Fortress Friday - Crushing Your Foe Utterly

I got to play a Warhammer Fantasy game and a Hordes game last Friday at Fortress. I had to lug a heavy carry case that had both my Khorne Daemonic Legion and Legion of Everblight inside, and all of them were metal. Good thing I decided not to bring my Khador or else it would have been heavier (and the handle on my carry case would have snapped off from the weight). I won both games handily but both were against relatively new players.

The young guy who just started out with Warhammer Fantasy was Ron and he was playing Bretonnians. And by young I mean high-school-student young. He had great difficulty with the basic movement for WFB, which is essentially very difficult in the first place. All that wheeling, turning and reforming -- he should have photocopied the whole rulebooklet instead of just a few pages. It was his second game against me (the first he lost against my Vampire Counts army a week ago) and he was surprised how he could not beat me. It surprised me as how ambitious this new player is. I mean, I have been at this hobby since year 2000, and I have been playing WFB since 2002. I have played many tourneys and gamed against the best in the community, winning a Best General award a few years back. And here's a new dude who expects a win on his second game against me. I know this post is beginning to sound arrogant, but I've never been one to give a lame game. I will give my ace game all the time, and I will crush you if I get the chance. But that's only because I expect my enemy will not half-ass his game as well. I will not baby newbies just to hook them into the game further. I will weed out the weak, and all the old players know that. If you're new, and you beat me, then you earn a great deal of respect from me in return. If you lose, dust off and jump on the saddle for another ride -- I'll be happy to play again so long as I can.

My other game was against Manolet, an older player who uses a beast-heavy Skorne army. The scenario that we got was Invasion and I knew I would have an edge with Rhyas' Dash and the Angelius' wings. He did a sound tactic, using Subdue on a Titan Gladiator and charged in the center of my own warbeasts. Evidently, he hoped that the Subdue effect would prevent me from running but found out that warbeasts do not need orders to be able to run. The game was over without anyone giving or taking a point of damage. Now, the game may have ended on a less than appealing note, but winning's still winning. Taking on three Titans -- Bronzeback, Gladiator and Cannoneer -- head on with Subdue or Diminish in effect would just be plain stupidity on my part. Sure the Rapport Carnivean would be able to rip apart the forward Gladiator (failing that the two Angelius who may not use their special attack might still provide support), but that would have left my beasts open for a counter attack. Now why would I do that when I can easily go for objectives, right?

I've taken my share of licks over the years and I still do. And I never want to underestimate my opponent. I still love playing, win or lose. And I still try to have fun either way. And if my opponent didn't enjoy the game just because of how I play, sorry, my friend, take a big whiff and deal with it because I'll keep on being like this for as long as I can.