Indy Storm (Cell) 2022

Right before the world decided to take this wonderful trip in a handbasket, Indy Storm was the last regional tournament before everything shut down.   Last year they tried to have mini "storm cells" for individual tournaments, but we still weren't ready.  This year they tried to bring the entire convention back, but again this damned disease caused issues (not directly, but the hotel was being renovated "back" to normal after being used to house semi-quarantined electrical workers.  But this year, we did have a successful Kings of War Indy Storm "Cell" tournament.

One of the Indiana War Kings (thanks Matt!) found us what turned out to be a GREAT venue (the 4H Annex building at the Boone County 4H Fairgrounds), and we were able to have a 5 round, 2300 point Kings of War GT on February 12 & 13 2022!

I made some trophies with my handy 3D printer

Plus the Indy Storm folks gave us a cool engraved beer mug, and special storm elemental unit for the winner.

Not only were there trophies, but Mantic provide gift codes for the winners, and Ohio War Kings provided door prizes to everyone that didn't get a gift code, so everyone walked away with something cool.

Unfortunately while we had 20 people registered, by the day of the tournament we lost 6 players, but 14 is still a respectable number these days.

(Back row) Matt Hodgman, Jon Carter, Jeff Franz, Austin Lesh, Marshall Temple, Mike Hodgman, Kara Brown, Paul Cravo.  (Front Fow) Kyle Martin, Grace Patterson, Matthew Temple, Felix Castro, Steve Malone.  (Not pictured) John Mullins, me.

Round 1 started on time

Jeff Franz with Empire of Dust v Paul Cravo with Sylvan Kin

Marshall Temple with Ratkin v Felix Castro with Northern Alliance

Matt Hodgeman with Dwarfs v Austin Lesh with Undead

Grace Patterson with Forces of Nature v Kyle Martin with Undead

Michael Hodgman with Varagur v Steve Malone with Varangur

John (Carter) Mullins with Dwarfs playing Jon Carter, playing the John Carter of Mars (Ogre) army. 

Kara Brown with Abyssal Dwarfs v Matthew Temple with Forces of the Abyss

We had a break for lunch, where everyone set up their armies for judging and voting.  (I don't think the Wendy's in Lebanon IN was quite ready for the drive-thru order they got from us :-) ).

Jon Carter's John Carter of Mars Ogre army

John Mullins Dwarf Army

Kyle Martin's Undead

Grace Patterson's Forces of Nature

Marshall Temple's Ratkin

Felix Castro's Forces of Nature

Jeff Franz's Nightstalkers

Paul Cravo's Sylvan Kin

Kara Brown's Abyssal Dwarfs

Matthew Temple's Forces fothe Abyss

Michael Hodgman's Varangur

Steve Malone's Varangur

Matt Hodgman's Dwarfs

Austin Lesh's Undead

To make this a bit unique, every player brought a storm elemental model (with a special profile) and special abilities that changed each game.  Plus the players voted on the best model.

Sp	Me	De	H	Us	At	Ne
6	4+	5+	5	1	9	-/18
Crushing Strength(1), Thunderous Charge (1), Pathfinder
Elements will have a subtype that will be announced before each game as part of the scenario
-       Rain – add Icy Breath(6), Radiance of Life
-       Wind – add Wind Blast(8), Aura( Wild Charge(+1) )
-       Lightning – add Lightning Bolt(4), Cloak of Death

John Mullins Storm Elemental

Jon Carter's Storm Elemental

Kyle Martin's Storm Elemental

Grace Patterson's Storm Elemental

Morgan Temple's Storm Elemental

Felix Castro's Storm Elemental

Jeff Franz's Storm Elemental

Paul Cravo's Storm Elemental

Kara Brown's Storm Elemental

Matt Temple's Storm Elemental

Michael Hodgman's Storm Elemental

Steve Malone's Storm Elemental

Matt Hodgman's Storm Elemental

Austin Lesh's Storm Elemental

After lunch, round two got started.

Jeff Franz v Marshall Temple

Steve Malone v John Mullins

Matt Hodgman v Matt Temple

Jon Carter v Paul Cravo

Kyle Martin v Kara Brown

Felix Castro v Austin Lesh

Grace Patterson v Mike Hodgman

Then we started round 3 right on time

Jeff Franz v Steve Malone

Mike Hodgman v John Mullins

Austin Lesh v Kara Brown

Jon Carter v Matthew Temple

Grace Patterson v Felix Castro

Matt Hodgman v Paul Cravo

Kyle Martin v Marshall Temple

After a good nights rest, we got back at a bright and early 9:30 am to start round 4.

Matt Hodgman v Marshall Temple

John Mullins v Jeff Franz

Mike Hodgman v Felix Castro

Paul Cravo v Kara Brown

Jon Carter v Kyle Martin

Steve Malone v Austin Lesh

Matt Temple v Grace Patterson

Unfortunately after round 4 we lost a player, so I stepped in to get my butt beat :-)

There was a quick lunch break with free pizza and drinks for all, and then started the final round!

Round 5

Paul Cravo v Mike Hodgman

Kyle Martin v Matt Temple

Austin Lesh v Jon Carter

Felix Castro stuck playing me

Steve Malone v Kara Brown

Matt Hodgman v Jeff Franz

Marshall Temple v Grace Patterson

And with that, it was all over but the cheering (and weeping).

Dice Hate Me: Austin Lesh  - Star Saga game, new dice, wound cards

Best Elemental: Jon Carter - $40 Mantic gift code

Jon Carter's Storm Elemental

Best Appearance: Matthew Temple  - $40 Mantic gift code

Jesse Cornwell Sportsman Award: Grace Patterson - $40 Mantic Gift Code

Best General:  Jeff Franz - $70 Mantic Gift Code

Overall Champion: Steve Malone  - $90 Mantic Gift Code

A full breakdown of each round and the final scores is available here.

So overall a great weekend.  Things went extremely smoothly, to the point that while next year we hope to have the full IndyStorm convention, we are considering using this venue for a tournament again!  There was really only a single hitch when we lost a player.

Next up in six weeks is Adepticon in Chicago!

Because it is all fun and games . . .