Black Sheep Brawl 2015 Final Standings

Final Standings for the 2015 Black Sheep Brawl:

Place	Name	Army	Paint	Votes	Sports	Votes	Battle	Narrative	Total
1	Matt Beasley	Dark Elves	21		19	2	22	21	83
2	Eric Weber	Wood Elves	25	1	21	3	17	13	76
3	Ryan Munsell	Lizardmen	21	1	18	2	17	20	76
4	Moses Jones	Dwarves	20	1	23	4	22	10	75
5	Paul Kuehnert	Skaven	25	5	19	2	17	13	74
6	Anthony Greenman	Ogre Kingdoms	20	2	19	2	18	17	74
7	Frazier Edmonds	Undead Legions	23		21	3	14	13	71
8	Michael Case	Lizardmen	22	3	21	3	14	12	69
9	Riley Nadeau	Legion of Chaos	19		19	2	16	14	68
10	Joseph Urban	Vampire Counts	15	1	14		18	21	68
11	Nate Jones	Undead Legions	24	2	23	4	15	5	67
12	Ricky Fischer	Orcs & Goblins	25	17*	19	2	18	4	66
13	Dan Jones	Demons of Chaos	21		16	1	15	14	66
14	Aidan Rogers	Host of the Phoenix King	17	1	17	1	19	13	66
15	Aaron Musk	Warriors of Chaos	21		19	2	13	12	65
16	Ryan Frayer	Demons of Chaos	17		15		16	17	65
17	Christopher Bailey	Legion of Chaos	16		19	2	13	17	65
18	Matt Peterson	Skaven	13		25	5	17	10	65
19	Chad Egbert	Dwarves	12		21	3	18	12	63
20	Dan Miner	Tomb Kings	17		20	3	14	10	60
21	Donald Davis	Orcs & Goblins	10		21	3	15	14	60
22	Jeremy Srofe	Ogre Kingdoms	17		17	1	18	7	59
23	Arturo Gonzalez	Dark Elves	11		19	2	17	12	59
24	Joseph Pagano	Dark Elves	17		19	2	16	6	58
25	Dustin Kane	Vampire Counts	14		17	1	13	14	58
26	Evan Secan	Skaven	10		23	4	17	8	58
27	Alex Pappas	Chaos Dwarves	16	1	17	1	13	10	56
28	Scott Goldstein	Orcs & Goblins	24	3	14		9	7	54
29	James Peterson	Empire	18		19	2	11	6	54
30	Nate Roberts	Legion of Chaos	14		15		16	9	54
31	Brent Buckland	Dwarves	10		21	3	13	10	54
32	Sethan Sprague	Chaos Dwarves	17		19	2	11	6	53
33	Kyle Frank	Host of the Eternity King	17		20	3	10	5	52
34	John Gaffrey	Skaven	11		15		15	11	52
35	Fintan Rogers	Empire	12	2	14		15	10	51
36	John Kersey (W)	Wood Elves	23	1	15	3	8	2	48
37	Wiley Kinyon	Host of the Eternity King	11		17	1	16	4	48
38	Allan Hungerford	Legion of Chaos	10		17	1	11	10	48
39	Chris Born	Bretonnians	14	2	17	1	12	2	45
40	Robert Boquist	Host of the Eternity King	11		19	2	6	6	42

*Paint tiebreaker


Interesting tidbits from the tournament:

• Anthony Greenman scored the most total VP's over the five games, tallying 9622, an average of almost 2000 per game.
• Matt Peterson was everyone's favorite over the weekend, receiving all five favorite opponent votes, a first for the Brawl.
• Riley Nadeau brought the favorite pony cart, a dwarf zeppelin that was superbly executed.
• Nine year old Fintan Rogers was by far the youngest of competitors and earned two favorite painted army votes - one more than his father!
• Matt Beasley easily cleared the pack as the winner, beating second place by a whole seven points, but places two through six were only separated by a total of two points.
• Moses Jones was the only previous stein winner to bring his cup and take advantage of the free beer.
• Thanks to all of our sponsors, but especially Borderlands for providing lots of prize support and some of the tables and terrain - we couldn't have done it without you!

Thanks again to everyone for coming, we hope you had a great time!  See you next year!

Black Sheep Brawl First Round Matchups

First round matchups for tomorrow:

http://warscore.net/event/106/view.html

Let the trash talking begin!

Almost Time To Brawl

The Black Sheep Brawl is just a few days away.  I hope everyone is doing a good job of procrastinating those last items that need painted, because hey, you still have a few days.  That's plenty of time!  We are playing at a new venue this year, so I want to share a little info about it.

The Salem Elks Lodge is a short distance past a Wal-Mart that you will see when taking the Highway 22/Mission St. Exit and heading West off I-5.  The Elks Lodge is normally secured for member access only, so you'll want to hit the buzzer button on the red phone to gain access through the locked front doors.  You'll be able to get reasonably priced food and drinks from the Lodge bar during the tournament, though there are other options within a mile or two if you want to get out during lunch breaks.

We also hope most of you will join us at Gilgamesh brewing after our first day of games Saturday night.  It's just a few miles away and you'll get a map to it in your swag bag when you arrive.  Gilgamesh is a local brew pub with great food and good beers.  We will have an area in the covered patio, just let them know you're from the Black Sheep Brawl.  After dinner at Gilgamesh, you might explore more pubs in Salem, or come on back to the Elks Lodge for open gaming till 11pm.

We've got a wide range of power level in lists that have come in, Swedish scores ranging from a little over 2 to over 19.  That hints at different people coming with different objectives in mind.  Whatever your objective, we hope to get you paired up with players of a similar mindset and power level.  On the end times front, we have a fair share of end times armies in as you can see in the list tally here.  There will be some pretty sick Chaos Legion combos, one Nagash, one Karl Franz Ascendent, a couple Alarielles, and others running around.

We're all excited to be running our biggest Black Sheep Brawl, and hope everyone's looking forward to some good games.  See you Saturday morning around 8:30am.

Black Sheep Brawl IV: Scenario 5

In the final epic battle of the Black Sheep Brawl IV, your ability to score loyalty points in the previous four games will play a role in your fate.  Hope that you have done enough to gain the Black Sheep's support, for you may have heard things like "get another pair of eyes on this", or "two minds are better than one", but two armies utterly destroy one.  Don't let your army get wiped out like the Sauron's forces at Minas Tirith during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Now Available: Black Sheep Brawl IV Complete Rules Pack

Black Sheep Brawl IV: Scenario 4

Drink your coffee Sunday morning, because you will be playing a game within a game.  Like two players on Survivor frantically searching for a hidden immunity idol, you will compete to find the card that matters on the battlefield.  Will you pretend to have found it when you haven't to push a battlefield advantage?  Will you ignore the terrain, letting the other army find it first, then savagely beat it out of them?  We shall see.

Black Sheep Brawl IV: Scenario 3

In the last game of day 1 of the Black Sheep Brawl, you will be playing "Race to the Wizard's Tower".  In this scenario you will be challenged to both get in the haunted mansion (wizard's tower) as soon as possible to start earning loyalty points, and deal with the opposing army that is right in your face 18" away.  Will you rack up all the points?  Or will the spirits in the mansion drive your forces away?  Manage your enemy and control the mansion for a strong finish on day 1.

Black Sheep Brawl IV: Scenario 2

Today we bring you our game 2 scenario for the Black Sheep Brawl.  In this scenario, "Protect the Wagons", you'll have an extra model in your army!  But it may prove to be a bit of a liability.  Although it has some nifty special rules, it can prove a challenge to deliver safely to your opponents deployment zone.  Don't forget it's a chariot too, so it's got impact hits, but also cannot march.

Scenario 2 is also special because for the first time at the Black Sheep Brawl we are having a hobby challenge related to it.  We encourage everyone to make their own model on a chariot base to bring that will represent their loot wagon.  We'll have players vote on their favorite one and award a prize to the winning entry.  If you are up to your neck in work just to get your army painted in time, no worries!  We'll provide a stylish dwarven pony cart model to use for anyone who doesn't bring a custom one.

Black Sheep Brawl IV: Scenario 1

This is the first in a series of posts highlighting the 5 scenarios that will be played at the upcoming Black Sheep Brawl IV.  Scenario 1 is called "Raid the Burial Mounds" and is a twist on the Dawn Attack scenario in the main rulebook.  The main modification being the addition of burial mounds which you want to hold at the end of the game to earn loyalty points.  Don't that let you hold back from establishing yourself on them early though.  Being there first can matter, and they're dangerous terrain to any models that might charge over them to engage your unit holding them.  Another important difference this this scenario is that both flanks and center sections are equally sized at 24" to soften the impact of random deployment.

Announcing the Next Black Sheep Brawl

Warhammer Norse Miniatures Resource

I have been compiling a list over time of places to get miniatures that can be used for the Norse Warhammer army list.  Here is what I have so far.  Please comment if you find something I have not.  I'm especially interested in finding a Sleipnir.

Find pictures and other info about Norse in my other articles.

Lords & Heroes 

King, Jarl, Skald, Vitki, Seer:  

• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk King and Retinue 
• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Heroes 
• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Characters 
• Mierce Miniatures, Meloda Warrior Queen of Mierce 
• Mierce Miniatures, Æthelglyth, Warrior­Maiden of Mierce 
• Mierce Miniatures, Eirik Longaxe, Steersman of Hrafnen 
• Mierce Miniatures, Drast the Hunched, Hound of Dun Durn 
• Reaper, Amon Viking Hero and other awesome Vikings 
• Reaper, Olaf Viking Chieftain 
• Reaper, Olaf Wolf Warrior 
• Reaper, Roshtand the Green Arch Druid 
• Reaper, Queen Shanon 
• Reaper, Nadezhda the White Ice Sorceress 
• Reaper, Ingrid, Female Viking Warrior  

Ulfjarls: 

• Forge World, Warhammer Monsters, Skin Wolves 

Character Mount ­ Warhorse: 

• Old Glory Miniatures, Barbarians, Heroes of Valhalla on Mighty Steeds 

Character Mount ­ Fenrir Wolf: 

• Reaper, Warg 
• Reaper, Winter Wolf 

Character Mount ­ Sleipnir: 

• Not found 

Core 

Bondsmen: 

• Wargames Factory, Hammer of the Gods, Viking Bondi 
• Wargames Factory, Hammer of the Gods, Viking Huscarls 

Marauders: 

• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Axe Regiment / Command 
• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Sword Regiment / Command 

Reavers: 

• Gripping Beast, Viking Hirdmen 
• Ral Partha, Barbarian Clan, Reaver Foot Command 

Whalers: 

• Not found 

Thralls: 

• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Armed Villagers / Command 

Norse Horsemen: 

• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Mounted Company / Command 

Giant Wolves: 

• Reaper, Wolf Pack / Dire Wolves 

Special 

Huskarls: 

• Crusader Miniatures, Saxon Huscarls 

Ulfwerenar:

• West Wind Productions, Secrets of the Third Reich, Jager Werewolf Janus 
• West Wind Productions, Secrets of the Third Reich, Jager Werewolf Fenris 
• West Wind Productions, Secrets of the Third Reich, Jager Werewolf Wolfgang 
• West Wind Productions, Secrets of the Third Reich, Jager Werewolf Mondheulen 
• West Wind Productions, Vampire Wars, Werewolves 
• West Wind Productions, Vampire Wars, Loup Garou 

Einherjar: 

• Not found 

Berserkers: 

• Ral Partha, Barbarian Clan, Reaver Tyrant Berserkers 
• Gripping Beast, Saga Vikings, Berserkers Hearthguard 
• Gripping Beast, Ulfhednar 
• Old Glory Miniatures, Barbarians, Berserkers with Wolf Heads 
• Eureka Miniatures, Shadowforge, Valkyrie Beserkers 

Shield Maidens:

• Ral Partha, Barbarian Clan, Shield Maidens 
• Eureka Miniatures, Shadowforge, Dark Temple Guard Swords / command or command 
• Eureka Miniatures, Shadow forge, Valkyrie Longswords / command 
• Eureka Miniatures, Shadowforge, Valkyrie Axe 

Norse Hunters:

• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars Humans, Nordvolk Bow Regiment / Command 

Sons of Thor:

• Not found 

Half Giants: 

• Citadel Miniatures Ogres? 

Rare 

Valkyries:

• Dark Sword Miniatures, Parkinson Masterworks, Female Valkyrie 
• Dark Sword Miniatures, Special Edition Miniatures, Theif of Hearts #3 Fallen Angel 
• Dark Sword Miniatures, Special Edition Miniatures, Thief of Hearts #4 Female Sword Mage 
• Reaper, Aina Valkyrie 

Snow Trolls: 

• Games Workshop, Ogre Kingdoms, Yhetees 

War Mammoth: 

• Grenadier, Barbarians, Barbarian War Mammoth 
• West Wind Productions, Dwarf Wars, Dwarves, Dwarven War Mammoth 
• Black Tree Design, Fantasy, Barbarians, Barbarian War Mammoth 
• Forge World, Warhammer Monsters, Chaos War Mammoth 

Frost Giant:

• Reaper, Frorigh Frost Giant 
• Reaper, Boerogg Blackrime, Frost Giant Jarl of Icingstead 
• Reaper, Svetlana, Frost Giant Princess 
• Reaper, Frost Giant Warrior 1 
• Reaper, Frost Giant Warrior 2 

Ice Drake: 

• Black Tree Design, Fantasy, Giant Monsters, Cyaneous, the Blue Dragon 
• Black Tree Design, Fantasy, Giant Monsters, Chrysophylax, the White Dragon 
• Reaper, Deathsleet 
• Reaper, Young Ice Dragon 

So Much Sparkle!

Fucking Peter.  

Oh wait, I am getting ahead of myself.  Let’s go back to the beginning.

On July 27, a group of five Black Sheep made the journey to Seattle to partake in the Sparkle Party Deathmatch, a 2999 point Warhammer Fantasy Battle tourney hosted by the Dimensional Cascade podcast.  I have been burned out on Warhammer for the past couple of months, but as I had purchased the ticket prior to my doldrums, I found myself travelling with the rest of the Black Sheep that morning.

For the event, I threw a quick list together, the centerpiece being an Exalted Great Unclean One, which was represented by Taylor’s Forgeworld Great Unclean One model, which he was kind enough to trust me with.     I also ran a regular Big Poppa with a full kit, as my goal was to take double poppas.   The rest of my army consisted of a stone throwing Soul Grinder, a BSB on palanquin, three beasts of Nurgle, two units of plaguebearers, and unit of nurglings.    As the paintjob on my army was merely adequate, I knew that I needed to overachieve with Generalship in order to score well in the overall rankings.  

I started out strong, winning my first game against an Empire army.  My opponent was a really nice guy and took his bad luck and my totally bent poppa super squad in stride.   I wish I remember his name, but I forgot to write it down.  I believe his name was Jonathan or Michael, unfortunately I don't remember, and he was a Seattle local.   The game saw a steam tank get carved up by Exalted Poppa and his Balesword.  Then his Hurricanum was smashed to bits by a Soul Grinder hit, and his forces slowly started dwindling.   He had some bad luck with his demigryffs not being able to handle the unit of beasts and his knights getting eaten by the Little Big Poppa.   Through it all, he was cheerful and was a really awesome opponent.  My score after this onslaught was 25-0.

My next opponent was Anthony, another Seattle local, and his great looking Daemons of Khorne army.   Anthony started out apprehensive about his chances, but I figured his two cannons could help even the odds.  It quickly looked like his prediction was the more valid, as I was able to steal the initiative from him and gain the first turn.   I was able to move into some strong positions and then passed turn.   He whiffed with his two cannons, which became a theme of the game as he constantly rolled 1’s when rolling to wound with those bad boys.   The Exalted Great Unclean One handled a unit of Bloodcrushers and Bloodletters together and Little Poppa brought down billy the bloodthirster and then helped finish the job on the Bloodletters.   When we finally called the game, I was only missing 5 models from my army, and Anthony had a cannon left and a few units of Hounds which forgot to ambush my forces.       I felt bad for him as he didn’t have a very enjoyable game.  His army couldn’t focus enough damage to weaken my forces and he couldn’t get really any rolls to go his way.   I could tell he was frustrated, but he was a great opponent and took the loss well.    By end of the second round, I was sitting at 50 general points and ready to play for Best General.

Originally in the third round I was set up to play the eventual Overall Champion and his dwarf army.   Then the event organizers threw us a curveball and redid the match ups and I found my self playing Peter Davis, a member of the Canadian team Chop!, and his skink cloud Lizardmen.     A little background on Peter’s and my history;  two years ago, we matched up at the Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge, him with his lizards, and me with the Nurgle boys.   During that game he feathered my great unclean one with 20+ poison shots and took poppa down.   It was an awesome game and he was just as awesome an opponent.  

Back to the present.   I was looking for some vengeance and this time I brought not one, but two Great Unclean Ones, and they wanted some skink blood.    We began the game with some posturing, mother insults, and the usual trash talk.   Both of us were looking forward to a fun game and it didn’t disappoint.   He was ahead of me on points leading into the end of the final turn, but not enough to make a difference in the best general race as the difference was almost at a draw level.   Pete then went all in shoving two units into my Exalted Great Unclean one, praying for his destruction as it would send it over the top.   At that point in the game, Super Big Poppa only had six wounds left and it looked like I would be able to survive the combat, but then Pete managed to drop 8 wounds on him, and I made 2 saves.   Game over.   With a yell of “CHOOOPP!!!” Peter won the game, and Best General.   He also earned my Favorite Opponent vote.   

I was knocked down to 5^th in the Best General Rankings and took 16^th overall.   I had a great time at the Sparkle Party Deathmatch and will definitely make the trip again in the future.   Why would I not with all the great opponents that were there?

But until then,

Fucking Peter. 

Good Times at Sparkle Party Death Match 4

In the still dark early hours of Sunday July 27th, a group of five black sheep assembled for a drive up to Seattle Center Armory for the Sparkle Party Death Match 4 tournament.  This one day, three round tournament is hosted by the Dimensional Cascade podcast crew.  We piled into the two cars and headed out for a four hour drive hoping to make it by 10 am for the check-in time.

This tournament was held in a second floor room of the Seattle Center Armory which lies in the large public area grouped together with the Space Needle, and some museums and theaters.  The main floor of the armory is full of different places to get food and drinks, which was super convenient.  Definitely a bonus for having the tournament here.  We arrived a little before 10 am and made our way through the Seattle Center grounds to the armory with time to spare.

We got checked in and were given some cool dice holders for turn and wound counters, and started to bust out the armies to prepare for battle.  Attending we had Chris with his Nurgle Demons, Josh with his no-infantry Warriors of Chaos, Taylor with his Ogres, Wiley and his Tomb Kings, and I had my Lizardmen.  As players assembled, we saw some familiar faces in a couple "Smooth Criminals" from SE Washington, as well as the Chumphammer crew from Vancouver B.C., Canada.  The rest of the attendee's I assume were mostly locals from Seattle and surrounding area.

The time schedule for this tournament was a little later and spread out than I'm used to which ended up being perfect considering the long drive for us to get there.  The first game kicked off at 11 and the chaos and dimensional cascades ensued.  The timing and rounds went really smoothly, so my regards to the tournament organizer and other staff for doing a great job.  Each time someone rolled a dimensional cascade result for a spell miscast, they were brought up for an award, which seems like a nice consolation and did not really feel like an interruption.

As far as the games go, I ended up getting to play all three games against local Seattle area players, and really enjoyed all three games.  I first played a fellow Lizardmen general named Nick, followed by two ogre players, Noah who had a really impressive looking icy themed army followed by Eric who gave me the toughest fight of my games ultimately crushing me.  There was also a painting competition as part of the event which got several top quality entries, I felt really lucky to get third place for it with my Forge World Basilisk as I thought several other entries were more impressive.

The first three places in all categories were awarded at the end, resulting in some people like Patrick from Chumphammer to end the night with a huge set of medals hanging around their necks.  It was good fun, and I really like that the medals are useful in themselves being the same size as Warhammer templates.  We wrapped up the night with some much needed nourishment and beers at nearby Mcmenamins Queen Anne.  I'll definitely be looking forward to attending future Sparkle Party Death Match events.

Some pictures of the event have been shared by the organizers here.

Black Sheep Brawl 2014 Results

Black Sheep Brawl 2014 Results

The third Brawl finished up on Sunday, and it was quite the contest.  There were five games spanning the weekend and we still had to use a tiebreaker in the end to crown our champion.  Here are our winners:

Left to Right: Josh, Dustin, Eric, Scott, Ryan and Chris with their Black Sheep Steins

Eric Weber: Black Sheep Brawl Champion
Scott Goldstein: Brush Master
Ryan Odam: Honored Opponent
Josh Baughman: Master Tactician
Chris Bailey: Storyteller
Dustin Boyd: Littlest Lamb

Full results:

Name	Army	Total	Paint	Sports	Battle	Narrative	Fav Paint	Fav Opp
Eric Weber	Wood Elves	71	25 (28*)	15	20	11	4		*Overall Tiebreaker
Frazier Edmonds	Vampire Counts	71	22	17	17	15	1	1
Dan Jones	Demons of Chaos	70	22	15	18	15	1
Josh Baughman	Skaven	69	24	15	21	9	2
Michael Case	Warriors of Chaos	68	25	19	16	8	7	2
Dustin Kane	Warriors of Chaos	66	17	17	18	14		1
Taylor Flesch	Ogre Kingdoms	65	23	21	16	5	1	3
Andrew Claflin	Dark Elves	64	21	17	16	10	1	1
Christopher Bailey	Demons of Chaos	60	14	16	13	17		1
Karl Gatke	Empire	58	16	17	16	9		1
John Evans	Warriors of Chaos	57	21	19	13	4	2	2
BIll Curry	Warriors of Chaos	57	11	21	15	10	2	3
Aaron Musk	Skaven	56	19	15	12	10
Scott Goldstein	Dark Elves	55	25 (32^)	14	12	4	8		^Paint Tiebreaker
Steele Hull	High Elves	54	18	16	16	4		1
Brent Buckland	Dwarfs	54	9	19	15	11		2
John Kersey	Beastmen	53	18	15	14	6
Arturo Gonzalez	Dark Elves	53	13	15	17	8
Chad Egbert	Dwarfs	53	12	17	15	9		1
Paul Willworth	Lizardmen	53	7	17	18	11		1
Thaddius Crevier	Warriors of Chaos	52	6	15	19	12
James Peterson	Orcs and Goblins	51	17	15	16	3	1
Ryan Odam	Dwarfs	50	11	23	8	8		4
Corry Gladwill	Wood Elves	48	14	17	12	6		1
Christopher Born	Tomb Kings	42	10	12	13	7
Dustin Boyd	Beastmen	41	12	19	7	3		2
Wiley Kinyon	Tomb Kings	37	0	15	15	7
Ryan Frayer	Wood Elves	33	0	16	12	5		1

Interesting Tidbits:

• Ryan Odam earned his second straight Honored Opponent Award, gathering four out of five favorite opponent votes
• Scott Goldstein returned to the Warhammer fold after more than four years away and he cleaned up in painting
• Dustin Kane racked up 9437.5 victory points, almost 1000 more than the next closest player
• We had a distant traveller from southern California, Bill Curry from the West Coast Hammertime podcast, and three Eastern Washington players, Dustin Kane, James Peterson and Chad Egbert
• Our top five players qualified for the West Coast qualifier for the USA Masters

Some Pictures:

Andy's Dark Elves approach the Black Sheep Bridge

Chris explains the finer points of auto-erotic asphyxiation to Mike and John

John, Scott and Taylor admiring the Brush Master's lady Dark Elves

Aaron's Skaven

Karl's Empire

John's Warriors of Order

Dustin's Beastmen take on Josh's Skaven

Dustin's Beastmen fight Mike's Hordes of Warriors

The final round's top match between Eric and Josh

Another Brawl come and gone!