Had a tremendous time at Grand Tournament in Lehi UT. First off a huge huge hats off to Game Grid and Lou Rollins for putting on a great show (did I forget someone?) This was my first time at Game Grid and it’s an impressive location with a top notch game area. My son and I got out of the house at 8am sharp and with good traffic we arrived a half hour early.

As we were waiting and watching people filter in, I got out my army to review my list, and to my horror I found that I didn’t pack the five Scarab Swarms that I added to my force. Gah! Thanks to the friendly staff at Game Grid I was able to get a box with three swarms in there, and with some creativity Jonah and I managed to stretch assemble and paint them in about ten minutes. Saved. My first game was against Chuck Burns with his exquisite Custodes. What great fortune to have such a personable opponent.

We then went to lunch at McDonalds. I like filet o fish with extra cheese. Asking for extra cheese on things makes them have to create it fresh and not off the heating rack. There’s a dad-level life-hack for you. Jonah went up against one of the best players in the state in his first round Nick Wenker and got body-slammed 90-25. A great learning experience. It’s always a privilege to go up against one of the greats.

Second game against wargaming local Aaron Fyffe with an unusual list: Dark Angels with five drop pods and some old-marines. Oh and a hammerfist of terminators. It was brutal. As usual, I played like an ignoramus: forgetting my secondaries, mis-positioning units, improper screening and so forth. God, how can I have played this game so long and still be so bad at it? And I’m actually trying nowadays, that’s the worst part.

Third game was the most interesting. Having lost two games I thought to myself “at last, here among the dregs, I can scrape up a win!” Alas not to be so. I was up against Matt Toman of Las Vegas and what I now call his “Fireline” army of Tzeentch horrors. No Lords of Change, just a crap-ton of horrors. He had over a thousand points of reinforcements. It was a list and a strategy worthy of a whole article in itself, and clearly he played it very well, maneuvering with ease, never missing a beat with coherency. Basically, the list moves forward with a huge line of thirty Pink Horrors. This unit does not get smaller. With Blues popping in, at one time it was fifty models strong, and stretched across the board holding four out of five objectives, and unless you Fly, you are not getting across that line. I hammered that unit for four turns before it started to crack. But by that time I had lost 90-45.

I only report wins and losses as a matter of interest. Fundamentally, I just enjoy the game. Jonah also had a game with a perfect 100, so maybe talent skips a generation.

By 7:30pm I was just beat from standing on concrete for ten hours. Next time, I’m going to wear better shoes. Improving a little each time. Once home I spent some time sitting with my lovely wife, side by side in chairs, looking over our newly growing lawn. Two months ago it was barren lifeless dirt, and now thanks to my daily raking and tending and seeding it is about seventy percent vibrant green. It’s only a matter of time. It’s a magic time. I helped around the house for a while before passing out on an unmade bed.My goal this year was to play a hundred games with my Necrons. I am now at game 20. I don’t think I’m gong to make it, but at least I can soldier on. Tin metal soldier on.