Getting excited for NOVA!

So after a crazy 8-9 months of travel, changing jobs, and moving, I am finally ready to get back to geeking out with tabletop and board games!  While I will be playing X-Wing at NOVA (subject for a different post), I have had a blast playing 40K!  I know there is a lot of doom and gloom regarding Games Workshop right now, but I haven't had this much fun with 40K since 5th Edition!

I spent the last two months playing in the Road to NOVA 40K League in Northern VA and Maryland, which was an absolute blast!  I was rocking a full Drop Pod army which seems to suit my play style really well and got to play five great games against five great opponents in the area.  Every game was a nail-biter (minus the one against Werner where he crushed me with his Decurion) and it was amazing to finally have a chance to just play some 40K after such a long hiatus.  I actually went 4-1 and missed out on the final Top 8 by a single battle point, so I was very happy with how it went!

First thoughts on Tau/SM

One of my new Tau Overlords....

After looking over the new SM codex, I have a few ideas for list builds incorporating my recent Tau acquisitions.  Everyone is well aware that Tau is very strong right now, and there are very few lists that cannot benefit from some Kroot, a Skyray, and a Riptide.  So I am still working on how I want to build a SM primary.  In the meantime, I am working on how Marines can benefit Tau.  Tau have overwhelming firepower, AA, and cheap troops, but lack somewhat in mobility, durability, and melee (duh).  So those are the areas I think I will focus on with SM allies.

My current Tau primary looks something like this:

Commander in Iridium Armor with PEN, CnC, MSS, RVT, Flamer x2, and PR (expensive, but reduces the need for marker lights)
Kroot x 40
2 Riptides with EWO, VT, IA, and TL Fusion
2 Skyrays with BSF

Recon Tournament Prep

From the PtGRtS Event Calendar

When: July 23 - 11:30am
Where: Main Store - Carousel Center Mall
Prize(s): Store Credit
Entry Fee: $10
Details:
Who says you can't choose what to play before every game?
Players bring up to 4 different 1850 point lists and chose which one to use before each match.
Each list may only be used one time during the event.
Players roll off to determine who chooses their list first.

So I still have to clarify details, but I am assuming the lists have to be from the same codex (if not my Blue Angels are coming out!), and there is no limitation on how similar the lists can be. Basically if you bring 4 of the same list, you are sacrificing flexibility for playing a familiar list each game. That is just my assumption though.
So for now, I am planning on sticking with Vanilla Marines because I don't have enough Assault Marines, Baal's, Furiouso Dreads, or Stormravens to make multiple BA lists. That and I plan on taking this as an opportunity to use Calgar. There are two ways to go about making lists for this event:

1. Gear lists towards countering specific army types (e.g. having an anti-horde, anti-msu, anti-melee, etc)
2. Gear lists towards specific missions (a troop heavy army for Sieze Ground, outflankers for Cap and Control, and KP denial for Annihilation)

At this moment I am leaning towards gearing for missions, as I KNOW I will face one of each of those in the tournament, while I may not face certain armies or hit the same army type all three games. I can build three dedicated lists for the missions and have a list dedicated for a certain matchup I might face (I'm looking at you GKs). Here's my general archtypes:

1. Downsized version of my standard Vanilla Marines
2. A more MSU-style Marines list (both these lists are for the objective-based games)
3. Double LR 10 TH/SS Termies (KP Denial)
4. List 1 with Calgar (for giggles or another KP denial threat)

I'll post specific lists later, but hopefully I can make it work. Most of the armies are pretty similar though, so that will give my opponents a slightly easier time selecting their army lists. I've got plenty of time to think on it though.