Nobody, well done. Glad to see you did so well. I was there and playing in my second official tournament. My first was the Underdark pre-release at Monster Den a year and a half ago.

 

I'll give a rundown, although I don't remember all of my pulls. My warband was Von Richten, Ogre Executioner, Blessed Hunter, Gravetouched Ghoul, Dark Talon Champion, Air Mephit. I thought it was decent enough, but I was nervous about my inexperience.

My first match was against Amber and her Beholder Lich & Co. - Displacer Beast Manhunter, Cleric of Sune, Duergar Slaver Air Mephit and 2 Graypeak Goblin Archers. Map: Dragondown Grotto. I win Initiative. I run my Mephit and Ghoul to the two victory areas, showing my inexperience in thinking I get points for each one. Amber responds by moving her Mephit up next to mine along with her goblins. My plan was to use my Mephit to breath on her goblins and rout them, but she blocked that by putting her displacer in the way - again, inexperience - I forgot that my Mephit didn't provoke AoO because of flight. I moved up slowly with my Ogre and Hunter, blocking for Richten, and moved my Talon to her other VA, as I had the center covered with my Ghoul. She countered next round by smoking my Mephit and moving her Beast toward the center. Unfortunately she had cover because of the trees and I missed hitting her by 1 with my Ogre as he moved up. Rookie mistake - the Ogre does additional attack and damage to Out Of Command creatures and would have hit. She finally moved her Lich out of the trees(cover) so that I could cast 20 pts from Richten with his Searing light spell. The third round was 20 more points from Richten on the Lich, and I moved my Hunter to counter Amber's slaver and Cleric, which were moving toward her victory area. The Lich had already killed my Talon, so that area was clear. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach the Lich with my Hunter in the fourth round, so it charged the Beast, which was weakened further by the Ogre.  Another rookie mistake cost me a round, as I forgot about the beast being in the trees, and therefore in cover. I missed by 1 again. Then things really went south. Her Beast died at the hands of the Ogre, so I charge her Slaver with my Hunter. I hit but rolled a 1 on Conceal 6. I followed with my second attack of the charge, rolling a 1. Amber's Lich force my Ghoul to rout because I rolled a 1, followed by another 1 for the morale of my Ogre, so it started running. I rolled a 1 for initiative, and then rolled a 1 for my Hunter's attack on the Slaver. It hits with its second attack, but I roll 1's for the morale saves of my Ogre and Ghoul, and they rout off the board. I try to recover with Von Richten moving up to the VA, but time runs out on me, literally, and the match ends with me down 104-77 in points. The most frustrating thing about this was that I could have won if I were more experienced. And, rolling 6 1's in 9-10 rolls definitely throws a wrench in your plans.

Next was Senior and his Von Richten, Large Astral Construct, Celestial Giant Owl, Bugbear Gang Leader, Rat Swarm, Air Mephit, Changling Rogue, and Devotee of the Silver Flame. I won Map: Teleport Temple, and Initiative. This actually was a fairly boring game, as we spent the first two rounds moving our figures, looking for a way to penetrate the defenses of the other. We were both scoring VP because of our mephits, and John's Rat swarm. My critical error came in the 3rd round, as I moved my Ghoul thru a teleport to attack the LAC, which was guarding Von Richten. I should have taken the AoO, and attacked Von Richten right away, but I forgot the Ghoul had Fearless. I then was overruled when I tried to charge my Hunter by teleporting (which he was sitting on from the previous round) and then charging. Ruling: You must see your opponent to charge him. I got impatient and attacked anyway, which spelled the end of my lion. My Ogre moved to work on the Construct, which I finally defeated it the 4th round, but time ran out because of 3 rulings and our over-methodical first 2 rounds. I was behind 117-96, and lost.

I'm now 0-2, and feeling quite inept.

3rd match against Storm, a 12-yr. old in his first tourney. He's running a Stone Giant Runecarver, Blessed Hunter, Cormyrean War Wizard, Knight of the Chalice, and Changling Rogue. I won map: Teleport Temple, and initiative, which I gave to him. My competitive streak came in here, as I didn't figure someone as young as Storm would be able to "see" all of the intricacies of Teleport Temple, especially since he had never played it. We spent the first couple of rounds getting into position, with my gaining an early edge in VP because my Mephit beat his Rogue to a VA. I then waited for him to make the critical mistake of trying to charge my Hunter with his Hunter, which he did try, giving me the chance to charge him first, in the 3rd round. His Hunter saved, but my Talon moved up to deal more damage and in the 4th round his Hunter died. I had been avoiding his Giant, which he now moved to attack my Hunter, but I flanked him with my Ogre, and made short work of the rest of the game.

I was now 1-2, and I figured I needed to win out the final 3 or 4 matches to have a chance at any rares in the drawing.

Next up, Marv - Count Strahd(the ultimate enemy), Duergar Slaver, Bugbear Gang Leader, Vampire Hunter, Phalanx Soldier, Psuedodragon, Wild Elf Warsinger, Devotee of the Silver Flame. Marv won map and initiative:Fallen King's - gave my first move. I was thankful for that, as Von Richten quickly moved to LoS and hit Strahd with a 20pt. Searing Light. I moved my Mephit to the VA, and spent the rest of the round getting others into position. I couldn't use my Hunter on the nice grassy straight because Marv wisely kept his pieces out of charging distance. His first round consisted of moving his little Dragon to his VA, and in the most diabolical move ever, casting invisibility on Strahd with his Slaver. In the second round, I moved my Talon to attack Strahd, which hit, giving it 15 more hp (which I didn't realize the first 3 games I played), and I moved my Ghoul to attack his Dragon. He moved his Bugbear up and wiped out my Mephit, ending my VP for the round. I was trying to be cautious this game, so I kept Von Richten out of sight of Marv's ranged attacks. 3rd round, Marv finally killed my Talon, but was having trouble with my Ghoul, as was my Ghoul in defeating the Dragon. I finally moved my Ogre and Hunter around the outer courtyard of the keep to wipe out the Phalanx Soldier, Devotee, and Warsinger, as Marv positioned his Bugbear, Strahd and Slaver inside around my Ghoul, which lasted another round. After that, I sent my Ogre one way and my Hunter another to trap Marv in his VA. It was at about this time that I realized that Marv must have read the Count's card wrong with the gaseous form ability. A slug-fest occured over the next 2 rounds as my Hunter and Ghoul went down along with Marv's Slaver, Bugbear, Vampire Hunter and Psuedodragon. I now moved Von Richten and my Ogre in on Strahd, who was cornered in his own VA. When he hit 0 hp, I declared game over, and as suspected, Marv said, "Gaseous Form". Unfortunately for him, I was right and the game ended with me the winner.

Wow, 2-2, things were starting to look up.

My next oppenent was Kellen, sporting a Stormrage Shambler, Cormyrean War Wizard, Duergar Slaver, Bugbear Gang Leader, 2 Dwarf Battleragers, and a Halfling Brawler. I figured that my Ogre's extra damage would definitely come in handy here against the wild Shambler. I was right, if only I could have used it. Kellen won map and initiative. I honestly don't remember the map right now, but it had a long straightaway down one side, which Kellen used to march his invisible Shambler up. I was ignorant of the dangers of Phalanx Spellcasting, and managed to line up most of my band in line for a nice little lightning bolt from the Wizard. I moved up my Ghoul to try and get the Shambler to attack, but only managed to get him killed by a combo Brawler/Battlerager. Things got ugly when I didn't declare a Smite Good for my Ogre before rolling, instead saying it right after, which was a little technicality that may have cost me the game. Instead, the Shambler was 10 pts short of making a check, and pummeled my Ogre into submission. That left me with my Hunter and Von Richten, who was cornered and getting pelted by spells. This match was over in 3 rounds, and it was ugly, helped by the fact that Kellen only missed 2 rolls, attack, save or otherwise, the entire time.

2-3, OUCH!!!!

My final match was against David, proudly displaying his Count Strahd, Blessed Hunter, Knight of the Chalice, Gravetouched Ghoul and Psuedodragon. I lost map:Frozen something from Frostfell Rift, and initiative, but had to move first. I got my VP with my Mephit and moved my Ghoul and Talon in for support. I took my Hunter around the path, and moved my Ogre and Von Richten up to the central area, hoping to get a couple of searing lights in on Strahd. I lost initiative next round, so David got his Ghoul within striking distance of my Mephit, and got his Knight onto the other VA to get some points. I won init round 3, and moved my Ogre up to hit David's hunter. Unfortunately, Strahd has this nice little telekinesis spell that he used to back up the Hunter so that it could charge my Ogre for 30 damage, missing with his second attack. Too bad, I didn't save. I positioned my Hunter outside to charge Strahd, and moved Von Richted up to cast a healing spell for my Ogre. The next round I lost a critical init roll and watched Strahd move inside as David's Hunter finished off my Ogre. Another overruling by the judge here. Von Richten's close wounds spell would only work on the closest ally, not just the one who needs it. Ogre, gone. I was forced to move my Hunter again - 4 rounds, no impact on the match. After this, my Ghoul and Talon finally manged to get rid of David's Ghoul, allowing my Mephit to the other VA to challenge the Knight sitting there collecting VP. This is when things really got interesting. I won the init this round, and moved my Ghoul to hit Strahd, but the Hunter finished him off, and moved to withing charging distance of Von Richten, who was stuck in the side VA. My Mephit managed to hit and pushback the Knight, putting him even with Strahd and allowing my Hunter to charge Strahd for 60 damage. It gets a little fuzzy here, but I managed to rout David's Hunter, leaving him with Strahd versus my Hunter and Von Richten. David graciously conceded, but I must commend him on his excellent play. That match could easily have gone either way, and it was the highlight of my day.

Thanks, Monster Den, for another wonderful day.