Welcome back, Dear Reader, to my ongoing journey through competitive Warhammer. Last Time around I talked about some final prep for Tampa, with a practice game and some hobby work. Today I’ll be talking about my games at the GW US Open in Tampa, and splitting the event across three articles – check back Thursday and Friday for the final two parts of the story.

The wife and I flew out to Tampa on Thursday night after dropping our son off with the grandparents for the weekend. I may bring him to Atlanta but that’s going to be six games over three days as opposed to eight, and with other stuff going on. For now, we’re taking advantage of my parents’ willingness to watch him and getting a little weekend away for ourselves. The missus doesn’t typically join on these trips, but she’ll come along every once in a while when I go somewhere interesting to her. She tends to do her own thing most of the day, and then we meet up in the evening for dinner and hang-outs.

The hotel is full so we’re staying at an Airbnb about 10 minutes’ drive away from the convention center and splitting the costs with my Goonhammer teammate, Norman. The place is alright; essentially it’s in the rennovated attic/top floor of an older house, and the inside ceilings are slanted to accommodate the roof. This extends to the apartment’s bathrooms, and it means when I’m standing in the shower I have to tilt my head 20 degrees to avoid hitting my head against the ceiling, which is hilarious but also it sucks.

My List

Before we get into the event, let’s recap on my list.

My Tampa List - Click to expand

This is the Death Guard list I’d been testing, and pretty close to what I brought to Warzone Houston a few weeks ago. The big change here is that I swapped out a Bloat-Drone and a Tallyman for a seven-man unit of Plague Marines and a Biologus Putrifier. They’re more versatile than the Bloat-Drone, albeit slower, and do a bit better job holding objectives.

Day 1

Norman and I head over to the convention center around 7:30am; the first round won’t start until 9:30 any given day but there’s a check-in process on the first day which starts at 8am. We arrive, check in, unpack, and meet up with the rest of our crew. The Goonhammer crew at this event is pretty substantial:

• Condit, bringing his Iron Hands
• MasterSlowpoke, bringing his beautifully painted Rainbow Warriors
• Alice “RagnarokAngel” Lirette, bringing her Ossiarch Bonereapers for the AoS GT
• Norman Greenberg, with his Chaos Knights

Also here with us are a couple of locals I know from Houston. Specifically Andrew (Space Marines) and Kevin (World Eaters), two very cool guys and decent players.

We drop our stuff off and grab breakfast with the Goonhammer crew at the hotel across the street, then head back to wait for pairings to go up. Things start just a few minutes late, but pairings go up, we wish each other a very merry “FUCK EM UP,” and we’re off.

Round 1: vs. Tom Patterson’s Adeptus Custodes

My first game of the weekend is against Custodes, an army I get matched up against in what seems like multiple times per event, though I notably dodged them last time around at Warzone Houston. Tom’s running an army of solidly painted lads in gold with some cool marble bases, an effect he’s accomplished with contact paper that nonetheless looks great. Tom’s here for his first GT, and excited to be playing. He’s worried about getting things wrong but I let him know upfront it’s not an issue and he can take things back as he needs.

Tom's list - click to expand

Custodes aren’t nearly the threat they used to be and even in 10th edition the Death Guard are now well equipped to deal with them thanks to Rattlejoint Ague, which reduces their saves by 1 and makes it easy to punch through their armor quickly with lots of ANTI-INFANTRY flamers. The big concern here would be Trajann, who could turn off that ability, but Tom isn’t running him. As-is, the big concerns here are:

1. The Caladius Grav-tanks. I need to avoid having these double up on targets. As soon as both can shoot the same thing I’m going to start losing tanks I need to keep around.
2. The Blade Champion. His ability to advance and charge once per game will put me in a bad spot if he catches me out, as the champ + 5 guard can cut right through a unit of plague marines.
3. The Allarus Terminators. These guys have a surprising amount of shooting output and hit like a sledgehammer in melee, so I need to avoid getting charged by them.

The movement and teleporting is also a problem – I’ll need to screen Tom out as best I can.

The Plan

The Mission: L – Dawn of War, Chilling Rain, Scorched Earth
Contagion: Rattlejoint Ague (-1 to saves)

My big plan here is to never give both of the Caladius tanks shots at the same target. I want to keep my PBCs out of Line of Sight as long as I can, and then barrel them forward aggressively at the right time. There are two protected paths here on the table, one on each side – the middle is largely suicide for Tom and he doesn’t have the models to contest all three so he’s better off killing me off it than trying to hold it. My plan is to swing Mortarion up the left side of the table to bog down and kill the Allarus after baiting them out with a juicy Fleshmower. Meanwhile the marines will cover the right flank – they’re too dangerous to charge with the Blade Champion + 5 Custodians, especially if I can force teh unit to step into overwatch before attempting a charge. I’ll deal with the Caladius after I’ve handled the sides.

Any time you’re up against a bunch of 2+ saves I find it’s better to take Rattlejoint Ague – it’s nearly impossible to push wounds through your targets otherwise. Custodes also get enough re-rolls and 2+ to hit rolls that putting them on -1 WS/BS doesn’t matter as much as you’d like, anyways.

I’m Going First.

Let’s fuckin gooooo. I wanted that this time around, as the ability to whittle down Custodes units and get deep strikers on the board first is huge. I keep the PBCs out of line of sight but use their mortars to whittle down the blade champion’s unit while pushing Mortarion to the left and the marines to the right.

On his turn Tom pushes forward with the tanks and his Allarus but holds his Custodians and Champion behind the wall, worried about eating Overwatch (smart). He fails his (very long) charges out of the ruin, though and that’s pretty bad for him. He manages to charge and kill the Bloat-drone. I retaliate on my turn by pressing forward, bracketing one Caladius and damaging the other with PBCs while the Rhino moves up to block the Custodians and drop a 6″ contagion aura through the wall. Meanwhile the Lord of Virulence and his Deathshroud drop behind the Custodians, pelting them with pistols that put them on a 3+ save, and the mortars are suddenly able to fire at BS2 and full damage on Tom’s backfield.

At this point the game is pretty much over. The Plaguemarines burn the rightside objectve and charge the Caladius nearby, killing it, while the Deathshroud clean out Tom’s backfield. Morty handles the Allarus pretty easily and Tom doesn’t have the units to make up this deficit. From here it’s pretty easy clean-up.

Result: 100-27, Win

Tom is in a tough spot because Custodes are no longer super competitive and if I’m not giving him any targets for the Caladius, that’s a lot of points being wasted. His biggest challenge is that he doesn’t have the units to screen me out of his backfield, and if he leaves his sisters of silence back there I’m just going to mortar them off the table. His best bet was to probably commit aggressively to two objectives, starting with one, walling me out, and then scrapping over the middle. Instead he spread out wide and made it easy to divide and conquer while avoiding the Caladius Tanks.

Norman and I grab lunch at the venue, grabbing chicken fingers and fries. Norman takes a bite of his and it’s just completely raw inside. I check mine after he spits his out and it’s the same thing – just fully pink. We get them swapped for burgers but it’s pretty gross.

Round 2: vs. Xander Verge’s Aeldari

Next up is a game against Xander, a local who is on the newer side as well. He’s running an Eldar list with some heavier shooting and an Avatar but no Wraithguard, instead running Wraithseers. This is a pretty good deal for me since the Wraithguard being able to shoot back and regenerate is a real pain, and one that requires a massive investment of resources to properly kill.

Xander's List - Click to Expand

Similar to Custodes, Eldar aren’t the massive problem they used to be either and while Fire Prisms are nasty fire, they aren’t as big a problem for me as the Night Spinner – a triple Spinner list is a much tougher game for me, and requires heavier use of transports and Mortarion. As-is I think I can deal with this list.

The Plan

Eldar are an interesting matchup. If you can reach them they’ll evaporate, but you have to get to them first. No mean feat because they tend to hit like a sledgehammer, using Fate Dice to push through big damage and extra mobility from Phantasm and Fire and Fade to stay out of reach.

The Mission: B – Search and Destroy, Hidden Supplies, Priority Targets
Contagion: Skullsquirm Blight (-1 to WS/BS)

There’s not a ton of value in taking the -1 save against Eldar; their units tend to have 3+ saves and 4+ invulnerable saves so I’d rather make sure when I get close they aren’t able to do much damage. My plan here is to stay out of sight of the Fire Prisms as long as I can and take out the Avatar using a mix of entropy cannons and mortal wounds from the Grenades Stratagem. I’ll need to play keep-away for two turns with him but otherwise, there’s nothing in this list that can really threaten Morty or the PBCs so if I can take those out I’ll have the game beat.

I’m Going First.

That’s neutral-to-negative here, mostly – I’ve deployed conservatively enough and the terrain gives me a lot of cover, so Xander moving out and giving me a chance to counterpunch is also very good. Xander deployed his Striking Scorpions in the north ruin, and I spend the first turn blowing through them with Mortarion, since I can wheel him around toward the Fire Prisms from that northern ruin. If they shoot anything, I want it to be him since he can tank 1-2 shots.

NOTE: When you’re going up against indirect fire, always put a PBC on the objective with your poxwalkers. You don’t want to incentivize an opponent to shoot them, killing them before you have a chance to sticky the objective on turn 1.

I kill the Avatar with a mix of small arms fire, entropy, mortal wounds from the Grenades stratagem, and melee, plus one of the Wraithseers, and that’s close enough to the ballgame. Morty charges the fire prism but doesn’t kill it, and will spend two turns chasing it around. I don’t take care of the Nightspinner but it doesn’t matter.

Result: 100-29

Xander was another great opponent and a fun guy to play. The big challenge here is that his list was just unoptimized and I’ve already played multiple practice games against Aeldari, both with Ynnari and the Avatar and both. GW’s terrain layout here made it easy to avoid the Fire Prisms early and even without first turn I’d have made short work in this game as Xander’s army had lots of tools to play objectives but not enough of the units he needed – Nightspinners, Spectres, and Wraithguard – to take out my heavier units.

Round 3: vs. Ashley Davis’ Dark Angels

Next up is Dark Angels, with a list that’s sneaky good. Normally when I see Dark Angels I expect to see a heavy core of Terminators, but instead Ash has gone for a much more interesting list with lots of high-AP bolter fire to lay down withering hails of death on enemies.

Ash's list - Click to Expand

I’m used to seeing Terminators and Aggressors in larger groups, so this is an interesting change of pace. The drop pod is also interesting, and I suspect it will be full of devastators, though Lascannon Devs wouldn’t have been my first pick for this one. The big thing to watch out for here is the deep strike – the Drop Pod, the Inceptors, and the Terminators all deep strike, while the Eliminators can Infiltrate. That’s a lot to put on the table early and I’d consider putting the Nurglings on the table to start if this mission didn’t give me two corners in deployment.

The Plan

The Mission: M – Crucible of Battle, Chilling Rain, Purge the Foe

Purge is solid for me here – Ash doesn’t have any indirect fire so I can protect the Poxwalkers and I reserve the terminators and Nurglings and put the rest on the table. My big worry is the deep strike – I need to watch out for the inevitable moment when his Inceptors drop in 3″ away from my Poxwalkers and make sure it can’t hurt me as bad as it seems. Otherwise, the plan is to screen him out as best I can while finding room for my own terminators. The big surprise here is that the Devastators don’t go in the Drop Pod but instead some Bladeguard Veterans do – it seems like the big plan is to use the drop pod to hold the objective, which is clever enough.

I’m Going Second.

That’s less ideal against an opponent who wants to drop half his army on the table from Deep Strike but I can manage here. However it’s a big advantage for Purge the Foe, where I can more easily score Kill more by knowing what my kill count target is each turn. My plan here is to move quickly to hold the north and middle objectives and just win by holding 3 objectives to Ash’s two on a mission that rewards holding one and more.

I wheel up north and draw Ash’s focus that way while working on the redemptor and drop pod. Ash wheels some of his units down the table and I make a huge mistake – I Rapid Ingress my Typhus Deathshroud unit where they can be overwatched by Ash’s Sternguard. This wasn’t something I was expecting to hurt so bad but he ends up killing two of them with bolter shots and will take down another in Overwatch. I still manage to take Tyhpus to the Devastators, killing them all and and forcing the Ballistus to come back and engage.  This is a tighter game than it needed to be but I manage to stay way ahead on Primary by getting kill more pretty much every turn. Ash nearly gets the drop on me with his Inceptors, but can’t kill enough Poxwalkers to make Capture Enemy Outpost work for him once I start bogging him down in combat.

Result: 97-58, Win

Ashley was another fun opponent and put up a solid fight, though he’d have been better off with a full-sized unit of Aggressors. I should have hidden my Deathshroud when bringing them in, or just deep struck them normally to avoid eating a ton of Sternguard fire but I just didn’t realize how much damage that was actually going to be, even with Cloud of Flies active. A costly mistake I won’t repeat.

I’m obviously very happy with a 3-0 start and from here it’s all going to get tougher. Round 4 is usually where Shit Gets Real; it’s very possible to dodge hard matchups in the first three rounds but it’s harder for someone to merely get lucky and end up 3-0 so round 4 is almost always when I run into a very tough opponent.

We go to dinner over at Sparkman Wharf; it’s about a mile walk from the venue and past the Tampa Bay Lightning’s arena, where John Mayer is playing that night. The wharf has a bunch of restaurants and food stands outdoors, which makes it ideal for a large, disorganized group like ours. We meet up with Ben Jurek and his wife Danielle for a bit and chat. Ben’s a great guy who I met at Tacoma in 2022 in the penultimate round of the 3-1 bracket and he’s quietly become one of the world’s best Warhammer players since. Now he’s also become a filthy eldar player, but there’s only so much you can do about that.

It’s oppressively muggy outside at the time but the food is solid and I end up housing a hot dog and a beer before we move inside to a combo bowling alley/bar for another round. The crew is in good spirits, with pretty much everyone having at least two wins. We make it back to the house and end up crashing around midnight. I sleep pretty well, all things considered.

Next Time: Day 2

That wraps up my look at Friday but check back tomorrow when I cover what happened on Day 2, when the games only continued to get harder. Until then, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.