Ballgowns and Battleskirts: Exiles Open 6(66): Dead Rising

This is the other tournament my Husbit runs, the regular one, rather than Speed Bowl. I was going to take Ogres, but at the last minutes switched to Dark Elves because (thanks to Cake Bowl) I was placed slightly higher in the South West Tournament Championship than I expected to find myself and wanted to see how high I could reach.

This tournament had a twist: ‘Dead Rising’ meant everyone had access to zombies if a player on the other team died, and each team randomly rolled before each game for one of their players to gain the regen skill (on teams where most players already come with it, only those players who don’t are eligible. No one brought a team where all players came with the skill).

My team: I wanted to take 2 witch elves and Roxanna, but ultimately went with 1 blocking Witch Elf, 1 wrestling Witch Elf, 1 dodging blitzer and 3 normal day one (day two, 2 more dodging blitzers and one with guard), 1 assassin, 4 line elves, 2 re-rolls, a babe, a fan, a cheerleader and a coach and called them Light Dwarves cos I couldn’t think of anything better. I’ve not taken an assassin before but probably will again. I always take a babe over an apothecary because I usually forget the apothecary and usually have lots in the KO box. This time, the babe had very little work to do. I also wrote my team sheet that morning on the back of another because I’d forgotten to do it sooner – and as I normally use the back to take notes, this write-up is even scattier than normal.

DAY ONE

Game One – vs Rubick’s Dwarves

And the match-up I was dreading… fortunately, this was day one and he only had three lots of guard on the little buggers.

I won fame and the kick-off so elected to receive. Set up and someone kindly threw a rock in to help me out – a good start to what proved to be a very messy half and I didn’t manage to score until turn 8. A perfect defence on the kick off after that gave me a chance to protect my players ready for the second half.

In the second half, he managed to do 3 casualties pretty quickly but then nothing – barely cracking armour. Due to a lucky ball scatter, I managed to score on turn 16 to win the game.

Final score: 2-1 TD and 0-3 CAS (so maybe it was the rock that killed his dwarf).

Game Two – vs Cyrus-Havoc’s High Elves

I think I’ve faced Cyrus before, at the Albion progression tournament last year. I didn’t make a very good showing of myself, so was pleased to face him again to prove myself a little.

The first half, knocking his players out caused enough of a dent in his team to give me numbers, but he managed to score. A riot started the second half, and the play meant I had to score early enough that he had a chance to get the win. A bit of luck then flickered between us: my turn 16 and I had a blitzer in range to score. All I had to do was knock the ball loose with my witch elf, pick it up with the free player nearby, to hand off to the blitzer. Went really well – the player fell, the ball bounced loose … and the witch caught it. Bugger. So he know had a chance to win, but only achieved pushes on my Witch Elf to leave a close-fought and enjoyable draw.

Final score: 1-1 TD and 2-0 CAS

Game Three – vs Ceetee’s Chaos Dwarves

A little torn here: I don’t enjoy playing against Chaos Dwarves with Dark Elves but I always enjoy playing against Ceetee – he’s a good opponent for bringing out the best in you. Even though he normally beats me (except for that epic Dark Elf on Dark Elf draw at Gert a few years back), I always feel like I’ve played very well.

Both my Witch Elves skulled themselves into the dead & injured box, and a rock dealt with one of my blitzers. The absolute highlight, though, was the first round of blocking in turn one – 5 blocks resulting in 4 knockdowns, each cracking armour and 1 Chaos Dwarf dying to give me a zombie!

Hard work, but a fun game!

Final score: 1-2 TD and 1-2 CAS

DAY TWO

Game Four – vs DDark’s Chaos Dwarf

That moment when you look at the match-up and groan. 4 matches, 3 against some form of dwarf? Bah! The saving grace, here, was that DDark had told me he struggles against Dark Elves – he’s never beaten them and has lost more than he’s drawn.

I scored on turn 3, with a bit of trepidation but no faith in my ability to stall. Somehow, I managed to keep him from returning the favour and the first half ended. At the start of the second half, his failed pick up nearly gave me the chance to get a second, but I failed the GFI over the line… and then the catch that would have sealed it the following turn. Ah well. I fought hard but didn’t quite do enough to keep him from equalising the score: a half dice frenzy attack from my wrestling Witch Elf caused a double pow on his ball carrying bull centaur, but the ball was frustratingly caught by dwarf who managed to pass his GFI’s for the draw. Still, my best result against CD’s with DE’s to date.

Final score: 1-1 TD, 2-2 CAS

Game Five – vs Merrick’s Skaven

At Exiles last year, I took the awesome Wood Elf team we’ve named ‘Strictly Come Wardancing’ (2 Wardancers, 1 Jordell Freshbreeze, 1 thrower, as many line elves as will fit) and was doing very, very well with them (despite Jordell’s habit of failing 2-up rolls and dying)… until game 4 or 5, when I met Merrick’s skaven. He, too, was doing much better than he was used to, but managed to retain the heady heights whilst I went plummeting back down to my usual, mid-table spots. So a spot of vengeance was called for.

It didn’t work out that way. Failing to pick up on turn 1 had me worried, but fortunately he didn’t manage to steal. The joy of a dead Gutter Runner was countered by the sorrow of a dead Witch Elf. The high level of armour smashes he caused to my team meant I was unable to capitalise when he failed to pick up. I gave away my first zombie of the tournament – twice, although he could only have one. Merrick was also the only person I saw use the freebie regen skill, succeeding with it not only in our game but also in his previous which was played beside me.

Final score: 3-3 TD, 3-5 CAS

Game Six – vs Hawk’s Undead

And finally Hawk and Undead. I’d been hoping for something squishy, but I’ve had several games against Hawk over the years and they’ve all been close and all been fun, so I wasn’t too disappointed.

A lucky round of stuns in the first half meant I managed to steal the ball and get it to 2-0 going into the second half. A lot of surfing happened – my fans were nice and friendly, but it seemed his were all concentrated in one area and out for blood… Witch Elves can’t dodge but can die from falling over, which is annoying. I worked hard and made Hawk think more than he’d have liked, but he did manage to bring it up to 2-2 to end the game.

Final score: 2-2 TD and 1-1 CAS

And the scores are in…

Most Cas Caused        - Army Dave 26
Most Cas Taken          - Tom 28
Red Car Magnet         - Monk 16
Most Td Scored          - Val 16
Most Td Let In           - Monk 16

Stunty Cup                  - Hairy Pete

Best Comeback           - Moodygit (rising by an impressive 13 places from the end of game 3 to end of game 6)
Wooden Spoon           - Tom
Glowworm                  - Jimmy Jazz
Runner Up                  - Vmcat
Winner                        - Besters (giving him the South West Tournament Championship title as well)