[Dysole]

Okay, so this year was fun. I played in 4 events, the Thursday Night Classic, Uniques Only, Main Event, and the Take 2 CoB C3V/SoV tourney.


Thursday Night Classic:

I built the army like the day before I left for Gencon and because of this I forgot to tell W099 to bring stuff I could borrow. The original army was Marro Drones x5, Kaemon, Eltahale, Heirloom/Raelin. But I forgot to tell W099 to bring Eltahale and 2 squads of Drones. Luckily, lefton4ya was able to loan me some Drones and I decided to just go with Ana Karithon, Heirloom, and Eldgrim (drop a figure) to go with Awa and the Drones. I just wanted to see what would happen with it and it had all sorts of fun things it could do.

Round 1
infectedsloth (Ornak, Brunak, Mind Flayer, Blade Gruts x2, Nerak, Raelin (RotV), Marcu, Isamu, MBS) on Vestige

This army was quite the hodgepodge and I felt pretty good with my army against it and so selected mine. He removed Ana and then I removed Eldgrim and he let me play me with my army. These drones were faulty as they got to move more than 3 one time the entire game. There was some definite jockeying for position early on around the move glyph and he gummed up the area pretty quickly with his heroes and blades. Before I had even gotten a chance to bring my heroes out, we had time called and he was way ahead of me on points. It was an interesting build and had we played the game to completion I think Awa and Heirloom could've made it very interesting. It was a very clever build from infectedsloth and definitely looked much weaker than it was. I'm pretty sure he took it to win the whole event.

Round 2
Mr. Chompy (TKN, SBN, Krav Maga Agents, Nagrubs x4) on Wendigo

I already knew Wendigo was a rough map in general. Without the Krav I felt very confident in being able to beat Mr. Chompy but I felt I could do it even with the Krav. He took his build and I took mine. I don't remember much of the details of the game but he took unique attack early with his Krav while I rushed drones up the mountain. They actually managed to kill a couple Krav but not without many of them dying and again rolling really crappy on activations. 6 move Kaemon Awa (Eldgrim) did a lot of work killing the hivelords and the map was not kind to them. I forget all the details but I know that when I had drones and/or Kaemon on the bridge raining down fire. Afterwards, Mr. Chompy told me I was the first person besides himself to beat that build of his. It was a solid build and he told me he was taking it to Main the next day.

Round 3
Mr. Chompy's son (Airborne Elite, Romans x2, Marcus, NGS, James Murphy, Hydra) on Vestige

I...really did not like facing Airborne and so grabbed his army. He dropped his Airborne and I happily took my army. This game drones actually did much better on activations as I hit multiple 9 drone activations. I grabbed the move glyph (I think that was what glyph it was) and started single engaging the Hydra to minimize Hydra damage. Murphy took a couple tries to kill the guy on the glyph and then everything started going downhill as I massacred his Hydra, dropped Murphy down to one life, and killed most of the Romans (after failing to inflict any damage much earlier). And then just as quickly, EVERYTHING that could go wrong did. Murphy disengaged, lived, and blasted Heirloom, Ana, and Kaemon sitting in a pod putting two wounds on Kaemon and Ana and one on Heirloom. I failed 3 tries to heal Kaemon and all my attacks before NGS punched him and Ana in the face and mindshackled Heirloom. It was hilarious and he said that he should not have won that game. Sometimes, that's just the way things go. I arguably should've sent Kaemon off to start dancing around and just spewing his range everywhere instead of sticking around for the heal but I felt it was reasonable to try for 2 tries at it. Oh well.

Final record
1-2

Uniques Only

MegaSilver gave me his ticket and I waffled on whether or not I was going to play before deciding the day of to. I was contemplating entering the HoB tournament with Ashra x5, Awa, Raelin but decided I'd have more fun in the uniques only tournament. I was going to run Raelin, Hydra, Krav, Heirloom but then remembered uncommons didn't count so the day of I swapped out Hydra for Awa and then decided to add in Marro Warriors and MBS instead of Heirloom (since I already had a special, MW are good, and MBS could be good Krav tech).

Round 1
The Orange Mailman (Zettian Guards, Elite Onyx Vipers, Izumi Samurai, Krav Maga Agents, Tarn Viking Warriors, Marcu Esenwein) on Wendigo

Oh Wendigo. Trust me I'll be saying that again. I led with Raelin and MBS trying to snipe his Krav and I managed to do pretty well at getting rid of them. I ended up engaging his Krav with my own Krav to take them out as well. Krav managed to maintain control and take out two of the EoV and all the Tarns but the Zettian Guards actually managed to eliminate everything that wasn't Marro Warriors thanks to an EoV sitting on Dagmar and occupying the bridge. Marros did manage to kill the last EoV. I probably threw 20 attacks at those Zettians and they just wouldn't die. (One finally died on the penultimate attack) Time got called and he was up 130 to 50 (Zettians+Izumi vs. 3 Marro Warriors).

Round 2
vminer (Krav Maga Agents, Syvarris, Krug, Izumi Samurai, Marcu Esenwein) on Vestige

He was sitting right next to mine and TOM's game and he was not happy to play my army but he was a great sport about it the whole game. I once again led with Raelin and MBS setting up on one of the hills and managed to paralyze one of his Krav and set up a good blocking but Syvarris managed to kill the marro. By this time I'd moved onto Kaemon who managed to finish off the elf and I set him up on height in Raelin's aura. I then moved to Krav just as Krug was coming into play. Normally I'd save Krug for last and run around peppering him with regenerating Marro Warriors but counter strike decided against that. His first attack on Kaemon landed a wound on Krug but the second attack put on three. My next order marker was on Krav who got height and ended it exactly as you expect. They then cleaned up the leftovers.

Round 3
Alexander (Braxas, Raelin, Izumi Samurai, Marro Warriors) on Wendigo

Still had only played on two maps thus far. Alexander was the kid running around in the Spiderman outfit and I don't know if he has a user name on here. I saw Braxas and I was not enthused. Raelin and Kaemon led out to try and kill his Braxas and Kaemon managed 4 wounds before dying. Braxas managed to spit a Krav when they tried to finish her off (missing one of the Krav really helped me). I ran the Krav off to pepper Braxas while she was engaged with MBS and managed to finish her off. His Izumi Samurai had been wailing on Raelin as well (his OMs were pretty spread out and even Raelin had come down and attacked MBS a couple times). His marro managed to catch one of my Krav running up to take the bridge on a whiff but I managed to kill more of his marro with my own and they managed to finish off all the remaining units.

Round 4
Xorlof (Major Q9, Laglor, Krav Maga Agents) on Quasatch Playground

A new map! Pretty sure this was the only time I played on this map at Gencon. I like it. Before sitting down, Xorlof said I was going to beat him. I... was less confident as Q9 can live forever. I charged MBS and managed to kill a Krav when it whiffed on his attack. I then retreated and put him on the high ground in Raelin's aura. I then set up the Krav behind MBS. Xorlof and I traded blows with me shooting 3 attacks of 4 and him shooting 9 attacks of 1. I managed to pull it off and then Krav managed to kill the other Krav one by engagement the other by getting another whiff. Kaemon then finished off Laglor easily.

Final record
3-1

Take 2 CoB C3V/SoV

This was another army set I came up with the day before I left for Gencon. Marrden Hounds x3, Moltenclaw vs. Knights of Weston x2, Finn, Thorgrim, Eldgrim, B-11 Resistance Corps. I also thought it was HoB/CoB not straight CoB which means I probably would've not brought that 2nd army. It ended up not mattering.

Round 1
lefton4ya's friend (Cathar Spearmen x3, Raymond, Raelin 2.0 vs. another army that I don't remember right now) on Burial Marsh

I saw Cathars and grabbed them. Cathars are good. He grabbed the knight build. As I don't think he quite understood what was going on he put Cathar on some of the higher ground while I put B-11 underneath those Cathar and dropped each squad of knights on opposite ends of the board and tossed Thorgrim and Finn in the corners. It was a massacre. I killed all the B-11s in two turns. While all the figures managed to hold out decently well thanks to 4 defense (even Eldgrim survived for a while) my 4 defense held out better.(5 sometimes because Rae was in a decent enough spot for some of the Cathar) He only managed to kill 2 Cathar before I had destroyed his entire army.

Round 2
dok (Varkanaan Darkclaws, Varkanaan Swiftfangs, Varkanaan Greyspears, Varkanaan Quickblades, Marcu, Otonashi vs. Hoplitrons x3, Major J15, 10th x3) on Vestige

I was 0-10 in all my games against dok going into this. He said he was tired and felt like it was a suboptimal decision but he took the 10th because he'd played Varks the last game. I took Varks. He dropped my Darkclaws and Greyspears on the water in the middle of the map and the Swiftfangs and Quickblades on the opposite end of the map from where I was setting up all his 10th. I also placed all the Hoplitrons in water and plopped J15 behind the 10th. I won initiative and Darkclaws began massacring. Everything went my way including a single Darkclaw surviving 4 attacks so that I could get in some attacks with Greyspears instead of a lost Order Marker. I didn't ever feel really in control until a Quickblade managed to kill J15 with its special attack the first time it ever attacked him. The game pretty well steamrolled into my first loss. dok didn't want to detract from my win but he was definitely burnt out. Seems about right for what feels like the 4th law of Thermodynamics (dok beats Dysole when they play a game).

Round 3
Big Boa (Ebon Armor, Tagawa Samurai, Izumi Samurai, Tomoe Gozen, Marcu vs. Calibrax, Rygarn, Siiv, 20th Maine x3) on Wendigo

He grabbed the Ebon and I saw this map was amazing for Calibrax and so grabbed that. I dropped his army pretty much on one side of the map and he dropped Rygarn and Siiv among them and the 20th and Calbirax on the other side. I led with Calibrax and managed to kill Tomoe and a samurai from each squad before getting boxed in by Ebon. I decided to try and kill them but failed and died horribly. My attempts to gain some kind of ground failed and Ebon finished off the 20th (with Marcu finishing off the last one). In hindsight I should've led with the 20th and tried to claim the hill before moving to Calibrax. Oh well. Still got a Bramcephys and some cards for figures I have/want.

Final Record
2-1

Main Event

I wanted to try a Sudema build and toyed with Sudema, a mess of rats, Taelord, and Krav. Krav and rats would be pretty brutal to hand someone on day 2 though. I don't even know how I stumbled on Deathstalkers but somehow I did while my MacDirk build was not working out for me in Gencon prep. After some brainstorming, Krav and Raelin seemed like the best option for ranged support and Marcu was good glyph grabbing/wound insurance. After some playtesting with kevindola, I liked how it played and decided it was the way to go. I was also the only entrant who needed to borrow hexes so that was special. ^_^

Round 1
Alexander (Ulginesh, Arkmer, Emirroon, Jorhdawn, Chardris, Acolarh) on Fire Isles

Different Alexander then the Uniques tournament. If he had a user name on Scapers I didn't get it. I felt decently okay going into this because Krav although the small map did worry me some. I decided to lead with Stalkers only to watch them just get OWNED and Chardris one shot Raelin. I managed to put a few wounds on various elves losing almost all my stalkers before deciding to switch to Krav. They managed to kill Ulginesh in one turn giving me a free round where I killed Acolarh and put a lot of wounds on the the other elves. He was never able to catch the remaining Krav and the elf pod fell apart very quickly even though Emirroon teleporting people around and Arkmer nabbing Kelda did worry me for a bit.

Round 2
Mr. Chompy (TKN, SBN, Krav Maga Agents, Nagrubs x4) on Wendigo

Yeah. You read that right. I played him again. Same army. Same map (literally). Same round. This time I had things which were able to catch Krav much quicker than Drones but he still managed to kill a fair number of Stalkers especially once he had unique attack but I managed to kill one of them including at least one maul. SBN managed to come over and kill Raelin but then died to Krav. TKN managed to kill a Krav but the Krav managed to finish him off. The map really hurt TKN and SBN as they just couldn't keep up with the ping ponging Krav. Mr. Chompy was a good sport about all of it and reminded me why I have enjoyed every game I've played with him (4 at Gencons. He beat me twice last year and I beat him twice this year).

Round 3
WOOKIE (10th x2, Roman Legionnaires x2, Marcus, Raelin, Sgt. Drake Alexander) on Fire Isles

I was worried about this army as Drake could be problematic for the Krav but fortunately WOOKIE decided to pod up with 10th and Romans. When I saw this I grabbed the move glyph with a Stalker and set up a pod in Raelin's aura with Krav surrounded by Stalkers. I managed to be able to snipe most of the team this way (it got much easier after Raelin died) although when he did finally manage to push his last few romans through a Krav got trapped on lava and died. Drake came out as the last couple Romans were dying and got surrounded by Stalkers. I managed to get two mauls on Drake, one coming when he had 1 life (no kill like overkill).

Round 4
vegietarian18 (Ulginesh, Raelin (RotV), Morsbane, Jorhdawn, Chardris, Kyntella Gwyn, Arkmer) on Flash Fire

vegie and I had talked briefly the day before about Gencon armies and I had a sneaking suspicion he was bringing elves + Raelin after we talked. I want to say I realized during Gencon Prep I realized someone could run that and it seemed like a fine army to me. I know I was much more worried about this army than the first elf pod because Raelin + Morsbane could negate Krav plus I know vegie is a solid player. I joked to him before we started that since I felt I was going to lose my other games but won and felt like I was going to win this game that I was probably going to lose. We proceeded to play a very solid game with me leading with Stalkers to try and kill Morsbane (and/or whatever other elves they could get) and them getting shredded (you think I'd've learned my lesson). I made some poor placements that I regretted almost immediately as soon as he took his turn and was able to torch multiple Stalkers with Jorhdawn. Things started swinging back in my favor once Krav came out (I think I took too long to switch over) and Morsbane died without negating Krav. vegie managed to suicide a couple elves to kill the Krav (one of which I stupidly moved out of Raelin's aura). I managed to kill Arkmer and Jorhdawn (I think with Krav) and Stalkers managed to finish off Chardris with a maul, kill Kyntella, put three wounds on Ulginesh and Raelin. Last round got called. On my last order marker I tried to finish off Ulginesh with a 4 attack Raelin down but he blocked it. vegie then made a classy move by just claiming the win on his last turn instead of going to try and kill the Stalker. I pointed out he could and he said that since he was in, he didn't feel like potentially screwing me over with that. I appreciated that but I would end up not needing it.

Round 5
TurkeyClubSammich (Ornak, Hydra x4, Marcu) on Wendigo

I was really, really, really, really, really, really hoping I didn't draw him. I did not like the idea of having to face 4 Hydras. I thought the game would be a blowout. I was right but in the wrong way. I put a useless Order Marker on Marcu which after I realized I couldn't grab a glyph I just put on the bridge to block it off from potential Hydras. It managed to stave off the Hydras long enough for my Krav to cover the 3 spaces on the middle of the bridge forcing Hydras to attack them from range. Krav then proceed to own. I never whiffed a stealth dodge and they managed to knock all the Hydras down to 2 life REALLY quickly. Marcu came off of unique attack and managed to kill a Krav but I was still able to hold the bridge (especially thanks to a timely whiff from Marcu). At one point, with one Hydra dead and 3 with one wound each, I felt decently confident Raelin backed Stalkers could finish the game but I decided it was better for me to go until the Krav were done. They managed to kill everything and nothing else got an Order Marker the entire game and I only lost a squad of Stalkers and Marcu. I felt a little bad for TurkeyClubSammich as he was very right that this map was a major component of my victory. He did end up making Day 2 so it wasn't super bad.

If someone had told me I'd go 4-1 (and very nearly win my loss) with this build I wouldn't've believed them but it happened. I felt I played well and was happy to make day 2 with another "crappy unit" (after making it with Harqs last year)

Day 2

Round 1
Weesel99 (Mezzodemons x6, Raelin, Kaemon Awa) on Burial Marsh

I saw this matchup and thought "I will need dice to hate me to lose". A couple order markers into the game vegies dad (I think) pointed out that Maul gets around Exoskeleton. That worried me slightly but Maul was still only one out of every 8 attacks. I started to get worried when Stalkers were not dying. I let a couple Mezzos die without burning any exoskeletons and I had Kaemon running around trying to kill things. He set up Raelin on a nice perch. I managed to engage her and one of the Krav and failed to kill it with Quick Release but he managed to survive despite one life especially once Raelin came up to give him some extra defense. I brought forward 4 Mezzos and used them to slowly advance up the nearby hill killing any Stalkers and engaging another Krav. Eventually he got desperate and used one of his Krav to shoot adjacent Kaemon and got counterstruck while the other engaged Krav died to an attack. I held the last Krav in place with 2 Mezzos while two others finished off Raelin. Mezzos managed to finish off the Stalkers and Marcu.

Round 2
I.S.B.3 (Goblin Cutters x4, Major Q10, Zetacron, Eltahale (sit one))

I felt decently good about this matchup. I led with Zetacron and managed to kill a Stalker before dying. Eltahale came up next and she managed to kill multiple stalkers and put 4 wounds on Raelin. Meanwhile, Q10 died in 2 hits (might've been 3) to a Stalker that had made its way to my start zone. I triple disengaged with Eltahale to thunder ram 3 Krav outside of the aura (2 adjacent one not). It killed two of them but Eltahale died when I tried to Thunder Step and unsuccessfully the last Krav. I.S.B.3 then moved Raelin back behind Stalkers and I realized my mistake in leaving her alive. Even though I used my remaining 15 cutters to try and eliminate the Stalkers podded around Raelin, I would need really good dice and I did not get it only managing to kill about 2 or 3 Stalkers before I.S.B.3 finished me off. Excellently played by him. If I go for Raelin instead I'm not sure if I win but it is not the practical auto loss it is.

I'm not sure if I would go on to beat Cleon as it would depend on the map and Krav could easily assassinate Alastair. I'd feel decent against Nicktheant depending on the map. So could I have gone farther if I'd killed Raelin and pulled off the win? Not sure, but it's not impossible. Still making top 8 with my Deathstalker build and two consecutive Gencon Day 2s made me feel pretty good. We'll have to see if I can bring something else off the wall next year and do it again.

~Dysole, who has no idea how much of this she remembered correctly