The Ironmanj Shield -- 30/31 Janurary 2010 -- York, UK

[PubBowler]

Will get the train home next time though...

Hey, you stole my line.

But, yeah, thanks to all those who let Jimmy cram me into the Ka for the trip to manchester.
I hope bones and bowels have recovered.

[sann0638]

Chaos 2nd? Obv Luke's a quality coach, but I haven't seen this before - when was the last time Chaos placed like that?

(waits for the rush to be corrected)

[Grumbledook]

was down to the fact chaos teams could afford full positionals and skill lots of players

that combined with Luke playing well led to a great result and was only 3 points off winning it

[Joemanji]

Yep, Chaos were in the bottom tier and so had more skills than other teams.

[Blitzwing]

Thx all for a great weekend, am really pleased with the result. Grats to Pippy for taking the overal win.

The rule set was brilliant, there was a lot of interesting team selections out there, Nippy's deathroller + bribe + diving tackle combo springs to mind.

Looking forward to next year

[Nippy Longskar]

I had a brilliant time, really enjoyed the tourney format and York in general is a lovely place to visit - I'm quite jealous of you guys that live there! Also really good to meet and play some people I'd never met/played before!

Will definitely be back for more next year...

[zakspeed]

What was the chaos roster? I was tempted to take Chaos, so I'd be interested to see how mine compared (probably nothing like it as i wasnt particularly picking skills 'for the win' as such....more to fit the converted miniatures I've done....)

[Blitzwing]

4 Chaos Warriors (2*Block & 2*Guard)
7 Beastmen (Sure Hands, Wrestle & Tackle)
Minotaur (Claw)
3 Re-rolls
Apothecary

[zakspeed]

cheers - definitely quite different.

I'd have gone for Beastmen with several extra arms and big hands, 2heads etc, tentacles on the min0 and CW with block, claw, stand firm and maybe even a sure hands for a STr4 ball carrier...
not as agressive a choice as that.... but then mine were to fit the mutations I've built rather than a streamlined team

[Pipey]

Back by popular demand here’s a rundown of my games at Ironmanj.

I had Lizzies with juggs krox, block saurus x2, wrestle saurus x2, tackle saurus

Game One
2-1 win vs. PubBowler (Norse)

Our second match-up in a few weeks and another very close contest I was fortunate to win.

Dave’s defence is always excellent and I needed several vital skink dodges to keep the cage moving; one failure would’ve left the ball carrier exposed. He thwarted my stall attempt and forced me to score in turn 7 leaving him two turns to score in a blizzard and with no rerolls. Obviously used to the cold conditions (!!!!), the Norse converted a well-worked score to go 1-1 at the half (inc. 3+ dodge, 4+ pass, 3+ catch, 3+ GFI).

Eearly on in the second half some bad block dice from Dave helped me put down his ball carrier. 7 or 8 skink dodges later he was in big trouble (by now I had made upward of 20 skink dodges and not failed one!). Dave made a partial recovery, but the next turn I picked up in a TZ and my skink was away. Under pressure I scored to leave Dave three turns to make it 2-2. I kicked deep and got a few crucial KOs meaning his attempt at an equaliser petered out with a fluffed Porritt-bowl attempt!



Game Two
2-0 win vs. thechosengobbo (Undead)

Receiving, I made a big early mistake, letting Duncan’s tackle wight take a clear shot at the ball carrier ( my excuse – I couldn’t see him as his Roll Jordan Halloweenie figures were so small!! ). He sacked the skink but I got lucky as the ball bounced to another skink who caught it. With my error fortuitously unpunished, I recovered; however Duncan continued to cause me grief with his strip ball ghoul. In the end I was able to make it 1-0 at the half, but it could’ve been a different story.

In the second half the Undead failed to pick up the ball near to the LOS and from there the ball was never safe. The play ebbed and flowed but eventually a skink snatched the ball to seal the win at 2-0. Again, this might’ve been different. The game was always very much alive and could’ve turned out a draw if one of Duncan’s high-risk high-reward pass actions had’ve come off.


Game Three
2-1 win vs. Rycos (Dark Elf)

There was sweet satisfaction in this victory as I had never beaten Dave in five previous attempts!

Dave received and I quickly applied lots of pressure with the krox and sauri. He dodged and stabbed around for a few turns (with little success) before I put down the ball carrier in his own half and the skinks swarmed in. It was nip and tuck for a while but late-on a skink scooped it up for the turn 8 touchdown. Around this point I started to seriously hurt Dave’s team and he went in at half time several players down (including both witch elves).

In the second half I piled on the misery with yet more casualties and went 2-0 up quickly. Luckless and several men-down, Dave made a desperate bid to get back into it with a solo witch elf dash for glory, but my tackle saurus had other ideas. In the end Dave did get the consolation score in odd circumstances, catching a bouncing ball in the end zone.

Kicking again, Dave realistically needed a blitz to turn me and over and make it 2-2. However he set up all 7 remaining players on the LOS only for me to mark them all. He in fact did roll the blitz, but it was useless as all his players were in TZs and couldn’t act! And so it ended 2-1.




Game Four
3-1 win vs. JimJimany (Dark Elf)

I received and Jimmy defended well to force me into an early score. Plan A was to score in turn 8, but with the line beckoning and witch elves in position to seriously threaten the ball, I decided to put it in turn 3. In return, Jimmy broke through my defence with a hand-off to a witch elf who ran into a strong stalling position with support. With the main objective of forcing an early score, I stayed in touch and in turn 6 my skinks dodged in to mob the witch elf. I got the pow! and the ball landed in the endzone. Crucially this meant Jim could not stall, and at 1-1 left me two turns to go back into the lead. I’d injured some linemen by this stage so defending the two turner was tough. A witch elf failed to dodge away from the krox which left an easy hand-off to make it 2-1 at the half.

After a great and well-fought first half, the second half rapidly ceased to be a contest as I luckily racked up casualty after casualty. In the end I nearly cleared the pitch as it ended 3-1 with 6 or 7 casualties caused.




Game Five
1-0 win vs. Stick (Chaos Dwarf)

I had a great first three turns when I killed a dwarf, broke through Stick’s defence and camped my cage by his endzone. Things swung back the other way when I lost a couple of players (including a failed apoth) and failed a 1 in 81 block. I wound up needing a couple of skink dodges to score to leave Stick three turns to get level. The attempt never really got off the ground after a deep kick and some failed bull centaur GFIs.

My Bloodweiser Babes made their only significant intervention of the game when they helped my skink wake up (hurray!!!) to start the second half 11 vs. 11. It was going well for Stick until a horrendous double 1 GFI made his ball carrying hobgob a sitting duck in his own half. From there it was a scramble and with the rerolls running out, Stick couldn’t quite do enough to get the ball down the other end to get the draw.



Game Six
0-1 loss vs. Blitzwing (Chaos)

Luke played a great match. Receiving, he marked up my saurus and moved his cage carefully toward the endzone. He got some early injuries / KOs which put me on the backfoot from turn 1 and he made sure I never got back into contention.

I did manage to half dice push Luke’s ball carrier into the endzone to give myself two turns to score in the first half but with seven players (injuries + sweltering heat) I was reduced to an undignified long bomb attempt which probably didn’t deserve to come off (and duly didn’t).

In another key moment, Luke Perfect D’d me at the top of the second half. The ball landed near the LOS and after I failed the pick up (with a reroll) it landed at his minotaur’s feet. Later the mino in fact ended up catching a bouncing ball and from there the writing was on the wall in terms of the result. All that remained was to try for casualties and keep it down to 1-0 – Luke and I knew we’d be on the same record (5/0/1) and therefore that bonus points would decide who won the tourney. Luke won this battle but I was fortunate enough to win the war (thanks Lycos and Jimmy for all those casualties I caused!!!).

It’s a testament to the great rules-set that the normally weak Chaos were so competitive: 4 CWs, Mino, 3RR, 12 players, apoth, claw mino, 2 block, 2 guard, sure hands, wrestle, tackle. That’s an excellent bashy roster; comparable speed and damage potential to norse and nearly as tough as orcs. Well done Joleon!

[Northernknight]

The ruleset sucked!
Skaven sucks!




Stupid game...

[Joemanji]

Some pictures:

In the pub:





Day 2:







The Winner:

[mattwhile]

Joe are you doing your best Popeye impression in the last photo? (gug gug gug gug)

[Nippy Longskar]

Good piccies. Bit late, but thanks for a really fun event guys - look forward to next year!