Coastal Assault round up. It was a Srceam!!

These tournaments are coming thick and fast at the moment. Last weekend (16th Aug) team OB departed our warm cozy beds and took a road trip down to Brighton for Coastal Assault. A one-day, 3 game, 1500 point tournament.

Greggs in the morning. Team OB road trip!

As I had been off work for a week and a half (holibobs) I had no access to FFoR. I intended writing my list on the journey down, but in all the mirth and frivalry I completely forgot. So when we got to the venue I hurriedly scribbled a list, there was only one min. requirement I put on myself, and that was the Screamer and Raider, I just had to try it out.
So my last minute scrawled list was:
Oppressor, Harbinger (Mini Arc Caster), Overlord - 330

Stalkers, Harbinger (Mini Arc Caster) - 151
Screamer, Raider - 110

Warriors, Intruder - 94
Reaper x3, Marauder - 158

Warriors, Intruder - 94
Reaper x3, Marauder - 158

Minders x4, Intruder - 56
Destroyers x2, Intruder - 140
Destroyers x2, Intruder - 140

Minders x4, Intruder - 56

Total - 1487

At first look, there doesn't seem to be much anti-tank, but that is the good thing about Scourge, there are plenty of units that can contribute. Warriors, Destroyers and all the dropships! I also managed to get some form of AA into every battle-group which was very useful. Plus the all important Screamer and Raider.

Game 1
Maz - Shaltari
Recon (variant)
This Recon variant consisted of gaining intel even if it was sabotaged (opponent can still search too) and getting a Focal Point on the roll of a 6 (no intel) 
Maz was relatively new to Dropzone, he still had a very decent Shaltari list! " squads of Braves and 2 squads of Firtsborns were his troops, he had 2 Caimans, Tomahawks, Firedrake, Gharial and Kukri. Where it lacked was the troops gates. He had 1 Haven and 3 Spirit. 
We both rolled a bomb and a Focal Point each during the game. I had the early advantage and held on to it throughout. I was losing my Intruders though and that stopped my searching. I did get all Maz's gates, but he drew some Call for Extractions and got 2 Spirit Gates back grr
Screamer/Raider watch: Very useful in this game, the Screamer was deployed in the middle, behind a building where he turned Braves into Legionnaires by halving their CQB value. The Raider went flaming some Firstborns and managed to cook 4 in one volley. He had a go at some more later in the turn and toasted another 2. 

I won the game by 2 VP's and got a small kill point bonus so 13-7

Game 2
Colin - UCM
Secure the Flanks
Bizarrely Colin and I were the highest scorers after game 1, both on 13 points! Colin was another new gamer (veteran gamer, but new to DzC). His list was designed with the input of the TO and was very good. Eagle, Phoenix, Falcons, 2 squads of Praetorians, Rapiers, Wolverine A's and Katanas. 
Lots of building demo and pretty good on Focal Points too. I knew I had to get to him fast and keep his units occupied as I'm not expecting to get much in the way of Objectives due to the demo ability of the UCM. 
I loaded 3 squads into my home objective, after Colin seemed hell bent on destroying the centre one. I turn 2 it went down. I ran a unit of Destroyers up a flank as far as I could to attempt to enter his building. I avoided the Rapiers, but still had Wolverines to negotiate. I found my home objective as Colin was just starting to pound my building. He used his Wolverines and I took that queue to storm his building with my Destroyers. I killed a couple of Praetorians and Legionnaires as I blasted my way in too.  Unfortunately for me Colin had 2 squads of Praetorians and 1 squad of Legionnaires. But I had a plan. A Screamer based plan! 
Screamer/Raider watch: The Raider accompanied my Destroyers up the left flank, Colin had some Legionnaires in a building near the Focal Point, turn 2 the Raider burned the Legionnaires and left 2 alive (which duly succumbed to falling masonry). I needed to win activation on turn 3 so I could get my Screamer in place to help the Destroyers, With CV5 against 4, the odds were in my favour. Of course I roll a 1. Colin wins, but I draw Quick Thinking and an Espionage, phew! This meant that I could wait until Colin activates his Praetorians before dumping my Screamer. Colin activates them first to see what they do, so I use Quick Thinking, and don't need my Espionage either. The Raider survives Wolverine AA fire (as it should) and drops the Screamer within 6" of the bloodbath. Combat ensues and what should have been 62 dice for Colin turns into 31. Good work Screamer. Unfortunately (for me) Colin rolls 11 6's in that lot I make a decent amount of saves, but still lose 4 Destroyers. I made the Legionnaires run away and killed 2 Praetorians form 1 squad and didn't touch the other as Colin made all his saves. The Screamer gets picked off as he was in the open, He did his job. Rest in peace brother....

Back to the rest of the game, Colin eventually found his Objective on turn 4 and 1 squad of Praetorians left with it. I went through turns 4 and 5 with out killing a single model, not by choice I may add. Colin was rolling some unbelievable dice all game. In the end my initial plan succeeded as I kept the UCM as contained as I could. I owned 1 Focal Point and contested the other, Colin owned one so I won 5-4. I did get a 2 point Kill point bonus to make my score a consistent 13-7

Game 3
Dave - Resistance
Bunker Assault
Last game of the tournament. Dave (my opponent) got a massive 20-0 in game 2 which catapulted him to the top on 29 points (he lost 11-9 to ZombieState in game 1) I was joint 2nd on 26 points with ZombieState, who was playing Sgt.Slaughter (24 points).
Dave is an old gaming friend from my 40k years. He started playing DzC this year and is loving it. He played his first tournament at Woking War the previous week and placed 4th. He is a very good gamer, and is getting better and better with his Resistance. Watch out if you meet him at Invasion people!
Dave was running Thunderstorm, Zhukovs, Cyclones, Freeriders, Occ Vets, Res Fighters, Gun Wagons and a Drill
Although Dave had the numerical advantage with troops, I knew I could best them with mine with the added help of some flame. I had to use a similar tactic as with the previous game against the UCM. Box them in so they can't get to as many Focal Points. Dave ran his Cyclones down his right flank, I seized on this by bombing (moving very fast) both sets of Reapers to mirror him. They stayed on board on turn 1. After Dave activated the Cyclones on turn 2 I dropped the Reapers right on them, even if I didn't win activation there were 6 Reapers ready for Reaction Fire on turn 3, oh and some minders too, you know, just in case! 
Dave ran his Gun Wagons and Occupation Vets down the opposite flank, and I came along with my Oppressor and Stalkers. One squad of Vets made the bunker the other in the building next to it. On the same turn the Freeriders popped out the drill and into my home bunker. 
Screamer/Raider watch: If you offer juicy targets like Freeriders and Occupation Vets in bunkers, I will certainly oblige. I melted 2 bikes on each base and left the remaining two to my Warriors to finish off, the Vets were ultimately dispatched but it took a while. Thankfully their shooting was rather inept, they should probably have heavily wounded or killed my boss with the amount of E11 shots they had. The Screamer was not really used that much, he did kill a bus though, and I completely forgot that he makes enemy infantry have Ac +1. He did hold a Focal Point at the end. 

Turn 3 comes around and Dave wins activation, obviously forced into activating his Cyclones, I certainly opt to reaction fire, but only 5 are in range, no worries though. Reapers go through Cyclones like a hot knife through butter. Dave then moved his Lifthawk in to drop off the Res Fighters into the left-hand bunker. I had already sent my Destroyers that way. There was another bloody fight, but my Destroyers certainly had the upper hand. The only problem was that the Res Fighters bottled on turn 5 which kept them alive to contest the Focal Point on turn 6. I snuck my Reapers around the back, and 2 made it to contest Dave's home bunker. The Thunderstorm and Zhukovs had the middle all locked down, so I used a secret entrance to get some Warriors in the bunker on turn 5.
I managed to clear out all the Occ Vets, their 2 busses and the Kraken to make sure I owned the right-hand bunker. 
The game finished with me owning 3 Focal Points (my home one, the left and right hand ones) and contesting the other 2, Dave owned 2 and contested 2, meaning I won 8-6. I also had a 2 point kill point bonus giving me a total of 14-6.

In the end though, it wasn't enough. Zombie had completely turned over Sgt. Slaughter and got a 19-1 win leaving me with 2nd place.......... again.

Final Results
The final standings as far as I know where (the spreadsheet has been misplaced/deleted, so this is only 5 of the 10. Sorry to the rest. 

Dan - Scourge 45pts
Mike - Scourge 40pts
Dave - Resistance - 35pts
Joe - Resistance - 35pts
Ed - UCM - 33pts

Dan won best painted too, as was voted by everyone there, and I think Greg won best sport.

A huge thank-you for Michael Russell for organising we all had a great time.

Coastal Assault in pictures

Winner - ZombieState

Runner-up - Me

3rd Place - Dave Clark

Game 1: Dave Clark v ZombieState

Game 1: SkullSword v Techboy 2000

Game 2: SkullSword v ZombieState

 

Sgt. Slaughters PHR attack the Scourge menace

Game 1: Me v Maz

Game 3: ZombieState v Sgt Slaughter

Game 1: My Scourge against the pesky Shaltari

Sgt Slaughter helping to set-up. What a guy!

That's all for now, next tournament for OB is Invasion, it's a biggy! I still don't know if I'll take Scourge or UCM. I really can't make my mind up.