| | | | | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
| | Author | Messages | |
Temysry
Sergeant
512 Posts
    
 | | 01/25/2007 8:24 PM |
| Well, we had a reasonably good showing for our epic tournament tonight with 7 players including another first timer - Zentinel. He was by no means a stranger to DDM, but it was his first time playing at one of our sanctioned events. On my way in today I noticed that our donation bin is full again so I'm sure we'll be making another trip to drop it off to the food bank soon.
The bands:
Tem (3-0)
Aspect of Tiamat
Lord of Blades
Warforged Bodyguard
Dark Moon Monk
Small Black Dragon
Greenspawn Sneak
Dire Rat
Warrior Skeleton
Map: King's Road
Zak X (2-1)
Elminster of Shadowdale
Storm Silverhand
Cleric of Order
Gnome Trickster
Crow Shaman
Unicorn
Eberk, Adventurer
Map: Frostfell Rift
Bunny Puncher (2-1 with a bye)
Pit Fiend
Horned Devil x2
Ice Devil x2
Dragonmark Heir of Deneith
Gravehound
Map: Tomb of Queen Peregrine
Zuran Alda (2-1 with a bye)
Epic Mordenkainen the Mage
Inspiring Marshal
Frenzied Berserker x2
Xen'drik Champion x3
Gnome Trickster
Map: Tomb of Queen Peregrine
Zentinel (2-1 with a bye)
Cleric of Dol Arrah
Epic Solar
Couatl
Kolyarut
Dragonmark Heir of Deneith
Dwarf Artificer
Eberk, Adventurer
Aramil, Adventurer
Map: Hellspike
Orcdoubleax (1-2)
Epic Vlaakith the Lich Queen
Githyanki Dragon Knight
Large Red Dragon
Cursed Spirit x4
Map: Hellspike
Pumpkin King (0-3)
Brass Samurai
Bonded Fire Summoner
Huge Fire Elemental x2
Archmage
Map: Frostfell Rift
Round 1:
Tem def. Orcdoubleax
Zak X def. Pumpkin King
Zentinel def. Zuran Alda
Bunny Puncher def. BYE
Round 2:
Tem def. Zentinel
Zak X def. Bunny Puncher
Orcdoubleax def. Pumpkin King
Zuran Alda def. BYE
Round 3:
Tem def. Zak X
Zuran Alda def. Orcdoubleax
Bunny Puncher def. Pumpkin King
Zentinel def. BYE
Now that the Thursday Knights are only playing Epic tournaments once a month, they somehow seem more important. If you have a bad showing, you have to wait a whole month to make up for it. I decided against my better judgement to play a band which I think would win at least a game or two but I didn't think it would have a chance at winning the whole thing. Don't let my record fool you - my band was definitely NOT the best one there. I feel like I didn't deserve to win either of my last two games and I'm sure that revenge will be taken on me for the cheesy wins next time around.
Round 1:
I started by facing Orcdouble ax on his map - Hellspike. I set up in such a way that he could not get any spells of on Tiamat. Moreover, I managed to get tile points with my sneak while he could not get to a victory area. At the end of the round, I managed a acid line (using my own small black dragon as a target which caught the GDK and Vlaakith. In the second round, I won initiative and couldn't pass up the opportunity to double move Tiamat followed by a single move and a cold cone that caught both dragons. They both made their save and took 45 damage. Tiamat was then surrounded by cursed spirits and was the target of a finger of death spell (which I thankfully passed). I got my bodyguard into position and still managed to collect tile points. Third round I manage to drop the LRD with attacks from Tiamat use an acid cone on the other which failed its morale save and ran off the board. Tiamat took a disintegrate for her trouble and passed the save. I used some of my fodder pieces to try and take out cursed spirits but was rolling really poorly and only 1 had gone down by this point. Next round I took yet another disintegrate from Vlaakith but the hurt was now own - I moved up within reach and started pounding. At 30 magic per hit thanks to the bane weapon augmentation, it didn't take too long to drop her for the game.
Round 2:
I knew things were going to be bad from the get-go because I lost map and side initiative having to play against a buffed Solar on Hellspike. I just noticed as I'm writing this that the Solar doesn't have +4 AC versus evil enemies - only her followers... argh. I don't feel so bad about winning now. Anyway - We both advanced in the first round and Tiamat took an arrow from the Solar. I made a double move then a single move and an attack in the second round to deal 20 damage to the Solar's bodyguard. The Kolyarut was unable to enervate anything useful since I was using my minor pieces as screeners and collected tile points within sight of him. In the third round, I started with an electricity line that took out the bodyguard, Aramil and hurt the Solar. I then hit him with a full attack. I took a full attack in return for 120 damage causing a morale save which I passed. In the following round, I took only 3 hits from the Solar since it missed with its lowest attack. My bodyguard took one for the team and went down before I could heal him with the Lord of Blades. Now Tiamat is at 30 and makes two full attacks on the Solar - hitting exactly 4 times for 120 damage taking him out. Unfortunately, the Kolyarut ran up to base Tiamat and hit him for another 10. At this point, his cleric moved up and cast dismissal on Tiamat. She passes my SR and I roll a natural 1! Now things are looking grim. I decide my best option is to gather as many tile points as possible and take out the Cleric of Dol Arrah. The Lord of Blades does a good job hitting a very high AC multiple time to eventually drop her - but at the cost of being reduced to 30 hp himself. All my tile grabbers were now gone so I took and AoO on my DMM to double move into a victory area at the end of the round. He had left: Couatl, Kolyarut, Artificer, Eberk for a total of 124 points on the board and my DMM gave me exactly 125 tile points at the end of that round. Since my opponent never got any tile points, the game was over. If I needed one more round, I never would have made it.
Round 3:
I yet again lose map initiative and end up playing a band very similar to one I had planned on bringing (though with Tordek instead of the Mounted Paladin) on Frostfell Rift. I should have conceded this match right off the bat since my breath weapons couldn't take out the Mounted Paladin alone and I would never get more than one attack on him a round. I'm glad I didn't, but not because I won - because it was really quite impressive to see his band in action. Early on, Elminster managed a Mystra's Curse on Tiamat and I failed the save, needing an 8 or better. He followed that up by a DC 18 confusion which I failed because I was cursed. After that, he took control of Tiamat and burned one of my breath weapons before she finally shook the confusion. This combination is absolutely devastating when it works - Tiamat's dual activation is the only thing that saved me here - allowing me an extra chance to shake the spell. Fortunately, when Storm cast the other confusion it didn't pass my spell resistance. After using both of the acid breath weapons on the Mounted Paladin I knew there was no way I'd be able to take him down unless I hit with attacks. Unfortunately, that means I'd have to hit AC 33 I think it was with +20 to attack while cursed. Out of the 12 attacks I made I only managed to hit once. Of course, during this time he managed to lay quite a beat on Tiamat dropping her to 50 while they were still based. While all of this was going on, the Lord of Blades managed to charge from target to target taking out the CoO and eventually Elminster as well. Storm fell to attacks from Tiamat when I gave up on hitting the Paladin. I used my last breath weapon on the Paladin in such a way that it would also hit the out of command Unicorn which failed morale but didn't quite get off the board. Of course, with no commander it was gone the next round. At this point, Tiamat had 30 hit points but was far from the paladin. He double moved to base me and hit for another 20 damage dropping me to 10. I make my full attack and miss them all, then all the rest of my activations move in to flank and such. When I only have the Lord of Blades left to move, the tournament director calls out "finish this round". I was saved by the bell since I still had over 400 points worth of minis on the board. We played it out for fun and the Mounted Paladin would have singlehandedly wiped out the rest of my band without ever being hit.
I really don't feel like I should have won the last round, but I guess that happens sometimes. I'm sure Zak X will pay me back double next time we meet. It was a fun night with lots of interesting bands. I really wish my matches had ended more quickly so I could have seen some of the others in action. Now - back to the drawing board for 200 next week...
| |
A Proud Gelatinous Dude
www.gelatinousdudes.com
| |
|
| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
| |
ActiveForums 3.7 | You must be signed in to participate in the
games. | |
| | |
|