Peoria NHSD Faction Wars Tournament 2010 Results and Reports

[Vydar]

This year's NHSD tournament in Peoria, Illinois was entitled "Faction Wars." Players were only allowed to bring figures from a single general. For more details on the event itself, go HERE.

SUMMARY
We had 16 attendees playing 15 armies.

Sportsmanship Award: vminer and jdtenor

FACTION CHAMPIONS
Einar: kevindola
Aquilla: Vydar
Ullar: John
Utgar: vminer
Vydar: briaka
Jandar: Jooky Jr.

FINAL RANKINGS
(Record in parentheses includes the 4 Swiss Rounds and Faction Championship Round.)
1st: kevindola (Einar) (5-0)
2nd: Vydar (Aquilla) (4-1)
3rd: John (Ullar) (4-1)
4th: vminer (Utgar) (4-1)
5th: briaka (Vydar) (4-1)
6th: Derek (Vydar) (3-2)
7th: jetjake (Utgar) (2-3)
8th: Austin (Utgar) (2-3)
9th: briaka Jr. (Einar) (2-3)
10th: Ryougabot (Vydar) (2-3)
11th: Bryce (Utgar) (2-3)
12th: Jooky (Vydar) (2-3)
13th: jdtenor (Utgar) (2-3)
14th: Jooky Jr. (Jandar) (1-4)
15th: Sammy (Einar) (1-4)

Tournament Championship
kevindola beat John on Swamp Thing


Group photo by the prize table:

Back Row, Left to Right: Jooky, Austin, Derek, vminer, JookyJr10, briaka, John, Ryougabot, Vydar
Front Row, Left to Right: jetjake, Bryce, Sammy, briaka jr., kevindola, jdtenor

[Vydar]

Vydar's Battle Report

In spite of my username, I decided to represent Aquilla at the tournament this year. I guessed correctly that Aquilla would have very few players and jdtenor was kind enough to loan me 3 Blue Wyrmlings to at least give my army a ranged special attack. (Rhogar has the only other special attack currently available to Aquilla.) (Each of my dwarf figures is labeled with one of the dwarf names from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien: Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Ori, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin ... and Bilbo the Hobbit.)

My Army
210 Axegrinders x3
120 Thorin (Mogrimm)
60 Bilbo (Darrak)
105 Blue Wyrmlings x3
===
495

The tournament began with 4 Swiss rounds.

1st Round
Versus jetjake (Utgar runner-up)
Cyprien Esenwein, Isamu, Marcu, Stingers x3, Phantom Knights x2

Map: Warden

Glyphs: Attack +1, Negation, Wound

jetjake lucked out and got the Negation glyph place only 6 spaces from his starting zone. Unfortunately, Marcu decided to turn the tide on him with Eternal Hatred. Rather than pouncing on the glyph and negating Thorin (Morgrimm), he flew to the opposite side of the starting zone and attacked a Stinger. Since Jake had placed multiple markers on Marcu, the dwarves managed to sprint across the battlefield and negate Cyprien before the Utgar army recovered from their shock. Having secured the +1 attack glyph near my starting zone, I managed to march a number of dwarves right into Jake's starting zone and start whittling away at his army. My first wave eventually died out and the Phantom Knights tried to advance on my dwarves holding out in the center of the map by the Wound glyph. The PK's had height advantage, but I played aggressively since I held the +1 attack glyph. With such a bad start for the Utgar army, it was only a matter of time before the dwarves broke through to Jake's starting zone. The negated Cyprien didn't stand much of a chance.

Record: 1-0

2nd Round
Versus briaka jr. (Einar runner-up)
10th Regiment x3, Sacred Band, Marcus, Kaemon Awas

Map: Highways and Dieways

Glyphs: Unique Attack +1, Negation

briaka jr. won initiative, which meant he was going to beat me to the Negation glyph. Fortunately for me, he rolled too low to negate my Thorin (Mogrimm). The Highways and Dieways map is an exceptionally good map for melee figures and Thorin and company managed to close the gap quickly with the 10th Regiment. The dwarves kept the 10th Regiment and Sacred Band pinned in their starting zone for most of the game. The Einar army eventually succumbed to the dwarven onslaught.

Record: 2-0

3rd Round
Versus John (Ullar Faction Champion)
Charos, Greenscales x2, Warriors of Ashra x2, Aubrien Archers

Map: Fossil

Glyphs: Lucky D10, Wound

This was a match-up I was not looking forward to. Prior to the tournament, I had played John's army on this map twice. Both times, the dwarves were utterly decimated by Charos' counterstrike and the Warriors of Ashra's Defensive Agility. In fact, these beatings almost convinced me to switch to and Utgar army instead. My original army had included a Wyvern, but thanks to jdtenor, I had upgraded to 3 Wyrmlings instead. John led with the Archers, who claimed both glyphs, felled two dwarves, and frenzied twice in a row (fortunately, the dwarven armor withstood the elven onslaught). The dwarves used the road to destroy the archers on the glyphs and claim the Wound glyph. Then Charos and the Greenscales came barreling across the battlefield. Combat ensued around the Wound glyph and Charos advanced to the high ground adjacent to the right side of my starting zone. I managed to maneuver the dwarves such that Charos was continually engaged. Bilbo (Darrak) Sneak Attacked Charos with 6 dice, but received 2 wounds instead. He did not survive Charos' attack the following turn. I was careful not to attack Charos when he had height, and Thorin and the remaining dwarves finally finished the dragon after substantial losses. The next few turns were a fight to protect the Wyrmlings (which had no order markers on them) from Greenscales and WoA. The dwarves finished off the lizardmen and Thorin (Mogrimm) planted himself firmly on the wound glyph, which claimed an archer and a WoA over the next two rounds. The Wyrmlings saved the day by rolling very well defensively (I had moved them to high ground on my first round) and finally breaking through the WoA defenses with their special lightning attack. By the end of the battle, all I had left were 2 Wyrmlings and Thorin (Mogrimm) with 5 wounds. It couldn't have been much closer. A few less good rolls and the battle would have been lost.

(Oddly enough, after John and I played, he discovered that he had killed Charos on his 8th wound rather than his 9th wound. I also discovered that dwarves receive a bonus defense die against large and huge figures. I had been playing with the bonus attack, but forgetting about the defense!)

Record: 3-0

Round 4
Versus kevindola (Tournament & Einar Champion)
Zelrig, 10th Regiment x3, Crixus

Map: Arctic Divide

Glyphs: Unique Attack +1, Attack +1

I didn't even stand a chance in this match-up. Kevin won initiative and Smaug (Zelrig) vaporized an entire squad of dwarves on the first turn (it should have been one less, but I only had so much room and I misplaced a couple of them). I then had to chase the dragon uphill as he killed off dwarf after dwarf and retreated behind the 10th Regiment. I had a brutal time trying to scale the snowy hill while taking withering fire from the 10th. I only managed to kill one squad of 10th Regiment before my entire army was lost.

Comment: I generally like the BOV maps and use them for all the events that I run. Maybe it was just the match-up, but this map does not seem balanced to me. In particular, I strongly dislike the glyph placement on the map. One of them is placed in a bottleneck between glaciers that forces figures to stop on it when they try to run past or take a very wide detour. The other glyph can be bypassed, but it costs extra movement. Combining that with many small ups-and-downs on the map prevents melee figures from being able to close with the opponent. The glyphs should have been placed on the lower ice tiles where they are harder to hold and don't inhibit movement as much.

Record: 3-1

"Faction Championship"
Versus Bryce
Ogre Warhulk, Blade Gruts, Nerak, Deathstalkers, Deathreavers, Goblin Cutters, Deepworm Drow

Map: Fire Isles

Glyphs: Attack +1, Wound

We had 3 sole faction players: 1 for Ullar (John), 1 for Jandar (Jooky Jr.), and 1 for Aquilla (me). John and I had already played, so we rolled off to see who would play Jooky Jr. John was selected. That meant I would play the top ranked player who was not involved in a Faction Championship.

Bryce was one of the younger players at the tournament playing a lot of single squads (possibly because he didn't have enough figures to play multiple commons). I flew the Wyrmlings to take the Wound and Attack +1 glyphs and then advanced with the dwarves. The Ogre Warhulk fell quickly to some very angry dwarves. Bryce did manage to take the Attack +1 glyph from me for a few turns before I reclaimed it, but the order efficiency was not very good on his army and it was only a matter of time before the dwarves finished the battle.

Record: 4-1

Being the only Aquilla player, I automatically became Aquilla's Faction Champion. I managed to place 2nd overall, which I was quite pleased with considering the many weaknesses of my army.

[Devil's Advocate]

Nice summary. I personally dislike Zelrig because I think that he is so extreme. I've seen Zelrig basically end games before the other player even gets their 2nd turn and other games where he is basically almost 185 wasted points due to the opponent's army, neither of which makes for a fun game in my opinion.

[jdtenor]

First of all I want to thank Vydar for organizing the event. Great job making it look easy. I also want to thank everyone for voting Vminer and myself(tie) for the sportsmanship award. I have mostly a battle summary and I took a ton of picture some I'll post her, I'll link my photo-bucket and slowly upload to the gallery here at Heroscapers!
When I build my army I wanted to try something I hadn't tried so I went with a Utgar army build

Kurrok the elementalist 120
Fire Elemental x10 (35) 350
Marcu Esenwein 20
Isamu 10

I knew I was bringing a sword to a gunfight most of the maps were unfavorable and the lack of play testing on my army gave it to many weaknesses. I probably would have abandon the army but I'm glad I played them.

Game 1(Pine-tree Marsh)-vs- Ryougabot (Vydar) Q10, Laglor, Krav, Gladiatrons and Blastratrons. Came to time and I lost this one by 20 points If only I would have summoned the Fire element I could have won by 15 points.
0-1
Game 2(Swamp thing)-vs- Jooky Jr.(Jandar)Zetacron, 2x Omnicron snipers, Omnicron Repulsors, Realin 2.0 and Kelda
Jooky had some good rolling and the range to keep picking my element off before I could reach he slowly took the hill and I had nothing to counter that with this was my worse loss of the tournament.
0-2

Losing the first 2 game took off the edge of competing and the game
always becomes more fun the rest of the way.

Game 3(Highways and Divideways)-vs Jooky(Vydar)Agent Carr, Agent Skahen, Krav, Microcorp and Blastratrons.
Very bad map for both of us, early on Jooky let me advance most of my elements and I was able to overwhelm him in his start zone.
1-2
Game 4(Turret rock) -vs- Briaka Jr. Kaemon Awa, Marcus Decimus, Sacred band and 3x 10th Regiment.
Another bad map/match up and Briaka Jr. set me up very nicely.
1-3
Game 5 Bye
2-3
I do believe my army can win in the right tournament setting. I don't like it for a Faction Wars.
Here's some pictures of setup


Here's some from the championship game


Group photos


The Winner Kevindola

And follow the link there's a lot of pictures on my photo-bucket feel free to grab the photos for you own personal use on you reports or as you see fit.
http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m...0IL%20%202010/

[kevindola]

kevindola’s battle report

My Army
185 Zelrig
225 10th Regiment of the Foot x3
90 Crixus


Round 1: vs. Austin (#8, 2-3)
Army: Blades, Heavies, Arrows x 2, Swog x 2, Grimnak, Krug
Map: Highways and Dieways
Glyphs: Attack +1, Move +2

Zelrig’s eyes lit up at the sight of all those common squads even with the Krug the big hitter on the field. In the first round, Zelrig was able to toast a Swog/2 Arrows in one blast, and 3 Heavies and a Blade Grut in a 2nd blast on Grimnak. Austin’s Orders were split between Arrows and Heavies and did not get any attacks off in Round 1. In Round 2, Zelrig did a little more retreating picking off figures 1 at a time while Grinmank crept closer to my base. Zelrig took a disengagement wound as the 2nd Swog rider fell, and another few arrow gruts. Round 3 saw Grimnak start chomping 10th Regiment in my base, but an order marker switch to 10th and the dino did not stand up long to heighted wait then fires. Finally it came down to Krug who plodded his way towards my base. Zelrig was able to get the attack +1 glyph and while Krug took down a few 10th Regiment, heigh/wait then fire/attack glyph made quick work of Krug.
Casualties: Zelrig took 1 wound, and 4 10th Regiment were lost.

Round 2: vs. vminer (#4, Utgar Champ, 4-1)
Army: Cyprien, Sonya, Minions, Phantom Knights, Hydra
Map: Fossil
Glyphs: Negation, Wound

Vminer and I both disliked the negation glyph, fearing the worst for Cyprien and Zelrig. So we agreed before the game (after asking the tournament director) to toss it out and play only with the wound glyph. Vminer won initiative and sent out Cyprien. Zelrig moves out and is able to send a fire bomb out the starting zone on the first turn. 2/3 kills 2 Minions (0/4, ¼) and a Phantom Knight (1/2). Cyprien responds with a 3 Wound Chilling touch to the big dragon. Zelrig disengages (4th wound) and firebombs the zone again, 1/3. Killing the last minion (0/4), but a Phantom Knight and Hydra block. Minions were vminer’s 3rd turn. Zelrig lobs one more bomb into the zone but a phantom knight and sonya laugh at his 0/3.
Round 2 begins with Cyprien hitting a 2 wound chilling touch to kill Zelrig. I lose a turn on Zelrig, and Cyprien retreats behind the Hive. I begin to dispatch the 10th regiment and Hydra moves out. At my last turn, a heighted 10th gets a lucky ping on the Hydra for his first wound.
I win intiative for round 3 and my hot rolling continues as 3 heightened + wait then fire 10th Regiment finish off the Hydra. Vminer loses a couple of turns as I move up more 10th Regiment and ping Cyprien for 1. Cyprien comes in though and eats a 10th regiment healing up.
Round 4 had Cyprien retreating and some Phantom Knights move in as 10th Regiment continue to delpoy and a solid 3/3 attack roll hits Cyprien for 3 wounds (4 total I think). Round 5 Cyprien swooped in, but a missed chilling touch and attack does him no good, and 10th regiment fire fells the vampire. Surprisingly my bayonets easily impale the incorporeal knights, and Sonya can’t stand up to the firing sqaud, especially with a broken heart.
Casualties: Zelrig, 3 10th Regiment were lost.

Round 3: vs. Ryougabot (#10, 2-3)
Army: Q10, Laglor, Blastatrons, Gladiatrons, Microcorp
Map: Fire Isles
Glyphs: Negation, Initiative +8

Ryougabot wins initiative and sends out the blasts/glads combo. Zelrig is released next and roll 1/3 on the 4 glads. Only 1 blocks and 3 gladiatrons go down. The last gladiatron goes into the water towards the negation glyph and the blastatrons move up but their 4 attacks of 1 are all blocked by Zelrig. I see that the last two order markers are on Laglor so I don’t concern myself with the glad going towards the negation glyph and Zelrig goes again and this time 3 Blastatrons are engulfed by his majestic fire. Laglor moves forward but his autoload fizzles against Zelrig. My last turn moves Zelrig to the negation glyph, and I attempt to Negate Q10, howere a roll a 2, so no negating. Zelrig then proceeds to go 1/3 on a majestic attack that is blocked by the remaining gladiatron who Zelrig is engaged with.
Round 2 has the 10th regiment start coming out and taking height putting a few wounds on Laglor and killing the last Blastatron. Laglor is able to 2 a few wounds to Zelrig and kill a 10th regiment before the heighted redcoats finish off the monkey. The last gladiatron falls also.
Round 3 sees Q10 come into the fray. During the round, Q10 is able to finish off Zelrig with the Wrist Rocket (this round also included a memorable 0/8 rolling on Machine Pistol byQ10) While Q10 was hammering Zelrig though, the heightened wait then firing 10th Regiment were able to eventually crack Q10’s defenses and the robot goes down.
This left a squad of microcorp against a hoard of 10th regiment where the 10th eventually prevailed.
Casualties: Zelrig, 2 10th Regiment


Round 4: vs. Vydar (#2, Aquilla Champ, 4-1)
Army : Forgehammer, Ambershard, Dwarves x 3, Blue Wyrms x 3
Map: Arctic Divide
Glyphs: Attack +1, Unique Attack +1

As mentioned in Vydar’s Battle report, this was a rough matchup and the glyphs actually were a movement hindrence for his army as he had to stop when moving over them. I won intiative round 1 and a 6 move and 7 range put me in position to target 4 dwarves. A 2/3 roll and no defense was even necessary as a squad of dwarves was destroyed. The dwarves started their long march up the Misty Mountains. Zelrig retreated and fired picking off a few before settling back into the starting zone at the end of the round.
The rest of the battle was 10th regiment firing into the incoming dwarves. Not many dwarves survived while taking out some of the 10th regiment. Great rolling by me, and not even the Blue Wyrmlings could get into the battle being taken down by the 10th regiment boosted by the attack glyph. Forgehammer and Ambershard tried to take up the fight after the squads were all destroyed but not much could be done.
Casualties: 4 or 5 10th Regiment


Round 5, Einar Championship vs. briaka Jr. (#9, 2-3)
Army: Kaemon Awa, Marcus, 10th Regiment x 3, Sacred Band
Map: Warden
Glyphs, Wound, Negation, Unique Attack +1, Wound

Another opponent who did not want the Negation glyph to impact the battle, so it was removed and replaced. Briaka Jr. won intiative and moved out Marcus/Sacred Band. Zelrig moved out, and could target all 5 of the newly moved figures. 2/3 and Marcus took a wound, and all 4 sacred band perished. Unfortuantely, all 3 order markers were on the Sacred Band. Zelrig moved his 2nd turn and toasted 5 10th regiment in the starting zone. 3rd Turn saw another 5 10th regiment in the starting zone go down, as none of them rolled defense. To add to the devestation, Zelrig was sitting on the wound glyph in the center of the map and it claimed an 11th Regiment member. Round 1 saw 11 10th Regiment go down and 4 Sacred Band members. Zelrig was able to kill Marcus and the last 10th Regiment before going down to Kaemon Awa. Crixus entered the fray and slew the samurai.
Casualties: Zelrig, 2 wounds on Crixus.



Tournament Championship: vs. John E (#3, Ullar Champ, 4-1)
Army: Charos, Greenscales x 2, Warriors of Ashra x 2, Aubrien Archers
Map: Swamp Thing
Glyph: Attack +1

John E was cautious and after winning initiative brought out Charos and the greenscale but made sure to split them up. Zelrig went first and managed to find a spot to target a greenscale but not be within range of a Charos counterattack. Zelrig wipes out the greenscale. John moves Charos/GS again and claims the attack glyph. Zelrig retreats back and fails an attack on Charos. Charos stays put and some more greenscales move up. Zelrig goes back into the starting zone and fails again on Charos.
Round 2, Crixus moves out into the swamp. Aubriens move and frenzy and move again and ping Crixus for a wound. 10th Regiment deploy and are able to kill an Archer and a Greenscale. Charos moves off the glyph, towards Zelrig and the greenscales do another wound to Crixus. The 10th regiment are able to kill a 3rd greenscale.
Round 3 had Charos moving into the starting zone and begin attacking Zelrig. The attack glyph remained open though and a 10th regiment was able to claim it, killing 2 greenscales (1 remaining), and ping Charos for 1. Charos finishes off Zelrig in the 2nd turn while the last greenscale hides. 10th Regiment kill a warrior of Ashra and with wait then fire, height, and attack glyph are able to do 4 wounds to Charos. The last turn had Charos kill a 10th Regiment and a Greenscale do a 3rd wound to Crixus, but the 4 attacks of 5 from the 10th Regiment kill Charos in the final turn of the 3rd round.
John won intiative with round 4, but his two archers both miss on the 10th regiment on the glyph. Both archers go down to 10th Fire and so does a 2nd Warrior of Ashra. The Warriors of Ashra move out but are too far away in the base to even get an attack off. Eventually the 10th Regiment finish off the last greenscale and the Warriors. Charos gave me a scare in this game, but the 10th regiment rolling 5 attacks were able to put him down. And only the Aubrien Archers for range gave the 10th the advantage.
Casualties: Zelrig, 3 10th Regiment, 3 wounds on Crixus.


Summary: Very pleased with my army and performance. Zelrig caused massive damage in most battles, and the 10th could easily pick up the pieces. The one thing I was worried about was a unique Vydar army that included Q9, and though there were a few in the tournament, I didn’t have to face them. I had a blast at the tournament and everyone there is really cool. Thanks to Dan M. (Ryougabot) for the cool General stickers. Love em. Special assist to George (jdtenor) for letting me borrow the 10th for the tournament. And thank’s to Joel (vydar) for organizing the whole thing again. Glad I was able to avenge my championship loss to you from last year

[Devil's Advocate]

Originally Posted by kevindola

A 2/3 roll and no defense was even necessary as a squad of dwarves was destroyed.

I do not understand this. Why would it not be necessary for Dwarves to roll Defense against a 2 skull Zelrig attack.

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

I do not understand this. Why would it not be necessary for Dwarves to roll Defense against a 2 skull Zelrig attack.

Either it was a 3/3 or a defensive oversight, can't recall.

[Vydar]

I had been taking the +1 attack against large/huge, but I did not realize the dwarves got a +1 defense as well until my final match of the day. (Shows how much I get to play throughout the year and how carefully I read cards.) Even with the extra defense dice against kevindola and good defensive dice rolls, it would have only prolonged the inevitable.

[jdtenor]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

I do not understand this. Why would it not be necessary for Dwarfs to roll Defense against a 2 skull Zelrig attack.

I believe the Zelrig special attack gives a -2 defense for common squads so dwarfs defend at 3-2=1 defense dice so 2 skulls means they're automatically dead. Hope that answer the question. Sorry forgot about the +1 for huge figures my apologies.

[Devil's Advocate]

Dwarves get 4 Defense vs Large and Huge. 4-2=2

[jetjake]

I have posted the pictures I posted on my Photobucket account. Feel free to go out and take a look at them.

http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/w...1/NHSD%202010/

Here are a few of the pictures:

briaka Jr. checking for LOS "can my 10th reg. see your stinger?"


Turret Rocks saw some action in this game between vminer and Jooky Jr.


The CHAMP Kevindola facing Ryougabot on Fire Isles.

[MrQuatsch]

Looks you folks had a great time.