Here we are again with another Tournament Recap. This go around we ventured far afield to Dalhonega, GA and the humble trappings of Vendetta Games. One difference in this event was the goal was not simply to do well, but a literal Golden Ticket. That ticket was to the sold-out Warzone Atlanta. As such, we chose to bring the toughest list we could find.
You may recognize this list from our recent tournaments, as it took 1st place in both Open Fire! and The Invasion of Khybros. We knew it would be a hard list to beat and that’s exactly what we needed to achieve our goal.
Tournament Round 1, Chaos Abound
Diving right into things, our first round pairing saw Magnus against his brother Primarch Mortarion. He brought with him a Daemon Prince, Typhus, a number of Plague Marine squads, and several Sorcerers with jetpacks. The mission contained modified Progressive Objectives as Primary, % Kill Points as Secondary, and Tertiary (Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, First Blood*). We rolled randomly for our deployment types. 
With a force of Toughness 5 and Disgusting Resilience across the board this would normally bode ill except the primary mode of damage among the army we brought is excessive use of Smite. Twenty one spells across the army brought to shred anything in range with mortal wounds, regardless of toughness or defenses.
My opponent went first, pushing hard with Morty and a pair of his Chaos Sorcerers. His intent was to strike first but he failed to respect Tzeentch’s mastery of the Warp. With little damage dealt my return Psychic Phase brought low the Lord of the Grave. From there, with flickering fire and cackling madness did the minions and masters of Change rise triumphant.
Victory, 33-1
Tournament Round 2, a Light in the Darkness
After the lunch break I found myself face to face with yet another Primarch, this one in a curious shade of Blue. With him followed several units of Devastators, Saint Celestine, a Cullexus Assassin, Inquisitor Greyfax, and half a dozen Primaris Aggressors. The mission was end of game objectives Primary, % Power Level secondary, and the same tertiary. 
Yet again my opponent went first, and this time around it hurt alot more. His opening gambit did not majorly damage any of my units, but he was able to position such that my first turns would be difficult because of the Cullexus. It didn’t help matters that I made a tactical error in not keeping both of my greater daemons together as they launched forward. My intent was to strike from multiple angles, but instead I gave him a choice of targets to focus on. Even with a 3+ Invulnerable Save, rerolling 1s, Magnus could not weather the storm of fire. The following turn the Super-chicken died in a similar fashion.
Eventually, by the end of turn 7 the minions of Tzeentch finally fell. This game humbled me in that I was able to see that the list was not invincible, and that tactics did play a part. I took that to heart and prepared to finish the tournament.
Loss, 3-33
Tournament Round 3, Flame Begets Flame
In my final round saw once more a towering figurehead of destruction set against me. Angrath lead a force of screaming World Eaters in a bid to smother the flames of Change in their whirring chain axes. The mission was Relic as Primary, modified Kill Points as Secondary, and the same Tertiary. Interestingly enough, the Modified Kill Points followed that each iteration of a unit killed awarded an increasing amount of kill points. This created a mission where armies that spammed units would be at a disadvantage. But regardless, my opponent brought a combat army, and was intent on seeing it done up close. 
He went first, and despite the distance, Angrath hurled himself into the outermost ranks of Brimstones with ease. Unfortunately, that was all according to plan as the massive daemon’s attacks only killed 5 of the cackling sprites. My turn saw those remaining Horrors step away and the entire army scream into the mind of the Greater Daemon. In the end it still took Magnus swinging in with his staff to finish the beast. From there, it was a series of grinding turns before the raving berzerkers fell.
Win, 33-0
Tournament Results/Conclusions: WHAT DID IT ALL MEAN??!?
In conclusion, the Daemons finished the event with 69 Battle Points (out of possible 99). This put me in 3rd overall in Battle Points (behind the Space Marines from round 2 and the ultimate Battle Master, an Astra Militarum force). Overall, I finished 7th out of the whole event. When questioned on how to calculate that position, the TO wasn’t exactly sure; but we know it included Paint Score and Sportsmanship. Our tournaments have the same combined scoring (minus the Sportsmanship element) but we are less opaque on the math. 
The event was great overall, with an inviting venue, challenging missions, and an all around energetic crowd. I failed to obtain my Golden Ticket, but I was able to drive this nasty list and face off against three vastly different foes. Shortly before the writing of this Recap my position on the Warzone Atalanta waitlist came up, so I’ll be there in November afterall. You all can be sure there will be a ton of coverage from that event.
Speaking of events, take a look through our other Tournament Recaps and After Action Reports, and check out our Facebook for more real-time coverage of events like this one and the Field of Fire tournaments past and present. Until next time, this is Dernicus, signing off.