I think we will call it...BrimbleCon!

Luke "BrimbleCon"Brimblecombe

A few days ago I was discussing the state of Auckland gaming and making the observation that our gaming bretheren in Wellington do not know how lucky they have it (at least from the outside looking in). The Warmachine crowd is filled with good blokes, the FOW guys are great, and the rest seem organised and on the same page. Sometimes I wonder what that must be like..... Over the weekend one of Auckland members of the Warmachine community ran the first of what will hopefully be a regular event - Auckland Steamroller 2012, or as we all now know it, BrimbleCon 2012 - in an attempt to get our local gaming scene all back on the same page.

My plan was simple, I'd find a force that I wanted to take to Ides of March next year (another new tournament happening in Auckland) and use BrimbleCon as an opportunity to see if I liked the list. I settled on the new pButcher tier list from NQ:
The Butcher of Khardov
- War Dog
- Juggernaut
- Juggernaut

Uhlan Kovnik Markov
Manhunter
Manhunter

Great Bears of Gallowswood
Iron Fang Pikemen - Leader & 9 Grunts
- Black Dragon Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Pikemen - Leader & 9 Grunts
- Iron Fang Officer & Standard
Battle Mechaniks - Leader & 3 Grunts

REINFORCEMENTS
Iron Fang Uhlans - Leader & 2 Grunts 

Yep, it was Irong Fang-tastic! We played four games over the course of the day which was more than enough given my newborn baby addled brain was really suffering by the end of the day...

Round 1: Chris Baker with Ossyan and a kitchen sink of infantry and solos. Chris is a master of board positioning and the game ended up with Butcher standing in the scoring zone with dead Mage Hunter Assassins, waiting for the next enemy to come and play when he found himself pushed out the scoring zone. Whoops!

Round 2: Jason Brown with pSkarre, a Kraken and Wraith Engine. We had a great fight - Kovnik Markov let the side down badly by missing the Wraith Engine (double 1's) on the charge. The Wraith Engine would later find itself dining on Butcher...

Round 3: Daryl Painter with Venethrax, Bile Thralls and friends. Daryl's list seemed like a great counter to mine, clearing out my IFP with corrosion, my Manhunters were the stars on the day killing a 'jack and working their way round into the backfield. Daryl unfortunately forgot that the Butcher was a tough nut to crack and threw Vene in to him, needless to say Butcher same out on top!

Round 4: Glenn White with wall to wall Dwarves. For once I actually felt like I understood my opponents army (having run very similar lists in the past. This game was a real grind-a-thon as I felt like I was on top the entire time, which resulted in me playing fairly cautiously to try to make sure I did not end up losing it. In the end my IFP's managed to grind down his 'jacks and opened the way for a Juggernaut to introduce his axe to Gorton's face!

Two wins, two losses - better than most of my efforts. The games were great for getting to understand my list, as well as pointing out that pButcher with Iron Flesh and a bucket of focus is a tough nut to crack!

For the results check out the Thrallblacks site...

Before game on1

Jacks are for big girls!

A Collosal and a Battle Engine... yowzers!

"Take that" - Kovnik Markov shortly before his demise

The bigger they are, the harder they fall! or not....