Bits Addiction: Back from the LVO, a write-up of my time in it

Just got back from the LVO, and it really was a blast. The whole event was great. Everyone had an awesome energy about them. All my games were a lot of fun, even my losses. GW was there running the tournament, and they were very cool people.

I met some followers of my blog, and those who have seen my work on the Age of Sigmar Fans Facebook group, and on /tg/. It was nice to meet all of you!

Me (right) with Reece (left), the guy who runs Frontline Gaming and the ITC. It was an honor to meet and talk with him.

The event was 6 games over 2 days, and competition was tough. I ended up losing my first 2 games, but the remaining 4 were all major victories. I ended up placing 14th of 74 players, which I find pretty good, and 6th of the Order players, which there was a lot of Order in this tournament.

My first game was against Stormcast Eternals. He brought a Warrior Brotherhood, which pretty much meant most of his army could drop in during gameplay whenever and wherever he wanted. I had something similar with my Retributors, but his was army wide. I felt it was a close enough game, but he got it because I didn't play the objectives wisely. So it was a loss where I recognized my fault in playing.

Second game was against Bill of the Rolling Bad podcast. He played Death. True to the title on his shirt, he had a lot of bad rolls. However he was able to take the win because I foolishly ignored a key objective, and with a summoning he held off until the end, he took it from me. It was well played and the game was a lot of fun. He gave me a couple dice with the Rolling Bad logo, which I appreciated. I'm am going to start giving his podcast a listen from now on, because he and his group seemed like a bunch of cool dudes.

Third, and final game of day 1, was against a fellow Dwarfs aficionado. He ran pure dwarfs though, using the Grudebound Throng battalion. His army was painted well and we both geeked out about how cool dwarfs are during the entire game, which was fun. I took the major victory on this one because my Forgesworn Eternals brought an edge to the fight.

Next day I started my fourth game against another Death player. What was interesting about this is the first time he played AoS was at this tournament, and he was learning so much about it. The beauty of AoS is you can quickly pick it up and learn the nuances as you go. He played it pretty well, and I enjoyed the game. I think he could have used some summoning, which would have helped him with the objectives. It is understandable, because among death players, most appear to be discouraged with summoning altogether. However, with my 2nd game, he only summoned 1 unit, and it won him the game. You just have to think about what summoning brings other than just reinforcements.

My fifth game was against Arturo from Ordofanaticus.com. A gaming club in portland. He ran Beastclaw Raiders. Lot's of Thundertusks/Stonehorns, Mournfang Cavalry, and Yhettis. The list was very intimidating, as it could deal A LOT of damage and was blazingly fast. I gave him first turn, in which he was charging into my back line during that, causing me to sweat a lot. It was one of the most bloody and brutal games I have ever played of AoS. By the end of the game he was down to like 3 models, and I had maybe 4 left. I took the win because he decided to completely ignore objectives, knowing it would mean a loss, and go for kill-points. This took my vote for favorite game because it was just a nail-biting brutal encounter, with terrible losses and awesome victories on both sides. The mission played was Three Places of Power. It was the mission where the objectives could only be held by Heroes, and all his Heroes were the really big heavy hitters. If he held objectives, they would have been sitting ducks for my shooting and not done their jobs. Again, he knew this and decided to ignore objectives for a fun game. I used a sideboard and swapped some things for more Heroes, meaning I had easier time taking the objectives.

The sixth and final game was against another Stormcast Eternals player. A lot of Retributors, Liberators, and a Stardrake. This was a game that I really had to fight hard for the win. He wouldn't let me have it easy. Actually, for most of the game, it wasn't looking like I would win it, but I pulled out just at the last turn and took it. Ironically what gave me the most trouble wasn't the Stardrake, like I initially thought. I was able to kill it by turn 2 because of my deep striking Retributors and some lucky rolls. My opponent said that was the only game where the Stardrake did very little for the battle. It was a hard fought won and a great note to end the tournament.

During the tournament, I was approached by the TO from GW, giving me a lot of praise over my army and conversions. He asked about my Lord-Celestant on Dire Bear conversion, and I admitted the head was from Reaper Miniatures. He understood there was no suitable bear mini by GW, and let me play with it. He said for the most part, as long as the base mini is GW, it's playable. However it did disqualify me from being put in nomination for best army voting. That and he said I could have used a little more time in painting. It stung a tiny bit, but I sort of knew that going in with a 3rd party bit. I was too proud of it to leave it home, though. But again, he really liked my work.

Me (left), and John the TO from GW (center), and Rob (right, taking a photo)

However, as consolation they did do individual painting competitions. One for hero models, artillery, behemoths, and units. I submitted my Warden King in Steamsuit for the hero, my Organ Gun for the artillery, and my Prosecutors for the unit. I won the unit competition and got a Start Collecting Seraphon box. I never had a plan to start a Seraphon army, but I may now. I have a few ideas floating in my head of what to do with them.

Her Grot she painted in class, as instructed by Lyn Stahl of Metalhead Minis. Not bad for her first mini!

My wife, Beth, got something from the LVO as well. She attended a painting class for beginners. Forgeworld also had a booth at the event. They were selling art prints and their minis. I bought a print and a Daemonsmith mini. This mini attracted me because I noticed the funny signature chaos dwarf hat is a separate bit, and it actually looks good without it. Possibly a future conversion for something.