Greetings! Just got back from day one of War Games con. Game one, I took pics and voice notes. And then, I said "to hell with it, I want to focus on the games". So, here's the basic rundown of each game for you.

My list -

Thane, BSB, Grungni, Shield
Runesmithe, General, Shield, Stone, Spell Breaker, Furnace
Runesmith, Great Weapons, Spell Breaker
Master Engineer, pistol
Master engineer

24 Longbeards, Music and Std.
10 quarrelers, Shields
10 Quarrelers, Shields
27 Hammerers, Groth One Eye, Fire on the champ

Cannon, Forge
Cannon, Fire
Organ Gun, Accuracy
Organ Gun, Accuracy, Fire
Flame Cannon
Gyro
Gyro

Game 1 - Vs. Wood Elves

My opponent, Lex, had brought a relatively soft wood elf list. It was a cool list, but probably not as rock hard as it could be. He had a unit of 20 of the new great weapon guys, a unit of Wild Riders, a large unit of sisters bunkering his characters, several units of guys with poison arrows, a couple units of waywatchers, two units of scouts, A solid unit of Dryads, and that's more or less it.

This game was the closest. My opponent realized quickly that he was being badly outshot by Accuracte organ guns and their Master Engineer buddies. Every turn, one or more of his units vanished from the board. on the right hand side, he shifted pressure. I did what I could over there with my gyro, but he died in close combat with a single damn archer who hit him and rolled a 6 to wound! Hilarious.

So, my gyros were dead, my organ guns were largely out of range. My hammerers advanced towards the objective in the center. He killed a cannon with shooting, I killed more of his guys. Eventually we got to turn six. My general could have gone out to obtain the objective (A chariot in the center of the field he could ride), but the game was close and my opponent could have easily shot my general down. I didn't want to risk the loss.

So, I held on to the end. I won by about 400 points or so, but he did get the objective (having put a bunch of wounds on it). So, the result was 13-11.

Thoughts - This game is where I realized just how amazing it is to invest the points in twin organ guns with Master Engineers. Entrenchment, the Grungni banner, etc, makes them rugged, and boy do they lay out the hurt. On everything. Everywhere in front of them.

Flame cannon missed for the most part, but it was a good threat. Cannons were useful at taking out Eagles (oh, he had two of those, too...) and eventually I parked them out of LOS behind a hill once their main job was done. My opponent was able to hide nearly his whole army behind a huge hill he deployed in the middle of the field, or I might have had a slaughter. I have so much hate for the hills blocking line of sight terrain. Especially with 12" diameter hills on every table I've played on.

Game 2 - Vs. Lizardmen

My opponent's list was almost entirely made up of skinks, plus a beefy Sarus cavalry bus with three characters. I was worried about all that poison coming to me - very worried. In the center of the board was a bridge we had to hold for bonus points.

This game was nuts. First of all, Ive never had Gyros be so effective. Second, I've never seen a lizardman player fail so many panic tests. All of that being said, however, my very kind opponent made an early mistake and left his cav bus open for a round of shooting from both Organ guns, clear of cover. When the dust settled, two remained in the unit and between the organ guns and the flame cannon, only his lord remained alive to accompany them. But he charged anyway, having nothing better to do, while the Organ Guns and Gyrocopters wreaked havok on his units.

He hat Tetto-eko. Late in the game, when it looked like it was about to be a complete route (having only lost a Gyro), my opponent IF'd the big version of Comet. It went off the following turn after going up to S8. In one blast, it killed two Organ Guns, my Flame Cannon, a unit of Quarrelers, and a handful of Hammerers.

However, it was not enough to turn the tide. My Hammerers made it to the bridge, and I managed to brush off a Purple sun with my last Rune of Spell Breaking. The Old Blood almost broke both the Longbeards and the Quarrelers who flanked him, making several break tests on the nose during several turns of combat due to Cold-Blooded. In the end, however, he was brought low.

Victory, 20-0.

Thoughts - Again, shooting was absolutely brutal. I don't know that the Panic Tests he failed made a ton of difference. The Organ Guns, Quarrelers, and other shooting was so utterly overwhelming that even an army full of skinks couldn't compete. T2 is a serious flaw of that build, allowing even Gyro steam to wound on 3's. Gyros absolutely dominated in this game, as did the Organ Guns. No one else saw combat for the most part. But, that's what the list is designed to do.

Comet is a serious problem, though. The list relies on a tight castle, and Comet is absolutely hell on that sort of deployment. I also got lucky with his Purple Sun casts. He got it off once but it did not go far enough to get to my lines, and that was one too many times for my tastes. So, magic defense in this list is a problem, but I think it will just have to remain a weakness.

Game 3 - High Elves.

This list was interesting. He had a "I Swear too much" load of small 5 man reaver units, a small buss of Dragon Princes with the World Banner, 4 bolt throwers, magic, a Fire phoenix, and a Mage riding a Moon Dragon. I was both excited and nervous. His World Dragon unit were Dragon Princes, which means my unruned Flame Cannon would be of no use against them. He had a lot of characters in that unit (BSB, Lord, Level 2 on Death).

However, this game was a complete route. Organ Guns with ME again proved their worth, blasting away the Phoenix, and every unit of Reavers on the board. Cannons killed the Moon Dragon and the Level 4 on his back, and the bolt throwers. I lost both Gyros to a very stupid risky decision on turn one, putting them right up in the grill of the 4 bolt throwers. But other than that, that's all I lost. Two organ guns at BS4 with +1 to hit and a reroll are just absolutely brutal.

At the end of the game, he made the mistake of parking his Dragon Prince bus within do-able charge range for both Hammerers and Long beards. Not wanting him to get the charge he needed, I decided to charge both out, hoping at least one would make it into close combat. The hammerers succeeded, and smashed the Dragon Princes do almost a man. The princes broke, but were not run down. However, in a fit of courage previously unassociated with the Elgi, my opponent charged the remaining lord and his one Dragon Prince companion back into the Hammerers to die a glorious death.

Victory, 20-0

Thoughts - My shooting was so brutal I felt like shouting "for the greater good!"

This is my first 3-0 day at a grand Tournament. With any luck, the list will continue to do well tomorrow.