I had a great time.

At the conclusion of the day I got to take home Best sport, (and I didn’t finish last.) and I got to play three great people I would be happy to play against again.   I have met and made some new friends which is why I go to con’s in the first place.  It is also one of the only places I get to go to catch up with these people. I do think that I have found my new game, this is now my #1.

List Review

1. Tiger 1e (also my Commander) This bad boy absorbed alot of fire all weekend, I played very defensively with my tanks, this worked well as I could pick targets, I lost the tiger in game 1 and 2 after it took alot of punishment, it also gave it out. over all I would take this unit again, it was a nice to absorb 2 or 3 activations a turn.  In game three even though I did not win, it was a magnet to lead. I think in tank wars it is a great tank, however it does leave you room with only 2 other tanks.
   2. Panzer IIIN the short 75 proved to be a great assets, people did underestimate it and it took care of platoons. Again I was happy with this guy, I lost him in every game, but every game he did at least 1 job for me, it also took a serious amount of punishment, and that is fine as it did free up other units.
   3. Panzer IIc, this one was not the best choice to fit everything in I made him a Regular tank. That was a mistake, Apart from the first game where he took punishment, every other game he was not so good. looks cool, but is not really cool.
   4. Pak40. Yep an ATG. This guy was fantastic did take care of alot of tanks for me, also forced people to do things they didn’t want to do. This was a good combination with the Tiger, people were forced in to the Rock and hard place.  This
   5. MMG a solid unit for me, but was not a game changer, dropping pins on Infantry, but really didn’t kill anything
   6. Medium Mortar did some surprising things, very much against the expected and percentage, pinned alot of tanks, he had no spotter so was not so easy.
   7. Pioneer Platoon, was solid, I had a single flame thrower in the unit, the flame thrower only worked really once in 3 games, the platoon it’s self took care of transports more than the flame thrower, I am sure in a different game type the results would have been different. I would take this unit again, it was very much in flavor of my list.
   8. Kradschutzen. Love these guys, with roads everywhere, these guys did some serious harassment, the LMG and two SMG’s were great, and it really helped the list work. I would always take these guys.The last 4 units are all transports.

Conclusion

This is my last big con of my USA stay, I had a great time and I would do it again, money is going to be the hard point, but Adepticon is best con I have been too.

I would like to thank Warlord Games for running 3 out of 4 of the Bolt action comps.  I would like to thank all the supporters of the Bolt Action & Epic tournaments.

Big thanks to Andy Chambers that came down to see me while I was playing Epic. He is still a Fan of Epic, just like Jervis Johnson & Rick Priestley. I think he is pretty happy Epic is still played.  We spoke about Epic, Hawk wargames new space game (due for christmas) and of course Bolt Action.   It is really very cool to have somebody like this look you up instead of the other way around, it shows how much they love us as gamers, and want to give time to us.  We have a great amount of talent writing so many rule sets, I never see why you should not play them all.

Some things people need to check out.

www.boltaction.net

www.planetarbitrary.com/   – and don’t forget to check out the podcast Gameclassy

Next Time.

I am back in to painting and reviews, I have had a number of Kickstarters cross my desk, Warlord Tanks, and more.  I will be back to a weekly scheduled post even though I move back to Oz in 5 weeks.