Got My Ass Kicked – And Learned A Lesson
OK, I know this “update” will suck because I have no pics but I wanted to at least let everyone know I’m still here and will be starting up all new projects soon. I also wanted to share how the tournament went and what I learned (and boy did I learn a lot!)
On the upside, I took Best Painted Army, enough cash to pick up another battlewagon. Yay!
The downside is I learned a lesson the hard way that I play too safe with my boyz. The tournament was a little different than most I’ve attended. The biggest difference was four matches at 1.5 hours each. Not much time but it made sense within the theme of the tourny. Each match was scored on Win, Tie, or Lose with a few extra points available for misc things. Here’s how things went and then I’ll fill you in on what I did wrong.
Match 1: vs. Biker Ork Army
Outcome: Loss by me
Match 2: vs. fish’ead
Outcome: Loss by me
Match 3: vs. Drop Pod beakies
Outcome: Loss by me
Match 4: vs. fish’ead
Outcome: Loss by me
Sad really. My opponents and I talked after each match and three out of four said “If it had gone one more round, you would have easily taken the entire game.” The only one I didn’t have a chance was the first fish’ead player who frankly outmaneuvered me after I made a few bad deployment decisions and I totally earned that beating.
My mistake was playing like the game was going to go four or five turns, holding back to make the “grab” in the last round to take objectives which each mission was based on. The problem was we never played a fourth, much less fifth turn because of the time constraint. Not complaining. Each table had the same time issues and dealt with it, I apparently just didn’t take notice and played slower instead of ramping up and trying to win the game in three turns.
Which brings me to a piece of wisdom brought to be three days later by Bell of Lost Souls (I love irony). Practice with your army not only as to how it plays against other armies, but practice to finish or win within the time limit set in the tournament. I know, genius and readily apparent in hindsight.
Not all was bad though. Even though I finished absolutely last tactically, I earned enough point from the painting that it ended up placing me squarely in the middle of the pack. And just because I’m like that, I averaged out the points if we had one more round and I had indeed taken those games? Would have been first or second overall. Oh well. That’s why there’s always a next time.
BTW: The tournament was held at Tower Games in St. Paul, MN and was one of the nicest gaming experiences I’v ehad in my gaming career. Friendly people, very accommodating store, most armies were painted up full, I will be attempting to attend every tourny they throw. Great jobs Adeptus Minneapolis and Tower Games!
Other news, I’m starting to put together the next iteration of Red Jacks Waaagh! by adding BURNAS!!! My new favorite units. Used them spectacularly in a battlewagon last night against Grey Knight termies and smoked’em. WHoohoo! I’ll start painting them up this week and start work on Zagstruk as well as I’m liking the way he’s worked for me the last few friendly games.
Pictures next time, I promise!
Later!
