Mind Game Final Tournament Thoughts

So, here are my random thoughts on the tournament.

The 5x5 System.

I think overall it worked, but I think some of the secondary objectives failed. What worked in my limited playtesting did not work so well. Recovery, Take & Hold, Sabotage. I need to rework those a bit. Everything else seemed fine as many KP and Objective related points were scored. John S made an excellent suggestion, a checklist for the scenario--like 'got this, check', how painting scores are done. Which I think is a good idea, and I'll incorporate it into the system.

Now the tough part, critiquing play and lists.

I'll keep it brief, as the overall mistake level was pretty low.

Josh I: Lots of mech, nowhere near enough mech-busting. The small Death Company and WH additions, while understandable, were imho mistakes. It's great to soak up lots of fire on those units, but in the end--you need to crack open tanks and kill the juicy gubbins inside. Not being able to do that reliably cost you, as you showed much improvement in your tactical skills as compared to the first tournament.

AJ: Again, lots of mech--nowhere near enough mech-busting. Gearing up to flatten enemies in CC is great, but your army looked more like a BT army than a SW one. Not your fault really, it's very hard to get a proper SW army (as GW does not provide you the tools to do so). The same basic building mistake Josh I made, also cost you. I hope you don't take your abberation of a game against Aaron as proof of anything other than luck plays a huge part in the game--he had the list to crush you very badly, and could never connect. I'm not downplaying your skill in the game, as you (rightly so) took advantage of the dice going your way and won that game.

Aaron: Lots of mech busting, but dice seemed to drown his anti-tank army from the get go. That kind of Vulkan multi-melta and tri-las Pred fire should kill tanks reliably, but did not. Not really a fault, just what he (and others) pointed out to me (and what I saw). I would have personally been quite upset with my army performance in such a 5E centric environment, one should not fire so many shots and accomplish...nothing, turn after turn. Game after game.

Jimmy: Lots of mech busting, and mobility. Only fault was not fleeing to gain position for a shattering flank blow. Oh and inability to make saves for command squads. =|

Josh W: Has a fine Tau list. I can't stress this enough: Concentrate fire until threats are removed. I could not figure out Josh's target priority for the life of me, and I did not understand the movement of vehicles and kroot. One turn speed bumps do not serve the greater good. You need several, to allow you to bleed the enemy until they are destroyed. Suffice to say, I think if Josh could get more games in he would be even more proficient with the Tau (in a tournament setting) and as things are, probably end up getting even fewer games as a result. lol How one goes from completely too lucky to not rolling average when the difference is 'tournament' vs 'friendly' is beyond me. Yet, all year it's been like that. Fixing his own dice, I suspect. ;)

Will: Should have brought two LC Terminator units and ditched the Chaplains. You just cannot make up 500 points in characters and hope to prevail when everyone else has 500 points elsewhere--your Chaplains are no Kantor/Lysander combo, that's for sure. Still, with more practice and a more fine tuned army, Will would have done much better.

Clint: Had a very balanced force, able to hit at range and close up. CC and shooty, mech and non-mech. Used all of the elements in the army to achieve the mission goals. Only weakness in the list is the general lack of mobility of the Sternguard once they drop, but you made it work by sucking people in.

Edwin: While I still think his army could have used a bubblewrap (most notably to defeat Jimmy) in the end Edwin suffered the same fate as Aaron. Even with good dice rolls, the wheels came off almost immediately. I don't think any vehicle squadrons survived turn 1 unscathed, and many were crippled by turn 2. Not a good thing when you have 4 squadrons and they are integral to you army. I think the only in-game mistake was starting on the board with some but not all of the army against Jimmy, if all of the guns had been there I think things could have gone differently. That one charge you never got, decided the tournament for you and Jimmy imho.

Kyle: Stay in your Land Raiders until you can deal significant damage to an enemy army. There's nothing wrong with delaying a charge from turn 1 to turn 2 (or 2 to 3, as the case may be). Going from a 'maybe' charge into one unit to a 'auto' charge into multiple units is what makes your army such a nightmare. Other than that small quibble, I couldn't really find fault.

My overall impression was I've NEVER seen so many high quality players with such excellent armies in one place before. I really had no idea what everyone was bringing to the final event, and I was impressed with what showed up--very nasty 2500 point lists that would frankly roll most of the planet in any environment.

Hats off to all of you, despite my short (and hopefully, kind) criticisms all of you played very well. It's a rare day when I see the dice be the largest decision maker, as the competition and army builds were all 9-10's (out of 10) across the board. Well done!