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The champ retains his title, congratulations Joe Whiddett! For his efforts
he won an Orbital Laser and very limited metal Avenger ship! |
Gather round one, and all! Come closer- come on, there's room up the front. Can you all see and hear now? Good, as I have a tale of valour, luck and potential surprise for you all!
I am happy to declare Critical Engagement a success, with a grand total of 14 players turning up to play toy soldiers with us! 14 may not sound like a huge amount, but I think it may be the biggest independent tourney in the UK yet. We were joined by gamers from all over, and even a couple of the Hawk lads came down to have a go.
The valour, luck and surprise belong to Joe Whiddett who won by the narrowest of margins with his Feral Resistance force. He pipped Mike's Scourge to the post by a measly 1 VP! I'm going to go ahead and speak for everyone when I say we had a gay old time, and hope to see more people down in the future.
The missions used (Recon+, Ground Control+ and Secure The Flanks) were largely a success, although after seven 1's were rolled in one Recon game I think we are going to have consign it to the casual gaming heap. RIP Recon, we tried, but you just don't work in a tournament. Ground Control+ went swimmingly however, so we are very pleased with this. The new scoring system also worked great, but in order to give it a really thorough testing it needs a few more tourneys, and possibly a two day event to be sure and hammer out any kinks. In my opinion it is no better than a 20 points system but a nice alternative.
We may get a tournament prepared for the summer, but if not definitely the winter, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meanwhile I am pretty sure there is a tournament in Reading and one may appear in Brighton, so along with Birmingham we have plenty to look forward too!
If you have questions as to the armies played, tourney system or missions used just leave us a comment, and as always we will answer as best we can!
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| Results table after a tough fight. It is decided by Tournament Points, then by Victory Points then by Kill Points |
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| Set up gets under way |
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The first double 1 of the weekend leaves a squad of Sirens
stranded on the board edge |
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| The Resistance move into position |
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| Can the Shaltari brave the PHR wave? |
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| CE in full swing (X-Wing tourney in the background) |
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| Building a firebase is key |
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| 'Nuff Skimmers? |
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| The Cyclones patiently wait for the Immortals to drop |
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| Hawk Louis seems oddly satisfied by something secret |
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| Pete 'Sgt Slaughter' (left) and Alex work out their scores |
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| Refing in style |
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| Dan displays the mental state of X-Wing players |
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| Mike packs away his freeway after a hard days gaming |
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| I was doing something important. Probably. |
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Best Sportsman David Bonner wins a Blotz building for
being a swell guy |
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Best Painted Ed Nealle Scullion won a huge Blotz centre
piece building for his excellent UCM |
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Due to the abundance of PHR, Michael Russell was the winner of the
very special 'Best of PHR' award and wins some PHR foam |
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The battle for Wooden Spoon was won by Adrian Gibson, and
he received a Scourge starter and foam to give a whirl |
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Often the bridesmaid, Mike picked up second place and won a
Shaltari starter, Blotz building and Battlebus show model |
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David Bonner is the honorary recipient of the Beardy Bastard award, for bringing
4 Caimans and a Gharial. He received no prize for this, as none was deserved.
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So close, so very very close. Next time Joe!
ReplyDeleteI had 3 awesome games and will do a post mortem soon
Thanks guys for putting on as great tournament. Very happy with sixth place in such a strong field. Roll on the next tourney.
ReplyDeleteRegarding recon. Just say that a roll of a 1 is still a point. Then it should work fine. I also think that 7 ones in a targets of opportunities will have the same effect on the result. But I'm always defending it.
ReplyDeleteHave you saved all game results? It would be very interesting to test the results in this, the Swedish and Hawks system to see what changes.
Congratulations to 14 players! It is growing!
/Egge
More regarding recon. I will make a post about it soon (it will be called "Egge can only stick his head in the sand for so long") where I will discuss possible changes for Recon but the main thing can be, make a roll of a 1 more dangerous but still award a point. If one player have rolled a one the opponent's next roll of a 1 or 6 will also be a bomb. The bomb causes D6 damage to the building as today but also do automatic 2 DP of damage without any possible counters/saves whatever. It will give a small boost to infantry with 3 bases and you will be punished much more for using exotics for a search mission.
DeleteI think this can work. I strongly believe that missions like Search, Recon and Encroachment must stay in business otherwise we will be forced only to use Focal points and normal objectives which I think will hurt DZC in the long run. The question is to find the right level. I think that Recon is pretty simple; bombs also cause 2DP damage on the infantry but awards a point. The player that have rolled less 1:s suffer a bomb on a roll of a 6 as well.
/Egge
The issue with a straight 2 DP hit is because it is completely unfair for 3 DP units. I don't want to be punished for bringing exotics to a battle and using them in a mission! It also has the potential to bone the entire Shaltari army, which although is deserved is not fair or balanced.
DeleteEncroachment was my fourth choice for CE, and is fun and works well for all armies. Search is just a pain in the arse for the refs!
I think it is kind of fair. Exotics will then in many cases be a better choice for fighting enemy infantry than searching. But I'm very colored by the Destroyers. Sirens would decrease in efficiency which is kind of unfair but Shaltari - well, their infantry can get it. They have such a huge advantage in recon anyway so I don't really have a problem with it.
DeleteYeah Search is awkward to have in a tournament. Encroachment suffer from the same thing as original "Ground control" that the result can be very much bigger than other missions. Making infantry worth 2 times their points and that they must be in the building turn 5 can make the mission a little more even, I think. /Egge
I'm still going to run Recon+ in our tournament this coming Saturday; I've already announced it, and it's too late to change it. Plus, I think the odds ("Never tell me the odds!") of rolling seven 1s in one game (by one player?) are really, really... OK, yeah, it can happen. We'll see what happens this Saturday... :-P
DeleteCongratulations, Team OB, on what sounds like was a great event!
The odds are mad for that to happen, but it does. It happened to me once too. It is good fun, and I think you'll really enjoy it on Sat. Whether you'll use it again for a tourney afterwards is a different question...
DeleteAlso 7 rolls by 2 players, 5 by one and 2 by the other!
I really enjoyed Recon+ as part of the tournament. In the game of 7 1's the winner (rob) rolled 5 1's and the loser (David) rolled 2. The only disparity was that their game was really low points (3-1) it finished.
DeleteSo in my opinion the mission worked really well and everyone seemed to enjoy playing it.
I still believe in Recon+ a 1 should result in a focal point as well. Will make the loss of the intel point less of an impact and keep those focal points appearing and disappearing.
Delete//Jens Bäckman
If a FP turned up on a 1 and 6 it doubles the liklihood of one turning up, which makes the game even more random and madenly annoying to plan for!
DeleteI like Recon but with the mechanics it uses I just don't think it can be saved. Possibly the only way would be to remove the booby trap altogether, but that would take away the essence of the game.
Has anyone tried making the roll 2D6 and then a 2 or 3 is Booby Trap and a 11 or 12 is Objective/FP found? This would make either result even less likely, and thus chances of 7 1's is lower.
Deletechrisloomis13
Great day. Ground Control + was very close and hard fought on my table and most others by the sound of it. Definitely my favourite of the three missions. Cheers for the day. Ive always wanted to kiss a gorgeous red-headed woman. Well 1 out of 3 ain't bad ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat fun, and the last game ending in a perfect draw on both VP and KP what where the odds of that.
ReplyDeleteRasmus
Come to think of it will you publish the army lists?
DeleteYes, army lists, please!
DeleteErm yes and no. Some silly ref may have thrown them away... I'll post what I can remember!
DeleteI'll help you remember, silly billy!
DeleteThx 4 the overview, except no army lists :(
ReplyDeleteFM
Your new anti bot sucks.
Army lists are coming today. ZombieState will be flogged at high noon for his incessant tidying!!!
DeleteThat's the last time I tidy anything! My flat will be turning into a junk heap now, are you all happy? ARE YOU HAPPY?!?
Delete