SAWS 2013: Post Tournament Wrap-up

So a few weeks ago I attended the SAWS 2013 Warhammer Fantasy Grand Tournament. It was a good sized event with over 50 players. The tournament results are up and the winners of the event were:

Best Overall: Mike Hengl from Leadership 2
Best General: Mike Scaletti from Leadership 2
Best Sportsman: Mikko Carranza
Best Paint: Tony Pacheco from Leaderhip 2 and the Rage Quit Gaming podcast.
Best Comp: Me
Player's Choice: Tony Pacheco

This was an interesting tournament as there were a lot of really good players who were playing very different list builds, in part do to the tournament Comp system. The tournament ran on time, they provided food, and most people seemed to have a great time. I also got to play five games of Warhammer, although I didn't do nearly as well as I hoped to in the battle score (though I did end up tenth overall). My final breakdown was 158 total points (1st had 181) with 73 points in battle, 25 points in Sportsmanship, 42 points in army comp (winner!), and 18 points in presentation (because I need to finish painting everything).

Rather than do a Round by Round breakdown with full battle reports as usual, I am doing a much simpler write up on this tournament for several reasons. First, I'm far to busy to write full battle reports right now and I am still several battle reports behind from tournaments this year as I just moved into a new house that is taking up much of my time. Second, I spent a good amount of time hanging out with guys I don't get to see too often so my head was a little hazy all weekend. Finally, I just didn't bring the supplies I usually bring to the tournament to record everything. Though don't fret, I did get some great pictures from the event. 

Instead, I am going to just a give a quick overview of the rounds as well as the army lists that my opponent's were playing. 

Round #1: Jason Franks - Wood Elves

Jason didn't have an extra copy of his list so I don't have a full rundown, but his list did include the following:

• Treeman Ancient
• Treeman
• Level 4 Lifeweaver
• Large block of Treekin
• Dryads
• Several archer units

This battle came down to a few factors. First, I had about 30 more shots per turn than Jason did and so I was able to do lots more wounds to his units before they got into combat. Second, I was running Lore of Beasts and was able to use the Boosted version of Amber Spear to kill off both the Treeman and the Treeman Ancient. Finally, Jason cast the Dweller's Below on a unit of archers that had my general, level 4 mage, and battle standard bearer in the unit with irresistible force! Unfortunately for Jason, I passed all three strength tests with my characters and his Lifeweaver was sucked into the warp (on Turn 3). I ended up with a full 20 battle points for a maximum win with my objective of killing his spell casters.

Left: Jason





Round #2: Jeff Seuss - High Elves (Old Book)
Jeff was playing the old book High Elves which meant the White Lions got to re-roll all their missed "to hits" in combat. It also meant that I was facing really nasty magic. This was Jeff's list for the tournament:

• Archmage General, Level 4 of Shadow, Silver Wand, Loremaster's Cloak, Folariath's Robe
• Mage Level 2, High Magic, The Seerstaff of Saphery, Ironcurse Icon
• Noble BSB, Great Weapon, Armour of Caldeor, Guardian Phoenix
• Archers 15 models, Banner of Eternal Flame
• Archers 10 models, musician
• Archers 10 models, musician
• Archers 10 models, musician
• Spearmen 24 models, musician and standard bearer
• White Lions 24 models, full command, Amulet of Light, Banner of Sorcery
• White Lions 24 models, full command, The Other Trickster's Shard
• Sword Masters (5 models)
• Great Eagle
• Great Eagle

This list was brutal for my army. One unit of White Lions had magical attacks that could decimate my Dryads, and the other unit forced re-rolls on successful ward saves. Combined with the +2 armor save against shooting and I ended up losing almost every unit in my army. Plus, the Treeman died to a failed initiative test on turn 2. I knew looking at the list that there was nothing I was going to be able to do against this army. Loss by over 1000 points!

Round #3: Josh Fricke - Ogre Kingdoms
Normally, I don't have a problem playing against Ogres as I can easily kill an entire unit of Ironguts in a turn or two of close range shooting. This time, however, Josh got to play with some different toys that are allowed only at SAWS - Rhinox Riders! His list for the tournament was:

• Slaughtermaster General, Level 4, Gut Magic, Fencer's Blades, Glittering Scales, Crown of Command, Dragonbane Gem
• Bruiser Battle Standard Bearer, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation
• Butcher Level 2 of Heavens, Dispel Scroll
• Ironguts 10 models, full command, Standard of Discipline
• Gnoblars 30 models, musician
• Ogres 8 modles, full command
• Ogres 4 models, musician
• Sabretusk
• Sabretusk
• Rhinox Riders full command, Dragonhide Banner
• Ironblaster

I ended up killing all of the Ogres in the army except for the characters with my shooting. However, I couldn't get a boosted Amber Spear off all game, and lost half my army to the Rhinox Riders alone who also managed to nab my general (and the game) on the last turn because I failed a rear charge the turn before. I did manage to get my objective which was to kill more than half of the total number of enemy models (I pretty much accomplished this with the gnoblars alone). So a loss with objective points ended my Day 1.

Round #4: David Inman - Skaven
For the start of Day 2, I played Dave and his MSU-style Skaven list. The list is really fun to play against as it doesn't rely on all the normal toys like unbreakable units, but is designed to wear an army out over several turns of protracted combat with units with lots of attacks. His army for the tournament was as follows:

• Grey Seer General, Foul Pendant, Power Scroll, 1 Level Ruin, 3 Levels Pestilens
• Grey Seer 4 Levels of Pestilens, Dispel Scroll, Talisman of Endurance
• Chieftan Battle Standard Bearer, Storm Banner, Shield
• Chieftan Shield, Ironcurse Icon
• Chieftan Halberd, Dragonbane Gem
• Warlock Engineer Doom Rocket
• Warlock Engineer
• Warlock Engineer
• Warlock Engineer
• Warlock Engineer
• Stormvermin 36 models, full command, Banner of the Under Empire
• Clanrats 26 models, full command, Shields
• Clanrats 26 models, full command, Shields
• Clanrat Slaves 21 models, champion and musician
• Clanrat Slaves 21 models, champion and musician
• Clanrat Slaves 21 models, champion and musician
• Giant Rats 25 giant rats, 5 pack masters
• Giant Rat Pack 5 giant rats, 1 pack master
• Giant Rat Pack 5 giant rats, 1 pack master
• Giant Rat Pack 5 giant rats, 1 pack master
• Giant Rat Pack 5 giant rats, 1 pack master
• Gutter Runners Poisoned Attacks, Slings
• Gutter Runners Poisoned Attacks, Slings
• Hell Pit Abomination Warpstone Spikes
• Warp-Lightning Cannon

This game really came down to two key factors: (1) my proper use of dispelling the correct spells each turn, and (2) Dave failing two charges in the same turn! In turn 3, Dave needed a "3" and a "4" on his unit of Stormvermin and Clanrat unit (with the BSB and one of the Grey Seers) to hit and disrupt my battleline. Dave failed both charges with "double 1s" and a "3," respectively. This left these two units within short range of 60 plus bowmen who made short work of both units in the next two shooting phases. Had Dave made either charge, or both, the game would have had a much different outcome. As it was, I walked away with a win with objective points.


Left: Dave





Round #5: Quentin "Q" Bohn - Wood Elves
Round 5 and the end of the tournament I played Q. He was also playing Wood Elves (so for those paying attention I played 2 of the other 3 Wood Elf players at a tournament of more than 50 players). His list was more combat oriented and included the following:

• Highborn General, Great Eagle, Spirit Sword, Dragonhelm, Stone of Crystal Mere, Potion of Foolhardiness
• Noble Battle Standard Bearer, Great Eagle, Armour of Silvered Steel, Dragonbane Gem
• Dryads 14 models with Champion
• Glade Guard 20 models with full command and Banner of Eternal Flame
• Glade Riders 6 models with full command
• Eternal Guard 20 models with full command
• Wild Riders 6 models with Musician and Standard Bearer, Gleaming Pennant
• Tree Kin 8 models
• Treeman
• Waywatchers 5 models

As is usual between Wood Elf armies, the one with the most shots usually wins. And as I "out gunned" Q four-to-one, this game was really in my favor. With a combination of magic (which Q didn't have) and magical and flaming shooting, I was able to destroy the Treeman and Tree Kin before they got into combat. My Treeman made it into combat with the Eternal Guard and slowly killed them over several turns. Finally, I was able to kill off all the characters with several turns of shooting. The game ended with a win with objective points.

So, at the end of the tournament I ended on a 3-2 record. Not bad, but not as great as I was hoping for. This tournament also signaled the last Hurrah of the Wood Elves as I begin working on my all Night Goblin army to get them ready for the Alamo GT 2013 in November.

To finish this post off, here are some pictures from the tournament. Dave's display board and army:

And here are some shots of Casey Clement's Empire army:

Books #3

As I prepare some other blog posts and recover from several weeks of trial and moving, I thought I would provide a short update of the books that I have been reading lately. I have had a lot of time to read as I was flying out to several places and I didn't manage to set up the entertainment center until last weekend. Without further ado, this is what I have finished recently:

Gotrek and Felix: Road of Skulls, Josh Reynolds
This is the most recent entry in the Gotrek and Felix series. This series may be my favorite series from Black Library as Gotrek is probably the most bad-ass character in the Warhammer world! That being said, however, I thought this book started off a little to slow and that the characterizations did not meet my normal expectations. I found Felix in particular to be particularly poorly written in the first few chapters. He came off more as a whiny child who couldn't hold his own in a fight rather than a master swordsman carrying an Elven blade who has been fighting for several decades. By the end of the book he seemed to be back in true form, but his initial combat reluctance and failures was difficult reading.


Neferata: The Blood of Nagash, Josh Reynolds
This is the first novel of the vampire counts trilogy by Black Library. It explains how the vampires survived and came to be a power in the Warhammer world. I like the progression of Neferata as she keeps trying to build a power base in the world but is thwarted time and time again by those she either betrayed, or took for granted. I'm looking forward to the other two books in the series to see how they further explain the bloodlines besides the Lahmians.





Fool Moon, Jim Butcher
This is the second novel in the Dresden Files. I am just loving this series and I can't get enough of these books. I have purchased the entire series an am quickly moving my way to through them. Butcher's writing is progressing in his second novel and he added Werewolves (of several different kinds). What more could a person want?






Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
The third book of the Dresden Files and the introduction of the character Michael Carpenter. This book was great as it continued to expand and explain the Nevernever. Like I said above, I just can't get enough of these books!








Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
The fourth book of the Dresden Files. An much more thorough explanation of the Fey and the Summer and Winter houses. Lots of running plot lines and themes. I like how the ongoing small plot points keep building on themselves.








Death Masks, Jim Butcher
The fifth book in the Dresden Files. Some serious sh!t goes down in this book and really rocks Dresden's world. Events of biblical proportions are beginning and ancient foes with unspeakable power are at the heart of this book. By this point in the series I was getting to really appreciate Butcher's writing itself, more than the plot and world of the books. He writes great snark! I can't wait to plow ahead with the rest of the series.





The Inexplicables, Cherie Priest
The latest book in Priest's post-civilwar Steampunk world. This book takes place back in Seattle and focuses on how people are surviving in the harsh landscape created by the gas. Not as thought provoking or action oriented as her prior books, but still a good read for its further development of Seattle.