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| The Convic Trophies. Sadly there was no need for Fights to the Death to decide winners... |
As for me, I ended up with a solid 26th out of a field of 80. I'm pretty happy considering a few mistakes, my Dragon being on 1 wound at the end of T2 in three games, and a fairly tough draw all round for getting points.
Game 1: David Price, Ogres: It was a fairly standard list. Managed to avoid the Ironblaster for three turns, and had the Gutstar down to two models + characters, all was going well. Then the StarDragon decided that killing Mournfang (you know, what he's designed for...) was much too hard and gapped it, leaving me wide open.
Result: David took advantage for a big 20-0.
Game 2: Ben Leopold, TKs. Ben was playing Gumby for the day with a TK list he'd been loaned. Dice were not his friend, and I kept rolling 6's to take wounds off all the big gribblies. This let the Dragon eat far more than it should have as I could just finish off units each combat. MVP was the Eagle noble who ran through the back field mowing down archers and eventually got the Heirophant.
Result: Big 20-0 Win to jump back up the table
Game 3: Johannes with Chaos Dwarves. This was a bit of a shit game, both because Johannes (usually a genuinely lovely guy to talk to and play) had just got off the phone with his Ex and wasn't best pleased with life, and that Battle for the Pass is shit against Gunlines at the best of times, let alone when you get told the most broken spell in the world, Flames of Fucking Azgorh has no maximum range! What a fucking brain dead spell that is... I sat back and shot the crap out of some Dwarves (yeah, I pretty much out shot a Dwarven Gunline...), while the Eagle Noble and Phoenix got into the Warmachines, sadly not before Flames and the Hellcannon managed to get the Star Dragon and Lord on top
Result: Soul and Hobby crushing 10 all draw.
Game 4: James Brett, Vamps. Dawn Attack kinda screwed James with everything going on his far left. I ended up with everything on my left too but I can shoot stuff... MVP of the game was my Phoenix getting Screamed to death, but then coming back in the flank of the Terrorghiest (6"s of the death spot, baby!) charging and holding it in place for the Eagle noble to finish it off. Massive threat removed by the awesomeness of Rebirth! I basically then avoided the Black Knight bus and killed as much as I could get to. for the loss of not much at all.
Result: 12-8 Win
Game 5: Roy Diprose, Nurgle Herald Daemons. Pretty much a nightmare to get any points out of at the best of times, and then the Skullcannon did 6 wounds to the Star Dragon T1... After that it turned into a good old fashioned ETC stand off, with just one combat on turn 6. Both of us picking up points where we could at range with spells and artillery. Sadly I have more easy points than Roy did. Just for the record, that was actually one of the more interesting games of the weekend for me, how to pick up pts when its nearly impossible to do so requires alot of problem solving! Its why I love playing Skink clouds
Result: 8-12 loss
Game 6: Ben Wadsworth, Warriors with Gateway spam Lvl 4. I really should have gotten more pts out of this, but I put the Star Dragon on the wrong side of the table to get stuck in protracted combat fast enough and he then took 6 wounds from Gateway T2. This meant I couldn't really kill enough as he went into hiding, and White Lions being rather shit vs Chaos Warriors these days.... We traded points as I killed a Chimera, Giant and the Eagle and Dragon got some Warriors, Ben killed some archers, BTs and Reavers and I scrapped out the small win.
Result: 11-9 Win
So all up 61 Battle Points for the Star Dragon list. I'm getting up there slowly! I'm still far too timid with him when I should generally just barrel up into the enemies face and force the game. I also needed one more decent combat unit to support him and the Eagle Noble, and White Lions and Flamespyres are not decent combat units. We all know that about the Flamespyre, but White Lions for me are just very disappointing these days.
So here's a quick look at the list I took and what I think of the options:
Lord on Star Dragon, Star Lance, Charmed Shield, Golden Crown, OTS
About as good as I think you can do at 2400 pts. I was very happy with him, I just need to be more aggressive with it. Another supporting combat unit would be ideal though.
BSB w/ Reaver Bow, Shield of the Merwyrm
Shield was a waste of points, its just so easy to avoid combat... I used it once in 6 games and then it made no difference but to delay the inevitable. I think either put him on a horse in Helms/DPs or keep him with just the Reaver Bow and sit back in archers
Level 2 Fire, Ring, Scroll
Fire was a great choice, she sat back with the archers and blasted away every game with no fear of death but to her own miscasts. It kinda made the Ring redundant TBH as she was often too far away, but 2d6 S4 at Bound 3 is worth the points to fit in when you need it.
Eagle noble w/ Enchanted Shield, Dawnstone
He was pretty damn awesome! With the Dragon drawing so much attention, he was free to run around the enemy back field almost at will. If there's points, hes here to stay.
2x 14 Archers Standard, Muso
Always useful, so many cheeky wounds done, and having them gives the option to sit back in bad matchups where the Dragon has to hide. I was dubious whether I'd like them over a unit of Helms supporting the Dragon and now I'm very conflicted...
3x 5 Reavers w/Spears, Bows
Beautiful, just beautiful. I never once felt the need to have a Eagle. Having both weapon options was key, as it gave me the options to charge into chaff or sit back and plink off wounds. I'm also not sure why everyone seems to insist on Muso's for them? I guess 18" ld10 makes a difference over 12" ld9 but I can't see why you'd waste an extra 10 pts a unit on them.
18 White Lions w/ FC
Just awful... Frankly a massive waste of points in this list. Couldn't keep up and they struggle enough to kill anything in the current meta with rerolls, now they just die in droves for no return other than a turn or twos respite so I couldn't risk throwing them in with the Dragon even if they were in range... I would rather have anything else for the points. For the Record, I never really felt the lack of Banner of the World Dragon. It might have changed the way I played in the game vs Roy, but I doubt it would've changed the result because they wouldn't have killed anything, just got stuck on Beasts for 3-4 Turns.
Flamespyre Phoenix
Fun and highly entertaining but never worth the 15 pts saved over a Frostie. That one change to the list alone would have gained me at least 10 places overall I think. Just having another supporting combat unit for the StarDragon would have been huge, let alone the way a Frostie synergises with it.
3 Bolt Throwers
I can't see why you'd have less than 4 if you had the points. I was out shooting Gunlines and even if they weren't in top form each game, the way they dragged attention saved my ass in several games. High Elves can and should outshoot most Gunlines if you want them too.
So following all that, the new list would only change the Flamespyre to a Frostheart and the White Lions to Dragon Princes (with or without the BotWD, I'm not sure). Pretty simple really!
The next major tournament however is Axemaster at 2600 pts, and the extra 200 pts changes so much its gonna force a complete list rewrite rather than an adaptation. That list's to come, but needless to say, there will be Dragons...
Laters all!
