Odyssey 2000 had another constructed tournament today and despite many of the regulars not being able to make it this weekend, we still had 6 players show up for the event. I must say that I'm really glad there are multiple venues in the city that run sanctioned tournaments because some players can only make it to one or the other and it lets the die-hard players (like myself) face different opposition. I was almost going to run the same warband I had played at the Thursday Knights but decided at the last minute that I'd rather play something that would require a little less thought. Although CE doesn't usually treat me well, I pulled out an old band I thought might do well. Without further ado, here's what happened:

The bands:

Temysry (3-0)

Tiefling Captain
Hill Giant Barbarian
Marilith
Orc Wardrummer
Orc Warrior x3
Map: Hellspike

Zak X (2-1)

Inspiring Marshal
Virtuous Charger
Asura
Bralani Eladrin x2
Wild Elf Warsinger
Mialee, Elf Wizard
Devis, Half-Elf Bard
Map: Keep of the Fallen Kings

Geoff (2-1)

Storm Silverhand
Archmage
Rat Swarm
Bat Familiar
Wild Elf Raider
Timber Wolf
Ialdabode, Human Psion
Xeph Warrior x2
Map: Dragondown Grotto

Caldorna (1-2)

Ultroloth
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Dragonmark Heir of Deneith
Greenspawn Sneak
Kobold Monk
Goblin Skirmisher x3
Map: Hailstorm Tower

Nephelim (1-2)

Solar
War Weaver
Hammerer x3
Timber Wolf
Aasimar Fighter x2
Map: Magma Keep

Tomcat (0-3)

Dragon Totem Hero
Large Fang Dragon
Golden Protector
Gnome Trickster
Pseudodragon
Changeling Rogue
Bat Familiar
Tavern Brawler
Map: Broken Demongate


Round 1:

Temysry def. Caldorna
Zak X def. Nephelim
Geoff def. Tomcat

Round 2:

Temysry def. Tomcat
Zak X def. Geoff
Caldorna def. Nephelim

Round 3:

Temysry def. Zak X
Geoff def. Caldorna
Nephelim def. Tomcat


I should start by saying that Caldorna is a friend of mine who had never played a game of DDM and had only read the rulebook that morning. On top of that, he had never played any edition of D&D either. This makes for a pretty big learning curve and I was kind of happy to have been paired with him in the first round. On our way to the tournament, I had given him some pointers about his band and hoped he'd pick up the game quickly. He ended up winning map and side initiative so we ended up playing on Hailstorm Tower. Right off the bat, he was collecting tile points where I couldn't make it to the victory area in the first round. By the second round, my HGB was heading towards the outside entrance of the centre room while my Marilith was heading in through the cave entrance. Luckily, he couldn't get off the Ultroloth's spells on the HGB because I was screening with my orc warriors. He moved the Ultroloth inside the room behind the Fire Giant in the third round while our fodder duked it out. I managed to get an attack off from my HGB onto his dragonmark but took a hit from the firegiant in return. After two more hits from the Fire Giant on the next round, I passed my morale save and retaliated by taking out the dragonmark and running a safe distance from the FGFP. I also took the opportunity to use my enhanced mobility and reach to get all 6 attacks off from the Marilith. My first 4 attacks all hit, including one crit thanks to the tieflings CFX and the Ultroloth routed thanks to the wardrummer's intimidating drumbeat. After losing the next initiative, his Ultroloth rallied but after his FGFP hit the Marilith twice, I moved up the HGB again to hit the FGFP once and then 4 more times with the Marilith and he also ran (taking another shot from the HGB along the way. Time was called during the next round and even though I would have won anyway, the HGB managed to run up and kill the Ultroloth.

In my second match-up, I was paired down to face Tomcat with the same Dragon Totem Hero band that he had played at the Thursday Knights tournament that week. I won my map and side initiative so I set up on Side A of Hellspike. He started by making everyone in his band invisible then spreading out across his side of the board. I moved my Marilith last and after a double move, she was within striking distance of his commander. I won second round initiative I used her enhanced mobility to get within reach and landed 6 attacks on the Dragon Totem Hero causing a morale save which he passed. He proceeded to heal him for 20 using the bat and running away. My orcs tried to take out some of his fodder but ended up missing everything. At the end of the round, he advanced his dragons across the map with an obvious plan to take out my commander and wardrummer before engaging the rest of my force. In the next round, I again won initiative and could use enhanced mobility to get another 6 attacks off on his commander. With a crit, 5 attacks dropped him and I used my last attack against his Gnome. I then double-moved my commander away from his dragons to the opposite side of the map. My HGB still hadn't landed a hit in the match, but he moved up to the Golden Protector and swung again to no avail. He was hit with a fire breath weapon for his trouble, but passed the save. The fang dragon and gnome continued towards my wardrummer, unable to base him this round. In the next round, he managed to take out the wardrummer with the fang dragon and a SS from the Gnome. I managed to land a hit on the Golden Protector and it failed it's morale save and eventually routed off the board since it would have no chance to rally. We played out the end of the game and I picked off his gnome while he killed my tiefling before the fang dragon dropped giving me the win.

After an extremely close match between Geoff and Zak X, Zak X came out on top by a margin of 7 points when time was called so I ended up facing him in the finals. I was lucky enough to win map and side initiative again so I played from side A of Hellspike. This time, I set up my Marilith in the advanced starting position. In the first round, after a couple turns of advancing some fodder units he decided to take a gamble. He used his Grant Move Action to advance his pieces then used the Virtuous Chargers Enhanced mobility to get to the Marilith and make both attacks, causing 45 damage. I retaliated by making all 6 attacks against the VC and landed enough to cause a morale save which he failed. With his speed 12, he actually routed right off the board. Then, he had space to move up a Bralani and used it's whilwind blast on the Marilith. Fortunately, I passed the save (a fail would have pushed me into the pit!) but the 10 damage caused a morale save which I failed! After routing into my own backfield, I'd have a chance to rally as long as my commander was still alive the next time I could activate her. To end the round, his Asura moved up to use it's burning wind to take out all of my orc warriors and his other bralani double-moved to base my commander. I thankfully won the second round initiative and rallied the Marilith. I then used my HGB to lay 40 damage into his out-of-command Asura but he passed the resulting morale save. My Tiefling was only hit once by the Bralani and passed morale much to my suprise. He then moved his other Bralani into a flanking position on my commander but again missed with the attack and left himself within striking distance of my Marilith. I again won initiative in the third round to take out that Bralani with the Marilith and my Tiefling hit the other for 5 damage before she was finished off. My HGB also finished off the Asura after taking a couple hits in return, dropping him to 110hp. After taking a ranged crit from his remaining Bralani, my Marilith was reduced to 20hp. Since I was up on points, the much safer play for me was to get tile points every round and force him to come to me since he couldn't use ranged attacks through the smoke. I eventually got my Wardrummer to a victory area after taking a couple shots from the Bralani along the way, leaving him with 5hp. Knowing that I would win on points in a couple rounds, he ran the bralani up to base the Marilith at the end of a round. He won initiative in the following round but only landed one attack dropping me to 5hp, but allowing me to take all of my attacks in return. They all hit eliminating the Bralani and pushing me over 200 for the win.