Best of the rest is done. Our hangovers have passed and our sleep schedules have returned to normal.
This year at the US Masters the Northeast was able to add a side event to the main tournament to include people who wanted to come for the hangout and see first hand what Masters was like, all while rolling dice in our own tournament. It was hosted in Nichols, NY and if you don’t know where that it, don’t worry because most of us didn’t either. The event was hosted in a hotel/casino with an assortment of bars and food options. With over 40 people competing, let’s move on to the who became the best of the rest.
The Results
Counter Charger – Doug Blake – Abyssal Dwarves
Best Appearance – Pat O’neil – Dwarves
Players’ Choice – Bart Koehler – Order of the Green Lady
Best Sportsmanship – Adam Ortyl – Trident Realms
Best General – Alex Kus – Ratkin
Last, but not least…. *drumroll*
Best Overall – Kevin Spear – Order of the Green Lady
My List
Now the list I brought, which did not win any fancy awards…
Horde Palace Guard w/ Staying Stone
Horde Tallspears
Regiment Kindred Archers
2 x Stormwind Cavalry, one w/ Chant of Hate and one w/ Striding Boots
2 x Mounted Elven Kings
Archmage w/ Lightning Bolt & Boomstick
Archmage w/ Bane Chant (2) & Heal (4)
Lord on Drakon
Allies-Ogres
Horde Hunters
Army Standard Bearer
Giant
I have been playing Kingdoms of Men mostly but as I like to play with 3 giants… and only have 1 done on a 75mm base… it was decided that I would play Elves. However, as you can see I couldn’t go without allying in Ogres and taking a giant!
The Games
I’ll give you a little run through of my games with my wonderful opponents. My record was 2-2-1 for a total of 57 TP’s in the blackjack system.
Game 1 was a grudge match against my dear friend and Dash28 editor, Jake Ciabatta bread. Jake grudge matched me back in January and it was a pleasure to finally play him. I am so thankful for the fun and patient opponent that he is. I slept about 3 hours the night before and was very hungover. Jake was patient and hilarious while I got my ass kicked. He even had to remind me to roll my flank charges, etc. The game ended in Jake’s favour with a score of 19-2. If you want to hear more about my defeat, check out Jake’s review of our game. Mostly, because the details are fuzzy.
Game 2 was an elves vs. elves smash up while playing the Push scenario. I loaded 2 of the tokens on to my Ogre Hunters and 1 on the Horde of Palace Guard. The Hunters were set up behind the Giant along with an infantry horde on either side. My plan being that it would be very hard to get in a kill the Hunters, and if by some chance the palace guard fell, I had stormwind cavalry ready to back them up. I was worried about the right flank where his stormwind and dragon were planning my demise. However, Bryant charged his dragon into my stormwind cavalry who got to counter charge the dragon along with my Lord of Drakon in the flank. And that was the end of the dragon. The game began to slowly shift in my favor. I was able to collect all the tokens but 1, in addition to bringing them across the center line. It ended with a 21-0 win for me.
Game 3. This was the start of my Abyssal Dwarf back to back. I played the lovely Grant from ChiCAgo (And I said Chicago in a terrible accent all weekend). Grant brought a lot of Defense 6 and a lot of weakness, which was a struggle for me to cope with. We played Smoke and Mirrors. Somehow I managed to keep myself in the game and I fell to Grant at the bottom of 7. It was going to be a tie game…. Until Grant rolled the 12 successes on his surge 20 to make it to the game winning objective within half an inch. It ended in a 7-14 loss for me.
Game 4. The end of my Abyssal Dwarf back to back was against Nick. He had much more shooting to his shooting phase. My Elven King each charged into some decimators each, and that slowed things up alot. We were playing control and I could not take out the Blacksouls or Lesser Obsidian Golems Horde which held a lot of unit strength in his favor. In the end I held the 3 side sections and Nick held both middles. So we ended game 4 with a straight 10-10 tie. The weirdest moment in the game for me was charging the Hellfane in the front with Unhindered Stormwind Cavalry (in order to tie up of the front while I set up a flank charge) where I did a total of ZERO wounds. I don’t know where the math was on that one, but I did manage to kill the Hellfane next turn with a horde of Hunters in the flank.
Game 5. Last but not least I got to play Dale’s Dwarfs. Do you see a trend in my last 3 games? We got to play the scenario Raze, which is actually a favorite of mine. I was a bloody game to be sure. My Lord on Drakon went hunting for war machines and sharpshooters, and was well fed by the end of it. His shooting phase had done a number on my giant so call it even. The hero of the hour was my Elven King who was able to hold up a regiment of Brock Riders much longer than should have been possible. I was able to burn 2 tokens and he burned 1 but until the last turn held the middle. It was going to be a draw, but the Lord on Drakon swept in at the end to take back the middle. It ended in a win for me because of holding the middle and points worked out to 17-4.
The Social
Now that we have dealt with the boring details, like who won and how I rolled dice, let’s talk about the important stuff. Hanging out with the amazing group of people who make up the KoW community. From drinks, to board games, to gambling, to ‘who wore it better’, Masters weekend is always one for the books (even if you are a peasant playing in the BotR like me).
Who Wore it Better?
Jake challenged me back in January and the first thing I asked was “what are we wearing?”. I wanted to do something hilarious and chances are Jake has already got something planned… Master’s weekend brings out Spam costumes, short shorts and hilarious t-shirts from different members of the community. Jake and I decided on dressing up as each other in our most iconic looks. In my opinion, Jake’s Chicago Master’s Tie Dye ensemble was the clear choice to imitate. If we were doing this it was going to end in a contest for bragging rights.
We hyped it up. I talked it up to people at the event to the point where Dan Miner made 0-10 signs and assembled a judging panel that included Mr. Ronnie Renton himself. I made memes and worked on my Jake pose. Jake seems to have missed a memo because he kept trying to flash the crowd, which I don’t think I have done… With the results tallied, I came out the winner. I won the battle that needed to be won; I have the bragging rights.
What do you think? Who wore it better?
The Hangout
We got in Thursday night so we had all day Friday to explore and chill right? Well I had that time. Boyfriend was stuck in the “hobby room” for the majority of Friday painting and multi-basing. There were enough people hobbying last minute that one room became the hub for it. It was pretty cool to see. I heard that lots of people popped in throughout the day and visited, even if they didn’t have hobbying to do.
The weekend was packed full of things to do once the clocks stopped and the official games ended. There was an attempted snowball fight with some wild southerners Friday night. And I say attempted because there was almost no snow and we basically threw ice at one another. There were “party rooms” where people drank and hung out with each other. Jake’s room was equipped with a Nintendo Switch, which meant I got my ass kicked at Mario Kart… a lot. Tables outside the venue room were set up and full of people playing an assortment of board games late into the night. You could also find people in the casino in varying states of mood. I could honestly go on and on and on about the fun shit that happens. I am so happy that a Best of the Rest style tournament was included and that I was able to take part. I am a mid tables (ish) player and I loved being included in that atmosphere.
Prepare to drown in cheesiness. This is a once a year event but there are tons of other events happening all over Canada and the US (and abroad) that bring us together in this fun way. Some of the experiences may be unique to Master’s but the feeling is there in other events you just have to go out and find them. If you already attend events but haven’t traveled out of your region, give it a try. And yes I know it isn’t in the cards for everyone. I have never felt so at home with a bunch of people I see once or twice a year (don’t tell my extended family).
