Chris Perkins' Battle Reports

[Chris Perkins]

I've decided to try and start tracking my battle reports better in one place, so I'm creating this thread for them, starting mainly with ScapeCon II (2022).

ScapeCon I
ScapeCon II

[Chris Perkins]

ScapeCon I

I have battle reports written somewhere else from last year, if I can find them I'll add them here. Just adding the results for now.

VCheese Delta
My Army: Axegrinders x5, Darrak, Marcu
Round 1: Major Q23 (Deltacron, Snipers x2, Repulsors x3, Otonashi) on Battlefield 23 W
Round 2: ISB3 (Syvarris, Zombies x6) on Forest Fire L
Round 3: Samuel Frost (Kiova, Einar Imperium x3, MWs) on Forest Fire L
Round 4: Infected Sloth (Azazel, Nicholas Esenwein, Bloodburst Thral x7) on Jabberwock W
Record: 2-2

Good Ol' Days
My Army: Raelin, Q9, Rats x2, MWs, Marcu, Isamu, Otonashi
Round 1: Vegie (DCs x4, MBS, Nerak, Raelin, Swog x1) on Turmoil W
Round 2: Nick the Ant (Raelin, Stingers x4, Nilfheim) on Jabberwok W
Round 3: Earl of Sandwich (Raelin, Grimnak, Heavies x3, Marcu) on Aeon W
Round 4: Unseen Shadowz (Grimnak, Tornak, Heavies x3) on Jabberwock W
Finals: Cleon (Grimnak, Heavies, ...) on ? L
Record: 4-1

Anything Goes
My Army: Raelin, Captain America, Krav, MWs, Hydra, Marcu, Isamu
Round 1: Lefton4You (Captain America, Protectors x3, MBS) on Forest Fire W
Round 2: Boromir96 (Raelin, Silver Surfer, Ana Karithon, Rats x2, Marcu) on Aeon W
Round 3: Mr. Migrane (Raelin, Silver Surfer, Stingers x3, Marcu) on Jabberwock W
Round 4: Dragon Ruler (Q9, Krug, Venom, Dividers x3) on Frost Mire W
Finals: NecroBlade (Iron Man, Hounds x4) on ? L
Record: 4-1

Multi-Player Madness
My Army: PKs x4, Isamu
Round 1: Mr. Chompy (Grimnak, Nerak, Blades x3) 1st, Me 2nd, Major Q23 (Laglor, Krav, Rats x2) 3rd
Round 2: Earl of Sandwich (Eltahale, PKs x2, Isamu) 1st, ISB3 (Sentinels x2, MWs, Marcu) 2nd, King Scape (Mezzos x3, Heirlom, PKs x1) 3rd, Me 4th

VC 4x400
Round 1: NecroBlade (Incendiborgs, Krav, Rats x3) v. 4th x4, Alastair on Frostmire L
Round 2: KingScape (Cyprien, Sonya, Krav, Rats x2, Marcu) v. Raelin, Q9, Rats x3, Marcu on ? W
Round 3: Boromir (DCs x4, MBS, Nerak, Kuthnak) v. Gilbert, Knights x4, Isamu on Forest Fire W
Round 4: MegaSilver (Darrak, Dwarves x3, B-11) v. Quahon, Spiders x4, MWs on Turmoil W
Record: 3-1

Main Event (RtW)
My Army: Raelin, Mezzo x1, Ashra x1, Kozuke, Johnny, Rhogar, Guilty, Otonashi
Round 1: Mr. Wookie (PKs x4, Concan, Sir Dupuis) on Aeon W
Round 2: Mr. Chompy (TKN, SBN, Nagrubs x4) on Jabberwock W
Round 3: Son of Chompy (Romans x2, Roman Archers x2, NGS, Valguard, Marcus) L
Round 4: Major Q23 (PKs x1, Dwarves x2, Darrak, Tandros, Rats x1, Concan) L
Round 5: Mr. Migrane (Sentinels x2, Dividers x3, Eltahale) on Jabberwock W
Round 6: OEAO (Nerak, Swog x2, Ornak, Blades x1, AGs x2, Ice Troll x2, Marcu) on Forest Fire
Round of 16: Dysole (Raelin, Moltenclaw, Rats x1, GWs x1, Monks x2) on Forest Fire W
Round of 8: Son of Chompy (Romans x2, Roman Archers x2, NGS, Marcus, Valguard) on Frostmire W
Round of 4: Major Q23 (PKs x1, Dwarves x2, Darrak, Tandros, Rats x1, Concan) L
3rd/4th Place Game: Vegie (Ornak, MBS, Marcu, Nerak, Iskra, Mindflayer, Heavies x2) on Turmoil L
Record: 6-4 (4-2 Day 1)

General Wars
My Army: Grimnak, Tornak, Nerak, Blades x4, MWs
Round 1: Mr. Chompy (Q10, Blasts x3, Glad x2) on Frostmire W
Round 2: OEAO (Raelin, Nilfheim, Zetacron, Repulsors x4) on Forest Fire W
Round 3: HoundsRule (Syvarris, Charos, GWs x3) on Turmoil W
Round 4: ISB3 (Knights x2, 4th x2, Gilbert, Denrick) on Honor W
Record: 4-0

Overall Record: 23-9

[Chris Perkins]

ScapeCon II (July 13th - 17th 2022)

I only wrote down Opponent/Result from this week for notes, so I had to re-construct everything else from memory. If I got anything wrong, let me know.

Multiplayer Madness
[Not Finished Yet]

Good Ol' Days
Format: 440 Points, 16 Figures, A-Units Banned
My Army: Q10, Axegrinders x3, Darrak, Marcu
Thoughts Going In: I thought the Knights army (Knights x3, Gilbert, Alastair) was the favorite into most builds except Heavies (Heavies x3, Grimnak, Raelin), which I expected to see a lot of given how prevalent Heavies had been the previous year and that they had won the event. So I went with a matchup-smoothing army that I thought countered the Heavies build very well even thought it was going to be an underdog to the Knights.

Round 1: Dragon Ruler (Knights x3, Gilbert, Alastair, Isamu) on ?

Spoiler Alert!

I hit my worst matchup right out of the gate. Q10 didn’t end up doing enough to overcome the dwarfs v. knights disadvantage.
0-1

Round 2: Avery (Romans x2, Roman Archers x2, Marcus, Grimnak) on Bad Moon Rising

Spoiler Alert!

This is a good matchup for me, and it showed. The dwarfs did a little work dueling Marcus and the Romans, but Q10 carried the load in this one. He picked off some of the Romans before they reached me, sniped the Roman Archers before they could come in range, and wiped Grimnak in the late game.
1-1

Round 3: Vegie Dad (Knights x3, Gilbert, Kaemon) on ?

Spoiler Alert!

This is a better matchup for me than the Alastair version of the army, as Alastair is the big piece that can wipe Q10 quickly and Q10 has the edge over Kaemon. This was a close game throughout, but I managed to eek out the win.
2-1

Round 4: Heroscaper2010 (Knights x3, Gilbert, Alastair, Isamu) on ?

Spoiler Alert!

Back to my worst matchup. Like round 1, I wasn’t able to get enough kills from Q10 before he died to make the end-game particularly close.
2-2

Record: 2-2
Final Thoughts: In hindsight, given the relative lack of Heavies armies in the field, running the same good knights build would have probably been my best option. Although I had expected lots more heavies, it’s probably the case that the knights are less of underdogs to heavies than my army was to knights. Also, I didn’t get enough value out of Q10 in most of my games, partially because I didn’t do an amazing job and mixing the OMs between him and the dwarfs. The army ended up being harder to pilot into top-tier cheese than I had expected.

VCheese
Format: 530 Points, 24 Hexes, VC-Inclusive
My Army: Quahon, Spiders x5, Raelin, Marro Warriors, Isamu
Thoughts Going In: As most people know, I’m rather high on Quahon/Spiders in VC-land. I’d rather have it over any other army in a blind bring-1 format where it’s viable. It’s not a favorite in every matchup, but nothing is, and when it’s an underdog it’s not much of one (unless somehow Cultists end up in the format). It’s as fine as anything into Q9/rats, smashes Cathar, is fine into most of the mele that’s out there, and I’m surprisingly happy to face ranged commons. So, this was a no-brainer choice for me.

Round 1: Sir Heroscape (Death Chasers x6, Nerak, MBS, Kuthnak) on Percalator

Spoiler Alert!

This is the game I’m still the least confident of how I played the whole tournament. I haven’t run this matchup many times (Kuthnak backed Chasers); I’ve run it against Chasers and Kuthnak backed blades, but this version plays a bit differently. Essentially I’m unsure how aggressive I’m supposed to be with Quahon placement in the early game. I decided to play it safer and deny many boiled bloods into Quahon (trade-off with killing less DCs). The first few boils Sir H ripped off killed quite a few Raelin-backed spiders though, and those losses led to play more aggressive. Quahon started flying to places where 1-2 DC could get next to her in order to send SAs into the less defended DCs with spiders blocking as many access points as possible. MBS fell quickly to a SA, but Quahon racked up wounds quickly too. I ended up making a very aggressive play with a 1-life Quahon to send her to the dead center of the map, where she took out 3 DCs in her last effort. After trading off with my remaining spiders, there were like 4-5 DCs left, plus Nerak & Kuthnak, to fight my MWs. The DCs were well spread out though, and I wasn’t able to get my MWs out of the SZ to spread out around the map. Ultimately I lost on points after losing Raelin and most of my MWs.
0-1

Round 2: Loki619 (Arktos, Greyspears, Quickblades, Darkclaws, Swiftblades) on Percalator

Spoiler Alert!

This is a very good matchup for me; the Varks are basically always going to have to kill all the spiders before getting to Quahon, which is always a good thing for my army. I was able to bottle them up near the access points in the center of the map while Quahon blasted away with her SA. I lost a decent number of spiders but Quahon never took an attack the whole game.
1-1

Round 3: Vegie (Heavies x4, Grimnak, Nerak, Raelin) on Blackridge

Spoiler Alert!

Not an ideal matchup, given how much defense those Heavies have between all their boosts. Also not a great map for me in this matchup, as it’s not as long as I’d like (I’d prefer hitting the heavies more while leading them back into my SZ to limit the # of attacks they get on spiders per turn). I placed Raelin in a spot where she could cover most of the left side of the center and Quahon/spiders met the heavies in the middle of the map. I was pretty happy with how I kept Quahon away from heavies through a combination of LEAs / spider blocks / etc., but killing heavies was a long slow slog with all that defense. That slog resulted in me losing Quahon and most of my spiders and Vegie having just ~ 1 squad of heavies left to go with Grimnak. I was able to get MWs out of my SZ this time and they killed the remaining heavies, leaving an end-game of Raelin & MWs v. Grimnak & Raelin. Both Raelin’s had 1 wound when Vegie had his last turn before the game went to time and I was up by 2.4 points. Vegie took a 3 v 3 attack from his Raelin into mine for a 50/50 on who won, and dealt 2 wounds to her, giving Vegie the win on points. Kinda a shame given how well Quahon navigated this one and the position the MWs were in, but oh well.
1-2

Round 4: Tales of Valhalla (Knights x3, Gilbert, Alastair, Hawthorne) on Percalator?

Spoiler Alert!

A pretty good matchup for me here as 12 knights isn’t enough to eat through 15 spiders backed by Raelin. ToV led with Knights + Gilbert, who did some damage but ultimately fell in the middle of the map just trading off with some spiders. ToV didn’t slow roll the knights much though so after the initial 5-6 fell with Gilbert he had to roll up more out of his SZ. Quahon and the spiders claimed the high ground during that time and never relinquished it, with Quahon throwing SAs into anything that came near and maintaining a clear lead until all the knights were dead.
2-2

Record: 2-2
Final Thoughts: I still think my army was the best overall choice (and it did win the event for someone else), but I don't love how I played it into the Kuthnak/DCs build and then losing the coin flip to Vegie sunk me. Not thrilled with my performance in this one.

VC-Delta
Format: 500 Points, 24 Figures, Delta Points, VC-inclusive
My Army: Q10, Axegrinders x3, Darrak
Thoughts Going In: This was the event I had the most army builds for and the least confidence in any of them. It took me until the night before to finally settle on an army. My other leading candidate had been Quahon, Spiders x4, Brute Gruts. For picking an army, I wanted something with lots of bodies and a SA to give me a chance into more different armies, especially after I got run over the previous year in this event for having an army that was too 1-dimensional (Axegrinder x5, Darrak). I thought this army provided all those things, and I hoped to get more value out of it than I had in Good Ol’ Days.

Round 1: Boromir (Raelin [SotM], Drones x8 (Sit 1)) on Aeon

Spoiler Alert!

Boromir brought a good army here, as 23 drones is just a lot to eat through. He opened with back to back 19s to develop basically the whole army in round 1, which hurt. I opened with a mix of dwarfs and Q10, having dwarfs gain high ground outside my SZ and sending Q10 to the height by the center tree in the middle to block drone advancements. Q10 got a lucky early shot on Raelin, doing 3 wounds to her, so I kept fire on her another turn until she fell. Q10 v. drones was a long slog, as it took then a while to kill him (mostly 3 v 6), but Q10 was only managing 1 drone kill per turn off the 4-range SA. Eventually Q10 fell and Boromir still had way more drones left than I had dwarfs. My dwarfs managed quite the comeback, reaching an end-game of 3 drones v. 1-life Darrak + 1 dwarf. I lost init though and the drones finished me off.
0-1

Round 2: TheIsamu (Deathcommander, Death Stalkers x1, Zettian Guards, Zettian Infantry x3) on Odin Wept

Spoiler Alert!

Theoretically, this is quite a good matchup for my army, as Q10 is great into the infantry and the dwarfs are great into Deathcommander. I opened with Q10 taking out 3 infantry over 2 turns and developed a lot of my dwarfs to the center of the map. Deathcommander setup near the center, but on low ground shadow to avoid lava. That left me with about 4 turns of being able to send dwarfs on height next to him for 5 v 8 attacks, but I just could never wound him despite throwing all those dice, and Deathcommander got crucial kills in 2 turns where Darrak would have gotten a sneak attack if he didn’t kill the dwarfs. Ultimately I can never wound Deathcommander and that costs me the game.
0-2

Round 3: Sir Heroscape (Spiders x5, Estivara, Wyvern x2) on Desolation

Spoiler Alert!

A good map for Sir H, as the spiders get mostly 3 defense against Q10 with all the jungle cover. I mixed OMs between Q10 & dwarfs in the early game, with Q10 killing some spiders while Sir H developed Estivara and spiders/wyverns. The opening was solid for me, but then Sir H went on the Entangling Web series of a lifetime. Over 4 turns, he landed 3 successful webs, each time managing to pluck my next OM off the card despite me placing them in a random order (shaking them in my hands before placing). I’m quickly behind after losing so many turns. But dwarfs are quite good into Wyvern, and eventually I was able to take some turns and killed the nearest wyvern and a lot of spiders. Web never hit again and the dwarfs were able to hold on against the 2nd wyvern and the remaining 5 spiders or so to give me my first win of the event.
1-2

Round 4: Vegie Dad (Grok Riders x4, Ne-Gok-Sa, Me-Burq-Sa, Theracus) on Odin Wept

Spoiler Alert!

Dwarfs trade reasonably well into Groks, so this seemed like a decent matchup for me. I was most worried about MBS going in. I got Q10 positioned on the 2-height just outside my SZ before switching to dwarf OMs to deal with the charging Groks. I was able to kill MBS fairly quickly, and then mostly traded dwarfs v. groks for the next few rounds. The end-game ended up being Q10 v. ~ 3 Groks & NGS. NGS got off a ton of mind shackle rolls while Q10 dealt with the Groks, but Q10’s defense held strong this game and the 20 never came. Q10 ends up dropping the Groks and NGS to win the game.
2-2

Record: 2-2
Final Thoughts: I don’t think this was a bad army (I think it had the edge in 3 out of 4 matchups), but it is quite dependent on Q10 not sucking, which isn’t the safest place to be when I need to win 4 games in a row. I’m torn at this point between running matchup-smoothing armies in Delta v. something cohesive throughout and just hoping to avoid the bad matchups; unsure which is the best route to go with.

Main Event (RtW)
Format: 420 Points, 18 Figures, Reverse the Whip
My Army: Raelin [RotV], Kozuke, PKs x1, Red Wyrm x1, White Wrym x1, Blue Wyrm x1, Black Wyrm x1, Guilty, Otonashi
Thoughts Going In: I wanted to make a weaker pod than last year, which I thought was too strong, and make the new pod less inclined to stay in the SZ while keeping the OMs difficult. I was hoping this army would be on the weaker side and that I could use the pieces well enough to pick off a few wins with the army and always beat it when my opponent ran it.

Round 1: Vegie Dad (Othkurik, GWs x2, PKs x2, Kyntella) on Desolation

Spoiler Alert!

This is a hard matchup for my army, as it’s tough to get to Othkurik when he’s protected correctly and relatively easy for Othkurik to pick off 1 Kozuke and/or 1 PK before they can get engaged, which I can’t afford. I opened moving up Raelin and then had 2 OMs on Guilty while Vegie Dad developed PKs & GWs. Guilty managed to kill 1 or 2 GWs before dying. I then developed PKs as a screen and moved in my wyrmlings for offense, including getting the White Wyrm on the single hex height near the Hive where he tanked with 7 defense for the rest of the game, holding up several GWs for a few rounds. I then used Kozuke for 3 OMs, sending 1 into Othkurik each turn (where it would then die) while avoiding letting any acid attacks hit more than 1. Othkurik flew into attack Raelin after taking some wounds and did 4 wounds on her but then fell. This was the biggest outcome of the game, as I needed Raelin to still be around for defense on my remaining figures against Vegie Dad’s PKs. The endgame was super close as we traded our remaining figures and I won with just 2 figures left (one was Otonashi).
1-0

Round 2: Trivia Knight (Knights x2, Denrick, Eldgrim, Red Wyrm x3, Black Wyrm x2 on Blackridge

Spoiler Alert!

I get to play Denrick! (actually my favorite sculpt in the game). Trivia Knight ended up playing my army more in waves than as a cohesive unit, and I was able to kill 1-2 figures of each wave before they got too engaged and I just maintained more attacks per turn with the Knights than Trivia Knight was able to get out of my army.
2-0

Round 3: NecroBlade (Raelin, PKs x1, Mezzo x1, Rats x1, Syvarris, Johnny) on Bad Moon Rising

Spoiler Alert!

Not a matchup I was particularly looking forward to. Syvarris is scarry for my army as that 9 range is going to be able to target my key pieces before I can get adjacent to stop the elf. It was also going to be important to conserve my wyrmlings to fight the mezzos, as otherwise their exos could be hard to kill in the late game. I opened with Raelin into the center of the 7-hex dungeon spot and then sent Guilty out to duel with Syvarris. I moved Guilty first onto the 7-hex near Raelin and then onto one of the center 4 height spots (in Raelin’s aura) while Syv shot at Raelin but didn’t do much damage. Guilty was able to put a few wounds on Syv. Necro then sent his PKs to fight my Raelin, and they were able to kill her, but my PKs were then in range of his PKs with just one move out of my SZ, where they killed 2/3 of Necro’s PKs to end that wave. I sent one PK to the move glyph and the other 2 engaged Syv, getting him down to 1 life left. It was tough for Necro to take OMs on Syv with him only having 1 life left, so he developed Jonny and the Mezzos. I had 7 or 8 move wyrmlings at this point, and they were able to kill a Mezzo quickly to drop that threat to also just 1 attack per turn. I brought the Kozuke in for the final wave and got a lucky shot on Johnny to deal 4 wounds right away. From that point out it was mostly just cleanup as Necro no longer had any safe places to put OMs and the Kozuke just ran around killing stuff one at a time.
3-0

Round 4: Boromir (Raelin [RotV], Blastatrons x2, Gladiatrons x1, PKs x1, Johnny) on Odin Wept

Spoiler Alert!

Odin Wept is a tough map to get maximum value out of Glads, as they need to keep moving off of the lava. This was mostly a game of slowly pinging each other’s pods around glaciers, as Boromir took a ton of early OMs on Guilty and I returned fire with the Blasts. There were a lot of decision points on when to go in closer to the lava from both sides, but from an aerial only view our stuff didn’t move that much. I gradually won the ping battle as 8 blasts were just more figures of consistent OMs than my army could manage for Boromir, eventually forcing him to charge in closer (although he had done a good job of killing most of the glads before that point, which made it possible). Ultimately the Blast pod held up longer than my hodge-podge did.
4-0

Round 5: Vegie (Wyvrn x2, Spiders x4, Otonashi, Rechets) on Aeon

Spoiler Alert!

I got greedy and somehow convinced myself I could pick off a lot of spiders before they engaged me, so I put 3 OMs on Guilty in round 1. I lost init and Vegie had 9 move spiders by his 2nd turn, where a Wyvern plucked Guilty out and killed him, burning 2 OMs from me. Vegie then plucked Raelin and did a 4/4 on her with the Wyvern to effectively end the game. We played it out but I got completely rolled. Massive mistake on my part with my opening. I should have had OM 1 & 2 on Guilty (to pick off Spiders) but not moved him on OM1 if a wyvern could get in range knowing he had another OM on him, and OM 3 on Kozuke to punish a Wyvern if it came in after Guilty. A very deserving loss.
4-1

Round 6: MegaSilver (10th x2, Axegrinder x2, James Murphy) on Odin Wept

Spoiler Alert!

Both the 10th and Axegrinders can sustain a lot more offense than any single piece of my army can, making this a pretty good matchup for me. I was able to kill one Kozuke while MegaSilver was still developing my pod, which is always tough for my army to overcome. After that, the superior offense from the redcoats and dwarfs continued to carry my army in a game that never got especially close.
5-1

Round of 16: HoundsRule (Moltenclaw, GWs x1, Ashra x2, Hounds x1) on Desolation

Spoiler Alert!

I enjoy getting handed Moltenclaw in a reverse round. This was the 2nd consecutive round of 16 game where that happened, and he’s just a tough figure for my army to crack as long as he has any kind of screen to hide behind. He’s also really good at getting each of my squads down to just 2/3 figures left quickly. I opened with 1 OM each on Hounds, Ashra, & GWs to build out the screen. The hounds ended up being the first figures to engage, fighting the PKs in the middle of the map and over the Wanok glyph. I lost a hound but effectively ended the PK threat. That left HoundsRule in the tough spot of trying to kill Moltenclaw with basically just the Kozuke. HR used Raelin + jungle to cover the Kozuke while they advanced, but I ended up killing 1 from a Molty shot when it was outside Raelin’s aura. I was slowly advancing my Ashra screen to get past Wanok, where Molty had setup camp on one of the 3-hex sand spots next to the glyph. HR had Raelin & the 2 Kozuke on the 7-hex sand near it when HR flew Raelin in to engage Molty after the Kozuke couldn’t get around the screen. Raelin did 1 wound and I then made a mistake when I flew Molty outside his screen to kill a Kozuke. It was a 6 v 3 attack, which worked, and put Molty in a spot where the last Kozuke could double disengage to throw a 5 v 4 attack at him. HR did that, survived the double disengage, and put 4 more wounds on Molty. That was a tide shifter, as I didn’t need to have put Molty in that much danger. Molty soon fell (I think to Raelin). My GWs & Ashra managed to kill Raelin, but couldn’t kill that last Kozuke, and 2-3 Ashra died to counterstrike from 3 v 3 attacks into the Kozuke. That made the end-game very close, but HR had to play wyrmlings pretty aggressively because I had Wanok and about 3 Ashra near it. The Wyrmlings got a lot of kills in, but I managed to just squeeze out the win with 1 Ashra left.
W

Round of 8: Evantage (Parmenio, Sacred Band x2, Laglor, Blastatrons x2) on Blackridge

Spoiler Alert!

I think this matchup ends up coming down to Laglor v. the Kozuke, as they’re really the only piece I have that can reliably bring him down. But his 7 range means it’s tough for me to hit him with Kozuke without him having the first attack. This map also had a unique attack glyph, which ended up being huge for Evantage. I opened with a slow pod build towards the Wanok side of the map while Evantage moved band the other way to capture unique attack. Parmenio and some band worked their way across the map then, while Laglor developed up one turn. I took a few shots with Guilty, killing 1 band, and had a cohesive pod of PKs, Guilty, & Kozuke developed up the left side of the map. Laglor hopped up on height in a spot where I had 1 OM left each on Kozuke and Wyrmlings. Evantage correctly deduced it was on Wyrms and took the risk of Laglor getting hit by Kozuke to take a shot down at a Kozuke for a 5 v 5, which killed him. That really set me back, as Evantage then got the band advanced further where the remaining 2 Kozuke couldn’t get to Laglor. The Kozuke and Wyrmlings ended up fighting the band in Raelin’s aura, which traded decently for me, but Laglor loomed large. The Kozuke ended up falling to attacks of 4 from Parmenio while my attacks into band succeeded but not into Parm. The band also killed a few Wyrms, leaving me with basically just PKs left. I decided to yolo the PKs across the board to get them away from band, and they started killing Blasts in Evantage’s SZ while the band killed my Raelin. Laglor got a few SAs into the PKs, but they kept blocking them. I slowly worked the PKs across the board until I had a good spot to send them into Laglor, where they did 3 wounds to him. But Laglor then killed one of the PKs at point blank range, and the remaining Band + Parm closed in on the spot to kill the last 2 PKs.
L

Record: 6-2 (5-1 Day 1)
Final Thoughts: The army performed basically how I had hoped, weaker than average (none of my opponents ever won with it; I went 2-2 with it). Sad to lose in round of 8 obviously, but it is what it is. I really like RtW as a format and enjoyed this event most by far of the weekend. I also get way too much enjoyment out of handing my opponent my 9 card mess to start the reverse rounds.

SpeedScape
Format: Bring 4 200 Point armies, 16 Figures each
My Armies: Venocs x5; Mezzos x3; Stingers x3, Marcu; Q10, Tarn
Thoughts Going In: I didn't spend much time prepping for this event, as I had hoped to still be busy in main. But I had these 4 armies ready to go just in case.

Round 1: Vegie (Romans x3, MBS) on Blackridge (I use Venocs x5)

Spoiler Alert!

Not a good matchup for me. I slow-roll the vipers as much as I can, hiding behind pillars and such, but MBS snipes a few. I get one attack in on MBS but it only does 1 wound. Ultimately I can’t break the roman shield.
0-1

Round 2: MkPlusUltra (Atlaga, Minions x1) on Percalator (I use Mezzos x3)

Spoiler Alert!

A good theoretical matchup for me. MkPlusUltra opens up with pure minions while I develop Mezzos. I get a quick kill on a minion, but the other 2 end up holding strong for almost 2 full rounds while they kill mezzos and exos. I do eventually finish the minions though with 4 mezzos (1 exo) left, which was enough to deal with Atlaga in the end-game.
1-1

Round 3: Dysole (Axegrinder x2, Darrak) on Aeon (I use Stingers x3, Marcu)

Spoiler Alert!

I started off the game hot, picking off 2 dwarfs before they could engage. I end up yielding the high ground to Dysole as I retreat back, trying to avoid too many dwarfs engaging my stingers. The endgame happens in my SZ, with Darrak and ~ 1 squad of dwarfs fighting ~ 5 stingers. We end up trading until it’s 1 stinger + Marcu v. 2 dwarfs. It’s a good endgame for me until Marcu betrays me twice in a row, killing the stinger and letting Dysole kill Marcu without fighting back. Damn you Marcu.
1-2

Record: 1-2
Final Thoughts: I probably missed out on not including the Romans build that Vegie had, as that one seemed quite strong in hindsight into most of my builds. Happy with Mezzos though as not many people had that one and it matches up super well into a ton of the builds. Venocs are a tough one, because they're so good into a few of the armies (Stingers, for example) but just get toasted by others (Romans). Such is life in a 4x4 event though.

General Wars
Format: 350 Points from 1 General, 140 Points from another General, 20 Figures
My Army: 4th Mass x5, Kaemon (Sit 1)
Thoughts Going In: I had originally been going to run one of the Vydar Q9 / screen builds, but then the trophies got announced and I really liked the Jandar one better, so I switched to what I felt was the best Jandar army even though I didn't think it was the best overall army.

Round 1: Mr Wookie (10th x4, Guilty, Eltahale) on Percalator

Spoiler Alert!

I open Kaemon, who engages the 10th in the middle of the map. Kaemon is able to reach the maximum height perches before taking many wounds, and kills lots of 10th. Once Kaemon has 2 wounds, I move him off height to engage and tie up 10th in the center of the map and switch to 4th. That forces the 10th to actually kill Kaemon, giving me a valiant army. At this point I just have way more 4th than he has 10th though, and the 4th are able to ride their strength of numbers to victory, eventually killing Eltahale in the late game.
1-0

Round 2: Earl of Sandwich (Heavy x3, Grimnak, Marcu, Raelin, Zetacron) on Bad Moon Rising

Spoiler Alert!

I open a combination of Kaemon & 4th, trying to get as many as possible up on the 7-hex near my SZ before the heavies reach me. Earl slow-rolls about half of the heavies with Grimnak, moving Raelin twice to keep them covered in her aura. The second move with her is very aggressively forward, and Kaemon engages her, doing 3 wounds over 1 turn. I then switch to 4th, who end up killing her on the following turn via WtF while heavies/Grimnak start killing 4th. Without Raelin though the heavies are relatively easy for 4th to shoot through, and I quickly clear out all of the forward heavies, leaving Grimnak fighting on his own. Kaemon + 4th end up bringing down chompy before the rest of the heavies can reenforce him, effectively ending the game.
2-0

Round 3: Vegie Dad (4th x5, Frost Giant) on Percalator

Spoiler Alert!

The semi-mirror match I had been dreading. Honestly, the hardest part of this matchup is keeping track of which 4th belong to which of us. We both open our filler pieces, with Kaemon engaging Frost Giant just outside my SZ. Kaemon does some wounds in round 1, and I start round 2 with a WtF from my SZ to finish off Frost Giant while Kaemon had only 1 wound. Unfortunately, Frosty hits 3/3 dying swipes on Kaemon to take him out too. Now it’s just 19 4th v. 19 4th. We go back and forth between who has high ground as we both mix movements with WtF turns. We both hit a key init switch to take over the high ground. Eventually we reach and end game of 1 4th v. 1 4th, both on max elevation. Vegie Dad wins init, but we collectively block the first 5 attacks until I finally kill his 4th on my OM3. Crazy close game in the semi-mirror.
3-0

Round 4: Deroche (Nilfheim, Raelin, Tarn, Eldgrim, GWs x2, Kyntella) on Blackridge

Spoiler Alert!

I open Kaemon aggressively while Deroche places Raelin behind one of the castle walls to cover Nilf, but where I can’t hit her. I then decide to concentrate all fire on Nilf, and Kaemon does 2 wounds on my OM 2. Nilf tries to return fire, but can only target Kaemon with the SA. Nilf also takes height next to Wanok. I move Kaemon onto Wanok, engaging Nilf, because I really want to force Deroche to kill Kaemon before moving onto the 4th. Kaemon does another wound to Nilf and ends up counter striking several GWs (and putting a Wanok wound on Kyntella) before finally dying. Nilf then advances a little further and starts trading shots with the 4th in my SZ. I get Nilf to 5 wounds very quickly, but then don’t do any wounds for almost a round. I’m down to ~ 6 4th before I finally deal the final wound to Nilf. The GWs are mostly dead at this point, having sacrificed themselves for Nilf along the way. I move up my remaining 4th while Deroche activates the Tarn. The 4th manage to kill Raelin before the Tarn can engage thanks to 2 OMs lost on Nilf, and I end up killing the Tarn with 3 or 4 4th left to take it.
W
4-0

Partial Quarters: Boromir (10th x4, Raelin, Zetacron, Guilty) on Odin Wept

Spoiler Alert!

Not the matchup either of us were hoping for. I lost the d20 to get a bye and got paired up with my worst matchup. I open Kaemon while Boromir opens Zetacron. Kaemon wins the exchange, taking 1 wound while killing Zeta. I put all 3 OMs in round 2 on Kaemon and send him near Boromir’s SZ to take 2 shots at 10th. This was a mistake, as it opened me up to yielding too much board control to Boromir’s 10th. I should have taken 1 shot only from max range that turn to preserve Kaemon’s OMs (denying WtF from his SZ). I get maximally punished for the mistake, as the 3 v 5s from WtF deal 3 more wounds to Kaemon, killing him. Boromir then had 2 free turns to develop 10th onto height, which I was never able to overcome. The center glacier gave great cover for his Raelin, and I slowly lost the battle of me having 3 dice for everything and Boromir having 4 dice for everything.

Record: 4-1
Final Thoughts: I won Jandar, which was my main goal, so I'm happy with that (the Knight of Weston trophy was my favorite). I still think this is the best Jandar army (I also like Kaemon > Frost Giant for a few particular matchups, including the mirror). I absolutely botched Quarters though, which is gonna bug me for a while.

3-Headed Hydra
[Not Finished Yet]

Overall
Record: 17-11 (Non-Team/Multiplayer Only)
ScapeCon II was tons of fun, lots of exciting events and fun people to play against. Disapointed with my performance in the side events, but Main & General Wars went better.

[Chris Perkins]

OHS Season 49

Format: Bring-1, 555 points, 24 hexes, Delta Pricing.

My Army: Axegrinder x5, Mogrimm

My thinking was that Mogrimm was really good into a lot of the field with the best SAs being increased in points a lot, and this army filled the total points perfectly, making it seem like the best bonding mele option, which was especially nice with 2 shadow/jungle maps in the pool.

Also, I've been trying to win a Delta tournament with Axe for like 2 years at this point. Gotta happen eventually

Round 1

Opponent: KnightOfLight (Nilfheim, Harquebus x5)
Map: Remains of Clionesia (Kelda, Dagmar)

Spoiler Alert!

KoL opened pure Harq, sending 6 of them aggressively towards the center to take heighted shots on me while I advanced. I lead with Mogrimm to cut off some parts of the center and use him to screen for my slowly advancing dwarfs. We ended up taking roughly even casualties over that initial exchange (I lost 4 Axe, he lost the 6 Harq) but then I had some Axe developed in the middle with Mog, and KoL was never able to consistently get height again after that.

I used Mog to screen off the right half of his SZ's Harqs while rolling Axe over the left side of the map (where Dagmar was, keeping it almost the whole game) and we kept trading squad figues. Harq's defense was crazy good though (hit 6/10 of their first attempts to block with 1 dice) and they traded better than average into Axe.

By the time KoL was down to 7 Hard, he had to switch to Nilf while I had a 5 life Mog left and ~ 10 Axe. I had kept 4 Axe in my SZ within striking range of Kelda so I could punish Nilf if he took the glyph. Mogrimm and an Axe tied down Nilf in KoL's SZ, doing 1 wound. He took both LEAs, both hit, and Ice sharded down, putting another wound on Mog. Mog tied Nilf down again, but did no damage, while Axe advanced slowly, killing a few Harqs that were blocking their way (one lived, tying up an Axe). Nilf then took a regular attack on Mog, doing 2 more damage. I was able to get Mog + 1 Axe next to Nilf the next turn, and they did 2 more wounds to get Nilf to 1 life. Nilf was in Kelda range, but would have had to take 2 LEAs to reach, which KoL didn't do. Nilf did Ice Shard instead, which killed Mog, but I was able to get 3 more Axe onto Nilf quickly, and they finished him off. KoL conceded with 2 Harq + the Raider in his SZ.

Result: W

Record: 1-0

Round 2

Opponent: Boromir96 (Gladiatrons x3, Blastatrons x2, Raelin, S. Raider x2)
Map: Wingspan (Lodin, Lorja-Ivor)

Spoiler Alert!

Not the matchup I wanted to see the RNG spit out for me.

I won init and opened with moving 4 forward dwarfs 6 spaces to threaten some of the potential Raelin spots. Boromir moved Raelin just outside their range. I moved up Mogrimm, sent 1 dwarf forward to shadow+jungle to threaten blastatrons, and slow rolled 3 more up. Blasts/Glads moved up and killed the shadow/jungle axe with pings. I slow rolled 4 more axes up from my SZ. Blast pings killed 2 more axe (4 defense each).

I lost init. Boromir spent a few OMs developing Glads up onto the heighted spots Raelin could cover while I spent 2 turns slow rolling axes. Boromir's pings killed another 3 axes over the round. I went in on my OM 3, having lost more Axes to this point than I expected, to attack and try to get an init switch. I managed 2 kills on Glads, but didn't get the init switch and got my forward axes wiped out.

The next few rounds consisted of me taking 2-3 attacks per turn between Mog / Axes into the line of soulborgs. I wasn't able to manage many turns of 4+ attacks as I couldn't keep enough forward Axes alive v. the Blast pings.

There were a few late game spots where some different luck could have given me hope of a comeback, but Boromir stayed clearly in front from that point on and won with ~ 6 Blasts, 5 Glads, Raelin (full health), & the S-Raiders.

Result: L

Record: 1-1

[Chris Perkins]

OHS Season 50

Format: Quad-Pod (-1), 215 points, 9 figures.

My Pods:
1) Moltenclaw, Rats x1, Bol
2) Arktos, Greyspears, Marcu
3) Nakita, Kozuke

Round 1

Opponent: Guild_Warrior (4th x2, Sam Brown, Dumutef ; Arktos, Greyspears, Marcu ; Brunak, Golem, Isamu)
Map: Trouble Once Lurked Beneath

Spoiler Alert!

Other 2 pods:
1) Durgeth Ravagers x4, Olog
2) Re-Tak-Shi, Drudge x3

Draft:
I chose to pick 1st and took Moltenclaw. I thought he was good into all of the common pods, and this map has several good 1-hex perch spots on it.
Guild_Warrior responded with his Brunak/Golem pod and one of the Arktos/Greyspear pods.
Both pods countered Moltenclaw fairly well, but I was able to take Ravagers with my last pick, which was a very good counter into both of Guild_Warrior's pods.

Game:
I opened pure Ravagers while Guild_Warrior opened pure Vark. I won init, which was actually good in this matchup, as I was able to advance into spots that forced Guild_Warrior to slow-roll the Varks more than they want to normally. I moved up more Ravagers on my OM2, and the Varks then attacked, but I had a great turn where I hit 2 hide-in-swamp rolls and blocked an attack to only lose 1 Ravager. I sent in 3 Ravagers next, who killed 2 Varks, which let Olog kill a 3rd Vark. The last Vark + Arktos put up a fight for the next round or so, but those 2 turns had already clinched the early game for me.
Guild_Warrior then switched to a mix of Brunak + Golem. I took as many Ravager shots on Golem as I could, fearing the late-game matchup of Golem v. Molty. Eventually the Ravagers got through and took Golem out while Brunak tried to kill Ravagers (but had some bad attack rolls with his SA). I was then able to get an early wound on Brunak quickly, but couldn't do any more damage to him with Ravagers. The Ravagers killed Marcu & Isamu while Brunak took them out. I had 1 Ravager left (on Dagmar).
That left Molty + Rats v. a 2-life Brunak. Molty & the rats took the high ground near Dagmar while Brunak killed Bol for fun. Brunak then came in, and the rats held him for over a round, but Molty couldn't do damage with the SA during that time. Eventually it came down to Molty v Brunak, and I got the first 2 attacks in, doing 1 wound. Brunak missed his first shot on Molty before Molty dropped him with a 4/6 attack roll.

gg Guild_Warrior, it was a fun one.

Round 2

Opponent: Dysole (John Varan, Pathfinder x4; Bol, Rendar Fy, M-43 x2; Z'thoth, Red Ants)
Map: Uncharted Jungle

Spoiler Alert!

Other 2 pods:
1) Eilan Sidhe x4, Concan
2) Quasatch x2, Aubriens x1

Draft:
Dysole took her Pathfinder pod 1st. I then took my Vark pod & her Ants pod. I thought the Ants countered Pathfinder pretty well on this map, and thought Vark was strong into lots of things, and especially good into Moltenclaw, which I wanted to block. Dysole then took my Nakita/Kozuke to wrap up the draft.

Game:
I opened pure Ants & Dysole went Varan/Varan/Pathfinder. It's the opening I was expecting from Dysole, as the triangular 3-hex outside the SZ is really good for Pathfinder if they can get setup. My plan was to charge with Ants if I won init, to block them from getting there, and if I lost init to slow-roll out of range and come in on OM3 to try for an init switch to get +1 attack ants the following turn. I won init though, and rush hard. On my OM2, I got a single attack in (2v3) that killed a Pathfinder. Pathfinders then took height w/ Varan, and I killed 1 more Pathfinder on OM3 while losing 3 total Ants myself in round 1.
Round 2 I stuck with Ants and Dysole went Varan/Pathfinder/Nakita. I won init again and killed a Pathfinder while sending an Ant next to the Kozuke in Dysole's SZ (no attack). Varan killed an Ant. I then engaged 1 Nakita (strike missed), took Yngvild, killed a Kozuke (which was huge in the late game) and missed the attack on Nakita. Nakitas then moved up and killed 3 ants.
Round 3 I went pure Greyspears and Dysole went pure Nakita. She won init, move up, and killed the Ant on Yngvild. I moved my Greyspears upto the triangle 3-hex outside my SZ. Luck then abandoned me as Dysole killed 3 Greyspears with Nakita the next turn. Arktos chased down an killed a Nakita while the last Greyspear missed another. The greyspear survived the next Nakita turn though, and I didn't lose my OM3. I moved Arktos and the greyspear next to a Nakita in the middle, but both attacks missed.
Round 4 I went Arktos/Zthoth/Zthoth and Dysole went Nakita/Varan/Varan. She won init, killed the last greyspear, and put a 2ound on Zthoth. Arktos took an LEA to get next to the other Nakita, but failed to kill it. Zthoth moved up but missed his attack on Varan. Varan then put a few more wounds on Zthoth before Zthoth's madness made a Nakita die to an LEA while putting 2 wounds on Varan.
Round 5 I went Zthoth/Arktos/Arktos and Dysole went Varan/Varan/Kozuke. I won init and put another wound on Varan before Varan killed Zthoth. Arktos took a shot at Varan, doing 1 wound, and Varan put a 2nd wound on Arktos.
The next round or so involved Arktos dancing around, taking shots at Varan while staying out of Kozuke range while the Kozuke carefully advanced. Eventually Varan fell, and Arktos killed a Kozuke, before the last Kozuke killed Arktos.
That left an end-game of Marcu v. 1 Kozuke & 1 Nakita. Marcu didn't betray me and killed both on his first try, ending the game.

gg Dysole; it was a fun one, especially with all the mid-game repositioning.

[Chris Perkins]

HexiCon (April 20th - 23rd, 2023)

Insanity of Battle
Format: 475 Points, 18 Figures, A+ Units Banned
My Army: Axegrinders x4, Mogrimm, Darrak, Otonashi (Sit Otonashi)
Thoughts Going In: I thought Axegrinders were strong into almost all the top builds (except knights). Round 1 init is massive in this format, so having the +3 from Mogrimm is quite nice. I also thought that Mogrimm & Darrak could survive on their own for a little while if they got put in a bad place, and that I would mostly not need 6-move Axe with already being in the action, so hoping that bonding didn't cost as much movement as normal. Squads of 4 are also strong here, as they can claim more ground during initial placements.

Round 1: Chill (Knights x4, Alastair, Thorgrim) on Fire Isles (OEAO)

Spoiler Alert!

Not the matchup I was hoping for. Knights/Alastair is pretty bad for Axe.

We both basically claimed one of the fire hills, with me getting the one on the Wanok side and Chill having the one by Disengage. I placed my own Darrak near my hill, Chill threw my Mogrimm far away, and I put Alastair in the water near my pod, hoping to win and potentially kill him before he could take a turn.

I lost round 1 init though, and Alastair moved out of the water, killing 2 Axe.

I fought an uphill battle from this point (more figurative than literal), with most of the fighting happening at the edges of the hills, as neither of us wanted to cross the center and expose ourselves to heighted attacks. But I couldn't overcome the stat disadvantage of Axe v Knights, and Chill won with Thorgrim and a few knights left.

L (0-1)

Round 2: Awstin36teen (Mohican x4, Brave Arrow, Mezzos x2, Otonashi) on Ice Thistle

Spoiler Alert!

Awstin won the dice-off and claimed the center height with Mohicans. I claimed one of the side heights with Axe, and Mohicans took the other side height. We mostly placed our own units, getting as close as we could to try and contest the center height.

In the early going, Brave Arrow was a beast, getting several kills and holding a spot in the center height for almost a round of attacks. But my numerical advantage of 5 attacks per turn (and 16 to 12 squad figures) soon overwhelmed the Mohicans in the center height and killed most of the Mohicans. That left the Mezzos fighting an uphill battle, and while they were fairly effective, just didn't have the numbers to overcome the remaining Axe and Heroes.

W (1-1)

Round 3: Loki (Hydra x2, PKs x3, Marcu) on Murky Waters

Spoiler Alert!

This is about as good of a matchup as I could hope for with Axe.

I ended up winning init and claiming the max height with Axe, while Loki banished a squad of Axe to each side of the map's SZ and Hydras found themselves in the unfortunate position of being in the low ground water near both SZs. I also placed several of the PKs next to heighted spots across the middle of the map.

I won init, Mogrimm started fighting PKs, and 2 Axe took 5v6s on each of the Hydras. One took no wounds, but the other took 2. Loki had 2 OMs on each Hydra, so I was trying to get them both below full activations before either took a turn.

The Hydra will full health took OM 1 and got 1 Axe kill. I knew the other Hydra had at least 1 OM on him at that point, and took 3 attacks from height with Axe to finish him off, burning 1 OM. The other Hydra took some damage before he could take another OM, and the Hydra threat was mostly neutralized.

With an OM burned, I was free to take a lot of attacks from height onto PKs, and got them down to 4-5 PKs before Loki took an OM on them.

It was mostly over at this point, though we had some scattered fighting around the Wanok side (where the PKs + Marcu were) until the PKs finally fell to Mogrimm + Axe.
W (2-1)

Record: 2-1
Final Thoughts: Still happy with my army. Obviously it's not a good matchup into Knights, but it has some really good other matchups (including Heavies, which I didn't get to face) that are better than Knights, so either army seems viable overall. I do feel like I could have beaten knights if I could have won init in Rd 1 and/or 2, but alas.

Pick Your Poison
Format: 440 Points, 18 Figures
My Armies:
1) Heavy x3, Grimnak, Nerak, Zetacron
2) Axe x4, Darrak, Syvarris
Thoughts Going In: I wanted 2 armies that were very similar in structure, to help me set a more specific matchup when picking between my opponent's 2 armies, and lessen the impact of their choice. These seemed to accomplish that while being near the top of the field in raw strength as well.

Round 1: Loki (DCs x4, MBS, Nerak, Bad Rae / Axe x3, Mogrimm, Migol) on Mime Raths

Spoiler Alert!

I picked DCs for Loki to play (to avoid Axe into my Heavies) and Loki picked Heavies for me to play.

We both slow-rolled into the middle of the map, and most of the fighting took place just on Loki's side of the center.

My slow-roll wasn't perfect, as I ended up with 2 Heavies out of the action that should've been in there, but I had been worried about MBS snipes, and possibly engaged 1 turn early. That being said, my Heavies also couldn't get any kills via 4v5 attacks while DCs were getting kills of 4v6s, which didn't make it any easier. Grimnak chomps were my only consistent kills and I ran out of Heavies before Loki ran out of DCs.

Zeta didn't do anything in the late game, and I lost.

I wonder if I should have had Zeta try to snipe off with MBS in the early game instead, as if Zeta happened to win that, I could have forced the engagement to happen on my side of the center and outside of Bad Rae's aura.

L (0-1)

Round 2: Mr. Chompy (Blades x3, Grimnak, Ornak, Tornak / Nagrubs x1, Stingers x4, SBN) on Common Ground

Spoiler Alert!

I picked blades for Mr. Chompy to play and he picked Axe for me to play.

Mr. Chompy charged in with Tornak & about half the blades, while I opened Syv to try and get a few blade kills, which he did. Tornak charged Syv and took him out, then my Axe fought Tornak + blades on my side of the map, clearing out the advanced threat while taking some Axe losses.

Grimnak then charged in with the rest of the blades, but missed 2 chomps on Darrak before Axe+Darrak finished him off. Axe were able to clean up Ornak + a few blades from there.

W (1-1)

Round 3: Deroche (Heavy x3, Nerak, Grimnak, Zeta / Knights x3, Gilbert, Krav) on Yngvild Pass

Spoiler Alert!

We both picked Heavy for the other to play, giving us a full mirror.

Deroche won init, and sent Nerak onto the move glyph, which he held for almost the whole game. Grimnak + Heavies then advanced quickly to the center. I went Heavy/Heavy/Zeta, expecting a slower roll-up from Deroche than what I faced, and so had to be very conservative with Heavy placements early because I knew the OM3 wasn't there. Zeta just managed a kill on a Heavy, whereas I had hoped to be able to get a heighted shot on one of Deroche's heroes if I had been able to grab Valda instead. This mis-placed OM really set back my development.

Because Deroche had the move glyph, the battle happened on my side of the SZ, which his Grimnak sitting on the max-height snow next to my side of the center 6-hex glacier for most of the game. We had relatively few Grimnak chomps, both not wanting to put our Grimnaks somewhere where the opposing heavies could get heighted attacks on him, and settled for exchanging (mostly) grimnak-boosted Heavy v Heavy attacks.

Thanks to some hot dice, I cleared Deroche's heavies before he cleared mine, then killed his Nerak, while my remaining Blades (and a very wounded Grimnak, who had been taking a lot of LEAs to free up lanes for my Heavies) to surround his Grimnak, but they couldn't deal the finishing blow.

With time having been called, I sent my Nerak to Deroche's SZ to take a 3v4 on his Zetacron to try and kill points, but Nerak missed it and Deroche had his OM3 on Zeta, who moved onto height (which I had missed; I didn't see the path for Zeta to take height) and put 2 wounds on my Nerak instead, giving Deroche a win by ~ 10-15 points.

L (1-2)

Probably my worst played game of the weekend, with at least 2 major mistakes that both directly contributed to the L.

Round 4: Cor7770 (Axe x3, Darrak, Mogrimm, MBS / Knights x4, Gilbert, Arkmer) on Ice Thistle

Spoiler Alert!

I chose Axe for him to play and he chose Axe for me to play, giving us a partial mirror.

I felt like I had the edge here going in, with more Axe, and with Syv outranging MBS. I opened pure Syv, trying to draw Cor entirely to my side of the map while (hopefully) doing damage to Axe, but Syv was pretty cold on his attacks and didn't really kill anything while Axe developed to the center height.

Round 2 I went Syv/Syv/Axe, expecting to still have some time to take shots before his Axe got to my SZ, but Cor went MBS/Axe/Axe and won init. MBS took height, missed the stare, but went 4/4 into Syv's 0/2 to 1-shot him, killing 2 of my OMs. At this point I was in pretty massive trouble.

I charged the center height with Axe (with no other choice) and was able to wrestle some height away from Cor in a few places just by having more total Axe to use, but ultimately could never overcome Mogrimm and wasn't able to get the Darrak sneak attack on him that I needed.

Cor won with a 3-life Mogrimm and a couple of Axe left.

L (1-3)

Record: 1-3
Final Thoughts: Clearly my worst result of the weekend. Entirely possible I over-valued making my 2 armies very similar, as I ended up sacrificing having some better figures in the builds at that expense.

Delta Pod Draft
Format:
My Army:
Pod 1: Kozuke, Nakita, Otonashi
Pod 2: Arrow Gruts x2, Ice Troll, Swog
Pod 3: Arkmer, Guilty, X17, Theracus
Thoughts Going In: Guilty is sneaky good into Kozuke/Nakita, Kozuke can drop Ice Troll in 1 turn to avoid regeneration, and Arrow Gruts are sneaky good into lots of stuff. And Thera-shuttling X17 is fun

Round 1: Loki619 on Ice Thistle
Loki Pods:
1) 10th Reg x2
2) Templar x2, Tarn
3) Knights x2, Marcu

Spoiler Alert!

I win the dice-off and pick 1st, taking 10th. Loki takes Knights + Templar. I take AGs.

I open pure AGs, trying to trade that pod into the Templar and avoid Templar hitting my 10th. Templar kill the Swog, but I'm able to avoid a galloping charge into the Troll, and the Troll + AGs kill most of the Templar.

Knights come in as Loki's 2nd wave, but I already have height, and am able to get most of my 10th to the center height, where they WtF onto the approaching knights and wipe them out.

W (1-0)

Round 2: Earthling on Mime Raths
Earthling Pods:
1) Cyprien, Marcu
2) Kozuke, Izumi, Tarn
3) DW8K, Rats x1

Spoiler Alert!

I win the dice-off and defer. Earthling takes Cyprien. I take my Kozuke + DW8K. Earthling takes his Kozuke.

I open Rats/8K/Nakita and Earthling goes all Cyp. I lose init, and all the rats can do is block Cyprien from hitting the Nakita. Cyprien kills 1 Kozuke on OM2. 8K then goes off, putting 4 wounds on Cyp from the SA. Cyprien kills 1 Nakita + 1 Kozuke to heal 2. The 2 Nakita take height and drop 8/8 skulls into Cyprien, killing him in a massively lucky swing for me.

Earthling then has a pretty uphill battle. He sends Marcu to Valda, but the Nakitas drop 7/8 skulls into Marcu to kill him before he ever gets to use the glyph (15/16 opening from the Nakita). I clog the approaching lanes with Rats, the Kozuke engage them, and Nakita kill 2 Kozuke before they reach. The last Kozuke engagement struck. I have 8K & the Nakitas on one of the 3-hex perches and 1 rat on Valda.

The tarn then come in and kill Nakita, but 1 dies to engagement strike and 8K kills the rest, blocking 1-2 attacks from them. 8K takes the center height, where he dues the Izumi, with a small assist from my last Kozuke, who kills 1. 8K manages to avoid the "deathwalker roll" and I close it out.

W (2-0)

Round 3: Chill on Yngvild Pass
Chill Pods:
1) Roman x2, MBS
2) Axe x2, Marcu
3) Black Wyrm x2, Red Wyrm x2, White Wyrm x2

Spoiler Alert!

I lost the dice-off, and Chill has me pick 1st. I take Axe. Chill takes Kozuke/Nakita & Wyrmlings. I take AGs.

I basically rush Chill's SZ in this one, taking the Valda glyph fast with the Swog and getting AGs/Ice Troll developed in a hurry. I'm able to block off charging lanes with AGs so Kozuke can't hit my heroes, and the Kozuke die fast once they come out, only killing some AGs.

Ice Troll then hits Chill's SZ, killing a Nakita and then one Wyrm per turn while AGs ping into the SZ. Chill's basically never able to roll his full army out of the SZ in this one, though I do end up switching to Axe OMs at the very end after I lose the AGs, but the AG pod really carries the load in this one.

W (3-0)

Round 4: Deroche on Invasion
Deroche Pods:
1) Axe x2, Marcu
2) DK x2, Hawthorne
3) Anubian x2, Khosumet

Spoiler Alert!

I'm the only 3-0, but likely need to win to maintain 1st place due to SoS tiebreakers.

I win the dice-off and defer. Deroche takes Kozuke/Nakita. I take AGs & Axe. Deroche takes DKs.

Deroche opens DKs and I open AGs. Ice Troll kills 1 DK at a time while Hawthorne kills my Swog and then heads for my SZ, where he starts fighting Axe while we trade AGs for DKs. Ice Troll ends up returning to my SZ to hunt down Hawthorne while my AGs ping Deroche's SZ, killing 2 Kozuke + 1 Nakita before they get cornered by the remaining 2 DKs, but I can't kill Hawthorne before I run out of AGs.

I switch to Axe OMs, but they just can't get through Hawthorne either. Hawthorne ends up taking out like 3 Axe and the Ice Troll before getting down to 1 life.

I have managed to get some good Axe development during this time though, and have ~ 1 squad of Axe left on height while Deroche rolls up his 2 Nakitas. Engagement strike ends up being my downfall, as the first 2 Axe to engage Nakitas both fall to the d20 and the 3rd Axe whiffs 2-3 attacks on the Nakita. That leaves Marcu v scattered Nakitas, but the Nakitas are able to get first blood, dealing 4 wounds to Marcu, who is engaged with Hawthorne. Marcu takes an LEA and flies to a Nakita, but both the LEA + Engagement strike hit, killing Marcu and ending the game.

L (3-1)

Tough loss given how much damage the AG pod was able to do, and the end-game state when I had Axe on height v basically 2 Nakitas, but sometimes the d20 just decides to laugh at you. Ah well.

Record: 3-1 (2nd)
Final Thoughts: Really liked my Pods in this one, even though the Theracus/X17/Arkmer/Guilty one didn't get used (never found a good opportunity to utilize it). I think that my AG pod was consistently under-valued by my opponents, and I got tons of value out of it throughout the event; Ice Troll can be incredible in the right matchups/maps.

Classic Draft
Format: 425 Points, 18 Figures (After Drafting); Bring 10 cards for a pooled draft (1-2-2-2-...)
My Pool: Arkmer,Eldgrim the Viking Champion,Greenscale Warriors x1,Guilty McCreech,Kozuke Samurai,Mezzodemon Warmongers x1,Moltenclaw,Nakita Agents,Phantom Knights x1,Tarn Viking Warriors
Thoughts Going In: I basically just wanted to fill up my draft pod with a bunch of figures I have a lot of Reverse-the-Whip style experience with. I included 1 stronger figure (Moltenclaw) and something that pretty directly countered him (Kozuke) while still being weak-ish overall.

Round 1: Earthling on Burning Man
Pod: 10th x1, Charos, DW 8K, Kaemon, Mohican x3, PK x3

Spoiler Alert!

I lose the dice-off and Earthling chooses to pick 1st, taking Charos. I take Kaemon & Nakita. Earthling takes Moltenclaw & Eldgrim. I take Kozuke, Tarn, & Guilty.

Earthling leads pure Moltenclaw while I go Tarn/Kaemon/Kaemon. I spread Tarn out to minimize Fire Lines while Moltenclaw comes in. Kaemon takes 1 regular attack while giving a Fire Line to a Tarn + Guilty, doing no wounds. Moltenclaw takes that fireline, killing the Tarn + Guilty but Kaemon blocks. Kaemon sends his SA into Molty, doing 2 wounds. Molty then takes a regular attack on Kaemon, but Kaemon does 1 Counter Strike wound, ending round 1.

I win init in round 2, have OM1 on Kozuke, and they finish Moltenclaw, burning 2 OMs and basically ending the game. There's a lot of OM roulette on my part after this while Charos kills some stuff, but I have plenty of high offense & ranged pieces that it's not particularly close while I close out the game.

W (1-0)

Round 2: Mr. Chompy on Fire Isles (OEAO)
Pod: Deathwalker 8000,Deathwalker 9000,Eltahale,Frost Giant of Morh x1,Greater Ice Elemental x1,Master of the Hunt x1,Shurrak,Siege,Tandros Kreel,Torin

Spoiler Alert!

I win the dice-off and pick first, taking Molty. Mr. Chompy takes Nakita + Tarn. I take Kozuke + Greenscales. Mr. Chompy takes Ice Elemental & Tandros. I take Mezzo & Guilty.

I open the game with Guilty/Guilty/GW while Chompy goes Tarn/Tarn/Tarn. Chompy wins init and hits a berserk, getting the tarn to midfield and making my OMs on Guilty look silly. Guilty takes 2 shots but both are blocked. Tarn come in and kill 2 GW. Guilty blocks the remaining GW and takes 2 shots, missing both. 1 Tarn takes an LEA to get to the last GW, but the LEA hits. The remaining ones attack Guilty, but only do 1 wound. Molty takes lava height but the SA doesn't kill either Tarn (targeted 2).

I go all on Molty and Chompy goes Tarn/Tarn/Nakita. The Tarn kill Guilty. Molty takes a SA at the Tarn, killing 1/2 targets. 1 Tarn heads to my SZ and kills a Kozuke while the other does a few wounds to Molty. Molty takes the LEA to get a SA into Chompy's SZ, targeting 2 Nakita + Ice, going 2/4. Ice takes 2 wounds but both Nakita block, both massive blocks for Chompy. Nakita move up and get Molty down 1 to life.

I go Molty/Mezzo/Mezzo and Chompy goes Nakita/Nakita/Ice. Molty kills 1 Nakita. Nakita kill Molty. 1 Mezzo gets tied up with a Tarn in my SZ while the other moves out. Nakitas & Mezzos end up exchanging fire for a few OMs, with Nakita never pulling off an Exo. It takes me 3 attacks to shed the Tarn in my SZ from the 2nd Mezzo. Ice takes a few OMs, heals 1 from the central water, and moves into the center sand.

I take an OM on Kozuke, with just 1 left, who sends 5/6 into the Ice Elemental, killing him and removing a few OMs. The Kozuke ends up getting to Tandros, doing 1 wound but blocking him in the SZ (using the ruin). Tandros fails his first 2 attempts to kill the Kozuke, while Mezzos move up and start taking 4 v 4s into Tandros. They roll hot, killing him in 2 turns to end the game.

W (2-0)

Round 3: Lefton4ya on Invasion
Pod: Kee-Mo-Shi,Marrden Nagrubs x1,Marro Drones x4,Marro Stingers x2,Me-Burq-Sa,Su-Bak-Na

Spoiler Alert!

I win the dice-off and defer. Lefton takes Nakita, I take Molty + Stingers. Lefton takes Stingers + Drones. I take Mezzo + PKs. Lefton takes Eldgrim + Drone. I take GW. Lefton takes Drone x2 (sit 1).

I go all GWs while Lefton goes Drone/Drone/Nakita and he wins init. 9 drones move up. I move up Molty/GW out of drone threat range. Drones come in, but have no attacks. There are no more OMs on Drones, so I get 2 free turns of attacking the forward drones without fear of being attacked, and kill most of the forward drones, getting Molty + GW to height on the southern perch.

The drones have sustained massive casualties from this, and Lefton has tough OMs the rest of the game. Molty + GW end up killing 2 Nakita, all but 2 Drones, and 1 Stinger before they go down. I roll in PKs to finish off the rest, which ends the game.

W (3-0)

Round 4: cor7770 on Common Ground
Pod: Airborne Elite,Grimnak,Heavy Gruts x3,Marcu Esenwein,Mezzodemon Warmongers x2,Nerak the Glacian Swog Rider,Tornak

Spoiler Alert!

I win the dice-off and defer. Cor takes Grimnak. I take Heavy x2. Cor takes Heavy x1 + Tornak. I take Nakita + Airborne. Cor takes Mezzo x2. I take Nerak.

I'm the only 3-0, but likely need to win to hold the lead.

Airborne fail to drop round 1. Cor goes Heavy/Mezzo/Mezzo, wins init, and kills my Heavy on the island. I got Heavy/Heavy/Nakita. My plan had been to go to the Island with Nerak if I still had that Heavy alive, but with him dead I roll towards the Valda side, building a Heavy pod and filling in all the gaps with Nakita. The 2 Mezzos make the center of the map, but I smoke powder.

Airborne drop round 2 and I win init. They kill 3 Heavies. Mezzo kills 1 Airborne. Airborne Kills the last heavy and put some wounds on Grimnak, burning 2 OMs. I have OM3 on Heavy, and charge the middle, attacking up at heighted Mezzos.

We have a bunch of exchanges in the middle, with Cor doing a mix of Mezzo & Grimnak, which collectively kill most of my heavies (except 1 on the Valda glyph) while I get Grimnak down to 1 life and burn 2 Exos and kill 2 Mezzo.

This leaves Nakita + 3 Airborne (with Valda) v. 1 life Grimnak, Tornak, & 2 Mezzos with 2 Exos. I juggle OMs between the squads, staying on height with Valda and staying out of threat range of Tornak. Comes down to the wire, with me winning with 2 Nakita + 1 Airborne v. the last Mezzo.

W (4-0)

Record: 4-0 (1st)
Final Thoughts: Fun event, with 2 of the games (Mr. Chompy & Cor) really going down to the wire. Happy with my draft pool, as I felt I did a good job of identifying which pieces were good in which matchups and how to manipulate the draft order well.

Main Event: Delta VC Ro11
Format: 510 Points, 18 Figures, Rule of 11, Delta Points
My Army: Quahon, Wyvern, Spiders x4 (Sit 11)
Thoughts Going In: I felt like Wyvern was heavily discounted in Delta when you already had Quahon + Spiders, and 11 spiders maximizes Rule of 11 well. Quahon also just has few really bad matchups, and I have a ton of experience with this army.

Round 1: Mr. Chompy (Armocs x3, Elite Vipers, Venoc x1, Mittens, Zogross, Otonashi) on Water Treatment Facility

Spoiler Alert!

This feels like a good matchup for me, as Quahon can eat through the Armocs fast. I open with Quahon and Mr Chompy opens Elite Vipers. The Vipers move up to stage, where Quahon kills 1 and a spider ties down the other 2, killing 1 of them. I had to put Quahon in a spot next to height in order to get the shot, but I was ok with that risk as the remaining vipers would have to get the spider kill, then frenzy in order to attack. The last Elite Viper does pull this combo off though, doing 2 wounds to Quahon via 4v3, and then hits a 2nd frenzy, doing another 2 wounds. Ouch. I develop more spiders and finish the Elite off while Mr. Chompy starts developing Armocs/Zogross to the Wanok glyph (Wanok kills a spider).

Quahon dances around the center of the board for a while, killing most of the Armocs & 2 Venocs off chains before Mittens finally catches her and kills Big Blue.

This leaves Wyvern + most of the spiders v. 3 Armocs and partial life Zogross + Mittens.

The Wyvern puts Mittens in a bad place, and together with height attacks from Spiders they kill Mittens. Armocs kill some spiders. I then get a lucky turn to kill all 3 remaining Armocs, burning a few OMs and giving me time to place Zogross in a bad place, do a few wounds to him, and take Wanok.

I kill Zogross shortly after, and Otonashi tries a valiant final charge, but I have far too much left for her to overcome.

W (1-0)

Round 2: MegaSilver (Raelin [RotV], RTS, Krav, Microcorp Agents x2) on Burning Man

Spoiler Alert!

MegaSilver decides to go full-turtle, and hides in the corner of his SZ.

This lets me develop freely, and once I'm fully developed (just outside the 7 range of his pod) I wait until I lost an init, and then come in on my OM 3, hoping for the switch.

Honestly, the blow-by-blow part of this game isn't super interesting. I lead Quahon over Wyvern (questionable decision, idk if that was right), hoping to kill Raelin through chains. We trade blows for a while, but Krav eventually kill Quahon while Raelin still has 2 life and a few Micros are dead.

Wyvern plucks out a Krav, killing it, forcing Mega to switch from Krav OMs to Micros. I have all the Micros tied down with spiders.

I then make a questionable decision with a 2-life Wyvern, plucking Raelin out of the pod, but I'm forced to land adjacent to 1 Micro. Wyvern only does 1 wound, leaving Raelin alive, and the Micro hits a 2/2 -> 0/4, killing the Wyvern and putting me in a terrible spot.

However, spiders go absolutely nuts from here on out, hitting like 50% web rolls (where I keep taking Mega's next OM by stupid luck) and I squeek out a narrow win with a few spiders left.

Very lucky to win this one after the Wyvern died to that 2/2.

W (2-0)

Round 3: lefton4ya (Deathcommander, 8K, 7K, Zettian Infantry x3, Bol) on Common Ground

Spoiler Alert!

I think this one is a very good matchup for me.

Lefton places first, putting 8K on the Dagmar island, and I choose to ignore the island and go fully toward the Valda side and leave 8K out of the fight until the late game.

Lefton developes Deathcommander + Zettians that direction as well, but leaves a 3-Zettian chain open for Quahon, who takes it and hits 3/4, killing all 3. Quahon ends up taking 2 turns to kill Deathcommander via the normal attack, and takes a lot of wounds during that time, but does kill Deathcommander.

Lefton has ~ 3 Zettians left, but puts all 3 OMs on them, and Quahon + spiders kill them quickly in the round, burning 2 OMs. Quahon takes the free turns to charge 8K on the Island with some spider friends. Quahon misses a regular attack up, but a spider takes Dagmar, and I win init with it. Quahon misses another regular attack, but the spider triggers a classic 0/8 deathwalker roll to kill 8K. The OMs all move to Bol, but another spider kills Bol as well, leaving Lefton with no OMs for the round and just 7K left, effectively ending the game.

W (3-0)

Round 4: Son of Chompy (Romans x2, Marcus, NGS, Airborne, 20th Maine x1) on Fire Isles (OEAO)

Spoiler Alert!

So much variance in the airborne drop in this one. If Airborne drop round 1 and win initiative, they can just destroy Quahon.

I place Quahon in the far back of my SZ, planning to send out a spider screen if the Airborne drop but I win init. However, Airborne do not drop round 1, and I roll out Spiders/Quahon while SoC goes all-in on Romans. NGS goes around the north side lava while Marcus goes south, with Romans on both sides. I send Quahon onto the south lava to end the round, making sure Airborne can't get height on her if they drop, and she + spiders kill a few Romans.

Airborne do drop round 2, and SoC wins init, and Airborne get Quahon down to 2 life. There are no more OMs on airborne though, and they're all on lava, so I ignore them for the rest of the round. Quahon/spiders kill some more romans, leaving ~ 3 left, and Marcus finishes Quahon. Wyvern comes into the fray, and spiders + wyvern kill some more romans, 1 airborne, & Marcus. A few spiders hit SoC's SZ and kill one of the 20th. Lava is very unkind to SoC, killing all 3 airborne and a roman.

This leaves Wyvern + 8 spiders v. 3 life NGS + 2 20th with me in control of Wanok.

So, the correct strategy at this point would be for the Wyvern to kill the 20th while I grind Wanok to finish off NGS over the next 3 rounds. However, I'm already in top cut, and SoC wants to fight it out, so I just engage NGS with Wyvern + Spiders to play out the more "fun" version. NGS rolls a 20 on his 2nd try to take my 3-life Wyvern. Sigh. "Fun" wasn't so much "fun" this time lol.

I still have 8 spiders, and grind down a close end-game, where SoC ends up winning with (my) 1-life wyvern as his last figure.

L (3-1)

Semis: Son of Chompy (Romans x2, Marcus, NGS, Airborne, 20th Maine x1) on Invasion

Spoiler Alert!

Instant rematch! My Round 4 loss to SoC gives him the last playoff spot and we play again.

I once again place Quahon in the far back of my SZ, hiding from the potential Airborne, but they again fail to drop in round 1.

SoC goes all-in on Romans while I develop Quahon+spiders. NGS goes around the north side of the road while Quahon/Spiders goes south to avoid mindshackle. I end the round with a big 3/4 Quahon roll that kills 3 of the Romans and block NGS in with spiders.

Airborne again fail to drop, Quahon kills 1 Roman, and the romans engage Quahon/spiders, doing a few wounds. Quahon then hits another 3/4 to kill the last 3 Romans, burning 2 OMs, and SoC concedes at this point to end a short game.

W (4-1)

Finals: Phantom (Zaeus, Gorillinators x1, Gorillitroopers x3) on Ice Thistle

Spoiler Alert!

My thinking going in was that I wanted to trade the Wyvern for Zaeus, if possible, as Zaeus' SZ into Quahon is one of the easiest ways for me to lose the game.

Phantom opens Gorillinators/Gorillinators/Zaeus while I bond with Wyvern on all 3 OMs. Gorillinators move up & kill 1 spider. Wyvern engages 1 Gorilla but fails to kill it. Spiders engage another and advance into the center of the map. Gorillas kill another spider. Wyvern takes the LEA (misses) to take the center height, and kills a Gorilla. A spider claims the disengage glyph, and another ties up Zaeus. Zaeus kills that spider. The Wyvern then plucks Zaeus, and brings him to the center, but only does 1 wound and the heighted spider attack misses.

Phantom goes all Gorillitroopers OMs for the rest of the game.

Phantom wins init and puts 3 wounds on Wyvern (ouch). Wyvern brings Zaeus back to near my SZ on the left side of the map (where disengage glyph is) and puts him 3 spaces away from a Gorilla (to set up Quahon chain later) but fails to put any more wounds on him. Spider attacks also fail to further wound Zaeus. Zaeus then finishes off the Wyvern while troopers start to move in.

Quahon moves up and has a chain of Zaeus-Nator-Trooper, but hits 1/4 and fails to wound any. Zaeus+Troopers continue to whittle away the spiders. Quahon then hits 3/4 into the same chain and kills all 3, and Troopers kill some more spiders while I use the few spiders I have left to tie up a Trooper in the center height.

At this point, I have a 6-life Quahon, 2 spiders (both tying the same Trooper in the center) v. 5 Troopers + 1 Nator.

With both spiders tied down (the one on Disengage glyph died already), I go all OMs on Quahon from this point forward.

Phantom does a good job of spacing out the Troopers so I don't get any more chains, and Quahon kills 1 Trooper per turn while the Troopers slowly whittle away Quahon lives. Quahon jumps around quite a bit, between the center of the map and nearer to Phantom's SZ, avoiding letting Troopers engage her (forcing attacks of 3v4, where I have height, insead of 5v3 or 5v4). Throughout this battle, Quahon kills 4 Troopers and takes 4 more wounds, leaving a 2-life Quahon v. 1 Trooper + 1 Nator.

Phantom wins init, the last Trooper moves up and engages Quahon, taking a 5v4 that does 2 wounds, killing Quahon and winning the game.

Super close end-game, that last initiative was massive.

L (4-2)

gg Phantom, and congrats!

Record: 4-2 (2nd Place)
Final Thoughts: Still like the army a ton, and think it's a powerhouse in Delta at the 500 point range. Never felt like I was a massive underdog based on the matchup, and did feel like I was a significant favorite in a few matchups, which is a great outcome for a delta event. Finals game was super close and memorable; I don't have any decision points I regret or would change in hind-sight (though it turns out the SA is slightly better than a regular attack on a single Trooper, though that wouldn't have changed anything), so happy with how I played it.

Singleton
Format: 425 Points, 16 Figures
My Army: Raelin, Nilfheim, GW x1, Rats x1, MWs, Isamu
Thoughts Going In: A Raelin-backed Nilf seemed like a strong counter to most potential pieces in this format, and the combination of GW x1 + Rat x1 gave about the maximum screen one could build in singleton. MWs + Isamu was just icing with the points left over.

Round 1: Bye

Spoiler Alert!

W (1-0)

Round 2: lefton4ya (Drake [RotV], 10th x1, 4th x1, Roman x1, Marcus, Marcu) on Desolate Courtyard

Spoiler Alert!

This is a pretty good matchup for me, with Nilf being able to drop each of the squads below full activation quickly, and them having limited offense once they're down to 2 members.

I chose to not move rats early, as they don't do much good against 10th & 4th here, going Raelin/GW/GW instead. Lefton went 10th/Roman/10th. The 10th put 1 wound on Raelin, but Nilf returned fire harshly, killing them all before lefton's OM3. Nilf then moved forward more, killing some Romans, 4th, and starting to send Ice Shards into Heroes. A GW grabbed the init glyph, where he stayed the rest of the game, while the other 2 moved into forward blocking positions.

I kept OMs on Nilf for the next round+, where Nilf took out the remaining squads and put wounds on the heroes without taking any damage.

Lefton eventually sent Drake around the far side of the map to the teleport glyph, while I finally developed rats as a screen against Drake. Drake teleported to my SZ to kill MWs while rats pinned him there and Nilf kept shooting SAs. Drake killed a few MWs but then fell to Ice Shards to end the game.

W (2-0)

Round 3: Phantom (Laglor, Krav, Nakita, Gorilla x1) on Mime Raths

Spoiler Alert!

Nilf -> Nakita + Gorilla is pretty great for Nilf, so my only real worry in this one was the Krav. I opened Raelin/GW/GW and send Raelin very far forward to a central shadow spot, thinking I would need to cover Nilf charging all the way to Phantom's SZ to attack the ranged pod. Phantom went Nakita/Gorilla/Laglor. Nakitas moved up and did some wounds to Raelin, moving the Gorillas with them, but Nilf got Ice Shards off before the Gorilla OM, killing 1 Nakita + 1 Gorilla. The gorillas did a few more wounds to Raelin. I then sent a GW to Valda, and used the 8 move to send the remaining 2 GWs to tie the Krav up in Phantom's SZ while Nilf killed most of the remaining Nakitas & Gorillas and one GW 2v3 went through on a Krav.

The Krav were tied up going into round 2, and so couldn't run away, and Nilf charged, double-engaged both, and killed them with Ice Shards before turning his dragon fury towards Laglor and killing him with 2 6v3s to end the game.

W (3-0)

Round 4: deroche (Raelin, Hydra, Krav, Krug) on Burning Man

Spoiler Alert!

Interesting matchup, where Krav are bad for my Raelin + GWs and Hydra + Krug is bad for Nilf, but I knew and endgame of MW v Krug would be great for me, so I planned to throw Nilf + GW + Rats very agressivly into Krav. The map helped me, as all the height was lava, so the Krav didn't have many good placement options.

I finally used the Rats early, sending them out to the middle of the map, followed by Raelin. Deroche opened Hydra/Krav/Krav, developing the Hydra and then shooting at Rats, killing 1 but letting the other 3 tie the Krav down. I --thought-- my OM was on GW, but looked down to discover I had stupidly placed it on Nilf instead, so I didn't get to move my GW. Pretty frustrated with myself here, as if the GWs could develop, it was near a guaranteed win for me with being able to re-tie the Krav down if the killed the Rats, but instead finding my GWs far behind the action. Nilf developed into the middle, hitting 2 Krav + Hydra but doing no damage.

I went all on GWs for round 2 (double-checking myself this time) and Deroche went Hydra/Krav/Krav, and won init. Hydra took an LEA from a rat, which hit, and then threw 3 4v6 into Nilf, doing only 2 wounds. Nilf engaged the Krav and killed 2 while GWs advanced. Deroche only had 1 Krav left, who took a single shot, but then died to Nilf on the following turn while GWs surrounded the Hydra. Nilf + GW then killed Hydra the following turn.

That left a pretty impossible situation for Deroche, as even if Krug killed all my developed units, I still had MWs in my SZ. Krug charged, and he fought Nilf+GW for a while. I ended up winning that exchange with a few life left on Nilf, essentially ending the game with Deroche just having Raelin left.

Record: 4-0 (1st Place)
Final Thoughts: Very happy with this army, still feel like it was the best army for the format.

[Chill]

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

Round 1: Chill (Knights x4, Alastair, Thorgrim) on Fire Isles (OEAO)

Spoiler Alert!

Not the matchup I was hoping for. Knights/Alastair is pretty bad for Axe.

We both basically claimed one of the fire hills, with me getting the one on the Wanok side and Chill having the one by Disengage. I placed my own Darrak near my hill, Chill threw my Mogrimm far away, and I put Alastair in the water near my pod, hoping to win and potentially kill him before he could take a turn.

I lost round 1 init though, and Alastair moved out of the water, killing 2 Axe.

I fought an uphill battle from this point (more figurative than literal), with most of the fighting happening at the edges of the hills, as neither of us wanted to cross the center and expose ourselves to heighted attacks. But I couldn't overcome the stat disadvantage of Axe v Knights, and Chill won with Thorgrim and a few knights left.

L (0-1)

This was a good match! I think putting Alastair in the water was a great call, and if you win initiative you even it out and probably win the match

[Chris Perkins]

ScapeCon III (August 9th - 13th 2023)

Delta Rule of 12

Army: Phantom Knights x4, Microcorp Agents x2, Isamu (Sit 1)

Spoiler Alert!

Army thoughts: I was 90% sure I wanted to max out the Ro12 parameter in some form, and that led me to wondering if there was any 12x of one common fig + 6x of another to maximally fill out the 18 figs available. I had just had success with Micros in the previous OST season as an opening force to be reconned with, and thought they could be strong at just x2. I then needed to pair that with something that didn't need early board development, as I kinda have to just sacrifice that to play Micro x2 optimally. I settled on PKs because Insubstantial + Stealth Flying meant they could overcome a lack of board control better than most.

I didn't think this army was a massive underdog into any of the reasonable archetypes, felt like it had a decent amount of near auto-wins (i.e. PKs v. ranged commons) and thought it was probably just favored into almost anything it would hit. Definitely was confident going into this one; actually told OEAO 2 days before that it was my best shot to win for the whole weekend, good prediction there

The only matchup I faced the whole event where I didn't feel like my army was a significant favorite was in Semis, when I faced Axegrinders with Mogrimm. Mog is pretty rough for me as PKs really struggle to kill him. Ended up with an end-game of ~ 5 PKs v. Mog, but thankfully the map had Wannok, which I was able to manipulate to turn a sketchy end-game for me into a favorable spot. Did get lucky to dodge the few bad matchups in the pool, but tbh there weren't a ton to have to dodge.

Also had a lot of blow-out wins where Micros just went nuts. Idk if I was over EV on stealth rolls the whole event or not, but I definitely was over EV on clutch stealth rolls (spots where the stealth roll meaningfully affected the win %). Good luck helps.

Result: 8-0 (1st Place)

Very happy with this one. Felt like my preconceptions about the army were all correct and that I played at the top of my game throughout.

Reverse the Whip

Army: Raelin [RotV], Nakita, Nerak, MBS, DC x2, Roman x1

Spoiler Alert!

Army thoughts: Thought that I should go stronger overall than in previous years because of playing 3/5 games with my army instead of 3/6 on 'day 1'. Nakita are a really fun piece for RtW to me because they can fill so many different roles depending on the matchup. Practiced several different variations, and ended up settling on this as I thought it still had a lot of offensive firepower while still being a bit harder to play with the Roman x1 piece.

Day 1: Went 4-1. Won several very close ones (including 1 by 4 points on PCS). Got beat by OEAO (Nerak, Heavy x3, Jorhdawn, Arkmer, Kyntella) with our own armies in a game he definitely outplayed me in.

Day 2:

Played OEAO again in Rd of 8, reversed this time. He opened with a super high variance pure Nakita opening, which managed to do a few wounds to a few elves but not kill any before Nerak chased down the Nakita and killed 2, neutralizing the squad before Arkmer killed the last one. I was pretty significantly ahead from there, and grinded out a win trading heavies for chasers from there.

Played dok (Bad Rae, Blast x2, Glad x1, Eltahale) in semis. I opened pure Nakita this time, and they were able to mow down the glads before they could reach while claiming height. Blast shot frivolously up into Nakita smoke powder from there while Nakita killed everything but Rae+Eltahale. Eventually Eltahale charged my SZ and did a bunch of damage, but I was so far ahead when that happened it didn't really matter, and eventually Eltahale went down.

Played NecroBlade (Mimring, Ice Troll, Swog, AG x3) in finals, reversed. He opened pure DCs, and MBS was able to do a little more damage than I hoped for. Still felt like I gave myself multiple chances to win this one, with a few big inits I gambled on going Necro's way and my Ice Troll missing a 6v5 on a Nakita that could have swung the game (also tied down another that turn). Ultimately I just couldn't kill Nakita in the endgame though and they won it for Necro.

VCheese

Army: Raelin, Q9, Rats x3, Brute Gruts, Isamu

Spoiler Alert!

Army thoughts: I started with the premise that Raelin, Q9, Rats x3, MWs was very good but was terrible into Heavies & bad into Knights. I had a conversation with Earthling where he suggested Brutes to counter heavies, and then I convinced both of us that the army was so good we should both run it. Earthling had more success with it than I did though.

For as good as I felt I played on day 1 (& day 2 to a slightly lesser extent), boy did I play like absolute garbage in this event. Every single game I made a significant mistake and probably deserved worse than my 2-3 record. Let's go through those mistakes.

Game 1 v. Taelord Dees (Raelin, Stingers x6) on April 9th. I had missed OEAO changing the glyph on this map to the attack glyph, and so my prep wasn't helpful, as the attack glyph is really good for stingers into Q9. I decided I needed to cover the glyph and opened with 2 Rat OMs to get a rat onto the glyph to block stingers. Long, slow, grindy game of trying to screen off with Rats while taking a mix of 3v3 and 3v5 attacks. Ended up in a semi-close end game where Brutes could have swung it back for me, but they missed most of their attacks into Rae + the last squad of stingers to end it. I talked with Earthling after the game, and he found a better Raelin placement on that map/matchup combo that I should have gone with. Based on where Q9 took wounds that game, I think the better Raelin placement would have made the difference. L

Game 2 v. Vydar (Rae, Krav, MWs, Cathar x3) on Nightfall. I mess up my Raelin play (#2) and move her before I properly screen Krav out with rats. Raelin pays for my sins and dies. But even spotting my opponent my Rae, this matchup is still so good for me I manage to recover it on the back of Q9/Rats holding high ground and the attack glyph. Still was the worst player in this game though, despite the W.

Game 3 v. Ultralord (Raelin, MBS, Nerak, DCs x5) on August 2nd. Probably the only game I played correctly this tournament. I semi-turtle in my SZ + the 3-hex right outside it with a full rat wall while Q9 pings while the DCs super-slowly develop. Takes a while to kill MBS, but once I do Ultralord has no way to get over the rats and has to try going through them, which doesn't work out. W

Game 4 v. Brean_of_Philly (Quahon, Spiders x5, MWs, Isamu) on Hydra: OEAO Edition. I make my 3rd horrible Raelin placement of the day and Quahon maximally punishes me, starting with 3 3/4s, the first 2 of which kill Rae, and collectively they deal 3 wounds to Q9. A spider then kills Q9 to add insult to injury (insult to death?). Still, in hindsight I played it terribly. I had actually never thought before this game that Quahon can't send her SA through Q9 into someone behind him, because he doesn't have LoS there, so I should have kept Raelin behind Q9 and out of Quahon aura instead of moving her next to Q on height, which is what I did. L

Game 5 v. MajorQ23 (Q9, Cathar x3, MWs) on Ascension. And...we finally reach my masterpiece, my worst played game of the weekend (hell, maybe of the year). This matchup is great for me, so let's find out how I bungled it. I made my 4th terrible Raelin play of the day to open it up, and put her somewhere stupid where Cathar could get attacks from height on her. Why? Don't know. That's just the theme of the tourney for me. Anyways, Q23 opens pure Cathar and they kill Raelin. I then make at least 2 major Rat scatter mistakes and that forces me to take way more braced spears than I should have had to. Somehow I get pretty stupid lucky and manage to pull myself back in this one with Q9 & Brutes shouldering the load. Still unable to overcome the multiple massive blunders and take a very deserving L.

I feel like I let my army down in this one, as I still think it's a great army in this particular meta, but I wasn't able to prove that. Mix of poor preparation and poor execution on my part.

ScapeCon III Championship (Draft)

Round of 16 v. Vegie Dad on Hydra: OEAO Edition

Spoiler Alert!

Draft:

CP	Vegie Dad
Alistair
	Knights x2
PKs x2
	4th x2
Sentinels x2
	Finn
	Drake [RotV]

Pretty much everyone I spoke with agreed 1st pick sucked in the Jandar pool. Later on I heard mixed strategies between taking Alistair v. 1x PK first overall. But I thought that letting my opponent take Alistair + 1x Knights with their first pick was too strong, so I blocked it with Alistair. Vegie Dad took Knights x2 (as expected). I took PKs, since they block/counter 4th and are good overall in the pool. Considered taking Sentinels here instead, but wanted to take the cheaper unit first to save more flexibility. 4th then got taken, which I felt OK with, having PKs already. I took Sentienels to end my army and Vegie Dad took the heroes, but had to sit 2 figures (1 Knight + 1 4th).

I opened pure PKs, hoping to get them engaged with (and kill) enough of the 4th. PKs whiffed it pretty hard though, getting only 2-3 kills while dying to 4th as Vegie Dad mixed OMs between 4th & Knights throughout.

Sentinels then moved up, having height in some spots but not all while Knights + some 4th moved in. I lost a few Sentinels quickly, but the last squad of them entered end-game boss mode and just never died. Vegie Dad got 2 knights through my sentinels to kill sleeping Alistair in my SZ while Sentinels finished off 4th + straggler knights before coming back for the Knights in my SZ.

End Game: 3 Sentinels v. Drake. Wannok was on this map, and entirely dictated this matchup, as it's so bad for my Sentinels. I took height near Wannok while Drake advanced. I ended up engaging Drake on the 3-hex triangle (2 height) with 2 Sentinels while the 3rd took Wannok). I did several wounds, blocked an attack, and did a Wannok wound before killing Drake on my 1st OM of the next round to cap off a pretty far-fetched comeback.

Happy with my decisions in this one despite falling behind fairly substantially early.

Round of 8 v. Boromir96 on Dark Fulcrum

Spoiler Alert!

Draft:

CP	Boromir
Mimring
	Moltenclaw
	Krug
Ornak
Marcu
	Axegrinder x2
Nerak
Heavy x1
	Darrak
	Brunak
Heavy x1
MotH

Probably the best draft pool to pick 1st in, as Mimring is just good overall. Boromir blocks me from getting Mimring/Krug/AGs and takes Moltenclaw, which surprised me at the time but worked well for Boromir. With Krug gone, I decided to go for Ornak+Heroes instead of AGs and took Marcu, as that was the hero Boromir was most likely to snipe from me. Boromir took Axe, and I took Heavy+Nerak to get Heavies with Ornak. Darrak was a no-brainer for Boromir and Brunak was the right points left over. I took Heavy + MotH, as he's pretty good into both Molty & Brunak and the 1-hex max heights are really nice for him on Dark Fulcrum. Also, as we'll see, I may have thought he was Utgar...

Boromor opens with a pure Molty rush while I go Ornak/Mimring/Heavy. My thought was to get value from Mimring early while also having the 1 Heavy OM to spread out my SZ a bit to make it more Molty safe. Mimring opens 8/8 on skulls, but Boromir has good defense the first time as an Axe blocks 4/4 and Brunak finds 3 shields to take just 1 wound. The 2nd attack does substantial damage to Molty though. Molty returns fire and gets Mimring down to 1 life by the end of the round.

I went Ornak/Heavy/Heavy, planning to use Marcu+Mimring to kill Molty if I won init and MotH + Marcu if I lost and Mimring died. Boromir wins init, hits 3/4, and kills Mimring + Nerak. I reveal my OM, move MotH, and see a very surprised look on Boromir's face as he says 'you can't do that'. I look down and realize MotH is Einar. Welp. Clearly my biggest mistake of the day. I take the turn with just Marcu, who ties Molty but does no wounds on the 4v4. Molty then flies to my SZ and takes out 2 more heavies (to go with 1 dead from the previous round) and Heavies then finish Molty.

This left 5 heavies, Ornak, MotH, & Marcu v. 8 Axe, Darrak, Krug, & 2-life Brunak. Boromir has a pretty solid lead at this point. He rolls out some Axe + Darrak on his OM3, and I then come in charging hot with my remaining orcs, pretty sure my only shot is killing a ton of the Axe around an init switch. I kill just 1 axe that turn, but get the init switch and then kill 5! on my next turn. Boromir has 3 OMs on just 2 Axe at that point in time, which I'm able to kill both of on my OM2 before I start harassing Krug. By the time the next round rolls around, Krug is down to just 1 life. He kills a few more Heavies (9 dice will do that) before he dies. Brunak kills the heavies + Ornak without taking any more wounds.

MotH then starts hunting, reaching the max height. It takes a while for him to do wounds, getting up to 3 or 4 wounds himself first, but eventually he brings down Brunak to win the game for me.

Round of 4 (Semis) v. Vegietarian18 on Dark Fulcrum

Spoiler Alert!

Draft:

CP	Vegie
Red Wyrm
	Mittens
	Mohican x1
Mohican x2
	Armoc x2
HSB x2
	Zetacron
	Armoc x1
Red Wyrm
White Wyrm
Brave Arrow

Picking 1st in this pool also kinda sucks (to me, anyways). I had some discussions with Dysole about this pool earlier that morning, which led me to go with the 'delay' strategy of taking a wyrm with the opening pick. Vegie then took Mittens + Mohican x1, which I felt was odd, since there were 2 Mohicans left. I decided it was worth it to block the Mohican play, and took the remaining Mohicans. Vegie then pivoted to Armocs, while I took HSBs and some other Wyrms as late filler. I was pretty happy going into the game, as I had felt that HSBs + Mohican was the best core to come away with (though I could easily be wrong about that; these pools are hard). On the flip side, Armoc x3 is more OM efficient for Vegie than my build is for me.

I knew I wanted OM 1+2 on Mohican, but was very torn about OM3. HSB lets me retaliate if Vegie rushes my SZ while Mohican lets me ping if he slow rolls more. I end up going all Mohican. Vegie goes all Armoc and charges me fast, hitting the triangle outside my SZ on OM2 with Mittens + 2 Armoc. Mohicans and Armocs trade, with 4 of my Mohicans going down. I go all HSB for Rd2, win init, kill 1 Armoc + kill Mittens. Well, that was lucky. With Mittens falling so fast, Vegie can't maintain his position fighting for the 3-hex height and has to start slow-rolling Armocs a bit more.

Armocs end up flanking around the far size of the map, but he's down to ~ 4 armocs. Armocs kill 1 Wyrm + 1 Brute, but 3 of them die, forcing Vegie to put OMs elsewhere. Zeta moves up and gets 1 Brute kill before Brutes engage him, but they take a long time to bring him down with 2 engaged with him. Brutes also manage to kill 1 sleeping Mohican. The remaining Mohicans reach the middle of the map and kill a Red Wyrm, but Brave Arrow engages both and keeps them tied long enough to finish them both off. The last Armoc tries some heroics, but falls to Brutes after they finally kill Zeta.

Round of 2 (Finals) v. Infected Sloth on Ascension

Spoiler Alert!

I win the dice-off, meaning I ban 1 pool 1st & pick 1st from the chosen pool. I ban Jandar immediately. IS takes some time before banning Utgar. Both seem correct from my perspective.
Draft:

CP	IS
Red Wyrm
	Mohican x2
HSB x2
	Mohican x1
	Mittens
Armoc x2
	Red Wyrm
	Black Wyrm
Armoc x1
Zetacron
	Cutters

I do the same thing as the last round and open Red Wyrm. IS takes Mohican x2, which is what I would have done there too. They block the best combo and give a solid ranged squad. I take HSB x2 as I think letting IS have Mohican + HSB is too strong to beat. IS finishes Mohicans and then surprises me with a Mittens pick. Wasn't expecting that, and end up deciding to go Armocs as a semi-counter. There's a risk IS takes the final squad of Armocs on me (I think he probably should have, tbh, in hindsight), but Armocs are SO good on this map with Init+8 & Disengage both 7 move from the SZ and so many LoS blockers for devleopment. IS takes 2 Wyrms. I finish Armoc and take Zeta as there's not a lot else I can do (and Zeta has a chance late game v. Mittens). IS takes Cutters as a pure screen. I think Brave Arrow is better here? Brave Arrow gives IS an edge once the mele battle between Armoc & Mohican starts. Idk for sure though; the screen has value too.

IS goes Cutter/Mohican/Mohican & I got all Armoc. I get very lucky and lose init. I develop Armocs behind glaciers and on height while IS fills in behind the ruin just outside the SZ. I come in with 2 Armocs while taking Init+8 on my OM3, kill 1 Mohican + 1 Cutter, get the init switch, and kill 2 more Mohican + 1 Cutter. Mohicans return fire but just kill 1 Armoc. I take Disengage and kill 2 more Mohicans, starting what's turning into a landslide where I get 3v3 kills but IS can't. ~ 2 more Armocs fall but I kill all the Mohicans and get to the Wyrms when they have 3 OMs on them, burning all those OMs, and IS calls it there.

I think the single most valuable roll in this game was losing init Rd 1, as we both have 7 move figs that can take the glyph from our SZ, so whoever loses is likely to get the switch and a bunch of kills. When Armocs rolled like Gods on top of that, there was not much IS could do.

[Chris Perkins]

Added details on the 3 "mains" from ScapeCon to the ScapeCon III post.