Book of Grudges 2012 Aftermath - Day 2

This is the second and final part of my report for Book of Grudges 2012. You can find part 1 here.

So day 1 had gone remarkably well, and I arrived at the start of day 2 prepared to duke it out for the lead with the current frontrunner, Aaron Graham. However, someone else had other plans. Enter: Hieu Lam!

Dazzled by Hieu's charismatic posing, I was unable to take a steady photo...

Round 4: Battle for the Pass

Hieu Lam - Skaven

Warlord - Fellblade, shield
Grey Seer - Talisman of Preservation
Warlord (General) - 5+ ward save 
Chieftain - Battle Standard, Shrieking Blade, Dragonhelm, 5+ ward
Warlock Engineer - Doomrocket
Warlock Engineer (Level 1) - Dispel Scroll
30 Slaves - musician
30 Slaves - musician
28 Clanrats - full command
30 Stormvermin - full command, Storm Banner, Warpfire Thrower
7 Gutter Runners - poison, slings
10 Rat Ogres
Warp Lightning Cannon 
Hellpit Abomination

Comp score: 3 (I think)

Hieu grudged me in last year's Book of Grudges and the game ended up pretty one-sided when his Skaven lined up 12" away from my army and got rolled by my all-cavalry Empire. Having decided he hated me forever as a result of this (I think he told me a few times during the game), I was somewhat surprised when he figured he'd have another go at me, this time halfway through the tournament...

The table for round 4 looked something like this, with me on the left and Hieu on the right.  We were separated by the 2 central columns on the grid.

The scenario was Battle for the Pass, so we would be playing lengthways down the table. The terrain looked something like the rough map above. I deployed on the left, and Hieu's Skaven were on the right. I put my Demigryphs at the bottom of the line, then had the main Halberdier block, the detachment, and the Steam Tank in the forest. The Volley Gun deployed just off the hill behind the Demigryphs, whilst the Cannon was on the hill behind the Crossbowmen and wizards.

Hieu deployed his Stormvermin on the bottom of the line, led by his crazy Fellblade-wielding nutter of a Warlord and the BSB. Next to them was a Slave regiment with both Warlocks in the unit. Behind them was the Warp Lightning Cannon. Next to the Slaves (and off the hill, I think) was the large Rat Ogre unit, 3 models wide. Next to them was the Hellpit Abomination, sitting a bit back from the line of deployment. The other Slave unit led by the Grey Seer sat behind the forest, and next to them was the Clanrat unit with the Warlord who was leading the army. The Gutter Runners scouted behind my lines, just over 12" away from the Cannon, near the ruined building.

The Empire battle line.

Book of Grudges 2012 Aftermath - Day 1

Well it's Monday morning (actually, Tuesday by the time I am posting this) and I am starting to recover from another weekend of gaming. Book of Grudges was run at the usual Hampton club venue, and managed to attract some 54 players, which makes it the largest Warhammer tournament in Victoria for a couple of years.

BoG is not your average tournament - it is all about the grudging. For the uninitiated, grudge matches are really just a case of one player challenging another, and this taking the place of what would otherwise be a random or seeded match. Many tournaments allow grudges in the first round, so people can line each other up before the event and duke it out rather than playing a random opponent (before the swiss chess system has kicked in). BoG goes further, allowing players to grudge each other for the first 2 rounds, with everyone else playing random opponents. Even after this, at the start of each round, anyone sitting in a position that is a multiple of 5 (so 5th, 10, 15th, etc) can issue grudges throughout the tournament up until the final round, where people finally have to play people at their own level. 

The upshot of this is that results can be rather odd in BoG. Normally players and armies find their own level before the end of the event, but with so many interruptions and potentially uneven match-ups, it's possible for a player to get through until the very last round before actually having to play someone on a similar score. So long as you embrace the event it's really not a problem, but BoG is definitely an unusual beast prone to throwing up some surprising results.

My 2400pt Empire army for Book of Grudges 2012

Preparing for Book of Grudges

Another weekend, another tournament. Only a week and a half after we flew back into the country, Book of Grudges is on. I really enjoyed the event last year (the first year it was run), so I was delighted when I heard that I would be able to make it this time around - I was kind of assuming it would occur whilst I was overseas. This year it's being held at the regular HGC venue, after Realm of Legends shifted stores and no longer had the room required. So it's nice and local for me, so there were really no excuses.

Unfortunately army lists were due whilst we were still travelling, and I found it difficult to find the time to really give my army much thought. I knew that I wanted something different from what I was using at the ETC - specifically, I wanted to include some infantry. Unfortunately I knew I wouldn't have much time for painting before the tournament, so I couldn't do anything too interesting. I tried making a couple of lists, but in the end this was what I settled for.

Book of Grudges Empire army list

General of the Empire
     General; Full Plate Armor
     Talisman of Preservation
     Crown of Command
     Enchanted Shield
     Shrieking Blade

Captain of the Empire on Pegasus
     Full Plate Armor; Shield; Battle Standard
     Dragonhelm
     Talisman of Endurance
     Biting Blade

Wizard Lord of the Light Order
     Magic Level 4; Lore of Light
     White Cloak of Ulric
     Dispel Scroll

Battle Wizard of the Light Order
     Magic Level 1; Lore of Light

Warrior Priest
     Great Weapon, Armour of Meteoric Iron

Witch Hunter
     Brace of Pistols; Light Armour

Master Engineer

50 Halberdiers
     Halberd; Light Armour; Standard; Musician; Sergeant

     Detachment of 25 Halberdiers
          Halberd; Light Armour

17 Crossbowmen

5 Demigryph Knights
     Barding; Lance; Shield; Standard; Musician

Great Cannon

Helblaster Volley Gun

Steam Tank