| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
| | Author | Messages | |
Tried
Sergeant
501 Posts
    
 | | 06/26/2006 12:09 AM |
| 2 Things I learned about the Archmage band:
[:0]
Ώ] - Win your map. I have only ever lost once on kings road, and that was a mental error. (I did steal one game, so it evens out.)
Overall, I win only ~ 50% of my matches on other maps. This probably applies regardless of whether you play Xendricks, C-Peg or Rikka variants.
ΐ] - If you play vs monks, save your damn GMA.
After you roll a 2 on your save vs stun (on an aoo, obviously),
you will need it to extract your AM immediately after unstunning.
| |
Let it be. | |
|
Venport
Sergeant
739 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 12:23 AM |
| | I learned a rules peace about the Archmage that i think makes the Archmage Inspiering Marshal Broken... you gan use GMA even when the Archmage is not undercomd by the IM... because he is independent witch makes him always undercomd... Weird... | |
Sacramento DDM http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16854
New world Project http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20745
| |
|
demitroy
Skirmisher
39 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 12:31 AM |
| I normally don't do this, but I had to say something....
Serious props to Game Kastle and Crew for a very well run event!!!
After going 4-3 with Inspired Frenzy (2x FB, IM, Elf Pyro, 2x Graycloak (wolf minions), and filler) and running into 4x Justice Archon first round (damn you JGSUGDEN!!!!!! LOL), I would have been good to go except for triple Justicator and immediately after 1 AC 27 Mounted Pally. Oh well.
Anyway, I had a blast and look forward to the next major quals (sealed baby!) | |
| |
|
Weaponbreaker
Skirmisher
47 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 4:34 AM |
| Thanks to all the crew and the Kastle they ran an efficient and fair tourney(plus it was only 100 mile drive instead 600). Placing in the middle of the pack at 4-3 was fine with me and I was glad to see only a few drops. All I can say is the the labeling of my dice as CE was completely accurate, I will now gladly welcome any modron minis provided they are CE. ANYWAY thanx for the great time and I am sure you will see us Sactowners back to steal away your ratings at some of the future Bay Area events.....
PS - anyone have any event pix posted yet? | |
Hunter of CE d20's. Destroyer of false hope and punisher evil dice across the planes. | |
|
Wayne
Underboss
1371 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 8:18 AM |
| I played Helmed Horror x4, Dark Moon Monk, Timber Wolf. Hellspike.
Very short:
Match One, I played Zach, with Triple Inspired Frenzy. This is, IMO, a fairly neutral matchup, and ended up being a slugfest. Zach played well. He rolled 14 total attacks with his Frenzied, and hit with 12 of them. Not even Quad Horrors can withstand that kind of damage output.
I thought I'd gotten unlucky in Match One, but it turned out to be my biggest break of the tournament, because it put me up against:
Match Two, I played Dwayne Stupack (Tried), with Archmage and Rikka. I got my map, at which point Dwayne commented the game was a "foregone conclusion." He was right ... I cleared off his tile-grabbers, installed my own, and hunted down his commander and fodder until I had a tiny lead, ignoring Rikka and the Archmage completely. Then I sat on a Sacred Circle victory area and waited out the game.
Match Three, I played Matt Bachman (Aravis), with a band very nearly identical to Tried's. (There were three Archmages in the field. Thanks to my losing to the Frenzied Berzerkers, I ended up playing two of them.) Once again, I lucked out (with a +0 verus +4 init bonus) and got Hellspike. To complete the Trifecta, Matt made an early mistake with Rikka, thinking she had fire resistance, and got aggressive, trying a hit and run tactic. After the third hit, when I asked for a morale check, he realized his error. Rikka broke and ran, as she always does (especially out of command). Matt conceded early, and we broke for lunch.
Match Four, I played Paul, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Paul Bettany. He was playing LE Quad, and I really liked my chances, especially after again lucking out and getting Hellspike. He played the way he had to, aggressively. He caught two Horrors and my Wolf in cold breath, and early in the match just couldn't miss with his Duergars and Rakshasa, even on secondary attacks. He also made the Chraal's morale, out of command. Meanwhile, in one sequence I rolled three 1s in four attacks, including one that forced me to expose yet another Helmed Horror to the Chraal's Deathburst. I also managed to forget to activate a Horror who was going to die, and that damage output might well have cost me the game.
Paul never even got a cleave with the Duergars ... he just did so much damage, so quickly, early, that his later few misses didn't matter much. On the other hand, at least I'd fully contributed to this loss, by my own errors. It stung, but in the "God, I'm an idiot" way, not in the "the Universe is conspiring against me" way that my first match had, and my next two matches would have.
Match Five was another dream matchup: Darien Stupack's Triple-GAS band, and if I won, I was still in contention. We played on Dragon Shrine and he got the fire blessing side. I sat up on the lower sacred circle, three Horrors abreast, and waited, and he came to me. I took a quick lead by killing a Sacred Watcher, and led throughout the match, unsurprisingly, even given my reduced damage output. Gradually, however, he pulled back into it, thanks to his other Sacred Watcher (which went 8 for 10 on attacks versus AC 22) and an incredible number of +9 and +11 normal hits with Giths. He never failed a morale save. Even so, in the final rounds of the game, I needed one hit on a Gith for the win. I had six attacks, at +19/+14/+19/+14/+17/+12, to hit AC 25 ... and missed all six. He, on the other hand, needed two attacks to hit a Horror with 20 HP left. Swinging at +11, he hit AC 22 both times, and that was game.
(The sequence of 6 misses was a 3-in-1000 chance. (That's three in a thousand.) If you factor in the needed two hits on the Horror, losing that game became an 8-in-10,000 chance. Pretty impressive.)
Match Six was against John's Arcane Ballista/Kord band, another matchup I liked a lot. (I should have known better.) We played on King's Road. The match started badly for me, with me losing flight to legion's undeniable gravity on two of the Helmed Horrors, and failing the save with both Horrors that were caught in his Electricity Sphere attack . I otherwise hid the Horrors well, though, as John was being overly cautious, until I could engage Kord with two of them. (I was planning to send the other two after the Couatl and Ballista once Kord was committed to the fight.)
John needed 14s to hit with the Ballista and hit with his first three of four shots. Meanwhile, I missed Kord's AC 19 with four of five swings (including two 1s), prompting John to comment on how badly I was rolling. He asked me if it'd been like that all day. "Um, yeah, pretty much." He killed a Horror and pulled back, rcognizing that he'd left the Ballista vulnerable, and able to withdraw because Kord just hadn't taken enough damage. I closed on Kord and the Sword of Heironeous with my remaining Horrors.
I missed his Sword of Heironeous with two attacks for the kill (including another 1); had I killed her, he'd have failed the morale check I eventually forced on Kord. With the Sword still up and Kord fighting to the end, that was game. He picked me apart with Kord and the occasional Ballista potshot.
I dropped at that point, 2-4, pretty unhappy.
Game Kastle (and Matt, Derry, and Eric) did a fantastic job running the event (as they always do, honestly). Next week is the WotDQ prerelease. I enjoy Sealed much more than Constructed, so I'm looking forward to it. | |
Jeff "Wayne Laredo" Wilder | Email | Have/Want List | Trade Policies | Are You an Ethical Trader?
| |
| 2005 D&D Miniatures Champion
Fenris
Sergeant
974 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 11:59 AM |
| Wow, sounds like this was a really great day. I'm sorry to have missed it, but congrats to those who qualified!
Jeez, Darrien AND Kevin. Little whippersnappers are too good! [)] | |
Read my championship tournament report.
Successful trades:
xBrendanx | Cha0tic G0od | ThatOneGuy | BrazenWood | Finley | Arris | Drift x2 | Neonmage | Cthulu's Librarian | Kalvos | PatEllis15 | Paradox1995 | Rhane | Gildogg | Darthrau | Vrecknidj x2 | erian_7 | Octavius Drowslayer x2 | stheis | Garate | thenameless | Lucky_ksu | ckissee | Corim Danex | Schooly_D | Username | |
|
kgradert13
Sergeant
909 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 12:15 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Tried
2 Things I learned about the Archmage band:
[:0]
Ώ] - Win your map. I have only ever lost once on kings road, and that was a mental error. (I did steal one game, so it evens out.)
Overall, I win only ~ 50% of my matches on other maps. This probably applies regardless of whether you play Xendricks, C-Peg or Rikka variants.
That is terrible luck. I think I am 10-2 in tournament play with the Archmage, with only using my map 4 times. (and only 1 time in the qualifier) | |
| |
|
Remix
Skirmisher
22 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 1:02 PM |
| I was the one running Triple Slayer and went 4-3 for the day. The band was:
3x Slayer of Domiel, Village Priest, 2x Arcanix Guard, Sacred Watcher, Timberwolf
1st Round - Triple Death Slaad
Lost map init so we played on Magma Keep. In the 2nd round my opponent got a Chaos Hammer off which routed my Village Priest and both Arcanix Guards. Fortunately none of my Slayers were injured so I was still able to press the attack. The game was pretty close; I mis-counted points and thought I could just run away and stay ahead, but I forgot I didn't get tile points one round so I had to head back to re-engage. I was fortunate to win the last initiative and kill a 2nd Death Slaad with a Slayer bringing me to 212 points and winning immediately.
In retrospect, I started on the wrong side of the map as opening myself to 2nd round Chaos Hammers was not fun. Fortunately Slayers are probably the worst matchup in LG for Death Slaads, only 1 actually got hurt out 3 Chaos Hammers.
1-0
2nd Round - Aspect of Kord + Brass Samurai
I lost map init so we played on Magma Keep. The first couple rounds were us moving our forces into the keep and setting up the engagement area. I was careful not to let Kord get a whirlwind attack on all my Slayers; at least until I had decent flanking. He moved his Kord in, but lost the attack on a Slayer to conceal. Next round I won initiative, and I hit with 4 Slayer atacks with sneak; then he whirlwinded and hit everyone, then I killed Kord with the 3rd Slayer for 130 VP. This put me quite a bit ahead of my opponent in points, so he had to play aggressively with his Goliath Barbarian and Brass Samurai. He was rewarded as my Slayers either failed morale checks, or missed multiple attacks on Aramil; which would of won me the game 2 rounds earlier. In the end, his Brass Samurai needed to hit twice to kill my final Slayer and win the game. Unfortunately he missed both and that was it.
2-0
3rd Round - Triple Justicator, CoDA
We both were playing Dragon Shrine so that's the map we were on. The first couple of rounds was us positioning on the Sacred Circles, each waiting for the other to move first. My opponent moved a Justicator in and I followed with my Slayers. I had a chance to take the advantage and kill off a Justicator before it could be healed, but missed both attacks. He didn't miss conceal and my Slayers dropped one by one. With most of my pieces down, that was game.
2-1
4th Round - War Troll, Zakya Rakshasa, 2x Large Duergar, Rakshasa
Once again we both had Dragon Shrine as our maps, so we played that. The first rounds were positioning with my opponent aggressively moving up a Large Duergar to kill my Timberwolf. Taking the bait, I moved two of my Slayers to get the Duergar, leaving my forces split between the Sacred Circle area and the Acid Resist Shrine. He moved his Zayka up to engage and my forces moved in as well. He managed to kill my Village Priest with the War Troll's ranged attack, but the guards were still able to hit and rout the Zayka. With the Zayka gone, he moved up his War Troll, but I could move in my Sacred Watcher now to block and flank. My other two Slayers joined the main fight and stalled the War Troll long enough to have the guard route the Rakshasa and that was game.
3-1
4th Round - Archmage Inspiring Marshall
I lost map init, so we played King's Road. After setting up, the game was basically the Archmage picking off all my fodder and staying away from the Slayers. I made a bad tactical decision in trying to kill all his fodder for double points and forcing his Archmage to engage; but I was never able to finish off any of his pieces. At the end of the game, my 3 Slayers were slightly injured, but none of his important pieces were dead so I lost on points.
I definitely should of pursued the Archmage more aggressively and hope I won an important init but I made a mistake in going after support pieces.
3-2
6th Round - 4x Zayka Rakshasa, Human Blackguard
I lost map init (again), so we played on Dungeon of Blood. The first two rounds saw us position near the top of the shared victory area, with both of us in good places to charge. I won the next initiative and was able to move in first and lead off with the Slayers. Out of the big fight, the Slayers and Guards were able to hit AC 22 and I killed 2 Zayka's with double point kills and 1 normal kill. With 2 rounds of VP, the math worked out perfectly; 144 + 36 + 20 = 200 and that was game.
4-2
Going into the 7th round, I was at 7th place and feeling pretty good. I didn't think my tie-breakers were good enough to put in the top 4, but if I won, at least I'd make top 8 and get 3 boosters.
7th Round - 2x Duergar Champion, Chraal, Zayka Rakshasa, Human Blackguard
I lost map init and we played on Field of Ruin. The first couple of rounds was moving towards the middle and setting up for the engagement. His Duergar champs lead the way and we fought just outside the shared victory area. I was unable to hit his champions at all, while he didn't miss the Slayers. I also made a mistake with my Sacred Watcher and allowed it to rout off the board due to the Chill Touch of the Zayka. I only managed to kill one Duergar Champion after all my Slayers either routed or were killed and that was game.
4-3
After losing the last match, I dropped to 10th place so no boosters for me. Throughout the tournament I was pretty lucky in not having to deal with any helmed horrors. | |
| |
|
TianZi
Skirmisher
25 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 1:12 PM |
| First post after my first tournament...
I'm Mike Domezio aka Tianzi. I played a Kord/Cuatl/WFBG/Combat Medic and Cleric of Order with filler on Drow Enclave. I was surprised to have the only WFBG in the mix. The Medic worked out very well, I was glad I went with Combat Medic/CoO over CoDa. I don't know anybody's name yet...
Rd 1 - Lost to 4 Gith's and a YM on my own map. The CoO has 2 Major Resistances and the gameplan was to let the Giths sit where they want, load up Kord and WFBG w/ spells, and go kill them... well, first tourney jitters and I forgot the spells. Wouldn't have mattered, I got battered. 0-1
Rd 2 - Beat a twin Aspect of Lloth with WFBG and Medic keeping Kord swinging on the bridge. 1-1
Rd 3 - I think this was a 6x SWarm w/ Sword Archon. He groaned when he saw the Combat Medic, that made my day. She Turned one SW and "Cured Crit" another for 2 kills. Never did get the Searing Light off. Kord took care of the rest. 2-1
Rd 4 - A Kord vs Kord match on my map. His was CG Kord with Crow Shaman/Brass Samurai and a GB. I took 2 Kord Crits, but between WFBG and Medic Kord was still up. I won round 4 or 5 Init and his Kord had 40 HP's left... and I missed. Rolled a 4. His Kord had Cat's Grace and his Amaril nerfed my Kord. That turned out to be the difference. His Kord then killed my Kord, and that was that. His Elf Warrior did 25 points of damage, including 2 crits. 2-2 and the most brutal match I played.
Rd 5 - LE Quadish band: Chraal, Zak Rash, Mind Flayer, IL, Snig & Sniglets & filler. My map. He went first and ran his wolf to block the bridge/VA. I moved the whole squad up around the chasm and the main battle took place at Victory Area B while our fodder battled (missed alot) on the bridge. Zak Rash took one shot and routed. Chraal took the beating and blew up. Most importantly, I made most of the Stun checks from the Flayer, proving the value of the CoO. 3-2
Rd 6 - 2 FB's and Ryld on Dragon Shrine. I holed up in an easily defensible spot near the Fire Res area and waited... until he exposed Ryld and I got greedy. I killed Ryld, great, but then the FB's went to work on my over-extended warband. No Cure Crits from the Medic. I may have had a chance if I stayed put, maybe not. 3-3
Rd 7 - LSD, SW, dwarf artificer and a Sword of Heronius? It was a long night. Kings Road. I won Rd 1 init and sent Kord into the shared VA. It was pretty much over after that as his plan was to sit the LSD in there. Medic picked off the SW, Kord ran out of the woods to kill commander, fodder filled in behind. LSD never got in and I think failed the morale check. 4-3
CoO was very handy for Init's... I always had the higher C5, save Ryld's Init bonus.
Medic was key, if I healed a Cure Crit, I won. If not, I lost. Bonus = 3 SW sent off the board.
WFBG took 2-3 hits and died with heroic predictability. He lasted through just 1 combat (LE Quadish) and rarely made an offensive contribution.
That was a blast and I'll see you there on Saturday! Thanks to Derry and Doranur (ok I know 2 names) and GameKastle. | |
| |
| 
jgsugden
Commander
4320 Posts
Walnut Creek, CA
| | 06/26/2006 4:06 PM |
| I started off ok, but dropped off at the end.
My band: Justice 4 All (4 X Justice Archon, Couatl, Standardbearer, Cleric of Yondalla, Timber Wolf)
1-0 vs Dual Frenzy (IM, Pyro): Justice Archon vs FBs is a nice match-up. I don't think it is a lock, but it is pretty strong. I made a huge mistake that left 2 JAs out of command and making morale checks at +4... and they made both. I deserved to lose, but won due to the power of the match-up.
2-0 vs Dual Frenzy (Ryld, GCs): A similar story, but I didn't make any big errors.
2-1 vs GAS: I played a friend of mine from Endgame in Oakland... and he played well with a superior match-up and more luck. If your foe has a better match-up and better luck, you're in trouble unless you're a far superior player... and Jeff and I are fiarly equal in skill. At least one of us went to 3-0...
3-1 vs Semi-Mirror Match: His band was 2 X Justice Archon, 2 X Sacred Watcher, Rikka, Couatl, Warfored Bodyguard and Aramil. He made a mistake early on and sacrificed a sacred watcher to take out my timber wolf... after the timber wolf had gathered me first turn tile points. Then, after I parked on the magic circle with my JA army, he was forced to come to me... and I cleaned him up. I did have to overextend myself a bit to get Aramil before he was able to RoE multiple angels, but I compensated and recovered.
3-2 vs LE Quad (2X Duergar, 1 X Zakya, 1 X Chraal, HBG): JAs don't match well against high AB pieces with high ACs. I needed luck to compete... and didn't get it. I didn't make any huge mistakes... I just couldn't hit and he made all his morale checks. The big problem was conceal... I missed 3 ou of my first 4 attempts to get past conceal on his Duergars...
3-3 vs CE Quad w/ 2X Mounted Drow Patrol: On papar, I should have won this one... but JAs only attack at +10/+5. I made short work of the Eye and Orc Champion, but after they fell, I couldn't hit the mounted drow patrol for some reason, he picked off my commanders, and I slowly fell apart. I lost the timber wolf early to the MDP, so I lost out on tile points... which cost me the game. I had a good chance of killing all of his big beaters, but by the time I did so, I'd have had to run all over the board with my remaininbg two angels to kill all his troops before he won on tile points... and that just wasn't possible. It made me regret my desision to cut out Rikka and a Gith monk in favor of 2 JAs, as the monk could have gotten the enemies and won me the game...
3-4 Quad Zakya w/ HBG: Talk about bad match-ups... They hit far better and are nearly fearless with the HBG. I needed huge luck to have a shot... and luck was not with me. I was playing a good player with a superior match-up and superior luck... I had no chance.
My band was built to handle HGBs, Maruts (w/out Bodyguard, I was hoping) and other high damage or back field vulnerable pieces. I played 3 good match-ups, 3 bad ones and one wash ... and won about that many games. I'm really ready for WotDQ to add something to the mix, although I'm not sure if it will add enough to change the meta away from the current titans... | |
Champion of Meepo _*_ Myztek on the Wizards Boards. _*_ (2206 DDM on 03/06/06)
Please note: The use of the  indicates an attempt at humor ... often a bad attempt.
BAD EBAY SELLERS LIST (CLICK HERE): AVOID AT ALL COSTS
| |
|
Venport
Sergeant
739 Posts
| | 06/26/2006 4:23 PM |
| Let me say that John and I played in the last rnd and He made no errors in the game... I even made some Small errors, but because of the match up it was almost impossable for him to win...
thanks for the game John | |
Sacramento DDM http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16854
New world Project http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20745
| |
|
Meds
Warrior
286 Posts
Alameda, CA
| | 06/27/2006 5:31 PM |
| Here's my 5-2 tournament report. A quick note about my warband choice as it's a little quirky:
Ryld Argith, Frenzied Berserker x2, Graycloak Ranger, Aramil, Devis, Wolf (minion), Elf Warrior, Xeph Warrior (9 activations, 200 points) on Dragon Shrine
My base plan is to get the FBs within 8 (or a charge lane) on round 1, move and attack at the end of round 2 (using GCR and Ryld for activation control), and then hope to win initiative on round 3 (thanks to Ryld) for a potential 180 points of unanswered damage from the FBs. The band lacks the Grant Move Action of Inspiring Marshall, but Ryld does have some advantages:
i) the +2 attack that Ryld gives the FBs can be decisive against high AC bands
ii) the initiative advantage is huge, particuarly against a couple of poor-matchups where the FBs can't afford to lose initiative -- Hill Giant Barbarians and Justice Archons (the latter have been relatively popular in the local metagame)
iii) Ryld fights. He can afford to step up and draw a hit from a Marut without a morale check. And he can potentially lay out 40 dmg in a round.
There were also a couple of personal issues that made this band good for me:
a) I've been playing for 3 months and didn't have a lot of time to practice, so I wanted to maximize my chance of playing on a map I knew backwards.
b) I was concerned about playing too slowly (overly so in retrospect), and GMA seems to slow play down for everyone.
Round 1:
John Stuvall (?): Ballista, Kord, Couatl, Sword of Heironeous, TW x2, ... on Keep of Fallen Kings 1
I wasn't happy to see Sword of Heironeous as it virtually wipes out my initiative advantage at a much cheaper cost. He wins map, and I study the open lines of sight with growing horror. I win side and let him setup first. We both setup on the same side as the victory areas but he has no initial LOS to my band. We both move to the victory areas with our wolves. I believe I've kept my band largely hidden while moving forward but he hits an FB with a ballista bolt. I take out his wolves before the end of the 2nd and hide out in the victory areas. I burn out for a round or two while I collect tile points and wait for him to come to me. He moves in with Kord and quickly takes down the injured FB. I take down Kord. Ryld and my wolf both rout but later rally. I run away and hide close to time and John concedes, as I am winning 146-75 on points.
I was shaken by this match as I made some bad mistakes and it could have easily gone the other way. I think John rolled two critical misses -- one was only against a Xeph, but I think the other was against an FB. There were two (perfectly amicable) rules questions in this match that both went my way, but I suspect were disconcerting to us both.
1-0
Round 2:
John Sugden (jgsugden): JAx4, Couatl, Cleric of Yondalla, Standardbearer, TW on Dragon Shrine.
I had lost against John playing 3 JAs in casual play two weeks earlier. I had not planned on meeting 4 JAs though -- eek. I lose side and he sets up on Blue. He moves his JAs next to the exit. The FBs just manage to get within 8 of one of them. In the 2nd I lose init, Ryld moves in to base a JA and draws a second. The other 2 JAs take up blocking positions on the sacred circle, cunningly denying me flanks and the use of the circle -- these factors prove to be critical. On the other hand, the JAs are spread out so I can base one without the risk of basing others. Aramil magic missiles one JA and the FBs move in and attack. In the melee, I miss 4 of my early primary attacks with the FBs (+14 vs AC19). On the plus side, Ryld does roll a 19 on one JA so it can't afford to take the AoO to move away. I take out 3 JAs but I allow the Couatl to SS the 4th to take down my second FB. I concede losing 198-141 on points.
This one went mostly according to plan, but even with better luck it would still have been a tough matchup to win.
1-1
Round 3:
Dwayne Stupack (Tried): Archmage, Inspiring Marshall, Rikka, Graycloak Ranger x2, Devis, Wolf x2, Xeph x 2 on King's Road
I win map but lose side. He lets me choose Red although I don't have a strong preference either. He builds his defenses on the center Acid shrine with fodder and Rikka blocking all approaches. His Xeph gets tile points on the Electricity Shrine all game -- in retrospect I might have been better off going after it. I move across the board near Tiamat, avoiding LOS to his Archmage. I make a key mistake forgetting that my GCR's Hide doesn't work against an Archmage with Blindsight. The GCR routs, and then fails to rally so I now don't have a good way to remove his blockers. I also put my tile grabbing Xeph in direct LOS of one of his GCRs -- doh. My FBs split up to make it hard for him to cover all entrances. I base the Archmage with one FB coming up from the Cold shrine -- he takes the AoO to move away, Mordenkainen's Swords a FB, and swift Dimension Doors across to the other side of the map. My sworded FB will die within 2 rounds and even if I manage to take out Rikka and the IM in that time (possible but not likely), I will still lose on tile points. I concede as we are close to time.
I made some bad mistakes in this one. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to play Dwayne and he taught me some good lessons.
1-2
Round 4:
Ian Bell (IanB): Hill Giant Barbarian x2, Drow Sergeant, Orc Wardummer, Orc Warrior x3 on Dragon Shrine
Ian had outplayed me soundly with Justice Archons at Kublacon a few weeks earlier. I was not happy to see HGBs either though. I win side and setup on Blue. He moves to the 'top' victory area near Tiamat and the top sacred circle. I move to the victory area near the exit, and place blockers so that he cannot move and hit my FBs next round, but I still have the option to charge his giants. The HGBs come to me in the 2nd round and take out my blockers. I base and hit with the FBs, and win initiative at the start of the 3rd. He fails morale and runs off. I make a dumb mistake of using Aramil to Magic Missile the last OW and block instead of enfeebling the remaining HGB. It moves in and attacks. On the following round the 2nd giant also fails morale and Ian concedes.
I obviously had some incredible luck with both Hill Giants routing. I suspect even if the 2nd passed morale, I'd still have a good chance of winning. But the 1st morale check was huge -- I would have had to hit with my remaining 3 FB attacks at +11/+16/+11 to kill it without it getting a chance to strike back, and then I'd have had one fewer attacks on the 2nd Hill Giant that round. Winning side init on this matchup was also critical.
2-2
Round 5:
John Holmes (?): Large Silver Dragon, Sword of Heironeous, Dwarf Artificer, Sacred Watcher, Hill Dwarf Warrior, Human Commoner on King's Road
I hadn't played against a LSD before, but it looked tough to me. Plus there was that cheap Commander 7 again. Luckily I win map -- AC 30 in the forest would probably not have been beatable. I lose side and he chooses Blue (denying me cold resistance). I split up my forces and move towards the center. He moves his LSD towards the center and sends his SW after my tile-grabber. I make a bad mistake and move a FB away to take out the SW ignoring the fact that I can get tile points on the lower sacred circle easily -- but the SW only needs one hit to kill right? That mistake costs me 3 rounds of attacks on the LSD which could have been decisive. Meanwhile, Ryld and the other FB flank the enfeebled LSD and try to hit. The FB makes her save against Paralysis -- again a potential game changer -- and they both absorb the cold cone. I lose 4 initiatives in a row, the FB dies, but the second finally steps up to take her place. Finally, the FB crits with her secondary attack, and Ryld finishes the LSD off to take me to 200 points. On average, I would have expected to hit with more primary attacks than I did. Nevertheless, I had huge luck on the two key rolls in this game: the map initiative and the paralysis save. If either of those goes against me, I suspect I lose.
3-2
Round 6:
Mike Demezio (TianZi): Kord, Couatl, Warforged Bodyguard, Cleric of Order, Combat Medic, Man-at-Arms x2, Human Commoner(?) on Drow Enclave
I'd played Mike at Kublacon so he'd seen my band before. I win map, he wins side and sets up on Red. He moves to the chokepoint near Tiamat and my victory area. I move to the middle. I pick off his tile grabber, and consider letting him to come to me. I decide against it, and move Ryld up. He takes the bait and comes out from the chokepoint. The Bodyguard goes down at the end of round 2 (Magic Missile, FB, FB), Kord goes down in round 3 at the expense of Ryld, and the Cleric of Order in round 4.
In retrospect, I suspect this is a good matchup for my band.
4-2
Round 7:
unknown -- sorry: Mounted Paladin, Couatl, Justice Archon, Timber Wolf, 30 points of other stuff?.
I was getting very tired at this point and my notes are sparse. We play on Dragon Shrine. He sets up on Red and moves towards the chokepoint near Tiamat. I focus on the scary Justice Archon, taking it down at the end of round 2 (Magic Missile, FB, FB). In round 3 I base the Couatl with my FBs but miss twice. The next round, the Couatl routs and the Paladin dies flanked by FBs and Ryld.
5-2
I finished 8th and happy, plus thankful for my good luck.
Surprisingly, there were 3 other Berserker bands at the tournament (two triples and one other double). I believe that at least one of them finished just behind me at 4-3.
From the prize boosters I pulled Aspect of Moradin (need it), Dragon Totem Hero (need it), and Chimera (yay). | |
Have/Want List || Trade References | |
|
Jasbury
Sneak
70 Posts
| | 06/27/2006 7:03 PM |
| wow your prize boosters were alot better than mine
I got a gulgar (This makes 3) Night Hag (ugh) and Wardrummer (also my 3rd but at least is was tradeable) | |
| |
|
| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
| |
ActiveForums 3.7 | You must be signed in to participate in the
games. |