Farming Momentum

 

I got to a tournament. No really I did! Here's a little write up of the Frontiers Cup '24 - a 24-player Guild Ball event up at Black Dragon Miniatures in Hinckley.

First off, a lovely event in a really nice, spacious gaming store which has roomy tables, lots of stock to browse around and all the eateries/lunch options you could hope for, and a coffee machine! Very much recommended as a tournament destination.

I was back on the Guild Ball, and decided it was definitely time for me to run something different on the tabletop after using Masons a lot over the years. I fancied giving the Farmers a run out, I enjoy their puzzle and although they do have a few bad matchups I find them fun to play so long as you remember to score goals!

My 10 for the event were:

Captains: Festival, Grange
Mascot: Peck
Squaddies: Amber, Bushel, Jackstraw, Millstone, Ploughman, Tater, Windle, Lamb, Shearer

These are my favourite captains and although Thresher is also very good, I've been sticking to these two for a while now. Farmers squaddies are a good puzzle, as with the planter/reaper mechanic it's often tricky to pick the reapers (who tend to do the work) who will actually score you VPs in a game, especially in some matchups. But that's another blog post - on to the action!

Round 1 vs Robbie Crickley (Cooks)

First up was Robbie and his murderous chefs. I find Cooks a tricky matchup at the best of times, and had hoped my Farmers might avoid them. Farmers have all the health - being hearty folk and all that - but that doesn't last long with all the damage Cooks deal out.

I lost the roll off and Robbie chose to kick - solid option. The teams:

Farmers: Grange, Peck, Amber, Lamb, Shearer, Tater
Cooks: Wellington, Pepper, Cinnamon, Roast, Spice, Sugar

Box six is always a solid option for Cooks and I had to be careful not to get sucked into the blender (see what I did there) and try and fashion a goal or two to put me ahead.

The game started well enough with me recovering the ball, knocking it down the line and Shearer scoring a goal to put me 4-0 up. So far, so good.

Turn 2 started with Spice taking out Grange who had been damaged a fair bit, but I'd positioned Amber so that I benefited from her One of Our Own trait causing her to have a meagre TAC9 on her activation. She deleted Spice in return fairly quickly, but the Cooks hit back again removing Shearer near their goal.

With the Cooks having the ball I had to back off a little, but they could move it around to get Wellington into Lamb and he didn't last long against the captain. 6-6 at this stage.

I managed to isolate Roast though and Amber could take him out after he was surrounded and unable to Big Belly his way clear. Robbie spotted a chance to potentially take out Tater and try and get a snap shot winner with Sugar, but thanks to a gameplan card I had healed Tater back to full and he survived. Sugar did score, but Robbie had clocked out and I was starting to generate VPs on clock.

We called it here as Wellington was now in danger of being removed by Amber and I'd get the remaining clock point to win at that stage.

Result: a squeaky 12-10 win

Round 2 vs Bragoon (Engineers)

Another lovely opponent, who was running solo captain with Ballista. I was hoping to win the kick off, but lost the roll again, although this time I would be kicking which I didn't mind. The teams:

Farmers: Festival, Peck, Amber, Ploughman, Tater, Windle
Engineers: Ballista, Mother, Colossus, Locus, Salvo, Velocity

Amber kicked off fairly wide, forcing the engineers to use Mother to pick up the ball, but crucially not generating them any momentum.

Festival popped her legendary early, and the entire team moved towards the Engineers suddenly putting both Windle, and Amber, in threat range with influence on them. Bragoon was able to knock down Farmers players using Ballista's deadbolt, and knocked down the hated chicken with Salvo, as well as putting up a minefield.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to fashion a goal run and Windle rumbled in and damaged Salvo a little, whilst Amber annoyed Velocity. I had the momentum to go first, however, and Windle removed Salvo fairly quickly as well as causing some damage to Locus. Festival could use her dodge to threaten Velocity, getting the ball off her and passing to Amber.

Amber was able to eat a harvest marker for Left Boot, which allowed me to cause some damage to Mother and score. The Farmers were up 6-0 at this stage, and although the Engineers were able to knock people down with ranged plays and cause damage with minefield, Festival's Harvest Supper and a chunk of momentum meant the game ran away from Ballista and Tater could take out a returning Salvo and score the winning goal to end it.

Result: 12-0

Round 3 vs Josh Niemczyk (Fishermen)

He's not grumpy, he's just thinking at this stage! I forgot to take a pic at the start, and this was a pretty close game despite the scoreline, with this image taken at a fairly critical moment.

Fish is pretty rough for Farmers, and I lost the kick off roll again and was made to receive. Keeping the ball safe is an issue for my team, and Fish are pretty adept at getting it so this was going to be tricky. The teams:

Farmers: Festival, Peck, Bushel, Lamb, Tater, Windle
Fishermen: Yukai, Tentacles, Fathom, Knuckles, V Sakana, V Siren

Turn 1 hinged on a key moment for the Farmers as I passed the ball down the line and set up for a Cabbage Punt goal from Bushel. Of course Yukai can make one of her team fly and I knew Knuckles, who loves nothing more than beating up people with the ball, would be in my face.

I took Bushel knowing this would likely happen, but knowing with the above ability she can be passed to safety. However, having made the initial pass to set it up and dragging Knuckles away, I missed the 2 dice pass back that would have likely got me an opening goal. I could run Bushel away instead, but it felt a big moment in a tough matchup.

Josh wasted no time in scoring with Vet Siren, and it wasn't long before Yukai had put the Fish 8-0 up. Tater took some solace in taking out Vet Siren, and I protected the ball as best I could, hoping that even if Yukai came in again, I could knock them down and the ball would scatter where only I could get it.

Unfortunately, the 1 in 6 scatter was into my own goal post, and Yukai promptly Swirling Waters themself, picked it back up, and scored the winner. Bums.

Result: 2 - 12

Round 4 vs Henry Kay (Engineers)

Final round, and into Engineers again although different captains. This time, I did win the roll off, and chose to kick hoping to try and get to three wins. Wasn't going to be easy though! The teams:

Farmers: Festival, Peck, Amber, Lamb, Tater, Windle
Engineers: Pin Vice, Mainspring, Harriet, Locus, Ratchet, Spade

A lot of goal threat, and with Well Oiled Machine pinning down the Engineers was going to be difficult.

I got a reasonable kick off, which left Spade having to recover the ball and without as many knock downs to face I felt being aggressive was the way to go. It paid off early as Henry opted to hold the ball rather than go for the turn 1 goal (was tricky in fairness) and Amber removed Pin Vice early in turn 2 to give me the 2-0 lead.

However, Harriet quickly responded with a goal, and after an ok-ish kick out, I made a mistake and instead of picking it up with Lamb and protecting it as I worked on more take outs, Henry played nicely to work the ball to Harriet for a snapshot to put him 8-2 up.

That's pretty tricky for Farmers to recover from, and to be fair my dice didn't really want to know as Windle fluffed attacks to remove Locus and potentially allow me to get into Spade before she could get clear. The Miners' crossover using Well Oiled Machine was able to score the third goal, and that was that!

Result: 2-12

2/2 with Farmers I think is ok given the matchups - and certainly the game against the Fishermen hinged on a couple of key moments which didn't go my way. The final game I think I deserved to lose after the Lamb error, and the dice just compounded that mistake. Live and learn.

I enjoyed taking the Farmers, I was trying for goals in all my games even if they didn't pay off and I think that makes the team more of a competitive option than their Longshanks stats might suggest. Do wonder if Grange was a better option into the Fish for an easier Cabbage Punt option and a goal at that stage changed the whole match with the kick out a bit dicey for Knuckles (on rough ground) to recover. Not to be!

Great to be back playing a tabletop tournament again after a fair while away. Already looking up when I might get to the next one - need people to host more! 

Thanks for reading!