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Army in Darkness
May. 24th, 2011 05:17 pmThe semi-finals for the Ard Boyz Warhammer tournament were last Saturday. It's a yearly contest to see who the "best" Warhammer player is in the country (an extremely tenuous title considering how random the game is). I won the first round at a store in Plainsville last month. The semi- finals are held in one store in each state. I drove down with my co-worker and a few other Cambridge players to compete at the Rhode Island store. The top three winners here would move on to the final round, held in only three stores. The closest store to me is in Philly. We all made lots of Rapture jokes on the way down, though the looming black clouds did fit the mood of the Apocalypse. The roads were free of emptied cars, and we arrived safely.
One of the Biblical plagues that affected Egypt was darkness, and that's what greeted us at the store: they were in the process of transferring ownership, and the power had been turned off. We assembled our armies and begin to play as best we could, using the natural light from outside. I won my first game pretty handily, then grabbed lunch outside in the bright sunshine. After two weeks of grey and gloom, I wanted to soak up all the sun I could. We returned to the darkness, which a series of Unfortunate Events (crazy dice!) led me to a crushing defeat. I stuck around, hoping for a little bad luck to strike my opponent, but his dice were too hot. One of my friends rage quit his game, and I took a lot of satisfaction in seeing how much my own attitude about the game had changed. Growth happens, my friends.
By the time the last game began, the sun was well on its way down. We were well fortified with cider as the game began. The shadows of our men stretched across the table, growing longer and longer as the light dimmed. The leading two players ended up calling their game as a draw, neither one willing to risk a major loss in points, they were a shoe in for first and second place. My opponent and I moved our table smack against the doorway, the lights from outside were enough to finish our game. A daring last round charge from one of my regiments netted me a huge amount of points, giving me a big win and sliding me into third place. A mystery cash prize would in theory be mind, once my scores were submitted. I also qualified for going to the final round in Philly, where I could be guaranteed to see even more utterly filthy lists. I got a text from Matt saying he had won his event, so I'd have a companion for my trip in July. I also got some amusing texts from the Japanese pirate lass I met last week, sending me pictures of her and Bill Leeb from the Front Line Assembly show she was at. Maybe I'll end up seeing more of her after all.
The drive back was boisterous and fun, and I turned around and made it to Sin O-Matic in time for the Red Sox game to let out. I was rewarded for dodging the hordes with rock star parking a block from the club, and my mood was high and victorious all night long. Amusing conversations were had about marching band of all things. Many thanks to Static for a fine dance set.
Sunday was devoted to relaxation, and plowing through the second season of Caprica. The past two days of work were pretty tiring, along with the extra stress of my boss being bitchy all day long. The day comes to a close, the rest of the week promises to be calm and quiet, to build up for the cookout madness of this weekend. The sangria will be legendary!
One of the Biblical plagues that affected Egypt was darkness, and that's what greeted us at the store: they were in the process of transferring ownership, and the power had been turned off. We assembled our armies and begin to play as best we could, using the natural light from outside. I won my first game pretty handily, then grabbed lunch outside in the bright sunshine. After two weeks of grey and gloom, I wanted to soak up all the sun I could. We returned to the darkness, which a series of Unfortunate Events (crazy dice!) led me to a crushing defeat. I stuck around, hoping for a little bad luck to strike my opponent, but his dice were too hot. One of my friends rage quit his game, and I took a lot of satisfaction in seeing how much my own attitude about the game had changed. Growth happens, my friends.
By the time the last game began, the sun was well on its way down. We were well fortified with cider as the game began. The shadows of our men stretched across the table, growing longer and longer as the light dimmed. The leading two players ended up calling their game as a draw, neither one willing to risk a major loss in points, they were a shoe in for first and second place. My opponent and I moved our table smack against the doorway, the lights from outside were enough to finish our game. A daring last round charge from one of my regiments netted me a huge amount of points, giving me a big win and sliding me into third place. A mystery cash prize would in theory be mind, once my scores were submitted. I also qualified for going to the final round in Philly, where I could be guaranteed to see even more utterly filthy lists. I got a text from Matt saying he had won his event, so I'd have a companion for my trip in July. I also got some amusing texts from the Japanese pirate lass I met last week, sending me pictures of her and Bill Leeb from the Front Line Assembly show she was at. Maybe I'll end up seeing more of her after all.
The drive back was boisterous and fun, and I turned around and made it to Sin O-Matic in time for the Red Sox game to let out. I was rewarded for dodging the hordes with rock star parking a block from the club, and my mood was high and victorious all night long. Amusing conversations were had about marching band of all things. Many thanks to Static for a fine dance set.
Sunday was devoted to relaxation, and plowing through the second season of Caprica. The past two days of work were pretty tiring, along with the extra stress of my boss being bitchy all day long. The day comes to a close, the rest of the week promises to be calm and quiet, to build up for the cookout madness of this weekend. The sangria will be legendary!
