Maelstrom VIII done and won! TO's report

Maelstrom VIII was played over the weekend here in Wellington, and I had the pleasure of being the Tournament Organiser for the event.

In the end, after a few last minute dropouts, we had 20 players (which included my one ring in - Deon Adamson - to make even numbers and ensure nobody had to sit out a bye). It was a mix of old and newer faces too, which is always nice to see. What is also nice to see is those players from out of town who make the effort to participate in these tournaments - over 25% attendance was from north of Porirua so I am exceedingly grateful for their support. No Carson, Upper Hutt does not count as out of town, geographically. Realistically though... ?

Overall there was quite a mix of armies - Space Marines of various flavours, a veritable riptide of Tau, a Nid, a 'Casualties? Pfft. There's a billion more where that came from' of Astra Militarum, a resurrection of Necrons, Grey Knights, Chaos (Daemons and Daemonkin), Orks, and Adepta Sororitas*. Add in a few** Imperial Knights as allies, plus add allies to a few of those armies mentioned above, and you're there.

*sortof

**lots, relatively. I thought anyway

Most notable by their absence were the Eldar (of the three types). I think no Eldar was due to a mix of the new Craftworld Codex missing the tournament cutoff by a week, and Glen Burfield (pretty much Mr Eldar NZ for the last 5+ years or so) being shamed into taking something other than the pointy ears. That was the only real surprise for me, the only other regular Dark Eldar player locally was Jack Dunn and he's off doing 'stuff' at MIT. OR SO HE SAYS.

The attendees played five dual Eternal War/Maelstrom missions, based on the format from the UK40kGT 2014/2015 and the 2014 ETC. Each round was scored out of 20.

Here are some photos of the last round:

Riptides and xenos loving Knight take on honourable Guard and Space Marines (...and Knight)

Don't shoot until you see the reds of their lenses! (Astra Militarum vs Dark Angels)

How many Astra Militarum can you fit behind an Aegis Line? Shootoff with the Tau.

Grey Knights fancy their chances vs Khorne Daemonkin...

Imperial Fists vs Chaos Daemons

Necrons vs Blood Angels - more than 50% of the BA army taken off the turn before this photo...

Tau vs Necron 

Stompa vs Iron Hands

Death of Fluff Sororitas with allied... FLESH TEARERS... with a Knight vs Necrons (who also had a friendly Knight)

Liquorice Allsorts (Riptide fair with allied Knight and Grey Knights... vs downtrodden Nids

Overall results:

Rank	Player	Army	Total	Other awards
1	Sean Sullivan	Necrons	113
2	Carson Turnbull	Necrons	99
3	Wil Hoverd	Adepta Sororitas	96	Executioner (Most 'Slay the Warlord'), Umpire’s Award - Death of Fluff
4	Glen Burfield	SM: Blood Angels	94
5	Robert Ransom	Chaos Daemons	91
6	Scott Engerbretsen	Orks	85
7	Nathaniel Pihama	Tau: Farsight Enclave	84
8	Craig Stewart	Astra Militarum	83
9	David Hodgetts	Tau	79	Berserker (Most 'First Blood')
10	Ryan Lister	Tau	79	Umpire’s Award – Liquorice Allsorts
11	Alex Neil	Necrons	74
12	Kevin O'Leary	Astra Militarum	70
13	Aaron Twose	SM: Imperial Fists	69
14	Jordan Green	Khorne Daemonkin	66	Vexilla (2nd Best Presented)
15	Mike Talks	SM: Iron Hands	62
16	Deon Adamson	Grey Knights	58	Living Saint (Best Opponent)
17	Luke Forrest	Tyranids	58	Aquila (Best Presented)
18	Adam Neather	SM: Dark Angels	51
19	Nigel Ritchie	Tau	45
20	Cameron Talks	Astra Militarum	44

What went well:

• Timing was pretty good
• Help setting up/breaking down the hall
• People's attitudes = everyone getting full marks for sports
• General vibe
• Visitors! 
• Deon winning the Living Saint award. A just reward for his selflessness.

What could have been improved:

• Some games were played a bit slowly. This is a mix of me not hurrying people up enough, people not having enough practice regularly playing under a time constraint, and, dare I say it... probably age.
• Scoring for each round was always going to be interesting - I had run the same thing at the 2014 Masters so knew what I was in for - but running through it a few times with people everyone pretty much got the hang of it reasonably quickly. I know there was a grumble of two of it being a bit complicated, but I like it... and it was my tournament... (offer me an alternative)

In the end I didn't really have to do much and the tournament ran itself. Rules queries were few and far between, and quickly sorted by everyone taking a moment with the rulebook. 

So congratulations to all the award winners, and to the players. I hope you all had a great time and we'll try that all again next year maybe!