I got Stoned - A Moonstone Tournament Report

In round one I got to play Mick and his sneaky Goblins on the Rich town board.

I deployed Flintlock in the tower to give him a 14″ , 5 dmg shot each turn, this meant he could reach all but one moonstone.

The highlight of this game was The Vicious Midget killing my Baron, running off with the fancyhat waving on the tip of his sword, only to run into a snare trap from Graddock to kill him too. This left us both with an impression of a bear trap with a sword sticking out with the fancy hat blowing in the wind, a great piece of narrative that emerged from the game.

It was 2-2 into turn 4 and Mick graciously rather than wasting time and picking the moonstone up just before the hour and a half clock chimed, he played quickly.

This though led to flintlock finally getting a headshot to hit Seasick Stu, killing him and causing him to drop his moonstone.

Mick then picked up the final one and it was still 2-2.

With one minute on the clock, Mick passed his turn so Fritz could pick up the last moonstone for a 3-2 victory for myself.

Although I won I have nothing but fond memories of the Midget, Baron Graddock story, and also all respect for Mick who was a super opponent and made a really fun game.

Congratulations to Mick as well for winning, by unanimous decision, the best painted award.

I as happy with my first ever tournament game, and I had at least met my goal for the tournament and won at least one game.

My second game was against the humans of Clem.

Clem had a similar list, with Baron and Fritz as the hitters, but he had Eric the Squire, Young Jack (Gnome) and Agatha Tavernfrau as the support.

The moonstones fell oddly and three fell into one corner, I won choice and chose the edge near the 3 stones.

I deploy Flintlock on the ruins to cover my guys.

Clem’s plays round one really did intimidate me, he was able to generate lots of additional energy and Fritz was on 9 energy turn one, so able to move 8″ and melee with a 2″ range – this caused me to go defensive – a very bad idea in hindsight, and a very naïve move, mainly down to lack of playing the game and also nerves I guess, but a superb learning experience.

I picked up moonstones turn one, by baron and fritz, this meant my two main hitters were now slow, this mean the baron for me did nothing all game, so effectively i’d forced myself into a 4 on 5 fight, doh!

At 2-2 the game hinged on a single stone, when I finally realised I had to be aggressive in turn 3 with Quack, I killed fritz in one turn, but was unable to get my baron close enough to have killed Clem’s.

Clem’s Baron then picked up the final moonstone and gallantly ran away, securing the win in turn 4 as I could not get close enough.

A really great game again, my troupe played so differently due to the way the moonstones fell.

A great aspect of this game is that if the stones had been in different places then troupe deployment would have been different and the game would have changed completely.

I enjoyed this game as a learning experience, I think I could have won, but I played it wrong, so I felt disappointed in myself.

Clem did go onto win the top table game and be crowned champion, so I obviously lost to the best 🙂

Round 3 saw me in a game against my friend.

What was really great to see was how he’d improved his tactics and knowledge of the game over the previous two rounds, and it goes to show that playing different people and new board layouts makes you learn the game really quick.

In hindsight my deployment was a bit negative and I drew myself into a central fight and didn’t really change tactics, even after Quarrel did 12 damage to Fritz killing him at the very start of turn 2.

Luckily Flintloque killed Morris in turn two to even the score, but it meant I had been forced to use Quack as a healer and sit on a moonstone at the back rather than be offensive, and it cost me the game.

It was 3-2 to me in the final turn, but Rob was able to get Quarrel to kill Flintloque causing him to drop the stone and drawing the game at 2-2.

In the sudden death turn 5, he won initiative and Quarrel picked up the moonstone and ended the game with a 2-3 victory for Rob.