|
Jim¡¦s TSHFT
Rage picked me up at 6:15 (AM) for an early start to make is down to Seattle by start time. After a brief detour, we discovered the location of Iron St. and picked Evan up. Evan has been a regular at our club nights for a long time, and just recently made a commitment to playing Fantasy more in earnest. This was his first big tournament, and he had the proper mixture of excitement, nervousness, and anticipation that tends to make for a good weekend. We rolled into town in plenty of time to grab some coffee and catch up with friends before the first round pairings.
Before I get into things, I should point out that the TSHFT is an uncomped tournament. That means anything goes, and it¡¦s dependent on the p_layer_¡¦s judgement to bring a reasonable list. Because of that, I knew I would be facing some potentially crazy armies. In the other TSHFT I attended, I faced Teclis and friends in one game, and an all skink/sallie/Slaan/Terradon army in another game. I ended up splitting Best Overall and Best General with Fluger¡¦s Empire army in that one, but that was back when the Wood Elves were much more powerful. With all of the new books drastically changing the power balance of the game, I was interested in seeing if the Woodies could still compete. As such, I took the same Wood Elf tournament army that I always take:
Level Three Spellweaver, Calingor¡¦s Stave, 3 Scrolls
BSB Noble, Asyendi¡¦s Bane, Hail of Doom
Wardancer Noble, Mooonstone of Hidden Ways
8 Dryads
8 Dryads
8 Dryads
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Riders, Musician
7 Wardancers
7 Wardancers
6 Wild Riders, musician
3 Treekin
Treeman
5 Waywatchers
It¡¦s a potent, maneuverable army, but it lacks in can-openers. The builds that traditionally give me the most trouble are those with lots of high armor troops, and T6 monsters with armor saves. With that said, it has combat skirmishers galore, a reasonable anvil in the form of the Treeman and BSB, and a fair magic defense. All in all, hopefully a powerful but balanced army.
Additionally, this year¡¦s TSHFT included scenarios that not only impacted the current game, but also provided benefits or disadvantages for the following games. These scenarios often had a large impact on the game, and were a neat touch.
Game 1 ¡V Skrag Comes to Lunch
The first round saw me matched against an Ogre Kingdom army led by Eric Reppas. When I saw the first pairings, my initial thought was that it would be a cakewalk. My track record against Ogres with Wood Elves has been spotless, including games against 3 of the best p_layer_s in the Pacific NW. As such, I felt pretty confident going into the game. I¡¦m guessing you can see where this is going ¡V a lesson in humility is forthcoming!
The first surprise was the list. Unfortunately, Eric didn¡¦t have a copy of his list to give me after the game, so I can¡¦t reproduce his army exactly (Personal Pet Peeve #1: Always, always have a copy of your list for your opponent.). From memory, it contained:
Skrag (SP?) The slaughtermaster special character
Butcher (Scroll?)
Butcher
BSB
3 Bulls
3 Iron Guts
20 Gnoblars
Gorger
Gorger
Gorger
Gorger
Scraplauncher
3 Maneaters, all with a brace of handguns
3 Maneaters, all with a brace of handguns
The scenario was interesting ¡V we started with 36¡¨ LOS, and it diminished each turn ¡V 36, 30, 24, 18, 12, and then 6 inches in turn 6. Bonus points were awarded for having scoring units (defined as US5 units of non-ethereal non-flying infantry and cav) in the enemy deployment zone.
Things started off fine enough, with the shooting keeping the few non-Maneater Ogres in the game honest. Scrag bounced from one Maneater unit to another, and I was able to redeploy with my movement and Moonstone to stay out of combat with him. It wasn¡¦t until after the game when I looked at the rules that Scrag isn¡¦t really all that in combat ¡V I would have been better off to engage him.
The gorgers came on, killed a thing or two, then got shot up. By that time, the range of sight had reduced so much that my end-game charges upon which I generally rely to win games were a moot point. Nor could I use my shooting to mop up any more units. Poor planning on my part, for sure. Had I done it again, I likely would have engaged more quickly, scored some fast points, and then disengaged. As it stood, it was a very close game that ended in a draw. I got two bonus points to me for having a unit in my opponent¡¦s deployment zone (and none of his in mine). I made a few mistakes, but largely not having an end-game to work with shut me down the most. It was a neat scenario, and I enjoyed it. Eric was relatively quiet throughout the game, but was pleasant enough to make it a fun game.
Round 2 ¡V They¡¦re Grrrreat!
For the second round, I was matched against Ryan Munsell (ClassicFlava). I¡¦d played Ryan¡¦s Beasts of Chaos at the first TSHFT and his Orcs at a Warhamster Scavenger Hunt. This time he was pushing around a nicely painted lizard army with (vaguely ¡V again, the lack of an army list impedes my report writing ¡V Ryan, can you fill it in?):
Carnosaur rider with killy suff and a cool tiger-striped paint job. I thought of him as ¡§Tony¡¨
BSB on cold one
Priest, Engine of the Gods
Priest, Engine of the Gods
Some skinks (assorted and sundry)
Cold-one riding saurus
Some terradon riders
Despite playing a filthy list with two T6 and 1 T5 terror causers, Ryan is a great guy and fun to play against. Upon arriving at the venue I had noted the population explosion of Stegadons in the local habitat, and was prepared to do what I could to reduce their numbers. Otherwise they over-consume and destroy the local ecosystem, you know. The scenario was to choose an enemy model to assassinate. I chose a skink priest, while Ryan went for my sorceress general. From bonus points from the last game we could both bring in flanking units ¡V Ryan chose not to, but I brought some Wildriders in from the side.
WARNING: This game suffers somewhat form middle-tourney syndrome. It was fun, but the details were hazy.
I started off targeting the skinks and terradons, as they can be fairly bothersome even without the others hanging around. I do recall one large mistake on my part. I¡¦m not sure if I misjudged distances or had a brainfart (perhaps both), but I had my BSB and Sorceress in a unit of Wardancers, behind some woods (big surprise!), but had inadvertently left another unit hanging out the front of the woods. This gave Ryan a dual charge with his Cold Ones and Tony the Carnie, which then overran into my Wardancers. I think I had intended to draw him into the woods, but in misjudging (forgetting?) the movement of the Wardancers, I lost a sizable chunk of my army in one go. With a ¡§They¡¦re Grrrreat!¡¨ Tony and friends munched through my characters and Wardancers, and ended up in my back yard. Once they were in my back field I unloaded some archery and reduced the cold ones to nothing, and then charged into and finished off the BSB. After seeing what had happened to his friends Tony decided that archers aren¡¦t [italics]that[/italics] grrrreat, became somewhat gunshy, and started avoiding the rest of my troops for the time being.
Despite the loss of my characters, I did manage to net a Steggie or two. I THINK (again, details are hazy) one went down to a slow-mo drubbing by a Treeman (followed by Wildriders in the rear). Things really shifted when Ryan tossed his Terradons into the combat with the Wildriders, which just gave them something to kill. I think the other steggie was chewed up by Treekin (who, IIRC, were later reduced to kindling by the gun-shy Carnosaur).
It was a bloody, bloody game with mass casualties all around. One of those games where counting up what you have left is the easiest way to go. I ended up eeking out a minor victory with one bonus point (killing the skink), while Ryan got two bonus points (killing my sorceress, who was a lord choice). The loss of my sorcerer and BSB stung, as I could point to the exact mistake that I made, but the game was so deliciously violent that it only served to make the game more tense and exciting.
Ryan ended up getting my second-place favorite opponent vote, and ended up winning Best General.
Round 3 ¡V Death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth!
For the third round, I was matched against Malsqueek (Adam Baumeister). I¡¦ve wanted to play Malsqueek for ages, particularly after hearing VonVilkee rave about their great game at the last OFCC. Malsqueek is a gentleman, a brewer, a scholar, and a dirty little rat. He was playing Skaven, which at this tournament were using the new book. His army consisted of:
Warlord, shield, fellblade
Chieftan, BSB, Storm Banner
Warlock Engineer, Lvl 2, Condenser, Dispell Scroll
Plague Priest, Foul Pendant, Flail, Dispell Scroll
28 Rats with shields and spears, Full Command, Warpfire thrower
24 Rats with shields, Full Command, Doom F_layer_
24 Rats with shields, Full Command, Ratling Gun
20 Slaves
20 Slaves
20 Slaves
17 Giant rats, 3 Pack masters, Master Moulder
6 Jezzails
17 Plague Monks, Musician, Standard
5 Gutter runners
Warp lightning cannon
ABOMINATION!!!! ¡V Modeled as a field of bones and body parts, with a single white rat ¡K Honestly, what¡¦s it going to do, nibble my bum?
I am not ashamed to admit that the Abomination had me wetting myself in fear. There was no way I was letting that thing get into combat! The center of the board had a generator that shut down magic within a 3d6¡¨ range ¡V it also served as the _object_ive of the game. Since my Sorceress and Malsqueek¡¦s Warlord had been assassinated last turn, they both started off the board and walked in on turn 1.
Deployment was a bit tricky. Actually, not really tricky so much as I botched it by putting my free wood too close to the generator, forgetting that the moonstone wouldn¡¦t and treesinging probably wouldn¡¦t work in that wood. I opened up with a some archery on my left flank, which picked off some of the Jezzails on the opposite hill. They promptly panicked and fled off the board. Likewise, my Gladeriders found a hole in his battle line and were able to pick out a Ratling Gun. On his left flank, he had left some giant rats and the Plague Monks out on their own (at one point he considered deploying his A-bomb there, but later changed his mind). During the first turn my Waywatchers poked their head out of the woods to invite the frenzied Monks into the forest for tea, while my Moonstone Wardancers popped over to contend with the isolated giant rats (once the effect of the generator died down enough for them to make the jump). I was saving my Hail of Doom Arrow for the Censer Bearers, but Malqueek had done a nice job of protecting them (and his Warpfire Thrower) behind a wall in his deployment zone.
The A-bomb trundled forward on my right flank, while some slaves came obligingly forward down the center to be slaughtered (and in turn, explode and eat some elves). Ouch. Exploding slaves and Elves really don¡¦t mix well.
The middle portion of the game was dominated by my growing terror of the A-Bomb. As it came closer and closer, I started to pour more and more of my fire into it, and started trying to dodge around terrain to stay out of harm¡¦s way.
Back on my left flank, the giant rats succumbed to the Wardancers, and while I wasn¡¦t able to make good on my offer of tea and treesinging-spam cookies, I was able to keep the Plague Monks out of most of the game by teasing them with the Waywatchers. A frenzied unit near woods without support units to help is a sad unit!
On my right, the A-Bomb got into my backyard, shifted towards the center, and I really started panicking. I threw pretty much all of my shooting into it- two archer units, the HoDA, heck, even my Spellweaver started throwing rocks. The A-Bomb was like a big obnoxious drunk person at a party, stumbling around saying ¡§Hey guys! What¡¦s going on!¡¨ while everyone avoids him like the plague. Jeez, A-bomb, take the hint! Eventually, there was no avoiding it, I was going down. I bit the bullet and put EVERYTHING in charge range of the A-bomb: Treeman, archers, dryads ¡K I unloaded with a gazillion shots, and got it down to a wound or two remaining. Then the A-Bomb touched my Treeman, which completely disintegrated (at least I THINK this happened ¡V I¡¦m really not certain, perhaps the Treeman was never charged ¡V Adam, can you corroborate?). The following turn I was able to finish it off with shooting (at which point it turned into a single rat swarm that proceeded to charge and die to some archers.
The Plague Censers had taken advantage of the shooting I had focused on the A-Bomb, come out of hiding, and started whaling on some elves (elves and censers don¡¦t mix).
During the 5th turn, a unit of Wardancers killed some slaves and were able to slide past his blade-doom-thingee into some clanrats and chew them up. We were tight on time, but the T.O. let us finish our 6th turn. There were multiple charges against his big units which saw them fleeing, and their friends panicking, the warplightning cannon misfiring, and ¡K well¡K when it goes south for Skaven, it doesn¡¦t do so quietly. It was a pretty remarkable last turn ¡V what may have been a draw shifted to a solid victory to me.
I think the big issue was that Malsqueek held back too much. If the rest of his army had been in position to join the fray once the A-bomb was bouncing belligerently around my party, I¡¦m not sure I would have had a chance. Or, at least, much less of a chance. There was also the issue with his hanging his right flank out to dry, but the Plague Priest did finally get the chance to put the boot to the Waywatchers for being such teases.
It was a fantastic game, and Malsqueek was a treat to play against. He got my vote for best game and went on to win the Favorite Opponent award.
Interlude
The Warhamsters, the WCP folks, and some other assorted hooligans (Fluger, Malsqueek, Yarbicus, Michalius, and Zen) headed out to Shultzy¡¦s for dinner. The company was great, the food was excellent, and the beer was amazing. I tried a dark lager (whose name I can¡¦t remember!) and a Pike¡¦s XXXXX Stout, both of which were absolutely delicious. Then we headed over to Malsqueek¡¦s where his wife generously gave us the run of the apartment. We attempted to learn Caylus, and resorted to Carcassone when we realized that we were too sauced. Veskit and crew played their 3rd or 4th game of race for the galaxy of the weekend. Michalius provided a variety of brews, while Malsqueek chipped in some of his excellent homebrews. Over the night, I drank: Black Butte XXI (definitely an imperial porter, very warming with a complex taste), some light-colored beer that was actually quite winey ¡V more like a chardonnay than anything, Malsqueek¡¦s Thanksgiving brew (Yum! A nice, rich malt profile with a spicy finish ¡V VERY drinkable), a delicious Japanese Scotch that is sadly unavailable in the states, Boundary Bay¡¦s Scotch Ale (a standard favorite of mine, chipped in by Evan), and some of Malsqueek¡¦s Cider (which about did me in ¡V a little of the old Johnny Jump Up goes a long way!). After a lively conversation with Evan on the best way to draw Carcassone tiles, we headed back to Fluger¡¦s to get some shut-eye.
Jeff kept us up all night with his snoring, and then generously treated us all to IHOP for breakfast as compensation. Fed, caffeinated, with a bit of a headache, and on to ¡K
Round 4 ¡V Despite Attempts at Culling, the Stegadon Population Continues to Increase
Round 4 saw me matched against Jacob and his gorgeously painted Lizardmen army.
Slaan, Scroll, Cupped hands, Bane Head, War Banner, Becalming Cogitation, Focused Rumination, Focus of Mystery (whew!!!)
Scar Vet, Light Armour, Shield, Great Weapon, Jag Charm
Skink Chief, War spear on Ancient Stegadon
Skink Priest, 2 x Dispell, Stegadon with Engine of the Gods
18 Saurus, Spears, Musician, Standard
16 Temple Guard, Full Command
10 Skink skirmishers, blowpipes
10 Skinks, Javelin & Shield
5 Terradon riders
The board we played on was positively awful. There was one enormous hill in the middle of the table, and little else, save for a potted plant I brought along with my army. The mission was to capture 3 moving _object_ives, and we both got to redeploy some _object_ives from our advantages from last game.
Jacob hadn¡¦t played versus Wood Elves much, so he was very cautious (and slow!) in his decisions. He selected Shadow for his lore, and I think this was one of his big mistakes. Fire, or some magic-missle heavy lore would have given me fits. He was really relying on the movement spells (and perhaps the pit for my Treeman). Relying on magic, though, is never a safe bet.
There were really three different battles taking place on the table, and I think Jacob¡¦s decision to spread out his troops was another mistake. On my left flank, one block of Saurus initially hung back. I worked some Dryads and Treekin forward, and was eventually able to take the Saurus out during turn 5 with a combined charge.
On my right flank, his Warspear Steggie and gun-shy Terradons split off to support some skinks and meet the Wildriders and Dryads I had sent over to flank on that side. The Terradons fought off a Gladerider charge handily. The Steggie got in position to charge the Wildriders, but I stopped the movement spell from happening (see! don¡¦t rely on magic!). Instead, my Dryads charged the Skinks, wiped them out, and then overran into the flank of the Steggie. Here a rule issue popped up. The Dryads clipped the front of the Steggie as they ran, but were in the Steggie¡¦s flank charge zone. Because the Enemy in the Way rules treat everything as a new charge, it was ruled that, even though the Dryad clipped the front, The Steggie¡¦s arc of facing, determines in which zone the unit charges.
Once I had the Dryads in, I started a long slow grind against the Stegadon who couldn¡¦t pass an armor save to save its life (literally!). Jacob took it in stride, stating that not passing armor saves was a ¡§life_style_ choice¡¨. Eventually, the Wildriders joined in, then the Terradons. When I finally got the last wound off of the Steggie (all the while respecting his choice not to pass armor saves), the Skink Chief broke, though the Terradons got away.
In the middle of the board, I managed to sing my forest snug to the side of the (huge) hill to block off a large portion of his approach. I hid on the other side of the hill, ready to charge when he exposed his advancing Engine and Temple Guard. I tossed some sacrificial dryads in to scare off a skirmish screen of skinks and to be slaughtered by the Temple Guard. The Wardancers popped into the side of the Engine, cut the priest¡¦s head off, and then proceeded to try and grind down the Steggie. This Stegadon had not made the same life_style_ choice as the other, and lasted the entire remainder of the game in combat.
I then tried to set a trap for the Temple Guard. I moved my Treeman up, in sight of the temple guard, and aimed for a flank charge. I then sent the Waywatchers to stand in the way ¡V they blocked the Temple Guard from charging the Treeman on their right, but the closest visible Waywatcher was to the left of the Temple Guard¡¦s center. Jacob took the bait, and charged against the Waywatchers, who fled and pulled the Temple Guard out to expose a flank to the Treeman. Had Jacob more experience with skirmishers, he¡¦d likely have recognized the trap and turned to face the Treeman square on, or charged out his Saurus Vet alone. As it was, once he took the bait he tossed his Jag-Charmed Saurus out of the unit during the magic phase to run down the fleeing Waywatchers. The Treeman dutifully trundled in and preceded to beat down the Temple Guard, steadily losing combat, but sticking around due to his nearby friendly BSB. I eventually ground the Temple Guard down to 3 models, fluffed a round of attacks, failed my first leadership test, and then realized that I had moved my BSB out of position to avoid the returning Jag-Charm Saurus! *le sigh!* Of course, the Treeman was cut down! TIMBERRRRR!!!!!!
By this time we were out of time on turn 5, and didn¡¦t get to play out the last turn. I really wish we had! If so I would have had a round of shooting with 12 archers and a hail of Doom Arrow (that I had been saving for a special occasion) to lay into either the Jag-Charm Saurus and/or the remaining 3 Temple Guard. I¡¦d also have been able to charge the Terradons with the Steggie-killing Dryads. I may have also lost my remaining Wardancers in combat with the Steggie, though there was also a chance to win combat. Finally, his Slaan would have had another round of magic, which may have done me in. I would have liked to have seen what happened! As it was, I ended with a minor victory (with two bonus points), for which I had to fight tooth and nail.
Jacob was a great opponent, and fun to play against. I ended up giving him my third vote for favorite opponent. Jacob ended up finishing 2nd overall.
This game brought up another of my pet peeves ¡V slow play during a tournament. Throughout the game, I made my moves quickly, while Jacob was much (MUCH!) slower. I assume his delay was due to indecisiveness resulting from lack of experience versus Wood Elves. Still, the amount of time it took to select spells was excruciating! It was 30 minutes into the round before we even started turn 1! ƒ¼ After a turn or two I mentioned to Jacob that time was passing, and asked politely (at least I hope it was polite) that he speed up game-play. He did ¡K a bit ¡K but we still didn¡¦t finish in time in spite of constant reminders by me. Don¡¦t get me wrong ¡V he was still a great opponent to play against, and I hope I get to play him again sometime, but tournaments are not the place to excruciate over every move. Plan your moves during your opponent¡¦s turn, move quickly and decisively, and know your magic lore well enough to be able to prioritize casting quickly.
Round 5 ¡V Auto-Fellatio
The T.O. came over to personally introduce me to my 5th round opponent ¡V Mike Kilker. Mike had won the most recent TSHFT, while I had won the first TSHFT. IIRC, we were also both running the same lists we had used in our previous TSHFTs (though mine had grown by 250 points). Neither of us had met or played one another before (we weren¡¦t at one another¡¦s previous tournaments), so it looked like it would prove to be a fun, close game. Then I saw, the list ¡K
Vamp Lord, Forbidden Lore, Lord of the Dead, Master of Black Arts, Sword of Power, Book of Arkhan, Crown of the Damned, Cadaverous Curiass
Vamp ¡V Avatar of Death, Dark Acolyte, Dispell Scroll, Flayed hauberk
Vamp - Avatar of Death, Dark Acolyte, Dispell Scroll, talisman of Lycni, Enchanted Shield
Wight BSB, Drakenhof Standard
17 Skeletons, Spears, Full Command, Banner of Hellfire
20 Zombies
20 Zombies
3 Corpse Carts
10(!) Wraiths + Banshee
*SIGH* Mike seemed like a really nice guy, was socially skilled, well groomed, and pleasant to spend a couple of hours with. But he also had a filthy abomination of a boring-as-hell Rock-Paper-Scissors points-denial snooze-fest. Really, there¡¦s no sugar-coating that his list was the Warhammer equivalent of auto-fellatio. There¡¦s nothing wrong with doing it (heck, more power to you!), but it¡¦s something you should do in the privacy of your own home rather than out in public.
Of course, all of the characters lived in the skeletons. The army was primed to summon a gazillion models, while the unstoppable Skeletons stayed out of harm¡¦s reach and the hefty magic defense protects the Wraiths from whatever could hurt them. The mission was to control table quarters by having more scoring units in each quarter than your opponent.
My primary mistake this game was engaging his army at all. The Wraiths got knocked down early by a round-1 HoDA shot, and spent most of the rest of the game running from Dryads (save for the last few turns where they beat on some poor, defenseless elves ¡K or was it Treekin?). I made a (rather silly, in retrospect) charge against his three Corpse Carts with my Wildriders, because averages told me that I should have a decent chance of winning a few combats even though they had ASF. Apparently, I was wrong today!
To net some points off of the denial block of doom, I planned to draw it in with some (Dryads? Treekin? I forgot what I used ¡V Dryads, I think) and then pop it in the front with some characterless Wardancers for some killing blow goodness. I figured the chance to pop a Vamp or two was worth the 222 point investment to do so. Alas, the general had the anti-killing blow armour, and the 6 attacks on the BSB and 4 attacks on one of the other Vamps didn¡¦t land a killing blow. Alas, where is a single unit of Dragon Princes when you need them! We should have never have left Uthulan ¡Kerr¡Kwhatever that place is called.
I killed a gazillion summoned zombies (many of which consisted of empty regiment _base_s ¡V Mike said he had the models, for the summoned zombies, but perhaps he couldn¡¦t bother to put them on the table? I certainly didn¡¦t want to inconvenience him while he was servicing himself). A gazillion zombies netted me 160 points, and I also took his wraith death-star down to half. I also got 2 table quarters because Mike neglected to be mindful of the mission. A bunch of my stuff died trying to get points. We drew, with me getting 3 bonus points, and Mike getting none (whoever had the most scoring units in each table quarter got 1 point per quarter ¡V Mike only had 1 scoring unit, while I had tons). A totally anti-climactic ending to a great weekend.
I had planned to mark him down as an unfun opponent for comp reasons, but in the end I didn¡¦t, because he was a nice guy (or perhaps because I live too close to Canada). In retrospect, I should have. When he asked me what I thought about his army I was straight-forward and, I hope, polite. It¡¦s not the type of army we play in my neck of the woods. It¡¦s not the type of army I care to play against ever again. Heck, perhaps I¡¦ll work on my flexibility so I can join in if I ever have to face a list like that again. Mike seemed like a nice guy, but it¡¦s time to rethink that army! Remember, it takes two to play Warhammer ¡V you can do that other stuff behind closed doors.
Finis
In the end, all of the Warhamster got to walk away with something. Rage got ¡§Love of the Game¡¨ for his hydra-less, dragon-less dark elves. Evan snagged a book from the raffle, and I was surprised to get P_layer_¡¦s Choice (for appearance), particularly given that Ben Shocki was in attendance. I ended up tying with Ryan for third overall ¡V not a bad finish for a washed-up 6th edition book! All in all, I had a great weekend ¡V I got to catch up with lots of friends and had a blast playing Warhammer. There¡¦s not much more I could ask for! I had 4 great games against 5 great opponents ¡V not bad at all, all things considered.
Jim
Misc.
General thoughts ¡V
- The scenarios were great, I really liked the advantages that got shifted to the next game
- Terrain was generally OK. I had brought some to share, and would be happy to do so in the future again. There were TONS of Realm of Battle boards, which looked amazing, but were crap to play on. Dice bounced all round, and models fall off of sloped hills.
- Set up was nice ¡V plenty of room, with sideboards for everyone!
- Having lunch on-site was a great idea, and the food was excellent.
- The organization was smooth, with no delays. Very well-run.
- Zen¡¦s system of paint-scoring is archaic, but consistent. You can pretty much calculate your own paint score before you go. I like consistency and knowing what to expect!
- I don¡¦t care for uncomped tournaments ¡V I do think the power level is too high. If I had brought any of my Chaos lists, I reckon I wouldn¡¦t have stood a chance, even if I greatly outplayed my opponents. I like my Wood Elves, but I also like to play more fun, less powerful armies. I suppose that¡¦s why the OFCC and WCP exist. I thought the power level was too high for my taste. I faced two dual-steg armies (one with a carnie, the other with a pimped out Slaan), and one points-denial snooze-fest. Some other armies I saw there were equally gross (8 chariot BoC, the prototypical Daemon build (Bloodthirster, flamers, fleshhounds). I just don¡¦t care for that _style_ of play. Zen¡¦s tiering system looks interesting, but I wish you could tier for comp bands.
- I generally dislike massacre scoring ¡V I¡¦d rather have a win scored as a win. Massacre scoring eliminates some armies from play (Dwarfs have a hard time massacring, but can often eke out a minor), and encourages RPS all-or-nothing armies.
Other Highlights ¡V
- Sadly, the Tweed Patch did not take place, but it was sweet to have Yarb look longingly at my Treeeman and say how much he missed his. ļ
- I learned a new word about a body part and dairy product that goes well with noodles!!!
- Thanks to Michalius for so many great tasters and sending me home with a bottle of Black Butte XXI! Erin and I are debating the relative merits of drinking now versus saving to age.
- Congrats to Jeff on winning overall! I had a chance to play (and beat!) the other folks placing ahead of me (and with me), but not you. One day, Jeff, one day! Thanks a million for breakfast, as well ¡V it was great seeing you!
- Thanks to Malsqueek for his hospitality and brewing fruits! We¡¦ll be dragging you back up to B¡¦ham soon!
- Thanks to Fluger (and Olivia and Ezra) for the hospitality as well. It takes a rare family to allow a slew of gamers to invade your home for the weekend.
- IN YOUR FACE!!!! To Rage for the demise of Team Beard ¡V The Warhamsters took them out, in spite of one of our traitorous members crossing over.
- Darren, your _base_s were amazing, and inspired me to try something similar ¡V I just don¡¦t know on what yet! If you want me to forward you a _link_ to a de_script_ion of how I cast my _base_s, let me know!
- Lots of beautiful armies ¡V Jacob¡¦s Lizards and Ben¡¦s Tomb Kings were stand-outs for me.
- I now know that any 20 minute gap in Veskit¡¦s schedule is filled with Race for the Galaxy, and that he would play it at his own mother¡¦s funeral.
- Finally, thanks Zen for a great tournament! I¡¦m looking forward to 2010!
|
Favoured: 0
