Howdy friends! This here’s my 100th article (woo!) and will be Part II of the Wyrmstriders article, since that’s the deck I took to the Tacoma Open this year. It’s also a diary of this killer event and the community who made it such a solid time. My REAL goal is to encourage readers to try organized play for themselves – it has been a fantasitc experience every time I have gone to a Grand Clash and this tims was no exception. If you want a look at the deck I took, this post will cover the cards included and the reasoning for why, but the short of it is I like the Farstriders and the position-dependent, brain-genius aggro of Rimewyrm’s Bite appealed to me in a way that Voidcurse never did, and the two paired together in a sneaky fun way. If you want a recap of last year’s TacO, you can see how I valiantly did not podium with Velmorn last year by reading this article.

This year, I’ll be honest, hitting the podium was the stretch goal. Top ten was a little more realistic but I wanted to do better than last year when I ended up landing 4th. Knowing that Vancouver BC “Eagle Fangs” and the Emerald Valley Alliance out of Oregon would be coming out in force, with three of the competitors already being Worlds qualified, it was going to be an uphill fight – but that’s what the Farstriders were made for! I rounded up four of my local Rain City Thunderworlds friends to roll down there and see if we couldn’t stave off the slavering hordes of Maple Leaves/Whatever Oregon thinks it has to show for itself.

As a quick reference, here’s a link to the final deck and a screengrab of the card choices

Dawn of the First Day
72 Hours Remain

Friday was technically the first day of the TacO ’24, but Underworlds didn’t start until Saturday so David, Andrew and I met up with John K at our weekly Friday game night to get some last minute cramming in. Andrew and I chose not to play each other because we had, to that point, played 99 games together lifetime and how fun would it be to save the 100th for the finals? I played a few locals, lost all three games, and was stressing bigtime before heading down for dinner and then registration at the luxuriant Motel 6 in south Tacoma. From there, we commenced screwing around playing 4th Edition AoS Spearhead instead of preparing for the Grand Clash, like professionals. I lost that spearhead game too, for what it’s worth. Ends up Gargants being able to respawn is bad news.

Dawn of the Second Day
48 Hours remain

David, who many on the Discords and Vassal will recognize as Beardarm, flew down late the previous night to stay at the same cockroach-y Motel 6 so we could carpool together. We rolled in, eventually found a parking spot, and got to registration where we met Dan Motush, the TO for the weekend. At the end of registration we had 22 players and had a good half hour of hand shaking for new friends and reunions with old. I dished out some stickers and got to meet a handful of people who read Spent Glory, which was exciting and weird in equal measure. Thanks for coming out, and I hope I didn’t fail to meet your expectations! Anyway, off to round 1.

Round 1
Damian Skoczyk with Headkrakka’s Madmob and Breakneck Slaughter

It’s always good to open a Grand Clash by pairing into the defending champ. As I said when I played Derek at LVO, you want an easy win to get the ball rolling. And, you know, he ONLY got 8th place in the world last year in Atlanta, so how hard could this be? In my favor was the fact that I have never lost to Damian before, but there’s a first time for everything!

Today was the first time for that thing, twice. My first match I tried to play a little back and have him burn some activations coming in, but with breakneck and the leader push he was on me in no time, and I actually had to delay scoring my ‘be in enemy territory’ stuff as a result. At one point Headkrakka needed a double crit to survive, and Damian rolled a double crit. Exciting moment! Also a bummer. I lost the first game 11-20, and decided I had to hit the gas for game two if I stood a chance. Deploying much more aggressively and taking down Wallop early, I had a slightly better hope, but it was simply not enough. It didn’t help that Toofdagga made four successful defenses rolls while trapped to brick my kill surges. His experience, extra body, and Primacy was too much for me to overcome in combination with multiple ways to slow down/stop my pings and I lost the second 12-17.

Result: Wyrmstriders lose 0-2, 23-37

Round 2
Louis McElrath with Spiteclaw’s Swarm and Paths of Prophecy

Having fallen a healthy way down the standings with getting 2-0’d and with a -14 differential, my next match was against my Rain City Thunderworlds teammate Louis who had a similar disaster in his first match. He took an unconventional Spiteclaw/Prophecy pairing, but I have learned to respect PoP in Louis’ hands having been beaten by it before, and with the resurrection and speed of Spiteclaw I might actually have trouble scoring several of my end phases.

Fortunately for me, my dice were on fire this game, my card draw went in pretty smooth sequencing, and there really wasn’t much he could do. I won the first game 20-7, and in the second with very early kills on both Skritch and Krrk, I won 19-3. Happy for a win but sad it had to come at a friends’ expense, I went into round 3 1-1 on the day and with the glimmer of a podium spot still visible in the distance.

Result: Wyrmstriders win 2-0, 39-10

Round 3
Jake Roehl (discord name Jeckles Larue) with Rippa’s Snarlfangs and Rimewrym’s Bite

Jake opened our match with a smile and a ‘Long time listener, first time caller’, which was charming and disarming in equal measure, so the whiplash I got when he said he was taking Rimewyrm Rippa shook me all the harder. What a vicious pairing! Jake is a pretty big player in the Tabletop Simulator (TTS) scene so even though this was his first grand clash I wasn’t about to look past him.

Our first game was remarkably close, and while I was able tp take down Stabbit and Mean-eye before targeting Rippa, by the time it was down to one wolf he was well upgraded, inspired, and tough to handle. Multiple times he had just the right card to get out of danger, negate a ping, or make a timely push, and I just wasn’t able to seal the deal and ended up losing 14-15. Curse that Just Plain Luck card! Our second game looked much the same, only this time it was my turn to have the gotcha cards and push away from hazards, into range 1, etc (Rangers, Advance is a beautiful feeling) to foil his plans and I won 13-11 in a very tense set that was 1-1 with one glory differential across two games.

Unfortunately for Jake, his dice went limp after that and he simply couldn’t land anything or roll ay defense, while my card draw started to look the way I had hoped when I put the deck together. Even though I went for Rippa early and let the other two inspire, I took the game pretty handily and won 16-3. He was bummed he ‘didn’t give me a better showing’ for game three, but believe me when I say I was real scared across the first two and it’s a set I won’t forget anytime soon.

Result: Wyrmstriders win 2-1, 43-29

Lemon Ambush
About a week before the event, I had lamented that ‘life was trying to stop me from coming to the TacO, but I’m going to be there and in my opinion life can suck a lemon’. Some time later, I agreed to eat a lemon raw if I was presented with one, and let this be a lesson to you kids: don’t talk trash on the internet. Thank for following up, Josh! My teeth felt gross for my entire fourth match.

Round 4
Markus Melancon with Kainan’s Reapers and Fearsome Fortress

For the final game of day 1, I matched into Markus from Oregon, also of the Emerald Valley Alliance, who goes by Toa on discord. He was playing Kainan’s Reapers with Fearsome Fortress, which is a pairing I have faced a few times at home and have learned to fear. They also were painted in a great Old World throwback to the Tomb Kings.

To my great misfortune I failed my first charge onto a token with Elias, who was soon surrounded and torn asunder. I had oriented the boards and chosen to Longboard in order to limit the amount of Fortress Territory he could score with, but all that really did was create a traffic jam and stymie my own scoring more than his. I also committed a lot of effort into killing Kainan but failed anyway, and lost 7-16.

The second game I wised up a bit and decided not to go for Kainan until kind of forced to with the ‘attack Kainan or it’s -1 dice’ card. I eventually won only because I was tabled in round 3 drawing power cards, got re-emergence, picked up Puncturing Ice Shards, and then managed to get a Mortek kill, score Gone without a Trace, and then held Spread Out, Never Punished, and I think also Corralled Like Sheep to seal the deal. Incredibly lucky. Score here was 18-14.

In our third round I ignored Kainan entirely, oriented squared up, and just focused on my own plan rather than reacting to his. Several harvested morteks later, I won despite being tabled 21-12 to seal the deal. Markus did have a great habit of placing all his move and charge tokens on the landing spots before moving his models for Mortek Advance – good clean visual and very courteous the way he played it. No confusion or potential to cheat, and was just a really elegant way of handling a busy mechanic. I’m going to try and incorporate something like it into my own future games. Bravo!

Result: Wyrmstriders win 2-1, 46-42

Here’s the standings at the end of the first day: Looking good for Rain City Thunderworlds!

After these games, a dozen or so of us went to dinner at Cook’s Tavern and we had fun laughing at bad Mariners baseball while listening to Steven explain his long-standing grudge against Hexbane’s power level. Certainly he’s just overreacting and I am not foreshadowing here at all.

Back at the hotel we played some more Spearhead before hitting the sack. This only lasted a short while because the fridge in the room was more like a freezer and a can of coke exploded around 2 am. It was just as much fun as you’d imagine.

Dawn of the Second Day
24 Hours remain

For day two, I knew I would be facing a Hexbane to open up the 5th round. Top table was Headkrakka vs Xandire’s, and the next four players were me and three Hexbane players – one with Voidcurse, one with Rimewyrm, and one with Breakneck. As we drove in (with three of those four players in the car), we had assumed I’d be playing Andy with Breakneck, which was the pairing I thought I had the best chance into. Fate had other ideas.

Round 5
David Lancaster (Beardarm) with Hexbane’s Hunters and Voidcursed Thralls

Of the three possible hexbanes, this was my worst fear. Voidcurse is real bad for me. David is real good at WHU. In our first game, I survived a Brydget charge while standing next to a lethal and then ran in with another fighter to finish her off, but he had Reshaping Demise in hand to open the game. This immediately voidcursed two of my fighters and I imagined it was all over from there. No more shooting out of those two, effectively unable to inspire one of them who hadn’t shot yet and even the inspired one was stuck on one shield. I did just about everything I could with my range 1 attacks and pushes to keep it close, and in the end I had my voidcursed final survivor on an objective on his side, but it was objective 1, and he was standing on two objectives. I lose 15-15 on tiebreakers. And this was with me orienting the boards!

The second game I did a better job of avoiding the curse for a time and getting pings off where able, but I actually killed him a little too quickly and gave him multiple ‘stuff is dead, I score’ cards. Then, I got cursed, couldn’t shoot, and was in a tough spot. I made a misplay to push after Hexbane to try and kill him but even if I had hit it ends up he had turned off my grievous from Crackling Blade so it was the wrong thing to do. I missed regardless, was out of position, and lost 14-18. Happy I kept it this close, sad I wouldn’t be in the running for a podium spot, I shook his hand and came to the crippling realization that Canada is not America’s hat; we are its pants.

Result: Wyrmstriders lose 0-2, 29-33

Round 6
Andrew Mittelstaedt with Hexbane’s Hunters and Rimewyrm’s Bite

So you remember all the way back on Friday when I said we’d be playing our 100th game together in the tournament finals? Well that almost happened. We played our 100th game here, in the last round of the tournament, but he would get 3rd at best if the right people lost in the right ways and I had no hope of a top spot anymore. Andy’s Breakneck Hexbane got him last round and was off to try and dethrone the yet-undefeated Damian, so we were down in the mid tables now. Another one of my local teammates, Brian, came through to spectate! He unfortunately couldn’t participate this year but made it to the convention in time to watch his buddies fight each other, like a true friend. We had a round of hugs and high-fives, and then we rolled off to close out the tournament and re-run our pingfest after all those practice matches.

Our first game didn’t go great for me, as the anti-ping stuff in Rimewyrm goes quite nicely with the anti-ping stuff in hexbane, and he got most of it early. In reality, the pivotal moment was one where my vulnerable last surviving fighter charged Hexbane and missed, and then I set about applying three upgrades to keep him alive. I foolishly had Inured to Hardship in hand but did not play it first, so I was still vulnerable when it was his turn in the power step and I ate The Right Bait for my carelessness. That was that. I lost 12-19 and promised to think a little harder next time.

Trouble is, thinking only gets you so far. Game two I got slaughtered! I drew five upgrades into four upgrades, had the wrong Objective cards for round 1, and he set off ticking away on my fighters without issue. Retractable Pistol saw an early appearance, and Puncturing Ice Shards got me good. I was tabled early in round 2, and even though I tried my ‘desperately draw hoping for some ping domain’ strategy that worked against Markus earlier, I was doomed when I finally got Puncturing Ice Shards but only Pock was eligible, and he had Deep Scars. So it goes. I lost 6-16 and it felt even less close than that.

Result: Wyrmstriders lose 0-2, 18-35

Final Results

This part gets a little dicey, to be honest. There was a brief moment where the pairings in round 6 were messed up because of some drops that weren’t removed, then a re-pairing had to happen, but some scores got lost. Then after they were re-added, there was a problem with the order of the tiebreakers. When I left, I was in 9th place. Later I was in 12th, and I don’t know where I ended up ‘in reality’ but it doesn’t really matter that much – I went 3-3, had some fun, made some friends, and have accepted Canadian Superiority.

Awards

The final podium was David/Beardarm in first, Andy Yeh with breakneck Hexbane in 2nd, and Damian’s breakneck Headkrakka in 3rd. Depending on which version of the final standings you look at, Andrew either got 4th or 6th, so my three losses were to top 5-ish players which makes things a little happier. I did lose more games than I won, but my glory total was 198 (14 per game) which isn’t too bad, and my opponents only scored 186 total giving me a net +12 for the tournament. Small victories and all that.

I did actually win an award though! GW gave away ‘Best in Faction’ awards, and I got Best in Faction: “The Farstrider”. While I was the only one playing The Farstriders, I was a lock to get this, but it’s also funny because by the end of most games I had one or zero models left, so I understand why the judges might have thought I was piloting a one fighter warband!

The painting award went, quite deservedly, to Blake Law’s Hexbane’s diorama. The models themselves are stunning, but in the context of his diorama they’re just flawless. Look at the hexagonal cutout on the dock wall! Look at the arrows in the signage above the inn! Man it’s good stuff. Crazy story about Blake too, he actually had to miss his flight because the crew couldn’t board until 1 minute after their cutoff, so he was rerouted. Had he made his original flight though, the connector he was set to be on stayed grounded due to that CrowdStrike blackout thing, so missing his flight is actually the only reason he made it on time.

Neel being a cool guy and putting the Spent Glory logo on his Spent Glory section

General Impressions

Ultimately, I’m really happy with the Tacoma Open this year despite my middling performance. I’m so glad to see it grow to nearly double the size from last year, with hopes for things to be even bigger next time. I of course forgot (again) to take a group picture on day 1, so here’s the gang on day 2, missing a few players because of drops.

The winner this time around was Beardarm, and I have to admit that this is my fault because A) I couldn’t take a game off him and B) He came to the event in part because I said would drive him from the hotel.

Anyway, in closing I want to give my heartfelt thanks to this great community, special shoutout for Dan Motush for running the event for us, Andy for snagging a Worlds ticket just a year after starting to play this game, and Andrew for destroying me when it counts in the tournament final round/100th game. If you have ever considered going to a tournament or a major event/Grand Clash, PLEASE do yourself the favor and give it a go. The absolute worst case is you lose some games while learning a lot and meeting some of these awesome people. Absolutely worth the price of admission – and if you’re looking to come to Tacoma next year, hit me up and I’ll do what I can to make it a good time. Here’s David, my date for the weekend, giving his 5-star review of our hang. This could be you!

Until next year, and for the 100th post, I hope you enjoy spending that glory!