Eastern Ohio Events - DISCONTINUED

[Grimnak]

~~~C2P August Tournament~~~ (repost from my Battle Reports thread)

This tournament was hands down the most enjoyable part of my entire summer. Getting to play so many fast-paced, intense Heroscape matches with so many different people is more fun than anything else I can imagine. With that said, this month's format was Rolling Rumble, which included bringing two 355-point armies and choosing which to play against each opponent. After a great deal of debate, I decided to run:

Army 1 (340 points):

- Krav Maga Agents
- Agent Skahen
- Dund
- Otonashi

Army 2 (350 points):

- Marrden Hounds 2x
- Su-Bak-Na
- Isamu

The idea was that the Hounds could take squads backed by a heavy-hitter while the Agents handled the main ranged and slow-moving squads/heroes. Which, in theory, would have worked. But as we will see in the following battle reports, the Dice Gods had another idea as I proceeded to roll worse in this tournament than any other series of Heroscape games I've ever played. Enjoy the show!


Game 1 (using Army 1):
Opponent: Scott
Army: Major Q9, Raelin RotV, Deathreavers 2x, Isamu (yes, you read that correctly)
Map: Convolution

I admittedly didn't have any real hope of winning this game, but all I could do was try and at least take out as many points as possible. I opened with the KMA, and Scott led with Major Q9 and Raelin. Even as he was rolling 9 defense dice, I managed to pierce Q9's thick armor with a shot from the KMA and landed one wound. However, Q9's first round of nine attacks of one on the Krav resulted in two deaths. Skahen went out next to try and assassinate Raelin, but instead Raelin flew over and assassinated Skahen! Dund surprisingly managed to land quite a few Crippling Gazes on Q9, but that doesn't help too much when you can't do any damage in return to capitalize. Otonashi gave it one final valiant effort and charged up to Q9, rolling 2 skulls. However, a safe block of 5 shields and the following Queglix blast resulted in a toasted Otonashi and a defeated Grimnak. I'd managed to kill Raelin late-game, and finished with two wounds on Q9 and one dead Rat.

Record: 0-1


Game 2 (using Army 1):
Opponent: Quinn
Army: Death Knights of Valkrill 2x, Taelord the Kyrie Warrior, Dumutef Guard 2x
Map: Wintergreen

This matchup favored me quite a bit more than the previous game! This was a relatively quick game, as I led with the Krav and found the Unique Attack +1 glyph early on. This game me an almost unstoppable barrage of three attacks of five on Quinn's all-melee army. The entire match proved to be a cycle of the Krav raining down fire from the map's central height. However, the final Death Knight decided it wasn't his time to die, and managed to kill two of the Krav before the other could finish him off for the win. In the end, I never used anything but the KMA. Well played, my friend, but the matchup was understandably a difficult challenge for that army!

Record: 1-1


Game 3 (using Army 1):
Opponent: @southwest ninja
Army: Roman Legionnaires 2x, Marcus Decimus Gallus, Me-Burq-Sa, Ne-Gok-Sa
Map: Swamp Gas

I'd actually entered this match feeling pretty good about my chances to win! After all, I'd rolled decent in my past two games and with the exception of BBQ Sauce, I was facing another all-melee army. However, this is where the fun began...

Of course, I led with the Krav while @southwest ninja led with BBQ Sauce backed by Romans. BBQ never got a Paralyzing Stare, but he also never needed it in the first place. I shot BBQ with all three KMA for the entirety of the first round, and had only put two wounds on him. By this time, BBQ Sauce had all three Agents engaged and the Romans had the high ground. By the time BBQ fell, @southwest ninja had both glyphs (Valda and Lodin) and had surrounded Skahen. I ended up only killing one or two Romans and finishing BBQ Sauce before I fell to to the slew of angry Romans. Even with my awful dice-rolling, @southwest ninja played very well, and even though the matchup didn't favor him, he won loud and proud, handing me my second loss of the day. Great meeting you @southwest ninja ! Hope you had a blast at your first C2P Tournament, and I hope you'll return for more in the future!

Record: 1-2


Game 4 (using Army 2):
Opponent: Mike
Army: Krav Maga Agents, Phantom Knights 2x, Wyvern, Isamu
Map: Stygian Rift

This game proved to be a record-setter. I chose the Hounds for the first time after realizing that I could speed to the PKs and KMA, negating their bonuses altogether. However, my awful dice rolls continued as my first activation of the Hounds resulted in moving four spaces while my second activation resulted in moving two spaces. By the time I got to move my Hounds a third time, the PKs were on height and comfortably had board control. Throughout the entire game, my Hounds managed to block ONE attack. After a series of quick kills with Su-Bak-Na before the KMA shot him to pieces, I found myself left with Isamu versus Mike's two remaining PKs (one was still on the Defense glyph), two Krav Maga Agents, and Isamu. All I can say is, the Hounds must have used up all the bad D20 rolls for the day, because my Isamu proceeded to slaughter every last remaining figure in Mike's army, vanishing at least seven consecutive times without dying. After a final standoff between our Isamus in my already nerve-wracking comeback, Mike rolled a 1 on his Vanish to my 2 skulls, handing me the win after my Hounds forgot how to walk in the beginning of the game. I did the math later and Isamu ended up killing over 12 times his point value, and more than the Hounds did put together. I remember in the February tournament, when I faced @rudyvalentine , where I pulled a similar Isamu comeback, but even that pales in comparison to what I managed here today. Well played Mike! You proved to be a great sport even as the win slid further from your grasp with every consecutive Vanish. You definitely deserved the win, and Isamu's Vanish saved me more times than it should have that game. I was sweating more than a little bit when I stood up from that game!

Record: 2-2


Game 5 (using Army 1):
Opponent: @TrollBrute
Army: Gorillinators 3x, Raelin RotV
Map: Common Ground

I had to choose my army first, and figured my KMA had a decent chance against either one of @TrollBrute 's armies. The beginning of this game saw @TrollBrute 's Raelin fly to a beautiful perch, safely snuggled against a ruin, out of sight of my Krav. The only way I could shoot her was by moving around into the path of the Gorillinators. Sure enough, my KMA rolled very subpar again, only giving Raelin a few wounds. By the time they activated again, the Gorillas had engaged, and several untimely blanks on my part swung the game in @TrollBrute 's favor (if it ever was in my favor to begin with!). Skahen failed repeatedly to slay the Gorillas engaged to her, only rolling one skull for four consecutive attacks. The game ended with a Gorilla rolling two skulls on my wounded Skahen from three spaces out, and me blanking with four defense dice. No stealth dodge, no Skahen, no victory. With that said, @TrollBrute is an amazing player and even if I'd rolled a lot better he still could've easily pulled out the win. Always a pleasure to play you, @TrollBrute !

Record: 2-3

At this point in the tournament, I decided to eat and look at my scoresheet. I wasn't too impressed with my 2-3 showing and had mentally written myself off of any chance of having a winning record, especially with the way I'd been rolling. However, I kept playing to see if my luck would turn around.

Game 6 (using Army 1):
Opponent: Kyle
Army: Greenscale Warriors, Zelrig, Airborne Elite
Map: Sewer Labyrinth

I liked this matchup considering the face that I had no commons for Zelrig to Z-Bomb. I led with the Krav while Kyle failed his first AE roll and instead opened with Greenscales and Zelrig. After a failed Majestic Fires attempt on the KMA and a volley of shots, the three Greenscales were dead with several OMs left on them. With several free turns at my disposal, Zelrig and the Greenscales died without ever killing anything, and the AE never even got to drop! Definitely not your best matchup, Kyle, but I encourage you to keep coming because it can only get better from there! Plus, my rolls had improved and yours were not as impressive as they needed to be.

Record: 3-3

Game 7 (using Army 2):
Opponent: hosey
Army: Nicholas Esenwein, Deathstrike Thrall 2x, Bloodburst Thrall 2x, Preyblood Thrall 3x
Map: Relic

I chose to play the Hounds considering Nicholas couldn't revive any Thralls by killing Large and Huge figures, essentially negating one of his army's primary strengths. My Plague rolls were hot this game, killing either three or four of his Thralls alone. Nicholas managed to kill quite a few Hounds using his Overextend, utilizing a cycle of Overextend, Kill, and Heal. A key initiative swap resulted in Su-Bak-Na swooping next to Nicholas Esenwein in the swamp. I rolled five skulls to hosey's one shield, one-shotting the wounded Nicholas. This turned the rest of the game in my favor as I simply flew with SBN from one Thrall to the next until victory was reached. Hosey, I always wondered why you didn't choose your other army, but props to you for trying to play the customs against a superior counter.

Record: 4-3

Game 8 (using Army 2):
Opponent: Jada
Army: Marrden Hounds 2x, Su-Bak-Na, Isamu
Map: Riot

Yes, you read that correctly. We played a mirror matchup as we'd both brought the same exact army to this tournament. I wanted to use the KMA and Skahen, but I certainly didn't like their chances against the Hounds' 8 movement. This game came down to a lucky three-wound hit on Jada's SBN. We both blanked a couple of times with our Hounds (plague was useless for the most part), but the loss of her SBN gave me the firepower to finish the rest of her dogs and take the win! Well played Jada! Pleasure to play against you, and I believe that was our first match against each other! Let's hope our next game together doesn't involve two of the same exact army!

Record: 5-3

So there you have it! I came back from a 2-3 record to finish in 5th place at 5-3, and considering I tried to use Dund (he didn't do anything all day, by the way), I'm more than happy with the results! Plus, comebacks are always fun, and the comeback against Mike was the king of all comebacks. I even got an entire Icewind Scourge booster pack as a prize, which was quite an unexpected gift.

Special Thanks:

- @Hendal : Thank you very much for bringing such a plentiful selection of prizes for everyone to share! They were definitely a generous gift, and I think everyone at the tournament appreciated your donations!
- @heroscaper2010 : You organize the tournaments, and they never fail to be the most exciting events I can remember. Nothing beats hanging out with other Heroscape nerds all day and competing for prizes and bragging rights! Additionally, thank you for the deals on your collection! I grew my own collection quite a bit, and (almost) didn't break the bank doing so. It's still amazing to me that we've been to three tournaments together and still have yet to play each other! One day, @heroscaper2010 , one day...
- @flameslayer93 : Thank you so much for the free Chardris figure and card! You have no idea how long I've been lacking the figure and getting that rectified (for free!) was an amazing gift. The figure and card are both in pristine condition, which is another bonus. Again, thank you very much! We've also been to three tournaments now together and still haven't ever played each other! One day, @flameslayer93 , one day...
- @TrollBrute : This could go for several players, but in particular, thank you for being such a wonderfully skilled and yet humble opponent. We've played against one another at all three tournaments, and our games never disappoint. Even when you destroy me (like today), never once do you ever have the urge to brag; you even show genuine sympathy! I love playing against you not only for the challenge, but for the atmosphere and good vibes that I get during all of our games. I love getting paired up with you, and hopefully that streak will continue in the future! Thanks again!
- @rudyvalentine : We didn't actually play this tournament, rudy, but on behalf of my dad, @hr0372 , I'd also like to thank you especially for proving to be such a skilled and humble opponent. Even though you beat him, he remembers you showing nothing but kindness and sympathy throughout the entire game, and we always remember that! Plus, I remember during our February tournament when I pulled a ridiculous Isamu comeback on you and stole the win. Never once did you show an ounce of irritation of annoyance, and it deserves to be shared. I really hope we can play together again in the future; games with people like you and @TrollBrute are games to remember, not only for the challenge, but the relaxed atmosphere. Again, this could apply to a lot of people, but you two stand out as amazing opponents to play against, win or lose! Thanks again!

All in all, I simply had an amazing experience and even won some prizes on top! I went from a losing record to a winning record with Dund in my army, and I grew my collection significantly for amazing prices! I can't wait for October and beyond!