Grim Open GT Review

Guest Author Simon,

I’ve recently returned from what is likely to be my last GT for quite some time, and the Grim Open didn’t disappoint. I’ll be breaking my review into the traditional tripartite format out of necessity, but rest assured that the good outweighed everything else.

The Good:

Terrain: The terrain was almost universally high quality, and most every table had a good mix of LoS blocking terrain and area terrain while still allowing for significant variation from table to table.

Prizes: As is traditional for the Grim Open, the bulk of prizes were in the form of weapons. This is cool. Also, it cuts down on the excess 40k crap we all have lying around in our basements.

Variety: Out of five opponents, I played five different armies, and only three of them wore power armor. There were as many Tyranids and Grey Knights, and as many Eldar as Codex Marines.

Store: The store was great. It was quite large, which prevented the normal crowding at these things. It also had a lot of cool old nerd stuff, so when I wasn’t playing I could look through old 2nd edition DnD books.

Food: They fed us. It was a BBQ, which was awesome for everyone who wasn’t a vegetarian. And when they found out I was, they went out special to get Veggie Burgers, which was awesome for me.

The Bad:

Communication: The information on the website was generally outdated and incomplete. The only reason we knew when to get there on Saturday was that we stopped by on Friday to check. The posted missions weren’t anywhere near the ones actually used. I was told to submit a list; my buddy I traveled there with wasn’t. Someone won a significant prize for Best Display Board; no one I talked to who wasn’t a local knew this was going to be a category in which we could compete. This was apparently the result of the guy running the website taking off unannounced and the guy running the GT dropping a couple months beforehand, so it shouldn’t be a problem for next year, but communication and transparency are always key.

Sportsmanship: The actual sportsmanship was generally quite good, but there wasn’t any sportsmanship scoring. While I generally find all methods of sports scoring to be problematic, they aren’t as problematic as not having any. There was also a sportsmanship award advertised, so it was odd to not see one actually offered.

The Ugly:

Turnout: The GT only had 21 players, not including the ringer. Apparently a bunch of people dropped the last minute and a bunch of others had scheduling conflicts.

Raffle: Two guys won around 90% of the raffle prizes, presumably because they bought the majority of the raffle tickets. If people aren’t buying raffle tickets, the raffle needs to be better. Most of the raffle prizes seemed like stock that wasn’t otherwise moving, and that doesn’t provide a lot of motivation for buying tickets. I’d suggest either offering better prizes or, and this is what I’d go with, make the raffle a charity event. 40k players will buy a lot more tickets if they money is going to charity.

Organization: At one point, the TO asked all the players what he should do about pairings. Apparently, the system that he was using resulted in a number of people playing people they had previously played, and he wasn’t expecting this. Know your pairing system! Running a tournament is a huge complicated endeavor, but that’s something the TO should always be on top of beforehand.

Overall: A great tournament run by a great group of people. If I have the time next year, I’ll be there for sure. Congrats to Bob Evers for putting on an enjoyable GT on short notice and keeping everyone happy.

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Grim Open GT – Battle Reports

A few caveats:

These reports are going to be on the short side both because I have a terrible memory and there was a lot of similarity between how the games went. Game 3 was a bit different, so there will be some more detail there.

Along with the above, I’m not generally going to indicate what the mission parameters were. They only mattered in one game anyhow.

In every game, the troops start outside their rides and the Repentia get in, so I’ll just mention that this once.

As this was quite likely my last GT for the foreseeable future, I started drinking early on Day 1 and didn’t stop until after my last game of the day. So some details are a little…hazy. Should any of my opponents note inaccuracies, please doesn’t hesitate to be vocal about them.

I know this list is somewhat…nonstandard. I wasn’t shooting for competitive so much as fun.

List:

Celestine
Jacobus with 7 DCA and 2 Crusaders in a Rhino with a Dozer Blade.
2 Squads of Repentia, 10 girls each.
2 Squads of 10 Battle Sisters with a Melta and a Multi-melta. Each in a Rhino with Dozer Blades and a Searchlight.
3 Squads of Dominions with 2 Meltas and a Combi-Melta in Immolators with Multi-Meltas, Dozer Blades, and Searchlights.
1 Squad of Retributors with 3 Heavy Bolters.
1 Squad of Penitent Engines with 2 Engines.
1 Squad of Penitent Engines with 1 Engine.

Game 1

Opponent: Garrett?
List: Codex Marines. Landraider full of Terminators with a Librarian. 2 Riflemen, 2 Vindicators, 3 Missile/MM speaders, two squads of troops in Rhinos with a Melta and a Missile Launcher, and a Predator.
Deployment: Dawn of War

I win and go first. I deploy Celestine at about the middle of the table and my two troops on objectives near my table. Everything goes in 1st turn reserves except the Dominions, which outflank. He deploys one troop squad, presumably to use the Missile Launcher and then fails to seize.

Turn 1:
I roll on, he rolls on and shoots, but night fight saves me. The Vindicators are more or less in the middle with the Riflemen flanking them, the LR is on my right flank with one Rhino, the other Rhino is on my left flank, and the Speeders are speeding around; one on each flank and one in the middle.

Turn 2: I continue rolling up the middle and pop smoke. The Retributors stun a Rifleman and a squad of Dominions comes on and kills the LR. Luckily for me, the Terminators are pinned.

He shoots everything at a Rhino with Repentia in it, except a MM that goes after Celestine. Smoke saves the day, and he just Immobilizes and Stuns it. Celestine dies. And then gets back up.

Turn 3: His Vindicators are fairly close to each other and too close to that Immobilized Rhino. Repentia kill them both. Celestine and the other squad of Repentia are near the Terminators and a troop squad and multi-assault. The Repentia kill all the Terminators, the Librarian, and some troops. Celestine does nothing. I get stuck in and finish them off later. More Dominions come one and kill two Speeders and stun the Predator.

He shoots what he has left at Penitent Engines, killing one.

Turn 4: Clean-up starts and ends on turn five. Fleeting Repentia make short work of Riflemen, Dominions kill the Predator, a Rhino, and the last Speeder, troops kill the other Rhino and Heavy Bolters kill his other squad. Celestine does take another MM shot and dies. And gets back up.

Game 2:
Opponent: Tim
List: Blood Angels. Stormraven full of DC and a DC Dread. Ten assault Terminators with a Priest and Librarian, both in TDA. Librarian Dreadnought, Rifleman, and Assault Squad with melta.
Deployment: Spearhead.

I win the roll and go first, deploying as close to him as possible. He considers deploying far away and shooting me, but decides that he’s playing BA and he’s coming at me. The AS stays in reserves to walk on later for reasons that aren’t clear.
I scout up with the Dominions and pop smoke in case he seizes. He seizes.

Turn 1: He moves the Stormraven flat-out over the Dominions so that it can unload into my lines on his next turn. The Terminators move up and wreck an Immolator. The Librarian Dreadnought flies up and tries to kill another, but fails. The Rifleman kills Celestine. She gets back up.

I surround the Stormraven with Repentia and Celestine. The Repentia assault and wreck it, killing everyone in side. One squad of Dominions gets out to kill the Librarian Dread. 4 close range twin-linked Meltagun shots later, the Librarian Dread thanks Sanguinius for his Shield and is none the worse for wear. Another squad moves around a bit as bait for the Terminators.

Turn 2:

The Librarian Dread kills part of the squad that tried to kill him, but they hold. The Terminators take the bait and kill the Dominions. The Rifleman does…something. Shoots the Engines I think, but doesn’t do much damage.

Assassins kill the Terminators. Repentia kill the Librarian Dreadnought.

Turn 3:

Assault squad comes in. Rifleman probably shoots something.

Melta kills the dread, things run towards the AS.

Turn 4:

Assault squad charges Repentia and get locked in combat. Assassins are close and the game is over shortly thereafter.

Game 3:
Opponent: Ben “Douche Bag” Mohlie
List: Necrons. 3 flying transports that dumb the guys inside back into reserves when they die full of the beefier troops. One Ghost Arc full of Warriors. A Lord in a Command Barge. The named HQ that takes over vehicles. Two squads of Spiders and two squads of Swarms. 1 squad of Wraiths.
Mission Parameters: Five objectives centered in the quarters and the board. Secondary and Tertiary are Kill Points and Table Quarters.
Deployment: Pitched Battle
I win the roll and go first. There is a huge piece of impassible and LoS blocking terrain in the middle, so everything deploys so that I can move up just to the left of it. One squad of troops goes in reserve to jump on an objective later. I outflank the Dominions to try and contest his objectives. Besides, I doubt he’s going to put any vehicles close enough for me to Scout/Melta. He leaves one flying machine in reserve with his named HW and deploys everything else opposite me. He either doesn’t try or fails to seize.

Turn 1:

I move up and pop smoke. He shoots at my Rhinos, rolls well, and I fail cover saves like its my job. Two of them die. Scarabs nom on Repentia and Celestine. We roll off and determine that if Celestine gets back up, she’ll still have no armor.

Turn 2:

The other Repentia get out and multi-assault a squad of Spiders and the Scarabs that assaulted me. They are helped out by two Engines. They crush the Spiders and put enough fearless saves on the Spiders to kill them as well. But the Scarabs take a point of armor off each PE first. Celestine gets up and goes after some troops, but rolls poorly and dies again. The Assassins get in the remaining Rhino and move up to get out and kill troops later.

His reserves come in. Some guys get out of a flying machine to shoot. He tries to take over a PE, but fails. His other flying Machine zooms up my right flank. He destroys the remaining Rhino and shoots down most of the Assasins. He assaults my PE with his Wraiths. One PE goes last because of whips. The other one whiffs, so he doesn’t even need to make saves. Then they both die.

Turn 3:

Things are bad. The PEs dying without killing any Wraiths wasn’t good. One squad of Dominions and my BSS come one. The troops get on an objective and the Dominions come on the right flank to contest an objective. They take a long-range shot at a flying machine and knock a weapon off. Heavy Bolters down the Command Barge and Repentia kill the Lord. The remaining Assassins assault some troops with the named HQ, but they have some wargear that hits me before I can go, and they die before they swing. Jacobus lives, but dies on his turn.

Rest of Game: He cleans up everything on my left, leaving me with a squad of troops on my right objective, and Dominions on his left objective. Celestine keeps getting back up and contesting the middle objective. On the second to last turn, he moves a flying machine flat out to contest my objective. On the last turn, two squads of Dominions come on and contest his right objective. He doesn’t manage to kill them, but he makes his cover saves against my melta and I don’t kill his flying machine, so we tie objectives 0-0. He wins on the secondary.

I can’t outplay Ben when I’m sober, so really, being drunk didn’t hurt. As always, a good game. I sorta-almost pulled it out on the last turn, but I was on my back foot after turn 1 was over.

Game 4:
Opponent: ?
Army: SW. Two LF packs, 2 squads of troops in Rhinos with Wolf Priests, one squad in a Razorback with AC, one Vindicator, a Lord on a Wolf and a Wolf Posse.
Deployment: Spearhead.

I win and go first. I deploy as close as I can and then scout forward. He deploys fairly far away from me, but his Wolves are up close. The Vindicator is in reserves for some reason.

Turn 1:

I move up a bit with the Dominions and get out and move up a lot with everything else. I don’t pop smoke on the Dominions even though there aren’t any good targets nearby (the Rhinos aren’t within 12) because I want him shooting at them. I shoot everything at the Long Fangs and he makes a lot of cover saves. I think I kill two.

He shoots at the Immolators, killing one and knocking the weapon off one. Two missiles go after Celestine, killing her. She doesn’t get back up. Ever. His wolves assault a Dominion squad, killing them. They consolidate away from me, but not far enough.

Turn 2. Assassins kill the wolves. This takes another turn to finish up, but I take almost no casualties. More shooting kills more Long Fangs and a Rhino full of guys. One Long Fang pack runs, eventually off the board.

The guys that got out of the Rhino kill the squad that got them out. His shooting sees a Heavy Bolter girl die and an Engine take a bit of damage.

Turn 3: Engines roll into the squad that killed my Dominions and that goes how you’d expect. Repentia surround the Razorback and explode it, pinning the guys inside. I kill some more Long Fangs.

Vindicator comes on and shoots, doing nothing. He remaining Rhino has guys get out and kill a Rhino full of Repentia. He makes his charge, but combat is pretty close to tied.

Turn 4:

I finish off the Longfangs. Rage takes the Engines after the pinned squad instead of the Vindicator, and they kill them. The Repentia that had been surrounding the pinned squad move away (but remain within 1 inch of the pinned squad, satisfying Rage) and kill his last Rhino. Assassins kill the squad that was locked in with my Repentia.

Vindicator shoots, doing next to nothing.

Turn 5: Engines kill Vindicator.

P.S. He had scouts. They came in near my troops back in my corner on an objective. 20 girls shot them down before they could assault.

Game 5:
Opponent: Dan Brown. Think you’re stereotypical Ork player, but turned up to 11. Very very loud. Normally, this is obnoxious. But Dan is so…innocent...about it that’s its actually quite endearing.
List: 4 Wagons with Rollas. Two are full of Boys. One is full of Burnas with a Mek. One is full of Nobs with a Boss. Two small bike squads.
Deployment: Pitched Battle.

I win (again) and go first. I line up in a block. He lines up across from me. I scout up.

Turn 1: I move up, get the Dominions out, and melta some Wagons. He fails most of his cover saves, and at the end of the turn, three Wagons are dead, and one is Immobilized and has a Rocket knocked off. The Burnas are all dead from explosions and a squad of Dominions that didn’t have anything better to shoot at. The Heavy Bolters kill a bike, but he makes his leadership test.

He comes forward and assaults my Immolators with the squads, killing them all. His bikes come up and assault my Rhinos with Repentia. One does nothing and the other kills the Rhino.

Turn 2:

Repentia kill the bikes that assaulted them. Assassins kill a squad of boys and the Mech. Celestine flames and then assaults another squad of boys, killing a bunch of them, but they stay in combat.

The Nobs assault Repentia and Assassins. This doesn’t go well for them. Boys kill Celestine. Who then gets back up and kills them.

Turn 3: Melta finishes off the last Wagon.


Overall: Luck and opponents not knowing what Sisters can do if you have bad target priority leads to me tabling 4 out of 5 opponents. Ben wins all his games, but I have almost twice the paint score he does (Thanks Bill!) and I take best over-all. Which is a sweet-ass Katana.

Lesson of the Day: Repentia and Assassins are very very easy to shoot to death. Do that before they wreck you. Meltaguns won’t kill your vehicles as well as 27 Eviscerator attacks, so don’t worry about the Dominions so much.