The club was winding down for the evening and BC was pacing back and forth.
While we generally got along, I knew I wasn’t his first choice, and that was OK as tournaments weren’t really my thing. Spots for the event were filling up fast and most of the competitive players at the club had already partnered up.
I knew that.
He knew that.
At the very least I was going to make him ask me.
Roppo…
The prize pool was $500 in store credit for the winning team and that was the goal we set our sights on.
Over the next few weeks the energy of the club shifted from narrative play to tournament prep as teams prepared their armies and played mission from the tournament packet. The format was doubles, two players per side, each team working as a pair.
BC’s tactics were solid, and his command of the game was definitely on a tournament level, but as a regular tournament player he had a reputation, and our first two practice games together were about either managing that reputation or playing it.
I asked him if he wanted to win.
Genuinely.
Are we going there to have a good time and drink some beers after, or was the goal to be standing on the winner’s platform having dominated the three rounds?
And what about my reputation?
I had none.
I wasn’t a tournament player, and while I was well regarded at the club, I wasn’t taken seriously in the community because I had no tournament wins under my belt.
BC had a reputation and I didn’t.
Players would know what he was going to do, and had no idea at what I was going to do.
I asked him if we could use this?
Looking around at the other players at the club and the preparations they were making, there was an opportunity here, one that if BC could keep contained, we could pull off.
I had a plan nobody would expect, but we would each have to play our specific part to pull it off.
In explaining the opportunity, I could feel his resistance matched by his posture, so I promised him, as I was so sure of it, that I would give him my split of the winnings when we pulled it off.
Why would you do that?
What was I going to do with the store credit?
Buy another tank when I didn’t need any more?
Reluctantly he agreed.
The day of the tournament had a gathering of interesting participants.
Some were narrative players who were there for the event to roll some dice, move around some miniatures, and grab some beers after.
Most were genuine veterans of the game like BC and me.
A few were aiming to game the game.
First round was a random match-up and with that we got extremely lucky.
Two new players to the game who picked the wrong event attend. Just looking at their choice of units selected there was no way we could lose.
This is where BC had to remind me why we're here, and while I disliked it, he was correct.
I wanted to leave some of their units alive. Win the game but don’t completely wipe them off the tabletop. I didn’t want to turn them off to the game, the community need its young bloods.
But to not crush them would signal something to those players looking to game the game. Those players weren’t just playing their games, at the same time they were watching the other games being played.
Observing.
Rating.
Planning.
I had to resolve myself to it, reminding myself why we are all here, equally on the battlefield, and so no mercy was shown.
Round two had us at an even match. Two other players just like ourselves, and they knew BC on the sight of his army alone. As a courtesy I introduced myself and the game began.
The first real test of our plan.
BC was an aggressive player, everybody knew it, expected it. On turn one when his tanks rolled out, and he advanced his infantry it was an expected move. My tanks and infantry held back, stayed defensive, either unable to control BC or perhaps I was unsure of myself not being a tournament player.
BC entire line took the brunt of both of the other armies. Tanks exploded, Space Marines took cover, and the center of the table become an intermingled mess of units.
My own army offered some support, but I could see BC was in trouble as I continued to hold back, unsure of what to do next.
By mid-game BC had dug in, but he was surrounded and would not last much longer.
I just left him there.
Surprisingly he was taking it well considering he was being wiped off the table, and that had concerned me if anybody else was watching us.
Moving to the last turn of the game, it was time to roll out, and it was in that moment that the opposing team realized.
BC was the bait.
Beat on him for five turns, his army’s goal was not to win the mission but rather keep the other two armies tied up, busy under he illusion of being BC, while I hung back, put on a show, and at the last moment moved out to claim the mission victory.
The look on their faces was as if we swindled them.
Round three had BC and I facing what we had feared, but prepared for.
There were two armies opposing us, and two players presented, but really it was just one player, the other team member not even knowing the game.
Gaming the game by having two armies under the control and synergy of one player.
Compounding this was the opposing player knowing BC and BC knowing them.
Stick to the plan.
By mid-game BC was stuck in, taking his losses, as I hung back. I could see the anger rising in BC from taking so many losses and what that would mean to his reputation as others were no watching us.
It appeared that BC had no idea what he was doing.
Yet, our opponent was holding back a key part of his army, refusing to commit, since my army had not committed. There was no way they knew what we are exactly doing, but it was enough to know that *something* was up.
And that is when BC lost it.
Calling out an illegal move and asking for one of the tournament referees to come over and make a ruling.
Everybody could see the move was legal, and BC argued with the referee when the call allowed it.
After that outburst our opponent moved out his reserve units to crush what little BC had left.
There are few tabletop moment greater than hearing you name called out and acknowledge among your peers for winning an event, while the room erupts in applause, and in that moment I whispered to BC that he had me worried for a moment back there.
To which he replied that it had to look convincing, right?