So… it has got to be at least 12 years since I was last at an actual wargaming tournament as a player. And back then, it would probably have been in Warchamine/Hordes. Let’s just say I never really got into the top 10 with that game.

But now… lo and behold, I actually went to an Age of Sigmar tournament. With a brand spanking new army, that I’ve only just painted up for this particular event. What a crazy ride.

The event was called Midtcon Grand Tournament and was a proper event with Age of Sigmar, Marvel skirmish (that looked fantastic!), Star Wars Armada, 9th Ageings, Flames of War, and of course 40k. I went around and looked at all of it and talked to a lot of different people. I didn’t take any photos of the other games, but I am sure there’s plenty to be found.

And now, for the rest of this post I will only discuss the event I partook in: Age of Sigmar.

It was a 28 player event, with people from all over Denmark. For the event you had to create a 2000 points armylist, and there was a player pack detailing the scenarios (“battle plans”) that would be played.

I didn’t really spend that much time thinking about my list, as I was constructing it more or less before I even knew the basics of the game. I ended up selecting a list with a LOT of models:

2×20 Grimghast Reapers, 2×10 Bladegheist Revenants, 3 spirit host, 4 banshees, and 4 characters. This list was what you would call “a mixed bag”. So, not a lot of synergy or things that are very carefully placed to make this or that work… so what I didn’t really know was that in the 12 years I’d been away the amount of people bringing mixed bags or sub-par lists, had dwindled to nearly nothing. Because, Age of Sigmar is just not that kind of game. Fair enough.

I had some really fun games, and some games that were a waste of my time, and more importantly, of my opponent’s time. It was of course my own fault for not bringing a good list. The old adage “bringing a knife to a gun fight” came up a few times. I ended up winning 2 games and losing 3, landing me on a solid 21st place. One of the wins was more a case of the opponent losing than me winning (he couldn’t roll 2+ if his life depended on it).

To my surprise I also won the “best sportsmanship”-man trophy/prize. That actually is quite a nice thing. But can you believe that? Me?! Sportsmanship?! I mean, any kind of ship really. And me. Wow.

All in all I still much enjoyed going out and doing this. It was great to be part of something “alive” instead of just slaving over dead old lead, that doesn’t get any action (although I do love myself some old lead too…)

Let me briefly run through the games:

Game 1: Lumineth Realm Lords

I was insanely lucky in this game. My army is allowed to keep 3 units off board and put them in in one of the first 3 turns. I just chucked it all in in turn 1, 9″ from the main line of Lumineth. I didn’t know the Lumineth army (only half knew my own) but my opponent had mentioned that one of his units (some cavalry) was good at charging. So I figured, they had to get charged instead. Luck favours the bold. And somehow I managed to get two 9″ charges in (you roll 2d6 to charge). From there on my Ghosts just booooed through the Aelves till they were all gone.

Game 2: Storm Cast Eternals

My plan had been to lose the first game, so that I wouldn’t get caught in the super good gamers… but I had one it so decidedly that I ended up playing against the guy who eventually won the tourney, and also is the coach for the national team (yup, that’s a thing!). Even if I had no clue about his army or what to do, I managed to make him feel a little nervous a one point. That is just about all I managed though, and eventually I lost to myself (forgetting rules) and him (awesome list and playing).

Game 3: Slaves to Darkness

Now it was Saturday evening, and I was feeling pretty tired. And when I saw my next foe, I was even more tired: It was Søren and his Archaeon list, that I had played only a month back. I already knew, that I had no answer for this list, and sure enough Archaeon wiped the floor with the rags of my ghosts in no time. My decisions didn’t matter much, as the scenario we played prevented me from making a lot of points before killed wiped. Søren is a super nice player and stand up fellow, but I am incapable of enjoying games like this. But at least it was fast.

Game 4: Lumineth Realm Lords

Sunday morning. “Aha!” I thought. “Lumineth again! I shall do exactly the same again then!”…. and that is what I did. Only, I had failed to appreciate how little this list resembled the earlier one. This list mainly had big blobs of infantry and then Teclis. My tactics failed completely. The Lumineth bowmen killed 20 ghosts each time they shot, and my whole army was shut down by the magic of Teclis. Again, not a game I found very enjoyable. The opponent was a very nice guy, but I got frustrated by the lack of options that I could see. But of course, it was down to the fact that he was a good player with a good list, and I was a bad player with a bad list. For both this game and the last one, I wondered if actually I could have won if we traded lists… in essence, that it was over before it begun. Maybe.

Game 5: “Gloomspite Gitz”

By now, Sunday afternoon, I was in despair. I almost couldn’t see myself being dragged through the mud one more time. But alas, I had to play. This time against the gloomspite gitz. It turned out to be Gitz with friends though, since they had brought and unkillable monster (the Incarnate) and a god (Kragnos – god of earthquakes and other such things). I think I thought I had no change. And in the hope, that we could finish it quickly, I built my castle (deployed close) and put 3 things in the underworld (reserves). I then proceeded to play as aggressively as I could think of… and I destroyed nearly everything. And won!

Conclusion

I think it was a great weekend. I might join again another time or another event. I will bring a better list though, because the way this is meant to be played is not “lets bring some funny crap”. Bring your a-game or don’t go. That was my impression at least. ;-D

But really, I enjoyed myself. And the builds/lists/tactics keep whirling around my brain now. I’ll probably have to sign up for something again… oh dear!