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.

What a great game this is. Moonstone captures the whimsical fantasy setting so well, the gameplay is unique, deep and very tactical.

Yet, even more than the solid game it gives you a sense of story a sense that you’ve just taken part in a fairy tale and helped tell your own bit of the moonstone fables.

Each game is different, the way the moonstones deploy makes the game different each time, you could play the same board layout, the same troupes and have totally different games based on the dropping of the moonstones and also what number they show.

The melee combat is fun and interesting and deadly, you cannot be certain even as the attacker that you wont die.

There is the card draw that does mean you can be a victim of bad luck, however there is enough abilities to draw more cards, melee ranges to think about, reaction steps to remember, all to help negate a bad draw, and even when you do get a bad draw, you are aloud to bluff!!! Brilliant!

The character in this game is possibly the most complete and amazing I’ve seen, it engages you, it draws you in and it keeps you wanting to explore more and try different troupes to see what there story will be.

Win or Lose in this game you will, but you will laugh and enjoy every minute of it.

The seutp of the boards was brilliant. Each round I played on a different board, and each round I had to play my Troupe totally differently.

Yes there is always going to be certain activations and abilities you do no matter what the terrain, but having a good terrain layout really does shine through in this game.

From a tournament perspective, it was a great idea to have boards of different types, and naming them within the world. One thing lacking was that the boards didn’t have the names on a little plaque or sign, so you did forget the lore of the board a bit.

The decision to limit the Troupe size to 5 was brilliant for me. It was really hard to limit what you wanted to take to 5.

Having it a fixed 5 was also good I think. It meant you had to take choices to cover a variety of opponents, so again forced to look at combos that might not normally get chosen.

As a tournament experience I loved every minute. The Venue was amazing, the game is amazing.

The people were amazing. Everyone was so friendly and so enthused about Moonstone. Each game I played there was laughter and friendly banter throughout.

Yes the current tournament setup could be exploited by power gamers but there was none of that on display here.

Everyone was there to have fun and enjoy the day.

The painting standard was really high too. The models lend themselves to allow mediocre painters like myself, to produce a good looking tabletop standard.

This has set the bar for me for Tournaments in the future, and it has set a very high bar.

I want a moonstone tournament every week please!

I would recommend going to a Tournament to anyone now. Yes I know it can be a bad experience (40k sometimes with power gamers), but I think you will personally know if the game lends itself to a tournament that will fit your style of play and personality.

For me this whole experience was brilliant. From taking the step to actually signup for entry, forcing me to paint and pick a Troupe, to look at the game in more detail to try and make sure I did ok at the Tournament.

The people involved made a huge difference and I would happily game with them every week if I could.

That being said there are bits of improvements I would like to see for future tournaments.

1. Timing clocks visible, so everyone knew how long was left in the round.
2. Clear rules regarding sudden death, as it was unclear if the game just ended after turn 4, but then when it came to it we were allowed to do sudden death as there was time left on the clock.
3. If timer goes, then maybe allow the current round to complete rather than just the current action, this might remove one player being an idiot and slow playing the last action.

My main concern for Tournament moonstone was the random moonstone deployment mechanism, I felt it was too random to be tournament friendly and could offer too much of an advantage to one opponent over the other. BUT now having played at the Tournament level, the moonstone deployment is a vital part of setting the scene for the story and each game, and makes you have to adjust how you play, which for me is amazing, you have to think each game, you cannot just build a power list and rinse and reapeat and win.

Good players will be able to mitigate bad luck on card draw, make better deployment decisions and better activiations and will win in most cases. BUt the game lends itself to a bit of mayhem and that is perfect for a fun game.

Overall I had a brilliant time and it has enthused me even more about this game.

I want to try new troupes, new ideas, and like I’ve mentioned, my wife agrees. She wants to try new characters or try again to play a character difrernly to see what happens, if a game can capture the imagination of my wife, give me a brilliant weekend and introduce me to amaxing people, then I cannot say a bad word about it.

Hopefully you’ve read this and enjoyed my write up – it’s my first one, so my writing style and content will improve, honest.

But to make sure you follow up on the enthusiasm you are no doubt feeling about this game after reading this, here are some easy to follow links.

Buy Moonstone Merch!

Moonstone the game – click here

Buy Moonstone from Firestorm games – click here

Go enjoy this game, and I will see you at the next Tournament.