Welcome back, Dear Reader, to my ongoing chronicle of my journey through 2022. Last time I wrote, I was frantically paint-prepping for the Lone Star Open and doing some final list testing. My wife and I made the drive up to Allen, TX – a suburb just north of Dallas – on Friday afternoon, and in total the drive took us about 4 and a half hours, with a quick stop in the middle. Not too bad. We meet up with Goatboy and one of his friends and grab drinks, then head back to the hotel and crash.

Saturday (Day 1)

The first thing to do is registration and paint judging, which both run until about 10am. I still don’t have a full display board for my Thousand Sons, but I have managed to cobble something together that I think works very well in a pinch, and should allow me to avoid losing points for just not having one in the future.

It’s pretty easy to fold the kill team board up and it matches the bases on my Thousand Sons. Meanwhile the ruin there took minimal converting – mostly replacing some sigmar crests with Tzeentch icons and it otherwise already had the right vibe. Good stuff.

For reference, here’s the army I’m running this weekend:

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Thousand Sons) [103 PL, 3CP, 19 Cabal Points, 1,998pts] ++

Cults of the Legion: Cult of Duplicity

+ HQ [19 PL, -2CP, 8 Cabal Points, 350pts] +

Ahriman [8 PL, 3 Cabal Points, 160pts]: 11. Tzeentch’s Firestorm, 12. Twist of Fate, 21. Presage

Exalted Sorcerer [6 PL, -1CP, 3 Cabal Points, 100pts]: 12. Glamour of Tzeentch, 13. Doombolt, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Master Misinformator, Stratagem: Warlord Trait [-1CP], Warlord

Infernal Master [5 PL, -1CP, 2 Cabal Points, 90pts]: 11. Gaze of Hate, 5. Glimpse of Eternity, 6. Malefic Maelstrom, Stratagem: Relic [-1CP], Umbralefic Crystal

+ Troops [24 PL, 8 Cabal Points, 442pts] +

Rubric Marines [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 117pts]: Icon of Flame [1 Cabal Points] . Aspiring Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 21pts]: 32. Pyric Flux, Warpflame pistol
. 4x Rubric Marine w/ warpflamer [96pts]: 4x Warpflamer [12pts]

Rubric Marines [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 105pts]: Icon of Flame [1 Cabal Points] . Aspiring Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 21pts]: 22. Weaver of Fates, Inferno Bolt Pistol
. 4x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun [84pts]: 4x Inferno boltgun

Rubric Marines [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 110pts]: Icon of Flame [1 Cabal Points] . Aspiring Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 21pts]: 31. Empyric Guidance, Inferno Bolt Pistol
. 3x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun [63pts]: 3x Inferno boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ soulreaper cannon [26pts]: Soulreaper cannon [5pts]

Rubric Marines [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 110pts]: Icon of Flame [1 Cabal Points] . Aspiring Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 21pts]: 21. Temporal Manipulation, Inferno Bolt Pistol
. 3x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun [63pts]: 3x Inferno boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ soulreaper cannon [26pts]: Soulreaper cannon [5pts]

+ Elites [58 PL, -1CP, 3 Cabal Points, 1,160pts] +

Chaos Leviathan Dreadnought [13 PL, -1CP, 220pts]: Grav-flux bombard, Leviathan siege claw and meltagun
. Two twin volkite calivers

Scarab Occult Terminators [20 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 430pts]: 2x Hellfyre missile rack [20pts] . Scarab Occult Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 40pts]: 23. Temporal Surge, Inferno combi-bolter
. 7x Terminator [280pts]: 7x Inferno combi-bolter, 7x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Soulreaper cannon [5pts] . Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Soulreaper cannon [5pts]

Scarab Occult Terminators [21 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 440pts]: 2x Hellfyre missile rack [20pts] . Scarab Occult Sorcerer [1 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 50pts]: 23. Temporal Surge, Inferno combi-bolter, Rites of Coalescence [1 PL, 10pts] . 7x Terminator [280pts]: 7x Inferno combi-bolter, 7x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Soulreaper cannon [5pts] . Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Soulreaper cannon [5pts]

Tzaangor Shaman [4 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 70pts]: 31. Cacodaemonic Curse

+ Fast Attack [2 PL, 46pts] +

Chaos Spawn [2 PL, 46pts] . 2x Chaos Spawn [2 PL, 46pts]: 2x Hideous mutations

++++

After paint judging is over I pack up my display board bullshit and grab some breakfast, then it’s back for my round 1 pairing.

Round 1: vs. Blood Angels

First game is up against Nikolas Mirkovic’s Blood Angels and I’m immediately thinking back to my game at the Dallas Open against Sweet Lew’s punishing Blood Angels list, which successfully pinned me in my deployment zone turn 1 and then proceeded to cause me problems all game trying to chew through Apothecary-supported Sanguinary Guard and Death Company. Fortunately, Nikolas’ list is a bit less optimized:

Nikolas' list - click to expand

It’s not a complete gimme, but without thunder hammers and a way to really hit me hard in melee turn 1, Nikolas isn’t in a good spot. He basically needs to get aggressive early and often and hope he can stuff me in my zone early and score enough points I can’t come back, though last time I was up against Lew I was notably running Cult of Time – this time I can just teleport away.

The Mission: Recover the Relics

My Secondaries:

• Mutate Landscape
• Raise the Banners High
• No Prisoners

Nikolas’ Secondaries:

• Abhor the Witch
• Raise the Banners High
• Relentless Assault

No Wrath of Magnus to worry about but I can pretty easily put up three banners on turn 1 and then it’s just a question of racking up No Prisoners points faster than he can score Abhor.

I deploy very conservatively, mindful of the pregame move on the Death Company that can give them an effective turn 1 distance of 33″+, completely not realizing they only have chainswords. Nikolas puts his Assault Terminators in Deep Strike reserves.

I’m Going Second

Nikolas plays things conservatively his first turn, taking a couple of shots upfield with his devastators and… keeping his jump infantry stationary. That’s pretty much the game. I step up turn 2 and start picking his units apart, teleporting a unit of warpflamers to his flank to wipe out his Eradicators from the other side of some Dense terrain. He continues to play conservative on his second turn and leaves his terminators in orbit, and I respond by taking out all of his Sanguinary Guard and Death Company. He suggests we call it but I note that he can still score some Abhor points so we do one more turn and his Assault Terminators drop in and kill my Tzaangor Shaman with a re-rolled charge. I left him a bit out of position, and so that’s an easy kill for them. We call it after that – I don’t have to do much to max primary this game and getting 12 on Mutate is easy.

Result: 94-59, Win

Nikolas was a great opponent and he’d end up getting his first win in round 4 against some Dark Angels. I give him some advice on being more aggressive with his force but there’s only so much he can do without a list that’s optimized for melee damage output. Still, a great first round and a good start to the event.

I grab lunch with the wife across the street from the venue and then it’s on to round 2.

Round 2: vs. Tyranids

Next up is Lee Hartsoe’s Tyranids, which are mostly a Leviathan swarm who have been outfitted with googly eyes. It’s adorable.

Lee's list - click to expand

That’s a lot of Tyranid beef to churn through, and Carnifexes being a 2+ and T7 can be a pain for my Terminators, but they’ll eat mortal wounds easy enough. My big concern will be removing Lee’s psykers as quickly as possible. The good news is that it isn’t a lot of drops, so he’ll have to decide how much to commit and how much he’ll need to protect key targets.

The Mission: Tide of Conviction

My Secondaries: 

• Wrath of Magnus
• Bring it Down
• Mutate Landscape

Lee’s Secondaries:

• Raise the Banners high
• Engage on All Fronts
• Cranial Feasting

I’m built for Wrath so I take that here, plus on six objectives Mutate Landscape is plenty doable, at least to 9 points. Bring it Down is a no-brainer. Lee’s options are less great and he ends up taking Engage on All Fronts, which I’m hoping I can mostly blank him on, though that Mawloc could be an issue when it shows up.

I’m Going First

That’s good news – I immediately use a crystal teleport to put my Warpflamers on Lee’s flank and take out one of his Tyranid Warrior units, taking him off the objective and basically denying him a shitload of banner points – his Carnifex can’t do it, so he’ll have to spend multiple turns running over there, through Dense Terrain, with another unit of warriors, to have a chance at putting down another banner. I sometimes struggle with whether I’m being too aggressive with my teleports, but this was absolutely the right move, and disrupts Lee’s game plan pretty hard.

I spend my turn putting up defenses and killing one Carnifex, but the other two I put shots on manage to survive on a couple of wounds each. I weather the Tyranids’ turn OK and after taking out another Carnifex in the psychic phase I’m able to down Lee’s Neurothrope and start taking out his Zoanthropes.

That said, while things are going pretty well for me on that side, Lee’s Mawloc throws a wrench into things and venom cannons are still a legit threat. I’m able to take care of most of his psykers by turn 3, but the Mawloc causes me issues and between it and the Carnifexes I almost lose a squad of Terminators, barely managing to hold on.

The game looks like a real uphill battle for Lee after I take out the bulk of his psykers but he makes the smart decision to sacrifice board position for momentum, pressing forward with everything as the Mawloc emerges. This nearly pays off, but as I mentioned I’m able to hold on with two half-squads of Terminators and after he loses the Hive Tyrant and Mawloc we’re able to call it.

Result: 71-57, Win

Lee was a great opponent and really surprised me with that push mid-game. It nearly worked but he just didn’t quite have the gas to pull it off then and crucially denying both of his Hive Tyrant’s casts played a bit part of that. Lee played a mean game and was fun to play against.

Also fun fact that Lee pointed out to me: There’s an FAQ item on the Leviathan Grav-Flux Bombard that gives it 24″ range instead of 18″. I’ve been playing that wrong this whole time — turns out it’s a way better gun that I thought!

ha ha ha… man, am I bad at this game.

Round 3: vs. Adeptus Custodes

This was one of the most miserable games of 40k I’ve ever played. It starts with a list that seems tailor-made to go up against mine and a terrain set that exposes the weakness of player-paced terrain, continues with numerous shitty rules disputes and misplays on my opponent’s part, and then ends with just some insanely bad dice on my end.

Custodes list - click to expand

The Mission: Conversion

This is already a bad layout for going up against Custodes, putting our armies only 18″ apart, but then the terrain here includes several 12″ long flat wall sections that can be used to create a diagonal wall (the FLG rules split our territory diagonally on this mission), leading to a terrain layout that is designed to allow sisters of silence to hide out of line of sight along the length of the board:

Additionally, that ruin on the upper right isn’t closed on the south side, so I’ll get shot through those windows later in the game. Great stuff, thanks guys. I’d mind player-placed terrain less at LSO if they actually had decent terrain, but every table has a bunch of just flat walls that allow for really bad layouts, plus ruins that are either magic boxes or have bigass windows.

My Secondaries:

• Psychic Interrogation
• Raise the Banners High
• Engage on All Fronts

Custodes Secondaries:

• Auric Mortalis
• Stand Vigil
• Abhor the Witch

I’ve gotta watch Auric here, which hits my Rites terminator unit, and Psychic Interrogation can be a chore with the negative modifiers, but it’ll still go off just fine against the Sisters of Silence character. Of course, my opponent disagrees and that leads to a long multi-judge pile-up on not just whether it can be done (it can) but also whether I get the CP if I beat her Ld (who cares, I don’t roll high enough to beat her Leadership, which he informs me is 10 when it is actually 9).

I go ahead and spend 2 CP to put my Warpflamer unit on the dense terrain in the upper left in order to score easy VP on the mission primary bonus and help prevent my opp from scoring Stand Vigil at the end of their turn (I’d later ask them to check and they’d confirm this was end of battle round).

I’m Going Second

Not great, and turn 1 starts with my opponent insisting that because I didn’t declare my intent to put my warpflamers on the dense terrain, I couldn’t get the bonus. I politely ask him which of the models in the unit he thinks is not on dense terrain, as I have carefully placed the edge of every model’s base on the lip of the terrain, making them all visibly, factually on the terrain. Let’s observe the photo I took after deployment:

I’m all for playing by intent, but A: They are factually on the terrain, and B: In what world do you think my intent is to not put them on the terrain with only a single model on the objective? But they agree to “give it to me” when they end up not pushing any damage through with some poor rolls. Gee, thanks.

Following this, they then shoot at one of my terminator units with a Helverin, and proceed to tell me that, because the models in the unit in line of sight are not in Light Cover, I can’t take the bonus to their save. I proceed to tell them that is not how wound allocation works, and that I do in fact, get to take a cover save as long as I’m allocating the wound to a unit in cover, and the rules do not require that I allocate to a model that is visible to the firing model.

The vibes of this game are already in shambles when I cast a power on my turn and my opponent proceeds to attempt to deny it with a 4+ Stratagem from the Sisters of Silence – Empyric Severance, and fails, then proceeds to use another Stratagem to attempt a regular deny from a Custodes unit. A judge is walking by when this happens and I question being able to deny twice, and the Judge tells me that yes, this is possible and Custodes can do it and have the stratagem.

If you play Custodes at home, you may have already realized that no, Custodes do not have such a Stratagem (they potentially had one in the 8th book), and that Empyric Severance has to be used after any Deny the Witch attempt is made. This will go on to be a problem all game, as I have to worry about and play around double denies, a rule that is not real.

This will ultimately prevent me from teleporting my Auric targeted terminators out of trouble later in the game and even if all this bullshit weren’t enough, my dice were cold and my opponent’s dice were white-hot. I came into this game thinking I’d have an easier time of things when I wasn’t up against the Emperor’s Chosen and their 4+ ignore mortal wound rolls, but instead my opp just kept rolling 6s to shrug off mortals. I finally caved and called it on turn 4 when I put three AP-3 Grav shots into a unit of Witchseekers with the Leviathan only for my opp to roll triple 6s to save. Playing another full turn of the game at that point was just not what I wanted to do.

So what to take away here? Well even without the bullshit, this would have been an uphill battle. I needed to keep my Auric target out of trouble and I failed to do that, and that might have made the difference. One of my better ideas here was using the Chaos Spawn to tie up a Helverin and just prevent it from doing much for a few turns while they ineffectually whaled on it.

Result: 79-92, Loss

I’d later bring the deny stratagem issue up to the judge on day 2 and he’d double down before going off on his own and returning to confirm there was no second stratagem – and he apologized at that point – but ultimately it was pretty demoralizing having a judge back up some bad play in the moment. Especially because bringing it to his attention wasn’t easy – the attitude I got when presenting my case was that I was being a difficult player, upset about a loss, when I made it clear up front I wasn’t looking for a change in results.

I grab sushi with the missus and try to shrug off the loss but man, that game sucked. I get my usual terrible hotel sleep and by the next day I’m just looking for a decent game to bounce back with.

Sunday (Day 2)

Coming into Sunday I’m already thinking about going home. That game 3 really took it out of me and the prospect of playing until 7pm and then driving four hours isn’t particularly enticing to me. I let my wife know that if I lose another game I’ll drop after round 5 so we can head back, as that’ll put us home in time for my son’s bedtime.

Game 4: vs. Necrons

Fortunately game 4 sees me squaring off against Nathaniel Bjorge, an all-around swell guy and someone who came out of nowhere this year to have a stellar season in the ITC. He’s a very, very good player and playing Necrons with a list that almost certainly means he’s going to win this game, especially if he goes first.

Nate's list - click to expand

Nathaniel’s running a list designed to score points effortlessly, using Purge the Vermin, Treasures of Aeons, and Code of Combat to score points effortlessly with his army of ObSec pre-game movers.

The Mission: Tear Down Their Icons

My Secondaries:

• Psychic Interrogation
• Assassination
• Raise the Banners High

Nate’s Secondaries

• Code of Combat
• Purge the Vermin
• Treasures of Aeons

Once again, the diagonal map here and the terrain do me no favors – there are bigass walls Nate has put blocking the middle of the table, and my terrain is a bunch of “magic boxes” with windows that give me nowhere to be in cover and also out of line of sight. I really, really need to go first to have any chance here.

I’m going second.

Welp. I put up an OK fight – Nate’s dice are also hot and that doesn’t help me as some of his stuff hangs on with 1 wound longer than I need it to. I don’t really have an answer to the Silent King, who can score 4 VP by killing a chaos spawn. I use a teleport early to prevent points on Purge, but Treasures and Code are basically free VP for Nate.

Result: 71-97, Loss

A tough loss but Nate was a fun guy to play and I feel a bit better about things. We talk for a bit about the army and what, if anything, I could have done (gone first, lol), and then I meet up with Russell Tassin and check in on his progress. He’s doing well, having just beaten his teammate Mat Tweedel to go up another win.

I grab lunch again with the missus, this time opting for the hotel bar as LSO has only given us 30 minutes to eat. With two losses booked I’m now committed to bouncing early and I help pack up some stuff before my next game.

Game 5: vs. Orks

Game 5 has me against Jeremiah’s Goffs. Jeremiah is relatively new to the game but he’s enjoying the Ork’s resurgence following the point drops and secondary improvements in Nephilim. Based on our game, I think he’ll have a bright future.

Jeremiah's List - click to expand

Working against Jeremiah is that I’ve played against Ben Jurek’s Goffs before in Seattle and learned some hard lessons about what they can do. Ben’s also at this event and putting up a very solid performance – keep an eye on him because he’s quietly making a name for himself this year on the ITC circuit.

The Mission: The Scouring

The deployment map also doesn’t help, giving me room to sit back a bit more and avoid the Trukkboy Meganobz. Avoiding a bunch of D2+ melee attacks with my Terminators is going to be critical in this matchup.

My Secondaries: 

• Wrath of Magnus
• Psychic Interrogation
• Assassination

Jeremiah’s Secondaries:

• Get Da Good Bitz
• Da Biggest and da Strongest
• Stomp ‘Em Good

I didn’t realize just how easy it is to score Get da good bitz with a pair of Grot units – it’s basically a free 15 VP for the Orks – and if you don’t kill Ghaz early he’ll easily score 10+ on Da Biggest and da Strongest. I think I can hold him off on Stomp ‘Em Good, so the real play is going to be trying to keep Ghaz off objectives and away from killing things.

I’m Going First.

That’s huge – while I am confident I can comfortably drop my units back to avoid a charge, Jeremiah has held his trukks back a bit as well. I start turn 1 by teleporting a speed bump unit of Rubrics forward to block movement. I end up shooting one of the Trukks off the table with Empyric Guidance, but I make the mistake of having the rubrics hit the other trukk instead of the grots. Still, I destroy one trukk and bracket the other, greatly reducing his threat range on turn 1. That keeps me out of unexpected turn 1 charges, and allows me to pick off the Meganobz at my leisure.

If there’s a single big mistake Jeremiah makes, it’s putting his dense terrain in the middle of his deployment zone, creating bottlenecks for his units that make it difficult for him to get everywhere he needs to be. This buys me an extra turn to wait for units to funnel around the middle building (which had to be deployed there), while picking apart Jeremiah’s army on the flanks.

When we finally get into combat on the side, I’m able to weather the Meaganobz well enough and take the fight convincingly to the rest of the army, mortal wounding his bikes and squighog boyz out of the picture, though not before he pulls off the second triple 6 save against three AP-3 shots from my Leviathan for the weekend. On the other side I wipe out Jeremiah’s Kommandos after they charge my Scarabs (a long bomb play that didn’t pay off), and we call it when it’s clear that Jeremiah just doesn’t have the resources to pull out the win.

Which isn’t to say it isn’t a close game – he’s ahead on Primary and despite killing a grot unit he’s still maxed Get Da Good Bitz. What saves me is getting melee kills, and being able to all but blank him on Stomp ‘Em Good, which ultimately was probably a bad pick here, or at least it was for his game plan.

Result: 90-81, Win

Jeremiah was a blast to play but I’m ready to head home. I put in the results, drop before round 6, and hop in the car with the missus. We make it back in about four hours, which is as good as that drive gets. We’re easily in time for bath + story time with the boy, which was what I really wanted anyways.

3-2 was worse than I was hoping for. At least, I was hoping to start 3-0 and then lose two rounds if I went 3-2, rather than trying to pull one out after a pair of losses, but at this point it’s interesting to think about how my expectations have shifted from a year ago, when going 3-3 was all I was hoping for and now 4-2 is kind of a disappointment. I’m clearly still a way’s off from reaching the x-1 level at a GT and given the stress and challenge, I’m not sure it’s a level I’m invested enough to reach, particularly if it means putting in more games than I am right now.

Realistically, there’s a huge luck factor as well; performing well at a GT is as much about army selection and getting good matchups as it is being a good player and while Thousand Sons are in a good place, they’re far from one of the top armies that can rack up VP effortlessly. In the same way that being a top-rated Death Guard player last year depended on going to events before Codex: Drukhari released, my prospects of getting more success with Thousand Sons likely hinge on the kinds of matchups I can secure. That said, I’ve got 2-3 more events in me this year, one of which will be Warzone Houston. I’m still not 100% on whether I’ll be taking Black Legion or Thousand Sons to that, but I’ve got time to decide (and paint).

Next Time: The Goonhammer Open

Next for me is a bit of a break. I’ll play some games and write about them, but the next event for me is the 2022 US Goonhammer Open, where I’ll be running the Narrative event. So look for a recap of that and some of the work I put into it.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.