GT Heat 3 Report and T.Leighton vs National Rail

Prepare yourselves for a pause and restart post because this one is going to be an essay, all encompassing events over 4 days. Oh Joy. Before you think about the pain of reading this lengthy abomination, think about the pain I'm going through writing it. The events documented in this post may have scarred me for life (especially Friday, that was awful).

A Glorious Return - Who Am I Now?

When I started this blog it was designed as the documentation of the introduction into the UK tournament player. This player was an 18 year old kid who got his ass handed to him at Throne of Skulls, losing 3 games including 2 tablings and only picking up 1 win. If I had the opportunity to talk to this scrub I'd have instructed him to sell all of his 40k and to go and spend his money playing something that was more to his skill level. Like Minecraft. This kid went by the alias of Rampage, and despite the humiliation of getting bent over a table by a group of GW store egos, for some reason he wanted more (maybe he  just swung that way or it was some kind of weird fetish I don't know), and if this story intrigues you go and have a look at the 200 posts that proceed this, you'll be in for a fun evening if the alternative was attentively watching the BBC News Channel et al for the 8 hours that such a marathon would take. Still, it's a higher standard of writing than the 50 shades series that thing is trash.

But back to the point, not even I can understand the insanity that crossed this kid's mind, and to this day 2 1/2 years on his Win/Loss is very much mid table. That said, I am not the same player that I  was 2 1/2 years ago, I have moved on from such things as having a terrible alias and attending tournaments as merely an objective (seriously anyone can fork over some money and turn up at a table). Phase 1 of my journey as a competitive gamer was to consistently finish in the top half of tournaments and give top level British players a tough game, and when I'm on it I can do that. After about half a year's break from the hobby I'm back with a new objective. Challenge for podium spots at big tournaments, win small events with ease, and represent my country at the ETC. So let's begin with a quick rundown of where I am now.

In the last 6 months I...

In June 2013 'Wargaming with Rampage' hit a peak, almost making 5,000 reads in a single month. Since then, I have struggled for motivation, and this has been all too evident in the crappy content that I have put out since. This has at part been due to University, partly due to my growing League of Legends addiction, and partly due to the fact that I no longer feel I need to validate myself by posting maths on the internet and hoping no-one complains. A good example of the latter is Blackmoor's blog, not much content been going up on there since he's been on the 11th company (just kidding I'm not Blackmoor (I'm better than that guy (bring it Blackmoor! (Just not on Vassal I play really badly on that system)))).

So, in short what have I been up to in the last 6 months. Well, I went to the GT heats, was sick in a gutter and missed out on automatic qualification by 1 slot because people didn't turn up for day 2. However I still got through courtesy of 'Best Chaos Marine player at heat', and then turned up at the final in March and claimed best CSM player in that too, despite being docked points for not being able to write lists properly.

In January I went to the Caledonian Uprising, where I bagged my first top half finish, again using my prized Chaos Space Marine army. 2 weeks ago I decided to pick up Necrons for the first time and take them to an escalation tournament. Which I then flopped at because I wrote a really bad list. And then last week I went to the War of the Roses, a 2 day tournament in which I only lost one game, albeit because I made a stupid mistake but still only one game, which I was happy with, making me a more consistent top 50% player.

In addition, I have been heading to the England squad days and weekends on a regular basis, helping the 9 out and getting some top level experience, which has served me very well in the last couple of big events.

In short, I'm really looking forward to get back into blogging, not for my own self validation or for an ego boost, but because I enjoy writing, and with the game getting shaken up so much in the next couple of weeks, things are going to get interesting.

Brothers in Arms - Tournament Report and an Explanation

I haven't played a game of 40k since 28th October, but despite my lack of effort in getting back into playing, I'd like to write a bit more. As such, here is a tournament report from the last event that I went to. It was a doubles tournament, with 750pts per player.

Epic Procrastination - Happy 2nd Birthday

2 Weeks ago this blog turned 2. Huzzah! 2 weeks ago it was also Blog Wars, which I didn't get an invite to again, which tells me something. This is still pokey little blog. But I don't mind that, less pressure. I'd hate to be stuck writing every day in fear of the demanding masses. Luckily, this seems extremely unlikely.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 6

So, going into the last game, here is how it stands. I'm currently sitting just above mid table with 2 wins, 2 losses, a draw and a strong victory points count back due to smash victories against my first 2 opponents and picking up some points against Rob. So now it comes down to one game. If I win, I qualify comfortably, if I draw, I just scrape in, I lose and I'm probably out. And to be honest, it doesn't get much harder than this.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 5

Game 5 and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm confident against anything other than my horror match up in FMC Daemons in Kill Points, Hammer and Anvil. This is also exactly why I was pretty certain that my qualification would go down to the final game. As an FMC Daemons army arrives at the table.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 4

So I come into day 2 only needing to win a game. The first game of the day being Emperor's Will with Vanguard Strike, and I was playing against a Necron player with Tau allies, who had won a 2 day event a couple of weeks back. He was running 3 Annihilation Barges, 2 Night Scythes with minimal Warriors and Crypteks with Haywire Staffs in. He had a Riptide, a Skyray, a tooled up Overlord and a load of Kroot with Snipers.

This isn't a bad match up for me at all. But despite this, I would have been happy with a draw, as it left me with only needing to avoid losing both of my remaining games to qualify. He picked the deployment zone behind an enormous hill, and he made me go first, Night Fighting was in effect.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 3

So, going into the final game of day 1, and I'm on the top tables, kicking it with 40k powerhouses such as Courtney Rhodes, James French and Rob Waller. Rob beat my friend (who's a much better player than me) that I came down with in the first round, and now I was in his crosshairs.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 2

Courtesy of the large win in the first game, I was now sitting on table 2, which at this stage in the tournament really doesn't mean too much. That said, my next game was against a Tau player. He was running an Ethereal, he had 2 squads of 10 Kroot, he had 2 squads of Broadsides with all of the Missiles. 2 Riptides with Fusion Blasters on one and one with SMS. He had 2 squads of 6 Pathfinders. Then he had Eldar allies, with 2 squads of Bikes and a Farseer on a Bike. Plus he had an Aegis Defence Line.

The Mission was the Relic with Dawn of War deployment.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 1

I've been looking forward to the GT Heats for a while, but also felt a little nervous. I really felt that that I should qualify for the finale. I had decided what to take a few weeks ago, but I didn't really want to divulge anything such was my desperation.

My list was:

September Throne of Skulls (40k) Stats

I moved back to Oxford today, so today's post is going to be something that I don't have to think about too often. So here are the rankings from top to bottom for each of the 15 factions based off average score, including how many people played the army. Of course, as it's Throne of Skulls it's not definitive, but it does give a good representation of which armies are popular at the minute and an ok one of which are doing the best in which a playing field of mixed armies is encouraged. So, let's get on with it.

Throne of Skulls the Third - September '13 40k

So, I've just got back from a tiring weekend at Throne of Skulls, this one has really taken it out of me and I have no idea why. So, instead of going through each game individually, I'm going to blast through them one at a time in this post. Still in depth to a degree, but not individual post worthy. Pictures will be coming the moment I have enough internet usage left on my phone, I don't have very much left.

My list was a variation on my GT List. 2 Rune Priests, naked, pretty much, 2 Lone Wolves, 3 packs of Grey Hunters, 1 Drop Pod, 2 smaller packs of Long Fangs, Primaris Psyker, Guard Blob, Manticore.

Invasion II Game 3 - Tournament Report

Going into the final game we are now on the top table, and our severe lack anti vehicular weaponry has come to sting us in the table once again, this time in the form of a dual Eldar list. It was a strong list, but not broken. The had a Spiritseer in a squad of 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent. They had 2 squads of Bikes, Baharroth, 10 Howling Banshees which he tanked for, a Night Spinner, Fire Prism, and that was about it.

Invasion II Game 2 - Tournament Report

In the last post I may have alluded to our list's inability to deal with vehicles, well, when you have 3 AV13 vehicles facing you across the battlefield, you definitely can't deal with vehicles. We were playing against a Chaos Marine and Necron List, comprising of a Black Mace Lord, a 5 man Nurgle squad, a 10 man standard squad, a Vindicator, 10 Immortals with Tesla, 10 Warriors, a Lord and 2 Annihilation Barges. The mission was Crusade with Dawn of War.

Invasion II Game 1 - Tournament Report

Wow I have a lot of posts on the go. None of them are finished but there are a lot half complete. Although the amount of content coming out of here is currently a bit minimal, it should pick up hopefully towards the end of the month.

Anyway, yesterday was the day of the Invasion Doubles tournament for the Oxfordshire and Wiltshire stores, with 6 stores coming up to Warhammer World to compete. All in all 68 teams. As I've been living in Sheffield for the past couple of months I've been unable to acquire a ticket, but I went down to Warhammer World anyway to see everyone. As it happened, Oxford were one player short, and one of their guys was left without a player. Using my special ringer powers, I thus partnered him. Let the tournament commence!

Toy Soldier 40k Tournament Report - Game 5

Game 5 started nicely, as I was drawn against the opponent that my Sheffield friend played in Game 3. He was a Tau player but it wasn't really an optimised Tau list and apparently it was a really enjoyable game. The mission was The Scouring, we placed objectives, rolled for Warlord Traits and Daemonic Gifts, and then something terrible happened. We were both rematched as the players on the table next to us had already played each other. So the nice Tau army with 1 Riptide and 1 Squad of 2 Broadsides was whiscked away and replaced with this.

Lots and lots of Guns

Oh dear.

Toy Soldier 40k Tournament Report - Game 4

As I mentioned in the previous post, losing games bumping me down the tables would not make my games any easier. This was proved by my fourth round opponent, who is the Grey Knight player for the Welsh ETC team this year, and is currently ranked 35 in the country according to RankingsHQ. The mission was Big Guns Never Tire with Hammer and Anvil deployment. 5 objectives.

Toy Soldier 40k Tournament Report - Game 3

Going into this game I had 20pts, so a draw and a close loss. This meant that I was down the tables a little bit, just below the halfway mark of 30pts really. In fact my mate that I lost my first game to then lost 30-0 to a Screamer Council Tzeentch list and was playing on the table next to me.

Toy Soldier 40k Tournament Report - Game 2

Being honest I'd been looking forward to game 2, as I really wanted to try something. The mission here was the Relic with Vanguard Strike deployment. The modification here was, again, no First Blood, but there was also an objective worth a single point in the centre of each table quarter. My opponent was, surprise surprise, a Tau player.