Just my random musings about Heroscape...
Elgin’s Army Card Challenge
Posted February 25th, 2011 at 12:44 PM by Elginb
I’ve already been doing this for much of February, but I figured out a more interesting way to do it, so rather than post the existing results, I figure I’ll just start over with a new set-up.
Several years ago, when Heroscape was much smaller, I ran a unit vs. unit tournament. Each unit faced each other one-on-one until a victor was named, but the victor wasn’t the last unit standing, but rather the one that won the most against more expensive units. Syvarris won that tournament by a wide margin, but it was done in a single elimination format that, in retrospect, didn’t quite capture what I was trying to do.
This time, I’m doing it round-robin style. The first round will start off with 36 6-unit pools, the 2nd round will continue with six 6-unit pools, and the final round will be one last 6-unit pool to fight it out for the championship. The units will cover a broad range of prices (for instance, one pool will have both a Dumutef Guard and Cyprien), and the winner will be the unit that accumulates the most points: a win counts as 1 point, but a unit earns an extra point if it beats an opponent at least 10 points more expensive. For example, in Pool A (below), Isamu is the cheapest unit, so if he beats all five opponents, he would earn a total of 10 points, since each unit is more than 10 points more expensive than he is. On the other hand, if the Master of the Hunt wins every match, it can earn a maximum of only 5 points, since every unit costs less than him. Khosumet, since he’s more expensive than 2, but less expensive than 3 of his opponents, could earn a maximum of 8 points (good luck getting any points, Khos).
Ex. 1 - Pool A
Isamu - 10
Drones - 50
Khosumet - 75
EOV - 100
Valguard -110
MotH - 140
The Master of the Hunt still has a reasonable chance of winning, but he has to be truly dominant—he has to be absolutely worth his points to win with no room for error. However, the cheaper units don’t have it easy; Isamu still has to win a majority of his match-ups to definitely beat out the MotH. The whole idea is to figure out which units are best bargain for their points (of course, support units get stiffed in this format, but those bleedin’ hearts deserve it…).
My early experiments with one-on-one army card matches reveal a tendency for units to find their spots, then stop moving and let the dice determine the outcome. To avoid this tendency, I find it’s useful to have glyphs and terrain that encourage dynamic movement across the board. In my last few matches, I’ve been using the Summoning and Wound glyphs, plus the Teleportation and Move +4 treasures, which have made for lots of movement, while lots of terrain variety provided many strategic options to be utilized. I haven’t decided yet what map I’m going to use or what glyphs, but they will encourage similar dynamism.
Anyway, here are the match-ups. Feel free to make predictions (my predictions are designated with an *).
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
Several years ago, when Heroscape was much smaller, I ran a unit vs. unit tournament. Each unit faced each other one-on-one until a victor was named, but the victor wasn’t the last unit standing, but rather the one that won the most against more expensive units. Syvarris won that tournament by a wide margin, but it was done in a single elimination format that, in retrospect, didn’t quite capture what I was trying to do.
This time, I’m doing it round-robin style. The first round will start off with 36 6-unit pools, the 2nd round will continue with six 6-unit pools, and the final round will be one last 6-unit pool to fight it out for the championship. The units will cover a broad range of prices (for instance, one pool will have both a Dumutef Guard and Cyprien), and the winner will be the unit that accumulates the most points: a win counts as 1 point, but a unit earns an extra point if it beats an opponent at least 10 points more expensive. For example, in Pool A (below), Isamu is the cheapest unit, so if he beats all five opponents, he would earn a total of 10 points, since each unit is more than 10 points more expensive than he is. On the other hand, if the Master of the Hunt wins every match, it can earn a maximum of only 5 points, since every unit costs less than him. Khosumet, since he’s more expensive than 2, but less expensive than 3 of his opponents, could earn a maximum of 8 points (good luck getting any points, Khos).
Ex. 1 - Pool A
Isamu - 10
Drones - 50
Khosumet - 75
EOV - 100
Valguard -110
MotH - 140
The Master of the Hunt still has a reasonable chance of winning, but he has to be truly dominant—he has to be absolutely worth his points to win with no room for error. However, the cheaper units don’t have it easy; Isamu still has to win a majority of his match-ups to definitely beat out the MotH. The whole idea is to figure out which units are best bargain for their points (of course, support units get stiffed in this format, but those bleedin’ hearts deserve it…).
My early experiments with one-on-one army card matches reveal a tendency for units to find their spots, then stop moving and let the dice determine the outcome. To avoid this tendency, I find it’s useful to have glyphs and terrain that encourage dynamic movement across the board. In my last few matches, I’ve been using the Summoning and Wound glyphs, plus the Teleportation and Move +4 treasures, which have made for lots of movement, while lots of terrain variety provided many strategic options to be utilized. I haven’t decided yet what map I’m going to use or what glyphs, but they will encourage similar dynamism.
Anyway, here are the match-ups. Feel free to make predictions (my predictions are designated with an *).
Utgar’s Toothbrush Region
Spoiler Alert!
Jandar’s Banjo Region
Spoiler Alert!
Ullar’s IRS Refund Region
Spoiler Alert!
Vydar’s Scoliosis Region
Spoiler Alert!
Einar’s Jock-Strap Region
Spoiler Alert!
Aquilla’s Stromboli Region
Spoiler Alert!
Comments 2
Total Comments 2
Comments
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I disagree with a lot of your predictions, which makes this fun.
In Utgar B, I like Syvarris and Eltahale to both take 5 points. I think much-maligned-Moriko has a chance in D. In Jandar A, I like the Warhulk more than the Minions, and I think the Tarns have a very good chance at 5 points, as well. In D, I could see Krug sweeping for 6 points and nipping the Harq's 5 (and Q10's 4). In E, I like the Pulverizer to sweep for 7 points unless the map is really tricky, but Guilty winning his other four matches wouldn't blow my mind (weak bracket there). In Ullar A, I think I like the WoB or SBN. In B, I see a 5-point tie between Carr and Spidey. I like Izumi over Venocs in Vydar B. Shotgun Sullivan has a chance in C. In Einar E, I don't like anyone enough to pick against Captain America. In F, I see a 5-point tie between Evar and Jotun. Aquilla A looks like another one of those 5-point ties. In C, I see Abom winning out, and I like the Ninjas more than the Imperium. |
Posted February 25th, 2011 at 01:23 PM by dok
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Yeah, a lot of them could go several ways. I guess I didn't mention tie-breakers-- if only two units are tied, the one that won their head-to-head match-up advances. If three or more units tie, then it goes by strength of schedule. In my first run at this last week, I ran into 3-way ties a couple times (but that was with a much smaller range of unit prices per pool).
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Posted February 25th, 2011 at 01:29 PM by Elginb
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Recent Blog Entries by Elginb
- Selling My Collection (July 25th, 2012)
- Elgin's Custom Unit Ideas (February 19th, 2012)
- Unit Anatomy: Major Q9, Part 1 (February 4th, 2012)
- Elgin's 1/28/12 Event Battle Report (January 29th, 2012)
- Tournament Armies Used & Unit Frequency (October 18th, 2011)
