MOONRAKERS AT BEACHHEAD 2023
Beachhead 2023 was a 2 day KoW tournament held in Bournemouth as part of a wider gaming convention and trade show. There were 3 games on Saturday at 1,995 points and 2 on Sunday at 2,300 points.
In preparation for the tournie, I honed a Green Army list and prepared a new display tray.
The tournament was deliberately designed to be relaxed. Gamers were allowed 55 minutes each on Saturday and 60 minutes on Sunday and there was ample time between games to visit the trade show. Having said it was relaxed, the competition was tough and all of m games were tight and required great concentration. Four of my 5 games were against Masters player (spoiler alert, it did not end well for me).
Three Moonrakers attended, me, Paul and Andy and we were delighted to meet up again with Mohd Gaddafi from Singapore.
We first met Mohd at Clash 2019 and he has been the South East Asia agent for BETTys (Battlefield Essential Table Tidys) since then.
GAME 1 – JUST A MO
Having met up with Mohd, it was coincidental that I had to face his Dwarfs in Game 1 in Salt the Earth. In a tight game, I just managed to sneak the win.
LUNCH
Over lunch there was the opportunity to visit the trade hall.
I had my wallet firmly locked away and didn’t buy anything…
… except some D8s I needed for Deadzone.
… and a bull model ready for the Bullrun tournie.
… and some really good small terrain pieces from Bad Squiddo.
… and a rally cool notebook that caught my fancy.
So not really anything at all.
GAME 2 – OUT-FOXED
Having paid for a hotel and entrance fee for the tournie, who do I face in a Dominate scenario in Round 2? – my usual weekly opponent, The Fox. Paul was looking for an easy win and so was running a shooting heavy Elf army. But look, not a ball of cotton wool in site.
Another tight game which saw some odd dice rolls. A horde of Seaguard with 25 attacks shooting at a regiment of knights needing 5s to hit and 5s to damage, inflicted 9 damage. Ouch. Paul won the game with 4 scoring units in the Dominate zone to my 2.
GAME 3 – ONE FOOT ON THE GRAVES
Flash Danny and the Undead arrived for Push in Round 3. A third tight game that went down to the wire. I suffered some poor dice rolls including an important Double 1 but Danny had the real share of bad luck when his regiment of Soul Reavers with brew of Sharpness counter-charged my chaffing Pegasus. Twenty attacks hitting on 2s and damaging on 2s – 6 wounds and failed the nerve roll to rout it. To add insult to injury, over 2 attacks my Pegasus inflicted 4 wounds on the Reavers!
At the end of turn 6, we both had 3 tokens in our opponents’ halves of the board and I held the game-winning 7th, but if there had been a 7th turn my regiment would have to survive a charge by the Soul Revers. Roll the dice, no turn 7. Phew.
And so, I finished the day with 2 wins.
NIGHT-TIME ANTICS
In the evening, Andy, Ed and I took Mohd out for a traditional English meal, at an Italian restaurant. A few glasses of cider were shared.
GAME 4 – HE’S GOT NO GREATER AIR ELEMENTALS? – ITS NOT IN HIS NATURE
For Game 4, Raze, I faced Ed with his GAE-less Nature army. This was a tight game until I made a bad mistake in positioning and lost a regiment of knights to a Bray-Strider flank charge. I went on to lose the game but there were some more cinematic moments.
My heroic Pegasus form the previous game went toe to toe with the Wilt Father and survived a round of combat, even inflicting wounds on the beast.
And in the final turn my Devoted with one attack charged an already-wounded regiment of Bray-Striders, cause a point of damage and then rolled the required nerve roll and re-roll to see it routed.
You Shall Not Pass
GAME 5 – GRAVELY DISAPPOINTED
I had to face Danny’s Undead in the final game of Loot. This was all looking good for me until 2 of his catapults scored 3 hits on an un-damaged regiment of Knights, inflicted 9 damage and then routed them. I also had 2 Headstrong rolls to make in the game and failed them both. Danny played really well and won with 2 tokens to my one.
RESULTS
On to the results. Paul played really well during the tournie, only losing one game when he was Lynched, and finished 3rd.
Smug? Moi??
Mohd, Andy and I all won only 2 games and finished 7th, 8th, and 9th respectively. Mohd did win an award for having travelled the furthest to attend the event.
Now for the real shock. If you are standing, please sit down. If you are piloting a jet airliner across the Atlantic, please set the automatic pilot.
I won best painted. SHOCK!!!
This was a real surprise with some great armies on display, including Mark’s Varangur with LEDs in all the models and light up weapons. Winning this award with Moonraker Andy’s army present ranks alongside as an achievement the time I won the award for rolling the most Double 1s at a tournie when Rusty was also present.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should probably tell you that I saw the painting judges looking at my display board. They jokingly asked who the skeletons in the dungeon on my display board were and I told them that they were painting judges who had not voted for me at previous tournaments. I’m sure you don’t believe that this swayed their decision do you? Good, keep thinking that.
Many thanks to Matt for organising the tournie and to all our opponents.
ARMIES ON PARADE
Quick snaps of some armies at the event.
Mark's light-up Varangur
Mo's Dwarfs
Andy's KoM
Paul's Elves - Look, no Cotton Wool
Flash Danny and the Undead