Last Saturday was the first Burrows & Badgers tournament, hosted in Rushden by the Phoenix Games Club. They've got room for about 22 players, which is just as well, as there were 22 players.
There were lots of lovely tables to game on:
And a broad spectrum of gamers taking part:
The tournament was organised for 400 penny warbands, with at least 6 models, including at least 1 magic user. My warband was:
Allegiance: Royalist
Leader: Dargrum Mouse-eater, Wildcat. 2x one-handed weapons, heavy armour, healing potion, talisman. Strike upgraded, and Enduring Skill. 112 pennies.
Second: Alannah Gracetail, Fox. One handed weapon, bow, light armour. Fast Shot Skill. 81 pennies.
Garnoc Quiet-claw, Large Raptor. Strike upgraded. 50 pennies.
'Slasher' McTavish, ferret. Strike upgraded. Double handed weapon. 55 pennies.
Osric the Axe, Shrew. Double handed weapon. 41 pennies.
Amber Fierceheart, Squirrel. Mage's Focus. Two Spells - Haste and Cure. 59 pennies.
398 pennies total.
So, my tournament effort went like this...
Game 1 was against Paul Wilkinson. We were supposed to be grabbing crystals, and legging it off the board with them. Instead, we inched towards each other, fired off a few arrows and spells, finally committed to fighting, then realised we'd run out of time without achieving much. The game ended in a Draw, so at least I didn't lose! Although sending my Sacrificial Shrew out as bait, then panicking when he got attacked and running my fox in to 'save' him was a massive error, especially as I'd taken the fox purely to be my expert archer. She spent the rest of the game bogged down in a slogging match with a seemingly immortal toad. And Sacrificial Shrew died anyway!
Game 2 was against Warren Stevens, and we were supposed to get off the opposite side of the board - double points for either escaping with your most expensive model, or taking out your opponent's. I spent the first couple of turns working my fox into a perfect position for archery ambushes; she had the Fast Shot skill, and I cast Haste on her, so she'd be launching deadly 4 shot volleys from hiding! Or she would've, except I repeatedly forgot to Ambush while Warren moved his beasts into position. Warren then cast Invulnerable onto his badger (Tough 6!) meaning the chance of scoring double points was looking slim... in the closing turns, a sudden dash for the board edge saw me get enough models clear to just scrape a Minor Victory.
For game 3 (Kill the highest points model) I was drawn against Peter Melvin, who had done an amazing amount of background material for his warband - character biogs, the history of their town, even a ballad!
Luckily for me, the dice gods cared not for his efforts... he cunningly set up a very deadly fox assassin, and I sent in Osric the Sacrificial Shrew to do his duty and draw the fox out. But the unthinkable happened - the shrew survived the fox's attack unscathed, and managed to strike back with enough force to take him out with a single hit!
Suddenly I was free to move all my models against the main target - Pete's leader.
After a horribly tense few turns in which we got closer and closer, using Hide actions, each hoping the other would blink first, I flew my owl right into the middle, to set Pete a trap he would definitely fall for - only he didn't. So my leader retreated; Pete ambushed with his leader, and it could have gone either way - but after we both used up all our Fate, it was my leader, Dargrum Mouse-eater, who was still standing. A Major Win to me...
On to game 4, and Andy Bridgwater. This was a straight battle to the finish, with bonus points for wiping out the enemy, and keeping your own force (relatively) intact... pretty quickly, we had a large melee going on with three from each side involved, Andy making good use of his leader's Voice of Command to keep the attacks coming thick and fast. But I managed to gain the upper hand, mostly by having a mage with the Cure spell nearby - my owl went down fighting, but Dargrum and 'Slasher' McTavish the ferret took out their opponents.
Andy looked set to skewer my mage with a well-timed volley, when Osric the Sacrificial Shrew went in and did what he does best; spend a couple of turns bravely dying, while tying up an otherwise threatening enemy. That gave me time to pick off Andy's mage, and finally gang up on his last character.
A second Major Win to me... more through luck than judgement, as usual!
Overall, I scored enough points to finish second in the tournament, which I was well chuffed with. Although given the unfair advantage I had of having actually written the game, it's not as impressive as it sounds!
It was a great day, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
cheers,
Michael
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April 26, 2024, 08:34:46 AM
