Game #01 - Massacre in our favour
Game #02 - Massacre in our favour
Game #03 - Minor victory to opponent
Game #04 - Massacre in our favour
Giving us 3rd place & 'Best Generals'
We played very our armies very aggressively and went for maximum damage whilst keeping the VPs and objectives in mind ... having 2 fast moving armies with 2 DC rhinos crashing into you is a surprise - when this is further complicated by these 'crazies' slamming into (and annihilating) your premium units it isn't easy to keep your cool and provide a strong response - these guys did :]
I was stunned by the terrain as some of the tables looked like we should have brought our pool cues rather than armies - truthfully the majority favoured any form of shooty army and it was only our last game (where we didn't need it) that we actually got a large chunk of cover :]
My only complaint would be the lazy implementation of tournament and game rules - by the time sane heads had taken control a great deal of damage had already been done ...
Lazy implementation?
One player was pre-measuring in each game before finally being stopped in the 3rd game , illegal armies were 'overlooked', arguing with and or insulting the referees, people rearranging the terrain on the tables before their opponents arrived, games receiving extensions of time because the GCN 'judges' said it was OK (for no apparent reason) ... all these went without penalty.
Many people were sick of being told 'let it ride' or 'never mind, it doesn't matter' ... an odd occurrence would have been understandable but the quantity of abuse and perpetual acceptance by the 'organisers' certainly damaged the events quality and standing. To add insult to injury, some of the higher placed teams were guilty of these or similar misdemeanours and yet managed to escape censure and so weren't penalised on their final score.
By the time I reached the end of game 3 I was so frustrated at the lack of even passing acknowledgement of the rules that I did ask 'at what point are we actually going to stop considering the rules to be optional and start applying some?'
However, during the later part of the event the GW staff members became very active and took a front role that brought sanity back to the day and allowed it to end on a high note ... I know that the event isn't organised by the tournament team but GW will need to review how conflicts are handled to avoid future aggravation to and from players.
Overall, it was a good day and I would attend again without hesitation ... I just hope that GW take a good look at the conflicts from this year and work to make future ones match the standards used for GTs and other tournament team organised events.