Two days to go until Invasion 2016. Time for another DZC report.
So we piled into Mike's car and took the short journey to Crawley for the one day Tilgate Tactical Tournament. Sharing the car with Mike and myself was Ed and Joe.
Above: The gaming room, small but perfectly formed.
Game One - Mike - UCM - Surging Strike
With only ten players taking part, and four of those from Orbital Bombardment, there was a fair chance the of playing someone from OB. The random function in the Excel spreadsheet paired me against the team's designated driver, and regular tournament winner Mike Burch. Oh happy day.
Above: Mike Droning on.
Mike's UCM army can be described as Drones, Drones and more Drones. And I can report that I played like a complete doughnut. It's something about the first game in a tournament. I am so pleased to be there and so enjoy the geeky wargame environment, I forget myself and just push figures around for the fun of it. Mike does not need a second invitation and the Drones exploiting my foolishness.
When I did have chance to use the Reavers to take out the Drone controlling Ferrum, I mucked it up, and before long my crimes, and Mike's punishment, was over. A twenty nil loss was what I deserved. Very disappointing, considering my initiative to play better in 2016.
Message to self: Alex time to pull yourself together.
Game Two - Ken - Scourge - Military Complex
Having played in a fair number of tournaments in the South East now, it is not unusual to meet up with people you have met or played before. Ken had attended our club's 40K event in the past. Like me, due to changing fashions in the local meta, he had given DZC a go.
(In a previous DZC post I explained how you should not search for an objective if you believe that in the ensuing combat you will be destroyed in case you find it and then have to hand it over. Well we now have a caveat to that rule. It is ok to search for an objective if you intend to survive four rounds of outnumbered close combat, pass any fortitude tests, and end up winning the game).
The Screamer won me this game. Supporting a unit of Destroyers, it's reduction to Ken's attack dice allowed them to last out against outnumbering enemy. Weirdly, outside the building Ken's dice were pretty damn good. Unfortunately, for him, when the game was on the line, it was inside the building that the game was being decided. I managed a 11 to 9 victory. A real nail-biter of a fight. Thank you Ken.
When I play Scourge, if intend to win games, I have to pay a high price in models. My Holy grail; to win a game and score additional kill points.
Game Three - Amit - Scourge - Ground Control
Amit and I had originally met at the Warfare tournament in Reading last year and he now regularly attends the club. However, we had yet to play, so it took a trip to Crawley for us to finally become opponents. More Scourge civil war, and Amit's choice of models had four Reavers, some Prowlers, three Stalkers in a Harbinger and a Desolator as his HQ. So apart from the Stalkers all very familiar.
Amit cleverly placed four Minders in a long line on the left hand side of the table so that I would need to risk opportunity fire should I try and sneak a drop ship through his blockade. I imagined one of the Minders hold a big stick Gandelf like "None shall pass!"
Due to the mission's objectives, our plans concerned being alive until games end, playing cat and mouse, and trying to position our forces ready for the turn six dash. My Reavers tried, and fail to cause some damage on the Stalkers, and were seriously mauled by Reapers.
Screamer to the rescue again, when it stayed alive until the end of the game to reduce by half the scoring points of a unit Amit's destroyers. We both held two and contested two quarters each for a pleasing draw. Amit had out played me during the game and killed many an alien, but I had given myself a headache, calculating the points in each quarter for the final turn and I managed to get a sneaky draw. Thanks to Amit for the game.
I had scored 21 points in total, out of 60, with a win, loss and draw. Not too shabby. However, and with considerable thanks to my three opponents, I did receive the Best Sportsman award (which, takes pride of place at the beginning of this post).
Thanks to all those taking part, the TO, and his helpers.
Good wargaming to you all.
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