US Masters Review and Some Pink Horrors

After a year of build-up, I have returned from the US Masters.  Although I didn’t do particularly well (finished 49^th out of 50), I did have a great time, and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to participate in the first ever US Masters.  The work that Jerry and the regional organizers have done is amazing, and it looks to me that they have established one of the premier events in the country.  I can tell there is a lot of excitement in the community, and it seems to have really created a lot of hype for all of the qualifying tournaments.  For example, Coastal Carnage sold out in 48 hours, and Brawler Bash is already sitting at 110 players.  Just a few years ago in the Mid-Atlantic region, we thought we were doing well to get 35 to a tournament.  Now, we get 50 with pretty much no problem.

As far as gaming at the Masters, I went 0-4-1.  However, I got a chance to play several very well-known Warhammer players, including three from the West Coast and one from the Northeast.  A testament to the level of play at the event was that in the last round on the next to last table, I played a fellow who is a multi-time GT winner and one of the Mid-Atlantic’s best players.  Even though the stakes might have been higher than other tournaments, the games were, for the most part, friendly, and it was great to finally meet folks that I only know from the internet.

Next year, the Master’s plans to add two more regions, a new Southeast region (which will include my new home of TN) and a Mountain region.  I’m making it one of my hobby goals for the year to qualify again; however, I think it will be much more difficult this year as the tournament scene has really exploded.  We’ll see how it goes.

I’m planning on attending two tournaments in the near future: Nashcon and Brawler Bash.  Both of these are Masters qualifiers albeit in different regions.  I’ve heard really good things about Nashcon, and Brawler Bash is going to be a spectacle this year.  If you are free the weekend of May 31, you should definitely come down just to participate in a 100+ player tournament.

Right now, I am finalizing lists for the two tournaments.  Brawler Bash is uncomped and is allowing special characters, so I’m thinking about building a Teclis list.  I think the ability to choose spells will be fun, and I haven’t played an infantry-heavy list since last year’s Nova. 

I’d like to debut my Daemon army at Nashcon, so I’m making a big push to get the army together.  I’m starting with the infantry first because they can be such a grind.  I’ve finished some plaguebearers and horrors.  Here’s a picture of my pink horror unit:

 

They are purple because of a bit of fluff concerning the Elvish kingdom of Yvresse, which is my second favorite elf kingdom.  As the story goes, Yvresse is a land of heavy mists, and these mists sometimes herald an incursion of daemons.  One short story that I read dealing with one such infestation described the mists as purple, so I decided to paint the whole army purple to mimic that (I like a uniform look rather than the multi-colored daemon armies I see a lot).  I’m basin them on the ruins of the elvish cities that they are destroying, and my plan for their display board is a ruined elvish temple. 

One problem that I am having is that I’m not sure what color to paint the side of the base.  I did the one in black, but I haven’t tried the others yet as I’m not sure I like black.  Any ideas on that?

So far this year, I have painted five dragon princes, five shadow warriors, two skycutter chariots, a frost phoenix conversion, five plaguebearers, and three horrors.  Not terrible, but I definitely need to pick up the pace to finish my hobby goals for the year.

Finally, don’t forget my tournament this Saturday (March 15, 2014) at Dicehead in Cleveland, TN.  This is the first tournament I have every organized, so I am hoping it goes well.  Right now, I have 16 signed up, so if you can make it down, it should be a good time.