GottaCon is the biggest and most awesome gaming convention I have ever been to (and I have been to a few). This year the venue was changed from the Pearks Arena (a large enough space that we were growing out of) to the Victoria Conference Centre. The new digs were much more suited to having 3,000+ gamers in a frenzy of button pushing and dice rolling. I am sure that being right downtown sure helped attendance!
As usual, the Rabbit Hole was called upon to supply some terrain for the 40k and Malifaux side of things. We brought enough for eleven 40k tables as well as five Malifaux tables (not pictured).
Seeing all my terrain out at the same time always amazes me. I didn't spend much time downstairs (40k and Fantasy were downstairs and the other wargames were upstairs) so I didn't get the chance to get much feedback, but it looked like they liked it!
We left the mountains at home this year since they can be difficult to play on and they give one side a distinct advantage. With some new and rebuilt terrain we were able to change things up a little.
As they were prepping for the Friday night Apocalypse game I spotted this warhound who graciously posed for a picture before hunting down some xenos.
At a convention like this I suffer from "ooh pretty syndrome", like when I saw this mercenary army. The Galleon is such a cool model...
After some wandering it was time for the Steamroller. Competition was going to be fierce with 60+ players bringing their best. I chose to bring trolls (they were getting hungry) with a Calandra/moutain king list and a mercenary heavy Jarl list. Given my dice's track record at tournaments I wasn't too concerned with winning, but I wasn't going to make it easy.
My first game was against Cygnar. A jack-heavy list with that cavalry-caster guy played by Ken, a local I rarely play against.
His Eryis, who was chased around by a warder for the last two turns. To prove my dice-fu, I was unable to meet her defence, even with mat 7.
Each table was outfitted with scenario templates provided by Advanced Deployment which I was eyeing enviously all day. They were also engraved with GottaCon 2014 logos, super sweet!
Our game was tense, with both sides gaining the upper hand and dealing casualties each turn. At the end of a great game Calandra fell.
My next opponent was playing my main adversary, Legion. The trolls eyed the reindeer hungrily. Out came the Jarl/Ironmonger list!
I've learned to stay together, providing a wall of trollmeat and axes, and it works fairly well.
Jarl was eventually sniped by the ravergore's scather shot. At least I ate a scythian as well as a reindeer!
Wandered about for a bit again when I spotted a familiar sight; orange and white high elves!
It was good to see the army on the battlefield, even though a couple of units were running away from the foul Nurglites. I guess they didn't want to get dirty.
Back to the last Saturday game, I was matched against trolls led by Madrak. I spotted five(?) other troll armies in the steamroller, almost as many as Cygnar and Menoth.
Madrak was escorted by a ton of infantry, two groups of warders and a max unit of fenblades. This game was a meatgrinder. Trolls ate trolls and Calandra's Star Crossed nearly saved me, but the fall of the mountain king made too big of a hole to make up for. This was another really good game.
Sunday morning, I wiped the sleep from my eyes to find two stormwalls across from me. Waking up the stormtroll and 'king, we set about the task of trashing each other.
It was a measure of pride to know that it took both colossals to bring down the giant troll. Darius was back there with his repairing shenanegans, and Calandra was brought down.
Looking at some of these models was a lesson in it's own. There are some things I would like to try for next year.
The shelves were dominated by Privateer and Wyrd models, with a couple of Kingdom Death minis (which made me happy). I intentionally entered non-GW models this year for two reasons; 1> I haven't painted very much of my own models that are GW this year, and 2> Malifaux, Hordes and Kingdom Death minis are nicer (in my opinion).
I would like to see a recurring trophy at GottaCon, like the Golden Demon (Games Day) and Crystal Brush. I feel that this would bring even more entries each year if coupled with a youngin's set of categories.
The paint competition was hard to find, tucked into a corner where there was little traffic, which was a shame. It wasn't even on the map, which could have helped some people find it. I heard that many attendees didn't know there was a painting competition, which is a shame considering the quality of models on display.
Back to the Steamroller, this game's theme was fire. I forgot to use my feat (I often do with Jarl) and ended up having a toasty bonfire on my side of the table. I had Feora down to one wound, but it wasn't enough.
I was taken out by a very eloquent assassination. And somehow we were assigned table -1, I didn't think I was losing that hard??!
Ooooh....shiney.... I noticed this Canadian Stormwall as my camera jump out of my pocket on the Iron Arena.
The last game of the Steamroller saw me matched against Convergence. I learned that some of the servitors explode, but not enough to worry a troll. Also, the Ironmonger cannot hurt a Prime Axiom. I did end up winning my last game by pushing the robots out of the control zones, no assassination for me!
I ended up earning best sportsmanship, and two sets of scenario markers! I was just thrilled to be playing games, while enjoying every wound dealt to both sides. I was a bit confused though, as I thought there was going to be a Best in Show instead which I was gunning for. Perhaps they combined them, or something...
I didn't get any pictures of the doubles tournament, it was too rushed and intense, needless to say our dice and inexperience failed us and we got last(ish).
There was a great response to my troll army. Many pictures were taken, complements given, and cards handed out. So here is an extra thank you to everyone I talked with over the weekend!
Until next round, be well.
