Since its the very beginning of the year and the slow roll up to convention season I wanted to give a shout out here to one convention that from all accounts and all the buzz is a great convention to head to if you live in or around California. Last year some of the prizes available were amazing and Hand Cannon even sent down a small care package of out of print confrontation miniatures. This year we are still looking into what we plan to send down.
We’re back with more tournament reporting. By the end of the previous part my team had gone with two straight losses.
Oh goodie, another chance to redeem myself! Let’s lose the starting roll and wreck face!
Not the best of match-ups to be honest… I really need to start practising my dice rolling.
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It’s my final tournament report for the year and this time we’re going to the OETC!
About one year ago the very first Open European Team Championship premiered in Salzburg, Austria. 50 players from six different countries showed up to throw down in the city where Mozart was born and where parts of The Sound of Music was filmed. You can find my old report of that event by clicking here.
For the weekend of the 24-25th of September, however, the only music that would make the hills come alive was a symphony of destruction, played by the finest instruments of war.
For the second instalment we saw the participants grow from 50 to 70 players with seven different nations represented, and many scarred veterans returning together with new, fresh blood. I was sadly unable to get a Swedish team together this year but the Germans showed pity over myself and my team mate so we got to fight under their flag instead. I still got to do the captain thing and kept the theme generally Swedish.
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It wouldn’t be a convention without a swing by the Privateer Press booth to say hello to friends and check out what goodies they have on display or may be painting up. And as usual they did not disappoint!
The Booth was situated as usual on the convention centre sky bridge which is pretty much the what many would consider the middle of the exhibition halls. It’s a tall glass encased bridge that is nice and cool and has some of the freshest air in the entire convention centre. If you were walking across the bridge you couldn’t get through without seeing Big Blue guarding one corner of their booth.
The figure display case had its usual suspects all standing around but what caught my eye was the completed and painted Circle of Orboros battle engine. Now we saw this as a work in progress at Lock and Load so to see it completed and painted at PAX was quite a nice treat.
This year I will be heading down to PAX: Prime in Seattle from August 26th to the 29th. Aside from all the great video game content and the Privateer Press Booth there I also plan to swing by The Cool Mini or Not booth and check out some demo games for the Revised Dark Age game, Super Dungeon Explore and see what the low down is on Relic Knights.
For Those of you just tuning in now Dark Age just got a new revised edition and we recently had an interview with Brian Kourik.
CACK is an abbreviation for “Coppull And Chorley Knights”, a wargaming club in the North West. They were our first english opponents and after some pleasantries and pairings we were ready to throw down!
* Barnabas – Kromac
* Magnus – Mohsar
* Gorten – Grim Angus
* Carver – pSeverius
I was really worried about Mohsar but luckily he got paired off against Magnus. I had played against him a few games when I was learning how to play my ‘gators and his feat just wrecks havoc against Hordes.
Up until now I’ve exclusively been painting a bunch of Blindwater stuff here on Handcannon. My primary reason for being here though is to provide you with some tournament coverage from some european events. I like to travel around with my metal men and intend to go to both german and austrian events later in the summer and autumn. I like to take a lot of pictures and write a battlereport, but I tend to keep it rather humorous so don’t expect any deep analysis of the games I play.
Anyway, after two months of almost constant painting the day had finally come to bring a backpack full of hungry gatormen over the North Sea for a weekend of gaming in the European Team Championships. The event was being held at Maelstrom Games’ own venue the Eye of the Storm located in scenic Mansfield, England. Not too far from Sherwood Forest.
I was fortunate enough to have a designated left-handed driver on my team so the trip north from Gatwick airport went without a hitch. Formerly-briton-now-swede John handled the driving like a champ while I had a silent freakout every time we went into a roundabout.
Well it’s been a week or two since lock and load and the dust is settling and people are getting ready for the next conventions of the season. For the staff at Hand Cannon this was our first convention as a very rag tag crew but I’m not alone when I say that it will likely be a regular for all of us who attended.
Friday night before the convention brought good food, drinking, toasts to dearly departed friends and seeing people one only gets to see at conventions. It was a wonderful evening; it was also the only evening I could talk without rasping away with my quickly fading voice.
Welcome back to the final installment of my Lock n’ Load diaries!
Sit back, grab a beverage, and go to the bathroom before you start reading…this one’s going to be a long one.
I had a great time, and actually got in a lot less gaming than I thought I would. There were so many people to talk to, and so much to see, and getting coverage for the site, it didn’t leave a lot of time for gaming. I played ONE casual game the entire weekend!
The first annual Lock n’ Load Gamefest was a smashing success with roughly 400 attendees,with every table available being used for tournaments, and casual games. The number of beautiful armies there was mind-boggling, and meeting a lot of the staff, and so many people I see and speak to on the forums was a real treat.
The greeter as you walked into the convention hall; Big Blue.
AdeptiCon 2011 will feature the second year of Privateer Events at the venue. This year they will be running the following events! Bring your Battle Journals, as we will have custom stamps for the events!
AdeptiCon 2011 is April 1st through April 3 in Lombard, IL.
CoolMiniOrNot announced the Crystal Brush awards, which will be a painting competition held at AdeptiCon 2011 in Chicago from April 1st to 3rd, 2011.
The Crystal Brush awards are a showcase for the best in miniature painting, primarily focused on fictional settings. As a competition meant to celebrate the hobby, figures from any manufacturer are welcome.
Huge Cash Prize
Chief highlight was the news that the top scoring miniature would receive $10,000 USD, an unheard-of sum for miniatures. 2nd and 3rd prizes were also guaranteed at $2,000 USD and $1,000 USD respectively.
50-point SR2011 “Hardcore!” Tournament – Friday Day Event
Bring the best and craziest list you can come up with to compete in Hardcore! at AdeptiCon 2011! Only 1 list can be entered, and this army must be fully painted to Hardcore standards. Prizes will be for best painted, fastest caster kill, most army points destroyed, and overall winner!
Top two players of Hardcore advance to the Championship!
SR2011 Appendix Rules:
Registration: 10:30 AM. (Friday)
Start Time: 11:00 AM. (Friday)
End Time: 7:00 PM (Friday)
50-point SR2011 “Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw” Tournament – Friday Night Event
Mangled Metal, Tooth & Claw is a brutal clash between warjacks and warbeasts in which the only goal is survival. Such a battle proves a caster and his ’jacks and a warlock and his beasts are the equal of an entire army.
Special rules: Each player is allowed only a single warcaster or warlock. Besides its one warcaster or warlock, each army can only include warjacks or warbeasts. Units and solos have not place in Mangled Metal, Tooth & Claw.
Top Two players of Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw advance to the Championship!
SR2011 Appendix Rules:
Registration: 8:30 PM. (Friday)
Start Time: 9:00 PM. (Friday)
End Time: 5:00 AM (Saturday)
