A few people have expressed an interest in knowing a bit more about the tournament, so I'll be happy to oblige. The masters were held at Vibenhus public school in Copenhagen, in their gymnasium, and check-in was Saturday morning.
After a short introduction, we had our first game, and I got matched up against a club member. This was nice, since I was feeling rather nervous about the whole thing, so getting started against Søren was a good thing. Most of the others were a bit annoyed, at facing so many of the people they regularly meet, but the world rewarded me for accepting it's gift, and I faced no other club members during the tournament. I was a bit miffed that so many people had canceled, and we were just twenty players out of the thirty two spots. I think the tournament organizer was a bit ashamed of his local environment, but he put on a great tournament anyway, so thumbs up for that.
After the first game we had lunch, and after everyone had been there twice, there were no visible reduction in the piles of food. I think we could have fed Africa for a year with that serving, and it was excellent food as well. I thought it was nice, because usually at geek conventions, the food shortage is noticeable half way through the first serving, which is weird because it's normally something no sane person would eat.
After lunch we had our second game, in which I failed to kill pSeverius in melee with Terminus. I've done the math a couple of times, and it wasn't actually THAT unlikely that he survived, and my opponent DID outplay me, when I allowed him to lure me away from the objectives. Still, I couldn't shut up about it, and it might have given some people the wrong idea. I don't mind loosing, and I'd rather loose a great game than win a poor one, but like most players I have a couple of bad minutes after loosing, and I don't know when to shut up about it. Armies were set up for the best army award, and we spent an hour waddling around and going "ooooh" and "aaaah", then we wrote our choice on a piece of paper, and got on with the final round of the day.
The final round was pie, as I faced of against a eButcher T4 Doomreaver list. It's an all or nothing list, and Bile Thralls make it nothing. He tried his best to spread out, to flank, to limit his losses, but Terminus managed to grab himself nine souls with the help of Bile Thralls and Erebus (to be fair it could have been a lot worse, but his placement was limiting my options). The following round he was pretty clever, and both his Kodiaks vented and blocked LoS to eButcher, but in order to block a charge from Tartarus he accidentally put a Manhunter near eButcher, and HIM I could see. Reach and a large base, allowed me to charge the Manhunter and swing at eButcher, so he died horribly.
Then we had supper (another type of stew, but also excellent), which was a bit late due to several minor delays, but like lunch it was worth the wait and plentiful. Then I left, to go sleep at my brother in laws house, and get massages from the wife who also sponsored the entire trip, as her dower (morning gift) from our wedding. I think the official sleeping arrangements were a bit poor, but that's to be expected.
The second day began with breakfast at nine, and the first/fourth game at ten. I was matched up against one of the Swedish players (Copenhagen and the Swedish town of Malmø, have basically grown together anyway), and since I'm not exactly an expert against Retribution I thought I was done for. He chose a different list than I thought he should have, but that just shows, that knowing the opposition is vital in high level matches. He chose the wrong list, probably expecting me to go with Terminus, and got himself gang-raped by Bane Thralls during the Withering.
Then we set up for the painting evaluation, and spent a little to long looking at the models, because honestly we had nothing to say, and I couldn't tell a good model from a washed up piece of puke bought on eBay anyway.
Then we had supper, which was roast pork with fries and salads, served with bread. I can honestly say, that I've never been to any sort of geek activity with better food. Finally we moved on to our final game, and I had a mirror match on my hands.
I had pDenny, he had eDenny, but our lists were so identical that it was a little bit scary. I took Terminus instead, to make it a little bit interesting, and it worked out well. At that point I had won three games, so even if I lost I could go home with more wins that losses, and I was certain I was going to place between nine and eleven anyway. We had a little trouble with the time, but since we were both convinced we were out of the race anyway, we had a super relaxed and fun game.
That's me in my gaming position, looking like a retard. In the end he ran out of time, and eDenny was in range of Terminus. I think he might have been able to hold me back a couple of rounds, even if he hadn't run out of time, but he had used his feat and I survived it almost intact. Then we waited... a lot... for the results, and there was much rejoicing.
First place was Bo and very surprisingly so, since he was using his Searforge (he has become something of a hero on the Privateer Press forum). Second place was Kris and his Trollbloods, while third place was snatched by Peter, aka the luckiest player alive, and his Skorne.
Jakob O came fourth with Khador, and myself on fifth with Cryx. Every player in the top five had four wins and a loss, so placing was decided on control points, which I can really recommend because it made the games a lot more intense, and the calculations between games were a lot of fun: "So if I can take just one, and Kris can stop Jakob from getting any, then I'll be tied with Peter and it will come down to strength of schedule" etc. etc. etc.
The final table was Bo against Kris, with a "winner probably takes all result". Kris was undefeated at the time, and Bo had the most control points of us all. Sadly it was over before any other games, so we didn't get to watch. The final table had a circle around it though, so even if we HAD been able to watch, the tournament organizer roamed the circle, and would have made sure the players had peace and quiet to play their game.
Finally we did a lot of applauding about painted armies, but in all honesty I was bone tired and just wanted to go home. It was a great event, and a special thanks should be aimed at the team behind the tournament. Shame and punishment should be inflicted upon the local gaming environment for not showing up, but it remained a fine tournament without them. I hope they show up next year though, and beat the snot out me for that statement, though I'd prefer if they did it in-game.
/Lamoron
After a short introduction, we had our first game, and I got matched up against a club member. This was nice, since I was feeling rather nervous about the whole thing, so getting started against Søren was a good thing. Most of the others were a bit annoyed, at facing so many of the people they regularly meet, but the world rewarded me for accepting it's gift, and I faced no other club members during the tournament. I was a bit miffed that so many people had canceled, and we were just twenty players out of the thirty two spots. I think the tournament organizer was a bit ashamed of his local environment, but he put on a great tournament anyway, so thumbs up for that.
After the first game we had lunch, and after everyone had been there twice, there were no visible reduction in the piles of food. I think we could have fed Africa for a year with that serving, and it was excellent food as well. I thought it was nice, because usually at geek conventions, the food shortage is noticeable half way through the first serving, which is weird because it's normally something no sane person would eat.
 |
| Something like this, but served with rice and curry. |
The final round was pie, as I faced of against a eButcher T4 Doomreaver list. It's an all or nothing list, and Bile Thralls make it nothing. He tried his best to spread out, to flank, to limit his losses, but Terminus managed to grab himself nine souls with the help of Bile Thralls and Erebus (to be fair it could have been a lot worse, but his placement was limiting my options). The following round he was pretty clever, and both his Kodiaks vented and blocked LoS to eButcher, but in order to block a charge from Tartarus he accidentally put a Manhunter near eButcher, and HIM I could see. Reach and a large base, allowed me to charge the Manhunter and swing at eButcher, so he died horribly.
Then we had supper (another type of stew, but also excellent), which was a bit late due to several minor delays, but like lunch it was worth the wait and plentiful. Then I left, to go sleep at my brother in laws house, and get massages from the wife who also sponsored the entire trip, as her dower (morning gift) from our wedding. I think the official sleeping arrangements were a bit poor, but that's to be expected.
The second day began with breakfast at nine, and the first/fourth game at ten. I was matched up against one of the Swedish players (Copenhagen and the Swedish town of Malmø, have basically grown together anyway), and since I'm not exactly an expert against Retribution I thought I was done for. He chose a different list than I thought he should have, but that just shows, that knowing the opposition is vital in high level matches. He chose the wrong list, probably expecting me to go with Terminus, and got himself gang-raped by Bane Thralls during the Withering.
Then we set up for the painting evaluation, and spent a little to long looking at the models, because honestly we had nothing to say, and I couldn't tell a good model from a washed up piece of puke bought on eBay anyway.
Then we had supper, which was roast pork with fries and salads, served with bread. I can honestly say, that I've never been to any sort of geek activity with better food. Finally we moved on to our final game, and I had a mirror match on my hands.
I had pDenny, he had eDenny, but our lists were so identical that it was a little bit scary. I took Terminus instead, to make it a little bit interesting, and it worked out well. At that point I had won three games, so even if I lost I could go home with more wins that losses, and I was certain I was going to place between nine and eleven anyway. We had a little trouble with the time, but since we were both convinced we were out of the race anyway, we had a super relaxed and fun game.
 |
| ASS BACK, STOOP OVER, ASSUME THE POSITION! |
 |
| Kris, Bo, and Peter |
Jakob O came fourth with Khador, and myself on fifth with Cryx. Every player in the top five had four wins and a loss, so placing was decided on control points, which I can really recommend because it made the games a lot more intense, and the calculations between games were a lot of fun: "So if I can take just one, and Kris can stop Jakob from getting any, then I'll be tied with Peter and it will come down to strength of schedule" etc. etc. etc.
The final table was Bo against Kris, with a "winner probably takes all result". Kris was undefeated at the time, and Bo had the most control points of us all. Sadly it was over before any other games, so we didn't get to watch. The final table had a circle around it though, so even if we HAD been able to watch, the tournament organizer roamed the circle, and would have made sure the players had peace and quiet to play their game.
Finally we did a lot of applauding about painted armies, but in all honesty I was bone tired and just wanted to go home. It was a great event, and a special thanks should be aimed at the team behind the tournament. Shame and punishment should be inflicted upon the local gaming environment for not showing up, but it remained a fine tournament without them. I hope they show up next year though, and beat the snot out me for that statement, though I'd prefer if they did it in-game.
/Lamoron
Nice write up. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI really need to attend (again) next year. Love that the community support for WM/H is on the rise again.
ReplyDelete