So last Sunday was Southern Impact, the last schedule tournament for the year in South Australia. After a good turn out at Gobbocon (13 players), I was pretty confident in getting more players to Southern Impact. That being said, I was a little worried when I found out that Warhammer 40k was dropping in June. Would the new edition mean people weren't interested in playing Age of Sigmar?

Luckily enough, my doubts were unfounded, as we got our largest turn out in years! We had 15 players paid up before the event, with another 5 guys saying they were paying on the day. In the end, we got 18 players, as 2 of the guys who paid up earlier didn't show. Still, a massive turn out, and the biggest a Fantasy tournament has gotten in South Australia since 2014.

Sadly, there was a little less variety this time. Majority of the field was Order(7) and Chaos(7), with 3 Death and only a single Destruction list to round out the players.

The only Destruction army at the event lines up against the Stormcast in Game 2

I also think that this time around the painting wasn't quite as good as Gobbocon. 8 out of 18 players didn't get the full painting score, while at Gobbocon, only 5 out of 14 players didn't get full. Definitely not terrible by any means, but certainly something that can be improved upon in future. A lot of people were definitely last minute painting their armies this time.

Last minute painted Nighthaunts, but still pleasing on the table

Finally, to close out the issues at the event. Sadly, one player was late and missed round 1. It was a bit of a nuisance, in the end I stepped in and gave the other player a game. At the time though, I ruled that because we played a game, the opponent could get a draw at minimum, or a better result if he earned it in game. It probably wasn't that fair on him, as in terms of 'results' he would've been better off not playing, rather than having a more rushed game.

The Dark Master gets to come out for 1 game

Also, it ended up that the player who was late was eligible for the Best Death General prize (As he won his final 2 games). I had to think for a while whether or not he should get the prize. On one hand, he didn't have a very good reason for being late. On the other hand, there was nothing in my pack that made him ineligible. In the end, I decided that since he had paid, did turn up and play in the end, that he was eligible for the prize. But I think in future event packs I may write some part in to make it so that you're ineligible for certain prizes if you don't play all your games. In a 2 day event, missing 1 game may be less of an issue, but in a 1 dayer where we're only playing 3 games, it's not really very good form.

But now that we're past that ugliness, lets get back to the good stuff!

It was awesome to see that we got a bunch of new players rock up to the event. Was good to see the Store Manager from GW Warradale show up again, and bring along some of his regulars. Also good to see some players bringing in their friends to the tournament. Just great to see that the scene is still growing, and hope that our next event gets even more players than this time.

New player Jasper's Skaven faces off against the combined forces of Ogors and Moonclan

It was also good to see, that while we moved up to 2000 points, there wasn't anything 'too filthy' running around. There were definitely some strong lists at the event, but nothing like what you hear about on the internet. I was a bit concerned what the power level was going to be like heading into the event, I know one guy was painting up a bunch of Vanguard Raptors for the Aetherstrike force. So it was good to see that there wasn't anything too over the top, as I think our scene definitely has a mixture of people who play more casually and those who take it more competitively.

Ruining the opponents day? Not quite

I also think that it was good to see that in round 3, there were 2 close games going on for the winner of the tournament. We had Tzeentch playing against Death, and Khorne playing against Nurgle for the position of number 1. 2 Awesome games going on, that were quite tactically tight. Even the Khorne vs Nurgle game ebbed and flowed, as it looked like early on Nurgle was just going to be steamrolled, then they came back, and then finally the Khorne army won the game.

Khorne vs Nurgle, a battle between the Chaos Gods for the top of the tournament

I think the only unfortunate thing was that the game between Tzeentch and Death had to be cut short at 3 turns. For a game that was deciding the fate of the tournament, it's always a shame to have to call things early. 

Overall, the tournament ended up with the following:

First Place : Blades of Khorne

Second Place : Daemons of Tzeentch

Third Place : Skaven

Overall, very pleased with how the tournament went, and looking forward to getting to play more of my own games in future.