Into the Under-Ekeren IV Warhammer Underworlds tournament report

 The first weekend of august, and that means it is time for the annual Into the Under-Ekeren Warhammer Underworlds tournament!

 

And apart from a Golden Ticket being on the line, I added some twists to the concept for this edition! 

 

Like allowing Legends warbands for "one last dance" or a special price for the player ending highest with a deck that didn't include Blazing Assault, a Signum model sponsored by Winkel Works (and I wouldn't mind actually winning that one, such a cool figure, should I be required to play).  

 

In the end, we numbered 14 players (excluding myself, so I could start doing a lot of prep work for future events, keep your eyes peeled in the near future - or the end slides in my videos), with players of no less then SIX nationalities.  I doubt I would have classified as a seventh, apparently Zubvobwee isn't a recognised planet.

 

As I said, I had a heap of price support ready (the battlemat on the picture was actually sold off, and replaced by a first edition Starter set), sausage rolls and complementary event dice included in the entry fee (which I tried to keep deliberatly low.

 

And with all the announcements done, it was time to get going for five rounds of Warhammer Underworlds!

 

Now, as I don't have any "battle" stories to tell, I will just say some things about the tournament in general.  The level was rather equal on the top tables, with after three rounds quite a few players being on 2-1, and two taking a lead with 3-0.  

 

Valentin and Joep faced off, and in the end it was Joep who took the win, meaning he needed to consolidate in his final round as Glory Differential is my first tie breaker over Glory Total (to discourage pure aggro showings allround at my events).

 

Now, I must say I was actually quite amazed, as only FOUR players brought a deck with Blazing Assault as part of it.  On the same note, the Legendary edition piece worked, as there where also four warbands from the legends sections: two times Ironskull's Boyz, The Eyes of the Nine and The Chosen Axes.

 

One thing particularly noteworthy was that one of my "bar wenches" (thanks for the helping out guys) noted that for a tournament with a Golden Ticket on the line, there was an awful lot of laughter going on all day.  I guess that shows what a lovely little community has been build for the smallest of small games by Games Workshop.

 

But then onwards to the numbers of the event, and let's start with the painting, as that also gives me a good opportunity to show of some warbands (thanks to Johan for all the individual pictures).  Every judge would cast votes for their first, second and third favorite warband.

 

Out of the 14 + 1 warbands (I took the liberty of at least putting my Blood of the Bull on the table, for one as I had nothing to do as everything ran smoothly, but also that way I could make a nice balanced "3 rows of 5" to display the warbands on the table), 12 warbands received votes.  The jury was made up of the 14 players, myself and then the 4 other members present who where there to play Age of Sigmar as the clubhouse was open anyways.  Points where awarded 5 for a first place band, 3 for a second place and 1 for a third place.

 

Unfortunatly, the three players that didn't receive any votes where Joep (Jaws of Itzl), Cyril (Starblood Stalkers) and Quint (The Emberwatch).

 

In 12th place, with 3 points (1x 2nd), Simon with Rippa's Snarlfangs

In 11th place, with 4 points (1x 2nd, 1x 3rd) Neo with Ironskulls Boyz

 

In shared 9th place, with 5 points, (both 1x 2nd and 2x 3rd) where Valentin with Ironskulls Boyz and Johan with The Shadeborn

In 8th place, also with 5 points (1x 1st) was Wouter with The Chosen Axes 

In 7th place, with 10 points (2x 1st) was Luba with Thorns of the Briar Queen

 

In 6th place, with 11 points (2x 1st, 1x 3rd) was your loveable TO with Blood of the Bull.  They where all warned in front, if I would have 0 points, I would blame them all for not appreciating the effort running the event!!!!

 

In shared 4th place, both with 12 points (both 4x 2nd) where Peter with Starblood Stalkers and Wesley with The Crimson Court

 

In third place, with 16 points (1x 1st, 3x 2nd, 5x 3rd) was Michael with Ylthari's Guardians

 

In second place, with 30 points (4x 1st, 2x 2nd, 4x 3rd) was Nico with Eyes of the Nine

 

But winning best painted by a landslide of 55 points, due to the level being so high a lot of the bands "stole" points from each other, but this one kept scoring consistently - receiving 15 times a vote out of 19 casts - (9x 1st, 2x 2nd, 4x 3rd) was Wim with Thanatek's Tithe.

 

And that meant after the painting scores where announced, it was time to get to the piece de la piece.  So here is the full results of the tournament, including warband, deck and points!

 

1. Joep Nijssen - Jaws of Itzl - RR / CtC - 4/1 - 84 Glory, + 29

2. Valentin Hornik - Ironskulls Boyz - BA / DS - 4/1 - 89 Glory, +28

3. Cyril Deneux - Starblood Stalkers - ES / PP - 4/1 - 97 Glory, +27

 

4. Luba K - Thorns of the Briar Queen - DS / EoK - 3/2 - 74 Glory, +23

 

 

5. Michael Kislyi - Ylthari's Guardians - CtC / WR - 3/2 - 74 Glory, +11

 

6. Wim Bellemans - Thanatek's Tithe - CtC / PP - 3/2 - 69 Glory, +10

7. Neo Hornik - Ironskulls Boyz - BA / DS - 3/2 - 73 Glory, +4

8. Quint Van Druten - The Emberwatch - PP / RF - 2/3 - 84 Glory, + 9

9. Nico Van den Winckel - The Eyes of the Nine - WR / PP - 2/3 - 71 Glory, -2

10. Simon Conticello - Rippa's Snarlfangs - RF / DS - 2/3 - 68 Glory, -3

 

 

11. Johan De Ryck - The Shadeborn - BA / RS - 2/3 - 68 Glory, -15

12. Peter Vanden Bossche - Starblood Stalkers - ES / PP - 2/3 - 47 Glory, -25

 

11. Wouter Beckers - The Chosen Axes - DS / HG - 1/4 - 53 Glory, -23

12. Wesley De Vos - The Crimson Court - BA / CtC - 0/5 - 34 Glory, -73

 

That meant that for the special prices, Wesley took the set of Faction Death dice for scoring the least amount of glory points during the day, Valentin took the Dreadfane box for ending highest with a Legends warband and Joep grabbed the 3d printed model for highest ranking warband not playing Blazing Assault.  

 

And so it came to an end.  I think everyone had a good time, from experienced tournament winners to a guy that played like his first game ever, after he had driven 16 hours back home from holidays... guess 3 weeks with wife and kids was enough for him.

 

What will the future bring?  No matter how Underworlds progresses, wether or not it keeps existing, there will be a new edition next year, but more on that in due time!