XenoZephyr
Underboss
1083 Posts
    
 | | 06/07/2006 10:21 AM |
| OK. Syracuse NY got a Qualifier this year and since I've been judging for all of the pre-releases they asked me to run the Qualifier as well. Since I was planning on going to Gen Con for the first time this year I was in a bit of a dilema. Wanted to play and judge the event! So, I decided to try to Qualify somewhere else first since Syrauce was near the end.
First, I tried in Toronto. I brought a 2x Helmed Horror, Chraal + HBG warband. I knew it wasn't the best warband today but it was what I was good at playing and so just brought that since I couldn't decide on anything else.
I came in 6th place. It wasn't bad since this was only my third tournament ever. My others being the Deathknell and Angelfire pre-releases. But it still didn't qualify me, so I was still in the same boat.
I have a friend who was only a little over 2 hours from the NJ Qualifiers. So, I decided to try again.
Now, I had to do a different warband. My last just couldn't touch a well played Marut warband and so I went with the Marut myself. I'd played a lot of Marut bands and I heard about the Ballista build so I thought I'd give that a try. Thought it might do good against titan bands which there seemed to be a lot of. I knew that one band that would be a problem would be Sacred Watchers and I knew that they would be there at the qualifier but I figured I had a lot of practice with the Marut and every band has a bad matchup, so I just went with it.
I put together
Marut
Couatl
Cleric of Yondalla
Arcane Ballista
Aramil
2x Man-at-arms
Humman Commoner
Map: Drow Outpost
I knew that the Warforged Scout might be a wiser decision and then of course it was even posted on the Wotc site but I liked Aramil so that's what I went with.
I practiced it locally and tried a Kord version on Vassal that I kept losing with and had a lot of problems with what map to bring. A friend suggested Drow Outpost and so I brought that without actually having practiced on it (though I use to use the Outpost ALL the time so I did know the map itself very well).
OK. Went to NJ and stayed with my friend Jared (Harmonizer from Vassal). He wasn't even planning on going. He hadn't played in a while and wasn't quite into the game. I kept telling him to go though only to hang out with me. So, he finally relented and agreed to go. We looked through his stuff and he was missing figures to build some of the popular warbands. He had played a variation of "SWarm" when War Drums had first come out (which was funny because I was trying 3x Zakya at the time so his Swarm failed miserably!). So, he had the figures we needed and I built a SWarm warband for him.
We played 2 games that night (Friday) both on Drow Outpost, switching sides. He won the first and I won the second. Hung out, he introduced me to Guitar Hero and then went to bed.
Got down to Jester's Playhouse I think around noon or something like that. I kept telling Jared that we were going to be there all day but it didn't actually click for him until the one of the store guy's said we'd have 6 matches. He figured it out then and was pretty shocked...he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to handle that.
Then we played.
(I don't remember everyone's exact pieces)
Round 1
Opponent: Brian
Warband: 2x Fiendish Girralon, Ogre Ravager, Ogre Warhulk, Cleric of Gruumsh, 2x Abyssal Maw, and maybe another fodder piece.
Looked like a good match up for me. I won both Map and Side init. I took Side A (non-Outpost side). We moved figures out and he put his Girralons right towards the bottom of the map so that I couldn't move through that hallway and shoot at him. I had tested all of the LOS on the map though and knew I could bring the Ballista straight down south and just into that middle passageway and get a shot at figures that tried to do that. So that's what I did and forced an MC on one of | |
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johnny.quest
Underboss
1359 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 10:43 AM |
| | Thanks for the report and congratulations, Dan. These tournament reports are spurring me to rethink some of the times I've conceded. | | | |
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CSchroder
Sergeant
413 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 11:06 AM |
| Dan,
Actually, I didn't realize you were only 9 points away from 200 pts. I think we were both playing a little more careless than normal because we were happy to have qualified. I apologize if you felt that we couldn't complete the game after you conceded too early and then reconsidered. Sure I like to win but I would certainly have continued playing if you felt that you really did not want to concede.
I think what we have both learned (me from my earlier game against Harmonizer)not to concede while there is a chance to win.
As an aside, maybe you have better or different notes than I, but I have you at 181 points after round 9 to my 163 points. You get to 191 after victory points at the end of round 10. I have marked down that I killed your Marut in round 10 so unless I have the Marut kill in the wrong round (maybe 11th?) or am missing 10 points for you, I think the result may have been the same.
In any case, I would have completed the game if you had changed your mind and hope to see you at GenCon! | |
Charles AKA The Beardless One, Proud Member of Team Amish | |
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XenoZephyr
Underboss
1083 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 11:12 AM |
| Ah that's right! That makes more sense. I was 181 so even killing your SW it would have put me at 199 and I wouldn't have won until the end of the round and you would have passed 200 after killing the Marut.
Haha, so never mind all that! It was really over. Hehe
But no bad feelings at all. Like you said, we were playing a little free and I just wanted top 4 so after I thought (mistakenly now) that I had a slight chance of winning I still would have made the same decision, giving someone else the DCI points. I rarely get to play DCI events so they mean little to me.
Thanks again for the game and yes I hope to play you at Gen Con! [:D] | |
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Sirohk
Commander
3913 Posts
USA
| | 06/07/2006 12:31 PM |
| Way to go XenoZepher! [:D]
Qualified for GenCon.
Great write up - trip / qualifier report. [^]
Sirohk
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Sirohk, the Bard of Heartstone
Knight of the Rahshasa's
And Crusader of the Zakya, Ak'chazar, Naztharune, and Naityan Rakshasa's | |
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PerpetualStudent
Sneak
173 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 1:47 PM |
| Congrats! I have to say that your Arcane Ballista was one of the things I did not want to face with my Dual Preds.
Boyce | |
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CSchroder
Sergeant
413 Posts
| | 06/08/2006 6:09 AM |
| Dan,
I just learned that our last game didn't count! So all our fun was for naught. Apparently the finals are single elimination so once we both lost, there was no reason for us to play since we were ranked based on our rankings before the finals. This is the result of checking DCI and then asking Richard Gain, the owner, why my last game against you wasn't recorded.
But I guess playing was better than standing around doing nothing [:)] | |
Charles AKA The Beardless One, Proud Member of Team Amish | |
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XenoZephyr
Underboss
1083 Posts
| | 06/08/2006 8:29 AM |
| Ha! That's funny. I was wondering why it didn't show up on the DCI rankings. Thanks for checking and letting me know.
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XenoZephyr
Underboss
1083 Posts
| | 06/08/2006 2:03 PM |
| In bits and pieces I am posting up some of the highlights of my trip from NY to NJ on my blog. Not much game related, I'm not gonna retell my tournament results, just pretty much me being an idiot.
http://www.xenozephyr.com/weblog/
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ruhk69
Warrior
205 Posts
| | 06/09/2006 9:03 PM |
| Congrats Dan!
You really wiped me up that game. You really thought that through and took every advantage you could. I'm glad I didn't run into you again!! [:)] | |
The Waterboy. Proud member of Team Amish. | |
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