Choptober 2013 - The Lists

As mentioned in my previous post, the next tournament I will be attending is a one-day event held on the first Saturday of October named 'Choptober'. The name really makes no sense, and should instead have been called something cool like 'Alpha Strike' or 'BattleLust X'. But alas. If you want to hear about it from the viewpoint of a man struggling to contain his excitement, see here.

Basically it is a 1-day, 50pt, 2 list, 4-round Steamroller event that has been split into two completely unrelated pools - the upper pool (where I have been placed) and the loser pool (where Ian Hart, arguably the best WM/H player in NZ, has been placed). The placings were determined by the NZ Rankings HQ, which are more a measure of tournament attendance than they are actual game aptitude, but it is the best data available (I think I am 30th or something, good enough for the winner's bracket).

The lists:

Having recently acquired Pendrake and a third Posse, I wanted to try these out. I also wanted to try using Croak Hunters for once, because it's not really fair to hate on them as much as I do without giving them a fair shot. So I don't feel either list is really optimal but it's a nice opportunity to try them out.

Bloody Barnabas (*6pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
* Blackhide Wrastler (9pts)
* Ironback Spitter (8pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Croak Hunter (2pts)
Croak Hunter (2pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)
Totem Hunter (3pts)

The standard Barnabas 35pt list with an extra Posse, Pendrake and two Croaks. This is almost a legit pop 'n' drop assassination against living enemy warcasters! Almost. I also think if I am matched up against Circle 3 times in a row by scheming TOs, this list will have some game against anything but eBaldur stone-spam.

I used to take a full unit of Trog Ambushers (8pts) with Barnabas, until it dawned on me that for 1 more point, I could have another unit of Gators. This is the mind of the Gator player - take all the Gators.
I think 3 Posse is the best way to run Barnabas and Maelok since they suck at cracking ARM anyway so you might as well just max out your Posse advantage. Following on that train of though, I feel I'd be better off with a Swamp Horror instead of a Spitter (so many reach initials) and a Witch Doctor + Feralgeist instead of the Croaks to give me a fighting chance against (Cryx) infantry swarm.

Maelok was a close contender for this second list, but ultimately I have given up on winning the Cryx matchup in a two-list format and feel Barnabas is a better rounded option to deal with Mercs/Legion/Circle and the like.

Rask (*6pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
* Blackhide Wrastler (9pts)
* Swamp Horror (8pts)
Bog Trog Ambushers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Gatorman Witch Doctor (3pts)

This is basically my standard Rask list except with an extra Posse replacing WE + Snapjaw. I think it is probably worse in the matchups it is intended since you lose hitting power and a really long-range POW 20 Snapjaw missile, along with some utility from Wrong Eye's spells (esp against Skorne and Trolls). We will see how it goes.
I've considered not taking Bog Trogs with Rask to free up points for another heavy but for 5 pts they basically take assassination off the table (great support) and have done really good work for me late game with fury (MAT 8 POW 14s + reach + CMA = business).


You can find out how badly I do next week! This is probably the most exciting thing to happen to Gators since January 2013, the date of Rask's release. Yep, it's been that long, and still no Shamblers (not that I would really play them any way other than a Rask meatshield).

Until then, here is a video of Croatia's greatest contemporary punk rock band doing their thing: