2022 C3V Playtest Tournament (Congrats KnightofLight)

[KnightOfLight]

Dysole and I just finished a very tense game. I rolled out the omnicrons while Dysole hunted with the mohicans.

Round 1 Dysole won initiative and deployed Kolbjorn towards the wannok side of the map and developed the river tribe onto the road up north. My first turn I used omnicron mobilization to position Betacron in the middle of the 7 hex sand outside my start zone where his sentry mode range covered wannok and 2 treasure glyphs. As Dysole slow rolled the mohicans my repulsors went on the offensive and started picking off mohicans. By rounds end, my repulsors had killed 2 mohicans.

Round 2, I won initiative and killed another mohican with a stray repulsor shot. While I was taking these shots I continued to develop snipers and repulsors. After my second turn of the second round I checked my attack percent and it was at 83%!! Granted I had only rolled 6 dice, but the attacks were succeeding on the low defense tribesmen. Dysole's turn 2 she rushed 2 mohicans into engagement, killed a sniper and then used Kolbjorn to attack and kill a second sniper. Betacron took his first sentry mode shot at Kolby as he ran in but missed it. My turn 3 I thought I was in a good position, I moved a couple snipers and was primed for 3 attacks of 2 on the mohicans engaged outside my start zone. My attack luck had run out however, and I went 0/2 on each attack, bringing Dysole back into the game. Dysole responded by killing 2 repulsors and another sniper on her next turn in addition to taking wannok with Kolbjorn. I placed that wound on Betacron as I wanted to save my squads for later.

I won a big initiative round 3 and proceeded to developed Omegacron up and took out a tribesman. Dysole took a risk this turn, an LEA to hopefully set up 2 attacks, one of 4 and one of 3 on Omegacron. I luckily hit the LEA and Dysole opted to kill another sqaudie instead. My turn 2 I moved Omega unto the 7 hex sand next to the road, killed a mohican and dealt one wound to Kolbjorn. Dysole used turn 2 to move the final mohican onto wannok, but betacron hit a sentry mode and ended that turn. My turn 3, I positioned more repulsors and my final 2 snipers to try and take out Kolbjorn who had moved far into my territory. My first shot dealt one wound and my next attack was 3/3 on skulls killing Kolbjorn. Dysole used turn 3 to march forward a few makwa.

Round four was more of a trading war. Dysole won initiative and began by having Brave Arrow move forward allowing 6 teeth to develop. We traded teeth and repulsors and by rounds end, I had 5 repulsors, 2 snipers, full health Omega, and 1/2 Betacron. Dysole had 6 makwa and 1/4 Brave Arrow who had just soaked a wannok wound.

Round 5: Dysole won initiative and we both spent our first turn of the round failing to inflict any damage. However, Dysole's turn 3, she killed a sniper and two repulsors. We trade some more casualties and I am losing this exchange. I end the round with Full health Omega, 1/2 Betacron and a lone repulsor vs. 1/4 Brave arrow and 4 teeth.

Round 6 I win a crucial initiative, as I am able to maneuver Betacron up towards Omega and position the repulser adjacent to two teeth. However, Dysole's d20, after being unhelpful regarding concealment and shield of the great bear all game, hits back to back saves on a teeth. She kills the repulsor and Omega blocks the other attack. Omega clears out 2 more teeth and we enter the end game. With 1 teeth left, engaged to Betacron, Brave arrow grabs wannok. Brave Arrow's concealment is very scary, 10+ with +1 for every space between the attacker and him makes shooting with Omega not very appealing. So I choose to try to grab a treasure glyph. I rolled a 1 and take a wound, and then on top of that, the teeth blocks both of Omega's attacks. matters got worse as a 2 on wannok forced me to either put a second wound on Omega or kill Betacron who was the only thing standing between the final makwa and a heighted attack on Omega. After a while of thinking, I determined Omega should take the wound because I thought a LEA plus sentry would discourage Dysole from trying to attack Omega with the makwa and so I could focus on Brave Arrow.

Round 7, this is a big one. I win initiative and want to avoid a 4v6 from the teeth so after picking up the Talisman of Defense, I take both shots on the tooth, thankfully picking up the kill. Dysole went all in on Brave Arrow who bravely charged the giant soulborg and lands a huge 3/4 attack on Omega. Due to height and ToD, I have 8 defense, but this roll could determine the game. Omega blocks all three skulls like a champ and returns fire killing Brave Arrow with a final attack of 3/4 skulls.

GG Dysole, that was an intense game!! Always a pleasure playing.

Kolbjorn:
Kolbjorn did not do a ton this game, but he continues to be an excellent aid to the the River tribe. His fearsome stalker ability is super handy, and a ranged bonder is always good. Dysole never had an opportunity to use call the the hunt but I really like the power in this iteration as it opens up Kolbjorn's usefulness to a lot more builds. Giant slayer is great on him as well, giving him a bit more punch against key figures.

Betacron:
Betacron is awesome. I have gotten to play him 2 games in a row and he is a blast. This game he was awesome again going 3/7 on sentry mode, still above average and each time you roll it it feels important. He provides interesting decisions for both the player and the opponent. Obviously it creates interesting decisions for your opponent as they must be very careful in the sequencing of their units. However, as Dysole and I were talking after the game it occurred to me that the Betacron player can also play around the sequencing your opponent inevitably needs to do. There were a few occasions throughout the game that I moved Betacron to try and limit Dysole's advance on Omegacron, however this also freed Dysole to take the risk with figures up north in order to give her forces in the south a guarantee unto wannok. A very fun thing I intend to consider when next I play him. As a addition to the cron faction, he is so fun. Having a mobile unit with sentry mode really elevates him. When I played against Grey Waves, he never moved, but against Dysole this evening, he was moving a lot! I am a really big fan how his presence can affect how games are played and he fits wonderfully into the cron faction. I am still not sold on Omnicron patrol but the rest of the unit is convening enough to me that he is a very solid unit. I am anxious to play against Betacron as I am curious how annoying his powerset is to play against.

[Captain Stupendous]

Chris Perkins and I are playing tonight at 6 EST: https://heroscapers.com/ohs/index.ph...2Np5R3SCbNIV_4

[Chris Perkins]

Point Total 550
Map: Embattled Fen
Glyphs: Wanok

Player 1 - Army: Chris Perkins - Knights x3, Alastair, Concan, Sentinels of Grax, Betacron
Player 2 - Army: Captain Stupendous - Badru x2, WWL, Van Nessing, Malone, Kolbjorn

Which units survived?
Knights x12, Concan (4 life), Betacron (1 life), Sentinels of Grax (both)

General Battle Report/Flow of game (be as detailed or general as you like)
Capt. opened with a Kolbjorn / Nessing combo, grabbing the T-glyphs on road & swamp. I opened with Concan OM1, then Beta OM2, and Beta proceeded to hit a 2/2 -> Nessing's 0/4. Kolbjorn put 1 wound on Beta from range. I had OM 3 (and all OMs for the rest of the game) on Knights. Alastair took the overextend to engage Kolbjorn and did a few wounds while Knights advanced.
Round 2, Capt. put 3 OMs on wolves and the X on Nessing. He won init and used Kolbjorn to switch the OM to Nessing, where he did a wound to Alastair across 2 SAs up. Alastair missed several attacks on Kolbjorn, but the Knights eventually finished him off. The first 2 wolves to pounce into Alastair did 3 wounds, but cost both wolves their life. Alastair eventually killed Nessing and another wolf in the SZ before Malone killed him. The final 3 wolves + WWL weren't able to do any more damage though, as Malone was quickly surrounded by Knights while I tied down WWL, killed the other wolves, and sat on Wanok for a few rounds. I was able to burn a few OMs off the wolves in the middle of that to better surround the 2 heroes. Eventually WWL was the last figure standing for Capt., but knights had him surrounded and quickly dropped him.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
Betacron - never used Sentry, but Deadly Shot did 4 wounds to Van Nessing, which drastically influenced the rest of the game.
Kolbjorn - speed / range came into play early, as he + Nessing made a T-glyph play. OM switching let Capt. get a Nessing turn when he couldn't have placed an OM normally for fear of losing the activation.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?
Kolbjorn's OM flexing was fun to play into, but it's effect was quite limited after Nessing took those early 4 wounds.

[kevindola]

Playing with Ry within the hour. I have my Janos and Dreadgul combo, he has the CronRoller Betaversion

edit: ryguy took the win with a single repulsor and single sniper left. The dreadguls took out quite a lot (as did chainsaw), and a 1 life Janos won the duel with Omegacron.

However the last repulsor parked on Wannok survived 2 4v3 from Maekor (and a 2v3 and 4v3 from Janos Tracking fire) to allow the lone Sniper to drop 6 skulls down on the Lizard to kill him. That left the one life Janos who succumbed to the Wannok roll.

Playtest units:
Betacron had 2 Sentry rolls (0/2) before being chainsawed to bits. (but he was scary, he dictated me shifting my entire advance to the outsides instead of the bridge)

Janos and Maekor were a 2 man team on a very weird board with not a lot of squad figures left so a bit underwhelming for them, except for the Janos killing Omegacron although odds saying he shouldn't have.

[ryguy266]

Map: Embattled Fen
Points: 550
Army 1: Dreadgul Raiders x3, Guilty McCreech, Wastewalker Gage, Janos, Maekor, Bol
Army 2: Omegacron, Omnicron Snipers x2, Omnicron Repulsors x3, Betacron

Which units survived?
1 Omnicron Repulsor, 1 Omnicron Sniper

General Battle Report

Spoiler Alert!

This was a very wild, close game against kevindola. I had the 'Crons and he had the Raiders. He had all his OMs on the Raiders for the first three or four rounds, while mine were obviously spent on Omegacron. The specifics were just grinding our armies together but the crazy things in the mid-game were:
Guilty made 6 attacks and failed to get a single kill.
My Repulsors defended incredibly well, stopping the Raiders advance toward my Snipers.
Kevindola failed Berserker Charge about 7 times in a row--and then hit it three times in a row when he was only moving one Raider, who still couldn't get in on an attack.
I failed Wannok--TWICE. So now when you play your games, you can say "I once heard about a guy who failed Wannok twice in one game. You sure you want to go for that glyph?"

That last one was probably the most important. Instead of giving kevindola two wounds, I took two myself and also allowed him to get off one successful Wannok roll. This was super important because the endgame came down to literally every wound mattering.

Once his raiders were finished, we were left with my Repulsor on the glyph, one Sniper, and Omegacron at full health on the south side of the map. He had Janos (1/5 lives from Wannok) who had just picked up the Heroic Rune and full health Maekor. Already a very close game, but I think we were both feeling confident. It seems like my squad figures would be fairly useless, but Omegacron could match up fairly well into Janos/Maekor.
He moved up Janos, taking Tracking Fire shots at the Wannok Repulsor, which I blocked and then he missed. He moved Maekor back to be out of any potential Omegacron surprises. I had moved Omegacron further south the last round, intending to grab the TG there, but instead swung him up to just in range of Janos. With double attack I rolled 2/3 twice, which he blocked and then whiffed. Janos moved into Tracking Fire Range and rolled an incredible 4/4 for his last shot, which luckily I blocked 3 of. Omegacron slid back, trying to finish off Janos, but only gave him 1 more wound. Janos himself gave Omegacron 2 more, leaving both heroes at 1 life left at the end of round (the Wannok wound went to Maekor).

He won initiative, which felt crushing. Sure enough, Janos put 1 more wound on Omegacron to kill him. We'd both bet on our initiative roll, so I lost my 1. However, we'd both played it safe, so his 2 and 3 were Maekor. Maekor made it to the Repulsor, but it blocked his 1/4 attack. My 2 was the last Omnicron Sniper. I figure Janos wasn't going to be his OM 3, so I shot down on Maekor, landing a 2/3 which he blocked half of with a 2/3 defense. Maekor swung again for the Repulsor, but again it blocked his 2/4 attack. And that was the critical moment of the game. It took me a few seconds to put it together, but a kill on Maekor would be game assuming Wannok took Janos' last life. A 3/3 from the Sniper meant an insta-kill on Maekor, and a not-failed Wannok glyph took game in an unbelievable last round.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Spoiler Alert!

I didn't talk about Betacron in the game report. That's because he did nothing. He missed his two Sentry Mode rolls, one for a Dreadgul and one for Wastewalker Gage, and then got chainsawed. Patrol of course was never used, and probably never will be. As for kevindola's units, he kept Janos for an endgame figure. Tracking Fire worked wonders on Omegacron, but Expedition didn't seem as powerful with so few figures on the board, and especially with Gage dead.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?
Poor Betacron. He's doing his best, but the Chads always seem to get the best of him. Maybe one day I'll see him hit a Sentry Mode roll. The thing is, the threat of it certainly helps with board control, and hitting that roll can make a massive difference, especially against expensive squads. Patrol also seems quite useless. If he's a filler, you'll never use it. If he's part of an Omnicron army, surely you have Omegacron, and again, you'll never use it. I think I'd prefer to nix the power and drop him to 40 points, but he also seems fine as is.

Good game kevindola! That was truly a crazy game, everything about it was unpredictable. Had a fun time, and good luck with your other games.

[S1R_ART0R1US]

BodaciousBlood (0-1) just got the win over me this morning, good game!

Map: Embattled Fen
Points: 550
Army 1 (S1R): Janos, Bambina, Maekor, San Tiim, Rygarn, Marcu Esenwein
Army 2 (Blood):Cathar Spearmen x3, Nakita Agents, Drow Chainfighter x1, Motley Max, Betacron

Which units survived? 2 squads Cathar, full Beta, Drow Chainfighter, 3 life Max, and 2 Nakitas, 3 life Marcu

General Battle Report

Round 1 was all development: BB moved up Cathar while I moved JMBS and Marcu.

Round 2 I took two treasure glyphs (heroic rune for Bambina and Scarab of Invu. for Janos), while Max moved up along with some Cathar. I took out two Cathar with Bambina/Janos.

Round 3 was where I was hoping I'd grab an initiative switch, but BB got the initiative and with Motley Max pulled a 1 wound Janos into Cathar and himself along with Maekor. Max's 4/5A would've killed Janos but he was able to use the Scarab to save himself. I expeditioned on OM1, and only put two wounds on Max. Two OMs on Cathar with great height perches on the sand took out Maekor (after one ineffective turn with him and Bambina on OM2), and I Rygarn'd over to Marcu who took out one Cathar.

Round 4 I was still hoping for that init switch and put OM1 on Janos, but the Nakitas took him out after BB got initiative. I rygarn'd to San Tiim, forgetting to leave the X on her so I could heal my upcoming OM2 and 3 on Bambina. Good thing I didn't, as she fell to three Nakita attacks and I lost both OM2 and 3.

Round 5 I took initiative and activated a 1 life San Tiim with healing trance and she took out a Nakita. Max pulled her down and she died on BB's OM1, so Rygarn never got his heals and died at the end of round without doing any wounds or hitting one of his three jump rolls.

Going into the game, my goal was to stay on the bridge after grabbing the two TG's as the bridge limits the Cathar heighted ranged attacks and I could still attack down on Wannok while keeping the group compact for Rygarn/San Tiim range (both 6 spaces). Marcu is a good spear absorber to limit Cathar as well. However, Max blew that plan up though by grabbing Janos and putting him in a terrible spot where he couldn't leave without 3 LEAs and certain death after 3 spear/strike rolls - great play!


How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Spoiler Alert!

Janos:

Tracking Fire: Never did wounds with the first attack, but it was my best option with Janos when he was adjacent to Max. Fine with this power, and glad it's just range 5.

Expedition: Backbone of the army, and while I didn't realize the Rygarn combo had been removed when submitting armies, I think the power drop was acceptable. Rygarn was still useful - I would typically put two OMs on Janos and then flex out to Maekor for attacks or Marcu/Rygarn for development depending on BB's moves. Removing the Rygarn combo makes the army less Janos centric in a way that limits a pure explorer/merc build since single hero turns are largely inefficient.

Stats: He actually tanked quite a few attacks, but the scarab saved his bacon. One more life wouldn't have mattered in this game (he took 3 with 2 remaining), but maybe removing it was an overcorrection.

Maekor:
Lizardfolk War Cry: I used this all the time as a bonding option, and with Max pulling him down into engagement it was easy to meet the bonding condition. Without this power the Explorer/Merc pod loses a lot of oomph, as it was nice to bond with Bambina who could get some ranged shots in (4A from height with the rune was great). Against a more ranged army the condition would be harder to hit so I'd consider dropping it.

Defensive Formation: Never used - I would've had to give up height advantage to get the boost with Bambina. Would've been nice to give a defense to Janos when adjacent, and with the Rygarn combo removed I would consider adding Explorers too so they can have better survivability now that the offense has been turned down. What's a mercenary for if not protection?

Plasma Arc: Reduction to 2 spaces is good and grabbed a Cathar with it. Fine with this power.

Bambina:
Combat Challenge: Wasn't activated, but was useful in shifting BB's strategy by making it a bit harder to go after Janos.

Graviton Hammer: Wasn't used since Max is Large.

Stats: Really like that she had a little bit of range, made a good combo with Maekor's melee attack and was useful against the Cathar to avoid getting speared while getting a height attack on them (easier to find with R5 than R2).

San Tiim:
Telepathic coordination: Didn't use because Janos was trapped in a circle of spears. I felt she needed the movement more than Janos, since he's activated more often and they're similarly ranged.

Healing Trance: Activated it, and she became a target and died before healing anything. Still like the concept of this power, with a max of 10 wounds healed in a round (three activations from expedition and two from Maekor). Being able to take a turn first is appreciated, as otherwise the turn would not feel nearly as useful. 6 range on the heal feels right.

Stats: Having a 7-range attack was useful to keep her in the back of the pack, and she did take out a Nakita with it! Survivability was okay, but wouldn't be sad to see her with one more life like Kelda (80 point healer with 3D) or Ana (100 points, but can heal 2 wounds all game long without having an OM on her).

Betacron:
Did not see a single OM or roll for sentry mode - too frail to be led out against my three ranged hero army.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

I like playing the hero-heavy style of the Janos group and had fun with them. Rygarn helps to not lose OMs even with the combo removed. I felt it was needed since ranged squads can target key figures easily, making placing a round's worth of OMs tricky. I saved two OMs that way, but still lost another two.

[Vydar_XLIII]

Format: 550 points / 24 hexes
Map: Freezer Burn

Glyphs: Ulaniva, Zawit, 2x Treasures

Vydar_XLIII Army: I look once more, just around the River Tribe!: Kolbjorn, Himmelskralle, 5x Mohican River Tribe, Marcu Esenwein
Dompredator77 army: The Mouth of Utgar Nidhogg, Tul-Bak-Ra, 3x Marro Dividers, 1x Marrden Nagrubs, Isamu

Battle Report:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1, Kolbjorn stalks out of the start zone and I win initiative. The thought was to send Marcu to take Ulaniva so that Kolbjorn and Himmelskralle would hit a little harder. But I roll a 20 and Marcu takes a lava bath… My OM2 sets up Himmelskralle behind the 4-hex glacier so she can strike easier in later turns and my OM3 developed my first squad of Mohicans. Dom had 2 OMs on Dividers and one on Nidhogg. Developing just outside my range. OMXs were on Kolbjorn and TBR.

Vydar: Dead Marcu.
Dompredator: Nothing killed.

-----

Round 2, I opt to not move Kolbjorn this round. I don’t want him to get ahead of everyone else. I win initiative again. I start with Mohicans and get one shot off but miss. Dom opens the round with TBR. Teleporting himself into the ice channel near Zawit and mind-blasting one Mohican to death. I didn’t see that move coming at all. OM2s were on our squads. I kill my first Divider. And they just keep developing forward. My OM3 set up Kolbjorn for a War Cry turn. I was able to double engage 2 Mohicans and take Ulaniva. I killed 2 dividers, but one divided, leaving me with a net kill of 1 for the turn. Kolbjorn then moved up to the level 4 snow and took a 6v5 attack on Nidhogg, but it was blocked. Dom’s OM3 saw that recently replicated divider engage Kolbjorn and hit him for 2 wounds as his clone killed a Mohican. OMXs were on Kolbjorn and Nidhogg.

Vydar: 2 dead Mohicans, 2 wounds on Kolbjorn, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 2 dead Dividers (1 successful divide).

-----

I use Fearsome Stalker to move Kolbjorn out of engagement with the Divider, taking his third wound. I continue to win initiative in Round 3. My OM1 has a Mohican engage TBR to try to keep another body engaged for future War Cries and 2 others screen for Kolbjorn. I deal 2 wounds to TBR, summoning 2 Dividers. And the other Mohicans miss their shots. Kolbjorn then takes out the Divider that wounded him last round. Dom’s OM1 surprised me as it was on Tul-Bak-Ra. He teleported across the map adjacent to Kolbjorn but whiffed his attack. The board state at this point gave me a perfect opportunity to move OM2 and OM3 from the Mohicans to Himmelskralle. With height, Ulaniva and Onslaught, my wyvern killed 2 Dividers and ended up perched on the level 4 lava field to my left. Dom’s OM2 killed one Mohican with the Dividers summoned by TBR and put 2 wounds on Himmelskralle. My OM3 on Himmelskralle was a wash. I killed 2 dividers but the second one divided. Himmel then blocked all 3 divider attacks on Dom’s OM3 but then took 1 would of Lava damage. OMXs on Kolbjorn and Nidhogg.

Vydar: 3 dead Mohicans, 3 wounds on Kolbjorn, 3 wounds on Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 5 dead Dividers (2 successful divides), 2 wounds on Tul-Bak-Ra.

-----

I once again decline to move Kolbjorn. Dompredator got the initiative switch in Round 4, Nidhogg comes up to hit Himmelskralle with his normal attack but she was able to block the 1 skull. I moved OM1 to Himmelskralle with Call to the Hunt but she had the same performance as last round. Killed 2 but the second divided, leaving me with no gain for the turn. Kolbjorn fell and Himmelskralle took her 4th wound to 3 divider attacks on Dom’s OM2. On my OM2 and OM3 Mohicans killed 2 Dividers and Dom’s OM3 saw Nidhogg finish of Himmelskralle. OMXs were on Kolbjorn and Dividers.

Vydar: 3 dead Mohicans, dead Kolbjorn, dead Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 7 dead Dividers (3 successful divides), 2 wounds on Tul-Bak-Ra.

-----

Dom wins initiative in Round 5. His OM1 is on Dividers, but my Mohicans block all 3 attacks. My OM1 deals 2 wounds to Nidhogg and one more wound to TBR. OM2s see Nidhogg kill the last Mohican tying him up. My OM2 gets the kill on 3 Dividers, but the first one divides. Leaving Dom with 1 Divider left. OM3s have Nidhogg breathe on 2 Mohicans in my SZ, killing one and the Mohicans snipe Isamu in his SZ and put the 3rd wound on Nidhogg. OMXs were on Mohicans and TBR.

Vydar: 5 dead Mohicans, dead Kolbjorn, dead Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 8 dead Dividers (4 successful divides), 3 wounds on Tul-Bak-Ra, 3 wounds on Nidhogg, dead Isamu.

-----

In Round 6, I take back initiative and spread all my Mohicans out so there is only 1 multi-target left and then put wounds 4 and 5 on Nidhogg. Dom then takes that double target, kills both and then another in melee. On OM2 I whiff my dice and Nidhogg’s kills 2 more Mohicans. Dom’s OM3 isn’t on Nidhogg. So I have a chance to snipe an OM. I got 2 Mohicans engaged to TBR and a third on height but couldn’t finish him off, only dealing 2 wounds. But, I was wrong and OM3 was on the last Divider, although I blocked its attack. OMXs were on Mohicans and TBR.

Vydar: 10 dead Mohicans, dead Kolbjorn, dead Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 8 dead Dividers (4 successful divides), 5 wounds on Tul-Bak-Ra, 5 wounds on Nidhogg, dead Isamu.

-----

Round 7’s initiative goes back to Dompredator and Nidhogg takes out one more of my Mohicans. The game shifts decisively on my OM1. I take height in melee on Nidhogg and roll all 4 skulls and Nidhogg blanks, dying. (Again, because, you know, undeath…) The last 2 attacks finish off Tul-Bak Ra. Killing both Heroes knocks out Dom’s OM2 and OM3. On OM2 the last Divider rolls a 17 and divides but then I kill the new clone on OM3. Each of those turns, the Mohican that sniped Isamu killed a Nagrub. OMXs were on Mohicans and TBR.

Vydar: 9 dead Mohicans, dead Kolbjorn, dead Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 8 dead Dividers (5 successful divides), 2 dead Nagrubs, dead Tul-Bak-Ra, dead Nidhogg, dead Isamu.

-----

I’m feeling pretty confident going into Round 8. Its 1 Divider and 1 Nagrub vs 5 Mohicans. But with Dividers in the mix, anything could happen. I win initiative 19 to 20 and by the end of my OM1, I’m suddenly facing down 3 Dividers as Dompredator rolled back-to-back 18s. Dom played it right by loading up all his OMs on the last Divider. We each lose 2 figures over the next few turns and on my OM3 I surround the last Divider so he can’t replicate. I can’t finish the job and lose one more Mohican on his OM3. That round did not go as I planned. OMXs were on Nagrubs and Mohicans.

Vydar: 13 dead Mohicans, dead Kolbjorn, dead Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 8 dead Dividers (7 successful divides), 2 dead Nagrubs, dead Tul-Bak-Ra, dead Nidhogg, dead Isamu.

-----

Round 9. Damn this game is taking a long time. I take initiative, but still can’t get the kill. The Last Divider kills the second-to-last Mohican before falling himself on my OM2. I then take height with my Last Mohican, ending the round.

Vydar: 14 dead Mohicans, dead Kolbjorn, dead Himmelskralle, dead Marcu.
Dompredator: 9 dead Dividers (7 successful divides), 2 dead Nagrubs, dead Tul-Bak-Ra, dead Nidhogg, dead Isamu.

-----

Round 10, I win Initiative and set up across the lava pond from the last Nagrub so that it can’t reach me in 6 but I can shoot it from height. Shoot and a miss. The Nagrub comes forward. I step back. Not far enough to be unable to be engaged, but enough to have height when engaged. Shot and a hit. That’s the game!

Surviving Units
Vydar_XLIII Surviving Units: 1/15 Mohican River Tribesmen. 23 points surviving.

Playtest Unit Statistics:

Spoiler Alert!

Kolbjorn Summary:
Number of numbered Order Markers: 0
Number of X Order Markers: 4
Number of turns taken by War Cry: 2
Number of normal attacks used: 2 (Blocked, killed Divider)
Number of times moved with Fearsome Stalker: 2 (2 intentionally declined to move)
Number of times attack was boosted by Giant Slayer: 1
Number Order Markers moved by Call to the Hunt: 3 OMs in 2 uses of the power.

Nidhogg Summary:
Number of numbered Order Markers: 8
Number of Necrotic Breath uses: 5 (1 Mohican, 1 Mohican, 2 Mohicans, 1 Mohican, Nothing)
Number of normal attacks: 5 (Blocked, final wound on Himmelskralle, 1 Mohican, 1 Mohican, 1 Mohican)
Number of turns Necrotic Breath and a normal attack was used: 3
Number of times defense was boosted by Skeletal Form: 2

Additional Thoughts:

I’ve played Kolbjorn in 2 playtesting tournaments now and I really like him. In this particular game, I was way too aggressive with him in round 2 and it shortened his lifespan considerably. I utilized Call to the Hunt pretty well this game even though Himmelskralle’s Onslaught was stopped twice by the Divider’s hot D20, I mean 7 divides when he’s only fielding 9 figures. That’s crazy. I definitely prefer the Mohican/Himmel army more than the Mohican/Teeth army I played last year.

Nidhogg killed 8 Mohicans and put the final wound on HImmelskralle (with, like 3 wounds of overkill). He can definitely be worth the 230 point cost. I think a bit of his damage output this game was tempered by actively not doing a Breath attack because of adjacent Dividers. The matchup here was pretty even, Necrotic Breath not interacting with Concealment offsetting the way Battle Fury made Skeletal form mostly irrelevant. I don’t have the same negative visceral reaction to Nidhogg that other people have had but I wouldn’t mind a bit more “spice” to a miniature this cool. Just keep him a Lord to have synergy with the Skeletons of Annelintia, I like that army a lot.

[Brean of Philly]

Game 1
Point Total 550
Map: Freezer Burn
Glyphs: Zawit & Ulanivia

Player 1 - Army: Brean of Philly - Omegacron, Omnicron Snipers x2, Omnicron Repulsors x3, Betacron
Player 2 - Army: ryguy266 - Janos, Maekor, Bambina, Greenscale Warriors x3

Which units survived?
Omegacron - 1 wound
2 Omnicron Repulsors
2 Omnicron Snipers

General Battle Report/Flow of game (be as detailed or general as you like)

Spoiler Alert!

Ry won first initiative, led Greenscales with Bambina as Lizard King.
Brean led Omegacron, mobilizing to place Betacron forward and central to establish a Sentry threat zone.
First round ended with no attacks, both armies established screens and staging placements for future development.
Ry won second initiative, led Greenscales.
Brean shed first blood with two Sniper attacks, one boosted by beacon and height.
First sentry triggered against Bambina, missed with a 15.
Brean claimed Ulanivia, shot Bambina with Omegacron boosted with glyph and beacon.
Ry won third initiative, led Janos, revealed then dropped Heroic Rune for Maekor to pick up via Expedition.
Second Sentry triggered against Janos, missed with 9.
Third sentry triggered when Maekor stepped into engagement with Betacron, missed.
Betacron fell to Maekor attack.
Ry won fourth initiative, led Janos with Expedition, Maekor engaged Omegacron.
Brean killed Maekor with boosted Snipers, wounded Janos, Omegacron picked up Heroic Rune and killed Bambina on the final turn.
Brean won fifth initiative, killed Janos with Omegacron, killed several Greenscales boosted by Heroic Rune and beacons.
Ry claimed Zawit at last turn to move one Greenscale close to Omegacron.
Ry won sixth initiative, led last squad of Greenscales to engage Omegacron but did no damage.
Brean killed last three Greenscales.
Ry won seventh initiative, ran Isamu in to wound Omegacron before dying.
Brean won with Omegacron (1/4), two Snipers, two Repulsors.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Betacron
This was an interesting match up in that Betacron objectively contributed nothing the offensive performance of the ‘cron army, but I do believe affected my opponent’s strategy. My intention was to place Betacron into a forward position early to create a Sentry threat zone. This discouraged Ryguy from developing too far forward and claiming more ideal positions, but rather course correct his movement around the outskirts of Betacron’s range. This gave me time to develop a screen of repulsors and claim the Ulanivia glyph, ensuring most Sniper and Omegacron attacks were boosted for the majority of the game. The Sentry Mode power only triggered three times and failed each, so I am torn on the effectiveness of the figure. I think there is some merit to considering Betacron as a pseudo-cheerleader - he probably won’t do much actual damage, but his threatening presence is enough to swing early development in your favor. You can expect him to be targeted early, either by figures with far range or a melee figure with enough life/defense to risk the rush, but the hope is to do enough so that Omegacron and the other offensive figures in your army are set up for success.

Janos
Though I did not play the army with Janos, I do want to commend Ryguy on his fantastic utilization of Janos’s Expedition power. In particular, Ryguy was able to within two turns move Janos onto a treasure glyph, reveal and claim the Heroic Rune, then - realizing the glyph would be better used by another figure - drop the treasure glyph while moving Janos so that on Expedition Maekor could step in to claim it. Granted this may not be a common occurrence, but I think perfectly demonstrates the potential of Expedition to respond to map conditions and take full advantage of each figure’s individual powers and stats.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?
I overall really enjoy the ‘cron build and think that Betacron fits well into the army’s synergies. I would appreciate some clarification around “Sentry Mode may only be used once per turn”. We played the game assuming this is in reference to player turn, not figure turn. If read differently, this would allow Betacron to activate both on Bambina’s turn during Lizard King Bonding, and on the Greenscales turn within a single Order Marker.

[Blue Trails]

MegaSilver and I are starting now. He has his Vark army and I have my Space Cowboys.

[BodaciousBlood]

Sir Artorious gave a good report so I'll just add my thoughts of the playtest units:

Honestly, I think each of the units that saw playtime were really good. Had Motley Max not really murked things up for the hero pod (like he tends to do against pod armies) they would have been a force to be reckoned with.

Janos without the Rygarn synergy feels right. 3 activations is just super good. It makes sense to only allow that to happen once every round.

Saan Tiim feels super weak to me. Janos was dead by the time the healing trance could have been beneficial. But without Janos, to burn a turn on her when you have wounded heroes is certainly a gamble. The payoff could be big when she is activated by Janos though.

All of that said, I feel like there are better options in the explorer/mercenary toolbox than Saan Tiim.

[Vydar_XLIII]

Like I did last year,

ROUND ONE STATS


I didn't see a result for the Sir Heroscape v Tiamat game. I'll update with that result at some point.

[Dysole]

Kolby lost my game.

For playtest notes. Kolby was useful but I misplayed him to take advantage of his stuff. I like the figure a lot but nothing from this game that I haven't already said elsewhere

Betacron is a very useful piece for Cronroller. It can be annoying when he goes off but you can try to bait your opponent into using the sentry power at the wrong time. I like that interplay.

~Dysole, thoughtfully