Blog Wars - The Aftermath

Well i returned home late last night after an excellent days gaming at the newly founded 'Blog Wars' tournament, which was held in Mansfield at Maelstrom Games. I have to say, it was a blast!

For me, this tournament attracted all the right kinds of people. Though it was a tournament, it was always advertised as a Friendly Tournament, more of a community meeting than a tooth-and-nail competition! It was really great to meet some of the other bloggers out there, people who you only know by Blog and alias! As for the venue, well, it was perfect. The place was huge, with more than enough gaming tables to accommodate three times our numbers! The terrain provided was also great, with a good mix of GW and home-made features.
So how'd it  go? I took my Elysians to this one, as its probably the only tournament that I'm EVER gonna be able to take an Imperial Armour list, and out of the 3 games played, i managed 2 Draws and 1 Loss. The point of taking the Elysians (besides being my favorite army!) was to see how they performed in a more competitive setting against more optimised lists. The results speak for themselves, and the lack of serious firepower really let the Elysians down this time.

I tried to take notes for full battle reports, but by the middle of the second game, i lost the will! So what you've got here is a brief summary of each game, followed by some random pictures!
The first game was Spearhead and Seize Ground. GW may as well called this mission 'Draw' 'cos it was exactly that for most people! I played Mick from Claws & Fists and his Space Wolves. Every list had to include a Special Character, so Mick took Bjorn the Fell Handed! Mick went first and deployed defensively around his objective at the rear of the table, i followed suit. The game basically consisted of pot-shots at each other from a distance, with the fast skimmers trying to contest the objectives! I managed to Outflank 2 Vulture Gunships and a Valkyrie full of Vet's onto his objective, but after 2 turns they were destroyed by one (or all!) of Mick's many Long Fang squads! It was a good, smooth game which ended in a Draw (cue shocked intakes of breath!)

The second game was against Drew from Excommunicate Traitoris and his Imperial Guard. The Special Character he took was Sergeant Harker, though he didn't get much of a look in this game. This mission was Dawn of War deployment with Annihilation. From the start Drew outgunned my quite significantly with 2 Leman Russ, 2 Hydras and a Vendetta Squadron- perfect for taking out my flimsy AV12 flyers! And that's exactly what he did, with terrifying accuracy! I barely got out of my deployment zone, spending most of my time trying to hide from his big guns! The 2 Vultures didn't get a single shot off before they were turned to scrap by his Hydras and Vendettas! Coupled with the fact my dice were rebelling against me (yes, i AM blaming my dice for this one!!) it became pretty one sided. The game mercifully ended on turn 5, and Drew claimed victory at 11KP to 5KP.

The final game was against our gracious host, Alex from From the Fang and his Space Wolves. The Special Character he took was Ragnar Blackmane, which he used to terrifying effect! The deployment was Pitched Battle and the mission was Capture and Control. Objective games are where the Elysians really excel, but another list full of Long Fangs was really gonna ruin my day! Alex went first and consolidated most of his forces on the right flank where 3 objectives were placed. The left flank had 2 with only a token force guarding them. I decided to keep all my forces in reserve bar Captain Gerek, the Ground Scanner, and the 2 Vendettas with Vet's in them. The game pretty much went as expected, my Outflanking forces contesting objectives and making a pain of themselves, while Alex's Long Fangs kept up the heat on my flyers. I managed to take the left flank by turn 4 (a very resilient Lone Wolf made the task VERY difficult!) but by then my scoring units were either chopped to pieces by Ragnar (who killed 2 entire squads on his own!) or fleeing. I have to say, my Leadership rolls had a lot to be desired in this tournament!! My only options by this stage were to contest the 2 objectives Alex held with my flyers, and leave the others unclaimed. So by the end of Turn 5 that was the situation. Alex had all his Meltas and Chainfists in position ready to turn my contesting flyers to scrap should the game go into Turn 6, now all that was left was a roll of  the dice. And that's when Mrs GunGrave turned up, and the fate of the game was placed in her delicate hands! Following a stern briefing, and the threat of a single-woman's life should she fail me, she rolled the dice..........and rolled a 1!! HA, i couldn't believe it - the game ended in a Draw. I was very pleased to say the least, and i couldn't possibly comment on how Alex felt (but i could take an educated guess!) All in all it was a very good game, and my favorite of the day!

So now some pictures. They'll probably be out of sequence, but they're just some snapshots of the day.

The set up at Maelstrom Games

Outflanking Valkyrie and Vet's contesting objectives in Game 1

Vendettas guard my objective in Game 1

Vultures Outflank onto Micks objective in Game 1

More guard duties for the Vet's in Game 1

Drew's Imperial Guard ready for judging

Drew's Vendetta Gunship

Some Elysian Drop Troops from Drew

Drew's Hydras that i really liked!

A great novelty Ork!

Cool Objective marker

An interesting Tau colour scheme

The worlds only yellow Blood Angels!

Some nice freehand work

The tournaments only Drago

Some more cool objective markers

A home-made Harker!

The Hydras eye up my Vendetta in Game 2

The Elysians hide during deployment in Game 2

A Valkyrie-Off in Game 2!

Rangnar Blackmane makes a move for the objective in Game 3

Some very concerned Guardsmen in Game 3!!

Outflank! Game 3

More Outflanking in Game 3

Sentinels tackle the Lone Wolf in Game 3

Once enough men had died, and the friendly gloating had subsided, it was time for the awards! I'm sorry to say that i can only remember the wining army of the tournament, which was a Dark Eldar list, but i cant remember the guys name - sorry dude! It goes without saying that i didn't rank very well, coming somewhere in the 20's! Check out Alex's blog over the next few days for details of that one. There was also a raffle, with some Finecast/Gash-cast minis as the prizes. I dipped out in that one to.

HOWEVER, I'm very pleased to say that i was voted Best Painted Army for the tournament!! There was one catch though......i drew with another guy for this award, and that was Drew and his Imperial Guard who i played in game 2! As it turned out, i voted for Drew's army myself (kinda wish i hadn't now - DOH!) as it was a really well painted and characterful army in a desert camo theme. His Hydras were especially nice!! We decided to split the prize of £25 store credit at Maelstrom, and i picked up the novel 'The Chapters Due', a Uriel Ventris book which i hadn't read yet. The remaining money that i didn't use i gave to Drew, in an unfathomable act of kindness! I haven't got any armies on the go at the moment and probably wont have for the near future, so i figured that he could make better use of the money than me!

So that's it, back to the Forge to get the Vostroyans ready for the tournament in Exeter in a few weeks time. I for one will look forward to the next 'Blog Wars', which will be a real highlight in my tournament calender in the future! A big thanks to Alex again for organising a great day!

The GunGrave