I have a very poor memory so please forgive errors in advance. Rares: I pulled Count Strahd and Wizard of Turmish.
Uncommons: Shambler, Dueregar Slaver, Vampire Hunter, High Inquisitor, Blood Vol Seeker. Commons: Graypeak Goblin, Wild Elf Warsinger, Strahd Zombie, Phalanx Soldier, Changling Rogue, Devotee of the Silver Flame. Count Strahd didn’t fit my play style and I just wasn’t that familiar with how to exploit him anyway so it was an easy choice for me to skip him .However, the Wizard of Turmish was a little tougher decision as his “any spell” would have possibly given me extra Cure Light Wounds and maybe extra Invisibility spells. But when I added up various combinations the WoT would have forced me to drop more useful pieces.So I went with all Uncommons and Commons: WARBAND High Inquisitor Stormrage Shambler Duergar Slaver Vampire Hunter Halfling Brawler Devotee of the Silver Flame Wild Elf Warsinger (map Mushroom Cavern) My only plan was to wait and see how map choice went then decide which piece to cast Invisibility.Originally I was expecting to cast it on the Wild Elf tile grabber…but it didn’t pan out that way. 1st Match vs. Shane:
Beholder Lich
Caller in darkness
Duergar slaver
Intellect Devourer
Vampire Hunter
Devotee of Silver Flame? Map was Mushroom Cavern and I got my preferred side.
Round One - I won initiative and let Shane go first.We both had some ranged threats and spells so initial fodder movements avoided the victory area.Towards the end when it seemed Shane was not going to move into the Victory area I moved the Elf tilegrabber into the victory area, cast Invisibility on the Shambler and moved it into Shane’s choke point to be a body blocker.
Round Two to End - I kept the Shambler out of melee in round 2 and 3 while ranged and spells were thrown back and forth.Shane repositioned some pieces in 2 and 3 and attacked with his Caller, Vamp hunter, and Beholder Lich.I took some damage, he took some damage, and I got some great saves vs. the Beholder.In the final rounds (4, 5 & 6?) I was able to move the Shambler into melee and kill or route a couple pieces to win on points.Point denial was key. 2nd Match vs. Bobby Bone Naga Gorgon Giant Owl Bugbear Gangleader Pseudo Dragon I don’t recall the map name but it had split start areas and the Victory areas were in difficult terrain (a gold pile).I setup my whole party in direct line with the victory area, Bobby put his Gorgon and Pseudo Dragon in line with the Victory Areas but his other pieces were in the far start area. Round One, Bobby moves his Pseudo Dragon directly into my victory area, and his Gorgon toward my side of the VA, his other pieces advance to mid-map.My Vamp Hunter does 10 Ranged dmg. to the Gorgon.I invis. the Shambler and move it and fodder into the open area above both VA’s. Round Two:Bobby’s Gorgon breath’s on my Shambler and Vamp Hunter and the Shambler makes another one of many key saves.The Vamp Hunter becomes a Statue.At this.His Pseudo and my Wild elf move into victory area’s for points.From here it gets fuzzy.The Shambler is standing in what is essentially a three-way intersection with the Gorgon several squares to the east, the Bone Naga, Bugbear, and some of my fodder to the north.I must have damaged the Gorgon with several ranged attacks because I did a powerful charge with the Shambler and the Gorgon routed. Rounds Three – FiveI win initiative and move fodder north to base the Bone Naga, Bone Naga does breath weapon(s) vs. Shamblers and fodder.Shambler does another powerful charge, bases Naga and kills the Naga.Bobby takes some fodder including the Halfling Brawler who connected with a ranged attack and several melee attacks. While the hairball in the middle is going on with the Naga, bugbear, shambler, Devotee, and Halfling, Bobby brings his Owl around to the west to flank my two commander the Hi Inq and Slaver.They use a combination of spells and melee to rout the the Owl. Before the Naga died the Gorgon rallied and returned to the game too late to save the day.I won with Victory points and the Owl, Naga, and Bugbear.Bobby had points from my fodder.So again the invisible Shambler helped control the melee. 3rd Match vs. Mark Knight of the Chalice Pentiflex Vampire Wolf Asura Warsinger Shock Trooper Rat Swarm Vampire Hunter
Map was Mushroom Cavern, Mark got the side I preferred.
Round One - Mark moves extremely cautiously to the area behind the wall in mid-map but his Asura is just exposed enough (south, toward the Victory Areas) to let the Vamp hunter make a ranged attack and the High Inquisitor also does damage with his Order’s Wrath spell…Things are going well.I advance fodder to the edge of the victory areas to screen from the Asura’s ranged attacks in round 2.Again I cast Invisible on the Shambler and move him behind the fodder staged to move into the dual victory area. Round Two – I win initiative.I can’t for the life of me recall why I didn’t immediately move the shambler in to the dual area and either based the asura for one 25dmg attack (he was down to 35 or 40 points).OR the shambler could have reached a Victory square and still been within reach to double attack the Asura in round Three.But for some reason I ranged attacked with the Vamp hunter and Halfling Bralwer and immediately regretted it. Mark double moves his rat swarm (that started Round one on the other side of the map) to base my invisible shambler and block the way into the area.He moves others into the area while I spend the next rounds 2 to 4 rounds trying to eliminate the rats.He gets victory points and one or two fodder (Halfling and Wild elf) while I take rats and no victory points.That’s the game, I lose on points. It was four painful rounds and we had to rush to squeeze in the last round.It was extremely frustrating and in the last round I couldn’t help muttering “For the love of god MOVE”,but it was my game to lose and if I had capitalized in round two the shortness of the match would have worked in my favor.Live and learn…then learn again, and again, and again.Eventually I will learn that you have to watch the clock when you only have a one-hitter to get you points. 4th Match vs. Tundrin Ultraloth
Caller in Darkness
Displacer Beast Hunter
Rat Swarm
Pseudo dragon
Graypeak goblin See Tunrin’s recap for detailed breakdown. I’ll only make a couple comments since Tundrin reviewed already.In short Tundrin made a key move in round one…he moved the Incorporeal Caller through a wall into my victory area, which created a problem I couldn’t solve throughout the match. I said in a previous post that I was outgunned and outplayed.I still believe I was outplayed but in retrospect I could have been a little more effective with the band I had. The first thing I could have done differently is cast Invisible on the Wild Elf and run it into my Victory Area (which it could reach) to both take Victory points and cause the Caller an auto 5 damage each round which might have helped get rid of the Caller sooner. (The elf does damage to any undead within 6 every time it activates) The second thing I could have done is to send the Vamp Hunter and High Inquisitor in first to base the caller and let the Shambler come second and reach over them.Not sure this would have worked but the Hi Quiz might have hit with a smite and caused the fearless caller to make a moral save and due to my CMD effect it would be considered Out of command.And the Vamp Hunter would have done 20magic dmg with any hit that connected. Probably still a lost cause butmight have got rid of the caller quicker and kept a little closer on points due to the victory points. No shame in that loss…and no shame in going 2 and 2 with no rares. Congrats to Tundrin on the Tourney win. ~Foo Fighter~ (errors and typos to be fixed tomorrowJ ) |