Well The Las Vegas Open (2017) is now officially over. Although I did not partake in any 'official' event, I still had a pretty decent time. I was actually doing really good with the vendors hall too, until later in the day on Friday (more on that below). This will be just a brief daily recap and then some photo dumps.
Thursday February 2nd, 2017
Thusday was juat a travel day for us and early badge pick up for LVO. We arrived in Las Vegas around 3:00 PM local time and went straight to our timeshare for check-in. Once we checked in, we frshened up a bit and then headed over to Bally's Hotel (where LVO wa taking place) for early badge pick up and then off to dinner.
One thing to note is that this year the LVO doubled in space. Last year at Bally's, LVO just had their Events Center. For 2017, they had their Events Center along with their Grand Ballroom. Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar were taking place in the Events Center, and the rest of the gaming and vendors were in the Grand Ballroom.
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| All packed for the trip. |
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| Events Center and early badge pickup. |
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| Grand Ballroom setup. |
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| Grand Ballroom setup. |
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| Ballys Host Hotel |
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| Ballys Host Hotel |
Friday February 3rd, 2017
Friday was going to be an open day for my son and I, get some shopping done and play a small game of Bolt Action so he can get re acclimated with the rules and Version 2 rules.
Along with checking out some of the smaller vendor areas and chatting with our friends at Broken Egg Games, we had to visit the Privateer Press area. They are known to sell their pre-release items at events like this. LVO was no exception. PP was selling the upcoming Command books for Circle and Cygnar (Cygnar is not releasing till March). My son passed on the Command books, but he did pick up a new Warbeast for his Circle army, "Loki". I just picked up a Circle coffe mig for my son and a Minions one for myself.
When we came across the Trenchworkx vendor (WW2 tanks), they had 3 of their new Wirbelwind German Tanks on hand. I just had to grab one of these to eventually paint for my Germans, it just looks too cool to pass up. My son who always wanted a 76mm Sherman for his US Army, was able to grab one of these.
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| Trenchworx German Wirbelwind |
I thought shopping was going pretty good for us........(before I arrived at the LVO, I had the plan that I wanted to try the Guild Ball demo), well my son and I took the brief 15 minute demo of the game, and I thought that this is a game I'd like to try out. There is a local store in South Bend that occasionally plays Guild Ball, along with some other stores a bit farther away. I originally thought I'd be buying into the Brewer's Guild, but I like to score, so the Steamforged Games crew set me up with models form the Engineer's Guild that are scorers (plus I also liked the models for the Engineer's). My son ended up picking out the newer Hunter's Guild (since the theme and colors are close to his Circle army and he is familiar with painting those). So $300 later we had 2 new armies and a Classic Pitch. Then of course I had to head back over to Broken Egg Games for some of their Guild Sticks, and Muse on Minis for their official Guild Tokens. Guild Ball really started to add up.
Once we got our shopping done, my son and I finally got in a 750 point game of Bolt Action. I did not bring an army with me from Michigan, so we just used my son's US Army and split it fairly into 2. We ended up playing the Scenario 'No Mans Land' and my dice once again were not with me and he wiped me out 7-1.
After we got our game in we headed out to dinner. We decided to go to the same restaurant we ate at last year on Friday, Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas (they have one of the best dishes I have ever eater). Now that my son is also 21, he joined in on a German Beer.
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| Bolt Action: US vs US |
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| Bolt Action: US vs US |
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| Hofbrauhaus |
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| Hofbrauhaus |
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| Hofbrauhaus |
Saturday February 4th, 2017
Today I was on stand by for the Bolt Action Tournament as a Ringer. One of my friends from Chicago (Jeremy) was running the event and I offered my services for the day as a Ringer if needed. He had 22 players register for the tournament but only 21 had checked in just prior to the evnt starting, so I ran out to my car to grab my son's US Army, but at the eleventh hour, the 22nd player had checked in. So Saturday was just going to be a relaxing day for me. I obviously checked out all the Bolt Action armies that were playing, but I also spent a good amount of time watching the Guild Ball tournament and asking some question when I could. I met 2 players from Michigan that were really helpful in answering a few questions (hopefully I will run across them again when I get back home). My son was registered in the Warmachine/Hordes Masters Tournament, so he was going to be busy with 4 rounds of WM/H's gaming. His final round of the day he got to play on one of the three very detailed tables that they had. I think it is because my son and his opponet each had nicely fully painted armies (this years Masters tournament seemed to have a lot less painted armies. I know it is not required for Masters, but if you are going to playing in a large tournament in Las Vegas, I would think you'd like to play with a painted army). Once he was done with his final game, we did a nice long walk over to the Luxor buffet for dinner.
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| Jeremy, the Bolt Action TO |
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| Bolt Action Tournament |
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| Bolt Action Tournament |
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| Bolt Action Tournament |
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| My sons Circle Army |
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| Bolt Action Table |
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| Bolt Action Table |
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| Warmachine Hordes Tournament |
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| Guild Ball Tournament |
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| Guild Ball Tournament |
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| My son Round 4 on a custom table |
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| My son Round 4 on a custom table |
Sunday February 5th, 2017
The original plan for Sunday was to get two games of Warmachine/Hordes in so my son can re-teach me the game and I can freshen up on the rulees. But since he had so much fun playing Bolt Action on Friday, we decided to get quick game of Bolt Action before we moved onto WM/H. I knew that would take longer so we started with Bolt Action and gave ourselves a 2 hour time limit.
We rolled for a Scenario and it came up 'Double Envelopment'. With this scenario, you score 1 VP for killing an enemy unit, 2 VP's for each unit you have in the enemies deployment zone at the end of the game, and 3 VP's for each of your units you ran off your enemies table edge. For my third straight game of Bolt Action, the dice were not with me. My so and I swapped lists from Friday (so I was playing the list he beat with me). Well I got another spanking with my son winning 10-0. For the three games of Bolt Action I played this year, it has not been good.....FUN, but not good for wins.
After our game of Bolt Action we grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch (stayed in the gaming are, lunch meals are $15, but this year the LVO sold meal tickets for $10). Not cheap, but it was easy to do and we did not have to pack our armies.
Once we finished eating, we got our game ready for some Hordes vs Warmachine. I was going to play my Hordes Minion Army, and my son was playing his Warmachine Cygnar Army. We elected not to play with a chess clock since I was re-learning the rules and what exactly my army can do. Guess we should have used a clock becasue 4 hours later we still were not done. I was technically winning 1-0, but since it was going on for a long time and a lot of battling back and forth, I called it a Draw. I really need more practice with my army and what they can do. There is a League starting up next week close to home that I am planning to play in. I know I'll probably lose every game, but as long as I get some practice out of it, I'll be happy.
We wraped up our stuff and we said Good Bye to LVO 2017. We headed out to strip to Giordana's Pizza (Chicag style deep dish pizza), my son was craving it. We were able to order our pizza, a pitcher of beer and catch the second half of Super Bowl 51 (unbelievable come back for Tom Brady).
Will we come back next year for LVO 2018? As of right now, it is highly unlikely. Not that we did not have a good time, but we have a lot plans for AdeptiCon 2018 (which is then month after). But we'll know for sure next year.
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| Bolt Action Gaming |
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| My last unit and FUBAR |
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| Minions vs Cygnar |
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| Giordanos |
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| Giordanos |
It a was a good end of the week for me for deliveries. First on Thursday my British sprues from Warlord Games finally arrived. These were ordered just after Christmas while they had their 50% off sale on sprues. So I needed two sprues each of Late War Infantry and Weapons so I could flush out my four units of Infantry. Each Infantry can have 10 men, but I modeled 11 for each (an extra SMG for Late War). Then with the Infanry sprues, I was also able to make two Officer Teams with SMG's. This way if I ever decide to play with two platoons, I will have a Lt. for each.
Just one week until my son and I will be driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Open (LVO) that is being held at the Bally's Events Center and Grand Ballroom (looks like they expanded their space for this year). I cannot wait to get out of the cold from the Midwest for a few days. This will be the second year that my son and I will be attending. Last year we both went to go and play in the Warmachine/Hordes Masters, this year I am going just to have fun while my son will once again play in the WM/H Masters on Saturday.
Yesterday was the first time I have played a game of Bolt Action in over 2 1/2 years and I must say it was really nice to be able to get the rust of the rifles and get some gun oil on them. Of course everyone wants to win when they play a game, but yesterday for me was more about remembering the rules of the game and trying out Version 2 of the new rule set.
The 25 pounder was the key howitzer used by the British Army throughout World War 2 and beyond. It was found in every theatre of war.
The QF 6-pdr was the highly successful replacement for the 2-pdr, being copied by the Americans as the 57mm gun, M1. Its useful lifespan was extended by new developments in ammunition that improved its armour penetration capabilities, allowing it to knock out Panthers and Tigers from the flank.
Originally I thought I would be assembling my QF 6-PDR yesterday, but I realized while going through my British army that I already a Medic and Flamethrower Team already assembled and ready for paint. So I decided to finish these guys up first before I tackled another assembly.
So I am still diging through my box from Warlord on what to build/paint next (since I am STILL waiting on my Infantry sprues) and I decided to paint the Medium Mortar Team next. When I searched through the box, I noticed Warlord shipped me 2 3" Medium Mortars. The British Strategic Army deal was only suppose to come with 1, so I was a happy camper.
Unfortunately still waiting for my sprues from Warlord Games to finish my British Infantry, but that's ok, plenty of other models to tackle (I could not believe how many models were included in their Christmas deal).
