Maryland Multiplayer Madness: Post Tourney Thread, 3/7/15

[Dad_Scaper]

Greetings, all!

Thank you to our many excellent attendees. We had 19 attendees, roughly 1/3 (6) of whom had to cross the state line to get here. Between Sherman Davies and Taeblewalker coming down from New York, Big Boa and Johngee coming down from Jersey, and akden and drewcula coming up from points south, the whole mid Atlantic was well represented.

The format was 310 points, 14 hexes. C3V and SoV welcome, Marvel and supers no. Not because I don't like them, but because I am ill-prepared to run a tournament where I just am not familiar with the material.

I particularly enjoy passing the trophy on to someone who has never brought it home before, as I did yesterday.

Event thread here. You earn points for the partial card damage you do, as you do it. At the end of the game you check to see who did the most damage; that's your winner. On a 3 player map, you are awarded points 4/2/0; on a 4 player map, you get points 4/2/1/0. After the top 3 I didn't apply tiebreaks (total partial card scoring), except that people who actually wrote down their total partial card scoring are all ranked *ahead*, numerically, of those who did not. The advantage of following instructions.

Here are the results:

1. Ethan 14 (Vulcanmech Incendiborgs, Stingers x2, Isamu)
2. @Taeblewalker 12 (1111) (Anubians x4, Isamu)
3. @Gurei-Ornery 12 (906) (Stingers x4, Johnny Shotgun Sullivan)
4. @Xanth 10 (Braxas, Atlaga)
5. @Sherman Davies 10 (Syvarris, Dreadguls x3, Isamu)
6. @Robber 10 (10th Reg. 3, Raelin RotV)
7. @Johngee 8 (Vulcanmech Incendiborgs, Deathreavers x2, Marro Warriors)
8. @clancampbell 8 (929) (Syvarris, Theracus, Elite Onyx Vipers, DED)
9. @Dad_Scaper 7 (743) (Tul Bak Ra, Marro Dividers x3, Guilty McCreech)
10. @akden 7 (Syvarris, Phantom Knights x3)
11. @CatScaper 6 (10th Reg. x3, James Murphy, Isamu)
12. @kldonnelly 6 (821) (Raelin SotM, Omnicron Repulsors x1*, Red Wyrmlings x5)
13. Bill 6 (Kozuke Samurai, Iron Golem, Airborne Elite)
14. KidScaper 5 (806) (Pelloth, Drow x3)
15. Kyle 5 (Kaemon Awa, Tagawa Samurai x2, Izumi Samurai)
16. Micah 4 (Syvarris, Aubriens x3)
17. @drewcula 4 (Ne Gok Sa, Su Bak Na, Otonashi, Marro Warriors)
18. @Big Boa 3 (Brimstone, Black Wyrmlings x4, Siiv)
19. @hivelord#4 2 (Stingers x2, Finn, Krav Maga Agents)

* Awesome. Brought to counter the Incendiborgs, and took out 2 of them in Round 2.

I had a few thoughts as I put this list together, but I'll save them for later.

Thanks all for coming, and thanks particularly to those who brought maps, or traveled great distances, or (Johngee) both!

[Buddy412]

Good to hear that your event went well. Congrats!

[Dad_Scaper]

Like I said in the post-tourney announcement: This event followed a few days of really terrible weather that led to some people not coming. Others didn't come for other weird reasons; we could easily have had 25.

The first tournament I ran at this location was five years ago, literally (as I recall) several weeks after the announcement that Heroscape was being discontinued. We had 16 attendees and were happy with that number, and our numbers have been consistently higher ever since.

So. I'd be happy with 16; I'd be happy with 10; I'd be happy with whomever can make it. But we are lucky in this area, and for that I am grateful.

TL;DR: Yes, it went well. Thanks!

[clancampbell]

Thanks again DS for hosting! I had a blast, and I know Xanth did too!

I had a difficult time coming up with an army for this one. In fact, I really didn't decide on what to play exactly until the Friday right before the event. I went with Dead Eye Dan and Syvarris because of their long range sniping ability. I coupled that with Theracus as a way to get one of my snipers in a good (hopefully high ground) position. I finished off with the Elite vipers. I thought their evasive 8 would keep them alive long enough to join the fray and maybe get some lucky frenzy rolls.

I started the day badly. I finished 4th in both of my first two rounds, netting me a total of 0 victory points. However, I rallied and won both of last two rounds! Finishing the day at 8 VP's and landing in 8th place overall. Not too bad, especially after the horrible start.

Syvarris- My man of the day. He probably scored the most points for me all day. Including one shoting a Keamon Awa, and another Syvarris!
Theracus- Not much use other than as a transport. However, he was rather instrumental in getting Syvarris where he needed to be in the last two rounds!
DED- Other than using Sharpshooter to take out a Pelloth (Sorry KS), he didn't do much else. Probably could have spent the 60 points elsewhere.
EOV- They proved crucial in the last round of play. Hitting a frenzy roll (the only one of the tournament) at exactly the right time. Netted me a mess load of points, and seriously set me on pace to win the game. Other than that game though, they did little. Except hand out 33 points a piece to my opponents when they died.

Vulcanmech Incendiborgs- No I did not bring them to the tournament. I wanted to play these guys, but I thought at 60 points a piece, they'd have a huge bullseye on them. So I ruled them out for this format. Turns out they aren't terrible for the format, as I'm sure the tourny winner can attest to.

Well that was my day, and some of my thoughts about my chosen units and at least one that I didn't choose. Thanks again DS!

[Taeblewalker]

At the last minute I had to decide whether to use Khosumet or an extra squad of Anubians. I decided to go with the wolves, and I'm glad I did. I rolled three ones throughout the day, but on one of those turns I was able to inflict wounds even with 1 attack. It was great rolling 10 attack dice against Syvarris from height. And in the last game I managed to win primarly by taking out Braxas all by myself. Three wins and one loss for 12 points and second place!

[Gurei-Ornery]

Originally Posted by Taeblewalker

At the last minute I had to decide whether to use Khosumet or an extra squad of Anubians. I decided to go with the wolves, and I'm glad I did. I rolled three ones throughout the day, but on one of those turns I was able to inflict wounds even with 1 attack. It was great rolling 10 attack dice against Syvarris from height. And in the last game I managed to win primarly by taking out Braxas all by myself. Three wins and one loss for 12 points and second place!

Good seeing part of the New York contingent again, always fun. Look forward to possibly getting a chance to play in New York in April. Can't remember when I 'll be up there, but I will give you a heads up.

Lost to the Incendiborgs twice, but other than that had fun. Didn't get the chance to play on a 4-player map, would have been nice to possibly pad my points to move up to second (never happy, I know ). Thanks again, @Dad_Scaper .

BTW, Neverland Games grand opening is this Saturday! Can't wait.
@Sherman Davies Good luck in your retail endeavor.

[Dad_Scaper]

My report:

Tournament Report 3/7/15

Multiplayer Madness!

We returned to the multiplayer format we've been using for years; see previous posts for how it works. Tourney thread here; post tourney thread here.

This time we were at 310 points, 14 hexes. I had a few great armies in mind, some more cheesy than others. There were two *very* strong C3V builds I eschewed, because they both involved showing off high A C3V units. And I don't care to do that. But for posterity's sake, they were Quahon + Greenscales x2, and Marcus + Spearmen x3. I really, really wanted to use Austerios, and I probably spent far too much brain energy working on a build to highlight him, and coming up unsatisfied.

So, late Friday night before the tournament, I had a brilliant idea: Tul Bak Ra + Dividers! Sure, that left me 30 points, but throw in Guilty and done. The idea being, TBR could Teleport at enemy targets and attack high value targets, and then could summon Dividers as he's hit. KidScaper pointed out that my plan was stupid but I paid no heed.

Round 1:


We played this as a 3 player map. I had the 4:00 position. Clockwise, from there:

Dad_Scaper TBR, Dividers x3, Guilty
@CatScaper 10th Reg. x3, James Murphy, Isamu
Micah Syvarris, Aubriens x3

The 10:00 position was empty. This was the only game all day played 3-player on a 4-player map.

This game was the only one where my Plan A worked *at all*. TBR teleported into Micah's start zone and beat Syvarris to death. The Aubriens swarmed him soon after, but by then I was activating just enough Dividers per turn that I could pick off a straying Aubrien (or 10th Reg.) per turn. CS approached the battle somewhat tentatively, and that helped, too. In the end I held off Micah in a squeaker for the board victory.

1st place: 4 pts (Points are awarded 4/2/1/0 in 4 player games; 4/2/0 in 3 player games).

Round 2:


Again.

I kept my seat at the 4:00 position. Clockwise from there:

D_S TBR, Dividers x3, Guilty
Bill Kozuke Samurai, Iron Golem, Airborne Elite
@Johngee Vulcanmech Incendiborgs, Deathreavers x2, Marro Warriors
@Xanth Braxas, Atlaga

In the past, players in this format have tended to avoid bringing units that reward opponents with a high number of points per wound. In different ways all 4 of the players at this board were rejecting that heritage: Bill's fragile Airborne were a hefty 26 points each; my Dividers were 20 each but kept coming back to give more; Xanth's Incendiborgs were *60* each, once the markers were worn out, and Braxas was gobs of points per wound, too. And she had lots to give.

Unfortunately, my seat adjacent to Xanth simply doomed me. Not only was I the *best* candidate for Braxas's acid attack, I was really the *only* good candidate. I had a horde of Medium figures, most of them squaddies.

I really only had one shot, which was to try to put some wounds on the big girl early and count on TBR to survive long enough to set her up to get finished off by the Dividers. So, again an OM1 teleport. Attack of 4: Nothing. Braxas disengages; I roll for disengage: Nothing. Next OM I get another teleport/attack. Attack again: Nothing. Braxas's next move: Acid spray kills two Dividers in front of her and hits on the 17 to kill TBR behind her.

No dividing for me! No nothing! Just acid spray death, the whole game long! I got zero points for the game. Zero. Killed zero things, put zero wounds on anything. Dividers couldn't put any wounds on Braxas and she just moved around near my start zone, killing things. It was - unless you were rooting for Xanth - pretty rough.

4th place: 0 points. (4 total)

Round 3:



Again, clockwise from myself at the 4:00 position:

D_S TBR, Dividers x3, Guilty
Kyle Kaemon Awa, Tagawa Samurai x2, Izumi Samurai
@clancampbell Syvarris, Theracus, Elite Onyx Vipers, DED
Micah Syvarris, Aubriens x3

This map was the dream setup for Clan's army, because he could carry Syvarris (or DED, but it was Syvarris) to the top of the tower, shield him with Theracus, and plink away at anything that came near him. It was not such a good setup for me, because of the height variance limiting the value of Teleport and all the high ground for all my opponents, who all had range. So it was going to be tough.

TBR got plinked early by KA for a couple wounds, and then teleported around trying to put the hurt on different things. Mostly Micah's Syvarris, as I recall. TBR didn't last long, though. My Dividers ran around picking off Elves and occasionally getting counterstruck by Kyle's samurai. For the first time all day they also had a pretty good game dividing, but mostly that meant spitting out more targets for the various archer elves roaming around. Clan took first; Micah second. At least I got some points this round!

3d place: 1 point (5 total).

Round 4:


@Robber 's Forgotten Ridge

Again, clockwise from my corner in the 4:00 position:

D_S TBR, Dividers x3, Guilty
KidScaper Pelloth, Drow x3
@Sherman Davies Syvarris, Dreadguls x3, Isamu
@kldonnelly Raelin SotM, Omnicron Repulsors x1, Red Wyrmlings x5

I was very excited to see this matchup at the end of the day. I hadn't played a competitive game against KidScaper in ages, and kldonnelly is one of my favorite people to play with, and Sherman was of course our special guest. So I was super excited for this matchup and it did not disappoint.

This map was just enormous. Afterward, KidScaper told me he thought it could have used some road, which certainly would have been available - he pointed out - given the use of trees. At this size, it was just not reasonable for us to cross the map the long way, so we squared off against each other the short way: I sent TBR after kldonnelly's Raelin; and KidScaper tried to get at Sherman's heroes through a wall of Dreadguls.

TBR wasted a lot of energy and probably a few unnecessary wound going after Raelin. Killing Wymrlings was far more profitable and no more difficult. Though the little reds did some damage to Sherman's Dreadguls - wise choice on kldonnelly's part, I thought, rather than sending them after TBR, though he was in her start zone - they really didn't do much to me until they were almost gone and I had begun teleporting Dividers. Then the remaining Dragonling or two battled a barely-breathing TBR and a Divider or two.

Meanwhile, Sherman had his way with the Drow, who didn't do much for KidScaper all day. Pelloth had been one-shot or auto-destroyed in the first round twice, and that will hurt your chances in a four round event.

So I came in second at the table, behind Sherman.

2d place: 2 points (7 total)

9th out of 19.

My army really was kind of stupid. I just wasn't getting enough attacks per OM. The Dividers were too slow on their own, and too slow to the battlefront when teleported one or two at a time. TBR's attack was once per OM, and I had to pull off a smooth OM switch from one to the other to anticipate when he was going down, or (OTOH) when enough Dividers would be in the area for it to be useful. Not a good build for the format.

It was, however, a great day of 'Scaping. It always is. Thanks for coming, all, and especially to those who traveled a great distance and/or brought maps. See you next time!

[Dad_Scaper]

What did people think of the format? There were a couple issues this time, and I want to avoid them again in the future. Options are (1) doing a different multiplayer format next year, (2) skipping multiplayer entirely, (3) adding a couple of rules to clarify how things are supposed to work.

First of all, I totally got nailed - as you can see - because I happened to be sitting next to Xanth in Round 2. It appears that, at a different table, a player switched seats to avoid a similar problem. I'd like to avoid opponent-ducking in the form of seat-switching in the future. Assuming we keep this format, there are two easy ways for me to tweak this outcome: (1) emphasize 3 player maps. (2) assign seating, particularly at 4 player maps.

Second of all, I heard reports of diplomacy at the tables. Well, I am familiar with diplomacy. And by "diplomacy," I mean Diplomacy. And that's a different game, and it's @#$%ing brutal, and it's no way to make friends. In this environment, it is playing kingmaker with the whole event, and it's brutally unfair to the victim. I'm not saying players shouldn't anticipate who will do what and act accordingly, but I won't tolerate handshake agreements for either the short or the long term. So we're not going to have that. There are a couple easy ways for me to address this as well: (1) make it clear in advance, which should be enough. (2) If people do it anyway, which I doubt will happen, I have a variety of tools at my disposal as TD. Nobody would be sent home, I doubt, but participants in an agreement would be disappointed in the outcome (and in themselves, I hope) if I have to step in. (3) If people are there with their own kids and think that they would struggle to *ahem* make competitively prudent choices in a multi-player environment when staring across the map at the doe-like features of their own offspring, I can always make sure that they are at separate tables each round. Easy-peasy.

As always, I had a *great* time last week. I believe everyone else did as well. Nobody did *anything wrong*; I am only here talking about *new stuff*.

I have never run the same format as many times as this one, though, and I was wondering if it was developing some features, after heavy use, that should be addressed.

Those are some opening thoughts. Fellas?

[clancampbell]

Hhhmm. I love the format. Why wouldn't I? I basically invented it. I think it's a fun and different way to play.

Is it getting stale? I say not at all.

Deliberate seat switching/opponent ducking? I say bad form. This format really sees luck play a larger factor than others, and I think table/map/opponent draw is just part of that. Encouraging more 3 player maps would help, as well as a blanket no seat switching statement.

Diplomacy? I always imagined that diplomacy would factor into this format. Statements like "attack him instead, he's worth more points" is something I'd expect to hear, often! Also, the sort of mutual alliance deals early in the game don't bother me much either. These usually fall apart quickly anyway. However, if someone is deliberately helping, say their children, even to their own detriment, than maybe it needs to be addressed. For my own part, Xanth and I will attack each other with abandon. Hell, he'd probably attack me, even to his own detriment. I'm sure there is a specific thing or things that DS is referring to here, and without knowing specifics, I can't really say what to do. However, as I stated earlier, I expect some level of diplomacy to occur in this format.

[Sherman Davies]

Originally Posted by clancampbell

Deliberate seat switching/opponent ducking? I say bad form.

I saw this happen at some games that day, but the people involved seemed to be doing it more as a joke than anything else. They didn't seem to think it would have much effect on the outcome. That said, it couldn't hurt to implement some of the ideas that have been mentioned, like more three-player maps.

Originally Posted by clancampbell

Diplomacy? I always imagined that diplomacy would factor into this format. Statements like "attack him instead, he's worth more points" is something I'd expect to hear, often!

That's the only kind of diplomacy I encountered that day. I don't recall any open alliances between opponents.

Anyway, I like the format a lot, it really changes the decisions one normally makes in a game of Heroscape.

[Dad_Scaper]

Thanks, guys.

I'm not talking about friendly banter or chewing through point values of the opponents' units. And I'm not (repeat not) saying anything bad happened or anyone did anything wrong. My concerns are (1) diplomatic agreements, including (2) decisions motivated by familial or otherwise attachment to one of the other players.

Switching seats at a four player map really could have a dramatic effect on the outcome of a game and, therefore, of the tournament. If I had switched seats with Bill before Round 2, I likely would still have lost, but it would have been unfair to Xanth, whose proximity to me served the metagame army he'd brought perfectly. Would Xanth have said anything if I'd asked Bill to switch seats? Probably not. But that's because he's a good sport, not because he wasn't getting deprived of an opportunity to take advantage of precisely the matchup he'd been hoping to exploit.

I should have done the math differently, instead of 4x4 and 1x3, I should have done 1x4 and 5x3. That would have meant one four player map being used as a 3 player, but that's what I should have done.

I heard reports of handshake agreements. I didn't see one myself. I did, however, see enough of various other things in my post on the subject that I wanted to share.

Clan, you didn't "basically" invent this wonderful format, you did invent it, and I have always given you credit for doing so. I haven't done anything but serve as its caretaker.

The positive reinforcement from both of you gentlemen - one as a newcomer to the format, one as a veteran - is very important to me. We will do it again next year if, as the saying goes, the good lord is willing and the creek don't rise.

I believe everybody had a good time. I know I did. I just want to mind the details so that people will always look forward to returning.

[Gurei-Ornery]

Well I may have engaged in diplomacy by telling Ethan I was going after Xanth mainly because it was obvious I had to go after Braxas with the majority of my team being squads and Ethan had Incendiborgs, which I knew I would have no chance if I wasted time trying to get through their markers. I have never been a fan of multiplayer, mainly because of this type of piling on that naturally occurs out of necessity. I also said a similar thing in the finals, because again I was facing the Incendiborgs and knew my only chance was to go after 10th Reg. I apologize if it was out of line, but it was stating the obvious to me.