Getting Ready For My First Warmachine Tourney

Before I start with tonight's engrossing blog topic, I just want to relate to everyone how fricking hot it is in Baltimore right now. 105 degrees yesterday and 101 today. I was on the road on the bike for a 25 mile ride this morning before 7am and it was still 90+ degrees by the time I got done... I love summer, but this is a wee bit ridiculous... especially considering that five months ago we were buried under almost five feet of snow... but I digress...

So on to things Warmachine related. Severl of the members of our gaming group have decided to attend our first ever Warmachine Steamroller Tournament on July 18th. We're going to travel the grueling 45 minutes down I-95, through the Harbor Tunnel to a land of grim darkness, spoken of only in hushed whispers by those too foolish to know better... Glen Burnie.

We're not newbies to wargame tournaments, having played in quite a few 40k events over the years, but this should be interesting. Warmachine seems to be a little more intense in the tournament circles, so who knows how this will shake out. Combined with the fact that we are still a little new to the rules, and I'm just a little nervous about the whole deal.

So, what does one do when going to a tournament? (well after securing the freedom for the day from the wife that is...) Probably a good idea to start by reading the rules. Privateer makes it easy with their steamroller rules all in one place. http://privateerpress.com/files/Revised_SR2010(2).pdf Here they are if you'd like to read along.

So going through the rules, the first two sections aren't anything new. Bring your own stuff and have printed army lists. Nothing different for a 40k tourney scene vet. The next section is about painting and modeling. Again a moot point as I try to only bring painted armies to events. For anyone who's interested though, Privateer events do not require painted models, which is nice for some of the guys in our group who are... slow.. when it comes to painting. From there it's sportsmanship and pairing information, again nothing out of the ord. Be nice, play fair, good people play good people, we will end up in the bottom teir.

Next we hit turn length. This IS something a little new. 10 minutes per turn is going to feel rushed for me since I really tend to pay a lot of attention to things and think things through before moving my models. Add in the fact that my A list will be infantry heavy, and I'm a little concerned.

Then the rules get into scenarios. We haven't played many scenarios as we've learned the game, so this will be interesting. The change in deployment zones makes sense, no big deal. Then the scenarios... Most scenerios seem to revolve around controling zones. A little close reading also shows that assasination will always win. The flag missions seem a little more complicated, and will probably just lead to assasination attempts. I definitely think we will need to practice the scenarios over the next two weeks.

What to bring? My next step is going to be to start to build some lists. I'll post them as I iron out what I'm taking this week, but I think the best bet will be to stick to what I've been playing.

Tomorrow night is board game night, so not much WM to address, but I hope to get some pics of my Mech Thralls up.

Have a great one!