The month of May is upon us, so it's time to truck on down to the FLGS and try to win some repaints and epic cards. We were expecting quite a few players, but it seems half of them all backed out at the last minute for some reason or another. I think the rain may have detered some people since many walk to the store. Anyway - we had a good time and everyone went away with some new swag. Here's what happened:

The bands:

Temysry (2-0)

Storm Silverhand
Virtuous Charger
Cormyrean War Wizard
Shadowdancer x2
Wild Elf Warsinger
Mialee, Elf Wizard
Xeph Warrior
Map: Dungeon of Blood

Goff (1-1)

Ghaele Eladrin
Lyrandar Skyfire Captain
Bat Familiar
Xeph Warrior x5
Map: Dragondown Grotto

Caldorna (1-1)

Werewolf Lord
Vampire Dire Wolf
Red Samurai
Tiefling Warlock
Orc Wardrummer
Lolth's Sting
Timber Wolf
Orc Warrior
Map: Market Square

Zak X (0-2)

Drow Wizard
Caller in Darkness
Chuul
Howler
Cursed Spirit
Bullywug Thug
Orc Warrior x2
Map: Forest Cliff Lair


My first matchup was against Caldorna. He won map initiative so we ended up playing on Market Square. Now, Caldorna is relatively new to the game and we had played a practice game just before coming to play in the tournament. As it turns out, this would be the rematch since we were playing on the same map from the same sides. He won first turn initiative but let me go first. I managed to get LOS to his warband and dropped a confusion spell. It only affected one mini - but it was the WWL so I was happy. During the round, I used the jump-charge combo to take out both the Lolth's Sting and his Timber Wolf. When it came to activating the WWL, he rolled a 1 and I got to control him. I moved over and took a swing at his Orc Wardrummer but rolled a 1! He then passed the save. He then moved up the VDW and critted my Shadowdancer. I used the defensive roll to shake it off (whew). Neither of us got tile points in the first round. In the second round, he won init and hit both of my shadowdancers with an eldritch chain. He then proceeded to attack with the VDW and crit again, killing the shadowdancer! Eek - that hurt. I proceeded to jump on his Red Samurai with the Virtuous Charger but he passed the resulting morale save. I picked off the Orc Warrior with Mialee's MM and he had to double move the WWL to get back into the fight (and was one space from basing the VC). I'm a little hazy on the middle except that the VC ended up based by the VDW, the WWL and the Red Samurai with only 5hp remaining. After winning an important initiative, I dropped the WWL with attacks from the Virtuous Charger and a phalanxed lightning bolt which also killed the Red Samurai. He Eldritch Chained the VC to death but silver fire and another jump-charging shadowdancer made short work of the VDW even after he had Storm down to 35hp. It ended up being a little closer than I would have liked, but lots of fun.


Goff won his first game so I was paired up to play against Ghaele. He won map and side initiative and elected to play form the dead side (smaller start area). I set up across from him and tried to think how I was going to get out of this mess. I miraculously won first round initiative and made him go first. I hid all my guys, buffing the VC appropriately. He moved Xephs out cautiously but none to a victory area. When he was finished activating, Ghaele was at the front of the forest next to the steep slope. For my last two activations, I slid the VC out of the woods with the CWW and charged Ghaele. Needing a 14 to hit her 28AC, I rolled a 12 a missed. It was a pretty ridiculous play, but since the charge would have done 35 magic and forced a morale save, it was worth it to end the game quickly. I lost initiative and the rain of ranged attacks forced an out of command morale save on the VC which I failed. At this point I was ready to give up but I figured I'd keep playing anyway. I started running everyone up towards the cliff. He brought the Lyrandar to the forefront to take a potshot at my wizard. Who cast a phalanx lightning to force a morale save on him. Even though he passed, he was reduced to 15hp. In the next round, I finished him off with another lightning bolt and a MM from Mialee. The lightning also took out another Xeph and the bat which were hiding out of sight in the woods. Now that the LSC was gone, Storm cast flight on a Shadowdancer so it could charge up the steep slope towards Ghaele. I charged and hit, causing 20 damage. Ghaele was mostly moving and shooting taking out the CWW but missing on an attack. In the following round, I used Storm's silver fire to cause a MC on Ghaele. She rolled a 3 and ran off the board. Sadly, that's just what happens sometimes. Guess it wasn't her lucky day...



I know - I'm a terrible net-bander, but I really wanted to try out this band as soon as I saw it played by Tian Zi a while back. I had never played shadowdancers or the VC in a tournament and really wanted to give them a whirl. All in all, I think I made a number of mistakes during the games but I learned a lot and managed so eke out a win despite a poor situation in the final.