Results from a small 3-person tournament (4 total games) I was part of today.
Format: Each player brings 750 - 800 points worth of units. Each game, the players pool their figures and draft using a 1-2-2-2-2 draft order. Each player's drafted army has a max of 500 points and 24 hexes. VC-inclusive, using Delta points (August 2021 edition).
Players:
Chris (myself) :
Raelin [RotV], Sonlen, Deltacron, Harquebus x2, Yari x2, Rats x2, Tagawa Samurai Archers x2, Marcu
@Cleon; :
Brontos, Knights of Weston x2, Sir Denrick, Thorgrim, Arkmer, Nakita Agents, Warriors of Ashra x1, Deltacron, Sahuagin Raider
@Itsbuzzi; :
Ornak, Moltenclaw, Mimring, Krug, Greenscales x2, Arrow Gruts x2, Otonashi
Game 1: Chris v. Itsbuzzi (Chris wins diceoff & chooses to pick 2nd)
Draft:
Itsbuzzi - Krug
Chris - Mimring & Raelin
Itsbuzzi - Moltenclaw & Ornak
Chris - Arrow Gruts x2
Itsbuzzi - Rats x1, Marcu
Chris - Harquebus x2, Otonashi
Game Result:
Chris won. Mimring kited Itsbuzzi's army successfully in the early and mid-game (killing rats & marcu and putting wounds on Krug & Molty) while the AGs died blocking various things. In the late game, Mimring retreated back to Chris' SZ and the Harquebus took over, quickly dropping both a half-life Krug & a half-life Moltenclaw. Ornak charged late-game but had no chance into 6 Raelin-backed Harqs on height.
Game 2: Itsbuzzi v. Cleon (Itsbuzzi wins diceoff & chooses to pick 2nd)
Draft:
Cleon: Mimring
Itsbuzzi: Krug, Moltenclaw
Cleon: Arrow Gruts x2
Itsbuzzi: Greenscales x2
Cleon: Knights of Weston x2
Itsbuzzi: Ashra
Cleon: Denrick
Game Result:
Cleon won. Early to mid game involved the Knights engaging Moltenclaw and the GWs while Molty tried to avoid Denrick. The knights killed the GWs before Molty could kill a critical mass of Knights, and the Knights were finally able to surround Molty where they and Denrick quickly finished him. Krug then engaged the Knights, but Cleon killed Krug across 2 rounds of knight attacks (including 2 Denrick attacks from height).
Game 3: Chris v. Cleon (Cleon wins diceoff & chooses to pick 1st)
Draft:
Cleon: Raelin
Chris: Rats x1, Nakita
Cleon: Harq x2
Chris: Knights x2
Cleon: Tagawa Samurai Archers x2
Chris: Deltacron, Thorgrim
Cleon: Arkmer, Ashra x1, Marcu, Raider
Game Result:
Chris won. The Nakita agents went absolutely nuts, hitting 4/6 smoke powders and refusing to die until the very end of the game. Nakitas alone killed literally every figure in Cleon's army. Early game, I used the rats to grab & hold the movement glyph for the whole game. I then spent 2 OMs to develop knights onto height and engage some forward TSAs. The Nakitas then moved up, spending most of their time adjacent to Thorgrim while exchanging shots with the Harqs (some were tied down by a few rats at this point) and TSAs. Nakitas just refused to die at this point, winning the ranged battle and killing all the Harqs, TSAs, & Raelin. Arkmer in the late game killed 2 Nakitas, but the game was over by then.
Game 4: Chris v. Itsbuzzi (Itsbuzzi wins diceoff and chooses to pick 1st)
Draft:
Itsbuzzi: Mimring
Chris: Raelin, Moltenclaw
Itsbuzzi: Greenscale Warriors x1, Arrow Gruts x1
Chris: Deltacron, Harquebus x1
Itsbuzzi: Rats x2
Chris: Harquebus x1, Otonashi
Itsbuzzi: GWs x1, AGs x1
Game Result:
Chris won. Early game Chris developed Raelin and sent the Harqs to shoot at Mimring until the Harqs were mostly killed / tied down by various screen units (mostly rats & AGs). Harqs did 3 total wounds to Mimring. Chris then brought up Moltenclaw to engage the screen units. Itsbuzzi did a good job of denying multiple attacks to Molty for a while and kept Mimring safely far away pinging from 8 spaces, but Mimring just couldn't get enough offense mostly shooting up 4 v 6 into Molty. Over 2 rounds, Molty took 2 wounds while killing the rat + AG screen (the GWs were still in the SZ). Once the screen was dead, Molty moved forward and killed Mimring in the first direct attack. The GWs charged late but had basically no chance.
Final thoughts:
- Traditionally strong stand-alone units (Raelin, Rats, Dragons) stood out as still strong (both prioritized in drafting and in-game) despite their point increases. I think this was partially due to their ability to work with almost any other piece which makes them stronger in a draft-format than a double-blind where you could, say, bring more of a common squad instead of including Raelin.
- Nakitas being cheaper definitely encouraged me to base my game with Cleon around them; that and they seemed like the best chance to duel a Raelin-Harq pod after I lost 1st pick to Cleon. When smoke power is hitting at 66% frequency Nakitas can carry a game (and did).
- I'm not sold that Moltenclaw is 30 points better than Mimring. Today everyone was favoring Mimring (better matchups into some of the units here b/c longer range + cheaper points). I think the gap between these 2 dragons could use some more discussion and I'm curious of any thoughts anyone has on them.
- Dragons are good into low-defense figures
