This past weekend, my brother and I hopped on a boat to Vancouver Island for a casual fundraiser doubles tournament—my first time ever playing doubles, and his first tournament, period. I break down how we prepped when there were no maps revealed ahead of time (Tabletop Simulator, random GHB maps, lots of deployment reps on mic), what lists we brought (me on Cities of Sigmar shooting with Fusiliers/Major/Cannon, him on an Ironjawz infantry brick with reinforced Brutes), and the core plan: he’s the castle wall, I’m the guns behind it… with a couple skirmish pieces to keep us honest. I also talk about the goofy-but-awesome part: we wrote lore, named characters, and even printed a little pamphlet for opponents with our story and lists. Then I recap all three rounds—where we got exposed by mobility and deployment mistakes early (including a brutal “lost in deployment, lost in turn one” moment into Sons of Behemat), and where we finally got a game that let our shooting and board control actually do what it’s supposed to do. Biggest takeaways: doubles punishes bad deployment even harder, you need a plan for speed/board presence, and when you’re getting shellacked, you can still have a great game if you shift your goals and keep the vibes friendly.