Waaagh!Paca 2015: Tournament Overview and Games Breakdown

Well Waaagh!Paca 2015 is over. In fact, it finished up over a month and a half ago, but with practice and preparation for the U.S. Masters, I just wasn't able or willing to write this post up. This year, I brought a Host of the Eternity King list without the use of any special characters. The list is available here.

I performed very well this year, and placed the highest I have ever placed at Waaagh!Paca. This year I came in 13th place with a combined score of 83. This year, I went 3 and 2, but was able to make up a couple extra points in battle by getting a couple of key objective points even in my losses. Combined with max attendance points, decent paint, and a sports jump, I was able to place in the top 15 (even though I was lowest score on my team). Thanks for Leadership 2's high performance (5th,  8th, 10th, and 13th) we were able to take home the Best Team award which was really great.

This year I played five great guys and got to see a lot of crazy army lists including three nasty special characters: 2 Nagash, and 1 Malekith the Eternity King. Here's how the games when down:

Waaagh!Paca 2015: Armies on Parade

So I am back from Waaagh!Paca 2015 which happened just a little over a month ago. Right after I got back I put all these pictures on my computer, but just never managed to take the extra step of posting them on the blog as things were busy. But, as things have calmed down a little, I thought it was time to show off a large number of the armies from this year's tournament. [Note: This is a picture heavy post.]

Waaagh!Paca 2015: Painting Update #3

Well, Waaagh!Paca 2015 is only a few days away, and after another week of painting at night, I have managed to completely finish two units and the third is very close. I'm hoping to finish it Wednesday night so that I don't have to bring any painting materials to the tournament. Here is how everything is turning out:

Waaagh!Paca 2015: Painting Update #2

Another few weeks have passed, and now I have even more of my Waaagh!Paca 2015 army painted. Let's take a look at what progress I have been able to make over the winter holidays.

Waaagh!Paca 2015: Army List

Last week I submitted my army list for Waaagh!Paca 2015 and I can say that I am very pleased with my final decision. This year I am going to play one of the new army lists from the End Times book, the army of the Eternity King. This list allows me to play both my dark elves and wood elves in the same army (and had I any high elves, I would have probably found a way to add them in too). Being able to take models from both the wood elves and dark elves allowed me to increase my overall shooting potential while still having solid magic and close combat phases for most of my games. Here is what I will be bringing to Waupaca, WI later this month:

WaaaghPaca 2015: Painting Update

So Waaagh!Paca 2015 is on the horizon and I have my eyes set on finishing up a good portion of my Wood Elves army for the event (though I may lean Eternity King if I like how it plays). To that end, I have been painting (when time allows) and trying to finish up at least a few key units. Right now I am working on finishing three core units of Glade Guard and a Sisters of the Thorn bunker.

Waaagh!Paca 2015: Tournament Rules Overview

The next Warhammer tournament that I will be attending is Waaagh!Paca 2015. This event just gets bigger and better every year and I am really looking forward to three solid days of Warhammer and random shenanigans. This year, Waaagh!Paca will be the host of several different events including: a five-round tournament using 2,000 point armies; the annual mustache contest; hand crafted prizes; the “officially unofficial Friday night tournament;” annual raffle; and freezing cold temperatures.

Waaaghpaca 2015

I've just received confirmation that I am registered for WaaaghPaca 2015. Man, registration for this even has been crazy and after only a few minutes after registration opened, this tournament has the largest waiting players' list I have ever seen for a Warhammer tournament. Just glad I made it in, and am looking forward to another year of crazy fun.

For those interested in what the tournament is about, check out the website.

WaaaghPaca 2014: Armies in Review (Part #2)

Here are the last run of army pictures from WaaaghPaca. Enjoy while I paint Dark Elves for the upcoming tournaments.

Ed Phillips: Daemons of Chaos

Ed's army in all its glory. Look at all those sweet conversions.

The Nurgle "Khorne Skull Cannon" bug thing.

Epidimius on his mount.

Characters

Plaguebearer unit

Beast of Nurgle units and furies.

Solo beasts!

Flying plague drones and their skull pile. Maybe they think they are Khornish?

Chris Yu: Orcs and Goblins

A blurry photo of Chris Yu's orc madness.

Squiggy!

Characters

Goblin banner

Squig diver!

Chris Tomlin: Dark Elves
This army is just absolutely amazing! I especially loved all the hand painted banners. This was the army that won Best Painted at the tournament.

Chris' army in all its glory.

Corsairs with sad heart banner.

Executioner horde

Battle Standard Bearer with beautiful free-hand banner

Manticore rider with full scorpion tail!

Side of corsair unit

Tomlin's hydra

Dark Rider unit #1

Dark Rider unit #2

Shades

Another view of the Manticore on flying base.

Dark Pegasus Rider

Peg rider again

Executioner unit filler

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #5 (Tzeentch's Revenge)

For the last round of WaaaghPaca, I was sitting at a decent 3-1 record with most, but not all of the bonus points. So I was expecting a hard final game, and I was not disappointed. My final opponent for the tournament was playing a Tzeentch-heavy Daemons of Chaos army that included: three units of screamers, three units of horrors, several heralds, a Lord of Change, and - of course - two Khorne Skullcannons (because what near mono-themed army wouldn't bring two cannons to the table). This list looks like it was designed to just demolish monsters and I knew I had to keep my units away from the screamers or I was going to be in big trouble.

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #4 (The Failed Charges)

For Round 4, I played Eric West and his Beastmen army. Eric was rocking a solid army build designed to protect his points while maximizing his combat efficiency. For a Beastman build, it was pretty interesting. His army included: two units of harpies, two regular chariots, two razorgor chariots, a big horde block of Bestigor, a huge block of Gor with two hand weapons, a tricked out lord, BSB with the Beast Banner (so strength 4 gor), and two level 2s with Lore of Beasts.

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #3 (The Quick One)

For Round 3 of Waaghpaca I played the shortest game I have ever played. The game was so fast that I can't remember my opponent's name. All I can remember about him was that when he realized that we were playing the Fortitude scenario and saw that most of my Fortitude was either in fast cavalry or on flying mounts, he started complaining about how bad this game was going to be. I just kind of stared blankly at him at this point as anyone who plays Warriors of Chaos is never allowed to complain about anything, regardless of your army list.

WaaaghPaca 2014: Armies in Review (Part #1)

I'm taking a little break this week as I am swamped with work and life. As such, there will not be a battle report this week. However, I don't want to leave everyone empty-handed. Rest assured, battle reports are being finished and will be forthcoming, as will some new articles on my thoughts on the new dwarfs, and even a new feature delving into the tactics of specific units. But, that will take some time, so here are some of my favorite armies from WaaaghPaca 2014:

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #2 (The Ruins Bruins)

After my devastating loss in Round 1 to Ryan Nicol, I was paired up against Kevin "Ruins" Bruins (@RuinsBruins on twitter) of Skullbrosawesome fame. Ruins was a great opponent and garnered my favorite opponent vote of the weekend (and ended up as Best Sportsman of the tournament with all five favorite opponent votes). He took this game really well despite (spoiler alert) blowing up a large portion of his army on the first turn.

I am convinced that this man is nothing but smiles and rainbows.

Ruins, this guy here on the left who was having way too much fun before we even began deployment, was playing a beautifully converted Beastman army. (pics at the bottom)










His list for the tournament was a little more unorthodox than the standard Beastman builds I see at tournaments. This might have been because at 2000 points, its hard to fit all the normal tricks in the army like the Herdstone, multiple shamans, and Doombull. But, I like to think that it was because Ruins knew his army so well, he didn't need all the super powerful units to win his games.

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #1 (The Grudge Match)

For Round #1 of this year's WaaaghPaca, I grudged Ryan Nicol (@lordbaerion on twitter). I had met him briefly last year and he looked like a fun opponent. And, as many of the other West Coast players were also grudging opponents, I thought I would join in as it would make the whole weekend experience get off to a great start. There is nothing better for a tournament than starting off with a great game against a great opponent even if (spoiler alert!) you don't win.

Now with fancy facial hair!

Ryan, this guy on the left, was playing a very special High Elf list. This meant that we would be playing a true grudge with the heart of Ulthuan in the balance (okay, maybe just a small island).










Ryan's list for the tournament included:

• Eltharion on Stormwing (this dude is broke!);
• Dragonmage on Dragon (also broke!);
• 2 units of 12 archers with musician and standard bearer;
• 1 large unit (28 I think) of Lothern Seaguard;
• 3 bolt throwers;
• an eagle;
• and a Frostheart Phoenix.

If you picked anything out from the above list, it should be that all of Ryan's core can shoot, and all his back-up units also shoot or cast spells. That makes for one nasty little list to have to go through to get to the points of the army, if you can.

WaaaghPaca 2014: Tournament Review

Well, WaaaghPaca 2014 has passed us by. Time for the tournament report.

Similar to last year, the tournament was held at the Waupaca Ale House, a great little venue right off the main road. This is one of the main draws of the tournament and I hope they get to keep the venue after all the damage that some assholes caused on the first night before the tournament.

This year, scoring was changed up slightly so that all the scores were increased to 25 points each. Last year, there was a slightly different scoring system which was not as easy to understand. I liked the simple 25 point maximum for each category as it made overall calculations much easier.

This year, I placed in a tie for 12th (but ended up getting 15th after the strength of schedule tie breaker was added in). This is a significant increase from last year's placing in the low 40s of the tournament. Complete scores for the tournament should be up on the site soon, but my overall score breakdown was as follows:

• Total points accumulated was 85
• 19 Battle Points (went 4-1 for the weekend and missed 3 out of 5 bonus objectives. This is similar to last years playing, but in my one loss, I took a much larger points hit than last year.)
• 21 Paint Points (this was a large increase from last year. I plan on posting pictures of the entire army soon, but I was able get all the objective and subjective paint points except for those that involved favorite army votes. Next year I am already planning a better display board and some larger conversions to draw in some passer-bys.)
• 20 Sportsmanship Points (once again I did not get a single favorite opponent vote. I chalk this up to some bad match-ups where the games were over very quickly - including a turn 1 game - and the general level of sportsman who attends WaaaghPaca.)
• 25 Base Points (these were given for not screwing things up during the tournament and getting everything done that was supposed to be done)

The prizes this year were equally as amazing as last year. The Bear once again made handmade weapons for all the victors, this year themed as fantasy orc weapons. I can easily say that I am already suffering from post-paca depression and am already looking forward to next year and hopefully cracking the top 10. Now to get to work on some battle reports!

WaaaghPaca: Update #6

With WaaaghPaca descending upon us this weekend, I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss the five scenarios that I (and 99 other players) will be playing.

Each round will use the Man of Intrigue model. The model may not be on a base larger than 50mm square and has the following rules:

• Unless specified in the scenario, the MOI is attached to a core unit.
• He has no stats and can't be attacked or otherwise interacted with.
• He is deployed at the same time the unit he is attached to is deployed and he doesn't have to deploy with the same unit each game.
• The MOI generates additional fortitude for your army equal to the rank bonus (to a maximum of +3) of the unit he is attached to. 

Now, on to the actual rounds, themselves.

WaaaghPaca: Update #5

This coming weekend is WaaaghPaca 2014! And man, if I am not excited about everything this tournament entails. Besides flying from the sunny West Coast all the way to the frozen northlands of Wisconsin, I will be playing against some of the most beautifully painted and converted armies in the country which will, in turn, be played by some of the nicest and most sportsmanlike Warhammer generals. It’s like being locked behind closed doors for six months of the year breeds great hobby talent and a general sunny disposition to offset the bleakness of tundra. For those who haven’t attended WaaaghPaca before, these are the rules.

WaaaghPaca: Update #4

So over the last week I have been able to put a little bit more time into painting. I know I need to hurry up, and this weekend I plan on really pushing through these warlocks and starting the remaining monsters. I also need to order an army name plate and start work on an army display board that I can fit in my luggage (as I am flying to Milwaukee and then driving to WaaaghPaca). So, I have a lot of things on my plate to finish off before the tournament and only about two and half more weeks to get it done. I am on track to finish the warlocks for sure, but am worried about getting the rest done. Hopefully, if all else fails, I can get some base colors and initial washes/highlights done on the other models to get the basic paint points for the tournament.

WaaaghPaca: Update #3

Right before Christmas I participated in the Battle for the Christmas Ham. A one-day, three round Warhammer tournament in Oakland, CA. The format for this year's Battle was 2000 point armies using the same rules as WaaghPaca, including the Man of Intrigue. This was great because I was going to be able to get three solid games in with my new list, figure out how I liked my magic item choices, and make necessary changes for WaaghPaca. I would also be able to throw my units around to see what kind of damage they could really do.