Prologue
The Imperial Assault Canadian Nationals was the largest turnout for an Imperial Assault event in Canada ever. Thanks in part to the “Michigan Meta Busters” from the Oxford and Lake Orion area. I will mention later about their contribution to one of the best Imperial Assault tournaments I’ve been privileged to play in. We also had players from Manitoba, South Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, as well as many from Ontario, Canada.
Ok, before I put out my battle reports. Here is my summary of the tournament.
The Ug-ly
Many brought Ugnaught lists or variations on IG-88 Mercenary lists.
This is not surprising as these lists have been successful recently at
many major tournaments. Being that a lot of players come from all over North America (and the world I’m sure) for tournaments like these, I understand why you would want to come with what gives you the best chance to place the highest and take home the cool swag. However, I do feel the Ugnaught swarm is broken and needs an errata. There are many suggestions on the forum and I’m not going to discuss them in this article as it’s really meant to be more of a battle report. I also feel that players can field whatever they want as long as it is legal.
The Bad
When I say bad, I mean “bad” as in badass! The “Michigan Meta Busters” brought non-meta lists and performed very well. Here’s the difference I notice with meta busters and meta players. I have way better discussions with meta busters than meta breakers. This makes sense as meta busters tend to have more love for the all-around game, trying cool shit, inventing new lists, and not wanting to be like everyone else. They feel more fulfilled. Case in point, the final was won by an Ug list player who narrowly defeated a “Michigan Meta Buster”. I think people were more excited for the guy who lost with a cool list than the guy who won by bringing essentially a can of spam. He ate his can of spam and had to pretend to enjoy it on the outside, but my guess is it tasted like shit.
The Good
The tournament was well run by the very seasoned Imperial Assault enthusiast Chris Engler. Not only did he keep things running smoothly and on time, he was patient with tile set-ups and most notably decided to distribute the top eight prizes to all attendees! So instead of getting five HK assassin cards of which you’ll never use more than two, he gave one to everyone in attendance and bonus ones to the top eight players. Chris is all about making the game more enjoyable and about building the community and it always shows. I’ve met other tournament organizers like this including Allen in Warren, Michigan. Not surprisingly it was at one of the home stores of the “Michigan Meta Busters”. Continue reading The Good, the Bad, and the UG-ly
