Brief Tournament Report: Arcanacon 2012

For those that don't know, Arc is a huge 40k tournament in Melbourne, with 150 spots available this year - which is a reduction on previous years! Its the largest and longest running tournament in the southern hemisphere, and very difficult to get a ticket for as they sell out in hours. I was lucky to get my hands on a ticket reserved for Battle Bunker club members - thanks Diffey!

Once again I took my hybrid Tau out to play with the big boys - list is here. There were three Tau players in total, playing relatively similar lists. A new team had taken over the tournament and although there were a few delays and confusions they managed to get us over the line in the end - I don't envy them the task :)

The first match was Pitched Battle, Kill Points - with a bonus objective worth 3 kill points. My Grey Knights opponent hadn't played in a year and didn't know the new rules, so it turned into a bit of a lesson as I beat him 3-1, only losing a sacrificial Piranha that blocked his Land Raider. As he was very slow we only got to turn three. So we shake hands at the end of the game, at which point I realise that I have ignored the objective all game and he has actually won 4-3 :(

How frustrating to fall out of the race in game one purely due to my own stupidity! I summon up what good graces I can and crawl off for an early cigarette. And cry on the shoulder of anyone who will hold me...

Next game was Spearhead, Capture & Control against Gene from Battle Bunker. I like to think of myself as Gene's nemesis - in many games he has never beaten me. However a first turn tank shock / flamer combo from his Hellhound Squadron, combined with a strategically placed Vendetta, causes my plasma suits and Kroot bodyguard to flee the table. However my luck turned later in the game, taking out 2 Vendettas and a Hydra with 3 railgun shots! A heroic deep strike from my burst cannon suits slowed him down long enough for me to hold on for the draw.

Game 3 was against a fun Ork list with Shokk Attack gun, Koptas, a Wagon, two trukks etc... First mistake was giving him first turn, forgetting that with Capture and Control I couldn't easily refuse flank. I then managed to screw up my bubble-wrapping and lose my commander and Hammerhead turn 1. Tried my best to recover but it was an uphill battle and he played too well.

This was my favorite match of the Tournament, as I has already come to terms with the depths of my failure. Thanks for a very enjoyable game Dave!

After this all I wanted to do was drown my sorrows in large quantities of beer. I found a willing drinking partner and found myself pleasantly drunk in the Great Britain beer garden in Richmond. This was definitely my favourite table of the weekend!

Day 2, Game 4 saw me facing a newer player rocking Battleforce Marine. Yay I thought, time to claw my way back up the standings! The mission was short table edges, three objectives evenly spaced down the middle. Basically we both held our home objective and contested the middle one. I tabled him except for his deck chair unit, which promptly shot my Fire Warriors off the board before they could hold that central objective - they failed to rally twice. No troops means I lose again :) Don't worry about me though reader, I was starting to embrace my mediocrity!

Game 5 was Capture & Control (again!), Dawn of War against a very friendly Tyranid player. He had brought a large unit of Gargoyles lead by the Parasite of Mortrex, and a bit of everything else including Death Leaper. We had a very enjoyable game, but some more bad bubble-wrapping lead to me losing about two-thirds of my army in a couple of very violent turns. He spawned 30 ripper swarms from dead Kroot corpses! However I saw I glimmer of hope in the chaos and managed to capture his objective by killing two Gaunts that charged into cover, with 4 awesome Fire Warriors. Even more good luck lead me to kill his scoring unit on my objective - he failed 4 of 6 3++ cover saves. Yay a victory for the Tau!

My final game was Killpoints, Dawn of War against a young Imperial Guard player who had a good grasp of the rules. His tactics were lacking though and he kept a lot of his forces in reserve, allowing me to pick off some easy kill points (yay for heavy weapons teams!) and avoid most of his return fire. Finally I got my mojo back - two wins in a row and I'm on a roll!

Well I won't go on any longer as these kind of posts can drag on. I did had a good time, despite my performance and the delays. Thanks to everyone who helped put it on and my opponents too.