Howdy!

Here's my gencon report, surely the last at this so late stage :-)

Before flying out, I told someone I must be mad, to be spending my annual holiday and a boatload of cash, just to go play cards. It was the right choice. Pity it wasn't mine ;-) many thanks to a Mr Jim Brophy of Carlow for twisting both my claws into going and not taking No for an answer. :-) So this Crab flew from Ireland to be there - Not to see america, not to see Gencon, but just to be there at the end of a story I've spent four years playing. Which is as nothing when compared to the Aussies who crossed hemispheres to be there!

Chicago is a great town, I'll definitely be back. Highlight was the Rock-Bottom brewery telling us "Sorry, we don't have enough beer" when we asked for 7 gallons of take-out for the train. Puny breweries, these american types :-)

And so to Miliwaukee (The Good Land), we quickly checked into the college accom, only to discover that another convention was also booked with us. A convention of every US states Cheerleaders. I shit you not, there was thousands of them. Heaven indeed. Hit town to book into con, and following a big ol' feast of steak and wine, signed into con. I badly needed a work-out for my deck which I had built on the train down, and was lucky enough to meet a Naga and a Unicorn to play against. Though playing like a hungover drunken tourist, I was happy with the deck, but it needed minor changes. Like a new stronghold, sensei and persoanlity-base :-) The engine remained Taka dishonour (Decklist at bottom)

 Day One. Unbelievable. How many players? How loud were the shouts? How high were feelings?  Electrifying. The day of thunder was great, but this day was lightening, with a forest of banners calling it down from the skies to raise every hair in the room.   Banzai indeed. We finally met up with our mad brother Sean, who had gone to Volturum from Ireland also, but the wrong way round! I advise reading http://www.geocities.com/toturitheblack/journeytovolturnum.html He was the guy with the brown robes and the "Raiden" hat. And the Sake. :-)

The tournament was blurred, swift. It feels like a year ago, and the names are lost to me now (all on banner, then lost it). Perhaps the shadow took their faces from my memory.   Out of near 400 samurai, I was alotted the bye. First let down at this (staic charge was seriously building), I soon realised it meant that all obviously feared the Crab above all else! ;-)

The second round Fox proved dificult indeed, as it is difficult to use Dens against such immense chi.  Third round ninja, another dificult task for dishonour but it went as the game before, with the Crab eventually discarding dishonour as the objective and allowing the Yakamo xp with Sword to take all 4 provinces! Then, finally, Unicorn. Ironically, Unicorn proved my only loss of the day. as I made a foolish error by not reading Otomo sensei correctly. By refusing my embarassed request to retake and action, my opponent did me a favour, as I played more carefully for the rest of the weekend. The rest of the days matches were a Phoenix Hon Dragon, a Dragon (great game) and another ninja. Although the ninja game was totally in the bag, with no way for me to lose when call was timed, my opponent did not concede. That showed that the playstyle over here is different as some europeans predicted, yet I can say that American l5r is still an incredibly sportsman like game, and has not yet become a game of competition rather than honour.  

At dusk, (it was very very late, the huge numbers proving disastrous to organise) three of the Gaijin Alliance had made it through: A Crane Robert Feeney (The Nameless Crane, a crane bloodspeaker of some notoriety), a Lion Michael Cooney (author of the excellent Lion card of the week strategy articles) (who never played Shadowlion and will swear to it) and my humble self hida kazuya. All rumours that my (Terrible) banner pole was adorned with a perforated Hida sukune are scorpion lies. Bloody Sake.

Day Two

A day of rest for this lucky Crab, I spent the day enjoying the finer aspects of cheerleading, beer and eventually while at the con the new wwf ccg which proved fun. The atmosphere at the gate was still electric, and Rob and I used our newfound cheerleading skills to encourage our Gaijin brothers.  I also got to meet the Crab delegation (big up to Bob, Brian, Daniel, Jeremy, Lou, Ben etc etc etc!!). Oh and I found time to save the unicorns hide by defending them in the Moto challenge. (The moment I finished my two games they announced that the first total: Shadowlands ahead by 1! I had the lucky timing to be able to announce "I'd like to report 2 wins for the good guys" at that moment :-) All rumours of pro-Unicorn Crabs being solely motivated by the next Crab Daimyos horsiness are utterly untrue. Mostly.

 Gold meeting. Lots said elsewhere. I'll just say  this. They made the brave , if difficult decision.  Very hard for the Mantis et al, especially Toturis Army, which is no more.

We presented AEG (what a shout they got!) with Justins magnificent art, and said thanks. What a cool crew. Luke proved to be man of his word and bought us all beer, and Steve showed real love for the game, all there now believe Gold will be amazing. (As usual, with free booze on the horizon, John Tynes shows up in the bar. That mans almost Irish in his ligging ability ;-) )

The big one.

Crowd was really electric today. Can't remember a damn thing, except meeting another bloody ninja and lots more phoenix. Oh and played Matso Domotai, what a game, what a guy. Book of the dead was great - highlight for me was the Nameless Cranes show of honour in saving Doji Kuwannon when he could have corrupted him. All respect for the great Ree was lost when she shamelessly picked on the Man Taka! ;-)

The Gate.

I was utterly resigned to my fate, being literally very happy (to coin a phrase) to be there. I had zero expectations, in a samurai way :-) My opponent was a treat to play against (though *another* phoenix) and it was no surprise when he won a special award at the end for "Most Honourable Player". Fabulously close game.

(This began what was humourously dubbed the hour of "gritted teeth" for me)   After this, kakita Kaori and Bob Yager performed a Crab/Crane joint ceremony, where the Crane presented a Crab (moi!) with a Jade tear (Amoros) and the Crab presented a Kaiu wakazashi to the Crane, with the katana to me. I was the beneficiary by luck alone, my thanks to all, especially whoever who bountied the flower. Ironic, as I campaigned long against the Crane, using tactics very unsportsmanlike. I was later cured of this, when Ree made her final speeches. A big Thank You to all involved in the bounties!

My next opponent has been patiently waiting, and we began our match, after I wished the Crane hero good luck. Jorden proved a perfect getleman through most of the game, despite my incredible god-draw of 3 (3!!) breaches in opening hand. Then came a little controversy. I bowed Utagu to use his innate ability to duel his bloodspeaker. He checked the card, and saw there was no such ability. Again, I had misread a card, Utagu can't challenge bloodspeakers, only maho-users. I apologised for my carelessness and asked him if he wished to do anything - he replied No. He then protested when I went to take an action saying, that I had effectively passed by asking him for an action, and that it was now my attack phase.  The judge was unimpressed and went to seek a answer. I smouldered ;-) The judge ruled that I had passed, which I had by the dci floor rules. I played the rest of my game with a lot of anger in my voice, and not a little pettiness. The next turn Jorden achived m05 through celestial alignment, and in my turn I just about managed to cause exactly, and barely enough, dishonour to kill him. The only game of the weekend I did not enjoy. All rumours of my hand twitching towards katana are untrue! :-)

Round 3 parings came in, and I was to play Justin, an Honourable Phoenix friend from Ireland. At least one of us would make the final 4. The game was as close as I could make it, but not really a contest, as a 1st-turn hantei-of-breach stunned me, and a rapid Noikazu for secrets ended it. Played on for fun, and enjoyed the remainder. The semis were fast, and the Finals were upon us - truly the "Junzo" "Phoenix" chant/roars were amazing, the air was positively electrifying - the empire itself was in the jaws of the Shadowlands.  Unbelievable. The rooms high emotions were not easily let off, as Ree told the End of the story, and then asked a favour from each clan for after she was gone. Red-eye stuff indeed, Ms Soesbee is a storyteller with few, if any, peers. I'll definitely be following AEG in their next endeavour, and will be bringing a big Crab mask to next gencon hide my , umm, flu, and, err, eye-irritation. :-)

The rest of the trip involved lots of steak, alcohol, the Crane (my new friends) challening the Crab to a drinking contest (still waiting for that post guys!) , my being ejected from the safehouse twice, some Irish orange-shirted Crab swandiving Aegs table (cough), and of course the worst hangover of my life on the monday, all the way home. An ultimate experience, where ideas and imaginary events conspired to make dreamers of us all. Thanks to everyone I met Ban-bloody-zai!

Brian Mulcahy, aka Hida Kazuya

ps Oh, did I forget to mention ... TWINS!!!!!!!!!!

pps Aeg rock. L5r rocks. Ree rocks. Wotc rock. L5r players rock.

ppps that magic announcement PA system was a DISGRACE.

pppps As predicted by the Yak, in the end "it didn't Matter what the ninjas name was!!" :-) 

and lastly, the Deck. Non-corrupt of course :-)

Kaiu Walls, KISADA sensei