No Pics, Tourney Summary Instead

So, I missed Picture Friday on the 26th of July due to work becoming a bitch and a half for the last couple weeks. Oops.

However, I was actually able to attend the FLGS's monthly on the 27th at the last minute. I'd made up a few lists at the scheduled 1250 point level just for fun, and ended up bringing:

Librarian (Gate, Might)
Two Tac Squads in Rhinos
Two Dreadnoughts
Thunderfire Cannon
Two Landspeeders with Multimeltas
Two Attack Bikes with Multimeltas
Three Attack Bikes with Multimeltas

Did you notice that Fast Attack slot packed with melta?

I was a tad grumpy when I showed up, due to carryover from the previous hell week. When I first arrived, there were only four people present, including myself. Ugh. I decided that if two more didn't show, I was going home. I had yard work and gardening to do instead of a 4-person event.

Thankfully, two more players did show, so we ran a 6-man event.

My first game was against Thor from Creative Twilight, and his Chaos Marines. I remember a Chaos Lord, two units of Plague Marines in Rhinos, a Helbrute, a Forgefiend, a Defiler, and a Predator. We played on an ice board with plenty of 2" hills. The games are a bit of a blur to me at this point, but there were two crucial points in the game.
First was my collapsing of his right flank by blowing up the Defiler and the Forgefiend with the fast melta units in a single turn.
Second was my tendency toward bloodlust/tunnel vision costing me the game. We were after objectives as a primary, and I held one on the final turn, as did Thor. But, I had my attack bikes lined up perfectly for a turbo boost onto his objective when my final turn came around. I was thinking ahead for once. But when my turn arrived, I moved the bikes forward to boost range and then fired their weapons at the unit squatting on the objective (Plague Marines with Lord). I rattled off almost my entire army at those Plague Marines and failed to knock them out. With only two units left to shoot, I realized my mistake. I'd fired the attack bikes instead of boosting. CRAAAAP. It cost me the primary win, instead knocking me down to a tie.
The fast melta was a champ in this game due to the large number of walkers across the table.

It was far less useful in Game Two, where I faced a CSM/Daemon zombie horde. Typhus, Huron, three huge squads of zombies, a Helldrake, Spawn of Nurgle, and a Maulerfiend. I simply didn't have the guns for this one and lost. Folks at the FLGS groan when they see this list across from themselves, but I don't mind it terribly. I always take it as a challenge to my maneuvering and dice rolling to see if I can down that many zombies and still meet mission objectives. I do hate that damn Helldrake, though.

Game Three was against a Tau/Ork combo. Kill points primary, objectives secondary, something else tertiary. This one was played under Hammer and Anvil (short board edge deployment). I lost on KP, simply because it was too hard to make Tau units flee inside the Ethereal's 12" Leadership 10 bubble when they're behind Aegis Lines. I forced morale on one unit of Kroot every single game turn (though we only got three turns in 1:45) and they never broke due to one model inside the Ld10 bubble. I do have to wonder if I'd have done better if I'd left the Rhinos off the board in reserve. Two of the three KP I gave up were those Rhinos. Everything else was durable or unflappable.

At the end of the day I landed in 4th of 6. Typical for me, right in the middle areas of the pack.
I did alright with basic Tactical Marines. They're not flashy, but they do stick around forever. I also really love my Dreads, but they don't tend to put out much damage. I think this is due to a very low rate of fire. Unless you run the Rifledread, you're capping out at six shots a turn (assault cannon and storm bolter or auto cannon). Plus, those shots are all anti-infantry strength values and Marines have plenty of anti-infantry guns all around. My theory is that this is why the Mortis Contemptor is so popular. Those two Kheres Assault Cannons crank out a bucket full of shots every turn, while the regular Dreads simply don't measure up. I've got the rules for the Contemptor in IA:Aeronautica, but to tell the truth, I'm not a massive fan of the Contemptor's look (nor that of the Tartaros Terminators).

I can't think of another Marine unit that can really put out the volume of fire that a Kheres-armed Contemptor is capable of, can you?