My write up for today’s tourney at Musket Balls games in Southampton and my quest for some shadeglass.
Went solo today as my usual gaming buddies were all tied up in other things. This was my second event at Musketball games, a truly friendly FLGS. Chris, who ran the event, does his upmost to make everything friendly and ensures newer players have a great experience and take home a bundle of Alt art cards and goodies. There was the usual game, plus 3 prizes for best painted. I’m never going to win at a painting competition, but The glassware was a real possibility!
Only 7 players managed the trip, with yours truly driving for an hour to get to the store.
Again, I was playing a Thorns objective / aggressive deck which i had adjusted following last weeks games. Id even managed to fir Earthquake in the mix as I had previously shunned this for other push ploys and Varclav working overtime to shift the Chainrasps into position.
This was my deck…..
ROUND ONE
Me Vs Martin (EOT9)
Martin’s a great guy and I know he has been focusing on this warband the last few tourneys. I’ll be honest, the warband hasn’t grabbed my attention which means I felt on the back foot as I don’t know the cards and objectives very well (I.e hardly at all)
First round really came down to poor dice on Martin’s behalf. I know the feeling well from running Thorns as swords and evades mean you are always rolling on the back foot. However I rolled well and he …fluffed everything! I didn’t score as rapidly as I can do, the score was 14-8 to me.
Second round Martin again rolled a little better, but an error from him on the first action phase meant he failed to score whilst I pulled a few glory which set the Thorny ball rolling. Final score was 19-6. Id managed to score 10 out of 12 of my objectives. Martin was berating himself, but was his usual sportsman self.
ROUND 2
Me Vs Rob (Thorns of the Briar queen)
My first ever mirror Match! Again (and this is such a theme with all tourneys I play). Rob is a sound geeza. We set up, but it quickly became obvious that his deck was missing key cards (the “auto includes” that exist post BAR list). Time and time again Rob went in for the attack, but without certain upgrades my Queen brushed these off. I was then able to score supremacy and our only way out early and that secured enough glory for me to go to town with upgrades. It ended 14-2 to me. (14 seems to be my average score with this deck)
The next round was more of the same. In Rob’s defence, he has only played for a short while and doesn’t have huge collection of warbands, where as I have bought the lot. The scoring improved for both of us and it ended 17-6 to me.
ROUND THREE
Me Vs John Reese (Dwarves)
This was the unofficial final, as there had been a plan to play more rounds (Semi and final), although some players couldn’t stay late for fear of missing buses / angry spouses.
Was I worried? Did I care that this was “The” John Reese? Of course I bloody did! But ach, I was ready to give him hell and maybe, just maybe, I could dodge a crit?
First round I managed to slap a couple of wounds on Grimnir and just needed to hit again. My everhanged completed the usual spoils of war/ready for action combo and rolled a crit, with his leader only rolling one on shields. John rolled and…a crit! Dammit, that was a mightily chance for me to take control. Kudos to John, there was never a time he didn’t seem to be in control, although he did give me a slightly worried glance at that point. John scored every chance he could and we ended up 17-7 after he managed to deny me Supremacy.
Second round and I took a huge risk. John had been piling upgrades on Grimnir and I knew I needed to take him down as my queen could (just about) deal with the other stunties if I rolled well. I used sudden appearance to put me in range of Grimnir and another model (I’m still in quick thinker mode at times!). I has rebound ready as my insurance. Surely this would work?
The rest is a blur of pain and me repeatedly mumbling the phrase “I score nothing / Im not playing anything”. John ripped my wrband apart and I only scored a glory by eventually killing one of his lesser beardy boys. Final score for this round was (20-1). Id lost my chance at the glassware and had my arse handed to me at the same time.
John deserved the win, but I would have loved to have caused him a few more worries along the way.
So, second place again! Always the (undead) bridesmaid, never the bride …..YET!
What did I learn?
- I cant paint for toffee (I actually knew that already!)
- My deck is good, but still needs a tweak.
- John is bloody good at Underworlds
- I still love this game! 🙂
Massive thanks to musketballs for a geat day of games. They have another event on the 29th December, be sure to get there if you can.
Go hunt that glory!
The Gloryless Bastard
The Gloryless Bastard 