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| And the winner is... |
Saturday November 20th Six-Deucer and I threw our hats in and took part in a 2,000 point teams "for fun" tournament hosted by Gabby at Olympic Cards and Comics. The event was a huge success largely due to Dante and Purgatus and quite a few other (to whom I tip my baseball cap for I don't recall your names').
First of all- no pictures for my part. Since this was my first tournament (albeit, a fun tournament), I was so focused on my army, rules, and communication with my partner, Six, that I forgot to take pictures. This was unfortunate because there were some truly well-painted armies taking the field, Saturday.
I was really impressed with Kieth's Grey Knights, Chris' Tyranids' and Scott's Black Templars (commissioned as vanilla marines for the sake of this tournament), the fellow whom we played against in game three- his Eldar and Harlequin army, and Purgatus Space Wolves. There was one particular Valkyrie that stood out. I don't recall the fellow's name, which I apologize, however he had the most amazing desert camouflage pattern along with weathering and battle damage. The battle damage was the best- he scored out chunks from the wing and model adding bits of wire to personalize the model. I regret not taking a picture of the model to display with this blog entry, but perhaps I will have the opportunity to catch up to him and get that picture at a later time.
The tournament was fun. It seemed well organized, and started quickly (considering how many turned out to participate). There were something like twenty teams; 40 participants! Dante, Jancoran, and a few others judged the competition- each and every one of them were fast, polite, and always available for any issue we threw their way. At one point I had set Six's codex down near his side of a table, and a fellow IG player, adjacent to him, inadvertently picked up the book over the course of our second game. Judges, our opponents (and even fellow attendees) helped us locate the book. In the end the fellow checked his things and realized he had two IG codices in his possession- he handed the book over immediately with a sincere apology. Each of the three missions were fun and unique, and very difficult (if not impossible) to earn a tie. This was due in part to the secondary and tertiary objectives in each of the mission(s).
That was the thing- I did not come across one mean or nasty player over the course of the entire day (10 am to 8 pm). I met so many fun, respectful, and kind people- I couldn't hope to remember all of their names (which is "my thing" and I apologize). Every team we played against were cool guys. Scott and Mike were our first opponents- and they were very patient. Six and I being new, played very slow at times, averaging 4 turns per game due to time constraints. The third team we played against was comprised of two gentlemen that had me in stitches our entire game- nothing got them down! They were upbeat and humorous, and their joking was contagious. Six and I ended up losing to them both, but the laughs made up for it! I just want the fellow playing Blood Angels (Apologies for my poor name retention!) to know that when I use the word "sir" in reference to another, it is out of sincere respect!
I made quite a few mistakes over the course of the day. For instance, during our first game I pushed my Baal Predator, armed with a flamestorm cannon, into a less than optimized position to attack our opponent's forces. Had I chosen more carefully my approach, I could have flamed a squad of scouts and some terminators (rather than just a terminator). Stupid- ya, I know. I was face palming the minute I committed to the move- it was like some sort of premature baal pred"ation" or something...heh. Later, during our third game, even though we had first turn, I didn't push my Baal across the board to flame a ten-man squad of assault marines chillin' in some cover. I was gun-shy after my first game, and that squad ended up hurting us later in the game. Likewise, I forgot to fire off my Librarian's unleash rage ability in one of the assaults' that occurred in game three. This was huge as later, he and the Honor Guard accompanying him were wiped out over the course of four turns and poor dice rolls (for my part) (those Harlequins were happy, though)!
Game One pitted Six and myself against an army of Space Wolves and an army of vanilla Space Marines. I made a huge tactical error when I incorrectly placed my Baal Pred during my scout move. It was only able to target one Termintaor, and fell prey to enemy fire in the bottom of turn 1. Six and I managed to successfully one-two, punch an assault terminator squad led by a Librarian HQ into failing a leadership check. His psyker battle squad coupled with my Librarian forced the unit to run 9 inches toward their respective board edge (which would have forced them off the table, destroying the unit). Unfortunately, the distance was incorrectly halved because the unit was in difficult terrain. I utterly missed the discrepancy, and Six didn't catch it until after the game was finished. That terminator assault squad would later rip apart my Honor Guard and scout squad in subsequent turns. Our opposition apologized for the mistake, which I believe to be honest, and Six and I chalked it up to the fact that we are two very green players. Nonetheless, a valuable lesson we learned from our first tournament game!
Game Two saw Six and I battle against two players fielding a Space Wolves "Logan Wing" and a vanilla Marines force, respectively. This was a very close, and fun game for both teams- and these guys were very pleasant to play against. Logan and his terminators ripped through my Honor Guard, however, my assault squad(s), and Furioso Dreadnought eventually avenged their death(s). We would have lost the game had it not been for my Baal Predator which happened to be parked 3 inches away from our opponent's claimed objective. It was so close that I was going to dismiss it as being too far away to contest. A kind fellow watching our game pointed out the tank, and asked the opposing team to measure the distance (remember, this was a friendly tournament). There were two reasons why this tank was not intentionally placed closer to that objective by me; 1.) we ran out of time- our game ended on turn four. 2.) In my green newbness, I didn't have the foresight to prepare for objective grabs in turn three/four because Six and I were resolving things so slowly. The most valuable lesson I learned in this game: Never assume- always measure distance and never concede!
Game Three: There Six and I stood with one win and one loss under our belt. We faced off against two very amusing fellows playing a Harlequin Eldar army and a Blood Angels army. This was a great, fun game- I really enjoyed it because our opponents were wise cracking the whole time. I made another Baal mistake in this game: I didn't push it a full 18 inches in scout move to get it within flamestorm distance of a 10-man assault squad parked about six inches from the board edge. I would have had it, but I was so gun-shy after the error I made in game one, I hesitated. This squad ended up wreaking havoc upon our forces later in the game, which ultimately we lost. So, we ended the day 2 and 1. I was exhausted, I missed my wife and child, but I had so much damn fun I can't wait for the next "fun" tournament!!!
In the end, Purgatus and his partner Crash won the tournament with their Space Wolves/ Dark Eldar army- congratulations you two!
Six and I lost two out of three games, had a blast, made a lot of new friends, and enjoyed our first tournament. I learned just how valuable a display board is (I'm going to acquire one, ASAP) when displaying, and moving your army around. I developed a new-found respect for my Librarian HQ and the Blood Angels Honor Guard (they were soo badass).
I would like to thank every one of our opponents, whom I enjoyed immensely. Dante, Purgatus, Jancoran, and quite a few others really made this an enjoyable experience that I will gladly participate in again, given the opportunity. Thank You Gabby, and staff for opening Olympic Cards and Comics early and providing us a place to throw dice. Finally, I want to thank all of the great people I met Saturday. I look forward to catching up with each of you over the coming months for a friendly game of 40K!
