Onslaught GT

Monday, February 13, 2012

Onslaught GT

I recently played in the Onslaught GT, held at the Providence, RI based Templecon. It was a fun event, consisting of five games over the course of two days, using a 2000 point army. I registered a while ago and then promptly forgot about it, so when I received a laminate pass in the mail a week or so before the event, I was a little unprepared. Undaunted I put together a Deathwing list, and went for it.

This is why I love using Deathwing at tournaments.

The event was a load of fun, though I didn't do terribly well: I ended up with 1 win, 2 ties, and 2 losses, and scored 29th out of 52 attendees. Not my best showing. Deathwing seems less and less competitive these days, especially with the apparent reduction in the numbers of MSU/mechanized lists. These results only confirmed what I already knew about Deathwing: their success is dependent on pairings. My list is fun but unbalanced, great against some armies, terrible against others. I've taken my losses in stride though, and am now more focused than ever on my Dark Eldar corsair army (pictures will be up shortly).

Interestingly there was only a single IG player, and I think one (or very few) Space Wolf armies. How the mighty have fallen. Its all about Grey Knights and Necrons these days, but mostly Grey Knights (although Ben Mohlie and Alex Fennel took best general and best overall respectively with their Necrons).

The Grey Knights are an army with which I have a love hate relationship. There are a lot of things I really like about that codex--mostly the actual Grey Knights units--and a few that I think create a bizarre imbalance. In my opinion, Deathcult Assassins should not get the benefit of hammerhand; that power should be a benefit of taking the expensive psychic space marines. Also, it seems strange that a single character can use multiple grenades at the same time. By strange I mean "it seems like bullshit." Psychotroke grenades notwithstanding, these two things create a bizarrely overpowered and undercosted dynamic that is beginning to flavor the way I am building Dark Eldar lists.

Shenanigans!

If I have to deal with Grey Knights lists at tournaments, I am going to incorporate as many of my own shenanigans as I can. That includes Haemonculi outfitted with a Crucible of Malediction, and the old faithful shattershard (new to me, but a mainstay in competitive Dark Eldar Lists).

Mark, Ed and I are playing in a trios event at Battleground Games in Plainville, MA, on Feb. 25, so there will be more on Dark Eldar list building, and experimentation in the coming weeks.

Here are a few more pics from Onslaught: