Gentlemen (and Ladies), Start your Engines!!!


Blake Shrode and I look forward each fall to host the Kings of War Grand Prix of MI GT - a racing themed GT (with a little bit of Metallica thrown in for good measure).

Unfortunately because of the change in schedule (with Masters being on Labor Day, and this event moving to September instead of October) we had a bit of a drop in attendance, but it was otherwise great fun.  So even though we had 18 registered, we only had 15 paid players (meaning Blake got to spend the weekend rolling dice himself - the sacrifices he makes to keep things running smoothly!)

Back Row - Jordan Nichols, Blake Shrode, Kris DeGrow, Dariusz Bienkowski, Steven De La Garza, Matthew Temple, Marshall Temple, Kara Brown, Jesse Berglund, Dylan Scribner, Nathan Johnson.
Front Row - Jeff Franz, Kyle Ritchie, Grace Patterson, some idiot they forced into the picture for some reason, Felix Castro and Robert Phaneuf

( Thanks to Rebecca Ritchie for taking this picture, which unfortunately allowed forced me to disgrace it.)

Unfortunately (for me at least) I had LOTS of technical issues (and decided that it was finally time to replace my old refurbished laptop that could not keep a wifi connection, has a right arrow key has not worked for six months, and 'blue-screened' four times over the weekend).  However I (hope) I managed to not let these get in the way of 40 fun and exciting games for everyone.

Despite issues (including losing the data that I had entered Thursday night  and having to re-enter it before anyone could register) we actually managed to start the first round on time!


Dylan Scribner v Kyle Ritchey

Jeff Franz v Rob Phaneuf

Dariusz Bienkowski v Blake Shrode

Felix Castro v Jesse Berglund

Grace Patterson v Jordan Nichols

Kris DeGrow v Kara Brown

Nathaniel Johnson v Marshall Temple

Steven De La Garza v Matthew Temple

During lunch all the players set out there armies for paint judging and favorite army voting.

Kris DeGrow's Empire of Dust

Steven De La Garza's League of Rhordia

Matthew Temple's Ogres

Kara Brown's Trident Realm of Neritica

Jordan Nichols' Ogres (ok, so except for the chariot the army, these were Rob Phaneuf's ogres)

Jesse Berglund's Twilight Kin

Blake Shrode's Abyssal Dwarfs

Rob Phaneuf's Kindoms of (half)Men

Kyle Ritchey's Ogres

Dylan Scribner's Sylvan Kin

Jeff Franz's Twilight Kin

Dariusz Bienkowski's Northern Alliance

Felix Castro's Northern Alliance

Nathanial Johnson's Dwarfs

Marshall Temple's Undead

Grace Patterson's Order of the Green Lady

Then Round 2 then got underway 



Felix v Matt

Dariusz v Kyle

Blake v Rob

Kara v Jeff

Steve v Jesse

Marshall v Dylan

Jordan v Kris

Grace v Nate

We actually had a lot of trophies to give out - between mugs from the Michigan GT and Trophies that I made, there were 8 different awards.  In addition we had enough prize support so that EVERYONE at the tournament walked away with something.

Overall Champion, Jesse Cornwell Sportsman, Best General

Best Appearance, General's Choice, Favorite Chariot

Counter-Charger, Dice Hate Me (last place)

If you didn't win one of the top 4 awards, you got to pick from a generous prize pool

Round 3 then got underway.  This was the round that had a special scenario involving the chariot that everyone brought - where it would score victory points if it could go around the table and grab the checkered flag from the other side ( otherwise it was invade)


Marshall v Jordan

Rob v Matt

Dylan v Kris

Blake v Felix

Dariusz v Nate

Grace v Steve

Jeff v Jesse in hot TK on TK action!

Kyle v Kara

Most of us went to the Lansing Brewing Company where they had a live band, great food and even better beer.  Lots of jokes, talking about the games, and a little bit of preview information for the new Clash of Kings book.

Sunday morning saw everyone return, and round 4 was right on time


Marshall v Rob

Nate v Jesse

Kara v Jordan

Jeff v Kyle

Grace v Matt

Dylan v Blake

Dariusz v Steve

Kris v Felix

On Sunday during lunch, everyone set out their chariots for voting.

Nathanial Johnson

Blake Shrode

Dariusz Bienkowski

Dylan Scribner

Felix Castro

Grace Patterson

Jeff Franz

Jesse Berglund

Jordan Nichols

Kara Brown

Kris DeGrow

Kyle Ritchey

Marshall Temple

Matthew Temple

Rob Phaneuf

Steven De La Garza

The fifth and final round then actually started a little early!


Dylan v Jesse

Jordan v Felix

Marshall v Grace

Dariusz v Jeff

Matt v Kyle

Nate v Steve

Kara v Rob

Kris v Blake

Then with a bit of fiddling around counting all the favorite chariot and favorite opponent votes (I am always very pleased when every player received at least one vote for being in someone's top 3 opponents - that is a goal we always want to see.

Blake, of course, loved to show off his natural charm handing out all the awards.

Jordan Nichols - Dice Hate Me

Jesse Berglund - Counter Charger

Marshall Temple - Favorite Chariot

Grace Patterson - General's Choice (favorite army)

Grace Patterson (again) for Best Appearance ($40 Mantic Gift Card)
 
Steven De La Garza for Best General ($50 Mantic Gift Card)

Nathaniel Johnson Best Overall ($80 Mantic Gift Card, GPoM patch)

Felix Castro - Jesse Cornwell Sportsman (pre-release copy of Halo Flashpoint)

(sorry, I was informed that I had mistakenly included the full sports scores (and the favorite army votes) in the overall score - that has been fixed using the 50 pt limit as specified in the pack).  I'd like to blame this on the many technical issues I had with my computer, but I believe it was actually a pebkac issue, and take full responsibility for it.

You can see the individual round results as well as the breakdown for appearance and sportsmanship (and links to everyone's army lists) at the Grand Prix of Michigan 2024 site.

And that wraps it up for this year.  We of course plan to be back again next year (hopefully back in October once more), and the Michigan GT looks to be getting bigger and better!

Thanks to Blake for setting this up - it wouldn't be the same without him, and he always shows everyone a great time.  And thanks to everyone who came out to Lansing for a couple days of rolling dice and being with friends

Because is it all fun and games . . .

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