[killercactus]

NHSD 2012 - Pittsburgh, PA

I'd originally planned to go to the NHSD tournament in Columbus, but some stuff came up at home and I couldn't be gone all day, so I switched to Pittsburgh at the last second since it started earlier and the drive was shorter. Thanks again to happyjosiah for running an excellent tournament!

The format there was 385 Points, official Scape only, and your army had to include exactly 2 Valkyrie Generals. I didn't have much time to plan, so I settled quickly on this:

Goblin Cutters x3 - 150
Horned Skull Brutes x3 - 375
Isamu - 385, 22

At only 385 Points, I thought the number of big special attackers would be low, and I also liked that this almost filled the hexes. I couldn't have been more wrong about the special attacks, but luckily the Brutes are really awesome.

Round 1 - happyjosiah (Zelrig, Cyprien, Sonya) on a really flat map with uncapped pillars creating a choke point in the middle.

Zelrig was pretty scary, but this map was long enough that he couldn't get a good bomb off in one OM. Luckily I won initiative, and got some Cutters advanced out. Zelrig flew out and whiffed on one, and eventually I Mob Attacked him for a few wounds. He took a triple disengage (2 wounds) and attacked a cluster of goblins, and whiffed again! He won initiative though and fried that cluster next round, but the Brutes finished him off.

Cyprien came after that and found a Defense +2 glyph in a space where I could only get 2 Cutters adjacent. Realizing he'd just kill me if I came to him, I started moving for Sonya and found the Wound glyph, so I resolved to just sit there until Cyprien came off. My Brutes had a really good turn of attacks on him, putting 5 wounds on the last turn of the round, and the Wound glyph got Sonya. Cyprien won initiative and flew off to eat some Goblins, but missed both Chilling Touch and his attack. My Brutes Barged into him and finished him off, breaking Sonya's wounded heart for the win.

Win, 1-0, 140ish winning points

Round 2 - rudyvalentine (Major Q10, Phantom Knights x3, Marcu) on Hot Heights

Mark is a Summoner Wars playtester with me, and it was really cool to meet him in person. Major Q10 scared me some, but I liked the matchup against the Phantom Knights. Still though, I needed to get Q10 before he mowed down too many Goblins.

Predictably, Q10 came out alone first and claimed some high ground. I started by mixing OMs, and getting some of the faster Goblins out there to take up space and hopefully get a Mob on Q10, but that didn't happen. After he killed a couple, I sent in the Brutes to do their job. Wrist Rocket was mowing them down from higher ground, but they held long enough for me to get a 4/4 roll, and Q10 whiffed his defense.

Mark made a game of it with the Phantom Knights, using their superior mobility to pick his targets. Now though I had full use of Scurry and Expendable Rabble, and I used them as much as possible, oftentimes setting up Rabble with Scurry. The Wound glyph made another appearance, and I let Isamu die to it. I got the last Phantom Knight with probably 4-5 Goblins and a Brute left. Marcu flew in, but 2 turns of Mob Attacking him took him down.

Win, 2-0, 280ish winning points

Round 3 - Javen (Nilfheim, Fen Hydra, Raelin) on Highways and Dieways

Haven't played this map in a long time - an oldie, but a goodie. I had 2 turns on the Brutes in Round 1, knowing from my experience trying to kill Q10 that I'd need them for Nilf. I used the first turn to get 3 of them up onto the road, and then Javen helped me by flying Raelin out to claim the Wound glyph. My 2nd turn got 3 Brutes onto her - 2 with height - and took her out in one OM.

Nilfheim responded though by killing all 3 with Ice Shard Breath, which was bad. He flew down to my side and I got a couple Goblins onto him to slow him down. He whiffed Ice Shards at one adjacent Cutter once, which bought me a turn to get some Brutes up. Eventually I got a couple Brutes onto him and the dragon King went down to the multiple attacks of 4.

I still had to deal with the Hydra though, and I only had 3 Brutes and about 5 Cutters left. In a rather anti-climactic finish, the Hydra killed one Brute on his OM #3, and then on my OM #3 I engaged the Hydra with one Brute, and tossed the other one on the Wound glyph. My Brute rolled 3 skulls, and the Hydra whiffed. The Wound glyph finished it off.

Win, 3-0, 450ish points

Round 4 - Nathan (Nilfheim, Raelin, Greenscales x2) on Fossil

I think Nathan and I were the only 2 3-0's at this point, and he was running an army very similar to Javen's, though I knew this one would be tougher to deal with as he can block up the lanes to Nilfheim.

The game started pretty predictably, with me mixing OM's to get my army some position, and Nathan setting up a pod from which to Ice Shard me under Raelin's aura. He also got both glyphs - Wound (again, man) and Pit Trap. Once in a while, some Greenscales strayed away from Raelin and I killed them, but then I hung back a bit. I placed some Goblins 6 spaces away from Nilf, which meant he had to come down from his perch (and hopefully away from Raelin) to kill them, and the Dragon King couldn't resist.

That, plus the disengage aspect of Scurry when a Greenscale attacked a Cutter, allowed me to get 4 Cutters onto Nilfheim on my OM #3, and out of Raelin's aura. I did about 2 wounds or so, and then won Initiative, allowing the Brutes to Barge in and do 3 more wounds. However here, I only had 4 Brutes left, with 3 of them engaged to Nilfheim and the 4th able to be engaged by a Greenscale. Nilf only killed one Brute, though, and the Greenscale elected to kill a Cutter. My Brutes finished off Nilfheim, and the Cutters Mobbed a couple Greenscales to finish them off. Raelin put up a good fight, but a Goblin Mob followed by Barge into Battle from the last Brute sealed it.

Win, 4-0, 500ish Points

Round 5 - gamjuven (Death Chasers x4, Nerak, Ogre Pulverizer, Isamu) on a map with lava and shadow all in the middle.

I'd only played Brad one other time - back in my first ever NHSD tournament. His Trons beat my Rats / Stingers / Q10, and I haven't played him since. I knew if I lost this game, my points weren't nearly high enough to win the tourney at 4-1, even though there would be no undefeated player (Hey - this army is made to die, not to survive and earn points!)

Brad thought I had the advantage here, but I wasn't so sure. He had bonding to kill mutiple Cutters per turn, and his big attack could penetrate 4 defense. I however finally had full use of Scurry and Rabble for this game, and knew I'd have to make the most of them.

I started by mixing OMs, and positioning my units to take advantage of Rabble. Brad had some tough attack dice at times, and I sacrified a lot of Cutters to Rabble, and Scurried more to take their places when he attacked a Cutter. Most of my Order Markers were on the Brutes for this one, though I did get a couple Mob Attacks in at times where I felt I needed to replenish my ranks of Cutters.

After a while, the Pulverizer hit himself a couple times trying to attack a Brute, and I finished him off. I then focused on mopping up the remaining Chasers until it was just Nerak and Isamu against a Brute, a couple Cutters and my Isamu. I think I got one wound on Nerak before he made it down to my zone, but a whiff on a Cutter bought me some time. Nerak's defense held though through the round, but I won initiative with 2 OM's on my Brute, and knew that I'd get both turns thanks to a Cutter still alive. Nerak killed the Cutter, but my Brute finished him off. It's also worth noting that Brad had attacked Isamu 4-5 times by this point, with all successful Vanishes.

I then charged my Isamu out to meet his in the middle of the map to settle the duel, with my Brute watching from the starting zone. I got the first swing in from low ground, threw 2 skulls, and Brad rolled a 4 for Vanish, and didn't get the 2 shields. An excellent final game, though I think the dice were probably on my side.

Win, 5-0, 550ish points and a tourney win!

I don't think my report talks about them enough, but I actually used Scurry and Expendable Rabble quite a bit, especially in the Phantom Knights game and the final game. Basically against the Death Chasers, I was relying on the Brutes and using Rabble like crazy. That was such a fun army to play - lots of OM management and positioning choices that really influence the game. I think I did a good job managing OM's - there was probably only 1 or 2 times throughout the day where I felt like I wanted a turn on the other squad instead.

For the win, I brought home a castle set that my son opened immediately and starting building a castle. Thanks again to happyjosiah for running a great tournament, and letting me get there a bit late to play! I had a great time! Hopefully all of us Summoner Wars playtesters around here can get together soon for a game day!