Captain's Log... The Grinder...



Goatboy's bag of Death and Tenticles!

It's birthday time in Richmond for the local game store called 'FTW' run by Rob Baer of 'Spikey Bits' and internet notorious-ness! It has been a weekend filled with door prizes, tournements, and for adults... adult beverages!

Food?! What food?!

Most notabley Goatboy (Thomas) from BOLS came out to do some art on bags and visit Rob since they are both friends from the national tournement scene. I know Thomas from a commission he did for me a couple of years ago and a trip out to Austin Texas where he lives.

Narcotis the Euphorics 'Luggage from Hell'

Just the other day someone asked me how Thomas was in person. I replied that he was pretty much the same in person as he is online. Many think that means that he is ultra-competative and not very nice to be around or game with. On the contrary I find him very confident in what he does with the game of 40K which some would take as 'arrogant'. Goatboy isn't arrogant at all and very fun to be around and talk to answering any an all questions from whoever passes by and talks to him.

Goatboy and Narcotis the Euphoric in 40K mode.

'The Grinder' event for today was a 1000 point army and  five timed games run by Rob and a helper named 'Jake'. Missions and such were pretty straight forward.

The idea of a 1000 point tournement by tournement players is laughable at it's best. What it does is give the players, like me, a chance to brush up on the basic rules and play under pressure when facing certain 'books'. Let's face it and realize that in 1000 points of 40K you aren't going to see many tricks and some books favor lower point levels.

We ended up playing four games due to some challenges of 'pairings' and table selections. I actually played three out of the four games on the same table and joked with another entrant, named Josh, that by the end of the day I would play four out of five games on that particular table.

My list was pretty straight forward... rune priest with jaws and living lightning, four grey hunter units in rhino's with melta's and wolfen (two units had power weapons too), and two units of long fangs with five missle launchers each. I wasn't creative and kept to what I knew since it was to get back into the swing of things since January of this year.

I had a lot of fun and ended up being in the middle of the pack when it came to points in the torunement. I was however, the only one who had an entirley painted army. (I hate to take pictures of grey plastic and/or metalic silver armies by the way...) Painting didn't count for anything but it was a moral victory none the less.

The run down of the games...

-- The first game was kill points against another marine player named Tom. He shot three of my rhino's to gain three kill points and I killed one tactical squad out in the open giving him a minor victory according to the mission and tournement rules.

-- The second game was against a VMI graduate named Josh. It was an exceptional game against the Tau that I will not soon forget. It was a lot of fun. Josh pulled out a minor victory only due to one failed morale check that ended the game... If I had made the check it would have been a draw. It was a great game and I can't say enough about it.

Josh won the 'favorite' opponent award and was well deserving of it. He was a great guy who I hope to paly against again.

-- The third game was against orks. Ghazgul, 90 boyz, and loota's. Dawn of War and I failed to stuff him at the back edge of the table. Matt pulled out a minor victory against me but we ran out of time... one more turn and he would have pulled out a masacre against me... whew!

-- The fourth and final game was against a lady named Kayleigh who just started Tyranids. I almost tabled her in this game. She took four monstrous creatures and didn't have any shooting creatures. As soon as the 'big' guys died it was all over. The last two turns we just focused on the rules and not 'quitting'. She was a great sport and I expect her and her husband to be around the shop more often.

I leave you with a picture of my friend Bransons bag done by Goatboy...

Branson's bag of gribblies!

I want to thank Rob, Thomas, Matt, Josh, Branson, Jerimiah, Jake, Charles, Tom, Blue, the young man who played eldar (I never got his name), and Kayleigh with her husband for a great day. If I missed anyone I apologize in advance.

Most importantly though, I thank my wife for giving me the time to hobby. She is my best friend.

I'll be in the corner...

CK