Lakeside Cup 2010, Result = I Suck!

Lakeside Cup is a team tournament (East vs. West) held in Cobourg, ON.  It's TV125 where only two players can have more than one skill (Captain & Asst. Captain) and the Captain gets Leader for free and a new upgrade after every game.

My roster was; Ripper, Blitzer w Dodge/Frenzy/Leader (C), Blitzer w Guard/Stand Firm (A), 4x Black Orcs w Block, Orc w Block, Orc w Wrestle, Goblin, 1 Reroll.

DAY 1 (Or - "1 out of 4 is pretty bad")

Game 1 vs. Mark H
Mark had a nicely painted Chaos Dwarf team, including a Minotaur with Claw, 2 Bull Centaurs, 6 CD Blockers. The game started really well for me, I had 3 casualties by the middle of the first half.  I managed to score, but unfortunately I couldn't capitalize any more than that and in the second half, Mark just started owning me, I think for something like 5 or 6 turns in a row he would knock a player out.  By the last few turns of the game I had 3 black orcs and a goblin left on the pitch.  I had faint hopes of holding out for a draw, but his damn Bull Centaur scooped up the ball and ran in it on the last turn for a second TD.  Loss #1.

Game 2 vs. Matt C
This game was against another Orc team.  Matt had a regular troll who spent much of the game being stupid, but it couldn't make up for the fact he surrounded Ripper the first time he was knocked down and fouled him out of the first half (knocked out)  I played pretty well and had earned myself a chance to tie up the game late in the second half, only to have my captain drop an accurate pass on the last turn of the game. Loss #2.

Game 3 vs. Dan C
Dan had combined his mini's from his Khemri and Necromantic teams to bring a vanilla undead team.  This game got off on the wrong foot for me when I decided to try kicking to him when I won the coin toss and I rolled "Throw a Rock" as the kickoff result.  Guess who spent most of the first half knocked out before turn one...  RIPPER! Yay!  Dan immediately knocked out a black orc with his first hit and it just went downhill from there.  Dan mentioned (I think after his second or third touchdown) that every time I rolled the block dice, at least one of them was a skull.  Yea, that kinda game.  Still I find Dan one of the most fun guys to play and I voted him Best Sportsmanship or whatever the Lakeside equivalent is called.  Loss #3.

Game 4 vs. Colin
Colin's wretched Nurgle team.  Anyone who actually reads these will know he DESTROYED me at the Golden Sweetbun.  After some atrocious luck in my earlier games - the luck reversed and I managed to cage my way slowly downfield.  He did enough to slow me down quite a lot which meant I had to rush it near the end of the half.  Then I shot myself in the foot by rushing it and skulling a single die block with my only guy in position to score. BONE-HEAD!  At this point I figured I'd earned my fourth loss.  It was going to take a mistake on Colin's part to give me any chance.  Well a mistake was made, he had burned his reroll and did a "Go For It" with his ball carrier...  and rolled a one.  Probably the turning point of the game (except maybe his block with his captain that he skulled and casualtied himself) regardless I got a few casualties in as I picked up the ball and ran it downfield.  He did keep knocking my ball carrier down but I managed to complete a handoff in the last turn of the game to win it 1-0.  Win #1 - YAY!


DAY 2 (Or - "I can't believe I still lost!")

Game 5 vs. Adam J
Probably the highlight of the tournament for everyone but me.  I was SMOKING Adam in this game.  It seemed I couldn't NOT injure his guys.  Failed to score in the first half, but for most of the game he had 5 or less players on the pitch to my near full team (I think I had one guy KO'd or Casualty).  However the big moment was in the last turn of the game.  Adam had one guy left on the pitch (his captain) who had side step.  He had a tackle zone on my ball carrier so I had to surround him before trying to push him off, otherwise he would just get a tackle zone back on the ball carrier.  I had a choice of using my captain with frenzy to push him off or using a line orc with a "Go For It" to be able to blitz.  I picked the frenzy guy which ended up losing (it was a tie but I have to count this as a loss!) me the game.  All I could get was a push which meant I had to hit him again.  Another push meant he got a tackle zone on the guy with the ball again.  I had managed to save my reroll so all I had to do was make a successful 3+ dodge out to score and win the game.  1, reroll, ONE.  ARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!  Ours was the last game being played so EVERYONE got to watch me screw-up.  My own team-mates were even giving Adam advice (thanks Ben! Winner of the Jackass award..  Hell yea I voted for him!). Tie #1.

Still this game will live forever in memory as possibly the funniest game I've ever played.
Damn you Jones! I'll get you yet!

Game 6 vs. Pat
A game against Pat and his dwarves.  After the last game I didn't really have much to play for (not to take anything away from Pat, he played a really solid game and just crunched my team into the dirt) Didn't stop the bad luck from continuing with a couple single die = skull and 2 die = double skull rolls on my part.  I don't really remember much of this game as after Game 5 I started drinking quite heavily!! Loss #4.

A really really fun tournament hosted by Peter and his wonderful wife Tammy.  They fed and housed us all weekend and it was nice to not have to travel anywhere to play our games.  The team format was extremely fun and generated a lot of laughs and  good times.