A few months ago, I was presented with the opportunity to go to an event that’d been on my gaming bucket list for nearly a decade: the Las Vegas Open. I’d been following LVO since my days playing Warmachine in 2016, though year after year the opportunity to attend slipped through my fingers. At first it was money that kept me from going as a broke college student, and then it was timing as an employed and less broke professional. But this year, the stars finally lined up, and I was able to grab a spot to play in the Kill Team Championship at LVO.

In the time between, I wrote an article series here for Goonhammer (which you can read here!) all about my preparation for the big event, so I won’t go too in-depth on the details here. The road to LVO was a great experience on it’s own though, as during that time I was able to win my very first RTT with Nemesis Claw and appear on the Squad Games podcast to discuss Kill Team at LVO with two of the event’s organizers, Dakotah and Giacamo. 

But now that road to LVO is at its end. We’ve reached our destination, and now it’s time to put my preparations to the test in the crucible of tiny plastic squad combat in Sin City itself. 

Wednesday and Thursday: Traveling, The Venue, and Omega Mart

One of the reasons I’ve been so eager for so long to attend LVO is because of the very city it’s located in. For me, Las Vegas isn’t just a desert city of glitz, glamour, and casino chips; Vegas is where my extended family has lived for my entire life, and a home away from home.  

Rather than leaving my family behind like every other trip I’ve taken to play Warhammer, this time I was able to make the whole thing a nice family vacation and stay with my grandparents. Which did mean flying with a nine month old baby, but turns out the kid loves flying, especially since he can cheese it up with big smiles for all the people on the flight. Kiddo knows how to work a crowd already.

Wednesday was our initial travel day, and the plan was just to relax and catch up with the family. Thursday was when the venue actually opened for attendees, with some Kill Team open play scheduled to start at 2pm. This left a few hours open for a nice family excursion out to one of the places in Vegas I’d never been before: Area 15, specifically Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart.

As it turns out, finding things to do for a nine month old is deceptively tricky. My son, Elliot, is a very sweet and even tempered baby, but he’s also too young to really get anything out of stuff aimed at kids. He just can’t really interact with things yet, or understand what he’s looking at. As a baby, he also has zero respect for time. He’s done when he’s done, even if you, the adult, are done. At this age, any outing for the baby is basically a glorified walk, trying to do anything more involved than that is a recipe for disaster.

Fortunately, Omega Mart was perfect for this sort of trip. Like Meow Wolf’s other locations, Omega Mart is an interactive art exhibit designed to make you feel like you’ve stepped into a fantastical world. There’s immersive story telling and scavenger hunts to be had for those who want to learn the secrets of Omega Mart, plus a “secret” bar, but the baby strapped to my chest can’t read or drink alcohol. He did love the bright colors, fun sounds, and wacky lights though, so walking around the place for an hour was a huge hit. 

Afterwards, we sat down for a quick lunch at a burger joint inside Area 15 itself, and I split away to head over to LVO just a few miles down the street at The Expo at World Market Center. Unlike previous years, where LVO was held inside a casino, The Expo is a standalone convention center. While I admit that I was a bit sad to find that there was no bar with video poker for me to slink over to if I got my ass handed to me, the move The Expo is absolutely the right call. The main hall is huge, able to very comfortably fit the hundreds of tables needed to put on an event of this size without needing to stand back to back with folks. 

Once I’m all checked in, I meander on over to the vendor area to check out all the goodies. It’s neat to go to a gaming event like this and see so many shops, most of the time its just a few local spots with booths (if there are vendors at all), but FLG pulled out all the stops here. The Games Workshop area is the largest, of course, busting out their road show traveling store setup. Aside from the models, the store has neat stuff like art posters, limited event exclusive objective markers, and just an absolute ton of little scarab plushies, packed to bursting in a little wooden cubby. I buy two, one for my kid and one for my friend, and leave the vendor hall.

Finally, I make it to the Kill Team area, and I catch up with Dakotah and Giacomo. They’re done a great job with the Kill Team Zone, going the extra mile to make sure the space is organized and ready to go for when the gaming starts in earnest. Of particular note is their narrative table setups, which look like a ton of fun to play on. 

Sadly, I have to bounce before I actually get in a game, but it’s not a total wash. It’s nice to talk with the squad games folks and see the space for tomorrow, plus I’ve got a little Scarab for Elliot, technically his very first Warhammer thing. I make sure I’m all set to go for round one, have a nice family dinner, and get to bed early. I’ve got lots of dice to roll tomorrow.

Friday: A Fine Day to Roll Dice

I arrive with a bit of extra time and meet up with John Rees, better known as CanYouRollaCrit. Outside of his work on his own channel, John regularly writes Kill Team stuff here for Goonhammer, and since I don’t know anyone aside from Dakotah and Giacomo, he’s the closest thing I’ve got here to a friend. To my relief, he’s happy to chat with me and we get along well, discussing his flight over and the spread between pod A and pod B. We are both in Pod A, and for the first day we will play all our missions on Volkus, while pod B plays Gallowdark. The next day, we will switch, and then both pods will be joined together on the final day and anyone can end up on either Volkus or Gallowdark. I’m relieved that day one is Volkus, because even though I haven’t played on any of the bespoke Squad Games layouts,  I feel more comfortable on a Volkus board than Gallowdark. No hatchways for me to worry about here in the ruins of a hive city! 

After we chat for a bit, Dakotah brings in the Kill Team folks for a briefing, and the time comes for round one pairings. The true wild west of any event, where anyone can play into anyone. I shoot up a prayer to whatever deity cares to listen that I don’t pair into John. I opened BCP, and thankfully my prayer was answered. Let’s see if I come to regret that.

Round One: Versus Aiden’s Yaegirs

We are playing Secure. I learned two things about Aiden real quick. Firstly, he’s a delight, with an infectious positive energy that makes me excited to play him, win or lose. Secondly, he’s a fantastic painter, having painted his display case for his lovingly converted Yaegir team to the highest quality. Already a great start to the event. 

I’m pretty familiar with Yaegirs, since I’ve played a few games with them getting ready for this event before deciding on Nemesis Claw, so I’m prepared for their biggest tricks of being hard to kill and getting great damage spikes near their No Kin Left Behind marker. I decide on Dominate as my Tac Op, since Yaegirs have plenty of ways to keep me away from his territory for Rout and I’d rather not risk it, but my gameplan here is to focus on the Crit Op and lock down two objectives fast, while keeping pressure up on his short kings to keep his scoring down. 

This plan works out like a charm, with my Screecher applying early pressure to the flank near his home territory objective and tying up his gunner through charge hugs. I have my Fearmonger poison my home objective and move up to threaten anyone who gets too close, and then Aiden and I start a brawl over the middle. It looks bad for me for a minute when my Skinthief absolutely whiffs on a dwarf, but eventually the tide of power armor breaks through and I come out on top. Aiden does manage to dig out the Screecher, but not before losing his leader and the gunner to the fighting. And to make matters worse for Aiden, I manage to charge and kill his Bombast that got just a little too close to the Fearmonger. Though Aiden keeps my scoring low on Dominate, I manage to max the crit op and table Aiden in the final turn, scoring me a rare six on the Kill Op and a decisive victory.

Result: Victory, 17-9

I loved my game with Aiden, and I make sure to periodically check in with him throughout the event. My name is, understandably, forever engraved in the book of grudges he carried with him all weekend, but sometimes these things happen.

I meet up with Alice for lunch as we talk about how things are going in AoS land, and how things are different between this year’s LVO and previous years. I grab lunch from a food truck outside the venue, which is way too expensive, but the weather is nice, the company is good, and I’ve won my first game. Life is good, time for round two.  

Round Two: Versus Robert’s Deathwatch

I’m still on Volkus and we’re playing Data.

Deathwatch is such a flexible team, that my gameplan can vary wildly based on what he decides to take. If he takes mostly shooty stuff, I can play aggressive and close the distance as fast as possible, but his close combat operatives are scary enough that I’ll need to chip them down first and play cagier if I plan on fighting them at all. Robert goes with a mostly shooty composition, which is honestly a relief. I feel much more confident about that than trying to fight a Blademaster favorably. This time, I decide to go with Rout, since I plan to be in Robert’s territory as much as possible.

Turning point one, Robert plays very defensively, trying to stay out of my threat. I need to get in there quick, which thanks to Foresight on the Visionary though, I have a two activation advantage on Robert and can set up my Screecher very aggressively. It’s too risky for me though, since if I win initiative, I’m going right for his Plasma Gunner, and if I lose I can put the Screecher back into somewhere safe with Return to Darkness. 

I win initiative, and make a big charge into the Gunner, killing it and then bouncing into his Breacher with Proclivity for Murder. I can stall his fallback for at least one turn, and already Robert’s on the backfoot here. His Aegis takes care of the Screecher handily, but turning around to do so prevents his Aegis from scoring Envoy. From here, I just need to keep up the pressure and make sure he doesn’t get the chance to recover. Even one Deathwatch operative can do a ton of damage real quick if they catch you out. 

There’s a moment in turning point three where I missed hard on a meltagun shot with full rerolls into his Watch Sergeant that looks like it could be bad news, but my Missile Launcher takes care of that problem and my Skinthief picks up his Disruptor in a fight. Robert’s Aegis manages to clean up like three operatives on his own, leaving me with just my Missile launcher guy in the end, but I’ve kept him off Crit op and Tac Op for almost the entire game, which snags me another win.

Result: Victory, 13-6

Okay then! Winning your first game is one thing, love a good W on the scoreboard, but two wins in a row means my round three is going to likely be a tough one. I Robert and I chat for a bit after the game, and we both are informed we made it to a hobby showcase, which is an awesome thing to share. 

As I’m getting ready for round three, I get an update from my wife about her adventures with the baby that day. The whole crew took an excursion out to the Valley of Fire State Park, which turned out to be another success for the baby. He got to see cool rocks while smiling at all the folks in the visitors center. Plus, he car naps like a champ, so he took a nice nap on the way there and back. It’s nice to know they had a great day while I was off playing my nerd game, and my spirits are high going into round three. 

Round Three: Versus Jonathan’s Raveners

One more game on Volkus, and we are playing Download.

Raveners present a rare problem for Nemesis Claw in the fact that they have so many wounds that killing them in two fights is a very risky proposition. Unlike my last two games today, where my gameplan largely focused on dominating my opponent up close to keep them from scoring, I’m going to need to play cagier against these bugs. I decided to take Steal Intelligence, since I don’t need to kill many of his operatives to score well on it. 

Since Download scores off of control of the center objective and your opponents territory objective, that’s where I set up the bulk of my threats, while Jonathan decides to stage his tunnel with a clear beeline for my home objective, with his Felltalon and Venomspitter covering his home territory. Trying to keep him off my home objective is a fool’s errand if he gets his tunnel right up under it, but I can force the fight to get off from his tunnel by taking his territory objective and staging most of my threats just outside his tunnel threat range. If I can deny him from fighting where he’s the most dangerous, it’s going to put my Operatives on much more even ground. 

Turning point two, I make a big swing with my meltagun gunner into Jonathan’s Felltalon,  who’s standing in control range of a window, but my gunner is deciding to phone it in today with lackluster rolls and nearly gets murked by the Venomspitter for his trouble. Fortunately, when the Felltalon dashes away from the gunner to try and for safety, it opens up an opportunity for my Ventrilokar to force his Felltalon onto engage and then use my Heavy Gunner on vantage to seal the deal. Turning point three, my Visionary is able to charge into the Venomspitter and take it out and my Screecher moves onto the central point. 

At this point, Jonathan doesn’t have any great options available to him, since his three burrowed operatives can’t reasonably make it back to the other side of the board fast enough to knock me off his objective or make me drop any of the Steal Intelligence tokens I’ve picked up, and I’ve got the Heavy Gunner and Skinthief ready to finish off any Ravener that tries to fight the Screecher off the center. Jonathan bides his time for another turn, moves his tunnel up and charges into the Skinthief that’s a little too close to the ledge of the building. He picks up the Skinthief, which finally puts him on the board for Kill Op before the missile launcher puts a Krak into the Crushers face at point blank, closing me out for a third win in a row. 

Result: Victory, 18-8

Volkus is my house, and I’m undefeated in this house, baby.

I’d hoped to do well at LVO, but ending day one with three wins was wildly better than I thought I would do. It’s exciting as hell, and I’m filled with a mix of excitement over how well I’m doing and dread over what awaits me on day two. Normally, I’d share these jitters with friends over post-event dinner, but I only really know John, who has other plans that evening, and the Squad Games folks, who are staying late at the venue working. I try to link up with Jonathan’s crew after he mentions that his friends are going to a German beerhouse called Hofbrauhaus, but we end up missing each other like ships in the night and I don’t find his crew when I go to the restaurant. 

It’s a bit of a shame, since those dinners are some of my favorite parts of events, but it’s not all a wash. I have my happy wife and baby to head back to, I find a neat little horror themed coffee shop that has an awesome pumpkin pie latte, and the valet guy even shares some beef jerky with me. The vibes are good, and I’m excited for more the next day.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you join me in my next article in my LVO recap series as I leave Volkus and enter the cramped hallways of Killzone: Gallowdark.

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