Sporecon 2011: Warmachine and Hordes Roundup

It’s been a little bit more than a week, but we’ve finally gotten down to writing down all the exciting happenings during Sporecon’s Warmachine and Hordes Steamroller Tournament at the end of May. It was the first time we got official prize support from Privateer Press, with Bandanas being given away and even a signed copy of Prime Mk2 up for grabs. This was to give players around the region a chance to get a taste of the big cons like Gencon, Templecon, and even Lock and Load.

And it succeeded. With 16 players from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and even as far away as America, we managed to double last year’s turnout, with a great spread of casters. Amazingly enough though, it looks like this year the Motherland, Menoth Dragonfather made a huge showing, with Khador, PoM and Cryx making close to half of the number of players in this tournament.

There were also other factions, including Skorne as well as Menoth. Sadly though, Mercs, Retribution, Minions, Everblight and Trollbloods weren’t able to showcase their strengths this tourney.

We were even lucky enough to get some themed terrain to go with the specific Steamroller tournaments. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to get ALL tables filled with themed terrain, with actual Grind balls, and even a Cryx sacrificial altar for the ‘Sacrifice’ scenario.

And man did Cryx want it. We had Asphyxious, Terminus, Deneghra and Skarre stalk the lands of Immoren, sometimes even fighting amongst each other. Khador wasn’t a slouch either, with the Motherland being quick enough to deploy a Gun Carriage about a week or so after its release.

Unfortunately, I was busy running around giving demos, and so wasn’t able to keep a close track of what was happening throughout the tournament, but I got some snippets of the exciting stuff that happened… Including probably the closest failed assassination run in the tournament. The Dervish was thiiiiisss close to laying the smackdown on Irusk, but a failed assassination run is still a failed assassination run. Khador subsequently cleared out the control zone for the win.

In the end though, the Dragonfather and Skorne Empire lay victorious, with Cryx taking 1st (and a signed copy of Prime Mk2), and the Skorne taking 2nd. Cryx also walked home with the award for best painted army, with a striking red Cryx force led by eSkarre (nicknamed the Crimson Tide).

We also won over a few more converts to Warmachine and Hordes, with Demos running throughout both days of Sporecon. People seemed to be really enjoying the demo games, and we hope to see more new blood appear in Singapore in the weeks to come!