Death World Tournament Review
For a review of the missions, check them out here: http://www.thediceabide.com/2012/04/1000-point-wh40k-death-world-tournament-tomorrow/ I got three great games in yesterday at the LA Battle Bunker. The tournament used the Death World missions from the latest White Dwarf. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with them. The Death World effects were minimal in games one and two, but just having them there was quite a curve-ball.
Mission 1 – Search and Rescue – hazard – Indigenous hazards
Mission – D3+1 mobile objectives, placed per seize ground. Deployment is table halves, players alternate placing models, with all having to be more that 18″ away from the enemy. Only disembarked infantry can carry objectives.
Indigenous hazards - 1) Place a blast marker over an unengaged model wholly in area terrain. All models touched by the marker take a str 8 ap 3 hit. 2) All models inside or touching a selected piece of area terrain must pass an initiative test or take a str 4 ap- hit, if the terrain is woods, it is str 6 ap 5 instead. 3) All Psykers take d3 str 3 ap2 hits. yes every psyker on the table, take that grey knights. 4) All models inside or touching a selected piece of area terrain must pass an toughness test or take a str 1 ap3 hit, orks ignore this effect. 5) Pick a model wholly inside area terrain, it takes d6 str 5 ap- hits. 6) All models inside or touching a selected piece of area terrain take a str 2 ap- hit
For the first game I brought a pure Venom spam army (7 Venoms, 0 Ravagers) against Mech Space Wolves. My thought process was that since only infantry could claim objectives (not from inside vehicles), just take as much anti-infantry as possible. This would have worked well in theory, but I don't think I executed as well as I could have. I came in on an extreme flank to avoid Long Fangs but I essentially put no pressure on my opponents objective. He was good about keeping the pressure on my side of the board, and I was on the defensive all game. The Death World factors for this mission focused on terrain, which we both avoided for the most part. At the end of turns 4 & 5 we were tied, but the game went the full six turns came down to a single roll for leadership, which I failed. My opponent (another Nick) got the victory and ended up with Best General. It was very interesting playing a mech Dark Eldar list without Ravagers, but I can't imagine doing it again.
*After re-reading the missions rules I noticed something. While only disembarked units could carry / move objectives it doesn't say anything about not being able to control objectives from inside a vehicle. The rules are a bit ambiguous as to whether you actually had to be carrying it to control it, or if the standard "within 3 inches" applied. I imagine I would have gone for the contest a little bit harder (and not gotten my fragile Warriors out of their Venoms).
Mission 2 – Breakthrough – hazard – Seismic hazards
Mission – Deployment per pitched battle, get as many units as possible in the enemy deployment zone, scoring units count as double. Leadership reduction of 1/2 turn number rounding up, fleeing units flee towards opponents table edge (i.e. Turn 5 is -3 to Ld).
Seismic hazards - 1) Pick an unengaged infantry model. It takes an initiative test, and if it fails is removed from play. If it fails, repeat until a test is passed. 2) D3 terrain pieces become dangerous 3) Pick an infantry unit in the open, every model must pass an initiative test or take a str 3 ap- hit. 4) Pick a deployment zone, all non vehicle units in it take a pinning test. 5) Pick an infantry unit in the open, roll a d6 for each model in it, for every roll of 4+, the model takes a str 4 ap5 hit. 6) Pick a spot on the table that is not terrain, all models within d6 inches take a str 2 ap 3 hit.
This mission was made for Dark Eldar. I brought a Wrack spam army with 6x3 Wracks in 4 Venoms and 2 Raiders, supported by 3 Ravagers. I played against a vanilla Space Marine army with 2 squads of Terminators and 2 squads of Tactical marines. I came on the board opposite of my opponent and moved up towards his deployment zone while taking stuff out on the way. The hazards came into play a bit more as I forced his HQ to take 3 initiative tests (passed them all), forced some pinning tests and did some S2 AP3 hits to some Terminators in the open. But as I mentioned this mission was made for quick Mech armies and my opponent didn't have enough shooting to take me out. It would be interesting for two foot armies to play this mission.
Mission 3 Weather the Storm – Hellscape hazards
Mission – Survive, at the end of the game add up your remaining kill points, and kill points taken, higher side wins. All units must use majority leadership, not nighest. On a 4+ every player turn, the model closest to the ceiling takes 2d6 str8 ap5 hits.
Hellscape Hazards - 1) choose a fleeing unit, it rallies (if only enemy units are fleeing, you have to pick one). 2) Center the blast marker over an enemy model and roll 2d6 scatter. Every model touched by the marker takes a str7 ap2 hit. Every model within 3″ of the marker takes a str 3 ap- hit. 3) Pick an unengaged infantry unit, and roll a d6. On a 1-3 it becomes jump infantry for the turn, on a 4-6 it is placed in reserve and re-enters play via deep strike next turn. 4) All models entering play via deep strike are treated as landing in dangerous terrain. 5) Pick D3 non fearless units, they must take pinning tests. 6) result 2 happens D3+1 times, affecting a different unit each time.
Game three was the ultimate battle as I brought Dark Footdar and got matched up with my friend Rob's (sharkticon) Dark Footdar! To make it even more interesting we were both running Vect in 1,000 points! For the set-up you deploy in table halves, but then you divide your side into 3 zones and roll off to see which zone you deploy a unit in! This made for some great randomness and quite an interesting set-up.
Lightning was the X-factor in the mission, as we were both relatively short foot armies. It was deemed that his Haemonculus was the tallest model, followed by Wracks and then my Vect. He wisely places his Haemonculi in a ditch (we played on a city / sewer table). First turn lightning strikes and kills his Wracks. The in strikes and kills 5 Wyches from Vect's squad. The game was full of momentum shifts as Rob's first volley was pretty devastating, but he rolled snake eyes to get his Vect to assault my Vect! I got the charge off on him and killed the evil Vect, only to have lightning strike my Vect down the next turn! I was able to avoid defeat in a game that could have gone either way.
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As I mentioned above, I was pleasantly surprised with these missions. The hazards came into play but were not game changing until the final round. For those who have read the Death World rules, I'd like to get your opinions on mission 1 - can you control from inside a vehicle or do you have to be carrying the objective? For anyone else, if you're in the mood for a slightly wacky game of 40k, I would suggest using a hazard table or the random deployment from game 3 to spice things up.