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ktatroe
Sergeant
572 Posts
    
 | | 03/05/2006 1:40 PM |
| I was very excited going into this tournament. It was the first release event I've participated in since Deathknell (I ran all the pre-release events from Aberrations onward).
Warband Construction
I opened my boxes and found a somewhat lackluster set of uncommons -- I did pull two great rares, though. War Troll and Zayka Rakshasa; I also pulled the formidable Blood Ghost Berserker as one of my uncommons. Between the Inspired Lieutenant and the War Troll, I had okay ranged output. I knew I'd be outmatched in that regard if someone pulled an Arcane Ballista or multiple Mephling Pyromancers, but I could best or keep up with just about anything else.
I had two hitters then, War Troll and either cat or bear. Whichever I chose, I knew the secret for using them was going to be to be both of them fighting as long as possible. Glancing at my pool, I realized I had two Shieldwall Soldiers. The warband was starting to fill out. Warforged Scout (my best uncommon pull, and probably the best uncommon pull) was a gimme.
I'd seen sienar the previous day practice (highly successfully) a "hold the line -- counterpunch" style of warband, and decided I'd follow suit. So, I sat back and thought for a while, playing through several scenarios in my head as to what I'd probably face (hey, one can't help one's self if people across the room shout "crap, I got a Large Brass" -- three people -- or "huzzah, I got a War Troll!" -- two people.
After that, the warband fell together quickly, in the last five minutes of warband building (man, the official 20 minutes goes by very quickly, doesn't it?). I ended up with:
Inspired Lieutenant
War Troll
Zakya Rakshasa
Combat Medic
Shieldwall Soldier x2
Warforged Scout
Map: Field of Ruin
I was pleased -- very pleased, in fact -- with what I had; until my first match-up was given:
Round 1: Keith (sienar)
Now, Keith pulled crap. When people talk about how much less difference between the best possible sealed pull and the best possible sealed pull is in War Drums and previous sets, they're absolutely right. But, at the low-end, they were talking about what Keith pulled.
That said, Keith always pulls crap, and Keith always makes it to the finals, so I knew I'd have to be on the top of my game.
He ran:
Large Bronze Dragon
Warforged Bodyguard
Combat Medic
Mephling Pyromancer
Arcanix Guard
Tiefling Blademaster
Map: Teleport Temple
He had no damage output to speak of, so in a complete "throwing out the window" of the strategy I'd built my warband around, I figured my best chance would be to simply overwhelm him and destroy things as quickly as possible.
I won map initiative and we played on Field of Ruin -- this would be the last time I played on my map in the Swiss rounds. I rushed towards the center, pell mell, but spread out enough that the impending fireballs couldn't do too much damage at once, no matter what lines of sight he'd find that I didn't (and he would).
He made an early mistake exposing his mephling to fireball my commander, who made her save, then took off after it with the scout for company. The mephling's death put me in a great position as the melee in the central airship cavity ensued.
I brought the commander back just in time for the Zakya to be forced to morale, which he failed.
The War Troll did what War Trolls do. Backed by Sacred Healing and cure critical wounds, he tore through the rest of Keith's army while not even getting to half hit points.
Result: 1-0
Round 2: Aaron (forthright4)
Aaron is one of our regulars. He usually plays in a pretty "goofing off" manner, but had decided he was going to do his best to at least make top 4. He was devastated to get the first-round bye, thinking it would kill his chances. Especially when his second round match-up was against me.
He was running:
Warforged Captain
Axe Soldier x2
Combat Medic x2
Mephling Pyromancer
Orc Wardrummer
Steelheart Archer
Map: Broken Demongate
He won map initiative, and we played on his map. I was a bit scared going into this map -- even though on paper, his warband wasn't much to look at, when he puts his mind to it, Aaron can pull out some unexpected and surprisingly effective moves. Add to that that this was the one map I not only had no experience with, I hadn't even looked at yet, and I knew I had to play carefully.
Thanks to a fireball and two searing light spells, my Scout and Shieldwalls were routing by the end of turn one. The Scout later recovered; the Soldiers did not.
After a few turns, the two forces crashed into each other. Unfortunately, he could not roll above a 4 on to hit rolls or morale saves. It did not last long.
Result: 2-0
Round 3: Dave (SpikedChainDave)
Dave is a regular at the release events and usually does pretty well. Unfortunately, he works Fridays and most weekends, so we don't get to see him much outside of the "big events".
He ran:
Skeletal Legionnaire
Goblin Underboss
Axe Soldier
Arcanix Guard
Ogre War Hulk
Large Bronze Dragon
Troglodyte Thug
Goblin Blackblade
Map: Broken Demongate
Another terrain initiative. Another loss. Another game on Broken Demongate. By now, I was more comfortable with Demongate than Field of Ruin.
Unlike Keith's, this warband had the muscle to get my hitters below 40 hp quickly enough to worry about, which could make the dragon a much more feared opponent than it was the last time I faced him.
I put a wall up, forcing him to come through the Shieldwalls before getting to the hitters, and put a round of arrows into the War Hulk before it came to me. Then, I concentrated on the Ogre, while baiting the dragon with my commander and medic. (in such a place that the War Troll, if it survived, could single move and hit the dragon, which was a single hit from morale).
He took the bait, and my Rakshasa and War Troll took the Ogre down (their ACs we just incredible in every match-up). My surviving force then went over to the dragon and made short work of it.
Result: 3-0
Round 4: Erik
Erik was a first-timer who just moved here from Wisconsin. I'm hoping he shows up to the Friday night tournaments on a regular basis -- he was a great competitor and fun to play against.
He was the other person who pulled a War Troll. He also pulled the solid Wemic Barbarian to back it up, and a Sacred Watcher to harass my Combat Medic. And to top it off, his secondary hitter was beefier than mine. I knew my best shot lie in two things: one, that he would make a mistake I could exploit and two, careful use of the Combat Medic.
His warband:
Warforged Captain
War Troll
Wemic Barbarian
Sacred Watcher
Quaggoth Slave
Skeletal Legionnaire
Map: Broken Demongate
I lost map initiative again. I played on Broken Demongate again. By now, however, I knew the map pretty well (almost better than Field of Ruin!), so I didn't mind as much. If I'd won map initiative, I might've chosen Broken Demongate myself, at this point.
We both approached cautiously. He moved his ghost into a victory area where he wouldn't be in command for a while, so I moved the Zakya over to chill touch him. The next round, he made a quick route to my Medic. Thankfully, with the Rakshasa's speed, I was able to keep up. The Sacred Watcher proceeded to make a morale save from the Medic's Turn Undead.
He then made a bit of a mistake, and moved the Wemic way out in front of the rest of his forces, hoping to deal enough damage to the War Troll while the Medic was otherwise occupied before dying. I moved the Rakshasa into position, and the Troll and Rakshasa ate the poor cat creature alive, though my Rakshasa was in a world of hurt. Judicious use of Sacred Healing put him nearly back up, while I set up a position where I could maneuver the Medic between the beaters (even while taking attacks of opportunity from the Sacred Watcher) and waited for his troll to crash into mine.
He took the Rakshasa down quickly enough, but just didn't have the muscle left to take down the troll, especially backed by cure serious wounds. In the end, it looked like total devastation, but it was actually a narrow game that came down to a bit of luck in missed attacks of opportunity on the medic (yay, AC 20) and in being able to deal with the Wemic before his troll could get to mine.
Result: 4-0
Semi-Finals: Aaron (Forthright4)
Aaron just squeaked into the finals with a better opponent win % than the other 2-2s. I'd seen his warband before, but with as low as he rolled the first time, I really didn't know how it would work with average rolls. Unfortunately for him, I still haven't seen it work with average rolls.
He won terrain initiative and chose my map, the Field of Ruin. I camped in the middle and waited for him. A pair of searing light, and my Shieldwalls were both running off the board (a theme for the night).
His army came piling in, then missed every attack roll for several rounds, while the troll and Rakshasa cleared things out. Once his Axe Soldiers and Warforged were dead, it was just a matter of eliminating his Combat Medics. It was a quick game, and I felt bad that his rolls were so bad, but glad that he managed to make the cut, which was his goal for the day.
Result: 5-0
Finals match to come...
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