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
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