Another tournament and another warlord I have not used competitively; Aun’shi. To be honest, I am not a massive fan of Aun’shi, instead preferring Commander Shadowsun, but it’s good to try out new things.
| Aun’shi (no allies) by Tim Pickers | ||
| Units (30) | Events (8) | Attachments (7) |
| 4 x Ethereal Envoy | 2 x Ethereal Wisdom | 1 x Honor Blade |
| 3 x Aun’ui Prelate | 3 x Deception | 3 x Ion Rifle |
| 3 x Bork’an Recruits | 3 x Kauyon Strike | 3 x Repulsor Impact Field |
| 3 x Earth Caste Technician | ||
| 3 x Experimental Devilfish | Support (5) | |
| 2 x Fire Warrior Elite | 1 x Aun’shi’s Sanctum | |
| 3 x Gun Drones | 1 x Frontline Launch Bay | |
| 3 x Recon Drone | 3 x Ksi’m’yen Orbital City | |
| 3 x Vior’la Marksman | ||
| 3 x Vior’la Warrior Cadre | ||
Round One vs Colonel Straken w/Orks
The first four planets shared a colour, so this was going to be a quick game. I managed to get a good hold of the command phase and win the first two planets as well (Vior’la Marksman with an Ion Rifle is pretty scary to face, especially with Aun’shi’s Armorbane).
Knowing that I could win the game on turn three, my opponent deployed a lot to the first planet. I sent my warlord and the units with him to planet two, setting up for the win next turn. The following turn I deployed several units there, and to make matters worse for my opponent I used Deception against his Mordian Hellhound with two Dozer Blade attachments. He conceded right after that.
Result: Win
Round Two vs Eldorath w/Tau
This was going to be a bit of a nightmare game. Eldorath’s ability to exhaust one of my units upon commitment pretty much nullifies Aun’shi’s ability to give out Armorbane, as he has to retreat to the HQ after he attacks (obviously, there are ways to get Aun’shi back into the fight, but they are better kept as ‘tricks’ rather than a first resort).
During this game I was soundly thrashed in the command phase, usually only winning one or two struggles each turn. Due to the planet lineup, the game went to turn six, with my opponent winning on planets. Something worthy of note is that my opponent managed to successfully evade two attempts on Eldorath’s life by craftily using Seer’s Exodus to leg it; under-rated card!
Result: Loss
Round Three vs Nazdreg w/AM
Armorbane is nice but luckily for Orks they have the HP to just take it. I started off by getting hammered in the command phase; not something you would expect from an Ork deck. I played an Orbital City only to have it immediately destroyed by Squig Bombin’. The following turn I played an Aun’shi’s Sanctum, which was also Squig Bombed! Both of these support cards would have helped me out a lot, so this was quite a blow.
On the turn where my opponent could win, thanks to my lack of cards I had to pass very early on in the deploy phase, keeping a Deception in hand as there were no worthwhile targets; a sad state of affairs really. My opponent was able to deploy several Ork units to the first planet, and won the battle there quite easily.
Result: Loss
Final Standings
| Rank | Faction | Warlord | Ally | Points |
| 1st | Eldar | Eldorath | Tau | 15 |
| 2nd | Orks | Nazdreg | Astra Militarum | 10 |
| 3rd | Orks | Nazdreg | Astra Militarum | 10 |
| 4th | Orks | Nazdreg | Astra Militarum | 10 |
| 5th | Tau | Aun’shi | n/a | 5 |
| 6th | Astra Militarum | Straken | Orks | 5 |
| 7th | Chaos | Ku’gath | Orks | 0 |
I didn’t finish last, so it could have been worse. In hindsight my decklist is pretty bad; I found myself losing at command way too much. I need to play cards like Vash’ya Trailblazer and Promotion. I’m not sure if I need to include any more of the Neutral Nine (3 x Promotion, Rogue Trader and Void Pirate), as Recon Drone and Vash’ya Trailblazer will pick up some of the slack.
Terrible results aside, I am not sure that I like playing with Aun’shi at all; I much prefer using Commander Shadowsun if I am going to play Tau (for whom I have a deck in the works using all of the available uniques and a playset of No Mercy; I literally cannot wait for The Great Devourer’s UK release).
Winning Decklist
| Eldorath Starbane with Tau by Gareth Ingamells | ||
| Units (28) | Events (20) | Attachments (1) |
| 4 x Starbane’s Council | 2 x Foresight | 1 x Mobility |
| 3 x Biel-Tan Guardians | 2 x Doom | |
| 3 x Bork’an Recruits | 2 x Empower | |
| 3 x Eldritch Corsair | 3 x Foretell | |
| 2 x Rogue Trader | 3 x Gift of Isha | |
| 2 x Spiritseer Erathal | 3 x Nullify | Support (1) |
| 3 x Vash’ya Trailblazer | 3 x Seer’s Exodus | 1 x Alaitoc Shrine |
| 2 x Void Pirate | 2 x Tense Negotiations | |
| 3 x Warlock Destructor | ||
| 3 x Wildrider Squadron | ||
Summary
Lots of Nazdreg decks this week. No real surprise at Eldorath topping the standings; it’s one of the strongest decks in Conquest at the moment and it was played by one of the better local players (it was the guy that went 5-0 in the regionals at Stoke with Nazdreg, then lost in the quarter-finals).
For our next tournament I am probably going to use Coteaz. I have been playing games with him recently, nearly all of which have ended with the death of the opposing warlord. Also, he’s another warlord that I haven’t yet used in a competitive setting.
Cheers,
Whingewood