Bob takes on Mathew's Skaven
Back in November of 1999 I was minding my own business when the phone rang – as there was nothing better to do I answered it and found that it was the WPS President, Rob Broom, in amongst all the general chit chat he said to me “ the Baltimore GT is on in march next year and there are a few people that want to go, are you interested? “ Does winnie the pooh go potty in the woods? “Yes!” I replied and so the mad saga unfolds.
As the time drew nearer more interest was spawned within the Ribble Warriors and soon no less than 3 of us were set to go to Baltimore, Jon Kay and Andy Reidel also wishing to take part in this epic piece of madness (but Jon was only allowed because he had to beg his wife to let him go!) even so he only found out that he actually had a place some 2 weeks before the event! Panic started to creep in as I worked out my itinerary and found that with organising the Ribble Rumble and work commitments I only had 4 weeks in which to paint my new Lizardman army, and to get Jon Kay’s tzeentch Daemon army ready as well! Frantic work ensued and at time of departure I had only 8 skinks left to paint, phew it was close!
So came the day of our journeys start, we first had to fly to Luton via Liverpool and then stay overnight at Jon’s brothers house, we could then take a relaxing train ride to Gatwick on the Friday morning and arrive fresh and happy for our transatlantic flight.
We arrived at Liverpool Airport after being driven there by Jon’s sister, Sally, (now we know why Jon drives like he does – his whole family are at it!) we rushed to check our luggage in and found out that the prize for the heaviest luggage went to Andy Reidel whose luggage weighed in at a whopping 21 kilos! we then went to the lounge only to find that the flight was delayed, so being BeerTrolls it was straight to the bar for us, after several pints and numerous hands of cards we boarded the plane.
The flight from Liverpool consisted of Take-off, getting up to go to the loo, sitting down and Landing at Luton! If only it was all going to be this easy!
We arrived at Luton – collected our luggage and headed off to Jon’s brother’s house; we arrived and proceeded to order take-outs and beer before crashing into the two available double beds (me sharing with Andy “Shitbreak “ Reidal again!
Friday morning and after a commuter journey to Gatwick we linked up with the other illustrious members of WPS Team Europe, Rob Broom, Alan Thompson, Pete Renn, Gareth Hamilton and Stephan Hess.
We indulged in more beer and then boarded our rather small looking plane for the flight to the US.
The flight lasted for 7 hours (six of which Gareth spent retching in the toilets! poor lad) but as the US is 5 hours behind us we landed 2 hours after we took off! (We were confused as well!) A short bus ride took us to the venue and our hotel.
I spent most of the evening painting skinks while the rest of the lads showed the yanks how to drink properly! . Andy meanwhile had to use the toilets which resulted in a rather nasty blockage in our room which he didn’t mention until later when I used it and the water came up to the brim, He blamed it on the narrow aperture in continental toilets and the apparent volume of his deposit – I was just sick.
Luckily we found that the pay-for-view porn at the hotel stayed on after your chosen movie for no extra cost, lucky us! – That took our minds off the bog!
Saturday dawned with bathroom still out of commission and me having to go to the front desk and explain that the two Brits had been in the room for one night and already an environmental disaster was on hand, luckily the maintenance staff did not speak English and so I have no idea what the choking, crap-covered Mexican called me as he was wheeled away, but I can guess and after an immense brekky we were off to our first game, after much shouting and Waaghing the games commenced, the atmosphere was excellent and very different from a UK tourney with lots of enthusiasm and horseplay among the contestants , I played against Sal Capatano from Washington with his High Elves and after a very close game managed to pull off a victory , Hurrah ! Most of the rest of the team also won their first game and so it was looking good. In the interval it was off to the bar once more before game 2 commenced.
Game two was against the Chittering Skaven hordes of Mathew, whose surname escapes me, he was wearing a hat made to look like a large piece of cheese, which was appropriate for his army, Ahem, needless to say I was soundly thrashed in this battle.
Again to the bar for more refreshment!
Game three saw me drawn against Brian kadets Chaos warriors in a scenario which reduced movement by 1” and all models with multiple attacks lost one attack, so unfortunately with his chaos warriors reduced to 2” move and one attack I was able to pull off a stunning victory!
Game four had me matched against the lizardmen of Shawn Simms, in the scenario for this game I was required to give up a model from my most expensive regiment to Shawn as a traitor, goodbye Stegadon with me receiving a Kroxigor in return! However it was still a close game up until my entire army folded and ran away leaving me utterly distraught! Shawn was a great guy and a pleasure to play but I only let him beat me cos he had a gun (he was a cop)
It was then down to the restaurant for our tea were I was shocked to find that even I was ahead of Rob Broom in game points – much to everyone’s amusement!
Saturday night saw us hitting the bar for an excellent Pub quiz and lots of beer, everyone wanted to talk to us and find out about Warhammer in the UK and we had a lot of good conversations and made lots of new friends (especially the guys with a keg in their room eh Andy!) I finally retired at about 1.00 am whilst other die hards remained but I was knocked up at 3.00 am by Andy finally coming to bed after Guinness drinking with his new found buddies. Needless to say I was not impressed!
Sunday commenced with another huge Breakfast and a recounting of the evening’s tales!
Then game 5 commenced and I found myself playing one of team US in the form of Tony Ordona with his High Elves, having already faced a high Elf army I was confident for a victory! Lots of arrows later and one dead army and I were a bit less confidant! Doh !
Game 6 was the clincher – to achieve a 50% success rate I had to win do or die! The scenario was King of the Hill – the only victory conditions were that a hill was set in the middle of the table, the player with the most models on or within 6” of the hill was the winner. I looked down the play list and found out I was against ….Dwarfs , I could not believe my luck! still the battle was hard fought but in the end I was victorious 3 win and 3 losses, not bad for me .
And so the gaming came to an end, at the awards ceremony we were pleased to find out that Alan Thompson won Best General, Gareth Hamilton won Best Army Appearance and that we had beat the Americans and won the Warhammer Cup! Until it was pointed out that a clerical error meant that we were in fact the Runners- up, but still we all had a great time and enjoyed the tournament no end!
The rest of our stay in the US involved lots of touristy things – walking round Washington DC with no cameras (Doh again) finding amazing bars with strange beers, following Pete Renn round second-hand bookshops at midnight looking for CD’s. Walking past the WhiteHouse without knowing what it was!
And also having the WPS Presidents Sex-Ed class at the front gates of the WhiteHouse (don’t ask please!) Shopping, Arlington cemetery, and the classic jumping into a Baltimore taxi at 1 in the morning and saying “take us where the action is!” if you are lucky then a follow on article will be forthcoming!