A Tale Of One Gamer

So, half-way through WarpCon XXI, and things have gone as follows:



I lost my Codex, and spurred a madcap dash across half of Belfast to get me one on time, when, in the end, it was a comparatively minor problem (though it felt major at the time!)

I failed to put any money aside for the trip, which turned out to be more expensive than I thought it would end up...though I knew it wouldn't be cheap.  That is very clearly not a mistake I will repeat...the cost of food etc here is ridiculous! lol

Nah, it's not an issue that would prevent me coming again or anything, but I really just didn't figure just how much this whole thing would skin me.  I'm far from broke over the trip, I don't want to make it sound like that.  I just wanted to comment on the seemingly unsustainable living cost in the Republic compared to the North.  But, that was partly the Greeks for breaking the Euro.

Next, I booked it all too late, which leads into the issue above.  By only buying my ticket 6 days before the event, I put myself in a position where I felt rushed and under pressure to get things done in a much smaller than optimal timeframe...which, as it turns out - is the truth.  Buying the ticket so late Sunday meant I had only Monday and Tuesday to prepare my army, in as much as it was only half-ready.  In of itself, that should have been plenty of time, but I hmm'd and haaw'd to a rather unreasonable degree, wondering if I would have been better served with or without Eldrad, with 3x5 Dragons or 2x7 with DBF Exarchs and a few Vypers to fill it up.  How about dropping Eldrad, swapping the Dragons for the 2x7, taking a third Prism and 3 Vypers?? Blah, blah, blah.  Essentially, I procrastinated Monday away with this nonsense.  Then, Tuesday was invested heavily in playtesting the list - I had to go with what I know...though this involved dedicating the early part of the day to my usual Tuesday YGO Tournament too (Shit Tournament Tuesdays are frequently hilarious!) essentially taking it out of the equation too, in a way.

Now, that's not to say I had no time Wednesday or Thursday, but 'Real Life' got in the way pretty heavily, mostly work, but also some house stuff that needed sorting, and I was the chump doing it.  In the end, I knew they'd be virtually a write off, and having waited to see how many and who of my friends were also attending tied my hands in a way that, frankly, I would have been better served, in a way, not coming.

I promised (sort of) Stormy and Iggy (both great guys, it turns out :p ) and have actually encountered other guys familiar with my blog too...it's an awesome feeling to have people you've never previously met say they like your stuff.  Now I know how good painters feel! LMAO.  I actually had some guys compliment my Eldrad, so that was nice.

So, yeah, left myself insufficient time to pack, meaning I packed for Tuesday's game, got home late that night, repacked into my new case, with sufficient space for ALL my Grav Tanks (rather than, as before, literally taking a second case to transport a single vehicle...) while more than a little asleep, and probably more than half.  The upshot of that was, of course, that I screwed up, and left my flying bases in the small case, because I moved them there to make the point of it slightly greater - felt like less of a waste...and ended up quite the liability.

The travel was grand, 5 hours of train journey (6?) is no bother for me, I like train travel.

Anyway...three games today.

First one was vs an Ork list - roughly:
6 Kans, 2 Dreads, 2 KFFs, 5 MANz in Trukk, BW with 19 Ard Boyz, 3 Koptas (squadron), 5 Tankbustas, 5 Kommandoes, 19 Grots.

On paper, not much - though a good job of taking the most of his FoC slots with use of cheap 'filler' units that a bunch of armies may not be able to ignore.  In the end, because the army was played pretty well, neither could I.

Granted, he was a little fortunate on timings for, well, ALL his Reserves - but he was able to overcome the inherent weaknesses of Tankbustas, Grots and Kommandos well.  The mission was a 5-Objective variant - one in the middle, one centred in each quarter.  Overall...the mission favoured an army, like his, that preferred to swamp the middle of the board and branch out to contest.  I aim to provide a fuller analysis in time.  :p

(I know, I always plan that, but things rarely pan out that way.)

Second game, vs our very own Its_Pug, fellow Heretic, Norn Irishman, and MWFTW author.  His Imperial Guard in an Annihilation game, with DoW deployment.  Challenging, but - because I know him, the most relaxing of the games, and in a way the most fun.  So far, anyway.  lol

Thirdly, I faced off against hybrid Blood Angels, 2 Ravens, 2 TLLas Razors, a Rhino, a Jumper unit, couple Furiosos, 5 Termies and a Libby (with a fucking irritating Hood! lol)

As things stand, I have a 'perfect' set of results, in that it's a Win, a Loss and a Draw.  If I get full Batreps up, well, you'll get the excitement of reading those, but otherwise I will just give you my full results at the end.

Regarding the Event itself, I am having fun.  More complete analysis to follow the last game, tomorrow.

Hopefully I will be no less successful tomorrow than today...as long as I manage to avoid one of the several Dark Eldar armies about!  Surprisingly popular are Templars too...especially as it was my understanding FAQs published after 1/1/11 wouldn't be applied in the event.  If it's being used because it claims it's from December, then great - even if not, I have no issue with it, I am simply evincing surprise.
That's all for now - gotta get some sleep before the last two games! (Hopefully we will get time for a third though, obviously a pick-up rather than them scheduling an extra game just for me! lol)

[In fairness, seeing how early I arrived on Friday, if I'd headed over there instead of into town to see what Cork was like, maybe I could have had one - next year guys, a Friday Night Invitational Grudge Match Event?] {GRudge Invitational Player Event, or GRIPE, for short??}