Before I get into my NOVA coverage, I had a thought. I have a very bad habit of working frantically on an army and the minute the major tournament I prepare for is finished, I shelve the army and begin working on the next. What this means is I never really master an army which makes every tournament a frustrating one as I learn to tackle my opponents and learn the strengths and weaknesses of my own. I think I will make a change this year. I'll continue to work on additional projects but I am not going to put down my pseudo-flyer wing.
Back to the coverage...
Here is the finished army in all of it's glory and the custom army list I did. Since the "soft scores" aren't as important at NOVA it's not that big of a deal, but I still like the little touches.
The Good
- NOVA went a lot more smoothly this year. My biggest issue was that pairings were not done alphabetically last year, this year it was fixed which improved things drastically. Lighting was a bit better but still portions of the hall were very dim. I thought it went well between rounds and everything stayed on time for the most part.
- The mission packet was awesome and easy to follow as usual, I love how they do the scoring tear pad. Missions were easy to follow and clear.
- I'm glad they brought back the bracket system which kept things competitive although I wished they would let people play the full 8 games. I was lucky enough to go to my final game in my bracket (and won) so I got 8, but even if I didn't I would have enjoyed playing all 8. For me, this weekend was a chance to get competitive games in and I would have been disappointed had I not gotten the chance to play on Sunday.
The Bad
- My only real gripe was the awards ceremony. It took two and a half hours (plus) again. I am all about cheering on the winners and celebrating a job well done as well as thanking the organizers. What I'm really tired of is listening to raffle winners being read for 2 hours. Honestly, it was tiring. To top it off, bracket winners weren't even announced. For the raffle, it would be cool to do 3 to 5 things, the really big stuff. I just don't get why it had to drag on.
- Fully painted armies was not enforced (not sure if it's a rule or not). I'm not looking for beautiful armies, we all have various levels of skill. I just want the basic three color minimum and basing. I played against one non-painted army and I saw about a half dozen. Some were not even primed. When you spend the money and time to go to a major tournament, it takes away from the enjoyment of the games to play against bare plastic.
- Missions were weighted way too heavy on quarters. And since in 6th edition only ground troops (scoring and non) can hold quarters, there were definite advantages to designing certain infantry lists, as well as going second. I did not bring a list tailored to NOVA and had a great time regardless.
I went 6-2 over the course of the weekend. My first 4 games were 2-2, so I was put in bracket #5 (I think on the high side of 2-2's). Through the next 4 games I won my bracket of 16 so I came home with a nifty medal and a laugh as my prize was a necron flyer. Too appropriate.
Here are the articles I'll be doing on NOVA. I get caught up on my games, so my battle reports will be brief (I tend to forget to take pictures and notes and I'm caught up in the moment).
- Games 1-2
- Games 3-4
- Games 5-6
- Games 7-8
- Necron Flyers... the countdown and pictures of all I saw!
- Cool army pictures
Stay tuned to see these throughout the week!
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