My 2nd Tournament

Went to my 2nd tournament this past weekend. This time a pairs event. 1000 points each. My partner was none other then Shawn Morris. There were 16 players and 8 teams.

I was fielding Jagdpanthers, and he was fielding Panzer Lehr. We had very high expectations seeing how we tied for the win last tournament, and Shawn won the tournament before that. We had to be the odds on favorites to win.

They day could not have started off in a worse way. A 1 - 1 Draw. We went away from the game plan and were very cautious. I have no idea why. The plan might have worked, but the other team was so wishy washy in their strategy. Once we finally said screw this we gunned for the objective. But we ran out of time. If we would have 1, maybe 2, more turns, we would have taken the game with a 6-1 win.












Now we were under the gun. 2 other teams had finished with a 6-1 win. And it didn't look like we were going to get any where near the top. But the way it worked out we could play the bottom team because we would end up playing the same team again. So, we ended up playing one of the other teams that won 6-1.

This game was more of a cake walk then we expected. The scenario was break through, and Shawn and I were the attackers. First of all I find most players don't know how to defend breakthrough. And it showed at the tournament. No defenders won. Maybe an article for another day.

Second, the way our opponents deployed Shawn and I knew we would have a good chance. This was further hindered by their inability to bring on their armored reserves. Lance basically sat the whole game because he couldn't roll to bring his armour on.

Thirdly Shawn and I decided, no matter what, we would not sit back. We knew if we wanted to have any chance at winning we would need two 6-1 victories.

All this compounded into a 'SMASHING BREAKTHROUGH'. I think the game was over with over an hour to spare, and we had our 6-1 victory.










Now we would need some help. Lorne's team had won 6-1 again. We would definitely need a 6-1 victory and Lorne's team to loose.

Our 3rd and final game was a super fun game. And even though it inevitably turned out to be a 6-1 victory for us it was much closer then the score suggested. It was a very curious battle. We charged down the left flank, while they charged down our right flank.

We ended up taking the objective with the Jagdpanthers destroying their M10's, and Lehr PanzerGren's assaulting their infantry, and then a breakthrough assault against their dug-in Pioneers. We took the objective but this was at the same time they were taking our right flank objective.

It looked like we were going to win but couldn't afford to loose any platoons. They destroyed all the Lehr's Nebs, but the Neb commander managed to stay on. And during the way turn they desperately tried to remove our infantry from their objective. We were able to hold on, and won the game 6-1.

But now we needed help. Lorne's team had to loose. And they were the last gaming going on. Lucky for us their game ended in a 2-2 draw.

We ended up with Lornes team in 1st by 1 point, and a 3 way tie for 2nd place. It would all come down to sportsmanship and Paint. Sportsman ship was pretty much a wash. Everyone was great as usual. All sportsmanship points with with in 1 or 2 points. So it would really come down to paint.

M10's go bye-bye

The reason Shawn and I partnered is because we know we both have the best paint by far. For those that don't know how FoW tournaments work, how well your army is painted counts for 20% of your overall score. We had a 'parade' at the beginning of the tournament where all players would give each army a paint score from 1-5. 1 being unpainted, and 5 being immaculate. And after adding these up everyone would get a score out of 20. Shawn and I ended up with almost 10 points then anyone else in paint. I think we had 17 points and the closest team to us had 12.

This was enough to push us into 1st place overall for the tournament. So my 2nd tournament and my 2nd win. This will do wonders for my RHQ ranking. It ended up being a very close tournament. Out of 100 points, we finished first place with 75. 2nd place was Lorne's team with 73, and 3rd place had 69...ha ha...I said 69.

I would like to thank Shawn for being my partner. I had a great time. It looked very bleak in the beginning, but in the end our paint saved us from our 1st game blunder. Which should have easily been a route and we would have easily walked away with this tournament.

I also like to thank Dragon's Den for hosting, pitching in some prize support, and having a sale on FoW stuff. Thank you Darren and The Dragons Den!

In the making of this article, no JagdPanther lost its life! And I now have a record of 5-1-1 in tournament play.