Well that has been a busy week of gaming. First, four of us from the Old Guard gaming club travelled down to Oxford to compete in the To the Strongest World Championships 2020! Taking my recently completed Romano British army with me, the comp consists of a round robin of 4 games.
First game I was up against a local chap called Dillon and his Swiss Pike blocks. The special rules allowed the Swiss to out scout me and with a good run of cards he was in my face and bulldozing his way through my army before I even had a chance to move. I was crushed 11-2! You can see how quickly Dillon got his pike blocks into action in the photo's.
Game 2 I was drawn against Steve from our club and his Picts. Possibly because this was an historically matched game it proved to be very close. I took the early lead but Steve fought back and nearly beat me but just could not get my final victory medal and I managed to flank charge one of his spear units and destroy it and the attached general to snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat (11-10).
The above photo shows the competition in full swing.
My next game was a truly international one I was paired against Alex from Belgium and his Italian-Norman army. Alex wanted to use the terrain deployment rules and I soon saw why as he managed to position his camp on a hill he placed on his base line, fully fortified and guarded by spearmen-I chose to ignore it! In the game, his Norman knights and their lances soon punched holes in my less well armoured line and despite scoring several hits on him I couldn't break any of his main units and got thumped again (11-1)
My last game was against another of the Belgian lads, Kurt and his Republican Romans. I got so engrossed in trying to wound his 5+ save Legionaries that I forgot to take photo's and mostly failed to wound any of his troops as he thumped me 11-0 in very quick time.
Apparently I managed 25th place out of 36 but left feeling a little deflated despite having enjoyed the day. Where I had created a balanced army typical of a period of history I am interested in, I felt the other guys had created tournament armies with super tough saves that I just could not deal with. However, I do feel I have improved my understanding of how the rules work.
The other guys fared a little better than me with Pete in 6th, John in 8th (both 2 wins and 2 losses) and Steve in 20th (1 win and 3 defeats). It was a very well organised competition played in a friendly manner; we all drove home planning new units and new armies.
Today, Chris came up for a game of the Lord of the Rings Strategy game. The scenario made us place 6 counters randomly across the board, one of which would be a hobbit in hiding. Whoever found the hobbit had to escort him safely, in one piece across our own baseline. Chris was commanding the evil forces of Mordor and I was leading the valiant Galdhrim.
Both forces spread themselves across the board searching for the hidden hobbit. The cunning halfling proved to be hidden in the central ruined tower and the orcs soon got their filthy mits on him. Much clambering over ruined walls, shooting and fighting followed in a really close, exciting game. Sadly the forces of Mordor managed to wear down my elves and grab a victory even though they were rather battered themselves. A great game that ran just like a chapter of a novel.
