KC's Tourney Reports - NEW 11/12/22 Q10/Venocs/Wyrmlings!

[S1R_ART0R1US]

Nice read! I'm loving the GenCon BR love!

[dok]

Great report.

I'm pretty sure Hendal played Raelin and no Isamu or Deathreavers - at least, that's what I heard he was playing. I tested against that army a lot, and at least a few people played it, but I never played against it.

I don't remember who my first pairing was with in round 4, but given that I got Rÿchean's no-special attack build after the re-pairing, I think we can rule out any conspiracy theories. (Rÿchean certainly didn't like his chances.) I got Matthias Maccabeus both times in round 5, which is no surprise given that there were only 5 of us undefeated at that point.

ET86 is a super classy opponent - there's no way I would have handled our general wars game (where the dice just completely betrayed him) as well as he did.

On the Q-gun question, 3v6 x3 is much, much better than 4v6. It's better than 5v6, too, for that matter, although it's pretty close and it's usually worth taking a 5v6 in stead of a Q-gun turn if it allows you to position Q9 in a better spot. The value of Q9's normal attack lies in the extra range moreso than the extra attack.

[killercactus]

I wasn't really concerned about positioning yet when attacking the hydra as I was already in good position and could still back up. I thought the math was on my side, but with a Hydra I might have wanted to just get one wound through to knock off a head. Ahh well.

The Clue report is coming - I was up until almost 12 typing thy one last night.

[Jexik]

Grats on making day 2 with Vipers, man. Sorry I didn't make the Clue game. I was at the airport picking up my friend Andrew who flew in from DC.

Maybe next year Miss Scarlet will bring home the trophy.

[killercactus]

I'm back with the rest of my GenCon report.

So - where was I? OH YEAH - I just finished talking about Vipers and their craziness. However, in my haste to finish my Main Event story, I skipped over all of Friday evening.

After Round 1 of the Main Event was over, I was signed up for Treasure Quest. However, knowing that I had to play Day 2 tomorrow and Heat of Battle in the afternoon, I wasn't sure if I'd have time to go to the dealer hall at all, so I dropped Treasure Quest. Congratulations to Arrow Grut, the winner. Again - you're welcome. Had I known you were there, I could've been taking turns before you.

So, instead of getting my Treasure Questing on, I went to the dealer hall and just walked around. I purchased a brand new D20 for Day 2, which did just OK for me (and not good enough to win with - blast!). I also picked up a few new D10s to use for Munchkin.

Over the rest of the evening, I played quite a few other games. Wings of War was a fun one. You get this fighter plane card and just put it on the table with other players' planes. You then play cards that shows where your plane moves, and the others do the same. If you end up within range of another plane, you get to shoot at it. I shot phantazm and Kara down in cold blood, but then Mechabeast blew me out of the sky like Jek Porkins FTW.

"I've got a problem, here."

I also played a couple of 3-way games of Magic with phantazm and Mechabeast that were straight up broken. I dominated one game and Mecha dominated the other. We also played a Settlers of Catan-like game in the Rio Grande Games Room. You had to collect Fish, Wood, Stone and Gold in order to build Cities and Fortresses in certain territories without getting killed by the natives. I remember that I won the game by being the first to build 3 complete settlements, but I can't remember what the game was called. It was very fun though.

But then the real Main Event was coming up at 9:30 - Clue: Master Detective Edition. I might have been more excited to play Clue at GenCon than Heroscape - it's my favorite non-scape boardgame and I never get to play it, let alone with 10 people. I actually cut my board down with a box cutter to be able to fit it in my backpack I was so excited.

I set the game up and 9:30 came and went. I got really worried that no one was going to show up and I was going to go to bed disappointed. Shortly after 9:30, Clarrissimus got there and we reminisced about our Scape game a bit earlier that day. However, he soon got a phone call that told him he had to leave now for the hotel or not make it back tonight. So, we were back down to 4.

Eventually though, dok, jdtenor and his friend did show up to play. Jexik and his friend said he couldn't make it due to some unfortunate airport exploits, but we both know that he was back in the hotel room furiously playtesting Nilfheim + Greenscales some more and figuring out how far he was going to move the Vipers up in the Power Rankings after my performance. So, we sat down for a 7-person game of Master Clue - still the biggest Clue game I've ever played. We had:

killercactus - Colonel Mustard
phantazm21zero - Sergeant Grey
Kara - Mrs. Peacock
dok - Mr. Green
Mechabeast - Miss Scarlet
jdtenor - Professor Plum
jd's friend - Madame Rose

jdtenor won the right to go first, which also meant he would be the only player holding only 3 cards. Everyone else had 4. My 4 cards were:

Miss Scarlet
Mrs. Peacock
Poison
Drawing Room

I planned on trying to guess Scarlet and the Poison often in the early game to get some other players thinking that those cards were the answer, and I did that. A lot of players began guessing Sgt. Gray, which was making phantazm jump all over the board and he was annoyed. However, enough people guessed him that I was able to deduce fairly early that Gray was the murderer, while a lot of the board was still guessing at Scarlet or Peacock since I kept throwing them out there.

The weapon took some more time to figure out. At one point, I had jdtenor marked down for having the Knife, but then dok guessed the Knife and jdtenor said he couldn't prove him wrong. I checked my notes and realized I screwed up and had to waste a turn guessing the Knife on my next roll to verify who had it. I went into the Drawing Room and guessed Peacock/Knife to make sure that someone had to show me the Knife.

Eventually I narrowed the weapon down to the Rope or the Candlestick, so on my next turn I guessed Peacock/Candlestick in a room that I knew dok had, who was on my right and who I knew did not have the Candlestick. That guaranteed that someone would either show me the Candlestick or it would get all the way around to dok meaning that the Candlestick was the murder weapon. JD's friend showed me the Candlestick, so I knew the Rope was the weapon.

At that point, I had it narrowed down to 5 rooms. A lot of people were guessing Gray/Rope, so I figured that most people were at least closing in on the answer as well. I starting guessing Peacock/Poison in a last ditch effort to throw people off-track again, or sometimes I would guess one of dok's cards if I knew he didn't have the room I was in, which had the same effect. Then, I walked into the Gazebo and guessed Peacock/Poison/Gazebo, and no one could prove me wrong. I slammed my hand down on the table and declared that I would make an accusation, in which I accused Sgt. Gray of strangling Mr. Body with the Rope in the Gazebo. That was the end of the wretched Sgt. Gray's reign of terror.

So yeah - dok might be 42-3 in Heroscape, but he's 0-1 with a loss to me in Clue: Master Detective Edition.

After Clue, which was super fun for all, Mecha, Kara, phantazm and I played a few more games which included Alibi (a Clue-like card game that was really fun).

Saturday morning I slept in a bit more than I did the day before as I knew Mecha and phantazm didn't have anything scheduled for Saturday morning and wanted to sleep. I got down to the Scape room around 9:30 and geared up for my Day 2 match that you've already heard about. After losing, I scored a Castle Set and the 2 new Summoner Wars Faction decks as a Top 16 prize, which was freaking awesome except that I kept leaving my castle set unattended laying around. Thankfully, no one stole it.

Another trip to the dealer hall led me to demo an Out-of-the-Box game called Pirate vs. Pirate. As a matter of fact, my wife wants to play it right now so I'm going to play it with her now and finish posting my Heat of the Battle report later.

.....

Sorry about the delay. Wifeycactus has taken a liking to Pirate vs. Pirate, and I jump on any opportunity to play a game with her since she doesn't like to play very often. Incidentally, this is the first time she's defeated me in 4 games. I was just about to get my treasure back to the boat when her mutinous scurvy dogs stabbed my proud sailors in the back.

Anywho, after playing a game of Red Dragon Inn (which I won by making Kara spend all of her money so the Innkeeper kicked her out, and getting Mecha and phantazm hammered) and some Zombie Dice (BRAAAAAAINS), I got ready for the Heat of Battle tournament. I had thought that 10th Regiment would be pretty darn solid in the new format, and was originally going to play this:

10th Regiment x3 - 225
Air Elemental x5 - 375
Isamu - 385
Otonashi - 395, 19 hexes, 10 cards

I liked the number of cards which would mean I could get some 10th by themselves behind an Air screen. I liked the idea of being able to start Air Elementals anywhere on the map to inhibit movement. However, I only had 3 Air Elementals with me and didn't want to borrow 2 more, so I decided to change to:

Stingers x5 - 300
Air Elemental x3 -390
Isamu - 400, 19 hexes, 9 cards

Same strategy as the above. However, I then realized that I left my Stingers in the hotel room. However, I did have my 4th Mass with me and an Eldgrim. I decided to play them, and I started asking people around if they had a Kyntela Gwyn on them to fill my last 20 Points of Valiancy. no, david, no very graciously went back to his hotel room to retrieve one for me, and my army was set at:

4th Mass x5 - 350
Eldgrim - 380
Kyntela - 400, 22 hexes, 7 cards

I didn't have as many cards as the other armies, but this was actually a good thing as I found I'd want to place the 4th first anyway to try and deny my opponent as much of the high ground as possible. With the new format, HoB is now much more about claiming the high ground and best positions for yourself instead of trying to out-card your opponent and get someone unengaged somewhere. For this reason, I think 4-figure squads are best suited for HoB since they can take up the most space when placed.

Round 1 - lonewolf (Grimnak, Heavy Gruts x4) on Fissure

I'd never had the pleasure of playing the mighty lonewolf, so I was looking forward to this game (especially since I really didn't have any expectations for this tournament). He rolled a 7, which beat my 6 and allowed him to place first. I hadn't playtested at all for this, and actually had never played an HoB game in my life (old or new method), but I realized very quickly that him getting to place first and steal basically all of the highest ground with one squad of Gruts was bad for me. The rest of the placement phase became me doing my best to deny him the other high ground, and take all of the little snowy perches that meant he would have to attack up to my guys since he was melee, and I could shoot at his. We ended up with lots of his guys on the snowy hills on either side, and my guys taking up nearly all of the rest of the relative high ground and snow. Grimnak started off behind one of the glaciers on a lower level. I tried to use Eldgrim and Kyntela as blockers, but it didn't work too well.

lonewolf also won initiative. He proceeded to Chomp one of my guys and kill another one or two with his Gruts. However, on my first OM, Wait then Fire for 4 shots from high ground on Grimnak drops the mighty Orc in one turn. lonewolf though that spelled doom for his army right off the bat, even commenting "Well, I'm not winning this tournament." It was now 15 Gruts with no champion and no Chomp against 17 or 18 Mass, Kyntela and Eldgrim, and most of my units would have high ground when he attacked me and I would hardly ever need to move. Sounds like a dream situation for the Mass, right?

Wrong.

lonewolf's dice turned around very abruptly. Before I knew it, he had blocked 2 skulls with 3 dice 6 times in a row (yeah, I counted). I was attacking with WTF and height and missing, and he was attacking up on my guys and scoring. It what seemed like no time at all, he had amassed a nice, big lead, and wound up winning the game with 7 or 8 Gruts still standing. It was like the 4th Mass had a party after they killed Grimnak so fast and all got hammered and passed out, allowing the Gruts to just axe them down. Ahh well - guess I'm the one not winning this tournament.

0-1

Round 2 - James Sullivan (Raelin, Tagawa Samurai, Kaemon Awa, Me-Burq-Sa, Guilty McCreech) on Rift Valley

After that game, which taught me a lot about HoB play even though I lost, I see that I had to play on the map where all the high ground is covered in lava. Crap.

I won the placement roll and spread out a squad of mass to secure most of the high ground lava from him placing guys there. He spread out his Samurai to try and engage me, and put Kaemon, Raelin, MBS and Guilty mostly to one side of the map (with everyone but MBS on low ground thanks to my 4th taking up all the room), with Guilty next to a glyph. I took as much non-lava height (mostly road) that I could, and put my 2 heroes in strategic road choke points.

Once the game began, I quickly WTF'ed Raelin the heck outta there and also got one of the Tagawa with a WTF+Height shot. His Tagawa picked up the experience markers quickly, but he got one of them tied down to Eldgrim and I engaged the other one on lava. The lava failed to kill it but I eventually shot them both down. After the Tagawa threat was over I turned my WTF efforts onto Kaemon Awa and did 3 wounds pretty quickly. He had Guilty take the Defense glyph and got Kaemon up to high ground and killed a couple Mass, but I killed Guilty and then Kaemon in one OM a bit later. MBS was just a big ol' WTF target and the battle was over with at least half of my Mass still standing.

1-1

Round 3 - Tristan (Krug, Tagawa Samurai, Warriors of Ashra x3, Isamu) on Just Passing Through

I felt pretty comfortable playing against this army. I knew by now that my 4-man squads were a huge asset in taking as much high ground as possible, and he could only attack 3 times max per OM. Since I had range, the WoA and Samurai didn't scare me, and Krug's big attack didn't mean much since I didn't have any heroes (that mattered). I won the placement roll again and took lots of the high ground, most of it to one side. He did get the high ground on the other side, but since he was melee I knew I could force the battle over to my side. I also controlled the bridge in the middle and the few one-hex perches on the map.

The Warriors of Ashra, once the MVP's of HoB, stunk it up pretty bad. They weren't ready to combat my range, and 7 or 8 of them were dead after the first round with minimum 4th Mass casualties. The Tagawa started getting some turns and, even though they got their experience markers, WTF + height was just too much. Isamu took 3 shots to bring down, and then Krug had to try to make his way to my side of the map and a slew of 4th on height. I think he got one attack on my stronghold before WTF+height brought him down. Again I probably had around half of my Mass left.

2-1

Round 4 - SuperflyTNT (Kaemon Awa, Tagawa Samurai, Warriors of Ashra x3, Isamu) on Jotun's Gap

This was pretty much the same army I just finished playing against. I'd rather see Krug than Kaemon, but I knew my strategy would stay pretty much the same. I again placed first and focused on controlling all of one side of the map's high ground, knowing he had to come to me. He set up Kaemon on the other side but his WoA and Samurai on my side for the most part. I used Eldgrim and Kyntela to try and block access to my hill by using the shadow spaces on the road in the middle of the map. I ended up with a few guys on his side of the high ground but I had pretty much total control of the other side, which I knew would be a tough nut to crack.

Pete was a blast to talk to and play against, as many of you may know from reading his posts here. Anyway, he started with his Ashra and Samurai, but again the WTF, height and range were just too much for them. As soon as I saw him put OM's on the Tagawa, I attacked them viciously and killed 2 of them before they ever got a turn. His Ashra did pretty much wipe out my soldiers on his side of the map, but they sustained losses. Eventually, I'd lost probably 6 or 7 Mass and it was down to Kaemon and Isamu. Isamu died in one shot and Kaemon came into the battle after healing the 2 wounds my soldiers on his side put on him by grabbing the Glyph of Kelda that was on his side.

Kaemon put and end to Eldgrim on his way over, which meant Kyntela got a movement boost (YAY!!!). His Quickly Released arrows found their marks on quite a few Mass, and he tried to hide in the shadows behind an outcrop. However, I had so many soldiers on that hill that I could still get some good WTF+Height shots off on him and eventually the musket barrage was too much for the Last Samurai. Good game, Pete - I hope to cross your path again in Dayton someday when I finally make it up there for a tourney.

3-1

Round 5 - scaper_dude (Grimnak, Heavy Gruts x4) on Jotun's Gap

Like father, like son, eh? Some strangy symmetry here to my tournament facing lonewolf in the first round and his son in the last round. However, this time I was a much more experienced HoB player and I'd just won a game against all-melee on this map, so I knew what to do. I knew that this game would be no picnic, having played scaper_dude once before in a hard fought match that went to time after we mostly just moved our Deathreavers around a lot. I assured him that this game would be played much faster, and also that his dad already decimated me once today with that army. I won the placement roll and again proceeded to take most of the high ground on one side. He deployed Gruts to both sides - some to take the rest of the height and some to contest my hill. I put a few Mass over to his side for good measure, and again put Eldgrim and Kyntela on the road shadow spaces. Grimnak started on his side on the low ground, and we both knew that the first initiative roll would mean a lot, since I would either get 4 WTF+height shots on Grimnak (I made sure I had enough guys over there to do that since I got to place a squad of Mass last) or he would get to Chomp a guy off of height and basically overwhelm that side of the board.

He won. Those darn Jeter's and their luck.

Grimank Chomped a guy off of height and his Gruts started to swarm. I still got some good shots on Grimnak and did a few wounds. Soon though his Orcs had pretty much sealed off my soldiers on that side of the map and I had to settle for WTF'ing Orcs on my side while Grimnak Chomped dudes over there or just stood looking mean and giving Orcs a boost. However, once most of my guys on his side were dead, Brandon moved Grimnak near the edge of the hill to prepare for a run over to my side of the map, which probably had 8 or 9 Mass strongly securing the hill. I don't think he realized until it was too late that one of my soldiers on the other side could reach Grimnak from there, and he ended the mightly Orc's life.

That was a turning point in the match, as my remaining Mass on height really didn't have to move ever again, and just WTF'ed the crap out of some Orcs. He did get me down to about 5 Mass though with 2 Orcs left, and he started channelling his dad by blocking 2 skulls with 3 dice multiple times. In the end though I won with 4 Mass remaining. It was a little closer than I'd have thought it would be after seeing Grimnak fall and the carnage that followed, but those are my favorite types of games - the ones that come down to the very end. So, I got my revenge on the Jeter family, but I really had to fight for it. Great game, Brandon!

4-1 for a 4th Place finish and a set of Wave D1 as a prize.

That was my last bit of gaming at GenCon for 2010. I shook hands with many a Scaper and wished them good gaming as I left, starting down a 5 1/2 hour drive back to Youngstown. I had a blast though, and came out of GenCon with some free Scape stuff, 2 new Summoner Wars decks and a cool new board game that even my wife likes. GenCon 2010 = Great Success!!! Thanks to everyone that helped put on the show and everyone that played against me and talked to me - I had an absolute blast with all of you!

[dok]

That's 46-3, pal. Don't be shorting me like that.

It took me until a couple rounds around the table to figure out exactly how I should be taking notes, and I had two or three errors that I had to back out, which took me out of the game for a bit too long. Still, it's a fun game and more challenging and skill-based than it gets credit for.

[killercactus]

HOB report is up.

[killercactus]

Columbus, OH NHSD - 10/16/10

Here's my 2010 NHSD Report. I had a blast with everyone, as usual, and we had over 40 players this year, which is awesome! weesel99 and the rest of the Columbus Crew did an excellent job setting up and running the event - props and major thanks to them!

First thing - I've gotta say that I love our tournament scene. All of the players are willing to try new units and not just play cheese everywhere, which makes for an all-around good time. I only saw 2-3 Q9 armies, only one of those had Raelin, and none of them had Rats. As a matter of fact, there were only 2 squads of Deathreavers in the entire tournament, and they weren't even in the same army, though that could have something to do with the Treasure Glyphs instead of Power Glyphs. Go Ohio Scapers!

I decided a while ago that I wanted to try the Goblin Cutters at this year's event. It's a bit weird, but I have a lot of fun playing them even though I hate playing Deathreavers, even though I'm moving them all the time. I guess its because I'm only doing it when they die, so I don't feel like such a cheeseball? Anywho, since there were treasure glyphs in this event, I'd originally planned also to play Cyprien since he uses a lot of them well and gets them quickly. I then really needed a special attack / Q9 counter, and for 100 Points the Iron Golem fit the bill. So, I was at:

Cyprien - 150
Sonya - 195
Iron Golem - 295
Cutters x4 - 495, 20 hexes

Then, after a playtest game or two, I felt like I needed a bit more hero-killing power, and I'd like to have more cutters. I switched up my support units and found a way to do that with:

Nilfheim - 185
Zetacron - 245
Cutters x5 - 495, 24 hexes

After playing a few games with that (a couple against Cyprien where I just got owned hard after he killed Nilf and Zetacron without too much trouble, and then just ate Goblins to regenerate), I felt like I needed a bit more punch against the Scurry-bypassing heroes. I knew if I couldn't beat Cyprien I'd have no chance against Q9. I finally settled on this version, which did well in my playtesting (though I didn't try it against Q9 - probably a mistake):

Fen Hydra x2 - 240
Goblin Cutters x5 - 490, 24 hexes

A full-on D&D army, good against both heroes and squads, full of units I've never used at tourneys - let's do it!

Round 1 - Nirek (Q9, Marro Drones x6, Isamu) on The Dying Oasis

Well, I was going to get a test of how well this army can handle Q9 right off the bat. Turns out it wasn't much of a test.

I started by moving a Hydra up onto the high ground in the middle, which was sure to be where Q9 would be headed. Nirek took a turn with Q9 and rolled a normal attack: . My one shield meant my Hydra was already down 3 heads. I moved it closer and Q9 used Queglix: . OK - let's try the next Hydra. Q9's first normal attack: . Down 3 wounds again. I think I got one attack on him after that which was blocked, and his next turn killed that Hydra.

So - battle summary so far: 4 or 5 Q9 turns = 2 dead Hydras.

Knowing slaughter was inevitable now, I started streaming in Goblins. I put them next to jungle, hoping I could survive Queglix and get a mob attack for my only chance to take down Q9. Nirek was rolling the 2,2,2,2,1 against them, and the first 7 times I rolled 2 defense against 1 skull, I whiffed. That's 14 defense dice with no shields, folks. He could've killed Deathwalker 7000 from range - twice. He could've killed DW9K with Raelin's aura and a Ring of Protection with an even ground, non-boosted Arrow Grut.

So, long story short, all 20 Goblins were mowed down without inflicting a single wound. I got mob attack once later, but it failed. I think I had 4 turns the whole game where I got to attack his figures.

Loss, 0-1, 0 Points, and a very disheartened killercactus

Round 2 - Jacob Hite (Brunak, Raelin, Su-bak-Na, Krav, Guilty) on Quasatch Playground

Jacob has a hodgepodge army, but I was pretty scared of what Brunak could do to Goblins. Turns out that didn't really matter either.

In a complete reversal of the previous game, my Hydras just went to work. The first one took 3 pretty quick wounds from the Krav, but was able to take them all down. Jacob then brought out Brunak carrying Raelin, and I tied Brunak down with my wounded Hydra while I started moving the other one up. Brunak could not kill my 1-life Hydra by the time my other one took the high ground in the center of the map, killed Raelin in one OM, and Brunak in the next 2. I got a free turn on SBN before he could react, which mostly killed him. SBN did get one wound through on my other Hydra before going down and Guilty followed.

Win, 1-1, 870 Points (points format was Points = what you killed + what you have left)

Round 3 - southwest ninja (Major Q10, 10th x4, Deathreavers x1) on Fire Isles

After my thrashing against Q9, Q10 had me pretty worried. However, this time I was a bit better prepared, and the map was short and flat, which I knew would help my Hydras. I started one on each side, planning to use one as sort of a decoy, bait Q10 to the other side with Goblins and then blitz with the second one. It pretty much worked.

I moved the backside Hydra up, and then spent a few OMs on Goblins, mostly on the other side. He tied down my Hydra with a couple Rats, but then Q10 poked his head out to Machine Pistol some goblins. I used some self-admittedly clever Goblin placement to force Q10 to move to one side of the start zone by the ledge on the side I wanted him in order to shoot some Goblins, and I had my #3 on my other Hydra. On my last turn, I moved my Hydra out of the start zone and starting down that side, able to reach Q10 if I won initiative with high ground. He had to try to get Q10 into the game since I'd disengaged my other Hydra pretty successfully (1 wound from 2 Rats) on the other side and was threatening his 10th over there - he thought I'd just chill there tied down. Oh , and I forgot to mention that on my #2 before I moved my Hydra, a lucky Goblin claimed that high ground adjacent to Q10 and scored 2 wounds!

ninja noticed what I'd done, and we both knew this initiative was big. I won it, and moved within Reach of Q10 on height. I had to engage a Rat to do it, but I killed it on the first attack and there were no more to Scatter adjacent. 3 attacks of 5 finished off Q10.

The 10th eventually surrounded both Hydras and poked them into oblivion, but they'd sustained more losses than my Goblins had. There were some tense moments throughout the rest of the battle that were made up for by some nice Goblin turns, and one stalwart Goblin blocking one skull 3 (!) times while keeping 3 10th leashed to the starting zone. Looking back on it though, it was really mostly a methodical Goblin attrition battle, since ninja still pretty much killed his 1 per turn. I was usually able to mob 1 per turn, sometimes kill another 1 or 2, so my Goblins eventually came out on top.

Win, 2-1, 1400ish Points

Round 4 - Odin Osgard (10th x2, Stingers x2, Iron Golem x2, Dumutef) on Arctic Divide

When I looked at Odin's army, I thought that I should be in great shape with Scurry. When I looked at the map, and realized that I've played this map with it's heavy snow a few times, I knew I was in deep trouble. My Hydras were basically just screwed on this map, and his range gave him a huge advantage.

I figured I'd try to turn the tables my way with a Hydra assault on his start zone, knowing I'd have to go completely around the outside of the map and take some elevated attacks from 10th or Stingers to do it. I didn't think board control was a huge issue here since he'd be moving so slow on the map and would have to crowd to one side to take on my Hydra. I took 3 wounds before I got there, and only got a Stinger before going down - bad.

After that, I just decided to put this one on the Goblins, since they had superior mobility over his army, and Scurry was in my favor. I started sending them into the snow and a couple around the outside to Scale up somewhere else. His 10th and Stingers stayed mobilized, and shot away, killing one Goblin a turn and allowing me to keep moving up. Mob Attack was pretty much forgotten for me this game - I just tried to take advantage of my mobility as much as possible and try to get as many attacks on his ranged guys as I could. It turns out that the dice gods thought I was due for some good luck after my thrashing in the first game, and this game definitely proved that more small attacks against average defense > few bigger attacks against bad defense. I only allowed him one kill per turn and my attacks of 2-3 were going through probably a bit more often than they should.

I was able to get the 10th and Stingers down to one member each, and Mob and kill one of the Iron Golems when they called that the time limit was approaching. I apologized for the slow game, but knew it was all but inevitable with all this heavy snow and my Scurrying during his turns. I had a 1-wound Hydra and some Goblins left against his full Golem, Stinger, 10th and Dumutef. I focused on the Dumutef, as I wanted his 25 Points, and killed him in one lucky 3v4 attack. I also got the Stinger before time was called. I had my 3-life Hydra and 4 Goblins (140 Points) against his full Iron Golem and 1 10th (118 Points) and snagged a win. Again I apologized for the cheap win, and pointed out that with full card scoring, Odin wins by 5 Points. However, I realized after the fact that had I known the scoring was full card, I'd have went after the 10th soldier instead of the Stinger, and since it has the same defense I think I kill it instead and still come out on top by a couple points (170 - 160). Either way, it was an excellent but excruciating game with all that snow and Scurrying. Great game, Odin! Sorry again for the time limit game and somewhat crappy outcome.

W, 3-1, 2000ish Points

Round 5 - jschild (Airborne Elite, Stingers x3, Hydra, Raelin) on When Paths Cross

Airborne Elite - ick. I knew that if they dropped in the first round and grabbed initiative, my game was pretty much over. Luckily that didn't happen, so I can actually give a report.

This was probably the most exciting game of the day for me. The AE stayed in the plane playing cards, so I had some time to spread out my Goblins. Once the threat of Grenades was all but averted, I felt like I stood a good chance with my Goblin attrition tactics if I could get rid of that Hydra.

Well, it turns out that my dice really weren't with me this game. I got a couple AE with Goblins, but they and the Stingers still got some elevated shots at Hydras, wounding them both pretty early. There was a turn later where I could get at Raelin and the Hydra with my 3-life Hydra, but then it took 2 wounds right before, and I had to settle for one attack of 5 on Raelin, which was admittedly successful, doing 3 wounds. However, my Hydras fizzled soon after without doing much - one of them even tried to grab a Treasure Glyph, got caught in the trap, and took a wound from a 3-die attack - bad.

I've got to finish this report later - I hope you're on the edge of your seats!

EDIT: and we're back with more action!

With his Raelin and Hydra still alive after my Hydras were gone, I knew I was in for an uphill battle, even with his squads weakened. Thankfully, Raelin was sitting next to some high ground, and my Goblins got to her. I tried to mob the Hydra, but was unsuccessful that turn. The rest of the game I used Scurry as best I could to get Goblins in position to try some Mob Attacks on his Hydra, but it was tough to do.

Eventually I was able to spread my Goblins out and clean up all of his squaddies except 2 Stingers, and he still had his Hydra. The round ended with me having 5-6 Goblins left - with 1 engaged to a Stinger 6 spaces away from his Hydra, and 2 others within moving range of it, and it was next to a ledge that would give me 2 high ground attacks. I knew that he'd probably be putting OM's on his Hydra and, if I could win initiative and successfully disengage from the Stinger, I could Mob the Hydra, which would probably give me enough free turns to Mob a Stinger and make it a few Goblins vs. 1 Stinger, which is good odds for me.

I lost the initiative, so I never got to see if that Goblin would make it.

However, as my Goblins were killed, I actually managed to maneuver the Hydra into a position where I could get a high ground attack and still Mob it, which netted me 2 wounds. However, he soon killed all of my Goblins but one - who I threw on high ground again, and the round ended.

After we placed OMs, I saw 3 OMs on the Hydra. I knew that I still had a shot to win initiative, kill the Hydra, and then use the free turns to get the Stingers and pull this out. I won this initiative, but my attack failed and my last Goblin fell.

The dice seemed very much against me this game. I feel like a couple of rolls here or there could've turned it, but jschild played a great game - thanks for my most exciting game of the tourney!

L, 3-2, 2400ish Points.

Round 6 - weesel99 (Darrak, Dwarves x3, Iron Golem, Fen Hydra) on A Heated Engagement

Ahh the weesel - who I'm 0-2 against lifetime with both losses coming on NHSD, and both being rather lopsided. Excellent.

However, his army was actually pretty good for me. No special attacks and, I knew that if I could kill Darrak, I could limit my Goblin losses easily with Scurry. The Hydra and Golem had big defense, but I didn't think it was anything Mob Attack or Hydras couldn't handle.

Without fear of a Special Attacker or a big defense hero to worry about, I played Goblins exclusively until the endgame. He led with Dwarves, and my superior mobility allowed me the high ground most of the time. With the way the terrain was setup to limit movement, I was able to get Mob Attacks while still getting multiple attacks after the Mobbed figure was dead. Darrak went down after a couple of good Mob turns and, even though the Hydra came out to play, I was able to Mob it also with a couple high ground attacks and take it down.

Once Darrak and the Hydra were gone, I played the Goblin attrition game to take down the dwarves while sustaining calculated losses. By the time his dwarves were gone, I had 3-4 Goblins left and both Hydras against the Iron Golem. I got a Mob or 2 on it, but was unable to wound it as it killed each of my remaining Goblins. I had my #3 on a Hydra, who then got a head start onto the map.

The next round, my Hydra jumped up onto the lava, which is really the only way double-spacers can move through this map (the terrain is VERY unfriendly to non-flying double hexers). Fortunately for me though, weesel99 had the same problem, and I had Reach. weesel tried to find a place where I couldn't get to him, but it was tough to do and I eventually got a high ground turn with a full Hydra against the Golem, which led to the Golem's demise. A good game nonetheless, but I was happy to avoid a 3rd straight NHSD drumming from the weesel.

W, 4-2, 3140ish Points, 14th place out of 40-some.

If you take out the Nirek game, this is kind of a 4-1 showing for the Goblins, but that matchup against Q9 is just brutal. They really need to take him down before they get into the game, or its game over. Thanks again to all of my opponents (except Nirek - blah ) for great games and to weesel99 and the Columbus guys for a great NHSD tourney!

[dok]

Good stuff, kc. I think the cutters are a very competitive build, and not really dependent on the arrival of the HSBs. Although as you say the Q9 matchup is pretty nasty. You were unlucky to lose the Hydras so fast in that game, though.

[rym]

Nice use of the Goblin Cutters, KC.

I, myself, used a very similar build in the Texas in Hexes NHSD event yesterday, as well.

I agree that I was mostly interested in playing something new, something fresh, something fun, and something I had never played before.

I settled on:

Goblin Cutters x 4
Fen Hydras x 2
Raelin (RotV)
-----------------
520 points

Now, to the caveats.

I have never played Q9, or the Krav, or the AE, or the 4th Mass, or Stingers, or even Kaemon, in a tournament. I had never played Raelin, either, until yesterday.

Anyway, the main purpose of Raelin was to protect the Hydras until I needed to move them out, and that was always late mid- to late game, after most of the Cutters had died. I was surprised at how competitive the little buggers can be, and managed to ride them to a 4-1 record, and a 7th place finish out of 43 people.

And the best part? They are so ding-dang fun to play.

Kudos, on a nice outing and a great battle report.

[lefton4ya]

Fun army - glad you played Goblins. They proved decent against ranged squads (Stingers, 10th, AE, Krav) which I was unsure about since you played an all melee army (besides Hydras' reach). I remember asking how you did the first game and you said no kills or even woulds I kind of wrote you off for the rest of the tourney, but I am glad you came back.

[Devil's Advocate]

The Goblins doing well confirms the Theoryscaping for all those that Predicted an A for them the day they were released. They do require some matchup luck though since their bad matchups are brutal.