By The Chosen of Sigmar and
Stefano
Prequel:
(By The Chosen of Sigmar)
At an early stage Stefano and I had decided to compete in the 'Full Tilt'-Tournament of 'De Witte Ridder' in Leopoldsburg. For a couple of weeks I had been looking forward to the first tournament of the new heat of 'Ranking der Nederlanden'. I had entered an Empire Army 'das Kartoffelesser Armee' while Stefano entered a Strigoï Vampire Counts list named “Pilgrims of the Strigany Prophecy”
After a white night (for some special reason not linked to Warhammer I hadn't slept the night before) I reached my 'holy' destination... Believe it or not but Stefano arrived at the very same moment as I did but looked a bit fresher... Luckily the organising club had forseen gallons of coffee on which I could survive what was going to be a demanding day... While having coffee I met some members of Conect'r, a club recently joined by Stefano when he's not representing the Money Wolves. We both would like to thank Stijn, Peter, Bart and Tim, you really seem to be fun guys to play with or against... One of the reasons I thought that was that you knew our site ;-)
The tables:
Stefano and I then had a look around the tables on which the next few hours numberless players would take their chance to winning infinite fame (or at least until the next tournament). The scenery was of quality we were certainly not used to... Every landscape type of the great book was available and the tables were looking spectacular and just demanding to be played upon... Another positive note for the organisation.
The draw of battles:
Due to a club of the Netherlands arriving a little late the draw of the battles was a little postponed. The gamers all were very eager to begin the tournament. When finally the club arrived, the draw was made and I had to face Skaven with my Empire troops. Stefano drew a Bretonni-player...
Round 1:
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The Chosen of Sigmar's Opponent: Stijn Aerts Army: Skaven About the opponent: Stijn was one of the Conect'r guys I just had met. Talking about coincidence... He proved to be a fine guy to play against. Someone that came to enjoy himself (just like me), play some battles and meet new opponents. I can really make a recommandation if you play him... About the battle: I had the first draw and that prooved to be a nice advantage against an army that has no cavalry and consisted of several 'blocks'... My captain on pegasus was able to infitltrate and provided the shooting part of my army with extra rounds of shooting... My main cavalry unit was blocked long time by swarms but then again the rest of the Skaven army wasn't able to reach my main infantry line... I think I tactically didn't make any mistakes (or maybe just a small one) and that also resulted in a Solid Victory... Most valuable unit(s): 
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Stefano's
Opponent: Erwin van der Koogh Army: Bretonnia About the opponent: The Dutchman Erwin seemed to be a nice chap, playing with a borrowed but fantastically painted bretonnian army. I really liked having him as an opponent, since we did not argue a single time about rules, and I always enjoy painted armies of high standard. About the battle: I had to face an all-cavalry army, consisting of two units knights of realm, a unit errants, some pegasi knights, a flying general and some yeomen. My army consisted of mainly infantry, with a few small faster units. I just had to sit and wait for impact, hoping to divert the knights so they would not rush into my infantry all in the same turn. I succeeded in this tactic, but it didn’t bring me any good. I scored a few dead knights, but never enough to even get half of the unit killed. End result : Solid victory for my opponent.  Most valuable unit(s):
Most unfortunate unit(s) :
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Round 2:
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The Chosen of Sigmar's Opponent: Army: Orcs & Goblins About the opponent: The skeleton around his neck had me mistaken him for a die hard, living by the rules kind a player, willing to sacrifice everything for winning this battle. How wrong I was. ... Proved to be a fun player to play as was his army consisting of all goblin wolf riders and chariots and some pump wagons. Two chukka's finished the picture... About the battle: I knew from an earlier tournament that if I was to decide to go first I could bve in trouble as the charge range of those darn chariot is way to high. I gave him first turn seeing what it would do for me... As I hoped he used his full chariot movement to prepare for impact in round 2. That's without having counted on my own fast cavalry, captain on pegasus and of course great canon. Two chariots wer  e shot to pieces (one by the canon, one by the pistoliers), another was broken in combat by my captain on pegasus... The
following panic tests made most of his troops run and made it possible for
me to go my way as I was always able to charge with my cavalry units while
supported by the heavy artillery. A massacre was the final result... Most valuable unit(s):
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Stefano's
Opponent: Bart Goris Army: Bretonnia About the opponent: This fellow acted as my “cab-driver” to get to the tournament, so I can only be positive :o) Furthermore, he’s also a Conect’r-guy, and he spent quite some time only looking at my painted models, giving proud-making comments. So to be short : nice guy ! About the battle: Bart’s army mainly consisted of flying knights, apart from some smaller peasant units. Even his knightly characters were airborne. Again, this turned out to be a difficult army to fight with my infantry army. I again managed to do some small damage with banshees and magic,  but my faster units were all butchered one by one. Just when it
looked like a massacre (I didn’t even score a single victory point by that
time), he charged all his knightly heroes in my grave guards including strigoï general in an attempt to get the maximum points. I won the combat
by slicing one hero with a killing blow, and wounding his general and pegasus pet. Thanks to my opponent’s greed, I didn’t end the combat
empty-handed …Most valuable unit(s):
Remark: Even though he smashed me big time, Bart can always ask me for another battle ! |
Round 3:
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The Chosen of Sigmar's Opponent: Ruben Hoogland Army: High Elves About the opponent: I am not the perfect person or opponent and certainly not when I'm tired but Ruben was not my kind of player. OK, we were both in the running for a place in the highest 10 or maybe even top 3 but doesn't mean the fun should be absent in the game. Well, it was... and not only  because I lost big time but if you're
arguing about everyone of your opponents moves or actions than you should
not play Warhammer but enter a discussion group instead. Nevertheless,
congratulations on your third place...About the battle: The fatigue had gotten the better of me and as mentioned earlier on my opponent argued about every action I took. I lost my sense for gaming about round 2... A loss massacre was an unworthy end of my tournament day Most valuable unit(s):
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Stefano's
Opponent: Tom Steylaerts Army: Dark Elves About the opponent: Tom is a member of the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, and the table next to us saw another member of this club, fighting against Stijn (see round 1 of Chosen). As a result, he frequently intervened in this combat, forcing us to only complete 3 rounds in order to finish in time. Too bad … Note added on 21/06/2005: Stefano received a mail from the other member and Tom apologizing for the occured delays and possible disturbance. Of course, Stefano gladly accepts these apologies and hopes to meet these guys for a revenge match. Extra note of the Chosen of Sigmar: Maybe we can make it two on two? About the battle: Finally facing an army with the same amount of infantry as mine, it didn’t look that hard to at least score some points. However, I again managed to forget some basic rules like “do not show the flanks of black knight cavalry to bolt throwers”, and “do not expect dire wolves to survive a stand-and-shoot from dark riders”. Failing two times his stupidity test with his cold one knights was compensated by a lack of failed psychology tests by his other units. Until the last turn of my opponent, it seemed to go straight for a draw, if I only didn’t forget to strike down his executioner’s champion with my strigoï lord, for in return he sliced me with a killing blow. Too bad I couldn’t invoke my regeneration bloodline ... End verdict : minor loss. Most valuable unit(s): 
Most unfortunate unit(s) :
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Aftermath by Stefano :
Although my army theme is an undead bretonnian force, it turned out to be very hard to beat a living bretonnian force. There must be some flaw in the conversion process from living to dead …
I was flabbergasted by the level of scenery and well-painted armies, already making half my day. Meeting interesting opponents and receiving complements on my army made up for the rest.
And the cherry on the cake : winning the lottery after all regular prices were dealt out.
This leaves me with just one more question : when’s the next tournament ?
Aftermath by The Chosen of Sigmar:
I was very pleased with my army's results. I took a chance on my wizard by selecting the Rod of Power in stead of the usual Dsipel Scrolls but it allowed me a nice offensive magic against Skaven and enough dispel power against Orcs & Goblins. Only the magic of the High Elves really disturbed my plans. Another model I was pretty pleased with was my Captain on Pegasus. Only used for the first time, he really was important in my battle plan. Blocking marches or attacking chariots and other small units with his 3 strength 6 attacks really makes up for the couple of points he costs.
The tournament can be considered a real success not in the least due to Patrick and his team. Guys, it was great! Thanks for a nice day...
