Double Trouble 2 - The Aftermath

After my five year run of Blog Wars events, I switched over to a new format last year with Double Trouble (DT1). With Matt running his first event, Fluffageddon in November, it's been just under a year since I've hosted a tournament. It therefore took me a little while to remember that the hell I'm supposed to be doing but I soon got back into the swing of things and I thought DT2 was probably ran more smoothly than any of my previous events. DT1 was by no means bad on my part but venue issues hampered me somewhat when were downstairs in the drama room dungeon.

No such issues this time as we had the properly stunning NWGC venue to ourselves (apart from a few local gamers here and there. Thanks to the doubles format we only needed seven tables too so there was plenty of space for people to set their armies up and move around to watch the other games when they were done with theirs. I'm pretty sure this helped make the event feel more relaxed than last time on its own.

As a reminder, Double Trouble events differ from normal doubles tournaments in that no one shows up with a partner. Instead, they arrive with a 750pt list and get paired with a new partner and two new opponents in each and every round. It's deliberately a social event first and a competitive tournament second. You struggle to bring too much filth in a 750pt army as it is and you can't rely on synergy between your force and the other half of the army. Numbers were slightly down on last time (28 compared to 32) but I think the imminent release of 8th didn't help me. Still, nothing I could do about it as I'd had the date booked in for a long time.

Results
Come back tomorrow and Tuesday for the painting competition round up but here's the final table from the tournament itself:

Click on the image to enlarge it if you're having trouble making out the text. Bear in mind the positions are pretty meaningless. The tournament prizes are separated into Master Tactician (most VPs from Maelstrom cards) and Genocidal Maniac (most "blood points" i.e. destruction of enemy units).  The former going to David Irving and the latter going to Mark Hinson. It's interesting to look back to DT1 and think that Matthew Grimes' summoning Daemons list wouldn't be anywhere near as effective in the upcoming 8th edition. Anyway, I'm not sure how the hell David managed to accrue quite so many VPs but his opponents vouched for the numbers! I guess if your games are going to seven turns then there's plenty of scope for it.

My good friend Matt was frustrated to narrowly miss out on the blood points title but it's worth noticing that he played with Mark in the second round and matched his score in the final round. He'd have needed to table his game one opponents to tie things up (but would still have lost on VPs as a tiebreak anyway).

Rob Nathan should win a second award for Most Consistent Performance but he actually managed to score less points than he did at DT1 (41.66 compared to 43.84 to scoop the Nobody Loves Me Award for lowest combined total).

Sadly no trophies this time round but hopefully I'll be able to reinstate them for DT3. However there was, as ever, a generous raffle. I gave away a Shadow War rulebook, three scenery kits, a start collecting set (the winner selected BA), Gangs of Commorragh (which Matt won, can't wait to give it a go) and finally a Warhammer Quest: Shadows Over Hammerhal box (worth £90 RRP). I think that's pretty good for a 28 strong event giving everyone a 1 in 4 chance of a prize. More than half of the prizes were worth double the ticket price too!! For those who don't already know, I do this as my method of discouraging people from bringing pure filth. The tournament prizes are always worth less than something you could get by sheer luck of your name being drawn from the bag.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who came along to the event. Thanks also to the incredibly generous Element Games for allowing me to run the event at their stunning venue. Seriously, the place is easily the best place I've played in a tournament (OK I didn't actually play but you know what I mean). Mats for every table, a massive array of scenery, storage space under the tables for your reserves etc and much improved decor compared to the old NWGC before Element took over. We should be supporting companies like Element who are prepared to invest in making venues that make tournaments more enjoyable. Why not pre-order your copy of 8th edition from them (if you haven't already)? Yes, I do receive a small cut of the sales but their service is excellent.

All that remains for me to say is that Double Trouble 3 will be at the NWGC on June 9th 2018 and I'll be hosting a new singles event "Nevermind The Blog Wars" (thanks James Coldrick for the name suggestion) on November 11th 2017. Stay tuned to the blog for more details or join the Double Trouble group on Facebook.

The Double Trouble 2 Pie Charts Post!

It's that time again when I produce a series of pie charts to illustrate pretty meaningless statistics about the armies that will be competing at one of my tournaments. This time it's the Double Trouble 2 edition. Last year's Double Trouble (1) edition featured a bumper helping of pie. This year I've been pretty lazy and just updated the pie charts to reflect this year's offerings.

Once again, thanks to everyone for submitting the lists. Special thanks to the two guys who've joined in last minute to make up for a few unexpected dropouts. I have to say again that I'm glad I'm only looking at 750pt lists but at least this is the last time I'll be reviewing lists based on the bloated 7th edition rules. It's been nearly impossible to keep track of all the source material. I'm looking forward to everything coming from a much more limited set of books. Well, until we start getting the new codices that is. I'm also looking forward to what I hope will be my first events without significant comp. Reading through the rules for 8th I think that were I to run Double Trouble again in the new edition I'd probably just have to keep the single detachment and everything else will be fine. I'm sure people will find ways to break the game again though so my joy will probably be short lived.

Right, onto the pie!

The Pie Charts
As ever we begin with the faction breakdown pie:

Look at all the pretty colours! Once again you guys have, without any input from me, managed to represent nearly every faction in the game. Sadly no Tyranids this time which is always a big disappointment for me. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing Dave Weston's Ravenwing in the "flesh" so I'll forgive him. Again no love for Guard but hopefully the new edition will make them more viable again. At least we've got some Chaos Space Marines and Necrons this time around. One thing we certainly aren't going to be short of are Space Marines:

Bear in mind the blue bit includes some Legiones Astartes armies, CSM, vanilla SM and all those chapters worthy of their own book e.g. Wolves. Proportionally there's a pretty big jump there though from last year's 50:50 split. I feel vindicated in making that pie chart last year now as it makes it more obvious that they've increased! Screw you again if you internally mocked me for making it! You have to wonder how 8th edition will affect their popularity. Of course, you don't really have to wonder because I'll quite literally "chart" their rise or fall in the next pie chart post.

I guess you're wondering what chapters these multitude of marines represent? Well whether you are or not here it is:

The biggest change here is that Blood Angels (boooo!) have swapped places with Space Wolves (woooo!). There's just one player representin' for Fenris this time compared to three last time. So "what will these many marines be up against?" I hear you cry. Well let me show you:

Despite successes at Cadia, Chaos isn't looking like it's in the ascendancy here. Again, I really hope 8th will go some way to fix this. I may not be a fan of Daemons but I'd love CSM to feel a lot more like they do in the fluff.

How have people organised their armies though? Well here's how:

A CAD remains the most popular detachment for obvious reasons. Firstly that Objective Secured isn't hurting anyone in Maelstrom games but also because 750pts doesn't really allow you much scope for anything else (it's like I planned in that way.....). This pie chart will look significantly different in 8th I'm sure with the 27,000 (or thereabouts) different detachments that feature in the rulebook. Speaking of which. I will, of course, be dropping a review of the new book once Double Trouble 2 (and a super secret post) are out of the way.

What's again somewhat surprising is the lack of formations:

We aren't seeing any more than we did at DT1. Obviously the reasons remain the same in that a lot of them are impossible to field in the Double Trouble comp (again, it's like I planned it or something). I think you'll be pleasantly surprised/amused by the formations that do feature though but I won't spoil that for you (how's that for a cliffhanger!!).

Last, but not least, Forge World usage. You might remember DT1 was the first time I've allowed Forge World at my events for a while. The general consensus was they weren't too bad so I've allowed them again:

Ever so slightly higher proportion of FW units/armies than last time. Exactly the same number of armies include a single unit (or more) and there's still three Heresy era armies in attendance. Same numbers then but a slightly higher percentage as we're down by 4 people compared to DT1.

That's it for the pies. I'm hoping the slight downturn in attendance is a result of the impending arrival of 8th edition. I really hope the new edition will be a positive for the game and bring people back and get attendances up. GW has really gone a long way to supporting independent events in the last year or so. They've still got a long way to go in my opinion but we're in a much better place than we were when I was first motivated to run Blog Wars.

Right, we've all gorged ourselves on pies now so it's time for me to make sure I've printed all the bits and pieces for Saturday. I might get chance to showcase my DT2 list (although I'm just a stand-in at the moment). Not long now for any of you still painting. Apologies for not giving you the same support I did last year but I'll endeavour to do better next time!

Less Than Week Left to Buy Your Ticket for Double Trouble 2

The title of the post says it all really but ticket sales for Double Trouble 2 will close at midnight this Saturday (27th May). If you'd like to come along you need to get your ticket soon then. You can find all the information for the event on the DT2 page. 

In case you haven't read about the event already, it's a 1,500 pt (2 x 750) doubles event but with a bit of a difference. Instead of picking an army in collaboration with your partner you simply pick a 750pt army of your own and show up. You'll then be paired up with a random partner and matched against another random pairing. In the subsequent games (there's three in total) you get another new partner and another random pair to play against. The idea is that you meet and play with 9 new people over the course of the day.

With a new edition of 40K fast approaching (DT2 will use 7th edition rules), it's a great time to meet some new gaming buddies to give you a variety of opponents to test out the new rules with once they're released.

Since you're only picking 750 pts there's also the opportunity to use a new army that you're fancying starting for the new edition or to dust off some old models than you think will get a new lease on life with the new rules. 

The last Double Trouble was a lot of fun and I was lucky enough to play in it too (I only play if the numbers allow) and I really enjoyed the experience of playing against a wide variety of opponents and having to quickly decide on tactics with my partner in each round. It's a great insight into how other people play the game and one that you can't really get from playing against them.

Please note the actual venue we're playing in is different for DT2

Did I mention there's also a generous raffle (entry to which is included in your ticket)? Last time the top prize was a Deathwatch: Overkill set and there were five other prizes to be won for a total RRP value of £350! The prize fund is based on the number of tickets sold so the more I sell I'll either add prizes or make them more generous.

Anyway, I really hope I'll see some of you there. If you've got any questions, ask me in the comments below or email me using the "Contact Me" link on the right.