NOVA Open 2013: Battle Report

Now that I'm (somewhat) rested and refreshed, it's time for the battle reports! I took a bunch of notes during my games to help me keep track of what happened and how the game went. Turned out to be a great help in writing this post. First, though, the list I took:

Hroar's Blood Fangs - 1850 List

HQ: Wolf Lord in Power Armour (235 pts)
      1 Wolf Lord with Melta Bombs; Runic Armour; Thunderwolf Mount; Power Axe; Storm Shield; Saga of the Beastslayer
      1 Fenrisian Wolf
HQ: Rune Priest in Power Armour (120 pts)
      1 Rune Priest in Power Armour with Runic Armour; Warlord; Codex Psychic Powers (Jaws of the World Wolf & Living Lightning)
Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (190 pts)
      9 Grey Hunters Pack with Meltagun x1, Mark of the Wulfen x1
      1 Drop Pod
Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (205 pts)
      10 Grey Hunters Pack with Meltagun x1; Plasma gun x1; Mark of the Wulfen x1
      1 Drop Pod Pod
Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (200 pts)
      10 Grey Hunters Pack with Flamer x1; Plasma gun x1; Mark of the Wulfen x1
      1 Drop Pod
Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (150 pts)
      10 Grey Hunters Pack with Flamer x1; Plasma gun x1; Mark of the Wulfen x1
Elite: Dreadnought (125 pts)
   1 Dreadnought with 2 Twin-Linked Autocannons
Elite: Lone Wolf in Power Armour (50 pts)
      1 Lone Wolf in Power Armour with Melta Bombs and Mark of the Wulfen
      1 Fenrisian Wolf
Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (130 pts)
      5 Long Fangs Pack with Heavy Bolter x2; Missile Launcher x3
      1 Squad Leader
Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (125 pts)
      5 Long Fangs Pack with Heavy Bolter x3; Missile Launcher x2
      1 Squad Leader
Fast Attack: Thunderwolf Cavalry (220 pts)
      1 Thunderwolf Cavalry with Melta Bombs; Storm Shield
      1 Thunderwolf Cavalry with Thunder Hammer
      1 Thunderwolf Cavalry with Melta Bombs
Fortification: Aegis Defense Lines (100 pts)
      With Quad Gun

Game 1 vs. Matt C.
Tau with Eldar Allies

I got my nearly-unavoidable Taudar game out of the way first. A lot of armies were along similar lines to this list. It was fairly disappointing to see so many of the same list across the tables.

Nonetheless, this was a fun game and the craziest thing all weekend happened. My Lone Wolf, a last minute addition to the army, killed his Wraithknight. I'm still a little shocked by it. But here's just before it happened:

Claw harder at its ankles!

The Wraightknight charged into my squad of Grey Hunters, and was slowly killing them off. But, then my Lone Wolf came in from the side and rended him to death. I still can't believe it. Granted, it's the only victory I had in the game, so I was going to savor it a little bit anyway.

Final Score: Lost, 0-20

2013 NOVA Open GT, Come and Gone

What. A. Weekend.

Turns out, I didn't totally finish my army. They're 90% done. The only thing that I didn't get finished (and I was painting until 1 am the night before, just like I said I didn't want to do) was 2 Grey Hunter squads. I just didn't get a chance to do all the details on their faces and weapons.

But there they all are! That's what I took with me to the NOVA Open. I'll finish them all up soon, but for the moment I need a little painting break. But, now, onto the event.

The schedule change between this year and last, for the GT at least, was both a good and a bad thing. Doing 3-3-2 games on Fri-Sat-Sun was an excellent change. However, the first game on Sunday ran 7:30-10am. That was too early for me, but the part that really sucked is the last round started right at 10:30. Hotel check out was at noon. So, you either had to check out before your first game, or risk being late for your second game.

Because I lost my voice (more on that in a minute), I ended up dropping out of the Sunday games, which are optional for the people who weren't playing for prizes. So, I was able to get us checked out ok since I couldn't play. It would have been a huge pain, especially considering that a trip to the parking garage takes half an hour (the parking situation is terrible). An extra half hour, making it an hour between the two rounds, would have solved that problem entirely.

Another change this year, which I think was excellent, was that they moved the vendors down a floor to a more open space and had the registration set up right as you came down off the escalators. It made for a much better flow than last year. They're still a little light on the "con" part, there were only a handful of vendors. I'd really like to see some vendors running game demos (which was one of the best parts of Historicon). There was a decent selection of seminars to choose from, but most conflicted with my ability to play in the GT. There's not enough to make it worth spending $45 to get a weekend pass. Picking one day and getting a day pass would have been entirely sufficient to see most everything.

That being said, I did make out like a bandit at the vendor booths. Warstore was there again, and they always have some awesome things to go through. My favorite vendor, though, (who I hope comes back next year) was The Game Room. They had bins and bins of individual minis and some bits (organized by army) for 40k, Fantasy, Warmahordes, Flames of Wars, and others, plus, some Forgeworld stuff, terrain, bases, and so much more. They also had tons of new boxed items, painted armies and units for sale, plus a lot of out of print items. A phenomenal selection! Not only that, but the owners are just the nicest people you could hope to meet. If I ever find myself out in Ohio, I will definitely make it a point to visit their store.

I didn't really get a chance to go through the vendors until Sunday. The GT games were most of my day, with some scrambling for lunch/dinner in between. The only other thing I scheduled initially was the Craft Beer Seminar on Saturday night. After two days and 6 games, I was feeling pretty good. So I stayed up a bit later than I would have otherwise and stretched my social butterfly wings. The seminar was really interesting, with a discussion of brewing history in the United States and tons of beer samples (large samples, too). I didn't call it a night until 2:30, which is unusual for me.