[Wargaming] Convergence Release Event Take 2

Today I took part in the second of two Convergence of Cyriss release events for Warmachine. Like the first one it was sadly rather poorly attended (even more so this time around in fact, with only five of us), but fun in spite of that. A couple of last minute drops owing to real life issues contributed to the low turnout, and sadly took care of our two potential Convergence players, so it was fight to the death between Trollbloods, Pirates, Cryx, Cryx, and, errrr, Cryx! Actually it could have been all Cryx all the time, but the Pressganger had some Trollbloods with him and one of the local players popped home to get an alternative when he arrived to find so many undead players. 

One of the incentives for attending this event for me was the chance to visit a new game shop. Common Ground Games in Stirling has only been open for about four months, but is a great facility. The shop itself is not huge, but has a decent amount of space and a great range of products. They have a decent selection of boardgames, which was good to see, and the usual large range of Games Workshop product. Their Privateer Press stuff was focused mainly on starter boxes and books, but it was the range of smaller lines that astounded me. I saw Infinity, Hell Dorado, Bolt Action, MERCs, Anima Tactics, Hail Ceasar, Firestorm Armada, Dystopian Wars, Dystopian Legions, Dropzone Commander, Malifaux, and a couple of others besides! It was amazing. I could have spent so much money in that shop picking up things that I'd previously had to buy online, but I managed to restrain myself and just grab a new boardgame.

The game space at Common Ground Games is very impressive indeed! They;re still building up

their terrain collection, but some of what they have is very impressive. (Credit: David Brown)

It's the rest of the facilities that are truly impressive. It's based in an old snooker hall, so there's a proper gaming room with loads of space. There are 20 6'x4' permanent boards, with shelfs underneath to store things and ample space between the rows, a painting area in one corner, and lots of folding tables for card and boardgames. There's even a small cafe and lounge area for relaxing between games! It seemed fairly quiet there today, but thinking about it there were a fair amount of people there, so I think it was just a function of the amount of space. For a while we were the only people playing there, but midway through the afternoon a couple of gentlemen turned up to play a historical gamed in the Indian mutiny period. It looked rather impressive.

The Indian mutiny game next to us looked really good. Lots of great scenery, and some lovely figures. Turns out the two guys ran their own model company,

and were playtesting a new supplement for a game called "Smooth and Rifled". (Credit: David Brown)

Anyway, onto the event. I spent the week building some more terrain for myself to gain a few more points in advance; it performed adequately, although the hill is a little steep sided in places which is a bit annoying. I managed to get four games in, playing all of the other attendees once, but I could easily have got a couple more in instead of hanging around and chatting. No medals this event sadly; in fact no prizes at all, as there weren't enough people, so we just paid for the table usage which was very reasonably at £3.50

A quick run down of the games I played:

• Game 1: Played Deneghra1 vs Grissel2. He was scared of my Helldivers, so bricked up in the middle. At which point I completely boxed Grissel in, and sent in the Cankerworm on the flank. A couple of turns later and Grissel had been worn down. Win
• Game 2: Played Skarre2 vs Scaverous. An early shot did significant damage to Skarre, and once again I didn't feat when I should have done. Some feat + telekinesis shenanigans from Scaverous meant another Harrow shot to the face. Loss
• Game 3: Played Venethrax vs Goreshade. He destroyed the power node, leaving him open to charges from my heavies. Sadly I screwed up the order of activation to miss a chance at his Slayer, and slammed the Deathjack instead of just attacking, but I still took out his Seether. The retaliation was harsh, casting me two heavies and putting Bane Thralls in my face. Tried to sneak some hellfires through but couldn't hit, and a charging Slayer combo-struck me in one hit. Loss
• Game 4: Played Witch Coven vs Shae. Two first turn stygian abyss' through the power node left Shae on 1 health! He just tried to survive after that, but the movement tricks that the Coven can pull off were just too much. I took down two of his heavies in one turn, and the turn after managed to ghost walk an arcnode close enough to Shae for another stygian abyss to take him down.  Win

Boxing in Grissel2 with Helldivers. The Cankerworm charging in from the flank was her downfall. (Credit: David Brown)

So 2-2 for the day, which isn't bad for me! I ended with 21 points, but have no idea how many everyone else got. But I think I had shot at winning if there had been prizes. Ah well. It was worth the trip out to Stirling nevertheless, just for the chance to visit Common Ground Games and meet some more new faces. It's shame that I'm leaving Scotland at the end of August, as I'd love to go over there more often. I'll just have to try and make it up for the Scottish masters at the end of September.