10th Annual Long Island-IslandScape Tournament

[chas]

"When it comes to last place, there is really no competition!"
--Chas at Islandscape 2014

You couldn't find a nicer bunch of people to game with! We had a great day, and it was lots of fun. Despite his bluster, Griznakh did not really give me any serious competition for last place; nor did anyone else. But I still got a prize, and cake. Good times.

(Edit)

YOU'RE MY PRISONER!
Warden 816 90
Iskra Eisenwein and The Rechts of Bogdan 100
DeathWalker 8000 130
Izumi Samurai 60
Dumutef Guards x5 125
TOTAL: 505 Points/19 Spaces

Obscure Team Synergies: The Warden gave my D-Guards an extra movement space, and the Rechts got +1 attack when next to one of them.

My best tournament moment was at the start of my first game, when I gave my opponent some scary rounds after killing his DW 8000--he would go on to take Second Place. Not only did he have the same first name as myself; he had some of the same units. As it was his first Islandscape, I like to say I gave him his start.

Samurai vs samurai battles were common in this tournament--and they don't get Counterstrike against each other! I would face armies with both Izumi and Tagawas in both my first games. The B Units and Lower format made for some challenging army building for us all. Half of the boards on the tables had road on them, which was helpful to me, but I only played on two of them.

My second best moment was in my last (fourth) game against an army of Wrymlings--see this army listed down thread--when my sole survivor, team captain Warden 816, got height and blasted many of them down (eventually my team killed 10 of 16). I felt like Charleton Heston at the end of his last Planet of the Apes picture, since they just kept coming!

I picked up three Heroclix Superscape figures at the store, and Warbanner gave me a few bucks for my prize (an accessory for a game he owned but I didn't), so that paid for my new figures--Silver Sable, Crossbones, and Rescue. All of which turned out the next day to have non C3G cards made up on the site by Sherman Davies (the first two plus SS's Wild Pack Merc squad) and Necroblade (Rescue).

[Grishnakh]

Well, another Islandscape comes to a close. First of all congratulations to our 1st place winner DragonRuler. 2nd place went to Big Boa and 3rd to Warbanner.

Thanks goes out to everyone that attended, played, and made our 8th annual tournament such a great success!

I'm sure several if us will be posting army builds and battle reports. But later. I'll speak for myself but I'm tired! Reports will have to wait.

Can't wait until next year!

[The_X_Marker]

I came for three reasons: To play an army that relied way too much on the D20, to win a gift card to the store, and to have fun. I did all 3!

My army was:

Master of the Hunt 140
3x Anubian Wolves 225
Ninjas of the Northern Wind 110
Drow Chain Fighter 25

Totaled 500 points, but I totally forgot Ootonashi. If I could do it again, my only regret was over committing my Ninjas in one game that I lost, but the whole army was incredibly fun to play, even if my concentration didn't show it. Every turn was a D20 role to decide my fate.

I wont post batreps, but I will say that my dice abandoned me more than they should have, including one die rolling a 20 for Unleashed Fury every single game on the very first turn.

[Big Boa]

Thanks to all the Islandscapers for a warm welcome at this event! I had a great time and really enjoyed the 55 minute rounds and relaxed, friendly atmosphere. I look forward to next year and will monitor the thread for any events between now and then!

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Now it can be revealed! chas told me he was playing Iskra/Reckets, Dumatefs, Warden 816 and some other things that were not Death Knights, I suggested that, if i were able to go, I'd play one of the following:

Islandscape Armies

180 Deathknights x 3
125 Dumatef x 5
100 Iskra/Reckets
100 Syvarris
505, 21 spaces

180 Deathknights x 3
150 Dumatef x 6
100 Syvarris
75 Khosumet
505, 20 spaces

He told me that no one else played them, although someone "considered" them.

[Sherman Davies]

Thanks to all the people that came out to celebrate Heroscape's 10th anniversary with another great Islandscape, and special thanks as usual to WarBanner and Grishnakh for organizing it all. I think our attendance was a little higher than last year's which is a great sign of how much life this game still has!

I ended up unintentionally playing one of the stronger armies at the tournament, at least on paper:

Morgoloth - 140
Wolves of Badru x 3 - 240
M-43 Resistance Fighters x 2 - 130

Having one of the only armies with bonding helped propel me to fourth place, my best showing since placing second at my first Islandscape in 2008! I also had a solid day luck-wise, generally rolling skulls and shields when I needed them. More than one opponent ended the day saying that Morgoloth felt like more of a B+ than a B, to which all I could say was, "Take it up with dok."

[OEAO]

Thanks to Grishnakh and WarBanner for running it like usual!

My dad, DragonRuler, took home 1st with 5x Aubrien Archers and Sonlen.

My friend, HoundsRule, brought 3x Marrden Hounds, Su-Bak-Na, Zettian Guards, and Otonashi.

I brought 10x White Wyrmling and 6x Blue Wyrmling.

Thanks for a great time! We all really enjoyed it! The format this year was great, and we look forward to what you do next!

Edit: And also, thanks to everyone there for making this as enjoyable an experience as it was! It was great to catch up with some old friends and meet some new faces!

[acefrehley]

This was my first HS tournament ever after only playing this game a few times before it. Even though I pretty much got trounced for the most part, I had a blast playing.

Thanks to all who were very helpful and showed great gamesmanship in reminding a newbie like myself some of rules for the special terrain, etc.

Being that I currently own very few HS figures (just getting into the game) - my army was somewhat of a throwback one:

Mimring
Deathwalker 8000
Brunak
Izumi Samurai
Tarn Viking Warriors
Otonashi (lent to me day of the tourney by Sherman Davies)

It was a really great environment for a tournament - and I came away learning alot from my mistakes (like don't EVER let your Deathwalker get engaged in melee!)

[Johngee]

Originally Posted by acefrehley

This was my first HS tournament ever after only playing this game a few times before it. Even though I pretty much got trounced for the most part, I had a blast playing.

Thanks to all who were very helpful and showed great gamesmanship in reminding a newbie like myself some of rules for the special terrain, etc.

Being that I currently own very few HS figures (just getting into the game) - my army was somewhat of a throwback one:

Mimring
Deathwalker 8000
Brunak
Izumi Samurai
Tarn Viking Warriors
Otonashi (lent to me day of the tourney by Sherman Davies)

It was a really great environment for a tournament - and I came away learning alot from my mistakes (like don't EVER let your Deathwalker get engaged in melee!)

I just waned to say that I am glad that you feel that way about this very enjoyable game. It's people and formats and venues like this that make it such a pleasure to participate in "learning a lot from [our] mistakes," and making new friends in the process. We have all been where you are in the collecting and discovering process. Everyone that I know that is involved with this game is extremely helpful, gracious, and kind to all new comers.

[The_X_Marker]

It was also pretty cool to meet another out of Island Scaper, Mr. Johngee. Our events attract one or two new guys or out of state guys each year, and every time it makes me want to go to GenCon to meet even more!

Well, not this GenCon, but the next one!

[Johngee]

First of all, I want to say "THANKS" to every one who participated in Saturday's (8/19/14) "Revenge of the B Units" event. You made it a very FUN DAY for me. The camaraderie was fantastic and it is always good to finally connect a human face to a forum user name. Mogrebla and I were reminiscing about how we met at our very first HS tournament that was run by a menacing sounding Darth_Eyegouger.

In my usual fashion, after posting a variety of unit combinations for possible armies (it helps me consider the potential pros and cons of each one when I write them down), I went with one of my first ideas without rolling a d20. I like to stick to a particular theme (usually one General) and Keep It Simple. Therefore I chose for my army: 3x Einar Imperium ... 9 @ 420 pt. with Double Attacks and Stealth Flying; and 1x Empress Kiova ... 1 @ 90 pt. to add her Aura to their Defense.

GAME #1.
Against Hounds_Rule on Map #1. His army consisted of: 3x Marro Hounds, Su-Bak-Na, Zettian Guards, and Otonashi. I learned quickly that I still needed to get the height advantage to slice and dice the big ugly doggies, because if my attacked failed then they would essentially also had a double attack by plague-ing first and then biting. The battle went back and forth with a hound dying then a kyrie dying, until he had two left and I had none. Since Kiova already had four wound on her - because I attempted to move her more to the center of the battlefield early and onto an isolated piece of high ground, but I became embroiled in the turmoil and left her in a vulnerable position - I sent her on a suicide mission into my opponent's Start Zone. A disappointing LOSS for me with -330 points. W:0/L:1

GAME #2.
Against Grace on Map #9 (Vestiage). Her army consisted of: Jotun, Izumi Samurai, 1x Ice troll Berserker, and 2x Aubrien Archers. She led off with the Elf Archers and meticulously stayed at their maximum range (7 hexes) so it was difficult for my Kyrie Warriors to engage them, even with the flying ability. And she kept getting a good Frenzy roll, so it seemed like they'd shoot at me several times before I could take a turn. I killed a couple of them, so she sent in the Samurai and I know that Counter Strike got at least one of the EI. When Jotun activated and started rolling eight Attack dice (all of them skulls at one point) it was game over. An even bigger LOSS for me with -370 points. W:0/L:2

GAME #3.
Next I played against Chas on Map #7 (Viper Valley). His army consisted of: Warden-819, Iskra and the Retchets, Izumi Samurai, and 5x Dumutef Guards. I had just played against the Izumi, so I was prepared for them and made sure I got rid of them one at a time with height advantage or 2-on-1 to get four attacks. Then I saw an opportunity to eliminate Iskra before he could summon the Retchets and did so. The Warden went down surprisingly easy, maybe it was just a lucky dice roll, anyway the five DG's were still in the Start Zone and looked intimidating, but without any road tiles in sight, they were at a disadvantage. With the Stealth Flying, it was not hard to get away from them and take advantage of whatever high ground was available and so I killed them off one-by-one. Whoohoo, my first victory and +370 points to cancel out my previous defeat. W:1/L:2

GAME #4.
My opponent was Son-Of-Grish on Map #4 (Guardian). His army consisted of: 3x Marro Hounds with Plague [again!] and Su-Bak-Na for the d20 enhancement [again!], but with Kelda as a filler unit. I'm beginning to hate those sickly looking big canines. I never do well against them. My Kyrie danced around them to avoid the plague and get the high ground advantage in order to destroy them before they got me. We traded some figures, which I could not afford (mine 47 pt. each while his were only 30 pt.). So I surprised him by going after Kelda in the Start Zone to kill her off. Eventually it came down to Su-Bak-Na vs. Empress Kiova, and when the dragon rolled 6 Skulls on 7 Attack dice, and I rolled 4 more Skulls on my 4 Defense dice, I knew that she did not stand a chance, so we laughed about how Scott's dice had finally warmed up after an unimpressive start to his day. Another LOSS for me and -240 points. W:1/L:3

GAME #5.
My final game was against Grishnakh on Map #5 (Contradiction). His army consisted of: 2x Dumutef Guards [again!], Iskra and the Retchets [again!], 4x Zombies [ohcrap!], and 2x C3V Zombie Hulks, which I had never ever played against. Grish had a good synergy going with the Zombie Hulks bonding with the other zombies and had figures all over the map threatening to envelope my forces with a pincer maneuver. But the Stealth Flying Kyrie could still dominate the heights and Double Attack with four dice instead of three. When he uncovered a +2 Movement Glyph, I tried to conceal my panic behind a stern demeanor, because I could NOT fathom the devastation that Fast Zombies would do to me. So it became a battle for control of that Glyph on my left flank. My EI would kill two Z's, but then because it had to give up the height advantage, would die and become one itself... aaarrgh! For some reason he brought up both of the Z-Hulks to go after Kiova, whom I positioned in an excellent location this time). But their 2-hex peanut base left them in a vulnerable position which I quickly took advantage of to eliminate them from the board. Next Grish activate the vampire and summoned the wretched, evil Retchets on his first attempt and now with the +2 movement as well, they were a nightmare to deal with. The worst part was watching him roll the ALL SKULL special attack on three dice at least FIVE times, which meant I could not even roll my Defense Dice. So it became a tragic end to an very exciting day. Another LOSS and -220 points. Final tally..... Wins: 1 / Losses: 4 and -790 points.

The Einar Imperium was a really FUN army to maneuver, but they definitely had to have a height advantage to deal a deadly punch, even with Double Attack, and at 140 points per squad - they are rather pricey as the primary melee force of an army. I seldom used Empress Kiova's DefensiveAura since it was hard to keep her within five clear sight spaces when all my Order Markers were on the fighters. I may have done better if I had substituted Parmenio or a Feral Troll for her. Oh well, C'est la guerre - better luck next time.

[Bengi]

I know that this group is pretty active still, so I thought I'd throw this your way. I'm considering putting on a Tournament in MA and was wondering at the level of interest for travelling up for it. Comment HERE if you're interested.