Round One against John Zink Ruhk69:

Band: Elminster, AMx4,Twolf, Xeph

Map: Hellspike

I won map init and contemplated which map to use: Hellspike or Grotto.  The Solar is good on both and the Archmages are excellent on Grotto.  I had the Ballista so if I chose Hellspike it would be nerfed some.  I had piloted AMx4 before on Grotto and new that they could easily drop a few swords and then run and hide in the forest or behind, out of sight of my Solar and Ballista.  I figured on Hellspike I could essentially sit in my start corner and use the Solar to shoot with impunity behind a shield of my fodder and Ballista.  I planned to use them to keep the Mages from targeting the Solar as the closest target.  I figured the Mages would have to cross the smoke line anyway and the Ballista would be fine.  So I decided to use the Hellspike anyway.�John thought it was a mistake.  I’m not sure it was but I ended up losing so with hindsight maybe it contributed to my loss.  I still had chances to win though.�Here’s what happened.

I won side init and chose the top left corner (As viewed on Vassal).�I packed all my guys into that corner.�I won the init for round one and passed to John.  He moved his twolf into the bottom left VA and put his Xeph out beyond the smoke.  I immediately responded by using a MM from Aramil to kill the Xeph and used the Artificer to cast GMW on the Solar.�(Small mistake by John to expose the Xeph).�I planned to shoot the wolf down with the Solar to stop him from scoring victory points.�But John got aggressive and Dim doored Elminster to the middle and then moved 6 beyond the smoke near my corner and used his silver fire to put 20 damage through both Couatls, Aramil, Ballista, Eberk and the Artificer.�The Artificer routed out towards the middle, Aramil was dead, but luckily Eberk passed the MC so I was able to get his divine protection spell off later.�Then he used an EMM to finish off the artificer.�I actually thought it was a mistake by putting Elminster right in front of my band with my Solar, Ballista and both Couatls yet to activate.  He wouldn’t survive through round two.�I fired off the Ballista’s freeze and flame bolt in a single shot from his starting position onto Elminster for 45 damage and then activated the Heir and moved her out to screen for the Solar.  John moved his AMs down into my half hiding them in smoke or behind the wall that sticks out on the left edge.  I had planned to hide the Solar against the left edge, out a bit, where he could shoot into the whole map but the Ballista rolled a one on one of his SS attacks and Elminster passed MC when hit by the other SS Ballista shot.� I couldn’t afford to allow Elminster to win init and flee.  Plus Elminster still had all his swords and since that was the only spell he had that could affect the Solar I decided to expose the Solar and lock Elminster down.�I had to move the Solar out 10 spaces to base Elminster to keep him from running.

I won init in round two and used a SS from a Couatl on the Solar and finished off Elminster.  Then the Solar used a Slaying Arrow on the nearest mage and John failed the save.  I thought I had the game in the bag now.�I was up 201-59 and he had no commander and only three mages left.�Well it didn’t work out that way.�I never did get rid of the Twolf so John eventually scored an extra 100 victory points and now that the Solar was exposed some I eventually took 5 swords.  I tried another slaying arrow but John passed the save.�I expected to win by routing his archmages now that he was commander less but the two mages that I got to MC passed it and were able to escape.  That ended up being my downfall as I didn’t have enough time to chase down three mages and kill them before the Solar dropped.  I did kill two more but I was only at 402 victory points and John was at 235.  When the Solar activated he would die as he only had 75hp left and had five swords on him.�John would go over 500 and win.�I had to kill the last archmage which had 50 hp left.  I made a nice move to use the Couatl to heal the Solar to get one more activation from him.  John smartly moved his archmage more than 17 spaces away from the Solar so I was only able to fly over and shoot for 20.  He passed MC again, curses!�The game was lost now.�I had one last chance, a SS Solar shot and score a critical.�I rolled a 19, close but not a crit, and lost 519-402 when the Solar activated.

Round two against Joe Benton:

Band: Eldritch Giant, Cadaver Collector, FGFP, Nightmare,Miner x3

Map: none

Officially I had a bye as Joe had not yet arrived and we had 7 players.  But Joe arrived with 25 minutes left in the round.�We decided to play an unofficial 25 minute match.�So we grabbed a random map: King’s Road and started on whatever side was closest to us.  This match actually went to 500 points in only 20 minutes.�(The reason being the melee power of the Solar backed by two SS spells).  In round one I found a thin LOS from the Solar to his Blackguard on Nightmare.  I used the Slaying Arrow and he failed the save.�Just like that he had no commander.�Early in round two Joe dim doored the giant into my backfield to base both Couatls.  Luckily the one was completely in forest so I was able to pull him out.  The other was not.�But I had him out activated so I saved the Couatls, Solar, and Heir until the end of round two.  I moved the Heir out to bodyguard the AoO on the one Couatl.  Then I moved the Solar in to base his Giant and land in the woods.  I scored a critical on his Giant for 80 damage.�Now my Solar had 32 AC against the Giant.�(25 base, +2 legions SOF, +1 DivProt, +4 forest).�His Giant had no cover and his CC and FGFP were too far away to attack this round.  I used both Couatls to SS the Solar (The Heir absorbed the AOO from the Giant as planned).  I hit the Giant twice more.�Then the next round I won init (+6 to +0) and did three attacks on the Giant and a SS attack.  He passed MC.�I know I missed with at least one attack.  His Giant lived so he attacked back and missed the Solar once and injured the Ballista.  His CC and FGFP came down and together took out the Ballista and Heir.  My final SS put down the Giant.�The next round I win init again and full attacked and SS the CC and put it down before it activated.  He attacked back with the FGFP and I took only 20 damage (My Heir had cast prot from fire on the Solar).  Then the next round I finished off the FGFP.�Without a commander Joe lost every init with my +6 to his +0.  Plus the Solar and two SS spells can potentially put out 200 damage a round without criticals.  It was brutally amazing how fast the Solar chopped through an Eldritch Giant, CC, and FGFP in only three rounds.  It didn’t help that I was able to use Aramil to nerf his Eldritch Giant and FGFP.

Round three against Matt Barry:

Band: Elminster, AM x3, Trickster, Elf Pyro, IM, Nebin

Map: King’s Road

Matt has a higher constructed DCI rating than me and is developing into a very good player.  He plays in a lot of local tournaments.�But he didn’t realize that the Solar has Blindsight at first.  He also forgot that the Ballista can still fire even while based if it sits in the woods.  I think Matt wasn’t aggressive enough with his AMs.�He kept his IM, Elminster and an AM back while sending two AM down close to my band.  Ultimately I think this contributed to his defeat.�John was aggressive with his AMs and had defeated me because he was able move right in and put 5 swords on the Solar.  Matt was harrased by my Ballista to the point that he had to burn some swords on it and the Heir in order to put it down.  He lost one Archmage in round one to a failed MC and failing to rally it.  Then he lost another mage during the later rounds when, in order to get a banish off on my Couatl, he had to come out of the woods on my side of the board.  The Couatl did fail the banish but I was able to base and attack the Mage with my Solar and then flank sneak attack it with the Heir.  Then he brought Elminster down and burned a move, quick cast dim door, move to put a sword on the Solar.  Well this left him based with my Solar in the woods.

The next round he won init luckily (Had I won init I would have full attacked on Elminster to drop him and then finish off the other mage).  He used his other AM to get two more swords on the Solar. Then he fled with Elminster after putting another sword on the Solar.�But he was still within 8 of the Solar.�So I used the Heir to finish off the one mage and then I moved the Solar and attacked Elminster to kill him.�Eventually he was left to one AM with no more swords and I still had enough time to keep the Solar alive long enough to track it down.  Plus I made more of an effort to score victory points this match and keep Matt from scoring during the middle rounds.  I was up 441-270 when I was finally able to move my Solar in and finish off the last mage.

Round four against Chris Pinyan:

Band: Epic Solar, Elminster, Crow, Trickster, MoonElf, Devis, Twolf, Xeph

Map: Hellspike

I won map and immediately chose the Grotto.  I won side and took the left side.  I put the Ballista, Coautl, Eberk, Aramil, and Heir at the top.�The Solar, Couatl and Artificer were at the bottom.�Chris put all his guys in the top right corner.

On the surface this was a mirror match but our bands were actually quite different.  Getting the Grotto helped me immensely.�The main difference between us was the addition of the Ballista versus Elminster.  The Ballista really shines on the Grotto.�The Ballista caused havoc for Chris as I was using it to shoot at his Solar at +21 (+16 base, +4 large target, +1 MW from Eberk) to put 35 damage shots at ranged.  I combined that with the Solar shooting at +24 (GMW) for 20 damage.  Chris had used invisibility on his whole band.�This had mixed results for him.  Yes he was able to make his tile grabbers and commanders invisible to the Ballista attacks but this actually made it easier for my Ballista to target the Solar.  The Ballista couldn’t see the invisible screeners and could therefore target the Solar.  I screened my Solar with the artificer.�I was concentrating my damage directly on his Solar while he was forced to attack everything but my Solar.�I used the Heir to bodyguard for the Ballista.  At first I thought the slaying arrow only worked on living targets but after reading the card I discovered that there is no restriction.  So I put the Heir with the Ballista to take any slaying arrows.�I needed the Ballista more than I needed the Heir.�Sure enough, Chris tried his slaying arrows on my Ballista and the Heir took them both and passed both saves (Lucky me).  Later I tried my slaying arrows on his pieces but he passed all his saves too.

I was outgunning him though and his Solar dropped below half before mine even took any damage.  He brought Elminster out and put a Mystra’s Curse on my Ballista who failed the save.  Then I started to realize how much my lack of ability to score tiles points was hurting me in this tournament.  Even though his Solar was dropping fast Chris was winning on points as time was running down under 15 minutes.�He used Elminster to Silver Fire and took out my little guys, the Heir and put the Ballista down to 5hp.  He was now up 30-134.�I had to kill the Solar.�I managed to finish off Elminster to get to 130-134.�Then the next round I won init and went for the kill of the Solar.  His Solar was at 30 hp and two shots from my Solar (with a SS) would kill him.  I smartly used SS first to save the Solar’s activation until later.  But I rolled a one on the shot and missed!�However, I still had a chance to kill it before he activated.  A hit from my Ballista would do 35 damage and finish him off.  I rolled a 19!�Dead Solar.�Chris says - well that is probably the game but I’ll play it out anyway.  Then I said – wait, my Ballista is cursed.�I had to reroll the attack and I rolled a three and missed!  The Solar was put back on the board.�Chris thanked me for good sportsmanship.  He promptly used SS and killed my Ballista and then fired with the Solar and routed off my Couatl and then hid it in the top right corner.�Now I was really worried.�The Solar wasn’t going to die and Chris had a commanding 130-274 lead.  I was down to 11 minutes.�I changed my strategy.�I could no longer waste any time with my actions and I had to go for a melee strike on his Solar.  Thankfully I had saved my Solar’s activation and moved him out to the middle of the board and shot out his last tile grabber.  I couldn’t allow him any more points.�The next round I won init and double moved my Solar and Couatl (My last two pieces) heading right for his band.  I plopped my Solar down within two spaces of his Solar and the Coautl was out more towards the middle of the map.  We only had enough time for one or two more rounds.  I was playing so fast that I had made a hasty move.  I had sent the Solar in too far.�Chris could have done a full attack plus a SS attack and then, should he win init, do it again and drop or rout off my Solar.  But Chris didn’t want to risk me winning init and getting a full attack back to win the game (I only needed one hit to win) so he left and flew out and attacked the Couatl and killed it.  Chris also scored tiles again with his Solar and was now ahead 133-341.  Last round.�The roll of the game was me winning initiative again and I was able to fly in with my Solar and hit and kill his Solar.  Now I was up 417-341.�Even with tiles for him it wouldn’t be enough points.  My Solar still had over 150 hit points and couldn’t rout off from that position either.  I had won the game.�That was some good last minute fortune as I was behind on points the entire game.  Now that was truly and Epic Battle.  Chris is a great opponent and it was a lot of fun to play him.

In conclusion:

The Epic Solar is very good and a nice counter to the Archmages.�Couatls are weak against the AMs as they can be banished.  The Solar can be banished too but his save is +15 base and I was buffing it to 16.  My band lacked a tile grabber so if I were to play it again I would modify it.  I had actually tried out this version:

Epic Solar

Arcane Ballista

Couatl x2

DragonMark Heir

Half-Orc Spy

Artificer

Human Commoner

This band I used on Vassal once and defeated an Epic Vlaakith band on Grotto.�The Half-orc spy is a nice invisible sturdy tile grabber with scout and the ability to provide the Solar with +2 to attacks on VA pieces.  It worked but then I was worried about the Solar’s saves (Since I had just faced Vlaakith) so I used the version in this report.

But now I think I may try this instead:

Epic Solar

Arcane Ballista

Couatl x2

DragonMark Heir

Artificer

Cleric of Order

TWolf

I can buff the Solar to save +18 and a Couatl to save +12.  The Twolf grabs tiles.�The only thing I don’t like is wasting the CoO’s SoF spell since the Artificer’s spell trumps it.  Maybe someone else can find something better to spend the last 29 points on.  Or take out the Artificer and re-work the last 50 points.  I would keep the core of Solar, Ballista, Couatl x2, Heir.  That is a great start I think.�Two solid ranged threats and double SS spells and energy resistance and protection, plus the ability to bodyguard some damage, slaying arrows, vorpal attacks,�poison attacks, or paralysis attacks.

I guess I should chime in on the second tier matches.�I played a Baha-mutt Superbuff band.

Since it was my first Epic Tournament I opted to keep it simple and buff the hell out of a monster Epic Titan.�

My first match was vs Matt who had. an Elminster, Inspiring Marshall, Elf Pyro and Quad Archmage band.�I was completely flummoxed and had no idea how to deal with the band.�I opted to go after Elminster and I eliminated him quickly.�But the mobile Archmages threw multiple spells and the stacked Mordy’s Swords eventually took down Bahamut and that was the game.�It was a better band piloted by a better player.

My second band was Gene with a. Lord Soth, Epic Hextor, Ice Devil, Hellcat, fodder. I won initiative and allowed the opponent (Gene) to go first.�He found line of sight to my starting tile and threw a first round fireball for some nice damage to my band and some points.�The game moved slowly but Hextor and Bahamut finally meet, Bahamut drops Hextor to under 20hps. Then “last round” is suddenly called.�I lose on points.�My fault I should have won but I wasn’t watching the clock.�I’ll call it a win for the band.

Thrid match was vs. Muscled Destroyer and his Epic Storm, Epic Kord, Crow Shaman, Gnome Trixster, Dragonmark Heir, fodder.�This was a slug fest.�Kord and Bahamut meet early and go at it with Storm joining melee soon after.�I was fortunate to have two excellent breathweapons that cleared out almost all support pieces most notably the Crow Shaman.�It was close but my support pieces, blur spell, Ray of Enfeeblement and a couple Snake Swiftnesses helped edge out the Storm/Kord combo.

Final match was vs. Joe and his Eldritch Giant, Cadaver Collector, Blackguard on Nightmare, Fire Giant Forgepriest, fodder.�Most notable here was Bahumut being able to KILL the Cadaver Collector due to the Breath weapon, line 60 damage and some melee.�The breath weapons really saved Bahamut from having to slug it out with the CC.�In the end it was a slugfest between a fully buffed Bahamut vs. the Eldritch Giant and FGFP.�Blur was key as well as Legions shield of faith as more often than not the Eldritch was hitting at better than +30 (vs. AC29) any miss due to Blur was a huge help.�Also the Spellscale cast RoE on both to drop their to-hit by 2 and damage by 5.�In the end it was a win due to the buffs.

My record was 2 and 2, Superbuffed Bahamut's performance could have been 3 & 1 if I was a better player.  Overall it was a very tough and eye opening tournament.

Cheers,

~Foo Fighter~�