6th Annual Japan Open Warmachine/ Hordes Team Tournament

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I know you have all been as excited as I about the tournament, and finally... finally it is here!!!  That's right, once again, the Rumble Round the Ramparts, the Clash at the Castle... Last weekend, 22 players for 7 teams assembled from all corners of Japan... well, almost all corners... from Kyushu, Osaka, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Okayama and Fukuyama at least!  A mighty battle reigned, but at the end, only one team stood above all others!  We were expecting a typhoon to blow through and disrupt everything, but in the end, the weather was amazing... sadly, due to the warning of the typhoon, the sports festival at my poliwog's kindergarten was moved from Saturday straight on to Sunday.  NOOOOOOOO!!!!  Kindergarten sports festivals only last half a day, but half a day was two rounds of a three round tournament, and that means that I had to withdraw from my team, and our fearless alternate, The Kid, took my place.  Thanks, Kid!  Good luck!  I managed to arrive perfectly in the down time between round 2 and 3, and since we had only 7 teams, one team each round had a by round, and I managed to catch a game with the guys stuck with the pass.

And now, let's take a look at our teams!

Team 0.3 Ton (Saijo) 

Our good buddies out of one of the suburbs of Hiroshima City, this team is made up of classmates from the local university.  These guys are some of the loyal members of our sister group, the Saijo Gaming Club.

Beru, with his Cygnar army, using Captain Allister Caine and Commander Coleman Stryker

Ryosangata, with his Retribution army, using Issyria and Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard

Tetsu, with his Mercenary army, using Ashlynn d'Elyse and General Ossrum

Band of Heroes (Osaka)

The Osaka Troll trifecta returns!  Three amazing players, with amazingly painted armies, have banded together to make sure everyone knows the power of the Trollbloods!  Since players on a team cannot use the exact same caster, the Band of Heroes members each use a different incarnation of Doomshaper!

Daizo, with his Trollblood army, using Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia and Captain Gunbjorn

Genki, with his Trollblood army, using Madrak, Great Chieftan and Doomshaper, Dire Prophet

Tabibito, with his Trollblood army, using Grim Angus and Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls

Dhunholy Alliance (Fukuyama)

My intrepid team.  Sorry for not making it to the fight, but luckily The Kid from the Saijo gaming group was there, just waiting for a team to jump into!  He fought bravely for the Dhunholy Alliance!


DTB, with his Trollblood army, using Kolgrima, Winter Witch and Madrak, Great Chieftan

Sarge, with his Cryx army, using Goreshade the Cursed and Asphyxious the Hellbringer

The Kid, with his Convergence army using Forge Master Syntherion and Axis the Harmonic Enforcer

Eternal Journeymen (Tokyo)

This year only one team made it from Tokyo!  We were glad to see them, especially since Mitchell is one of my favorite people to play against OF ALL TIME!!!  Good luck, boys, and thanks for coming all the way to Fukuyama... it's a long trip!

Aoichiro, with his Convergence army, using Aurum Locke and Eminent Configurator Orion

Mitchell, with his Cephalyx army, using Cognifex Cyphon and Exulon Thexus

Yamazaki, with his Legion army, using Fyanna, Torment of Everblight and Anamag

Signs and Portents (Hiro-saka) 

A mix of two Osaka players with the strongest player from Saijo, Signs and Portents is the team to beat at the tourney this year!  These are very, very good players who make very few mistakes, and know your army better than you know it yourself!

Rantei, with his Skorne army, using Dominar Rasheth and Makeda & the Exalted Court

Kimtaku, with his Cryx army, using The Witch Coven of Garlghast and Wraith Witch Deneghra

Vladamir, with his Khador army, using Old Witch 2 and Vladimir, the Dark Champion

Team Kyushu (Kyushu)

Another team from far far away, the Kyushu team is made up of great veteran player and a couple of newer additions to the gaming world.  We were happy to have them, and hope the new guys had fun and stick with it!


Hai!  Yamanaka-desu! with his Mercenary army, using Magnus the Traitor and Ashlynn d'Elyse

Ryo, with his Khador army, using Koldun Kommander Zerkova and Kommandant Sorscha Kratikoff

Zweifel, with his Cygnar army, using Major Prime Victoria Haley and Major Victoria Haley

Trick or Treat (Osaka)

Who let these Dread Rots in here???

Triple Grymkin!  Squee!  I love love love Grymkin armies, and I have been in love with Enzo's army since he showed up with it last year!  I was super excited to see it again!


Enzo, with his Grymkin army, using Zevanna Agha, the Fate Keeper and The Child

JC, with his Grymkin army, using The Wanderer and The Dreamer

NiwaNiwa, with his Grymkin army, using The King of Nothing and The Heritic

The Tables:
We had some really great tables set up this year... last year's tables were already amazing, but we got a couple more mats, a lot more terrain, and there were some amazing themed tables ready to turn into hellish battlescapes!  Twelve tables were prepared, nine of them as thematic masterpieces.  We tried to throw in some tactical importance as well when it came to choosing tables... some were fairly open terrain, while others were very hard to navigate.  Here are some of our favorites!

     The Beach -

Pretty neat, huh?  I love this new mat!  We toyed with the idea of making the ocean side of the map rough terrain, but in the end decided that that would be too much. 

     Farm Fields -

This is one of the super wide open ones.  Anyone with a colossal or a gargantuan probably would want to take this board.  There was some debate with the wheat field terrain pieces if they should be rough terrain or forests, but most of us decided to use it as a forest.  Just cause, you know... funny!

     Thornwood Hell -

Orgoth towers are always fun terrain.  Add a million forests and you've got a battle that's bound to get bogged down!

     Taiga Circle -

A little table dedicated to the Circle Oroboros, who did not make an appearance this year!  Those pesky ley lines were harnessed on the dais in the upper right corner, with a wizard's tower near the middle.

     Cityscape -

Nope, your eyes aren't tricking you, the board is tilted!  This mat was made before pre-measuring was allowed, so to make sure that you couldn't just eyeball distances, the mat was designed to be slightly off center.

After that, we had the four main warmachine faction tables (Cryx, Cygnar, Khador and Protectorate), and then three "basic" mats.  The most hated mat of the day?  Khador (of course, haha).

     Khador -

It was just too hard to maneuver around the positioning of the big gun in the back and the ammunition crates and extra shells.  So much hate!

Our Gracious Sponsors:
No tournament is complete without prizes.  And for us, we had some amazing gifts from several great companies!
    - Privateer Press  https://privateerpress.com/ 
          Privateer Press donated several models, templates, markers, and etc.

    - Broken Egg Games http://www.brokenegggames.com/ 
          This is an awesome company that makes incredible products.  They offered a massive discount
                and convention exclusive items TO EVERY PLAYER!!!  Amazing!

    - Discount Games Inc. https://www.discountgamesinc.com/ 
          Discount Games gave us gift certificates to the three members of the winning team!

    - Frozen Forge https://frozenforge.com/ 
          Frozen Forge also gave gift certificates for the three winning members!

Thank you so much to all of the sponsors!  The tourney wouldn't have been a success without you! 

Round 1 - 

And now, on to the gaming!  Yeah!  Here are the match-ups for the first round!

     0.3 Ton VS Eternal Journeymen
     Dhunholy Alliance VS Team Kyushu
     Trick or Treat VS Signs And Portents
     Band of Heroes takes the pass this round

This round, we used the "Pit 2" Scenerio.
Good games were had all around... Dhunholy Alliance, my poor team, managed to get three wins out of the round, even though I wasn't there, so good work, boys!  The Kid really jumped in with both feet!  DTB's battle was a long semi-bloody slog, where no units were fully destroyed on either side, and the only solo death WAS THE PATROL DOG!!!!  Hahahahahahahaha!

Winners for the round - Eternal Journeymen, Dhunholy Alliance, and Signs And Portents!

And Now For Something Completely Different:
No, no Monty Python today!  After the end of the first round, teams headed out to find themselves some rations to keep their energy up into the next round, and our intrepid TO Leland took a look at the armies to determine the prized Best Painted Army!  Some (but sadly, not all) of the armies up for the honor:

Rantei's Skorne -

Daizo's Trollbloods -

Mitchell's Cephalyx -

Enzo's Grymkin -

Genki's Trollbloods -

Vlad's Khador -

The Kid's Convergence -

That's all for now!  Tune in to find out who will take home the coveted Best Painter award!

Round 2 -

As the JOTC is a three round tournament, round 2 is mega important as it will determine who is going on to the championship game!  The match-ups for round 2!

     Dhunholy Alliance VS Signs And Portents
     Eternal Journeymen VS Band of Heroes
     0.3 Ton VS Team Kyushu
     Trick or Treat takes the pass this round

This round used the Mirage scenario, which is also one of my very favorites, though it can lead to a brutal and quick finish for teams that are not used to scenario play.  This scenario uses two circular zones and three... yes, that's right, THREE flags!!!
Dhunholy Alliance managed to scrape out another round victory, with DTB and The Kid wresting victory from the hands of our enemies.  Surprisingly, Sarge lost his game, but since it was a team effort, the Dhunholy Alliance was rocketed into the finals!  YES!!!

Winners for the round:  Dhunholy Alliance, Eternal Journeymen, and 0.3 Ton!

Round 3 -

Well, well, well... the whole last week before the tournament started, the Dhunholy Alliance was working out strategies, match-ups, anything to help us take our game to the very top.  Then, I was out, and it looked like all of out hard work went out the window... and then The Kid swooped in and saved the day, helping lead our team all the way to the championship table!  That's right, we're in the finals, baby!

     Championship: Dhunholy Alliance VS Eternal Journeymen
     Trick or Treat VS Band of Heroes
     0.3 Ton VS Signs And Portents
     Team Kyushu took the pass round this time

As the fates of all lay in the dice on the table, I had finally arrived in time to cheer my teammates on in their games.  I ALSO got to get a game in with Zweifel from Team Kyushu, a relatively new player who had a by this round.  He was a super nice guy, and we had a great game, but sadly for him, he was unaware of the AMAZING POWERS OF THE TESTAMENT OF MENOTH who walked through his front line and smashed Haley 3 in the face repeatedly until the submitted.  A big pile of souls reclaimed from his fallen comrades gave him so many shots at her that it was almost impossible that she would survive.  And she did not.  VICTORY!!!!

Winners of this round:  Trick or Treat, Signs And Portents, and.....
                                                                   and....
                                       and...

Results - 

Eternal Journeymen WINS!!!!!!!

Yes, the Tokyo team pulled out a victory over our very own Dhunholy Alliance!  In an amazing 2-1 victory, they really proved that they deserve to be the Team Champions of Japan!  In fact, only The Kid managed to pull out a victory for our team, so it was a GREAT thing that he was our alternate!  Good Work, Kid!  Thanks again!

Taking second place, DHUNHOLY ALLIANCE!!!

In fact, only The Kid managed to pull out a victory for our team, so it was a GREAT thing that he was our alternate!  Good Work, Kid!  Thanks again!  You all fought the good fight!

Arriving in third place, Signs And Portents!

Amazing work from this very strong team.  The second and third place standings all came down to points, and Signs And Portents has just too few to squeek out the second place spot.  A very strong showing from these guys... I know they'll be back with a vengence next year!

And finally... the winners of the Painting contest!

Taking Bronze - Rantei with his Skorne army!

Taking Silver - Mitchell with his Cephalyx army

 

Taking Gold - Vlad with his Khador army!  Congratulations on this great army, Vlad!

 

And finally, because I can never get enough of this army and how amazing it looks, the Commissarial award (this blog's best painted category), here are more shots of Enzo's great Grymkin army!

And with that, the 6th Annual Japan Open Team Championship is officially closed!  Thanks so much to everyone who came to take part, and especially to Leland for taking over the TO position.  It went great!  I can't wait to see everyone again next year!

Commissarial Snap Inspection - Astral Games

Well, well, well!  Back again after a long, well deserved vacation in the States.  Some of it was amazing!  And some of it was... well, less amazing, but all in all, a successful holiday visiting family and friends.  I will say this, almost nothing in my life has been more stressful than hustling two very small children across an ocean all on my lonesome.  Yikes!  I do NOT recommend that.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.  Luckily for me, I am an Imperial Commissar, and not one to fail in my duties!  Ergo, everyone made it there, and everyone made it back, all safe and sound.  Success!!!  All praise the Emperor.  But before I get into what an amazing trip it was, a few things.

Working Hard or Hardly Working
What's a vacation without a little painting, am I right?  Okay, no I did not bring my models with me all the way to the other continent, but I did do some for a stress relief after returning home... I give to you the last of my Paladins!  With him out of the way, a single model stands between me and two fully painted lists in October... well, I guess a single character with two models.  The Champion of the Order of the Wall is the last to go, with both his mounted and dismounted forms.  And then we shall be complete!!!!  Mua-hahahahaha!
     Working Hard:  Paladin of the Order of the Wall

A third Paladin?  Don't mind if I do!

Man, I love these models.  This is hopefully the last one I'm going to have to paint though, since even with the Paladin theme force, three seems to be the limit.  Add to that Dartan and the Champion, and my TOM list is simply lousy with Paladin strength!

     WIP:  Champion of the Order of the Wall

One model to go!

There he is!  The last of the models for this year!  A few more painting sessions and he should be all finished!

Announcements:
This is it!  October is literally right around the corner, and so it is time to start seriously turning our thoughts towards the upcoming 6th Annual Japan Open Team Championship!  It'll be held October 7 in Fukuyama at the community center behind the castle!  Spaces are starting to run out, so NOW is the time to register your team!  After the tournament will be a nomikai (drinking party) and the 8th will be a free gaming day.  And remember, if you couldn't find a teammate, let us know and we can help match you with a team, or you can be a stand-in in case we have a no show.  And at the very least, you could get in some games during the free day!  So hurry and register, it's going to be great!

In preparation, the Fukuyama Gaming Club will have it's last meeting before the tournament on September 9, so stop by if you want a game.  

Right.  Well, with that out of the way, it is time for trip details!  I saw lots of good people... ate lots of good food... enjoyed being in my home country for a welcome change of pace... and got to hang out at some amazing places, two of which were our local gaming stores.  The area I live in is called the Rogue Valley (I know, it's the best name for a place to grow up, right?  Guess that explains my love of pirates, haha!) and in the valley are a collection of several smaller towns.  The two biggest each have a gaming store... Fun Again Games in Ashland, which I visited with my dear Inquisitor, and Astral Games in Medford.  So today, let's take an in depth look at one of our friendly neighborhood gaming stores, Astral Games.

Snap Inspection:  Astral Games

Astral Games

125 S. Central Ave. Suite 110, Medford Oregon  

Awww, I love to see that logo!

Astral Games... if I still lived in town, they would be taking a whole lot more of my paychecks than they rightfully should.  Since I don't, I make sure to drop a significant amount of cash there whenever I find myself in town.

Astral was opened years and years ago by this guy...

Imperial Selfie!

Aaron.  Aaron is one of my best friends from many many years ago.  More years ago than I care to remember, to be honest, haha!  We even were housemates for a while before I made the big move across the ocean.  He opened Astral Games in it's original location in 2008.  After doing amazingly, he relocated it to it's current location... near the local college.  Oh man!  What THAT a good decision.  Since he moved there, he's doing so well that he was able to rent out the whole space NEXT TO THE SHOP, and doubled the size of the place, adding a video game corner, since, you know, college kids literally within walking distance!  So here we are,  years since the new location opened, and Astral is one of the strongest gaming shops I know!  Allow me to show you around!

First off... introductions!

Astral Games is now staffed by a whopping 5 people.  Here, you have almost the whole team.  From the left, Sean (Board Game Specialist), Aaron (King of All He Purveys), Emily (Magic Specialist), and Crystal (Store Management).  A delightful crew!  Not seen here is Josh, the Warmachine Specialist... I just missed getting him in this shot!  Too bad!

The shop is separated into several areas to ease your ability to find stuff!  First up, as I already mentioned, the video game room!

So roomy!

So, here we have the video game alley.  You can hang out on these comfy couches for $5 for the whole day.  The.  Whole.  Day.  They have all kinds of systems and all kinds of games, so go nuts!  On the right, we have rows of card/ board game tables, and way WAY in the back are a couple of Warmachine/ Hordes tables!  But that's not all!

VR and Arcade Games and Wamachine tables, oh my!

The room is topped off with a couple of arcade games, and two (that's right, TWO!!) virtual reality consols!  Haha, I want to try it!  These bad boys are $5 per hour, and they next time I'm in town, you can bet that I'm going to try it!

Southern Oregon Warmachine Group

Warmachine tables!  And a bunch of people to play with!  It's like a dream come true!  More on the Warma/Hordes community here in a minute!

Board games and card games take up the front of the store.

Back in the main room, you are confronted with a veritable wall of board games!  So, so many board games to look at.  There's only about ten or so that I'm desperate to try, but it's a little too hard to carry them back to Japan, so I'm going to have to try resist the urge to buy them!  Also in this corner are a couple of displays for magic, Monster Hunter, and a couple of other card based games and accessories for them, like card mats, carrying cases, and so on.

You need a plushie... and YOU need a plushie!

Woot!  Who doesn't like plushies!  Also, comic boxes, and on the top shelf is art from local artists.  This was a part of the store that I didn't know about before this trip back home, but Astral Games is doing a whole lot of partnerships with local artists, which is an amazing thing!  Art prints, leather dice bags, and a whole bunch of other items are on sale, giving local artists a great stage to offer their goods to more people!

Mmmmmm, new comics!

New comics!  Once a week (Wednesday, I believe) the new comics are unbundled and rolled out onto the racks!  It's been a long time since I liked any comics enough to collect them, but after an incredibly long hiatus, Neil Gaiman has restarted his Sandman series, and I'm back in the game!  I managed to be just in time to snag the first one, but looks like I'm going to have to play catch up from here!

Guess how many characters there are!

The center floor space is given to many many displays of Funzo Pop figures, and my mind is blown by how many there are!  From comic book characters to cartoons, movies and games, any characters that you might be into are probably in Pop form.  I even managed to score a Death Pop from the old Sandman comics (mostly due to the fact that Aaron and I and a group of friends went as the Endless in New Orleans one memorable Halloween). 

Warhammer... my first love

Ooooh, now we're getting closer to the good stuff!  Warhammer from Games Workshop, the gate way drug to wargaming!  Like most people, I'm sure, I began my wargaming life in the 40K universe when I was sold a Grey Knights army and my friends started teaching me how to play.  Since then I've worked on several Warhammer armies... a Sisters of Battle army I got from the previously mentioned Inquisitor, a Lizardman army for the Fantasy game, an Escher gang for Necromunda, and a Norse Blood Bowl team.  I turned away from Games Workshop for a couple of dubious business decisions they made, but now the company seems to be rectifying it's former mistakes, and the Nighthaunts from the Age of Sigmar game are calling my name!  In a seperate room from the Warmachine tables, there are several Warhammer tables set up with some really spectacular terrain!

And finally the good stuff!

Ahh, yes!  There it is!  The Warmachine/ Hordes wall!  Woot!  While I have dabbled in other games, Warmachine is where my heart lies!  I was lucky on this trip to meet the Warma/Hordes group that meets here once a week, and man, am I jealous!  Once a week!  The Fukuyama Gaming Club only can get together once a month!  I can't imagine how good we would get if we could meet more often.  And not only that, but there seems to be a whole lot of events, like Caster Drafts, Tournaments, and possibly narrative leagues?  Not to mention that they have a whole lot of members.  I didn't manage to get a game in, but several of the players have multiple armies, and I was offered a loan of a Menoth army, but alas, due to timing I wasn't able to work it out.  Now, thought, I have that most important of assets, contacts!  Thus, when I come into town next, I'll be able to get in some games for sure!

Southern Oregon Warma/Hordes group

Believe it or not, this isn't everyone!  Jealous!  I'm looking forward to having some good times with these guys next time! 

Conclusion:
Since this is the first ever Commissarial Snap Inspection, let me explain the rating system.  The spectrum ranges from "Warp-storm Spawned Disaster" to "Imperial Excellence" with several middling levels in the middle that include "Industrial Hive World" "Inquisitor Hang Out." And now, drumroll please...

Astral Games will receive the grade of .... "Imperial Excellence."  Congratulations, Aaron!  This store is amazing, roomy, friendly, full of goodness, and has a strong customer base of people that enjoy gaming and having fun.  Until next time, Astral!  I'll be back to spend all of my money next time!

If you want to check it out for yourself, you can find out more here! www.Astralgamesonline.com