I Go, You Go? No Go!!!!
Mar 28th
A guest post from quozI, of infinity tournament fame (read also remorseless pestering)
We’re all familiar with the classic Wargaming mechanism of I go, you Go (IGoUGo). That’s where one player moves, shoots etc. with all their miniatures and then the other player gets to do the same with theirs. As an approach for handling player turns it definitely has its advantages – it’s familiar so it makes a new game more instantly accessible, it’s tried and tested and it’s the only approach that many members of our wargaming community have ever experienced.
Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer 40,000, Warmahordes, even down to classic board-games such as Bloodbowl. I get my turn, you wait, then you get your turn and I wait.
So what’s the problem, or is there even one?
I was a massive Warmahordes fans for years – I still think it’s a great game and it uses the IGoUGo approach. I came to Warmahordes from another IGoUGo game – 40K. All was OK with my relationship with 40K until I was badgered (thanks Paul) into trying a game of Warmachine and realised that there was a game out there that for my personal tastes far surpassed 40K. From then on 40K was dead to me.
Now this has happened to me for a second time but this time it’s IgoUGo that’s dead to me.
I discovered Infinity the skirmish game and Force on Force/Tomorrow’s War. Both games built on a reaction system where there still is an active player but where the other player gets to react to their actions.
So what’s different without IGoUGo?
You no longer have to sit and watch your opponent play the game.
I’ve had opponents turns in Warmachine take anything from 7 minutes steam-roller time up to 1 hour (timed with a clock and all!). I would guess that the average turn is about 15 to 20 minutes. That’s 15 to 20 minutes in which you’re not doing anything. You can be sitting there strategizing about what you’ll do in your own turn but I seldom bother as the opportunities that will be available to you only reveal themselves or close themselves off as your opponent plays out his turn.
So you sit. You watch and you wait. If you’re like me then you smack talk a bit but wouldn’t you rather be smack talking AND doing in-game stuff?
In Infinity if a model performs an action (walk, shoot, climb, hack, whatever) in your line of sight then you get to react to it. You may decide to shoot them, dodge out of sight, hack them to immobilise them, drop prone behind a wall and plenty of other options. So while the active player determines the match-ups and the flow of his turn through maneuver, you get to react to it all, making valuable decisions and possibly stymying his dastardly plans.
If your reaction could stop your opponents action from occurring – for example if you try and dodge his gun-fire, or shoot him first – then you both roll dice and the winner gets to perform their action. So you may successfully duck around the corner before he can hose you down with his heavy machine gun, or you may find it’s your bullet ridden corpse that lurches around that corner!
As Infinity is a skirmish game and one where terrain is important, this doesn’t slow the game down like you might expect it to. Active players will attempt to minimise the number of automatic reaction orders (ARO) – as they’re known – by avoiding LOS, moving from cover to cover, or best of all, manoeuvering to attack from behind. A good size game of Infinity can be finished in an hour against quick players and anything up to 2 1/2 hours against the analysis-paralysis types… you know who you are!
Unlike in alternating activation (AA) games – another possible system where players take turns activating usually a single model, such as Malifaux – in Infinity a player gets to activate their whole force in their turn allowing them to put a larger plan into action rather than – to me anyway – the more seat-of-the-pants tactics that alternating activations encourages. I’m not dissing AA, I just prefer the Infinity style reaction system. I am dissing IGoUGo though!
Apart from the greater fun (IMO), perhaps where the difference is most noticeable is if you’re playing a reaction based game system is in your legs! I spend the entire time standing for Infinity and Force on Force because you’re constantly involved in the action, making decisions and thus surveying the board and model positions. In 40K or Warmachine, I found myself sitting down for most of my opponent’s turn. Waiting. There’s that word again – waiting! Waiting’s dull.
Force on Force (FoF) is a critically acclaimed Modern-era (post WWII) wargame from Ambush Alley games, published by Osprey Publishing. This year they added a Sci-Fi brother, Tomorrow’s War. Both use the same core system with additional Sci-Fi esque rules added to Tomorrow’s War to allow you to represent tech disparities between forces, bipedal armoured walkers, hover tanks, aliens, all the Sci-Fi staples that you know and love. As an aside it’s also scale neutral and perfectly suited for use with all your 40K minis.
Typical game size is around a platoon, with the individual units being 3 to 5 man fire-teams or special weapons teams rather than the individuals in Infinity. Each side has anything from 2 to 10 fire-teams – or significantly more for big games if you wanted. Plus vehicles ranging from pickup trucks with flat-bed mounted machine guns to main battle tanks – or grav-tanks in Tomorrow’s War.
In Force on Force each turn game mechanics decide which player is going to be the active player and who is going to be the re-active player. Think of the active player as the side currently with the initiative in the fight – maybe the side putting more lead into the air and better suppressing their opposition, or maybe just the side that is currently better co-ordinated and is implementing their plan.
If it’s two regular trained forces fighting each other then who is active this turn will depend on the scenario, or dice rolls modified by various factors.
If it’s Regulars versus Irregulars – think militia or un-trained insurgents – then the regular player always retains initiative. That’s right, if it’s you against rag-tag mobs of human civies or animalistic alien hordes then it’s always your turn and never theirs. That sounds like it’d be boring for the irregulars, doesn’t it? Well, trust me, it isn’t. I love playing the irregulars 
The player with initiative gets to activate each of their units. Moving, running, shooting, assaulting or various combinations of these. Or the active player can sacrifice a units activation to place them into over-watch, but more about that later.
Any unit on the reactive player’s side who sees an active player’s unit do something gets to react. Just like in Infinity, and again just like in Infinity the reacting player’s action can oppose and possibly prevent the active player’s action. That is if they’re quick enough and lucky enough! Again you may duck out of sight so your opponent can’t shoot you or alternatively you may suck it up and try and shoot them first hoping to do so much damage to them render return fire ineffectual.
Regular units can react to multiple actions in a single turn, however they lose one dice of fire-power or an inch of movement for every subsequent reaction that turn. Eventually they just can’t react any more. In FoF – unlike in Infinity – units can even react to reacting units! So an active unit may advance, a reactive unit may declare a shooting reaction at them and then another active unit that has not yet activated or that is in overwatch can itself choose to react to that reactive unit. This sounds complicated but it’s quite easy to keep track of who is doing what just by placing dice beside the units that are reacting or already have done so.
This multiple reaction system also speeds up, not slows down the game. You’ll also find that few insurgents will react to an advancing unit if there’s multiple units in over-watch looking at them and few active units will blindly run out in front of multiple reactive units. This is part of the joy of this system, so well does it represent classical bounding over-watch that the Australian army use it train NCOs. Despite all that, it’s great fun and fast and vicious. Just how I like my games!
When the active player finishes their turn any units belonging to the reactive player that haven’t reacted this turn can then perform an activation of their own. Only needing to fear those over-watch units we previously mentioned.
So where does this leave me?
Addicted. I can’t go back. I can’t sit and passively watch my opponent play for 10, 15 or more minutes without getting to make any meaningful decisions myself. I also don’t want to go back to my opponent watching me play – I want them trying to shaft me in my own turn. That’s fun and now my smack talk can be laced with actions and not just toothless banter!
And you?
I heartily recommend trying out some games with activation approaches other than IGoUGo. If it’s the only thing you know – as was the case with me – then you really can’t know if it’s your preferred approach without trying the alternatives out. I wasn’t even really aware I didn’t like IGoUGo until I saw the alternatives. I thought the waiting was something you had to accept with wargames. It isn’t, and I urge you to try out some of the alternatives yourself. I want to see IGoUGo consigned to the gaming history bin.
Infinity the skirmish game:
Free rules and army lists available. Links on http://www.infinity-ireland.org
Force on Force:
Ambush Alley Games http://ambushalleygames.com/
20 euro delivered from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk
Scale and miniatures neutral. Use your 40K models or a cool 15mm army for 40 quid.
The Retribution of Neil: The Masters!!!
Mar 7th
IRISH MASTERS 2012
G’day, Warmachine (and Hordes) fans! Here I present, for your delectation, an exhaustive report of my experience at the 2nd Irish Masters, hosted by Leprecon 2012. I was more excited about this tournament than a grown man ought to be, and that was in no small part due to the imminent appearance of Jason Soles – one of the original Warmachine designers. He was bringing the trophies over from Seattle for us, and I was determined he wouldn’t take any back with him! The format for the event was three 35pt lists (with 7pts reinforcements); but every list had to be played at least once, and no list more than twice over the five games across the weekend. Here are the lists I took…
List one: (No Quarter Theme list – tier 3)
Dawnlord Vyros (+6 points)
Hydra (8* points)
Manticore (7* points)
10 Dawnguard Sentinels (9 points)
+UA (2 points)
+Marshalled Griffon (4 points)
10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7 points)
+UA (2 points)
2x Arcanists (2 points)
Reinforcements:
Manticore (7* points)
A pared-down version of the 50pt list I took to Gamers World in February, but which didn’t do so well in my 35pt play-testing. The extra 15pts gave me double Covering-Fire and a whole lotta Focus-efficiency (ie with the Tier 4 bonus), whereas I found just two Warjacks got destroyed too easily. Anyway, this was a still my attrition-based, *anti-Stealth * list.
List two: (Theme list – tier 3)
Adeptis Rahn (+6 points)
2xPhoenix (20 points)
Arcanist (0* points)
10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7 points)
+UA (2 points)
6 Battle Mages (5 points)
+ Soulless Escort (1 point)
3* Battle Magister Solos (6 points)
Reinforcements:
Arcanist (1 point)
6 Battle Mages (5 points)
+ Soulless Escort (1 point)
Except for a slight shuffle to include reinforcements (wouldn’t normally include Soulless Escorts), this has been my default Rahn-list for 35pts for a very long time. He just dominates control-based scenarios, and can stay well back with his mighty Control Range and double Arc-Node… But has the most hard-counters of my three lists: Protectorate of Menoth and Circle Orboros can completely shut down his spells (as will any Stealth-heavy army), and the conspicuous lack of Pathfinder means Rough Terrain is a big problem too. For all these reasons and more, my third list is:
List three (“Snipe, Feat, Go!”)
Ravyn, Eternal Light (+6 points)
Phoenix (10 points)
Aiyana & Holt (4 points)
10 MHSF (8 points)
+UA (2 points)
6 Dawnguard Invictors (6 points)
+UA (2 points)
4 Stormfall Archers (5 points)
Epic Eiryss (3 points)
Arcanist (1 point)
Reinforcements:
Destor Thane (4 points)
Narn (3 points)
Models with Pathfinder to deal with terrain; Aiyana & Holt to hand out Magical Weapons (handy for Incorporeal models as much as Menite Warjacks); dirty Assassination potential to *hopefully* discourage my opponents from taking the nastier Control-Warcasters (looking at you, Harbinger and Major Haley!). My rough kinda plan was to use each list once on the Saturday, and leave myself with full choice for the Sunday – but to let the Scenario and opponent of each game to take precedence in my choice. So… How’d I do?
Game one – Anthony (Cryx)“Gauntlet” (#2)
 |
Warwitch Deneghra (+5 points)
2x Deathrippers (8 points)
Skarlock (2 points)
6 Bane Thralls (5 points)
+UA (3 points)
6 Bile Thralls (5 points)
10 Satyxis Blood Witches (6 points)
+UA (2 points)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4 points)
Pistol Wraith (3 points)
Warwitch Siren (2 points)
Anto’s other lists were led by Skarre1 and Skarre2, both with juicy targets for Ravyn… but I didn’t want to risk the possibility of a Stealthy Warcaster (and $%&@ Bane Thralls) so took Adeptis Rahn. Turned out I’d made the right decision for the scenario as well – only problem was the Killbox Artifice meant he couldn’t hang back as far as I’d like; but with a wall of Halberdiers between himself and the filthy undead horde, I figured he’d be Okay.
This was an extremely bloody fight for both sides: highlights being my left-flank Phoenix getting wiped out by just two charging Bane Thralls (with a little help from Parasite), and my Battle Mages thumping the Incorporeal Blood Witches into a panic with their Magical boxing-gloves (which I never previously knew they had!). On my Feat turn I was able to clear my scoring zone and run a Battle Magister Solo in for my first Control point.
My screen of Halberdiers had almost evaporated by this point, and my remaining Phoenix couldn’t run/charge/do anything much except walk 4” and be Channelled through… Luckily though, the zone was still pretty much uninhabited (did I mention it was a bloody game?!), and after the last two Halberdiers killed the Blood Hag with a single Combined Melee Attack, Adeptis Rahn was able to use his spells to Push/Slam the last guys out of the zone for the second Control Point and the win. Good job really, or he would have died HORRIBLY the following turn!
Picture: Force Blast FTW! |
WIN – 2 Control Points to 0
Game two – Ian (Minions)“Restoration” (#15)
Picture: Ian |
Dr Arkadius (+6 points)
4x Warhogs (28 points)
4 Bone Grinders (2 points)
6 Farrow Brigands (5 points)
6 Slaughter-housers (6 points)
Ian had brought all three Farrow Warlocks to the tournament, and had painted his mass of Pig-flesh very well. I’ve used Dr. Arkadius and Lord Carver myself before, but had yet to see what Sturm and Drang were capable of. I decided to take Ravyn for the Scenario, as I figured her guys would shoot the Objective to rubble in one turn. However, when Ian selected Dr. Arkadius and elected to go first, I changed my plan…
At DEF 15 and ARM 14, Dr. Arkadius is *theoretically* an ideal target for “Snipe, Feat, Go”; so long as he ends his turn within 22” of the Mage Hunter Strike Force. He did; and I actually apologised to Ian before I even rolled any dice! Guess what though…
After my failed assassination attempt, Dr. Arkadius Feated, and all of a sudden four hopped-up Warhogs were in my face – one in fact B2B with Ravyn after having Trampled over my useless Mage Hunters (luckily by then it was out of Forcing range so was unable to buy more attacks that turn). I had another turn of un-boosted shooting to try and salvage the situation, but in the end only brought the deviant scientist down to two hit-boxes. Ravyn then got splatted.
Picture: Warhog to the face… |
I ended the game with only 1 army point, from killing half a unit of Bone Grinders! For all that my dice failed me, I didn’t deserve to do any better because I’d ignored the scenario, and gone for the Assassination without any sort of contingency plan. Well done Ian!
LOSS – 0 Control Points to 0
Game three – Adam (Skorne)“Envelopment” (#12)
Picture: Adam |
Archdomina Makeda (+5 points)
Cyclops Brute (5 points)
Molik Karn (11 points)
Titan Gladiator (8 points)
4 Beast Handlers (2 points)
10 Praetorian Swordsmen (6 points)
Agonizer (2 points)
2x Ancestral Guardians (6 points)
Reinforcements:
Rhinodon (7 points)
If I wanted to keep all my options open for the Sunday, then I had to take Vyros this round… but I took a risk and selected Rahn for the second time, figuring that whereas he doesn’t mind fighting Skorne, he HATES fighting Menoth and Circle, and I could end up fighting one or t’other the next day. Besides, this was another scenario which Rahn ought to dominate.
I’ll not dwell on this battle; suffice to say that it was my best game of the weekend. Adam, who is an incredibly nice guy (even though he kept trying to distract me with his dodgy dancing), was actually a Trollbloods player, but had to borrow his mate’s Skorne because his latest order hadn’t come in on time. He told me he hadn’t played against Warmachine armies much, and I got the impression he didn’t know the Retribution at all… One day I’d like a rematch against your Trollz Adam, so if you’re reading this, please contact me!
Picture: Rahn DOES love scenarios… |
So Saturday was done, and although I was disappointed with Game two, I was reasonably happy with my overall performance. I was out of the running for the awesome trophy (unless some very weird stuff happened on Sunday…), but figured I was still in the running for a podium-finish. BRING IT ON!
WIN – 3 Control Points to 0
Game four – Gerry (Legion of Everblight)“Diversion” (#17)
Picture: Gerry |
Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight (+5 points)
Nephilim Bolt Thrower (6 points)
2x Ravagore (20 points)
6 Blighted Nyss Striders (6 points)
+UA (0* points)
6 Blighted Nyss Striders (6 points)
Strider Deathstalker (2 points)
Gerry straight-up told me who he was taking this round before I even had a chance to look at his lists (Kallus and I believe Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight were his other options), *probably* because I’d been telling him for weeks just how much Epic Lylyth makes the Retribution cry! Certainly, had I taken Ravyn it would have been a very one-sided match, so I took Vyros and hoped he’d be able to tough it out.
I immediately screwed up my deployment by putting the Sentinels on the WRONG SIDE of a house from the Flag they needed to defend; but luckily they had enough SPD to get there by turn two, and enough ARM to survive the Striders’ bows. Vengeance helped me out a lot here, and for the first time I can remember, the Offcier survived all game! It was at about this point that we realised we hadn’t deployed properly… Whoops!
Picture: “radial deployment, you say?” |
On the other side of the table, Lylyth and her Battle-group were having uncharacteristic trouble mowing down my guys. Even the three Halberdiers that were on fire managed to beat out the flames! I managed to sneak in a Control Point by running my soon-to-be-dead Manticore up to the flag under Mobility the same turn a single, solitary Sentinel (say THAT ten times fast) put a toe into the Zone. I tried to engineer a second point, but “Dice Down” was called. I won on first tie-breaker, and now feel like I‘ve *sharked* Gerry with all my talk of how broken eLylyth is – honestly, I was expecting to get wiped out!
WIN 1 Control Point to 0
Game five – Harry (Cygnar)“Incursion” (#7)
Picture: Harry |
Commander Adept Nemo (+6 points)
Charger (4 points)
Lancer (6 points)
Stormclad (10 points)
Squire (2 points)
6 Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (6 points)
+UA (2 points)
Aiyana & Holt (4 points)
Arlan Strangewayes (2 points)
Gorman di Wulfe (2 points)
Journeyman Warcaster (3 points)
Ooh, I LIKE this scenario! Partly because I have my own cool little flags made from spare Myrmidon parts. I decided to take Ravyn because I reckoned I could out-shoot any of Harry’s own gunlines (he also had General Adept Nemo and Siege I think, though I don’t remember which list he’d already used twice). Harry chose table-side.
Picture: Gunline vs. Gunline |
…Turns out I was right! On my Feat Turn I turned the Lancer and Stormclad into wreck-markers, and the following turn I wasted the Charger, the Journeyman Warcaster, the *fake* Aiyana & Holt (because mine were the real ones…) and Gorman Di Wulfe. By the time the smoke cleared there was no way for Cygnar to contest my last Control Point in the third turn (I also got lucky with that – the one on the left disappeared which was ideal), so I won my last game of the weekend.
Thanks for the game Harry – I’m worried I didn’t shake your hand afterwards, and have been worried about it ever since! See you at Itzacon, Maybe?
WIN – 3 Control Points to 0
Results and stuff…
With nine Control Points over the weekend, I JUST edged out Jason Soles for 3rd Place, as he also had four wins over the tournament (he’d played five additional games over the weekend just for the Craic – beating me both times we faced off…). I won a nifty Steamroller certificate and commemorative coin, and a hardback Prime Rulebook signed by the development team. I also won the randomly-assigned fully-painted army prize, which was a cool poster of Kommander Strakhov that I bullied Jason into signing for me!
Picture: Me & Jason |
All in all, a fabulous weekend! Well done Stu for organising the event, and thanks to everyone who took part. I hope to see y’all around on the forums and the next few tournaments. I’m taking Garryth and Kaelyssa to Itzacon this weekend – who’s up for a beat-down?
Parenthetically yours, (Neil)
Retcon 31st March – 1st April
Feb 24th
Tris is pleased to announce Wargames at Retcon 2012, held in the UCD Student Centre (MAP) on the 31st of March and 1st of April
Entry to the Convention is 10 Euro for a Weekend Pass and 7 Euro for a Day Pass. Entry to all Wargames events is free.
Warhammer 40k
The rulespack is finished. Find it here: Rulespack
Important Information:
There will be painting requirement of minimum three coulours and based for entry to the tournament.
List submission deadline: 25th of March.
Saturday Start time: 09.30
Sunday Start time: 10:00
The prizes will be as follows:
First, Second and Third on Battle Points
Best Painted Army (Judge’s Choice)
Best Battlefield (Players Choice)
Tris is accepting pre-registrations; send an e-mail to Retcon-40k(at)onthestep.net and you’ll be signed up
The Current number of spots available is 12 as of 23/2/12
An Infinity tournament will also take place. For more details, see here:
http://w-ired.org/blog/2012/02/03/infinity-tournament-retcon-april-1st/
Encore X
Feb 24th
Encore is hosting a Warhammer 40K tournament on the Saturday The 21st of April During the Event.
Entry For tournament will be £5 and will include:
Every Player will get a free bottle of water and a selections snacks
will be handed out to players throughout the day.
Please Remember it costs £5 to get into the Encore Event as well
If you buy a ticket Online below you will pay for the entry to the event
as well as the tournament therefore Online tickets cost £10
Buy Tickets: Click Here
There shall be 12 tables therefore maximum attendance is 24 people.
* maximum attendance will increase to 30 if we reach a total of 20+ tickets bought Online*
Held at: Magee University, MF Building (beside the bottom car park), University of Ulster – Magee, Derry (Londonderry)
Get to Uni, Get to MF Building
Alcohol is not permitted as it is held on University Grounds
Over 18s Only
Rules Pack:
Click Here
Prizes:
* Prizes have not been finalized so prizes may change*
1st Prize £40 voucher and Certificate
2nd Prize £30 voucher and Certificate
3rd Prize £15 voucher and Certificate
Accommodation:
Hotels and B&BS are available on the link below
http://www.derryvisitor.com/
There is also this hostel which is £15 a night or if any of you guys are going as a group then you can all share a dorm (4 people) for £15 a night.
please feel free to comment or criticize this as it is not fully finalized yet.
I would also like to Inform you that if we have 10+ People for this Tournament it will count as a Ranking Event, and therefore the results will be shown on The ETC N.Ireland forums and the players points will be added to their current ranking score on the Ranking list for Team N.Ireland or Republic of Ireland.
Assault on Arkham – Spring Slaughter
Feb 24th
Arkham Gaming Centre is proud to host this Warhammer 40K tournament, run in conjunction with Jonny Fisher. This 2 day ranking 1850 point tournament will allow the best 40K players in Ireland North & South to make war across the tabletop.
Tickets cost £20, and include;
- Tournament entry
- Unlimited tea, coffee & bottled water
- Occasional snacks
The ticket does not include lunch. Orders for lunch will be taken each morning and brought to the centre. Players can bring their own lunch and/or snacks if preferred. Soft drinks and snacks are also available to purchase at the centre.
Alcohol is permitted, but we ask that players refrain from falling over during play.
The centre opens at 9am on Sat 19/5/12, with the first game starting at 10am.
The tournament will close with a prize-giving ceremony at 6pm on Sun 20/5/12.
There will be spot prizes given out, as well as the following fixed prizes;
1st place: Trophy, £80 gift voucher & 1 year club membership
2nd place: £50 gift voucher & 6 month club membership
3rd place: £25 gift voucher & 6 month club membership
Best painted army: £10 gift voucher
Player’s choice award for best sportsman: £10 gift voucher
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/2993418395
http://w-ired.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2575
I can’t hear you over your….army transport?!!??
Feb 23rd
I’m not a big one to promote new products for the sake of it….But Team Ireland 40k sponsors and all around good guys portable warfare have come out with something so deliciously loud that I have to make mention of it. They’re sgnt army transport is now available in tactical orange and my God its magnificent!!!!!
if you’re interested head on over to http://www.portablewarfare.com/ BUT JUST LOOK AT IT….RESPLENDENT IN IT’S ORANGE GLORY!!!!
Moofool, March 31st – April 1st
Feb 20th
WAC is proud to welcome you to MooFool . This ranking tournament is being held to celebrate one of our members becoming 18 . Yes Lil’ Dave is growing up so fast .
The tournament will be held in UCC from the 31 March to 1 April . It will be 5 games at 1850 points using ETC style missions and ETC clarifications . Standard force organisation chart and special characters will be in use . No Forge World(boo) . The entry fee is E10 . There will be 5 battle points for pre submission of army list up to the 23 March . Full rules pack to follow . If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me at Gearshead1@gmail.com .
Sign up here: http://w-ired.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2561&sid=064805d3f7e2c988e8afa80cdc3cdbb4
Special Delivery for Team Ireland 40k!
Feb 17th
So awhile back, I was tasked by fearless Captain Tangney to go about getting sponsorship for this years 40k team. I wasn’t given any strict guidelines as to what form this would take so I stuck my thinking cap on!
My thought process took me through all the logical things that could be done, but then Caolan Gibbons and his crew were doing an awesome job on that front already. Gaming supplies, thats the kind of stuff that every good team needs. I was always jealous of guys like the German and US teams that got their own army cases because of some sponsorship deal or other, so with an eye to dreaming big I went out to get some gear that would hopefully do all the work that Mike, Caolan, Nigel and all of the other guys were doing behind the scenes to get the team off the ground
With that in mind I pretty much went straight to the top of the tree gear wise (at least in this humble authors opinion) and mailed the good people of portable warfare http://www.portablewarfare.com/ a few years back I’d been given a present of one of their Sergeant army transports and have been extremely happy toting my dark eldar army in it ever since. I guessed the worst thing that could happen was that they’d say no…which to my eternal gratitude they did not. So I’m extremely happy to publicly announce that team Ireland 40k has taken delivery of a set of Sergeant army transports that the team will be proudly using at both the Home Nations Tournament and at the ETC itself!!! Many thanks to all involved particularly Chris Strecker at Portable for all his help, looking forward to getting up many a picture of the team toting the gear but for now I’ll leave you with a taster
Get behind your team!!!
Paul Q
The Retribution of Neil: Part 3….Warpcon!!!
Feb 16th
WARPCON!
G’day folks! I had a fantastic time in sunny Cork last weekend. The occasion was Warpcon 22, and I had been planning to go ever since I’d first heard about it in November; months before I’d even met any Dublin Gamers! It nearly all fell through though, when it transpired that the bus UCD Gamesoc had laid one was due to leave at 12 noon on the Friday… which was no good to me whatsoever (lectures are important, apparently…). After a panicked flurry of emails on the DGG mailing-list however, I secured transport and a place to stay. Thanks again to Ian for helping me out there, and in fact everyone who offered a lift/asked around on my behalf. If it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t have made it!
Warmachine/Hordes Tournament
The format was five games over Saturday and Sunday, with two 35pt lists and (most of) the Steamroller 2012 rules. More than anything else, I was looking forward to playing five completely new opponents, as all of my Dublin adversaries were playing one or t’other flavour of Warhammer at the Con.
This was the first tournament I’d been to where I brought two lists I was very comfortable with; normally I playtest one to death until I’m happy with it… then make up a random second list that *should* be fun to play. I’d had some success with Adeptis Rahn and Arcanist Ossyan in recent games, and had my order-of-activations pretty well down, so was fairly confident I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of the Cork Lads! The lists were:
“Pew pew!”
- Arcanist Ossyan (+6 Warjack points)
- Discordia (10 points)
- 10 Mage Hunter Strike Force (8 points)
- Commander (2 points)
- 10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7 points)
- Officer & Standard (2 points)
- 4 Stormfall Archers (5 points)
- Epic Eiryss (3 points)
- Aiyana & Holt (4 points)
“Chuckle Brothers” (tier 3)
- Adeptis Rahn (+6 Warjack points)
- Phoenix (10 points)
- Phoenix (10 points)
- Arcanist (free – tier bonus)
- Arcanist (1 point)
- 6 Battle Mages (5 points)
- 10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7 points)
- Officer & Standard (2 points)
- Battle Magister (solo) (2 points)
- Battle Magister (solo) (2 points)
- Battle Magister (solo) (2 points)
Game One – Protectorate of Menoth
- Epic Kreoss (+6 Warjack Points)
- Crusader (6 points)
- Avatar of Menoth (11 points)
- 5 Exemplar Bastions (8 points)
- 5 Exemplar Cinerators (8 points)
- Dartan Vilmon (3 points)
- Paladin of the Wall (2 points)
- Eiryss (3 points)
My first game was against Jason, who introduced me to the Cork accent in spectacular fashion! The scenario was #16, “Command and Control”, and the battlefield was dominated by two large areas of Rough Terrain. My Adeptis Rahn list had no Pathfinder whatsoever, so Ossyan bravely stepped forward. Unfortunately for Jason, his medium infantry and heavy ‘jacks had real trouble negotiating the woods in the centre and the field in his deployment zone, and I was able to dictate the flow of the game pretty well form the start. I was also very fortunate that there was none of the usual Menoth support guff hanging around (i.e. Choir), so was able to shoot his stuff to bits over consecutive turns for very little retaliation, and take two Control Points for the win in about 45 minutes.
To my eternal shame, however, I failed to kill his Eiryss, but lost mine to a back-striking Paladin! Apparently mine was the traitor…
Game Two – Protectorate of Menoth
- Severius (+6 Warjack Points)
- Blessing of Vengeance (7 points)
- Avatar of Menoth (11 points)
- Vanquisher (8 points)
- Vanquisher (8 points)
- Repenter (4 points)
- 6 Choir of Menoth (3 points)
I came back from the break to find myself on Table 1, and up against Christopher and another Menoth army. The table was fairly open this round, and the scenario was #2 “gauntlet”; but the very presence of the Choir (never mind Mr “you can’t cast spells at me”) meant that Adeptis Rahn simply wasn’t an option.
I opened fairly conservatively, and saved my Feat for a later turn; but I hadn’t realised just how much I had underestimated Chris and his list until he set nearly half of my army on fire in his second turn! Luckily, he had forgotten to pop his Feat, so I was able to spend the Focus to set up an all-or-nothing assassination with eEiryss, Ossyan and my remaining Mage Hunter Strike Force. In the end though, because Severius had spent all his own Focus the turn before, Ossyan pulled off a spectacular one-shot for the win. WOW that was close!
Game Three – Legion of Everblight
- Thagrosh (+5 Warbeast Points)
- Harrier (2 points)
- Harrier (2 points)
- Shredder (2 points)
- Shredder (2 points)
- Angelius (9 points)
- Carnivean (11 points)
- 6 Nyss Striders (6 points)
- Officer & Standard (3 points)
- Nyss Shepherd (1 point)
- Strider Deathstalker (2 points)
Game three was #13 “demolition”, and I was up against Dave’s Legion. Dave had only brought one list, and while I’ve plenty of experience playing against eThagrosh (shudder), I’d never fought against his Primal incarnation, so was a little nervous. I took a long time deciding which list to use, but eventually opted for Adeptis Rahn, figuring I *might* be able to pull off a dirty assassination on my Feat turn with some careful positioning.
I nearly managed it! But for the two Lesser Warbeasts blocking Push-lanes and the two GIMPS that missed their boosted Magic Attacks, Thagroh would have been Knocked Down and in melee range of a fully-Focussed Phoenix. Never mind… Dave then had some very unfortunate luck with Ranged Attack rolls (in particular, the Striders missed one almighty CRA against the other Phoenix), and left his Warlock behind a couple of Ash Clouds that were once Battle Mages (I’d like to think the two that missed the previous turn!).
Adeptis Rahn is the master of shenanigans though, and I was able to Force Hammer Thagrosh to the ground (once a Magister Solo had Whip-snapped the Phoenix’s toe into the Ash Clouds for LOS), and have the Phoenix walk over and stab the blighted Ogrun to death. Thanks for the game!
Game Four – Cygnar
- Epic Stryker (+6 Warjack points)
- Ol’ Rowdy (9 points)
- Stormclad (10 points)
- Squire (2 points)
- Storm Tower (2 points)
- Stormcaller (solo) (1 point)
- Stormcaller (solo) (1 point)
- Stormcaller (solo) (1 point)
- Black 13th (4 points)
- 6 Stormblades (5 points)
- Officer & Standard (3 points)
- Journeyman Warcaster (3 points)
After a good meal and a fabulous snooze, I was ready for day two! First up was Brian with eStryker (again, another ‘caster I had never played against before). The scenario was #6 “Destruction”, so I took Ossyan with a mind to completing the victory conditions; but also taking any assassination opportunities as they arose!
I started out well, and was in a great position to hold off the inevitable storm AND to start whittling down my first objective… Instead I went for a very risky assassination, and very nearly failed. First off, Ossyan dropped Admonition to cast Quicken on himself for the extra range (dumb move), and MISSED Stryker with his Chronophage Cannon (rolled a 9 on 3D6 – needed a 10). Uh oh… Had he hit, Stryker would have been half-dead already, and far fewer of the following Mage Hunter Strike Force would have missed him. In the end, the last guy in range tagged him for his last few boxes, and my hands finally stopped shaking!
…Except that when we tried the “what if” thing, and I measured to confirm that he had been the last guy in range, I nudged him out – and I have never felt so much a dirty cheater in my life. It was too close to call, so Brian let me try one last shot with the Stormfall Archers (who hadn’t activated yet), and the one dude who got LOS to the Stormcaller BEHIND Stryker got him with the Blast Damage (I was rolling 3D6 – 8). Brian, if you’re ever up in Dublin, I would love a rematch!
Game Five – Legion of Everblight
- Thagrosh (+5 Warbeast Points)
- Angelius (9 points)
- Carnivean (11 points)
- Blackfrost Shard (5 points)
- 5 Nyss Raptors (10 points)
- Anyssaa Ryvaal (4 points)
- 1 Spell Martyr (1 point)
Last game was against Paul’s beautifully painted Legion, and the Scenario was #7 “Incursion” on the same table I played Jason in Game one. Paul had been playing Absylonia exclusively so far, but he took a similar Thagrosh list to Dave’s for his final match. After a lot of hummin’ and hawin’, I took Ossyan for the fourth time purely to deal with the forest in the centre.
The game was nearly over after ten minutes when Thagrosh Channelled a double-boosted Obliteration through the Spell Martyr at Ossyan! Luckily for me he only took 8 damage, but that would have been a very bad way to end the tournament!
The Mage Hunter Strike Force were absolute stars this game! They held off the Raptors by sheer dint of their Pathfinder and Stealth (eEiryss was not so lucky – stupid Eyeless Sight ignoring everything that keeps her alive…), and were able to “bad touch” Thagrosh from inside the forest over two turns due to Phantom Hunter. I didn’t quite manage to kill the evil Warlock during my Feat turn, but rather like Brian had in Game three, Paul kept Thagrosh front-and-centre, assuming his free Animus and multiple transfer-targets would keep him alive. They didn’t, and next turn I turned him into a blighted pin-cushion for the win. Cheers Paul!
Results
So… I won all five of my games, and was the only player to do so. It’s nearly two weeks later, and I still can’t quite believe that I won a tournament! As far as I can remember, I’ve never won five games in a row of anything before now, so I imagine I will get utterly destroyed in my next few games as the laws of physics re-adjust themselves.
The tournament itself was run very smoothly, and the slide-show at the end was a nice touch! Other Dave, if you’re reading: I know I said that adding timers would improve the event next year, but please ignore that! All they seem to do is stress folks out, and we all finished our games in good time anyway (unlike those poor Warhammer players…). I will suggest though that you include some other spot-prizes; such as “Destroyer” for most enemy army points taken, and/or “Mage Hunter” for the quickest Assassination throughout the whole tournament. A vote for best painted army wouldn’t go amiss either.
Come and get some!
I shall be playing in the 50pt tournament on Sunday 12th at Gamers World, and of course will try my hand at the Irish Masters in March, so please come along and smash my face in! I’ve had a blast in Ireland so far, and long may that continue. See you around folks!
Neil
Itzacon 2012 (9th – 11th March)
Feb 10th
Itzacon 2012 (9th – 11th) of March
Location: NUI Galway will be held in the Aras na Maclaeinn building beside the collage bar
Main Website:http://www.itzacon.com/
Details on accommodation can be found here:http://www.itzacon.com/content/accommodation-information
The 40k event will be a 1850 point tournament
with 5 games over the Saturday and Sunday
Timetable below
Day one Saturday
Player Registration from 9am
First Dice rolls at 10am
10:00 -12:30 game 1
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-4:00 game 2
4:00-4:30 break
4:30-7:00 game 3 (play till end of game)
Day two Sunday
11:00-1:30 game 4
1:30-2:30 Lunch
2:30-5:00 game 5
