Chaos Wins!

The Sprue Posse Invitational is an upcoming event that will determine our player of the year. It is our ultimate playoff for the 2010 season. A meeting of all of the best performers of our open events.

When is the tournament?

Saturday, December 4th, 2010.

Where is the tournament?

This tournament will be located at Aero Hobbies and Games in Santa Monica, California.

Who is attending?

This is an invitational tournament and we are extending invites to only the best performers of our tournament circuit for 2010. The Sprue Posse invitational is an 8 slot tournament with seeded pairings. Invitations are granted to individuals who win a sanctioned Sprue Posse event. Leftover slots are given to individuals who qualify based on their ELO rating.

What is ELO rating?

ELO rating is a ranking system used in a number of different competitive games like Chess or Magic: The Gathering. Players are awarded points based on victories and docked points based on losses. Beating higher ranked opponents results in great point awards. Full standings are located here. Players with tournament victories are guaranteed a slot. The remaining players are given an invite if they maintain the highest rating to qualify for the remaining slots. Below is the current invite list, note this list is subject to change depending on the outcome of our two remaining open tournaments.

Rank Name                Rating   Tourney Wins     Points

1   Shepard, Ryan       1625         1              8
2   Alvarez, Sergio     1620         1             5.5   
3   Northover, Mike     1620                       5.5
4   Regul, Jon          1620         1             4.0
5   Burdine, Patrick    1615                       6.5
6   Moss, Jonathan      1610         1             2.5       
7   Mann, John          1610                        6
8   Townsend, Brad      1610                       5.0

What are Seeded Pairings?

Unlike our open tournaments where the first round pairings are selected randomly, this is a seeded tournament where the top ranked player will meet to lowest ranked player in the first round. The second rank will meet the seventh rank. The third rank the sixth and so on.

What is the format?

It is a 2000 point tournament. The format for the Sprue Posse Invitational will be standard book missions randomly selected on the day of the tournament. INAT FAQ will be used, and unpainted WYSWYG models allowed.

When are formal invitations being extended?

We will extend formal invitations to this tournament after our last open tournament of the year at the end of October.

What is the entry fee?

Since this is an invitational tournament, entry is free.

What is the prize support?

This tournament is a winner take all best general tournament. Prize support will be generous product offering along with a trophy or plaque.

My name isn't on the invite list. How do I change that?

Come out and participate in our two remaining open tournaments and either win them outright or win enough games to push your rating high enough to get an invitation.

So Shep has convinced me to try my hand at Skaven. I am a WHFB n00b, and as such I expect to create a bunch of lists that are get pwn'd ;)

Skaven 2000

Grey Seer (Dispel Scroll)
Chieftan (Halberd, Shield, BSB, Storm Banner)
Warlock Engineer (L2 Wizards, Warplock Pistol, Doomrocket)

24 Clanrats (Musician, Banner, Plague Wind Mortar)
24 Clanrats (Musician, Banner, Plague Wind Mortar)
40 Skavenslaves (Musician)
40 Skavenslaves (Musician)

8 Gutter Runners (Slings, Poisoned Attacks)
8 Gutter Runners (Slings, Poisoned Attacks)

4 Warplock Jezzails
4 Warplock Jezzails

Doomwheel
Doomwheel

Warplightning Cannon
Warplightning Cannon

The Sprue Posse presents the:

SPRUE POSSE OPEN

5^th Edition Warhammer 40k Tournament

Saturday, September 18th, 11:00 AM

Hosted by

Aero Hobbies and Games

1500 Points

4 Rounds Swiss-System

INAT FAQ*

Unpainted Models Allowed; WYSIWYG

Standard Missions from the 5^th Edition Rulebook

To be announced on day of tournament

Prize Support for Best General**

Prize Support for Best Painted

$10 entry fee!

Limited Seating!

Sign Up at Aero Hobbies

Please submit a typed army list to the tournament organizer on the day of the tournament.

*INAT FAQ is the independent national tournament FAQ located here:

**Best general also wins an invite to an upcoming invitational tournament.

Aero Hobbies and Games

2918 Santa Monica Boulevard #3
Santa Monica, CA 90404

(310) 828-5264

Questions? Please contact Kevin Nash

I was inspired by a thread over on Dakka about what the top tournament armies are in 40k. I think it's an interesting debate that is skewed by a lot of flawed data or assumptions. I think a major fallacy in the argument is citing anecdotes or personal experience about who is good with what army. Generalship is never relevant in these arguments. We're talking about codex prowess here. Assume in the discussion that all players are equal and then make the predictions.

The other logic flaw is citing tournament statistics. Volume of wins doesn't mean a whole lot because some armies are a lot more popular than others, and just because they are necessarily good. Yeah, quality codices can be popular, but other factors are involved: Finances, aesthetics, fluff, availability. These all play a factor. Chaos Daemons is an army with lousy model support that proves expensive and difficult to build. Space Marines have extremely popular fluff and wide plastic model availability. They show up at tournaments a lot more frequently.

The other issue is that tournaments all play by a different set of rules. Some are comp heavy which basically gives weaker armies with a handicap. Some are soft score heavy which can often skew results. Even generalship awards sometimes don't mean much because of bizarre pairing methods or massacre scoring. I have repeatedly pointed out the flaws of those kinds of systems here.

As an exercise I decided to put compile some data of my from our own tournaments. I aimed to get a handle on what the top tournament codices look like so I put together a table like so:

Army                Entries  Points    Average    Tournament Wins

Tyranids               3        8         2.6                 1
Blood Angels           5       11.5       2.3                 1
Orks                   5       11.5       2.3                 1
Chaos Daemons          5       11         2.2                 0
Tau                    2        4         2.0                 1
Chaos Space Marines    6       11         1.8                 0
Black Templars         2        3.5       1.8                 0
Eldar                  2        3.5       1.8                 0
Space Marines          6        8.5       1.4                 0
Imperial Guard         5        5.5       1.1                 0
Space Wolves           3        2.5       0.8                 0
Dark Angels            1        0.5       0.5                 0
Dark Eldar             1        0         0                   0
Witch Hunters          0        0         0                   0
Daemon Hunters         0        0         0                   0
Necrons                0        0         0                   0

This illustrates data from our 4 tournaments this year. It shows the number of times an army entered a tournament and gives their results and then we create an average score.

Does this tell us what the best armies are? Not at all. One major problem is these armies are piloted by different people. Generalship is not equally stated here, and I think that's an important point when looking at tournament results. On top of that the sample size is very small. Only 4 tournaments and 15 rounds of 40k.

Still the data is there to be viewed and we can learn a bit from it. We see what armies are popular around here (Space Marines, IG, Orks, Daemons). We can see what isn't (Necrons and Inquisition). We can also see what is posting results at 1500 points in a soft score free tournament. Worth a look anyway. I'll start putting together additional data as more rolls in. The better the sample the more valid the results.

Did an M11 sealed with some friends recently. Here was the pool I opened and the ensuing deck I built.

Blue

Merfolk Spy
Tome Scour x2
Ice Cage x2
Augury Owl
Mana Leak
Maritime Guard
Negate
Merfolk Sovereign
Wall of Frost
Scroll Thief
Sleep
Armored Cancrix
Time Reversal (M)
Jace's Ingenuity
Harbor Serpent


Some decent "removal" here with Ice Cage. Mana Leak and Negate are solid. Sleep is a bomb. Jace's Ingenuity is very good. No real meat here though. Not many good creatures. Time Reversal is not good in limited.

White

Holy Strength
Goldenglow Moth
Infantry Veteran
Ajani's Mantra x2
Stormfront Pegasus
War Priest of Thune
Celestial Purge
Blinding Mage
White Knight
Knight Exemplar (R)
Solemn Offering
Tireless Missionaries

White offered some decent utility cards. War Priest of Thune and Solemn Offering are useful. I like Blinding Mage. I like Celestial Purge. The Knight's are a neat little combo. No bombs in this color though. Possible splash potential.

Black

Stabbing Pain x2
Doom Blade
Sign in Blood
Bloodthrone Vampire
Black Knight
Assassinate
Mind Rot x2
Quag Sickness
Liliana's Specter
Gravedigger

Good removal. Mediocre creatures. No bombs at all. More splash potential. Or maybe I use black as my removal core.

Red

Lightning Bolt
Incite
Fling
Reverberate (R)
Goblin Tunneler
Manic Vandal
Act of Treason
Fiery Hellhound
Arc Runner
Prodigal Pyromancer
Chandra's Outrage
Fire Servant
Berserkers of Blood Ridge x3
Lava Axe x2
Destructive Force (R)
Fireball

Lot's of playable stuff here. Lightning Bolt. Fireball. Chandra's Outrage. Fire Servant. Destructive Force. Wow.

Green

Fog
Wall of Vines
Dryad's Favor
Llanowar Elves
Giant Growth
Nature's Spiral x2
Garruk's Companion
Plummet
Sacred Wolf
Cultivate x2
Prized Unicorn
Cudgel Troll
Overwhelming Stampede (R)
Greater Basilisk x2
Yavimaya Wurm

Nice creatures and an Overwhelming Stampede. Double Cultivate.

Artifact
Voltaic Key
Demon's Horn
Dragon's Claw
Juggernaut

Land

Rootbound Crag (R)

Juggernaut is notable. Rootbound Crag useful if I go those colors.


This is the deck I made

Creatures

Llanowar Elves
Garruk's Companion
Sacred Wolf
Prodigal Pyromancer
Prized Unicorn
Cudgel Troll
Juggernaut
Gravedigger
Greater Basilisk x2
Fire Servant
Yavimaya Wurm


Spells

Lightning Bolt
Giant Growth
Fling
Doom Blade
Act of Treason
Cultivate x2
Chandra's Outrage
Overwhelming Stampede
Destructive Force
Fireball

Land

9 Forest
6 Mountain
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Swamp

Notable Sideboard

Manic Vandal
Celestial Purge
Plummet
War Priest of Thune
Solemn Offering


This deck has an absurd amount of removal. That might be a cause for a concern but I didn't see any of it in the games I played. I considered adding more creatures but just couldn't find anything worth using that didn't blow up the mana curve. The Berserkers of Blood Ridge were considered but I just decided that 12 creatures was enough base. In a number of games Fire Servant ended up comboing with burn spells which was funny. Chandra's Outrage for 8. Bolt for 6. A destructive force turned a sure loser into a win for me. Overwhelming Stampede was pretty underwhelming. Probably because I had so few creatures. My opponents had to play around it though so it had an impact even if it never translated into damage. If I could do it again maybe I dump fling for a berserker. My low creature count didn't seem to matter. I went 6-0 in my games.

Cultivate really allowed me to maximize splash from other colors. Doom Blade and Gravedigger became options that I used. I considered Assassinate but decided I had enough removal so I left it out. I even was able to play transformer with the sideboard. In some games I boarded in a plains with the enchantment removal for my opponent's double pacifisms.

All in all a good sealed pool with good results in my games. I hope to do another M11 sealed soon.

Sprue Posse #4 was a monumental success with a sold out ticket of 12 competitors looking for generous prize support. Congratulations to Jon Regul for winning the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. His list proved to be scissors in a field of paper and he cut all of his opponents to shreds. You can find the full standings here.

Below are the army lists for this event:

First Place

Jon Regul - Orks

From 40k_RTT

HQ

Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)
Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)

Elites

Loota x5
Loota x5
Loota x5

Troops

Shoota Boyz x20 (Big Shoota x2) Nob (Powerklaw, Bosspole)
Shoota Boyz x20 (Big Shoota x2) Nob (Powerklaw, Bosspole)
Gretchin x18 w Runtherd
Deff Dread (Big Shoota x2, Armor Plates)
Deff Dread (Big Shoota x2, Armor Plates)

Fast Attack

Deffkopta (TL Rockitt)
Deffkopta (TL Big Shoota, Buzzsaw)

Heavy Support

Killa Kan x3 (Grotzooka x3)
Killa Kan x3 (Grotzooka x3)
Killa Kan x3 (Grotzooka x3)



Second Place

Sergio Alvarez - Blood Angels

From 40k_RTT

HQ

Mephiston

Troops

Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback TL LasCannon
Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback TL LasCannon
Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback TL LasCannon

Heavy Support

Devastator Squad x 5 (Missile Launcher x3, Lascannon)
Devastator Squad x 5 (Missile Launcher x3, Lascannon)
Whirlwind

Fast Attack

Baal Predator (Flamestorm, HK Missile, Heavy Bolters)
Baal Predator (TL Assault Cannon, HK Missile, Heavy Bolters)


Third Place

Brad Townsend - Chaos Daemons

From 40k_RTT

HQ

Herald of Tzeentch (Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chariot)
Herald of Tzeentch (Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chariot)
Herald of Tzeentch (Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chariot)

Troops

Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x5 (Bolt)
Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x5 (Bolt)
Plague Bearers x6

Elite

Bloodcrushers of Khorne x6
Fiends of Slaanesh x6
Fiends of Slaanesh x6

Heavy Support

Daemon Prince (Gaze, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch)
Daemon Prince (Gaze, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch)


Best Painted

Shawn Hausmann - Space Marines

From 40k_RTT

HQ

Lysander

Troops

Tactical Squad x 5 (Meltagun, LasCannon, Powerfist) w Rhino
Tactical Squad x 5 (Meltagun, LasCannon, Powerfist, Melabombs) w Rhino

Heavy Support

Land Raider (Extra Armor)
Predator (Assault Cannon, HB Sponsons)
Devastator x 5 (4 Missile Launcher)

Elite

Terminator x 5 (Assault Cannon)



Remaining Lists

Bob Amadon - Space Wolves

HQ

Logan Grimnar

Troops

Wolf Guard Pack x10 (TH:SS x1) w Arjac Rockfist
Grey Hunters Pack x5

Heavy Support

Long Fangs x 5 (Lascannon x3)
Whirlwind

Fast Attack

Skyclaw Assault Pack x6

Matt Amadon - Dark Eldar

HQ

Archon w Reaver Jetbike
Urien Rakarth

Troops

Raider Squad x5 w Raider
Warrior Squad x10
Warrior Squad x10
Warrior Squad x10

Heavy Support

Ravager

Elite

Wyches x8 w Succubus w Raider
Wyches x8 w Succubus w Raider
Wyches x8 w Succubus w Raider


Patrick Burdine - Space Marines

HQ

Captain (Bike, Relic Blade, Storm Shield, Melta Bombs)

Troops

Space Marine Bike Squad x5 (Plasma x2) w Attack Bike (Multi-Melta) and Sergeant (Power Fist)
Space Marine Bike Squad x5 (Plasma x2) w Attack Bike (Multi-Melta) and Sergeant (Power Fist)
Space Marine Bike Squad x5 (Plasma x2) w Attack Bike (Multi-Melta) and Sergeant (Power Fist)
Space Marine Bike Squad x5 (Plasma x2) w Attack Bike (Multi-Melta) and Sergeant (Power Fist)

Heavy Support

Dreadnought (Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod)

Fast Attack

Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)
Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)
Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)


Todd Carrigan - Space Wolves

HQ

Rune Priest
Wolf Lord (Thunderwolf, Frost Blade, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace) w Fenrisian Wolves x2

Troops

Grey Hunters x10 (Flamer, Melta, Power Weapon) w Rhino
Grey Hunters x10 (Plasma x2, Power Weapon) w Rhino

Heavy Support

Predator (Lascannon x3)
Long Fangs x6 (Missile Launcher x4, Lascannon) w Razorback (TL Lascannon)
Long Fangs x6 (Missile Launcher x4, Lascannon)

Elite

Dreadnaught (Plasma Cannon)

Jarod Khoury - Chaos Daemons

HQ

Fateweaver
Herald of Tzeentch (Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chariot)
Herald of Tzeentch (Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chariot)

Troops

Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x7 (Bolt, Icon)
Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x7 (Bolt, Icon)
Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x6 (Bolt)
Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x6 (Bolt) w Changeling

Elite

Flamers of Slaanesh x6 (Bolt)

Heavy Support

Soul Grinder (Tongue)


Robert Pait - Imperial Guard

HQ

Company Command Squad x5 (Plasma x4) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Elite

Psyker Battle Squad x 8
Psyker Battle Squad x 8

Troops

Veteran Squad (Melta x3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran Squad (Melta x3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran Squad (Melta x3) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Platoon Command Squad
Infantry Squad x10 (Lascannon) w Commissar
Infantry Squad x10 (Lascannon)
Heavy Weapon Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad (Autocannon x3)

Heavy Support

Hydra x2
Hydra x2

Ken Riggio - Space Marines

HQ

Librarian (Null Zone, Avenger)

Elite

Terminator Assault Squad (THSS x5) w Land Raider Crusader (Extra Armor, Multi Melta)

Troops

Tactical Squad x10 (Flamer, Missile Launcher) w Rhino
Tactical Squad x10 (Flamer, Missile Launcher) w Rhino
5x Scouts (4x Snipers, 1x Missile Launcher, Camo Cloaks)

Fast Attack

Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)
Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile Launcher)

Heavy Support

Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)
Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)



Ryan Shepard - Tyranids

HQ

Hive Tyrant (Wings, Hive Commander, Dual Scything Talons)

Troops

Tervigon (Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Catalyst)
Genestealers x12 w Mycetic Spore Pod
Termagaunts x10 w Mycetic Spore Pod

Elite

Deathleaper
Zoanthropes x3 w Mycetic Spore Pod
Zoanthropes x3 w Mycetic Spore Pod

Heavy Support

Mawloc

From 40k_RTT

Congratulations to Jon Regul for bringing home the Sprue Posse Open #4 title. Jon weaved his Kan Wall list through a field of 12 other players to come out on top with a spotless 4-0 record and some generous prize support. You can check out the coverage here.

Here were the final standings from the tournament.

Update: Full army lists and pictures are available here:

Standings

Place Name             Feder Rtg Loc Score Buch. Progr. Berg.     Army

1    Regul, Jon                     4       6.0   10.0  6.50       Orks
2    Alvarez, Sergio                3       4.5    6.0  3.00       Blood Angels
3-4  Townsend, Brad                2.5     10.5    7.0  5.00       Daemons
     Burdine, Patrick              2.5      8.0    5.0  4.25       Space Marines
5-8  Khoury, Jarod                  2      11.0    5.0  3.00       Daemons
     Shepard, Ryan                  2      10.5    7.0  3.50       Tyranids
     Pait, Robert                   2       7.0    6.0  3.00       Imperial Guard
     Hausmann, Shawn                2       5.5    4.5  1.75       Space Marines
9-10 Riggio, Kenneth               1.5      7.0    3.5  3.25       Space Marines
     Carrigan, Todd                1.5      5.5    2.5  0.50       Space Wolves
11   Amadon, Bob                    1       8.5    2.0  1.75       Space Wolves
12   Amadon, Matt                   0      10.5    0.0  0.00       Dark Eldar

Jon is now 4th place in the running for Sprue Posse player of the year.

Rank Name                Rating   Tourney Wins     Points 

1   Shepard, Ryan       1625         1              8
2   Alvarez, Sergio     1620         1             5.5       
3   Northover, Mike     1620                       5.5
4   Regul, Jon          1620         1             4.0
5   Burdine, Patrick    1615                       6.5 

Here is Jon's winning Kan Wall list:

HQ

Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)
Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)

Elites

Loota x5
Loota x5
Loota x5

Troops

Shoota Boyz x20 (Big Shoota x2) Nob (Powerklaw, Bosspole)
Shoota Boyz x20 (Big Shoota x2) Nob (Powerklaw, Bosspole)
Gretchin x18 w Runtherd
Deff Dread (Big Shoota x2, Armor Plates)
Deff Dread (Big Shoota x2, Armor Plates)

Fast Attack

Deffkopta (TL Rockitt)
Deffkopta (TL Big Shoota, Buzzsaw)

Heavy Support

Killa Kan x3 (Grotzooka x3)
Killa Kan x3 (Grotzooka x3)
Killa Kan x3 (Grotzooka x3)

I'll post full lists and pictures later.