Karak XII is one of the biggest tournaments in the Czech Republic. It is held annually in Hradec Kralove. This year, there were about 60 participants. It is a two day, five game tournament with a variety of missions, mostly out of the rule book. The rounds are incredible relaxes, they simple lasted until all the games were finished. Armies are 1750 points. For painting requirements, players had to have one unit painted from each force organization type present in the army list.
One of the really interesting things about the Czech Warhammer community is that Forge World models and lists are accepted in the tournament environment (excluding flyers and super heavies). I saw both Vraksian Renegadess and Death Korps of Krieg armies. I also saw Forge World models included in Sister of Battle and Orks. Players who used Forge World models were required to have fully painted armies.
Additionally, the tournament was not overrun by Imperial Guard and Space Wolves. For the most part, Czechs have army loyalty which used to be more common in 2nd and 3rd edition. There were even three Necrons, two Dark Angels, and a Black Templar player. The only army book not represented was the Demon Hunters.
Another difference from what seems to be the standard in US tournaments was the terrain. All the tables had 25% coverage or more including large, line-of-sight-blocking structures, often in the center of the table. They had modular city blocks spread out across the tables and the Fortress of Redemption on one of the top tables.
The weekend was amazing!
I played five great games against a wide variety of armies and met a lot of really great people who I hope to play with in the future. I need to thank Watchdog for all the help he gave me getting to the tournament and translating for me when needed. (The Czech gaming community primarily uses their gamer handles.) I'd also like to thank all of my opponents for using English and putting up with my lack of Czech. I really appreciated it.
Now, a little bit about this tournament. The entry fee was quite low compared to American standards; less than $10 if you preregistered. This fee also included a place to stay if you brought your own sleeping bag making the whole weekend extremely affordable. Many people arrived Friday night and everyone pitched in to help the TOs set up tables. Afterwards a few friendly games were played. I tested my Space Wolves against a mixed CSM list in a Capture and Control mission and ended up with a draw. Following that game, I play a very light hearted 'FPS style', multiplayer version of 40k called Fraghammer (more on this to come).
My list included a large hammer unit consisting of a Wolf Lord and Wolf Guard in terminator armour mounted in a land Raider Redeemer. For troops, I took a large unit of Grey Hunters in a Rhino, a small unit in a Razorback, and two small units on foot. I attached a Rune Priest to the unit in the Rhino. I took a unit of Wolf Scouts and a mixed unit of Long Fangs to fill out the list.I was quite please with my results as it was my first tournament. My record was 1/2/2 and I scored a total of 51 battle points (out of a possible 100). I came in 27th place for battle points and 38th overall because my army was not yet entirely painted.
More to come on this tournament in my next post including a summery of my games and more on Fraghammer.
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