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alepulp
Underboss
1538 Posts
    
Manchester, England
 | | 03/05/2006 10:42 AM |
| Again - just my perspective on things - and possibly based on poor memory.
24 players attended - a new UK record for exclusively UK players. - corrected.
My draws were middling - I can't remember the second rare I drew, but I didn't use either of my rares. The first one was an Arcane Ballista... yeah...
But my uncommons were competitive, the must "use" were the ones which would assist in winning inits, keep the Hill Giant alive and assist in the inevitable Morale Checks that the Hill Giant would get:
Hill Giant Barabarian
Warpriest of Moradin
Warforged Bodyguard
Then I had to add a Troglodyte thug to flank and a secondary beat stick in an Orc Mauler. With the last 4 points I added a Skeleton Legionnaire. That's my warband and I didn't hold much hope but it might do OK.
Round 1: Rob
A newish player at Manchester and skilled. His warband was Warforged Captain, War Troll and a Hill Giant Barbarian. Two beaters. The problem with this warband was that it had no reliable way of getting tile points without losing something. The game degenerated into a slugfest - the first round proper round of hitting and my warband got itself organised around supporting the HGB and flanking the WT. Ultimately I got 3 consecutive hits in on the WT (I won init in the second round) and the WT was down. The Bodyguard was soaking up the pain from the other HGB on mine and ultimately that one dropped also. The Warpriest used his close wounds spell to keep the Bodyguard alive just long enough to drop the opposing HGB and then mop up. Not an easy game and Rob had forgotten that his WT had a ranged weapon and never used it. 1-0.
Round 2: Pawel
Pawel's pulls included a Chimera, Brass Samurai, Steelheart Archer, Hunting Cougar, Halfling Slinger, Quaggoth Slave, Warforged Bodyguard, Troglodyte Thug and Skeletal Legionnaire - this might be slightly wrong though - but the first few were definite.
This was going to be very tactical based on Pawel's normal like for single large hitters such as a Mounted Paladin or Archmage. We both basically drew tile points every round - me near the exit on the shared area. I picked off his fodder (Quaggoth Slave, Steelheart Archer and Bodyguard)his bodyguard went into full battle and accidentally was left out of command and then failed a Morale Check while under the Warpriest of Moradin's commander effect and left the field of battle. He also drew up the Quaggoth to tempt the Orc Mauler into battle at the top right (to the right of the statue of Tiamat). A part of a feint from me to split his force into two by threatening his Cougar tile grabber. Somewhere in the middle I drew my whole force across and out of the main chamber to attack is annoying Archer - who promptly died in the bottom left chamber. The main game was a little blurred - but we ended up about 83-40 points. 2-0 and, as usual, a very tough battle with Pawel.
Round 3: Guillaume
We were moved to table 1 and having only played Guillaume once on Vassal (and watched him) I knew this was going to be tough. His warband had a Warforged Bodyguard, Aspect of Moradin, Troglodyte Thug, Warforged Scout, and a shieldwall soldier - now... I forget the rest - I suspect it was a Warforged Captain. I asked him to set up and he placed his warband at the bottom right. I had miscalculated that I could get to Victory points in round 1 from either location with speed 7 (the printouts from the WoTC website weren't clear enough and the top left seemed to stretch out 2 more to the right than the actual assembly area was). Anyway, Sam pointed this out... He plced his Scout at the bottom left to get tile points and I was instantly behind. I could've gone for tile points at the top, but he was drawing his warband that way. Instead I based the scout with the rather substantially larger HGB and in the next round managed to kill it and gain VPs without Sam being able to. I also managed to get rid of the Trog and the Shield. In hindsight, I realised that he failed the spell from the Warpriest and he removed it altogether. He shouldn't have removed it, but should have taken a morale check instead, it was only 10 dmg. My whole day was riddled with minor mistakes like this - not very precise science. The battle ended up with his Aspect of Moradin being unhurt and his bodyguard being the speedo. Once we'd got to about 150 pts to me to 80 or so for him, I decided to run like mad since the Aspect was about to bear down on my HGB - a very uneven matchup. So the Orc Mauler went in one direction, the Warpriest and Bodyguard in another and the HGB in a third. The theory was to keep him hunting - something he did very well and ultimately killed the Warpriest and the Bodyguard - at the expense of tile points. I then placed the Mauler up at the top right (after a very long walk) and went hunting with the slightly injured HGB - the target was his 15 HP bodyguard that had got separated from the Aspect. The skill of Sam was such that he did manage to get a hit on the much faster HGB - and it was a crit. However the HGB got down and based the bodyguard, I won the next round init and killed it - that drew me to over 200 pts. I think he got 150-ish - so very close in the end.
Round 4: XAos.
Nearly a mirror matchup from round 1 except he also had a tile grabber - the lowly Shieldwall Soldier. We spent the first few rounds dancing around - my plan was simple - hopefully draw him in to battle at the lower shared VP area and use my synergies better than his. However Steve is a very skilled player and I actually up making a couple of very unwise decisions based on the +15% initiative bonus chance I had over his - I went and killed his Shieldwall soldier bait and then promptly lost init. The idea was to kill and draw back and then keep the battle flowing at my pace in my area. Not to be. The battle was lost when I 1) misused my "close wounds" on on the Trog Thug instead of on my strategic pieces, 2) gambled on winning init - 15% is a gamble and 3) forgot to use the bodyguard to absorb the blow on the HGB that forced it to make a morale save. That was the exact scenario that I had considered for the Warpriest combo... Do'h. So the HGB was now being based by his injured and wounded (and had passed his MC) War Troll that I kept missing and his HGB. I was getting tile points and he wasn't so I wasn't in a completely lost situation and felt I could push the game. The HGB has +15 to his Morale save - Level 8, level6 commander and +1 bonus from Divine Protection Spell - I rolled a 1... Game over - unless there was some luck.
I charged the Warpriest in and connected to his War Troll down by 55 HPs and then critted with the Orc Mauler on it. Dead. However - that was also a mistake by us, the Mauler doesn't to magic damage so it should have stayed alive on 5 HP. In hindsight, the Mauler should have tried to force a morale on his commander and, assuming he'd failed, I could've tried to use the Commander effect of Moradin better - hey... I know better next time - and who'd have thought I'd have rolled a crit.
It went downhill from there - even though we (erronously) removed the War Troll I really had no chance - his HGB knocked the Warpriest for 40 points and then again to obliterate it. Game over - he was over 200pts against my unfair 156 - the Wartroll shouldn't have been in there. As I came home I was mulling all the mistakes in this game I made and realised that they were there because Steve was counting on ome of them. Very skilled player and the first time I've met him over the table - 3-1.
Steve went on to play a final against Richard Moore that he also won - 200-157.
Wardrums is an interesting set with variations on themes and new themes that'll take some time to get the hang of. Still too early to read a true tier 1 piece, but I liked the bodyguard a lot.
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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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Gloom_
Sergeant
583 Posts
| | 03/06/2006 6:04 AM |
| Me-
Starter-
R- War Forged Barbarian
U- War Forged Scout
U- Goblin Underboss
U- Fiendish Giralleon
C- Shieldwall Soldier
C- Goblin Blackblade
C- Hobgoblin Archer
C- Troglodyte Thug
Cf- Wood Elf Ranger
Cf- Orc Mauler
Booster
R- Aspect of Moradin
U- Warforged Scout
U- Warforged Bodyguard
U- Tiefling Blademaster
C- Troglodyte Thug
C - Hunting Cougar
C- Arcanix Guard
C- Terror Wight
(or something very similar to that)
I went with Aspect Of Moradin, Warforged Barbarian, Warforged Bodyguard, Warforged Scout, Trog Thug, & Shieldwall soldier. The warband kinda chooses itself from those boosters, the only decision was whether to include the Giralleon. But dropping either the Bodyguard or Barbarian was not a very good plan, so no 4 armed Gorilla-mice for me. Aspect of Moradin was the second best rare I could hope to pull (War Troll being the best) so I was pretty happy. Warforged Barbarian was okay, served a purpose I guess. All games played ont he Dragon-temple map.
Match 1 (can't remember name.. bad memory)
VS Inspired Marshall, Gulgar, Night Hag, Goblin Underboss, 2x Goblin Blackblade and maybe more.
He sent the most of his warband after my Warforged scout who was VP collecting, and sent the Goblins up to grab tiles. I managed to squish the goblins at the cost of a hit or 2 on my warforged bodyguard. Ahead on points, it forced him to come to me, he sent the Night Hag & Lieutenant around one way, and the Gulgar around the other way. Guessing that the Gulgar was the only piece that posed a potential threat to the Aspect left, I fed the Hag and Lieutenant the Trog thug, and Shieldwall soildier, whilst ensuring that the Aspect and Bodyguard engaged the Gulgar after his activation. An init win for me meant that the Gulgar was downed without retaliatory attacks. Consolidation and regrouping allowed me to kill the Lieutenant and then the (suprisingly) resilliant Night Hag.
Unlucky for him that he had such mediocre pulls. I would have lost too I think if the tables were reversed.
Match 2 (see comment for game 1)
VS Chimera, Brass Dragon, Lion of Talisid, Hunting Cougar, Quaggoth Slave, Skeleton Legionnaire, Warforged Scout
Tougher. And I screwed up setup choosing the wrong side not getting fire resist. oops. Doing something about the potential for energy damage would be key here, as the Aspect was susceptable to massed energy. Both our warbands converged in the middle, with the exception of his Chimera which went after his scout (I decided to ignore his for a while.) The lack of his Chimera in the central battle proved critical. My fodder tied his, I decided to sacrifice the Warforged Barbarian to down the Lion (removing a Flamestrike and his sole commander, leaving everything else at 50:50 morale or worse) The aspect caught the dragon out with the ranged attack (lots of people seemed to miss this), and then advanced on it. The Lion went down, Barbarian passing his MC. This was good as I had not counted on that. Aspect moralled the Dragon who ran for it. His fodder mostly killed mine. Had enough time to divert my Aspect, Bodyguard and Barbarian to killing his fodder, before the Chimera finished its long trek towards the battle (I had delayed it some more by sending the trog thug out ti tie it up for another turn). Chimera made a go of it, managing a hit on the Aspect, but ultimately died.
Most of his Breath Weapons & damage spells ended up unused, which I think was my key to victory. That and the fact the Chimera was delayed by the scout and bodyguard.
Match 3 Alepulp (woo..)
VS Warpriest of Moradin, HGB, Bodyguard, Orc Mauler, some more.
Ack, table 1.. playing Alepulp too. Played him on vassal a few times (against the dreaded archmage band), so I know what a methodical and careful player he is.. I wasn't entirely sure how to play this, and settled for trying to provoke the Giant into coming at me. After a turn or 2, I was at the edge of the hall, and his band was mostly on the shared central victory area. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I abandoned the defensive position I had (which I had setup which left no move-and-attack acess to the Aspect by the HGB) and sent the Trog and Barbarian off to attack the HGB, figuring if I cound get a hit on the Giant (or his bodyguard), and 5 from the bloody rage, it would put the Giant/Bodyguard into the range where I could safely engage it with the Aspect/Bodyguard. However he won init, and criticalled my Barbarian who decided to run right off. The Trog managed hit. Points up, Alepulp suprised me a little and sent all his warband of in various directions. I thought that he'd pursue his numbers-advantage in the melee. I was sure I'd lost at this point, so I sent the Aspect and Bodyguard on a rampage to see how much of his warband I could down whilst tile collecting en-route (when appropriate). I went after the Warpriest and bodyguard first (hindsight tells me that the HGB should have been first target, especially seeing as he headed it for tiles). Over consecutive turns, his warpriest and bodyguard got trapped, and then killed, and I headed off to pin down the Giant. The giant came past, and I managed a crit on him with the aspect, but alas not enough. A critical init win allowed the Giant to kill the bodyguard and win on points, before the bodyguard moralled him.
Match 4 (John)
VS Brass Samurai, 2x Orc Maulers, Tiefling, Combat medic, and some more.
Don't remember too much about this game, apart from the fact that my opponent was a pretty good player, and was piloting this warband quite well (it was a deceptively tough build with whirlwinding orc maulers at either +13 (15) or +11 (20). ) I identified the Maulers as the key threat, and dropped 1 in the first turn of engagement and the other shortly. The Samurai was another matter, as with medic backup he managed to drop the Barbarian and manage a hit or 2 on the Aspect (which was duly shunted onto the bodyguard). Ultimately though, eventually the Aspect killed everything he came near, although for the first time I exhausted the bodyguard, and some damage ended up on the Aspect.
I thought this game would be easyish, but came up against a canny opponent. If he had played his Shuluth (which he pulled as a rare) it would have been much much tougher.
Finished 3-1 and came 4th I think (just behind Alepulp :D ) In sealed I think the Aspect is pretty-much the best pull you could hope for, he never even came close to making a morale check in any of my games (without the bodyguard he still would only have had to make a morale in the last game) and at +14 he should be fairly good at that. I also believe that the Bodyguard is very much underlooked thus far- a combo with the Marut should be pretty brutal. Other pieces I like from observation are the War Troll for being at least as good as the Thaskor for a bunch of points less, and the Brass Samurai for offering quite a lot of options for his points. Mephling Pyro dissapointed me somewhat, although I saw it being played really very well in the final game by Aravan | |
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rondom
Skirmisher
42 Posts
| | 03/06/2006 7:37 AM |
| The rares from both my Starter and Booster were Dragonnes. Since I could barely make 200 points if I used *all* my other units I was therfore forced to play at least one, and since there is some synergy there I played them both (with a Warpriest of Moradin, Elemental Wall, Sacred Watcher, Combat Medic).
My first battle was against Xaos (Stephen). His force of War Troll, Hill Giant Barbarian, Warforged Captain and Shieldwall Soldier proved simply too strong for me, and he beat me easily. He also pointed out that the best way to win was to kill off any enemy commanders and then let the Warpriests Commander effect shatter my opponents.
My second match was against Paul(?). He had two leaders (a Goblin Underboss and Brass Samurai) with some Goblins, Gulgar, Ogre Warhulk and some other stuff. I sent one Dragonne agfter the Goblin leader (which obliged by attacking me), and used the other one and the Sacred Watcher to nobble the Samurai. Once they fell (even though I was at that point behind on points) I was able to use the Warpriest to rout enough for the win. That commander effect is nasty!
My third match (can't remember who, sorry) was against only a single leader (Brass Saumari again) with Hill Giant and some supports. I was abl;e to mob the Samurai and then rout the remaining units with the same success at the previous match.
The fourth match was against Pavel (who I've never previously played). He had another Brass Saumrai, and a Chimera, but crucially he had a Warforged Bodyguard and a Lerge Duergar plus some smaller stuff (Quaggoth slave and cougar as a tile grabber). I attempted to outflank the Samurai, but he kept it carefully near the centre of his force. Two (mistaken) rulings were important in this battle. We had convinced ourselves that the pillars were statues (they for sure *look* like statues, being 'translucent' and on stepped bases), so I was able to charge my Dragonnes through them to engage some of his units. And I wasn't able to find the rules for counting commander radius that say count diagonally round corners (they are there though). So when my other Dragonne pounced his out-of-command Bodyguard it didn't have to make two morales saves. And since the bodyguard was able to keep the Samurai alive against all I could throw at it he was handily ahead on points when time was called.
Which means I was 2-2, and placed 8th (just out of the prizes - ah well). | |
Rondom
Remember - if you can use all your figures it's 'Full' - if not it's 'Restricted'. Anything that cycles figures out of use in a planned timetable is 'Planned Obsolesence'. Never accept your enemy's terms! | |
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