So me and my very small gaming group (my brother and my buddy James) went to a fantastic tournament in Essex. It was 5 rounds. The comp was kinda custom but really didn't affect the tournament very much. End Times characters and junk allowed but normal magic and rules otherwise.

Here was my list:

General Thori's Forlorn Hope (2400pts)

Heroes +

General Thori
Runesmith [Shield]
Fiery Ring of Thori, Rune of Spellbreaking, Rune of Stone, Rune of the Furnace
133pts

Mad Joe
Runesmith [Shield]
Rune of Spellbreakingx2, Rune of Stone
113pts

Lord Grey
Thane [Great Weapon]
Battle Standard Bearer [Master Rune of Grugni, Strollaz' Rune]
191pts

Core +

Mad Joe's Old Boys
29 x Longbeards w/Great Weapons [Full Command]
[Rune of Stoicism]
471pts

The 95th Rifles
10 x Thunderers w/Shields
130pts

Special +

"Big Bertha"
Cannon [Rune of Burning, Rune of Forging]
150pts

"Little John"
Cannon [Rune of Forging]
145pts

The Experimental Steam Contraption
Gyrocopter [Steam Gun]
80pts

The Royal Guard
25 x Hammerers [Full Command]
[Rune of Sanctuary, Strollaz' Rune]
430pts

The Slayers
24 x Slayers [Standard Bearer]
[Strollaz' Rune]
333pts

Rare +

Alebelly's Rangers
16 x Rangers
224pts

(here are pics of the army: http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/46665-flint-fireforges-tournament-army/)

ROUND 1 - LIZARDMEN /B

First opponent was super nice and friendly and really good at the game. He took 2 Slann Mages, a skinky wizard, big block of super tough lizards, loads of skinks, flying things.

His army was incredibly beautiful too!

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I deployed on the right flank, he deployed on the other side. It was satisfying to surprise him with Strollaz and my guys were all up in his grill turn 1. But he managed to back off a bit. My rangers also surprised him on turn 2 by making a really long (14") charge into the flank of his huge lizard horde. They tried to kill his fat Slann general but failed and bounced off.

The rest of the game was basically him schooling me in tactics, magic and combat.

LOSS: 5-15

ROUND 2 - DEAMONS (David)

Second guy (watch tower scenario) was really nice too and actually helped me a lot during the game with rules and tactics (he basically moved my Gyrocopter for me into the best positions as I wasn't too smart with it).

Again, gorgeous army.

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I surprised him again with Strollaz ("woah what the hell, dwarfs in my face on turn 1!?")

But he had this deamon guy who could choose pretty much any spells in the game (8 I think!) and took Dwellers, Transmogrification, Purple Sun and some other really horrible spells. Even so I ravaged him in combat and managed to shrug off all his worst spells all game (basically I had to let him cast all his other spells and wait to repel those game-ending ones).

Right at the end he got Dwellers off on my Hammerers and killed the General and half the unit. He also landed his demon on the watchtower (a hill in this game) and won an extra 500 points. He was a far better player than me and deserved to win way bigger.

LOSS: 9-11

ROUND 3 - VAMPIRES (Jack)

This chap was also damned nice and friendly. He was taking almost identical list to my brother (Black Knight Bus) and so I felt confident (of losing, as I always do against Vampires heehee).

The dice were against me so badly that Jack felt a little bad about it. I basically couldn't kill a zombie all game. Failed every single double-leadership 9 roll. Cannons exploded. It was a bloodbath. needless to say:

LOSS: 0-20

ROUND 4 - BRETtONIANS (Max)

Also a great, friendly guy! This game was actually not that great and over extremely quickly. We were both hungover. Never played Brettonians before but they are really quite terrible. Ended around turn 3 with a complete massacre, barely any dead dwarfs and not a man alive. I didn't do anything clever (infact my tactics stank, as always) and he did everything right. He didn't get unlucky either...Brettonians just seem really bad. His entire army (3 huge units of cavalry with about 8 characters, buffed by magic) charged my single unit of hammerers. They basically bounced off. Check it out:

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WIN: 20-0

ROUND 5 - ORCS AND GOBLINS (Barry)

What a legend. Barry had brought the fluffiest, softest army in the tournament. I mean, they had to cap his PLUS comp at 10. Great, friendly guy. Cool, old models.

This was easily the best game in the tournament. Turn 1, my guys strollaz and march right up to his lines. Zero tactics. But it was funny as hell - his guys all charged my slayers. Giant, 40 Savage orcs, 25 Black orcs. All at the Slayers. He then did FOOT OF GORK. It stomped 3 times. All big hits on my units. By the time it was done, there were 4 Hammerers left, 10 Longbeards.

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Then his Giant started bawling and yelling, preventing the Slayers from being killed!

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My cannons failed to hit anything all tournament and this game was no exception.

The slayers were finally wiped out and from then on it was just a matter of time. I tried my best to come back but....I failed about 3 Leadership 9/10 tests and most of my guys ran. It was a funny game with lots of ups and downs. Basically, even getting stomped by orcs is fun!

LOSS: 0-20

All in all my first tournament was a really fun experience. I think I came near the bottom of 34 players - perhaps even 34th. All 3 of us did quite badly but it was good to see all the fantastic armies and learn some useful tips and tricks from experienced players. I actually think I might stick with my current list for a while. I like it a lot and feel it has more to offer!