Hmm... ok, this was going to be a big ask. One of the top players in Australasia. The top Brettonian player. I played Marcelo on Friday night - a pickup game for fun and excitement - and got lucky panicking his General off the table at the top of turn one. Didn't see that happening again (in fact somewhat amusingly in our rematch he deployed with the Grail Knights).
I didn't rate my chances here and sighting the table almost put the nail in the coffin before I had begun - it was practically devoid of terrain. No forests! Oi! TO! That can't be right. Oh bugger, yes it was... I was screwed.
Marcelo brought his beautifully painted (courtesy of Gav and Glenn) Brettonians. Oh man! I was up against the pros in every aspect in this game!
He took:
Lord - Virtue of Audacity, Sword of the Lady's Champion, Gromril Great Helm, Grail Vow, Lance, Shield, barded Warhorse
Paladin - BSB, Sword of Might, Virtue of Duty
Damsel - Scroll, horse
Damsel - Scroll, horse
Damsel - horse
5 Grails - full command, Warbanner
7 Realms
8 Errants - Errantry Banner
6 Errants
4 Peg Knights
5 Mounted Yeoman
5 Mounted Yeoman
23 Men-at-Arms - musician, standard
23 Men-at-Arms - musician, standard
11 Skirmishing Bowmen
10 ranked Bowmen - braziers
Here are the highlights of the my low point for the tournament:
Delaying action from the Cold One Vet blew up in my face when, after charging the Grails and General and taking no wounds he fled from their static res of 4 was cut down. This had the flow on effect of the Grails overrunning into the Skinks who were trying to redirect the Realm bus.
While that was going on my Jag-Vet's Steed of Shadows was stopped time and again. Eventually the small Errants formation charged them - I fled, needing a four to bounce through the Saurus block which would not only save the Skink and Scar-Vet but also cause they Errants to fail their charge, opening up their flank to the Steg who was waiting behind the kill next to the Skinks. Rolled a 3 to flee. Scar-Vet/Skinks run down, Errants go too far to be charged by Steg. The result of all this was the Saurus block getting charged by the Errants in the flank and the Realm bus in the front (Marcelo stopped every attempt to assassinate the BSB). Saurus block broke and was cut down. Marcelo kindly asked if I would like to concede. I decided to painfully drag the game out to it's conclusion.
Steg bravely took on a Men-at-Arms block, beat them silly but failed to catch them and had to have another go. Managed to eventually kill them off and panic off some nearby bowmen (yay the Steg - way to kill chaff). Turned around just in time to get charged by the Brett General who is tooled to kill big stuff. Steg killed off the last Grail Knight but failed to hold on stubborn 5 on the last turn of the game.
On my left a unit of Skinks, the Sallies and and some Krox were busy with the Errant block and Pegs. Dumb luck saw the Krox hold both after the Skinks were dealt to and after the first round of combat from the Pegs/Errant overrun into them. Massed fluffed attacks left the Pegs over half strength, the Errants fine and the Krox run off the table.
9 misfires saw the Salamanders eat all their Skink handlers but pass their Monster Reaction test. They char-grilled all but one of the passing Grail Knights and survived to contest a table quarter. This gave me much more satisfaction than it really should have.
In the dying moments Skink shooting killed a Knight Errant from the four remaining of the small unit. The final insult was them passing their panic test and charging and wiping out the Skinks.
4 miscasts. Did I mention that? Also failed to cast a couple of 5+ or 6+ to cast spells. Slann - master of all magic my a$$!
Around the time where I rolled by third triple one (none of those being for break or leadership tests unfortunately) I realised I'd forgotten to turn on the Ji-Dave shirt. Ah... so THAT was the problem all along! Or maybe all my luck had inadvertently been transferred temporarily into my other glasses (which Marcelo had borrowed and wore thoughout the game).
End result a crushing and humiliating 0-20 loss. Marcelo really is a great guy though.
That had done for me and I knew without a doubt I was out of the podium by a country mile. We had theorised before the game that whoever won would either be facing Tony or another Daemon army - not exactly the motivation I was looking for in order to win As it happened Marcelo did go on to face Tony in the last round, clawing an 11-9 loss which is a much better result than I was likely to get.
In a way I was fortunate to lose so badly - I was still dodging the Kitson bullet and Reid/Simon/Pete/Mark McCool et al...
Looking for a nice relaxing end to the tournament I once again drew a player I've never encountered but amusingly an army I am most familiar with...
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