FishTako's Gencon 2010 Championship Day 2 Battle Report

[FishTako]

FishTako's Championship Day 2 Battle Report
Sorry for the delays. There were a lot of notes.

Click here to read about day 1.

We were given an extra 130 points to reinforce our armies for day 2.

My Army: (Reinforcements in Italics)
Major Q9 180
Raelin 80
Marro Dividers x5 250
Fen Hydra 120
Isamu 10

Total: 640


Match 1 vs. Dragonmaster384 (Chris Kaelin) on Fulcrum by Dignan

Glyphs: None

Dragonmaster's Army:
Nilfheim 185
Zelrig 185
Greenscales x2 120
Morsbane 100
Marcu 20
Isamu 10
Otonashi 10

Total: 630

When I saw that I was paired up against Chris and the Z-bomb on this map I knew I'd be in for a serious fight. Zelrig is quite formidable when screened well with greenscales. Luckly, most of my dividers should be rolling 3 defense against Majestic Fires with the help of Raelin.

Round 1
As I fear, Chris wins init opens with Zelrig and Majestic Fires right on Q9 killing 2 dividers adjacent to the major. I do my best to spread some dividers out while keeping them under Raelin's aura. Zelrig advances and bombs again scoring a 3 skull Majestic fires which wipes out 5 dividers! The greenscales are setting up a screen. Q9 retaliates and attacks up at Zelrig with Queglix for nothing. Zelrig is now perched on height and attacks again for a 3 skull Magestic Fires targeting Raelin. The Kyrie takes 1 and another 2 dividers burn to a crisp but a 3rd manages divide! The greenscales hang back to screen Zelrig. My 3 is on Raelin, and I move her forward behind the ruin on my side.

Round 2
I get a lucky break. Chris rolls a 2 for init! I roll... a 1! Another bomb, but my dividers are fairly split up at this point given that my ranks have been decimated. Zelrig stays on the right hill and kills another Divider. The Greenscales take a swing at the few stragglers that made it out of the start zone. The dividers defend under Raelin's aura. I move Q9 onto the 3 hex height and put 1 wound on Zelrig with Queglix. Zelrig fails to kill a divider with Majestic fires and Chris screens for his dragon with 3 Greenscales just behind my ruins. The enhanced Greenscales attack up and land 2 hits on Q9 under Raelin's aura! I finally get a break when Q9 vaporizes all 3 of the screening Greenscales with Queglix! Zelrig peeks his neck over the ruins and nukes another 2 dividers. My 3 is on the Hydra and he slithers up from the start zone just behind the ruins.

Round 3
I win a critical init. My 1 is on the Hydra. The Hydra engages Zelrig and destroys the dragon in 3 attacks and finishes off a greenscale with his 4th attack. The remaining Greenscales scramble to attack Q9 and land another wound on him putting the Major at 1! The Hydra retaliates by killing the last of the 2 greenscales. Chris' 2 is on the greenscales. Q9 steps forward and normal attacks down on Nilfheim from 8 range for no wounds. Chris' 3 is on Zelrig. This was a big round for me.

Round 4
Nilf goes first and attempts to Ice Shard Q9 which gets blocked. Q9 takes height on the hill on the right of the board and lands 3 wounds with Queglix on Nilf. Nilf lands on height to attack down on the Hydra with a normal attack lopping off 1 hydra head. Hydra retaliates with 3 attacks up and kills Nilf. Chris' 3 is on Nilf. Hydra goes again and takes height next to Q9.

Round 5
Things are looking really good for me. But Morsbane wins init. Q9 puts 2 wounds on the Elf Wizard after a rod of negation misses. Rod of Negation misses again and I base Morsbane with Q9. All 3 Queglix attacks miss Morsbane. Morsbane rolls a 16 and negates the Hydra!!! The 3 life Hydra now has 1 head. My 3 is on the Hydra, without reach, I'm 1 hex shy of being able to attack Morsbane!

Round 6
Morsbane wins initiative, misses his normal attack but negates Q9!!! Q9 punches Morsbane with his gun for 3 hits. Morsbane's normal attack gets blocked by the Major and Q punches him in the face for the last 2 wounds. The pesky elf wizard falls and Isamu begins his trek from the far side of Chris' his start zone. My 3 is on Raelin. I am only able to get the Hydra within her aura.

Round 7
Isamu goes first and continues his advance and sneaks in 1 wound on Raelin (now at 3). The Hydra moves in to attack Isamu. No vanish. The 10 point ninja falls. Chris' 2 and 3 are on Isamu and I move my nerfed Hydra uncontested into his start zone to put 1 wound on Marcu.

Round 8
Hydra goes first and fails to put wounds on Marcu. Marcu takes a leaving engagement (1 wound) and flies toward Q9. Hydra gets 2 skulls on Otonashi who blocks!!! Marcu scores a 3 skull hit on Q9 who miraculously blocks!!! Q9 and Marcu slug it out netting 2 wounds on Marcu.

Round 9
Marcu fails to hit Q9. I fly Raelin in to attack Marcu for nothing. Marcu elects to ignore Raelin and attacks Q9 who easily blocks. Q9 kills Marcu and the Hydra finishes off Otonashi for the win.

What a game! Who would have thought Morsbane would be such a champ. I have to say, Chris played Zelrig and his Greenscales very skillfully. Unfortunately for him, my Q9 was able to kill his screen in 1 order marker. I don't think it would have changed the game too much as my Hydra was within striking distance but it was certainly a big turning point for me in the game.

Day 2 Record: 1-0
Match 2 vs. TinyTimmy (Timothy Womochill) Rift Valley by RoninValentina

Glyphs: Wannok and Defense +1

TinyTimmy's Army:
Heavy Gruts x4 280
Grimnak 120
Nerak 50
Marro Warriors 50
Othkurik 140

Total: 640

Both our armies have a large number of figures starting on lava fields. Based on our starting positions, I'd be in better position to take Wannok and he was positioned better to take Defense. Timmy sits a Marro Warrior and a Heavy.

Round 1
I win init. Dividers get off of the lava fields and head toward Wannok and one sits on the road. Timmy bonds with Grimnak and marches him around the right side of the Hive (Defense glyph side). Heavies follow. My 2 is on Raelin also perched on the lava field. She flies to the height area just behind the tree on the elevated 3 hex swamp. Grimnak advances some more and more heavies get off of the lava fields. My dividers take Wannok and I prepare a mini Divider screen. My goal is to position my dividers such that I will always have access to the road. Grimnak is positioned with 2 heavies screening for him getting his bonus. Heavies kill 1 divider. Heavies also take Defense glyph. Wannok puts a hit on Othkurik.

Round 2
Hydra goes first, grabs height and kills both Heavies screening Grimnak. I put 1 wound attacking down on Grimnak. TT moves more gruts to replace the fallen ones. They fail to hurt the Hydra. Hydra kills another grut. Gruts are unable to punch through the Hydra's 9 defense with Raelin. Dividers kill 2 gruts and the Hydra once again defends like a champ. The board is now basically a solid wall of dividers and gruts with the Hydra perched on height backed by Raelin. Wannok takes out a Marro Warrior.

Round 3
Grimnak chomps a Divider. Gruts deal 1 wound to the Hydra. Hydra eats another Heavy. Nerak moves around the side to provide a defense bonus to the gruts. Gruts fail to wound the Hydra. Dividers take out 1 grut. Nerak moves in to attack a divider and misses. The gruts put a second wound on the Hydra. Q9 deals 1 to Nerak. Wound glyph fires and TT elects to remove a grut on the lava field.

Round 4
My 1 is on the Hydra who deals 1 to Grimnak. The gruts kill a divider and manage to run in the swamp water to engage Q9. Q9 cuts down the lone grut that he is engaged with. Gruts and Grimnak can't deal wounds to the Hydra or Q9. Q9 takes out another grut and deals 1 to Nerak. Wannok hits Othkurik or a grut?

Round 5
Timmy wins init. Gruts are really thinned out. Grimnak attacks and misses the Hydra. The dividers kill Nerak. Othkurik flies out landing on the Lava field near my start zone and acids Q9 and splashes onto Raelin for 1 skull. Both block. Q9 repositions such that he is no longer adjacent to Raelin and puts no damage on Othkurik who has height. Othkurik engages the Major on level ground and acids for 1 damage. (I was surprised he did this. As I thought he'd acid some dividers or at least not engage Q9). Q9 puts another wound on Othkurik. Wannok takes out a grut.

Round 6
Othkurik slugs it out with Q for 0. Dividers overtake the Heavy on the defense glyph and put 1 wound on Othkurik. Othkurik fails to damage Q9 and the adjacent divider blocks the acid splash with 5 defense dice. Marro warriors kill the Divider on Wannok and shoot another which happens to divide! Q9 deals 1 to Othkurik.

Round 7
We both roll init. 13 to 13. 6 to 6. Dividers go first and take out a Marro Warrior and grab the Defense +1 glyph. Othkurik deals 1 wound to Q9. Dividers kill a Heavy and grab Wannok. Marro Warriors attempt to clone but fail. Q9 kills Othkurik. Water clone fails again. Wannok kills the last Marro Warrior.

Round 8
There is only 1 grut and Grimnak left. Q9 takes out Grimnak and the last heavy falls soon after.

This game was extremely one sided. Mainly because Timmy's dice were AWFUL. I rolled about average. He couldn't roll shields for a good part of the game. I was dug in pretty good on height with the Hydra and Q9 backed by Raelin but the Hydra's defense really won it for me. There were definitely a couple big hits that I blocked which made a huge difference.

Day 2 Record: 2-0

Match 3 vs. ManTrainChooChoo (Ben Schuab) on Midnight Lagoon by Rÿchean

Glyphs: Initiative, Defense

ManTrainChooChoo's Army:
Q9 180
Arkmer 50
Raelin 80
Kaemon Awa 120
Marro Warriors 50
Rats x4 160

Total: 640

I survey the board and plan out my strategy. The Defense glyph is in a better position for me as it has more accessible height surrounding it. My plan is to move Q9 over there, clear out rats (which will get the glyph first) and hold the glyph to secure a defense advantage throughout the game. If I can stick to this strategy, I think the match-up is in my favor.

Round 1
ManTrain wins init and opens with Rats. I move a few dividers up toward the defense glyph area. The rats are coming and they grab both Initiative and Defense glyphs. Dividers move again. I have an opportunity to take out the rat on the defense glyph, think about it for a second decide to risk it, fail and they scatter. More rats move. I fly Raelin up onto height on the opposite side of the central shadow pool.

Round 2
Rats win with init glyph. They move to engage Q9. Q9 kills 1 rat and moves forward closer to height. More rats are coming. Q9 kills another Rat. ManTrain's Raelin flies to the mirror location on his side. My 3 is on Q9 and I for whatever reason, decide to abandon my initial strategy and normal attack Raelin for nothing. (This wasn't a bad move per se but would be the beginnings of a slippery slope of bad decisions).

Round 3
I win init despite not having the glyph. ManTrain has 3 order markers on Q9. I incorrectly put 2 on Q9 and only 1 on the Hydra. I think failing to wound Raelin in the last round really should have caused me to abandon attacking Raelin and stick with the original plan. Instead, I move Q9 onto the shadow pool and Queglix Raelin for nothing. ManTrain's Q9 moves into his Raelin's aura and normal attacks my Q9 in shadows + height for nothing. I move my Hydra from behind my Divider screen and kill a rat. My intention was to sneak the Hydra around the Hive to get to Raelin. Unfortunately, I only had the foresight to put 1 order marker on it. This left him wide open for unanswerable Q9 strikes. ManTrain's Q9 claims height and attacks my Hydra dealing 3 wounds! My Q9 kills a rat opts to shoot Raelin for nothing (another mistake as I should have shot another rat to prevent it from basing me later). ManTrain's Q9 plinks at my Q9 for net 0.

Round 4
I win init again! Who needs the init glyph!? I shoot at Raelin again with Queglix for nothing (though I really should be shooting at the rats). I think I developed a sort of tunnel vision during this match. Must kill Raelin. Rats move and engage my Q9. I opt to take a leaving engagement with a divider (he survives) to engage ManTrain's Raelin. His Q9 cuts the divider down and puts 4 wounds on Raelin with Queglix! More dividers move but are unable to put any damage through. Q9 kills a divider and I divide on another for a net gain of 0.

Round 5
My Q9 is unable to kill rats at this point since the rats are defense 8 with shadow, Raelin + defense glyph. Rats try to surround my Q9. Thankfully the central rock tile blocks the Raelin's LOS to a rat. Dividers fail to put damage on Q9 but continue their advance. Q9 cuts down 2 more dividers. I opt to take a leaving engagement with my Q9 to get out of this rat pile (no wounds) Q9 is now on level height on the opposite hill from ManTrain's Q9. His Q9 Queglix's Raelin killing her on the first shot then landing a 3 skull hit on my 7 blanks to put 3 wounds on my Major. His 3rd Queglix rolls 1 skull and I blank on 7 again! There goes 180 points. Things are looking bad.

Round 6
ManTrain takes init. Q9 shoots more dividers which miraculously survive. I get 2 dividers on his Raelin and attack up for nothing. Q9 kills a divider on Raelin and shoots the other which divides. My dividers put 1 wound on Raelin. Marro Warriors kill a divider. Meanwhile, I get two dividers on height attacking down on the rat on the defense glyph. No wounds. Rats scatter.

Round 7
Marro Warriors kill the Hydra. My 1 is on the Hydra, ManTrain goes again. Q9 is unable to kill a divider. Dividers kill the rat on the glyph only to have another rat scatter to replace it. Kaemon Awa moves forward. Dividers kill 1 rat on the glyph but once again a scatter claims the glyph again. My dividers are starting to box in the defense glyph area in hopes of preventing future scatters.

Round 8
I win init and my Dividers jump onto the shadow pool in hopes of putting some hits on Q9 which does not happen. Marro Warriors gun down another divider. I get 3 divider attacks going up at Q9 for nothing. Marro Warriors kill 3 dividers. Dividers kill a rat on the glyph which is reclaimed immediately. ManTrain advances Kaemon.

Round 9
Marro Warriors attack Isamu who vanishes toward them. 1 divider get a divide. Dividers score no hits. Marro Warriors kill Isamu and 2 dividers. Dividers retaliate and kill 1 marro Warrior and 1 rat on the glyph (no replacement!). Q9 only has 1 divider in range to shoot and kills it.

Round 10
Raelin moves. All my dividers are bunched up on the far right of the map near the defense glyph. Dividers finally get the defense glyph and kill a marro warrior. Kaemon advances. Dividers sit behind the protection of the rock outcrops. Kaemon and his quick release dispatches a divider.

Round 11
Kaemon basically dispatches the remaining dividers. While I knew it wasn't the correct thing to do, I did attack Kaemon with the dividers and lost 2 to counterstrike.

ManTrainChooChoo wins!

At first glance this is one of those games where it seems like it was won on dice. While the dice certainly contributed to my loss, I played terribly. On a strategic level, I failed to follow my initial plan. I felt that my army was well matched against ManTrain's but I got too focused on short term gains (kill Raelin) and lost focus on the long term game (clean out rats first and claim defense for advantage before mounting an offense.)

Mathias approached me after the game and pointed out my mistake with the Hydra. It really needed a second order marker. Even the X would help to at least give ManTrain pause before moving his Q9 in. I realized this was a critical error as soon I flipped my 2. I could have minimized my losses by scooting the Hydra the other direction toward My Raelin but instead, I pushed forward and got punished for it.

Live and learn! That's why I love this game.

Day 2 Record 2-1

Match 4 vs. RoninValentina (Richard D'Ambrosio) on Elswin Plateau by Mooseman

Glyphs: Kelda and initiative

Ronin's Army:
Sir Gilbert 105
Knights of Weston x3 210
Finn, The Viking Champion 80
Krav Maga Agents 100
Fen Hydra 120
Marcu 20

Total: 635

Richard is a friend from NorCal and my primary scape buddy. We're a fairly even match up and regular trade wins. I knew this would be a fought battle for 3rd place seat. Both he and Menchi like to use Finn as a harasser to put the +1 attack on Krav and I was determined not to let that happen.

Round 1
Ronin wins init. He leads with Gilbert and gets a fantastic dispatch moving his knights 3 spaces before advancing them another 4. I spread my dividers. 1 going toward the glyphs 1 in down the center of the map and other onto the road. Knights bond with Finn and fan out. I move Raelin onto the road. Richard notices this. Knights bonds with Finn (moving down the center of the map) and he decides to go all out with his knights on the road. My divider takes the initiative glyph. One divider runs up the road to stall the knights while I move another onto the road.

Round 2
As expected, I win init. The advance divider takes out a Knight from height and engages two others. I move another divider toward the glyphs and move up another divider on the road as a second speed bump. Knights bond with Gilbert who gets another amazing dispatch roll putting a ton of knights on the road. Knights kill the advance divider. I sense trouble coming. My 2 is on Q9 who is too big to get on the road. He positions himself for next turn. A normal attack up at a knight gets blocked. Gilbert again gets another dispatch of 2 firmly securing the high ground for the knights. The knights advance and kill my second divider but fan out off the road to get multiple attacks on him. Q9 takes out the one leading knight on the road with Queglix. Richard's 3 is on the Krav and they skillfully dispatch my critical Divider on the init glyph.

Round 3
I need init badly. Ronin rolls a 3. I sigh with relief only to roll a 2! Finn moves in to engage a divider. A knight engages Raelin and puts 2 wounds on her. My dividers retaliate, I get 1 skull hit and it is blocked, 2 skull hit, blocked, 3 skull hit, blocked. Knights are on fire. Finn tries to take a wound from leaving an engagement. I happily oblige but roll a shield. A knight attacks Raelin for nothing. I get 1 divide. Q9 shoots down 1 knight. Krav plink away for nothing. Meanwhile, near the glyphs, a divider grabs height to take out 1 knight.

Round 4
I'm pretty sure Richard is going to use his Krav this turn. When our order markers are placed, I see 3 on knights 1 on krav. I put one Raelin for the blitz.

Knights go first again. Finn engages Raelin and misses. Richard advances more knights who take a swipe at Q9 for nothing. Dividers kill another knight and claim the init glyph. Knights bond with Gilbert who once again gets another great dispatch bringing up a ton of reinforcements. Tough decisions. I decide to take a leaving engagement with Q9 from Finn(1 wound) to block the knights' path to Raelin. I need to kill a few knights. Q9 is unable to punch through the knights armor (2 skulls, 2 skulls, 3 skulls all blocked). Finn takes a leaving engagement (1 wound) and decides to engage and attack my Hydra. Hydra blocks. Knights fail to damage Q9 but kill my divider on the init glyph! My 3 is on Raelin. He didn't move the Krav. My plan was to base the krav with Raelin. 2 krav are much easier to deal with then 3. This would also allow me to kill Finn. Oh well. I fly Raelin to height on the lone road space on the hill.

Round 5
Init goes to knights. Finn attacks the Hydra for nothing. 1 Knight engages Raelin and puts 2 wounds on her. She is at 1. My 1 is on Raelin. She takes the leaving engagement (coward reward 0 wounds) and engages a lone Krav to attack from height and misses (0 skulls)!!! Finn attacks the Hydra for 0. Knights kill Raelin and deal 1 to Q9. Q9 cuts down 2 knights. Gilbert attacks down on Q9 who blocks. Knights pop Q9 for3 skulls I get 1 shield and Q9 goes down. I lose my turn 3.

Round 6
Finn attacks Hydra for 0. Knights secure the hill. My dividers advance hopping from bush to bush wary of the krav. Krav secure height and kill 1 divider. My dividers are awfully close to the Krav but still can't reach. Krav take 2 more shots from height causing a divider to divide. A divider attacks down and fails to kill the knight on the init glyph. The other 2 rush toward the krav.

Round 7
If I win initiative, I can engage two Krav. This is unlikely as I failed to kill the knight on the init glyph. Krav go first and run away. They shoot at dividers and 1 divides. 2 Dividers can't damage the knights despite having height. Gilbert attacks down on a Divider killing it. The knights dispatch another 2. It takes 2 divider attacks to take down 1 knight from height. My last divider manages to engage a krav attacks up for a miss.

Round 8
Krav scoot around and attack down to murder the divider that was engaged to one of the agents. I disengage my Hydra from Finn(1 wound) to engage the Krav and kill it. The Krav shoot down on the Hydra for no wounds. My dividers take out another knight. Richard advances his Hydra. I move my Hydra onto the road. My plan at this point is to beat his Hydra to the Kelda glyph and possibly take out a Krav or Gilbert in the process.

Round 9
I win init! Hydra flies down the road attacks up on a Krav and misses all 3 attacks! Krav fail to put wounds on the Hydra. My Hydra takes out the Krav and puts 2 hits on Gilbert. Gilbert stays engaged by jumps from the high road hex near my start zone to the high road hex near his start zone. Knights flee for fear of losing order markers to the Hydra. My dividers engage the final Krav and fail to finish her off. Krav misses.

Round 10
Gilbert puts 2 wounds on my Hydra! My Hydra eats a knight. Richard's Hydra fails to damage my Hydra (on height) with 4 attacks. I look at his order markers, he has 1 left on knights and 1 on hydra. My Hydra moves to prevent his hydra from gaining height and kills another knight. Gilbert and his knights fail to do damage to my Hydra. My hydra attacks down on his Hydra for nothing.

Round 11
Richard wins init. His Hydra kills mine on its 3rd attack. I lose 2 order markers. His Hydra kills another divider. Gilbert descends toward the glyphs and dispatches another. My 3 is on Isamu. Gilbert grabs Kelda to heal to 6. Game over.

Richard takes 3rd and I take 4th. It was one heck of a game. There were a couple key initiatives that really could have turned the battle in my direction. We talked about the match afterward and it really comes down to the fact that he beat me up the hill and in doing so, forced me to make some really tough decisions. My Raelin gambit almost paid off. Too bad almost doesn't count .

Gencon was total blast and I got to meet a lot of cool people.

Thanks for the reading. I hope to see everyone again next year!

[Devil's Advocate]

Great Write Ups. How did you manage such detailed note taking without slowing down your games?

**As a sidenote to your Morsbane comment :P

Morsbane is the most overlooked competitive figure in the game (should be around a B+). Using him in a Zelrig army such as your opponent did is surprising since I have found him most effective as an opening piece (the sooner a key figure is negated the more devastating it is + with it being an ability he can use it even if engaged by screeners) which Zelrig also is.

[FishTako]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

Great Write Ups. How did you manage such detailed note taking without slowing down your games?

Thanks! I started refining my notes during my first few matches in General Wars. It was taking quite a bit of time then. I was almost always scribbling notes during my opponents turn. By the end of Day 2, however, I think I've got it down to a pretty efficient short hand.

I use abbreviations for all the units and use up and down arrows to indicate attacks from height, with damage indicated next to each arrow. 0 for blocked hits. On exceptional rolls, I'll write it out the numbers.

Here's an example

Div(down arrow)4v4 Kn (up arrow) 0 Kn, (horizontal arrow) 1 Gil.

Translates to:

Divider 1 attacking down 4 skulls vs. 4 shields on knight, Divider 2 attack up on a knight for 0, Divider attack even for 1 hit on Gilbert.

I use a general template for turn order. I might make a detailed post about how to take notes in the near future.

Thanks for reading!

[S1R_ART0R1US]

A post on how you take notes would be great-I spent quite some time at the draft tournament taking notes and they weren't as good as these. And 8 defense rats must have sucked!

[Killometer]

I suppose that I shouldn't be rooting for the other guy in your battle report, but I have to say that I'm thrilled to see Morsbane show up for Day 2. I've loved him ever since I got him. I brought him to EtS, where he absolutely key to one victory, and very important in my other two. Right now he's one of the top units that sees play between me and my brother. Some day he'll get the respect he deserves.

Back OT, your write ups are great. Even though I knew the outcomes I still got tense as I rerad them. Your tally system sounds really helpful for tracking games; I may have to steal it. Congrats again on your great showing.

[RoninValentina]

Again, I'm glad you took such detailed notes. I was really interested in your match with Tiny Timmy since it happened on Rift Valley.

[dok]

Originally Posted by FishTako

Thanks! I started refining my notes during my first few matches in General Wars. It was taking quite a bit of time then. I was almost always scribbling notes during my opponents turn. By the end of Day 2, however, I think I've got it down to a pretty efficient short hand.

I use abbreviations for all the units and use up and down arrows to indicate attacks from height, with damage indicated next to each arrow. 0 for blocked hits. On exceptional rolls, I'll write it out the numbers.

Here's an example

Div(down arrow)4v4 Kn (up arrow) 0 Kn, (horizontal arrow) 1 Gil.

Translates to:

Divider 1 attacking down 4 skulls vs. 4 shields on knight, Divider 2 attack up on a knight for 0, Divider attack even for 1 hit on Gilbert.

I use a general template for turn order. I might make a detailed post about how to take notes in the near future.

Amazing stuff, Fishtako. My notes are much, much less organized that that - I write down key details and rely on memory to fill in most of the rest. You were the only person I played who was also taking notes, which was pretty cool. It made me feel like less of a jerk for taking quick breaks to jot things down. (Too bad our game went to time, though.)

Taking notes doesn't just let you write detailed battle reports. It also makes you a better player. There's many times that the process of going over the notes and writing things up has made me realize a key mistake that was made, or something that I could have done a little better.

[Grimfang]

Congratz on making it that far FishTako. Now I don't feel so bad for losing to you at the NorCal tournament

[FishTako]

Originally Posted by dok

Taking notes doesn't just let you write detailed battle reports. It also makes you a better player. There's many times that the process of going over the notes and writing things up has made me realize a key mistake that was made, or something that I could have done a little better.

I couldn't agree with you more, dok.

To all players interested in improving their game, I highly recommend some form of note taking. At the very least, spend a few moments to identify some of the key plays (and not just dice rolls ) in your games--especially the ones you lose! Too often, bad dice are blamed for losses when in actuality, the plays and posturing that lead to those dice rolls are what win the games. MTCC owned me in the quarterfinals and I probably learned the most from that loss.

Originally Posted by Grimfang

Congratz on making it that far FishTako. Now I don't feel so bad for losing to you at the NorCal tournament

Thanks Grim! That was a really fun match. I was sweating bullets in the final rounds especially after my healthy Denrick put your Krug down to 1 and subsequently got one-shotted in retaliation. Good times!

[dok]

dragonmaster384 must be having nightmares about the Fen Hydra - his only two losses in the main event featured Fen Hydras ripping apart his dragons. Then again, he was the guy playing the Hydras in general wars, so at least he knows both ends.

It's interesting comparing your game with Mantrainchoochoo to my own. Like in your game, Ben got the defense glyph right away. Unlike in your game, I was able to quickly dispatch his Raelin, and then was able to settle into your stated "game plan" - methodically chewing through his rats and finally claiming the defense glyph myself.

[Dragonmaster384]

Thanks for putting these up, they are a great read! =)

Originally Posted by FishTako

Match 1 vs. Dragonmaster384 (Chris Kaelin) on Fulcrum by Dignan

I have to say, this was my favorite match of GenCon this year. Even though I lost, it was an awesome game. Morsbane really came through here, negating the Hydra gave me a tiny chance to make a comeback in the end.

I really had a tough time deciding who to add in for day 2, as I didn't build my army with upgradability in mind.... In fact, that tournament is the first time I played the Greenscales since buying them(I didn't play any practice games for GenCon this year), and I was quite impressed with their usefulness.

Originally Posted by dok

dragonmaster384 must be having nightmares about the Fen Hydra - his only two losses in the main event featured Fen Hydras ripping apart his dragons. Then again, he was the guy playing the Hydras in general wars, so at least he knows both ends.

Yeah, those guys are amazing if you use them right. I made a number of mistakes playing with them in general wars, and a few playing against them in the championship, but I learned a lot, and that's what counts.