UNDER PRESSURE: WORKING ON DEADLINES PART: 2

Well, since my last blog, I have played in three tournaments. For those of you wondering, I did make my deadline for the tournament in Killeen. I am extremely happy with my display board. It is light and a compact enough not to cause problems in cramped quarters, a major problem with my last display board. I'll get some pics up soon. Unfortunately, I am under another deadline. How the hell does this keep happening?

Tomorrow, there is a Heavy tournament at Battle Forge Games, the local hot spot for 40K. The best in Austin will be bringing there hardest lists to fight it out for the plastic. I have decided to run a different list and I have to assemble and paint a Chimera, it's still on the sprue...and yes, ANOTHER Chimera! I also, need to get three gun servitors painted and possibly three special weapons troopers. I'm still not sure about the last three. I have about twenty-one hours to get this done....if I don't sleep....and I'm writing this blog....AWESOME!

The Killeen tournament didn't go too well for me, I got 2 minor wins and a draw and ended up in 6th. However, I did get the highest appearance scores and my buddies got 1st, best sportsman, and tied for best best sportman(tie breaker was victory points). The first week in January, I played in a team tournament at Dragon's Lair in Austin. It was a random pairs tournament, 1500pts per player. It turns out that there were 5 teams and 4 of those teams had newbies, newbie with Necrons and Tau. My newbie was a young man with a Necron list. We managed to get third place and took home some swag. It was alot fun. Last weekend, a buddy of mine and I went to San Antonio to play in a tournament there. The system for pairings was a little different. I'm still trying to figure out how the guy that won was able to pick his tables for the last two games and he played the guy in 8th place for the final game..........strange. Ah well, it was fun and I had three great games, finished just out of the prizes though.

I've got to go paint, paint, paint. Have fun and...

Go roll some dice!

CRP

UNDER PRESSURE: WORKING ON DEADLINES

Well, I've done it again. I have procrastinated when I knew I had a tournament coming up and here I sit at midnight on Tuesday and I have alot of painting/modeling to do. I have a tournament Saturday morning, it is over an hour drive to get there. So, burning the midnight oil is going to be tough. The next three days are going to be tough. I have to assemble and paint a Chimera, a Sentinel, two sniper models, touch ups on the whole army and build a display base(the tournament I am attending gives +2 bonus points for display boards.)

All of this to do and here I am typing this blog..........yep, I'm procrastinating again. Am I the only one that does this?

Tournament Battle Report 12/05/09

In Austin there are two stores to get your tournament fix. Both stores do one 40K event per month. When things work out well, they are not held on the same day. This past weekend there were two events on Saturday. Battle Forge Games was having their year end championship(Unfortunately, I didn't have enough points for the year for that one.) and Dragon's Lair had their monthly tournament. Dragon's Lair does different points levels and also does the occasional team tournament. This month it was 2000pts.

My first opponent Matt is a new player that has been pretty active since arriving on the scene, playing two or three days a week. He is taking part in our campaign and is always ready to throw some dice. Last month was his first tournament experience at BFG. Matt has a nicely painted Ultramarine army. Off of the top of my head his list is:

Sicarius w/ combat squad in a Rhino
combat squad w/ LC
Chaplain w/10 assault troops
5 scouts in a Storm
2x Sternguard in DPs
Tac squad in a DP
dreadnought
dreadnought in a DP
devastator squad HBs/PCs

Matt and I had a great game. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and he got the victory 2-1! So, a minor loss for me. I have to admit, I was a little put off. I had everything set up to clear some objectives on turn 5. So close....Ah well, my dreams of victory were fading. At lunch, I learned that all but one of the games were very close. So, maybe I was still in the running.

My next game was against another guy that I play against atleast one or two games a week. Josh is also fairly new to the game. However, he plays five to eight games a week. He keeps improving every week. This was not Josh's day, though. He was hungover and had lost his first game after a heated rules argument with another guy from our group. I stole the initiative and my dice went into alpha strike mode. At the end of turn two, He had two combat squads in rhinos left and one of them was imoblized. He called the game so, that he could take a nap.

Below is Josh taking his nap. Haaaaahahahahaha!
Josh's SM list

Lysander w/ 5 termies w/assault cannon DP

7 termies with TH/SS in a LRR

Vindicator

2x Thunderfire Cannons

10 Assault troopers

2 tac squads w/rhino

10 sniper scouts w/ Telion

I was feeling a little better about my chances going into round three. I drew Josh's brother Brian as my opponent. He has a pretty tough build.
5x Nob Bikers

10 Nobs Battle Wagon

5 MegNobs in a Battle Wagon

12 Boys in a truck

Warboss on a bike

Ard boyz in a truck

12 Boyz in a truck

We had a close battle. I was ripping him up and then the Nob Bikers hit. Luckily, I took out the pain boy and then hit them hard. I followed that up with weaken resolve and ran them off the board. Then his other Nobs and Mega Nobs hit. I managed to put some wouds on the Meganobs abd then slap them with the PBS. We ended turn four with him having two objectives and me having one and that was the game. I was a little frustrated at this point and I just knew that I was not even close to placing.

However, Dragon's Lair uses a comp score system. I had perfect comp and that nudged me up to 3rd place! I was shocked! I ended up taking home a Canis Wolfborn mini. It is assembled and 90% painted already.

Josh, Matt, and I stayed and played an 8000pt megabattle after the tournament. So, we played 13 hours of 40K on Saturday. It was a lot of fun, frustrating at times but fun. I need to work on my speed play(or stop bulshitting, so much) and I think I'm going to get a digital stop timer to keep a closer track of time.

I am a fan of the 2 hour round. However, this weekend really made me aware that I have to keep track of time( and stop blllshitting so much!). How much time do you prefer for tournament rounds?

Go Roll some Dice!!!

CRP

The Art of Smack Talking: How Much Is Too Much?

Do you talk smack with your buddies or opponents when you are playing 40K? I play with a pretty competitive group and there is always some smack talk going. Lately, that smack talk has escalated to plain old fashioned shit talking. I mean, it is getting ove the top, mothers, fathers, girlfriends, cars, type of armies, anything is fair game,................. and it has been a blast!

Saturday night, we played an 8000pt 4 player game. It was a great, close game and the shit talking got a little LOUD. I didn't realize it at the time because I was caught up in the game and trying to out smack talk my opponents. After the game, we all went out for a burger.

When we were outside my game partner said " Man you were pretty pissed at Chris, huh?"
My reply was "Not at all, I was having fun."

Over dinner/breakfast(what do you call a burger at 1am?) we all talked about the game, the campaign we are all participating in, and finally denigrating into "One Time...." stories.

Later, I got to thinking when does smack talk go to far? We often have other gamers and bystanders think that we are serious. We always laugh it off.

On the flip side of this, I have had some opponents at tournaments that get a little too serious. I don't even think they are having a good time half the time. These are guys that will give you dirty look if you make a light hearted comment. When I get that look, I know I am in for a crappy game. However, this makes me try harder to beat them. I really like to table guys with no sense of humor.

How much smack taking goes on in your group? Do you enjoy smack talking or do you find it annoying? Does it detract or add to your gaming experience?

Later, I have mucho painting to do!

Go Roll Some Dice!

CRP

Tournament Addiction???

In slightly less than a year, I have participated in more tournaments than I have in the previous 8 years combined. What brought this on? When and why did I become such a "tournament whore"? Well, I moved to Austin and started playing with an extremely hyperactive gaming community and I started(out of necessity) an army that I have been wanting to do for years. Last month, I played in 3 tournaments.....3 tournaments...in.....1.....month. Some would say that is a little excessive. But, I am having an AWESOME time!

Below are some pictures from a tournament in Kileen Tx that was at Battlefield Games. It is a great store and Will the owner runs great events, I would play there more often if it was closer than an hour and a half drive. Also, my condolences and prayers go out to all the victims of the tragic shootings at Fort Hood.






I ended up finishing second after a great game on table one(massacre, massacre, and a draw). We ended in a tie and the win came down to a difference of less than 200 victory points. Yes, they used Victory points in Kileen. They also used the 3rd Edition deployment rules. It was great.

Red IG vs. Purple Nids in the final.

7 Valkyries, I had to do a double take. 7, 7 Valkyries. Wow!

This Ork horde had some great looking models.

This players display board was titled "Deep Strike Mishap". Notice the 3 Chaos Terminators.

I played another tournament, yesterday. It was a lot of fun. However, I had terrible results (a draw, a minor loss and another draw). The dice gods hated me, it was fun though. There is a Heavy tournament later this month, too. Hmmmmmm........

Have fun and roll some dice!

CRP

Heavy Hobby?

Lately, it seems that this hobby has been really eating up my time. I have been playing a lot. 30 games in the last month including 2 Apoc games. Thursday is the night most of the 40K crowd converges on Battle Forge Games. It was indeed a full day of gaming. I played 3 200opt games and at midnight we decided to start a 12000 pt Apoc game (SM/IG/SM VS Orks/ Iron Warriors/Orks). We finished up around 4am. I'm sure it will affect the marital status of some that were involved. Thanks for staying open late, Brandon! Saturday, I played in a tournament. I was sick and it affected my playing but, I still had fun.

I have 2 more tournaments to play in this month. BFG's "hobby" tournament is this Saturday. I still need to "detune" my army a little. Then on the 24th there is a tournament about 70 miles from Austin. I attended one of their tournaments in the past and had an absolute blast. The owner runs a great tournament and it's always fun to play a new group of players.

Most of my paint time has been spent on the Space Wolves, lately. I still need to buckle down and get some more Praetorians painted. ..........So, many minis and so little time.

Happy Gaming!!!

BoLScon 09!!! What A Blast!!!

What can be said about the first BoLScon? It was definitely a success. It was a party. It was the best 40K event I have ever attended. The event ran smooth, the players were gracious, even the ones I had disagreements with. It just goes to show that a competitive event doesn't have to be all about WAAC.

The Friday night Lucky 13 game was a great time. It was a little fast paced for me(not by much just a tad). But, I did deploy across the board and ended up fighting 2 armies with less than 3/4 of my forces. I died horribly and it was an absolute epic good time.

I got to bed Saturday morning about 3:30 am, but was back at BolScon by 7:30 am. Saturday was an absolute blast and I had better results than I expected. I didn't bring a real "HARD" army. I was trying to stay away from the "Mech IG" list. I really wanted to bring a gun line but, I didn't get the models done in time. I played against a Space Wolves, SM, a beautiful
IG Vostyran army, and an IG Mech army. I managed to come out on top every game and was the top Austin player going into the second day. I was shocked to say the least.

Saturday was another late night, I sat around talking to some other players and wisely avoided getting drunk. I met John Schaeffer from GW. He was really nice and had a few painting tips. It was early in the morning before I got to bed Sunday morning. My alarm went off waaaaay too early and it was time for day 3. The tournament started early Sunday and I played against a Mech Eldar, Blood Angels, and Mech SM. I managed to win 2 of the 3 games and ended up in 13th place overall. I didn't get max points in a single game. However, with the exception of the loss I scored consistently in the 30s. On game 6, I only scored 3 pts. I will always remember that Corbulo is NOT Fearless lol. A critical mistake on my part.

Overall, it was the most fun I have had in a long time. I will definitely be there next year. I hope to see a lot of you there, too. I can't recommend this event enough. Yes, it was that great! Below is a copy of my list. What do you think?

HQ

Command- Bolter, LC, 2x Sniper Rifle

Primaris Psyker

TROOPS

Command-Bolter, LC, 2x Sniper Rifle

Squad 1- AC, Sniper Rifle

Squad 2- HB, Sniper Rifle

Squad 3- Melta

HWS 1- 3x LC

HWS 2- 3x LC

Penal Legion

Vet Squad 1- Sgt w/pw & plasma pistol, 2x plasma, melta, demo

Vet Squad 2- Harker 3x melta, demo, Chimera

ELITE

Ratlings x3

Ratlings x4

PBS x9, Chimera

FAST ATTACK

Valkyrie- Multi rocket pods

HEAVY

Demolisher- LC, 2x PC

LRBT- 3x HB

2 x Hydra