In late November I attended my monthly RTT with Houndpack Lance, and today I’m here to share how it all went!
I took the following list:
3 Executioners with Stubbers (1 Character)
5 Stalkers with Meltaguns, Claws and Havocs (2 Characters – Preyslayer’s Mantle and Final Howl)
5 Huntsmen with Meltaguns
1 Beast of Nurgle
1 unit of Plaguebearers
We also played on the new UKTC terrain layouts, which now include two 5"x5" blocks as additional line-of-sight blockers. These changes were announced after list submission, so no one could adjust their lists accordingly.
My goal for the event was simple:
Play aggressively all day
Stress-test the list
Win more than I lose
Most importantly—have three fun games
Game 1 – Tau Empire (Mont’ka)
Mission: Search and Destroy – Take and Hold
Opponent’s List:
Shadowsun, Enforcer Commander with Missile Pods, Crisis Suits with Missile Pods, 2 Ghostkeels, 3 Riptides, 2x1 Piranhas, 2x10 Pathfinder units, 2x5 Stealth suits, 1x 10 Kroot.
Pre-Game Thoughts:
A tonne of high-damage shooting. This didn’t feel like a tradey match-up, Tau spike incredibly hard, so I’d need to commit fast, force bad target choices, and try to pressure through the screens.
Turn 1
I won the roll-off (get used to reading that).
I deployed with Stalkers wide, Huntsmen central with two in reserve, and Executioners watching long angles. - as seen above.
My opponent screened heavily with Pathfinders and sat ready to pounce behind them.
I pushed aggressively, forced the Pathfinders off objectives, and managed LoS to a Piranha.
I killed both Pathfinder units and a Piranha.
He killed the War Dogs holding my primaries in response and moved up to stage and screen with his next wave. so I scored zero on primary turn2 – fair enough.
Mid Game
I kept the pedal down. Removing Ghostkeels and a Riptide early dramatically reduced Tau’s return fire. The snowball began.
By turn 4, I had Plaguebearers and two War Dogs on his home objective.
With Tau damage output collapsing, the War Dogs simply overran the table to a big win!
Result: WIN 92–41
Summary:
A near-perfect start. The aggressive mantra worked exactly as intended—Tau simply couldn’t keep up.
Game 2 – Aeldari Seer Council
Mission: Crucible of Battle – Purge the Foe
Opponent’s List:
Farseer, Lhykhis, Autarch on foot with Fusion, Fuegan, 1x4 Warlock Conclave, 2x 5 Banshees, 1x10 and 1x5 Scorpions, 2x5 Fire Dragons, 2x10 Storm Guardians, 2x 5 Voidscarred, 2x5 Rangers, War Walker with 2 Bright Lances and Wave Serpent with Bright Lance.
Pre-Game Thoughts:
Lots of strange angles of damage:
3-damage melee characters and Exarch, Fusion gun spike dmg, Flip dice mechanic and Fuegan being Fuegan
Tricky. But interesting.
Turn 1
I went first again, and I over-committed way more than necessary.
Two War Dogs that should have staged safely instead moved up too far, opening the door for:
Extra-move Dragons and Teleported Storm Guardians - Multiple high-damage units dogpiling me
I should have only lost one War Dog to the teleport. Instead, I lost two and lost tempo immediately, I did pick up nearly every trade piece the Aeldari army had, 2x Rangers, 1x10 Scorpions, War Walker in my aggression, but this left in my teeth of my opponents big hitters.
Stress testing the list!
Mid Game
The game became a bloody back-and-forth. His second Fire Dragon unit rapid-ingressed and killed another War Dog.
I pushed back, and we kept trading pieces all across the board.
Then came the game’s biggest moment:
The Overwatch That Changed Everything
I moved a Stalker around a ruin to threaten his Warlock Skyrunner and measured to tag his hope objective that was left unguarded but stickied earlier in the battle, my opponent declared the overwatch to end all overwatches:
Wave Serpent Bright Lance: hits - wounds - failed save - re roll - failed save - 8 damage
Shuriken Cannon: lethal hit - failed save - dead War Dog!!!!
That single kill was massive.
If the Dog survived, it would have sat on his home objective uncontested for multiple turns, denying primary and forcing resources backwards.
Instead, it died, and that Warlock went on to:
Battle-shock two more War Dogs denying hold more primary.
Deny secondaries - area denial!
Strip my defensive stratagems from 2 War Dogs - now reactive moves or fight/shoot on death
And easy hold more end of game.
A huge number of points swing the way of my opponent.
In the end, the late game swung hard his way. I failed to finish off key 1-model units on turn 5, and the score slipped away.
Great game, very tactical - the one that got away!
Result: LOSS 76–81
Summary:
A close, exciting game decided by one incredible overwatch moment.
Had I played slightly less aggressively early on, I think the result flips. But credit to my opponent - he saw his outs and hit them.
Game 3 – Chaos Daemons (Daemonic Incursion)
Mission: Terraform – Sweeping Engagement
Opponent’s Army:
Belakor, Fateweaver, Lord of Change, Great Unclean One, Skarbrand, 2x 10 Plaguebearers, 2x1 Beasts, 1x3 Screamers, 1x3 Nurglings
Pre-Game Thoughts:
Pretty much a dream match-up for me: big monsters everywhere, and my army loves big monsters.
Turn 1
I went first… again!
I slammed forward and unloaded everything into his Greater Daemons. Between melta and melee, they started dropping quickly.
The game became a full-on slugfest.
I got first Terraform and that was a huge primary swing my way!
Highlight:
A War Dog survived combat with a Lord of Change, shot it dead, then charged a Beast of Nurgle and killed that too.
Absolute legend.
We played fast and loose since neither of us could podium anymore, so no need to squeeze every last point. A fun game non the less.
Result: WIN 84–60
Summary:
Clean matchup, clean execution, and a very enjoyable brawler, I designed my list to prey on such lists and it was a clean win as a result.
Final Thoughts – 2–1 and a Lot Learned
I walked away very happy with the event:
Two strong wins
One incredibly tight loss
Three fun opponents
Better understanding of my aggressive game plan
Finishing 7th out of 28 attendees.
The commitment every-game approach almost worked flawlessly.
Game 2 proved the downside: overextending even slightly can cost you the long game. If even one more War Dog lived, that match probably flips.
But that’s why we practice.
Next month I’ll push hard again—but hopefully with just a touch more discipline.
Onwards to the next RTT! But before that, their are league games to play!!
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