Rejoice initiates of the Brass Throne, for the forces Khorne have preformed well at a major tournament. Come revel in the glory of victory!
On September 4th-6th I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the NOVA Open, an 8 round 40k GT in Northern Virginia, and the biggest 40k GT on the east coast. I want to break down the event and discuss my experience there. NOVA is a unique tournament, and their format as well as army construction rules really influenced the armies that showed up.
Army Construction: NOVA was essentially a three source format, but with no more than 2 Army detachments. So you could have Double CAD and a formation, but not triple CAD. This was fine in my opinion, but not really necessary. I would love to know what they were trying to stop with this limitation, as I personally have no qualms with an unlimited source event.
The other big thing at NOVA was that Superheavy vehicles and Gargantuan creatures were not allowed at this event. While these units are indeed very powerful, I personally think these units are a good check to other parts of the Meta. I think a good compromise would be 0-1 superheavy/gargantuan, but that is just me.
This event also allowed FW units and rules, but all FW units were 0-1. I am pretty indifferent about this. I like FW rules, but don’t like being surprised by a unit that I didn’t know existed. But that is just part of it sometimes. The 0-1 is probably a good limit.
The Missions: NOVA missions are unique. In each mission, you choose to play either primary mission 1, or 2 and score points accordingly. This means that you and your opponent can each be playing different missions, and can each max your primary score. Similarly, you each pick 3 secondary objectives from a list of 10 to try and accomplish, which also means that you and your opponent could max your secondary score as well. And for tertiary, if you kill at least one unit on turns 2-5 then you get one point per turn, for a max of 4 tertiary points, meaning you could also both max out tertiary points. Personally, I do not like this system. I find it overly confusing and complicated to have to choose the mission, and have to consider how my opponent might choose to decide how I should choose. Don’t get me wrong, I had a ton of fun at the event, but I am personally not a fan of this type of mission. Each player playing their own mission can make for some strange scenarios in the game.
I brought an MSU style Khorne Daemonkin to the NOVA Open:
Khorne’s Bloodbringers
Combined Arms Detachment:
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
8 Bloodletters
8 Bloodletters
Soulgrinder, Phlegm Bombardment
Soulgrinder, Phlegm Bombardment
Gorepack
6 Flesh Hounds
6 Flesh Hounds
6 Flesh Hounds
6 Flesh Hounds
3 Chaos Bikes, Melta bombs
3 Chaos Bikes, Melta bombs
Gorepack
6 Flesh Hounds
6 Flesh Hounds
6 Flesh Hounds
6 Flesh Hounds
3 Chaos Bikes, Melta bombs
3 Chaos Bikes, Melta bombs
1847 Points
This list was an absolute blast to play, and it one of the most fun armies I have ever played.
Editors Note: Horton got 5th overall. It seems like Hounds may just be the best “little known” unit out there. Battle Reports next time, and Grats to Horton for his solid placing!
