First Blood - A Drunken Dwarfs Bloodfields Tournament

Road to

Relentlessly, the filament printers applied layer after layer. Houses, ruins, swamps, and mountains took shape. Diligent hands applied coat after coat of paint. Countless hours were spent at the home painting table. Or, in groups of six, they gathered in the sacred dwarf halls to swing brushes together (and complained that said tool was too small - regards to Freddy). Meanwhile, clever minds pondered on which battlefields the upcoming conflicts should be fought, how to evaluate the fighters' performances, and much more. For example, who should go get the bread rolls. As the eve of the battle finally arrived, three figures sneaked through the dwarf bunker. Armed with measuring tapes, they meticulously created nine battlefields from the previously constructed pile of colorful filament (and older supplies from the dwarf halls). Some improvisation had to be made to prepare everything optimally; there had even been a malicious rumor circulating beforehand that one of the battlefields resembled a moldy loaf of bread; yet the trio was satisfied, and the big day could come.

 

Some - very tired - dwarves gathered early in the shared bunker to make final preparations. Since battles should not be fought on an empty stomach, sandwiches were eagerly prepared in piles, coffee was brewed, and drinks were chilled. And then the halls quickly filled up, and the upcoming battles were within reach. But then, a calamitous message! One of the dwarves was struck hard by fate - or rather, by his cat. Whether out of protest that her owner would be leaving her for the day or simply because she disagreed with the choice of the tabletop system - in any case, she made short work of the bony warband of the hapless general.

 

To the great admiration of his fellow dwarves, he didn't let himself be discouraged, gathered the bone heap together, and still went on to the tournament undeterred. And he shouldn’t regret it later... A little glue here, squinting eyes there, and the jumbled pile of bones could still hold its own on the battlefield. Thanks to a great sense of humor, the legend of the great Chillog emerged out of this mess.

Despite this brief moment of fright, all eighteen dwarves were gathered for the grand hour, and the first battles could start on time.

Rules of Engagement

We decided to adhere to the rules from the original scenario guide, rather than adopting those of the concurrent TTS league. Therefore, we kept the rules of First and Last Blood at 10 points, as the tested 25 points in the league felt too strong or influential for us. Additionally, we took all the scenarios played in the aforementioned work (namely: Blood Line (A), Blood Line (B), Wide Front, Trial of Heroes). However, we did adopt the rule of Bloodbath from the TTS league in the event that a warband is completely wiped out. Instead of the 200 points set in the league, we agreed on points equal to the point cost of the remaining characters of the winner at the end. We played 4 games of 2 hours 15 minutes each - including the setup of the tables for the following round.

 

Here is a small, but flowery summary of the games from the perspective of the Swampies (aka Sullen Swampfolk):

Round 1 - Bloodline (A)

Swampies VS Orcs

In sandy realms, the orcs were heavily caught off guard by flying spore projectiles and a very aggressive frog samurai. The inexperienced orc player then decided to do what orcs do best: always charge and hit hard. Despite some well-intentioned warnings ("Are you sure? Really?"), the orcs decided to focus everything on the literal biggest threat: the big blue turtle. Thanks to the Rust spell, a fully charged Casta Blasta from Bul'Dharan, and hard hits from orc chieftain Yaa Crashah, the turtle had to suffer heavily (speaking in numbers: it only had one HP left). However, as every dark elf knows, heavy bleeding is nothing that a few mushrooms can't fix. Fully healed again, Mr. Turtle struck back and demonstrated why it's not a bad idea to save inspiration for defense. In the end, the orcs could only notch one kill against a single spore before the last of them lay in the sand. Result: 1 - 0 for the swamp.

Round 2 - Wide Front

Swampies VS Vampire Hunters

The vampire hunters heavily focused on one flank, which they could secure thanks to the declaration - and shortly after, burning - of heretics. Blastoise (aka Beastoise) sensed his (supposed) chance and rushed into the battle a bit too eagerly - to his dismay, outside the range of the healing mushrooms. The swampfolk then decided to abandon the flank and hope that the turtle could cover the retreat long enough. While two frogs were able to at least neutralize the left flank, the others annoyed the Grand Inquisitor Ramirez from a distance. He had to endure occasional jabs and the stinging of poison, as his inspiration went towards supporting his comrades. When the turtle finally breathed its last breath, victory seemed almost certain for the vampire hunters. Ramirez hunted down the frog Ribbits, who was about to take over the high-scoring rear objective, but couldn't kill him in one shot. To his additional dismay, the leader had earlier also been hit by a spore projectile, causing a Shroom Spore to rise deep into enemy territory and also rush towards the aforementioned objective. Meanwhile, the siblings Braav and Klara Nacht were bound in battle by countless spores. As the final round approached (due to the time limit), it was also the crowning moment of Croak, the green surprise. He avenged the previously fallen Morg the Squatter (does he owe this name to his well-developed thigh muscles?) by striking down the weakened Hilde in one activation, leaping and rushing forward, unexpectedly taking down Ramirez, who had been stung by poison and ranged attacks before. The points gained from the defeated champion and the capture of the enemy objective by the Shroom Spore propelled the Boggers to victory at the last minute. Result: 2 - 0 for the Swampies.

Cake!

Round 3 - Trial of Heroes

Swampies VS Redleaf Elves

Although the Swampfolk had a double home advantage - a very good scenario for them, and playing on a swamp mat - they also had a decisive disadvantage: their player's personal Achilles' heel. Due to time pressure and a lack of sense for distances and safe angles behind protective terrain, the highly ranged Elven troop was able to land hits from a great distance, quickly resulting in numerous dead frogs. Although the turtle was able to take control of the left half of the battlefield and complete one or two rituals on the right half as well with the help of a charging goblin and a spore, the point difference caused by higher losses and one additional ritual completed by the Elves was impossible for the Swampies to make up for. Result: 2 - 1 for the Swampfolk.

Round 4 - Blood Line (B)

Swampies VS Bazaar of Miracles

The two warbands faced each other shortly before the tournament and were already familiar with each other's tricks. The … Bazaarians? decided to corner the turtle early on. After Sheikh Al-Hakim cursed the Dark Elf behind the turtle, Khalid rushed forward - he had actually gotten stuck in the swamp before and had to sacrifice one of his three wishes to ensure this plan didn't fail - and transferred the curse from the elf to the amphibian. Commander Emir Raheem IV then charged forward, knowing well that the cursed turtle posed little threat to him. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Khalid, who was struck down in the crossfire.

In the middle of the battlefield, an irresolvable stalemate arose. Blastoise couldn't harm Raheem. However, Raheem couldn't inflict enough damage on the turtle either, as the elf constantly fed her fat blue protege with mushrooms. Meanwhile, on the right flank, Handler Urugash dislocated his shoulder for the second time in four games with a rolled double-1, but together with Croak and a spore, he killed the Djinn Razz and a supporter. However, since Razz sacrificed his remaining two wishes to survive a little longer (and because his player can't stand the annoying goblin), a Sheikh rushing to help was able to temporarily conquer and hold the right flank. However, his victory was short-lived as he fell shortly after. The left flank was held firmly by Ali Dhin, who engaged in a very unproductive shooting duel with Ribbits, the bow-wielding frog, thanks to Raheem's nearby sandstorm giving them both cover. Despite the stalemate in the middle and occasionally on the flanks, the sheer number of swamp creatures proved to be too much for the Bazaarians in the end, and they were able to secure more points in their bingo book. Result: 3 - 1 for the swampfolk; 4th place in the overall ranking.

Conclusion

A very successful tournament day came to an end. Exciting games with nice people (or dwarves) on beautiful tables. There was cake. What more could you want? A crucial point was certainly the game time. 2 hours (and a few minutes) for a match are quite ambitious - especially for beginners, but also for those who are unfamiliar with the opposing faction and need at least a brief explanation. Time pressure can also force stupid decisions, as you don't always want to measure dozens of times or repeatedly ask about the individual abilities of opponents that you can't possibly remember all at once. This can be evaluated positively or negatively, depending on how competitive you are - that's up to each individual. In any case, none of the games went into round 5 for the swampfolk, before hastily rebuilding the table for the next round and "sprinting" to the next one. At the other end of the scale, there are of course also games that are over very quickly, and the players involved certainly don't want to sit around bored for hours. Finally, here is a small overview of the factions and their win-loss record at the end:

Mythborn Yokai 4 - 0

Undead Dominion 3 - 1

Bloodsail Ogres 3 - 1

Sullen Swampfolk 3 - 1

Redleaf Elves 3 - 1

Vampire Hunters 2 - 2

Blackland Orcs 2 - 2

Bloodsail Ogres 2 - 2

Bazaar of Miracles 2 - 2

Wildwood Brotherhood 2 - 2

Beastshape Tribe 2 - 2

Corrupted Dwarves 2 - 2

Gods of Sun and Sands 2 - 2

Vermin Swarm 1 - 3

Vile Dragonborn 1 - 3

Undead Dominion 1 - 3

Gravehaunt Vampires 1 - 3

Blackland Orcs 0 - 4