TSHIFT Event Report on Blood of Kittens
Blood of Kittens has a nice review of the games that happened at TSHIFT (an 1,850 point WH40K tournament) in Seattle.
He was also kind enough to give us army lists for the overall winners:
- Best Overall: Koyote’s Blood Angels
- Second Overall: Dusldorf’s Space Wolves
- Best General: warlord_fluger’s Orks
In addition to the army lists, we have battle reports from the three players as well:
- Koyote’s Battle Report
- Dusldorf’s Battle Report
- warlord_fluger’s Battle Report
Koyote’s Blood Angels: This is a great example of a tough, well-rounded list designed to deal with a wide variety of opponents. Led by Dante and Corbulo (to take advantage of the Jean Claude Venn Diagram of Death), the army has 20 Jump Packs, 20 Tactical Marines (mounted in a Rhino and a Razorback), 10 Devastators, 2 Attack Bikes and a Whirlwind.
Although Koyote focuses 400pts on a very nasty close combat unit, he’s spread the rest of his points out to give him an answer to anything he’s likely to face. Just enough melta to deal with heavy armor, just enough long-range high-S shots to deal with mechanized armies, just enough rending to deal with assault terminators and monstrous creatures, and just enough long-range anti-personnel shots and vehicles to give his advancing assault forces some cover. I love “Goldilocks” army lists like this.
It’s a very clean list and looks like a lot of fun to play. Of the three winning lists at TSHIFT, this is my favorite (and closest to the BA lists that I play). Great job and congratulations on the win, Koyote!
Dusldorf’s Space Wolves: At first blush, this army seems to have a focus problem. HQ on a bike, Terminator HQ, Rhino with Blood Claws, Blood Claws on foot, walking Venerable Dreadnought, Drop Pod Dreadnought, 2 MM Attack Bikes, a MM Speeder, outflanking Wolf Scouts and a Leman Russ.
But. If you look at the deeper cut, you’ll see some sense to the madness. Dusldorf holds pretty much everything in reserve in almost all of his games. When his army starts coming in, he focuses on easy kill points to give himself an advantage. Then he counts on the sheer durability of his individual units to deny his opponent kill points. This forces his opponent to play the entire game defensively and from a hefty kill point deficit. That kind of pressure is tough for even the most veteran of players.
Look at how he assembles the pieces. He attaches his T5 2+/3+ (re-roll first failed armor save!) HQ to his attack bikes (making them an even bigger threat and also making them very survivable). The Terminator HQ goes into the Grey Hunters drop pod (giving them some much needed firepower and more durability). The Land Speeder is generally held in reserve to deep strike behind tanks.
The only unit that’s really out of place is the 14-man Blood Claws unit, but I suspect that is a very tempting target to his opponent — drawing critical fire away from other elements.
Very crafty list, Dusldorf! I’d love to hear if regular opponents can adapt to the army and the play style. Does it get harder to win once they figure out how your army works?
Warlord_Fluger’s Orks: I feel like I’ve played this army a few times! Big Mek, Boyz in Trukks, big Loota squad, Storm Boyz, Warbuggies and a couple of big 30-man Boyz units. I was happy to see a Lobba battery and some Killa Kans in the list (I love walker squadrons in 5E). This army has a ton of shooting (15 Defffguns, 3 Lobbas, 5 Rokkit Launchas and a handful of Big Shootas) — most of it’s BS3 or twin-linked.
What I liked most about Warlord_Fluger’s army is how he played it. I’ve played a lot of Ork players that just throw their boyz at you and hope to kill you in assault. But Warlord_Fluger never lost sight of the mission objectives and played very smart. He focused his shooting on elements that put the mission in danger. He hid decimated squads to retain kill points. An Ork player that can think ahead is a really dangerous opponent!
It sounds like a great event and congratulations to all of the winners! Great lists and great battle reports. I expect to see all of you at BOLSCON next year!
