During this past weekend, I got a chance to play in my first 5E tournament, hosted by FLGS extraordinaire Battleforge Games here in Austin. BFG's "Hobby Tournaments" (which emphasize fun army lists as opposed to kill-em-all WAAC lists) are somewhat legendary -- this one had 28 players, and a free catered lunch (not bad for a free tournament, eh? Is it any wonder BFG has earned a large and loyal fan/customer base? It probably doesn't hurt that BFG is the venue-of-choice for the Bell of Lost Souls guys, too).How'd I do? Well...1 loss, 2 draws. I wasn't in the top ten, but I consider this improvement, as in my first tournament, I lost every match, in my second, I had one loss and one tie (and a bye).
The picture is was taken by Jay, aka Bushido in the 41st Millennium during our match in round 2. If you'd like to read more about that match (and good match-by-match batreps by Bushido for the whole tournament including pictures from each), you should check out this act of bloggery he committed.
You may notice his gorgeous Eldar army in the photo. It looks fantastic, every unit has been lovingly given attention, and his vehicles are as beautiful and elegant as they are deadly. :) You'll also notice my Ultras are outnumbered. This was taken during the next-to-last turn. That loss I mentioned earlier? Yep, this was it.
You may be curious about the top five in this tournament, being is that it is one of the first 5E tournaments ever:
1. Eldar
2. Chaos Space Marines (Nurgle)
3. Imperial Guard
4. (tie) Black Templars
4. (tie) Tyranids
Hmm...looks like even with the new edition, some things have changed all that much. :) Although I should point out that most of the players in the top five consistently win tournaments using different armies (which lets you know they're good generals in any case).
There were a lot of marine armies in this tournament, which led Frank (aka Capt Tyranus on B&C) to comment that he thinks more people are picking marines up again due to the rumors about the upcoming codex, and it's supposed power. Interesting.
Does this mean we are entering into a Marines Ascendant era?
Which leads somewhat to this question: do you think the new marine codex will change the overall "power level" of the army?
Lastly, I'd like to say that having played 2 tournaments under 4E and now one under 5E, I greatly prefer the 5E ruleset. The games seem to have a more even ebb and flow, give and take...dare I say it: balance. I'm really looking forward to the bright times ahead in this hobby.
