NiCon 2012

Hi Guys
Here is my wrap up of the Nicon event in Auckland. Again I apologise if the details are off, I am going totally off memory here. In future events i will be taking photos and notes.
So yeah good fun tourney, well run. Except for the guy who turned up with BOTTLES as Ogres, all armies were pretty nice.

My list was pretty much the same, just dropped the 4+ ward on the Sorceror for a 2+ reroll. Also took Metal magic instead of Hashut, as it is a lot more versatile.

Ok so onto the games.

G1 - Reid Pittams - VC - Dawn attack
Reid emailed me and asked for a grudge, so i thought may as well. He is a nice guy and really knows his stuff, so was looking forward to starting off the tourney with a really good game. Reid was running a knight bus army with a unit of 14 Black Knights with 4 Vamps in, some zombies, skellies, bats, and some wolves.
Running Metal on my lvl 4, I was instantly liking the choice. I was scared shitless of this unit...but I had a plan. Key for me was that his vamp lvl 4 had vamp magic, but only one other lvl1 had vamps to, so my plan was to searing doom the bus, kill as many knights as i could, hopefully gettting the unit below or at 5 models, then drob some bombs on the vamp lords head. So first magic phase was a big one for me, and i got big searing doom and Final Transmutation off on the bus...around 8 dead knights and a GOLDEN BSB!!! Then i dropped dreadquake and deathshrieker on general but he passed both 4+ wards.
His turn all I wanted to stop was the lvl4 casting Invok, so i scrolled it. Then in my turn i killed lvl 4 general with mortar. CRUMBLE CRUMBLE CRUMBLE.
Funny moment of game, the 2 remaing vamps and about 7 BK charge 20 Hobs, tries to cast with lvl 1, miscast kills both Vamps and all BK!!! Hobgoblins sit there shitting themselves...
So yeah, big 20 nil to me. Think I lost 1 Hob unit.

G2 - Mike King - Liz - Battle for the pass
Really enjoy playing Mike, nice guy. I think he was up against it with the scenario. So plan was to get the destroyer into the saurus, shoot off chaff early, the concentrate on the Slann from around turn 3.
Ok so Mike gets first turn,  pushes everything foreward. He 6 dices bubble timewarp, cant let that go so use scroll first turn again. My first I charge Hobs into chameleons, and shoot off all the skinky chaff , Oh, and in the Magic phase i cast final transmutation onto the Slaan bobbing about by himself...GOLD SLAAN BABY!!!! Destroyer kills 1 unit of saurus with a scar vet in, and another unit down to 1 guy, but he gets away. Shoot off Steg. So i am lookin at another 20 nil...... last turn my daemonsmith in combat with 1 salamander, so i don't want him to die, so 3 dice glittering robes on him....double 6 miscast...roll a 4, its Ok earthing rod...4.....3....dead level 4, who also kills BSB. FUCK!!!! Last turn 20 nil to a 12 - 8 win.

G3 - Michael Fenner - WOC - Watchtower
So WOC really don't like Metal magic. I won roll off but didn't put anything in the tower. I made a big mistake in deployment and placed my Centaurs outside of LD of general. First turn shoots them with Hellcannon, and panic off the board. My turn I charge dogs with destroyer, and just shoot things. Kill Hellcannon with mortar. He gets destroyer with a unit of 18 or so tz warriors with lvl 4 shadow, bsb and killy lord in there. Target lvl 4 and kill it. Destroyer dies. Target unit with everything, leave it with 1 CW left. Turned the chaos lord and BSB to GOLD!! He tries to hide the last CW behind a building, but i turn him to gold to.
He got watchtower, but i killed everything else for a 15 -5 win. Should have been more if i had of deployed proper. Good game against a really nice guy.

At end of Day 1 I am on 47/60 points and in first place. So just like Horned gobbo I am leading the field after day 1. Do I learn from my mistakes.





G4 - Paul Dalton - Ogres - Meeting Engagement
New I was playing this list over night, so had a bit of time to prepare. Didn't help me.  The list was a unit of 16 bulls, with 6 characters in. Tyrant, Slaughtermaster, 2 firebellies, buthcher and bruiser bsb with MAW banner, so pretty much immune to magic. Had 1 unit of 6 maneaters and 1 of leadbelchers, about 4 units of 10 gnoblars and 3 cats. I didn't really know how to beat that unit, apart from panic. So with Heavens magic he just dropped comets on my army. 3 IF comets killed my warmachines, then my destroyer failed a 8 ld check to not charge a cat, then got flanked by bus. dead. Centaurs got charged in the rear by the bus needing an 10 on the dice, I got away though which was lucky.
 Lost 15-5. Not much i could do. He sat his bus in the corner all game, if he had of rushed me i would of lost 20 nil. Don't know why he didn't.

G5 - Dan Butler - Skaven - Blood and Glory

This was mine for the taking but i stuffed up. It was your typical Skaven filth, but it had 2 units of 8 Jezzails...not good for the destroyer. Dan was a top guy to play, and is going  to the ETC this year as the Skaven player, where I am sure he will do well. I knew i had to get first turn or the destroyer was dead. I deployed around a building, and put my CD plus lvl4 and bsb in there. I got first turn and went to work, magic was ok, and i shot off 1 unit of jezzails, and most importantly killed the WLC. Dans turn he failed charged abomb into building, then took 4 wounds of the destroyer. My turn charged abomb with destroyer, he fled, then i charged it with centaurs, and it went to within 2 inches of board edge, Then i redirected charge of destroyer intoi jezzails, they failed terror and ran, then i rolled double 6 and caught them, putting me 2 inches in front of the seers unit. In Dans turn he turned all he could and shot off the destroyer with gutters. Abomb rallies on an 8. Shot 1 unit of gutters off, and hit and wounded abomb with dreadquake, failed his regen, then i rolled 1 for wounds :( 1 gutter runner survived dreadquake, magma and deathshrieker in 1 turn to conserve its points. In my last turn i had a massive brain fart. I had about 10 cd's left in the building, along with lvl4 and bsb, and was expecting Dan to 13th me on his last turn and get all the points. So i forgot that in the rules pack you get a LOS from 13th, and i  moved both characters out of the unit, thinking he had to choose between general, bsb or the unit. I had also completely forgot about the scenario. Of course he 13ths my lvl4, and with the abomb killing my centaurs, i fluffed and left it on 1 wound, he broke me for the extra 500pts.
So at the start of turn 3, i was lookin at maybe a 14 point win, but with the loosing of the lvl 4, i got a 14-6 loss. if i had of kept lvl 4 and bsb in unit, prob would have been  a 10-10.

G6 - Rory Finnemore - Vampires
REMATCH BABY!! Rory is the Empire general who beat me at Runefang, so I was looking for revenge. I was also staying with him up in Aucks, so was a bit of a smack talk game. It was a list i was scared of, with double BK bus, and 3 vamps all mounted with lore of vampires, and a necromancer, so really hard to kill. I also didn't roll Final Transmutation, so yeah. I got first turn and pushed the destroyer in the face of his zombies, and a 20 strong unit of direwolves. I had cd's with characters in building, but had to move them out to cast searing doom on knights, killed 2..... In his first turn he pushed a BK unit with 1 vamp into my cd's face, not much else happened. I charged Knights with cd's, and put glittering robes on them for a 1 up save, killed them and over run into zombies. The rest of the game was my destroyer and cd's killing everything bar the knight bus with 2 vamps, and 1 unit of zombies. Most unlucky moment, i dropped dreadquake on vamp general head, he failed LOS, then i rolled a 1 to wound....fuck. The vamp lord didn't have a ward either. I won 11-9.
So i finished up in 10th place. Another day 2 choke. Although I did have to play 3 rock hard armies.
If a few more things had of gone my way, not putting my level 4 in a hole against Mike, not moving my Lvl 4 out of unit against Dan, and not rolling a 1 to wound against the Vamp lord, I should have been up there looking at a podium. Ah well, I had my share of luck, live and learn.

Thanks for reading.