lost love tournament - round up

Right then, my first tournament.  Actually, a lot of peoples first tournament.
Overall it was nice and friendly and a lot of fun, but I did find fitting four games in rather hard work.  I think I'd have liked an earlier start and a bit more space between games, especially at lunch time.  There were 31 players in all, which unfortunately meant someone had to have a bye each round.  It's a pity but there's not much can be done about it.
The tables were set up nicely with a good amount of scenery and a couple of the tables even had a steam train on them which was ace.  I'm not used to playing with so much scenery so it was interesting having to take it into account for a change.
We all got a bag with 4 wooden laser etched markers which was a very nice touch, thank you to whoever provided those.

My blister was a Guardian as I thought Lady J and a Guardian has to be a tough nut for anyone to crack right?  Well, almost as it turns out..



My crew for every game was Lady Justice, Scales of Justice, Judge, 2 x Death Marshal and Guradian.

So.  Four games.  1 hour 45 minutes each.  That in itself is going to be a challenge as my few games so far have easily ran over 3 hours and still not been finished as I a) check rules and b)fanny aroiund a lot worrying over what to do next.  However, although not all my games finished I think, and I'll check when I get home, that they all got to turn 5 at least.

So we all drew a random scoring sheet with a number on it which gave us our starting table.  Mine was table 8 and my opponent was Lee.  The strategy was Shared Slaughter and Lee was rocking Lord Chompy.  Not what I wanted to see really, of all the masters to have Slaughter against in my first tournament game and my first game with someone other than my mate James.  Still, best get to it.  I took only one scheme, Framed for Murder against a Death Marshall.
I'm not going to remember the entire game so I wont do a blow by blow but some of the bits I remember are Stitched are a pain in the neck, I was reasonably able to take out most things he brought to the table but couldn't catch Lord Chompy, I had to wait for him to come to me.  The game resolved around the flip of one card.  Lee left LCB within range of LJ.  She attacked 3 times, one of the first two got through and I think he had 4 or 5 wounds left. LJ attacked again, big time and hit, was on a positive or double positive flip with a +3dmg critical strike bonus, when I flipped the Black Joker that was to haunt me all day...  And that was that.  I got my two points for getting my Death Marshall killed and Lee got 4 for wiping me out +2 for one of his schemes. Luckily for me he forgot his steal relic so the end score was 6 - 2.  I was happy to score 2 points, I think it was a good scheme to take here.  Obviously I was disappointed to have lost it on a black joker damage flip like that, but hey, bad things happen right? ;-)

Game 2 was treasure hunt, on a lovely table that included a train, the game I'd practiced a couple of nights before against my mate James so I knew what I wanted to do here, then fate stepped in again and I got drawn against James.  Typical, 29 other people here and I get drawn against the only person I've ever played.  James asked if he could request a change and I said I wouldn't mind if he wanted to but was also happy to role with fate.  He chose not to but regretted it I think.

Look, train, station, church, hanging tree, the works!

I took Grudge against one of his spiders and Body Guard on LJ, same as in our practice   We deployed and then charged toward the treasure marker...  At this point I have to say that James did not get any luck with his cards here at all.  I think he managed to create one Steampunk Arachnid all game, and no Electrical creations and didn't even manage to re-activate Ramos more than once through his Brass Spider.  So, the game went like this. Lady Justice made short work of his Steambourg executioner, Judge picked up the treasure counter, a big barney set off with 3 Arachnids, LJ and the Guardian, he managed to kill one of his own arachnids by shooting (electrical fire) into melee, I knocked of the rest and retreated.  Game over. 8 - 0 to me but I wasn't too happy about it.
Picked up my best hand turn 5 when there was nothing to do, 3 * 13s, 1* 12, 2 * 11's!!

Game 3.
Things are unraveling now, perhaps I'm too old to cope with so much standing up and concentrating in one day but I'm begging to loose the plot.  Anyway, game 3 was Supply Wagon and I'm up against Pox (Phil - with his excellent puppet show booth supply wagon) and his Collodi with a couple of stitched :-( Another great match up!  I've never played Collodi before but I hear he can move ;-)

Collodi about to destroy!

Long story short, this was my poorest game I think.  I got caught between being unsure weather or not to protect my wagon or go for his.  I simply didn't have the movement or numbers to do both.  I got a bit cross with myself at times because I kept forgetting simple things like doing Lady Justices 0 action sword style.  I took Stake a Claim and Steal Relic.  I thought Steal Relic unlikely but if I don't take something then I can't get points and nothing else appealed.
If I thought I didn't like stitched I have to say stitched with Rocks in are even worse!
AS I said, I got caught in no mans land, his movement and numbers did for me in the end and although I had my wagon at the centre of the board he got it in the end, I didn't even scratch his as I was being too wishy washy.  I managed my two points for Stake a Claim, forgot about Steal Relic, though I probably wouldn't have had opportunity anyway and ended up loosing 2 - 8.  Not a great game for me, Collodi is nasty, so many minions, so much movement.. But still, I managed a couple of points again.

Game 4.
This was Shared Claim Jump I think.  This time I was playing against LupusFerreus (Will) with his (I only flip Severe on healing flips) Kirai crew.  Ah, not played them before, lots of spirits.  Still, Lady Justice is good against Resurrectionists isn't she?  Oh, they're not undead?  Bugger! ;-)  Also, it turns out that a fair few of his attacks ignored armour, this was a game whee the Guardian wasn't much help.  Again I really wasn't sure how to play this, as a little hesitant at first but finally decided to just go to and sit on the Claim marker.  Without my notes I can't remember my schemes apart from one of them which was .. well, basically I had to kill his Datsue-Ba so Lady Justice and Guardian guard the marker and Judge goes after Datsue-Ba, took me a turn or two to get a strategy going but that's what I finally settle on.  Lady Justice struggled to kill things for much of this game, for instance she couldn't hit an Ikyrio which the Guradian dispatched without breaking sweat.  In the end it was quite close.  Again I managed 2 points, this one for killing Datsue-Ba, but Will managed 3.  Claim jump was shared (just - I think Will didn't notice that models had to be entirely within 3 inches as he'd placed one just too far away & I forgot my totem didn't count and I should have moved Judge to the marker, though I did think we'd have time to start another turn, however, we didn't).  Thanks to Will for coping with my total inability to remember anything and my partial deafness was a real pain with all the chatter going on, thanks also for the tips at the end on how to tackle Kirai next time.


Overall 4 good games, 4 great opponents, thank you all.

Thoughts?
Well.. people are scared of Lady Justice.
LJ really does work best if you run up and hit things with her.
Stitched are not impossible to deal with but they are nasty, especially filled with Rocks.
Everyone was so nice :-)
Mustn't dither between plans, pick one and go for it, adapt if required but don't fanny about.
The Guardian generally works well with LJ, but, you have to get it right, move the wrong thing in the wrong order or don't leave enough AP and it's less useful.
Death Marshals, Hard to wound and slow to die, not bad for a 4ss model.
There are some very nicely painted crews out there, I hope that someday i'll get the time to paint mine up fully and decently.
Got some points in every game and I'm pleased with that.
Apart from my mates Ramos crew I got matched against The Dreamer, Kirai and Collodi.. not the easiest set of masters to match up against but all ones I've had a passing interest in so was interested to see how they played.  Don't know yet if any of them appeal more now or less.
LJ could use some movement.
I came 24th, out of 31.  Not great but not dreadful.
Full marks to Clousseau for the organisation and cheers to CounterAttackBases (@CounterAttack on twitter) for the freebie markers.
1 Red joker and half a dozen blacks.. call that balanced ;-)
Must try not to forget things, especially second half of the day, tiredness, excitement  overwhelmed from amount of new stuff I'm learning, all contributed but I aught to know my own crew well enough to not forget things.
On a bright note half way through my 3rd game I remembered Scales have a 0 action to swap a fate card!! ;-)
Apologies to all my opponents for my fielding of such a poorly painted crew and not having an interesting Supply Wagon.
Did I have a 'man of the match'?  Not really, most of my crew was useful at some point and less so at others.  Judge was more useful than I expected without being devastating, he really could use a 0 action at 7 ss and no extra AP.  Death Marshals Hard to wound and Slow to die was handy, Guardian was useful and Lady Justice can hit like nothing else, but failed to do so on numerous occasions.  So no stand outs and nothing terrible either.