KOTJ IV at Kublacon 2008 - May 23-26 Burlingame, CA
- Thread starter Chernobyl
- Start date
eldiablito
Mongoose
It was a blast!
The REALLY sad part was that, even though I THOUGHT that I knew a fair amount of B5 trivia/plot/characters, I was not prepared at all for the trivia test.
Once again, the Demos was the game winner for most fleets. That, and perhaps the Dagg'kar. One of the hardest parts of this tourney was trying to fit in that Admiral. I know I couldn't figure out how to do it effectively within my Minbari fleet. :?
The REALLY sad part was that, even though I THOUGHT that I knew a fair amount of B5 trivia/plot/characters, I was not prepared at all for the trivia test.
Once again, the Demos was the game winner for most fleets. That, and perhaps the Dagg'kar. One of the hardest parts of this tourney was trying to fit in that Admiral. I know I couldn't figure out how to do it effectively within my Minbari fleet. :?
-------eldiablito said:
Many Thanks to Chern for staging the tourney. It was truly a wonderful
event and I really enjoyed the day.
The Demos: I played 8 in th tourney, lost 6, 1 badly damged:
I killed 4 ships, and crippled 1 of my opponents. Not exactly
what I would call an overwhelmingly powerful performance.
Broken is Crusade era ships, almost any one of them, when played
against any prior era.
Well I just got back about an hour ago and man I'm tired. The Living greyhawk interactive sunday night kept me up until about 2am and I had to run 2 adventures back to back with little or no prep at APLs I'm not very good at. So I need sleep...
Anyway, I'm really glad the even went well this year. We did eventually have 9 players, and so 3 players had a "bye" round and only played 2 games. There was a great mix of ships and fleets:
Drakh, 2 Centauri, Narn, Vree, Minbari, 2 LONAW, and 1 ISA fleet.
The Narn came out on top!
And again, trivia, trivia, trivia. the best score was 3 of 20. About half the field was within the 20 points of first place, that a perfect trivia would have gotten them.
I'll have a complete write up of the event up in a couple weeks or so. I hope to have the scoring document posted tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who came and competed - I hope you all enjoyed playing as much as I did hosting. See you all next year, if not sooner.
Chernobyl
Anyway, I'm really glad the even went well this year. We did eventually have 9 players, and so 3 players had a "bye" round and only played 2 games. There was a great mix of ships and fleets:
Drakh, 2 Centauri, Narn, Vree, Minbari, 2 LONAW, and 1 ISA fleet.
The Narn came out on top!
And again, trivia, trivia, trivia. the best score was 3 of 20. About half the field was within the 20 points of first place, that a perfect trivia would have gotten them.
I'll have a complete write up of the event up in a couple weeks or so. I hope to have the scoring document posted tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who came and competed - I hope you all enjoyed playing as much as I did hosting. See you all next year, if not sooner.
Chernobyl
lastbesthope
Mongoose
Unstickied as the event has now passed.
LBH
LBH
eldiablito
Mongoose
Here's Damian speaking for his own fleet, "We Come in Peace":
Unfortunately, I faced both Centauri players (round 1 and 3).
Well, the first game (King of the Jumpgate), I was just shot down to 2 fighter stands by the end of round 2 (If that gives you a clue). I just could not survive all the Demos shots. I can say that it would have been worse had his Demos not missed a stealth roll on the Roswell (that scored me enough points to earn me a minor loss).
The second round (Annihilate) was a similar LoNAW fleet that had almost exactly the same composition as I; swap 2 of my Xarrs for a guardhawk and a tiraca. In the end, his Brakiri bombers could not do enough against my additional SAP, DD weapons (Have I mentioned how much the Vree fleet NEEDS those Xarrs?)... I earned a solid victory.
The third game (Space Superiority) was against the other Centauri player. My only saving grace against all those Demos and Sulust ships was a very large planet in the middle of the board. I was able to dance around the planet and shoot at his exposed rear. That said, I probably should not have opened a jump point where he could bring his firepower on half my ships before I was in a better position... Still, I considered it a moral victory because the game was VERY close and it was my best showing against a Centauri fleet to date.
- Brokados Admiral w/ Inspired command, Meticulous planner and Top Gun (named The Adam Smith)
2 Halik (named Trade and Lucre
3 Xeel (named Hanger 18, Area 51)
4 Xixx (named Klatu, Borata, Nictu, Gort)
3 Vaarl (named Crop Circle, Conspiracy, Roswell)
8 Xarr (named Dib, Gaz, Zim, Gir, UFO, ET, MIB, Plan 9)
Unfortunately, I faced both Centauri players (round 1 and 3).
Well, the first game (King of the Jumpgate), I was just shot down to 2 fighter stands by the end of round 2 (If that gives you a clue). I just could not survive all the Demos shots. I can say that it would have been worse had his Demos not missed a stealth roll on the Roswell (that scored me enough points to earn me a minor loss).
The second round (Annihilate) was a similar LoNAW fleet that had almost exactly the same composition as I; swap 2 of my Xarrs for a guardhawk and a tiraca. In the end, his Brakiri bombers could not do enough against my additional SAP, DD weapons (Have I mentioned how much the Vree fleet NEEDS those Xarrs?)... I earned a solid victory.
The third game (Space Superiority) was against the other Centauri player. My only saving grace against all those Demos and Sulust ships was a very large planet in the middle of the board. I was able to dance around the planet and shoot at his exposed rear. That said, I probably should not have opened a jump point where he could bring his firepower on half my ships before I was in a better position... Still, I considered it a moral victory because the game was VERY close and it was my best showing against a Centauri fleet to date.
A big thanks to Chernobyl for running another great tournament! Despite my lack of sleep I had a terrific time competing and meeting new players. As always the wrinkles that you throw into the format allow for days of enjoyable fleet tweaking and force speculation even before the convention starts.
I played the ISA fleet as follows:
1 Gunship
5 Wightstars (one with my admiral)
1 Avenger Carrier (Allie with 4 T-bolts and 4 Starfuries)
4 Bluestars
2 Wings of T-bolts
2 Wings of Starfuries
All in all I was happy with my fleet selection.
My first match was 5-point skirmish King of the Jump Gate against the Drahk – a tough match up for me as the Drahk were able to bring almost twice the number of scoring ships to the table. The Drahk brought a Carrier loaded with 4 Light Raiders and 1 extra Light Raider. I choose 2 Bluestars and 2 Wightstars. The Carrier went into scramble mode on turn one and, fearing the launch of all of those Raiders, I APTE to target the Carrier with as much as I could, hoping for a lucky critical to knock out the ship or the huge hangers which would effectively win me the game. Alas, my average rolls yielded no grand effect and I was steadily ground down, points wise, by the Drahk armada. While a large chunk of my fleet survived until the end of the match, my fate was sealed once the carrier got up to the Jump Gate.
Battle number two was a 5-point Raid Annihilation against Russell’s Vree. Russell had his Admiral on his Battle level ship along with 2 skirmish level scouts. I had selected 3 Whitestars (one with my admiral), 2 Bluestars, and 2 Wings of Starfuries (anticipating Vree carriers). With no Vree fighters on the board, I could use all of my Starfuries as interceptors, which kept me well defended against the initial torpedo barrage. The game ended quickly (an ISA victory) so we played again for fun with the Vree taking carriers this time for a much closer match that the Vree won in the end.
The third fight was 5-point Battle Space Superiority against Clay’s Minbari. This match was quite a confrontation with the ISA having overwhelming fighter coverage, but the Minbari having a deadly Sharlin War Cruiser in the backfield. The match swung back and forth through out, finally ending in a Minbari victory by 1 point! This was the best match of the day for me as it really came down to the wire – thanks Clay!
Across the board it was an excellent day – the level of painting on the ships was amazing (especially those beautiful Narn ships), I experienced nothing but the highest levels of sportsmanship, and the scenario and fleet set ups for the matches was excellent. I am already planning for next years King of the Jump Gate – I hope to see everyone back there next year. Heck, maybe we can even see the triumphant return of Eric and Rabid Child!
I played the ISA fleet as follows:
1 Gunship
5 Wightstars (one with my admiral)
1 Avenger Carrier (Allie with 4 T-bolts and 4 Starfuries)
4 Bluestars
2 Wings of T-bolts
2 Wings of Starfuries
All in all I was happy with my fleet selection.
My first match was 5-point skirmish King of the Jump Gate against the Drahk – a tough match up for me as the Drahk were able to bring almost twice the number of scoring ships to the table. The Drahk brought a Carrier loaded with 4 Light Raiders and 1 extra Light Raider. I choose 2 Bluestars and 2 Wightstars. The Carrier went into scramble mode on turn one and, fearing the launch of all of those Raiders, I APTE to target the Carrier with as much as I could, hoping for a lucky critical to knock out the ship or the huge hangers which would effectively win me the game. Alas, my average rolls yielded no grand effect and I was steadily ground down, points wise, by the Drahk armada. While a large chunk of my fleet survived until the end of the match, my fate was sealed once the carrier got up to the Jump Gate.
Battle number two was a 5-point Raid Annihilation against Russell’s Vree. Russell had his Admiral on his Battle level ship along with 2 skirmish level scouts. I had selected 3 Whitestars (one with my admiral), 2 Bluestars, and 2 Wings of Starfuries (anticipating Vree carriers). With no Vree fighters on the board, I could use all of my Starfuries as interceptors, which kept me well defended against the initial torpedo barrage. The game ended quickly (an ISA victory) so we played again for fun with the Vree taking carriers this time for a much closer match that the Vree won in the end.
The third fight was 5-point Battle Space Superiority against Clay’s Minbari. This match was quite a confrontation with the ISA having overwhelming fighter coverage, but the Minbari having a deadly Sharlin War Cruiser in the backfield. The match swung back and forth through out, finally ending in a Minbari victory by 1 point! This was the best match of the day for me as it really came down to the wire – thanks Clay!
Across the board it was an excellent day – the level of painting on the ships was amazing (especially those beautiful Narn ships), I experienced nothing but the highest levels of sportsmanship, and the scenario and fleet set ups for the matches was excellent. I am already planning for next years King of the Jump Gate – I hope to see everyone back there next year. Heck, maybe we can even see the triumphant return of Eric and Rabid Child!