By Kaio and
Stefano
Prequel:
(By Kaïo)
I attended G-Day before and found a nice tournament. As it fell on my free weekend the decision to enter it was easily made. That morning I picked up 2 members of the Brotherhood of Bayard and we set off to Kermt for another fine day of Warhammer. I had also entered a story about my Sigmar's Crusaders Army List so I was certain of at least 5 points.
The tables:
(By Kaïo)
The tables were certainly large enough with lots of open space between the tactically placed scenery. Normally this could be to my advantage as I had quite some shooting with me...
The draw of battles:
(By Kaïo)
I wasn't at all concerned of who I was going to draw as an opponent. I wanted to have fun while playing and I was up for any opponent that came my way. So judges: bring it on...
Round 1:
| Kaïo's Opponent:
Maarten Vanwesemael (Conect'R). Army: Dark Elves. About the opponent: A Conect'R player. They are always fair and nice players and Maarten was no exception. The game went smooth as it should be and now and then there was time to laugh. About the battle: A noble on pegasus and a beastmaster on manticore. Maartens intentions were quite clear. Too bad for him I succeeded in all my terror and fear tests but one, he failed several stupidity tests (which allowed me to shoot several times at his chariots and cold one riders) and my pistoliers were  in just one of these days... I was
able to clean house and so scored a solid victory. I was on target...Most valuable unit(s):
Some
pictures of Maarten's Army: |
|
Stefano's Opponent:
Patrick Pynaerts (De Witte Ridder). Army: Ogre Kingdoms. About the opponent: There was always room for a laugh or two while playing Patrick. It was quite pleasant, and I hope to meet him again on one of the next tournaments! About the battle: I was facing some small blocks of Ogres with a Bruiser and two Butchers, together with two large blocks of gnoblars and a group of yethis. My first charging act eventually turned out to be the key point to the battle, for the gnoblars, charged in the front by wolves and in the flank by black knights, chose to flee instead of hold. With that act, they sealed their own fate, but also left my left flank totally unorganized. One ogre regiment took advantage of this by charging my black knights, killing them outright in the first round of combat. The same regiment ended up in the flank of my general’s unit some turns later, which caused my general to die due to combat result. Fortunately I could avoid a massacre for the rest of my army succeeded in killing the yethis and having two units of ogres and a butcher running off t  he table (all thanks to my wraith and accompanying
skeletons), and taking two wounds off the Bruiser (thanks to the only lady
in my army). I tried to get the third wound with my spirit hosts, but
unfortunately the Bruiser possessed a powerful magic weapon. End result : a
solid loss and an interesting and fun game.
Most valuable unit(s):
|
Round 2: Pitched Battle...
| Kaïo's Opponent:
Klaas Luuckx. Army: Beastmen. About the opponent: Klaas was here for 'business'. A beastman list with two units of minotaurs, a unit dragon ogres and 3 level 2 bray shaman was a hard nut to crack. One thing he had going for him: he was extremely lucky because I was throwing like... <censored> About the battle: Well, pistoliers played around with the minotaurs letting them fail charge after charge and then shooting at the bray shaman. Too bad they failed too many times to wound them  although
enough hits were scored to kill 4 of them. Two bray's finished the battle
with one wound. A beast herd fled as soon as it appeared and a unit
minotaurs was captured by the flagellants. But the dragon ogres, the chariot
and the large number of spells were too much for my troops and eventually I
took a minor loss.Most valuable unit(s):
|
|
Stefano's Opponent:
Kristiaan Vanhentenrijk.
(I was first told to play Bart Goris, but to avoid two players having to
battle each other twice, we swapped)
Army: Lizardmen. About the opponent: Being about my age, Kristiaan never lost his smile during battle, even when things didn’t went his way. Regarding this plus the battle result, I am in for a rematch anytime . About the battle: Kristiaan put two large blocks of saurus plus a saurus general and a saurus battle standard bearer centrally on the table, flanked with two units of kroxigors and cargo loads of skinks. I also play lizardmen, but this was a completely different kind of army I normally pick. Nevertheless, I knew enough to counter this army. I tried to get rid of the skinks with my fast moving units, and succeeded on my right flank. Meanwhile I kept quiet in the centre, letting his infantry blocks come to me. One of the kroxigor units got the chance to charge a unit of skeletons, and I had a hell of a time trying to get rid of them. I even sacrificed my wraith in an attempt to have them killed before his saurus infantry arrived. The first block of saurus including his general was taken care of by my black knights, resulting in a failed insane curage test. Even being charged in the  flank by my spirit hosts, his second block did dispatch my ghouls and
my second unit of infantry and still survive the game.Together with the casualties caused by poisonous darts and javelins, it was hard to tell who won the game. After check and double check, we settled for a draw … both having the same number of victory points … imagine! Most valuable unit(s):
Some
pictures of the battle and Kristiaan's units: |
Round 3:
| Kaïo's Opponent:
Bart Goris. Army: Lizardmen. About the opponent: Do I really have to repeat how much I love playing Bart? Although I haven't scored a victory against him yet, the battles always are entertaining and 'educational'. I've played him several times now and am really getting a hold of his tactics. Bart, as promised: until Dendermonde? About the battle: I surged forward but my knights kept failin  g their charge due to
fleeing chameleon skinsks. In the centre I forgot to move my flagellants
twice, something that would pay me dearly because they didn't do anything
for the rest of the battle except die. Bart wrecked havoc with his terradons
and picked out the fights and targets he wanted. As I didn't succeed in
keeping my shooting clear it all resulted in a solid loss... but hey, we had
a ball!Most valuable unit(s):
|
|
Stefano's Opponent:
Dimitri Laffineur. Army: Lizardmen. About the opponent: I played a nice battle in English against him, but the language difference didn't temper the fun at all once we passed the first round of acclimatisation. I look forward to meeting him again in a future tournament! About the battle: Dimitri’s army was more like the kind I play, so I should be able to counter properly. It all started wrong for Dimitri, throwing three misfire results for his salamanders on their first shot, seeing the end of half the skink handler population. On the other side of the table, his saurus general with charm of the jaguar charged a unit of dire wolves, just in order to overrun into my banshee, but alas for him one sole wolf remained after combat result was settled. Seeing my chances, I blew the brains out of the general’s head with a well aimed scream. But that wasn’t the only casualty of the “charming lady”. Before the battle ended, she also took the lives of some saurus cold one riders and a salamander. I also discovered spirit hosts are quite effective in stalling one-ranked cavalry units without heroes in them : they kept the saurus cavalry pinned so I could bring my banshee closer. In the centre, his units were forced several times to run due  to fear and
panic, but I also found out one can do nasty things with skinks :
especially provoking failed charges and thereby forcing the charger to place
his units in such a positions they are very vulnerable to counter attacks.
Something to keep in mind when my lizards are finished and ready for
tournament playing !Finally on the left flank, the combined effort of his terradons and kroxigors brought down my fast moving units and ghouls, but in the end I scored a solid victory.. Most valuable unit(s):
|
Aftermath by Stefano :
I played three interesting battles with frequent thriller moments, against very pleasant opponents with loads of fun and laughter. To all of you, thanks for the joyful time !!!
Furthermore, I managed to avoid massacre losses, and scoring enough points on battles, painting and quiz to make it to the 16th place on a total of 42 participants. Again some nice points for my 2007 ranking score ;o)
To the organizers : all went smoothly, hope to come back next year !
Aftermath by Kaïo:
I had a fine day. The result could have been better but heyn if you're up against Bart Goris in the round the prices are distributed you have to be at your best. I wasn't but boy, I rather play a fun battle in the last round which I may loose than against an opponent who thinks he has to take this game seriously and play like Admiral Nelson or Napoleon Bonaparte...
Afterwards I still had to ride homewards with my two companions. That this had been a long day proofs the picture that I took of Thomas :-)
Pictures of a great looking army:
