Quake City Rumble 2012

Last weekend was Quake City Rumble at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.  This was my second year attending and overall I had a good time.  The only overall issue was some griping and confusion over how comp scores affected the pairings in the early rounds.  There were some matchups that seemed a lot more one sided than they should have been.  Some of the comp scores didn't quite make sense and there were some sneaking suspicions that newer armies got comped harder by default even when their lists were relatively soft.  Other than that ... the venue was good, the organization was good, the attendance was good, the games were fun, the opponents were fun to play against, and the painting and conversions on several of the armies were fantastic.

In terms of my actual performance, I don't really like where I placed.  I used the same list I had used at SAWS where I was 2-1-2 but ended up 2-0-3.  Turning one tie into a loss dropped me from the middle of the pack to the bottom quarter.  This is also worse than I did last year at QCR where I was 2-2-1.  I'll step through the games and then talk some about the other scoring components.

Game 1 : Loss
My first game was against Ryan's Lizardmen.  His list was a pretty standard tournament Lizard list: Slann, Temple Guard, Steg, SKrocs, some Saurus, some Skinks, and a Salamander.  He went first and during his magic phase he cast Throne of Vines followed by an irresistable Dwellers Below on my level 4 Sorceress' unit.  He killed my level 4 and paniced her unit off the table.  Starting out the game without the bulk of your offensive magic and trying to fend off a Slann with just a level 2 .... let's just say that I did well by not getting tabled.  My 'unkillable' Lord managed to tarpit his Steg for the whole game, so at least that part worked as planned.

Game 2 : Win
The second game was against Mike's Vampire Counts.  This is one of the Vampire Count armies I'd played and won against at SAWS, with some slight modifications, and there was a definite comp problem with his list.  We both agreed that his list was softer than his comp score reflected and that this matchup was probably not a good one for the second round when both of us had lost our first games. 

Mike was already having a bad day.  In his first game, his opponent's Hell Cannon misfired at the top of the first turn.  It's misfire result caused every caster on the table to suffer a miscast.  Mike had some really bad luck and lost all of his casters before he even got a turn.  Which means that his army started crumbling before he even got a turn.

Coming off that kind of quick and frustrating loss, I can see how he would be upset when I tabled him in three turns.  He took it as best he could, tried to keep from getting angry about it, and even waited a good long while before filling out my sportsmanship and comp scores to avoid being unnecessarily harsh due to his mood.  I hope he had better luck for the rest of the weekend.

The one interesting high point of the game was that his Wight King managed to Killing Blow my 'unkillable' Lord.

Game 3 : Win
Game three was against Brett's Scaven.  I've got a lot of practice playing Scaven and my army is really good at killing light infantry.  This was a really fun game that ended up being pretty close.  My 'unkillable' Lord managed to tarpit his Hellpit Abomination for the first half of the game.  I don't think it actually managed to get into any combats once it finally got free.  He also committed a bit of a tactical mistake by sending his Storm Vermin in to try to break the stalemate between my lord and the HPA, which really just meant that they got stuck for a couple of turns as well.  I took out his warmachines with scouts and fliers and killed enough Clan Rats to win.

Game 4 : Loss
My first game of the second day was against Greg's Empire.  I like getting to play tournament level Empire armies, since I still haven't played with the new book and really want to get back to working on my Empire army now that tournament season is over.  I've seen a lot of very mobile Empire lists lately, and this was a good example.  A big block of Knights, a couple of units of Demigryphs, Stank, Hurricanium, an some minimal infantry to guard some characters.  This game was fun but frustrating for me since I failed all but one charge I attempted in turns 2 and 3.  My 'unkillable' Lord made the only successful charge, whiffed, and then failed his break test on a stubborn 10 and was run down.   When Dark Elves can't move and get into combat when they want to in the early game, they just don't work.  I also didn't roll more than 3 dice for winds of magic in the first 3 turns.

Game 5 : Loss
Last game of the tournament was against Zack's Nurgle Warriors of Chaos.  His list was definitely softer than mine and it was comped appropriately.  By all odds I should have won this game, but bad luck with dice at bad times.  Failed charges I should have made, failed to cast spells that I needed, failed to run down units that I broke.  He also managed to kill my 'unkillable' Lord with magic before he got into combat.  He was a fun guy to play against though and we had a good time to finish out the event.

For those keeping score, my 'unkillable' Lord died in 4 out of 5 games.

Now for the other score related stuff.  I got a 20 out of 30 for painting.  Last year I got a 26 out of 30 with the same army and display board.  This really annoyed me.  All I can figure is that since there were even more amazing looking armies this year than last year, the judges must have raised the bar or something. 

My list was comped at 2 out of 15 by the tournament judges and my final comp score was 11.5, meaning that my opponents gave me a collective comp score of 9.5 out of 15 for an average of 1.9.  So my opponents gave me almost as many comp points each as the tournament comp judges gave me total.  Last year my total comp score was 7.5.  I attribute the difference to removing the second Hydra from the list, and my 'unkillable' Lord dying in almost every game.  The 4 point increase in comp doesn't quite compensate for the 6 point drop in painting, but it was are area that I hoped to improve from last year so I'm glad that I was successful there.

In terms of sportsmanship, this year I got a 52, up from 48 last year.  I feel like I did a better job of not letting bad luck get to me and trying to keep having fun regardless of what happened on the table, and I think the increase in sportsmanship reflects that.

Overall, my score this year was 146.5 versus 154.5 last year.  My battle score was 6 points lower than last year, but I did do a little better at getting scenario bonus points this year so it could have been worse with the win-loss record I had.  I brought up the couple of categories where I thought I could improve, but slipped even more in the ones I did well at last year.

For next year, my goal is to bring fully painted Empire instead of Dark Elves.  I'm going to try to increase my comp score from the judges while keeping the comp score from my opponents good, and keep my sportsmanship score where it is.  I've got some good ideas for conversions for my Empire army, so I'm hoping that I can pull my painting score back up to where it was.  In terms of win-loss, I'd be happy to get back to a more even record.

Quake City Rumble 2011

This past weekend was the 2011 Quake City Rumble, put on by one of the local gaming clubs, Leadership 2. It was the first time I'd been to a Grand Tournament and overall I'd call it a positive experience. There were, I think, 105 players registered and 93 attended. I think I'll go back next year.

It was held at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, so there were different food vendors to choose from in the Farmer's Market on day 2 and a taco stand on day 1, ample parking, and was easy to find. The actual building was a little hard to find since the directions just said 'Fleet room' but none of the maps had a 'Fleet room' listed. But it wasn't too hard to spot the wargamers carrying their armies in from their cars. The Center is right on the bay so there was a nice cool breeze blowing through the whole time. All it in all it was a really nice spot for an event like this.

So, how did I do? Let's pull up my goals for this event -


Have fun.
Check.

I had a good time. Each of the 5 opponents I played, I would play again. Well, there was one army that I would prefer not to play again with this build of my army, but the guy was cool enough. I hung out with a couple of guys from Game Kastle between games. I talked with a few other guys from around the area. I saw some great looking armies.

Try to avoid stupid tactical mistakes.
Check

I don't think I did anything particularly wrong in any of my games. I'll go into more detail on the individual games further down.


Don't get annoyed at bad rolls.
Check minus

There were four specific rolls during the tournament that were particularly bad for me. The first one I didn't let bother me. The second one I watching in disbelief and was a little grumpy about, but then I got over. The third and fourth were during the same game and I was a little grumpy at them at first but then made sure to laugh about them.


Have my army fully painted.
Check plus.










So overall I did pretty well for myself in terms of my personal goals.

In terms of the numbers, I was 53rd out of 93. I won 2, drew 2, and lost 1. My painting score was 26 out of 30. Well, out of 33. The points went to 30 but they considered display board a 1-3 point bonus over that. My comp score was on the low side, but that's to be expected for a Dark Elf list with 2 Hydras. My sportsmanship score was fine.

I was actually tied with the guy above me, and the next two people were only a half point over us, and the next couple were only a point over. My overall total was 154.5 out of 200. If one of the draws had been a win I would have moved up about 10 places. So I guess the takeaway from all that is: if I'm going to bring a hard list I'd better win more.

Now to run through the games.

Game 1 versus Dan's Demons
Draw

I draw a Blood Thirster list for the first game. My Sorceress miscasts in the first turn and forgets Mindrazor and two other spells. This was the first really bad roll for me. I managed a draw by killing his big blocks of Bloodletters and Daemonettes, and by him being more cautious with his Bloodthrister than I would have been considering I lost Mindrazor. If I'd had all my spells for another round or two I might have won.

Game 2 versus Seth's Warriors of Chaos
Win

Seth was playing a list that was probably really nasty in 7th edition. I suspect this because he told me that it was his 7th edition list and he hadn't updated it for 8th yet. Lots of medium sized (for 8th, large for 7th) units of Marauders, a couple of Chariots, a Demon Prince, and a couple of small units of light cavalry. Unfortunately for him, my army is really really good at killing light infantry.
I think that pic is from turn 3, and a little more than half his army was gone. He was a great opponent though, took it all in stride, and he seemed like a really fun guy to play with. I'd be happy to play him again some time with better balanced lists.

Game 3 versus Dave's Vampire Counts
Loss

I don't know what it is about Vampires. I always have trouble with them. By this point I had a win and a draw, so I sort of felt the loss coming. And what a loss it was. Dave's army consisted of two hordes of Zombies, and a big block of Ghouls, and a Graveguard deathstar unit with the regen banner, 2 Vampire Lords, 2 Vampire Heros, and a Wight King. This was a hard Vampire list and I gave it the lowest comp score of any of the armies I played, but Dave was a nice guy and I gave him a fine sportsmanship score.

His combat Lord killed my entire unit of 20 Blackguard all by himself in a single round thanks to their Red Rage power or whatever it's called. It's the one where he gets to keep attacking so long as he keeps killing. Toughness 3 Elves in Heavy Armor against Strength 6 with Hatred..... so 20 rolls later the whole unit was dead and with it pretty much any hope I had of killing anything in his army worth any points. This was the second bad roll which I watched in disbelief and the end of day 1.

Game 3 versus Luke's Lizardmen
Draw

This game featured the remaining two very bad rolls. Luke was a nice guy playing a Lizardmen list with no Slann. Two Stegadons, one with the Engine of the Gods, a few Saurus blocks, only a couple units of Skinks and Salamanders, and an Oldblood on a Carnosaur. We both played cautiously with some good maneuvering, putting our expendable and harassing units out to redirect things in our favor. The first bad dice roll happened in turn 2. I failed to cast Power of Darkness with my Level 4 by rolling a 1, then killing a Spearman for a second die and rolling another 1. That left about 8 power dice on unused on the table and my Corsairs had just headed off down the left flank in the direction of the Stegs without magic support. As a result, the Stegs had my Corsairs for lunch instead of being cut to ribbons. In turn 3 my Blackguard and one Hydra charged his center Saurus block with his BSB in it and my Witches charged his right Saurus block that was worth a bonus Victory point. I won both combats by a lot and killed his BSB. But the center Saurus unit held with Insane Courage. This was the last really bad roll for me. As a result of those last few Saurus holding, my Blackguard was charged in the flank by his third unit of Saurus and my Hydra was charged in the rear by his General and Carnosaur. So that cost me a couple hundred points and the game ended a draw. If either of those rolls hadn't come out double 1's, it would have been a win.

Game 5 versus Scott's Orcs and Goblins
Win

Once again, my army is really really good at killing light infantry. Scott's army was a couple of hordes of Night Goblins, a horde of Orcs with spears, some Trolls, some Wolf Riders, a Mangler, and one of those new ginormous spiders. He was a nice guy, but just had no luck. My Shades shot his Mangler dead before it got a chance to move. One Hydra broke his giant spider by itself. My other Hydra charged his Wolf Riders, who failed their Terror check and ran off the table. My Blackguard with flaming banner, +1 attack from the Cauldron, and Mindrazor charged his Trolls and did 18 wounds killing, all 6 before they could do anything. It was nice to round out the tournament with a win, but the game was really one sided and I felt a little bad for the guy.

So, a good time all around. Now, here's a couple of pics of other armies that were there. Including this one that I'd seen on Bell of Lost Souls.




A nice looking Empire army.

An epic Skaven display board.

And lastly, a Tomb Kings army that won a couple of the painting awards.

Painty painty paint paint

Insert typical "wow it's been a while since I've posted" opening.

It's now June and the next big thing coming up for me, hobby-wise, is the Quake City Rumble Indy GT. This will be my first GT style tournament and I've set what I feel are reasonable goals for myself.

Have fun.
Try to avoid stupid tactical mistakes.
Don't get annoyed at bad rolls. (What? Me? Pout at bad dice luck? Never!)
Have my army fully painted.

That last one is the reason I haven't posted in a while. I've been spending all my available hobby time painting to make sure I'm done in time.

I've also got to make a display board, which will be a first time thing for me. People put a lot of effort and creativity into display boards, but I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself. First, finish painting the army well. Then, make an acceptable display board with whatever time I have left. At a bare minimum I should have a flat board based like my models mounted to a breakfast tray, a la Rushputin. (Kinda cool how you're the first google search result for 'warp stone pile, eh?) If I finish painting in enough time I might try to throw some scenery on there to bump my painting score up another point.

So all this points in an obvious content direction for this blog, I need to take some photos. We have a pretty good digital camera with macro settings, but I have no backdrop / light box to speak of. Anyone have good recommendations for how to put together a decent model photo setup without spending an arm and a leg?

I feel a little dirty

'ard Boyz prelims are coming up in a couple of weeks and Game Kastle is one of the California locations, so I decided I'd give it a whirl. It's free and at the moment the turnout looks like it will be sparse. The problem is that I'm still working towards having a fully painted army for the GT in June so I don't want to lose time doing any modeling prep for 'ard Boyz.

After thinking about it, fiddling with different lists, and checking out other folks 'ard Boyz lists online .... I decided to buy a second Hydra. It's entirely possible that some folks will roll into 'ard Boyz with 3 or even 4 Hydras, so I don't think it's entirely cheesy for a 3k tourney with no comp. I do feel a bit dirty for having it though.

So I'm going to put it together and give it a shot. I've also revised my GT list so now I have two options there. One list with a Chariot and a second unit of Shades, and another with a second Hydra and a couple of extra Corsairs.

I don't think I'll use it for friendly games, and probably not even for local tournaments, but seeing as how these are large scale events I felt like I should pack a little more punch.