CXI Represented at BattleForge Tournament

Thanks to the campaign as a motivator, I now have sufficient chaos units to muster 2000 points. So last Saturday I went down to Battleforge and signed up for the tournament. I got to speak with several of the players before the tourney and found that there were two Nidzilla lists, two Blood Angels, a Tau and some bog standard marines.

My first battle ended up being a fun one against Russel and his Blood Angels. It was a fast-paced game since we both wanted to get into hand-to-hand as quickly as possible. The special rules of the mission worked in my favor. I was awarded 200 points for every enemy scoring unit I destroyed and Russel fielded 5-man tactical squads. Lots of quick bonus points pushed me up to a Major Victory.

The second battle was against a Nidzilla list and run by a very good and friendly player. The special rules had a line of darkness moving across the board 12" every turn. We must have been on a very small moon. While I did get beat to a bloody pulp, I learned a lot and had fun. It's amazing what a difference a decent human being for an opponent can make. Even a slaughter can be entertaining and social.

For the final battle, the two Nid lists fought for 1st and 2nd place. I had to fight another Blood Angels list to see who would claim 3rd. This one decided to play a stand-and-shoot approach. I used cover as best as I could and eventually had to make the dash into the enemy. My Daemon Lord did some excellent damage, killing a Dreadnought and several mortals. My Raptor squad penetrated a Land Raider, entangling the Death Company - but was then left in the open and gunned down. The game was still in balance until the very last turn when I managed to kill off just enough enemy troops to edge out a victory.

I got 3rd place and a $50 box of Chaos stuff. Not bad for a tournament with no entry fee.

Observations:
I love going second. Even when I win the roll-off, I chose to go second and it made all the difference. Having the last word in turn 6 is very powerful, provided you can keep your forces in good order to that point.

Nurlge Marines are awesome on defense. They form the perfect screening unit for more shooty units like Noise Marines.

Land Raiders aren't spooky to me any more. As big as they are, they can only shoot at most 6 times in a game and only at 1 unit at a time.

Final Thoughts:
I relly need help from my fellow CXI members for training. I'm at best an average to above average player and would love to hone my skills further. Big bugs really scare me and I want to learn how to handle them. I need effective tactics to counter Nidzilla.