Elgin’s Army Card Challenge – Round 1 results & Round 2

Elgin’s Army Card Challenge – Round 1 results and Round 2 bracket

Round 2 Bracket:


Round 1 Recap:
Well, Round 1 had a lot of surprises (see pool-by-pool details below). I got only 13 of 36 predictions correct, and it’s interesting to see how some units play in this kind of setting.

The Map
Like all of the maps I’ve been playing on lately, there was a mixed variety of all terrain types. There was sort of tournament arena made of dungeon spaces in the center of the map, outlined on the bottom of the map by a castle arch and walls, and on the top by some evergreen trees. In the arena was a Wound glyph, and just beyond the evergreen trees was some high ground with a Summoning glyph on it. To the left and right of the wooded area were ice and snow, the Disengage and Move+4 Treasures waiting out there for anyone willing to risk its heavy, slippery quality. Outside the castle walls and in front of the arch was a jungle swamp, with an Intercept Orders glyph on the left and a Teleportation treasure on the right. Far outside the castle walls, on the edges of the start zones, were hot spots with molten lava and lava fields holding modified Healer and Revive glyphs for last minute, desperate attempts at survival (the Healer and Revive glyphs both had a 50% chance of healing/reviving one wound/figure and a 25% chance of healing/reviving all wounds/figures).

How the Glyphs played
The Summoning and Wound glyphs really made the map workable for non-flying melee units—you simply couldn’t ignore the summoning glyph, and had to either control it, or use it yourself. The wound glyph was important, but if you went too quickly for it, you could be summoned off of it, but after the summoning glyph was used up, then it all was about that wound glyph. The Intercept Order glyph proved most useful for Heroes trying to get a small advantage over squads. The Disengage glyph was a useful part of a one-two punch using the Summoning glyph to pull in an opponent, then disengaging to grab the nearby wound glyph. The Move+4 glyph was useful for units trying to make a first strike, or to grab the summoning glyph or wound glyph, but also to make a last ditch effort to get healed. The Teleportation glyph was good for units who didn’t think they could reach the Summoning glyph before their opponent did; it was also excellent for escaping from near death to try and get healed. The healing and revive glyphs were far enough away from the action that they were rarely used by either heroes or squads; since they were on lava field tiles, you really had to time their usage just right to avoid taking damage at the end of the turn—unfortunately, that usually put you in a precarious position relative to your opponent in the center of the map. Whatever the case, the map encouraged a lot of movement, which is important in these one-on-one games, which can get awfully boring otherwise. The only type of unit that I think was at an undue disadvantage in this format were those poor single life units (common heroes or Deathwalkers)—the wound glyph was simply too much for them, most of the time.

Miscellaneous Results
I thought there were some interesting results. I usually think that all the choice units are in the 70 point range, or maybe the 120 point range, but in the first round, the 50 point units really held up— seven 50 point units advanced to the second round; four units each that were 80 points and 70 point; then three units each that were 185 points and 120 points. Valkrill wasn’t represented, but every other General had units advance: Vydar – 8, Utgar – 8, Jandar – 7, Marvel – 5, Ullar – 3, Aquilla – 3, Einar – 2. 21 Heroes advanced, compared to 15 squads. No common or uncommon heroes advanced; and of the squads advancing, 3 of them were unique.

Round 1 Results:
My predictions are denoted by a * and the winners are in bolded italics.

Utgar’s Toothbrush Region

Jandar’s Banjo Region

Ullar’s IRS Refund Region

Vydar’s Scoliosis Region

Einar’s Jock-Strap Region

Aquilla’s Stromboli Region