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DDM Australian Champion 2005
psistef
Underboss
1572 Posts
    
 | | 12/08/2005 12:20 AM |
| Hey all,
As has been discussed in the General forum, about 20 others and myself recently competed in the Sydney Challenge DDM Tournament. A contingent of us outback boys headed out to compete, and to prove our theory that there more than four DDMers in the country.
More importantly [)] I won!
While the tournament probably took place in a more sheltered metagame than some of the US tournaments I imagine, I know that personally I am always looking for reports. I love hearing about people’s bands, why they made them and how they did.
To that end, I thought I’d write up my band and why I chose it.
Be aware, I am currently on a train back to Broken Hill, a trip that takes about 18 hours, so this may run a little long, depending on boredom and battery life…..
The weekend involved 200pt constructed on Saturday and 200pt sealed on Sunday.
I’m going to focus on constructed.
Why you ask? Well I went undefeated on Saturday. On Sunday I had my first experience playing sealed and failed to win a single match. On the upside, I pulled my third Djinni!!!
So we Broken Hill folk spent a few weeks testing bands for the tournament, with the understanding that we would be playing 12 figs and tiles. I cooked up a Greenfang band that I loved despite its flaws. But when Underdark hit, I realised that an Evermeet Wizard would never survive in an environment wherein Rikka and Tacticians were the new toys.
I also realised that I would feel like a traitor forever if I didn’t take my beloved LE to my first tournament.
So, I cooked up this:
Dark Naga
Gauth
Duerger Champion x3
Goblin Skirmisher x5
Warrior Skeleton x2
About two days before we left, we found out that we’d be playing on maps. Now, we’d spent weeks learning how to play assault (I’d had limited experience on Vassal, but the other guys had had zip), and we had the hang of it, but I didn’t have a map capable tile grabber. Speed 6 is more than enough for me on tiles, because I know I can either get to a tile or deny my opponent from doing so, but no dice on maps. Imagine my surprise and relief when, five minutes before he first match of the day, Eric yelled ‘Ok! None of this tile stuff! Just destroy each other!” Good for me.
Frankly speaking, Underdark delivered the Lawful Evil warband of my dreams. LE has always been my favorite faction. I love the flavor despite it’s pre-Angelfire absence from the winner’s circle.
I played with the Chraal and, while very strong, it just didn’t fit my playstyle.
The Gauth is a perfect example of LE’s past problems. It’s an excellent piece, but it’s a support piece that never had a warband to call home. Paralysis is awesome, but the save is mediocre and there were no hitters to capitalise. See where I’m going with this?
The band really is made up of three parts, so I’ll tackle it that way.
Command/Support: Naga and Gauth.
A match made in heaven, what more is there to say? I’ve played extensively with the Gauth in the past, but in recent history it’s usability has taken a bit of a downturn, mostly due to the Couatl.
However, I’ve always been a firm believer that the Gauth’s real power is not in the fire ray, it’s in the paralysis. While 15 free fire a round can make a substantial difference, one timely paralysis can crack a game wide open. That’s where the Naga comes in – for some reason DC16 is much more reliable than DC14. The Naga is also no sluch on its own. I quickly learned the destructive powers of lines as opposed to cones, and the Slapping Hand spell can prove devastating in combination with the Duergers.
Hitters: Duergers.
Duerger champions are, simply put, awesome. I love this piece. Many pieces nowadays have one super duper strength and one punishing drawback to provide balance. The Duergers, however, are just all-round solid performers with the magic 65 hit points.
Most obviously, speed 6 and in-built magic damage put them head and shoulders above most LE beaters straight off the bat.
Fighting CE beaters? Three hits for 15 will provoke morale pretty quickly, and DC 20 with conceal will more often than not nullify their second attack.
Facing auto damage? Out of command? Save 10 will see you through.
Fighting LG? +15 to hit will open most cans in the game.
Cleave and immunities are just gravy.
Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t perfect and have their share of bad matchups, but they’re not to be taken lightly.
Filler: Gobbo/Skelly swarm.
Goblin Skirmishers are fantastic for 3 points. The ranged attack means that they can kill most fodder before it engages, or at least live another round.
The way I play, fodder is killed quickly. I play aggressively with them, using them to block and funnel the battle and any damage they deal is just a bonus.
I added two skeletons because I needed some pure blockers, and only by adding guys that can’t hit anything could I force myself to not run them in suicide style.
Some general thoughts on the band:
I looked for a sturdier commander, but the Naga fits too perfectly. To all those looking at this guy – adding a Gauth is all you need to get value out of his commander effect.
Not only that, but the slapping hands go great with three duergers.
I often find it more reliable to target a fodder piece with the slap and then cleaving onto a hitter. I prefer a 90 per cent shot at one hit than a 10 per cent shot at 45.
This also has a ‘fireball effect’, putting off our opponent’s placement and throwing off their flanks.
I’ve thought about swapping a Duerger for Helmed Horror (picked one it in Sydney!) but that really would change the nature of the beast, which at present is all about offense.
I forgot to take notes on the day, but I’ll give a brief rundown of the battles I fought.
Cleric of Order, Ulmo, Gith Monk, Gold Dwarf Fighter, Eberk, Artificer and filler.
When you roll up AC 27 and your opponent says “nope”, you start to sweat a little. Ulmo is intimidating, but I was able to bring the battle into a choke point in the Gauth’s line of sight, denying flanks and wearing them down. Interestingly, I ended up killing four of my own goblins when the lightning bolts were too juicy to pass up.
Archmage, Greenfang, Dire Bear, Monitor Lizard.
Gotta say, I was impressed by the gustiness of this band. My oppoenent holed up in a room on turn one and made me come to him – forcing me to work through the bear’s mountain of hitpoints while the mage blasted away.
However, my activation advantage allowed me to sacrifice goblins until he was out, and then blast lighting through his entire squad, burn the bear and then whack it with three bigby lovin’ duergers. Shortly after, the Archamge popped oout to sword the Naga, and was based by flanking gray dwarves. It was all mop up from there
Inspiring Marshall, Frenzied Berserker, Goliath Barbarian, Rikka, Pyro, Graycloak and filler.
Scariest match of the day. A solid band. The hitters got to my front line so quickly I was unable to stop a fireball hitting all three Duergers. Round 2, Rikka Waylayed into the centre of my band and I was terrified. If he’d won init, I knew she could wreck havoc on my underbelly, and my Duergers would have to fall back in on themselves. Luckily, I won init, and Rikka was paralysed by Gauth, going down shortly after. Following that, the Goliath went down to Paralysis as well and that was that.
This was the only game of the day in which I lost a Duerger.
Inspiring Marshall, Longstrider x3, HEBI and some Wild Elf Raiders, Catfolk and stuff.
Interestingly enough, I travelled 14 hours to play new people and end up playing for top spot against my brother Kyle (Kypdurron).
I’d had intimate experience with this band and knew that it is decepitevly strong. Kyle is a master of the ‘power move’, and can dance those Longstriders around, cutting activations with the HEBI until one grant move action sees your biggest pieces cut down in an instant.
Halfway through the second round archers had cut down all of my fodder. At this point and ahead on points, Kyle could have easily played keep away for the next 50 minutes and won on points.
We know each other’s playstyle too well though and we’d both rather fight and die than go for the cheese win. Longstriders hit Duergers and the Duergers won out. After that, we both knew it was over.
I had an awesome time, and it was a blast to meet and play against some fresh blood.
I suspect the Sydney Challenge may not have been as uber-intense as Gencon for example, but I hope it’s the first step towards a real Australian Championship tournament. Of course, when I talk to anyone who isn’t intimately involved in Maxminis or the tournie, I’ll be referring to myself as DDM Australian Champion [:)]
So, can anyone come up with a cool name for the warband? I was thinking about Goodness Gracious (Great Dwarves of Fire), or GG, but maybe something a bit catchier would be apt. Although that name would add something to the match ending ‘good game’.
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Champion of the Prestige Class where mages focus on telekenesis and start throwing people into the ceiling and uber stuff like that.
Desirer of a Commander Effect in CG that grants Sidestep to followers with a ranged attack. | |
| Thoth, Gatherer of Knowledge
MerricB
Underboss
2353 Posts
Australia
| | 12/08/2005 12:27 AM |
| Congratulations! Wish I'd been there. [:)]
Cheers! | |
Merric Blackman
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turt
Warrior
211 Posts
Canberra, Australia
| | 12/08/2005 12:30 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by psistef
Inspiring Marshall, Frenzied Berserker, Goliath Barbarian, Rikka, Pyro, Graycloak and filler.
Scariest match of the day. A solid band. The hitters got to my front line so quickly I was unable to stop a fireball hitting all three Duergers. Round 2, Rikka Waylayed into the centre of my band and I was terrified. If he’d won init, I knew she could wreck havoc on my underbelly, and my Duergers would have to fall back in on themselves. Luckily, I won init, and Rikka was paralysed by Gauth, going down shortly after. Following that, the Goliath went down to Paralysis as well and that was that.
This was the only game of the day in which I lost a Duerger.
Thanks for the praise. Great report, made me relive the entire day.
Congrats again on winning. | | | |
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DDM Australian Champion 2005
psistef
Underboss
1572 Posts
| | 12/08/2005 1:54 AM |
| Hey Turt! So that is you...
Praise is deserved. I always consider that if a game swings on one init check, then I'm in a bad way.
You forced that situation, and thus rock.
Man Merric, it's a shame you couldn't be there. I look forward to meeting you next year. | |
Champion of the Prestige Class where mages focus on telekenesis and start throwing people into the ceiling and uber stuff like that.
Desirer of a Commander Effect in CG that grants Sidestep to followers with a ranged attack. | |
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alepulp
Underboss
1538 Posts
Manchester, England
| | 12/08/2005 4:04 AM |
| It sounds like you had some tough opposition with some interesting variants - particularly the idea of the Longstrider Ranger x 3 is intriguing. Solid warbands.
Great work to the organisers also. Having driven from Adelaide to Sydney by way of Canberra once I can tell you that one big country - especially since that is just the bottom Eastern corner. Getting a truly all Aussie competition together will be a great achievement!!!
How did you find getting Hasbro went? | |
One of these days WoTC will update their tournament page when I'm in the top 5... they never seem to do when I'm in that bracket :(
My Collection My DDM Website And My Trade Refs Be a part of the UK DDM Forum
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BudLeiser
Warrior
218 Posts
| | 12/08/2005 9:17 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by psistef
Eric yelled ‘Ok! None of this tile stuff! Just destroy each other!” Good for me.
WOW. How incredibly wrong is that. I feel sorry for everyone in the tournament that actually spent time practicing and building an army for that day. Hey its fine to hold a non-assault non-triad tourney but thats something that needs to be known ahead of time (as in days not minutes). | |
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turt
Warrior
211 Posts
Canberra, Australia
| | 12/08/2005 6:20 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by BudLeiser
quote:
Originally posted by psistef
Eric yelled ‘Ok! None of this tile stuff! Just destroy each other!” Good for me.
WOW. How incredibly wrong is that. I feel sorry for everyone in the tournament that actually spent time practicing and building an army for that day. Hey its fine to hold a non-assault non-triad tourney but thats something that needs to be known ahead of time (as in days not minutes).
I don't think anyone was upset by the decision. Few if any of us had any expeirence i the Assault format. | | | |
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bluebehir
Sneak
150 Posts
| | 12/08/2005 6:52 PM |
| I agree - it gave all players a level playing field to play standard scenario. Most players on the day hadn't even tried Assault before (myself included, although I have read a lot of strategy on it.)
Great win Psistef, and thanks for the report. I'm tempted to give a loser's point of view, but ... ah... it might be skewed! I'll see what I can remember a whole week after the event. | |
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bluebehir
Sneak
150 Posts
| | 12/08/2005 7:53 PM |
| It was a warm day, true to Summer, when I had the opportunity to meet many of the (14?) D&D Miniature Skirmishers.
I was surprised to see people from as far as Broken Hill, as I was only notified of the event by word of mouth, having not joined this community on maxminis as much as I … should.
I didn’t give myself a lot of preparation time, and my original warband was something akin to:
Beholder
Gauth
Dark Naga
Choker x 2
Filler.
It was almost a pure Abberations theme, and I was trying to have the chokers stun everyone while the Beholder inflicted wounds on unactivating enemy. It didn’t quite work like that in my single practice game, so I modified it to the one I used on the day:
Beholder
Gauth
Dark Naga
Skeletal Equiceph
Half Illithid Lizardfolk
3 Kobold Miners.
The concept was fairly simple.
The Kobold Miners were to deny points, block enemies paths, and cause distractions.
(Any activation used to destroy a kobold was not used to double move to the gauth.)
The Gauth and Beholder were my long range threat, guaranteed to deal damage, and hopefully paralyse the enemy so that they could not reach me.
The Skeletal Equiceph was a blocker, there to prevent enemies from advancing, and hopefully scary enough to prevent Attacks of Opportunity as they moved past.
The Half Illithid Mindflayer was purely support, reasonable damage, but able to stun the enemy for a slight improvement in activation control.
The Naga was a commander, obviously, but primarily improving DCs of the gauth + beholder, half illithid, and also to cast spells to clear fodder, or in the extreme dire situation that it was required, cast bigby’s slapping hand with the equiceph as the threatening attacker.
We played every match on the same map – (can't recall the name - Fane of Lolth?)
My first opponent was Andrew, who wielded the Greenfang Druid, the Archmage, the dire bear and the monitor lizard.
I lost the initiative roll, and thus the choice of which side to begin from. Andrew (to my dismay) chose to begin in area B. He set up near the corner with the enclosed room.
My first mistake was to choose the diagonally opposite corner in which to setup. If I had chosen the same side as Andrew, I’d have been able to get line of sight to the room, and attack from a distance. As it was, I had to travel to him just to get a line of sight.
My second mistake was that I believed (all day, in fact) that I couldn’t split my warband into the two starting locations – because they’d be out of command. In reality though, this was affordable for the beholder, and benefited my Naga. It also would make the opponent split his warband, and I could better manipulate that. I would lose the improved DC rating though.
My third mistake was to forget to dual activate the beholder in the first round.
So after Andrew killed my three Kobold Miners, netting 0 points, he hid in the room. I traveled the mile to reach him, dealing small amounts of damage along the way by setting my lizardfolk and equiceph in positions where he needed to step outside the room to counter attack. He lost his Monitor lizard, but killed my Skeletal Equiceph and also my lizardfolk. The Naga managed to Bigby’s on the bear, but the Skeletal Equiceph’s +5 to hit doesn’t work when you roll a 2.
My luck changed finally, and Andrew failed morale on his Dire Bear via the Beholder’s constant whittling away at his HP. It routed and exited the board.
But his Archmage managed to Mord’Sword my Beholder, and he played it out so that the Beholder’s dual activation destroyed it. When time was called, Andrew won on points. For the record, I rolled four 1’s for initiative, 2 of which Andrew also rolled a 1, and won on commander level. I had some EXTREMELY dismal dice rolling in this game, including 2 more 1’s and four 2’s. Fortunately, a 2 for the Beholder is still marginally beneficial, I was able to move my Naga out of threatening squares – enough so I could move and cast. My only roll above 15 was on a morale check, which I was at least thankful for.
But ultimately, Andrew made no mistakes and I made quite a few. He deserved the commendable win for his good plays more than my bad rolls.
My second opponent was Kerryn, of Broken Hill.
He played a quad warband, with Eye of Gruumsh, Orc Champion, two red samurais, drow sergeant, and 6 orc warriors. Or was it seven? He definitely had 12 activations to my recollection.
I managed to win the initiative and chose Side B. I split my warband with the beholder on one side, and the gauth on the other. The Equiceph, lizardfolk and Naga were near the centre, while the kobolds were always randomly placed.
Kerryn split his forces with the Orc Champ, two Samurais and Drow Sergeant being on one side, and the Eye of Gruumsh leading all orc warriors from the other.
On my initial movement, I dual activated the Beholder to get him into position and then inflict wounds on his Drow Sergeant which was exposed. It failed its check and ran off the board, leaving his heavy hitters out of command.
Kerryn rectified this by moving as many orc warriors as possible, before sending the eye over to command his hitters.
Thankfully this had given me an upper hand, and when he sent the three heavy hitters down the side of the map to meet my beholder, I sent my illithid to intervene. It died, of course, and a samurai and orc champion managed to base my beholder, but not attack it with any guster.
My gauth paralysed his orc champion, and my beholder routed the first red samurai.
The Eye of Gruumsh tried to centre to collect all the orc champions that had scattered all over the right hand and centre of the board, with the second samurai managing to base the dark naga.
As the game closed, the beholder had routed the orc champion, and red the first red samurai, both had run back to their start location in an attempt to exit the board.
The Eye needed to choose between standing and fighting and running back to rally, but the Gauth made that decision easier with a timely paralysis.
I won on points when time was called, as I had also destroyed the last red samurai with lightning bolts and equiceph damage.
My third opponent was I think Ferdinand. He had a Couatl band which caused some difficulty, but I can’t recall the entire warband. If he could post it, I could definitely continue, or he could recall the game details if he wishes.
.... to be continued .... | |
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Nixlord
Underboss
2468 Posts
Quezon City, Philippines
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IanB
Commander
3112 Posts
| | 12/09/2005 5:12 PM |
| | I've been playing naga-gauth-duergar for a few weeks now, and I really enjoy it. I think my favorite thing about it is you can make stupid mistakes and still get bailed out by conceal. ;) | |
Anson on WotC boards | |
| DDM Australian Champion 2005
psistef
Underboss
1572 Posts
| | 12/09/2005 8:03 PM |
| Yeah, it's quite forgiving that way.
On a similar note, I quite like the fact that I can roll nothing over 5 for an entire match and still hit consistently! [:)]
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Champion of the Prestige Class where mages focus on telekenesis and start throwing people into the ceiling and uber stuff like that.
Desirer of a Commander Effect in CG that grants Sidestep to followers with a ranged attack. | |
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lynchpt
Sergeant
930 Posts
| | 12/13/2005 9:47 AM |
| Psistef,
I forgot to thank you for your report. I was wavering about whether to include a Gauth in my NE Open warband, but your report reassured me of its effectiveness,
Thanks,
Pat Lynch | |
Dreamblade Rules Advisor | |
| DDM Australian Champion 2005
psistef
Underboss
1572 Posts
| | 12/13/2005 10:17 PM |
| Hey Pat, no probs.
While a lot of people were talking about "those $%#$ Duergers" at the end of my matches, the Gauth was easily most valuable player.
Against Turt, he singlehandedly won the game.
In other matches, he was lucky to land a single ray, but the fear he inspired and the way he forced my opponents to move was easily worth 39 points.
There is a lot to be said for being able to guarantee that last morale-inducing 15 damage.
I've seen people go the all-beater route with LE, but the fact is they just can't get the damage output to match the chaotics.
They really shine because of their excellent support/tech.
The faction's had a lot of missteps, and sadly there's a lot of LE figures that'll never see a table, but it's really coming together now.
Interestingly, LE is one of the few factions that has figures from almost all sets that can still be considered competitive.
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Champion of the Prestige Class where mages focus on telekenesis and start throwing people into the ceiling and uber stuff like that.
Desirer of a Commander Effect in CG that grants Sidestep to followers with a ranged attack. | |
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