Sunday April 15th dawned a beautiful day as Ben, Dwayne, Matt Z, Lil' Dc and I met around 7:30 am to head off to Box Hill Town Hall, where this Year's Conflict Event was to be held. The members of Armageddon War games club were all playing in different sections of the Competition. Dwayne, Lil' Dc and Matt representing the club in Lord of the Rings, Ben the sole entrant from the club in 40k and Myself in Fantasy. After almost getting lost, did our boys make it in time to register and take on all comers? Read on to find out about the day.
We arrived at the Town hall with about 20 minutes to spare. Did the obligatory, yelling out of the window as we passed some people on their way to conflict and then settled down inside, checking out all the tables with their scenery on them which was amazing! It turned out that my first opponent was Rob, who has come into the shop a couple of times and finally remembered who I was at the end of the day. Bit of bad luck on his behalf saw me win a close fought game, (love to have another game at some stage Rob). I also went up against a Bretonnian player who hadn't fought Vampires before, I was lucky to get away with a solid win there, bogging his army down in combat and making knights run to the hills with lots of raised skeletons. The last game was against Orcs and Goblins and I'd like to thank Lenny for a most enjoyable game. His orcs stopped working for him just as he was going to sweep me off the board and I managed to pull another massacre out of the hat.
Ben upstairs in the massive 40k arena with his well trained Black Templars, with over 100 other players was taking on all and sundry, fighting against Space marines and Necrons. He came away with some decent wins, and in the end he finished 13th overall, only 10 points behind the winner, which isn't bad for someone new to the game and entering his very first tournament. He said he'd be back to take on all and sundry next year.
The lord of the Rings boys were having mixed fortunes, with Matt Z and Lil' Dc fighting valiantly for position. Dwayne seemed to be the quiet achiever and at the end of the lord of the rings Tournament he managed to be equal first, and then slipped to second as the eventual winner managed to snatch a point due to army composition and painting. Top effort from Dwayne though and the other boys in the Lord of the Rings section.
Finally the time came for the Fantasy event to be Judged. With over 50 people waiting somewhat impatiently for the results. I was quietly confident that I'd done well enough to be up near the top somewhere. Rumours were going around that someone had won all 3 of their games by Massacre, which was a top effort. They called all names of the people who were judged best painted army, (some awesome painted armies were out there), favorite player. Then onto the Places overall. I'll be happy with a 3rd place, I thought, I know a couple of people who have done this in the past. Nope, no third, well done to third place getter. Second place, nope no cigar either. Dang nabbit, We're never going to hear the end of Dwayne coming second. First place, and I quote the announcer, "And the grand daddy of them all... Paul Mayo!" Well I felt like I'd just won the lottery and there was much hand shaking from some of the blokes I'd befriended, (and some I'd never spoken to or seen that day), or had played against during the day. So, if you ring the shop and you get, "Corner of the attic, this is the Grand Daddy of them all..." You'll know I still haven't recovered from the shock of winning.
No matter where people came on the day, it was an amazing, fun, brilliant day and I can't thank Games Workshop enough for putting on such a well run and fun day. I'm looking forward to next years competition and seeing if some of the people I played this year will be there also. I've got a year to come up with something that looks as good as some of the armies that were out there Last Sunday.