The event was a 2000pt tournament using Matched play rules and Scenarios. Each table had its own unique set of terrain and was set in its own Realm with a unique Realm Feature to ensure every table was slightly different. The event was aimed at being a competitive event, but with enough fun and randomness mixed in as to keep it from being an event where everyone brought the toughest army possible. It wasn't a Narrative event nor was it a hyper-competitive event, but sat nicely in the middle. For the event, I choose my Daughters of Khaine and as I have been doing I have simply added more Witch Aelves. The simple breakdown of my list was 150 Witch Aelves, 5 Hag Queens, 1 Slaughter Queen on Cauldron and a whole lot of dice. It would be a bloody weekend in the name of Khaine!
I arrived early at the venue Saturday morning as Neil and Dave R. (The TO for the event) were finishing their final preparations for the weekend of fun. We had two rooms all to ourselves with plenty of secure space to store our belongings. I helped carry a few things in and admired all the excellent tables Neil had been creating until other players began to arrive. The Rend 4 club was well represented as you would expect, but my local club, Ligonier Legions, as well as Steel City Sigmar also showed up in force! The weekend was underway!
We were able to set up Grudges for the first round of the event and my friend and club mate TJ L. called me out a few weeks before the event and I happily accepted. TJ had been deep in the 40k competitive scene but recently began jumping fully into AoS. He is a great wargamer and was rocking Nagash so I knew it would be a fun and challenging fight!
We were playing in the Realm of Ghur with the Realmscape Feature Reckless Aggression in Better Part of Valour. The table also had two Jabberslyth on the board as the Monsters of the Realm. We finished deploying and dug in to see who would come out on top. It was a close match that ended up coming down to the final turn. I threw everything I could spare at TJ's Skelton horde and while I was able to put a major hurt on them I was not able to break them outright in the early turns. TJ effectively shut down my armies two major strengths as well as he kept cutting my movement in half as well as passing out -1 to hit and - to attack to my Witches. TJ's ability to regrow units began to give him an advantage in the end game and in hindsight I mismanaged how and when I burned a few objectives which gave me a Major Loss for the round. It was a glorious and hard-fought match with a good friend. We were both happy to begin the event on such a fun game coming down to the last turn. Despite the loss, there were still four rounds of fun left in the event so I set off to begin my climb back up to the top and prove the strength of The Witch Aelf Horde!
Game two saw me paired against my best friend Matt H. in The Realm of Life. The Realmscape Feature for the round was Hidden Festering Corruption and our scenario was Total Commitment. Despite our long-standing friendship his Ironjaws and my Daughters of Khaine were pulling no punches in this round. Matt went first and in the true Orruk fashion he came at me head on, but in a bit of a surprise, he dropped the Prismatic Palliside to block off one of my units for the inevitable counter charge coming his way. I concentrated as many buffs as I could on the single nit of Witch Aelves who could move freely and threw them into his army. It proved to be enough as throughout the next four rounds my buffed up unit slowly took off his army in quick fashion.
Matt gave it his all despite knowing the combat ability of my army. I did hold my breath each time he rolled for Foot of Gork (or possibly Mork) as if it went off could begin crushing my heroes, but he failed to cast it every round. Matt and I always have fun playing and this was no exception. We cheered each other's victories and had a good laugh while rolling some dice. My record was evened as I took a Major Win up and my next opponent wasn't going to be easy.
Matt gave it his all despite knowing the combat ability of my army. I did hold my breath each time he rolled for Foot of Gork (or possibly Mork) as if it went off could begin crushing my heroes, but he failed to cast it every round. Matt and I always have fun playing and this was no exception. We cheered each other's victories and had a good laugh while rolling some dice. My record was evened as I took a Major Win up and my next opponent wasn't going to be easy.
My final game of the first day was against yet another club member! Cole M. is an avid fan of Khorne and the Blood Letters were out for Blood! We were in Hysh with the Realmscape Feature Speed of Light. The scenario was Relocation Orb so there was a bit of luck involved to win the day unless we could remove the majority of each other's army. Cole got to go first and after using all the tool at his disposal he threw a buffed up unit of Blood Letters into me at the top of Turn 1. He maximized his Mortal Wound output and after rolling my saves and battleshock it was evident that he did not remove nearly enough while I removed his the majority of his unit in return. He thought I was stuck with the remaining four Bloodletters, but thanks to my Slaughter Queens Command ability I was able to kill them off in the Hero Phase and began to push out to swarm the field.
The orb took a lucky move towards me two rounds in a row as more and more of Cole's army was removed bit by bit. I have to give credit to Cole though as he saw me pulling my foot off the gas a bit when there was no chance of him coming back to win the game and promptly yelled at me to keep pushing as it was the only way to finish the event strong. He braced while I fortified my resolve and finished the game without mercy. Cole is a great friend and an excellent general and despite the throttling, my army gave him continued with a smile and had fun playing the game. I was now sitting on two Major Wins and one Major Loss for the day, but the next day was still an unknown, but I was feeling confident.
The orb took a lucky move towards me two rounds in a row as more and more of Cole's army was removed bit by bit. I have to give credit to Cole though as he saw me pulling my foot off the gas a bit when there was no chance of him coming back to win the game and promptly yelled at me to keep pushing as it was the only way to finish the event strong. He braced while I fortified my resolve and finished the game without mercy. Cole is a great friend and an excellent general and despite the throttling, my army gave him continued with a smile and had fun playing the game. I was now sitting on two Major Wins and one Major Loss for the day, but the next day was still an unknown, but I was feeling confident.
After three great games, a bunch of us headed out to grab a bite to eat and share a few drinks together. After some food and drinks while chatting all things Age of Sigmar most of us realized we had not had enough and headed back to the venue for more games. While some people threw dice a few of us, myself included got to the real competition of the weekend, Jenga. Tj, Cole, and I played a plethora of high-intensity Jenga games. It was great that the majority of the group stayed together to hang out together before we all headed to bed to be ready for the next days of gaming.
After a good night's sleep, I came in ready to roll some dice and have some fun. I was paired against a member of the Rend 4 club by the name of Matt F. and his Seraphon. The Realm was Shyish, the Realmscape Feature was The Winds of Death, and the Scenario was Focal Points. I deployed aggressively to hopefully bait my opponent into early battle, but he held back in order to shoot me as much as possible. The game began and my opponent gave me first turn. I rolled for The Winds of Death and rolled the six allowing me to choose one of his units to dish out a load of Mortal Wounds. I opted for his forty strong unit of Skinks and after Battleshock removed almost half of them. I also pushed up to capture the center objective while securing my own and then braced for his incoming shooting and Ripperdactyls.
The game was fought all the way to the end as he kept summoning more and more Ripperdactyls to throw at my army. The slowly chipped away at my units, but it wasn't quick enough to recapture the lead from my horde of Witch Aelves. There was a lot of lucky and unlucky dice rolls on both sides and we both had a few stories about the battle. Matt was a great general and a joy to play to start the day and I hope to meet him on the field of battle again at the next event. I fought my way to another Major Win and was going into the final round with a good shot of getting on the podium.
The game was fought all the way to the end as he kept summoning more and more Ripperdactyls to throw at my army. The slowly chipped away at my units, but it wasn't quick enough to recapture the lead from my horde of Witch Aelves. There was a lot of lucky and unlucky dice rolls on both sides and we both had a few stories about the battle. Matt was a great general and a joy to play to start the day and I hope to meet him on the field of battle again at the next event. I fought my way to another Major Win and was going into the final round with a good shot of getting on the podium.
My final game saw me against another Matt F. from Rend 4. Matt is also the local shop, Battlegrounds, owner as well as the owner of the space rented for the event. Matt really enjoys Age of Sigmar and is a wonderfully generous and kind person and I was happy to finally throw dice against him. We were in Ulgu with the Feature being Perpetual Dusk. The scenario was Shifting Objectives and everyone was curious if my Witch Aelves would be able to kill off the Nurgle Matt was playing. We deployed on the line and Matt took the first turn and moved up to take the objectives, but he failed a few key charges that would come back to bite him in the end.
My counter move and charge retook all three objectives and I would hold them for the remainder of the game as I immediately took off the majority of his army. I got lucky and rolled to take the double turn and sealed Matt's fate. We played out the turn, but after removing all by one of his Great Unclean Ones Matt conceded the game so we could relax and just chat. I discovered he used to be a competitive Power Lifter so the reaming time was spent chatting about lifting and fitness. I was sitting on four Major Wins and one Major loss and managed to claim most of my secondary's in the event. I felt I made a strong showing despite my round one mismanagement but was excited with my results even while looking ahead on where to go next with my army!
My counter move and charge retook all three objectives and I would hold them for the remainder of the game as I immediately took off the majority of his army. I got lucky and rolled to take the double turn and sealed Matt's fate. We played out the turn, but after removing all by one of his Great Unclean Ones Matt conceded the game so we could relax and just chat. I discovered he used to be a competitive Power Lifter so the reaming time was spent chatting about lifting and fitness. I was sitting on four Major Wins and one Major loss and managed to claim most of my secondary's in the event. I felt I made a strong showing despite my round one mismanagement but was excited with my results even while looking ahead on where to go next with my army!
The event wrapped up with the awards and random prize giveaway and we all gathered around to celebrate the weekend and congratulate the winners! I want to once again congratulate Neil, Dave, and the rest of the Rend 4 Club for running a smooth and fun event for all of us. I couldn't have asked for a better time or better opponents and I am excited to say they will be continuing with the two-day format going forward!
Best overall went to Bill Souza (Steel City Sigmar), Best Death went to TJ L. (Ligonier Legion), Best Chaos went to Cole M.(Ligonier Legion), Best Destruction went to Brad C.(Ligonier Legion), and I took home Best Order for my club (Ligonier Legion)! The winner of the painting competition was Mike R.(Steel City Sigmar), and my friend Matt H.(Ligonier Legion) took Best Sports! We didn't mention it at the time, but I think we all shared a happy feeling knowing that Pennsylvania went in and took all the wards for the event! The only award we didn't take was the Hobby Hero award who went to Dan M. who lives in Colorado but sadly was unable to come out to play.
Neil also had random prize support to give away and he went all out! He had wrapped all the prizes for Christmas and as names were drawn you got to select a number to get the numbered gift. I was pulled second to last and saw the number one was remaining and I opted for that one and was blown away as I opened Archaon himself!
Best overall went to Bill Souza (Steel City Sigmar), Best Death went to TJ L. (Ligonier Legion), Best Chaos went to Cole M.(Ligonier Legion), Best Destruction went to Brad C.(Ligonier Legion), and I took home Best Order for my club (Ligonier Legion)! The winner of the painting competition was Mike R.(Steel City Sigmar), and my friend Matt H.(Ligonier Legion) took Best Sports! We didn't mention it at the time, but I think we all shared a happy feeling knowing that Pennsylvania went in and took all the wards for the event! The only award we didn't take was the Hobby Hero award who went to Dan M. who lives in Colorado but sadly was unable to come out to play.
Neil also had random prize support to give away and he went all out! He had wrapped all the prizes for Christmas and as names were drawn you got to select a number to get the numbered gift. I was pulled second to last and saw the number one was remaining and I opted for that one and was blown away as I opened Archaon himself!
Overall it was a fantastic event and due to some effort preparing my battle plans I managed to end with the best record I have earned at a five-game event. The event is only going to grow and improve for the next time and promises to be a great time once again! If you haven't yet go check out The Rend 4's Facebook page to see all the great stuff going on there and see when the next event will happen! I hope to see you there! Happy Hobbying.
Chuck Moore
Chuck Moore