New York Open After-Action: Imperial Navy Breachers
Last weekend’s New York Open Kill Team Tournament was one of the best-run tournaments I’ve attended. Leila, Travis, the Brooklyn Rats, Michael’s Skill Team, and Koros knocked it out of the park by hosting a welcoming, exciting event in a lovely venue.
Our family placed 2nd (Clade), 10th (Kommandos), and 12th (me, with Breachers), and our Plasma Spam team had three players in the top 10. Some after-actions and thoughts about Breachers:
Day 1
Day 1 was above ground with asymmetrical terrain placed by TOs, and pretty much perfect. A few good firing lanes but nothing oppressive, so melee and shooting teams could both be competitive.
I took four Armsmen and no pets each time. Maybe not an optimal list, but I find managing robots for six games too much cognitive load. And lots of GA2 + Breach and Clear can be effective. Las-volley against hordes, melta against elites. Otherwise list stayed the same throughout.
Day 1 equipment was 10 stimms.
Game 1: Seize Ground vs Hunter Clade played by Mike Cortes
This was a rough match. Not only is Mike a better player than I am, but Clade is a strong match against Breachers above ground. My playstyle is to move up both flanks so I can threaten breach and clear or blitz from multiple angles, but this was hard to do with the Surveyor’s Omnispex removing Obscure from my operatives. Mike shot me off the board, holding me to 1 point from primaries, which might be the lowest score on primaries I’ve ever had on Seize Ground. I was able to get 2 from Central Control (Mike could have denied the second point and didn’t — unclear whether he missed it or was being a gentleman) and 2 from Counteract.
Edit: Mike kindly cleared this up:
I do not try to shut out the other player if I think I will be winning. Not running up my gunners / Ruststalkers to deny central control was a conscious choice. It leads to less feel bad moments overall.
Mike took Calculated Eradication, Seize Ground, and Plant Signal Beacon, maxing them out.
Breachers 5, Clade 18. Still a fun game because Mike is a real pleasure to play against.
Sidebar: Mike’s father brought his Intercession and won 2 matches. It’s great to see a father-son team attending events together and I hope to see them again soon.
Game 2: Duel of Wits vs Intercession
The Intercession player was new (this might have been his 1st tournament) and Duel of Wits is a challenging mission for new players. I got the initiative with dash, placed my Attack Order, and shot an Intercessor off the board with plasma going hot on the first acvitation. This required a lucky roll for me (two crits and two hits), and an unlucky roll for my opponent (he failed his one save). Dead Intercessor set the tone of the game.
With deep drop zones I took Into the Breach, which I almost never take, and maxed it out + maxed out Central Control. Intercessors killed my banner bearer so I didn’t get any for Plant Banner.
Stimms and Brace for Counter-Attack are crazy good vs a bolter profile. By TP2 I had three breachers with 1 wound left. Without BfCA that would have been three dead Breachers.
Intercessors scored 8 from primaries, plus 2 for Shock and Awe but zero for Champion of Mankind. With a hidden card, I figured he was going for Headhunter so I kept my leader out of harm’s way.
Close Assault was my friend for 3 turning points, ensuring steady damage as long as I was rolling average dice.
Mr Hurt Locker was able to throw a Demolition Charge at 2 marines, which was fun and spicy.
If you’re just getting into Kill Team Intercession is a fantastic team to check out. New players can come to a tournament and not get stomped, and top players can win the tournament. Still, between evenly matched players I think Breachers have the edge with all the tools they need to punch elites.
Sidebar: I dislike the Champion of Mankind Tac Op because it requires secret bookkeeping and can lead to disputes end of game. This didn’t come up in our game, but it did happen at least once during the tournament.
Breachers 16, Intercession 10.
Game 3: Escalating Hostilities vs Vet Guard
There were four Vet Guard players at NYO and I spent the drive up from DC asking my kids “how am I going to flush the spotter out of a sniper’s nest?” Answer: you don’t.
Edit: Leila, NYO TO and Breachers player, reached out to give a hint:
That’s what the skull is for.
For this game, I got incredibly lucky because the Guard player was new and didn’t know to bring the Spotter. So I decided to soak up the damage from the concealed sniper and mostly ignore him.
I picked Counteract (2), Protect Assets (1), and Central Control (1). Most of the game was fought over control of the Octarius oil tower in the middle of the board, and my opponent picked that tower for his Seize Ground objective. I had the edge there because my melee and close assault are so much better than Guard’s, and was able to deny him any points for Seize Ground. But he also picked Hold the Line and I just could not get my guys across the board before he ground me down.
We each scored 4 from primaries, but I squeaked by with 4 from secondaries while he only got 2. If he had taken his Spotter, he would have won that game.
Breachers 8, Vet Guard 6.
Win loss end of day 1 was 2–1. My goal for the tournament overall was to win 2 games, so I went into day 2 with no stress and no expectations, other than having fun.
Everyone adjourned to Pig Beach BBQ for dinner. Delicious burgers and pulled pork. Highly recommended.
Day 2
Day 2 was Into the Dark. The boards all looked fantastic, and the NYO community burned the midnight oil to have them ready and assembled.
Sidebar: I underplayed Attack Order the entire tournament. I mistakenly thought that the token had to be visible to my Sergeant-At-Arms, but it’s anywhere in the kill zone! This didn’t matter above ground because it’s usually easy to find an angle anywhere you’d want to set up your shooting, but it really hurt on ItD. Mike Cortes was kind enough to look up this rule after the tournament and alert me to my mistake.
For each ItD game I took 8 stimms and 1 System Override Device to open a door. I thought about opening a door on my opponent’s side of the board and get a sneaky shot, but this seemed like it might lead to a feels-bad gotcha against a new player or a self-own against an experienced player. So I stuck to opening doors on my side of the board.
Game 4: Power Surge vs Legionary
My opponent took all nurgle and was the attacker, but with good placement and a little bit of luck I got the drop on him. By the end of TP1 I had killed one of his legionaries and had another down to 1 wound. I thought the game was in the bag and I eased off the gas just a bit.
Big mistake. Legionary hung in there and fought me to a tie. He even found a cheeky angle for his Balefire Acolyte to hit two of my guys when I thought they were safe. Thank goodness for Void Armor.
I scored 1 each for Central Control, Storm Target, and Counteract. He scored 2 for Central Control & Protect Assets, and 0 for Damage Limitation. I squeaked past him on primaries by 1. Thrilling, close fought game, and a good reminder that a game of Kill Team is never over until it’s over. All credit to my opponent for hanging in there.
This is the only game out of 6 where underplaying the Attack Order likely cost me the game. My leader was stuck on one side of the board where he couldn’t see the action. Hitting on 4+ is just not enough to push through damage on elites without access to rerolls.
Breachers 9, Legionary 9.
Game 5: Forge Stronghold vs Vet Guard
My second Vet Guard matchup of the tournament. This opponent knew to take the Spotter but I wasn’t as concerned because this board doesn’t have good shooting lanes.
Even though I’ve played Vet Guard since the game was released, I felt sick to my stomach watching my opponent take Into The Breach and Move Move Move. He was instantly so much closer to the objectives than my Breachers were. You can’t score points TP1 so the beginning of the game is all about setup. I don’t think we rolled a single die TP1 but I didn’t have to spend any CP. Which is good because I knew I was going to have to stack some crazy attacks TP2 and TP3.
My opponent was smart and got his flamer in the central hallway as quickly as possible, with the medic parked on the other side of the open hatchway at the top of the board. We both had revealed Central Control, and he was going to make me fight for it. With his flamer in the central hallway, he was set up to lock down not only that hallway but to threaten the big rooms on each side if he opened either door.
So anyway I started blasting.
TP2 two armsmen rushed from the southern end of the hallway and killed the flamer, only to have him rescued by the medic. But by TP3 Mr Hurt Locker was in place to attack Vet Guard’s rear flank at the north end of the mid-board: Close Assault, Blitz, Breach & Clear, and Overwhelm Target (extra AP) to move, dash, and throw his Demolition charge from within 3" of three enemy operatives, killing all of them.
Blitz on any kind of blast weapon is crazy good. You get a Crit and a Hit on each attack. You’ll clear a room of horde teams.
My opponent made some great plays but wasn’t able to come back from the hole in the middle of his army. I scored one each from Central Control, Protect Assets, and Counteract. He maxed out Central Control, scored 1 from Stand Fast, and 0 from Glory in Death.
With so many bodies he did not Guard as often as I expected, perhaps because Vet Guard would hit on 5+. His placement was excellent though, and really forced me to focus on mulitple trades. Great game.
Breachers 10, Vet Guard 5.
At this point I had beat my goal of 2 wins, so I went into the last game of the tournament relaxed and happy. Which is good because…
Game 6: Full Scale Attack vs Corsairs
I’ve never seen anything like Alden’s Corsairs. Not only were they beautifully painted (he won best painted) but they flowed across the board like an autumn breeze. This was simply the best matchup of player talent and playstyle to team rules that I’ve ever encountered.
It was ballet in an abattoir.
I knew he would outmaneuver me so I opened the door in Player A’s drop zone, so I could have some hope of moving laterally across the board as needed.
It didn’t make a difference.
Once I evenly split my team, Alden used One Step Ahead to redeploy. He left a duellist to hold down the right flank, and a shade runner close enough to the center to get whereever she needed to be, but basically decided not to contest one third of the board. What did he care? My team was committed. By the time I got into the room on my left flank there was nobody there. “I was told there would be elves.”
Alden focused on movement and board control and only fought when he had to. He used Deadly Ambush to lock up my Endurant’s movement, and whittled away my Grenadier and Hatchcutter with the Shredder (which has blast, unlike the Blaster which does not).
He maxed out his tac ops: Opportunists, Triangulate, and Plant Signal Beacon. I maxed out Rob and Ransack but got nothing for Counteract or Headhunter.
Breachers 10, Corsairs 18. While I got stomped this was still probably my favorite game of the weekend.
Final tournament result: 3–1–2.
Pizza & beer at Baby Luc’s with my Plasma Spam teammates rounded out a first rate weekend.
Conclusion
I’m still getting my head around ItD. You essentially have to split your team into squads and hope you’ve made the right placement bets. This is OK, or OK-ish, if you’re a horde, but can be punishing if you’re elite. And the attacker can just watch you set up and decide to play a different game if he wants to.
Thoughts on Breachers:
- Breachers are thrilling to play: the rules fit the fiction, and they’re easy to pick up. You can leave the pets at home and still do reasonably well. Stronger players will take the CAT or the Gheistskull and do even better.
- Blitz is not overpowered, but it can lead to some feels bad moments especially for newer players. Especially if you save your CP to do crazy combos. “You just did what now?” Take the time to explain how blitz and attack orders work before the game. Even then, a newer player might not understand how you’re setting up multiple threats at the end of TP1 to drop a bomb at the top of TP2. Breachers will be a gatekeeper faction.
- Calm Head is also amazing. Ignore modifiers to BS and go on guard. I had two different players ask “that’s for the rest of the turning point right?” No sir, that’s for the rest of the game.
- Brace for Counter-Attack is so good against bolter profiles that it’s almost an auto-take. It’s the difference between a dead Breacher or a Breacher with 1 wound staying alive to hold an objective.
- Lock it Down in theory should be great but I never got around to playing it. That’s a sign of an exciting team: you feel CP starved because there are so many great choices.
- Know your rules, know your rules, know your rules. Underplaying Attack Orders likely cost me the win in game 4.
I hope NYO becomes an annual event because our family will return!
