Quake City Rumble 2015: Tournament and Game Overview (Part 2)

Welcome back! And without much ado, I present Part 2 of my Quake City Rumble tournament overview. I hope you enjoy this post as much as the last one.

Quake City Rumble 2015: Tournament and Game Overview (Part 1)

The Quake City Rumble was recently held on July 24-26, 2015. QCR is the largest five-round Warhammer Fantasy tournament on the West Coast and is held in San Francisco, California. This year, the tournament moved from the Fort Mason Center near the waterfront to the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park. This was a great change. The new venue was much closer to food and libations as well as better lodging opportunities. It was also a better spot for the tournament. The room that we were in had increased air flow to alleviate the unbearable heat and stench that usually appears in a room of a hundred gamers, had better bathrooms (which didn't require a stair climb), and was a much nicer place to hang out (as the botanical gardens were right outside the venue). I hope the tournament stays at this venue next year as it made for a much more pleasing gaming experience that past venues. The tournament was also using the new Fat Mats made by Frontline Gaming which made dice rolling and miniature moving much more pleasant than the old sand boards.

Warhammer: Total War

I'm sure that everyone has heard by now that the Total War gaming series is putting out a game based on 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I am extremely excited about this game and I hope you are too. It looks absolutely amazing! And I just can't get enough from watching the various videos. If you haven't watched any of the trailer videos yet, I suggest you check out the announcement trailer and the battle for Blackfire Pass video. These two videos show just how fantastic this game is going to be when it comes out.

Tournament Shout-Out: Fall 2015

With the last days of 8th edition before us, and the rise of other gaming systems vying to take the crown as the major grand tournament fantasy-based game, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to several upcoming tournaments.

Infernal Zoo - October 3-4, 2015 - Davis, CA
The Infernal Zoo is going to be held the 3rd and 4th of October in Davis, California. The tournament is a yearly monster-themed fantasy event run by Alex Harrison. This year, it looks like he is running more of a weekend gaming convention rather than a standard five-round tournament. His website has recently been updated with all of the tournament information, but these are the events that he will be running if you are interested:

Saturday -

• Warhammer 8th Edition 3-round tournament with End Times rules
• Age of Sigmar 5-round tournament

Sunday - 

• Age of Sigmar Championship (best 2 out of 3)
• Kings of War showcase
• Frost Grave showcase
• Painting and Modelling awards

Registration for both days is $30, while a single day (like just the 8th edition tournament) is only $20. Registration increases $10 if you register after September 10, 2015. If you have any questions or wish to participate, you can e-mail Alex directly at BizzaroHammer1@yahoo.com.

Northstar GT - October 17-18, 2015 - Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

The Northstar GT is going to be held the 17th and 18th of October at the Fantasy Flight Games Center in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. This is one of the largest tournaments in the Mid-west and will be the final 8th edition tournament for Northstar. This year, the tournament is straight 8th edition with all current errata and FAQs in effect (this includes 50% lords and heroes and the Lore of Undeath), but no End Times books, units, or army lists. It will be 5-rounds and all the rules are on the website. 

If you are interested in registering (as there are still spots available), you can register by e-mailing thenorthstargt@gmail.com. Registration for the tournament is $75 and payment information is also available on the website. If you are interested, I would suggest signing up quickly as this tournament has consistently sold out.

Quake City Rumble 2015: Army List

For the last major 8th Edition Warhammer tournament on the West Coast, the Quake City Rumble (or as it came to be known over the weekend, the Wake City Rumble), I wanted to play a truly interesting and hard-as-nails Wood Elf army (or at least as hard-as-nails Wood Elves can be in the current meta in an un-comped environment). My list for the tournament was a play on the no-drop army list that hit the internet when the Wood Elf book first came out. My list was made up of the following units:

Lords:

Spellweaver - (350 pts) (Level 4, Lore of Heavens, Dispel Scroll, Talisman of Preservation, and riding a Unicorn)

Heroes:

Glade Captain - (158 pts) (Battle Standard Bearer, Charmed Shield, Dragonbane Gem, Hail of Doom Arrow, Shield, Great Weapon, Starfire Shafts, Elven Steed)

Waystalker - (115 pts) (Bow of Loren, Ironcurse Icon)

Waystalker - (115 pts) (Ruby Ring of Ruin)

Waystalker - (90 pts)

Core:

Glade Riders - (140 pts) (5 models, full command, Hagbane Tips)

Glade Riders - (250 pts) (10 models, full command, Hagbane Tips)

Glade Riders - (250 pts) (10 models, full command, Hagbane Tips)

Special:

Deepwood Scouts - (190 pts) (10 models, full command, Hagbane Tips)

Deepwood Scouts - (190 pts) (10 models, full command, Hagbane Tips)

Deepwood Scouts - (224 pts) (12 models, full command, Starfire Shafts)

Rare:

Waywatchers - (210 pts) (10 models, champion)

Waywatchers - (210 pts) (10 models, champion)

The first thing that you might notice from this list is that there is only a single normal deployment drop: the two mounted characters. I was playing around with the no-drop list, but in an un-comped environment, I find that I need some magic offense and defense with Wood Elves and a Level 4 of High Magic on a Unicorn really fits that bill. With the 4+ ward save and Magic Resistance 2, it is really hard to kill the Level 4 and all the bonus tokens generated from High Magic also helps keep the Battle Standard Bearer alive throughout the game as the two characters can form a unit together that spends the first several turns hiding until enemy warmachines and shooting are removed from play. In fact, over the course of five games, I never lost either model.

The three Waystalkers are a lot of fun and are absolutely clutch to pick characters (especially low level wizards and 1+ armor save BSBs from large units of troops). The waywatchers help drop heavy armor. The mass amount of poisoned shots help take out monsters, chariots, and warmachines while the flaming attacks help take down regenerating units. The army is pretty straightforward in how it plays. The scouting units set up to take on the weakest flank or where they can score quick and easy points while not giving up their own points. Then the Glade Riders show up after my opponent's battle line has been pulled apart. 

I really wished I would have play tested this list before submitting it as I feel I could have performed better than I did, but the list itself is a very solid list and is frustrating for opponents to play against which is something I have always looked for after playing against so many all chariot, flying monster armies. 

West Coast GT 2015: Tournament Overview

The West Coast GT 2015 is over (a long ass time ago now) and a great time was had by all (or at least me, as I was in the running for overall into the very last game). As usual, the tournament was held at the Elk's Lodge in Mission Viejo which has its own bar. And as usual, any tournament that has a bar in the venue will be one of my favorites. This year was no exception.