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DinoBen
Sergeant
412 Posts
    
Based outta Games of Berkeley, CA
 | | 04/03/2006 6:29 PM |
| | I hope any and all Bay Area skirmishers can make it to Games of Berkeley tomorrow evening @ 6:30pm. Last time around Marut / Warpriest of Moradin ruled the day vs. Chaotic Evil. Will good remain triumphant over evil? I hope to have reports of matches after the event! | |
Champion of all things Athasian
"Don't sing it - Bring it!" | |
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DinoBen
Sergeant
412 Posts
Based outta Games of Berkeley, CA
| | 04/04/2006 1:54 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by DinoBen
I hope any and all Bay Area skirmishers can make it to Games of Berkeley tomorrow evening @ 6:30pm. Last time around Marut / Warpriest of Moradin ruled the day vs. Chaotic Evil. Will good remain triumphant over evil? I hope to have reports of matches after the event!
Oh, forgot to mention that this event will be a "typical" 200pt, 8-mini Assault format with a set map. | |
Champion of all things Athasian
"Don't sing it - Bring it!" | |
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DinoBen
Sergeant
412 Posts
Based outta Games of Berkeley, CA
| | 04/05/2006 12:21 PM |
| Well, the Berkeley crowd got in a few good rounds of "casual" play. "Casual" because the games aren't sanctioned, not because players didn't bring great bands. There's still League prizes at stake!
My band:
95 Balor
39 Orc Champ
27 Orc Druid
19 Orc Wardrummer
11 Cursed Spirit
09 3x Orc Warrior
When the Orc Wardrummer came out I considered the potential for its Intimidating Drumbeat. Linked with the Balor, I hoped to "convert" my opponent's minis to the winning side ΖD]
My first opponent, Paul Mills, brought Eye, 2x Champ, Druid, Drummer and Warriors. We played on the Airship Battleground map (what's it's name again?) and met in the central shared victory area. Paul played his orcs a bit conservatively and with my Wardrummer countering his wardrummer, they had their standard morale saves (+9 w/ the druid). I got some dice love and after not too long, one of his Champs was mine (though w/ only 15hp left). The game went my way.
My second opponent, Zac Drake (zdrake), brought 2x Eye, Orc Champ, Tiefling, Wardrummer, Cursed Spirit and Orc filler. Zac did not play his orcs conservatively, and I did NOT get any dice love this game. I'm not saying I would have won, but it wouldn't have been so lopsided. Taking a page from my book, he won initiative on a critical turn, had HIS orc start an intimidating drum beat and began routing my creatures. In the end I nearly enslaved his champ... but close counts in horseshoes and handgrenades, not minis. The game was over [B)]
So, 1-1 with a band I wasn't too sure about, not too bad. W/ Sacred Watchers flying around I think I'm gonna replace a Cursed Spirit and an Orc Warrior w/ 2 Troglodytes and give the Warband another spin. My final impression, when the dice favor you, then Balor is REALLY cool! But so are a lot of minis when the dice favore you...
Zac and I then had time for a final "fun" match that had interesting results... more on that later [)] | |
Champion of all things Athasian
"Don't sing it - Bring it!" | |
|
DinoBen
Sergeant
412 Posts
Based outta Games of Berkeley, CA
| | 04/05/2006 5:33 PM |
| So, the "fun" match between Zac and I was a blast and pretty eye opening for me. Let me describe briefly how it all began. You know how in each set every person seems to develop a bizarre affinity for pulling a particular rare. I believe Andy Flores (BeastMaster) would refer to this as having "the stink" for a certain piece, his unfortunately was for Snig, Worg Rider.
Me? I have "the stink" for Dragonnes. I've pulled 5!!! And I'm still missing rares from the set! What was I gonna do with so many Dragonnes?! Then a buddy of mine said that he played another local skirmisher who brought a 3 Dragonne Band for fun. This skirmisher (who'll remain unnamed unless he doesn't mind) then soundly beat the snot out of my buddy's warband. I was inspired!
My warband, (Cats & Dog):
108 3x Dragonne
50 Greenfang Druid
27 3x Hunting Cougar
15 Graycloak Ranger
00 Wolf Minion
9 Activations
The strategy of course is simple: Catch your opponents early on in a Predatory Roar (no save!), then with Legion's Magical Fang the Dragonnes are attacking at +13/+8 for 20 Magic. They also have 75 HP, 18 AC, Fly 7, Pounce and Blind Fight. The Hunting Cougars are attacking at +8 for 10 Magic when the Greenfang can see them and move 8 w/ 40 HP. The Graycloak is in there for support and the 9th tile-grabbing activation.
I'll give Zac a chance to discuss the band he put together before going into the results of our match. | |
Champion of all things Athasian
"Don't sing it - Bring it!" | |
|
zdrake
Warrior
279 Posts
Albany, CA (near Berkeley)
| | 04/05/2006 7:22 PM |
| I decided I would do a Shuluth, Archvillan band. I threw this together:
Shuluth
Helmed Horror (You can mind blast right through him)
Duergar Champion x2
Large Duergar
Timber Wold x2
Blue
Just some LE hitters I had to go with Shuluth. | |
Champion of Acererak the Demi-Lich (w/ Epic Card)
D&D minis gathering in Berkeley, CA at Games of Berkeley (every other Tuesday, and sometimes every Tuesday.) | |
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zdrake
Warrior
279 Posts
Albany, CA (near Berkeley)
| | 04/05/2006 7:26 PM |
| Yes, the Wardrummer can help figures like the Balor and the Vampire Arsitocrat with its intimidating drumbeat. But the Wardrummer's presence in an opposing band really neuters those figures with resistance drumbeat. As does fearless (Helmed Horror, Frenzied Berserker, etc.). So the net effect seems to be that Balor and Vampire Aristocrat weren't quite competitive before the wardrummer, and still aren't quite competitive after the Wardrummer.
Of course, our sample size here in Berkeley isn't huge. | |
Champion of Acererak the Demi-Lich (w/ Epic Card)
D&D minis gathering in Berkeley, CA at Games of Berkeley (every other Tuesday, and sometimes every Tuesday.) | |
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DinoBen
Sergeant
412 Posts
Based outta Games of Berkeley, CA
| | 04/06/2006 12:50 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by zdrake
I decided I would do a Shuluth, Archvillan band. I threw this together:
Shuluth
Helmed Horror (You can mind blast right through him)
Duergar Champion x2
Large Duergar
Timber Wold x2
Blue
As you can imagine, when I saw the Shuluth band above (that I'm sure many of you would consider quite competetive) I thought "so much for a fun game". [xx(]
What followed was surprising. We played on Zac's map, Magma Keep. I set up on the side where you have to run from your start area to get into the keep. I started out by casting legion's magical fang and getting my kitties into position while running my wolf to a victory area. Having 9 activations really helped. He did try and "ping" my wolf with his Blue, but that ended up being fairly ineffective all game. Two of my cougars started tearing up his timber wolves.
Then Battle was joined. I flew a Dragonne over and around his band to catch everone but the helmed horror in a Predatory roar. Now my dragonne's were gonna be attacking at +13/+8 for 20 Magic damage, sweet! He then critted that dragonne w/ the Helmed Horror, routed him with a Doogie and got a smack in on him with the HH as he flew away - eek! One dragonne forced his Large Doogie to rout (Blind Fight really helps!). The round ended with me flying in my last dragonne to do 20 points to Shuluth and then did another 15 to Shuluth w/ my Greenfang.
I won the next initiative, huzzah! Oh crap, now I gotta move my dragonne "at least" one space before my move... and I'm surrounded by Shuluth, 2 doogies and the HH. Crap. That routs him and he's off to my corner. Two +13 morale checks failed! Some blows are exchanged and I pass my stun saves.
Final wrap up: I flew my THIRD dragonne in to take the 1st AND 2nd's place, win initiative, make my Shuluth save and grease Shuluth! My Greenfang backs off after pinging a Doogie w/ 10 fire damage and my two routing Dragonne's rally. I won. I beat a Shuluth / LE Hitter band with 3 Dragonne's and some kitties. I was astounded. The bands were both new to myself and to Zac so I'm sure we both could have placed our pieces a little more strategically, etc. But the fact remains that a Dragonne band beat a potentially Tier 1 band.
The lesson I took away from this, don't be afraid to try something new and off the wall, it might just work. The synergy between the Greenfang and the Dragonne's made the Dragonnes very powerful for their 36 point cost. And Hunting cougars that attack at +8 for 10 Magic that move 8 and has 40HP is quite a bargain for 9 points. Commander assassins would potentially prove very difficult, but the Greenfang knows how to take care of himself.
I hope you've all enjoyed this report from our Berkeley DDM group, I know I always enjoy reading all of your reports! [:)] | |
Champion of all things Athasian
"Don't sing it - Bring it!" | |
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