Well, I went to Grande Prairie, AB yesterday and played in my second Steamroller tournament. The last tournament I was in was just over a year ago, also in Grande Prairie. GP is about two hours away and is the closest large centre and it isn’t even that big, my town is just that small. I’m not going to go through battle reports, because I was a little overwhelmed and can’t really remember a lot of details. So, I’ll just make some points. Sorry for the lack of pictures but I was busy keeping my shit together.
Level of Competition
There was quite a range of skill levels represented. There were at least two members of the Canadian WTC team there and a couple of others in that league. Mixed in were a bunch of locals and a few of us that were sort of out of our element. My first game was against a very good Circle player from Red Deer, AB named Cam. He knew what he was doing and made it clear that I really didn’t in comparison. Cam was a really fun guy to play though, because he saw where I was at and didn’t get all super competitive on me. He played to win, as he should, but we had fun at the same time. When I made a mistake he corrected me, but didn’t make a big deal out of it. It was that way all day.
Organization
The tournament organizers did a wonderful job. The games and rounds moved along quickly and the next scenario was set up without the players even really noticing. Scoring was quick as were the next matchups. The tables were set up with an appropriate level of scenery that was attached, so it didn’t scoot around on you. An excellent job was done. The only downer was that we started about an hour late. For someone who had to drive two hours home after a day of gaming that sort of sucked.
My Performance
In a word, weak. It was expected though. The death clock put some pressure on me at first and I had to play faster than I’m used to, which lead to some bad decisions and mix ups in the order of activation. It came down to not playing enough of the came to have any automaticity in my game and that made it harder. I came in third from last and didn’t score a single control point. The one game against Retribution where I could have, I came up against very hot dice and it was still a close thing. My goal was to not time out and I didn’t, though I did end one game with 9 seconds left. My other goal was to score a control point. That didn’t happen, so will continue to be a goal.
Summary
Overall, I had a great time. I played against factions and casters that I don’t get to play against in my local meta. I got to play against players much better than myself which, if you are paying attention can teach you a lot. I met a lot of really great guys and reconnected with a few I hadn’t seen in a long time. I was exhausted at the end of the day, but happy. Failure can be an excellent teacher if you are willing to reflect on why you failed. I have much reflecting to do.
