Okay, I’ve had a few people asking me how Gencon went, so I figured that this year I should do a big write-up, like many others have.
First of all, I’ve gotta say thanks to several people who were really helpful to me in preparation for Gencon, and also just through their encouragement. Steve (Fool) has always been a big encourager, and Phillip (Joruus) has kicked my butt a number of times in practice, which was great preparation for losing to him twice at Gencon.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
The Vassal tournaments run by Dean and Jonny have been my only competitive venue for practicing, so sincere thanks go out to them as well.
A person whose help has likely been a little less well-known is my French friend Sebastien (Gordon here and on Vassal). Gordon often stayed up late listening to our Vassal tourney games on Skype (but not speaking because his family was sleeping). In France, this was from the hours of 1 am to 6 am or something like that. It was through our conversations here that Sebastien offered to help me practice further for Gencon. We found a couple of times to get together on Vassal and play some squad matchups which I knew would be difficult for my squad to handle, and his assistance in this regard was a huge help. This was especially generous of him, because he was giving up lots of sleep to play them! Sebastien is a solid player already himself, and he was a big help and encouragement as I prepared for Gencon this year. Merci tres beaucoup, Sebastien! Je vais assister a toi quand tu le veux aussi. Tu n’est jamais un petit jouer!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
One more thing before I get into the details: I already had almost all of the JA set (a case out of a 40-piece set will do that, woot!), so already back in June, I promised my boys who love to play with SWMinis (Zack is 6, Derek is 4, Jordan is 2) that all the minis I won this year at Gencon would be for them. So I wasn’t just playing for me and for the thrill of competition and winning…I was also playing for my boys. Do or do not…thereisnotry…and I had come to DO!
Now for the Gencon recap….
Eric (Ruhk) and I live about 2 hours apart from each other, and we often get together for some SWM on release days, since I get my cases from the LGS which is 5 minutes from his house. We were planning to drive to Gencon together last year, but that fell through. Therefore, I was excited when he was able to join me this year. Eric arrived at my house late on Tuesday night, and slept over until the next morning, when we started our 9 hour drive to the center of all things SWM. The trip went well, with the only strange thing being that the Border Officer asked if either of us had ever been arrested or convicted of any felonies.
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif)
Well, I had never had that question when trying to cross the border before. Eric said he asked us the question because we were going to a gaming convention; I think it was because we looked like gangsters. It was all I could do, not to say “BOMB!”
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
We arrived in Indy around 4:30 pm, and waited in line to get our tickets/badges, etc. It was cool, because we saw Jim and Dean and Nate right away as we walked in the doors. Nate has gotten taller since last year…now I’m afraid to have a sword fight with him!
We survived the incredibly slow line-ups and eventually surfaced with our tickets and badges, etc. Stake-n-Shake was our supper that night. And their $3.99 price for a complete meal was enough to bring us back there every night for the rest of our stay in Indy. One of those nights, we were joined by Shinja and his friend (sorry I forgot your name!) who was trained in a crazy number of martial arts. That was pretty cool, because I’ve had some MA training myself, so we had a good conversation. Shinja suggested that I write an article for Bloomilk at some point, and I think I will, once I figure out a good topic which hasn’t yet been covered. We bought some snacks at a grocery store, and our breakfast was free at the hotel, so that in the end our food budget came to less than $40 for the whole stay. Not bad, eh? Yeah, we Canadians know how to eat on a budget. You learn to do that when you spend most of your life hunting caribou in the frozen wastelands of the Canadian North….
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Thursday night we had some pie and played in Lobo’s awesome RPG. It was a total blast. Lobo, sir, you are an excellent GM! My character worked out just like I hoped he would: I kicked butt with my martial arts, and only took damage on a critical hit. Oh yeah, and I used Mechanics to open a door once. And at one point I tackled Nate’s character who was about to ruin the whole mission by killing the guy whose information we needed to complete the mission. It was fun, lotsa fun. But as with so many other cool things at Gencon, there wasn’t enough time to do everything we wanted, so we never got to finish it.
Friday morning, Eric and I used our epic Canadian running skills to make it to the SWM hall just in time to sign up for the 150pt Jedi Challenge. I used Smuggler Cannon, and I was 3-0 in that tourney, until the 4th round when I faced Phillip (Joruus), whose out-activating Landspeeder squad caused me massive headaches. He won, because I made the wrong move at one point, giving up Han to his LS, and being unable to hide Rieekan and Leia from it the next 2 rounds. If I had won that game, I would’ve been 11-1 for the Jedi Challenge, and won something cool. Oh well.
After that, I went 4-0 in the 200pt Jedi Challenge, with my NR Melee Disruption squad (Kyle JBM, Mara, Ossus, Leia, Wedge, Dodonna, 4 mice, 2 ugs) which Joruus had helped me fine-tune just a few days before. I have always enjoyed 200pts, and ever since KotoR I have loved NR at 200…so this was just great fun. Moving the Championship level to 200pts for next year is just fine with me! “Stay on target”….”But I like 200”….”Stay on target.” So at this point I was 7-1, along with about 100 other people (or so it seemed), and Matt Hanson was 8-0. With the last leg of the Jedi Challenge the next morning, I knew that if I wanted any chance to win it, I’d have to go 4-0 in the 100 (very difficult because it’s so wide open), and Matt would have to lose a game.
I wasn’t sure what to play at 100 pts; I was considering my Han ST/IC and AA swarm which I used last year, but I decided on Yoda and Rex because GMY is my favourite piece in the game. Well, would ya know whom I was paired with in Round 1 of the 100 tourney the next morning? Yep, Matt Hanson! Both of us groaned and rolled our eyes, because neither of us wanted to play each other in the first round. And what was worse, we were playing exactly the same squad: GMY, Rex. R2, and Ug. We played on his Bespin. And before I go any further, I’ve gotta say: Matt Hanson is an outstanding player, and a whole lot of fun to play against. My two games against him at Gencon were among my most enjoyable all weekend. Anyway, our 100pt game was a chess match, as expected. It came down to my R2 surviving a salvo from his Rex, and then his Rex surviving with 10 hp when my Rex missed once. He won the next init to fly R2 and Rex away, but I was able to catch them with my R2 and Rex, killing both of them, but losing R2 to his Yoda. Then my Yoda twinned on his with Ataru (a move he didn’t see coming), and eventually his Yoda fell to my Yoda after downing Rex. So I managed to scrape by that one, but it was tough match. So now the impossible had happened: Matt had lost, and we were both 8-1. I just needed to win my next 3 100pt games, and I’d win a complete set of something for my boys. I won the next 2. Arg.
My round 4 opponent, Chris (Jaster_Mareel) was playing Rex, Dash, R2, Lobot, and an Ug. He was wise to bring an R4 (the best JA piece!) and fodder with Lobot. In round 3 I towed Yoda to throw at Dash and Lobot, hitting both and putting 20 dmg on Dash (failed evade) I thought I was sitting well because I was up on points and we both had single override. But then Chris made a great move at the end of the round to tow his Rex into position to hit my Rex with no cover, and he made all his shots. That hurt. Then he won initiative and killed both R2 and my ug with Rex. That really hurt. I was down on points, had 1 piece left, and had no counter to his override. He was just locking me out, which left me helpless. However, I was listening carefully and pounced on his mistake when he forgot to declare that he was maintaining his override. He said he did say it, but I know he didn’t because I was listening for it. Jack Irons as judge came over and said that since he wasn’t watching the whole game, the only thing he could do was get us to roll off, and the winner of the roll would have the decision go their way. IMHO, that was the best decision he could make at the time, and from what I could tell, it typified the level of judging we had this year…kudos and thanks, guys! My opponent asked how much hp Yoda had left (90) and let me go for it anyway. Yoda made his epic charge, did another 20 dmg to Dash, was targeted by the R4, and then died in a blaze of glory from Rex and Dash. Being out-activated so badly was what killed me. Yoda and Rex are a great combo in 100pts, but they really suffer when they face a high-damage squad that out-activates them. So I ended the 100 tourney 3-1, with a 10-2 record, just like last year. However, this year there were 3 players who ended 11-1, so I came 5th in the Jedi Challenge. Bill was helpful to point out to me that he got 4th.
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
lol
I was slightly disappointed because 1 more win would’ve meant a complete set for my boys (they’re always asking to use my Rex and Ahsoka), but on the bright side, I did manage to win 6 boosters (3-1 twice and 4-0 once) as prizes, and I was very grateful for that.
Friday afternoon, Eric and Peter (Georgiedenbro, awesome Canadian guy who lives in New York) and I toured the Dealer Hall. It was cool seeing all the stuff. The best part was certainly meeting Christ West and buying his awesome maps and tiles. I saw a preview of his Dagobah map, and I’ll certainly be buying that one too, when it comes out. I’m waiting for my new map to be laminated, but already, I’ll say this: it’s simply gorgeous! If you haven’t bought one yet, make sure you do. I think I later saw Chris playing in one of the Sealed tournaments, which was pretty cool. I love it that someone who is involved in the game’s production also plays the game with us at Gencon. He has already gained much appreciation on these boards, and for good reason. I hope WotC keeps using his material.
Then it was time for the 200pt Team Tournament. Jason Bell did an outstanding job organizing and running it. Hopefully next year we can have it at a better timeslot. I was on Team Canada with Eric (Ruhk) and Phillip (Joruus), who was our honorary Canadian and also our team captain. My first match of the team tourney was…how to say it well…annoying. I was running the same NR squad I’d used earlier in the 200pt tourney. My opponent was running new Thrawn, Boba BH, Nyna, and Keldors. I figured, “Oh, no problem…let my super-evading Kyle walk through and disrupt everything, and I’ll be fine. Well, that plan came crashing down in the beginning of the second round. Boba came out and twin-attacked Kyle, with a 15…evaded, then…a 20.
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
My full hp, super-evading Kyle, gone with one roll. Oh well, at least I have Mara…and Leia can use LS throw to kill 1 Keldor per round. Next round, Boba swaps in close to the action and attacks Mara. Once again, I’m not too worried, because I have super-evade and fps for rerolls. His first roll: 20.
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
That’s 99pts of my squad disintegrated in two turns! I was a little bit less than happy after that. I did manage to earn 112 points with the remaining 101 pts in my squad, but I ended up losing. My two teammates won their game, so we won the pairing with a 2-1 record. Nothing much you can do when your top 2 pieces are disintegrated in back-to-back rounds.
Next round, we were paired against Team Elitist Jerks--hilarious name! It was the super team of Bill, Matt, and Dean. We chose Joruus to play his LS swap squad against Bill’s Imperial Cade-swapping squad, and I was against Dean’s Yobuck/Panaka/Rex/Aurra/Roron squad. Dean won map, so we played on Jedi Temple. I managed to kill Yobuck to start the third round when Dean forgot about Kyle’s riposte, but I ended up losing Wedge anyway, which really hurt my squad. Kyle went down the next round, and Leia after that. At the end, I was closing in on his wounded Panaka and Roron, but my Mara was at 30 hp, so his Aurra would’ve killed her anyway. We lost that match 1-2, so we were now 3-3. We played our next team matchup vs Nate Miller’s team, and went 3-0 vs them. After that, we were already out of the running for the top prizes, so we decided to drop in order to play in Tile Wars. Next year, Team Canada will surely be back. All in all, it was a fabulous event, and a highlight of Gencon for me. Thanks to Jason Bell for the outstanding job running it!
I had built my Tile Wars squad (Warmaster, Vong JH x3, Nom, Priest, Yomin, Scout) to counter all the force-heavy squads I expected to see, especially Kyle squads. I wanted to play Kyle, but I feared all the Jedi Hunters, so I went with Vong instead. Well, I should’ve worried more about Seps. My first round was vs a Mando team with 6-shooting Canderous. He killed 2 of my JHs in an opening salvo, but fell quickly afterward to momentum-scarred-poisoning JHs. Boba Merc fell next round to Warmaster, and I barely scraped out of that high-damage matchup with a 30 hp Warmaster and Nom and maybe a few other pieces. Very fun match! My next round was against a Sep Lancer and T1 squad. Man, those T1s are insane in Tile Wars! It was a superbly-built squad, with 40hp of healing per round (Gha, Wat, and R5) and a load of damage output. I killed the Lancer, and that was about it. My next round was vs a double-basilisk wardroid squad with a mando captain and Zam Wesell. However, the person playing the squad misunderstood Strafe, so she never strafed my squad. I managed to pull out a victory here, even though she could’ve creamed my squad in 2 strafes; I explained this to her afterward. My final match was vs Jeremy (Eruletho), with yet another Mando squad (I played against 3 in the same tournament!). I was able to overwhelm his 3xGunslingers and 3xScouts with my Momentum/Poison JHs, and managed to go 3-1, winning another booster for my boys. So Tile Wars was awesome. Very high damage matches, and very fun to play in. However, it took WAY too long. The rounds were limited to 1 hour, and there was 1 player who took the entire allotted time each round, so I got to bed at 3:00 am on the night before the Championship, rather than 1:00 or 1:30. I relayed this to Tim the next morning, and he agreed that something needed to be done with match length for next year. One thing is for sure, though: I’ll be signing up for Tile Wars again! It was a blast to play!
The Championship was…predictable. There were a million Snowspeeder squads, as we all knew there would be. And I had one of them, so I suppose I can’t complain.
Round 1
My first round was against a younger guy from Cambridge, which is my wife’s home town…yes, in Canada. He was playing Boba BH, GMY, Dark Woman, and a Gonk Droid. I sniped his Gonk (and damaged Boba) at the end of the 2nd round, but I was hesitant to chase him down as I’d like to, because of the threat of Disintegration and Yoda’s 80-dmg Ataru, both of which could wreck my speeder in no time flat. So I just chose my shots well and was sure to never give Boba or Yoda an easy LOS. Eventually, after 8 or 9 rounds, I had finished off DW, then Boba, then finally Yoda. 1-0.
Round 2
Guess who I was paired with again? Yep, Matt Hanson! Both of us groaned again, because neither wanted to play the other again. It was an exact mirror match, right down to the reinforcements. I played on the left of Teth. It was a chess match all the way, with both of us knowing exactly what the other person was planning and setting up for, even as they made their moves. I was able to snipe Lobot early in the game, and Matt failed that crucial evade. But I paid for it with Juno. So now Matt had to come to me, and he sure was doing it. He was maneuvering his pieces up the board, gaining gambit and slowly but inevitably backing me into a corner (Juno is so valuable in this situation!). However, at the end of one round, right before Matt was able to blow the door and engage my squad, I was able to set up a move which Matt didn’t see coming. I moved a mouse down the top hallway, to where the door had already been blown up. Matt said, “Hey, easy recon for next round’s crucial init!” and moved Rieekan close to the mouse. I then used my last activation to fly my Speeder down the other hallway and into striking distance of his Rieekan. Then the crucial init came, and I rolled a 20…he rolled a 10 and 15, I think. Whew. So I based Rieekan for 40 dmg. Matt has to respond with a big move, so he runs Han 12 and pumps him with Leia, trying to hit my mouse, which I will use to pump the speeder on my next activation…Han needed a 10 to hit, but rolled a 6. Whew again. So I finished off Rieekan, and things were solidly in my favour after that. This one was a very, very tight match. If Matt had either made his Lobot evade or seen my SS deep-strike coming, I’m sure he would’ve won. Once again, Matt was an outstanding opponent, and had exemplary sportsmanship. 2-0.
Round 3
“Would you like another mirror match with your fries, sir?” “Why certainly, thank you!” ![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
lol This round I was paired against Dan (Echo), who once again had an exact mirror match. I was once again on the left of Teth. And once again, it was a chess match. Dan played flawlessly making not a single mistake. We went back and forth, sniping each other’s fodder and jockeying for gambit. In the end I won by 5 points, by basing Juno with my Speeder for the kill in the center of the map. This one could’ve easily gone either way, and I must say, Dan played it perfectly. Like all well-played mirror-matches, this one came down to dice. As it turns out, I had convinced Dan to play the Speeder in a Vassal tournament just a few weeks prior, when I beat his NR 150 squad (Kyle, Mara, Wedge) in just a few rounds. He said he didn’t have a Speeder of his own, and I offered to bring an extra (my boy’s) so he could use it. It turned out that he didn’t need it though, since another one of his friends loaned it to him. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t “convinced” him so clearly, since I almost lost a game because of it. lol 3-0.
Lunch time. Whew! Meesa tired! A Steak-n-Shake burger later, and I’m back to the grind.
Round 4
The pressure’s on. This is where I’m sure to find some really tough opponents…as if I hadn’t already! lol At this point, I’m still tired even after a lunch break (a 3:00am bedtime 2 nights in a row will do that to a man), and I’ve got a headache from playing two mirror matches against extremely good opponents. And then I see I’m paired with Aaron (LoboStele)! lol Now, a bit of history: in the past on Vassal, I’ve had a habit of rolling crits vs Lobo or else pulling out hair-thin victories at the last minute. And last year in the Championship semifinals his dice failed him miserably (his Boba rolled 2 misses vs my Bothan, etc). So as we sit down, he says,
“Okay Trev, now it’s payback!” We both laugh, choose our identical reinforcements (his main build dropped Juno for a Caamasi and a Mouse), and set up. I had the right on Teth this time, I think. This match was a bit of a blur as I remember it. We were both playing really fast (we played 7-8 rounds, I think, and it was another chess match), but I do remember Lobo rolling a crit on my Snowspeeder with his Speeder. Finally! Justice has been done! Due to that crit, he was able to kill my speeder next round and win a convincing victory. Really well-played game, nothing I can complain about. Lobo went on to go 7-0 for the Swiss Rounds, which was great to see. 3-1 for me.
Round 5
I still don’t know the name of my opponent for this round, but he had a scary squad and played it well: Yobuck, Dash, Rex, R2, Lobot, and fodder. The only thing that kept me alive was the fact that I out-activated him thanks to Dodonna. I also brought a Human BG for reinforcements, and used him to keep my main pieces alive after Yobuck’s gallop in round 2. After the gallop, I focused fire and managed to bring him within 20 hp of death, then I won the next init and finished him off. After that, he waited me out, waiting to get a chance to put 80 dmg on my SS with Rex. He tried to bait me a few different times with Lobot or another juicy target, but I remember Dean and others telling me that I tend to play too aggressively with this squad. And so I instead waited him out, and later made a deep strike on Dash at the end of the round. I made sure our pieces were positioned in such a way that Rex couldn’t target the Speeder with all of his shots (my mouse was closer), so that even if I lost the next init I’d be fine. Well, I won the init anyway so I killed Dash and escaped. Rex went down pretty quickly after that. It was nice to not play another mirror match. And this Yobuck/Rex/Dash combo is pretty scary…I’ll have to play it at some point in the future. 4-1. All I had to do now was win the next 2 matches, and I’d be in the Top 8. Even if I lost one of them, I would’ve likely been fine going 5-2 since my SoS was so high (Matt, Dan, Aaron).
Round 6
My opponent was Eric (Ruhk). Oh, man. Not my SWM buddy! Not the guy who I drove with! This sucked. I hate it when I have to play against a good friend in a tournament, because I always want them to do well, but I still really want to win. Once again, it was a mirror match. That’s the 4th one today, and I’m pretty tired of them. lol I was on the left side of Teth. Near the beginning of the match, Eric did a deep strike with his Speeder, killing Lobot (I think). I focused fire on the Speeder (bringing it down to 20 hp) and made sure it was disrupted, but I lost init the next round, so I lost Dodonna and the Speeder flew 18 away. The thing was, after attacking with Juno I moved her 1 square too far from Eric’s Speeder, so that when he flew it away, it was outside the maximum range of Juno’s disruptive. I had to base the Speeder for the kill. Eric responded by using Juno to disrupt my Han, and then using the Han/Leia combo to kill him. That put him up on points, with my full-hp Speeder, Leia, and Juno against Eric’s Juno, Han, and Leia. Next and final round, I’m down on points (Lobot + Han > Snowspeeder), so I’ve gotta kill something. The problem is, Eric has (ingeniously) positioned his pieces in such a way that the only way I can base Juno for the kill is by putting my Speeder within 6 of Han and Leia (so no evade). I figure
, “Well, if I can kill her, I’ll be up on points and the Speeder will survive.” I make the move, and Eric moves Han up to take his shot, needing a 6. As Eric is about to roll, I say
, “Man, a crit would really suck right about now….” And yep, Eric rolls a 20.
![Sad :sad:](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Then the Leia/Han shot hit, so I lost the Speeder and the game. 4-2.
After this loss, I was ambivalent. On the one hand, I was happy for Eric, who was ecstatic after beating me. But on the other hand, I’ve just taken a very precarious position, where it’s very likely I won’t have a place in the Top 8.
At this point, there was a fire drill. How nice. It turns out that some Magic players show their worth and steal some stuff. I’ve got a few words (and knuckles) to share with them (yes, Chuck, I share your indignation at this sort of thing), but here is not the place.
Round 7
I had to win this match if I wanted to stand even a small chance of making the Top 8. So who is my opponent? Phillip (Joruus)! lol I’ve already lost this matchup to him before, so I knew it was going to be tough. I won the crucial map roll (I don’t want to play on his Bespin!), and Phil chose the left on Teth. There’s not a whole lot to say here. I was out-activated from the start, and Philip was protecting his fodder very well, so I started taking shots against his Landspeeder already in the 2nd round. I missed at least 60% of my shots, even with fp rerolls, and the ones that did hit were easily evaded by Phil. At one point in the game, Phil was contemplating a move, trying to decide whether to base my Speeder or not, and he said,
“Well, with your dice, I probably don’t even need to base you.”
He won the next initiative and killed my Snowspeeder. I did some damage with Han and Leia, but he finished them off the next round. 4-3.
So that was it; I was out of contention for the Top 8. I was really bummed and disappointed. There was nothing I really could’ve done differently, no major mistakes or anything which cost me the games…the dice just didn’t go my way, in the end. As I was thinking, Chuck (Nivuahc) came up to me and encouraged me. He said he was surprised to not see me in the Top 8. And then he relayed how Dan (Echo) had relayed our match to Chuck. Dan had said that he had never played such a good (IMHO flawless) game in his life, and that
“Trevor played it like a champion.” That lifted my spirits immensely. It reminded me that yes, even though I didn’t make the Top 8, I still did play well, and that I had a lot to be happy about. I had really wanted to make the Top 8, but it just didn’t happen. And in this field, filled with some outstanding competitors, that’s fine with me. I gave it my best. Yoda says, “Do or do not, there is no try.” Well, I did. I didn’t give up (ie, do not), and I didn’t just try. I gave it my best, and I’m happy with the results.
Phil’s win against me gave him a 5-2 record, which was enough with his SoS to give him a spot in the Top 8. And the amazing part was that Eric also won, even though he had as his 7th round opponent Deri (fingersandteeth), the future champion who was playing Speeder-counter! So Eric made the Top 8 with a 6-1 record. When I heard this, I went from being ambivalent and disappointed about my loss to him, all the way to being ecstatic and enthusiastic for him! It was awesome! Eric hadn’t been doing well in the Jedi Challenge events, going about 50/50 on his matches; I could tell that it was discouraging for him, because we both knew he was a much better player than his record would indicate. But now he made the Top 8, going 6-1, and he even beat Deri (the future Champion!) to do it! It was great. I shared his joy entirely, and even tried to help him get ready for his first playoff matchup the next morning.
Even though they weren’t my matches, I’ll describe Eric and Phil’s playoff matches, simply because they’re 2 of my best SWM friends, and I was excited to see them both get into the Top 8.
The next day, Eric’s first-round playoff matchup was against Frank Baker from Texas, with the Kybuck-Gungan-Tank. Eric barely lost that one. In the end, it came down to the fact that his Han failed the Shield roll against Nate’s Shieldbearer, and so he took 30dmg, which was enough to allow Yobuck to kill Han later in the game. Without that failed save, Eric would’ve had the win. It was a great game to watch, and I was rooting for him all the way. But it turns out that Eric’s 20 hp Speeder failed a double-cesta (even with a fprr), and that gave Nate the game. Eric really couldn’t have played it any better; the dice just didn’t go his way, and Nate’s outstanding Gungan tank won the match (losing in the semifinals to Deri’s cunning commandos).
Phil’s first round was against Aaron (Lobo), who had gone 7-0 the previous day. However, Phil’s squad was a solid squad on its own which was built to handle the Snowspeeder quite effectively. And I didn’t get to see the whole game, but Phil was able to kill Aaron’s Rieekan, and also make a number of key evades, and that gave him the game. He lost in the semifinal to Bill, and that was just due to some insanely horrible dice. Bill crits…failed evade, failed fprr, hit…80 dmg to the Landspeeder or something. Yikes. I thought my dice were bad against Phil! Bill later made an excellent move to trap Phil’s Landspeeder in one of the alcoves by blocking him with a Caamasi Noble, and that pretty much sealed the game. All throughout this year, when Phil and I played on Vassal (which was a lot), I was trying to build his confidence and tell him that he had what it took to win the Championship this year. And once I saw his squad, I was predicting that he could run it all the way to the Finals and victory, but it looks like the dice weren’t cooperative in the end. Oh well. Phil will still be a solid contender next year, as well.
So that was my Gencon experience. All in all, it was a blast. I was disappointed to not make the Top 8, but I was really excited for my 2 close friends who beat me to make it into the Top 8. I recall last year when I realistically should never have made the Top 8, but for some insane dice luck with my Han vs James’ (Jew3) Han. I never should’ve made the Top 8 then, but I did. So this year, when I was better prepared, it’s fine that I didn’t. It all evens out in the end. As it turns out, I had the highest SoS of anyone in the tournament (70.021 or something as opposed to the next guy, who was 69.something), and all 3 of the people who beat me made the Top 8. So even in not making the Top 8, I’m happy with how I did. It was a great time, and I had a lot of fun. I played in 4 mirror matches, and 1 match against a strong counter (Phil’s Landspeeder squad), and so now…I’m absolutely SICK of the Snowspeeder! I’ll never play it again!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
lol
But I have yet to describe my favourite part about Gencon this year.
I had promised my boys that everything I won at Gencon would be for them. Well, I came home with more than 70 new minis for them, which brought a great deal of pride and gratitude to my heart, as well as HUGE smiles to their faces! They knew that Dad was trying to win stuff for them, and they were super-excited for me. My wife Erin tells me that during the week when she was camping with the kids, they were constantly talking about how excited they were for Dad to win and bring them minis. Actually, as I look back at it all, that was the best thing about Gencon this year. Yes, I had a lot of fun competing and I played really well and meeting all the people...but the best part was knowing that I was winning something special for my boys. It almost brought me to tears at some points, when I won several boosters of minis, because I knew the boys would be so excited...winning or doing well in a tournament never meant so much to me. Another single win here or there (yes, it was that close in the Jedi Challenge) would've meant that I brought home twice as many minis (a complete set of CW would’ve been amazing, since they love the TV series). But as it is, my Zack and Derek and Jordan already have a whole bunch of new minis, which they think are the greatest things in the world since Dad won them for them. As far as they're concerned, I'm the biggest Gencon champion ever. So yes, Gencon was a blast. The best part was coming home with presents to give to my boys!