so, this was my first hillbilly. and for sure, i'll be going back! i had a
complete blast, got to play some quality games and meet a ton of great
people.
here's how my lizzies and i fared:
81 battle points
86 best general points (11th overall)
75 sports (98th overall)
5 comp
55 appearance (114th overall)
final rank: 78th or 79th (don't feel like counting :)
friday:
i meet up w/a large number of inebriated ld2 folks @ the dallas-fort worth
airport. we all hop on the same connecting flight to little rock. we drop
off our shit in the hotel, get our armies ready and head down to the
convention center. i walk around, say hi to some friends, take some pics
and then head off to the flying saucer.
drinking ensues. lots of it. i have some, um, "interesting" photos as
well... :)
saturday:
i wake up with a massive hangover, but as i was smart, room service shows up
w/breakfast. jay and i eat, he pukes, and we head down to the convention
center. there's nothing like a hangoverhammer!
round 1:
eric frugge, dwarf infantry army
scenario: cuzn ruby
i immediately move my skinks up to take cuzn ruby, he master rune of
challenges the group and they flee (dropping ruby). he picks her up with
his hammerers and hold her until turn 6, when i finally kill the last one.
this game was mostly me wearing down his units' rank bonuses with shooting
and magic, and then combining charges to destroy his army piece by piece.
at the end of the game, there were only 16 of his models left on the table.
19 point win for me, and a great game!
round 2:
scott filgo, ogre kingdoms world of warcraft themed army
scenario: character assasination
i was mildly concerned when i saw the army: tons of ogres, and i had never
played against this list before, and they move just as fast as i... i was
also concerned as the third character on my list was my skink priest. oh
boy, ogres going after my poor little skink.
anyways, i started magicing and shooting his ogres, causing some wounds,
when on the 2nd turn his general fails a stupidity check as well as me
causing enough wounds (go skinks!!!!) against his BSB unit that it fled.
this opens up a HUGE opportunity for me, and lets me charge my temple guard,
stegadon, kroxigors and saurus cav in to his general's unit.
simultaneously, my salamanders and skinks were holding up the flank so well
that the entire side of his line flees!
by the end of the 4th turn, 75% of his army was gone. by end of the 6th
turn, there were about 72 points of his minis left on the table... i lost
more skinks to my salamanders than he killed of my entire army. my skink
priest lived, even though he was continually chased around by a sabrecat and
a group of knoblars.
20 point win for me, and another fun game.
round 3:
mike sells, wood elf tree thingy list (with two treemen, whee!)
scenario: capture the outhouse.
man, what a game. it was brutal, and i made some tactical mistakes which
gave me my first (and only) loss of the weekend. instead of sitting back
and fireballing his army to death, i got too aggressive and ended up hanging
my temple guard out to dry. there was a massive combat in the middle of the
table from turn 2 until the end of the game, and the entire temple guard
unit and slaan were killed for the first time, ever. at the end of the
game, only my stegadon was left on the board.
it wasn't the most enjoyable game (lots of bluster, pushed units, weird
rules disputes, fast counting, shit talking about some people i am friends
with), but i definitely learned a lot about picking your fights, when to be
aggressive and when to sit back and let him come to you.
the highlight, however, was his treeman breaking from the TG combat in turn
3 and being chased down by a unit of 10 skinks.
a major loss for me: 6pts.
saturday night:
i head out to dinner w/ld3. one burger, three beers and a couple of
cigarettes later, i'm ready for bed. i'm asleep before midnite. :)
sunday:
i'm 2-1, and have sworn to myself that i'll stop plowing ahead full-speed
with my temple guard, and instead play smart and slower.
game four:
seth richter, dwarf heavy infantry list
scenario: anti magic
this was a hard, hard list and i was concerned about cracking his line. all
of his big infantry blocks were immune to panic, fear and terror, and he had
the banner of 5+ ward save to magic and shooting. i resolved to approach
carefully and pick my fights well.
ah, screw that. FULL STEAM AHEAD!
i march my TG up, aimed at his right flank. i keep my stegadon and kroxis a
little behind the front of the TG unit to support charge. i cast the rule
of bronze on the organ gun to keep it from firing. my skink skirmishers
keep his unit of thunderers busy, and when he turns them to shoot at the
skinks (that were plinking his catapult) i get a flank charge on them with
my saurus cav. the terradons also charge the catapult. i win both combats
easily, and overrun the cav to his rear, and the terradons in to the flank
of the hammerers at the end of his line. the next turn i charge in the TG
and stegadon to support the terradons, and turn the cav to move across the
back of the line.
his turn, he declares a flank chage on my stegadon with his BSB unit, but
fails the charge as he doesn't have turn to wheel (phew!). i kill his BSB
finally with the rule of burnin iron, and kill enough hammerers to free up
my steg to move behind his ex-BSB unit. the next turn, i charge in my
kroxis on the front, terradons on the flank, and steg/saurus cav in the
rear. bye-bye dwarfs!
on the other flank, i had killed off his other thunderer unit, and charged
my skinks and salamanders in to his bolt throwers, keeping them from picking
off my steg.
by the end of the game, he had one thunderer and 15 hammerers left. even
though this was the anti-magic scenario, i managed to stockpile my dice and
get off a lot of spells... my best casts were two rules of iron on his BSB
(bye bye!) and a massive 2d6 fireball on his hammerers (12 hits, 8 wounds,
he saves *one*).
big win for the lizzies, 20 points!
game 5:
mike schmitz, khorne minotaurs
scenario: pitched battle
wow. this guy had 10 dispel dice, and a TON of minotaurs led by a
doombull. ok, for THIS battle, i swore to hold back.
i deploy everything on the right corner of my zone, with my TG and terradons
on the right, steg and kroxis to their left, and the salamanders holding up
the flank. i stick the saurus cav behind the stegadon/salamanders as
support.
i sacrifice the terradons to get his centigors to charge my TG unit, who
then breaks them and chases them down (yay 3d6" pursuit!). i magic the hell
out of him (somehow!) and break a unit of minotaurs (who refuse to rally and
run off the table). my skinks start to really kick ass and hit with a lot
of poison, killing (and panicking) more mino units.
i turn my TG unit to face the middle of the board, and start rolling his
line. i sacrifice my kroxis and salamanders to set up more charges, and get
his general's unit in the flank w/my saurus cav. i win that combat easily,
and chase him off the board. my stegadon starts killing everything in
sight, and by the end he's down to 2 dispel dice, and four units.
another massive win for the lizzies, 16 points!
so, all in all a great weekend! four great games, one that wasn't, but i
still had a blast. thanks to roy, the rules judges, score booth folks, and
hobby shop table for working their asses off. this was the smoothest, most
well-run tourney i've ever had the honor of attending.
