RockCon and the Gentlemen’s Grand Tournament
John and I made our 5th(?) annual trip down to Rockford, Ill last weekend to attend RockCon 2011! This was the second year that the two day “Gentlemen’s Grand 40K Tournament” was held there and I participated. The tournament was five games over the two days. Three on Saturday and two Sunday morning. The scenarios were all three objective based with primary worth 4 points, secondary 3 points and tertiary 2 points.
This awesome Ultramarine army won "Favorite Army"
Game 1 – Noah – Space Wolves
Really fun game. Noah was great and the game came down to ending on turn 5 and the secondary object, annihilation, which I got 8-7. Had the game gone turn 6 I probably would have been on the other side of that. Noah finished with a 3-2 record and ended up winning the “Man for all Seasons” award which goes to the best overall score (record, appearance, and sportsmanship).
Early in the game against the Wolves
Game 2 – Steve – IG
Steve ran an IG “leafblower” type list with 3 Vendettas. Great guy to play against and a fun game even though I was pretty much tabled by the end. Steve ended up second in the win/loss/points scoring for the tournament.
Game 3 – Chad – Deathwing
Chad was a really nice guy and a fun opponent. His army though was rock hard. I don’t think I would have stood up to 40 TH/SS terminators but a bad first turn of rolling saves for my terminators (4 – 1s!) pretty much sealed it.
Toward the end of the game, Deathwing moping up...
Saturday Evening – Formula D
On Saturday night John and I played Formula D. This was my second time playing, my first was at Origins this year. This is a fun convention game when you can get 8+ people to play. I thought I was doing well but my string of 1’s haunted me as I rolled a 1 on a twenty sided 3 times in the first lap to crash with catastrophic body damage and end my night early. John had much better luck. I left with him in the lead and he continued to dominate and win the race!
Game 4 – Aaron – Khorne (Blood Angels)
My first game on Sunday morning was against a Khorne counts as Blood Angels army. I really like how this army looked and the BA rules fit a Khorne army well. I’ll credit all my battles against Ty’s Blood Angels with why I was able to pull off a very close win.
Game 5 – John P – Space Marines
Last match was against John and his dreadnought heavy space marine army. John won the tournament last year so I knew I was in for a tough game even if he didn’t have as dominate an army this year. Like all my opponents John was a great guy and we had a fun match even though my guys got shot off the table.
I finished 2-3 on the weekend which made me happy since I doubled my wins from last year. When the awards were handed out I was humbled and very surprised to win the “Perfect Gentleman” or Best Sportsman award. I guess that means I wasn’t a dick and my opponents had as much fun playing against me as I did against them.
Best Sportsman!
Besides the cool mug trophy, the prize also came with vendor credit which I used to get a very discounted copy of Dreadfleet. A nice ending to a really fun weekend.
I bought myself Dreadfleet as a prize
October Already!?
Wow, I’ve been neglecting the blog. I can’t believe the last post was beginning of August. I’ll get around to posting a GenCon review one of these days… But for now the new hotness is:
I picked it up last weekend when I stopped by Noble Knight Games in Janesville, really a cool store. Now hopefully I can find someone to play Resident Evil with this weekend for…
Please donate if you can. The plan is to get 24 hours of gaming in over the weekend 🙂
Games Day!
Games Day returned to Chicago and John and I were there!
It was a fun day. Here are some quick highlights:
Purchased the new Gaunt’s Ghost book, Salvation’s Reach
John and I added to the cityfight terrain.
I held the new Black Crusade book in my hands and got a quick preview read of it at the FFG seminar.
The BoD goes to Origins
GenCon is almost here so its about time I got the Origins post up. Here are some photos and the day by day of my trip to Origins in Columbus, OH. It had been almost 10 years since my last visit to Origins. John, Ben and I made it our convention road trip from 1996 to 2002. Once Gen Con moved to Indianapolis then that became our yearly road trip.
This time my traveling companions were Ty, and “Friends of the BoD” Matt and Alayna.
Welcome to Origins!
Alayna setting up her booth in the Art Show room
After Alayna got all of her wonderful artwork set up in her booth we headed out to dinner at the Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus which was around the corner from our hotel. Good beer and food, the highlight being the Corn Brat appetizers.
Thursday
I was up bright and early for a Dark Heresy game. Run by Amorphous Blob, we had a pair of GMs for the game. Our inquisitorial band started out investigating the disappearance of the crazy governor’s son and ended up discovering an underground invasion by the Tau. Good game, the only problem was some kid who was “That Guy” in the group. Had the social skills of some who only interacts with other human beings in WoW.
I then spent time wandering the exhibit hall with Ty, picked up the Wrath of Ashardalon game and played a demo of Resident Evil deck building game. I really like the deck building mechanic and love the Resident Evil theme so this was my next purchase and the game has gotten the most play during and since Origins.
We got a recommendation for dinner to try a little place across the street called Knead. Amazing, amazing, Vegetable Pierogies, Homemade Pierogies and Brats, an Aviation drink and delicious deserts.
That evening was spend playing the new FFG version of DungeonQuest & more Resident Evil card game.
Friday
Played a Wings at War – Guadalcanal game. Our mission was to shoot down the Japanese bombers before they could get to the island.
I'm flying the Corsair
For lunch I went over to the North Market which is a block away from the convention center. A lot like the Milwaukee Public Market with a bunch of different food vendors but better. Had some great pizza by the slice and had lunch here Saturday and Sunday too.
North Market - the place for lunch
In the afternoon I entered a Resident Evil tournament. Not really a tournament, you just played the game against 3 others and the winner got a play mat. I got close but took second. The other benefit was I learned the real rules since we weren’t really playing correctly in the demo or the night before.
Friday night, Ty and I played in a Deathwatch RPG. We had been looking forward to this since last GenCon and it didn’t disappoint. Space Marines, Chaos and lots of shooting.
We finished off the night with a game of World of Warcraft CCG over some beers
Saturday
I got into a giant Formula D game. I came a little late so I didn’t really know the rules and proceeded to use up my car by the second turn but recovered and was in the top 5 before I had to leave.
Giant Formula D game
That afternoon Ty and I played a great Flames of War game put on by Golf Company. It was a recreation of a battle during Operation Shingle. I had the German Tiger IIIs and halftracks on the right side of the board and Ty had the US paratroopers on that side so we end up playing most against each other most of the afternoon. The Germans made good initial progress but couldn’t get the US off the objectives in the end.
Flames of War - Before the Tigers Broke Free
End of the game - Americans hold on
We finished up Flames of War and when to visit Alayna and Matt in the art show room. We had a hour before the Art Show closed so I had the idea of “Let’s go to Barley’s for one” while we wait for Matt and Alayna. Needless to say one turned into three and then we found Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale and I lost count. Had some dinner there and the night was still young so for some reason we thought we needed to take two growlers of Scottish Ale to go.
Back at the hotel we worked on the Scottish Ale and played more Resident Evil. Alayna kicked our ass.
Sunday
Took most of the morning and afternoon to recover from my hangover. Did a final tour of the hall, Ty taught me Zombie Munchkin and then we loaded up and headed for home.
Space Puppies Get Neutered
Some days it just doesn’t pay to even take the Land Raider out of the garage.
Fresh off a thorough beat down at the hands of the Stompa led Ork /Chaos forces, the “Sons of Russ” were hoping for a shot of redemption. They were expecting this redemption to come by way of a rousing victory over this weeks nemesis.
The local Space Marine Shriners Chapter.
Unfortunately that plan was not in the cards.
Meeting on the mean streets of “The Ruined City”, Shriner bikes quickly assembled and deployed, forcing the Wolves to deploy in response.
As both armies entered the battle, the air was quickly filled with the roar of engines. Bikers moved aggressively through the streets, keeping profiles low, to position themselves for their assaults.
That’s not to say, damage wasn’t done in the early stages. A predator, in support of the bikers, quickly dispatched his counterpart, destroying the Space Wolf Predator on his first shot.
Space Wolves returned fire, but ineffectively, seemingly confused by the speed and movement by the bikers.
The next round of Space Marine shooting, caused more pain to the Space Wolves. Utilizing their advanced targeting systems, the Techmarines were able to decimate a squad of Long Fangs with pinpoint shooting from a Thunderfire cannon.
The Space Marine Land Raider was able to eliminate a rhino, exposing the troops inside to fire bolters and grenade launchers.
Meanwhile the Space Wolf Dreadnought tried to bring it’s firepower to bear, but was shaken by another Las Cannon volley from the Space Marine Predator.
The Space Wolves tried to regroup. Calls were made to reserve units, but went unheeded. Rune Priests wielded the powers of the warp, but the bikes proved impervious to this kind of witchcraft.
Squads of bikers started the job of cleaning up wayward Space Wolves.
Let's just call it a draw?
The Wolf Dread tried to slow the bikers advance, but was quickly overwhelmed
You shall not pass!
In the main intersection of the city, the opposing Land Raiders approached each other, unfortunately for the Wolves, a quick blast of the Space Marine melta and the Wolf Land Raider exploded into a pile of metal and debris, leaving the Wolf Lord and his companions scrambling for a defensible position from the incoming assault.
A squad of Space Marine terminators exploded from the confines of the the Land Raider, thunder hammers and lightning claws brandished, and slammed into the waiting squad of Grey Hunters and their Wolf Lord.
The Hunters were dug in, and fought gallantly. The Wolf Lord’s Frost Blade, reeked havoc among the terminators, but in the end, the combination of better armor and power weapons carried the day
In the end the speed and agility of the Shriner bikes, proved too much for the Wolves, who seemed slow and flat footed today.
After the battle, Shrine Club President Kosaro Khan was heard to say, “We thought we were coming out to perform in a parade today, and then someone started shooting at us. Honestly, we were a bit disappointed. We had been really working on our figure 8s”
Welcome to the BoD and the Big Game
Welcome to the inaugural post for the “BASEMENT OF DEATH” otherwise known and the “B. o. D.”
We finally were able to get most of the group together for a small Apocalypse game last Saturday. We even had a guest. Everyone brought 1000pts so we ended up with 3000pts + a super heavy per side. Imperials vs Orks/Chaos.
The whole gang - Josh, Ty, Marlon, Eric, Merle (the guest) and John
Stompa vs Baneblade
View from the other side
The imperial side consisted of IG, Space Wolves and some Grey Knights.
The Stompa crosses the bridge
The hero of the Orks side was the Stompa, or more accurately it’s kustom force field. It stopped almost every shot that was targeted at it. For the Imperium it was Draigo and his accompanying paladins, they took over 70 saves before finally sucumming to Ghazghkull.
view from the vendetta
We did get through four turns after which it looked like the Orks had the upper hand. It was great to get the whole gang together and throw down.
the Basement of Death 