The 2023 Las Vegas Open is over for me. I finished with a disappointing record of 2-3-1 and placed 576th with 473 points. My tie and two of the losses were very close and I scored well in all but two of my games so I feel a little better about my performance.
There's a lot to love in giant events like the LVO. You can meet a lot of famous players, see new games, get great tips from pro painters and hobbyists, make new friends, play out of your usual pool of gamers, and generally have a great time.
I got to meet a couple of people I follow on YouTube and Instagram and I made a few new friends too. That's really the best part of the tournament.
However, there are a few downsides too and areas that could be improved.
First, Frontline puts on a great show. They obviously do a ton of work to pull something this large off. However, I am disappointed that it's being run in Warzone Nephilim and not Arks of Omen. I think AoO is a much more level playing field and the balance patches have evened the game out for more armies to have a fair game and I don't think you'll see a few of the top army builds after this weekend.
Second, with so many players, it's crowded. Gamers are gamers and in one round, I played next to a guy with both bad body odor and some of the most foul breath I've ever smelled. He was definitely a servant of Nurgle... The funk level was high across the casino with tabbacco, vape and weed and the it was compounded with (some) bad BO.
With so many players, you need a lot of tables and this meant that 6 tables were butted together in a row. If you didn't have an end table, you had to push through the crowd to get to the other side just to move your models. There are alot of hand carts and baggage at these events and I felt like I was always tripping over something or someone, or getting clobbered in the back by backpacks or army trays. I don't know if it's worth capping the participants to make sure there's more room and less crowding.
FLG events use their own terrain products (mostly) and feature player placed terrain rules. I'm a fan of neither. I don't like them so much that I don't know if I'm going to play in an FLG event in the future. They have a nice rules packet that explains most of the terrain and rules, but they also admit in those rules that there are problems with their terrain - but don't fix those issues. I've been spoiled by the GW events and Away Games who use the fixed maps and high end terrain and I'm disappointed in FLGs tabletops.
My first two trips to the LVO were at Balley's, a very good casino on the Vegas Strip. This year was at the Rio and it is a dump. The Rio is located off the strip and is near nothing. It's in a desperate need of a makeover and some basic maintenance. It's run down, stains everywhere, the bath is gross, half of the stores, restaurants and features aren't open, you have to wait in line just to use the elevator... I don't want to stay here again. The staff are nice though but clearly the owners are putting in minimum effort.
Enough whining, here's the game by game recap:
Day 1
Game 1 - I played a Chaos Knights player from Canada and lost 75-78. My dice were ice cold and it plagued me the entire game. Twice, I lost a terminator to stubbers on rolls of triple 1s. Oy! It was a close game though but my opponent was cagey and measured and double measured every move in an almost clinical method, but he maneuvered expertly to grab the win in the final half turn.
Game 2 - I lost 88-65 vs a Thousand Sons army played by Eric from Wisconson. This was my worst loss as I was on the backfoot from the start and cold dice did me no favors. About mid game I had to make some risky charges to play catch-up and none of the risks paid off. Eric was a fun player and knew his army well; a great player who had obviously played the tournament circuit. He even gave me one of his team's dice!
Game 3 - I tied with Guy and his Grey Knights at 63 points each. Usually, Grey Knights are my Achilles heel and I struggle against space magic but we both played a cagey match and a few of my risky moves paid off to force a draw. Guy and I played at tables next to each other the rest of the tournament and we gave each other a hard time over the next few rounds. We both talked about the scenarios that would have given us the win if we only played a little differently. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Day 2
Game 4 - I faced Bailey and his Black Templars. My dice finally woke up and were red hot. I played my game well and everything seemed to go my way and I won 95-50. I can't really say that my generalship was a factor, my dice just took over. Bailey was a super fun player and never let himself get down as his plans fell apart. A+ for Bailey!
Game 5 - I was lucky enough to be paired with Cliff from Stat Check! He brought his Imperial Knights and my dice hadn't cooled off yet and my Deathwing went ham on his big guys. I mean, full goblin mode. I saved a single terminator from taking 6 wounds by rolling 4 sixes with my apothecary. I apologized to him but Cliff took everything in stride and was a great player to roll dice with for a couple hours. Like Bailey, he was an excellent example of a sportsman and I wish I could keep smiling as much as him.
Game 6 - My Dangles squared up against another elite army, the meta Custodes list with three grav tanks in the final game. We fought a true slobberknocker of a battle and it came down to the last rolls of the game. Unfortunately, I let a Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike slip away with 1 wound and that model scored the space janitors 10 points in the bottom of turn 5, costing me the match. I lost 83-92.
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