Having just returned from
Florida Frenzy 4.0, in Gainseville, FL, I want to share my results while they are still somewhat fresh in my mind.
To quickly recap the tournament rules:
400 point armies, SoS hits for use of more than 3 of the same squads, or A+ units, and random glyphs to be chosen before each match from a pre-determined pool.
I have been planning 400 point builds for the past few weeks, and I was having trouble in deciding what to bring. My three finalists:
- Initially, I wanted to field the Werewolf lord/Badru Wolf Core, as it is a super-fun build that can give bonding heroes a very hard time. However, at 400 points, I was having trouble choosing 100 point 'filler'--in the sense that the filler acts as a separate attack wave (either preemptively of the Wolf Core, or as game closers, mopping up what was left). In the end, the best that I could come up with that involved 300 points of wolves was MW/Tarn Vikings: the MW are possibly the best 50 point investment out there, and the Tarn have a hardy defense of 4, as well as the potential to charge across the map in one turn, capturing glyphs and messing with the enemy.
- I also contemplated a Kurrok build, fielding 7 FEs and 1 WE(all of the maps included water tiles, so the WE would give me a solid, ranged option). However, I kept having doubts with this build, as I was worried about the Nilrend glyph in the glyph pool: one successful negation roll, and this army is pretty much done.
- I love playing the PKs, and I was fairly confident in using them. With that in mind, I worked on a build that utilized their skill set. 3 squads of PKs, with 2 squads of Axegrinders (for the large/Huge units that I suspected would show up at the tournament), and the MW adding a bit of range. Plus, everything in the army focuses on mobility (6 move for everything, including Stealth Flying for the PKs). No heroes, so I would not have to worry about contesting Hero Glyphs.
The morning before I left for Gainesville, I ended up rolling a 20-sider to determine which army to bring: it ended up being the
PK/Axegrinder/MW build, which was quickly packed up for travel.
The tournament was held at a Books A Million chain store, close to the University of Florida campus. As it was, it turned out to be a perfect location: we had access to about 8 sets of 2-seater tables, the area was secluded, and there was a coffee shop about 10 feet from the tables (the barkeep ran out several free samples of various caffeine concoctions, which was an added bonus). In short, it was a great location for a tournament.
On to my games:
Game 1
VS
Carina (randomskyfear's GF; not sure if she has a Heroscapers.com handle?), who fielded Q9, Microcorpx2, and Marcu, on
If you Can't take the Heat. This map was a perfect match for Carina's Microcorp Agents, and it turned out to be an extremely close game. Carina opened up with Q9, and I quickly charged him with PKs in order to hopefully lock him down and then move up my dwarves (against ranged specials, the PKs have the same defense as dwarves with Fearless Advantage, so I took advantage of their flying to bypass the wicked terrain and swarm the big guy). Carina wasn't having it, and she mowed down my knights...But not before one of them landed 2 wounds on the soulborg. The Microcorp stepped up and spread out, and then finished off the rest of the PKs.
The dwarves were moving up, and the MW landed several attacks on the agents. Carina had about 5 successful blocks with Stealth Armor, and Q9 was able to stave off several engagements with swarming dwarves. With only a few dwarves left, a lone MW was able to drop a two wound hit from height on Q9, and it was down to a squad of Microcorp and
Marcu. By the time I finished off the resilient agents, I only had 2 dwarves left against Marcu. Marcu was able to kill one of the dwarves, and I moved the last dwarf around the board, avoiding Marcu, until I was able to take advantage of a failed Eternal Hatred roll and deposit Marcu in a lava field. At this point, our game was nearing the 55 minute mark, and there was a palpable taste of anticipation in the air as Carina attempted to roll a 20 for Marcu's survival. Luckily for me, she failed the roll, and I was left with the victory, with only one dwarf left standing. A great game and a great introduction to the tourney scene!
1-0
Game 2
I squared up against
Juniour on
Shadow Crossing. JR was fielding 3 Knights of Weston, Gilbert, and Thorgrimm. It started out as a knight duel, with my PK's quickly taking the bridge and nearby height. JR used Jandar's Dispatch to quickly move up reinforcements (he was averaging 2-3 moves each turn). Despite inflicting 4 early knight casualties (and a couple of wounds on Gilbert), the knights defense proved too much, and they methodically punched through my units. I ended up with the MW making a last-ditch stand on nearby height, but the knights quickly finished them off. In the end, I was only able to take out 6 knights. It was a tough match for my heroless army, and a well-earned victory for Juniour.
1-1
Game 3
VS
nicktheant, who was fielding Nilfheim, stingersx3, Marcu, and Isamu, on
Hard Eight v4. I was initially optimistic about this match, as my dwarves and PKs are a good counter to nick's army. I decided on opening up with the speedy PKs to track down glyphs and quickly reach nick's forces. In retrospect, it was an unsound move; I should have charged the dwarves out first, saving the PKs to deal with the slower stingers. As it stood, Nick led with a suicide Nilfhiem, who quickly blasted through my PKs. I was able to grab the nearest glyph, (Nick, grabbed a +1 Defense Brooch of Shielding for Nilfheim), which turned out to be the Nilrend. I successfully negated Nilfheim, which was a huge advantage, as it limited Nil to one attack a turn. At this point, I should have tied down the 4-wound Nil with a couple of figures, and then charged everything on the OM-less Stingers. However, I made the mistake of surrounding Nil with axegrinders, and the dragon king killed 3 of them before succumbing to their sharp little axes. Nick quickly moved up his Stingers on road tiles, finding strategic locations that were hard for me to reach; he managed to kill 3 of 4 dwarves in one turn, which left me with essentially 3 marro warriors and a lone PK. I was able to kill 6 stingers (nicktheant might have to refresh my memory/notes on this point), but the rest of my army was eradicated in the process.
It was a fun match and a well-earned victory for Nick. He ended up cruising undefeated in the tournament and taking first place.
1-2
Game 4
VS
Kenn (heroscapers.com handle?) on
Reclamation Plant B; Kenn was fielding Kaemon Awa, Airborne Elite, and Drake v2. With 2 strong heroes, and a timely AE drop, Kenn was forsaking the safety in numbers and planning on striking hard and fast, hopefully decimating my clogged start zone in the process. Kenn landed a round 1 AE drop, and he placed them within striking distance of my army. Rather than using grenades, he took 4 well-aimed shots at my lead units...But I was fortunate enough to block all attacks, with the help of
Insubstantial and some solid defensive rolls. From here on out, it was a PK assault: they swarmed the AEs, killing 3 of them in the first round (the fourth managed to lob a grenade in my start zone, but I was able to block all of the attacks). The PKs revealed the Valda glyph and swarmed both of Kenn's heroes. Kenn still put up a fight and took out 5 PK's, but the fast-paced game was over in about 15 minutes. It was a quick game, but one filled with tension and excitement.
2-2
Game 5
VS
randomskyfears on
The Dead Torch; randomskyfears was fielding zombies x5, MW, and MBS. This game turned out to be as close as my first game, and it was also one of the most entertaining of the day. Randomsky dumped all OMs on the zombies and slowly charged them across the map. I first started running and gunning with the MW to safely reduce their numbers, and I then moved up the mobile PKs to carpetbomb them with neon green from height. Despite having him down to 4 zombies, he was able to slowly replenish his zombies (unfortunately, we forgot that the undead PKs cannot become zombies; however, the dwarves would have provided his horde with plenty of, well, cold bodies, as it was).
While he was mowing down my dwarves (despite a couple of dwarves and a lone MW that simply refused to be converted), I ended up abandoning the swelling horde and instead dive-bombed his OM-less start zone with PKs, removing the MWs and MBS. Once the ranged threats were out of the way, I used my remaining PKs to pick away at zombies from height. I ended up settling them on the mid-ground castle, but the zombies slowly, methodically, punched up the walls. With only 2 PKs left, I moved them to the 2 top rungs on the tall, single spire on the top of the castle's elevated platform. That way, he could only attack each PK with one zombie at a time, and I could defend with 5 (and attack with 4). This proved to be a tactically sound, if unorthodox move, and I was able to destroy all of his zombies (6-7 of them, if I recall; I had some great defense rolls against 2 skulls). We got quite a laugh out of this, and it was a great game to end a day of gaming on.
Final Result: 3-2
I was able to clinch 5th place, as well as the strongest SoS, and I was rewarded with two booster packs (Rats and Warriors, and Snipers and Vipers). Thanks to BurnyFlame for organizing a fun tournament!