Florida Frenzy 5.0 Battle Report
Location: Gainesville, FL
With the restrictions of the map set, and the point totals, I settled on two finalists for my army:
- Horned Skull Brutes x5, Raelin, Marro Warrions: A strong core of hard hitters, with some range to lead things off and hopefully entice my opponent into more manageable range of the Brutes. Plus, the Marro can work with Barge into Battle. Raelin boosts the Brutes' defense to Minion levels.
- Phantom Knights x4, Hydra, Heirloom: I love the PKs, and the Hydra helps with big Special Attackers and melee swarms. Heirloom is crowd control, and he can swipe Treasure glyphs for fun and profit.
I went with #2 on a last-minute, gut decision.
Game 1
Vs. Zealot, who was fielding Airborne Elite, Axegrinders x2, Migol, Heirloom, and Marro Warriors
Map: Shadow of the Mountain
Zealot moved out Heirloom initially, grabbing a Treasure Glyph via Mage Hand, and then moved up dwarves. I spent the round moving up Phantom Knights, who were in a good position when Zealot's Airborne finally dropped. My Heirloom clashed with Migol on the Shadow tiles in the central portion of the board, where it was a battle of One-shield defense VS Warforged Resolve. With the help of the Hydra (who flanked Migol via the adjacent water tiles), I was able to drop Migol, who took a significant amount of punishment, as directed by the skilled hands of Zealot. As this was going on, my PK's were stemming the approach of the other dwarves after removing most of the other ranged threats and Heirloom. Zealot did a good job of thinning out all of the PKs; in the end, I had a 3 wound Heirloom and 1 wound Hydra left to claim victory.
1-0
Post-game thoughts: with a ton of wide-open lanes, and height over the ice and water (which melee has to cross), this is a brutal map for melee. My PK's were able to overcome much of the terrain limitations via their Stealth Flying and lock down Zealot's ranged units; still, on a different map, the outcome could have been much different.
Game 2
Vs. Dustin. He fielded Sir Dupuis, Knights of Weston x2, Eldgrim, and Nilfeim.
Map: Oxbow Road
I have come to despise Nilfeim, as he is simply brutal against 3-man, non-bonding squads. His ability to claim height on this map did not help matters. That being said, I opened up with Heirloom (to make a run for the T glyphs: I ended up taking Common Attack +1) and then PK's to contest the high ground. Dustin opening up with Knights and Dupuis. Dustin thought that Dupuis bonded with the Knights, which probably affected the outcome of his army selection (I feel sorry for the opponent of his first game); we squared that away, and Dustin opened up with Eldgrim and Knights. I chose to ignore Eldgrim and focus on attacking knights, but it ended up costing me a squad of PK, as a couple of overextends quickly earned Eldgrim's points. Realizing that an extra point of movement would not matter much to his highly mobile heroes, I finally offed the little guy, but the damage was done. Nilfiem mowed down PKs, while I moved up the Hydra. The heroes met in the low part of the hills, and in the end, Dupuis stood standing with 3 wounds (against melee, Dupuis with height and Chalice of Fortitude is no joke). Dustin moved Dupuis to high ground and started targeting my remaining PKs. I dropped two PKs next to Dupuis and got him up to 5 wounds; I made a mistake in not engaging Dupuis with my third PK and hopefully getting this last wound (rather, I attacked a closing KW). Unfortunately, our game went to time: Dustin had a 5-wound Dupuis and one squad of Knights left, vs my 2 PKs and Isamu. With full-card scoring, that easily gave him the win.
1-1
Post-game thoughts: This was my first game that went to time, and there were a couple of turns where it took my opponent 5+ minutes to place OMs, which is something that I am not used to in my limited game-time. Either way, losing this game was really my fault, as I should have been more privvy to the elapsed time. Had I engaged that third PK to Dupuis and caused the sixth wound, I would have won on points by 10. I was poised to take him out the next round, but the game was called and that was that. Regardless, it was a good win for Dustin, who managed Dupuis and Nilfeim skillfully.
Game 3
Vs. Torog, with Zelrig, MW, Dividers x 2, Drones x3, Marcu
Map: Quicksilver Fane (tournament version)
This was one of those games were everything came together for me. I opened up with Heirloom, who mage handed a T glyph (attack +1), and then Force Orbed Torog's Marro as the came out of the gate. PK's forced a penetrating Drone off of the remaining, permanent glpyh (d20 +1, a good glyph for him!), and then surrounded Zelrig before he could do any damage. From here on out, it was a matter of surgical strikes by the PK, puncutated by Heirloom's sticcato blasts of energy against Marro clumps. In the end, I lost 4 PKs. My hydra spent the game in the start zone.
2-1
Post-game thoughts: Torog's dice rolls were cold; otherwise, this game could have been quite different. This was a good map for area attacks and mobile PK's.
Game 4
Vs. Randomskyfears, sporting Q9, KMA, 10th x3
Map: Stony Pass
This game was Deja Vu from the last Florida Frenzy, as the winner was headed to the Semi finals, and it was another square-off against Randomskyfears (who won the last FF). I moved up Heirloom to mage hand a T glyph, while Randomsky sent Q9 deep into the map in order to take out Heirloom...Which he did in short order (which was a pity, as Force Orb would have been great against the 10th). However, his advancement set me up for a strong OM on my hydra, who dropped Q9 with 3 attacks. Losing his next OM on Q9, my hydra was able to advance umimpeded, devouring 2 agents and a 2 soldiers in the process and putting my hydra in a strong position against his remaining units However, two shots from the 10th, and two Defense whiffs, ended my Hydra' reign. With the help of strong 10th placement, and bad Insubstantial rolls, Randomsky was able to claw his way back up and claim victory, with 1 agent and a squad of 10th left.
Post-game thoughts: Randomskyfears is a great guy, but he is proving to be my nemesis as the dice gods love him more. Next time, Reuben! Next time...
Game 5
Vs. BurnyFlame, with Kato Katsuro, Ashigaru Harquebus x3, Ashigaru Yari x2, Sonya
Map: Shadow of the Mountain
Burny moved up Sonya to attempt to grab a glyph, but Heirloom mage handed it his way. From there on, Burny moved up his conscripted swarm. Heirloom started dropping orbs on them, thinning out 6 in the process. I disengaged Heirloom from a lone Yari (taking a wound) in order to force orb a clump of 4 Harquebus and Sonya, but I only rolled one skull, which only claimed one conscript. Burny wait-then-fired from height and dropped Heirloom immediately afterward. My PK's took a tremendous amount of punishment from the Harquebus, and managed a couple of wounds on Kato early in the game, slowly thinning out his squads in the process. However, Burny's horde slowwwwwlly whittled down my PKs, and I started moving out my Hydra on the uninhabitated side of the mountain. The hydra picked up the a disengage T glyph in the process and was quickly closing to striking range of Kato. However, I made an error which I believed to be the nail in the coffin: with two Harquebui(plural?) blocking my path, I moved just in range of them, allowing them to Wait-then-fire, which blew off 3 hydra heads. I struck at Kato with only one head...And whiffed. A firing squad executed my wounded hydra the next turn. PK's withstood volleys and took out Kato, allowing me an OM of reprieve to work on thinning out the dwindling horde. However, Burny took advantage of height to blast away the PKs and Isamu followed after taking out one of the last 3 Ashigaru. Burny won, with 3 Ashigaru Harquebus standing.
Post-game thoughts: Another game that passed the time limit (BurnyFlame and his brother Dustin have a similar playing style), but Burny graciously agreed to keep playing, and he earned a well-deserved victory.
2-3
Another long, fun day of scape under my belt, well worth the 680 mile round-trip. I suffered my lowest tourney record to date (of 3!), but my losses were extremely close, and it was fun squaring up with some new opponents.