PREPARATION
After realising we would not be getting many opportunities to practise for the tournament beyond the three Escalation League games (various distractions such as work and friend's weddings got in the way), I decided to concentrate on painting the team as fast and as best as I could - if I can't win any games, I'll try and win a painting trophy! Nonetheless, some thought went into the construction of the list. I would need s few specialists to fulfil the Objectives and make sure I had a good spread of weapons for the different opponents I would be facing, but beyond that I chose models I liked the look of or had already purchased - things like the Gecko and the Wildcat Link Team would always feature in the list because they were what got my into collecting Corregidor in the first place.
The two Remotes were chosen as I liked the look of the team accompanied by their Tachikoma helpers, and specifically the Lunokhod comes with two of the delightful Crazy Koalas - little robot teddy bears that jump on people or grab their legs and explode.
JURISDICTIONAL COMMAND OF CORREGIDOR
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GROUP 1
WILDCAT Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife 19
WILDCAT (Number 2) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife 20
WILDCAT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife 0.5 | 31
WILDCAT Spitfire / Pistol, Knife 1.5 | 25
WILDCAT Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife 19
TOMCAT Engineer Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife 22
HELLCAT HMG / Pistol, Knife 1.5 | 29
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife 0.5 | 24
GECKO 2 Combi Rifles, Chain-colt, Panzerfaust 1 | 54
LUNOKHOD Boarding Shotgun, Heavy Flamethrower, CrazyKoalas (2) / Electric Pulse 29
GROUP 2
REAKTION ZOND HMG, Antipersonnel Mines / Electric Pulse 1 |28
6 SWC | 300 Points
Painting began at the start of July, but the majority of the work was done in the week leading up to the event... and it was not a pleasant experience. Working 40-hour-weeks with odd shift patterns in the (surprisingly brutal) summer heat does not make me a productive painter, especially when I have a large number of unfamiliar models and a difficult scheme to enact!
With some serious coffee consumption, some ruined sleep patterns and a massive trauma with poorly mixed spray varnish, the team was completed on time, and what a relief that was.
Gaming wise, I had very little experience with the force - I had never used a Link Team bigger than three members, never used the Gecko or the Manhunter before, and the Remotes had utterly failed when I tried them out in a previous game. This tournament would be an interesting test for the new units, and hopefully my opponents would recognise this was advertised as a "Beginners" tournament and help me as mush as they could with any issues.
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| The team on Sunday 20th July - the two Remotes and the Tomcat are done, and the basing is finished |
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| Wednesday 23rd July - several hours on Tuesday night and my entire day off on Wednesday see everything except the Link Team finished |
THE TOURNAMENT
The tournament itself was at a local town hall, with easily enough space for the twenty four players. Terrain was sourced mainly from the local shop Lvl Up (who were also supporting/running the event) but also from a few of the players and a locally based terrain company (Warmill, who I have bought from before - great scenery!). Lvl Up and Warmill also provided the prize support, for first, second and third places.
Terrain looked good and only a few of the tables looked sparse, though Dave and I quickly realised that we play on incredibly dense Infinity tables, and so are used to far closer, short-range games. Some of these tables would be dominated by well placed Snipers and heavy weapon troops, something I did not have large amount of! Already gears were turning in my head... next time, it would pay to roll out an Intruder with a Sniper Rifle.
The tournament pack supplied to each player was excellent, with a name badge, guides for the three scenarios, score sheets for the games and even a pen! Really helpful stuff, and made the opening of the tournament quick and efficient once everyone had arrived.
Onto the games!
GAME ONE - Quadrant Control
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| First Game - Shock Army of Acontecimiento in the desert |
The first game was against the owner of Lvl Up games and one of the organisers, a gentleman named Karl. I had heard about Karl from my Good Friend Ben who is running a Flames of War tournament with him at some point in the next few weeks, so it was interesting to meet like this. His force was PanOceania Shock Army of Acontecimiento, a force with lots of medium infantry, Remotes and a mysterious camo marker, with control of the various quarters of the board as the main Objective. As a secondary Classified Objective, I rolled Data Scan, so would need to Hack one of his models during the game.
The early stages of the game were dominated by his Reaction Remote, which blocked most of the centre of the board and cost me far too many models and orders to deal with. The first turn was wasted dealing with this, but in the second turn my team started doing well and managed to take out his heavy infantry Guarda De Assalto, his Peacemaker (another scary Remote) and cut down several of the Bagh-Mari medium infantry, including the special character Stephan Rao. Unfortunately, despite all these good kills the PanO force dominated the board and won the Objective in the second turn. The third turn saw the death knell, as the Gecko, Tomcat, Moran and the Lunokhod were dealt with in short order by a rather vicious HMG and the Wildcat Link Team was outmanoeuvred and shot to bits.
I had scored a significant number of kills, with over two hundred Victory Points scored, but my own team was smashed as the Shock Army had control of the Quadrants. I had also failed my Classified Objective, as I had destroyed the hackable targets before I could get close. The game ended 1-8 in Karl's favour. Ouch! Great game, with a nice back-and-forth that made it feel a lot closer than 1-8 would look like.
MVP - The Gecko worked like a tank, cutting down the opposition and soaking up return fire. He was taken down in the end, but it took a long time!
MVP - The Gecko worked like a tank, cutting down the opposition and soaking up return fire. He was taken down in the end, but it took a long time!
GAME TWO - Frontline
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| Second Game - taking on the Knights in the cityscape |
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| The Knights and the Nomads play a game of chicken around the corner of a building - most of the game was centralised around this corner |
The second game saw my team assemble against another PanOceania force, this time the always awesome Military Orders run by a friendly chap named Nathan. His force seemed to be a large number of cheerleaders and a fully decked out, expensive heavy infantry Link Team of Knights led by the character Gabriel de Fersen - probably over half of his points in these three models! The mission was Frontline, so when the game ended points could be earned for holding zones of the table, worth more as you got further away from your deployment zone. My Classified Objectives were Telemetry and Data Scan.
The Knight Link Team did all the work, smashing forward and taking out my Reaktion Zond and the Moran in the opening moves, and then engaging the Gecko, Hellcat and the Wildcat Link Team in a combat that dominated the first and second turn. It cost me everything, leaving me in Retreat and without a Lieutenant, but the Knights were all killed and Nathan's team broken too. The game ended there on Turn Two as we were both in Retreat, and though my team was cut down to two models, somehow I had won! My Tomcat had deployed further up the board and now counted as holding one of the Objective Zones, granting me 3 Objective Points. I also achieved my Data Scan Objective, leaving me to win 4-0.
A technical victory rather than any real one, I felt outplayed and generally outdone, and only won as I had a guy in the right place at the right time. Nathan was a great guy to play and took the loss well (I hope!) but once again, this proves the importance of paying attention to the Objectives!
MVP - The Wildcat Hacker managed to stave off Gabriel de Fersen's attempts to Hack the Gecko and then Immobilised one of the Knights, forcing Nathan to waste several of his Orders trying to get him back in the fight. We agreed this used up too many of his Orders and left his force unable to move up and claim the Objectives.
MVP - The Wildcat Hacker managed to stave off Gabriel de Fersen's attempts to Hack the Gecko and then Immobilised one of the Knights, forcing Nathan to waste several of his Orders trying to get him back in the fight. We agreed this used up too many of his Orders and left his force unable to move up and claim the Objectives.
GAME THREE - Annihilation
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| Third Game - Corregidor versus Corregidor on the snow |
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| Smashing past the ruined Iguana, the Gecko hunts down the surviving pilot |
The game started poorly for Ryan as he sent a Gecko forward along a flank to take out my Lunokhod, and promptly suffered two wounds trying to take it out. Hiding the TAG behind a wall, this was a shocking start for my opponent. Luckily he did manage to Immobilise the Reaktion Zond before his turn ended.
In return, my Link Team moved up and into position where the Spitfire-armed Wildcat could chew through the undamaged Gecko in two rounds of shooting before moving up and mowing down two Alguaciles. Solid turn!
Ryan moved his Tomcats onto the flank next to the wounded Gecko and tried to repair it, but ended up taking it out of action - sweet, two TAGs down! His Hacker tried to attack mine with Anti-Hacker Protocols and got his head fried for his trouble, before the Iguana attacked the Link Team. It took out the Spitfire but suffered a wound in the process, before moving up and setting its flamethrower on the four survivors - only one survived, though their return fire did finish off the Iguana and send the pilot backwards with the Ejection System. My second turn was spent electing a new Lieutenant.
In his third turn, Ryan tried in vain to fix one of the Geckos, but wasted several Orders fruitlessly. The game was all but done at this point - I had taken down all three of the TAGs and enough of the cheerleaders that he did not have enough Orders to complete any missions or attack my surviving troops. To finish, my Hellcat jumped in and took down one of the Tomcats, while my own Gecko strode forward and hunted down the Iguana pilot, cutting him down to score the Victory Points.
A brutal game! I had scored enough points and kept enough of my troops alive to score 5 out of 6 Objective Points, but did not manage to score any of my Classified Objectives. Ryan in turn scored 2 Objective Points. I enjoyed myself a great deal as I had some very fortunate rolls, but I do feel sorry for Ryan and his terminally unlucky Geckos.
MVP - The Wildcat Link Team, specifically the Spitfire-armed Wildcat, for taking down two Alguaciles, a Gecko and the Iguana. Finally, I got to use the power of Link Teams to my advantage rather than suffer from them!
MVP - The Wildcat Link Team, specifically the Spitfire-armed Wildcat, for taking down two Alguaciles, a Gecko and the Iguana. Finally, I got to use the power of Link Teams to my advantage rather than suffer from them!
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| The team assembled |
THE RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Somehow I had managed to win two of my three games, though in terms of Objective Points I had only scored a total of 10. I finished 13th overall - not bad at all given the amount of practise time I had managed to clock in! I found it amusing that in terms of sheer Victory Points I had come fourth - as with every game I play, I like a lot of casualties! Maybe next time I should concentrate on the actual Objectives a bit more though...
It was a fun day, nice and simple with easy scenarios and a good amount of judge support, timings and terrain. Food was solid, and the drinks and snacks available on site were helpful. Can't ask for much more! Speaking as a painter first, gamer second, I was disappointed at the lack of painting award, and a little let down at how few of the forces were fully painted - having only really attended tournaments where painting was mandatory, it was a bit of shame. Of course, this was marketed as a Beginners Tournament, so it makes sense not to have a painting requirement, but perhaps if there had been a painting award there would have been some extra incentive!
Gaming wise it was great to use Hacking for the first time, and use it effectively. It really is not as hard as I had imagined. Link Teams were also effectively brutal, both for and against me. The Gecko is fun and I would like to run the Mk.12-equipped TAG next time, along with some camo troops and snipers to fit in with the less dense terrain style of these tournaments.
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| Picture of the results, courtesy of 2screens |
HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
- Place in the top half! 13th out of 24 was a kicker!
- Focus more on the Objectives, and the Classified Objectives - they're what win Tournament scores, not just taking out models.
- Have more models in my force that actually do something. I found my Remotes were almost useless in this tournament, and my Link Team only really shone in the third game. If I played more games and learnt my list better, this would hopefully become easier.
- Adjust play-style and practise to work with slightly less terrain - time to work out a more open field for better tournament practise.
- Painting award - this is my real aim, as I know I'm not going to win one of these tournaments through gaming skill just yet!
So a big thank you to Karl, Simon and their helpers for running a great event, and I look forward to the next one!
Thanks for reading,
George
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