Sunday 16th January saw the first official Bushido Grand Masters event since the outbreak of COVID-19 with Blood and Deed, a duel of Dragons. 28 players gathered at Element Games in Stockport, Manchester, UK for 4 games to determine the fate of the Takashi clan and the future of the Jwar isles. As with all Grand Master events, the winner would get the opportunity to contribute to the design of a new character for their faction, but at this event there was more at stake. With Takashi Hiro and Hagane seemingly on course to wage a civil war the winner had to choose how the story would end. Check out our previous blog post for the first part of this story, with the finale to come soon.
Back to the tournament itself, all factions were represented with a wide variety of warbands and themes being used. In attendance were former Grand Masters Chris Hales and James Hasker as well as GCT’s very own Andy Palmer. An international presence was made up of Nic Bertels and Olof Hedberg making the trip from Belgium and The Netherlands respectively. As the day progressed both former Grand Masters fell in tight fought battles leaving only Andy Palmer and Olof Hedberg unbeaten going into the final round. As the dust settled on their game Olof was victorious but only by one VP to Andy’s zero. This meant for a nervous wait while final scores were tallied across the field. Ultimately it was not to be for Olof as Alasdair Johnstone snatched victory by one tournament point! The top three was extremely close and any one would have been a worthy winner.
First Place - Alasdair Johnstone - 32 tournament points
Second Place - Olof Hedberg - 31 tournament points
Third Place - Andy Palmer - 30 tournament points
As with all tournaments there unfortunately has to be someone who comes last. This time the dubious honour went to Jonathan Young. It’s not all bad news however as Jonathan was awarded the Yuta of Yurei themed warband and some new “lucky” dice! Lists, faction breakdowns and more will be added to the Discord server in the coming days so if you want more information on the tournament make sure you join using the “Community” link on our homepage.
In addition to the awards for games played, prizes were available for the best painted warband on display. The winner of this was Chris Hales with his Savage Wave, second place went to Hedley Coppock’s Shiho Clan and third place was awarded to Andy Garrard and his Jung Pirates.
A great day was had by all who attended and GCT would like to thank everyone who took part for making the day a success, we look forward to seeing you all at future events.
May the dice forever roll in your favour noble samurai!