Combat Patrol 40k... the best kind of 40k

I'm starting to see the appeal...

So I played in a Combat Patrol Tournament today at Evolution Games in Lansing, MI...

I took a Greenwing list from the new Dark Angels codex... it went a little something like this:

Librarian with a Force Sword and a bolt pistol (this was an accident actually... I wanted to swap it out for a bolter [Free upgrade], but stupid me didn't put it on the armylist I printed for the tournament so I guess my pistols were just really really big!)

He also had a Power Field Generator (all models in 3" including himself and any transport he is in have a 4+ invulnerable save... this little beauty was quite handy through most of the tournament) an Auspex, and an Infravisor (just in case!).

Then I took three 5 man tactical squads with a plasma gun each and one had a dedicated Rhino transport with an extra storm bolter for good measure.

I didn't take any pictures, which was sad, because there were some really pretty armies out today, which brings me to a funny story: I was the only Imperial Player there! Starting off, we had two Tau players, three Eldar players, a Chaos Daemons player and me. For some reason or another the Daemons player ended up unable to finish the tournament, so we ended with just 6 players.

Now on to the fun stuff:

My first opponent played Eldar (big surprise there!) He had a squad of 4 jetbikers, a squadron of 3 War Walkers, and a smallish squad (5-7 I think, didn't get a good head count) of Warp Spiders.

The game was... weird. I spent the whole thing wondering how I was still alive from all the massed Str6 shooting that list had, but my opponent seemed only to be able to roll one's and two's all game, and I managed to win 2-1 on the various objectives by the time the game ended at turn five.

Game two was probably the best game of 40k I've ever played... especially if you judge by how excited I got by the time the game ended. If I had any kind of poker face at the beginning of the game, it was gone by turn 6. My opponent during this match was Yancy Small of MyTauGoPewPew, who was playing Tau, naturally. He had a two-man Crisis team with various upgrades, a mini-blob of Kroot, and two separate Broadsides that were upgraded to teamleaders so they could Precision Shot stuff. The game was intense... so much so that I was yelling at the top of my lungs by the time the last turn came around... It literally came down to me NOT killing one of Yancy's Kroot and him sniping my Librarian with his Broadsides at the very last moment to ensure his victory. That was... incredible. It was a loss, but it was a loss I can be proud of.

The third game was against Yancy's... step son...? Trystan. He was playing Eldar (borrowed from Yancy's Eldar he usually runs for Tau Allies...) and if memory serves, his list consisted of two squads of 5 Pathfinders (the awesome Eldar kind... not the wimpy Tau kind) and a 6-ish man squad of Warp Spiders with an Exarch. Trystan is brand new to 40k... I think he's been playing all of 2 weeks now... and he did well for someone with so little experience, but at the end of the round I handily defeated him (read: clubbed him like a baby seal) and then took the extra time that I had to run him through another game with me borrowing Yancy's Tau so I could help guide him into what to do and what not to do, with Yancy giving various tips and pointers as well. Actually, now that I mention helpers the Eldar player I didn't play against and the other Tau player came over after they were done playing their respective rounds and helped as well, which I didn't get a chance to properly thank them for...)

At the end of the day, I didn't even place... which, to be 100% honest, is baffling to me considering I won twice and lost once in a six-person, three round tournament... but I'm not worried about it. I had LOTS of fun, and got the chance to invest in a new player... so I enjoyed myself.

Vaya con Dios,
Timothy