Preparations are underway for our next group tournament experience.
This time we are heading to GronkCon, a warhammer fantasy tournament held in Wollongong NSW.
Gronk is on the 4th and 5th of July, the player pack can be found
here.
Now I havn't been to Gronk before obviously, it'll be my second warhammer tournament after Sydney Slaughter, but all the reports I have heard have said this is a massive highlight on the event scene. The players pack seems to back this up.
GronkCon appears to be a warhammer event with quite a difference. It heavily encourages non optimal builds, rewarding them as such. It is a chance to try that army combo that you know is dumb but just wanted to run it for a laugh anyway.
The event is won by the person with the most points at the end. While you do win some points for beating your opponent in games, you actually gain more points in list writing, things that happen during games, fluff, hobby, shouting the TO a beer etc etc. You also can loose points for things like refusing a challenge or trying to 6 dice a spell.
All up it reads for a hilarious weekend and something very different from the normal competitive scene. The list of achievement points can be found
here.
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So a new event means new army prep. You earn points at Gronk for taking an army you havn't taken to a tournament before. This seemed an easy point to pick up, so despite loving using chaos for the first time at Slaughter, I've put them on the shelf and picking up Empire.
I've tried to create a 'Gronky' empire list, which mostly has been restricted by what models I actually have, using some things I have but have never used before and creating a list of wimpy humans who can still hold up and give my opponent more than a two turn game. My list is certainly non-optimal for the empire net lists etc, but possibly not quite is gronky as I would hope. I figure this is balanced out by the fact its only empire, we suck anyway. I wanted to try leave out a BSB and earn another easy tournament point, however I couldn't justify it. Fluff wise the BSB is the good old paymaster or the accountant of the army. My guys are all mercenaries, they fight for gold, hence the banners replaced with gold chests.
I'm happy with the progress I have made on painting the army so far. My characters bar my general are done as are a big chunk of the units. All I have left to paint is some crossbowmen, a halberd detachment, some pistoliers, huntsmen and one artillery piece. That's just five small units and a character, should be done in plenty of time. Oh and of course I have to model/paint something to be my Fozrik's Folding Fortress.
30 Swordsmen with full command. Look at all that shinny gold.
An Greatcannon aint that great for an Ogre.
The Accountant, a Priest and their mate the engineer.
My two Wizard Lords, hanging out. My stick is bigger than yours.
In case you havn't had enough reading yet, here is the fluff of the White Lions of Eto-Prelensya.
The highly wealthy trading town of
Eto-Prelensya sits on the shores of the Gulf of Kislev, and situated
directly upon the border between Ostland and Nordland. Eto-Prelensya
was originally settled as two separate villages Eto of Nordland and
Prelensya of Ostland each using the port inlet and the vicinity to
the other as a means to facilitate trade between the realms.
Over time as the villages each grew,
and family’s from each side of the boarder began to unite through
marriage and birth, the realm’s boundary became little more than a
memory, and the villages united to become a large and wealthy trading
town of the north.
Time passed for the families and
citizens of Eto-Prelensya with little involvement in the political
woes of the Empire, their isolation from the large cities and self
dependence and wealth allowed them to live with a certain amount of
freedom. However as time passed Eto-Prelensya became a pawn in the
political game between the Elector Counts of Nordland and Ostland. A
town had developed that neither Lord could claim as entirely his own.
Arguments between the courts arose over the border line, should it
move East taking Eto-Prelensya wholly into the Nordland Realm, or
West to become Ostland’s.
The people of Eto-Prelensya struggled
with the political attention they suddenly had thrust upon them, and
all argued that no change would be accepted. They had lived as both
citizens of Ostland and Nordland for generation’s. The Elector
Counts each decreed that they would have no more discussion, and if
the people of Eto-Prelensya would not agree, then they would be
forced to accept becoming one realm. The forces of Nordland and
Ostland were dispatched, and war between the two realms was set to
take place with the rights to Eto-Prelensya the prize.
Being as stubborn as any northerner can
be the people of Eto-Prelensya seeing two warring nations approaching
set about fortifying the town. Roads that once lead through open
rolling plains became cominated by large defensive fortifications.
The wealth of the trading council, a
city governing body made of the head trading houses behind them,
Eto-Prelensya hired warriors from all parts of the old world.
Great warriors from the frozen north
were hired in droves to form elite town guards. Militia from the
streets of Marienburg and any other realm of the empire were welcomed
within the walls. The often ridiculed Halfling’s were paid the same
as a human soldier and provided ample opportunity to use their unique
skills.
Months of war rolled into a year and
then a second as the forces of Ostland and Nordland lay siege to
Eto-Prelensya and each other. Neither realm had the ability to stop
ships and trade entering into Eto-Prelensya. Captains of the Kislev
Gulf, many of whom had family within the walls all displayed more
loyalty to Eto-Prelensya than either rival nation. Unable to halt
shipments a traditional siege seemed endless.
As the second year of conflict neared
it’s third and under the glow of the two tailed comet returned, the
Ostland army to the east of Eto-Prelensya was attacked in the night.
As the soldiers slept in their tent’s their guards were overrun by
tribal Norsemen crossing the Gulf from the Northern Wastes.
The Nordland Army was simultaneously
attacked by feral bestial creatures, hoofed animals who walked like
men poured from the forests to the south overrunning the camp
quickly. It was the forces of Eto-Prelensya who turned the tide on
each front. The gates were opened and the crumbling forces from each
nation were welcomed within the walls. The forces of Eto-Prelensya
hit back at the two true enemy forces.
As the realm’s armies re grouped and
messages were sent through the lines to each Elector Count, the war
that later became known as “The War of Eto-Prelensya independence”
began. Not with the conflicting realms but this time against the
enemy of humanity, Chaos.
With reinforcements from Nordland and
Ostland, the empire was able to turn back the tide of chaos, sending
the attacking armies back. Driving the beastsmen into the woods and
the Norse into the waters of the gulf. As the war came to an end
there was still no settlement over ownership of Eto-Prelensya. No
agreement was ever likely causing the Emperor Karl Franz himself to
enter into the political Fray. With the heroic actions of
Eto-Prelensya saving both armies of Nordland and Ostland at the start
of the war it was decreed that the people of Eto-Prelensya shall
choose their future for themselves.
A quick decision was reached by the
council of trade decreeing that Eto-Prelensya will now and forever be
an independent trading town of the empire showing direct loyalty to
both Ostland and Nordland.
To this day Eto-Prelensya is a safe
haven for any person willing to work to earn. The town continues to
hold a large and formidable military force superbly funded and
resourced by the trading council. It carries on a well earned
reputation as being home to the mightiest mercenary force known to
man.
