Ollie Grimwood Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 l'm sure there's going to be a number of podcast episodes and reviews from the people who finished in the top quarter of the results table, so I thought I'd do a little report from someone who finished in the bottom quarter. Someone who hadn't played a matched play game at all and who has only played a very limited open games at about half the size. Also one of the fellas who was rocking up alone the their first big tournament. First off this is my Army list. My command trait was Great Destroyer. For Artifacts my general had a Chaos Talisman and my slaughter priest had the Crown of Command for the first three games and a Daemon Weapon for the next 3 (not that it matter I never used the Crown or Daemon Weapon) General: Mighty Lord of Khorne - 140pts Bloodsecrator - 120pts Slaughterpriest with Hackblade and Wrathhammer -100pts Dark Feast Battalion - 100pts Slaughterpriest - 100pts Bloodstoker- 80pts 20 Bloodreavers, Reaverblades, Chieftan, hornblower, Icon bearer - 120pts 20 Bloodreavers, Meatripper axes, Chieftan, Hornblower, Icon Bearer - 120pts 20 Bloodreavers, Meatripper axes, Chieftan, Hornblower, Icon Bearer - 120pts 10 Blood Warriors, Goreaxe and Gorefist, Champion with Goreglaive, Icon Bearer - 200pts 3 Mighty Skullcrushers, Bllodglaives, Skull Hunter, Hornblower, Standard Bearer - 160pts Khorgorath - 80pts Khorgorath - 80pts Khorgorath - 80pts 5 Chaos Knights, Chaos Glaives, Doomknight, Hornblower, Standard bearer - 200pts 10 Marauder Horsemen, Marauder Javelins, Horsemaster, Hornblower, Icon Bearer (Damned Icon) - 200pts. I certainly didn't face anything I didn't think the list could've handled and the games I played were very much decided by Generalship rather than just list writing. Which pleased me greatly. I arrived with the objective of winning one game. Expectations on that front weren't high but I felt that was achievable. I did find out that the event pack was a little misleading and didn't mention that one needed bring your own dice, tape measure and apparently a shirt with your name, nickname and podcast affiliation on it. Luckily GW was on hand to sell the dice and tape measure, while the event staff had name badges ready to go. Disaster averted and it was game one against the Sylvaneth and Gifts from the heavens. This saw me charging vast numbers of Bloodbound at my enemy who was hiding in carnivorous wood (regrettably not a coniferous wood that would have much easier). This had the side effect of contesting his objective for a turn which actually gave me the lead. Which I would have maintained if I'd stuck a couple more models on mine or remembered some of the carefully planned synergies of my army. What actually happened is a couple of Tree Revenants managed to survive being eaten by a Khorgarath long enough to contest mine a turn later giving him the major win, still my casualties provided plenty of skulls and blood. Massed casualties are essential, them being the enemy's is merely preferable. Game two Blood and Glory against a Death Army with a general who had clearly had a bit of an episode (or come up against someone in a personalised shirt, they seemed to know what they were doing) in game one because he was far too good to on table 42. To be fair I did see him on table 9 at the end. Very well painted army which was nice because pretty much all of it stayed on the board all the way to the end of the game. He rather sportingly left his incredibly pretty Zombie Dragon conversion in combat with me at the end so I killed something more impressive than a solitary Cairn Wraith and a brace of Spirit Hosts. Nice bloke and to be fair quite a good game but I didn't have the tactical stones to be able to compete in it. Game three. Slyveneth again but it was Escalation which meant dividing your army up into waves and charging them at the centreline. Right up my strasse. Let's see them hide in their woods now. Alarielle' doesn't hide in the woods though she charges right at you and that bloody damage 5 beetle makes you remove a unit a turn until you stop her. It was all going very nicely when on the last turn my opponent grew a wood teleported some spieces of walking tree out of it a nicked a poorly defended objective. I know once is unfortunate, twice smacks of carelessness. Luckily it only tied us up on vps. So it went to units killed and it turns out Gods riding Giant beetles are worth a lot more than Blood crazy bodybuilders. So I'd managed a minor victory. Seriously though the wood growing, teleporting thing was an epic move, loved it. End of day one and I was knackered, I'd got up at 0630 to fit in the 2 and a half hour drive to WHW in the morning and 7 1/2 hours of AoS had wiped me out. I'm well impressed others managed to hit the fleshpots of Nottingham. I managed a mixed grill and climbed in my pit. Day two begins well lots a good humoured smiles and greetings as people arrive. Game four and it's the classic matchup Stormcast Eternals. Fair slice of Judicators but no Starsoul Maces on the Retributors. It's Boarder War and my opponent castles up in his territory over the objective. I go for a a three pronged attack cavalry and Khorgoraths down the flanks and waves of Bloodreavers down the middle. Each wave is wiped off the face of the planet by the Stormcast but not before they control each of the objectives on my turn resulting in a major win for me, which is nice. Game Five. Two wins on the bounce has got me to the lofty nights of table 33 in the shadow of table 1. Literally as it happens as table one was on a raised platform. Nurgle daemons and Three places of power. I was impressed with both how incompetently I played and how patient my opponent was with my all too frequent pee breaks during the game. I was so bad I let the really slow moving defensive army beat me to the objectives. A loss and well deserved it was to. I was feeling just a little fatigued at this point. It was during this game however I overheard, on the table next door, the hilarious comment "so that's 120 shots from my Savage Orruk Arrowboys" ouch. The thought of calling it a day flashed through my mind, I was tired and had a long journey home. But a man who makes sure his Khorne army is divisible by eight isn't the sort to miss a battle (it would have been bloody rude as well). I'm glad I stayed because game 6 was the best by a country mile and it had stiff competition (it was also in the more comfortable position of Table 40). It was Stromcast again and Take and Hold. It looked like an expanded version of the game from the starter set and felt like one of the initial stories released for AoS. Once the dust had settled after five turns of absolute slaughter and a handful of survivors on each side my opponent had managed to secure a minor victory by 100 pts. Top stuff. I'd started my tournament on table 41 and finished on table 40 with 1 major and 1 minor victory and 4 loses. I'd had a great time and finally managed to get a decent number of matched play games. I couldn't fault my opponents who were all Gents. WHW puts on a great event and even had the great touch of having an at gaming table drinks service. It really struck me how even in a tournament the soul of the game remained and each of the armies I faced really felt like their fluff. Everyone who I bumped into was friendly and up for a chat. A few of my bottom table colleagues and I even took a moment to share our distaste that some over competitive lunatic had dared to object to some Prosecutors being slightly more Han an inch away form each other "but what about the wings!!". We were outraged, outraged I tell you ?. I suggest that anyone thinking of going to a similar event stop thinking and just book a ticket you won't be sorry. Although if you've got a bit a travelling to do I'd suggest you have a think about making a long weekend of it. Remember to bring your dice and tape measure and now I know why the Knights of Ni wanted a shrubbery the foliage can be lethal. I hope everyone else at the bottom end had as good a time a me. Its great these event cater so well for a range of abilities and gaming approaches. (I've not put in the names of my opponents because I don't know if they want to credited or not but I'll certainly add their name's if they wish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkiham Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 nice read, cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Great read, sounds like you had an amazing time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhaosZand3r Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Nice to see one of these from a regular person. Your portrayal is also highly entertaining and even cinematic. I definitely gasped, and laughed, at the "120 shots" part....that much rolling would take forever. I hope to get a chance to start doing tournaments relatively soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brunel.Richard Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Great read and nice to see Warlords from the "everyman" perspective. I would have been down having a ball of a time with you on the "bottom tables" too! Watching the live feed of the top tables made me feel a bit like a WWI fighter ace watching an F-18 go in for an attack run. Things like the hundreds of Bonespliterz bow shots made my head spin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevewren Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Sounds a lot like my usual tournament experience, right down to the final results! Glad you had a good time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolden Spoons Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Sounds like you had a marvellous first tournament experience including all the classics like the opponent who really shouldn't be on the bottom tables. I see you exceeded your gaming expectations too. Well done. For future events, lots of water, rest where you can, keep fed. Nut bad snacks or fruit instead of sugary snacks. Beer after the event not during. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuneBrush Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Cool Always nice to hear how different people fair in tournaments - especially when they're fielding Bloodbound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Percivael Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Haha! Very entertaining report! Sounded like a lot of fun though. I will also be turning up alone to my first big tournament in a couple of weeks at the Facehammer GT so I could really relate to, and was reassured by, your experiences! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrubyandwells Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 @Ollie Grimwood - Thanks for the fantastic post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theslowcentury Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Great write up! I was the Sylvaneth player from game three and it was a really fun game and a well deserved victory for you. You got my best game vote! Looking forward to hitting the bottom ten tables at an event again soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Great post! Quote Also one of the fellas who was rocking up alone the their first big tournament. I know this feeling from a year ago - scary and you don't know anyone. People are really friendly though. A year later - you'll be wearing the personalised T-Shirt/hoodie and rocking some good combos. Interesting to hear about Sylvaneth. Death are a terrible match up for Bloodbound - almost as strong melee synergies (actually what am I talking about - better melee synergies) and a 5+ ward bubble - no way are you sniping that Zombie Dragon general. Where do you play regularly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoupDragon Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Great read - thanks for posting, good to hear what the tournament experience was like for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Grimwood Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 @Wolden Spoons That's good advice I was really taken aback by how tiring it could get. @Theslowcentury Cheers mate it was a top game. @Nico I don't really play that regularly I've been grabbing a game here and there when I can rope in friends who have a Warhammer army (which isn't very often). The Deathless minions was undoubtably a pain but to be honest he just out played me. He had a lot of Nighthaunt units and really used the flying movement to maximise his attacks and minimise my when he charged in. The Mourngal's -2 to hit bubble didn't help either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlzee Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Great write up @Ollie Grimwood. Entertaining read You sum up my experience at tournaments, having a laugh on the bottom tables. That being said, I've also had great games against the 'top' players. They may have scary/filthy lists but I guarantee they are all super friendly and I've learnt a lot being smashed by them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechaBriZilla Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Awesome write up! You've even got me thinking I need to try out the tournament scene. I'd like to repeat my request for a Warhammer World U.S.A. located somewhere's in the Midwest, preferably in South East Michigan... For reasons. Love that your army was divisible by 8! That sounds like my kind of army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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