National Heroscape Day - Canton, OH

[killercactus]

Here's my tournament report for the Canton NHS tourney. I'd like to thank Hendal for putting everything on - he did an excellent job and went above and beyond to provide a bunch of food, a lot fo great prizes and run a top-notch tournament.

I tried to go with an army I thought was very versatile and could put up with a lot of different armies. I also didn't want to use any of the "forbidden 5" (Q9, Raelin, AE, Krav, Marro Warriors). Since Deathreavers weren't on there, I went with this:

Major Q10 - 150
Marro Stingers x3 - 180
Deathreavers x3 - 120
Isamu - 10

Game 1 - Mike Lewis (Grimnak, Blade Gruts x3, Krug, Arrow Gruts x2, Swog Rider) Map - Kmomar's Training Ground.

This matchup immediately favored me on this map - it's divided in half by water and has a lot of elevation, favoring my ranged units. However, both of us had a lot of units, and Grimnak Chomped a few rats early. Eventually though, my stingers gained the middle high ground on my side of the river, protected by a rat shield and took Grimnak down along with a lot of Gruts. This match went to time, with me tying up Krug with Rats and never attacking him. I had a full Q10, some Stingers and Rats left, I win by 190.

1-0 + 190

Game 2 - ManTrainChooChoo (Gilbert, Knights x3, Q10) Map - Wolf's Swamp (I think...)

I didn't play very well this game, and a player like Ben will make you pay for it. However, Ben valiantly charged his Knights down the field and my Rats stopped them dead and the Stingers started picking Knights off. After a couple rounds, he brought Q10 down and started killing Stingers. I repeatedly underestimated the mobility of the Knights (and annoyingly kept forgetting about a gap between a tree and a wall that units could fit through) and ended up with order markers on the Stingers when they couldn't do much damage. Eventually I got Q10 involved though and finished him off. Had he brought Q10 out earlier to deal with my rats, it might have been different. I had a full Q10, a Stinger and 2 Rats

2-0 + 380

Game 3 - D-Man (Grimnak, Tornak, Heavy Gruts x3, Eldgrim) Map - Kmomars Training Ground.

I had already played on this map against an Orc army without much range - and I didn't even realize it. After the game had begun, I realized this was the same map I played on before, and knew I had a big advantage outranging him. Eldgrim came running out and was killed quickly, making Grimnak faster. My rats and Stingers secured the high ground more quickly this time because he had to use Eldgrim and had no Arrow Gruts to shoot at me. The juiced Stingers took Grimnak down very quickly, and Q10 came charging in just as Tornak did, and killed him in one 4-Skull shot. From there, its just Q10 picking off Heavy Gruts for a while. The dice really, really favored me in this game. I think I won by about 370.

3-0 + 750

Game 4 - Megan (Nilfheim, Marrden Hounds x2, Raelin (Rotv), Marcu) Map - Hot Heads

Megan was a fairly new player, and had had a great showing so far. However, the Hounds were something I was somewhat prepared for with all my Soulborgs. I sent Q10 out first in this game to avoid the Plague. She realized this and changed strategy to Nilf and Raelin. Nilf gained high ground with Raelin behind him, but was tied up by a lot of Rats while Q10 Wrist Rocketed Raelin repeatedly (hooray alliteration!). Once she was gone, he went to work on Nilf and dispatched him as well. The hounds then came in (having to work around the height and lava), got tied up by Soulborgs and gunned down by Q10 and Stingers. Another good matchup for my army and a game in which I rolled well, won by 370 again.

4-0 + 1120

At the end of Swiss, I'm undefeated with the second highest point total. We cut to a top 8 which included 2 Glad / Blast armies, 3 4th Mass swarm armies, a Q9 + Raelin army and a special attack army with Nilf, Q10 and Kaemon Awa. I would've preferred to play a 4th Mass army in the first round, but instead....

Top 8 - Weasel99 (Q9, Raelin, Marro Warriors, Airborne Elite, Eldgrim, Isamu) Map - Soul Razor Canyon

I wasn't too upset about this matchup - I would've rather played this than the Glad/Blasts. He came straight out with Q9 and Raelin and took one of the canyon rises. I countered by sending the rats in to tie up Q9 and the Stingers to start shooting at Raelin. I knew I had to kill Raelin quickly, so I started juicing them. I lost one Stinger to juicing, but did manage to off Raelin before Q9 scubbed off the rats and started shooting the Stingers. I knew I had to juice them to kill Q9 on high ground, so I did. Throughout the game, I juiced the Stingers 5 times - 3 of the rolls were 4 or less. When you sacrifice a 60 point squad and 9 attacks to Q9 on high ground, you're probably going down. The Stingers were killed quickly after that, and Q10, even though he is supposed to be the more advanced version, was very quickly gunned down by Q9. The AE never dropped, and they weren't needed. I'm bounced to the loser's bracket after killing only Raelin. Loss by 270 since the AE didn't drop..

4-1 +850

Loser's Bracket for choice of prizes - Jacob (Nilfheim, Q10, Kaemon Awa, Isamu) Map - Hot Heads

So now I'm playing for 5th Place against a load of non-scattering special attacks. However, I still feel confident that the Stingers can at least wound the 3 heroes enough for Q10 to clean up. Nilfheim came out first and was immediately not only tied down by Rats, but wounded 4 times!! Jacob rolled some horrible defense dice (I think 2 shields out of 18 dice, 2 whiffs on 5 defense dice against one attack...). The Stingers finished him off. Kaemon Awa came out next and I countered with Q10 to out-range him. I got 3 wounds with one attack and Kaemon fell quickly. Q10 then came in, but the Stingers already had high ground and, after Q10 scrubbed a couple of rats off of himself, the Stingers killed him. I chased Isamu behind the lava mountain and eventually got him. I can't remember the differential here - I know I at least had 3 Rats and 2 squads of Stingers, and I think Q10 was alive.

5-1 +about 1000

5th Place game - Gamjuven (Gladiatrons x3, Blastatrons x2, Agent Carr) Map - Soulrazor Canyon

Here's the matchup I didn't want to face all day. The Glads stop my rats from scattering to tie up the Blastatrons, and they outrange my Stingers. However, early in the game the Rats were able to claim the choke point in the Canyon and leave the Stingers protected and able to shoot freely. A couple of Stingers were killed as a Gladiatron or two got through my shield. I had left Q10 in the back fearing he would be swarmed and killed. The Glads broke through and swarmed him anyway, and the Blasts came up to kill him. He survived with a couple of ridiculous defense rolls, but was eventually killed. I was upset, but not too much, because this meant my Stingers (one on top of the Canyon now) could reach the remaining Blastatrons. That was, until 2 Blastatrons with one attack die killed both of my Stingers on height. That turn changed the complexion of the entire game. I tried to run n gun with my last Stinger after the soulborgs killed the unable-to-Vanish Isamu, but yet another defense whiff on high ground was his demise as Agent Carr was advancing. He had Carr, 4 Glads and 2 Blasts.

End 5-2, + about 790 - 6th Place.

Overall I thought my army performed pretty well, thought I could've played better at many points during the tourney. Since I didn't make Gencon, I took a Master Woo as my prize, and had to cut out early, but I had a great time with all the scapers. Thanks to everyone that played me - I had a great time in each game! Also - if anyone out there knows Mike Lewis (or if he reads this), please PM me his address. He let me borrow a squad of Deathreavers for the tournament, and I had to leave early and forgot to return them.

[MattserTruckRally]

Hey Cactus you got me mixed up with ManTrain. I played against royal doy round 2 who gave me a sound beating.

[Hendal]

Hey All,

I can write a battle report, it isn't very exciting since I went 2 and 2. But it is hard to focus and make sure everyone is happy and has everything they need.

My army: the vampire, his wife, sonlen, charging samuri, and isamu -

which I liked but has weaknesses, mainly me rolling bad.

Round 1:On SoulRazor -- I played Darth Volmar ( which is funny cause we played each other last at both of our's last tourney's - go figure ) . so he is fielding Kamon awa9 the quick release archer ), the warden, the zetting guards, roborats, the ninjas, marcu and Isamu.
I brought out the vampire and killed his Archer pretty quickly, then flew up to his zettins that where at height and killed one with chilling touch ( we remembered it the next round that that was illegal so I asked if we should redue it, Darth said just play it ). SO then I took vamp to attack the Ninja's, I got 2 with chilling and killed one regulary. I then ran vamp to hide and sent out sonlen to deal with the warden and the zettin at height, I had alrady sent out the charging samuri to go at the rats and try and get the zetting, but the zettin had already gotten height on me. So I ended up winning, but it was a close game and if he would have had 2 zettins , who knows.


1-0

round 2: Canton Battle Bridge - Weesel99 ( Q-9, raelin, AE, marro, and the dwarf ) - everything outlawed ( just kidding )- this was a tough battle and I was running around helping people so I had no focus and gave a terrible showing. I didn't pay attention and lead with the vamp and he lead with Q-9, I hid, and he charged over the bridge I went to his side and killed raelin and some of his other troops. Q-9 was killing all my guys, then his AE drop and I have to kill them 1 at a time, sucks. So Q-9 killed everything, I left the dwarf so Q-9 wasn't faster and the vamp went down quick with no chilling touch.
The whole columbus crew is a blast to play against, so I was glad to get this game in ( they brought me a woo for hosting - thanks guys )


1-1

Next is Screaming truth on Wolf Swamp Road. He had a whole load of stingers, SBN< and some grubbers. Fun army to play. I have played truth at every tourney I have been to, and always beaten him , not today my friend, not today. I lead with the vamp, he brought stingers out, he did a great job sucking in the vamp to kill one and jump the walls for height , got the juice and the vamp was hurting, I just made some simple mistakes, oh well. Truth played a great game. He brought out the rats and SBN, later in the game and they did their job. I just didn't play a good game, but his army was all about synergy and worked great together.

1-2 ouch


Round 3 verses Kyle on my swamp map ( I made the board and never posted it, so I know it well , is that cheating ). So Kyle has Braxas, niflem, and I will have to check what else ). He lead with Niflem, I got first strike with the vamp, rolled a 19 + 2 + 6 points and one deadon dead. I got up to Braxas and did 4 wounds on him and avoided the acid breath. I killed him finally after 3 or 4 turns at it, then it was over , the vamp was unwounded. Kyle was a great sport, I would have been so bummed when the big white dragon went down, but he was like no big deal.

2-2

I got a couple of games in after also.

So we do a big roll off for the prizes, no silly ranking for who gets to pick ( except the top 8 and then all the special prizes ) it is somuch fun everyone rolling dice and yelling #'s out, so as it turns out the system may have a serious flaw in it - I got the very olast pick out of everyone there - ouch. It was great. My other organizer Bubba42 got 3rd to last. We ended up with some killer bubbling lava custom pieces made by Endpawn, they rock, and then at the end there was another roll off for all the extra prizes.

The coolest prize ,IMO, was brought by GhostWalker - he brought his amazing custom terrian. It got set aside by someone int he top 8, then wasn't picked, so at the end roll off it was still up for grabs. Originally GW said the 2 pieces came as 1 prize, but since this was bonus prizes I spit it up intot 2 prizes ( seems fair ), so then I roll a 20 and get 1st pick ( now I am like wait I want them both - OK I changed my mind they go together - but it was not to be I got 1 though - yea ). then Bubba42 rolls and gets the next pick so we end up with both in our gaming group - double yea.


I had a blast , and found out you should be more prepaired then I was for 44 people. There is always next year to make it bigger and better.


I will also add that last minute I changed the rules, and said no glyphs - no time left to deal with it oops.

To everyone who came and wants to come back next year _ I promise to be way more organized so we know the ranking of everyone when it is all said and down

Scape On"

[Browncoat]

I don't know why I'm even bothering posting my dismal performance. I've been playing Heroscape since January, and while I have purchased most of the available figures, I have limited myself (for the most part) to playing with orc armies. At the Columbus tourney I did much better with my orcs, going 3-2. However at the National Heroscape Day Tournament in Canton, I was 1-3. My army:

Grimnak
Heavy Gruts (x2)
Nerak the Glacian Swog Rider
Arrow Gruts (x2)
Swog Riders (x2)
Isamu

Game 1
Record 1-0
I was happy to see a familiar face for my first opponent. Tiberius brought a mostly Jandar army to the table. He had some Sentinels, New Drake, Isamu, Shotgun Sullivan and Isamu. I knew that against my orcs, Shotgun was probably the biggest immediate threat, and though he caused a few casualties, he went down pretty early. Tiberius went to work on my Arrow Gruts and Swogs, pretty much wiping them out. After that, it was pretty much a feast for Grimnak. Sentinels were the appetizer, followed by the main course of Drake with a lucky D20 roll.

Game 2
Record 1-1
Bubba42 was a very respectable opponent, handing me my most crushing defeat of the day...and probably the worst ever since I started playing. His army was mostly 4th Mass Line, which performed very well at the tournament for everyone who brought them. Isamu went down early, and it was all downhill for me after that. I advanced 2 figures onto his side of the board, other than that, nothing to report other than being decimated at the hands of a well put together army.

Game 3
Record 1-2
I spoke with BoozeHammer before the tournament began, and was glad to see him again at the tables. Nice guy. He brought Q9, Q10, Cyprien, Marcu, Isamu, and the fiends. This was a very good battle from the start. We played on a lava board, so positioning was a little tricky. His Isamu fell early, and once the fiends were summoned, they took out a few of my Heavies. But Grimnak made a meal of one of them, and my remaining Heavies took down the others. Q10 and Cyprien gave me a lot of trouble in the center of the board, and for a few rounds the game could've went either way. Nearing the time limit, he had 10 more points left on the board than me and my only chance to win was to put some wounds on Q9. I marched my remaining orcs across the field, but to no avail. They were no match for the King of Soulborgs. A great game that went down to the wire.

Game 4
Record 1-3
I faced another 4th Mass Line/Jandar army, and this battle differed little from the previous one. I had more success this time against Royaldoy, but it didn't matter anyway. The map had a river dividing it in half, and for awhile, we traded shots with our ranged figures. The Dice Gods were not smiling upon me (or my opponent for that matter) during this match, and again I performed poorly. It just wasn't a good day to be an orc.

There were 4 armies I considered bringing, 1 of which was an all valiant army. Had I brought that one to the tables, I probably would've fared much better at this tournament. Looking back over all of my past battles that I've played with the orcs, it seems that they perform much better on maps with more level terrain. I need to broaden my horizons and start playing with other figures.

For my next tournament appearance, I will be more prepared. I should've studied the maps beforehand, and been more aggressive with my army choice. Live and learn, I guess.

[Messenger]

I playtested many armies for this tournament, and decided on

350 4th Mass x 5
110 Sgt. Drake (old)

460 total

Why this army? I anticipated seeing a lot of Marro Stingers because they're the best new squad around, and are spoken well of by most top players (see power ranking thread). But with a range of only 5, I knew a 4th mass army could exploit this limitation. By the time the stingers were in range I would have two lines of Minute Men within range to return fire, even if the front line were completely taken out. As it was I only faced one stinger army all day...Oh well, on to the report.

ROUND 1 vs. Zach, on Wolf Swamp Road

He brought Cyprien, Sonya, Iskra + Retches, Minions x 1, Stingers x 1. The stingers came first, killed one MM, then got shot down. Cyprien came next, killed one MM, then got shot down. Iskra came next and got shot down; the Retches never were summoned. Minions flew in, killed two MM...well you get the idea. What made this game even more brutal was my attack rolls were absolutely on-fire-hot. Definitely the best rolling I had all day. I lost a total of four Minute Men. 1-0

ROUND 2 vs. Gamjuven, on Wolf Swamp Road

Glad/Blast army with Agent Carr as backup. This army had me beat on range, so I knew I wouldn't be getting many 'Wait then Fire' shots, and it's also highly mobile (moving 8 figs per turn!) so I figured I would have to concede the high ground as well. I just kept the Mass in a bunch and waited for the robot bum-rush. Whenever a Glad got close I let loose with a musket barrage, and on every advancement I targeted a Blastarton hoping to take out the firepower. Fortunately it worked. Agent Carr's approach was impressive, killing 3 or more with his ranged attack, but I eventually got him surrounded. 2-0

ROUND 3 vs. Owen, on Klomar's Training Gound

This was a similar army to mine, except he had New Drake, and Raelin, plus MM x 3. His Raelin moved out to the highest spot on the map and stayed there the rest of the game. While that may sound like the best move, afterward we both agreed that it may have cost him. On this map the high points are opposite each other with a river in between. I was able to set up on the opposite shore and take free shots at Rae. In order to fend me off, he had to advance off of his high ground, giving me the advantage. I was getting about two of his MM for every one of mine. His New Drake lept over the river to try and even the odds, but could not kill fast enough. 3-0

ROUND 4 vs. Paul, on Hot Heights

Here's the Stinger army I was talking about, and he brought THE HIVE!!! This was a struggle. As soon as I would kill a stinger another would pop out to take it's place. I think he got six consecutive rebirth rolls! And in the meantime I was losing 4th mass at an uncomfortable rate. Eventually though, his 20d went cold. The hive stopped reproducing, and two or three stingers self-destructed, basically giving me free turns to lob hot lead. This was a battle of attrition. I finished with Drake and five MM left. 4-0

ROUND 5 (top eight) vs. Jacob, on Winter Wonderland (slightly modified)

Nilfheim, Q10, Kaemon, Isamu. A number of times during this game I thought I was going to lose. Nilf flew in on my right flank. I scrambled men up the hill to whatever high ground they could get and waited for the ice shower. It came with a fury. Man after man fell as ice mixed with blood. Musket blasts echoed across the wintry hills, but the dragon's thick hide could not be pierced. The wurm descended the forest hills bent on covering Sgt. Drake with jagged ice. But as the beast came within sight of his prey, the mighty guns of the noble 4th Mass shot true.

Kaemon Awa did not wait long for vengeance. He took the hill and the life of a MM. Then he descended into the valley and brought down another. But the forest was full of infantry...

Q10 came forward sending a machine pistol barrage into the surrounding trees. I pulled the left flank back and moved them toward the more densely packed right flank, hoping to find cover. Unfortunately Q10 got there first. I had to decide between taking the hill and getting two shots with height advantage and two on even ground, or taking four 'wait then fire' shots, but Q10 would have height advantage over two of them. I decided that four shots of three dice was better, even if the robot got an extra defense die. On the third shot Q10's defense roll whiffed. 5-0

ROUND 6 (Semi-finals) vs. Paul, on Hendal's Battle Bridge

Stingers + Hive, again. This was a difficult map. The left-side hill is spaced so that a six-move figure can go up two 'levels' per turn, but a five-move figure can only elevate one. The alternative is to run over to the ladder and take it single-file. But first I needed protection against a hail of bullets from the battlements. That is where Drake came in. The first turn, I moved the Sgt. under a protruding ledge. Next turn he grapple-gunned into position. Now Drake stood resolute in the path of the oncoming swarm of the Marro stingers. Thanks to his Thorian Speed they would have to engage Drake hand-to-hand, and when they did they would be within range of the Minutemen, who were slowly plodding up hill and ladder.

The stingers crested the hill and were met by the steely-eyed glare of Sgt. Drake Alexander. They approached cautiously as the first Minuteman peered up over the ledge. The stingers' cruel shots kept him off the hill, and one after another his brothers met the same fate. But the Minutemen kept coming. More stingers approached, their gleaming pulses of energy finding their marks. But the Minutemen kept coming. In a desperate attempt to knock him out of position, the Stingers lept upon Sgt. Drake. Using their guns they beat him mercilessly and tossed him, lifeless, over the ledge. But the Minutemen kept coming.

Now the brave soldiers had a foothold on the hill. The ladder was bringing them into position faster than the enemy could send them back. With the high ground secure, the screams of the enemy was drowned out by the triumphant cheer of the valiant 4th Massassachusetts line. 6-0

ROUND 7 (Finals) vs. Royaldoy, on Hot Heights

He brought Gilbert with two Knight squads and three 4th mass squads, which, ironically, was my second choice army for this tournament. He chose to keep Gilbert back and use him as a squad pusher, rather than have him advance with his armored bretheren. The knights made it over half-way across the lava field, while I kept up a slow advancement and a steady wave of fire. After realizing casualties to nearly all his knights, he began a tactical retreat and waited for me to come to him at the back of the map. After positioning my team beyond his range I began the final push. Gilbert, along with a lone knight, made one last, brave charge. His was the glory, but mine the victory. 7-0

[Hendal]

Hey BrownCoat - yea the orcs are great, but you gotta play all the guys to learn their strengths and weaknesses. You played Bubba42 in the 2nd game on Forbidden waters, Bubba42 was one of the organizers.

That is what these things are all about, learning how to play better, and getting games in with new people and learning new strategies.

Scape On'

[Browncoat]

Originally Posted by Hendal

...You played Bubba42 in the 2nd game on Forbidden waters, Bubba42 was one of the organizers...

Thanks for that, Hendal. I'll edit my post. I lost my scorecard, and it was bothering me that I couldn't remember his name. He was a very nice guy, and very well spoken during our match.

[Tiberius]

Oh, Messenger, the guy you played in the finals was royaldoy.

[Messenger]

Originally Posted by Tiberius

Oh, Messenger, the guy you played in the finals was royaldoy.

Thanks, updated. After seven intense games of Scape I was getting kinda bleary and could hardly remember my own name, much less my opponent's.

[killercactus]

Originally Posted by MattserTruckRally

Hey Cactus you got me mixed up with ManTrain. I played against royal doy round 2 who gave me a sound beating.

Updated, thanks!

[gamjuven]

Great report Killercactus. You were my favorite opponent to play at the tournament. A joy to watch you play, you really know what you're doing. Thanks for such a great match!

[jacob_j_p]

Well, I should have written this a lot earlier, I don't remember much of my matches.

My army was:
Nilfheim
Major Q10
Kaemon Awa
Isamu

My first match was against Jean on the canton special bridge map. I remember she had two squads of the deamons, the krav agents, one set of microcorp and guilty. I took height with Nilf on the bridge and took pot shots and eventually engaged the krav agents to get them out, because they'd be a major pain to the rest of my army. I lost Nilf, but finished the game with Q10.

Nexed I played Andrew who played a lot of orcs. I don't remember much of this game other than I lost. The game must have been really close because the differential wasn't very high.

My third match was against Farlow. Again, I don't remember much of this match. I won, mainly with Nilfheim.

My 4th match was the most memorable. I played boozehammer who I thought had a good army with Q9, Q10, some vampires and the retcheds. I sent Nilf out as usual, and he really rocked the house with some really good rolls. I got lucky when he dropped the retcheds, he had two good chances (he won initiative into another round) to take out Kaemon Awa, and do some damage to Q10, but the rolls just didn't show up. I think they ended up with one damage each, but I eliminated the threat with Q10. Nilfheim finished off both Major robots, and I think I lost him soon after that, but finished the game with my Q10.

So, I ended up 3-1 and made it into the playoffs in 8th place.

My first match in the playoffs was against Messenger. I have to say I hate playing against the 4th mass. I never do the right things against them. I probably should have played a lot more defensively, but that's not my or my armies strong suit. Basically a whole lot of him shooting at me with either height or waiting and firing. People should watch this guy play, his movement of the 4th mass was probably as close to perfect as you can get, which is probably a big part of him winning this tourney. His report sums it up pretty well. 0-1

My next match was against killer cactus. I would like to have played this match again. Nilfheim died to rats pretty much in one turn! My dice totally failed me. I didn't do too much with the rest of my army because I need Nilf to soften things up, and take out problem units. 0-2

I don't know my final opponents name, but she was playing with gladiatrons, blastatrons, and Laglor. We were on a swamp map with sand that took two movement to get through, and the map didn't help her at all. I was able to plant Nilfheim in the middle of the board and breath down the gladiatrons before they had a chance to engage me, so she was taking shots of just one dice most of the time. Nilfheim finally died, and I camped out in my starting zone and gunned things down as they approached with Q10. 1-2

So, I think I ended up in 7th place.

There were a lot of new/newer to the tourney scene players there. A few tips, to the new players, play more than one unit of common squads if you're going to play them. Also try to concentrate your order markers on your most effective unit(s) for the situation. Too many players want to take turns with all of their units every turn, which is rarely effective.

Thanks to Hendal for hosting a great tourney, and for the glass lamp prize I took.