Caught up with good old Simon for our KnockOut match at City Guard today. I was hoping (?) to play his Fields of Blood army (which is Daemons) but, tking advantage of the fact that there are no comp restrictions for the KnockOut, Simon opted to take a somewhat harder Daemon list. Specifically:
Bloodthirster with gear (str7, immortal fury)
2 Khorne Heralds on Juggernaughts
Tzeentch Herald
2 units of 5 Flesh Hounds
3 x 12 (?) Horrors
Furies
3 Nurglings
2 x 5 Flamers
I didn't feel this was an overly hard army - the only things that truly worried me were the BT and the potential damage of the Flamers.
The game ran well for a couple of turns - a Khorne Herald hid from the Slann and his smoking gun (Burning Iron + Banehead), a solo charge from the Jag-Vet fluffed but he got away and the Horrors that chased him were subsequently beaten up, fleeing Krox and Skinks managed to rally (just), Sallies put the kibosh on whatever they looked at.
Unfortunately a front charge by some Flesh Hounds and their mate (the other Khorne Herald) totally reamed the Saurus - they broke and I was in deep doo-doo. Seriously. Suddenly I was up to my neck in Nurglings and Bloodthirsters (ok, there was only one but it was still a lot to cope with). I had my fair share of good fortune (2 Salamanders rifling 5 Flamers bring a personal highlight) but in the end it was a loss by 1025VPs - a 15-5 or there abouts in tournament scoring.
What I should have done is man up, challenge the Khorne Herald with my Scar-Vet on Cold One, weather the damage and hope I wasn't Killing Blowed, held agains the charge, and magicked them to death with Cleansing Flare.
No no no - what I should have done is hide in the forest with the Slann, wait for him to come to me, and THEN magic him to death! Ah well...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Life as a TO :)
*wink wink Dave*
Just over 2 1/2 weeks to go till Fields of Blood (operating under the umbrella of GuardCon - the City Guard Gaming Convention) and time to reflect on what's been accomplished so far. Despite standing in the shadows of the TOing giants and the mind-bogglingly large tournaments happening over in Oz with increasing frequency I feel like I'm holding my own and the final product will be well worth attending. This is certainly largely thanks to the support of some good friends (one of whom I've not yet actually met!). Dave Grant, Phil Comins and Marcelo Rouco in particular have been very supportive of my noob TO efforts; offering sensible and timely advice, positive encouragement, and helping me solve problems (sometimes before I've even created them!). Phil's been so supportive he's even gone the extra step to set my mind at ease by grudging me with his High Elves for round one. Cheers mate...
So what's been going on in the background? Clearly a lot of work goes into putting on one of these things (even one with only 38 players takes some co-ordination) but even I've been astounded by the sheer amount of time invovled. I've partly brought this upon myself, mostly because I want it to run smoothly and put systems in place so that it's easier next year (that thinking is a bit pre-emptive I know...). What's done?
- obviously the tournament pack is done and has gone out. No serious complaints. Positive response to having 6 rounds.
- secured independent (and highly qualified) painting judge.
- army lists written up, checked. Waiting for just one more and they'll be sent off to the judges. Dave Grant retyped all the lists for Tin Soldiers into a generic format; taking out all the personality (which sounds a bit brutal I know) but importantly leaving the judges with the essentials - units and numbers - which is all the information they require to make an informed decision. No major issues with getting the lists, received the occasional second or third draft from a few people but easy to change once the list is already typed up.
- hard copies of all Direwolf FAQ documentation.
- grudge match-ups underway and a good response to this so far.
The Army Lists
Reading what people are taking has been a huge learning experience in and of itself! I wrote my list before the first one came in (Lizards - the same list I would have taken to CtA...) so I wouldn't be tempted to change it based on what I might face (not that I have any idea how I really could anyway). Boy oh boy there's some interesting stuff in there! I can't say much more than that at this point. Lots of Daemons (to be expected) which should make for some amusing matchups in later rounds (as the Daemon players potentially end up playing each other). A little bit of everything with I think every army in the Warhammer world represented which is pretty cool.
More on the lists after the tournament...
The Players
38 is an ok number. I was definitely hoping for more people but it's a starting point for future growth (first year City Guard have run the event). I was convinced to relax the requirement for painted armies and that has allowed a few more people to come along - hopefully all those Wellington players who are attending the raft of one-day tourneys run by the Warlords will see fit to get up here next year.
Just over 2 1/2 weeks to go till Fields of Blood (operating under the umbrella of GuardCon - the City Guard Gaming Convention) and time to reflect on what's been accomplished so far. Despite standing in the shadows of the TOing giants and the mind-bogglingly large tournaments happening over in Oz with increasing frequency I feel like I'm holding my own and the final product will be well worth attending. This is certainly largely thanks to the support of some good friends (one of whom I've not yet actually met!). Dave Grant, Phil Comins and Marcelo Rouco in particular have been very supportive of my noob TO efforts; offering sensible and timely advice, positive encouragement, and helping me solve problems (sometimes before I've even created them!). Phil's been so supportive he's even gone the extra step to set my mind at ease by grudging me with his High Elves for round one. Cheers mate...
So what's been going on in the background? Clearly a lot of work goes into putting on one of these things (even one with only 38 players takes some co-ordination) but even I've been astounded by the sheer amount of time invovled. I've partly brought this upon myself, mostly because I want it to run smoothly and put systems in place so that it's easier next year (that thinking is a bit pre-emptive I know...). What's done?
- obviously the tournament pack is done and has gone out. No serious complaints. Positive response to having 6 rounds.
- secured independent (and highly qualified) painting judge.
- army lists written up, checked. Waiting for just one more and they'll be sent off to the judges. Dave Grant retyped all the lists for Tin Soldiers into a generic format; taking out all the personality (which sounds a bit brutal I know) but importantly leaving the judges with the essentials - units and numbers - which is all the information they require to make an informed decision. No major issues with getting the lists, received the occasional second or third draft from a few people but easy to change once the list is already typed up.
- hard copies of all Direwolf FAQ documentation.
- grudge match-ups underway and a good response to this so far.
The Army Lists
Reading what people are taking has been a huge learning experience in and of itself! I wrote my list before the first one came in (Lizards - the same list I would have taken to CtA...) so I wouldn't be tempted to change it based on what I might face (not that I have any idea how I really could anyway). Boy oh boy there's some interesting stuff in there! I can't say much more than that at this point. Lots of Daemons (to be expected) which should make for some amusing matchups in later rounds (as the Daemon players potentially end up playing each other). A little bit of everything with I think every army in the Warhammer world represented which is pretty cool.
More on the lists after the tournament...
The Players
38 is an ok number. I was definitely hoping for more people but it's a starting point for future growth (first year City Guard have run the event). I was convinced to relax the requirement for painted armies and that has allowed a few more people to come along - hopefully all those Wellington players who are attending the raft of one-day tourneys run by the Warlords will see fit to get up here next year.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Kicking a man when he's down... no way to win at Warhammer
Sunday saw a pre-arranged game with Craig and his Skaven horde. I love playing Skaven - the unpredictability can prove most entertaining. These Skaven were perhaps less unpredictable than most but I still got a few shocks.
Craig had the serious misfortune of being hit by a car a couple of weeks ago (I say that fairly casually; it's actually appalling - poor guy!) and as a result had a steel plate inserted into his right shoulder. Being right-handed and unable to use his right hand combined with the fact he was using a horde army made the whole experience a little painful for the both of us. It hurt just to watch him roll the dice!
After throwing away some Skinks and Kroxigor for no other reason than gross stupidity we got down to the serious business of a huge scrap in the centre (which Craig assures me he had planned all along). Were it not for my Cold One Scar-Vet the Saurus and Slann would have fled in the first round (outnumbering + Sacred Standard of the Horned Rat = bye bye) but the Cold-One made the Saurus feel invincible. And so they proved as they bravely hacked down Slaves and Clanrats. A rear-charge into said Clanrats by the highly mobile Salamanders broke the back of the combat (after 4-5 rounds) and the subsequent pursuit netted me the Skaven BSB, a handily placed unit of Skinks cutting down the Slaves as they tried to escape. The Salamanders bravely took the charge of the Warlord and his unit of Stormvermin in the last turn and were broken but I still managed a win by around 670VPs. I was fortunate enough to collect 2 banners through the massed combat.
The Saurus were impressive and really dealt out the combat res I needed to stay in the game.
Spell of the game - Doom and Darkness. I love this spell. Marry it, have it's babies. Love it! Cast on the Stormvermin it helped them fail a fear check to charge the remaining Krox. Cast on the Slaves at just the right time it helped them break from combat even with their reroll from the BSB and General's leadership. Also had Unseen Lurker but never got it off unfortunately.
I'm finally getting happy with my deployment - they key is the Jag-Vet going on or very near a flank with some Skinks - providing them with his leadership should they need it, but also giving him the option to get Steed of Shadowed if required. He actually had a pretty poor game, running down the Warp-Lightning Cannon (more on that shortly) before failing a charge on the rear of the Slaves by 1/2 an inch (to assassinate the BSB) and getting Ratling Gunned to death.
The Warp-Lightning Cannon - omg. I've never considered these things that big of a deal. Until with one str10 shot it completely vapourised the Steg! Man that hurt. Suddenly there's this huge gaping hole in the middle of my line. Caused me to fail Stupidity (self) and charge some Krox into the front of a static 5 Clanrat block. Oh the humanity.
Still, a win's a win and I'll have a measure of confidence going into the game should I face Craig again at Fields of Blood.
Oh yeah, in other news - I drew Simon's DIRTY Daemons for the next round of the KnockOut, almost assuring my exit from that particular tournament.
One more thing - Phil Comins has grudged me round one of Fields. Excellent. I've not yet played Phil and his beautifully painted High Elves so this will be an awesome game and one I am REALLY looking forward to. Three weeks to go!
Craig had the serious misfortune of being hit by a car a couple of weeks ago (I say that fairly casually; it's actually appalling - poor guy!) and as a result had a steel plate inserted into his right shoulder. Being right-handed and unable to use his right hand combined with the fact he was using a horde army made the whole experience a little painful for the both of us. It hurt just to watch him roll the dice!
After throwing away some Skinks and Kroxigor for no other reason than gross stupidity we got down to the serious business of a huge scrap in the centre (which Craig assures me he had planned all along). Were it not for my Cold One Scar-Vet the Saurus and Slann would have fled in the first round (outnumbering + Sacred Standard of the Horned Rat = bye bye) but the Cold-One made the Saurus feel invincible. And so they proved as they bravely hacked down Slaves and Clanrats. A rear-charge into said Clanrats by the highly mobile Salamanders broke the back of the combat (after 4-5 rounds) and the subsequent pursuit netted me the Skaven BSB, a handily placed unit of Skinks cutting down the Slaves as they tried to escape. The Salamanders bravely took the charge of the Warlord and his unit of Stormvermin in the last turn and were broken but I still managed a win by around 670VPs. I was fortunate enough to collect 2 banners through the massed combat.
The Saurus were impressive and really dealt out the combat res I needed to stay in the game.
Spell of the game - Doom and Darkness. I love this spell. Marry it, have it's babies. Love it! Cast on the Stormvermin it helped them fail a fear check to charge the remaining Krox. Cast on the Slaves at just the right time it helped them break from combat even with their reroll from the BSB and General's leadership. Also had Unseen Lurker but never got it off unfortunately.
I'm finally getting happy with my deployment - they key is the Jag-Vet going on or very near a flank with some Skinks - providing them with his leadership should they need it, but also giving him the option to get Steed of Shadowed if required. He actually had a pretty poor game, running down the Warp-Lightning Cannon (more on that shortly) before failing a charge on the rear of the Slaves by 1/2 an inch (to assassinate the BSB) and getting Ratling Gunned to death.
The Warp-Lightning Cannon - omg. I've never considered these things that big of a deal. Until with one str10 shot it completely vapourised the Steg! Man that hurt. Suddenly there's this huge gaping hole in the middle of my line. Caused me to fail Stupidity (self) and charge some Krox into the front of a static 5 Clanrat block. Oh the humanity.
Still, a win's a win and I'll have a measure of confidence going into the game should I face Craig again at Fields of Blood.
Oh yeah, in other news - I drew Simon's DIRTY Daemons for the next round of the KnockOut, almost assuring my exit from that particular tournament.
One more thing - Phil Comins has grudged me round one of Fields. Excellent. I've not yet played Phil and his beautifully painted High Elves so this will be an awesome game and one I am REALLY looking forward to. Three weeks to go!
Friday, August 22, 2008
First time against Ogres!!!
Possibly the most exciting games must be those against a new player AND a new army! The more you play Warhammer the less likely this is to occur but last night I was fortunate enough to be invited over to Doug's place to be a part of the "Garage Irregulars" informal club gathering. They play in Doug's garage every couple of weeks. This week, with The Pilgrimage, list marking for Pilgrimage and some random Murder Mystery thing on (what the hell Dave?!) it was only Doug, Kitson and myself. As Antony has already smashed me he opted to watch (which means commentate) as I played Doug.
Doug is a helluva nice guy - the game is all about fun, no stress, shit happens, get over it, roll the dice, relax. I LIKE this approach and it's refreshing playing someone who, while I wouldn't say he doesn't care about winning, is not obsessed with this as the primary goal. The attitude I saw was something that inspired and encouraged me and that alone made the game worthwhile.
What also made the game worthwhile was the hilarious and incredible antics of Doug's army! Realising that the Tyrant essentially carries a combat-oriented stone thrower (seriously - small blast template over unit in combat - str8, partials str4, D6 wounds, no save - OMG!) changed by perception of the softness of Ogres.
After mass fleeing from charges (on both sides) the game see-sawed wildly. Doug was INCREDIBLY unlucky to lose his Tyrant who charged the Saurus block; missed with his stone thrower weapon of doom and broke and was run down. Next to this was a comedy of errors as the Slann was charged by a Gnoblar block, beating them off with the help of some Ninja Skinks and taking 4 (four!!!) wounds in the process! The Cold One Scar Vet solo charged 3 Maneaters with handguns, beat them up over a couple of turns and broke them. The Ogre BSB with Tenderisedrcharge some Krox, fluffed, and was flank charged by another unit of Krox getting thoroughly flattened.
Spell of the game - Doom and Darkness. Runner up Shades of Death on the Krox making them cause Terror - Butcher on their flank failed his Fear test to charge them and was subsequently beaten up.
Salamanders took 3 wounds off a Slavegiant with one round of shooting, then failed to finish him off in the next round and returned to their more conventional behaviour - eating Skinks and nearly panicking themselves off the board.
Steg was squashed by the Giant. Giant was Squashed by the Krox (after they had killed off the Butcher).
Actually magic was pretty awesome. Steed of Shadowed Priest cut down a fleeing Leadbelcher. Portent of Far on Krox (a favourite). Need to take more magic missiles against Ogres.
Poison shooting from Skinks was awsome - especially in the first round where they shot up 2 units of Bulls. Skinks are great against Ogres - negating their toughness and Ogres have little armour to speak of. I was rolling particularly well though so luck definitely played a part.
In the end I had 2 quarters, a standard and the enemy general and some dead stuff (with lots left alive) and Doug had his Hunter and a unit of Bulls. Good game and important lessons learned.
Stuck around and watched Ant smash Doug at Speedhammer (fastest playing ever). Ant's army is damn nasty - I just can't figure out how to beat it! Might get my chance at Fields of Blood though...
Doug is a helluva nice guy - the game is all about fun, no stress, shit happens, get over it, roll the dice, relax. I LIKE this approach and it's refreshing playing someone who, while I wouldn't say he doesn't care about winning, is not obsessed with this as the primary goal. The attitude I saw was something that inspired and encouraged me and that alone made the game worthwhile.
What also made the game worthwhile was the hilarious and incredible antics of Doug's army! Realising that the Tyrant essentially carries a combat-oriented stone thrower (seriously - small blast template over unit in combat - str8, partials str4, D6 wounds, no save - OMG!) changed by perception of the softness of Ogres.
After mass fleeing from charges (on both sides) the game see-sawed wildly. Doug was INCREDIBLY unlucky to lose his Tyrant who charged the Saurus block; missed with his stone thrower weapon of doom and broke and was run down. Next to this was a comedy of errors as the Slann was charged by a Gnoblar block, beating them off with the help of some Ninja Skinks and taking 4 (four!!!) wounds in the process! The Cold One Scar Vet solo charged 3 Maneaters with handguns, beat them up over a couple of turns and broke them. The Ogre BSB with Tenderisedrcharge some Krox, fluffed, and was flank charged by another unit of Krox getting thoroughly flattened.
Spell of the game - Doom and Darkness. Runner up Shades of Death on the Krox making them cause Terror - Butcher on their flank failed his Fear test to charge them and was subsequently beaten up.
Salamanders took 3 wounds off a Slavegiant with one round of shooting, then failed to finish him off in the next round and returned to their more conventional behaviour - eating Skinks and nearly panicking themselves off the board.
Steg was squashed by the Giant. Giant was Squashed by the Krox (after they had killed off the Butcher).
Actually magic was pretty awesome. Steed of Shadowed Priest cut down a fleeing Leadbelcher. Portent of Far on Krox (a favourite). Need to take more magic missiles against Ogres.
Poison shooting from Skinks was awsome - especially in the first round where they shot up 2 units of Bulls. Skinks are great against Ogres - negating their toughness and Ogres have little armour to speak of. I was rolling particularly well though so luck definitely played a part.
In the end I had 2 quarters, a standard and the enemy general and some dead stuff (with lots left alive) and Doug had his Hunter and a unit of Bulls. Good game and important lessons learned.
Stuck around and watched Ant smash Doug at Speedhammer (fastest playing ever). Ant's army is damn nasty - I just can't figure out how to beat it! Might get my chance at Fields of Blood though...
Regenerating Black Knights
I caught a game against Chris from City Guard who I've never played before. Playing a new opponent is especially exciting (although Chris isn't a terribly excitable chap) as you are hoping to see new strategies/lists and learn something new.
I learnt that the reputation of the Drakenhof Black Knights is well-deserved as it took the Steg/Slann/Cold One Scar-Vet, Saurus block and a unit of Skinks 5 turns to get through them leaving just the Wight BSB alive (albeit on two wounds thanks to IoN). Pommy Dave's highly theorised Burning Blade, flaming attacks, -4 to enemy armour save, -1 armour save Scar-Vet came through, smashing a Vampire in the unit and taking out 5-6 knights before falling (though many of these came back from IoN - ack). Meanwhile 4 Krox, the Salamanders and some Skinks took on the rest of the Vampire army! 29 Zombies, block of Ghouls and the Vampire boss did for the Krox and Sallies. One unit of Skinks fled the board from Terror caused by the Black Coach. The other (Ninja) Skinks took down both Corpsecarts (!) - with a little help from the Slann.
This game was characterised for me by the Slann and Priest rolling all 5+ to cast spells and failing to get most of them off! Terrible TERRIBLE magic phases. The highlight was vapourising the Varghulf with 5 wounds from Burning Gaze (str6 vs Undead - rargh!).
A draw game - 129VPs in my favour. I played like a muppet- 4 Krox never saw a fight as they were boxed in by a forest and the everlasting Black Knight combat.
Gah. What a waste.
I learnt that the reputation of the Drakenhof Black Knights is well-deserved as it took the Steg/Slann/Cold One Scar-Vet, Saurus block and a unit of Skinks 5 turns to get through them leaving just the Wight BSB alive (albeit on two wounds thanks to IoN). Pommy Dave's highly theorised Burning Blade, flaming attacks, -4 to enemy armour save, -1 armour save Scar-Vet came through, smashing a Vampire in the unit and taking out 5-6 knights before falling (though many of these came back from IoN - ack). Meanwhile 4 Krox, the Salamanders and some Skinks took on the rest of the Vampire army! 29 Zombies, block of Ghouls and the Vampire boss did for the Krox and Sallies. One unit of Skinks fled the board from Terror caused by the Black Coach. The other (Ninja) Skinks took down both Corpsecarts (!) - with a little help from the Slann.
This game was characterised for me by the Slann and Priest rolling all 5+ to cast spells and failing to get most of them off! Terrible TERRIBLE magic phases. The highlight was vapourising the Varghulf with 5 wounds from Burning Gaze (str6 vs Undead - rargh!).
A draw game - 129VPs in my favour. I played like a muppet- 4 Krox never saw a fight as they were boxed in by a forest and the everlasting Black Knight combat.
Gah. What a waste.
Dark Elves Shmark Elves
So we have this KnockOut tournament dealio happening at City Guard at the moment and, having drawn against Tony Vodanovich for the first round I figured I was looking at an early exit. (Un)Fortunately Tony was unable to make it for our game and so I went through to the next round by default to face Scott Robinson and his girly new Dark Elves.
Scott had:
L4 magic boss on Dragon
L2 on foot
BSB with Hydra banner on Cold One
2 x 7 Cold Ones, one unit with ASF banner
3(!) x 10 RXB warriors
Some shades
Hydra
And seeing as this was an open list game Scott decided he would neglect to mention the tooled up assassin that was hiding somewhere in there (though I quickly found out where much to my dismay). It seemed an incredibly small army but I realised the shooting potential was silly big and there was going to be some interesting magic happening.
I took the Lizard list I would have taken to CtA if I could have gone (ok, I'm still a little bitter about that). With an uneven number of players at Fields of Blood I will fortunately get my chance to play there to make up the numbers.
Here are the highlights of the game:
Chill Wind 1st turn meant the Salamanders couldn't shoot the Shades in front of them so they charged the Shades with the Jag-Vet. Assassin pops up, strikes first, smashes the Scar-Vet. This combat lasts for 3 game turns - the assassin is the only surivor on both sides.
Steg charges the Hydra in the flank. Wins by 1, breaks it. Tense discussion between Scott and Antony (who was watching and... offering advice) as to the turning to flee of the Hydra. Ended up turning so that it just missed being crossfired by the Salamanders in combat behind it. Didn't quite feel right to me but let it go. Hydra eventually run down by Steg. Steg charged in flank by the assassin. Assassin squashed.
Baneheaded DE BSB dying to Steal Soul. I love this spell and Scott had fought off Burning Iron(running out of dice in the process) so couldn't stop it. Hehe.
Doom and Darkness is awesome on Cold Ones; helping them fail Stupidity :)
Skinks fleeing all over the place. Rear charging RXB Warriors and causing 1 casualty a turn from shooting.
Priest - Passed Terror from Dragon. Celestial Shield (4+ ward) on Krox meant they had only suffered 1 wound by the time the got into combat. Squashed a RXB unit. Krox took charge from dragon in the flank, lost, fled, escaped (!) and rallied in the last turn. Priest survived the game.
Combo-charge against stupid Cold Ones Knights by Saurus block with Slann and full unit of Krox. 3 Knights survive but break. Krox overrun into following CoK unit. Saurus fail by an inch which saves them from certain death. Had they got in the dragon would have rear-charged, negated ranks, killed a huge number of them. Overruning Krox lose two models, break, escape (ha!!!), rally. Are charged by remaining CoKs, hold. CoKs fluff and are ground down. One surviving Krox captures their banner. Gold.
Scar-Vet on Cold One charges rallied CoKs from first combat. They take the charge and are ground down.
Last turn throwing caution and common sense to the wind, Slann casts Unseen Lurker on himself and solo charges 1/2 strength unit of RXB. Breaks them (static 2 - outnumber and battle standard). Wasn't worth the risk in this instance but need to examine scoring to determine the worth of such a move at a tournament.
Win for me by 1000VPs and the satisfaction of beating Scott who I've only played once before but in that game he took a terrible Morghur/Spawn/Warhound Beases list against my Dwarfs so he deserved it :)
Onto the next round. On the table next to us Simon SMASHED Josh with the dirtiest Daemon army I have seen so far - just horrible. Great - either Simon next round or Alex/Antony who are playing each other on Sunday. Funny... must be someone else left... can't think who it is...
Scott had:
L4 magic boss on Dragon
L2 on foot
BSB with Hydra banner on Cold One
2 x 7 Cold Ones, one unit with ASF banner
3(!) x 10 RXB warriors
Some shades
Hydra
And seeing as this was an open list game Scott decided he would neglect to mention the tooled up assassin that was hiding somewhere in there (though I quickly found out where much to my dismay). It seemed an incredibly small army but I realised the shooting potential was silly big and there was going to be some interesting magic happening.
I took the Lizard list I would have taken to CtA if I could have gone (ok, I'm still a little bitter about that). With an uneven number of players at Fields of Blood I will fortunately get my chance to play there to make up the numbers.
Here are the highlights of the game:
Chill Wind 1st turn meant the Salamanders couldn't shoot the Shades in front of them so they charged the Shades with the Jag-Vet. Assassin pops up, strikes first, smashes the Scar-Vet. This combat lasts for 3 game turns - the assassin is the only surivor on both sides.
Steg charges the Hydra in the flank. Wins by 1, breaks it. Tense discussion between Scott and Antony (who was watching and... offering advice) as to the turning to flee of the Hydra. Ended up turning so that it just missed being crossfired by the Salamanders in combat behind it. Didn't quite feel right to me but let it go. Hydra eventually run down by Steg. Steg charged in flank by the assassin. Assassin squashed.
Baneheaded DE BSB dying to Steal Soul. I love this spell and Scott had fought off Burning Iron(running out of dice in the process) so couldn't stop it. Hehe.
Doom and Darkness is awesome on Cold Ones; helping them fail Stupidity :)
Skinks fleeing all over the place. Rear charging RXB Warriors and causing 1 casualty a turn from shooting.
Priest - Passed Terror from Dragon. Celestial Shield (4+ ward) on Krox meant they had only suffered 1 wound by the time the got into combat. Squashed a RXB unit. Krox took charge from dragon in the flank, lost, fled, escaped (!) and rallied in the last turn. Priest survived the game.
Combo-charge against stupid Cold Ones Knights by Saurus block with Slann and full unit of Krox. 3 Knights survive but break. Krox overrun into following CoK unit. Saurus fail by an inch which saves them from certain death. Had they got in the dragon would have rear-charged, negated ranks, killed a huge number of them. Overruning Krox lose two models, break, escape (ha!!!), rally. Are charged by remaining CoKs, hold. CoKs fluff and are ground down. One surviving Krox captures their banner. Gold.
Scar-Vet on Cold One charges rallied CoKs from first combat. They take the charge and are ground down.
Last turn throwing caution and common sense to the wind, Slann casts Unseen Lurker on himself and solo charges 1/2 strength unit of RXB. Breaks them (static 2 - outnumber and battle standard). Wasn't worth the risk in this instance but need to examine scoring to determine the worth of such a move at a tournament.
Win for me by 1000VPs and the satisfaction of beating Scott who I've only played once before but in that game he took a terrible Morghur/Spawn/Warhound Beases list against my Dwarfs so he deserved it :)
Onto the next round. On the table next to us Simon SMASHED Josh with the dirtiest Daemon army I have seen so far - just horrible. Great - either Simon next round or Alex/Antony who are playing each other on Sunday. Funny... must be someone else left... can't think who it is...
Friday, August 15, 2008
Call to Arms 2008 non-report
I've never travelled to another city for a tournament. I know to some of you that's a blasphemy - travel to interstate tourneys being fairly common, especially amongst the Australian set - but I've struggled with a young family (that being wife, 2 kids, mortgage, lawn etc...) to find the time or more importantly the money to justify 5 games of Warhammer in a weekend. I have however always aspired to attend such an event and when my wife finally relented and allowed me a leave pass for Call to Arms (Wellington) this year I was ecstatic.
The weeks leading up the event were to be honest, heinous. I'm a music teacher and for some reason every year at my school we present a major musical production. This year, being the 30th anniversary of the movie, we decided upon Grease. As far as musical theatre goes Grease is pretty much a walk in the park - that said, it is still an enormous amount of work for the staff and students involved. In my role as Musical Director I am required not only to train the vocalists and chorus and the accompanying band, but also to conduct and in fact play for each performance (an emotionally and physically exhausting process - the extent of which is difficult to convey). Suffice to say it requires more than just lazily waving my arms around for a few hours a night. The production was a huge success, sold out every night blah blah blah... yay for us. Unfortunately it meant that for almost 5 weeks I was unable to contemplate playing Warhammer with any regularity. My Sunday afternoons are greatly treasured as gaming time at my club (the Auckland City Guard for those who care) and during the show season I'm pretty much out of it for a few months.So it was that with the conclusion of the show I was looking forward to, more than ever, my first "outside" tournament. The Warlords have a fantastic reputation for putting on top events and we had a reasonable delegation of Auckland players attending.
5am this morning, hardly able to sleep, I jump out of bed. Quick shower, check I have everything I need (including Pommy Dave's Lizardmen which he generously lent me for the event) and I zipped over to pick up said Pom. Off to the airport and we arrive the prescribed 1/2 hour before our flight is due to depart.
6:45am we are boarded. 6:50am plane reverses to runway.
6:55am plane returns to boarding area....
7:15am steward announces we are experiencing some "technical difficulties".
7:40am we LEAVE the plane and return to the boarding lounge.
8:30am it is announced that the engineer is checking the plane.Ok, this sucks, but no real biggie...
8:45am announcement - flight cancelled.Ok, this sucks, no real biggie. We miss round one and figure the TO can just draw Dave and I against each other, call it a 10-10 draw or something. SERIOUSLY consider playing in the airport at a cafe - bung a few tables together, decorative plants = gaming table. PD has new camera and tempted for humour value.
Queue at ticketing/luggage drop-off counter waiting for flight to be rescheduled. We wait for 40 MINUTES... get to the counter and are told that sorry, the 11:30am flight has just filled up. Have to wait for a 1pm flight now.Ok, pretty suck now, missing two rounds. Ok, can still make round three, night games and day two.
Decide to go to a GW store and actually play a game now that we have 3 1/2 hours to kill. Costs us $18 to get out of the parking area.Within sight of the mall that houses the GW store and the car decides it's had enough and stops working. Completely. As in, absolutely nothing works. Call wife for help.
10:20am wife arrives with hugs and kisses and another car. Calls AA, sends us off to get lunch. Not enough time for a game now. Get to mall. Pommy Dave hanging out for Burger Fuel which is supposed to open at 11am.
11am - Burger Fuel closed, staff didn't turn up for work. No Burger Fuel.
Pommy Dave goes a bit mental and develops a twitch. Much philosophical discussion about life experience and the value of the "package" of travelling to a tournament, the actual games being just a part of this experience.
11:15am heading back to airport. Lost. Out comes the map. Find out how to get to airport.
11:45am back at airport, ready to check-in for 1pm flight. No, sorry, airline made a huge error, miscommunication galore, should have had us on 11:30am flight (which has just departed) but didn't bother to call us. Best they can do is 4:30pm flight.
I lose it. Pommy Dave goes all quiet - a sure sign he is totally pissed off (a warning should you play him in the future). Demand options from person in charge:
option 1) wait for 4:30pm flight
option 2) get credit for the flight from this airline and pay (through the nose) for another flight on another airline
option 3) call it a day, take the credit for the flight, walk away.
Pommy Dave convinced there is an option 4) call it a day and start legal processes that will result in us getting flight refunded and compensation for payment of tournament, accomodation, parking, food, gas, stress and associated health-related issues.
1:30pm Drop Pommy Dave back home.
1:40pm Almost home, suddenly think I've lost my wallet. Go mental in the car on the motorway, screaming like a Banshee on a double 6.
1:41pm Find wallet on dashboard. Cry a little.
1:50pm Get home. Wife and children attempt to console me. Inconsolable. Curled up in foetal position, rocking back and forth. Seek solace and closure on WAU forums.
LESSON - DO NOT, EVER, EVER, EVER attempt to fly Pacific Blue. Just don't. Don't even go there. Please. Pacific Blue = no. Spread the word and boycott the bastards.
Looking forward to hearing what the tournament was like from someone who was actually able to go.Will take some convincing for me to even try to go to an event in another city. Feeling physically sick at the stress. Pommy Dave is an inspiration of good humour and optimism but even he lost at the end. Quiet car ride home. Dug deep to hold it together and stop our fragile hearts and spirits from breaking.
Gutted and shattered.
Fuj
Monday, August 11, 2008
Way to slack off on the blog Fuj...
Been getting a lot of that sort of commentary recently.
Fortunately now that the thrice-damned show is done and buried (Grease is the word... indeed...) I am starting to reclaim my shattered existence. Games have been few and far between (to be exact, I've not played for the last 3 or so weeks) but that is all due to change. In fact it has changed as I played on Sunday.
Since my last post (and pre-the show taking over my life) I got in a few more games vs the mighty Mike and his wandering Chaos lads. Since then Mike has taken the advice of other players much more seriously, managing his first win with a heavily Slaneesh-marked force. Congrats Mike! We played a game where he faced off against the Doofs and the next week I borrowed Carl's Empire and gave that a go (two wins there). Using Empire was interesting and I was really surprised at how much I could fit into the army! So many troops! So many units!
Sunday heralded my potentially triumphant return to the club and I was questionably lucky to dodge a bullet when I received a PM from Tony saying that he wouldn't be able to make our game. Tony beat me senseless a while back (Daemons vs Dwarfs) and I now greatly fear the threat of the Daemonic on the gaming field. Scary stuff and Tony's army is honed (he's also a really experienced general of course!).
Anyway, instead of Tony I got in a game in against Lezle's Vampire Counts.
I'd only previously played VCs once (vs Kyle using the Dwarfs) and they had singularly failed to impress. This time, using Lizards with 5 dispel dice and no scrolls, I was looking at a potentially different scenario. Lezle's army is startlingly different to Kyle's - Boss on Abyssal Terror (cool!), 2 Dread Knight Vamps, Varghulf, Zombie block, 2 skellie blocks, Black Knights, Bats, and a unit of the (justifiably) dreaded Cairn Wraiths (with Banshee). The battle see-sawed around the middle game as I struggled to bring my one static res block into the game (for some reason I deployed them on a flank). Magic was AWESOME - spell selection was fortunate to say the least. Cleansing Flare (?... top Light magic spell) did for multiple units. Beast Cowers stopped the Vamp boss until the Abyssal Terror was shot out from underneath him. The Jag-Vet tagged the Black Knights, caned them on the charge (then died to the Vamp in the unit). The Steg ran into a Grave Guard block, bounced and was run down by the Varghulf (erk!). The Skinks were LEGENDARY. The Salamanders were BROKEN-LEVEL LEGENDARY. In one turn they threw 24 shots in a zombie block and next turn smashed them in combat. I've not had a game where the Sallies haven't just eaten all their Skink handlers so this was quite exciting!
In the end I had 2 banners and all 4 quarters and Lezle had his boss on 2 wounds (thanks to the Carstein ring otherwise he would have died in a previous combat) and a hero Vamp on 1 wound. I had the Sallies, 4 Skink units, one Krox from a 4-strong unit and the Skink Priest and Saurus block with Slann. Good times and a good win for the Lizards.
Tonight it's a rematch against Antony's newly revised Dark Elves who by all accounts are hideously nasty with their brand spanking new Army Book. Ant's a tough opponent and great general so it's sure to be a ripper game.
Fortunately now that the thrice-damned show is done and buried (Grease is the word... indeed...) I am starting to reclaim my shattered existence. Games have been few and far between (to be exact, I've not played for the last 3 or so weeks) but that is all due to change. In fact it has changed as I played on Sunday.
Since my last post (and pre-the show taking over my life) I got in a few more games vs the mighty Mike and his wandering Chaos lads. Since then Mike has taken the advice of other players much more seriously, managing his first win with a heavily Slaneesh-marked force. Congrats Mike! We played a game where he faced off against the Doofs and the next week I borrowed Carl's Empire and gave that a go (two wins there). Using Empire was interesting and I was really surprised at how much I could fit into the army! So many troops! So many units!
Sunday heralded my potentially triumphant return to the club and I was questionably lucky to dodge a bullet when I received a PM from Tony saying that he wouldn't be able to make our game. Tony beat me senseless a while back (Daemons vs Dwarfs) and I now greatly fear the threat of the Daemonic on the gaming field. Scary stuff and Tony's army is honed (he's also a really experienced general of course!).
Anyway, instead of Tony I got in a game in against Lezle's Vampire Counts.
I'd only previously played VCs once (vs Kyle using the Dwarfs) and they had singularly failed to impress. This time, using Lizards with 5 dispel dice and no scrolls, I was looking at a potentially different scenario. Lezle's army is startlingly different to Kyle's - Boss on Abyssal Terror (cool!), 2 Dread Knight Vamps, Varghulf, Zombie block, 2 skellie blocks, Black Knights, Bats, and a unit of the (justifiably) dreaded Cairn Wraiths (with Banshee). The battle see-sawed around the middle game as I struggled to bring my one static res block into the game (for some reason I deployed them on a flank). Magic was AWESOME - spell selection was fortunate to say the least. Cleansing Flare (?... top Light magic spell) did for multiple units. Beast Cowers stopped the Vamp boss until the Abyssal Terror was shot out from underneath him. The Jag-Vet tagged the Black Knights, caned them on the charge (then died to the Vamp in the unit). The Steg ran into a Grave Guard block, bounced and was run down by the Varghulf (erk!). The Skinks were LEGENDARY. The Salamanders were BROKEN-LEVEL LEGENDARY. In one turn they threw 24 shots in a zombie block and next turn smashed them in combat. I've not had a game where the Sallies haven't just eaten all their Skink handlers so this was quite exciting!
In the end I had 2 banners and all 4 quarters and Lezle had his boss on 2 wounds (thanks to the Carstein ring otherwise he would have died in a previous combat) and a hero Vamp on 1 wound. I had the Sallies, 4 Skink units, one Krox from a 4-strong unit and the Skink Priest and Saurus block with Slann. Good times and a good win for the Lizards.
Tonight it's a rematch against Antony's newly revised Dark Elves who by all accounts are hideously nasty with their brand spanking new Army Book. Ant's a tough opponent and great general so it's sure to be a ripper game.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)