Warhammer 40K: 10th Edition Lessons Learned at 2 Events in 2 Weeks
I played two 40K events in two weeks. Here’s the 10th Edition lessons learned from the mean streets of the competitive tabletops.
Goatboy here and I played a 2nd event in two weeks which has been something I haven’t done in a long time. Between getting older, having kids, and just wanting some time with the family I find it hard to get out there and throw some dice. These past two weeks saw me play at the GW Dallas Open and then at the Alamo 40K GT. I learned a lot playing both events but today let’s dive into the Alamo GT as that army felt a lot more exciting then the one I played at the Dallas Event.
Pre-Setup Terrain Is Here – Prepare For It
The first lesson learned I want to bring up is how events, in general, are getting on the locked-in terrain bandwagon with tables pre-setup with their terrain parts locked. I have enjoyed this a lot as it really lets me break down my deployment into something that works a lot better. I end up knowing my paths to victory or pathways to assault. I know how I should prepare to deploy, and it allows both players basically turbo-charge their game start and hopefully make to a successful ending to the game. So kudos to events getting enough terrain to build in pre-setup terrain. It’s helpful and lets players concentrate on how to play their armies instead of figuring out the best way to “deploy” a bunch of MDF pieces on the board.
My World Eaters Tought Me Many Lessons
This second time around at an event I played a World Eaters army that was heavily tweaked to try a different play style than I would normally play. I am usually a “hammer” style player that invests in a unit or two to try and crush through my opponent. This can sometimes work, but a lot of the time, you can get stymied by better board control or armies that don’t care about your badass unit doing stuff.
I went with an MSU list that was designed to present 2-3 waves of damage. I could go all out with a very fast attack or really set up and stage my army to allow for maximum pressure as needed. The MSU style really helps me “play” the mission and still be effective in what the army likes to do which is pressure the opponent with an avalanche of close combat attacks.
Here is the list at hand to check out that I took to both 40K events.
World Eaters Berzerker Warband
-HQ-
Lord Invocatus
Kharn
Master of Execution – Enhancement: Berzerker Warglaive
-Battleline-
Khorne Berzerkers X 5 – Khorne Eviserator, Plasma Pistol X 2, Khorne Icon
-Dedicated Transport-
World Eater Rhino – Combi-Weapon, Havoc Missile Launcher
-Non Battleline-
Maulerfiend – Lasher Tendrils
Maulerfiend – Lasher Tendrils
Maulerfiend – Lasher Tendrils
Forgefiend – Ectoplasma Cannons X 3
Forgefiend – Ectoplasma Cannons X 3
Eightbound X 3
Eightbound X 3
Eightbound X 3
Exalted Eightbound X 3
Exalted Eightbound X 3
Grabbing & Hiding FTW
My next lesson leanre was about grabbing and hiding my way to victory. Just being able to play the objective grab without feeling like I was wasting a 300+ point unit was a huge boon in letting me do as well as I did. Sure my units might die to return fire a bit easier, but the way they were set up allowed any spikes in saves to become a real issue for the opponent. If my little 3-man unit takes 2-3 units to remove off the tabletop it helps me in the long run as other parts get to do their job easier.
It really also lets me hide things a lot more all over the table and just cause a ton of issues for the opponent. The constant threat of some maniacs that can “run” through the walls mixed with other layers of damage control really help let me stage and control the game. I know World Eaters are not known as a control army, but with the threat of greater than normal pressure by units that can easily hide out around the table lets me be a consistent threat.
A Tad of Rear Fire Support Keeps The Enemy Honest
My next lesson was about those rear support units. All this MSU also lead me into really loving a little bit of Fire Support that can help keep opponents honest, give me a back field objective holder as needed, and just put some pressure that isn’t attached to an anger prone jerk who needs punch you to feel anything. I know a lot of the time a balanced army isn’t the one winning but for me it seems if I had all aspects of the game at hand I usually had some chance in the game.
It also would let me go fully aggro two due to having six units that could Scout up the table as needed. Which would then let me have three more units as another wave in the Maulerfiends and finally the small Zerker squad with a single missile Kharn that could shoot out and cause mayhem. All of these things let me play all turns of the game instead of just shooting for a Turn 2 and hope I crushed you enough.
Controlling The Game > Praying For Lucky Dice
The biggest lesson learned was calming down, zooming out mentally, and seeing the big tabletop picture. Really these games helped me learn about Staging my army, looking at the board as a method of controlled aggression, and let me think about the game state as a whole. I could figure out how to control, and win the game beyond just hopefully I roll the “sweet” Blessings roll and get +2 to moves and advance and charge for a turn one super punch fest. I would instead just always shoot for Feel No Pain with either a +2 to movement for a better turn 2 charge, Fight on Death versus another assault heavy army, or get lucky with a Lethal hit combo to punch a tank to death.
This World Eaters army just let me figure out a new way to play that lets me always feel like I was in the game. Which is a huge boon for someone that doesn’t get to play a ton. It also let me try out Maulerfiends which were one of my favorite units from the last few years.
Skulls for the Skull Throne
