Clan Raukaan vs Orks (Feast of Blade style)

So, I tried out a list for FoB: 1x Knight Errant, 3x Dreadnoughts with assault cannons, 2x Dreadnoughts with Multi Melta, 2x Razorbacks (lascannon) with 5 tac marines, a stormtalon, and Master of forge with Gorgan Chain.  This was not my original concept, but this is the first time I took a master of the forge, and I had NO dreadnoughts in my list, so I decided to go the other extreme and take 5.  My other list would have been stronger, especially against what my opponent was using.  He brought Orks, from the new codex.  He had 2 units of Lootas, 2 units of grots, 2 Forgeworld tanks (even though they won't be allowed in the tournament, but I was bringing a Knight Errant against Orks...), 3 units of mega'nobs, (each unit had 2 guys with double buz saws), 2 trucks (to carry the 2 of the 'nob units), and an aegis defense line.

He ended up going first.  I had positioned my Knight in the back, with my dreadnoughts closer and to the side (so they would keep up with Knight for a turn, but not be in his way).  As there was almost no middle cover (the board was 2 sets of ruins, divided my a street), my dreadnoughts go destroyed by the lootas.  We were playing the first scenario from the feast of blades qualifier pack.  My knight stayed in the middle of the because of of the 'Nobs waiting to charge.  At the end of five turns, I had 3 objectives to his one, but had killed 4 more units than me, giving his a massacre (so the score would have been 13 to 7 - he also had first blood)

What did I learn: By the end of the game, I had lost a flyer, 3 dreadnoughts, and both razorbacks, but I had three objectives, so it didn't seem so bad, even though I lost, until you consider that 3 of my dreadnoughts died and one was immobilized without any of them firing a shot.

• The Knight was not a fire magnet, because my opponent ignored him because of the shield, and it wasn't the charge threat I expected, because of the 3 units of 'Nobs (after the 5th turn, we went into the assault, and the 2 'nobs with buzz saws killed it - 10 str 9 armor bane attacks, needing 3's to hit, because formation gave them +1 WS).  
• My goal was to give my opponent more things to shoot at then the Knight, which is why I loaded on dreads, but the lootas tore them apart before they even got to shoot.  Need more than armor 12, or I need to give them a save.  Really, I think I need to give them drop pods, but I couldn't find the points, and the list was already low model count, even at 1500.

SECOND GAME:  We played another game, so I could try using my Knight as cover for the dreadnoughts.  I started with the Knight in front, and the Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts behind.  The cover worked on the first turn, I only lost 1 Razorback to Lootas.  I took a few other hits, but I saved about half of them (on 5+). On my move, I moved to the middle of the board, and then he charged my with a truck of 'nobs.  He buzz saws killed the Knight again, although this time they barely got the 6 HP they needed, and the death explosion scattered backwards into my  entire army.  While I only lost a dreadnought, and took a few HP on some others, we called the game (since we already knew that 24" ranged dreadnoughts were not going to survive the loota and tank barrage that was coming).

I see what you did there GW....

A month or two ago, I posted that people should give double force organizations a try.  I don't really have an agenda (ie, a secret I-win-list just waiting for some sucker to allow me to use it, really I don't)

I just think the points will balance out most lists anyway, and I think some armies will find better balance - I have had lists where I maxed out heavy, fast, and troops, and had to take elite simply because I had points left over.

Anyway, most tournament people apparently didn't agree with me, and GW apparently noticed that people were not buying into the double force org idea, so they made the new Space Marine Codex.

According to this codex, you can take one chapter, and then take a different chapter as allies.  Granted, this is not exactly double force org, but it does give you an extra HQ, 2 Troop, Heavy, Fast, and Elite - given a 2000 to 2500 game, you will probably run out of points before running out of slots.

I wonder if tournament organizers will start letting other armies ally to themselves, as a limited double force org (and I admit the idea of facing 4 Heldrakes is daunting enough, forget about 6... although at that point, are 2 more Heldrakes really going to make a difference?)

Another 2000 pt Purge the Alien Tournament

So, this past Saturday, we had yet another 2000 pt Purge the Alien tournament.  I came in third overall, but I think the list that I brought had the potential to rank higher.  Alas, the dice gods left me in game 2, and I had to settle for third.  Still, I had a great time, and was pretty happy with my army's performance.

Update and new 2000 point Dark Angels list

So, it has been a little while since my last update.  But quite a bit has happened since my last post.  Perhaps most significantly, I played in a local 2000 point tournament.