[Warmachine] SmogCon 2016
This past weekend I made my way down to London for SmogCon V, the latest incarnation of Europe's biggest and best Warmachine convention. My first visit was last year, and I had such a great time that I just had to go back. Spoiler alert: I'll be heading back next year too.
Rather than giving a blow-by-blow of all of my games, I thought I'd give an overview of what I did, where I spent most of my time, and my results. Then I'll do a separate photodump post of the best snaps that I managed to take. A blow-by-blow might follow at a later date if I can be bothered (and have the time).
Thursday
I arrived about 8:30pm, checked in, then went to collect my SmogCon loot. Since I was staying in the hotel, that meant extra dice (in sparkly purple!) and the limited edition SmogCon model, Captain Bones, on top of the dice, booklet, and lanyard that all attendees received. I also picked up my SmogCon V t-shirt.
Then it was back to my room, where I stayed up until midnight marking the front arcs on my entire Cryx army.....
Friday
At last year's SmogCon I spent all weekend in the Iron Arena. This year I wanted to enter a competitive event, but not one of the serious ones, oh no. I was going to play in Spell Draft. That meant getting to registration early, but it was well worth it and I had a lot of fun over the five rounds.
After Spell Draft was over I headed to the Iron Arena for a single game, before going down to the board games room for some Level 7 games. Never having played that particular PP franchise before I wasn't sure what to expect. As it turned out, I had a whale of a time playing Level 7 [Invasion] and Level 7 [Escape], and didn't leave the board game room until about 3am.
Saturday
After not very much sleep on Friday night, I decided to spend Saturday in the Iron Arena building up points in order to grab some of the cool prizes on offer. My first game started at 11:00am, and my sixth game ended at 1:30am. At that point I was shot, but spent another half an hour chatting to a couple of guys about list building, min-maxing, spam lists, and the best way to play Kaya2.
The six games I played were universally fun, and I got to see some models that I'd never encountered before. Highlights included Snapjaw frenzying and biting Skarre1 in half just as I was about to win, Venethrax having a staring contest with a Glacier King, the Gun Mages that just would not die, Terminus' one-shot kill on Zerkova2, and grinding a win against Doomshaper3 after surviving by a fraction of an inch on not one, but two occasions.
Sunday
I'd booked into an IKRPG session on Sunday morning, so I had a leisurely time getting breakfast, checking out, and wandering around. The session was a lot of fun; I accidentally shot a party member in the face, then redeemed myself by swinging off a balcony, through a window, and into two bad guys to knock them down. I had so much fun that I promptly signed up for an afternoon session, where I was the only party member to survive the big bad boss' cave blowing up...
How did I do?
Thursday
I arrived about 8:30pm, checked in, then went to collect my SmogCon loot. Since I was staying in the hotel, that meant extra dice (in sparkly purple!) and the limited edition SmogCon model, Captain Bones, on top of the dice, booklet, and lanyard that all attendees received. I also picked up my SmogCon V t-shirt.
Loot! The red dice are for all attendees, the sparkly purple dice and limited edition model were for hotel guests.
The t-shirt was an extra purchase, but well worth it! (Credit: David Brown)
Then it was back to my room, where I stayed up until midnight marking the front arcs on my entire Cryx army.....
Friday
At last year's SmogCon I spent all weekend in the Iron Arena. This year I wanted to enter a competitive event, but not one of the serious ones, oh no. I was going to play in Spell Draft. That meant getting to registration early, but it was well worth it and I had a lot of fun over the five rounds.
After Spell Draft was over I headed to the Iron Arena for a single game, before going down to the board games room for some Level 7 games. Never having played that particular PP franchise before I wasn't sure what to expect. As it turned out, I had a whale of a time playing Level 7 [Invasion] and Level 7 [Escape], and didn't leave the board game room until about 3am.
Round 2 of the Spell Draft event. My Witch Coven come up against Butcher2 and
his Mad Dogs of War. It goes poorly...(Credit: David Brown)
Saturday
After not very much sleep on Friday night, I decided to spend Saturday in the Iron Arena building up points in order to grab some of the cool prizes on offer. My first game started at 11:00am, and my sixth game ended at 1:30am. At that point I was shot, but spent another half an hour chatting to a couple of guys about list building, min-maxing, spam lists, and the best way to play Kaya2.
The six games I played were universally fun, and I got to see some models that I'd never encountered before. Highlights included Snapjaw frenzying and biting Skarre1 in half just as I was about to win, Venethrax having a staring contest with a Glacier King, the Gun Mages that just would not die, Terminus' one-shot kill on Zerkova2, and grinding a win against Doomshaper3 after surviving by a fraction of an inch on not one, but two occasions.
It was all going so well. Until I miscounted my Fury, Snapjaw frenzied, and bit Skarre's head clean off! (Credit: David Brown)
Sunday
I'd booked into an IKRPG session on Sunday morning, so I had a leisurely time getting breakfast, checking out, and wandering around. The session was a lot of fun; I accidentally shot a party member in the face, then redeemed myself by swinging off a balcony, through a window, and into two bad guys to knock them down. I had so much fun that I promptly signed up for an afternoon session, where I was the only party member to survive the big bad boss' cave blowing up...
Surprise! Markus the Gobber Pistolier/Thief swings from the roof, in through the window of the bar, and
knocks down two bad guys. (Credit: David Brown)
How did I do?
- Warmachine/Hordes - 12 (1x25pts; 5x35pts; 6x50pts) - 6 wins, 6 losses
- Level 7 [Invasion] - 1 game - 1 loss
- Level 7 [Escape] - 3 games - 3 wins
- IKRPG - 2 sessions
Overall thoughts
I had a very different experience at SmogCon V compared to the 2015 version. It was more varied; I spent less time in the Iron Arena, took part in a tournament, played more board games, and spent more time just wandering around. But I met another great bunch of people, caught up with an acquaintance I hadn't seen in a while, saw some beautiful models, and enjoyed a lot of laughs. The 'new shiny' phase had worn off, but SmogCon was just as much fun as last year. I will definitely be back.
I bought lots of shiny pins. (Credit: David Brown)
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