Entering my First 6th Edition 40k Tournament

This weekend I've decided to go to a 6th edition tournament being held in a town about an hour away.  Haven't played much 6th edition yet but from what I have played, the Deathwing are pretty darn strong.  No need to fear power weapons anymore, land raiders are resilient enough to deliver cargo and typhoon speeders went from awesome to something better than awesome.

Anyways, the tournament is 1500 points and I've decided to take the following list

Belial - Claws
Deathwing Squad 1 - Apothecary, 3 TH & SS, Heavy Flamer
Deathwing Squad 2 - 1 TH & SS, 1 Chainfist, 1 Pair of Lightning Claws, Cyclone
Deathwing Squad 3 - 1 TH & SS, 1 Chainfist, Cyclone
Deathwing Squad 4 - 1 TH & SS, 1 Chainfist, Cyclone
Land Raider Crusader
Ravenwing Typhoon Speeder
Ravenwing Typhoon Speeder

Went with 4 squads this time rather than 3 as I found 3 scoring units was not enough for objective based missions in the last 1500pt tournament.  Mind you the only army that gave me trouble last time was a Grey Knight army that got into close combat.  That same army wouldn't hurt so much as their nemesis weapons aren't AP2.

Maybe I should drop one of my Deathwing squads for another land raider?  Two squads in raiders and 1 squad using Deathwing Assault could make for some nifty rapid deployment strategies.  Super easy to pack as well.  Although there is a really good player attending with Necrons so vehicles won't be that great against him (and who knows how many other Necron players might be present).  Still, having to deal with 20 scoring terminators will be tough for any army to deal with at 1500 points.

1500pt Dark Angels

Looking over the models I have, this is the list I plan on taking to the first of these monthly tournaments that the FLGS is hosting later this month.  Keep in mind that the goal of the tournament is to introduce new players to tournament game play.  They aren't meant to be super competitive WAAC type games (though inevitably I will make it that way against whomever I play simply because I like a good competition)

HQ
Belial - Lightning Claws

Troops
Deathwing Squad 1 - Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield, Cyclone, Chainfist, 1 pair of Lightning Claws, Apothecary
Deathwing Squad 2 - Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield, Cyclone, Chainfist,
Deathwing Squad 3 - Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield, Cyclone, Chainfist, 

Fast Attack
Ravenwing Land Speeder - Multi-melta, typhoon missiles
Ravenwing Land Speeder - Multi-melta, typhoon missiles

Heavy Support
Land Raider Crusader
Predator - Twin-lascannon turret, pintle storm bolter
Predator - Twin-lascannon turret, pintle storm bolter

Seems kind of hard at 1500 points, lots of armor, lots of missiles, lots of powerfists and who is going to suspect 15 terminators?  Mind you if I run up against melta/plasma/power weapon spam I'm screwed.  Could be worse, I could have taken 5 squads of hammernators with cyclones I suppose (thankfully for the opposition I don't have that many painted hammernators.... yet).

Should be competitive enough yet not cheesy enough to dissuade new tournament players.  I originally planned to run with two land raiders, but figured that would be over the top; and it doesn't help the second land raider isn't fully painted.  The second land raider is a scratch built model and I am in the process of adding rivets and details to it (it is painted except for the minor details).

'Ard Boyz 2011

Kind of last minute but one of the stores decided to host the 'Ard Boyz prelims this weekend and I am hoping to go with my Dark Angels. No time to practice with a list or the scenarios so I don't think I'll do very well, but at the very least it's free.

Anyways, here's the list. It's very Deathwing-centric but with the updates that's not so bad.

March Tournament & Army List

I just got a heads up on a 40k tournament in March being put on by one of the local stores. It's slated to be 1500 points and with the advent of the new Dark Angels FAQ should provide ample opportunity to test out the changes.

I would have preferred a 2000 point tournament, but the store owner is playing it the UK/GW way, but whatever. A tournament is still a tournament and I love the competition.

The list I plan on taking is not going to take complete advantage of the changes. Not because I am feeling nice and un-competitive, but because I cannot change my models or add new models in time.

All cavalry Bretonnians dead? It'll come back and bite you in the ankles!

Alrighty, got myself a copy of the Warhammer Fantasy 8th rulebook and I've had some time to think about how my Bretonnians are going to be run for 8th.

For the longest time I ran almost pure cavalry armies starting in 5th (when the Bretonnians were re-introduced). It was two units of archers and the rest of my points was put into knights of various types. Kind of a one-trick pony which was fun at first but got boring quickly (both for me and my opponent).

A Draw! vs. Chaos 1500 points

Only managed one game this weekend. Against the same chaos opponent from last weekend (I'll call him Tzeentch to protect his identity as he plays a Tzeentchy list). He's learning and I have to say it was a good game. I ended up eking out a draw this time rather than the usual ROFLstomp that happens.

Oddly enough that made me very happy.

1500 point battle vs. Chaos

Got two games in this past weekend in preperation for a 1500 point tournament at the end of the month. I posted two lists earlier but I forgot to bring the models I needed (forgot the sponsons for the predator and some of the combi-weapon models for the wolfguard list).

I suppose I could have proxied them but to avoid confusion and maintain WYSIWYG I made a new list with the Dark Angels codex.

It's not what I would have liked to use and hardly ideal I think for 1500 points.

1500 point Tournament Army Lists

At the end of June I'm hoping to attend a tournament at the 1500 points level. Nothing too big, about 16 people are projected to attend.

I've got two lists I'm thinking of testing out.

'Ard Boyz Semi-Finals GRRRRRRR!

So it appears that BC 'Ard Boyz semi-finalists got screwed as far as venues that host the 2nd round of 'Ard Boyz are concerned.

I really hope that my store is able to hold the 2nd round.  I like the competition and to able to face other people with competitive lists is really fun.

Final 'Ard Boyz Army List (hopefully)

Yet another change to my army list.  Probably the last one considering the tournament is this weekend.  The new scenarios prompted a little tweaking in my list.  Not a lot, but still some changes were necessary to get the most out of my list.

Evaluation of my 'Ard Boyz List

I've gotten four games in now with my Dark Angels at 2500 points.  The lists have evolved but I think they all share a few things in common.