The Year in Review

Hey there, everyone, how's it goin'?  My internets are finally working again, and I've got lots of stuff ready for your viewing pleasure after the new year.  Today I kind of just wanted to talk about my year in wargaming, my failures, accomplishments, etc.  Nothing too crazy exciting, but it's good to have records of these things, neh?

The last year (2009) had essentially ended on a lowish note for me, having gotten 7th place at BoLSCON with my sad-faced PDF Blood Angels, losing on the 2nd table to Orks, and not winning anything.  It was a fun event, but it left me feeling like I needed a competitive army if I wanted to go to big tournaments.

With that in mind, I began building my Imperial Guard army.  I won a small local 1000-point tournament with my guard, but my goal was to take it to Genghis Con in February and win.  The week before that, my LGS had a 'Practicon' tournament, which I won :)

Genghis came the week after, and there was quite a few people there- I think the final count was 64 or so.  I marched in and ended up with 2nd overall, and what I was *told* was a qualifier for Vegas.  I think that last was a sham, but it was nice to finally come close to winning one of the two yearly local cons.  The next day I looked to play in the Fantasy, content to get curb-stomped by people who played more than 3 times a year (which is about how much I had played) that year.  I was shocked to discover that my Dark Elves were actually any good, and I ended up with 2nd overall and a real trip to Vegas for Fantasy, should I want it.  Note that this was 7th Ed.  It has no bearing on my skill at 8th, lol.

So, the year started on a new high for me.  I had won a few local tournaments, and gotten 2nd overall at two major tournaments.  Next was Adepticon.  My teammates and I had all decided to play guard, but there were some massive disagreements about what to do with it, and so we each basically built our own individual 1000-point lists, and hoped they went well with eachother (which they didn't).  A couple guys built us last-minute display boards, and we set off to the biggest 40k tournament in the world, sorely unprepared for both the big tournaments, and the 15-hour drive.

The team tournament was a little hilarious.  We played the BoLS guys, and got draws on the first round, and had mediocre success the rest of the night- we ended up at like 33rd place or something.  We did manage to get 2nd on the rules quiz thing, but no prizes for it, sadly.  The championships were a fiasco, and I ended up with 12th overall, despite a demoralizing loss to Footdar.  I left with a sour taste in my mouth, annoyed with their format (200 people in a 3-game battle-points format is impossible to win unless you max your scores) and resolved to never go to Adepticon again.

Blood Angels came out shortly thereafter, and I spent a long time trying to make them work like the old ones worked.  'Ard Boyz came along, and I did what I had never done before:  failed to place at a local tournament.  I tied for 3rd, but he somehow won the tiebreaker (despite me nearly tabling two guys) and I failed to qualify for the next round.

8th Edition Fantasy came out soon after that, and I didn't do anything to get ready for the upcoming 'Ard Boyz.  My LGS doesn't play much Fantasy, and so I hoped to qualify at 'Ard Boyz simply due to nobody showing up.  It didn't work, and I again failed to qualify for the Semis.  Very poor showing on my part.

Having had an awesome time at the last BoLSCON, I was determined to win it this time.  I had built a new army:  Space Wolves, with the Wolfstar.  Guard weren't fun for my opponent to play against, and after Adepticon, I kind of quit them cold turkey.  Me and a couple friends drove to BoLSCON, and played in the Warmachine event the first day.  I ended up with 2nd place, which was entirely surprising, since I hardly play that game at all.

The 'main event' at 'Wargamescon/BoLSCON' was 7 games, and I won 5 and drew 1 to get me into position to win the whole thing.  I had a rematch with the guy I had played in game 6, with the confidence that I could beat him again and win the whole tournament, like I had 'planned'.  Needless to say, I chose that very moment to fail hard, and gave up my only loss of the tournament.  I ended up with 6th overall in a field of over double the size it was the year before when I got 7th overall.  This time, I got a prize though:  Best Sportsman!  BoLSCON was slightly less well-run than the year before, though in all fairness, I think that's to be expected due to how huge it grew to compared to the year before.  I'm sure next year will be better than this one.

Very shortly after BoLSCON, TactiCon was approaching.  I decided on my Wolfstar list again, and played in our club's 'Practicon' again.  This time I did slightly worse than the last Practicon, but still ended up with Best General.  TactiCon was a little smaller than Genghis, but I still wanted the win.  I played 3 hard-fought games, and finally won my first local con with a Best Overall.

Another local tournament happened sometime soon after all this, and I played and won best overall with my Wolfstar.  It was a good list, but I've since decided to retire it in favor of a slightly more balanced, tactically flexible wolf list. 


And so ended my tournament season.  I won lots of local events, did well at local cons, and even placed high at BoLSCON.  I failed at the 'Ard Boyz, really really hard, which is disappointing, but hopefully next year will be different.  Adepticon was a fiasco for me, but should be fun this year, since they've retooled the way they're running the championships.  Also suffice it to say that our Team Tournament army is going to be better planned and executed than last year by a long shot.  I finished 3 different armies this year, including Imperial Guard, Space Wolves, and Salamanders. 

Overall, not a terrible year for gaming.  Next year I hope to have been to quite a few more 'big' events, including BoLSCON, Nova Open, Adepticon, Yeticon (if that's even still gonna happen), Genghis/Tacticon, and maybe even the Vegas GT for Fantasy.  We'll just have to see.

How was your year in wargaming?  I'd love to hear it!  Win any tournaments?  Finish any armies?  Let me know!