Tournament Report: Feast of Blades FINALS (with pictures!)

Howdy folks!  How's it going?  So, I've been talking up this Feast of Blades tournament a lot, and won my qualifiers a few weeks ago.  Here's the link to that article.  The finals (at Stonebridge games in Longmont, CO) were last weekend, and I brought the exact same list as I did for the qualifiers.  In fact, I hadn't played for the 2 weeks wait it took between the Qualifiers and the Finals, due to a mix of school and spring break.

So, it was a fun tournament.  Lots of really good players- I mean, everyone who was there had taken either 1st or 2nd at their own qualifiers in order to get there.  Of the people who qualified originally, ZERO of them opted out and let someone with a lower place go in their stead.  Lots of really good players.

The tournament made use of Battle Points and
weird scenarios that I'm not entirely a fan of, but I'll revisit my feelings on that toward the end of the report.  There was a total of 26 players, which means that with only 3 games, there are going to be a lot of tight scores, and to win, a person needed to nearly max every game.

The finals had a few really cool aspects- the first being the swag everyone got just for qualifying.  We got a free cube of dice, some objective markers, and a Feast of Blades shirt.  The winner of this tournament would also earn the Jawaballs-painted Feast of Blades banner for their store (until the next FoB) and their name would be painted (sewn?) into the banner itself.  They also had a raffle for lots of things, including a scratch-built titan, a bane-blade, some battle foam case, and other random things.

So, enough setup.  Let's get into the games!  Oh, before I forget, here's the link to the Feast of Blades Blog!
  
My Wolfstar List:

Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Bear, Runic Armor, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tail Talisman, Wolf Tooth Necklace

Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of Majesty, Runic Armor, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace

Rune Priest w/ Jaws of the World Wolf, Murderous Hurricane

3x Wolf Guard w/ 3x Power Fists, 3x Combi-meltas

9x Grey Hunters w/ Wolf Standard, Rhino (Wolf Guard goes here)
9x Grey Hunters w/ Wolf Standard, Rhino (Wolf Guard goes here)
8x Grey Hunters w/ Wolf Standard, Rhino (Wolf Guard + Rune Priest go here)

4x Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ 2x Storm Shields, Thunder Hammer, Melta Bombs (one has both SS and TH)

6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers
6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers
6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers

Game 1:  Wolfstar vs. Sir Biscuit's Imperial Guard

First game I got matched up with an internets celeb- Sir Biscuit from 3++ is the New Black.  Here's his list:

Company Command Squad w/ 4x Plasma Guns, Astropath, Chimera w/ HF

Platoon Command Squad w/ 4x Flamers, Chimera w/ HF, Dozer Blade
Infantry Squad w/ Power Weapon, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Power Weapon
Infantry Squad w/ Power Weapon, Meltagun
Infantry Squad w/ Power Weapon, Meltagun
Heavy Weapons Team w/ 3x Autocannons
10x Veterans w/ 2x Plasma Guns, Meltagun, Chimera w/ HF, Dozer Blades
10x Veterans w/ 3x Plasma Guns, Chimera w/ HF, Dozer Blade


Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta


Leman Russ Vanquisher w/ Pask, Las Cannon, Multi-melta Sponsons
Leman Russ Executioner w/ Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Dozer Blade
Hydra w/ HF


Wow, crazy gunline supported with a blob of power-weaponed guard.  Lots and lots of plasma guns/las cannons/ AP2.  In other words, lots of reasons for my Wolfstar to cringe.


The mission:

The mission was somewhat complex- the deployment was diagonal weirdness that you'll see in a minute.  The primary objective was Victory Points, secondary was having more units in your opponent's deployment zone, and tertiary was controlling more of the (3) objectives that were in the no-mans land.  So, lots of things to take into consideration.


 I won the roll to go first, and took it, since victory points were the first consideration, and I really wanted that extra turn of movement to get closer to him before he opened up.


IF YOU WANT BIGGER PICTURES, CLICK ON THEM!!

Here's our deployment.  Longfangs on the far left are sad how far away he placed his Vendettas.  Notice the vendetta stands on the far right corner- he was afraid someone would come by and knock them over, so we just played with the stands mostly.

 He attempted to seize, and (luckily for me) failed.

Wolfstar Turn 1:

I advanced with everything.  I popped smoke on my far right rhino, and hid the other two behind the big bastion we decided to count as impassible.  The wolves got a 5" fleet, but were outside of charge range.  I also advanced with the Longfangs, who were grossly out of position.  One squad stayed where they were, so I could shoot and find out exactly how close I needed to get before I could open up to his various mass of tanks.

Nothing died.  Nothing even got stunned.  But I did get a whole lot closer.

It's always a sad start of a game when you have to move your Longfangs in order to get into range, lol.

 Guard Turn 1:


He moved a couple Chimeras a little bit closer to my far-right chimera.  Otherwise, he stood still, ready to gunline me down.


I started the game off saving a couple saves on the wolfstar, then failing like 4 in a row, followed by a rally, saving against all 9 las cannon shots from the Vendettas (5 of which hit me).  Other fire tried to mess with my rhino, but only killed its weapon and shook it.

No assault, and it was happily my turn, without a ton of damage done!

Time to get into the mix!

 Wolfstar Turn 2:


I advanced, and got ready to charge.  The Grey Hunters on the far right rhino got out, and got ready to melta/charge his Veteran chimera closest to them.  The Longfang squad that had shot last turn advanced, and later ran.  The other two rhinos advanced, though the Rune Priest's only went 6".  As you'll see, I had a plan for him.

Shooting went well- I was able to down the middle Vendetta, and immobilize/shake the one closest to me.  The Grey Hunters melta'd the veteran Chimera, and exploded it, killing quite a few of the Veterans, but not pinning them.  The rune priest drew a bead on some dudes from the Blob- and not just any dudes.  There were a few sergeants up front who had power weapons, and were also screening his Executioner.  Killing one of them would get me a charge on the Executioner with the Star.  So, I succeeded in killing one (along with a heavy weapons team) and got ready to charge.

In assault, my wolfstar killed the guard in droves, who did nothing in return.  The guard had stubborn Ld. 9 though, and held easily.

All in all, a good turn for the wolves!

Grey Hunters on the right were sad that they weren't in charge range of the Veterans.  Ah well, can't have everything I guess :-p

Here's a closeup of the 'relevant' quarter of the board.

 Guard Turn 2:


He drove his Chimeras around a little bit more, and got ready to shoot at my Grey Hunters/Rhinos.


Shooting went well for him (for what he had left to shoot at me) and he killed 7 Grey Hunters, and the Rune Priest's Rhino.

In assault, I killed a ton more guardsmen, who again did nothing to me, and held on Stubborn Ld. 9.

Poor Grey Hunters on the right.  More accurately, poor Veterans who are next to them and failed to kill all the Grey Hunters.

Another close-up shot of 'the action'.  Still lots I need to kill.  At this point, there are only 1 or 2 more turns until the Wolfstar eats the entire squad up.

 Wolfstar Turn 3:


I didn't have a ton to do.  I mostly just shot with the Longfangs- killing some weapons off the Vendettas, and maybe shaking one of them.  The Grey Hunters on the right moved up, charged the veterans and Chimera (after failing to shoot the Chimera down), and killed all but one of the veterans, who got away.

The Rune Priest used Jaws and killed both of his Auto-cannon teams remaining.  Woot.

The wolfstar combat stretched on, and I thought it would surely last another turn, when he allocated a wound to the Commissar, and the squad popped, leaving the Star out in the open exposed to his gunline!

Clever move by my opponent- popping the Wolfstar gives him plenty of shots at them next turn before I run him over.

Guard Turn 3:

He moved some chimeras around, and got ready to shoot, as per usual.

Shooting went well for me- that is, he sort of split up all his shots and, whereas he killed all the small squad of Grey Hunters on the right along with both of my Rhinos, the Wolfstar remained largely unharmed (as in, 4 models still kickin' around)

Time to kill some tanks next turn.  Most of them didn't move over 6", and some of them didn't move at all.

Wolfstar Turn 4:

I split up my Wolfstar, and got ready to multi-charge the surrounding tanks.  The Grey Hunters (with rune priest) moved up to shoot Melta at the nearest Chimera, while the other squad shuffled backwards to sit on an objective.

In shooting, I was able to down the immobilized Vendetta, shake the other one, and pop his Chimera on the left, ready for my Majesty Lord to assault it.

In combat, I was able to kill his whole Veteran squad with the Majesty Lord, kill his Platoon Command squad's Chimera with the Bear Lord, and kill the Hydra with the wolves.  The Russ took 5 pens, and got immobilized, weapon destroyed, weapon destroyed.

Lots fewer tanks this turn :)

 Guard Turn 4:


He moved up with his Company Command squad, ready to rapid-fire my Bear Lord with their plasma.


Shooting failed to kill my Bear Lord, so in desperation he charged his Platoon command squad at him, and failed to hurt him.  The Bear Lord wiped them out.  The russ also bit the dust this turn.

So, he's got:  a single veteran, who rallied thanks to the CCS, a banged-up Vendetta, and the CCS in Chimera left.

We decided to call it here.  I would have likely ended up tabling him if we had kept going, and I saw no reason to do so.

Results:  Win for the Wolfstar, 44/45 total points!


Max was a great opponent, and played it as well as he could.  The Wolfstar is a tricky thing to deal with, especially when they're allowed to kill as much as they did as quickly as they did.  Since they were so close right away and I got first turn, it put Max in a very difficult situation.  The game would have likely been much closer had he stolen the initiative...

Still, great guy, I'd gladly play him again!


Game 2:  Wolfstar vs. Mech Marine Vulkan Gunline!

His list:

Vulkan

10x Tactical Marines w/ Las Cannon, Meltagun, Combi-melta, Las/Plas Razor
10x Tactical Marines w/ Missile Launcher, Meltagun, Combi-melta, Las/Plas Razor
5x Tactical Marines w/ Combi-melta, Las/Plas Razor

5x TH/SS Assault Terminators 
Dreadnought w/ 2x Twin-Linked Autocannons (Rifleman dread) 
Dreadnought w/ 2x Twin-Linked Autocannons (Rifleman dread)

Land Speeder w/ Melta/HF
Land Speeder w/ Melta/HF

Land Raider Crusader w/ Multi-Melta, Extra Armor
Predator w/ Autocannon/Las Sponsons
Predator w/ Autocannon/Las Sponsons


So, lots and lots of AP2 awesomesauce.  Pretty well balanced, this list sort of scared me, to be honest.  S7 is great vs. the Wolfstar, and he had plenty of it.  In addition, it was multiple objectives, and he had a BUNCH of vehicles.

The mission:

The missions was multiple objectives, with the center one being worth 2.  Deployment was a weird kind of spearhead, where we had to keep our units within 12" of the board edge.

I won the roll, and gave him first turn- second turn in objective missions is just too good to pass up, and his shooting wouldn't hopefully hurt me too badly.

Here's the overview of our deployments.

Here's his deployment in more detail.  It appeared that he was going to take a two-prong attack.  Note that the combat-squadded marines are sitting on the objective in his quarter.  He kept one speeder in reserve, since you could get a bonus point for deepstriking a single unit.

I decided to deploy reactively, and hopefully my Longfangs would be outside the range of his stuff on the opposite side of the board.  Note that I *should* have kept a single rhino in reserve, to help contest/control the objective in the quarter next to this.

Marines Turn 1:

He advanced, in keeping with the two-pronged thing.  The raider drove straight toward my Wolfstar.  The two razorbacks on the far right drove up 12" and popped smoke.  The preds and dreads moved only 6" up.

Shooting killed about two of the Longfangs I had, including the sergeant, with the Preds barely in range.  The dreads were barely out of range, however.

Zoom!  My longfangs have their work cut out for them!  Especially since one of their squads is actually surrounded by the Wolfstar, trying to get a better vantage point.

Wolfstar Turn 1:

I advanced the wolfstar and 'spare' longfangs, toward the inevitable standoff between them and Vulkan + Termies.  Realizing my mistake at not having kept a rhino in reserve, I decided to make the best of it and move one toward the objective in that corner.  The others moved up the left board edge, ready to react to whatever was thrown at them.

Shooting went well, with me able to destroy both smoked Razorbacks advancing, with a few random marines dying from explosions.

You can see the marines who were forcibly disembarked from their razors there in the middle.  Unfortunately, they were already close enough to control the objectve they wanted (it's the black circle there).

Marines Turn 2:

He decided to try for the kill with Vulkan + Termies.  Land Raider moved up, passed the terrain check, and vomited out the Termies.  Otherwise, he moved some of his stuff forward a little more, but didn't really shift around too much.

In shooting, he killed a few more longfangs, but failed to hurt my rhino moving toward the right (on the bottom), despite the speeder coming in from reserves, ready to fire.  He was also able to shake one rhino, and immobilize the other on the far left side.

Notice how awkward my Wolfstar is.  I stupidly misdeployed the Majesty Lord, and he did a good job of taking advantage of that.

In combat, he multi-charged the Wolfstar and longfangs with Vulkan + Termies. When the smoke cleared, he had won combat by 1, but I had killed all but 2 models (one Termie and Vulkan).

My Wolflord was still unable to get into combat with Vulkan, heh.

Lots of threats around right now.  Next turn I need to seriously neutralize some of them.

Wolfstar Turn 2:

I drove my single mobile rhino up another 12" forward, fully expecting it to die before the game was up.  A grey hunter squad closest to his deepstruck speeder disembarked, ready to shoot and charge it if necessary.  Any skimmer I can get rid of quick is great, since they're so great at contesting objectives.  My other grey hunter squad at the top also disembarked from their rhino, advancing toward the speeder and razorback who had advanced toward them, trying to threaten them away from the objective.

Shooting went alright- I think I immobilized a dreadnought, and stunned/immobilized a predator.  The squad on speeder-killing duty blew it up.

In combat, the Wolfstar was able to kill Vulkan, but the Terminator survived, making like 7 invulnerable saves and a few regular.  What a stud!

Here's the overview- this is an interesting battle because it seems like there are almost two different games going on at once.

See, my grey hunters are threatening the objective (which is right next to the Land Raider).  I'm also trying to bait the Heavy Flamer from the speeder in to  mess with the squad so I can kill the other speeder.  Fast vehicles are not to be underestimated in objective games.

Marines Turn 3:

He didn't take my bait with the speeder, but rather boosted it away.  The Raider also moved away, and the razorback at the top backed off, as was wise.

Shooting finally killed my rhino at the bottom of the board.  Not a whole lot else happened though.

In combat, I finally killed off the last termie.

Heh, that template from his missile launcher made me sad :-p

Wolfstar Turn 3:

The wolfstar had to get into the rest of the game!  Luckily, there was a speeder and Land Raider ready to act as an accelerator.

So, my stuff moved aggressively toward his stuff.  The star moved toward the vehicles, the Hunters at the top moved toward his Razorback, and the Hunters at the bottom moved toward his Land Raider.

In shooting, I was just outside of 6" to melta his Raider.  Bummer.  Otherwise, I was able to kill one of the dreadnoughts, and shake the other.  The Hunter squad at the top were within 12", and so tried long-range melta on the razorback, and exploded it.  Nice :)  The Longfangs were also able to kill one of the 3 marines sitting on the objective in the bottom right corner.

My star assaulted and shook the Raider, stunned the speeder.  Pretty active turn for me!
 

Kind of an awkard angle.  Notice the objective in the middle there- it's worth 2, and I need to win by 3 to get full points.

Marines Turn 4:

He moved his Raider, and shuffled his guys around a little bit, putting a combat squad in the middle of the board into the raider.  Not a whole lot else to do, really.

Shooting didn't do a whole lot- he didn't have a whole lot left to shoot with at this point.

In combat, I managed to immobilize his speeder, but it was still alive.

See, gotta kill those two marines on the far objective (the center of this picture).  They went to ground, btw :-p

Wolfstar Turn 4:

Time to fragment the Star.  The Majesty Lord headed off toward his base, where two combat squads sat on his own objective.  The squad itself moved up to kill his razorback combat squad on the top.  One of my grey hunter squads got into a rhino and zoomed forward toward the center.  Grey Hunters on the bottom moved up to melta his Raider.

In shooting, I was able to kill a predator, and immobilize the Raider (whew!).  I was also able to kill the rest of his tactical marines on the far right, despite his going to ground.

In combat, I was easily able to wipe out both combat squads I targeted.

So, he's finally running out of scoring units.  Good news for me!

Marines Turn 5:

He took this turn to shoot at the Wolfstar, killing most of it (me failing lots of saves).  Not enough damage fast enough though.  I think he disembarked the marines in the immobilized Raider.

Wolfstar Turn 5:

I was able to charge and kill his combat squad on his objective, rapid-fire his depleted combat squad in the center down to a single man (who ran), and pop his Raider this turn.  I think maybe I even killed another of his tanks.

At any rate, we rolled to see when the game ended, and lo and behold, it ended turn 5.

Man, killing that many vehicles in one game is tough work!  I rolled pretty well, though even with average rolls I think I would have kept him shaken/stunned into silence.  Heroes of the game:  Longfangs.  Though everything else contributed pretty well too :)

Results:  Win for the Wolfstar!  43/45 points

As a side note, I just want to point out that Vaughn took this loss really well.  He didn't complain when then dice didn't go his way, and was overall a great sport about the whole thing :)

At this point, I was destined to be at the 'top table', playing for the whole thing.  I have a love/hate relationship with top tables, since it's nice to be in the best position, but it's also a lot of pressure- if you don't win the whole thing, it's your own damn fault.  No excuses.  Though I wanted to have excuses as soon as I found out who I was playing against.

Game 3:  Wolfstar vs. Rob's Mech Eldar

/groan

His list:

Eldrad (duh)

5x Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent (TLSL)
5x Dire Avengers
5x Dire Avengers
4x Guardian Jetbikes w/ Warlock w/ Singing Spear
11x Guardians w/ Warlock (embolden), Scatter Laser Platform

5x Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent (TLSL)
5x Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent (TLSL)
5x Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent (TLSL)

Falcon w/ Pulse Laser, Bright Lance, Stones
Falcon w/ Pulse Laser, Bright Lance, Stones
Night Spinner

So... 8 total (extremely fast/durable) skimmers + guardian jetbikes.  Yikes to say the least, especially considering the mission.

The mission:

It was capture and control spearhead, modified to have a third objective in the center of the board.  Other points I could get included killing Eldrad, and table quarters.  Honestly, if I don't win the rolloff so that I can go second, it's almost an auto-draw game for me.

And then we rolled and... he won, taking 2nd turn.  Damn.

Well, I wasn't about to just roll over and die.  Gotta try to win, and take the banner home!  The key would be to destroy/immobilize his skimmers.

Here's our spearhead deployment.  Notice that I wanted the rhinos able to contest/control the whole board, if I could.  He reserved his jetbikes too.  sigh.

Wolfstar Turn 1:

I moved everything up, including the Longfangs.  He deployed well, and ensured my inability to shoot first turn.  First roll of the game:  Rune Priest's rhino immobilized itself on the hill it was going over.  Not a great start.

Skimmer Count: 0/8

Eldar Turn 1:

He shuffled around.  Of note, he moved a few skimmers over somewhat close to my lines on the top left, and disembarked some fire dragons, ready to snipe my long fangs.

He kind of failed to snipe them in the shooting phase, rolling only one death for them.  Otherwise, he shot some stuff at the Wolfstar, and I saved all 3 or 4 saves I needed to make.  Woot.

So, he's spreading out.  Didn't want that at all.

Wolfstar Turn 2:

Well, I couldn't afford to be surrounded, and the terrain on the far left blocked line of sight far too well.  No choice but to deny that flank, and let his other tanks run rampant.

So, the wolfstar moved up to the left, ready to multi-charge his stuff.  Otherwise, the rhino on the left moved closer to his wave serpent, and disembarked the grey hunters into the forest there.

In shooting, I was able to fail drastically.  Nothing that hit did much.  Maybe I shook a tank.  Nothing too crazy.  The melta failed against the wave serpent.

Still, in combat I made up for it.  I was able to kill all 5 fire dragons, as well as both wave serpents.

Skimmer Count: 2/8

It's getting intense.

Eldar Turn 2:

He jumped the skimmer I had just tried to melta over the forest and disembarked more Fire Dragons, ready to shoot at the rhino closest to it.  Otherwise, he just kind of shuffled around.  The pictures will do a better job of describing it (rather than me typing 1000 words about it, HA).

Rob was able to explode the rhino, and killed two of his Fire Dragons with it.  His other shooting didn't really do a whole lot.  Well, the night spinner hit my Grey Hunters in the woods, making them test for Dangerous Terrain next turn.  dun dun dun.

You can't see the fire dragons next to his serpent there on the bottom, but they're there, believe you me.

Wolfstar Turn 3:

I split the star up, since the Majesty Lord would be of little use to the rest of the squad in popping tanks.  The rest of the star just kind of moved toward his lines.  My last mobile rhino moved up toward his objective.

In shooting, I was able to fail more.  I think I blew the weapons off of one falcon.  Woot!  The grey hunters stunned the Wave Serpent at the bottom, after moving and losing five of their ten guys due to dangerous terrain.  Sheesh!

In combat, the Hunters charged the Serpent and the Fire Dragons, who killed one of the Hunters and saved all their saves.  The fist whiffed, and I was happy to pass leadership and stay locked in combat (and get free strikes at the stunned Serpent next round).  The Majesty Lord predictably killed all the fire dragons.

Skimmer Count:  2/8

The serpent shot at the bottom right is blocking the ridiculous fight going on down there.

Eldar Turn 3:

He moved one of his skimmers into the forest next to the other grey hunters, and... rolled a 1!  The skimmer went down.  Huge break for me! He just generally repositioned his stuff.  Still no sign of the stupid jetbikes in reserve.

His shooting didn't do a whole lot, as per usual.  He could shoot, or move, and his movement was the wisest choice, in my opinion.

In combat, I was able to wreck his serpent, though the fire dragons again killed another marine for no losses.  I stayed in combat though.  Badass 3 firedragons!

Skimmer Count:  4/8

Heh, what a mess this game was.  Eldar are so tricksy!

Wolfstar Turn 4:

Well, I'd killed half of his skimmers.  I had specifically not been targeting Eldrad's ride, so I could lure him inward to contest objectives.  I wanted those last 7 points I could get in killing him.  Still, I was running out of time.  I needed to down another one or two skimmers this turn if I had any chance of drawing him out of his hole.

Wolfstar just moved downward, toward the center objective.  My Rune Priest's squad got out and started to daisy-chain toward the center objective and my own objective.  My untouched rhino got to within 6" of a Falcon, disembarked the squad, ready to melta the thing.

In shooting, I mega-whiffed with the melta on the Falcon.  However, the Long Fangs finally pulled through for me, and I immobilized his other falcon.

The remaining 2 grey hunters (Wolf Guard + Melta) finally killed a fire dragon.  The rest of the squad fled, but I was unable to catch them.  Badasses indeed!

Skimmer Count:  5/8


Eldar Turn 4:

He took the bait, and moved Eldrad's Serpent over to my side of the board.  Woot!  His jetbikes finally came in as well, and turboed toward my own objective.  Other stuff just shuffled around.

My runepriest was able to block all 3 powers that Eldrad cast!  Pretty cool, though somewhat unnecessary.

His shooting predictably didn't do a whole lot, though the stupid nightspinner got a hit on my daisy-chain.  This would turn out to be a big deal.

Eldrad's ride is on the far left.

Wolfstar Turn 5:

This was potentially the last turn, so I needed to make it count.  The Wolfstar began the trek toward Eldrad's ride. Grey Hunters on the top right objective got back into their rhino and prepared to fire melta.

Shooting kind of failed- I killed two of the four jetbikes though.

The wolfstar barely squeaked into combat with the serpent, and knocked Eldrad and Co. out.

Skimmer Count:  6/8
 

Last picture- we started running short on time.

Eldar Turn 5:

He moved what he could to contest objectives- Eldrad and his guardians didn't do a whole lot.

If the game ended this turn, I'd have the 'lesser' win (i.e. only one objective) and not have the points for killing Eldrad.  I knew the guy at the 2nd table had gotten almost max points, and so I hoped to have one more turn.

My wish was answered with the roll of a 3, and we played another turn.

Wolfstar Turn 6:

Not much to say.  Grey Hunters on the left got ready to kill the jetbikes.  Wolfstar got ready to kill Eldrad.

I was able to kill all of Eldrad's squad, and then Eldrad with a hammer.  The jetbikes also fell.

Eldar Turn 6:

He didn't have enough things to contest, and we ended it.

Results:  Win for the Wolfstar!  38/45 total points

Whew!  What an uphill battle that felt like!  Rob was a great player and did the right things- I'm still not sure how I pulled that win off.  Excellent game, excellent opponent for sure.  Rob was a great opponent, and I'm glad I finally got the chance to play him. :)

With the game played, my models put up, I made my way down to Dicken's, a tavern where everyone was meeting for the raffle and awards.  I got over an hour of suspense, drinking my (delicious) O'dell's pale ale, until they finally announced the winners.

Results:

*drum roll*

Best Overall for the Wolfstar!!

Pretty awesome, check out my loot:

Trophy, Blood Angels Battleforce, Furioso Dreadnought, and $50 gift certificate for Battlefoam!

Here's a picture of the trophy (obviously)

A picture of my goofy looking ass with the Jawa Banner that would have my name inscribed on it (picture stolen from the Feast of Blades blog)

Overall, a great event.  The opponents all had great sportsmanship, and I'd happily play any of them again!  Their lists were solid, their gameplay solid, and I count myself lucky to have come out ahead in this tournament!  In the end, I won by 6 points- killing Eldrad was worth 7.  Very tight in the end!

Here's my feedback for the tournament:

• Loved the swag, especially the dice.  Giving everyone a reason to show up even if they didn't think they'd win the event was really cool
• Loved the raffle- probably a good way to make some money on the event, too
• I think there should be more games.  Whereas I won, I'd have been somewhat upset to have lost just because *nobody* can kill Eldrad.  I think James would have wanted the chance to beat me as well- we were close enough in points that we both got 3 massacres.  Why not at least 1 more round?
• Maybe switch the missions to be more standard.  It's interesting to have so much diversity in the missions, but it also throws the balance of the game for a loop.  No dawn of war missions at all?  I don't really like DoW, but we should have standard deployment and dawn of war in a 3-game tournament (instead we got two spearheads and weird diagonal deployment)
• If we must have weird modified deployment zones, pictures on the scenarios with shades of gray and dimensions would go a long way toward avoiding confusion
• I liked the missions sheets with perforated edges for the score cards.  Fancy, and easy to keep track of in one big packet
• The hype leading up to this tournament was awesome.  It makes me feel like I won more than just an RTT.  
• The idea of a con you were talking about sounds excellent as well- I'm certainly excited for the next one!
• One other idea would be to bump the tournament size up to 32, and then have a W/L sort of tournament, seeded from the qualifiers.  You could invite people who had won at Genghis or Tacticon for the extra people.  Then we could play 5 games, the winner would be the one who won all 5.  Just an idea /shrug