Utah Monthlies 2017

[DewNoHarm]

Here's my battle report for the June monthly. First of all, thanks to @Leaf_It for setting up and running the tournament.

The June format was a challenge to plan for – unlimited hexes with fewer points (450). I also knew that it was also my last monthly that I’ll be able to attend for a while because my wife is going to have a baby. I wanted to make this monthly count. I knew that I had to bring my favorite unit, which is also one that I had not used at a monthly before.

I love 4th Massachusetts line. They are my favorite squad unit to play (my favorite hero unit is –probably Eltahale). It took me a while to figure out how to unlock the 4th’s “A-level” potential (for a long time I thought that heroscapers was just wrong about them), but once I got it, they were a lot of fun. So what to pair with the 4th? 450 points stopped me from bringing one of my favorite builds – KoW, Sir Gilbert, and 3 squads of 4th. So I went with a different tack – Captain America.

My army:

“The Patriots”

@The Dewk suggested the name)

3 x 4th Massachusetts line (210), Captain America (430)

I saw lots of advantages of pairing 3 squads of 4th Massachusetts with Cap. The 4th get their valiant defense bonus. Order marker management is simple, but still flexible based on the board’s situation. The 4th and Cap get multiple attacks per order marker no matter where the placement of the order marker. Captain America can take out higher defense heroes, and his special attack can get those pesky units that have tripped me up in the past (e.g., Deathreavers, Mezzodemons, etc.). Captain America has counterstrike with 6 defense – useful in the typical melee heavy “Utah Meta”. Finally, if I could keep Captain America close to the 4th, he could buff their attack. This would free me from worrying about using Wait then Fire. In all, there were lots of reasons to pair Captain America with the 4th.

I realize that the 4th Mass line and Captain America are an A-level combination, and I hesitated to bring such a build, but it turns out it was a good call to do so. I had to take on Q9, Braxas, Stingers, the Raelin-backed Krav Maga Agents & Minions of Utgar, and the combination of Sir Gilbert/KoW. Some really powerful builds came out to play this month!

Round 1 Vs @The Dewk on the map “Mayberry”.

Spoiler Alert!

His Army: Heracles (200), Major Q9 (380), Samuel Brown (440), Isamu (450)

The Dewk had easily the gutsiest army at the tournament that I saw. Picking four heroes in a format that encouraged swarms of squads. Using a costly custom hero that has not really been tested in a tournament format. None of the heroes having any obvious synergy (though Heracles is anti-hero and Q9 is anti-squad). Bold!

In the first round, I brought out the 4th to height while he brought up Q9 to equal height. We traded potshots across the gap in the map. I had given Q9 a wound on a lucky roll before he got to the same height, but Q9 took 1 or 2 of the 4th. I brought up Captain America to get closer to the action. Although I had wounded Q9, I was still worried about fighting him with someone who knew how to use him effectively. Furthermore, I couldn’t get any higher than he could. Maps that let two-spaced figures get to the highest point!?! What will they think of next?

The next round I wounded Q9 with Captain America as I maneuvered him next to the 4th to try and buff their attack. But The Dewk had been wisely bringing around Heracles. Suddenly, Captain America found himself launched through the air out of position. Fortunately, Captain America took no falling damage. The 4th put some wounds on Heracles, and Captain America was able to get back into position. Captain America took another unscheduled flight through the air and took some wounds this time (getting 2 auto-wounds on Cap was painful). Heracles was proving to be a royal pain in the rear, and I realized that Heracles might defeat Cap simply by throwing him around. No muss, no fuss, and no counterstrike. I started worrying about my strategy.

What a difference a round or two made. Heracles, though fearless, is not particularly adept at hurting multiple medium squad members per turn. He was stuck surrounded by 4th (I didn’t put Cap next to him again). Luckily, the musket men were throwing off most attacks from the quiglix gun from across the gap. Heracles died without taking his points and Q9 died too. Captain America had only two wounds, and I still had 6 4th figures left to contend with Samuel Brown and Isamu. I asked The_Dewk if he was going to keep playing, and he said yes. (I would have conceded if I had been in his place). But The_Dewk is gutsier than I am.

Isamu came out … and proceed to vanish 4 or 5 times in a row while also doing a OHKO on Captain America (height plus dishonorable attack is pretty vicious). Not only did he take 135 points from Captain America he also managed to slay 2 4th Mass. linemen before he fell. I was left with four 4th Mass. figures to take down Samuel Brown. We mutually awarded Isamu with the MVP of the game, and things were looking suddenly pretty even.

After a brief brotherly squabble about Samuel Brown’s special attack and line of sight (settled by @BiggaBulllfrog) we kept going. Samuel Brown got three of my guys before finally succumbing to my last 4th unit. It was one life to one life at the end of the game. I took the win, but it was so close at the end. It could have easily gone either way. Well played Dewk! (And thanks for showing me why you should never concede at the monthlies – the example came in handy the next round …).

Record = 1 - 0

Round 2 Vs Ben on the map “April”.

Spoiler Alert!

His Army: Braxas (210), 4 x Marro Stingers (450)

Ben must have had some of the same thoughts I did. A-level ranged squad plus a solid hero with who has exceptional squad control. I was worried about facing Braxas because a 17 roll could automatically kill Captain America – 220 points down the tube in one turn – or he could take out 3 musket men in one turn. Further, stingers are probably the best all-around ranged unit in the game.

In the first round, I moved out the 4th toward a glyph and height. I took the defense glyph (a key help throughout the rest of the game). I moved Captain America along the low-lying area of the map to try to take the two treasure glyphs on the map. The 4th and the stingers traded a few shots and I claimed first blood. By the end of the round, I had some of my 4th on height, the defense glyph, and Captain America was in position to take both treasure glyphs on his next two turns. I was feeling pretty good about things.

Then Ben got the initiative. He put some stingers on height, got the stinger drain roll, and killed Captain America in one turn. He had some mighty rolls and I had some mighty blanks. In addition to losing Captain America on the first turn of the second round, I lost two of my order markers; the first two order markers were on Cap (stupid tempting treasure glyphs, Captain America should have been moving up on height with his fellow soldiers). I thought about conceding, but I remembered @The Dewk ’s example and decided to play it out. Ben moved Braxas out of the starting zone, so that gave me a little bit of time to clear out the stingers that were within range of my 4th and get to more height on one side of the board.

The next two rounds Ben alternated between using Braxas and the stingers. I quickly realized that I was stuck in between a hammer and an anvil, so I needed to address them simultaneously. I couldn’t just concentrate on Braxas while ignoring the stingers. By keeping at least two figures higher than Braxas and the rest higher than the stingers, I was able to target and kill the stingers as they moved from the start zone toward the battle, while still chipping away at Braxas. This let me take fewer attacks from the stingers as they got within range of my men. In spite of that, over those two rounds, Braxas ignored my defense glyph and melted 5 of the minute men, while some of the minute men put wounds on Braxas. I was able to keep feeding my squads of 4th back into height. Luckily for me, Ben rolled two sub-5 stinger drains which gave me more time and reduced his stinger forces by two figures. By the end of these two rounds, Braxas was dead and I had about a squad of 4th left on height positions, Ben had only one squad of stingers left near his starting zone.

Ben promptly, and wisely, put his stingers next to a jungle bush. I moved my 4th around trying to get a good shot on them. After a few turns of trading shots, the marro were gone, and I only had two 4th line soldiers left standing. Ben played a great game that was remarkably close again. I likely would have lost if not for those sub-5 stinger drain rolls.

Record = 2 - 0

Round 3 Vs. @Isak on “Quasatch Playground”

Spoiler Alert!

His Army: Krav Maga Agents (100), 1 x Minions of Utgar (210), Raelin (RotV) (290), Sonlen (450)

What can I say about @Isak ’s army? A bunch of really good squads (KMA and Minions) backed by Raelin and an auto-wounding, healing, ranged hero. The minions are my least favorite squad to face. I have a complete and irrational fear of them. (Double their skulls, flying, 6 defense dice by themselves, 8 with Raelin). Furthermore, the one time I fought against the KMA, in a monthly, I lost. I had never fought Sonlen. I didn’t quite know how to handle this army.

I went for the glyphs (and got them), while Isak situated Raelin. The move and unique attack glyphs weren’t particularly helpful and Isak quickly swept my men off the glyph with a combination of the Krav and minions. I noticed that Isak was using the minions and KMA about equally while holding Sonlen in reserve. At the end of Round 1, I had lost two of my men and I didn’t have any wounds or kills to show for it (Raelin was rolling really high). I hadn’t been focusing only on Raelin, though. I had tried to reduce the numbers of KMA and minions because I felt that, with Isak having only one squad of each, killing either an agent, a minion, or both would pay longer-term dividends. In hindsight, not focusing totally on Raelin was probably a mistake. The only thing I had going for me at the end of the first round was that I had the 4th on the highest point of the board – the bridge. The musket men were by no means safe, though – the minions were looking to fly over the water and take out those men.

The 2nd round was kinder to me. Isak got a chance blank on one of the KMA (I was still going with my broad shot strategy), while I was able to put some wounds on Raelin. The KMA and minions tried to create some mischief, but I fended off most of their attacks while getting more 4th on the bridge and getting Captain America next to three of them.

With the 4th on height and Captain America’s aura buffing their attack, Raelin finally fell as did another agent and a minion. Sonlen used his dragon swoop to take out a 4th but his ranged attack failed to hurt Captain America. Isak used one of his minions to take out another 4th mass figure, but, because he was next to Captain America, it fell the next turn.

I kept feeding 4th up onto the bridge, and that proved too much for Sonlen. Sonlen wasn’t able to heal himself much at all. By the end of the fourth round, Isak had one minion and a Krav left, but they were not in much of a position to do anything. The game ended shortly after that. Keeping superior height with the 4th was key to that game.

I’ve got to give props to Isak. There were a couple of times when he saw me counting out moves and trying to situate my men in the best position, but when I couldn’t do it, he showed me the way to get them into the position that I wanted.

Record = 3 – 0

Round 4 Vs. @Saints_Wrath on “Platypus”

Spoiler Alert!

His army: 4 x Knights of Weston (280), Sir Gilbert (385), Johnny “Shotgun” Sullivan (350)

This was the championship match. @BiggaBullfrog suggested that this battle could be called “Jandar’s Civil War” and that, speaking of “Civil War”, it was appropriate that Captain America was present.

I really like playing KoW with Sir Gilbert. That’s are a strong combination (and with Gilbert on the board, the KoW are probably the best melee squads in the game). I’ve played enough games using this combination myself to know that the knights can often turn aside blows from their enemies and then simply go on to overwhelm them (I destroyed Cyprien Esenwein in my January monthly by surrounding him with Gilbert-buffed KoW).

I was especially worried when @Saints_Wrath got the initiative and by the end of his second turn he had both the initiative and defense glyphs. The KoW with 5 defense dice (6 with height)? Are you kidding!?! I knew that the defense glyph was one of the keys to the battle, and unfortunately, I couldn’t really take a height position like I had in the last two games.

This game was a real tactical grind. There were more rounds in this game than in any of the others. The rounds basically went like this: I moved the 4th in place to target knights on both sides and center of the board. I would take a few. Saints_Wrath moved his knights adjacent to the 4th to attack them. I especially concentrated on taking out any knights on the defense glyph, but every time I took one, Saint’s Wrath would move another in place with Jandar’s Dispatch and their normal move. Sir Gilbert stayed out of the way, not attacking anyone, but using Jandar’s Dispatch to move his knights fairly quickly across the board. Saint’s Wrath even had time to move one knight all the way across the board to my starting zone and start taking out a partial squad still standing there.

The one thing going for me were the dice rolls. The 4th over performed on the attack dice and the KoW under performed on their defense rolls for the first half of the game. After that the rolls were average. @Saints_Wrath had quite a few KoW blanks (and he was often rolling 5 – 6 defense dice). I had only started with 12 squad figures to Saints Wrath’s 16. But rolling hot the first half of the game (and his rolling cold) let me even up the odds quite a bit. Captain America’s counter strike also took out a couple of knights (though Captain America also took a couple of wounds from the knights).

We both agreed that we would finish the game out rather than stopping when time was called. Toward the end of period, we were both down to about one squad plus our heroes. Captain America bashed on Sir Gilbert from height as Sir Gilbert tried to hold the defense glyph. Gilbert eventually fell to a counter strike. The 4th took out all but two of the knights, but I also lost three 4th. Johnny “Shotgun” Sullivan was able to take Captain America down to 1 life.

I knew that I could take out Johnny Sullivan with Captain America, but I didn’t like my chances against the two remaining knights with only one 4th soldier, and one life left on Captain America. So I risked a shield throw at an adjacent Sullivan, rather than using my regular attack. He fell, which let me also target (and take out!) one of the two last knights. We were down to a near-dead Captain America, 1 4th Mass figure, and 1 knight. It was pretty intense and a lot of the other scapers who had finished their games had come over to watch. The knight attacked Captain America and they rolled even attack skulls/defense shields (1 a piece). Captain America barely finished the knight off with one extra skull over the knight’s shield. Again, this was exceptionally an exceptionally close game.

Record = 4 – 0.

So in all, 3 of the 4 games could have easily gone either way. They all ended really close (usually with only one or two lives left). Close games are nerve wracking for me, but I’ve decided that I agree with @The Dewk . Win or lose, I wouldn’t have a heroscape game end any other way.

EDIT: We realized after the tournament that Isamu shouldn't have gotten his Dishonerable Attack dice against Captain America. Captain America doesn't follow Jandar ...

[The Dewk]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

Great turn out everyone, thanks for coming. See you all next month.

I had a ton of fun! My first time bringing an all-hero army to a tournament (and a no-figure limit tournament at that) was a success, as far as fun goes!

I see there is already a battle report! Hahaha amazing Battle Report, @DewNoHarm . I'm glad you didn't concede your second game - never concede at a monthly! You never know if Isamu is going to destroy nearly 200 points of units or not! I hope to see more reports, especially from you, @Leaf_It , the only player to truly take advantage of the no figure limit! And thanks for organizing June.

Next month's format details are up!

[The Dewk]

UTAH MONTHLY JULY 2017

Location: Game Haven Sandy (9860 700 E, Sandy, UT 84070)

When: July 29th, 11 AM

Cost: $5 (100% of entries will go to prize support. And donating prizes is always quite welcome, of course!)

Format: Gen Con Main Event Prep

This month's format came up with itself! Those from our region who are travelling to Gen Con for fortune and glory will have a chance to hone their skills a few weeks before the journey. The rest of us will just have a good old time! Taken from Day 2 of the main event, rounds 1 and 3 will be "reverse the whip" (using your opponent's army), while rounds 2 and 4 will have you playing with your own army as normal. Should be a great time!
ALSO, in the spirit of Gen Con, we are going to have the best prize support we have seen yet at our monthlies! One should never be in it for the prizes, but if you are deep down, this month will not be one you want to miss!

- 450 point armies
- 18 figure limit
- No SoV & C3V allowed, no Marvel allowed. Just classic 'scape!
- Glyphs: Healer, D20, Unique Attack, Wound, Move, Initiative
- Four 55 minute rounds, no time limit on last round
- Rounds 1 and 3 are "reverse the whip" ie. you'll be swapping your army with your opponent's!

Maps (Pretty much just cut and pasted from the Gen Con Event Thread!)

Spoiler Alert!

Common Ground by @GameBear


PDF build instructions
board for online practice




Elswin Plateau by @Mooseman


PDF build instructions
board for online practice


Highways and Dieways by @UranusPChicago


PDF build instructions
board for online practice




Platypus by @Robber



PDF build instructions
board for online practice



Remains of Clionesia by @tannergx


PDF build instructions
board for online practice




Wyrmwalk by @Panopticon


PDF build instructions
board for online practice




Zephyr by @Robber


PDF build instructions
board for online practice

Standings & Army Builds

Spoiler Alert!

1st, 3-1 The Dewk - Marrden Hounds x2, Su-Bak-Na, Airborne Elite
2nd, 3-1 @BiggaBullfrog - Warforged x3, Heirloom, Fen Hydra
3rd, 3-1 @antmarchingroves - 10th Regiment x2, Nilfheim, Ninjas of the Northern Wind
4th, 3-1 @Saints_Wrath - Wyvern x2, Estivara, Fyorlag Spiders x4
5th, 2-2 @Flash_19 - Q10, Stingers x2, Phantom Knights x2, Deathreavers x1
6th, 2-2 @DaDude - Charos, Eldgrim, 4th Mass x3
7th, 2-2 @Sir Heroscape - Mohican River Tribe x3, Brave Arrow, Venoc Warlord
8th, 1-3 @Starling_ - Tarn Viking Warriors, Agent Carr, Stingers x2, Deathreavers x1, Zettian Guards
9th, 1-3 @Leaf_It - 4x Deepwyrm Drow, 2x Drow Chainfighter, Iskra, Rechets of Bogdan
10th, 0-4 True - Kurrok, Fire Elemental x8, Marro Warriors

PLEASE POST IF YOU’LL BE IN ATTENDANCE. It helps the logistics of a lot of things.

[BryanBlaze]

I had a blast, thanks for hosting, maybe by next time I'll have a prize to donate for you all.

I know the guy hosting Game Con, in July 7-8, maybe he will add HeroScape to the list of tabletop games, would that interest you guys?.. haha of course it would! I'll send him a message.. :P Maybe I could say one of you guys will lead it if that's what it will take?.. Hmmmm

*** SO I ASKED AS I WAS TYPING THIS UP AND HE REPLIED ***

If anyone of you are willing to run the tournament or do a free play thing at GAME CON on JULY 7-8 you'll want to email my friend Jake. Even offered to add some prizes for it.

His email:
Jake@saltlakegamingcon.com

We could promote it to the other scapers on here, and close by to make it huge! Perhaps we could even get our new friend Chris from AllThingsHeroscape.com to help sponsor/promote to make it bigger, and he could make some sort of deal for those that attend or whatever he may up for to get himself some more biz, haha..

**********************************************************************

Even though I'm doing a fire gig on the 8th. On July 29th I'm scheduled to be in a study, so I may not make next month, unless I get this other job I'm applying for. Wish me luck!

[DewNoHarm]

Thanks @The Dewk . I guess I'm to used to chess. Tipping over the king when you see that you can't win is the polite thing to do. I guess Heroscape having the element of chance built in is something that chess doesn't. You can always make a come back in heroscape, even if you have lost 1/2 (or even more) of your armies' points!

[Leaf_It]

Originally Posted by The Dewk

I had a ton of fun! My first time bringing an all-hero army to a tournament (and a no-figure limit tournament at that) was a success, as far as fun goes!

I see there is already a battle report! Hahaha amazing Battle Report, @DewNoHarm . I'm glad you didn't concede your second game - never concede at a monthly! You never know if Isamu is going to destroy nearly 200 points of units or not! I hope to see more reports, especially from you, @Leaf_It , the only player to truly take advantage of the no figure limit! And thanks for organizing June.

Next month's format details are up!

I'm afraid I don't remember most of the games very well because I was too worried about making sure everything flowed right. Running a tournament was a little more stressful than I thought it6 would be. It was fun though, and if I do it again, I'll be better prepared. The only game I remember well enough to give a battle report on was my last game against you Dewk. Kick dirt guy was a Hero amongst Orcs.

This next tournament isn't quite what I was expecting. I'm not sure how I feel about "no C3V", as that's what really got me to feel like getting back into Heroscape, but the format is interesting... I may have to reveal my final form of 18 Drow Chain Fighters, and nothing else. On the off chance we have more than 14 players like we did this last month (there were 16 of us, and if 4 of my friends hadn't crapped out, it would have been more), I suggest we add 1 more map to the pool. I recommend Bountiful Grove, and I will bring it myself if you approve.

[The Dewk]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

I'm afraid I don't remember most of the games very well because I was too worried about making sure everything flowed right. Running a tournament was a little more stressful than I thought it6 would be. It was fun though, and if I do it again, I'll be better prepared. The only game I remember well enough to give a battle report on was my last game against you Dewk. Kick dirt guy was a Hero amongst Orcs.

This next tournament isn't quite what I was expecting. I'm not sure how I feel about "no C3V", as that's what really got me to feel like getting back into Heroscape, but the format is interesting... I may have to reveal my final form of 18 Drow Chain Fighters, and nothing else. On the off chance we have more than 14 players like we did this last month (there were 16 of us, and if 4 of my friends hadn't crapped out, it would have been more), I suggest we add 1 more map to the pool. I recommend Bountiful Grove, and I will bring it myself if you approve.

Haha of the 4 monthlies you've attended, you've only elected to use SoV/C3V units a single time... I think you'll be okay this lone month where they won't be used, especially if 18 Chainfighters has always been a dream of yours

I'm 100% cool with Bountiful Grove if we need an additional map. Players RSVPing will tell us if we need it or not! So with that said, everyone should post if they are going to attend!!

[TREX]

18 Drow Chainfighters. wow. @Leaf it, I do remember that you love your drow figures.

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

On the off chance we have more than 14 players like we did this last month (there were 16 of us, and if 4 of my friends hadn't crapped out, it would have been more), I suggest we add 1 more map to the pool. I recommend Bountiful Grove, and I will bring it myself if you approve.

It's up to @The Dewk , but I would suggest you keep the map pool to the current selection per it is Gen Con Prep and armies can be based off of the map selection....just have multiples of a couple of the maps.

P.s I plan on being there, put maybes for @podunksarmy and @Saints_Wrath until I confirm with them.

[The Dewk]

Originally Posted by Sir Heroscape

It's up to @The Dewk , but I would suggest you keep the map pool to the current selection per it is Gen Con Prep and armies can be based off of the map selection....just have multiples of a couple of the maps.

P.s I plan on being there, put maybes for @podunksarmy and @Saints_Wrath until I confirm with them.

Ah, that is a good point! That is how it is done at Gen Con, and we do want to keep it authentic. But first, we'll need to determine if we'll even need more than 8 maps. Thanks for RSVPing, as usual!

[Scaperedude]

I have bad news..... Unfortunately I will be in Spokane, Washington that entire week and through the 29th, so neither myself nor Cannon will be in attendance. I'm going to try to get some of my group to show up, but with out myself being there no promises. Also I'd love to get some of my jungle terrain on the prize table, so hang tight and we'll see what happens. I'm seriously so bummed out about this....

[The Dewk]

Originally Posted by Scaperedude

I have bad news..... Unfortunately I will be in Spokane, Washington that entire week and through the 29th, so neither myself nor Cannon will be in attendance. I'm going to try to get some of my group to show up, but with out myself being there no promises. Also I'd love to get some of my jungle terrain on the prize table, so hang tight and we'll see what happens. I'm seriously so bummed out about this....

But how will you, @BiggaBullfrog , and I keep our rock/paper/scissors triangle of wins and losses going?? And no nemesis either?? Yes, your idea of having some of your jungle terrain present is a good idea to keep us from falling into chaos!