Here's a brief report of my pre-release experience. Pulled a Fire Giant Forgepriest and Vlaakith the Lich Queen as my rares, so naturally they went into the warband. To round out the remaining points, I went with a Phoera, Hero of Valhalla, and Greenspawn Sneak. I chose the Mithral Mines as my map. Match 1: Charles Schroder (why do I always end up playing the people I "always" play at local events?) Charles was running a Lillend, Warmage, Maug, Doomguard, Skeletal Reaper, Soldier of Bytopia, Acheron Goblin, and Greenspawn Sneak.
I won my map, and we got to it. We maneuvered for the first round, and we clashed in the middle, where I disintegrated his Maug for 60, and took it out soon afterward. He Beguiled my Giant, but thankfully it missed one attack on Vlaakith, but still but 30 points of hurt on her. I kept pressing on his pieces, and slowly advanced through his weaker pieces. With multiple Blasts of Flame, he took out Vlaakith, but through attrition he only had the Warmage and Lillend left (I think). When time was called, I won: 143-129. A closer match than I think either of us expected. Match 2: Dan Phelps Dan was running the following: Mezzoloth, Valenar Nomad Charger, Gnome Trickster, Doomguard, Skeletal Reaper, Gnoll Barbarian, Phoera, and Fiendish Snake.
I lost map initiative, so we played on the Dragonshrine. I also lost placement initiative, so he chose the fire immune corner. First thing, he made -everyone- on his side invisible, and left the snake in place to retain the resist 5 fire for his warband.
I moved to the middle, and he dropped the Cloudkill on 3 of my units, and then ran back out of sight. I considered flying my Phoera up to be the target of a fireball, but it would have put Vlaakith too far forward. So I sent the Hero of Valhalla to try to hit the Phoera (he failed and then routed), and I regrouped the rest on the joint victory area.
His Valenar did a "driveby" on my Sneak, becoming visible. So I tried a Disintegrate, but he made the save. Next turn I dropped a Fireball on the Valenar (and a couple others), and when he came back for a Mounted Melee Attack I got him with a crit on the AoO to take him out. He slid my Giant off of the victory area, so on the next round I moved in and managed to paralyze his Mezzoloth. The Fire Giant finished him off, and it was just a matter of time before most of his warband was destroyed. I'm now 2-0. Match 3: Jim Mattaboni (Arnminster) -- another "regular" I tend to play fairly frequently. Jim had a Mezzoloth, Hellcat, Warmage, Red Hand Sorcerer, Free League Ranger, Greenspawn Sneak, and Kobold Monk. I lost map init, so we played on the Dragonsdown Grotto. I chose the "non-ramp" (lush forest) side, and thanks to a setup mistake by Jim, I got a first-turn fireball on 3 of his units, and he lost the Free League Ranger right away as it routed off the board.
Over the next few rounds, I tried to get the Fire Giant into the action as soon as possible (even sliding down the steep slope), and sent Vlaakith along the upper ridge with all the difficult terrain. I think I disintegrated his Mezzoloth for 30, and he Cloud Killed my weenie units. I took out his Monk and Sneak, so it was just the "big" units left. I did my best to avoid the Hellcat, as I knew I would have problems with conceal 11. Eventually, I engaged the Hellcat with the Giant, as he maneuvered his spellcasters and Mezzoloth in the corner. Somewhat to Jim's annoyance, I used the "exploitable" diagonal move from the "bottom" of the grotto to the upper ridge with Vlaakith, and got right up to his spellcasters and started harassing them. Despite my efforts there (several paralysis hits), he managed to whittle Vlaakith down to 5 hp, and routing my Giant. At this point I retreated (and rallied the Giant) and sat him in the middle to earn VP. Jim was very nearly out of spells at this point, and could not deal enough damage to take out the giant. I pulled off the win, 76-46. My record: 3-0. Match 4: Aron Reif (yet ANOTHER regular at local events) Aron had a Pit Fiend, Copper Dragon, Orc Wizard, Karsite, Greenspawn Sneak, and Kobold Monk. I won map, so we were once again in the Mithral Mines.
I managed to get a first-turn fireball on Aron's Karsite, Dragon, and Monk, and took out his Sneak in the second round with my Hero of Valhalla. That same round, I nailed his Pit Fiend with 60 points of disintegrate, AND he failed his morale save and ran to the corner (2 squares from exiting). With the Pit Fiend temporarily out of the way, I was able to make quick work of his Dragon and Karsite, and ultimately eliminated all of his pieces (Aron had managed to take out my Phoera, Sneak, and at the very end, the Hero of Valhalla). Record: 4-0. So now I'm in to the top 4. Semi-final match: Aron Reif (yes, again) This time Aron got his map: Drow Outpost. I got stuck with the side near the building, and basically just raced for the bridge (after fireballing his Sneak and Monk who were on the bridge). I maneuvered Vlaakith to hit the Pit Fiend with the disintegrate again, but this time it only did 30. Still, things worked out well, as I moved the Giant up to take out the Orc Wizard (removing that pesky battering ram threat) and cleave into the Pit Fiend. We battled it out for a few more rounds, but again I destroyed Aron's entire warband, losing only the Sneak and the Phoera. On to the final round. Final match: Jared (that's all I've got) Jared had a Horned Devil, Hellcat, Mercykiller, Harmonium Guard, Soldier of Bytopia, 2 Kobold Monks, and an Acheron Goblin.
I lost map init, so we played on the Hellspike Prison. I got to set up on the end with easy access to the middle of the "building."
I went straight up the middle, while his monk and my sneak duked it out. After failing to beat SR on the "blessed by the gods" Hellcat, I had my Fire Giant in my victory area, and he had a monk in his on the outside. He sandwiched Vlaakith with his Hellcat and Horned Devil, and I decided too late to get out of that vise. In hindsight, I definitely should have risked the AoOs to get her out so she could use her orbs on the Hellcat. Ultimately, Vlaakith fell to the duo, even after paralyzing the Horned Devil -- because my Giant could rarely get a hit on that stupid Hellcat. It was incredibly frustrating, because I did exactly what I should have done (use the spells to try to take out the Hellcat), but it didn't work because the dice beat me. I managed to score only 25 points (20 VP and one monk) because my Phoera also couldn't do a thing to his weenies.
So, after going 5-0 (now 5-1), I ended up with 2nd. Can't truly complain, since I won 3 boosters, but I was envious of what I saw come out of the 5 boosters Jard won (especially since I got another Vlaakith in my winnings). Overall, a good time. The Forgepriest is a beast. Vlaakith is impressive as well.
The rest were just filler/fodder, so it's hard to say, but I like the Sneak (for LE, anyway).
This looks to be a great set; I'm excited to see how the Constructed environment turns out. |