Upcoming Tourney this weekend!

So I haven't posted about it, but I've got a tournament this weekend! It consists of three missions: spearhead with four objectives, pitched battle with capture and control, and dawn of war with victory points. Pretty sure its that combination, if not its some other combination of those three. Oh, and its 5th edition rules (on account of it being 2012). So, now I've got a choice: Play Tau (my first plastic love), or Blood Angels (my second plastic love). On one hand, I like Tau, and I play them most. They're a challenge, and every fight has cinematic potential. On the other hand, my Angels are itching to go, and having a chance to devastate my opponent in the assault phase has me kind of excited. So which did I choose?

This Week: 1500 Tourament!

So apparently the 3rd weekend of the month is tournament weekend at Comic Asylum. I went, I conquered somewhat, it was fun. As far as armies, there were Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Chaos Marines, Chaos Demons, Necrons, Vanilla Marines, and Eldar that I remember. The missions weren't published initally, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I figured i'd bring my Blood Angels! They haven't seen a lot of use, due to the awkward nature of my model collection and my desire to only play with painted armies. By awkward I mean that my collection comprises most of the support/ fast attack/elite choices i'd want to play with, but i need another squad or two of assault marines. So, here is the list I went with:

1850 Tournament!

Love this pic.

And now for an overdue update: Last weekend I had the privilege of playing in an 1850 tournament at Texas Toy Solider. It cost $15 for entry, and was a success. Sisters of Battle, Eldar, Chaos Demons, Grey Knights, Imperial Guard, Chaos Marines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, another Tau and two Vulcan Marines were present competing for success, plus whatever other armies slipped my mind. Oddly absent were Dark Eldar and Necrons, considering they are the newest of the zenos books. Also, (with no surprise) there was no Tyranids present.

While previously I have mentioned that the traditional monobuild of Tau is the only way to go, I've been playing around with a different setup. Basically, two-man Crisis squads and two 5-man Fire Warriors in Devilfishes. The reason for the Crisis squad setup is their abysmal leadership and the expense of squad upgrades. Crisis suits are jump infantry with poor leadership, and should they break less than 50% then they can never rally. Also, if vehicles are the target often one of the suits is wasting its shots. And lastly, 3 suits are tough to hid behind cover or vehicles, as one of them is bound to have something hanging out. So, i've been playing two-man squads. They may break, but they will never run off the map unable to rally due to squad size. Also, they're easier to hide. So, I used this strategy in my 1850 list. Heres the list, in case you are wondering: