Golden Troll Warcry Tournament: Recap, Setup, and Battle Report [2024]

Update: Link to all tournament lists added!

This past weekend, I participated in the first annual Golden Troll Warcry tournament in Montreal using my Scions of the Flame warband. It was a closed event, hosted by a close friend of mine, and I was one of the original 12 who were asked to participate and accepted.

Though only 8 people were able to make it in the end, with a couple of cancellations for folks due to work, sickness, and things like that, it went off without a hitch and was generally an all around blast (except for those times when the dice gods refused to shine their favour on you, of course).

In any event, I’ve put together a recap of the event and the results of our day of Warcry.

For more info on the lists themselves:

• See all lists that competed in the Golden Troll Warcry Tournament (March 2024) in Montreal.

Tournament Setup

Players: 8 (down from original 12 – so about 1/3 had to drop out before it began)

Tables: 4

Terrain: 2x Heart of Ghur, 2x original starter box (the name of which I forget)

Games: Every player will play 3 games, each with a different opponent and scenario.

Duration: 8 hours was blocked off for the tournament. Games were given 90 minute slots with 30 minutes in between for breaks and overtime. As a whole, the tournament went slightly over its allotted time (about 45 minutes) due to a few slow starts in the first round that pushed things back.

Matchup Assignment: Matches were assigned by a number which was drawn by each attendant at the time of their arrival. So if you drew #1, you knew you would fight players number #8, #7, and #4 in that order for example.

Scenarios: A mix of Rumble Pack missions as well as core rulebook. Each mission was preselected per table, per game. (For instance, table #2 game #1 would be different than game #2 or table #3). The first and last mission at each table would be Rumble Pack with the middle game typically a “kill” scenario from core rulebook (such as Reaper).

Scoring: While a lot of tournaments count things such as wins and victory points (VPs) towards deciding the winner, here is how it was done at the Golden Troll:

• Primary win condition: Have the most points. Players were awarded 5 points for a win, 3 for a tie, and 1 for a loss.
• Secondary win condition: In the event of a draw in the situation above, the tie-breaker would go to whichever warband had the most “kill points” over the course of the event (a tally of all the point value of the models they took down).

It was decided not to use VP as a secondary win condition due to the variety of the scenarios being played. For instance, some matches had players with with 2-1 for VP while others allowed players to pick up 10+ in a single game.

In theory, the kill points should have guaranteed that there would be no tie at the end, but, as we’ll see, things didn’t quite go as planned.

Prizes: The Golden Troll Trophy (see picture at the end of the post) was still a work in progress at the tourney, but the winning warband would have their name added to a plaque on it each year. First place and second place winners for Tournament Points would also take home some prizes.

Bonus: at the end of the night, everyone was asked to vote for their favourite / friendliest opponent. They would take home a separate prize.

Tournament Rules and Eligibility

Participants: As it was the first such tournament, it was a closed event / invite-only trial run. Basically, to be there, you either had to know the organizer or know someone the organizer already invited.

Lists: All warbands had to be submitted up to 3 days prior to the tournament. No changes allowed after the point of submission. Standard 1000pt lists with usual conditions.

Proxies: Allowed on the condition that they A) share the base with the original model; B) share a theme / colour scheme with rest of warband; and C) that the models could reasonably pass for the original piece.

Divine Blessings: Allowed – must be chosen beforehand and submitted along with the rest of the list.

Models: To be eligible, models needed to be at least assembled and with a base coat of paint.

Restrictions: No Monsters were allowed on any list. Also, for good sportsmanship, players voluntarily agreed not to use Kharadron Overlord lists.

Tournament Results and Recap

The table below lists the warbands along with their standing at the tournament once the results were up.

The big surprise (apart from the fact my warband – the Azure Arsonists – was a winner) was that we had a complete, and absolute draw for the first place.

As you might have noticed from the numbers above, is that it was not only a tie for tournament points, but also a tie for kill points.

When those results were added up, pretty much everyone at the event busted out the calculator apps on their phones and was able to concur that yes, indeed, somehow, 2 different players were able to remove the exact same amount of points over 3 games.

I can’t even comprehend what the odds of that happening would be.

Other takeaways from the results:

• The Tin Cans (SCE Thunderstrike) was a pretty formidable opponent on the table, when considering their kill points. However, their low numbers and slow speed made them always a runner-up in any match that involved numerous objectives (their first game involved 4, and their third game 6).
• The Black Mambas were an optimized Hunters of Huanchi list that excelled at controlling objectives, but did poorly when it came to removing enemy pieces from the board.
• Despite their numbers and strong units, Order of the Canker also suffered from a deficiency of speed. For example, in my Game #2 with them, they had a less than ideal spawn for their deployments, resulting in about half of the game being lost just crossing the board.
• My warband (the Azure Arsonists) had the second fewest pieces (at 8), but I was lucky to have been matched to some of the other smaller ones (Tin Cans with 7 units and Coldblooded Carnivores with 9 units) in two of my games, while my matchup with the 13 unit Order of the Canker didn’t involve control points but a blood tally for the victory conditions.
• The winner for favourite / friendliest opponent went to the Black Mambas and their player. While I didn’t match up against them, others who did mentioned that chasing little lizards around the board was actually an interesting departure from the usual ways in which the games went down (though I can’t help but wonder if the fact the Black Mambas killed so few pieces it might have also endeared some hearts to them).

For a more detailed breakdown of each matchup, along with the individual missions, etc. you can visit this spreadsheet.

It was quickly decided that a tie-breaker matchup between the two winners would be needed, but at that point everyone was too drained to go on.

So at some point in the not-too-distant future, I’ll be meeting up with the other winner and hopefully we’ll be able to settle things in a single match. We’ll see.

Other posts related to the Golden Troll Warcry Tournament [March 2024]:

• Scions of the Flame – Winning List (tied for top place)
• Battle Report: Scions of the Flame vs SCE Thunderstrike (Game #1)